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Send Your Corporate Program on a Cruise to CUBA THIS DECEMBER, 2015 TO APRIL
2016 on Celestyal's Crystal
This review has three parts and I hope you
read it all as it ends with details about US clients being able to take Cuba
cruises starting this December and ending April 7, 2016. For the first time we
can offer your clients a legal option to cruise Cuba before the island is turned
into another American Shopping Mall with McDonalds and Starbucks.
As one might imagine being located in South
Florida we have always been tuned into what is happening in Cuba and tourism and
particularly cruises. Over the years many companies have tried it but the US
laws and other factors have made the attempts failures. We have watched for
several years a stronger company enter the market and refine their product to
the point that we now feel confident in offering it to our incentive clients
legally.
After numerous discussions with the cruise
line, Celestyal Cruises, about the Cuba project we felt it was time for us to go
see firsthand the ship and the total product. So Diana and I set out to take a
Greek Island cruise, the summer destination for the Crystal, this June.
Honestly it was big time Deja Vu as the Celestyal Crystal in it’s former life
was NCL’s Leeward which we had numerous groups and charters on in years gone
by. This ship was the Bee’s Knees for the 3 and 4 night incentive market in the
late 90’s and early 2000’s out of Miami.
First impressions, as we all know, are most
important and the Crystal really looked small, as it should do with only 480
staterooms, when we saw it docked in Istanbul, sitting next to Holland America,
Celebrity and Princess with cabin counts of over 1,200 each. As with any fine
“Lady” you can tell a lot about her by her “skin” and I am happy to say the
small Crystal had the best “skin” of the lot. This means she had been sand
blasted down to the steel, repainted and looked factory fresh which can’t be
said of the other big girls. The issue of big and small will become very
important as we continue.
After being taken to our cabin, which is the
category we recommend you book your groups into, we set off to explore the ship
and see the changes since the NCL days. The first thing you have to notice is
how clean and tidy the ship is. The carpeting looks like it is new, there are
no luggage dings and dints in cabin hallways, tables and chairs also look like
they’re brand new, the decks are all in great condition, the exterior varnish is
perfect and all in all the ship looks like she is darn near brand new. The ship
still has a few touches of the old NCL days but most are gone due to a new
contemporary interior. If you look on deck you can’t help but notice an old NCL
trade mark for this ship, I will let you old timers wonder what they could be.
Keep in mind this is an older ship so for
sure she is not a 5 Star vessel but I would give her an honest 4 star rating
when you consider the entire package. The cabins are around 200 sq ft in the
categories we will recommend, with a comfortable sitting area with sofa and arm
chair and plenty of closet space. Good hair dryers, safes, mini fridges (not
stocked), a large picture window, TVs with a good channel selection, and
individual a/c controls. Bathrooms are a bit small but the showers do have a
nice glass door versus the vinyl shower curtains some ships still have today.
Bathroom amenities by Olivia, Greece’s oldest pure olive oil body and hair care
manufacturer. Your bathroom also has 2 fluffy terry robes hanging on the door
for you. The ship only has 9 balcony suites for your VIPS.
Dining on our cruise was a delight as the
ship really features Greek cuisine when doing the Greek Island cruises, and will
feature Cuban cuisine while in Cuba. The food was great, interesting if you
wanted to explore Greek food more than you get at home, well presented at
breakfast, lunch and dinner with very friendly and efficient service. You have
a main dining room with first and second sittings but you can chose which
sitting you wish daily, meaning it’s not fixed sittings for dinner. Of course
there is a buffet which also offers breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as pool
side dining which is very popular considering how active this cruise is. I
would personally rate the food a step up from many mass market cruise lines and
more interesting than most. One difference you will notice is that they offer a
small “a la carte” menu at every meal in every venue, offering items such as
steak and lobster, whole grilled fish, grilled shrimp and other such items all
for an additional charge.
Language on ships that carry multi-national
passengers can be a bit of a pain as some of us have found out from past
experiences. I am happy to report Celestyal Cruises has found a unique way to
handle this challenge. All of your cabin information and daily programs come to
you in your language, in our case English of course. What you quickly find out
is that when we go to an activity there are only English speakers, (this doesn’t
apply to nightly entertainment), while the Germans, Italians etc are at another
location doing the same thing or at a later time in your “English” location.
Tours are done only with people of the same language, and they all come nicely
with “whispers” so you can fully hear your guides no matter how far back you are
in the group. Dining takes you to tables of, again, the same language. If you
want to you could be surrounded by English speakers the entire cruise which
would take the fun out of international travel. Last but not least loud speaker
announcements are very few and only on arrival in port, and announcing tour
departures.
In summary the ship is in great condition.
It offers a casino, duty free shopping, retractable main pool area cover with
pool bar and dining, aft deck bar with Jacuzzi which is very popular, main
dining room, buffet dining, private meeting rooms/conference center, main show
lounge, Panoramic cocktail lounge, piano bar, wellness center and gym. Crew is
multi-national with Greek Captain, Italian Hotel Mgr., Austrian Housekeeping
Mgr., etc, with an interesting twist (and this is fleet wide for the company)
they have some Cuban stewardesses, Cuban bar staff and fantastic Cuban
musicians. Our Cuban stewardess was fantastic and the musicians are really
great. I think the company has found a new source of crew staff that most
cruise lines can’t tap into.
To view image library -
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As mentioned earlier we really went with an
eye to look at the ship for Cuba cruises, however the ship and the itinerary
really changed our mind into offering the ship for 4 and 7 night Greek Cruises
as well. Why? As mentioned above the ship is perfectly fine and the size is
ideal for both Cuba and Greece. Attached are photos of both the ship and some
of the ports to give you an idea. We went to islands we had never been to
before that are terrific, and I can honestly now say that I was in Santorini
when we were the only cruise ship there - this has never ever happened to me
before, and I will now go back to Santorini again. We only saw big ships on
embarkation and in Rhodes.
Often going to two ports a day might sound
tiring or rushed, but it was neither. The 7 night itinerary is Lavrion (new
port for Athens quick to get to/from airport versus Pireaus), Istanbul, Kusadasi,
Crete at the port of AG Nikolaos (we were the only ship in this quaint port but
at 4 pm as we are getting ready to leave 27 buses from Heraklion, the main
Crete port come roaring in), Rhodes and Symi, Chios and Mykonos, Lavrion.
Ports like Symi, Ag Nikolaos and Chios are true gems that the big ships can’t go
to, thankfully. Of course we all have been to Mykonos but I have never arrived
at 5:30 pm and left at midnight which allowed time for some shopping and a great
dinner ashore. At Symi we arrive at 4:30 pm just as the Mega Yachts were
arriving for cocktails and dinner ashore. They were very surprised to see a
small cruise ship tied just up like them right in the heart of the action. This
cruise really had many more memories than most Greek Island cruises we have ever
been on.
The company also offers 4 night cruises that
are Athens-Mykonos, Kusadasi-Patmos, Rhodes, Heraklion-Santorini, Athens OR
Lavrion-Syros, Cesme, Kos, Ios-Santorini, Piraeus. Both of these are great
options coupled with a pre night stay in Athens which is a necessity, and
offers a very reasonable 6 night incentive package which includes air travel
time.
I would highly recommend any of these
cruises to really see and enjoy Greece like most others will never see,
honestly. One other very nice thing, tours don’t seem to exceed around $50.00
which is pleasant surprise in Europe these days.
Now on to Cuba.
Needless to say here in the USA all the talk
is about going to Cuba. Well it’s about time since Cuba is the second largest
tourist destination in the Caribbean after the DR. The rest of the World has
been going to Cuba for years however our international clients and partners have
been saying it’s not quite ready for the incentive groups yet by land. Well I
would like to say that Celestyal Cruises and the Celestyal Crystal have already
completed two seasons in Cuba and will start their third season this December
and will end the season in April 2016.
They too have had to learn and modify
itineraries and tours to fit client demands, the realities of various ports and
land operators. While the past two seasons have been very popular they have
also been going through a learning experience that I am sure others will
experience in the years to come. Today they feel they can offer a product that
they and their clients will be proud of, that they can finally offer American
incentive clients legally.
The 7 night itinerary includes 6 Unesco
World Heritage Sites and 4 National Parks and preserves. The cruises are Friday
to Friday starting in Montego Bay departing at 8 pm.
The itinerary includes 2 full days and
overnight in Havana, the beaches of Maria La Gorda, Cienfuegos & Trinidad,
Santiago de Cuba and a relaxing day at sea. You will see the best of Cuba
before many others in the comfort of a 4 star Cruise ship with all of the
comfort and amenities your clients expect.
In Cuba this product becomes very inclusive
including bar beverages and wines, and very importantly 4 land tours that are
part of a people to people program to learn about Cuba and it’s culture. The
onboard product changes with dining highlighting Cuban Cuisine, bar drinks
featuring the Rums of Cuba and of course the night life of Havana. The ship
will also feature lectures on Cuban history and culture as well as additional
tours to purchase. Your clients will receive a certificate at the end of the
cruise stating that they/the tours etc have been in compliance with current US
government regulations.
This is a once in a life time opportunity to
see past history and history in the making. We are limited to 75 cabins per
sailing, and charters are only available on a limited first come first serve
basis in the 2016-17 season.
Call Steve Bloss at 954 452 8800 or email
sbloss@cruiseco.com
Who are Celestyal Cruises
Owned by Louis Cruises founded in the early
1970s, today it operates a fleet of 3 ships and has several others on long term
charters to companies like Thomson Tours. Has twice been the recipient of Conde
Nast Travelers Choice Award. Louis Cruises is the 5th largest cruise
line in the World and part of Louis PLC, a leading tourism and hotel group in
the Eastern Med, founded in 1935 and traded on the Cyprus Stock Exchange since
1999. |
