jamacka

17 minutes ago, mtempelaar said:

My husband is from the Netherlands, and we always recommend staying at a hotel by Centraal Station.  Doubletree is a great option but there are others around there as well if the price point is too high.   There’s a Hampton Inn but seems a bit further of a walk to get to Centraal Station.

 

Benefits of that general location:

1) Easy train ride from Schipol airport

2) Main tram transfer spot is right by the train station with access to two of the most important trams going towards tourist sites

3) Safe

4) Near location to catch a variety of canal dinner cruises

 

Think of Amsterdam as hub and spoke, where Centraal Station is the hub.  It’s also a great place to hop on local light rails to get to places outside of Amsterdam.   
 

 

 

Thanks.  Seems we have a good idea of the area we should stay.  We'll pinpoint a hotel in the Central Station area

10 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

I need a map, but I think you should consider with what you have said, flying into Amsterdam, rent a car, drive to Normandy and Bruges (I think they may be on opposite sides of Amsterdam), then leave car at Schiopol a day or so before cruise and finish with a night or two in AMS.

Traffic out of CDG is truly spectacular, NYC or Chicago spectacular, with weird gas stations! But when you get out into the countryside in France driving is not too difficult. Schiopol is a busy airport, but a relatively easy in and out. We were not in a car rental in AMS, but just observing going to and from the airport and to and from Keukenhof gardens, I think it would be easy for first time Europe visitors to do a car rental in the Netherlands out of that airport.  
Trains are great, but cars are still a bit more flexible

That is an excellent idea we haven't considered.  Thanks

10 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

I assume the OP, @jamacka, is on the same June ‘23 Apex cruse we are. There is an active Roll Call for our cruise where we are discussing hotels and so on. 

 

We’ve done Amsterdam a few times. Yes, staying in a hotel right near the terminal is good especially if you are going to just fly in the day prior and spend one night. But if you are going to stay a few days (we are planning for 3 or 4 nights), then you might consider other options.

 

we are staying in a hotel near the Rijksmuseum and Van Goth museum at the park. Still pretty close to all kinds of stuff including the ship. The city trams are Very easy to use and so on. So consider that too.

 

Come on over for more discussions by those on your cruise. 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2816080-june-6-2023-apex-12n-iceland-ireland/page/2/

 

Den

Hi Denny... we sail June 6, 2023.  Then we're doing the back-2-back Norway cruise following Iceland. 

I'm making note of all these recommendations for hotels.  We're pretty strong walkers so being within walking distance of highlights would be great.  

I'll check out the roll call.

16 minutes ago, TMLAalum said:

Ditto @Turtles06 recommendation of train from Paris to Amsterdam. To visit the D-day area you could book a long day trip from Paris or even an overnight. Bruges is well worth a visit.

 

How much time do you have? IMHO it might be better to follow the adage less is more. What you don't see on your first trip to Europe gives you all the more reason to return!

 

Also, do check out the Ports of Call Europe forum where you will get even more help from your Cruise Critic friends! Europe Cruises Q&A: Find Tips & Recommendations - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

Thanks.  Less is more might work since we're doing a back-2-back... first to Iceland and then the Norway fjords.  We might very well be travel-worn by the end of it.  To be honest, I'm not overly interested in schlepping around cities.  😔  and I'd rather spend more time in Bruges and Amsterdam than Paris. (sorry Paris)

7 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

If you do start in Paris, you might want to look into the fast train from Paris to Amsterdam, rather than trying to deal with a car rental and return and traffic in either city. 

 

https://www.thalys.com/choose-your-language-and-your-country

That's a good point.  I guess we have to scope out the area.  We've never been to Europe. We thought there might be a scenic route and my husband thought he'd like to check out some of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France and maybe spend a day or 2 in Bruges.  We'll check out the trains and see if we can schedule those stops.

Thanks so much for all this advice.  Location is everything so being close to transportation is a plus.  It would be really handy if we could get Celebrity to do the transfers the morning of the cruise.  That's a time saver.  We'll ask when we call.

Flights are a worry too.  We can't fly too many places direct from Halifax, NS and we'd really like to avoid Toronto but maybe by next year the airlines and airports will have their acts together. We may fly into Paris, tour around there and then rent a car and drive to Amsterdam.  

I've got a few questions I hope somebody can help with.

1. What hotel would Celebrity likely put us in if we were to book a pre-cruise hotel through them?
2. What dock do the Edge Class ships usually dock at? The one downtown or the one on the coast?

We're starting to look at our options for this cruise next year.  Trying to figure out if we should book our own flights and pre-cruise accommodations or let them look after it for us, since they'd probably include transfers as well.  Or should we go it alone get our own flights and find an Airbnb someplace.  We've never been to Amsterdam so know nothing about the best areas to stay in.

So any advice would be welcomed.

On 2/29/2020 at 9:41 AM, 07floridaSunshine said:

We are going To the Galápagos on Flora 3/13/20. Did anyone take medicine for altitude sickness? I have heard mixed reactions.  
 

also does anyone know if the walking sticks provided are good for short and tall people or should I buy my own? ( I’m the short one!!)

thank you 

We didn't bother and didn't have any problem with altitude. However there were a couple of people who had issues.  On fellow had to stay at the hotel and miss the tour of Quito because he wasn't feeling well.  The hotel has oxygen on hand for people who are suffering from the altitude.  There was also a lady who was just finishing chemo and she too was having a hard time.  She did make it on the tour in Quito but they managed to find her a wheelchair.

Bring your own walking sticks.  Their's are terrible wooden poles with useless straps that don't work on your wrist.  The re are short poles and long poles but yuck.. they were terrible.  Go to a sporting good store and buy a nice pair of adjustable trekking poles that you can collapse and fit in your suitcase.  

On 11/19/2019 at 12:00 PM, kjfbw said:

I have a loved one moving to Barcelona in early 2020 and my husband and I would dearly love to visit him. However, my husband is not very comfortable on transatlantic flights and it occurred to me that we might cruise there. We are not very experienced cruisers having only gone twice both times to the Caribbean on Princess once , then Celebrity. Looking at maybe the fall or even winter 2020.  Can’t seem to find anything! We are late 70s- early 80s if that helps. 

 

 

Celebrity Edge is sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Rome, leaving April 19th arriving in Rome on May 4th.  We have a stop in Barcelona.

You'd still have to get home though.  You could always see about taking a Cunard TA from Southampton.. maybe take a nice train ride from Barcalona (Or Rome if you stay on after Barcelona) to Paris then London then hop on the Queen Mary 2 out of Southampton on May 6th and sail directly back to NYC.

Traffic is stupid in that Miami-Fort Lauderdale corridor at the best of times and keep in mind that you will be contending with morning rush hour traffic as you leave the ship.  Your transportation will head out of Miami on the I-95 and it is not a fast trip in heavy traffic.

On 9/14/2019 at 3:46 AM, eurodl said:

Looking at transatlantic in October 2021 on Crown.  This this a good time of year?  Cruise leaves Paris and ends in Ft. Lauderdale.

As other's have mentioned, it's hurricane season. But don't let that deter you!!  In November 2018 we sailed from Southampton to Boston-NYC-Bermuda-Ft. Lauderdale on Celebrity Silhouette and we were faced with a major storm that required we take an extra day to divert our course to avoid.  We were suppose to stop in the Bahamas but we lost that port because of the extra sea day.  But sea days are lovely.  We did hit some rough weather.  Our balcony furniture was all lashed down for the first few days and we weren't allowed outside on deck 5 and really didn't want to go outside even on the top decks because it was quite very windy and cold.  About halfway through the week the weather cleared although we still had rough seas of 6 meters (20 feet) is was quite nice out.  We hit more stormy weather as we approached Boston.  There was ice on the deck as we docked in Boston.   Here's a couple of videos of our trip.  This first one is taken from our balcony on deck 6.

 
This second one was when we entered New York Harbour.  Much of the crew was on deck. Really nice to see they were allowed to take the time off from their very busy schedule to get out on deck and see the iconic sight of the Statue of Liberty against the backdrop of the city, like so many immigrants have seen through the ages, as a symbol of hope and freedom.

Yea... pretty sure Cunard goes back and forth between Southampton and NYC pretty much year round like a weekly bus route.

On 1/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, fstuff1 said:

I suck at counting calories.

 

 

I agree with what Natashac85 says.  It's worth it to learn how to count calories but just as important as that is actually measuring out the proper serving size as recommended on the package.  Sometimes it's pretty devastating to find out just how small a serving size is but it makes a difference. 

I used myfitnesspal.com to lose weight.  I confess that it's a bit laborious at first as you have to look up and enter absolutely everything you eat (sometimes you can just read the products barcode with your phone) and you can create and save "meals" if you frequently eat the same combination of food but it teaches you a lot about how much food you should eat and how to get more bang for your buck... meaning which foods will make you full without blowing past your actual calorie requirement for the day.  Plus the app tracks your physical activity so the more you do, the more calories you burn and the more you can eat.  You really don't have to diet as long as you eat sensibly.. good food in proper serving sizes..  and do a little more.  The myfitnesspal app teaches you how. 

Also, once you're onboard, try to stick as close as possible to your 'at home' routine as possible.  For us, breakfast is a biggie!  We prefer to order breakfast in our room to avoid the temptations of that plate of pastries they wave under your nose, or the bacon and hash browns.  At home I eat 1 piece of peanut butter toast and a cup of tea and my husband had cereal or oatmeal for breakfast.  If we order that in the dining room they almost get offended so we order two bowls of oatmeal (toast will arrive cold) in our room and a plate of fresh fruit.  At lunch we try to stick to salads and fresh uncooked vegetables because we find the dinners just don't seem to have enough vegetables with them.  And we don't buy any kind of drink package.  I know most people seem to but one  average alcoholic drink will immediately add between 100-200 calories.  To burn off the calories of just one beer,  martini/cocktail or large glass of wine, you'd have to walk at a brisk pace for about an hour.  In our books, it's easier and less expensive not to drink. 

Our cruise offers the funicular to the top and then hike back down. We're wondering how steep and long the trail back down to the monastery is??  Can anyone give a brief description of the trail?

Hi, we're on the TA on Celebrity Edge from Fort Lauderdale to Rome (April 19 - May 4t).  It surprises me that Celebrity does not offer and post-cruise city-stay tours in Rome once we get there.  I see that they do offer a pre-cruise tour in Rome so why not also have a post cruise one.  🤔

Anyhow, we don't fly home from Rome until May 8th giving us 4 days to kick around, finding our own transportation and accommodations etc....  We can take a ship arranged transfer from port to Rome when we get there but it ends up dropping us off unceremoniously at a train station where we will then have to hire a taxi or something to our hotel ... which we have not booked yet because we know absolutely nothing about Rome other than it's big, old, crowded and confusing.

So I'm here looking for recommendations on accommodations that are within walking distance of as much as possible and also maybe private tour companies that speak English that can handle the logistics of the visit. 

And.. if possible we'd love to take a drive outside the city, maybe a day trip to Tuscany if it works out.

On 12/5/2019 at 12:00 PM, Cruise a holic said:

Do you recommend this sailing for children 11- 13?  Will they have wet suits for them?  Any special activities for them

There were no kids on our cruise but I can tell you for certain that they have kid size goggles.  I have a small face and I was given a child-sized mask. I also brought my own mask and snorkel and just decided to use my own.  I don't know about wetsuits sizes.  At the very least consider buying your kids a rashguard shirt as an extra layer to wear under the wetsuit or alone.  I was glad to be wearing mine.  
As for activities, as far as I know there are no kids activities but ages 11-13, your kids will have no problem staying busy just with the excursions we all sign up for.  The only requirement is that they respect the rules... stay on the path, don't touch the wildlife, don't startle the wildlife, watch your footing... especially on the lava flow.  One in the morning and one in the afternoon.  You'll have a couple of hours around lunch for some ship "down time".  There's an extremely small pool and hot tub on board and they can go down to the lab for a look around too.  Plus, there's internet included so their 'devices' will work.. if that keeps them busy. 

49 minutes ago, SoCalTraveler said:

We were not switched to the flora.  We are currently at MIA picking up our bags for a cruise tomorrow out of ft lauderdale.  I’ll post later about what celebrity offered, how the offer changed, and how no o e has called back.  

OMG.. i hope they offered you an amazing deal for your loss of the Galapagos cruise because one day on a Caribbean cruise is definitely NOT equivalent to one day in Galapagos.  The two are not interchangeable.   

My motto in life is "You gotta fight for your right to party"  (aka. make sure get what you're happy with what they give you)

12 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I wonder how this happened or if this is the entire story.  We went to the Galapagos a few years ago and when the passengers were off the ship on excursions, the ship was anchored.  If the ship was anchored, even a complete loss of power should not have been a problem.

My understanding is that the ships use GPS to stay put and not anchors as anchors damage the seabed.  Most of Celebrity's ship do this when at tender.  They set the coordinates and the engines maintain it automatically.  Or maybe in the case of the Xpedition, the bridge crew had to hold position manually.  But I do believe that the use of anchors in the Galapagos is not strongly recommended practice.  Certainly the Flora does it that way.  So a complete loss of power would easily account for it drifting toward the rocks.

21 hours ago, SoCalTraveler said:

 

I was first alerted by a post on Cruise Critic last night at about 7:55 p.m. PST.  Our TA called Celebrity immediately.  Things were still up in the air.  We packed and loaded the car.  While driving in, I was called by Celebrity at about 9:30 a.m. PST.  At that time, it was uncertain if Celebrity had another ship available for some of us.  At 2:30 p.m., I called Celebrity and was advised that the cruise was cancelled and the other ship would not sail.

 You were to be on the Saturday sailing, right?   We were also booked on that sailing but we gt a call from Celebrity a couple of months ago for a free upgrade to Flora which sails on Sunday.. which we took.  I hope you get duly compensated.  Maybe we'll see you on Flora on Sunday?

What a shame.  Its been a bad year for the Xpedition.  I can't imagine how it could happen.  I'm sure heads will roll.  I hope the passengers will be duly compensated and that the ship and environment were not too severely damaged.

7 hours ago, kinipela35 said:

 

The US has had one since earlier this week:

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/ecuador-travel-advisory.html

 

You'll see toward the bottom the areas, including Quito, that are a level 4 "do not travel" area

 Oh Thanks!!  I was on that page earlier but didn't notice it.  But then I also didn't notice there were 5 pages 🤭😏

I wonder whats going to happen. It's not been an easy trip to get excited for.  Booked it a year ago so it really didn't feel real until we made our final payment around the time the Xpedition, which we were originally booked on, lost its license.  That was a worry.  Then it's license was renewed but for 16 less passengers than what we were expecting when we booked so we didn't know the status of our room.  Then we were given a free upgrade to Flora but leaving a day later which was cool.  But now this.  Because of the curfew, we don't even know if the Celebrity reps will be able to pick us up at the airport.  Like National Lampoon's Galapagos Vacation.  Captain of the ship will probably turn out to be Clark Griswold.😉

Canada has a travel advisory recommending we avoid all unnecessary travel to Ecuador.  So far the US does not have a travel advisory which is probably why Celebrity is still  going ahead with its schedule.  I suppose they won't cancel until an advisory is given.  

10 hours ago, kinipela35 said:

Left Quito on Tuesday after returning from Galapagos Monday night and cutting the 2nd half of my trip short due to the riots. The Galapagos portion of our trip was unaffected. I would say stay at a hotel near the airport if at all possible. The Wyndham is right across the street and your safest bet if they aren't fully booked. The path to the city and other hotels is unpredictable as you don't know when roads will be blocked or not. A reliable taxi driver, well known to our hotel, was able to get us out of our hotel and to the airport, pretty painlessly, thankfully. Encountered a few protestors along the way, mainly in vehicles, but other than that, it was fine. The pictures online are accurate. Police and military are everywhere, and noise from protestors can be heard all day and night. Tourists are obviously not the targets here, but better to be on the safe side and not put yourself in the position to become an accidental target. 

Thanks kinipela35.  I hope this is somewhat sorted out before we get there on Nov. 8th.  All our travel and accommodations have been arranged through Celebrity so we're pretty much at their mercy when it comes to changes.  We're suppose to stay at the Marriott downtown and have a tour around the next day on the 9th before heading to Galapagos on the 10th.  I was very much counting on getting to the Equator for a photo op since hitting as many special latitudes and longitudes on the map is one of my goals. I will be disappointed if I miss that opportunity but I understand it's safety first.  I also suspect that in the heat of the moment, an angry mob would not hesitate to target a bus load of people even if they happen to be tourists. If they're willing to break windows and loot their neighbours, they aren't going to care about us, especially since it might be advantageous in scoring points in their cause to endanger the tourist industry till they get their way.

This whole thing reminds me so much of Kurt Vonnegut's novel, "Galapagos".  Has anyone read it?  At the beginning of that book there's a bunch of people staying a a hotel in Guayaquil prior to taking a "nature cruise of a lifetime" to the Galapagos.  There's a global economic collapse and war and after riots break out in the city, they flee to the Galapagos where they are shipwrecked with no rescue.  Million years later, Natural Selection does its thing.  

21 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

 

We flew into Quito in April.  Beautiful airport and city. There were a couple protests around then but everything controlled and no worries.  We spent two days there and walked several miles in the city.  I don’t know if things are worse now as I’ve seen nothing on the news but I would love to go back there.  We felt safe everywhere.  I hope you can get out and see the city while you are there. 

It's looking pretty bad there right now.  The government had to flee to Guayaquil  because protesters were storming the legislature in Quito.  They were finally pushed back out with tear gas etc...  The president says it's a coup attempt.  Lots of looting and violence.  There's a curfew in place now but if you're a protester, rules like curfews probably don't apply.