wenlyn

Hi Just booked our first Fred cruise. We sail from Newcastle and as we live in Suffolk feel it will be less stressful if we travel up the day before although I'll have to work so it'll be bed time when we arrive. I've searched the board and not been able to find any suggestions of where might be good/convenient. Don't know what our boarding time is yet so would consider staying a little way out as we will have time to kill in the morning before we can board. Any suggestions of ways to productively use embarkation day morning gratefully received Thanks in advance Wendy

This is all sounding very positive 🙂 Just over 3 weeks to go so getting very excited now. That flash sale wasn't visible in the UK or at least not when I looked but I agree at that price it may well be worth the upgrade.

I'm sailing X for the first time next month so have yet to discover if I have a preference though my thought would be paper. I've found on Cunard I struggle to read the menu (I guess I should get glasses!) my husband often takes a photo so he can enlarge it so he can read it (and he does wear glasses!!) It may be the app will suit us more after all 😂

Thanks for that Catherine. I thought I'd read you couldn't get any martinis on the package so I'm excited to hear there are some I can get albeit smaller versions. I'm happy to stump up the extra to try the lemondrop

I tend to wait until 60 days before and look for a cruise deal that seems good. We tend to book ordinary balcony cabins. If we wanted a specific itinerary or were planning for a special occasion we would consider an early booking but usually, we just want a break and aren't overly fussy so long as we can afford it. (which is getting harder as everything seems to have gone up but that's life in 2023)

Thank you so much for taking the time to find & post this! I can certainly live with that

Yes hopefully someone on here may have direct experience of 6242 and will know about that rooms noises. I lived in the States for a while so I'm familiar with their brands so will take my own to be on the safe side 🙂

Thank you all. It's good to have the kettle question resolved 🙂 The input is helpful. My husband has no interest in finding out about things before hand but will faff & moan if things don't go as he expects (he's actually easygoing, it just doesn't sound like it 😂) So to make my holiday more enjoyable I do all the finding out I can before we set sail and that way I can prepare him or ignore him as I won't be flustered lol. Small world Ladylemondrop! I will certainly go & try out your reccomendations 🙂 Skippyhop - we are in 6242. The TA showed me a photo which seemed fine from a looking out pov I just wasn't sure about the other angles. I suppose another thing is are crew likely to walk past at balcony level? Another question would be does anyone know if its troubled by ship /air con noise? I found a review that claimed it was so bad they asked to be moved which probably wouldn't trouble me but He isn't as good as blanking out things he doesn't want to hear as I am Thanks for the help ful replies

Hi Just booked a med cruise on Silhouette. It will be our first time with Celebrity we've done several TA on Cunard and also cruised with P&O & Ambassador. I'm hoping people here can answer a few little questions and share any insider knowledge that could make our experience the best it can be. We are in one of the angled obstruceted view balconies on deck 6 (cos all the V2's had gone in less than 48 hours of seeing the deal!) I've seen a photo of the view and I think that will be fine for us as we are used to the sheltered balconies on QM2 My big question regarding this is can people on deck 5 look up at you? Is there anything else we should know about this type of cabin - I can see from the deck plan its near the lifts. Are there facilities in the cabin to make hot tea or coffee? Do they have cotton wool ballsl/cotten buds in the bathrooms? Our price was AI but I can see that lots of drinks are priced just over the inclusive price limit (classic) though I think it'll probably just pay the difference rather than upgrade as the price difference is unlikely to exceed the upgrade cost. Unless anyone thinks that logic is flawed? I'm a little concerned reading reviews about difficulty getting served drinks especially in the MDR. Is that a real problem or just an isolated experience? Or perhaps a post covid hiccup ascruising resumed and now resolved? Im' excited to get to explore a new ship & experience a new cruise line, I've heard other people say its a good one so I hope we find that. Anything we should look out for, definitely try or seek out like finding Homer on QM2. 🙂 Thanks Wendy

You drive straight to the car park (past the turning to the ship) take your luggage to the little lorry and then board the shuttle bus. I would say allow 10-15 minutes. They don't let you finish check in before your time so aim to arrive close to it. hth

Thanks Rosy that's reassuring. I'm looking forward to being on board and discovering for myself. I really want to like it because it would be great to reduce our port commute from 3+ hours to 1.5. I'm sure I can pack enough to cover all eventualities as there are no flights involved 🙂

Good to hear that things have been fixed quickly and that people have enjoyed the maiden voyage. I'm looking forward to trying it, though worrying over what to take to wear in the evenings. I know it won't be as dressy as Cunard so trying to gauge what will be suitable and what would look overdressed is a challenge 🙂 I suppose it doesn't matter as long as we're comfortable. I know there will only be 2 gala nights but there appear to be casual and an inbetween designation and I don't know how many of either. Also never been to iceland before so working out clothes for the things we plan on doing there is also a challenge as I understand it can be changeable but with it being summer I'd hate to miss out on summer weather if we get it. I suppose as we'll get ourselves there we can take as much as we want - anyone have any idea how much space there is under the beds to store suitcases?

So just wondering if anyone has sailed on Ambassador now they have started operations. We're booked for Iceland in early June and I'm wondering what it's like on board. We usually do TA on Cunard so know it will be a bit different but I'd love to hear how others have found it. TIA

We've done 7 crossings and always self disembarked. We were at Penn station before 8.30 by taxi (for a midday train that was delayed for 6+ hours 😞 ) and have made the 8am megabus ,with a town car transfer, on 34th St on a few of occasions (worth checking out - it goes to Boston too) though I never dare book it just in case so always have to see if theres space on the day & wait for our booked slot if not. We head south to Baltimore and then friends collect us. We do one way car hire now as it gives us more flexibility at our destination & saves friends ferrying us to airport etc

We did the Canaries and Maderia last December on QM2 via Lisbon & Cadiz The Canaries themselves were warm enough for Tshirt & shorts, Maderia was mid 20's. 🙂 When sailing you were OK sitting/sunbathing if you were out of the wind.