CHICAGOPAUL LIVE!!!!! 15 Night Bering Sea & Japan TRANSPACIFIC CRUISE - LIVE BLOG

[jcpc]

10 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

I couldn’t tell if they were a couple or brother and sister and more of a brother and sister from “flowers in the attic” if you catch my drift.

OMG -- thanks for the laugh!!!!!  I got a visual.  Although, in reality, it's not a laughing matter.

[chicagopaul]

Final thoughts before I start my full recap

 

Before I go into the full cruise recap and yes answer the gossip about our Champagne dinner…I’d like to recap with a few wonderful thoughts.

 

I specifically want to mention one crew member we met on this cruise, Amitava. Amitava as you may remember was the bartender at the Casino bar but would work at Sunset when casino bar was closed. The crew would call him “Pappa” because he was older and had been with the company for so long. I remember asking him once about his nickname one night. He had explained that he likes it and thinks of it as a sign of respect. He said he was with the company for years and years. His wife had gotten sick so he left for a few years to help take care of her and spend time with her. I never asked what the outcome was, I was hope it was positive but my gut tells me it was not. After that he said he came back to what he knew, Celebrity, because he considers it his family. Watching him work, watching his interaction with guests, as simple as it may be, I can tell you he is a truly genuinely good good person. There are not many people I can say that about. I know I surely do not fall into that category. Most people don’t. But I am sure all of you randomly run into someone and it may be someone who you know or someone you met in passing; that is a genuine person down to their very core. You might not be able to explain how you know this, but you just know. You can feel it. He is one of these people. While he may not be a spring chicken anymore, he works his ass off, he knows more history about whiskey than wikipedia, and he truly cares about all his guests.

 

Every time we cruise I always say cruising is about the people for us. The destinations are wonderful, but it is the people on the ship and at those destinations we visit that are the impetus for our travel…it’s the impetus for living life. On this cruise we were so very fortunate to meet up with some wonderful friends we’ve cruised with before and met new friends as well. Nina, Eric, and Stephanie thank you so very much for making this cruise such a wonderful experience for us. You have no idea how much we enjoyed your company over drinks and dinner during our cruise and how much you helped turn this cruise into memories we will cherish forever. Nina thanks again for all the fun in the casino too! To some new people we met such as Phyllis and Alby (Albert), it was an absolute pleasure and honor to chat with you and learn about you. Thank you for always smiling and bringing a smile to our faces. Brad, Andrew, Rodney (Namaste Rodney), and Nigel….we had an absolute blast with you guys both on the ship and in port. I still find myself laughing at some of the crazy comments, jokes, and drunken nights. It’s a pleasure to consider you all friends. James & Dean though we didn’t end up seeing you all that much it was a pleasure meeting you and we hope to see you in Australia sometime!

 

Today I found myself talking to some friends at work and the inevitable question came up asking me “What was the best part of the trip.” The best part of the trip is not something that you can properly convey to someone. It is not something that I can even convey to you avid cruisers properly. I may not remember every conversation or everything I ate during the cruise. I may not remember every monument we saw or historic site. What I will remember is how everyone mentioned above, everyone we met from crew to guests, made me feel. That I will never forget and just as it is true with every cruise, that is the best and most amazing part of the trip. You can’t take a photo of it and you can’t show it off to your friends, but you’ll have it with you forever.

 

Thank you all so very much for following along and being with us on our journey. I feel as if I have hundreds (or possibly more) friends I had the opportunity to share every moment with and that means a lot to Edward and myself. I also feel like if we ever needed advice we could lean on all of you and that we greatly appreciate.

 

At this point I’m going to start putting together summaries of all aspects of the cruise and putting them in neat little PDF files complete with photos. I am also going to start uploading videos to YouTube including some videos from port, Tada’s magic tricks, and of course our cabin tour video. As always if you ANY questions at all please feel free to still ask away!

Edited September 26, 2019 by chicagopaul
grammar

[stavy]

Thank you so much for your beautiful Story😊

[h20cruzer]

Oh, Paul it brought a tear to my eye. I know exactly how you feel. 

The wonderful people I have met over the years have made my life better. 

Doing a last minute on the Equinox 10/25, 8 night caribbean. Traveling with friends I have met on other cruises.

There will be 5 of us and of course we can't wait to get to the Martini Bar...

Looking forward to your recap. Give Edward my regards.

Norma

[sdnich]

58 minutes ago, h20cruzer said:

Oh, Paul it brought a tear to my eye. I know exactly how you feel. 

The wonderful people I have met over the years have made my life better. 

Doing a last minute on the Equinox 10/25, 8 night caribbean. Traveling with friends I have met on other cruises.

There will be 5 of us and of course we can't wait to get to the Martini Bar...

Looking forward to your recap. Give Edward my regards.

Norma

I will also be on 10/25 cruise with my DH and another couple! North ca. and  So.Ca. We are Celebrating my friends  50th! We might meet you at the Martini bar ! We are also staying on (just the two of us ) for Nov.2 cruise . We booked the second cruise when Chicagopaul mentioned they were  on that cruise (but then changed) We are bummed we will not get to meet but are super excited about our first B2B!!

cheers Stefanie 

Thank you again for your great review Paul!!!

Edited September 27, 2019 by sdnich

[upwarduk]

Looking forward to your recap, as I have missed your Cruise this time, as I have also been cruising.

[nimiq]

Yikes !!

I was a little late to the party as I only started reading this amazing blog again from Paul yesterday and within 2 days got through all the questions, pictures  and great comments.

 

I must confess your blogs Paul are just the best as they are easy to follow, informative, fun and so positive. 
 

So I guess from reading all the messages that you did not see any discount drink coupons on this cruise beside the 50% discount on second drink flyer. 
 

Have you guys cancelled your Equinox cruise for this one or will we have the pleasure of meeting you our Equinox cruise November 16th ? 
 

Once again this has been an amazing reading experience for me and love the feeling there with you guys without really being there. 
 

Thanks 😊 

say hi to Edward as well

 

Sea ya 

 

Eric 
 

 

[chicagopaul]

Happy Friday Everyone! I hope everyone is having a great day / evening depending on where you are in the world. Here is a link to the page where I will be posting the final recap reviews on different topics. I will let you all know here when each section is finished. If you have a second check this out now and let me know if this format is easy for you all to access and read or if I should change it.  You'll see I posted all the photos and menus I collected from Blu along with my final review of Blu and a few random comments as well. 

 

Hopefully you like this setup and if so I'll continue it for all other aspects of my recap just to make it easy for everyone to follow along. 

 

Blu Dining Review

 

if the link doesn't work you can copy and past the following:

 

https://cruisingoncelebrity.com/millennium-transpacific

[Mr&MrsBee]

To Chicago Paul:   When in Dec??

Edited September 27, 2019 by Mr&MrsBee
Needed to sent to Chicago Paul

[jcpc]

 

1 hour ago, chicagopaul said:

Hopefully you like this setup and if so I'll continue it for all other aspects of my recap just to make it easy for everyone to follow along. 

 

Paul,

The link works just fine.  And the formatting is wonderful - very easy to read.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Janice

[silkismom]

NOw I'm drooling all over my keyboard, hard to wait for Nov to eat in Blu again.

[chicagopaul]

1 hour ago, Mr&MrsBee said:

To Chicago Paul:   When in Dec??

 

December 13th on the Silhouette. 9 night ABC cruise. 

[CruisinLow]

Paul,

You truly have a gift with your words in the explanations of all aspects of your cruise. Thank you so much for sharing your time and experience as well as expertise with cruising.

I will be doing the same cruise in September, 2020 and your knowledge has been invaluable.

I appreciate your entire blog.

[nikel]

2 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

Hopefully you like this setup and if so I'll continue it for all other aspects of my recap just to make it easy for everyone to follow along. 

 

Blu Dining Review

 

if the link doesn't work you can copy and past the following:

 

https://cruisingoncelebrity.com/millennium-transpacific

 

Your review is amazing...….Very easy to follow.  Can't wait for more.  

[cruisingxpert]

5 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

 

Hopefully you like this setup and if so I'll continue it for all other aspects of my recap just to make it easy for everyone to follow along. 

 

Blu Dining Review

 

if the link doesn't work you can copy and past the following:

 

https://cruisingoncelebrity.com/millennium-transpacific

Wonderful format.  Thanks for all your hard work.

[mchell810]

5 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

Hopefully you like this setup and if so I'll continue it for all other aspects of my recap just to make it easy for everyone to follow along. 

 

Blu Dining Review

 

 

The link works well.  I just have to say your site is amazing!  My next cruise is with a friend who has never been on a cruise -- I plan to direct her to your site as it gives information much more clearly than Celebrity's site!  And for myself, I am looking forward to reading about your previous journeys.  Thanks!

[LisaLeone]

Paul, I have really enjoyed this blog, as I have many of your past ones. I am also looking forward to reading the dish about your champagne dinner! 

[h20cruzer]

23 hours ago, sdnich said:

I will also be on 10/25 cruise with my DH and another couple! North ca. and  So.Ca. We are Celebrating my friends  50th! We might meet you at the Martini bar ! We are also staying on (just the two of us ) for Nov.2 cruise . We booked the second cruise when Chicagopaul mentioned they were  on that cruise (but then changed) We are bummed we will not get to meet but are super excited about our first B2B!!

cheers Stefanie 

Thank you again for your great review Paul!!!

Here is a pic so you can recognize me at the Martini bar

[sdnich]

39 minutes ago, h20cruzer said:

Here is a pic so you can recognize me at the Martini bar

 

[sdnich]

Just now, sdnich said:

 

 This was supposed to say this is Stefanie  and David  & will see you at the martini bar ! This is us at the Sunset bar on the Infinity !!!

[donfoulks]

My wife, Carin, and I want to thank you for your review. we are scheduled for 9/11/2020 TP

[HAM]

18 hours ago, sdnich said:

 This was supposed to say this is Stefanie  and David  & will see you at the martini bar ! This is us at the Sunset bar on the Infinity !!!

I will also be on the October 25 Equinox cruise; see you at the Martini Bar. Sorry, no photo.

[cruisecatmama]

1 hour ago, HAM said:

I will also be on the October 25 Equinox cruise; see you at the Martini Bar. Sorry, no photo.

(hi George)

[maggie.1008]

Paul,

 

I have so enjoyed reading your review. Hope you have seen my replies. I will look forward to cruising with you on the April Hawaii cruise ! X should be paying you commission as everyone wants to meet you at the Martini Bar 😜

[chicagopaul]

16 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

Paul,

 

I have so enjoyed reading your review. Hope you have seen my replies. I will look forward to cruising with you on the April Hawaii cruise ! X should be paying you commission as everyone wants to meet you at the Martini Bar 😜

 

I definitely have! Look forward to meeting and cruising with you in April as well! It will be our first time in Hawaii so we're very excited. Though not too excited to lose a few hours on the cruise heading east. We got spoiled gaining an hour almost every night on this cruise!