abbydancer2003

On another note - it's been 7 days since our turnover, and the points aren't showing up in my totals.  I do see the cruise that ended on the 25th, and the points that will eventually be awarded are for a 16 night. We repeated April 18th.  The Club person onboard sent an email to engagement.

 

 

 

On 4/29/2024 at 1:37 PM, mahasamatman said:

 

I can see them offering 5 power-up points (not 5 CC points).

 

7 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

They round up, so it would be 1 CC point.

I don't see that.  Why would they want that headache?  Since it rounds to 1 point, it's easier to keep it one point. 

On 4/29/2024 at 4:17 PM, HaveDogWillTravel said:

The train turns around at the top.  No need to change seats as the folks on the right side are on the outside rail going down. Also some people don’t like to sit on the outside (left going up and right going down) as there’s some really steep drop offs. If you are not a fan of heights don’t sit next to the window on the scenic side.  
 

I’ve taken the train 5 times and everyone has always been super polite and accommodating.  People share the spaces well in my experiences.  
 

Safe travels and Bon voyage. 

 

And by turn around, it makes a big loop around at the top, so the sides are switched once the loop is completed.  We did the round trip with my mom in 2022.  Last time was around 2007, when they moved the engine (after telling everyone not to leave the train, due to the switch being in Canada).  They did ask everyone to switch sides.  

 

12 minutes ago, Alaska05 said:

After reading your experience from the airport, we are seriously considering taking the Skytrain from YVR when we arrive about 6:00 pm on a Thursday evening.  We are staying at the Marriott Pinnacle on W. Hastings. 

Good plan, but the Waterfront station is a few blocks away from the Marriott. It's a bit of a walk with luggage.   The cab fares are regulated, I think.  

12 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

I really, really wish they would change the name of that entree. 

Yeah.  Tomorrow night they have the Sirloin, also pieces of a roast.  Last cruise Glen ordered it and it was done right, previous two, outside was well done inside was raw.  Both of those the Maitre'd brought the chefs out.  Tonight, we had the kids menu grilled cheese, and crudites.  (I had the tomato soup as well).

A couple of notes from yesterday and today.

 

Jim, we may have seen you driving up to the falls yesterday as we were driving out after our visit.  Both days we were very lucky, as we had friends as guides.

 

Today, a former coworker of mine picked us up and took us to the Refuge National Park and a couple of scenic spots.  We saw baby goats.  We tried to go to Coffee Shack, but there was a long wait, so we went to a place called Foster's in town and had a very good lunch.  My friend is also driving us to the airport to pick up our rental car for the day tomorrow.  We're driving to Waimea tomorrow to meet the people who ship us coffee every other month. 

 

 

 

On 4/28/2024 at 11:43 PM, kwokpot said:

Was it a REAL NY Strip steak or was it a slice of beef from a whole roast?

I think a couple of slices.

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Last night was our least favorite Luminae. 
 

Menu 3

 

 

we ended ordering from MDR - it was a French Mushroom Pot Pie.  It was actually quite nice.   
 

For desert I had the new Orange desert on Luminae.  
 

 

 

 

Agree on this menu.  And who thought Pig's Feet carpaccio is a good idea?  I ended up, on our new fab waiter's recommendation getting the pork schnitzel.  It was quite yummy as was the orange dessert.

 

Glen had the Luminae steak, and they overcooked it the first time.  Second time was fine.  (At least on this ship he didn't have to give the chefs a lesson on cooking steaks).

 

We're on the Beyond next.  Luminae meals are going to be a challenge.  On Apex last year, I had a small filet with bernaise most nights.

8 hours ago, Von & John said:

 

You never know...

2 more days to go - they could pull it out in the final 2 days 🙂 

It's been a while since they've awarded and done a new one in the same month.  Maybe May?

1. We're in 7356 on the Soltice currently and on the desk we have two grounded US plugs and one European.  We have a couple of multi plug, no surge plugged in and have lots of devices.
2. 
   I really do love these corner rooms.  Someone, I think a previous guest, put strips of glow in the dark tape on the poles.

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I guess not... I started reading a long Oceania live today.   I haven't been on that thread since this trip began.   I've only made it through page one when Lunch time hit.

 

Celebrity has rolled out their new menus on Solstice and really enjoy some of the new items but o course miss some of our favorites that are now gone.  

 

Today I had a nicely constructed Mediterranean Turkey Club Sandwich - Slow roasted Turkey, herded Focaccia, Fontina Cheese, charred Broccoli Rabe, and calabrian pepper ailoli    f   In my opinion --- too much bread in the Bread and I had it open face instead.

Glen took the broccoli out.  Lately, he's just been having appetizer and main, and me just appetizer and dessert.  There only so many 3 course meals you can eat.

On 4/22/2024 at 8:03 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! FWIW I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB back in the early 70s when there was only around 100,000 people living in Anchorage. Now there is almost 300,000 and homes are starting to be built on the nearby mountain sides. But I still remember seeing the underbelly of a moose walking along the streetside as I was "slowly" driving by in my VW minivan. Ah yes, Alaska can definitely leave some lasting impressions, that's for sure! 😊 

I went to a meeting with the IT team at Elmendorf back in the mid 80s.  They were nice people.  At the time, I was visiting a friend in Alaska, and Elmendorf was a client.

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks for letting me know of the $5 free spins..... I lost it in less than 1 minute.

Sorry.  I added 20.00 to it and left with 29.00 and change.

11 hours ago, billc23 said:

I think that your tier points keep track of your spend. From Celebrity:

 

Tier points are earned when gaming in the casino. 1 tier point is earned for $1 wagered on a slot machine, $2 wagered on a video poker machine.

 

The other option is to count your spins but that is no fun. What I do is just periodically check my personal banker to see if I am able to take out more. Safe travels and will see you onboard.

I do what Jim does, I just in my head keep a general idea - for example:

I put in 20.00. I spin for a while, and keep rough track of my little wins.  Then at some point, around 15.00 I start checking my personal banker regularly to see if if the transfer button shows up.  Note that if you've played enough to get a 1.00 free play, you actually have to check that room transfer (whatever it's called) is available.  

 

I then start checking every few spins.

 

That said, I like playing and since it's cumulative over the whole cruise, I probably could straight cash out, but I like to play some.  Lately I've been winning a bit, so I cash out when I'm 2.00 over what I put in.  I think I'm getting a lot of bet collateral.

I've done Alaska 8 or 9 times, 2 on Celebrity and the rest on Princess.  When it came time to select a family trip with my mom (her last as it turned out), I selected Princess because, although for mini suites Celebrity has a better product, Princess is best for Alaska.  

Have a blast.

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

Puts me off booking a cruise on Silhouette now, as we would have to fly to the port- but which port? 
Crazy.

Aren't Amsterdam and Rotterdam about an hour apart?  Or am I missing something?

Hi all,

 

I thought I would treat you all to the sunsets from Samoa, from our somewhat unique view out the back of the ship.  They were taken about an hour apart.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy them.

10 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Let’s backtrack to Suva.   We took a Tour that @abbydancer2003 arranged with tour by locals.   I think think there were 8 of us.   Great job Abby. 

 

 

 

Thank you, sweetie.

 

 

9 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We next visited a Fijian village.   Much more Disneyland than the authentic Ine we previously visited. 
 

I think calling it Disneyland is not the right word.  It's more commercial, but it's a real village, but one where the residents have made it a much bigger production.  A fake village would not have children and chickens running around.  I think everyone there, performers, cooks, servers, etc, are locals who don costumes to show their culture.  They live in the village.  They have just figured out how to make some money from their culture.  They are not actors from LA brought in to stage a village.

 

It was fun and the food was great.

 

 

My points showed up today, around lunch time in Fiji, which is the 16th. Right now, I can't see my point history at all, it stays on upcoming cruises.  Might be because I'm on ships wifi.

 

 I have a spreadsheet with my points from each cruise, plus a field  where I sum my current point count and all the cruises I have booked that I think I need to reach Zenith.  With this, it's now enough that without any more power up or Go Green, I'll reach it on the cruise I think I will in a year.  

 

Clearly I need a life.

I don't have my power up yet, but I did get the points for the last cruise today (we're on the second leg of the b2b2b.  Ended on the 9th, but we're on the other side of the dateline, so 8th in Miami.

 

Crossed a threshold - now 3 digits to zenith.

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I agree, it is quite strange to compensate this way for a missed port, usually it is a nominal amount (i,e. $100 pp) plus port fees/taxes.

The only times it varies is when they compensate as a percentage of cruise fare (I.e 5% of what someone paid for their cruise).

We missed 3 ports last year on a Princess cruise thanks to Hurricane Lee.  We got about 1/3 of our base fare back as FCC, plus 100.00 OBC.  I used the FCC to pay for over half of my 7 day Sun Princess cruise in 2025.

 

Greetings from our new room, an aft corner sky suite.  You'd think it would be a let down from a Royal Suite, but, other than missing the second half bath, we're very happy.  Our butler is good, a little less proactive than in the Royal, but we're getting everything we ask for.  We order coffee every morning and by the third day he has the set up ready to go, so it arrives quickly and hot.  I do like having both a balcony and a window.  

 

Glen heard that we'll arrive around 3pm tomorrow.  We have a tour for the full day, so I guess we'll walk around for a while.

 

Once I finish my 3/27 live, I'll post some of my highlights here as well.

 

 

21 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

 

So we have a little sticky situation…

As we know… all of us collect our cruise cards😅

1. It’s the only way to document that you was sailing 
2. It’s a great way to keep up on your sailings

 

Well, on the b2b meeting last sailing the document officer said it would be delivered to your stateroom on the last sea day…..

(I don’t like this practice… we have running down the ship before to get our cards last minute) 

 

Last night it was not on our door at 18.00 so Mr went to the concierge desk and they said it will arrive later tonight…..

After dinner, at 22.15 still no cards. 

 

Mr was attending a meeting on zoom 04.30, no cards on the door. 

 

At 07.15 he went downstairs to guest relations. 

“The cards should be delivered” 

🤯🤬😳🥵

 

We left our stateroom at 07.30 as requested… 

We meet concierge Freazer in the staircase down to MDR on deck 4. 

 

We told him our issue and that this is just a really bad situation and this happens every time they are “mailing them the last night” 

We said we will go for breakfast and be back at you soon to check if they have received the cards….

 

In queue for breakfast we were standing behind another couple we knew was b2b. 

So I carefully asked Sir: A very good morning! May I ask I you have received your cruise card from last week? 

 

Yes yes 🙌🏻 they arrived on the door midway through this cruise! 

 

🫠🫥🫡🫠 Yes….. 

🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

 

Last breakfast onboard….

No more omelette or poached eggs unless I make them myself😝

 

 

 

 

We went in a little search to Tuscan to find Freazer… 

We asked in Tuscan and they said he would be back soon… 

The other concierge showed up and collected numbers to take to the gangway. 

 

Mr took a little roam around to locate him. 

No vision of him. 

So when the concierge arrived back for a new group, we asked her.

She had the cards!!! 🥳🥳🥳

Freazer had to walk out a wheelchair so he dropped off the cards to her💙⚓️😘

 

On the way to the gangway we passed Freazer👋🏻⚓️💙 Thank You🙌🏻

 

Then it was straight off and curb side in 5.minutes💙⚓️

Great review - thanks. 

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but why didn't they just print a new one when, apparently, they had trouble finding them?  (I'm not convinced they don't do that).

 

Our turnaround was Tuesday and and we got our old cards today.

 

And so far, this cruise has been nothing like what people booked. We missed first port due to leaving Sydney 15 hours late, and now we're turning around due to a medical emergency.  2 of 6 gone, 3 of 7 if you count Maui replaced with early arrival into Honolulu.  Fun stuff.

I’m happy you made it in, and I hope your ride is better than ours.     We’re on the Solstice and yes, we are missing the first port.   We’re also sailing in 30 foot seas which may not sound like a lot but it is.   
 

I think we’ll see a lot of casual footwear at formal night. 
 

I was on the Majestic in 2022.  It’s a great ship. 

Here's the next day.  Should I complete?

 

Megatrip Day 16. Yorkie’s Knob (Cairns) Friday 2

 

Today is our second of two private tours on this cruise (4 ports, two ship/two private).  It’s a tender port, and Ann and I have arranged that the Retreat Concierges will take all of us off.  Ann and I agreed to meet at 8:15 inside the entrance to the Club, and we asked the rest to come at 8:30.  

 

We ordered a light breakfast in the room at 7, and Walter brought it soon after, and at 8:10 we were ready to go.

 

I ran into two of our group outside the club, and brought them.  Everyone was there by 8:30, so Mar took us out.  We boarded the tender, but had to wait for it to fill, but by about 8:40 we were on our way.  The tender ride here is close to 30 minutes, so we arrived at 9:10.  Our tour is at 9:30, so all good.  

 

Dorinda contacted the company, and they had us wait at the entrance to a boat club.  At 9:15, Chris, our guide arrived, and off we went to Cairns. (The r is silent).  Apparently the two biggest industries are sugar and tourism.  We passed sugar fields on the way in.

 

Our first stop was the St. Margaret’s Cathedral.  This church has, by far, the most interesting stained glass windows I’ve ever seen.  The front two commemorate WW2.  Here’s one.

 

 

The story of creation is told along the walls, and it’s the scientific one.  Some pictures.  

 

 

 

And the other entrance piece.

 

 

If they interest you, you might want to see more info at their website.

 

Following that, we drove and saw some of the sights.  Because we were running a bit early, we stopped at the park at the lagoon.  

 

 

Curiously, there is a cruise dock in town for smaller ships, so I don’t know why we don’t tender to there.  Maybe somebody knows?

 

There were a number of birds there, and we saw this cute baby bird.

 

 

Our next stop was the museum, which was a small museum about the history of Cairns.  We were given an overview by a museum guide and we got some time to explore.  They acknowledge and feature their indigenous population.

 

 

Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens.  We did not have time to see all of it, but Chris was very knowledgeable about it, and we saw lots of plants.

 

 

We also saw the local turkey vulture.

 

 

There are some very old banyan trees.  Apparently they build around a host tree, and eventually the host dies.

 

 

And of course there are chocolate trees (technically cocoa)

 

 

And some wild ginger

 

 

And no botanical garden would be complete without some flowering plants.

 

 

After that, we headed to a nice cafe for some tea (coffee or soft drinks also available) and a scone.  The scones were large and flavored with lemon and dates.  We had one gluten free person in our group and they had a treat for him as well.

 

Our next stop after that was a lookout over the city.  There was a board there that listed all the hills in the distance.

 

 

We had a great view of Cairns.  Our ship is somewhere off to the left.

 

Our final stop was a Palm Cove beach, a resort area on the ocean.  It was about a 25 minute drive, and we had about 15-20 minutes there to use the restrooms and look at the water.  Lots of restaurants and hotels there.  I’m not sure it was worth the drive, but it was only about 20 minutes back to Yorkie’s Knob, and we arrived about an hour before the last tender.  

 

We were able to get on the next tender, which turned out to be a local larger boat.  It was about thirty minutes back, and probably smoother then the ships tender, but there were a lot of people to unload, so it took almost another 30 minutes to get off.

 

Because we hadn’t had lunch, I went to the lounge once on board and had some tea.  Then back to the room to watch them hoist the last tender.  That took quite a while as there was significant wind, and the crew in the tender could not connect with the ropes to hoist the boat.  The rescue boat came out with a couple more people to help and they finally got it done.

 

We changed for dinner and went to the lounge for a while, then dinner.

 

I started with the glazed baby veggies, and it’s the only picture I got tonight. 

 

 

Dinner was uneventful, other than I forgot what I had, and we have another earlyish start tomorrow, so we called it a night.

 

 

 

Mega Trip Day 14 - Sea Day 6 - Thursday 2

 

Random ocean view to start the day

 

We had the half hour change  to get to “not Darwin” time, so slept late.  After our usually morning coffee, we decided to go to the Captain’s Club breakfast in Tuscan.

 

 

For the first time for me, the fruit, meat, and breads were a buffet at the entrance (my understanding is that they used to do this on all ships.  I also don’t recall it on this ship in 2023.

 

 

 

I had a bit of fruit, and then decided I wanted a bagel.  No bagels on the buffet, so I was told to ask the waiter.  He brought on with a lot of cream cheese.  Since there’s cream cheese on the the buffet,  next time I’ll have the waiter bring the bagel and get my own cream cheese.

 

On the way back, I noticed that they’d posted the brand new menu and show for Le Petit Chef.  We should have waited.  

 

We went back to the room, and noticed an interesting ship to the side.

 

 

At 11:15 we had a bridge tour.  We walked over a bit early, but Glen realized he’d left his cruise card in Tuscan, so he went back and I met the group in the elevator lobby.  Glen arrived in time for the security check.

 

As usually an officer explained how things worked on one of the side terminals.  On Princess, they show you the main terminal and I have a picture of Glen in the captain’s chair.  No matter, here we are enjoying it.

 

 

After the tour it was lunch time, and today it was back to the first days lunch.  Glen ordered the beet soup, and said it was more like a goulash and not much beet flavor.

 

We both had the NY steak, and main dining’s strawberry shortcake for dessert.

 

 

Next item of interest was trivia.  Music today was 70’s and hard.  I suspect we’ll do really well next cruise.

 

Following that, I decided to tweak our specialty dining for the remainder or the cruise.  I wanted to do a second Tuscan, a third Murano and the new LPC menu, that starts tomorrow.  So I headed downstairs.  First thing I wanted to do was confirm when the new LPC menu starts, as I absolutely only want to to do that.

 

Arriving at the restaurant, there was no-one there, but a waiter came out of the crew door, so I asked him.  (He was our tuscan waiter for breakfast, but now in LPC garb).  He confirmed tomorrow and offered to tweak all my reservations.  I decided to move Tuscan to tonight, LPC on the 6th, and Murano on the last night.  

 

We went to the lounge prior to our Tuscan dinner, and then headed over.  We had the same server, and found out she’d had a great time with family in Bali.  Her assistant brought oil and vinegar as the bread dip, which was a little surprising.

 

 

He told us the basil had gone bad, and they hoped to get more in Sydney.  They did give us some Rosemary and Thyme (fun fact:  The song by Simon and Garfunkel has a lower vocal that’s a strong anti-war song.  I learned this in the class I just finished).

 

 

We split the antipasto plate to start.  It’s really better to do when you have more people.

 

 

I tried the filet mignon, as was recommended and it was really very good.  For dessert I had their zabiglione strawberry shortcake (apparently theme of the day for me).  It was very nice and light.

 

Glen had tiramiso and said it was too sweet.

 

As we were walking back to the room after dinner, I remembered that I’d asked Pradeep, our waiter if I could have the baked brie from Blu tonight and he’d arranged that.  I felt bad for not showing up, so I went to Luminae to apologize.  Everyone was very appreciative that I did that.

 

Tomorrow starts our next round of port days, so early to bed.