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Just off Infinity British Isles, any questions?

ginak1112

By ginak1112,
in Celebrity Cruises

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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My daughter and I disembarked in Copenhagen on Friday after our British Isles cruise. We visited Le Havre, Cork, Dublin, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow and Oslo. We had a wonderful time on the ship and loved all of the ports. We stayed in Aqua class, deck 9 and are Elite members. The ship is in great condition and the crew is very friendly. We have noticed a few negative changes after not sailing on Celebrity for the past 3 years but nothing that would prevent us from taking a future sailing with them. I will try to answer any questions that you may have about the boat or ports.

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Jeff&Mel

Jeff&Mel

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We are taking this cruise in August- but we do not go to Copenhagen.

 

This will be our first time on Celebrity. I have a lot of questions.

 

We are trying to decide whether or not we are going to take our 12 year old with us or leave him with Grandma. Celebrity just doesn't look like it will be much fun for him. He is used to RCI- lots of pools, rock climbing walls, miniature golf and a FABULOUS kids club.

 

So my first question: Did you see many kids?

 

Did you do any of the ships excursions? Which ones did you like/dislike?

 

What is the negatives that you noticed?

 

Also- I am not sure how much to dress up/down on celebrity. I don't want to look like a slob :) How did ladies dress on casual nights? Would you say for formal nights more women wore full length gowns or cocktail dresses?

 

So how were the shows? We LOVE shows and never miss them!!

 

Smoking- was the ship mostly non=smoking? How about the casino (love the casino:))

 

Thanks so much!!

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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We are taking this cruise in August- but we do not go to Copenhagen.

 

This will be our first time on Celebrity. I have a lot of questions.

 

We are trying to decide whether or not we are going to take our 12 year old with us or leave him with Grandma. Celebrity just doesn't look like it will be much fun for him. He is used to RCI- lots of pools, rock climbing walls, miniature golf and a FABULOUS kids club.

 

So my first question: Did you see many kids?

 

Did you do any of the ships excursions? Which ones did you like/dislike?

 

What is the negatives that you noticed?

 

Also- I am not sure how much to dress up/down on celebrity. I don't want to look like a slob :) How did ladies dress on casual nights? Would you say for formal nights more women wore full length gowns or cocktail dresses?

 

So how were the shows? We LOVE shows and never miss them!!

 

Smoking- was the ship mostly non=smoking? How about the casino (love the casino:))

 

Thanks so much!!

 

 

 

My daughter is in college and finished at the beginning of May. As this trip was in early/mid May, I assume that most kids are still in school. August will be a much different trip, I imagine. Our cruise was a much older cruise with a small mixing of passengers in my age bracket (40's/50's), a few college kids with their parents and hardly any children. I think that I saw one boy, I believe from Asia, about 12 years old. I believe that this itinerary and boat are geared to this type of crowd. We went on the Equinox a few years ago in August and there were many families from around the globe with all aged children.

 

I did notice a kids club available but, of course, none of the RCCL type activities. If I had to base the decision on our sailing week, I would say not to bring him. Why don't you check your roll call and see if any other passengers on it have kids. Is there a possibility for him to bring a friend? We have done that before when our kids were younger. Honestly, I would probably have not brought my children on this boat/itinerary when they were younger. I think that the ports would have bored them to death, lol,.

 

I am very sensitive to smoke and never noticed a sole smoking anywhere on the boat. Once again, older crowd I believe. Obviously, everyone smokes in Europe and you will be bombarded with it in all the ports.

 

We over packed big time for this cruise! So many days, after long excursions, we were just too exhausted to have to dress up. We would put on dressy jeans or maxi dresses to go to dinner. We noticed so many passengers wearing what they had worn to sightseeing that day to dinner. We only ate in the MDR 2 nights, with most other nights in BLU. I feel that people were a little nicer dressed In BLU. Formal nights were a mix with the older crowd in sequins but we fit in perfectly with basic black dresses. Also, only pack 1 pair of heels as your feet will hurt after a full day of sightseeing. We were happy to put on a pair of flat sandals at night.

 

Shows were okay. Singers were very fair and shows were not the best we had seen but still entertaining. We loved a woman who they bring on from London who headlined for many shows years ago. She had a lovely voice. Also, a great electric violinist who came on.

 

We only did 2 ship excursions and enjoyed them. We went to Monet's house and gardens in Giverny as we have been to Paris a few times. It was a nice day! We did the best of Oslo tour and it got us everywhere we wanted to go at a good price. I looked on tripadvisor and booked many private tours: the fab 4 Beatles tour was great, Paddy Cambell's black taxi in Belfast was great and Butler tours in Cork for a nice tour to Blarney Castle, etc. Other days we did our own things after careful planning of what we wanted to see.

 

Negatives for us were slight changes we noticed in the food, prices of drinks, etc. Like I said, I would have no problem booking another cruise with Celebrity.

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gwilli

gwilli

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So nice to hear that you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for answering our questions. Was there a sail away party? If so, where? And is there a good place on the dock in Liverpool to meet others to catch taxi cabs? We have a group going to the Cavern club one evening. Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

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onthebalcony

onthebalcony

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We are on the Aug. 25 British Isles cruise.

 

I read that there is a free shuttle to downtown Belfast (I think I found this in ports of call). Is this correct? We plan to use the on/off bus at this port.

 

Also, is there a "white night" on this cruise?

 

Thanks for your write up! We also haven't been on Celebrity in a while and expect some changes!!

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iHeartGlaciers

iHeartGlaciers

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Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for coming on here to share your experience :-)

 

I'd love to know more about the sea day activities (trivia, painting, etc)--frequency and type.

 

Do you remember if they had music acts in the lounge areas? My last cruise they had an acoustic guitar and string trip play periodically throughout the day near the coffee stand. I'm wondering if that has changed with the cutbacks.

 

I'd also like to know who the cruise director was, if you remember.

 

Thanks again!

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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Can you tell me who was the cruise director? We will be on the Infinity late July. Thanks.

 

Vicky

 

The CD was Rich but I think that he was going to be transferring to another ship soon. I can't confirm that but I remember reading it on my roll call.

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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Hi,

 

Very informative post.

We are taking the Infinity on the 30th May and are very excited.

Do you remember the name of the Captain?

 

Thanks again.

 

I'm sorry but I don't recall his name. I do know that he was Greek and told bad jokes during his morning announcements, lol.

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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So nice to hear that you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for answering our questions. Was there a sail away party? If so, where? And is there a good place on the dock in Liverpool to meet others to catch taxi cabs? We have a group going to the Cavern club one evening. Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

 

There was a tented area set up on the Liverpool dock and the taxi/tour drivers were waiting just outside of it. You could meet in there, it is small enough to find each other.

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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We are on the Aug. 25 British Isles cruise.

 

I read that there is a free shuttle to downtown Belfast (I think I found this in ports of call). Is this correct? We plan to use the on/off bus at this port.

 

Also, is there a "white night" on this cruise?

 

Thanks for your write up! We also haven't been on Celebrity in a while and expect some changes!!

 

Yes, I believe that there was a free shuttle to the the center. I was on a tour and had a pick up right at the pier so I didn't use it.

 

Sorry, no white night on our cruise but maybe you will have one.

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for coming on here to share your experience :-)

 

I'd love to know more about the sea day activities (trivia, painting, etc)--frequency and type.

 

Do you remember if they had music acts in the lounge areas? My last cruise they had an acoustic guitar and string trip play periodically throughout the day near the coffee stand. I'm wondering if that has changed with the cutbacks.

 

I'd also like to know who the cruise director was, if you remember.

 

Thanks again!

 

The CD was Rich but I have heard that he may be transferring.

 

Sea day activities were: trivia, name that tune, battle of the sexes, zumba, art auctions and bingo. I felt that were a bit on the light side. There are only 2 girls running the activities now. Since it is not a warm climate there is nothing going on at the pool, ie. pool games so I think that they should make up for this with additional indoor activities.

 

The music selection was good throughout the day. Piano player, Guitar player, string duo, house band and dj. We enjoyed all of them.

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onthebalcony

onthebalcony

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I have another question about the on/off buses. We plan to use them in Cork, Liverpool and Dublin as well as Belfast. Are the stops close to the cruise port? From the maps on the buses website, the stops look close! On previous cruises when we used the on/off buses, they came right down to the ports!

 

Thanks for your prompt response!!

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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I have another question about the on/off buses. We plan to use them in Cork, Liverpool and Dublin as well as Belfast. Are the stops close to the cruise port? From the maps on the buses website, the stops look close! On previous cruises when we used the on/off buses, they came right down to the ports!

 

Thanks for your prompt response!!

 

I don't recall seeing them in any of the mentioned ports but you can go to the city sightseeing website and see where the stops are. I think that you would have to take a train into Cork first to get it. Liverpool port was right in the city so it should be close by. Dublin was about a 10 minute taxi into the city center.

 

If I may make a suggestion, I would not recommend the bus in Cork as it is not too exciting of a city to see. We did a wonderful tour on http://www.ecoach.ie/blarney_bus_tour.php

They had several buses filled with our ship's passengers and also arrange private tours. I trusted them completely to get us back to our ship on time (the guide even pointed out that they would never jeopardize their high rating and would taxi back if it was ever necessary). The buses were waiting outside the port and we spent a wonderful day in Kinsale and Blarney. If you book early it is only 20 euros (we were not early and paid 35 euros), a terrific bargain for full transportation and a driver/guide who is funny, informative and just lovely! You have free time in Kinsale which is a lovely town to walk around with amazing restaurants. We had delicious fish and chips and local beer. Blarney was beautiful and we kissed the stone. On the way back to the boat, we drove through Cork and our guide pointed out all of the sights. Lunch and admission to Blarney is not included but is not too expensive.

 

I did wonderful tours in other cities as well if you are interested. I just know that people who wandered around Cork were not that satisfied in their decision.

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joandian

joandian

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I have another question about the on/off buses. We plan to use them in Cork, Liverpool and Dublin as well as Belfast. Are the stops close to the cruise port? From the maps on the buses website, the stops look close! On previous cruises when we used the on/off buses, they came right down to the ports!

 

Thanks for your prompt response!!

 

I might be able to help with this one as we did several HOHO and were also on this cruise. Cork is quite a way from Cobh where we docked. We also did a private tour so I can't answer this one. I think there was a shuttle into Cork but can't be sure.

 

Liverpool, the HOHO stops just down the road a little. Maybe a 400 yard walk and we could see if from our balcony.

 

Dublin, you need to get the shuttle - 10 GBP each to get into town to a HOHO stop. It's a few miles at least and there were so many people queued for the HOHO we didn't bother.

 

Belfast it was raining and we didn't go ashore so can't answer this one.

 

Jo

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ginak1112

ginak1112

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Do you remember what nights were Formal? Want to make reservations in specialty restruant. Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

On our 11 night itinerary with 3 sea days, they were on the 1st and 2nd sea days.

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