Jim_Iain – Edge Live Post – B2B – Greek Islands and West Bound TransAtlantic

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 hours ago, GeorgesGal said:

 

Are you kidding me???  None?

I thought there was a curtain that lowered over the French doors.

[DUTRAVEL]

17 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

I thought there was a curtain that lowered over the French doors.

Yes there are blackout blinds that close over the window. 

[hcat]

Yes.. dark just over the outside window. 

The bifolds are frosted...no curtains

[Jim_Iain]

Lunch in Luminae 

 

we are starting lots of sea days so Luminae is open for lunch.  
 

I had the burger which is always good.  Iain had the soup which he said was really good.  
 

For desert Iain had the deconstructed Black Forest and I had the white chocolate moose.  Their deserts never look like you expect. 
 

 

 

 

 

[tcmagnum]

4 hours ago, Yoshikitty said:

 

2 minutes later a gentleman in red shorts shouted at 2 officers, who shared the elevator with us saying how much he hated the IV balconies 🤣

 

What an ass!!  Like these 2 officers have any control how the IV balconies are designed.  All he did was show what an ass he is.  Some people need to learn how to communicate!!

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Yoshikitty said:

I have just met Jim and Lain on their way to the CC meetup.

 

Shortly after, saw the first „emotional support dog“ which was not really trained..

2 minutes later a gentleman in red shorts shouted at 2 officers, who shared the elevator with us saying how much he hated the IV balconies 🤣

 

We are in Aqua but the buffet is so good here that we have trouble deciding to go to Blu.

Yesterday‘s buffet was incredible with tons of spanish tapas, they even had a separate display table in the center with a cured porkleg, salami and more.

 

 

Enjoyed meeting you. 

[Jim_Iain]

Seas calmed down this afternoon.  We pass the Straits of Gibraltar a little while ago and have some more heavy seas coming up.  Starting to feel the ship rock again.  
 

[vtcruising]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We pass the Straits of Gibraltar a little while ago and have some more heavy seas coming up.  Starting to feel the ship rock again.  

Sounds like Iain needs a tether and a hard hat when he goes out to smoke. 😉

[silkismom]

Hummm the cheese on that burger really looked like the little wrapped slices at home. Hope it tasted better.

[hcat]

45 minutes ago, silkismom said:

Hummm the cheese on that burger really looked like the little wrapped slices at home. Hope it tasted better.

Most of the little wrapped slices in  US grocery stores are "cheese food", not real cheese. Only a few brands or the deli counters do cheese.. Hope they use the real thing on  EDGE. 

 

 For the ABC itin, We hope to visit the outdoor cafe for a lunch or two...located near the smoking area where dh  has his cigar.  ( after lunch!)  

[Cruising89143]

On 10/20/2019 at 12:53 AM, Jim_Iain said:

 

We used mileage this year for our business class trip.   Well worth it.    I mostly fly United and have to say have been VERY IMPRESSED with Delta. 

First of all really enjoying your review. Can’t believe the price you paid for your flight. That was great. We used to fly Delta most of the time when we lived in Atlanta. We are flying LAX to BCN in the spring for our cruise. Delta wanted an outrageous amount of SkyMiles for the two of us in Business class. Ended up booking United without miles. Less expensive. 

[Cruising89143]

On 10/22/2019 at 11:11 PM, Jim_Iain said:

 

I did read his wonderful reviews of his B2B on MSC.     I think he raised as many questions as he answered.    It seemed that he had some mixed feelings.   After his review I backed off the idea of trying them but good possibility that if they had a good itinerary I might.

 

How about you?    Would you try them?

We canceled our cruise on X out of Barcelona and decided to try MSC. The Grandiosa will only be six months old. We read Adam’s great review. Should be interesting. The price versus X for their suite accommodations was night and day different in price. Worth a try for us. 🙂

[maggie.1008]

Jim, thanks for sharing all your information and beautiful pictures. Great review. 

The food in Luminae looks good but I still think the menus are very limited. I know you can request in advance but most people would enjoy at least as many choices as they have in the MDR. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

7 hours ago, Yoshikitty said:

2 minutes later a gentleman in red shorts shouted at 2 officers, who shared the elevator with us saying how much he hated the IV balconies 🤣

Have to wonder if that is the person on these boards whining that they have been locked in spite of the weather being such that having them down is NOT advised.

[Cruising89143]

6 hours ago, tcmagnum said:

What an ass!!  Like these 2 officers have any control how the IV balconies are designed.  All he did was show what an ass he is.  Some people need to learn how to communicate!!

Agree. It looks as though MSC is going to place them on their new MSC Europa. You can clearly see them in this photo. I would say they’re catching on.

[abbydancer2003]

6 hours ago, silkismom said:

Hummm the cheese on that burger really looked like the little wrapped slices at home. Hope it tasted better.

 

My sister and I have modified the burger in a couple of ways.  She asked for it to be a grill cheese sandwich ie, a cheddar grill cheese with onion jam.  I have them cut the burger in half horizontally so it's thinner.  (Or put a kids burger in)

 

[TommyD3]

1 hour ago, cruisingator2 said:

Agree. It looks as though MSC is going to place them on their new MSC Europa. You can clearly see them in this photo. I would say they’re catching on.

Hopefully MSC does a better job of designing the cabin interior. Eliminate the frosted doors and call them OV cabins - which is what they are !!!

[Oville]

7 minutes ago, TommyD3 said:

Hopefully MSC does a better job of designing the cabin interior. Eliminate the frosted doors and call them OV cabins - which is what they are !!!

Sorry, can’t agree.  We very much enjoyed our IV cabin and loved the privacy from our neighbors on the balcony.  We were on a Caribbean cruise and never had a window lock down while onboard but that might be very different in very bad weather.

[Oville]

Jim, thanks so much for sharing your journey with us.  As with many (all) of your cruises I always look forward to your daily updates, pictures and commentary.  It is so much fun to follow along.  Katie

Edited November 6, 2019 by Oville

[TommyD3]

18 minutes ago, Oville said:

Sorry, can’t agree.  We very much enjoyed our IV cabin and loved the privacy from our neighbors on the balcony.  We were on a Caribbean cruise and never had a window lock down while onboard but that might be very different in very bad weather.

We were in a Concierge IV cabin in March. Was not a fan. With the window down I felt like a dog sticking my head out of a car window !!! Did love the blackout blind. Thought the bi fold doors were a complete waste !!!

[Oville]

Just now, TommyD3 said:

We were in a Concierge IV cabin in March. Was not a fan. With the window down I felt like a dog sticking my head out of a car window !!! Did love the blackout blind. Thought the bi fold doors were a complete waste !!!

Agree with the bifold and the blinds . Guess we were lucky as we had a nice breeze our entire cruise.  

Perhaps we should leave it there as Jim is doing such a fantastic job with his blog.  Katie

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, silkismom said:

Hummm the cheese on that burger really looked like the little wrapped slices at home. Hope it tasted better.

The cheese is better than it looks.   I'm not sure what type of cheese but the burger is one of my favorites for lunch.   I usually only eat half of it.

[Jim_Iain]

11 hours ago, hcat said:

Most of the little wrapped slices in  US grocery stores are "cheese food", not real cheese. Only a few brands or the deli counters do cheese.. Hope they use the real thing on  EDGE. 

 

 For the ABC itin, We hope to visit the outdoor cafe for a lunch or two...located near the smoking area where dh  has his cigar.  ( after lunch!)  

We have had burgers at the Mast Grill and they are also good. 

[Jim_Iain]

10 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

First of all really enjoying your review. Can’t believe the price you paid for your flight. That was great. We used to fly Delta most of the time when we lived in Atlanta. We are flying LAX to BCN in the spring for our cruise. Delta wanted an outrageous amount of SkyMiles for the two of us in Business class. Ended up booking United without miles. Less expensive. 

We have been very successful using Flights by Celebrity.   This year it was more difficult.   I believe the grounding  of the Max jets has had an impact on all air rates. 

[Jim_Iain]

10 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

We canceled our cruise on X out of Barcelona and decided to try MSC. The Grandiosa will only be six months old. We read Adam’s great review. Should be interesting. The price versus X for their suite accommodations was night and day different in price. Worth a try for us. 🙂

I read Adam's review and with their status matching it might be a good options.   Will look forward to hearing how you cruise goes on the Grandiosa.    It is an option we will also be looking at.