CU64

1 hour ago, Port Power said:

I absolutely agree about going to Zealandia.  However, I think the free shuttle goes from the Information Centre in Wellington, across the road from Te Papa.  The ship's shuttle usually drops people off there.  Just make sure you are in front of the line as it is only a little 12-14 seater!  When leaving, they drop you at the top of the cable car.  Depending on time available, another option is to walk down through the Botanic Gardens.  Probably not enough time though, so use the cable car.

 

So big tick for Zealandia.

 

Next big tick for the Antarctic Centre.  A must see.

What do you think about going to Anorkea when in Christchurch? There is an 8 hr Two Harbor excursion that looks interesting; 2 hrs on catamaran, lunch at Bully’s 

10 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

wondering what you mean by NFC capable phone.  Don't know this acronym

10 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

NFC (near field communication) is the technology that allows two devices — like your phone and a payments terminal — to talk to each other when they're close together. NFC is the technology that enables contactless payments.

Yes, I just learned this today after quite a bit of reading. My iPhone is 11 but when watching a video provided by one of the govt websites about how to get your phone to scan Passport, it says to check the NFC tag.

needless to say, I had to find out what that was and my iPhone 11 shows nothing of the sort in Control, et al. 

On 1/4/2023 at 3:24 AM, BklynBorn47 said:

For what it's worth, this is our experience.  
We applied yesterday for our cruises Feb 28th to April 24 
The $20 was the easy part.
For Australia we needed an NFC capable phone and discovered only 1 of our 3 phones worked to download the REQUIRED app.  OK one is enough.  Many tries to get the required acceptable photo, but finally done.
Credit card accepted.  Yea!

I got my ETA by email about an hour later.  My husband did not.
We applied for NZ also.  Joe got his ETA a few hours later.  I did not.

We applied one after the other in both cases.  Wondering if this is common.
 

I spent one hour today. It was maddening. Would not scan passport; kept rejecting photo, …then got a tourism app which charged me $149. I had to call CC & immediately dispute. Who said this would be easy?

Tomorrow is another day.

15 hours ago, jagoffee said:

IMO the design of the Edge Class ships is purposely trying to discourage in cabin dining. 
My wife and I have been on 50+ cruises and we have never used  Room Service for dinner or lunch.  We occasionally order Room Service  breakfast ( on early excursion days). 

 

If we were given a choice for even higher  cruise fares or a charge for Room Service, we would prefer the lower cruise fare.  I think there is no doubt that Room Service is a significant variable cost and very difficult to budget and plan.  Reading this thread makes me feel like I have been subsidizing those that frequently use Room Service. Dare I suggest maybe even abuse the feature?
 

I cannot count how many times it has been reported that although the room service menu is limited in some cabin categories, people just write in what the want and it is delivered.

 

A surcharge for Room Service is a reasonable approach, but it easy to say for a person who does not place much value in the benefit.  I suspect most cruisers will not be impacted by this change. (Since they do not use it).  Is $12 each time you use it really unreasonable?

 

I also have never ordered Room Service at a hotel.

 

It could have been worse, Celebrity could have eliminated Room Service.  I suspect Celebrity’s objective to reduce the use of Room Service or make it pay for itself.  

Or cut down on having the staff continuously run to rooms ordering room service daily or more.

18 hours ago, Pinboy said:

1--- How the hell can ya sit up in bed with a tray on your lap ? What if the coffee spills " you know where " ? Who's gonna get ya the jam sitting on the table or the coffee pot , or the plate of danish , or, or etc? 

2--- " romantic dinner for two  on your private veranda"---- Based on the demographics I've seen on Celebrity ---- I doubt it.

Mind you, I just thought of that " old fart " with the 32 yr old ---- Yup, that would work.

LOL-- We tried breakfast on our balcony once--- the stuff blew everywhere , the coffee was semi-warm , and my golf hat flew off into the ocean.

Idea--- What Celebrity should do is give us a discount of $9.95 ( no tip ) for every day we don't use room service.

 

Hilarious. Much prefer food in buffet or MDR & coffee at specialty. 

On 1/1/2023 at 1:21 PM, retird said:

I seldom use room service.   But the new charge will not change my cruising habits.    I have an upcoming 9 night southern Caribbean cruise in a midship balcony.   When I was deciding on the cruise, i shopped for an all inclusive land based Island getaway, with an equivalent  rated accommodation.   I found that even  after including airfare and other expenditures I anticipate for the cruise, the land based vacation would have cost me $1000 to $1500 more for the two of us.    I still find cruising a good bang for the buck , even with some of the cutbacks.

Absolutely agree

This is 8 hour but I understand that this harbor is worth seeing. Includes 2 hour nature cruise and lunc(.

what do you think? Thanking you in advance. Barbara 

On 12/16/2022 at 3:28 PM, possum52 said:

Unfortunately Don, the Seasider is only running on these dates - 

Sunday 29 January 2023

Saturday 11 February 2023

Sunday 5 March 2023

 

So unless your cruise ship is in Port Chalmers/Dunedin on any of these dates, you miss out. Looking at the cruise ship port schedule, there is only one date when there is a cruise ship in port -29th January  Azamara Quest which is port overnight. 

 

The Seasider - Dunedin Railways

Yes, I already looked into this. 

Since it is shorter route now, does it still take 6 hours RT? DH does not want to be on a train for 6 hrs. We are canceling.

What other sight seeing options might you recommend. We are not particularly interested in the wildlife. 

Ty in advance.

On 12/2/2022 at 9:21 PM, Ondine said:

We just did the train trip on Grand Princess last month (8th Nov I think).  I believe we were the first to do this post covid shut down.  They have cobbled together what carriages they could manage in a hurry, some better than others and it was organised at the last minute with Princess.  It cost us AUD$299.95 each through the ship.  We were bussed to Dunedin and then the trip went as far as Hinden and back then bussed back to the ship.  The volunteers running the train were ecstatic that were there again.  This time there was no wine served on board, just the lunch pack.  Coffee and drinks were available in the buffet car at a reasonable price.  We had a great day.  I have previously done the full trip some years ago but my son hadn't and wanted to go.  I was not disappointed.

 

Pity that the station is covered in plastic but they were close to shutting everything down so it is good to see some life again.

Celebrity eclipse currently has best price I have seen for this excursion 

@244 per person. Some cyber event has all excursions 35% off.

On 11/30/2022 at 3:39 PM, 4-2-N-8 said:

 

I just checked my two cruises on Celebrity for 2023 -

 

1) Beyond 7-night Caribbean in January. Paid in full for an EV at ~$26K. Now offered ~$1K less. My cost is just under ~$4K per night (but for two people)

 

2) Beyond 11-night Mediterranean in August. Booked an EV at ~$35K. It is now offered at ~$40K. My cost is just over $3K per night (but for two people)

 

Moral of story: Europe is a bargain. 😀

Doubt you care if the prices go up considering how you currently book.

Ty you all. I suspected as such.Will be changing my cabin location 

Walking down to level 6 and 5….white space on 5….cannot walk onto deck 5 from aft stairs?

how about 6? 
we were considering Deck 8 cabin aft for Hawaii because of possible rough seas & iffy weather.

anyone stayed there? The issue is access to deck 5,6,7

ty

I purchased the excursion today.

happy about it. Ty you all.

Thank you all for responding. I think we will reserve this excursion.

celebrity prices do fluctuate 

Does anyone living in NZ have an opinion about this train reliability running next March and is it worth the trip for sightseeing.

6 hrs can get long on a trip with no real stops, towns, & average food.

ty in advance. Cruise ships have a lock on it & it is pricey but would like to see country side

On 11/14/2022 at 12:29 PM, CruisinBanka said:

Blu is a much smaller venue with better service than MDR, however staying in a veranda stateroom and buying a dining package will get you the smaller venue, great service and better food experience. It will also most likely cost you less. 

Agreed

Thank you all for this informative & taking the time to respond.

Saturday, March 25, 3:30 tour of Sydney opera house. Sunset at 7. We can eat there after tour for reasonable cost. It looks handy and almost at sunset. Any of you who live there or others, please advise. Thanking you in advance.

BARBARA

On 10/15/2022 at 2:09 PM, MMDown Under said:

Some of the best days I've ever spent, as a visiting tourist, were on the day I flew out home.  The last was in Milan.  

I visit Sydney regularly and never tire of things to do and places to see.  Just put your luggage in storage and continue your holiday would be my suggestion, depending on the weather of course.  

You recommended Jamison Hotel once in your other posts. Would you still? Somehow, I think you really know Sydney. Ty
Barbara

We are going in March. 2 days & 2 nights; precruise booked Jamison Hotel recommended by others & people who live in Australia. Decided did not need direct harbor view but a comfy room and bed after 15 hr flight…..

also in Rocks area & close to everything….we can walk.

3 hours ago, dad son team said:

So, I have a basic Veranda, obstructed view, on the Solstice next week.  Not thrilled with the location, but I got a good deal and the cost to change to another Veranda is outrageous.  I did put in some bids using the Move Up option to go to a Sunset veranda, Family Veranda, Concierge, or Aqua.  First 3 were min $50pp and the Aqua is $100pp and I bid a bit over the minimum.  Honestly, I don't expect to get it with the low bids, but who knows.  Ya gotta be in it to win it!  My question is, if there are cabins available in the category, do they usually accept your bid or will they pass on the bid if it isn't high enough?  I ask because with 1 week to go, half of the Concierge and 2/3 or the Aqua are still empty and I'm guessing most of the guarantees have been assigned by now.

Just off solstice Oct 8. Ship 1650. About 60%. You should get your bid.

12 hours ago, calicakes said:

We cruised oceania in February. Buffet was good, better than celebrity.

My one Oceania cruise pre Covid had the very best food. Wonderful grilled jumbo shrimp, crab, lobster at the buffet, nightly, ….you do pay for this upgrade in food, with a regular balcony,  vs celebrity or princess. The bar area before dinner was intimate and easy to meet and talk with regular cruisers. That was a big +….no one gambled so never could play blackjack, that would be a problem for me on longer cruises.

       Overall, I book Celebrity which is cheaper & we like the larger ship offerings. We can always find food that is suitable. 

Absolutely do not believe food in Blu is any healthier, more tasty, tables for 2 close together, some like their smoothies for breakfast ….for the price, never. prefer sp restaurant and stimulation of MDR and/or buffet.

you can purchase day or week passes to spa.

      We go concierge. Upgraded once to Aqua. Never again.

10 hours ago, buchhalm said:

Are you guys talking about Madama Butterfly next March/April?

That is NOT in the Opera House,  but in the Botanical gardens, with the stage floating on the harbour.

https://opera.org.au/productions/madama-butterfly-on-sydney-harbour/

 

The productions are great, but you need to spring for good seats to get the most out of it. (And I brought pillows from home)

Thank you for this clarification. I will not be going. I was surprised to find this as there were NO performances in the opera house listed during the time we would be there, when I first checked about 2 months ago.