Fred321

We got tested last month at ARC Point labs in Boston. One block from the cruise terminal. Very nice folks and will even print out a hard copy for you if you are tech averse.

Testing seems to be a waste of time. You can pick up the virus and not test positive till you are onboard or you can get it on the first port stop. On the other hand masking and vaccine seem to work at both cutting down the spread and limiting the severity of the infection. Just my opinion after 35 days on the Zaandam.

Just got off Zaandam VOV. First cases started to show up 2 days into the trip and they rapidly ran out of quarantine rooms on deck 6. After that they quarantined you in your room for minimum of 6 days. Were not requiring masks be worn until the number of cases appeared to be well over 100 and it became a strain on things like room service. When they required masks on tenders and inside the ship the number of cases began to fall. Of course some experts cheated by removing masks in the showroom once the lights went out. Childish. Good news was that none of the cases we heard about seemed severe so score one for the vaccines. (There were 3 medical evacuations but no idea what for and it was a VERY old demographic even by HAL standards) As soon as the mask requirement was eliminated on the way back they started to report new cases. Interesting results from a closed population experiment. I think the testing requirement before a cruise sounds good but in reality is likely to miss some folks in the early stages and, with no other controls once onboard, it spreads rapidly. On the other hand, eliminating the vaccine requirement seems to be asking for trouble with a severe case not being able to be tended to onboard. Regardless of what they require we will continue to wear masks inside take the boosters when available and probably skip the tenders altogether. Just my observations after a longer voyage.

Hope there's a lot more with that opinion. I'd love an empty ship!

HAL just sent email that requires vaccination AND boosters for those boarding VOV on July 9. They indicate that it is being done because of the length of the cruise (35 days). They are allowing proof of booster administered up to the date of boarding (!) and are using cdc guidelines for what you need. I'm fine with it but not a lot of notice for a cruise that also requires arriveCan and the usual pre testing.

Sorry Hotel was Casa Fuster. Spell check strikes again.

Just stayed at the Casa Foster in Barcelona. Not exactly the area you are looking for but I don't remember staying at an hotel where I enjoyed better service. Not a giant chain hotel and a beautiful rooftop bar/restaurant. Would go again in a heartbeat.

Hilltop restaurant is connected to a small hotel and is definitely worth the walk even just for the view. On one of our stops here during a world cruise (can't remember the year) we came across the Captain and his family, who were aboard at that time, having a special lamb barbecue lunch on Greek Orthodox Easter.

In my opinion way overrated. We have taken two Celebrity cruises one 10day and one 15 dayTA. Both on the Constellation. Long time HAL cruisers trying something different. Both times in a sky suite. For the most part we enjoyed the ship, the room and the service but not Luminae. Small venue which was crowded every evening because Celebrity seems to try and fill every suite. So, even though the ship was less than half full trying to find a quiet table with some space in Luminae was impossible. Food also was just meh. We tried every combination of time to try and find a relaxing experience but nothing worked. Only pleasant experience was breakfast. We finally gave up and used most of our obc's to eat in the specialty restaurants or order room service. (Sushi on 5 was very good. Tuscan grill was horrible even using Celebrity's money.) We also went to the main dining room where we could get a quiet table and meals which were not described as fancy as Luminae but tasted a lot better. If there is a next time on Celeb. we decided we would simply go to the main dining room and skip Luminae altogether.

Thanks so much for your reports and pictures. We are boarding in a month for the 35 day VOV and then staying aboard for two more weeks to travel up and back to Canada with friends. Hate to spoil a very pleasant report but I am wondering how they are handling covid cases on board. Is there a specific section of quarantine cabins or are they allowing folks to simply quarantine in place? Any announcements or restrictions or are they taking the "nothing to see here" tack? Thanks

Thoroughly enjoyed your daily reports. We are scheduled for our fifth world cruise this Jan. on HAL using up fcc's from the aborted 2020. Because of that debacle and the fact that they sold the ship that they have used for all of our previous world's we decided to give Viking a try and are booked on the 2023-24 world cruise on the Viking Sky. Your reports were really great in giving us an idea of what to expect. I also agree that folks on these types of long cruises who don't take the time to get to know the staff are truly missing out on some of the best parts of the trip. Thanks again.

Just got off Constellation TA and had the same experience. Piped in music was loud and very weird. Some kind of techno crap. DJ in atrium was also annoying in the late afternoon. Appreciated Kyiv Strings and guitar soloist Anthony. Rest of the music offerings were loud and lousy. Commented on it while on the ship as well as in the review email afterwards but who knows?