Rwhunited

Good evening all!

We are just about to book our cruise next year (March 4th) on the celebrity millennium. Now as I am a British citizen I don't need a visa for Hong Kong, Vietnam nor Taiwan... but my girlfriend holds an Irish passport (even though it states she was born in the U.K.) so according to the Vietnam visa site she will require a visa. After scouring a few forums I've seen some people say you don't need a visa if you're not staying in Vietnam overnight (i.e. Sleeping on the ship not on the land) and just get a landing card that you need to keep hold of and some say you do need a visa but the cruise line will just send a request to Vietnam for the entire ship, has anyone travelled recently via celebrity and know what the procedure is??

Secondly, which vaccines do people usually have when travelling to Hong Kong/Vietnam/Taiwan.... just upon reading the NHS website it recommends about 8 vaccines... I think it's just a general recommendation whether you're travelling in a risky area of the country for weeks or a few costal resorts for the day! I don't want to have to pay around £600 for vaccines when I don't REALLY need them!!

Thanks for your help!

Ryan

Thanks for your help everyone! We have preliminary decided on the celebrity cruise! Found better prices for flights and for the cruise so shall be booking it within the next week! All your advice was greatly appreciated!!

Good evening all!

We are just about to book our cruise next year (March 4th) on the millennium. Now as I am a British citizen I don't need a visa for Hong Kong, Vietnam nor Taiwan... but my girlfriend holds an Irish passport (even though it states she was born in the U.K.) so according to the Vietnam visa site she will require a visa. After scouring a few forums I've seen some people say you don't need a visa if you're not staying in Vietnam overnight (i.e. Sleeping on the ship not on the land) and just get a landing card that you need to keep hold of and some say you do need a visa but the cruise line will just send a request to Vietnam for the entire ship, has anyone travelled recently via celebrity and know what the procedure is??

Secondly, which vaccines do people usually have when travelling to Hong Kong/Vietnam/Taiwan.... just upon reading the NHS website it recommends about 8 vaccines... I think it's just a general recommendation whether you're travelling in a risky area of the country for weeks or a few costal resorts for the day! I don't want to have to pay around £600 for vaccines when I don't REALLY need them!!

Thanks for your help!

Ryan

Thank you for all your help everyone! To answer a few questions -

They are the ones we have narrowed it down to due to being just what we want and a good price, I would love to do the Caribbean with celebrity but as they go out from the USA (where as Thomson start in the Caribbean islands) it seems a bit much for say 4/5 days at see on a 10 day cruise. As for the Asia one we chose that as the Immersion one was slightly too expensive as we would have to come back a day early again for my partners work so would have to get a separate flight from Singapore.

We would love to sail without flying but as our only real options are Southampton and Liverpool the itineraries are a little bland for the price for us! How I would love to live somewhere that did good itineraries!

I'm not particularly expecting many of our age group to be on the 2 week cruises seeing as we are probably a little younger than the average cruising crowd, but that suits us better, usually in bed early and don't drink much! (Yes we are in our 20s haha!!)

Good evening everyone!!

My girlfriend and I are looking at going on our first cruise next year but can't decide which way to go!

Option 1 - Thomson Cruise Coral Islands followed by Caribbean Gems 21/2/18 on the Thomson Celebration - 2 weeks with the all inclusive package total price is around £3200 with an outside cabin. What are Thomson cruises like? Is there enough to do for the 3 sea days aboard Thomson cruises? What do people think of the itinerary?

Option 2 - Celebrity Cruises China and Vietnam 4/3/18 on the Millennium - 17 nights total with hotels - in an outside cabin (with classic drinks package and $300 on board spend and tips pre paid) £3900. With this we are buying flights separate as we will be going to Hong Kong a day earlier and leaving a day early (already cleared this with Celebrity). Are celebrity worth the extra £700? What are the like for sea days? And what is the none specialty food like on board? Also does the itinerary look good to people? I have always wanted to visit China and Vietnam myself so hence liking the sound of this.

We will both be 24 and 22 at the time, we aren't massive drinkers so probably won't go over on the drinks package entitlement on celebrity. We aren't sunbathers for days on end (can do it for a few hours on sea days I imagine) hence me being a little more swaying towards the celebrity one!

Sorry for the very dense post but I wanted to try and get it all into one without opening loads of threads!

Thanks!

Ryan

If you will not spend more than 300 $ OBC on specialty dining or spa etc. you probably will not need any extra money on board. Do you have the gratuities included? If not, your OBC will be used for the gratuities ( around 13$ per day per person, depending on class of stateroom).

 

Hong Kong: we just booked a shuttle from the airport to our hotel for less than 20 USD per person. The cruise port is not much further so add a few dollars to that.

 

Singapore: we paid around 17 USD for an Uber to the airport. Taxis were a little more expensive - however, still cheap.

 

 

Where are you flying in from? Are you sure you want to arrive at the day of the cruise?

Thanks for the response! Will it just be taken off the OBC? Aren't gratuities not compulsory? Would rather just tip cash and possibly use the OBC for a spa treatment or 2.

We are flying from Manchester UK direct to Hong kong, we arrive on the first day but the cruise doesn't depart until the following day, it's a bit of a pain for us trying to arrive a day early and get a hotel due to my girlfriend's arrangements with leave in work.

Good Afternoon!

I'm looking at booking a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium in Feb 2018 from Hong Kong. A few questions relating to this. There are 2 of us age 24 and 22.

1) If we are taking advantage of the free classic drinks package and $300 on board spend, how much spending money would you say is needed? Baring in mind we won't be buying any fancy drinks on board or upgrading any meals.

2) Transfers from Hong Kong airport to the cruise terminal? How is this best done? We are looking for ease, so preferably no changing on trains etc. What is the cost?

3) Same as question 2 but for a transfer from the cruise terminal in Singapore to the airport.

Sorry if any have been answered before but I struggled to find anything after 2009 on the subject.

Ryan