Live Cruise Reports

This is our 2nd cruise this year having previously done the repositioning in March 2023. We booked this cruise back in October 2022. 
 
Ports this cruise include overnight in Malta till 5am, sea day, Catania departing 5PM, Palermo departing 5PM, Cagliari departing 6PM, sea day, Palma De Mallorca departing 10PM, sea day, Malaga departing 11PM, sea day, Cadiz departing 10PM, 2 sea days, Lanzarote departing 5PM then 3 days in Tenerife. 

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Throughout the years I've read so many LIVE reviews while I'm waiting for my next cruise, and I thought it would be fun to give it a go and pay it forward to all those who have brightened my day through their musings.    This will be cruise #12 for us and we've sailed many itineraries more than once but this will be our first visit to Bermuda and our first visit to Perfect Day since the revamp. I visited Coco Cay back in 2005 and loved it then, I'm very excited to see what is in store for us with all the updates.

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Join The Bird, *LIVE*, from the beautiful Norwegian Joy as she sails to Bermuda. This voyage concludes the Joy’s Bermuda and New England/Canada season. She will reposition from New York to Miami to sail some fantastic Caribbean, Southern Caribbean, and Panama itineraries. 
 
The Birds sailed this itinerary, exactly 1 year ago, on the U.S. inaugural voyage of the Norwegian Prima.

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I am on the Equinox now (10/8 - 10/14) and we don’t plan to get off the ship on either of the remaining port days, so I’ve got plenty of time to answer any questions fellow CC’ers might have.  We’re in a Royal Suite so we can address Retreat questions as well.  My initial observations as a first time Celebrity cruiser but many-time NCL and Princess passenger:

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This is Radiance 4-day cruises now that can drive to a pier.
I will try to answer anyone’s questions when I pick up a signal. 
Being platinum we were supposed to check in 16 days prior, but could not get software to checkin due to website issues. So checked in 14th day and earliest choice boarding time 10-10:30.

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Happy to answer any questions you might have. Also on the upcoming cruise which is a transatlantic so I will be back to back. Ask away.

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Hi there, people of CC!!  I am so excited about this land/cruise trip and can’t believe we will be taking off this Friday on a red-eye!  First, a little background…I am Bethany also known as ninjacat123 and my DH, Craig have been cruising since 2006.  Our first two cruises were on RC and then we checked out Carnival. The staff made our cruises great and since we were usually cruising with our two DDs (now 21 & 23) the staff’s care and personalities made it easy to return to Carnival over 21 times for myself.  

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This is our first Virgin cruise and we boarded yesterday. I always enjoy doing reviews, so will try to keep up a live review with photos and impressions.
 
We are a couple in our mid-50s that currently live in Europe but have also lived in South America and the US. We have sailed many cruise lines, including Holland America, Crystal, Azamara, Celebrity, RCI, Carnival and Seawind Crown ( which no longer exists). We have traveled extensively on land as well.

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Hi! This is our second YC cruise, the first having been immediately post-Covid, and therefore odd in various ways. We boarded yesterday in Istanbul. I took this photo of the Splendida from the cab on the way there.
 

Both the airport and the cruise terminal in Istanbul are brand new, shiny, enormous, and rather confusing. The boarding process is underground, and there’s lots of space for vehicles, but it’s not clear where the entrance is from the street. Our cab driver certainly didn’t know. Maybe it’s because they want you to go through security.

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This begins my traditional "live" thread.  During my15-day repositioning cruise through the Panama Canal and another seven days in the Caribbean, I will be collecting menus, answering CC questions, chasing rumors, experiencing the west entrance to the canal for the first time, giving my impressions (except on food quality), interviewing crew members, trying some new beaches, meeting CC members, and experiencing new excursions.

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We're on the Jewel, from Seattle to Singapore (3 cruises b2b2b, departed 3 Oct 2023).  This is NCL's first ship back to Asia after the interruption.  It has some maiden ports, including in the Philippines. We've been to Alaska and a couple of the Japanese ports before, but most of the rest is new to us.

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I stepped on the Zuiderdam on Friday, September 30 in Quebec City. My first stop was my cabin. I am in a Signature Suite right at the front of the ship on deck five. It is an accessible cabin and it is beautiful. It has a balcony door and a huge picture window looking from the front of the ship. My scooter and everything fits with lots of room left over. I love it.
 
The ship holds between 1900 and 2000 passengers. Right now there are 1852 passengers on board. It is the perfect size for me. 11 decks with lots to do. Starting at 8 AM until 12 Midnight, you can stay busy. It has the Rolling Stones lounge, and Billboard Onboard. Fantastic music, great drinks, and great passengers to talk to. Every day they have new art classes, teaching you to color, paint, do origami, etc. I have eaten all three evening meals in the main dining room and it has been excellent. I have also eaten breakfast in the main dining room, and it has been amazing too.

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On our way to Japan, with about 1600 other passengers on the Westerdam.  We booked the cruise over a year ago and was lucky to select an Aft Stateroom at a very good price.  This will be a 26 day journey from Seattle to Yokohama.  A number of passengers will end their cruise at day 13 in Yokohama, and there is a very active thread of those folks who will be joining the cruise when begin cruise around Japan.
Embarkation was a breeze.  The Westerdam was the only ship at Seattle's Pier 91 that was embarking passengers. 

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My first attempt at a Live - and I’m already late on sharing, well, anything about this journey. 
But since I’ve so thoroughly enjoyed the Live narratives from other CC denizens - and am on this fabulous new ship that you are all curious about - here goes.
 
It’s taken a few days to pull out the IPad because alas, I did not properly prepare (er, train) to be onboard Silversea again.
 
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I shall post about our current QV cruise here. It was nice to get back on board and head off to what is hopefully a nice  warm Mediterranean cruise out to the Greek Islands and back - Embarkations today was uneventful unlike Roy's biblical QM2 exploits. We were through security and on board in less than an hour, all very boring.

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This is our first Oceania cruise, and like I have done for the past few years with our Viking, Celebrity and HAL cruises, I am going to live blog this one. If you would like to follow along, I would love to have you join my bride and I as we cruise from Montreal to Miami on Vista.

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I have a very few days to go before I fly out on Tuesday to Amsterdam to start the adventure there until we board the Rotterdam on Saturday.  We have a huge and wonderful roll call so I wanted to start my LIVE thread early in the hopes that with the link provided, some of them will join in 🤞
 
We have some nice, different things to do in Amsterdam and fun planned on board and in our ports.  It should be a great cruise!

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We left our hotel near JFK about 9:30, and the rain was pouring down.  All kinds of weather alerts for flash flooding, and in fact the entrance to the cruise port from the city street had about a foot of water in it.  Our uber was Toyota Highlander, and we went through the water to the terminal so many people were getting out walking in from the street to the terminal.  We were inside the terminal by about 11:30, and they opened check in at 12:00.  By  1:00 PM we were on the ship and dumping our backpacks into the room.  It is 3:00 now, and we have the luggage empty and the room ready for our trip.  We ate lunch in Kings Court, and found the food very good.

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As one might imagine, we'll be watching for any potential hurricanes and/or tropical storms forming in the Atlantic which will hopefully either disappear or become irrelevant once we start cruising down the Atlantic coast. On the brighter side the Northern Lights are expected to be stronger than they have been for at least a decade over the next few months, which hopefully means we will have a good chance to see them when we're cruising up the St. Lawence River or maybe as we make the turn and start to head south once we reach the Atlantic.

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Hello we are going to try our first live review from the Horizon this week hopefully to help future cruisers on the Horizon because cruise critic has gave us tons of helpful information over the years. Wish us luck 🍀 We definitely won’t be able to cover everything but we will definitely try to cover the things we enjoy and  maybe some cool pictures along the way.

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We're off again on the Zaandam to do the Grand South America cruise.  Most of my "to do" items are done.  I'll be posting updates here along with pictures and doing one of my regular daily written blogs (link to come later).  Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer.  This will be our first "Grand" HAL cruise and we've seen much of the destination ports except for Rio and we've been on the Zaandam to Antarctica previously.  We're looking forward to a nice cruise. 

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Morning all, so I'm a bit late to the party here but figured with today being a sea day (it's day 7 already) I'd have a bit of time to put a few thoughts and pics together of the cruise so far. Also upgraded my Internet package yesterday so I can send photos and it's not quite as painfully slow!
 
One of my favourite things on here is reading trip reviews and live from threads, so only fair that I contribute something, even if I'm a little behind.
 
I'm traveling solo with two friends staying in the cabin next door. This is the second cruise we've done together after spending 11 nights on Reflection last year. As this is our first time on an E class ship, I'll be throwing a few co

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Everything comes to and end and the European cruising season is certainly ending soon!  
Today we embarked Rotterdam in Amsterdam for her last European cruise of the season before she heads back across the pond to Florida.
I know that there are many onboard this cruise who are staying on for the next cruise to go home at sea level and not at 38 thousand feet, but unfortunately we are not soo lucky.  Maybe next year!

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Testing!  Is this thing on?  OK, at least the Starlink Internet is working... 
Hello from the Equinox. 
 
Day-1 (so far): 
I used "Flights by celebrity" to get here.  Huge mistake.  
My docs said "Someone will meet you at baggage claim." 
That did not happen.  
I talked to the airports transportaiton aid desk, after I woke her up, she seemed surprised to hear there are cruise ships in Florida. No help there. 
So I called the help line, After 15 minutes of on hold music I gave up an grabbed a waitibng cab.  $20 and 5min later I arrived at the port. They did eventually answer and explained I was supposed to get a bus that ran every half hour but were not clear where I should have gone to find it.

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This blog is to continue with the next leg on Silver Muse, a circumnavigation of Japan including Busan, South Korea.  Please note that I tend not to photograph food, but I will try to remember when there are special events or dinners.

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