Redking

6 hours ago, countess5 said:

Evening from Day 5!

Before I start can I share that we woke up to the toilet not flushing! What a panic! 🙀 We called guest services and they said they would notify the correct people. It took a while but they got it fixed. That was the second time since boarding in our area. We didn’t notice it the first time. May not of hit us but the cabins around us. Guest services called us back when it was fixed and asked if everything was ok. Good follow up. 

Pics are not loading up to the IPad so fast tonight so may have to post some pics tomorrow, but a great day in Grenada! Last time we were here was 25 years ago for my BIL 40th birthday. We were tendered in. Today they have filled in an area on the other side of the hill from town and built a port. Our guide Clinton said about 15 years ago. 

 

Today was visiting a chocolate “factory” only three people work there, the lake in a middle of a volcano then a water fall. Our guide Clinton was great, his sister lives in Philadelphia, where we live north of and works at Children’s Hospital. He spent time in NY but came back to Grenada, sorry but I would have come back too! 

 

The island has changed a lot from 25 years ago. Clinton shared that China has been buying a lot of land and are expanding the airport. Ok, politics aside…. It’s a fact. There was an area that China had build a pavilion at the lake we went to and just recently they had it removed because it was too much influence on the island. 

In addition to that they just had elections and the government has changed from the current party to the other party. Promises of an improved quality of life.

Tuesday they celebrate their independence of 49 years! There are flags all over the island to celebrate. I’ll post pictures.

Anyway, I’ll post pics and more tomorrow. Need to get ready for dinner. martini bar at 6 (go figure) then Tuscan again ( our MDR)

 

Great night to all!

 

Cheers! 

 

 

Interesting read. We saw a lot of Chinese investment in Fiji and Tonga on our recent cruise. As you say politics aside, an interesting observation.

2 minutes ago, Teewells said:

We had the symptoms of a cold, the only thing hanging on is a bit of a cough, which I undertand can trail on for weeks.  I am asthmatic, so maybe a little longer for me. My partner was feeling well enough to workout on the balcony days 4 & 5, but then would relapse a bit, respiratory wise; it's a weird malady.

 

We both missed Fiji completely and I missed our excursion in Samoa by about 2 hours; I sent my better half solo.  Once cleared to move about I did disembark in Apia but just walked around a bit in town; kind of needed a planned event to make that port count, in my opinion.  We kept our plans for American Samoa & Tonga without issue and did enjoy them.

 

We were scheduled to fly out of Auckland on January 26th and departed as planned, managing to miss the atmospheric river disaster completely.  Thoughts to those who were not so lucky.

 

Hope you two are feeling not too badly, having also experienced the bug.

Thank goodness you made it out of Auckland. That would really have made it a holiday to remember. So good to hear that you were able to enjoy American Samoa and Tonga.

 We're feeling better today. I have respiratory issues though not asthmatic. Using my preventative inhaler has really helped. What I hadn't anticipated was a flare up of my Psoriasis, I look like the elephant man - promise, no photos of that!

Be well and happy future cruising!

4 hours ago, Teewells said:

Hello.  We were B2B and tested on turnaround day January 14th.  My partner tested positive and I negative, but I followed as positive when re-tested on January 15th.  First time for both of us, I suppose it was inevitable.

So sorry to hear this.

Whilst we all know and accept the risks, it's not much fun when it disrupts your cruise, especially when you've travelled a long distance. I hope you weren't too sick? A rough calc tells me you would have been "free" after Fiji? In my view that was the least appealing part of the itinerary, so hopefully you were well enough to enjoy the remaining ports?

Where are you now? Not stuck in Auckland?

12 hours ago, chemmo said:

Just read your review, a wonderful start to a cold day in England. 
 

Sincere best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Thank you @chemmo you were very much in my thoughts whilst on the cruise. 

I hope you are travelling well through the waters that lie ahead for you. Looking forward to read of your return to cruising.

Take care.

It seems the jockey has gone awal on the home straight of this Live review! I had fully intended to finish the review and do a wrap up when I got home.

Best laid plans and all, I've arrived home with a departure gift. After 3 years of dodging the Rona, Fin and I have finally succumbed. At least we didn't come down with it during the cruise and let's face it we could have got it at the airport or on the plane. At least we haven't been flooded like the poor folks in Auckland.

I hope to come back in the next couple of days to complete the review and answer any outstanding questions. In the meantime, another sleep might be in order. Stay tuned.

On 1/22/2023 at 2:03 PM, GenerationX said:

 

First catch up post is taking us way back to the Silhouette to share about my 2 lunches at The Porch.

 

I think this restaurant is only on Silhouette and perhaps Reflection?  

 

I think it may be my favorite lunch on Celebrity (with Le Grand Bistro on the E class ships as a close second) and getting to eat there again was one of the things I was most excited about when I booked this cruise.

 

This is a $30 cover charge specialty restaurant if not sailing in a royal or penthouse suite. Even if I’d had to pay the cover, the food and atmosphere would’ve made it worth the charge for me.

 

I had two lunches at Porch during the cruise.  The first day that I went, service was really slow. As in lunch from start to finish took almost 2 and a half hours.  The problem seemed to be understaffing as there were only 2 servers working and there were several walk-in tables, including a fairly demanding party of 8.  The next day Celebrity seemed to have fixed the issue by having an additional server working and turning away those who didn’t have a reservation once things started to get to a capacity those servers could handle.  Of course, this led to some people being cranky and complaining when they were turned away from walking in without a reservation.  The poor restaurant manager just couldn’t win either way.

 

The restaurant is located right by the lawn club and has beautiful views, especially on a sea day, but it isn’t too windy.  Like lawn club grill it is somewhat open to the elements though, so if going on a cool day, you may want to bring a jacket.

 

Each meal starts with a warm cheese garlic bread service that is totally worth the stomach real estate that it takes up before starting your courses.  

 

This cruise I thought the lobster bisque there was actually much better than the bisque at (much higher cover charge) Murano.  Pro tips: 

 

1-skip the baguette served on the side of the bisque and dip some of the aforementioned cheese garlic bread in the soup instead; and

 

2- be sure to dig deep in the bowl while eating because there are some nice sized chunks of lobster meat hiding at the bottom.

 

Besides the bisque, I think the other star dishes for me were the pil pil shrimp (but only if you’re a big garlic addict like me, because it is EXTREMELY garlicky, sopping of its sauce with the garlic bread also highly recommended), mussel pasta and perfectly portioned for a solo cruiser ceviche served with house made chips.

 

As mentioned previously, I think the lobster roll at Ocean House on MSC beat this one out.

 

After a couple of courses, you might be tempted to skip dessert at this restaurant to avoid a heavy meal at lunch.  My personal opinion is that you’d be making a critical error if you leave without having some of the Oreo cheesecake purée garnished with soft baked chocolate chip cookie chunks.  I didn’t think there was a way to improve on Oreo cheesecake.  Apparently the solution is to purée it and then top it with caramel sauce and chocolate chip cookie chunks.

 

More to come later this weekend!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing this Charla.

We're just off the Eclipse in a Royal Suite and in my view the more limited number of locations for unlimited speciality dining on the older Soltice ships is a miss, especially for more casual dining. Only so many times you can eat at Murano, in our case four 😯

Just need to plan a cruise on Silhouette and max out on our RS on the Edge TP next year.

Thank you once again for a wonderful review, just playing catch up now.

4 hours ago, CalTexCruiser said:

@RedkingThere has been quite an uproar on CC recently regarding drastic cutbacks on the Oceanview Cafe buffet, including a report that the buffet on the Apex had shut down 75% of its stations for DINNER (no cutbacks for breakfast or lunch).

 

Have you seen such buffet cutbacks for dinner on your cruise?  We are curious as we will be sailing the Eclipse AU/NZ on Feb 16.

We haven't actually been to OVC but @nz1has been doing a fantastic food thread for our cruise, including OVC. Check out post #80 for OVC feedback.

Have a great cruise.

Booster for the WiFi in our suite. Marlene, the Retreat Concierge,  proving once again that she's a magician. Fin tells me our download speed has been as low as 3.15 Mbps with upload as low as 0.36 Mbps. Our home internet is 315mbps and 110mbps respectively. So much for Starlink!

Two birds one stone. Combined some exercise with a tour of the artwork on the stairways this morning.

Photos of some pieces that took our fancy. Apologies, it was hard to get great shots with the lighting and reflective glass.

Sushi for lunch and a Brandy Club Cocktail in our home from home coz you can when it's a sea day and we're on our way to Tonga.

Um that would be Starkist not Sunkist Tuna!

47 minutes ago, asnaleah said:

Did I miss something about massages? Are they not available onboard?

They most certainly are. Having bought four handbags on board I struck a deal with my husband that I wouldn't book a massage on board. There was no deal about having a much more cost effective treatment at a resort🤣

Day 7 Apia, Samoa

Talofa!

We received the most beautiful welcome to Samoa yesterday. The warmth and beauty of Polynesian cultures always stirs emotions in me. 

We shared a taxi with our new cruise buddies to the Robert Loius Stevenson Museum. Stunning grounds and beautiful house largely restored after being damaged in two cyclones during the nineties; only the staircase escaped damage. We had planned to walk up the mountain where Stevenson is buried but decided against it because of the rain and slippiness of the track.

First editions of Kidnapped, Treasure Island and Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde.

We then headed further into the hills to see a beautiful water fall.

In follow up the handbag situation, the solutions for the massage dilemma was to have one whilst in port. In this case a lovely facial at the Taumeasina Island Resort which also had beautiful views back over the island.

Our delightful taxi driver came back to pick us up for the return to the ship. He does seasonal agricultural work in NZ close to where we live, so we hope to meet up again. The people in Samoa were so friendly and eager to help.

Having arrived in the rain we departed in glorious sunlight. This island is most definitely going onto my must return list.

The macaroon was delicious!

By some miracle there is another Mary Frances bag in our stateroom. No idea how that happened 🤔 I'm sure there's room on that shelf for at least one more 🤣

Playing make believe we're in an Iconic Suite whilst they service our stateroom 🤣

Day 5 Suva, Fiji.

We were welcomed to Suva with a beautiful sunny day.

I was quite taken with all the fishing boats standing to attention in the harbour.

We left the ship at 8.30 to pick up our private tour to the Uprising Resort, a 45 minute drive to Pacific Harbour which is billed as Fiji's action capital. From here you can take tours on the Navua River or head out to Beqa Island. 

There was a bit of a glitch with our tour because Celebrity had booked out the resort, so we headed next door to the pearl resort where our $50 day pass included food and drink to the value of $40.

We managed to book an amazing back, neck and head massage on the beach front. No need for piped rainforest music when you've got the mesmerising sound of the waves lapping on the beach. 

Feeling totally chilled we heading off to pool for cocktails and spot of lunch before the drive back to Suva.

2 hours ago, Redking said:

Some shots of our salubrious taxi

 

 

I should add that the driver himself was lovely and keen to show us around.

15 minutes ago, Peer97 said:

Just going to jump in here to let you know that we were scheduled on this itinerary for a b2b2b and decided to cancel this one and proceed with the back to back out of Auckland beginning on January 26th. We then booked Fiji as a land trip. I don’t know if that’s the difference, land vs cruise, but we were asked prior to checkin at the airport for proof of medical insurance and our Covid vaccinations before coming to Fiji. I just don’t want people to think it’s a non- issue for entry into Fiji. Less travelled folks reading these boards may find it confusing and no one wants to see anyone run into any trouble. Happy to be following along on these great posts about the ship, the food etc. Looking forward to joining you aboard on the 26th. Safe travels to everyone. 

Very valid points and thank you for the follow up. From earlier discussions on the this and other threads the confusion arises as to whether the requirement applies to travellers entering Fiji by cruise ship. You are of course quite right in saying that it's always better to err on the side of caution and refer to the relevant government websites for information. Thanks again.

A few more shots from the Gardens, including their delicious fruit cup.

27 minutes ago, lovecruzin said:

Excited to follow along. We are flying home today after being on EC for Dec 9 and Jan 2 cruises. 
You mentioned Captain Theo? Is Captain Leo gone already?

Oops, thanks for the correction! 

4 hours ago, nz1 said:

I haven’t caught the name of the maître d’ but the “host” is Tarun and we’ve been very well looked after by Kavi and Eva 😊

I think it's Auricka? She has quite an understated presence and is always observing the service in the restaurant. Given the excellent service we're experiencing, she's running a tight ship! 

On 1/15/2023 at 11:04 AM, lexmiller said:

Hello, @Redking- can you please let us know how things went regarding this insurance issue with Fiji  - were you checked on boarding, is it actually an issue at all or are cooler minds prevailing?  What exactly is the procedure?  I believe Fiji is your first port of call......? Definitely want to hear about it, thank you!  I mean, it's absurd to think that Fijian government officials are going to sit around and evaluate every passenger's personal insurance policies!  And again as we've stated, we are in Fiji for a day, as cruise passengers - under no circumstance would covid insurance ever come into play in this actual situation.  If a passenger has covid, they wouldn't be allowed off the ship!  And no one is going to be like, oh wow, it's noon now on my one day in Fiji, I'm just got off the ship a few hours ago, I need to be back on board in a few more hours, but gosh I think all of a sudden I feel ill and will go for a covid test!  Never gonna happen.  I concur with you, that this is yet one more anti-cruise move designed to discourage cruise ships from coming.  The government says it's open to cruise passengers but naaaaahhh, not really.  Thanks in advance!

We've arrived in Fiji and not a whisper of needing to provide evidence of travel insurance. Attached is the communication we received, along with the health dec forms.