catgirl411

The more I read Live Reports, the more I realize that everyone looks for something different from their cruise experience. Some people want to lie in the sun and drink, some want to party all night, some want to gamble, some want to go on excursions, some love trivia and game shows, some love music and production shows, some love good food…etc, etc. you just have find what fits for you. And that probably has little to do with the relative age of the crowd.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again…every one of the 25+ cruises I’ve been on has had something wonderful about it. Most times the wonderful far outweighs the not as good. We’ve cruised NCL, Royal Caribbean, Windstar, HAL but in recent years have settled on X, Princess and Oceania. The passenger component really seems to depend on the length of the cruise, the itinerary and the port of embarkation in my experience. Our next three cruises are a TA, South America and Portuguese/Canaries all on X. Really looking forward to them. And we are young at hearts in our late 60s, early 70s.

On 5/4/2023 at 10:08 AM, Lady Arwen said:

Following!  Doing this exact sailing in September and looking forward to your take on things.  We’ve also booked the Princess excursions for every port, so it will be interesting to read all about your daily adventures.  
 

 

I also would ask that you change your font size if possible.  Even with glasses I’m having a hard time reading it and I don’t want to miss anything!

I’m on a CC roll call where a regular poster uses a lilac fancy handwriting font. Talk about hard to read! So far no one (me included) has had the heart to ask them to change it.

On 5/4/2023 at 9:50 AM, wowzz said:

Just because you have booked the same time every night,  it does not automatically follow that you will have the same staff. On our recent cruise, we had a standing 8pm reservation, and only had the same staff twice.

OMG, this electric kettle discussion is so funny. As a Canadian, I had no idea that Americans don’t use them. The only time we boil water in a pot on a stove is to cook something in water, like pasta or veggies. We use the kettle for everything else. It is faster but it also has a spout which makes it easy to pour. 

Thanks for your wonderful reports. I will miss reading almost daily about your exploits. I suspect it will take you a while to get used to life on land again!

1 hour ago, Woody14 said:

The picture of the eggs benny with scrambled issue is amazing!!!  glad it worked out in the end.

PS love the drink summary at the end of your daily posts on all your blogs.   

 

Just curious, is the daily drink count for the two of you or just you?

26 minutes ago, Norwaylady said:

 They are moving edge from Europe to down under for the 23/24 season🤩⚓️

So when they announced this, I said, let’s go⚓️🤣🤩🙌🏻 and I booked the first day it was open for booking. If you do all 4-b2b it’s a 52-night sailing. Non repetitive ports. 

The ship has been sold out almost since day 7-after booking opened. 
So from time to time someone cancels and it’s one room available and it’s visible on the web. 

We can only manage to get off work for the 2-first parts. Rome-Singapore. But we are very happy and excited for this. 
 

Originally we had a booking on AZ for Suez… as everything else, it was cancelled. So this is a cruise and route we have looked for. 
It’s really a route/type of cruise we know we enjoy. 

Sounds wonderful! We are booked on Reflection for a 14 day TA in Oct/Nov so it wouldn’t have worked for us anyways and there’s no way our 4 cats and our budget would have handled 52 days  away or even 2 legs but what a trip!  Enjoy!

17 minutes ago, Norwaylady said:

Overall cruise experience 

 

Final words for our b2b experience….

 

Did we have a good time? YES

Did we love our adventure? YES

Did we love the balcony on the bend? YES

Did we enjoy the food in mdr? YES

Did we enjoy the lunch in OVC? YES

Did we enjoy the coffee in Al Bacio? YES

Did we enjoy the crew? YES

Did we enjoy the live music? YES

 

The list of YES is long🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

So we had a good time❤️⚓️

 

Is Sil the favourite ship? No, Connie is still the leader. It’s the floor plan on Millennium class. It’s just something about it🤩

The crew on Sil is really ⭐️ Stars ⭐️ 

 

Only thing we can put a finger onto is the beyond the podium speaker and the mix of entertainment in the theatre. (Not in a very Bad way or unhappy, just lacking that extra touch) it’s a very private preference, so it’s good. But my cup of tea wanted some other leaf’s then what they served for some days. 

CeCe Teneal and almost Elton is a big winner for this cruise. 

Matthew McGurk is good, but 2 shows during the 10 days+ magic school was a bit to much. And then again on the 4 days sailing, show+ magic school. 

 

I was really hoping for AJ Amal or someone else of the fabulous stand-up guests we have had earlier. It wasn’t bad or out of line for me, it’s was just not that funny….. 

(the best cruise for stand-up was our Bermuda cruise on Summit..🤣🤣🤣 I laughed so hard during that cruise, my muscles was in pain for a week after that sailing) 

 

Will we sail X again? YES

 

Do we miss the CruiseCritic Connection party? YES

 

I really enjoyed when they hosted the party. You can meet your fellow CC traveller’s and put a face on the name. 

It’s also a bit social. 

Since we don’t fit the box 100% (I must say, on the 4-days sailing we were almost dusty compared to our fellow passengers🤣🤣🤣) 

Because then people know that we are onboard as multiple cruisers and that we are open for chatting. (We are not on our honeymoon⭐️❤️🤣) 

 

Are we tired of Caribbean cruises? Tja, YES and NO😅😎 

It’s very easy going. We know what we get and it’s really no need for “big” planning in advance…. ( but Norwaylady really enjoy the process of planning a full holiday including pre and post cruise plans) So we have a b2b Caribbean booked for 2024… 

It’s on a ship we know very well, EQ. 

 

if Asia is more open for cruises, I’m very tempted to change it to an Asian adventure instead(but it needs to be the correct itinerary)😁(it’s just important that it must fit a specific timeframe) 

Or maybe we can push the frame a bit and do a Alaska adventure in May?🤔😅

I seriously need to feel a bit on this.

 

What’s up next? 

 

Norwaylady is bringing the Queen, aka my mother on Infinity in May/June for a Mediterranean cruise. We will start in Barcelona and end up in Ravenna. 

 

Norwaylady and Mr are booked on the famous Edge sailing from Rome to Sydney. 

We are only doing the 2-first parts of the trip. So we will sail from Rome to Singapore. 

It will be a great adventure passing Suez Channel and have some great ports of call in Sri Lanka and India. 

Really looking forward to this⚓️😎❤️

 

Between this, we will be home for work and some travel in Europe and Scandinavia. Lots of “big” things going on in the family, so this occupies us a lot during this period.

 

 

Thank you for everyone following along our journey❤️ 

 

Thanks for all of your wonderful upbeat reports.  I’m intrigued by the “famous Edge sailing” from Rome to Sydney. I can’t find it on the website.  When is it?

Really enjoyed your posts. Thanks for reporting on your whole B2B.  What is next for you and Mr?

7 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

The major downside is that you can't live out of your suitcase and just pull out what you want when you want it. It means that if I am staying overnight somewhere the night before a cruise, I have to put my clothes for that next day in my backpack and leave them out of my bundle. It also means I have to complete unpack as soon as my luggage shows up to my room. Can't procrastinate and just pull out what I need for dinner or the pool or whatever.

I saw a video where the guy suggested you do a second smaller bundle on top of the other one for  the overnight stuff.

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

The part I dont understand is when tell people that an different cruise line is over $200 a day more for cruise but they still insist that it worth it 🤔

I think it is worth it to them. Not a lot different between buying a Ford or a BMW. It’s all about choices and perceived value. If cheaper was the only criteria for selecting something, wouldn’t we all select something other than Celebrity….say Carnival or MSC?  Or would we be spending our dollars on cruising at all?

15 minutes ago, scubagal44 said:

 

Sure!  I'm a foodie and for me "better" in this discussion means more refined, higher quality, better ingredients, tastier recipes.  Yes, I found the MDR on Celebrity to be "perfectly adequate," but there was nothing that made me think "wow, this is truly excellent and I'd love to have it again."  On VV, the vast majority of things I ate made me think WOW and I couldn't wait to have them again.  Melt in your mouth, explosions of flavors, clever ingredient pairings, all cooked to perfection.  IDK, I think of it like a steak from the OVC or MDR might be "perfectly adequate," but it's always going to be better at Murano.  And on VV, the Murano equivalent steakhouse is included to all passengers at no extra cost.

 

For the record, I had no prime rib or lobster. 😆

And I am actually much happier with smaller, well prepared and presented portions and for me Oceania meets that criteria (I haven’t been on VV)

It really is a matter of personal preference. One of the things we like about O is that it seems less likely to attract large groups. There are more couples which is nice if you are also travelling as a couple. It seems easier to meet people for casual chat. People travelling in large groups (often families) create their own mini-cruise which is great for them but not for others. The last Princess cruise we were on had a multi-generational family of 26, celebrating an anniversary. Lovely people but when they arrived en mass to Crooners each night it was difficult for others to enjoy the music. It became their party and the rest of us were crashing it.

6 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

You are probably right about itineraries 

 

I thought Princess had better shows

 

But I thought the Princess buffet was very disappointing and their MDR food not up to Celebrity standards 

 

However, all of this is subjective 

Agree…in Dec we had some real clunkers in the MDr on Princess(inedible short rib for eg). The buffet was quite repetitive as well. 

3 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Oceanic 15 night TA Rome to Miami Nov 2023  basic rate balcony is $346 CAD per night for one person , no alcohol 

Constellation 16 night TA Rome to FLL Nov 2023 , Always included  balcony , is $136 CAD per night for one person , we are booked on this one 

Is Oceanic $200 a night better ? 

 

And there’s the rub…it is more expensive for sure. That’s why we do more Celebrity than Oceania.but the better comparator is probably Aqua Class or even the Retreat..

5 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Question for you and others on this thread. We're seriously interested in Oceania and similar lines. We never sailed them in the past because they weren't necessarily convenient, and we didn't have time for their longer cruises. But I'd like to understand the food comments. And I'm not saying Celebrity is perfect; that's not the question.

 

What is better about the food? I keep reading that, but there's never any context. There are foods on Celebrity that are very important to other people that are "meh" to me. Is the food on O more adventurous, more variety, or is it something else that makes it better? 

 

Thanks!

6 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Question for you and others on this thread. We're seriously interested in Oceania and similar lines. We never sailed them in the past because they weren't necessarily convenient, and we didn't have time for their longer cruises. But I'd like to understand the food comments. And I'm not saying Celebrity is perfect; that's not the question.

 

What is better about the food? I keep reading that, but there's never any context. There are foods on Celebrity that are very important to other people that are "meh" to me. Is the food on O more adventurous, more variety, or is it something else that makes it better? 

 

Thanks!

Better quality ingredients, better preparation, better selection, perhaps more adventurous in some ways (Red Ginger is amazing). MDRs in Princess and Celebrity sometimes feel like wedding or convention dinners. O dining is more like restaurant dining.  But of course dining is an individual preference. We don’t view prime rib and lobster tails as our measure of good food but lots of people do.

4 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

When we used to cruise with Oceania, our favorite place to eat on any of their O or R Class ships, especially at dinner when very few would ever eat out there, was out on the aft covered outside area up at the Terrace Cafe. 

Pretty much all the food everywhere on Riviera  is great. As a general standard, way better than Princess or Celebrity.

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Yes, you're correct. Ok, I won't blame NCL! But I will blame One Spa World. I'm just glad I was sober enough to catch the "mistake!" 

My biggest beef with the onboard spas is the constant up selling. Their services are very nice generally but they always want to sell you products. My local spa at home doesn’t do that and it makes for a more relaxed experience.

3 minutes ago, spenecer said:

No, I’m an idiot and my daughter found the money in my carryon. I am blaming the martini. I must have moved the money when we unpacked but I don’t remember moving it. 
 

If you report a missing item, you have to make an official statement, describing the items.  Then NCL searches your cabin to make sure the item is really missing.  If you find your missing item, you have to write another statement.  I wrote that I was drunk and mistaken. 

It’s not foolproof but we always keep our valuables in the room safe. Then you know where everything is supposed to be.

We’ve been on over 25 cruises in the last 30 yrs on a variety of cruises lines (Oceania, Celebrity, Princess, HAL Royal, NCL, Windstar and a Scenic river cruise). Everyone of them has been enjoyable in its own way. Over the 30 years our tastes and budgets have changed. We started with an inside cabin on the old Norway. It was amazing because it was our first ever cruise and we fell in love with cruising.  Now we always get at least a balcony and have sometimes been lucky enough to get a suite (thanks Covid FCCs!).  Yes, there have been some other cruisers that were annoying but more often there have been nice interesting people from all over.  It is pretty easy to avoid those who don’t appeal to you and do your own thing.  Our current preferences and budget have us settling on Oceania, Celebrity and Princess. They fit us right now. I’m 66 and DH is 71. We like good food, good entertainment and interesting itineraries but also love days at sea. Cruising,like any kind of travel is a personal choice.

Just now, Arizona Wildcat said:

Hmmm.  Did the same Princess Cruise in 2022.  There were 250 kids under 12 and 250 teens.  Lots of running about.  Glad it was little ones that ran into me.  

Holiday and spring break cruises tend to be full!  Very full.

Did a prior cruise during spring break on X on West Coast.  Lots of college age passengers.  Fewer kids.  Lots quieter.

Would not choose either line for holidays or spring break.

1 minute ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Hmmm.  Did the same Princess Cruise in 2022.  There were 250 kids under 12 and 250 teens.  Lots of running about.  Glad it was little ones that ran into me.  

Holiday and spring break cruises tend to be full!  Very full.

Did a prior cruise during spring break on X on West Coast.  Lots of college age passengers.  Fewer kids.  Lots quieter.

Would not choose either line for holidays or spring break.

Actually we did it in December 2022…2020 was a typo. Did you really see lots of kids? We didn’t…there was a large extended family of 26 that had a lot of teens and college age kids but other than the fact that they seemed to dominate Crooners some nights, they were okay.  Mind you we don’t spend much time on the pool deck and tend to eat later so maybe we just didn’t cross paths with them.

32 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

From cruising, I have learned more about Canada and Canadian politics than I ever knew before.

And we are happy to share if people are interested!

6 minutes ago, CunucuMom said:

I love chatting with folks who share my political views and the good news is those on the opposite side of the spectrum want nothing to do with me so it's a win-win. 👍  Indeed, life is short and I will do my best to avoid hubby's eyerolls if I happen to encounter one of my tribe.  😂

As Canadians, we try to stay well away from any topics that appear to lead to the minefield of US politics. The conversations with fellow passengers are always more interesting (and safer) when we talk about past cruise experiences (unless you encounter one of the chronically unhappy cruisers).

24 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

I think both the length and cruise line made the difference.  Fourteen days is a long time for families to cruise.  I don't mind kids but I don't want to sail with out of control kids and indifferent parents.

 

I hear you! Btw it was actually December 2022 so a recent experience.