alyssamma

4 hours ago, SnorkelBoy said:

So we get into port at 7am and i know that cruise excursions get first priority. we have a cooking class in Oia at 10 am.  so with the tender and the cable car (my wife can't go uphill for a few weeks) and from ones experienceit is even a likelyhood to make it.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

@PurpleTraveller gave you excellent advice. I will add a few things...

1) Regardless of your wife's condition, don't take the stairs. It's a nightmare.

2) Check the port schedule to see who is there when you arrive. If it is just you, or you and another ship, you will probably be fine. I was just there in May and had zero problems. As a side note, Greece is starting to charge a tourist fee for ship passengers to Santorini and also is limiting the number of passengers there. 

3) There is another option. There is a boat (water taxi) that will take you directly to Oia from the bottom (i.e., before the cable car) of the port. You may want to Google this. Unfortunately I don't have any experience with that, but I'm sure someone who does will chime in.

Good luck!

3 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

What does that last sentence mean?   Thanks.

I believe it's a typo...it should be *by* 11 instead of *my* 11

8 minutes ago, fozzy1975 said:

Anyone know why I got an email out Mardi Gras time home in port Canaveral was moved from 7am to 8am? We live 1hr away so it’s no biggie but I was just wondering. Assume that means we won’t be on my 11 like in the past?

Not sure what sailing you're on. We got one for a Feb 8th sailing.

On 8/11/2024 at 3:01 PM, elmac40 said:

Hi 

Looking for advice from anyone who has done the above cruise. 
 

My question is with regards to the Indonesian EVisa. 
 

I will go online to the official Indonesian website and purchase my B1Visa on Arrival. 
 

After this when on the cruise do we pass our passports to HAL for them to have this checked by the Indonesian authorities (our first port after Singapore is Surabaya) or when off the ship do we have our passports checked at the port in Surabaya? Any advice appreciated. 

Depending on when your cruise leaves, you may not need a Visa. 

Indonesia is going visa-free for 20 countries: Travel Weekly Asia (travelweekly-asia.com)

17 hours ago, 563toM said:

Because of this listing I checked our upcoming bookings and found several of the excursions we have booked are cheaper.  There is one that shows sold out and if I cancel and quickly rebook I am wondering if someone can do the same thing and take the last 2 slots.  

Instead can I call Celebrity and have them reprice the 6 different excursions ?  

Call them. They can usually handle this on the phone.

13 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I always use an incognito browser window when using travel sites.  Maybe try this and see if you still get different pricing.

For the OP, not sure it would make a difference since you need to log into X to see the prices. For me, I always use incognito also.

8 hours ago, canderson said:

Am still surprised by the ability to open the record for a booking with 2 accounts simultaneously, though

I think the OP logged in as themselves, logged out, then logged in as their spouse.

17 minutes ago, Sevedog said:

I was logged into his account and saw an excursion was on sale that I paid for.  I logged out of  his and logged into mine to cancel and rebook and it was not on sale on my account.   He logged back into his and it was still on sale.  Strange.  Dynamic pricing?  

This post worries me.

On booking.com, my wife and I see completely different prices for the same hotels. Sometimes, she will even see a cheaper price when *not* logged in. I've also seen different prices when logged in on my phone vs my laptop.

On Capital One's travel site, again, my wife and I will see different prices for the same hotels for the same dates.

Now you are telling me cruise lines (or at least X) are doing this too? Lmao, it's just too much!

On 6/17/2024 at 12:50 PM, chamima said:

I remember doing this years ago but I just received an email from Celebrity advertising it again.

I logged into the MGM site but their tiers have different names than Celebrity.

Can anyone tell me what level MGM I would be at if I'm Elite Plus on Celebrity?

Thanks

 

(I also remember being able to tier match a second place from the MGM program but no longer remember where that was)

Thanks for posting this. Staying at an MGM property in Vegas next month and had no clue this was a thing...you just saved me resort fees. 

On 5/11/2024 at 7:06 PM, chamima said:

 

 

K - is this you?

Hope you guys are great!

Boy do you guys get around!

How does this ship compare to the Sapphire? Sounds like not so great.

We are signed up to take our grandkids for New Years (that we booked when we realized we weren't doing the SE Asia cruise). I have a feeling it'll be a one and done on this class of ship.

LOL, yes, it's me...and we will miss you on the SE Asia cruise!

Yes, I loved the Sapphire! Enjoy your grandkids...btw, we have 2 more coming this year!

14 minutes ago, John GLISSMEYER said:

Who said anything about doubting an emergency? It’s the landing of the helicopter vs returning to port. Since fishy seems to be the problem here take it out of the post and read the rest, I am concerned there is an emergency and that there is a faster way to help the patient. I have zero concern about anyone making up emergencies and care a lot about the person who is in trouble. 

Gotcha, ok, sounded different from your original post. So you are doubting the weather is too bad for a helicopter? 

If not, and you agree it is too bad for that, what is faster other than returning to port?

You didn't answer my Q...is it windy? Do you know the weather requirements to land a helicopter on a ship?

There are emergencies all the time where the "fastest" way isn't used for safety reasons.

Also, I guess it depends on the emergency. Something that can be stabilized but not treated on the ship? A true life or death situation? Etc

But overall it sounds like you think they should use a helicopter, but the captain says that is too dangerous, and that is your issue?

17 minutes ago, John GLISSMEYER said:

Of course that is the most important thing. What seems odd is that if it were a true emergency then there should be a helicopter that can evacuate the patient in this weather. Every minute counts in an emergency. 

So you are doubting there is an actual emergency?

You think the captain is lying to you and the rest of the passengers?

Is it windy? Do you know the proper weather conditions for a helicopter to land on a ship? I suspect this isn't an easy thing to do in normal weather.

You are right that "every minute counts" which is why they are turning back. 

I guess I'm not sure exactly what it is that you think is "fishy" 

Menu from the diner...

Ok, went to deck 8 and found out the deal...for this cruise and the last one, because of "high volume", whatever that means...on sea days they are the same as the MDR. And when I ate there it was a sea day. On the other days they are the American Diner.

Furthermore, they are aware they don't show up in the app (which is why I couldn't find them) and they've talked to IT about it (lol, sure that will be fixed REAL soon)

The menu looks good ..all day breakfast, wings, burgers etc.

And they are open during the day for lunch 

I'm going to try and do dinner there tomorrow.

Wow...I didn't think things could be this confusing, but obviously they are.

32 minutes ago, telcom said:

Yes.  Went there this morning for pancakes and bacon.  They even made me gluten free pancakes.  A dinner selection chosen from last night's Italian night was on the menu... probably changes every night.  Rest of menu stays the same.  No line to get in 10:30 AM.  Deck 7 dining room reservation for 4 at 7:20 PM...no line or a short line only.  Food very good, including one dinner at Rudi's.  Alfredo's lunch on sea day...no line around 11:30...good GF pizza.  One odd thing, no OJ on ship in Americana Diner today or last 2 days on in-room breakfast.

 

Ship has higher energy vibe.  Stood in line for Dome show but now we have tickets for next one there, Patter told where to go to get them, DH got 4...hallway outside a bar, don't know which one.

You are on the ship now? Have you eaten on deck 8 for dinner and gotten a different menu? I mean actually eaten there and not just seen a menu.

I'm going to go up there tonight before dinner and see what they are serving...

1 minute ago, dog said:

Fb passenger on now ate in American diner at noon and menu was different then other 2 dining rooms.

So, you can’t count on what you get.

Interesting...wonder if it is just a lunch thing? Can you see if they've had a different dinner?

For this cruise, all 3 decks...6, 7, 8, all serve the normal MDR food

Edit: Just spoke to guest services...was told they sometimes have the American diner and sometimes don't. I can say every night on this cruise there was no deck 8 dining option in the app. I can also say I got 4 different answers from guest services about how tendering would work in Santorini and none of them matched the actual reality of what happened.

So my advice, get on the ship and see what experience you have lol

13 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

That would make sense but what doesn't make sense is that you mentioned the food on deck 8 was the same and on a previous live the American Diner menu was posted and cruisers were making mention of the great banana split dessert.

I also thought this was the case. However, at least on this sailing, it isn't so.

It is definitely confusing...here is what it says for deck 6. Note  in the app it only has decks 6 and 7... no mention of 8. You can see it says fixed time, but also says walk ins welcome.

Below that is what the app shows...only decks 6 and 7. I found 8 when exploring the ship. I could swear I read somewhere that it had a different menu  but I ate there for dinner and it was the normal MDR menu.

1 hour ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Yea, I fully agree.  Probably just a vocal minority of old time cruisers that want things the way it used to be back in the day before Dine My Way came into play.  Even if they did accept some walk-ins that were an overflow from deck 7, they should have to be hustled out by the time late seating began since the seats they are in are already supposed to be occupied by someone else for the second seating.

It's possible because things are so new they are in flux. It's also possible they only have a set number...say half...of their capacity with fixed dining times so can handle walk ins.

1 hour ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Don't know how this could work.  First of all, deck 8 is American Diner with it's own special menu.  Deck six consists of two seatings, currently set at 500 and 730 which could be shifted once the ship relocates to the Caribbean.  If you show up at 630 on deck six, there aren't going to seat you until 730 unless they are just blowing smoke about it being traditional seating.

Deck seven is Dine My Way, consisting of a combination of reservations as well as walk in.  If you're doing walk in, expect a wait, unless you show up before six or after eight and even then there could be a wait depending how the flow is on that day.

So...this was my understanding but it is not how it works. I've eaten on 8 and the menu is the exact same.

Also, as mentioned, the wait is very minor...we normally eat around 730.

6 minutes ago, LAS!!1414 said:

Did you happen to notice if soup was available ???

My wife said there was soup...but only one kind...and she doesn't remember the type unfortunately 

25 minutes ago, LAS!!1414 said:

Did you try the Eartery ??

You mean for dinner? No...but I did for lunch one day.

12 minutes ago, 555 said:

Thanks for the review and I agree that the ship layout does seem confusing. We're booked on it but unless I'm totally impressed I doubt if we'll return for a second cruise.

 

I've read that the seating in the Dome is very limited and people begin to line up hours before showtime. Do you recall what times the shows were?

 

We were totally happy with the Royal class ships and will probably stick with them in the future. 

So, it is a little confusing. They do the Arena (basically the theater), the Piazza (the atrium) and Live (right next to the atrium). Shows in Live are USUALLY 2x per day at 7 and 9 and in the Arena at 8 and 10. But things switch. For example, the woman last night in the arena is tonight in the Piazza. And some production shows are in the Piazza (they have things that come down from the ceiling). And they do game shows all night in both Live and the Piazza. It's actually a mess in Live because people are rushing in for one show right as the previous show ends because there is no gap.

Another thing I forgot to mention...laundry is free. But there are only 2 machines on each deck so it can be crowded.

21 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Except I can see them seating random guests where the regular TD guests did not show or are off to another dining option.

Yes, you can eat on 6 without assigned dining times.