5/23/12 1st time X/cruise, med. engagement, Paris; oh my! Solstice Med. Trip Report

Thank you so much! Have you gone on Celebrity yet? Doesn't look like it according to your signature :)

No, we pretty much exclusively sail Princess. I'm Elite, so we get great perks, and we like the consistent quality of Princess. Celebrity's a great cruise line, though! I hope you're going to blog your next cruise, but at the same time, I know it's your honeymoon, so I totally understand hubby time!

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Thank you so much for posting the link to see your pictures. Your review worked 3/4 of the way through. Just when it got to your engagement the pictures stopped showing up. I was thrilled to finally see your ring. It's gorgeous. All the best to you and your family.

Aww thank you, that is so sweet of you to say :) I hate that my pictures stopped working! I also use the same photobucket account for my work website, I think I will make them separate now so I don't have that issue again.

Thanks so much for posting the Facebook album links. I only discovered your trip review last weekend and spent the whole morning reading it! When I started getting to the sections where the photo's weren't linking properly it was like reading a great book and some of the pages were missing so I was very happy to now be able to see them all! Your enthusiasm really had me hooked and now we are contemplating a similar cruise after we visit UK next year before heading home to Australia.

 

Were you on Port or Starboard side of the ship? Certainly would be lovely to have a view of the coast from the balcony although the one we are considering is the reverse of your itinerary.

 

Congratulations to you both, wishing you a wonderful future together.

 

Lesley :-)

Thank you for the kind words! We are thinking of doing an Australian cruise for our next family cruise!

We were Port side. Almost the entire trip you could see land, except the major crossing (Like going back to Barcelona). It was amazing! I will never forget waking up as we were sailing along the French Riviera!

Less than 3 months to the wedding! Ahh!

This is what Photobucket's FAQ says about the message that is showing up instead of your pictures. You're just too popular!! :):)

What does it mean, and how do I get my photos back?

 

Don't panic, and don't delete anything! Please, let us explain.

 

Bandwidth is the total amount of data transferred from your Photobucket account to the sites you post photos and videos on. It's kind of like the data plan on your phone. If you have a free account, you can use up to 10GB of bandwidth per month.

 

Imagine you have a photo that is 1MB in size, and you post it on your blog. Whenever a friend sees your blog, 1MB of data is transferred from your Photobucket account. That counts toward your 10GB per month limit (10GB = 10,000MB, and most photos are much smaller than 1MB).

 

Now, imagine your blog has a lot of photos on it, and their total size is 5MB. That would mean that 2,000 blog views would max out the bandwidth on your free Photobucket account. If you're linking multiple photos in multiple places, or you post photos on a popular site, your bandwidth can add up pretty fast!

 

There are two ways to get your linked photos and videos to show up again:

 

1) Wait until your cycle date. Your bandwidth limit resets every month on the date you created your account. Check your page to find out when your cycle date is and how much bandwidth you've used since your last cycle date.

2) Upgrade to Go Plus. Plus accounts have unmetered bandwidth, no ads, and full-size photo storage. You'll love it!

Thank you for solving that for me! I realized I also use that account for my work website that has a head shot. I think I will make separate accounts now :) I hate that it happened! Thanks again!

No, we pretty much exclusively sail Princess. I'm Elite, so we get great perks, and we like the consistent quality of Princess. Celebrity's a great cruise line, though! I hope you're going to blog your next cruise, but at the same time, I know it's your honeymoon, so I totally understand hubby time!

 

 

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Yes, I plan on blogging our next cruise :) I enjoy it! When I have the time haha! Right now, I hardly have the time between my PhD work, wedding planning, new job, and my fiance had shoulder surgery. Busy, busy!

We want to try Princess one day :)

Oh my; that IS a lot! I'm so glad to be done with grad school! Hope everything goes smoothly over the next few months, and I'll be sure to tune in for your next cruise blog!

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Oh my; that IS a lot! I'm so glad to be done with grad school! Hope everything goes smoothly over the next few months, and I'll be sure to tune in for your next cruise blog!

 

 

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Thank you! Less than 1 year (hopefully) until I graduate! Hoping to book another cruise to celebrate :)

Thank you! Less than 1 year (hopefully) until I graduate! Hoping to book another cruise to celebrate :)

You should definitely celebrate with a cruise! Everything should be celebrated with a cruise! Lol

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Congrats on your engagement Stumbled on your review today. You have a wonderful gift. Thank you for sharing!

Kathy

Congrats on your engagement Stumbled on your review today. You have a wonderful gift. Thank you for sharing!

 

Kathy

Thank you so much for the kind words, that means a lot! I am going to try and journal my honeymoon cruise too :)

I just wanted to come in a comment for those that followed this report, we are getting married 1 month from today :D Hard to believe when I was writing this report we just got engaged, time goes by so fast!

Our honeymoon will be on the Equinox, I plan to do a report for our honeymoon cruise as well. Stay tuned!

Now time to get my but to the gym! Crunch time- no pun intended :rolleyes:

Smiles,

Ashley

Ashley it has been so delightful to follow your cruise and engagement. I am so looking forward to your honeymoon trip as well. I wish you the most wonderful wedding. I can just see it now in 10 years little Ashleys' running around a cruise ship with their mom:):):

Norma

Ashley it has been so delightful to follow your cruise and engagement. I am so looking forward to your honeymoon trip as well. I wish you the most wonderful wedding. I can just see it now in 10 years little Ashleys' running around a cruise ship with their mom:):):

Norma

Thank you Norma for the kind words! Oh, I cannot wait to have children and cruise with them! I am anxious to try a Disney cruise. I am sure this comes as no surprise, I am also a huge Disney fan! When I retire I want to be one of the ticket collectors at the Magic Kingdom and greet people all day long at the happiest place on earth :D

I also will bring my children on Celebrity! I dream of the day I get to bring my children to Europe, I know that is a LONG ways away but I look forward to it ;)

Have a wonderful day!

Ashley

I just wanted to come in a comment for those that followed this report, we are getting married 1 month from today :D Hard to believe when I was writing this report we just got engaged, time goes by so fast!

 

Our honeymoon will be on the Equinox, I plan to do a report for our honeymoon cruise as well. Stay tuned!

 

Now time to get my but to the gym! Crunch time- no pun intended :rolleyes:

 

Smiles,

Ashley

Congratulations! I can't wait to see some pictures of your wedding and your dress! I'm still making my way through your wonderful cruise review. My hope is to take my two children on a Celebrity Med cruise celebrating DD's high school graduation next year. I still haven't booked but I'm living vicariously through your review in the meantime.

Congratulations! I can't wait to see some pictures of your wedding and your dress! I'm still making my way through your wonderful cruise review. My hope is to take my two children on a Celebrity Med cruise celebrating DD's high school graduation next year. I still haven't booked but I'm living vicariously through your review in the meantime.

Thank you! I will come back and post a picture :)

That would be the perfect graduation present, something they will remember forever. Have you read lovestx's report? She went on a med. cruise for her sons high school graduation, you should look for it if you have not read it ye.

Just thought I'd pop on here to let everyone who has fallen in love with Ashley and Tyler and their love story know that they are now married! Lots of great pictures on Facebook and Ashley looked stunning!

They also had a gorgeous ice sculpture of the Eiffel Tower which was so romantic and appropriate.

Lovestx,

Thanks for sharing this. I was thinking about them over the weekend. What a beautiful photo. Best wishes to Ashley and Tyler.

Congrats. You look radiant! Weather looked FAB!

Hope to see a few pics on the cruise in less than a week

Congratulations to you both on your wedding! You both looked amazing and your mom and dad look so proud. Have a wonderful honeymoon and I hope you get time to blog your cruise again as I enjoyed your engagement one so much. Best wishes to you both. :)

Thank you everyone so much! We really appreciate the kind words.

I will share a few pics that incorporated themes or ideas from our Europe trip :) A lot of the details of the wedding stemmed from this trip. Our Europe trip was a life changing experience, as I am sure you read :D

- our first dance was to Andrea Bocelli "Con te Partiro" which played as we sailed out of Veince

- we had an Eiffel Tower ice sculpture

- our cake had a Laudree (macaron store) cake topper of a classic looking prince and princess

- our favors were french macarons :)

- we saw Poppies all over Europe. Well, poppies are red which were not a wedding color so we found flowers called anemones that came in white with a black center

- our table numbers were in French

- The string quartet played songs we heard from the quartet on the Solstice

and that is all I can think of for now, I will attach a couple pictures.

Thank you again everyone for the kind, sweet words. You all are the best!

Ashley, thank you for posting your wedding pictures. I'm looking forward to meeting you aboard the Reflection next October.

Garry

Congrats to you both! My wife and I did the 10 day Eastern Caribbean on the Equinox in '09 for our honeymoon so I know you will love that ship. Bon Voyage !

Thank you everyone! My Uncle caught our first dance on film to Con te Partiro if you are interested:

So unbelievably beautify, classy and romantic! Personally, I cannot get enough of the pictures :)

Especially loved the Eiffel Tower ice sculpture... And I love peonies so your bouquet was a hit with me.

And can I just say how nice it is to see a wedding where all of the guests were dressed beautifully!

P.S. Saw the pic of you guys with the Christmas ornament of the Don Cesar and it made me smile :)

Have a WONDERFUL time on the Equinox. We loved her and think you will as well. Be sure to find the comfy lounger/sofas up on the Solstice Deck.

Carol

So unbelievably beautify, classy and romantic! Personally, I cannot get enough of the pictures :)

 

Especially loved the Eiffel Tower ice sculpture... And I love peonies so your bouquet was a hit with me.

 

And can I just say how nice it is to see a wedding where all of the guests were dressed beautifully!

 

P.S. Saw the pic of you guys with the Christmas ornament of the Don Cesar and it made me smile :)

 

Have a WONDERFUL time on the Equinox. We loved her and think you will as well. Be sure to find the comfy lounger/sofas up on the Solstice Deck.

 

Carol

Aww thank you so much Carol :) You are so sweet. Yes, our first ornament as a married couple- now to find more on the honeymoon. Thank you for the idea!

It was a dream come true, I am already so sad it is over. I am glad we waited a week for the cruise, gives us something to look forward to now.

I was so pleased and thankful for how the guests dressed. Tyler and I are very old fashioned and traditional, we were really hoping for a black tie wedding. The hotel opened in 1928 so we were going for tradition.

Thank you again for all the nice words and advice! I hope your family has a wonderful holiday season!

:pHi Ashley--I have followed your review from the beginning over a year ago. We went on the same cruise (diff cruise line) a month after your cruise and I was reliving it with you:D So I just wanted to say what a beautiful wedding (saw the pics and video) and Congratulations to you both! Gorgeous bride and handsome groom--you have your fairytale;) I can't wait to read about your honeymoon cruise--so don't take too long...jk...take your time:rolleyes: and we will all be there reading with you.

Again--Congratulations....

Cheryl

:pHi Ashley--I have followed your review from the beginning over a year ago. We went on the same cruise (diff cruise line) a month after your cruise and I was reliving it with you:D So I just wanted to say what a beautiful wedding (saw the pics and video) and Congratulations to you both! Gorgeous bride and handsome groom--you have your fairytale;) I can't wait to read about your honeymoon cruise--so don't take too long...jk...take your time:rolleyes: and we will all be there reading with you.

 

Again--Congratulations....

 

Cheryl

Thank you so much, your words are so kind!

I already bought a journal! I am good to go!

I was thinking it would be faster and more efficient for me to just type in word everyday while on the trip- but there is just something about writing in a good ole fashioned journal :) We cruise to get away from technology. Even if it takes double the time to write in a journal then transcribe it to Microsoft Word later I think it will be worth it.