MISTER 67

The Eurodam and her twin sister Nieuw Amsterdam.

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte.

Sunny and a high of only 72 today as we had a cool front move in last night.

Good selection of days, DW was a registered nurse for 40 years including running an Intensive Care Unit for 25 of those years. Taking care of me can be very intensive at times.

I’m thinking real hard about the quote.

The meal sounds appealing.

DS and her hubby are visiting us today as they are spending all of March in Clearwater.

Have a great day and stay well.

On 2/21/2024 at 12:46 PM, LB_NJ said:

 

 

I know many don't, just didn't realize it applied to Celebrity.

 

Never been on a Celebrity ship with more than 12 decks.

Solstice class ships have 15 and Edge class have 16.

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda

 

We stopped at this Caribbean port in 2015 on our South America cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles, 49 days.  St. John’s is a small, poor town and doesn’t take long to explore on foot.  This first time there I took a tour after our walk around town.  There were two cruise ships in port so it was rather crowded. 

 

 

 

There were the usual touristy souvenir places

 

But we decided to head up a hill to a church we saw from the ship, St. John’s Cathedral

 

 

 

But it was in poor shape and under renovation.  Time and hurricanes had done their damage. It didn’t look nearly as bad on the outside as it did on the inside

 

It would take a lot of work to get it to look like this again!  

 

 

After lunch I headed out on my ship’s tour.  The first stop was Blockhouse Ruins where we had a commanding view of land and sea.

 

 

We viewed the remains of the powder magazine, gun platforms, cisterns and the officer’s barracks.

 

 

 

 

 

Next we saw the Shirley Heights Lookout point with its picture perfect views of English Harbour.

 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop was Nelson’s Dockyard, the finest example of a British Naval yard in the Caribbean.  We got to look around a while and enjoy a beverage in the Copper & Lumber Store bar before heading back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you needed a T-shirt they had a good selection

 

In 2019 we again visited St. John’s, this time on the Rotterdam, and stayed in town taking a brisk walk as exercise.  We went up the hill to the church again but it seems it is still under construction.  The church consists of outer stone walls with a second wooden building inside.  They felt this type of construction would help protect it from hurricanes and earthquakes.  However all buildings require maintenance over the decades.  I wish them luck completing this project.  We were not able to enter the church on this trip as they had blocked entrances to visitors.

 

 

 

 

Hoping they complete work on St. John's Cathedral and take it back to its old glory days.

Nice photos, we stopped there on a Princess cruise IIRC in 1998, nice island but downtown was as you said sort of cheesy but we enjoyed visiting the British Navy yard. I also remember the great view of Barbuda from Antigua. My son and his wife had a great time there last week at an all inclusive resort.

9 hours ago, leerathje said:

Must be Spring Break because 6 ships in port again today!  But I’m sure this schedule will change….of the 6 ships, 4 are scheduled for sailaway at 3:00 pm.  Hmmmmmm......

 

ms Rotterdam will be at pier 19 from 4:30 am to 3:00 pm, and she is on a 12 Night Eastern Caribbean Wayfarer, and ms Nieuw Statendam will be at pier 26 from 5:30 am to 3:00 pm, and she is on a 7 Night Western Caribbean

 

 

 

 

 

Also in port is Enchanted Princess at pier 2 (4:45 am – 3:00 pm), Symphony of the Seas at pier 18 (5:00 am – 4:30 pm), and Disney Dream at pier 4 (5:15 am –  5:00 pm), Caribbean Princess at pier 21 (5:45 am – 3:00 pm), and Celebrity Ascent at pier 25 (6:00 am – 3:30 pm).

 

 

The PTZtv webcam can be found at https://www.portevergladeswebcam.com/.

 

Next up:  Nieuw Amsterdam on March 23, 2024

 

Leanne

I’m counting 7 ships not 6.

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Foggy right now but another nice day coming up with sunny skies and 81, once the fog burns off I’ll go for a bike ride then it’s off to church.

Great selection of days but the quote is sort of silly.

Corned beef with cabbage and boiled potatoes is a great meal, the next day with leftovers you can make Reuben Sandwiches, how great is that!

The Players Championship is going to be a shootout today with probably 7 guys with a good chance of winning, Xander Schauffle has a one shot lead at 17 under headIng into round 4.

Have a great day and stay well.

5 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

Bon voyage RedneckBob. Wait, that’s me! 
 

Also Bon voyage to crazy for cats & susior!

 

Also welcome home nickelpenny who I call Moneypenny which is more appropriate after your Big wins on your cruise!

Have a great cruise!

When we moved to Florida over 30 years ago we threw all our jeans away, I have a mental block that says jeans and a tropical climate aren’t a good mix. I have no problem if someone wears jeans in the MDR for dinner as long as they are clean with no holes.

2 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

I guess we'll see what happens. I predict in 20 years that cruising will be either mega ships (6000+ passengers) or small luxury lines with less than 1200 passengers. People will need to pick a lane.

At 78, DW and I won’t worry about it.

Since the startup after Covid we have been on 6 Celebrity cruises and there was lobster available on the last Chic night for every 7 and 9 day cruise but not on 6 night cruises. I don’t live or die for lobster and most of the time Beef Wellington is also available on the nights they serve lobster and I’ll go with the Beef, it’s been excellent on Celebrity every time we’ve ordered it.

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte.

Another nice day, sunny and 85.

Good selection of days but not wild about the quote.

The rotisserie chicken should be good.

Just back from our Saturday morning breakfast at our favorite diner, had a nice ham and cheese omelette with grits and whole wheat toast, the bad news is that breakfast before Covid and other craziness was 5.99, now it’s 12 bucks, with tax and tip breakfast is now around 30 dollars.

Good day on the course yesterday as we came in second in the Friday Men’s Day mini- tournament, we shot 109 with 2 best balls in a Shamble format plus we won 2 teams skins, all told each guy on our team won 40 dollars, sure beats working and it paid for breakfast.

Have a great day and stay well.

47 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

No, the cooks are not but the waiters have often helped with the boarding process.   For example, the Pinnacle Grill staff have been taking care of the wheel chair passengers for some time.

 

 

 

The Mariner’s recognition/cocktail party has been re-instated.  Our Meet and Greet has been set for a different time so as to not conflict with it 😉 

Good.

More cost cutting by HAL but to tell the truth we only went to one luncheon, they should go back to the Mariners cocktail party for all Mariners.

3 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

Ditto but I rate Scheffler outward appreciation of that of a bowling ball with only two drilled holes! 😀

RB, glad you agree with me.

If Arnie was still alive he would have had a chat with the lad especially after winning Arnie’s tournament last week

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte.

67 right now with a high of 86 with a light breeze, excellent day for golf.

Some silly days but I like the quote.

I might try the sweet potato casserole.

After the Masters, my favorite Golf Tournament is The Players which is played annually at the TPC at Sawgrass up in Ponte Vedra Beach which started yesterday, first round leaders at 7 under par are Xander Schauffle, Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark. Number one player in the World Scottie Scheffler is -5 but I wish the guy would acknowledge the fans once in while with a tip of his cap, he has the personality of a ping pong ball, just saying.

Have a great day and stay well.

25 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

There are over 2,800 passengers on Equinox (the OP's ship) and I'm sure Celebrity doesn't want them all showing up at the same time, which is why they assign boarding times in the first place.  The only people who can show up at any time are suite passengers.  The rest of us should stick to the time we're assigned and then everyone has the same opportunity to board quickly.

So what are people who have early flights to do? 

We drive from the gulf coast and I leave time for traffic jams and accidents usually arriving at the port around 10:45, we have never been denied entry into the terminal if we arrive before our time. There is plenty of room in the Celebrity terminal and Celebrity does a great job in boarding passengers by the section they are waiting in, I have never seen the terminal packed to capacity.
When there is a second Celebrity ship in Port Everglades Celebrity has to use terminal 29 which is a lot smaller and things can get chaotic in that terminal.

4 hours ago, dacf said:

We're going on Celebrity Equinox for March 23rd sale.  Our check in time on embarkation day is 2pm.   Unfortunately we couldn't get any earlier.  We would love to get on board for lunch, even an hour earlier would be great.   If we did show up for 1pm, how big of an issue would it be, or would we have to wait till 2pm before we board?  This is our second sail with Celebrity so I don't think we have any special status.

Thanks for your help 🙂

2 days in the brig. 

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte 

67 this morning heading up to 87 which will be our warmest day so far in 2024, mid 80s continue until we have a cool front coming in next Wednesday

Good selection of days and a funny quote from Joan Rivers

I’ll give the meal a try, is the Rocket Man cocktail named after Elton John

My sis and her husband will visit us next week as they are spending a month in Clearwater escaping the lousy Chicago weather

Heading to the beach today at Boca Grande for some rest and relaxation as we recover from the craziness of our move

Have a great day and stay well

We are 4 Star Mariners and loved HAL but Covid hurt this line and there have been way too many cutbacks so we are sailing mainly with Princess and Celebrity. HAL IMHO still have the classiest ships with the older ships having the traditional Promenade decks which wrap around the entire vessel, the Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam are still my favorite ships. I will continue to monitor CC reviews and I’m sure eventually we will sail again with HAL.

On 9/15/2023 at 7:47 PM, edgee said:

Not really. I just left Infinity 6 days ago. We had a great cruise but the ship is very very tired. Needs lots of work. Spoke with officers on the ship who told me they regret that upcoming January drydock of just 18 days will mean that while Infinity will get some refurbishing it will be nowhere close to a full Revolution like the Summit and Millie have had...just necessary maintenance and a few renovations.  So most cabins will keep the same tired worn out look they currently have. One senior crew member even speculated that Infinity and Constellation will never be fully refurbished and are likely to be sold. I certainly hope that the optimism expressed in this thread is true and what I have heard is wrong, but IMO all signs point to an only slightly renovated ship.

We sailed on the Infinity about 18 months ago and thought she was in great shape for her age, we had a great cruise on her too.

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Lenda.

He died of Liver cancer and we were told he knew for 6 weeks but he did not contact Sarah or us to make peace which upset her.

Graham, so sorry to hear that.

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte 

59 right now with a nice day coming up, sunny with a high of 81

Very good selection of days but I’m not wild about the quote

Pass on the meal but it’s hard to beat a good Cabernet Sauvignon 

My son and his wife spent last week at a beautiful resort in Antigua but they had a flight back home from hell. First leg from Antigua to Miami was OK but all kinds of delays Saturday afternoon, they finally boarded around 11PM  and right before take off the flight was cancelled due to weather, the next available flight wasn’t until 8 PM Sunday night. They wound up spending around 29 hours at Miami International,  there were no hotels available so they wound up sleeping on the floor, they finally made it home to Dallas around 1AM Monday morning, this is one of the reasons among others why we haven’t stepped aboard an airplane since 2014

Have a great day and stay well

4 hours ago, latebuyer said:

I'm considering a pacific coastal on celebrity vs. princess and have a few questions. Its Celebrity Summit vs. Sapphire princess. I'm interested in if the food is considered better on celebrity than princess? It definitely seems the rooms are better on celebrity. Are there other differences i should be aware of? The other difference is the celebrity one is leaving in the fall so i would think its a bit better since less rough and better weather but a bit more expensive.

We are Elite with Princess and heading to Elite with Celebrity, as we speak I will give a slight edge to Celebrity, X definitely has the better buffet with amazing variety. As far as the MDR I give a slight edge to X as well as the entertainment. Service is very good on both lines. As far as ships I think Princess ships have much nicer public rooms as well as the Atriums but X has larger cabins,  I happen to like the closets very much on Princess ships. Cruise fares are better with Princess. In closing IMHO you can’t go wrong with either line.

Greetings from beautiful Port Charlotte 

Cool morning heading up to 77 this afternoon 

Strange days, I have no idea what 311 day is and we need a National Covid Day like a hole in the head

Pass on the meal and drink

We have visited Los Angeles many times

Have a great day and stay well

4 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Alexandria, Egypt

 

DH and I were in Alexandria, Egypt in October 2014 on our first Holland America cruise.  We were on the Prinsendam so what a wonderful introduction.  The people of Egypt were very happy to see cruise tourists back since they were just getting past some bad times in their country.

 

We took a ship's tour to Cairo and Giza where we visited an Antiquities museum.  Then on to Giza to see the fabulous pyramids.  The bus had a big, burly armed guard on board with us and the bus was escorted through the city of Alexandria by trucks loaded with armed security men.

 

The armed guard

 

The city of Alexandria itself was rough looking, but made for some fascinating viewing along the way.

 

 

Along the way were some interesting pigeon towers (or pigeon condos).

 

 

Arriving in city of Cairo

 

 

 

Fascinating way to carry cattle.  They must be dairy cows and used to being handled.  A beef cow would jump out of there.

 

There were no photos allowed in the museum and my IPhone was only months old at the time so I didn't take a lot of photos with it then.  Just this photo of the outside.

 

So I have nothing to share from inside the Antiquities museum but it was unique and fascinating.  If you ever go to Cairo, you should make it a point to visit there.  After lunch we had lunch at the Le Meridien Hotel, then headed to the pyramids of Giza.

 

 

 

 

Waiting for paying riders

 

The city streets are just past the pyramids.  Which makes some individuals ask why they would put the pyramids right here in the middle of the city?  Hilarious right?

 

Then we went to the Sphinx which had some work being done to it.

 

 

We headed from there to a fancy gift shop for souvenirs, where guards were on duty to protect tourists getting on and off the buses.  Photo taken from inside bus.

 

This photo was taken from the street where the gift shop was.  Yes, they are right there!

 

 

 

Wonderful photos, quite a few years ago we came close to cruising Egypt and the Holy Lands but because of 9/11 we took it off the bucket list.