Jim_Iain

Love it.. I can tell I want to sail with you sometimes.

Thanks.. feel free to not be quiet and jump in. I learn so much from other CC members.

It is a little tight but extremely well thought out and full utilization of every inch. Later I will shoot a picture of the Bathroom. They have a separate toilet from the Shower and Sink that is nice. In many ways it has the same Natural bleached driftwood tones as the newer ships and that went through Revolution. Difference While Ponant uses the same color pallet as Celebrity the design is well thought out and functional. No kitch! All furniture is very comfortable and functional. In lieu of a desk chair they have a cube the easily fits under the desk. They have a nice makeup mirror and the desk area has nice lighting. Power supplies are nicely placed with 1 220v and 1 110v on each side of the bed as well as a USB plug. The room also comes with a Bose wireless speaker. On the TV wall they have additional 220v and 110v and USB power outlets as well as one on the floor for housekeeping. Additional 2 USB's on TV.

I will check out the Fudge... 1st time to hear it is special. We arrive in Mackinac Island at 1:00 PM

Most of the ships are doing Milwaukee to Toronto and beyond. The Ship I'm on just finished a Reykjavik to Toronto and the Toronto to Milwaukee and now returning to Toronto. The next cruise is Toronto to Boston. Milwaukee is a beautiful City with lots of arts and festivals during the summer.

Check-In complete we were free to go to our room where our luggage had already been delivered.

We were next directed to a short line to register and surrender our passports. Key in hand we next stopped by reception for a photo and credit card swipe.

Wow. So far so good. Internet isn’t too bad so far.

The cruise director met our car and had our bags tagged and X-rayed. The port has a portable X-ray machine. Security is a bit more relaxed than on Celebrity. I was going to put my back on the XRay but told don’t worry. 1 minute later we were climbing the Gangway. Greeted by Hotel Director

Ok. We are aboard and internet is finally operational. We will see how things go. Boarding began at 4pm but we decided to arrive around 4:15

You will love them. Possibly because of the grey skies they paint their doors bright.

Correction Earlier I mentioned the Ponant app had no active content. When sitting next to the ship it pulled up links for newspapers, Menus etc. They say the links are active once logged onto the ships WiFi.

The pier is blocked off by security but and a chat with the Guard. He said at 4:00 the will open and allow cars to drive right up to the ship for embarking.

Come along for our walk to the pier to figure out the logistics of boarding.

We found the Fonz. Thanks for pointing it out.

We depart from Wisconsin Pier adjacent to Discovery World. The rains have passed and comfortable temperatures.

Thank. Feel free to drop in and ask questions and comments.

Since we don’t board until 4pm we walked down to the pier and Le Bellot is there. Beautiful ship. I talked to security at the one lane road out to the pier and he advised that at 4 they open and allow Cabs and Uber to drive out to the pier where you drop off feet from the ship.

My only initial concern was one of the tours was sold out and took about 5 minutes to come back in inventory. It did come back and all was good. I think on that one tour we saved about $100.

Agree to wait. On the issue with Dining Time - Many if not all of the E-Class ships have discontinued early and late seating and is now 100% Anytime. We always travel in Suites and our reservations usually show early dining even though we have anytime dining with Luminae.

That will be a nice B2B. We did a B2B at San Pedro and it was really efficient and took maybe 20 minutes.

I did much the same and cancelled and re-booked about 10 excursions. That 45% sales was one of the best sales I've seen in awhile.

Latest forecast is the biggest part of the storm went south of us and is hitting Chicago. It is suppose to clear up by 11:00. I did bring our Slickers (rain gear) so up for anything. They are totally waterproof including velcro strips that cover the zippers.

Times have sure changed. My first job out of University was with Goldsmith's in Memphis. Like Gimbels and Boston Store they are all gone now. I still say we lived in the Golden Era and it will never return.

Phyllis You got me hooked on the CC Slot Pulls. You did such a good job. I can't imagine keeping track of all the details. I finally talked Iain into doing one on our last cruise and he had so much fun we have signed up for one on Edge.