A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 17 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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That check-in and boarding experience don't sound good at all.
Hoping things improve from there.
It was terrible. We kept wondering if it was usually like that or whether it was because of the deep clean and having to deal with all the passengers in just a couple of hours. We suspect that may have been the problem....
I'm sorry to hear that your check in experience was so frustrating. The employees in the port are actually port employees - not cruise line employees. It is sad because often times guests have a negative experience in port that taints their impression of a cruise line who has little or not control over the port experience.
Oh, my! That wasn't a good first impression for you. Some ports are just better than others, for sure. We hate the port in Puerto Rico as it seems to be so disorganized. I'm sure the deep cleaning time set back had a lot to do with the disorganization. Every body was descending on them at once. I've often found that other cruise lines just don't seem to have enough signage around, especially on embarkation day, to help you find your way around. I'm hoping, and suspecting, that once you settled in your experience improved dramatically.
Oh, my! That wasn't a good first impression for you. Some ports are just better than others, for sure. We hate the port in Puerto Rico as it seems to be so disorganized.
Good to know, as I had been watching some of the southern Caribbean itineraries from Disney and a few of those seem to be out of Puerto Rico...
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I'm sure the deep cleaning time set back had a lot to do with the disorganization. Every body was descending on them at once. I've often found that other cruise lines just don't seem to have enough signage around, especially on embarkation day, to help you find your way around. I'm hoping, and suspecting, that once you settled in your experience improved dramatically.
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Sunday 5 June – part eight: I can see ourselves spending a fair bit of time here…
As you can see, it was pretty busy up on deck 12. So I guess this is where all the people are then?
I was personally more taken with the Solarium, an undercover swimming pool with a couple of hot tubs. Most of the time it’s adult only, although annoyingly, they do have family time between 10:00am and midday and 5:00pm and 7:00pm, which I thought was a bit bizarre. However, from what we’ve seen so far, hopefully that won’t be too irritating…
We headed into the spa, and I cannot begin to tell you how many staff there were just standing around. In hindsight, we should’ve entered the draw to win $500 of spa treatments, as I think we’d have had a very good chance, given we only saw about two other groups taking a tour while we were there. I couldn’t believe how quiet it was in here.
It’s also not a very big area, so I guess maybe they don’t have as much call for spa services perhaps as they do on Disney? We did ask the woman giving us the tour if it was usually this quiet on embarkation day, and she said so maybe it’s just the demographics of the people on this cruise? I guess now I think about it, I don’t ever see really elderly people in spas anywhere?
We toured the fitness centre, which we won’t be using during the next fortnight!
Then it was into the Persian Garden. Now this is more like it! We immediately purchased our passes, $199 for a couple and $149 for one person, which I thought was a good deal for a 14 night cruise. That works out to $14/couple per night, which is excellent. I can see ourselves spending a fair bit of time here…
The view outside from here wasn’t quite as relaxing.
We then asked about booking a hot stone massage for tomorrow while we’re in port. Now I suspect the person who gets to show you round gets to sell the treatments, as she was determined she’d do the massages for us. She said she had the day off tomorrow, and I expected her to get someone else at this point, but she said she’d fit us in at 3:00pm (me) and 4:30pm (Mark) and still only charge us the port price. Ok, works for me!
We headed out and made our way down to deck nine, as it was now past 4:30pm. They had said in the terminal that they would advise when rooms were ready, and it may well be that we’d missed the announcement while we were in the spa, as we later heard an announcement, referring to the fact the rooms were now available. We were very impressed when we opened the door, and saw this!
It was certainly very spacious, and the bathroom seemed to be a lot bigger than on Disney, although I guess the fact they have split bathrooms does make it very difficult to compare. Certainly on first glance, we were impressed with what we found.
Sorry it took so long to board the ship. Your room looks very nice and roomy.
I'm glad you could book your massage. Although it seems odd that thee ws just one person to do it but maybe they aren't as busy as Disney.
Liz
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Sorry it took so long to board the ship. Your room looks very nice and roomy.
I'm glad you could book your massage. Although it seems odd that thee ws just one person to do it but maybe they aren't as busy as Disney.
I didn't think they were that busy, as will probably become obvious as this trip report progresses. What I didn't like was that she really was selling for herself, rather than others. It also wasn't a great massage - no huge spoilers, as something terrible happened to that instalment of the trip report and my computer ate it, so you won't get the detail, just a skim over.
The ship looks quite lovely as does your room! Celebrity definitely has an older clientele but we kind of liked that on our cruise with them because nothing we wanted to do was ever terribly crowded!
Great photos of the Otters and all the other animals. That was quite odd in how the otters feed on bits of meat three times a day!
A nice walk around a very beautiful town and seems like you could certainly spend more time here! More good photos from the ferry trip.
I can't believe how it to for check in at the terminal for the two of you. A bit unorganized and you'd think there would be signage, but no! Not exactly like a Disney cruise. I was in and out of there in no time and by the time I checked in, which went quick, I think I was on The Magic in about ten minutes!
Nice photos on board and the spa looks quite nice! That's quite a room you have and bigger than I thought it would be. Like you said it's tough to judge the size of the bath when the DCL ones are split!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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so maybe it’s just the demographics of the people on this cruise? I guess now I think about it, I don’t ever see really elderly people in spas anywhere? 
We immediately purchased our passes, $199 for a couple and $149 for one person, which I thought was a good deal for a 14 night cruise. That works out to $14/couple per night, which is excellent. 
More good photos from the ferry trip.
Not exactly like a Disney cruise. I was in and out of there in no time and by the time I checked in, which went quick, I think I was on The Magic in about ten minutes! 
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