Live Cruise Reports

Well well well! We meet again!!
  
I'm excited to be taking you all along as best I can on this year's NYE sailing onboard the still-pretty-new Celebration! This time last year, my better half @HelloItsMeB and I somehow lucked into a casino freebie on the NYE sailing of Mardi Gras out of Port Canaveral, and though I'd been cruising almost my whole life I had never experienced a NYE sailing. Well, needless to say we had an absolutely PHENOMENAL time! So much so, we essentially agreed to make it a yearly tradition whenever possible. Hell, we already have Magic booked for NYE '25! 

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Happy New Year!
 
After getting so many great travel tips from this site, I hope to share some useful information on this bucket list trip to Antarctica. Since Seabourn’s expedition ships are relatively new with limited reviews posted I found it a little difficult to get all the information I wanted when I planned this trip back in Jan of 2023 so feel free to ask any questions along the way and I will try to address them as we travel.  While we wait to start our travel journey, first some background:

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Last year we did a New Year’s Eve cruise on Virtuosa out of Paris/Le Havre and this year we are doing a NYE cruise on World Europa out of Barcelona, so I will have some photographs and comments along the way.
 
 
We are staying at the NH Collection Grand Hotel Calderon, in Barcelona, which we like a lot. It’s located on Las Ramblas, which is right on the main drag.
 
Tonight, we are going to do a walking tour that includes stops at several bars with some tapas and drinks.

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Hello again from DFW where it's 30 degrees in the morning and 65 by the afternoon: not only does our weather not know what to do but here we are stuck in the weirdest 5 days of the year, so let's take a cruise! 

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We are now on day four of our cruise, but I'm just now logging into the internet for the first time.  I have a bit of catching up to do.
 
December 22 - EMBARCATION
The day started way too early (at 4:30 a.m.) so we could get the train from Canberra to Sydney. We had no intention of braving train coffee, so we ended up sleeping all the way to Sydney.  As several people had advised in this forum, getting from Central Station to Circular Quay was super-easy and we were at the ship by about noon.  (It was quite impressive to see the hull of the Majestic looming above us as we exited the train station.)

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Alternate title - "It's So Close I Can Almost See It:  The Pseudo-Panama Canal Cruise"
 
I decided to do a live report for my upcoming cruise on the Dream.  I'll have Internet access and with Starlink it will probably good enough to post most of the time.
 
Since there's a couple of weeks to go until the cruise, here's the backstory... I booked this one a very long time ago - August 2021, back in the early days of the restart.  I needed a cruise to put my FCC from the cruise I was canceling that had protocols that I didn't want to deal with.  That FCC came from a cruise that was canceled due to the ship shutdown.  I liked this one best of my options, so I booked this one and put my FCC and OBC here.  I also have $250 in OBC as a CCL shareholder.

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Had V "free air" from PHL to LAX. Initially was assigned a nonstop to LAX, but was changed to a connection through MSP. Flights were on time, and luggage arrived intact at LAX. Noon arrival. V rep was at bag claim, with our names on coach transfer manifest. About a 45 min ride to Berth 93. Check in was efficient and we were on the ship at about 1:30.

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We are headed back to Antarctica starting January 7, 2024 in San Antonio, Chile.  Some of you may recall that we were just there on the Zaandam's Grand South America (GSA) which ended last week. Thanks for following along on that thread.  Why would we return?  There are several reasons.  .......

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Flight:
My trip started off in Florida, along with my DW. I flew on AA from MIA-SCL. Unfortunately all business class seats on this route were sold out months in advance. I tried using an American Airlines System-Wide-Upgrade certificate (Based on my frequent flyer status), but as the flight was sold out consistently and nobody missed their flight, I had to fly in my Main Cabin Extra seat as purchased. 

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Dear Travellovers 😁
We are on our way to our next adventure. 
Happy to fly with our favourite airline again, we are currently on board of a Singapore Airlines 777 on our way to Singapore. We have one day to explore our favourite places in Singapore again before we embark on Celebrity Solstice on the 22nd. She’ll take us to Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong. As always, we would be happy to take you along 😁
Happy holidays and much love ❤️  
Birgit & Oliver
 
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Hello everyone! I'm headed out tomorrow on Vision of the Seas of the Christmas sailing. I plan of doing a live review, so please feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc.

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Happy Holidays to all!  And what better to ring in the holiday spirit then with a little Vitamin Sea?  This was a somewhat spur of the moment decision to book a cruise.  Our children are not coming until next week, so the thought of cruising over Christmas was more appealing when compared to a quiet house.  This cruise is our Christmas present to ourselves!  The Summit fit the parameters for sailing dates and affordability.  Itinerary was not important to us this time.  

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I promise little, but hope to share some thoughts and comparisons from aboard Splendor over the next few days. First time on Splendor for me, and first time Carnival for Barb.
 
So far, so good. 1st on, even overtaking a few transit passengers that headed for X-ray ahead of us. One thing so far - so many with priority on Princess that there is a crowd when check-in opens. No so much with Splendor. First aboard at 10:45, and much fewer people in the conga line.

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Not intending for this to MY live review of the World Cruise, but rather a place for all of us on the adventure to post as we continue the journey, and others that want to follow us along...virtually.  Ready to sail fellow World Cruisers?  How is the packing progressing?  Quite the challenge on this one.  😉 
 
And a special thank you to @Merion_Mom for posting the blog thread.  This is in addition to the blogs choice, and is simply for posting here on CC.  🙂 

Click to cruise along with many Cruise Critic members on this world sailing@

Hello everybody,
 
I’d like to invite you to follow me virtually on this voyage around the globe.
 
Finally! When my early retirement approached I had the idea to start this new part of my life with a long cruise. After a covid-related failure I booked in June 2021 this cruise and wanted to go in January 2022. As so many cruises also this one didn’t take place because of the pandemic. I was offered to rebook for a cruise going around Africa and South America in 2023 or to circumvent the globe in 2024 on pretty much the same itinerary as planned for 2022. I decided to do the latter, because for me a world cruise does exactly this, going around the entire globe.

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Hi cruisers! Going to attempt a live-ish review for my first MSC and YC cruise! My new DH has never cruised before so I’ll try to add some things from his perspective too. It won’t be nearly as astonishing or entertaining as some we’ve read but I’ll give it a go! Embarkation was a breeze with YC! As someone who has sailed carnival in the past and had to wait in long lines, it was truly delightful!

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Good Morning from NCL Escape!
 
Starting this one a bit later than usual, as day 1 has come and gone!  
 
For those who are new to my reviews - I will post TIPS in red so that skim-readers can just get the nitty gritty tips for their cruise planning.
 
We are a family of 3 in an oceanview balcony.  Our pitiful upgrade bid to Haven was declined (no surprise, as we are too frugal 🤣).  The ship is also sold out, so that may have something to do with it...

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Well, it's that time - time to hop aboard another BHB! This will be interesting as I'm traveling as a Newbie. This will be a cruise of firsts - first time to Hawaii, first time solo, first inside cabin and first time "winging" every port (I've booked zero excursions) 👣. Oh and if successful, first time w/just 1 suitcase 🧳 🤞
I feel like the only thing I will know is the ship⛴️ and how to exchange dirty clothes for clean ones. 😏🤷‍♀️
So, in 4 days, I should be enjoying lunch in MDR as I begin what I know will be an amazing adventure. I hope you'll come along or just pop in to see what's happening on the Koningsdam. Ask questions, offer dining suggestions or share your Christmas pictures - let's make this a cruise to remember!!

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Bags Packed.  Ready To Go. Can't Wait.  
 
A New Crystal Adventure Begins,  
 
We begin a new adventure today flying to Miami for a pre-cruise stay before boarding Crystal Serenity on December 23.  We will sail with some of the CC members and many guests who we have known a long time.  
 
Today's airport experience was great.  Maybe, because we were on one of the first flights of the day.

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Thanks to other CC friends that're recently off the GA and twin nieces currently on their last sea day, homeward bound ... I've gathered a number of snapshots, interesting "details" that most of us do NOT get even at the CruiseCritic onboard Meet & Greet (the printed Calling Card with names & extension #'s of key ship managers & HD, etc.)  - uploading this to share, since there has been no semi and/or live trip report yet for this late Fall/early Winter NYC season, with Getaway doing mostly the 10 days run, aside from the holidays and winter school break. 

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I'm a huge Dickens fan from Pickwick Papers through Nicholas Nickleby, A Christmas Carol and Little Dorrit to A Tale of Two Cities and and everything in between.  I've titled this live thread "A tale of two cruises" in honor of my favorite classic author.  This will be the story of two cruises. This is our first B2B and we are now embarking on our second half of our journey.  I'm truly hoping that this cruise will be very different than our first week aboard Harmony of the Seas.  

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Hello from the Grandeur. I have never done a live review before but thought I’d share my experience.  About us - we’ve cruised quite a bit, in the last few years mostly on Celebrity with a couple of recent Oceania cruises on Marina and Riviera thrown in. This is our first Regent cruise. We’re a little fed up with lowered food and service on Celebrity and the feeling we were being nicked and dimed. We liked Oceania but found it a little sedate for us and we are not big partiers. 

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After coming home from our Xpedition Galapagos sailing a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I are heading out again to do another cruise, this time to Asia over Christmas and New Year's.  It's been a bit of an unusual coincidence for us as we typically take only one cruise a year.  However this Asia trip was originally booked in Dec 2019 (for a Dec 2020 sailing)--some 4 years ago.  But Covid and the slow world recovery kept pushing this cruise back 3 years in a row when it finally slid into a spot right after our Thanksgiving Galapagos cruise.  So we shrugged our shoulders and decided to take both cruises.  That was our form of post-Covid revenge travel.
 
Here is our current trip plan (link)
 

 
 

 
When we originally booked this sailing for Dec 2020, it was a 14 night cruise aboard Millennium.  There were overnights at Singapore and Hong Kong which are now missing on our current 12 night sailing.  We had planned on staying pre and post cruise at Singapore and Hong Kong.   So when the overnights got dropped with our current sailing, I decided to book five nights pre-cruise in Singapore and five nights post-cruise in Hong Kong to make up for it.  It probably works out better that way.  So this trip will have 3 phases: Singapore (5 nights) + cruise (12 nights) + Hong Kong (5 nights) 
 
Originally when we booked this cruise, our two adult children were set to go with us--it would have been our 15th Celebrity cruise as a family.  But now 3 years later a lot has changed--they are unable to go with us for a variety of personal and work reasons.  So that is another casualty for us from the Covid cancellation/delays.
 
Today we plan on flying out of Chicago (ORD) and we will fly to San Francisco (SFO) for a 7 hour layover designed to allow us to have dinner in San Francisco with our son and his wonderful girl friend at Mister Jiu's restaurant.  I suggested that he pick the place to eat since he knows San Francisco so well after living there for over five years.  I told him that since we are headed to Asia for almost a month, I preferred we not eat Chinese food during our stop in San Francisco.    Well Mister Jiu's is a Chinese restaurant--a Michelin star one--but still a Chinese restaurant.  So that is where we are going today.  It will be nice to see our son and his girl friend.
 
Our flight then leaves SFO at about 11pm local time.  We will then have the pleasure of flying on United Airline's flagship route designated as Flight #1 which makes it very easy to remember.  But the nonstop flight from SFO to SIN will be about 17.5 hours long.  Our car comes to pick us up at 9am, so here we go.....
 
David and Marcia

Here is my attempt so bear me.
 
Presently at United Polaris Lounge in LAX.  We dropped off the dogs for boarding and Uber picked us up at 4:00.  Quick ride thanks that protesters did not prone themselves on the freeway today.  Easy checkin and no line at TSA Pre.  Good food and drink.  We board in than one hour.

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We arrive Auckland Monday morning and board the ship on Tuesday.  We will pick up a bottle of booze prior to boarding.
 
It will be good fleeing the brutal winter weather in Pasadena, it was 78 today.  
 
Stay tuned
 

I’m onboard and eating in the dining room! It is delicious as always.
 
I’ve had the spinach ravioli and waiting in the beef tenderloin.  
 
It has been mostly wonderful so far. I tried to drop my bag in the stateroom and Stewart was NOT happy. He actually yelled at me. It was a bit uncomfortable but reported to guest services. 

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