janetmojo

We are booked on a 14 night Journey's Cruise in Greenland in late May and it's a ship that doesn't have many dining venues so I am hoping there is lunch in the dining room as I'm not a big buffet person.

57 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sorry for not getting back with you yesterday as we were on another intense Galapagos excursion on the Celebrity Flora. 
 

Yes, that makes sense to book a balcony on either the port or starboard side rather than the aft. We were booked in a mini-suite on the port side on the Diamond and were quite comfortable, even without a covered balcony like most of the M and S class Celebrity ships have. 

Thank you I know you are traveling!  I hope it is awesome as that is on my list too! 

Hi Ken, I wanted to thank you for your wonderful "Live" report.  We are looking at a summer 2025 (July) cruise Best of Japan on Celebrity.  We are taking school aged family members so the timing isn't negotiable.  Usually we book aft sunset type cabins but I understand with the heat and since those cabins are kind of blocked in on Celebrity (no corners) do you think we would be better off booking a regular side style balcony for better breeze?   For reference we live in Central FL so we are familiar with heat but I do prefer not to be in it on the ship...Thanks so much!  Hope the Galapagos are great!

Thanks for the tips, I forgot about the Olympics, that is a very good point.  And yes I know we could spend a LOT more time but combined with our cruises if we spend a week in London then it's still a month long trip.

It's been a long time since I have been to London and my husband has never been.  We want to spend about a week exploring the city as well as day trips to Dover, the Cotswolds, Windsor etc.  In other words we want to do ALL the things.  We are booked on Celebrity Apex out of Southampton Aug 27th through Sept 18th on a B2B.   It's not a super strenuous cruise as we have done many of the ports before.  Normally I'd book the week in London pre-cruise because hubby prefers to get that kind of travel done and then when the cruise is over go straight home.  But I'm wondering if waiting to do London in mid/late September instead of mid-August will make a significant difference in price and crowds?  We will be 47 and 61 at the time, no kids.  But he can get a little grumpy with crowds which we dealt with pretty significantly in Europe this past summer.   I'd appreciate any advice 🙂

Thank you all so far, and I appreciate the fact that I am not the only one who is a little overwhelmed. I normally find myself a pretty capable travel planner but this one is a little out of my league.

I debated posting this in a specific cruise line forum but thought I might try here first.  I have traveled a good bit and I am usually in charge of all of our planning.  We are Pinnacle with RCL and Elite Plus with Celebrity but neither offer the extensive South American trip I am looking for.  Normally I'd never book a pre or post cruise extension with the cruise line but I am looking a pre trip Iguazu Falls and post trip Machu Picchu extensions (or vice versa).  These both involve a lot of logistics, flights, trains and I am wondering if it is worth splurging for the offerings from the cruise line (Princess specifically offers something a little like I am looking for) but I'm not set on any cruise line at this point bc not everyone has the winter 2025 trips out yet.   I'd also welcome any suggestions of better places to look for more in depth info on these...I know they are expensive but it's an area of the world I am super unfamiliar with. 

2 hours ago, Middleager said:

Would help if you let people know what the tour covers, time, and price.   There are many tours for Lisbon and surrounding areas that can visit many different places.

 

Public transit is relatively inexpensive and convenient, so is uber.  Some many places inside Lisbon can already be covered without taking a tour.

It's at 9am and is with Lisbon Riders in a minivan.  We've paid 300EU and looking to split costs.  It's 5 hours (or a little longer).  We only have one full solid day to explore so we decided it was worth someone showing us all the best things to see (and have AC since Europe is going to be like the surface of the sun for the next few weeks.)

We sail from Rome to Barcelona, flying to Lisbon for fun the flying to cruise out of Rotterdam so no one from my cruises is actually going to Lisbon 😂

9 hours ago, Ellaleah said:

Sorry, but I will not have that situation until 2024.  I wondering who you booked for the private tour as I will also be in search of one next year.  Thank you.

We like Lisbon Riders for private and group tours.

We are staying in Lisbon for three night between Celebrity Cruises this summer and have booked a private tour for just the two of us for the day in Lisbon if anyone would like to join us (like another couple?)  I hope this is allowed since I can't really figure out what group to post in to see who might be in Lisbon for a cruise during that time. (I know technically this isn't allowed but since we aren't cruising to Lisbon I don't want to post this in a ton of different threads??)

18 hours ago, calicakes said:

When is your cruise?  We're on the Feb 25, 2024 GBR cruise. 

Jan 25 🙂

I'm in the middle of it right now!

I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to say how extremely helpful it has been for my planning for our 2024 GBR cruise.  Thanks again!

We are booked next January on Celebrity Edge with the following schedule for these ports- (well these are the ones I am asking about at this point at least)-

Airlie Beach 7am-5pm Tendered

Cairns (Yorky's Knob) 9am-10pm Tendered

Port Douglas-7am-6pm Tendered

We are a group of 4, all adults.  With two of us interested in snorkeling the GBR (hubby can't dive anymore due to ear issues 😞 ) and my parents (in their 70's-good physical shape but probably no interest in snorkel as dad is subject to sea sickness.)

It sounds like from what I have read so far that Cairns and Port Douglas might offer the best GBR trips but also have other neat things to see.  I'm thinking we snorkel in Airlie (possibly through the ship since it is so far away). 

Then do the Jungle Train and Skyway in Cairns (Is that possible to do on your own? I see tickets to the train and skyway combo are much cheaper directly but how can we get there knowing the port is 30 mins I think from the train station?) 

Finally in Port Douglas it looks like seeing the Rainforrest, River Cruise and or Mossman Gorge are good choices?

Thoughts on this?  We are frequent cruisers but this is our first time to Aust/NZ and will end up being a month long trip.  Thanks in advance!!

Thanks for all the photos, unfortunately most of the ones that are left have some kind of window washing equipment involved as well. (roll eyes)

48 minutes ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

To clarify, Celebrity canceled the cruise you were originally booked on or did you?

 

Have you called to ask whether you can be assigned a cabin right now due to the fact you had a secured cabin number for the cancelled 2023 sailings?  I'd start there before making moves on a different cabin.

 

Side question, are you booked with a refundable or non-refundable deposit rate for the cruise?

We moved the cruise due the number of restrictions still in place early 2023 for flights (like wearing masks and lack of available excursions.)  So we were the ones that did it. We book through the casino so the rate and refundable etc doesn't matter for us.  There are no available sunset rooms on either trip at the moment.

So...we were originally booked to do Aust and NZ back to back cruises totaling 21 nights for 2023 but we moved it to 2024.  The cruises are on the Edge (which we have sailed.)  We personally are not big fans of the Infinite Verandah.   On the 2023 sailings we were booked in our preferred room (a sunset verandah with an actual room number) for the entire time.  When the trips got moved to 2024 they gave us a Sunset Verandah guarantee.  I'm kind of annoyed by this but it was the only option when booking.  So my fear is they will give us an "upgrade" to Concierge Class or Aqua Class both which have the stupid infinite verandahs.  The Aqua class wouldn't be helpful as we are booked with another couple who would not be able to eat in Blu.  So I guess I am looking for advice.  Keep the guarantee (not having any idea which type of room we will eventually get) or swap to one of the porthole verandahs for the entire 21 days knowing we would at least have some type of normal balcony.  Thanks in advance...

I have plans to do this in two weeks.  Do people who have done it lately feel like it's still safe?

23 hours ago, SDPadreFan said:

If you want a more traditional experience, there is a place called Lolo's Spa that is near the Tesoro Hotel right on the Marina Walk. Never been there but understand that it is supposed to be good.

 

Our go-to place is called Eden's Spa but it is not close (probably 20-30 min walk) or about $12-$15 by taxi. For us, it's worth it and it's the place we go during our annual timeshare week in Cabo (and also on cruises)

Why thank you for all of the excellent advice!

Thank you so much this looks like exactly what I need.  @macfam5 are you taking an uber or taxi or walking?

Can anyone recommend either a place within walking distance or a place that might provide transport for massages in Cabo?   I saw a place in Ensenada but that port just doesn't work with our schedule.  We've done all the other "Cabo" things and we are there for the afternoon only mid-April on Solstice.

On 11/15/2022 at 12:56 PM, dacf said:

janetmojo - We are going this summer too.   When are you going?  How did you find out how many ships would be in port when you are there?

We are coming in mid-July and I just googled each port and found the schedule for the summer cruises and picked our date. 

Most of the ships are there most of the day. 

We are booked in the Summer of 2023 with 6 ships in each port on the day of our arrival.  I'm looking for recommendations of private tour companies without just starting a search on Viator.  I have emailed two companies for each port already and have gotten nothing back.  Cost isn't necessarily an issue.

I would like to also recommend Los Veranos in PV.  We have been with them twice, a little challenging as far as getting to the zips but by far the most expansive and amazing zips we have ever done.  Also the included transport is a godsend and easy to find from the port.