Live Cruise Reports

Hi all and welcome to an almost live Harmony of the Seas trip report.  I’ll have the basic internet package so I should be able to post throughout the week.  This will be our third Oasis class ship and look forward to trying out a Boardwalk Balcony cabin.  I’ll let you know if we get any notice of what access we have to the Crown Lounge.
 
Quick rundown so far -
Stayed at the Country Inn and Suites last night - a bit to close to the motorcycle rally but we were tired enough to sleep through it.
Ate breakfast at the Sunflower Bakery and Cafe; I do recommend the grilled cinnamon roll.

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Hey everyone! I wanted to post a live review for our first MSC cruise on the Meraviglia leaving out of Brooklyn on the 13th. I will post the complete review summarized here so you don't have to browse all the comments once we are done with our cruise, but for now this will be an ongoing thread. My husband @BurdineGooberwill also be posting his updates and food pics along with menu pics. We have 3 people in our party with Celiac. We booked 2 luxury suites in the Yacht Club, and also paid for the 2 carousel shows. The goal for our cruise is to read books, relax and spend time with our family. Nothing much more expected than that. We have been on 4 cruises together. 2 of them were Royal Caribbean and 2 on Disney. 

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This afternoon my daughter will be driving me 35 minutes to Port of Baltimore and not coming with me again on this cruise.  At least I have the bathroom to myself - when she comes with me she uses every square centimeter of space on the sink-top for her epic cosmetic collection,

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Greetings from my home  We are heading out very soon as you can tell very early this morning taking a quick flight down to San Diego to board the Koningsdam our flight leaves at 6:50 am. This will be the Koningsdam's second round trip San Diego sailing but her first was a Charter. This will be her first actual winter season sailing.  This will be our first time sailing out of San Diego since November 2, 2019 on the Eurodam and it is only our 2nd sailing on the Koningsdam with the first being April 8, 2016 for her first revenue sailing/Inaugural.

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I am travelling solo but met up with my friend Anne who I met on the Jewel last year.
 
Had a fabulous 2 days in Barcelona. Our first port was Valencia and I had organised a tour for 14 of us for a Paella cooking class. 
 
It was a fantastic day / if you are going to visit Valencia check out Horta Viva. Taxis were arranged by Miquel, the chef and owner, and cost us 10 Euros each round trip from the ship.

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Saint Greg's Regal Princess - Live - November 12, 2023

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Hello everyone! I’m Angela, and my husband Mark and I will be sailing with Princess for the first time since 2010. 
  
Our itinerary is the 14-day Circle Caribbean on the just-out-of-dry dock Ruby Princess. We depart tomorrow from Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades) and I am giddy with excitement!

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Never sure when to start a thread like this but figured since we sail on Friday now was an appropriate time to set the scene. 
 
We are sailing MSC World Europa in Yacht Club for 7 nights, on what I'd call a 'bog standard' Mediterranean itinerary. I intend to post from the ship about our experience as best I can.

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The intention with this cruise is to get a taste for a larger ship, as well as to indulge in the YC experience. The destinations were less important as we've been many times before.
 
We will still get off in most ports but for example no plans to go into Rome, instead exploring locally. We are doing a tour to Aix-En-Provence from Marseille as we weren't overly impressed with Marseille itself on previous visits. I find MSC tours to be reasonably priced compared to other lines.
 
The largest ship we've been on to date across all lines is Meraviglia at 171,598 Gross Tonnage. Earlier this year were on NCL Joy - 167,725 Gross Tonnage.
World Europa is the 6th largest ship in the world by Gross Tonnage standing at 215,863 GT, surpassed only by RCL's Oasis Class.
 
We do have some apprehension about the size of the ship and crowds etc. but also looking forward to the extra facilties/venues only a mega ship can offer.
 
On Joy we were in Haven, so will be able to compare the the Haven vs YC experience with fairly recent memory. NCL is our most travelled line followed by MSC.
 
We are Diamond with MSC but many of the perks are covered by the YC experience anyway, so the only thing of real value to us is the speciality meal.
 
Just on the dining note, 7 nights is way too short a cruise for us and we also want to try the YC buffet (if it's still running) as the menu really appeals to our taste compared to the main menu, as well as use our Diamond meal, so in reality we may only have 3-4 evening meals in the YC restaurant. We also want to try Hola! and there simply won't be time for it all.
 
We fly to Barcelona on Thursday, to spend a night at the Kimpton Vividora and then join the ship on Friday. We have been given a 3pm boarding time which will be ignored.
 
If anyone has any specific questions regarding World Europa I will do my best to find out the answer when onboard. Appreciate the recent hot topics are wristbands and snacks in the TSL!
 

I know people have had questions about this cruise. I'm on QV now and I'll try to answer any questions. I will do a day-by-day, but it's 10 minutes to cocktail time, so this will be a short entry about things people worry about.
 
CARPETS are in very good condition. I love some the aqua colors in the mail elevator lobby by the atrium. 

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We will be boarding Serenade on Tuesday 11/7 for a 28 night round trip from Miami to LA and back, and expect to do a "World Cruise upgrades" scavenger hunt along the way. I have a short list of what the World Cruisers asked us to track down, but we will try to find whatever hidden gems that may have been added as well. We will try to post frequently about what we find, what is still missing, and how they are doing with the overall preparation process as we go. Hopefully we will be able to post pictures of what we find that has changed since we were last on Serenade in February. DW really wants to find (and try) the laundry facilities if they are working yet.😇

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2023 - Japan - Celebrity Millennium - Day 1 - Tokyo
Despite leaving Frankfurt late, our ANA flight arrived in Tokyo-Haneda on time. Just before we landed, Fuji san presented himself below the wing in bright sunshine - a sight which made our hearts jump and put big smiles on our faces. Immigration and customs went smoothly and we were soon on our way to Shinjuku by train. 

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Hey everyone,

Sitting in the airport lounge in Vancouver, ready to fly to NYC (well, Toronto, and then Newark) ahead of this Sunday’s cruise. We’ll be boarding the Norwegian Escape for a 7-day sailing from New York City to Bermuda and back again.

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Hi
Welcome to our live blog, a cruise of many firsts.  We're Randi and Julie and we live in Santa Clarita, 40 miles from the port.  This is the first time we've take a cruise from a port in California, and the first time we'll be in a regular balcony cabin( we booked OV and I did a move up offer of 185PP).  I must say, it was really nice not to have to take a flight anywhere for this cruise. This will also be our first time on Eclipse.  I booked this over the summer I believe, or maybe it was Spring after reading a blog by someone who did the same itinerary.  We've take 6 cruises on X and all have been in Aqua except last years Reflection cruise was in a Suite.  

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It all started when our friend, Stickman1990, tempted us with a very good value Regent Seven Seas Explorer cruise from Tokyo to Bangkok. We love visiting Japan but have only spent a rushed day in Bangkok. After a bit of number crunching we decided to book it. Then our FCCs, from having Covid on the Round Australia cruise last year, landed in our Princess account. There were no Australian cruises that tempted us so I looked at Japan cruises and found a great cruise that fitted perfectly before our Regent cruise with no overlap of ports and finished two days before the Regent cruise embarked. So we booked it.

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This is our first Regent Cruise to Japan.
Positives:
great room steward
nice (but dated) cabins
 
Negatives:
*Pre-cruise tours chaotic
*Couldn’t understand the Japanese pre-cruise tour guides
*Couldn’t hear the Japanese pre-cruise tour guides
*Complaints from many about all Japan Tours
 
Regent is supposedly the top cruise line.  This is shocking to us because we did not experience unrivaled luxury.  How can the top cruise line have tours where every guide (except in Busan, Korea) has problems communicating in English?  Regent is very aware of these problems with their Japanese Tours, but they continue to book these cruises and act like everything is top notch.  They blame the shut down due to Covid for not having proper guides, yet they continue to take our money regardless.  Maybe they shouldn’t be cruising to Japan if they cannot provide tours where you can understand and hear the guides?  

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For those that just want to read about the actual cruise/travel to the cruise – come on back on November 17th. For the rest of you, welcome to my journey prior to, and aboard Norwegian Pr1ma!

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Time for another LIVE report!  After the wonderful first cruise I had with my daughter on Summit this summer, the husband and I decided to book Infinity to celebrate our upcoming milestone birthday (yes we share the same exact birthday). We booked a Suite guarantee and ended up with an accessible Sky suite.  

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Myself and my husband are on board Capella now and I’m going to try to drop comments along the way. I will do my best to answer questions but right now my brain is a little foggy as we just woke up.
So, yesterday we left home at 4.30 for our journey to Budapest.

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21 days from Sailing, midnight this morning, EDT. But wouldn't you know it, this was NCL's system maintenance Sunday, so those of us who are the early birds got nothing...zero...zilch...nada. As I posted on the site which shall remain nameless, the next thing you know, they'll tell us we can't board until 11:03 am on 01 October!
 

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The ship's schedule is a busy one with lots of guest entertainers.
I've looked a few of them up on Youtube, and I'm excited. There will plenty of good music and comedy on board.
Valiant Lady Daily Program
 
We will not be sailing full.
Current availability shows a handful of insides,160+ Sea Terraces, and 60+ Central Sea Terraces.

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DH and I are off on another cruise adventure. This time we are sailing two back-to-back one-way cruises from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, NJ to Quebec City and back--and, I can’t wait! [20 nights total] Our family thinks we are a little nuts to be gone this long. This started out as a trip from Quebec City to Bayonne.  DH has some mobility issues and airports are a challenge.  We took a similar cruise in 2019 and the experience transferring at the Montreal airport [long delay and lots of walking] was not the best.  We boarded the prop jet by walking out on the tarmac and up the stairs.  So, I found a good price on the one way to Quebec City, and I booked it. Problem solved. That's my story and I am sticking to it. 😜

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I'm getting closer to LAX, but only because American keeps changing gates and terminals at DFW.

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I will be posting comments and photos during our cruise to hopefully give you a clear picture of our voyage. While we haven’t yet boarded the new Explora I, we have arrived in Quebec. In order to upload the photos, I will be reducing their size, but I hope you will still enjoy.

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Welcome to "LIVE" from Regal Princess.   Hello everyone, and good day. The Sea is Calling.   I will be flying to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow to sail the beautiful Regal Princess on October 24th (This Tuesday). I really don’t like to fly, and this is the 2nd time I’ve flown this year (“Oh the humanity”), but I really wanted to sail to a couple of ports that I have not been to. The last time I sailed with Princess was 20 years ago on Grand Princess (2003). Regal Princess is much newer (2014)   Regal Princess has been sailing in the United Kingdom all summer and is finishing her 15-night repositioning cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale. I am also sailing a repo cruise from FLL to Galveston where Regal Princess will be spending the winter.

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We boarded the Odyssey yesterday in Los Angeles, for the 32 day cruise across the Pacific to New Zealand.  We have been to Los Angeles and Auckland before; all the other ports are new for us.
 
There are 315 guests and 362 crew members on board. The feeling and energy at the sail away was really great. It is surprising to us how many people chose a 32 day cruise for their first time on Seabourn.

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