Live Cruise Reports

While we used to be very loyal to Norwegian Cruise Line, we more recently have given most of our travel dollars to Viking.  Our last NCL cruise was in 2018 aboard Breakaway in the Baltics. So it will be interesting to be back aboard an NCL ship and especially one as unique as Epic. This will be our first time aboard her as I am six foot seven tall and didn’t want to deal with the short beds….but good friends are making their first Transatlantic (this will be our fourth and a half-damn you covid) and we wanted to enjoy it with them. So hopefully I won’t find myself sleeping on the floor. 🤞 MORE....

Hello all, in the spirit of pay back for all the great live trip reports that kept me entertained,
 I  decided to continue the Getaway live trend. This being a short 5 day cruise starting on a Wednesday and ending on a Monday I’m not sure what to expect..but hopefully we will be well past the huge spring breaks crowds of the last two months. This cruise is round trip from Port Canaveral and only has two port calls, Great Stirrup Cay and Cozumel Mexico. MORE......

LESS THAN ONE WEEK TO GO BEFORE WE BOARD THE PRIMA! 🥂🚢. I keep debating whether or not to do live reviews due to the time commitment, however, with the mixed reviews and questions surrounding the Prima (it is a love-hate thing I think), as well as the fact that some my fellow R🐀P-ers @Sailing12Away @CptBoatface  will be sailing on her soon – in fact, @Sailing12Away will be in the exact same cabin type as us – I decided to go for it. I also know that @ChiefMateJRK and @oteixeira like to join in the fun! 😜     
 
Oh, and just so you know upfront I am a firm believer in YOLO and Go Big or Go Home, especially when it comes to vacations. My DH and I work hard so we like to play hard and make great/fun memories. Simple.  MORE.....

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go ..... but it will be about six or seven more hours before our journey actually starts. 
 
We will be moving from home to a hotel closer to the airport this evening since we have a morning flight from IAD to FLL. 
We will be spending the day and night tomorrow night at our normal hotel in FLL, the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel and boarding the ship tomorrow morning around 1100. MORE....

Journal 1: Salaam Alaikum
 
I am slightly astonished to say, here we are in Muscat, the low-key and low-rise capital of the Sultanate of Oman.  And not only that, we are staying Silversea’s Simply Hotel, the Shangri-La Al Husn Resort.  Our spacious room has a pool and ocean view, a lovely balcony and all the trimmings.  While the other two hotels of this huge resort area look rather like 3-star package blocks on the Costa Brava, the Al Husn has tried a little harder with a stunning lobby, courtyard and pool area.  The surrounding landscape is  deeply scarred rocky abrasions. MORE....

Leaving tomorrow morning for San Diego for a 4-day northbound Pacific Coastal on Nieuw Amsterdam to Vancouver, BC, with a stop in always really nice Victoria, BC, followed by a (separate) 7-day Alaska inside passage journey with stops in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan

Here we go – almost time to cruise again, T minus 2 days to embarkation … approaching the 48 hours mark soon for "mking8288's" sunset cruise this Saturday.  All systems go, final preparations under way ... prepaying and scheduling bill payments ahead, travel notices to cc & banks submitted, postal mail on hold for almost 3 weeks, etc.  

A cruise through the original Panama Canal is not just a cruise between two oceans, it is a journey through history.  
 
Join us live for 15 nights as we sail from Galveston to Los Angeles through the Panama Canal aboard the Radiance of the Seas.

I scored a relatively last minute studio balcony a few weeks ago for the Anthem's 8-day Bahamas run out of Bayonne, NJ. I cruise solo, so these studio balconies with no supplement are a real treat if you can grab one. 
 
I'm hunkered down in Manhattan hotel riding out tonight's thunderstorms. 
 
I'll try to keep up with some updates along the way. Happy to answer questions. 

Nothing like a last-minute and first transatlantic cruise!
 
Mailer: I received a Blue Chip Club mailer offering a free Europe cruise in an inside cabin.  I called the number, and they emailed me a list of eligible cruises, which included transatlantic options.
Solo: My Wife has an upcoming B2B solo cruise and as such was not going to be able to make any of the options available that worked date wise. MORE....

The particulars......Seems any cruise I've taken since the restart (hard to believe, but I've sailed 5X since then) has been last minute bookings.  Have done this itinerary before and probably ranks as one of my top 2 or 3 (Bermuda and Mediteranean being the others).  What got me to look at this cruise was a targeted promo NCL was offering.  It's still not clear to me who they were targeting or why.  Just that some of us here at CC received coupons.  In particular, 20% off the cruise fare on Alaska itineraries.  It went as high as 50% off the cruise fare, but that is for sailings on the older ships.  Plus, I've never been on the Bliss before.  

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Just boarded this pretty ship. Efficient boarding 30 minutes early. Boarding time was 2:15 but let us on at 1:35pm. Muster completed and enjoying a drink. Lunch at The Galley was good. Pastrami sandwich was decent. The desserts were amazing. A s’more parfait was over the top. More tonight after Gumbae. 

Hello All!  I’ve always enjoyed following along on the cruise adventures of others and I think it’s time I try to give back, so here we go.
 
It’s a new ship for me.  I know the Sun is one of the older ships in the fleet, but I am actually looking forward to “less” stuff to do.
I’ve never been through the Panama Canal.  I’m excited about that and I specifically chose the Sun because I wanted to go through the old locks.
           I have since found out that the smaller ships simply go through whichever set of locks is most convenient.

More.....

Long-time cruiser (around 18 under the belt dating back to 1981, then long pause until 2004) and Cruise Critic member, thinking about being a first-time “reviewer.” 
 
I am a former public defender living in a southern state.  Having served my time, carrying the weight of other peoples’ problems for 28 years, and being stressed to the max on many, many occasions, I retired about 1.5 years ago at the age of 58.  I have since been living a life of leisure until I recently took on a contract job as an investigator (I did much of my own investigations when I had a real job) for one serious criminal case.  It has provided all of the excitement without the stress.  

This morning I caught a flight from DCA to MIA for my first ever S2S and first ever non-Carnival cruise. I have 3 days on MSC Divina, disembark and walk to Carnival Conquest's terminal for a 4 day cruise.  I have cruised 25 times,  all Carnival.  I will be trying to focus on differences in the brand experiences, but food and ridiculousness will find it's way home I imagine as long as I don't trip over the bathroom threshold and crack my skull like last cruise.  My lives tend to be photo- and food-heavy. 

We set sail from NY on Wednesday and have had an absolute blast the first two days of our trip! We are in Bermuda today and spent the day at Horseshoe Bay, which was gorgeous. I was sure the water would be too cold for swimming but my kids didn’t mind it and spent all day in the ocean. We did the $7/person mini bus transfers and it was SO easy. I don’t know why anyone would do the NCL transfer for so much more $$. The driver gave us a fantastic tour on the way there - I loved it! At the beach there were places to buy water and Italian ice. We headed back around 2 pm and my kids set off to see if they could get some time on the basketball court (it’s been crowded and also closes pretty early, at 5 pm). I’ve been recovering from a hot beach day by napping in the spa 🙂 The thermal suite pass for the week is definitely worth it! 

We booked this cruise onboard back in Jan 2021 as a “place holder” B2B cruise. But as time went on, we found we really liked the itinerary, so here we are. We later added a short "Cruise to Nowhere" preceding the B2B to act as a "floating hotel" option. So in a worst-case scenario if our flight to Sydney gets delayed and miss the 3-night cruise, we’ll just stay in a Sydney hotel until the transpacific leg departs a few days later.
 
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On this sailing is myself, DD (15), DS (11), and DDs bff (15). We live in Vancouver, so these repositioning cruises are a great little getaway. We have done this cruise on Bliss every year it has been offered. 

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My (our) bags are packed, we’re ready to go I’m standing here outside your door….🎶 
I’ve had that song in my head all day! 🙈
 
I’m looking forward to boarding the beautiful Pearl tomorrow with my husband and our 9 yr old grandson!  
We took him on this cruise last Easter too but we’re expecting a full ship this year.

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The pre-cruise:
We’re flying into Miami on Friday and I hope there is a break in the weather. And that hope is for the Floridians. Looking at the weather, it’s been a deluge with flood warnings. There are Pride events 🌈 in Miami this weekend so I’m hoping that they will have great weather. 

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Just some observations from an RCI / Princess sailor. Some things we like very much like the music venues, the cabin(Bcy 4191), and the service.
 
Have not sailed on HAL since 2005 on the Zuiderdam. It was OK, but not enough to book additional cruises. The Pinnacle Class ship is a nice upgrade.
 
Trying still to get used to the "hybrid" Lido dining. Some things you do for yourselves(serving CERTAIN items), other things are done for you. The tables are set up with hand towels/silverware as well as glasses. There are salt and pepper shakers, but no Splenda, etc.

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Hop onboard the beautiful Norwegian Encore for a Spring Break Getaway with The Bird! The Encore is departing from Miami on Easter Sunday and calls at Great Stirrup Cay, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, and the Dominican Republic. This is the Encore’s last Caribbean cruise of the 2022-2023 season. Following this cruise, the Encore transits the Panama Canal to the a west Coast to begin her Alaskan season. The Encore returns to Miami in November 2023 to resume this itinerary through the winter 2023-2024. 

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The Encore was delivered to NCL on October 30, 2019, and made her way from Southampton to New York and then to Miami. On November 21, 2019, the Norwegian Encore was christened and named by her godmother, Kelly Clarkson. The Bird was on the Encore for her inaugural voyage on November 24, 2019, and NCL’s first North American cruise after the pandemic shutdown, the Great Cruise Comeback, on August 7, 2021. This will be The Bird’s fourth voyage the stunning Norwegian Encore.  
 
Come along with The Bird and all of the Peeps for an Easter and Spring Break Getaway to the Eastern Caribbean. 
 
Sun Apr 09 Miami Depart 5:30 pm
Mon Apr 10 Great Stirrup Cay 7:00 am – 3:30 pm
Tue Apr 11 At Sea
Wed Apr 12 St. Thomas 11:30 am - 7:00 pm
Thu Apr 13 Tortola 6:00 am – 2:00 pm
Fri Apr 14 Puerto Plata 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sat Apr 15 At Sea
Sun Apr 16 Miami Arrive 7:00 a.m.
 



 

Well, the last Live Review I attempted was on the Getaway out of Port Canaveral, but that cruise got canceled last September due to hurricane. Pretty sure we are safe for this sailing on the Joy. This Cruise my Wife and I will be traveling with our 16 year daughter (Her 1st cruise ever) and her 17 year old friend (also 1st cruise). Wife and I cruise a lot mainly on NCL but have cruised RCCL, Princess, and Carnival as well but prefer NCL. We will be staying in the Aft Facing Haven suite, 1st time in this suite but our past 2 NCL cruises have both been in the Haven on the Breakaway. 

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Hi all … it has been years since I’ve contributed much but thought I’d share on our first cruise since the pandemic and our first cruise with a child. 
 
The unexpected cruise
I had been whispering the word “cruise” in my wife’s ear for a while, but even this time last year, she was still worried about pandemic cruising with our son. Over the Christmas holiday, we had some family members ask us about cruising for spring break. They wanted to look at a Disney and I laughed and said I’d get back to them but that they were going to be surprised about the price, especially for the first week of April and still spring break season. I did research and most cruises on all lines were nutso bonkers expensive with one reasonable option being Allure of the Seas out of Galveston. They were interested and then suddenly my wife was too … right now she is still saying she will only cruise with a Central Park (which are the only ships she’s been on anyway) but that’s a battle for another day. We booked in January (so fairly late) and then I needed to figure out what it meant for midwesterners to cruise out of Galveston.

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AND THEN SOME....
 
Tomorrow wifey-poo and I set out on a round the world excursion....just worked out that way
We are setting out to Australia to cruise back to the USA and Seattle. My BIL happens to live in Perth, AUS and we've never been down there to visit, so why not take advantage of a great $100pp Balcony cabin w/DOU all over and freeplay, visit Perth and hop a ship home?

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