cathaana

Best tea selection with the highest quality tea on any cruise line I know.

Is it Ronnefeldt on the E2 as well? I always get Ronnefeldt care packages sent to me in Australia. While I have found some decent tea here, the prices are incredibly high. :rolleyes:

IIRC they do. I just wonder whether they do the themed ones? :D My husband and I always loved the Mozart one on the Europa.

We did have an afternoon tea in Michael's Club but the quality of the items wasn't very good. We gave up after trying pretty much everything they offered on two different days. Cheap creams, way to sweet, basically what you can buy in any supermarket.

The premium (pay for) tea bags were okay. I don't remember whether you got them for free in Michael's.

Looks like your route had quite a few different stops than ours. Good to hear that all worked out after the initial stress. :o

What did you like about the ship?

 

 

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The lychee martinis. :D And the soups they served in Luminae. Sadly that was pretty much it. But I think if one is less of a food snob, Celebrity is not a bad option.

We did a cruise in a suite on Solstice last year. The room was tiny (basic room size on Europa), service was a mixed bag, and food was just plain not very good in Luminae. Tried one of the pay restaurants (I think it was Murano). Not bad but also not good. Kind of like a bad day in Europa's buffet restaurant.

I have done a culture/history focused cruise around Sicily on the Hanseatic which was amazing. Can't say anything about the Bremen but the cruisers onboard who had done both were happy with the Bremen as well.

Is there a smiley for turning green with envy? :D

We loved our British Isles cruise on the Europa. It was a garden cruise and we still think of it fondly.

Europe II on the other hand advertises that they are unlike other luxury cruise lines and always welcome children - have family suites and special care for babies (babies are not allowed on other luxury lines until the age of 1 unless they are part of an officers family).

To clarify this a bit - babies have to be at least 8 months to go on a cruise within Europe. Outside Europe, the minimum age is 2 years.

Thanks for the review, vistaman. I have been considering YC on MSC but was doubtful about the food quality. Most seem to be quite happy with it but coming from HL I wasn't sure I would be. Now I know. :D

MSC's Yacht Club is the only one I can think of with something similar to Haven.

We just returned from a Celebrity cruise (in a suite) and all I can say is 'never again'... We'll either go back to Hapag Lloyd or try Crystal next.

It will be a few more years until we will be able to do FP as the kids are too young now. But I subscribed to the thread anyway. At least that way I know what I am missing out on (for now). ;)

What about the included insurance? Doesn't that cover you? Or are you talking about Abbruch? They do offer that but not sure for how much.

In unseren Reisepreisen ist die Stornokostenversicherung der Europäischen Reiseversicherung/ERGO Gruppe enthalten. Die Stornokostenversicherung gilt für Reisende mit Wohnsitz im Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum und für Schweizer.

Wir bieten Ihnen innerhalb unseres Rundumsorglos-Paketes der Europäischen Reiseversicherung/ERGO Gruppe eine Reiseabbruchversicherung an. Unser Rundumsorglos-Paket beinhaltet:

• Reiseabbruchversicherung
  
• Reisekrankenversicherung
  
• Telefonische Stornoberatung
  
• Reisegepäckversicherung
  

Diese Leistungen sind nur im Paket erhältlich und jederzeit vor Reiseantritt buchbar. Informationen zu Preisen und Buchungsbedingungen erhalten Sie telefonisch unter +49 40 307030 - 70.

I think HL Cruises has belonged to TUI for about 10 years.

Wow, so sorry to hear that. The food was always the absolute highlight on the Europa. :(

We had to collect our luggage after the flight but then handed them over to the representative at the airport.

We've had friends on board in Dublin. They have to provide paperwork (passport details) and you have to pay for their meals. But pretty easy process.

i never risked to do a surprise cruise so far - most of the times it is to Greek Isles -

One of the reasons we never booked one - there are more interesting places to go to than the Greek Isles. But I do like the concept.

The Europa has been doing them for a while and I always wanted to go on one. Didn't even realize the Europa 2 does them as well now.

Probably because that would require time and effort. :p

A suite is defined as ' a group of rooms occupied as a unit' as per Webster. Size doesn't come into it at all. But then, precise language and marketing have never gone together.

I'm curious. What does a stateroom/cabin need to become a suite? For me, there has to be a delineation (wall?) between bed and sitting areas. But the new Scenic Eclipse fails here. Thoughts?

In theory, a suite is two rooms but a lot of cruise lines call rooms 'suites' as soon as they are a bit larger than the standard rooms.

As I said before, I wouldn't mind a standard at all but nobody is ever going to agree on one. Especially not if it is left to cruisers to decide. Ask 10 people, get 10 opinions.

As an example, for me, AI is absolutely not a sign of luxury. And cabin size, where does it start? Is 25m2 enough? Does it have to be 27m2 or even 30m2? And why? And service is a very important factor as well. You can have great hardware but without good service, it's nothing. But again, attentive service for one might be annoying chatty service to another. :confused:

I don't remember how long we walked exactly but it was definitely easily doable. I think around 30 minutes each way.

A beautiful slow cruise right into the city. Anchored at Gamla Stan and then a short tender hop. Definitely a port I want to do again some day.

We didn't do a tour and just walked around by ourselves. Super easy to do. If you haven't done the Vasa, go visit the museum.