Jim_Iain - 9/5 and 9/17 Equinox B2B - Come along for a Live Blog

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, Daneenm said:

I work at Apple in Sunnyvale (N Mary Ave)!  Very much looking forward to your trip journal.  We were supposed to be on our first Celebrity cruise in November 2020 for our 30th anniversary.  Now it is pushed out to November 2022 ☹️  So, I will live vicariously through those of you who are kind enough to share your trips with us!

OMG --- we live just across Central Expressway off of California Street.   I walk past those buildings daily.    Apple has been buying up everything that comes on the market lately.    They have at least 10 buildings on N. Mary now.  

[Jim_Iain]

31 minutes ago, canderson said:

Didn't notice an answer, so ...

Celebrity handles that onboard the day before the turnaround.  They also take care of it that way if you have a side-by-side (sort of a B2B but on different ships) within 3 days of the return of the first cruise.

 

Thanks for answering.   Feel free to jump in anytime.    I've been reading they do the testing the last sea day before arrival back in Port Everglades.     I would think it is going to be a HUGE group of us.   At one time I had a count of about 30 on our Roll Call that are doing B2B's with the 9/17.    Evidently they also test for PAX requiring testing prior to International Flights.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[Daneenm]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

OMG --- we live just across Central Expressway off of California Street.   I walk past those buildings daily.    Apple has been buying up everything that comes on the market lately.    They have at least 10 buildings on N. Mary now.  

Yes, indeed!  When there is lots of traffic on my way home, I drive up California Street to try to get around the back ups. 😬. Who knows, perhaps one day when we are back in the office, I might run in to you in the area. Have a great cruise!

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Schmoe38 said:

Jim

 

Congratulations to you and Iain on securing a Royal Suite for the first leg of your journey. What a wonderful way to return to cruising!

 

You have a whole bunch of cruising friends who will be living vicariously through you. Thank you so much for offering to share your time with us. 
 

Enjoy your time on the beautiful Celebrity Equinox. 
 

Randy
 

 

 

It's ironic that our cancelled cruise when they shut down all cruises we had also been upgraded to a RS and they billed my CC the day before the shut down.    Took 3 months to get it refunded.  

[abbydancer2003]

18 minutes ago, canderson said:

Didn't notice an answer, so ...

Celebrity handles that onboard the day before the turnaround.  They also take care of it that way if you have a side-by-side (sort of a B2B but on different ships) within 3 days of the return of the first cruise.

 

On our Summit cruise, everyone had an international flight, so they tested everyone.  It worked quite well.

This might be true of your cruise or not, but for suite guests, but our Retreat Host walked us down.  We went at a time convenient for us, and earlier than scheduled.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by abbydancer

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, gbphipps said:

We booked it as a fun way to get to Ft. Lauderdale without flights (other than to LA).  We have 5 cruises booked after the Millennium through January 7th.  Isn’t retired life grand?

We were never able to do B2B's until we retired and I love it.    We now almost always book at least a B2B.    I love the last night when everyone is packing up and you know you don't have to get off the ship.   

 

For us we can get to London, Paris or Frankfurt faster than the connections to FLL.  

[abbydancer2003]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

We were never able to do B2B's until we retired and I love it.    We now almost always book at least a B2B.    I love the last night when everyone is packing up and you know you don't have to get off the ship.   

 

For us we can get to London, Paris or Frankfurt faster than the connections to FLL.  

I'd be interested in what you booked for flights.  We're sailing out of Miami in November, but can go to either airport.

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Bon Voyage guys.  I'm sure it will be in the RS.  We don't sail till July 2022 and hope it is safe for us by then.

We may just spend much of our days in the suite.    We always have breakfast in our room as Iain is not an early morning person and we select the latest delivery time.     I'm usually up early and make 2 or 3 trips to Il Baccio's for my morning caffeine fix.

[Jim_Iain]

1 minute ago, abbydancer said:

I'd be interested in what you booked for flights.  We're sailing out of Miami in November, but can go to either airport.

 

UA1444 SFO - Houston and UA1675 from Houston to FLL.     UA1444 is the International Dreamliner flight.    Beautiful plane.

[Jim_Iain]

14 minutes ago, Daneenm said:

Yes, indeed!  When there is lots of traffic on my way home, I drive up California Street to try to get around the back ups. 😬. Who knows, perhaps one day when we are back in the office, I might run in to you in the area. Have a great cruise!

For sure.    I walk down N. Mary daily down to Bernardo and eventually to Castro Street in Mt. View for my daily coffee.    Nice 5 miles each way.     Retirement is so much fun.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

We live in Knoxville! We’ll be wearing our Vols mask to board! Not UT grads, but still big fans!  Sounds like you are in California now; we lived there for many years.

 

I moved to California in 1974 and fell in love with the area and never left.   I use to go back to TN quite frequently but my mother and all of my relatives have now all passed so doubt I will be back. 

[TravelBluebird]

30 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I moved to California in 1974 and fell in love with the area and never left.   I use to go back to TN quite frequently but my mother and all of my relatives have now all passed so doubt I will be back

 

I was in California for 30 years; went for a job, met my DH there and stayed; he’s California born and bred. We have family in both California and Tennessee now; lots of travel back and forth! 

[abbydancer2003]

52 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We were never able to do B2B's until we retired and I love it.    We now almost always book at least a B2B.    I love the last night when everyone is packing up and you know you don't have to get off the ship.   

 

 

When my DH got laid off earlier this year, he decided that he could retire (confirmed by a couple of financial advisors).  First thing I did was to join some friends on the first leg of their B2B.  We were already on the second leg.

 

[upwarduk]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Unfortunately Drambuie is on the Premium.

We were told by the C.C host that SOME Premium drinks are on the Happy Hour menu, which is behind the bar, or accessed via the QR code.

Not sure if this is since AI or has always been the case.

My husband likes a Budweiser and it was always available on Silhouette, but it is not listed on either the Classic or Premium package!😱

Edited September 2, 2021 by upwarduk

[Mark_T]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

My husband likes a Budweiser and it was always available on Silhouette, but it is not listed on either the Classic or Premium package!😱

.. just checked the app for our upcoming Silhouette UK 'staycation' cruise, and it is there in several bars and is priced to fit within the Classic package ... The 'comparison' graphic for the packages doesn't list everything on board so there can be a few hidden gems in the menus 🙂 

[Mark_T]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We may just spend much of our days in the suite.   

... and with the RS why wouldn't you? 🙂

 

It has been a long break from cruising so enjoy the upgrade as much as you can.

[parrothead33]

11 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks ---- You must be a Scot and you got Iain's name correct.    Most people when they see the 3 vowels in a row can't get their tongue around it.      Some have asked -   Iain  is the Scottish version  of the British Ian and pronounced the same. 

No, not a Scot.  I’ve been following your blogs since I joined CC, so I’m very familiar with the spelling of Iain’s name.

Bon voyage!

Kym

[mac_tlc]

6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We may just spend much of our days in the suite.    We always have breakfast in our room as Iain is not an early morning person and we select the latest delivery time.     I'm usually up early and make 2 or 3 trips to Il Baccio's for my morning caffeine fix.

That sounds a lot like our daily start! It’s the best part of the day.

 

mac_tlc

[CHEZMARYLOU]

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

Just received an e-mail from Move-Up and we were upgraded to a RS.

Congratulations.  Make sure to contact the Shore Side Concierge for your parking placard. 

[brockmom]

Congratulations on Zenith…..that is so awesome ! ( I can only dream, we were over the moon when we reached Elite plus but Zenith will never happen for us lol)

and also congratulations on your up grade ! 
love hearing when that happens. We won from an inside once to a 

balcony ( just when the rumbling of covid started and we knew we did not want to be in an inside ).

We have fingers and toes crossed for boarding in November so am sooo enjoying following each sailing.

enjoy it all ! Happy cruising 

Brockmom

[MR_T]

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We had resigned ourselves to no upgrading.    Yesterday there was only 1 S2 and 1 S1 available.   I wonder if someone cancelled the RS.    The  bid we received allowed us to bid on a CS, RS and PS and none were available for booking.

You must have been even more surprised to see it come through then, what a great start to your trip 😊 I’m sure you will have a fantastic cruise x 2! You lucky lucky guy 🍸😊 

[Host Anne]

Hi Jim ~ stopping by to wish you a wonderful cruise on Equinox.  I'll be following as we sail in October!  ENJOY that RS!  I'm sure you are going to love it!

 

Safe travels and Bon Voyage!!!!

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your adventure.  Have a great time!

[Stem to Stern]

8 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've not seen a cake posted before.   Ours was HUGE and we initially had it sent to Retreat to share with the Retreat guests and then had the rest sent to the  Staff Galley.     Ours had an individual cake for each letter spelling out Zenith.   I think between the Senior Officers on the Bridge and Retreat we had only eaten the "Z".     They said the crew loved it and thanked us for thanking of them.

I love this paragraph.  These are the cakes I saw posted recently on social media.  I did not want to let the cat out of the bag, but I had a feeling you would be familiar with them.  So I held out for your description and you came through.  Your story about the cakes and the crew was wonderful.  Thank you for sharing anecdotes like this.  You and the others that have live blogged continue to wet the appetites of those of us who have not yet returned to cruising.  This gets us through our withdrawals and gives us confidence in the health and safety protocols Celebrity Cruises has in place.  

[MR_T]

8 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We were never able to do B2B's until we retired and I love it.    We now almost always book at least a B2B.    I love the last night when everyone is packing up and you know you don't have to get off the ship.   

 

For us we can get to London, Paris or Frankfurt faster than the connections to FLL.  

So agree, we’ve only done a couple of B2Bs but I was lucky to retire a few years ago but still waiting on the better half to catch up 😂, I’m sure once we are both free we will do more B2Bs for sure, maybe even a B2B2B 😂,  As you say that switch over day is great... nothing beats all the people looking at you when you can tell their thinking lucky ....ers! 😜😂