dbsb3233

Anyone remember about how long it takes for OBR (refundable OBC) to show up on your credit card? I was thinking it happened immediately, but it's been about 48 hours since our cruise ended and nothing is showing up yet. I just can't remember if it usually takes a while.

Just booked our first Celebrity cruise, a transatlantic reposition in 2017, so thought I'd do a bit of homework on dress code and came across this thread :eek:

 

Anyone know if Evening Chic nights are likely to be any more or less "traditional" than other Celebrity cruises ? The only transatlantic crossing we've been on previously was with RC last year when we were surprised how many black ties / evening gowns were on show.

 

To kilt or not to kilt, that is the question :D

We just got back from our 14-night Baltic cruise on the Silhouette. Compared to our one previous Celebrity cruise (2 years ago on the Millennium to Asia), there were certainly fewer people dressed fancy (jackets, ties, tuxes, etc) on this one. Which is just fine by me (packing light for almost 3 weeks away from home is a big enough challenge without having to bring a jacket and dress shoes too).

Some people still dressed up the old way (maybe 30%). But most men were just in dress shirts and slacks (including us). No pressure or fuss this way. Those that want to dress to the nines still can (and show up the rest of the room if they want), but now those that don't want to don't have to. The Chic nights still had a more upscale look (on average) than a regular smart casual night, but not by a whole lot now. They still have the photographers running around taking pictures on Chic nights (which I suspect was the biggest reason for pushing formal nights in the first place -- to sell photos).

Didn't see anyone in shorts, or ratty jeans. Which is good. Those shouldn't be allowed into the MDR on any night. You'll blend in fine if you just want to bring a pair of dress slacks and a dress shirt. I opt for black shoes, but not dress shoes. All-black trainers make for a good all-in-one cruise shoe (comfortable enough for general use but they blend in sufficiently for MDR use).

I see the Suomenlinna tour is 11 euro. Is it worth paying for the tour or is it better just to walk it on our own?

Since our ship arrives at 0700 and most of the museums don't open until 1000, we're thinking of walking by the Opera House first (to get outside pictures) and then to the Oslo Visitor Center to get Oslo Passes, then catch the train up to the ski jump.

Since we'll be on foot walking uphill from the Holmenkollen station up to the ski jump (and because we're not exactly spring chickens anymore), I want to make sure we walk the shortest way to get to the Ski Museum/jump tower elevator. I'm looking at it in detail on Google Maps Street View. Do we stay on Holmenkollveien and walk in around the rim of the lower bowl seating? Or do we turn left on Kongeveien?

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9631432,10.6706553,3a,75y,294.64h,84.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svXhC54pUbA6BGv6JVkiBew!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e2

We'd prefer to do the former to take pictures from that lower bowl first, but I can't quite tell if there's a way to walk from there up to the museum/elevator.

Also, with the Oslo Pass, entrance to the museum and up the elevator to the top is free, right? (We won't be doing the zip line or anything, just wanna see the view and take pictures). If we get there right at 1000 on a Monday (opening time), is there usually a wait to get on the elevator?

Lastly, if I read the schedule right, the Metro stops there every 15 minutes, right? And it's about 20 minutes to/from Stortinget?

Great info!

Question... if the pier schedule shows "SAK", I'm guessing that means Søndre Akershus (i.e. the pier near Akershus Fortress)?

Everything done on the ship gets charged to your sea pass room account.

Yes any OBC you have will cover whatever is charged against the room.

Yes, tours can be booked thru the TV in the cabin.

Perfect. Thank you!

Seems like every cruiseline does this differently and I forget which is which. When booking an excursion onboard, does it just get charged to the cabin account or do they want a credit card right then?

I have some OBC-N that I want to use up with an excursion, and I read that can be done, so I'm guessing they just charge excursions to the room account. Just wanted to double-check though.

Also, can we book excursions on the TV in the cabin, or do we have to go to the Shore Excursion Desk?

You might get more help with this in the Baltics and Northern Europe Ports of Call for area.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

It's a simple mistake to make though, there is a thread about Iceland there already.

Yeah, I debated on which of the two to put it in. It's kinda 50-50 as to which cruise itineraries Iceland is more included with.

We have a deisel van rented at KEF airport next month. A few questions on filling it up with gas...

- Are the gas stations near the airport (Keflavik) open 24 hours? We have a 7:40am flight thus we'll be returning the van around 5am.

- Are they typically pay-at-the-pump, and take US credit cards? Or do we go inside to the counter and present the card before filling up?

- Is Deisel clearly differentiated from regular? And does it say "Deisel" or will there be a different Islandic word to look for?

Thanks for all of your help. Is there a taxi price calculator in English? I did a search, and the only one I could find was in Danish.

 

I know we can take a train from the Copenhagen Towers to Tivoli, but the walk to the trains station is a but much for us so we are thinking of taking a taxi to Tivoli Gardens. We know there's lots of walking in Tivoli, but we can take our time and stop to rest along the way.

This is a worldwide taxi fare estimator (in English) that I commonly use:

https://www.taxifarefinder.com/

And to calculate the currency exchange rate:

http://www.xe.com/

It's been almost 10 years since we flew Iceland Air and enjoyed it. The only problem (which occurred flying out of Baltimore) was their ticket agent insisted on weighing every carry-on. At that time the limit was 11 lbs, which we knew and had packed accordingly. Unfortunately, a young mother with a baby in sling as well as two toddlers, had an overweight carry-on. The toddlers had tiny backpacks but no room to squeeze in additional stuff. The poor mother was in tears as the gate agent forced her to check some of her carry-on which seemed to be filled with necessities for the children. Coming back from Frankfurt via Iceland Air, the agent could have cared less how much anything weighed.

I'm curious if anyone has more recent info on whether they tend to weigh carry-on bags? We find that most airlines we've flown don't (they just kinda eyeball it), although we flew Fiji Airways earlier this year and coming back from Sydney they did weight each carry-on and were quite picky. We really had to scramble to rearrange.

The Iceland Air website says one carry-on at 22 lb max (economy to/from the US), which is pretty reasonable.

http://www.icelandair.us/information/baggage-information/carry-on-baggage/

The best news is that they're one of the few airlines that allow 2 free checked bags, so we should have plenty of space (we'll throw a soft canvas bag into the suitcase, and if we bought a lot of souvenirs during the trip we'll just stuff it full of dirty clothes and check it as the 2nd bag on the way back).

We enjoyed the folk show. My husband still talks about the show, and it's been five years.

 

Be advised, when we were there, the half way mark had a small room full of local items, CDs, shawls, crafts, for sale. Mostly higher end than your street scene.

Thanks! That's good to hear.

This one says it's at "the former palace of Grand Duce Nikolai Romanov". Sounds like it might be a place worth seeing, at least.

Don't know what cruise line you are on.....but most of them, I think, have a folkloric show on the ship on the first night. I know Princess does. We were just on a Baltic cruise (our third) and while we had a long day and did not go to the show (been twice before) others said it was very nice. Check with your cruise line or on the board for the line to see if they have one and save your money :).

 

<<<Karen>>>

That was my first thought too, that the ship would probably do a similar show for free (or that we'll already be a bit tired of stage shows like that from the ship). I think the others in our group that really wanna do it just don't want to waste the rare opportunity of an evening in port. And even if the show is just so-so, they can say they did "the real thing". ;)

We're booked on Alla Tours 2-day Grand Tour of Saint Petersburg. We're trying to decide whether to add on the Folk Show evening program or not ($90). A few in our group are really interested but some of the info I'm seeing is that it's pretty cheesy and mostly a waste of time/money.

Anyone done it? What did you think of it. Even if you did one through someone other than Alla I'd be interested to hear about it (I'm guessing many tour operators go to the same show anyway).

We were on the Stromma HOHO bus today and it made two stops for cruise ship passengers at Langelinie piers when doing the Mermaid loop.

 

 

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Thanks, although we're not looking to buy the HOHO Bus tickets as well, just the Boat tickets. But it's good info for those looking to use the HOHO Bus.

I emailed Stromma and got an answer I wasn't quite expecting...

"We do have shuttles on the pier, and you can buy your tickets there, and pay by cash or credit card. It is shuttle busses from the pier to Gl. Strand, and from here you can take the hop on and off boat."

What I was really looking for was if they sell tickets right there at the Langelinie HOHO Boat stop (or on the boat itself). I suppose this works to take their shuttle to the GI Strand and get on the boat there, but it just seems more efficient to get on right at the pier. Maybe we'll just try to make that decision before leaving home and pre-buy the tickets so we have them with us so we can get on right at the pier stop.

Has anyone taken the Stromma (green) HOHO Boat from Langelinie?

http://www.stromma.dk/en/copenhagen/sightseeing/sightseeing-by-boat/hop-on-hop-off-boat/

Our ship docks there (Silhouette on 9/1) and it looks like the HOHO boats stop right there on the south end of the pier.

Can you buy tickets on that pier (like at a booth or on the boat)? At roughly US$14 it looks like an easy way to get to some of the attractions near the water and reduce some of the walking.

By countryside. I mean getting away from Stockholm and seeing what Sweden is like outside of town. I am sure there is more to Sweden than Stockholm proper and that is what I crave. We have plans to do the tourist things in town like Vasa etc. In Amsterdam we took a drive outside and saw the beauty of the country and not just buildings.

I see some experts recommending ferry tours to some of the islands around the archipelago...

With so many little islands, it looks like more of a boat place than a drive place.

I seriously doubt that Celebrity will lower standards to that of shorts, tank tops & ball caps. They've been know in the past as being overly strict with the dress code & this is a welcomed change so that everyone can dress down on vacation without having to lug along the formal clothing. Smart casual is the best thing to happen for the old formal nights that they've done since they've changed the smoking rules.

This change will make us once again consider a Celebrity cruise since it's been quite a few years.

Oh ITA. I love the new rules, as packing a jacket and dress shoes for a 3 week trip was a waste of very precious luggage capacity.

I know they'd never lower the official dress code rules that much. I just meant I hope the door enforcement is strong to keep those sorts of things out. I'll admit to skirting the rules in the past, and being let in with no problem. But that was still wearing a nice dark red long-sleeve dress shirt + tie and slacks, just no jacket. We were still dressed up to follow the spirit of the theme, but technically short of the rule with no jackets.

Now there's really no excuse. A pair of nice-looking, lightweight long pants and a button-down dress shirt weighs next to nothing and takes up little luggage space. Now that they've conceded that much, I just hope they fully enforce it now.

The problem with dress codes other than the traditional ones (semi-formal meant business suit, formal generally meant a tux, black tie also meant a tux, and white tie meant white tie and tails) is that no one knows what they mean.

 

How is evening chic different from smart casual?

 

Certainly, in Royal Caribbean, no one knows the difference between casual and smart casual.

 

It's like no one really knows what business casual means. In one office, it -may allow nice jeans and a nice t-shirt, while another means Dockers and a collared shirt.

The dress code is easily found on every cruiseline website FAQ (link below). But you're right that they tend to be vague. I do like that Celebrity's focuses more on what's NOT allowed, leaving people more choice above the minimum standard. I wouldn't want them to dictate exactly what we must wear.

Regarding the difference between smart casual and chic, that's spelled out there too but the difference is very minor for the minimums. I think the point is that those are the nights designated for the people that LIKE to dress fancier. Not that they can't any time, of course, but there will be more people on the ship doing it those nights, with the photographers all set up to do their thing.

http://www.celebritycruises.com/frequently-asked-questions#faq478

Note: T-shirts, swimsuits, robes, bare feet, tank tops, baseball caps and pool wear are not allowed in the main restaurant or specialty restaurant at any time. Shorts and flip-flops are not allowed in the evening hours. The dress code will be enforced at all restaurants. And guests are asked to follow the Smart Casual or Evening Chic dress code in the Celebrity Theater for all evening performances. The daily program, delivered to your stateroom and available at the Guest Relations Desk, will be your guide to the correct attire each evening.

It's great to hear that everyone now has a choice and that dressing up isn't forced upon them as it was years ago. :D

Agreed regarding the formal standard. Although I do hope they enforce reasonable dining room standards. Shorts, tank tops, ballcaps, etc are fine for the casual eating places but the MDR (at least for dinner) is just a nicer venue that should hold to smart-casual minimums.

Not sure how I missed this news until now. Our next X cruise is in August (Baltic). Very happy to see this change from our view (purely from a packing standpoint), but I also understand how many are unhappy as well. It's always been a polarizing topic.

When we've done shorter cruises (like 7 days), bringing a jacket and dress shoes was no big deal for getting everything into a 50lb-limit suitcase. But for a 14 day cruise plus extra nights on either end, every ounce is precious. Especially since we like to bring some souvenirs home too.

We're perfectly happy bringing a dress shirt and slacks, and a tie. I hope the many cruisers that really like to dress to the nines aren't deterred from continuing to do so, as it does class up the place. I have no problem with them "showing up the rest of us". ;)

But I'm glad that Celebrity appears to have acknowledged that it's more than just a personal preference thing for many people. It's also a practical matter for many of us. But I also hope they now enforce this new laxer code more tightly. IMO, this is a reasonable "meet half way" concession. There should be no luggage issue for throwing in something lightweight that can meet these minimum requirements.

Just a quick warning: We were in Helsinki on Tuesday it was about a 15 minute walk from where we docked to the tram stop because of major construction at the port. The ship (Silhouette) did run a shuttle to market square for $12pp.

Well that's a bummer. It looked like it was going to be really efficient to walk right outside to the tram. Looks like construction won't finish until 2017.

We'll probably still do the tram though, because we want to also get to the Rock Church and a few other places.

Thanks for the heads up.

Hi, My ship docks at 8 am on the 12th July at the West Harbour. How long would it take to walk from the West Harbour to the city centre. I have no problem with walking as it gives me more chances to take photo's.

 

Thanks Tokyo.

Google Maps shows walking/biking/driving times between any 2 points. From West Terminal to Senate Square, it shows a 37 minute walk.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/West+Terminal,+Tyynenmerenkatu,+Helsinki,+Finland/Senate+Square,+00170+Helsinki,+Finland/@60.1621636,24.9188975,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x46920bb2bb2555e5:0xa9458280e7bd7138!2m2!1d24.9212167!2d60.1545087!1m5!1m1!1s0x46920bce46c319b7:0xbc57e32cb4d908ca!2m2!1d24.9522866!2d60.1694794!3e2

The #9 Tram would cover all but the last few blocks of that much easier though.

Thanks for the info.

I'm beginning to think it may just be easier to get a day pass for the HOHO boat and stick with that through the day, even if we do backtrack some and lose a little time. I'm not too thrilled with having to find a place to buy bus or trams tickets first just for a single ride (if I understand that right). Seems like more trouble than it's worth if we can't just pay when we get on. I don't want to make this too confusing for our group of 6 (especially when we have 9 cities on this cruise to remember how to get around).

I assume the 24 hour HOHO boat pass is also good for the special Vasa morning ride? And that we can just buy the 24-hour pass either onshore at the pier or as we get on the HOHO boat?

If the HOHO boat isn't a good fit, we may just do the Emelie day pass, even though there's more walking involved from Nybrokajen to Gamla Stan attractions (although that looks like a nice area to walk through and see too). But it only runs hourly so we'd have to time that one more carefully.

I thought I had this figured out, but the further I read through the thread the more confused I got.

We're on the Clebrity Silhouette, docking 29 Aug 0800-1600. I originally figured we'd purchase a day pass for one of the HOHO boats. The Vasa Museum and Gamla Stan are our priorities. Since the HOHO boat goes clockwise, it seemed to make sense to do Gamla Stan in the morning and then Vasa in the afternoon, then return to the ship.

But now it sounds like the HOHO boats don't run that early, except direct to Vasa?? Which means I guess we need to reverse that order. But if we do that, it means backtracking on the HOHO, doing what's effectively 1.5 loops and wasting about half an hour. Kinda hate to do that when we only have about 6.5 effective hours in port.

Then I read about taking single-trip rides on the HOHO boats. These are the 2 companies, right?...

http://www.stromma.se/en/stockholm/sightseeing/sightseeing-by-boat/hop-on-hop-off-boat/

https://www.redsightseeing.com/hop-on-hop-off-boat-stockholm/

I see Stromma shows single-ride tickets (50 SEK). Anyone know if the other does too? I assume that means you get on once and get off at any stop?

So if we do single-ride on the HOHO from S167 to Vasa in the morning, and the HOHO single-ride from Gamla Stan to S167 when we're done, we just need something direct from Vasa to Gamla Stan late morning. And that's where I got a little confused, because I'm not finding a good website that lists the ferries, piers, fares, etc.

From what I understand there's a ferry (82 Djurgårdsfärjan) from Allmänna gränd near Vasa (behind the ABBA Museum) that goes to Galma Stan (Slussen). I did see your timetable PDF, and it appears it runs every 15 minutes midday on a Monday, right?

I guess another option is just to buy a day pass on the Emelie for 100 SEK, take it from S167 (Masthamnen) to Allmanna (for the Vasa), then catch it again to Nybroplan and walk from there to Royal Palace. Looks like about the same distance from there as it is from Slussen anyway. Then maybe reverse that to get back to the ship. Anyone know what the senior age cut-off is for the Emelie senior discount, and whether it applies to foreign tourists?