Live Cruise Reports

I will attempt to do a “live from” on our upcoming cruise on Royal Princess. I have read reports of wifi being awful, or CC not cooperating, so can’t promise anything but will post as/when I can. We are still one week from sailing, but since I have already started thinking/obsessing/planning/writing I figured I would get this rolling in the hopes that anyone else sailing might chime in. Our roll call has been pretty quiet, but I know there are a few of us on this sailing!
 
Background: Boring stuff first. On this sailing is myself, DS (11), DD (15) and DD’s BFF (15). Kids and I are seasoned cruisers, with Princess being our go-to line for many years. We are starting to branch out and try other lines these days – partly because the kids want more excitement, and partly because I haven’t been thrilled with the direction Princess has been taking (can we talk app???) This is BFF’s first cruise and I’m a little nervous – she’s a great kid, but she’s a teen…my kids have been cruising since they were babies so know the rules and the expectations. Let’s hope BFF is quick to learn! After booking this cruise, I learned that there are a number of ex coworkers/friends of ours also sailing! Ironically, we all worked together for Princess Cruises back in the day when Princess actually hired their own staff to work shoreside at the ports. Those were the good old days. It’s going to be fun to sail with them – we all booked separately, not realizing that each other was going so this is definitely meant to be!
This cruise was a bit of a last-minute thing to use up FCCs before they expired. I had originally booked on Crown for a roundtrip Hawaii sailing in October, but then DD informed me there was NO WAY she would miss 2 weeks of school. After a lot of juggling, searching, and tears, we found this sailing that met all of our requirements so I immediately booked it. We have cruised Alaska more times than I care to remember – one great advantage to where we live in Vancouver is that we can walk to the port (yes, walk) BUT you are also restricted on where those sailings will take you…

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Hello everybody. Sitting at MIA now waiting for my flight to Seattle where I will spend two days pre cruise before embarking on a 33 day adventure on the Carnival Spirit.
 
I'm looking forward to going live and will be happy to answer questions anyone may have about the Spirit.
 
I'll have more to post after I get settled in at my hotel in Seattle including the full itinerary and the issues surrounding this booking when Carnival changed ships from Freedom to Spirit.
 
I hope I'm not jinxing anything starting this thread before my Covid test results are back in 😬.

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Welcome to "LIVE" from Oasis of the Seas.
 
Hello everyone, and good day. The Sea is Calling.   I will be heading north tomorrow to sail Oasis of the Seas from Cape Liberty on September 11, 2022 (Sunday). This will be my first Cruise from Cape Liberty since last fall when I sailed Oasis of the Seas (B2B) Oct 2021 and Anthem of the Seas (B2B) Nov/Dec 2021. There have been many changes since my last time on Oasis of the Seas. Passengers that have a Vax card are no longer required to take a Covid test 3 days before sailing.   There will be no Vax bands like last year (Wrist bands to show who were vaccinated) and masks are not required in the passenger terminal or on the ship. The ship capacity levels have increased significantly. Last October, Oasis of the Seas sailed with about 2500 passengers (40%). Currently, the same ship has had over 6500 passengers (over 100%). I have been following many reports that discuss long lines, lots of kids (over 2500), and staffing shortages. Of course, to many reports, there have been passengers who loved everything about the ship, even with capacities above 100%. You will be viewing the ship through my eyes, and I will provide you with my thoughts onboard.   I am happy that I have the same cabin on week one and week two of my sailing. I am sure that I will be watching news for a bit during my 3 days at sea each week. I do not think I was able to experience all the new Royal Amplifications that were added in 2019 and will try to see more over the next two weeks. I am hoping for clear weather next week, and I am looking forward to entering the Passenger Terminal at Cape Liberty this Sunday.   There will be much more coming in just a few days . . . Thanks for tuning in.

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I'll try to keep this going through this whole cruise.
 
I'm Mallory, usually a solo cruiser, this time I'm with my Aunt Judy.
 
We left home (Northeast PA) at 7:30, checkin time was 10:30, we were hoping to beat traffic.  We did, and by 9:30 had our first glimpse of the ship.  10am we were parked, and 10:45 on board.
 
I have only cruised out of NY so far, first impression I'm very impressed with Cape Liberty.   Super fast and organized checkin.
 
Due to another cruise leaving yesterday (per the lot attendant), and the previous cruise not fully disembarked yet, we were parked in one of the overflow lots. Still not a bad walk into the pier.

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Hi.
First live blog for Ambassador. 
 
We embark tomorrow at 1220 and have just checked in to a local hotel.
 
Chronomics pre cruise covid testing did not go smoothly for us both. Mine went fine. My friend however got an 'invalid' result and will retest tomorrow at the pier.
 
Briefly our itinerary is : Tilbury - Faroes - Greenland - Canada - Iceland - Tilbury.
 
Welcome aboard the blog! Happy to answer ship/port questions and post pics.

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Somewhat live because I'll be using my cell service when were in port.
 
I lost count on how many cruises I've been one, about 2 dozen.  6th time with NCL I think.  This is my wife's 3rd cruise, all have been with NCL.  We booked this cruise because it has an awesome itinerary and fit our schedule.  Today was a little crazy but after 12 hours of traveling, we got on the boat and went straight for lunch.  Fairly standard stuff, nothing horrible, nothing amazing.  We then checked out our room, a family balcony.  It's nice given how old the ship is.  Cabin seems updated but the bathroom is not at all.  No big deal.

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Hello everyone! I will be boarding the Carnival Miracle at 11am on Monday September 5, 2022! This will be my second time to Alaska, but, the first since I've been on my own. We're traveling together in a party of 3 cabins 2, 3, and 3, making eight of us! I'm in a balcony room on the 4th deck! The others have inside cabins on the first (upgrading was too expensive for them!) 
 

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We are on board!
 
We will try to post fairly regularly and not get distracted by all the things we should be doing instead of posting on CC.
 
Once on board, the only problem is a noise from the AC in the suite; will update, hopefully that all is well.  Getting to the ship was a bit of a problem,  since Seabourn did not tell us the departure pier had been changed to the other side of the city. The positive side is that we contributed another $30 to the taxi driver and the Iceland economy. 

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Good morning Viking cruisers
I am going to do my best to live report our entire 21-day cruise on these pages. I might miss some days but hopefully, that will be an infrequent occurrence.

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T-Minus 1 Day until Embarkation
 
After our two 5-day B2B cruises on the Diamond for Sept 1st and 6th were cancelled a few weeks ago we scrambled to find something for a similar date range and were able to book an aft Penthouse Suite on the Royal at short notice leaving just two days later. So here we are!
This is my 4th (and partner's 2nd) cruise since the restart and I found all the "Live From" threads last summer and fall so valuable that I figured I could attempt to repay the favor by starting one for this trip.

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NCL Prima Amsterdam to Copenhagen 3-13 September 2022
 
Our NCL cruise consultant sold us on this “ inaugural “ cruise of the much anticipated Prima. Unfortunately for our plans for a special cruise, the NCL corporation announced at end of July they would be sailing the prior week from Reykjavik to Amsterdam on a special “insiders & influencers “ cruise which turned out to be the whole inaugural celebration.
 
So instead of leaving Amsterdam in a celebratory splash, we slunk away in the middle of the night (Amsterdam waterfront was still kicking at 3:30am)

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It's been a while since I've done a live from a Princess cruise, but this is unique for me so I'll try it.
 
This will be my third Alaska cruise of the season, and my 10th overall, mostly on Princess.  None of this years were first booked for 2022.  

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This itinerary is a Vancouver/Return and takes the inside passage.  Seattle/Seattle was a consideration (since we are already here) but we wanted to see family in Canada.  We also like the Pinnacle-class ships and Club Orange dining so that settled it for us.  Vancouver, here we come.

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Hello!  Here’s another live review rich in sarcasm and irrelevant details from the Norwegian Encore.  I was on this ship on the same cruise to Alaska a month ago so this is an Encore encore.
August 28 was a harrowing travel day.  I arrived at the airport at 7:15am for a 9:15am flight and at that time the line up to go through security for travellers going to the United States was longer than Route 66 and by the time I got in line people had already been waiting for four hours! The line snaked through the airport, quadrupling back on itself.  Word on the street is many of the employees working security called in sick today.  There was no Nexus/TSA/Global Entry.  As the clock ticked closer and closer to the 8:45am boarding time I broke out in a cold sweat.  Deep breaths were needed!  I went back to the Air Canada counter and told them I was going to miss my flight.  At that moment Nexus opened and I sweet talked about 30 kind people into letting me go ahead of them.  It’s interesting because there would have been many missed flights today, and no one was complaining.  People were being so kind to each other.

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We are currently onboard Silhouette, 4 night mini cruise. Anybody have questions?

The time has come for yet another virtual cruise.  This week I will be on NCL Bliss.  Port stop mixed in with sea days to rest.  Come along for lots of pictures, lots of food and lots of my random thoughts 💭

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A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

Welcome to my live thread.  Our first cruise after the restart was this same week last year aboard Serenade of the Seas hence the reference to Return of the Jedi Episode VI.  There may be a few Star Wars references and a couple of trivia moments but like C3P0 I’m kind of lazy so it is entirely possible that there will not be any further Star Wars references.  
 
Mostly I will just chronicle our journey.  

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Better late than never?
 
I'm posting towards the end of my 8/20-8/27 cruise on Infinity. I decided not to start a live thread at the beginning of the cruise for two reasons:
1) I wanted to be able to take a breath before posting if any issues arose.
2) I quickly discovered after boarding that the internet onboard is terrible. More on that later.
 
I booked a concierge cabin at a price so good that my travel buddy and I decided to each get our own (connecting) cabin. We tried to temper our expectations knowing that the ship is old, the crew is new, costs are up, and the global supply chain has issues. Overall, while a couple things are not quite up to the standard expected from Celebrity, it has been a great cruise so far.

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For others onboard, please chime in! It’s the second full day onboard. Big corporate contingent from HQ including the big boss Josh Liebowitz himself. Glad to see they are experiencing the product firsthand. Josh and a few others from the leadership team were on our excursion to Vigur Island this morning. Dressed like everyone else trying to blend in. So far we are enjoying the ship, small things that could be improved but in the big picture it is fantastic. Will post more later but here is a photo from night one. 

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I’ve found this forum to be invaluable while we prepared for our cruise, so want to try to do a live thread, in case it’s helpful to others.
 
We’ll have three adults in their 30s and 40s sharing a Neptune Suite. All our previous HAL cruises have been balcony rooms, so this will be our first taste of the “suite” life. I’m especially looking forward to complimentary pressing and breakfasts in the Pinnacle Grill.

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This is our first cruise since Covid started and it’s great too be cruising again.
 
Flew from Atlanta to Heathrow…no problem getting our checked bags (we were worried given the news),,,spent 2 nights in Southampton and arrived at the port at 11am.  Very quick, efficient check in…asked if we tested negatively in the past 3 days…(yes) and had to show proof of vaccination and booster (picture on phone was ok). Then right on to the ship.  
 
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After multiple Ponant cancellations over the last 3 years, we have finally arrived in Tromso for our North West passage cruise departing on Saturday 27th August.
So I thought I’d attempt a trip report (my first) and let people know all about this ultimate expedition.
But first a little of what we went through to get to this point….

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Thought I’d go ahead and create a thread for a trip report for my Danube Cataracts cruise on Viva’s MS Thomas Hardy.
 
We’re on the boat after departing 15 minutes after the time on the website (posted when we got on the boat).  Checkin was easy and quick.  It’s pretty evident that I’m the only English only passenger.  There are 63 passengers on the cruise (I’m a single passenger so I’m probably the one that makes it an odd number) with 40 crew.

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We booked this one as a Blue Chip Club promotion kind of last-minute and are in one the forward facing Spacious Oceanview cabins on Deck 8. We’ve never stayed in one of these cabins before, so we’ll see. 
 
I love the idea of going back to Alaska, and I am truly looking forward to the breathtaking scenery, the great seafood, and being back onboard the Solstice. 
 
But, let’s be honest. The real kicker is not experiencing 95+ degree heat and sweltering humidity for an ENTIRE week!!!

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I decided that finally hitting some new ports of call was LIVE worthy! I’ve had my fill of tequila, hugged more than a few sloths, and stocked up on enough Los Cinco Sole vanilla to open my own bakery. 
 
Our last few sailings have all been Western,  so I’m ready for some new views!

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