Marvy Mare

Pete Seeger and the earlier Beautiful Morning song from Oklahoma. 

Hi Carol and Norris - I love birds too. Most of my winter photography is birds. One of our stops in our 2025 Cruise is Cartagena. We start planning well in advance and have been watching lots of YouTubes. We have been to Cartagena before. The sail in is so beautiful. I loved your photos Norris. The amazing sky was very cooperative as well. We did an Old City tour with Dora. It was a great tour. It’s not a place we’d be comfortable walking around on our own. The sellers were relentless. Mostly they took a No gracias 🙏 and moved on but a small group of rappers followed one couple in our group for close to 1/2 hour. I guess they made eye contact. 
To get to the point, I was considering the bird sanctuary. Now I just have to show Ken all the beautiful pictures. I really want to go there and I did notice it is being offered as a Celebrity Shore Excursion. Thanks Carol. 
 

Maris

Another great report, Norris. Takes me back to our first cruise ever. I think it was 2017. The winds were so high we missed our first stop. It was one of those cruise line islands, and we’ve still never been to one. I don’t feel we’ve missed anything. We cruise to discover new places. Our first stop was Falmouth and we did make it in. We enjoyed a food tasting walking tour.

Ii’m sorry to hear that Carol has also come down with Covid. I hope Paxlovid does the trick for her as well. Take care. 
 

Maris

On 8/28/2023 at 7:24 PM, Not a username2 said:

Looking at booking an ABC island cruise next year on Reflection for our 10 year anniversary (We actually were married on the Reflection in Cozumel) and were wondering on peoples thoughts on this cruise, as well as should we book this while being on a cruise or just call/online book it? Thanks.

Hi. We did the ABC Cruise on the Reflection in 2020. If you expand my signature you can find my photo review 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean Cruise Photo Review - Celebrity Reflection. We enjoyed it so much we are doing ABC plus Panama on the Beyond in 2025. 

I’m sure the Paxlovid will do the trick for you. Worked for us. I’m looking forward to the Panama Canal portion of your cruise. We sail part way through it on our 2025 Beyond ABC Panama Cruise. Someone added a note to my roll call about a bad experience with a Panama Celebrity shore excursion. I’m hoping your experience will be better. 

Just now, Marvy Mare said:

I love watching those ships come into port in the dark  we may just have to check out that hotel for our next cruise. So glad I found your review. Always a great read  

20 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

I've told you all before-I am blessed with a Spidey-sense. If I set an alarm for say, 4.30 a.m. I wake at 4.25 and turn the alarm off before it has a chance to shatter my sleep.

This morning my eyelids popped open at 5 a.m.

I could sense ships and stepped out onto the balcony. Lights out at sea. I put on my luxurious terry robe and got the camera...

RUBY 5.20 a.m.

 

EURODAM

 

Satisfied that Ruby is here to carry us away at 3.p.m I went back to sleep, perchance to dream.

 

 

We saw Uptown on a former Celebrity Cruise. A friend on our cruise, named Janet Jackson and her husband met some members of the group later in Ocean View Cafe. The group members were so taken with her name that they texted friends to tell them that they were sailing with Janet Jackson. 
 

Maris

We weren’t planning to try any specialty restaurants on our future Beyond cruise, but it looks like Eden is worth the extra cost. Love those food pictures. I’m inspired to start practicing. 
 

Maris

Hi Norris

I thought you review would be starting soon. My brother alerted me this morning. Looking forward to following along. I’m interested in your impressions of the Edge class ships. We have booked a future vacation on the Beyond but weren’t able to get a Sunset view cabin. 
 

Maris

4 hours ago, raudacruise said:

Was so much fun following your adventures and your gorgeous pictures. Can’t wait until your next trip.

Thanks so much. Can’t wait either. 
 

Maris

18 hours ago, tinaincc said:

Hi there - we are leaving on June 6 for the apex and have a SV cabin. Wondering if you could share how your trip was weather-wise and how much time you could actually spend on the balcony? I know every year is different but we have a bunch of sea days from AMS to Iceland then between Ireland and UK.

 

thanks!

Norris/Bimmer does the best cruise reviews. Watch for it later in June. 
 

Maris

OK - I can't resist. One of the reasons we enjoy being home. And our town of Peterborough, ON was the first city in Canada to get the temperature above 30 C this year. That happened yesterday. Spring in Ontario. There is the possibility of snow Monday evening. 

Sunrise this morning over the field behind our house.

Now I'm really done. I'm going to get out and enjoy another beautiful day in the Kawarthas.

Thanks again to those who followed this report!

Maris 

11 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Thanks for the 'photo review'....I enjoyed renewing memories from past cruises.  Too bad the weather didn't allow photos of our beautiful mega city Toronto from the air.

I know. I don't know if we even really flew over Toronto. We did circle over Mississauga a few times if my memory serves me. I'm sure Toronto is beautiful from the air but Mississauga, not so much. We lived there at one time. The first mayor of Mississauga, before Hazel was a neighbour and a friend of my parents.

Maris 

11 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi Maris

Shame it’s all over,one of the best bloggs I’ve read….really enjoyable.

And the photos made it even better.

 

JeanieC

Wow thank you so much. I was rushing to go out and take photos of our sunrise this morning over the field behind us. I will include a couple, in conclusion 😆.

Thursday, March 23

MIAMI TO TORONTO

As it began to get light I captured a few more images from our veranda, then headed up at 7am for my last breakfast in the buffet. I figured out late in this cruise that there were two stations where I could order my egg white omelette. Fortunately, other people hadn't figured that out yet and even thought the buffet was very busy, I didn't have to wait at all. I used my 'Starbuck's Name', Mary for the last time for a while. On our last cruise, or maybe even the one before, I got tired of people getting my name wrong, and I became Mary. Maris is not a very common name and no one has trouble with Mary. 

Looking back the way we came. 

After breakfast, we waited for a little while in our room. We were advised that it was OK to do that. We were getting off the ship fairly early anyway. When the calls to disembark started we did one last check of the cabin and started down the stairs. My knees wouldn't miss all the stair climbing.

We had arranged for a shuttle to the airport as our flight was after noon. Again, it was all seamless. The shuttle was a large comfortable bus. The only issue, and it wasn't a huge one is that the driver said that he was dropping us off near the Air Canada area. Turned out it was a very long walk to find Air Canada. That Miami airport is huge and even the Ken and Angus were willing to ask for directions. If we ever sail out of Miami again, I think we will fly into and out of Fort Lauderdale. There were shuttles arranged through Celebrity that took you to Fort Lauderdale Airport as well. 

Our flight was on time(1:30pm). A smaller plane to go home. March Break in Canada was over, though I saw on the news later that things got wild in Miami Beach that day. The sky was very clear and I managed at few shots out of my window. 

Goodbye Miami! Ken and I had seats together on the plane. Since I still get a bit of a thrill from flying and like to take pictures if conditions are right, I get the window seat. We arranged our flight through Celebrity but I had to call Air Canada to book our seats. Our friends were on the same flight but hadn't booked seats. They were separated and Angus also had a window seat right in front of us. The other 3 passengers beside him were a couple with a 17 week old baby. I had never had the 'pleasure' of being near a baby on a plane but I'd heard the stories. Turned out the baby only cried a little bit. 

We got into Toronto on time. It was cloudy there, so no photos but at least it wasn't snowing. By 8pm, we were home. Our dogs were healthy and happy and so so glad to see us. And I'm done. Thanks for following along. 

Maris aka Mary

41 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Thank you for the details.  I do have a Flickr account and will check it out. All I can say is that they are simply amazing photographs. 

 

Lately I have been using my iPhone for all my pictures as it is quite convenient.  Carrying around my big camera and case just became a real problem.  I may have to look at the packing for our upcoming cruise and see if I can make room for the 35-mm. 

 

I do rake some photos with my iPhone 14 but to quote a friend ‘It’s just not fun.’

Maris

1 hour ago, Blighty770 said:

 

Thanks so much for that information. I really do enjoy the Cruise Critic Community. So much nicer and helpful than Facebook. I have a family of sailors and they tell me that the correct term for sails wrapped  is furled. I will. do way more research before our next cruise. Up until we got on the plane to Florida it almost felt as if it wasn’t going to happen. 
 

Maris

3 hours ago, Wrunkles said:

Great pictures!  The port looks so pretty early morning.

Miami did look beautiful. I doubt we will sail in or out of there anytime soon, so I took lots of photos. 
 

Maris

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

I just have to know -- what camera are you using to take those beautify pictures?  

I can't believe how clear the nighttime details are.  Almost like they were taken from a tripod.

 

Hi Dakahuna

Normally I would use a tripod. I did bring one but it wasn’t practical when we were moving. I used my wide angle lens with a very high ISO. If you are on Flickr you can click on  the photo and check the settings. I used to use Topaz Denoise to reduce the noise but I now have Luminar Neo. I purchased it for my portraits but their noise reduction software is better than Topaz in my opinion. My camera is a Nikon D500. Mirrorless cameras seem to have replaced DSLRs but I’ll stick with the one I have until the shutter quits

Maris

March 23 - SAIL INTO MIAMI

AND FLIGHT TO TORONTO

I'm not sure which port this is but we did sail into a different one than the one we left.

Celebrity

Making the big turn.

In the centre of this photo is the Kaseya Centre - the home if Miami Heat

I think I took a photo of these boats as we were leaving Miami.

Celebrity Summit - a Millennium-class ship

1 hour ago, hcat said:

bad luck having poorly dressed and loud cruisers in a dress up venue! 

kind of cheapens the experience!

 

again stunning photos..these two I love love love!

 

 

 

 

Thanks. We still really enjoyed our dinner. Glad you liked my photos. I have lots more. 😁

Maris

March 23, SAIL IN TO MIAMI AND

FLIGHT TO TORONTO

I figured out why my photos weren't loading. My error.

Our Retreat Class neighbours were either up and out early or still sleeping.

Looks like we were the only ones up early!

Royal Caribbean Port

Norwegian Cruise Line

Disney Dream. What a beautiful ship.

Sailing out of Miami was beautiful. It was amazing on return too. See what the sleepers inners missed. 

The Disney Dream came in down the waterway and turned around in the bay and then parked. We were going to do the same thing.

SAIL IN TO MIAMI & TRIP HOME

Thursday, March 23. - a sad day

Surprise, I was up really early. Lots of people were up. I did a bit of walking around the deck but by 5am Miami was in view. I returned to our cabin and got photos from there.

And the photos don't seem to want to load again. I'll have to check out my settings. It's too nice to be sitting in front of a computer anyway. 

DAY 10 CRUISE - Wednesday, March 22

Last full day - At Sea

I didn't even pull out my camera or even my cell phone camera on this last cruise day. It was another perfect day. Hot and sunny.

Speaking of perfect days; here in Central, Ontario it is supposed to go up to 28 C today with a Humidex of 31. Warmer than any day on our cruise. Our normal high here for today (April 13) is 10 C. It's so early to be so warm that there is still some snow around in shady areas and snow is not unheard of at this time of year. 

Back to the Caribbean. We found seats up in our favourite area on Deck 14 at about 7am. The seats were filling up early on this last day at sea and we wanted to spend the day with our cruise buddies Lorie and Angus. Ken and I took turns going to the Spa Cafe for take out, though we really had to hold onto our plates. It was windy. A young woman sat down on the only chair available on the other side of Ken, and as he tends to do (I am getting friendlier too) he started talking to her. Turns out she was a nurse from somewhere in the midwest states I think. She was on a work trip. Dialysis at Sea was the company that she was working for. Funny that we should meet her a couple of days after I met the wife of one of her clients at the coffee machine early in the morning. The Silhouette (probably many other cruise ship as well) has two suites set up for dialysis. There are two or three nurses, a technician and a doctor on board to tend to the clients. There were six people on our cruise needing dialysis. The staff that works for Dialysis at Sea get cabins and their food covered by the company.

We were going to walk off the ship with our bags the next day, but decided to set them outside the door. We had our bags mostly packed when we headed off to our last dinner in the MDR. We met another really nice couple at the next table. They were from Detroit and hadn't cruised in six years. She was also a retired teacher. We got along so well that time flew and we realized that we hadn't completely finished our packing and we all rushed back to our rooms after saying goodbye and giving our thank you envelopes to our great serving staff. Our assistant server had just been notified that she had been promoted to head server. Congratulations to Vanessa. She was such an enthusiastic, helpful and thankful person. A well deserved promotion. We got back to our room just in time to finish packing and putting our bags outside the door before 10pm. It was a late night for us. 

And I tried again to post the dessert photo. It still didn't work. 

DAY 9 CRUISE - Tuesday, March 21

At Sea

We spent the day walking and talking and then the dinner that I had been waiting for, Murano.I even found a menu on line that appears to be the menu that we had. 

It also happened to be Chic night. I always wear a dress to dinner but wear a little nicer one on Chic night. Ken wears a blazer and he still feels dressed up wearing a tie. There were people seated near us in Murano wearing t shirts. At least I didn't see any shorts. At the same table someone also had on a straw hat. To add to the ambiance, they were at one of the larger tables that hold six or eight and they were loud. I just don't get the casual attire. If you don't feel like dressing up, then go to the buffet. If you can afford a cruise and a Specialty restaurant, then you must have a long sleeved shirt somewhere and take off the hat.

One more complaint while I'm at it. It wasn't a huge issue, but part of the enjoyment in a restaurant like Murano is the service. The staff was fairly attentive, but busy. They almost seemed to be running. Maybe someone called in sick. The service and staff in the MDR were more personable and helpful.

Now on to the good part; the food. I even managed to find a menu on line that I think is the same as our menu that evening. There was also an upsell menu - a 5 Course Meal with wine pairing and I think it was at least a hundred dollars more.  I didn't copy that menu. 

Ken had the Warm Goat Cheese Souffle, which he has had at every visit to Murano. I did try it on our last cruise and after all the praise from Ken about this dish, I was a little disappointed. This time he said that it was better than ever. I enjoyed the Heirloom Tomato Salad. It makes me feel healthy to start with a salad and the salads never disappoint. 

On our other visits to Murano I had the Dover Sole. It was perfectly cooked and very tasty. The table preparation was an entertaining bonus. The specially trained server, filleted the fish at the table. This time I thought that I should try something different and Ken is not a seafood eater. Nothing else on the menu really appealed to us, so we thought we'd try the Chateaubriand for Two. Tableside Preparation for this dish consisted of slicing the meat for us, but done with a flare. 

I have probably never had Chateaubriand before. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was the tastiest piece of beef that I have ever eaten. Still drool occasionally thinking of it. 

And then dessert. I am not really a dessert person. I prefer salty to sweet and would pick a bowl of chips over a piece of chocolate cake but this dessert (and ta da, I even got a blurry photo) was fantastic. It doesn't indicate 'Tableside Preparation' on the menu I have copied here, but when I ordered it I knew that I had the right dessert. Crepe Balon Rouge. The Balsamic Strawberries are heated over a flame table side. Then a crepe is wrapped around vanilla ice cream and the warm strawberries are placed around the crepe and the sauce poured over. It was tough to eat and smile at the same time. Maybe I was lucky the restaurant was fairly loud. They may have heard my moans of pleasure all over the room and thought that something illicit was going on at our table. 

And believe it or not, for some strange reason, the photo that I took of this amazing dessert won't load here. I knew that there was a reason I didn't take food photos. It didn't really do the dish any favours anyway. 

The dogs are waiting at the door. It's only 6:30 but they must know that we have a busy day ahead. 

Maris