Live Cruise Reports

We departed San Diego for a 2 week cruise off the coast of California.   (two 7 day back to backs)   We arrived in Ensenada this AM.   Will be posting more later, but I wanted to upload this video which shows the embarkation process.    I am experimenting with doing more video.   We'll see how it goes!

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I am leaving for my B2B on the Summit out of Miami in three days! Since I will be staying in a Sky Suite for the first leg, I am hoping to have decent enough internet access to keep up with a live blog. I am only in an Aqua Class Veranda for the second leg, with only the Surf internet plan included, so I am not sure how the last four days will go in terms of blogging.

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Hey everyone!  My son and I are in Miami getting set to sail out on Oasis today!  Super excited!  This was a birthday trip for his that has been booked for 2+ years now!  We wanted to do a review for everyone to get excited again about cruising. We are going to do this together and will try to have some fun and give you lots of info. 

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I have never done a live review before and I am possibly the world's worst photographer, so I won't be posting many pictures, but I know some people have been asking for a Reflection review now that she's back to sailing after 600 days, and I don't see anyone else doing one, so I thought my meager efforts might be better than nothing. 

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Here we go! My sister Patti @MainePrincess and I arrived in Fort Lauderdale this evening, ready to board the incredible Enchanted Princess tomorrow morning. 
 
Based on a post on another social media site from our cruise director, Dan Falconer, we will have 1,000 passengers (capacity is 3,600) so should be enough passengers to feel like a party 🎉 but few enough that it shouldn’t feel crowded.

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Who’s ready to join me as Explorer of the Seas makes her first back to service cruise from San Juan in over a year and a half? Here is what we in broadcast television call a tease video for what will be coming up in our adventure. 
 
 
A lot more details coming soon as we get ready to fly to San Juan on Friday.

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Howdy from the lovely Celebrity Millennium!  I’m lucky that this is my third cruise on this ship since Covid so I thought I would do some general postings from what I believe is the longest revenue cruise on any line since Covid shut things down.  
 
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This is my first attempt at a trip report, I hope that I can finish this.  
 
A little bit about myself, I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel the world.  Sometimes with family, sometimes with friends and lately solo.  I been on land tours, ocean tours,  one previous river cruise and independent travel.  Like my more recent trips, this is a solo adventure.
 

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Hi y’all. RedneckBob hear reporting live from the Equinox (brief report).
 
Well, Celebrity has increased capacity to 1600 passengers. Checkin was a breeze though required to show docs several times. Heard a couple showed up at terminal not being tested for Covid. Where the h_ll have they been. Celebrity put them in a cab that took them to a place to be tested.

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Just what we need …. Another LIVE from the Edge thread.😜.
 
We leave on the 10/30 sailing this Saturday, but I thought I would start the thread a little early to document our journey to FL and the COVID testing part of the trip. We leave tomorrow (Thursday) from Bradley Airport in CT, with a mid afternoon flight.

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This is going to be I think my 15th cruise. This will be my first October Halloween themed one. The CD is Lee Mason. I had him as a fill in on Breeze in 2018. I think he's one of the best. This will be my second Mexican Riviera cruise on Panorama. This is the ship I was on when Covid-19 started to hit Carnival and we were held over in Long Beach for an extra day. I

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Good Morning!  We are thrilled to be returning back to cruising and doing another “Live From” thread. We intend to share our adventures, answer any questions you may have, and drop some corny comments.  We welcome our fellow cruisers to jump in and also share their cruising adventures. S

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After dipping my toe in the LIVE pond with a land vaca to Cancun earlier this year, I’ve decided to jump in, cannon ball style with this Mardi Gras review. So sit back, subscribe, ask questions, get comfy, and get your beverages ready for ANOTHER Mardi Gras LIVE.

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Hello cruise friends.
Our family of 4, DH and DH in late 30s and 2 little girls (3 and 5 yo) will be on the Carnival Dream from Galveston starting this Saturday 23rd. I know this may not be the most interesting review, as it is not a new ship and it has been sailing for some months already, but as a parent, I thought our experience may be useful for other parents thinking on cruising these days. So, I've decided to (at least try) to write a live review and answer any questions other parents may have. 

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We sailed on the first Pride sailing post-pandemic (review below) and I included a fair amount of pics... I didn't check cruisecritic every day while on cruise but you can see I do make a reasonable effort to answer questions.  Embarkation will be the first topic but I doubt I'll have anything different to report from the pics and commentary in the 9/12 review below.

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Hello again everybody. I am setting sail on the Mariner again tomorrow and intend to bring you along with me.
 
This will be my fourth trip on her in just over a months time but I am looking forward to one more trip on her before she switches to the 4/5 cruises next month and Independence becomes the weekend cruise option from Port Canaveral.
 

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We made it to NYC!  The whole process was actually pretty easy.  I was more worried than need be.  The drive to NY was easy and check in was very quick.  Almost time for muster drill.  I’ll be back!

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Carnival Valor Live*/Solo/B2B 11/6-11/11/21 & 11/11-11/15/2021- Cozumel X2 and Costa Maya

Howdy!!! Hey everyone!!! It’s Jay from Podunkville TX (no that’s not a real town name lol) and welcome aboard for my first cruise in several years!! I’m back after a loooong break due to medical issues, divorce, midlife crisis lol, and the lovely RONA.!!! The screen name has changed, the body ain’t as whole as it used to be but the sarcasm, jokes and personality are all still here!!!! Join me on a B2B from New Orleans!!

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Our bags are packed, got our cool personalized Virgin wristbands, and fly out tomorrow!
We are flying S West so that could be a little dicey but that is why we always fly in the night before just in case….
As 50 something’s, not sure we are hip enough to be the target audience for Virgin but we are young at heart and in DESPERATE need of a cruise getaway. We live in Kansas so it is a bit of a hike for us to get to the ocean.

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Here we go........OMG, after multiple postponements, hard to believe it is really going to happen...
I will focus on things that unusual, or that most people are not paying attention to...

Just kidding, I’m a mojito drinker but I will have a margarita or two as well 
 
Ok, so I know this live review is a little bit early, but I leave tomorrow for LA and I am excited, OK?!?! 😄 
 
•    I will be live reviewing my experience on the Bliss. This will be my second time on the Bliss, the first time being in 2019 on a sailing to Alaska.  I will be sailing with my friend this time, instead of my husband (poor husband is staying home with two doggos, he’s a keeper for.....

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If all goes as planned DH and I will join about 200 Roll Call friends on the Rotterdam VII on Wednesday.  The transatlantic cruise begins in Amsterdam and ends November 3rd in Fort Lauderdale.  We have all filled out many Covid related forms and taken pre-flight Covid tests and are finally ready to travel.  Our Roll Call is nearly 350 pages of helpful comments and we have had weekly Zoom meetings for the past two months to help deal with various situations.  

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We leave Saturday for the Grand Princess on a B2B - LA, San Diego, Ensenada followed by LA to Cabo (overnight). The first leg is with a friend of mine (she is a blast BTW). The second leg is with my DH. He could not go on the first leg due to work commitments.  He is fun too, but leg 2 will be more romantical (my word) not party-party like leg 1. 

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The Odyssey and the Ecstasy is not to be confused with the Rolling Stone’s story of the Vikings’ search for life on Mars.  It shouldn’t be confused with the WaPo story on the writing of Gay Talese.
 
Rather, this ODYSSEY is merely the ship we are on, and this ECSTASY is what will be felt by us after being away from cruising since January, 2020.
 
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Live From the Symphony-October 15- Awesome Archipelago Adventure!

(I just like the way that sounds better than “Luxury Bermuda Escape.”

About now, Jeannie and I were supposed to be getting ready for a Tauck cruise on the Duoro River.  After too many cancellation (who can even keep track anymore?), since everything turned to swill in March of 2020, it was beginning to look like this might actually be a go, and we were starting to get super excited.  And then Delta happened.  As much as it hurt, we decided that with all that was involved in international travel (airport lines, long masked flights, hotels, etc, all amongst persons of unknown vaccination status), the time was just not right for us.  Plus, given Tauck’s very generous cancellation policy, which allows for 100% of payments being applied to another trip at any point in the future, we decided to pull the plug.  We rebooked the Duoro for October, 2023. Only 733 days to go!😶


 
So now what?  Cruise withdrawal syndrome is getting pretty earnest here.  If only there were a cruise that

·        departed and returned to a port within driving distance to our home, so as to  avoid flights and hotel stays
·        was on a fabulous cruise ship, on which we are all but guaranteed to receive top notch cuisine, entertainment and service
·        had an alluring, exciting itinerary
Well, hey- 2 outa 3 ain’t bad, right?*