Maya_C

Please be careful with Flight Ease through Holland America. They auto cancelled our first flights and it's been a nightmare since trying to make sure all 4 of us make it to Europe and back. /quote]

 

Groan. One reason I was leaning toward HAL rather than Celebrity for a Greek Island cruise next May was the flexibility of Air Ease. But if booking mistakes are common and I have the added step of having to book the air through another middleman (an online TA), the chance of a glitch increases. I've used Choice Air for Celebrity cruises with no problems. You search for and book flights the same way, whether you reserved the cruise directly with Celebrity or with a TA. Unfortunately with Choice Air, you have to pay for the airline tickets when you reserve and they are nonrefundable.

~Maya

Hope this helps! :)

Eileen, That's exactly the information I wanted. Thank you. ~Maya

I'd like to book air through HAL because, as I've been reading here, I can reserve flights without a cancellation penalty until the cruise final payment date. Must I work through the TA I booked with to reserve the flight or can I work with HAL directly to make airline reservations? The fewer the people involved, the less the chance of error. Currently, booking the cruise through a TA online is $700 cheaper than booking with HAL, but the TA's online booking form says they don't handle air tickets. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge about Flight Ease.

~Maya

I'm from Kefalonia so feel free to ask me anything you need to know about the island!]

 

Thank you for the helpful information about Kefelonia! My trip there isn't until next year, but I will save your suggestions until then. ~Maya

I hope we will find enough in Messina to pass a day, as we have holidayed in Taormina three times for a week each time previously. Love the place in all fairness, but probably not worth us making the trek in.

Besides walking around Messina as others have suggested, art enthusiasts would enjoy the regional art Museum in Messina, which has two huge and wonderful paintings by Caravaggio in a room by themselves, and we had that room to ourselves when we went there. Large crowds generally cluster around Caravaggios in other museums because there aren't many of his paintings that have survived. We went to the Messina museum by catching a tram on the street that ran by the dock. A taxi ride between the dock and the museum wouldn't cost much.

~Maya

Not sure if there is a shuttle for Messina port, but even if there is one, it won't be taking you to Taormina.

When docked in Messina on a Celebrity ship, we walked off the ship into the town. While many people book excursions to Taormina, for anyone who doesn't want to do that, the walk around town is pleasant. For art enthusiasts, the regional art Museum in Messina has two huge and wonderful paintings by Caravaggio in a room by themselves, and we had that room to ourselves when we went there. Large crowds generally cluster around Caravaggios in other museums because there aren't many of his paintings that have survived. We went to the Messina museum by catching a tram on the street that ran by the dock. A taxi ride between the dock and the museum wouldn't cost much.

~Maya

We were also on the Veendam to Bermuda last week and thoroughly enjoyed the ship and the island. My first and, until now, only HAL cruise was to Alaska 9 years ago. We liked it, but since then we've cruised only with Celebrity because we found the food more interesting and the buffet and MDR service more efficient than on HAL. But after last week, I'm looking for more opportunities to cruise on the Veendam and possibly other HAL ships if they're as good as the Veendam. HAL has really improved its food, service, and on-board activities to the point where I give it the edge over Celebrity, though ultimately we decide on a cruise based more on itinerary than any other factor. We really liked Canaletto and went twice, though we also enjoyed the MDR food and could have easily gone there instead for our last night. Neither the menu nor the high upcharge at the Pinnacle appealed to us.

~Maya

Thank you, Jazz, for the info on LCV upgrades, really helpful because we have Celebrity Captain's Club status. One more question: If you sign up for the upgrade and are offered a cabin, are you told which cabin you are assigned and do you have the option of turning it down?

~Maya

Hi, I'm booked for my first Azamara cruise in October. Can someone please explain what an LCV upgrade is? Thank you.

~Maya

Check out cruisetimetables.com. It has two lists (tabs at the top), one for ships that are starting cruises from a port and the other for cruises stopping at a port. Look up the port and then the date. You will see not just when the ships are at the port, but also their complete itineraries.

~Maya

Thanks to all who answered my question about the website. I was hoping to hear the glitch was unusual.

Maya

With 3 Celebrity cruises behind me, I'm used to a cruise line's frustrating website. I'd hoped that Azamara, though related to Celebrity, would have one that worked better. After booking my first Azamara cruise (Journey, Barcelona to Lisbon, Oct 15), I wanted to view the excursions. In Seville, where the boat docks for a day and a half, there are five excursions to Malta and three in the Seville area. You won't believe how cheap it is to visit Malta from Seville! Even cheaper, the price for each of the three Seville excursions is $00.00. While I'd like to believe they're free, I doubt it, though I'm tempted to sign up for them if I can do it this far in advance. There are also excursions to Sicily on the sea day. Have any Azamara regulars seen this problem before? Can I expect the details about the excursions to be corrected?

Maya_C

Any fresh flower arrangements? On my one and only HAL cruise so far, Alaska in 2007, I loved the stunning fresh flowers in various places around the ship. I hope to see floral arrangements on an upcoming HAL cruise in May.

Thank you for the very helpful details in this thread. If the happy hour drinks have to be the same, does that mean the exact same wine or can you get one white wine and one red?

~Maya

A bookseller giving summer reading suggestions this week on PBS Newshour recommended Do Not Become Alarmed as an exciting page-turner. However, she said you probably don't want to read it if you're going on a cruise because it's frightening. It revolves around a shore excursion that goes seriously wrong.

Maya

This just came out.

 

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33155774-do-not-become-alarmed

Even if you get permission to do this, there is always the chance (usually slight) that the last port stop will be cancelled due to weather, strikes, or other reasons. Just want you to be aware of the possibility that you could end up on the crossing.

Even a slight chance is more risk than I'm willing to take. Thanks for everyone's replies.--Maya

Having crossed the Atlantic once on a ship, I never want to do it again. I've found a repositioning cruise that goes to six ports in Europe before crossing the ocean. I'd like to visit those ports, and the price is low enough that i don't mind skipping the crossing. Do cruise lines allow you to leave early without penalty if you pay the cost of the entire cruise?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Maya

My husband and I are considering a cruise out of Barcelona later this year. We currently have the sailing on hold through Celebrity USA, but have not made final payment. I looked on the UK sight just for general info and found that the category cabin we have on hold, with all of the same booking incentives is almost $1000 cheaper.

I found the price on a cruise out of Barcelona lower on the UK site than in the US. One person cautioned that the currency exchange is at an all time low for the pound against the dollar. One way to avoid currency fluctuations would be to pay the full fare at today's rate. I presume all but the deposit would be refundable. Is that true? Can a UK cruiser tell me how much the deposit is for Celebrity cruises and whether the whole deposit would be lost if a change is made? Does anyone know if buying trip insurance cover the cost of the lost deposit?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Maya

Has anyone had cabin 7263 (2b balcony)?

 

We have it reserved but on the S class spread sheet there are

comments about noise that concern us.

We had 7261 on the Silhouette last September, the door right next to 7263. I also read the comments about noise. We heard nothing, though there was a door to the crew area directly across the corridor. Quietest cabin we've ever had and a terrific location near the aft elevators.

We are thinking of booking a late 2017 cruise during this promo, but still doing research and want to see if we have until tomorrow.

When I tried to book a 2017 cruise, the deposit was $900, not $25. I see the $25 deposit available for 2016 cruises only.

SHIP: Silhouette

CABIN #: 7261

DECK #: 7

CLASS: 2B

AREA: Aft Port

BED NEAR: Bathroom

QUIET?: Yes

BALCONY VIEW: Unobstructed straight ahead; top of tender blocked view down

BALCONY SIZE: Typical

WIND A PROBLEM?: No

SOOT A PROBLEM?: No

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: This cabin and 7263 are directly across from a crew door. To my surprise, we heard no sounds of the crew door closing. Either the cabin attendants did not use this door or they were very quiet.

We've always bought our wine in Civ. ahead of time, so stayed on the ship.

Do you remember where you bought the wine in Civitavecchia? Is there a shop near the port? We are sharing a cab from the airport and have thought about asking the driver to stop briefly so we can buy wine, but if there's a place not far from the port, it might be easier to walk there after the cab drops us off. Thanks.

We too have found the slamming of crew doors the primary source of noise in the cabin. I've seen HAL deck plans showing crew door locations, but on Celebrity deck plans, the crew area is shown without locations of doors marked. Is there any system to where those doors are located on Celebrity ships or is the location random? I assume all ships in a certain class would have crew doors located in similar locations. Perhaps there could be a sticky about this, with those who've experienced noise from crew doors could list the cabin number where this was a problem. When I'm on the Silhouette in September, I will jot down the cabin numbers on my deck that are across from crew doors and post them. Of course, there is noise even when the cabin is not directly across from a crew door, but the farther away from it, the better.

~Maya

ETA: The six snorkel opportunities applied to our inner loop.

Thank you. I'm on an outer loop cruise. I hope there will be approximately the same number of opportunities.

This is definitely an active vacation. Our group did every snorkle--some from the beach and some open water. This was amazing. The water temp was 76 while we were there. We did make use of their wetsuits and Im glad we did. !

Please tell me how many snorkel opportunities there were during the trip and if the wet suits are short or long in the sleeves and legs. Thank you.