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Celestial Cruises Roll Call


concertbuzzer
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One the main cruise critic menu for roll calls there is one I think called 'Other Cruise Lines" where you can start one for your ship. :confused: Though I gather this just might be a hit or miss random find for others to know this exists. But all it takes is one other cruiser to get your conversation going.

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If it is 'Cuba Cruise' you are booked on, you will find roll calls for a couple of departures on the 'other cruise lines' part of the roll calls section.

 

There are people (well me at least) who are booked into other departure dates, but have posted on the threads which are present for any relevant matters.

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  • 10 months later...

Before you start a new roll call, scroll down and see if someone else has already started one for your date. There's quite a few listed there. We're going on Nov 26th to Cuba...can't wait! :)

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  • 2 months later...
I'm having trouble finding any reviews on the Celestyal as well. We will be on the November 25th Cruise! Can't wait!!!

Rali

 

Oops sorry, we also leave 11/25 (not 26th) out of Montego Bay. Rali are you flying in from Miami or Lauderdale?

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  • 1 month later...
You should be back from the cruise. Any advice for future cruisers would be appreciated a lot :)

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Well unfortunately for us, Fidel died the night before we arrived in Cuba, which totally altered the tone of the entire trip. All the music was cancelled on shore, and numerous restaurants and bars were shuttered. The country was in mourning for 9 days :( so our shore excursions had to be revised in many instances. For example we couldn't get anywhere near Revolutionary Square in Havana due to Fidel's ashes there, with thousands of people lined up to sign the book and write their last respects.

 

As for Celestyal Crystal itself, a couple of really big changes in the itinerary, which they relayed to us at the last possible minute. We were supposed to sail out of Havana on the second day at 5pm, but this was changed to 1pm, so we lost the afternoon there. Not sure where the blame lies, but as we sailed out of the harbor, we passed an MSC ship, waiting to take our berth, so someone (harbor master? Celestyal?) screwed up with the port schedule. Then we were told that we wouldn't be stopping at Port Francis, due to the govt. banning ships from anchoring on the coral. We learned that it was also cancelled (again at the last minute) the week before. So I suggest you leave the snorkel equipment at home and save your weight restrictions for more clothing in your suitcase. I'd be surprised if the Govt is going to reverse this policy, and I'm curious to see how long it'll take Celestyal to delete it from the itinerary.

 

Food left a lot to be desired. They either need to buy sharper steak knives, or quit putting any kind of beef on the menu. Multiple disappointments with overcooked, tough meat. And cook the pork please! We did the buffet mostly for lunch and loaded up on salads. Would have loved a nice cup of soup, but they rarely had hot soups (cold cucumber, or chilled mango etc). They did have hot consomme a couple of times which we doctored up with a few croutons from the salad bar. Check out by the pool for a cooking station. Omelets and french toast out there for breakfast; variety of stuff for lunch, like tacos etc. We didn't find it until the 3rd day on board. Dining room on the 5th deck was closed due to the ship having less than 800 passengers.

 

All inclusive drink package (alcohol) was absolutely worth getting. No need to upgrade to the premium. Included were Absolut, Johnnie Walker Red, Drambuie etc. House wine was actually good. You can't just walk up to any bar and order a drink; you have to order from the wait staff...couldn't figure out why this was.

 

The staff (with the exception of the front desk people who had quite the attitude) were fantastic, from the wait staff to the room stewards. The entertainers were very good, however, it was the same people every single night and it was somewhat repetitive after awhile. Cruise director Danny was great, but hearing the same speech in 4 or 5 languages is time-consuming and annoying: English, German, French, Spanish. Wifi was surprisingly good, best wherever you have a Cisco router mounted on the wall. Look for them. We took 3 hrs for $18, which was plenty for us to check email etc.

 

Ship interior is a little worn, she's quite old after all, but she sails beautifully.

 

Post back if you have any specific questions.

 

Nancy

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Nansi, you mentioned the drink package, don't we get a drink package, I think it's called the Blue package?

 

There are 3 levels of drink packages, but I can't remember the colors. The lowest level is NON alcohol drinks. The 2nd level is NON + Alcohol (the plan we had) and the 3rd level is all the above + Premium liquors.

 

Since we booked through Legendary Journeys, we were charged $99 per person to get the Non+Alcohol level. If you booked directly with Celestyal, check to see which level is actually included.

 

Unless you drink a specific top shelf brand, you probably will be just fine with the 2nd level.....we were amazed at the brands that were included!

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More cruise lines coming !

"The Miami-based Norwegian Cruse Line Holdings Ltd., which has a combined fleet of 24 ships, received approval from the government of Cuba on Wednesday for all three of its brands—Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Oceania Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line—to call in the port of Havana as of March 2017."

 

 

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Thanks muchly for the info. What were the dinner arrangements like? How many at a table? Seating time? And what was the debarkation and embarkation like? Crowds? Orderly?

 

 

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They no longer have assigned seating/times and are doing "open seating." However the dining rooms are still designed for the former: long tables of 6-8 people for the most part and they sit you wherever they want. We ended up with a table of French Canadians who spoke the entire time in French. It was a very uncomfortable dining experience. They have a very limited number of tables for 2, but if you want one, they'll put you on a list and call you when it's available. You could be waiting over an hour though. (We thought the wait was worth it, and simply sat in the adjoining Eros lounge and had cocktails until we were summoned).

 

Embarking was very easy, no line at all and there were just the 8 of us arriving on the shuttle from the airport at around 12:30 pm to check in.

 

Disembarkation was easy with one glitch: most of us were waiting in the Eros lounge to be called by deck, however the announcements couldn't be heard there. We all could have left a lot earlier had we heard them. In any event, it was no more than an hour to get everyone off. Remember, only some of us were desembarking in Montego Bay, so it wasn't as chaotic as trying to empty the entire ship at once. They did want you out of your cabin by 7am, luggage was left out the night before by midnight for pick-up. You have plenty of time to have breakfast since they have to wait for the ship to clear Jamaican immigration before they can let any passengers off. Once you got in the terminal and picked up your luggage after leaving the ship, you lined up for immigration and customs. This took quite a long time since they only had 2 people processing all the passengers. But even so, we were out on the sidewalk by 9:45 and we were nearly the last deck to be called.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Wow this is great information. We are booked for January 12 from Montego Bay. Cannot wait!!!!

 

 

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I did forget one thing. If you have a flight leaving late in the day in Montego, the ship will hold your luggage in the terminal all day while you do some sight-seeing or beach time. You can then pick up your luggage when you're ready to head for the airport. We didn't find this out until the day of disembarkation, but we had already made plans for a private guide for the day (and kept our luggage with us).

You can find my complete review with much more info at

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberre...EntryID=556278

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Good info. Would you mind posting your Montego guide? We might do the same thing.

 

 

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Joe Cool Taxi. They took us wherever we wanted for a great price. Great bunch of guys, reliable, fun, had a great day with them. Picked us up at the dock, took us a few places we wanted to see, and dropped us at the airport. They'll quote you a price.

http://www.joecooltaxiandtoursjamaica.com/JamaicanAirportTransfers_1.html

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  • 3 weeks later...

From the Celestyal website

**Due to an environmental review from Cuban authorities, the stop at Punta Frances is temporarily unavailable for all sailings. During this temporary review the normal day at Punta Frances will be a day at sea. This may change at any time. Please note that we have extended the duration of our stay in Havana for the second day to 10:00 P.M. so that you can have more time to enjoy all that Havana has to offer."

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

From the Celestyal web site Jan. 25 "**Celestyal Crystal shall not be calling at Punta Frances from 25th January, 2017 until further notice. Celestyal Cruises is working closely with the authorities in Cuba to resolve the issue. In the circumstances, Celestyal Cruises shall be offering a 50 USD$ per person credit against each passenger’s shipboard account (no cash alternative is being offered in relation to this gesture) and has made all arrangements to extend your stay in Havana on Tuesday until 22.00 hrs (instead of 17.00hrs) to allow you additional time to explore the beauties of Havana. In addition, we are offering a 10% discount on all future cruises booked on any CELESTYAL vessel and valid for cruises until the end of year 2018 (such discount is not applicable to taxes and gratuities). "

 

 

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From the Celestyal web site Jan. 25 "**Celestyal Crystal shall not be calling at Punta Frances from 25th January, 2017 until further notice. Celestyal Cruises is working closely with the authorities in Cuba to resolve the issue. In the circumstances, Celestyal Cruises shall be offering a 50 USD$ per person credit against each passenger’s shipboard account (no cash alternative is being offered in relation to this gesture) and has made all arrangements to extend your stay in Havana on Tuesday until 22.00 hrs (instead of 17.00hrs) to allow you additional time to explore the beauties of Havana. In addition, we are offering a 10% discount on all future cruises booked on any CELESTYAL vessel and valid for cruises until the end of year 2018 (such discount is not applicable to taxes and gratuities). "

 

 

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Well we sure as hell got ripped off!! Is any of this retroactive for all the cruisers who made this trip already??

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  • 9 months later...
Well we sure as hell got ripped off!! Is any of this retroactive for all the cruisers who made this trip already??

 

 

 

That is a no, since I actually called. They offered 10% off a future cruise. I think that was good for maybe a year?

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

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