ElmaLee

4 hours ago, mickey89 said:

The Silhouette has by far the better itinerary.  The stand out ports for tourists are 1. Kusadasi 2. Athens  3. Istanbul 4. Rhodes 5. Santorini 6. Crete .

 

Mykonos, Katakolon and Valleta are very missable -  all three best to stay aboard

Malta has a lot to see.  Valletta is worth a walk round, or visit the war time tunnels.  Mdina is also worth a visit.

Go to Istanbul.  A massive city, teeming with people.  From the ship you can watch all the ferries swarming to their various destinations along the Bosphorus.  

Cruise ships berth near the Golden Horn area with all the major sites - Aga Sophia, Blue Mosque, cisterns, Topkapi Palace and Grand Bazaar.

It is easy to walk or get a tram over Galata Bridge and do exploring on foot.

Kusadasi lets you take a tour to Ephasus, which is very intesting.

If you arrive a day or two early in Athens you can explore the acropolis and Parthanon and the other ancient sites.

Option 2 for me!

We did a ship tour to Cinque Terre from La Spezia in July, off of Edge.  

Coach from ship to railway station, then train to one of the villages.  
Had a guided tour and time for lunch.  Then a small boat down the coast to see the other villages before landing at Portovene for a brief tour, then coach back to ship.

it was a very enjoyable day.  Lots of steps!

Are your bookings ‘linked’?

as I understand things, you can only make reservations for your own booking or other linked bookings.

EST.  I am on GMT and I checked in at 5.30am GMT on the first day check in was available.

On 12/5/2023 at 7:41 PM, AlanCruise said:

Note that the ESTA is valid for multiple trips over 2 years (or until your passport expires if earlier) and you only give details for the first visit.
P&O recommend that you take a printed version of the approved ESTA as confirmation.
And finally make sure you apply via the official site at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov 
It should cost you 21 US Dollar - there are other sites out there that try and charge more.

If you have an existing ESTA from a previous trip to USA you can amend the address for your arrival in USA.  Just log in to your ESTA account.

As indicated ESTA valid for 2 years as long as you retain same passport.  

A quick Google seach will find you lots.

We have a similar challenge with a 9:30 pm flight.  Ship offers 2 tours (swamps or HOHO bus) but still arrive at MIA early afternoon.  

Our current plan is to get a day room in a hotel on South Beach until about 5pm the taxi to MIA.

Out holiday "package" includes transfer to MIA from ship - tht is likely to be at 9am.  So we may take the transfer to MIA then taxi to day hotel.

Im interested in others' views on your question.

Our cruise line - Celebrity - offers two excursions which end at MIA.  One is a swamp boat trip, the other a circuit of the HOHO bus in Miami.

31 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On your Edge cruise in July 2023, did you make reservations for Early or Late seating and were you assigned the same table with the same servers every night?

 

No.  We booked different times and different MDRs on different nights.  Sometimes on the app sometimes by phone in the morning.

I was on Edge in July 2023.  We booked for the MDRs most evenings.  These bookings were honoured.  At busy times there were 2 queues, those with reservations and those without.

I have bookings for Feb 24 on Apex and I expect these to be honoured.  There must be many people making bookings as there are not many slots left.

Like you, we have a late flight out of MIA after disembarkation.  We are looking at a number of day rooms (lots available on internet) with pre-arranged private transfers.

On 11/4/2023 at 6:46 PM, COLArmy said:

I saw a lot of folks recommended making reservations for the 4 MDRs for your cruise but on the Celebrity app it isn’t showing any way to make reservations…anyone know how to do this?

I logged on to my account on a PC and made reservations for MDRs for my Feb 24 cruise on Apex.  They then show up on the app in the calendar.

Stick to their rules, as you would expect them to do if they visited your country.

Whjy not buy locally when off the ship?

On 10/11/2023 at 5:32 PM, chocolabmom said:

If I have already made my dining reservations, does that mean they won't be honored once we are on board?

We are on Apex in February.  We have made reservations in different MDRs for each night.  By the shortage of slots it looks like many others have as well.

on Edge in August they were taking reservations.

46 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I’m confused because we are on a Rome to Barcelona cruise with a stop in Malta and I thought that solves the VAT issue but no

Italy, Spain and Malta are all members of EU.

2 hours ago, theopup said:

We are sailing on The Apex in February for our first experience on an Edge class ship.

 

I have watched lots of videos, reviews etc on all the Edge class ships.

 

They all look very appealing and offer similar experiences, yet perhaps slightly unique, and we are really looking forward to our upcoming Apex experience as well as our upcoming Ascent cruise next fall.

 

 

We are on Apex on 9 Feb.  We were on Edge in August in Med and loved it.  Really looking forward to Apex in Caribbean.

Advice from UK Government on travel to Italy:

"Personal ID

By law, you must always be able to show some form of identification. In most cases a photocopy of the data page of your passport should be enough, but you may also be asked for a second form of photo ID. The police will normally ask for your full passport if you are stopped while driving."

Just now, WestLakeGirl said:

I know you think you have reservation’s  booked but once you are on board you will find out that you don’t. On M and S class ships you can book reservations for dinner but the E class ships are all open seating

On Edge in August MDRs had two queues at busy times, one for those with reservations, one for those without.  I saw people without reservations being turned away or offered a pager.  Hostess staff always checked reservation details before seating us.

23 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

Even though it appears on the website that you can book a time for a table on an edge class ship, this is not the case. It’s entirely open seating. So the information you received was correct. If you want a table like that, you must arrange it on board with the Maitre D.

I’m on Apex in Feb 24 and I have reservations across all 4 MDRs already booked.  I think the challenge for the original poster is the size of the table.

We were on Edge in August.  In MDRs we came across two large groups (10, 12) who had same table each night.  I suspect this needs to be arranged on board.  

“Free” breakfast options on Edge:

* ‘continental’ breakfast in cabin

* MDR, but closes early

* Eden cafe ( not open every morning) (not on S class)

* OVC buffet

* spa cafe

Canary Island cruises are very popular in Europe, the islands get plenty sunshine in winter.  Millions visit each year by plane and some resorts are massive, like Playa de las Americas and Playa del Ingles.  

 Each island has its own features: Tenerife has Mount Teide, the highest mountain in Spain; Gran Canaria has its sand dunes; Lanzarote has amazing lava fields.  La Palma had a volcanic eruption a few years ago.

Cruises generally call into Portuguese Madeira, which is delightful.

We have cruised these islands twice, flying there both times.  Both times were very relaxing and enjoyable but this is not a bucket-list cruise destination.

Was on Edge in August.  Every meal in MDRs was enjoyable.

As there are 4 MDRs each with their own distinctive dishes, plus the daily specials and the usual regulars (salmon, steak, chicken), there is plenty choice.   There were additional daily specials not on the menus too. 

Probably about 16+ main dishes across all the MDRs.  Any dish can be ordered in any MDR.

We found the service to be excellent, as was food presentastion.

We are looking forward to Apex in February.

We sailed Barcelona to Rome in August.  All on-board purchases subject to IVA (Spanish VAT).  No 'duty free' alcohol sold in shops on board.  Cruise called into ports in EU.  (Spain France, Italy)