TMLAalum

I was very disappointed that next year's Iceland/Greenland sailings were assigned to the Eclipse vs. the revolutionized Summit as in the '23 and '22 voyages. We recently sailed on the Silhouette and, although our cabin was updated with new carpet etc., several key areas of the ship, such as the OV cafe, were not. Time for Celebrity to spruce up all the M and S class ships!

Yes, I agree. We have rented a car on our previous visits to Switzerland. Most recently out of Frankfurt, returning the car to Nuremberg pre Danube cruise. if renting at the Basel airport, be certain you rent from the Swiss section and that there is the mandatory vignette included. Also, we chose the Hotel Balm in Meggen to avoid parking our rental car at a garage in Lucerne. Free transportation pass from the hotel, free parking, yummy breakfast and just a 15 minute bus ride to Lucerne from the stop directly by the hotel! Because we are ten for our post cruise Switzerland travels we opted for trains. 30% discount. And Wengen is a car-free village so that was another factor.

Can your TA price out cruise cost only without the extensions? As others have posted, Lucerne would be a better choice than Zurich and, if your Romantic Rhine on Avalon itinerary is exactly like ours, you will overnight aboard the boat before cruising down the Rhine so do you really need that extra night as part of your cruise extension? If you are comfortable doing so, DIYing to Lucerne would provide you flexibility as well as significant cost-savings! The train ride from Basel is @1hr. A double room price range 200-300CHF night. Mt. Pilatus excursion 100 CHF pp. Walking tour 25 CHF pp. Flying into AMS from the US you will probably want to arrive the day before the start of the cruise, so plan on a double room there between euro 200-300. So maybe 600 per person total vs??? We are adding on 7 nights in Switzerland after our cruise ends in Basel at @1100 CHF per person for train travel, the Berner-Oberland pass, 2 nights w/ breakfast at the Continental Park Lucerne, 4 nights in a VRBO in Wengen, and the final night at the Radisson Blu Zurich airport.

Avalon is a great choice and that line's panoramic view cabins are probably the best of all river cruise companies except for suites and the "basement" cabins which are similar across brands. Check out post #1921 here on p.77 that gives a review of cruise you are contemplating! All Things Avalon - Page 77 - River Cruising - Cruise Critic Community To make it simpler I am copying/pasting MoonRiver54's post here: "My wife and I recently returned from our Avalon "Danube Dreams" river cruise from Vilshofen, Germany to Budapest, Hungary aboard the Avalon Envision. Our sailing date way 09 MAY 2023. This was our first river cruise and I cannot begin to tell you how much we truly enjoyed the entire experience. Although it rained almost every day...we were fully prepared with our umbrellas and hiking shoes...so the foul weather was no issue! Avalon Waterways is a SUPERB operation, from top to bottom. The Avalon Envision was SPOTLESS...like new. Our Panorama stateroom was utterly COMFORTABLE...toasty...like a home on the river. And the ship's crew was truly OUTSTANDING...just THE BEST! They took such great care of us. The food was 5-STAR...all of it...breakfast, lunch and dinner. I usually only eat twice a day...however I made an exception here!! I just couldn't pass it up. It was just SO GOOD! We were SO pleased with our Avalon Waterways experience that we booked a fall cruise on the Rhine upon returning home. Yes...THAT'S how much we enjoyed our river cruise aboard Avalon! FWIW...my wife and I are not affiliated with Avalon in any way, not travel agents, not YouTubers, but instead...simply retirees looking for an enjoyable travel experience. And we darned sure found it here!"

@CPT Trips All aboard is 5pm on Day One of the itinerary. Our TA has promised to contact Avalon to see about a more detailed schedule for our time in Amsterdam. The canal boat could be skipped by the Anne Frank folk if they've already done that on their previous time there, unless there is something special about the Avalon excursion. DH and my Amsterdam canal boat voyage was on an historic saloon boat with 10 others from our Celebrity roll call- the group previous to us had a catered event and the food and drink left was there for us to enjoy. Don't know if Avalon's can compare to that!

I contacted our TA to have her request specific schedule for Amsterdam from Avalon. Thanks @Daisi and @Canal archive for your responses!

For those who've taken this cruise which requires an all-aboard by 5pm the first night, then overnights in Amsterdam before leaving the following afternoon for Cologne, how much free time can we expect to explore Amsterdam? We arrive the day of the cruise at 12:44pm via Thalys from Paris. We are travelling with a group of friends/family, most of whom want to visit the Anne Frank House for certain. Looking over the non-detailed itinerary for this cruise it appears the afternoon of boarding day is free; what about that evening since hours for the house go until 10pm? The following day's schedule shows Canals of Colorful Amsterdam or joining the Adventure host. The Afternoon offers a choice of free time or optional ($) excursion, but no mention of the all-aboard time. Our dates in Amsterdam are 8/29 and 8/30 so there is time for the Anne Frank contingent to pre-book their tickets. Should they go for the afternoon of boarding day or that evening? Or would they be better off booking for the next day afternoon after Avalon's morning excursion? Thanks, and BTW if you've not seen the series "A Small Light" about Miep Gies that is available on the Nat'l Geo channel and streaming on Disney & Hulu, I highly recommend it! It's inspired me to spend time at the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam, (DH and I aren't part of the AFH visitors).

Took a photo of my cut and pasted brokerage statement indicating my RCL shares, attached it to the electronic form and received this reply that benefit was denied because Unable to open/read Stock Statement, please resubmit.

Look up things to do in Keflavik. Rent a car for the day there and explore nearby or even venture back to Reykjavik if that is important. That way you'll have your luggage with you in the event you cannot check it or store it when you arrive at KEF.

If the cruise following yours is also a NE/Canada itinerary, leave your Canadian change for your room attendant.

It is frustrating to have cabins that hold more than 2 pax show as unavailable. Luckily, there are websites for booking cruises other than Celebrity's that do show all open cabins regardless of occupancy. If you see the cabin you're eyeing as available, then call Celebrity to book it. That process has always worked for me since Bed by Bath cabins mostly have room for more than two.

Debated as to whether watching the video was worth the 3 CC points which gets me 2213 closer to Zenith, but ran it last night on the patio while I had my evening wine. I actually enjoyed seeing my favorite captain thus far- Cap't Dimitri. He is a funny guy.

We will be carrying on for our upcoming 3 weeks in Europe, although our cruise between land trips to France and Switzerland is on the Rhine! We've done many European cruises on Celebrity. When we began with them, formal nights were definitely dressy, but since the change to "evening chic" my outfits now consist of black slacks, fancy flats or sandals and a glitzy top. I do observe that more cruisers on European itineraries dress formally even though that is not required. Posters on this forum may recall our tale of woe from several years ago. AirBerlin lost our luggage, after we stupidly decided to check our carryons! We scrambled to purchase clothing for our British Isle cruise and managed to survive without anyone giving us 😮dirty looks. A gold lame top changed up with a few silk scarves sufficed for me and DH found a few button-down shirts. You will be fine!

Thanks for the tip about the TWA hotel. I think we will head there for a leisurely lunch- perfect timing since our arrival time from CLE is noon. Don't mind having to go thru security again since we will have TSA precheck and lots of time to get to the gate since the flight to CDG departs 5:35pm.

We had a flight schedule change that now gives us over 5 hours in JFK before our flight to CDG departs. I believe we arrive from CLE at Terminal 8 and depart from there as well. Any suggestions as to how to pass the time? We are in Economy so no AA lounge access for us, but we'd consider purchasing access to one. We do have Capital One Venture, but sadly no lounge at JFK. We don't have Amex. We are carryon luggage only so schlepping into the city with baggage as well as the limited net time with the layover isn't an option. Thanks

In searching for photos/videos of these forward-facing OV cabins on S-class ships, I notice that on one of the youtube videos there are 2 extra chairs placed in the open space in front of the sloping window. Can't find that video or I would link it. But I sure hope that we get those chairs on our upcoming Eclipse cruises!

Thanks all for the tips on submitting our shareholder request electronically. I must say that over the years, buying, selling, buying, selling, buying has worked to my advantage.

I submitted a shareholder benefit request last year via fax redacting all personal information from my broker statement except that which related to RCL. I was ready to claim my benefit for two future Celebrity cruises via the link I'd bookmarked. Now it needs to be done electronically, so how do I do this without sharing the entire statement, which has other holdings besides RCL?

Plus the Deluxe Porthole Verandas.

We will be in 8101 on the Eclipse. Our only previous forward OV was on the Millennium Hong Kong to Shanghai and we did not notice any disturbing motion.

$900 NRD is too expensive for us. However, our 3 upcoming Celebrity cruises were booked onboard or with a FCC purchased onboard (1 personally and 2 by friends while sailing). $200 NRD for those, and losing that is likely less than the cost of travel insurance.

Because Bed by Bath cabins typically hold more than 2 people I find that those cabins may not show up as open (more $$ for the cruiseline for more people).Those cabins are preferred by us and I've found that requesting it directly with a Celebrity representative or travel agent, we can book it!

Even if there is a mahjongg set, what are the chances it would be intact? The tiles are so heavy, but perhaps you can find a lighter weight travel set to bring aboard. The roll call for your cruise is where to post that you are looking for players! Transatlantic: October 22, 2023 - Celebrity Silhouette Roll Calls - Cruise Critic Community

It annoys me that the big box only shows AI rates on their website!

Correct, Geoff! 6242 has bed by bath. We've been in 6240, which was our only time with bed by veranda - that placement isn't our cup of tea. We chose 6241 for our last cruise for bed by bath; however, it was next to a machinery cabinet and noisy, which I didn't recall from its starboard counterpart. We didn't experience any smoke drift when in 6241 even though the smoking area is close below on Deck 5.