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Hi

If it is any help we cruised 14 days, returning 11 July, mid ship, deck 6...... Was not aware of any works and all was quiet. Enjoy!

Thank you very much Alpha Whiskey, it sounds very much like our location and I now feel much better. Cheers!

Hi Jackie and Adrian. We are on the Eclipse in September, on Deck 6 Starboard side, mid ships and would appreciate hearing from you after your cruise as to how much of a nuisance this work is causing. Thank you.

All this talk about Florence reminded me about our last visit to Pisa and watching a long line of people queuing to go to the top of the Tower. Someone at the site told us to turn around and look at the Baptistry, a building dedicated to Christenings, which had the most amazing acoustics I have ever heard. We learnt that if you go into the building you could be very lucky if one of the locals sang. We were very lucky to hear this phenomena and would heartily recommend a slight detour into the Baptistry.

Hi. In May/June this year I bought unlimited wifi, which was perfectly adequate in terms of mail and the Internet, but the band width is not sufficient to run FaceTime according to the Expert in th Internet Connections. I was sorry about that because I wanted to FaceTime my granddaughter on her birthday, but I was still glad I bought the unlimited package (even if it was expensive). The Internet was unavailable on only two occasions when I was attempting to connect, both for a short time only, but I would probably have been more upset if I had bought a timed package. I don't know how much area dictates access, but for your information we went to Scandanavia and the Baltics. Hope this helps.

I understand that this cabin is obstructed by one of the larger lifeboats, but I wonder if anyone has stayed in this cabin that could give us any more idea of how much impact this has. Many thanks to anyone who has any info.

It is much easier to give Celebrity a call, the UK contact number is 0844-493-6011, give them your reservation number and ask them to make your dinner reservations for the week. We did want the same time every night, so it was quite a short call and it was done and an email confirmation sent to us. Hope this is helpful. Not sure what number to call outside UK, but I got this number from the Celebrity website, via 'Contact Us'

We have also booked our 7.00 pm slot for the cruise, because we are creatures of habit and we are happier eating at 7.00. As everyone who has prepaid gratuities has the option to make bookings I do not feel guilty in doing this as the early sitting is too early and 8.00 is too late for us. In light of the fact that we choose to sit together (my hubby struggles to follow conversations on bigger tables due to his deafness, and we quite like our own company, even after 46 years) I can't see how we would inconvenience anyone else to any great degree.

I wish everyone on this thread a wonderful cruise, whenever and wherever they cruise.

This post prompted a memory for me. When I was expecting my second child, in 1972, my husband was posted to Hong Kong. I had one youngster who would be 23 months on the date we were due to fly and the other one was due about 7.5 weeks after that date. In collusion with my doctor I informed the Royal Navy/Air Force (we flew in a DC10) that my baby was due at least 8 -9 weeks after the due fly date. This was really because the rules governing foreign travel with babies at that time meant that if I didn't travel before the birth, I would have to wait an additional 3 months after the birth before I could join my husband. He had been sailing for five months before this, so I made the decision to fly before the birth.

When we left the UK, my husband's ship had not arrived in Hong Kong, so I had no address of where I would go to on my arrival, but agreed to meet up with my hubby in Kai Tak airport. This was my first ever flight and it took us to Cyprus and Gan before landing in Hong Kong 25 hours after we left UK. We also went through some massive thunder storms and at one point the plane dropped some 100 feet or so during turbulence. To add to my woes, my unborn son turned and his head engaged during the flight.

He was born very quickly in the Military Hospital, exactly seven weeks after we flew out to Hong Kong - a healthy, albeit small, beautiful baby. We were in the hospital for two days, after which we took him home to join my other son. So it was quite an eventful start to his life and an eventful end to my second pregnancy - by the way, I still don't like flying!!

I am looking forward to the trip through the locks next week, on Magnifica, which we last did on the Queen Elizabeth II in2012. It was good to read your post, which confirms that we are actually docking in Amsterdam. The Opera docked in Ijmuiden the last time we went to Amsterdam and we went on an excursion coach from that port to Amsterdam. However this was a free excursion, courtesy of our TA, and it included a canal boat trip as well, but I believe it was quite expensive if booked on board. I am enjoying your posts, thank you, and I hope you have good weather for the rest of your trip.

I am looking forward to the trip through the locks next week, on Magnifica, which we last did on the Queen Elizabeth II in2012. It was good to read your post, which confirms that we are actually docking in Amsterdam. The Opera docked in Ijmuiden the last time we went to Amsterdam and we went on an excursion coach from that port to Amsterdam. However this was a free excursion, courtesy of our TA, and it included a canal boat trip as well, but I believe it was quite expensive if booked on board. I am enjoying your posts, thank you, and I hope you have good weather for the rest of your trip.

Hi. Another hotel to add to the pot is the Novotel, which is very close to Premier Inn, Grand Harbour and Holiday Inn. TGI Fridays is a very short walk from the hotel, but it is probably wise to book this (we do it online a couple of weeks before we visit) as they are very busy. We are also Potters and have 3 x BW and 1 RW in the family mix.

We were on P & O Oriana acouple of months ago, on a Norway and Iceland itinerary but we are on MSC Magnifica in a couple of weeks, and booked into the Novotel for the second time.

Thanks Jenny, we were finding photos to see the configuration and noticed that there were chairs/sunbeds outside the window, but we may try to get on them on a few days if we have the weather for them. I'm hoping we are high enough to escape much of the vibration but we usually sleep quite well at sea, so it's fingers-crossed.

Thank you both for your replies, I appreciate your thoughts. I usually do opt for midships, but we got a fantastic deal on A Guaranteed basis, so I have no say on this occasion. The itinerary is just what we wanted to do, so we will see how we go on. Once again, thank you.

Hi. Has anyone stayed in this cabin and if so could you please share your opinion. We are most interested in noise, privacy vibration and space. Thank you very much.

Hi Terrier1. Our experience is that the Xpress pass was available first, then we received our Ticket Booklet, at which time a button became available to press to request luggage tags. I did this a few days ago and today I received my luggage tags from Azamara in the post. You will have some tags in your Ticket Booklet which can be printed off and folded down. On other cruises we have done this but have laminated the tickets and fixed them in our cases with either elastic band or ribbon through a punched-hole in the laminated tickets. Alternatively, they can be stapled as directed in the booklet and Sellotaped to the case. But it may well be worth waiting for the original tags from Azamara. Enjoy your cruise :-)

Just a quick post to say that cruisers driving down to Southampton today or, more significantly on Sunday need to be aware that we had about 70 miles diversion through little villages which added almost 2 hours to our journey today. Hope this prevents anyone getting caught out tomorrow.

Can't say I have ever tried to use vouchers for actual cruises, but do use them with Airmiles, which has now become Avios, to book the Grand Harour Hotel at Southampton. This has been quite a money-saver for us, as we have to travel from the Midlands, so tend to travel th night before. Don't know if this is of any help!