Live Cruise Reports

I am starting this "Live" thread a little early as we will be leaving tomorrow for a week's stay in Tuscany before we board the ship. 
 
We are traveling with another couple and are flying from Los Angeles to Rome (FCO), non-stop, on Italia Transporto Aereo (ITA).  This is the former Alitalia Airline.  We booked Business Class via EZair at a fantastic price! 

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This will be my first review so hopefully it won’t be too bad. We are sailing on the Ovation Of The Seas. This will be a b2b with the first cruise being a 19 day TP and then an 11 day New Zealand cruise. This is our first time on Ovation and our third time doing a TP since 2017. We originally wanted to do a Northern European cruise, but there wasn’t anything that interested us at the time so we booked this one.
Here is our schedule for the 2 cruises. Any questions regarding the second - New Zealand cruise I will answer them when that cruise starts.

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I have just finished the Boston Quebec Boston Cruise and am back-to- back on the Boston to Miami repositioning on Summit.  Will be happy to try to answer any questions you have.

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Greetings!  I am hoping this will be a live review of Oosterdam’s Greek Odyssey cruise.  We are currently in our Airbnb close to the cruise port.  Embarkation day is Monday, October 10th.
 
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My Gastrognome and I cruise on Celebrity two or three times a year and have done so for a number of years, usually in upper suites and in what Celebrity now calls the Retreat.
 
This is a bucket list cruise for me and to celebrate my 60th so we have ”pushed the boat out” and booked a Q2 which in size terms seems on paper similar to a Royal suite on Celebrity.
 
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We headed to Barcelona for a week long precruise vacation. My spouse is Gluten-free and I’ll highlight all our GF dining experiences along our journey.
 
We flew British Airlines from the US to London then continued on to Barcelona. The airline did an excellent job of providing Gluten-free meals except the bread option was a rice cake. Be sure to bring your patience  when going through customs at Heathrow airport. The line we were waiting in was shut down due to a bag getting stuck in the X-ray machine. 🙄

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Starting this thread a tad late as we embarked on Saturday in Barcelona.  I will also be blogging with more details and photos.  
 
Highlights so far:
Amazing embarkation.  We were on the ship in record time!  So easy for YC! 

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The cruise has recently been tagged as a booze cruise. Hey, it does have the makings of one with 3 only nights and reasonably priced drink packages built into the plus fares, what could go wrong? It isn't a booze cruise for us, and I suspect most of the other passengers.

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Embarked on 10/6 in Vancouver and it was a little nightmare due to the crowds and the overall layout of the facilities.
 
This is not an NCL issue but a few big ships in a small area.
 
Took one hour to get on which is not really that bad.
Ship is nice, staff is excellent. I must give a shout out to Jerry our cruise director for setting up our meet and mingle. I have interacted with him a few times. 
Entertainment has been fun, shows are good so far.
 
Due to weather we lost Skagway. We now have 6 sea days in a row to Hawaii.
 
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Boarded Radiance successful. We stayed in Torrance last night, easy 15 min drive. After getting parking lot ticket go left if no passenger drop off entrance just around corner on right. We were lucky passed 20-26 reserved spots then an empty. We highly recommend backing into spot so can get out into those leaving ramp after cruise easier. 

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My Gastrognome and I cruise on Celebrity two or three times a year and have done so for a number of years, usually in upper suites. This is a bucket list cruise for me and as Celebrity doesn’t yet sail as far north in the Fjords as Tromso we choose Cunard. It is also to celebrate my 60th so we have ”pushed the boat out” and booked a Q2 which equates, I believe, to an RS.

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We decided we needed a city break, and with the air chaos of cancellations we thought this short voyage to Amsterdam where QV stays overnight, would be ideal. We are only about 1hr 30 mins from the port, so much easier than an airport run.
Yesterday we took our COVID tests, that were thankfully negative, and the packing started. We have a formal B&W night to look forward to and hopefully fine weather for walking a very interesting city.  We arrived at the terminal about 1.15pm, and after depositing the case, joined a “Disneyesque” queue through the barriers to enter the main building.

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There have been a lot of changes as the two years of planning and preparation have played out, but now we're ready to buckle in and let things happen as they may!
Itinerary....

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Ahoy, sailors! 
 
As I’m in the throes of preparing to depart for Barcelona and the Valiant Lady for the upcoming French Daze & Ibiza nights sailing, for some reason I got it into my head that I’d attempt a live review for all of you!  In my research for this sailing I found very little info here on CC for this particular ship (I know it’s the twin of Scarlet Lady, but still) and itinerary and not much happening in the roll call section, so if this can help out someone in the future then I’m all for it!

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It’s cruise week, and once again, I’ll be your host taking you on a whirlwind, 8 night sailing on the Carnival Dream. From transportation to debarkation, Fall break is gonna be a blast from your computer or mobile device.
 As always, I’ll be bringing you all the action, food, and drinks… yes, there will definitely be drinks! So hit that subscribe button, car leaves Friday; ship leaves Saturday. Let’s go cruising! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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So this is a tale of two Cruises back to back. This allowed it to be a round trip out of Athens. 
We flew in the day before and given the timings of the flights did not arrive till after midnight Greek time. With that in mind we did not attempt to go into Athens which we will visit on our way home but rather stayed at the Holiday Inn near the airport. This was a choice driven by economics as the Sofitel was four times dearer. The Holiday Inn had a free shuttle from the airport and totally ticked all the boxes we needed to do  - a clean room a comfortable bed and a good night sleep. 

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It’s been a long time, but it is finally time for another Live Review with Andrew and Lisa, this time on Mariner of the Seas.  In fact, this one has been years in the making, as we have not sailed since the fall of 2019.  We, like many of you, have cancelled far too many cruises but now it is almost go time for us.

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My wife Jan and I boarded Voyager this morning in Boston.  This is our journey. 
 
Yesterday,  Saturday,  we drove from home south of Birmingham,  AL, to Nashville.   We did this in order to have a direct flight to Boston.   The drive was easy on the flight uneventful.   We checked into our hotel,  the Westin seaport around 10pm.  We were up and out this morning slightly after 10 for our 10:30 boarding.   We were at the terminal through security and on the ship shortly after 11. 

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I’ll post some pictures of misc things, with some commentary as the Wi-Fi allows.   
Embarkation was a breeze.  Got to the port of LA at 10:15 and was on the ship by 11:00
I have a balcony room on the Dolphin deck right above the lifeboats.   Room is nice, lifeboats beneath the balcony prohibits looking straight down at the ocean.  It’s room D306 for reference.   I booked late due to the Diamond cancellations, so I’m happy just getting any balcony.  Flying solo for 3 B2Bs.    

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She’s here!

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Last minute decided to do a live review from Allure of the Seas Oct 1 sailing to Labadee, Aruba, and Curaçao! 
 
Just bought the internet today. Feel free to ask me questions and I will answer to the best of my ability 
 
I am cruising with my best friend in an ocean view on deck 3. 

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I debated starting this thread...then decided "why not!" Others seem to enjoy reading "live" threads as I do.  
 
This is actually a bit late getting started,  we're already 3 days into our cruise. Internet is not as bad as I expected...it's not great but it's usable (mostly).

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Hi everyone.  I am going on my first, ever, river cruise!  It began with my sister and I booking a HAL TA — and then we saw we could do a River Rhine cruise, disembark in Amsterdam, then embark on the 150th Anniversary Cruise in Rotterdam on the same day!  Sadly, those plans had to change.  We will now be disembarking, flying to Rome, then catching a HAL Greek Odyssey cruise instead.  Well, maybe not so sadly because that will be fun too.

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 This is my first attempt at any type of blog while we are on our Beyond B2B from Rome to Barcelona and return.  I’m usually just a lurker but feel inspired to share my experiences to possibly help someone on their Beyond journey.  I take great inspiration from @Jim_Iain  and his helpful advise to the questions I have had over the years.  This will be live(ish) because on our down days, I may not have much information to share.    Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have and I will do my best to answer them all.  But because this is my first time, please be gentle with me.

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