Let’s Go - Luminosa June 15 - 21!!!!

[lesters]

Well we are on board!  

 

As promised I’m going to try to do a somewhat live report as we sail to Alaska on the minimally reported on Luminosa!

 

Sailing this almost week are myself (48), DH (49) & DD (20).  It’s our 8th Carnival cruise. We love to travel and I’m beyond excited for the coming days!  I will do my best to post sone pics and observations along the way. And a comprehensive summary post trip! 

We arrived last night from Saskatoon via Calgary to Seattle.  No flight issues other than turbulence on the flights meant no traditional celebration wine to start the trip lol. 
 

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn - it was just what we needed. Decent location, room and a quick cab to the pier. 
 

We arrived at 11:15 and by 11:30 we were on board!  Straight up muster and I am currently relaxing in the sun in a clamshell on the Serenity deck!! 
 

Wow smoothest boarding ever!!!!  Makes me want to cruise out of Seattle again already!! 
 

DD is celiac so currently is talking with the MDR to plan her meals. 
 

 

 

 

[lennythenose]

There have been a few reports of people not having porters to take their bags at the Seattle port. Did you have any trouble or did you carry yours on?

[lesters]

37 minutes ago, lennythenose said:

There have been a few reports of people not having porters to take their bags at the Seattle port. Did you have any trouble or did you carry yours on?

There were lots of porters. No issues finding one to take out bags as soon as we got out of our taxi 

[Ferry_Watcher]

2 hours ago, lennythenose said:

There have been a few reports of people not having porters to take their bags at the Seattle port. Did you have any trouble or did you carry yours on?

 

Carnival only pays for the longshore porters until 2 PM.  Any passengers arriving after 2 PM will be carrying on their own bags.

[lennythenose]

8 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

Carnival only pays for the longshore porters until 2 PM.  Any passengers arriving after 2 PM will be carrying on their own bags.

Thanks for the info!  I knew you would know the answer😉. We will be sailing on the Spirit on 6/27. It’s been several years since we sailed from Seattle and we didn’t have any problems then. I have no idea the details of the stories I read but I am confident we won’t have any trouble. 

[Ferry_Watcher]

@lennythenose, to make it all go smoothly, have your paper boarding pass and passport (or birth certificate) ready to show.  If your bags have your stateroom tag on it you can either wait for a porter or just walk it towards the terminal building where you will see the central luggage collection area.  For both the Spirit and the Luminosa, they are the only ships at 91 on their particular sailing days (Spirit/Tuesday & Luminosa/Thursday), so the luggage dropped off only has one possible ship it can go to.

 

If you have done your complete on line check-in, including registering a credit card, most likely you will be completely checked-in on the main floor with a tablet, then you head upstairs, go thru the security screening and wait for your boarding group to be called.

 

Terminal doors have been opening up just after 10 AM.

 

Carnival doesn't allow flowers or plastic bottle of water or soda.

[lennythenose]

@lesters I apologize for hijacking your awesome Live. I look forward to following the rest of your trip. Enjoy!

[audcc77]

I’m sailing July 27 so I’m going to be keeping up with your trip report.  
Thanks for posting.  
 

Edited June 16, 2023 by audcc77
ETA date

[lesters]

Sorry. I’m not very good at this lol 

 

Day one was really great! 
 

Upon boarding we wandered over to serenity and found a clam shell to relax and hang out in for the couple hours until our room was ready. 

The fam was able to confirm with MDR how things will work for the celiac DD - she orders the night before.  They have a separate kitchen for allergy food prep.  Amazing!! 

After that chat they found the pizza spot and brought back pizzas including a a GF one for her. They were fantastic. 
 

Rooms were ready for 1:30.   We got our carry ons settled and  checked out the balcony for a bit then decided it was time for a nap before sail away at 4. 
 

Woke up at 3 and went down to grab bevs for our balcony to enjoy our own private sail away party.  
 

Our cabin is on 7 at the start of the forward section so it’s a quick walk down the stairs to the Ocean Pllaza bar.  

Before dinner we went for drinks at the Alchemy which has a good amount of seating.  The bartenders made great drinks. - DH loved the rum based Old Fashioned. 
 

We had the steakhouse for our first meal as is our cruising tradition and the meal was great.  But the restaurant itself is odd.  It’s located on 10 essentially “open air” and you hear the music and noise from the atrium.  It’s not a dark quiet steakhouse that we are used to on other ships.  But it was good.  
 

It felt very slow at first but attributing that to them needing to get DDs GF bread and amouse bouche sorted.  
 

She said the bread was very good.  I wasn’t very good at getting lots of food pics will do better today lol and will add some of hers once she wakes up lol. She had the Tuna Tartar and I had major food regret.  It was delicious!! Stoke a few bites. I had the shrimp cocktail and bisque to start    The girls had surf & turf and DH the cowboy steak.  Everyone really enjoyed the meals.  
 

The rest of the evening. we checked out the casino which is small and smoky.  A bit disappointing but hopefully it won’t continue to be as super busy as it was last night.  But I know it will be. 
 

Craps was a minimum $10 which is a bump from our last cruise in February on the Magic where it was $5.   There is also no Let It Ride which is also disappointing as I really enjoy playing that game. 
 

Initial impressions - the ship felt quiet everywhere we went yesterday except the casino.   Lol.  We didn’t explore a whole lot.   That will be on today’s agenda and will try to post more along the way.  
 

There is a fair amount of movement this morning as we sail so we shall see how that impacts things.  DD and DH will be popping the ginger gravol today.  
 

[lesters]

A couple more items I meant to add - last time in February I was able to get the wine pairing with my steakhouse meal on cheers it was $20.   It’s now $22 so was not able so just ordered by the glass. That was ok but I did enjoy the pairings on other cruises.  Oh well. 
 

Also we asked about the free bottle of wine.  They didn’t mention it was it was problem to take it unopened back to the room.  

[4hunters]

18 hours ago, lennythenose said:

There have been a few reports of people not having porters to take their bags at the Seattle port. Did you have any trouble or did you carry yours on?

Tons of available porters when we did this cruise a few weeks ago.

[4hunters]

9 minutes ago, lesters said:

Craps was a minimum $10 which is a bump from our last cruise in February on the Magic where it was $5.   There is also no Let It Ride which is also disappointing as I really enjoy playing that game. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I noticed the change from normal $5 craps minimums as well.  Unfortunately, the days of $5 craps aboard Carnival vessels seem to be coming to a close.  😞

[lesters]

Looking ahead to our day and DD was hoping to do sea day brunch but that’s not happening today.  
 

the breakfast menu is the typical one posted all over here so not bothering to get all the pages.  But I did get the lunch menu - Asian. That’s a new one for us. 
 

It’s breakfast in MDR and the. An hour of lunch.  That seems like a very short lunch window.  Will see how that works. If we decide to try it. 
 

Here’s some  screen shots of the options for today 

[lesters]

Well I’ve always appreciated the work involved in a live review but wow I really in awe of the time and effort that goes in when you are truly capturing the events throughout the day.  
 

Currently waiting to debark in Juneau.   We gave to tender in as the docks are full. Lol. We will then move into a slot once other ships leave.  
 

Last night was rough.  So much movement and rough seas.  The family all needed proper anti nausea meds to get through the night.  Woke up to calm and beautiful scenery.  
 

Other than the seas it’s been great. Food has been good. As others mentioned nothing comes our hot. Except for DDs celiac items. Those have been fantastic.  But the food has been good. 
 

our time has been spent with in lounges playing cards and in the casino. 
 

Really enjoying things.   Here are some random shots lol 

 

the scooter by the elevator has been driving me crazy. It’s been left here almost the entire cruise so far!

 

 

[EngIceDave]

Still having water/condensation issues I see

[lesters]

Before I start my morning catch up of yesterday - Welcome to Tracy’s Arm Fjord 

 

wow!!!

[ChuckF]

What kind of nightly entertainment is in the Luminosa Ocean Plaza? 

[Kermarkim]

How was the Alaskan weather at each dock?

[csm5986142]

How did you like the ship overall?  It looks nice in your pictures, but the reviews so far are not very good.  

How was debarkation?  Do you recall approximately what time it started?