Live Cruise Reports

We are onboard the Viking Neptune trans-Atlantic.  Although this is our first Viking Ocean cruise, we have sailed ocean crossings on other cruise lines. There are many other Cruise Critic members onboard.  I hope that others will join in and share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

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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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Eight of joined the Neptune in Lisbon, so (at least for us) the World Cruise has started! We are looking forward to meeting everyone else when you board in FTL or in LA. 

Viking treated us to a dinner in Manfredi's where we got to meet the Cruise Director, Executive Chef and Excursion Manager (along with a few other officers) who will be on for the duration of the WC. It's going to be amazing. 🌍🛳️🍸

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Antarctica has long been a continent that has intrigued me and what better way to get there than on a cruise?  So it is that I find myself about to board the Silver Wind for 18 nights. 
 
Departing from Puerto Williams in the South of Chile, Silversea has gathered us in Santiago, Chile as our commercial airport of arrival and departure.  From here Silversea has charted private aircraft to fly us to Puerto Williams to board the ship.  This is considered an "Expedition" Silversea cruise so a little different than their "Classic" offering.  

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Friday 15 December, 17:00 hrs
Location: Southampton Mayflower Terminal,  50.9044, -1.4290
 
Greetings from Southampton Mayflower Terminal onboard RMS Queen Mary 2. I think there are quite a few Cruise Critic members on board. Having got the Elon. Musk wifi to work I thought I would give over a few reports from time to time. This won't be a classic "Live From..." thread, plus I hope some others may pitch in with their experiences. I will try to get things like menus and programmes online.

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Even though I live a fairly short drive to Port Everglades, it's time for vacation to start ! We are  heading over to a hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale for the night and a bonus is I will get to drive by the Enchanted as she is docked there today.  
 
Excited to be getting on The Sky again  and sitting with my first cocktail in hand. Can't wait to hear that love boat horn as we depart!!! 

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Greetings from onboard United flight 592 from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale! 
 
“niksmom630” here, a.k.a. Chris, about to kick off my 2nd review on the Celebrity board. As my signature discloses, I’ve primarily sailed Royal for the last few decades, but sailed on my first Celebrity cruise from Rome to the Greek Isles in 2022 on the Edge. It was amazing trip, and sold me on sailing the brand, and the Edge class in the future 

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Greetings and Good Morning HAL Cruisers, Yes, Lisa and Tom are at it again. We are flying today to Florida for our cruise tomorrow. We are flying via American Airlines Non stop to Miami on a very Early flight. From LAS there were no Non Stop to FLL, since I booked Hotel through HAL and they will provide transfers for their hotel from either FLL or MIA this seemed to work out for the best. This will be our first time on the Nieuw Statendam and will complete us having sailed on all the ships of the current HAL Fleet and it will be our first time cruising since reaching our 5 Star Status. Although I suspect we will see no difference as far as that is concerned. Except I might get a Spa Day in the Thermal Suite 

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Hello from Florida!  ☀️
I am Stem to Stern aka Paul. 😀
In just under 48 hours my DH and I are bringing our nearly yearlong cruise withdrawal to an end as we embark Celebrity Summit in Miami.

But wait.  
This is only a 5-night cruise?!?
That’s not long enough!!  
What can we do about this?  
Maybe a back-to-back?  
Maybe another ship?  
What is this Yacht Club that GenerationX was singing the praises of in a couple of her live trip reports earlier this year?  🤔😉
 
Let’s check it out….
 
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Basics:
 
Round trip from San Francisco.  Yay!  My home port, so no flying or hotels involved.  Just a 15 minute Uber ride from home to pier 27.
 
Cabin: M1 category “Reserve Class” (formerly Club Class) mini-suite on Dolphin deck 9.  It’s the same size as the rest of the mini-suites, but comes with bundled extras.  Bids placed just slightly above minimums to gamble on an upgrade.  Don’t really care.  Buy the cabin you want; a decent upgrade win is just icing on the cake.
 
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I debated if I should do a LIVE this time around, but I thought this might be good therapy, and a good place to post a few photos along the way.  No promises that I will keep up to date with things, but it will happen.  
 
This is our first time to sail Symphony, although we have sailed the other Oasis Class ships.  One advantage will be that we will have some new shows to see, some new artwork to see, and more importantly, some new bartenders to meet.

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the water....
Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, Moms & Dads, Teens, Tweens, Youngsters, Toddlers and Wee Little Shavers - It's that time again. The National Institute of Cheer has stoked the boiler on the blogging machine and we're going full steam ahead with our first "Live From" since Christmas of 2018.  That's five long years without a voyage on one of Holland America's blue-hulled beauties.C

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Hi all! It is time to start getting ready for our upcoming wildlife adventure that includes a 7-night “Inner Loop” expedition cruise around the Galapagos Islands on the Celebrity Flora! We had an awesome time back in 2015 doing the “Southern Loop” on the older Celebrity Xpedition and are hoping this itinerary will be even more memorable!
 
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This is an attempt to do a ‘live from’…we’ll see if I can keep up with it!! DH and I are on MSC Seashore for a 10 day cruise. We booked as a 10 day but it’s a 3 + 7 schedule so we’ll be returning to Port Canaveral 12/10. Our cruise starts 12/7.
We arrived from central Texas at MCO yesterday about 5pm. Caught the Cocoa Beach Shuttle to Towneplace Suites near Port Canaveral.

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One of my favorite "Live From" bloggers @MeganGC1983over on the Carnival board is a hard act to follow.  She is a good writer, but flies in or drives in day of departure, and maxes out the beverage package.  I am too old for both of those activities.
 
We were in Florida for a lovely cruise on the Connie and just got back.  12 days is nice, 14 is better.  I was of course cruise shopping based on price and spotted this run- excellent ship and ports and $249 Ocean View.  I was able to find decent one way flights back, and waited until we got to Tampa to cancel the back half of our cheap round trip tickets.  Airlines hate this but I was surprised to get half our fares back.

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What is Below the Salt, you ask?  Google it.  For short, It means I am not in YC.  As a matter of fact, I am way forward on deck 5 in a Fantastica OV.
This time Essie is coming along.  My biggest task may be keeping her under control.  Car and navigator packed:


 

 
I'm an old lady and don't participate in many activities.  I like to explore the ship, and people watch.  I like to go to the shows, particularly the musical ones.  I haven't much patience for jugglers, magicians, or comedians.  I eat in the MDR and buffet, don't do specialty restaurants even though as diamond I do have a complimentary meal.  I don't eat a lot, splurge on gelato.  I hardly drink, not that I am against it, but I dislike the taste so it is always something that disguises the taste.  Or free.  I carry around a refillable bottle which usually contains iced tea.  
   I live 280 miles north of Port Canaveral, in Coastal GA.  I like to sail from ports I can drive to but this is too far to drive the day of the cruise, although I could have done it because they assigned me a boarding time of 4pm...  I left home about 1pm, and after a stop at CVS to pick up two prescriptions that I don't need yet but I couldn't let sit for 11 days, I hit the back roads until joining I-95 at exit 49.  I hate I-95 ao spend as much time as possible on side roads.  The worst part is going through JAX.  Maybe I should splurge on a SunPass and take the express lanes.  Tonight I am at the Best Western Plus at SR 16, the outlet malls of St. Augustine.  I have a small but adequate room, much like a cruise ship cabin.  There is barely space to walk between the foot of the bed and the chest.  There are at least 8 outlets, but not a single usb port.  But I am equipped.  My watch is currently being charged.  
 

 

 

 
The hotel is behind a Denny's, but it seems not to be open.  So I revisited Ford's Garage for supper, chicken fingers and house salad.  I've eaten there before and there is really too much food.  Last time I could only eat half of my sandwich.  I am not a gourmet, or a gourmand.  Many of the dishes others picture and rave about I would never order.  I will post menus and pictures of what I order, and whether or not I liked it.  But not the gelato...I will be too busy eating it before it melts to take pictures...
  Please post questions, but only about non-YC.  EM

Hello again everyone!
 
After a few week hiatus we're returning to Freedom of the Seas for yet another casino sponsored cruise. This time we're going without kids for a well deserved getaway. 
 
We're hitting the standard 3 nighter out of Florida, starting in Miami visiting CocoCay and then Nassau, but really this trip is about a nice relaxing weekend before the holidays. 
 
More posts to come, but we're sailing in an OV Balcony and will be spending our dinners in either Giovanni's or Chops.
 
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Hi all,
 
Currently sailing on the way from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau onboard the brand new Ascent, and thought I’d give some brief thoughts of the experience so far.

Boarding was the best I’ve ever experienced. From shore to ship in less than 10 minutes - X has really perfected this experience. Other lines take notes!

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Good morning from the beautiful Eclipse! We are onboard until Valparaiso 12/23. We are fortunate to be in a Celebrity Suite. The crew has been very good, especially in Luminae. I am newly gluten-free and so far, every member of the wait staff has known it and made sure I have lots of choices. No need to order my food ahead of time. I had a few concerns before boarding because Eclipse has not been through the revolutionizing process, but our suite is in excellent condition.

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Hey kids. Long time no sea 😆😆 
 
No you are not seeing things. I am living the dream of two cruises a week apart from each other. My husband and I just got off Allure yesterday morning and landed back in VA last night. In fact, I have one full day off before we fly out on Sunday the 17th…that day being today.  I’m an FA so I’m home today but then on back to back work trips coming home the afternoon of the 16th. Thoughts and prayers appreciated. 🤦🏼‍♀️😆 

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Apologies in advance for typos. All I have for the newfangled interwebs is my tiny cellular device.
 
We are aboard the lovely Encore and it is Day 6, a day at sea. We are having an absolute blast!!
 
Thought I would provide a few musings.
 
We are Sapphire Latitudes members who used to cruise in the Haven until we made a late booking earlier this year on Bliss. We had a Club Balcony and now see no reason to return to the Haven. Our little cabin is clean and QUIET and has an amazing shower. 

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Welcome back to another LIVE cruise with us! Later this week my husband and I will be sailing on Allure OTS for a 3 night Bahamas cruise from Port Canaveral. We are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary, we are a Covid wedding couple so yes we celebrate each year (we also love an excuse to cruise 😄). We will be flying to Orlando from DC on Thursday morning, renting a car from MCO to drive to Cape Canaveral for some sightseeing on the Cape and the pre-cruise overnight there. My husband and I are aviation and space geeks so be prepared for nerdy space things from this pre-cruise adventure.

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As we are ten days away from embarkation and exactly one week away from being ‘on vacation’ I wanted to start a live trip report with an introduction. To be honest, it’s also just to see if my iPad alone will work for posting and since it’s my first ‘live’ posting experience, make sure I have an idea of what I’m doing.  On previous cruises the internet was so slow I wouldn’t even think of trying to post throughout the cruise, but early indications are that Starlink really is the cat’s meow and hopefully that means I won’t encounter many problems.

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Day -1. Packing day
 
On Sunday, we board the Symphony of the Seas for our very first Royal Caribbean cruise.  I’m traveling with DH (aka Glen) and we’re combining it with a 7 day on the Celebrity Apex.
 
I’d booked the Apex cruise earlier this year, and then decided I wanted to try Royal, and specifically one of the Oasis class ships(if I’m gonna do, I’m gonna go big).  I found that the Symphony was leaving 6 days before on a 6 day cruise, so that was perfect.  We live in California and I’m getting over going to Florida for just a 7 day cruise.  

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Greetings from Hobart, Tasmania, where we’re boarding Ponant’s Le Lapérouse for a ten day trip around Tasmania. This was meant to be the third in a set of back-to-backs, but work got in the way, allowing for only this one.
 
We arrived in Hobart late last night and spend the day exploring Hobart’s inner harbor area. Le Lapérouse had arrived at 6am from New Zealand and settled in behind the mammoth Virgin Resolute Lady, doing a quick Melbourne - Hobart “MerMaiden Voyage”.

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