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Wondering about sightseeing? I’m glad you asked! Today was a really, really fun day. We kicked it off with a walk to a local coffee shop featuring locally roasted beans called Don Ruiz. I would recommend this to anyone for a delightful selection of pastries as well as a darn good iced coffee. After, we made breakfast in the villa with family and decided to head towards El Morro (pictures below) - absolutely worth the trip and made for a fantastic morning (and a workout!) Following El Morro, we walked to Barrachina for lunch to try the original Pina Colada - and it was as good as you might think it would be. The food was great as well!! We did a little shopping and relaxing after lunch and wound up at Greengos bar and restaurant for dinner, which was fantastic. They feature $5 margs and $2.50 corona for happy hour from 4-7 pm. Entirely worth it, and the food was great. Apps can easily be split for dinner. Typing it out it doesn’t sound like we did much, but in a group of 12 it was a lot to coordinate and made for a fun day filled with good people. Tomorrow we are headed to port around 11 am!!! Can’t wait to board! Stray thoughts - if you are traveling in a large group, ask to have the check split ahead of time. This caused some headaches for our group figuring out how much everyone owed. For those with concerns regarding sailing from San Juan - I had a conversation with my sister in law where she shared her post hurricane concerns and wasn’t sure about sailing from here. After spending time in the city, she’s definitely glad to have come and has fallen in love with the city.

Time for Muster - theres a pretty rainbow hanging out on the port side of the ship over San Juan

As discussed, here’s a few villa pictures! 3 bedroom (1 queen, 2 double), 2.5 bath Villa located in Old San Juan. AirBnB host has been great, and the property and location are incredible.

I will get some pictures tomorrow and share out a link most likely when I get back. Right now we are back at the villa relaxing after a long day of travel. Other stray thoughts - getting a taxi from SJU to Old San Juan was a painless process. Once you are here, it really does feel like you can walk anywhere and everything is well lit. Most leftover hurricane damage I’ve seen was outside of Old San Juan.. everything in this area seems to be up and running and people are very nice And now I’m playing a drinking game and I lost because I was writing this so for my own sake I’ll follow up in the morning

HELLO from the Schooner! We’ve made it on board, and the ship looka wonderful. All furnishings have been refreshed and the exterior has been painted. She looks great! Stay tuned for a more extended update!

Yep. Bucket list cruise. Will complete Freedom class trilogy, get to try that new slide. The ship is the destination.

A glass of champagne is always a good way to start a vacation! Then switch to the patron and pineapple.. yum, that sounds good!

Hello All, Just trying to see if I can gather some interest here on a live (or live-ish) blog on my upcoming Adventure cruise. We'll be spending a couple days in San Juan prior to our 2/24 embarkation, and sailing on Adventure a couple sailings after she returns from her quick dry dock to wrap up improvements that were delayed by the hurricane in her last dry dock. I feel like questions about conditions in San Juan as well as Adventure are something I see fairly frequently, so if there is enough interest I'll try and do a daily check in here with any information that I have! We'll be sailing on Adventure 2/24 in an interior cabin on deck 3. The itinerary is St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. Right now, our only plans are to take an island tour on St. Maarten (Bernard's Tours), and then our family (there are 12 of us going!) has a private catamaran chartered for snorkeling in Barbados through Good Times Charters. If there is anything else you'd like to know, or if you are interested in following along something like this, let me know! I've never done a live blog before, but if there's enough interest around I'd be happy to commit to this.

Word on CC is that he left RC today for Celebrity....

Ping time. O3b is 200-300ms. Legacy satellite 600+ms. The Harris CapRock is the other give away. If it were O3b it typically says O3b Networks instead of Harris CapRock. It's the latency or ping time that is the important differentiator. That's what make everything work better.

Current VOOM Speed Test

How was I supposed to know the wind would lift my dress right at that moment?

Thank you for bringing it up. I never would have thought to ask if it wasn't for you ?

I guess you do learn something new every day. This is great information ! We usually just book with the 2 of us so we've never come across this issue but it's definitely great information. Thanks for sharing this !

Best to give an example... Say person 1&2 are $1000 each, additional $400 each. Price drops on 1&2 to $950, but additional becomes $500 each. This point with one additional it is a wash. Two additional it is an increase. To clarify: When I mentioned third dropped. Ment dropped off the reservation. Added: Reverse, using the orignal 1&2 at $1000 and additional for $400. If additional goes down to $300 but 1&2 goes up to $1100. Then you would end up with an increase with 3 and a wash with 4. So it all becomes a numbers game and have to strategize if things should be factored ultimately with 2, 3, or 4...

Hello!! I am currently waking up in San Juan! Old San Juan (where the ships dock) is very walkable. I recommend a walk to one of the old Forts - we went to El Morro yesterday, and entry was $7 for adults. Very interesting and had some great views! After, we walked back down in to town for lunch. Lots of great lunch spots and places to shop! A couple Id recommend are Barrachina and Greengos. I saw someone recommend an excursion to the rainforest - unfortunately, this still appears to be closed due to sustained hurricane damage Hope this helps!

I rarely go into the MDR without a drink already in hand as well

We also loved the ruins at Costa Maya. Next time we aren't booked at nachi the next day we will try Maya Chan in Costa Maya... supposed to be really great. Jane

Maybe this will help convince him! https://www.whereisyourtoothbrush.com/breweries-in-portland-maine/ In addition to Allagash and Shipyard, we also like rising tide in portland. Halifax is a great port stop too!

UPDATE: So I learned something new today...Thank you @Boston Babe for the info to the Royal Vacation Planner. This was one of the most pleasant conversations I have ever had with any RC rep. I still don't quite understand the role of these dedicated vacation planners. They still work for Royal and you can still transfer your reservation to your own TA afterwards. Do they just provide more personalized service because you can keep calling the same rep over and over again? Anyway, my question yesterday was what would happen to the 3rd/4th guest if adding them in after a period of time. Well, it turns out, @WAAAYTOOO you were onto something. When adding additional guests to a reservation with 2 people on it already, the additional guests would pay prevailing rates. However, if you book 3 guests initially, then all remaining guests would have their rates locked in at the rate of the 3rd guest at the time of booking. I got all of this in writing too. Thought it was interesting because I have never come across that before.

To be honest with you, I remember some CDs who were pretty good and some not so good. But then again, I have no idea who they were! As long as my drink package is good to go, they all are OK with me.

There are some itineraries that draw less kids in the summer. While Alaska is getting more popular with families, it still draws fewer children overall. The European itineraries also tend to draw fewer children because of the length of the cruise and the cost of airfare involved in getting an entire family there.

Have a great time, Henry, I am sailing on the same Adventure itinerary and will embarking the ship two weeks after yours :)

There is a hot tub/spa available for an upcharge. I remember it being a little absurd, $50 or so for a one time use. They tried to upsell it as a romantic bath for two. We declined. The rain showers were great though, and the pass includes a salt scrub you can use in the rain shower.

We also had a $2 mimosas happy hour in the casino on Liberty of the Seas. It will most likely be on the cruise compass if your ship offers that. Try checking some recent cruise compasses for Independence. To answer your question yes, mimosas will be covered in the drink package. If you do not have a package I suggest bringing your own champagne as one or both of the two bottles of wine you can bring onboard. Just keep in mind that orange juice might only be available in the Windjammer during breakfast hours. My wife loves mimosas but we find them to be a bit overpriced outside of the happy hour in the casino. Obviously this is not an issue if you have the drink package.

I would love that! There's also a re-positioning cruise to Barcelona. It's just that I can't be gone more then 7 days at a time. Hello, Retirement? Can you hear me calling?

Might be anther good reason I prob wont cruise from Galveston......cost of flights...followed by distance from airport....followed by delays and cancellations by fog.....bit of a crapshoot it sounds like it can be.

She's trying to avoid this

Maybe on embarkation day, but not likely. I’m in a group of 12, and they already think I’m nuts without scoping hahahha

Thought I would start a new thread with this one. Anyone get trigger happy and book a new sailing today? I just booked Symphony for July 2019! So excited! I have been itching to book this one since Symphony itineraries first came out. But since I am not willing to go to Europe this summer and when it arrives in Florida I won't be able to get off work, I had to wait until now. The prices are most definitely not cheap! However, I pretty much knew I was going summer 2019 regardless. The good news is that I had to tell my inner control freak to get lost and book with a TA for this one. Some of you may know from my previous posts I don't like giving up control over my bookings but this one TA that I sometimes go with was able to get me the cabin I want (for now) for $1300 US less than what RC is showing online! Could not turn that down! Anyway, anyone else book anything today?

There is a top secret class of ship being developed by RCI. It's code name is Ginormous Duck. This totally new class of ship will be distinguishable by 6 large round inflatable rings attached outside the hull that can double as life rafts if necessary. It will have the fastest top speed of any ship in the world today and capable of going to locations previously unheard of for cruise ships.

One thing my wife an I do is get one plan and share it. Then we have fun kicking each other off the network!

Wow, okay, since this is that interesting I've run the sheet with various cruise planner prices - $11.99, $12.99, $13.99, $14.39, $14.99 and $15.99. Voom Surf and Stream was $11.99 for the Symphony TA so yes it does go that low at times. PDFs: Voom Comparison 1199.pdf Voom Comparison 1299.pdf Voom Comparison 1399.pdf Voom Comparison 1439.pdf Voom Comparison 1499.pdf Voom Comparison 1599.pdf

Oh man, my goto for the first cruise drink is definitely something rummy. I'd go with either a Mai Tai, Pain Killer or a Pina Colada made with Meyers Dark rum - yummm. Or just all three in rapid succession at the Schooner Bar! Ooo or a nice dark and stormy with Kraken rather than the Goslings (sacrilege, I know). If you can't tell, Royal loses lots of money on the deluxe drink package with me :P Geez, come on October!!

I don't think you're a card carrying member of #TeamLavaFlow, so as a result, my recommendation is a margarita!

We usually get on board around 11:00-ish and we are not champagne drinkers. So, being that it is still morning when we board, a couple of bloody marys while walking around does quite well for us. Enjoy your cruise and be Adventurous! (see what I did there).

Just take some of this and do it right! Pretty sure they won't mind, and it can't be stolen!

Extremely so! Checking out boards, blogs and forums and finding some great info.

This just in... Carnival has announced its new interactive entertainment offering 'Fight Club' with a premiere showing on the Legend. VP of Entertainment Guy Rowdy issued this press release: "Guests were complaining of lack luster entertainment on our ships so we decided to spice it up a bit. Guests are invited to interact with our new 'Fight Club' cast who were hand picked from the streets. We believe this new experience is truly immersive as our 'Fight Club' cast will randomly interact with guests on the pool deck and in the night clubs. Initial guest feedback is fantastic with several guests lining the rails cheering the cast as they disembarked on their way to our next ship." Reviews from guest are starting to trickle in with comments like "I've never seen anything like it" and "I was in shock". Based on the success of the initial performance Carnival plans to extend 'Fight Club' to more ships and is currently scouring the streets for more 'performers'. Guests are reminded though that video recording of 'Fight Club' is not permitted and 'Fight Club' rules will be enforced by the crew. The first rule of 'Fight Club' is: you do not talk about 'Fight Club'. The second rule of 'Fight Club' is: you DO NOT talk about 'Fight Club'!

I'm a very generous person. What can I say? It's the Canadian in me...

Waiting for @KLAconQueso live blog like