Celebrity Infinity - Oct 24 2013 - T/A Harwich to Miami - Pied Piper sailing

[Hobie]

I returned yesterday from my 15 night Hawaiian cruise. It was a great cruise and a lot of fun.

 

Now all of my focus is on the Infinity!

 

I finally caught up with all of your notes that were posted since I left. I'm still working on catching up on the main board however!

 

I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you onboard the Infinity real soon!

 

Glenn

[Petert102]

I returned yesterday from my 15 night Hawaiian cruise. It was a great cruise and a lot of fun.

 

Now all of my focus is on the Infinity!

 

I finally caught up with all of your notes that were posted since I left. I'm still working on catching up on the main board however!

 

I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you onboard the Infinity real soon!

 

Glenn

Glenn

 

So glad to hear that your float to Hawaii was an unqualified sucess. As you say, we can now focus on our up-comming trip, which cannot come too soon.

 

Peter

[Turtles06]

Hey everyone, it's awfully quiet on here . . . two weeks to sailaway!

 

Our suitcases are out, we'll be doing some serious putting things together this weekend. For those of you heading off in the next week -- safe travels and enjoy your pre-Infinity time, we look forward to meeting you soon!

 

Judith

[Khepre]

Hi everyone!

 

13 days... Can't wait! Weather here in the desert has begun to change already from summer to winter. Temperature recently dropped dramatically and we've been engulfed in sandstorms several times during the last week (see pic). Will be so happy to hit the open sea!

 

Am finally back to regular internet access and want to begin thinking about the shore excursions. I've not booked anything yet. On my two previous Caribbean cruises I found the organized excursions from X to be a bit onerous... a lot of waiting around for other people. I spent some time today surfing this forum and the general roll call forum for ideas... but there is a lot of conflicting recommendations.

 

I am half inclined to not get off the boat...the shore days are so early in the trip (i.e., pre-relaxed state) that at the moment the whole idea seems exhausting. So, seasoned cruisers, any suggestions to sway me to get off the boat? Can anyone tell me which of the four ports are close enough to the towns for just walking around if desired?

 

Cannot wait to meet you all! Am still wishing away time...

Best,

Chris

[KiwiAtSea]

Just got home from work - for the last time before the cruise. I'm officially on vacation!

 

And the fact that it's a dark and stormy Friday night makes it even better. Just four days till I fly over to London :)

[Turtles06]

Hi everyone!

 

13 days... Can't wait! Weather here in the desert has begun to change already from summer to winter. Temperature recently dropped dramatically and we've been engulfed in sandstorms several times during the last week (see pic). Will be so happy to hit the open sea!

 

Am finally back to regular internet access and want to begin thinking about the shore excursions. I've not booked anything yet. On my two previous Caribbean cruises I found the organized excursions from X to be a bit onerous... a lot of waiting around for other people. I spent some time today surfing this forum and the general roll call forum for ideas... but there is a lot of conflicting recommendations.

 

I am half inclined to not get off the boat...the shore days are so early in the trip (i.e., pre-relaxed state) that at the moment the whole idea seems exhausting. So, seasoned cruisers, any suggestions to sway me to get off the boat? Can anyone tell me which of the four ports are close enough to the towns for just walking around if desired?

 

Cannot wait to meet you all! Am still wishing away time...

Best,

Chris

 

Hi Chris -- that is an amazing picture; thanks for sharing.

 

I agree with you in general about ship-sponsored tours. Usually too big, and often too much waiting. That said, we are taking two of them on this trip, in Gijón and Lisbon. Here's why.

 

From everything I could research about Gijón, there's not much to see or do there (and I'm pretty sure the ship docks out of town). So we are taking a short (4 hour) Celeb. excursion to Oviedo, which sounds like an interesting, picturesque old city (it's the capital of Asturias), where we'll get to walk around and visit a cathedral and an ancient church. It's just half the day, we'll have photo ops, get to see someplace new.... [FWIW, Celeb. has two excursions to Oviedo, nearly identical. We're on the one that visits San Julian de Los Prados, as it spends more time in Oviedo itself.]

 

We've never been to Lisbon and there is so much we'd like to see there. We initially thought about hiring a private guide, but given that you absolutely don't want to miss the ship in Lisbon, I didn't want to spend any of the day worrying about the bad traffic and getting back to the ship in time. So we are doing a Celebrity tour of the city. That way, we get to see the highlights. It's a compromise. (Marie-Claude on the other Roll Call has done this tour and said she enjoyed it. It all comes down to the guide that day.)

 

As for La Rochelle -- we are really looking forward to this port. Lots of medieval history in the Vieux Port area (old towers, etc.). The ship docks well out of town, but the town is running a free shuttle right to the old port area. Assuming the weather cooperates, should be a good day for exploring at your own pace. (And if the weather is bad, the aquarium in La Rochelle is also supposed to be fantastic.) All very walkable. There are a couple of great street maps you can print out at this site:

 

http://www.holidays-la-rochelle.co.uk/city-maps

 

In Vigo, the ship docks right in town, at the base of another good area for walking around and exploring on your own (and having some fresh seafood for lunch). So again, do-able at your own pace. Here's a Vigo web site that is very helpful, and even has a number of suggested walking routes:

 

http://www.turismodevigo.org/en/node/774

 

The trip is definitely port intensive up front, but look at it this way: seven sea days in a row during which to recover!

 

Safe travels, and see you soon,

 

Judith

[Petert102]

Kiwi / Alan / Turtles and Chris

 

Alan,

 

I will be thinking of you enduring your mamoth flight to London, I feel for you. I used to hate doing the Sydney - New York flight, was screwed up for days !!!! Like you, our weather has changed here in NYC, almost like England, grey leaden skies, wind and damp cold creeping into every bone. At least you Guys have summer to look forward to. Last weekend was sad as we closed our little beach place at Fire Island Pines for the season. We love the place, but it was time. The winds were so high on Monday night as to snap the electric cables supplying our little village....so no lights at all !!!!

 

Chris;

 

We are doing zero excursions except for Lisbon where we are going on X's to Obidos. Mainly as we had a bad time in Lisbon on our last visit when we and many others on the Solstice were robbed, while wandering round doing our own thing, in the center of Lisbon. Unfortunately the Portugese economy is in free-fall and the folks are really hurting there. At the other places we will just wander around, La Rochelle we will have Moules Frites ( Mussels and Fries ) at a harbor restuarant. Howard has to see an eye doctor and has an appointment, evidently his eye glasses require a special kind of filter that he can only get in France. Vigo we will make a Retail Pilgrimage to El Corte Ingles for some of those Purificcacion Garcia shirts, Agua Brava Cologne and other toiletteries and then visit a Tapas place for lunch and Gijon, I cannot organize my brain to organize anything in Gijon, especially as it is a Sunday and will be closed up like a clam, may go to the Rastro ( flea market ) ...... but we have time to think about that.

 

We are Busy packing and I am organizing the other two Guys. Howard has already lost all his airline e-tickets, hotel to ship transfers, hotel pre-paid reservations vouchers..etc... etc.....fortunately I kept copies of everything. now I have confiscated his passport and put it with ours in case he has a similar lapse !!!!!! Meanwhile, Paul refuses to even think about packing and is carrying on as if we were not travelling on Thursday next week.

 

Turtles

 

Have a safe and uneventful flight

 

Lilly and Maude ( our daughters ) will be off to the Doggie Spa and Camp in Connecticut and will picked up on Thursday morning.

 

All of you have a good and safe flight

 

See all of you Guys on Board

 

Mega, Mega Hugz

 

Peter

Edited October 11, 2013 by Petert102

[imwmflyme]

Good Morning All...Well the Suitcases are out on the bed and we are so ready. Talking about the M and S class ships. We did the Silhouette last year as a family cruise. While we thought the ship was one of the most beautiful we have ever been on, we do prefer the M Class to S...because we like the ship to look like a ship not a floating hotel We do wish they had put The Tuscan Grill on the Infinity instead of Cuisine but as long as there is the martini bar..we will be happy LOL. Time to get our costumes into the steamer trunks...cannot wait to meet you all at the welcome party and safe travels...Judith...I like my vodka tonic with extra lime...Bill and Kevin.

[imwmflyme]

Ps...has anyone booked any of the recommended excursions yet? thanks Bill

[Turtles06]

Ps...has anyone booked any of the recommended excursions yet? thanks Bill

 

Hi Bill -- we'd booked our excursions well before we rec'd the "recommended" ones from PP. As it turns out, the City of Lisbon tour that we booked was the one recommended by PP. In Gijón, there are two tours going to Oviedo; they are nearly identical, and after some thought we picked the one that visits San Julian de los Prados rather than Santa Maria de la Naranco because it appears the former spends more time in Oviedo itself (and San Julian de los Prados looks a bit more interesting). PP came in with a recommendation for the latter tour, but we are sticking with what we booked for the reasons we booked it in the first place.

 

We are having DIY days in La Rochelle and Vigo (see my post above replying to Chris).

 

I was interested in your comment above that you prefer the M-class ships to the S-class. We've only sailed with X once before, last year on the Eclipse, which we found to be incredibly beautiful and well laid out. I never felt there were as many pax on board as there actually were. So it will be interesting to see our reaction to the Infinity. (And we are booked on the Connie for the Baltics next May.)

 

Happy packing, everyone; that's what we'll be doing for at least part of today!

 

Judith

[BlazerMB]

We are packed!!! We leave for London on Friday. So excited to meet you all!!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Turtles06]

I hope all of you already in the UK are having a wonderful time!

 

Our packing starts tomorrow; we can't wait to get going on this trip!

 

I think I'll be turning out the lights on this Roll Call. I look forward to meeting everyone soon!

[jimuk]

Greetings Peter, Judith and everyone else who is on this cruise.

 

Unfortunately my partner and I have had to cancel this trip last week due to ill health so there will two less pied pipers with you on this one :(

 

We are planning to do another pied piper cruise next year, so maybe our paths will cross again one day in the future :)

 

Hope you all have an amazing time!

 

Jim & Ron x

 

PS - Tip! Atlantis resort at Nassau is amazing and is a must if you have not been before, we had a week there in 2009 and were so looking forward to going back, best marine habitat in the world (and waterpark for the big kids), anyway enjoy :D!!

[Turtles06]

Greetings Peter, Judith and everyone else who is on this cruise.

 

Unfortunately my partner and I have had to cancel this trip last week due to ill health so there will two less pied pipers with you on this one :(

 

We are planning to do another pied piper cruise next year, so maybe our paths will cross again one day in the future :)

 

Hope you all have an amazing time!

 

Jim & Ron x

 

 

So sorry to hear this, and I hope you have a speedy recovery!

 

And I also hope we cross paths on a ship in the future.

 

All the best...

[jmarkkasper]

Chris and Bill--

 

Glad to know that I am not the only one waiting until the last minute--I believe tonight or tomorrow may be the last pre-sail opportunity to book.

 

I booked (after considering recommendations here and from PP):

Santiago Extended Half Day (VG14)

Lisbon Audio Guide Tour (LS41)

Oviedo & Santa Maria del Naranco (GJ03)

 

I have never been to Lisbon and really didn't want to be unable to move around freely and at my own pace. I have never done a city audio tour (and again) procrastinated too late to do proper research.

 

Am travelling solo, so feel free to join me on these--and yes, by all means, if you haven't been to these places, I do recommend "jumping ship" at least for a bit. I, like you Chris, will probably not go ashore (unless I am ready for a bit of land) in Nassau.

 

Getting excited--work has been so hectic that I haven't had much time to think of travel -- until today.

 

Looking forward to meeting all!

 

--Kasper

[Khepre]

Thanks to everyone for the excursions recommendations. Unfortunately, due to crappy internet connections, I missed the online deadline for booking anything. Will endure the queue onboard and try to join the Oviedo/San Julian option and the Lisbon city tour. La Rochelle and Vigo sound great for exploring (Peter, want to hear more about the shopping pilgrimage...!)

 

Bags are finally out for last minute packing tomorrow :-)

 

See you all soon!

Chris

[Khepre]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say thanks for a truly great cruise experience!

 

My first transatlantic was an unforgettable trip. This was largely due to the extraordinary people I met through traveling with the Pied Piper group on the X Infinity...but also because of all the non-Pipers met as well.

 

Miss you all already. Let's do it again real soon!

Best wishes from mundania,

Chris