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Well I am starting to get into the cruise mode, yesterday with all the issues, the late sail and some work related issues I was not there yet , took me a while J There is something very special in the moment you get from the gangway to the ship , I love that feeling. During the morning I found out the VB to work fine just the sky looked gray, which is ok as we did not planned anything for the sundeck yet. The room itself although small is big enough for two people with tons of storage, we came with two big suitcase (after all we packed for 18 vacation days) and after unpacking we still have free space, I like the way they utilized the room, The suitcases where nicely shoved under the bad and we are glad we don’t need to see them for the next 9 days. This is our first time to be in inside cabin , I thought I might feel it to be claustrophobic but no ;its just fine and open more opportunities for us in the future not to rollout this option. When I woke up today I saw it was already 8:30 , so, although feeling still tired I went to the bathroom to prepare for the day (we had the meet and mingle at 9:30 AM ) lucky for me I took a look at the laptop which indicated it is 4:30 AM … I asked uncle Google for the time in Hong Kong and it concurred indeed it was 4:30. I found out that my cell phone which I did not moved to flight mode (big mistake) connected to the Verizon service that moved the clock to EST. Since I am wearing a smart watch (dumb watch in this case) it was synchronized with the same time which was 8:30 PM … basic beginner mistake. Luckily for me I did not tried to wake up my spouse, that could have been a disaster J. After waking up again (normal time) I took something quick to eat at the promenade café and went to the meet and mingle meeting (my better half still slept) that was 9:30 am (who do such meetings in the middle of the night on a sea day) ? There where around 25 people in the meeting and RC did the usual raffle so I figure almost 50% got something, I was not at that 50% but it was still nice. Beside the regular small notepad gift they also gave everyone a folding shopping bag with RC logo, I actually found it to be very useful. For Lunch (and breakfast for some people) we went to the Windjammer that was packed. it took us around 15 minutes to find a table at the end we just joined some other people, typical sea day J. As the wind was very strong the upper deck was closed also in the lower deck it was not that easy to walk, the pool by the way turn into a wave pool, who said there is not a water park on the Voyager of the seas. We browsed the ship for a while to see where is everything, I am very happy to tell you that I saw the famous park café sandwiches served in the promenaded café. One thing was very clear, there were many queues on the ship , queues to the shore excoriation (which might indicate that many are not using the site to pre order it) the queues started almost on the other side of the promenaded. Queues to the guest service were also exist for the all day, Maybe since we sailed late people did not had time to complain yesterday and queues to the MDR. With all the different queues I heard people suggest to rename the ship to Queues of seas. For dinner we went to the MDR , it was ok , slow but food was fine. I think we will visit the Windjammer more. Tomorrow we are in Taiwan and we have early shore excursion

FYI...Thanks to the daily checking of my cruise planner , I noticed that the drink package for our sailing (Anthem-March 9, 2018) is down to $43/day. It was at $55/day yesterday still. I decided to jump on it and not wait for the Black Friday sale that may or may not come. Anyway, I called RC because like some of you have mentioned, I needed an exemption because my husband does not drink due to medical reason. Thought this was going to be easy from the comments I read over the last few days... The agent I spoke to refused to exempt my husband. He said the only way it would work is if I purchased the deluxe but he would at least have to purchase the refreshment package. Thank goodness for the blog @Matt did a few days ago along with whoever provided a copy of that email because again I had to speak to a supervisor and quote the email directly. In the end it all worked out but it was not as smooth sailing for me as it was for others.

Day 3 Port day. Kaohsiung Taiwan: After a nice first sea day we finally arrive to our first stop at Kaohsiung , we got to the port around 7 AM and I Started to get organized as we had our shore excursions To avoid the rush hour of the buffet on a port day I went up and grab a plate to bring down to my spouse and me, our room is actually just one deck directly below the Windjammer so it makes live easier. After the quick breakfast we rushed to the excursion (thank you WAAYATOO) meeting point , it was 8:15 which was the time the meeting should tool place ,when arrived we have been told to catch the bus outside so we went out pass the immigration very quick (as the passport still with the ship we got yesterday a stamp photocopy of our passport, that was why RC asked everyone to bring a photocopy with them). As usual not everyone arrived on time so we were waiting for people on the bus until 9 AM ,maybe this is the punishment for people who come when they are being told too (that and also my spouse saying to me , told you so ,we should not have rushed J ) The excursions was for the Buddha temple complex in the city of Fo Guang Shna , I choose this one as the city of Kaohsiung is mainly industrial city and not much to see. The drive to the temple complex tool around one hour, each participate got bottle of water on the bus which was nice has it was a very hot humid day. The complex is spitted to two different areas, the first is where the monks are leaving and learning, it also contain a huge temple with three golden Buddha’s (sorry no photo were allowed inside the temple but here is the standing Buddha from the parking area). The second one is the more modern area which has a 360 foot Buddha statue and many pagodas tower. I found the second part to be very immersive although tending to more commercial, in the entrance there is something that look like a mall , it even contain a Starbucks (well maybe they sell there an holly tea , did not check). Although there were allot of people around the place is huge and it was very quiet and e feeling of serenity was surrounding us (and not the serenity now kind) , I really enjoy it, just sorry we could not stay there some extra time We were doing our way back around 12 PM as it was half day tour. By the way in the port there was an ATM machine and money changer, beside that there weren’t any other services. The way back to the ship was very fast without any queues or delays , nothing like to come back from the very warm day to the air-condition of the ship , love it. For lunch we did our way to the buffet, this time it was not as busy as yesterday and the food was excellent, again I was eating too much. After a very required rest we went to see the headliner show which presented a vocal group name “Dream Zone” they were performing different songs with the ship band which was entertaining. Tomorrow sea day ,

First I would like to apologize ahead of time for some English spelling /grammar error I might do during this blog (and I will, promise you) as English not my first language. After the excuses, I can start, I am going to write this live blog which will cover a south Asia cruise since first I did not found too many blogs over this area and second I want to give something back to this wonderful site which I found to be very helpful , entertaining and most important very positive (comparing to many other site (which its name would not be spoken) that I found focusing on complains). The cruise which we are going to attend is 10 (well almost 10 ,I will explain shortly) days cruise from Honk Kong to Singapore on the Voyager of the seas. Here is the itinerary: 08 - October Hong Kong 11:59 PM 09-October Cruising 10-October Kaohsiung, Taiwan 11-October Cruising 12-October Cruising 13-Octover Nah Trang , Vietnam 14-October Hue/Danang , Vietnam 15-October Cruising 16- October Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam 17-October Cruising As you can see the embarkation is to 23:59 as the ship will arrive (without passenger) from mainland China. Now I hope that we will really set sail at the designated time and the 11:59 PM is not just so RLC will not need to change the name of the cruise to 9 days Hong Kong to Singapore … One can ask himself why I am starting this live blog a week before the start date ? well I have two good answers: 1. For me starting this blog now it also a commitment that I will need to update it and planning is almost 50% of the fun in cruises (quoting better than me) 2. We are actually starting the vacation few days before by flying first to Thailand and to be able and catch this flight I first need to come back from a business trip. For some reasons like the fact that my work colleges ask nicely, the customer insist and the most important somehow I need to pay for the cruises I found myself in this business trip which will finish few hours before my vacation starts. There is just a small problem, while the vacation starts in Thailand the business trip is to one of the south American countries which its name will not be reveled but let’s just say they have very good ceviche’s, they really like Llamas/Alpacas and if you will tell them that the original Pisco sour was invited in Chile they can get very offended. The plan itself is very simple (at least that is what I tried to convince myself with) , I finish what I need to finish , start to fly around the world with some connections, land at night at my home town just to take the vacation flight 5.5 hours later. I do hide one card in my sleeve, the same aircraft which will I take for my last connection is exactly the one I am going to take for my vacation (yes another connection) so if the last connection will be delayed also the next flight will. So you see it is very solid plan (it’s not) which I covered any problem that may pop (I did not) but hey, it makes live more interesting and if I will make it on time a very good story to tell. I have also created plan B if I will miss one of the connection and this is mainly to cry to my travel agent and beg her to find me an alternative route (One must love plan B) Now, you might ask why not to save some time and instead of flying to my home town and back to the connection point just stay at the connection airport and go from there (after meeting my belter half) ? Well apparently the gods of the airlines will not let you do something which actually make sense, you see I booked my vacation flights using award miles and while I could find the flights starting from my hometown going via the connection airport I could not find the same flight going directly from the connection airport plus if I would find it would cost more miles. I gave up on trying and understand the way the airlines works, so here we are. The good news is while I am written this I am already started my trip back , so currently I am in the airline lounge waiting for my next connection which appear to be on time. I promise to continue and update. For now , just so it will not be too boring I am adding pictures for one of the main reason I agreed to take the business trip:

Don't really know for that one but someone else might have a better idea. All I can tell you is that for our last cruise on Harmony it was $55 then for Black Friday it went 30%off and then it went to $46 and stayed like that until sailing. Perhaps it depends how well the packages are selling on a particular sailing? But I am big on FOMO so once it see it I don't think about it for long lol.

That may have been my email I forwarded to Matt. I imagine its hard to get the word out and have all agents understand unique things like exemptions to brand new policy. Good feedback.

My friends already know if I've given them information they can trust it. This makes me the one who does all the pre work for my trips but I know it's appreciated...and I'm doing it regardless of whether or not I'm assigned to the research.

DITTO!!

And no, no known cure

I would also recommend asking to speak with the chef when in the Windjammer. Not only will he be able to point out the lower fat options, he may offer to make something, like a piece of grilled chicken for her in the kitchen.

Thank you all so much! So much to digest here. I am absolutely going to try out the airfare sites that have been recommended. I hadnt heard of most of them. I have only been looking on the airline sites and sites like travelocity and expedia. The search is on! I feel like a novice traveler because I have checked airfare from local airports in my area (providence, ri & manchester, nh) but for some reason I never thought to expand the airport search in florida. I am going to to work that into my planning. This week using the suggestions here I am going to look into our next trip for the Spring (push it out from feb/march to april/may) and see how I do. Skip a massage in the spa @ Thanksgiving to spend some $ in the casino towards those rates. Glad to learn I am not cheap and also I learned that I need to put in more research and effort in vacation planning. That doesnt hardly seem to be like hard work to me!!

Not having to choke down a drink that tastes like bath water because you paid $12 for it is always a plus :)

I definitely can't let my wife view this thread. She'd want to stay in the suite just for the purple card.

Not really sure it "forces" one to drink more. It's really a question of your mindset. I bought the package and already am of the mind that I will probably lose money on the deal. However, I know if I hadn't spent the money now when I can be done with it and have it out of my budget, then on the trip my penny-pinching mindset would have scrutinized every drink I bought. Now I can drink whatever, whenever I want and not think twice about the payment. a weird way to think of it in the long run I know, but it works for me! Same thing with the balcony. It's my first cruise and most of the shows / night clubs just don't sound all that appealing. It is comforting to know that should I find myself not in the mood for "partying" in the evening I always know I have a bottle of wine, a cribbage board, my wife, and a balcony waiting on the 8th deck

Along these lines, consider other airports in Florida. Orlando, Tampa, Daytona, and Fort Myers are all easily driveable to the cruise ports.

If you don’t already gamble in the casino, you could start there. The casino rates would assist you in taking your vacation to the next level. Spending so much time in the casino “might” nix your spa plans exc in favor of giving them your money but the payout could be decent in terms of discounts. We normally cruise 3-4 times per year and since I started playing in the casino the Suites have been more within reach even on the Oasis Class ships. Good luck.

I use kayak.com for flight purposes. They offer purchase advice (wait, buy now, etc) as well as fare alerts. I find if you book airfare too far out prices are high as airlines don't know if fuel prices will rise so they hedge and keep fares high. At the 2-3 month mark they have a better understanding and begin to become competitive. I understand the appeal of driving, something that will never happen for me in Denver but I often make it to South Florida for under or around $400. Consider Southwest too, if they are convenient for you as they can have some cheap fares far out and include checked bags so no additional fees. Fortunately Anthem of the Seas has some variety in itineraries if you can deal with the North Atlantic seas for the 1st couple sea days. As far as cabins, book what works for you. I've been lucky to enjoy suites but have also gone back to inside cabins on the next cruise and had an equally great time.

Also, going winter to early spring is peak season. Everything is more expensive. Consider the fall and you can do better.

Honestly, it's mostly about spending more money. Not doing so doesn't make you cheap. There are good deals every now and then, but you have to be prepared to AT MINIMUM blow your budget on the cabin alone. These high end cabins are generally close to your budget PER PERSON. However, every now and then can be much cheaper than that, but still likely over your budget for two people. If you REALLY want to do it, then you can cancel one trip and make the next one a HUGE blow out trip. But I don't recommend you do that. I recommend you keep doing what you're doing. One day you may realize you have extra disposable income and slowly step it all up. But one thing about flights. I think you CAN do better than that. I can generally fly to Florida for less than $200 per flight, or less than $800 total for two. I'm out of Newark and, while Boston may be more expensive, I don't think it's so much more expensive. Are you working with a TA? They can probably help you get more economical options.

I don't think you're complaining...I get it. You work hard, your budget sounds good, things are just expensive. You don't sound cheap. For airfare I check daily, I'm also type A. I do a ton of research. I travel a few times a year to visit a friend for the last few years so I'm always on multiple sites for flights. I research for months before I commit. I love Kayak but there are a few good sites for airfare. I switched to a TA (also MEI) after I booked but still check the RC site.

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum ;) I would pay you not to let me have internet access, I know that absent a 90% off special I am not going to buy the drink package, so the only thing I am going to be doing in cruise planner is shore excursions ... log in one time, book them if I am planning to do any through Royal and then done until the cruise.

Have you looked at Manchester or Providence for flights? I fly out of Manchester all the time and 99% of the time it's cheaper than Boston. Are you checking multiple airlines? I just booked flights to ft Lauderdale for this December 2 adults round trip on southwest was $500.

Oh and Skyscanner is a pretty decent site to comapre airfare.

We've been cruising since 2002 and have always chosen superior ocean view balcony staterooms and we were always happy with that. As you mentioned, after reading so much on here about suites and sky class I got curious. For our last cruise on Harmony last month we started off with our balcony cabin once again. Then I watched prices and checked almost daily (type a personality). Few months later we upgraded to a JS and then a month before the cruise the price dropped a lot on a GS and we grabbed it. We ended up getting it for under $5000 for 2 people. Not sure if that was a good deal or not in the grand scheme of things but after watching prices for over a year on that sailing it was the lowest I saw it go. Because I am a teacher I am limited as to when I can cruise so we usually stick to summer cruising. I wish I could take advantage of the lower prices from September-early December. Fair warning though. Once you go up it is hard to come back down. And I agree we are all fortunate to be able to cruise but sky class did not disappoint. Now we are booked on Anthem for March and I am watching prices once again. What I am curious about is if there are good tips out there for getting a deal in star class? See what I mean, once you go up hard to come down lol. No tips on airfare. I live in Ontario, Canada and always fly out of Detroit, MI. I just accept the fact the it will cost us about $1500 (for 4) to fly anywhere in Florida. I have decided that we will stay as loyal as we can to Delta to collect our sky miles and hopefully save a bit that way on airfare down the road. As for the TA question I know many here will disagree with me but after many cruises with RC I feel better dealing with them directly. I tried the TA route several times and found that I did not like having to go through them every time I wanted to change something and they could not save me enough money to make me want to give up control over my reservation. And yes I am a control freak. So I am back to just booking directly with RC.

Air fare is killer but even during March spring break I have paid at most 550 round trip out of Chicago to south Florida. Have you tried looking at mayrix.itasoftware.com? It will give you all the combinations and prices to check. Also try checking into orlando...port Canaveral is an easy shuttle from there. I handle my own airfare...i haven't found the travel agents where I was to be helpful on that. I have just switched to mei travel (who sponsor this site) and sharla has been great so far. In terms of ships and rooms, there are people with way more experience. I can definitely say you will get more bang for your buck and more cabin for your money if you go on an older or smaller ship. I know freedom was a steal for next spring break. I personally would rather cruise 2x on a smaller cabin than 1x with a huge suite but I'd love to try one someday! Goodluck...i know people here will give you tons of advice but i would definitely search cheaper airfare... it's out there! Jane

Just remind your waiter at the MDR if she does put it in her preferences. I used it for my last cruise (for gluten issues) and my waiter was not informed. I told him and he was very helpful from there on. I've heard that the info doesn't always make it to the MDR but it's still important to indicate for the ship's information. I feel like I remember low fat options on the MDR menu but I don't have anything to back it up. I think she'll be fine if she is aware of what she shouldn't eat to begin with.

Day -3 (or Maybe -2, I lost the count sorry) Bangkok Today Was another full day in Bangkok , since we (silly us) believed the forecast which indicate rain during the two and half day in Bangkok we really did not planned something special. We woke up around 9 AM (jet leg …) and went to grab something to eat at the breakfast buffet. The buffet was full with western dishes side by side to many oriental dishes, actually with the type of food served it could easily be also a lunch buffet. I mainly loved the fruit stand where they cut different fresh fruits in front of you, in general Thailand is a haven for fruit lovers, and at any corner of the street you will find a fruit stand serving fresh cut fruit inside nylon bags with small forks to eat it. The food in Bangkok is so good and the verity is endless, from western to Thai food, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Indonesian and much more. If you are looking just for western food (weird but ok) you will find many famous fast food restaurants like Macdonald’s, Burger King, Subway etc .. There are also many coffee shops (reminder its Bangkok not Amsterdam so I am talking about places which serve real coffee) I also notice almost on every corner a very special local coffee chain that seems many tourist as local likes to queue near it , If I am not mistaken it called something like Starbucks but I might be wrong . The food cost is very cheap comparing to the US and Europe, for example you can get a nice Pad Thai for less than 3 $ and model soup for 1.5 $ in the food court, at the restaurant yesterday we paid 12 $ for two main course, one starter + drinks. You can find also many food stands on the street selling almost everything, since we did not to take the risk we avoid it but since we still wanted to taste some of the street food we area inside a mall which has something like 30 stands serving different street food. The mall call terminal 21 and the stands are in its 5th floor. We bought a prepaid card for the food stands which we used to taste many dishes, in the end you can return the card and get refund for any amount which still left. !Warning , the next paragraph should not be read before planning to eat anything! In Thailand there is one special fruit which famous for its lovely smell , its call Durian , now you cannot get confused between this fruit and other fruit as its smell is so strong that in Singapore they not allow to carry it inside the Subway. It’s hard to describe the smell but believe me I think it should be consider as anti-riot weapon. Many consider the Durian to have a very good taste so I did the move and for the sake of this blog I decided to taste it (the thing I do so I will have something to report on …). I took a plate of sticky rice with Durian , what can I Tell you, the taste was so bad, something like Onion that was covered with sugar and left outside for a week or two , even while I am written this I feel sick. Was I sorry that I tried? well if you don’t try new things you never know , would I do it again ? certainly not I am here so you would not do the same mistakes J !End of warning!. The rest of the day between meals we spent in the huge malls the city can offer , one of the biggest malls (called MBK) which contains hundreds of small shops that sell almost everything , one can spend hours over there trying to find the best deals. You have one floor that is dedicate just for electronic shops which again claim they have anything , for example they offered us the new IPhone X , Which is nice consider that apple did not release it to the markets yet. For dinner we went to a Korean restaurant which serve DAK Kalbi which is cooked on your table , similar to the hibachi concept but with a big pan on the middle of the table.We took a mix of chicken, sea food ,vegetables and rice, which was mixed with cheese. It was very tasty and remind me Spanish Paella The Before plate: After cooking : sorry we started to eat before I remembered that I did not took the picture Tomorrow Hong Kong

Day -4 Bangkok As this city exist in some of the south Asia Royal Caribbean routes I think it fair to writeabout it. As I wrote before this was my first visit to Bangkok, the reason for stopping two days in Bangkok was mainly due to the fact that I could not found a direct route to Hong Kong with the award miles but found out this route to work nicely for us as it also a good city to buy some cheap T shirts for the cruise J (One can identify me on board by the shirts with the elephants and I love Bangkok 2 $ T shirts) We landed very early and I arrange that we will be greeted at the gate by the hotel representative who took us with a buggy car bypassing the immigration lines, I took this idea from Episode 183 - Making a memorable Royal Caribbean cruise , while passing the long lines I could not avoid quoting in My head Mel Brooks “It’s good to be the king” For hotel we took the Grand Sheraton (using reward) which is very nice located on Sukhumvit road and 2 minutes from the MRT (local subway). The Funny about the Sheraton reward program is that much of my points did not came from the room staying but from the fact that they give you allot of points if you decide not to use the daily clean service (and not replacing towels), you can actually do it up to 3 nights every time. They call it the Ecological choice, since I practice all my childhood (and my spouse will claim it continues also this days) not to make up my room I became very good at that and for sure I don’t mind to get some reward point for it. Now only if I knew then to explain my parents it was all Ecological choice …. Here is a picture of the hotel very nice tropical swimming pool. After settling down we started to walk around to the nearest mall for some shop browsing and eating early launch, we picked some local restaurant and order a Pad Thai and Green Papaya salad. Since we are after all in Th ailand we went for a foot massage , which was very very good and cost around 10 $ for a full hour. Regarding the Sukhumvit road, this is one of the famous tourist roads and many chain hotels are located very close to. Not sure I would take small kids to stroll around this street unless you want to practice your “bee and birds” talk and try also to explain them what are all those plastic replacement body parts which are presented on every second stand (and no , I ddont meant they sell prosthetic arms and legs).Every second other stand on the street also sell many different famous prescriptions drugs which I can guess are authentic as three dollar bill. You will need to forgive me for not uploading pictures from the street as it is a family prove site and also I had the feeling that if I would try to take picture over there I might find myself staring in one of the next episodes of National geographic,” Locked up abroad” describing the Thai jail daily routing and talking about my only friends over there there,a rat name Pinchi and a trained cockroach. Tomorrow we will catch a flight to Hong Kong.

Day -5 some general information. We landed safely in Bangkok and got our hotel room , I have some time to elaborate om the background regarding the cruise and some answers while waiting for my spouse to get ready for a stroll around the city. So why this cruise? - this is going to be our fifth cruise (finally becoming platinum) , the other routes we done so far is two western Europe cruises, one east Caribbean and one west Caribbean all for 7 nights. We were looking to cruise somewhere new and found this cruise to take us places we never visit before (Taiwan and Vietnam). For sure one important condition was that it should be a Royal Caribbean cruise The cruise was not that expensive (for the room we took) and also the timing was perfect for us to take vacation . My concern was of the ship itself, please try not to laugh at me but I really hope that I will find the Voyager of the seas big enough J you see our first cruise (and the one that made us addicted) was with Liberty of the seas following by Allure, Oasis and Harmony of the seas … (Hey, an idea for Royal Caribbean , special award for people that cruise in all of the ships of a certain classes) Yes I know, the Voyager is a big ship and should have enough activities , but I am afraid the Oasis class (and mainly Harmony of the seas) spoiled us , its not that we can do all the activities/special restaurant on the Oasis , its just good to know we have the option if we want to (same answer which I give when people ask me why I love leaving in a big city and not in somewhere quite). I sure hope I will find this concern not to be true, working on convincing myself to avoid and compare the ships while I am enjoying the cruise. Stateroom : Virtual Balcony – since we book the cruise very late (not going to tell how late but lets just say we had to pay the all amount while booking it) the balcony rooms and even the sea view rooms where very expensive So we decided to take the VB room which will be first for us. For me, the room is for rest and taking a shower between the different activities so it should be ok (Wow , I almost convinced myself). Internet: Yes for sure , how else I will be able to update the live blog , whatsup pictures for friends and family that will make them jealous (very important part from any good vacation) and yes , do some emergency work if needed (but only from the sundeck). We took one device package which we will share between our devices (we done it in the past, its working quite well as long as you have one device connected at a time and as long as I make sure my spouse is slipping while I am trying to use the internet). Drinking package – no, although we like to drink from time to time we do not drink as much to make it financial worthwhile so we will pay per drink plus the two bottles of wine we can carry with us on board . Special restaurant – Yes for sure, we order the first night done right (which I hope we can use as the set sail for the ship is 23:59), Chops girls for one of the sea days we also consider maybe the chef table and of course at least one visit to Johny Rocket. Unfortunately, No Sabor on the VOS so I will have to attend my crave for guacamole somewhere else. Shore excursion – we actually booked 4 shore excursion, one for each port, all are organize by Royal Caribbean as it is new ports for me in countries which the number of words I know to speak are less than five (and none of them will help me find my way back to the ship) I decided to play it safe. Thanks for this wonderful site I could have catch the 20% discount on many of the excursions (just canceled and rebooked them again with the discount when it became available). For Thailand (not in the route), Singapore and Honk Kong we will do our own excursions as we already visit them more than once (well beside Thailand which I never been but my spouse visit in the past). Pre and pro cruise hotels where booked by me using reward points. Before the cruise we took two nights (just to be on safe side) same for the post cruise. Visas – here we are touching a sensitive subject, the only country at this cruise, which we need visa to enter is Vietnam (same by the way for most of the passport holders beside some countries in Europe like UK). On the tickets documents we got for the cruise it was state that Royal Caribbean will help the passengers to obtain visa on board which will cost around 6 $ PP. I was very happy to read about it this info also align with what I have read in other sites. Now the plot thickens, few weeks ago RC send us email stating that all visas and other documents should be ready before we set sail and one that don’t have the requirements might be not allow to embark the ship. I tried to understand if this is like the standard email which RC sending before any cruise but it did not seemed like that. I decided to try my luck and call RC to ask them about it, not sure if anyone here tried to ask RC Visa questions, let’s just say that trying to get clear answers from RC about visa is harder than to get honest answer from a politician. The words: “Maybe , better to check by yourself , we are not sure and better you ask the embassy” raised up many times with different representative. I know they cannot tell me if I need visa or not (nor that I expected to) and this is not what I asked, all I wanted is to get is a strait answer if they are going to take care of the visas on board the ship or not. Mow, before Matt will jump and say “Hey this is another good reason why its always better to book using TA , they could have answered this question” I must say I asked special TA that is dealing with RC and cruises , she got the same answers. Although I was almost sure that based on the past cruises such a visa will be obtained on the ship I just did not want to take even the smaller risk that we will be denied to the cruise. After a quick check I found out that the Vietnamese Embassy is about 15-20 minutes’ walk from my home and they can do the visa on the spot for extra charge, I thought by doing that I will kill two birds using one stone , first I will be able to sleep better knowing that this issue is covered , second, 20 minutes morning walk each way will help me do my steps quota and more important prepare myself for the windjammer. To make long story short , after quick walk and 10 minutes waiting I said bye bye to around 200$ (around 100$ for each passport) and came back with multiple entry visas for Vietnam. In few days I will now if that was the best thing I done for the cruise or I just spent (in cruise money language) two chef tables or two nice shore excoriations , ok , and half drinking package. Tomorrow still in Bangkok, will share more Bangkok updates , for now here is some taster, this picture is not of an sea urchins that walked in the sun too much while forting their sun screen at home but of a crazy relative of Lychee (in taste anyway) called Rambutan : And the inside of this sweet fruit :

Oasis had Blanton's single barrel bourbon a couple weeks ago. I think I got my moneys worth from the drink package off that alone. So good. They even let me keep the horse stopper on top after the bottle was finished to add to my collection. (which now consists of two..not much of a collection lol)

Hendricks gin and tonic with a slice of cucumber. Or a highland park scotch on the rocks. I have had some incredible drinks while cruising. I will say to the bartender make me your favorite drink OR make me something unusual. What works great is I will go to the bar and slip a gratuity to the bartender and then ask one of those questions. The wife and I will sit at the bar and engage in conversation with the bartender and guests. The bartenders have a great memory. Having a good rapport works wonders. That is also why we like to get to the dock very early.