Jim_Iain Live!!! - B2B Summit New England and Bermuda Jun 5 & 16th

[Jim_Iain]

Welcome aboard to all those that choose to follow along on our next adventure.   All are welcome and I will try my hardest to answer any qustions and post information that may be helpful to other Cruise Critic Members.

 

We weren't planning on doing another cruise until October but I was bitten by the Cruise Bug.  I was browsing the Fishy Site in the "Deals" section and found a really inexpensive Aqua Class Senior rate of $1,199 pp plus 289 Tax & Port for a total of $2,976 for an 11 day New England and Bermuda cruise on June 5.  When looking a bit further, I found the June 16 cruise priced about the same.   As many of you who have followed our blogs may surmise I am the planner and love planning cruises as much as the cruise itself. Hmmm, how was I going to talk Iain into taking a cruise so close to our last?   To my delight Iain was on-board and suggest I book both.   These prices included NO PERKS, which was what we were looking for now that we are Zenith and get most of our perks gratis.    Our agent was able to have a B2B credit applied as well as offered us $250 OBC for each cruise.   I next applied for a Stockholders Credit and was given a partial credit due to receiving the B2B credit.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Jim_Iain

[bermadu22]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Welcome aboard to all those that choose to follow along on our next adventure.   All are welcome and I will try my hardest to answer any qustions and post information that may be helpful to other Cruise Critic Members.

 

We weren't planning on doing another cruise until October but I was bitten by the Cruise Bug.  I was browsing the Fishy Site in the "Deals" section and found a really inexpensive Aqua Class Senior rate of $1,199 pp plus 289 Tax & Port for a total of $2,976 for an 11 day New England and Bermuda cruise on June 5.  When looking a bit further, I found the June 16 cruise priced about the same.   As many of you who have followed our blogs may surmise I am the planner and love planning cruises as much as the cruise itself. Hmmm, how was I going to talk Iain into taking a cruise so close to our last?   To my delight Iain was on-board and suggest I book both.   These prices included NO PERKS, which was what we were looking for now that we are Zenith and get most of our perks gratis.    Our agent was able to have a B2B credit applied as well as offered us $250 OBC for each cruise.   I next applied for a Stockholders Credit and was given a partial credit due to receiving the B2B credit.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like you got a good deal. DH and I look forward to your "live" review. Bon voyage!

[maggieq]

How wonderful that you found this deal and we get to follow along!  Wishing you both a wonderful cruise.  

[Alsmez]

Fabulous deal and I look forward to hearing all about your experience on Summit!

[Covepointcruiser]

Hope this was really inexpensive!    Hope the second cruise has more exciting ports.

Is the weather really bad in California in June?     Guess when you are Zenith level the ship is always better than your home regardless of the ports.

[Aralim]

@Jim_Iain, how great that you and Iain have another sailing to enjoy! And on the Revolutionized Summit, no less!

 

Have a great trip. Can’t wait to read about your experiences.

[Jim_Iain]

55 minutes ago, bermadu22 said:

Sounds like you got a good deal. DH and I look forward to your "live" review. Bon voyage!

 

Welcome along.   Fell free to jump in at any time.

 

[Jim_Iain]

43 minutes ago, maggieq said:

How wonderful that you found this deal and we get to follow along!  Wishing you both a wonderful cruise.  

 

Thanks for coming along for the ride. 

[Jim_Iain]

39 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

Fabulous deal and I look forward to hearing all about your experience on Summit!

 

I thought is was a great deal and look forward to exploring the newly refurbished Summit.   I was just checking and we have only sailed Summit once before and that was way back in 2005.   We have probably sailed more in M-Class than other ships and enjoy the size of the ship but do miss the removal of the Murano style restaurant.

[Jim_Iain]

27 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Hope this was really inexpensive!    Hope the second cruise has more exciting ports.

Is the weather really bad in California in June?     Guess when you are Zenith level the ship is always better than your home regardless of the ports.

Actually the second cruise is pretty much the same as the first but in reverse order.   I grew up in New England as a child and have not been back to explore in decades so I'm sure we will enjoy. 

 

The weather in Northern California is wonderful in June.     The rains usually end at the end of April and will not return until about November.  Silicon Valley area (about 50 miles south of San Francisco) generally has very moderate temperature and virtually no humidity.   Our weather forecasts can be rather boring as they are virtually the same for the next 6 months -  Day time temperatures of 75-80 with evening temperatures  dipping to 65-70.  Chance of rain - Zero.    The bay area has 100's of micro climates and you can pretty much choose the temperatures you enjoy from 55F on the Coast to over 100 to the South or West.  

 

We live within walking distance of the Bay and get nice afternoon breezes that cool things off in the evenings.  While we do have central air conditioning we rarely need to use it.  

 

 

[hcat]

Seems you barely unpacked.

Hope to follow along..

We are booked on Summit for 2020, Newport, Bermuda and Charleston...we have not been on Summit for awhile but enjoyed her to Carib, Bermuda and rt to Hawaii...

Hope to hear all about the updates.

[bkbarrym]

Jim, will be interested in you feedback as well. We sail on the Summit the cruise following your B2B.

[dkjretired]

Jim:

 

When you go to Newport you will be dropped off at a park.   There is a huge Marriott next to it and a road leading down the left side of the Marriott to a gate with a bunch of trucks.  There is a seafood food truck there that is run by the fisherman from Newport.  Delicious food, nice lobster rolls.

 

We did the trolley type excursion of Newport that was excellent, ours did the Breakers and a tour of the city.  Nice and relaxing.   and Brakers is so interesting. 

[Jim_Iain]

21 minutes ago, hcat said:

Seems you barely unpacked.

Hope to follow along..

We are booked on Summit for 2020, Newport, Bermuda and Charleston...we have not been on Summit for awhile but enjoyed her to Carib, Bermuda and rt to Hawaii...

Hope to hear all about the updates.

We are also looking forward to see how the Renovation to Summit worked out.   Your itinerary really looks interesting.    I've never been to Charleston  and have read so many good things about the beautiful city.     

 

I'll try to  focus some of my pictures on the changes that took place during  the "Revolution".

[Jim_Iain]

9 minutes ago, bkbarrym said:

Jim, will be interested in you feedback as well. We sail on the Summit the cruise following your B2B.

 

We will make sure we take good care of Summit so she is pristine for your cruise.   If you need me to check on anything before you board just ask.

[soccermommy]

Welcome back to New England! I have followed your travels with great enjoyment and look forward to reading about your latest! You probably already know the weather has been really New Englandish this spring. We have had a lot of rain and cool to cold temperatures, but things are getting better. We actually had one hot day last weekend, and the weekend was really nice, but we are back to cool weather and chilly nights. But the good thing is we aren't expecting a lot of rain! 

I would love to know your opinion of the Summit enhancements (if that is what they are). We would love to do Celebrity NE/ Canada but not with a port day in Boston...I'd probably want to run home and check the house. So I really want to read your blog.

Safe travels to the East Coast and be sure to get your share of lobster!

[Jim_Iain]

10 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

Jim:

 

When you go to Newport you will be dropped off at a park.   There is a huge Marriott next to it and a road leading down the left side of the Marriott to a gate with a bunch of trucks.  There is a seafood food truck there that is run by the fisherman from Newport.  Delicious food, nice lobster rolls.

 

We did the trolley type excursion of Newport that was excellent, ours did the Breakers and a tour of the city.  Nice and relaxing.   and Brakers is so interesting. 

 

Thanks for the pointers.    I am definitely looking forward to having a good Lobster Roll.   Luminae serves a Lobster Roll but it is a bit disappointing -  too much lettuce and not enough lobster.   Also they use a hard bun which just isn't what a Lobster Roll is all about.   While in college I worked at a lobster place in Massachusetts and have probably killed more lobsters than most people have ever seen.  Nothing could be better than a lobster feast sitting at a picnic bench with a tin can of melted butter, Lobster, Clams and Corn on the Cob.   I'm salivating just thinking about it.

 

We definitely want to visit the Breakers.    Do you recall where you booked the Trolley.   I really haven't even begun to plan yet. 

[Jim_Iain]

5 minutes ago, soccermommy said:

Welcome back to New England! I have followed your travels with great enjoyment and look forward to reading about your latest! You probably already know the weather has been really New Englandish this spring. We have had a lot of rain and cool to cold temperatures, but things are getting better. We actually had one hot day last weekend, and the weekend was really nice, but we are back to cool weather and chilly nights. But the good thing is we aren't expecting a lot of rain! 

I would love to know your opinion of the Summit enhancements (if that is what they are). We would love to do Celebrity NE/ Canada but not with a port day in Boston...I'd probably want to run home and check the house. So I really want to read your blog.

Safe travels to the East Coast and be sure to get your share of lobster!

 

Hi SoccerMommy. 

 

Wonderful to hear from you.   It will be nice to visit New England again.   Interesting to hear that the weather has been so cold and rainy this spring.   Our weather in Northern California has been much the same and we have had about 200% of our normal rain this winter.   We were still getting rain as late as last week.    Like you our weather has finally turned nice.   Hopefully New England weather will cooperate. 

 

I'm really going to enjoy this cruise.    All so often, we travel long distances, to visit attractions and don't take the time to enjoy places right in our backyard.  

 

Lobster is of course on the top of our list.

[dkjretired]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks for the pointers.    I am definitely looking forward to having a good Lobster Roll.   Luminae serves a Lobster Roll but it is a bit disappointing -  too much lettuce and not enough lobster.   Also they use a hard bun which just isn't what a Lobster Roll is all about.   While in college I worked at a lobster place in Massachusetts and have probably killed more lobsters than most people have ever seen.  Nothing could be better than a lobster feast sitting at a picnic bench with a tin can of melted butter, Lobster, Clams and Corn on the Cob.   I'm salivating just thinking about it.

 

We definitely want to visit the Breakers.    Do you recall where you booked the Trolley.   I really haven't even begun to plan yet. 

 

If you go on the other side of the Marriott there is a visitors center where you can book many tours.  Point of interest, across the street from the visitors is the oldest operating minor league baseball park. 

 

The lobster roll roll at the food truck is made with mayo. There is a restaurant down the street that makes them with butter, I’ll see if I can find the name.

[Jim_Iain]

A little about us for those that have not followed along in the past.   We will be celebrating out 30th anniversary at the end of these cruises so have something to celebrate.  Iain (which is pronounced IAN) grew up in Scotland and is lucky enough to travel with both a EC and US passport.   I grew up mostly in the East Coast and moved to California 40 years ago.   We live in Sunnyvale, a small town of 150,000, about 30 miles south of San Francisco in the middle of Silicon Valley.   We began cruising in 2001 on Celebrity Millennium and have never sailed any line except Celebrity.   We liked their product and never found a reason to cruise other lines.   We are both retired now and planning on doing many more B2B's and B2B2B's

 

These booking is for a Aqua Guarantee and our cabins were assigned within 2 days.   I checked the cabins on one of my favorite sites - American Airlines - as they show all cabins not just the 6 Best Cabins and found one cabin in our AQ2 classification that was available for both cruises so we will not have to change cabins.  This will be our first time traveling in cabin lower than a CS and we are looking forward to experiencing both AquaClass and Blu.   I have placed a couple Move-Up bids so maybe we will be luck on one or both and get upgraded.  Not much hope for the fist cruise as we only booked 2 weeks out and from our Roll Call it sounds like award winners were starting to get advised 3 weeks out. 

 

[yvrdave]

8 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

If you go on the other side of the Marriott there is a visitors center where you can book many tours.  Point of interest, across the street from the visitors is the oldest operating minor league baseball park. 

 

The lobster roll roll at the food truck is made with mayo. There is a restaurant down the street that makes them with butter, I’ll see if I can find the name.

 

The Lobster Shack is only open Fri - Sun, 11:30 - 6:00.  Unfortunately we'll be there on Thursday.  Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

[jcpc]

Jim,

 

I wish you and Iain two wonderful sailings.  I board the ship on the 27th (the day you disembark).  I'm very excited about being back onboard Summit at the end of the month (I think it's my 27th sailing on SM!!  Guess you can say that I like that ship!!)    I've read some "good' and some "not so good" things about the newly refurbished Summit.  I'm very interested in reading your opinion of the ship.

 

I believe I was told that Danuta will be back onboard as Hotel Director beginning June 5th.  And Captain Ioannis is really a very nice guy - you'll like him I think.

 

Can't wait for you to start posting.  Wishing you safe air travels to Newark.

[Mr. Boston]

Can’t wait to follow your next adventure. Welcome back to New England. 

 

We’re pretty sure that we want to be you guys when we grow up!

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

We are also looking forward to see how the Renovation to Summit worked out.   Your itinerary really looks interesting.    I've never been to Charleston  and have read so many good things about the beautiful city.     

 

I'll try to  focus some of my pictures on the changes that took place during  the "Revolution".

Thanks..looking forward to the updates info,

 

The itin we booked on Summit was a " must do".. we have.never been to Charleston and Celeb has a great fort tour that dh will enjoy...I will enjoy the gardens and old homes.

 

  At Newport we have already done a Celeb tour that included a few of the mansions.  We had plenty of time for a pub lunch, shopping etc.  This time we will wander on our own. Great port,  Bermuda is too.

 

Can't wait for your review!

Edited June 2, 2019 by hcat

[goldsmip115]

Hi Jim. We connected via email. I am looking forward to meeting you on the ship and hopefully inviting you both to enjoy a cocktail on our suite. Safe travels.  Trish