Jim_Iain Live - 2nd Half World Cruise - B2B Singapore to Down Under 11/25 – 12/21

[JDPCruisers]

24 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Is Jiro from Mexico?  If so, and he's the same, I've been with him for 3 cruises.  Great guy. 

Yes, Jiro is from Mexico and was excellent. Penelope joined on the day before we got back to Tampa, we sailed with her on Edge in the Spring, and she is wonderful as well. Hope to sail with them both in the future.

[DaKahuna]

19 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Are you sure you’re not confusing with a different ship.  I get them confused all the time.     I was on Solstice December 2022 and the Retreat was still the same old Dark Paneling,

 

Damn, you are right again.  I was thinking Silhouette vice Solstice. 
Sorry I ever doubted you.  

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, champagnecruiser said:

Hi Jim_Iain

Jim, we were away from home from Nov 1st until early December. Mostly at sea in the Caribbean. We had wonderful weather but not so wonderful Wi-Fi access.

I could see you were off on your repositioning/Aus,NZ trip but could not follow along. I have caught up now we are back home in Scotland. Looked amazing!
We are now recovering after Christmas celebrations with the family and getting ready for New Year!

We are heading back to Florida end of January for another month so maybe we will see you & Iain somewhere?
You were correct to draw attention to changes which were not for the better and, as always, you did so gracefully!

Your kindness ( in an email)  gave me courage to join in the chat sometimes and I thank you for that!

 

Happy New Year to both of you when it comes! 
Slainte Mhath!! 
 

Happy you had a nice cruise.   Not sure if we will cruise before our April cruise.   Was trying to put something together on Regent for February but don't think it will work out.  

 

Safe travels and recover from Xmas and New Years.

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Damn, you are right again.  I was thinking Silhouette vice Solstice. 
Sorry I ever doubted you.  

 

Never be sorry and cross check me always.    I had to go back to check my pictures as I recalled Michael's Club.    I was initially concerned that they don't have the Breakfast Bar and evening snack bar but to not avail.   They handle it by Ordering and having them delivered to you.    The one think we did like was the bar - albeit rather small with only 4 stools.

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Damn, you are right again.  I was thinking Silhouette vice Solstice. 
Sorry I ever doubted you.  

Interestingly, I liked the lounge on the Silhouette better than the Equinox.  Maybe it was because on the Equinox a group of 6 or 8 people parked themselves in one of the booths and drank heavily, so were impossibly loud.  The Silhouette had nice people.

[DaKahuna]

@Jim_Iain & @abbydancer  We did a B2B on Reflection in November 2021 and Silhouette in March - April 2022.  We really enjoyed both but I liked the darker and warmer atmosphere of the non-revolutionized Reflection over that of the revolutionized Silhouette, even though the Silhouette.  We spent time both in the chairs as well as on bar stools on both. 

 

 Of course on Reflection we had one of the best bartenders, in our opinion, there is on Celebrity - Cranston, but  Anthony on Reflection was also very good and did the best he could despite my favorite rum not being available onboard. 

 

 We have been fortunate in that we have not experienced any ahoying groups in the lounges on our Celebrity cruises.  On our last cruise, Millie April -May 2023, there was actually a group of six to ten of us that gathered in the Lounge nightly after the last show performance and 'closed the bar.'  But I would venture that no one would have called us "impossibly loud" even though Luis, the bartender, did keep us well lubricated. 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Have to say that we really enjoyed Cranston.    

 

We have not traveled on Reflection since 2015.    At that time we really had a bad experience with Luminae -   The Maitr 'd was really out of control and even when told a table was ready for us would have 20-30 minute wait.   Due to that (the extra suite passenger load)  we have never sailed Reflection again.    Not sure we ever will again. 

 

It was so bad the Retreat Host insisted on escorting us to Luminae every night and even when she was assured a table was ready I would hear her on the phone with Lawrence -   Where are you - why isn't the table ready when you told me it was.   Got to be an embarrassment.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Have to say that we really enjoyed Cranston.    

 

We have not traveled on Reflection since 2015.    At that time we really had a bad experience with Luminae -   The Maitr 'd was really out of control and even when told a table was ready for us would have 20-30 minute wait.   Due to that (the extra suite passenger load)  we have never sailed Reflection again.    Not sure we ever will again. 

 

It was so bad the Retreat Host insisted on escorting us to Luminae every night and even when she was assured a table was ready I would hear her on the phone with Lawrence -   Where are you - why isn't the table ready when you told me it was.   Got to be an embarrassment.

With crew always change ships how would you know who will be serving on a ship so why avoid a ship ? 

In April we had captain Matt , CD Giovanni and Mark as Active director on the Reflection and had a fantastic time on the ship 

This November we had Mark on the Constellation, ( it was his final cruise for this contract, saw him at the Tampa airport ) and Caption Matt and Giovanni were on the Edge

 

[goofysmom99]

9 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

With crew always change ships how would you know who will be serving on a ship so why avoid a ship ? 

In April we had captain Matt , CD Giovanni and Mark as Active director on the Reflection and had a fantastic time on the ship 

This November we had Mark on the Constellation, ( it was his final cruise for this contract, saw him at the Tampa airport ) and Caption Matt and Giovanni were on the Edge

 

A reason to avoid Reflection if booking a suite is because it has 111 suites vs 66 on Silhouette, and unfortunately the Retreat/Michael's Club and Luminae are the same size (always crowded).  The Silhouette still has the full-expanse Sky Lounge that was chopped up for additional suites on Reflection.  That's why Silhouette remains my favorite ship, even when not booking a suite.

[venicecruiser]

Jim - Hope the Feb Regent sailing works out, but if not how about Seabourn?  Selfishly I don't think I can manage until April for another one of your adventures!

 

Claudia

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

With crew always change ships how would you know who will be serving on a ship so why avoid a ship ? 

In April we had captain Matt , CD Giovanni and Mark as Active director on the Reflection and had a fantastic time on the ship 

This November we had Mark on the Constellation, ( it was his final cruise for this contract, saw him at the Tampa airport ) and Caption Matt and Giovanni were on the Edge

 

 

I have no concern about the particular employee the point I was making is that Reflection has many more suite guests but the dining room is the same size as other S-Class Ships.   Just think of your experience if they added 40% more MDR cabins but did not increase the size of the dining room.

 

  I read some good reviews of Reflection but the experience we had has soured us to that ship.

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

A reason to avoid Reflection if booking a suite is because it has 111 suites vs 66 on Silhouette, and unfortunately the Retreat/Michael's Club and Luminae are the same size (always crowded).  The Silhouette still has the full-expanse Sky Lounge that was chopped up for additional suites on Reflection.  That's why Silhouette remains my favorite ship, even when not booking a suite.

 

Thank you,  you explained it far better than I.    I was looking for the fleet guide for exact number of suites.     We also love Sihouette.

[Jim_Iain]

27 minutes ago, venicecruiser said:

Jim - Hope the Feb Regent sailing works out, but if not how about Seabourn?  Selfishly I don't think I can manage until April for another one of your adventures!

 

Claudia

 

I think we have given up on a February cruise.    I shifted some of my searches to a Summer cruise.   Something we rarely do.  

[venicecruiser]

Guess I will just have to wait.......................Oh my.

 

Claudia

[asnaleah]

Hi Jim, consider Regent July 5, circumnavigating Iceland. We changed to that cruise from a Holy Land cruise.

[Jim_Iain]

9 minutes ago, asnaleah said:

Hi Jim, consider Regent July 5, circumnavigating Iceland. We changed to that cruise from a Holy Land cruise.

 

We did an Iceland / Greenland B2B last year and while we enjoyed it would not be in a rush to do it again.   We are also trying to limit another trip to Europe as we will be going to Europe in October-November.

 

One that I've found that may be of interest are a couple New England Canada cruises on Silverseas.  While many of the premium lines offer Air, I'm finding I can get better prices and more control of our flights by booking direct.   

 

Also found a potential Vancouver - Alaska and Pacific Coast cruise.

[Stem to Stern]

32 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

One that I've found that may be of interest are a couple New England Canada cruises on Silverseas.

Those are nice itineraries.

[asnaleah]

I remember reading about your Iceland/Greenland cruise. We’re going to do our first TA, but not until spring 2025.

[lorimay]

We got back from our first Regent cruise last week and I have to say it will be hard to go back to Celebrity. We have always enjoyed Celebrity, especially the Edge class ships, and we did almost 50 nights on Celebrity from 2022 - 2023. We were also on two Oceania cruises since the pandemic. The Regent product was so far superior (although not perfect). I realize it's like comparing apples to oranges - Celebrity (upscale mainstream) with Regent (luxury). But if you are spending the money for a suite on Celebrity, I would suggest you give it a try. We liked Oceania also, but found we liked the people on Regent more. I thought the smaller ship would be an issue, but it wasn't. Embarkation on Celebrity was far superior and there's certainly a lot more entertainment on Celebrity, but food and accomodations on much better on Regent. I always found the staff on Celebrity to be fantastic but they are also great on Regent. If you are looking for an alternative give it a shot.

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, lorimay said:

We got back from our first Regent cruise last week and I have to say it will be hard to go back to Celebrity. We have always enjoyed Celebrity, especially the Edge class ships, and we did almost 50 nights on Celebrity from 2022 - 2023. We were also on two Oceania cruises since the pandemic. The Regent product was so far superior (although not perfect). I realize it's like comparing apples to oranges - Celebrity (upscale mainstream) with Regent (luxury). But if you are spending the money for a suite on Celebrity, I would suggest you give it a try. We liked Oceania also, but found we liked the people on Regent more. I thought the smaller ship would be an issue, but it wasn't. Embarkation on Celebrity was far superior and there's certainly a lot more entertainment on Celebrity, but food and accommodations on much better on Regent. I always found the staff on Celebrity to be fantastic but they are also great on Regent. If you are looking for an alternative give it a shot.

We are giving Oceania a try in 2025, a cruise from Chile to Buenos Ares.  Cost per day in a Concierge class Verandah is a lot less than a SS on Celebrity. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by terrydtx

[boxkite]

Jim, sorry I missed reading your latest cruise from the beginning to the end and being able to comment on your many wonderful pictures. I just finished reading through your last cruise a couple of weeks ago.

 

Hopefully I will be able to read your April cruise from the beginning in near real time.

 

Will now read through this cruise report from the beginning and will thank you in advance for all the great commentary and pictures!

[billc23]

13 minutes ago, lorimay said:

we did almost 50 nights on Celebrity from 2022 - 2023. We were also on two Oceania cruises since the pandemic. The Regent product was so far superior (although not perfect). I realize it's like comparing apples to oranges - Celebrity (upscale mainstream) with Regent (luxury). But if you are spending the money for a suite on Celebrity, I would suggest you give it a try.  

Embarkation on Celebrity was far superior and there's certainly a lot more entertainment on Celebrity, but food and accomodations on much better on Regent. I always found the staff on Celebrity to be fantastic but they are also great on Regent. If you are looking for an alternative give it a shot.

I will give Regent a try. We did well over 100 days on Celebrity the past two years and tried Silversea for 17 days. Now I have over 100 days booked on Silversea for 2024-2025 and 67 days booked on Celebrity for 2024. Going forward I will book Regent and Seabourn - probably for 2025.

 

Silversea and Regent are somewhat similar as far as I can tell and Silversea has many adventuresome itineraries. Small ships that go to unique places on par with a Galapagos that are not for me, but many find attractive. Celebrity does have a lot more entertainment on board and I cruise enough that it is pretty much the same over and over, so I usually do not participate. 

 

I have always enjoyed my Celebrity cruises and it is the pricing of the upper suites that caused me to look at the luxury lines. Now it will be hard to go back. 

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, lorimay said:

We got back from our first Regent cruise last week and I have to say it will be hard to go back to Celebrity. We have always enjoyed Celebrity, especially the Edge class ships, and we did almost 50 nights on Celebrity from 2022 - 2023. We were also on two Oceania cruises since the pandemic. The Regent product was so far superior (although not perfect). I realize it's like comparing apples to oranges - Celebrity (upscale mainstream) with Regent (luxury). But if you are spending the money for a suite on Celebrity, I would suggest you give it a try. We liked Oceania also, but found we liked the people on Regent more. I thought the smaller ship would be an issue, but it wasn't. Embarkation on Celebrity was far superior and there's certainly a lot more entertainment on Celebrity, but food and accomodations on much better on Regent. I always found the staff on Celebrity to be fantastic but they are also great on Regent. If you are looking for an alternative give it a shot.

 

Will do.    I know many of the products are like comparing apples and oranges but now that Celebrity has lost us as a dedicated cruiser we are shifting more to Itinerary and price.   The one thing I use to like about Celebrity was the 2 real room concept of upper suites.   On the E-Class this has been shifted to glass panels.   This leaves us in a position that If I'm up early I can't really open the drapery without bathing both the living room and bedroom in light.  

 

We all enjoy a cruise in a different way and we really aren't participants in the Theater Shows, Casino and having to be entertained.    The concept of Regent, Seabourn, SilverSease etc may just be perfect for us.    We relish fine dining at a casual pace and destination is coming to the top of our list.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, boxkite said:

Jim, sorry I missed reading your latest cruise from the beginning to the end and being able to comment on your many wonderful pictures. I just finished reading through your last cruise a couple of weeks ago.

 

Hopefully I will be able to read your April cruise from the beginning in near real time.

 

Will now read through this cruise report from the beginning and will thank you in advance for all the great commentary and pictures!

Thanks for you kind remarks.    I can't even imaging going back and reading all the stuff that was discussed.   It was a fun Live Post. 

 

My sister tells me she has a tendency just to read my dialogue and enjoy the pictures.

[DaKahuna]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I have no concern about the particular employee the point I was making is that Reflection has many more suite guests but the dining room is the same size as other S-Class Ships.   Just think of your experience if they added 40% more MDR cabins but did not increase the size of the dining room.

 

  I read some good reviews of Reflection but the experience we had has soured us to that ship.

 

 

 Our Reflection sailing was not indicitive of many as we were only her third or forth sailing after restart and the ship was not 100% full, although the Retreat was near capacity iirc.  

 

 We never encountered any crowds in Michael's Club as it was mostly empty except for occasionally just before the first seating in Luminae.