Live Cruise Reports

I finally got the internet working!
 
My family and I are on the Koningsdam for our cruise this week and I figured I’ll log the journey here for those interested or had any questions about what it’s like. It’s our first pandemic cruise.
 
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We are sailing this week on the CP. We took the all- inclusive package. Anyone with questions about this ship. Feel free to ask.
 
Ed and Trish

Hello from Fort Lauderdale.
 
We are staying at the Hyatt Place Cruise Port off 10th, same hotel as the last time we sailed (again on the Allure) way way back in January 2020.  

Good morning, everyone! It is time to load up the Tesla here in sunny Ohio and start the roughly 6.5 hour drive down I-68 to Baltimore. 
 
This was truly a last minute cruise for me as I still had a week of vacation time to burn before the end of the year and refuse to spend it doing all of the things that I really should be doing at home. Who wants to organize the garage or pick the dead weeds out of the landscaping when you can go on a cruise!?

I was the first new passenger to board the beautiful Caribbean Princess this morning. It's great to be back. I flew down on a direct Southwest flight from Raleigh-Durham. It landed in Fort Lauderdale a little before 10. I was at the port around 10:30. The cab ride was $17.15 before tip. Checkin was a breeze. There was no line for security. Someone checked my vaccination card and passport, then another person scanned my carry-on luggage. He alerted the wine table that I had my one bottle of wine, and they asked to see it. (I guess to make sure it really was wine.)

I’m currently sailing HOTS Dec 5-12th 2021.  Ask me any question, I’ll try to find the answer while I’m onboard.
This is our first cruise since the restart of sailing.  We are Diamond Plus staying in a Jr Suite.  We were awarded Royal Up 2 days before departure, nice surprise.  Embarkation was smooth and quick.  We were onboard and straight to our stateroom in 20 minutes.  Our boarding time was a 2pm.  The ship is currently sailing at 75% capacity.  Not too crowded anywhere EXCEPT the Diamond Lounge.  It’s been a horrible disappointment.  Too crowded to find a seat anywhere and long lines just to speak to the Diamond Concierge for assistance.  By the time we were able to speak to him all of the Aqua shows were completely sold out so we’ve been waitlisted. Same with some specialty dining due to limited capacity seating.  We have eaten at Cafe 150 and Wonderland so far.  But overall we are loving our cruise and delighted that everything is mostly back to normal!  I’ll try to post updates throughout the week!
Cheers!

I really enjoy reading live trip reports, so thought I'd try my hand at doing one for this cruise as well.
This trip is an early celebration for my big 5-0 this month.  My husband, daughter, and her boyfriend are helping me celebrate this week.
We flew out of Seattle on a red-eye Thursday night and landed in Fort Lauderdale early Friday AM.
We're currently staying at the Crowne Plaza near the port.  Early check-in wasn't available, but they let us hang out at the pool and stashed our bags.  Then the unthinkable happened (if you happen to be a twenty-something year old). Daughters boyfriend jumped in pool with phone in pocket.  And because phone already had prior drop damage, phone stopped working.  So, 3 Ubers later, a trip to T-Mobile, and a trip to the local Apple store, crisis averted.  Thank goodness he had insured the phone..

I am sitting in the Riverside Hotel and already checked out but they are letting me use this business office.  So sailing today and looking forward, after all these years of meeting Spins in person😀.....one of the kindest people on this forum.
It is noon and I will wait about 45 more minutes and then get a cab to the port.  They said 2:00 but you know they will do testing and we leave from pier 25 so there will be space to sit while waiting.
 
I arrived here yesterday afternoon and got a cab from the airport......21.00.   I ate dinner at a place called The Royal Pig........they have a large menu and I sat outside and it was probably 77 outside. (or so).....I decided on Fish and Chips and OMG......4 BIG fillets and I could not eat them all. They were very good and I decided to try a dark beer......the bartender let me have a taste first. It was a surprise......I normally NEVER like dark....porters.   This had a hint of coffee and coconut in it and I REALLY liked it!  It was not bitter or hoppy........really a nice flavor.
 
This morning I had a breakfast at a long time restaurant here on Las Olas called Bonn Crepe........it was excellent and sat outside here as well.  I highly recommend this place. 

I am not a prolific writer and do not even try to meet the quality and thoroughness of the life bloggers that have gone before me but I told someone on this board that I would try and follow in their shadow and do a live posting on our cruise that start tomorrow. 
 
This was originally planned to be a seven day cruise followed by a change of cities / ships to a RCL cruise out of Miami on Symphony of the Seas.  However, as I mentioned elsewhere my wife informed me that packing, fliying, boarding a ship, unpacking, sailing, packing, debarking, Ubering to Miami, boarding, unpacking, and packing again seven days later was not her idea of a vacation.  So, thanks to my gracious TA we cancelled the Symphony of the Seas and booked the 12/11 - 12/18 sailing on Reflection.  Unfortunately we were not able to get the same stateroom, this being very last minute, for both legs of the B2B but we'll survive.  
 
We departed from Washington Dulles this afternoon, actually departing ahead of schedule, and arrived, ahead of schedule, in FLL this afternoon.  We took Lyft from the airport to the Renaissance Ft Lauderdale Waterfron and after an hour wait beyond our 4 PM checkin time, managed to get to our room.  

Hi everyone 
Starting my thread for our cruise on the Apex leaving Port Everglades on Saturday, December 4th.  Like many of you that have ventured forth into the “world” of cruising recently, this is my first cruise since well before the beginning of the Pandemic times. (I’m not sure what else to call it.) I am mostly a frequent cruiser on Oceania, but my last cruise was actually on the Celebrity Solstice in September 2019.  It’s crazy now thinking how long ago that was.  Since then, I’ve booked and cancelled two cruises. One Oceania. The other on Regent (which would have been my first with Regent.)

Hello everyone from the Ovation. I am not sure if there will be any interest in a live thread on these boards but I know there are many here who are first timers (as are we). 
 
We are very experienced cruisers who usually sail on Celebrity but wanted to try a small ship experience. 

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BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMM!
 
Hello ladies and gentleman, I am back this week on board the beautiful Norwegian Escape 11/27/21-12/4/21. I am no stranger to reviews here and hopefully some of you followed me on my journey a couple months ago on one of the first ships back sailing The NCL Encore Alaskan cruise. (If not, I will post the link below)

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This is going to be my 16th cruise--all on Carnival. This will be my 4th time out of Galveston, my 2nd time on Vista, 12th time to Cozumel, and my 4th time to Belize and Roatan. This will be my 3rd time on a December Christmas themed cruise. I believe the CD is Kyndall Fire. This will be my first time with her as CD.  
 
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Yes it’s me again 😂if you followed the group thread from November 6th, you may remember me. 
 
I had credit and vacay days to burn and cruise friends onboard so here I go again. 
 
others on this cruise, please feel free to post!!! Different perspectives makes these so much more fun. 

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Hello all!
This is not my first time sailing Royal but this is the first time I am going to attempt a live thread. 
 
A little about me. My name is AJ and I am going to be travelling with my mom. This will be my mom's first cruise AND we board on her birthday so she is very excited about that. As far as I know, our sailing is the 3rd sailing for the Navigator since the re-start not counting the test cruise.

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This begins a live thread where I will answer questions for those who will be boarding the Nieuw Statendam this Caribbean season and for those just wanting to follow this thread.  I will also provide information typically sought by CC members such as what's new/changed, COVID practices, ship main characters, special events, prices, when & where information, menus, embarkation/disembarkation procedures, issues and resolutions, impressions, etc.

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Hello everyone, and good day. Welcome to “LIVE” from Anthem of the Seas (B2B)
 
I will be heading north tomorrow to stay at my pre-cruise hotel at Elizabeth, NJ. On Sunday I will take the short ride over to sail on Anthem of the Seas from Cape Liberty. I recently posted “LIVE” from Oasis of the Seas on Oct 3, 2021 for a B2B from Cape Liberty. This will be the same itinerary, but on a much different class of ship. (Quantum Class).

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This was a deal we could not pass up on. Joining us will be my brother and his wife and our friend Sam.   Please come on along.   

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The Viking Sea transatlantic cruise from Barcelona to San Juan begins 11/29/21.  However, some on our roll call are already traveling, so we've started the Live thread early.

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November, 22, 2021
Day 1
Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale
Let the Shenanigans Begin
 
Holy Time Out, BatFriends- 
It has been a long time!
 
We are currently sitting at the Westin in Ft Lauderdale... just waiting...
... waiting for our PCR’s to come back
... waiting to see if all well
... waiting for Wednesday morning to come to—-
Board the beautiful Regal Princess!
 
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Hey Cruise Critic! We're back!
 
Wow, has it really been almost two years since our last cruise blog? Our last cruise before Covid was in December of 2019. We had a cruise planned for April of 2020, but that was obviously cancelled. Though I remember at the time holding out for hope that it might still sail but well, that clearly didn’t happen.

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Laissez le bon temps rouler!!!… I fully intend to “Let the Good Times Roll”. In fact, for this occasion, let’s just start right now!...
 
 
There’s something about travel that changes you… Not in a literal sense, or any particularly discernible way, but every time you return from a great adventure, the cumulative effects change you forever, until your next journey, where you’ll evolve even more so… I don’t claim to be any sort of seasoned World traveler, not even close. I’ve only yet scratched the surface of this giant blue marble we call Earth.

Click Photo to Cruise along with @sid_9169

After nearly 2.5 years the time is getting close. We’re sitting at PHL awaiting our flight to Tampa.  We passed the Covid tests with flying colors this morning.  It was perhaps one of the longest 15 minutes I’ve ever experienced.  Our flight is delayed by about 1:45 but at least it’s on it way here.

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Hi from the AMEX Centurion Lounge at JFK! Our flight to Barcelona boards in 15 minutes.
 
The drive down was slower than usual but we left plenty of time and arrived before 5:00.
 
Nice sunset while riding the Air Train to Terminal 4. But it was 4:50 PM! 
 
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Starting a Sky Princess Live thread for those who are on the 11/20and 11/27 sailings. If you are on these sailings please share your thoughts and experiences when you can. If you have an upcoming sailing on the Sky please ask any questions you may have and we’ll try to answer what we can.<br style="color:#000000;font-size:19px;"><br style="color:#000000;font-size:19px;">

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