Mauimary Beyond Transatlantic B2B &Italy Croatia, Montenegro Two Weeks land trip West Coast Portugal.

[mauimary]

Our Motto… To Travel as MUCH as we can…As FAR as we Can … As LONG as we Can.  

Leaving tomorrow so almost ready for flight to FLL.  Excited for sunshine and the Sea. Here’s a little about the two of us. 
 

Introduction… We are Mary and Richard from Portland Oregon. We are now retired and have been for six years now.  I am a retired L&D RN and my spouse a retired Engineer.  We sold our big home and downsized into a condo in a secure building that we can just lock it and leave it to travel six years ago. 
 

We have been cruising since 2002 when we got our first start on RCCL Vision of the Seas to Mexico.  We had HS and College kids at the time and booked it as a way to entice our College Fraternity son to come with us verses with a group of frat brothers to Mexico together. Obviously we were not excited about that.  It worked and we have been cruising ever since!  
 

We have been on many Celebrity Cruises including a Transpacific from Vancouver BC to Sydney Australia. This will be our first Transatlantic.  We loved the idea of cruising to Europe so we do not have to fly.  It will be my first attempt at doing a semi live blog depending on our internet.  I know there are several other live blogs including Jims wonderful extensive blog.  Will see how this goes!  We did have the opportunity to cruise on the Beyond last summer in the Med when we combined it with a Europe land trip. 
 

We leave tomorrow to fly to Orlando and then will drive to Fort Lauderdale for two nights pre cruise.  Final stages of packing today after spending yesterday getting haircuts and pharmacy items.  Once a nurse always a nurse I  tend to carry our own pharmacy with us! 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by mauimary
Small addition.

[Silkroad]

Sounds fabulous. Thanks for taking us along. Wishing you a wonderful journey!

[Texed]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip.  😊

[Sadebud]

Can't wait to "travel" with you!  Safe travels!

[mauimary]

We are down to the final stage of packing. The smaller carryon stuff which takes a fair amount of time to assemble (Medications, vitamins, hair stuff and jewelry) etc. Hopefully it should not be too late tonight when we finish up. I’m one of those who like our place all cleaned up and everything back in order when we get back. 

 

Mr is in charge of all the paperwork. We like hard copies of everything so that is his dept. It’s all safely together in our travel binder. 

I am the planner and make  all the reservations. I love to research and at times one thing leads to another. We have most of it on our phones but like back up in case of a snafu.  

 

Our flight is at a decent hour leaving Portland around 1030 and the flight is a direct 5.5 hrs. This is about how long our flights  to Hawaii are. 
We are flying into Orlando as the cost was substantially less than into Fort Lauderdale. Just hope all those rental cars from last weeks flood have been rented back to Orlando!  We switched cruises from the Edge when our travel buddies canceled and as a result our flight choice as well as seat selection was not so good! At least we have decent ones.   We have a lot of Marriott points so are using those for our pre cruise hotels. 
 

We’re very excited to have blue skies and ☀️.  It has been a rainy and cold spring so far in the Northwest. 

Mary aka Mauimary😎

 

Portland vs Fort Lauderdale 

Edited April 20, 2023 by mauimary

[mauimary]

All our bags are packed so we are ready to go….

Standing here beside our door…

[mauimary]

We’re leaving on a jet ✈️ plane 

We do know when we will be back again!!  

[mauimary]

Uber was on the slower and more expensive side today but we’re here and that’s what counts!  PDX was pretty quiet when we arrived so checking the bags was a breeze as was Security Pre ✅.

 Now the gate is another story. There is a huge group of HS kids with all their Disney gear on this flight. Definitely they are having fun. 

Alaska Air has a Corn Hole game going so if your bean bag makes it in you get to spin for AA points!  It’s quite popular. 
 

Here we thought we would relax at the gate!!😆 hoping to read on this flight. 📕 Shall see if that happens. 
Mary

[Provence55always]

Love your Motto, what a wonderful trip you guys have planned. Like you I am the planner and love to research Mr tags along and pays the bills😉. Mr also at the last minute starts to inquire where is this

and that, have we got insurance up to date, passports etc, where are we going. How much is it costing….my reply “you can’t take it with you” We always have a wonderful adventure and have made many wonderful friends along the way. Looking forward to following your adventure. Safe travels.

[mac_tlc]

We just got off the Beyond this past Sunday 😞😞.

 

Look forward to following along.

 

mac_tlc

[mauimary]

We made it to Orlando.  Sure glad we were not trying to fly a week ago when everything was chaos and stress for so many. Very smooth easy flight. I watched two documentaries to pass the time.  Lovely to be down in FL with sunshine. ☀️ We arrived early but of course waited for a gate. The plane full of kids was a very considerate group of polite kids. 

There was an incident involving a guy a few rows ahead of us that tried to smoke cigarette 🚬 in the bathroom and set off the alarm fire ⏰ ‼️ not a kid) !! He smelled of smoke when he walked by us.  One of the cabin attendants approached him and quietly asked him if he knew he was not supposed to smoke? Dah!!  The airline let it go as nothing further happened.  That was a first for us!!  Never have seen that happen before. 

 

We spent last night at a hotel near the airport and walked over to TGI Fridays for a dinner and drinks. Seems it is always happy hour over there.  We will drive on to FLL and drop the car 🚘 off this afternoon.  Then 1.5 days to relax before boarding The Beyond.  We are so ready!  It is always exciting to see some of the other ships in the distance with the anticipation of our own cruise. 🚢 

[mauimary]

[mauimary]

We saw one Celebrity Ship leave yesterday from our room overlooking Fort Lauderdale Beach. It’s so wonderful to just sit and look out over the quiet beach this am.  Getting ready to head out and find some coffee and a little breakfast.  Relaxing day ahead. 

[mauimary]

We are boarding early this am. We are usually in the 11-11:30 group but this time decided to avoid the rush and see if it is quieter at 1-1:30. More later on embarkation    Thinking it must be because the hotel has a shuttle to the port and ours was canceled because they do not have a minimum of four!  Not even 4!!!! So we will get our own Uber.  
 

We have had such a beautiful ocean front corner room for two nights as well as enjoyed some morning beach walks.  Today we enjoyed a relaxed breakfast and can take our sweet time getting ready.  
Until later 

Mary😎

[boingy300]

Maui Mary is at sea and having posting issues. She'll try to post when she arrives to the Azores. 

[boingy300]

34 minutes ago, boingy300 said:

Maui Mary is at sea and having posting issues. She'll try to post when she arrives to the Azores. 

Please stay tuned, she's almost to the Azores. I'm her friend and she requested that I post.

[Jim_Iain]

Just found the thread an following along.     Sorry they are having posting issues as they were just behind us when we were in Bermuda.    I understand Beyond made a detour to Bermuda for a medical emergency.    When we left Bermuda we cold see them behind us.     We are in heavy seas on Apex but had headed north for Cobh and they are on a more southerly route.    I was going to ask how hard they were being hit -  We had 24 foot waves over night an bouncing around today.  

 

If they have a Basic plan they may not be able to get onto CC but I have been seeing posts from @Ex-Airbalancer on Reflection using Basic.  

[long time lurker]

I am on the Beyond and the seas are a bit rougher than the first few days,  I believe about 12 ft.  We seem to be on the edge of the really rough stuff.  It is a little tougher to walk straight, not due to the drink package LOL.  The cabin creaks a bit at night, but not enough to keep us from sleeping.  All in all a good voyage so far for my first Transatlantic.

[mauimary]

Hola.. I am back. Our seas were pretty decent and actually smooth on some days. We did have an evacuation close to Bermuda they were evacuated by boat.  We did miss our Port in the Azores. Seas were very rough and we did come into the harbor. The Capt did try to position ourselves to not be as impacted by the wind but ultimately the decision was made that it was not safe to do so.  As we all know it becomes a sea day. Shortly after authorities closed the Port.  There was another ship RCCL Explorer that was listing 7% in the seas.  It was quite a rough sea day. 
 

We are now in Cartagena and loving it. We are mostly DIY touring and walking around. We did take one of those little blue trains for a 45 min general tour. 
 

It is so wonderful to be here in the Spring when we do not have the summer heat and crowds. 

[mauimary]

On 4/28/2023 at 3:23 PM, boingy300 said:

Please stay tuned, she's almost to the Azores. I'm her friend and she requested that I post.

Thank you Karen. I really appreciate your assistance. 

[mauimary]

Sorry for my lack of posting. CC format looked totally different from what I am used to. It frankly would not let me do anything.  Others were able to get the forum on the basic package but for some odd reason I could not.  
 

We did maintain a decent internet connection all the way across.  We very much enjoyed our ten sea days. Several crew members we recognized from last summer. The two of us spend a lot of our time in Al Bachio and the Magic Carpet. Service on the Magic Carpet and the Sunset Bar have been good.  The entertainment has been fantastic.  
 

We are in an Infinite Veranda and actually have really liked it. We are used to having a Sunset but with the winds it has worked out well for us. 
 

The restaurant internet I’m writing from is quite slow and I’m finding photos difficult to submit so will try later. 
 

Stay tuned.  I’m around! 
Mary😎
 

[mauimary]

Our Infinite Veranda mid ship.  Deck 7 so rides pretty smooth. Minimal creaking in our room. 

[mauimary]

We love hanging out on the Magic Carpet. Aperol Spritz is a fav of ours.  We have had some pretty good luck avoiding most of the wind and can actually make progress on our books. 
 

Im finding the internet for me for posting to CC works best when at a port. 

[mauimary]

Yesterday we did a sail by Gibraltar. Very handy that the haze cleared up so we could see it. After we were apx an hour or so past it an overhead page called out for Medical. Turns out the patient had a heart attack and needed shoreside Medical.  Captain Dimitrius turned us around and we returned closer to shore to have an airlift.  Seas were very calm for that.  Short stop and then we were on our way. 

[mauimary]

The Beyond has had some fantastic entertainment. The guest musicians have been a huge hit with packed shows. They have all done an additional different show. 
 

Jared Freiburg and the Vagabonds has been one of our favorites.  Hard to believe this talented musician is only 26 we were told. He definitely has a fan club and a following with a few groupies!