Live Cruise Reports

This is the first cruise I’ve ever booked a guarantee room for, so was a little nervous, but by 6/4 (2 weeks before the cruise), we had already received our assigned room. Our guarantee was for a SC and we ended up with a SA, so I’m not mad about that one 😁 We had also been waitlisted for main (late) fixed dining, but on our current paperwork, it looks like we’re secured for that. I’m still working full time, so we tend to splurge on our cruises and get a suite since we have such limited time to travel. I may also have to do a tiny, teensy bit of work while on vacay, so we’ll see how the internet situation on the ship works out.

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Today is Venezia first cruise out of New York and first cruise to Bermuda  
 
Embarkation at the terminal is somewhat disorganized.  At the terminal they check the boarding pass documents first when you walk into the terminal, then security and then boarding the ship. Make sure to have the boarding pass printed out on paper. A digital copy is not accepted.  There is a separate line to print out a copy if needed.  they can be a long slow moving line outside that terminal that can snake down to the other piers. 

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Got to port of Miami Terminal C at 8:30 am. Was able to sneak into bus lot and pull right up to Yacht Club white tent. No porters on duty until 9 am. Had to unload myself. Parked across street Parking Garage C. Pulled up to entrance and no tickets and no attendants to take credit card. One entrance machine had its arm in the up position so backed up and went through to parking garage. Parked on second floor just in case of ........

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Good afternoon!  This will be my first live review on CC outside a Celebrity sailing.  We originally booked this itinerary for July 2020 and was cancelled.  So, this is a rebooking and also our first Alaska cruise and first time on the Wonder.  We are a family of four, which includes two pretend adults ages 16 and 19. 🤣

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I will try and write a “live” review and let you know my thoughts on the ship and the ports.
I am cruising with my friend Lynda who has cruised before but never to the Fjords, this is my 3rd cruise to the Fjords and 33rd cruise in total.
 
We caught the coach at Wetherby and had a driver with a sense of humour, although we weren’t sure at first when he told us there will be no comfort breaks, toilet on board was for emergencies and liquids only! 😱

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I'll flesh this out with the days prior to the embarkation, but here's the detail on our first day on the ship.  I'll try to answer any questions.  Our itinerary includes Barcelona, Marseilles, Genoa, Naples, Messina, La Valletta (Malta), Sea Day and then back to Barcelona.
 
Friday, June 9th, 2023 - Embarkation Day from Barcelona
 
We walked from our AirBnB on the north side of Las Ramblas to.....

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Good Morning.  It is finally the day that we depart for our fourteenth Regent cruise.  We are cruising on Tuesday for ten days from Southampton, UK to Stockholm, Sweden onboard the Splendor.  During this cruise, we are celebrating our fortieth wedding anniversary
 
We plan to travel to Miami today from Port St Lucie, FL and spend the night at the Marriott. Tomorrow....

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Background: 
My sister and I  booked this cruise over a year ago.
 She and I did two Viking Welcome back cruises during the pandemic. Sailed Orion around Bermuda and Malta to Barcelona on  the Venus in 2021. Both cruises were wonderful vacations during some trying times. 
Now so excited  to do  the unique Scenic Scandinavia cruise. 

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This is fourth time lucky for us on this cruise. We booked the same cruise for the maiden season in 2020, to fall over our 30th wedding anniversary, but there was something going on in the world that led it to be cancelled. We looked to book it again for 2021, but the prices had gone right up; I'm quite sure it didn't go ahead again due to Covid. We looked at it again for 2022, but the prices were again £400 more than we would have paid for the original trip.  For this confirmed trip, which will now be over our 33rd anniversary, the prices had.....

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Majestic had Starlink switched on yesterday afternoon.  Starting the day in Whittier, AK, we were on SES, and before we left port they flipped the switch to turn on Starlink.
 
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I’m currently on the Celebrity Reflection sailing in Europe. We just finished up Day 4 in Ajaccio Corsica. Next is Genoa Italy. We booked 2 rooms in Concierge Class and did not bid on Move Up. I think there’s been some confusion of what’s included in Concierge Class after the “Changes of 2023” took effect. Here’s what we have received or observed so far:
 
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We are very excited for our first Princess cruise.  This is a make-up from last summer - I got COVID the week prior and we had to postpone the cruise.  No Escape Rooms for me a week before the cruise this time!  We have been on Celebrity, Royal, Norwegian, and Disney, so will have a great opportunity to compare Princess to those brands.  We have always heard that if you do Alaska, Princess is the way to go, so here we are!
 
I'll provide more information later today and through the week about the packages we have, the excursions we booked, room location, and what we are packing.  We will be staying two nights before the cruise in Vancouver (our first time there).  We also have a 5 day Denali add-on at the end.  

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We have made the arduous 30 km journey from our home to our pre-departure hotel stay at the Fairmont Waterfront.  A few beverages while we watch the Radiance of the Seas and the Crown Princess sail away will aid in our recovery (and to get my drink lifting arm in training for the week ahead!).

Updates will follow as events unfold (and as wifi bandwidth permits)

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Hello cruise critic community, it’s been about 8 months since my first ever live review and I decided to come back for more. Hopefully you appreciate a bit of snark flanked with positive vibes and a photo heavy review. 
 
This cruise will run the boring New Jersey to Florida to Nassau to cococay route. What is slightly unique is that this is a Friday to Friday cruise which means we get back and have a few days to readjust to real life before work on Monday.  

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I thought I would start this thread today so that those of us onboard can relay our experiences.
We board June 7th at the Cruise Terminal near 52nd street on the Hudson River.
The panomax shows a great view
https://viking.panomax.com/saturn/
 
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Going to try to keep this brief-ish (or not, I’m long-winded) with few or no pictures. Too hectic with extended family & I eat too much to take pics of every item.
 
Background
 
This is a "bonus" family cruise for us after my generous FIL had such a good time on last year's family cruise (we normally take one every 5 years as the anniversaries of my wife's parents, her sister, and our own are fairly close together (May-June) and different multiples of 5 years apart).

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Starting this a tad late but since it is my first foray on Celebrity I wanted to see how the internet performed before starting. My last live on NCL fell apart due to internet.  This internet seems great so let’s give it a go. 
I wanted to try Celebrity to look for a new “home” since I do not feel like I personally fit with NCL lately. 
I blog about all my cruises so feel free to read all about it or the more minute details of this cruise as well. Alpacamybagsblog is where you can find all the details you do not really need and pictures as well. 

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As promised, I am going to be doing a live posting while on our cruise that is TWO weeks away!! I cannot believe we are getting closer to our embarkation date. I wanted to create this first post to introduce myself and give a little background of my travel history. 

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Greetings Cruise Critic strangers! I’m a longtime lurker on these boards (18+ years!), but finally have enough spunk to post my first ever Cruise Critic trip report!
 
Some of my preliminary research was done via TripAdvisor, so my first few lines below are essentially a re-post of what I originally posted there in anticipation of this trip. It’ll give you a nice summary of our initial preparations. Our travel officially kicks-off next week, as we’ve included an 8-night road trip through Alaska in advance of our cruise.
 
I thought I was writing my trip reports for my son (who turned 13 just a few days ago), but I suppose they’re really for me. He’s growing up so fast & time seems to be slipping away. Sigh.
 
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Two more sleeps to go until we fly out to Helsinki! Then, 12 nights cruising to small ports and islands. Starting in the Gulf of Bothnia, then we head down through the Baltic Sea, and the Kiel Canal to end in Hamburg.
 
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Ok, I admit I have a poor track record for sticking to posting daily for live reviews, but I will really try this time! We are a couple with three teenagers staying in 18019 in the Yacht Club on the MSC Seascape. This is our 5th MSC cruise and 4th in the YC. We know what to expect with MSC - the good and the bad - and we love the overall experience.
We had to fly out the morning of embarkation, which was stressful and pretty tiring. It just couldn't be helped this time. We walked up to the white YC tents at Terminal C and were quickly brought up with a few other families to the YC waiting area. This is not a fancy waiting room, but there was plenty of space to sit and we only waited about 10 minutes total. It was busy, but it seemed like they had a process going to quickly get people checked in with their wristbands and turn in paperwork. A butler came down and took a small group of us up to the YC.

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It has been awhile since I have posted a live and this will be a new kind of trip for us so I thought I might as well give it a go! I am excited to be doing a European cruise for the 1st time which will be kicked off with some land travels!  Be prepared for me to get into the weeds a bit while I am discussing planning 🤣
 
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Hi! I’m incredibly excited to be one week out from our first-ever cruise. We’re flying to Copenhagen on Monday June 5 and boarding the Nieuw Statendam on the 8th for a 10-day Baltic Sea cruise. It looks like the cruise is fully sold out, so we’ll see what the crowds are like. 

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“There’s two types of people: Greeks and everybody else who wishes they was Greek” - Gus Portokalos
Good evening, Cruise Critic! I’m interrupting all the other European lives to start my own. Join me as we fly to Athens and embark on the new-ish Resilient Lady calling on Santorini, Rhodes, Bodrum and Mykonos (for an overnight), then back to Athens for 2 days and a long layover in London. 

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This will be our 10th sailing on Miss Allure and once again enjoying a CLS. 

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Has been a wild and crazy year so far. So this is our cruise to relax, lay back and just  go with the flow. Minimal planning, few excursions.  Just taking our time. 
 

 
We were surprised when Allure was relocated to a new port …… but I guess RCI had to pick a ship to go and as a groupie we too shall follow. 
 

 
To begin with, this is our casino comped cruise and we booked it almost a year ago. Also we were able to upgrade to a CLS for a nominal fee. ( yup pre-paid the cruise to the casino slot machines). Then the cost of all cabins really soared. We were sticker shocked at some of the rates.  But happy we were locked in. 
 
So over the years, you win some and lose some. Here was one of more memorable winnings. 
 

 
 
So as the last few days of preparations are undertaken, packing and organizing being the most important, I better get moving so I will be ready. 
 

So wish me luck as I get my act together. 

And updates as well as “SUEISMS” could be posted at any time. 
 
So for now………SEA YOU😃