Celebrity Cruises
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Sometimes amazing but I wouldn’t do it again…
Was on the celebrity beyond for a 10 day med cruise. Issues started with the transfer from the airport which was done via bus, with really poor aircon. A stiflingly hot & uncomfortable journey. From then on, day one was fab. Explored the ship, had drinks, food and partied until late in the martini bar. Woken at 2am by horrendous noise coming through the wall. Had to go to guest services. Someone visited the room and said “they’d never heard anything like it before”. We moved to a different room, just to sleep, packing up our belongings and properly moving the following day. Not a great start. Next few days were exceptional, amazing staff, food, entertainment, trips & parties. The ship is a floating work of art. I paid for premium drinks so I could have draught Stella Artois. They never had any and it’s not real draught, just a little machine you’d buy for your house. When they did have some, before it ran out, it tasted pretty awful. If you asked for champagne they tried to give you Prosecco. They ran out of premium water after a couple of days, so tinned water it was and this tasted meh. Day 6 covid came to visit. At the time I thought it was the aircon or a mild cold. I didn’t feel too bad and there was no fever or anything like that, just a thickly throat and cough. Some fatigue but again I put that down to our hectic schedule & partying. With hindsight, covid was rife onboard and spread quickly, as you could hear coughing all around the ship and it increased every day. Again, at the time, I just didn’t consider it too much. We had a trip our last day, one which was supposed to be a trip to a lovely town, Portovenere, followed by a boat trip along the coastline to another town, for a stop off. The boat trip along the coast was the only reason I took this trip. The instant the boat set off (when it was too late) the guide informed us (as if it was nothing) that the sea was too rough for the boat trip. We then drove for over 2 hours, to a little town and then had to get the train to another town. 2.5hrs travelling so far. We then had 1hr 50 minutes to explore, only to then travel another 2.5hrs to finally get to Portovenere. Bear in mind this was meant to be the first stop, where we took the boat trip from. When we got there we had a measly 40 minutes to hang around. The sea was beautifully calm, boat trips were still being sold and boats were coming & going perfectly normally. They lied about the rough seas and rearranged the trip for their convenience. We then had another 2hrs 45 mins to travel back to the ship. We arrived incredibly late, just before 7pm. 7.5hrs travelling for just 2.5hrs off the bus and no boat trip. You weren’t allowed to eat or drink on the bus but right at the end they announced the driver had bottles of water for sale - you could drink his water but not your own. Who in their right mind would pay for this, when they could be sat aboard the luxurious ship enjoying themselves. We were exhausted, stressed, feeling unwell and our last day was ruined. We got in, packed our cases, showered and went for dinner. Had a few drinks and then hit the sack. Up at 6am to travel home, on a bus where half the passengers were coughing - I felt for the other half. We are both now isolating at home, riddled with full covid symptoms, no doubt exacerbated by tiredness & stress. There were points where this was the best of holidaying, honestly exceptional but I would not do it again - the negatives are just too many sadly and I’ve no doubt cruises are hotbeds for covid still.