LIVE- The World's Longest Trip Report (Luminosa 4/13 - 5/4)

[EngIceDave]

Looks familiar 

[EngIceDave]

[kwokpot]

The Chihuly Glass Museum and Adjacent Space Needle is a must see. 

[EngIceDave]

[EngIceDave]

[EngIceDave]

Guess where I ran into a fellow pax?

 

[EngIceDave]

The line at the original Starbucks

Theres another one literally on the next street, larger and no line

[EngIceDave]

How they put the brass embossments in the street

[EngIceDave]

Luminosa has gone, off to Alaska

 

Ciao Ciao

[maxandmolly]

Thanks for a fantastic Live!  Entertaining and informative. Hope you enjoy your time in Seattle. 

[EngIceDave]

 

 

 

[EngIceDave]

Like many downtown areas, Seattle's downtown has a lot of homeless and seriously sketchy looking folks.

 

The Pikes Market area shuts down at sundown.

I am WILDLY jealous of that market area for local residents. Yeah, sure, fresh fish and seafood, but also a couple damn nice looking butchers, spice shops, a Sur la Table store, tons of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs.

[momof3cruisers]

Thanks once again! Great job!

[Destiny0315]

3 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

I am WILDLY jealous of that market area for local residents. Yeah, sure, fresh fish and seafood, but also a couple damn nice looking butchers, spice shops, a Sur la Table store, tons of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs

Ah but do they have Bananas?🤔

Seriously though thanks for the live thread and all the photos...Rob

[EngIceDave]

Morning. Woke to this view

Argosy Cruise, I believe 

 

[EngIceDave]

[EngIceDave]

Robot thing was at hotel. It’s a UV disinfectant robot. Late at night, it roams and covers everything in UV light to kill germs. 
 

Balance is the Delta Sky Lounge at SEATAC. 

Right next to B gates. 

[hard_eight]

Safe travels back to beautifully sunny FL

[EngIceDave]

Notice to future Luminosa travelers, if the breakfast menu has "Aussie Bacon," it's not some special delicacy, it's leftovers.

 

Just sayin'

 

LOL

 

 

[kwokpot]

Thank you for spending the time from your vacation to makes these informative posts. I know it will be very valuable to others who will be sailing on the Luminosa. 

[yankprintster]

On 4/29/2023 at 3:11 PM, EngIceDave said:

Time for....STAIRWAY ART!!

 

First up, the forward stairs....This is supposed to be top down....Deck 10 to 1

Nope....deck 1 to 10....going upward

 

 

I love this!  I thought about doing this many times in the past, but then thought to myself, that'd be crazy and people would think I was nuts if I went and did that, so I always talked myself out of it.

 

And you went and did it!  Amazing.  Looks great.  No fears next time!

[yankprintster]

On 5/2/2023 at 12:18 AM, EngIceDave said:

As for the cruise, this is the longest one for us. Our longest in the past has been 10 days. Biggest issue in the cruise length is the number of days between stops. It feels like it's been 4-5 days between each stop. Just a LOT of days at sea back to back. The ports of call were all beautiful and our tours were awesome. Wish we'd planned something for Moorea in hindsight, but lesson learned. 

I honestly do not think we will do such a cruise again. 14 days maybe, depending on itinerary. 

 

As for the ship. Let's be honest, it's small and sure there are minor issues here and there, but none are the end of the world. The food is "ok," its not great, but it's fine. Breakfast menu has gotten monotonous. It has literally been the same thing almost every day. Still no bananas. If you're not into pool/sunning, trivia or hanging out in a bar, there's not much to do. This ship is a "chill" ship, not an "activities" ship. You just chill, nap, eat, sun, drink, gamble, nap and chill some more. Nothing wrong with it. I think anyone complaining would be people who expected more, such as a mega ship more, with multi choice of everything. That's not what Luminosa is. This is pretty much "old school" cruising from not too long ago. There's no show in the sky. No one flying or diving of high platforms. Shows are straight stage shows. Singers are standard lounge acts. Casino is small, and is busy. There is no non-smoking area in the casino, but smells never bothered me unless sitting next to me. No craps, supposed to be installed soon. 

...

If you must be entertained every minute of the day, you probably won't like the Carnival Luminosa.

If you like to just relax, hang out in a bar, get a tan and maybe swim, you'll love it. Of the ships I have been on, it's the most "adult" feeling because it lacks waterslides, roller coasters and such.

 

Luminosa is the relaxer's cruise ship.

 

Here's my take on the 22-day Luminosa voyage:

 

It's also my longest cruise.  Although earlier this year, I did a few ship-to-ships in rapid succession, 11-day (Norwegian Sky) another 11-day (Norwegian Gem), and then a 3-day (Carnival Conquest), so 25-days over 28 days but not quite the same.

 

Food: I generally skip breakfast, only ate their one day, so can't really comment.  I also generally only eat in the buffets and the other buffet food stations.  Never tried the main dining room, and only ate in Steakhouse once.  First off, the 555 Steakhouse was awesome.  But the buffet, that's a different story.  Franky, I found the buffet food terrible. Like, the worst I've ever seen on any ship, any cruise line, ever. 

 

For the different alternate buffet food stations:

• BBQ: Terrible. 
• Pizza: Very good. 
• Burrito: Just okay, sometimes good. 
• Hot sandwiches: Just okay. 
• Tacos: Didn't try. 
• Burgers:  Depending on the time of day, either too cold or just okay.

 

I actually thought the ship had tons of activities to keep me busy.  I didn't mind the sea days at all.\

 

There were *tons* of comedy shows.  I probably watched 20 or so different comedy shows from the variety of different comedians they fly in at nearly every port.  The first few comedians were OK but not great, as they were from Australia, and they often referred to Australian-specific terminology that I had sometimes had a difficult time following.  The comedians kept getting better as the cruise went on.  The last punch they brought up that got on were all super funny.  I really enjoyed them--although the comedian host, Amber, oh man.... I got so sick of hearing him do nearly the same intro (give me some noise on the left, on the right, on the middle, etc.). It was fine the first time.  I didn't need to see that 19 more times.  I was glad the couple of nights he took off and had the women guest-host instead.

 

I also really enjoyed the naturalists they brought onboard, especially the first pair of people they had that talked about all the animals at the places we were visiting.  They did a terrific job.  Once they got off in Tahiti, the next naturalist onboard seemed to be a bit on the spectrum and not a professional speaker, but it was still informational (more-or-less a Physical Geology 101 review with a little Oceanography thrown in).

 

Between the comedy and naturalists, those ate several hours of every sea day and kept me busy.

 

I never played in the Casino.  I attended many of the trivia games.  I didn't play as I had a hard time understanding what the hosts were saying--I prefer the way NCL does the trivia with the question written on the screen behind the host.  Also never did Bingo, but sat in a the last Deal or No Deal game.  I was surprised they didn't play more Deal or No Deal--I think they only attempted it 3 times on the 22-days.

 

Overall, despite the food, I really enjoyed the cruise.  I thought about booking the same one for next year or the return back to Australia, but the prices were crazy.

[EngIceDave]

6 minutes ago, yankprintster said:

They did a terrific job.  Once they got off in Tahiti, the next naturalist onboard seemed to be a bit on the spectrum and not a professional speaker,

Yes, the two younger ones were awesome, the second guy? I couldn't take his Ben Stein "Bueller, Bueller" style of stammering.

 

 

[EngIceDave]

This chapter is closed

 

/FIN 

 

 

[Oakman58]

I booked the Luminosa for Sep 2024 when it goes back to Australia from Seattle because the price was good.  I'm still up in the air about whether or not I should do this cruise because it has so many sea days (17).