CCJack

A little too tight for my comfort level as well, but people are different when it comes to this.    Have you talked to the airline about options?   We just had the exact same thing happen for our Sept 2024 flight out of Athens - they moved it from 1 pm to 11 am.   I called the airline to discuss options.  I asked if they would consider moving me to a different airline... they said perhaps but since we were 9 months out they advised to wait and see if there would be even more changes to flight times.   They were hesitant to go the "different airline" route this early, but didn't rule it out as trips gets closer.     I ended up changing to the following day 11 am, same airline just so we have a workable option booked for now.   I just hate being rushed during debarkation and transport to airport knowing that everything has to go smoothly to make a flight.  

I loved our Amalfi Coast independent excursion.   Sweeping views of the coast during the drive and the coastal city / stops had beautiful views as well.

Personally, I was underwhelmed with our CT ship's excursion.   We visited only one village and it was very crowded.   I was used to seeing the beautiful photos of the villages which are taken from the ocean or a helicopter, but when you are in the village, of course you don't see that view.   Perhaps if you have more time there and hike I may have liked it better.

We did a ship's tour to Pisa as a last minute add, since we missed our originally scheduled excursion (mix up on meeting point in ship, and thus we were a few minutes late and they left without us!)    The ship re-booked us on the Pisa excursion as it was the only one with openings, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I thought the field of miracles was beautiful.

Florence is good too.   I understand the concern about 2 big cities in 2 days, but if you have the energy, you can't go wrong with Florence.

Good luck.

I am not sure, I know they sell SB gift cards, but not sure about coffee cards.    I do know that the NCL basic (free) coffee can barely be called coffee !   Pretty bad.   We spent the $ for a SB coffee each morning even though typically I am not a SB fan, (I like Tim Hortons or Dunkin).   !!

I would guess yes... because they sell SB gift cards at least on the Joy SB they did.    Note, you can not use non refundable OBC to purchase SB gift cards on board, however, you can use NR OBC to purchase SB drinks and food.  So there is some special rules concerning the gift cards and NCL / SB business deal.   So I am not 100% sure, but I would guess if they sell them there, you could use them there even if you are bringing the SB GC from elsewhere. 

we did a walking tour..."Historic Halifax by Foot"  by TayMac tours...   We were pleased it was a great tour.

On 3/28/2023 at 7:31 PM, SFCAcruiser said:

You may get more responses by posting this to the Cruise Critic Cruise Air Forum since it is only marginally related to Celebrity. 

Travel time from Piraeus to ATH is about 45 minutes. So, your flight seems doable as long as you self-disembark with a private transfer.

 

I see a 12:55PM flights on Lufthansa from Athens. Have you contacted the airline about switching to this flight? In my experience, when the airline cancels the flight, they can be quite lenient about booking you on the flights that YOU have selected. We are generally not bound by the flight that some airline computer has found for us. When you call the airline, it is helpful to ask the agent for the specific flight numbers you want, i.e. making the agent's job a little easier. 

Do you have a ticket that has a lot of restrictions on re-booking?

Do you know if airlines will allow re-booking on a different airline if they changed our flight to an unworkable time?   We are booked on American and they changed our flight from 1 pm to 11:30.  

We are on an NCL cruise ending 9/10/24 in Athens.   We booked a flight out at 1 pm.   Unfortunately, the airline has moved us to a 11:30 am flight.   That is tight but I am thinking we could make it.   Ship shows 7 am arrival, our last NCL cruise we self carried off but they didn't let people off until about 7:45.   Is transportation readily available at port?  Would be be faster to pre book a transfer?   

Airline is giving us the option of changing flights, but there really are no good options for later that day and the next day options aren't that good either.

Anyone have experience with time to airport?

thank you.

2 hours ago, Brian V said:

 

@CCJack, I have questions about those cabins if you don't mind a slight hijacking 🙂

 

With them being above the theatre backstage or the mooring station (hard to tell on the deck plans), is there early morning noise when docking, late night noise from the theatre, any other issues beyond the "sporty" 🤢 ride from being so far forward?

 

We did hear music from the theater below only one time on our cruise.  It wasn't enough to bother us however, it was pretty subtle.    Plus, I would guess the big Theatre is typically done by about 10 pm most nights unlike the casino or clubs.   It may make a difference on which of those cabins you are in.   Guessing further forward may be closer to the stage noise...   

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

Here's a precis of Southampton city centre hotels

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_accommodation.htm 

The map at the bottom of that page shows the locations of hotels, cruise terminals etc.

Cheapest (and clean & comfortable) is likely to be the Ibis Budget, but it has no facilities (McDonalds is close by for a very very basic breakfast).

Best breakfasts are likely to be Premier Inn West Quay and Holiday Inn Herbert Walker Avenue.

 

JB 🙂

We stayed at the Holiday Inn and were pleased.   Breakfast good, and we walked with luggage to ship.  One busy street to cross but otherwise an easy walk.

for sure the colosseum would be a nice stop... big and open and kids would love it.   I am also thinking to make a stop into St. Peters in the Vatican.  Kids may not be that interested, but you could make a quick stop of it and see this beautiful structure at your own pace from the inside and leave when you want.     The Vatican museum may be a different story.  That is more of a half day commitment, very crowded and I am not sure kids that age will appreciate it.  Not necessarily an easy place to exit the flow of people as you walk through,....

Have fun....

We were on a Club Balcony Suite on the joy.  As others have stated, you are going to get a larger bathroom, 2 sinks, a nicer shower, and the ability to book dining reservations 5 days before others.  That is about it, the other perks like cookies delivered to room aren't that valuable to me.   That said, $200 is not much and may be worth the upgrade.  

Note that we were on Joy, Deck 8 Club Balcony Suite with the large balconies.  Personally I would not book those large balconies again.  They are very large but deep and skinny.  That means that when you are in your cabin looking out the glass door you have tunnel vision and greatly restricted view of the ocean (of course at the balcony railing you do not have restricted view).  They do have club balcony suites with normal balconies which I would prefer.

a couple things to consider....

We took ships excursion and it really is just transportation there.  We were one of the first buses there and we got in line to go up  Blarney Castle and the wait was only 15 minutes.   However, 10 minutes after we got in line, the line grew to well over 1.5 hour wait.  Point is, getting there later in the morning probably isn't good, even a few minutes later.   Your plan of train then bus may get you there but probably later than the cruise bus.   That said, even if you don't climb the castle, it is a nice place to visit, the grounds are very nice.

Also, note that shortly before our cruise we were notified that our ship was being moved from Cobh to Ringaskiddy.   From what I can tell, nearly every cruiseline advertises they are stopping at Cobh but many are changed to Ringaskiddy (less desirable) ... Not sure who or when or why these decisions are made, but that would complicate your train and bus plan.   Perhaps a ships excursion is a safer bet. 

2 hours ago, KKB said:

One more thing...

Celebrity pool areas are MUCH larger & nicer than NCL, especially Eclass ships.

NCL continues to think if they have lots of "intimate" areas, people will naturally spread themselves equally about them.

No concept of what things will be popular (LIKE POOLS) & making those larger to accommodate demand.

 

But Celebrity's prices are starting to run 30-50% higher than NCL...that's a tough pill to swallow.

We have sailed both cruiselines and i agree.   On the NCL Joy, as an example, there is a ton of real estate on top decks used up by kid's activities (go carts, laser tag, water slides.)   This leaves much less area available for common areas (pools, tracks, etc.)   We were on a Canada N.E. cruise in September on Joy and there were very few kids, that left those kid's areas mostly entirely unused, and the remaining pool outdoor areas very crowded with adults.    It is almost better to have the kids on board to use those areas and having slightly fewer adults on board than on an adult only cruise.    Plus, having kid's on board has never bothered us.... 

Go Big Red.

We were on the Joy last September QC to NY, it was a great cruise.   If you have not been to QC that should be a don't miss port for you.   We stayed 2 nights pre cruise in QC.   Our 2nd favorite port was Saguenay, particularly the national park there.   Saguenay is a deep fjord ...perfect for cruising into.    Our ship didn't stop in Maine or Boston, but of course those are great places too.... will likely do land based vacation to Maine soon.  

Have fun.

When we were there I do not remember seeing any waiting taxis in Dunmore East.   You may want to pre arrange a taxi to pick you up and take you for a ride..  You can spend a little time in Dunmore East.   It is a small seaside village and ... you can walk from tenders along sidewalk near the coast, a couple of ice cream shops a local park, etc.   It is nice, but probably not more than an hour there.   

Congratulations.... and Vancouver is a great embarkation city... Have fun.

3 hours ago, Topdog52 said:

Thank You, and I will!!! I am thinking the Parliament View would be the view of the old town?

No.  the parliament building is on the SE side I believe, although that is a great view as well, some may prefer that.  The parliament building is very close to the Hilton and you see the building from above with the corresponding park and fountains.   The old town is on the NE side of Hilton and you don't see any buildings as close as the parliament, but you see the wall and then all the roofs in the old town, the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and of course the cruise ships.     We requested nothing and were upgraded to a corner room which has floor to ceiling windows on both NE and SE walls so we saw both.  

You can't go wrong with either, probably choose old town (NE) or corner over parliament if you get the choice, but both are very nice.

3 hours ago, Topdog52 said:

We will be staying at the Hilton. After a day of walking around the the old town, is it easy to grab a cab, just in case I do not feel like walking back to the hotel?

Yes, you could easily get a cab, however the Hilton is only a block away from old town.   The front door is on the opposite side of the hotel, so more like a 2 block walk to get to hotel entrance.  

If you are a Hilton Honors member request a room with a view of the old town, the higher the better.   Plus the executive lounge on the top floor has outstanding views.   

Just received a similar offer in the mail.    Is there a catch or is this really a free cruise....?     Thanks

I posted a number of photos and more details of our bike ride down in this thread below.   You need to scroll through the responses to find those that apply to the bike ride.   

let me know if you have other questions about it.  

On 10/13/2023 at 7:26 PM, BaseballMomof4 said:

Was there in September and I HIGHLY recommend Ephesus Shuttle and the tour of Ephesus and Sirince Village.  Ephesus was amazing and the views from the Sirince Village were breathtaking.  Our lunch in the village was delicious as well and there were many lovely shops.  Emre was our guide and I also HIGHLY recommend him as your guide.  Incredibly knowledgeable, fun, great sense of humor, and just an all around credit to the industry!!

thank you for posting, I am interested in booking this.     Also, did this tour take you to the terrace houses?

thanks.

We took the train up and biked down.   Booked the bike and train on our own but an excursion would be the same I suspect.   The bicycle ride down is spectacular scenery, we had great weather.   It is all down hill, there are no endurance / aerobic issues here.   The only thing to be aware of is the first 1 km or so is very rocky and tight turns.  Almost everyone walked their bikes for that part (maybe 30 min) - even experienced bikers.   It gets much easier after that and ends up a smooth packed trail or asphalt for the remainder of the trail.   

Saguenay was my favorite port (next to our embarkation point of Quebec City).    The sail into the Fjord at Saguenay was beautiful.   The Ship docks in a smaller city (there are several cities close to each other.)   We took the excursion to the Saguenay National Park and hiked up the fjord with a park guide.   We really enjoyed it.

I think Quebec City would also be a do not miss port if you are traveling to this part of North America.

On 12/11/2023 at 1:00 PM, liberty176 said:

Thanks so much to all who replied and especially to the incredible response by @Crewbie.  Everyone gave me a bunch to think about and I'm leaning towards walking around Reykjavik on embarkation day and then doing a day tour of the Golden Circle on our port stop in Reykjavik.  Going to skip the South Coast tour (which included Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, the black sand beach, and Solheimajokull glacier).  It did not include Jokulsarlon, which seems to be a highlight, and we'll be visiting there separately.

 

Thank you!!

I like your plan.   Note on our GC independent tour we were 2 hours late returning to Reykjavik due to a traffic jam (I wasn't expecting that in Iceland) - however these tours have a lot of 2 lane highway driving and one problem can cause a long backup.   I am sure most tours are not late, but for embarkation day I think a big tour might be cutting it close.

Reykjavik downtown is a great way to spend 1/2 day.   Especially if you like to shop for expensive outerwear !  You can buy a $2k winter coat on every corner shop it seemed to me.  The store clerks told us you could get your sales tax returned only at the airport and that cruise passengers can not get a refund.   That was not true, on our ship, guest relations refunded sales tax but you needed to stop there immediately when you return to ship (before the ship leaves port.)   Might be different on different ships.  

there is a similar thread asking same question.   I agree with others, don't count on it, but it may be possible.   I would talk to CD or staff at very beginning of cruise and see what they can do.