HelenREMfan

If you are due to the ship  docking at Le Havre, then research taking the train to Paris (less chance of hold ups on the return to the ship) When we did the British Isles trip 2 Canadian ladies did their own trip to visit Vimy Ridge which I thought was quite brave of them (They joined us the previous day when I hired a car and drove up to Dieppe and then down to Honfleur) As people have said previously you can do a lot of prep for Paris eg pre book tickets for the Louvre. I would also do your research re which rooms to visit in the Louvre.... just like the Hermitage you will have to select where you most wish to see as you can only do so much!) 

 

I can understand your daughter is keen to see Paris but on a privately arranged trip you will prob be able to cover far more then joining 40+ other people and having to trail round waiting for the rest. 

How is it that people 'often' get an accessible room on a guarantee? Whenever I have tried to book an accessible room...even 12 months prior to sail date, there have never been any (at least balcony level) accessible rooms available? 

Hello Joe.... and welcome

 

Condolences to Mike ...there can't be many people who haven't been impressed with your cruise info efforts and thank you very much for them.

 

Joe... any idea what has happened to our countdown clocks?

 

Regards

 

Helen 

 

 

 

On 1/31/2019 at 3:04 PM, RBAlbany said:

Cruising Princess in September.  Looks like we dock in La Seyne.  Same but different.  Can anyone confirm that is what Princess does?  Either way we are planning on a beach day (Sunday).  If La Seyne is the port we are looking at Sablettes Beach.  What kind of transportation do people recommend?  We are a party of four. 

 

If our port is actually Toulon, what beach and transportation do people recommend?  Thanks.

Sablettes was lovely and we spent a lovely day there. Alas we didn't hurry getting off the ship as I had read there would be taxis at the terminal- alas by the time we got off there weren't. Tired for an hour to get one! Daughter then used her Uber and a lovely driver and his Mercedes came and took us and we arranged for him to return at a set time to take us back. Worked perfectly. 

We had a lovely lunch at a beachside restaurant, looked at the street market that was on (though it finished at lunchtime) and sampled gorgeous ice cream at a local shop - delicious 🙂 

I rented from Sixt on the Quai de Southampton. Got a taxi from the terminal to their office, no problems collecting the car - had a very comfortable BMW. Drove the coastal route to Dieppe to visit the Canadian cemetery there (from the disastrous landing assault made there by mainly Canadian soldiers in WW2 - about 1942 if I remember correctly.) Dieppe is also a lovely town to visit. In the afternoon we drove to Honfleur. Lovely visit. Returning the car was simple - the office was closed so posted the keys through the box. Getting a taxi back proved more problematic but asked at a local restaurant and they very kindly called us a taxi which duly came and took us back to the terminal (we could see the ship from the car rental office - but it is a 3 side of a square walk to get to cross the bridges to reach the terminal) 

I rented a car from Sixt on Quai de Southampton all sorted online before the cruise - you could see the ship docked at the Cruise terminal from their office, but to walk it you had to 'do 3 sides of a square to leave the port. Was allocated a super car - BMW and no problems whatsoever. 

Drove up to Dieppe to revisit places I visited as a French exchange student and then back south to go over the bridge to visit Honfleur. As I have a disabled parking badge I was able to to park right in the middle of Honfleur which was great. We had a lovely afternoon there. Returning the car just meant dropping the keys through the door. Getting a taxi to get back to the ship wasn't easy though til we hot on the idea of asking the restaurant next door if they would ring for a taxi for us 🙂 Perfect. I do speak French and the French always appreciate it if you make the effort to try to speak the language - and a thank you in polite French always goes down well so Include "Merci (Monsieur, Madame or Mademoiselle)"

Do a little bit of research before you go re road signs and trace your route(s) on Google maps and all should be fine. 

If this is a forward cabin and close to the stairs/elevator area, I have previously "parked" a scooter there - across from elevators and away from the stairs so out of the way and it has been ok. The staff know whose scooter it is and could therefore ask me to move etc if needed. It is difficult negotiating a scooter into the rooms and I would say if the bed is by the bathroom - impossible to get past ad no room to leave it in the entrance area to the room.

I have found it impossible to book a disabled room and have been advised that these book up almost immediately a cruise is scheduled 😞 

I have never seen a scooter left in an ordinary corridor parked up and to be honest that would be totally unsuitable and a hazard as in no one in a wheelchair or other scooter could get past neither could the room attendants with their equipment trolleys. 

 

 

This is exactly what we did..... and as we couldn't get a port side taxi..... my daughter used Uber and a fab driver with his Mercedes arrived for us and we arranged a pick up with him. He was punctual to the exact minute! We loved it here as an old fashioned beach resort - not crowded with beach side restaurants, reasonably priced. There was a market on in the morning when we arrived with plenty of hand made soaps etc and there are a few little shops (including a fabulous speciality ice cream shop!) We paid around the €20 and really enjoyed our day, swimming in the sea and relaxing. 

The weather...we have no control over.... we did the Baltic in mid June and had lovely weather.... but there are no guarantees! I have read differing reports re disembarking in Russia. It was fine when we did it and we were amongst the first off the ship and were met by SPB who were fantastic on our 2 days with them. If you have the status with Celebrity which enables you early disembarking then you should be fine. If not then there might be delays. I would imagine that all the tour companies operating there are used to that though so I would say don't worry. Celebrity do announce that passengers on their ship tours should disembark first. 

Other than that we were fine with no problems. Tallin was an easy reach from the dock as was Stockholm. We took the ship's tour in Copenhagen though I would not have bothered with the visit to the 'little mermaid' if going again - I really wish now we had visited the Tivoli Gardens. (ah the wisdom of hindsight eh?)

We were on the Eclipse(sister ship) when we were in the Baltic so am sorry but I can't help re exercise classes. 

22 minutes ago, screwsmcernst said:

I am trying to learn something new.  Genuinely interested in  this.   How can you tell where the bed will be in the cabin by looking at the deck plans?  Please please please share your wisdom with me.  😄

On the deck plans the additional bed is indicated by a symbol.... a black square I think. They are on alternate cabins usually..... they indicate that the main bed is by the bathroom. No symbol shows a bed by the balcony. 

The spreadsheet info at the start of the celeb posts sometimes show info on a cabin - you can search for a specific cabin on a specific ship to check. 

I have hired scooters on my past few cruises. I do not park/leave it on a corridor as that simply isn't fair on other users or the staff needing to move cleaning trolleys along the corridors. They do fit in the cabins..... I hire quite a large scooter with a 19 mile range.... but it is awkward moving in and out of the cabin so for that reason I have always tried to secure a cabin close to the forward elevator lobbies and have left the scooter parked right close to the wall (and power outlet) there. The stewards knew whose scooter it was and if it had been a problem I could have moved it. I have been very grateful to the Celebrity staff who have made my life easier with scooter use. I have never been able to book a disability cabin..... I have read that they are booked up extremely quickly from a cruise being made available to book. My last 2 cruises have been booked about a year ahead so far from last minute but far too late to book an accessible room. 

So I would say please don't fret too much..... a solution should be found to help/suit you.

 Enjoy your cruise.

 

When we took our first Celeb cruise I had no idea about cruise lines. I selected the cruise based on an interesting itinerary (it was a "Wine Immersion" cruise and had 2 days in Le Havre, then to Bordeaux, across to Bilbao, down to Porto and Vigo. ) It was a lovely cruise -the bonus being 2 French stops. I also loved the fact that it is a more adult traveller in board - as an ex teacher, although I like and get on well with kids, I do not do poor parenting. So to be able to avoid kids running about is a huge plus for us. We liked the Celebrity product and we have sailed exclusively with them ever since. I am wary moving to/trying another line in case I don't like it as well.....

 

 

On 5/9/2019 at 5:03 PM, memoak said:

Stayed at the Premier Inn about 6 years ago - thought the rooms were tiny and beds hard  -  poor service overall.  Next year we will stay at the Grand Harbour

Well I hope you get a better room at the Grand Harbour (I think it has changed name and is no longer a De Vere chain member) Our room was at the rear, had too little furniture there for the room size, the function room roof was visible and there was some noise. The bar area had stag or hen party folk in there for the Sat evening and there were quite a few unsupervised children about. On looking out of the window I could see folk in an upper room hanging out of their window to smoke 😞

Not been back. Much prefer the Holiday Inn and for the nicest room and stay Ennui's Boutique hotel is hard to beat - alas it doesn't;t have a lift but the hotel staff were very willing to carry cases up for us. The restaurant is very good too. Nice staff tastefully decorated and furnished rooms. Lovely.

 

 

I have the Sky suite aft corner booked for Sept. If you go on You tube and search the cabin number kind folk have posted videos of them 🙂 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0VNv0XREA

 

This is a comparable one I think

 

I second the Holiday Inn..... you can wake up in the morning and see your ship ! Alas it is showing at £146 for Sat 27 July so it must be pretty much full booked. Jury's is showing at £111 The previously DeVere Harbour now called Leonardo Royal Hotel is there at £118 (I have stayed previously when a Devere and did not have a good experience) It is close to the port though. Ibis budget (does what it says on the box ) is £90. The Ibis £97. I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express just outside the city off the Motorway and that is showing £104 - I am not sure whether they do a parking deal or not. 

We have previously booked parking via AB parking which is right at the dock and found them to be very good. 

 

I have had my hotel booked for next Sept since last Nov and got a price at the Holiday Inn in the £80s - so it does pay to book ahead. 

Hope you get fixed up and have a lovely cruise 🙂 

Regarding my scrubbed flight from JFK to Manchester it was early 2000s. I was on holiday in the USA visiting my fiancé there. I was coming back to Uk a week early because my year group were to receive their external, final year exam results and I wished to be there to congratulate them. Instead of landing in Man UK at 6 am  I was put on a flight to London with a connection that wouldn't get me in to Man til 11 am..... it was also delayed. I missed it all. Despite numerous attempts to get an answer from BA as to exactly why had they cancelled my flight - they were too cagey as to admit cutting costs by cutting one flight and fitting all passengers onto the one other flight. So not having travelled with them again I would not know that they didn't fly into JFK any more. Instead I have used United, Delta & Continental and never had any problems with them. 

I know from Southampton UK it is an excellent service which Celebrity provide. They see to it that you do not have to stand in line as a helper takes you through a disabled route to a lower desk so you can have the id photo taken. They then when boarding is announced collect you and board you onto the ships using the port elevators. The lovely gentlemen  will take you where you wish to be on the ship - cafe al back does it for me..... 

For disembarking you are asked to wait at a point on Deck 5 (has been in the past) and helpers will wheel you from the ship. Last cruise there was quite a backlog of wheelchair users so I opted to use my walker and made my slow progress off but it was fine. 

I will not fly BA following their cancelling my flight from JFK to Manchester at late notice and placing the travellers on a flight to London HT. I repeatedly requested information as to why my original flight didn't travel but no answer - could they have been on a money saving exercise? Add Iberia (partner to BA) to that after they bumped 6 pupils off a school trip flight from Barcelona despite flights booked 6 months in advance. It took a great deal of argument at Barcelona and in the end they took me and 5 pupils off - they flew our baggage to Manchester! They dumped us on Air France who were fantastic. Great food on the flight and when we landed in Paris and were in effect stranded at 11 30 at night Air France placed us in a 4  star hotel and fed us.They also gave us a bag of essentials each, T shirt, toothpaste etc - alas no underwear so that was washed and dried by a hairdryer ! They worked really hard next day to try to get us on a morning flight to Manchester despite not enough seats. I was eventually transported back via Heathrow (not recommended) the parents did give permission for the pupils to travel direct to Manchester without a teacher. 

 

So Air France gets a big thumbs up. WE also had good flight with Air Canada which as it had been delayed coming in from the Far East landed in Toronto too late for out short flight to Rochester. Again they sorted us a hotel and meals and an early morning onward flight. No complaints re them at all. 

Both Itineraries have plus points! From Southampton there would be sea days which I enjoy...... Le Havre is well placed for Normandy - Rouen for example also train travel to Paris. On visiting Toulon we visited the nearby beaches which were lovely....Lisbon and Bilbao are both great cities. La Coruna was quieter but I knew an ex pupil was living there so we arranged a meet up so I didn't see much of the area . Gibraltar if you haven't been before has its attractions. To end the cruise in Barcelona means you could have a few days post cruise there  - a great city. 

The other cruise has the advantage of ports for Rome and Florence. Corsica - I really liked too. 

 

I think we have cruised together as I recognise your name.....the British Isles cruise I think in 2017? Will never forget the fabulous sail in and out of Liverpool!  hope whichever cruise you choose you have a great time 🙂

 

Helen 

Thanks everyone..... think I now see it... 🙂

 

1 hour ago, weregoingcruising said:

I found out how to.

So er.... how does one search ?

 

I rang my contact cruise person at Celebrity. He didn't know about this email (I received it yesterday) and said it was another dept and I would have to ring them for info. However I had been ferreting about on the site and had seen a Sky suite there, one of the ones at the back corner of the ship, with porthole window and doors onto a very spacious balcony..... On my last cruise I had done a cabin trawl for the roll callers and we were fortunate enough to have a sky suite and a Celebrity suite to visit. I think it was a C suite and on viewing it.... there was a separate bedroom and then spacious lounge. The Sky suite just had the one room but with much more space than a balcony cabin. So I knew I would be very happy with a S suite. Have read reviews and it sounds great. I am now not going to read/watch re any deals. Hubby has his internet and as I keep releasing the 'little perks' of suite life to him, he is perfectly happy 🙂

Just have to be patient now with 140+ days to go. 

There is something for most folks' tastes. There can be a lovely feel to the live music.... maybe singer/guitarist, or violinist in the Ensemble bar. There has also been some jazz..... Later in the evening there can be bands in the Sky lounge. Yes karaoke too - usually held in the Quasar lounge I think there has been the odd competition to find the best karaoke singer of the cruise.  The ambience on the ship is that of relaxation and for people to suit themselves. I love the Celebrity product and so far do not feel inclined to look elsewhere..

I am not a good bad sea traveller and in fact as a teen on a terrible English Channel crossing, I swore I would never set foot on a boat again! Fast forward to my older age and I can say that in my 10+ cruises I haven't felt as much asa twinge and I have mostly crossed the Bay of Biscay! One other was the North sea which really "behaved" for me and then the Irish sea as we went around the UK ! So I have pushed my luck! 

I had mostly travelled on the Eclipse (once on the Constellation) so I was a lil sad to have to transfer to the Silhouette - the Eclipse having deserted Southampton for Dublin. I need not have worried as the "Sily" proved equally as good if not better. Am booked again for September..... can't wait !! 

I have always sailed the western Med in September. I find it just great. I did a week in Cannes once in early July and the beaches were much busier with plenty of families and teens. I prefer a quieter time 🙂 Again the number of people visiting the more touristy sites is more manageable too.