RJHNorthyorks

We’ve stayed in the Fairmont twice. Excellent hotel and very close to metro station. It’s just over the road from Raffles although that is currently closed for refurbishment.

We also booked a room at the Ibis Bencoolen which we just used for the day as we had a late flight out. It was Ok but very basic and noisy during the day .

We’ve been in Singapore twice in the last year and have stayed at the Fairmont both times. It is quite expensive but is very central an immaculate. Very close to the City Hall metro station.

We really like the Gardens by the Bay and the Biological Gardens. The free evening light show and China Town are great fun.

We take small amounts of local currency and some US dollars.

We’re just back from Celebrity Constellation cruise and stopped at Chan May. I arranged a group of 10 people ( through Cruise Critic) to visit Hue using http://vietnam-shoreexcursions.com

The excursions was excellent and included lunch. The itinerary is attached. Transfer to Hue was about an hour. The owner David was very flexible as we actually arrived earlier than the start time detailed here and he was waiting for us. The lunch was amazing and the trishaw ride quite an experience.

11:30 Pick-up from Chan May port and transfer to Hue city

city

12:30 Take dragon boat trip on Perfume River

13:00 Visit the Thien Mu Pagoda

13:45 Have lunch at local restaurant

15:00 Transfer to visit the Royal Palace of Hue Citadel

16:00 Take the Trishaw along all streets in Hue city

16:30 Be free on shopping in Dong Ba market

17:00 Transfer back to the port

18:00 Drop-off at the Chan May port

Inclusions:

English speaking guide, Air-conditioned transport, Private dragon boat, Lunch at first class restaurant, Entrance fees at all tourist sites, Private Trishaw, Cold water, Wet Tissues

Husband , son and I booked the Segway trip privately in Vigo. Great fun, good preparation and consideration for safety. I’m I’m in my 60’s so an option for most people.

The staff met us at the dock and returned us to the dock

Boarded our Celebrity Cruise Ship yesterday. We have a Classics drink package but were pretty irritated to find that the drinks we were able to have on our last Celebrity Cruise have all been increased in price and are now more expensive than the Classics Drinks package limit. Last night we were repeatedly offered the opportunity to buy the Premium package or pay $1 plus service more for the drinks we really wanted.

In Cafe Al Bacio there are now only 2 coffees with alcohol included in the Classics package plus the drinks have decreased significantly in size. Probably about half the size of drinks last Cruise. Not impressed!!

We enjoyed watching the free light show across the harbour which we watched from outside the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall. Just follow the crowds.

The metro in Singapore is very easy to use. Safe, clean and staff are very helpful.

We use the Sofitel. Is one of more expensive hotels but we always enjoy staying there. Very convenient.

Spent 30 minutes on the phone to Celebrity regarding their diabolical website. When calling the options to choose now nclude a having problems with our website? Press 5.

We are due shortly to pay in full for a b2b in the Far East but can't even access the excursions section of the website. The woman I spoke to said the best option is to telephone to book excursions ( be prepared to wait ages for call to be answered). She also said to call to do the online check ins and they will email set sail passes etc.

Their telephone line is at a premium rate and I complained about the cost and they then offered to reimburse the cost of my calls. I didn't do this.

People are saying that the onboard Celebrity experience is so much better than the website which is true but we are seriously thinking about not using this company again after thus booking.

The website is a disgrace. We will complete our next 2 cruises but will be looking at other companies for future trips.

We took a 2 day tour when we were in SPB a few years ago through Alla.The tour was excellent and the company very efficient. There is so much to see in SPB that we hope someday to return.

Alla arranged the visa's, immigration was a doddle and we didn't hand over any money until the start of the 2nd day.

Sorry but there really isn't anything positive to say about this website and it certainly wasn't functioning yesterday to any sort of acceptable standard.

I've just spent a very frustrating couple of hours trying to research Celebrity Shore Excursions for the B2B we have booked for next January.I have struggled to log in and have continually been sent back to the page where I need to give details of my booking. I have been timed out twice for 20 minutes because I am allegedly logged on somewhere else ( I am not). When I did eventually log on I have only found 1 of my cruises.

The shore excursions section doesn't seem to be functioning at all as any attempt to find the excursions relating to the one Cruise I am able to locate just keeps sending me back to a generic "where would you like to go?" page.

I have telephoned Celebrity (who have the audacity to charge a higher call rate ) to complain. The young man I spoke to tells me they are having a few problems with the website!! He has now emailed the 2 excursion brochures.

I have also failed a number of times to register for the "meet and greets" although interestingly a post from me, that I hadn't made, appeared on the roll call announcing that I was joining the cruise. I can only think this is in some way connected to their shambles of a website as I have noticed a few more of these posts.

I have not included the details of my computer because it is the same machine/ system that I have used virtually problem free whilst preparing for all my other cruises over the last few years.

Sorry of this is a bit of a rant but Celebrity really need to sort this out.

We often stay at Doubletree by Hilton Westminster which is within walking distance of some of the places you have identified. The tube / underground is very easy to use for other London sights.

Not sure whether 3 days enough as there are so many sights and places to visit.

You really should book timed tickets if you want to visit places like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey or the Palace of Westminster.

We've had some not over good experiences with USA immigration. The worst was disembarking in Puerto Rico where they decided to disembark Americans first and leave the rest of us hanging about for hours - first on the ship then in a shed with no airconditioning.

In the U.K. there are clear rules on retention of data so my husband ( a police officer) asked the immigration officer how long they kept finger prints and iris photos. He did not receive a reply or even an acknowledgment that he had asked a question.

I think Cruise Critic hasn't updated the link to the new one, at https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-critic-connections

 

X should have redirected the old link to the new link, but I don't know if the old link was a non-secure link (redirects from non-secure to secure will sometimes throw browser warnings).

 

 

 

My experience too. I haven't found anything truly broken on the site yet, but outlined my frustrations with it (and so many other modern web sites) with the modern interface design. I suspect you'll get heat for saying the site is OK for you.

Thanks for sharing this link. I've been trying to register for meet and greets for the last few days on this link but failed as the drop down menu won't work and still doesn't.

Additionally this week I was locked out of my My Celebrity account where it didn't recognise my user name or password. I spent 30 mins on the phone to Celebrity who eventually suggested a plan using a false email address. I didn't try this but the next day was able to log in using the original user name and password.

I know I'm in a long line of people saying the same thing but it is beyond my understanding as to why this company has such hopeless websites.

I can't get it to work either. Just keeps directing me to the Celebrity website which then locks me out.

We have just returned from a land holiday in Bay of Naples and were surprised at the numbers of businesses that do not take credit or debit cards. This included restaurants, ferry companies and tour operators.

We took Euros, UK Currency and a couple of low charge credit cards we use for travelling. We had intended to change the UK currency into Euros whilst there in banks. This was harder than expected. One bank in Naples had a sign on the entrance saying they didn't change foreign currency and directing people to the ATM.

Italy is much more a cash economy than many other Western European Countries. You will need Euro.

We're on Circle Japan leaving on 27 April 2019.

This is the email I received from my TA last Friday.

I have been asked by Azamara Club Cruises to advise you of a change to the originally advertised itinerary.

Due to the seasonal fishing fleet in the Inland Sea, Azamara must arrive before sunrise. As a result, your cruise operator has made the following amendments to the schedule.

The departure time from Hiroshima on Monday 6th May will now be 6pm, rather than 10pm.

Cruising on the Inland Sea will be conducted on Monday 6th May, following the call to Hiroshima, rather than on Tuesday 7th May.

Arrival to Takamatsu on Tuesday 7th May will be at 5am, rather than 12pm.

The revised portion of the itinerary is now as follows;-

06/05/19 Hiroshima, Japan – Arrive 8am & Depart 6pm

06/05/19 Cruising the Inland Sea

07/05/19 Takamatsu, Japan – Arrive 5am & Depart 8pm

We're on the circle Japan cruise and received an email a couple of days ago about changes to the itinerary.

We're currently in Sorrento and have used the ferry and train to travel to and from Naples. Both are fine and easy but the local and more frequent train is very crowded and wouldn't be my choice if I had a lot of luggage.

Pick pocketing as mentioned by others is a real problem. Someone tried to pick my husbands pocket as we boarded the train in a crowd of people in Naples but quickly backed off and left the train when he realised he had been caught out.

We'd usually give about 10% if they are ok. Never more.

We've stayed at the Fairmont in Singapore. Excellent hotel - over the road from Raffles and there is a metro in the Shopping Mall underneath. We've just booked to go back next January. We upgraded on arrival to an executive room which was amazing.

In Hong Kong we stayed at the Harbour Grand Kowloon. Fabulous hotel, again in an executive suite. The situation is a bit further from activities but the hotel runs a frequent shuttle to the Star Ferry area and taxis are very cheap.

Hi,

 

We have a flight booked for 12.50 back to the UK, we are going to disembark ourselves and I know we arrive in Singapore the day before so we are overnight in dock. What is the earliest we can leave the ship and are there buses that go to the airport or just taxis.

 

Thanks[/quot

 

We disembarked Singapore in January. We Asked for the earliest disembarkation slot. I can't remember the exact time but I do recall that we were off the ship earlier than our planned time. We experienced no queues at immigration or the taxis and were checking into our hotel by 8.30am which included the taxi driver getting lost.

 

We are back in Singapore next January and doing a b2b on Constellation. The ship arrives in Singapore the night before and we considered booking a flight which would have meant leaving the ship late on the day before disembarkation. Our TA checked with Celebrity who confirmed this would be allowed as long as we notified guest relations a few days earlier. I also asked for written confirmation that this would be permitted.

In the end we decided not to do this.

However I don't think you will have a problem - we've found taxis to be plentiful and quite cheap. Not sure about buses although the cruise line will no doubt be offering transfers. Another option is the metro which is very easy to use and goes to the airport.

We went to an elephant place on Phuket and I really wish we hadn't. The baby elephants were chained and made to do tricks and there were also monkey shows. We were appalled and regretted going. Other people seemed to think it was all ok.