wadden

Just now, wadden said:

Yes, definitely.  Plus, usually on days 1 and 2 you can use OBC to purchase casino credit and if you spend $100+ you get a bonus of 10% pp. At least that's what happened on all our 'pre-covid' cruises.

 

10 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Hello Everyone!

I’m sure this has been covered in the past but wondering how this is handled post-Covid.

 

Does Celebrity allow Celebrity perk issued OBC (onboard credit) to be used in the casino?  We have a Jan, cruise coming up & have a lot of OBC.  
 

Thank you in advance.
 

 

 

 
 

Thanks so much. Smyths it is! £213 return for 4 of us including parking. ...great price, roughly the same as the National Express. Thanks again for the info.

Don't simply hail a taxi from the rank at Heathrow.:eek:

Southampton is about 60 miles from Heathrow, and a metered taxi will cost you an arm and a leg. :loudcry:

 

Two main choices, both outlined by KYteach :-

 

Cheapest is by National Express bus at about £25 pp. Book a bus which is scheduled to depart from about 90 minutes after your flight is scheduled to arrive, but (subject to availability) you can change that on-the-spot to an earlier or later bus if things don't go to schedule.

You'll need to know your Heathrow arrival terminal - there are Nat Express bus stops at T4 and T5, or the Heathrow central bus station for T's 1, 2 & 3.

Book to Southampton Coach Station, it's a direct service.

Depending on which cruise terminal, you'll likely need a taxi from Southampton Coach Station to your ship at £5 to £10.

https://beta.nationalexpress.com/en

 

The other main option is by booking a private car transfer at something under £100 for the vehicle.

With four of you it's probably the best option.

Smiths is the operator most-frequently recommended on Cruise Critic but there are dozens of operators.

Here's the websites of Smiths & two other operators based at the Southampton end:

www.smithsforairports.com

www.aquacars.co.uk

www.westquaycars.com

All are experienced in airport/port transfers.

Give them your air carrier and flight number & they're best-placed to know the pick-up time.

Do make them aware of the amount of luggage that you'll have, and any young children who might need child seats or booster seats.

 

Two other options.

 

Cruise lines offer their own airport transfer buses. They collect at your airport terminal & deliver you & your luggage to the ship. Price depends which cruise line - from limited background knowledge RCI tends to be expensive, Princess more reasonable.

But for four of you, cruise line transfers won't be best value.

 

You can buy through train tickets to Southampton at Heathrow, but your journey starts with an included RailAir shuttle bus from Heathrow to a mainline station, then a direct train to Southampton Central station. Around £40 pp and involves that bus-to-rail switch so a poor choice.

But trains are frequent and no need to pre-book, so a useful Plan B if your travel arrangements go belly-up.

 

JB :)

Thank you so much. I have contacted Smyths taxi company and got a very good price for an MPV... £213 return including parking charges. Same price as the National Express for 4. Thanks again.

There are 4 of us plus luggage arriving in Heathrow at 9.15 a.m. and departing from Southampton Port later in the afternoon. Is a taxi the best way there and if so, any recommendations?

Thank you so much everyone for being so responsive and helpful. David has very kindly offered to collect the bangle on Sept.8th and I will meet him at Dublin airport on Sept 11th. Thank you so much for the offers though, really appreciate your help. CC pals come up trumps again

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a favour please. While on Celerity Reflection cruise in June this year to the Greek Islands, I left my bangle on the scanner at security in the port of Piraeus, Athens. The port authorities have found it and are holding it for me. Unfortunately no courier company will transport jewellery of any kind to Ireland so I am now unable to be reunited with this bangle. If anyone is coming to Ireland after a visit to Athens, I would very much appreciate if you would please collect the bangle in Piraeus Port, and bring it to Ireland with you. I am prepared to travel anywhere in Ireland to pick it up or can meet you at the airport when you arrive. I have explored every avenue to try to get this bangle back, up to and including the Irish Embassy in Athens, but to no avail. It is of great sentimental value to me and won't take any space in your luggage. If anyone can help me out here, I would be so appreciative as my only other option is to fly back to Athens to collect it myself - an expense I would rather avoid. Many thanks to my CC pals in advance. Fingers crossed.

Thank you so much for going to all that trouble. A fabulous array of photos and info. Invaluable. Enjoy your cruise and keep posting.

What a fabulous, detailed review, thank you so much. We're also Irish and are doing this cruise on Fantasia in March and will be there for St Patrick's day which is also my husband's 60th birthday. I loved your detail regarding HOHO, taxis and shuttles, all very helpful as we haven't cruised in this area before. We too prefer Celebrity and have cruised many, many times with them and, like you, have only chosen MSC because of pricing and the fly-cruise option. Thanks again for taking the time (and the photographs!)

Thanks so much, a great help altogether. Best wishes.

Thank you so much for those photos. Yes, I agree, great location. No other 2cs available now anyway so 6251 here we come! Thanks again and greetings from Ireland.

Thanks so much. Yes, I looked at the sheet but only the only reference is to same cabin on Reflection which is what started my angst as the obstruction shown there are two HUGE lifeboat supports blocking more than half the horizontal view. I looked at deck plans of both eclipse and reflection and they are identical (I never knew this before!) so - I'm assuming if they're identical inside - they're identical outside too. Our TA 'upgrade' us to 2C and advised that the only obstruction would be lifeboats BELOW and clear horizontal view! On that basis, I paid in full and now think I'm stuck with this awful cabin. I emailed him the photo of reflection's balcony yesterday and he's sent it onto Celebrity for confirmation. Have I any options here? thanks again.

:confused:Hello, I have been trying for weeks to find anyone who can tell me how obstructed the view is from this balcony. Did you sail in it? Please help. Celebrity say 30% obstruction, clear horizontal view but obstructed below with lifeboats, which I can tolerate however, looking at images of the outside of the ship, 6251 looks like it has the lifeboat supports DIRECTLY in front of cabin???

Has anyone been in this cabin? Is the balcony very shaded because of the shape of the front of the ship? It looks like a bigger than usual balcony but also looks like it could be in the shade a lot, depening on sailing direction. Would love to clarify as we love a sunny balcony and swe still have time to change cabin number as we don't sail til April 19th. Thank you so much.