LPCKG

We're taking our first cruise to Alaska in June, I'd read layers is the way to go. The waterproof rather than water resistant and all others tips are really helpful. Great thread.

I'm looking for a restaurant recommendation in Sydney for my husband's special birthday the Thursday night before we cruise. Steak or fish is preferred. I can take a taxi there but don't want it to be too far from where we might be staying, which might be the downtown area but not sure yet.

We ate at Fish At The Rocks when we visited Sydney in 2013, both the food and service were superb. My parents had visited on previous trips and it certainly met with the expectations set. However, there are lots of restaurants offering excellent food and service.

We are looking at this option in 2017, sailing on board Solitice. We'd like to do an up, close tour of the glacier but really won't t do one of the whale tours from Juneau later that day. The glacier tour appears to end at the time the trip from Janeau starts. Does anyone have a successful experience of the timings working. I don't won't to book and later discover we are unable to make the whale excursion?

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn pre-cruise. The airport is a short taxi ride from hotel and on to the cruise port. The hotel offered a chargeable transfer service to/from both airport/ port? The hotel is on a direct bus route into the main transport termis bus/water taxis and water buses which is next to the port entrance. I think about 10/15mins transfer.

Wonderful picture and review. We are taking the same cruise next year, can't wait to read more.

We've sailed on Reflection and Silhouette, and Anthem a few months after it launched in 2015 - having cruised annually for the last 10 year. The experience was such that was opted not to cruise this year. We have cruised many times on RCI before out first, two, Celebrity cruises.

However, upon returning to Anthem what we missed was good/friendly focused service, an ability to enjoy Dinner with good service and not be served a 3 course meal within 30min - virtual nightly on Anthem our 3 course meal in complimentary restaurants was complete within 30mins. RCI advised us this is what people want - it wasn't for us. Anthem has one slighterly larger outdoor pool rather than two equal size pools like Freedom/Voyager class ships. The indoor pool roof remained shut in spite of great weather. On sea days we could not find sun loungers on deck save for returning to our balcony - I know there are not enough for everyone but on a cruise with 5 sea days - we were unable to find 2 free. The pool area was packed, as I would expect but, to us, it always felt too busy. There are loads of great activities, shops, shows and all the speciality restaurants were fantastic with great service. The cocktail maker was fun too. Perhaps, we were unlucky but this ship was not for us. We missed the relaxed, customer focused service that is synonymous with celebrity. Lots of People have other takes on what they like that enabled them to really enjoy their cruise Anthem, it just wasn't for us.

I would merely suggest you research what you want from the ship/cruise, then look at which ship is likely to meet your needs. Everybody has different likes/dislikes, needs and expectations. Whilst there is a fairly big price difference and many positives in boarding nearer to home make sure that the ship will offer - if that is important to you - the things that will ensure you enjoy your holiday.

What a wonderful review! Thank you for posting so many pictures and great tips. We are thinking of doing the off ship catamaran excursion too. It's Benin really helpful to see how that works on a practical level.

Thank you LPCKG. I have contacted Celebrity and the onboard spend has been added to our trip. They say it is an error which has been reported to the IT department, but as loyal Celebrity cruisers they have honoured it. Suggest you ring them asap.

I'll give them a ring, doesn't hurt to try - my I ask, which sailing are you taking you appear to have experienced a similar mis leading advert too?

The booking was made in UK. What Celebrity have said is correct About NO OBC being offered on this particular sailing, they should know. It's just the website suggests OBC is included. Weren't going to cancel our booking /complain - we can't wait to visit Alaska, but it should be clear. It is usually crystal clear but on this occasion I think the T&C's sections is unhelpfully unclear to compound the generic 'offers' advert and, as said, it is not until you almost complete the booking that reference to OBC disappears for this sailing.

Thank you for confirming what I did believe to be the case!

We've recently made a booking on Solstice, departing Seattle 30 June 2017 (booking made 20 August 2016). We booked a Sky Suite directly with Celebrity. We received free drinks and wifi. However, no onboard spend. The website does state FREE DRINKS AND UP TO $250 TO SPEND ONBOARD. I checked at the time of booking and they advised this sailing did not have the onboard spend option, even though the website appears to suggest the on-board spend is available? We are content with the price, cabin etc. I merely don't like to miss out if we should get more...:rolleyes: The drinks/onboard spend offer expires on 30 August 2016. Is anyone else sailing on 30 June, have you received any onboard spend, if you booked direct? Can anyone clarify. I'm what they are saying is correct but the website is somewhat misleading.

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

We are sailing on June 20 and can't wait to be on the ship!

Ditto! We can't wait...

Can anyone tell me which terminal Celebrity Equinox will dock and disembark at in Barcelona? I believe it is Adossat wharf but there are 4 terminals.

Thank you in advance.

There is a 'traditional' tourist train that offers a tour of the main tourist sites, it stops at the Port and visits the Cathedral, Roman Amphitheatre, Rambla Nova - the main shopping street - which has a fantastic view of the Sea and Port.

Tarragona is a traditional/historic city, with lots to see from Roman ruins, a shopping centre plus newly (about 2/3 years if I remember correctly) Corte en ingles department store, plus there are art museums.

It is not on the same scale as Barcelona nor does it have the same activities but if you have visited Barcelona before and fancy something a little less touristy yet with still lots to see - which can be seen on foot, as they are pretty close together.

Having visited Tarragona I would spend the day in/around Tarragona. It is quaint and would be a more relaxing day as the Port is central to the main sites.

The 'standard train station is very close to the port and trains stop every hour to/from Barcelona and it takes just over an hour - but the train stop for siesta which usually means no trains between 2pm - 3.30pm (ish). Ticket prices are reasonable. Take a look at Renfe website if you look at train times/prices - not sure if you can pre-book but non-rush hour should be fine even if you decided on the day.

There is a high speed train (AVE) that stops at Camp Tarragona - not the same station as the standard train. However, in a car from the 'port area' it would take up to 20/25 minutes. the trains run hourly - but stop for a siesta period, and takes between 30/40 minutes depending upon which train selected.

We sail on board Anthem in a few months and the only restaurant with 'formal' dining is the Grande - so I presume it is the same of Quantum.

From anything that I have read they (Quantum and Anthem) don't 'officially' have a formal night. One of the complimentary restaurants, The Grande, is a formal restaurant every night and guests can pick whether they or not they want to have a formal night when they select there restaurant reservations.

We sail on board Anthem on 20 June. We have booked all our dining options to include complimentary and speciality restaurants.

DD appealed to us although I find the negative comments about 'queues and limited staff' very concerning, as they are repeated month-on-month despite the fact Quantum left Southampton on 2 November 2014.

Our first cruise was on-board Disney Wonder where rotational dining was in operation. It was novel, it worked well. For us it worked well because we'd never cruised and hadn't 'looked up' the menus in advance. However, one evening I didn't like any of the desserts in one restaurant - so our waiter, whom we had had every night, went and got a dessert from the restaurant we were in the previous evening, as the same menu was used each night - perfect solution.

I wait in anticipation as to what RCI plans are for Quantum and Anthem, but would like to know sooner rather than later.

Thank you for posting pictures and updates. I hope the initial problems really are starting to be resolved. I can wait to set sail on Anthem :)

We.re booked to travel on Anthem of the Seas in June - I hope the issues with DD are resolved by then...

Has anyone used this company for post cruise transfers?

If so, can you let me know what you thought about the service - good and bad.

Thank you in advance.

Thank you for posting such a detailed and balanced review.

We are sailing on board Anthem of the Seas next summer. I liked the sound of DD but have grown nervous with the concerning reviews, seen to date. Hopefully reviews will improve as things 'bed down' over the coming weeks.

Current response time, by way, email is running at 42 days, as at 4 Sept 2014.

I sent an email in 20 July, one week after we returned from our cruise and received a response on 4 Sept.

If you have an issue surrounding an impending cruise I'd ring - if you liked to hear back before mid October.

I've been reading the thread about brunch disappearing and I must admit it was more a visual event than a gastronomic one.

 

However, my children loved the chocolate fountains at the brunch and I wondered if they still use them at some point during the cruise. We sail Infinity this week!!

On our recent cruise on board Silhouette (22 June) the chocolate fountain was used in Oceanview on the final sea day. Great buffet selection too.

No questionnaire here either. They definitely have my email address...too.

We were on the Silhouette on 22 June - advised we had 7 days to respond. We disembarked on the 3 July!

We sailed on Silhouette on 22 June, second Celebrity cruise. My Partner is also a huge 'beer fan'. Last year when Michael's was fully functioning he had the premium drinks package and he was able to virtually work his way through a rather impressive beer menu on our 10 night sailing. He only paid once, a $1 upgrade for a beer outside that package.

This year - well, disappointing at best.

Most menu's contained in bars such as Cellars Masters, Passport, Sky Lounge, Ensemble (we like to try everywhere!) had a beer on the menu called Anchor Steam.

Out of Stock - since this is on the 'menu roll' as opposed to Cellars Masters only. According to 'Andrew' one of the beverage managers - it is a micro beer - that means Celebrity cannot guarantee it can get hold of it. He was not able to answer my rather straight forward question - why put a beer on a menu, in 4 bars, on a ship that has 2,500+ passengers a sailing, if it is difficult to get hold of? Out of Stock for one sailing - these things happen - if correct, which due to his position, he should know- his detailed explanation actually exposed, in my opinion greater failings, in stock control. Ps that beer sold of $9, if I remember correctly.

As for Cellars Masters - limited availability - the $8 below stock was available. The $8 plus stock was hit and miss - more of a miss. My Partner had no more than 4/5 beer $8 plus. As a wine drink I do not pay much attention to their names.

In short would not upgrade my partner's drinks package again. No objection to paying for the premium package to enable him to sample any beer he fancies. Why pay more to have what is already available within the Classics package.

Finally, :mad: if it wasn't so annoying it would have been an hilarious comment - which he genuinely meant, honestly. "there is always premium water options available" Yes, I kid you not. Ps that was a strange comment from the front desk officer!

We sailed on the Silhouette, 22 June sailing from Venice. We sailed on time and we left Dubrovnik a few (I think 2 hours earlier) ; we then had a day at sea however we did arrive into Rome one hour later than planned however we sailed out one later than planned - so same amount of time Port, just slightly different timings.

On the second sea day we attended the Captain's talk - first time we have attended such as talk and we were very impressed. Great Captain. He explained that the ship was NOT suffering from a mechanical issue. However, the ship was undergoing testing each sailing that meant the 'cruise speed' was fractionally reduced and this had impacted upon the arrival times into Dubrovnik and Rome. No further Ports were affected. However, he had sailed later out of Rome to enable everyone to have the same 'time in Port'.

Hope that information helps. Forgive me if already answered in full - didn't scroll the thread before responding.

We're sailing on her on the 22 June and we can't wait - thank you!