tassie cruiser

February 2, 2017

Look up Noumea Shore Tours... A couple - Alfred and Genie run it... They are great... Would thoroughly recommend any of their tours.....Best day ever with them..

January 29, 2017

On our last cruise.. Solstice few weeks ago... Shorts (dress shorts) were defiantly worn in the dining room except formal nights.... Quite a lot of men wore nicer shorts and a polo shirt,

January 29, 2017

Can I please get info on the dress code for the MDR aboard RCI for men - Pacific Island Cruise leaving from Australia. Do dress shorts, collared shirts and shoes pass muster or do men have to wear long pants. TIA

Yes but if it's a formal night you will need long pants/dress jeans etc.. no shorts at all. :). On a 12 night cruise, there would be probably 3 formal nights. In saying that you can still go to buffet if you wish or specialty dining , long pants in specialty dining as well.

January 25, 2017

we have been on three Carnival Cruise and three Celebrity Cruises. Both have their pros and cons. If you are over 60, and can't handle kids Carnival is definitely not for you. If you are cruising with kids under 18, Carnival is great as they have a ton of games, trivia, comedy shows (both PG and R versions), and other things for family activities. We felt the food in the MDR on both lines was comparable, with Celebrity taking a slight advantage. Celebrity needs a Comedy Club or another venue for after dinner aside from the mediocre theater shows.

Totally agree with what you said. Love Carnivals / RCCL atmosphere onboard,

Any cruise is a great cruise

January 25, 2017

Really? Not seen that before, AQ and CC always board together when I have sailed Celebrity.

Maybe that is a new process?

No, don't think this is a new process. You are correct. They do board together. Think someone has their knickers in a knot. :D

January 25, 2017

And this is why Celebrity is advertising a 7am time now. If everyone on the deck doesn't leave until an hour later than requested, then it creates a problem.

Has anyone see any posting on their Facebook page about it? I've looked sporadically but haven't seen any complaints about this publicly.

Let me be clear. We were never ever asked to be out by 7. 8o'clock was the guide line. And we're told that we could leave bags there until ready to disembark. Then room stewards could still come in if they wanted/needed to start doing the rooms, a couple of small carry ons in the corner isn't a problem.

But they did not (by their own choice) guessing they bit different here in Aus, more laid back and easy to get along with.

Sheesh. High horse. :eek:

January 25, 2017

I have not read all these responses either as I just came across thread. We were on Celebrity Solstice xmas/new years cruise (out of Sydney) have been back couple weeks :-( Nowhere was it ever mentioned 7 am ...... Maybe this is a US thing,

our newsletter said 8am.... We were packed and left our room at about 8-15 to go up to breakfast, saw our room steward on the way and he said no problems leaving bags in rooms until you ready to leave ship, got back to room about 9am.... Most people on our deck were the same.... The rooms were ready to be cleaned if they wanted to go in after 8, which is pretty much what they asked for.. So, we had no problems what so ever....

January 20, 2017

Yes, as said above... it was defiantly $249 sea day.

January 19, 2017

It is now how it should be. Now All ships cruising in Aus waters has it included in fare. We just got off Solstice and we were at guest services, re an internet issue, and passengers either side of us were having tips removed and I can tell you, they were not Australia, NZ, or Brits, they were 100% American,so don't just assume it's the Aussies that remove. :). Was actually sitting next to them in the ocean view later and got chatting to them, they were so lovely and she said, I saw you at guest services, didn't I, were you getting your tips removed as well, I said, no, we had a problem with our internet charge and she said, oh," I just assumed you were removing the tips, we cruise regularly and always remove ".

January 19, 2017

We were on Solstice. Only been off 2 weeks. We had choice of bottle of Moët or 1 litre bottle of grey goose. We chose the grey goose. So, we were pretty happy.so we paid $99 and got Bottle grey goose and comfy retreat for the day/night. Aaaahhhhhhhh wish I was back there.

January 19, 2017

I always take a few warmish things now as sometimes the ship has the air con quite cool, so sometimes required indoors on the ship at night times. The last couple of cruises I had to go outside to get warm lol.......

Yes as mentioned above Vila - Aus dollars fine....

Re the power points, yes, there is US and Euro.. The US is a low voltage (110 v from memory)

and the Euro (220 v) so if you using hair dryers etc.... need to use the Euro one (that is the closest to Aus voltage. if just wanting to charge phone etc... then the US is fine... Hope this makes sense.. lol....

Don't stress about it, if you forget they will have on the ship for sale or your cabin steward may be able to get you one... We always take the power cubes which have 4 x power points and 2 x USB points..

They don't normally allow power boards as such but the cubes and similar are different and are fine (something about having a built in breaker or something)

January 17, 2017

Hello to the first person from Tasmania I have ever talked to here. I have had the room on Navigator and love it. It just came open on my next Adventure cruise, but since I booked early my rate is lower than it is now and they won't let me change. Boo Hoo for me ;) Enjoy this is a great room. Oh, when you done send Voyager back West!

Well hello there. Yes, I am in Tasmania, and no, I don't have 2 heads :D.

We became friends with some people from US on our last cruise (only got off couple weeks ago and already it seems so long ago) a young couple from Texas and another couple from Columbus I think, they were awesome. My new face book friends. Lol. It was so much fun teaching them new Aussie slang words and about the Drop Bears that we have here that attack tourists. Lol.

Was talking to TA today and she changed me to 9618, which I said was fine, as from what I can tell, they are identical. I have never booked this far out, seems like soooooooooo far away.....

January 17, 2017

Glad to see you enjoyed the rest of your cruise [emoji2]
I have one question if you don't mind...

There has been a lot of talk on these forums about Celebrity changing the time to leave staterooms on the last day from 8am to 7am. Can you please tell me what the checkout time was on your cruise?

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We were asked (in the daily letter thingy) if we could be out of cabins at 8am. We left our bags in there, saw room steward and told him we were all packed and going for brekky so if he wanted to come in, we were good, and went up for brekky at about 8-15, got back to cabin at about 9.00 , did a double check that we hadn't forgotten anything and left. Room steward still wasn't anywhere near our cabin.

So, no, 7am was never mentioned at all.

January 17, 2017

We are just back from cruise on Solstice. The unlimited internet package was $299 for the 1 st device and 50% off a second one. We were select so got the 25% off as well. This was a 12 night cruise

January 16, 2017

Great Review. We are taking this same cruise for the Holidays for December/January 2017/2018. How far in advance did you book for cabana for the NYE? Also what if any excursions would you recommend we are traveling with our daughters ages 17 and 14.

We booked the cabana on the day we boarded. Was just having a wander around, as you do on the first day and there were staff there so booked with him.(friends of ours that booked one for new years day, they pre booked theirs thru the planer) If you are going to Lautoka with your daughters, you must..lol.. do the quad bikes/buggies... Its thru Go Dirty Tours... Its great, we have done that twice now with them, awesome, the girls will love, but beware you get very dirty..lol... If you message Anand direct thru Go Dirty Tours he will advise. Best day ever. They picked us up from the ship at 8-30am and dropeed us off at 3-30 (passengers were meant to be back on at 3-30) phew, was close and as it was they cut the tour down as we had to be back to the ship, otherwise it would have been an extra hour.

Suva we booked Jewel of Fiji, best private day tour..... It was funny as it cost us $110 p/p (quite a few of us from the ship booked it) (was thru hot Fiji deals) and then the ship was actually offering the same tour - $259-00...:eek:. We ended up on the same bus, same tour, everything the same..lol........That again was a full day and was great, our girls loved it...

Let me know if you have any other queries, or I can give you my email address, if you need more details

January 16, 2017

I'm sailing in April on a 7 night cruise, first time so excited !
Got an ocean view cabin for $1130 which included the drink package and $300 obc

Received my cabin number and been upgraded to a balcony on deck 8 !

Whoop whoop I can't believe it :)

Wow, that's awesome, well done. The upgrade fairy strikes again :p

January 16, 2017

Hi, go to this site and there are pics of this cabin.http://www.shipcabins.com/ Don't know if I can post this website or not. Hope this helps.
Mary

Thank you... that's great. :). Appreciate it.

January 16, 2017

We've had that stateroom on Adventure and Explorer, identical twins to Voyager. Stateroom is the same size as other side-facing JS staterooms. Our first choice for a stateroom location on Voyager and Freedom class.

Oh, ok. Thanks. Have read on a few different sites that it's bigger. Even Bonnie Voyager said it was bigger.. its fine, don't really mind was just trying to confirm.

January 16, 2017

You decided to give up 1688?

;)

9318 is another favorite cabin. You are a very lucky cruiser!

Well, that's a story. I couldn't get it, was told that as there is only 2 of us... if I waited then they may open it up to 2 passengers but at the moment it's only available for min of 3 x pax. Sheesh. :eek:

January 16, 2017

We also booked on our cruise. Xmas/NYE cruise. Got back couple weeks ago. We booked it NYE and friends booked it New Year's Day so they came in ours and we went in theirs. We enjoyed and it is a holiday and not something you would do regularly. As for someone saying they weren't comfy???? Wow, I thought they were awesome. $99 and a bottle of Moët. (We actually exchanged our Moët for a litre bottle of grey goose so I figure it was well worth it. Each to their own though. :)

P.s. We booked ours once onboard and friends booked theirs online before cruise.

January 16, 2017

Glad you had a great cruise. Thanks for the feedback.

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No probs, any cruise is a great cruise. :)

January 16, 2017

I have just booked this cabin for cruise on VOS. Has anyone had this cabin or mirror image cabin 9618? Have read where its in a good position, right in middle of hump and also that it is a bit larger than other JS.. Just wondering if this is correct ? ... We have had a cabin on the hump before on Voyager, so know the location etc.... So, hopefully someone can advise if this is a good choice or not. Still a long way out so could change if need be. Fingers crossed it is, I research as much as I can before booking a cabin but there is so much conflicting answers, it gets a bit confusing..lol.. I knew by asking on here I would get the correct answers, Thanks in advance for any replies..... Fiona :)

January 16, 2017

Well, we are back from a great xmas/nye cruise onboard Celebrity Solstice. 12 nights. Was a great cruise and will try and include information that helped me before we went from here.

This was our 14th cruise. First cruise on Celebrity. Other lines we have cruised with have been: PO, Princess, Carnival and RCCL. Before we left I was told on many occasions that "once you cruise Celebrity, you will not cruise on other lines" Well, that isn't true as I have already booked another cruise, on Voyager Of The Seas.. RCCL.. Every single one of our cruises have been awesome, no such thing as a bad cruise..lol.

There were 4 of us, myself, husband and 2 x daughters (both over 18) We stayed in Sydney pre cruise at Quay West Suites, was great as we watched Solstice arrive in early on the morning of our cruise. We wandered down about 10am, dropped bags, went for a coffee and then boarded bit before 11-30. We had booked 2 x Concierge room. Boarding was the fastest we had ever experienced, probably 10 min and we were on the ship. To be greeted once onboard with a glass of champagne, juice etc.... We went straight to the Dining room for the Concierge lunch. When entering the dining room, they checked our sea pass to make sure we were Concierge and then took our carry on and put aside. There were people in front of us trying to get in as well, they were Aqua and carried on a treat that they couldn't go in.... "We are Aqua Class, you mean to tell me that the lower class can dine in here but we cant, I am going to get this sorted out, I am horrified" . I could not believe the tone and the way they spoke to the staff... Anyway, we had a great lunch, the menu wasn't huge but what was on there was 5 star, with lovely wine to suit.(3 courses with soups, salads e. lamb cutlets, veg etc...) Was so nice to go somewhere quiet and get great service while waiting for our rooms to be ready.

Our rooms were ready at about 1-30. We were on deck 10 (1079 and 1099)

Room was a nice size, with the most practical best laid out bathroom I have seen on a ship.. I remember reading that a woman designed the bathrooms and you can tell..lol... There was a full length cabinet- flor to ceiling in the corner with heaps of shelves, a full length light above the mirror that turns into a dull night light at night, in the shower was a rest about 3/4 way down perfect for shaving legs, shower screen doors, circular that met in the middle, good size shower and more storage space in the bathroom.

The concierge cabins have a thick dressing gown and I asked our room steward if I could have the thinner waffle ones, he says, they are for just the standard cabins, so it would be a downgrade..lol.. I said I didn't mind as the thick ones are too thick for the South Pacific, so he went and got me straight away and also left the thick ones, which was actually good as sometimes the air con was cool and the thick one was nice. Balcony nice with chairs and comfy foot stools.

The thing that I noticed pretty much straight away was the "class" difference, no other line is like this..... The Suite passengers dine in a different restaurant (Luminer) The Aqua passengers dine in Blue, remaining passengers in the main dining room. Aqua have pursion gulf etc..... felt like I was on the Titanic.... I have never been on a cruise where there were so many whinge bags, complaining and just being plain rude

The ship is absolutely beautiful, so open and the décor is first class. Little things I noticed were a step up from other lines, like all the public bathrooms, there weren't handles or door knobs to open, just a big white button to electronically open and close.

The Ocean View (Buffet) wow,,,,,, best we had ever seen, was so nice and fresh and the selection was huge, there was a grill station that was my favourite, there was salmon, other different fish, chicken and steaks and you picked out what you wanted and they cooked for you.. The egg station at brekky was awesome, the best eggs benedict and hollandaise.. yummmm

never ever had a problem getting a table, never felt crowded. This is the first ship that we have cruised on that did not have tables and chairs along the wall/windows of the pool deck, only loungers, so you could not eat anywhere on the main deck (well, you could but not on a table and chairs)

The Dining room was wonderful as well, lovely food (wouldn't say it was better than other lines) but always had a lovely meal there.

Silk Harvest.... that's a must.... that was awesome, best meal we had onboard, we went there for our anniversary dinner on the 2nd, only wish we went there before.....was sooooo good... This was $35 p/p....

As the ocean view and dining room was so good we actually didn't bother going to the other specialty restaurants, I don't think a lot of people did as they were always offering specials for the specialty restaurants.

The internet is very expensive but in saying that it was the best and fastest we have ever had on any ship.... The price was $299 unlimited and 50% off a second one. We were select members so received 25% off, so from memory it cost $225 for one and $149 for the second (remember this is US)

The tendering was really well organised, they did a great job with that. It was so nice when coming back on the tenders they were there with ice cold drinks and cold, iced face washers, just little things like this we noticed that were done so nicely and thought out.

The Captain would be the nicest, funniest Captain ever. There was only ever one announcement every day on the ship and it was him, sooo funny.... Always seen around the ship, eating in the buffet etc.... he was a contestant one night in the liar liar show...

We all had the Classic Package and I can honestly say, there was not 1 thing that I could not get that I wanted. It covered all the cocktails, top shelf, wines, coffees, bottled water, smoothies, etc.... the only thing it didn't cover was the martinis in the martini bar, which we don't like anyway, so it was absolutely perfect, my husband said the red wines he had were so nice and the drinks waiter bought him a different bottle of red each night to try and if he liked (which he always did) would just leave the bottle. The list that you see on here, only covers a very minor part of what's included. We had quite a few friends onboard who upgraded to the Premium as soon as they boarded and they wished they hadn't as they did not have anything different to us what so ever.

Entertainment would have to be my little negative... But I did know before I left that Celebrity is different to other lines, so it wasn't a big surprise.... There were a couple of good shows in the theatre (which by the way is awesome) the way it is tiered and just a great theatre, best theatre on any cruise ship, I would say,

Unlike RCCL or Carnival where they would have bands on top deck, great shows in the theatre,night after night musicians in bars, etc..... this didn't really happen. You would walk thru to the specialty restaurants and there would be someone playing a violin, cello, etc..... and in the theatre at night one of the shows was a concert pianist or a concert violinist etc....

During the day, there wasn't really much going on, unless you are interested in the seminars, art auctions etc....,

Our daughters met up with a few other younger people so they had company, Qasar was a bit hit and miss for them, so they spent a lot of time in the casino..lol (.not a lot of night life for younger/younger minded people.) ...and unlike other lines where you can get money out of your card in the machine, this doesn't happen. If you don't have US cash (this is all that the casino accepts) you have to go to casino desk and draw out which incurs a 5% fee. and their rate onboard was 64 c....... So for $100 Aus you would get $64 US then they charge you 5% as well...

We had room service quite a few times for breakfast, that was great, good menu and if in Concierge it is an extended menu. You can also order thru your tv if you don't want to put out your form the night before.

The tv menu was great, could check account etc.... could do anything thru the tv. There was a huge range of movies (free) as well plus some that you could purchase, but the range of free was great.

We hired a pod/alcove one day (NYE) that was good but as they are new, I don't think the staff really knew much about them and we got different answers all the time about what we could get and what we couldn't. We were told we could order from the Dining room menu when we booked it. We booked it for NYE so it was from 9am until 1am (after midnight) and friends of ours booked one for new years day, so they could come in ours and we could go in theirs (as you can have 6 pax in there) so we were there new years eve (as it was a port day) we didn't get there until about 6, there isn't a butler as such, just a drinks waiter that wanders past every now and then, we went to order dinner (as it was nye and lobster was on the menu yummmm) then was told that NO, cant order from the dining room, can only order from the room service menu or go to the buffet and bring back, we said we were told we could order from the dining room, they went off and checked and came back and said, NO, defiantly not from the dining room. :-( so we just went to the buffet and got something and bought it back, nearly getting blown away on the way back, so no lobster for me.. and I was so looking forward to it. All the parties and activities were on the pool deck, so we ended up leaving our pod and going there, so really, it was a waste for us. The next day we were talking to our Concierge lady (Aldina) she was the nicest, lady ever, anyway we were just chatting to her (as we had booked a bridge tour thru her), and we told her about the alcove drama and she says" oh, that's not right, you can defiantly order from the dining room, they should know that", she called up to confirm and yes, sure enough, the dining room menu is part of the alcove booking.... grrrrrrr

She worked her magic and got our alcove reduced in price and we also received a litre bottle of grey goose vodka..

So overall, as usual we had a great cruise, would defiantly book and cruise again with Celebrity if the price/itiniery/dates were right, can imagine a mid year cruise would be even quieter (as guessing this xmas/nye would have had more younger people than usual) but as for saying I am hooked on Celebrity, no, I wouldn't say that.

I have probably missed out heaps and I apologise.... If you have any queries, would be happy to answer where I can.

Fiona

January 15, 2017

Well, we are back from a great xmas/nye cruise onboard Celebrity Solstice. 12 nights. Was a great cruise and will try and include information that helped me before we went from here.

This was our 14th cruise. First cruise on Celebrity. Other lines we have cruised with have been: PO, Princess, Carnival and RCCL. Before we left I was told on many occasions that "once you cruise Celebrity, you will not cruise on other lines" Well, that isn't true as I have already booked another cruise, on Voyager Of The Seas.. RCCL..:) Every single one of our cruises have been awesome, no such thing as a bad cruise..lol.

There were 4 of us, myself, husband and 2 x daughters (both over 18) We stayed in Sydney pre cruise at Quay West Suites, was great as we watched Solstice arrive in early on the morning of our cruise. We wandered down about 10am, dropped bags, went for a coffee and then boarded bit before 11-30. We had booked 2 x Concierge room. Boarding was the fastest we had ever experienced, probably 10 min and we were on the ship. To be greeted once onboard with a glass of champagne, juice etc.... We went straight to the Dining room for the Concierge lunch. When entering the dining room, they checked our sea pass to make sure we were Concierge and then took our carry on and put aside. There were people in front of us trying to get in as well, they were Aqua and carried on a treat that they couldn't go in.... "We are Aqua Class, you mean to tell me that the lower class can dine in here but we cant, I am going to get this sorted out, I am horrified" . I could not believe the tone and the way they spoke to the staff... Anyway, we had a great lunch, the menu wasn't huge but what was on there was 5 star, with lovely wine to suit.(3 courses with soups, salads e. lamb cutlets, veg etc...) Was so nice to go somewhere quiet and get great service while waiting for our rooms to be ready.

Our rooms were ready at about 1-30. We were on deck 10 (1079 and 1099)

Room was a nice size, with the most practical best laid out bathroom I have seen on a ship.. I remember reading that a woman designed the bathrooms and you can tell..lol... There was a full length cabinet- flor to ceiling in the corner with heaps of shelves, a full length light above the mirror that turns into a dull night light at night, in the shower was a rest about 3/4 way down perfect for shaving legs, shower screen doors, circular that met in the middle, good size shower and more storage space in the bathroom.

The concierge cabins have a thick dressing gown and I asked our room steward if I could have the thinner waffle ones, he says, they are for just the standard cabins, so it would be a downgrade..lol.. I said I didn't mind as the thick ones are too thick for the South Pacific, so he went and got me straight away and also left the thick ones, which was actually good as sometimes the air con was cool and the thick one was nice. Balcony nice with chairs and comfy foot stools.

The thing that I noticed pretty much straight away was the "class" difference, no other line is like this..... The Suite passengers dine in a different restaurant (Luminer) The Aqua passengers dine in Blue, remaining passengers in the main dining room. Aqua have pursion gulf etc..... felt like I was on the Titanic.... I have never been on a cruise where there were so many whinge bags, complaining and just being plain rude :eek: