Dec 13 Constellation B2B - East/West Caribbean (Holiday) Cruise

[Ken the cruiser]

10 hours ago, canderson said:

Just got to reading it more carefully and it looks like someone in communications needs to work a bit on their geography.  Panama, an island?!?

 

Just curious.  Were you made aware of the government approved tour option in Panama early enough to cancel an X excursion?  The cut-off is 24 hours.  Or were you aware of this before you left Florida?

Actually last night was the first time we’ve seen these port rules. But with everything being so fluid right now, it makes sense not to officially release them until you know for sure what the port rules are. But since we only book Celebrity excursions since cruising started back up, we really didn’t have a need to know any sooner. Also since Panama is not until day 7, there should be plenty of time for folks to switch if they wanted to.

 

But, I will say on this leg as we only have $100 of OBC from our SHB, we’ve only booked two Celebrity “animal” excursions so far, one in Cartagena and the other in Costa Rica. So today, we’ll probably just sit on the balcony and enjoy the view and play on our computers. 😎

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, citruscruiser said:

Ken, would you please pass on to Isabela, Capt Club Host, that my points have been corrected. She worked so hard to fix the issue prior to me disembarking!

 

enjoy this next leg to your adventure. 
Maureen

Will do!

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, citruscruiser said:

Ken, would you please pass on to Isabela, Capt Club Host, that my points have been corrected. She worked so hard to fix the issue prior to me disembarking!

 

enjoy this next leg to your adventure. 
Maureen

Just passed on your good wishes to Elena, who remembered you as well, and said she’d tell Isabella the good news!

[citruscruiser]

Thanks Ken!

[Ken the cruiser]

FWIW we have come up with a “low stress” lunch strategy that should allow us to eat at noon while avoiding the early crowds on sea days in the MDR and up at the Oceanview Cafe. I know, we’re being picky, but there’s just something about multiple folks coughing near us while eating that gets us twitching a little bit. I know, weird, huh? 🤭 But I will add the Oceanview Cafe is quite peaceful at noon on port days, like today, especially when everyone is off the ship exploring what the port has to offer.

 

So here’s our plan. Just by chance we discovered that both the Tuscan Grille ($25 pp) and the Qsine ($35 pp) offer lunch on certain sea days along with Sushi On Five (a la carte) which offers it every day. Yes, there is a charge. But since we won’t be eating dinner in any specialty restaurants on this leg, as we will be dining in Blu, it seemed like an equitable arrangement, especially since many of the dishes they serve at dinner are also offered on their lunch menus.

Edited December 25, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[canderson]

Might check out the Spa Cafe for lunch once, too.  Usually pretty uncrowded up there.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, canderson said:

Might check out the Spa Cafe for lunch once, too.  Usually pretty uncrowded up there.

Thanks! We'll check it out.

[Bead Pirate]

Cafe Al Bacio

 

Sitting in the Cafe area on the Connie about 60 minutes ago, with much fanfare the pastry chefs rolled in several carts and started replacing everything in the case from the morning selections. I must admit the offerings were beautiful. Every Chef came out and took pictures of the goodies (soon to be followed by many of the staff and officers taking pics as well).

 

When the Chefs left to take the morning leftovers away (suspect we will see them somewhere later) the Pastry team got a standing ovation. Certainly a (tasty) Christmas Miracle! 

[Ken the cruiser]

15 minutes ago, Bead Pirate said:

Cafe Al Bacio

 

Sitting in the Cafe area on the Connie about 60 minutes ago, with much fanfare the pastry chefs rolled in several carts and started replacing everything in the case from the morning selections. I must admit the offerings were beautiful. Every Chef came out and took pictures of the goodies (soon to be followed by many of the staff and officers taking pics as well).

 

When the Chefs left to take the morning leftovers away (suspect we will see them somewhere later) the Pastry team got a standing ovation. Certainly a (tasty) Christmas Miracle! 

Cool! We’re going to be heading down there soon to get some hot chocolate, so we’ll take a look see!
 

As a side note when we took the Behind The Scenes Tour on the last leg, the Sous Chef pointed out all food items have a maximum shelf life of 4 hours before they are removed from the public eye never to be seen again. Sounds like in this case they made quite the show out of the “Changing of the Pastries” ritual! 😂

[canderson]

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

... the Sous Chef pointed out all food items have a maximum shelf life of 4 hours before they are removed from the public eye never to be seen again.

So now you understand the need for periodic trips to Al Bacio to perform "pastry rescues".  We didn't want to 'virtue signal' by explaining our frequent visits.  We were OK with people thinking we were just pastry pigs.  But it really was for a noble cause.  Do your part in our absence, please.

[Ken the cruiser]

Today was pretty uneventful being a port day and we pretty much hung around the ship except for a brief time when we got off and walked around the local port area.
 

Then things changed a little around 5 pm when we noticed the gangway was still down, even though all aboard was at 4:30 pm. We figured an excursion was late coming back until an ambulance arrived in the nearby parking area and two medics were approaching the pier entrance. 
 

They proceeded to the gangway where they came to pick up an elderly lady wearing a neck brace in a wheelchair accompanied by her husband and the ship’s medical staff. They then all proceeded to the ambulance with the medical staff returning to the ship once they knew the patient was safely placed in the ambulance. Don’t know the details, but we don’t believe it was C19 related as no one was in a hazmat suit. 
 

About 15 minutes later we set sail for Cartagena and we went to eat a very tasty dinner in Blu.
 

Then, at about 6:45 pm while we were in our cabin getting ready to go to the 7’pm Christmas show, the Captain made an announcement regarding a person that went to the medical facility this morning and was diagnosed positive with C19. They then did trace testing on all applicable passengers and crew with one additional passenger testing positive. All of those passengers and applicable crew members are currently in quarantine.
 

The interesting thing is that they are still on the ship, rather than the two positive passengers being flown back to their home country today while we were still in port, as the ship is now on its way to Cartagena due to arrive on Dec 27. So it will be interesting to see if we hear anything more about this in the next few days. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

The Christmas show performed by the production cast in the theater this evening was called Christmas Variety and was quite enjoyable followed by a game show up in the Reflection Lounge called Pass the Christmas Song. All of the shows were a lot of fun, especially the late night dirty comedy show by Comedian Abby Ballin! 
 

Christmas Variety Production Show

Pass the Christmas Song Game Show

 

Comedian Abby Ballin

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

12 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Today was pretty uneventful being a port day and we pretty much hung around the ship except for a brief time when we got off and walked around the local port area.
 

Then things changed a little around 5 pm when we noticed the gangway was still down, even though all aboard was at 4:30 pm. We figured an excursion was late coming back until an ambulance arrived in the nearby parking area and two medics were approaching the pier entrance. 
 

They proceeded to the gangway where they came to pick up an elderly lady wearing a neck brace in a wheelchair accompanied by her husband and the ship’s medical staff. They then all proceeded to the ambulance with the medical staff returning to the ship once they knew the patient was safely placed in the ambulance. Don’t know the details, but we don’t believe it was C19 related as no one was in a hazmat suit. 
 

About 15 minutes later we set sail for Cartagena and we went to eat a very tasty dinner in Blu.
 

Then, at about 6:45 pm while we were in our cabin getting ready to go to the 7’pm Christmas show, the Captain made an announcement regarding a person that went to the medical facility this morning and was diagnosed positive with C19. They then did trace testing on all applicable passengers and crew with one additional passenger testing positive. All of those passengers and applicable crew members are currently in quarantine.
 

The interesting thing is that they are still on the ship, rather than the two positive passengers being flown back to their home country today while we were still in port, as the ship is now on its way to Cartagena due to arrive on Dec 27. So it will be interesting to see if we hear anything more about this in the next few days. 

Found out this morning when talking with the CC rep, the two medical issues I mentioned above, as suspected, were completely unrelated. Regarding the C19 positive passengers, they are still on the ship as Celebrity was unable to secure a medivac flight home from Roatan once the full diagnosis was completed. The plan now is to keep them in quarantine and fly them home once we arrive in Cartagena.

 

For a more in-depth posting of this C19 issue, please check out this link.

As for us it’s back to cruising on the high seas and having fun!! 😎

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Just found out the Cartagena port authorities did not allow anyone to go ashore from the Regent Seven Seas Mariner last Wednesday due to C19 cases onboard. The following was posted on Wed, Dec 22, at post #16 on the below thread. Hopefully, we will not run into this same issue once we arrive.

 

Although Mariner docked this morning in Cartagena, Colombia, the Captain has just announced that the Colombian authorities are not allowing anyone ashore due to covid case(s) on board and the local health situation in Cartagena.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2819826-seven-seas-mariner-yellow-as-of-21-dec-21/

 

[Ken the cruiser]

It appears Celebrity has made a minor “hygienic” adjustment during lunch today. When we ate at the Spa Cafe (thanks @canderson!), we were served tap water, at our request BTW, by a crew member rather than being allowed to get it ourselves. Then as we were walking through the Oceanview Cafe on the way to our cabin on deck 12, there was a table in front of the water/drink dispenser with a crew member providing the drinks as well rather than allowing someone to fill their own glass/water bottle. It will be interesting to see if this continues to be the case throughout the remainder of the cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after going to the Captains Club Toast followed by a tasty dinner in Blu, we went to the evening show and listened to a trumpet player, Nathan Samuelson. Then up we went to the Reflection Lounge to participate in the game show, The Challenge, which was a lot of fun. Then, after a brief pause back in the room, it’s back to the Reflection Lounge to watch the Interactive Theme Party: Masque, which we had a great time at on the last leg!

 

[kabmab]

Interesting on drink service.  While on the Apex last August, there was no self-serving of beverages.  All were dispensed by crew.  I assumed this was the practice across all Celebrity ships.

[Jim_Iain]

21 minutes ago, kabmab said:

Interesting on drink service.  While on the Apex last August, there was no self-serving of beverages.  All were dispensed by crew.  I assumed this was the practice across all Celebrity ships.

Interesting.     On our September and October cruises they had self service drinks in Ocean View, but had a sign no refilling glasses. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, kabmab said:

Interesting on drink service.  While on the Apex last August, there was no self-serving of beverages.  All were dispensed by crew.  I assumed this was the practice across all Celebrity ships.

Probably in Europe. But when we were on the Edge in August and the Apex in November, there were no issues filling our water glasses from the self service dispensers. Never noticed a no refill sign. 

[DaKahuna]

9 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

It appears Celebrity has made a minor “hygienic” adjustment during lunch today. When we ate at the Spa Cafe (thanks @canderson!), we were served tap water, at our request BTW, by a crew member rather than being allowed to get it ourselves. Then as we were walking through the Oceanview Cafe on the way to our cabin on deck 12, there was a table in front of the water/drink dispenser with a crew member providing the drinks as well rather than allowing someone to fill their own glass/water bottle. It will be interesting to see if this continues to be the case throughout the remainder of the cruise.

That is how it was set up on Reflection during our cruises earlier this month.

[Ken the cruiser]

Starting late last evening it’s definitely been a rollie-pollie ride and I feel sorry for anyone that gets seasick that’s on our cruise. But we’re now off to breakfast in Blu and see how it is on the lower levels as we’re on deck 11.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Cartagena. It’s definitely hot and humid in the sun here. Thank goodness our balcony is in the shade! As we have been here a few times before, we thought we’d just lay around the ship today. However, there’s a cool little animal refuge area near the pier we’re going to visit tomorrow morning when it’s cooler! 😎

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Bead Pirate]

Ken, look out your balcony if you are on starboard side, three ambulances here with all staff in the PPE "space suits" we have off loaded 6 folks into the first two Ambulances. Does not look like staff to me but no way to be certain.

 

Still waiting to see how many go into the third ambulance.

 

BTW, not trying to steal your thread, you have been doing a marvelous job!

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, Bead Pirate said:

Ken, look out your balcony if you are on starboard side, three ambulances here with all staff in the PPE "space suits" we have off loaded 6 folks into the first two Ambulances. Does not look like staff to me but no way to be certain.

 

Still waiting to see how many go into the third ambulance.

 

BTW, not trying to steal your thread, you have been doing a marvelous job!

No worries! In fact you get to be the eyes and ears on this one as they were gone when I finally out out there. So, by chance did you see how many got into the third ambulance?

[Bead Pirate]

So, two guys got in the first ambulance (strangely enough they did not have bags). 

There was a man and a woman in each of the other two ambulances (the staff was rolling bags and spraying everything in sight). They have been gone for a few minutes, got some pics but do not want to post up as you could identify the folks (out of respect for their privacy).

 

I hope all is well with them very soon and they are ready to schedule a make up vacation. 👍