suec12

Sorry, I meant to name this roll call hanky panky :)

I've seen some roll call hijinks that really make me shake my head - posters with multiple screen names, constantly promoting their private tours, filling up not just one van for a few, but lining up a fleet of vans and attempting to have the tour operators in a port only provide services to them and the folks they are nudging onto their tours. I began to suspect ulterior motives.........do you think it would do any good to report this to the cruise line or roll call folks......maybe I am just being mean spirited and suspicious?

I've embarked there before and don't remember this - so is that where you sign in and get your seapass? There is AC?

If nothing else works out, I was just going to suggest you might want to visit the local hamman - we did that on our 2nd visit there (since we had been to Ephesus) and had a ball. Take your swimmsuit - the facilities are not sex segregated.

Several years ago we were on a cruise that stopped in Porto - very near where we docked there were several very casual restaurants - outside tables, big smokey grills with fresh fish. It was one of the best meals of my life - we will be in Lisbon in Oct.....where can I find a similar restaurant? It was grilled fish, slit open, head on, maybe with olive oil and lemon - just amazing!

I like having direct access to Celebrity and do not transfer my bookings. I appreciate being able to pick up the phone, evenings and weekends too, and speak with an agent, be the issue big or small. I used to use a TA - we were always phone tagging and I did not like taking travel agent calls at work where others could hear me discussing prices! I suppose I have missed some perks but on one occasion I am sure I would have missed out on an upgrade that came available on a Friday afternoon as well as getting a price drop that was a weekend special. In the end, I just prefer to talk directly to Celebrity!

Yes, gfk, I am on the Oct. 8th sail......looking forward to it very much!

We booked an upcoming cruise over a year ago - on our invoice final payment is due July 25......now Celebrity is telling me it is due in 2 days or it MAY be cancelled. Anyone else deal with this.....did you let it ride until the date on the invoice? I suppose I'll go ahead and pay it but I am a tad annoyed that the date seems to have changed.

We usually cruise Celebrity but we did one HAL -two things I really liked about HAL that X does not have, fresh flowers and a large, covered promenade deck. For pretty much everything else we liked Celebrity - in our opinion, food quite a bit better on X, service much better on X. I'm sure your family will have a great time!

Does the icon in front of my post mean it has been moved? I am also posting on the ports section but thought I would ask here as well.

We are booked on an Alaskan cruise, RT from Seattle (Princess). My BIL seems to think there are some excursions offered by train. I thought train trips were usually pre or post cruise. Are there same day excursions offered on a 7 day itinerary?

I am going on an Alaskan cruise in 2017 with family. We are doing Seattle round trip, 7 day. My BIL seems to think there will be options for train excursions? but has no definite information. Is this true? from which port? I thought that usually the train trips were actually pre or post trip add ons. Thanks for any info!

I enjoyed your pre-cruise chat about Seattle and now have been reading thru your trip report. But I have a question - did you stay for 3 nights at the Warwick for $417! what a deal! and you said you kept switching the booking around? Did you book thru the hotel of booking.com. We are going with friends next July - I've warned them Seattle hotels are pricey, but what a deal you got. I'd love to get a price like that for a Seattle hotel and the Warwick looks very nice. Advice please. Thanks and also thanks for the pleasant trip report for Seattle and beyond.

I don't remember the cabin number but I think there was another thread about a month ago with the same issue. Is it still accessible?

The Edgewater is right there but not inexpensive or as convenient to other Seattle sights. Mayflower Park is our choice - they have a shuttle - not sure if free. It is walkable to market and near the light-rail for airport access. Seattle hotels are pricey.

Perhaps my post was not clear - we will all have SELECT dining but would like to have a reserved time as a table of 8, at least for some nights. We have made reservations in the past but when we got to the hostess stand, a wait ensued. So those of you with select dining, have you made reservations pre-cruise and been seated close to that time?

I am unclear on the reservations policy for the MDR. On previous cruises, we made reservations for a group of 6 with linked bookings, months ahead of time, but often encountered a somewhat extended wait when we turned up for our table. Recently when we were only a twosome, I would hear couples asking the hostess for reservations while on the cruise and hear her tell them they only had times like 6 or 8:30 available. What experience have fellow cruisers had with making reservations? ahead of time, how long, on the cruise? In the fall we will be a group of 8 and would like to avoid seating complications if possible. Advice?

And why oh why is there no posting of the scheduled times for the free movies - either on the TV somewhere or in a paper handed out at the start of the cruise. I ended up going to a concierge desk and requesting a print out. But it would be nice to just be given this info (maybe the could skip just one flyer hawking the chocolate diamonds and art auctions)!

Hmm, I was so hopeful when I saw that lovely new terminal.....I assume the Brilliance did not dock and disembark there? but I'm encouraged to hear a port shuttle took you out - some posters from earlier threads seemed to have to walk thru the containers, trucks and such.

Well somehow I missed the captions on the video - I'll watch it again!

I don't know how to post the link, but go back to a post from May 27th and you will find it. Lovely....and after thinking about it, there is a point in the video that shows a smaller ship sailing out - that may be the point in the video where the footage starts being from other parts of the Amalfi coast.

We will be on Celebrity Silhouette in Oct. - previously (maybe a year ago) I read postings on the port of Salerno and the ships were docking in what was a container port - getting out for day trips difficult! But is there a new port now? I watched the video posted on youtube - if that is where we will be docking, it looks very nice! Is it the same port the boats/ferries that go to Capri and up the Amalfi coast use?

About that lovely video - I really wondered how much of the footage was from Salerno (I know many shots were from the area, including Capri). But the church / cathedral shown early on with frescos and mosaics, was that in Salerno?

Go over to the Celebrity roll call boards and start posting and chatting with folks on that roll call.

Thank you to all that have posted so far - you have given me $$$'s worth of advice - esp. the referral OBC and stockholder's. We are cruising with friends that have already chosen a date so that puts us into the high fare season - we usually cruise "shoulder" season.

More tips are always welcome - I will sign up for sale notices - I'm sure my email inbox will soon be even fuller than it already is with promos from lines that we have sailed on before. Thanks again to those of you willing to share your tips and booking strategies.

We have sailed many times on another line and know the machinations that brand employs re: pricing. Friends want us to do a Princess Alaska NEXT summer. When looking at pp / per night, the price seems a bit high. Can you give me suggestions to help me lower the price? Does Princess run specials that include a drinks package? grats? can you purchase liquor onboard to put in your stateroom to make your own mixed drinks? Also I assume Princess honors pre- final payment price drops....after final payment can you upgrade if there is a large price drop that is advertised as "new bookings only"? THANKS!

I think you should just assume that X probably knows what they are doing in terms of supply and demand for accessible cabins. If by some chance it turns out at the last minute, the cabin was needed as an accessible cabin, I assume they would offer you some deal to make you happy. If what you booked was a guarantee, they might just change you but if you paid for and booked an aft cabin I would assume that is where you will be or upgraded to accommodate a special needs passenger. Enjoy!

We were on the Silhouette in one of these suites. I was a bit apprehensive, pre-sail. We did hear some noise usually early in the morning - like carts rolling. It did not bother us - it was not very loud and not too often. Did you look in the "sticky" at the top of this board - you will get more info on that cabin. Ironically, some friends of ours were in another suite in a very different part of the ship and had quite a bit of noise from some work being done in an interior shaft but I think that was maybe a one time repair or retrofit issue - not a problem that would always be there.