Trip Report with Bare Necessities Feb 12, 2015

We just completed the 2015 Best of French Islands Cruise on Celebrity Constellation. We love nude cruising and this was our 7th BN cruise.

While we always love getting nude and meeting all our old friends on the high seas, many think Bare Necessities interest in running the business is waning as this was their 25th year.

PORTS: The ports were great except one: St Martin, St Barts, and Coco Cay. Guadalupe was depressing, boring, and we felt unsafe. Guess what that is the highlight of next years cruise on the same ship. They stay in pont a Pitre til 1 AM. We didn't feel safe at 1 pm. At Grand Turk, Samana and San Juan and we won't be going next year.

SHIP: The remade Constellation is ho hum - not a Solstice ship and not as good as others we were on.

Food: Was ho hum by today's mass cruise declining standards. No lobster night. Not even a little one.
Buffet was chaotic even when nudes could feed themselves.

Crew: Many were clearly not comfortable with nudity. In mid cruise the buffet was delayed due to crew refusing to open to nude guests. It finally opened with crew holding all serving ladles. Again changed mid cruise and it was a nudity issue for crew.

Crew: We were told crew not well informed about nude cruise and given the choice to work or stay in cabin at no pay.

Cabin Service: very good

BN Events/Staff: Very week this year. Nabcy from BN did not appear on TV daily as usual. Most staff did little in their yellow hats. Free cruise I guess.

BN Interest: Many are wondering why no 2017 cruise was announced this year 2 years out. Some think this it after last year's crew assault on New Amsterdam, others think they are still negoatiating something. But they lost that captive future cruise lock-in savings opportunity that has happened last few years.

we won't be on 2016 cruise as the ports stink in our view and the ship crew not so welcoming.

We were looking forward to what 2017 offering was. We hope BN continues but many think they need to up their game to avoid further dissipation in the "product".

Thanks for the report. Surprised you had such a bad experience in Guadelupe. Personally, I have disliked Martinique in the past but enjoyed Guadelupe. Also surprised that the crew seemed to not know ahead of time about the cruise as that is unusual, I think.

Sorry to hear you didn't feel comfortable in Guadalupe. We found the locals friendly in spite of the language barrier.

That has been our experience also--Guadelupe friendly, Martinique, not so much!

Could it be that arriving cruise passengers meet a different reception?

With regard to Martinique, arriving cruise passengers are not particularly welcome there, but I have had several people who visited there who were NOT on a cruise, state that they did not feel welcomed there.

We once stopped at Martinique during a cruise. All other islands have smiling people, bands and colorful costumed greeters on the dock. Martinique, nothing. After walking around, to the obvious annoyance of the population, we saw a man urinating at the curb. He was in full view of everyone including a Police Officer, who was 15 feet away. At that point,we returned to the ship.

We were on the BN cruise and have been to Guadalupe before and enjoyed it then but we docked at Basse Terre (BT)where things are nicer and more welcoming. Point a Pitre (PaP) was not very welcoming as most of the shops were closed for the holiday (as it will be next year). One lady from the ship was mugged and had her shirt town and purse strap broken.

If BN pulled into Pointe a Pitre where the Mardi gras celebration will be, I think it would be a better move. But getting 2000 people from BT back to PaP at 1 am is not a very inviting prospect from many.

There is a group of folks on the BN bulletin board trying to sway BN to stay at sea rather than go to PaP.

Overall, we enjoyed the cruise as we always do, but Celebrity was definitely the lowest of our many BN cruises. Hopefully, they will return to Carnival as they seem to be the best for a BN cruise IOHO.

Still no announcement on a 2017 Nude cruise a full month after end of February Big Nude Boat. Makes oldtimer folks wonder what is up at BN Headquarters. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

We visited Martinique – Port de Fort-de-France - as a port of call off Jewel of the Seas on February 19, 2014. It was the first time we had been there in years - at least five - cannot remember for sure. Martinique – at least Fort-de-France - was trying very hard to be welcoming to the ship. We docked at a new pier closer to downtown than the old industrial port. They had a bunch of tents set up, musicians, some dancers, lots of signs, tourism ambassadors, and other things. They did nothing like any of that on the ports of call visits in earlier years. The city itself is still urban and very French – which you either enjoy or you don’t. Some of the shops – even near the waterfront – did not want to take dollars, which we and some others ran into. So, obviously getting the welcome mat out is still a work in progress. But, they (whoever they were) were really making an effort.

Snorkeller, do any of the tourist attractions in your city accept Euros? I am sorry, but you ARE in France. You should expect to have to use Euros. When you are hypocritical about issues like this you give all American travelers a bad name. Even though some merchants try to be accommodating, the Caribbean is made up of many separate countries. It is not Disneyland.

I think Snorkeller is comparing Martinique to St. Martin. St. Martin is France also, but basically everyone accepts dollars..

No mention of St Martin in Snorkler's post. In fact, only one mention of St. Martin in the entire thread. That said Carol, my sentiment remains. Some Americans treat foreign travel as a Disneyland adventure. Other countries should all accept dollars and all speak English. But these same folks complain when the US Immigration form is written in several languages. "If they want to come here, let them learn English......" So, I wasn't attacking Snorkler personally, and apologize to him / her if it felt like it. I was ranting about the oblivious nature of some of my beloved countrymen.

All of which has nothing to do with the great fun that can be experienced in being able to enjoy nature au natural! And for that I also apologize! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

My point was that if Fort-de-France wants to be welcoming to cruisers (which I think it does and has made a great effort), then I think the waterfront shops in particular should accept dollars for a diet coke. I would agree that it is their decision and if they do not want dollars, that's fine with us - we'll go to someone who does. Other places in the city in Martinique did accept dollars - the restaurant at which we ate lunch had no problem taking dollars - other shops did take dollars - maybe in those other cases we were dealing with an owner or someone with more discretion to decide what to accept. In my neck of the woods, I do not think anyone ever offers euro's in payment, but I am quite certain that a few retaurant owners or general managers I know would take euro's or lira or gold jewelry at a reasonable exchange if it meant more business. If you are just dealing with a cashier at most places, they would not be able to deal with other currency. Heck, I would take euro's if anyone offered them to me to pay a bill. I suppose it could be considered an "ugly American" thing if someone was offended by the shop's refusal to take dollars - we were not offended - again, my point was that if you want to welcome cruisers who are predominently US with US dollars in their pockets, I suggest setting up to take dollars for your products and services. If expressing that view offends you, I am sorry to have offended you. (BTW, I know from experience that at least some casinos along the French Riviera will let you put dollars down on the table without going to cashier first - just so you know.)

Just saw your post - please be assured that I take no personal offense at your post. I am called names almost every day in my line of work, so I am pretty hard to offend.

And my point wasn't to say it doesn't happen, but to say it is wrong to expect it. Be an ambassador for our country, not a [censored]. Learn to say hi, bye, please, thank you in the local language. I lived throughout Europe for years. My European friends just could never understand American reluctance to "go local". They may have acquiesced in their shops out of economic considerations, but in their personal lives felt it quite rude. And so do I.

Carol, I will stop now. I don't want you to have to close this thread. And truly meant no personal offence to anyone.

Dude, these people are on a cruise. They're in port for 3 hours. You want them to learn the customs, a little language, exchange currency, and be "ambassadors" like you were during your years in Europe?
And as for merchants not taking dollars in a cruise port? Not a recipe for success. They may want to rethink their business plan.

OK, we have debated this enough...and I am locking it before it turns ugly. I will, however, leave it up so others can read the review...and the comments.

Moderator