Traveling Mike

I don't know if it is just me or it is a normal process, but I just ask my room steward for the beach towels. I will let them know how many days I will be off the ship and in water and they always bring me that many towels. Then I just leave the wet ones in the bathroom for the room steward when he cleans the room.

I just got done booking both RCL and Celebrity Next Cruise certificate on my Celebrity Beyond cruise in December. It is the opposite of what you want to do but it should work the same way. I did not know the cruise I wanted to book so I just got the certificates. Yours should be easier if you know the cruise you want. You will get the reduced deposit of $100, and the onboard credit based on the cabin type your book. It helps them if you know the cruise you want because they are not used to working with the other cruise line. What I found is there was a couple of agents on the ship that knew how to do the other cruise line and the others have never done it.

If the ship is going through the canal in reverse the entire way I want to go on that cruise. I have only seen ships going through the canal going forward.

Three different rooms are not a big issue. You cabin steward will move your stuff. I always take Tide Pods and wash things in the sink and shower. Use extra towels to suck out the excess water to help dry. When packing think about reusable and easy laundry.

I just got off the Celebrity Beyond and had those kinds of troubles all cruise long. I would get to show 30 to 40 minutes early to get the seats I wanted and at show time people would show up and ask if I would move to make room for them. Some of the show in open floors they would come in at showtime and stand in front of our seats. Drives me crazy.

Those of you who are interested in tracking tags here is a very interesting video of someone from Germany that mailed 3 tags to different famous people and tracked them. I think you will enjoy it and learn some things. https://youtu.be/C72_8IGhR8Q?si=31vDQ1zXFNJpkqcU https://youtu.be/W8SER24F0U8?si=nbpUMfFslDDQMxsL

From what I have read Samson has the best.

No matter if you go now with the old birth certificate or wait until you get a new one, I suggest you take a copy of all of your paperwork. I have been a single parent with full custody of my son for all of his life and have run into issues because people at the ports did not understand non-standard families. Multiple times they have told me I must have paperwork of his mother allowing him to cruise. I have had to ask for a supervisor and show them the court documents giving me full legal and physical custody. So, the short is I recommend being over prepared with paperwork.

For others that are reading this string of posts... I have Apple Airtags that I keep in all my luggage and bags. Once you purchase them there are no additional costs. You can use your iPhone to track the bags and see where they are. Getting on the ship I have seen my bags near my cabin and have been able to locate it and get it before the cabin steward. Getting off the ship I can use them to track and locate my bag in the big room where everyone's bags are located. At the airport I can see that my bag is getting moved from each plane in my connection. Then I can just watch my phone and it will tell me when my bags are on the conveyer to pick up. I no longer have to wonder where my bags are.

I just booked a 2025 cruse today that the GTY was only $100 cheaper than picking the obstructed balcony. The obstructed balcony was $500 cheaper than the Solo Balcony. Strange pricing.

Everything is a computer program designed to influence you into picking a category they want you to take. There is history of what sails and what does not. It is also influenced by travel companies that reserve bulk rooms. I have seen lots of cruises where a Solo cabin is more expensive than picking a regular balcony and paying double. I am guessing if a lot of obstruction balconies are being sold the price of GTY goes up.

It looks like the Freedom bounces between two births. there is a chance your depart and arrival will be different ones.

There are lots of people like me that bounce between RCL and Celebrity. I go on RCL for things to do. I go on Celebrity to relax. RCL is more family friendly, and Celebrity is more upscale where I can enjoy the downtime.

I just got off the Celebrity Beyond for 19 days around Thanksgiving and the first of December. The 4 main dining rooms are slightly different with different staff. I ended up going to the one with the staff I liked the best. I had dinner reservations but that did not mean much. You can walk up to any of them and get seated with or without a reservation. The specialty restaurants were the same way. I had a 4-night dining package and was told by the maître d that I could just show up and they would find me a room. Like @SebagoSue said the Edan and Le Voyage are busy, and it would be safe to get a time once on board.

the only cruise line with a good Solo Travelers meeting is the Norwegian big Ships because they have a Solo Coordinator, and they also have a solo lounge. I have found the ones on RCL are not good but that does not main not to go. You will go to an open bar with lots of people. But go and hang out and look around. It is good if you can get a table and set by yourself. there are other Solo like yourself looking for other Solo Travelers you just have to figure out who each other are. Note: One of the best things to do is meet the other Solo Travelers on Cruise Critic or Facebook for your cruise before you go. Then setup a meeting time.

I always turn on airplane mode as soon as I get on the ship. I then switch off the auto time zone and make sure the time matches what is on the RCL App for ship time. Each port I double check my set time with the app ship time. Warning: The ship time can be different than the local time. Alway make sure you know ship time.

One Day Makes a Difference: I finished my first cruise that was a 9-day cruise to the ABC Islands. We unloaded the passengers and reloaded the passengers for the 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise. Moving around the ship I have not seen so many walkers, wheelchairs and scoters on a ship. I also looked around for the hundreds of Single Travelers that I knew were coming on the ship. The previous cruise had a good mixture of people in their 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70. There was enough kids on the ship where you knew they were there. This cruise was making me feel young and I am 63 years old. I also found out as the day went on that all the singles, I was expecting were singles in their 70s and 80s. Now you understand the difference between the two cruises the question is, why? With the help of a nice 25-year-old girl I meet that was a seasoned cruiser she pointed out my last cruise was Thanksgiving break, and this cruise was older people coming to stay away from the young people. Now that I understand the same ship, the same kind of destination and have completely different environments. I realize I need to think about that while I am booking going forward. One is not better than the other, but they are different.

My Back-to-Back process: On the morning of my last full day, they had a meeting with all the B2B people. On my cruise there were between 40 and 50 people. They let us know the process and answered any questions. The meeting was nice and short and to the point. Because I was staying in my same cabin there was nothing for me to do except to make sure my cabin steward knew I was staying. The people that were changing cabins just needed to pack their personal belongings and the cabin steward would take care of everything else and making sure it got moved. Most of the people I talked to were packing up their bathroom and drawers and leaving their hanging cloths. On the morning of disembarkation, we meet in one of the bars at 9:00 am. About 9:30 am they walked us all off the ship and just before we left the ship, they scanned our old room key and gave us a new one. We then walked off the gangway and into the terminal. We walked up to a Customs scanning camera, got cleared and made a U-turn back onto the ship. We scanned our new cards and were back on the ship. We really did not slow down much from the time we left the Club until I was back at the Martini Bar getting me a drink. Here are a couple of questions people have asked me: Q: Did they give you a special breakfast or lunch? A: No, we were on our own with the same as everyone else. Q: Did you get a discount or anything special on the second cruise? A: No, the price was a price, and they did not give us anything special. Q: Does the staff treat you differently because you are a B2B? A: Yes, just because they remember you from the previous cruise. It is not because you are special just because they know you.

I am on the Celebrity Beyond running the premium package. I have been doing most of my work in the Buffet area because they have nice, padded bench setting and there are people to bring me drinks all day. When I run a speed test it looks slow, but I have not seen any delay and I can stream movies without any lag time. Below are the results of my speed tests.

I realized I really did not tell you details on my cruises. Here is what I am doing. If you have any questions, please ask. 9 Night Aruba, Curacao & Cayman Cruise Edge Single Stateroom with Infinite Veranda Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sea Day George Town, Grand Cayman Sea Day Oranjestad, Aruba Willemstad, Caracao Sea Day Falmouth, Jamaica Sea Day Fort Lauderdale, Florida 10 Night Ultimate Southern Caribbean Edge Single Stateroom with Infinite Veranda (same cabin) Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sea Day Sea Day Philipsburg, St. Maarten Roseau, Dominica Bridgetown, Barbados St. John's Antigua Basseterre, St. Kitts Sea Day Sea Day Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I am confusing the dinner crew. There is way too much food on the ship, so I have been going to dinner and only getting a main course. Tonight, dinner took me 20 minutes from start to finish. It is not like I am not eating. Today was one of my workdays. I got up this morning and went to the Buffet and found a good table with the soft bench. Then I spent the next 6 hours working on my computer. I am a computer programmer, so it was real paid work. I was also able to attend three different meetings. I did not eat any meals, but I started with Bacon/sausage and toast. that lasted the first 2 hours. Then I got some fruit and grapes for the next two hours. Then the last two hours was meat and cheese. Now it is 7:30 pm and I feel good about what I got done today and am going to bed early. Tomorrow, I have a shore excursion that starts at 8 am and lasts 6 hours.

I have done it on both the Millennium and the Reflection. Both ships it was a great experienced and had good food. The main difference in those two places and this one was location. If you get a chance to see it where the location is acceptable, I would recommend doing it.

Summary: Worst Dinner all cruise and I paid for it I have purchased a 4-specialty dining package for both of my cruises. I have already used 3 of them and went to 3 out of the 6 restaurants. I am sure I had dinner at the best one Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud but tonight I had dinner at the worst one including the free ones. That dinner was at Le Petit Chef™. I have done the restaurant Le Petit Chef™ on two other ships and loved it. Le Petit Chef™ is as much for the show as for the food. I do not expect 5-star food, but I expect good food. The first issue I had was when I showed up and found out they have it one floor above the Martini bar that was playing live music and everyone was there to talk, be loud and get ready for their dinner. The Martini bar is in the center of the ship where it goes up several floors. I sat down at the table they assigned to me, and I could not hear the music inside the restaurant because of the noise outside. After about 15 minutes someone came by to see if I wanted a drink. About 15 minutes later the waiter came by to explain the menu to me and get my order without me having time to decide. That was the last time I seen the waiter. The drink person came back a few times but not the waiter except to drop the plate and run off without talking to me. On the third course I had to wipe the crumbs off the table where it did not get in the way of the show (myself). The seafood appetizer had been cooked to long and everything was tuff. When I got to the desert the ice cream was iced up like it was in the freezer too long. The surprising thing is the ship makes ice-cream every day and I have had lots of it during the cruise and have not seen this issue. I know this review is going all over the place. I am sorry but I am just confused about what happed tonight. I tried to keep my expectations in check, but it did not work. The noise outside was too loud and did not allow us to enjoy our show / meal. The service was lacking. The food was subpar and part of that was caused by service of the food. Summary is do not eat at this restaurant on the Celebrity Beyond.

Summary: The Nightly Shows. (I will finish reviews after I see them so check back on this post) Day (1): Jakub Trasak does known songs on the violin. I made it though the second son before I left and found something else to do. There were many people I heard talking about how good he was. In my opinion he did songs that I was not interested in and he did not do them very well. Both songs were boring to me. When he talked to the audience it was in a monotone voice and put me to sleep. This was not for me. Day (2): Production Cast “Stage Door”. I was too tired to attend and went to bed. I was told it was a good show. Day (3): Randy Cabral is a comedian that does juggling. He was a good jugger but most of his show was his comedy. I would not say he was great, but he was entertaining. If I had not seen this type of show I would have said it was good but I have seen a few different people on cruises that do the same thing. Day (4): The group “Uptown” does Soul and R&B music. It was three boys in their 20’s that were very good entertainers. They did a good show with comedy throughout the show. They worked the audience a lot and their signing was not bad. Day (5): Production Cast “Elements”. This was a very good show and I wanted to watch it a second time. It was singing, dancing, acrobatics and visual effects. The show went though all the elements and made you feel you were part of each one. During the water element they had video in the background of going up a river and it felt like the entire theater was moving down the river. There was two performers on top of poles that came into the third row with their movements. Do not miss this show. Day 6: Steve Caouette is a stand-up comedian. He was very funny and relatable. He worked the crowd and most of it was on the fly. He talked to the crowed all night and was very funny. I am going back to see his other shows while on the ship. Day 7: Savanna Smith is a singer. Las Vegas type music. Day 8: Vinny Grosso is a comedian magician that has a headline show in Las Vegas. Day 9: Production Cast “Arte” Note: there was a Production Show “The Jazz Joint” held in “The Club”. The club is a bar that they do all the trivia in. It is not a big place. The night they did this show it was packed including standing space. The show was great and, but you need to get there really early. The best seats are next to the main floor and then next on the upper floor on the rail. If you are back from the main floor people showing up late will try to stand in front of you. Do not miss this show.

Summary: the Theatre The Theatre on the Beyond is much different than any other I have experienced. To start out it has a round stage and not the typical square one. the backdrop is not a curtain it is a round wall that does state of the art graphics. In last night's show we had the feeling that the entire theater was moving forward floating down a river. With the round stage it feels like the performers are coming out into the audience. The shows have been very good (in most cases) and last night it was good enough that I wanted to see it a second time. Later this week I will give a review of all the shows.