♒︎ NautiX ♒︎

We stayed 4 times in this hotel: first time upon arrival they told us our room was flooded, so they had to move us to another - inferior - hotel. They did offer us a free dinner at their own restaurant, but with very restricted menu and we were served as "the ones with the free dinner". Second time we were told again our room was unfortunately flooded - what a coincidence - so we told them what happened previous time and we wouldn't move until they gave us a room. They did. As they did the third and fourth time. But on each of these occasions, we could hear them telling other guests the same story about a flooded room and sending them to another hotel. So, we have decided not to book there anymore. When my wife and I talk about this hotel, we prefer to call it "San Floodio".  

Hi you all, just wanted to now who is the current general Restaurant Operations Manager on the Eclipse at this time?

Thanks!

Pretty sure I replied previously, I guess we have been very lucky and never in all the times we have gone there to have been asked for the admission charge. Previously had apologized for misinformation however my response is gone.

I think they only ask this fee when arriving early. They don't bother anymore in the afternoon, at least that is the impression we got.

Did you find it was very crowded? We felt it has been very crowded in the last few months and are honestly not fans of the resident pigs (Yes real pigs) and haven't been back in over a month.

Last time we rented a car and went early in the morning, so the first part of the day was still ok. Later on, it became very crowdy, so we left. And yes, the pigs were there :D. For a part of the crowd - especially the children - it was the attraction of the day. The other part wasn't to happy with the pigs: as you know they're looking for food all the time and literally eat everything. So some good advice to future visitors: keep your bags closed at all time. I even saw one pig eat a pack of cigarettes and ripping a t-shirt... when people tried to push it away, the pig became pretty aggressive. So much for a relaxing day at the beach. ;)

Has anyone experienced this beach? What would be the best way to get to this beach? We will be arriving here in March 2018.

Have you visited this beach in the meanwhile?

We've been there twice. First time was more than 2 years ago and we loved it: clean, relaxed atmosphere, nice showers and the snorkeling was not the best, but still ok. Perfect for a relaxing beach day.

Second time was last month and we were surprised how dirty the beach was: the sand was full of cigarette butts (lots of smokers), bottle caps and other stuff. The 2 showers were unusable since they were full of wasps and they were quite aggressive. If you pay and admission fee, you would expect them to keep the beach and facilities clean, or at least cleaner than it was now.

We rented a car, so we decided to drive to other places more up in the Northwest: Playa Lagun, Kleine Knip and Playa Grandi (turtles!).

There is no admission charge for Porto Mari. Just a charge for chairs.

Strange... We always paid an admission fee of $3 and $3.5 for a chair.

We tried to rent a car with Avis in Curaçao once, but never again. Despite our reservation we made months before and after a long wait in their office, the girl told us in a blunt way she had no car for us. We lost almost half of our day, since we had to find another solution for the plans we made. Last month we used a local small company "Advance Car Rental Curaçao", run by Celestino and we had the best car rental experience ever! Top service!

Another vote for Advance Car Rental! (y) After a bad experience with Avis, we decided to give them a try for a recent B2B last month (one overnight, one single day). Reserved online (no credit card data needed), price was 75$/day for a brand new mid size car (Hyundai Accent), automatic gears (he only has automatic), gps with preprogrammed points of interest, second driver included as all insurances and taxes. You also get a cell phone with Celestino's number programmed, in case you have a problem or you just want have extra information. Celestino was waiting at the port gate with my name on a card and he is really a nice guy. Everything was very well explained and we could pay cash before we left or after returning the car.

Top service!

My wife is curious to know what made it hair raising.

For us it was the fact that they use a two-lane road as a four-lane road. It felt like they were playing chicken the whole time. Strangely enough, after some time, we got used to it. ;)

The trip was very similar to the Celebrity trip but we had a small mini bus just for the 7 of us and our own houseboat.

Hi kruzgal, glad you enjoyed your tour and you clearly chose the right company to book. We took a chance on Muziris Heritage - day tours, for the "Cochin Backwater tour (with food)" and we were double disappointed. The group was supposed to be max 10 people (as sold on their website), but our bus of 12 was joined together with another bus of 12, once at the houseboats. I won't go further into detail, but there were several reasons why we were not happy. Long story short: the chief executive suggested to refund our tour (as they also pretend to have a "money back guarantee" on their website), but it's been three months now and there has been no refund, after keeping me on the leash and a chain of false promises.

Thanks for your recommendation and we'll definitely keep it in mind when we return to Cochin! ;)(y)

Regarding Constellation: any update on who's replacing Arjan Scheepers as HD, who was supposed to leave today?

I have handed in so many cards, usually finding them in casino slot machines, not that I spend much time there hmmm.

Last time I found one was at the bottom of the pool, during my morning swim, so I handed it over to a pool butler. Five minutes later the owner, who came back to the pool, got his card back.

I was on the Reflection and had a blueberry concoction that was very pleasing, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.

You had the "El Don Julio", it's my favourite in WCB.

Others I like:

"Don Julio Paloma" (refreshing)

"Bulleit Infusion" (strong, fruity, spicy)

"Zacapa Above The Clouds" (after-dinner, smokey)

My wife's favourites:

"Tropically Your's" (coconut, pineapple)

"Sailor's Crush" (pineapple, mint, lime)

"Strawberry Fields" (Strawberries, grapefruit, bitters)

(y)

The cabin stewards do not have an assistant any more so they have to do everything themselves. Guess that’s another cut back. As they increased the number of cabins they have to clean and took away the help.

Sorry, but not correct. With the new system, all assistants who passed the test became stateroom attendants and the number of cabins they have to clean was decreased to an amount depending on the types of cabins (balcony or not, size of the room). We've also done several cruises since the change and all stateroom attendants preferred the new system and so did we.;)

No sorry. We were invited to lunch with him and the Captain etc and he is a very witty man. Sue

Yes he is. He's one of our favorites. (y)

Just been on Connie, had a great time. She is in good shape and they are continually working on her. Very happy ship.

 

Hotel Director Raffael Bernardini

Thank you. Do you also know when Bernardini joined the Connie or until when he stays on?

Thank you all but think we will just do the train again as it is the cheapest and we have done it before.- a pain with luggage but not the end of the world.:)

Since you've done this before, you know the train station in Trastevere where you have to change trains. Beware for pickpockets in and around the whole station. Last time we were there, we used the small elevators to go from one platform to the other. Three young Roma girls - one of them wore a fake pregnancy belly - joined us in the elevator and tried to pickpocket us. I was just in time to grab one of the girl's wrist and pulled away the sweater she was holding to cover her action. She was already with her hand in our bag, which was on top of a suitcase. It only took a few seconds for her to open two clasps and a zipper. A local who was also on the same platform told me that a large group of them live around the station area. So, beware! ;)

He was a great captain and a warm-hearted man. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Does anyone have menus? Or where to go to look.

Go to https://goo.gl/inQZ81 and scroll down for pictures and full menu.

Does anyone here know whether they offer those soft heavy blankets for balcony use on the Eclipse? I hope so!

You will find them on the pool deck, next to the towels.

In the foam, can he put a heart? A broken one?

He's so good, I believe he can even fix it. ;)

Never saw one of these machines. But if you're lucky to have Carlos as your barista, you're in for a treat, he's a real coffee artist. This is one of the cappuccino's he made for my wife:

It would be nice if it was a top level suite. After having to take 100 ten night cruises in a balcony cabin (to get 3000 points) one really deserves more than a 7 night Caribbean cruise in AQ.

One gets more: free Premium package, free unlimited internet, free unlimited laundry and dry cleaning, access to Michaels Club... that's already a nice list of valuable perks if you ask me.

The champagne is Montaudon Brut. It's available in the MDR and in most, but not all, of the bars. It's listed specifically as included in the premium package in the new (much bigger) wine list in the mdr.

Thank you for this information! (y)