Bluebell247

December will hopefully be a busier time, but depending on number of people on board the buffet may not be open, it wasn't when we were on board May 22/29 it was a la carte in the main restaurant on deck 8 only. There was less than 250 people on board that week.

Yer it doesn't happen all the time it just depends if the authorities have made "an admin error" and over booked the two docks at the port in Havana (more like NCL pay more than Celeystal and they have more people on board). Like I said when we arrived to start our cruise from Havana we were fortunate as the ship was in dock at the port for the entire time e.g. from around 7am Monday morning through to 10pm Tuesday night meaning all those already on board were free to come and go as they pleased, (including those that had boarded in Mo-Bay the previous Friday). And all of those arriving or disembarking in Havana, they also could do so without any issue. For those that were disembarking they could use the ship as a base if they had a late flight as it was in dock the whole time.

However, once we had sailed round the island (stopping at Mo-Bay to offload and load passengers) and then got back into port in Havana everyone on board was advised of "port congestion" this meant that the ship was not allowed to stay in dock during the day (other bigger cruise ships were due in and the Crystal had to make way for them) so you had two choices get off or stay on. If you chose to get off you had to be off by 9am on Monday morning and you would not be able to get back on until 6pm that night. During this time the ship would be anchored in the bay with no access. Same again on Tuesday only this time you had to be off by 6:30am and you would not be able to get on again until 9pm. During these times the cruise line looked after you by ensuring that you had access to breakfast/lunch/dinner at a designated place in Havana, in this instance it was at the Grand Theatre, no idea what it was like as we never made use of it as we were disembarking and moving on to a hotel.

To be honest, it seems a bit pointless to stay on board when this happens as you will not get to see any of Havana.

This would have also impacted those arriving in Havana for the next cruise as they would not have been able to check in and board on the Monday until after 6pm. For those that were disembarking in Havana and had late flights, hard luck you had to get off at 8am, you couldn't make use of the ship whilst you were waiting for your flight. For those that had boarded in Mo-Bay - their choice was simple - if you want to see Havana get off and make the most of it!

Rough Schedule

Mon 7am to Tues 10pm in Havana (embark /disembark day)

Weds sea day

Thursday 7am to 14:00 in Cienfuegos

Friday 8am to 8pm Montego Bay (embark / disembark day)

Saturday 7am to 14:30 in Santiago de Cuba

Sunday sea day

Monday 7am back in Havana

It's proving difficult to get the dailies uploaded onto this site.

Either email me lizg247@gmail.com or msn messenger me through this profile and I'll send them to you.

I have them all stored on my phone now.

Depends which car you choose some will fit 4 adults maybe a bit of squeeze in the back.

The captains cocktails party is on the Weds evening.

When we were on board there were less than 250 people on board.

As a result there was never a buffet option for lunch or dinner they were always a la carte in the main restaurant on deck 8. Breakfast was buffet style on excursion days otherwise that was a la carte as well. Or there was an omelette station on deck 9. If you wanted early bird breakfast that was 6:30 to 7am on deck nine for coffee and pastries.

They did a BBQ on weds lunchtime round the pool otherwise the "snack" lunchtime options if you didn't want a la carte was things like tacos or fajitas or churros etc. The a la carte portions are small (the starters were generally 1off ie if it was samosas you would get one samosa) but there was never a problem if you asked for more or even if you ate what you chose and then picked something else. You could also go back for a second sitting as well if you wanted.

I'll see what I can do with the dailies.

Dress is entirely casual, numbers are very low at the moment. Some did nice evening type attire for the captains cocktail party but it's up to you, we didn't even go to it, not really our sort of thing. The weather is very very hot and at about 70% humidity. Most days it was over 30 degrees. But it was nice and cool inside the ship. It rained three times whilst we were there but didn't last very long just heavy thundery downpours, I think the longest was for about an hour, but it quickly went back to being hot and humid again.

Hi,

Yes I've kept all the daily newsletters that they put in your cabin each evening. The classic car rides are never a fixed price and all depends on how much you bargain. An hour one taking in all the usual hotspots we got for 40cuc which we did from the main square where the Telegrapho hotel is. Another one we did which we picked up from outside the Armadores by the port was for 30cuc but all we did there was along the malecon through the tunnel to el morro spent about 15mins there then came back and went to the Nationale hotel where they dropped us off. We then had a few drinks and went to Habana Libre and Coppelia then got a regular cab back to the Armadores near the port for 10cuc.

Yes we did a couple of them, great fun and on one of them we had an English speaking guide too.

Just back from Celeystal Crystal Havana to Havana cruise. Had a fabulous time, have posted a review just waiting for it to be published.

Any questions please ask.

Luckily for us the ship remained in port in Havana for the first two days which enabled everyone to come and go as they pleased. However, on the return to Havana the ship was barely in port at all. On the Monday when we disembarked we had to be off the ship by 9am as it had to make room for other cruise ships coming in. It did not return to port until 6pm. We then found out from a couple we bumped into in Havana who had boarded in Mo-Bay that the following day they had two choices either off all day or stay on all day. If they chose off they had to be off by 06:30 and could not get back on until 21:00. So glad this never happened to us when we boarded it would have changed things for us so much, doubt we would have been happy about it.

Anyway - any questions please feel free to ask.