Tiggerwudz

36 minutes ago, JerseyGirlatHeart said:

Been on the Beyond for last two cruises and on each sea day empty chairs by the pool have been nonexistent.  Also very crowded in all the main entertainment venues, if you don’t go 30 min before show, you will not get a seat.  Gym situation is not much better.
 

First time on the Beyond … beautiful ship (one of the most beautiful we have been on), but space utilization is awful.  
 

We will be cruising on “S” or “M” class ships in the future.

 

 

I fully agree with the OP and these comments. Just got off this ship.

Just got off Beyond Jan 19, we were in a deck 7 midship IV cabin and the noises were as described in other posts above, even in some calmer waters. Some of the banging noises woke us up at night.

We will be on Celebrity Beyond in January and curious to know if any one of the four MDR options are typically more popular/busier than the others. I believe the basic menus are the same anyway. Also, if we show up around 6pm for dinner at one MDR and there is a wait list, can they check with other MDR’s for availability ? This will be our first cruise with Celebrity and we typically like to go for dinner early but whenever we are ready.

Does the theatre typically fill up early for the production shows on Beyond ? We found on a recent Princess cruise that we had to be in the theatre at least twenty minutes early.

Thanks again GTJ, I usually have local maps downloaded on my phone.

Thanks for all the information, I will look a little deeper into the baggage issue. We most likely will have one suitcase each (max 50 lbs) and a small carry on or backpack each. Is the walk from cruise port to train station straightforward ? I believe it takes around 15 minutes pulling luggage.

On 10/6/2022 at 3:31 PM, NetworkGuy said:

We are planning on the 8:10am train. The ship get to Quebec city on Thursday night. We have reservations for Saturday morning. We are just going to request to get off early.

If the ship has an overnight stay, how early can you disembark. I assume you still have to clear customs and a 7.00 am disembark would be early enough for the 8.10 am train. Any thoughts ?

When booking flights with Celebrity, are you able to book specific seats online and is there a seat plan shown to do this ? I have looked at available flights but have not got to the point of making the booking yet.

We self disembarked the Rotterdam around 8.00am for our 12.30 flight, lots of cabs waiting outside the terminal. Schiphol was busy but we went through check-in and security in 90 minutes or so and sitting at our gate by 10.30. Our cab driver told us that the line ups were outside the building at 6.00am so I guess it can be hit and miss. 

You will need to get the ArriveCAN app and fill in the required information though.

On 5/9/2022 at 6:40 PM, euro cruiser said:

A water taxi from a hotel in/near Piazzale Roma would make no sense, it would have to travel about three times as far as a land taxi, the People Mover or just walking.  By water the boat would have to go all the way around and enter from the other side, there is no shortcut.

Thanks for that information.

Thank you for all your responses. Our HAL Sept 4 cruise is still leaving from Venice-Marghera and our hotel is close to Piazzale Roma, so it seems the people mover will work for us. We will also check with the hotel if a water taxi is a viable option.

On 2/15/2022 at 9:44 AM, terrydtx said:

”We are staying in Venice for 3 nights prior to the cruise and have arranged a private transfer from the hotel to the ship or terminal for departure check in.“

I know your situation has changed now, but did you arrange the private transport to the terminal with the hotel or a separate company ? Having never been to Venice before, I was wondering if that would be by boat or combination of boat and taxi. Is the terminal even walkable from say Piazzale Roma, and pulling luggage ?

2 hours ago, FrankieSue said:

Regarding the fully vaccinated part, can your booster be older than 9 months?

Yes, it says only one booster is required to be fully vaccinated.

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I enjoyed my tour to Antigua from this port.  I am glad that I did it because I saw the countryside as well as the colonial Capital of Guatemala.  The looming volcano that we kept seeing reminded me of the fact that this country is part of the "Ring of Fire" along the Pacific Ocean.  

For us, this was the best tour of our Panama Canal cruise. Lunch at Casa Santo Domingo with it’s museums and cultural centre was the icing on the cake. The volcano was still quite grumpy when we were there in 2019.

Strangely, we just received this for our Sept 4th Oosterdam cruise out of Venice. I checked HAL website and it seems to be the only one. I wonder if Trieste is overloaded with ships on that date.

We were fully expecting to sail from Trieste and were planning to spend a day or two there.
 

1 hour ago, teaberrry said:

This post has been extremely helpful. I'm booked on the January 16th cruise on Koningsdam and have been debating whether to keep the booking or not. This play-by-play is helping me feel more confident about going and I can't wait to experience all the familiarity of a HAL cruise. It will be my first time on the Koningsdam and your pictures are great.

Have you checked out this post ? Related to this cruise on Koningsdam.

On 9/19/2021 at 8:37 PM, 12cruise2 said:

Oh, my goodness.  It's not that Victoria and Vancouver aren't lovely cities.  It's that it isn't fair that a foreign port/country stop is able to stop/control all cruising to Alaska from the U.S.  It doesn't mean that the ships will never stop in Canada again.  I hope they do stop there again.

You have it all wrong. Canada is not responsible for stopping cruises to Alaska, the PVSA is.

Which is why the temporary change to PVSA allowed cruises to Alaska from Seattle, even though Canadian ports are still closed.

Maybe you should say it isn’t fair that the PVSA stops cruises from going to Alaska, or any other US to Us port for that matter. 

I find it amusing that some people on this thread think that Canada is “holding them hostage” when in fact it is the made in America PVSA act that is holding them hostage. Canada makes no demands on cruise ships to visit her ports from the USA, they choose to do so because they are beautiful and interesting places to visit, just like many other places in this world.

We all choose cruise itineraries based on what we like to do and see, if I go on a cruise with ten ports of call I have never felt like a “hostage” if one of them is not on my bucket list, I just stay on the ship.

It is unfortunate that Canada, like many other countries had to close her ports and borders during this pandemic, and we all hope that will change soon, so we can travel freely again.

As outlined in some informed posts above, I think the PVSA act is here to stay, which is unfortunate for those poor hostages.

3 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

DH and I enjoy our visits to Vancouver for cruises, but I completely disagree that a visit must be required to Canada in order to operate an Alaska cruise. It should be an option, not a requirement. I really hope this passes. 

If this bill passes it will be an option, for the cruise lines. The cruise lines will cater to their international passengers, not just a few Americans that do not want to go to the Canadian ports.

5 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

Some of the replies on this thread give the impression that no-one wants to sail to Alaska from a Canadian port.  From my two fairly recent experiences it was not just Canadians who liked to board in Vancouver.

 

On a HAL Alaska cruise a few years ago there were more passengers from the UK than any other country. Australians were second. Those from the U.S. were third. All of those could have sailed from Seattle if they wished but they chose to sail from Vancouver.

 

On a more recent Vancouver-based cruise on Cunard those from the UK were the largest group. Those from the U.S. were second and from Canada third.

 

I think there will always be some interest in cruises from Vancouver. As for me, if there are none we are through with Alaska cruises.  We prefer Norway anyway, despite the longer flight.

Very well said. Some people are being very naive if they think the cruise lines will want to delete Victoria or Vancouver from their itineraries if this bill is passed. They are very popular ports of call or embarkation points for international cruisers. 

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Not from the maps that I have seen.  There has been much, much discussion about this decision by the Italian Government to restrict cruise ship operations in Venice.  Check the Message Boards for MSC as well as Silverseas.  

This is what I see on the map for Porto Marghera which has to be accessed through Laguna Veneta.

From what I see on the map, Marghera shipyards are only accessible via the Venice Lagoon. I thought the idea was to stop cruise ships from sailing in the Lagoon 🤔

We also dislike the promenade deck due to the lifeboats blocking the view while walking. The signature class ships have a nice open view out to sea which makes the walk more enjoyable.

Otherwise we loved the ship overall.