FL Lake Gal

Hello all and happy Fall! We are looking at the amazing Celebrity Flora for a 50th birthday celebration in 2020. I have found a few reviews on other sites. Seems service is getting better as the months go by since starting in June. Like anything, it takes time to get things tweaked a bit. Anyhow - just curious if anyone has been on Flora yet... and their thoughts about inner loop versus outer loop... and the safety in Quito. Thanks!

We are in the same situation as you - first timers. We purchased The Key and I think it will be well worth it for the first adventure. With 4,500 people on our ship, it will be nice to board and disembark early with some extra help. Where are you heading to on your first run?

We are sailing on Ovation this month - could be just the newer ships' systems. Seems odd that they have different online check-in processes/options though - one would think it would be easier to streamline all of that for consistency. Enjoy your Alaska southbound! If we like our Inside Passage trip, heading farther north in Alaska will definitely be next on our list.

Awesome - thanks, Skid! Was just about to order something else on Amazon - adding this to the order. Have a good night. Thx again.

Newbie here - we are completing our online check in, so we can print all docs. This thread caught my eye. Weird question - why are they asking for a photo of each of us in this online section? Is that so crew and others can verify it's us on the ship? Someone mentioned they take pics of us on day 1 for documentation. If that's the case, do I need to add a pic before completing the doc section or will they do it anyway upon embarkation? Whew - getting excited and the countdown is on to Alaska! Thanks in advance for any info about this!

@dk1 Tell me more about the magnetic hooks! Newbie here... cruising in a couple of weeks and I love your ideas with the hooks. What is magnetic in the staterooms - the walls or doors? Very curious and this info will help me pick up the right type of hooks tomorrow. Thanks!!

Ha! No worries @CraftyCat05! Enjoy every moment and just post when you can. We thread followers absolutely understand! ? We will travel the same route in a couple of weeks and I'd love to hear about the weather you are having on this trip. I clearly have too many piles of clothes laid out - would love to lighten the load based on your weather updates. I bet NorthStar and IFly will be terrific. Enjoy!!

@CraftyCat05 Happy departure day!! 2 weeks in Alaska will be nothing short of amazing. We are brand new to cruising and will be on Ovation later in July. I would love to hear if there are any formal attire dining nights... or any themed ones that we should pack for appropriately. I haven't seen any info about either of these in our docs or cruise info... but I saw something in another post about a 70's night. Curious to see what happens during your schedule. Agree that it's hard leaving the dogs behind for awhile - the spy camera part makes it a bit easier. Anyhow, ENJOY!! We are very excited to follow along with you...

@twangster I just wanted to send you a big "thank you!!" for this thread. Seriously - comments and photos are AMAZING! After traveling extensively elsewhere, we finally said - why have we never done a cruise?? LOL. We will be taking the plunge on Ovation later in July for our maiden voyage. Your blog here (and others' comments) answered tons of our silly "first timer" questions. We feel like there are many little unknowns about cruising (how long until our bags get to our room on day 1, what's the MDR like, should we grab a North Star slot during Endicott Arms/Dawes, etc etc etc...) - so we feel a bit more prepared. I know this took a lot of your time - so thank you again - you got us very excited about cruising. ?