Port times different on Celebrity site - which to believe?

[MJfromCA]

The port arrival and departure times are an hour earlier in some cases on the celebrity.com site, in the 'Before You Cruise - Online Documentation' section, than what is listed in the brochure and in our cruise documents we got in the mail. We sail on Galaxy in two weeks. Which should we believe?

 

I need to adjust some private tours before we go, if we will arrive earlier and leave earlier than we expected. Thanks for help from anyone that knows the real story in this situation.

[mahdnc]

Good question. Detail which ports for your Galaxy cruise you were confused about and perhaps some Cruise Critic board member(s) who have sailed this cruise recently can tell you what the real score is.

[MJfromCA]

Istanbul shows 1 PM arrival and a 2 PM departure the next day, instead of 2PM arrival and 3 PM deparature. That is the one I am most concerned about, because we are trying to see a lot on our private tour.

 

Kusadasi (Ephesus) shows 9:30 to 6, instead of 10:30 to 7. Again, have a private tour, but only half-day, so this is not as critical, except to beat the heat.

 

Rome at the end shows 7 AM instead of 8 AM, which I believe is more realistic - I have heard they usually dock at 6 AM or earlier. I have a Celebrity transfer to the airport, so I am not worried about this one.

 

Any Galaxy Eastern med returnees this year that have dailies with the actual times? Thanks!

[Queenk2]

MJ I am glad YOU checked... I didn't think to do it!

Karen

[CaliforniaDreamin]

The port arrival and departure times are an hour earlier in some cases on the celebrity.com site, in the 'Before You Cruise - Online Documentation' section, than what is listed in the brochure and in our cruise documents we got in the mail. We sail on Galaxy in two weeks. Which should we believe?

 

I need to adjust some private tours before we go, if we will arrive earlier and leave earlier than we expected. Thanks for help from anyone that knows the real story in this situation.

 

I would go by the official documents you received in the mail. That is the contract for the cruise. The online site is not always updated punctually and also has mistakes at times.

 

That said, the times can be changed by the cruise line at their will according to the contract you make with them. Also, past cruise port times are not necessarily a good indicator for future cruises. Weather also may cause port times to be changed.

 

Private tours, or tours through the ship for that matter, may be in jeopardy if port times change or weather is bad.

 

Bon Voyage - Good luck on your tours.

[MJfromCA]

Thanks for all the advice. As you say, CaliforniaDreamin, this could happen even on the trip, due to weather or some other reason.

 

I think I'll let my private tour guides know we may be in an hour early, and ask them to check locally that day and be there when we get in, whenever that is. Then cross my fingers and hope for the best. They have probably run into this before.

[flashdog_1]

Could the ship have passed thru a time zone? The ship sometimes does not use local time.

 

If you go to celebrityatsea.com, on the right side of the sceen, pick your type ship (Century or Millenium), then click your ship's name in the center. To the right you will see 4 choices in orange, pick the bottom one, "archives." If you know another trip identical to your itinerary, select that month, that day when the ship will be in the ports in question, and go to the hour. You can back it up if the ship seems to be at sea, or go forward to see when it left the dock. Each picture will give the time. This will not work if the trip is in reverse order.

 

Another website you can check the web cam on is krooozecam.com, but there are no archives. You'd have to check on the day the ship is in port.

 

You can also check with the tour company. They wil have a list of ships in port and know when to pick you up. This was a concern in the W Caribbean where we went back & forth between time zones. You daily will tell you what time you are on, ship's time or local time.

 

Hopefully someone who has cruised this area will advise you on this thread. Also post your question on the ports of call board.

[sbc98grad]

MJ,

Our private guide for Istanbul and Ephesus said they would be in port about an hour prior to the time our ship is slated to be in port since the Galaxy often comes in an hour early. Read this however you like...certainly more important on day two! But is seems some guides may already know that the times are off a bit.

[canderson]

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I need to adjust some private tours before we go, if we will arrive earlier and leave earlier than we expected. Thanks for help from anyone that knows the real story in this situation.

While I'd check while you've got time to switch excursion schedules, I think you'll find your cruise documents to be the more accurate of the two. The web site isn't being updated very well with regard to any number of things these days.

[TourDeCruise]

The times according to our dailies for May 23rd Galaxy Eastern Mediterranean were (I also put whether it was a casual, formal or informal night):

 

Civitavecchia Departure 7:00pm (casual)

At sea (formal)

Mykonos 2:00pm-11:00pm (casual) -- our cruise documents or our itinerary on Celebrity website said 11:59pm but we debarked at 11:00pm

Rhodes 9:00am-5:00pm (casual)

Santorini 8:00am-4:00pm (informal) -- over to shore around 8:30am but we weren't on the first tender -- last tender from shore was 3:00pm - long lines at end of day -- our itinerary on Celebrity website incorrectly said "docked" but we "tendered"

Istanbul 2:00pm overnight (casual) -- arrived a little earlier & we were off ship around 2:00pm or a little after -- Celebrity website incorrectly said "tender" but we "docked"

Istanbul 3:00pm departure (formal)

Kudadasi 10:30am-7:00pm (casual) -- arrived a little earlier & we were off ship around 10:40am, but could get off around 10:30am or a little after

Piraeus 7:00am-5:00pm (informal) -- arrived by around 7:00am but not off ship until around 7:30am and through cruise terminal until 7:45am because we were in the slot furthest from terminal -- Millennium had the closest slot. There was a shuttle but we walked for around 10+ minutes.

At sea (formal)

Naples 7:00am-7:00pm (casual)

Civitavecchia -- 4:30pm according to daily. When we woke up around 5:15am we were already in port. Some groups were leaving ship before 6:00am (don't know earliest but we debarked around 6:10am for an 11:10am flight out of Rome)

 

BTW -- of 9 cruises (4 European cruises), this was our best cruise! If you are into archaeology and ancient history/civilizations, this is the cruise for you!

[Queenk2]

Thank you for the advise.. I have an 11:30 flight, I am being picked up at 7:30. Is that enough time..or should I tell the driver to pick us up at 7am? Thakns,

Karen

[TourDeCruise]

Karen: You might want to ask your driver what he thinks. And ask others on Cruise Critic what they think. I tend to go on the cautious side and would go with 7:00am, but we did have time to spare at the airport. We were lucky though because we went so early and didn't hit the Rome rush hour traffic. Waiting later could put you in the rush hour which would delay getting to Rome. Kathy

[Queenk2]

He had suggested 8am, but said that 7:30 would be fine. He told me that I cannot check in with Alitalia before 9:30 .

[TourDeCruise]

Karen: He would know better than I. We had to wait for our check-in to open. You probably want to stick with the 7:30am versus the 8:00am though. Kathy