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Cellpic Sunday – Our Chariot to Exotic Places Awaits

The Norwegian Escape.

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

As usual, I am writing my posts in advance, so I can never be truly sure when I write things like, “Today we are boarding the Norwegian Breakaway at New Orleans.” Being the positive person I am, that is my story for now, anyway. For the rest of this post, I will write in the present tense as if it were February 4, 2024, even though the present hasn’t yet happened. >grin<

Today is boarding day in New Orleans. It is a new port for us as our travels have brought us from January in North Carolina and in mid-February, we will be in Scottsdale Arizona for the rest of the winter. We decided that sailing out of Florida would add extra driving time, besides, it’s been a long time since I was in New Orleans to explore the city.

On this day one year ago, we left the Norwegian Escape as we finished our Caribbean cruise. Today we begin our Western Caribbean cruise with stops in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. We are departing on our tenth cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). We like the vibes on NCL, especially their freestyle dining program which is similar to restaurants on land. The only other ocean-going cruise line we’ve experienced is Carnival. They have also adopted a Dine Anytime program, but they also keep their scheduled dining program in effect so on our few cruises with Carnival, the wait times for their Dine Anytime program seem excessive. We keep thinking that we should try Royal Caribbean or Princess, but in the end, we usually find a cruise on NCL we like. This fall we will try Holland America as it turned out they were the only line that could meet our schedule and destination goal. If you’ve had experience with Holland America, I’d be interested to read your comments.

About the photo: On our excursion in Puerto Plata, we caught a glimpse of the Norwegian Escape docked and awaiting our return. It was only the second day of our cruise and our first visit to the Dominican Republic. Among our goals for the excursion was a short trip to visit the Fortaleza de San Felipe which is located very near the old lighthouse I featured a couple of Cellpic Sundays ago. From the grounds on the fort, our cruise ship was framed by the plants growing near the shore. The natural frame focused on the Escape and another ship, from Virgin Cruises, that happened to be in port on the same day.

I captured this image with my Samsung S20U, imported it into Adobe Lightroom Classic, tweaked the crop, and sent it off to Luminar Neo for Enhanced AI and then I raised the exposure and smart contrast ever so slightly. Click on the image above to view it in 2K HD via my Flickr site.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

80 comments

    • So far, so good. After a rainy Saturday, today looks beautiful, if a bit cool. In about an hour, I take our car to the parking spot and then walk back to the hotel to Uber to the cruise terminal in about three hours. Fingers crossed for no issues at check-in. >grin<

      Reply

  15. John, we are visiting those exact ports of call on Oceania Vista next month. Based on research, we are not expecting much from excursions, and thankfully, this cruise is more about relaxing on the ship and less about the destinations for us. As for destinations, Holland America is a great choice. Their ships don’t have all the bells and whistles of the bigger ships, they tend to cater to an older, well-traveled crowd, entertainment is adequate but never ‘great,’ the dining room food and service is consistently good and the staff is attentive and appear to be well-trained. It isn’t stodgy, but it is understated. Curious to hear what you think of Belize and what you plan to do there. Happy travels.

    Reply

    • Thanks for the heads up on Holland America. We are looking forward to checking them out.
      We are doing the Monkey River Eco tour in Belize. The last two times we were there, we did a Mayan ruins tour, and the next visit, we did a jungle cruise. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find ourselves on the same basic river tour this time, but named differently. >grin<

      Reply

  17. My ex and I took a cruise on the Carnival line a few years ago that hit the west side of Mexico. It was a fun cruise and I remember the dining area being open what seemed like 24 hours a day. Yum! We left from Long Beach.

    Reply

      • That sounds great, John! The ship was really crowded, and the children running everywhere as fast as they could it seems. I saw a TV ad for a cruiseline that offers adult-only cruises, nice!!

  26. Have fun on the cruise! We enjoy cruising as well! We sail with Princess.
    All my blog posts are filled with cell phone pictures. Those phones take darn good photos. I’ll have to remember to link to you.
    Happy Sailing!

    Reply

  32. Our Scottsdale clouds look much the same, John. They should be cleared up by the time you get back from the exotic. We’re getting things all ready for you. Can’t wait to see you! 🙂

    Reply

  33. Wonderful image of your cruise line, John! I’m joining you tomorrow with a few shots of Antelope Canyon (again) taken with my cellphone, for Wordless Wednesday. I bet you’re getting excited to visit Scottsdale this month 🙂

    Reply

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