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Constellation redeployed from Asia to Tampa 2020/21


little britain
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4 hours ago, jimzgoldfinch said:

Does not make sense! Why wait until Winter 2020? What about Winter 2019? The problems in the Gulf are now. P&O are pulling out from this October 

 

However, I have seen another article which indicates that the decision to relocate has nothing to do with the current pro.blem. It seems that there is a demand for cruises out of Tampa. The article also indicates that there will be a 14 night TA from Barcelona to Tampa.

 

 

 

The current Gulf "problems" are a self-licking ice cream cone.  All fabricated just like WMD in Iraq in 2003.  With the Florida eat coast ports becoming crowded and the easier access direct south into the Caribbean, Tampa is becoming a  great location for both passengers and cruise lines.  And it has one of the best airports in the US with international connections.  The only cruise restriction in Tampa is the clearance under the bay bridge.  The behemoths will not fit.

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The flyer linked to by vtcruising contains the following

 

Why Tampa?

$10.5M Investment in Cruise Terminals

5thBest Airport in US Conde Nast Traveler

#1 City People Moved To in 2016 Realtor.com

Celebrity will have Best & Newest Ship in Region

Differentiated Itineraries

2,000+ Hotel Rooms

$3B Water Street Redevelopment including Sparkman’s Wharf

-4 minute walk from Cruise Terminal

$1B Westshore Marina District Project

1 Hour drive from Orlando metropolitan area

30 Mins. Drive to/from Clearwater and St. Petersburg

Close proximity to top-rated beaches, recreation areas and world-renown attractions

 

Is the bit I highlighted an overlooked bit of text and it Celebrity had been planning to redeploy Apex to Tampa?

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2 minutes ago, barbette165 said:

The flyer linked to by vtcruising contains the following

 

Why Tampa?

$10.5M Investment in Cruise Terminals

5thBest Airport in US Conde Nast Traveler

#1 City People Moved To in 2016 Realtor.com

Celebrity will have Best & Newest Ship in Region

Differentiated Itineraries

2,000+ Hotel Rooms

$3B Water Street Redevelopment including Sparkman’s Wharf

-4 minute walk from Cruise Terminal

$1B Westshore Marina District Project

1 Hour drive from Orlando metropolitan area

30 Mins. Drive to/from Clearwater and St. Petersburg

Close proximity to top-rated beaches, recreation areas and world-renown attractions

 

Is the bit I highlighted an overlooked bit of text and it Celebrity had been planning to redeploy Apex to Tampa?

Interesting thought! I would be happy with that. Will she fit under the bridge?

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Well, I guess I dodged a bullet.  For my family's holiday cruise next year, we were mulling over Singapore to Dubai (Constellation) or Hong Kong to Singapore (Millennium).  We picked the latter although I personally voted for the former.....

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Bleh, we're booked on the April 2021 Dubai to Athens, booked last November when it opened up...  pretty disappointed about this.  Caribbean holds zero interest for us, & any cruise I'd want to switch to won't open up until this November (looking for Northern Europe if we can't do Suez canal)  Obviously I haven't booked air yet (it's not available)  but I had already booked a private guide for Petra...

 

The cruise is still showing in my planner & I'm hoping this is all just a bad dream :(

Edited by cruise kitty
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1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

Well, I guess I dodged a bullet.  For my family's holiday cruise next year, we were mulling over Singapore to Dubai (Constellation) or Hong Kong to Singapore (Millennium).  We picked the latter although I personally voted for the former.....

 

 

We were going to book the former as we’ve already sailed the latter 😞. Really disappointed as we’re not interested in another Caribbean holiday cruise. We now need to rethink our options. South America may be the only one worth considering.

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1 hour ago, villauk said:

 

 

We were going to book the former as we’ve already sailed the latter 😞. Really disappointed as we’re not interested in another Caribbean holiday cruise. We now need to rethink our options. South America may be the only one worth considering.

 

I know we have the same tastes with cabins, but I didn't know we also shared similar desires to do holiday cruises to exotic locales.  We will be cruising New Zealand for this coming Christmas and New Years. 

 

Having said that, I thought the double holiday canal cruise that Constellation is now going to do to be interesting since we have not done a canal cruise.  After all, going thru the canal and watching it from an FV balcony would be awesome (although I am sure that one has to go up on deck every now and then to take it all in).  But then I realized that it will only be a partial transit which is not what I am interested in.  

 

By the way, we did South America for our only other holiday cruise and we loved it.  We rang in 2017 near Cape Horn.  I would definitely recommend it.  

 

7548074F-BCCD-41AD-B65A-4C2FE935F85C.jpeg

Infinity FV balcony, Cape Horn, Jan 1 2017

Edited by mahdnc
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32 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I know we have the same tastes with cabins, but I didn't know we also shared similar desires to do holiday cruises to exotic locales.  We will be cruising New Zealand for this coming Christmas and New Years. 

 

Having said that, I thought the double holiday canal cruise that Constellation is now going to do to be interesting since we have not done a canal cruise.  After all, going thru the canal and watching it from an FV balcony would be awesome (although I am sure that one has to go up on deck every now and then to take it all in).  But then I realized that it will only be a partial transit which is not what I am interested in.  

 

By the way, we did South America for our only other holiday cruise and we loved it.  We rang in 2017 near Cape Horn.  I would definitely recommend it.  

 

7548074F-BCCD-41AD-B65A-4C2FE935F85C.jpeg

Infinity FV balcony, Cape Horn, Jan 1 2017

 

 

You’ll smile at this: we have previously completed a holiday cruise from Australia to NZ on Solstice a few years ago 😃. Obviously very similar tastes 😉.

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5 hours ago, little britain said:

No email received here yet.....  guess they may be doing in order of departure date?

What are the T&Cs re the OBC please? Is it only for specific cruises and is there a time it must be used by?  Wondering whether I can apply it to one of my other cruises?

Thanks.

 

I was booked on a b/b from Athens to Singapore very disappointed as India is on my bucket list. OBC is only applied if you book another sailing before Monday 26th August. If you choose to cancel you get back your deposit but no OBC for future sailings or previous bookings 

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Curious to see the Panama Canal itinerary explained in detail.

A full 12 hours cruising suggests a r/t transit, not just the first locks and Gatun Lake like HAL and Princess do on 10 or 11 night sailings.

Particularly if the next day is docked in Colon for land excursions.

Different and potentially appealing.

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There is one additional little worm in the Port of Tampa apple, besides fitting under the Sunshine Skyway, and that is the heavy fogs that sometimes shut down the port for a day, leaving ships stuck inside or outside.

 

But I love sailing under that bridge and the port is just an hour’s drive, so count me in the happy column.

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24 minutes ago, Caribbean Chris said:

There is one additional little worm in the Port of Tampa apple, besides fitting under the Sunshine Skyway, and that is the heavy fogs that sometimes shut down the port for a day, leaving ships stuck inside or outside.

 

But I love sailing under that bridge and the port is just an hour’s drive, so count me in the happy column.

 

We were aboard Horizon for a 10 night cruise that got trapped in Tampa because of the fog.  As a result, we stayed there for the first night and we "lost" Grand Cayman because of the delayed start.

 

dsc00121.jpg

Mar 26 2005, Horizon preparing to sail under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

 

 

dsc00125.jpg

Edited by mahdnc
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5 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

We were aboard Horizon for a 10 night cruise that got trapped in Tampa because of the fog.  As a result, we stayed there for the first night and we "lost" Grand Cayman because of the delayed start.

Mar 26 2005, Horizon preparing to sail under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

 

Cool photos!

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This has to be typical of Celebrity looking after its customers. I heard about the change last night and my TA contacted Celebrity this morning to be assured that the November 2020 sailings out of Athens to Dubai was still on. What a crock of  S*&t.

Lets go public but first treat current customers with contempt and not advise them first

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Sadly, ,The other side of this coin is that Celebrity did nothing to alert its certified vacation planners and other telephone personnel so that they would be ready with correct answers when the announcement was made.   Leaving them in the dark is bad PR, bad employee relations, and bad customer relations.  It isn’t like they just invented this all yesterday. It has to have been in the works for months, to arrange the ports, and get the various itinerary permissions set up.  Embargo the announcement, but have your people be ready to answer your questions and take care of the Travel professionals and their customers.

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55 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

I know that they have to go where they think the money is but wow, Celebrity sure is settling in on some boring itineraries.

Agreed. Seasoned cruisers are looking for something different, and can afford to go father afield. Instead, Celebrity offers more of same old, same old. Were booked on Singapore to Dubai and Dubai to Greece. They have nothing of interest to replace it (been on two cruises to South America, Galpagos has ridiculous pricing, and our last two cruises to/from Hawaii were sub-par experiences). Celebrity was our go-to cruise line - will be looking elsewhere now for that wow factor for destinations.

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2 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Curious to see the Panama Canal itinerary explained in detail.

A full 12 hours cruising suggests a r/t transit, not just the first locks and Gatun Lake like HAL and Princess do on 10 or 11 night sailings.

Particularly if the next day is docked in Colon for land excursions.

Different and potentially appealing.

 

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be a full transit both directions.  A full transit in one direction takes almost that long.  The issue is that the locks only operate in one direction for 1/2 the day to get everyone into the lake, then they reverse to get everyone back out.  Celebrity has no control over the schedule so I'm sure they advertise the worst case of being out of the canal by 7 pm.

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Sadly, ,The other side of this coin is that Celebrity did nothing to alert its certified vacation planners and other telephone personnel so that they would be ready with correct answers when the announcement was made.   Leaving them in the dark is bad PR, bad employee relations, and bad customer relations.  It isn’t like they just invented this all yesterday. It has to have been in the works for months, to arrange the ports, and get the various itinerary permissions set up.  Embargo the announcement, but have your people be ready to answer your questions and take care of the Travel professionals and their customers.

24 hours later.

My TA still has not received any information about this cancellation (she is in USA).

 

I still maintain that it is pretty poor to learn of the cancellation of my “big birthday” cruise via a U.K. trade publication.....

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