Emmandjay

Thank you all so much for your help.  I used the 0800 number and have just cancelled the cruise.  We will sail again when the situation improves.

We have the final payment for our Apex cruise due in a few days.  In view of the current Coronavirus situation, we have decided not to go ahead and forfeit the deposit.  We booked direct with Celebrity, but can't find how to cancel on their website.  Does anyone know the way to do this?  Do we need to phone them on their expensive UK number?

Any help appreciated.

We are in the same dilemma, with just two weeks until final payment is due for our Norway cruise on Apex.  It's not the catching of the virus so much as the possible quarantine situation on the ship.  The Diamond Princess did not seem to quarantine people very effectively at all.

At the moment we are thinking of cancelling, but will wait as long as possible in case the situation changes.

This has turned into a very complicated issue - well done Celebrity!

We have a cruise booked on Apex next year and when we first heard about this charge we were all set to cancel as  a matter of principle. Now it seems we don't have to pay this we will probably go ahead.  There must be many  like us who perhaps only have a glass of wine with dinner and a couple of speciality coffees.  Would certainly not pay $14 pppd for that.  X should have quietly increased the cruise fares and no one would have noticed.

Just off Silhouette yesterday.  Aqua Spa cafe not open on embarkation day.

If you've never been to Europe before, why not start with the British Isles?  We're generally friendly, we speak English, we have loads of history and museums and interesting foods ( steak and kidney pie, fish and chips with mushy peas and even deep fried Mars bars!)

As has been previously stated, May and June are perhaps the best months in Europe.  The Med gets really hot and crowded in August (peak holiday times), the Baltic countries are often cooler and more pleasant.

I'm sure you will have a great time.

We too made the mistake of thinking that the menus would change weekly.  On our recent 14 night cruise we ate there four times - always the same menu.  Unfortunately we didn't think to ask when we booked, which menu it was going to be.  We'll know for another time!

Sometimes when tenders are used in choppy seas it's more of an experience!

On our recent Ventura cruise, we got 30% off Epicurean for the first night.  There was a table near the buffet where a man was taking bookings.  Later in the cruise they were doing an early bird special with a free bottle of wine if you dined before 6.30 in Epicurean or Sindhu.

On our recent cruise we picked up some Bose headphones at a saving of about £40 over Amazon's price.  Knowledgeable staff, too.

We also enjoyed this cruise very much.  So lucky with the weather and sea conditions!

Our first time on Ventura and impressed overall - good food and great staff.

Another recommendation for the Faroe Islands.  We did the Traditional Villages tour - the guide was excellent and the scenery was wonderful.

We are also on this cruise.  The Reykjavik port website says we arrive at 9 am.  P&O are not good at giving arrival and departure times, so it's best to look them up on the web.

Looking forward to this Cruise!

May 2015 on Eclipse - calm seas, even in the North Sea.

Weather was very good, hardly any rain and coats not really needed, although we took light waterproofs ashore with us just in case.  We used them on the river trip in St Petersburg as wind protection.

It's a very interesting cruise. Enjoy it!

We have done a Florence On Your Own excursion (with Marella).  The coach journey was about one and a half hours and we were dropped off by the river, from where it was about a ten minute walk to the centre.

Thanks, John.  We've had this cruise booked for over a year - something we've never done before, so always been able to find our terminal on the list.  Will just have to keep looking until it appears.

We are booked on this cruise.  Looking at the Southampton Port schedule, Ventura isn't listed after March.  Is this usual for no terminal to be allocated?  It would be nice to know as we need to arrange parking and overnight hotel, and the choice of terminal affects this.

Yes, diet Coke is included.  Coffee from the machines is free but you pay a supplement for the speciality coffees.

Not 100 per cent sure, but the app runs through a free part of the ship's Wi-Fi, so I would think you need to be on board to use it.  They give you an instruction sheet as part of your welcome pack when you arrive. Hopefully someone else can give you the definitive answer. Enjoy your cruise!

Once you are on board you can download their app which , among other features allows you to book the restaurants.  There are also several terminals around the ship which do the same thing.  We found that Surf and Turf booked up very quickly.

Recently on Explorer it seemed that although a few people 'dressed up' , the majority, as Dronnygirl says, wore what you would  see in a nice restaurant.

For those of us who P&O have deemed not worthy of any sort of brochure about Iona, is there anywhere on the web that shows cabin sizes and layouts? Would like to compare deluxe balcony and conservatory mini suite before committing to a booking. From the deck plans it looks like the mini suites are long and narrow.

Thank you all. That is very helpful.

If we take the bus no1 from the port to the city centre, do we need to buy a ticket before boarding, and if so ,where from? Or can we just pay the driver?

Thanks.

Thank you, that helps a lot. We are OK with walking, but good to know about the electric car also.

For anyone who's done this Marella excursion from Livorno - where in Florence do we get dropped off? Is the pick up from the same place?

Trying to work out a walking route for us to follow.

Second question - how easy is it to find toilets?

Thanks.