(RS) Infinity Oct 27th - Nov 4th 1st Time Cruiser Review (Long)

Good Evening!

Background:

My wife (XZ - because I loathe the "DW" abbreviation) and I are avid Disney fans. Our honeymoon and subsequent anniversaries have always been taken at Disney World (Port Orleans French Quarter) during their off season (generally the last week in Jan.). However, this year I turned 40 (a few scant days ago...XZ is...younger...I married well!) and we elected to do something truly Epic for this occasion.

Utilizing our Travel Agent and a LOT of research on the Celebrity Website we elected for a Royal Suite on the Infinity the "week" of Oct. 27th to Nov. 4th. It fit our price point very well while offering a touch of class and elegance that I am really very much looking forward to (hello Butler!). This Cruise started out as being oddly under-advertised. We booked in Jan. 2014 and have been steadily perusing Cruise Critic ever since. Much like buying a lottery ticket and spending a few days musing about actually winning, we have gotten almost a year's worth of enjoyment following various experienced cruiser's posts, reviews and appraisals. In particular, Cle_Guy has posted a ton of information that I have greatly enjoyed. GHStudio has also been on a number of Infinity Cruises (including the current TA) and has been instrumental in tailoring our expectations. A thanks to both posters; our only regret being we could not share this Cruise with them!

In terms of the Cruise we have signed up for everything we possibly could; the Sail Away Party, a Halloween Ghost Event, a Cabin Crawl, and, of course, the Connections Party. Most of these have been organized by Peggy (PD7277) and I welcome the opportunity to thank her for her efforts in person!

From the Celebrity End, we signed up for a single tour (the Captain Morgan Tour...which I may not survive due to acute alcohol poisoning...I love Captain Morgan). We did this for two reasons; 1) I do not plan to get off the ship much (this may change) and 2) the Celebrity "guarantee" that their purchased tours will also make it back to the Ship on time. I cannot emphasize how much I do not want to be stressed about taking a non-Celebrity Tour and somehow missing the ship's departure. That guarantee alone is worth me enjoying a tour, as opposed to being anxious beyond belief.

Since, as noted above, I am a heavy Rum drinker I opted for the Classic Alcohol Package. XZ, being a *huge* Whiskey aficionado, went for the Premium Alcohol package. While we are not "trying to get our money's worth" from these packages I believe they will more than pay for themselves despite the fact that we are not, by any means, wine snobs (for a price comparison, a single beer at Fenway Park during a Red Sox game is $9, plus tip...apparently the price of buying a drink literally off of a server carrying a cooler on his head).

Finally, we have received our luggage tags and, as of the Wednesday before the cruise, are busy gleefully packing and applying them to various carry-ons and checked baggage.

Because this is traditionally hurricane season we decided to fly down the day before (Coach...because First Class is seriously getting ridiculous) on Southwest (for the free checked baggage) out of Providence. IF, for some awful reason, an entire day of flights were cancelled we could still rent a car, drive 24 hours (stopping at "South of the Border," of course) and make the departure. Can you tell I'm an Operations/Logistics Manager yet? Plan for the best, expect everything else to go South. We will be staying at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale and are very much looking forward to our 12:30 boarding time on Monday.

Next up is expectations. XZ and I, having watched several seasons of Downton Abbey, are all about formal dress. I have packed 4 Tuxes and she is on suitcase #2 of dresses. We are determined not to snark about anyone who is not as formal as we enjoying being in dress; we are just planning on enjoying ourselves. We have also packed a game of Cribbage and are looking forward to any pick-up games of Bridge that might occur. Finally, we do enjoy our local Casino (Mohegan Sun). I am looking forward to some fun Blackjack/Poker Tournaments while XZ can't wait to see what slots are offered. Both of us plan to frequent the Craps and Roulette Tables.

In terms of activities, a number of of people have posted Dailies and we have been reviewing them almost...daily. We plan to attend anything that offers any type of raffle or give-away if only for the novelty of it. We are embracing being "newbie" cruisers.

I hope to be able to post some amount of updates over the next week. We have enjoyed any number of You Tube videos about the Infinity and anticipate being able to add to them in the coming days.

Thanks for the prologue and I look forward to further instalments, hope you enjoy the experience. Great first post as well, welcome to CC.:D

Very interesting! We're on the Nov 19th PC cruise (two after you) and will be quite interested in your comments.

M

we are on the cruise with you along with so many others but will also look forward to your review,lol

carol

Great post. You have a wonderful cabin, on a great cruise; you'll no doubt have an amazing time. Enjoy!

Happy sailing,

Jenna

David, thanks you for a WONDERFUL 1st post! Love your sense of humor. Enjoy every minute...................

David and XZ

Have a wonderful cruise! I am sure that you are going to. You have clearly enjoyed to the maximum the pre-cruise anticipation. I am really looking forward to hearing how the cruise progresses.

Welcome to Cruise Critic, David. Enjoy your first cruise. I'm sure it will be memorable.

Hi David!! Wife and I will be on board with you. Experienced cruisers, several on X, this is the first M class for us. I hope you enjoy your cruising experience as much as Faith and I do.

Be prepared to be pampered and cared for in the best fashion for 8 days. Maybe I'll see you at a BJ table???

Heya, this is XZ aka wife of Dave :)

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for the warm welcome! We certainly are going to check out the casino. I'm a fan of roulette and slots. But also can't wait to play cards (we're cribbage fans) and read.

Plus exploring the whole ship!

Cheers everyone and thanks again for making us welcome both to cruising and Infinity.

-inkpen

Hi David!! Wife and I will be on board with you. Experienced cruisers, several on X, this is the first M class for us. I hope you enjoy your cruising experience as much as Faith and I do.

 

Be prepared to be pampered and cared for in the best fashion for 8 days. Maybe I'll see you at a BJ table???

Hi DAVID KANE & EVELYN INKPEN (aka XZ)

Welcome to Cruise Critic & to Celebrity

Will be following your posted Review & Comments... Really looking forward to it. Something truly special about cruising the first time, feels like the excitement of being a little kid waiting for Santa, and then be blown away with the fabulous reality when it finally happens.

Have a great cruise,

Cheers!

Really looking forward to your reviews, hope you post often as we embark on the Infinity on Nov 4.

Jane

Hi David! We will be sailing with you too!! Counting down the days until beautiful horizons, yummy dinners and fabulous cocktails (3). My Chuck loves his Blackjack so if we don't see you at sail away I'm sure we will see you at the tables

Karen

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We're looking forward to following your adventure!

How exciting for the two of you!

I plan to check in to hear how you are liking it. Can you give us an idea of the itinerary?

Be sure to try Bistro on Five on embarkation day.

Subscribed! Have a wonderful cruise :)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Greetings All!

(Some of this post may be somewhat tedious. However, I have enjoyed and benefited from reading a number of very in-depth posts, so I am trying not to leave anything out).

Today was what I can only imagine is, for all of us, the penultimate slog through the work day. It's difficult not to mentally check out at this point. Luckily, it's our busy season and I spent the day on a combination of clearing the decks of all current, lingering issues (the ones that always seem to hide under your desk like dust bunni...heck, dust ocelots at this point because they've been lurking down there for quite some time, slowly feeding off of 'more pressing matters') and carefully documenting any number of contingencies and processes in case that one thing only you know how to fix suddenly breaks (that was a tremendous run on sentence). For me, it's Physical Plant issues because our massive, aged warehouse has a thousand hidden breakers...but I digress.

Packing - We are still in the midst of packing. Based upon previous advice we have acquired a fist-full (I guess that's the appropriate form of measurement?) of strong magnets among other things. Our "good to go" list seems to be growing, not shrinking. To still do are the mundane bits, like calling our Credit Cards and letting them know that "yes really" we are going to the Caribbean and they may see spurious and irresponsible purchases for Straw Hats from island kiosks in alarming quantities.

Expectation Update(!) - Today we received our Welcome e-mail from Gareth, the Michael's Club Concierge. I am very excited to explore this venue. Hopefully that doesn't come off as too elitist(!). I plan to use it to supplement my Classic Package with any truly top-shelf liquors. I currently have no idea what these might be. In addition, in scoping out the ship, it seems this area might make for a nice, quite reading space - I have been saving up some half-dozen books that need gotten through post haste!

And Onward - We looked up the Infinity on the Bermuda Web Cam last night and spent a good 40 minutes with it as our back drop. I still have a number of tasks to get to, including finishing up the gifts for the Halloween Ghost exchange, working on additional tip envelopes for all the staff, and preparing paper copies all documents including hotel reservations, parking coupons for the Providence airport and everything in between.

Thanks to all for the friendly welcomes and kind words!

Heya, this is XZ aka wife of Dave :)

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for the warm welcome! We certainly are going to check out the casino. I'm a fan of roulette and slots. But also can't wait to play cards (we're cribbage fans) and read.

 

Plus exploring the whole ship!

Cheers everyone and thanks again for making us welcome both to cruising and Infinity.

-inkpen

Have a great cruise also.:D

Today we received our Welcome e-mail from Gareth, the Michael's Club Concierge.

I believe Gareth was on one of my Transatlantics and on another cruise I can't recall. He did a great job interacting with guests and tending to the needs of folks.

Looking forward to your reviews. Our first RS will be on board Infinity, can't wait.

Mary Lou

Enjoy your first cruise. I'm enjoying your post. With all the rain and cold in Rhode Island you'll appreciate the warm weather. Safe travels.

Here's the itinerary! Looks to be a fun mix of at Sea and ports.

Thanks for the recommendation of Bistro on Five :)

-inkpen

Date Port/City Activity Arrival Departure Day 1 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

4:30PM Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 At Sea

Day 4 St. Croix, U.S.V.I. Docked 8:00AM 5:00PM Day 5 Gustavia, St. Barts Tendered 8:00AM 5:00PM Day 6 San Juan, Puerto Rico Docked 7:00AM 3:00PM Day 7 Labadee, Hispaniola Docked 10:00AM 5:00PM Day 8 At Sea

Day 9 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

7:00AM

How exciting for the two of you!

 

I plan to check in to hear how you are liking it. Can you give us an idea of the itinerary?

 

Be sure to try Bistro on Five on embarkation day.

That looked so much better when I first pasted it in!

Here it is again in a better format. Lol technology.

Day 1

4:30pm Depart Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Day 2

At Sea

Day 3

At Sea

Day 4

8am Docked St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

5pm Sailing

Day 5

8am Tendered Gustavia, St. Barts

5pm Sailing

Day 6

7am Docked San Juan, Puerto Rico

3pm Sailing

Day 7

10am Docked Labadee, Hispaniola

Docked

5pm Sailing

Day 8

At Sea

Day 9

7am Arriving Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I was looking at that itinerary, have never been to St. Croix or St. Bart's...can't wait to see your pics (pls?) and hear what you do there!

Have been on Infinity a few years ago when we did the Panama Canal...enjoyed the t-pool after a busy day in port, great way to relax before getting ready for dinner! Can't understand why they didn't include one on the S-class ships.

Have fun!!

Cathy

I was looking at that itinerary, have never been to St. Croix or St. Bart's...can't wait to see your pics (pls?) and hear what you do there!

 

Have been on Infinity a few years ago when we did the Panama Canal...enjoyed the t-pool after a busy day in port, great way to relax before getting ready for dinner! Can't understand why they didn't include one on the S-class ships.

 

Have fun!!

Cathy

My thoughts exactly. seems like such a simple thing really. I'm not a huge "pool guy" but love the T pools and will spend and hour or 2 in there.