alainamarie Posted October 11, 2017 #1 Share Posted October 11, 2017 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted October 11, 2017 #2 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Sounds exciting! Will be following. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 11, 2017 Author #3 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Sounds exciting! Will be following. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Thanks for following! Will be posting more. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 11, 2017 Author #4 Share Posted October 11, 2017 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. I'm guessing most of you would like to know where the Infinity sailed to. Here's the itinerary: 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted October 11, 2017 #5 Share Posted October 11, 2017 You are off to a great start. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlorenceItaly Posted October 11, 2017 #6 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Looking forward to your review! It is greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbri Posted October 11, 2017 #7 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Looking forward to your photos and review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise47 Posted October 11, 2017 #8 Share Posted October 11, 2017 We are looking forward to more of your photo review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted October 11, 2017 #9 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Enjoyed chatting on the roll call but never met you on board. Looking forward to reading about your perspective on this cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipster60 Posted October 11, 2017 #10 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Following as we will be on the infinity in November. Want to hear about the ship. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoconutOne Posted October 11, 2017 #11 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Looking forward to it! This was an itinerary I had my eye on. I love the idea of a California coastal cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lola2013 Posted October 11, 2017 #12 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Looking forward to your photo review..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted October 11, 2017 #13 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Great start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNUZULOOSE Posted October 11, 2017 #14 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Love Monterey, we go about 2xs a month. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenevenpar Posted October 11, 2017 #15 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Keep it coming! I remember Heather's earlier review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceB Posted October 11, 2017 #16 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Looking forward to your review. I would love to take this cruise one day and so excited to see what you found along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 11, 2017 Author #17 Share Posted October 11, 2017 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFLG Posted October 11, 2017 #18 Share Posted October 11, 2017 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 12, 2017 Author #19 Share Posted October 12, 2017 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. Views of Long Beach from the ship - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 12, 2017 Author #20 Share Posted October 12, 2017 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. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 12, 2017 Author #21 Share Posted October 12, 2017 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. 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. I enjoyed my champagne while eating and had the bartender upgrade my beverage package from classic to premium ($94). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 12, 2017 Author #22 Share Posted October 12, 2017 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceB Posted October 12, 2017 #23 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Enjoying the pictures and your cabin looks great, lots of room. Looking forward to more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted October 12, 2017 #24 Share Posted October 12, 2017 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, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainamarie Posted October 13, 2017 Author #25 Share Posted October 13, 2017 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now