SM Cruiser

I did my fair share of complaining about the food after our September cruise, so I don’t have blinders on when it comes to complaining about Celebrity, however I feel they have done a 360 since September, so credit where credit is due. 😁

25 minutes ago, Dawnya00 said:

Thanks for sharing! I’m new to X and will be on Reflection in 2 months! Sooo happy to hear happy cruisers! 

I’ve sailed many cruise lines and approx 40 cruises, I  keep booking with Celebrity , you’ll have a wonderful time, the staff can’t do enough for you 😁

Today we finished our cruise on the Reflection, we were a bit concerned about this sailing after taking our last B2B Infinity in Greece last September, this is when the new CEO introduced major menu changes in the main dining room which led to us eating at the buffet almost every night, in addition you could tell that the staff weren’t as happy as what they usually are. We didn’t know what to expect on this sailing. 
 

I’m so happy to report that everything was excellent, food was back to what we had in the past, pre new CEO,  and tasted excellent. Prime Rib, Lobster, Beef Wellington etc. Staff were amazing and the whole experience was top notch 😁

Wish we were doing a B2B on this sailing   ! Did not want to get off. 

Thank you to everyone for your input, much appreciated.

I do not like to take ship tours and we often will use the local buses and trains etc. in many different countries, as we have on this 3 week trip. Unfortunately time was too tight to try to reschedule getting to Seville on this occasion.

The one thing that I have learned is that I will now only join or arrange reputable highly rated tours whereby the amount is pre paid by all. I also hope that Moises now introduces at least a deposit requirement for his tours.

Hopefully, we’ll get the chance to see Seville another year.

Since you were part of the group do you feel bad enough to pay Moises? Do you feel bad enough to at least pay the amount you committed?

We had absolutely no input on this tour being cancelled. We wanted to go but was not given the option. If we had been involved in the decision making process then yes it would be fair that we would pay the cancellation fee.

We answered a request from a Cruise Critic member for additional people to join a tour to Seville from the port of Cadiz, leaving today.

The tour was a Jewish history tour in Seville booked with a very highly rated guide called Moises Hassan-Amselem at Jewish Sevilla Tours. The cost of the tour was 80 Euros per person and there were 8 of us.

The organizer of the tour requested transportation be arranged from the port to Seville ( 90mins e/w) from the guide Moises. Our guide arranged private transportation for our group.

Today, 2 hours before the ship docked in Cadiz I received a call from the organizer to advise that one of the couples had got a health issue and therefore wouldn’t be attending, the other couple had not wanted to pay the increased rate so he arbitrarily decided to cancel the tour.

We had no input into this cancellation and were left with no tour booked for today, more upsetting though was the fact that Moises, the guide, had paid for our private transportation out of his own pocket, so he is now out of pocket for this expense plus he has lost a day’s wages !

I believe that the couple that had committed should have been obligated to pay what they had committed to without it impacting other travelers. It turns out that Moises had agreed to reduce the rate but the organizer from these boards just did not respond.

This event has spoiled this day for us, we feel really bad for the person whose livelihood depends on people like us.

This behaviour was shameful, 🙁

Thank you both,

The thought of staying overnight is very tempting :)

Hi

We are stopping in Le Havre, don't fancy spending 6 hrs travel time to see Paris when we are only docked for one day

Are taxis available at the port to take us to Hornfleur ?

Cost ?

Are there shuttle vans ? similar to Caribbean, that will pick up passengers and take as a group ? cost

Thinking about going at around 10am and return at approx 4 pm, wondering if the taxi will return for us later in the day

Thanks

We have an overnight stop in Bilbao in September

We would like to go to San Sebastian for the day.

Can anyone tell us how difficult it is to get from the ship into Bilbao, time etc. and how to find the bus station.

Also wondering how difficult it will be to get from the bus station late evening upon our return to Bilbao, to get back to the ship

Thanks

WE have a sort of unusual situation. We are doing a Mediterranean cruise from Nov 27 to Dec 7, round trip from Barcelona. The next day, Dec 8, we board another cruise, trans Atlantic, back to the USA. So we have really limited time in Barcelona.

Questions

We need a hotel for one night so where should we look?. We are really on a budget but we do have some points from Hilton. Are any of their hotels around the area?. I would think we should we stay around the port area, as we need to go back there the next AM.?? If we do, are we far from the 'main' attractions?

Since we have never been to Barcelona, figuring we should be able to get off the ship by 9AM, what can we do with our luggage till we can get to a hotel? And what would be the most interesting things to see in that short time frame?

 

Thanks for any advice and help

 

Cheers

Len

Our cruise ends in Barcelona and we are staying 3 nights, we wanted to forget about our luggage on the morning we arrive and head into town to start our vacation in Barcelona immediately, without the stress of hauling luggage to the hotel first.

We booked with bagsandgo.com, they pick up your bags at the ship and drop them at your hotel for you at a time of your choosing, leaving us free to enjoy our full day. so we get off the ship, enjoy our luggage free day and find them at the hotel when we get there. Cost for 2 cases was 24 euro.

They have great reviews here on cruise critic, they also offer this service allowing you to pick up in the afternoon at the airport if you are flying out later that day and want to be luggage free to enjoy the morning in Barcelona, costs 8 Euro per case to get to the airport.

We had a standard problem. We needed to check out earlier than we needed to check in for our cruise, and we wanted to do some sight seeing anyway.

 

We were staying at an AirBnb, and asked Bags & Go come to that address to pick up the bags. I think it cost us about 36E for 3 bags. I gave a confusing address, and they really went the extra mile to get those bags from me. I think they are very reliable and professional.

 

Our bags were delivered to the cruise terminal for us. We didn't even see them until they were delivered to our cabins. Meanwhile we toured the Picasso Museum, had a fantastic lunch, and then hailed a cab to the ports.

 

This was mid-May. I haven't seen many reviews for them so wanted to give people a heads up that it's a very convenient option.

Thank you, we have booked this service :D

Albergo Commercio e Pellegrino, Venice

Last year we stayed here and we have booked it again for this year.

Its 3 min walk from St. Marks Square, very close to the water bus stop, great breakfast, spotless and great staff.

Its a small hotel, price was excellent and we would highly recommend.

We took the airport express bus to the water bus terminal, purchased a multi day pass and took the water bus within a 4 min walk to hotel with no steps or bridges to cross

Only missed 2 ports in 36 cruises.

Hi,

I have a B2B cruise booked on Celebrity,

Ship arrives in Key West on a Friday, returns to FLL on Saturday, 2nd cruise, same ship and cabin is back in Key West on the Sunday.

Is it possible to stay in Key West for the Friday and Saturday night, and get back on the ship when it docks again on the Sunday to continue the 2nd cruise ?

Thanks

Not seeing many posts for singles on Celebrity ?? Its my favourite cruise line

Jamaica and Nassau

Bringing my Dyson, don't expect there'll be any problems.

The hairdryers supplied by the cruise line are a joke, I'd be hours trying to do my hair with those.

Look at Celebrity, 5.5 star line.

I've cruised over 35 times and love Celebrity

Right now they have Free Gratuities, Free alcohol and certain travel agents are offering an extra $300 OBC.

Applicable to any sailing, ocean view minimum, 4 days cruise minimum, sailing between March 2018 to April 2019 :D

We are booking a few shorter getaways because its such a great deal.

Consider flights from USA to Europe via Toronto, You have a great exchange rate, we have a fabulous airport and lots of direct flights into Europe

We have the same flight time, FLL to YYZ, I'm not worried. We have arranged pick up at the Port by SAS Transporttion to get us to FLL, saves waiting for a taxi and very reasonable, I've used them a number of times for our cruise transfers. You should be fine.

The package offered is the same as online under Cruise Planner - Buy 1 get 2nd 50% off, works out to be $48.30 per day inc Grats, 2 people in stateroom have to buy.

If the 2nd person does not drink alcohol they have to purchase a Beverage package which is non alcoholic, but costs $30.68 per day. That's a ridiculous price just for pop, teas, coffee, water etc.

Thanks for the replies but I am not asking about the free shuttles. I have read on other boards and websites that a narrated hop on/hop off tour had begun in San Juan.

 

Is there anyone that knows if the tours actually exist?

Yes, Google HOHO San Juan and you'll find the info you need there

i've never had luck with laundry on ships, always comes back like they have used the harshest detergent, make sure it's nothing you can't risk being ruined !

By chance was the vehicle a mini=van? There are 7 of us(4 adults and 3 children}and we were wondering if we need to take 2 vehicles or will be able to squeeze into 1 mini-van.:confused:

- We took an SUV - it was a squeeze for 4 adults 2 children.

A taxi is not too expensive so I would take 2 regular as worst case scenario, less than $20 each taxi.

Yesterday my family of 6 took a taxi from the port to FLL Airport.

TAXI # 100 - held 5 but 6 of us managed to squeeze in.

The taxi itself was dirty inside, but we had to get to the airport so off we went.

The taxi driver did not put on his meter, and when we arrived and stopped 10 minutes later he punched $45.00 into the meter. :mad:

I objected to this amount and he said, " it's per person at $7 each and you would have had to take 2 taxis for 6 of you"

We had to catch a flight, so handed over the money and then I phoned the taxi company, Friendly Checker.

It took 3 long distance calls from my cell to the taxi company and over 30 minutes of being on hold to speak with a manager, until I finally asked them to call me back.

We arrived home in Toronto and there was a voice mail from the manager of Friendly Checker, he apologized and offered to refund the $45 and said the driver said his meter was broken, although it should have only been approximately $17 not $45.

The driver of taxi #100 is a scammer, and I wonder how many other times he has got away with this and people have not been bothered to report it.

So, please beware and make sure the fare meter is on before leaving the port, and know you should be paying less than $20 to get to the airport.

WATCH FOR TAXI #100 AND STAY AWAY.