Live from Celebrity APEX: Norwegian Fjords Ex Rotterdam, July 31 - Aug 9, 2023

[Fly and Sail]

A little gem from the road, I decided to visit Cologne this weekend before heading Rotterdam on Sunday.

 

 

[Fly and Sail]

Does anyone have experience with early disembarkation on this itinerary? Shouldn’t be a problem right?

 

There are very cheap Business/First Class flights from Norway back to Asia that allow various stopovers. I could fly from Bergen and don’t care much about the last sea day.

 

Calling Celebrity is a waste of time, they never provide accurate information (went through this twice last year).

[dazey]

Enjoyed your photo of the church in Cologne. It may be the Cologne Cathedral and still looks the same. It was bombed many times in the war because it was so recognizable by its two spirals but it survived. We were glad to take the tour.

 

We were in Germany for a wedding in the mid 90's.  All women wore wonderful hats - it was in a small village and when the bride and groom left the church, they rode a bicycle down cobblestone streets and the citizens all stood in their windows(with flower boxes, of course) cheering for the bride and groom.  So very different than any wedding I had ever been to.

 

Enjoying your review.

[Fly and Sail]

45 minutes ago, dazey said:

Enjoyed your photo of the church in Cologne. It may be the Cologne Cathedral and still looks the same. It was bombed many times in the war because it was so recognizable by its two spirals but it survived. We were glad to take the tour.

In the 90s we visited Cologne as school children and climbed all the way up the stairs that were open at the time. Still one of my favorite cities even though it’s no longer as clean and especially safe as in the past. But that goes for pretty much all of Germany these days.

[Fly and Sail]

The way to Rotterdam was easy today, not many people were traveling this morning so that’s a leisurely time to take the train from Germany to the Netherlands.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 7/28/2023 at 11:02 AM, Fly and Sail said:

Does anyone have experience with early disembarkation on this itinerary? Shouldn’t be a problem right?

 

There are very cheap Business/First Class flights from Norway back to Asia that allow various stopovers. I could fly from Bergen and don’t care much about the last sea day.

 

Calling Celebrity is a waste of time, they never provide accurate information (went through this twice last year).

 

I have departed early in the past and it requires the payment of a processing fee and advance approval.    I have never done it on this itinerary.   

 

I do know they suspended downline disembarkation in 2021 and not sure if re-implemented.  

 

When I did it I had to contact

emergencyteam@celebritycruises.com

 

They responded - 

 

Thank you for your mail.... Below are the new procedures pertaining downline ... 

Re: Pre-Downline Request

Good Day,

Please be advised that we have received your request to embark/debark at an alternate port. After reviewing said request we are happy to advise that currently there are no regulatory restrictions that will prohibit an approval.

There is a $65 USD or CAD equivalent per booking handling to finalize your approval and arrangement. Please contact us at your earliest convenience and provide us with a valid credit card payment.

We can be reached 7 days a week, 24 hours a day at:  Domestic: 1-800-256-6649 (prompt #1) or International: 305-539-4107.



Thank you

Warm Regards, 
Emergency Travel Team

[Fly and Sail]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I have departed early in the past and it requires the payment of a processing fee and advance approval.    I have never done it on this itinerary.   

 

I do know they suspended downline disembarkation in 2021 and not sure if re-implemented.  

Thanks, very interesting. I did it last year in Victoria, BC and Palma de Mallorca, both arranged on board. Never paid anything.

 

Let’s see how this goes. I’ll largely decide this based on how rough the North Sea is going to be as the weather is atrocious. If it’s bad I’m not going the same way for sure. 😁

[Fly and Sail]

Just arrived at the Rotterdam Cruise Port. Weather is what we call a “European Summer” - rain and wind with 18 degrees Celsius. 😀

 

Baggage drop looked cumbersome but I only had carry on.

 

The Terminal Checkin process was a bit of a bottleneck as well. Three stations, all of which wanting to do a tidbit of this and that. Definitely much more efficient in FLL or even Civitavecchia.

 

Aqua Class cabin is in great shape this time. Eveything looks and smells fresh! 👌

 

 

 

 

[Fly and Sail]

Not exactly sure what these guys think I’m planning to do in my cabin… but in case someone misses paper towels, just come knocking! 😳😂

 

 

[dazey]

We once on Apex came back to our IV cabin and found cartons of water, juice, snacks, liquor, etc.  I think they thought the cabin was not occupied and used it as storage.  They called people to remove it immediately with no explanation.  

[Fly and Sail]

2 minutes ago, dazey said:

We once on Apex came back to our IV cabin and found cartons of water, juice, snacks, liquor, etc.  I think they thought the cabin was not occupied and used it as storage.  They called people to remove it immediately with no explanation.  

Nah that was a secret Captains Club perk. Maybe I’m not worthy yet so I only get tissues and toilet paper.

[Fly and Sail]

Cafe al Baccio is well stocked today, including my favorite: Sacher Tarte!

 

[Fly and Sail]

Dinner at BLU tonight. The Dorade was done nicely, I had it before on other ships but today it was on point.

 

And there was almost more lobster meat on this Soba Salad than on lobster night. 😂

[Fly and Sail]

Amazing how many activities they have scheduled today as it’s just embarkation day.

 

”Night of the Year” at Eden

Casino Tournament

“80s Revival” at The Club

 

And people seem to eat quite late as well. These European cruises really have a different pace.

[Fly and Sail]

DJ and crowd was great tonight! 
 

[hcat]

very nice pics and comments..thanks for sharing!

[Fly and Sail]

The Elite breakfast venue on this sailing is at Le Grand Bistro until 10 am, while BLU closed their breakfast at 9:30 today - on a sea day!!

 

There was a Captain's Club Welcome Event at 10:30 this morning as well.

 

Unfortunately, I missed either one of these events as I just woke up (11:15am) and had to do a bit of work before heading to lunch. Let's save the calories for the important part, a Chocolate Martini. 🙂

[scrapcreator]

Elite breakfast. Not crowded. 
 

Good showing at the Captain’s Club Welcome Event @ 10:30 am.

[hcat]

nice menu for Elite bkfast..and that Bistro area is one of our favs..great views!  hope you make it at least once!

[Fly and Sail]

The infamous $100,000 bottle!

 

These doors are OPEN by the way, pretty crazy!
 

[Fly and Sail]

There is something odd on APEX, the Casino freeplay actually earns points. Wasn’t very lucky with my BCC freeplay this time but at least i got a few points out of it.

[Fly and Sail]

Nice Sunset yesterday! Absolutely fantastic, especially after the rocky start in Rotterdam!

 

Beautiful day all around!

 

[dazey]

Have not seen anything like that.  Thanks for letting us see it.

[Fly and Sail]

Today was the first stop in Oslo, definitely worthwhile to visit and the weather was cooperating which made it extra special.

 

As always I didn’t book any excusion but instead did a round with the hop on/hop off bus ($35) and then walked bacl to the ship from the Opera House.

[Fly and Sail]

Made it back on time for a drink at Eden during the Elite HH before heading to BLU. I really like that these two venues are so close and the have a lot of staff from my Solstice cruise in Alaska last year.

 

BLU was fantastic today and had two of my favorite main courses, the Pepper Crustes Ahi Tuna on Watercress and the Seared Duck Breast with Cherry Reduction. To die for! 🤩