HONEYMOON on the Utopia - Live stream and live updates! Oct 7 - 11

[Sea Dog]

Congratulations! There is nothing better than a honeymoon cruise. My first cruise was on our honeymoon and I was hooked ever since. Have a great time and celebration. Cheers to you!

[dappledumpling]

2 hours ago, iamchrisstone said:

If anyone is reading this far down, quick question.  If this hurricane is as brutal as they are predicting is sitting on top of Orlando Friday morning, do you guys think they will bring us back in a day later or what are your thoughts?

 

In the past, I've heard of cruise lines bringing the ship in a day early, but that would probably be worse, or circling out in sea until they can bring the guests in safely.

 

I know this is all speculation, but curious everyone's thoughts and more curious if any of you have experienced something similar in the past.

Currently not expecting a delay getting off. Figure it will clear by friday. Only caveat if Milton pays canaveral a visit they might close the port, Then we wait for reopening... Spent 2 days a couple of years ago on the Mariner awaiting the port to reopen. (They had to inspect the port prior to docking)

 

Congrats on your wedding, Wish you many many happy cruises!!

 

My son and i will be onboard as well.. Get ready for a party this a lively and loud vessel 

[iamchrisstone]

44 minutes ago, mandyleighflies said:

Absolutely!!! Same deck too 😂 We have a noon boarding time tomorrow. Let’s plan an afternoon meet up!! 
 

anyone else on sailing join us too!!!

Yes!!!!! We board at 1!

[iamchrisstone]

17 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Congratulations! There is nothing better than a honeymoon cruise. My first cruise was on our honeymoon and I was hooked ever since. Have a great time and celebration. Cheers to you!

Thanks Sea Dog!

[iamchrisstone]

18 minutes ago, dappledumpling said:

Currently not expecting a delay getting off. Figure it will clear by friday. Only caveat if Milton pays canaveral a visit they might close the port, Then we wait for reopening... Spent 2 days a couple of years ago on the Mariner awaiting the port to reopen. (They had to inspect the port prior to docking)

 

Congrats on your wedding, Wish you many many happy cruises!!

 

My son and i will be onboard as well.. Get ready for a party this a lively and loud vessel 

Thanks dappledumplimg (great name lol). 

[dappledumpling]

Just now, iamchrisstone said:

Thanks dappledumplimg (great name lol). 

It was the name of my wifes cat.. I am 6' 3"  250 pounds.. name doesnt reflect me.. LOL

Rick

[#55worktoplay]

Congratulations on your marriage. You both looked great on the big day. The dress is beautiful. 
 

Have a great time. 

[BirdTravels]

Congratulations! Have a wonderful cruise. We were on the Utopia 2 weeks ago and she's a beautiful ship!

[ecslady]

Congratulations!  I hope she likes cruising!  And, yes, sign up to be in the Love & Marriage show.

[iamchrisstone]

1 hour ago, dappledumpling said:

It was the name of my wifes cat.. I am 6' 3"  250 pounds.. name doesnt reflect me.. LOL

Rick

Hahahahaha

[iamchrisstone]

1 hour ago, #55worktoplay said:

Congratulations on your marriage. You both looked great on the big day. The dress is beautiful. 
 

Have a great time. 

Thank you so much and she is going to be thrilled at the compliment. 

[iamchrisstone]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Congratulations! Have a wonderful cruise. We were on the Utopia 2 weeks ago and she's a beautiful ship!

Any tips, secrets, etc?

[iamchrisstone]

1 hour ago, ecslady said:

Congratulations!  I hope she likes cruising!  And, yes, sign up to be in the Love & Marriage show.

Honestly, she seems to love everything that I love like adventure traveling, and new experiences so I think that she's gonna be absolutely thrilled and maybe even overstimulated if anything lol. All the excitement and everything on the ship I think it's just gonna be more than she can handle, but in a good way.

[iamchrisstone]

Update.  We have about 30 ducks that we are bringing to hide around the ships. Hoping to bring some smiles to people.  Will post a pic tomorrow.  Even have some unicorn ducks 😂🤣😂

 

 

[h20skibum]

Have a great honeymoon cruise.  We were on Utopia for the fourth sailing.  Beautiful ship.

 

Good to Hooked Seafood if you can.   I think it was the best of any Specialty restaurants we have been to.

 

If you want pools and slides to yourself, stay aboard the morning of CocoCay.  Everyone gets off there, more so than Nassau.   Of course, loungers ashore will be harder to find later in the morning.

[iamchrisstone]

11 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Have a great honeymoon cruise.  We were on Utopia for the fourth sailing.  Beautiful ship.

 

Good to Hooked Seafood if you can.   I think it was the best of any Specialty restaurants we have been to.

 

If you want pools and slides to yourself, stay aboard the morning of CocoCay.  Everyone gets off there, more so than Nassau.   Of course, loungers ashore will be harder to find later in the morning.

Thanks!  Great tips too!

[iamchrisstone]

Embarkation - We were scheduled to get on at 1pm.  As most of you know, everything online says DO NOT show up early or you may be waiting outside.  We breezed straight in.  From the moment we were dropped off until we placed our foot on the ship was probably 15 minutes.  Very easy and fast.

 

We immediately went to our Munster Station (or whatever they are called now) which was Pesky Pete.  Checked in, went to windjammer (she was amazed at all the options), ate, went to customer service for a question, made sure we could get online with Internet and our room was open at 12:55.  She has had no sleep for weeks getting ready for the wedding, so I told her to take a few minute nap while I unpack our things, dump the footage from the last few days, organized our stuff and looked at options for the rest of the day.

 

Oh, and when we went out on our patio (over Central Park), I heard someone yelling my name, looked across and it was someone that I know.  HAHAHA that was crazy.

 

Before we head out, I'll post a few pictures of our door (nothing fancy as it was last minute) and the ducks we are going to be handing out.

 

Chat soon, guys!

[iamchrisstone]

Room 11631

[iamchrisstone]

 

[Altamar]

Thanks, stay safe. My sister and her husband are on this cruise celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.

[iamchrisstone]

11 minutes ago, Altamar said:

Thanks, stay safe. My sister and her husband are on this cruise celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.

 Oh very cool!

[perfect match]

5 hours ago, iamchrisstone said:

Room 11631

@mandyleighflies, with this info you should have no trouble finding @iamchrisstone! 
 

@iamchrisstone, loved your wedding video! Congratulations to you and your bride on your marriage. Hope you have a wonderful honeymoon cruise. 
 

Hurricane Milton is now projected to make landfall in Tampa early Thursday morning and move east across the Florida and directly over our house during the day. Hopefully Milton will be gone by Friday but there’s no telling at this point what the situation will be like in Port Canaveral on Friday. I know you don’t want to be thinking about your departure plans with your cruise just departing but prepare to be flexible with them depending on how Milton behaves as he passes through our state.

[iamchrisstone]

 

[iamchrisstone]

Day 1 - Embarkation

 

Ok, I am finally sitting down.  It's 10pm Eastern.  I had Rebekah rest because she has just gone none stop for weeks, or maybe months.  I told her we have several days so just rest up.

 

I have already spoken about getting on the ship.  Well, after we get to our room, she just falls in love.  We have a balcony overlooking Central Park.  When I got it, I was rather disappointed because I wanted an ocean balcony but they were so much more expensive.  That being said, I was an am pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the room, location and views are.  It's pretty nice!

 

We went up top to watch the sailaway.  I took her the Solarium first and we chatted with a few strangers (anyone that knows Rebekah knows that she will chat with any and all strangers LOL).   We circle around to the side to get a good view and the people sitting beside us were actually from this forum!  How cool!  We livestream the sailaway, chat some more and then head to the Main Dining Room for dinner.  It was good, of course.  I had spinach and artichoke  dip, New York Strip and she had the same.  For dessert she had Key Lime Pie.  Next thing we know, they came out with cheesecake, a candle and written on the plate was "Happy Honeymoon".  Very thoughtful!

 

From there we walk around so she can just take it in.

 

Sidenote.  Every cruise from all 3 major lines, I HATE the drinking water.  I know about filtering sea water, etc.  But the water here tastes amazing!  Are they using a different filtration system or something?  Does anyone in here know?

 

I could tell she was just spent so that is when I said let's go back to the room.  She took a shower and still looked exhausted so I had her lay down and after she fell asleep I went to windjammer to grab her a few things to snack on if she gets hungry later, then I went to live stream Central Park, Boardwalk and Royal Promenade.  Now I'm back up here in the room on the balcony.

 

I have been doing speed tests via the Internet.  Looks like I am averaging between 9 - 10 mb/s download and 6 mb/s upload.  Not bad.  I remember when I used to sail Carnival, it felt worse than dial up.

 

I am posting some images from today.  Most of the images are from her phone because I was grabbing video for edits later.  I may try to get those from her tomorrow or later down the road.  Oh, and the image of the ducks, I think we had a lot more because when we first checked the bag, there were several and next time there were less and actually different ducks.  I'm assuming people would grab the ducks others were giving us.  Truth is, if it brought a smile to someones face, then good!  That's why we do the duckie thing.

 

Last thing.  We have a chalk board on our door for people to leave words for us as newlyweds.  It's been really cool so far.  Well, Traveling Girl (i think that's her name) said to enjoy the champagne but there was none at our door.  We come in the room and there is a bottle with 2 glasses and a bucket.  I don't know if that was from the ship or her, and if it was from her, THANK YOU! and how did you get it in our room?  lol.

 

I hope my posts are not boring.  Please let me know how I can make them better for you guys.

[StanleyandGus]

@iamchrisstone your posts are not boring at all!

 

 I don’t have any plans to sail on such a large ship, but you never know. I just wanted to say that you and your new wife make a lovely pair!