Observations From The Poop Deck (Revisited)

[kwokpot]

50 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Key West will be on the itinerary of the Reflection, despite  voters of Key West.

I find that puzzling since on the Summit they replaced Key West with Costa Maya.

[morpheusofthesea]

The port of Roatan, Honduras. Entry to the port is manned by one gentleman who greets passengers with a big pump bottle of hand sanitizer. No displaying of passports or vaccination cards, just the requirement that all passengers wear masks indoors and out and have the hand sanitizer squirt, mandatory squirt coming and going. Celebrity should hire this imposing gentleman to man the entrance to the Oceanview Cafe.

[morpheusofthesea]

11 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

I find that puzzling since on the Summit they replaced Key West with Costa Maya.

Only reporting the hearsay of staff. Also this staff member mentioned San Juan as an upcoming cruise port. To  cruisers like ourselves the ports of call are academic, of no relative importance, the ship is our destination. Just trying to be helpful to those it does matter to.

Edited October 5, 2021 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

It is rather quite pleasant this morning on the balcony of the cabin in Roatan. Steel drum music is playing from somewhere and our only concern is deciding where to eat lunch since our Luminae is closed having gotten to Roatan on time.

[morpheusofthesea]

There is a dog barking in the distance. Reminds me of a time 50 years ago visiting an island called San Andres, Colombia where they had an inordinate number of dogs running around the island free. At the time I was told that the reason for the dogs was that the cats were not large enough to handle the bigger rats on the island. Perhaps, according to some, I am still that most gullible sort of guy ?

 

[kwokpot]

36 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Only reporting the hearsay of staff. Also this staff member mentioned San Juan as an upcoming cruise port. To  cruisers like ourselves the ports of call are academic, of no relative importance, the ship is our destination. Just trying to be helpful to those it does matter to.

Agreed, same here. Our first cruise since the restart was on the Mardi Gras last month and we never got off the ship. Probably be the same later this month on the Edge.

[lggfly]

Loving your reports (and pictures).  We will be on the next sailing (Oct 9th).  Any word on expected number of passengers?

[morpheusofthesea]

2 minutes ago, lggfly said:

Loving your reports (and pictures).  We will be on the next sailing (Oct 9th).  Any word on expected number of passengers?

Not yet. The staff usually gets 'antsy' wanting to know the same answer the penultimate day of each cruise. The maitre d' sounded pretty optimistic about the upcoming sailings. As long as reports of covid on board is minimal guests will not get 'spooked' and postpone their sailings. We took advantage of someone that got 'spooked' on the July 3, 2021 sailing of the Edge. The Retreat host kept addressing us as the original guests of the cabin. We grabbed it 48hrs before sailing.,

[FLCruiser97]

2 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

The port of Roatan, Honduras. Entry to the port is manned by one gentleman who greets passengers with a big pump bottle of hand sanitizer. No displaying of passports or vaccination cards, just the requirement that all passengers wear masks indoors and out and have the hand sanitizer squirt, mandatory squirt coming and going. Celebrity should hire this imposing gentleman to man the entrance to the Oceanview Cafe.

Not one of my favorite ports. I can see from the photos it hasn't changed much. Not a lot to do there. But enjoy anyway Mr. Morpheus.

[morpheusofthesea]

Roatan, Honduras below pictured a couple of natives sitting on the end of the wooden pier fishing. Could be anywhere in the world the same scene. Reminded  me of a story about just such an instance of a big city entrepreneur who comes to just such a Caribbean island on vacation. He approaches and engages the young fisherman in conversation. He discovers the young man is fishing for his lunch. The entrepreneur suggests the young fisherman try to catch a second fish and sell it the market and do this daily to save enough for better pole and continue this approach until he saves enough to buy a boat and fish beyond the shoals. More fish, more money, more boats, more money, more fish, bigger boats. In no time at all the young man is a wealthy old man. Then the young fisherman asks the entrepreneur what will he do then. The entrepreneur says "You'll have time to go fishing."

 

[morpheusofthesea]

We 'bit the bullet' last night at dinner and took advantage of a service being provided to us in the Luminae by our Maitre D'. We first asked our waiter and he immediately reported our request to the Maitre D' who came over to our table to get the specifics of our request. We decided we wanted to try the 'raved about' grilled chocolate chip cookie only served in the RoofTop Garden and only opened for dinner. We asked if it would be possible to have two of these desserts delivered for dessert tomorrow night in the Luminae, with no nuts. We are discovering that the pastry chefs of the Edge love to add nuts to most everything and it is hard to find a treat without nuts. On Greek night in the Oceanview EVERY dessert had nuts. I asked the server is there ANYTHING without nuts? "No" was the reply. We hope we can 'run into' the chef on board and ask why they do not have a chocolate brownie without nuts? Will report back on the grilled chocolate chip cookie.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your report and photos.

[morpheusofthesea]

Here is a photo below of our sunrise in Cozumel from our balcony. Our early morning chat with our waiter in the Luminae and the hostess reveal another interesting observation gleaned about Celebrity's treatment of its staff. Since we are in port early (on time) the Luminae restaurant will be closed for lunch. But our waiter informed us he will be covering a cook's position in the Mast Grill and our hostess will be covering the hostess position at Le Bistro for the regular hostess for lunch. This gives these staff members a port call. The port call in Cozumel for staff is arranged by Celebrity at no charge. (The word "free" was used). Those staff that sign up for this special tour are bussed to a special beach for 3 hours of food, drinks, and music and only for staff and crew, in keeping with no mingling with guests or locals. The word "safety" was also used. I suppose word has to get back to returning service providers that are still 'on the fence' , that there are new protocols on Celebrity Cruises geared to safety and well-being of staff and crew as well as guests.

[twins_to_alaska]

Just found out our Grand Cayman stop Nov 13 has been changed to Cozumel. I've never been there. Looks like a great start to the day!

Edited October 6, 2021 by twins_to_alaska

[Bo1953]

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We 'bit the bullet' last night at dinner and took advantage of a service being provided to us in the Luminae by our Maitre D'. We first asked our waiter and he immediately reported our request to the Maitre D' who came over to our table to get the specifics of our request. We decided we wanted to try the 'raved about' grilled chocolate chip cookie only served in the RoofTop Garden and only opened for dinner. We asked if it would be possible to have two of these desserts delivered for dessert tomorrow night in the Luminae, with no nuts. We are discovering that the pastry chefs of the Edge love to add nuts to most everything and it is hard to find a treat without nuts. On Greek night in the Oceanview EVERY dessert had nuts. I asked the server is there ANYTHING without nuts? "No" was the reply. We hope we can 'run into' the chef on board and ask why they do not have a chocolate brownie without nuts? Will report back on the grilled chocolate chip cookie.

LOL - I feel your pain about this, being vegan myself, it is very difficult to find those types of desserts, sooo when I board I make a bee line to the kitchen to make my requests upfront...

 

Often they are met... as I Am sure yours will be. Let us know.

 

bon voyage

[FLCruiser97]

Just an FYI. We are on a Millinium sailing next month and X has just cancelled our port call to Key West. Bimini is the replacement. I thought you had mentioned that your sailing was going to make a call in Key West.

Edited October 6, 2021 by FLCruiser97

[morpheusofthesea]

19 minutes ago, twins_to_alaska said:

Just found out our Grand Cayman stop Nov 13 has been changed to Cozumel. I've never been there. Looks like a great start to the day!

In today's Celebrity Today program tours on your own are permitted. Unless you have an unvaccinated under 12 year old, then you must take an excursion provided by Celebrity. Local authorities REQUIRE all guests wear masks indoors. Outdoors masks are RECOMMENDED.

[morpheusofthesea]

8 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Often they are met... as I Am sure yours will be. Let us know.

So far we only had one "No" and we hope to have it filled to a 'Yes' with our grilled chocolate chip (no nuts)cookie at tonights Luminae dinner.

[morpheusofthesea]

9 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

I thought you had mentioned that your sailing was going to make a call in Key West.

Actually it was mentioned that Key West will be called upon by the Reflection when it supposed to begin sailing in November, by a staff member we were chatting with. Though the City of Key West voted to ban large ships our Gov and State Legislature overturned their vote.  We would not want to be  the first ship's passengers to be greeted by torches and pitchforks.

[twins_to_alaska]

27 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

In today's Celebrity Today program tours on your own are permitted. Unless you have an unvaccinated under 12 year old, then you must take an excursion provided by Celebrity. Local authorities REQUIRE all guests wear masks indoors. Outdoors masks are RECOMMENDED.

Thanks for the info! I'm a solo traveler this trip. And I'm a masker.

[twins_to_alaska]

I must say, I'm a dessert fiend but you leave me in the dust!

[morpheusofthesea]

That is a very good point that a few of you fellow CC posters have brought up. At this time do not book a ship should itinerary be your primary objective. The locals can be hostile or afraid, and cruises could very well turn into something else. No matter for cruisers like ourselves whose destination is the ship itself. We are just so happy to be aboard a well functioning, clean, safe, no masks, environment with excellent meals and service, no lines at any venue, nearly instant gratification by a friendly and attentive staff. A cruiser's dream come true. DW is already trying to persuade me to upgrade our already booked cabin for Dec 2021 as well. She has a very persuasive argument pointing to all the features and treatment we are receiving at this moment.

[morpheusofthesea]

Presently we are docked alongside Edge's sister (some sort of relation ?) ship the Summit in Cozumel. In these photos please note the bundles of stacked lounge chairs on the Summit's deck and the complete absence of any passengers frolicking in the pool. In contrast there are at least 2 dozen guests in and around the pool on the Edge. I can only guess that guests on the Summit are more destination oriented and ports matter more than the ship. We have just been notified by Celebrity that our trip on the Equinox this Thanksgiving has substituted Falmouth, Jamaica for Grand Caymen. Just another port day in a Caribbean ocean paradise. On one of our very first cruises the cruise director was giving a port talk of the day. He (intentionally?) got the port of call wrong. When called out about his mistake(?) he quickly 'schooled' all of us, "There is really only one big island out in the Caribbean and every night we go to sea and return in the morning to a different dock on the same island."

[Travelnana6]

Wonderful review. WE will be on the Edge 11/14 and are wondering if they are doing covid tests on ship 3 days before reentry into Florida.  

[morpheusofthesea]

3 minutes ago, Travelnana6 said:

WE will be on the Edge 11/14 and are wondering if they are doing covid tests on ship 3 days before reentry into Florida.  

That is a very good question. I think it pertains to non-US citizens, that have to fly back to their countries. I know testing is being performed on the ship every week of every staff and crew. Our steward knocked on our door the day before her PCR test the following morning alerting us she may not get our cabin cleaned exactly at 8 am as she normally would due to her appointment. Best to check with Celebrity directly if you are non-US citizen. US citizens walk right off the ship, facial recognition, no customs, to curb. We get a porter to handle DW 8 bags and my duffle and deposits us at the curb ($30). I walk across the street to the parking garage $15 / day. The machines take cash or credit cards and there is a very friendly helpful attendant who helped me void a credit card machine that did not take cash (DW had the credit card back at the curb), and directed me to the proper machine.