AlohaCathy

Does anyone know if you can request decaffinated coffee for the coffee maker. We are in a spa balcony on Getaway. Do they also have a tea kettle or just the coffee maker? Thanks 

• Ship:  Apex
• Length of Cruise: 7 nights
• Cruise Sail Date: Oct 3rd, 2021
• Date email offer received: I didn’t receive an email. I went to the moveup website. 
• Captain’s Club Tier [“PREVIEW” = first Celebrity Cruise]: classic (sailed once before)
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: direct
• Current Cabin: concierge C2 
• Bid?  Yes/No: Yes

If YES -  Bidding Details:

• Cabin Category: all were available we chose Aqua. 
• Notification Date: new vacation documents received 28th Sept
• Accepted / Rejected: Accepted

General Comments (offer details, etc.) I had no email about move up but found the link myself. First bid £85 which was the minimum then yesterday bumped it to £100. I have had no offer confirmation but on opening the new ‘Guest Vacation Documents’ noticed the luggage labels had changed and Aqua was mentioned. Checked website and cabin has changed from 10130 Conceirge to 10230. Delighted it’s on the same side of the ship and not close to the lifts. Celebrity agent strongly suggested starboard side of the ship as this should be the best side to see Santorini when we dock as cabin will be facing the cliff. She said no guarantees of course as things change. 

We’ll be joining you on 3 October and Can’t wait! Thank you so much for all these fabulous updates. We only booked it two weeks ago and are flying London to Athens this Friday. Very excited! Our bid for an upgrade just got accepted today too £100pp from Concierge to Aqua! Didn’t expect it to be honest. Im

interested in knowing any updates on how many passengers for our 3 Oct cruise - I wonder if it’s gone up much from the 500 you mentioned previously.

51 minutes ago, Tutone56 said:

Enjoyed your review, one question if you're still monitoring this thread.  We will be going to kalapaki beach as well.  Do you recall if they have beach chairs to rent?  Were there public restrooms available?   Thanks.

Hi 

Yes there were lots of facilities at this beach including surf lessons, sunbeds, shades, food trucks and rest rooms. In fact it was probably the most well equipped beach we visited! Here are some photos I took:

Unless you are in a suite where you get escorted off the ship when you want, you won’t have time sadly

We used Uber and Lyft for transfers all around the islands and from hotel to port. We were three adults, 3 cases and 3 carry on bags and regular Uber were not suitable in some cases as they were small. We booked Uber XL and we had v large vehicles every time. When you look on the app there is also an option to choose a Uber Assist and they offer specially trained drivers to assist passengers. The price is the same 

2 hours ago, cccole said:

AlohaCathy, I don't think you meant your posts (#6 & #8) to sound like Hawaii is not a state in the USA, but they sort of do.  Hawaii is not a state in the 48 contiguous states but it is a U.S.A. state and has everything the other states have.  I just want to make sure that anyone reading this does not confuse that, as sometimes happens with international visitors.  So happy you enjoyed your trip to Hawaii.  Cherie  

You’re absolutely right! I’m from the UK and meant it’s the same as being in the rest of the US! 

2 hours ago, PCWalton1 said:

We travel to Hawaii frequently and carry very little cash. We primarily use credit/debit cards, just like in any other state. 😗 

We found it the same as being in the US or UK. I hardly ever have cash on me! 

3 hours ago, B-52 said:

Thank You

WE would use a credit Card also, just needed to hear that it was not a problem, perhaps many local vendors oreferred cash or not.

It’s the same as being America, malls with Macy’s in etc, Costco stores. You just need cash for incidentals. We never had a card refused this month, only used cash for tiny purchases like an ice cream. 

We spent very little cash when we went earlier this month. I just don’t feel safe taking large amounts of cash on holiday anymore. Credit cards were accepted nearly everywhere, you get insurance with your purchases too - we just took a little cash for additional tips eg tours, ice creams etc. We’re from the UK and have organised credit cards that have no charge for foreign transactions, we can also withdraw local currency from cash points without cards as well. A great find, I wish we’d discovered them years ago. 

We made sure we had a lot of change and small notes for tips, vending machines, luggage carts etc 

We traveled this month on POA. We managed to get free WiFi off the ship at every port without even looking for it. Generally coffee shops or even in a Macy’s store. We only had to go to MacDonald’s once as we had no trouble finding it. Even the office where we were waiting to take a helicopter flight had good strong WiFi - so much so, my son asked if we could drive back there the next day and sit outside in the hire car for 10 minutes to “borrow” their WiFi to download a podcast! We had no trouble at all. 

The wifi on the ship is exorbitant and not that great anyway, it’s a much more cost effective way to buy a coffee, or meal (or helicopter ride 😂) and use the WiFi for free. 

We had a lot of minutes included in our package  but the only thing the WiFi was really good for was social media and email. Anything else was a bit slow hence looking for better WiFi in ports. 

1 hour ago, PNW Traveler said:

It's good news that there are more drivers available on Kauai than in the past.  Thank you for posting.

I guess they know what days the ships come in on the islands and make sure they’re available. I’d say 80-90% of the drivers we had were women which is very different to the UK. I’ve only had a handful of female drivers in the whole time since Uber launched. We used Lyft a lot more than Uber unless there was a big price difference - there seemed to be more drivers and it was a dollar or two cheaper. 

I did think Kauai might prove a problem with drivers but we had the same experience there as on the other islands. Good prices and fast service. 

On 7/12/2019 at 2:24 AM, lovebears said:

thanks

 

See my message above about Uber and Lyft 

On 7/12/2019 at 2:19 AM, PNW Traveler said:

The best way probably is a taxi, unless you want to rent a car for the day.  Kauai has Uber, but there are very few Uber cars/drivers.

 

We had the UBER and Lyft apps on our phones we used google maps to find the route and it gives you prices for both apps. We never waited more than 5-10 mins in any Hawai’i port this month. There were many drivers available. 

On 7/19/2019 at 4:33 PM, thenexus2k said:

I know this is a couple of weeks old now, but I rent cars from an enterprise that is walking distance to the pier

 

Enterprise RentACar.

40 Hana Hwy

Kahului, HI 96732

We also rented from here this month and it was so easy! I don’t know why anyone would bother going all the way to the airport or to any other location as this is a very simple walk and the staff there were lovely very quick and helpful. We got a big upgrade on the car we booked as we arrived a little later and the smaller cars were gone. Miami car rental could learn a lot from this tiny rental office!

On 7/19/2019 at 7:18 PM, Beachiekeen said:

If we were to rent from Enterprise and park overnight at the beach hotel, would my husband be allowed to pick up/drop off my family members at the port because they will not be able to walk that far.

It’s quite a long hot walk through a fenced off area and fenced in walkways. Security is high at the port. The Uber was able to take us back a lot closer to the ship but we all had to show ID and we had to show our Key Cards as well. I’d suggest he has a good chat to the local security guards on his way out so they can see he’s a passenger and will hopefully allow him back in. 

9 hours ago, Cindy said:

Thanks for sharing! We recently booked this cruise for late April of next year. We have a big aft balcony, but alas what looks like it’s easily going to be the smallest cabin we’ve ever had...good thing it’s just a week!😂

 

I’ve been having a lot of fun planning the ports. We’re booked with Wings Over Kaua’i and I’m hoping for better luck than you had. I also reserved Mauka Makai for both days on the big island, so it’s great to have a good report. I’m surprised it was a lot cooler in the volcano area. Taking warmer clothes is not something I would have thought about!

You’ll spend all your time on the balcony don’t worry about the size or the suite! It will more spacious because of the outside area I promise! Take a light waterproof - we got SOAKED. It wasn’t cold but we did need an extra layer. Where proper shoes as well. Flip flops won’t cut it if you want to climb the waterfall and walk amongst the lava. 

8 hours ago, B-52 said:

We will have the same suite on our upcoming cruise....

 

Question. I would like to hold a reception in our suite for the Roll Call people.

Do you think, Between the Steward, Butler and Concierge, , they would help setup, supply snacks and drinks??

 

Also, were you contacted by the Concierge before your trip??

That would be lovely set up outside on the balcony, the inside area of the suite is tiny there’s not really enough room inside. There were three of us and we were bumping into each other inside 😂

We had a letter before and it said to message with requests for help before your trip and they’d help. But to be honest they were useless, I emailed and asked for:

the fridge to be emptied 

for some fresh milk in the fridge 

an extra sun bed on the balcony

I had a rubbish almost auto response reply saying just ask when you get there at guest services! Didn’t even mention butler. 

It was sorted straight away. If it’s the same team you’ll have Guy as your butler, he’s very knowledgeable and keen to help. Ask him when you meet him and I’m sure he’ll sort for you. I had the above written down and when we met him I passed it to him and he sorted it. 

This is the email in the letter you could try asking for help now: customerservice@ncl.com

I wouldn’t hold out much hope but at least you’ll have written down what you want and can pass it on when you arrive!

I forgot to include the scuba diving! We did scuba diving, booked it last minute the day before when we were on Kauai when we knew the weather wasn’t good enough to do the plane ride with Wings over Kauai. The boys were amazed they saw eels, turtles, turtles being cleaned by other fish, tons and tons of colourful fish, trigger fish..  the list went on. It was the most amazing scuba experience. The company they were with didn’t collect them, they had to Uber there and find them. They booked two dives and managed to leave very early, do the two dives and be back on the ship ready for the afternoon coastal cruise. I’m not sure who they booked with but can find out if anyone is interested. They have dived a lot in Europe but this was the best diving they’ve done by far. Highly recommended if you can fit it in. They didn’t take their log books but we keep their cards with the passports in our travel wallet. A good tip in case your plans change and you want to go scuba diving which was the case here. 

6 hours ago, Beachiekeen said:

Wow thank you! We will be in a suite on deck 12 also and are also doing Mauka Makai and Wings Over Kauai. I’m sorry you missed it. That balcony looks awesome! 

 

Do you happen to remember the times for breakfast at Cagney’s? Also what time did you board and when was your room ready? 

 

When we we get to the pier, is it easy to find where you drop off your luggage, and were there porters there to help you? 

 

Thanks so much for sharing and so glad you enjoyed the cruise! 

 

You are going to love it it’s the most amazing trip! The balconies are amazing and get a very good amount of shade which really suited us so we could escape the sun and cool down. We used it loads. Cagney’s was quite a short service I seem to remember I don’t remember times sorry 7:30-9:30 something like that. We always got seated straight away and the food was lovely in there. I was surprised how small it is. We boarded around 12:30, make sure you get taken to the special suites area (on the left) as you get whisked on board. Don’t be shy about telling the staff you have a suite and they’ll direct you. You can pick up lots of information, get a cold drink, have a snack and meet Chris the conceirge and some of the other staff for a little chat. You also do a bit more paperwork there and get your room cards. Do as much of the paperwork as possible before you leave - everything was so much quicker because we’d done the bulk of it ourselves in the UK. Once you have all your docs checked and got your keys you get on the ship. 

It’s a small port. Our uber pulled up outside, we walked across to the entrance and our cases were sorted straight away. I didn’t see a porter, but I’m sure there will be people to help if you can’t manage. There are lots of staff there to help you. It was no trouble at all. 

Rooms seemed to be called quickly, we weren’t even ready to go when we got called. We had an amazing lunch in Cagney’s as soon as we boarded, the food was superb. The library and games room

are also on this floor and very close to Cagney’s. We left Cagney’s and headed to the library.  We picked up the daily Sodouku print out (we popped in and got this every morning for my teen) and choose some books (no-one to check them out and we didn’t realise you needed to until later! I put them in my bag and we did return them at the end of the cruise and added some extras!).

We then grabbed some games and walked opposite to the games room. We got called half way through our first round of mastermind. But we stayed for a few more games and then headed up there. Wow. The balcony. It blew us away! 

I’m back now. We didn’t manage organised star gazing but did our own from the ship. Shark diving didn’t happen as we didn’t have time (and the post above about the shark attack worried me somewhat! We visited some incredible beaches I’ve added a trip review on here. I forgot to include the scuba diving! We did scuba diving, booked it last minute the day before when we were on Kauai. The boys were amazed they say eels, turtles, turtles being cleaned by other fish, tons and tons of colourful fish, trigger fish..: the list went on. It was the most amazing scuba experience. 

We got back last week. You had the option to walk off with your own luggage or leave your bags outside the room the night before and claim them once you’d left the ship the following morning. You collect bag tags the day before and this corresponds with where you wait to be called to disembark. 

There was no customs process as you left the ship. 

When you get to the airport you get scanned before you can check in. You get an orange tag on the handle of your case, then you check in, then you go through. There were huge lines and it took ages and it was outside and it was hot and horrible! Leave loads of time!!

We got back last week and rented an Uber or Lyft at every port. Didn’t wait longer than 5-10 minutes for them and they were very cheap . We put the details into google maps and selected taxi, it shows you both Uber and Lyft prices and timing and then you pick the quickest/cheapest and click the link and it opens the app. Strongly suggest you have both apps set up on your phone as prices varied greatly in some ports. I also did this before I left whilst trip planning to work out what time we needed to leave. It was very simple and seamless. 

If you’re from the UK get a credit card with no currency fees otherwise you get a horrible bill when you get home as it charges your normal card will charge you on every transaction. Also set the apps up well in advance as they send you lots of offers. 

Get someone you know to intro you to the apps as well as you both get a few pounds off. My Uber code is: cathyr901ue

Ah what amazing advice and photo thank you x