jajsmom

What about with Ultimate Balcony Dining?  We always tipped extra, but will there be an 18% gratuity added on to that too?  I haven't seen that anywhere yet.  We are not on a package.

We sail this past October, the first cruise of the season. There were pay shuttles into town, which you could prepurchase or buy on the shuttle. Unfortunately, they did not start running until 8 AM on the dot, and we had a privately booked excursion that left at 845. First and last time I ever saw my husband run, but we just made it. We were off the ship and on the shuttle bus shortly after 7 AM, but it would not leave until the published time of 8 AM, even though it had filled up.

17 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

If you don't already know the jogging track spans decks 15 and 16, meaning two sections of it are on an incline and decline. It's probably the most inventive cruiseship running track and it traverses different parts of the ship. 

 

OMG, I love it!  Thanks for the video.  I've been on almost 30 cruises, and this looks like the most fun place to run!

Thank you so much! 5 laps is much less than the 7 laps per mile I need to do on princess.  so only 35 laps will get me my 7 miles!😜

We just brought some Manuka Honey back from New Zealand.  Fortunately, we started and ended our cruise in Sydney.  We declared and had no problems. But New Zealand was VERY strict.  We were unsure if we could even take our refillable water bottles off the ship, because they were not factory sealed--we did take them off without incident.

OK, so I'm addicted to running, and I love running on cruise ships. It looks like there is a jogging track that spans two decks on the Beyond. Can you do continuous loops on this track, or do you need to go back and forth? Do you know how long it is?  Thanks!

2 hours ago, Nitemare said:

It's a tiny town, there aren't any tour companies there and I don't think any taxi companies.  The cruiselines will probably be using any drivers/guides within 100 miles that day.  It's annoying but you probably have to book thru the ship to get anything other than a walking tour

Thanks!  I just asked this over on trip advisor and got the same response.  Looks like we will be walking!

Last night was my registration.  Got the app working, after reloading, and picked our arrival time. Will fill our the rest of the info over the next few days.  Thanks for your help.

Thank you all.  Some cruise lines make you fill in all the information before you can pick a check in time.  Last time I sailed RCCL, there was no app. Now I just have to get the app to work.  It just keeps spinning...

OK, I did a search but did not find anything. What do I need to check in? Is it better done on the web or the app? Does it start at midnight EST or another time?  And then, how do you register for shows?  I did not see anything online or the app for this.  Thanks!

I've researched this port and don't exactly want to do an organized tour.  I would like to see Mount Kirkjufell and the Grundarfoss Waterfall.  Google maps shows them both to be about a 5 minute drive from the tender port.  Will there be taxis where we dock, or people trying to sell us shore excursions?  I realize that this is Iceland and not the Caribbean, but just want to know what to expect.  And it looks like there will be one other cruise ship in port with us that day, an Oceana ship which only holds about 700, if that makes a difference. Thanks!

On 1/15/2024 at 6:45 PM, space27 said:

A similar thing happened to me. On the menu on the app, there was a surf and turf (they called it a reef and beef) one night. Then, we got to the restaurant and they had a completely different menu and it wasn’t there anymore. 

Don't feel bad.  The "reef" was chopped up shrimp stuffed into a dumpling.  No even identifiable seafood.

I checked cruisetime tables.  I thought they had gone out of business during covid, so thanks for refreshing my memory. There will be 3 other large ships in port the day we leave, but they all return sooner than we do. I know the change fee is only 5 pounds per traveler, so I'd be willing to book this far in advance. Our flight currently arrives just before noon.  How much time should we allow to get the bus?  Would a 2PM bus (1400) be an acceptable time to book? And what is the earliest we should book on debarkation day.  We can walk off, but our flight isn't until later in the afternoon.  Thanks!

1 minute ago, space27 said:

I think that the food is definitely catering to Australian tastes, or at least attempting to. The ‘Australian’ dishes taste like they’re made for American tourists. Like for example, the fish and chips aren’t authentic but they seem as if they’d impress someone from the US as being exotic and Australian. So the Australian dishes are hardly ordered by Australians because we can get something way better at home. So I can see how it would’ve turned out that way.

 

The food choices were just weird.  They combined ingredients that didn't go together. One night, they had salmon on the menu.  Everyone at our table was so excited. When we tried to order it, we were told that it was a mistake and no available.  I prefer a "healthy" way of eating, and I also enjoy many different ethnic foods.  The choices on our cruise were just wrong.

We're thinking of doing National Express in June.  Our airfare is not finalized yet--we're booking through EZ Air.  How far in advance should we book National Express to get the times we want?

We did a BTB the first two Australia cruises this year.  the food was generally the same every single day.  After 23 days on board, I didn't want to eat anymore.  Came home after a month a few pounds lighter!

Interestingly, we're from the US.  We thought we didn't like the food at dinner as it was based on an Australian diet.  We met some Aussies on an excursion who were also complaining about the food.  They thought they were catering to the American crowd!  The food was just weird and not good.  We had been on the Sky Princess a few months earlier, and the food was much better.

On 12/27/2023 at 4:40 PM, billc23 said:

Check out Jet Blue FLL to UIO. Typically $550 RT. 

That would be great, and well worth a few hour drive.

On 12/27/2023 at 5:36 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

When we booked our recent Flora cruise back in Dec 2021, the same "sale perks" were going on then as well. We took the "Free" Air option and booked through Celebrity Air. We even upgraded to Delta Comfort+ both ways and it only cost us an extra $480 total, and that was from our regional Alabama airport to Atlanta with a direct flight from there to Quito. They initially tried to route us through Dallas and Miami before flying to Quito. But when we told the rep about the flight combination we found, he had to check with his supervisor and was later given the green light to proceed.

 

Just remember to book your RT flights as soon as possible to get the best rate. As far as the cruise price going down, our Sky Suite with Balcony actually went up $1,700 pp within a year of us initially booking it. So, I wouldn't hold my breath that the price is going to go lower. But you never know ...

Thanks, good information.  We live in Orlando, but would be willing to drive to Miami to get a better deal.  and have extra money to upgrade.

After talking to Celebrity today, we booked the 10 night Southern Galapagos route for September 2025.  We did get the airfare package (which we have to pay for the FREE airfare), but it is still less than we will be able to get on our own.  And because flights are generally cheaper from Florida, hopefully we'll be able to upgrade too!  It sounds like I will have to do the work in advance to see what the flight prices are.  We can fly from Orlando to Miami, or even drive to Miami if we get a better rate. I can't believe our deposit was more than some cruises we have been on!

Thank you all!  time to start getting excited!!!

Thank you all.  I will try calling Flights by Celebrity tomorrow and see if I can work this out.  I did try putting the FLYGALAPAGOS promo into a new booking, and it told me that the code was not valid.  The $500 pp is automatically being deducted, and I cannot make that go away.  When speaking to my travel agent and the Celebrity agent earlier today, no one was able to make any sense of things.  We're well over 330 days prior to the cruise, so no air rates will be available for a long time.

And @prmssk and @mahdnc, thank you both so much for your live reports. You are both partially responsible for us booking this trip!

And one other question.  I've had cruises re-fared in the past. Will Celebrity refare is the price changes on a Galapagos cruise?  Thanks!

First of all, thanks to all of the recent LIVE from the Galapagos cruise reports!!! It really confirmed that it is something we would like to do.  While it's hard to tell the real differences between the northern, southern, inner and outer loops, it looks like any of them will be a fabulous trip (and it should be for the price!😊)

Celebrity currently has a "special" going, which is 20% off the cruise price (which is higher than it was prior to the sale), and free airfare, up to $750pp for the first two guests, good until the end of this year.  So I priced a cruise on the website, and since it is a 10 night cruise, it includes transportation from Quito to Baltra.  When I asked about the free airfare, they told me it was an extra $800!  What, how is that free?   They assume it costs $2300 for two people to fly to Quito, so you are "getting" $750 pp off.  I live in Florida, and for the same time in 2024 (we're planning 2025), R/T airfare is less than $600 pp. So asked about booking our own airfare, and they said they will give us $500 pp off for that.  However, that price is already built into the cruise, so we would actually be spending $1000 more for the cruise.  And I asked if we could remove the free airfare later and was told sure.  But then you would have to pay the prevailing rates at that time.

So I feel like Celebrity is Bait and Switching us.  For an almost $20K cruise, I feel like they are offering something and taking it away at the same time.

My first questions at this time are for those who have purchased airfare, did you get a reasonable rate to Quito, or is it better to take the bad deal of "free" airfare through Celebrity? And for those who have previously used the free airfare deal, was  it a deal for you?  Did you actually get $750 off the price of your airfare, or was it just easier not to have that extra job of planning airfare?  and when booking air through the cruise line, do you have any control over choices or airlines, flight times, cabin class, etc.  

I've put a 48 hour hold on the cruise, but need more information than the cruise line is giving me before I book.  Thanks for any incite!

17 hours ago, hallasm said:

This is information Included In the link

 

Thanks.  another thing to think about.

16 hours ago, hallasm said:

Trains are selling out fast when cruise ships in port. Limited capacity.
Hike or Bike the Flåm Valley

 

I did see this. I was looking for more information on this.  About how long would a hike down take?

8 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Reads as if you were back paging through the different pages looking for the word FLAM.  It would be a whole lot faster and easier for you if you were to use the CC SEARCH tool which would give you results on all past threads and posts, with the most recent first.  If you do not know how to use it, go to the relevant Board, but stay on the first GENERAL page, do not go to an individual thread.  In the empty SEARCH BOX under your username, insert the name of the place you want to research, in this case FLAM.  Hit the little magnifying glass and results will appear in a few seconds. From there, choose which you want to read.

 

Using that method, here are the results for FLAM.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=flam&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=116

 

 

 

 

I did use the search.  I put in Flam train and bicycle back, and only came up with general things about the Flam train.