Live: Dec 22 2023 Solstice 12 Night Thailand & Vietnam Holiday Cruise!

[mahdnc]

17 hours ago, Suzi66 said:

Unless they had wheels, they wouldn't take them.  One of our overnight bags didn't have wheels.  It was the only one we decided to drop off with our cases and was going to take the other as it had Steve's camera gear in it and my medication.  We ended up taking it with us which was no big deal.

 

Your wheels observation makes a lot of sense and it certainly is consistent with their sign.  It would have been better for the sign to simply have said that.

[Suzi66]

On 2/3/2024 at 11:51 AM, mahdnc said:

 

What kind of formatting is that on your Celebrity Today itinerary??  Maybe an intern did it?  Normally looks like this:

 

 

There was a lot on this cruise that was a bit 'amatuerish'.  
A lot we were very happy with and other things not so happy with.  
One thing I would never have wanted to comment on and I am going to, is how guest services and the medical centre treated someone in isolation (husband).  Phone calls every few hours to see how he was which was excellent.  However no extra entertainment on the TV considering he was locked up for a few days with gastro and trying to order room service for him was a bit difficult as we had to try and work out what he could eat as there wasn't an actual menu and then tell room service he was in isolation when they went to charge us.

We were fully expecting to get charged for medical care as he was on a drip for two visits to the medical centre but instead we got a FCC for the days he was in isolation.

[thuyronald]

Hi everyone,

Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports?  I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise.

My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited."

Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports?

 

Thanks for the assistance.

[Miaminice]

19 minutes ago, thuyronald said:

Hi everyone,

Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports?  I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise.

My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited."

Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports?

 

Thanks for the assistance.

we had ONE in our pockets and it was enough for the entire cruise. Except for Hanoi, where we stayed overnight at a hotel, noone requested to see them.
 

Print a few spares and save a pic on your phone and you are fine.

[mahdnc]

47 minutes ago, thuyronald said:

Hi everyone,

Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports?  I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise.

My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited."

Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports?

 

Thanks for the assistance.

I did not keep multiple hard copies of our passport. Just one copy in addition to a photo of my passport that I took with my iPhone. 
 

Here is the Immigration and General Information sheet from Celebrity that was in our stateroom when we embarked. Note that it does not say that you should have multiple hard copies of your passport. 

[Miaminice]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I did not keep multiple hard copies of our passport. Just one copy in addition to a photo of my passport that I took with my iPhone. 
 

Here is the Immigration and General Information sheet from Celebrity that was in our stateroom when we embarked. Note that it does not say that you should have multiple hard copies of your passport. 

 

David, we also received an information - I think it was before the cruise - mentioning one copy per port.

Hence the confusion. I printed a few - because it was easy - but expected to just need one single copy to show if required. It was good to have, but noone even wanted to see the single copy - except the hotel. 

Edited February 5 by Miaminice

[mahdnc]

14 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

 

David, we also received an information - I think it was before the cruise - mentioning one copy per port.

Hence the confusion. I printed a few - because it was easy - but expected to just need one single copy to show if required. It was good to have, but noone even wanted to see the single copy - except the hotel. 

Oliver, that is very interesting. When I get a chance, I’ll have to look for that email. It’s very possible I got it but either didn’t see it or ignored it. 
 

When we boarded Solstice, we did not have any paper copies of our passport so I called Guest Relations to take them up on their offer to provide one since they were in possession of our passport by then. When we received them, we only got one copy of each passport. I don’t remember Guest Relations asking me how many copies we needed either when I made request. It’s not exactly smoking gun evidence that only one copy was required, but these series of posts are the first time I’ve had any inkling about the need for multiple copies.

 

And I agree that no one asked to see copies of our passport during our sailing except for maybe a hotel (Bangkok in our case).  Even then, we were allowed to retain our copy as the hotel made a copy for themselves. 

[mahdnc]

One other thing, Oliver, I agree with you that making multiple copies of your passport is quite easy and it is something that I would do next time.

[thuyronald]

Thank you everyone for your input.  I thought it was quite strange to have so many copies.  I've been on several Asia cruises and never encountered that request, therefore the confusion.

I have already laminated a copy of my passport to put in my purse as well as a copy on my phone.

 

I greatly appreciate all of you for your time and assistance.

 

Twee

[Suzi66]

I printed multiple copies as well because of the email(s - one for each cruise), but only had the one that I kept in my purse and no-one asked to look at it.  
No one asked to look at any government id at all when returning to ports even though we made sure we had our drivers licences with us at all time.  I thought that seeing as though they have asked to see them at most AU/NZ ports and often at the South Pacific ports that it would definitely happen at these ports, but our seapass card was proof enough.

[mahdnc]

Here is an interesting article in BusinessWeek regarding the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore.  The article focuses on their butlers and the importance of service.  The hotel was located just behind the JW Marriott where we were staying.  The link is a gift article that does not require a subscription to read, but it is good for only 7 days.

 

With all the discussions about the changes in butler service for Sky Suites, I found the quote in the last sentence of the article very much on point.

 

Raffles Hotel, Dec 20 2023

 

Edited March 4 by mahdnc

[goofysmom99]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Here is an interesting article in BusinessWeek regarding the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore.  The article focuses on their butlers and the importance of service.  The hotel was located just behind the JW Marriott where we were staying.  The link is a gift article that does not require a subscription to read, but it is good for only 7 days.

 

With all the discussions about the changes in butler service for Sky Suites, I found the quote in the last sentence of the article very much on point.

 

Raffles Hotel, Dec 20 2023

 

Holy cow, David!  And here I've been worried about Aqua Class price creep. 🤑

[mahdnc]

8 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

Holy cow, David!  And here I've been worried about Aqua Class price creep. 🤑

Ruth, I hope you are having a most excellent cruise on Summit. 

[cleobella]

 

MAHDNC, this is an amazing trip review! Thank you very much for taking the time to journal your trip, it will be helpful to many planners, myself included.  We are taking this trip cruise in reverse next year.  However, we will only have a couple of days in Hong Kong pre cruise.  Our hotel is not too far from yours, about 2 kms ( maybe about a mile or so).  If you only had one or two days in Hong Kong what would you choose to do?  Many of the private tours I'm looking at are quite expensive but perhaps that's the best plan.  Otherwise, is it possible to stay in the general hotel area and see a few things doing a DIY plan?  You may be a slave to this post for life, it's so informative and interesting!

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, cleobella said:

 

MAHDNC, this is an amazing trip review! Thank you very much for taking the time to journal your trip, it will be helpful to many planners, myself included.  We are taking this trip cruise in reverse next year.  However, we will only have a couple of days in Hong Kong pre cruise.  Our hotel is not too far from yours, about 2 kms ( maybe about a mile or so).  If you only had one or two days in Hong Kong what would you choose to do?  Many of the private tours I'm looking at are quite expensive but perhaps that's the best plan.  Otherwise, is it possible to stay in the general hotel area and see a few things doing a DIY plan?  You may be a slave to this post for life, it's so informative and interesting!

 

cleobella,

 

Thank you for your very kind words and I am glad that you found the review to be helpful for your planning.

 

Doing a private tour is very time efficient but expensive and so I understand your point.  I don't feel that I am the final authority on the best day tour, but if I were planning a one day do-it-yourself tour of Hong Kong, I would visit the following:

 

1. Take the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and/or back.  The ferry is not expensive and it is pretty quick.  The Star Ferry has a long history associated with it.  My mom rode the Star Ferry every day to school back in the 1940's.  Star Ferry does offer harbor sightseeing cruises.

 

2. Visit Victoria Peak (Hong Kong Island) which gives you great views of the city and its harbor.  I would pay the  modest fee to ride the Peak Tram to the top and back.  The next time I return, I want to go to the Peak at night to see the city lights.  Admission to the Peak itself is free although the Peak Tram costs money (the alternative is walking up to the Peak for free).  Once there, there are various free vantage points to get a view.  Alternatively you can pay to get to the Sky Terrace 428 which has a viewing platform.

 

3. Go the the Wong Tai Sin Temple which is on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.  It is a shrine and a popular tourist attraction.

 

4. Visit the Ladies Market (Kowloon side) which is a very large flea market.  It is fairly large and we liked it better than the Temple Street Night Market although the latter is worth visiting as well.

 

5. Finally make sure to visit a Chinese dim sum restaurant for lunch in Hong Kong.  Although it was not invented there, Hong Kong is famous for its dim sum restaurants.  It's worth trying if you would like an authentic Hong Kong dining experience.

 

It was also recommended to me by a local while we were in Hong Kong to book an Aqua Luna Victoria Harbour Cruise through Klook.  Their recommendation was for the cruise as well as the website/app.  It's not very expensive and there are some pretty cool options like a Dim Sum cruise in the middle of the day, an Afternoon Tea Cruise, an evening cruise, and a cruise during the Symphony of Lights which occurs every evening.  We found out about it too late to book anything and so I had to be content with watching the boat cruise the harbor at night from our hotel room window.  Next time we go to Hong Kong, I am definitely booking it.  Klook is evidently a popular website/app to book sightseeing activities. I have no experience with it and cannot tell you what the attraction is.

 

If you have any more questions now or in the future, please do not hesitate to ask.

 

David

[mahdnc]

If your hotel is located in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, the Promenade is close by and is beautiful.  It is located at the waterfront and gives you awesome views of the harbor and Hong Kong Island--day and night.  You can also watch the nightly Symphony of Lights show from there.

[mahdnc]

If you are interested in more detailed information about Aqua Luna's harbor cruise offerings, here is a link to their website.

[cleobella]

Awesome David! Thank you again, I'm going to research your suggestions, they all sound great.  Especially interesting is the Aqua Luna Harbor Cruise with the dining options.  I was wondering about doing something like that but didn't know if these experiences were offered during the Harbor Cruise. Now I'm on it...very exciting!