Antonintassie

Allways wamted to go to Graceland long live the King

Thanks Greengrunt8,

 

Yes, Virgin would be good for us direct flight Brisbane to Lax. We are thinking of doing a couple of days in Memphis and also Nashville on our way to Miami to catch the ship.

This is our plan at this stage, its just a matter of timing now for us.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Cheers Bob & Chris:):):)

Hi Bob

VA now do direct Brisbane to LAX flights which may help Qld based travellers ,I used to fly with them Melbourne to Lax but they have dropped the flight .

Another good option for those in the North is Sydney to Dallas /Fort Worth nice new Qantas A380 and good connections to either FLL or Miami

Hi Bob and Chris

We are flying from Tasmania to catch this cruise on Jan 4th ,the cruise booking has been straightforward the air component however has been

a challange and I fly for business 100 + days a year.

I ended up utilising LAX to FLL as it has better timings and more flight options.

We booked a suite nearly 12 months ago and the pricing has only gone up and all suites are booked so I am glad we booked early.

This will only be our second cruise we did Barcelona to Venice on the Royal Princess and it was just ok so this is give cuising "one more chance " trip.

We will post a review when we return to Australia.

All The Best

Tony

Hi Guys.

 

Just wondering if anyone of you guys out there have cruised on the Celebrity Eclipse on the 14 night Ultimate Caribbean Cruise. If so, would you recommend it.

Considering flying over from Australia to do this cruise in the near future some time.

 

A great time to cruise that region would also be most helpful.

 

Thankyou very much in advance.

 

Bob & Chris ( Downunder ):):):)

Hi John

I live in this part of Tassie ,best option if you want to get around is to rent a car ,the traffic is very light and the city itself is easy to navigate and park in ,I would recommend driving along the coat in a westerly direction .Highlights are Table Cape ,Boat Harbour ,Sisters Beach Stanley If you dont feel like driving Burnie itself is right on the sea and the city centre is an easy walk from the port.Burnie has some good sights like the Whiskey distillary ,makers centre etc.

Hi Barcelona cruiseport was our first time cruise departure on the Royal Princess ,nice modern setup smooth and seamless as a suite passenger ,but all the lines seemed to move quickly and efficiently

Hi

Great review as someone who is about to go on our second cruise and first with celebrity this was a great insight into who does what

Europe to Australia via Suez canal with Israel,Jordan and the UAE

Dam I will have to giveaway my suit and tux and buy a new wardrobe .

your "miami chic" is going to look fairly windblown

Excellent rate and a good solid airline i used to love Honolulu stopovers on my flights to Canada but alas it is direct now with AC

Hi Paul

I fly alot and unfortunately East Coast Australia to US / Canada is perhaps the most protected and costly piece of airspace on the planet.

Your choices are Qantas who code share with AA ,Virgin Australia who code share with Delta ,Air Canada to Vancouver and fly backwards ( This actually sometimes works out very well on price and time) or United who have just upgraded their planes out of Australia.

Basically fares rarely go down so the further out you book the better .Australians like to travel and Dec to end of Feb is a popular time for us to holiday .

Air Canada to Vancouver often has good pricing as attracts alot of skiers heading to BC and Alberta .They use a 777-300 or 200 ER and the flight is about 13 Hours connections to US East coast via Toronto ,Calgary ,Edmonton and some direct are plentiful.

You will like Australia in Jan so please do not let the flight impede you ,myself DW and DS are flying Melbourne to Miami for a cruise on the Eclipse as they say getting there is all part of the journey.

Love Turkey as an Australian we tend to have a rather special relationship with them ANZAC cove despite the carnage created a bond between us that has lasted for nearly 100 years.You will be awed by the history ,culture and people

Unfortunately "family fun" often becomes code for less service and refined customer contact hence as a family with an older teen we avoid it .

As Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are part of the same group I'd also suggest that they are trying to distinguish two different products, Modern Luxury vs Family Fun, so the overall Group has products that appeal to as wide a market as possible.

Hi

We are very new to cruising and have a Celebrity cruise booked for Jan 2015 Eclipse cruise in a suite.

We travel alot for work and pleasure and I have to say that the cruise industry is unique in ability to attract and maintain brand loyal customers.Sure we have a couple of favourite airlines and maybe one or two hotels we repeat stay with but in general we look for new experiences.

Our first trial of cruising was in a suite on the new Royal Princess for 12 days in Europe last September ,was it Cadillac ,no to unrefined for us but it obviously was a tested and tried formula and repeat cruisers seemed to think it was better than average.

We are hoping that Celebrity will be a little more intuative service wise ,perhaps a little better at providing a more modern stylish experience perhaps BMW to use a car comparison.

As a newbie one of the challanges I think cruise industry really has is maintaining its loyal repeat customers whilst attracting a new group of clients and changing things is not always the answer "if it is not broken dont mess around with it "

On the other hand you do need to attract new clients who have the income and the inclination to pay for a high end product on a larger ship and I think the new suite enhancements that Celebrity are rolling out will appeal to a new group of customers whilst making repeat customers feel even more appreciated.People like to be LOOKED after when the holiday and do not want stress or cutbacks in service change however is an evolution that all business have to try if the want to stay in the game alas Oldsmobile just did not attract enough buyers with a product that did not evolve.

Hi

Peach nector is readily available in glass bottles and cans in Australian supermarkets if however decide to BYO.

You need to declare all food items on entry documentation when entering Australia , I would not anticipate any issue with labelled juice .As an aside the "I have goods to declare line" is often faster in Sydney than the "nothing to declare line".

Hello Margaret and Carl

I travel to Dubai for work and pleasure around 6 times per year and have stayed at a most of the 5 star hotels in Dubai.

If you want close access to the Airport and sites like Dubai Creek ( Souks etc) Mall of Dubai ,Burg Khalifi etc dont stay out near Jumeriah.

I personally like Raffles Dubai great staff ,rooftop pool other solid product is Hilton Dubai creek ,Fairmont .Rotana has some really nice hotels but some are no alcohol .

Taxis are cheap spotlessly clean and Dubai .Watch the heat during the middle of day try and be indoors like a mall etc as it can be a shock.

Hi

We are a couple in this age group and our first cruise was in Europe on the Royal Princess .Boring and unrefined evenings is the only way to describe the experience .

If you are travelling on your own I suspect it would be even more so,if you do cruise I would suggest taking a friend .

We are very experienced travellers but our first cruise was not that great ,not to be beaten we are flying across the world to give the Caribbean with Celebrity a try.We picked a cruise which has some late departures from port so we can stay in town in the evening before reboarding.

Hi

We have travelled a few times in both time slots and Sept / Oct has been much more weather friendly .If you are sailing to Turkey it maybe a little cool but nothing to nasty.

Hi we sailed with our son on the Royal Princess in the Med ,in a suite the Royal has no indoor pool so the pool question is negated .Our Royal cruise was our first and just ok the Princess product struck us as being a little unrefined and the ship itself was rather large and not all that user friendly.I can not comment on Celebrity we have our first cruise in Jan 2015 on the Eclipse .

We have done the UK as a land based trip and I would perhaps look at this before a cruise the rail and road systems are good and the distances are short by Australian and I suspect US standards.

Hi

I am self employed and try to run my business whilst taking a break with my family ,I do wish I could just cut myself of but no work ,no income ,no cruise ,I really only use email whilst on board and whilst slow it gets the job done .I have no problem with paying for internet access as I have a satelitte phone also and am aware of the high costs of bandwidth for this type of service.

The real killer is generally the fact that my calls and work emails are in the middle of the night due to the time difference between Tasmania and the Northern Hemisphere buts that ok I rest when I can and enjoy the time away.

Hotel Becher nice small hotel with great personel service

You are joking ,going to a private plot owned and guarded by the cruiseline that got you there sounds like prison to me its hardly a destination experience.

Hi

I stay at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai and the butlers are fantastic its a shame Singapore did not impress I can not compare as I never travel in Asia

I love the phrase "Anticipative Service" as it sums up a great deal what I try to explain to people when they ask what a good butler does. I believe to need to add to that "Innovative Service" because a great butler will also provide solutions better than those you can conceive yourself.

 

However, I wish I could be as confident as you about training. Raffles uses the same training organisation as Azamara and, as I said in a previous post, all the butlers at Raffles were dreadful. Training may add a final gloss to a butler but, to a great extent, they are born and not made. If they do not have a natural empathy, it is impossible for them ever to anticipate what is required. If they are not naturally creative, it is impossible for them to learn how to be innovative.

Hi

The reef is accessed from mainland ports ie Cairns ,Townsville generally by highspeed boats or alternatively by helicopter

In relation to weather Nov to March is the wet season in FNQ so expect some tropical storms and potentially the chance of a cyclone .

I lived in Townsville and this was my least favourite time of year

Looks great fantastic beer list its a pity it will not be on the Eclipse in Jan for our first Celebrity cruise ,I guess we will just have to book another