abbydancer2003

Bon Voyage. I'll follow this one as well. On a point earlier - when we visit my sister in New York, we sometimes stay at the Newark Marriott when we arrive at night, and then take the shuttle bus to NY in the morning. Once or twice, we've walked to the airport from the hotel.

I just booked one on board. My sister and I decided to do Mexico next year. I didn't know it was a double point one until I went back to the email.

Hi, Which ship(s) and dates for all of the above? Curious. BTW, I'm on the Eclipse and the wifi is the worse ever on X. I keep getting kicked off. Staff, however, is amazing.

Day 4 - Sea Day 1 We decided to wake up in time for breakfast today, so set our alarm for 8am, which, because we moved the clocks back last night, was actually 9 am. We woke up, and I called Jamal for some coffee and tea. He brought that, plus some chocolate croissants and orange juice. That was very nice. So we leisurely got ready, and headed to our first Luminae breakfast of the cruise. Mike said they’d just woken up so it was just us. After that we thought maybe we’d go to Al Baccio, but got a text from M&K saying it was too crowded, and they were at Michaels Club. As we walked by Al Baccio, we decided they were right, as there didn’t seem to be much seating, and there was a line of people ordering coffee. So we headed to Michaels for the rest of the morning, and just sat and chatted. Just before one we headed to lunch. We are seated at our usual table. Ali made some recommendations, and we ordered. I started with the boiled Feta salad, and then decided to have the petit filet. It had au jus and some horseradish, and by mixing them I got a pretty good sauce out of it. There was also a very yummy white chocolate mousse for desert. After lunch, we went back to the room for me to work on the penultimate lab for my class. Interent was slowish, but I got it done, or so I thought, as it was throwing errors. So I asked my instructor for a class extension. Tonight was actually the last class of the quarter, so I got ready for formal night just before 5 pm and then jumped on my class for a little while. At 5:30 there was an officer meet and greet in Michael’s club. I left class around 5:30 and headed down. We found some seats and then Mike joined us so we went to a table for 4. We met the captain, the hotel director, the revenue manager and the HR manager. It was very pleasant and I did confirm that Captain Leo was in fact on the Eclipse when we went to Antarctica. I learned on my 2010 cruise, that they always have two full captains on those cruises, because they need a captain on the bridge 24x7 while in Antarctic waters. After that we wandered up to the sky lounge just to look at the views, and listen to the very dated ballroom music. Then back to the room until dinner at 8:30. As we left the room at about 8:15, we got a text saying they were there early. We joined them, and got the nightly review of the menu from Ali. He recommended the lobster salad and Jerusalem artichoke soup. The main dining room and a watermelon salad, so I ordered that, and the soup. For entree he recommended the Halibut or the Ribeye. I got the Ribeye. Apparently the lobster salad was excellent, because Kathy had a second. I had the watermelon salad, which was good, but he didn’t bring the soup, which is OK, because I didn’t really need it. I’ll try it next time. The ribeye came, and I keep forgetting it’s not a ribeye as I know it. It’s about at 2 inch thick round steak. It’s good and has a lovely bernaise sauce, and baby veggies. I don’t however like it as much as a normal ribeye. For dessert I had marscapone cheesecake. That was lovely. Of note was the panna cotta, which was fruit and grape Jello. Really! We headed back to the room after dinner. I figured out my lab error, turned it in and went to bed. Tomorrow, Icy Straights, a new port for me.

Glad you started this and greetings from the Eclipse, where I didn't have to use my COR to get on the ship. I have close personal friends on all 3 legs, one set on the first two (considered booking with them but instead did the 1 transatlantic on the Silhouette in October) and another on the Canada New England. We were on the Summit last year when she first started service, and loved it so much we went back three months later. The wonderful retreat crew we had have scattered to the winds. I hope you have as good a time as we did. In fact, I booked another cruise with DH next year so he can enjoy the ship.

Not yet. Tonight I'll take some and tomorrow, when presumably I have both wifi and cellular, I'll upload them. If I can't I'll get them and do it when I get home.

Thanks all. And to the person who asked, if you don't like it, don't read it. No one is forcing you to. Anyway, let's get to the actual cruise, shall we? Day 3 - Boarding Finally, it’s boarding day. We got up a little earlier, since I figured there would be a bit of a wait for breakfast based on my last experience. We dressed, and packed up. I was ready before Beth so I went down to put our name in. I went back up, and realized my key had stopped working. I ended up on 25, realized that I’d forgotten the vouchers for breakfast. I was about to text her to bring them, when I got a text that she was on her way down. So back to floor one. I grabbed her key and went up for the vouchers. Our table was ready so we had breakfast, and then went to grab our bags. It was about 10:15 when we got to the lobby. Normally, I walk the 6 or so blocks to the port, but with Beth having a boot and a crutch, we decided to take a cab. The bell staff quickly called a cab, and away we went. The cab drop off is very different than the walk drop off. You go to the bottom parking lot, where there are baggage drops for each ship, as well as booths for getting tags. Once you drop the bag, you head to the elevator, which takes you up to the check in level. We were quickly checked in and got our orange ticket. It was green last time. It simply to help you get to the right ship (and Beth and I were once on a shuttle with a group not sure what ship they were on.). From there, exit, down the escalator to security. When the security staff saw Beth with the crutch, they let us use the crew lane, and go ahead of the group of crew boarding. We then went through the global entry line, and got to the gangway entrance. At the entrance, when we said we were in a suite, we were introduced to the retreat concierges, Mike and Jairo, both from Mexico. Mike walked us up the gangway, and pointed us to the elevator, and told us to get off at deck 11. It was about 10:58 at We went to the room, which of course was not ready. So we dropped our carry ons and headed to Michaels Club. We met the concierges again, as well as the very nice and amusing bartender from Japan. We first had water, and then asked for a weak mimosa. They were delivered with a smile. In the meantime we’d started getting updates from Mike and Kathy that the were progressing through check in. They headed directly to the spa to set up Kathy’s appointments, I had a nice surprise when I asked one of the concierges about getting a plalette cleanser, and he said to ask the Maitre’d of Luminae, Aurica. Aurica has been the head of Luminae on the Equinox forever. She has both US and Romanian citizenship, and lives in Florida I think. At about 1pm we decided it was time for lunch. Mike said he’d join us. So Beth and I went down, and sure enough it was indeed Aurica, who’d been our Maitre’d on the Equinox both last October, and in 2018, when Beth and I were in a sky suite. She seated us at a table to wait for Mike and I had another nice surprise - the person pouring our water was Ali, our assistant waiter from the Equinox. And he was now a waiter. He was an excellent assistant, so I was pleased that he’d been promoted. Mike soon joined us, and we ordered lunch. We had our usual half Luminae burgers, and enjoyed it. Mike left at 2 to join Kathy, and we headed to the room and to our first Coffee at Al Baccio. Because we hadn’t had dessert, Mike joined us soon after when Kathy went back to the spa. We had some eclairs and conversation, and then Mike headed off. We went back to the room, and on the way, saw one of Beth’s bags (her small one) on the wrong door. We grabbed it and mentioned to the luggage guys that they’d put it in the wrong place. I saw our other bags in the hall, so I grabbed mine, and took it back to the room and unpacked. We decided to go to the Sky Lounge for sailaway. We sat up there for a while, enjoyed going under the bridge, and watched for a while. Back to the room for Beth to unpack, and more watching from the balcony. We also met our butler Jamal. Jamal is from the Kingdom of Morocco, and very interesting to talk to. We then dressed for dinner (I always do), and headed out. We decided to stop by the Effy store to get the lockets that on the last cruise I left behind. We wanted to get one for Kathy, but they said she’d have to get it in person, so we’ll bring her tomorrow. It was then around 8:20 so we decided to head to Luminae and wait for them. Aurica told us we could wait at our table. I asked if Ali could be our waiter for whole cruise, and she of course. Mike had told us that Kathy would be done at 8:10, but at about 8:35 he texted that she was still in the chair but would be done soon. So we waited. Last time on the Equinox, Glen and I waited and we’d already started by the time they arrived. However at 8:48, they said they were on their way, and arrived soon after. Dinner was a nice affair. I couldn’t decide between the Burrata and the tomato soup, so I had both, as did Kathy. We also both had the filet mignon. It was all excellent and I finished with a brown butter pear. We closed the restaurant down. After dinner Beth and I decided to watch most of Into the Wild, the movie made from Jon Krukauer’s book about Chris McCandless. He was the person who went into the Alaska wilderness unprepared, and dies in an abandoned city bus near Healy Alaska. Maybe they’re showing it to discourage us from going off on our own. After that, bed time.

Day 2 Vancouver We woke up in time for breakfast around 10. It was the standard Marriott buffet breakfast. After a text exchange with M&K, we agreed that we’d meet at their hotel (Pan Pacific) at 12:45. We had decided we needed some stuff at a drug store, and we found a Rexall nearby, so at about 11:45 we decided to head out, go to the store and then to Canada Place. I tried using google maps to get to the drug store, but we couldn’t find it. There was a nail salon about where we thought it should be, so we asked the cashier there about it. She said it was close, and actually walked out of the salon and showed where to go downstairs in the waterfront center to it. It was only somewhat successful. Beth wanted an Ace Bandage for her foot, but it turns out Canadians don’t use them, so no luck. I’d only brought one pair of reading glasses and a sense popped out in SFO. I got it back in, but wanted a back up pair. That was successful, and Beth got a couple of other things, but we are still in search of an ace bandage. We still had some time, so we walked over to Canada Place, and walked along the Canada walk (for lack of a better term). That’s ground level, above the cruise check in, where along the ground are plaques (also for lack of a better term), for each province, and plaques for cities and towns in them. Midway through, there was a tent set up, with a couple of young men running a Canada match game. It was a wooden board with the provinces marked but not labeled, and with velcro. On the side were a bunch of wood squares with velcro on the back, and the names of the Provences on the back. In addition, there were squares with pictures of things the province was famous for. The idea was to match them all up. We didn’t do too bad, ie, we got provinces in the west and east on the right sider of the country, and got several of the landmarks correct. They gave us Canada Place pencils as a reward. After that, and looking at both ships in port (random holland America and Majestic Princess) it was time to meet M&K, so we headed to the hotel. Mike brought us up to the room, where we completed ArriveCan round 2. He needed to go to the drug store, so I walked out with hime, and walked him through the luggage drop and checkin process. It’s confusing if you’ve never done it before. He then headed to Rexall and I went back up to the room. Following that, we walked to De Dutch, a dutch pancake place along the water. This weekend was AniRevo - an anime convention at the convention center, so lots of young people in costume running around the area. After lunch, we went back, dropped them back at their room, and we went back to our hotel until it was time to meet for dinner. I, of course, did one of the final 3 labs for my class. At about 7:45, we headed out and walked to the Keg, about .4 miles away - it’s a steakhouse chain in Canada, that used to be in the Seattle area. We had a lovely dinner, and I enjoyed a great prime rib. When we walked back, apparently there had been a firework show, so lots of people milling about. We made it back in one piece, and then went to bed for our last precruise sleep.

To finish up last night (now a couple of nights ago), my flight was a bit early, and the immigration line was short (I moved fairly quickly through the terminal. Went to the baggage claim and waited. And waited. It took about 50 minutes. As I was exiting customs, I got a test from Beth that the were taxiing. So, I thought about waiting in baggage claim, but it was hot and crowded, so I decided to go to the meeting area. That was also crowded, so I went upstairs to the food court. Long story short, they had a technical problem with the Jet Blue luggage (I think that’s code for not enough baggage handlers), and it took approximately 1 hour and about 35 minutes from landing to baggage delivery. In the meantime, I’d contacted the hotel to let them know that we wouldn’t be arriving at 11 as I thought, but between 11 and 12. Then I contacted them again to say after midnight. Once she got her bags, we had to get to our hotel downtown. We first looked at Uber, but that was about 75.00. So we got in the cab line. I left Beth with the bags, which was a bit of a challenge for her as she’s still using a crutch. It turns out that a cab was about half that price, so we decided to wait in the cab line. It moved fairly quickly and we got a very nice driver who did tell us that it would be easy to get a cab from the hotel Sunday morning, and that Vancouver was a pretty safe city. We arrived at the hotel and were quickly checked in. We had a room on a hight floor, and while not the spectacular corner rooms that Glen and I had, (those rooms have a king bed, not two doubles) from the corner we could see the harbor a bit. Since it was after midnight, and neither of us had dinner, we decided to go to the only open restaurant in walking distance. A & W. We had their Whistler dogs and small rootbeers. Well, the rootbeer was good. After that, back to the hotel and bed.

Us? Not much lots of walking and flights of stairs.

Just a quick update - we're on board, and chilling for a few before going out and about again. I'll have my week end update later tonight.

And I'm back. Yes, same ship, almost the same itinerary. However different people, and different room category. This thread should have been Live from the Eclipse 8/02/2020. We all know how 2020 went, so it's been lifted and shifted twice. And at last, we're going. My sister and I do a Caribbean cruise every summer. We started in 2017, and alternated Eastern and Western. In 2019, I suggested we go to Alaska, and we booked the Eclipse for the same week (first week August every year). A couple of months later, our friends Mike and Kathy decided to book with us. So our group is me, my sister Beth and Mike & Kathy who have shown up on my live froms before. We're all arriving today, with M&K this morning and me and Beth tonight. She's on her way from New York, and I'm at SFO waiting for my flight, and chatting with my assistant waiter from last cruise on Facebook. This time we're in Sky Suites. When Covid it, and people started canceling in 2020, I moved us to the S1 on deck 11 that's next to the S2. M&K went to the S2. When we rebooked for 21, we were in the same arrangement on deck 12. When 21 started looking doubtful, we moved to 22 and got the deck 11 suites back. And so that's where we'll be. We've all done our Covid test, but a couple weeks ago, after our last cruise, I did a negative test, then a few days later a very faint positive line (which may have been a false) and 30 hours later a negative. I freaked out a little, so I got a Certificate of Recovery (those who were with me last time remember that it was a rebook from a missed May cruise). I did test today with my proctored test because I have a lot of them, and it was negative. Everyone else had a negative as well. With B5, I was a little stressed about them, because I really didn't want to do this cruise by myself. I'm meeting Beth in Vancouver airport, she'll arrive about 40 minutes after me. Our original plan was to meet at the airport Marriott and take the air train to the port area and stay at the Pinnacle the second night, but about a month ago she broke her ankle, so air train isn't a good option. So we're meeting and then cabbing to the Pinnacle. We'll see Mike and Kathy tomorrow. If anything interesting happens tonight, I'll update, otherwise, next post tomorrow night most likely. So, I'll finish my initial post with this - i thought about just cutting and pasting some changes on the previous one - change Glen for Beth, Blu for Luminae, and Sitka for Icy Straight, but somehow I don't think that would be terribly accurate. So it's all new and probably somewhat different.

Day 10 - aka go home So I’m going to finish with today (as I write, or at least started this). Our flight wasn’t until 5 pm. So after our breakfast (much less crowded than before the cruise, since it’s not a weekend, we decided to take a walk. On our precruise Vancouver tour, we’d stopped at an office building near the hotel called the Marine, because of it’s interesting architecture, or design. It was Saturday, so of course it was closed, but we were walking on Monday. We walked over there, and were able to see the very cool mezzanine, but weren’t able to get to the top. Following that, we walked over to Canada Place, and looked at the Disney Wonder. I don’t often see Disney ships where I go, so that was fun. Then we went back to the hotel, finished packing and headed to the air-train around 1pm. When we were here in May, and got to the airport around 11 am, the United counter wasn’t open (our flight was at 2:45). We had to wait until 3 hours before the flight to check the bags. Because the flights were 2.5 hours apart, we hoped that check in would be open. We arrived at the airport at about 1:40. We got in line and there was a family of 4 ahead of us. It took them about 20 minutes to get their bags tagged and checked in. I think maybe it was because they were all on different reservations or something. Glen said that at least it gets us to 3 hours before our flight, since we were a bit worried they wouldn’t take the bags unless within 3 hours. We checked the bags with no problem, dropped them at the bag drop and went through security (no TSA pre here, shoes off, laptop out), and US customs. We then headed to the Maple Leaf Lounge. It was pretty crowded, and I noticed that their blocks of seats (2 seats facing two other seats) were closer together than in a United Club. Because of the problems I had flying out with my frequent flyer information being lost, I was a bit concerned about getting in, but no problem. At about 4:15 they announced our flight was boarding, so we went to the gate and boarded. No empty middle seat for us this time. The most interesting part of the day was getting home. My mom, who is 90, doesn’t drive anymore, so we usually have a guy who drives us, but he was away this week. We thought maybe we’d use Lyft, but we’ll see. We also live 2 blocks from a Cal Train (regional train service) station, but it’s a local secondary stop. To get to the train station, you have to use BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). You go one stop to the Millbrae train station, and catch a train. Our flight arrived at around 7. We grabbed our bags, and decided to go home via BART and train. We grabbed our bags and took the air train (airport train) and went to the International terminal. We both have transit cards, but we couldn’t find them. So we had to buy new cards for 3.00. We did that, and then went to the Millbrae train. The train sat for about 10 minutes. We left the terminal around 7:55. A young man who was also going south told us there were trains at 8:03, 8:37, and 8:57. We arrived at the Millbrae station at about 8, just as the 8:03 was pulling up. The problem is that to get from one to the other, you have to clip out of the Bart train, go up a flight, cross over, and go down a flight to the southbound cal train. Impossible to do with with luggage in 2 minutes. So we missed the train. I looked at the schedule, and as I feared, the 8:37 was not a local, and skipped our stop. We had some options. We could take it past our stop to the the downtown stop, and then cross to the northbound platform, and get a northbound. Or we could go to a stop by a Starbucks, and wait there for the local that followed. (Because it’s a local the time between them was greater). Or we could go to the stop before ours, and take a Lyft from there. We decided on the last one. When we got to our stop the train was slightly late I think so the crossover option wouldn’t have worked. We went to what we thought was a good spot and summoned a Lyft. They said the driver would be there in 3 minutes. We watched his car come close, and the watched it miss the turn into the train station. We watched it turn around and come back. It took all told around 7 minutes for him to arrive. So we got home about 2.5 hours after landing. We went to the store for milk, and had cereal for dinner. Before I go, a few of my overall thoughts. This was Glen’s first cruise not in a suite. We enjoyed it, but we noticed a couple of things. First room storage. Eclipse has not been revolutionized, and I think maybe storage there is improved, but we noticed not a lot of storage. The room was nice, and we did appreciate the couch. We enjoyed Blu, but it was busier than when we’re in Luminae. Although, the windows are the best in any dining room on the S class ships. And we realized, as every evening we tried to figure out where to go next, that we missed the retreat lounge (and the Captains Club cocktail party) because normally we go to those two places. And I just found this, realized it’s incomplete, and I’m about to start my next one. So thanks all for reading. New Live From starting tomorrow.

If I read this correctly, my COR from my May positive test will cover me for not having to test for my October 20 2022 transatlantic from Southhampton. And I just did my emed for this Sunday's cruise. Negative (as expected). Now I just wait for my travel companions to do theirs.

You fill out a lot of forms, including a selfie, id, test results. They also ask a lot of medical questions. I answered no to all, since I wasn't looking for a dr. appointment for anything. Then you pay, and wait a couple of hours. I think that was it.

Everything I've read says maybe you can, but maybe not. Unless you're an infectious disease specialist, none of us should be making pronouncements of contagiousness. Just my opinion.

You each need your own account to do the proctored test. So you could do them on different devices at the same time, but you can't do them in the same session.

I read that a false positive can occur if you wait to read the test, ie a faint line can develop, which is different that having an initial positive read when you know you have it. The only reason I think that it could have been a false positive was it was sandwiched between 2 negative tests. (I did stay home between the positive and the subsequent negative). And I used MDAnywhere. They charge 69.00 and it took about 2-3 hours to get the letter.

I found this last night, and just got caught up. First, a belated very happy birthday Charla. What a great way to celebrate. If you see Genesis, say hello from Abby & Beth. She might remember us from our two cruises last year when she was in Luminae.

I just got a COR, used an online MD service and paid for it. (Found them on the Washington Post and Frommer's websites, so I knew they were legit). I had Covid in late May, and missed a cruise. I was just doing home tests, until I knew I couldn't go, and then got a PCR, in case I needed a COR. (By the time I got the result I was negative, so when the lab called me I was able to tell them not to bother telling me what I should do). So we made up the cruise in mid July. Day after getting back, we tested - negative. 5 days after getting home, tested again, and there was a very faint test line. 30 hours later - negative again. I'm cruising again next week, so in that 30 hour period I got a COR. Just in case. My current thinking is I may have waited to long to read the test. I read that a line could build even if you don't have it.

Maybe everyone was confused.

woo hoo - my cruise last week just posted. Only need 2238 more quizzes to reach Zenith. Wonder if I can do it in the next 8 days.

My comment was small group. Although I once did an X "small group". 25 people on a full bus. Too many shopping stops.

Seems like they're doing that now.

I sail both. Most things have been covered, but I'll give some of my opinions - for what they're worth. I normally book mini suites. The perks are better on Celebrity, since they have a suite restaurant, and lounge. Princess added Club Class to their center minisuites, and there's a separate section for dining for them and suites. It is a slightly better dining venue, but it's still the main dining. Advantages are that you avoid the mess that is now "dine my way", ie you just show up. And they do have an extra entree every day, and some ships have a lunch pasta, and a couple of times I've seen a breakfast special. Princess ships have better in room storage. We were just in a balcony on the Eclipse, and it's a good thing DH can reach over the bed, because otherwise we'd be way short of storage. The closet on Princess is nice, because there's space for suitcases on the floor and lots of room. On the Grand/Gem class ships, there's also a walk around Promenade deck, which is nice. The other thing it has for us, is true dance floors. Not just the atrium and occasionally the sky lounge. Princess also still has their elite cocktail hour. Drinks aren't included, but there's a nice buffet spread. I'm Elite on both. I have unlimited laundry on Princess, and 1 bag on X. Although on X DH gets my status, so he was Elite on my points because I also sail with my sister on Celebrity. It's much easier to get to top tier on Princess. Finally, Princess has better itineraries if you live on the west coast. My current thinking is Princess if I want a short cruise, such as a coastal, and X for interesting cruises. That said, my mom is taking our whole family (7 of us) on an Alaska cruise in September. it's on Princess because of Glacier Bay. And X can't go because Royal lines got banned for a while. If the price is close, I'd do X