Back from the Celebration

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thanks Linda will have to try to find the website you refer you to [emoji57]

Found it :)

 

http://info.flightmapper.net/search

[edinburgher]

Thanks Linda. The duty free sale was well advertised with flyers etc so thought you might have noticed even if not buying.

 

We also wondered when we read what you wrote re Sibenik. We are also "cynical" when it comes to certain cancellations when it isn't always obvious to pax, but I looked on past threads and Thomson appear to have docked there before and on the port calendar Celebration is showing as having called twice in June, once in July and once in August. In October Silver Cloud is supposed to be there a few days before Celebration. Hoping we will be lucky and dock there.

 

Will report what happened on here when we get home.

 

Request from DH re the Rugby. He will miss 4 Quarter Finals. Did you notice if any of the matches were being shown onboard? Even if not in cabins may have been in a bar?

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thanks Linda. The duty free sale was well advertised with flyers etc so thought you might have noticed even if not buying.

 

TBH there were so many flyers pushed under our door, we got a bit sick of them and put them straight in the bin :p

 

Will report what happened on here when we get home.

Thanks :)

 

Request from DH re the Rugby. He will miss 4 Quarter Finals. Did you notice if any of the matches were being shown onboard? Even if not in cabins may have been in a bar?

Sorry not a Rugby fan (football for me) but can't remember seeing anything about it. There is a screen in Broadway show lounge, which they use for films. I have to say, though, that the signal was bit patchy, worse when in port than at sea strangely.

[Pensioncruiser]

White lady they did have duty free on board for our first week 10th Sep good price and yes you can take outside purchase's on board and you don't have to hide it just put it in your bag which has to be scanned when you return to the ship Thomson do not have a set up the holding and returning the alcohol to you ☺

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Conclusion - We enjoyed our cruise very much, although very disappointed to miss Sibenik as we love Croatia and it was a new port to us. Venice is lovely though and we enjoyed our trip on the hoho boat and got some great photos.

 

The entertainment was very good. The duo Heart and Mind in Horizons were excellent and as I have said, Anna May has a beautiful voice. Ben Moss played at the Captain's cocktail party, but we never got to see him or Keith the Piano Vocalist as it was always busy in Hemingways. There were the usual quizzes and bingo. The show team was very good. The shows we saw were:-

 

Car Wash, which was seventies disco music done in the form of a talent competition hosted by DJs strongly resembling Smashie and Nicey :)

 

Cameron's Classics (nothing to do with our dear PM!) which was songs from Oliver, Mary Poppins, Gypsy and of course Les Mis all shows produced by Cameron Macintosh.

 

Wouldn't it be Luverly, which was my favourite. It was a production of My Fair Lady, shortened a bit obviously, but all the songs sung all the way through. Brilliant.

 

The comedian was Carl Schofield, not my cup of tea, but others seem to like him. I don't really thing it is funny any more to pick on people in the front row, I prefer more subtle humour and observation of life, but hey ho everyone is different.

 

We were impressed with the updating of the ship since our last trip on her, BUT we were not impressed with the constant selling! Every day they were trying to sell ice creams, sangria etc which is fair enough, but they were also offering:-

 

A behind the scenes tour for £49 pp

 

Best seats in the Broadway £7.99 pp

 

VIP Venice Sailaway £13.95

 

Drinks Package £230 pp and upgrade to full AI for another £70pp (so £300 per person per week -our bill was around £200 for the week)

 

5 bottles of wine for £70

 

7 bottles of wine for £99

 

Steak in the MDR - £9.99p plus of course the speciality restaurants

 

Photos - £14.95 (loads left on the last day)

 

etc etc :rolleyes:

 

Also money saving tricks such as only leaving THREE milk jiggers in the cabin instead of 4.

 

I suppose as they are going to be part of RCI in future there will be more of this!

 

Anyway, as we are tightwads, we didn't take them up on their offers :D:D

 

Lovely holiday though, time to look for the next one :D

[gillhalfpint]

Have to agree on these comments for our Spirit cruise Linda, and we didn't take up their offers. You missed the ironing service - laundry service, special photo offers among all the bin bumph including many spa treatments we manage to live without that came under the door. We had a brilliant time without needing to spend anything on these extras. Just finished my review which I will read to my Ray then get posted.

[Jakanne1]

Sorry I can't answer the questions about duty free or bringing drinks on board. We only drink beer and wine and always buy in the bars on the ship. The drinks are very reasonable so never bother with duty free.

 

edinburgher - I shall be interested to see if you make it to Sibenik. I am well known for being a conspiracy theorist ;) but DH and I felt we were not being told the whole truth as the weather was so good for the whole trip, we found it hard to believe that it was so windy that we could not get in. But, I believe it is a very narrow entrance, so who knows?

 

white lady - I bet you are excited about your first cruise :) Celebration was our first cruise and got us hooked! Have a great time.

 

all-afloaty - according to the website that tells you which plane you are going on (forgot what it is again :o) we were supposed to have the Dreamliner both ways, but when we booked in on line, we could see from the seat plan that going out was a 2-4-2 configuration (Boeing 767) and on the way back 3-3-3 (Dreamliner)

 

I've had Sibenik on the itinerary twice, Linda, and always got there, though the seas were calm each time . Yes, it is a very narrow channel that you sail through and I can understand not attempting it if the weather is not good. I liked Sibenik the first time we went but realised I had seen everything there was to see the second time I went.

 

I'll have a look later to see if I have photos of the sail in and post them on FB. Unfortunately, I have deleted lots from my iPad as they were taking up too much memory.

 

Sorry you were disappointed with missing Sibenik. We didn't get to Gotland on our Baltic cruise as the Captain decided the waves would be too high to tender and we went to a port that DH had been to many times on business. He was disappointed as he said it was a boring place, but changed his mind visiting it as a tourist. Must admit, Fred Olsen were excellent and arranged for the Tourist Office to come on board with information and a "walking map" of the town and arranged for free shuttle buses to take us into the centre of town. :)

[SparklyB]

Which cabin were you in Linda?

 

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[gillhalfpint]

We often take bottles or cans of beer back on board and have never had any queries whether scanned or not. On Spirit there were offers of 2 bottles of Spirits for £20. Didn't explore any further than that as we were not buying for cabin use this time. Had 7 bottles and cans of beer lined up in the cabin at one point though from Romania and Ukraine breweries. Very good they were too.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Which cabin were you in Linda?

 

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Cabin 660 on deck 2 :)

[white lady]

Thanks everyone as ever very useful info. Was the photos of an outside cabin, we have booked deluxe but not a balcony, so pleased to see how good they look.

[SparklyB]

Cabin 660 on deck 2 :)

 

Thanks Linda. We have got 535 so about 10 cabins further back on the opposite side. Hope that bodes well for vibration :)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thanks everyone as ever very useful info. Was the photos of an outside cabin, we have booked deluxe but not a balcony, so pleased to see how good they look.

Yes outside on deck two. Just a basic cabin, so yours may be bigger.

[Vitalsign]

The cruise which includes Venice and Sibenik does not include a Non EU stop so the Duty Free Shop is closed all week. However we were able to purchase cigarettes from the bar at duty paid price of £4.50 per packet for Superkings in batches of four. We had to sign a number of till receipts to obtain 1200 cigs but still half the price at home. You can buy cigarettes onshore duty paid in some ports. Not sure about alcohol onshore sorry and unavailable on the ship. At the airport in Dubrovnik some spirits were on special offer and cheaper than at home but cigarettes were all foreign brands with exception of Marlborough. Hope this helps.

[SparklyB]

In July the L'Occitane products were a really good price at Dubrovnik airport. I stocked up on shower gels.

 

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[Vitalsign]

As Cruisinlinda has already said the cabins are now well appointed and the bathrooms are great with no overspill from the shower and a powerful shower which is easily adjusted for temperature. Only problem for me, no longer a washing line over the bath and found it very difficult to dry our smalls and swimwear. Had to use the dryer in the laundrette a couple of times luckily it was only a little way along our corridor. Also as said before only one glass for toothbrush and toothpaste.

The Adriatic was like a millpond just wish the cruise was as smooth - the vibration on our deck from cabin 142 to 132 was horrendous - had difficulty staying seated on the loo the bathroom bounced that much - and this was when we were in port!!!

The vibration caused so much of the furniture to rattle we could see someone had tried to eleviate the noise by jamming bits of paper in numerous gaps around the panels, the mirror and the dressing table but to no avail thank God for ear plugs and you get used to the vibration by day three - so be warned as these are outside plus cabins which are not cheap.

[Pensioncruiser]

That's useful info Vitalsign we only ever book forward cabins on deck 6 or 7 been in 114,115,216,218 & 230 several times not ever experienced the vibration in any of them & had thought of trying a more central possision but will now stick with our preferred cabin, so thanks for that. I felt the food was about the same as on the Dream in May when we were also on. It's a small world☺

[white lady]

Thanks Crusin Linda for the information about the prices of alcohol. Thanks gillhalfpint for letting me know about taking drink back on board. Vitalsign thanks for the heads up about duty free shop, we are only interested in alcohol, never smoked. Pensioncruiser and Vitalsign we are in 206 so hopefully will not get too much noise or vibrations.

So excited only 22 days now, looking at a lot of youtube videos but a lot are American presenters. Have some great ideas from this forum of what to pack and take.

:)

[SuzyPaulB]

Thank you for your review. Glad you had a good time but sorry that you missed a port. Hope that you had a lovely Anniversary. Where to next, I wonder?! X

[Jakanne1]

As Cruisinlinda has already said the cabins are now well appointed and the bathrooms are great with no overspill from the shower and a powerful shower which is easily adjusted for temperature. Only problem for me, no longer a washing line over the bath and found it very difficult to dry our smalls and swimwear. Had to use the dryer in the laundrette a couple of times luckily it was only a little way along our corridor. Also as said before only one glass for toothbrush and toothpaste.

The Adriatic was like a millpond just wish the cruise was as smooth - the vibration on our deck from cabin 142 to 132 was horrendous - had difficulty staying seated on the loo the bathroom bounced that much - and this was when we were in port!!!

The vibration caused so much of the furniture to rattle we could see someone had tried to eleviate the noise by jamming bits of paper in numerous gaps around the panels, the mirror and the dressing table but to no avail thank God for ear plugs and you get used to the vibration by day three - so be warned as these are outside plus cabins which are not cheap.

 

I can confirm that. We were in 130 (close to the lifts) and could feel a bit of vibration when we first got there but it didn't bother us. However, on a few occasions (and it could have been when in port) when we walked along Deck 7 from the back of the ship, the noise and vibration was indeed horrendous. It was a relief that the noise got less as we walked towards our cabin. They are "Deluxe" cabins which accommodate a bed settee for 3 adults and was the reason we chose them.

[gillhalfpint]

We have not had any vibration problems in the cabins on either Spirit or Celebration, and have never paid the £42 to choose a cabin on either, just taken the cabin they gave us on booking.

Spirit Aug 14 was Deck 4 - 314 inside.

Spirit Oct 14 was Deck 1 - 841 outside

Celebration Apr 15 Deck 3 - 457 inside

Spirit Sep 15 Deck 2 - 698 inside.

Happy with all of them, and will be in an unbooked cabin on Celebration in January.

 

Gill.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Yes no washing line :(

 

There are two holders for toothmugs, but one is under the soap dispenser and so a small dish has been put in the holder, presumably to catch drips? There are a couple of glasses in the cabin, which I didn't realize until about day 5 :o

Edited September 30, 2015 by CRUISIN LINDA

[so,ton saint]

That's useful info Vitalsign we only ever book forward cabins on deck 6 or 7 been in 114,115,216,218 & 230 several times not ever experienced the vibration in any of them & had thought of trying a more central possision but will now stick with our preferred cabin, so thanks for that. I felt the food was about the same as on the Dream in May when we were also on. It's a small world☺

 

Hi pensioncruiser very glad your cruise on celebration was very good my self and family have just got back from Kos what an eye opener what with the migrant,s every morning coming a shore rubber boat,s every were all have been slashed not to be used again, any way they have found safety. getting back to cabin,s on celebration we have booked cabin 222 on prom deck for march does this one suffer from vibration and is it bigger than 9023 on dream thank,s Howard:)

[happy v]

Yes no washing line :(

 

There are two holders for toothmugs, but one is under the soap dispenser and so a small dish has been put in the holder, presumably to catch drips? There are a couple of glasses in the cabin, which I didn't realize until about day 5 :o

 

So what did you have on day 5 :confused: that you didn't on the others, to enable you to find the glasses AND the marmite???:D:D:rolleyes:

[Pensioncruiser]

Hi Howard never been in 222 but cabins either side and had no problems with vibration we like the possision. Dream only ever been in 9040, 9038,9034 I would say they are about the same as Celebration but we found 115 on Celebration the biggest. You still have loads of space on Celebration☺