Piggeldy

So the change in time had no effect on you.

 

It seems the change in time didn't really have an effect on anybody as all they changed was the all aboard time, not the departure time. I guess they were just trying to encourange guests on local day trips to be back on board early to make sure they could depart as early as possible. With the earlier all aboard time everybody who was not on a multiple day tour should have been aboard by 3.30 pm so hopefully less people returning last minute. Not that I would think it smart to plan to be back on board at 5.45 pm after a private multiple day tour if that is all aboard time. Too much to go wrong with a plan like that.

 

Nowhere does it say that guests who arrive after all aboard time would be left behind, it just states that it would be your responsibility to rejoin the ship if you were not there for the (unchanged) 6 pm departure time. Had they changed the departure time to 3.30 pm I would definitely see the problem and that would likely have been a problem for many on private overnight trips.

 

What I would love to know is how long the gangway was open in the end? Did Celebrity stop people arriving after 3.30 pm to come back on board and just had the ship sit in port until 7 pm? Or did the gangway remain open until everybody was back (or 5.45 pm respectively) and they just stopped people from getting back off?

 

Our departure time from St. Thomas was moved from 4 pm to I think 5 pm (due to immigration after the TA being a pain and the lifeboat drill for the crew was delayed by hours) which we found annoying because we weren't informed until we arrived back at the ship... with the delayed departure of the tour and the mess that immigration had been we would have loved to spend that additional hour on land instead of hurrying back. Did it really impact our vacation? Not at all.

Hello,

I booked the Turtle Cove Sail & Snorkel in St. Thomas excursion in May. Can anyone tell me how hard it is to get back on the boat. I hear that you have to climb several steps to get out of the water into the boat. I don't have problem with the steps but am unsure if I can pull myself out of the water to get on the steps. Do they help? How difficult is it? I'm not in the best of shape.

Thanks so much!

 

We were on the Silent Lady last November and my husband who has mild CP was able to easily get out of the water and the crew did help when help was needed. If you can climb a regular ladder you should be fine.

 

He had a bit more trouble getting off and on the catamaran in St. Martin but the crew was amazingly helpful there as well.

I "forced" my husband on two snorkling tours (St. Maarten & St. Thomas), he can swim but is not a very strong swimmer and usually prefers to swim close to the edge of the pool. Even though he had the west, the first snorkling stop was quite difficult for him and I was pretty much pulling him around (it didn't help that the glass fell out of the mask about 2 minutes into it). He didn't manage to relax in the water until the second tour.

 

If the idea of snorkling freaks her out, don't make her. If you find a nice tour, the boat trip alone might be interesting enough for her, she might gladly stay on board while the three of you snorkle. My husband didn't join us for the last swim to the beach on the St. Martin tour and stayed on the boat, they offered to take him on the dinghy but didn't mind him not wanting to go to the beach at all.

 

After the stop in Nassau he complained that we didn't go snorkling for a third time and wants to go snorkling again on our next cruise... I do see some additional swimming lessons in his future ;)

We were on a westbound TA on Eclipse last November. The weather was a bit rough the first few days but got better the closer we got to the Caribbean. We were not bored at all - we really enjoyed the cooking shows, relaxed, read a lot and didn't make it to the hot glass show until the last possible moment. Loved the Caribbean ports (though immigration in St. Thomas was a pain and is something we never want to do again). Price was great for what we got and we had really hoped to go on the Reflection TA this fall but can't due to work obligations... will try again next year.

SHIP: Eclipse

CABIN #: 1077

DECK #: 10

CLASS: C2

AREA: Port (forward)

BED NEAR? (Balcony or Bath): Balcony

QUIET? Yes, very quiet

BALCONY VIEW: On rear angle of hump, no forward view. Window washing basket parked in front of 1547/1549 on deck 11 and also in view from 1077, not a major obstruction but visible.

BALCONY SIZE: Oversized

WIND A PROBLEM?: No

SOOT A PROBLEM?: No

COMMENTS: Close to forward elevators/stairs. Close to library. Quite a bit of movement (and squeaking) in heavy seas.

Could it be that you paid a £75 deposit and they are charging you cancellation charges?

 

The following cancellations charges apply:

5 days or less 100%

6 - 14 days 90%

15 - 28 days 75%

29 - 56 days 50%

57 days or more Deposit only

 

Please be advised that the minimum cancellation charge will always be the loss of deposit and that any amendment or transfer fees will also be charged when a booking is cancelled.

http://celebritycruises.co.uk/booking-conditions/

 

I don't know about UK regulations but know that we (also EU) would lose our deposit if we made a significant change to our reservation (e.g. changing sail date), for minor changes (we switched from an assigned cabin to a guarantee) we only pay a smaller fee (20€).

Andy I know that you eat at Tuscan Grill can you tell me how the food was I have been waiting for you to post on this.

 

While I am not Andy... we ate at Tuscan Grille twice during the Eclipse TA and we can nothing but rave about Tuscan!! It was amazing.

 

Everything we ate was wonderful. From the Antipasti (I don't even like prosciuto and thought it was really good) to desserts.

DH is still raving about the Steak Tartar and the Ahi Tuna and Fried Calamari were just as great. The Onion Soup - according to DH's taste at least - was much better than in the main dining room. I had the Saffron Risotto and the Lobster Pappardelle as a second course (loved the risotto, the pasta was nice but not as nice), the second time DH had the wild mushroom ravioli which were nice but nothing special. For mains, DH had the rib eye with a scallop and shrimp skewer (he asked if it was possible to make the steak "surf 'n turf" and they said yes) and the skewer was amazing! I had the Filet Mignon on both occasions and it was delicious!

For dessert I had the Crème brûlée (yes!), DH had the tiramisu once and didn't much care for it. It wasn't bad just not as good as the rest of the food (or the Crème brûlée ;)).

 

However, we both thought the meat was a little more done than ordered on both occasions. Medium seemed to be a tad more than medium, though not medium-well, yet and medium-rare actually seemed closer to medium. On the second visit I ordered my steak medium-rare and thought it was very nice.

This seems to have been the case for both nights we were there as on both occasions medium-rare pieces of meat had to be re-done for neighboring tables as people complained it was more done than they wanted it.

 

The atmosphere was lovely (so warm and relaxed) and service was outstanding! I have extremely bad memory and always think it's a miracle that I remember my own name in the morning... two weeks later and I still remember our servers' names. For me, that tells it all! Jessica, Ana and Ester all three did an amazing job. From food to drinks to atmosphere and service it was just incredible! And our feeling was that we received better service than in Murano.

 

Tuscan Grille was by far our favorite experience on the ship and we pretty much loved everything :D

[quote name='cruisestitch']The non-US/Canadians were all given green forms to fill out. Most did not, because the forms are now obsolete, since approximately June, and they figured that the forms were handed out in error.[/quote]

HAD I gotten green forms in advance, I swear I would have filled them out and brought them to immigration with me! We didn't. We brought everything we were supposed to bring (passports, printed ESTA confirmations and customs declarations) as we wanted to get through immigration as quickly as possible.

The first time a I94 was handed to me was arround 8 am after waiting in line for an hour, when I had just been pulled out of a then moving waiting line and moved to the "side entrance" infront of the elevators, where a line for tours that were supposed to be leaving at 8/8.15 had been formed. I have to admit that I was somewhat unhappy when I noticed that people who had been waiting behind me in the regular line passed us and cleared immigration quite a while before we did... because the "quick line" didn't get moving while the regular line at least slowly moved.

We had a group of Germans (after going to a few "German speaking cruise guests" get-togethers I now know why everybody hates German tourists... I now do too!) behind us who yelled at the lady who was passing out the green forms. Had I heard the sentence "I don't speak English. Speak German to me" once more, I would have been glad to kick them. Hard. I understand that they were stressed out as their tour started at 8 (which had then come and gone) but really? How many languages is that poor woman supposed to speak?
I was nice and did help them to fill it out but still :rolleyes:

Fortunately, our tour did wait.
And I think I had a nice quick chat with kasi while waiting in the teatre ;)

What I found stressful was that there were no green forms passed out in advance (and no, of course I did not have a pen), that immigration did start nearly an hour late, that groups were asked to show up in too quick succession and especially that no public announcements were made (okay, maybe two? all before 8?), that we got pulled out of a moving line which would have gotten us out of the ship approximately 30 minutes quicker, that two rows were sat down in the theatre while people that had been waiting behind us were allowed to procede to the front because one poor lady was supposed to keep 1900 people in check and people did not like to listen to her. Oh and the five immigration officers for... 2.000 people?!

When we got out of the theater the last people in the "tours line" could shake hands with the last people in the "regular line"... they stood back to back. The whole deck 3 was full of people and it was quite a zoo.

I think people might have been less grumpy had they known what was going on and been informed by someone official. A quick announcement or two about ship tours waiting (or not, as some did not) might have been nice. Or some water being passed around (maybe at least outside where the tours were waiting)? Fortunately, we did have a quick room service breakfast before we went to immigration (though I don't usually "do" breakfast at 6), otherwise I would have gone on a 6h snorkling tour (cut down to 4 1/2 hrs because we weren't informed the ship would leave an hour late due to the delays) without anything in my stomach. They did hand out crackers on the boat but by then it was 10 and crackers in my eyes don't count as "breakfast".

When we were back in our room at 3pm the crew saftey drill which had been roughly scheduled for 10.30am was still taking place! Talk about delays that day...

However, we DID get the green forms before we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, where the immigration officer just dumped them on a growing pile of more (unneeded) green forms and we didn't even need the printed out ESTA confirmations as we had the green forms from St. Thomas.

There were at least three different informations given (differing between Sue's announcement on tv, Shane's [int. hostess] announcement on tv and the letter sent to the stateroom on the last sea day) for immigration in Fort Lauderdale... so we went prepared. And I have to admit that I thought this went rather smoothly. We were in group 16 and were through immigration by 9am, which I was happy with.

I was really not happy with how the whole St. Thomas immigration was handled... I see where it wasn't Celebrity's fault (number of immigration officers, officers showing up late, no computer system for immigration) but they knew how many non-US/Canada citizens they had on board (75+%) and I feld that their information strategy was severly lacking. Oh well. Over and done with. Home, sweet home. And snow in the weather forecast. Brrrr.

We use Stugeron (had a friend buy it from Boots as we can't get it here).

Not as nice as Patrick's photos but I love my friend's apartment. It has the best views.

 

Please meet Aida Stella:

 

Hi Piggeldy,

Check out "travelingirl"s review of the silhouette (new years, eastern caribbean), and she has a good picture looking down from her hump (normal size balcony) stateroom. Yes, the open deck 5 will block a couple feet of the view straight down.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1759825&page=2

 

ETA: link to page of review with picture, hopefully it works!

 

Link works - thank you so much!

I tried searching for a picture like that but couldn't find one.

 

Ah. For being mid-ships and as far down as possible and close to the elevators... that view is fine with me!

We just cancelled our booking and rebooked.

 

Germany started offering a similar deal on 7 January - we booked on 2 January.

 

Gave our TA a call and got a very firm "no". Obviously no chance to add the deal to an existing booking (we haven't even paid the - non-refundable - deposit yet). Asked about cancelling and rebooking. Still a very firm no. We even considered cancelling and upgrading from a 2B to a 1A or even A1... nope.

 

Yesterday our TA doubled their onboard credit.

 

Yes, I am (okay: was) happy with the price we paid. But it's frustrating. We just booked because the prices had begone to go up (mildly) and we worried about the cruise getting even more expensive. Frustrating especially if I read that in the US Celebrity seems to bend the rules. I guess if we go on another Celebrity cruise (first time cruisers) we will book through Celebrity US. And I should possibly unsubscribe from any newsletter as well as this board.

Wonderful thread, wonderful pictures! Thank you so much.

 

Do you happen to have a picture looking down from one of the cabins on the hump? We have a hump cabin (2B) on Continental Deck and are wondering about the view. I understand there are no lifeboats blocking the view on Eclipse but what about the public area on deck 5? Is that deeper than the balconies above? From pictures it looks as if it is - will that block the view a lot?

 

I know the cabin is not as "great" as some of the others (being above Bistro on Five, being above a public deck, possible noise issues etc.), that's nothing I worry about.

What a relief ;) Thank you both very much.

 

KandCsailing, I never thought I'd like lace... with that dress I learned that I do. And that was the first dress that was far too large in a size 18. HA! I'll have to have it taken in but I am trying to lose some more weight before.

We are currently planning our first cruise (debating between X and RCCL) and I am totally lost when it comes to "formal" wear. I am in my early 30s and a little fluffy (currently a UK size 16/18 on top and a UK 12 on the bottom - though I have gone down two to three sizes during the last year), I find it quite difficult to find plus size dresses over here.

 

While I assume this (a navy lace full skirt dress) would be suitable, would something like this be okay, maybe together with a plain black shrug/bolero? Or would the bright colors be too much? I love the dress and it fits wonderfully (best fitting dress I ever had) but maybe the red/turquoise is a little too gaudy for "formal"? Should I go for something more muted?

 

And dear UK: thank you for Pepperberry/Bravissimo. I love you.

Website is back up - - found this ~

 

Food coolers containing personal snack foods and drinks may not be brought onboard. They are only permitted if needed for medications, baby food or items related to special dietary needs.

 

The same section of the DCL website also contains the info about bringing alcohol onboard.

 

PopFla, I do not think that your quote/answer actually answers OP's question. The DCL policy you quoted is about the "container" the food is brought on board in - not the content of said container.

 

Question

What food or food storage containers are not permitted?

 

Answer

Food coolers containing personal snack foods and drinks may not be brought onboard. They are only permitted if needed for medications, baby food or items related to special dietary needs.

The same section also states, however, that perishable items are not allowed.

Homemade, pre-cooked or other perishable items plus any open snack containers cannot be brought on board. [...] Disney Cruise Line cannot verify the cleanliness of the environment in which pre-cooked or homemade food items were prepared, and so for the safety of all Guests and crew, these items are not permitted aboard the ship.

As pretty much all food is perihable, though... and it seems that many people take all different kinds of snacks aboard, I would assume that applesauce/yogurt shoult be okay.

 

Tina0922, to be on the safe side give them a call. I don't think you should have any problems to take a small amount of applesauce/yogurt on, especially for medical reasons.

If you dock at "Ostseekai" in Kiel, which I think is their main cruise terminal, the trainstation is pretty much in walking distance (about 1 mile) and I am sure it should be an easy walk, just as it is to the "Schwedenkai" or "Norwegenkai" (where the ships to Norway and Sweden leave).

 

As Ben said, there is a local train to Lübeck which according to bahn.de runs twice an hour. It's a very easy and inexpensive trip.

 

There is a "Schleswig-Holstein Ticket" which is valid for 24 hours on all local trains (Regionalbahn and Regionalexpress). The ticket costs 26 Euros for one person plus an additional 3 Euros if you want to take more people (29 Euros for 2, 32 Euros for 3, 35 Euros for 4, 38 Euros for a maximum of 5 people). You can buy the ticket online in advance, possibly at a ticket machine or right at the train station travel center (2 Euro fee).

 

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml

I'm finalizing our plans for Oslo and we intend to head to Bygdoy first thing in the morning to tour the museums. I know that we can either take Bus #30 or Ferry #91 to get there, and I keep reading that the bus is preferable but I have not read why?

 

I'd say it depends on what you want to see!

 

We usually buy a day ticket (24-timersbillett which currently costs 70 kroner) or even a 24-hour Oslo pass (230 kroner but includes all museums on Bygdøy) and take the bus to get to Bygdøy as the bus stops right in front of the Museum of Cultural History (Folkemuseum) which I love, especially in good weather.

We then walk from there to the Viking Ship Museum, which is right arount the corner.

From there we take the bus to the rest of the Bygdøy museums, visit the Kon-Tiki and Fram Museum and skip the Maritime Museum (I have now done that three times and... well... the movie is nice but other than that I think I have seen it all).

After visiting the Fram we then take the ferry back to the city.

 

If you are not interested in the Museum of Cultural History (which is worth a visit!) or the Viking Ships (which are nice to look at... once), I'd go for the ferry.

 

I have now done that Bygdøy tour at least six (no, make that seven) times and still enjoy it a lot. You could of course do it the other way round (take the ferry, visit Kon-Tiki/Fram and then take the bus to Viking Ships and Folkemuseum) but I always enjoyed to boat ride in the end a lot.