Albert Ross

As they say on Dragons Den..... I’m out! 

Those prices are crazy for 2020.

Price for the inaugural sailing are expected to start around £1449 per person for an inside. 
Oceanview and above will come with Classic Drinks packages for these sailings.

Suite Class will include classic drinks, gratuities, wifi and OBC.

I think it is Barcelona to Rome 7n and then Rome to Barcelona 7n - alternating each week 

Again Expensive is the word that springs to mind!!!

Ouch. Who said “expensive”! 

On 11/18/2018 at 12:28 AM, Welshdoc said:

I was told today (in a Southampton travel agent / cruise shop), there's a third RC ship going to be based in Southampton in 2020 but she wasn't allowed to tell me which. Anyone heard anything regarding this? Apparently public knowledge from Monday!

Perhaps Harwich instead for 3rd ship?

You did not explain you were leaving the ship in Turkey:rolleyes:

If your cruise ends in Turkey then you will be able to get the visa at the port you disembark.

The FCO site also specifically mentions that you do not need a visa if entering by cruise ship

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/europe/turkey#entryRequirements

Get a new TA!!!;)

Thanks both for info. I was informed that our cruise ship could arrange the visa for $49pp.

Has our Agent got it wrong?

If you arrive and leave by cruise ship you do NOT need a visa

I'd get a new agent....:rolleyes:

Hi

Has anyone obtained their Visa in Turkey at the point of entry?

If I have a shore excursion booked can it be arranged quickly before I join the tour?

Thanks

Has anyone tried to get upgraded in Crown and anchor mid cruise?

We are Emerald and only need 2 more on board nights to move up to the next level, we have booked our next cruise which is 18 nights.

 

I have called Crown and anchor people here in the UK and they say they only add the new points 10 days after the end of a cruise, and were unhelpful when I said we only had 2 days to qualify.

I was intending to go to the loyalty ambassador on board to try but just wondered if anyone else had encountered this

 

Thanks

I don't actually think they were being 'unhelpful' as they were telling you how the system works. You do not change tier mid cruise.

Yes, they do. Trenitalia doesn't load schedules that far in advance. To get an idea of schedule, look at this coming Sunday.

Thank you - I managed to look out as far as end of April, so that gives me a good idea.

Karysa - thank you for your information

What time did you get into port in order to catch the 12.04?

I have tried trenitalia.com to look up times for my date in May but nothing there yet- do the trains to Polignano run on Sundays?

"Visited" the Infinity yesterday morning while she was docked in Fort Lauderdale. Was unable to get to back of ship for pics of the AQ on 11 aft cabins, but here are 2 pics from the starboard side.

Sorry, but Ugh. Looks like they have taken inspiration from NCL Epic :rolleyes:

P&O or Celebrity?

Just waiting for the answer to the question that is on everyone's lips......Is Celebrity better than P&O?

Lots of info in this thread(Which has a misleading title)

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1391327

We are using them in Sept so if you get there before us please let us know!

Wow- the hotel looks fabulous. I have just emailed them.

How long did you stay at the hotel for as we are thinking of having dinner back in town as we do not sail till midnight. Were the transfer times fixed or do they drive you back when you are ready to go?

and I got a reply 31 minutes after emailing them! Impressed!

I'm glad to hear this! I am looking into this as a possibility for our time in Mykonos next month. How long did you stay at the resort?

Wow- the hotel looks fabulous. I have just emailed them.

How long did you stay at the hotel for as we are thinking of having dinner back in town as we do not sail till midnight. Were the transfer times fixed or do they drive you back when you are ready to go?

Terry, we are on Solstice for the very next cruise on 19th June so thank you for all the fantastic information about what to expect.

 

One question you may know the answer to is what time are the Elite members' free drink available on the Solstice. I have asked this question several time of Celebrity and received a different answer each time.

 

Have a safe trip home.

The Elite drinks are 5-7pm on all ships now. May not be every night - as some days there will be a Senior Officers cocktail party

Does anyone know what currency is used at the casino tables on the Celebrity Eclipse Med cruises from Southampton? Is it US$ or Sterling? when we went on Royal Carribbean it was Sterling, but our tour operator thinks Celebrity is US$.

 

Thank you....

All ships are US$ irrespective of where they are. Only one ship, Legend, when she sailed from England about 5 years ago was in £, but they soon abandoned that idea. Guess it was too much hassle to change all the menus, the tills, the slot machines, the signs, the ATM....etc.

They appear to have resolved the problem of adding VAT to online orders as we can book and pay for beverage packages for our upcoming Liberty sailing out of Barcelona that only calls at EU ports.

 

We have also been able to make reservations for the speciality restaurants and make payment online.

That is good to learn. Thanks for the update.

I read in one other post that if you have a cruise that only cruises in the European Union, that an 8% VAT tax was added to all purchases onboard. I've done a ton of research, and only found one mention of it. Can anyone confirm or deny this? We are leaving on a Italy/Croatia/Greece cruise soon and want to know if I should buy my wine package in advance to avoid the tax. (I would prefer to wait until we are on board to make sure the have in stock the wines I want)

The Spanish VAT is charged on ships sailing from Spain that do not leave the EU.

Your ship is sailing from Italy and visiting a non EU country (Croatia) so Spanish VAT does not apply in either instance.

This is per cabin? Didn't it used to be per person?

In the UK it is per person and in the USA it is per cabin for some strange reason if there are any Brits reading this thread.

An Indian tourist visa is for multiple entry and costs £30 for a 6 month visa and £50 for a 1 year visa (max 180 days stay per visit), both type of visa incurs a service charge of £9.05.

The Indian Government has outsourced visa processing to VF Services (UK) Ltd and their website is vfsglobal.co.uk a 6 month mulpiple entry tourist visa through them therefore costs £39.05. There are plenty of other visa sites but they charge additional admin costs, for example onestepvisa.com charge an extra £25 for their services making a total of £64.09 and TheVisaCompany will charge £103pp!

A 6 month tourist visa is valid from the date of issue in your passport and not your arrival in India, so don't apply too many months in advance

We are considering this cruise line and are wondering if smoking is allowed in any of the public areas or cabins, I hope not!

The actual answer is 'it depends' on where you are sailing.

No -smokling is never allowed in the cabins and yes; smoking is always allowed on the balconies - but the smoking venues inside the ship depend on where you are sailing.

If in Europe from Spain or Italy you will find far more venues inside the ship allow smoking - such as the pub or Boleros.

So if you are specific with your ship/port I'm sure someone will be able to provide the correct answers.