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The bartender could have been a bit more friendly and explained the situation. On the Eclipse two years ago in the Molecular bar they were happy to make drinks that weren't on the current menu, but only if they were drinks that had once been on the menu (eg discontinued drinks). We had Barbara (barbie) and marco as our servers. They were also only able to make different drinks once we had tried all of the drinks on the current menu.

 

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Thank you for the quick replies :). The timings arent great but hopefully they wont be as strict on the boarding times. We have a 1230 slot which is still good for us (yes 4 months in advance and I have already planned that I want bistro on 5 for lunch lol). Unfortunately alot of our family will have a boarding slot of 2 hours later which isnt ideal. We will be staying in Southampton the night. I would hate to have travelled from the airport or London that morning and be turned away for showing up too early.

 

We have been invited to sit and wait for boarding at Southampton too. We left our hotel at 1015. I think we were in the "waiting room" at 11. We only waited for 30mins or so though.

 

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Roughly how much notice has everyone received for their boarding time? We sail in August with a family group of 17. We all have cabins on different decks. For those without priority boarding are they boarding "highest deck to lowest deck" or "lowest to highest deck".

 

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We do ours as soon as it opens up online (that is - as soon as our express passes are available). I believe it is 49 days. Not sure about the luggage tags as we just print our own from the pdf brochure that you will receieve.

 

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We have travelled the opposite direction (waterloo - southampton) and the train journey was comfortable and simple. I agree for convenience to catch a taxi from the pier to the station ( we have walked it with our luggage and though it wasn't difficult it was annoying). As previously stated you can buy tickets online in advance. We have also used the "megatrain" booking service and have nothing but good things to say. As long as you aren't picky with your departure time you can save alot of money.

 

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On our last qantas flight LAX - melbourne in october 2013 they made an announcement asking everyone to come forward and weigh their carry on. When it came to boarding none of the gate staff even bothered checking the carry on baggage.

 

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Sorry if this seems like a silly question, but if we book onboard do we have to pay our cruise off in US dollars? Or will our reservation be in our home countries currency (AUS)? With the fluctuating dollar I prefer not to have a reservation in another currency. As if the dollar goes down the cost of my cruise goes up.

Australia/nz cruises for 2015/2016 are up on the website (atleast on the australian one). Prices are up but the booking function isnt working due to errors. Still gives everyone a good idea on the fares. I received an email from Celebrity Australia saying the fares were reduced by up to $ 1000 as an opening special but for the cruises I was looking at it didnt seem the case.

 

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Same no luck either. Completely hopeless. Have to wait with the masses to get any information.

 

Got a reply to my email. She suggested I try booking online as they cant supply email quotes... Guess she didn't read my email very well. Since online booking hasn't opened yet.

 

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[quote name='Project_gal']We have seen Vegemite on board. I believe that, after they introduced Marmite on some ships, they then had to carry Vegemite as well. Like the Marmite, you do have to search for the Vegemite as they do not have vast quantities.[/QUOTE]

This is great news! We are a group of 16 Australians; our next cruise is in the Baltics. I apologise upfront if we consume all of the vegemite :)

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* internet access that is both fast and doesn't cost a fortune
* the ability to simply wash some clothes without sending them to dry cleaning and costing a fortune (luggage is a big issue when travelling from Australia)
* Vegemite, milo and tim tams - sadly these will never be available onboard so we take small amounts for "emergencies"

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Hey Jennie,

 

We have never had any luck with the Australian call centre. I've sent an email request explaining the exact sailings and category I want to book but I haven't received a response.

 

I have a feeling we will end up waiting for the public release. I only wish that when the previews opened that we could just log into our Captains club membership and be able to book online.

 

- Jacinta

 

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Press release from Celebrity on 20 Feb 2014 lists opening dates for Australia/New Zealand itineraries as 27 March (Captain's Club Exclusive) and 1 April (General Public). Note that these dates relate to the US and, because of time zone differences and time of release, they may not show up for Australians until the next day.

 

Thank you for the heads up :), I've been going off the dates on the first post in the pdf. I thought it was odd that no one was discussing the itineraries yet.

 

 

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Hey everyone,

 

I was wondering if someone would be able to post the Australia/New Zealand Solstice itineraries for December 2015 and January 2016 when they are released today? The Australian Celebrity call centre has never been super helpful when it comes to new releases, promos etc and a call to America is a bit too pricey. Hoping to see if it's worth booking now or waiting to book onboard in August.

 

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Same thing happened to me too. I think there is a website issue as I am unable to add a reservation as well. It says my request can not be processed.

 

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Tanned Russian for sure

 

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Just a tad too expensive for me too. I'm currently only paying $95 AUS for a full head of foils (long hair) and a cut, and $50 for acrylics. Really wanted to try the spa out but when prices are almost double (as the US dollar is not in our favour) I can't really justify it. Also didn't realise the price didn't include the 18% tip either (as we don't tip at all in Australia).

Id agree on using the ships wake up call. We had our phones on automatic update for the time and it didnt work at all. Lucky we ordered room service that morning! I thought room service had brought our breakfast an hour early and I was still sleeping (then we realised our phones had the wrong time set). We had to be off the ship in 30 minutes for our shore excursion.

 

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The tombstone dessert was very nice, I also enjoyed the indian selection ( I cant remember the name) and disco shrimp. M's favourites also seems to be very popular (I didn't try it as there were just two of us, one who wouldn't have eaten any of it lol). We started off with a selection of 5 items but our waiter cautioned us not to try some many and he was definitely right. If you can go with a group I think you will enjoy the experience more.

 

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Aussie_Kiwi_ Family,

 

I understand your frustration. We booked our 2014 Europe cruise, 8 days before the promo began, and there was no way around getting the benefits. Very frustrating since the price during the promo was exactly the same as what we booked (and we would have been eligible for 2 offers since it was a Europe cruise). Both Celebrity and our TA said that is was Australian law and even if we cancelled and rebooked we would not be able to receive the deal. It was a bit of a lose-lose situation especially since those in the USA and UK who were in the same position were able to simply have the promo added to their booking.

 

We have learnt it's generally not the best to book early in Australia, even if the price had gone up by $1500 we would still have been better with the promo (drink package and grats) since these were two things we would have paid for anyway.

Wonderful report on your Australia/NZ holiday. Looks like you are having a great time (and your photos are just wonderful). I've really enjoyed reading your "blog". It definately shows that I need to get out and about and actually explore my own country.

We have had the same issue and honestly its frustrating. To the previous poster, we cant even cancel and rebook because Celebrity has worded into their terms and conditions that any cruise cancelled and rebooked under the same name and sail date during the promotion will also not be eligible for the promo. Our TA said if it was any other cruise line we would have no problems, but Celebrity refuse to budge. We have already seen 2 x 123 promos come and go since booking (we booked 5 days before the 123 promo wad released).

 

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Once you are booked you are locked into the price. We have previously been able to claim a lower price by contacting rccl australia in sydney (this is only before final payment). But be aware that if you book a cruise and then a week later a promo is started you will not be eligible to add the promo (despite the fact that US customers can). We battled with our travel agent and Celebrity Cruises Australia and they refused to add the 123 promo even though the rest of the world can do so.

 

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There was a passanger choir on our Eclipse Ta this October. They did some flash mob performances which were great, and I think they had an ending performance too. I didn't pay a lot of attention to their schedule though.