Jim_Iain - B2B Sydney - Honolulu - Vancouver

[Maui4us]

34 minutes ago, haynesra said:

One thing I really like about Celebrity is the Beyond the Podium series. Seeing your dailies posted for Sea days they had multiple presentations each day. Here's hoping that the Edge has as many as Solstice have had on your cruise.

 

Last summer on Apex, we had fantastic speakers and went to every Beyond the Podium possible. We even watched the reruns on our cabin TV!! The Captain and his Navigation Officer also gave very interesting talk and answered lots of questions we had including why we changed departure ports from Amsterdam to Rotterdam.

-Kelley

[Ex-Airbalancer]

58 minutes ago, haynesra said:

One thing I really like about Celebrity is the Beyond the Podium series. Seeing your dailies posted for Sea days they had multiple presentations each day. Here's hoping that the Edge has as many as Solstice have had on your cruise.

 

They usually have on the Beyond The Podium on seadays and on the TP or TA there is a lot of seadays 😁

[Maui4us]

47 minutes ago, Maui4us said:

Last summer on Apex, we had fantastic speakers and went to every Beyond the Podium possible. We even watched the reruns on our cabin TV!! The Captain and his Navigation Officer also gave very interesting talk and answered lots of questions we had including why we changed departure ports from Amsterdam to Rotterdam.

-Kelley

Mary Amanda & Brent Nixon were so full of energy and information. They really enriched our cruises!

-Kelley

[upwarduk]

6 hours ago, Maui4us said:

why we changed departure ports from Amsterdam to Rotterdam.

-Kelley

Puts me off booking a cruise on Silhouette now, as we would have to fly to the port- but which port? 
Crazy.

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

Puts me off booking a cruise on Silhouette now, as we would have to fly to the port- but which port? 
Crazy.

Aren't Amsterdam and Rotterdam about an hour apart?  Or am I missing something?

[Binbrooklady]

16 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

The slots have been good to me.  Took the photo last night then realized I still had the final cash out of $700 still in my pocket.   

 

Slots on Solstice have been really tight.  You are immediately locked out when pull cash off room charge until you play (not win or loose) 50% of the withdrawal. 
 

 

 

To make it easy.  
 

 

plus’s the amount I skimmed off for my pocket.  Shhh don’t tell Iain.   Must be my commission. 

 

 

 

[Binbrooklady]

Hi Jim,

As always, thanks for all your hard work in your live review. My DH and I will be joining you in Hawaii for the B2B to Alaska. Regarding the slots, is there some secret way to know when you have spent 50%?

thanks, Janet

[Mark_K]

3 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Aren't Amsterdam and Rotterdam about an hour apart?  Or am I missing something?

And the airport is somewhat in between. About an extra 1/2 hour to get to the Rotterdam cruise terminal vs the Amsterdam one.

[upwarduk]

4 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Aren't Amsterdam and Rotterdam about an hour apart?  Or am I missing something?

Yes, but which port do you book your flight to if they are subject to change.

[Purplsmurf]

19 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Yes, but which port do you book your flight to if they are subject to change.

Is there even an airport in Rotterdam? We are sailing on Silhouette in June. We are flying into/out of Amsterdam. We will take the train to Rotterdam where we embark/disembark. Seems easy enough. Hope it is!

[upwarduk]

3 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Is there even an airport in Rotterdam? We are sailing on Silhouette in June. We are flying into/out of Amsterdam. We will take the train to Rotterdam where we embark/disembark. Seems easy enough. Hope it is!

Too much hassle.

At our age we prefer to go to Southampton.

[mauimary]

It should be very easy as there is a train station on the lower level of the airport. You can buy your ticket right there at the ticket booth. We have flown into Amsterdam many times. Stayed at the Sheraton Hotel connected to the airport then the next morning taken the train to Maastricht which goes right through Rotterdam. Very easy. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

20 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Too much hassle.

At our age we prefer to go to Southampton.

This isn’t the thread to whine about Celebrity not catering to your desires

Let Jim write about his amazing adventures 

[May B]

I’m late to this party, but I’ll try to catch up! I trust you are having an appropriately wonderful blast.

[kwokpot]

27 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Is there even an airport in Rotterdam? We are sailing on Silhouette in June. We are flying into/out of Amsterdam. We will take the train to Rotterdam where we embark/disembark. Seems easy enough. Hope it is!

It was very easy for our Apex Iceland cruise last July. We flew to Amsterdam, took the train into the main train station and stayed at the Doubletree for two nights which was 10 minutes walking distance next door.  Then walked back to the train station and took the train to Rotterdam where we stayed one more night pre-cruise at the Holiday Inn Express which was also 10 minutes walking distance from the station. On embarkation day we took the street tram which was right across the street from our hotel to the Rotterdam cruise pier. The street tram stop was again about a 10 mins walk to the pier entrance. All very easy.

[Lastdance]

Jim, is your next cruise on Oceania?  I hope you will be doing another review, as it will be interesting to hear about the demographics in Europe, along with how everything compares to Celebrity.  Hopefully, cruise lines will become more consistent with their offerings and quality will improve overall.  

 

Okay...back to your TP!

[upwarduk]

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

This isn’t the thread to whine about Celebrity not catering to your desires

Let Jim write about his amazing adventures 

I’m not whining, I’m commenting.

 As an 82 year old, I need to be sensible about travelling. 

Edited April 21 by upwarduk

[chemmo]

42 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

I’m not whining, I’m commenting.

 As an 82 year old, I need to be sensible about travelling. 

I can remember when we toured all over Europe, luggage limited and in hand…Catching buses, trains and walking were no issue. Now I just hope when we fly our gate isn’t the one at the end of the satellite!

 

Like yourself I need to be realistic about what I can/can not do. It is a sad but inevitable fact that sometimes changes to ports happen. Most recently Amsterdam/Rotterdam Venice/Ravinna. Whilst for most guests changes can be easily accommodated for those with mobility issues it can add a real stress to a journey.

 

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

This isn’t the thread to whine about Celebrity not catering to your desires

Let Jim write about his amazing adventures 

 

upwarduk is a much respected poster, I have followed and respected the views expressed for many years. Not a poster to complain about anything or detract from Jim’s wonderful narrative but he is totally correct that the older you get the more sensitive you are to travel issues…The more you have to consider distance and ease between airport and port…

[Jim_Iain]

10 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Puts me off booking a cruise on Silhouette now, as we would have to fly to the port- but which port? 
Crazy.

Really doesn't matter.   If you recall, we did the trip last year and arrived Rotterdam and departed Rotterdam.   Both are very easy to reach via train and about equidistant from AMS.   The train comes right into AMS terminal.  

[Jim_Iain]

Good Morning from the Equator.     We passed the equator at 6:40 last evening.   There were many post on our Facebook Group with actual compass and GPS locations as many were watching for the exact moment.

 

About all we have planned for today is an invitation to the Bridge for a friends Zenith initiation -  Bill and Linda.     That will be followed with the Neptune Party, which is a tradition of all sailing vessels when they cross the equator.    Those that are crossing are initiated with food being dumped on them an kissing a fish.

[billc23]

8 hours ago, Binbrooklady said:

Hi Jim,

As always, thanks for all your hard work in your live review. My DH and I will be joining you in Hawaii for the B2B to Alaska. Regarding the slots, is there some secret way to know when you have spent 50%?

thanks, Janet

I think that your tier points keep track of your spend. From Celebrity:

 

Tier points are earned when gaming in the casino. 1 tier point is earned for $1 wagered on a slot machine, $2 wagered on a video poker machine.

 

The other option is to count your spins but that is no fun. What I do is just periodically check my personal banker to see if I am able to take out more. Safe travels and will see you onboard.

[Mark_K]

5 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Too much hassle.

At our age we prefer to go to Southampton.

That one hour-ish flight from Leeds to Rotterdam can’t be that bad.

[hcat]

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

This isn’t the thread to whine about Celebrity not catering to your desires

Let Jim write about his amazing adventures 

Agree.. they shoukd start another thread

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Good Morning from the Equator.     We passed the equator at 6:40 last evening.   There were many post on our Facebook Group with actual compass and GPS locations as many were watching for the exact moment.

 

About all we have planned for today is an invitation to the Bridge for a friends Zenith initiation -  Bill and Linda.     That will be followed with the Neptune Party, which is a tradition of all sailing vessels when they cross the equator.    Those that are crossing are initiated with food being dumped on them an kissing a fish.

sounds lIke fun and Congrats to the new ZENITHS!

[Jim_Iain]