Wansbrough

The itinerary we booked is repeated, we toyed with the idea of being onboard over Christmas and New Year but went for the cheaper option in the end. Couldn't get a cabin on deck 7 on any of the 3 cruises we were looking at.

Has anyone else been tempted by any of the Asian itineraries that Costa Serena is doing at the end of next year and the following January? We have bagged a cabin on the 14-night sailing on 21 November. I couldn't get the time off for the 28-nighter so opted for this leg. Also looking forward to getting on Serena again, she is apparently going in for a refit before this deployment. From what I can tell she still has the old hull design.

Download the Uber app, it works a treat for getting Uber rides. 😉 Sounds like you are on the same cruise too (but not on our roll call) 🤔

A quick write-up of my wife's recent vegan experience on Celebrity Solstice. 2024 – Vegan Options on Celebrity Solstice, Singapore to Hong Kong 15-27 Jan Mostly positive and a couple of blips but overall a big improvement. Well done Celebrity. 👍🏼

Thank you for taking the time to update us. Sounds like you are enjoying it.

Who is doing the blocking? @LauraS Is it Cruise Critic Software stopping this? This is a real shame as I always wanted to know what a Costa Worldie would be like.

I'm not sure what the current process is, but I imagine it's like a typical Costa set-up with multiple embarkation and disembarkation days. Overnight in Dubai provides two options for getting on and off. If you get on the first day, it is as you say a Dubai day the next day. We did this in reverse, getting on and off on day 2 using the ship as a hotel for the overnight. Depending on who you book with there might be the option to do 8 nights and have two overnights. I beleive this to be correct and happy to be wrong 😁

Celebrity Solstice Thailand & Vietnam Preamble Celebrity Solstice Postcard #1 - The Journey to Singapore & Pre Cruise Celebrity Solstice Postcard #2 - Singapore & Pre Cruise Celebrity Solstice Postcard #3 - Singapore & Pre Cruise Celebrity Solstice Postcard #4 - Singapore & Embarking Celebrity Solstice Postcard #5 - Sea Day 1 Celebrity Solstice Postcard #6 - Ko Samui, Thailand Celebrity Solstice Postcard #7 - Laem Chabang, Thailand Celebrity Solstice Postcard #8 - Laem Chabang, Thailand Celebrity Solstice Postcard #9 - Sea Day 2 Celebrity Solstice Postcard #10 - Phu My, Vietnam Celebrity Solstice Postcard #11 - Nha Trang, Vietnam Celebrity Solstice Postcard #12 - Chan May, Vietnam Celebrity Solstice Postcard #13 - Halong Bay, Vietnam Celebrity Solstice Postcard #14 - Halong Bay, Vietnam Celebrity Solstice Postcard #15 - Sea Day 3 Celebrity Solstice Postcard #16 - Disembarking & Hong Kong, China

A bit more official information 😁 https://www.princess.com/news/news_releases/2023/10/princess-cruises-introduces-expansive-vegan-menus-for-plant-based-cruisers.html

MSC Virtuosa Rotterdam & Cherbourg Preamble MSC Virtuosa Postcard #1 - Southampton & Embarkation MSC Virtuosa Postcard #2 - Rotterdam, Netherlands MSC Virtuosa Postcard #3 - Cherbourg, France MSC Virtuosa Postcard #4 - Southampton & Disembarking @anniegb If this reaches you, can you please you reach out via my blog email found here under my logo (envelope icon).

Norwegian Jade Eastern Mediterranean Preamble Norwegian Jade Postcard #1 - The Journey to Athens & Piraeus Norwegian Jade Postcard #2 - Piraeus & Embarkation Norwegian Jade Postcard #3 - Sea Day Norwegian Jade Postcard #4 - Ashdod, Israel Norwegian Jade Postcard #5 - Haifa, Israel Norwegian Jade Postcard #6 - Limassol, Cyprus Norwegian Jade Postcard #7 - Rhodes, Greece Norwegian Jade Postcard #8 - Kusadasi, Turkey Norwegian Jade Postcard #9 - Istanbul, Turkey Norwegian Jade Postcard #10 - Mykonos, Greece Norwegian Jade Postcard #11 - Piraeus & Disembarking

We have just come back from Norwegian Jade and as my wife is vegan, I have dedicated an area on my blog to record our observations on how we managed while onboard. Link below to view it. https://www.wansbroughs-cruise-blog.me.uk/our-vegan-cruise-reviews/2023-vegan-options-on-norwegian-jade-17-26-apr/ I read an earlier post about the speciality restaurants and we did manage to eat in Teppanyaki on one night but would not say it was worth $49 per head, fortunately, we used up some dining package credits that came when we booked so it cost us nothing.

We have just booked Crown for next October and have also noticed the MDR approach seems to vary from ship to ship. Our TA wrote the following on our booking confirmation "Princess Cruises have noted Nicole's Vegan dietary requirement and asked me to pass on the following information. Please be advised: Vegetarian items are designated on our dining room menus with a 'V' and vegetarian selections are featured in all dining locations, including the buffet. Although we do not offer a vegan menu, some vegetarian selections may be suitable to your requirements. Certain menu items, but not all, may be modified to accommodate your diet. Tofu, egg-free pasta and vegetarian burgers are available onboard and can be prepared in a variety of styles. Please liaise with your Head Waiter or the Maitre d' Hotel upon boarding to confirm suitable selections."

Strange to think my wife would put something like that over a fruit tart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_yogurt

I am just wondering if anyone can advise if it's better to buy the unlimited before you set off or wait until you are onboard and potentially get a better price. Or does it make no difference whatsoever?

I have a copy of the Christmas Day menu along with 3 others in pdf. Any information available was within these. Looks like it's just the Tomahawk 25 mdr_en (1).pdf25 mdr_en (1).pdf27 mdr_en (1).pdf28 mdr_en (1).pdf30 mdr_en (1).pdf

Thank you, somebody's got to fly the carnivore flag in our household. 🥩 Not sure where 🥩 came from, I was otherwise occupied at the time. 😂 There wasn't a steakhouse on Toscana that I am aware of, besides there is little point in me looking these days as I would be eating solo if I booked. 😂 I know there was one on Firenze but I always thought it was because that ship was designed for the Chinese market.

Correcting the autocorrect... Love it. 😂😂😂

Soy Yoghurt.

I hope it did too..... he must have been so excited he forgot to thank you. 😂😂

So for me to achieve gold, I would need to take nine 7-night cruises in 3 years. That would be some going for a cruise line that is lacking the sort of itineraries they used to do. Platinum..... well 😂😂😂😂😂

I am also silver with 10264 points that I accumulated in 2022 alone (three 7-night cruises in a balcony cabin), it just so happened that the dates worked and prices were very good. With 19737 points to reach gold, it is highly unlikely that I will ever reach that level. There is no real incentive to even try and reach that echelon even if I wished to. For us, the Costa Club is just a name and number and not worth even thinking about. When they brought in the 3-year rule we dropped from Pearl to Coral overnight which was a bit of a smack in the face at the time. It's just as well that we enjoy the product as their loyalty rewards count for very little.

Simply disembark your flight at Dubai International and proceed to immigration, where your passport will be stamped with a 30‑day visit visa free of charge. Excerpt below from the https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-arab-emirates "If you’re entering the UAE as a tourist, you must obtain an entry stamp at the port of entry. This entry stamp is free and valid for 30 days. Ahead of the expiry of the initial 30-day period, you may request a validity extension for an additional 30 days." This was the stamp on my passport showing us leaving the next day as our next port was Muscat. Costa held our passports until we got back to Abu Dhabi where we had to do a face to fame with their immigration authorities.