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3 hours ago, laslomas said:

 

I was also on this cruise and found that check-in was great, and the wi-fi rather difficult as you stated. I think the difficulty finding tables in the OVC at lunchtimes on a couple of days was due to the weather as although at only 50% capacity, almost everyone was indoors. Usually some would eat at the Mast grill, but with the bad weather there was not much choice. Many were taking laden plates to their cabins in much larger numbers that usual due to this. 

I may have been one of the "rude people" not wanting to share tables. Along with many people I tried to follow the guidelines, which included only sitting with my own party in venues on board. It was almost impossible to get a table in Al Bacio, but during the morning seating was also available in Sushi on 5. When I did get seated I did not want to be made to feel in the wrong for not wishing to share, and to be thought of as rude. I avoided the shops when crowded, so probably missed any bargains, if there were any.

The tables in the MDR were spread out, and some out of service for distancing, so frequently we were given a pager / buzzer. But the wait was never very long. It was not possible to book the MDR more than a day ahead on the App. Not sure why??!!

The crew were wonderful and went out of their way to keep everything running smoothly. So even though I knew it was only 50% capacity, it was not really obviously only half full (probably due to the weather) and there was a really vibrant atmosphere. A brilliant cruise.🙂 🍹

There was some confusion around sharing, not helped by Celebrity's reluctance to enforce the rules that were in place. Put simply:

Masks to be worn in all inside venues except when seated and actively eating/drinking. Inside includes: sky Lounge, around the spa pool and in the theatre.

Table sharing: not permitted in the restaurants other than with people in your cabin or with people with whom you had linked bookings - bookings must be linked before boarding.

Other areas where social distancing is required are clearly marked and included bars, gym, casino tables.

Sunbeds were spread out and clearly marked for social distancing 

Tables could be shared in Al Bacio,  we were happy to do this,  but I understand why some people would be reluctant. Celebrity's rationale for allowing sharing in Al Bacio us that the time you share is relatively short.

Other areas like the shops relied on common sense.

Biggest disappointment was that the use of hand gels was not enforced at any venues which was odd as "pre vovid" this was enforced.

Overall a great cruise - we did it twice.

 

 

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Fantastic cruise.

 

I did find the Ocean View a bit of a bun fight although I do not think it would have been an issue if we could have sat outside. I have often needed to do this on Med/Carib cruises but the weather did not allow it on this cruise. Some people could have moved on quicker after completing their meals (likewise hogging tables too long in Al Bacio). Fortunately we could eat in Luminae on sea days. We did have room service after giving up finding a table one sea day. 

 

Had problems booking a table in Tuscan Grill. On second attempt out Butler managed to find a table for us. However it was pretty empty. Much preferred Murano and Luminae although the view is nice.

 

Our only complaint would be that the wine was pretty poor. It is usually decent. Also there was only one sommelier in Lumninae and the service was slow. Poor girl was rushing around. In retrospect should have found the Food & Beverage Manager to complain.

 

We went to the Staff Captains talk on Navigation. He alluded to the need to leave Liverpool on the tides as the Silhouettes needs significan depth under the keel for safe working. Saying that cannot understand how that could not have been anticipated. Must have been some communication error between deck staff and excursions. Enjoyed Liverpool although surprised it was so quiet except the loooong queue to get around the Beatle Museum. 

 

Ignoring children the average age was much higher than on previous Celebrity Cruises. Sat next to a ninety-one year old who thought that the ship was boring and he much preferred Royal Caribbean cruises! We loved it though. 

 

Cannot waoit to get back onboard in March for the ABCs.

 

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On 9/27/2021 at 9:17 PM, swjumbo said:

I haven’t looked at this forum in a while but you’ve got to give Celebrity a bit of slack. They’re trying their best dealing with endless changes and bureaucracy whilst still trying to give us an amazing experience at sea.


Eurofins wasn’t plush but it did the job and we had a fabulous time as should you Dear Reader so stop complaining.

This is cruise CRITIC, people are just relating their personal experiences,  often to great assistance to others.  Nothing is perfect,  roll with the punches and take things as they come, but there's nothing wrong in pointing out a negative as well as praising when due .

I think most people are cutting cruise lines some slack and know its not going to be exactly as before covid 

There's been a lot of positive feedback in this thread and it's been a big help in planning 

Edited by sgmn
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1 hour ago, the penguins said:

There was some confusion around sharing, not helped by Celebrity's reluctance to enforce the rules that were in place. Put simply:

Masks to be worn in all inside venues except when seated and actively eating/drinking. Inside includes: sky Lounge, around the spa pool and in the theatre.

Table sharing: not permitted in the restaurants other than with people in your cabin or with people with whom you had linked bookings - bookings must be linked before boarding.

Other areas where social distancing is required are clearly marked and included bars, gym, casino tables.

Sunbeds were spread out and clearly marked for social distancing 

Tables could be shared in Al Bacio,  we were happy to do this,  but I understand why some people would be reluctant. Celebrity's rationale for allowing sharing in Al Bacio us that the time you share is relatively short.

Other areas like the shops relied on common sense.

Biggest disappointment was that the use of hand gels was not enforced at any venues which was odd as "pre vovid" this was enforced.

Overall a great cruise - we did it twice.

 

 

 

Like you this was my second UK Staycruisecation. I was on 3rd July sailing when there were even fewer passengers on board. It was really great to be cruising again, and even with the restrictions it was truly well worth jumping through the hoops for. I expect the staff, understandably, did not want confrontations so as long as rules were followed in the main, that was fine. The first few days I found people had not noticed the restriction to 4 in the lifts, and thought I was ridiculous to point it out when they wanted to get in. But gradually everyone understood. I cannot imagine sharing a lift with 19 other people again!!  😲

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We were on this cruise and have had a couple of days to reflect. Overall, for us it was somewhere between good and very good, with some bits slightly better than that. We had a corner aft and felt The Retreat concept works well. The Retreat Lounge reminded us of the Business Class Lounge of a decent airline and perhaps that's what's intended. The Retreat Sundeck was very pleasant if you have the weather and will be fine in the Med or the Carribean. We enjoyed eating in Luminae once some early service issues had been resolved.

 

However, we had too many issues to rate the cruise any higher. I won't list them here (I might if I write a review) and there was nothing truly major but we only had two days of the cruise that didn't involve asking the Concierge or Suite Manager to resolve some problem or other. Maybe we were just unlucky.

 

We did enjoy the cruise and it was good to be travelling again.

 

Almost all seemed to wear masks when on the move but mask wearing whilst seated and in the theatre was mixed and there was no enforcement, just the occasional reminder (one used the word 'recommend') to wear masks from activity staff. We seemed to have slightly more 'reminders' towards the end of the cruise and we wondered why that was the case.

 

Celebrity have made some interesting choices on mask wearing. They are content to have a busy bar of unmasked people (Martini Bar, I'm looking at you) but they wanted us to wear masks in the Sky Lounge which is airier and tables are a distance apart...? I would be interested in their risk assessment for that. Also on the large, spacious ship it was half capacity. On shore excursions capacity on coaches, which are a more confined space, capacity was 75%. Again, I would be interested in their rationale - the cynic in me says it's about money.  

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On 9/30/2021 at 5:18 PM, pward123 said:

We were on this cruise and have had a couple of days to reflect. Overall, for us it was somewhere between good and very good, with some bits slightly better than that. We had a corner aft and felt The Retreat concept works well. The Retreat Lounge reminded us of the Business Class Lounge of a decent airline and perhaps that's what's intended. The Retreat Sundeck was very pleasant if you have the weather and will be fine in the Med or the Carribean. We enjoyed eating in Luminae once some early service issues had been resolved.

 

However, we had too many issues to rate the cruise any higher. I won't list them here (I might if I write a review) and there was nothing truly major but we only had two days of the cruise that didn't involve asking the Concierge or Suite Manager to resolve some problem or other. Maybe we were just unlucky.

 

We did enjoy the cruise and it was good to be travelling again.

 

Almost all seemed to wear masks when on the move but mask wearing whilst seated and in the theatre was mixed and there was no enforcement, just the occasional reminder (one used the word 'recommend') to wear masks from activity staff. We seemed to have slightly more 'reminders' towards the end of the cruise and we wondered why that was the case.

 

Celebrity have made some interesting choices on mask wearing. They are content to have a busy bar of unmasked people (Martini Bar, I'm looking at you) but they wanted us to wear masks in the Sky Lounge which is airier and tables are a distance apart...? I would be interested in their risk assessment for that. Also on the large, spacious ship it was half capacity. On shore excursions capacity on coaches, which are a more confined space, capacity was 75%. Again, I would be interested in their rationale - the cynic in me says it's about money.  

I agree about the somewhat variable approach to social distancing, particularly with regard to coaches on shore excursions. Typically (and this must be on instructions from Celebrity) one out of two seats was blocked on one side of the coach. However, all seats were in use on the other half of the coach. This meant that we found our heads were about 2 feet away from those of the people in front and behind. Yes, everyone was wearing a mask, but social distancing was non existent. The only way to have dealt with this would be to block off every other row. But guess what, this would halve the capacity of the coach and probably doubled the cost of the excursion. There is a difficult conflict between social distancing and commercial restraints.

Also, the ship was apparently at half capacity, but it certainly didn't seem that way when trying to find a vacant table in the Ocean View.

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10 hours ago, Thaumas said:

I agree about the somewhat variable approach to social distancing, particularly with regard to coaches on shore excursions. Typically (and this must be on instructions from Celebrity) one out of two seats was blocked on one side of the coach. However, all seats were in use on the other half of the coach. This meant that we found our heads were about 2 feet away from those of the people in front and behind. Yes, everyone was wearing a mask, but social distancing was non existent. The only way to have dealt with this would be to block off every other row. But guess what, this would halve the capacity of the coach and probably doubled the cost of the excursion. There is a difficult conflict between social distancing and commercial restraints.

 

Agreed, and the 'both seats on one side, one on the other side' approach wasn't consistently applied either. On our three excursions in Scotland the seating arrangements were as above but there were no such arrangements on our Titanic Belfast excursion in Northern Ireland - we could sit where we liked on the coach. Being mindful of social distancing we sat on the back seat.

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  • 3 weeks later...
14 minutes ago, markyb said:

Just a question for those who sailed on the previous Staycation cruises, was a 2 Day Arrival Test required on your return as it is for the short 3 night Staycation this weekend?

No, certainly not for 06/08/21.

Edited by upwarduk
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38 minutes ago, markyb said:

Just a question for those who sailed on the previous Staycation cruises, was a 2 Day Arrival Test required on your return as it is for the short 3 night Staycation this weekend?

 

The email sent out was wrong. 

 

Ignore it. 

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1 hour ago, markyb said:

Just a question for those who sailed on the previous Staycation cruises, was a 2 Day Arrival Test required on your return as it is for the short 3 night Staycation this weekend?

As isdoo has said, only if you return to the port from a country outside the UK do you need to arrange a Day 2 test and a PLF. For “domestic cruises” as defined by HM Gov, there are no such requirements.This is (now) a domestic cruise. Perhaps Celebrity still think the cruise is going to Zeebrugge?

 

Actually, perhaps we should check with the captain when we get onboard 😂

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5 hours ago, tommy921 said:

Yes, we have as well. Hadn't realised we were getting double points! 😃

It depends on the offer that was on when you booked. 
We have booked another cruise for next year, that also has double points, which will make us Elite +.

 

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On 10/24/2021 at 6:42 PM, markyb said:

Just a question for those who sailed on the previous Staycation cruises, was a 2 Day Arrival Test required on your return as it is for the short 3 night Staycation this weekend?


Thank you all for your responses.

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