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Onboard Constellation for Christmas / New Year's India Cruise

TxnAquarian

By TxnAquarian,
in Celebrity Cruises

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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Hi,

We are on the next cruise on Connie. Can you give us any idea how much you paid for the car trip around Muscat, as it sounds a good way to get a feel for the city. MAny thanks.

 

We paid around $70 for a 5 hoot tour, but I think it was a discounted group rate. I would expect to pay around $100 if I were you. This is a great area. I think you'll like Muscat.

 

 

Michael

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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I would be interested if anyone has given any indications what is going to be done to the Connie during next years dry docking

 

I will certainly try and inquire. I haven't heard anything yet. Hopefully they will be refreshing our room lol

 

Michael

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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COCHIN, INDIA

8:30AM - 6:00PM

 

 

We hate organized ship tours and never do them; however, we opted to at each Indian port this time as India tends to be complicated. My husband is in India for work a couple times a year and he doesn't care for it, so this whole trip was for my benefit. We both decided Celebrity excursions are the way to go.

 

We booked a 4 hour Essential Cochin tour that took us into the city for a boat ride, a wander and a show. For this port, we needed to take our seapass card and landing card (both were checked) and passport copies (which weren't checked). The bus ride was quick and just to the other side of the harbor. We boarded a boat for an hour long sail through the backwaters. We saw some interesting buildings and dolphins. Once the boat docked, we were taken through the streets of Cochin. This guide definitely earned her stripes, navigating us through the chaotic streets. We saw what is supposedly the first church in Asia and lots of stalls and stands with goods and spices. It was about a 2 mile walk. Just as the heat was about to get to us, we were ushered into a theater where we got refreshments and watched a local show. The show went a bit long (an hour), but it was nice to sit and cool off. Once back outside, we once again dodged cars and tuk-tuks as we made our way back to the bus. Our lovely guide sang us a song on the way back to the ship.

 

A few hundred people left the ship here for the 3 day excursion to the Taj Mahal, so the ship was already feeling quieter. The sail out was lovely as we got to see the Christmas lights of the harbor's buildings all lit up, and we passed some sort of large Christmas celebration with music, lights, lots of little boats and people waving.

 

It was an enjoyable day. Time to get rested for New Mangalore tomorrow.

 

 

Michael

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uktraveller

uktraveller

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I was on the Athens to Abu Dhabi cruise and the food in the buffet was very nice as was the main dining room. I also didn't encounter people shoving or being pushy. I guess you have to be patient with some people.

 

We disembarked Constellation on 19th Dec as the OPs cruise began. It was without doubt the worst buffet we have ever experienced on any Celebrity ship......and we have sailed them all apart from Summit.

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Welland

Welland

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After three days at sea, we are just now sailing into Cochin, India, on this Christmas morning. It's already looking smoggy, hazy and muggy out, so we're preparing for a hot day!

 

Luminae has continued to impress us, while our friends have not been enjoying Blu (they are AQ regulars since 2011). They joined us in Luminae last night for Xmas dinner and their thoughts were that all the effort by Celebrity now is put into the Suite Class.

 

Michael

 

Were you friends who were assigned to BLU charged on their sea pass card for dining in Luminae or did it appear as a charge on your sea pass card? Just like to know these things prior to encountering a situation where dollars are involved. Should friends have us join them in Luminae we want to have the appropriate dollars available for reimbursement.

 

Continue to enjoy your time onboard. Safe travels.

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Jim_Iain "Live from...." Rare

Jim_Iain

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Michael,

 

Was wondering how long it took you to clear customs in Cochin. We will be taking a side trip to the Taj on our own during the March repositioning cruise. I had read a number of posts that the process was not well organized.

 

Jim

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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Were you friends who were assigned to BLU charged on their sea pass card for dining in Luminae or did it appear as a charge on your sea pass card? Just like to know these things prior to encountering a situation where dollars are involved. Should friends have us join them in Luminae we want to have the appropriate dollars available for reimbursement.

 

Continue to enjoy your time onboard. Safe travels.

 

We told the Maitre'D that we wanted to pay for our friends, so they brought the tab over to us to sign at the end of dinner.

 

Michael

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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Michael,

 

Was wondering how long it took you to clear customs in Cochin. We will be taking a side trip to the Taj on our own during the March repositioning cruise. I had read a number of posts that the process was not well organized.

 

Jim

 

The customs officials were brought on in Muscat and we went through the immigration process on one of the sea days, which went very smoothly. There were no issues getting off the ship in Cochin. We docked at 8-ish and were off almost right away. It seems X has smoothed out the issues that plagued the previous India cruise. Our friends have returned to the ship today from the Taj excursion. We're anxious to meet with them and see how it went.

 

Michael

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Welland

Welland

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We told the Maitre'D that we wanted to pay for our friends, so they brought the tab over to us to sign at the end of dinner.

 

Michael

 

 

Thanks. So if we dine with friends and ask them to bring us a tab to sign on our card assume there will be no issue.

 

Continue to enjoy and truly appreciate you taking the time to answer questions while you are on vacation.

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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NEW MANGALORE, INDIA

9:00AM - 6:00PM

 

This will be a short review, as the tour was not as expected. They rerouted us and we missed one of the highlights. This was called the Artisan Villlage tour with a stop at a mosque. The guide was very sweet and gave us some great info from the pier for the 30 minute drive to the village. Once he ran out of things to say, though, he broke out into song. First a Hindi song and then George Michael. The artisan village was fine - we walked around to various set ups to see local people weaving chairs and making pottery. They then drove us to a craft market. After having left the market, the tour guide informed us that the visit to the city and mosque was cancelled, as Celebrity had instructed him not to take us due to closed roads - however, all the other tours did visit the mosque. There were some pretty upset people in the bus - I wasn't one of them, as I just go with the flow. But it did feel like a waste to spend 4 hours to drive to a market and back. If I had known, I would've taken the Celebrity shuttle into the city for a wander instead of the tour. Today felt like a waste and I was especially jeakous to hear from others who had a great time on their tours. Oh well, I told myself "Tomorrow is a new day" - and what a day it ended up being :)

 

 

Michael

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caribill

caribill

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NEW MANGALORE, INDIA

9:00AM - 6:00PM

 

This will be a short review, as the tour was not as expected. They rerouted us and we missed one of the highlights. This was called the Artisan Villlage tour with a stop at a mosque. The guide was very sweet and gave us some great info from the pier for the 30 minute drive to the village. Once he ran out of things to say, though, he broke out into song. First a Hindi song and then George Michael. The artisan village was fine - we walked around to various set ups to see local people weaving chairs and making pottery. They then drove us to a craft market. After having left the market, the tour guide informed us that the visit to the city and mosque was cancelled, as Celebrity had instructed him not to take us due to closed roads - however, all the other tours did visit the mosque. There were some pretty upset people in the bus - I wasn't one of them, as I just go with the flow. But it did feel like a waste to spend 4 hours to drive to a market and back. If I had known, I would've taken the Celebrity shuttle into the city for a wander instead of the tour. Today felt like a waste and I was especially jeakous to hear from others who had a great time on their tours. Oh well, I told myself "Tomorrow is a new day" - and what a day it ended up being :)

 

 

Michael

 

I would speak to the shore excursion desk about at least a partial refund. You did not get what was sold to you.

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Orator

Orator

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NEW MANGALORE, INDIA

9:00AM - 6:00PM

 

This will be a short review, as the tour was not as expected. They rerouted us and we missed one of the highlights. This was called the Artisan Villlage tour with a stop at a mosque. The guide was very sweet and gave us some great info from the pier for the 30 minute drive to the village. Once he ran out of things to say, though, he broke out into song. First a Hindi song and then George Michael. The artisan village was fine - we walked around to various set ups to see local people weaving chairs and making pottery. They then drove us to a craft market. After having left the market, the tour guide informed us that the visit to the city and mosque was cancelled, as Celebrity had instructed him not to take us due to closed roads - however, all the other tours did visit the mosque. There were some pretty upset people in the bus - I wasn't one of them, as I just go with the flow. But it did feel like a waste to spend 4 hours to drive to a market and back. If I had known, I would've taken the Celebrity shuttle into the city for a wander instead of the tour. Today felt like a waste and I was especially jeakous to hear from others who had a great time on their tours. Oh well, I told myself "Tomorrow is a new day" - and what a day it ended up being :)

 

 

Michael

 

Am on same cruse and have taken ship's tours in each port. There were variations on every one of them. Traffic was horrible in Goa and Mumbai. In Mumbai large crowds and one site made a visit to one of the listed sites impossible. The. Indian Tourism Department needs to get their act together. I believe that Celebrity did all they could in very difficult circumstances. This cruise has been enjoyable for me.

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TxnAquarian

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Just back on the ship after spending the day in Mumbai - absolutely speechless, both bad and good. Goa was wonderful yesterday as well. I will be back on in the next day or two to give the details and to answer questions about the Taj tour (my friends did love it). This has been a great cruise and India has been fascinating!

 

Michael

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TxnAquarian

TxnAquarian

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GOA, INDIA

7:30AM - 5:00PM

 

Goa was an absolutely lovely day. Once again we opted for a shore excursion. This one was to a beach about 45 minutes drive from the port. Tropical Goa has loads of beach areas and, had we done it on our own, we could've found a nicer beach or a more luxurious resort. But we really didn't want to negotiate cab rides while in India, and we found this excursion to be a perfectly nice way to spend our time here. The guide briefly gave us info about the area as we wound our way through the city and into the more leafy green beach areas. We arrived at the beach around 11:00am, with just over two hours of beach time and then a 1:30pm block for lunch (each group was given a different window of time for lunch). We left back to the ship just after 3:00 which gave us enough time for a dip after lunch. The beach was pretty (if you can ignore the factory that could be seen in the distance!) and had more than enough room for everyone (approx 120 people from all the buses). We were easily able to find a spot all of our own. Local women wandered the beach selling jewelry but they would leave if we said no. The Indian lunch buffet set up for us was fabulous! It was my first time eating Indian food while in India! The food was so delicious and there was plenty for seconds. The nan and curries were mouth-watering. All too soon we headed back to the ship and wrapped up a great day. Right on time we sailed for Mumbai, which was the absolute highlight of India!

 

On a side note, getting on and off the ship in each port couldn't be easier. Each port has authorities that inspect landing cards upon exiting the ship and returning (landing cards were delivered to our room the night prior to the port visit). We were also required to carry passport copies ashore (they were sometimes checked and sometimes weren't). Some ports did multiple checks as well. It seems as if Celebrity learned from past issues, as we had absolutely none on our cruise.

 

Michael

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TxnAquarian

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TAJ MAHAL

 

For anyone doing the Taj Mahal excursion through Celebrity on upcoming cruises, the feeeback I have gotten from friends who did it is very positive. For this cruise, guests on the excursion departed from Cochin and flew to Delhi. From Delhi, they took the train to Agra (which by most accounts wasn't a luxury train, but a more local experience). After Agra and visiting the Taj Mahal, the guests rejoined the ship in Goa (5 hour bus trip). I heard that Celebrity handled the tour very well with only hiccups typical of any large scale tour. The main gripe I heard is that an hour-and-a-half at the Taj Mahal felt a bit rushed, and a visit to shops should've been skipped. But my friends had a great time.

 

Michael

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