Seanster

Actually, you're correct, the curfew was not implemented on Roatan/Bay Islands. I stand corrected on that point.

The information above is not entirely accurate. If one is travelling to Honduras in the coming days or weeks, it's advisable to check regularly with the US State Department for up-to-date travel advisories as well with your travel provider.

The 6 pm - 6 am curfew remains in effect throughout Honduras, and the curfew is expected to last a total of 10 days. The election results had not yet been certified by the Honduran election commission as of this evening (Monday evening). Therefore, no official result of the election has been announced. The current vote count, which is based on 99%+ of the votes being counted, puts the incumbent rightest president slightly ahead of the opposition, with the leftist opposition continuing to protest the vote based on claimed voting irregularities.

Violent political protests including looting and roadblocks continue to occur in various parts of the country with a response by the police. At least one civilian life has been lost in the protests.

While this does not necessarily mean that tourists to Honduras are under any direct threat, it's possible that cruise lines may be reluctant to call on the mainland (i.e., Banana Coast/Trujillo) due to the current political unrest. As Roatan may be subject to less political risk, stops there may be less impacted, but I'm not in a position to say with certainty. Several U.S. airlines have announced that fliers to Honduras are permitted to cancel their tickets and receive refunds without penalty, and that may provide some insight into how other travel providers such as cruise lines will react to the unrest in the near term.

Obviously it's best to check with your travel provider / cruise line directly if you will be traveling to Honduras anytime soon.

Someone posted a recent drinks menu from the Nieuw Amsterdam (November 2017) on another site. The craft beers offered included:

Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA 6.95

Anchor Brewing Steam 7.25

Anchor Brewing Liberty Ale IPA 7.25

Lagunitas Lil' Somethin' Pale Wheat Ale 7.95

Rogue Dead Guy Ale 8.95

Unibroue Fin du Monde Triple 8.95

Among the better mass market varieties:

Boddington Pub Ale 6.25

Grolsch 7.25

Blue Moon 5.95

Sam Adams Boston Lager 5.95

Guinness 6.25

The day after I received the offer I told you about, we received a letter that ALL guests would get 10 percent as a future cruise credit. This was probably in response to complaints that not all guests were getting the same offer. So, guess I will be getting less than originally reported. It is still fine with us.

 

This new cruise I much different than the last one! The ship is completely full and there are lots of kids running around. Totally different vibe.

 

We are in Cozumel today parked next to the Oasis and Independence OTS. Looks like a madhouse in town. Last cruise we were the only ship in most ports!

Hi Bill, do the issues that you witnessed and others experienced last week appear to be getting resolved? Or is there little change evident in the level of issues or complaints? For example, are the leaks in Lido still as bad as last week? Or have they been addressed? Thanks.

I stand corrected. I now see that the other Greenland tours appear to be earlier in the season during 2016 versus 2015.

We were on the "Trail of the Vikings" cruise,which did not include a charter flight. We went to/from Greenland on the ship in both directions.

I may be mistaken, but I just looked at the 2016 cruises, and I did not see any cruises with an air leg to or from Greenland. It looks like they may have replaced those cruises with "Northern Light" itineraries, but admittedly I did not scrutinize the website.

In terms of the excursions, they are fine for a first-time visitor to Iceland and Greenland. Some of the excursions were cancelled due to lack of participants or weather, meaning that only one or two options were available in some of the ports, and those were generally the introductory excursions rather than specialized excursions such as the sea fishing in Isafjordur. More options may be available on other cruises, such as the Iceland circumnavigation.

The inclusive zodiac tours were of particular interest for birdwatchers. About 45 minutes each. Combinable with pay tours. If you've not been to Iceland before, I would not limit myself to the zodiac excursions, because they are close in to the ports. And many of the ports are not nearly as scenic as the backcountry.

It was our 3rd trip to Iceland in the past 5 years.

We did the August 2015 Iceland/Greenland cruise. I did not notice any doors slamming, but the waters were quite rough returning from Greenland to Iceland, and the cabin did creak quite a bit. it's an older ship, so I think that's inevitable in rough seas.

We were on the bottom deck, mid-ship, in a quadruple cabin.

Thank you for the input.

A few days in Iceland are by far not enough to explore the country.

Yes, you really need a minimum of 10 to 15 days to take in a good part of Iceland, based on my family's prior two trips there.

My wife and I have traveled on Windstar before (Costa Rica and Nicaragua in 2006), and we'll be on IPC's Ocean Diamond with our son later this summer. So, we'll report back on what we find.

I would not consider the Windstar cruise of Iceland because it's too short. For us, there's a big difference between a 7-day cruise (Windstar) and a 10/11-day cruise (IPC). We find that 7 days leaves us wanting more days, that 10/11 days is just about enough.

We anticipated when we booked that IPC would be 'less frills.' We have found virtually all of the accommodations in Iceland (particularly outside Reykjavik), while expensive by U.S. standards, to be 'less frills.' We did the Celebrity Reflection in February for the ship; the IPC cruise for us will be about the destination, which includes both Iceland and Greenland.

The same IPC ship (Ocean Diamond) sails Antarctica for Quark during the opposite season. I see that their fares are $10,000 - $15,000 pp, at a minimum. So, if people are willing to pay that kind of money to sail the same ship with good reviews, I'm hoping that we can't go too wrong. Like them, we are largely focused on the destination.

Here is the information you requested:

1. the ship is pretty stable. We had rather dreadful weather as far as cold and wind -- and one evening it was really rolling, people were worried about rolling out of bed. Creaking and banging, but no real worries. My husband is prone to seasickness, and wears the wrist bands, and didn't feel sick. though at times he was not 100%. But this was minor.

2. We did all the promised zodiac rides. They were shorter than I would have liked, but totally adequate (I love being on zodiacs). Everyone who wanted to go did so. One of the rides, out to the island, was pretty wild b/c of rough seas and people got wet, those who are less zodiac-oriented were not happy, but I loved it. One ride was canceled (the whale watching), because it wasn't safe, but the ship instead went out to the area and circled, and we saw whales -- in fact, it was superior to being at sea level for observing. There were a number of sight seeing boats out, and a few very small ones, and I was happy we were on the ship -- it makes it easier to see when you can be up higher, and then can run from side to side when there are sightings.

3. I found most meals fine, pedestrian for the most part. there was one excellent meal -- the lamb chops were great. The fish was fine. Every dinner there is a choice of a) low salt 2) vegetarian 3) fish/shellfish 4) meat. Our friends liked the fish better than I did. The meat entrees were better I thought. The soups are all delicious. Lunch and dinner. More the cream/puree variety, but very tasty!

4. Drinks were reasonable. about $7-8 per drink. we didn't order any. We had a bottle of wine at dinner, about $39, but we didn't like it. We are used to great wines, so I am pickier than some people might be. We packed a liter of vodka in our luggage, and had a drink in our cabin every night while getting ready for dinner. The ship had a wonderful surprise one night, with a huge array of desserts and special coffees with liqueurs and champagne freely pouring for several hours. It was a surprise presentation -- hope they do it again for you, and that it doesn't ruin the surprise they were excited to put on. They don't xray luggage or check bags so bringing in liquor is not a problem, and since mixers/sodas are free, it is easy to do. I was pleased and surprised.

5. They had programs many nights. We went to a few of them, but often just went up to the crow's nest to watch the scenery. As the cruise went on, people became friendly and it was fun to talk to people from all over.

6. Dress code is really casual. I brought a slightly dressier top and wool pants and shoes (not a bad change if your sneakers get wet) and wished I hadn't bothered. Not a big deal, but the very casual. Don't bother to dress up. But it could change with different sailings, but no one seems to care. Crew was dressed in same clothes as in day.

 

Hope this helps. If you need any other information, let me know. Have a great time, and let me know your thoughts when you get back. Pam

Hi Chennai, thanks so much for the very thorough responses. My wife and son will be very happy to hear that the ship is relatively stable. Of course, I guess it depends on the weather!

Hi Chennai, thank you for your wonderful and thorough review. Congratulations on writing what I believe to be the first English-language review of this new cruise line available anywhere on the Internet.

Your review comports with what I would expect of this line, given that it's brand new and using an older ship that sails expedition itineraries (Antarctic, etc.). In the future, I hope that they do more than two lectures per cruise -- that's very meager, to say the least!

As we are traveling with IPC in a little over a month from now, a few questions that I'm hoping you can answer:

(1) How stable is the ship? Was there a lot of rock/roll/seasickness?

(2) IPC advertises free zodiac excursions at some stops. Did you see any passengers actually take them and, if so, were they enjoyed?

(3) Among the food that you liked, what dishes would you recommend?

(4) What are the price ranges for drinks (beer/wine/cocktails), if you know?

(5) How did you spend your time in the evenings? Did they have any group activities? Or did folks simply retire early to their cabins?

(6) Dress code: The website suggests very casual. Did folks follow the code, or did they dress up a little more in the dining room, etc. In other words, is dinner more nice slacks and a sweaters for men, or more hiking boats and cargo pants? For women?

Thanks in advance for your responses and welcome home!

John

Lots of scrollable pics of IPC's Ocean Diamond at her stop in Hamburg this week:

http://www.hamburg.de/kreuzfahrtschiffe/3203380/ocean-diamond/

Thank you, Chennai. We are not sailing IPC for several months, so we have some time before our final payment is due. But it's good to know that the process went smoothly for you. In terms of clothing, yes, you'll definitely want to bring gloves and a warm hat. Iceland in mid/late June may feel warm to some Icelanders, but I've always found it cold enough to need my hat and gloves on at least some days.

For Iceland, I generally pack several layers and peel them off as the day progresses. Because this is a cruise, I plan on bringing one or two better items of clothing, but nothing too fancy. The pay luggage allotment on the WowAir flight we're taking out of BWI is pretty meager, to say the least.

We visited the Blue Lagoon the last time we were in Iceland (2013), and it was fine. However, I didn't find it any more interesting than some of the public pools we visited elsewhere in Iceland, which were more economical (like $5.00 pp v $40.00 pp) and often offered geothermal, saunas, etc.

One plus of the Blue Lagoon is that you can plaster your face with lots of silica, which is supposed to be very good for the skin. Lots of tourists. But the buffet is very good and of high quality, especially if you like shrimp and other seafood.

There are lots of great Icelandic novels. Independent People by Laxness is a classic and one of my favorites. Some of the contemporary murder mysteries by Y. Sigurardottir and A. Indridason are also good, light reads and are widely available in the U.S.-- if you're into that sort of thing.

Hi, Chennai. I couldn't find a way to private message you on Cruise Critic. So, I'm posting publicly. Since you're only a few weeks out from your cruise, have you received your sail documents yet? Any additional details from the cruise line? How about a request for payment of the balance due? (The cruise line was pretty informal about that with me. They indicated that they would contact me about "8 weeks" from the sail date. I may just go ahead and make payment now, since the rate won't be changing. Thanks in advance for your reply.

I just posted but wanted to add a note to your questions: I emailed my booking agent and she said no alcohol allowed (just like all cruise lines) -- maybe you can 'smuggle' some on board. we like a drink in our cabin when getting ready for dinner or before we go to bed. No wine either. HAL lets you bring 2 bottles of wine on at least. There is a packing list of what you should bring on the Road Scholar (roadscholar.org) site -- click on europe, iceland, circumnavigation, and look for packing list or suggested reading materials, so forth. No washing machine/dryer, but laundry service available for hire; supplies shampoo/cond/soap/lotion in bathrooms (I bring most of my own things, but if you are not particular, don't bother.) Don't know about tipping -- since it is an European line, and tipping is not common there, it may not be necessary, but I will ask and let you know. We are going in June. Will post when we return.

For your wine, perhaps you already know this, but the best place in Iceland for a tourist to purchase wine/beer/alcohol is at the airport. Keflavik airport has one of the only INBOUND duty-free liquor stores in the world, and you can purchase your beverages there at a significant discount over what you will pay in the Icelandic state-run liquor stores (which have a monopoly and limited hours).

Have already booked for this summer. We had decided to go on the Road Scholar circumnavigation of Iceland but the two trips they had for this year were fully booked and so we investigated this trip. Fortunately it had room, and now we are going with another couple. As it turns out, this is the exact trip that Road Scholar is taking, the ship and so forth. All on board lectures are the same and all inclusions. We are going to have to book separate excursions however, but they are all very similar to the RS ones. Even if we take all the ones available that we have any interest in, in addition to our 3 days in Reykjavik before hand and renting a car, travel, meals in R we are still saving money over the RS rates, AND we are able to go when we want -- this year not next. Have been in contact with the booking agent and have information about it all.

 

When we get back in mid June I will post comments and take inquiries if you are interested in more details.

Hi Chennai,

Thanks for your response. I look forward to reading your comments following your June cruise with IPC.

After I first posted above, I subsequently came across IPC's terms and conditions, and I did see where they had added provisions relating to bringing alcohol on board, etc.

My family is just returning from another cruise, so we're just beginning to think about our upcoming IPC itinerary. This will be our third trip to Iceland in the past four years, so it will be interesting to see how the cruise experience compares with the land experience there.

Much of IPC's publicity seems to be directed towards the European market in general and the German-speaking market in particular. So, I expect the passengers mix to reflect that mix.

I have some limited familiarity with IPC's parent company, Iceland Pro Tours, having visited one of their fishing 'camps' in the Westfjords in 2013. Otherwise, IPC is an unknown quantity to me.

That being said, a reporter from USA Today, at my urging, looked into the line, and he felt confident enough about their bona fides to publish a short article about IPC earlier this month.

In general, my experience with all Icelandic tourist accommodations in the past has been that they are clean and otherwise adequate, although certainly not luxurious. Instead of luxury, you get the singular beauty of the country and the tremendous hospitality of the people. I anticipate that IPC will check off those two boxes as well.

I am a Celebrity loyalist but it just amazes me the number of kool-aid drinkers that, regardless of the situation, think Celebrity is never wrong and anyone who dares bring up an issue has some kind of axe to grind or really never wanted to cruise in the first place. Geez.

I agree 100%. I make a few comments on Cruise Critic every few years, and if I dare express my opinion in a critical way, I get attacked by the resident cheerleaders. If these individuals are not paid by the cruise line directly or indirectly, then they really need to get a life. I'll see them on here again in a year or two. On to gainful things.

I have a suggestion for the passenger...wait until boarding the ship, and see if there are any disruptions to their cruising experience. Preconceived attitudes and actions can only create undue anxiety. JMHO...

It was not my preconception. Celebrity itself sounded the warning in its letter to passengers. Perhaps the renovations will turn out to be nothing, but when even the cruise line is hedging its bets, I believe that they should have erred on the side of doing the work in dry dock.

If I were still a more avid cruiser, I would be more concerned that this becomes the start of a trend. (Regrettably, cruise lines have found other ways to turn me into more of a landlubber, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over a the prospect of an at-sea renovation trend.)

However, clearly the optics are bad. When I plan a land trip, I do my research make sure that I'm not visiting a resort under renovation. And many resorts ARE very good about disclosing the same well ahead of time.

Now I have to anticipate if I cruise that the ship could be undergoing renovations in public areas, without meaningful warning. Yet another reason not to cruise, albeit perhaps not the most significant one.

CLE-Guy:

Sorry. I'm not buying these "facts." The claim that somehow Celebrity will experience a meaningful downturn in its revenue because it's not able to renovate a restaurant while at sea is specious at best. How have they survived for the past several decades without doing so? Let's face it, if Celebrity did not collapse during 9/11 or at the time of the 2008 downturn, refraining from carrying renovations while at sea isn't going to affect them meaningfully. And the reality is that they're sailing at or near capacity in February.

In terms of Celebrity's revenue, it's really not the average customer's concern. I've worked in senior executive capacities for Fortune 100 businesses for nearly two decades, and I would never insult a customer by telling them that they should accept shoddy service or a renovation project because my company needs to make or better its revenue targets. Certainly some executives may think that way, but that doesn't mean a hill of beans to an unhappy customer.

In terms of the renovations not being disruptive to customers, I simply don't want to see renovations in a dining room when I'm on vacation. If there wasn't the possibility of inconvenience, then Celebrity would not have provided a letter to boarding passengers warning of the same. Certainly I hope the reality will prove better than the forewarning in Celebrity's own letter. There is always room for optimism, of course.

I would quibble with many of your "facts," but unfortunately I need to move on to other priorities. I have a cruise to take in a few days, after all.

So far the live reviews during construction from well-regarded Cruise Critic Posters on the ship, indicate the intrusion is nearly non existent - refer to the other thread running. The letter issued by Ceebrity stated that Fixed seating diners, and BLU diners would be unaffected, and Select diners would have Select dining times extended earlier and later. Not really much of a disruption. Suite passengers have been given option of unlimited specialty dining to remove them from the MDR patrons, pulling more bodies out of those dining there.

 

As to having to look at the construction debris (they have put up walls to hide it), that's no more distracting than non-formal wearing guests on formal night in the MDR.

 

Taking a ship out of service costs just over half a million dollars per day in lost revenues, (I provided an itemized analysis in another thread, using figures from the most recent Annual SEC 10K filing as my data) any savings by not having passengers are minimal, as the cost of food to feed the passengers and crew on a daily basis is only $37,000 or so, and a portion of that is still being spent on the crew, and the crew work even during any dry dock - and I wonder if crew get an enhanced standard wage in such periods with no gratuities being accumulated.

 

Yes it's a money thing, just like operating any business is a money thing. I don't think anyone is denying that at all. The "bulk of their patrons" are not going to experience any issue relative to this (and I doubt even you will unless you have a sailing in the 1-3 week period on any of these ships between now and April 10 or so), while there will be many of their consumers post installation having a far more enjoyable cruising experience when they get to use the SDR, and BLU passengers will have a better experience with all those pesky Suite guests spending more time in SDR than BLU, and MDR guests will have more attention paid to them without all those pesky suite guests occupying their server's time. And those who claim they can never get into specialty restaurants will now a have better chance, as suite guests use their ding room more often. Win Win Win Win Win it seems, with very minimal disruption to a nearly immeasurable fraction of their patrons - which would be only those who actually sail on an affected sailing AND who honestly think their experience was spoiled due to it.

 

Let's do the math (OK, I guess it IS in fact measurable...):

 

• S class ships hold on average 2800 passengers x 5 ships = 14,000 PAX
  
• M class hold average of 2138 passengers x 4 ships = 8552 PAX
  
• Let's assume average 7 days cruise overall some more, some less but let's just average 7 days, we will multiply (14,000 + 8552) * 52 weeks = 1,172,704 passengers carried in a year
  
• The refurb lets say takes 2 weeks, 2 sailings, that's 14,000 + 8552 = 22,552 passengers per week, or 45,104 potentially disrupted passengers.
  
• If all those were disrupted that's 45,104/1172704 = 3.83% of overall passengers possibly impacted in a year's sailings
  
• Likely about 1/10th have strong feelings of an impact, so that leaves 0.384% of passengers experiencing an issue. Fraction of a percent.
  

 

Actually I could have taken Eclipse out of the calculation, as by chance she will have a drydock immediately before Suite dining opens, so I'd assume (but can not confirm ) this would be done then, but I'll leave her in to make it simple.

 

I've seen them replace carpet in the Sky lounge at sail, Century had cabin refurbishments done under sail, even in occupied cabins last year. Refurbishments happen all the time. My recent summit sailing, one side of the lifeboat deck was closed for 2 days for refurbishments. Even in my Penthouse suite, my veranda was closed for a day as they rechocked the lines between the decking and paint (they did leave me a card saying I could tell them no, but it didn't bother me so I let those refurbs go on as planned).

 

To add the Suite program, it's essential it be fleet wide in a specified period of time, not done over time as ships go thru drydock, some of which are not scheduled for 3-4 or more years from now. That's just not in any stretch of the imagination practical to suggest such in important part of the program be phased in over 3-4 years time.

 

I worked for Marriott for years, and went through several hotel refurbishments at multiple properties, mostly soft goods but one full soft and hard goods. Our average daily rate (actually I should say REVPAR due to the OOO rooms) remained unchanged, and our occupancy remained steady but for the particular rooms out of order. We did not have to discount or offer any incentives. The service we provided should be enough, as it should on Celebrity ships. We did try to schedule such activities are slow periods, but it's impossible to do that always. And by the way, this is the slowest period with most people getting extreme discounted fares for X ships for the year, if you read the Shareholder analysis and Annual SEC 10K filing.

With all due respect, I don't find your arguments terribly persuasive. You state that this is the slowest season of the year, when all of the Reflection cruises in February are sold out or nearly sold out. We're talking the Caribbean in February -- hardly a slow season! If Celebrity is trying to pass this off as their slow season, I'd hate to see their busy season, or to sail at that time for that matter.

In terms of construction of restaurant facilities, I can't speak to what Marriott's policies were while you were there, but travel review sites are replete with complaints about hotels/resorts doing renovations that are in plain sight. Obviously, most hotels/resorts are not going to shut down the entire facility to make renovations, but they will frequently shut down a portion of the facility. Cruise lines, on the other hand, typically wait until dry dock to make renovations of this sort.

People can come up with whatever excuse they want to justify this policy. I, for one, certainly hope this is not part of a new trend on cruise lines of renovating while sailing. I have avoided cruising for the most for many years, because many of these lines have become cattle cars, but my wife has a class onboard so we're rolling the dice.

Who does construction on a cruise ship while the cruise ship is operating? Why can't fitting out a restaurant wait until the next time the ship is in dry dock, when they can do several projects at once? This is not an emergency; it clearly is an enhancement to improve Celebrity's bottom line.

I certainly hope that it does not diminish the cruise experience, and that the construction debris is fully encapsulated in that portion of the dining room.

This is not equitable to what reputable hotels do -- many reputable hotels offer a lower rate while they are redecorating due to diminishment of the experience for their guests. And many disclose the fact to their potential customers ahead of time, and when they don't, they are frequently the subject of poor reviews by guests, and rightfully so.

Seems like money-grubbing on the part of Celebrity. I'm sure some Celebrity "shareholders" can get behind it, but the bulk of their patrons are not shareholders, and this has the potential to diminish the value of their investment in the cruise. (Obviously construction DOES have an impact, given that Celebrity felt obliged to inform passengers by letter, AFTER they had boarded.)

But we will see.

My wife, son and I just booked an 11-day "On the Trail of the Vikings" cruise on Iceland Pro Cruises for August 6-16 2015 visiting Iceland and Greenland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who will be taking the same voyage or another Iceland Pro Cruise itinerary.

Iceland Pro Cruises appears to be a new line using the SS Ocean Diamond, which I've read is used by Quark at other times of the year. There's not a lot of information about Iceland Pro Cruises online, so I'd like to hear from other cruisers planning trips on the line, to share future info, e.g., what is their tipping policy, what boots are advised for the zodiacs, can I bring alcohol on board (I usually buy some at KEF airport on the way since they have a duty free shop, less all the Icelandic taxes, for incoming passengers).

This is our 3rd family trip to Iceland; our first visit to Greenland; and our first cruise of the region. Iceland is a beautiful and peaceful place. The pricing for this cruise ended up being much more reasonable than what we would have paid for a similar itinerary on another line, perhaps owing to this being the line's first season. So we're very excited about the trip and hoping that we got a good bargain.

P.s. We managed to find n/s flights from the East Coast of the US to Reykjavik (KEF) for a little over $400 pp in August. A new Icelandic airline called wowair.com is running some real bargains.