carolina_yankee

Thank you for the review. We will be on the Rotterdam for the MIdnight Sun voyage next July so it’s nice to see Norway reviews start to pop up. What did you do in Eidfjord? We are tempted to jus do a hike to the iron-burial ground. Glad the weather was nice and seasonable!

Oh, that's a bummer. We loved the promenade and loungers on the Disney magic.

We are likely to take our first HAL cruise next summer for Norway. It looks like from the deck plans that the Lower Promenade deck on the Rotterdam has a full promenade with the old steamer chairs. Isn't Rotterdam pinnacle class? I'm still learning HAL . . .

Thanks for that bit of info since we are taking a 7 night Western. I could see the European cruises being earlier given the early starts each day. If it is 9:30, that's awesome because it means a 7ish dinner wouldn't be rushed.

Good to know that we can plan for 7 or 9. 7 pm is actually a preferred dining time for us and we can book a 6:30 time if we want to linger before a show. I didn’t think about checking the shows out on YouTube. Great idea! The video boards are what caught my attention in the first place.

Thanks for the information. I prefer the taste of soda guns or fountains sodas, but cans are fine. I can tell I will want to build up a little collection and pour into my insulated mug with some ice for lounging sometimes. It would be great if the have Coke Zero, but if it’s just Diet Coke, that’s survivable, too. 🙂

Our previous cruises on another line had soda stations where you could get your own sodas or fill your own thermos (from a clean cup, hygienically, of course!). We will have the premium drink package. Is there either a fountain (in the buffet, maybe?) or other way we could fill our thermoses or take a couple of cans to the stateroom? We will be on the Apex if that makes a difference. Thanks!

We are considering Holland America's Voyage to the Midnight Sun for July 2023. It docks in Hammerfest from 8 am to 6 pmand has an excursion to Alta. This is so tantalizing close (15 minutes) to Kåfjord where my ancestors lived in the mid 19th century. I thought about renting a car and doing my own drive through Alta to Kåfjord, but it's Saturday and all the rental places in Hammerfest are closed on the weekends. Also, since it's 2 1/2 hours each way, I'm a little leery of timing, but we truly don't need that much time to drive through the village, see the church, take a picture of the valley named after my family, and get back. Worst case scenario is we get ourselves to Honningsvåg the next day to reboard! Any tips on finding a private car hire, driver, or tour guide who might be able to help us out? I suppose there is zero chance of arranging car rental so we could just pick it up and drop it off! I've thought about emailing the tourist office in Hammerfest to see if they had any recommendations but I don't want to do that until we actually decide to book and know we have time to do what we want to do. Any tips for our situation?

We found out Celebrity just cleared our Waitlist for Anytime Dining so I have a few planning questions: - What times are the main theater shows so that we can plan dinner around them? Does Apex have any particular "don't miss" production shows on specific nights? We are sailing a 7 night Western Caribbean itinerary in November. - Is there anything particular about the first night show that would make it useful for Celebrity or Apex newbies like us? I know some ships use it as an orientation time in addition to some entertainment. - Finally, any chance the show schedule will show up in the app before the cruise. If so, how early does that happen? Right now, they just have excursion times on the calendar. Thanks!

The thing about the concern over "giving up rights" is that if one behaves in a responsible, cooperative, adult fashion the fine print really is irrelevant! They aren't out to secretly throw you in the brig, rob you of your citizenship (passport), or resell your cabin after kicking you off just because. They want happy passengers who will post on Cruise Critic about how wonderful the cruise was!

Thank you for the review! We are very likely to go with Native Choice as a result - the cost savings is quite significant and it seems like it would be a better experience.

It’s not the common cold. No amount of wishing it so will make it so. As another poster noted, it’s not a problem until it is. Even if mandatory testing were eliminated, people should still self-test and take themselves off the field if positive, even if it means missing the cruise. We aren’t at the point yet where people having nothing to worry about from COVID, and a cruise ship is a happy little incubator, especially if people are careless. I’m vaxed, I cruise, I do many things, but I’m still cautious, for my sake and for others.

In 23 years of ordained ministry, I have buried 10 people who died from COVID (not “with”, but “from”) and 0 people who have died from the Common Cold. It’s not like the common cold.

We haven't yet experienced the IV, but we are looking forward to our first sailing on Apex in November and are confident enough to anticipate Beyond in Jan '24. Not having experienced the cabins, we are looking forward to the extended space and seating area in the room and the wide view. We are thinking of IV as very similar to the Panorama view cabins on Avalon river cruises - basically the whole wall is a glass door. Our other experiences of Verandahs have always been in the shade, so sunning isn't our goal. My concerns are how comfortable the room will be if we want to be on the balcony for an extended period of time with the wall down. We also will miss the ability to have the balcony opened to share with our neighbors while our parents sleep. To me, it's a different room design with pros and cons, as they all have, to throw into the mix. We're looking forward to experiencing it!

We will be in Costa Maya mid-November and want to do the 4 hour Chcchoben excursion. Given we have a fair amount of on-board credit, we are considering taking Celebrity's version, but generally prefer using local vendors directly if we have a sense the experience will be better. This is also a relaxation cruise for us, so we are generally looking at 1/2 day excursions to maximize ship time. For those who have done Celebrity or Royal Caribbean (assuming the tours would be similar), how crowded were they and how good were the guides? For those who have used Native Choice - how long should we budget for the walk from the ship to their location? Their guides sound pretty informed - is that the case? Size of groups and comfort of vehicle? They seem well recommended and a class act. Thanks for any tips or experiences you can give!

Our last cruise out of Port Canaveral (Disney), we were dropped off from our car service, porters took the bags out of the trunk, lined them up with other and we went on our way (we tipped). Waiting to get into PC, I saw other porters load up all the bags *except mine* onto a cart and roll off. My bag was still out there by the time I got into the building. Very nervous! It showed up about 3 pm in the Stateroom. The cart was just full. When we were boarding in NY we watched luggage being loaded. The last palate wasn't loaded evenly so it tipped and dumped about five bags. If it weren't for the net, five people would have received wet luggage, if any. Given that there was an AIDA ship on the other side the same pier, I can see how bags could easily be re-routed by mistake. It makes me want to make sure I do have a change of clothes in a carry-on. As a plus-sized person, I can't take for granted I could find the sizes I need on board. We also have very good cruise insurance - we will definitely be well reimbursed - eventually - if it ever happens to us.

Interesting discussion. I can understand the open areas off of the spa being reserved for those with spa passes. Friends we are traveling with may get passes, so we might end up doing the same. It will be worth looking into. I like classic design, which is one of the reasons why I like the Disney ships and why we gravitated toward Celebrity instead of Royal Caribbean as we start to branch out. I also like tech and modern stuff, so the Edge class ships will be interesting and enjoyable overall, but it does seem that blocking off bow views to elite guests only is a bit of slap. The Disney ships manage to offer both for their concierge guests and their standard guests. Not sure what Holland America or Cunard are like (the other two companies that seem to have "classic design" as their trademark) in that regard. I like to feel like I'm on a ship, not a shopping mall at sea!

Thanks for the tips! I notice the incline section of the walking track and wondered about that. Will definitely scout some locations when we board.

Ha! One should dream! I was hoping for a bit more “wind blowing in my hair, jockeying for a place at the rail with unwashed masses” kind of experience. 😂

Does the Apex have any place for non-Retreat guests to watch sail away over the bow? One of my favorite things to do is to take picture of the from the front of the ship as we head out to sea or dock, but it looks like most of these areas are reserved for Retreat guests. Are the other areas for good viewing as we leave or dock in ports? Thanks!

I appreciate the All Inclusive for our first Celebrity cruise. Coming from Disney, even with the Elevate package, our cruise on the Apex will be significantly less expensive than similar stateroom and itinerary on the Disney Fantasy or Magic. The kicker for me is the lack of free non-alcoholic beverages during the day. We both drink a fair amount of sodas as well as sparkling waters, so I was worried about sticker shock if we didn’t have a beverage package, plus the inconvenience factor. Unlike our recent river cruise on the Seine where we could easily stock up on sodas in the villages and bring them on board, this cruise won’t have easy port shopping for groceries for us to supply our own. I also do like to try new drinks and enjoy wine with meals and in the lounges, so we’ll see. Given that the promotional cruise credits more or less cover the additional costs, for us the question is “why not?”

Stealing a phone or tablet, at least an Apple one, is virtually useless given how quickly they can be bricked by the owner. I have no problem leaving my phone or Kindle on my lounger while in the pool or stepping to the restroom. It's under towels or in a bag so someone would have to root for it, but I've never had any problems. Even if I don't have internet, I can't imagine not being without my phone for the ship app, games, reading, etc. I also have a traditional paper-white Kindle I use when reading outside because it's not affected by the glare. If it gets stolen, I don't care. It's $100 and I've got my books on other devices, too. But it's not going to get stolen. It's basically worthless unless someone is desperate to read. I'll give it up for a reader if they need it that bad! I'll leave money, cards, passport in the safe, but electronic gear I just store under clothing. The only person who is going to steal from the stateroom is the attendant and I find that high unlikely. My life experience has taught me people are good. I lost my wallet in a Paris park. A person found it, tracked me down on Facebook through my ID name and messaged me they had it. We met in a cafe, and I got everything back, down to the last euro. Wouldn't even take a reward. Alas, I had already canceled my cards! I left my iPhone in a men's room stall in a museum. Realized it five minutes later. Went back. Somebody was just coming out with it and handing it to security. Quickly returned to me. I don't tempt fate, but I do have a comfort level of trust while taking enough precautions to not be drastically harmed should I become the victim.

A friend learned this the hard way - be sure your name in the NAVICA App matches your passport name. A friend goes by her middle name and registered on NAVICA that way. United said they couldn’t take the result since it didn’t match the passport name, so she had to go out and find a second test at the last minute since she only had one Emed test with her. Fortunately, there was a late evening test site near her hotel in Barcelona!