SteveinPhilly

Hi,

Yes to Day 3. I was reading an article online last week about Edinburgh Castle on the BBC news website, and they are changing the Tickets from April. If you purchase online it will be cheaper than purchasing them on the day at the Castle, the mornings are always the busiest.

After the Castle you can then walk down the Royal Mile to the Palace as its all down hill.

 

Its lovely.

 

Steven

Steven (nice name :)) or others. I didn't want tio start a new thread and figured someone my see and answer. We are coming to Edinburgh on The RCI Brilliance in Queenberry,. I know we can take a train but a bunch of uphill walks I really don't want to do. I though RCI would run an (overpriced) but I don't see it. Anyone know what a taxi would run from Queenberry to the Castle itself. I figured we could get 11 or noon tixckets on line and walk down royal mile by taxi. It would probably be just two of us. Any guidance appreciated.

Steve

Great thread. But I can use a bit more detailed advice. (I love CCfolks!):).

We are on the Brilliance of the Seas tendering on SATURDAY 6/23, We are in "port" from 7-6. As I see it we can take the $15 (R/T) shuttle to the new part of town. BUT we need to allow for time to get back. The train seems like it's more cumbersome and can't be much cheaper.

Anyway my original plan was to get to the Castle as easily as possible by other than foot and see it first =- buying advance tickets a few weeks in advance. Then walking DOWN the Royal Mile to the new Parliament House., If we do that - stopping for a snack, I think that would FILL the day. (of course cruises are great but getting to a site can be cumbersome)

So, does anyone here have a plan for us to accomplish this. We do like to walk but not really UP HILL.

Thanks!

Suzanne just wrote me: Sorry but that chart is 6 years old now and would be horribly out-of-date, so I've decided to not share it any more -- I'd hate for people to make decisions based on incorrect information. (Unfortunately I can't figure out how to delete that post on CruiseCritic...!)

Makes sense. So this should end the request. BTW, Someone on our June Cruise created a tour with I Love Travel because she wanted to see the Fabrege museum not included in the All Tour. She sent me detyails and I compared those two. What I leaned was that the Fabrege Tour was 90 minutes. They found the time but cutting two castles from 60 to 30 minutes, and the Hermitage cut from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours. It was a very TIGHTschedule. (also ILT had 2 sit down lunches while Alla does one - an hour - and other day is box lunch on bus - saving time to see things. I did not look at SPB yet but the important thing - other than cost is how muchtime they spend i a huge place like the Hermitage. That may help.

Last week our hotel (Coral Princess) we had booked for several months had to cancel, because of flooding. We had to scramble to find a new hotel that wasn't way out of our price range or the reviews were horrible, this close to cruising most hotels were booked full. We ended up booking with Hotel Iberia. I am a little scared because it had very mixed reviews. Thankfully we fly in really late and won't be spending much time the first night so if it is really awful then we will find a different hotel for our 2 night stay after the cruise. Does anyone have reviews for Hotel Iberia?

Did you check Hotel Milano. It was like $125 and in GREAT location in OSJ. No, I didn't stay there but had drinks and great meal on their rooftop restaurant. Recommend that restaurant anyway.

BTW, be prepared for limited use of your cell phone (especiallyVerizon) even though it is considered US.

I'm sorry to hear that; however, I can relate. We were on the Summit in December (all the same officers as you mentioned), and the food in the MDR and the buffet was the worst I've encountered on Celebrity (I've been on 19 Celebrity cruises). The cleanliness of the room was also nowhere near Celebrity standards.

It's too bad because the Summit has been (in our experiences) fairly reliable in quality, however, I feel as though the combination in officers has let it slide over recent years.

Well I finally heard from someone at X and they HEARD me. We have a B2B on RCI Brilliance for June and she kindly gave me a $300 OBC to use there as compensation. Still they NOW know at Corporate that there is a FOOD issue there.

We were on the Summit on 1/6 cruise. Captain Kate was amazing as was Cruise Director Alejandro, Nearly all the crew were fabulous. Unfortunately there serious (and I mean "serious") food quality issues in Blu. The main meats on two nights were "inedible" and the wait staff tried to get us to order something different. I took the time to write a letter to F&B Manager Cernal Ozcelik and Executive Chef Singh Deoraj (with copy to Hotel Director Danuta Nosidlak) and the last night someone named Renaldo arrived at our table to "apologize" and then just left. I did not receive a guest survey by email and - calling the "Captain's Club" was told it must have been an error but they couldn't send me one! We are elite on X and I have to say that their lack of concern (at management level) has REALLY disappointed me and given me less incentive to book another cruise soon.

Is there an email address I can use to reach the top management team on the ship (The Summit) to find out WHY I did not receive the followup I was promised? Help GRATEFULLY appreciated!.

Currently checked into Doubletree - no complaints - everyone has been friendly at the hotel and outside. I think there should be no hesitation staying in San Juan - there has been many examples of how welcoming the locals have been to us - looking forward to the next couple days here.

 

Travel to and from the airport and walking the streets has been no different than any other travel destination I have been to.

.

S8ince there for a few days I highly recommend you visit the bar/restaurant on top of the Hotel Milano in OSJ. It was great discovery. Greatrooftop view and SUPER $5.00 Pina Coladas. The food is great and a real bargain. And the young staff is so friendly. (If you get Mervin or Tatania as wait staff tell them "Steve from Philadelphia" says hi.

S

Sorry autocorrect changed name it is hotel milano

I'm back. Just had great meal on top of hotel Milan with great view cheap prices and the most friendly service.

I stopped at desk and asked rates. Now is high season and they are only $125/night which is cheap in ish. Great location. And fully operational. If i'"d known about it I'd have stayed here. I did not see rooms but looks decent and you can't beat. Location. I'm not an owner. Just sharing. Their website is http://www.Hotelmilanopr.com

Even if you don't stay check out the restaurant and bar. 5 dollar pina coladas that are gr8

S

Checked into the Intercontinental today (12/27) - everything seems to be running like it was the last time we stayed here a few years ago. We went into Old San Juan and it was crowded, lots of stores and restaurants open.

Tricialy, any problems we both electricity?

We fly to ski on Thursday and looking forward to my sir bnb in heart of old San Juan.

I'll try to post update when we return from cruise on 1/13 but our place only takes three people max

I have been trying to find a hotel, preferably in the OSJ area, prior to our cruise, which isn't until April 1st.

 

I have been skimming over this thread trying to see what people thought, experiences, electricity and so on.

 

But I believe I have only seen several people post about staying in Hotel Casablanca...which I would love to stay there...however, we have 3 people and a lot of rooms are saying only 2 people and the other rooms that will hold 3 people say you have to stay at least 2 nights. We will only be there 1 night prior to our cruise.

 

 

Any other hotels in the OSJ area open and available without having to sacrifice my first born son to pay for it? I understand they are struggling to get rebuilt, but the prices of these hotels are crazy outrageous compared to when we were here before and this is leaving a sour taste in my mouth about even returning here at this point (although too late since we are already booked and paid for).

As I noted above. Try AirBnB. You can read the reviews and the host has to accept you. Should be able to get a room with private bath for under $125/night (unless others on your cruise have booked already). And you'll actually get to interact with locals and get good advice. And Air BNB reservations are not cancelable. See my post for the$40 discount code. Okay here it is again: www.airbnb.com/c/stever11545 Hope you find something. And save your first born :)

No I don't have a hotel (any more). We fly on Thursday 1/4 and needed 2 nights). After two hotels canceled and I found one out near the University (2 stars) that was $200 night! (remember there is a 21% tax in SJ), I decided to try Air BnB. We needed two beds because I'm traveling with another guy. Because we wanted location, I looked in Old San Juan and found a fabulous artist's home in a renovated factory. 103 reviews all 5 stars! And it was $105/night with taxes. Though I couldn't find a discount code before I booked, Air BnB gave me a referral code to share which gets you $40 US off your first air bnb booking. (To be transparent, I'll get $20 off my NEXT - not this one). A few folks on our cruise used it and it worked. Here it is in case it helps. www.airbnb.com/c/stever11545

Insurance has been purchased. Yes RCI is less expensive but we wanted to circle the entire island and not spend time getting from England to Iceland. But you point is well taken.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

gREAT. rEMEMBER TO ONLY BUY THE INSURANCE NOW FOR non-refundable DEPOSIT, NOT WHOLE CRUISE. yOU CAN ADD THAT later. (jUST TRYING TO SAVE YOU SOME $) (SORRY for caps. keyboard sticks - damn!)

It is a little scary to have booked so far in advance( 2019), but Iceland has been on our "bucket list" for a couple of years and have recently booked the cruise with Vantage that circles the island with a couple of days in Reykjavik. Anyone else brave enough to join us?

Cole

Cole. My only issue with that far in advance is that Vantage has a Non-refundable deposit. I'd suggest you buy insurance for that amount (it's cheap) - not the whole cruise but the non-refundable portion. Use insuremytrip website. And with that far out you may not be able to get pre-existing condition. (JMHO)

We were in Reykjavik overnight on a wonderful RCI cruise from Harwich, Emngland. Honestly 2 days there was plenty for me. And it was MUCH cheaper than Vantage of course.

I did get 2 out of 3 corporate officer emails to work off the Vantage Corporate website. Turns out Henry Lewis is at Vantage, and several other Lewis family members run Grand Circle. I wonder if there is friendly family competition between their companies????

The email address is no longer valid. My email came back as undeliverable.

Twototravel: try sending email to al fire -the vp - at adore@vantagetravel.com. see if that works and PLEASE report back. I feel for you. We'd do another vantage but prices are too high for us. Hence ocean cruises.

Good luck

Just quickly jumping in here. If you didn't choose Prepaid Gratuities as one of the Non-refunable perks and have Non-refundable OBC, you user those FIRST. We have always done that. On a 7 night cruise that will use up much of a $300/per cabin OBC. Of course, if here's a little left over you can buy some duty free booze. We don't gamble so playing the casino to use isn't for us. And remember that cruise ships take 30% from the slots (and in Vegas it's only 20%!). The odds only work at table games like Black Jack where the "house" can't control the odds.

Thank you Steve that's a very kind offer. We have chosen to fly into Philly later afternoon and then depart the following morning for San Juan so will have very limited time there unfortunately.

 

fine. :)

That's fine. I thought you needed to kill time. Let me know where you will stay in Philly if you want guidance. You are probably better staying out by airport (a hotel with a shuttle) than staying in town .

Sorry I'll miss meeting you. You will be coming back when we leave. I was waiting for air to SJU to drop but it hasn't so I bought flight as there is only one good NS each day.

And we were upgraded to a Congierge 2 because we hit Diamond on RCI and we got a group rate and it's past final payment sio we can't ask for a price drop.

Still trying to confirm any port changes. For 1/6 they have not announced any.

I might not need the tent after all. In fact Celebrity UK might have even come good.

 

We were flying from LHR to San Juan via Miami originally for two nights pre cruise hotel there. But with the difficulties they're facing rebooking other passengers they've offered to fly us from our regional airport instead to Philly, and they suck up the additional cost of that flight, and pay for one or two nights hotel in Philladelphia instead, before flying us out to San Juan the same day we sail whilst refunding us the full cost of both our original hotel and transfers.

 

 

 

:D

While looking for current conditions for San Juan for our 1/6 Summit Cruise I found your post. I can't tell which cruise you are scheduled to go on (not obvious), but I live in Philly and if you need ideas of what to see and do here for the 2 nights, I'll be happy to help. Just let me know and we can email.

BTW, we are booked two nights before at a hotel in the lagoon area of SJ. They are open using residual power. Hoping that in 8 weeks things will be up and running.

S

Thanks! That's it. We used FLL the last time we were on X.

Steve

We have been on mostly RCI but a few X ones too. I knew that one of the lines (I thought it was X) that took your luggage from your cabin and processed it all the way through to your home airport and cost was about $35.00. But I can't did that.

On out January cruise RT San Juan, I see a 3 hour excursion that drops you off at airport for $44.00. Since my flight not until 1:20 that would work but I'll have seen much of SJ in my 2 days prior. I'll be going to airport by myself, since my companion leaves at 11:30, and so a cab would be about $25 if I'm correct.

Any comments will be welcome.

Not sure if this was asked yet or not - but is there a locker room and showers connected to the fitness center?

Didn't use so can't help.

Thanks! Very useful post. Are the coffees covered at La Patisserie if you have the refreshments package?

I din't have the package but I was told it does! The coffee, not the pastries (which are $2.95 each there)

We are sailing on the Brilliance of the Seas next June and St. Petersburg is on our bucket list and Itinerary. This is also a back to back (with British Isles). When I mentioned St. Petersburg on the BI Roll Call, at least THREE folks highly recommended Alla so I went to their website and looked at TA reviews. WOW! Nearly all 5 strars - and nothing less than 4 stars). So I contacted them and registered. The reply was fast. They even ask if you have food allergies for food included. They even offer a discount for other tours if you include St. Petrersburg and there is a Cruise Critic member discount too! I feel very confident in booking with them, based on this experience. Of course, we haven't taken the tour yet so I can't review it, but really looking forward to it.