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JPL619 - Welcome to Cruise Critic! It IS expensive to use the Canal and since the Canal was turned back to Panama it has become very profitable. Panama has been designated as the 2nd wealthiest country in Latin America, in part, but only in part, because of the Canal. Panama's central location, the fact that the Canal makes it the "crossroads of the world", a booming international airport, the second largest free port in the world (second only to Hong Kong), enormous infrastructure projects (including the Canal expansion) all contribute to a booming economy. The economic boom, the devaluation of the US $, the high cost of oil all contribute to inflation which mans the fees charged to use the Canal increase along with everything else. Regardless of how the cost of using the Canal is factored into cruise ticket prices, to be able to experience this marvel of engineering that has been running smoothly now for almost 100 years, is a not-to-be-missed experience!

 

Regards, Richard

Having done a full transit East to West in 2007 and anticipating our West to East full transit in April of next year, I rate the experience as UNFORGETTABLE and not to be missed, as Richard says. A definite "Bucket List Item" that should not be denied yourself. Forget what is on the top of your list now and book the Canal transit today!!!!

This was suppose to post to our roll call - LOL

Six months (less a couple of days) 'till we board.

 

I just got a notice from my TA that our itinerary has changed slightly. We leave Kotor, Montenegro one hour earlier (3 PM instead of 4 PM) and arrive in Venice 3 1/2 hours earlier the next day (10:30 AM instead of 2 PM). Thought you might like to know in case you have any private tours that would be affected.

 

Bob & Carol

Six months (less a couple of days) 'till we board.

I just got a notice from my TA that our itinerary has changed slightly. We leave Kotor, Montenegro one hour earlier (3 PM instead of 4 PM) and arrive in Venice 3 1/2 hours earlier the next day (10:30 AM instead of 2 PM). Thought you might like to know in case you have any private tours that would be affected.

Bob & Carol

Hi Putterdude. We're doing a Coastal Wine Cruise on Celebrity this Sept. and are renting a van for our group to visit Buschart Gardens. Is there a winery anywhere nearby that we could do some wine tasting or can you suggest something to see, being that we have the van for the day?

Thanks!

If you have a beverage package can you get a bucket of beer or are you limited to getting them one at a time?

You can only get one at a time. If both you and your wife have the package and you take both cards, they will give you one on each card. My wife & I would go to lunch and on the way back to the cabin we'd get a beer on each card and later we'd each get a Coke for her to have in the cabin. Just ask the ba:rtender to not open them when you order and then you can have them for later in your room.:D:D

Anyone?

Yes they have it at the bars - I don't know what it costs, but I did hear people ordering it.

Very resonable would be the Olde Spaghetti Factory in Gastown link

You might want to look at the Water St. Cafe in Gastown link

More upscale would be Aqua Riva almost next door to the Pan P. link

A pub style restaurant closeby would be Steamworks: link

Joe Fortes, a bit of walk and a bit upscale link

Cardero's, a marine pub, one of my faves but a bit of a walk.. link

Thanks - Putterdude!

Hi my friend - you were very helpful on our first visit to Yancouver for our Alaska Cruise in 2009, so I figured you would be the perfect person to ask about a reasonable place to have dinner within walking distance to the Pan Pacific. We have 7 people who have cruised together at various times before, all going on the Celebrity Coastal Wine Cruise leaving on Sept 9. We are coming in on the 8th and all staying at the Pan Pacific. We also hope to be joined by a couple that we cruised with who live in Vancouver. Any place that you can suggest for a reasonably priced reunion get together?:):)

My DH and I will be on the Equinox next month. I am thinking about getting the Premium package for myself (love Martinis) and getting the classic for my husband. Can a person get a drink besides a martini in the martini bar and get something like a Jack and coke in the Molecular bar?

On our Solstice cruise last Sept. the Martini bar did have a complete complement of regular liquors like Jack Daniels & others as well as mixers, but at the Molecular bar, other than what they made, you might have to wait for a few minutes for them to fill your order (they would send someone to the nearest bar to get what they didn't normally stock, or go themselves after they filled their pending orders).

Hi there - we are going on our first cruise with Celebrity on 4 Feb. We are very interested in the premium drinks package, could someone just explain a couple of things:

 

Are you restricted to what amount you can drink (we don't intend on drinking ourselves silly, but we just want to know if we can have more than 1 or 2 glasses of wine during the evening and if we can have a few cocktails before and after dinner, actually, if we can drink alcohol when we want).

 

Do you get a card or something else to identify that you are on a drinks package?

 

Any responses and advice would be gratefully appreciated. The only other cruise we have been on was a Princess one last year and when we got our bill at the end of the stay the majority of cost was for drinks, so I'm thinking the package would be worth it for us and indulgent but I really want to understand how it works as the Celebrity website doesn't really explain it in full.

When you buy the package (either onboard or ahead of time your Seapass card is marked with a sticker or an imprint showing the package you have bought. You show your pass to the bartender or waiter when you order your drink. You can order as many of whatever drink is included in your package, but only one drink at a time per card. If you and your wife buy a package, you can take both cards and get 2 drinks of your choice (to take back to the cabin for instance). You are not limited in the quantity of drinks of any kind which you consume any day, hour or minute. It is solely dependent on how much you can drink and still remember where your stateroom is located - LOL

Hope this is helpful - My wife and I felt is was worth every penny to be able to try many new drinks as we wanted (if we didn't like one, we ordered another), plus the Molecular Bar on the Solstice class and waters, coffee, fresh squeezed juice, coffee's, etc. during our lat cruise.

i dont think there is but you will only be able to order 1 at a time and this will be opened so no buckets :(

You can get the beer or soda or water unopened to take back to your room, just tell them when you order it.

We were on the Solstice last September and had the premium package for both of us. On the packages (whether classic or premium you cannot get anything from the in room mini-bar or room service. You can get anything within your package at any bar (one at a time) and take it back to your stateroom. We would have a drink at the bar and then order what we wanted (an unopened beer for mw and a Coke for my wife, one on each card, for instance) for later in the room, just before we went back. We would then put them in a cooler we had brought for the room and have them later. :D:D

We're seriously considering the Premuim Package - but one thing is holding us back.

 

On our last X cruise, we had a terrible time getting wine in the MDR - and we were ordering by the bottle! The Sommelier was way to busy to take care of the number of tables he had - so often our wines would appear half way through dinner or we'd be in need of an additional bottle for the table and couldn't get any service.

 

If we get a drink package, we'll be ordering by the glass - which we suspect would make it even harder to get service.

 

Just wondering how those who've had the drink packages - and who drink more than 1 glass of wine with dinner - found the service to be?

We just got back on Oct 3 from a week on the Solstice. We each had the premium package and had no problem with getting all the wine we wanted in the MDR. Saw many others having great service too.

jg51, you are to be complimented for the hard work in putting the original list together! We are sailing on Solstice Sep 12th and 26th and we now know what we are doing with respect to the beverage packages! Based on what we saw in the price list and the subsequent information, I'll be getting the premium and my wife will get the classic package. The nice thing is that the packages are sold in CAD for us, so we have no exchange to worry about. We are looking forward to it!! Thanks

Hi Z3M - this is the link to the Roll Call for the 9/26 Solstice sailing. We have quite a group going and a lot of neat people in it.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1129411

We are going on the Solstice Sept 26 too! First time cruisers and very much welcome all advice. We were wondering if the pre-purchased package would be a good idea for us. I like red wine and my husband is a rum and diet coke kind of guy (and wine with dinner). We've booked the Aqua Class and think it will be peaceful enough for us to actually miss our six yr old :) see you on board!

Hi Pamela - this is the link to the Roll Call for the 9/26 Solstice sailing. We have quite a group going and a lot of Aqua Class people in it. :):)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1129411

To clarify - the new S Cabin spreadsheet DOES NOT include any of the information in Mysticks original Solstice Cabin spreadsheet. It was too time consuming to try to cut & paste from her pdf file so I just started my own Excel file which I converted to a pdf. If anyone does know of an easy way to convert pdf to Excel, please enlighten me!!

Hi librarylady - here's a link to an converter - I haven't personally tried it but it looks like it will do what you want.:)

Do they have plenty of cabs at Ballentyne Pier when the ships return?

Bob;

 

What you are proposing is doable but once you vary from the YVR to downtown routing you are outside of the contracted amount that the limo company has with YVR and sometimes the revised fare can be big. I would be inclinded just to take a cab from the La Quinta to the pier at a cost of about $35 and have your son take a cab from Pacific Palisades to the pier at a cost of about $10....I think you will be money ahead.:)

Thanks, Putterdude (I have to tell you that it was quite a long time after I first posted on this board and you were so gracious in your replies that I realized that your name referred to the fact that you loved golf, not that your were a computer nut - took a long time before I linked your avatar to your name - it must be obvious that I have never played golf in my 70 years).

I dropped the Limo company an email just to see what they might reply. Will let everyone know what I hear

In the meantime, I talked to the front desk a La Quinta and they said that they have a private shuttle company that services cruise passengers to the piers for $13 per person.

Just as a side note, my wife and I are celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary this evening. :):):):):)

We are coming in on the 29th and staying in Richmond at La Quinta. I was thinking of taking their hotel shuttle back to the airport and picking up a Limo to our cruise leaving from Ballantyne Pier. Do you know if the Airport Limo will make a stop at a downtown hotel to pick up another person. My son and his girlfriend are cruising with us and are staying downtown at the Pacific Palisades. I was hoping we could pick them up on the way.

Would we be better off having the Limo pick us up at our hotel in Richmond and then picking them up, or is that a whole lot more expensive?

Or do you know if anyone has done this before?

"Inquiring Minds Want To Know!!!!!" - LOL

The charges are outrageous; in most cases will exceed what you will pay in a liquor store in BC. I would be inclined to bring in my bourbon and vodka in my duty free allotment, buy a bottle or two of wine in Vancouver and then head for a liquor/wine store as soon as I set foot in Alaska to refill the ready use locker.:D

 

If your first stop is Ketchikan then there is a great little wine shop just a couple of blocks from the pier...International Wines at 108, Salmon Landing.

Sounds like the smartest thing would be to stop at a liquor store in BC on the way to the hotel or after check-in!

The liquor store at the airport is very definitely an option however as it is a private liquor store you will pay a premium for the product and convenience. I would seriously consider buying some duty-free liquor at the airport you depart from. You are permitted to bring into Canada 1.14 litres of spirts or 1.5 litres of wine for each adult.

Hi putterdude - we are planning on bringing in a couple of bottles of wine and I was wondering what the duty and other charges would be on a couple of 750ml bottles each of both bourbon & vodka.

Can you buy liquor at the airport after you arrive and before you take your shuttle to the hotel?

As a point of info, I just booked a 2 nights post cruise hotel on priceline for 9/6 - 9/8 for $70 per night through priceline and got the Hyatt Regency Vancouver on Burrard.

I AM VERY PLEASED - :):):)

I'm still working on the pre-cruise night of 8/29.

Thanks Orchid & Putterdude.

One more question - I take it that if you go to the departures food court area, it is before the departure security area and there is no problem with dragging your luggage.

My wife and I are meeting my son & his girlfriend on Aug 29 to sail on the 7 day Alaska cruise on Celebrity Mercury on Aug 30.

They arrive at YVR at 11:45 AM and our flight gets in at 1:30 PM. What do you recommend as to how we meet up at the airport. We will be staying at the same hotel downtown, so I thought that it would be a good idea to share a Limo from YVR to the hotel.

Is there a place where they can get something to eat while they wait for us to arrive?

If necessary they can go ahead to the hotel on their own, but I thought if it wasn't to inconvenient they could wait for us to arrive.

I'd appreciate any suggestions from those of you who are familiar with the logistics of YVR.

Thanks.