Bobblsc

Do you think that to someone prone to motion sickness, that the average amount of motion would be handle-able? I honestly prefer no motion at all LOL. :D

 

Yeah, we take half a Bonine every night during dinner so that we won't pass out during the day. We've pretty much gone through every remedy in the book since all 3 of us (my siblings & I) used to all be prone to motion sickness. For my brother it has significantly decreased, but for my sister and I, we've only improved a very minor amount. This applies to cars, buses, planes and ships. I get sick on pretty much anything that moves, so being one who travels so often, it isn't that good of a combination ;).

 

Fortunately, the area that we will be sailing is farther into the interior to the east, so most of the waves hopefully won't come in. (ie. Greece area)

 

Sarah

 

Given your motion sickness, I would not advise a trans-ocean cruise at this time. It could be that fairly calm seas would prevail, but the probability of heavy seas is significant.

 

My best to you for your next cruise.

 

Bob :cool:

Yeah, we did too. Everyone was in the Lido (the food lines were stupidly long) and it was pretty hard finding seats. We were lucky to arrive at one of the only empty spots in the whole area. They slowly cleaned all of the cabins and made announcements of which cabins were okay to enter. Our embarkation time was pushed a couple of hours later so we didn't get any Mariner's embarkation lunch. :( We had to sanitize all the time, it wasn't optional lol. And for the first 48 hours, no one was allowed to serve themselves food. It was kind of inconvenient, but nonetheless understandable.

 

Regarding food, it seemed kind of hit and miss. Some delicious, a few yucky, some so-so. Overall average was not bad. From our experience, Celebrity & Disney seem to have the better of the food (of non-luxury brand cruises).

 

Yeah, above I have a post (pg 44 upper to midway), I've uploaded some videos of our musical acts on board. Included is Adiago. If you watch it, you can see how they played! I think they were pretty even. && about your daughter, that's pretty awesome :cool:.

 

On board, we had 2 outside cabins. Pretty nice and roomy :)

 

I've watched a few karaoke contests on board ships and I find it's no fun if no one is good LOL. The Disney one is even worse since they're just children singing :D.

 

I already read it haha. It took a while to find it but I did! While in the process, I noticed that in my CC review (right above yours), I forgot to rate the overall enjoyment! D: Oops.

 

I have a question, when you're out in the middle of the sea, are waves choppy? Because I tend to get motion sickness :/ && I have a cruise booked for November! It'll be west Mediterranean :) I have to skip some school though.

Your photos made the food look better than it may have been.

Sometimes karaoke can be good.

All our trans-ocean cruises have been with good seas, sometimes in 10 to 12 foot waves, but still OK. The large waves do give the ship some motion, but I like at least some motion.

We are former sailboat sailors. We kept a 22 foot boat at our sailing club here on Beaver Lake. We also leased larger sailboats from time to time on the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. We did generally stay within sight of land on the gulf. Our leased boats ranged from 30 feet to 52 feet.

I have read of many remedies for motion sickness. You might want to look some up. The Mediterranean can sometimes be a bit choppy.

There is a lot of history throughout the Mediterranean Sea area. But there is also a lot of unrest there now. I'm sure your parents will make the correct decisions however.

Thank you once more for all your excellent posts.

Bob :cool:

Hi Bob :)

 

Thank you very much for the nice compliments! Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest as much as you enjoyed the first 15 pages! ^^

 

I see, you were on the cruise right before ours, right? How was it? Did you get sick & what was it like having the code red-like health situation on board? Did it put a damper on your cruise?

(Lol sorry so many questions)

 

Did your food taste good though? Because looks can be deceiving haha. On multiple occasions, I noticed that my food looked more appetizing on camera than in real life! :D (how sad you didn't get duck breast :( it was so darn tasty)

 

Oh is that right? I loved them! (But we never got a theatre performance from them though). Personally, I never thought that the piano overpowered the violin (on my trip anyway) in any sort of fashion. I thought they complimented each other quite well. But maybe that's just me.

 

Oh interesting, I feel like we missed out now lol. I'm sure your rendition of Ol' Man River was awesome haha. That sounds like so much fun! But I'm not sure we'd have as big a turn out as you did. Every night, our theatre seemed to be pretty thinned out. We were only allowed to use the lower deck of the theatre, and even then there weren't many that turned up. Everyone was evenly spaced out.

 

I cannot agree more about the lack of talent shows. They'd be way more fun.

 

I'll definitely search for it!

 

Sarah

Sarah,

The captain made the correct calls to control the illness. We hade to wait about three hours after we arrived at the ship terminal before boarding. DW stayed in the terminal, but I boarded a free bus which delivered ship passengers to a very nice large Kobe department store. Buses arrived later to take us back to the terminal.

We shortly boarded the ship, but had to wait in the Lido until our cabin was fully cleaned and made ready. The continued health precautions were not really bothersome, especially considering their purpose. All were continually encouraged to wash hands and use the sanitizing dispensers. The "code red" was lifted after about 8 days, but then reinstated two or three days later. But no, these things were not negative for our 17 day cruise.

Our main dining room food was , over all, so-so. At least I thought that. It appears to me that all cruise lines are economizing on food. We do not eat for quantity, but for quality, so we do miss the quality we recall from previous cruises. We have cruised on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and HAL. We suspect they have all cut back.

I talked to the pianist one time and suggested that she might reduce her volume a bit. Maybe she did. I am not a true musician, but our daughter is a violinist. Well, after years of study and a college degree in classical violin, she now plays mostly old time country fiddle music. Her group, The Wilders from Kansas City played all across the country and Europe. Their last gig was in Canada in a Calgary festival, I believe.

They tell us "You can't take it with you." so we booked a Neptune suite, which was generally nice.

On earlier cruises, all had guest talent shows. After three or four cruise, DW talked me into joining them. They were fun, but then karaoke contests seemed to completely replace talent shows. They are OK, but one is limited to the karaoke CD's available. Plus most running the show will not adjust for the singer's pitch.

Now I quit. If you want you can read my Volendam review.

Bob :cool:

We do have another HAL cruise booked on the Noordam for October 31. This, as many other of our cruises have been, is a Trans-Atlantic. We enjoy these, and have the time because I am retired.

Bob

I read through page 15 and then decided to read the rest at a later date. Yes, you do write well, and your photos are outstanding.

We were on the Kobe to Vancouver Volendam Trans-Pacific last April.

Your food looks better than ours was. For example, one evening the menu included roast duck. Without a specific designation, we assumed it was duck breast. Not so, it was leg. I see yours was indeed breast.

The pianist and violinist in the Explorer Lounge were the same as yours. They were fine and had a very good 60 minute show in the theater one afternoon which was very enjoyable, but their music in the lounge seemed to have the piano overpower the violin too often. The quartets we have heard on the larger ships have been better for us.

I was sorry to read that our piano bar performer, Steve, was not on your cruise. Steve organized a guest talent show for one afternoon, which I believe, turned out to be excellent. Perhaps this was, in part, because I sang 'Ol Man River. But there were other performers who were even better. The audience of about 300 seemed to enjoy the show. Steve did a very good job organizing and being Master of Ceremonies for the show.

Unfortunately guest talent shows seem to have mostly disappeared from cruise ships. There are mostly Karaoke contests remaining. OK, but I do not think contests, with winners and losers, are for the better.

I have a review posted on CC.

Bob :cool:

Thank you retafcruiser for your answers. I will check other threads by way of search for DVD player availability.

Yes, we expect to be comfortable in the Celebrity Suite. It's been four years since we sailed with Celebrity. We were always on M class ships, usually in Concierge cabins. But we thought this time, what the heck, we'll splurge this time. We know the Eclipse has a capacity of 2800 cruisers, but with the extra decks, our walks should not be much farther than the smaller ships.

I will look for Karaoke sessions. They are always fun.

I lived in Northern Virginia for 3½ years while I worked and completed GWU coursework at night for my final graduate degree. DW and I met and married there. All that was back when Watergate was only the stretch of the Potomac close to the Lincoln Memorial. The armed services' bands played there three or four nights a week in the summers. They were very good.

Thanks again for your helpful information.

Bob :cool:

Take good care of the suite - I have it booked the 30th of November. I specifically chose 1235 because I was in the same suite on the Equinox this past Spring. No complaints at all - loved it. HAL used to be my favorite line, but this last Celebrity experience has converted me. Enjoy! (Another Bob here)

If your suite, which we occupy during an earlier time, is not in good shape, "The butler did it." ;)

Many of our questions have been answered by other sources, but I have a couple for you, if you do not mind.

On the Equinox, a sister ship, was there a DVD player? If yes, we will bring a few with good music.

Does the small desk/make-up table have a drawer?

Other questions have now been answered elsewhere, but if I am wrong, please correct.

This small desk is the only desk in the suite.

There are adequate drawers for clothes and other items. There are four drawers below the safe in the walk-in closet.

The elite cruisers are given two or three coupons for free drinks before each dinner.

There are good music bars, etc. available on the ship.

Thanks for your input.

Bob :cool:

Dear CC members,

Thank you all for your attention to this thread.

 

As time permits, I will return to the questions that have not been addressed.

I will continue with dining and some design aspects as well to complete the review.

 

Happy cruising!

Cruisetrail, thank you for your excellent presentations. Many of your comments can be applied to other Celebrity ships and, indeed, ships on other lines.

I will limit my question to one. We have booked suite 1235 on the Eclipse for the November 3 Trans-Atlantic. Was this a good choice, or are there negative this things we failed to consider? Oh, maybe this is more than one question. :)

This will be our first Celebrity suite. That, is a Celebrity Suite, or any other size suite on a Celebrity ship. We have sailed six times on Celebrity M class ships, usually Concierge class.

We have noted a few slightly disturbing things about the Celebrity Suite: Only one small desk/make-up table. Few electric outlets. Lack of counter space in bathroom. Unclear about drawers for clothes and other items.

We have previously booked suites on HAL, and found many features to be very good. So we are also considering a Noordam TA, departing Civitavecchia October 31. Rates on both are good. I get a military rate on the Eclipse, and a Mariner rate on HAL. If the suite and its comfort were the only thing to consider for a cruise, we would take the HAL.

I may have a few other questions I will post later, which others may respond to. (OK, language purists: to which others may respond.) :D

Thank you, Cruisetrail.

Bob :cool:

Thank you, Barb, for your information and insight. I have noticed the Celebrity Suites on the M class ships for a long time. We would not even have missed the balcony which they have now added. All our recent cruises, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America, have been trans-ocean in cool weather.

All floor plans and photos seem to confirm only the one small make-up table. Not good design. Our small suite on HAL Noordam had two desks, one for DW's make-up and one for my travel stuff. It also had two sinks in a large counter in the bathroom plus a tub and separate shower.

Due to past USAF service, I am able to get the military rate for the Eclipse suite we booked. But we have till mid august to cancel without charge. So the are also looking at Noordam TA from Civitavecchia. The large suites there are interesting and the price good for frequent cruisers.

Thanks again.

Bob :cool:

We have booked Celebrity Suite 1235 for the Eclipse Nov. 3 trans-Atlantic. This will be our first suite on Celebrity. I have printed all Celebrity Suite photos on an early page here.

Does anyone have any info about a true make-up desk for my DW? All I have seen is the small table on the outer wall of the bedroom. If this is all there is, she will be disappointed.

I am beginning to wonder if we should change to a HAL TA on the Noordam.

Thanks.

Bob :cool:

We have used CSA several times. They and HTH offer pre-existing coverage within 24 hours of final payment. We have also noted that insuring for only the canceling amount prior to the last increment date, two or four weeks prior to cruise sailing saves money. Thus you are insuring for the total canceling times until two or four weeks prior to the sailing. All other benefits remain the same. If you can afford the probability of having to cancel during the last cancellation interval, you will save money.

Aside from that, Holland America offers "Cancel for any reason" with a payback of 90% of cruise cost. This includes a minimal on-board insurance for problems incurred there.

I also must look into airline ticket insurance, as I recall at a lessor price than general insurance.

Thank you all for your inputs. We are getting old and thus looking at higher prices.

Bob :cool:

Any drinks over $8.00 on the Classic pkg. were charged at full price. Only plain water bottles were included. Many drinks that used to be under $8.00 were now increased to $8.50 narrowing the available drinks in the Classic pkg.

Ridiculous, cheap, rip-off, ill advised, terrible, and so many other similar words to describe this. I just cannot believe this can be true.

We are booked on the November 3 Trans-Atlantic Eclipse. I had better check on this nonsense.

Bob :cool:

Yes, there are a number of companies in Japan that offer luggage forwarding services. The best place to inquire at is your hotel, who should be able to make a call to one of those companies on your behalf.

 

The most established and reliable company of this kind is Yamato Unyu. Yamato has an office at the Yokohama Oosanbashi Pier, so they are the best bet. And I am 99.9% sure that your hotel is on their route.

 

Thanks!

You are a fountain of knowledge about Tokyo and, I assume, other locales in Japan. If you ever need help to find a location in Fayetteville or other parts of Northwest Arkansas, just call on me. :D

Bobsan :cool:

The new Palace Hotel in Tokyo has just recently opened.

It is much nicer and much taller than the old one.

This gives you an even better view of the Imperial Palace grounds from the upper floors of the hotel.

 

Although the Palace Hotel in San Franciosco is Japanese-owned, there is no direct connection between that hotel and the one in Tokyo.

We had a great room in the Tokyo Palace on an upper floor (9th or 10th?) in 2007. While we paid a premium price, we were given free cocktail hours each evening and a fine breakfast each morning.

We will look at the new Tokyo Palace, but will not expect that it could be better. I suspect it was decided that, with the prime location, a new high rise structure would generate significantly more profit for a new Palace Hotel than for the old Palace.

Oh yes, I know the SF Palace has no connection with the Tokyo Palace. Years ago the SF one was a Sheraton Palace.

In any case, thanks for your information, Bruce.

Bob :cool:

Hello, I am back. :p

 

If you are staying near Tokyo Station, the easiest is to take the JR Tokaido Line (silver cars with orange/green stripes) to Yokohama Station, and then take a cab from there. There is a train station closer to the pier, but to get there, you would have to make a transfer somewhere along the line, which you would fine rather cumbersome with a lot of luggage.

 

The trains you would want to take at Tokyo Station typically depart from Platforms 7 and 8 (sometimes 9). All trains departing from those platforms stop at Yokohama.

This is exactly the info I was looking for. We most certainly would take a taxi from the Yokohama station to the ship. I assume there are toxson taxis at the station. (It has been years, but I think toxson is large, or large number.)

Our cruise is not until May 6, 2013, so we have many details to complete. I want to go to Seoul, Korea for a few nights first. Then I hope we can spend a few nights in Tokyo, or an interesting town close-by, before boarding the ship.

When we visited Japan in 2007, we used a luggage forwarding service two times. This worked out great in both cases. Do you have any general info about using a luggage forwarding service to a Silversea cruise ship?

Thank you very much for your information.

Bob :cool:

The Palace Hotel is 3-5 minutes by taxi from Tokyo Station.

It will be very easy for you to take the advice listed above - but in reverse.

The Palace Hotel concierge can help you with more details, and also notes in Japanese - for the taxi and the Train Station master.

This is amazing to receive an answer on a 2007 thread within hours of my post. :) Even though you are not Jacksan.

Yes I know of Tokyo Station. We arrived there from Kyoto in 2007, and got a taxi to the Palace hotel. That was a great place to stay. DW wanted to bring one of the toilets home. :D It appears that the complete structure is being replaced by a much taller building.

One very major considerations for travel to the ship's pier is the burden of our large luggage pieces. This I hope to solve by using a luggage transfer service. In 2007 we used these from NRT (?) airport to the Kyoto Hyatt Regency Hotel and later to the Tokyo Palace Hotel. With one-day advance ordering, things went without a hitch.

In any case, where-ever we are coming from, we want to plan for one train, then one taxi to the ship.

Our plans are yet to be completed in detail. I want to go to Seoul, Korea, but DW does not think much of the idea. I most assuredly know Seoul will be totally changed from my last visit there, but I just want to see it. My last time there was in 1952 with the USAF. If anyone had forecast the progress of South Korea back then to as it is now, I would have told them "You are totally nuts."

As for many people, San Francisco is one of our favorite cities. Just a year ago, we stayed four nights at the, yes, Palace Hotel there. Two near-by, now Californian, and years ago Jeff City, Missouri high school classmates joined us for Sunday brunch at the Palace.

Also, one evening, we attended one of the best performances of Madam Butterfly we have ever enjoyed.

Thank you for answering.

Bob :cool:

Hi. I am a Yokohama native, so I am happy to help you. Probably the easiest and most economical way is to walk from the pier to the "Nihon Odori" Station of the Minato Mirai Line, which is about a seven-minute walk from the pier. The path to the station is very clearly marked, but if you ever get lost, just grab someone on the street, and say slowly, "Where? Train? Nihon Odori Station?"

 

When you are on a Minato Mirai Line train, you have several options to go to Tokyo. You can stay on it (a train for Shibuya) until the end of the line, and you will be in one of the busiest and hippest areas of Tokyo (about 40 minutes' ride). Or you can transfer at Yokohama Station, which is the fourth stop from Nihon Odori, onto a JR Tokaido Line that takes you to Tokyo Station (about 25 minutes). You will be one short stop away from Yurakucho, which gets you into Ginza.

 

The bullet train is actually a tougher option. The Shin-Yokohama Station where the bullet trains pass through is about 25 minutes away from Nihon Odori of Minato Mirai Line, and you would have to make two transfers to get there. In addition, the segment between Shin-Yokohama and Tokyo is actually the slowest-running part of that bullet train line. In other words, you would not experience what the bullet train is most famous for (speed) by taking it from Shin-Yokohama to Tokyo.

 

If you have a particular part of Tokyo that you would like to visit, please let me know. I will give you the exact routing accordingly.

I don't suppose you are still there, but I'll see. Our problem will be traveling in the other direction, from Tokyo, perhaps the new Palace Hotel, to the pier. (We stayed at the old Palace Hotel in 2007.) We are to be on a Silversea ship for transpacific cruise to Anchorage. This si not until May, 2013, so there is plenty of time to plan. Thanks.

If there is no answer, at least this will provide a way to return to this post.

Bob :cool:

Hi Donna,

I did not realize that some M&G times turned into gripe sessions. If this happens, the M&G organizer must be prepared to interrupt and state that "This is not the time for such comments. You should take this up privately with the appropriate person."

As you may recall, I was sort of "second in command" for the October Noordam TA Meet and Greet. I think I only briefly interrupted when the Hotel Manager stated "We know we have competition." and I asked "Would you care to name them?" :D The humor seemed to be appreciated.

Bob :cool:

Can someone please explain the details of a connection's party?(We have signed up for ours) What is the purpose? Exactly when does this happen in terms of a timeline after we board the ship? How long do they last? Does the party interfere with other things we may want to be doing when we first board? As a first time cruiser on Celebrity I think I'm going to be so exicited exploring the ship and settling in, do I really want to take time out to go to a connections party? Please help out here. Thanks. :confused:

These are almost always shortly after the cruise beginning. These kinds of get-togethers for CC people occur on many other cruise lines. Holland America calls these meetings "Meet and Great." Royal Caribbean has a name of Meet and Mingle, I think.

Meetings generally last about an hour. Cruise lines have now recognized that these are an opportunity to exercise a "soft" marketing of their product to frequent CC travelers. I mean no criticism here. There are usually ship's officers present, generally the Hotel Manager and the Cruise Director. They provide information about the ship and the cruise.

Here you also have the opportunity to meet your fellow CC members, with whom you have communicated on the cruise Roll Call for some time.

Generally, the ship will provide wine and hor d'oeuvres.

A CCer on the Roll Call will co-ordinate the Connections meeting with a ship officer prior to the cruise. Your time to attend is well worthwhile.

Bob :cool:

Thank you, RetiredMustang, for your informative posts. We last sailed on the spring 2011 Noordam east bound TA. Our Adagio Strings were an excellent quartet from the Ukraine. Did you listen to your Adagio Strings? If so, were they good? We are set to go on the Noordam October 25 west bound TA. We hope the strings will be good. The music every day is one of the benefits of cruising. I also contribute to the music by means of excellent karaoke performances. :D

I lived in an apartment on Columbia Pike in Arlington when I first arrived in Washington as a bachelor many years ago to work at the Pentagon and to attend GWU for graduate studies. When my DW and I became H & W she refused to live there where I knew all the girls. We then rented our first apartment in Alexandria. Washington was great then. The military bands played at Watergate, then a barge on the Potomac close to the Lincoln Memorial.

OK, I just have to ask. Mustang has two meanings for me. One is for those who attended SMU in Dallas, and the other is for those who started as enlisted in the armed forces, and then became officers. The latter is more impressive to me. If you will, could you clarify this for me? Which are you?

I served in the USAF in Korea during that war. Thank you for your answer.

Bob :cool:

Can you bring your own karaoke cd's? I have quite a collection of songs

that you don't usually find in a typical karaoke song book.

Three or four years ago I brought karaoke cd's on the Jewel. When I asked about using them, I was told "no". I did not bring any on our next RCI cruise.

On a more recent Celebrity cruise a gal brought about 40 cd's in two albums. The guys running the karaoke nicely played anything requested from these.

Our last cruise was on HAL Noordam last spring. I did not try my own. Karaoke was limited to one session. Later there was a "finals" for first place. I did not win that, which was proper since another man was really great.

Also, the trend seems to be toward no talent show, as in the past, but only selecting karaoke singers for a final contest. On earlier cruises there were always opportunities to perform in a general talent show toward the end of a cruise. Hal had a great pianist on the Westerdam in 2005, and I sang "Old Man River." The audience reception was very good. I just want to do 'Old Man River" once more so my wife can record it for posterity. :D But such is not to be.

The karaoke selections now seem to be lots of stuff I have never heard of, and a very few Broadway show songs. I think this stinks. Thankfully, there seem to always be several Frank Sinatra songs available. :)

Bob :cool:

(Royal Horseguards nags my mind as we've stayed there 5 or 6 times and we've had wonderful experiences staying in that area of town....plus it feels "comfortable" since we know where everything is around us)

Royal Horseguards nags my mind ....:rolleyes:

Bob :cool:

I'm not surprised to hear this story because we've stayed at other Red Carnation hotels in addition to the Rubens and found that the whole chain has excellent service.

By the way, I see you are from Fayetteville. We are in Little Rock and hope to meet you in our future travels. In the meantime, happy travels.

Donna

Donna, sorry to not respond. I guess I wrote my bit of wisdom, and then forgot about this thread. We have now lived in Fayetteville for more than 35 years. As would be expected, I was a prof at the University, but have now been retired for several years. The University has been a great place to be. Due to the University, we have lived in Europe almost a year while teaching there.

Although this area now has over a third of a million people, we think of Tulsa as our primary "big city", not Little Rock. We used to shop fairly frequently in Tulsa, but now our Tulsa trips are usually limited to three nights a year for The Tulsa Opera. (OK, you Yankees out there who might be reading this, it is not "Grand Old Opry". The Tulsa Opera presents great operas by Verdi, Puccini, and the like.)

Our next cruise is on the Brilliance, December 2 from Barcelona to Miami. There are still cabins available.

Bob :cool:

I've stayed at at least a dozen hotels in London and like the Rubens at the Palace the best (part of the Red Carnation hotel chain). It's a 4-star but was much better for us than several 5-stars that we've stayed at in London. The Rubens is well located and well worth the price (good specials on their web site).

Have a great trip,

Donna

We also stayed at Rubens our last trip to London. Yes, check their specials. We booked one and the Mews View we booked was gone when we arrived, but we were then put in a much nicer room with not much view. I was impressed when I arrived at Harwich and realized that I had left my sport coat in the hotel room before checking out. I phoned and asked that they send the coat back to my U. S. home using my credit card. When I returned home I found the coat delivered at no cost to me. That was real service. The doorman also arranged two taxis at reasonable prices for us and friends to the rail station we needed for transport to Harwich.

We also have enjoyed hotels at the Gloucester Street area. The underground there is very convenient for the theatre district and environs. If you like theatre, go to the half price ticket office at Leicester Square. (Don't go to the ones on the street before the square.) Also, there seem to be many reasonable priced Italian restaurants in London. You can probably find one near whatever hotel you are in.

Bob :cool: