gotta cruise again

This is an attempt to do a ‘live from’…we’ll see if I can keep up with it!! DH and I are on MSC Seashore for a 10 day cruise. We booked as a 10 day but it’s a 3 + 7 schedule so we’ll be returning to Port Canaveral 12/10. Our cruise starts 12/7. We arrived from central Texas at MCO yesterday about 5pm. Caught the Cocoa Beach Shuttle to Towneplace Suites near Port Canaveral. It was an uneventful journey, which is always a blessing. I say “uneventful” but there was one snafoo: our bags arrived at A14 but our shuttle pick-up point was all-the-way-down at the other end of the lower level of MCO. We got to the end and were looking for shuttle parking #3 & 4 but there was new construction in that area. A quick call to the Shuttle company and we were redirected to #9 & 10, which is where we were—YAY. I was tired and DH needed to sit down so was at a nearby bench. A van pulled up with various Mariott logos on the side…and you have probably figured out the rest. That’s right: I got us on the wrong shuttle van!! Oops! Fortunately, I asked the driver a question, which then clued him (and me) to the fact we weren’t where we were supposed to be. He could have let us out at the far end (yep, down by A14) but graciously looped back around to #9 & 10, where our shuttle kindly waited for us (I had texted about my error). The Towneplace Suites are really nice. It’s a new property so everything is nice & fresh. Our room has a nice balcony and the bed faces it, rather like a Sky Suite in the Celebrity Retreat. There is a kitchen with full refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and even a cooktop; dishware too. They do serve food down in the bar area, which was handy for a late-ish arrival last night. Breakfast this AM was just fine too (I always think that when bacon is crisp and DH gets a waffle!!) On the flight, we were treated to a lovely sunset.

@CatalinaUK welcome to Cruise Critic!! Take a look at this trip report: DH and I were on this cruise too and loved seeing and briefly chatting with this couple. Wonderfully charming folks with a unique sense of style. Maybe seeing that there are other folks who also have a unique personal style will encourage you to fully embrace yours when you cruise, as you do during your non-cruise days. I tend to dress differently (my cruise style) when I cruise and have some clothes that I wear on cruises and rarely wear elsewhere. Enjoy your style!!

This was a deconstructed Black Forest cake dessert we had on Edge last year, in Luminae, at lunch one day. It was marvelous and had hoped to have it again this year on Beyond…but it wasn’t part of the menu.

Got me to thinking…maybe next cruise, while DH is handing off our bags to the porter, I may snap a photo or two. DH may be able to get the porter to pose (or maybe porter would prefer to pose with me—LOL) but we’d somehow end up with a pic of the porter and the bags on the cart. We always take photo of our luggage after packing so we’ll have that photo for the airline in the event of a lost bag, but I’ve never thought that it might be a good idea to have some proof our bags were given to a porter.

When I checked in for a cruise departing the end of this past January, I didn’t have DH here and I was not in selfie form!! LOL But, I did have a recent photo of the two of us together from a wedding. As the photo was on my tablet, I simply zoomed in to each of us individually and snapped a picture with my cell phone into the check-in photo section. Neither of us required a new photo at the pier!!

About a month ago, we did just that: got the form from the concierge, filled it out, turned it in, and saw our balance went to zero not long after. We did wait to do this until the last day in case we found something we couldn’t live without-lol-but Ihad spent enough time in the shops to know that wasn’t going to actually happen. As for your question “does it really get to them”, I have no knowledge or assurance beyond what the concierge said. I did tell butler, room attendant, waiter, & assistant waiter that we took care of them with extra payments through the concierge. It seems I’ve read on CC that the extra gratuities get pooled anyway. Hmmm…I wonder if the same form could be used to apply those extra gratuities to the onboard account and then it gets charged to the credit card on file??? That would be handy when there is no extra OBC as then wouldn’t have to bring lots of extra cash and could be more flexible in the amounts.

When departing Port Everglades, there are a couple of tall condos (not hotels) on the port side. Those folks tend to wave and sometimes hold of signs. The port webcam is located in that area. DH and I always make sure we’re on the port side as we too find it fun to wave to them.

DH and I finally got caught up with your review—wonderful, as always! Thank you for the time and effort doing it and for all the fun and information it provides. We enjoyed meeting you both as well as the brief chats as we’d run into one another from time to time. -Leah & David

Just finished a 7-day Beyond cruise today (Sun) and both fancy nights were on port days: 1st full day (Mon) with stop in Nassau then following Fri in Grand Cayman. Of course, this doesn’t answer when you’ll have dressier nights on your 8-day, but does let you know that these 2 nights can be port days!! Enjoy your Beyond cruise!

Just off Beyond this morning. I had planned on buying several lipsticks to use up some OBC. Only Estee’ Lauder and Clinique lines had any color products; they along with other lines did have skincare. Shop was predominantly fragrance. As I worked for EL as a traveling make-up artist, I can say they ladies knew some things but not a lot. The salespeople in department stores know a whole lot more than the ship people and the dept. store folks know more than just their assigned line. I’d recommend you peruse some of the major skincare line’s websites and educate yourself about their products. Also, make notes of prices so you’ll know if the discount is worth the packing space. As for my lipsticks, there were only 3 shades of EL lipsticks available and 2 of them wouldn’t be for me (a warm-red and a brown); did find a cool-red and it was about $2 less than a dept. store (and no tax, of course). Clinique only had lip glosses. Hope this helps!!

@GenerationX Charla: you need to start a thread regarding the map dress!!! Get folks to share their experiences and or pics. I wore mine when we boarded Beyond last Sunday and it was sooooo much fun. As we arrived in Luminae for lunch, there were several staff at the check in desk…all had to show me their country (which got a little personal, lol). This happened all day long and was a great conversation starter. You truly deserve a commission from that company. Thank you for sharing the link with all of us. If we ever sail together, I owe you a grand mimosa, which we’ll enjoy while wearing our twin dresses!! BTW: I wore mine as a jumper with a black short sleeved T-shirt; also added black bike shorts underneath in case the wind caught the skirt (it did & the shorts saved me from embarrassment-LOL).

So jealous y’all are staying aboard!! Enjoyed our chat this morning too. Here’s why we should have booked the second week…

DH and I also took the Behind the Scenes tour: guide said 2400 on this week’s cruise.

I’m on this current sailing and spoke to another passenger this morning who was trying to stay on for next week. She was told the 2/5 cruise was sold out, except for one very expensive suite. (If someone has already stated this, my apologies…trying to catch up reading CC and afraid I’d forget to come back to add this response)

DH and I are also on this sailing in a SS; we plan on arriving early so if you see a pink map dress like Generation X wears, that will be me so please say hello (DH is in a world map shirt in case you see him). Always enjoy your blogs and looking forward to this one too! Leah & David

Thank you for doing a Live report. We too are on this sailing and are also in a Sky Suite. Hope to meet y’all onboard!!

@GenerationX on our Seaside YC cruise, pre-shutdown, we also would walk the 15-20 seconds to the YC lounge for a cocktail. We’d enjoy part of it there then want to take the rest back to our cabin… No way was that happening without butler involvement!! A butler would quickly come over, have us place our beverages on his tray, and he’d walk us back to our cabin! Though one never enjoys disembarkation day, at least those in YC get to wait in the YC lounge and when ready to leave, a butler walks them to the departure area of the ship, where you get to cut the line. We also experienced butler-initiated line cutting when leaving the ship at port stops. Some in YC worry about what other passengers think and don’t take advantage of the perks that come with the cabin they purchased, which is fine, but we enjoyed the times when we took advantage of the perks. Thank you for your reviews…much appreciated! PS: be sure to ask for your commission on the map dress I bought for our Beyond cruise 1/29!!

‘We’re new to Celebrity so I have limited experience: when we booked the future cruise, they placed the cruise with my current TA. We then got our usual perks from our TA. You might want to check with your TA to see how they handle cruise booked onboard that are then credited to that agent.

As I understand it, OBC cannot be used to book a future cruise…however…on our last cruise we had $200 refundable OBC, so we booked a future cruise with $100 deposit each which was charged to my credit card. The refundable OBC was refunded back to that same card. So in essence, I was able to use OBC for our future cruise purchase. We have an upcoming cruise that’s paid in full. I’m going to buy OBC with this Amex offer and use some of it for future cruise deposit and the rest, I hope to get back as cash from guest services to use for additional tips.