My Cuba Cruise

[burm]

Hi all!

Did you see this about balconies being added to Crystal?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6685

I can't even imagine that!

 

 

Now, that is interesting. I can't wait to hear what they have done to "our" balcony, Ron.

[kahtrav]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with doing INR (blood thinner) testing on the Crystal? Most lines can do that and i will check with Cuba Cruise and see if anyone knows anything. My husband was just put back on Coumadin due to another blood clot. Hopefully his levels will be good by then and that he'll be okay to travel by then.

[ONT-CA]

Now, that is interesting. I can't wait to hear what they have done to "our" balcony, Ron.

 

There can be little question that any "addition" of a balcony to any of the cabins in question would have to be space taken from the cabin itself. Not a bad thing I suppose to enable one to get a breath of fresh air with their morning coffee.

 

As far as "our" decks are concerned (hardly balconies) I doubt if they could do much other than allowing the two adjoining outside suites on both sides access to the space through new cut doorways. Not a likely or pleasant thought, surpassed only by the proposed addition of the tent...:D. We know what we have booked for those three weeks and we fully expect that for which we paid. As the ship is en route perhaps we will hear something about this before she reaches Havana.

Edited December 1, 2015 by ONT-CA

[ONT-CA]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with doing INR (blood thinner) testing on the Crystal? Most lines can do that and i will check with Cuba Cruise and see if anyone knows anything. My husband was just put back on Coumadin due to another blood clot. Hopefully his levels will be good by then and that he'll be okay to travel by then.

 

Personal testing units are now available (at least here in Canada) and although a little expensive, we travel with ours for peace of mind while keeping an eye on things while aboard our cruises.

[retiring soon]

Hi again!

 

kahtrav ~ I have no knowledge of INR but do hope all goes well & you're able to take your cruise.

 

Here's something I found on Google, not much different info but the pictures comparing before & after are good.

http://maritimematters.com/2015/11/balconizing-crystal/

 

Was there something mentioned on the Cuba cruise website about this?

I would think the price would now be higher for cabins that became balconies.

 

Chimo!

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[ONT-CA]

...Was there something mentioned on the Cuba cruise website about this?

I would think the price would now be higher for cabins that became balconies.

Chimo!

~ Jo ~ :)

 

Correcting my assumption that the space for the new balconies would have to be taken from the cabin size. Here is what they say;

 

"The work was completed in Piraeus along with other hotel upgrades and technical maintenance. Following the refurbishment, CELESTYAL CRYSTAL ... now has 43 balcony junior suites, eight balcony suites and two imperial balcony suites. In total, 53 of her suites now have balconies. Each balcony extends 1.4 meters from the ship’s bulkhead and the length of each is between 2.8 meters and 5.8 meters."

 

This certainly will give the ship a new appearance. But from these numbers, we would say that the SI decks have not been changed.:) What surprises me is that we have not heard a word about all this until today. The ship is en route. I imagine the one month requirement for final payment (late by industry standards) was taking all this into consideration. Were the cabins involved held in abeyance to now be offered, as you say Jo, at a higher rate, or were they already booked and will get the balcony gratis? Hopefully we will hear from someone who has one of the new balconies booked.

 

Chimo

 

Ron

Edited December 1, 2015 by ONT-CA

[NextOne]

Here's a little more information about the Tropicana excursion:

When I printed off the list a month ago, there was no price for it yet, but a note that the excursion would be sold on board only. The remainder of the description matches what Ron reported from last year.

Edi

[moscowmark]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for letting me know about the new balconies. I quickly called my travel agent and he was able to upgrade us to one of the new balcony rooms on deck 7. Now we have a balcony, instead of just a window! YEA!

 

My wife and I will be sailing out of Montego Bay on Dec. 25th.

[moscowmark]

Photo during construction, before the new balconies were painted...

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2363045

 

... and after they were painted...

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2363922

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2368208

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2363921

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2363919

[neepawa]

moscowmark

 

What upgraded cabin are you in on Deck 7 and do you know what other cabins on that deck have been upgraded?

 

I am booked in 7210 in February.

 

Cheers,

 

Don

[kahtrav]

Personal testing units are now available (at least here in Canada) and although a little expensive, we travel with ours for peace of mind while keeping an eye on things while aboard our cruises.

Thank you - we are definitely planning to go that way, but may not be able to do that soon enough - i think they want your INR pretty stable first - at least USA Medicare does. We'll know more after this week. Just hoping we can still go to Cuba :)

[moscowmark]

Hey Don, Please know that this is not official, it is just a guess based on the photos and the descriptions of the upgrades, but I'm pretty confident in my guess.

 

It appears that the following cabins now have balconies:

6004-6014 (11 cabins)

6038-6039 (2 cabins)

6204-6214 (11 cabins)

6238-6239 (2 cabins)

7004-7009 (6 cabins)

7028-7030 (3 cabins)

7204-7208 (5 cabins)

7227-7229 (3 cabins)

Total of 43 cabins (26 on Deck 6, and 17 on deck 7)

 

We will be in cabin 7204. It looks like 7210 just missed out.

[neepawa]

moscowmark

 

Thanks. We will be fine in any cabin to get away from the cold and snow in the Great White North!!!

 

Have a Happy Holiday Season.

 

Cheers,

 

Don

[ONT-CA]

moscowmark

 

For those currently booked, may we ask in general terms, perhaps expressed as a percentage, the increase costs in upgrading from an outside window to the new balcony?

 

Thanks

 

Ron

[ONT-CA]

Thank you - we are definitely planning to go that way, but may not be able to do that soon enough - i think they want your INR pretty stable first - at least USA Medicare does. We'll know more after this week. Just hoping we can still go to Cuba :)

 

Having been that route, I appreciate the predicament you are in and do hope that in achieving stabilization you will be aboard the Crystal in Cuba. Best of luck

[oneidealvacation]

This information about the new balconies is very surprising! Seeing the way they added a balcony area outside the suites is fascinating. This seems like a very good idea to me.

 

The few pictures of the ship at the dock in Piraeus made me nervous for my room, which is technically obstructed but only minimally so (it has the small lifeboat hanging outside, rather than the large ones that are used as tenders). There seems to be some type of scaffolding (maybe due to the painting work) taking up the window area. The (later) picture from Maritime Matters was reassuring, as it looks like the small boat is back to its original positioning.

 

For comparison, here are a few views from last season:

 

Port side:

https://oneidealvacation.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/p1120731.jpg

https://oneidealvacation.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/p1100895.jpg

 

Starboard side:

https://oneidealvacation.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/p11201311.jpg

 

It's amazing that with the ship already making its way back towards the Caribbean (due into Barcelona in a few hours!), both the Cuba Cruise site and the Celestyal site are silent to the balcony rooms. I'd love to know what happened with the existing bookings. I imagine many of the people who booked unobstructed oceanviews have suddenly received an unforeseeable free upgrade! :cool:

Edited December 2, 2015 by oneidealvacation

[ONT-CA]

Going over the photos of the alterations and addition of balconies to the 6th and 7th decks, it would appear that the original 8 balconies which were recessed into the bulkhead have now been extended and open to full sunshine. I am still trying to detect any method of segregation of the new balconies as unable to make out any dividers. But it is good to see that the railings are not panels of glass but open horizontal bars which enhances the feelings of being at sea rather than on an apartment balcony.

[moscowmark]

Hi Ron (ONT-CA), I upgraded from Room 6015 (a category XBO - Superior Outside Obstructed) to Room 7204 (a category XF - Deluxe Outside) for about $900 US (total, not per person).

 

Because Don is already in a XF-class room, just one that didn't get a balcony, it may be possible for him to request a different room at little or no charge.

 

For others - I assume this will work in Canada as well as it does in the US. If you search YourCubaCruise.com and pretend you are making a new booking, you can find the price of your current room-class, and compare it to the price of an XF or XE-class room, you should see the difference in price. Just remember that most, but not all, XE rooms were upgraded, and only about half the XF rooms were upgraded, so you'll want to confirm with CubaCruise that your new room does indeed have a balcony.

 

I also tried to look for dividers between each room's balcony, and couldn't see them. That doesn't mean they aren't there, they may just not be visible in the photos. Maybe I'll get to know my neighbors really well. :)

[ONT-CA]

... I also tried to look for dividers between each room's balcony, and couldn't see them. That doesn't mean they aren't there, they may just not be visible in the photos. Maybe I'll get to know my neighbors really well. :)

 

I thought that I’d pass this one through. The reason we do not see a divider is that the cabin wall is in itself the divider. The balcony addition makes up a portion of the balcony while the pivoting of the outer wall forms the balance. There is no loss of space within the cabin, just redistributed. If this is the concept (and I’m not saying it is) then no need for that cup of sugar on hand for your needy neighbour when they come knocking….

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/ONT-CA/media/Balconies%20001_zps0wzahhet.jpg.html

[moscowmark]

Hi Ron (ONT-CA), Interesting approach. That would certainly work, but I'm not seeing signs of that in the photos. The sliding doors for all the *new* balconies appear to be flush with the original bulkhead. (The *old* balconies appear to still be angled like you described.)

 

I guess we'll find out in a few weeks. I'll try to post a photo when we get back (early January). :)

[ONT-CA]

moscowmark

 

I was basing my thoughts on this;

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6685

 

and perhaps I overstated the angle. This photo I feel is of the most aft cabin and hence the extra length (5.8 m) which would then need a divider at the end. But if I am incorrect, then passengers would be able to venture from balcony to balcony freely (most unlikely). We will not be boarding until late January and it would be great if you could post a description and photo. It doesn't affect me but the curiosity prevails. Thanks

 

Chimo

 

Ron

[neepawa]

Just received the attached deck plan from my TA:

 

CRYSTAL REVISED DECK PLAN 2015.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

Don

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

Don ~ I couldn't get the link to open. Did anybody else have that problem?

 

Well from the news here on CC it seems that another MSC ship will be going to Cuba. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6646

 

It's going get pretty crowded there! I wonder how many ships that dock in Havana can handle at a time?

 

It'll be interesting to see how the cabins look now with balconies. I'm pretty sure we had 6014 last time & maybe 6016 the year before. We really liked them as outsides.;)

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[ONT-CA]

Well from the news here on CC it seems that another MSC ship will be going to Cuba. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6646

~ Jo ~ :)

 

Hi Jo

As you well know there is bound to be difficulties at the Havana docks with all this new traffic until such time as they repair and open up another dock and terminal. This is the situation now with only the one in operation the others having been heavily damaged by the ravages of hurricanes.

 

http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag158/ONT-CA/Havana%20Docks_zpsqj8ixevc.jpg

 

With the blockade there had been little need, but from these cruise announcements they are going to have to get busy.

 

I don't think I would like to take a cruise that includes the city of Havana only as there is so much more to see in Cuba. Plus the balance of their itineraries are very deja vu.

 

BTW I could open the updated deck plan for the Crystal but am none the wiser as to the schematics of the balconies.

 

Chimo

 

Ron

[Bryna123]

Interesting to hear about upgrades :)

We booked an XE category outside and were assigned 6009. Now I do not see the XE even offered, so maybe we will have an upgraded cabin with balcony?!

 

On another note, this may or may not be of interest but just today I had a short email from our TA stating this:

 

 

Please take note that we received the following information from Cuba Cruise:

 

It is mandatory for guests booked on a Cuba Cruise to complete information required via the link below,

prior to departure date. Guests who fail to comply with this requirement can be denied boarding by the Cruise

company with no recourse.

 

 

I had to provide passport information and submit it for both of us directly to Cuba Cruise. I find it a little odd that Transat could not deliver this info.

I just hope for smooth sailing on all counts!

Edited December 3, 2015 by Bryna123