Live Cruise Reports

We boarded Anthem this morning for this 12-night cruise calling at Vigo, Lisbon, Lanzarote, Gran Canária, Tenerife, Funchal and La Coruña.
 
Fastest boarding ever. Fifteen minutes tops from getting out the taxi to stepping on board.
 
For those wondering about the negative test, required for this sailing because of the length, I actually brought the test cartridges all the way from Portugal to Southampton 😂. The check in agent barely glanced at them; they could have been anybody's.

Click to Cruise Along!

It's time again to head out on another cruise adventure.  We plan to board the Westerdam in Seattle on Sunday, 10/2/22 with a scheduled departure time of 3pm.  I'll be doing my customary "Almost Live" thread from the ship for our 64 day voyage (B2B2B).  We've done this trip a couple times before, but what makes this one special is that this Westerdam cruise marks us cruising on the last Holland America ship in the current fleet that we've not sailed on previously. During the past year, we were able to sail on the previous last three (Rotterdam VII, Zuiderdam, and Noordam).

Click to Cruise Along!

The time has come for yet another virtual cruise.  This week I will back on Symphony of the Seas.  Port stop mixed in with sea days to rest while dodging yet another hurricane.  Come along for pictures, lots of food and lots of my random thoughts 💭

Click to Cruise Along!

It’s time to strike up the orchestra and conduct another review. This time on Symphony of the Seas. This is our first cruise on Symphony. This Symphony cruise will feature the Unlimited Dining Package and Deluxe Drink Package. It’s going to be musical cornucopia of fine food and drink. After all a good pirate knows how to eat and drink.
 
Click to Cruise Along!

This will be our first time on the Getaway but have sailed the Breakaway several times. We will be staying in a Haven Courtyard Suite on deck 16 ( won my last 2 bids on the breakaway to Haven, but Getaway was almost sold out so outright booked it)  We have stayed in the 2 bedroom before and the forward facing Haven Suite and loved them both and sure we will love this one! We have done the Western several times in a row, simply because we were going out of New Orleans (Used to live in Memphis) so the Eastern is a nice switch.

Click to Cruise Along!

Pre-cruise musings
     Looking forward to being back on the ocean in a few days & thought I would do another live as this will be the first sailing for the Sapphire since the pause. It has been a lot of waiting & wondering to get to this point. We booked when Princess first announced that the Sapphire was changing her itineraries to sail out of LA instead of Asia & Australia this fall, but then!

Click to Cruise Along!

The cruise (assuming Hurricane Fiona does not sidetrack us), will be 12 days, including ports Montreal, Havre-St. Pierre,L'Anse aux Meadows, St. Johns, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Cap-aux-Miquelons, Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres, back to Montreal.

Click to Cruise Along!

This is the sailing itinerary:
Sat (17th) - Miami
Sun (18th) - Sea Day
Mon (19th) - Costa Maya
Tue (20th) - Roatan
Wed (21st) - Cozumel
Thu (22nd) - Sea Day
Fri (23rd) - Coco Cay
Sat (24th) - Miami

Click to Cruise Along!

September 18,2022-Tulsa to Montreal 
 
And we are off again, this time cruising from Montreal to NYC aboard Navigator.  We have done this cruise before, but in reverse, several years ago.   I had FCC’s from all the cancelled due to the pandemic cruises, which had to be used by the end of 2022.  Back then, it seemed so far away that I thought “no problem “.  But now we are here.  Time went by very quickly.  So it is time to set the table, as my friend Rich would say.
 
Click to Cruise Along!

Hey look, its cruise time again for me.  I'm back and not competing with @Radio on the same cruise.  I'm also tagging @FionaMG as I always tag her on my live threads.

Last time we left, we were on Enchantment.  I realize i'm becoming a regular here, so i'm just going to post this link so i can refer to my other links.  Its mostly so i myself can find these and relive my adventures.  They tend to disappear off the search engine after a while, but they're still there by link.

Click to Cruise Along!

Well as live as it can be with this internet. 
 
 
I’m on this cruise to celebrate my 30th birthday with my family (HAL might be an odd choice but the price and itinerary were great) so I figured I would do another live thread like I did with the Koningsdam last year. 

Click to Cruise Along!

I was expecting someone else that has more experience to start a “Semi Live” but time is running out
 
Sorry, No Haven - did you see those prices?
Sorry, No Vibe - Baby it’s cold outside
Sorry, No Spa - All the Vibe people are in the Spa and some of stuff isn’t working 
 
This has been for us a long time coming, booked way back 5/11/2021, two months after our first Covid shot and still didn’t know when this nightmare will end.'

Click to Cruise Along!

Just a few mid cruise notes, first time on NCL.  Beatles Invasion is amazing, most lounge singers are excellent. Choir of Men was the worst show I have ever seen on land or see, just horrible, can’t believe they pay them.  Food at Le Bistro and Cagney was excellent, other food is totally lacking.  First the choices are bad, everything has extra stuff dumped on it.  One night 3 of 4 ordered from the every night menu, the steak could not be cut it was so tough and the fried flounder cam with an entire salad on top of it. One night my wife refused to go to a dining room as the menu was not good.  So far Alaska has not been what we hoped but tomorrow is Glacier Bay so we are hopeful.  First time with freestyle dining and although not have a set time is nice, the staff does not get to know who you are since you mostly only have someone once. We have yet to meet our room steward but the room gets cleaned.

Click to Cruise Along!

Embarkation Chioggia, we had to leave early Friday evening Port chased us out due to storm.
We docked in Ravenna Friday evening, Hurricane force winds broke dock lines Viking Sea
drifted in to rock Saturday morning. Friday in Venice lost, now Split is lost as ship needs divers
to inspect ships hull for damage. Crew hasn't told us what to expect Sunday at this point other
than we won't be sailing to Split tonite as planned. They are hoping to secure nighttime divers to
inspect ship. At this time we still have three tug boat keep ship against dock. At one point we had
6 tugs, 4 pushing ship toward dock and 2 on stern.  

Click to Cruise Along!

We are en route to MCT Pier 88, got a free upgrades to a minivan ride using Carmel, trip time 48 minutes ... driver was early & we are ready, can't wait 😁
 
Thanks to the live report onboard from the last 10 days Joy sailing, we are better prepared.  Free testing done by CVS, still required by NCL. ArriveCAN was easy & done, despite unclear info at times, watch safety video twice already 🙊
 
More later ... expecting a good turnout tomorrow for the CC Meet & Mingle, moved to Q Texas Smokehouse as it's much bigger vs. District BH.
 
Let's see what's new, different & changed - or same old, etc.  Going to be on Deck 15 AFT port side, near the elevators - 

Click to Cruise Along!

1: NOTHING VENTURED, SOJOURN GAINED
 
I genuinely thought our last cruise would be our last cruise.   That was early 2019, it was on the old Silver Galapagos and it was perhaps the least memorable cruise we’ve ever done.  So much so that I tend to regard Norway on the Seabourn Ovation in 2018 as our last proper cruise.

Click to Cruise Along!

We arrived a day early and stayed at the Hilton Midway in NYC and enjoyed a great lunch at PizzArte which was about a two block walk and is highly recommended! There were plenty of other restaurants in the area and convenience stores. Due to rain, we stayed at the hotel lounge/bar for dinner. When we asked for the check, the waiter told us a woman in the restaurant paid for our dinner (which was not cheap!) as she liked how my husband and I sat close together on the same side of the table at dinner. That was so unexpected and kind. We did meet her and thanked her. She asked us to give the waiter a generous tip as she had stayed at the hotel for several days. We did of course do what she requested and tipped very well.

Click to Cruise Along!

The time has come for yet another virtual cruise.  This week I will back on Symphony of the Seas.  Port stop mixed in with sea days to rest while running away from Fiona.  Come along for lots of pictures, lots of food and lots of my random thoughts 💭

Click to Cruise Along!

We are currently on the Discovery in Alaska. And I thought someone might want to know the good and bad on this 4 month old ship. We've traveled Celebrity and MSC in the past and were looking forward to experiencing the thrill of a ship that wasn't at least a decade old.
 
The pros- the ship is beautiful and in near immaculate condition. The bathroom in our mini-suite is roomy compared to Aqua Class and laid how super conveniently in our opinion. The room, also, is nicely laid out and roomier than AC on Celebrity. The furnishings are clean and pretty and functional. The staff is exceptionally friendly and eager to please. The medallion app is very convenient for getting into and out of the room without resorting to a key card.

Click to Cruise Along!

Pulled the trigger on this cruise just now.  Not live yet, but will provide pics upon embarkation.
 
Once again doing this solo.  Nice being retired.
 
Going to have to fly into one of the NYC airports.  Just not sure which one, yet.  Working on that currently.

Click to Cruise Along!

We are getting ready to leave for a 30 day trip centered around cruises onboard both the Quantum of the Seas and the Ovation of the Seas.  I plan to post about the trip as often as possible, and as close to live as possible.  Spotty Internet coverage may limit how often I can post, but I’ll try.  No promises that I won’t disappear for a few days.
 
I am Bob and my wife is Micheline.  We are retired and live on Amelia Island in NE Florida, near Jacksonville.  We’ve been on 13 cruises before so we’re not newbies, but also not the multiple cruises a year types either.  We’re Diamond on Royal and will turn D+ after our first cruise on this trip.  That will be important for both drinks and laundry on the second cruise.  More to come on that.  We travel from Jacksonville to Seattle tomorrow...Delta via Atlanta (of course).  

Click to Cruise Along!!

All is fine on Riviera.
 
Embarkation in Istanbul was a mess.  2 1/2 hours to get onboard with us arriving at 12 for our 12-12:30 boarding time.   New terminal is very nice but none of the taxi drivers seem to know how to get into the drop off area which is underground.   We got dropped off in the parking garage and had to navigate elevators.
 
1035 passengers on board.  Paul Baya is Cruise Director.   

Click to Cruise Along!

Hi Everyone 
Sitting in airport in Phoenix for quick flight to LAX, and then boarding the Regatta for first Oceania cruise since before Covid started. 
 
Looking forward to posting live as frequently as I can. Any and all questions welcomed! (Ok, maybe not any/all…. 😜)

Click to Cruise Along!

 
  I'm Randi and Julie is my wife.  We live in a North suburb of LA county and this cruise is celebrating Julie's retirement from the Los Angeles Police Department.  She retired as a Sgt on August 10th after 34 years with the department.   We're also celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary which will actually be two days after the cruise ends.   I'm pretty sure we got a really great price on this cruise as we used FCC from 2 previously cancelled cruises( Dec 2020 and September 2021).  The December 2020(Touch canal) cruise gave us 125 percent and we moved that to the September 2021(Iberian Peninsula) cruise.  When that was cancelled, we received a partial refund and we were told we could pick another cruise itinerary on Reflection( there was another ship we could choose, I can't remember at the moment).  Even if the cruise was more expensive( it was), we would not be charged the difference. 

Click to Cruise Along!

Report # 1   September 7, 2022   Wednesday   Leaving San Francisco to Vancouver   71 days on the Zuiderdam   78 degrees @ 4am and hot
 
We are heading off into much cooler weather as we fly north to Vancouver today, thank goodness.  Yesterday was a record-breaking 112 degrees at our place in the hills of the East Bay. Today, there was even a promise of higher temps , which seemed to make the news folks giddy with excitement.

Click to Cruise Along!