Princess Jessie

Thank you everyone for your input.... much appreciated.

Thank you .. yes you are confirming my thoughts.

Thank you everyone for all your really helpful comments. 
I did think Celebrity would be an echo of HAL... which although we are well below the average age in the scheme of things we ourselves are not interested in party atmosphere!

However to be fair to my adult kids and most certainly the babies I definitely want something that they will love and want more of!

I knew the situation re pools and diapers.. which is fine as the 3 oldest 2 x3 1x4 are trained.
the 2yr old might be .. not sure.. but the 1yr definitely won’t. 
RC do have on their v large ships a tiny splash zone for babies in nappies/diapers. Probably their ships + Disney the only ones.

i will now focus my efforts on RC and thank you everyone for taking the time to respond.

Much appreciated.

Hi, we are looking to treat our 4 adult children + their families on a cruise. We have been on Celebrity once about 8 years ago and for many reasons we were disappointed. Holland America has become our go to having done over 10 cruises with them. So we are experienced cruisers. Holland America is definitely not geared up to young babies / toddlers and we have found 2-3 itineraries with Celebrity that could work.

They are on the Celebrity Reflection and Silhouette which I understand are sister ships - so presumably pretty identical in facilities.

I have been trawling the internet, boards and forums and I am not getting any answers.

Can anyone please advise me how suitable they feel these two ships would be for a large family with ages ranging from 1yr - 4yrs /mid 30's & late 50's?

Are their kids clubs good ? and suitable for those age groups? Are they free? 

Do they have a splash pool for babies? 

Are they accommodating in the MDR for a) a large group 10 adults 5 babies?

Any insight that I can be given would be great. I don't want to book this and find it is a disaster. For my children's spouses it will be their first time cruising so I want to get it right and not put them off it for life!

Thank you in advance

Hi never cruised with DCL ... grandchildren besotted with Frozen ... I know (from research) that the Wonder has the show... but what about the characters? 

Do they make regular appearances on the ship? And other characters also? 

Thank you 

Hi .. has anyone been on the Rotterdam recently that could confirm it the ship has been through the Dry Dock and had the refurbishment that is being currently undertaken?

And if not does anyone know when it will be done?

Any photos or descriptions about what has or hasn't been done would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

No idea re the locks..... but all I can say re the guarantee is this is 4th time we have done a guarantee on HAL.... and on each occasion the notification has been at different times.

We took a SB guarantee (Neptune Suite) and upgraded to SA....

This has happened twice....

Once we took a Vista and booked the category below top and again upgraded by one... and once booked SC and got SC....

Doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason .... as we are not prolific cruisers on HAL...

But we take the gamble on a room that we would be happy with and if it works great....

Must say we were surprised to be notified just under a month out....

Happy Thanksgiving to you folks across the Pond!

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On Panama Canal Cruise 20 December and got our assignment yesterday...

advised by email...

very happy ..

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HI I am considering doing a private tour with Julio Tours... for some reason I cannot open your thread...

Where did you go? Just to Leon? or did you do the hot springs as well?

Did you have any issues with timings ? Getting back to ship on time?

Any info would be great... thanks in advance

We were just there in March, here is what we did: Excellent tour includes lunch.

 

http://www.juliotoursnicaragua.com.ni/index.php/tours/64-shoring-in-corinto

 

 

 

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Hi.. I will be on the Amsterdam dep San Diego on 20 December.. Panama Canal Cruise. Would anyone have any idea when the formal - gala nights might be?

This cruise takes in both Christmas and NY so wondered when they might be...

Thankyou

Hi..Looking for ideas suggestions for what people enjoyed doing whilst on this stop... not interested in zip lining.. also don't want to spend hours and hours in a mini van getting to a destination.

What would everyone who has been recommend? that they enjoyed doing?

And which tour operators?

We are just a couple... looking for a private tour....

Thanks in advance

We are staying in Puerto Vallarta each winter for 4 or 5 months since quite some years. Just like thousands and thousands of americans and canadians do. We all enjoy our time here and donot have any problems.

Of course act like you do at home. Leave expensive jewelry on board, donot take too much money with you, donot drink too much, just enjoy your time here. Take a cab or even local bus to old town, Malecon or to one of the restaurants on Playa Los Muertos for a drink or meal you will have a great time.

Hi Ine,

I've seen that you appear to be really knowledgeable about the Mexican Riviera... we will be visiting Cabo and PV on a Panama cruise in December... would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?

1) I am about to book whalewatch cabo for the whale watching... they seem to have almost excellent reviews on TA... have you heard of them? Anything negative..? Or a better company to book with?

2) Re PV.. we seem to have a really long stop ... nearly 12 hours.... we are not beach people as we have a vacation home on the beach so can get that anytime... not into drinking... so it seems our choices for PV are limited... I had almost decided to disembark have a little wander around and then just enjoy the empty ship...!!

However I have heard about the Zona Romantica.. the old town.... is it safe to grab a taxi and walk around and then grab another taxi back to the port?

We are well travelled in our late 50's so know the rules of staying safe, but also haven't been to Mexico for many years....

Would you have any other advice for what to do ?

Many thanks in advance

Thank you... yes that's the response I got when I contacted HAL ... that it's up to the captain.... they wouldn't even hazard a guess!

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Hi... I'm on a holiday cruise with Hal from San Diego .. it takes in Christmas & NY. There are about 7 sea days....

Usually it's easy to second guess when the formal nights will be...

we like to book the alternative restaurants or spa treatments then.. we are not fans of the formal nights.

However I'm not too sure on this cruise when they would be.

Does anyone know how to find out?

Thank you

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Hi all... Looking forward to the cruise... Do any past cruisers know what the Internet set up is like in PG?

Many thanks

Thank you.. very helpful.. the IC Tahiti is for the 1 night before the cruise...

I am trying to decide now for 4 nights whether to stay on Rangiroa - Kia Ora, or Tikehau - Ninamu.

This will be probably the only time I will visit FP so want to see as many islands as possible and it seemed a pity to stay on Moorea or Bora Bora when they are visited with overnight stops on the cruise...

Thank you everyone for your input.... I feel reassured!

I am travelling end June / July.... if that makes a difference....

Hi,

I am on the 7 day Society Island Cruise and notice that there was an outbreak until recently of the Chikungunya virus in the South Pacific...

I know the risks are small, and prevention is the key which is fine, but I just wondered if anyone knew how prevalent mosquitoes in general are on the islands?

Is it only if one travels inland on an excursion?

Apart from the virus, I react very badly to bites, so do take extreme precautions, but this sometimes can really spoil a trip...

Anyone have any experience / thoughts about this?

Hi, I am sorry if this has already been covered (although I couldn't see it).. I am taking a PG cruise 4th July.. 7 nt cruise...

We are from UK and this will be our first time to this part of the world, and because of the distance not sure when we will make it back again! So want to maximise on everything..

We will have 5 nights pre cruise arriving in FP from LAX early am... I am looking at spending 4 nts on another island, then 1nt at the IC Tahiti and then we have a further 4 nts which we have already booked on Tahaa island.

I have a few questions, which if any of the experienced PG cruisers could answer I would be grateful! Sorry to ask so many questions....

1. Is the IC Tahiti the preferred hotel for pre cruise stays? I have seen mention of luggage being taken to the ship from the hotel... does that apply if you book the hotel independently? Or does it have to be booked via PG?

2. What is the distance from the IC Tahiti to the cruise terminal?

3. The 4nts pre cruise and before staying at the IC Tahiti, for the night before the cruise... everyone on cruise critic and Trip Advisor seems to recommend Moorea or Bora Bora... however the ship overnights at both these places should we consider staying somewhere else?

Really want to see as much as possible, so would it not be overkill to stay on either of these islands pre cruise?

4. Also, depending where we stay pre cruise... as the ship does not sail until very late.. should I give up on staying at the IC Tahiti, and stay 5 nights somewhere else pre cruise and then transfer on the day of cruise?

I am always nervous of doing this, in case a transfer fails.....

Hi... Our first time to South Pacific... Always been our dream and because we are flying from the UK we want to make a real trip and combine with seeing Australia.

So, firstly... we are thinking of either doing 7 day Tahiti and Society Island Cruise

or Society Island and Tuamotos Cruise 10 day..

Our issue is it's to celebrate a special birthday so we want to travel in July...

at a push we could maybe do end June or early August.

We know that in Sydney for example it will be "winter" and that is fine... we are more concerned with the weather in French Polynesia...

Bearing in mind it is an expensive cruise and our first time we would be gutted if it was raining the whole time! And cold!!

I fully understand that weather worldwide cannot be guaranteed but would be grateful of a rough guide to what the weather should be!

Also which is a better cruise the one with Tahiti or with Tuamotos?

Any comments greatly appreciated...

Thank you .. Do we need to pre book a taxi or are they readily available.?

Hi there... was originally thinking of going to Hoi An when we dock at Da Nang.. but am now considering Hue...

Don't think we have time for both...

What would you recommend?

First time in Vietnam....

Hi Mark,

See that you are going to Ho Chi Min City in October.. we will be there in December...

As I it will be fresh in your mind, any tips and recommendations that you have would be great....

How are you getting from Phu My to HCMC?

We also want to go to the Cu Chi tunnels... any info if you do that would be great..

Enjoy your cruise!

Can you give me an idea please of distance time to Hoi An from the port where ship docks and roughly how much a taxi is?

Do we need private guide there?

How far is China Beach? And is it "en route" to / from Hoi An?

What is weather in December ?