Live Cruise Reports

We boarded yesterday after a challenging journey. Will attempt to post details at some point.  SS has been excellent so far.  Our first time on the Cloud. Although I have read less than stellar reports of her condition, I must say she is a sight for sore eyes and looking lovely. The ship is full. This is surprising as we only booked 2 weeks ago and there was plenty of room available.  We are pulling into Bryher and Tresco,  Isles of Scilly. Must run for some fun. 

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Hello and welcome to our live from. We are so excited to be returning to Alaska after having done a round trip from Seattle so many years ago. We loved Alaska so much we knew when we returned we wanted to do a cruise tour with the land portion to really see what Alaska truly has to offer. I am starting this the day before we leave, which is actually 3 days before we begin our adventure. Due to where we live we won’t be able to get into Fairbanks until just after midnight on Monday and that’s the day we check into our hotel prior to beginning the cruise tour on Tuesday. So we booked a hotel on points for that “night” and thankfully they will either send someone to pick us up at the airport or pay for a cab, we just call when we land and they will let us know.
 
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Well, we passed our Covid tests and are at the airport waiting to fly to Barcelona! So many of you have helped us with planning and pro tips, I decided to try to pass it forward by starting this post. WiFi permitting, I will post as I have time. This cruise is quite port intensive. We are very excited to see parts of Portugal as we have never been before. 

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We are embarking on our first cruise today and I’ve loved reading the live trip reports here the past few months.  I’ll share some of the experience and happy for any questions for others heading out soon.
 
We are two Canadians in late 40’s/mid 50’s and most of our vacations have been to all inclusive resorts in Caribbean so this European Baltic cruise is an experiment with something different.

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Hello, I will be sailing the Zaandam on 6/4 for a 7D Montreal-Boston. I will be posting photos here. I am not great with words so the descriptions might be succinct, but hopefully my photos will more than make up for it.

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The time has come for yet another virtual cruise.  This week and next I will be on NCL Dawn inside room with complimentary dinning plus 3 specialty dinning.  There will be lots of pictures as usual, lots of food and lots of my random thoughts 💭   As always, you got questions I will attempt to find an answer for you!

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Covid tested at Nice Airport, flight on time, taxi Heathrow to Southampton 30 minutes late, but made our dinner reservation at Max's Brasserie, Oxford Street. Nice meal, lovely Sicilian white wine and back to Room2 Hotel to try out their bar/lounge. Very cosy!

We had 2 negative antigen tests yesterday so I think I can finally start this.😀
 
We will be driving to Southampton tomorrow morning to board Virtuosa. We had originally booked Magnifica for a week in Feb but when omicron hit and some of those cruises were cancelled we decided to move the booking to this one on Virtuosa. We'd been on this ship last June and loved it and we've never done the Fjords before so very excited. After our upgrade to YC last year we've booked it again, originally a YIN but our bid was accepted and we now have a balcony. 
 
Our ports are Haugesund, Hellesylt/Geiranger, Flaam and Stavanger plus 2 days at sea. We've booked the train independently for Flaam but will play the rest by ear.
 
Finishing off the packing today as we didn't want to do it before the tests and tempt fate. Also double checking that all the paperwork is printed off, am I the only one who finds all the pre cruise stuff so stressful now? Then it's counting down the hours until tomorrow.
 
 

Since I had to spring for the Premium Wifi so I could keep up with email and MS Teams for work this week, I figured I can try to keep a live-ish blog as well. For those of you who have followed my other review threads, I usually so one big post each morning with all of my notes and thoughts from the previous day and then follow that with a big photo dump.

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*Cue opening credits… {Music plays in the background  “Do it Again” by Steely Dan.} Kramerica Industries presents… A Sacamano / Farbman Production… (If I were an A-List writer, this would be the point where my name would crawl across the screen, five feet tall and luminous…) Instead, a cardboard sign reading: “Written, Directed, and Produced by Sid James” Cut to a scene inside a small apartment in Atlanta where I prepare to embark on another epic journey upon Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady… 

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Day 1
 
Beautiful sunny day in Southampton for embarkation.
 
Embarkation was really excellent, we were through check in and onboard by 11.30 from an 11am check in time (although I understand that those after 12 noon had a very long wait to get on). Luggage delivery was also prompt. The cabin is immaculate so all good there. We have arranged with the steward for a turndown service, it is now something you seem to need to ask for (last 2 cruises) but no problem with it being provided.

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Join The Bird, live, from the Quantum of the Seas as she sails to the absolute best cruise destination, Alaska. The Bird booked this cruise in 2019 to sail in 2020 (cancelled), lifted-and-shifted to 2021 (cancelled), and lifted-and-shifted to 2022.

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Day 1,
May 28, 2022
Fort Lauderdale
Cruise Day! Cruise Day! Cruise Day!
 
Hi friends-
We are back at it… in the blog-o-sphere… this time on the Caribbean Princess to do a week long trip around the Eastern Caribbean. 

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It's been so helpful to read other Live posts of late about the Crown, that I'm starting this thread for the May 28 sailing.  My husband and I are doing a B2B on the Crown, having been on the May 21 sailing, so we are aware of the history concerning recent issues vis-à-vis this ship.  Don't know how much I myself will post, so others on this cruise should feel free to jump in!

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Just starting this a little bit early, as we are travelling to Sydney in the morning for a pre-cruise afternoon followed by the lights of Vivid.
 
We booked this cruise on 16th March, soon after it was announced, but it feels like it was a year ago. There was still a lot of "what ifs" around the covid protocols, but we just knew we wanted to be aboard. Two new apps were added to my phone, and it has been fun to navigate a new way of managing our booking. At this stage, we have a "Ready to Cruise" status on the app, and we just need to successfully negotiate our RATs and health survey on Monday to be considered as passengers on this cruise.

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Hi Everyone!
 
Hubby John and I will be boarding the Grand Princess in Vancouver tomorrow, as long as we procure a negative covid test this afternoon.  I will do my best to stay in touch on here, answering questions and posting pictures as long as the wifi on board cooperates.  We've been on many cruises with various lines over the years, but this will be our first Princess cruise in 10 years! 

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Yesterday we (Rob and Yanet) boarded the Norwegian Spirit in Honolulu, for a 24 day back-to-back voyage to French Polynesia (Tahiti) and back. This is only the second cruise of the Spirit since her restart on May 7th (the last Norwegian ship back in service).
 
I'm happy to (try to) answer any questions about the ship and the destinations, as we travel.  We've been on the Spirit before, in October 2019, before the refurbishment.

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As an avid cruiser but only my third on NCL, I was scouring Cruise Critic for information on the Pearl and found very little. I’m going to try to fill in some gaps now that I’m onboard. We are mid-50/early-60 for context.

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Mrs. 7seas and I boarded the Ruby Princess at the Port of San Francisco today. The Ruby arrived in port a little later than scheduled due to rough seas, which delayed embarkation. The line just to get into the cruise terminal was outside the building and wrapped quite a ways around. Once we cleared security, it was "smooth sailing". We were both able to check in with no issues (My Medallion works this time!).

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Random thoughts and observations and I will try to answer some questions as able.
 
background: myself and wife are both platinum. Joining us are our 2 sons and father in law on his first cruise.  Flew in the night prior and stayed at Spring Hill Suites by the airport. Clean comfortable and spacious.. $18 Uber ride to little Havana and we got our authentic Cuban fix for dinner. Love me some La Carrey’s...

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Background

My first cruise was the Alaska cruise on NCL Pearl eight years ago. It was a round-trip from Seattle. It’s a wonderful trip and I like it so much that I continue to go on a cruise usually once a year. Ten cruises later and now I’m back on Alaska again. 

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Ok after a few last minute Covid test adventures we are on board for our 40th Anniversary!  I’ll post pictures of the Patter as we go along. My wife just got a massage and I go in a hour. They had a 25% off special on embarkation day. We are in a suite so we get free Crown Dinner tonight. This cruise is two back to back Eastern Caribbean cruises but with different ports each week. Much more to come

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Semi live review Y1L Holland America’s Alaska Cruise Land and Sea, June 1 – June 19, 2022
I will attempt to make a (semi-live) review of our Y1L Land first, Cruise Second, Holland America Cruise tour.
In preparation of our tour, we could not find many reviews or planning information, so I decided to start this review. I will promise to complete it, I cannot promise that it will be completely live.

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The Wind is looking amazing.  She looks so fresh.  New carpets on the stairs.   unfortunately the navy carpet and the lack of lighting on the stairs means you really need to pay attention when using them.  I love the remodelled bathroom.  No bath tub but a lovlarge shwer with a bench seat overhead shower and a wall shower head.  lovely new large towels.
 
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I’ve done lives from other voyages, usually Azamara and one from Ama.  Here we are, two Brits both able to have seniors rates wherever we go in the USA arrived at the day before embarkation.  I’m calling this semi live as I hear wifi on AQ is rubbish, so bear with me if there’s a gap, I will catch up even if it’s when we disembark.

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