seahappy08

10 minutes ago, sofietucker said:

And that's really a key for us: the itinerary. Both O and our new favorite, Azamara, have great interesting voyages because their smaller ships can get into smaller ports. Like the Gironde estuary in Bordeaux! We still forsee being loyal to X for winters in the Caribbean.

We like Azamara for interesting ports, wonderful food and staff but Celebrity for accommodation and entertainment.

On 4/1/2024 at 1:53 PM, Nashna said:

We did miss the vibe on Oceania that we experienced on Celebrity.  We missed the Martini Bar entertainment and the great musical choices in the evening.  O's after dinner choices were a pianist or a string quartet.    

We have just returned from our first and last Holland America cruise. Very staid, everything shut down around 10,00pm. Entertainment was poor. Thankfully we have Celebrity booked for September.

Arriving in to Fort Lauderdale Port with a late afternoon flight out of Miami, so a long time waiting at the airport. Any ideas  💡 of places to go on the way to the airport?

Civitavecchia to Fiumicino Airport, we have a late afternoon flight. Anyone stopped off on the way for lunch or visit towns on the way? Not interested going to Rome as we have been to most places. Any suggestions please?

Thank you everyone now we know what to do on embarkation day.

We have just received our revised itinerary for our 27th October cruise. We only had one day in Israel so are very happy with the changes Azamara have made at such short notice.

We will be on the Journey soon and are entitled to 2 complementary Speciality Dinings during the cruise. Can we book beforehand or do we have to book once we are onboard? Also, any recommendations for the restaurant’s?

On 8/7/2023 at 11:19 AM, ECCruise said:

Of course everyone can have their own opinion on what matters them.  

 

But I don't think Azamara, or the industry in general, is going to suddenly recategorize the experience from "premium" to something much less simply from the footprint of a shower in the cabins.  When the overall experience, in the opinion of the vast majority of those who sail the line, falls firmly within those lines.

 

We all have choices of where we spend our money for travel.  So for those who make their decisions on shower size (or omelet preparation or theater decor or whatever) there are lots of ways to go.

We were on Azamara for the first time in January and booked as a Premium line and were disappointed as in some areas it didn’t meet our expectations. We were informed when we booked about the small showers but felt the activities and some of the entertainment was not that good. The food, staff, White Nights and Azamazing evening were excellent. The staff said they should not be marketed as a Premium Line and the guest would be happier when they booked. There are a few disadvantages but lots of advantages of the small ships such as different ports etc. We are going again in October so maybe in hindsight we will view the short comings more favourably as we know what to expect?

Staff and food wonderful. Entertainment, not a lot of variety but AzaMazing evening was fantastic. Bathrooms very small. We have sailed mostly with Celebrity and think this may be a better fit for your family.

On 8/7/2022 at 8:14 PM, scottca075 said:

The music at the House Without A Key starts at 5:30PM in general so I would either want to be there before 5:30PM or after 7PM as some of the early folks leave for dinner reservations elsewhere.

 

The food at HWAK is good, but Orchids is outstanding. We do cocktails at HWAK, dinner at Orchids.

Thanks for your input,

We are on the Eclipse in September and because of all the sea days do Celebrity provide additional entertainment? When we did the leg from Hawaii to Sydney we had Hawaiian dancers etc on board 

My husband is not so keen on all the food and drink at this Luau and it is very expensive so will just visit the site during the day and miss the show. I would like to hear some music and dancing and thought to book the House without a key. Any advice on what time to arrive, to sit indoors or out to see the entertainment and what is the food  like?

On 1/21/2022 at 6:40 PM, PacnGoNow said:

Interesting:

In all the notices I am getting for upcoming cruises from PCL about

excursions, health protocols and dining,

this one does state you can have same wait staff every night.  This seems to be updated, maybe because of all the feedback?

 

 

Dine when you want

Select dining times for main dining rooms and specialty restaurants.  Request the same time each night if you prefer the same waitstaff.

This is the first time for us. We are on a cruise in April, have logged on to our phones and would like to pre book our table for 4 but cannot see how to go it on our phone app? This just adds to the stress of a holiday for us we liked the old way as we knew what we were doing!

Advice please?

Thank you all. Celebrity from ports outside of the UK is much less formal. We like the fact that because we did not have a flight people might dress more formally. Also because of Covid we have all been at home more and this will be a reason to dress up for a change!

Thanks

We haven’t sailed Princess for a while. Sailing from Southampton. How formal is formal nights on board as it would be nice to dress up? 
What times do the shows start? What Specialty Resturant’s would you recommend?

Thanks.

3 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

Will you be allowed in by Oct 22 is one thing, so make sure everything is refunadable if our borders are still shut by then.

 

But as to Fly or Drive Sydney to Melbourne it is about 12 hours solid driving time. And that is via the non-scenic route. So in reality you will use two of your seven days by the time you disembark, collect your car and get on the way.

 

my advice and I have driven that trip many times, is fly.

That is what I thought but our friends wanted to drive so we will have to show them all your tips. Thank you everyone you have been very helpful.

2 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

Agree with the others above. You'll have a much better trip flying to Melbourne after arrival in Sydney. You can then choose if you want to rent a car or just take other tours in Melbourne.

 

Also, don't forget we drive on the left side of the road here, so with the drive option, you'd also be adjusting to that on your very first day of arrival.

We are from the Uk so no problem driving on the left for us. Aldi fully vaccinated.

3 hours ago, woodsmiths said:

All international travel into and out of Australia is currently suspended (except for strictly defined reasons), but with vaccination rates escalating it is likely that cruising will have recommenced by October 2022.  

 

The original poster asks about driving from Sydney to Melbourne.  With only 7 days available to you, I would recommend flying to Melbourne from Sydney as the road drive is approximately 850 kilometres on the inland road, which is not particular scenic.  The coastal drive is a lot longer in distance and would potentially take 2 or 3 days.

 

Melbourne is a wonderful city to visit and you may want to maximise your time staying in the city and travelling to the surrounding hills, wine regions, coastal areas, etc.,  rather than spending an extensive amount of time driving from Sydney.

 

I hope that you get to enjoy your cruise next year.

 

Thanks for the advice, that is what I thought would be best to do.

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Good Guide to answer all your questions

 

https://sydneyexpert.com/driving-from-sydney-to-melbourne/

 

As other's have said the chances are very slim chance thatt Sydney will open their boarders in 2021.  Currently even residents are not permitted to go more than 5 Km from home and boarders between NSW and Victor states are closed without a special permit

But asking about 21. Asking about 22!

3 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Isn’t Australia closed to international travel right now?

Yes it is but by October 22 hopefully it will be open so I can think about planning trips next year.

Hopefully we will be arriving in Sydney in October 22, on the Eclipse. We have been to Sydney twice before but this time would like to see Melbourne. We have about 7 days to explore. Would you hire a car and drive to Melbourne on the scenic route or fly there and hire a car or book trips in and around Melbourne?  We have looked online at journeys etc but would like advice from on the ground!

16 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Too bad. I heard the cherry blossoms in March and April are pretty.

We went to Japan a few years ago for Cherry Blossom time and it was wonderful! We were booked on an Asia cruise in January which was cancelled today. We were glad Celebrity acted so swiftly as we also had a land trip booked which we will cancel. Celebrity put safety above profit in Asia, well done Celebrity!

We have booked our first cruise on Azamara Journey. We are Elite +on Celebrity can we still use this status on Azamara. How do we use it and what does it entitle us to?

We are really looking forward to trying out Azamara.

Any help from people in the UK that were on this btb cruise of South America that ended in San Diego, would be appreciated. As you know on the 14th March we were told that we were going to debark in San Antonio, Chile as the cruise was not going to continue to San Diego, USA. We all had to pack our suitcases as we had to leave the ship the next morning. There was a mad scramble to book flights home, which we had to do independently as it was very difficult to get through to any airline. We did not have Choice Air so Celebrity would not help us.

We managed to book but as it was less than 3 days before the flight we could not cancel when we were prevented from leaving the ship. Some people on the 15th April cruise that could not board the ship have been fully reimbursed their airfare. I know their circumstances are different but has anyone from the UK received any money from Celebrity for these flights to nowhere?

Most people are very happy that we will leave the ship on Monday and fly home. Celebrity and the whole crew onboard have been fantastic but we all want to be at home. Spare a thought for the crew that have been putting in lots of extra hours to

keep us all happy.

As this is a world wide problem, after our initial upset, when we were all trying to arrange flights home from Chile and countries were closing their boarders quickly, I think Celebrity have tried their best. 

It has mostly brought out the best of everyone onboard and we have all tried to help each other.

A safe journey home everyone!