catsdinner

Does the Island Princess have the fast internet?  We are going to be boarding in a little over a week.  We got an offer to pre-purchase unlimited but don't know if it a Medallion.net ship.  We are elite and since we are btb will get about 500 minutes anyway.  We have my sisters coming with us so it may be more beneficial if we buy a four device package on board.  Thanks

The last couple of years for Elite tendering, we have had to go to the dining room (or wherever they are giving out tender tickets).  When we enter and show them the black card we are sent to the front of the room . When the next tender is ready for boarding, all the Elites in the room are sent down to the tender first.  

We were just on the Summit and had a connecting cabin even though we didn't know the people beside us.  Yes the divider between the two cabins can be opened or ours could have. 

Sarah

Hello all.  I have a question about a guarantee.  If I have booked a GTY and been assigned a cabin,

Is it possible to change to a different cabin in the same category.

We will be sailing on Summit and have been assigned Balcony cabin 7019.  We are not sure that we like the location and would like to change.

If it is not something that is done on Celebrity we will be able to live with it but was wondering if it is possible to change.

We have sailed on Celebrity before but have not done a gty before I guess.  We have been able to change on our other cruise line, Princess.

Thanks for your help.

Sarah

Thank you for your report.  I have contacted two of the places you visited to inquire about booking tours.

There was no chair or table in our cabin on the Diamond in January.  We did not miss it.  It is usually in the way.

We were there too and the two captains were brothers.

This is second hand information. Last year on our Baltic cruise we used Alla.  Our tablemates did a St Petersburg on your own with Princess.  They were dropped off somewhere, not sure where, and they took a taxi to go to Hard Rock Cafe to buy a t-shirt.  So it can be done.

On one deck it will be at the aft and the next deck it will be forward.

If I recall, it actually says "Suggested Dress" not "Required Dress"

On our last cruise on Pacific Princess,my husband wore a suit, one of our tablemates wore an open collar shirt.

It didn't ruin our dinner.  In fact, we had wonderful evenings together.  The lobster tails on any ship are not worth getting dressed up for.  🙂

I remember a couple years ago we were doing a B2B and there were other people waiting with us to get off for the turnaround who were going on a different Princess ship. They got off when we did. We turned around and got back on our ship so I don't know how they were taken to the other ship. So, ask at Customer Service, you may be accomodated.

It doesn't bother us as we close the curtains at night while sleeping. However, saying that, we always get balcony cabins and most times don't even realize if the light is on or not. I don't tbink it is people being rude just not knowing. We don't turn it on ourselves and for a long time did not even realize there was a switch to turn the light on. I have gone out there some nights and if the light were on would probably think it is normal for it to be on and not think twice about it. The switch is hidden behind the curtain. I would hope that if my light was annoying my neighbour he/she would let me know so I could fix it rather than let it fester.

Thanks for your report.

A question on where you docked please:

Stockholm, did you dock downtown ?

Copenhagen & Helsinki; did you dock within walking distance to the main parts of town?

Were shuttles provided at any of the ports ?

 

Thanks.

Stockholm, no we were not downtown but it was not that far. The HOHO bus parked right there and we were able to get that back and forth. There was another dock, the Viking Dock, closer to downtown. It's a beautiful sail out from there. We were not awake for the sail in.

Copenhagen was close to downtown within walking distance, near the Little Mermaid Statue. We took the HOHO bus down in the morning and in the afternoon walked back to the dock from the Palace after our walking tour. Maybe 10 minutes. There are other docks there so you won't necessarily dock where we were.

Helsinki we were docked right downtown, only a couple minutes from the market square.

After being home a few days, a few comments about our most recent trip on the Pacific Princess. We are still not sure about the small ship experience. It is nice when it comes to entertainment as you are up close and personal but there is not a lot of entertainment compared to the bigger ships. We also got to meet and get to know more people than we do on bigger ships. However, this could also be due to the fact that there were just the two of us and we were more aware of who was around us.

For the first time ever, we visited the Elite Lounge every night and enjoyed it. We were invited to the Most Travelled Luncheon and enjoyed it very much. We sat with the Doctor. The laundry service was quick. We put it out in the morning or evening and would get it back the next evening.

We had a total of 4 sea days. One of them was scenic cruising of the Kiel Canal and the other was a replacement for missing Amsterdam on the last day. There was not much happening during these days, not even a movie on the second sea day. The Kiel Canal was supposed to have commentary but there was none at all. The captain came on a couple times to explain delays but other than that there was nothing.

The ports were all wonderful. We really enjoyed all of them especially st Petersberg. That is the only place we did organized tours as in Russia you have to use a tour company or go through the trouble of getting a Visa. We used Alla Tours and our guide was fantastic. We saw so much in those two days it is hard to believe it was only two days. Stockholm was also two days but we did it on our own using HOHO buses and the Free walking Tour. We used those Free Walking Tours in all the ports (except STP) and in all cases enjoyed every one. The guides are all great and working on tips they make sure you have a great experience. We missed Amsterdam due to weather conditions on our last day in the Baltic and a slow transit through the Kiel Canal. Another excuse to go back. All in all it was a fantastic cruise and now looking forward to our next cruise - Asia leaving Singapore December 29th for 21 days. on the Diamond Princess.

That has happened to us as Canadians several times. If we buy in CAD$ we can not use them when booking through a US TA and vice versa. However, what they have done for us on at least two occasions is refund the FCD and repurchase another one for us on the same card. This was through my TA and I don't know how she did it.

Sarah

We used Dora in March and she was wonderful. There were 9 family members and she treated us like we were part of her family. You can't go wrong with her.

Sarah

And there are no wine packages on multi week cruises that are sold as one week cruises. Like 3 week cruises in Europe. Found this out the hard way, budgeted wine packages but none availble😳

We were on the Royal last year for 3 weeks (3 7 day cruises) and was able to get the wine card and it carried over no problem.

We asked at the desk where they sell the drinks packages and they said they didn't have them but dining room waiter sold us one.

Last cruise was 24 days on the Caribbean Princess in March (10 and 14 days) and card carried over.

If you ask your dining room waiter you can get a package.

I don't know about shorter cruises as ours are always 10 days or longer.

We have never had a problem getting a package.

We quite often do b2b and use the one package for both cruises if there is any left.

We were there a couple years ago and cant' remember what guide we used but we went to the UN Cemetary there. It was one of the most beautiful cemetaries. As a Canadian it was wonderful to go visit the graves of our soldiers. If you are American it might not mean as much as your soldiers were brought back to the US.

The other site that is well remembered is the market.

Sarah

We were just on Caribbean Princess with 9 family members, we had a table for 9 every night. We did Anytime and had the same table every night.

Loved this ship and cruise also.

Regarding free laundry - even though the note said it would take three days, we always put ours out when we went for dinner and got it back the next night so one day turnaround. One time we put it out in the morning and got it back the next night also. They probably put out that notice in case they fall behind and stop complaints before they start.

We had some of the best service from the crew that we have ever had on a cruise. The Marketplace staff couldn't have been better. They would be there asking for our drink order as we were sitting. We always headed to the back also to Planks or Steamers. They would even pick up our omelet order for us. They also picked up the dirty plates as we were putting the last fork full in our mouths. We would joke about it saying we better not stop chewing for a few seconds or we would lose our plates.

We spent three sea days at the Sanctuary and had no problems with service. They were continually asking if we wanted more water. We only had lunch there one day and the tea service in the afternoon was excellent.

We didn't like the showtime either as they were set for early and late seating people and we are anytime but we managed to work around it. We enjoyed all the shows we saw. Bravo is excellent. All the comedians were very funny but I guess entertainment is subjective. I didn't think Steve was all that bad a Cruise Director. All of the cruise director staff were quite approachable.

We didn't meet many from the Roll Call as we were B2B and forgot the date and time for the Meet and Greet. We did meet a few people when we went on the catamaran trip in Martinique. Sorry we missed the rest of you.

All in all this was a wonderful cruise.

Sarah

Just got off he Caribbean princes this morning after spending 24 Days on her. Had a fabulous trip. Fantastic service. No problems with vibration. Speed no problem. Even made up time whe n we had to head back to Aruba with a medical emergency.

We have been invited once, we didn't have a lot of days at that one. Can't remember how many. It was lovely. Last year we received an invite at the last minute due to a cancellation but had to refuse because we already had other plans with friends. We have about 250 days.

Sarah

We are about 100 short for our next cruise then. :-)

Sarah

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