travelingman

This is an interesting topic and anything said at this point is purely speculation on what will happen in the future.

As has been mentioned pre-covid one could pretty much do anything one wanted to.  For the few cruise lines that did sail some in during covid the passengers could only tour with the ship's excursions.  Anyone getting away from the tour group was kicked off of the ship.

Not taking into account what any of the states or cities might require in the future the cruise lines might still require cruisers to take and stay with the ship excursion tours.  This is the only way they have of controlling "the bubble."

Question I will have is - we go on the morning excursion and come back to the ship for lunch but then what are we allowed to do in the afternoon?  Will they offer another "free" excursion to allow us to go out again or maybe just paid excursions?  Again, this is an unknown at this time.

Stan

I am at a lost on the comparison of Carnival and Viking.  I would like to hear your TAs reasoning for this comparison. Is it the large amount of advertising.  It is hard to say which river cruise line is better than the other since it really comes down to personal preference.  I like the Viking Scandinavian decor's clean lines.  i have stayed in of the "smaller" Viking cabins and had no problem with it.  Mainly in there only for sleeping, cleaning up and dressing.  Wife has been known to take a nap in the afternoon, but size of cabin doesn't matter for a nap.  And, as someone else mentioned, a balcony would be a waste for me on a river cruise.  But for an ocean cruise I like the balcony.

As far as total cost, I read an article with comparison of all the river cruise lines and their costs.  i had always thought Viking was a little on the high side but the comparison chart surprised me. The chart took into account all the different costs associated with the different river cruise lines taking into account cabin costs, excursions, gratuities, drinks, etc. to make them all comparable.  Surprisingly Viking came in as the second lowest.

The one thing I do dislike about Viking is the final payment being due 1 year out.  i have been able to get that reduced to 6 months out, which I am still not totally happy with.  If it ever gets where I can't get the final payment due date down to 6 months I won't sail with Viking.

As i mentioned up above it all comes down to personal preference and choice.  Those that like Viking (myself) are happy and those that don't sail on other ships.  You should look at the reviews of Viking and other river cruise lines to help you make your decision.

Stan

have been giving some thought to this question.  Several of the above posters covered most all of my thoughts.  One that I do not think was mentioned is that a large group will sometimes forget others not in their group are present and will get overly bosterious and loud.  Of course, this can happen in any gathering.  It does not have to be a group traveling together.  (river or ocean)large groups tend to think they are "special" and almost demand special arrangements in various circumstances.  I believe what I and others have mentioned are the exceptions and most groups are aware thay are a small number compared to the number of non-group people on a ship (river or ocean) and might just asked to be sat together for meals.

I wish you luck on your trip and hope you enjoy it.  Last thing i would say is the same I would say to anyone asking a similar question whether as an indiviual or a group.

Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Stan

Thank you steamboats and notamermaid for your comments on our Christmas market plans.  The one thing I did not mention is that we have been to Vienna and Munich on previous trips but not to Regensburg.  If we get to make our August/September Danube river trip we will have an additional visit to Vienna and our first visit to Regensburg.  So the planned Christmas market trip will be strictly for the markets.  I will extend our time in each city to 2 nights so that we will have more time to enjoy the markets.  Again thanks for your input.

Stan

notamermaid, do you think it would be better if we plan on spending 2 nights in each town.  The day we arrive and the next night and then the next morning to the traveling to the next town.  This would give is approximately 1 1/2 days in each town versus an evening and 1/2 day.

Stan

13 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

Along the Danube river (starting out on the Canal in Nuremberg) you will find the more traditional markets. Each of them has its own specialties and is different. Here in my home town Munich we have at least 30 different markets. In Bavaria and Austria markets are a long time tradition.

 

The markets have not such a long tradition in most of the towns along the Rhine river. So you will find a lot of more commercial stalls and some of the goods are sold on each market.

 

steamboats

Now that you have brought up the Munich Christmas Markets let me ask a few questions please.  And I know the answer is subjective based on who one asks the question to.  #notamermaid might want to give an answer to this also.  Wife and I are scheduled to do a B2B Celestyal cruise out of Athens (with 3 - 4 days pre-cruise) beggining on Nov. 13 and terminating back in Athens on Nov. 27 2021.  We are then planning to fly to Vienna arriving late afternoon.  We will be there the evening of the 27 (night time lights) and 1/2 of next day.  Then take the train to Regensburg arriving late afternoon (again night time lights) and 1/2 of next day.  Then take the train to Munich arriving late afternoon (night time lights) and be there at least part of the next day, if not all of it, depending on flight schedules.

I know this is a short period of time in each city but we will have been gone for 18 days already not including the Christmas markets.

Our plans of Vienna - Regensburg - Munich is mainly due to coming from Athens and good flights out of Munich along with closeness of Munich and Regensburg..

Question 1.  Does the above make sense - city wise and schedule wise.  Would it make more sense to do Vienna - Munich - Regensburg with a direct train from Regensburg to the Munich airport.

Question 2. - When do the markets normally open up?  Is it morning or after lunch?  To see the markets in the day time and night time would we need to stay all day and travel the second evening.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thank you.

Stan

1 hour ago, tony s said:

Does anyone know which restaurants will charge extra,specifically interested in the brick oven pizza

Have not seen any information on it.  Have been looking for which ones will.  Going to keep looking but if nothing comes up before my Nov. 2021 cruise I will call Celestyal.

Stan

16 hours ago, saltshell said:

Stan, check out previous costa site. Info and pics are there.

Good idea; but when I had checked the Costa site and Costa roll calls it looks like the Neomantica has been deleted.  Only saw a note that the Neoromantica had been sold.

Stan

Anyone have any information to share on this ship's physically - restaurants, lounges, cabins, etc?  I know it will be based on when it was part of Costa.  But since Celestyal states they are not changing anything except the name, logos, etc. I figure there should not be any differences in the physical aspects.  Any positives or negatives on the physical layouts, etc?  Thanks.

Stan

52 minutes ago, Sun Lover said:

We are in the process of planning a Viking Rhine river cruise for 2022 on the Eir longship.  We have been on several ocean cruises with Royal Caribbean but never a river cruise.  We've had cabins a couple times on the lower deck with Royal Caribbean but mostly we've had balcony cabins.  It is nice to have the balcony but, frankly, we don't spend much time there.  The difference in cost between a standard stateroom and a veranda stateroom with Viking is $1,000 per person, which to me seems like a lot.  I don't think we'd be in the room all that much and from what I've read, the river ships travel mostly at night.  from the pictures I've seen, the window placement on the standard stateroom with Viking looks very high up and doesn't look really useful. Would it really be worth spending $2,000 more for the veranda stateroom?  

My personal opinion.  Our first and last river cruise we were in a standard cabin on the lower deck.  You have already mentioned a pro which is the price.  Some people like the water level view looking the swans in the eyes.  Some cons (at least for me since I am a light sleeper) - 1) if on the middle of the river side there might be some wave "lapping" noise from other boats on the river;  2) noise going through the locks; 3) might not like the water level view.

My wife and I were fine with the cabin size.

Our next scheduled river cruise is the May 2021 Romantic Danube.  We have opted for a French Balcony on this one to see what it is like.

One more thing I would mention is that we were relative close to the middle of the ship and when docked we heard some pretty loud noise from the gangway being let down on the ship.  Not sure this was because of being on the lower deck; I think it was from being closer to the gangway area.  So I next one is more toward the back but not all the way.  By the way the small narrow windows did not  bother us.  Enough to see what the weather looked like and to get some light into the cabin.  Also, we were able to see out the window.

Hope this helps some.

Stan

Glad to hear you know you have a cabin and one you seem to be happy with.

I heard from my agent also with a cabin number.  Based on what I can see I have asked the agent to see if he can get me moved 1 or 2 cabins to get away from a bathroom and some stairs.  Because of being on the B2B it has to go to Greece to make sure there are no conflicts.  So, I am waiting!

Stan

Emailed my travel agent and heard from him today.

We also have been transferred to the Experience.

He is trying to find out what cabin we have been moved to and how it lines up with our previous cabin on the Crystal.

Stan

3 hours ago, saltshell said:

Sorry Stan, thought this had previously been posted. November 13th 2021, 14 day.

That is what I thought.  I have not received any notice yet.

Will have to check on Monday.

Stan

1 hour ago, rool said:

I believe all sailings that were previously on Crystal will now be transferred to the new ship.

Thanks.  I have not received any such notice.

On 9/25/2020 at 12:57 PM, saltshell said:

Email from Celestyal informing me that booking will be moved to new ship. Same category,  same price. Looks like a win win. Did you get the same info?

Which cruise are you referring to?

Stan

About a month ago I did an extensive search for any website that shows the floor plans of the Celelstyal Crystal cabins.  Never found one.  Also, did not find any websites that had an additional pictures other than what is on Celestyal's website.  There are several you tube videos that are about the Celelstyal Crystal including some cabins.  Actually found one for the SBJ, S, and SB suites but not for the GS suite.

My TA used to work for Celestyal USA and he does not know of any available floor plans.

So, for me I had no luck.  If you ever come up with any, please share.

Stan

On 9/3/2020 at 12:24 PM, thekidsandi said:

We will have about 20 in our group. I'm sure not everyone will want to do the same excursions.

Thanks.  Good sized group.

Talked to my agent last week about one of our travel couples who are interested in this cruise.  They did book it.  He told me there are a lot of groups booking the cruise, especially the first week, because of the number of the ports or excurions that are religious oriented.  Look forward to it.  Just hope the virus situation is taken care of by then.

We have a river cruise booked for May 2021 and I am beginning to have my doubts about that one the way things are in the states.

Stan

On 7/26/2020 at 2:38 PM, thekidsandi said:

Gayle, I am also a single female traveling on this cruise. There will be several other singles from a singles group that are on this cruise as well. Fingers crossed that everything goes as planned.

Hi Gayle.  Curious as to how many are in your singles group that are traveling with you.  Thinking about private excursions and how many passengers are required for them.  Don't know if you guys are thinking about any private excursions or f you are just going to do the included.

Stan

1 hour ago, thekidsandi said:

Gayle, I am also a single female traveling on this cruise. There will be several other singles from a singles group that are on this cruise as well. Fingers crossed that everything goes as planned.

Hi Sandi.  Glad you are hooking up with Gayle and that there will be a group of singles there for you guys to hang out with.  As I mentioned to Gayle above if you come across any interesting excursions please let us know so that we can also check them out.  I know many of them require a minimum number for an excursion to take place,  But you might have enough in your singles group to make the minimum.

Stan

Gayle, forgot to ask you about your opinion of Celestyal.  I have read all of the reviews I could locate.  Like most reviews of anything they are some good ones, bad one and middle of the road ones.  I take it you were satisfied since you are going again.  A lot of the negatives I read were related to the food not being up to par and the cabin sizes.  I feel some of these may have been comparing them to some of the newer ships with several restaurants and newer cabins.  Knowing the history of the ship we hopefully know what we are getting into as far as the ship.  But you can't beat the price.  Saw some interesting you tube videos on the ship and the ports of call.

We mentioned the cruise to some friends of ours several days ago and they are going to check on the cruise this week.

Stan

51 minutes ago, saltshell said:

Hey Stan. My name is Gayle and I'm traveling solo. I grew up in Atlanta and Pensacola and currently live in Montgomery. I want to take independent tours in Istanbul and Jerusalem feeling that a lone female could have problems. Traveled on Celestyal when it was Louis and found it a great experience.  Not a particularly religious person, but praying for a cruise. 

Thanks for your reply Gayle.  My wife  (Karen) and I have been to Athens (me twice and her once).  We are going a few days early and hope to schedule a trip to Delphi.  This will be her first trip to the remaining ports.  I have been to Thessolonica and Phillipi previously.  Many trips to Atlanta and was in Pensacola 22 weeks for Navy training.  I have not checked on Istanbul independent tours yet but the Celestyal tour seems to cover all of the major places.  Will have to check on independent tours and see how they are in comparison.  As far as Jerusalem, I have found one tour from Asdod port that seems pretty good.  However, we have to have 8 people before the tour will take place.  Price is good compared to Celestyal.  On the back to back cruise we will be stopping in Kusadasi twice.  I am still trying to figure out what to do on the second stop.  The Celestyal tour seems to cover the major areas and is the same for both stops.  Keep in touch with any info or independent tours you come across.

Stan

23 hours ago, saltshell said:

Hey Travel and Twix. I'll be joining you on this cruise, and looking forward. 

Sorry for the delay in responding.  Welcome aboard.  Glad to see someone else will be on the ship with us.  If you find any independent tours that look good let us know.  We are looking at some in various ports that might have a better price than Celestyal.

I see you are from the Southeast US.  Where from  I live in Richmond, VA area now;  originally from Columbus, GA; and came here by way of Baton Rouge, LA.

Let's just hope Covid is out of the way by Nov. 2021.

Stan

50 minutes ago, friendlyfifer said:

Why would you want to share a cabin with a complete stranger. I would rather pay the full fare or travel with a cruise line offering cabins for singles.

There generally are some criteria you can put in for your cabin mate. Question is - would you want to pay $23,000 to $31,000 for the single supplement or the full cabin versus $15,500 to have a cabin mate.  All of us cannot afford it!

Stan

Has anyone ever started a campaign with Viking for them to have a matching program for single traveling passengers on the Ocean and/or River cruises?

This matching program would have Viking pairing up single traveling passengers in a cabin to avoid having to pay a single supplement or the whole cabin.

Some cruise lines will waiver the single supplement if they cannot pair you up with another single traveling passenger.

I was looking at the Anarctica Expedition cruise which has a pretty hefty price (all cruise lines).  I noticed another cruise line that does a similar cruise that does have a matching program which makes it hard to pay the single supplement or the whole cabin with Viking in comparison.  However, I would prefer to go with Viking except for the Single supplement pricing situation.

Stan

On 6/29/2020 at 7:28 PM, TwizzlersAddict said:

This is the email they sent me in December,  

 

Hello,

 

Thank you for your email. Please note that because you are booked through xxxxx.com, access online is not possible.

Also, as this is an unique 14 night sailing – and as well complete 2021 addition items are not fully in our system/available.

If you wish to add shore excursions – these are available on board as well.

 

 

I emailed Celestyal asking the question and they confirmed what you said.  Have to go through the travel agent.

Did you see where Celestyak has ceased any sailings until March 6 2021?

Stan