the penguins

Sorry if I have offended in any way but you have no grounds for even suggesting that I work for any cruise line - which I don't and never have. To set the record straight - 2 posters have recommended HAL and 1 Royal but you haven't attacked them. Celebrity is our number one choice, the line we chose to celebrate our Golden Wedding on and 9 out of our last 10 cruises have been with X (7 Silhouette and 2 Eclipse). However when it comes to Norway the line I mentioned has more experience than all the other cruise lines combined.

Every Celebrity cruise we have done has had talks (Beyond the Podium programme) on sea days. We have cruised 4 times from Southampton post Covid and all had speakers. There were some problems during the start up as Speakers were reluctant to sign on when they weren't able to disembark on port days - they were subject to the same restrictions as the rest of the crew. Hopefully by now the programme should be getting back to its full pre Covid levels.

Sorry that's what I said either very early or late. Compare it with Hurtigruten where you cruise for hours during the day. Also I believe the other threads are referring to cruising on S or M class ships which all have forward facing Sky Lounges whereas the E class have no such viewing area unless you are a suite passenger. Hurtigruten also has a large forward facing lounge open to all passengers. As always it's about choice, we have cruised on both Celebrity and Hurtigruten. H wins hands down when it comes to the actual Fjord cruising experience.

Of all the things that concern us water on board is way down the list. Teas, coffees, juices made from concentrates, all the food prepared and cooked on board, all the water served in the restaurants, all the washing of crockery, cutlery and dishes and the laundry. All of these and more use sea water processed onboard.

As Concierge you get the benefit of extra CC points which can be useful. Apart from that I see no value in the Class and certainly not worth the premium that is often charged. However X sells it for us the bottom line is "low down, mid ship, and a real balcony with comfortable chairs". As E class offers none of these we will be sticking to S Class or, reluctantly, will book other options just as we did for our March Transatlantic.

A packet of ginger biscuits (cookies) works for us.

Just curious about the "cruising for hours". A quick look at the schedule and you will see you spend most of the day docked. The "cruising" is either early morning or late afternoon which is when many passengers are getting ready for /are eating dinner. In addition as only Suite passengers have access to forward facing lounges on E class ships the opportunities to enjoy the full majesty of the Fjords is severally limited. S class ships are much better suited to this type of cruise but regrettably that won't be an option from the UK in 2024.

Ok. But they make up a tiny proportion of the total and can not be classed as "standard" which is why they have their own category. My definition of standard are the cabins that make up the bulk of the accommodation. For example Deck 7 on Apex has 6 (six) Sunset Verandas and 258 IV's and the figures are similar on many other decks.

Thanks for the clarification. Sounds like Apex is a good fit for you. Be aware Celebrity ships from the UK attract a large a number of kids during school holidays - on Silhouette in 2022 to the Fjords we had 4 kids the next sailing, i.e. during holiday time, the number was over 200.

So far none of the supporters of IV's have posted any pics of themselves "relaxing" on the very "comfortable" chairs that are a feature of the cabins. Nor of them enjoying a breakfast using the minute table. IV's are most suited for passengers who like the idea of a balcony but don't actually use it. A 50:split would be perfect by which I mean every class, on every deck and in every position not just a few "token" balconies in unpopular locations.

Only one major cruise line, Viking, has extensive experience in having IV's and interestingly they chose not to have them on any of their ocean going ships. Celebrity started building 3 Edge class ships before the first had even sailed. We won't know for sure how successful IV's are until X builds it's next class of ship.

I find a lot of the smaller lines don't show up using such a general search. Apart from Hurtigruten there are numerous more traditional lines featuring Norway including: Fred Olsen, P & O, and Ambassador.

A pleasure. With regard to time each 12 day cruise can be done as "half cruises" either north bound starting in Bergen or south bound ending in Bergen. Ship's depart almost every day. For budget just make sure you are not looking at an "expedition" departure as these are much more expensive.

Whichever you choose you actually do very little "scenic" cruising in the Fjords. I know the experience, accommodation and onboard entertainment etc are very different but as a comparison the Hurtigruten Classic voyage includes 34 ports in 12 days. Every port you stop at in the day going north you stop at at night going south and vv. The ship cruises/visits 100 fjords with many hours of scenic cruising. Excursions are offered in numerous ports and you can even leave the ship at some ports do a full day coach tour before rejoining the ship further along the route. The tours also include dog sledding, private concert in Tromso, the North Cape, etc We have done the cruise on Celebrity, most recently in 2022, and the Christmas/New Year on Hurtigruten . All enjoyable in their own way but for the true authentic experience Hurtigruten wins by a mile.

Whichever they have had in the past does not guarantee they will have the same on your cruise. The only way to be certain is to take your own.

If you really want to see the Fjords the 12 night Classic Roundtrip voyage on Hurtigruten - departing almost every day from Bergen - is the prefect cruise. Travel at the right time and if the Northern Lights don't appear you will also get a free 7 night voyage.

See post 28 - all I can add that we have used the "system" on all our Celebrity cruises and have never lost yet. However if we used your figures we would still have converted every 💲100 of "Mickey Mouse" money into 💲94 of cold hard cash and had fun doing it.

Have never understood or played the game. The name itself is enough to put me off but perhaps " a crap game" means something else in the US whereas to me it means "a game that is rubbish". In addition having to stand to play makes it impossible for the boss (Anita) to participate. Just getting a seat in the middle of the Roulette table is often hard enough as players are often reluctant to move round to make room for someone who clearly has mobility issues. Apparently moving is "bad luck".

Sorry, we also try to avoid the double zero wheel but this is not always possible.

Wow - to clarify. 1) we only bet with our OBC - once the boss ( Anita) has checked out the perfume everything else is invested on roulette. 2) we only bet small amounts as we want to spread our OBC to cover as many days as possible. 3) our aim is to have fun and at the same time convert as much of our OBC to cash as possible - on a typical cruise for every💲100 we spend we have won about 💲110. 4) I don't claim to understand your math but I accept you are correct. Our way of thinking is: A) covering 20 numbers is close to a 50:50 bet. B) when we win we get 💲8 which goes straight on to winning pile ready to cash out. C) As the winning chip stays on the table we only need 💲4 from our promotional pile for the next spin and as we are still covering 20 numbers this moves the odds slightly more in our favour. We don't chase loses and if we have a bad day we still walk away with whatever winnings we have e.g. we may have played 💲50 promotional chips and only have 💲40 real chips to cash out. Will we ever win a fortune - no. Do we have fun - yes.

Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki - all walkable. Tallinn walkable just bear in mind when you get there it's very steep with lots of cobbles to get up into the old town - we had a private guide with a vehicle which enabled us to get out of town and to do the old city on foot. My wife uses a 4 wheeled rollator. Skagen - we didn't dock due to rough seas - apparently this is common. No refund of port fees as the Denmark charges one fee for Copenhagen and Skagen with no refunds.

We had cabin 1083 with a shower over the bath rather than a separate cubicle. To our left was a row of offices and then a public washroom. The 2 cabins immediately to our right were empty. The plumber (who we got to know well from his daily visits) said that the issue was between the washrooms which were fine and our cabin - he never clarified what the issue was. After some trial and error we found that the solution was to turn on the hot taps in the bath and sink then to do something else for 20 minutes until the water ran hot. This "worked" until the day the tap over the bath jammed open and neither of us could turn it off. The plumber arrived within 5 minutes took one look and said something like - we have lots of problems with this style of tap but don't worry we have much better ones in the stores I will fit one for you - the new taps had levers rather than round knobs and worked great. What they did to fix the problem I don't know but on day 10 the plumber popped in to tell us that the issue had been resolved and we would no longer need to run the water for 20 minutes. 10 minutes later he was back as our toilet had stopped working.

Regrettably these things happen and it's the response that is all important. Cruised TA on Royal in March and had similar noise issues. Cabin steward did nothing. Next day reported to Guest Relation who sent an Engineer within 30 minutes. Engineer sorted the problem in 2 minutes. HAL - on a 12 day cruise it took them until day 10 before we had hot water and a working toilet at one and the same time. No apology and 💲50 taken off our onboard bill on the last day. Have not sailed HAL since. On Celebrity when all else fails hope that Julie is the Director of Guest Relations as then you will really see someone who believes in good old fashioned customer service. Julie's motto ( look her up on line) is "if I can't fix it, it ain't broke".

I appreciate the Slot Pull system which is why I specified the “have fun” and “little risk”. We play corners covering 20 numbers with a $5 stake giving us pretty much a 50:50 bet. We play around $50 at a session, keep all winnings separately and cash out once the $50 is spent. Never chase loses. Have used this “system” on numerous cruises and over the course of a cruise it has worked every time.

Easier still if you can get some of the old paper laundry bags (or bring a few carrier bags) put the contents of each drawer/shelf into a separate bag and put the bags in your cases. On arrival in your new cabin simple empty each bag into/on to the correct shelf/drawer.