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My girlfriend and I booked our first cruise together about 8-9 months ago to leave the Saturday after thanksgiving. Being new to our careers we went the frugal inside stateroom option for the cheapest possible trip we could, on a whim today I looked online and noticed a balcony room was only $50-100 more for us based on the deals and what I had remembered paying. Get home from work and decided to call customer service to surprise my girlfriend with a balcony when we got there, after about a 15 min convo with the customer service rep going over my reservation she goes I think you can upgrade for $4. I may have blown out her ear drums on the other end of the phone yelling Yes so loud. I go through the process and pay my new remaining $4 balance. Then to make sure I hadn’t had my liquor package effected and her calculation be wrong I go check my account after some time had past, turns out they also gave me $125 in onboard credit as part of the deal. I had figured I wasn’t going to get it and with a $4 upgrade cost I wasn’t going to push my luck. Now November 25th can’t get here fast enough! Just figured I’d share with everyone Incase they have a reservation sitting out there to possibly check.

My wife and I have been slowly working on this all summer. You'll notice some of the places are cruise inspired. Finally completed and added to our yard last weekend. We haven't been on a cruise in a year, so this will help remind us of the good times we've had, until we can travel again. P.S. pictures were taken quickly on my phone

My phone has a mind of its own ?. Yes Crown & Anchor ?

Hey, Loriann - The $45 charge for Izumi hibachi is for the standard hibachi menu only. There are a couple of up charge options but for the standard steak and shrimp kind of hibachi menu, the $45 includes it all. Sushi is an add-on and is a la carte pricing so if you wanted to add any sushi that would be extra. Drinks (except for water or iced tea) would be an additional charge. So your $45 gets you a salad, some edamame green beans, teppanyaki beef, chicken or shrimp (I think the shrimp is part of the standard option. Gosh, I can't remember now !!!!!) and fried rice, water or iced tea. Anything more than that is extra. Sabor is now an all-inclusive cost (it used to be a la carte) so the $19 pp charge includes their standard menu items. Again, alcohol or soft drinks are an additional cost. Anything you order before you get on the ship must be pre-paid. This is a double edged sword. The good news is that you have already paid and you will not be seeing these charges at the end of your cruise. The bad news is that you have to pay at the time that you make your reservation so the cost is immediate (up front). Any reservations that you make for no-fee restaurants (MDR) are free regarless of when you make the reservation.

Actually, not everyone is C&A; you still have to sign up, and not everyone does that. Also, even if you signed up when you booked your first cruise, you don't reach that first "Gold" level until after that cruise is done. There's a boarding line for people not in C&A or who haven't yet "ranked up", and then separate lines for each of the different levels. Suite guests (including Jr Suites) get top priority along with Pinnacle C&A members, all of whom get to board first. Amusingly, @Matt pointed out in one of his podcast episodes that sometimes the line for the non-C&A guests is actually shorter than the other lines, because as you noted so many people do join it. But then he still takes his "designated" line because, well, he's earned those perks! You can see all the different perks for the C&A levels here.

Sorry, @Floski. My brother is a huge IPA fan, and he convinced me to taste a few of the offerings at that beer fest he and I went to. Pretty sure at least one of those was a New England style IPA. He swore they were nice and mild and I'd probably like them, but they still tasted like drinking a glass of leaf extracts. Of course, every time I try and get him to taste a great porter or stout, he makes a crack about not liking to drink his bread...

Phew....I'm not the only one. ? @Boston Babe you have to ask around because even as you can see on this board there are tons of different opinions. I think because every person expects and wants different things from a vacation. The big thing is do your research. Read reviews but be critical when you read them. Look at recent pictures. And like I said before, take a good look at what meets yours/your husbands needs. One shoe doesn't fit all right.

Well I looked through at least half of the reviews of Meraviglia (there are currently 65) during my lunch breaks yesterday and today, with reviews from July through this month, and it's really disappointing. I'm not going to bother being the numbers guy, because from what I could see it didn't matter if the person doing the review was an experienced cruiser or a novice, new to MSC or a longtime passenger of theirs. Almost everyone who wrote a review had the same set of general complaints, that boiled down to just two main categories: Staffing of the ship – Meraviglia is coming across as seriously understaffed, at least with the booking numbers I'm seeing When I see a specific number, it's generally the passenger to crew ratio of 3.8 or worse (1500 crew to about 5700 passengers, which is more than the 4500 she's rated for [I assume at double occupancy]); it was often noted that the ship was overbooked Even without specific numbers, far too many of the reviews cite the visible exhaustion and strain the crew is under; I saw this comment in multiple reviews from Sept/Oct as well as June/July, so it does not appear that it's being addressed by MSC I saw this observation even among the positive reviews (4 or 5 stars) This is probably the most concerning and severe of the issues, simply because of all the trickle-down effects: slow service, rude staff, inattentiveness, food preparation, impacts on overall ship cleanliness, etc. Food Quality is consistently cited as a problem by pretty much every review I read: served cold and/or bad preparation (overcooked / undercooked) were the two most common complaints here Buffet is also cited by everyone for being the same exact thing every day and night, as well as having no crowd flow management Apart from these two categories, the only other semi-common complaint is about the other passengers. Some of this is probably a rub-off from the irritation of dealing with overworked crew, and I'd wager the rest is from "culture shock"; it's hard to say for sure, but it did seem as though most of these complaints were from American or British citizens, just going by the style of writing and level of familiarity with the English language. That said, some of those complaints absolutely had merit in my book; I mean, a mother let her toddler who wasn't potty trained into the hot tub, where he proceeded to soil his diaper (#2), and the mother just changed him right there and put him back in?? The hard thing about this is that it's only 65 online reviews. Without getting all mathy on everyone (I can certainly give my numbers if you really want them ), suffice to say I've confirmed that's well below 1% "participation" from all the passengers who've likely been on her. But I compared this against Harmony (almost exactly a year older) as another very new ship: Her rating is 4.0 with just over 1,000 reviews. And the estimated "participation" for her works out to almost exactly the same percentage as Meraviglia. So I have to say that these issues with Meraviglia are real, and they can't just be dismissed as the bad apples getting all noisy in the cart while all the happy campers and at-least-OK campers stayed quiet. @DocLC, I really hope that by the time you sail on her they'll have resolved whatever staffing issues seem to be going on, or at least gotten a grip on how (over)booked they're keeping her.

Departing on Nov. 9...

But, Sabrina, don't you see how spoiled they will be and NEVER ever even think about an interior cabin again. Next cruise will have to be JS or better!

No offense at all. I've been on 11 cruises all of which ended in 1989 when I went to work for Caribbean Hotel chain so I am dating myself, so it's been a really long time. My husband has never been on one. Of course back then I wasn't a cruise snob, I wanted to party, now I want to be a cruise snob. I only booked the Carnival as there are only 2 ships leaving from Baltimore, Grandeur and Pride. We're booked on the Grandeur in May, I don't think I'll mind the older ship. I like the smaller ships (at least in my mind I do! LOL) I'm inches away from cancelling the Pride (have 2 cruises booked) and booking either Grandeur again for NE/Canada or Anthem from Cape Liberty. I know the bells and whistles of Anthem but I feel it may be too big for what we like (like the Equinox we are on Jan ad Apr 2019), so I think what you're saying is, if you are a cruise snob which I want to be I should stick with RC-celebrity etc!! That's been my fear since I booked Carnival. I'm going to call my TA in a bit. I stand to lose about $200 but may be worth it!! BTW I was on an inaugeral of Carnival way back and it was HORRIBLE! but that was 1984!!

That's what I thought too, unfortunately this has changed. You can still visit parts of the parc free of charge, but for the so-called Monumental Zone (main entrance, terrace, all the parts containing mosaics) you need a ticket (access regulations started in 2013). I had no idea this was the case and when we got to the main entrance at around 2 pm (we started on entrance C and walked around the free part of the parc first) we weren't willing to wait for a 6 pm admission - the only time slot still available that day. From what I gathered afterwards they only admit 400 people at a time to Monumental Zone and they're really strict with admission times - if you're more than 30 minutes late you cannot enter the Zone any more. Another word of wisdom: if you do hop on/hop off be aware that the walk from the stop to Parc Guell is quite far and steeply uphill. Alternatives are taking a taxi or bus or taking the metro (green line L3, station Vallcarca). We did the latter and while you still have some uphill walking to get to entrance C, the most part is by excalator through Baixada de la Glória. The escalators are quite a sight being outdoors and offering nice views.

Thanks Brian, had a lot of insider tips, made sure to take some notes.

Suggestions for Geema: Dublin: Works well with hop on/hop off. Guinness experience was quite enjoyable. Trip into Wicklow Mountains might be an option if you don't fancy the city. Cobh: Titanic Experience was quite interesting. Kinsale might be another option. I didn't enjoy Cork much. Waterford: Waterford itself is a nice town to explore. If you're into handcrafts you could visit Waterford Crystal. Kilkenny is a nice town and Kilkenny castle is another option. Depending on your time in port it might also be possible to do a trip into the Wicklow Mountains. Suggestions for StevenM: Marseille: Personally, I don't like the town very much. I'd recommend an excursion to Avignon if you're in port for some time. It should take 1,5 to 2 hours by bus per trip but it's really worth it - and you get to see a bit of Provence on the way. Avignon itself is a gorgeous old town in part bordered by the river Rhone with an ancient town wall, numerous beautiful churches, the popes palace... If you're pressed for time, Aix-en-Provence is also quite nice with an old town, cathedral and especially Cours Mirabeau. Palma de Mallorca: Works quite well with hop on/hop off. I've also heard good things about the train ride to Soller. LaSpezia: Cinque Terre is a must-see. Pisa is overrated in my opinion, I do like Florence and especially Lucca but it's quite far from LaSpezia. Barcelona: Hop on/hop off is nice to get a good look around town. If you're interested in Gaudi's works be sure to book every ticket in advance with designated time slots - otherwise you won't be able to visit much. This is especially relevant for Parc Güell and Casa Batllo - not sure for Sagrada Familia though. Never been to Naples. We were in Civitavecchia last week on AIDAperla but didn't bother with the 2 hour (by coach) or 1 hour (by train) trip to Rome - from Germany it's no hassle to fly to Rome for a few days so we'll try this in the future.

Protein powder is not included with the drink packages

The connecting door is usually close to the main door to the hallway.

Send an email to: [email protected] https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/dining-dietary-restrictions-customer-care

Bummer. If I get the John Tesh tribute soloist instead I'm going to be awfully pissed.

I booked it through RC. I'm newish to the Charlotte area (been here 3 years and have failed to actually settle roots to stay until the last 6 months to a year) and hasn't found anyone who knew of a good travel agent with cruise experience here.

To be a little more specific, those people would book 4 or 5 cruises at one time, all in a suite, and then decide last minute which one they actually wanted to go on and cancel the rest a couple of days before final payment was due. This left Royal holding the bag on multiple suites across multiple ships that they now needed to try and fill, leading to those last minute deals the day after final cancellation, along with greatly reduced revenue on those rooms. So Royal started the new policy this year that suites now require a non-refundable deposit and also incur a change fee of $100 per person for canceling the booking or moving it to another ship or date. Net effect is to seriously cool those casual suite bookings and make sure many more of them are locked in when bought. I'm sure there will be some who keep on playing the game, simply because they're well enough off that losing a few thousand dollars in deposits and change fees doesn't even register as a blip on their radar. But most people looking to book a suite will now be kept honest.

Congratulations ! That is a SWEET deal. So glad you checked and they made it so easy.

I think at this point I'd say that it's "normal", if not necessarily common. The costs will sometimes go up (see the above-mentioned cabanas, which are currently $495 but much earlier in the year were $395 or $450 for my particular sailing), and sometimes they'll mysteriously go down without any announcement (see the multiple threads here over the last couple of weeks as the Deluxe Beverage Package mysteriously dropped from $55 per person per day to $45 or $43 or even $41 for a couple of people). I think one thing that everyone has agreed on at one point or another is that the presence of a "sale" banner means very little, either for excursions or base cruise fares. Those are just a way of drawing attention, and the actual prices are whatever the sales and marketing folks at Royal think they need to be at that time based on availability and demand vs. what they need to sell to meet their sales and profit forecasts for the shareholders. If there's a really big price drop, odds are it's because they're selling way below the required quotas (say, because they changed the rules around drink packages and suddenly no one is buying them) and they need to make up some of the slack to get back to where their forecasts say they need to be. Better to have a discount promotion and get a flood of sales that provides modest profit, than to lose money because they overpriced or pissed a bunch of people off and didn't take corrective measures.

We have very good friends in San Clemente and I will have to mention these. A peanut butter stout sounds absolutely amazing! Jane

is that because you are sad at the rc selection or sad at my lack of ipa appreciation lol? Jane

Starting at the bottom!

I’m still waiting for my drink package to reduce. Harmony for April 21 and it has said $55 a day for as far as I been looking. Once it goes down I will cancel and rebook it. Will use savings for excursions if they are still available.

Confirmed. I took a photo of the Vitality Spa smoothie offerings on Harmony a few weeks ago. Mine came out to $6.25 and was covered by the deluxe package. i didn't try to add any supplements. Mine was very good.

The Vitality Cafe, that is the one in the spa/gym that everyone is referring to, does sell the fresh smoothies. I was able to get them with my deluxe drink package on the Allure and Harmony. The protein powder is what is extra. Your drink package won't cover that.

Ok, I'll end this mystery....$$$$$

Just got off Allure Sunday, yes there is a bar directly outside of the Spa and Fitness center that sells protein shakes and smoothies, they were not included in the package to my knowledge.

Congratulations to you on your vigilance ! I'm glad you got the correct answer, even if it wasn't the answer you wanted. At least you won't be surprised ! ...in a bad way.

In regards to decorations they have been getting earlier and earlier, last year the decorations were already up before thanksgiving (for Christmas). Every ship is probably a little different but I would expect to see the ship decorated when you board not during the cruise.

This will be our 2nd TA (first with RC) and your right if you don't mind being at sea for 6/8 days before reaching a bit of land then you will be fine. Last year we went from Barcelona, Gibraltar, Bermuda and onto New York, the weather got better as we went south and was still nice once we got to New York. The trip was amazing and well worth it, we loved it so much we have booked on the Indy from Southampton at the end of October and are looking forward to a great time away.

Sounds like a bad or new agent. I asked for a quote for this sites Alaska group cruise next June and quickly received it. Since it has become a long email thread with quotes for different cabin types. We've gone back and forth due to my indecisiveness but that's on me. Here is an example of different cabins being offered direct versus through an agency. This is for the Explorer of the Seas on June 22, 2018 - the Royal Caribbean Blog Alaska Group Cruise which I am booking today. Category 4U Inside Virtual Balcony. Direct RCI is showing 4 cabins available to book on deck 9. Multiple agencies are offering 12 cabins available to book on deck 9.

Judy, if the specific TA from MEI isn't working out for you as far as responsiveness or level of service that you are looking for, you can always request another. MEI has many agents, and I'm sure you can find one who is more to your liking. Just call their general number, let the rep know what issues you have with your current agent and what exactly you're looking for, and they should be able to find you a better match. Failing that, you can certainly change agencies. There's nothing holding you to MEI, and Matt won't be offended if you find a different agency / agent meets your needs better.

I think Matt and his gang should hire kimberrussell as a full time writer!

Again, thank you for the kind response! Mom and I are having a superb time and note-taking has taken a backseat. But now the bags are packed and outside (sob!) so I have a little time to flesh out the notes. Day 3: I woke up on my own at 7:10 which is me still waking up for work, but VERY late for work. We go up to breakfast as usual - I have a pancake, bacon, fruit, and a chocolate covered banana. Mom gets potatoes, bacon, fruit, and a gluten free roll. We have coffee and mimosas because WHY NOT? Chef Toni was in the Windjammer too! He may have just had fruit, which is good because he's a sea guy and we don't want him to get scurvy. (Oh, the things I remember from grade school...) We had our second cup of coffee out on deck 9 and watched our approach to Coco Cay. I'm stupidly excited for this day, because I love the beach. At 9:30 we decided to get moving. From our room on deck 3 we could see the tenders glide back and forth outside, as well as the supplies being loaded onto another craft. I teased mom that the shipping list for that boat was "20 Limbo sticks, 15 volleyballs, 30 hula hoops, and one gluten free roll." We boarded the tender which looked remarkably unsafe but we rolled with it. We're seated on the top level and the breeze and view can't be beat. We didn't bring any of our gigantic water haul with us to Coco Cay because the message hammered home was DO NOT BRING ANYTHING OFF OF THE BOAT WITH YOU. On the tender there we saw people with coffee cups and bottles of water. Remember the old cartoons where the main character slowly turned into a lollipop with a "SUCKER" label on it? Me. We landed at the docks and man, it took my breath away. I know this is a completely manufactured environment but it rang all of my bells for "perfect island beach!" All of the buildings are brightly colored and clearly named. The dock construction was going on, but the noise was easily ignored. We had the Coco Cay photos taken because we are cruise noobs. I rented the 2 loungers/sunshade back when we booked the cruise. South Beach is a LONG way away and we were thankful for the tram that took us there. There were three rows of chairs/sunshades there and once you turn in voucher to the employee, they are first come, first served. We ended up in the second row, which is what we get for being lazy. We also got fancy VIP bracelets. Immediately we waded into the water. It was warm yet refreshing and what's better, I could see my feet! Don't get me wrong -- I love my home state of NJ and I grew up at those beaches but the surf is rough and constantly kicking up sand so you can't see the bottom. Walking into the Atlantic from the Jersey shore is akin to a trust fall. On Coco Cay, not only could I see my feet but there were teeny fish darting around! The water was shallow and although I walked pretty far, it never came up above my knees. Is this a result of Hurricane Irma? We settled into our chairs, toasty and thankful. And then ... the people in front of us left! After getting the OK from the attendant, we moved into the front row, and we were even more thankful. As I said, I grew up going to the Jersey shore. Which can be very crowded, especially in the shore towns with boardwalks. There were no distractions at South Beach -- no amusements behind you, no airplanes towing banners, no Jersey shore scents like pizza or Drakkar Noir. It was beautiful and everything I needed it to be. Lunch is served from 11:30-1:30. I was expecting hot dogs and hamburgers. I was not expecting gyros, curry, ribs, and a roast suckling pig, severed head prominiently displayed on the carving board. I have the heart of a vegetarian but the appetite of someone who makes steak/moo jokes. Mom went to the grill, gave her room number and recived a gluten free roll for her buger. This place is seriously approaching Santa Claus level of service. She had a burger, fries, and fruit. I had a hot dog (classy broad), macaroni and cheese, fruit, lemon cake. We shared a picnic table from a family from Minnesota. I'm one of those people who will write on the internet all day long but who is awkward around new people in real life. But everyone here is so nice that even I'm finding it easy. (Mom can make friends with anyone but apparently not Mario.) After lunch we poked around the straw market, took some of our own photos, and then found 2 empty beach chairs under an umbrella. Plop. At 3 we reluctantly took the vaguely unsafe looking tender back to the ship. Wildlife seen on Coco Cay without even trying because who has time for a nature walk when there is tanning to do?: > small fish > large fish > tiny crabs > chickens (live) > iguanas > sea gulls > pig (head of, deceased, roasted) We dumped off things in our room and went to Windjammer for coffee. Annnnnnnnnnnd ended up with a plate of nachos with queso. I'm going to be wearing tents to work next week. We hoovered down the nachos and took our coffees out to the pool deck. We watched the belly flop competition which was a lot of fun. Time for an important decision: today's bingo was going to be a 3-game session, and they were giving away a free cruise. However, the entry price for the regular one-game session was $33 so I was figuring that the price for that big session would be around $100. $100 for a huge chance to lose. And the deck was so nice and we wanted to watch as we sailed away from Coco Cay. And thus, the bingo addiction was broken. I saw our photos from formal night and I kid you not, the one of of me alone on the stairs is one of the best photos I've taken. We're not going to spend the $199 for the package, so we have some hard decisions to make. We showered all of the beach funk off before dinner. I have given up trying to keep the water within the boundary of the shower, and just wipe the bathroom floor down when I'm done. The shower curtain has boundary issues and likely works for a notable Hollywood producer because it touches me without consent. Our tablemates from night 1 were back and we had a great time chatting about our various excurisons. Ajay was phenomenal again (any WWE fans out there? just me? ok.) I had a caprese salad, garlic tiger shrimp, and key lime pie. I've had a glass of Wolf Blass Merlot each night, too. Mom had a salad, tiger shrimp (prepared without gluten) and they made her a sugar free, gluten free chocolate mousse for dessert. The boat started rocking during dinner. Not enough to make us sick, but it was the first time I felt it the whole trip. It would continue to rock throughout the night, stopping right before morning. I cashed in my chips from Monday night at Casino Royale's craps table at a $25-0 exchange rate. Boo, hiss. Gambling is horrible. Don't be like me. On a whim we went to the karaoke event in the Spotlight lounge. I watched 15 super-courageous people bring the house down. We were going to go to bed then but ... there was a 70s party about to bust out in the Centrum. It was quite fun and was well received. But ... I'm 45 and these were songs from when I was a kid. I have to wonder if they could maybe do a 70s night and then an 80s/90s night to try and shake off the "cruising is for old people" myth. But then I went to bed right after that so maybe I'm old too! ;) Day 3: A+++

Thank you all for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying it. We are having a blast. Day 2: I woke up with a start at 6:30am because I was going to be late for work, which of course I was not. I peeked out the window and saw tiny glimmering lights in the distance. "Self," I said. "It's time to go see the sunrise." With Mom as my willing accomplice, we put on some appropriate duds and headed up to deck 9. There were clouds on the horizon so we didn't get the full effect, but it was lovely nonetheless. As we approached Nassau, I saw a castle up ahead that turned out to be the Atlantis resort. Well, since we were awake, may as well have breakfast. And that's how we ended up in the Windjammer at 7:15am. I had eggs, bacon, a grilled tomato (good!), and a chocolate covered banana. Mom hit up the gluten free area and ended up with eggs, potatoes, and fruit. We had mimosas because WHY NOT?? We had no excursions planned because I wanted us to take it easy. But how could we skip the opportunity to set foot in Nassau? After breakfast we left the ship (had the gangway photo taken because we are cruise noobs) and headed to shop. We are tourists so we stuck to the touristy area. I won't lie, being loudly solicited for hair braiding and taxis as soon as we left the pier was a bit of culture shock, but whatever. Everyone was nice, just loud. We shopped on Bay Street. I picked up some gifts for coworkers (spoiler: magnets), Mom bought some gifts for friends (spoiler: more magnets), and something for my nephew (not magnets. He's 3 1/2.) at Del Sol. I bought color changing nail polish that is a gorgeous pink in sunlight and a jaundiced yellow when I'm not in sunlight. I spend my days in a cubicle, so in retrospect that was not the best choice. We were back on the ship in time for lunch at the Windjammer, which was very empty today. Mom had a bunless hamburger, some fries and fruit. I had Caribbean curry chicken with coconut and cranberries, some mashed potatoes, a dollop of penne alfredo, a giant piece of sourdough bread, a slice of peach pie and a plop of bread pudding. As you can tell, I've taken to the concept of a cruise buffet like a duck to water. Speaking of water.... Mom told me to order bottled water for the room. I idly picked the 12-pack of 1-liter bottles but I'm an idiot who has no idea how much a liter actually is. We have a LOT of water here for just two people. Caveat emptor when buying water. Next up: POOL TIME. I suited up and headed to deck 9 while Mom chilled in the cabin for a bit. It was ridiculously hot, and even the drink of the day (Portside Punch) failed to cool me off. The movie playing was the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which I have serious and angry feelings about. Mom came up to join me and we (along with 2 liters of water) moved to the Solarium which was quite a piece of paradise. Back to the room to shower. (I read someone on these boards who said there is no soap in the cabins. We have bar soap and some sort of squirty soap in the shower.) Tonight is formal night. Dinner is at 6 and skipping bingo is not an option, so we suited up in our LBDs and were the most fancy-pants ladies at the 5pm bingo session. Those who brought receipts from the previous day's bingo session received even more cards and I really have a problem. I won another free tablet full of cards before the game began and I got down to waiting for one number and ... STILL LOST. Bah. Formal night dress code: Don't sweat it. Some people were in super fancy duds, some people were in nice-casual duds like us, and some people were in MDR in shorts and tees. I wore a black dress, silver heels, and a black and white Kate Spade scarf as a pashmina. I concluded that I spent far too much time worrying about how to dress. Off to MDR for dinner. Our friends from last night had a sunset cruise excursion, and the other ladies never returned so Mom and I had the table to ourselves. Mom had another amazing gluten-free night: shrimp cocktail, chicken breast au jus, and coconut rice pudding. I had a chilled banana rum soup as an appetizer. You could have just put a fancy umbrella and a straw in it and handed it to me as I sunned on the deck today. For dinner I had pan-fried corvina (a white fish I never heard of before) and dessert was a chocolate mousse-like bar. Our server is Ajay and he is the best. Mom: "I don't know how I'm going to go back to tossing chicken tenders in the oven." Me: "I think I'm buzzed from this soup." After dinner (and numerous formal night photos because we are cruise noobs) we settled into the R bar for the captain's reception. I spied that Super Mario guy at a "reserved" table and because of Michael Poole's live blog from this past weekend, I knew who he was. I enjoyed the reception, especially that each officer had their own walk-on music like baseball players. Mario was called up and given a bottle of wine because he has 7009 nights logged on Royal Caribbean ships. This is Mario's last time on the Enchantment -- he's moving to the Freedom. I tried to get Mom to hook up with him to see if we could glom some points from him (or at the very least that bottle of wine), but she was not willing to take one for the team. Whatever, Mom. I drowned my sorrow in a Captain's special peach champagne drink because the soup buzz was wearing off. Music this evening was from Mood Icons, a 3-man cover band with a repertoire of American sing-along songs. Friends in Low Places! Margaritaville! Wonderful Tonight! Sweet Little Sixteen! We asked Guest Services about the food at Coco Cay tomorrow and was sent back to talk to the head waiter at MDR. He's going to make sure Mom has a gluten-free bun at the lunch area. Everyone is so nice and accomodating. We hit the stores on deck 6 and I bought a non-magnet gift for my nephew. There's a Roxy sundress I'm lusting over but it's $64.50 and ... nah. I'll by myself something to wear in Key West. After going from deck 3 to 4 to 6 to 5 to 4 to 6 again, my feet were howling. Back down to 3 to change shoes, and then we called it a night shortly after. We are docked in Nassau until midnight so I won't get to see us leave. That's a bummer. I don't know why we're here so long - we are the last cruise ship in port. There was a snail towel sculpture waiting for us in the room. I like it here. :) Day 2: A++

Monday: Woke at 4:30, picked up mom at 4:47 to head to the airport. The rain was falling at a steady clip. Things I hate: > Driving in the rain. > Driving to the airport. > Driving over the Walt Whitman Bridge. Unfortunately, sometimes we must do things we hate in order to get what we want. We arrived at the airport without incident at 5:15 for a 6:55 flight. The gas indicator bonged when we were almost there - I'll deal with that Friday. Parked in Economy, took the shuttle to the terminal and was greeted by the longest security line I've ever seen in my years of travelling out of PHL. My gut shook. It snaked out of security, down the hall, around the corner, and down toward the parking lot entrance. "Always fly the night before!" the Greek Chorus of message board people said in my head. The line moved at a decent clip and at about halfway, we were pulled to the front of the line because of Mom's cane. We got through (no taking off jackets, shoes, or removing the baggies of liquid from the bags!) but we literally walked up to the terminal and into the A line and onto the plane. SWA flight to FLL took off without incident. Coffee was great! WE flew to FLL and took Miami Port Express to the terminal. The line was long, but well worth it. They were selling lanyards at the terminal for the SeaPass cards (7.00 for regular ones and 9.99 for sports team branded ones) but we had some freebies from a meeting I attended so we skipped. We had the boarding pictres taken because we are cruise noobs. Gah, what a pretty boat. Totally gorgeous! We stood in the Centrum for a while, overwhelmed. Then our stomachs took over and we went to the Windjammer which was jam packed with people and some typically crappy tourist behavior, like taking over tables with suitcases and camping there until the cabins opened. Boo! Mom found the gluten-free corner and was very pleased with the offerings. I had a hot dog and fries because I'm a classy broad. The rooms opened at 1pm and we love our room! It's perfect for two people who don't hate each other. We have a large ocean view cabin, deck 3, beds separated. Next we toured the spa and entered the drawing. The spa is lovely and smelled great. Sat in the solarium and was kicked out to go to the muster drill. The spa drawing was at 4:10 and you had to be present to win. We ... didn't win. Sail-away party! We found some chairs on deck 10 and bid adios to Miami with the help of a Bahama Mama. We had zero problems with feeling movement or seasickness. Zero. It's beautiful. Our dinner seating is at 6pm and we arrived at MDR to encounter a GIANT line. It went quickly, though, and one of the waitstaff escorted us to our table. It was a six-top and ... full. Hm. Turns out there was a party of 4 adults who were split between 2 tables and rather than go and get that fixed, they decided that nobody would notice if they took our seats. We were willing to switch to the other table, but then one of them copped a HUGE attitude with the maitre'd and you know what? Nah. I want my table. You all are wrong so you can move. All four stalked off to another table and we had a great time chatting with the two who remained. DINNER WAS GREAT. You know, I was nervous about MDR because I read things but the food was great. I had a good Caesar salad, the strip steak and a warm chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert. All of the gluten free food was clearly notated on the menu and Mom had no problem at all. She also had the steak, cooked to super well done as she requested. (I prefer a bit of moo left in it.) Her dessert was a gluten free blueberry and peach cobbler, which was great. It was all great! IT'S ALL GREAT! Mom got a sneak peek at tomorrow's menu. The waitstaff is phenomenal. We went to the casino after dinner because I am weak. I ended up $5 up. Then we went to bingo in Boleros. It was $33 to play for a jackpot of $300. For that $33 you get 36 electronic cards (on a tablet - they keep track of the numbers themselves!) and 3 paper cards for us olds who like dabbing things. Buy 2 packages and you got the third for free, which we did. And then they had a free raffle for the remaining tablets and I won one of those. AND WE STILL LOST!! There were 2 winners who split the jackpot. But the hosts where hysterical and we had an expensive good time. By then were were completely feeling the long day. We stood outside and experienced the ocean at night (spoiler: dark) before going back to our room, where I fell into my tiny bed. It's a little firmer than what I'm used to but it really didn't matter. Day 1: A++

You are SO lucky, oh wait, you live in Northern NJ......never mind