Jim_Iain Live Blog - Infinity B2B - Carribbean and East Bound TA

[Jim_Iain]

Everything is running on schedule.  Poor Iain has been searched and searched again.  His boarding pass was coded for random screening and has been searched 4 times before getting aboard.   We figured as much as we couldn’t pre-print his boarding pass. 

 

Boarding started on time and looks to be an on time flight

 

We are in United Business Class and is very comfortable.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

Have a good flight.!

Enjoyed reading your "live from"

Thanks again for great photos, posts and insights!....

[Fogfog]

Looks great

Like Iain, I drew the lucky number for random search -asked extra questions at checkin, gate and also had carry on checked--and hands/clothing swiped etc...

We were able to check -in DH yet the app wouldn't allow mine

At Barc airport we got two different colored stickers..and I was surprised...as passport and Global Entry etc is all in there...

Bags had an extra tag of note--and yet there was no notice inside to say they had been searched.

 

 

 

[Aralim]

Hope you had a safe and uneventful flight home! Thanks again for a great blog and trip report.

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for all of you that have come along for another fun adventure.    All of your participation has made this a fun blog and as usual I have learned many new things myself.

 

One final note before I  end the blog -

 

Mobile Passport No Longer Free -

 

We opened the Mobile Passport Application and learned they now are charging a fee or al of your data will no longer be stored.

We figured that wouldn't be a problem and preceded to use the free option.    Catch-22 whether a mistake or intentionally implemented they have a small glitch that will prevent you from submitting. 

 

I reentered may data 3 times and failed.   Iain tried twice and failed also.    We then discovered that when you select your birthrate it stores a different date.   In my case 11/27 instead of 11/26 (my birthrate).   When we went back in and edited the date it submitted perfectly.   If it didn't work we would have used Global Entry.   BTW there were only people in front of us on line while the regular lines had a couple hindered waiting in long lines.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Jim_Iain

[bermadu22]

DH and I would like to thank you both for sharing your vacation with us. We've enjoyed your review, and it gave us a little emotional boost we need to make it through the next 100 or so days we have left to wait for our cruise on the Summit. I especially enjoyed the photos and the dailies. Great cruise, take care. 

[upwarduk]

On 5/14/2019 at 2:28 PM, Jim_Iain said:

What part of the U.K. are you from? 

Huddersfield, between Leeds and Manchester. We don’t get the best weather in the Pennines, but have had 4 beautiful days, which has enabled us to get the garden sorted.

Glad your flight went well and thank you for an informative blog. 

[ecslady]

Thanks for the info on Mobile Passport, but I thought that was a government site, so it should be free.

 

In fact, the few times I've tried to use it in the past,  it was down and unavailable..Even the agents commented that it went down a lot. Maybe it has been improved.

[Gordoncruickshank]

On 5/14/2019 at 4:08 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Everything is running on schedule.  Poor Iain has been searched and searched again.  His boarding pass was coded for random screening and has been searched 4 times before getting aboard.   We figured as much as we couldn’t pre-print his boarding pass. 

 

This has happened to me the last twice I have flown from Heathrow to Miami. There must be someone with a similar name ont heir watchlist.

[Gordoncruickshank]

On 5/10/2019 at 4:49 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Had family dinner at Pierceland House in Troon.   The estate was originally the Managing Director of Johnny Walker's home.

 

 

 

 

If I had read this last week I would have recommended the hotel to you. Never had a bad meal there.

[Jim_Iain]

9 hours ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

If I had read this last week I would have recommended the hotel to you. Never had a bad meal there.

 

Thanks for the recommendation.    This was my 4th time there and never had a bad meal.   They have a Early Bird Menu from around 5:00-7:00 with a fixed price for 2 or 3 courses.   They also have a wonderful ala carte menu.  Portion sizes are very generous and tasty. 

 

The location couldn't have been better.    We were staying in Troon about 1/4 mile away, my Aunt lives in Kilwinning and the rest of the family is in Ayr and Prestwick.

[Buckwheel]

Hi Jim, I’ve been following along and appreciate the plethora of information you have shared. My husband and I will be cruising on the Infinity back to Miami in October. What are your thoughts regarding port/starboard cabins when on a TA cruise? Do you think there’s an advantage to one or the other? 

[rowingmachine]

Thanks for all that Jim_Iain.  I have not read all of it but got the taste and you answered quite a few of my questions without even knowing it.  Quite exciting here as we are packing for our Baltic Silhouette cruise on Sunday and delving into weather forecasts, average temperatures etc.  Also hovering  is a nearly forgotten Move up bid or two.  If I can access internet I shall attempt a few meagre posts.  First time Celebrity and really looking forward. 

[Jim_Iain]

The word POSH was coined in the late 19th century to indicate Port Out and Starboard Home for Transatlantic cruises originating in the UK.  On a Westbound Transatlantic the Port side (Eastbout - Starboard)  of this ship faces south and will generally reward you with sunny exposures.  

 

We generally take this into consideration when booking but have never been disappointed on either side of the ship.

[Jim_Iain]

2 minutes ago, rowingmachine said:

Thanks for all that Jim_Iain.  I have not read all of it but got the taste and you answered quite a few of my questions without even knowing it.  Quite exciting here as we are packing for our Baltic Silhouette cruise on Sunday and delving into weather forecasts, average temperatures etc.  Also hovering  is a nearly forgotten Move up bid or two.  If I can access internet I shall attempt a few meagre posts.  First time Celebrity and really looking forward. 

 

Looks like a wonderful cruise.    We have yet to do the Baltic Cruise but it is on our bucket list.    I use a program called Windy to get data for our cruises.    By clicking the icon under Home you can select - Wave Heights, Seat Temperatures, Air Temperatures, Clouds and Rain.   Once selected you can move the time line for future predictions.

 

For projection of Wave Height I enjoy a website Stormsurfing.com   They have wave models for different areas of the world and are animated for 180 hours into the future.   I've found it very accurate.

[Jim_Iain]

15 hours ago, ecslady said:

Thanks for the info on Mobile Passport, but I thought that was a government site, so it should be free.

 

In fact, the few times I've tried to use it in the past,  it was down and unavailable..Even the agents commented that it went down a lot. Maybe it has been improved.

 

I also thought it was an app by CBP but when reading the FAQ on why they introduced the plus is says the developer is Airside Mobile.

 

 

 

 

 

[ecslady]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I also thought it was an app by CBP but when reading the FAQ on why they introduced the plus is says the developer is Airside Mobile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm wondering if there two different apps now??  I see the mobile Passport Plus has a fee per the website.

 

https://mobilepassport.us/

 

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/mobile-passport-control

 

 

 

[Gordoncruickshank]

11 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks for the recommendation.    This was my 4th time there and never had a bad meal.   They have a Early Bird Menu from around 5:00-7:00 with a fixed price for 2 or 3 courses.   They also have a wonderful ala carte menu.  Portion sizes are very generous and tasty. 

 

The location couldn't have been better.    We were staying in Troon about 1/4 mile away, my Aunt lives in Kilwinning and the rest of the family is in Ayr and Prestwick.

Our oldest daughter got married there so we know it well despite staying around 10 miles north of Glasgow.

[upwarduk]

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We have yet to do the Baltic Cruise but it is on our bucket list.  

Just a warning, we were denied entry into St Petersburg last summer. We were told that our ship was too large to turn in the narrow channel, due to the windy conditions.

i vowed that if we ever went again, it would be on a ship smaller than Silhouette as Azamara Journey was able to get in. 

[Provence55always]

4 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Just a warning, we were denied entry into St Petersburg last summer. We were told that our ship was too large to turn in the narrow channel, due to the windy conditions.

i vowed that if we ever went again, it would be on a ship smaller than Silhouette as Azamara Journey was able to get in. 

So sorry to hear you missed St Petersburg.....we were on the Celebrity Eclipse out of Southampton a couple of years ago. The ship docked for three days two nights. We had an amazing time and a fabulous three days of sightseeing. I organized a group of ten people through Roll Call. We had very long days but we saw so much. Our tour guide was amazing.

[upwarduk]

Fortunately we visited St Petersburg  on Eclipse in 2015 and did 2 days of tours with SPB. I felt so sorry for those guests who had flown long distances and saw nothing. 

No compensation from the cruise line, Captain Leo told us to claim on our insurance. Ours of course didn’t cover missed ports.

The one thing in which C.D Sue Denning did on that cruise was to provide TV screenings of the World Cup matches, together with finger buffets in the Theatre  for those quests who returned late from tours. Celebrity excelled in this aspect of the cruise.

[Gimpy McFarlan]

Sorry to hear about the missed port.  We were on a Baltic cruise the Eclipse out of Amsterdam last year and did not encounter any problems docking in St Petersburg’s. She needed help docking in Warnemunder due to strong winds. How high were the wind speeds in St Petersburg?

[upwarduk]

We were never actually told what the wind speed was. The letter from Captain Peppas says:

’Upon reaching the pilot station early this morning, we experienced winds in excess of port guidelines for a vessel of our size for safe navigation into St Petersburg. As a result St Petersburg port authorities will not allow Celebrity Silhouette to attempt entry into the port until wind conditions subside within the guidelines for safe transit.”

We were on an excursion in Warnemunde and speaking to a marine designer. He had seen the chart and said what Captain Peppas said was correct.

[Jim_Iain]

22 hours ago, ecslady said:

 

I'm wondering if there two different apps now??  I see the mobile Passport Plus has a fee per the website.

 

https://mobilepassport.us/

 

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/mobile-passport-control

 

 

 

 

I just looked in Apple's App store and they only show one app.    From the one app you can either choose the free function which requires you to delete your data and then manually re-enter - or the paid version that stores the data.   

[cruisequeen4ever]

Another great blog; thank you for taking us along!