BSinPNS

We had a wonderful cruise going AKL-SYD two years ago on Solstice. Plan on the water being a bit rough for two days in the Tasman. Otherwise it was very calm as we were near the coast, but far enough off that you couldn't distinguish much other than mountains and clouds. We love the S-class ships as there is lots to do yet many quiet areas. The ship is clean, modern and impressive. Much of the other stuff - food, entertainment, lecturers - is subjective. Have a GREAT time.

Have your driver check to ensure you are going to the correct terminal. Several airlines have moved/are moving between terminals. We arrived very early for our Delta 3PM flight to ATL and had no problems checking luggage - that may vary by airline. The longest queue was for the check-in kiosks for those who had not printed their boarding passes on the ship. Note that TSA is now requiring all computers/phones be powered up before letting you go through - I presume that is done after clearing immigration/customs in the US. The warning here is don't let your battery go to zero while reading on the flight. All the seats on our 764 had 120 power plugs so ours were fully charged on arrival in ATL.

It really doesn't make a lot of difference when you are at sea as you are a fair distance off the coast and can see very little. In the fjords scenery is on both sides. The real advantage is in Sydney. Due to its size, Solstice must dock bow out which means the starboard side faces the opera house. Port side faces the hotel and bridge - not bad, but the opera house view is beautiful. Have fun!

Blu is a separate dining area on the port side on deck 5. There are walls which separate it from Trellis. The galley is a separate part of the main galley. Looking forward to it on our next trip on Infinity - South America.

We did the Gatun to Pacific tour on a ferry. It was very interesting to look down on the activities going through the initial locks on Z and then be able to look up from the ferry. The ferry included a luncheon buffet. Two warnings - the canal uses lots of water to operate and it all comes from the tropical rain forest, so be prepared for rain no matter what trip you do. We were also advised to take a light jacket with us for the bus ride from Panama City back to Colon. It's on a well air-conditioned bus which can feel very cold having been on a small open air boat in hot, humid conditions. Have Fun!!

We had friends got on the other HoHo bus at the point where they cross downtown. It was the wrong one and was taking them away from the shuttle to the ship. Finally got going in the right direction, but decided to take a cab back to the port (and made it).

Connections party was the first evening 7:45-8:15 with mimosas and sparkling wine served. While unusual to have one that early, this cruise featured port calls for the first eight days on board. We were happy to have this opportunity to get together before the last day of the cruise.

CABIN #: 3114

DECK #: 3

CLASS: OV

AREA: AFT

BED NEAR: Bathroom

QUIET?: Not really; See notes

BALCONY VIEW: unobstructed through very large circular window

BALCONY SIZE: NA

WIND A PROBLEM?: NA

SOOT A PROBLEM?: NA

This cabin was added during the last drydock in the area of a former conference room so it is only a year old - no wear and tear with an immaculate bathroom. The window is large and round giving you an excellent view. It is convenient to everything being in a small hallway near guest relations with easy access to the midship and aft elevator banks. (Aft elevator bank was much faster.) It is directly above a diesel engine which does provide some "white" noise. If you want a perfectly quiet cabin, this one is not for you, however it did not bother us since it was a consistent relatively quiet sound. One morning on arriving in Le Havre we did sense a fuel like smell that could have been distracting. Our stewards (Michael and Vladimir) on the 13 June 14 British Isles cruise were excellent. We would book this cabin again without hesitation. In fact my DW said she would be satisfied with this cabin instead of our usual AQ, but we did miss the intimacy and excellent food of Blu although the food and service in the Trellis Dining Room was very good.

The last scheduled departure time was 0845 (or earlier). All departures were from the theatre or ensemble lounge. Walk-offs started at 0600. We were in group 2 with a scheduled time of 0645. Since there is no customs/immigration at the port, there is no line and they are anxious to get you off the ship to be ready to start boarding at 1100. You may want to plan on going early and taking one of their short tours before arriving at LHR. Please allow yourself plenty of time at LHR - it makes up for the quick, efficient disembarkation at Harwich.

BusyBus – If you have already booked, I would suggest that you look for the guy in charge – 40-ish and get on his coach. He is an excellent guide. It’s just with 45 people, you always seem to be waiting for someone to show up and to be fair, he has to allow time for people who may be late. Each seat on BusyBus is booked online directly with them, but several of us who had been part of the smaller excursions booked with them.

Sailaway – we did have an informal one for CC members at the Sunset Bar which was very nice. Instead of saying the Sunset Bar I would suggest calling the patio bar at the back of the Oceanview on deck 10.

Tenders – Our group met on deck 3 in front of Shore Excursions 15 minutes before the scheduled arrival time and were on the first tender (with the photographers) going ashore. Depending on your Captains Club status or cabin type, you may get priority tender tickets delivered the night before to your room. Otherwise the tender ticket queue opens at the scheduled arrival time, but they won’t give you a ticket unless all members of your party are ready to go. If you are ready to go on the first tender, you really didn’t need a ticket.

One of our CC members had used Eddie Manning Transport (just Google them) previously and liked them. She did the arranging and Eddie sent each of us an invoice which we paid via PayPal. Based on her recommendation I booked a private transfer for DW and me from LHR to Doubletree at London Tower. We paid the driver directly on that one. We were 1.5 hours late arriving from ATL but our driver knew that and was waiting for us as we exited immigration.

Several people on the cruise used the train, but I was not into moving luggage from the Underground to the train. While the transfer may be at the same station, it can be a good haul up/down levels from the subway to the train portion. The trains are very efficient and the people who took it seemed to be satisfied, but they did mention there was a lot of work with luggage. The train station is literally at the port entrance.

There are a variety of Celebrity transfers to London or LHR. There were 5-6 coaches lined up when we got off the ship. They all were scheduled to leave at the same time and of course they wait until the slowest person is off the ship and carries their luggage to the bus. I don’t know if there were separate busses for each terminal.

Heathrow is a huge airport and the terminals are not connected. We had one couple who needed to be dropped at Terminal 2 and we were going out of Terminal 4. It was about a 12-15 minute drive between them. Eddie Manning charged 12GBP for the additional stop which was fair. You need to know the specific terminal for your departure flight since some airlines operate out of two terminals that are not connected. Print your boarding passes on the ship as the queue for the check-in kiosks were long.

Infinity is in great shape. If you want to find minor flaws you can, but none were distracting or bear mentioning. The crew is happy and responsive. Hotel department officers very visible while at sea and in port; navigation officers were busy going from port to port.

Ship set up a Cruise Critic meeting for the first evening just after boarding (from 7:45 - 8:15PM) providing sparkling wine and mimosas. Several hotel department staff were there although they were very busy having just embarked over 2000 guests. Our first 8 days were in various ports so it was nice to meet other CC members early on rather than waiting until the day before disembarkation.

Dining in Trellis was very good. We had anytime dining and made reservations for 6PM. We found an excellent waiter Jose Salinas and his big assistant Zambrano who took great care of us, even though they were very busy doing it. Excellent service and good food. We normally book AQ and there is a world of difference in food prep between Trellis and Blu.

Standard fare of three production shows and the usual magicians and entertainers. The highlight was a Beatles impressions group the night we left Liverpool - how appropriate.

Formal nights - evenings departing St. Peter Port and Holyhead. Made for a quick change for our standing 6PM reservation, but our only sea day was the day before disembarking. Formal night - about 90% of the men had coat and tie, some in formal attire. 10% did not appear to meet the dress code, but were not turned away.

Captains Club evening receptions in the Constellation Lounge - deck 11 forward; no coupons

Captains Club morning treats in the SS United States on deck 3 midships.

Cabin - 3114. Nice new cabin where the meeting rooms used to be. Great big circular window. Particularly nice cabin for a very port intensive trip in cold climate. Michael and his assistant, Vladimir, kept it clean and always greeted us and opened the door if they were in the passageway.

Embarkation in Harwich was easy. Eddie Manning delivered two other couples and us arriving about 12:30. We were onboard in about 10 minutes - no long lines anywhere.

Disembarkation. Luggage tag numbers based on information already available, e.g., flight numbers from Choice Air. Since we had prearranged earlier transport with Eddie Manning, we asked for and received earlier numbers. (Very nice not to have to fill out paperwork on the second day of the cruise.) Immigration is done at the airports, so it's not like Fort Lauderdale with long lines. Disembarkation started at 6:45 with 8:45 the last time. Very quick and efficient.

We did all private tours arranged through CC except for ship's tour from Le Havre to Paris.

- LeHavre/Paris - Ship tour LH03 - Paris sightseeing with lunch cruise. Lots of windshield time. As expected, most sights were seen from inside the bus passing by. River cruise lunch was very good with narrated tour. Had about an hour to walk around the Eiffel Tower and shop for souvenirs. 2.5 - 3 hours each way.

- St. Peter Port - After some initial confusion over the meeting point, Gill Girard gave us an excellent walking tour and her brother did likewise using his taxi showing the high spots around the island including the German Occupation Museum. We were on the first tender; by 10:30 reported wait was about 1.5-2.0 hours for tenders. Go early and avoid the crowd.

- Cobh/Cork - eCoach/Butler's Bus. Excellent guide and tour. Got us to Blarney Castle before the hoards from the ship tours. Could have been a long wait if you were on the last bus. Saw several additional sites and had time for lunch.

- Dunmore East/Waterford - All Ireland Chauffeur Tours. Another excellent tour. It was hard to find a provider here, but these guys did an excellent job. Again a tender port. We were on the first tender with our group.

- Dublin - Tour Dublin - Good tour, but do not take option B to Malahide Castle. It's a long trip and shortens the time in Dublin plus the ship tours had bought out all the afternoon castle tours. Disappointing.

- Liverpool - Liverpool History Taxi Tour with Phil Garrard. Excellent tour. We asked for some history and Beatles sites and got it. Phil is an excellent guide with lots of information and "secret" places.

- Greenock, Scotland - Great Scot Tours. Very good tour - 8 - people. Rearranged schedule to make sure we go to Stirling castle before the ship's tour busses which cut us out of our visit to Malahide Castle.

- Holyhead - BusyBus. Not recommended. Their advertising implies they use small busses to get to places the big busses can't go. We were met by two 50 passenger coaches and one 30 passenger coach. We were told they shifted since it was so hot and only the big busses had air con. Well one of them did. Our initial tour guide was one of the worst we have ever had. We shifted to the other bus with the company manager. There were 5 empty seats on the bus. Seems like they have lost their focus on service and now favor bigger profits, If you want a small group tour, find another vendor.

Our background: Late 60's; active; like to see lots of sights (and we did on this cruise); 9 cruises total; 7 on X; 75 days on Celebrity ships before this one.

Open for questions.

Michael Sympouras - Master

Konstantinos Bakas - Chief Engineer

Gerasimos Limperatos - Staff Captain

Julie Sherrington - GRM

Christos Karavos - Hotel Director

Pete Baker - Cruise Director

Clint Kelu - F&B Manager

Marius Gitlan - Executive Chef

Marlene - Captain's Club Hostess

Note: The senior hotel staff were very visible around the ship and on shore as we arrived/departed ports.

Bandmates - House band

Beau Tahana - Piano

Sean Golden - Guitar and Vocals

Duo Edora - Guitarists

Their suites come with butler service and recently instituted changes include a dedicated restaurant and dedicated lounge with concierge. Top of the line suites include even more.

We have sailed on both HAL and X. Spent the last two Thanksgivings on Eclipse and had a great time. As you said, the ports are great. We find that there are plenty of places to meet friends or find a quiet nook on Eclipse. In our opinion it is one of the best, if not the best, in the X fleet. Either way you go, I am sure you will have a great time.

We booked those cruises BsAs-Valparaiso-FLL almost two years out at "normal" prices since the 2014 cabin selection was very limited and then watched the prices increase. For a while the second leg was sold out except for some suites and insides. That's when the pricing went out of sight. We are still almost six months from final payment so I would expect a dip after that date. Obviously it is a very popular cruise.

We had a great experience with Alla two years ago. All the necessary paperwork was provided by email. Take the visa and passport and have a great time. We were some of the first ones off the ship well before the ships tours trekked from the theatre to the atrium. Celebrity (Connie) did not push at all for us to take the ship's tour and provided instructions for those of us on private tours.

We rode the terminal escalator/elevator up and then went across on "jet bridge" type ramp. It was a pretty good uphill push for those in wheel chairs.. We exited onto the outside of deck five, dinged in and were at the Bistro on Five area with champagne and mimosas. We disembarked on either 2 or 3 and walked to the far end of the complex to retrieve luggage and clear customs. Have a great trip.

Wondering if you have an idea of when he might return and to which dam ship. Thanks for all the information you provide.

We started off on HAL and like you made it to two-star before we switched to Celebrity. Have now been on 7 X cruises. We like the ships - especially the Solstice class. Love the modern look. We are now Elite on X and that brings far more benefits that four-star on HAL. I think HAL and X are more alike than different. Would we return to HAL - sure, for the right cruise. X only has 10 ships and one of those, Century, is going away in a year so there are fewer unique itineraries.

With short cruises, I imagine a lot of passengers drive in and/or just to carry on. We did on a short Connie voyage last year. Thus there are not enough customers to make it commercially viable.

Cruisenut is posting live from Eclipse and has provided a lot of scanned material already.

Celebrity "missed the boat" when it came to using the space under the couch. It is just a flat panel precluding installation of a couple of deep drawers (or a mattress of the hide-a-bed).

We have been to Barbados two times and cruised on Calabaza both times. The owner, Gina, is on the boat and prepares the food beforehand. One of the crew is in the water with you when snorkeling.

We had a great time one year with Woodwind, we returned the following year and were disappointed this year when X changed from Bonaire to Curacao. Sign up early since the boat will fill up.