Bow Access on Any Celebrity Ships?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

22 minutes ago, Tom and Ingrid said:

Got the helipad sail-away invite on the last cruise, which is always nice.

 

For "front of the ship" views, I go to two places - Sky Lounge (enclosed bar at top of the ship) and the front deck off the gym (a level down from the SL) - called the Spa Veranda on the Solstice ships.

I always thought they should have the gym/spa on deck 3 , and have more bars with views to the outside where the gym/spa is located 

[Travel-and-See]

Last summer on the Millenium they opened the helipad to all passengers for viewing the glacier - I snagged a front row seat in the morning in the sky lounge and told myself "it will be too crowded... it will be too cold..."  as we got closer I had to go down and I'm so glad I did - the glacier calved multiple times and you could hear it from the helipad - plus there were seals on the icebergs floating by - truly magical! 

 

I also got a captain club invite for sailing into one of the ports but I slept in. haha. 

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

You can have access by invitation:

 

Constellation, Oct 2022

 

Summit, Apr 2024

 

Solstice, Dec 31 2019

 

 

 

And sometimes you have access by open invitation for all day cruising destinations.

 

Summit, Apr 2024 (ignore the red circle, look at the last paragraph)

 

 

 

All those phones in the air, I’d rather be somewhere else..

[mahdnc]

15 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

All those phones in the air, I’d rather be somewhere else..

It makes for a good photo. Besides, it wasn’t that crowded all the time during the full day crossing. It thinned out considerably for the afternoon locks. 
 

Oh, you wouldn’t have liked the rain either. 
 

The aft view was pretty cool, too, and uncrowded. 
 

 

 

Edited August 8 by mahdnc

[Travel-and-See]

Just now, mahdnc said:

It makes for a good photo. Besides, it wasn’t that crowded all the time during the full day crossing. It thinned out considerably for the afternoon locks. 

That's how the glacier was too... very crowded at first but then everyone got the photo and left leaving me and a few others with a virtually private viewing platform.  One of the workers started to "suggest" that we go inside soon and then the officer said "no... stay as long as you want, I'm in no rush to get back to work inside" haha. 

[DaKahuna]

For our Panama Canal transit it was open to everyone -- got a little crowded. 

 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

All those phones in the air, I’d rather be somewhere else..

That drives me insane.  At least this was "picturesque".  The need for people to take a picture of everything and anything is incredibly annoying.  People don't look with their eyes anymore.

(Rant over)

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

It makes for a good photo. Besides, it wasn’t that crowded all the time during the full day crossing. It thinned out considerably for the afternoon locks. 
 

Oh, you wouldn’t have liked the rain either. 
 

The aft view was pretty cool, too, and uncrowded. 
 

 

 

The rain wouldn’t have bothered me at all..there are so many good photos of everything on the internet, I would rather just take it all in myself..instead of trying to get my own 100 photos..there has to be a less crowded place for pictures..like the view you mentioned aft. 

 

Edited August 8 by PTC DAWG

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

That drives me insane.  At least this was "picturesque".  The need for people to take a picture of everything and anything is incredibly annoying.  People don't look with their eyes anymore.

 

 i take lots and lots of pictues.  Some of them I take to help remember, others I take to share with family and friends.  A lot I post on my cruise reviews.  That does not mean that I am not looking with my eyes.  Looking with my eyes is how I find things to take pictures of. 

 

[drmuzk]

7 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

 Yes. I thought of adding that to my post but shiny things distracted me.

Yes, closed toe shoes. I have seen them deny people onto the helipad.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 i take lots and lots of pictues.  Some of them I take to help remember, others I take to share with family and friends.  A lot I post on my cruise reviews.  That does not mean that I am not looking with my eyes.  Looking with my eyes is how I find things to take pictures of. 

 

Oh we take TONS of pictures on trips. And we even print them out and put them in albums. 😜 My rant was about today’s society that reach for their phones at the slightest thing and take a picture, or worse a video instead of looking with their eyes. I’ll drop it. 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I’m also not on ANY social media (besides this) so you can see where I fit in society. 

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

My rant was about today’s society that reach for their phones at the slightest thing and take a picture, or worse a video instead of looking with their eyes. I’ll drop it. 

 

 Sorry, I totally misunderstood your comment.  I did not mean to imply you said anything wrong, just wanted to share my perspective as someone who takes a lot of pictures but tries hard to take everything in as well.  

 

[gold1953]

We have been invited several times and the line starts quite early. These are the railing hogs who claim their post and stay until the end. It is often difficult to see much unless you procure one of these coveted spots.  Mimosas and bubbly are passed around as well as ice cloths on a hot day.

[Saturngrl]

As Concierge passengers, we usually get invited to sail away from the helipad from selected ports.  They serve complementary bubbly and it's a nice experience.  The sail away from Bermuda is my all-time favorite.  

 

Yes, closed toe shoes are required.  On S-class ships, you must also climb stairs and step over a lip in the door between cabins and the crew bar. 

[Tom and Ingrid]

9 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Sorry, I totally misunderstood your comment.  I did not mean to imply you said anything wrong, just wanted to share my perspective as someone who takes a lot of pictures but tries hard to take everything in as well.  

 

It's all about the balance of "preserving" a memory and "living" it.  Between my wife and I, we usually get a few photos on our phones, and she's also good at a "recap" video for some places, but I find myself taking fewer photos than before - mainly because I realize I am not a good photographer, and am also the one who is later tasked with curating the collection (so less is more comes into play 😄 ).

But, man, if I didn't take a photo or two, it does become a "my memory is shot" situation, so I like to at least try to grab some photos as a starting point for later times where I'm trying to piece back together an event/adventure.  

Do the folks FaceTiming drive me a bit nuts? Yep. But folks snapping photos and videos seem like reasonable people doing reasonable things.

Edited August 9 by Tom and Ingrid

[IggleDoer]

Slightly off topic.  I understand that E-class ships do not have helipads.   If they are in the middle of the ocean, such as trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific, what do they do if a medical evacuation is needed?

[Tom and Ingrid]

29 minutes ago, IggleDoer said:

Slightly off topic.  I understand that E-class ships do not have helipads.   If they are in the middle of the ocean, such as trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific, what do they do if a medical evacuation is needed?

Not sure how true this is, but I remember hearing/reading that the helipads aren't used for helicopters to land, and most (all?) helicopter evacuations would be via dropping a line and winching folks up.  It does, then, make me wonder why they are there in the first place, but I'll leave it for an actual informed person to fill me in. Theoretically, the E-class have a safe place that doubles as a location to evacuate folks by helicopter.

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, Saturngrl said:

On S-class ships, you must also climb stairs and step over a lip in the door between cabins and the crew bar. 

 

 Same on the Millennium.  

 

[DaKahuna]

20 minutes ago, Tom and Ingrid said:

but I remember hearing/reading that the helipads aren't used for helicopters to land, and most (all?) helicopter evacuations would be via dropping a line and winching folks up.  It does, then, make me wonder why they are there in the first place, but I'll leave it for an actual informed person to fill me in.

 

  Today, helo's very seldom land on ships to remove passengers.  A "basket" and a person to assist is lowered from the helo which hovering above deck to pick up anyone that needs to be evacuated. 

 Older ships have helipads because at one time helo's would actually land on the ships.  I prefer a ship with that capability over one that does not.  

 

[d9704011]

3 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I prefer a ship with that capability over one that does not.  

 

An unusual preference; why?

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

An unusual preference; why?

 

 If a real emergency happens and they need to get a large number of passengers off via helo, landing a helo is the faster way to accomplish that. 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

-Have been invited I'd guess 30 times, I've gone maybe 12 times

-No one has ever asked to see my card/invite

-There is usually someone there by the stairs, I'd imagine to check shoes and offer assistance for those who need to require it to get up the stairs

-One time there was no one there, perhaps a one-off emergency

-There's no shade

- @DaKahuna, thanks for the photo.  If you don't get one of the highlighted areas which can only hold 25-30 people if shoulder to shoulder, you won't be able to see much unless you're tall

 

[DaKahuna]

6 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

If you don't get one of the highlighted areas which can only hold 25-30 people if shoulder to shoulder, you won't be able to see much unless you're tall

 

 I agree.  Thankfully, we were in the Retreat for that sailing and was able to get the views we did from the Retreat Sun Deck.  However, I also found that the best and most comfortable view was in the cabin watching the passing on the bridge camera. 

 

 The crowd in that picture did thin out and it was only two or three people deep when we passed through the locks on the Pacific side. 

 

[d9704011]

4 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 If a real emergency happens and they need to get a large number of passengers off via helo, landing a helo is the faster way to accomplish that. 

 

OK.  That sort of event won't be part of my ship choosing criteria; I'll take my chances on the whole maritime helivac thing....