Cooso

11 minutes ago, wynnne said:

 

Sorry, you are right.

 

You meet both conditions (passport issued less than 10 years ago & passport in date more than 3 months after you are due back), therefore there should be no issue.

 

Also, doesn't your cruise end before 10 years is up?

 

Enjoy your cruise 🙂

It does. If I was in my '9 months extension' I'd be begging to rearrange. 

 

I've also found in the e documents a line that says the passport needs to be 6 months in date. Nothing about not travelling on the extension part. 

 

The advice from the government site is so vague and social media hasn't helped me when I'm reading about people being denied flights. If only I'd seen that months ago, not 10 days before. 

 

Now to get through the covid tests and thank you.  

57 minutes ago, zanderblue said:

See below from UK Government website advising on entry requirements to Norway.

Id say you’d best get a new passport!

 

 

6 minutes ago, wynnne said:

 

Source = https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/norway/entry-requirements

 

I completely agree.

 

 

 See above reply. (still getting used to using my phone for cruise critic)

That's what I've been referring to in all of my heartache. It was issued June 2012 so is less than 10 years old before sailing. 

 

I have tried to get a new passport but there are no appointments. 

14 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

Did you book through a travel agent, we were told by our T/agent that passports like yours are no longer valid for Canaries. Your travel agent will have taken details and should be able to advise you

Booked with celebrity direct. We are only going to Norway. 

 

I have spoken to the man we've booked with and all he's said is 'it needs 6 months on it' which I have. 

 

From what I'm reading online, it's airlines and Spain that are the issue. 

 

Thanks all. 

 

I emailed the Norwegian embassy last week too and haven't had a reply. I'll have another look to see if there's anyone else I can check with. 

We are sailing from Southampton to Norway on Saturday. 

 

Last week, I found out my friend was denied boarding on a Ryan air flight to Spain as her passport was a 10 years 9 months issued one. She was told to forget the extension and just look at the 10 years. I've just seen another news story on it.

 

Government guidelines are..

 

Your passport must meet 2 requirements. It must be:

• less than 10 years old on the day you enter (check the ‘date of issue’)
• valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

 

Mine was issued June 2012 and expires March 2023. 

 

I spent all last week trying to get an emergency appointment or delivery slot but there were none.

 

Celebrity have told me that as long as it has 6 months left on it, I should be OK. 

 

Between this and the covid tests (including the one at port for our daughter) I've never been less excited about a holiday.

 

So my question is, has anyone else travelled with celebrity on an extended passport recently?

 

Hi all

I haven't read the link properly yet and there's no roll call for our p&o cruise in June.

We are travelling with my parents, dad has a bad hip and our 4.5 year old. Is there anything in particular that would suit us as a family? I don't want my daughter to be too fed up. We have 3 stops in Croatia. I'm hoping something like a land rover tour might be possible?

Sent from my BND-L21 using Tapatalk

Thanks everyone. We chose a cruise that leaves the UK on purpose so we can take as much luggage as we can fit in our car. My parents are also coming so loading theirs too!

 

I've since seen that there is a night nursery. It's offered free on one of the UK lines (who also only charge 10% of the adult fare for under 2s. Unfortunately they were full on the cruises that suited our dates) but she will go in the nursery once or twice so we can have some adult time.

 

Great idea about covering the stroller and just taking her to dinner like that.

 

It's not going to be particularly warm so we won't be by the pool but will still try and find an umbrella.

 

Amazing advice :)

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

One thing to keep in mind, make sure baby's age is 6 months, not 5 months 29 days. Close enough in this case doesn't matter.

Thanks, she'll be 6 months and 2 weeks so definitely OK :)

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Hi

 

We have our first RCI cruise booked. Leaving Friday. Eeeeek.

 

I know she's a new ship but we were wondering if there's a night nursery type thing? We'd like to enjoy one 'adult' evening and not upset our daughter or other passengers by keeping her up too late.

 

Are there any must haves that people would recommend we pack too?

 

I am also disgusted at how much RCI have charged for her but that's another issue. Haha.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Thanks. Meds will definitely be packed. She has no teeth yet but I'm betting the first will appear whilst away just because we're on holiday!

 

She hates her blow up bath so not sure how we'll sort that. Perhaps shower holding her.

 

I know why they charge so much but it's still made me really mad. P&O charge 10% of the adult fare and offer a free night nursery. Unfortunately no sailings on our dates but we'll book with them for next year.

 

Anyway, I'm sure we'll have a fab time. It's a cruise after all :)

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Hi

 

We have our first RCI cruise booked. Leaving Friday. Eeeeek.

 

I know she's a new ship but we were wondering if there's a night nursery type thing? We'd like to enjoy one 'adult' evening and not upset our daughter or other passengers by keeping her up too late.

 

Are there any must haves that people would recommend we pack too?

 

I am also disgusted at how much RCI have charged for her but that's another issue. Haha.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

We're off on the ovation next Friday. Eeeeek and booked this last November. We were so desperate for a holiday that didn't do a lot of research or check our invoice properly.

 

Is paying 85% for her cruise fare right?

 

Is it true that we can't pay for in room babysitters?

 

What are we actually getting for her?

 

I have to say, this is our first RCI cruise and will probably be our last.... Definitely until our daughter is old enough to get anything out of it.

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Looks fab. Also boarding next Friday so enjoying the pictures :)

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

I was pregnant last cruise and had the premium none alcoholic. I just gave the bar tender my card and asked for a virgin cocktail of their choice :) sometimes I'd specify not orange juice based or creamy but didn't have anything I didn't like.

 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

We didn't see it on the equinox in April this year. I looked daily as was really looking forward to it :(

I was pregnant last cruise and our waiters knew that. We also had a guy who'd been sober 20 years at our table. Neither of us struggled to eat any of the mains. He had at least two a night! There were only a few deserts that caused a problem but they said they had alcohol on the menu.

 

To be honest, I struggled more finding stuff that didn't set off my morning sickness but that's no one's fault!

 

The staff will do all they can to please you and are very discreet so whichever venue you're eating at, they will advise accordingly.

We used a US travel agent last time and was nervous as not done it before! Would happily do it again. Another perk that's not been mentioned was no credit card surcharge.

SHIP: Equinox

CABIN #: 6178 (30% obstructed)

DECK #: 6

CLASS:

AREA: Mid-ship ish

BED NEAR: Bathroom

QUIET?: Yes.

BALCONY VIEW: Obstructed. Fine when stood up but the mechanisms for the lifeboat were in our view. Couldn't look down either.

BALCONY SIZE: Normal

WIND A PROBLEM?: No

SOOT A PROBLEM?: N0

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: Balcony obstruction not a problem as use for fresh air. Quiet and well located. Only noise was the last night as near the crew area and could hear luggage being moved.

I'm sorry if some of this has been said already but whilst it's fresh in my mind, will share what our waiter said a few weeks ago on the equinox...

Every waiter in the MDR has a 16 person section now.

If you remove auto gratuities then pay your waiter at the end of the cruise, he has to tell his boss and that tip is then pooled. If that's true, you might actually be doing more harm than good to your waiters tip!
If you chose to leave auto grats on and give an extra cash tip, they keep that for themselves.

The one answer that would be helpful was did Celebrity provide blank or pre-printed name tags at the Connections Party? They did not for most of our cruises but some rollcall members said they got them on their cruises.

 

Kathy

 

We had sticky names on the 5th April cruise too. I do wish they'd do them with screen names as well but a RC lady did those for us.

 

My only niggle with the connections party was that celebrity arranged another event 45 mins after our party in the sky suite too so we all got booted out before we could chat to everyone!

Celebrity - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you anyway but certainly as a pregnant lady. Far better than a land holiday :) please pass on my thanks to the powers that be!

 

Helen -I'm afraid I don't know the name of the house band. I didn't recognise them from previous cruises. They sounded English. We only heard them in the atrium but they had quite a good repertoire. Some old and some new stuff. Musically, I thought they were good. Vocally, some stuff the lady shouldn't sing! There was always lots of people dancing though.

 

I'm sure you will have a fantastic cruise.

I started a review yesterday then realised there have been a lot of recent Equinox reviews including Andy’s wonderful live one. So instead – I’m going to concentrate on cruising whilst pregnant with a few other references. We were on an 11 night Caribbean cruise with a stop at Colon in Panama.

 

We had this booked and paid for in full when we found out we’re expecting our first. I was 13 weeks when we got on board and had some morning sickness leading up to the cruise. We had our first scan a few days before we left and despite the Celebrity site saying we didn't need a ‘fit to travel’ letter, we all know how unreliable the website is! So I asked my midwife for one.

 

At check in, I completely forgot to tell the lady that I am pregnant. As soon as we boarded, we headed down to Guest Relations as I wanted to downgrade my classic package (123 perk) to the premium non alcoholic. There were no issues in doing so. I did tell her I was pregnant and had forgotten to mention it but she didn’t seem too concerned or ask for the letter.

 

As I didn’t have a bump, I didn’t need extra pillows etc in the cabin. It’s probably a good job as of all the cruises we’ve done, this is the first time we haven’t given an extra cash tip to our stewards. They did what was needed but didn’t seem to go the extra mile. I did pack more than normal though as I had no idea how big I’d be after 11 nights of eating yummy food. The cabin storage was adequate but without the over bed storage, we really would have struggled. The beds were as comfortable as ever and I do find the air con easy to adjust. We had an obstructed view (30%) balcony and given how rarely we used it (but it's nice to have!) it was fine. The dull light in the bathroom didn't bother me on my many night time toilet trips! We did turn it off by mistake a few nights though.

 

We chose first dining. We always do set but never done first before. Up until finding out about baby, I was a bit worried if we’d like it but when pregnant, 6pm to eat is perfect! Celebrity did well and sat us with 2 other couples in their 30’s. Our waiter was lovely and very professional. I told him on night one about the pregnancy and how I probably wouldn't eat a lot. Every night, as I ate half my main, he’d say ‘would you like something else?’ He was fantastic the night I really enjoyed some minestrone soup and asked for a second bowl. It was the only time I had a hot bowl of soup though! All our meals were warm but never hot. Even non pregnant, I would probably say this but I found the menu hard to choose from some nights. A lot of the starters were fish, especially shellfish. As I wasn’t eating a lot, I just went for a soup and entrée. I had the French onion soup 4 times. The 3rd time it wasn't as crispy as I like so on the 4th ordering, asked Agustika if I could have it well done. As always, nothing is too much for a problem for them. A lot of the meals tasted salty to me but that could be my hormones. By night 7 – I did manage to clear a full plate. It was amazing to enjoy a whole meal!

 

 

Steve was unable to get a small martini at the martini bar on his package and I found it too noisy. We also struggled to sit down and get served so we found ourselves in the gastrobar most nights. It wasn’t busy but we liked that. I like to talk to the crew and got on really well with them here. They were accommodating to my ‘mocktail, none creamy and not orange juice based’ requests. They really did make me feel special. Someone also suggested I get some ‘vitamin (flavoured) water’ from the pool bar and that was tasty. I got bored of drinking plain water so the vitamin stuff helped.

Café al bacio was also a favourite place. I tried quite a few teas and did have the occasional decaf coffee.

 

We cruised on the Equinox back in June 12 for our honeymoon. I don’t remember her being as juddery in the Med. I certainly knew the ship was moving every night on this cruise. The second sea day, I struggled to get out of bed as it felt really rough. It was probably just the baby making me feel that bad but a few people agreed that it wasn’t as calm as the first sea day. Our cabin steward called our room about 12 to see if we needed anything. I told him to leave it. I was quite happy to stay in bed and him just do the turndown service. This was the only day we had room service and despite the menu being a bit sparse, we enjoyed what we ordered.

 

I decided half way through the holiday to go to Guest Relations to check how long the Belize tender was. I hadn't enjoyed the Grand Cayman one and heard Belize was quite long. She said about half an hour but that wasn't allowing loading and unloading. We had to cancel our cave tubbing trip pre cruise (not allowed to do it) so decided to have a ship day for there. She did take pity on my nausea feeling but said I couldn't have any tablets which I knew. My doctor had prescribed antihistamines which were pretty useless. She suggested ginger ale (by this point I'd been drinking it daily!) and green apples which was a new one on me.

 

Now this is where Celebrity really do excel. We were in the oceanview cafe with plenty of mangers and staff milling around (shame there weren't more bar staff but that was a general theme throughout the cruise.) I asked a maitre'd if there were any green apples anywhere as I couldn't see any. He had a look and said 'no madam but I will send X to have a look for you' so a lovely assistant waiter went searching. He came back and asked me to wait another 10 mins whilst he went down the galley's. He reappeared empty handed and very apologetic. That night in the MDR, our maitre'd (Viorel - I hope I have his name right!) was doing his rounds and I commented that I was looking for green apples. A few minutes later, he came back with 2 in a bowl. I was very touched by how far they will go to make a customer happy. They didn't really work but by this time, I was feeling better anyway. Perhaps they'd have been better from day one!

 

The ports were too hot for me but that's no one's fault. All our excursions (private and Celebrity) were happy for me to sit on the bus in the air con if it got too much. The ship itself was perfect in temperature. Even in an evening. I had a short sleeve dress on every night and never felt cold.

 

Entertainment wise - it's probably a good job I slept so much during the day. There was less trivia than 3 years ago (I know there's been a cut in activities staff) but some of the Celebrity life activities in an evening made us laugh. I especially like that they repeat them on the cabin TV as we missed the 'newlywed' show. We did see 3 shows in the theatre and if you get to see 'Tenors of Rock' anywhere, they are worth it! The beatles tribute was OK too but being British, wasn't overwhelmed by them.

 

Overall, we enjoyed our cruise. My pregnancy is obviously exciting but did impact a little on my enjoyment of the food and staying up late. We were in bed by 10 every night bar one where we managed until 11.15! Every time we cruise, despite being some of the youngest on board, we're always out partied!

 

I am happy to answer questions about other aspects. As you've noticed, I enjoy typing and could have written an even longer review about the whole experience!

We couldn't get a smaller martini under the classic package on the equinox last week.

 

We rarely went in the martini bar and did wonder if we'd been regulars, would we have got our request?

 

Who knows but I think it is very much ship, server and their mood dependent.

Out of interest, do they not put the last 6 months onto your passport?

 

In the UK, when we renew our passport, we can have up to 9 months of our old one added onto the new one. So for example, I got a new passport when I got married. My old one still had 5 years on it (but I wanted to travel in my new name) so it was then valid for 10 years and 9 months.

 

If we book a holiday to Spain from the UK, we are always told we need 6 months left on it. I personally couldn't cope with the stress and would renew.