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Appreciate you taking the time to write this up! I’m booked for ABC on Reflection in December. Hearing how you spent your time on the islands is especially helpful.

Thanks for taking time to put this together! I especially appreciate the food summary, and your East vs West thoughts. Those pretty much answered any questions I had bouncing around in my head.

Thank you for taking the time to write this Mr. Stealthdog! I’m debating booking either the eastern or western run in Feb/Mar. My last NCL cruise was in 1996 - I’ve been exclusively Celebrity and RC since then.

You’ve just about convinced me to do it. You should get a $100 social media influencer credit or something. Enjoy the rest of your vacation, and I’ll be following along to ensure you do.

Thanks for the pictures! We were on Allure what feels like a long time ago (maybe 2018?)

I remember being worried about crowds since it is so large. But we all had a great time. The kids chose it, and I would be ok going again without the kids.

1 hour ago, Elusive_Cruiser said:

We generally buy the package (lowest level) as we prefer the upgraded coffees and bottled water and just do not like having to keep track!

If that is what you want, there is the Refreshment Package that is specialty coffee, soda, etc. Essentially non-alcoholic beverages. It’s on sale for my cruise right now for about $24 a day.

I’m Elite on Celebrity so was Diamond on my October cruise. I used the 4 free daily drinks, and got coffee from the espresso machine in the Diamond/Crown lounge a couple times a day. That was good enough for me.

Just now, Sea Dog said:

I Have No Words!!!!

 

 me moment to sober up and thoughtfully express the proper verbiage.

You must be pain free.

Enjoying reading along!

This is great, it’s like I can ease off my vacation by following along with you this week.

I thought that Peanut Butter Tropic was kind of weird. But certainly appreciated Yulia. I also got to know the guy working Blue Moon up on 14, and the woman working Imperial Lounge in the evenings quite well.

I should have sent my kid back home to school and stayed on another week…

12 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Wonder where you bags are now, earlier flight or  or going to be on your booked flight?

We were told the bags would go on the earlier flight. I forgot to put the battery in the air tag this morning so I can’t confirm though.

Off the ship this morning - have a great week!

We did self assist this morning, when we were walking through the terminal they were just starting to put out the first groups of luggage.

We hopped in a cab to the airport, and were sitting at Gate B8 at 8:20. Unfortunately didn’t get on the earlier flight as standby so we are here until 2pm.

Just wanted to share our experience in case it is helpful.

45 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:

 

And just as important (if you partake, of course), how was the whiskey/bourbon selection?

 

I’ll be honest, I struggle to make it through the four diamond drinks per day so I am not that knowledgeable about whiskey/bourbon. Here’s the menu from Blue Moon on Deck 14. Which may just confirm that I don’t know much…

27 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

How was the food?

So obviously it isn’t like it was 25 years ago.

Breakfast in Windjammer I have been heading to the omelet station in the back. Which is also conveniently located close to the bakery station with the cinnamon donuts.

We have the late seating in main dining, which is at 8pm. It is me and my 16 year old son. Our wait staff is getting us through quickly, and we’ve been making the 9:15pm shows. This is our preference, they aren’t rushing us out or anything.

Day 1 (Welcome Aboard) and Day 2 (Caribbean) were, as the kids would say, “meh”. I thought the Day 3 (French) and Day 5 (Italian) were good. We did Chops on Day 4 (Mexican?). That was also good but I would not pay the single going rate of $62pp or whatever it is now. Tonight is Royal Night menu.

I think the food is just different now. Most of my cruising was pre-2015 on Celebrity. It’s like there aren’t many of what you would call “the old favorites” with these menus. So you gotta go in with that attitude I guess.

I do appreciate that the portions are smaller - I am not leaving super-stuffed. But they have been more than happy to get us multiples of whatever we’ve asked for.

Enjoy! We will be walking off Adventure Saturday morning. This has been a great week, have been impressed by all of the crew we have met.

Thank you for taking the time to write this - I walk onto Adventure of the Seas on Oct 14, so it’s been a nice way to get a preview of what to expect. You know you’re a good writer when you can even make the harryfat -> harryfat1 story interesting.

Maybe we will run into each other one day. I will just look for the man and woman taking pictures of each other from opposite sides of the ship.

Thank you for taking the time to write words and post pictures.

When you showed the “fancy” luggage tags, I thought about how I make my own luggage tags by printing them out, encasing them in clear packing tape, and then attaching them to my luggage with zip ties.

I spent some time wondering if that makes me more or less anal than you, and more or less cheap than you. I have no answers. I guess it doesn’t really matter anyway.

The problem with Covid testing is that a positive test does not guarantee that you are contagious, and a negative test does not guarantee that you are not contagious.

We are chasing something here that is impossible.

44 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

Agreed on the cloth mask, we have our KN95s packed so we should be better protected, Just have to decide if we wear them between courses at meals. Will likely depend on how close others are to our table. 

Wow, that sounds like a great vacation!

There is another thread on here where there are people isolated and quarantined with symptoms that, three years ago, would be indicative of a head cold.

At some point the world has to get over this.

I guess you’ll also need an employee to get your apples at the grocery store for you, and push the cart around the store, and so on.

(1) Enjoy yourself!

(2) Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

(3) Major kudos to you for maintaining that 10 miles per day.

What is the point of testing? You can be exposed, test negative, and still transmit. That’s pretty well documented.

Are there any statistics as far as how many people are being kept off ships due to a positive test?

These tests might be “free”, but there’s a cost. The government or insurance or someone is paying for them. All of these travel related tests may be preventing or delaying tests with actual medical reasons from being performed. Never mind the cost in time/stress/whatever for the person being tested.

19 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Point one - COVID will be with us for years in all likelihood.  Getting tired of all the postings here and on FB every time someone tests positive.  Sorry folks, but that will be the norm going forward, not the exception.  Can we limit the alarm posts to major breakouts pretty please.

 

Point two - IMHO ships should require 100% vaccinated.  Period.  Until the world reaches herd immunity and cases are much less frequent.  Unfair to families with kids?  Life is unfair.  The virus is unfair.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.  Star Trek had it right.  We need to do what is right for the majority.  

Since the risks are much greater for older people, wouldn’t the safest course of action be to limit cruising to vaccinated passengers under the age of 60?

On 8/14/2021 at 11:51 AM, Sussex Cruiser said:

Just disembarked this morning.  The Captain announced yesterday that they had four positive cases on board, consisting of 1 passenger and 3 crew members (who are all vaccinated).  It came a few hours after they were doing the pre-disembarkation testing of the under 18's, although there was no information about whether the passenger was under 18 or not.  Though, it wouldn't suprise me as the adherance to mask wearing by almost every single child was non-existent, and there was zero enforcement by the crew.

 

I wonder how many more will test positive in the next few days now.

How many cases would there have been had there been 100% wearing of masks by the unvaccinated kids?

Can you answer that? 
 

How much longer is the cruise industry going to survive? All of these rules are completely arbitrary, and are set by unelected bureaucrats who are accountable to nobody.

12 minutes ago, runningtide said:

I think it’s time for Celebrity to respond to this issue. Please explain why passengers that arrive before their boarding time, for whatever reasons, can not enter the terminal. Forcing guest to stand in the heat is a dangerous procedure.

I believe the assigned arrival times is a requirement/recommendation/whatever imposed by the CDC.

If Celebrity allows people in the terminal, or provides some kind of amenities, it seems like that would violate whatever rule the CDC has implemented.

If this is the case, which I admit it’s difficult to read through pages and pages of government speak, your beef is with the CDC and not Celebrity.

13 minutes ago, Bruin Steve said:

And what I find somewhat "funny" are the people on here who don't really have anything of substance to add to the discussion...but just want to pass judgment on others...

Sheesh. Arrive at the time it says on the documents. What else of substance is there to add.

It’s kind of like how I thought wearing masks to the grocery store was pretty useless. But I did anyway, because the 75 year old guy greeting people at the door didn’t create the policy, and all I’d be doing is making things difficult for him. Extend that to all of the people at check in who are just trying to help you start your thousands of dollars vacation.