sweetp0618

Called this afternoon to upgrade thanks to the heads-up I got on this thread. The upgrade price quoted was the new price. I mentioned the $12 upgrade fee mentioned in the FAQ. The agent had to talk with a supervisor. She called me back a couple of hours later and asked if I would take $100 OBC instead of the lower price. I made out a few $ ahead. I was lucky I called when I did.

I wear Birkinstocks everywhere. I have a severe pain condition and can't wear anything but sandals without a backstrap or clogs no matter where I dine.

If I were you, I'd pack one collared polo and your t-shirts just in case. Otherwise, wear what you want and is comfortable for you. 

Happy sailing!

I've been to Icy Point once before. We did a bear tour with the leader of the local Native American tribe. It was wonderful! We learned a lot about the history of the tribe and the port. Even though it was early for bear sightings (May), we saw a ton of them. 

Want to let everyone know I was booked on B2B AU-NZ cruises in 2022. The cruises were canceled by Celebrity but they did not cancel the excursions I purchased. I had to call to cancel them. I assumed they had canceled eveything; however, I thought it was odd I'd never received a refund for the excursions. If Celebrity has canceled your cruise and you've purchased excursions make sure they have been canceled, too.

To unplug! No one can find me.

In Late May/early June 2017, two girlfriends and I spent 7 days on land before taking the Celebrity Millennium 7-day southern cruise to Vancouver.  We had a wonderful stay at the Denali Dome Home.  The hosts were great - they gave us a lot of travel and local information and helped us book trains, etc. at a discount.

If you're staying in FL, you may want to use Priceline name your price.  There are websites that will help with your bidding strategy.  We were in Miami pre-cruise in December and were able to get a beautiful 4.5 star hotel with taxes and fees for < $100.  Good luck!

Hi Paul,

I hope you and Edward are enjoying the holidays.  I've been researching our AU/NZ cruises and realized there are PENGUINS (!) in Phillip Island, AU, which is reachable from Melbourne.  Thought you guys may might want to look into it when planning your Australian cruise.

Happy planning!

Patti and Cailyn

Hi Paul! Just found your review. We've been enjoying chatting with you and Edward.

Young woman (Cailyn) and mom (Patti) from the martini bar

I just got the Kimpton Epic on Priceline, Dec 11-13 for $125 per night.

We've been on about 20 cruises and our favorite was a 12-day Mediterranean on Carnival.  I hope you enjoy your trip!

We've cruised many times on Disney, Carnival, Princess, RC, and Celebrity.  We tried NCL Escape last December (non-holiday cruise) because I got a great price, and it was the worst cruise we've ever taken.  The ship was beautiful, but we disliked the food and there were crowds absolutely everywhere.  For a large ship, it felt very claustrophobic.  As mentioned above, many public areas of the ship were very smoky.  I doubt we'll ever cruise again on NCL.

Hi!  We are going in a few weeks, so I don't know how it will turn out, but we've booked: 

Exclusive Champagne Catamaran Sail & Snorkel

Tour operator: Exclusive Cozumel Sailing Charter

I found them on Trip Advisor.

Happy sailing!

Somehow I ended up on a different thread, but I want to let people here know that you can get your "good" eye lasered to help prevent a detachment in that eye - it reduces the chances of detachment by about 75%.

I had a detachment with minor symptoms; but my mom lost her vision to a delayed diagnosis and surgery, so I went to Duke right away - better safe than sorry. A few weeks after my retinal reattachment surgery (buckle and gas bubble), I had the other eye prophylactically lasered.

I would totally freak out if I got symptoms of a detachment on a ship. As others have said, it is a medical emergency.

Regarding the retinal detachment - you cannot predict when it's going to happen. I had one and it was repaired by the retinal specialists at Duke within 24 hours. After a few weeks, they lasered the retina in my other eye to help prevent a detachment in that eye. It's something you may want to talk about with your ophthalmologist.

I will freak out if I get signs of a detachment on a cruise ship. My mom lost the sight in one eye due to a delay in diagnosis and treatment of a detachment.

Hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and Flonase.

People on this board (and any non-Carnival board) love to bash them. We've had some great cruises on Carnival. Trying NCL for the first time just before Christmas. The only "bad" cruise I've had was on RCCL, but it didn't stop me from cruising them again.

This spring we spent a week on land (independent - not a cruise tour) split between Anchorage, Denali and Seward starting on May 26. We departed from Seward on a SB Celebrity cruise to Vancouver, which departed on June 2 (first SB cruise of the season). We had marvelous weather the entire trip. The temperature varied between the high 50s to mid 70s the entire trip. The only day we had to bundle up was Hubbard glacier cruising. There were fewer than 30 kids on the ship. Over our two weeks, we saw all of the wildlife (including a lot of bears in Icy Strait) you would expect but missed the salmon run, which was not a priority for us. The crowds in ports were relatively small.

The ship was not full and we were able to upgrade from a balcony to a suite two weeks before departure for no additional $; we also got (in addition to the beverage packages and internet we already had), we got an extra $300 OBC and gratuities.

I would definitely do Qsine. It was a fun, different, dining experience. They offered a special on the first night (20 or 30% off) but you have to wait to book on-board. We did get Sushi on 5 for 20% off. Not sure if Qsine offered any other discounts other than the first night.

I did this cruise (June 2) with friends and we wanted to eat in Qsine one night. I checked with Celebrity staff stationed outside the buffet a couple of days and they were offering 10% off. The third time I checked it was 30% off that day, so we booked it. The food was great and we had lots of fun. I've had luck on other Celebrity ships getting discounts on specialty restaurants. I've gotten really good deals by checking back with the same staff member every day until I got the restaurant I wanted for at least 30% off.

Two friends and I are doing our 2 week + bucket list trip to Alaska this year. We are flying into Anchorage and doing 7 days on land on our own. After reading tons of reviews of cruise line land tours, we decided we would do it on our own. We're getting to do what we want for $2000 less pp. We're spending 2 of those days in Seward and then taking a Celebrity SB to Vancouver. We've rented a condo in Seward through VRBO so that we can do laundry and take only a week's worth of clothes with us. We'll spend a couple of nights there before heading back to the east coast. Happy planning!

We will be on the Celebrity Millennium SB arriving in Vancouver June 9. We are using Porter Genie - they'll pick our luggage up after we get through customs and will deliver it to our hotel near the airport that evening. It's a bit more expensive but you are not time limited like you are when using baggage storage and delivery at the port.

Planning on doing it on our own on the southbound cruise the week before you. I bought fast ferry tix(round trip) on line, rented a car to drive to the sanctuary and then we'll do the reverse. We are taking a private tour, which is a bit more money but will be a more personal experience. Celebrity offers an excursion but we don't want to be herded around in a group.

Happy planning!

Patti

Silk Harvest!

Trying to decide between two excursions on RCCL in Skagway:

 

Kroschel Wildlife Refuge

White Pass Railroad and Alaskan Dog Sled Experience

 

I enjoy nature, animals, and photography.

 

Opinions?

We'll be in Skagway in early June and have decided to do the Kroschel tour on our own. We're spending a week on land before the cruise and are taking three trips on dome trains, so we didn't want to spend more time on a train. We decided we wanted to do a private tour at Kroschel, which you can't do on the ship's excursion. We're taking the fast ferry (near the cruise ship dock) to Haines, renting a car there and driving about 30 minutes to Kroschel. We'll return to Skagway on the fast ferry in time to do some shopping, etc. There are three of us and doing a private tour on our own is about $30 more pp than the ship's excursion and we're getting a private tour. Sorry that I can't comment on the tour from personal experience at this point, but Kroschel gets excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.

We're on the southbound Millennium June 2 sailing. We planned our land tour ourselves to give us flexibility. We're using dome trains the entire time and we're doing an overnight car rental in Denali to get to and from the park and to give us options for restaurants. We're spending most of our time in Denali and Seward and were able to save over $1K per person and get to do what we want. We're staying in a B&B (Dome Home) in Denali and a brand new condo in Seward that we rented through VRBO.