talljules1

We are going to be in a position where we could do a Galapagos cruise.   It sounds like an amazing part of the world but I worry that this is a part of the world that should be protected.  Does anyone know whether -X- do anything to at least off-set carbon emissions and what they do to offset the overall environmental impact of cruises in this special part of the world?

1 hour ago, wendyam76 said:

To be fair in the UK it doesn’t directly work. What you have to do is scroll all the way to the bottom of the main page and change from UK to United States. Then once on US page use the search option for move up, then you can enter your reservation number and see if you can try. In all my cruises it has never appeared under manage reservation. 
Wendy

Thanks, Wendy!  That works.  You have to be within 30 days of sailing (it says).   So I have a while to wait 🙂

We the art sales on board, mainly to laugh at the art.   It is totally not our taste and seems both derivative and amazingly over-priced.   Olives playing darts/poker/drinking cocktails?   Those crack me up every time.  Somewhat amazed anyone ever buys anything there.

🤣

The sole Veronique is wonderful and my favorite.  For starter, the salmon and crab parfait is good.   COnversely we have never had a good scallop wellington - it is all but impossible to cook well.  Either the scallop will be overcooked and the pastry perfect, or the scallop will be perfect and the pastry soggy.

Just now, PMT51 said:

Coffee and Clamato??? Hopefully not in the same cup/glass. 

But then again...I might be missing something here😜

No.  Not in the same container. Eww.

We find the coffee in Oceanview to be pretty dire, but the coffee at Al Bacio is good.   My first trip of the morning is usually go get coffees and clamato.

10 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

You can now go directly to your stateroom and drop off your carry on prior to 1 pm. You just cant stay there as the cabin steward may not have finished cleaning up. Mine was ready but I just dropped off and went to lunch.

Ah that is a new thing since we were last on Celebrity - and a great positive change 🙂

We have done one cruise in CC, and the rest have been in standard veranda staterooms.   Our next two cruises will be in CC and then Aqua.

Our thoughts are:

1.  CC has lots of little 'extras' (we never got invited to the helipad 😞 ) which are OK but many are fairly pointless.    We brought the fizz home as we had a drinks package.   We soon tired of the canapes.  Never used the concierge.  We are currently Select and get priority boarding with that.

2.  A couple of the extras are worth it to us - the embarkation lunch means not having to lug carryon luggage around the buffet.   The umbrella and binoculars are helpful at times.

3.  We have only done CC on S-class ships.   It would be worth more to us on M-class for the larger cabin size.

4.  All in all, we go CC if it either costs the same, less or no more than £50 more than standard balcony for the two of us (so, £25 ea).  It isnt worth it to us.

We've seen lots of people excited by Blu.   It doesnt excite us a lot but we are trying it in August partly to see if it is worth the fuss and partly because we wanted a suite and there weren't any left.

It means you can dine at a time of your choosing in the main dining room, rather than having an assigned table at a set time each night.   If you choose it you have to pay your gratuities in advance rather than having them added to your stateroom account every day on board.

We used to drive down on the day from Sheffield, but stopped that four years ago when I realised it meant I was tired and grumpy by 7pm.   Now we drive down the day before.  We stay at Best Western Chilworth Manor, which is close to the motorway and about a 20-25 min easy drive to the port.  

We drive from the hotel to the port, and use either ABParking or Southampton Stress Free Cruise Parking (whichever our TA has arranged for us) and both have been fine.   I think the hotel may offer cruise parking - you'd have to give them a call as it is not mentioned on their website.

The hotel has a dinner and breakfast package, and for a suite is about £230 for 2 people.  (Less in other rooms).   It is set in wonderful grounds, so it has become our routine to breakfast, take a stroll and then head leisurely to the port.   MUCH more civilised than driving all the way down on the day.

Stavanger and some of the street art (Eclipse, May 2016)

Flaam and the Railway (Eclipse, May 2016)

And here is Geiranger in May 2016 with the Eclipse...

We have done both Ireland and Iceland and Norwegian Fjords cruises with Celebrity (generally in May), both on the Eclipse (sister ship to Silly).   We have also done Norwegian Fjords on NCL (August).  We loved both, but Norway is different to Iceland.   We love the Fjords so much we are doing them again, on Silhouette in May this year.

We've not done Aqua as we havent been wowed by Blu's menus (I know others love them) and we like the specialty dining restaurants.   We'll be in Concierge Class (as it cost the same as the 1A veranda stateroom we originally looked at - otherwise, not convinced concierge is worth the extra cash) up on Deck 12.

Not sure what the itinerary is.  Ours includes Bergen, Gerainger, Olden and Stavanger.  We have not been to Olden before but we have been to Flaam and Alesund.  So here are some thoughts.

Whether you do excursions or not is up to you, but it may be helpful to know that in all ports you can get off and wander.  Indeed, this is what we do.  

Alesund:  On our first visit we were not wowed, but it was ascension day and everything was shut.  There is a view point, which you can amble to by first walking the streets up to a park (this is a reasonably steep walk) and then walk up about 440 steps (that is very steep).  On our second visit, my OH suggested we do this.  Blimey it is steep!   He got vertigo half way up and chickened out, but I made it to the top and got amazing photos (I have added a couple of panoramics).  There is a road train that can take you there.   I think there may be a HO HO bus.

Bergen:  Beautiful place.  A free shuttle bus takes you to the edge of the port and from there it is an easy 20 min walk to the Fish Market (you can get whale burgers!  We haven't but we hear they are whaley good) and UNESCO world heritage site.  Very picturesque and worth it.  We havent done the funicular as the queues are always LONG.   

Flaam:  Tiny place, wonderful sail in.  Worth doing the Flaam railway.  We did it as a ship tour, but may be cheaper to book directly with the railway (you can find it online).  It gets crowded and sells out -  so if you want to do it, book early.

Geiranger:   The sail in/out is majestic.  Worth getting up early to watch - or of course watch on the way out (go to the Sunset bar and sit out with a hot chocolate).   The sail out can be worth having dinner in Tuscan Grill.   That is what we do.   Geiranger is a small village (but slightly larger than Flaam).  You can easily walk from ship to shops and around the head of the fjord.  The walk up to the Fjord Centre is a bit steep, and from there you can walk down a stepped walkway by the waterfall back in to the centre.   We havent done any excursions here, but might consider one to the top of the mountains.

Olden:  Not been yet - looking forward to it.  

Stavanger:  You can walk straight from the dock into the town, very easy.  To the right are the cobbled streets with old white wooden houses, worth a browse around.  We liked strolling round the town admiring the street art.   Had a good day.

Weather, whenever you go, can be very changeable - and Bergen gets a lot of rain.  We had downpours the first time we went and glorious sunshine the second.    The secret is pack layers and pack waterproofs.    The tops of the hills surrounding the fjords were bleak/snow-covered in May and verdant in September.  Wonderful either way.

Money:  Norwegian Kroner.  Stuff in Norway is expensive.   They are very geared to a cashless society, and so last time we just took credit cards rather than changing money.  That worked well for us and we will do that this year as well.  Fair to note though that we don't really go in for souvenir shopping.

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

Google found this.  It was the menu on the Eclipse but the menus tend to be standard across the fleet.

That looks very familiar for the last Conceirge class cruise we did a few years ago.   I suspect it will be the same for the one we are doing this year.  Whilst we normally dine on a table for two, for this we had to share a table, and it was enjoyable.   Also a good way to avoid the hoards at the buffet on embarkation day.

Hi all

Anyone else going on the President's Cruise to Ireland and Iceland this year?

Jules+Paul

We're from Sheffield in the UK.

This will be our 1st b2b. We also went to Le Havre (took a day trip to Paris) a few years ago. But booked the 2 nighter as it gives us a chance to try a suite.

We were in a concierge class stateroom last year for our baltic cruise, but dont think its worth the extra money. And we're not excited by Aquaclass or the spa or Blu. So straight forward balcony stateroom for Norway. That will be fine (same size room as Concierge class) - we had one when we did western med cruise on the eclipse 2 years ago.

Not too many weeks now before we board. Looking forward to it.

Hi Ken

I found your thread!

Yup - Paul and I are doing this cruise, and then b2b the 2 night cruise to Le Havre. Looking forward to it. It will be our 4th cruise (3rd on the Eclipse) and should be good!

Hi Ken and Ray

Superb! I will see if I can find your thread.

Hi

Noooo. We did do the western med cruise in 2014, but in August.

So, Paul and I (Jules) are cruising the Norwegian Fjords on Celebrity Eclipse, sailing from Southampton on 30th April 2016.

Any interest in some kind of LGBT meet? We have found that the LGBT events on board are not well advertised or well-attended. (But we have found the ship to be friendly and welcoming.)

What think you?

Hello all

A useful thread. But I am still a bit confused.

We are sailing from Southampton in May this year and doing the Norway cruise in a standard cabin. Have just bolted on a b2b 2-night taster cruise on 8th May in a W-GTY suite class.

I am guessing this is going to get us a sky suite. (My understanding is that on the Eclipse, the Celebrity suites are a higher class than sky suites).

There is conflicting info on Celebrity's website as to whether a sky suite now gets you into Michael's club. (We are not that fussed about it to be honest - but it would be nice to have a nosey!) We are looking forward to Luminae for those 2 nights.