stevenmary

Noting that the date on the report was 1st April, I did wonder if this was some sort of April fool joke. It has been reported in a lot of different places, so I guess not.

Disappointing as it is, I think it is probably the right thing for Venice, but I agree with some of the sentiment above that it will probably take them the next 50 years to sort it out. How long did the lagoon barrier take?

19 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Any port in a storm will do

Agreed, but it seems strange to go so far when she has been moving around between Athens and Limassol with Connie for the past few months.

Anyway, she is now definitely in dry dock at Cadiz, so must be having some work done. It will be interesting to see what.

On 2/11/2021 at 11:42 PM, gam888 said:

I thought about the dry dock possibility, but this cruise is only for 11 days, and the sailings after that are still booking. 11 days is kind of a short time for a dry dock? Who knows?

Marine traffic shows Infinity headed for Cadiz right now - maybe dry dock before the first 2021 cruise scheduled for 8th May? Revolution? Indeed, who knows?

We booked Concierge on Edge for our last cruise, only because the price difference compared to standard IV was very small and it was a much better location.

Priority embarkation was nice, but we still missed the MDR lunch due to transfer delays from the airport.

Afternoon canapes were OK, but we often got back so late they had already been taken away.

Bottle of bubbles was OK, but I had to drink it all since my wife is not a fan. 🤪

We were invited to a Concierge only sailaway at the front by the spa. Shame it was late in the cruise because we met some really nice people.

Binoculars were useless. Umbrella very useful for a very rainy excursion to Florence and Pisa.

Couldn't find any use for the concierge staff, and their office was always really busy when we passed.

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

 

When did you go?  We were on the June 5, 2017 Connie 10 night Adriatic cruise.

We went a bit later in the year, departure 7th September 2017 11 night Adriatic & Med cruise also Connie. Finished at Barcelona.

4 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Thanks for posting.  One of my best cruising memories was the sail out of Venice on Connie a couple of years ago.  

We had that pleasure in 2017. Fantastic views over Venice, entirely appropriate operatic music soundtrack on the pooldeck, then sailed into a massive thunderstorm. Could not have been a better combined natural & man-made sound and light show 😁

1 hour ago, LzyCruiser_NWA said:

We have a cruise booked next year the infinity, it's staying in venice 2 nights so we're using it as home base while we tour the city. That's actually the main reason I booked this particular cruise. I wonder if I can cancel without penalty if they move the port to Ravena. I have no interest in taking a bus to venice each day.

So I guess you booked the 7 night Italy, Croatia and Montenegro on Infinity? If so, there is only 1 night scheduled in port at Venice at the start of the cruise. Then, assuming you cannot board until midday earliest on the first day, that pretty much wipes out the day for touring, if they even allow you off ship on your own. Arizona Wildcat is correct, you would be better off staying locally in Venice for 1 or 2 nights pre or post cruise to tour independently, but we still don't know what the situation will be like next year. I don't believe Celebrity will change from Venice to Ravenna as the departure port. Only Royal Caribbean Cruises are doing this (so far) and I am pretty sure that despite local protests against cruise ships in Venice, the city must be desperate to recover some of the tourist income they have lost.

23 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Reading this the question would be if Connie will use one of the outlying terminals in the Venice area.  Marittima certainly seems to be out.  The BBC article explains it well.  We were on Connie in 2018.  Wonderful journey.

I am not sure there are any other terminals in the Venice area suitable for handling cruise ships so for the moment I think they will have to continue using Marittima. It looks like there is a ferry terminal in Marghera, but it seems to be more for commercial traffic and probably not well suited to the needs of cruise ships.

Interesting read from the BBC news website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54478119

19 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

A confirmation indicating that the departure will be from "Venice, Rome" doesn't provide great confidence. SMH.

I guess it depends on the question asked. Connie WILL be starting cruises in Venice and Rome during the season, but also some start in Barcelona.

 I hope it was lack of geographical awareness/grammar of the Guest Support Unit agent and nothing more.

But I agree it does not fill me with confidence.

On 10/16/2020 at 3:35 AM, DrKoob said:

 

This is exactly correct except that it isn't really restricting the number of ships, Venice is restricting the size of the ships. Nothing Celebrity owns will be allowed to dock there again. Want to leave from Venice, try Azamara, Oceania, Viking (their 960 guest ships are about as big as will get into Venice.)

 

 

Nothing I have found online suggests there is any current ban on cruise ships using Venice Marittima port. There was a ban for vessels over 55,000 tons a few years back, but it was overturned soon after (that's Italian politics for you). There are various other suggestions such as a new channel to avoid passing St Marks or creating a new cruise terminal on the mainland at Marghera, but these all involve large investment. I suspect such investment is unlikely in the current environment. I really hope Celebrity can continue to use Marittima, and I think Venice probably needs some tourist income back soon.

Cool Captain Kate

We booked an IV on Edge because the few traditional balcony cabins are not in good positions, and are not fully open. For us the plus point was the effective extra space in the cabin if you keep the internal sliding door open. But it is not like a normal balcony because you cannot really 'sit out' and be separate from the cabin. The only time we found the sliding window locked 'by the bridge' was when they were cleaning windows. Fair enough, I would not want my cabin sprayed from outside.

The main things that probably put me off booking one again (with my engineer head on) are:

1. Issues we heard of from some passengers finding the window would not open, or worse, close reliably. I suspect there may be issues with reliability of the mechanism/motors as they age.

2. It is not possible to 'take a peek' outside through the curtains, because there aren't any. You have to open the motorised blind which is noisy and slow.

Other than that we really liked our IV. The staterooms on Edge are really well designed and bathrooms are a huge improvement in our opinion.

Although we live in UK, so still sort of part of Europe (until December!) we have only done 3 Mediterranean cruises, no fjords yet - but it is on our list. Of course I cannot comment on travel from US to Europe, but I see you already have some comments from others.

If you are romantics at heart, find a cruise departing Venice before they close it to cruise ships for good. Take a pre-cruise stay (Mestre on mainland is quieter, cheaper and a short bus ride) for a couple of nights to see what you can but don't try to do it all. Get a VeneziaUnica card for bus and ACTV vaporetti transport.

The sailaway we experienced on Constellation in 2017 was probably the most moving ever. Spectacular views over La Serenissima (see picture) and a glorious operatic soundtrack.

For the rest, your choice, but it should involve some ports in the Adriatic (beware Dubrovnic is going the same way as Venice), maybe Greece and/or any of Naples, Rome, Majorca, Valencia, Barcelona. Finish in either Rome or Barcelona. You should be able to do this in 7 to 9 nights.

Regarding Edge class, we sailed on Edge last year in an Infinite Veranda stateroom which was very nice, but not really a Veranda - more like Outside with opening window. The whole ship was very nice, but very different.

Whatever you choose, enjoy the experience.

22 hours ago, Fouremco said:

LOL. With Celebrity's website and social media presence, nothing would surprise me!

😉

On 6/24/2020 at 4:56 PM, Fouremco said:

The GB website says "most". Check it out yourself:

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/gb/travel-alert/voluntary-suspension-of-cruising

 

UK website says 'most', but the post on Facebook says 'all'. Make of that what you will.

On Edge in the Med last September we left it a bit late into the cruise to book any specialty dining, but found during the last half of the cruise there were restaurant staff outside Oceanview selling off unused slots at a discount. The dining times were not always a great choice, but we are not too fussy about that so got LPC for $40pp instead of $55pp. Wish we were onboard now. We are having a really miserable run of weather in UK 😒

We always used to ignore the Future Cruise sales onboard - until we found out it is one way (the only way?) of getting a better deal when buying something onboard. On our Edge cruise in September we made a booking for a specific cruise in 2020, we got our Captains club upgrade, a specific cabin and extra OBC. We had the option of transferring the booking to our TA who then gave us extra discount and built a tailor made package for us around our chosen cruise. All very easy. I am looking forward to see what new options we will have to spend our OBC on Connie after her refit next year.

Hope you enjoy Celebrity, it is our favourite so far.

We were on Edge early September. We had OBC to use up so tried for a specialty restaurant booking on the last night but most were already booked up. We noticed waiters hovering at the exit of Oceanview at breakfast time, they were trying to sell off any remaining open slots at a discount and we got LPC for $40pp for a late sitting. We had finished packing by 7pm so this was a great way to finish the cruise. Amusing and very good food only spoiled for me and a few others by a sudden onset of bad weather causing a very rough ride - rather unfortunate, but that's the med in September for you!

Turtles06 is correct, Silhouette is not yet supported on the app. Have a look at the app details on the Apple app store or Google Play and it gives you quite a lot of information about what ships are supported, what facilities are available, how to connect, and what devices/ OS versions are supported. So for jamer, yes you can use a tablet if it has a supported OS version, e.g. for Apple devices iOS 11.0 or later.

Seems to me SV may be a good way to go if I book Edge class in future. On a quick check for a 10 night cruise in 2020 it seems to come out cheaper than the C3 we had this year. My only concern would be what's the ride like so far aft and high up? We have been in a forward cabin on Victoria crossing the Bay of Biscay in November - one of the most unpleasant experiences we ever had. Maybe it's not so bad aft? Anyone got experience of SV on Edge in bad weather?

Being UK based I can only comment for what I believe to be normal here. I would be very surprised if anyone travelled anywhere without some insurance in place. There are plenty of horrific tales about people who need medical treatment/evacuation and the costs they face if not insured. It only needs to happen once in your lifetime to make it worth paying a lifetimes premiums. It is not only medical issues that can be costly, and even lower level losses can be distressing. I had my wallet taken from a buttoned down pocket in Venice losing luckily only 270 Euros cash and credit & cash cards. Well worth the cost of the insurance policy at £115 (we have to cover existing medical conditions, so it is a bit pricey). They covered everything.

Just be aware that if you need to claim, make sure you READ THE POLICY and get all necessary documentation to support your claim e.g. police/doctors report.

We just did a Med cruise on Edge and found the IV stateroom really well designed, but as said elsewhere, it is NOT a true balcony cabin. The old-style balcony cabins are few and in poor locations fore and aft, and are not fully open. They have what I would describe as a large Hobbit hole opening. The only problems we had with the IV bit was the internal sliding door restricts access to the bed if you have a room configured with bed near window, the blind and window were very slow and noisy in operation, and if you want to peek out (check if you are in port yet) you have to lift the blind pretty high to see out. We had some pretty rough weather and the spray reached our window on deck 12, then we could not see out at all. They did not start cleaning until we reached port the following day. Also deck 12 has an overhang. MC only parks on decks 2, 5 and 14 where there are no cabins so guests on MC should not be able to see into cabins.

Note that in our experience the destination gateway can and does operate on either starboard OR port side when docked (depends which way round they park), but only starboard when tendering using the MC.

5 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Is the screw top bottle on premium still Evian?

The aluminium ones we saw on Edge looked to be 'Celebrity' branded. I would think that they probably still have 'some' major branded water available, but since most of these (onshore at least) are plastic bottles maybe they try to restrict their use. Sorry I cannot give you a definitive answer.

We noticed on our recent Edge cruise that Celebrity do seem to be making some effort to reduce use of plastics. In the case of water included in the drinks packages this means for the classic package you get a ring-pull can of water, but for premium you get a screw-top aluminium bottle. So if you want to take water off ship (they have it available at the disembarkation point) the ring-pull variant is not so convenient. We managed with our classic package by getting the ring-pull stuff and re-filling a large plastic bottle we brought on board with us.