Freckles49

Has anyone been to St Helena? Any recommendations?

On 5/4/2022 at 6:26 PM, Nodakboiler said:

We disembarked the Regatta on Tuesday, May 3. At least three members of the Production crew were quarantined for most of the cruise due to Covid. I spoke on Monday to one of the crew members who got sprung from quarantine. He wasn't aware that on the previous cruise that 50 passenger cabins were put into isolation; he did acknowledge that the Quartet was in lockdown for a period of time. The information on the ship is compartmentalized. 

 

There is no way to know how many passengers contracted Covid on the California Cruise since there was no periodic testing once we boarded the ship. Chances that no passengers came down with Covid are remote. Many passengers were hacking away for multiple days. The vast majority of passengers didn't wear a mask the entire cruise. As a matter of fact, the first night the comedian performed, there were approximately 200 passengers attending the performance in the Regatta Lounge. Twelve passengers wore masks; I know because I counted them. 

 

It is a matter of choice whether you wear a mask or not. But let's be honest--Covid is still quite contagious and it spreads quickly. Why should the Regatta be any different? As many infectious disease and public health experts have said for many months: We might be tired of Covid, but the disease isn't tired of us.

 You are right. We have just left the 13th May cruise from LA to Vancouver and having worn our masks ALL the time apart from selecting and eating meals. We were clearly in the minority.

We have disembarked today 25thMay and my husband  has tested positive with our home testing kits in Vancouver.

Thankfully we didnt have to test to get into Vancouver but this is so stressful aswe have had to cancel our flights to LA and rejig our flights to the UK.

Mask wearing on a cruise line where social distancing is difficult would be a safe option so why dont they make it manditory?

We were UK passengers on this cruise and wore our masks ALL the time and used the hand sanitizers constantly. The staff were also masked up but most passengers were not.

In the safety briefing there was no mention of mask  wearing.

My husband developed a slight cough 3 days before we left the ship. We thought nothing of it.

We disembarked in Vancouver and didnt need to be tested but as we had our own testing kits we decided to take them. My husband tested positive. I tested negative.

As you would imagine this caused us extreme stress at the end of our holiday rebooking accommodation and waiting until he was no longer positive. Making and changing flights in order to get us home.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I now know we have to be off the ship 9ish.

Our TA has arranged a private car to pick us up at the port at 3 assuring us we can leave our luggage at the port.

Does anyone know if this is correct. We would need to leave our luggage in a secure place and not in the spot its been left in the night before.

Thanks

Jen

We have a 7pm flight out of NY to the UK on 3rd September when we leave the ship.

We have cruised on other lines specifically Azamara and Celebrity and there has been lunched offered.

Does this happen on Oceania?

Thanks

Jen

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Have just phoned Southampton and a very helpul chap has

sorted it for us!!

Jen

Had a phone call in the middle of doing this with the result Ive booked the wrong shore excursion.

Im in the UK and have tried phoning Miami with no joy, just kept being put on hold, then speaking to yet another person and having to go through the whole saga.

Any help with is would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Jen

After a good start at Christmas on Constellation in the Main Dining Room I’m afraid it went downhill and we too had luke warm food served at times which had to be sent back. I’m afraid I am left with a similar feeling that modern luxury it ain’t. Service around the ship was patchy. Either very good or not good at all. It’s a training issue and a crew morale one. I don’t think creating all these "classes" on the ship helps either.

 

I’m hoping for better on Solstice in April, but recent Celebrity experiences and I’m close to calling it a day with them. Such a shame.

 

Phil

Yep, we too are done with Celebrity, to sail and be unable to have a sun lounger whilst others are reserving several, is not the sort of experience we are paying for.

Jen

During Connie's Dry Dock in May 2017 the Ocean Liners restaurant on Deck 3 was replaced by Qsine. Tuscan Grille is still on Deck 11.

....and its a bit of a mission finding Qsine!!!

If it is the standard OBC it should post right away . If it extra OBC that X provided, which we had on our cruise it took 3 weeks and a phone call to the CVP before it showed

Make sure you print out any confirmation / information regarding your onboard credit.

We had this assigned to us on our last cruise but after 2 days it wasnt showing on our account.

I went down to guest relations and they told me there was no information relating to this on their system,

I gave them my email evidence and I also emailed my travel agent from my cabin.

It took around 48 hrs to clear this up.

I was just so pleased Id printed everything off.

Jen

Went on 12 -night Celebrity Constellation on 2nd January that included stops at Goa & Mumbai. Celebrity were insistent that we must have multi-entry Indian visas in our passports (£138 each) or boarding at Abu Dhabi would be denied. We later found that well over 200 guests either just had e-visas, or no visa at all. They were allowed to sail and visas processed for them at little cost. There were a lot of disgruntled guests about this poor/incorrect communication from Celebrity Cruises!!!

Yep, also happened on our Dec 7th sailing.

Jen

I got back home yesterday and here are some random thoughts from me.

 

Overall we were pleased with the food for dinner in the MDR. However itinitially after being very impressed there were some negatives that crept in. One of them seemed to be regularly luke warm food which had to be sent back. I hate doing this because it just puts everything so far behind for the meal and if one sends back and another doesn't it's all out of kilter. Serving food on hot plates would be a great start! Our regular wait staff in the Select Dining area were a delight. Javier, Rohmann and sommelier Lawrence. We asked for them each night and got them every time except once when we were late.

 

Service at breakfast in the MDR was dire. We tried it twice. First time wasn't great. Second time was dreadful. So bad we laughed about it. I'm not sure where to start, but much of it comes down to training. The waiter leaning across you to serve someone else whilst you have a cup of tea raised to your mouth. We ended up with seven teapots on our table at one point as they weren't clearing them after. We asked for freshly squeezed orange juice and handed our cards over. They came back with a glass filled with the same ordinary juice, but in a bigger glass. The second morning I reckon we had six different wait staff serving us.

 

We ate in QSine one evening and it was really good. My friends hadn't been there before and really enjoyed it very much. Oh, but what have they done to that beautiful Ocean Liners restaurant? This classy looking space has now been transformed into a restaurant with orange wooden chairs. I thought it looked hideous. Such a shame. However a real plus is that Celebrity have resisted the temptation to squeeze in too many tables. We sat at the near end closest to the entrance and there was a lot of space around us. My recommendation if you go there is ask to sit here.

 

The Pool Deck was mobbed on sea days. Everywhere. There was much seat hogging and nothing done about it sadly. Just not a relaxing place to be.

 

I was fortunate to have access to Michael's Club and this was a nice sanctuary from the hustle and bustle. I used this room a lot and Nadia, the concierge and Elif and Viktoria the bar servers were all wonderful and looked after us. We regularly had afternoon tea which was very pleasant too.

 

Overall service on the ship was pretty good, but there were some real low spots which marred it. The crew seem either really good or pretty bloody awful. This came from all places on the ship too. Bar tenders/servers, wait staff, sommeliers. I really lucked out with my cabin steward though. If you get Cato from St Vincent looking after you then you will be fine. My room was always made up promptly and spotless and the few requests I made always dealt with in a friendly manner.

 

OK, so on the whole I didn't find this a relaxing cruise. I've said it before on this board, but the noise around the ship is everywhere, even when there aren't many people onboard. I really don't understand the need to play loud thumping music around the pool deck when there are very few there on a port day. There are just many service inconsistencies too and I would love to have shown Lisa Lutoff-Perlo some of the ways of "Modern Luxury", particularly sitting her down for breakfast those mornings in the MDR. Or listening to some of that noise around the pool. I realise now that perhaps Celebrity is going in a different direction to the one I prefer. I have cruised a lot on Azamara and find that a much more honest experience. However they have become very expensive of late. Will just have to see how it goes. I have two Celebrity cruises booked (both include Hawaii) and four on Azamara. In future maybe less cruises and more honest quality. In the final analysis I'm afraid I didn't find that on Celebrity Constellation.

 

Phil

Totally agree, couldnt have put it better.

Although we ate in Blu every night which was good, not excellent but good.

We were on 7th Dec cruise and all of the above occurred.

We also love Azamara but have thought 1 Azamara cruise = 2 Celebrity cruises price wise but I think after this experience we would rather cruise once every 2 years with Azamara and have a much better experience.

Also take documentation of any OBC from your TA.

Yes, do this its essential.

We have just left Constellation and they had no record of our onboard credit

I had to email our travel agent whilst onboard and also had copies of confirmation of booking and confirmation

of OBC

It was sorted eventually but after many trips to guest relations.

Jen

I have to agree with you. Serene at the start, it was discovered and became filled with chair hoggers. My friend witnessed a near fight break out there two days before the end of the cruise. Lovely! All the lounging areas were very busy on sea days.

 

Phil

Agree Phil, Im now out of love with Celebrity.

We found no sunbeds on any sea days and luckily had our balcony. We also saw people sunbathing straight down on the deck on towels.

But do you pay the price we pay for a cruise for this to happen?

No monitoring by the pool butlers, some people reserving sunbeds for hours without appearing on them

Jen

We booked this ship for the itinerary, and have a sky suite on the 8th floor (leaving Sept 2018) I'm reading mixed reviews about the ship which is to be expected, but one thing that almost everyone posts is that the ship is very, very tired looking. Complaints about tiles in the shower falling off, rust everywhere, public washrooms being filthy, service in Blu (I liked Blu and had hoped to eat there a couple of times again) being so slow that dinner takes 2 hours...it's making me pause big time. While I care more about the itinerary, I'm paying a darn good amount for this trip, so would expect the ship to be in good shape, and the suite to be excellent.

Excited from Harpenden is doing a live review currently.

We are just off Constellation and yes, if youre comparing this ship with e.g. Eclipse it is much less BLING but I quite like the older gentrified ships.

We were in an Aqua xlass cabin and had no issues with our shower, in fact it was the best shower Ive ever had.

.

The public washrooms were perfectly clean.

Our meals in Blu were good, not excellent but good.

Yes you can spend 2 hours there chatting to other guests but equally if you want a quick meal you can do so.

Service was never slow. All the waiters were very friendly and efficient.

We became friends with another couple whose designated restaurant was Luminae but they ate with us in Blu twice.

Nadia the Michaels club hostess arranged this.

As with all ships if youre looking for faults you will find them. There is rust in places, carpets do need replacing in some areas but enjoy all the good things about this ship, and enjoy your cruise!

Jen

Thank you for update. Another question if I may - do I stand a chance of getting a lounger near the pool if I don't get up at stupid o'clock to reserve it?

Only on a port day. Better get ready to set your alarm!

On Constellation now. 1800 of us bought the multientry visa the rest evisa or no visa.

No one was refused boarding and those with evisas were allowed in every port.

In Goa 5 desks were set up just off the ship for those with evisas.

At no extra cost they had their visas processed.

Jen

Also we had no meet and mingle for our roll call on this cruise as they said only 10 signed up

Thanks everyone!

We are on Constellation pre Christmas cruise. Dec 7th from Abu Dhabi

Might there be a chance we can see the final of Strictly?

Are you sure that’s for a tourist visa ? It is too cheap I think they have quoted you for an e visa

 

 

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Sorry should have made my post clearer. That was the cost for one of us.

Probably the total price for one person. VFS don't deal with e visa.

Yep...price for one of us and its for 1 year.

We now have an Visa application office in the centre of Newcastle. Since our last application some 3 years ago, they appear to have opened a multitude of 'branch' offices. It says in the small print for the offices that come under the Birmingham durisdiction (of which Newcastle is listed) that applicants over the age of 65 have the opportunity of just walking in without an appointment between the hours of 10.30-11.30am Monday - to Friday. So a big difference from when we applied previously. The cost of the special delivery alone was outrageous. They have quoted £39 as the application price. Anyone who has done it recently care to confirm this is correct?

Yes I think you are right. We also went to the Newcastle office and totalled £150 altogether, to include cost of visa, photos....done at Tesco

and the special delivery, which was the only option.

I had hoped we could collect them in person but was told NO.

I think if we had researched this beforehand we might have had second thoughts over the cruise. Lets hope its all worth the cost.

We have done several sailings on Azamara and just 2 on Celebrity. One on Millenium and one on Eclipse.

We are sailing on Constellation in December.

Azamara was our first experience of cruising and we love everything about those 2 ships.

However the cost of 7 days on Azamara in 2017 is just about the price we paid for our first cruise of 14 days in 2009. This was in a balcony cabin.

If money was no object we would choose Azamara every time, the intimate small ship experience we think is wonderful.

We were advised to book Aqua class on Celebrity by seasoned cruisers and really enjoyed the intimate restaurant feel of Blu.

Millenium gave us that, but my husband felt Blu on Eclipse didnt deliver that same experience.

We hope Constellation will!

I think you have a bit of a dilemma.

Good luck!

Jen

Does your original paperwork show you booking a A1, which are newer, and on deck 11 so not under the pool or buffet? The A1 cabin cost more than the A2 on deck 9. So if you paid for a A1 and are now assigned a A2 you may be due a refund.

The booking was done over the phone, only realised mistake once the booking was emailed to me.

Sadly had paid the deposit over the phone, which we will lose if we refuse this cabin.

Lesson to be learnt....should have asked for email before I paid the deposit!

1101 on the Constellation is fine. You are near a door that leads outside on deck 11, but that door is hardly used. It's pretty private there. We were a few doors down in 1115. Of course, the advantage of the Aqua cabins on 11 over the one on 9 is that they are new and have the nice showers.

Thank you !