Live Cruise Reports

Hi
Welcome to our live blog, a cruise of many firsts.  We're Randi and Julie and we live in Santa Clarita, 40 miles from the port.  This is the first time we've take a cruise from a port in California, and the first time we'll be in a regular balcony cabin( we booked OV and I did a move up offer of 185PP).  I must say, it was really nice not to have to take a flight anywhere for this cruise. This will also be our first time on Eclipse.  I booked this over the summer I believe, or maybe it was Spring after reading a blog by someone who did the same itinerary.  We've take 6 cruises on X and all have been in Aqua except last years Reflection cruise was in a Suite.  

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2023 - Japan - Celebrity Millennium - Day 1 - Tokyo
Despite leaving Frankfurt late, our ANA flight arrived in Tokyo-Haneda on time. Just before we landed, Fuji san presented himself below the wing in bright sunshine - a sight which made our hearts jump and put big smiles on our faces. Immigration and customs went smoothly and we were soon on our way to Shinjuku by train. 

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Hey everyone,

Sitting in the airport lounge in Vancouver, ready to fly to NYC (well, Toronto, and then Newark) ahead of this Sunday’s cruise. We’ll be boarding the Norwegian Escape for a 7-day sailing from New York City to Bermuda and back again.

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It all started when our friend, Stickman1990, tempted us with a very good value Regent Seven Seas Explorer cruise from Tokyo to Bangkok. We love visiting Japan but have only spent a rushed day in Bangkok. After a bit of number crunching we decided to book it. Then our FCCs, from having Covid on the Round Australia cruise last year, landed in our Princess account. There were no Australian cruises that tempted us so I looked at Japan cruises and found a great cruise that fitted perfectly before our Regent cruise with no overlap of ports and finished two days before the Regent cruise embarked. So we booked it.

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This is our first Regent Cruise to Japan.
Positives:
great room steward
nice (but dated) cabins
 
Negatives:
*Pre-cruise tours chaotic
*Couldn’t understand the Japanese pre-cruise tour guides
*Couldn’t hear the Japanese pre-cruise tour guides
*Complaints from many about all Japan Tours
 
Regent is supposedly the top cruise line.  This is shocking to us because we did not experience unrivaled luxury.  How can the top cruise line have tours where every guide (except in Busan, Korea) has problems communicating in English?  Regent is very aware of these problems with their Japanese Tours, but they continue to book these cruises and act like everything is top notch.  They blame the shut down due to Covid for not having proper guides, yet they continue to take our money regardless.  Maybe they shouldn’t be cruising to Japan if they cannot provide tours where you can understand and hear the guides?  

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For those that just want to read about the actual cruise/travel to the cruise – come on back on November 17th. For the rest of you, welcome to my journey prior to, and aboard Norwegian Pr1ma!

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Time for another LIVE report!  After the wonderful first cruise I had with my daughter on Summit this summer, the husband and I decided to book Infinity to celebrate our upcoming milestone birthday (yes we share the same exact birthday). We booked a Suite guarantee and ended up with an accessible Sky suite.  

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Myself and my husband are on board Capella now and I’m going to try to drop comments along the way. I will do my best to answer questions but right now my brain is a little foggy as we just woke up.
So, yesterday we left home at 4.30 for our journey to Budapest.

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21 days from Sailing, midnight this morning, EDT. But wouldn't you know it, this was NCL's system maintenance Sunday, so those of us who are the early birds got nothing...zero...zilch...nada. As I posted on the site which shall remain nameless, the next thing you know, they'll tell us we can't board until 11:03 am on 01 October!
 

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The ship's schedule is a busy one with lots of guest entertainers.
I've looked a few of them up on Youtube, and I'm excited. There will plenty of good music and comedy on board.
Valiant Lady Daily Program
 
We will not be sailing full.
Current availability shows a handful of insides,160+ Sea Terraces, and 60+ Central Sea Terraces.

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DH and I are off on another cruise adventure. This time we are sailing two back-to-back one-way cruises from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, NJ to Quebec City and back--and, I can’t wait! [20 nights total] Our family thinks we are a little nuts to be gone this long. This started out as a trip from Quebec City to Bayonne.  DH has some mobility issues and airports are a challenge.  We took a similar cruise in 2019 and the experience transferring at the Montreal airport [long delay and lots of walking] was not the best.  We boarded the prop jet by walking out on the tarmac and up the stairs.  So, I found a good price on the one way to Quebec City, and I booked it. Problem solved. That's my story and I am sticking to it. 😜

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I'm getting closer to LAX, but only because American keeps changing gates and terminals at DFW.

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I will be posting comments and photos during our cruise to hopefully give you a clear picture of our voyage. While we haven’t yet boarded the new Explora I, we have arrived in Quebec. In order to upload the photos, I will be reducing their size, but I hope you will still enjoy.

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🤭Here we go again - this time round trip from Rome (Civitavecchia) and you're invited! Pack a bag 🧳(or actually not) and let's see the classics plus whatever looks exciting and interesting. 🥴
Let me give a little backstory - I had been on a Mediterranean cruise (not HAL) a few years ago w/my sister to celebrate a milestone birthday of hers. We got a really really good deal, booked our first ever B2B, bought plane tickets and headed off to Europe. First week was great but exhausting, so I guess we were doing it right.🫣 We were among the first off ship and last back on every day - port times were longer then and we were in port 7 or 8 am until 8 pm (approx); we were determined to squeeze every possible moment out of every day. Oh, did I mention this was in June? So, those long days were 🔥 hot days w/summer crowds, ugh😞

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This is our first Oceania cruise. We spent two days in Rome, walking and eating. It allowed  us to adjust to the time change. We left our hotel at 1:15, using RomeCab, they were fabulous and we were at the port at 2:30. There was a small line to go through security because there was only one small machine. Checkin was very efficient and we were in our room by 3:15. By 4:15 , our bags had been delivered, we had unpacked and I had showered. Our room, a B 2 verandah on deck 8 is lovely. We fit our suitcases easily under the bed, medium size roll- on, did not need to lift the bed. We utilized all of the various drawers, but everything fit and was put away.

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Hi to all the Celebrity Cruisers out there! 

It sure feels like a long time since our last cruise in May of this year on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas out of Galveston, so we really cant wait for our first post pandemic cruise on the Celebrity Eclipse out of Los Angeles.

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Welcome to "LIVE" from Regal Princess.   Hello everyone, and good day. The Sea is Calling.   I will be flying to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow to sail the beautiful Regal Princess on October 24th (This Tuesday). I really don’t like to fly, and this is the 2nd time I’ve flown this year (“Oh the humanity”), but I really wanted to sail to a couple of ports that I have not been to. The last time I sailed with Princess was 20 years ago on Grand Princess (2003). Regal Princess is much newer (2014)   Regal Princess has been sailing in the United Kingdom all summer and is finishing her 15-night repositioning cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale. I am also sailing a repo cruise from FLL to Galveston where Regal Princess will be spending the winter.

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We boarded the Odyssey yesterday in Los Angeles, for the 32 day cruise across the Pacific to New Zealand.  We have been to Los Angeles and Auckland before; all the other ports are new for us.
 
There are 315 guests and 362 crew members on board. The feeling and energy at the sail away was really great. It is surprising to us how many people chose a 32 day cruise for their first time on Seabourn.

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Good morning and ahoy there!
 
Setting this up for my long day tomorrow travelling to embark Spirit of Adventure.
 
We booked this cruise by default back in July last year. We'd been booked to go to South America earlier this year with Saga but due to concerns about the strict Covid protocols at that time that cruise was cancelled. This cruise fit our criteria of visiting places we'd not been to before and we decided to move over with some compensation rather than cancel with full refund.

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Hello friends It’s time for another Sea Dog review and it's going to be live. This time we will be on Adventure of the Seas which has a special memory for Linda and I as it was our first Royal Caribbean ship and cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary in 2017. We sailed from San Juan a week after Hurricane Maria. When we flew into the airport it had no air conditioning and was on emergency generators.

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1: SILVERSEA FOR SKINFLINTS
Now, where was I?  Oh yes, I was in Athens at the Grande Bretagne Hotel, having breakfast overlooking an old ruin that long ago lost its marbles.  A bit like me. The previous day I had disembarked the Silver Cloud having sailed from Muscat via Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and Alexandria.  You may well have read my positively Homeric bloggy thing last April and May.  Well, here I am again in Athens about to embark the Silver Spirit, bound for, well, that’s only the half of it.  And about to embark on another bloggy thing. You can’t have one without the other.

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“Winter is coming”[*]
 
But before that happens, let’s go and chase some of that tropical sunshine!... 
 
After having sailed upon the Scarlet Lady four times now, I was on the fence as to whether there was even a reason to bother with another “review”... After some consideration, and since someone will be joining me this time around, I decided to compromise on a "limited Live"... 

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Crazily enough, it is time for me to start planning for my next sailing already! I just disembarked the Meraviglia on October 4th with my husband and I am heading right back onboard on October 25th for a solo sailing. This is an 11-day itinerary out of NYC and I won't truly be alone as I am meeting up with several of my other solo cruising friends.

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Good afternoon all from Prescott Valley Arizona. I'm back for another one. Holli & I will be boarding the Sapphire Princess on Sunday for our R/T Hawaii cruise. We will be headed to San Pedro on Friday for a two night stay at the Hilton Doubletree prior to boarding. Not much planned for our two day stay other than to get excited for the cruise. We do plan to dine at our favorite area restaurant (22ND Street Landing) the night before boarding.

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Hello fellow Cruise Critic members, we are on the Oceania Insignia right now, enjoying a beautiful day at sea.  I figured I'd write a little about our experiences so far.  We are on our 3rd day and the cruise has been going quite well!  We have visited Quebec City and Saguenay so far, and will be in Corner Brook, Newfoundland tomorrow.  We are traveling with one other couple.

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