nodandade

just booked a 2d cabin on the solstice for a cruise to lifou and Noumea on april 13 / 2017.anyone done this trip or been in a port side 2d balcony cabin

thank you

we are booked to go on the carnival spirit 5.11.16 for a 7/8 day cruise out to isle of pines etc.as this will not be school holiday time will there be a lot of kids on at this time.

I know it is a ship for families and kids and we certainly expect to see some, but will there be many at this time of year

don't have a problem with kids as long as their parents parent them.

thank you

I know this is a subjective subject but when deciding on aqua or concierge this is our experience

not using any freebie packages or any other incentive I would say we (my wife and I) would probably not go aqua class again.

we found that certain aspects of the aqua class were great (Persian gardens etc) but did not find the extra goodies to be to our advantage.we found blue to be very good but in our opinion no better than the food and service in the main dining room,although blue ''was '' a more healthy option.

we have done both classes on the solstice ,and did find the large overhang to our liking in aqua.

as I said maybe not again but you never know.

enjoy whichever way you choose

thinking of booking cabin 6205 on the solstice, has anyone been in this balcony cabin and what is it like for views / cigarette smoke from deck 5 .

thank you

hi sorry for this question being a bit off topic but has anyone flew with this airline? I have seen a few reviews and the main complaint seems to be that the time lines are not kept.

Its the only airline I could afford to fly to the uk in business class as I have a back problem I thought this might be an option what do others think

Jacquie

although we have not flown china southern ourselves either business or economy class, we do have some friends who have not long (3 months ago) flew to Britain and return using various airlines (the cheapest way) and included in that route was Brisbane to Sydney to china on china southern airline,and although they were expecting the worst ,or at least not so good ,with china southern they were very surprised at the comfort and service,and they were in economy class and are flying with them again shortly because of previous comments.

so I would think business class given the above would be o.k

hope this helps

can give you this advise if it helps.

my wifes father and step mother lived in Sydney,later in life they were in a nursing home (a good one and well cared for) they just loved going to manly on the ferry and having some fish and chips on the tables/ benches ,then getting the ferry home to the quay.they both requested that they wanted there ashes scattered on manly beach just in front of the surf club.we went to the powers to be, and oh my goodness it was a nightmare.so we said we wouldn't do it.as each one passed on,a couple of years apart,we just took their ashes in an urn along with some lovely rose petals and stood in front of the surf club at manly emptied their ashes into the ocean said a prayer and sent them off with a nice covering of rose petals.

all done in front of other people, it was very nice and they got what they wanted.

this world now has miles to many rules and regulations,take the ashes, say nothing,and do what dear old dad wanted.

worst case would be customs may take them off you but you would be able to get them back on your return.nothing really to lose,but heaps to gain

Hi!

Wondering if the specialty dining package is worth it or not. We are not buffet lovers at all.

 

Is Blu or Luminae included in the specialty package or completely restricted to suites?

 

I'll have my 10 yo foodie daughter with me. Are there any restaurants that have an age restriction? She's used to fine dining and well behaved.

 

Thanks in advance!

my wife and I did the cruise from Sydney to Hawaii earlier this year (april) loved the solstice.

we bought the 3 dinner package on board (they had a special going)3 dinners / one at each restaurant on the nights we wanted for $99.00 ausd each.

must say that although they were all very nice, murano blew the others away.

the lobster (they cook it at your table side)and you can pick what goes with it,and the grand marnier soufflé was absolutely divine.for me and my with ,yes it was worth it,cause we have a saying 'when your dead your doing nothing.and no I don't think there were age restrictions.enjoy

we have just booked the carnival spirit for November 2016.we got in early so we could get the cabins we think we will like 7160 and 7158 adjoining balconies port side

there will be daughter,husband,two grandies and the old grandies.going to the isle of pines,mare,etc etc for 8 nights.we thought it might be a little quieter 5th November cruise.what should we expect ship wise etc.and is there any advise we need to know before we go

thanks heaps

Hi!

 

There should not be many school age children on board that cruise as it is during school term.

 

We are cruising on the Spirit in December this year. Also in an extended balcony, midship, portside. Looking forward to seeing her now she has been in having her makeover!

 

What other ports will you be doing?

 

Here in Australia gratuities are included in the menu price. You don't have to add extra. (As far as I am aware, someone please correct me if I am wrong!)

thanks heaps for the info, we are also going to mare and the isle of pines

we have booked the spirit for 8 day cruise in nov 5th 2016 to Noumea etc etc.have booked 2 x extended balcony cabins on the port side midships,what can we expect from the typs of crowd that will be on her etc lots of kids etc.

any tips about the ship or on shore will be much appreciated, we have never sailed to this part of the world.

conflicting info about whether there is a 15% gratuity added to the price of a drink above the menu price etc.

again all info is welcome

thank you

planning to go on the spirit with grandchildren in November 2016 out of school holiday times

has anyone been around this time and what was the ship and everything like.

all info appreciated

thank you in advance

A THOUGHT

taking grandies without their parents I advise you get a letter of authorisation from their parents to take them OUT of Australia ? ? ? ?

 

Just explaining their acceptance of them going overseas with you - signed and witnessed

thank you, but we are taking the parents as well

who has cruised 6-8 days from Brisbane up the qld coast and back.

on what ship and what was it like

all info is much appreciated

thank you

I should have posted that we want to do the 7-8 day Noumea isle's cruise

again thank you

hello fellow cruisers,

I have posted on the carnival site and been advised to post here.

can anyone help with info about cruising on the carnival spirit,

cheapest time to go in the later part of next year

better not to cruise in school holiday time

we will have our two grandies (8-9 )with us

are gratuities on drinks and room /s included

do they smoke on balconies

can we open partition between the side by side balconies

what is included in the standard fare (e.g pizza / ice cream / water etc etc

is there a better or worse side to avoid smoking

noisy cabins etc near rear mid level

all info will help.

thank you so much in advance

hello fellow cruisers,

although we have cruised many times (our first was on the spirit in Alaska)many years ago I have to ask a heap of questions regarding the spirit in Australia as we want to shout our grandies a trip to the islands

here we go

even though we have the kids is it much quieter out of school holiday times

are gratuities added to both drinks and your room per person

what is it like in school holiday times

if we get two balcony rooms side by side, can the partition on the balcony be opened

do carnival allow smoking on the balconies (hope not)

is one side of the ship more for smoking than the other

what is include on a standard balcony cabin fare that is free (e.g like ice creams, etc etc )

I know this is a big ask, but you would realy be helping a lot with any info.

we would like to go mid - end of 2016

thank you so much

OP nodandade, thank you for the review and so glad you enjoyed Solstice. We are booked and have not cruised Celebrity before, and I hope you don't mind if I crash your thread to ask where we might get a cup of coffee (complimentary - included in our cruise fare), besides the dining room and buffet? I understand there is a Café which offers free snacks and pay coffee. Is there somewhere similar to Royal Caribbean's Café Promenade which offers complimentary coffee?

 

Thank you. :)

.

crashing is good.

I must say I am not a coffee drinker, so other than what you have mentioned,the only other place I used to go with my wife was café el baccio where if you bought a coffee (vast range there) you could pick as many of the sweets (e.g cakes and biscuits) as you liked free of charge to eat with your coffee,the same applied if you wanted to take your coffee to your room or balcony, maybe someone else may like to chime in with a suggestion or two.

the buffet coffee and tea section are open 24/7 so you might just like to wander past and grab a coffee and take it to wherever.

coffee in el baccio is not free so if you are both coffee drinkers and you drink a lot of it and like speciality coffees,then I would consider strongly a drinks package,we had the premium alcohol package and it was terrific there wasn't anything you couldn't get on it really.you may like to consider a non alcohol package.

happy cruising

I was also on this cruise and I can assure you they did have locals come on in Tahiti and perform. It was actually a very good performance and was much better in my opinion than the one in Maui.

you are correct,and as I did not go to that performance on board in tahiti I cannot compare to one another.hope you enjoyed the cruise as we did

cheers

Thank you for coming and giving us some information about this cruise.

I am so pleased that you had such a wonderful time.

 

Do you remember if at any port, but especially at Papeete, Tahiti and ahaina, Maui, they had local people come aboard to do a show on the ship? Some ships do this and I think that Celebrity may do too, but would love to know for sure.

 

Can you please share with us what tours you did at the various ports?

 

Also, what was the weather like in the various places? I am wondering if it will be cool for the New Zealand days.

 

Again thank you for coming and whetting our appetites!

I am on this cruise next year.

there were no people from any ports in Tahiti who came aboard to do dances etc ,but there were people on the land at all of the ports at Tahiti that did a little something cultural.we did not do any ships tours,we did our own from the land once off the ship.but be warned if there is a trip you would realy like to do,pay the extra and book it through the ship, this way you will get better service and vehicles to do your trips,our experience with land bought trips in Tahiti was not very good, they are terribly disorganised (again I am only stating our experiences)

the port of Papeete is docking, both moreea and bora bora are tender ports,if you have a trip booked through the ship you WILL be off first to catch your trip

the weather when we left Sydney was wet but not so cold, in new Zealand the bay of islands is a tender port / Auckland it was docked.in Auckland the ship docks nearly in the main street so not far to shops etc,in bay of islands it is only about 20 minutes from ship to shore once you are on the tender.

the weather in new Zealand was really nice around 22-24 deg and sunny,the weather in Tahiti was very hot and sunny.there are many sea days on this cruise, but there is lots of things to do, so you will enjoy.

the stunning sight of bora bora will live with you forever

in lahaina (maui) Hawaii you will arrive in the morning and not leave until around 11pm at night there are reasons for this,firstly customs will come aboard first in lahaina and you will do 'all' of your customs thing on the ship before you get off for the day,this does take a good amount of time because there are nearly 3000 passengers,the other reason is there are some great luau's in lahiana and people who are flying home once in Honolulu have at least done a luau before they fly home.it is only 90 miles from maui to Oahu (Honolulu) so the ship does not need much time to get from one place to another once you dock in Honolulu you just virtually just walk off.

yes you can disembark in lahaina but you will need to sort this out with your travel agent

please note,whatever you may have to do as far as on / off etc, this ships crew have everything down to a fine art so don't worry about orginisation,this ship has the best

WARNING

do not take irons jugs/ kettle or powerboards in any of your suit cases or carry-ons , they WILL be confiscated and not given back to you until the end of the cruise,worst part is that you will be called to the naughty room (our cruise over 200people) to open your suit case/s and take the goods out,then seal them up, sign forms and eventually they will send your cases to your cabin (some people did not get their bags until after 9pm.).

in lahaina a group of hawaiin singers and dancers come on board and do a great show around one of the pools,get there real early it is terrific,they then stay onbaord and get of in Honolulu.

hope this helps

p/s oh to be in the Yorkshire dales in a little pub in front of a big fire with a pint in hand,we just love it

cheers

Thank you for coming and giving us some information about this cruise.

I am so pleased that you had such a wonderful time.

 

Do you remember if at any port, but especially at Papeete, Tahiti and ahaina, Maui, they had local people come aboard to do a show on the ship? Some ships do this and I think that Celebrity may do too, but would love to know for sure.

 

Can you please share with us what tours you did at the various ports?

 

Also, what was the weather like in the various places? I am wondering if it will be cool for the New Zealand days.

 

Again thank you for coming and whetting our appetites!

I am on this cruise next year.

I noticed that you said 'i' am on this cruise next year, who is the lucky one

Now not wanting to start a debate on smoking, just want to know where the smoking area on dk 5 is located. Thank you.

Bev

just off the solstice / Sydney to Hawaii.

there were areas on the port side at the sunset bar / port side at the main pool area /and at the starboard side at a bar above the pool area forward just beside the jogging track.

I don't smoke, and yes I hope it doesn't get into a personal debate about smoking.

have a great cruise

Or just say/add "Circular Quay." You won't have any problems if you say that.

hello the big m

the reason I advised to tell the taxi driver to say the opt was there were two couples in our group and we had to get two cabs,(they couldn't supply a maxi taxi) we were taken to the opt and the other couple were taken to circular quay and having never been there before they got a bit cafuddled.

now I know theyare basically the same, but if you say the opt they will drop you right at the door,but if they drop you at the quay it is a 10minute walk to the ship, and if is raining one could get wet.

I understand your point and I agree, but for overseas folk I thought I would just try to make it easier.

did you go to Sydney before the cruise? If so do you have suggestions on where to stay?

We are doing this exact cruise April 2016. Interested in any information you can give us.

 

What airline did you fly? in the planning stages now and am overwhelmed with what to do first. We have been to Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora before and love those islands but Australia is new to us.

a couple more things

if you are taking a taxi to the ship make sure you tell them a few times that it is the opt (overseas passenger terminal ) you want to go to as some taxi drivers are not exactly sure.

you will need some Australian dollars whilst in Sydney depending on what you want to do,all credit cards are excepted in Sydney but amex is not taken in some of the smaller shops.

check to see if you are in Sydney on good Friday etc as most shops will be closed.their is not duty free at the ships terminal (opt).

power boards / kettles,jugs/ irons ''WILL '' be confiscated and given back at the end of the cruise.

I advise not to take any of these on board as you will have to front up to the naughty room ,with another 200 people to open your bags take out the jug/iron etc fill out forms and wait until real late 6-8pm to get your bags.embarkation is a breeze.

hope this helps

did you go to Sydney before the cruise? If so do you have suggestions on where to stay?

We are doing this exact cruise April 2016. Interested in any information you can give us.

 

What airline did you fly? in the planning stages now and am overwhelmed with what to do first. We have been to Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora before and love those islands but Australia is new to us.

we are from Australia,so we went to Sydney the day before the cruise,we stayed in the ''metro Sydney central hotel'' / cnr pitt and Campbell st,you can google it. about a ten minute / $20.00ausd taxi ride right to the ships dock / opt Sydney.the hotel is not 5 star,but it is nice and clean and close to the markets and restaruants etc.we flew home from hawaiii, with Jetstar in their business class seats /not lay flat they do recline a long way but wide and comfortable around $1250.00 ausd per person to Brisbane ,same price to Sydney.

hope this helps

hope this helps

well our cruise is now over, and we have arrived back home to reality.

we cruised from Sydney to Hawaii 3.4.15 on the beautiful solstice,so following are some of our findinds.

please note,this is how we found the cruise as 65 years old husband and wife.

embarkation in Sydney opt /a breeze

the ship / magnificent

the crew and staff / absolutely the best we have encounted on any cruise.

ports of call / fabulous/ bora bora the highlight

premium drinks package / well worth it

food at all venues magic / murano by far the best

the ship sails extremely well / very smooth even in rougher weather

aqua class /terrific, but only if you use ''all'' the facilities

disembarkation / another breeze

two things that were the best we have ever seen, one was the grand Epernay dining room, the other was the buffet set up

solstice lacks a little bit of quality when it comes to theatre entertainment, but nevertheless very good acts were onboard.

overall a magnificent cruise, and we would definitely cruise on the solstice again if she was going to where we wanted to go.

thank you to captain teremis for the safe rescue of the two stranded sailors half way between Tahiti and Hawaii.

and a big thank you to celebrity cruises for employing the best staff ,and I mean from room attendants to officers that we have ever had on a cruise.

now to save for our next holiday.