valuemkt

Was also looking at Silversea for an upgraded experience. While i realize you can;t believe everything you read, I saw a preponderence of negative comments on both the food and the excursions. After experiencing the "all included" tours from Oceania and Viking, and reading the SS itineraries, red flags went off. Wasn't about to roll the dice on two or three or more times the cost of Celebrity. Be happy to hear from people that have taken SS in the past year. 

Will be reading your updates.. Just booked this cruise for early October. 

3 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Any more ideas on a Norway fjords cruise?

I'm looking at Celebrity Apex Nowegian Fjords and Arctic Circle 14 days Aug 2025. It goes back and forth from southampton. I like all of the ports, but can't find any information on available excursions .. itinerary or cost .. An infinite veranda ends up around 4K pp plus air. Celebrity has been our recent go to, so pretty much know what to expect

I also looked at Silversea $$. Out of Hamburg, returning Tromso. The explain the excursions, but not pricing for optionals. Also, recent reviews have not been positive. have never taken them

Was surprised that Viking offers very little in terms of Norway . (go figure?) .. We took our first (and last) river cruise w them for Christmas market Danube. understand their ocean is better.. but dont see anything compelling ..

Welcome thoughts

Very interesting. Today I was offered a MNVV by a TA. He then promised a better fare than what i could get online, plus 600 loot plus 600 bar tab for a 5 day cruise. I of course had to "buy" the MNVV first. I simply asked for a copy of the invoice / booking so i could review before purchasing. He couldnt / wouldnt do it for some reason .. and consequently, neither could I 😞

Leaving on the Millenium June 16.. still pending

I just bid from an Aqua room to a Celebrity Suite. Looking for opinions on those on the Millenium. Also, if you win the bid on a suite, do you get extra Captains Club points ? And is Specialty Dining included as well ? 

Do you have experience opinion on the Celebrity Suites ? 

same thing.. and i leave on the 19th

We dock at 6am Celebrity Solstice at San Pedro on a Saturday Morning . First time cruising in and out of that port. We have a 1025 flight to east coast out of LAX. We are experienced travelers with Delta Platinum status, TSA Pre Check and CLEAR. Even with taking our own luggage off ship, are we being too optimistic on making that flight / The next flight isnt until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, landing us around midnight. Thoughts ? 

I'll add my two cent to the Summit Christmas cruise. We're veteran cruisers, but first time Celebrity. The following are our observations / opinions / comparisons. This was our second Christmas cruise out of San Juan, having taken Caribbean Princess several years ago. From a holiday perspective, Celebrity nailed it. The ship was decorated nicely, holiday music ..both canned and live, was played throughout the cruise. And the buffet food and especially desserts, on christmas eve and day was exceptional. We had been anxious to try Celebrity after hearing about the high quality of the food. There were two highlights.. the aforementioned xmas eve and day, and the Tuscan Grill. Other than that, both at the main dining hall and the oceanview buffet, it was a wide variety of mediocre food. Really no difference with Princess or NCL. We have done Oceania once before, and they leave any of these lines in the dust, albeit at a higher cost. We liked our room, our room layout, the oversized balcony, and our housekeeping staff. The shower set up was very convenient with no banging of elbows. The crew and the cruise director were more visible and interactive than on many other cruises we have been on. Not aloof, but friendly and appreciative of their guests. Everyone said that the ship was 100% full, but it never felt that way. perhaps the fact that it only had about 2700 passengers made a difference. I thought that the entire pool deck wasted a lot of space.. all pools closed at 7pm, and NOTHING was going on there. The bar at pool level was inconveniently located, with disinterested bar staff. Unlike Princess, the outdoor movies were located far away on an upper deck (12?), instead of in the pool area. I recall watching several NFL games at pool level on Princess with attentive bar service. ANYTIME dining, or whatever Celebrity calls it. A confusing concoction of anytime reservations, where walkins did better than folks with reservations for anytime dining. We were not part of a big group, do not like to have a pre set time, and found this set up to be confusing and poorly managed. Also, tables for two were a joke, as like it or not you were positioned right next to couples on either side, with zero privacy. Again, i thought the food in the Cosmopolitan was very average, but the service and enthusiasm of the staff, especially those toward the back near the windows, to be very good. The spa services, and the Persian room, with Turkish steam and aromatherapy was good, although the promise of eucalyptus in one of the steam rooms was an exaggeration. Even though Celebrity advertises 5 or so up charge restaurants, pedestrian travelers like us only had 3, and only the Tuscan Grill had any interest. Even Princess and NCL puts the choices to shame. Entertainment.. again a personal choice.. but for a smaller ship, I;'d rate it as pretty high.. The comedian/ magician was really bad.. not sure how he made it through 8000 shows in vegas. I love magic and sleight of hand, and didnt find him entertaining at all.. My wife walked out. The real comedian was funny, and the variety shows were worth the 45-50 minutes. The aerial acrobatic couple were amazing, and the singing and dancing, especially the holiday show very good. The weather was spotty, and obviously Celebrity has no control over that. We managed to take a Celebrity sponsored catamaran excursion on Antigua with a lobster lunch.. had a lot of fun that day. We booked an excursion with thenford grey on St Kitts. The weather that day was really bad, but even with that, thought that the Grand tour was WAY overrated. There were some logistical issues on St Maarten (which port / dock we came into), but that wasnt major. Sorry for the length, but its fresh in our minds. Bottom line, we got what we paid for with our first Celebrity cruise. Did it blow us away ? No. Were we happy campers when we left the ship ? Yes., we now consider Celebrity on par with NCL and Princess, and would consider taking them again.

We played the deviation game for a while . are flying from atlanta to stockholm .. received a plus or minus $ 900 /pp credit and made our own reservations for our dates and our times for 1200 pp .. knowing they buy in bulk at almost charter rates and charter itineraries we are very happy with the credits and arrangements