barneyboy

9 minutes ago, di T said:

Did you book through a travel agent? 

No direct with Celebrity. We did rebook through a TA as we got a better deal. 

22 hours ago, di T said:

Was pleasantly surprised! We don’t always get them over here do we? 

No I had to cancel and rebook with a loss of our deposit when the price dropped substantially. 

11 hours ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

I love a good SB from Marlborough…do you recall what it was?

It was Squealing Pig. We preferred it to the usual Oyster Bay and Villa Maria. 

28 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I prefer the Sunset Bar…for everything. 

Unfortunately it was a bit cool for the Sunset Bar in New Zealand. 

We were disappointed with the wine selection in the bars when we sailed on the Edge last month. Luckily we had a great sommelier in the dining room who brought us wines which weren’t on the wine list. We mostly drank a Marlborough NZ Sauvignon blanc which I’ve not had on any other Celebrity ship. 

1 hour ago, 81Zoomie said:

We arrived just after Luminae opened at 5:30.  It was so quiet!  It was also amazing how quick the service was compared to later in the evening!

 

 

DH and I both had the taco and duck.  The taco was quite tasty.  I’m not a huge duck fan, but the combination of flavors and the cherries 🍒 came together quite well.

 

 

I had the cheese cake and he had the caramel ganache for dessert.

 

 

After dinner we went to the musical performance with Tom Ward.  He is an amazing classical guitarist.  We also enjoyed his matinee performance.  We popped into the casino for a little while.  Our last stop was “Finish the Song”.  It was fun to sing along and cheer on the contestants!

 

 

We had a busy day today.  We are currently sailing at a quick clip of 20 knots. The Captain has reported that we can expect rain and 35 kt winds in Napier tomorrow.  It is a short port call, only 5 hours.  When we received tomorrow’s Daily tonight it said they expect delays with the gangway and getting folks ashore.  There are added activities on board for those who would like to stay on the ship.

 

We have a private wine tasting tour booked tomorrow.  After the difficulties leaving the ship the last 2 days we are a little nervous.  I anticipate we will be lining up well before we are alongside the dock at 10 am.

Last week we had long delays when disembarking and almost missed our wine tour in Picton. However I notice that you are in the Retreat so you shouldn’t have to queue and will be escorted off by your butler. That’s what happened last week with those on our tour who were in the Retreat. 

We disembarked from Edge yesterday and had loungers on our SV. 

views from our balcony this morning. 
 

30 minutes ago, 81Zoomie said:

@barneyboy, sounds like you had a wonderful time.  We have heard great things about Giuseppe!  
 

Someone on another thread was asking about lounge chairs on the SV balconies.  Did you have one or two, or just sitting chairs?

 

Safe travels home!  ✈️

We had 2 loungers and 2 chairs although it was a little crowded so we stacked the loungers when we weren’t using them. 

Hope you have great cruises. We disembarked in Sydney this morning. My husband and I were in a sunset veranda and our son was in a single IV cabin. 
we had a great time and were so lucky with the weather. The cruise director, Guiseppe, is the best we’ve sailed with. 
 

we’re spending tonight in Sydney and flying home to Edinburgh tomorrow which we’re dreading!  Looks like it’s going to be a lovely sailaway. 

We used Shore Experience. It wasn’t a private transfer but only cost about €30 each. The pick up point was about 5 minutes walk from the ship. 

I would agree with Kiwifruit. We sail with both lines and choose depending on itinerary and cost. We find the food to be slightly better on Azamara and the entertainment better on Celebrity. I would agree about the small cabins and showers on Azamara unless you move up to a suite, but we just get used to it. 

25 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

With elite status do you get any bottled water or do you have to bring your yeti and get it out of a fountain?

You can get bottled water at the Elite Happy Hour

The menus look good for breakfast and lunch at Eden cafe. Just a pity it closes up so early at lunch time. 

We wouldn’t be upgrading at this increased cost. Our main reason for upgrading is for the Whispering Angel and Atlas Bar cocktails if we’re on the Onward. On our last cruise in March they didn’t have Whispering Angel and I wasn’t too keen on the substitution. 

5 hours ago, lara h said:

Sailing in 3 weeks in #7315 (EDGE).

From the above, it seems like noise will be ever present...anyone care to reassure me that I selected the right cabin almost 18 mths ago? 🤔

We’ll be in 7310 on the 13th March sailing. We’re expecting to hear some noise from Eden but hoping we’ll be ok as we’re not early to bed. 

Some of them have a larger balcony. 

1 hour ago, villauk said:

 

Thank you. We’re on deck 11 too. Did you think the cabins looked tired? I was hoping that they’d look a little fresher, being added after all the other cabins.

The carpets and curtains looked newer, in a greyish design but the sofa was the old orange colour and looked a bit worn. The shower had a door and not a curtain with it being one of the newer cabins. 

6 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Did they offer buzzers in Blu because of the long waits? Which deck was your cabin on in Aqua? TIA.

Yes we got buzzers and waited in Cellar Masters until a table became available. 
We were on deck 11 which we liked although there was some noise from the movies running on the Rooftop Terrace. 

Sorry to hear this. We disembarked Infinity on 18th November. Our stop in Porto was also cancelled due to the port pilot strike. We had a stop in Cartagena instead. 
We boarded this cruise with fairly low expectations, after reading some critical reviews, however we got an aqua class cabin for a great price. We were last on Infinity in May 2019, when we thought she looked a little tired. 
We were surprised how well maintained the ship was and the crew were outstanding. Unfortunately there were often long waits for Blu.  The hostess said this was due to passengers arriving for dinner at 5.30pm and still occupying the tables after 8pm. It was also difficult at times to get a table in the Ocean View due to passengers occupying tables for long periods  and chatting who were not eating. 
we wouldn’t hesitate to sail on Infinity, and am sorry you had a different experience. 
 

15 hours ago, villauk said:

 
We’ve decided on 1108 and 1109, one on each side to hedge our bets 🤣. I’m hoping they won’t be too noisy near the lifts. Am I right in thinking that Infinity hasn’t been refurbished, so it’s the older reddish soft furniture? Thank you ever so much for all your wonderful information.

Yes it’s the reddish sofa but newer grey carpets and curtains. We disembark tomorrow so let me know if there’s anything else you want to know. 

35 minutes ago, indy406 said:

Our TA has us in 1117 on Infinity and it appears to be a pretty good location with a slightly oversized balcony. We would appreciate it if anybody who has stayed in that room has any observations. Thanks.

I’ll have a look later when I pass that cabin. 

The stairs are through a door at the end of the hallway. I wouldn’t like the deck 9 cabins as we like to have sun in our balcony. 
Our room steward brings us 2 bottles of water every day. 
Blu has been busy and we’ve started eating earlier, around 7.15pm, to avoid a wait for a table. We’ve ordered from the MDR menu sometimes as we don’t eat duck or lamb. Also squab and gnocchi feature a lot on the menus. 

We are currently staying in one of these cabins. There is some noise from the movies running at the Rooftop Terrace but it wouldn’t put us off booking this location again. 
As the above poster said it’s very convenient for the buffet and pool deck and we like the loungers on deck 11. 
there is a shower door and a multi jet shower. 

2 hours ago, lola2013 said:

I’m happy to hear you were able to visit Sorrento, which is my all time favorite place on the planet.  I enjoyed my favorite pizza there by doing just what you did…pick a street and wander until you spot food paradise.  I am not a foodie…a slice (or several 😉) makes me a happy traveler.  
Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Susan 

It’s such a lovely place. We spent 11 nights there last summer and did lots of wonderful day trips to Pompeii, Naples and all the islands. When ever we stop at Naples on a cruise we always take the ferry to .Sorrento for the day.