Live Cruise Reports

I usually don’t do Live reports about a cruise, but decided to try one now that I have a keyboard for my iPhone since typing on my phone is too time consuming.  We are leaving on Saturday on the Viking Sky - Athens to Athens, billed as the Greek Odyssey cruise.  I booked the cruise back in April during a promotion that was just too good to pass up.  

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Prologue
I may be person with the lowest post count in Cruise Critic history to post do this, but I guess I have to start somewhere! I’ve been a long time lurker and excited to be able to do this live trip report!
 
My wife and I are taking Virgin Voyages for the first time aboard the Valiant Lady’s Western Caribbean Charm itinerary from November 27th thru December 3rd from Miami, stopping in Roatan, Costa Maya, and Bimini. 
 
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Hi everyone!  I’m currently on the Bliss, so if anyone has any questions, I will try to answer what I can.  Trying to do this from my phone, so sorry for any typos.  
 
This is my 6th cruise, all in the last 8 years, 3rd on NCL and 2nd in The Haven.  Traveling with my 81year old mom, my wife and 14 and 11 year old sons.  
 
We flew in the night before and stayed at the Aloft El Segundo by LAX, which was a block away from an In-n-Out Burger.  Don’t get those very often, so might as well.  The hotel was nice and they rearranged to give us connecting rooms.  Staff was very friendly and helpful, rooms were clean but pretty small.  Would definitely stay there again.  

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Currently sat in the Crows nest getting drinks. 
Still missing suitcases so can’t get ready for dinner and not sure where to go yet. Ship and the room is beautiful 

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Since I am a new cruiser to Celebrity after five cruises on Disney, I want to share a first-timer’s impressions in the context of having a Disney baseline.  I will add my voice to the endless debates of Edge Class, Infinite Verandahs, and “declining standards.” We are very pleased and impressed, so far!

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Welp, arrangements have been made for my girls, bags packed, car loaded and we're off bright and early tomorrow morning.  DH and I will head down I75 to Port Canaveral where our little five night adventure will begin.  Found a little throw back seaside inn on the Space Coast called The Inn at Cocoa Beach where we will enjoy one night in a king, pool view room complete with in-room coffee, evening honor bar, and hot breakfast.

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Ahoy Virgin Voyagers! I hope you’ll join me on a quick 4 nights on the Scarlet Lady. I’m a long time cruiser, first time VVer, excited to experience the Virgin Way and bring it all to you live here on CC! Key West and Bimini are our ports of call, and we will get up early to see the Valiant Lady meet up. Lots of cocktails will be had, and I can’t wait to try all the food, I’ve heard so much about. So subscribe, sit back and we set sail Wednesday. 

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Live, and some post live from the naming ceremony.  A really lousy, rainy day dai but we are here for the festivities.  

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Just got to our stateroom (11:30am); unfortunately this damn red eye from SFO got her at 8am; and they wouldn’t let us in the door until 10am!
we just finished watching the safety video and we’re heading down to muster station to “check in”.
here’s a list of the buffet specialities per night.

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare
26.1k
June 25, 2014
Xibalba

Author

#3

Posted Saturday at 12:59 PM · IP
Booking

 

I booked this cruise when it first went on sale a little over two years ago. I wanted to get on the first cruise out of Miami but with that being Thanksgiving week, I went with the second cruise.

I have settled into booking 4J rooms or regular interior rooms close to the “secret deck” with a preference of lido deck and a secondary choice of the deck above the bridge which gives you the secret deck with wings where you can look down the sides of the ship.

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Howdy! Okay, I'm gonna give this a whirl... I've never done a LIVE live review before, so there's absolutely a chance this completely derails and withers into nothingness sooner rather than later. But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained, amirite???

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Being a longtime lurker, I wanted to make a contribution back to the community by doing this trip report. This will be our first time cruising with Ponant!
 
Pre-Nov. 10, 2022
We had some struggles with Ponant's pre-cruise communications (seems like others have mentioned this in other threads too). 
We never received replies to any emails sent to Ponant customer service emails (including the dedicated Commandant Charcot concierge email they advertise and a US customer service email we were told to contact by Ponant's phone line). However, their phone customer service has been great!

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And here we are at the Sofitel on Buenos Aires’ beautiful Posada street, the staging area for our first Antarctic cruise. It seems there are around 140 of us divided into six groups, three French and three English (non-French). So far, we’ve met four French couples, three Australian couples and an American traveling solo. First time on Ponant for all of them. Unlike us, who arrived Tuesday morning after a particularly painful American Airlines flight (replete with unhappy screaming infants), and were somewhat jet lagged, the others had been in town for a couple of days and had seen the sights — and had recommendations for things to do on our next visit. 

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Maybe live from Emerald Princess TA November 7th
  Internet permitting - I hope to post a live report from the Emerald Princess.   I booked this cruise probably less than 4 months ago. They were running a special of balcony for an inside price and there didn’t seem to be a single supplement involved. The price also included Princess Plus. A friend had just found the pricing on this cruise and likes transatlantics so I decided to join him. This will be my first transatlantic cruise. Except for Southampton - I have not been to these ports.

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Hello and happy Friday CC Friends!  Man, it feels like forever since I’ve been on a cruise ship…
 
Fortunately, three long, hard months after DH and I stepped off my Bermuda birthday cruise on Summit, on Monday I will fly to Florida to sail on the Beyond!  Would anyone like to come along?
 
I think most may know me from previous reviews, but a quick about me:  
 
Married 40 year old lawyer from outside of St. Louis, MO. Celebrity is our preferred cruise line and I’m Elite status level.  Due to differing vacation allowances and abilities to work remotely, I sail about 70% of the time either solo or semi-solo with a friend in a separate cabin (what can I say? I need my personal space).  I

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Well, I debated doing this LIVE thread for several reasons but thought that there might be some people out there who are considering booking the Sky Suite or who may want to know more about the experience. Also, I have heard that the Wi-Fi (or total lack thereof) is a total NIGHTMARE on this ship. How can that be? It is a new ship!! In this day and age having decent the Wi-Fi should be a given IMO.

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Today is my last day of feverish packing.  Tomorrow morning, Friday, November 4, I drive to Lorton, VA and board the Auto Train to Florida.  For the next 6 days I will be in 5 separate beds, home, Auto Train, Winter Garden, Winter Haven, and Fort Lauderdale 2 nights.
On November 9 I board the Eurodam for a partial Panama Canal cruise, going through the Atlantic locks, turning around in Lake Gatun and returning to the Atlantic.   Other stops are Bahamas, Aruba, Curacao, Colombia, and Costa Rica.

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We flew in the day before so we had some extra time if there was a flight delay.   We stayed right by the Roma Termini station.  That allowed us to quickly get to and from the airport.  We got to check out the Roman Baths near the station and get some food.  Otherwise, we slept and relaxed.    We got to the meeting point at the airport at 9:40 (was told to get there at 10).  It was easy to find. Waited about 45 minutes.   It was a bit of a walk to the bus.  We waited in line to show our Vax cards and then had to get our luggage tags.  Our luggage got put on a truck instead of the bus.  We then waited in line for the bus. For some reason, they did not allow us to get on the bus so we had to wait around some more.  Finally started getting on the bus at 10:45.  A handful of brought their luggage on the bus.  This just creates more waiting at the port so I'm not sure why they did that.  

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We have been waiting almost two years to go on this particular 38-day B2B on the Jade from Athens through the Suez Canal to Dubai, and then along the eastern coast of Africa down to Cape Town. So many places we have only dreamed of seeing!
 
It is going to be an awesome cruise for so many reasons. Here is the itinerary which we also have some pretty cool NCL excursions booked. 
 
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Come along for 7 night one way cruise from Venice to Rome.  It will be a boot camp trip but should still allow some time to explore around the ship.
 
If you got questions I can probably find someone on the ship that knows the answer.

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Well, here I am again. This is my third Celebrity cruise post-Covid (as if that’s some kind of actual date) and fourth cruise overall post-Covid.  Last cruise was a Pacific Coastal cruise this past September with Oceania (awesome).  

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We start our 30+ day adventure today.  DH and I are all packed.  3 Suitcases for the trip.  We fly from CLT to Munich then onto Barcelona BUT with all the schedules changes we have an 11 hour layover in Munich.  So I did my research,  found a hotel IN Munich Airport.  We will be staying in the Munich Hilton for the layover.  I got a day rate of 89 Euro. We get the room from 9 am to 6 pm  It is worth it for sleep.  For those who don't know about day rates, alot of airport hotels have them BUT you have to call the hotel.

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Today in Barcelona, we embarked on the Royal Caribbean "Wonder of the Seas",  the largest cruise ship in the world.  This is a 14-night repositioning cruise as she transitions from a summer in the Mediterranean to the winter season in the Caribbean.
 
We will visit 5 ports along the way:  Palma, Valencia, Cartagena, Malaga, and finally Nassau before arriving in Port Canaveral on 13 November.
 

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We are at the Seventy Hotel in Barcelona, a fabulous hotel in a great location, and will board the Wind Star tomorrow. Hopefully, the internet onboard will cooperate some of the time and I will be able to post while onboard.  We are thrilled to be cruising Windstar again and look forward to seeing some new ports as well as sailing another crossing. The weather has been wonderful in Barcelona  and the forecast appears excellent for the first part of the cruise around Spain, Morocco, and Portugal.  Yahoo!  We will be sailing again!  

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My earlier live review from Splendor ended up titled only “ONB.”  If you are interested in current views on Splendor, open ONB from a few days ago.  That was in Spain, now we are on the next segment in Italy.  David Nevin still CD and still great. Passenger count rose from 625 to 675. Still feels very uncrowded.

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