On 4/14/2021 at 10:00 PM, xlairways said:

Hi, 

 

Has anyone managed to view there booking on the android app for the UK trips? 

 

When I open the app it it let's me log in, then I just get the upside down pyramid spinning indefinitely. 

 

 

The app works fine, its the PC that doesn't work....keep getting Aw Dang.....Please Try Agian

On 10/13/2020 at 1:52 PM, Doubt It said:

I am one of the many giving up on cruising for 2 reasons; the virus and its impact on air travel and cruising. But also, I was very put off cruising well before the virus due to the constant downgrading and up charging and hyperclass dividing and loss of public space like the Sky Lounge - this on all the cruise lines. I have no reason not to believe that the downgrading will continue given the financial circumstances of the cruise lines.

 

No, it will take much change in the cruise industry to get me to book a cruise.

I have heard this elsewhere and have been trying to find actual confirmation that it is true, Anyone care to point me in the right direction?

10 hours ago, LGW59 said:

The "Hoppenisation" thing is ridiculous.  Celebrity hired her with THEIR vision in mind. She went and planned a design from her client, Celebrity, which they clearly approved, as do I LOVE it.  You don't have to love or like it, but don't make her the scapegoat, she gave her client the product they wanted.  Good on both Hppen and Celebrity for a game changer from the 80's.  Those days are gone, time changes as do tastes and styles, I am 60 YO and I LOVE it.  

I think you will find that Kelly Hoppen is just an interior designer, not someone who would oversee the total transformation of areas of the ship. I have no issues with the new decor, just Celebrity's decision to remove public areas.

Hoppenisation is a tongue in cheek term I have preferred to use other than the Celebrity Revolution thing which does now seem much more appropriate.

Revolution - a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system.

On 9/22/2020 at 3:50 AM, NMTraveller said:

 

The removal of the Sky Lounge was a huge minus. 

 

 

I hadn't realised the Sky Lounge had bit the dust too. How sad!!!

So, in order to please the bean counters, Celebrity have taken away, in your opinions an underutilised space to provide suite passengers with their own outside deck area to increase profit. Okay, lets run with that and look at the other end of the scale. Because there is less public space, the ship then becomes less desibarble to normal passengers and the many standard cabins don't sell as well, these then end end up going at a reduced rate so they don't sail empty. Swings and roundabouts.....

Celebrity are trying keep up with the Joneses and should concentrate on what they were doing well at. By all means introduce Retreat area on the new builds but leave the older ships alone. The other lines that have this ship within a ship environment have usually had it there since the launch, MSC, NCL and I believe Princess as well.

If it ain't broke don't fix it!!!

7 minutes ago, Welland said:

I guess I have the wrong idea in my mind.   I thought that part of the Sundeck was being utilized for the Retreat Suite Sun Deck.  Do we know for sure that the whole area is going to be only for suite guests?    

This might answer your question.

13 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I think your photos demonstrate why this underutilized space was repurposed to generate additional revenue.   Suite prices have gone through the roof and are selling well.  The additional amenities offered to suite people seem to be enhancing this profit center.

I hear what you say but my photos were selected specifically without people and at times when the rest of the ship was equally as quiet. To address this here are a couple with people.

We consider ourselves very fortunate to have been on all of the S-class ships at least once and it's a design that has always ticked our boxes ever since we sailed on Equinox back in 2010. The Celebrity product has in most cases been the go-to brand because of our enjoyment of the ships and onboard environment.
I was initially pleased to hear after the launch of Edge that the S-class were to get refits to bring them into line with the newer brand image, what I hadn't realised until recently was that one of our favourite places on the ship was going to be off-limits after the refit. I'm talking about the Solstice Deck which under the Hoppenisation will become The Retreat Sundeck and only be available to passengers from the Retreat Suite Experience.
I for one will be very sorry to see this place removed from the Muggle areas of the ship and we will definitely miss it. I know nothing is perfect and I can't actually say I am a big fan of the sponge beds and mattresses because its the space for me that has been the attraction. It's away from the poolside noise, there is an element of privacy as you don't get loads of other passengers walking past, it's protected from the headwind and you can pretty much have a full 360-degree view outside the ship. Yes, it can get busy on sea days when the weather is good but we have always felt an affinity with the area, we have even found ourselves up there reading our books on windy days while all the beds all roped down.
There are no other external areas for us around the ship that offer this kind of environment and I fully understand why it's being revamped, its ideal for what they are wanting to do, sadly it means someone else's gain is our loss. I wouldn't dismiss the S-class as a never-again thing, it's just that the attraction for something we have enjoyed in the past is slowly being ebbed away, this being one example.
We don't have a bottomless pot of money to be able to afford a suite so I think in the future when cruising resumes we will end up looking elsewhere first. We have sailed on bigger ships and enjoyed the experience but for us, the S-class was a perfect size.

We still have one Celebrity cruise booked in 2022 which is on Solstice and I have read that the planned refits have been postponed so with a bit of luck we will get a Solstice Deck Swansong.

Glad to have got that off my chest!

On 9/3/2020 at 11:14 PM, WonderMan3 said:

That wasn’t CGI. That was video taken on the ship after the revolution updates.

Photos and details of the refit were publicly announced on the Celebrity website 17th December 2019.

Here's just a sneak peek of what you can expect onboard...

A Sneak Peek at Revolutionised Celebrity Silhouette®

There are some rather similar looking images to the ones in your YouTube link.......

Silhouette refit started in January 2020 and took 42 days finishing at the end of February.....

 You'll be telling me the earth is flat next. 😉

14 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

 

Thanks for the link but its all CGI and what X would like you to see, not what is there in reality. I don't actually recall seeing a Verandah cabin either.

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Thank you! 

I have been fascinated  by the distribution of ships myself, not by design but because we fancied a change of scenery I was in the region last weekend and took a few photos. Its really sad to see them sat out there when they should be all over the globe and filled with passengers.

I've not been on here much recently, I can't bring myself to thinking about cruising. I do have a question though, are there any photos of what a Hoppenized S' class cabin looks like? I am curious to see what the difference is.

Some more reading for you. 👍

https://www.love-weymouth.co.uk/crui...-weymouth-bay/

On 8/30/2020 at 11:13 PM, Tookie said:

We are considering back to back cruises to New Zealand then Australia. If anyone has done this, would you recommend it?

We did 3 B2B's in 2017, cruise one started in Auckland and finished in Sydney, cruise two started and finished in Sydney and went out to Fiji, cruise three went up the east coast to Port Douglas and back.

Would I recommend it? Without a shadow of doubt. Do it all again at the drop of a hat.

I wrote a blog for the 36 nights plus about it if you would like to have a read to give you more of an idea.

https://www.wansbroughs-cruise-blog.me.uk/2017/02/celebrity-solstice-b2b2b-oceania-cruise-preamble/

One day I hope X bring back the circumnavigation, its something I would really love to do.

On 8/29/2020 at 2:03 PM, RickT said:

 

Here is a YouTube link to the episode.  The only thing I don’t like about this episode (and many of the other Mighty Ship episodes) is the fake drama about passengers missing the ship and/or some possible mechanical issue with the ship.

 

I know what you mean, always something to get anxious about.

Just watched it to see if I could recognise any crew but not this time. We are due to sail on her again April 2022 and were looking forward to seen the refit which now looks like it isn't happening.

On 4/10/2019 at 4:46 AM, poz222 said:

The ship excursions are expensive but offer stuff like dog sledding, viking dinners, snowmobiling etc. We did a mix of DIY (they are hrest sbout giving port maps and such onboard) and the North Cape and husky excursions, both of which were excellent

Are there local tour company's on the dock side at the longer stops? Some of the official excursion prices are eye watering.

Thank you to all those who have contributed to this topic, there is some really useful information from seasoned Hurtigruten cruisers. (had to laugh, spell check wanted to change Hurtigruten to Overtighten 😂)

We are considering October 2021 Classic Round Voyage so will be keeping a close eye on this topic.

With a non refundable 20% deposit being asked, how far out would be the best time to take the plunge? Do cabins at peak NL times sell out quickly?

5 hours ago, Aliyah17 said:

 If you wanted to see photos, there are a ton of them on the menu that Hallasm linked to. But of course the point is that those photos didn't reflect reality. Which again...was the entire point.

I see lots of photos of fruit,vegetables, pancakes & a chocolate mouse. Perhaps a field of barley wouldn't have gone amiss.

Never had an issue with any cruise line in the last 4 years, Costa even provided a separate menu with 3 choices for each course but then I have no idea what its like..........

10 minutes ago, Aliyah17 said:

 This is why I said non-vegans need not comment. You really have no idea what it's like to travel this way. It's very insulting to ask for pictures; I have nothing to prove to you.

I wasn't specifically asking YOU for photos so calm down. This is a really useful topic which people will find and hopefully get some answers, my hope is that it will attract others with additional information.

For the record my wife is Vegan, I have every idea what its like and that is why I am researching on her behalf like the dutiful husband I am. You seem to have missed that information on post #7

I suggest you change your agent.......

30 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Perhaps a change over time but might very well also be a different expierence from Trollfjord to Polarlys. Once booked check with the ship.

 

I hear you but the webpage does state..

all

11 Norwegian coastal ships cruising from Bergen have offered an 11-day, 3-course full vegan menu as part of our Norway's Coastal Kitchen concept.

I would like to hear some more reviews first from people that have experienced the menu or lack of.

BTW. Nice blog. 👍 Enjoyed your reviews with great information.

Doing a bit of research this morning I discovered a YouTube review from October 2018. I am not sure of the link rules but if you do a search on YouTube for Vegan on Hurtigruten MS Trollfjord you should be able to find it. I know its over a year old but it tells a different story to @Aliyah17

Perhaps things have changed in the last year?

9 hours ago, Aliyah17 said:

 The vegan claim is a company-wide policy, so which ship you're on should have no bearing on that. 

I think someone hit on precisely my p0int--there was no real consistent commitment to their claim, thus even the food specifically called out on that menu was not available.

Perhaps in the course of time we might get a few other reports back on the vegan options. I'd like to think your experience was isolated.

I would actually liked to have seen some photos of the dishes in the menu. The descriptions make the dishes sound really sparse.

1 minute ago, hallasm said:

It might very well differ from ship to ship - I think Aliyah17 was sailing Polarlys (not quite sure) - sometimes the ships or operations do not exactly know what has been communicated/promised to customers - Hurtigruten does lack a bit of professionalism when dealing with special needs however they do normally react to questions and does compensate where problems occurred.

I'll suggest you do contact booking@hurtigruten.com and ask if they do have a vegan menu. Also once booked contact the actual ship you're booked on and verily which vegan options available.

Ships can be operated differently.

 

I think it was the Richard With, just read it on another thread.

Would I be right in thinking having trawled their website that some of the Polar Outsides have double beds?

On 12/28/2019 at 11:20 AM, hallasm said:

@Aliyah17 Thank you for your review - I am sorry to hear about your problems with vegan menu - I have seen several claiming that vegan, vegetarian or special diet menus are available on all ships - Hurtigruten goes Vegan! so it is also my immediate opinion that special diet requirements can always be met.
Apart from menu problems - do you plan to write a little about your experience with weather, clothing, Northern lights and excursions.

I received the email about Hurtigruten goes Vegan some time ago and being as my good lady eats a plant based diet I have been considering taking a voyage with them. However having read the @Aliyah17 review I am not not so certain. It does say quite clearly on the link @hallasm posted the following......

Since February 2017, all 11 Norwegian coastal ships departing from Bergen have offered an 11-day, 3-course full vegan menu as part of our Norway's Coastal Kitchen concept.

This is what I clearly remembered reading previously. I wonder what has gone amiss?