seapointer

Not at all. The room was very quiet.

We are taking the June 13 cruise from Lisbon. Apparently, based on the gap in its schedule, dry dock will run from April 30 to May 18. I do not know how to assess the time required to make the extensive changes that are promised to match the remaking of the Riviera, which is its sister ship. Is this sufficient time to redo all the bathrooms, cabins, restaurants and public areas or will lower categories be unchanged?

Thank everyone for the responses. It seems there should be sufficient opportunities to get to the D Day beaches, but I guess it will be a wait and see for MSM.

So we booked a Marina cruise in June 2024 from Lisbon to Amsterdam, and our TA sent the excursion catelog. To my surprise, there was no tours to Mont St. Michel nor to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Not from LeHavre. Not from St. Malo.

This is such a glaring omission, I am wondering if it is an error or oversight.

Does anyone have information about this?

Booked this suite 7 months before we sailed, and beat a $1000 pp price increase. Cabin was well positioned and a short walk to the elevators and easy access to the Retreat and Lumiere.

Very spacious with a large closet, plenty of hangers, 3 small and 6 large drawers. The very comfortable bed faces the veranda which is a nice view and creates easier flow about the room. Bathroom is large and well stocked, though the shower controls need getting used to.

TV was limited to a few news and sport stations, Celebrity programs,  2 movie channels and a few childrens programs. On demand provided a few new and old movies.

Our Butler Liam was a great help and very friendly.

Before I make dining reservations it would be helpful to know the times and approx. length of the main shows, if anyone knows.

Thanks 

Traveling in a Sky Suite on Apex. Is Blu open to Suite passengers? On our last Celebrity cruise (on the Millenium) it was, but that was 3 years ago.

We were considering a cruise on Silhouette mid September (I think it was Sept 13) from Southampton to France, Belgium, Holland, Norway and Denmark. It is no longer listed on the Celebrity website. A cruise with a similar itinerary on Anthem of the Seas on Sept. 23 is gone and replaced with a different schedule.

I haven't seen any news releases about this but suspect it is COVID related. 

If anyone has info on this, please list.

I'm on the same Zuiderdam cruise as Turtles06. HAL has a real penchant for making easy things difficult.

When we got to our cabin on embarkation day, there was a paper with the three plans. It had prices for only the daily plans (24 hours from signup):

• Social: 200Mb, $14.99/day
  
• Surf: 300Mb, $24.99/day
  
• Premium: 500Mb, $29.99/day
  

However, when you go to buy it on the Navigator site, you also get the option to buy a plan for the duration of this voyage (20 days) at very reduced rates. The page with that information no longer shows up, since I bought the Surf plan for $199.99 ($10/day). It's still exhorting me to upgrade to Premium for another $5/day, prorated for the remaining 17 days.

 

Speed isn't bad and seems to not be prone to large slowdowns, but that's very subjective, since both fast.com and Speedtest are blocked.

 

I have had to regularly and variously log off and on to restart the connection, close and reopen tabs, shutdown the browser, and shutdown and restart my Android tablet. I suppose I can't complain, something like the bumblebee joke: is not that it flies so badly as that it flies at all.

 

Good luck!

My experience in July on the Zuiderdam Baltic cruise was with the Surf plan. I found it painfully slow for anything other than emails. Attachments were a major problem to download. This was true with both an Ipad and Iphone.

Has anyone used this airline to get across the big pond? How was the experience. I noticed that they seem to have very good prices.

 

Rollie

We flew them earlier this month, London to NYC. Their ground personnel and customer service sets a new standard for disorganized. After enduring changes in the aircraft, delay in departure (4 hours), directions to a phantom pick-up station for food vouchers, misleading and contradictory text messages and misinformation at the airport, we actually had a pleasant flight. Nevertheless, I would never use them again. EVER !

HAL site says:

 

Suite Amenities Package

(for all Suites, excluding Neptune Suites) — prices starting at $289.00

includes complimentary laundry and pressing; Holland America bathrobe with

monogram of choice; in-stateroom High Tea or daily canapés; fresh flowers; special

VIP debarkation procedures; special VIP debarkation lounge; Pillows a la Carte Menu;

initial stateroom beverage setup; $50 Beverage Card; Pinnacle Grill dinner

 

No mention of Neptune Lounge or PG breakfast (which is the same menu as MDR anyway)

We were in a SS suite on Zuiderdam in July and never saw this package offered, either before or during the cruise (and we booked direct with HAL).

Actually, I thought the amenities for a Signature Suite were kind of skimpy, other than a much larger cabin.

The new new rates indicated above are for those ships in recent drydock that have been upgraded to "high-speed" internet. If you purchase all days at once, the rates have about a 40% reduction.

We were on Zuiderdam last month, only a few months after drydock. In no way was the internet "high speed." To the contrary, it was painfully slow and we had the middle level service.

One thing to know id that there are daily and full cruise rates. The full cruise rate drops daily so waiting a few days to sign up will save a bit. I suggest you try the daily rate first to see how well it is working.

We were on Zuiderdam last month. The ship recently had a long drydock and is ion spectacular shape, and has added the Music Walk concept that provides a greater variety of entertainment. We had an SS suite that was completely redecorated and very roomy and comfortable. The only complaint we had was the mediocre food in the MDR.

I submitted my review, of our July cruise, over a week ago but it has not been posted. So I want to list a few comments:

1. Pre cruise package had us assigned to a hotel in Copenhagen that was in the suburbs, not downtown. The Scandic Sythaven was clean and modern but not acceptable as to location and lack of normal amenities. For example: not a single drawer in the room or toilet, no shelves, and a small closet that might hold 5 or 6 garments.

2. Embarkation was orderly and delays were minimal.

3. The ship is in excellent shape and has added the music walk concept. Our Signature Suite was spacious and comfortable with new furniture (but still with crappy shower curtains). TV was limited to 6 channels of news and sports, and wifi was dreadfully slow.

4. Food was hit or miss. Some nights there were problems with entrees being lukewarm or worse. Appetizers, soups and desserts were generally excellent. Pinnacle was great and Canaletto was very good. For the first time in all our cruises, we actually found the Lido superior to the MDR.

5. Entertainment was pretty good at the music walk venues, but the production shows and stand up comic were disappointing and formulaic. The BB King group was fabulous, except for needing to expand their play list to the demands of a 10 day cruise. The Lincoln Center group was surprisingly innovative and it was hard to get a seat for their shows by the end of the cruise.

6. Excursions were pricey but generally well organized and interesting, particularly the evening tour of the Hermitage.

In conclusion, I gave it a 4 out of 5, mainly because of some disappointment with the MDR.

We Debarked Zuiderdam on May 10th after 18 Nights on the TA. They had the three Plans that Crew News mentioned. The lowest Plan: allows access to most Social Media sites. The Middle Package (Surfing): Allows email access as well as surfing sites. The Premium Plan: In addition to everything in the lower Plans includes audio/video calling and Streaming.

 

We took the Middle Plan and it was $189 for the 18 Nights before our 5 Star Discount. We thought this was a great deal as well as not having to worry about running out of minutes or Logging Out. They do recommend Logging Out though so not to slow down the system.

 

As the day went by when you would Log In it would ask if you wanted to add onto the Plan, it showed the price which then went lower and lower closer to the end of the Cruise.

Blue Ribbon accurately describes the 3 options. We were on Zuiderdam last month and took the middle price package. I waited several days to book it as the price dropped every day to reflect the shorter length of the usable period. I found this plan adequate for email and to make phone calls using the wifi on my iPhone. There was no time limit or minutes restrictions.

However, there was great difficulty in downloading attachments or connecting to web sites. I don't know if the premium package would have been much better.

I am all for the easing of dress requirements, having found it a waste of suitcase space to pack a tux or suit for just 2 or 3 nights. Having said that, casual does not mean sloppy or in disregard of what is requested or required. You can be just as comfortable in a buttoned shirt as in a T shirt, and you won't be disrespectful of the other guests.

We had a complicated post cruise itinerary, but HAL got us a very good one way price on SAS from Newark to Copenhagen. It seems that booking one way flights online to Europe price out more than a round trip. For example RT to Europe on United was under $900, but one way was $2100.

Also, we did not have to pay until our final cruise payment.

We booked our own return flight on Norwegian in Premium Economy for less than most carriers charged for Basic Economy. (HAL does not book Norwegian).

Anyone know if NFL games are made available on Solstice while on its Australia/N.Z. itineraries? I hope to get a glimpse of the playoffs, although I imagine the times are pretty weird.

Hi Tommy:

We've all heard stories about people wandering around and looking for their cabin. Perhaps this is a sign that Celebrity is attempting to attract an older demographic and recognizes the problems that may happen with that passenger pool. Actually I was told on MIL that it was done because people do forget. I mentioned the same security concern that you indicated.

At the age of 70 I have no problem remembering my room number. I'm more likely to forget to take my room card with me!

I'm sure it as something to do with legal issue. ie cancelling port then forking $$ to the Port Authority for breach of contract. X will wait until the last minute. In addition, is there berth space in other port.?

Yes, money is a factor but a lack of excursions in a port operating bare-bones will also result in loss of money. As to available alternate ports, I would think that the sooner they make a decision, the more likely they will find one.

Just got off the Celebrity website. They still show port calls in San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Martin on February 2018 sailings. These are highly improbable from what I see reported in the news, so my question is why hasn't Celebrity worked out alternate schedules? I certainly will not book a cruise if I have to guess where it will stop.

I know that these islands need the tourism to help rebuild their economies, but there is little reason for receiving visitors if there is no infrastructure to provide tourist activities.

Let me be the first to say that it is a terrific decision by Carnival Corp. to express its intention to aid the affected islands to recover and rebuild.

However, it would be a mistake to resume port calls where the infrastructure will provide limited or no facilities and activities for tourists. It seems unfair to cruisers to force feed us into a St. Thomas or St. Martin until it has recovered sufficiently. Having said that, HAL should not keep customers guessing where their October, November, or December cruise will make a port call.

Seems like St Maarten will not be ready as a viable stop in the near future. They have to focus on food, housing, water, sewage, medical facilities , electric supply, roads, tons of debris and security first...

Agreed, but as much as the island economy needs tourists, it would be a mistake to resume port calls before the tourism infrastructure has been restored to an adequate level.

Judging from the news reports, it would seem that St. Martin, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk will be out of commission for months, perhaps for the entire winter season. Some other ports may be impacted for lesser periods. Hopefully, they will recover without unnecessary delays, but it would be a mistake to resume calling at a port until infrastructure has been restored to a level that will provide the services required by tourists.

It would be illogical for Celebrity to wait until a ship is out to sea before making changes. The alterations in the Equinox schedule on the Celebrity website are good indications of what might be done.

Are there wheelchairs (electric or not) available for rental or use on Celebrity ships? If so, what is the cost and can they be taken off for excursions or use in port ?