Jandex

On 1/19/2024 at 12:14 PM, arxcards said:

I will that they won't do any ghost ships as place markers, but they do change their mind. Princess in Melbourne for 25/26 is a recent example, as well as an initial intention for a year round Luminosa in Brisbane through 2025.

 

Is the Splendor booking still active? We had a waiter tell us that Splendor was going to be rotated out of Oz in a year or two. I took it as just crew rumours, but maybe there is a bit more to it.

Was just on Splendor and Hotel Director said that she is booked into Sydney till at least 25/26. 

Wholeheartedly agree with Chrisclaire. 
We recently returned from our very first Celebrity Cruise on the Solstice and were very impressed. Wonderful ship with wonderful crew. Will definitely be sailing Celebrity again. 

We are on this cruise too, have done this itinerary in the opposite direction about 5 years ago. 
Am following along with you …

12 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Our email also arrived without an Access Key. We have not yet received a replacement email.

 

Have you managed to book the cruise you wanted once your code arrived?

Hi. Yes! Booked 11 Feb Sydney- Hobart , it was pretty easy. 
Looking forward seeing what Virgin Voyages is like. 
I am also going to apply for loyalty match - Diamond on RCI - I read somewhere that the offer is only available until December 2023 - but will give it a go and see if it works!! 

28 minutes ago, Jandex said:

I received my email from Virgin Voyages this morning professing to contain my access code to redeem my cruise. 
Unfortunately, it said “your access key is.” (No code) ” Seems they forgot to add in the access key code! 
Was wandering if this has happened to anyone else? I can’t contact them yet. 

Nevermind. Second email arrived with the code. 😊

I received my email from Virgin Voyages this morning professing to contain my access code to redeem my cruise. 
Unfortunately, it said “your access key is.” (No code) ” Seems they forgot to add in the access key code! 
Was wandering if this has happened to anyone else? I can’t contact them yet. 

I just redeemed points as well. 
Not sure exactly how it works - so we’ll see. 
Hopefully I can get one of the Sydney cruises. 
Thanks Flybuys! 

I’m sorry I don’t have photos of menus but if my memory is correct - beers and spirits about $8 or $9. Cocktails from about $11. Coffee about $4. Soft drink about $3. This is in AUD. 

We booked a back to back on Icon for December 2024 late last year when prices were good. I figure it’s the first and last time I’ll have the opportunity to sail on her so why not give it a go? 
We are sailing without kids so will avoid the family areas. 
I haven’t been on anything bigger than Ovation, so will be exciting I’m sure. 
Now that our kids are older we will be sailing on smaller shops in the future - so this is the last hoorah!! 

We have a similar issue. Been booked for early dining and much prefer to select our own dining time. 
We have been told months ago by the TA that a ‘request’ has been made with Celebrity and if they are able to change it they will. As of today it hasn’t changed. 
My issue is that we are sailing in 3 weeks and I’m pretty sure it won’t be changed at this late stage. 
Does anyone know if I can ask onboard for it to be changed? We have done this once with Royal. 
Thanks. 

16 hours ago, Elorac123 said:

I am at present looking at Carnival Luminosa and I see they don’t have hand washing facilities! What the hell.

Will do my usual though even after hand washing Once seated use a dettol hand wipe for cutlery salt and pepper.

Cheers Carole

No handwashing facilities that I saw on Carnival Splendor either. Maybe they were there but I never saw them and unlike other cruises I’ve been on no reminders from staff to wash hands. 

I am really looking forward to this cruise, and it sounds like Murano is the one to beat!! I’m looking forward to all of them. Enjoy the cruise to all who are on this sailing!! 

Thank you all for your very quick and helpful responses! I looked last night on the website- no sale…….  I’ve just looked now and guess what? A flash sale! 
I can’t wait to try these restaurants. 
Happy sailing everyone!! 

Hi all, we are sailing Celebrity for the first time (usually sail RCI). We are on the Solstice Transpacific from Honolulu to Sydney, and are really looking forward to it. 
As we are onboard for 17 nights I was a bit concerned about getting bored with the MDR.  
Usually on longer cruises we purchase a 3 night specialty dining package. This is not available on our cruise. 
We saw the prices for individual specialty restaurants and the prices are higher than what we were expecting.  
So, of the specialty venues onboard - Murano, Le Petit Chef, Sushi on Five or Tuscan Grille which would be the one that you would recommend? 
We love most cuisines. 
Thanks. J 

Sailing from Sydney, Australia - just last week I carried on small UHT cartons of lactose free milk. I showed them to security as I was boarding - no problem at all. 

I will take small boxes of UHT and will pack them separately in my hand luggage. I’ll report back after the cruise if there were any issues. 

18 minutes ago, resordanis said:

Not sure about Carnival but other cruise lines do have lactose free milk available and never had a problem obtaining. We have low fat lactose free so take with us.

Please put in carry on, last cruise in April, we put it in our luggage and we ended us many hours later having our bags checked. Lesson learned by us.

Thanks, just what I wanted to know. 😊

We are heading on Carnival Splendor this week. My son has recently been diagnosed lactose intolerant- this is the first cruise since the diagnosis. I have seen people onboard with their own milk. 
I know the cruise line will provide lactose free milk but I don’t want to have to ask everywhere we go. 
My question is: 

1. Can I bring my own UHT milk?

2. If so, do I have to carry it on with me or can I pack it on the suitcase?

Thanks for any suggestions! 

4 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Jandex, are you going on the July 16 from Sydney to the Pacific Islands on Splendor?   I started a roll call, which has almost no contributors. I'm looking for someone to join me on a shore excursion in Fiji. Details on the roll call.

Unfortunately not on July 16.  We board this Friday, and then another 3 nighter soon after. Would love to be heading to Fiji - but just the usual South Pacific Islands this time. 😊

Enjoy your cruise! 

Thanks Hogbay - we are on Splendor for the first time - departing Friday. Taking my 14 year old son - he has no idea, hopefully will be a nice surprise for him! 
I have heard so many different reviews of this ship (although I’m not generally put off by negative reviews - opinions vary greatly). It’s great to hear such positive things!! 
Thus starts my Splendor journey - 9 nights July, 3 nights July, 3 nights August & possibly 5 nights in January!! Ha ha. 

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

A cruiser who is booked on Ovation for 3 days to Eden in November this year, has also received the same email port cancellation from Royal.

Yes our 10 November 3 day cruise has had Eden cancelled. 

Does anyone have an idea of what will happen with Concierge Lunch if the ship is set to depart at 11.59pm? (Transpacific from Honolulu). 

We are also Diamond on RCI - first time sailing Celebrity in October - I can’t wait!
I have ‘signed’ into Celebrity website and I now have a Captain’s Club number- will this automatically register that I will be recognised as Elite? Thanks. 

On 6/2/2023 at 10:02 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Nice review, thanks for doing it.  I was surprised to read about the covid requirements.  Is there a mandatory number of vaccines required to cruise?  Is the pre cruise quick test readily available?

At least two doses. 

Thanks so much for the review!!
We are on this same cruise on June 30 and I hadn’t been able to find many reviews of the ship so this was great to read! 
Have sailed South Pacific numerous times and was great to see pictures that are now so familiar to me! 
Regarding the swimming in Noumea - I had seen a post on their tourism website a few weeks ago stating they had roped off a small (200m) area of Lemon Bay - patrolled by lifeguards - between 8.45 and 4 - for swimming. This was as of May 5? Did you see this? 
For those who’ve asked, Covid testing and immunisation is still a mandatory requirement sailing out of Australia. 
You can test using a RAT - available at any chemist or supermarket - as long as you take a photo of the negative result along with your ID and proof of date - you will be fine. These rules are being reviewed in July - so not sure what the outcome will be in terms of relaxing them from then on.