baycruising

We are boarding Orion in Bangkok and cruising up to Hong Kong.  Who are the senior officers on board at present and are they likely to change before our cruise?

I am taking my 10 year old grandson on a short - 4 night cruise in 89 days.  He is a bit of a daredevil so yesterday at the 90 day mark I purchased a Gold VIP Edge pass for him.  However I cannot see how to pre-book the activities.  The website says you can pre-book two per day and then access others on board "as available"

I did an online chat with P and O and was told that you can only "pre-book" when on board.  This seems ridiculous as the whole point of pre-booking is to plan ahead and save waiting in queues - we prebook dining and other packages on line so I am not sure why this is different - I realise P and O don't actually conduct Edge activities but have contractors but surely that should not be a problem.  I also realise that some of the activities are weather dependent but that should not mean that you can't make bookings that could be moved or substituted in order of booking.

Has anyone got any advice for me on how to get the best Edge experience for my young companion or do I just have to face up to waiting in line once we get on board - and what actually then was the benefit of pre-purchasing the pass.  

Thanks Mark.  It is tricky arranging tours if you don't know where you are docking and the Asian port schedules are not very specific.  Perhaps it is a bit of a lottery on the day as to where you end up!!

It is not at all clear whether we are out at Phu My or closer in to the city.  Can anyone help?

We booked an FV on Millie for the two of us and loved it - just like having a suite (but unfortunately without the extra perks!!)

Just wondering about the Solstice senior officers for the Australian summer season. Can anyone update us please on who is coming downunder with this beautiful ship

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David

Your review and photos are absolutely fabulous. Would you mind if I used some of your photos for an information session I am giving on some of these ports - I have not seen any as good elsewhere!!

We had not been to any of the cities on the Homelands tour before so we found the included excursions provided a good introduction. All the tours gave us time on our own and it was easy to let the guide know if you wanted to break away at any time. In most cities Viking had a shuttle bus running back to the ship so you could get back to the ship on your own if the dock was not in walking distance. We also did a couple of paid tours that were very good.

wondering how many previous cruises you have taken and were you booked through a TA or Viking directly? Maybe the upgrade fairy will visit us on our next cruise!

Many previous cruises but this was our first experience with Viking. We used an online TA in the USA booking roughly one year in advance - at the time they offered a better price than our local TAs here in Oz.

We have never been visited by the Upgrade Fairy before and have always booked a cabin or suite that we were happy to be in. Since there was no apparent reason for the upgrade I think it must be a very random process.

On all our previous cruises we’ve enjoyed a table for 2, with the exception of accidentally being placed on a big table for just one meal. That was awful.

When we sit down eat, that is what we want to do; quioamd calmly and happily.

We don’t wish to discuss politics, sec, finance, previous holidays, our lifestyle or personal beliefs/opinions with strangers. I sure as anything don’t wish to have to put up with any of that being reported to me by some stranger in their vain attempt to try impress. There’s nothing worse.

Similarly we don’t wish to disclose our plans for our activities during a cruise; there’s always the risk of getting limbered

Agree. Tables for two, especially when you can exchange pleasantries with table of 2 next to you are our ideal dinner arrangement. Or perhaps a table of four if you have met "new friends". We never mind joining people at lunch time in the buffet area but the thought of the same table of 8 random people every night for 14 nights fills me with horror. One reason we love the Viking open seating concept.

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About four days before our Viking Homelands cruise this month we had an email from Viking to say we had been upgraded from a Penthouse Suite PS3 to an Explorer suite on the front of the ship - great excitement. The very next day a further email came through with a further upgrade to the Owners Suite. We could not believe our luck. Our cruise was fabulous -and would have been wherever we were staying. The ship, officers, crew, itinerary, entertainment and tours were all first class. We experienced a few minor hiccups with food and service - but these were very minor. Overall we thought the catering was good and with good choices of food and venues. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience to enjoy such a lovely suite on such a wonderful ship.

 

 

 

 

 

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Was this an upgrade that you were given or was it a chance to purchase a 'better' cabin?

 

 

 

No - this was a complimentary upgrade - still can hardly believe it.

 

 

 

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About four days before our Viking Homelands cruise this month we had an email from Viking to say we had been upgraded from a Penthouse Suite PS3 to an Explorer suite on the front of the ship - great excitement. The very next day a further email came through with a further upgrade to the Owners Suite. We could not believe our luck. Our cruise was fabulous -and would have been wherever we were staying. The ship, officers, crew, itinerary, entertainment and tours were all first class. We experienced a few minor hiccups with food and service - but these were very minor. Overall we thought the catering was good and with good choices of food and venues. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience to enjoy such a lovely suite on such a wonderful ship.

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Also, can you use the coffee maker in the cabins to just dispense hot water for tea. We don't drink coffee and are wondering whether we should travel with our small travel kettle for a decent cuppa on demand

Yes I heard that they are on noro precautions with a small outbreak - no self serve

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We did the tram and train - very easy. Just watch out for the scammers at the station who will tell you the trains are on strike and offer you a taxi!!

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Has anyone done the Tai Chi classes on Voyager? Where are they held and are they enjoyable?

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And a credit card of course!!

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Personally I think this is one place Celebrity falls down. Others seem to do it better.

The new video is a big "Fail" in my opinion. Having cruised many times I understood what it was saying but it certainly was not clear - in trying to make it entertaining many of the key points were lost.

The venues for muster are always overcrowded which makes it uncomfortable for many. Tallying the missing passengers always seems to take an age. The crush of people leaving is very unpleasant for elderly passengers and children.

Main thing though is that it is for the safety of all on board - it doesn't take much out of your day - and once it is over the holiday really starts, I'm sure Celebrity keeps looking at ways to improve this experience for both passengers and crew - some ideas will work - some won't. In the end there is always the chance we will be grateful we attended along with the crew.

After being on hold for ages trying to check this out I received the apology email. Someone cleared made a big mistake. Still I had fun looking through the cruises to see how I would use my FCD that I knew nothing about - then quickly back to reality!!

I would still do another "taster cruise" even though I knew that this 2 nighter could not be the same as our previous Solstice experiences. My DD was on Solstice for the first time and really appreciated that I knew the ship well enough to make suggestions that made our weekend great - knowing the easiest way to get between two points on the ship, lunch in AquaSpa on day one (and two) - very peaceful and with lovely view, booking Aqua Class (first time for me) meant we had unlimited use of Persian Gardens - several trips to enjoy that, breakfast and dinner in Blu meant none of that first night chaos that we have come to expect on all lines and staff who knew you after one meal, arriving early for the Hot Glass Show meant getting a seat, taking a drink into the theatre with us avoided the long lines at the bar or trying to attract a rushed waiter, - so my hint for a short cruise is go with someone who has done the ship before or do masses of research even for two nights. And be prepared that others are on a booze cruise - each to his own!!

Glad that you both made it. I agree the plethora of emails seemed like admin gone mad. We dropped our bags, took a walk and were on board by 1pm so not too bad. It was a short time but a pleasant enough Mum and DD weekend even with the less than perfect weather. Of course being a weekend cruise there were a lot of people determined to get the absolute max from their drinks package but the ship is big enough to avoid the people you would rather avoid. We enjoyed Blu, the spa, gym, indoor pool, glass blowing show, theatre shows, and the couple of times we called in to Ocean View Cafe for a snack it was good to see food and drinks being served rather than some of the 'orrible breaches of food hygiene rules you often see. Of course a weekender is not like a real cruise but time on Solstice is always a treat.

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Looking forward to joining the "speshial people" on Friday.

Gbenjo - hope you are recovering well - if you are not there to check us in please just let the right person know that I'll be more than happy with the Penthouse for the weekend - I'm sure that my offer to move at short notice will help solve any accommodation crises that the ship has to deal with. (says she - dreaming!!)

I was on the Ovation with two 8 year old grandchildren and took them to the Character Breakfast - for us it was not a great experience. The two had seen all the characters moving around the ship and already had lots of photos with them- you are allowed to take photos with your own camera/phone rather than having to have the "official" ones. The breakfast did not appeal to two youngsters who had been enjoying the delights of the buffet all week - they had very much enjoyed the novelty of being able to have small helpings of lots of things and the dining room style breakfast did not excite them.

Not something I would suggest doing again,

They absolutely loved Ovation though - such a pity there are no short school holiday trips this summer - we did the five days to Tassie and it was a great experience with so many activities on board.

Uncle LES

I;m not sure that writing it will be as funny as it is when you do it.

So - everyone gets a pair of headphones - they have two different tracks on them so you can choose which music you prefer and keep switching between them if you wish - a light on the headphones shows which track you are on. So there is no noise at all - everyone has their headphones on. People are dancing and singing along to the track they are listening to. So if, as suggested you stop for a second and take off your headphones you realise that half the people are singing and dancing to one tune and half to the other - but your only indication of the tune is the noise that participants are making. My husband, a non singer, non dancer and definitely a non joiner - really enjoyed joining in with this activity for a while - it is just funny watching and listening and the bonus is you can singalong to your hearts content while listening to the correct tune on your headphones.

Oh I hope there will be a silent disco - so much fun. Not really sure why we need a cabin for this cruise since there will be so much to do and so little time to do it.