absolutboy20

Here's was our 72-hour deal. For two spa treatments, you pay the highest price and get the lower priced one for $99. We only have one day at sea during our 9-day itinerary, so we'd figure we would lock it in for July 17 and get the times we wanted. Two Canyon Ranch massages are $145 each, so we saved $46 on the second one or an average price of $122, a 16% savings. You could say that we saved 32% on the second, but it's really 16% of total price.

Thank you both for posting about your spa deals. I did receive an e-mail this afternoon from Canyon Ranch regarding the sale promo and it is similar to your but was a little higher in cost. I did have to e-mail them as their 800 number is closed and supposedly they will honor the quote they gave me. If it all works out it would be roughly a 40% discount. I'll keep you posted.

I have received the email as well but has anyone purchased any of the spa services for a discount? My email states up to 65% on these services??

I need to sit down in front a laptop this afternoon to explore as the links don't work very well on my phone browser.

Cannery Row is predominately restaurants and shops, but for the this area and near the pier would be where you can join a kayak tour. Whale watching tours would be off of the pier as well.

It's definitely worthwhile to have access to a car, Uber is available as well as Turo. This area encompasses 17-mile drive that will lead to Pebble Beach/Spyglass courses for those who want to see the setting as well as Carmel.

For anyone who is watching HBO's Big Little Lies series the pier is where they have coffee, but all of the houses that you see are mostly in the Carmel area.

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Your going to be tendering by the pier so the Cannery Row area made famous by Steinbeck would be a 10-15 walk. I'm sure you looked at the obvious but Monterey Bay Aquarium would be there. They sometimes have a baby great white shark in the Outer Bay experience along with the massive tunas. This area also has bikes that are available for rent. Monterey Bay is a sanctuary, so a kayaking tour may be worthwhile to catch a glimpse of the sea otters laying out in the kelp and seals. I've had one jump onto the bow of the kayak onetime for a quick r&r.

To get to see amazing rugged coastline views, I would recommend a rental car for the day. Enterprise is quite close to the pier. I would highly suggest seeing the Big Sur coastline, but the massive amount of rains has blocked access, with some couple hundred residents currently trapped. Pfeiffer Canyon bridge is collapsing and is deemed unsalvageable so access will be limited for a while. Also if your hitting the area during low tide, you can go to the local tide pools to see the temporarily trapped sea creatures.

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We didn't drink much tonight but we decided to explore a couple areas of the ship this evening euthanized Dawn and Lisa.

 

 

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I'm not a big fan of Oceanview Cafe either but euthanizing Dawn and Lisa over the midnight buffet decision seems a tad excessive, BUT it's your vacation/birthday! [emoji204]

Thanks for keeping up with the forum, I'm enjoying your updates.

I'm doing this trek in August as well. If you check out some third party vendors you'll see some of them will offer a similar guarantee of getting you back to the ship in time. It's not offered on all Berlin excursions so you have to read the detailed info.

I really haven't done a ship sponsored excursion in a few years. The last one being in Indonesia with a caravan of buses with police escort front and back to get us through traffic by driving on the wrong side of the road. That was one ship excursion that was worth the up charge.

The coffee situation is a little odd with the suite perks. You can get speciality coffee in room from the attendant or in Michaels as part of the perks. The same policy should apply in Luminae but it doesn't for some reason. I've only been charged maybe 50% of the time for a speciality coffee in Luminae though.

This obviously is a mute point if you have a premium beverage package.

I agree with Quaker. If you are in the slant cabin you will be able to see a little bit of the neighboring balcony but nothing that affects the privacy of the cabin itself.

I can't seem to find an answer to this, but maybe I'm just searching incorrectly.

 

 

 

Do you know if non-suite guests are allowed to accompany a suite-guest into Michael's Club, or is it strictly forbidden?

I saw a guest ask this on embarkation day to the MC concierge and was politely declined.

Thank you all for your VERY insightful information so far. I didn't think that docking would be at a different port for St.Petersberg so that's very good to know that Amazara will be closer to the city centre. The suggestion of Moscow for a day-trip was also something I never considered which makes the extra day in port more appealing, although it will be a grueling three-day port stop. I also was in the group that felt I would not enjoy a small ship with the less onboard activities (very small gym), but the service outweighed the negatives on my last premium cruise experience.

I am now leaning towards the shorter cruise as it will allow time to enjoy either Stockholm or London for a few additional days, rather than running back to the airport to get a flight back to the US. I just checked Azamara's site today and room availability seems to fluctuate quicker than on Celebrity, so I'll need to make a decision on this sooner than later.

I'm currently booked on a 13-day cruise on the Eclipse but started looking at other options before final payments are due. With the current cruise on Celebrity, I'm maxing out on my vacation time so will only be able to have one full day in London prior to embarkation in Southampton, and will be flying out the same day as disembarkation. This itinerary includes five sea days.

I was looking through Azamara's site and saw that there is a 10-day itinerary out of Stockholm that visits the same Baltic destinations with an extra day (3 days in St. Petersberg) and an overnight in Stockholm. There's only one sea day on this itinerary.

I enjoy sea days, but never had five sea days on a cruise. I also think the outdoor pool action which is what I enjoy on sea days would be less favorable in the Baltic.

The pricing will be about 10% higher on Azamara for the shorter cruise just for the room. On Celebrity, I'm getting all four perks included as well as a $700 on board credit. Azamara it seems as though basic drinks are included, one device included for wifi. as well as a spa credit that comes with the room.

I've only sailed one premium line which was Seabourn which I loved. The great memories that stood out for me on that cruise were eating in the aft casual full-service restaurant every night with outdoor dining under the stars, never having to pull out my key card to pay for items, marina, and the outstanding service.

I enjoy Celebrity and would love the number of sea days if it were in a warmer climate. Azamara seems more upscale but just don't know if it's comparable to Seabourn. The shorter cruise would allow for more time in visiting London or other parts of Europe.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Puerto Rico is a US territory along with the US Virgin Islands so you will be able to use your phone normally wifi or not.

https://www.t-mobile.com/Cms/Files/Published/0000BDF20016F5DD010312E2BDE4AE9B/0000BDF20016F5DF0109A352BDD6976C/file/National%20Coverage.pdf

Wifi calling on the ship back to the US and receiving calls would be included in your plan.

https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-9997

Specifically under the section of:

Calls made from outside the U.S. to U.S. numbers (not charged roaming)

All incoming calls received over Wi-Fi calling are $0.

I know that Monterey is a "tender" port. Anyone with recent experience with rental car? How far from pier? Did they pick you up?

 

Happy New Year.

From Coast Guard Pier, Enterprise is going to be the closest (1.7 miles) without having to go to the airport. Enterprise will pick you up with a reservation. Uber is available in the area as well for transport.

Have you considered using Turo in renting a local's personal car for the day? Some will do pickups.

We've received no word from Celebrity, but alert posters on our roll call discovered reservations missing from the site. Someone posted about the website being redone, so I'd hoped that was the case. Our agent called X and found out our cruise has been chartered. It's the Millie 11-26-17. I'd noticed last week it was missing from the sales portion of the site when I went to check for price decreases. Unfortunately this itinerary is not being offered on other dates. Really disappointed not to get to Bali and Komodo Island. RCCL goes to Bali but not Komodo Island which is high on the bucket list.

 

Extra complications include the deposits and shore excursion payments that need to be refunded were put on the now discontinued Costco AMEX card and that we had a land tour booked to coincide with this trip.

 

NOT HAPPY with Celebrity, just as those who've had this experience in the past and posted threads. It seems to happen more with X cruises in Asia.

 

It is well ahead of time but there is no alternate date to replace this. I won't be booking Asia with them again.

I'm sorry to hear that your cruise was cancelled but the timeframe is in line with other charters that have happened in the past. The cruise lines seems to set the 11-12 month mark as the threshold to book charters.

Anyone booked on the original cruise would be disappointed, but the majority of them would not have been able to book airfare/hotels that far in advance. Avoiding Asia with Celebrity is not necessarily going to protect you from future charters. It happens on other cruise lines with the same timeframe.

As far as the credit back on the Amex card, they will send a check back for the now defunct card.

Thanks for the info. South America wasn't on my radar due the economic climate and I really like S-class ships on Celebrity but this may be tempting. Haven't really researched much on the itineraries down there but the western South America itinerary looks interesting.

It looks like Celebrity is moving her up the continent to do the Alaska itinerary for the spring/summer 2018 by her ending up in San Diego in April.

Thanks for these ideas. If our dock is Marina Bay' date=' we will probably not get a hotel room for the night.[/quote']

 

 

 

Even if you are not docked at Marina Bay, and are docked near Sentosa Island I would not be concerned about getting a hotel. Traffic is heavily regulated in Singapore and the costs of taxis is very reasonable. Sentosa will place you near the beaches, theme parks, etc.

 

As far as the OP's question. If you can swing it, I would highly recommend a stay at Marina Bay Sands. Yes it's like staying in a large Las Vegas casino resort, but you basically are paying to go to the rooftop pool. The pictures don't do it justice when you step out of the elevator and see this enormous infinity pool that you know is cantilevered over three towers. Getting into the water and looking over the edge and seeing nothing but skyscrapers, it's pretty spectacular.

 

Visitors can go to an observation deck located on one corner of the tower, but only guests are allowed to use the pool.

Which would you choose Pompei or tHe National museum. Cannot do both.

 

 

 

Thanks

One question is what time of the year are you going to be in Naples? Pompeii in the summer in August can be extremely hot and crowded. It makes touring the ruins difficult as there is very little shade.

We hired a private driver which we toured the Amalfi Coast in the morning, Pompeii in the afternoon.

I'm in the minority on this one. The site is huge, but I was expecting a little more. Ruins like Ephesus for me were much more interesting and better preserved to give an idea of daily life back in the day.

We have open internet access as a perk on our next cruise. In this situation can both cabin mates access the internet at the same time on different devices?

Yes if BOTH of you have the unlimited internet perk. If only one person in the cabin has the package, then only one device can be logged in at a time.

Hi,

 

Would you recommend inexpensive laptop, an IPAD or a tablet. I would like to keep cost no higher than 350.00.

 

At $350, your not going to get a great quality laptop, it'll be something along the lines of a Chromebook which doesn't have the full functionality of a traditional laptop.

I would go with a tablet if I were you as a physical keyboard doesn't seem like something you would be needing. If it were sending out e-mails for work or writing long paragraphs, typing on a digital screen becomes tiresome. Plus tablets weigh less.

As far as which tablet, is your phone an Apple or Android? If you have a lot of paid apps on your phone that you use, you'll want to stick with the same operating system or else you'll need to re-purchase the apps. Ipad's are usually on sale so you should be able to stick to your price point. Android tablets there are so many it'll be easy to find one.

Any chance Eggs Benedict would be on the room service menu for Suites?

 

 

 

Also, would the butler have to run to Cafe al Bacio if you wanted a Latte every morning or do they have access to espresso drinks somewhere closer to the suites?

Can't remember about eggs benedict on the menu but cappuccino/lattes can be ordered anytime in a suite. I don't believe the machines that the butlers use are the traditional style that they use at Bacio but more on the side of the automatic machines using pods like they have in Michaels Club.

 

 

 

It was warm and overcast for arrival in Civitavecchia. Predictions are for the temperatures to drop and stormy tomorrow. Our first port was changed to La Spezia.

 

 

 

Three Costa Ships, Crystal and Queen Victoria are in port today.

 

 

 

 

 

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Have a great cruise and thanks for posting. Sorry about your first port being cancelled.

I speed tested it on the Equinox in August 2016 in the Mediterranean. The download averaged 2mb and the upload was around 200kb. The speed is decent for web surfing, VOIP calls, Facetime, etc. I had to make a VOIP call in the middle of the sea that lasted over 45 minutes to the airline and it never lost connection. However, streaming movies or downloading them in HD would be a problem as it's just too slow

The best part of the Xcelerate was that the connection was stable. I didn't experience any issues with being booted off the wifi connection and having to relog back in due to the loss of connection.

Will I at least be able to Facetime. I remember being able to do this while I was in Italy....or is it different when you are on a cruise.

FaceTime requires an internet connection whether it be using a data package provided by your cell phone provider or a outside wifi connection.

When you were in Italy, you were most likely connecting to a hotel, restaurant, or tourist attractions wifi which I assume may have have been free.

On a cruise, the ship uses satellite based technology as land based cell reception is not available after a few miles out to sea. This makes it much more expensive to operate as well as the connection being much slower.

If your looking for free wifi and you don't have a package on the ship, your best bet is to go to a cafe once on shore as many places will have free wifi. Some ports have free wifi in the cruise terminals.

So I just making sure I am reading the replies correctly.

 

I have an Iphone 6 plus(I believe), I don't see the WiFi calling option in my settings, but I do see the airplane mode. So while I'm cruising to the Bahamas next week I just need to place my phone to airplane mode and make sure my wifi is turned on...... I will be able to listen to music, watch movies, blah blah blah and will not have to pay extra to Sprint.

Apologies on my previous response as I didn't know it was two months old.

As far as the question above the wifi calling is in your Settings=>Phone and you should be able to see wifi calling as an availability depending upon your carrier.

So the question is if you stream all of your music and movies and you are looking to use Celebrity's ship wifi as your internet provider yes this will work, although streaming movies even with the faster wifi service on board isn't that ideal for movies.

 

Airplane mode shuts off everything, but still allows connection to Wi-Fi.

 

I am not looking to do this, I still want to have call ability and texting.

 

Data roaming is all I need to do, but I am not sure what CDMA is.

This isn't correct. If you turn on Airplane mode it will automatically turn off cell service as well as wifi capability. You manually have to go back in and turn on wifi. The reasoning is that airplane mode is factoring in all devices that produce wireless signal have to be turned off during landing and takeoff for possible interference with aircraft instruments. You can turn on wifi while still in airplane mode (disabling cell provider connection but allowing wifi connection) so that you can connect to airline connections wifi inflight including Gogo.

CDMA is the technology that Verizon/Sprint uses as their cell service. GSM is what T-Mobile/AT&T use, and what most of Europe and the majority of world use. This made data roaming with a CDMA/Verizon phones difficult as they needed to make their own infrastructure from the ground up in these countries rather than piggybacking off of the specific nations carriers. Now newer iPhones can carry both GSM/CDMA technology which allows all carriers to make agreements so that their customers can use their phones worldwide regardless of GSM/CDMA issues.

I do know newer Verizon phones now have both. Easiest way to tell is whether your phone has a SIM card slot on your Verizon phone. As I don't use Verizon as my carrier, I don't know the specifics of their data roaming. But if you have a international data roaming package you just need to concern yourself with turning "data roaming" on and off in the specific areas you are covered. For example, AT&T specifically outlines which countries are included with their data roaming package, but if you are too far off the coast and can't get land based coverage, the Cellular at Sea service by Celebrity is not covered.

The easiest rule of thumb, turn data roaming on when you get to a port in the countries you know you have coverage per your international data roaming contract with your wireless carrier, and make sure you turn it off when you get to the ship before it leaves port and there is no land based cell services where it switches to Cellular at Sea.