Ancient Wonders/Crimean Discovery 03 June 2013

We have just returned from the Celebration on what could be said a very 'interesting' cruise.

First of all the Platinum bit -

The cabins were done well. The bathrooms are so much better with shower heads you can move, lovely white fluffy bath sheets and no more pink mosaic tiles.:)

The rest of the ship looked good except for Hemmingways which now at one end resembles an old peoples home. Loved the outside Lido space.

Now the downside to this. Def been a lot of staff cuts. More new waiters that didn't have a clue what they were doing, than older staff. It was a challenge for me to discover what I was actually drinking loads of times. We were AI so this was ok but if we had been paying I would have been sending lots of drinks back. The service in the dining room was very slow and the food even though good was not up to the standard it was before. Some of the shows were also repeated in week 2 which we have never had before.:(

I know these are only niggles but it just did not seam the same.

Hopefully though the staff should improve with time.

There was a notice up in the Lido stating because of noro back in the UK we would be served for the first 2 days of the cruise. This continued until Friday when we were then allowed to serve ourselves, the bar menus appeared and so did the napkins. Strangely this didn't happen the second week. Hmm I wonder if this could be anything to do with the fact they had it on board the week before and not in the UK.:rolleyes:

We had a tender at 2 ports and I have never known such bad organisation. You first had to queue for a coloured ticket and after queuing for 45 mins we were told all the tickets had gone and we just had to wait for the open tender announcement. It took so long especially at Nessebarr when one of the tenders got caught up a lot of people didn't bother getting off as some were only getting an hour on shore. It took us 2 + 1/2 hours to get off from arriving.

THE PORTS

As the Ancient Wonders ports have been done on here I will just do the Black Sea Ports.

ISTANBUL - The first week our trip was cancelled because it was not safe to do, surprisingly then at the port showcase the following week they said that the cruise last week hadn't been affected at all by the problems.

ISTANBUL week 2 - After the breakdown at sea where we were drifting for 3 hours 20 mins. This was very weird and strange as the ship was so quiet, apparently it wasn't very good inside with the toilets etc but we stayed out on deck.

Surprisingly even though the troubles had escalated the trip that had been cancelled the previous week went ahead this time.:confused: The tour guide showing us the problem areas the police sleeping in their coaches, the demonstrators in theirs and the water cannons parked up at the side of the road.

The sail down the Bosphorus at about 1 am was amazing. All the sights were lit up and the bridges with changing coloured lights.

CONSTANTA - This was an awful industrial port with nothing much in Constanta itself. A complimentary(we think because of all the problems) bus was provided to the beach resort of Marmai aprox 20mins away. No queuing for tickets and the transfer worked well. This was a pleasant resort but was just really getting ready for their summer season. There was a cable car here which went along the sea front.

SEVASTOPOL- This was a lovely surprise. It was so clean. We berthed right near the town a short stroll from the ship and you were immersed in the areas history the squares were full of monuments with lots of lovely parks. No one spoke English until we had a stroll along the sea front where a Ukranian man asked if we would like any help or informaton in perfect English. He was a university lecturer and told us a lot about the area and the people which was better than any tour guide.

NESSEBAR - This again was a lovely place when we finally got there. Cobbled streets with lots of shops.

CESME - Cannot comment about here because we never got there had to have another day at sea instead. Which was disappointing.

Unfortunately on this cruise a lot of time was spent at sea.

Thanks for your review, Mary. Hope you enjoyed your holiday despite the niggles. :):rolleyes:

Thank you for your review Mary - so sorry to hear of the staff cuts & slow service - not good :(

Also sorry to hear about the other problems encountered on the Black Sea part of the cruise - such a shame really. Might be worth considering booking trips on the tender ports as they get priority - out of interest, which was the other tender port you visited (think we will book a trip there!)

I had read before that Constanta is a dump - shame they didn't miss that out & do Cesme instead really. Don't really know why they go there; nothing much of interest to see. I notice they have dropped Nessebar for next year's Black Sea trip but are keeping Constanta :(

Hope overall that you managed to enjoy your cruise.

hi Mary

thanks for the review i hope you enjoyed despite the problems? we are doing celebration cruise, first time on her only 2nd time with thomson.

i know you didnt comment on ancient wonders but wonder if you could, anything on either places, trips, money etc etc. all info is useful if not done it before.

anything you found useful you are willing to share?

what are you glad you did, what do you wish hadnt done?

cheers in advance if you get time to reply :):):)

hi Mary

 

thanks for the review i hope you enjoyed despite the problems? we are doing celebration cruise, first time on her only 2nd time with thomson.

 

i know you didnt comment on ancient wonders but wonder if you could, anything on either places, trips, money etc etc. all info is useful if not done it before.

 

anything you found useful you are willing to share?

 

what are you glad you did, what do you wish hadnt done?

 

cheers in advance if you get time to reply :):):)

Trinity - I have just noticed that Mary last travelled on the Celebration in 2010 according to her cruises travelled. We first went on the Celebration in 2009 & then again last year & admittedly did notice a difference between the years however we still had a brilliant time on the Celebration last year.

I have read that they seem to keep changing the CD & they now have 2 ACD's for some reason - I wonder if this has made a difference; a ship & showteam must need some form of continuity with staff so maybe all these changes make a difference. It also looks like a lot of the amazing showteam that were on the Celebration last year when we went have now moved to the Dream, including the CD so I'm hoping the new replacements are good but maybe they haven't 'jelled' together yet as a team???!!!

Let's hope things improve soon - it's a shame to see staff cut backs as ultimatley it does effect us the passengers :(

Thank you for the review.

Keith

Thanks for the report, I don't think anyone has like Constanta.

Thanks for the report, I don't think anyone has like Constanta.

I'm trawling through the trips now to see what to do - think we are better off doing a tour & finding something that might be of interest rather than getting lost in a 'dump' !

I'm trawling through the trips now to see what to do - think we are better off doing a tour & finding something that might be of interest rather than getting lost in a 'dump' !

Honestly Jules, it isn't a dump. The port is a working port and has more cranes than I've ever seen in my life (hubby took several pictures!) but the buildings are rather elegant. A bit like Paris boulevards. However if you walk to the top of the town and look into the courtyards you can see there are lots of famillies living in these buidings and they aren't so glamorous at the back. It was quite interesting to see a different way of life we also looked in some of the shops (very sparse) and strolled through a park. Certainly not the best port we've ever been to but interesting nonetheless.

Honestly Jules, it isn't a dump. The port is a working port and has more cranes than I've ever seen in my life (hubby took several pictures!) but the buildings are rather elegant. A bit like Paris boulevards. However if you walk to the top of the town and look into the courtyards you can see there are lots of famillies living in these buidings and they aren't so glamorous at the back. It was quite interesting to see a different way of life we also looked in some of the shops (very sparse) and strolled through a park. Certainly not the best port we've ever been to but interesting nonetheless.

Thanks Happy V :). I think we are settled on doing the cycle trip from here now - sounds rather nice & includes a beach visit at Mamaia - at least that way we get to see a bit of the town & some scenery on the way to and from the beach ;)

That sounds really good. :) Wish I had that kind of energy.;)

Thank you for the review.

 

Keith

Thanks for the report, I don't think anyone has like Constanta.

Oh my God there's two of them now!!:eek::D

Oh my God there's two of them now!!:eek::D

Lol - I had noticed this recently Happy lol!

My husband is a keen cyclist & he did Athens, Izmir & Crete on wheels on our cruise last year which he loved. Our son did Izmir with him then we all did Marmaris on changeover day - it's a lovely day out & all ages & ability; my son being the youngest at 12 (then) and I reckon the oldest was in his 60's. It's better than walking as you get to see more & better than a coach as you are outside in the sun :)

Constanta looks relatively flat - I hope it is; Myself & my daughter don't "do" hills lol!

 

I have read that they seem to keep changing the CD & they now have 2 ACD's for some reason - I wonder if this has made a difference; a ship & showteam must need some form of continuity with staff so maybe all these changes make a difference. It also looks like a lot of the amazing showteam that were on the Celebration last year when we went have now moved to the Dream, including the CD so I'm hoping the new replacements are good but maybe they haven't 'jelled' together yet as a team???!!!

 

Hi Jules.

I can assure you the showteam are great performers and very happy, we had a good chat with Tino one night and he is loving his experience onboard. As long as the showteam captains remain the same then the performance will be consistant. We thought the shows were every bit as good as on the Dream if not better.

I don't think it matters that the CD's change, these guys are usually the more established members of the Peel team, they move between Ships and head office quite regularly, going back home on training etc. They are very professional and to be honest I don't think it matters who the CD is, never seen a bad one on a Thomson cruise as Peel always seem to employ the best.

Hi Jules.

I can assure you the showteam are great performers and very happy, we had a good chat with Tino one night and he is loving his experience onboard. As long as the showteam captains remain the same then the performance will be consistant. We thought the shows were every bit as good as on the Dream if not better.

I don't think it matters that the CD's change, these guys are usually the more established members of the Peel team, they move between Ships and head office quite regularly, going back home on training etc. They are very professional and to be honest I don't think it matters who the CD is, never seen a bad one on a Thomson cruise as Peel always seem to employ the best.

That sounds good then - we have never had any problems with shows, show teams etc but we always have to travel in peak season school holiday times & there has always been a great atmosphere onboard then as the ship is full and there is a good mix of all age groups.

hi Mary

 

thanks for the review i hope you enjoyed despite the problems? we are doing celebration cruise, first time on her only 2nd time with thomson.

 

i know you didnt comment on ancient wonders but wonder if you could, anything on either places, trips, money etc etc. all info is useful if not done it before.

 

anything you found useful you are willing to share?

 

what are you glad you did, what do you wish hadnt done?

 

cheers in advance if you get time to reply :):):)

Hi Trinitytrees

Yes we did enjoy the cruise despite the problems. Please do not let my review put you off we just dropped on a bad week and having been on the Celebration we could compare how she was before. There were lots of cuts but the cruise is still good value.

The currency for the Ancient Wonders cruise was either Turkish Lira or Euro which was accepted anywhere.

The only trip we did on this week was the Mykanos Island and wine. DO NOT DO THIS. It was a total rip off. We were taken to 2 beaches for photo stops but they were dumps, could get good photos of the rubbish, a town square - which was just a church and lots of restaurants and then the winery where we saw the small vines in a field, a tethered donkey and tasted 3 small cups of wine with a bit of cheese ham + bread.

Kusadasi we just walked round town and Pireaus if you don't want to do a ships tour there is a hoho bus that goes to Athens.

There is a really good thread on here about this cruise somewhere.

Anything you want to know just ask.

That sounds good then - we have never had any problems with shows, show teams etc but we always have to travel in peak season school holiday times & there has always been a great atmosphere onboard then as the ship is full and there is a good mix of all age groups.

We have had better show teams than this one but we have also had worse. They have just started together so are still jelling.

The disappointment for us was the repeated shows but hopefully this has time to change for you.

Make sure you go see Dylan in his cabaret, he was really good and Tom did one in Horizons, he was very nervous but it was only the second time he had done it.

Hi Mary.

Great review, sorry I haven't replied to you earlier, I got engrossed in Jules' message yesterday.

We were on the week before you and there was to be a crew changeover in Istanbul, so you caught that I think.

I know what you mean about Hemingways, we never spent any time in there this cruise. On one of our Celebration cruises you coulld not get us out of there... Wasn't there a nice feature that has now been removed where that bookcase has been put, I should have got a picture of that whilst I had a chance. Yes, the outside Lido is much better with the new canopy and better seats.

Repeated shows is a surprise, I wonder if it will continue or it's just that they haven't learned enough shows yet?

Hmm, the norovirus thing, the first day at sea was paper napkins, and the day before we disembarked was too, however disembarkation day was not.

We never saw any doormats.

Maybe your continuation until Friday was because of the new crew?

Did you think there were less sunbeds on the sun deck, or is it just me?

Joe.

Joe & Mary

We looked back at our Cruise News from last year - mid August - and on a 2 week cruise they did repeat shows then too. It was fine by us as we missed the very first night due to timings & lifeboat drill so we were able to see it the 2nd week & other shows that were repeated we headed to other bars but I can see how some people wouldn't be happy having the same shows both weeks.

There can be a different atmosphere on staff changeover weeks - I have read this on a lot here & other sites recently which is a shame as like I said in my earlier message, the shows can make or break a cruise for some people. When we did a cruise a few years ago though, I am sure they had both showteams on - the new & the old to allow for the handover & the new to learn new routines. Do they not get together in the UK first doing their training & routines before they fly out to the ship?

As for Hemmingways, we have always felt it to be an 'older persons' bar - maybe that's why they decided to make it look like a nursing home?!? We have never really gone there apart from queuing up on Captain's night!!!!

I wonder if Thomson are now tightening up even more re the norovirus issue? There is so much talk about it everywhere at the moment; maybe because of problems on the Dream earlier this year, they are having to be more strict?

I still think they should put sunbeds on the sports deck, even if it were just during peak hours ie 10-5; we hardly see anyone using the sports deck in the height of the summer, probably due to the high temperatures!

Hi All. (it's easier to say that:) )

We have never done a B2B on the Celebration, only the Dream, so it may be commonplace to repeat the shows on Celebration. I think they all duplicate the changeover night anyway.

The Showteam got together in Nov last year, had a break for Christmas then rehearsed full time until they got on the Ship in April, Tino told us this. There is a weeks changeover as well.

There seems to be a few of us on differing threads calling for the sports deck to be turned into sundeck, hmm,, I feel a poll coming on.....

Hi Mary.

Great review, sorry I haven't replied to you earlier, I got engrossed in Jules' message yesterday.

 

 

We were on the week before you and there was to be a crew changeover in Istanbul, so you caught that I think.

 

I know what you mean about Hemingways, we never spent any time in there this cruise. On one of our Celebration cruises you coulld not get us out of there... Wasn't there a nice feature that has now been removed where that bookcase has been put, I should have got a picture of that whilst I had a chance. Yes, the outside Lido is much better with the new canopy and better seats.

 

Repeated shows is a surprise, I wonder if it will continue or it's just that they haven't learned enough shows yet?

 

Hmm, the norovirus thing, the first day at sea was paper napkins, and the day before we disembarked was too, however disembarkation day was not.

We never saw any doormats.

 

Maybe your continuation until Friday was because of the new crew?

 

Did you think there were less sunbeds on the sun deck, or is it just me?

 

Joe.

Hi Joe

They don't seem to be very consistent with this self service thing ie. we could only serve our selfs for 3 days on the first week but then all of the second week and your week was different again. :confused::confused:

With the noro virus everyone keeps mentioning mats outside doors, we have never seen them even though we have been on cruises when it was onboard. Is it something new?

As regards sunbeds I don't know if there were less but as usual there weren't enough. We were surprised though to see them being monitored with tickets and saw quite a few belongings being removed.

Mary

We have never seen any mats, only heard about them on here, but then we don't go walking up and down every corridor trying to find them...... I think some decks are more prone that others.

There are never enough sunbeds, you have to be up at the crack of dawn on a sea day.