luv2cruisecats

This has been a frustrating morning. We are flying out today for Paris and then flying to Dublin on the 18th. We have a rent car after getting off the cruise and B&B reservations that night so time is critical. We do not have time to wait in line for a taxi for two hours to take us to the car rental location which is probably a 10 min taxi ride. Trying to book a private taxi and we can't get the websites to recognize terminal 7's location. Can anyone tell us an address for where we will be after getting our luggage when we depart the Eclipse?

Per Cruisestitch on a different Dublin thread:

"Leaving the ship on disembarkation day, the luggage is all placed in a large tent adjacent to the ship. Taxis are allowed to drive right up to the ship, the problem is that there are so few of them that the queues have been very long."

We are booked on the 5/20 Norwegian Fjords cruise out of Dublin and are very excited about this bucket list journey. Since this port is not set up for large ships using it as a home port the embarkation process currently involves being taken by your cab to a building a few city blocks from where the Eclipse is actually docked. The solution (at least right now) is to check in and drop your bags in what is called Terminal 7 and then being bussed over to the ship itself (you are not allowed to walk due to truck traffic). Taxi drivers not aware of this take you to the ship first and then are redirected to Terminal 7. Because of all this the 2400+/- passengers are given a drawn out arrival time process by Celebrity based on Deck number over a 4 hour window to avoid a huge bottleneck due to the small check in location. As of a few days ago Celebrity Miami was still telling people to go straight to the ship location which is wrong. Just a heads up everyone.

Upon disembarkation the process involves about 2400 people getting off the ship over perhaps a 1-1/2 to 2 hour window with most looking for a taxi ride to where ever...and a huge queue of passengers lining up for the next cab. Some on the T/A disembarkation have reported an hour or more wait in line. We have booked the ships transfer to get us back to the airport ($31 each but well worth it) for a 12:55 flight back to the US. The wonderful thing about DUB is that you clear US customs at the airport and your flight is considered a domestic flight...great for your carefree arrival in the US. Not so wonderful is they require you to be at DUB for US flights 3 hours ahead. Celebrity rightly refuses a ships transfer if you departure is before noon. Just plan ahead.

I think it is fantastic that Celebrity is using Dublin as a home port but you need to plan accordingly for it being a small port. You essentially get your long delayed Irish vacation for "free"!!!

Be careful in buying watches on some cruise lines; here is a story from an NCL cruise we took. About 3 months prior to boarding some 2 years ago I purchased an Invicta brand watch on Amazon for $129 shipped...plus a 2 year guarantee. On the ship they were having a "huge watch sale" and this very same watch I was wearing was on sale at $259 reduced from something like a $1,000 MSRP!!

Could the number of AQ cabins open be perhaps due to the crazy high differences that Celebrity now uses for AQ vs Concierge these days? There are some other AQ specific threads where many folks point out that they book a regular Veranda and then buy the dinner packages instead of over paying for AQ.

I for one am not surprised and that's coming from someone who has done many AQ cruises but we have had to play the short duration "price drop game" to keep it affordable.;)

What would have been the price difference between your NCL cruise and the Celebrity cruise that you did not take?

Do any of NCL's specialty alternatives offer better soup at a price?

Actually the French Onion soup in Le Bistro on NCL is much better than what Celebrity serves in the MDR and buffet. I have never tried it in Murano or Tuscan so cannot compare it to them. In general soup on most cruise lines is pretty bad since they must make it in the morning and keep it simmering all day until dinner...not a good thing so they must make it super thin. (This as told to us by a cook on a cruise ship.)

I put it at $35/day pp over what a balcony would be for the same cruise on the S Class considering that any additional perks are the same. $30/day pp on the M class because there are no footstools on the balcony and the Persain Gardens isn’t as nice.

 

Anything more and I could get a dining package if we wanted or needed.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

That is the exact amount we use for making the Aqua choice. Once you are over the $35/person/day number you are better off going with Select in the MDR and then buying dinner packages for the (overpriced) restaurants which tends to put the per use charge back to reasonable. Alternately if you are a good negotiator you can work out 30 to 50% discounts on the upcharge restaurants dependent upon ship and demand level.

Considering the astronomical A1 and A2 premiums looks like we will not be going with Aqua too often in future. Does anyone know why they are priced so high now?

We have only done Aqua on Celebrity and only when the upcharge is not crazy expensive (it is getting to be). The bottle of Champagne in the room is not a good quality and neither is the wine that you can exchange it for at a bar. Since 80% plus of cruisers these days have a bev package it is not a big deal. Just remember you can take a night cap from any bar back to your room but if you order in your room you will be charged even if you have the package!

For us Blu is the reason we sail in AQ. We love the solitude and service level there. If you don't receive a high service level you have done something wrong or alienated someone!

Here is the challenge these days when booking on Celebrity. Every cruise other than repositionings (of all kinds) have the Classic package as a choice of a perk. Since this became commonplace (thanks to NCL) the basic cruise fares have gone up to at least partially cover this "not so free" perk. Therefore if you do not take this initially in your cruise fare you are subsidizing all those who did choose it and then if you decide to buy it later as an add on you are really paying up for it.

To a great extent this explains the crazy fare prices for the future; just keep in mind when they do not fill the ships they have sudden huge discounts. What a challenge we all have knowing when to book!

We are on the 5/20/18 Norwegian Fijords cruise out of Dublin on the Eclipse. Hope he is on the ship then...great guy. Need someone that steer down very narrow passages while telling jokes.

Yes you can get a limited number of martini flavors (maybe 3 or 4?) and in a smaller glass at the Martini Bar on all ships. Just do not try and get say a chocolate martini for instance unless you have the Premium package or you are willing to pay more.

We typically carry a very short plug in "extension cord" with a 12 inch length and multiple plugs for 3 or 4 plugs and always it is one that has a UL approved sticker on it...and no surge protector in it. Never a problem on X or NCL (the only lines we cruise on). We have heard of room stewards confiscating items that are not labeled UL approved.

My wife and I did the Panama Canal in March of 2015 Valparasio Chile to South Florida in an AQ room deck 11. It was the Infinity and we loved the ship and also eating in Blu. It is amazing to be on a ship that is 106 feet wide going through a 110 foot wide lock and essentially the transit takes all day from one side to the other!!

I do recall the captain stating that cruise ships pay a fixed per person assumed fee always at total capacity (including crew) regardless of actual number on board and was maybe around $100,000 for our Infinity transit. A larger container ship will pay around $240,000 for transit. Consider these numbers very approximate since I did not take notes but it is very expensive and these are close.

Everyone needs to do this transit at some point since it is fascinating especially when viewing the enormous number of commercial ships awaiting their turn at both ends (some sit for days). Cruise ships get slots that allow the passage to be done in daylight hours.

All newer ships (probably those built in the last 10 to 12 years at least) use a reverse osmosis on-board system that removes salt from sea water and therefore the water coming out of the tap is roughly the same as most bottled water today. I know this does not normally add some of the minerals that add taste but strictly on a purity basis.

If we have any true water specialist out there please chime in if you agree/disagree but not just opinions of "armchair quarterbacks" that have no technical background please.

For all of us who are "value cruisers" but enjoy a high level of service/flexibility do not overlook booking in AQ to have access to Blu dining. True it is definitely not eating in Luminae, Murano, or even Tuscan on X but the service level can be outstanding given having one of the better head waiters. Do not forget you can also buy up to these other specialty restaurants and if you know how to negotiate you may get a decent deal.You also will need to reserve one of the cabana cubicles for the daytime if this degree of isolation is important to you and you do not enjoy meeting new folks.

We do X to NCL at about a 3:1 ratio because we have not been on a cruise without prepaid drinks and gratuities for probably 4 years. We love sea days so when doing a Transatlantic are pretty much limited to NCL for these. Other than these we always go AQ on X. Our favorite ships are essentially all the S class.

I am a bit surprised by the OP's comments about the Haven suites on NCL (we have never tried these since we are, as I said, "value cruisers") as many posters on this site state that suites/perks on X are not quite as good as Haven on NCL. Strange...

Watch the prices closely. Many, if not all, cruise lines get paid by the stores they recommend. I think 10 to 12% is typical on jewelry but I'm sure there is some due diligence done by the cruise lines also prior to their agreeing to recommend.

Some lines insure they get their cut by urging you to "register" your purchase when you "return to the ship to make sure the guarantee/warranty will be covered". This way they know exactly how much the store owes them for their cut. Many smaller family owned jewelers on the islands refuse to play the game.

Yes we do.... Fall of 2018

Our PCC at Celebrity suggested this is when the first Edge ship will launch. Also that it might be late 2017 that we can start booking but he said this is just speculation.

Several months ago Celebrity announce they hired a company to completely revamp their web site. I suppose it will be available in ten years. Please be patient.

Maybe they went on the strong reference of the federal government to use the same outfit that the feds hired to prepare the first Obamacare website (you know the outfit that was run by a relative of someone in the government)...after 2 years they gave up on their choice I believe.

In spite of the new super wide locks does anyone know if EDGE class ships can pass under the high bridge near the Pacific end of the canal. I recall someone saying that the S class ships were too tall to clear this...hopefully they designed the new ships with this in mind.

It is a shame that there are no canal cruises on the future schedules just released.

Hey if I happened to spend a bloody fortune to hop on an outrageously expensive cruise line I too would try to rationalize a justification for my actions. A few things that I might suggest to jealous friends would include a 6 person wait staff wading on a beautiful beach serving drinks and unidentifiable appetizers, 6 servers per diner at meals keeping your silverware in appropriate positions, and of course the old standby extraordinarily fast internet speeds for all 24 passengers.

How do you folk get enough FF Miles to travel Business class ? We charge everything to our United Mileage Plus card but it takes a long time to amass enough for Business tickets to Europe. We are paying for flights to Miami and Copenhagen for two cruises this year - saving miles for Business next year.

If you follow some of the travel blog sites you can keep on top of which credit cards to sign up for to earn United and American bonus miles (and others but if you want to travel Business. Just don't go crazy and pay off each month; it is amazing all the ways you can charge things and earn the sign up bonus typically within 90 days of opening the card by spending a certain amount.

My wife and I also prefer to fly Business for Transatlantic flights but the way we do it is to book every cruise as far out as possible if we get decent perks. We pay little attention to the outrageous cost on X when first released we just want to get a decent cabin and we always book AQ since this is what we prefer. Then when we can book flights using miles (we always use miles!!) about 330 days out we start looking and book even if it takes a few months to find a good connection (and we refuse to do more than 2 connections anymore...just not worth the time and hassle). The airlines are not easy to work with however since they like to direct you to London connections with horrendous tax add costs

Then if the cruise does not get reasonable as we get close to final payment date (for us this is under $175/night per person with 2 perks unless the itinerary is extremely unigue). If it does not drop to this level or under we push the booked cruise out maybe a year even if it is just a "placeholder". We then pay the few $100's to restore our airline miles as the OP does. Because of this strategy we always keep the reservation with X direct.

We did not do an Ephesus tour this time since this was our fourth time in Kusadasi. I spent about 45 minutes walking around the port shops and it was very apparent that the shop owners were hurting for business. I have no idea what will happen if very few or no ships dock there in 2017. It is a shame how the government in Turkey has let this whole thing get so bad; these folks really depend on tourist dollars and the ancient sites in Ephesus are fantastic to visit. What a shame...

For the OP ---- I have sailed several times on NCL, and you will find it a lot different from Celebrity. NCL is lively, energetic, entertaining with basically no dress code and lots going on, all the time. Celebrity is quieter, more sedate and elegant. There is certainly music in many places and some dancing going on, but it's not by any means a party atmosphere. It's really more about enjoying the ambiance and good conversation with your traveling companions or new friends. Dress code is followed by most everyone, there aren't anymore formal nights but cruisers generally dress up a little for dinner. No shorts in the evening restaurants except for the buffet. Anyway, we enjoy both Celebrity and NCL and try to appreciate the strengths of each when sailing with them, but please don't expect a party atmosphere or you will likely be disappointed.

My wife and I agree with your post as we too split our time between X and NCL although we lean toward X by about 2 to 1. We typically sail 3 times per year and would challenge the folks that said the Silli T/A average age was 75. We were on the cruise out of Rome right before the T/A and it seemed that the majority of the people were staying aboard for the T/A (we did not). The average age of those cruisers was definitely not 75 years as stated above!!

Eclipse will sail on 11/23/18 and wind up in Buenos Aires and I have no idea where stops in ports might be. Essentially she is replacing the Infinity for SA trips I suppose.

I spoke to my X cruise consultant today after putting 2 cruises on hold...online it just allowed the $300 OBC. He said that they really are still offering Big, Better, Best at different price points on newly released cruises but website has a glitch...WHAT A SURPRISE! Apparently it defaults to one perk and is always the OBC. Obviously the T/A's still no perks to speak of.

And yes if you try to book anything since sometime late AM today you get a message they are all sold out of any category which is not true. Good old X website I guess.