Overnight in Hotel during the cruise

[Solon]

Thought I would tap the knowledge base on cc before contacting Celebrity.

 

We are visiting Israel again on a cruise this October and plan to stay in a hotel in Jerusalem during the overnight while the ship is docked in Ashdod.

 

Has anyone done this before, and do I need to inform Celebrity beforehand in the event they alert the army or police that I am missing from the evening role call?

 

Has anyone done this in St. Petersburg, as well?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[NorbertsNiece]

Am sure you are aware that if you are going to do this in St Petersburg you would be responsible for obtaining your own visa for Russia.

 

If the ship ports overnight in any port you do not require consent to stay out. There is no evening roll call.

 

Linda

Edited July 5, 2015 by NorbertsNiece

[chefcaw]

Thought I would tap the knowledge base on cc before contacting Celebrity.

 

We are visiting Israel again on a cruise this October and plan to stay in a hotel in Jerusalem during the overnight while the ship is docked in Ashdod.

 

Has anyone done this before, and do I need to inform Celebrity beforehand in the event they alert the army or police that I am missing from the evening role call?

 

Has anyone done this in St. Petersburg, as well?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

We spent a night off the ship on Cairo and in Beijing. Neither time did we inform the ship. In hindsight, it would not be a poor decision to let them know that you are leaving.

 

Chris

[ghstudio]

We spent nights off the ship in ho chi minh city and Hanoi...no problem at all. I don't think we told the ship, but they don't do a bed check on an overnight :)

[Grandma Gilly]

Haven't done this on X but on Azamara. No problem at all.

[Solon]

Am sure you are aware that if you are going to do this in St Petersburg you would be responsible for obtaining your own visa for Russia.

 

If the ship ports overnight in any port you do not require consent to stay out. There is no evening roll call.

 

Linda

 

Sorry, just my sense of humour. They do certainly check on departure though! :D

 

Thanks for the information on St. Petersburg.

[CathyCruises]

I am considering this identical cruise. I don't know anything about traveling to Israel. What is the travel time from Ashdod to Jerusalem? What would be the advantages of staying overnight in Jerusalem other than not having to make the trip back-and-forth?

Edited July 5, 2015 by CathyCruises

[Solon]

It is comforting to know that a number of you have stayed overnight on land.

 

Although we have cruised many times, we have never done this. It was a tour guide in Israel who suggested that we might overnight in Jerusalem to get a better appreciation of the city.

 

Sounded good to us at the time.

 

Thanks for all of your replies. Much appreciated.....

[SantaFeFan]

It is comforting to know that a number of you have stayed overnight on land.

 

Although we have cruised many times, we have never done this. It was a tour guide in Israel who suggested that we might overnight in Jerusalem to get a better appreciation of the city.

 

Sounded good to us at the time.

 

Thanks for all of your replies. Much appreciated.....

 

We've stayed overnight several times, the most recent in Bangkok and Hanoi. As a courtesy, we notified our room attendant and our table staff in the MDR (we had traditional dining), but no one else. No problem at all. The overnight stays are designed to allow for just this sort of activity, especially where the port is hours away from the main destination.

Edited July 5, 2015 by SantaFeFan

[fla742]

We are also on a cruise that overnights in Ashdod. We were advised to notify Celebrity that we were doing that since although there is no bed check there is an expectation that everyone who leaves the ship will return the same day.

 

I sent an E-mail to air_sea_cci_web@celebritycruises.com requesting permission to overnight and received the replay and permission.

[cruza]

Thought I would tap the knowledge base on cc before contacting Celebrity.

 

We are visiting Israel again on a cruise this October and plan to stay in a hotel in Jerusalem during the overnight while the ship is docked in Ashdod.

 

Has anyone done this before, and do I need to inform Celebrity beforehand in the event they alert the army or police that I am missing from the evening role call?

 

Has anyone done this in St. Petersburg, as well?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

We did it few years back while on NCL Jade. We asked one of our roll call friends to call us to let us know if the ship moved from Haifa to Ashdod (it was period of uprising in Egypt). Before Haifa we'd notified guest relationship about our plans. It work perfectly for us.

[ptrpanpens]

I did this last year in Jerusalem. It allows you to stay late and watch the sound and light show plus leave the hotel very early rather than spending at least two hours each way getting to and from the city from the ship, depending on traffic. We left the hotel very early, about 7:30 am and got to the sites earlier than other tourists, which was of great benefit as there were no people early and you need every second in Jerusalem and then some. That is why I am going back on the same cruise next October 2016.

 

We stayed at the Harmony Hotel, centrally located and only about $200 per night. They had one of the most delicious breakfasts I have ever had and a Happy Hour in the evening. You can walk from there to the Sound and Light. We were very happy we had stayed over in the city and not wasted precious time.

 

We definitely needed permission from Celebrity to leave the ship and return. There is a department you can contact that will tell you what to do, I cannot remember the name. But you have to send them an email. No problem in getting approved. I cannot believe you wouldn't always need to get permission from Celebrity to leave the ship overnight but maybe things are different in Israel. Maybe if the ship is docked overnight in one place it might be different but we debarked in Haifa and reboarded in Ashdod the next day, but I would ask before assuming anything.

[[g]cruiserke]

We've done this several times, both in ports where the ship offered real overnights (so the ship did not sail at night) in Bangkok, Phu My (port for Ho Chi Minh City), Tianjin (port for Bejing) and once in Israel, where we didn't have a real overnight, but the ship arrived on day 1 in Haifa and sailed at night to Ashdod: we left the ship in Haifa, rented a car and drove to Jerusalem, toured all day with a private guide, drove at night to Tel Aviv where we spent the night in a hotel and the following day touring the region, and re-joined the ship which had sailed to Ashdod during the previous night.

 

For all these overnights, we informed guest services upfront that we would not come back to the ship at night. To be honest in most ports I don't think it makes any difference if they are "real" overnights, as you usually can come and go whenever you want anyway. For a "fake" or self-created overnights, you'd better inform the ship, or they may start paging you and delay departure if they don't know you're not coming back. I would imagine they would not be happy if you did that :D

 

One thing to consider may be that certainly in Israel you will need your passport with you at all times on land and will absolutely need it when checking into a hotel. I have experienced on past cruises that the ship takes your passport at the start of the cruise and does not give it back until the end, but when passengers will need their passport on an overnight stay, they can check out their passport for that duration.

Edited July 5, 2015 by [g]cruiserke

[Solon]

Reallly useful information....

 

Thank you all.

 

Will inform Celebrity then, just in case....

 

Sounds like we will enjoy overnighting and not suffering the journey there and back to the ship over two days. I thought is was a waste of time before as well.

 

The sound and light show sounds interesting too.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Solon

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Definitely inform Celebrity ahead of time of your intentions. Sometimes the cruise line collects everyone's passport at the beginning of the cruise and keep them until the end of the cruise. This is so that it isn't necessary for everyone to come in person to clear customs in each port. If so, this may pose a problem because most hotels need to have your passport at check-in.

[NorbertsNiece]

All passengers are in possession of their passports to disembark in Israel as you have to go through a face to face conversation with officials before entry is granted. The ship security are aware you are ashore as you will have pinged out.

[SFCAcruiser]

Reallly useful information....

 

Thank you all.

 

Will inform Celebrity then, just in case....

 

Sounds like we will enjoy overnighting and not suffering the journey there and back to the ship over two days. I thought is was a waste of time before as well.

 

The sound and light show sounds interesting too.

 

It appears that you have decided to let Celebrity know; a wise choice. On our cruise to Israel a few years ago, some couples decided to spend a night in Jerusalem. The couples left the ship in Haifa and had planned to rejoin the ship when it went to Ashdod. The ship never made it to Ashdod due to border hostilities in southern Israel; it was decided that things were safer in Haifa. So, we added an additional night in Haifa. Celebrity was able to contact the couples and advised them of our revised itinerary. I do not know if any other passengers spent the night in Jerusalem without letting the ship staff know. It would have been quite upsetting for them to show up in Ashdod with no ship to meet them.