Jim_Iain - 9/5 and 9/17 Equinox B2B - Come along for a Live Blog

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Following your reviews. We are on this sailing too. See you aboard. 

Looking forward to it.    Curious about your picture are you a Pilot?    The background kinda answers my question and the uniform.   LOL

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Have a safe and fun trip, Jim.

 

We have an eastern/southern Caribbean itinerary on the Silhouette in December similar to your first leg. As of now, all the ports but one require Celebrity-only excursions. I’ll be interested in seeing what you do in your ports. 
 

Enjoy!

Judith 

Judith... would have been fun to sail with you again.    I'm still not sure how I feel about being locked on a bus for a curated tour yet.     Time will tell.

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

Well, yay!  Something fun to read!

 

Some days it’s hard to be excited about cruising while reading all the angst about testing prior to sailing.  Thank you for a bright spot!

 

Joanie

Thanks Joanie

I was so upset  for you while reading your pleas from the check in line.    Hopefully all that has now been sorted out.   Your blog really helped me get ready for this cruise and I always enjoy hearing from you.

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Doing a little chair dance for you, Jim!

You guys  are really getting me excited and in cruise mode.   Picked up some sun screen today and some Arctic Cool shirts.    Our climate is very moderate here in Sunnyvale with most days about 75 F and virtually no humidity.    The Florida and Caribbean temps and humidity really take a toll on me.   

 

 

[Susanb10567]

Bon Voyage…our next cruise isn’t until February so it will be nice to follow along..we sailed on the Edge in July and it was so great to be on board

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

 

I am just gonna ask are you concerned about a long flight across the country? do you have a non stop?

 

Also you very brave in doing B2B and dealing with the in between testing too.   Hope that goes well and hope all of the ports are open too.

Unfortunately we have to make a connection.   If I recall there is only one flight anymore from SFO-MIA and can be a bit pricey.    They do have a couple non-stop red eye flights but we don't like them.

 

The good news is we got a United International Dream liner flight from SFO to Houston in First Class - so will have plenty of social distancing space. 

 

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, MartinsCruise said:

Thank you for helping us pass the time until we join you on the 17th!  I always loved reading your reviews but I'm going to enjoy this one even more.  Wishing you and Lain safe travels. 

 

Sue

Thanks Sue -

 

Feel free to jump in an we can all search out all the changes during these initial cruises.  

 

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, MikeinSA said:

We will be on the 17 Sept cruise.  Quick question are either B&B or Drambuie included on the Classic Drink package (not important just wondering).  BTW we will be ibn9243.

Looking forward to it.     Unfortunately Drambuie is on the Premium.

 

This lists most of what is on each package:  

https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/beverage-package-flyer-optimized.pdf

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Absolutely love your live reviews and your generosity. Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks  Mike.    I always enjoy your post.    I think  we are both glass half full kind of people.  

[bama4cruisin]

I am looking forward to reading your posts with my morning coffee.  I have always enjoyed your blogs, and I know I will this time as well.  This will help my “cruise withdrawal “ until we board the Apex 🤞🤞🤞 for the TA on October 10.

 

Thank you for spending time on this and letting us all travel along.

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, rcssmom said:

Looking forward to your live review/blog.  You are a pleasure to follow along.  Thanks for taking us with you.

 

Karen

Thanks Karen ---   lots of great CC members already here and they are great at finding answers to even the most difficult of questions.      I've learned so much from them and love them all as resources.

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Looking forward to your live blog; and hubby and I will also be joining you on the 17th!!

What part of Tennessee ya from?    I'm a UT Knoxville Grad and all of my relative going back to 1800 were from Blount and Sevier Counties. 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

We are on this b2b with you.   I disconnect my Cruise Critic addiction while sailing so I will review when we return.  We chickened out and cancelled our flights yesterday and will be driving from NC on Saturday.  Had a connection through Tampa on the way down and 11:15 nonstop home was cancelled and moved to 5:30 pm.   Combined with it being Southwest with 3&3 seating we just feel safer driving as we did for our July Edge sailing.

 

Wow.... That will be a long drive.    If I recall it is about 11 1/2 hours  via I95.    I'm sure you will feel much safer in the car instead of crowded into an airplane.   I read on a different blog that they had extra clothing and supplies in their car and swapped them out on turn around day.

[Travelexpert35]

So looking forward to reading your blog. Have a wonderful cruise and enjoy all of the pampering. 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, cangelmd said:

Bon voyage Jim and Iain! I’m sure your adult children aren’t begrudging you this part of their inheritance after the last 15 months!

We only got off briefly at one port and that was A OK, not what I would want on every cruise, but perfectly fine for a week or Two.

 I’m interested to hear what you have to say about the atmosphere on board, being relatively empty was good in some ways and a little weird and creepy in others. The emptiness is not evenly distributed- Martini Bar got filled at least for an hour or two every night and Retreat Lounge was busy before dinner - but everything emptied out at 9 pm.

 

I was raised with the belief that I should expect anything in inheritance and if you do consider it a bonus.    I raised my kids with the same belief.    They will all be provided for but we will try to spend as much as we can in the mean time. 

 

That will be interesting to see.   My guess is we will have 1,000 - 1,100 PAX which will seem light.  

 

Currently the only thing I have booked is a Golf Cart Rental in Bonier for the day.    They rent for about $95 and others are saying it is a great way to tour on your own.

 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, garyl62 said:

Really enjoy following along with you on your trips.  The photos you share are great, and the way you summarize the experience is perfect.  Here's to a great time!

Thanks....It will be curious if we are given much of an opportunity to go ashore an take pictures.  

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, amevola said:

So looking forward to your blog and pictures.  Thank you for your generosity!

Thanks for joining in and let's have some fun.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, parrothead33 said:

Looking forward to following along on your new adventures.  Wishing you and Iain a safe and wonderful cruise.

 Cheers 

Thanks ---- You must be a Scot and you got Iain's name correct.    Most people when they see the 3 vowels in a row can't get their tongue around it.      Some have asked -   Iain  is the Scottish version  of the British Ian and pronounced the same. 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Provence55always said:

Following along. Love your comment about spending the children inheritance we do it all the time.  Should say did!!  Have a wonderful time and thank you for taking us along. Safe travels.

 

 

 

 

Welcome along we can all spend the children's inheritance together.   

[Jim_Iain]

33 minutes ago, bama4cruisin said:

I am looking forward to reading your posts with my morning coffee.  I have always enjoyed your blogs, and I know I will this time as well.  This will help my “cruise withdrawal “ until we board the Apex 🤞🤞🤞 for the TA on October 10.

 

Thank you for spending time on this and letting us all travel along.

Ohh.... I know the feeling.    It is so nice to be getting back to sea.    I went through a real withdrawal after the shut down.   CC had become so much a part of my life and I just couldn't read all the stories of missed dreams so stayed away for almost a year. 

 

Bam--- The addiction was imminently back.

[Jim_Iain]

 

Just received an e-mail from Move-Up and we were upgraded to a RS.

[Jim_Iain]

As a preface I will tell you a little about us.   I am Jim and actively participated in CC and love all the wonderful folks here.   Iain on the other hand has never logged onto CC but hears all the trials and tribulations on a regular basis.  

Iain was born and grew up in Scotland and immigrated to the U.S. in the 70.   He holds dual citizenship so finds it easier to clear immigration when in Europe than I do.  I grew up in the North East -  NY, NJ, PA, MA and moving every year or two left me with no sense of being from anywhere in particular.    I moved to California May 17, 1974 -  a memorable day as it was the day of the Patty Hurst SLA shoot out.

 

We have been together for 34 years and have  3 adult children and 5 Grand kids.  

 

We live in the middle of Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale which is a town of 150,000.   Sunnyvale is located about 10 miles north of San Jose and 40 miles south of San Francisco.    We share our neighborhood with tech giants like Apple, LinkedIn and Google.    We are very convenient to either SJC or SFO but find it easier to fly in and out of San Jose Airport.  For this trip we ended up cancelling our SJC flight and booking one out of SFO.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[Fouremco]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Currently the only thing I have booked is a Golf Cart Rental in Bonier for the day.    They rent for about $95 and others are saying it is a great way to tour on your own.

We have driven all over Bonaire when enjoying dive holidays there, but on our last cruise visit rented a golf cart to visit a number of snorkel/dive sites and had a great time. Just a heads up in case your planning doesn't discover it, but the road from 1000 Steps to Karpata (see Google Maps or one of the many dive site maps of Bonaire) is one way heading north-west. So if you go to Rincon, you'll need to continue on to the north-east side of the island to head back to Kralendijk. Easy enough to do, but it does take a bit longer on the return.  

[Jim_Iain]

Just now, Fouremco said:

We have driven all over Bonaire when enjoying dive holidays there, but on our last cruise visit rented a golf cart to visit a number of snorkel/dive sites and had a great time. Just a heads up in case your planning doesn't discover it, but the road from 1000 Steps to Karpata (see Google Maps or one of the many dive site maps of Bonaire) is one way heading north-west. So if you go to Rincon, you'll need to continue on to the north-east side of the island to head back to Kralendijk. Easy enough to do, but it does take a bit longer on the return.  

 

Thanks for the information.    We have T-Mobile and they have free international roaming (at a 3G speed) and it works well with Google Maps and Apple Maps.     I just checked and Bonaire is included.     I'll have to do some research before i leave as I am totally ignorant about Bonaire.  I should have studied Geography better when in school.

[stunned]

I’m so looking forward to cruising along with you via this thread.  We don’t cruise until November 7 on Equinox so thank you in advance.

Judy