mauimary

We are boarding early this am. We are usually in the 11-11:30 group but this time decided to avoid the rush and see if it is quieter at 1-1:30. More later on embarkation Thinking it must be because the hotel has a shuttle to the port and ours was canceled because they do not have a minimum of four! Not even 4!!!! So we will get our own Uber. We have had such a beautiful ocean front corner room for two nights as well as enjoyed some morning beach walks. Today we enjoyed a relaxed breakfast and can take our sweet time getting ready. Until later Mary😎

There She goes. Have a wonderful trip. We will be a day behind you on The Beyond. Watched you from the Restaurant we were at. Cheers 🥂

We saw one Celebrity Ship leave yesterday from our room overlooking Fort Lauderdale Beach. It’s so wonderful to just sit and look out over the quiet beach this am. Getting ready to head out and find some coffee and a little breakfast. Relaxing day ahead.

We will watch you sail away this evening from our hotel overlooking the beach. We are excited as we will be crossing on the Beyond tomorrow. Are you required to do tests? It has been fun to follow you. Agree it’s a beautiful day in Fort Lauderdale.

‘em-sk… that’s our plan and what we always do. The compensation only came up because last summer we were forced to purchase a new set of tickets. We followed KLM links and process to rebook our canceled flight. They had rebooked us on a flight we could not even get to as we were not even in AMS and they moved us to a flight three hours earlier and the lines at Schipol were 4+ hrs long. I was online talking with an agent via messaging and the ticket would not process without us putting in a credit card and as a result we ended up with a second set of tickets we had to pay for and having to pay for a hotel room. KLM had a rebooking policy in place which was different from what it was in Nov when we were still dealing and they refused to honor it. Hence we turned it into our insurance. Insurance is trying to get a reason for the cancellation and we cannot even get an answer back from KLM. All we have is the email notifications of the cancellation. The whole thing is still up in the air.

We made it to Orlando. Sure glad we were not trying to fly a week ago when everything was chaos and stress for so many. Very smooth easy flight. I watched two documentaries to pass the time. Lovely to be down in FL with sunshine. ☀️ We arrived early but of course waited for a gate. The plane full of kids was a very considerate group of polite kids. There was an incident involving a guy a few rows ahead of us that tried to smoke cigarette 🚬 in the bathroom and set off the alarm fire ⏰ ‼️ not a kid) !! He smelled of smoke when he walked by us. One of the cabin attendants approached him and quietly asked him if he knew he was not supposed to smoke? Dah!! The airline let it go as nothing further happened. That was a first for us!! Never have seen that happen before. We spent last night at a hotel near the airport and walked over to TGI Fridays for a dinner and drinks. Seems it is always happy hour over there. We will drive on to FLL and drop the car 🚘 off this afternoon. Then 1.5 days to relax before boarding The Beyond. We are so ready! It is always exciting to see some of the other ships in the distance with the anticipation of our own cruise. 🚢

Uber was on the slower and more expensive side today but we’re here and that’s what counts! PDX was pretty quiet when we arrived so checking the bags was a breeze as was Security Pre ✅. Now the gate is another story. There is a huge group of HS kids with all their Disney gear on this flight. Definitely they are having fun. Alaska Air has a Corn Hole game going so if your bean bag makes it in you get to spin for AA points! It’s quite popular. Here we thought we would relax at the gate!!😆 hoping to read on this flight. 📕 Shall see if that happens. Mary

We’re leaving on a jet ✈️ plane We do know when we will be back again!!

All our bags are packed so we are ready to go…. Standing here beside our door…

Agree Dutch rail is easy and convenient. We have used it many times including twice from AMS airport to Maastricht twice last year. We have had very helpful folks around us too. Which was helpful when they canceled some train.

We are down to the final stage of packing. The smaller carryon stuff which takes a fair amount of time to assemble (Medications, vitamins, hair stuff and jewelry) etc. Hopefully it should not be too late tonight when we finish up. I’m one of those who like our place all cleaned up and everything back in order when we get back. Mr is in charge of all the paperwork. We like hard copies of everything so that is his dept. It’s all safely together in our travel binder. I am the planner and make all the reservations. I love to research and at times one thing leads to another. We have most of it on our phones but like back up in case of a snafu. Our flight is at a decent hour leaving Portland around 1030 and the flight is a direct 5.5 hrs. This is about how long our flights to Hawaii are. We are flying into Orlando as the cost was substantially less than into Fort Lauderdale. Just hope all those rental cars from last weeks flood have been rented back to Orlando! We switched cruises from the Edge when our travel buddies canceled and as a result our flight choice as well as seat selection was not so good! At least we have decent ones. We have a lot of Marriott points so are using those for our pre cruise hotels. We’re very excited to have blue skies and ☀️. It has been a rainy and cold spring so far in the Northwest. Mary aka Mauimary😎 Portland vs Fort Lauderdale

We have canceled several non refundable deposits. The way it was explained and happened is that Celebrity kept 100$ per person and the rest came back to us to use in a future cruise credit. The last time our non refundable deposit with some talking with a supervisor we were able to move it to another cruise so we did not loose any of it. This of course was all done prior to making final payment. It is only non refundable in the way you do not get the credit back in cash to your credit card for it.

Our Motto… To Travel as MUCH as we can…As FAR as we Can … As LONG as we Can. Leaving tomorrow so almost ready for flight to FLL. Excited for sunshine and the Sea. Here’s a little about the two of us. Introduction… We are Mary and Richard from Portland Oregon. We are now retired and have been for six years now. I am a retired L&D RN and my spouse a retired Engineer. We sold our big home and downsized into a condo in a secure building that we can just lock it and leave it to travel six years ago. We have been cruising since 2002 when we got our first start on RCCL Vision of the Seas to Mexico. We had HS and College kids at the time and booked it as a way to entice our College Fraternity son to come with us verses with a group of frat brothers to Mexico together. Obviously we were not excited about that. It worked and we have been cruising ever since! We have been on many Celebrity Cruises including a Transpacific from Vancouver BC to Sydney Australia. This will be our first Transatlantic. We loved the idea of cruising to Europe so we do not have to fly. It will be my first attempt at doing a semi live blog depending on our internet. I know there are several other live blogs including Jims wonderful extensive blog. Will see how this goes! We did have the opportunity to cruise on the Beyond last summer in the Med when we combined it with a Europe land trip. We leave tomorrow to fly to Orlando and then will drive to Fort Lauderdale for two nights pre cruise. Final stages of packing today after spending yesterday getting haircuts and pharmacy items. Once a nurse always a nurse I tend to carry our own pharmacy with us!

Thanks Flyer Talk. In our situation we are coming off of a cruise and flying to Lisbon for a land trip on our own the day after our ship gets in so no races to the airport from the port. We do have the trip insured. Trying to make new reservations and trying to recoup the $$ is not always as straightforward as the airline makes it out to be. Last summers cancellation by KLM was insured. We have lots of documentation on the cancellation. Trust me we had to be the ones to make things happen as the airline was too overwhelmed! AMS last summer and dealing with KLM was a whole different kind of animal. The lines at Schipol were 4+ hrs long and we had three days to get there. Folks were missing flights all around us. We made it to BCN in plenty of time but not without a lot of stress and money the next day. We are still dealing with the insurance.

It could be if that happens to you and you have no status with them! Yes but that’s what we thought last summer and it didn’t turn out to be exactly straightforward to get to our destination for our cruise. I would like to know how they are to deal with if/when that happens. KLM was no easy task and we are still out a lot of $$

We will be flying on TAP Rome to Lisbon in mid May. Reading today that Air Portugal is canceling 200 flights in May. Has anyone had any flights canceled? How is the airline when you try to get a flight rebooked. This will be our first experience with TAP Air Portugal. We are a bit nervous as KLM did this to us last summer at the last minute and we are still trying to recoup our compensation for having to buy a last min full price flight.

This flash flood sure did play havoc for lots of cruisers and others at the last minute. That’s exactly what we are doing only next week. It was way less expensive for us to fly into Orlando from the west coast. We used points for the hotel and rented a car for one day to drive to Fort Lauderdale. No drop off fee with Enterprise. Not as handy I’ll agree but doable. Especially when we’re flying in three days early for our transatlantic.

We had four of us three adults and one child in a small suite and it was not comfortable for the two of them on the pull out sofa. One bathroom for getting ready will be a struggle! Be comfortable and enjoy your cruise. Get two Staterooms. If the cost is more than you want to spend consider getting one balcony and an inside Stateroom across the hall. That way the other stateroom is for sleeping and getting ready only.

Charla. Love your fun blogs. You have a way with stories and words that keep us all wanting to read more. I may have missed it but who is the current Capt. I know Kate is on vacation. Have a wonderful time.

Love your live blog (geez 5 pages already) and reading about you guys as you are trying to pack! Obviously you have a large fan following! So fun to follow you on your travels. We cruise a lot but this will be our first Transatlantic. Followed your blogs last spring when you got booted! Hopefully this year is a whole different ball game!! We will be on the Beyond to Rome and then the following to Croatia and Montenegro which are new places for us which I believe is not long after you leave FL. We will do a two week land trip to Portugal in the mix after the B2B. We thought we had plenty of time to pack but we too are getting down to the wire. Trying not to pack too much and then have to schlep it around on busses and trains! Have a wonderful cruise.

We have had six wonderful tours with RIL over the years. Jany is great to work with in the planning process. She always gets back to us in emails very quickly. Last July (late review) we had a wonderful tour of the Amalfi Coast with Giovanni. It was just the two of us. We were one of the first off the ship in Naples and headed straight to Ravello. It was beautiful to be so early that the shopkeepers were just setting up and very few tourists were out and about yet. Fun to linger and enjoy the quiet with a relaxing cup of cappuccino. Next it was on to Amalfi which was still early and easy for us to explore without the crowds. Lastly we visited Positano and had plenty of time to walk around. The crowning jewel for us was our wonderful relaxing lunch in a small family owned restaurant overlooking the Amalfi Coast. Plenty of wine and fab food. RIL definitely picks the most wonderful places for lunch. We have done six tours with them now in various places around Italy now. We are now in the planning process with RIL for our return trip to Rome. It has been apx 15 years since we last came into Rome so it is time to redo. We had a wonderful time back then so look forward to visiting some old sites and seeing some new ones. We toured the countryside in subsequent visits. Very easy company to work with and we look forward to this next visit.

Enjoyed reading your review. So glad you can find away to have fun even in the rain. We were one of the ones who canceled the 52 day cruise and opened up some prime sunset verandas! You will have an exciting time. So glad it’s so popular and booked up. We changed it to a Polynesian from Honolulu to Sydney and added on an additional Australian segment. 🍻 cheers.

Spring break can encompass a long period of time from about the beg of March until about mid April depending on where you live in the country. Looks like these short cruises and over a holiday attract many more families adding a cruise to their Disney holiday while in FL and locals looking for a short cruise. A story I can recall from about 2002 when we had teen and college kids. We took a spring break cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas to Mexico from Long Beach CA. At one of the shows there were two older couples sitting behind us. When talking with them before the show we mention what a bummer it must be for them having selected a cruise with so many kids on board. Their comment was “they were enjoying having youth bring energy and vibrance to the cruise instead of just a bunch of old people sitting around” These little portable speakers drive us wild! Think it is very rude to make everyone subjected to have to listen to them. Where are the steel drums when you need them!!

Love seeing the manatees. We have never seen them in all the times we have been down there. Key West is fun. Lots of good eating.