Paraveina

I've never booked with Celebrity before - are they similar to Carnival and NCL in that I'll have an agent assigned to me for the duration of my booking, or is it just you get a random agent any time you call? Just wondering in anticipation Friday for the Australia bookings.

Went to book our Infinity P.C. cruise for March of 2017 - but there is no March dates listed - only April. There have always previously been March sailings. Is there some info out there on this that I have missed? I've got a cabin on hold for the earliest April date but really wanted March.

I see a sailing from Valparaiso on March 19 2017 to Miami...is that the one you wanted?

The Solstice cruises are up on Celebrity's website and I'm hoping against hope that they forgot to put one up, because the sailing I've been obsessing about (mid November 2016) since I got engaged appears to be a charter. Now I have no idea what to do for our honeymoon...

Thanks for the heads up! Watching it now.

Are you finding the right site? If you are there's a link on the home page - it's an orange button saying Celebrity 2016/2017 on sale now.

Oh! I was using the search function. I've got it now :)

I'm on vacation in Salzburg right now with unreliable internet. Yes, there does appear to be a dry dock for solstice. Her AU itineraries don't start until November.

Ah, perhaps the viewing is region locked. Thank you for the info :)

They're still there. It's not the cold house but one might be missing it's idiot :)

I can't seem to find it there either? Could I impose upon you to send an email through to gmail with a screencap of the November 2016 itineraries? Can you tell by the schedule if there appears to be a drydock scheduled?

Thanks,

"paraveinacruiser"

The Australia itineraries are on the UK site mentioned earlier in this thread. And I'm super happy to find a Queensland cruise in March 2017 :) exactly the time frame we were looking for on Solstice.

I checked both the chilly house and the one that scans... Am I in the wrong place or did they take them back down?

Threads like this confirm to me that it's a good idea that I don't want to have children. I would have thought back to my childhood (started school in the 90's) and remembered walking to school (just over 1 km) alone or with one other kid the same age as me and concluded that it's much safer on a ship. Obviously if my child was less mature than I remember being, I'd adjust the age, but I would have thought a 7 year old would be fine based on my past experience.

Is there a show every day?

The schedule from November 3rd: http://www.sydneyports.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/31446/Passenger_Vessel_Schedule_Final_v329_03_Nov_2014.pdf

December 5 and 16 are gone from the new schedule - drydock then?

Good call - however Melbourne has her listed for the 6th November!!!

 

Clearly this is fun but NOT an exact science!!

I think we're seeing two sets of dates everywhere - the schedule the Solstice will take if she has a drydock in November, and the one she will have if she doesn't. A few pages back in this thread there was a comment about how the Sydney schedule had far too many visits for a finalized schedule, which lends itself to two schedules. Perhaps the Darwin stops are if there IS a drydock in November, and the Melbourne stop is if they decide to do the drydock later than that.

Edit: Here's the last schedule for Sydney, updated on November 26th. Still showing too many dates in October to make sense: 8, 18, 21, 22, 24, 31, unless there's a few one day cruises? Then in November 3, 12, 24, 27. Seems to be settling out into the 12 day pattern there...

http://www.sydneyports.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/31476/Passenger_Vessel_Schedule_Final_v333_26_Nov_2014.pdf

When is the dry dock for Solstice also?

 

 

 

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I am guessing it's in between Alaska and the Australia/New Zealand cruises simply because the ship appears to be leaving Alaska earlier than in 2015, but it's pure speculation on my part.

Is the Solstice missing some dates? In 2015 it heads to Hawaii near the end of September but there are only 2016 days posted until the end of August...

Yeeh, Canada/NE is open for booking (on Summit again, what else? :D).

IMHO the prices are okay for 14 nights, regarding the fact that you sail on a premium ship!

Princess and HAL cost more per night (at least in 2015), and at least Princess cannot reach the Celebrity standards, IMHO.

 

Only port I am missing is St. Johns (New Brunswick) - for tours to Bay of Fundy...

Just remember it's Saint John - St. John's is in Newfoundland.

We posted a pdf file with the three British Isles itineraries, but it was deleted. It seems that we are not allowed to post useful information on CC.

Do you think Celebrity realises the excitement over the release has turned to annoyance because of this?

Some very odd dates for Solstice there! Shows as arriving 18th Oct 2016, then again on 21st, 22nd, 24th, 31st and 3rd November. Mighty short trips there.

Yes, I noticed there are some potential discrepancies as well - for example, the Solstice supposedly will be in Dunedin Nov 21, then Sydney Nov 24, then Hobart Nov 25, then Sydney again Nov 27. I suppose that's possible, except that the Hobart schedule also shows direction and it's listed as arriving from NZ and departing to Sydney. That leads me to believe the Sydney Nov 24 date isn't correct, especially in light of all those October dates you've listed.

We just found the port schedule for Sydney - http://www.sydneyports.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/31446/Passenger_Vessel_Schedule_Final_v329_03_Nov_2014.pdf. In addition to the expected calls by Solstice, Millennium is there on 29th March 2016, 1st April 2017 and 20th November 2017.

Oh that's interesting. I've been assuming a 12 night from Auckland to Sydney for the dates I'm looking at but that schedule leads me to think it might be a 15 night round trip from Sydney. That might make flights easier...

... and in Hobart, Tasmania on 19th December 2016, and 3rd and 27th February 2017 - http://www.tasports.com.au/port_services/arrivalscruise.html.

Also Port Otago:

http://www.portotago.co.nz/4/1.html

What activities have weight restrictions and what are they?

If it's not too much of a bother, could the live bloggers use a font colour other than blue? It would make skimming past the "subscribing" and other comments easier.

It was Saint John, New Brunswick you visited. And it is Point Lepreau.

 

Was this the cruise to Bermuda that ended up as a cruise to Halifax and Saint John?

Looks like Lepreau Falls. Cruise ship passengers wouldn't be able to visit Point Lepreau (nuclear generating station).

I know they do Private Tours (as in with a Guide, and pricey) but that might be mostly for sightseeing vs say something more adventurous.

 

Couple of Questions (so we can help you even more with suggestions)

 

1- What Destination(s) are you looking at ?

2- What type of Excursions are you thinking about ?

 

Here are some other suggestions in the meantime...

 

Lots of Cruise Pax organize their own Shore Excursions... Pretty easy, and most often cheaper than going thru the ship.

 

Check out the Ports of Call Forum here on CC for more info... As well as the Roll Call for your Sailing.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

I'd like to go to the Orana Wildlife Park from Akaroa, but the only shore excursion Celebrity seems to offer is the "Orana Wildlife Park & Scenic Gondola Ride". The only reviewer on their site gives it two stars because it appears time is not well spent, especially if you have no interest in the gondola. I've also spent some time poking around for information on Akaroa and it appears to be a very small place with limited or no options for taxis, so I'm not entirely sure I could do a self-directed tour in this case. I did ask on an existing thread in the Australia/New Zealand sub-forum if there are taxis available to Orana from the "Christchurch On Your Own" drop off point. Also, I have no roll call yet as I'm anxiously awaiting the December 5th release of the fall 2016 itineraries.

Is it possible to set up a private excursion through Celebrity if you want something other than what they offer for a port?

Hi - If you take the 'Christchurch on your own' tour, you can easily do both the Antarctic Centre and city centre container (Re-Start) mall. Your bus to Christchurch will drop you by the Museum/Botanic Gardens/Hagley Park in Rolleston Ave. From there, it is a 5-10min walk to the Re-Start mall (container shops). The Antarctic Centre has a free shuttle which also departs from outside the Museum in Rolleston Ave on the hour every hour for the attraction and takes about 20 minutes to get there. It returns on the half hour, or you can take a taxi either way. Plan to spend at least a couple of hours at the Antarctic Centre, there is a lot to see and do there. The Airforce Museum is in Sockburn (20 mins drive in another direction) so tours combining those two attractions may not have time to also include the city re-start container mall.

Would I be able to get from the Rolleston Ave drop off point to the Orana Wildlife Park?