themillennialcruiser

It is but we have done this same flight twice now with no issues fingers crossed! We are trying to maximize our vacation days and we have seen most of Barcelona. Worst case we have done the majority of these ports before so if we had to reschedule or cancel I could live in that world.

Yes! Direct flight from EWR to Barcelona on United! It arrives at 9 am the next day so the timing is perfect.

Attempting my first live blog! My husband and I are big fans of RCCL, currently Diamond+ & matched to Celebrity Elite status. Last year we sailed on Celebrity Beyond on a 9 night Italian Rivera sailing and it changed so much for us! We are both millennials without children and enjoyed the more upscale experience Celebrity can bring. We were VERY spoiled on our first sailing as we got a celebrity move up bid on the Edge Villa and let me tell you that was a WOW! We also sailed on Celebrity Summit earlier this year and now we are headed out on Celebrity Edge in 7 days. Safe to say we are enjoying it thus far! We also have another Celebrity sailing booked for later this year on Eclipse. I love the loyalty perks Celebrity has to offer and happy to go into that more if you have specific questions! Sailing Details- 7 night Italy, France, and Spain sailing on August 26th August 26th- Barcelona, Spain August 27th - Cannes, France August 28th - Portofino, Italy August 29th - La Spezia, Italy August 30th - Rome, Italy August 31st - Ajaccio, Corsica September 1st - at sea September 2nd - Barcelona, Spain Pre-cruise plans- We are leaving EWR on August 25th for an overnight flight to Barcelona. I know this is very close to our sailing but with our work schedules this is what we had to work with! Luckily we are flying business so we will have a bed to sleep in overnight! We also booked through air2sea to ensure we would make it to our sailing in case of a delay. We have sailed out of Barcelona twice before so we are familiar with the airport and the city. We are doing an Embarkation Day shore excursion this go around to see the sagrada familia because we haven’t seen it yet! Room Selection- We booked an Aqua Class room however 20 days before our sailing we were notified we got our move up bid to a Sky Suite! While it isn’t the villa we got last summer we absolutely loved the retreat experience on Beyond and can’t wait to experience it on Edge. Post Cruise plans- We are flying from Barcelona to Paris to spend Labor Day weekend. The flight is a short 2 hour trip. Excited to take you along with us for another amazing celebrity cruise vacation! Feel free to follow along on my instagram too @themillennialcruiser!

We did this cruise last year and it was the BEST!! Just beautiful, and i love ports of call where you can get off the ship and walk/uber anywhere you want to go. The seas were rough on our sailing, i am not sure its always like that heading to Canada but good to prepare if need be. Not sure your plans in the ports but I will share some of our favorites for both land trips and cruising! In Boston you can download the freedom trail app for a self guided tour. We walked this followed by a trip to the JFK library and lunch at Harpoon brewery a short walk from the port. In Portland I highly recommend the Holy Donut for breakfast/snack and Eventide for lunch get there right at 11 if you can. Best lobster rolls & oysters. We also ubered to the Allagash brewery. In bar harbor enjoy a nice lunch at Geddy’s, we loved the lobster pizza ! The tender process was a little bit of a pain here so get off early with suites or book an excursion! In halifax we walked to the maritime museum followed by a trip to the titanic grave site and peggys cove. Peggys cove was nice but very very busy. We went in the afternoon as a point of reference. In saint johns we went to Bay of Fundy to see the low tides and enjoy lunch at a local spot. It was nice to see but a long bus ride to get to so something to keep in mind.

I am currently in an ocean view balcony and thank you!! Keeping my fingers crossed!

I am still waiting on my royalup for the 12/31 Symphony sailing, all are showing expired except for the grand suite which says pending and cannot be modified. Keeping my fingers crossed! Is this a positive sign?

I have seen mixed messages about the suite lounges serving beer and wine from 11-11 like they did in the past. I was in a suite in September but had a drink package and didn’t pay attention when i was ordering a drink to be honest. Debating getting a drink package now that we are diamond and will have lounge access.

Congratulations! Would you mind sharing what type of room you were in before and if you bid the minimum, middle, or high? Dying to hear back on mine, 6 days before sail away!

? they were drained and cleaned between every user but I understand its not for everyone! I thought it was fun ?

I had never seen anything like it! It was a fun way to see the space needle and we were on the same lake as the houseboat from Sleepless in Seattle! I added some photos unless anyone is interested!

@Lovetocruise2002thank you for the shout out! Marc and I always said we would do Alaska much later in life but the pandemic also gave us both a new appreciation for the outdoors as well. We went with Ovation because we were still a little on the fence about Alaska but wanted to give it a shot and wanted to also explore Seattle, both did not disappoint! I knew Ovation was going to be an amazing ship so that already felt like a win but I have to say I was blown away by the beauty of even just sailing in the inside passage alone. I knew we would see wildlife but I was truly blown away to see both Orcas and humpbacks right off the ship! We had a side balcony and it was wonderful, i am sure an aft would be even better! We found ourselves spending hours sitting in 270 with a spiked hot chocolate because the views were truly out of this world. If we do Alaska again I think I would want to do a southbound but what I will say was a highlight for us was the pre and post cruise time in Seattle! We spent 1 day prior and 2 days on the back half and I can honestly say it was one of my favorite big city trips to date. The last day of the trip we did a wine tasting tour in Woodenville and it was a blast! We also rented a hot tub boat in Lake Union and that was on of the most fun things I think we have ever done, the boat is operated by joy stick so you kind of feel like you are driving a toy boat. I could have spent another week there alone doing more wine tasting and exploring the National parks around Seattle.

I am surprised too, hoping to sail in July. I wasn’t sold on flying to Nassau from NYC but curious to see what opens in the next few weeks.

Another cruise canceled! Any idea what a safe bet for July would be?

Lets hope and pray to the cruising gods these sailings stick!

Yeah that was my gut too - something is happening

It looks like suites are now sold out for all vision sailings this summer, any idea why? When I checked a few days ago it looked like there was a ton of availability! I snagged one a few weeks ago but didn’t know if this is due to capacity or Royal up?

Thank you i will be sure to read up!

That is a very good point!! Yes i did see it has grand suite perks. The grand suite was $2000 more than the junior suite, suite guarantee, or OV suite.

Just booked as a potential backup if the RC blog group cruise doesn’t happen but keeping my fingers crossed! A few questions- we are really hoping to do a suite for this suite for the crown and anchor points. The suite guarantee and OV suite with no balcony for the same price. Struggling with which once to pick as there isn’t much info about the OV suite no balcony and with the suite guarantee you could end up with less perks in the junior suite. We are holding the OV suite for now while we decide. Also after booking I noticed there was a $200 credit in my email listed as below - Please note: Your cruise or Cruisetour reservation includes promotional code , with discount of 200.00 USD. does anyone know what this means? Is there any information regarding covid testing if you are flying in early to enjoy the island?

Totally fair! No kids yet for my husband and I unless you count us as kids ? i do love waterslides!

I am struggling with what sailing to book between the two!! Bermuda is easier to get to from NYC but Adventure looks like such a fun ship! Any advice on which to book?

We did the UDP on Anthem 9 night cruise and loved it. Gave us an opportunity to try all of the things we wanted to at all restaurants without over indulging because we knew we would be back in a few nights.

I am going on Navigator of the Seas next week and debating what to do in Nassau. Suggestions on what to do on land or on board are appreciated! We have been to Atlantis once before and nothing else on land looks appealing but I am open to ideas!

I did the Jewels of Cinque Terre excursion approx. 1 year ago with my husband and it was fantastic. It was through Royal and took us on a tour of three of the five villages via boat and we had time on our own in each to explore. I HIGHLY recommend seeing the villages by boat as this is how you will get the post card type photos and see the most. This was an ALL DAY excursion, around 10 hours and included an incredible lunch & wine in one of the villages. I think it is too difficult to do on your own and you would risk missing the boat.

We used our key tags and only carried off a few small personal items and one small bag we used to pack up our remaining belongings. We got off the ship and our bags were in the key section.