Leaderboard

Not live any more, but this was our live blog of our Canada and New England Cruise. https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/08/31/canada-and-new-england-cruise-live-blog-day-1/

I want to thank all of you for your prayers, well wishes, thoughts and concerns, I really appreciate it. The hurricane is over and GONE! It was rough for a couple of days. It started raining hard with high winds Thursday 9/13 and we lost power that evening. The winds picked up all day as well as the rain. Friday was pretty much the same,high winds, rain and crap flying all over the place outside. Saturday the wind and rain subsided and I could get outside and start cleaning up. Today (Sunday) very little wind and no rain, clean up continued and will do so for a few more days (my lot is almost an acre with many trees). Power came on about 4:00 pm, YEAH! I was getting tired of those cold showers and warm beer! Had some damage to about 40% of my roofing shingles, so a new roof is in order. Have already contacted a roofer and my insurance folks. We have been through a lot of hurricanes, but this was the worst. The folks that live downtown New Bern got hid really hard. This was just a small tRjacaste of what the folks in New Orleans, Texas and San Juan experienced. Just glad it is over! Thanks again folks, greatly appreciated. Rjac

Well we are back from our fabulous cruise aboard the Celebrity Summit! The weather was PERFECT and the seas the whole time were like a lake! Hubby and I have only been this year on the Grandeur of the Seas and the Celebrity Summit, both pretty much equal in terms or age and size. The Summit is a beautiful ship, but in much need of an overhaul which is happening this February. Comparing just the shape of the ship to Grandeur, Grandeur won out on this one even though she hasn't been drydocked. We were in a Grand Suite on Grandeur and an accessible Sky Suite on Summit. Grand Suite on Grandeur won out as the furniture etc is a bit outdated was in much better shape than the Summit. We are actually booked back on the Summit next May so we are looking forward to the "new Summit" as they are redoing all the Suites, venues etc. We did utilize our Butler but not very much. We had coffee brought to the cabin every morning and he was the one delivering it. He was always available. We had a horrible smell in our bathroom as soon as we boarded and continued throughout the cruise, he kept calling the plumber etc and was quite disturbed by it (more on that later). He did have a bottle of wine sent to us just to keep us happy! Food and Service- Food was fabulous on the Summit. We ate in Luminae (the Suite Restaurant) for every meal except one. We were given both the Luminae menu as well as the Main Dining Room menu to choose from for dinner. The selections were wonderful and the service was the best I've had on any cruise ship. We did eat in the Ocean Grill once while in Bermuda (Celebrities version of Windjammer) and this wins hands down over the Windjammer. The food and flow of food was so much better, the selections was awesome and the way they have it set up the flow of people moved so well you didn't feel like you needed to be a hockey player! We did have some excitement while on board, they arrested 3 people as soon as we docked in Bermuda ( I thought the sight of about 15 police officers waiting at the dock was a bit overkill!) LOL and one man when disembarking (we were on our balcony) feel overboard getting off the ship between the gangway and ship) The screams were frightening, but crew quickly rescued him and he was ok. (Make note, do not take selfies when disembarking the ship and not sure where you are going!) As we were entering NY Harbor last Sunday, I had the waiter in Luminae, the Butler keep asking me if I was going to Michael's (Suite Concierge lounge) to Disembark and I assured them we were. They said Andrea (Suite Manager) has something for us. We finally made it down to Michaels Club to disembark. Andrea found me and handed us $1000 future cruise credit ($500 for me and $500 for Jack) for putting up with the bathroom smell all week! We really didn't expect anything so this was quite a pleasant surprise. We can use this $1000 toward payment for our upcoming Summit cruise in May! Win/Win! I feel that Celebrity is not for everyone. There are no bells and whistles like RC ships have for children (there were only 25 on this cruise and all toddlers). We were very happy with this though as we are a bit older and enjoy the relaxation of just being on a cruise. Their service is outstanding, their food is outstanding, their drinks are outstanding and all is all it was an extremely pleasant experience!

So glad you were able to speak. I will say the best ER plan sometimes will fail, but we do try to have a plan. Sometimes the weekends can produce a slower response as well depending on when your agent typically works daily. Now you can relax and start planning all your fun excursions and shows for your cruise!

Thanks AnnetteJackson, just before I emailed the contact that KathyC uses I tried phoning my TA again and was able to reach her and straighten everything out. Stay safe and thanks for the offer to help! thanks KathyC for your help!

Be safe. Good luck.

Hey there, I wanted to check in to see if you were still having issues reaching your agent. I now have power and internet (for the time being) so wanted to check in. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] and I can make that payment for you. We do have an ER plan for all our agents and there is an office number to reach the Admin Staff (425-396-7505) I can say that when in a storm sometimes things happen that will take an agent offline unexpectedly, but we have offices all over the US so there is a person covering or the office staff that can jump in and help. EMail me and I can look into your reservation.

I've apologized to CC. Hopefully they accept my apology and don't get angry at me again.

I sure will! and thank you again. The tour reviews would be most helpful!!

@Rimmit, did you find there was a lot of scenery to enjoy while sailing up and down the coast, or were you too far away from land when not in port to really see anything? I've always felt like this is a cruise similar to Alaska, where if you can afford a balcony room and don't mind paying for it, it would be beneficial just for enjoying the scenery as you go along, but I'm starting to think that an interior room could be totally fine since the view can be taken in from plenty of places on the ship; helipad, Viking Crown Lounge, Windjammer, pool deck... With a balcony, I'd only have a view of the landscape at most half of the time (either on the way up or the way down, depending on which side of the ship your room was on), and the rest of the time would just be views of the ocean (which I do also happen to love). I'd also think that even by late August, it would be getting cool enough once up around Bar Harbor that a balcony might be less-used than on a Caribbean or Bermuda/Bahamas itinerary. And of course, there was that fog you woke up to one day...

Dear Guest, We wanted to update you on a change in our programming. Our Sitters at Sea program will be discontinued beginning on September 30th , 2018. We are dedicated to offering a variety of children's and teens' activities, but unfortunately we'll no longer offer in-stateroom sitter services. We are sorry for any impact this may have on your vacation. If your sailing departs on or before September 30th and you were planning on using this service, we will happily accommodate your request if sitters are available. Once onboard, please visit Guest Services regarding availability. Our kid programs, Adventure Ocean and Royal Babies & Tots, remain unchanged, and we still offer our "Late Night Party Zone" group sitting by our Adventure Ocean Youth Staff for children between the ages of 3 through 11. To learn more about our Youth and Teen Program, please click here. Thank you for understanding. We look forward to having you onboard very soon! Sincerely, Royal Caribbean International

I use Brock. Here is his e-mail, maybe he can help: [email protected]

This was such a gift for those of us who are booked on this cruise. What a fabulous blog and beautiful family you have. If it's ok, I may inundate you with many questions from now until July! What a wonderful experience I had going through this with your family.!

Thank you and your family for a wonderful blog. I will be taking this cruise next July.

Loved it! I have never considered an Alaskan cruise. I figured that would be a bit later in life. We love chasing the sun and beautiful water of the Caribbean. But after reading this I’m going to start investigating Alaska! It doesn’t hurt that you can now get a nonstop flight form Pittsburgh to Seattle. Thanks for potentially opening up our cruising options.

@rjac just saw on the news that New Bern, NC got hit pretty hard. Thinking of you as I know that is where you are from....

Twangster: Thanks for the great blog, pictures and scopes! ???

I'm so glad to see this and that charleston was hopefully spared. Still thinking about @rjac and others too. Prayers continued.. And yes, get these next 50 overwith!! so you can enjoy!

So true! If anyone deserves a break, it's @twangster!

Thanks for yet another amazing blog, @twangster! I’m actually glad that you took the time this go-round to just enjoy the trip, take the pics, then decide how you wanted to tell the story afterward. You’ve done plenty of times where you pulled from your time off to keep us up to date and virtually cruising along with you, you more than deserve a chance to tune out, seize that trip to the fullest, and enjoy it to the max! I know you have your editing tools down pat, but I still can’t imagine the time post-cruise needed to cull down the photos to the best ones, edit them, come up with a narrative, and put it all online for us to enjoy. No wonder you have 11 more cruises booked, we’re wearing you down with the blog posts and leaving you desperate for new vacation times! ?

Wow! That was easy and new itineraries haven't even come out yet! @Matt and @AnnetteJackson pick any week in July 2020 and 5 of us here can go already! Add that to the group of Insiders who I know want a Canada/NE sailing and I would say you have many interested already ?

I have a hard time with voices on the telephone and I have a really hard time understanding accents on the phone. I'm not a racist if I want to talk to a (white, black, brown) American on the phone so I might be able to understand what they're saying.

I'll post some in 38 days ?But who's counting! ?

carpe diem - in the majority of ports, these "authentic" cubans will be very over priced and questionable at best unless he is aware of the subtle nuances to tell a fake from a legit. i'd be more than happy to share (offline) my overseas sources that are without question, legit Cuban cigar distributors. That being said, up until the past 10-15 years, quality of true cubans has rapidly declined as they became more readily available through mass production. I used to be a huge fan but now i've found so many more non-cuban cigars that are leaps and bounds much better than the current stock thats out in the market place unless you can find an aged box going back before the cigar "boom" period. I digress, as this is one of my passions (current stash is well over 2000+ cigars) and i could ramble on for hours. In short, when i buy them, I never buy them at port for reasons mentioned above. Majority of mine come in from Switzerland via Cuba at a near domestic cigar prices ($6 - $9 a stick) legit, better quality, properly maintained and best of all, much more reasonable priced. more than happy to share my connections and he can see for himself.