Live Cruise Reports

This will actually be my first time on a Vista class ship. I’ve never seen an “atrium” funnel in person, and I’m not sure how I feel about the lack of glass elevators. But, I’m sure I’ll adjust somehow, probably with help from the Cheers! package. 
So join me as we fly to Long Beach on Friday, board on Saturday, and sail the Mexican Rivera for 7 nights of the same menus (you’ve seen previously), 3 ports (you are probably all ready familiar with), and adult beverages (plenty)! Let’s go cruising! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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Apparently, my husband and I are converted cruise devotees. Of course I spend an inordinate amount of time on Cruise Critic, but that's mainly because I have a terribly boring job. This will be the third cruise in 2022, all of which have been on NCL's Getaway. We really are branching out to a new ship, the NCL Joy, in March, but for now, we'll stick to the best ship in the fleet. Thankfully NCL sails out of NYC year round or we likely would not have gone on so many cruises. 

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We will be embarking the Ocean Odyssey today December 13th and, time and internet permitting, will post about the ship and the rest of our journey.
 
We arrived in Mumbai 2-1/2 days ago.  We elected to book flights through Vantage that theoretically got us in a day early. What it meant was we added a night on our own at the Taj Tower in Mumbai so we would have a room waiting for us upon arrival.  Many of those that did not do this had to wait in the lobby or restaurants two to eight hours for their room to be ready.  We also booked through the hotel the airport transfer.  Unless Vantage takes into account the early arrivals of flights into this part of the world I highly recommend you do this.

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Hello everyone, I always enjoy reading these posts so wanted to contribute. This will basically be a photo dump review. I have the basic internet and see photo but looks like they upgraded to the starlink ahead of schedule. Although when I was connected to it this website showed up very weird and I am currently on my 5G connection. But I have service in key west and the Bahamas so if I can’t upload while on open ocean I will in ports. I hope you enjoy.

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his is a casino cruise which is kind of interesting considering I've never sailed on Celebrity (but do have a cruise booked with them next year).

So a new cruise line and new ship for me. Should be interesting. Any don't miss recommendations? Any requests?

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Thought I would attempt a live “mini” report. Sailed this ship many times and have done several live reports…... But, I know  Allure is pretty new to Galveston, so it’s definitely a new experience-even for me. 😊 
 
I’ll be posting a few photos and some commentary along the way. Happy to answer any questions if you have a sailing coming up! 

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A very good morning to you all from a still bitterly cold Gatwick.  As promised I'll try to let you know how the Great Adventure goes and will try to drop in here with updates. 
 
We had a comfortable night in the Hampton by Hilton which is attached to the North Terminal and thankfully it means we won't have to face the current minus 4 degrees outside just needing to wander 100 yards and up the escalator to check in.

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Come along for a quick Disney getaway on the Disney Dream.  There will be lots of pictures and plenty of observations and A LOT of Mickey Ice Cream Bars!
 
If you got questions I can probably find someone on the ship that knows the answer.

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Several people have asked if I intent to live blog my first Princess cruise, the Emerald Princess' 15-day Panama Canal transit. I fully intend to, but having never sailed Princess before, I don't know how reliable the WiFi included with my Princess Plus package will be.
 
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Well, I’m hoping to be able to post fairly live anyway 😂 The internet in October on Discovery was soooo bad. I’m hoping the Island will be better. 
I’ll make my posts dark purple so easier to find. I let the folks on my roll call know to feel free to share their experiences as well if they’d like. 
 
Yes, this year I’ll have sailed on the newest and one of the biggest ships AND one of the smallest and oldest Princess ships. I’ve had three other cruises this year as well, twice on the Majestic and once on 😳 THAT ship, 😅the Crown restart cruise. We ended up getting a 50% credit so that put a nice dent in the price of this cruise. 5 cruises in a year is a first for me, and not something likely to happen a lot. It was a lot of fun though. 
 
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Basic wifi is a real issue.  If you want to access this site during your cruise, you need the premium wifi.  I finally upgraded last night, so my review will be semi live.
 
we booked our flights through Celebrity, flew down on the 8th and stayed with friends who live in Tampa.  Flight was on Delta, very full plane, no issues.  

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Check-in was one of the fastest and smoothest I’ve experienced on any ship or line. Have your stuff ready and the whole thing takes less than 5 minutes. Cabins ready at 1:00. Both suitcases arrived by 2:45.

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It's that time again to enjoy life and relaxation at sea.   We set sail on Saturday out of San Pedro (LAX).   As usual all are welcome and feel free to chime in and add your comments.   If your on the cruise feel free to help out and post your observations and photos.
 
I was surprised to discover when I looked back at our cruise history that we have never sailed SOLSTICE before.   How did that happen?  

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We are continuing the second leg of a B2B (or side to side) and board the Celebrity Beyond this Sunday in Fort Lauderdale.  We are currently finishing our first leg on the Royal Odyssey of the Seas.
 
This will be our 4th Celebrity sailing, and have also sailed Royal, Norwegian, and Disney.  I plan this review to be mostly live, but I might have some portions that will be done post cruise.
 
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It is time to begin our LIVE review of our upcoming Christmas Cruise – CB Panama Canal partial transit. I love holiday cruises and seeing all the Christmas decorations. 🎄⛄🤶
 
This is our last FCC Princess cruise - using up all the FCCs from our COVID canceled cruises. My DD and I were scheduled to take this cruise back in 2021 but we all know how that ended up. 🙄. We rescheduled to this year and so far, so good! I have never been to the Panama Canal, so this checks off a bucket list trip for me. 

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The time has come for another Christmas cruise… this will be my second cruise on Carnival.  My last Carnival cruise was on the Mardi Gras Christmas cruise last year.  Excited to see what’s different what’s the same and the beautiful ship I have heard so much about.  I have been on a few cruises since the Mardi Gras just not on Carnival.  As always you got questions I will see if I can find someone onboard for the answer 😆 

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There are a lot of great reviews going on right now. I debated if I should do one or not because there are definitely better live reviews of this ship already going on. But I enjoy doing them and I am part of the casino Ultra group so can give a different perspective so decided what the heck, can never have too many reviews of a brand new ship. Just don't expect this to be next level like the other great live reviews of this ship 😄
 
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I wasn't sure if I would do a Live for this sailing, but since there hasn't been much word about Ruby lately and this is the first sailing out of Galveston in some time, I figured I would give it a shot! I can't promise much - it will be dependent on wifi and how much time I have. That being said, I will happily try to answer any questions you may have!
 
Background:
This sailing will be myself, DD (15) and DS (11). Joining us will be another family we met on a cruise and our friend from the US. Princess has been a long time favourite for myself and my kids, and all three of us have sailed them many times (even the 11 year has attained elite status).

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Hello everyone!
 
My DD DH and I never booked winter cruises as it was too tricky to get out of Dodge.  But this year I bit the bullet and wanted to run away from home 😉 
 
It was touch and go for a number of minutes (or is that hours 😉) but I am here in San Diego and doing my first ever Holiday cruise which will span Christmas and New Year’s.  I’ve been reading some negative comments on the Koningsdam but I’m going so we shall see what happens. 🤞 I’m honest though and call it like I see it so stay tuned.

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Will endeavor to post some impressions and details.

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I am on Diamond now and we are enjoying the ship which is currently about 50% occupancy with about 1200 guests.  I know this isn’t good for the Princess bottom line but it’s great as a passenger. No lines, you can easily get a deck chair by the pool anytime ( no chair hogs in sight), very fast bar service. One of the entertainers said he hoped we were all enjoying our private yacht experience lol. We are!  

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Joined the Moon in Barbados yesterday. Boarding was very slow but once on board all good. There are a few staff still on from our September cruise who it is good to see again 
Ate in SALT last night. Caribbean menu is very interesting and was well executed. Service good in the restaurant and the bars. After dinner everywhere was sparsely populated. We had drinks in Dolce Vita and there were only four other couples in there.
We are in Martinique today docked right next to a Royal Caribbean ship - the noise from their public address system and "music" is very intrusive.
Tonight is formal night and we are booked into La Dame.

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I had hoped to do a somewhat ‘live’ photo/comment review of our cruise.
 
Unfortunately, the Internet is almost nonexistent! There have been some days where we could not send even a basic one-line email and one day it was down for maintenance for most of the afternoon.
 
So, it looks like I will be limited to posting text comments. Once we return home, I’ll likely do a photo review of the cruise.

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Currently just got on the Dawn on Monday in Lisbon. The ship is apparently fully booked and we don't feel any crowds. There were open tables last night in La Dame and the same on Monday in SALT restaurant. On the daily Chronicles regarding dress code, there is no mention of "Levi's not allowed". I saw Levis last night in La Dame and a few with no ties and it was formal night. For us, dinner in La Dame was worth every penny of the upcharge. Monday and tonight were casual night and Levis are allowed with no problems. One comment on SS air for us. We just had a summer cruise to Copenhagen Bus Air and it was perfect. Getting to Lisbon on SS air last Sat. was also perfect- so far, so good. If you have questions, please ask and I will try to answer when I have the time. Overall we are loving the Dawn and looking forward to the Nova in August of 2023.

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Hi all,
 
Embarkation, as always, was smooth for The Retreat, as X has this down to a science at this point. 15 minutes from pier to ship, with a stop in the lounge for some food. (we hadn’t eaten all day) Luminae Lunch, although slow because of the embarkation day rush, was good. Dinner was incredible, with one of the best waiters we’ve had on any line. Our Butler, Gene, has always been visible thus far and active in accommodating us. The concierge team was excellent and prompt in addressing all matters we had upon boarding. The service in general, as expected from X, is phenomenal.
 
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