Jim_Iain

Thanks much. Been reading the Ponant board all day yesterday. I'm learning more and more. It's hard to compare as they ships and cabin classes are all so different.

Really appreciate the comments. I've heard good things about Azamara. Reality is any cruise is better than being at home.

I've found that on Late Departures they usually carry out the normal schedule for dining and entertainment. You may wish to consult the Celebrity App and they will list the activities and shows in the Daily Planner. To see all filter on All activities as opposed to the default - Favorites

You didn't mention which port you are boarding. I've found that at FLL and MIA they strongly enforce boarding times. I found that in San Pedro (LAX) with only 50% capacity there were no lines and anyone could board when they arrived without anyone being made to wait. We were in a suite with the earliest boarding time of 11:30 so could have boarded an time. Our flight didn't' arrive until 11:45 and were at port at 1:00 PM . No lines no wait and we were aboard in 5 minutes.

Celebrity will rarely hold a ship for a later passenger. The only exceptions I've heard was when there was a large group on a Celebrity Charter from Canada. During Covid they had discontinued downline boarding but I understand that it has resumed in some ports. We were recently on a Mexico cruise and knew a couple who were upgraded after departure to a RS due to the passengers missing a flight and unable to downline board. Not sure if this was a Celebrity or Guest decision. As others said. Call the number listed on your cruise documents - The last 2 are the numbers you want to all for day of departure problems

Thanks.. may be close to booking. I just got the referral number from our friends in Australia. I've just been reading through all the Live posts and other. Really loved your live post.

I'm just back from a B2B and just starting reading through he Ponant board. Is your review posted as a message on the main thread or under the review area?

I am always happy with how much information is available on CC. I just wrote to our Australia friends who are big Ponant cruisers and been talking us into taking our first cruise with them. Once I have their Ponant Club number how do I process the referral. Do I just give it to our Travel Agent or is it done online in advance?

Curious about dining as we are new to Ponant. It dining open seating and you can arrive anytime between 7PM and 8:30 PM? Also is this consistent across the fleet or different on different ships. We are late diners and would probably like to arrive around 8:30.

Good hearing from you. We are thinking of doing the Great Lakes Cruise as an introduction. Close enough for an easy flight and we have a number of really good friends in Toronto we would love to visit with pre-cruise.

Happy to hear. I believe that food is very subjective and on many cruises I've been on I read negative reviews and my experience is totally the opposite. I have noticed that with the inflationary increases in fuel and food there are many efforts to provide a good product but to reduce cost. Iain mostly drinks Chardonnay with Pouilly-Fuisse region being his favorites. Any comments on their Chardonnay's. .

on Solstice still have the bb hoops. Pickle ball boundaries painted. The had a line of about 20 to play the winner of each match.

When on both Summit and Solstice they setup the nets on the basketball courts and the ball and paddles were in the benches. Many passengers had their own paddles and balls

I recently applied for 8 cruises (out through 2024) at the same time using the web portal on the stockholders website. I received all credits within 72 hours.

I have T-Mobile with free international roaming. They cap your speed a bit but had good access in Greenland and Iceland.

I have to say after using it for two weeks that it averaged out at about 50 Meg Up and 20 Meg down. Having said that it appears the Starlink at least in the Mexican Riviera that it had a difficult time holding the satellite all of the times and we would often get no signal for periods of 1 -5 minutes. Most of the time I was able to upload my photo intensive Live Post very quickly. Most photos uploaded in 30 seconds to 1 minute. In the past on the old system it could take up to 4 minutes to upload a single photo.

Agree but on Solstice they didn't have the fresh squeezed in Michael's Club for continental breakfast but I did get it with room service in a suite. Celebrity doesn't call it Fresh Squeezed in the drink packages and breakfast hangers. They identify the Factory Squeezed OJ as "Premium"

I guess simple answer is as soon as they open it on the ship. I've seen it anywhere from a year in advance down to 2 1/2 months. Having said that. We couldn't get a reservation for first night on Murano but was told from a guest that dined there on first night that the dining room only had 3 tables with guests. They had a 8:30 reservation which was what we would have requested. Probably lots of cancellations. Recommend checking upon boarding if unable to book.

They had a taxi rank setup on the island across from the terminal with a taxi concierge. We saw two taxi's there and no line when we couldn't get an Uber. By the time we decided to take a Taxi the two taxi's had been taken and we were first in line with a line of 3 behind us. A cab pulled up in 30 seconds which was our and I heard the taxi concierge call for more cabs.

I have to agree. We found Embarkation, B2B and Disembarkation the smoothest and least chaotic we have ever experienced. Being at 50% capacity may have had positive effect. CBC San Pedro uses facial recognition and immigration and customs took less than 30 seconds.

Thanks much - I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

To my knowledge it is not available on Edge. I know that it was available on Summit (revolutionized). I was just on Solstice (Not Revolutionized) and it was available. Part of the revolution of the S-Class ships was the removal of the basketball (Pickle) ball. To my knowledge Eclipse wasn't revolutionized and still has Michael's Club and no Retreat Lounge so Pickle Ball should still be available as well as access to all for the forward sun deck

We were in a similar situation recently and booked the last SS which was an accessible. We do not need one and checked almost daily for a SS to open up and request a change of room. No SS's ever opened up and we had the Accessible SS on Equinox. The room is larger than many to allow area for wheelchairs to move around. The only negative on Equinox was the Sky Suites on Solstice are located right under the main traffic pattern for carts into the Ocean View dish vwashing area. The carts started rolling at 5:30 AM and could be heard most of the day. If one is available and you are comfortable you should not feel uncomfortable booking one.

Fantastic pictures. I have to say by far that was the best whale watching experience we have ever had. What amazed me was how close to the shore they were.

Alaska can be so much fun. Years ago we added the Land Tour to Danali - It was one of the best tours we had done. There is so much to see of Alaska and we have only just touched the southern region. Maybe we will have the opportunity to explore more of that beautiful state.