kinshasa

10 minutes ago, kinshasa said:

We arranged a guide with either Tours by Locals or Withlocals (can't remember which) for 3 days before the cruise.  She met us at the Rome airport and we spent three days in and around Viterbo.  Highly recommend it!  Viterbo - don't miss Palazzo Farnese and Villa Lante. Civita di Bagnoregio is incredible. She took us to the embarkation point at the end.  Don't stay in the port city!

Sorry for multiple posts. I was trying to attach a picture. See

below.

We arranged a guide with either Tours by Locals or Withlocals (can't remember which) for 3 days before the cruise.  She met us at the Rome airport and we spent three days in and around Viterbo.  Highly recommend it!  Viterbo - don't miss Palazzo Farnese and Villa Lante. Civita di Bagnoregio is incredible. She took us to the embarkation point at the end.  Don't stay in the port city!

we are doing a similar journey in November with the same issue Cunard has told us that we will be tested on board (for a fee) two days before the stop in Southampton.

But why not get off and see the area?  Salisbury and Portsmouth are just a short distance away

23 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

A letter from the hotel director is now asking guests to wear a mask whilst indoors unless eating or drinking.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

We are currently on board. I notice an increase in masks but it’s not enforced totally.

We had the same issue while on the Constellation.   We are both vegetarian but like vegan dishes because of the lower fat content.  The Luminae menu includes at least one vegan or vegetarian option for mains and starters, but you will also be able to order off the MDR menu which will have at least 2 additional  selections in each category. There is a separate vegetarian/vegan daily menu that they can show you in addition to these.  We were absolutely thrilled with the food.   On Edge class ships you would have more difficulty as they do not allow you to order off the MDR menu in Luminae  We did not find the vegetarian selections in the specialty restaurants on Connie interesting enough to pull us away from Luminae

when we were on the QE in February there was no mass testing on board except for Americans and Canadians who wanted to go ashore in Lisbon (all 20 of us). No testing needed for UK and EU passport holders

Only people off loaded were the tiny few who got sick after boarding

on our port call to Lisbon 4 days ago on QE only Canadian and American passport holders required testing, none needed for UK or EU passports.

Not sure why this was the case.  No one even looked at the printed results when we walked off the ship for the visit

we boarded QE 18 Jan.  Almost no line for testing with 10 testing stations available.  Our only problem was that they never texted our US mobiles even though we gave them the international code.  After 45 minutes of waiting for the results we went up to the rep who found our negative results in the system  and sent us on our way

We arrived at 1145 for a 1215 testing time but no one ever looked at the time we were told to arrive   We were on board the ship by 1330 even with the phone issue above

we just completed our cruise on QE 13 Feb.  Dancing in both the Queen's Room and the Yacht Club, initially masks were required and enforced, but towards the end of our 14 d cruise masks became optional for dancers.

Currently on board QE, and 3 days ago dancers no longer must be masked.  Masking still in place around the ship.

As the title says.  We have US passports and have tests scheduled for tomorrow rhe day before Lisbon arrival.  

Last night we skipped the ventriloquist for the Royal Court Theater orchestra Dixieland Jazz show. Wow!!! Best live music we've heard so far. The female pianist is excellent too.  She plays and sings standards and jazz ballads.

This morning we were off the ship at 8:45.  Light rain but we were prepared.   Strolled along the marina which has some interesting statues.  Checked out the farmer's market which has unusual flowers.  We bought some gorgeous tomatoes but the other fruit was overpriced.   Took the cable car to the Monte Palace.  Because of the rain we decided against the botanical gardens further up and didn't take the toboggans down.

The museum had a fabulous exhibit of modern stone sculptures from Zimbabwe.  We didn't see the rest due to the rain.

By the time we  returned to town the rain had stopped, and sun was out.  We bought some guavas priced for locals at a store.  Best handicraft shopping overall is the Story Center.   Rows of cork handbags, shoes and other items.

It's just a 25 minute walk from the ship to downtown.

Have not eaten at the Lido but we did a quick walk through at breakfast one day.   It's not difficult to dance with a mask, really.  Trivia teams are encouraged.  Elevators are limited to 4 persons.  No signing for drinks, the servers use iPads and either take a photo of your card or ask your room number.  Everything is as contactless as possible.  Passengers adhere to the mask rule on board,  I have sat in the cafe a few mornings though and about 90% are unmasked because they are sitting with a book or in a small familiar group.

We are on board Queen Elizabeth now. They are offering antigen test for $25 in PCR for 35. Pre-booking available for testing 24 hours and 48 hours before disembarkation depending on your personal needs

A note of caution to those with non UK mobile phones.  We were supposed to be texted with results before boarding and waited 40 minutes but no texts.  We had been getting texts from the US and UK while in London so obviously the procedure broke down.  We had told the clerk we had US phones and the code was +1.   Finally I spoke to a rep who checked and gave us the OK.  Outside of that glitch boarding was smooth.

Dancers must be masked in the ballroom and club and this is enforced .  Bouncers told a few unmasked couples to sit down or don masks.

Food and service has been stupendous so far.   Sea was rough this morning but seems it is calming.

Thank you for the wonderful daily reports.  We arrived in England today from California and can’t wait to board on Sunday.

20 hours ago, Mark_T said:

Only reason I might caution against that, is that in a fluid and evolving situation like this, I'd hate to find that Singapore had been added to the list of places you are not allowed to transit through at the last minute...

How a global city helped to spread coronavirus https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBZWp7a?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
 

20 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Passengers on the 1st Feb Constellation sailing which has been turned round to return to Dubai have been given free Internet time to contact their TA. I also believe they have been given $500 towards flight changes. 

I am sailing now on this cruise.  This gesture is insulting.  It has cost many passengers thousand of dollars to rebook flights.  The VIP luncheon scheduled for the 12th has been moved to the 13th,  probably to give people time to cool off. At the very least Celebrity should offer a huge credit for a future cruise.

We are currently on the ship in Sri Lanka.  We were able to cancel our Singapore to San Francisco flight on United but there's a $450 cancellation fee which will be deducted from our United credit when we rebook.  We can use this credit only from Asia to the US by January 27, 2021 as we already flew the first leg of the itinerary.  Luckily we were able to rebook out of Dubai but will have to stay one night in a hotel.  Of course it is costing us beacoup bucks for a one way ticket.  People are very upset.  When we came back tonight to the ship we saw a couple with luggage leaving.  If I was Australian, I would definitely cut this trip short and leave now.

Thank you all for the replies.  The cruise is 14 days Dubai to Singapore.  I'm a longtimer in another group but have always felt welcome at the meetings.

This is my first Celebrity cruise (Constellation, February 1).  Are there meetings of Friends of Bill W. on the ship?   On other cruise lines, these are late in the afternoon and listed on the daily program.

On the  QM2 transatlantic cruise, will I be able to access my downloaded shows offline? I can't imagine why not.  I heard that if you use a VPN masking app you can access the entire catalog, but I've never tried that.  Plus I don't want to use wi fi minutes if it's unnecessary.  

Never mind, I thought my husband had booked this one but he didn't. When I saw "swim to the shore" I gulped!

Has anyone been on the excursion in St. Maarten "Rhino Rider Personal Watercraft"? It says you must swim to the shore(!!!). How far is that?