HelenREMfan
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Posts posted by HelenREMfan
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Hi.... was on this cruise and agree with most of what you say. Sorry you didn't make the sail away, some did , some didn't...nice of you to comment though:) it was lovely to meet such nice folk and great to be able to catch up with them and hear their views around the ship. Was lovely to meet the folk from both sides of the Atlantic. Hope everyone arrived home safely and for those still travelling..... hope it is as good as the Eclipse part!
I would give special mention to the staff. I have always found them to be a great asset to the company and this time they even surpassed previous experience. The MDR experience was the best ever. The top chef last night menu was wonderful, our sommelier on select dining, Nikolas, was really good - effective, attentive and efficient, the best I have seen on the ships. The buffet was as always - I dispute what some people write on the forum about the staff being slow in there. The staff never stopped cleaning and clearing tables. They were also very helpful to me. In fact I met with a great deal of courtesy and helpfulness and it was much appreciated.
Sue Denning was thankfully back as cruise director as was Perry Grant who played to a full and appreciative venue.
We did dine in Quisine and found it fascinating and very good; thoroughly enjoyed our evening in there but I do have to say the service and food in MDR were excellent. Something new in the Oceanview was a Spanish and Portuguese evening and that was an unexpected treat with a couple of ice sculptures and oysters which my daughter loved ! The next to last sea day saw the creative buffet in there too and the inventiveness and creativity of the catering staff is marvellous to appreciate.
We had the drinks package and probably didn't approach drinking its cost but then we could taste whatever we fancied - and we certainly did in the Cafe Al Bacio! It was nice to be cashless and chitty-signing less.
I disagree re Gibraltar - the shops on the main street were open.....alas as the cigarettes I bought for hubby were dearer it turned out than the ship's prices! The only shop I wanted to visit was a perfumery so I missed that. There were minibus taxis at the port for 20+ Euroes we had a small tour of the Rock, our driver being acquainted with the alph male ape who came and at on his knee in the bus for a photo opportunity!
I always like to stay in Villefranche. It is a lovely port with the little market to browse in and its harbour-side restaurants. We swam in the sea and could see fish beneath us as we swam - just great!
We did a shuttle bus ride from the port entrance to Rome and that worked well. it gave us time to ourselves in Rome which the mild ship's tour didn't. We used the HOHO off bus which worked well for us and we had near 2 hours to spend in St Peter's. I think ne couple inexplicably missed the return of the shuttle. Everyone met at the agreed point and the guide directed us across the road to wait in the shade for the remaining people. When everyone had checked in she escorted us to an underground bus park - somehow 2 people managed to detach themselves and didn't contact the company by the emergency phone no given. After a wait and a hunt the guide's bosses said the bus was to leave. It caused us to have a 20+ min wait but noone really objected - just hoping the missing 2 would turn up but they didn't and the guide was obviously worried about the situation. I have no idea what happened to them.
The Pisa panoramic trip was fine and I finally managed to view the town properly as it had been affected by a downpour the whole trip last year!
I agree totally about Portofino ship's tour. It was a disappointment. It is a trip I probably would not wish to repeat. The coach journey there was interesting.
The weather affected what we did in Malaga - we had planned a nice day on the beach but the overcast weather and early drizzle put paid to that Instead we ordered smoked sardines from a beachside venue and then went to the side of the beach to feed the large number of very lean stray cats!
I like Lisbon. The ship's tram and tour was fine - well quite good really. the problem was the guide lectured us on the coach on a hot day for 35 minutes with us unable to understand why that couldnt have been made shorter and been in the fresh air! In fact she moved us very quickly around the church in 20 mins after that 35 min uncomfortable lecture. We also had 45 mins+ at the Bellem tower area which was somewhat dead time. The tram trip was good though and we really enjoyed it. I agree there is graffiti and weeds about but the city is lovely.
We selected the shows we wished to see. Mike Doyle is very personable and funny.....Nicola the violinist was also very good. The surprise hit for us were the watercolour painting classes. We were hooked and made it to the additional time the organiser gave each session on the sea days. We both intend to keep on painting :)
I like the Eclipse because of its indoor pool. It is possible to swim for fitness in it. I did notice the music more this trip - but it didn't irk me except for when I spent ages trying to locate the bird I thought I could hear..... it turned out to be on the darn tape !
I feel the ship is in very good condition. Yes there are some signs of wear and tear especially n the arm chair type seats in the Oceanview. the ship is kept in immaculately clean condition though and the staff are to be congratulated.
Highlight of the mornings was the captain's broadcast after the Mike Doyle evening show when our captain had been imitated! He took it in very good part and continued the joke re the depth of the water underneath the hull being "very deep.... very very deep" We still giggle at that.
All in all a great cruise, with great staff and many many friendly people.
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I was on the Baltic cruise on the Eclipse in June and compared to the Med cruise last year there were fewer trivia competitions. There was the team trivia competition - I think most days- but we didn't have a team and we found the scheduled times didn't suit us (My OH is tricky to rouse in the morning!)
Looking forward to the Sept Med cruise as I repeat last year's great cruise.
I see a Manx dweller :) I have Manx ancestry and Love the IoM !
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The T pools though are useless for swimming in though! They are ti warm and no appreciable "length" to swim. I love the pool on the Eclipse and there are the hot tubs for the relaxation aspect - so Celebrity..... keep that Eclipse pool please !
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Thank you for your words Chester. Have read your blogs, smiled with you and shared your thoughts. We are very lucky to bond with our pets and yours is an obviously well loved doggy. My prayer and caring thoughts for you as even though we have never met you have touched me.
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To the right of your post you will see a box with sub titles.... one says "Register for a meet and mingle" Click on that and sign up for the Cruise Critic ship meet up..... usually on a sea day. You should receive an email acknowledging your signing up and when you arrive in your stateroom on the ship there should be a written invitation stating when and where it will take place. If by chance it isn't there then contact guest services to enquire.
Am sure you will have a fab cruise :)
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A great shame the Belgian WW1 battlefield sites trip wasn't available. Great shame not enough people didn't wish to join one as they are an experience as I have visited quite a few. One of my over-riding impressions was how well the many cemeteries are kept - with reverence; also how there can be 2 or even 3 within the same field.... maybe only a couple of hundred yards apart. then there is Ypres.....always a place well worth visiting.
So..... don't be too hard on poor old Belgium.....
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I have done a mix of both ship's tours/excursions and my own independent trips. As I have some mobility issues sometimes it is easier for me to just do the "panoramic ship coach tour" I have though customised and done a 2 day St Petersburg tour with SPB tours which was just brilliant and I would have no hesitation in doing that or using them again! When in France I also go independently as driving etc in France is no problem to me.... I speak French. For a place like Rome I feel happier being with the ship's arrangements as where there might be traffic issues and distances a good way from the port I tend to play safe. We were on one trip where Florence flooded and traffic was a nightmare. 3 hours late back to the ship but it had to wait. Word was one couple didn't make it back and had to stay overnight and make their way to Rome... lucky for them that the next port wasn't Sardinia!
All our Celebrity tours have been good except for one (the guide was dire) and Celebrity made amends so I am quite confident re them.
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Normandy is wonderful. We did a ship's tour of the D Day beaches and it was fine. However as you have noted it isn't too personalised a tour. If you are a confident driver ( with some French) then I certainly wouldn't hesitate to hire a car and be independent. If you do searches on this site you will probably turn up local hire/tour promoters who could help you arrange a tour to suit your needs.
My friend and I are arranging a Liverpool city/Beatle tour for a Florida couple on the "Around Britain" cruise in early Sept.
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Which means your bed will be closer to the wardrobe and the couch/settee will be closer to the balcony.
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It is the indoor pool which is the more shallow. I am 5' 10 and I can't "tread water" in it. If I wish to "cycle" in the water I have to lean back in a semi recline position. At its deepest it is above waist level at around chest level. It is just ok to do breaststroke in for me. I haven't been in the outdoor pool as it is ladder entry. The outdoor pool on the Constellation wasn't 6' deep.
I did like the indoor pool on the Eclipse though and regularly swam lengths in it.
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I booked a guarantee stateroom for my next cruise. I was fully aware of the "worst possible scenario" and was quite happy to have that restriction for the price. I paid in full - slightly before due date and within 2 days I had my room allocated - on deck 8 :) :) A truly happy person here !
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We took a really great wine immersion cruise a couple of years ago with Celebrity and really enjoyed the wide mix of nationalities on board. Our next Mediterranean cruise (out of Southampton) was disappointing as it was so British dominated and..... with too many of the British I am keen to avoid when on holiday! This June we did the Baltic , again with Celebrity and again there was a good mix. I am due to take my daughter on a repeat visit to the Western Med in September and again I am hoping for a good mix. It is so interesting to meet with people from all over the world (I live a long way from London so don't tend to see many Americans at all.)
Our set table dinner companions when we didn't do select were fabulous; a lovely German couple and a mixed range of ages for the British dinner companions. Whoever arranged that at Celebrity did a very good job!
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The indoor pool on the Eclipse is fine. The depth is about the same at both ends....slightly shallower by the ladder steps in. At that end there are ladder steps at both sides of the pool
Very good for people with any disability is the fact that there are broad, gently descending steps at the other end of the pool with a substantial rail for holding. I enter the pool walking backwards using those (I have severe osteoarthritis)
There is also a wheelchair hoist on one side of the pool. There is good broad deck side access also.
I swim 70 lengths or so in there when I swim. The water temperature is good too and there are large open ended showers at the steps end of the pool by the feature fountain.
Am sorry I have tried to upload my photos which show the pool access but they simply won't load :(
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I read Massey's Nicholas and Alexandra before my June Baltic cruise. I didn't finish his Peter the great and am still rather ploughing through it. They did renew my interest in Russian history. There is also the 70s film of Nicholas and Alexandra with Susannah York based on the book and Tom Baker as Rasputin (our American cousins might remember him as the eccentric Dr Who with the long multi coloured scarf!) All got me into the mood
Loved out tour of St Petersburg with SPB tours. Our guide was excellent and very patient with our slower moving group of 8. We got to do everything we wished to do including a great ride on the subway. I can really recommend this as it is so different to London's being clean and not suffocating ! It took 2 escalators to reach platform level ; one of these was timed at a journey of 3 minutes !!!! Amazingly deep.
We did Glydinia, Poland, and Klaipeda, Lithuania. They were both..... different...... on balance I would prefer Bruges and Helsinki. We had a little drizzle in Tallinn but found it interesting. Our weather suited me well on balance. We had a couple of quite hot days for early June - sunbathing weather. The seas were kind except for one night later on in the cruise - on balance it was excellent sailing.
The Eclipse and its staff were wonderful..... and I am booked to sail again in 6 weeks !
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I agree your photos are wonderful. We did a Baltic cruise on the Eclipse in June and it was fabulous. We had been forewarned by our tour group SPB to be ready to disembark the ship and we left it promptly and were through Immigration very quickly. I cannot praise SPB enough as we sailed through even the busiest sites. I don't think the Hermitage was as busy as when you went but we had early entry tickets for a Sunday morning and our guide steered us to some of the rooms she had selected for us and been asked for. The peacock clock was fabulous and a piece I would recommend that anyone going should seek out.
The other visit we did that isn't mentioned here was a subway ride.... that was brilliant. One escalator took 3 minutes to take us! Well worth doing. The mosaics are wonderful and all so clean - so much better that the London Underground Of course you cannot cover all of St P in 2 days no matter how full you make a schedule. We took advice from SPB and were extremely pleased with what we accomplished.
A glad you had such a great Baltic cruise I would do it again any time. The sail into Stockholm (I was awake from bout 3 30am and taking photos! )
Alas this site will not allow me to upload photos... :(
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On my June Baltic cruise the 48 day thing came and went and....everyone bar one on my roll call had received theirs! There was a glitch as the first phone call to them didn't sort it. Luckily the next person I spoke to got the web site to work and give me the go ahead to order. they all arrived ok. Keep patient down to the 30+ days mark and then you might have to give them a nudge,.
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I have watched the first 2 programmes and it has just confirmed that I am doing right by sticking with Celebrity. To be honest the scenes showing the passengers and the life on board ship near horrified me and as others have said - reminded one of the Butlins/Pontins of the 60s! I was looking forward to some genuine "behind the scenes" of the working life of such a large concern instead there seems to be a focus on staff who wish to try for a career in "entertainment"! The only exception seems to be the young spa/salon stylist who seems to be having trouble adapting to the lifestyle. The show isn't really showing what her life on board is like though but rather just has her moping to the camera. It seems too that Princess has a pale imitation of Perry
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Depends on what kind of food you like..... If you like to try authentic Dutch cuisine I can recommend the Schiller Brasserie which is by The Schiller Hotel in Rembrandtsplein.
My fave Dutch eating place is a grill house where the ribs are yummy! Der Klos which is along from the Flowermarket
For a plentiful and cheap Chinese there were some good places in the red light area not too far from Dam Sq. The fact of the matter is that there are lots and lots of restaurants and every kind of cuisine. Amsterdam is a fabulous city and so easily "explorable" on foot. I am sure you will have a wonderful time !
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I am an ex-smoker..... giving up 6th Jan 1989. Smoking and lung cancer killed my ex husband. OH no 2 alas is a smoker. However I do not object to the few areas allowed for people to smoke. I agree with the comment about people looking for something to complain about by choosing to walk past the smoking section on the pool deck! As for the aft upper sections of the ship - Sunset Bar etc I have never been bothered by any smoke there - surely when the ship is moving any smoke dissipates nearly immediately! I don't understand why E ciggs are not allowed tho - surely anything that encourages people to give up smoking should be encouraged. Whilst I would never wish to see smoking on balconies to return - I do not see the problem re E ciggs.
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54 days til I leave for Southampton and a return to the Eclipse. Our roll call is really quiet...... and this side of "the pond" seems quiet really...... but.... never mind as I know that when we get on board it will be just lovely..... and I can revisit my photos if i get wistful :)
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Could it be that the professionalism of the CDs is diminishing? On a recent Baltic cruise the Eclipse had seen a change from the excellent Sue Denning. We did not though have any hint of what some here are saying went on. I did suggest in my evaluation of the cruise that Celebrity - if Sue Denning is backing away from hands on work on the line -then she should be be put in charge of training Cruise Director staff as she is a commensurate professional. The actions described by the poster really describe someone who does not understand the remit of the job.
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Wow that " senior bean counter" has one way out of date laptop.
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I am finding it impossible to contact this cruise line. I have phoned many times and waited for more than 30 mins with no reply. I have sent three e mails none of theses have had a reply. I am due to sail with them in a weeks time and am concerned that I can make no contact. As I am disabled I really need to contact them. Has anyone got a different way that worked?
I do hope the rest of their service is better
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I have received prompt email replies from Celebrity and have found their attention to disabled people to be excellent. They promote assistance at the check in process and disembark and it works really well. Do you have a query that we could perhaps answer here ? I have sailed with Celebrity 3 times now, about to go on a 4th and I have nothing but praise for them. Perhaps you are trying to use an inactive email address as per the suggestions and info already given.
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Just back from a Baltic cruise on the Eclipse and th few times I walked past Michael's club ..it was empty! What happens to the staff who would be serving in there with very few people going in there? There seems to be a variance of opinion as to whether suite guests spend when away or not. If they don't spend well then the staff must surely be losing out.
Previously when Perry was appearing in there during the evening you could hardly fit a credit card between folk! I think this particular decision to restrict the use of this facility as a rather odd one.
A perk is a perk and as long as it doesn't really affect what I am paying for and my enjoyment of my holiday I don't really see the problem. I have to admit that every time I walk past the 1 metre square piece of "red carpet" by the gangway access to the ship for elevated guests to move through any waiting line makes me giggle. I have yet to see anyone walk over /through it :D
St Petersburg excursions
in Celebrity Cruises
Posted
Last year I arranged a tour of St P with SPB tours and I can highly recommend them. We had an extremely comfortable bus, competent driver and excellent guide (Diana) The bus had WIFI which was an unexpected bonus.
We had a wonderful 2 days of customised tours which my party of 8 arranged so we got to see what we wished to see or that the company recommended. It simply could not have been easier. As others have said the company arrange the visas. The cost was good and we had early entry to the Hermitage. Highlight for me also was the ride on the underground.... the escalator to descend took 3 minutes !
The company took great pains to respond to any query emails. We were 2 British couples and 2 American couples in my group of 8 and we all agreed that it was a great experience.