CCruiser1234

9 minutes ago, redlady62 said:

I'm back! This is possibly a redundant question but. . . . . Our cruise returns to San Pedro on November 11th.  Remembrance Day in Canada is a Bank Holiday (basically no government offices open, the LCBO is closed to name a few closures) will we run into any closures in the LA area that day? Fraser wants to check out Venice Beach, and we are thinking of heading to the observatory to watch the sun set. . . we had decided that trying to catch a 1pm flight out of LAX the same day we return was not a wise decision.  Bob, note I did not succumb to the CC short hand 😎

 

Sue

Ha!

Hi Sue  (and Fraser),

The L.A. basin is a consistent cesspool of cement and smog-emitting vehicles.  There isn’t a situation where you will never see traffic. Ever.

The only mitigating thing I would offer, is that you are disembarking on a federal holiday-  Veterans Day (no poppies, but it is our Remembrance Day).

Many federal workers and parents not having to go to and fro to schools that are closed-  will reduce the traffic in the area.  

 It’s not a bad time to do a little touring.  It’s better than a regular weekday.

Ironically, my son and I are disembarking (Royal Princess) in San Pedro also on a Monday; 10/14, a federal holiday.  We hang a right to the east and then go south, and expect not to have much traffic at all, either.

Cheers,

Bob 

1 minute ago, TMLAalum said:

Hi everyone!

Been a long time, hasn't it?

Sue- Fred & I took a HAL cruise immediately after our Edge 'inaugural". It was on their brand-new Nieuw Statendam. We booked a guarantee veranda and were assigned one on Deck 4 forward with a veranda larger than the hump ones on Celebrity. The rail was solid though but there were footstools. There were some positives over Celebrity but overall Fred & I did not like it nearly as much. I do think for your mom HAL would be a nice fit as there are 3 banks of elevators, the Crow's Nest (not as nice as the Sky Lounge) offers forward views from a cozy spot, and Music Row has a great variety of entertainment.

Barb

 Good morning.

 Good info on HAL, thanks.  

Glad the GTY worked out for you guys, but it’s the last choice I would make on a cruise that I “had“ to go on.   For me, I don’t want the chance of being placed under a sliding deck chair or buffet breakfast table. 

 Hope you guys are doing well!

Bob

8 minutes ago, redlady62 said:

Good day everyone. Looking for some thoughts about cruising with Holland America.  After saying that we would not be cruising in 2020 (God-Son and God-Daughter have weddings that we are invited to attend) I just happened to come across a 14 day Great Alaskan Explorer that is roundtrip out of Vancouver two days post the second wedding in Seattle.  And, my sister said she would be interested in coming! If I can convince Fraser to go. Also trying to convince the parents of the bride to go as there are ports of call that we visited when we were there in 2008 (Anchorage and Valdez) camping around the state.  It was glamping I guess, as we rented a motorhome and drove around to various places. 

Ok, that's it.  

Have a great week,

Sue

Hmmm... 

Holland America has really great service from what I understand. Given the demographic of that cruise line, Alaska is a perfect place to take one of their ships. 

RCCL (though not a monster ship)  is excellent especially if you get Radiance Class,

and Celebrity is a product you already know well enough.

Back to Holland America:  Excellent for this area where you value a little bit less poolside activity in favor of more elegant service.

 I don’t think you can go wrong with H.A.

~Bob

10 minutes ago, arbarkar said:

I guess I hung out with the wrong people. Those look way too good to eat.  I would need one box to eat and one box just to look at.

Oh no ma'am.  Eat both boxes 🙂

9 minutes ago, arbarkar said:

And a great bus ride back to the ship, thanks to Jim.

The buses made the trip.  Could not have done without that expertly executed evolution 🙂

8 hours ago, SkystheLimit said:

Great trip and a wonderful night at the Tattoo.  I can still hear the master of ceremonies calling Holly's name.  Fun times and thankful for the memories. MJ

Hi MJ,

I seem to remember the MC calling names, but wow, what a flashback 🙂

~Bob

Happy Anniversary 🚢 

Three years ago today, very close to this very minute (16.28 CET) -  this crew sailed away on our British Isles trip.

It was an amazing experience. 

The sail away,  the trivia,  The Tattoo and the awesome buses after-  Shetland ponies, a couple of beers in Dublin,  chocolates  in Guernsey...

It would be nice if we could get more people together for a reunion, though it is more whimsical than practical. 

It was an absolutely awesome trip.

Cheers,

Bob

5 minutes ago, mommo6 said:

OK. That sounds good! We are tentatively looking at joining you for the last leg of the cruise, i.e. from Athens to Istanbul, if we can work it into our budget. We will see. 🤞

Judy and Bill

 Brilliant!!

 See you on October 10 in Athens,  hopefully.

We are going to spend two extra nights in Istanbul, max, and then make our way to one of what will no doubt be many gateway  choices for the trip home..  a late October or early November Westbound Transatlantic.

 I don’t expect schedules from any of the major cruise lines to be out until very late this year.

 Happy trip planning!

~Bob

2 minutes ago, mommo6 said:

Bob, just out of curiosity, which of the other Silhouetters are planning on going on this cruise?

 September 2021’s Viking Ocean?

 Kathleen, Jim, Steve and Jamie;  I do not know of anyone else, but so far, the six of us.

Just now, mommo6 said:

I checked into the Viking cruise you mentioned, and unfortunately it won't work out for us. We have too many other commitments around that timeframe that would conflict. Hopefully there will be other opportunities to join all of you on another cruise. Please keep me informed so that we can try to hop on along with y'all!

Judy

Of course.  As Jim mentioned, there is the Viking Ocean cruise we all have in Sep 2021.

That said, it is also sold in segments, and if the 21-day sailing is too pricey (it isn't cheap imo), there may be the opportunity to join in Rome and disembark in Venice, or- embark in Venice and disembark in Istanbul for you.

As to other cruises planned, everything we have arranged to date is in my signature; you are most welcome to join any of them!   It would be especially nice if you could join the Viking Ocean in Fall 2021 that Jim talked about- there will be more Silhouetters on that one.

 I am running out of Wasabi peas - it would be wonderful to cruise with you guys again 🙂

Cheers,

Bob

1 minute ago, Scotswoman said:

Boy, .... you guys really do book far ahead! If we are at home in December 2020, we would love to meet you all in Nuremberg if you have enough time there to fit that in! It is an hour's train ride away from us. Alternatively, you could take a day trip by rail to visit us in our home town Lohr am Main, a picturesque little town, and birth place of Snow White! You might like to look at https://daisythebus.com/2018/04/15/lohr-am-main-the-snow-white-town/  

Morven

Hi Morven,

That sounds lovely!

~Bob

11 minutes ago, mommo6 said:

That sounds very tempting, Bob! Give me more details. Maybe we will join you????

Of course!

Specific Sailing:  Nuremberg to Budapest, Dec 6-13, Viking Jarl

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/europe/romantic-danube/2020-nuremberg-budapest/pricing.html#search/sfym=2020-12&sftcm=21-6125

3 minutes ago, mommo6 said:

river cruise with Viking next year. The dates are April 17-24, 202

Judy... congrats, but you and Bill picked the wrong dates 😉

You should go Dec 6-13 that year, Viking Jarl for Christmas Markets.

There are good people on that cruise whom you may know and even like 😀

Please come with us (Kathleen/Jim/Steve/Jamie/Holly)!

 

17 minutes ago, Lucky TGO said:

Very nice video of a Great older ship. I was very impressed with how beautiful the Pacific Princess is. 👍

Tony

Thank you, Tony.

I loved being aboard her for 12 nights.

Cheers,

Bob

23 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Great video of such a beautiful ship. Always amaze me how unique the pacific is to the rest of the princess fleet. Love it!

Thank you!

On 2/9/2018 at 8:26 AM, bob221b1 said:

Please watch at the highest resolution possible, including on a 4K television (The format in which I filmed).

 

Enjoy

~Bob

 

All,

The individual videos are now part of an overall playlist, and are located here:

 Pacific Princess 4K ship tour 

https://youtu.be/AnU_9cGGKOU

 Pacific Princess suite tour

https://youtu.be/PefpEFDeroY

Cheers,

Bob

10 hours ago, UpcountryTravelers said:

The video is gone.

 

 Bloody hell; that’s completely on me 😞

 I consolidated playlists a couple of weeks ago and didn’t even realize the impact it had.   I apologize for that inconvenience.

The videos are part of a Princess consolidation playlist I now have, and are located here: 

Hello.. whom has enjoyed Pacific Princess lately?

Thoughts about her moving away from World Cruises to Alaska?

~Bob

46 minutes ago, mommo6 said:

i don't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Bill and I have booked a B2B cruise on the Millennium in April 2021. The first cruise is of Japan, and the second cruise is a Transpacific from Japan to Vancouver. Bill's sister and her husband will be joining us on the Transpacific Cruise. We would love to have some of you Silhouetters join us on one or both of these cruises. Let us know if you decide to do that.

Judy and Bill

Hi Judy,

Thank you for the invitation, but we are going on a fairly pricey holiday in the fall of ‘21 on Viking. 

Holly and I have a world cruise segment booked for the April frame anyhow, but that is going to be moved in favor of Viking. 

Having said that, it has Jim and Kathleen and Steve and Jamie-  you are most welcome to join us there !

 Again, thank you for the invitation 🙂

Cheers,

Bob

On 3/27/2019 at 6:27 PM, Himself said:

Do you want Hubbard' Glacier or Glacier Bay.  Both are worth seeing.

On 3/27/2019 at 6:41 PM, parrothead1954 said:

Couldn’t care less more interested in finding out any major differences between the 2 ships which apparently there aren’t any 

Himself was trying to help you.  ‘Couldn’t care less’ is one hell of an ill-mannered way to reply 😏

7 hours ago, arbarkar said:

It will be coming out of drydock for this itinerary and I know that has some people worried so they are keeping both the Millennium and the Ovation booked just in case Royal cancels the Ovation.

True.  She will be there for about 3 weeks after her Sydney-Singapore Cruise *

13 hours ago, Scotswoman said:

They very prominently state that this cruise has been geared towards the Asian market, and that everything on offer, including the programme on board, will be influenced by this.

 

Does anyone know exactly what that might mean for us as Celebrity fans? 

 

The lectures on board, for example are always very important for us, since we are not "pool people"!😂 I take it they will draw a line at having Peking Opera on board instead of the show? Would be glad to have any information you may have!

Not exactly, but a first-person account of what the product was 2 years ago, still a year from transferring *

8 hours ago, DrKoob said:

I would have some deep discussions with someone who has done a "asian-iced" cruise before. We can tell you that the Ovation has been undergoing quite a renovation this summer to make her more palatable to the US market.

 

To make her more "Americanized" for the Alaska market they removed a bunch of casino space all over the ship and and a lot of the buffet and other food choices.

Not surprised, as there was an abundance of Asian-geared gambling when we went. Quite pleased it is being removed.

———————

* All,

Given the cultural significance associated with ‘good fortune’ or ‘luck’ in Asian culture, it is perhaps ironic that our to-date only experience with this first-hand was on a Friday the 13th.

In 2017, on that date, Holly and I boarded Mariner of the Seas, to a bit of a shock. Her ‘Asianizing’ included removal of many stores typical in a Voyager-Class Promenade in favor of Prada and higher-end shopping venues.

Her casino was carved off into a separated high-stakes gambling room and, unsurprisingly, a buffet table was kept filled inside the casino on the wall opposite. 

You can read about that part of the trip here beginning with the 1/13/2017 entry:

 https://bob221b1.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/southeast-asia/

In 2018, around March, I believe, Mariner got Americanized in preparation for her Transpacific home port change back to Florida.

As to Ovation, as she is coming to Seattle (K&J are on her this July I believe) in 2019/2020 and so far 2021, but after seasons back ‘down under’ and in Asia.

Thats what makes the Apr 2021 dry dock period interesting for me- is she getting Americanized each year right before, for what is 3 seasons at least- returning each year to the U.S. market?

We we’re NOT fans of the overwhelming signage and theming of an RCCL ship in the Asia market. If she is indeed getting changed out in this April 2021 period, then she is doing Singapore-Tokyo-Seattle already changed out- 

- and that can’t be a bad thing.

Sharing in the interest of the rest of you when Jim is able to report back from his RCCL person.

Headed to jail today 🙈 (Kilmaimham)

Cheers,

Bob

18 minutes ago, arbarkar said:

So excited about my latest booking. Barry and I had originally booked the Millennium which circumnavigates Japan and then ends in Vancouver. Then Royal opened up the Ovation for much of the same itinerary but better. We will start in Singapore and then it go to HCMC and another port in Vietnam, Hong Kong and several ports in Japan and ends in Tokyo. From Tokyo, there are a few more ports in Japan, Russia and Alaska before ending in Seattle. Except for HCMC. these will all be new ports for us.

So many people that were on the Millie have now jumped over to the Ovation (which will be coming out of dry dock). Booking it when it first opened up allowed us to get some great prices. Now we just have to wait two years as this isn't until April 2021.

Ovations sounds nice, though Celebrity in general sounds nicer.  

When is the Ovation sailing date?

Hello friends!

We had a nice reunion and chat with MJ and Sterling today.  MJ & I had been planning this for a few months as we both knew we were going to be in the Atlanta airport at the same time.  I’ll say it again - the world just isn’t that large, if one gets out there to explore.    

We had about 90 minutes with Sterling & MJ before they had to head to their gate and their flight to Barcelona, where they will join Azamara Journey for a cruise to London.

We are off to Dublin later tonight.

Details on our Blog if you’d care to follow along.  If so, and you don’t have the website - just email me for it if you and I are not FB/Twitter friends.

Cheers,

Bob

2 hours ago, judyf222 said:

Hi all,

     I haven’t communicated on the board for a long long time.  Life has just interfered.  Bob, I noticed you will be on the Reflection in June.  I would love to hear about it.  We have never been on the Reflection but will cruise on her Sept. 6th to the Iberian Peninsula.  We plan on spending a few days in Paris followed by a few along the Rhine prior to our departure from Amsterdam.  

     We still travel with our long time friends, Chris and Gail, but would love to meet up with other silhouetters at some point.

We took a fabulous Arctic Circle cruise last year and were awed by the scenery in Norway.  Anyway, would love to hear about the Reflection.  I love reading about all of the trips planned and taken.  A great group!  Judy

 Hi Judy and Jack!

I remember Chris and Gail-  including the time we met in the Hilton for pre-cruise drinks (also the first time where we met Penny & Jim) then later at the Scotch Whiskey Experience as well as during the cruise.   Glad all four of you are still traveling 🙂

Regarding Reflection, I emailed you and Jack the link to our blog.  You will be able to follow along real time should you choose;  feel free to post any comments or questions and I will answer them during the trip.  If there is a specific area of Reflection you would like me to report on, please let me know and I will make a special effort to cover it for you guys.

The Iberian Peninsula sounds very interesting-  be careful not to overdo it on the Sangria 😅

Cheers,

Bob

2 minutes ago, pattibacon said:

Just getting around to catching up with this thread since returning from the Eclipse. It was great seeing the Silhouetters.  Wish we could have had a final get together .  I agree it’s not a cruise I’d do again (really liked Buenos Aires) but do need to get to Antarctica- my last continent.  Probably won’t happen!    But loved all the people we met and saw.  We have several cruises planned. The Millennium in June in Alaska with the Denali trip,  (no floatplanes).   Then in August we’re going on the Viking Sky around Iceland to Bergen. Of course it’s the one that had the problem while we were on the Eclipse!   Next year we’re booked on the Edge out of Rome to Croatia, etc, then get off and doing a Tauck river cruise down the Danube and tacking on the Passion Play at Oberammergau.   Got 2 land trips this year - Hilton Head Island and an AI in Mexico.   Would love to have some of y’all join us.  But hopefully our paths will cross again SOON. 

Hi Patti,

Would love to join you guys again for a reunion.  It could be on Viking Sky except they’re going to be eight months apart 😆 -  Holly and I are going (our first on them for an Ocean cruise) in April from Barcelona to Bergen.  This thread was started nearly 3 years ago to talk about RCCL/Celebrity/Azamara, but I would love to get your thoughts on Viking when you guys return from your cruise, perhaps via email. 

Looks like I missed quite of lot of you coming off Eclipse.  I was able to see Barry and Arlene for a little while although a reunion like that is always too short.  Reunions with any of you from August 2016 are too short.

Sounds like you have a very busy travel year planned.   We liked Edge very much when we were on her in December-  save for that part of her design that in our opinion lacked multiple interior quieter lounges.  Definitely come back here and post on this thread about your experiences on Edge.

In fact, you will be the first person I know that will have been on Millennium after her recent refit.  Interested on your commentary there as well.

Take care.  Six of our original group are going on Reflection on June 3.  That’s not 12 or 14 or 120 of us getting together again, but it’s a good start 😉

Cheers,

Bob 

Just now, SkystheLimit said:

Love Innocents Abroad.  Read it through twice(maybe three times).  It says so much about travel and the benefits to a person.  Wish I could have been part of discussion.  Even though it was written so many years ago much of it applies to today. 

Figured into my speech that you and Sterling missed 😞 lol.

It is still a timely piece of advice from Mr. Clemens.

 See you guys on the 24th!