Rare mahdnc Posted February 3 Author #501 Share Posted February 3 17 hours ago, Suzi66 said: Unless they had wheels, they wouldn't take them. One of our overnight bags didn't have wheels. It was the only one we decided to drop off with our cases and was going to take the other as it had Steve's camera gear in it and my medication. We ended up taking it with us which was no big deal. Your wheels observation makes a lot of sense and it certainly is consistent with their sign. It would have been better for the sign to simply have said that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzi66 Posted February 4 #502 Share Posted February 4 On 2/3/2024 at 11:51 AM, mahdnc said: What kind of formatting is that on your Celebrity Today itinerary?? Maybe an intern did it? Normally looks like this: There was a lot on this cruise that was a bit 'amatuerish'. A lot we were very happy with and other things not so happy with. One thing I would never have wanted to comment on and I am going to, is how guest services and the medical centre treated someone in isolation (husband). Phone calls every few hours to see how he was which was excellent. However no extra entertainment on the TV considering he was locked up for a few days with gastro and trying to order room service for him was a bit difficult as we had to try and work out what he could eat as there wasn't an actual menu and then tell room service he was in isolation when they went to charge us. We were fully expecting to get charged for medical care as he was on a drip for two visits to the medical centre but instead we got a FCC for the days he was in isolation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thuyronald Posted February 5 #503 Share Posted February 5 Hi everyone, Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports? I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise. My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited." Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports? Thanks for the assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Miaminice Posted February 5 #504 Share Posted February 5 19 minutes ago, thuyronald said: Hi everyone, Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports? I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise. My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited." Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports? Thanks for the assistance. we had ONE in our pockets and it was enough for the entire cruise. Except for Hanoi, where we stayed overnight at a hotel, noone requested to see them. Print a few spares and save a pic on your phone and you are fine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted February 5 Author #505 Share Posted February 5 47 minutes ago, thuyronald said: Hi everyone, Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports? I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise. My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited." Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports? Thanks for the assistance. I did not keep multiple hard copies of our passport. Just one copy in addition to a photo of my passport that I took with my iPhone. Here is the Immigration and General Information sheet from Celebrity that was in our stateroom when we embarked. Note that it does not say that you should have multiple hard copies of your passport. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Miaminice Posted February 5 #506 Share Posted February 5 (edited) 4 hours ago, mahdnc said: I did not keep multiple hard copies of our passport. Just one copy in addition to a photo of my passport that I took with my iPhone. Here is the Immigration and General Information sheet from Celebrity that was in our stateroom when we embarked. Note that it does not say that you should have multiple hard copies of your passport. David, we also received an information - I think it was before the cruise - mentioning one copy per port. Hence the confusion. I printed a few - because it was easy - but expected to just need one single copy to show if required. It was good to have, but noone even wanted to see the single copy - except the hotel. Edited February 5 by Miaminice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted February 5 Author #507 Share Posted February 5 14 minutes ago, Miaminice said: David, we also received an information - I think it was before the cruise - mentioning one copy per port. Hence the confusion. I printed a few - because it was easy - but expected to just need one single copy to show if required. It was good to have, but noone even wanted to see the single copy - except the hotel. Oliver, that is very interesting. When I get a chance, I’ll have to look for that email. It’s very possible I got it but either didn’t see it or ignored it. When we boarded Solstice, we did not have any paper copies of our passport so I called Guest Relations to take them up on their offer to provide one since they were in possession of our passport by then. When we received them, we only got one copy of each passport. I don’t remember Guest Relations asking me how many copies we needed either when I made request. It’s not exactly smoking gun evidence that only one copy was required, but these series of posts are the first time I’ve had any inkling about the need for multiple copies. And I agree that no one asked to see copies of our passport during our sailing except for maybe a hotel (Bangkok in our case). Even then, we were allowed to retain our copy as the hotel made a copy for themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted February 5 Author #508 Share Posted February 5 One other thing, Oliver, I agree with you that making multiple copies of your passport is quite easy and it is something that I would do next time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thuyronald Posted February 5 #509 Share Posted February 5 Thank you everyone for your input. I thought it was quite strange to have so many copies. I've been on several Asia cruises and never encountered that request, therefore the confusion. I have already laminated a copy of my passport to put in my purse as well as a copy on my phone. I greatly appreciate all of you for your time and assistance. Twee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzi66 Posted February 6 #510 Share Posted February 6 I printed multiple copies as well because of the email(s - one for each cruise), but only had the one that I kept in my purse and no-one asked to look at it. No one asked to look at any government id at all when returning to ports even though we made sure we had our drivers licences with us at all time. I thought that seeing as though they have asked to see them at most AU/NZ ports and often at the South Pacific ports that it would definitely happen at these ports, but our seapass card was proof enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted March 4 Author #511 Share Posted March 4 (edited) Here is an interesting article in BusinessWeek regarding the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The article focuses on their butlers and the importance of service. The hotel was located just behind the JW Marriott where we were staying. The link is a gift article that does not require a subscription to read, but it is good for only 7 days. With all the discussions about the changes in butler service for Sky Suites, I found the quote in the last sentence of the article very much on point. Raffles Hotel, Dec 20 2023 Edited March 4 by mahdnc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goofysmom99 Posted March 4 #512 Share Posted March 4 2 hours ago, mahdnc said: Here is an interesting article in BusinessWeek regarding the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The article focuses on their butlers and the importance of service. The hotel was located just behind the JW Marriott where we were staying. The link is a gift article that does not require a subscription to read, but it is good for only 7 days. With all the discussions about the changes in butler service for Sky Suites, I found the quote in the last sentence of the article very much on point. Raffles Hotel, Dec 20 2023 Holy cow, David! And here I've been worried about Aqua Class price creep. 🤑 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted March 4 Author #513 Share Posted March 4 8 hours ago, goofysmom99 said: Holy cow, David! And here I've been worried about Aqua Class price creep. 🤑 Ruth, I hope you are having a most excellent cruise on Summit. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleobella Posted March 17 #514 Share Posted March 17 MAHDNC, this is an amazing trip review! Thank you very much for taking the time to journal your trip, it will be helpful to many planners, myself included. We are taking this trip cruise in reverse next year. However, we will only have a couple of days in Hong Kong pre cruise. Our hotel is not too far from yours, about 2 kms ( maybe about a mile or so). If you only had one or two days in Hong Kong what would you choose to do? Many of the private tours I'm looking at are quite expensive but perhaps that's the best plan. Otherwise, is it possible to stay in the general hotel area and see a few things doing a DIY plan? You may be a slave to this post for life, it's so informative and interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted March 18 Author #515 Share Posted March 18 3 hours ago, cleobella said: MAHDNC, this is an amazing trip review! Thank you very much for taking the time to journal your trip, it will be helpful to many planners, myself included. We are taking this trip cruise in reverse next year. However, we will only have a couple of days in Hong Kong pre cruise. Our hotel is not too far from yours, about 2 kms ( maybe about a mile or so). If you only had one or two days in Hong Kong what would you choose to do? Many of the private tours I'm looking at are quite expensive but perhaps that's the best plan. Otherwise, is it possible to stay in the general hotel area and see a few things doing a DIY plan? You may be a slave to this post for life, it's so informative and interesting! cleobella, Thank you for your very kind words and I am glad that you found the review to be helpful for your planning. Doing a private tour is very time efficient but expensive and so I understand your point. I don't feel that I am the final authority on the best day tour, but if I were planning a one day do-it-yourself tour of Hong Kong, I would visit the following: 1. Take the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and/or back. The ferry is not expensive and it is pretty quick. The Star Ferry has a long history associated with it. My mom rode the Star Ferry every day to school back in the 1940's. Star Ferry does offer harbor sightseeing cruises. 2. Visit Victoria Peak (Hong Kong Island) which gives you great views of the city and its harbor. I would pay the modest fee to ride the Peak Tram to the top and back. The next time I return, I want to go to the Peak at night to see the city lights. Admission to the Peak itself is free although the Peak Tram costs money (the alternative is walking up to the Peak for free). Once there, there are various free vantage points to get a view. Alternatively you can pay to get to the Sky Terrace 428 which has a viewing platform. 3. Go the the Wong Tai Sin Temple which is on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. It is a shrine and a popular tourist attraction. 4. Visit the Ladies Market (Kowloon side) which is a very large flea market. It is fairly large and we liked it better than the Temple Street Night Market although the latter is worth visiting as well. 5. Finally make sure to visit a Chinese dim sum restaurant for lunch in Hong Kong. Although it was not invented there, Hong Kong is famous for its dim sum restaurants. It's worth trying if you would like an authentic Hong Kong dining experience. It was also recommended to me by a local while we were in Hong Kong to book an Aqua Luna Victoria Harbour Cruise through Klook. Their recommendation was for the cruise as well as the website/app. It's not very expensive and there are some pretty cool options like a Dim Sum cruise in the middle of the day, an Afternoon Tea Cruise, an evening cruise, and a cruise during the Symphony of Lights which occurs every evening. We found out about it too late to book anything and so I had to be content with watching the boat cruise the harbor at night from our hotel room window. Next time we go to Hong Kong, I am definitely booking it. Klook is evidently a popular website/app to book sightseeing activities. I have no experience with it and cannot tell you what the attraction is. If you have any more questions now or in the future, please do not hesitate to ask. David 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted March 18 Author #516 Share Posted March 18 If your hotel is located in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, the Promenade is close by and is beautiful. It is located at the waterfront and gives you awesome views of the harbor and Hong Kong Island--day and night. You can also watch the nightly Symphony of Lights show from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted March 18 Author #517 Share Posted March 18 If you are interested in more detailed information about Aqua Luna's harbor cruise offerings, here is a link to their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleobella Posted March 18 #518 Share Posted March 18 Awesome David! Thank you again, I'm going to research your suggestions, they all sound great. Especially interesting is the Aqua Luna Harbor Cruise with the dining options. I was wondering about doing something like that but didn't know if these experiences were offered during the Harbor Cruise. Now I'm on it...very exciting! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogamom Posted May 26 #519 Share Posted May 26 On 12/30/2023 at 8:45 PM, mahdnc said: For lunch we stopped at a very popular Banh Mi street restaurant. We figured it was popular because of the line. Parked across the street was this "blast from the past": Loving your day to day cruise report. We will be doing this itinerary in November and have booked with Xuan. Did you get Xuan for this port day? We have 9 in total for our tour. Also did it take long to get your sandwich since the que was so long? And on a personal note, were there opportunities to visit 'facilities'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted May 26 Author #520 Share Posted May 26 6 minutes ago, yogamom said: Loving your day to day cruise report. We will be doing this itinerary in November and have booked with Xuan. Did you get Xuan for this port day? We have 9 in total for our tour. Also did it take long to get your sandwich since the que was so long? And on a personal note, were there opportunities to visit 'facilities'? Hi and thank you. We booked Xuan for our stops at Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, and Hue/Danang. However Xuan personally conducted the tour only at HCMC. He subcontracted the other two ports because we did not make his required group minimum size. He was pretty clear about the requirement because he lives in HCMC and in order to justify his travel and lodging expenses he needed a minimum of 8 people. There was no minimum for HCMC because he lived there and ironically we had 8 for that tour. He gave me quite a bit of time to see if we could accumulate 8 for the other two tours but we only amassed 6. Yes, it seemed to take a while for us to get our sandwich, but the problem was that our guide (hired by Xuan) wasn't real clear about what was going on (or I didn't listen well which is not uncommon either according to a well placed source that happens to be married to me). Our guide went in to get the sandwiches for us but we mistakenly stood in the long line anyway. When she came out of the restaurant with the sandwiches we just exited the line. In the end, I don't think the wait was that long, but it did feel that way for a while. Yes, all three tours were managed well from a facilities standpoint. There were ample opportunities for it and it was communicated to us at the beginning of the tour so we knew what to expect. I think our young tour guides recognize that us older people look at time and distance from a restroom as a crucial form of risk management (because we do). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogamom Posted May 26 #521 Share Posted May 26 3 minutes ago, mahdnc said: Hi and thank you. We booked Xuan for our stops at Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, and Hue/Danang. However Xuan personally conducted the tour only at HCMC. He subcontracted the other two ports because we did not make his required group minimum size. He was pretty clear about the requirement because he lives in HCMC and in order to justify his travel and lodging expenses he needed a minimum of 8 people. There was no minimum for HCMC because he lived there and ironically we had 8 for that tour. He gave me quite a bit of time to see if we could accumulate 8 for the other two tours but we only amassed 6. Yes, it seemed to take a while for us to get our sandwich, but the problem was that our guide (hired by Xuan) wasn't real clear about what was going on (or I didn't listen well which is not uncommon either according to a well placed source that happens to be married to me). Our guide went in to get the sandwiches for us but we mistakenly stood in the long line anyway. When she came out of the restaurant with the sandwiches we just exited the line. In the end, I don't think the wait was that long, but it did feel that way for a while. Yes, all three tours were managed well from a facilities standpoint. There were ample opportunities for it and it was communicated to us at the beginning of the tour so we knew what to expect. I think our young tour guides recognize that us older people look at time and distance from a restroom as a crucial form of risk management (because we do). Thank you so much for the quick response. Hopefully we get Xuan on the 3rd day since we have 9. Luckily I'm not the organizer. I look forward to following your future adventures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted May 26 Author #522 Share Posted May 26 5 minutes ago, yogamom said: Thank you so much for the quick response. Hopefully we get Xuan on the 3rd day since we have 9. Luckily I'm not the organizer. I look forward to following your future adventures. Your organizer should ask Xuan to confirm who is doing the tour. Either way, I sincerely hope you enjoy your tours as well as your cruise! Let me know if you have any other questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogamom Posted May 27 #523 Share Posted May 27 (edited) ... Edited May 27 by yogamom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogamom Posted May 27 #524 Share Posted May 27 1 hour ago, mahdnc said: Your organizer should ask Xuan to confirm who is doing the tour. Either way, I sincerely hope you enjoy your tours as well as your cruise! Let me know if you have any other questions. That's a good point. David, You provide so much detail and information. Do you have a website where your tips, and traveloges are listed? These cruisecritic reports sometimes disappear? Where do people find you for future and past cruise tip journals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted May 27 Author #525 Share Posted May 27 15 hours ago, yogamom said: That's a good point. David, You provide so much detail and information. Do you have a website where your tips, and traveloges are listed? These cruisecritic reports sometimes disappear? Where do people find you for future and past cruise tip journals? Hi and thank you. I have not bothered with putting a website together to act as a central repository for these reviews. I'm too lazy and the information can become very dated quickly. I do post the live threads to help contribute to this wonderful forum and I enjoy sharing photographs and diagrams. I also began posting reviews and live threads when we began sailing more exotic itineraries where the information is hard to come by. I also enjoy the interaction from others (questions, counterpoints, etc)--anything to make the thread more valuable. Also my writing style tends to be more informational and much less of a travelogue (exciting). Having said all of that, all of my live threads and/or post trip reviews are linked in my signature area below. So that means you have to remember my screen name and have the skills to find me through the search function on Cruise Critic. David 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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