Marc Van Niekerk

I have not been on Symphony but have been on many ships with Izumi restaurants.  I am not overly fond of sushi myself so I can sympathize. There will be plenty of non-sushi choices. There are soups, soba (noodles), steak, chicken and tempura options.  I love going to Izumi even though I don’t eat sushi (I can do nigiri but only shrimp) so unless your wife is a very picky eater, she will find plenty of other options.

Thanks for the pictures @twangster we have 9690 on Mariner for a B2B in October and that should be the same balcony setup as 9390 just reversed!
Can't wait to enjoy our balcony!

Hey Everyone!
We're on Celebrity Edge for a three night preview cruise ahead of our seven night sailing in January.  Follow the live blog at the below link, and of course look for loads of pics on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  I'll answer questions as quickly as I can.
Spoiler: This ship really lives up to the hype.  Not perfect, but truly impressive.
https://www.cruisehabit.com/tags/celebrity-edge-live-blog

A shutter speed of 1/250th for a show like Hairspray minimize blur as the cast moves. 
I leave my ISO on auto so depending on lighting it will vary shot to shot.  A film concept, ISO values increase with sensitivity.  The problem is so does grain and noise.  In full outdoor lighting 100 ISO yields very little grain or noise.  In the dark, at 6,400 ISO there is more noise with a digital camera.  Since I shoot in RAW I have to remove that noise in Lightroom.  Newer cameras have a better ISO noise profile so you can push the limits well past where you could with older digital cameras and the result is the photos you see.  A number are shot at ISO 6,400 the cap I have set for my camera.  It can go higher but I find 6,400 provides good results that are easy to fix in post.
I also shoot in burst mode, taking many pictures very quickly.  Later I can step through them like frames in a video and find the best facial expressions.
To be even better full manual would work best but given that I am on a cruise there is often some drinking involved so partial automation usually gets me in the right neighborhood so I can fix it later which is the main benefit of shooting in RAW.

Wide angle shots from my RX100M6 combined with a 70-300mm zoom on my A7III. 
The trick is setting a high enough shutter speed while not pushing the ISO too far.  With it's low noise profile the A7III does at great job for this use case.

What lens did you use for the Hairspray photos? I always struggle with show photos in terms of getting not fuzzy photos and especially lighting.

We have done both and my suggestion is Yes, upgrade. The beach for the bungalows is further away but far superior condition. Adrenaline Beach where the beach beds are is a little rough due to coral and you will probably want water shoes. The beach for bungalows is Columbus Cove and I didn’t need water shoes at all getting to the water. The general services from your attendants is similar. The shade and privacy of the bungalows is fantastic where beds are in the middle of one of the more populated beaches. 
Attached are a panoramic of Columbus Cove and a photo of the beach bed and a couple of the bungalows. 
Absolutely worth it!
One piece of advice, use the trams provided to get there. Generally then shorter of the two trams will take you all the way to Columbus Cove without having to transfer at Adrenaline Beach. 

[comes in to see what people think of the show]
[matt commented]
::sigh::
Oh, the mean thing wasn't directly about me!
[happy dance]
Thanks to everyone who has listened, shared, reviewed, and recorded outros.  Looking forward to releasing the next episode soon!
 

Hello all, will post a review of the day in just a bit but wanted to answer some questions that have been posted...
1. There is live Central Park music! I haven't gone back through but so far I remember Jazz on the park on the second night and tonight was string melodies with delite duo.
2. The vodka and soda water price was $9.38 checked at a bar POS.  Not sure if that included the 18 percent gratuity but the wierd number suggests that.
3. For those about to go on Oasis, the ship will not disappoint!  
Recap to follow. 

@Lovetocruise2002 thanks for the wonderful live blog.  Doing a B2B on Mariner Oct 2019 and can't wait!

Bahamian Cookin' Restaurant and Bar is a small place offering authentic local foods.  We found out about it on the Tru Bahamian Food Tour.
http://bahamiancookin.com/
https://www.trubahamianfoodtours.com/
I would highly recommend both the tour and the restaurant when in Nassau.

Thanks for sharing this @twangster

As a subscriber to Adobe's $10 per month photography plan they occasional publish guides and tips.  This plan includes Lightroom Classic CC which is one of the best software applications I've come across.  I'm not a fan of paying a recurring charge for anything in life but for this I've made an exception.
Today I received an email with a link to this tip showing how a professional photographer used Lightroom to create a dramatic image from an already pretty good photograph:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/how-to/create-landscape-photography.html
People often ask "What kind of camera do you have?" 
The camera is just one small part of taking good pictures.  The truth is the brand of the camera isn't as important as the tools available for any photographer.  Tools such as a camera, lens and software.  
When traveling you rarely have time to set up a tripod and make a series of adjustments while capturing dozens of images so being able to take any image and make adjustments later in software is probably the biggest upgrade anyone can do to achieve better photos.  This is best achieved when capturing in RAW format compared to JPEG.
If you have or are considering Adobe Lightroom, make sure you check out all the free tutorials they offer for beginner and advanced users:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/tutorials.html

You echo my thoughts.  This seems like a really bad idea.  I am quite familiar with the IndyCar race in Toronto as I am a corner worker there and I just cannot see how this could work.
Track construction generally begins almost 2 months before the event and the tear down takes weeks.  That alone would be a huge impact on traffic not even considering totally closing it for a weekend which I would Imagine is the busiest of times for the port from a tourist perspective.
The reason I asked about the RCL terminal is the proposed layout seems to use the roads directly in front of that part of the port.  I would imagine that the tunnel could be used to access the ships further up the port but I think the existing RCL building would be completely inaccessible.

What are you trying to say?

We are doing Radiance (Northbound Alaska) in July.  I have done VOOM on the Oasis with great success so I got the VOOM for Alaska.  I hope it works as good as it did last summer. 
I was wondering about the time change also.  There will be a 4 hour difference for us along with 17 hours of day-light.  To say we will have "jet-lag" when we return will be an understatement for sure.

Time zone does change once (for northbound or southbound trips) or twice (for round trips) while at sea. On a one-way trip it happens the first or last night, round trips will be first and last nights.

We have visited the Beach Beds on Adrenaline Beach twice and really enjoyed them.  I will agree that the beach is a bit rocky compared to others but as you note, water shoes can help that.
The distance to food was not too big an issue and the proximity to the bar kind of made up for it.
We really feel that in terms of value for the money this was a good deal.  The attendant to get you drinks, cooler full of water on ice, and floating mats mad for a very enjoyable day.

 

I see the website is evolving.  Has anyone determined what the sort order is of upcoming cruises?
I have 4 cruises listed and they do not appear alphabetical by ship, chronological by embarkation date, or numeric by reservation.
 
My OCD is triggered 

We just bought those as well.  One additional feature I like is that they are a good dimension for using a business card size for other travel like when I travel for work.

I haven't tried it yet personally bit I I have spoken with people who have and they swear by it.  The primary feature they like is that if you are travelling in a zone like Latin America / Caribbean you can pay one price and use in any country in that zone on one purchase.