Smerelda 29/2-7/3. The eventful one.

[gailellen12]

Glad you made it.  I will be interesting to see what ports are open or closed to your ship.  You are a frontrunner for the rest of us who have Mediterranean area cruises coming up in the coming weeks.  Will be anxious to see how you and your shipmates do with all of this. Happy Sailing

[alicat58]

Ola from Barcelona. Was raining this morning. We left after 10 am. Took a taxi to a local cemetery to look at funerary art. I'm weird like that. Expensive taxi and walked all the way back to la Rambla. Took nearly 40 minutes. 

 

The cemetery was a bit boring. We didn't see the one we really wanted to see. 

 

We then stopped for a beer and after that lunch. Everything open and going. So far no mention of port cancellation. We have decided not to go to Rome because we don't fancy being in such close proximity to possibly infected people fot 90 minutes each way. 

[maryann2]

Enjoy the rest of your trip Riana and thank you for the updates.

[Bobbingbob]

Hi Riana

Hope you are having an enjoyable cruise and we all look forward to hearing more about it in due course.

I know how you must be spoiling Kip but why not? Our pets have such short little lives. Glad he seems happy without Baz but clearly he know enjoys being his own boss

 Not sure if you are keeping up with the latest developments re. the changing situation in Italy as you are on holiday after all.  At which port are you due to disembark? 
All the best

Bob
 

[alicat58]

Morning Bob 

 

The ship is not very full and the atmosphere is a bit subdued we think. We've not gone to any of the shows. They are at quite odd times and honestly did not appeal to us either. 

 

The weather out of Palma was diabolical. The sea was rough the whole night. Yesterday was also the sea day and massive waves till late afternoon. We just camped in the grandbar most of the day. Hubby watched films and I read.  

 

We are in Civitavecchia today. Gorgeous day. We decided not to go to Rome as we didn't fancy the journey with too many people coughing. 

 

We are disembarking in Savona on Saturday and flying out of Nice to Stansted. 

 

We are not keen on this ship. I do love our cabin. I'll post photos when I get home. 

 

Riana 

[Bobbingbob]

Hi Riana

Lovely to hear from you. I was just going to apologise and say that I remembered you embarked in Savona and were clearly disembarking there this a Saturday.

I am not surprised that there is a subdued atmosphere onboard and I completely understand your decision about not wishing to be in a confined space with many other people on any trips. Sorry to hear about the rough sea and for seasoned cruisers like yourselves, hope you weren’t too affected. Of course, this is perhaps where an aft cabin on a high deck may not be so good!

You may have seen from another new posting today re. a repositioning cruise on the Luminosa that they are not now going to the Italian ports as had been scheduled. 
We are coming close to due payment date on our first cruise this year and feel very uncertain about going ahead!

Enjoy your last couple of days and hope the weather stays fine.

Cheers

Bob

[Bobbingbob]

Apologies, Riana, I got the wrong end of the stick probably as usual. It is only the AMERICAN guests who have to disembark in Marseille on the Luminosa repositioning cruise as the ship will still go to the scheduled ports in Italy. Really sorry if I have caused any alarm. I MUST read things more carefully! 

[klaugh1169]

I was supposed to take this cruise with my mom for her 80th bday. We would have been coming from the US on a flight in and out of Milan. We waited until the last possible day to cancel because we were hoping things would get better in Italy. 

 

We are glad to have cancelled because Delta has suspended all flights to/from Milan and we would have been stuck. Plus, not worth the risk to my mom's health. And I can't afford to be quarantined for two weeks. The US travel advisory changed to a Level 4 for Italy. 

 

However, we did ask for a credit toward taking the cruise at a later date. At first, we were told no. Then we were told to send an email to their customer support team because they were reviewing them on a case-by-case basis. We sent that email, but have yet to hear back as yet. I'm sure they are very busy. 

 

Has anyone else been told to send an email? And if so, have you had a response yet?

 

[alicat58]

I don't think people will reply to the questions about cancelling on my original post. 

 

There is a very active group on Facebook that might be able to help.

 

Today is our last day. We are disembarking tomorrow and I won't have Internet till Wednesday. I'll post some photos then. 

 

Riana 

[tenpin]

Thanks for your input about Smerelda Riana, not for us much to big.

 

Have a good journey home, stay safe.

[alicat58]

Hi All

 

I thought I would wrap this up. Clearly out timing was good and we are home. I hope safe and sound. Neither of us ill. I am back at work to DD's great concern. She thought I should have self isolated for 2w after coming back from the ship.

 

Though we enjoyed the cruise the Covid really put a damper on it for us. In retrospect we should maybe not have gone but we would have lost all of our cruise fees and insurance would not have paid. As it is we lost the flight and hotel costs to Milan. That does not bother me at all.

 

She is big but I did not feel that much bigger than Diadema. I know tonnage and passenger size is very different. The biggest difference I thought was the multiple slightly smaller MDR's. e were in a section of Arlencchino. It is right at the back of the MDR. This is souley for diamond pearl guests. The whole restaurant is sections and decorated differently, some nice and some looking like a fast food place. We really did not rate the food. You all know we are very loyal to Costa but the food in general was poor. We actually went to the Pizza restaurant 3 evenings. The biggest disappointment there was they don't do those yummy burgers, only pizza. The pizzas were very good and the service way better than any of the other pizza restaurants. The staff seemed to have training. The Teppanyaki was next door. We are not so keen but they were desperately trying to flog that all the time, including in the MDR.

 

We did our own thing in all the ports so not much there.

 

The ship is very understated for Costa. We enjoyed the Jazz club/bar. A good buzz and enjoyed the band. The piano bar is a bit odd. The bar is in a separate section to the entertainment area. We met up with a barman, Vishal, whom we first met when in India on the Neoclassica and last year in South America on the Fascinosa. Great guy. Hope he stays well.

 

We thought the theatre set up(of lack there of) was rubbish. The performance times we odd, the seating limited and the shows not to our taste. We stood in the Colosseo one evening and watched a little. My biggest gripe is the lack of those reserved front row seats😂. They also had lots of comedy shows. Now that was new . Only problem, they were Spanish, French and Italian!

We were going to book a cruise whilst on board , but to answer Bobbingbob's question in another thread, decided we will wait for now. Today the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic. It looks as if Kip is going to have mum and dad home for some months.

 

I am not going to bother with photos unless someone asks. I did not take a lot anyway. Kip snuck in inbetween my writings. As you can see this one rules the roost and is very comfy.

 

Riana

[Plan B]

Thank you for your comments and I am so glad that you are both well.

[Bobbingbob]

What a lovely picture of Kip and thanks for posting it, a very handsome boy! Amazed you can have leather furniture as we have lost a couple of expensive sofas/seats over the years due to our moggies!

Your views of Smeralda are pretty similar to ours I think. Shame, I don’t think we’d go again. Interestingly, the food sounds better in restaurants other than the Arlechino club area. Did you notice if the Bellavista was being used? Yes, what a let down the theatre was.

So pleased you are both in good health and no worries re. work. What an awful time this is for everyone, let’s hope it can be brought under control soon. Home is probably best for a while. Take care and all the best.

Bob