We planned this vacation to China a year and a half in advance. Who knew then that Shanghai would be having a bird flu, North Korea would threaten to bomb S Korea, Hong Kong would have a cargo strike and the weather would be REALLY cold?!! Oh well, we were determined to take our chances.

EMBARKATION:

The first surprise was the boarding process in Hong Kong. We've sailed many times on many ships, but never had an embarkation like this. Strangely enough, the boarding process took place in a shopping mall. We must have waited in line for over three hours. No one seemed to know anything and the attendants often had a problem with English. There was no rhyme or reason to the snaking lines and it was very tedious and disorganized. That did not make anyone very happy. We were told, however, that this was the last time Celebrity will be using the Ocean Terminal because the new terminal at Kai Tak is opening in June. That should be better for others. The positive side of the coin was that "WE WERE IN A SHOPPING MALL"!!. The ship was in port two nights so when you wanted to get off the ship you didn't even have to go outside for fabulous upscale shopping, restaurants, etc. The mall was huge and spanned blocks. There must be lot of money in Hong Kong. You could also get free wi-fi there. All in all, not a bad place to be docked for two days. The ship was the best place to see the laser light show too. Read more