Cruise Ship Cabins on Celebrity Constellation

Posted on April 1, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Celebrity Constellation

Cabin choices on Celebrity Constellation include the usual selection of inside cabins, ocean view cabins, balcony cabins, and suites. Among those major categories there are some variations, especially in the suites. Each category has some accessible cabins, which tend to be the largest ones in any given type. Fully accessible cabins also have lowered vanity, raised toilet, roll-in shower, grab bars, and if they are balcony cabins, an accessible balcony. When booking sometimes there is a category guarantee option, which costs less than choosing a specific cabin and also has the possibility of getting an upgrade if the category you chose books full. The downside of that is since you aren’t choosing your own cabin it may not end up in your preferred location.

inside cabin

Inside cabins are the least expensive so they are always popular with budget conscious cruisers. People who like to sleep in the daytime without being bothered by outside light prefer these cabins too since there is no outside light other than a bit of hallway lighting from the crack under the door. The inside cabin we had on the Infinity felt bigger than the balcony cabin we had on Constellation, possibly because the mirrored backwall made it seem larger than it actually was. These cabins are generally 170 square feet, but if you look over the deck plans some are larger. Especially accessible ones which are up to 347 square feet.

oceanview cabin

Ocean View cabins have a standard size of 170 square feet, though some are larger. They sleep from 2-5 people. Most are located on lower decks with round porthole type windows. There are a few on upper decks, at the front of decks 6, 8, & 9. Some of these are the deluxe ocean view cabins with larger rooms.

family veranda cabin

Veranda cabins come in a variety of options. Family veranda staterooms are the biggest at 382-461 square feet and sleep up to 5 people. These cabins have extra-large balconies. The regular veranda sleep 2-4 people.

deluxe balcony cabin with oversized balcony

There are a few deluxe veranda cabins toward the bow of deck 6 that have oversized balconies. There are some deluxe and sunset veranda staterooms at the back of decks 7, 8, & 9 that also have extra large balconies. Standard balcony cabin size is 170 – 208 square feet.

concierge class

Concierge class accommodations come with access to concierges who can help guests with their vacation plans whether that is booking things onboard like spa treatments or specialty restaurants, or excursions for the port stops. Rooms are 251 square feet and have verandas. There’s a special embarkation day lunch just for people booking these rooms.

AquaClass

AquaClass guests have their own private dining room, Blu, which serves healthy style meals. AquaClass accommodations come with access to the Persian Garden thermal suite and a spa concierge in case they want to set up any spa appointments.

aquaclass sky suite

Aquaclass cabins are 271 square feet and all have verandas. These rooms include premium bath products, massaging showerheads, and complimentary fitness classes. Aquaclass sky suites receive both aquaclass and suite amenities.

Celebrity suite

The top tier of rooms is the suite class, called The Retreat, although that name is for the amenities that are included with suites rather than an actual place on the ship. Suite guests have their own restaurant called Luminae, serving upscale food. They also have a private lounge called Michael’s Club, and a private sundeck.

royal suite

There’s a retreat host and concierges as well as stateroom stewards to tend to their every need. The rooms include premium bath products and other amenities. Sky suites are 311 square feet (accessible 423), with a large veranda. Celebrity suites are 587 square feet with separate bedroom and a dining table for 4. The royal suites are bigger yet and have fancy doors.

penthouse suite

The largest suites of all are the penthouse suites at 1432 square feet with a back deck wraparound balcony of 1098 square feet.

door to a penthouse suite

The whole back of deck 6 is taken up by just two penthouse suites. The floors in the hallways by these suites look like marble rather than the usual carpet, though the doors are not as fancy as the ones on the nearby royal suites. Guests in these suites have private butlers. Amenities include complimentary premium beverage packages, unlimited premium dining, complimentary mini-bar stocked daily, and many other things. Furnishings include a baby grand piano.

royal suite door

On our cruise the front section of cabins on deck 7 was closed off with authorized personnel only sign on the door barring entry from the elevator and stairway landing, something new that wasn’t needed in the past but is now – the covid isolation ward! Luckily there were very few covid cases on our cruise so most of those cabins sat empty. Most of the cases onboard are asymptomatic crew who only know they have it because of routine testing rather than people who are feeling sick, though they do ask that anyone who does have symptoms get tested right away so they can be isolated too.

covid isolation ward – do not enter

Whatever cabin guests choose, they are all clean, comfortable, and attended to daily by a stateroom steward who cleans the cabin and replaces used towels twice daily.

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Boston Aquarium

Posted on March 25, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

New England Aquarium in Boston

After we finished touring the Constitution at the end of our walk down the Freedom Trail in Boston we decided to look for the tall ship sailing harbor tour we’d seen when looking online for things to do in Boston. Google said it was at the central wharf and google maps said it was only a mile away so we decided to just walk there rather than look for a subway station. My Garmin watch pegged the distance we traveled at over 2k so the mile was a bit of an underestimate since 1.6k = 1 mile.

aquarium theater and amphibious duck vehicle

When we got there we found a little row of booths for various tours, one being the sailboats we were looking for and another for the amphibious duck tours. We saw a number of the duck vehicles come and go, each painted a different color. A horse-drawn carriage pulled up to the area and some people got in for a ride.

harbor walk

We got there around 3pm, and the last daytime ship had sailed at 2:30. The next one would be the sunset tour leaving at 5:30pm. This one cost less than the earlier tours, but also left us with a chunk of time to fill while we waited. The aquarium happened to be next door and the guy who sold us the sailboat tickets said it was a good one so we went there. On the other side of it we found a sign saying harbor walk, which followed a dock around the aquarium and back to the other side where the boats sailed from. It had views of the harbor on one side, and part of the other side had views of the aquarium’s seals. The actual name of the aquarium is New England Aquarium, but it is located right on a wharf in a touristy area of Boston. People were required to wear masks inside to protect from covid during the time we visited.

stingrays in the touch tank

Inside the aquarium the bottom floor has a touch tank with small rays and some tiny sharks, seals, and penguins. The penguins are all around the central large aquarium, which has a walkway spiraling up to see the fish living at different depths of the ocean.

penguins

A sign listed 3 different types of penguins, and there were some dividers between the different colonies. It also said the penguins wear color tags to identify them, with mated pairs wearing the same color tag as each other. There’s also a marine mammal center on the first level.

fish

As you walk up the path around the center tank there are different levels where you can leave that path and see smaller aquarium displays around the edges of the building. They had fish from a variety of different places. Many from different tropical regions, but also some from areas like the coast of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula.

sea anemones and starfish

Other sea creatures lived in some of the tanks too. Things like coral, seaweed, sea anemones, starfish, lobsters, or sea urchins.

the leafy sea dragon resembles a plant

One tank had leafy sea dragons which resemble seahorses with leafy appendages. Another had very tiny seahorses. There were even some hermit crabs. We did not see any jellyfish or octopus, but the aquarium’s website lists jellyfish as something that they have.

whale skeleton

There was an octopus statue on a railing, but no live ones. No live whales either, but a giant whale skeleton hung down from the ceiling over the penguin habitat. You can book whale watching tours in combination with aquarium tickets.

small turtle

The large central tank had at least a couple giant turtles in it. We saw one swimming in some of the lower levels, and when we got to where you look down into the tank from the top there were two. It is a 40-foot wide 4-story 200,000 gallon tank full of Caribbean reef creatures. One of the turtles is a green sea turtle named Myrtle who has lived there since 1970, but I don’t know if she was one of the turtles we saw. There were also some smaller turtles.

reef exhibit

The aquarium also had a theater, but the movies cost extra and we really didn’t have time to watch any so we didn’t go there. It’s a giant screen theater with a selection of aquatic films lasting just over 20 minutes each.

fish

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Camano Island

Posted on March 18, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

map of Camano Island

One of Washington State’s largest islands at nearly 40 square miles, Camano Island sits north of Seattle in the Possession Sound area of Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and the mainland. A bridge connects Camano Island, which is in Island County to Stanwood on the mainland in Snohomish County. For anyone not local to the area, Puget is pronounced Pew-jet (NOT Pug-et). It derives its name from early explorer Peter Puget. Camano Island is named after far less known Spanish explorer Jacinto Caamaño who explored the west coast from Mexico to Alaska.

Camano Island Inn (internet photo)

Early inhabitants included people from various groups of the Coast Salish tribes. Currently the island is home to 2 state parks and 13 local parks. Both state parks have campgrounds and the island also has Airbnb and other vacation homes as well as 2 inns. Camano Island Inn started life as a boarding house in the late 1800’s. The current inn has 9 guest rooms and a separate beach house. Sea Mist Waterfront Inn is a former family home turned into a 5 guest room BnB. Most of the beaches on the island are on private property, but both state parks are on the beach and there is access at a couple other parks and some other beach areas. Some of the vacation homes come with private beach access.

the beach at Cama Beach State Park

Camano Island is a great place to go for a quiet retreat. Besides beaches it has acres of wooded trails at 2 state and 3 county parks. There are also other things to do on the island besides hiking on the trails, hanging out on the beaches, or enjoying nature and the views. There’s a zipline called Canopy Tours Northwest, a marketplace, a sculpture park, several wineries, a brewery, boat tours, and a couple restaurants. The island also has farms and farmer’s markets.

ancient photo of Tabu in a parade – he’s the smaller of the 2 horses at the front of the photo

The whole island is unincorporated and semi rural, though not nearly as full of wild open land as it was way back when I bought my first horse there when I was just a kid. He was a feisty unbroke dark bay gelding named Tabu. An inexperienced kid training an unbroken horse was not the best idea, but we both eventually learned and he became one of the best riding horses I ever had. He was so tuned in to me I just had to think what I wanted him to do and he’d do it. He would also rear up on his hind legs on cue. Not the best thing to teach a horse, but what can I say, I was a kid.

Cabin on Camano Island

I hadn’t been there in ages, but when looking for a quiet social distance getaway, Camano Island seemed perfect. After all the most isolated places are generally islands, forests, or lonely beaches and Camano Island has all three. It’s also an island you can get to without a boat or plane, which is a bonus when avoiding public transportation.

pond lily at Cranberry Lake in Cama Beach State Park

Like most places over the years Camano Island has seen development. While it’s still a quiet place without a city, what was once mainly wild untamed land has largely given way to large, sometimes manicured yards surrounding permanent or vacation homes instead of acres of undeveloped land. At least in the area of the island where we stayed, but odds are the rest of the island has seen development over the years too. It’s not exactly isolated with a population of over 13,000 – 17,000 (depending on the season) within the island’s nearly 40 square miles of land. It’s still open enough that we didn’t see much traffic or a whole lot of other people during our stay. Even hiking at one of the state parks we only came across a few people.

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Cabins on Symphony of the Seas

Posted on March 11, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Symphony of the Seas

Most cruise ships have interior, oceanview, and balcony staterooms as well as suites. There’s often some variety in amount of people a room accommodates, and a bit of variance in shape or size due to the location of some of the rooms. Suites often come in small, medium, and large varieties. Symphony of the Seas goes well beyond the usual choices, especially when it comes to suites and interior cabins – some of which aren’t closed in by 4 walls the way interior cabins are expected to be. Like on most cruise ships, there are accessible cabins, which are generally larger than the square footage given for standard cabins of that designation.

grand suite

Suites

Suites on Symphony of the Seas come in three Royal Suite Classes – Sea, Sky, and Star. Sea is the lowest suite class with the least amenities, and is the classification for the Junior Suites, their smallest suites. Sky class is the standard suite classification used for the majority of the types of available suites. Star class is for the highest level premium suites like the Ultimate Family Suite and AquaTheater Suites. Some suites have one or more separate bedrooms. All suite level rooms have bathrooms with bathtubs. Some suites have more than one bathroom.

Exclusive suite class services

Sea –dinner at Coastal Kitchen (exclusive suite only restaurant), bathrobes, luxury pillow top mattress, luxury bathroom amenities

Sky – concierge service, all day access to Coastal Kitchen, specialty bottled water on arrival, complimentary internet, priority boarding & departure

Star – exclusive access to Royal Genie (concierge service), all day access to coastal kitchen, complimentary specialty restaurants, complimentary beverage package, complimentary gratuities, complimentary internet, priority boarding & departure

Types of Suites

royal loft suite

Royal Loft Suite – The largest suite on the ship. Two level suite with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, dining and living room areas, and private jacuzzi on the balcony. 1524 sq ft, with a 843 sq ft balcony, sleeps 6.

4 bedroom villa

Villa Suite – 1142 sq ft, balcony 476 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, up to 14 guests. Veranda with private jacuzzi. Sleeps the most people of any cabin on the ship.

ultimate family suite

Ultimate Family Suite – top level two story suite with slide, jacuzzi, air hockey, ping pong, cinema & video game room, 1134 sq ft, balcony 212 sq ft, up to 8 guests. Most colorful suite and most family fun.

Star Loft Suite – Two deck high stateroom with master bedroom and 2 bathrooms, living and dining areas. 722 sq ft, balcony 410, sleeps 4

AquaTheater suite

AquaTheater Suites are available with one or two bedrooms. These are star class with the 2 bedroom suites ranging from 673 – 823 sq ft, with balconies of 610 – 772 sq ft. They sleep up to 8 guests. Besides the 2 bedrooms, they have 2 bathrooms, living room & dining areas, and the wraparound balcony has views of both the ocean and the AquaTheater.

The one-bedroom AquaTheater suites have 1 bathroom, are 604 – 606 sq ft with balconies from 589-631 square feet and sleep up to 4 guests.

owner’s suite

Owner’s Suite – 556 sq ft, balcony 243 sq ft with living room and bedroom areas, 1 bathroom with tub and 2 sinks.

grand suite

Grand Suite comes in 1 or 2 bedroom options.  2 bedroom – 580 sq ft, balcony 238 sq ft up to 8 guests, 2 bathrooms, marble entry, living room area. 1 bedroom – 371 sq feet balcony 105 sq ft, double sink in bathroom, up to 4 guests

crown loft suite

Crown Loft Suite – 2 level urban contemporary style loft suite 545 sq ft, balcony 114 sq ft up to 4 guests, living and dining areas and bathroom on main level, master suite with bathroom with tub on upper level.

junior suite

Junior Suite – glorified balcony room, 284 square feet with 80 sq foot balcony sleeps up to 5.

balcony cabin

Staterooms

Staterooms come as balcony, ocean view, or interior. These cabins all have one bathroom with a shower. Rooms with balconies in the central park and boardwalk areas are on the interior side of the ship, but their balconies are open air because those portions of the ship are open to the outside, Accessible cabins are larger than the square footage listed.

Balcony Staterooms

ocean view balcony

Ocean view balcony cabins come standard or with large balcony. Rooms are  182 sq ft, large balcony is 80 sq ft and standard balcony is 50-52 sq ft. These rooms are located on the outsides of the ship with balconies overlooking the sea. Up to 4 guests.

central park balconies

Central Park View – the balcony overlooks the central park area of the ship, which is open to the sky. 182 sq ft, balcony 52 sq ft

boardwalk balconies

Boardwalk View – although on the interior of the ship, the boardwalk area is open to the sky and at the stern of the ship beyond the AquaTheater. Cabins in this area may be noisy, especially during AquaTheater performances. 182 sq ft, balcony 52 sq ft

Ocean View Staterooms

ocean view

Ocean view staterooms are located on the exterior of the ship and have windows with views of the sea.

Ultra spacious ocean view 271 sq ft up to 6 guests

Ocean View 179 sq ft, up to 4 guests

promenade view interior

Interior Staterooms

There are numerous interior cabin choices on Symphony of the Seas, some with views.

Spacious interior – 260 sq ft, up to 6 guests, bunkroom area, one bathroom. No window, but it is an extra-large cabin.

Central park view interior – 199 sq ft, up to 4 guests, window with view of central park

windows with a view of the Royal Promenade

Promenade View Interior – 194 sq ft, up to 4 guests, bowed windows overlooking the promenade.

interior cabin with virtual balcony

Interior with virtual balcony – 172 sq ft, max 2 guests, no actual window, but real time views of the ocean and destinations on a nearly floor to ceiling high definition screen could make it feel as if there is one.

interior cabin

Interior – 149 sq ft, up to 4 guests, good for cruisers on a budget or day sleepers who want a room without any natural light.

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Celebrity Constellation

Posted on March 4, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Celebrity Constellation in Aruba

Leaving Tampa, it becomes obvious why the ships sailing from that port are of the older, smaller variety. Initially the ship sailed backwards until it came to a wide enough spot in the channel for it to turn around – barely, and the Constellation is not large for a modern cruise ship. It’s a long way from the port to open water through narrow winding channels – and under a bridge that the Constellation barely cleared. Anything taller would not fit under that bridge, nor would a longer ship be able to make that tight turnaround.

metal art above the pool deck

On a ship that holds 2170 of passengers, Constellation set sail with around 700 – and about 900 crew. On this early January 2022 sailing the low number was not all due to covid, though with omicron waging war on the world some of the over 1200 passengers originally booked for this cruise likely did choose to cancel or were required to due to a positive covid test. As for the rest of them, with thousands of flights getting cancelled daily due to storms and lack of flight crews because they were all out sick with covid, quite a lot of people simply couldn’t get to the port. We got lucky in that our scheduled flight was nonstop and went out just an hour and a half late. With that same flight cancelled both the previous and next days, we were very lucky it flew on the day we needed it to.

view nook behind elevators

Constellation had quite a few similarities to Infinity, the one Celebrity ship we have previously sailed on, as they are sister ships of the Millennium class. The layout was slightly different in some areas. For some reason the Constellation felt smaller than Infinity, although it is actually slightly bigger.

stairway art

Like every other ship we’ve ever been on, Constellation had some odd art choices. It had some nice art too. The front stairway had fake plants as the centerpiece on the landing between decks, but not pretty flowers. Mainly weeds, with a lot of levels having dandelions in various stages of budding or blooming. The middle stairway had really odd sculptures, probably ceramic. Mostly they just looked like somebody glazed a big blob of clay, but one had human legs with shoes on the feet sticking out of the middle of a twisted mass. The back stairway had sculptures that each looked as if it were made either by or for a small child, other than the 2 lowest decks which just had jars of marbles. There were also quite a few much larger odd sculptures around the ship, but also some nice things like metal art old sailing ships and dolphins.

it kind of resembles a giant covid virus

Considering we’re in a pandemic, the weirdest art of all was a statue that looked something like a gigantic covid virus with a few bites taken out of it.

What time is it?

Normally there are clocks about the ship, usually at every stairway landing set to ship’s time. On this ship, all the clocks were covered and just said isn’t it time, which was very odd. One can only speculate if some of them didn’t work, or if they just didn’t want to bother to have to change them when the ship sailed from one time zone to another.

solarium pool

One of the best things on this ship is the solarium, which has a pool similar to that which you pay extra for in thermal suites on some lines, but people can use free here. They do have a thermal suite called the Persian Garden, but with just a group ceramic bench, sauna, and steam rooms, it’s nowhere near worth the price they want to use it. Especially since on this cruise even after people paid for the Persian Garden they couldn’t even use it whenever they wanted to. Appointments were required for each use in order to keep the number of people in it at one time low due to covid. The spa had a variety of rooms and treatments available, for a price of course.

main dining room

Dining for most passengers occurs mostly in the main dining room or buffet, but there are a few specialty restaurants where reservations can be booked for an additional cost. Some cabins come with access to smaller dining rooms only open to people booked in those particular cabins. Aqua class has Blu, a healthier eating restaurant. Luminae has an upscale menu for suite guests only. Aqua class also gets to use the thermal suite for free. Suite guests have exclusive access to Michaels Club, which caters to their needs as well as providing bar services.

Cafe el Bacio coffee bar

Shops onboard are mainly luxury items like jewelry, clothing, expensive liquor, and perfume, but they did have a logo shop, some less expensive clothing, and a few sundries. They had some big ship models, but did not have any ship model Christmas tree ornaments, something I like to collect from all the ships I sail on if they have any.

the animated petite chef barbecues a steak on your plate

Premium restaurants on the Constellation are the Italian themed Tuscan Grille, Sushi on Five, and La Petite Chef at Qsine. When we were on the Infinity, Qsine served quite a variety of very imaginative dishes. Though the venue is still called Qsine, the menu now is very limited and the creativity is in the serving, as each dish appears to be made on your plate by a tiny cartoon chef. Besides the dining rooms and buffet, limited menu free food is available at the poolside grill, coffee bar, and cafés in the spa and solarium. The coffee bar and cafés have some items free and some for a fee.

pool deck

Other than pools, hot tubs, a movie screen, and lounging in deck chairs there’s not a lot of free do-it-yourself entertainment, but there is a daily schedule of activities as well as lectures and shows. They have dance classes, and in the evenings dancing at a bar. There’s also a library and various places around the ship where people can sit and read or watch the scenery go by. Mostly bits of furniture in hallways or on the outskirts of bars, but there’s a little nook near the atrium with a bunch of chairs next to windows that is just a semi-hidden sitting area not attached to anything else. There’s also deck chairs outside in a bunch of places other than the main pool deck. And perhaps in an attempt to keep people from spreading towels over all the deck chairs to reserve them for themselves, folded towels are set out on a lot of them, ready and waiting for anyone who comes by to use.

movie screen on the top back deck

Do-it –yourself entertainment that is not free comes in the form of internet, a casino, and a lot of bars. Outside the Mast bar sat above the pool deck, with the pool bar on the pool deck, and the Sunset Bar at the back of the ship behind the buffet. Inside it has the ever-popular Martini and Crush bars centrally located by the grand staircase, the Rondezvous Lounge, which had live music and a dance floor, Cellar Masters wine bar, and bars in the Casino and Reflections Lounge for when those venues are open. It also had Cafe el Bacio coffee bar and gelateria.

a giant glass ceiling sculpture reminded me of either snakes or kelp

With more of the boarding process than ever taken care of online before arriving at the dock, boarding itself goes pretty quickly. Around a month or two before sailing the schedule opens up for people to register and choose a boarding time, with of course the earliest times going to whomever gets that done first other than suite and high loyalty status people who are offered an earlier time than the rest. Lines are set up outside by time slot rather than people waiting inside the port building like they did pre-covid. When the line clears and there’s nobody else waiting at a given time slot then people from the next one will be let through even if it’s not quite their time yet. They did limit how many people they let into the building at a time, so once inside the lines were short and moved quickly, unlike the much longer ones outside. If you aren’t there too far ahead of your assigned time slot the wait isn’t bad, but if you have a late slot and arrive too early it could take quite awhile to make it to the door.

Reflections Lounge

The much-hated muster drill has been replaced by a couple videos to watch in the app and going down on your own to your muster station to get your card scanned. It’s quick and easy. Just takes a few minutes. Hopefully they will continue with the new do-it-yourself muster program even after covid, but I guess that remains to be seen. Easy as it is, there’s always those few people who can’t be bothered to do it so they have to keep making announcements and even call them by name at departure time to get those cards scanned so the ship can set sail.

small cabin with a big balcony

Our cabin was a bit on the small side for a balcony cabin having just room enough for a small sofa rather than a full sized one like some have, but then again I’ve been in balcony cabins on some ships that had no room for a sofa at all so definitely not the smallest one we’ve had. As far as the balcony goes, this one was the biggest at about 2.5 times the usual size. There was just one small row of cabins on each side of deck 6 with these oversized balconies so we were lucky to get one. It’s an older ship and the cabin just had 2 outlets, no USB ports. There were also 2 foreign outlets and they sell plug adaptors in one of the shops so a person could gain a couple extra that way. I brought one that had 3 plugs and a clock with 2 USB ports so for the space of one plug I gained 2 more plug-ins besides the one with the clock plus the 2 USB ports, which made enough for us.

top deck track

The outside promenade deck does not go all the way around. The ship has a tiny topdeck track, which is really just a wide red line painted around the deck above the pool area. One side of that passes over as well as through a smoking area so it’s not really suitable for exercise with that as well as wind, weather, and exposure to the elements. There is a pretty nice gym, but with masks required in there it’s not so easy to exercise. I don’t particularly like treadmills to begin with, and with a mask on I could not run nearly as far or fast as normal. The ship’s internet was not good. After the first few days it was so slow most of the things I needed wouldn’t even open, including my business email. Internet at sea is always notoriously slow, and now that a lot of the ships are going with all-inclusive fares there are more people on it than ever, making it slower yet.

Grand Foyer

At the time the media liked to make a big deal about Covid on cruise ships, ignoring the main population of anywhere. On our ship for example out of over 700 passengers and over 900 crew about halfway through the week there were just 5 cases – none of them badly ill. Two crew and 3 passengers. The crew are tested regularly, and as is usual for crew cases they were asymptomatic. All 5 were put into isolation. That’s less than half a percent of the population onboard, so far better than most anywhere on land. By the end of the cruise it was closer to 1%, so still very few cases. On the ships you know everyone (except very small children, of which there were only 2 on this ship) has been vaccinated and tested, whereas on land they are not. The captain made announcements regularly with updates on medical issues. At the beginning of the cruise it was one of the crew airlifted for appendicitis, later the very few covid cases onboard. There was an area of the ship closed off to all other passengers reserved for isolating people who tested positive from everyone else so they were moved from their original cabins to that area.

SHIP STATS

The Constellation was built in 2002, the last of the Millennium Class. Ship’s registry is in Malta. It has 11 decks with a passenger capacity of 2170, and international crew of up to 999 officers and crew members. Gross tonnage is 90,940, length 965 feet, beam 105.6 feet. The average speed is 24 knots. The ship has 219 inside cabins and 822 outside cabins with balcony or window.

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Dhow Boat Ride in Khasab, Oman

Posted on February 25, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of the Lirica from the dhow

Our cruise from Italy to Dubai on the MSC Lirica had several port stops in Oman, one of them at Khasab. Due to pre-cruise research where everybody on all the websites I could find about cruising to Oman said there was nothing to do in Khasab and recommended booking an excursion, we booked a Dhow boat tour through the ship that included fishing and snorkeling. I like to snorkel and John likes to fish and we both like boats so this excursion seemed perfect for us.

dhow in the Musandam Fjords

Dhow boat tours are a very popular thing to do in Khasab. They sail through the fjords of the Musandam Peninsula, which is where the town of Khasab is located. Whether just taking a scenic tour through the fjords, or one that includes fishing, dolphin spotting, snorkeling, or all three, it’s a fun way to spend a day. Many of the dhows used for these tours are made of wood in an authentic looking style resembling historic boats of that area.

snorkel stop on a dhow cruise

We booked pre-cruise, so it was cheaper than booking on the ship. As it turned out we could have gotten it for less by booking last minute after getting off the ship, but we didn’t know beforehand that this tour or anything else would be available there. People who booked their dhow boat ride last minute at the port had pretty much the same tour as those who had booked through the ship, but on a different boat.

dhow boats at the dock

There were lots of the dhow boats, most similar in appearance so even those who booked through the ship did not all sail on the same boat. Everyone on ours spoke either English or Italian so speakers of other languages went on other boats. At the port there were tours available inside the port building, and even lower priced tours available outside.

at the start of the tour some people walk through the line of boats to their assigned dhow while others settle in after arriving at the right one

Cruise ship excursions often don’t measure up to expectations, or don’t turn out as described, but this one was one of the better excursions we’ve ever done. It was one of the highlights of the entire cruise. From the ship we were led down the road to a row of waiting dhows. Similar to boarding a gondola from a crowded stand in Venice, people walk from one boat to the next until arriving at their assigned craft.

row of dhows at the dock

We had just 11 passengers on our boat, though it could have held more. Which meant everyone had lots of space. Most spoke English, but there were a few Italians. There was also a girl from the ship’s shore excursions department. She said she was from Iran, but she also spoke both English and Italian. She wore shorts and no headscarf, and a regular western style 1-piece bathing suit with a skirt. Most of the women from the ship had long pants or skirts rather than shorts as we had been told to dress conservatively, though at the snorkel stop not everyone with 2-piece bathing suits put t-shirts over them as was recommended since Oman is an Islamic country.

relaxing on deck

The boat had a fairly open deck with a raised edge all the way around. One side sat higher than the other so the deck sloped down toward the low side. It also sloped up at both the bow and stern ends. The deck had Persian carpets covering most of it, and cushions all around the edges for people to sit on.

one of the crew sets up for fishing

The center console near the engine pipe had room for coffee and tea service as well as a platter of fruit and one of dates. They also handed out water at the beginning to anyone who wanted it and soda after we finished snorkeling. The boat had one small restroom, just barely big enough for a small person to change clothes in. Everyone who wanted to snorkel had their swimming suits on under their clothes at the start and most of them just put their clothes back on over their wet suit on the way back. I was one of very few who changed out of their wet things in the tiny bathroom.

double deck dhow

We started our tour by cruising out of the harbor and made a stop for fishing early on. Now and then a different style dhow boat with an upper story and less authentic look went by. There were tour options that just cruised around without the snorkel or fishing stops so perhaps they used that style boat. Ours was made of wood like the traditional boats would have been, but some double decker ones were not.

fishing Oman style

Nobody caught anything at our first stop so we headed into a fjord to try a different fishing hole. Fishing on this tour was done with line wrapped around a little plastic donut thing rather than using a fishing rod. Besides bait and a hook there was a little weight on the end of the line so it would sink when held over the water and allowing the line to spool out. Nobody caught anything at our second fishing stop either so we went to a place where the 2 guys who made up the boat crew said dolphins like to hang out.

dolphins

I spotted the biggest dolphin I have ever seen in my life, but did not have my camera out. It popped out of the water 3 times before disappearing into the depths not to be seen again. Most of the people on our boat missed seeing it. The crew turned the boat around and went back to where the dolphin had been, but the big guy must have swam off because he never showed himself again. Instead we found a pod of about 5 small dolphins, of which the total of all of them probably wouldn’t equal the size of the first one. These popped playfully in and out of the water, sometimes just one, but sometimes all, or one followed by another and then another. The hung out by our boat for awhile so everyone had a chance to see the smaller dolphins.

island at the snorkel stop

Next the boat cruised to into a small inlet that looked like someone either lived on the beach or had set up a pretty elaborate camp there. It appeared like they might drop anchor, but then they seemed to change their minds and instead headed over to an island where a number of other dhow boats were already anchored up with swimmers and snorkelers in the water. Some people wandered around the tiny island, having gone up a stairway from the sea.

dhows anchored up at the snorkel site

Apparently the fish there like bananas. At our snorkel stop some came up to our boat to nibble on banana bits the crew threw into the water for them. Bananas on a boat are considered bad luck for fishing and we did not catch any fish. Maybe we should have used bananas for bait since the fish had no interest in the bait we used.

snorkel self portrait

The crew put a ladder down one side of the boat and people donned their snorkel gear and went in. The deeper water near the boat was pretty murky, but shallow water by the island was clear and had enough structure to support sea life.

spiny sea urchins

There was more life under the water than on the barren rocky desert hills surrounding it. That area had a few small corals, lots of spiny sea urchins, some clams, a giant sea slug, and all sorts of fish.

sergeant majors

We saw lots of the small striped sergeant major fish you see snorkeling in warm waters pretty much anywhere, various bigger fish, and a few smaller ones.

blue fish

There were some pretty blue fish that liked to hang around the anchor, unless any people came nearby. They were a bit shy and swam off quickly when anyone came near. The sergeant majors seem to have no fear of people. You can swim right through a school of them, but the others all tried to make themselves scarce when anyone came around.

lots of fish at the snorkel site

On the way back we made one more short fishing stop with no luck. There were still bananas on the boat, which were not used for bait. This was a great excursion, which made Khasab one of my favorite ports of the entire trip. It was quite relaxing sitting on the pillows on the deck and watching the scenery go by, and I’m always happy for a chance to go snorkeling.

bow of the dhow

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2022

 

Posted in Lirica, Middle East, MSC, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watersports on Symphony of the Seas

Posted on February 18, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Symphony of the Seas in St. Maarten

There’s lots to do on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas. Just watersports alone have quite a variety of activities to choose from.

aqua theater show

The biggest water feature on Symphony of the Seas isn’t actually a sport for the passengers, but rather a show. At the back of the ship a hidden pool surrounded by towering structures creates the venue for a watershow performed several nights during the voyage to give more people a chance to attend since there isn’t seating enough for all the guests to see the show at once.

one of the ship’s pools

In more traditional water activities, the ship has several pools and numerous hot tubs. The pools are out in the open, but even on the pool deck the hot tubs are a bit sheltered with a shade cover. There’s additional hot tubs in the covered adults only solarium area. In addition to standard pools there’s also a beach pool with a gradually sloping edge much like where a beach enters the water. Some of the deck chairs surrounding this pool sit in the shallow water along the pool’s edge.

splash park for small children

For the little ones, there’s a splash park with kid-sized water features and small slides.

hot tub

The ship has 3 waterslides. The blue and yellow slides wind down about 3 decks worth of space together, the main difference between the two in that the yellow one is lighter inside the slide tube while the blue one has portions of total darkness. The third green slide sends people spinning around a bowl-shaped area before going down the last bit of slide.

bowl slide and beach pool

There are also two flowriders onboard. Some flowrider sessions are for boogie boarding, with instructions provided for beginners on both how to use it and how to wipeout without getting injured should a wipeout happen. Some sessions use surfboards instead, of which some are for advanced surfers only.

flow rider

Barbara and I tried the boogie boarding. I’d done it once before on a prior Royal Caribbean cruise, but it’s been awhile so I listened to the first timer instructions and assumed I’d probably wipe out, but never did. Barbara had actually never done it before, but performed like a pro never wiping out even when she tried to. Unlike one of the guys there at the same time we were who did not follow instructions and wiped out multiple times each turn. Barbara even went up on her knees, but due to an old knee injury I can’t do that because my knee can’t handle it. At the end of the cruise they have a flow show on the flowrider, which is a lot of fun to watch, but we were busy doing other things and didn’t make it to the flow show on Symphony.

the big purple slides snaking down the back of the ship are not waterslides

Before sailing on Symphony of the Seas I had always thought the 10-deck slides at the back of the ship were waterslides, but they are actually dry slides where you go down on a mat. Those 10 decks go by pretty fast and even without water the slides are fun.

2 of the ship’s 3 waterslides

Since our cruise on Symphony of the Seas was in the Caribbean, it was nice to have a variety of ways to enjoy water while onboard.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2022
Posted in Royal Caribbean, Symphony of the Seas | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gluten Free Orange Cinnamon Rolls

Posted on February 11, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger
gluten free orange cinnamon roll

Dough

1 packet quick rise yeast

½ cup warm water

Zest of one orange (you need a second orange for the filling & frosting)

½ cup orange juice (preferably fresh squeezed, but you can fill in with other orange juice if you don’t have enough)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 ¼ cups 1-1 gluten free flour (I used Namaste perfect flour blend)

2 teaspoons baking powder

Filling

3 tablespoons melted butter

½ tablespoon orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ cup granulated sugar

Glaze

1 ½ tablespoons orange juice

Remaining zest not used in filling

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

fresh from the oven

Directions

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar and let sit 1 minute. Add orange zest, orange juice, remaining sugar, salt, egg, melted butter, baking powder, and 1 cup flour. Beat with mixer on low until well blended, add the rest of the flour and beat until thoroughly mixed. Move dough to greased bowl and use rubber spatula to carefully make dough into a ball without squishing or compressing it. Dough will be sticky. Roll it over so the other side gets a bit of butter on it too. 

Turn dough out onto floured parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on top. Use a rolling pin to carefully roll it into a rectangle without putting any more pressure on dough than necessary or squishing it any flatter than the final thickness. Keep it at least ¼ inch thick.

Mix melted butter for filling with orange juice and zest. Spread evenly over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the butter. Roll into cinnamon roll shape by rolling dough up across the long side, using the parchment paper to carefully roll it up a bit, then peel the paper back before rolling then next bit.

Grease the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish or line with parchment paper. Use a piece of thread to cut the dough into 1-inch pieces by placing middle of a length of thread under the dough and then crossing the two ends over the top and pulling them away from each other until the thread passes completely through the dough. That is how to neatly and evenly cut bread dough without squishing or smashing it. Shake or brush any excess flour off each roll before placing it in the pan. Cover it with a dish towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until golden brown, about 30-35 minutes

Beat all glaze ingredients together in small bowl. Add more powdered sugar or orange juice as necessary to reach desired consistency. Spread over hot rolls.

frosted and ready to eat

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2022

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The Ever-Changing Itinerary

Posted on February 4, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Celebrity Constellation

In spite of omicron flaring up, our January cruise on Celebrity Constellation out of Tampa did sail. Itineraries are pretty fluid these days. When we first booked the cruise it went to Key West, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, and Grand Cayman. Later we got a notice saying it was only going to the 3 ABC ports with an overnight in Curacao. The last notification before sailing dropped the overnight and added a stop in Costa Maya. Of course once you get on a ship there is no guarantee these days if it will actually stop at all the scheduled ports or even sail the full length of the cruise as some ships have been denied entry and others turned back due to covid. Not that there was ever a guarantee the ship would make every port as weather or emergencies among passengers or crew have sometimes cancelled port stops long before covid ever existed.

pool deck on the Constellation

Much as the news likes to make cruising sound unsafe and full of sickness, since passengers are generally required to be vaccinated and tested before boarding and crew are all vaccinated and tested regularly in some areas you are probably more likely to run into somebody with covid at the local grocery store. The cases onboard are usually mild or asymptomatic and most likely among the crew since they are tested on a regular basis whether they show any symptoms or not.

near the end of the cruise our steward made a different towel animal each day

We were very lucky in getting to our cruise on the Constellation. At the time flights were getting cancelled frequently, in fact the same flight as ours from Seattle to Tampa was cancelled both the day before and the day after our flight, so we were extremely lucky that ours was just an hour and a half late. People could count themselves lucky if their flight flew at all between cancellations for de-icing planes not keeping up to the number of planes needing de-icing and cancellations due to not enough crew to man the flight because they were all out sick with covid.

empty buffet tables were plentiful

Not everyone made it though. The ship left Tampa with just 700 passengers onboard – and over 900 crew. They expected more than 1200 passengers that sailing, and the ship can carry over 2000. Some likely cancelled in advance for fear of covid, some for a positive pre-cruise covid test, and the rest couldn’t get a flight that actually flew. Our backup plan was to fly to Orlando if we couldn’t get to Tampa and hope to score a rental car as those are scarce these days as well. Or uber it if we had to. Luckily our scheduled flight got us there and we didn’t have to worry about alternatives.

Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas (internet photo)

On day 5 of our 11-day cruise on Celebrity Constellation, we got word that our 7-day cruise on Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas, which we were to board the day after the Celebrity cruise ended, had been cancelled. We went down to the future cruise desk thinking that they would be happy to make some sort of a deal to keep people who were already there onboard for the next cruise since a lot of other passengers would not likely show up, but the best deal they came up with was the internet price from their own website, which was nearly double the price anyone could go online and book at Vacations To Go. I guess they would rather the rooms sit empty and make nothing on them than give somebody who was already there a good deal and make something. Which seems pretty stupid because besides making nothing on the room, that’s less tips the crew makes and less money spent onboard for other things so they lost all around.

cactus fences are popular in Bonaire to keep out feral donkeys

When we originally booked the two cruises, other than starting and ending in Tampa, neither went to any of the same places and both had one port we’d never been to. Bonaire on the Celebrity one, and I can’t remember where on Royal because it got cut from the itinerary before I printed out the schedule. The final itinerary for that one was Cozumel Mexico, Roatan Honduras, Belize City Belize, and Costa Maya Mexico. All places we have been and Costa Maya would have been a repeat from the Celebrity Cruise, but I was really looking forward to the totally awesome sounding zipline course we had booked an excursion to in Roatan. You can’t count on a cruise these days until it sails, or a port until you actually get there and make it off the ship.

flamingos at the cruise port in Costa Maya

Vacations have to be flexible these days, as the itinerary can change even in the middle of it, by a lot more than just a missed port as is always a possibility on a cruise.

grand foyer on the Constellation

We had a hotel booked in Tampa for what was supposed to be the one night between the two cruises. We’d picked one with guest laundry so we could wash all our clothes between cruises since neither ship had one. The plans for that day had been laundry and covid tests for the next cruise. As it turned out they had free covid tests on the dock for any disembarking guests from the Constellation who wanted one. Assuming those gave you some sort of proof of the results, if the next cruise hadn’t been cancelled we’d have just done the test there before we left the dock instead of the online thing, though we had packed the tests you buy from the cruiseline with plans to take them at the hotel.

roller coaster at Busch Gardens

With the second cruise cancelled neither of those things was necessary. We still spent the night at the hotel because our new flight home wasn’t until the next morning. After checking in we spent the day at Busch Gardens, which was just across the street.

flowers at Busch Gardens

We took covid tests after we got home and were both negative. Covid hadn’t really been much of a problem during our sailing on the Constellation. There weren’t any cases until about halfway through, then it was just 5 people who were sent to isolation. By the end it was close to 1%, which is probably far less than in the general population, especially since a lot of the cases on ships are asymptomatic crew who would never even know they had it if they weren’t required to be tested on a regular basis, which of course the general population on land is not so a lot of people don’t even know they have it.

at sea view from our balcony on the Constellation

Our options for the cancelled cruise were either a 100% refund or a 125% credit toward a future cruise. We took the credit and booked a cruise for next fall on Royal’s new ship Wonder of the Seas, due to launch in March and take over from Symphony of the Seas as the world’s largest cruise ship. Fingers crossed that one sails – preferably half full or less like the last 2 I’ve taken. It’s really nice when there’s not nearly the amount of people a ship holds so you can always get a deck chair, theater seat, or table at the buffet. Not to mention no lines or crowds anywhere onboard.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2022
Posted in Celebrity, Constellation, Royal Caribbean | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Yu Garden in Shanghai, China

Posted on January 28, 2022 by LBcruiseshipblogger

temple building in the garden area at Yu Garden

Not far from each other, and fairly close to the Bund on Huaihui Road, sit Yu Garden and Yuyuan Garden. The bus tour map of Shanghai that we had showed Yu Garden and our other tourist map that showed the subway stations showed Yuyuan Garden. Google Maps showed both. The ship’s explore on your own lecturer on the Holland America Westerdam mentioned Yuyuan Garden in his talk on sights to see in Shanghai, but the description he gave of it actually fit Yu Garden.

funny sign at Yuyuan Garden – people letting their kids pee on the plants must be an issue there

We found Yuyuan Garden first since that was the one we were looking for from the talk on the ship. It turned out to be a small park with a couple pathways through some greenery rather than the 5-acre garden with lots of markets and old-style architecture we expected, though we did pass through some local markets in old Chinese style buildings on the way there. Yuyuan Garden had lots of plants and some funny signs about not peeing on the plants. In China they don’t use diapers and have a tendency to just let little kids pee whenever and wherever they are when they need to go. (Such as in a garbage can at a restaurant right at their table while everyone else was eating – yes, we saw someone let their little boy do that even though there was a restroom nearby.)

one of the old-style buildings in Shanghai

After finding Yuyuan Garden and consulting the map we headed back in the direction we had come from toward Yu Garden. Along the way we passed through an area of beautiful buildings in old Chinese style.

Shanghai is full of scooters

There were lots of scooters near those shops. There are scooters all over in Shanghai, and some of the drivers pay no attention to any sort of traffic laws or rules. They ride with or against the traffic among the cars, and through the crosswalks while they are full of people. These are mostly electric scooters and often at night they ride with no lights so their batteries will last longer. Sometimes parked scooters take up the whole sidewalk so people have to walk in the street.

shops at Yu Garden

After walking down the road through those buildings for a bit we found what would be called China Town if we weren’t already in China. The place that looked like China Town was the markets of Yu Garden, on the grounds of what was once quite a large temple complex. There was foot traffic only between the buildings there so no cars or crazy scooter drivers to contend with.

Chinese Food

The market is made up of all sorts of old temple buildings and it is free to walk through the market area unless of course if you buy anything. All sorts of things are for sale there with a variety of food, souvenirs, clothes, toys, shoes, art, jewelry, and more.

jewelry makers at work

A little restaurant had one guy making potato noodles and another making walnut cakes right in the front window. A jewelry store had several jewelry makers out front busy at their craft. Most of the stores just had merchandise and salespeople.

bridge and coy pond

A sort of central area had a large coy pond, which also had swans swimming around on it. Pathways across the pond were quite a popular attraction, and the fish would swarm to the surface if anyone fed them anything.

swans

The pathways over the pond are the star of the free area of Yu Garden. The pond is full of coy of varying sizes and if anyone feeds them they are literally on top of each other and often sticking their heads out of the water trying to get the food. Some of them are huge. We also saw three white geese swimming around one section of the pond.

doorway in the garden area of Yu Garden

Yu Garden does actually have a garden, but you have to pay extra to walk through it. There are more stone pathways, rockeries, water features, and buildings than plants and not really any open green space, but it is nice to walk through and has a lot to see.

window on one of the buildings in the garden area

The buildings in the garden area are smaller than the ones in the free area, and none of them are shops. They had intricate detailing in the architecture as well as in the carvings, statues, or other artwork. The pathways there are smaller too.

sidewalk in Yu Garden

Even one of the pathways had decorative artwork.

one of the bridges in the garden area

A few of the pathways are the original uneven stone, worn slick and smooth from centuries of feet passing over them. Most of the pathways are not quite that old, therefore more even and easier to walk on. Some even appear quite new. Some passed through a pond as raised bridges.

these fish want food

Fish in the garden pond swarmed to anyone with food just like the fish out in the market area pond did.

there weren’t a lot of flowers at Yu Garden, but it had some

The garden area had bridges between buildings and some crossing between pathways. We found a flower garden near one of the bridges on the pathway to a small temple.

little temple in the garden

This little temple was open to look into, but not to go inside.

rockery garden

A lot of the original pathways are blocked off to keep them preserved in their current state, including all those running through a rockery. You can view these areas, but not walk through them. 

pond between shops in the free area at Yu Garden

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2022
Posted in China, Holland America, Port Cities, Westerdam | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments