TMLAalum

The Kai Tak cruise terminal is far from the heart of Hong Kong, i.e. @100 HKD taxi ride from seaside Kowloon. The HK metro may have a line that would be near any hotel in this area, but from what I recall of our taxi ride, this area of Hong Kong is not too nice.

I'd suggest the Salisbury YMCA hotel where we stayed in a "deluxe" room with a view of the harbor. The price was @228 USD per night, which is low for this location, and the room was not large, but the view was fantastic.

The OP appears to have been requesting the Europe offer which allows 2 of 3 perks vs. the 1 of 3 perks for booking onboard. The onboard booking contract provided additional OBC for booking aboard as well as the option to choose one additional offer in the future at the prevailing rate at that time.

She made the request on June 2nd, understood that the rate had increased by $70 per person, but felt the extra benefit outweighed the increased cabin cost. Evidently her TA was told by Celebrity that written confirmation would take two weeks but her revised reservation was not processed by Celebrity.

Should the TA have been more diligent in her follow through, IDK?...

For our upcoming European cruise, we booked aboard the Millennium in April and chose the $200 OBC for the "1" allowed us of the 1-2-3 offered then + received $150 additional OBC for the onboard booking. When the 1-2-3 began, the pricing of our cabin was $200 per person more, and I decided adding either the classic beverage or prepaid gratuities options wasn't worth paying that much more for the cruise.

Had it been worth it to request the one additional offer as allowed per our booking, we might be in the same boat as the OP who was told there'd be a delay in processing her revised confirmation, because our $1695 rate is now $2325:eek:!

For the ease of it, I'm still inclined to keep the dinner package. I was able to find the website for the Duke of Wellington, and their menu doesn't have fish & chips which is one of my BiL's favorites. Prices were right, though! If we could make advance reservations at a Southampton restaurant, that would sway me to cancel the Premier West Quay dinner, but keep the bkfst based on other posters' comments.

Any recs for a fish and chips place nearby?

It makes sense that nothing occurred for the OP and his DW to honor their momentous wedding anniversary since they were not aboard the Solstice on the actual day!! I'd hope that there would be a computer alert (hope is the operative word given the way the Celebrity website works) to whomever is in charge of recognizing a special occasion if stated and dated on the reservation for a passenger while on the ship.

I hope the OP finds it in his heart to "forgive" Celebrity for not recognizing their special anniversary since it had already occurred before they boarded ship!

Might not be bad to stick with the package, given that we are there on a Fri. night. If the Premier offers fish n' chips, we're golden! Also looking into the Marriott Meon Valley as a possibility thanks to a "friends/family" discount, but I think it's rather far afield compared to the Premier West Quay...

I'll google the Duke of Wellington Pub as well!

Thanks everyone!

Lots of time before we stay overnight in Southampton pre-cruise. The room rate at the Premier West Quay for 2 people on our date is 78 GBP. The Premier West Quay offers breakfast at 8.50 GBP per person extra and a breakfast/2-course dinner package at 22.95 GBP. I booked the bkfst/dinner option.

From searching this forum, it appears that there will be many pub/restaurant choices close by to this hotel, and I'm wondering about canceling the meal add-on. Pros for keeping it are that there will be 6 to 8 people in our group and we will be arriving from Reykjavik to LGW and taking the train from there directly to Southampton; therefore, we don't have to worry about choosing a dining venue that will accommodate us all in terms of menu choices/seating.

Of course, the cons are that we are dining in a hotel restaurant sans much ambience.

Opinions and alternative restaurant suggestions appreciated, thanks!!

The warehouse travel agency we use does charge a $25 fee to obtain a price reduction, which we are responsible for finding. When we changed to a higher cabin category for a higher cost, there was no fee.

We have had excellent service from whomever answers our calls, and they are always willing to call Celebrity to get questions answered and issues sorted out.

We're trying to choose a Norway cruise and it's difficult. The 10 day Celebrity Eclipse cruise through Norway is not offered in 2015 and the substitutes are only 7 days or see Iceland also and miss some Norway ports. The Prisendam (only 800 passengers, which I love) North Cape cruise goes to the North Cape but at the expensive of Stavanger, Kristiansand, and Hardangerfjord. The Caribbean Princess includes these ports but has over 3000 passengers and can't see some of the fjords that smaller ships can. The Ryndam Norse Legends and Viking Saga cruise goes back to Harwich in the middle and appears to cruise the same fjord twice. I have no idea which Norwegian ports are the ones that I shouldn't miss - and is seeing the North Cape worth missing some of the more southern ports. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

We booked the Eclipse departing 5/9/15 and are happy with the ports-of-call-

Bergen, Alesund, Geiranger and Stavanger.

Thanks to Icelandair's "free" stopover enroute to Europe, we are also able to spend three nights there, which will allow us time to experience Iceland without spending extra time and money traveling there via ship.

I notice you're from MD, Barbara. Icelandair departs from IAD! For us, our best option for a departure city is Toronto which is a 5-hour drive from Cleveland.

Sailing through Geiranger Fjord is amazing - Geiranger as port is not that great -

Here you have two videos from the fjords and Geiranger port.

 

Watching your videos, I saw what appears to be the seven sisters waterfalls. From your sail-in & out of Geiranger, do you feel that you saw much of the scenery that a cruise on the M.S. Geirangerfjord would provide?

I am leaning toward a private driving tour that takes in both Dalsnibba & Eagles Nest viewpoints vs. a bus/boat tour. We are in port from 7am-3pm which will be lessened in actuality due to tendering.

Hallasm & others- any input will be much appreciated!

2Bs are the lowest category "unobstructed view" veranda cabins on the S-class ships. None have larger verandas. I like the 2Bs on Deck 7 forward starboard from @7126 to 7138 (check out s-class spread sheet) as these cabins are sandwiched between 2 decks of cabins and have a clear view down to the sea. Corresponding cabins portside should be okay too.

We are booked for our next cruise in the 2B cabins midship on Deck 6 starboard side on the "jut out" above Café al Bacio- looking forward to the convenience of being close to the elevators.

I would avoid the port side "jut out" cabins because they are directly above the smoking area on Deck 5.

Hay thanks:D, the info was great. The answer,,,"Well, some of the balconies on deck 6 have obstructed views. Some

of the balconies have lifeboats as the obstruction. Depends on

what cabin you booked".

 

When my Wifes parents book this trip(this is there second) they pacifically wanted a boat, a cruise with a obstruction free view. So that( at least i hope LOL) will not be a problem,,thank you. Whats the opinion for getting from deck to deck,the elevator. There seems to be a lot of people

Deck 6 has SIX cabin categories!

Sunset Verandas (SVs), Sky Suite 1s, 1As & 2Bs are UNobstructed.

2Cs have lifeboats below that come to the bottom of the veranda.

2Ds have lifeboats below that come to the top of the veranda rail.

Check out the deck plans on the Celebrity website to find your cabin and also check out the sticky at the top of this forum that provides more info about specific S-class cabins.

I ordered a brochure for a friend who will be joining us on our next cruise. She actually received it a short time later! My past experience has been that several online requests needed to be made before those I'd ordered were sent to me.

DH & I will be celebrating a major milestone anniversary in 2015. We honeymooned in Bermuda! A cruise there on the Summit to celebrate would be ideal- hopefully our adult kids and families could join us. Time to start planning!

It's two boys, a 7 and a 17 year old, allocation was that I was in with the older one as under 18 not allowed on their own and younger with his mum.

 

Most likely will end up with big one on his own and younger one staying with us but wouldn't be able to settle if we didn't know that older one is safely tucked up in bed at night.

 

Looking likely we will go with the (paid) upgrade :(

I would wait awhile. Insides appear to be sold out for that sailing but higher categories aren't.

As you get closer to sail date there is a likelihood that there will be reduced prices on the unsold categories at which time you might pay just a little more to upgrade or others in inside cabins will make a move and a cabin closer to yours will become available. It is permissible here in the U.S. to switch an assigned guarantee cabin for an open one within the same category, e.g. a 9 for another 9.

You know your 17 year old and if the teen is a responsible adolescent it should be fine being somewhat apart, but on the same deck. That price differential is waaay too much IMO.

What I would love to know is how long the gangway was open in the end? Did Celebrity stop people arriving after 3.30 pm to come back on board and just had the ship sit in port until 7 pm? Or did the gangway remain open until everybody was back (or 5.45 pm respectively) and they just stopped people from getting back off?.

We were on this cruise and in Beijing we had a 2 night private tour with 19 other roll call friends. I was the only one who noticed the changed 'all aboard time' sign as we exited the ship and was quite perturbed, especially since this time was 2 hours sooner than had been published in the daily! We did visit all the sites included in our itinerary for our final morning in Beijing and were on the road back to the ship @1:30.

We arrived back in Tianjin @4pm and we were fine. Enroute to port from Beijing, our tour bus passed several large Celebrity busses, including a couple that were stopped at rest areas!

We didn't have a veranda cabin dockside, so I can't speak to how late the gangway was kept open. I do recall that we left Tianjin well after our scheduled departure time.

If you are all adults, while it's great to have cabins close to each other, we've learned it's not essential! Just call each other when you're ready to leave for the MDR or buffet and arrange to meet up in a central location, e.g. by the elevators or near guest relations. We often sail with my DSiL and her DH and after our 1st cruise together in adjacent cabins, we've never been that near to each other. On our last cruise together we were in different cabin categories (OV for us; veranda for them) on different decks! Another consideration is that havng inside cabins, it's not too likely you'll be socializing there.

Of course, if your family members with you are your minor children, you definitely want them close by!

Cabin 6151 on the Silhouette does appear to be a 2C. It is near the forward elevators. Try to see if 6156 or 6158, which are also 2Cs, are available as these cabins have bigger verandas and thus more space for 4.

We had a great voyage on our recent Millennium Dynasties & Dragons cruise even though I'm an s-class "snob". Cabin was ideal- 7003- a forward OV the size of an s-class sky suite, with excellent attendants. MDR wasn't perfect in that our 1st assigned table had to be the worst in the room, and the 2nd, while in a better location, didn't have as attentive servers as we've experienced in the past. Our roll call led to some great friendships. We were on a private tour to Beijing, but since we gathered in Crush with our group, didn't hear any announcements as to who could leave the ship so made our way off the ship when we saw others debarking. We were on our tour bus by @9:30.

I enjoyed the food in the MDR and felt the trout and steaks were the best out of all previous Celebrity cruises. Had a great meal in Qsine and Bistro on 5.

I think that the chaotic embarkation in Hong Kong was such an unpleasant start to our cruise that it may have colored perceptions of the entire cruise hence the negative reviews. Also, connecting cabins elicited complaints due to poor sound insulation between them, so avoid those if possible!

So glad you had a great cruise and I'm looking forward to the rest of your review and photos!

Hope you're on one of my future cruises someday, Parallax!

As long as the price drop isn't a senior, military, "special offer" or resident rate, the perks should travel with the reduced price. They have for us in the past. However, when there was a senior rate special on our most recent cruise, and I was looking to pay more to "upgrade" to CC from our OV, the prepaid gratuities we had would have been forfeited. We did the math and decided not to make a move- great decision because we loved our M-class cabin 7003!

It never hurts to make a call to your booking agent- either Celebrity or your Travel Agent- if there is a price reduction that you even think might apply to you and allow you to keep your original perks. As the old adage goes "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

Our Yangtze River cruise on the President #7 seemed to have a gazzillion announcements repeated over and over in 3 different languages. No bingo, though.

You could turn your in room speaker down, but then you'd miss the ship-wide morning wake-up call!

Our Celebrity Millennium cruise just 2 months ago had the usual once daily update, given sometimes at 10am. Except for critical announcements such as muster drill, these were not heard in one's cabin, so we had to open our door to hear them. When we were in public areas, the din of the cruisers often overpowered the captain's words!

i booked a reflection cruise 2 weeks ago with a ta for dec 13th eastern carib...obc of $300 + $100 from the ta and prepaid grat. now i see this 123go special. is there any way to add this or do i basically have it but in obc? this is only my second cruise so i am a complete novice. :) thx

Before you call your travel agent, there are two things to consider.

-Are the perks offered by the 1-2-3 better than what you have currently? You won't be able to add them, but can exchange, e.g. give up the $300 to get $350.

-If the perks are better, check out the pricing of your cabin. If it's more than what you booked at, do the math to determine the value/worth of the 1-2-3 vs. the higher cabin price.

the chinese like to spit a LOT on the sidewlks etc

And next to the 'squatty pottys' as well!

And to think I asked a newbie cruiser who sails on the Millennium this Fri. to try to book a Europe cruise for our friend who is his Sis-I-L and her sis while he's aboard!

I linked him the onboard booking flier, but then, with the NEW 1-2-3, linked that as well. So who knows what options will be available or allowed when he visits the Future Cruise Sales Consultant!

BTW we booked the cruise mentioned above while aboard our last cruise at $200 less per person than the newly revised pricing!