Creekside89

@Jim_Iain

Giuseppe mentioned towards the end of the last cruise that this cruise will be done in 2026.

Can you find out if possible:

Which ship?

Month?

Rough itinerary?

Please and thank you.

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Gerry -  Sorry for the delay in answering.    As usually all my sources are mum.

 

We were on the last tender before they pulled up the Magic Carpet.   I observed something going on between an Celebrity Staff excited and running back and forth and the Captain of the Tender blowing him off.   The Celebrity guy was pointing to a tie down.   The seas were rough and I felt the Tender Slam the Magic Carpet a couple of times. 

 

You may know more than I but was the end panel damaged or shattered on the previous cruise?    One person claimed to see it shattered and others said it was that way since Rome.

 

It’s been that way since Rome. When we went through the Suez, they had tape in front of it. I stood there for a little while to get photos. 
 

When we were on our tender for Cairns, the maintenance crew were trying to remove the panel and had a new glass panel with them. They were having difficulty removing the damaged panel.

We recently stayed at Smeraldo in the annex. We were on the 1st floor. No outside noise, just thin floors. We could hear the people above us walking around and opening their wardrobe door.

Housekeeping wasn’t up to scratch. Toiletries weren’t replaced, and floor not cleaned as when I went to put on my shoes my feet were dirty.

On a very sour note, we went to the rooftop bar late afternoon one day and had a drink. Thought we might stay for dinner but as we couldn’t get any further service we left. Upon paying for the drinks, I handed over my card and the bartender looked at DH and proceeded to give him a lecture, saying he is the man he should look after the financials. But in saying that he had no hesitation in taking my card and processing it whilst giving this lecture.

Would we stay here again. No.

DH got a call last night from a friend who was supposed to be on this cruise yesterday. A total of 10 people in his group. His wife’s 50th birthday on board.
 

Due to one runway being open in Sydney yesterday morning, their 9am flight didn’t depart until 1pm. 
 

He advised that at least 20 taxis all arrived at the terminal at the same time and they were told by ground staff to not let those taxis leave as they will be getting straight back in them, the Captain had pulled the gang plank and was going. Also said the Captain was well aware that 47 couple’s/families had not arrived and he knew of the situation in Sydney but didn’t care saying time is money. 
 

Our first question was why didn’t you go yesterday? Pre Covid we would have done it, post Covid trust no one. His father organised the trip and they are all first time cruisers. No travel insurance and I believe Qantas is flying them back today for free. 
 

He is going to ring P & O Monday to see if they can do anything.

2 hours ago, downundermatt said:

What a crock !

 

I’m Australian and have earnt 94 points participating in Power Up activities.

It’s a whole new world living in the Southern Hemisphere 

We are booked with CP Tours for next month. There will be 10 of us. The company has 3 vans going to the Barossa that day and 2 going elsewhere. Payment is 3 days before, will automatically come off your credit card. 

We were in a Club Class mini suite as well. Yes we noticed the rust around the windows but didn’t bother us. Yes the staff were FABULOUS. Far better than Sabatini’s for our complimentary dinner and was mentioned to the head Maître D when we spoke to him the next night. Never saw someone take notes and move so fast.

When returning to the ship there was hand sanitiser stations on the dock and on the ship upon passing through security. 
 

Dont get me started on the check in staff at Brisbane. Rude, arrogant and don’t know what they are doing. Also what is the point of doing the RAT test if no one is going to check it. Also what is the point of having check in times when no one follows it and check in staff don’t care.

We were happy with our price as we booked it over 3 years ago and has been cancelled a few times. 

I believe the ship is going for a dry dock in 2024.

Anyway we had a great cruise.

DH had it on Coral last night in the MDR.

On 9/21/2022 at 11:39 AM, Syd_Cruiser said:

Hello, fellow cruisers!
                                   I am looking for some advice.  I am travelling on the Celebrity Eclipse on Feb 23 from Sydney to Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart.  

 

The cost of the excursions from Adelaide are pure evil - a day trip with lunch to the Barossa valley is currently around AU$1000 per person!

 

As the ship is overnighting in Adelaide, I have located a few car rental places that are a quick train ride from Outer Harbour station (This is across the road from the passenger terminal).  If I was to hire a car for two days, is there anywhere to park the car overnight near the passenger terminal?  
I am looking at google, but I thought I would see if anyone could give me some advice.  My thoughts would be to use the car to visit the Barossa on the first day and then use the same car to do the Adelaide hills on day 2. 

Thanks in advance.....

I am on this cruise. Join the roll call and we will give you some options for a day tour to the Barossa. 

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

For 2024 the Solstice will move from Asia to Sydney for 1 day and then head to Alaska.  Edge has nothing listed when her 4/5/24 sailing  ends in Sydney.  We booked it hoping she would go from Sydney back to the US either to Alaska or thru the Panama Canal to the Caribbean.

I heard an Australian ‘rumour’ that Edge was going back to Europe.

DH heard an Australian ‘rumour’ that Edge was staying here. Couple of reasons, Edge is not posh enough for the European’s anymore??? and that Celebrity themselves have said that they want to bring a newer ship to Sydney and to capture our winter market. 

We were due to cruise Panama Canal next month. We got an email from X advising that they were aware of the travel restrictions in Australia (is that we can’t leave), and unless we could prove otherwise they were cancelling us and a full refund would be provided. We didn’t need to do anything. It took about 2 weeks for the cruise to disappear from the planner and the refund came about a week later.

A polite way of kicking us off.

I moved a cruise about 2 months ago from November 21 to April 23 and wasn’t charged anything. I specifically asked if I would be charged any fees (not that it would have mattered) and was told no. She was extremely helpful and was glad to do it, only stating that I would have to pay the current rate. 

It doesn’t hurt to ask.

Curious also in how long it takes, even though we will be in no hurry.

I noticed the letter says they are in Group 4. So can you possibly change the time? I’m guessing that the previous groups would be for passengers on shore excursions? 

We were on this cruise last year as well. We did a private tour and it was the same type of bus. Yes they have no air conditioning but travelling with the windows open you don’t feel the heat. Yes the seats are a bit hard but you are not sitting in the bus the whole time. Our bus was in good condition. No complaints by anyone on the tour. 

Dont be put off exploring the island because of that. It’s part of experiencing another culture. 

Yes there were people waving signs outside of the port but we didn’t see how much they were charging.

We also don’t mind sharing for breakfast and lunch as half the time there isn’t enough room for everyone.

On the Sun in 2017, by the 5th night in the MDR,  we were getting the “eye roll” and on the 10th night we given a pager with a 10 minute wait, unless you want to share. No thanks, we’ll wait. That was then met with the pursing of the lips. Next night we were being begged to share a table. 

5 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

No. I have a similar estimation to GUT2407: 10% in tux, 70%-80% in suit (or sport coat) and 10%-20% in collared shirt with or without a tie or maybe with a waistcoat with or without a tie.

 

I don't think it makes any difference whether the cruise goes to Fiji, NZ or North Queensland, except some cruises have a slightly younger demographic than others.

On our last Princess cruise there was 2% in tux, 10% in suits, rest in collared shirt most without a tie and they were older than us.

Husband doesn’t even own a sports jacket, or a suit and we’ve had no problems entering the MDR on any cruise line.

Yes, it was a flat fee of $5.00 from the pier to town. This was 2 years ago.

I’m not on FB, but husband is. He came home this afternoon and said this woman was getting hammered on FB because Celebrity has cancelled her cruise. He was quoting from one of the Celebrity FB fan pages he is a member of. I thought, sounds familiar.

What are you looking for? At least people here have been kinder to you and were willing to help you.

You are not the first, nor will you be the last to have a cruise cancelled. I have as well. It took me half an hour to organise a new one with Celebrity and I didn’t complain to anyone.

As many have suggested, travel insurance is a wonderful thing and it would only cost you a few hundred dollars to change your flights.

Eclipse and Solstice are sister ships, so I also can’t understand about your downgrade statement.

The delay for Eclipse was so that it didn’t impact on the summer AUS/NZ season.

The dry dock will be in Singapore.

A cruise of ours was cancelled 18 months in advance and we got $100 pp compensation from Celebrity.

We too enjoy sea days.

We did a ships tour last year. We had a very informative guide which made the hour and a half bus ride go very quick. 

We also went with the thought that the city was too far away and with the potential language barrier it was easier to do a ships tour. 

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza at the airport in a day room. The 8 hours start from when you check in, to 8pm, so was great for the evening flight, so you could probably do the excursion and get a room for a few hours. Check their website to see if it meets your needs. 

I think you would be cutting it very fine. That’s why I booked the 2pm flight in March.

And so did everyone else. The flight was full. Another couple we met got off first, customs, shuttle, peak hour traffic etc and got to the airport at around 8.30- 8.45am and they were on the 2pm flight as well. 

Guy at work’s wife is a travel agent. The 3 day cruise to nowhere on Majestic Princess later this month from Sydney will be half full of travel agents as it wasn’t sold out, and they are allowing partners to come as well.

Have been on Solstice and Equinox, so Eclipse should be no different as far as layout goes.

One thing that might be different is that Solstice has Tiffany’s jewellers, so you can buy that something special or avoid Deck 5 altogether.

I use Insure and Go. Reasonable prices as well.