Alethers

Just back to the ship from an excursion. Balls are provided, you don’t need to bring them with you!

I have had one excursion cancelled by the ship, and another that I’ve just chosen to cancel. One warning, an excursion I wanted to do was full a few days ahead of time, even with low passenger numbers onboard. I checked the refund process again just now with the excursions desk and like others have said, if you don’t spend onboard then they will refund you at the end of the trip. It has to be cash, but they did just tell me that they can refund in USD instead of Euros if a passenger prefers. They’ve also assured me that anything I spend onboard will come first from my non-refundable credit which I have as part of my holiday booking, and only then if that runs out would they start taking from the refunded excursions.

I just ran into Heike, the General Manager, who was at the Helios pool. She said that to rectify the problem they are looking to increase the plastic part that runs across the front of the pool….so at least they don’t need to rebuild it! I tried to take a photo to show but not sure it’s obvious. There’s a clear plastic section to the slight left of the middle of the photo. That will need to be extended right around the pool.

Her name is Karen and it’s every day at 5.15pm in the Astern lounge (although I think she skips one evening as we are in Curacao for two days. Last night she was talking about Bonaire and was giving advice on taxis, hiring a car, how to see the bioluminescence if not doing the ship tour. Although she also has info on the ship tours too if that’s what people prefer. She’s written for loads of publications including National Geographic and ASTA. https://cruiseshipkaren.com/

Received this today in the cabin to book/advise disembarkation. If independent arrangements and no transportation assistance required you can pick a preferred disembarkation from 8.15am-9.30am. If carrying own luggage with no assistance it’s 8.00-9.30am. They are also offering transfers to the airport for 2 guests for EUR 120 or 4 guests for EUR 270. Or a shared transfer for EUR 60. Or a private transfer to a hotel in the “city centre in Bridgetown” for 2 guests for EUR 120 or 4 guests for EUR 270 for times between 8.15-9.30am. Usual disclaimers that times are approximate. Subject to change and preferred disembarkation times are not guaranteed.

You can still walk right around there and the bar, loungers and cabanas are all open. Currently sat just along from there in a cabana drinking a lovely Mimosa from the Helios bar with a very generous alcohol to juice ratio. 😍 @uktog did you see the children again? I went to the solos dinner last night (drinks in the Astern lounge followed by dinner at The Med Yacht club) and the hosts were very intrigued as they are convinced that the youngest guest on the ship is 18 years old. Maybe we have stowaways?!? 😂 Although they did say that crew are sometimes allowed family and friends to stay and so they wondered if the children are a guest of someone rather than a passenger per se. My beach day excursion yesterday was cancelled (I think due to low numbers) and tomorrow’s is looking sketchy due to low numbers again. This is literally the only downside i can find of having such a quiet ship. I must give a recommendation for the daily port talks at 5.15pm in the Astern lounge. The luminary speaker isn’t employed by the excursions team and gives advice on the best things to do, and how to do independently as well as on any tours. She stays afterwards for people to chat to and answer questions and I’ve found her incredibly helpful. I’ve been saving the daily programmes if anyone wants me to post them. And if there’s anything anyone wants to know or me to check for them, just shout.

The host in charge of Nautilus (under 17 years old) just announced that they have 0 children on board for this trip.