LIVE: Infinity Suite Class Dec. 22 5-day Xmas Cruise

[GenerationX]

Good morning from the skies somewhere over Georgia! It was a very early morning (or late night) for us as we had to leave the house at 2am to make our 5:30 am flight.  Security lines at the airport were long with holiday travelers, but we arrived right as TSA Pre Check opened for the day and breezes through.  

 

I have my wedding dress as one of my carry on items and the Southwest flight attendants were very helpful with finding an overhead bin where I could carefully fold and fit it in without it being crushed too much.  They also gave Jeremy and I a celebratory in flight mimosa on the house!

 

We’re sitting across from a very nice couple who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary with a Christmas cruise to Cuba on HAL. Over our cocktails and conversation we’ve agreed to celebrate their 40th and Jeremy and I’s 10th by going on a Tahitian cruise together.  Nothing like making new travel friends!

[Cruise a holic]

20 hours ago, bhughey said:

Yep, sky suites #6131, 6132 on M class located on the angled, midship, hump are huge. The sky suites #6145 and 6146 which are connected to penthouse suites, are large as well, not angled, but basically double size of the standard sky suites on M class. 

We book 6145 and 6146 on the Summit.  They are the best sky suites!  The bathroom is as big as an inside cabin.  Beautiful green marble with a shower and bathtub.  Love them.  Spoiled .

[GenerationX]

We have arrived in FLL!  

 

The weather is windy but warm and sunny.

 

We are staying at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. Our room isn’t ready yet so we decided to go to the beach for a late lunch.

 

Jeremy was team “let’s be hipsters and rent a couple of Lime scooters and ride to the beach” (note: neither of us has ever ridden a motorized scooter in our lives).  I was team “let’s not risk having to file a claim on our cruise insurance 20 minutes into vacation due to a scooter-related ER trip and get an Uber instead”.  In a credit to his future marital skills, Jeremy saw my point and we took an Uber to the beach (about $7).

 

 We ate at a Mexican restaurant called El Vez.  I had the strip steak and eggs and Jeremy had eggs and sausage. The food was very good, but I would have liked to have more steak in my entree for the $21.00 cost (there was maybe 3-4 ounces).  Of course I’m also used to midwest restaurant prices. They also made a very nice, peppery fresh tasting Bloody Mary.

 

After breakfast we killed some time and burned some calories walking along the beach and holding on to our Havana hats for dear life.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by GenerationX

[Aunu]

Tornado watch over here on the west coast of FL. I ran to the store to get dog food and i swear i was in a mini tornado!! I was so scared. Bad weather is headed your way, be safe!  Im so ready for a drink in my hand! 

[canadianbear]

I was just going to say we heard there was a tornado warning, ugh!  Be careful.  Enjoy your day in Ft Lauderdale!

[bhughey]

We were in FLL just a couple of weeks for a cruise and stayed at the W which is attached to El Vez, they have a great happy M-F from 4-7. The Carnitas Tacos were very, very good and the Nachos were excellent.

We will be staying at the Hilton Marina before our cruise on the Infinity in a couple of weeks and stayed a few years ago post cruise. If you have time, you can catch the water taxi from the hotel - it's a great little "hop on/hop off" sort of ride and I believe they do holiday light tours as well. Oh... and there is a bar on board too! 🙂

[GenerationX]

4 hours ago, bhughey said:

We were in FLL just a couple of weeks for a cruise and stayed at the W which is attached to El Vez, they have a great happy M-F from 4-7. The Carnitas Tacos were very, very good and the Nachos were excellent.

We will be staying at the Hilton Marina before our cruise on the Infinity in a couple of weeks and stayed a few years ago post cruise. If you have time, you can catch the water taxi from the hotel - it's a great little "hop on/hop off" sort of ride and I believe they do holiday light tours as well. Oh... and there is a bar on board too! 🙂

 

Thank you for the tip! We will definitely look into the water taxi tomorrow. A holiday lights tour would be fun.

 

Some weather is starting to roll in so tonight we’re planning to have dinner then just hunker down at the hotel for the evening.

[GenerationX]

It’s a very windy day in FLL today! We were thinking of spending today exploring town on the water taxi, but I get seasick easily on small craft, and this wind and the waves would NOT make for a good day for me.  We’re still working on alternate plans for the afternoon so if anyone has suggestions, please let me know!

 

Last night we went to dinner at the same restaurant we ate at the evening before our very first cruise together: the Boatyard.  Jeremy had scallops which he said were delicious and I had grilled bronzino with gulf shrimp. I thought the fish needed more seasoning but the shrimp was very good. We both got their seafood gumbo to start and I thought it was some of the best gumbo I’ve ever had (and my grandfathers side of the family is from Louisiana, so I’ve had a lot of good gumbo)!

 

After dinner we hung out in the bar area of the restaurant for a bit because they were having a ladies night special featuring free wine (select varieties/brands) and well drinks for ladies. We met a group of guys from the UK who work on a charter yacht in town. It turned out one of their girlfriends is an “Edenist” performer on the Edge, so we had an interesting conversation about the ship and her job.

 

This morning I went for a run and had my first what of Jeremy calls “Charla Vacation Moments” of the trip.  At home in winter I mostly run on our treadmill in the basement and it felt so good to be running outside! My adrenaline was really flowing and I was hitting a true runners high.  But I couldn’t figure out why every person I passed on my way back towards the hotel gave me a strange look...then I realized that I had my iPod on and was singing along LOUDLY to Toto’s “Africa” as I ran!

 

We’re just finishing lunch at the hotel pool bar.  I’m always prepared to be underwhelmed by hotel food, but these fish tacos were really good and the bartender definitely didn’t skimp on the rum in my Miami Vice.

 

 

[GenerationX]

On 12/20/2018 at 1:37 PM, Aunu said:

Tornado watch over here on the west coast of FL. I ran to the store to get dog food and i swear i was in a mini tornado!! I was so scared. Bad weather is headed your way, be safe!  Im so ready for a drink in my hand! 

 

Thank for the warning! It rained buckets last night but luckily not much wind. I felt sorry for the poor folks on the Island Princess who had their sail away rained out.  I hope things weren’t too bad on your side of the state! Did your husband make it in alright?

[canadianbear]

That Miami vice looks delicious!  Has your itinerary been changed at all?  I read some ships have had to change ports.  

 

Too funny about your loud singing while running!  

[GenerationX]

14 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

That Miami vice looks delicious!  Has your itinerary been changed at all?  I read some ships have had to change ports.  

 

Too funny about your loud singing while running!  

 

It was delicious! As of now, I haven’t heard about any itenerary changes and I haven’t seen anything posted on the Celebrity website.  Fingers crossed it stays that way!

[GenerationX]

EMBARKATION DAY!!!! At last! These mornings always feel like Christmas morning to me!

 

I have an app on my phone that does count downs to important events.  I started this count down clock as soon as we got off the Silhouette in February.  Yesterday I was excited to see it drop down below 1 day. Now there’s just hours to go!

 

Hoping that last night’s government shutdown doesn’t slow things down too much at the port.

 

 

[hsack]

I’m headed on this cruise for New Years! Looking forward to reading your posts! 

[Aunu]

Leaving the west coast now.  After turning around to change my husnbamss shoes because he stepped in gas.  

[GenerationX]

We are onboard!  We arrived at the port at 10:45 and stepped on the ship before 11am.  We are docked at the new Edge terminal and it is gorgeous. Suites and Zenith have a separate security and registration area next to the suites embarkation lounge (pic of suite lounge below). Boarding had already started when we arrived so the suite lounge bar was already closed.

 

We went to Michael’s club to drop off our carryons and have our first drink onboard.  Our concierge is Wim and he immediately jumped up from his desk to greet us and hang my wedding dress for me.  He very firmly told us that we should NEVER stand in line at guest relations and that if we need anything onboard we should come straight to MC and let him take care of it.  While we were chatting he mentioned that Sheila would normally be the concierge onboard, but he was called in from vacation to cover for her.

 

Luminae is not open yet so MC is serving smoked salmon, egg salad or grilled chicken tea sandwiches and little bowls of mixed fruit (because god forbid we go 45 minutes without being served something to eat)!

 

In a first for us, there are folks from the spa and speciality dinning in MC going around and passing out material. It’s very “soft pitches” (just introducing themselves and handing out a fitness class schedule, spa menu, info on special Christmas dining offerings, etc.) without actually pushing you to sign up, but it was surprising to see the “sell” even coming into MC.

 

The ship is all decorated for Christmas so I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures of that and post them when I can.

 

Now we’re off to check out the pool deck and then have lunch in Luminae!

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by GenerationX

[canadianbear]

Wow, just wow!  You are making me very excited for our first suite cruise!!

 

Love the photos - really appreciate all the detailed info too.  

[Jim_Iain]

Great Blog!      Love all of your pictures.   Have a wonderful wedding and cruise.

 

 

[Aunu]

We’ve been asked over 10 times if we want/have the drink package.  It’s actually getting annoying.  We aren’t big drinkers and didn’t get the package.  They are really pushing it.  

[PROCRUISE]

On 12/20/2018 at 8:27 AM, GenerationX said:

Good morning from the skies somewhere over Georgia! It was a very early morning (or late night) for us as we had to leave the house at 2am to make our 5:30 am flight.  Security lines at the airport were long with holiday travelers, but we arrived right as TSA Pre Check opened for the day and breezes through.  

 

I have my wedding dress as one of my carry on items and the Southwest flight attendants were very helpful with finding an overhead bin where I could carefully fold and fit it in without it being crushed too much.  They also gave Jeremy and I a celebratory in flight mimosa on the house!

 

We’re sitting across from a very nice couple who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary with a Christmas cruise to Cuba on HAL. Over our cocktails and conversation we’ve agreed to celebrate their 40th and Jeremy and I’s 10th by going on a Tahitian cruise together.

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by PROCRUISE

[PROCRUISE]

Congratulations of your wedding cruise. When you join that other couple, in 10 yrs, go with Windstar out of Tahiti and cruise the Society Islands - phenomenal cruise!!

[GenerationX]

1 hour ago, PROCRUISE said:

Congratulations of your wedding cruise. When you join that other couple, in 10 yrs, go with Windstar out of Tahiti and cruise the Society Islands - phenomenal cruise!!

 

Thank you for the recommendation!  I’ve heard great things about Windstar.  Society Islands has been a dream destination for me. Now we just have to start saving for it! 😀

[Aunu]

Do you have on a pretty yellow dress? 

[GenerationX]

Muster drill is complete and we’re about to set sail. I’ll post about lunch in Luminae later as the pictures are on Jeremy’s Phone.  

 

Our stateroom and it’s balcony are definitely spacious.  The closet is practically a walk in. It has what I think is a shoe rack which is nice for the brave women (not me) who pack several pairs of stilettos to wear on a rocking ship.  But it was mostly useless for me as my collection of ankle protective flats and wedges slide right off. There are a few signs of wear in the stateroom (caulked cracks in marble and chips in the vanity mirror in the bathroom) but nothing we can’t live with.

 

we did notice a strong sewage smell on deck 4 and in the hallway outside our room when we came on board, but it seems to have gone away now.

 

Our Butler is Rikki and our stateroom attendant is Mayann. Both seem very pleasant and helpful so far.  Jeremy was struggling to get his phone connected to WiFi and Rikki came back to the room, and set it up for him.

 

Muster drill was different from Silhouette in February, we didn’t have the James Bond spoof video or hand wash video.  Just a general announcement about procedure, several reminders about policies and procedures for children (there’s a lot on this cruise) and then done.

 

Looks like we’ll sail out after the Carnival and Princess ships depart.

 

stateroom and balcony pics posted soon!

[GenerationX]

2 hours ago, Aunu said:

We’ve been asked over 10 times if we want/have the drink package.  It’s actually getting annoying.  We aren’t big drinkers and didn’t get the package.  They are really pushing it.  

 

 

Yes, we’ve noticed that too! We had a package included from our TA, but we had to say “we’re all set thank you” at least 15 times in the first hour we were on the ship.  In past years it’s died down quickly after the first day or 2 so hoping that’s the case again:

[GenerationX]

16 minutes ago, Aunu said:

Do you have on a pretty yellow dress? 

 

I do!!! Come say hello!!!