Fred321

Very interesting discussion. I am also impressed by the fact that the conversation has been civil compared to other forums I have seen. 

Have no Viking experience but do have a lot of cruising history on HAL and Celebrity. Recently got off a 35 day cruise on HAL. Boarded in Boston, test required to board as well as the minimum of 2 shots.No masks required except for crew. Approx. 1,000 passengers with maybe 10-20% wearing masks.

First cases started to  show about 3 days in. (First stop was Bar Harbor, a tender port, with folks packed into the tenders and few masks.) They quickly ran out of quarantine rooms and subsequently required those testing positive to stay in their rooms. Finally, after the total number of cases reached somewhere between 100 and 200 people based on the numbers announced by the Captain, they required everyone to wear masks indoors. Still had the geniuses who would remove masks once the lights went off but most folks complied.

After a few days new cases started to level off and then declined to zero about 7-10 days in. Passengers then started to pester those in authority to lift the mask requirement, which they finally did. Surprise! two days later new cases started to appear again.

This was our third cruise since the restart and we try to stay masked indoors and away from large groups (no tenders, no showrooms). So far we have been lucky and will continue to do this as we also continue to travel. No guarantees but masks seem to be a good idea regardless of requirements. Our last HAL trip seems like the perfect experiment.

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

Can't help you with that one since we got tested at home in L.A. the afternoon before flying to Boston. Mr. Google is your friend, however 😉

We got tested last month at ARC Point labs in Boston. One block from the cruise terminal. Very nice folks and will even print out a hard copy for you if you are tech averse.

Testing seems to be a waste of time. You can pick up the virus and not test positive till you are onboard or you can get it on the first port stop. On the other hand masking and vaccine seem to work at both cutting down the spread and limiting the severity of the infection. Just my opinion after 35 days on the Zaandam.

Just got off Zaandam VOV. First cases started to show up 2 days into the trip and they rapidly ran out of quarantine rooms on deck 6. After that they quarantined you in your room for minimum of 6 days. Were not requiring masks be worn until the number of cases appeared to be well over 100 and it became a strain on things like room service. When they required masks on tenders and inside the ship the number of cases began to fall. Of course some experts cheated by removing masks in the showroom once the lights went out. Childish.

Good news was that none of the cases we heard about seemed severe so score one for the vaccines. (There were 3 medical evacuations but no idea what for and it was a VERY old demographic even by HAL standards)

As soon as the mask requirement was eliminated on the way back they started to report new cases. Interesting results from a closed population experiment.

I think the testing requirement before a cruise sounds good but in reality is likely to miss some folks in the early stages and, with no other controls once onboard, it spreads rapidly. On the other hand, eliminating the vaccine requirement seems to be asking for trouble with a severe case not being able to be tended to onboard.

Regardless of what they require we will continue to wear masks inside take the boosters when available and probably skip the tenders altogether. Just my observations after a longer voyage.

Hope there's a lot more with that opinion. I'd love an empty ship!

HAL just sent email that requires vaccination AND boosters for those boarding VOV on July 9. They indicate that it is being done because of the length of the cruise (35 days). They are allowing proof of booster administered up to the date of boarding (!) and are using cdc guidelines for what you need. I'm fine with it but not a lot of notice for a cruise that also requires arriveCan and the usual pre testing. 

Sorry Hotel was Casa Fuster. Spell check strikes again.

Just stayed at the Casa Foster in Barcelona. Not exactly the area you are looking for but I don't remember staying at an hotel where I enjoyed better service. Not a giant chain hotel and a beautiful rooftop bar/restaurant. Would go again in a heartbeat.

Hilltop restaurant is connected to a small hotel and is definitely worth the walk even just for the view. On one of our stops here during a world cruise (can't remember the year) we came across the Captain and his family, who were aboard at that time, having a special lamb barbecue lunch on Greek Orthodox Easter. 

In my opinion way overrated. We have taken two Celebrity cruises one 10day and one 15 dayTA. Both on the Constellation. Long time HAL cruisers trying something different. Both times in a sky suite. For the most part we enjoyed the ship, the room and the service but not Luminae. Small venue which was crowded every evening because Celebrity seems to try and fill every suite.

So, even though the ship was less than half full trying to find a quiet table with some space in Luminae was impossible. Food also was just meh. We tried every combination of time to try and find a relaxing experience but nothing worked. Only pleasant experience was breakfast.

We finally gave up and used most of our obc's to eat in the specialty restaurants or order room service. (Sushi on 5 was very good. Tuscan grill was horrible even using Celebrity's money.) We also went to the main dining room where we could get a quiet table and meals which were not described as fancy as Luminae but tasted a lot better. If there is a next time on Celeb. we decided we would simply go to the main dining room and skip Luminae altogether.

Thanks so much for your reports and pictures. We are boarding in a month for the 35 day VOV and then staying aboard for two more weeks to travel up and back to Canada with friends. Hate to spoil a very pleasant report but I am wondering how they are handling covid cases on board. Is there a specific section of quarantine cabins or are they allowing folks to simply quarantine in place? Any announcements or restrictions or are they taking the "nothing to see here" tack? Thanks

Thoroughly enjoyed your daily reports. We are scheduled for our fifth world cruise this Jan. on HAL using up fcc's from the aborted 2020. Because of that debacle and the fact that they sold the ship that they have used for all of our previous world's we decided to give Viking a try and are booked on the 2023-24 world cruise on the Viking Sky. Your reports were really great in giving us an idea of what to expect. I also agree that folks on these types of long cruises who don't take the time to get to know the staff are truly missing out on some of the best parts of the trip. Thanks again.

Just got off Constellation TA and had the same experience.  Piped in music was loud and very weird. Some kind of techno crap. DJ in atrium was also annoying in the late afternoon. Appreciated Kyiv Strings and guitar soloist Anthony. Rest of the music offerings were loud and lousy. Commented on it while on the ship as well as in the review email afterwards but who knows?

I would be very skeptical about cruise line representations that they will test you for your flight back to the US if you are scheduled to fly home the day you disembark. We recently got off a Celebrity transatlantic where they had made the same representations. Unfortunately, the day before arrival in Barcelona they sent out letters saying that they would NOT test anyone onboard before departure and simply offered to sell you an online proctored test kit. Even that offer was conditional. The condition being that they would only give you the test kit AFTER you had checked off the ship. They actually set up a little folding table on the pier side of the gangway where they handed you the test kit. I assume they did this so that you could not test positive until your feet touched Spain at which point you were no longer their problem.

In speaking with our TA after we got home it sounds like other lines, including HAL, are doing the same thing regardless of their previous representations.We were lucky to be staying in Barcelona for a few days before flying home so we could arrange for the test on our schedule. The passengers who were flying home the day we arrived in Barcelona were really scrambling to find a workable alternative to what had been promised. Short story is don't believe what they tell you and be prepared to find an alternative.

Friends just got off the Rotterdam last week. They said the ship was crowded. Unsupervised kids and little or no masking. Six days later they have both tested positive. Nice to think that it's over, better to act like it's not.

Good guess. We got a great deal on a sky suite (really a glorified verandah cabin) but that wasn't what made a difference. We always love the crew interactions on HAL. In addition to 4 world cruises we have also done a lot of other Grands and normal trips on HAL and have made great connections with many of their crew who we seem to run into every time we board.

What really surprised me was the way the crew on the Constellation knew our name or went out of their way to introduce themselves and start up a conversation. Even the young man whose job it was to wipe down the brass and vacuum. Not all of them knew where we were staying and don't think they really cared.They were happy to be back at work and they obviously felt free to establish a relationship on the fly. That's the same thing that we found on HAL and it's what we really like.

Unfortunately, the last few trips we had on HAL were on their newest and largest ships and ,honestly, though they are nicely decorated, the feeling is not the same. The cabin stewards now have too many cabins  to allow them to talk to us at any length and the MDR's on these new ships are horrible. They are loud and overstuffed with people. The servers are harried even on a good night. Even the folks we know who work on these ships hate the new MDR's but HAL has decided this is their future. Just not for us so we will look for their smaller ships or try something different. Also have another world cruise booked but this time on Viking. We'll see.

Even if you are connecting in the "same" terminal you may be hard pressed to get from one gate to another. United's main terminal is actually three different spokes coming off a main hub. Even a brisk walker is going to have a problem getting from one end to the other in the time you have. In addition most of their overseas flights leave from the very end of each spoke because of the size of the planes so depending on where you come in that could be quite the trip.

If you can't change your schedule you may want to try and get the airline to arrange someone to meet you guys with a "golf cart" to move you to the connecting flight. They have these in the United terminal. Last time I was there I almost got run over by one trying to get Alec Baldwin to a flight departing to London.

After over 900 days on HAL we tried a short trip on Celebrity Constellation. One of their older ships and a size we like better than HAL's new ships. It was great with ambience and service as good or better than what we were used to.Only thing I didn't like was the lack of a complete deck to walk around the ship for my morning exercise. Don't want to go any bigger than this ship however we enjoyed it so much that we booked a transatlantic reposition on the same ship for next month. No harm in trying something different. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Bill and Mary Ann,

We were in St Kitts in December on our first Celebrity cruise. As we were walking past the ferry terminal a local came up to us and advised that it would not be safe to continue in that direction. We thanked him and spent the rest of the walk in or around the center of town and the park. Never had any problems but only other time that has happened to us was in Durban SA, Nice that the gentleman gave us the information but sad that he had to. Just seemed to us that the town had really gone downhill since the last time we were there. Stay safe and well.

Rich and Peg

We have been on the Koningsdam twice. Both time in a Vista suite and both times we had problems with sound bleeding through the walls from adjoining cabins even though neither one was a connecting cabin. Have never had similar problems on their older ships. If I had to guess I would say that the new builds probably saved weight, money or both by having less substantial separation between cabins. Our experience has led us to avoid the newer ships.

No cons. Our first cruise was a 2 month around South America on the Prinsendam and since then we have  taken 4 world cruises on the Amsterdam and a few more multi month Grands to Africa and the Med. Agree with everything RKCruiser has said. We find the best part is getting to know the staff as real people. As for the passengers, it's easy to avoid those that annoy you (sure they are doing the same thing with us) and really get to know kindred spirits.

The whole feeling is different. You are not so much as on a vacation but rather you have been lucky enough to move into a nice hotel that they keep moving around the world. Our few attempts at shorter cruises, 10 to 20 days, just don't hack it.

Rather than wait under the tree in the parking lot forget about getting onboard as early as possible just to get one more meal onboard. There is a little asian eatery called Bamboozle within one block of the pier entrance. They have good food and indoor and outdoor seating. Grab lunch there and then take a short walk across the street to board. Way less stressful. 

Continue to enjoy your posts. Thanks for taking the time. Saw that you will be allowed to wander on your own in Montevideo. Definitely want to go across the street to the Mercado del Puerto. Skip breakfast and head to one of the great grilled meat restaurants inside the Market building for a great and extremely unhealthy lunch. Every kind of meat you can think of all being cooked on giant vertical grills. The smell alone inside is worth the trip!

If you get to the center of town ask a local about the free elevator going to the top of a government building that will give you a great 360 view of the city. On the way back to the ship you can find a good cafe in the park for refreshments. Enjoy.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the trip. However, it is a shame that you can't get out and explore on your own. Especially the case with Punta Arenas. You were very lucky to be able to walk off the ship at the town dock rather than the commercial port a few miles out of town which require bus rides into the center of town. A shame that you couldn't make use of that good fortune by just strolling around this very interesting city. Believe it or not you were around a 5 minute walk from a white table cloth restaurant where we have twice been able to enjoy the best lamb dinners we have ever had served by a very experienced wait staff. Who knew that such a thing even existed at the end of the world? Would trade looking at a penguin for another one of those meals any day.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. We have done 4 world cruises but have booked our first one on Viking for 2023-2024. Really nice to get a sense of how a different line operates before we get on. We always assume on a four month voyage that the itinerary will be modified but in the time of covid yours is a real doozy. Stay well.