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

[chicagopaul]

On 9/27/2019 at 9:46 PM, h20cruzer said:

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

 

For those of you cruising with Norma on the upcoming cruise I must say you are very lucky. She is such a wonderful and sweet person, always has a smile and is a joy to cruise with. Just ask any of the staff about her too, they all know her! Haha...Norma hopefully our paths cross again in the near future! 

[sdnich]

2 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

For those of you cruising with Norma on the upcoming cruise I must say you are very lucky. She is such a wonderful and sweet person, always has a smile and is a joy to cruise with. Just ask any of the staff about her too, they all know her! Haha...Norma hopefully our paths cross again in the near future! 

 We look forward to meeting her in a few weeks ! I am curious about the woman in the green dress behind her it looks like she could possibly be  flashing everyone sitting behind her ! Lol 😳

[HAM]

6 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

For those of you cruising with Norma on the upcoming cruise I must say you are very lucky. She is such a wonderful and sweet person, always has a smile and is a joy to cruise with. Just ask any of the staff about her too, they all know her! Haha...Norma hopefully our paths cross again in the near future! 

We are very much looking forward to meeting Norma. I have read many of her posts over the years.

[h20cruzer]

I blushed when I read what you wrote about me Paul, thank you. Looking forward to the cruise and of course the Martini Bar. Can't forget Cafe Al Bacio or Murano. Staying in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple of days before with friends.

Norma

[VegasGuy29]

Sounds like you guys had a great time! I loved reading this trip report, but have to ask... what happened at the Veuve Cliquot dinner? You mentioned some of the other guests were "interesting," just wondering about the story behind that observation. 😉 

[MamaFej]

On 9/29/2019 at 6:35 AM, chicagopaul said:

 

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! 

I'm reading this from the north shore of Oahu. We are here for four days, then will board the Eclipse and sail to a couple more islands, then to Vancouver. 

I'm sure you will enjoy Hawaii!

[chicagopaul]

21 hours ago, VegasGuy29 said:

Sounds like you guys had a great time! I loved reading this trip report, but have to ask... what happened at the Veuve Cliquot dinner? You mentioned some of the other guests were "interesting," just wondering about the story behind that observation. 😉 

 

OK I promise tomorrow I will get to this at some point since so many have been asking haha. It wasn't that crazy of a situation, just...interesting? I'll share a few other interesting stories at the same time.

 

In the meantime I've been working on putting together all the dailys into one file along with finishing my cabin review complete with proper photos detailing the pluses and minus. I also should have the cabin tour video uploaded as well.

[GeorgesGal]

On 9/27/2019 at 5:49 PM, CruisinLow said:

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.

Paul, I read your entire blog with great interest as I will be on the 2020 cruise as well as CruisinLow, cruising with friends I met on a South America cruise this past September.  It is great cruising with friends met on previous cruises, isn't it?

 

Keep up your blogs, and I look forward to the next one.  You have such a gift with words!!!

 

Donna

[CruisinLow]

21 minutes ago, GeorgesGal said:

Paul, I read your entire blog with great interest as I will be on the 2020 cruise as well as CruisinLow, cruising with friends I met on a South America cruise this past September.  It is great cruising with friends met on previous cruises, isn't it?

 

Keep up your blogs, and I look forward to the next one.  You have such a gift with words!!!

 

Donna

Hi Donna,

We have a thread going for the cruise in September 2020 and I did not see your name. Come on over and join us. Here is the link

 

 

[GeorgesGal]

Whoops!  Sorry, Ann, I thought you were on the Millie in September!

 

Donna

[Pfeilm]

Ahoy gentlemen! Please forgive the lateness of our posting but we just read about your (previously) live blog from our roll call for the same cruise in September 2020. We’re Only up to page six but we’re truly enjoying it and will definitely finish it. Like your style! We are also enjoying our similarities to Celebrity cruising - cruised six times in the early 2000s (5x Olivia cruises on Holland America, 1x Avalon river cruise), went away from cruising and came back in 2013. Since then we’ve completed 20 or 21 Celebrity cruises with 4 more scheduled next year. Gotta love Celebrity! Char quickly became a cruise addict and I’m happy to go along! More important than any of those things though is .. y’all are winos!  So to speak.  Hopefully you enjoyed your Staggs Leap SLV as much as we did on our last TA to Buenos Aires. 2012 was a very tasty year! 

 

It’s been agreed that we would love to meet one day on a cruise - and that’s just based on six pages! - and wonder if we haven’t shared another cruise already. One day we would enjoy seeing a list of the cruises you have already enjoyed. I would have said complete but cruising is enjoying, yes?  Thank you again for the great read. We look forward to completing this one and locating your others. 

 

Ann & Char

Edited October 1, 2019 by Pfeilm
Name inclusion

[MamaFej]

14 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

OK I promise tomorrow I will get to this at some point since so many have been asking haha. It wasn't that crazy of a situation, just...interesting? I'll share a few other interesting stories at the same time.

 

In the meantime I've been working on putting together all the dailys into one file along with finishing my cabin review complete with proper photos detailing the pluses and minus. I also should have the cabin tour video uploaded as well.

I've always thought that gossip isn't my thing, but with people clamoring, I'm realizing that I am actually interested in hearing about the "interesting" people. I'm also wondering if stories will involve the gal with the "I'd like to speak to the manager" haircut.

 

Imma go hang my head in shame while I wait.
 

[CruisinLow]

2 hours ago, GeorgesGal said:

Whoops!  Sorry, Ann, I thought you were on the Millie in September!

 

Donna

No, I am on the Eclipse on September 25, 2020.

[dhream]

12 hours ago, MamaFej said:

I've always thought that gossip isn't my thing, but with people clamoring, I'm realizing that I am actually interested in hearing about the "interesting" people. I'm also wondering if stories will involve the gal with the "I'd like to speak to the manager" haircut.

 

Imma go hang my head in shame while I wait.
 

That haircut!

LOL rapidly recognized globally as the female version of the Mullet in terms of social kryptonite!

[onyourmark]

On 9/19/2019 at 10:23 PM, cl.klink said:

 

Paul,

 

Thanks for another excellent review.

 

I did not see, in the schedule above, a Friday night Shabbat service for Jewish guests (and, of course, last week there was no Friday night for you!).  On most cruises I've been on there is a Shabbat service on Fridays at about 5 PM.  I've always found these special and one of our favorite memories of many cruises. I know you may not be Jewish, but is there a way you can find out about what happened?  I've always been tempted to do this very cruise but it never occurred to me that this option for Friday night might not happen.

 

Thanks,

- Joel

 

Paul, I read through the whole blog over two days.  I don't binge watch any TV series, but I'm sure this is what it feels like.  Pages and pages filled with lighthearted narrative and fabulous photos. 

I also wanted to check if you answered Joel's question, so not to repeat and bore your readers.

While the Friday night service for Jewish guests was not listed in the Daily, the electronic board next to Guest Services did show it at 5:30pm at the named conference room. There was a debate regarding the Friday that "did not exist" for us.  The man who volunteered to lead the service in the prior week, Shai, lives in Elkana, Israel. He sent a text to his Rabbi, who advised without hesitation that services should be held on the Thursday evening.  It was a little tricky finding the right conference room on Deck 3 near the Tuscan Grill.  After the renovation the access to the restaurant is a far cry from the original elegant entrance off the mid-ship foyer. I'm sure some folks gave up trying to find the room, but there were services on embarkation day as well as the last Friday.

Oh, and we're also doing the ABC islands in December, but it's the 11 day sailing on the Reflection. (9 days is just too short for us.  My wife dreads getting the disembarkation luggage tags so soon after getting on the ship).

 

 

[chicagopaul]

2 hours ago, onyourmark said:

Paul, I read through the whole blog over two days.  I don't binge watch any TV series, but I'm sure this is what it feels like.  Pages and pages filled with lighthearted narrative and fabulous photos. 

I also wanted to check if you answered Joel's question, so not to repeat and bore your readers.

While the Friday night service for Jewish guests was not listed in the Daily, the electronic board next to Guest Services did show it at 5:30pm at the named conference room. There was a debate regarding the Friday that "did not exist" for us.  The man who volunteered to lead the service in the prior week, Shai, lives in Elkana, Israel. He sent a text to his Rabbi, who advised without hesitation that services should be held on the Thursday evening.  It was a little tricky finding the right conference room on Deck 3 near the Tuscan Grill.  After the renovation the access to the restaurant is a far cry from the original elegant entrance off the mid-ship foyer. I'm sure some folks gave up trying to find the room, but there were services on embarkation day as well as the last Friday.

Oh, and we're also doing the ABC islands in December, but it's the 11 day sailing on the Reflection. (9 days is just too short for us.  My wife dreads getting the disembarkation luggage tags so soon after getting on the ship).

 

 

 

Thank you so much for answering Joel's question as it completely slipped my mind to check that afternoon! 

[chicagopaul]

OK so I have finally finished my cabin review. You can follow the link below where you will see the full Blu review I posted before as well as now the cabin review complete with photos. I go into a little more explanation this time around versus when I was writing my live review. Also below is the link to my cabin tour video. 

 

Aqua Class Cabin 9042

 

https://cruisingoncelebrity.com/millennium-transpacific

 

 

https://youtu.be/Xpncu3wz8l8

 

[MamaFej]

25 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

OK so I have finally finished my cabin review. You can follow the link below where you will see the full Blu review I posted before as well as now the cabin review complete with photos. I go into a little more explanation this time around versus when I was writing my live review. Also below is the link to my cabin tour video. 

 

Aqua Class Cabin 9042

 

https://cruisingoncelebrity.com/millennium-transpacific

 

 

https://youtu.be/Xpncu3wz8l8

 

That mirror is pretty, but unless one is close to two meters tall, I don't see how it should be very useful when sitting. I can't imagine I'll be able to use it for doing my hair or, on the rare occasions I wear it, makeup.

 

Thanks for the review! I'm very pleased to see all the outlets, including USB! Less stuff to pack!

[jelayne]

5 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

That mirror is pretty, but unless one is close to two meters tall, I don't see how it should be very useful when sitting. I can't imagine I'll be able to use it for doing my hair or, on the rare occasions I wear it, makeup.

 

Thanks for the review! I'm very pleased to see all the outlets, including USB! Less stuff to pack!

The mirror was ok for me at 5’6”.  Agree with Paul the phone was a throw back to an era that should be forgotten.  For us the other disappointing thing was the balcony doors that were old, pitted, rusted and took Hercules to be able to open on some days.  While we loved the updates looking at the totally it was akin to putting perfume on a pig.

[chicagopaul]

20 hours ago, jelayne said:

The mirror was ok for me at 5’6”.  Agree with Paul the phone was a throw back to an era that should be forgotten.  For us the other disappointing thing was the balcony doors that were old, pitted, rusted and took Hercules to be able to open on some days.  While we loved the updates looking at the totally it was akin to putting perfume on a pig.

 

You actually made me remember one more thing with your comment, the balcony doors! Agreed ours looked older and painted over, but instead of being hard to open they were too easy to open! So much so that it sometimes caused a draft because the of the improper seal. Two people we spoke to on our cruise had theirs come off the track. One person, during strong winds had theirs blow mostly off and when they returned back to their suite at 2:30am they had rain water coming in. 

[koolforkatz]

21 hours ago, MamaFej said:

That mirror is pretty, but unless one is close to two meters tall, I don't see how it should be very useful when sitting. I can't imagine I'll be able to use it for doing my hair or, on the rare occasions I wear it, makeup.

 

I was also on the cruise but in a Concierge Class cabin and I loved that mirror. I used it all the time sitting down to do hair/makeup. The set up and lights are way more comfortable and flattering than that of the bathroom. 

[koolforkatz]

1 hour ago, chicagopaul said:

 

Two people we spoke to on our cruise had theirs come off the track. 

 

Ours also came off track. It was cold and windy in our cabin for awhile 😉 

[jelayne]

Not sure which is worse coming off the tracks or being unable to open them for 2 straight days 2x when it was beautiful outside.  Cabin attendant couldn’t open and said it had happened regularly.  

[chicagopaul]

Veuve Clicquot dinner story. I suppose I might as well finally tell everyone the story! Now it’s not anything crazy, it was just…odd / interesting as you’ll see.

 

As I mentioned early on in the blog our original Veuve dinner was suppose to be on September 14th. We received a call on September 12th at 3:00pm confirming our reservation for THAT evening, not the 14th. We had just returned from a late lunch so that was not going to work. After some back and forth with guest relations it was determined that the dinner was not happening that night and instead would be on the 18th, which was the other night it was available on the schedule.

 

We arrived in Cellar Masters and met our other guests we were dining with. In total there was suppose to be 8 including us, however, there were only 3 sitting at the table when we arrived and that ended up being the only ones for dinner, with the exception of the on board shops manager who ended up joining us. So in total there were 5 guests including us and the shops manager. The other guests all knew each other and were traveling together. The man was in his early 60s. Lets call him Bill. That’s not his real name but it will suffice here. Bill was completing a very interesting task of traveling all the way around the world without flying. He started in Japan; Narita specifically, so this cruise was the last leg of his journey. In total he was traveling for a little over 100 days all around the world. Very cool concept I thought. Traveling with him was a friend who was in her late 40s and her mother since her husband had a last minute job change and couldn’t make the cruise.

 

We sat in Cellar Masters with them for some champagne before heading to Tuscan. They seemed very nice and the conversation was the typical conversation about where we are from, what we do for a living, etc. We then chatted about the confusion of the date of the wine dinner. They were notified of the change, but apparently we weren’t.

 

Once we got to Tuscan we were seated at a large table for 6 and were told that a Celebrity staff member was going to join us. Bill was greatly enjoying his champagne and was leading the conversation. The first odd statement came when he told us he met the captain around the ship the other day. He thought it would be funny to break the ice with the captain by saying “It would be great if you could do your morning announcements in English.” At first I thought he was joking. As a matter of fact I’ve heard cruise directors use this joke with select captains (Captain Tasos for example) when they’re roasting them on stage during Liars club or something like that. So because of this I thought Bill was kidding. Nope, he was completely serious and said that is what he said to the captain and he said he didn’t get the joke. OK, whatever, not something I would have ever said to the captain or anyone who I didn’t know personally, but you do you Bill. Lets continue with dinner.

 

The shops manager joins us and she was very delightful. She was bubbly and friendly and was leading a great conversation going from each person asking questions while at the same time telling her story and how she started working on a cruise ship. The dinner was going well and we were all from different parts of the world in different stages of our life. Bill for instance had retired and moved to Bangkok. The two women lived in a small town, so small that there are more people who live in the two buildings surrounding mine than in their entire town. They wouldn’t want to live one day in my city and vice versa, yet here we are having a wonderful dinner together. I love situations like and another reason why I love cruising as it brings all walks of life together.

 

The entree was mostly finished when I excused myself to use the restroom. Once I came back I sat myself and was excited for dessert and more champagne which was to come. It was at this point the two women (mother and daughter) abruptly got up and said they were going back to the cabin. Bill was a bit perplexed by this and questioned why, the daughter shot him a look and said very sternly that they were tired and had to leave. There was definitely another reason they were leaving. For starters it was only 8:30pm but more importantly there was just something in their look and body language that suggested this was not the reason why. I stood up, shook their hands, thanked them for a lovely evening and wished them a good night. They still seemed like they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. What the hell happened when I was in the restroom?

 

The above made for an awkward next 30 seconds or so but the shops manager steered the conversation for us and Bill, at least she attempted to. She had opened the Edge and I was fascinated to learn that the opening of the Edge was her first introduction to cruise ships. She had opened many high end shops on land. She also worked in Saint Martin when it was hit by hurricane Irma and was stranded for some time there. It was quite the story. Bill, however, was more interested in knowing about the deals he could find on board and kept asking questions such as “When is the best day to buy something?” “What is the best value cologne on board?” She would respond and say something like “Well, it depends what you like…” and he would respond with “But what has the greatest discount?” and then questions along the line of “What would smell best on me? What do you recommend?” These questions kept being repeated and repeated and repeated. She would answer them in a different way but he’d ask them again. I was doing my best to try to move the conversation by asking her about something else or asking him about his recent travels but the conversation kept going back to the best deals he could find on board. Finally we finished dessert. Normally I would have stayed and kept chatting for an hour over more champagne (they were still pouring whatever you wanted!) but I just couldn’t handle this conversation. It felt embarrassing and was giving both of us a headache. We excused ourselves and we left.

 

Now the “interesting” part was really the mother and daughter leaving. Now I told this story to a few of our friends on the ship. Their initial thought was maybe they left because they had a problem with us, with us being a couple. Ironically, just before I left for the restroom Bill had asked if we were a couple and how long we’ve been together. However, that I suspect was just coincidence. I don’t think it was that at all. I think it was obvious we were together since we met them and they were from the Northeast, a quite liberal part of the states so I don’t think it was that at all. I don’t think it was motion sickness as the waters were smooth that night and we had already discussed that issue earlier on in the dinner. What do I think it was? Well, Bill was enjoying his drinking and I think they could tell he was on the edge of maybe annoying them? Maybe they knew he was going to start asking a bad line of questions? Maybe he was drunk when he asked the captain the question about giving his announcements in English and they just wanted to disassociate themselves with him? I think that is exactly what it was, which I can respect, but still come on sit through dessert at least, especially considering it was paired with a nice Dem-Sec.

 

That is pretty much the extent of my story of the dinner. I know it wasn’t as “juicy” or “gossipy” as many would have wanted, but I just found the above things odd. I’m usually pretty good at figuring out what makes people tick and understanding their dynamic with others (it’s what I do for a living) but for the life of me I just couldn’t figure out the dynamic between Bill and the younger of the two women, especially the glare she gave him when she was leaving the table. Oh well, I at least hope they had a lovely time even though they missed dessert, especially considering the cost of the dinner ($150 a person).

 

I think the overall disappointment of the evening was it just felt a bit disjointed? Usually we find ourselves having to be pried away from the dinner table because of the conversation we’re having with guests. This was just not one of those times!

[chicagopaul]

I’d hate to start of the Friday and go into the the weekend with the above post as I don’t think it’s quite positive enough so here is one picture I’d like to share. 

 

 

The above photo is of Owenn, one of our waiters in Blu, and a boy that he was teaching how to fold napkins into different shapes and animals. I wish I could’ve caught a photo a few moments before. 

 

Owenn was crouched down on his knees at the table to meet the boy eye level. He was explaining to the boy exactly everything he was doing with the napkin and Owenn had the biggest smile on his face. I’ve never seen him happier. The boy was holding his own napkin trying to do the same thing and the boy had this look of amazement yet concentration on his face as if he was learning a secret magic trick that no one else in the world knew. 

 

It was was such an innocent and beautiful moment at the end of a long day. Owenn I am sure wanted to just set his tables and get to bed (or maybe the crew bar) but he took some time to entertain a young boy and clearly it was just as rewarding for Owenn as it was exciting for the boy. 

 

Sometimes when service is a bit slow during dinner or drinks take a little longer than you want it’s easy to get a little frustrated or discouraged. But seeing wonderful moments like this help build a true human connection with the staff and let’s you see their true colors of who they really are. 

 

So on that note, have a wonderful Friday and start to the weekend. I’ll continue finishing up everything else this weekend and putting all the photos together in an Album for everyone plus all the daily’s in PDF etc.