Live Cruise Reports

Jim_Iain - 9/5 and 9/17 Equinox B2B - Come along for a Live Blog

Please pull up a chair and join us on a new adventure. I love posting live commentary of our cruise and mostly do it for our adult children can keep up with us and see us spending their inheritance.

Sitting on the veranda watching the goings on in the Port of Miami.  Embarkation was smooth but below are a few suggestions for those embarking in Miami on future voyages (until COVID protocols change).

Hi.  I am 4cats4me, and I am  looking forward to cruising to Alaska,  once again, this time on the beautiful Majestic Princess.
This will be my 5th trip to Alaska, and 23rd cruise on Princess.  Last trip to AK was back in 2014 aboard the Grand.   
 
Cruise:    I booked this cruise at the last minute, only 19 days ago, and there was still plenty of cabin availability, so I snagged an obstructed view deluxe balcony  cabin, which really isn’t that obstructed at all.  I will be sailing solo this time, a first for me, as my husband has work commitments and cat-caring duties.  We now have to travel in shifts, as we have some demanding felines.  (3, not 4)
 

Been waiting 539 days for this moment...🥳...when I walked off Harmony in February of 2020, i expected to be sailing the Med in May and had several others booked into 2021. 

Thankfully I have an amazing travel agent who has managed to keep track of lifts and shifts & FCC’s, and for months has shared my optimism that one of these booked cruises would finally “stick”. Once I knew it was finally going to happen, then it was a full week of anxiety waiting to take that antigen test, until finally the CVS email notification came up, and I was finally able to open that bottle of wine, pull out the suitcases, and start packing.
 
Have done quite a few live reports and even one on Symphony in March of 2019, so forgive any redundant photos or random musings. I won’t possible remember what I posted back then, and most certainly was a few pina coladas in during most of my live report . I am expecting this cruise experience to be a tad different, although hoping the pina colada situation is  status quo.🍹
 
 
 

After a very enjoyable week on the AmaLyra cruising the Seine River, we are now on the AmaKristina headed for Avignon on the Rhone. Yesterday morning we were up EARLY to put our bags out so the crew could transfer them via truck to Lyon and the new ship. At 10am we hopped on TGV high speed train for the two hour ride to Lyon. I was very impressed how smooth and quiet it was even at speeds approaching 160 mph. We had lunch on our own in town and then enjoyed a quick tasting of local products before boarding the 'Kristina. 

Finally, at last, we get to sail again.  Our last cruise was what seems ages ago, January 2020, when we visited our seventh continent, Antarctica on Silversea Cloud.  Now after 4 cancelled cruises, we are getting ready to embark on the brand new Silversea Origin in the Galapagos. So, as my friend Rich Wiseman (Mr. Rumor) says, I will set the table.
 

Hi All,
 
Made it through testing, and with an upgraded cabin. I only have roaming in port rather than WiFi package but if you post any questions you might have, happy to pick up when I can. I'll update on experience and excursions too. 
 
Arrived two days early to stay Athens Gate hotel with amazing Acropolis view. 
 

It’s all starting again, last week Queen Elizabeth set off on her first post-covid cruise, now it’s nearly our time. It’s two days before boarding and getting very exciting. All paperwork has now been completed and printed off. All the packing has been mostly done, just waiting for a couple of items to be returned from the cleaners.

Hi All from sunny Seattle, if some of you all from AZ could take back some of this sun we would really appreciate it.
 
My mom (71) I (29) are getting ready to depart Saturday and will also be posting as much of a live from as possible to provide another perspective. We have so enjoyed following along with everyone on the first three sailings and it has been a lot of fun tracking changes. 
 
We are Seattle locals so the trip in will be a very easy drive across town. 
 
A few notes on the pre-cruise logistics.......

Can you believe we are finally getting back to cruising?! Have you been reading every single LIVE thread just hoping it helps the time move a little faster, like I have? Are you so ready to get back onboard that you’ve been packed for two weeks!? No? Just me?

Come along with us as we embark on our first B2B2B onboard RCL's newest ship Odyssey of the Seas!! I know I am a little early as we do not sail until next weekend, but this week is going to be nutty here and I wanted to get the preamble out of the way so I can focus on the fun stuff when we board.  Hopefully I am not jinxing myself and will test negative so I an actually TAKE the cruises. 🙄f I don’t know, I will try to find the answers!

PRE-CRUISE ARRIVAL DAY
We booked this cruise the day Celebrity opened bookings for St. Maarten.  Serious cruise withdrawal had set in, and we wanted to support Celebrity and the cruise industry.  We are now a day away from sailing and very excited.  While some of our experience (like arrival and testing requirements) won’t be relevant because this is the last sailing from St. Maarten, I’ll share them anyway. 
 

We ended up booking 2 vacations in parallel: a 2 week Miami trip (AirBnB / Symphony Cruise) and a 2 week Nassau trip (AirBnB / Adventure Cruise). Around the 4th of July we decided to cancel our entire Florida vacation and focus on Nassau. I was a bit bummed since I've never been on an Oasis Class ship, but I've also never been to CocoCay so that helped a lot. Next problem was to find a flight from Amsterdam to Nassau WITHOUT a transfer in the US (nope, can't transfer either with the travel ban). Thank goodness for the British: LHR to the rescue!
 

I know what you are thinking.  Another Mardi Gras trip report.  Yawn.  
 
There have been some brilliant threads from other users but for those that have seen my threads for other cruise lines know I tend to be picture intensive...  I let my photos speak a thousand words.  This will be one of those types of threads - lots of photos.

You know what this means. After 18 long months it's almost that time again.
 
 
 
 
 

RELAX
 
The Vogons, or Covid, have not destroyed the earth
 
For those that get the reference we are kindred spirits and you already know the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42.  For those that do not, carry on reading you’ll catch up soon enough.
 

We are currently on the Simulation Cruise for the Oasis out of Bayonne and destined for Coco Cay. 
Hurricane Henri had little affect on us.Smooth boarding and departure.
The captain surprised us by taking a close-up drive by the Statue of Liberty for a photo op. Everyone appreciated that. 
The staff has been wonderful and are really glad to be back. 

Today was embarkation day and we were so excited! We arrived at the cruise terminal around 12:45 for our 1pm check-in time.

Hey everyone, I am so excited to be doing this LIVE REVIEW! I have wanted to do one for so long and hey what better time then now. The return to cruising after nearly 18 months and all the changes leaves everyone (including myself) with a lot of questions of what to expect. We will be on the NCL Encore out of Seattle this week heading up to Alaska.

I'm packed a ready to leave in the morning for the Majestic Princess. We've had four great live threads about the ship over the past few weeks. I think most of the menus and Patters have been posted, but I will try to take photos of all of them and post them after my cruise is over.

I wasn't sure if or when I would start this with the testing requirement slightly putting a damper on my normal excitement for this cruising because of the stress of not knowing. Well Boys and Girls, I got tested today and Drumroll please, NEGATIVE.......
 
Time to get amped up finally going on a cruise after 18+ Months and Now I can't wait to get aboard. My live probably will be a bit Rumbly and I will be doing picture overload.