trabeler

There's wifi at Margaritaville.

Perhaps we picked a bad day, but when we were there, the wifi at Margaritaville was exceptionally slow and kept disconnecting us.

We were in Sydney a few weeks ago on the Maasdam and used the public bus to get to/from the miner museum. We took the #1 bus at 9 am and it reached the end of the line around 9:45 am. There were 5 people on the bus that were all going to the museum, so when the bus driver realized we would all be walking there, he took us there directly on the bus, so we arrived before the museum even opened.

There were several tour guides standing outside the museum chatting and they opened up the building for us and we started the underground tour around 10 am. We were done with the underground part around 11 am, spent around an hour looking at the exhibits and left the museum around noon. It was about a 20 minute walk back to the bus stop (across from a Tim Horton's). We had time for a donut and coffee and then took the 1 pm return bus. We were back at the ship around 2 pm.

We were surprised to find that the bus offered free wifi, so we had a chance to catch up on emails, etc during the trip each way!

Bar Harbor also has free wifi at the city park that overlooks the tender dock.

If local schools are still on summer break, there will be some teens, but not as many as earlier in the summer.

We were on this itinerary in mid June and there were maybe 20 total teens. Thankfully my daughter found a few to hang out with. If your kids make friends easily, they should be able to find others. There are a lot of ports on this itinerary so there isn't a whole lot of idle time to worry about...

Was on the Maasdam 14 June sailing and there was a dessert extravaganza. It was at held 10 or 10:30 pm at the pool. It was during the latter half of the cruise... perhaps day 5?

Thanks! I looked at the Marriott site and found the Courtyard Downtown - I usually like the Courtyard brand. I put it into maps and see it's less than a mile to the cruise port (can this be? Is the port that close to downtown?) At any rate, I think you are right, Ruth, it doesn't really have to be close. Cab ride over to the ship around 11 AM is much less nerve racking than arriving the night before. I'm coming in on Greyhound from Vermont - I'll take a cab to the Courtyard the evening before, and cab to ship morning of. Does this sound like a good plan? The Greyhound terminal also seems to be only about a mile away from the hotel. Now I'm nervous (I'll be on my own) about finding an English speaking cab driver from the bus station to the hotel at around 10 PM... sigh...

If you're talking about the Courtyard Marriott at 380 Rene-Levesque Blvd, we stayed there the night before our 14 June sailing on the Maasdam. Very nice hotel overall and only a few blocks walk from the old section of town. It is also across the street from a large shopping mall and a grocery store (convenient to pick up a couple bottles of wine to take on board). You could walk to the port, but it is a little uphill and would not be pleasant with luggage. We took a cab which was less than $10.

Normally, the title of the person we call the "captain" is actually "master". Next in the line of command is the "staff captain". After that, I'm not so sure...

During the dry dock, they did a major replacement of some of main A/C units. We noticed a significant difference between our December and late February trips, particularly on the upper decks. In December it was often uncomfortably warm on the upper decks and that issue was gone after the dry dock.

Water in our cabin, however, was a little too hot both times. We were on decks 4 and 5.

Most teenagers could care less about organized activities. My daughter (now 15) hasn't been to an organized activity on a cruise in years. Her normal pattern now is to visit the teen hangout on the first night (typically when they do some meet & greets), find some friends, and then hangout with them all over the ship the remainder of the trip.

For most teens, what matters most is a good number of other teens on board.

Shows can last 10+ years or more, although the cast switches out periodically. If you really want different shows, your best bet is to try a different ship, although there are some shows that are on multiple ships.

Any perks offered by Celebrity will transfer with the booking when it is moved to a TA, but it is always a good idea to have written proof of the perks from Celebrity and then have your TA confirm they are still on the booking after it is transferred.

Deposit amount will not change unless the TA puts you into a group... in that case, you may need to increase the deposit to the full amount (typically $450 per person).

Belize also has at least two pharmacies in the secured area at the port. Labels and brand names vary, so be sure you know the chemical name for what you want. As I recall, prices were reasonable compared to full sticker price in the US, but did not strike me as cheap.

There is frequent mention on Cruise Critic forum postings that if you miss the ship they will enter your cabin safe to see if there is a passport there and leave it with the port agent for you. But I don't think that there is an actual cruise line policy or procedure on this and no assurance that this would happen.

I've asked several customer service managers on Celebrity this question (most recently last month on the Century) and all have told me that they will check the cabin safe for a passport and if they find one, they'll leave it with the port agent. They will not search the rest of the cabin, however.

We always carry a copy with us and leave the original in the safe.

I was not aware of this. Does anyone have more information on how to register or what ports this happens in?

Information can be found here:

https://book.princess.com/BookingSystem/jsp/home/ship_visit/BonVoyageExperience.jsp

Normally there is also a list of the ports and dates where it is offered, since it is not available on every ship and every sailing. This site is missing the dates for 2014 but perhaps you could call and ask for the 2014 information.

Typically the deposit is $450 per person if you're not using a future cruise certificate, special promotion, or other reduced-deposit deal.

Are they paper coupons or loaded into your seapass card?

Still paper coupons, although there has been talk for some time of converting to an electronic system where it is loaded on the seapass card.

Are you sure it has both a sofa bed and pull out couch? I've stayed in many inside cabins on the M-class and have only seen the drop down (pullman) beds from the ceiling and the pull out couch (which is more like a pull out chair.

The pull out chair does not tend to be as supportive as the pullman bed, but it might be better if she is tall (since it might be a bit longer... but I'm not 100% sure on that). The pull out chair usually blocks the path to the cabin exit / bathroom, so if she sleeps later than you, it can be difficult to get around the pulled out bed.

If you plan to do any large downloads/uploads through the ship's wifi, be sure that your software can handle interrupted connections and then re-start the download where it left off when reconnected. My experience is that the system can have frequent short disconnects, particularly when at sea.

Inside cabins on the Summit will either have a chair that converts to a pull-out bed or a pullman type bed that drops from the ceiling. The deck plans will tell you which type is available. Some cabins have both.

Note that the pull-out bed can be inconvenient if your child sleeps later than you because when pulled out, the bed blocks access to the bathroom and cabin exit door.

Just looked again at their website and found the promotion info. Look at the main page for "celebrity world tour".

We're rocking the world again—all 7 continents with 10 breathtaking ships. Each destination opens with a special offer.

For every vacation booked by April 30, 2014, from our newly available sailings, you'll receive up to $400 to spend on board your vacation. We're hitting every continent on the planet–visiting 261 ports of call in 72 countries–adding more overnight stays and new ports of call.

Here's the fine print:

Onboard Credit ("OBC") Offer applies to 4-night or longer cruises or Cruisetours for inside and above staterooms, that first become available for booking Feb. 6 – April 30, 2014 "Offer Period". One Offer per stateroom. Amount of onboard credit ranges from $50-$400 USD per stateroom and is determined at time of booking based on category, length of sailing (minimum 4 night sailing) and destination; maximum one onboard credit per stateroom. Offer excludes Celebrity Xpedition. To redeem Offer, contact your travel professional or Celebrity Cruises at 1-877-202-4344.

Single occupancy bookings are eligible for Offer. Offer on Cruisetours is based on the number of sail nights. OBC has no cash value, is applicable to cruise only, non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, will expire if not used by 10 PM on the final night of the cruise. Offer is applicable to new individual bookings and group bookings that are named and deposited during the Offer Period. Offer is combinable with one other offer, except, Exciting Deals, Book & Go packages, Premium vacation packages, interline, travel agent, and employee rates, and may be withdrawn at any time. Celebrity Cruises reserves the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions and to change or update fares, fees and surcharges at any time without prior notice. Modern Luxury is a trademark of Celebrity Cruises Inc. Refer to the Cruise Ticket Contract for additional terms and conditions.

I successfully used this new promotion on a June 2015 Europe sailing a couple of days ago. I originally received the promotion information by email and sent it to my TA when he did the booking. The OBC already shows on the Celebrity booking confirmation sheet. They said it was combinable as long as the thing you want to add wasn't limited to new bookings. It is also combinable with future cruise certificates and stockholder credit as they are not listed as restrictions in the fine print of the offer.

The promotion is limited to Captain's Club members, so you may want to call the Captain's Club phone line instead of the general reservation number if you're having trouble finding someone who is aware of it.

No bistro on five... for embarkation day lunch, your choices are either the buffet or Aqua Spa cafe.

We've stayed at this hotel before a cruise before and it is too far to walk there with luggage. Without luggage, you might be able to take the city bus to go into OSJ... there is a bus stop across the street from the hotel near a small strip mall.

Taxis are so well organized on this island there is really no reason to pay the cruiseline to bring you to the beach. Private taxi from Phillipsburg port to Orient is around $18 (private taxi) or as low as $6-7 per person if you join into a group van. Return taxis to the port are readily available as well. Just allow enough time for return traffic to not miss the ship.

We usually head out soon after docking and stay until just after lunch. By then the sun is usually very strong and we're ready to head back in the early afternoon.

Typical chair rental is around $10 each and umbrellas are sometimes included or may be an extra $5. Some of the beach clubs include a drink in their rental prices.

How about on Summit?

Same on the Summit. Free saunas in the men's and women's changing rooms (with a large exterior window). Steam is only available in the Persian Gardens (extra fee).