wendyam76

Thank you for your review. Can I suggest booking mobility assistance for your mom on the way home. It is very easy to do on the BA website. She’ll be met by wheelchairs and guided through security as well - you’ll both be able to accompany her. They’ll even wheel her to the lounges and pick her (and you!) up. 
For Santorini I did that tour with my mum - for the hill bit she stayed in a cafe  and we met her on the way down. Some of the tours also take you back to the new port to tender back to the ship rather than having to do the cable car  - there are steps at the top and bottom for that. Might be worth checking out. 
For Rhodes I honestly just love wandering the Old Town myself - again my mum would come and sit in bars/cafes! 
have a fabulous cruise.

Wendy

74 and 81 days out (on a B2B) I got an email for both cruises inviting me to bid.

Wendy

Thank you so much for such an entertaining review. Safe travels! 
wendy

Apex and Beyond all separate in those suites so I can’t see Ascent will be any different - I hope not as I travel with my mum!

On 8/2/2023 at 7:49 AM, scrapcreator said:

We went to the Captain’s Club Coffee Lounge for breakfast and was told it’s only on sea days. So we ended up at Cafe Al Bacio.
 

Our welcome note says daily. Is this a new change? We’ll have to find out.

We were on the previous cruise and it was available every day - I sure hope it isn’t a cut back.

Wenndy

26 minutes ago, Wendylvs2travel said:

I did, beautiful indeed and great balcony, but my aunt had mobility issues so upstairs bedroom is impossible for us. 

Would her having the sofa bed downstairs be a possibility? There’s a Bath/shower downstairs. And what is also a possibility is there lift access to both levels. There’s an outer door upstairs too. 

Norris and Carol; thank you so much for this! I always love reading your reports. We are on a Baltics sailing on Apex soon - we were lucky enough to be one of the first to sail on her in July 2021 so very excited to be back unmasked this time! 
Wendy 

Love Aneka Rasa - have gone there a number of times! Enjoy your last few days.

Wendy

1 minute ago, love2crews. said:

 

She said it was ok-nothing special.  According to her, the room was very bright and music wasn't relaxing, but the treatment itself wasn't too bad.

 

As always, there was a push to buy product at the end.

 

She compared it to a spa she frequents at a local hotel (Mandara Spa chain) and said she prefers the spa at home.

 

Hope this helps.

That is a huge help - thank you! I may choose to spend the credit at the casino instead!!

Thank you for your wonderful review! Did your sister enjoy her 1000 flower treatment? 
Wendy

Thank you for your amazing review! The market in Helsinki has some amazing snacks - I’m sure a lot are fish based but I remember some cinnamon buns (Korvapuusti) we loved and blueberry pie (Mustikkapiirakka). Oh and salty licorice - salmaiakki. As for mocktails I’d challenge the barmen in Retreat Lounge and Eden to make you something. If the martini bar isn’t busy they could probably do some too. 
Wendy

27 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Can you elaborate on the differences in the balcony experience?  We are in a MC SS on Edge next May and I booked it for the front view as well as the aft view through the side window.

I’m wondering if they are mixing it up with an infinite balcony. We love the Magic Carpet suites and I don’t see any difference in balcony experience.

2 minutes ago, Redking said:

BSc Psychology. Class of 1984 at the then only varsity, Aberdeen 😉. I think Robert Gordons is now also a university? Piper was a terrible, terrible disaster.

I graduated with a BSc Zoology in 1991 from Aberdeen University! Robert Gordon’s is indeed a University now also. In fact I teach at Robert Gordon’s College - the 3-18 school the University developed from. Our pipe band played for the first major cruise line to dock at our new harbour, Aida, just a few weeks ago.
Many of my friends went into the oil industry and safety thankfully is greatly improved. However anytime I hear more than one copter go past I worry. 

17 hours ago, Redking said:

Wow oil rigs near Invergordon. Clearly a long time since I lived in Scotland. I only ever knew them when I was a student in Aberdeen and they were out in the North Sea half way to Norway. It would have been around the time of the terrible Piper Alpha disaster.

Happy Birthday Iain!

@Redkingwhich course/University were you doing/at? Piper Alpha was the eve of my 19th birthday - I live in Aberdeen and over the helicopter flight path and still remember the sound of the helicopters that night. We lost so many that night and my mum who was in insurance at the time remembers going to hand our cheques.

Wendy

6 hours ago, chemmo said:

Thanks, much relieved by your comments. I guess what is/isn’t important to one guest is to another. After your comments I am more likely to consider giving one a go next year…

@chemmo, one thing I thought about with the Edge Villa is that if we ever won a move up bid, we’d plan our days. At night take the lift to the bedroom floor (full bathroom there!) and during the day the lift to the ground floor - half bath there. Well that’s my plan for my 89 year old mum! 
so pleased you are planning to cruise again - bittersweet I know but you will enjoy it.

Wendy

Oh I am so sorry to hear that but I’m glad she went peacefully. You are in my thoughts. 
Wendy 

This is based on sailings on other cruise lines - Rhodes, docked and a very short walk to the Old Town. Mykonos can be either. Split can be either. Kotor (the most beautiful sail in!) we’ve always tendered but smaller ships can dock. Dubrovnik, docked and Corfu docked. 

On 5/2/2023 at 11:22 PM, cantgetin said:

The $100 bar tab is part of DBE.  Until boarding, you will see DBE on your account.  After boarding, this will show up as a $100 bar tab in the app.

At least that's how it worked for us on the current trip.

My DBE showed up today for our August cruise. Interestingly our bonus $100 from DBE is listed separately on the app and on the website. 
Wendy

It used to be 48 hours cancellation but it could have changed. We got a lovely bottle of Veuve one time which we enjoyed and another we got vodka which we didn’t open and took home! I tend to reserve in advance on the cruise planner and then keep an eye on the price. 
Wendy

3 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

They only add VAT or sales tax when in that countries waters. So once out in international waters there is no tax, but when in port there might be tax. There is sales tax at the beach club at Bimini too.

Thank you - different cruise lines do it differently. For example when Celebrity sail  round trip Barcelona there is a 20% VAT on all shop purchases the whole cruise - as we always have drinks packages with Celebrity I cannot remember re drinks. 

Wendy

Thank you for the great review. I thought I recognised your style of writing and then spotted Disboards and knew I’d read your reviews many times.

We’ve sailed on both Scarlet and Valiant Lady - loved both our cruises and going on Valiant Lady again in August. I presumed they added VAT to all their drinks when you sailed from Barcelona? Mind you I’ve got $600 of free bar tab so it’s not a problem!

Wendy

16 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Thanks, but the Summit is also revolutionized, sundeck and all.  Just curious, does the elevator to the sundeck work?  I ran into some friends from my last cruise on the ship, and she needs the elevator, and it no longer works.

Abby, have your friend speak to Conner and Connie in the Retreat. Mum and I were on Summit earlier this month and it didn’t work. I didn’t say much but they could see mum wouldn’t manage the stairs and were very apologetic and discussed how she wasn’t getting the full Retreat experience. 
Wendy

6 hours ago, karmamule said:

oh wow! I’d love to hear what you thought of the Summit!

We love Celebrity but this was our first time on Summit. Very different to Virgin but we enjoy both. We were in the Retreat and the service was exceptional from all but the Butler - we ask very little of a butler but we barely saw him. Retreat Lounge nothing like Apex - back on her in July - but the lounge does have some natural light coming in. Retreat sun deck was nice - hot tub but no pool. Unfortunately the lift to access it wasn’t working and my 89 year old mum couldn’t walk up the 16 steep stairs so we didn’t use it much. 
Luminae service was outstanding. But to be honest throughout the ship service was excellent and the crew so friendly. Anything else you can think of please ask!

Wendy

Thank you for your review! We got off the day you embarked - and guess what we walked onto - Celebrity Summit - that’s how close they were. When I told the porter that was where we were heading he walked our luggage over - he got a great tip! 
Wendy 

On 4/16/2023 at 8:32 PM, Jim_Iain said:

BTW.  The guide said we aren’t supposed to allow photos inside but the Secret Service wasn’t there so shoot away.   Not sure if he was kidding or not.  I obviously took a few. 

Oh I’m loving your trip - we arrived back on Summit on Thursday and was so worried for you arriving with the rain. I haven’t got to the last page yet but Elena is a dear - we’ve sailed with her several times when she was an assistant waiter in Luminae and was so delighted at her well deserved promotion. Joanne had been Retreat manager but I think she is now in Guest relations - she’s from Scotland.

I did the same tour last Sunday and our docent, Buddy, said the exact same thing! 
Wendy