seahappy08

We are on the Eclipse at the moment and could have to stay at sea for some days as Chile will not let us enter. The staff are fantastic and looking after us well with food and free drink and wifi! The USA, Canada and the UK are all in discussion to find a resolution to this problem. We have stopped trying to book flights home as we now do not have any idea of when or where we will depart the ship. 

We are a healthy ship and we all need to be able to go home !

On 27 April 2019 at 8:32 PM, simon stingray said:

Michaels Club re-opened to all guests (not only suite) and the piano entertainers returned. I don't understand why X decided to do away with this kind of entertainment/venue as It was always busy back in the old days and RCCL have the Schooner bar and Princess have Crooners which offer similar entertainment and continue to be very popular venues.  

 

I have nothing against suite guests having their own private lounge but surely X could re-locate this someplace else instead of taking away a popular venue from the majority (non-suite) guests.

I so agree with you!

19 hours ago, race ave al said:

Would appreciate any info on the one day Port Elizabeth via Kareiga.

We did not like Port Elizabeth city at all. We loved Kareiga and stayed there for 3 days and then had a few days in Summerstrand outside Port Elizabeth which we enjoyed.

16 hours ago, tjunmin said:

 

My suggestion is to spend a little bit of time researching the shore excursions at each port and see what appeals to you. I'm booked on the Auckland to Auckland cruise. At the moment, the ship is sold out, except for inside cabins. When I booked, more than a year ago, I did it based on the itinerary, as it seemed exotic, and we are also running out of destinations to cruise. The issue is that now I started planning our shore excursions, and I'm starting to have doubts. As an example, the places I want to visit in Fiji are not possible due to the time the ship arrives and leaves Lautoka and Suva; the other issue is that many of the tours I'm interested in depart from Denarau, not Lautoka, which is a problem when booking independent tours. This is not a straight answer to your question, but I hope this helps.

XThanks your post was most helpful. We are now looking at 2021 as that cruise has just been released. Still not sure what to do as we want to visit somewhere on the way to NZ and on our return but it is proving very expensive.  We may have to look at other cruise lines!

4 hours ago, tartantiara said:

 

Are you sure of your dates ? We are on the Solstice Auckland to Fiji and Tonga , but it is April 1st 2020, we are also on the preceding cruise from Sydney to Auckland, like you we are from the U.K. so we might as well make the most of our long journey 

These are the dates printed in the brochure I have in front of me. I may move it back to 2021 but am undecided? I am going to South America in 2020 but it would be a different experience and colder weather in parts.

3 hours ago, TFLG said:

 

I thought about booking that itinerary but then I watched a YouTube video of it and the ports just didn't seem very interesting.  Tropical islands with some nice beaches and not much else.   We did the great barrier reef cruise on the Solstice last year and really enjoyed that one. Lots of interesting ports and lots to see. We did a wine tasting tour in Newcastle, Koala sanctuary and wine tasting in Brisbane, and snorkeled the reef in Cairns.  I would do that one again.  I also liked the Sydney to Aukland itinerary.

I am now thinking perhaps to look at somewhere else.

We have been to Australia and New Zealand a few times before.

4 hours ago, johnsea said:

Fly to Buenos Aires then cruise south around the horn & view Antarctica, scenery spectacular. Is a 14 night cruise & we did last year on Eclipse in January.

4 hours ago, johnsea said:

Fly to Buenos Aires then cruise south around the horn & view Antarctica, scenery spectacular. Is a 14 night cruise & we did last year on Eclipse in January.

We are booked on a cruise for there already and we have visited South America before.

Advice please! We are looking at 2 cruises Sidney to Sidney on Jan 1, 2020 Vanutu, Lifou etc. Or Auckland to Auckland on Mar 29, 2020, Fiji etc. We have cruised to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii, before and loved the cruise and just wanted something different. We will fly from the Uk so it will be a long journey although we will stop off on the way. We have been on Solstice before but are now running out of new places to cruise. We love to cruise!

Thanks for any help!

20 hours ago, mimbecky said:

I really don't have an answer to your questions but given you have no responses, I thought I could give you a bit of information which may, or may not be helpful.

You ask about day trips.  I can tell you that where you port is very close to several sites within walking distance.  You can visit the USS Midway which is a decommissioned Navy Vessel which has docents who lead tours.  Seaport Village is an area of unique shops.  The Star of India is an old historical ship which you can tour.  There are a couple of others in the same area. (Berkeley?) There is a ferry that will take you from Broadway Pier over to Coronado Island.  The ferry landing has some shops and across the street from the landing is "Tartine" which is a restaurant that I can recommend for lunch.  Of course there is also Il Fornio or Peohes which are great and have fabulous views.  You can Uber down from there (or take the bus along Orange ave) to the World Famous Hotel Del Coronado.  Have a drink on the patio with ocean views or get lost in this historic hotel. If you are walkers, you could book a "Bite San Diego" tour of Coronado which will fill you up and give you some local history and lore of the Island.

Good luck.  Have fun

Miriam

Thanks, just need somewhere for the luggage but your suggestions are helpful.

We have booked Celebrity transport and air for a late flight to the UK next March. Anyone who did this in March this year, did they give you a day hotel and what time did you depart the ship in the morning? Or did they offer any day trips for people on late flights.

On 21 March 2019 at 10:22 AM, cruisestitch said:

Whoops!  That was definitely an error in my part.  Yes, the Equinox starts their autumn.  But Ushuaia did see their first snow.

Not sure what to do in Ushuaia, we thought we would just walk around and visit the Prison Museum. Is this easy to do or us it better to have a tour?

I am interested in the Valporasio trip for BTB as I want to visit there next year. I would appreciate a revue from anyone who went on that trip? Thanks for all the information already given.

Thank you so much for the information. I knew we would have to book onboard. We were offered the same arrangement when we were BTB in Japan last year and had a great day out with Celebrity. I would rather have a ship's tour on change over day.

On 15 March 2019 at 6:30 PM, katrina915 said:

 

I am a little surprised that they are allowing ship to shore calls to private tour operators.

,celebrity have done that before...  We are on the BTB BA to SD, 2020 and would be interested to hear what happened on change over day. We would like to go to Valparaiso for the day if we have time?

We arrive in Yokohama and stay onboard over night on the ship taking the next cruise out. We will be in transit passengers and the ship sails at 19.00hrs. What would be best, stay in Yokohama and use the HOHO bus for the day. Or arrange a tour or goodwill guide to take us to Toyko or any other nearby places we have not visited? Suggestions please?

Lynda:)

in regards to comments about some booking cruises they may not take .. this habit was encouraged and suggested at Future Cruise Sales on board. Assuming they got credit no matter when you cruised as long as it was from the original booking . Only $200 a pop. I personally have changed a few but not last minute

We also found this was actively encouraged by Future Cruises onboard to their USA clients but did no apply to us from the UK, so the ship's quickly filled up with people who did not in the end take the voyage. We have been able to change cruise bookings with out losing our deposit as long as we re-booked a cruise. We do book a long time in advance. Also, on some cruise there are less people from the USA with more from Europe and other countries.

We are in Nagasaki next April but only for a short visit. We arrive in port at 13.00hrs and I see some attractions close by 17.30hrs. Would you suggest we grab a taxi or should we arrange a private tour before we arrive? I know there is a tram but there could be long lines waiting to board it. There are 8 people in our group.

Seahappy 08

Thank you for the info. Was the taxi fare a hard bargain .... it's just cos we are 2 middle aged women who hate to barter etc... but I don't want to get ripped off either!!!

How many hours were you at the sights?

 

How long did you hire the driver for ?

We decided against nang nooch now.

Just doing sanctury of truth so we can see it all, and not rush ��

Did you see the shows there?

 

Floating market ...any tips?

and big buddha ��

It was about USD 60 for the day from 09.00hrs to about 16.00hrs. On the quayside there was a taxi company that took bookings as we were there overnight we paid half the day before then half at the end of the tour. They wanted to be paid in USD. The taxi driver waited at the venue so we could stay as long as we wished, he was very helpful. We did not need a guide, every venue was safe. He parked in the shade so the car was nice and cool. You will need THB in cash for entrance fees. He looked after us well but we controlled how long we wanted to stay, we did tell him a general time we would meet him.

We went to ride elephants, then went to the Sactuary of Truth and saw the shows and had a cold drink. The floating market is a modern copy, but fun. We did eat off a stall there, which was fun and we stayed healthy. It was a great day and much better than expected!

Did you pre arrange your Taxi or did you just get it at the Port Terminal? Did you enjoy what you saw there?

 

Thanks:cool:

We used the taxi rank that was next to where the ship was berthed. It was a good set up and you paid in USD cash. Nice clean, new taxi. We enjoyed all that we did. The floating market is new and set up for tourists but fun! Our taxi driver got our entrance tickets for us and even arranged for us to skip the queue. The Temple of Truth was fantastic! I think we paid around USD60 for the taxi, plus entrance fees. There were only 2 of us but it was much cheaper than using the ship.:cool:

You could contact bangkokasiatravel.com and the email is bangkokasiatravel@yahoo.com the gentleman's name is Mike. He will answer your emails, very quickly. His rates are very reasonable and will cater for your every need. He will offer suggestions for you too.

Places like Nong Nooch Botanical Gardens with elephant & cultural show, Floating Market, Sanctuary of Truth and much more

Good Luck :cool:

You do not need to pay a guide for any of these just take a taxi fo the day, that us what we did in February

Two ways to send money to Zoom but Paypal is best. Thru banks the fee is based on amount of $1,000 at least and you lose $20 even though you send much less than that. He used to ask for 50% deposit but now, 30% only. Usually you need to send $50-100 and the total fee is $4-8 thru Paypal.

We used Thi from Smile Tours for 3 ports and 2 overnight tours, she arranged it all for us. We paid a deposit and the balance in USD on arrival. It was TET so very busy. We stayed in 2 fantastic hotels. She contacted us by phone every day to see how the tours were going. We are back in Vietnam again in 2017 and are using her services again.

There will be 2 of us with luggage needing to go to the airport. We thought about ordering a taxi but need recommendations? Though we would wait until about 10.00am to reduce surcharge but we know there is an additional charge to the airport. We have a late flight and our airline will let us drop off luggage early. We could then spend some time in Singapore. What is transport like back into town?

If you are at the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal they do have luggage storage there.

Singapore luggage storage also offer a delivery service to the airport.

Either of these would allow you to enjoy your day without the hassle of travelling to the airport.

That sounds exactly what we need, I will google them.

Thanks Lynda

Take a taxi from the port to the airport. Store your cases. Taxis can

be engaged by the hour, we have done that, especially if you know where

you want to go. Also there is a connection to the subway system, map on

line, that will take you to most sites that you will want to visit. Remember mid

afternoon in Singapore is very hot and humid and off times rains. Might be a good time for a late lunch. Also the street markets are fun and of course

safety is excellent in Singapore.

That is a good idea and may end up what we will do.