On Riviera Now- 1/14 - 1/28

[macaroni]

Just thought I would start this for anyone who wants to contribute information as you have time. I will only do as I have time, but others may like to….

[Kstornado]

Would appreciate any information you can post. We are on the next Riviera cruise on January 28th. Enjoy!

 

[gbits]

3 hours ago, macaroni said:

Just thought I would start this for anyone who wants to contribute information as you have time. I will only do as I have time, but others may like to….

Thank you Macaroni. We are on the 2/7 cruise which stops at several of the same ports as yours. Anxious to hear if any ports deny you entry and what O port(s) substitutes in their place. Hoping embarkation went smoothly for all.

[Cruze4Ever]

3 hours ago, macaroni said:

Just thought I would start this for anyone who wants to contribute information as you have time. I will only do as I have time, but others may like to….

I am so happy that you started this!  We will be on the Riviera on Feb. 7th and I am axious to hear what everyone has to say about the ship and the ports.  Did you have ports changed?

 

Thanks so much!  All info will be appreciated!

[mjox32]

1 minute ago, gbits said:

Thank you Macaroni. We are on the 2/7 cruise which stops at several of the same ports as yours. Anxious to hear if any ports deny you entry and what O port(s) substitutes in their place. Hoping embarkation went smoothly for all.

 

Hi Gina.

San Juan is off the itinerary and we are having an extra sea day that day.   They also cancelled Guadeloupe and we are now going to St. John's, Antigua.  Martinique has been replaces with St. Kitts.  

 

600 guests with 774 crew

 

Check in went smooth it was 40 minutes from the time we walked into the tent to be tested until we were in our room dropping off our carry-on luggage.   No one checked your pre arrival antigen/pcr test.  You need to show your vaccine certificate and only write down the date of your last dose (not your booster date - that was confusing for a few)   They e-mailed the results to you almost as fast as it showed up on the monitor.  In fact the man in front of us had his results e-mailed and his number was not on the monitor for another few minutes.   Not sure if check in continued to run smoothly because we were at the tent at 11:30am.  

 

I read on another post that you also had Calabaza snorkel cruise booked in Barbados.   Ours got cancelled 4 days ago.  Just a heads up in case yours gets cancelled too.  

 

Margo (from our French Polynesian cruise)

 

[Level six]

Thanks for the update.  Have fun

[macaroni]

We were at the testing tent at 10am…that is when it opened. What a breeze…they started check in at 11. You have to check in to your muster station and get scanned so they know. Then later you have to watch the video in your room before the tv will allow you to watch anything else. We went to Terrace Cafe and they started announcing who could go to their rooms..starting with suites around 1:00.

we made extra specialty dining reservations when we boarded. We were allowed to make 2 extra for now.

 

[macaroni]

Upon boarding we found out about several port changes. We are doing Antigua and St. Kitts instead of Guadeloupe and Martinique….a sea day instead of San Juan. Hope it stays this way.

[Cruze4Ever]

Thanks for all of the info.  Have a great cruise!

[espmass]

Have a wonderful and safe time.  I'll also be watching postings for info for the upcoming 2/7 cruise.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, macaroni said:

Upon boarding we found out about several port changes. We are doing Antigua and St. Kitts instead of Guadeloupe and Martinique….a sea day instead of San Juan. Hope it stays this way.

Yes- kind of funny that Antigua was originally dropped but now added back (different day). We are relying primarily on ship tours this cruise (for all the obvious reasons) and, after doing substitutions for cancellations yesterday, it was interesting that we came out $13 ahead!

Captain’s welcome cancelled but open bar instead.

 

Lots of LaReserve cancels with consolidation of remaining folks (including us). I assume our dinner may only have 12 folks (the minimum). We shall see.

 

Ate at added Toscana reservation on night number one. Of course, it was excellent though one of the new appetizers, Carciofi Ripeni, is not really the true (Sicilian) one. Nonetheless, it was okay for a two bite nosh. See the pic for actual Carciofi Ripeni. O’s was only a heart with a little topping.

 

The ship is interesting with only 600 passengers. Not sure if I like it that way. But, it’s nice to have all the space. CC M&G will be tomorrow (limited to 30 people) 

 

So far, only a handful of “chinstrap” passengers. Fortunately, others give them enough of an icy stare that they quickly adjust their masks.

 

Nice to be onboard after two year hiatus. But, again, the whole experience confirms that anything less than 3-4+ weeks may not be worth all the necessary pre-cruise “hoop jumping.” I’ll test that theory in May with a 45 day CPT-NYC trek on Insignia.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Flatbush Flyer

[catgirl411]

Thanks to all who are reporting from on board. We are on the 28/1 sailing. We are spending 4 days in Miami beforehand.  Good to know about the possibility of additional specialty dining nights.

Edited January 15, 2022 by catgirl411

[catgirl411]

Yes, it’s the Miami part we are most concerned about. And we have to use part of a day to go to get the Test. We were originally booked at the Marriott Biscayne Bay but It turns out that it is under extensive construction so now we are at the Hyatt. When this trip was booked back in June, the extra  4 days seemed like a good idea..now I wish we were just flying in on Thursday. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

12 minutes ago, catgirl411 said:

Yes, it’s the Miami part we are most concerned about. And we have to use part of a day to go to get the Test. We were originally booked at the Marriott Biscayne Bay but It turns out that it is under extensive construction so now we are at the Hyatt. When this trip was booked back in June, the extra  4 days seemed like a good idea..now I wish we were just flying in on Thursday. 

Not sure which airline you use but some (e.g., United have no “change fees.”

FWIW: We did take a chance with dinner next door to the IC hotel at Il Gabbiano (excellent food). But, besides the masked staff, you could easily tell the tourists as we were the only ones with masks.

[gbits]

10 hours ago, mjox32 said:

 

Hi Gina.

San Juan is off the itinerary and we are having an extra sea day that day.   They also cancelled Guadeloupe and we are now going to St. John's, Antigua.  Martinique has been replaces with St. Kitts.  

 

600 guests with 774 crew

 

Check in went smooth it was 40 minutes from the time we walked into the tent to be tested until we were in our room dropping off our carry-on luggage.   No one checked your pre arrival antigen/pcr test.  You need to show your vaccine certificate and only write down the date of your last dose (not your booster date - that was confusing for a few)   They e-mailed the results to you almost as fast as it showed up on the monitor.  In fact the man in front of us had his results e-mailed and his number was not on the monitor for another few minutes.   Not sure if check in continued to run smoothly because we were at the tent at 11:30am.  

 

I read on another post that you also had Calabaza snorkel cruise booked in Barbados.   Ours got cancelled 4 days ago.  Just a heads up in case yours gets cancelled too.  

 

Margo (from our French Polynesian cruise)

 

Margo, thanks so much for the update! If there are are changes to your itinerary please let us know. Our cruise is not scheduled for Martinique but we are supposed to go to Guadeloupe but I’m guessing we will also wind up going to Antigua instead as Catherine heard from a tour provider that Guadeloupe is closed to all cruise ships for the season.

 

We also received a cancellation notice from Calabazza. At this point I’m hesitant to make any plans in any port because who knows what will happen. If you find something good to do in Barbados to replace the Calabazza sail please let me know.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

[catgirl411]

29 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Not sure which airline you use but some (e.g., United have no “change fees.”

FWIW: We did take a chance with dinner next door to the IC hotel at Il Gabbiano (excellent food). But, besides the masked staff, you could easily tell the tourists as we were the only ones with masks.

Love your “chinstrap” description! We live in a small city about 2 hours from Toronto where people are very mask compliant and have been throughout the pandemic so it is surprising to us to see how other places are. I suspect I will be muttering to myself the whole time we are in Miami about other people’s behaviour! 
As for changing the flight, Air Canada cut their daily flights in Miami in down to one per day and given, we are flying on points,a change wasn’t possible.

[jagoffee]

Macaroni, thank you for starting this thread for all of us to contribute.

Nymich’s thread on his January 4, 10 day version was so helpful to us.  He certainly helped me a lot and provided information for my decision to proceed.  In the spirit of paying forward, I will attempt to follow his excellent example.  I will try to fill  in gaps of information, answer any unanswered questions, and provide opinions if asked. (About the cruise) I apologize for my misspelling and sometimes running sentences.  

 

I just logged in on my IPad for the first time, so I have been busy enjoying the cruise. Words cannot describe the joy and anticipation this cruise actually starting.  The pre cruise anxiety was significant and the relief earned.

 

We had an 11AM check in time and it was a breeze.  A lot of testing station

s and people at the check in counter.my first picture is of our red bans that you receive after you pass your antigen test.  No requirement for a pre cruise Covid test prior to the Oceania test.  But we did do a pretest at home before our departure.  (Required to get a full cas refund if you fail the Oceania test). I cannot imagine that anyone had a problem with crowds, since we are cruising with around 600 people.  IMO Oceania has the process “under control”.

 

The next group of pictures are lookin back at the IC as we are getting ready to depart.

 

Oceania provide us KN95 masks and encouraged us to use them.  Oceania has made many announcements concern mask use.  They also announced that there are not drinks allowed in the Reviera lounge and masks were to be worn at all times.

 

As mentioned our itinerary has changed.  I attached the most recent older one with San Juan and the new one with several changes and the removal of San Juan.  If it was up to me I would have loved to just cruise into San Juan and then out, just for experience. The paperwork in our cabin still says that we will all need to test within 72 hours of arriving in Barbados.  

 

We had dinner last night at Jacques.  The dinner was outstanding.  Among other things, my DW enjoyed the Dover Sole, and I enjoyed the Maine Lobster thermidor.  
 

Our butler told us that the January 4 cruise only had around 3 positive Covid test results, and the holiday cruise before that was very busy with a lot of positive cases.  Gives us a lot of hope for this cruise.

 

We had a very active roll call, so I would think any questions will be answered.

 

I complied this from the comfort of the Horizons.  For you Celebrity cruisers it is like the Sky Lounge on the Solstice Class ships.  Up front and high.

 

 

 

[jagoffee]

One more picture from my comfy seat.

 

[espmass]

Jagoffee, you mentioned your butler told you there were only around 3 positive Covid cases on the 1/4 cruise.  If possible would you ask if positive cases are allowed to quarantine in their own cabins?  That would give us a lot of comfort for our 2/7 cruise.  Thanks.  

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, espmass said:

Jagoffee, you mentioned your butler told you there were only around 3 positive Covid cases on the 1/4 cruise.  If possible would you ask if positive cases are allowed to quarantine in their own cabins?  That would give us a lot of comfort for our 2/7 cruise.  Thanks.  

Are you planning on getting sick? 😷

[jazznruby]

1 hour ago, catgirl411 said:

Love your “chinstrap” description! We live in a small city about 2 hours from Toronto where people are very mask compliant and have been throughout the pandemic so it is surprising to us to see how other places are. I suspect I will be muttering to myself the whole time we are in Miami about other people’s behaviour! 
As for changing the flight, Air Canada cut their daily flights in Miami in down to one per day and given, we are flying on points,a change wasn’t possible.

I prefer "chin diaper". Better visual description and it is infantile behavior, after all. 

[catgirl411]

17 minutes ago, espmass said:

Jagoffee, you mentioned your butler told you there were only around 3 positive Covid cases on the 1/4 cruise.  If possible would you ask if positive cases are allowed to quarantine in their own cabins?  That would give us a lot of comfort for our 2/7 cruise.  Thanks.  

It’s my understanding that they did.  Yesterday we had our TA ask O the specific question about quarantining location. The answer was that that is their preference/intention unless a passenger needs more care. That was the piece of info we needed to decide to cruise on 28/1.

[espmass]

2 minutes ago, catgirl411 said:

It’s my understanding that they did.  Yesterday we had our TA ask O the specific question about quarantining location. The answer was that that is their preference/intention unless a passenger needs more care. That was the piece of info we needed to decide to cruise on 28/1.

 

Thanks.  The one thing we were most concerned about was the chance of testing positive (it happens) and then being stuck in a tiny cabin in sick bay!  This helps a lot.

[espmass]

16 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Are you planning on getting sick? 😷

 

Heck no!  

[samiam0403]

Following! Sailing on Riviera next month, and appreciate all of the info.