simonaitch

I always thought it was a free service ?

I always see it arrive outside Hudson Bay Shopping centre. Luckily for me I'm sat in the Churchill !:D

:D:D

Perfect. That's good to know, thanks. Not planning on being up until all hours every night but it's good to know there are venues if I fancy a late one or two.

 

Thanks!

 

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Forgot to mention the Rendezvous bar. Quite entertaining watching some pretty good dancers doing there "Dancing with Stars" routines. Really good Jazz style 4 piece combo kept the dancefloor busy most nights.

Did you need a Visa for China?

Yes.

I was on a UK passport and my wife a Canadian passport. We went into China twice so a multiple visit visa was needed.

Hi,

 

I'll be on the Millennium in December and am curious about how active the ship is late into the evening. Do you know if there were many people in the bars after 11 or midnight?

 

Many thanks

 

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The Cosmos lounge with DJ Lenny was the late night venue. On the occasions I frequented it there was a party crowd upto around midnight and a drinking crowd that went on until 3 in the morning some times. The Martini bar was lively.

Cellar Masters had a few enthusiasts that kept it open until midnight.

Please write a review. I’m so intrigued by this itinerary!

Happy to answer any specific questions you might have.

Would love to hear everything. Did you stay in Shanghai post cruise or leave same day? How was the ship? I am a S class guy so no very little about M class. What time did you embark in Hong Kong for your China cruise?

We stayed at the Grand Central Shanghai, it was excellent.

It was our first Celebrity cruise and overall we were impressed and would certainly cruise again with them. I understand Millenium is to undergo major refit, however for now she is doing just fine.

We embarked in HK for our Vietnam cruise and did the back to back embark on the ship when we returned in for our 2nd cruise.

Things to note:

Disembarkation in Beijing and Shanghai was a bunfight. Probably the worst organization I have seen on any of my 100 plus cruises.

Fog is apparently to be expected this time of year and will disrupt your travel plans.

Back to Back, roundtrip Hong Kong and Hong Kong to Shanghai.

Ask me anything.

Not to hijack this thread from the OP too much. :) But we've never been to Vancouver either and will be staying a night at the Westin Bayshore (no car). What are some good restaurant options within walking distance?

You're about 5 mins walk from Denman Street, it has many choices and price levels. Maybe would be to walk along the Seawall, directly outside your hotel there are 2-3 restaurants on the wall including Carderos. If you don't mind walking 15 mind head towards the Olympic flame site couple of gastro pub restaurants there. Finally if you're really tired eat in the casual bar at the Westin, its pretty good.

Do any cruisers have experience of arriving in Tianjin Port ? I seem to remember a post on here which described the arrival as mayhem, long queues at immigration, long wait times and if I remember correctly some passengers on individual tours missed there meeting times shoreside.

I was wondering if the above was the norm when arriving in Tianjin or was it just a one off ?

Do any cruisers have experience of arriving in Tianjin Port ? I seem to remember a post on here which described the arrival as mayhem, long queues at immigration, long wait times and if I remember correctly some passengers on individual tours missed there meeting times shoreside.

I was wondering if the above was the norm when arriving in Tianjin or was it just a one off ?

Sailing into Cartagena in the New Year. Do Canadian passport holders still have to pay $70 fee upon arrival ? Can dual citizens ( Canada/UK) enter on a UK passport ?

The pain of defeat was eased by looking at the teams below us - and the cocktails:cool:

Nice one Kev. Great report, we are sailing on the Star Jan 5th looking forward to it. Hope your Mom is getting better.

@kevg 1889. Enjoying your report, pity your team lost ! WAWAW !!

What a good question, sorry i can't give you an answer, however I live in Victoria and if you are a beer aficionado I'll happily send you my list of top pubs, brew pubs to visit.

How is this post related to this thread? The new immigration policy does not apply to Canadians.

It does if they are dual citizens ( ie iraq - canadian).

Its the timings they've got wrong, Santorini was a dream visit between 2 and 10 pm and a nightmare 10 until 6.

So how can we get the beer list from Norwegian Jade ?

Thank you for the help and pointing me in the correct direction.

We are booked on the Jade out of Venice later this summer. I can't find anywhere on the website ( where the itinerary is listed) mention which ports are tender or port.

Can someone kindly point me in the right direction for this info ?

Quick Question - I think I like the location (Lower Promenade easy access to outside?), but I just read there might be noise from the galley above. Anyone with experience in that cabin?

 

Thanks.

I wouldn't book it. 2 reasons.

You get you windows cleaned every morning at 4 am and not only are you close to the kitchens you are under the Pinnacle Restaurant.

Report # 49 San Diego, California USA November 16, 2015 Monday Mostly sunny & windy

 

Whoa…..what a ride we had last night………….the waves deepened and the winds howled all night. There was a strange noise that woke us up around 2am. It was the shaking of the empty coat hangers in the closets, sounding like jingle bells. A little unnerving that time of the night. We had left the drapes open, and the room seemed to light up like daybreak. It really was the sheets of water being blown off of the waves, then hitting the lights on the promenade deck. Needless to say, we slept little the rest of the night. The day would start early enough with us getting up at 5am.

 

Well, we made it home safely, but only after a long day, a very long day. Honestly, we don’t have much to complain about, because we live close to San Diego with a short flight back to San Francisco. The only ones that had a closer destination with no flight were table buddies, Holly and Jim, who drove 2 hours north of San Diego to get home. Dave, on the other hand, had a flight to Boston. In a week he will be on his way on an adventure involving a religious pilgrimage in Ethiopia. Wow, now that is a unique destination. Bob and Margaret, live in Kansas, but had an early flight out, triggering a caution notice that their debarking from the ship may be delayed. Don’t know why the powers-to-be alarm folks like that, but there must be a valid reason. In the past, we also got that same notice, but were reassured that we would not miss our flight. No doubt, it does add stress, and is hard to ignore. And, by the way, we did not miss our flight back then.

 

That sort of leads into the story of the crazy morning we all had waiting to disembark, which could have led to missed connections. The border patrol and customs agents were early in boarding, which is always a plus. But, why is it that some people do not follow directions and appear at their assigned time to meet with a face-to-face customs and immigrations check?

 

While at breakfast very early in the dining room, we heard Gene call each group (all non-US citizens) to the check point. It seemed to be going smoothly until around 8am, when he announced that more people needed to be cleared. He repeated this message several times, each time with more desperation in his voice. By then, we had gathered our things, and went to join the line to get off. It had wrapped around both deck two hallways, in each direction. Some of these folks had expedited departure, carrying all of their luggage with them. They were supposed to get off at 8:30am. Well, that time came and went. And let us tell you that some folks were quite unpleasant, the situation either bringing out the worst or even the best in some. Lucky for us, we were surrounded with the “best” of the group, making the best of an impossible situation.

 

The time came when Gene announced names and room numbers of the offenders. There had to be at least 8 people missing that were holding up the entire ship from getting off. If they could be found and identified, they would have been toast. Actually, it did happen, when one of the husbands left the line, admitting he was being summoned. He mumbled something about having a green card, and not needing to be seen. No, he was wrong. He ordered his wife to stay in line until he came back. Great, now we had to wait for her to go. Shortly before 9am, the line began to move. Gene did not announce the ship was cleared, because he wanted to move us out of the way first. As many times as he warned folks not to block the stairways, they came anyway. We have a solution to this process. Make it perfectly clear to all, with detailed instructions, on the need to follow directions for this inspection, or you will be fined. And not little fine. Can you imagine if passengers missed their flights because some ignorant people decide they want to sleep in late, or not disturb their breakfast, or think it doesn’t apply to them? All reasons to throw them overboard……..

 

We said our thanks and goodbyes as we exited, adding that we will be back soon. Since we had pink 1 luggage tags, our stuff was located right inside the terminal with a limited number of other bags. That made all four pieces fairly easy to find. Porters were numerous, as were waiting taxis and vans to take people to the airport. What’s nice about San Diego, is the fact that their airport is only three miles away from the pier. We arrived in minutes after we left the Amsterdam.

 

Little did we know that we were in for another adventure, and not a fun one. Turned out when we checked in with United, three of our bags were overweight by a little. Even with only 2 pounds over 50 pounds (the max), the charge would have been $100 each. Yikes. Even though we had weighed them with our handheld scale, the ship was moving way too much yesterday to get an accurate reading. The good thing was that the agent allowed us to remove a little from each bag, and add it to the HAL bag, which already had all four of the wheels broken. What can you expect from a $30. bag? Quality is not one of them. It still would work as a “drag a bag”. Glad that the luggage was checked, because hauling it is not fun.

 

Several months ago, our flight had been changed from 1:30pm to 11:40am. That is really tight, especially considering the possible delays on the ship. It is always something to keep in mind when booking flights home. If we had been thinking ahead, we could have spent the day and one night in San Diego, and took our time tomorrow getting to the airport. Maybe next year……….

 

The flight went smoothly, and the plane was full. Seems this was one of several commuter flights. This had to be the first time ever that the luggage turned up at the baggage area well before we did. By the time we made our way there, the turnstile had stopped and everyone was gone. Our four bags of luggage had been taken off, and sat there with an attendant watching over it. We came to the conclusion that most everyone on that plane was a commuter, and had no luggage to claim. That’s why all of the overhead compartments were stuffed full.

 

We made our usual call to the shuttle service we had previously arranged for, then waited outside for our driver to arrive. Despite the chilly wind, it was rather pleasant in the sun. Still nice enough to get away with wearing shorts, even in San Francisco. No fog today.

 

There was traffic, but then, there is always traffic. It slowed down through downtown, then picked up once we got on the Bay Bridge. Smooth sailing from there. It was nice to see that the trees have begun to change colors. Eventually, it will mean raking and cleaning them out of the pool, confirming that everything comes with a price.

 

All is well that ends well. With a few exceptions, we feel that the Tales of the South Pacific was very close to the ambience of a Grand Voyage. Sure, there were no special gifts for everyone, and the quality of the food was not as fancy, but the sea days as well as the port days were full of activities and excursions. With fewer “gala” nights, there was only one evening that La Fontaine dining room was decorated, and that was for Canadian Thanksgiving (thanks to Tom G, the dining room manager, who happens be be……Canadian). We certainly appreciated being singled out, along with the other five Presidents’ Club members, to receive our amenities and recognition at the Mariner’s Cocktail Reception. The 8 x 10 photo they gifted us will be a nice remembrance.

 

So until we sail again in six weeks, we will end this with a fond farewell and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season. And, we will be back…………..soon.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

3 of the names called were ship entertainers. I won't name names.

Will the ship have foreign currency exchange for the various ports of call on this Southern Pacific cruise?

My research shows we will need the following currencies:

Samoan Tala

Fijian $

Tongan $

New Zealand $

French Pacific Franc

and of course US $

Regards,

Simon