Suzi66

A lot of cruises have Milford Sound as the first one that you enter. Often the itinerary is Sydney, Sounds, Dunedin etc and so Milford is in the morning.

I'm hoping that the rain is later in the day, after we have all boarded, and not Thursday as I am flying in on a test-tube (the plane holds 30 people maximum). I am however glad we booked the flights for Thursday and not Friday with that weather forecast.

Day Light Savings FINISHES (thank goodness) on April 6. We are heading into Winter. We don't need to be getting up another hour earlier than we already are. You will get to have an extra hour to sleep if needed in the morning.

Definitely Albatrosses on the hillside. You were lucky if you saw penguins before dusk as they don't exit the water until then. The sounds are beautiful and you still have the best to go.

You should definitely be able to see them, they will be just before the lighthouse but the chicks look like white dots in the grass. This is a photo taken from the Eclipse last season. Looking forward to joining you on Friday.

At Sydney they start taking your bags very early (9.30 - 10 ish) even if they aren't allowing any one on. Just drop off your bags once you leave the hotel and go for a walk around Circular Quay, visit the Opera House etc until your check in time.

Does anyone have any idea of the menu. I have dietary restrictions and there is usually nothing I can eat so we try the buffet. In a couple of weeks we are doing E-class for the first time and I am wondering if the menu for the concierge lunch will be any different?

I was actually annoyed with Celebrity at Phuket. I purposely booked shore excursions so that we didn't have to wait for tenders and possibly miss our excursions. The meeting point was "on shore", so we still had to find our own way via the tenders. There was also no information via Captains Club so we could get early tenders as Elite, nor as we were in Aqua cabins. So we just had to go super early and wait around until the meeting time, rather than miss the meeting time. It was much more organised at Indonesia which offered priority tendering for both Captains Club and excursions

In January this year it was most definitely tender.

I have done several trips on Celebrity since being diagnosed as Coeliac. (I have always been lactose intolerant so I need to have meals catered for both now). Eclipse was last September, January and March, Solstice this January as well as the Millennium this January. Bread is very hit and miss so if you want bagels you are better off bringing your own, however I have found that I can get a good amount of food that I like. I pre-order the night before in the MDR and anything I want is altered to suit, with some exceptions. The only problem I have had recently is on the Millie which had very few options in the buffet for breakfast compared to the Soltice which I was on just beforehand (a S2S cruise). HOWEVER for some really good GF options you can go to the Spa Cafe for breakfast and lunch as they always make sure they have them and they have lovely cookies there as well.

I was on the second sailing out of Melbourne as well, and was surprised with how few passengers, but put it down to it being just before Christmas and such a short cruise. We did it just to try Virgin and were so happy we then booked more for next season as we had 3 booked with Celebrity already for this season. We were quite late booking as we didn't even realise they were coming to Australia until about a month beforehand and I wonder how many cruisers were the same. Already had this seasons plans in place, and didn't know about Virgin coming until just before they got here, but were definitely planning on sailing on them next season. I've been waxing lyrical about the food, just as someone as allergies and having GF and many other things covered easily where ever we ate, and suggesting that people try Virgin in future. Well, that won't be happening next season.

We were in Aqua and were able to have both menus for dinner as well because of the same reason. We really loved it.

I can give you the Luminae lunch hours as well. From what I have they are all at the same time.

I have all my Celebrity Today's from the Jan 16-28 cruise. This was our schedule. MDR on day 2 was 12-1.30, the same for the 24th and the 25th. Any other questions about mealtimes you want me to help with. Buffet was until 2.30 as was Sushi on 5. Spa Cafe until 2 and the Pool Grill until 6. Everything closed on the dot that they said they were going to and GF foods were often hidden away (at least at breakfast they were) and things that were marked as GF on Solstice the week before were not on the Millie. As someone who is Coeliac I notice these things, expecially when they are the foods I eat a lot of.

I have done this as with both Gluten and Lactose allergies. We let them know when booking that I had the restrictions so they were prepared. Dessert I was offered sorbet and fruit. The sauces were slightly different with the other courses that I picked but on the whole I had things very similar to my husband's meal or others.