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*Photo Review* Pacific Coast Cruise 10/1/17


alainamarie
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Hello everyone! I can't believe this is my 4th photo review. After booking this Pacific coastal cruise, I was having trouble finding reviews with similar itineraries. I decided to document this journey in hopes that it will help someone else or perhaps even push you to the west coast.

 

I traveled with a friend who is also on cruise critic - Heather, screen name HeatherC430. She wrote one of the very first photo reviews that I read on Cruise Critic, so you will get to see her in a few photos... she is a much better photographer than I am. I only used my iphone 6s to for the entire trip!

My friends Dan & Lenee also joined us for the adventure and they teamed up with Heather and named me Julie the Cruise Director (from the Love Boat).

 

A little background about me... This was my 8th cruise and third on Celebrity. I have been on 4 Carnival cruises, 2 Celebrity, and 1 Royal. I am 32 years old, from New Orleans, and I love to travel. Cruising is not always my first choice because I enjoy the control of creating a trip and exploring a new city/state/island independently. I'm not the type that wants to take 1000 photos or capture every meal I eat - I believe you should live in the moment. You also won't typically catch me on a bus tour for 6 hours because I fall asleep if I'm sitting down too long.

 

I also want to post a little warning: this review may take some time. Professionally and personally, it's difficult to find extra time these days. I'm also blogging this journey, so I'm doing double the work and look forward to every minute of it.

 

So sit back and enjoy the slow moving boat through the Pacific Coast because Cruise Director Julie is about to get started!

 

 

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As I was saying in my intro post - I booked this trip with my friend Heather from Pittsburgh in December 2016. I've already been to San Fran (four times) and Monterey (twice), so I felt comfortable in both ports and went a little off the grid than what I usually do. In February, two other friends joined in our fun - Dan & Lenee from DC (now living in Indianapolis). Needless to say, we had a fabulous time.

 

You can just call me Julie the Cruise Director. Here I am in San Fran.

 

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I'm guessing most of you would like to know where the Infinity sailed to. Here's the itinerary:

 

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Last October, Heather and I chose an East Coast cruise, so we were looking for something different again this year. I think we hit the nail on the head.

 

This is a preview of what you can expect throughout the review - I will summarize my opinions on different segments of the cruise towards the end. If you have any questions along the way, Julie would be happy to answer! (Is it crazy that I refer to myself as Julie or that I'm speaking in third person?!)

 

Day 0 September 30: Travel to LA then Long Beach to stay at the Queen Mary

Day 1 October 1: Emark on Celebrity Infinity in Long Beach

Day 2 October 2: Santa Barbara

Day 3 October 3: Arrive in San Francisco at 4:30 pm

Day 4 October 4: All day in San Francisco until 8:00pm

Day 5 October 5: Monterey

Day 6 October 6: Sea Day

Day 7 October 7: Catalina Island

Day 8 October 8: Ensenada, Mexico

Day 9 October 9: Disembark to LAX and back home

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Thank you all for following! I will type more when I get back from Trader Joe's! Real life is less fun than cruise life!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Cool, rather than me also writing a review may I just post a few pics/comments here?

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Day 0 - Travel Day & the Queen Mary

 

We were looking around the San Pedro area for hotels and Heather discovered the Queen Mary several months before our trip. I'm not going to lie, I was not excited about this venue as sleeping quarters. It was not walking distance to downtown Long Beach and it seemed pretty archaic. Trip Advisor scared me even more, but I was up for an adventure.

 

It exceeded my expectations as much as any old ship can. My experience was going so well until just after midnight, young girls who happen to share a wall with us began to belt out the theme song in Titanic. They sang and carried on until 230a which was a GREAT way to start a vacation, right?! This could happen at any hotel, so I can't really blame the ole QM on this. Fear not, I retaliated with belting the same theme song around 8am. Nobody messes with Cruise Director Julie.

 

Titanic or not, here are some photos from our evening at the Queen.

 

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Views of Long Beach from the ship -

 

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The Queen Mary would be a perfect place to stay if you are leaving on a Carnival ship. We saw the Miracle leave on Saturday and the Inspiration come in on Sunday. Just note, this place is not in San Pedro, it's in Long Beach.

 

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Onto our room - we booked a double queen room and it was actually pretty nice and comfortable. We paid right around $300 after taxes and the facilities fee.

 

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Now let's get on this ship! We took an Uber to the cruise port (was $22) - it was a little confusing to get picked up from the QM, but we eventually found a driver who could figure it out.

 

I had to snap a quick shot as soon as we saw the ship - I get so excited seeing the ship for the first time. It's through a tinted window, so don't mind the darkness.

 

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It took about 30 minutes from start to finish - there was a slight line for check in, but it went quickly. We arrived for around 11:30 and were at the buffet around 12.

 

I always take a quick shot of my plate of food, it's an odd routine. I got seafood paella and Heather got mashed potatoes.

 

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I enjoyed my champagne while eating and had the bartender upgrade my beverage package from classic to premium ($94).

 

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Our cabin was #7003. I found this forward facing corner cabin was available several months ago, so we changed rooms and really loved all the space this cabin had to offer. The only issues were a sewer smell in the bathroom, toilet issues towards the end, and the AC stopped working all together on the last night. Bed was semi-comfortable, but that's coming from someone with back issues. This cabin was the largest I've been in and sharing the space was a lot easier with all of the extra space.

 

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Your cabin looked nice...very spacious.

 

We also had sewage smells on our Deck 9 AQ hallway, several AC failures, and " terminal" case of shower stall mildew. But cruise for us was about the ports, not the ship most of which felt old..,,,and saggy,

 

By contrast, BLU was very new and sparkly,.,very good service and food,,

 

Looking forward to more of the review,

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Your cabin looked nice...very spacious.

 

 

 

We also had sewage smells on our Deck 9 AQ hallway, several AC failures, and " terminal" case of shower stall mildew. But cruise for us was about the ports, not the ship most of which felt old..,,,and saggy,

 

 

 

By contrast, BLU was very new and sparkly,.,very good service and food,,

 

 

 

Looking forward to more of the review,

 

 

 

I noticed the sewer smell in some public places too. Our shower never got hot, but my shower in #7000 on Connie never got hot either.

 

Yes, ports are why we cruise!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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