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IT'S CRUISE DAY!!! I flew into Houston Hobby airport last night and stayed at an airport hotel. My hotel had renovations underway which has been a theme for me recently. It wasn't until breakfast when I saw the new lower 3 feet of drywall everywhere on the 1st floor that it dawned on me it was from Hurricane Harvey flood damage. I'm in my Lyft ride heading towards Galveston as I write this. Just over an hour for $50. ETA 10:10am. Light traffic on this Sunday morning and we made the terminal at 10:03am. Quick drop of luggage and into the terminal to check in. It looks like they just opened and there aren't many people here. A group of 15 headed into the Suites/Pinnacle/Diamond Plus queue leaving the Diamond/Emerald/Platinum queue just to me. I went to next available agent and... the computers went down. Around 10:30 they came back online one by one. Unfortunately for me and my neighbor our agent's computers didn't come back so they slid us over to working agents and away we went. I wasn't too concerned because I knew we had to wait for boarding anyways. Upstairs into the top tier waiting area it seems they had started boarding when I arrived upstairs but suffering from the same computer outage they had halted boarding. The upstairs area has a vendor area where they sell lanyards. I got some water from the dispensers and just sat down they started boarding again. By 10:50am I was onboard. Pretty easy boarding process despite the brief computer issue. This trip is already starting off a lot smoother than my last Galveston departure on some other cruise line a few years ago (before I switched to Royal). This seven night cruise will complete the Freedom class trilogy for me. Freedom . Independence . Liberty . Leaving from Galveston I have two sea days, Roatán, Costa Maya, Cozumel, a sea day then back to Galveston. Liberty has two primary itineraries. This cruise is the more western of these western routes. A nautical style map was on display in the Promenade. The promenade is adorned with a large Texas flag to greet us: Café Promenade was open so I had a roast beef plus a turkey sandwich. Let the food coma commence. With some time to kill before cabins are available I decided to check out a few spots. Main Dining Room Helipad (of course) It's an overcast day here in Galveston so I'll wait to take more pictures around the ship once we are in nicer weather. I was pleased to discover O3b based Voom. With that I can confirm everything Freedom class and newer has O3b Voom. With that it's almost time for cabins to be available.

Jeez...looks like I hafta now put "MUST HAVE DIAMOND OR HIGHER STATUS" on my dating profile.

A Twangster live blog? Telling my boss I'm busy this week!

I’m leaning towards this myself when I board Freedom, if only because they have by all accounts the best margaritas of any bar on board, and that’s what I want my “I’m FINALLY on the ship!!!” first drink to be. ??

Just thought I would share a recent experience I had with Club Royale... Just so you know I have been a member since 2011 and even though they have changed dramatically its how I still book all my cruises... So I am already going on the June 29th Mariner cruise that I booked using certificates from Club Royale. My other friends said they wanted to go on the July 13th Mariner sailing and would I like to go. Well I currently don't have any certificates to use as I am also going on the July 21 Harmony sailing so I told my friends I would call Club Royale and if they can give me a decent deal I will do it. So I called this morning and asked what kind of "Casino Rate" I could get on this Mariner sailing. The man said do you have any certificates or offers you would like to use. I said no currently I don't. He then said would you mind holding so I can look into what I can do for you. I said sure and when he came back he said ok good news based on your play I can offer you a Comped Balcony room for 2 and I would only have to pay for taxes and fees. I was pleasently surprised by this as I thought maybe they would take 50% off but no fully comped. They gave me a nice room also right on the hump. Anyway the reason I am sharing this story is I strongly feel it really depends who you get on the phone when you call. If you call club Royale and you don't hear the answer you want call back and see if someone else offers you something better. I got lucky this time and got what I wanted on the first try but I think when it comes to club Royale it takes patience. I forgot to mention about my play. I play blackjack and bet $50 a hand and play around 6 hours a day. sometimes more sometimes less depends on if I am winning and for a week spend about $2,500- $3,000 which at that level is where I find you start to get some good comps. Feel free to ask me any questions. I just felt I would share a recent experience. - Stephanie

We are all set in our room..few pic’s

Hello friends! I'm here to provide you with a review of my beach day at the British Colonial Hilton in Nassau! This came highly recommended from Matt on several of his Periscope broadcasts so I figured our RC Periscopers Super Bowl group cruise aboard Enchantment would be the perfect opportunity to try it out! This beach day is available from Resortforaday and is 79 dollars with a 17 dollar deposit paid up front and the rest payable when you check in at the hotel(no cash accepted, credit or debit card only). It's a late start tonight so I'll add more tomorrow.We actually arrived in Nassau a day early at 5 pm due to Coco Cay being cancelled, a too frequent occurence lately unfortunately. I was able to see the hotel from the ship as we were docking and was impressed right off the bat at how pristine the beach looked. This was definitely a good indication of how this beach day would go the next day In this photo you can see the hotel and the beach just to the left of the cranes.

to be honest i wouldnt know, usually when i wear the kilt im to drunk to notice if i even have socks on

Day 2 - Sea Day Up early I headed out to see the sunrise. Pretty flat seas today. Caught someone doing morning yoga.

A few people have asked to hear about my thoughts so here it is.. although this isn’t really a live blog but we just got off the other day A little background on me... I went on my first cruise in 2004 on Navigator of the Seas, and then in 2006 it was Mariner of the Seas. I went on these in my early 20s. Flash forward about 10 years, now in my early (almost mid) 30s and have an 8 year old son. I was a single mother for some time and cruising wasn’t even something that crossed my mind. I worked my a$$ off to provide a wonderful life for my son, and 4 years ago I met a great man who is also a great father to my son. I was now finally in a much better financial situation and in early 2016 we were ready to book our first family vacation!!! After doing some research I was debating between Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Considering I took a 10 year hiatus from cruising, I felt like everything was brand new again. We ended up booking Harmony of the Seas for November 2016. At the time, I didn’t even know Harmony was a brand new ship and that we were booked on her first 7 day Caribbean sailing!! Talk about a steeler cruise to reintroduce myself to cruising!! I started googling and more googling until I stumbled upon Royal Caribbean Blog! After I had booked our Harmony sailing, but prior to actually sailing, a friend mentioned wanting to book a cruise for 2017. I was in!! They were celebrating their 10 year anniversary and only request was they didn’t want to visit Jamaica (bad experience on honeymoon). Since we were sailing an eastern itinerary in 2016, and all the western itineraries I could find for the time period we were looking at and leaving out of Florida, they all had a stop in Jamaica. My friends found an interesting itinerary on the NCL Getaway. It came with their “perks” of the unlimited beverage package and 3 nights specialty dinning. In the meantime, more people joined the group and I was out numbered in the vote to go RCI. I said, what the hell, let’s do it! You don’t know if like something until you try it, right? Well flash forward again to November 2017... and I tried it, and know if I like it or not! I am going to do a comparison by category comparing my Harmony sailing to my Getaway sailing. Now, I know this isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples since Harmony was brand new, and larger. But Getaway is only a few years old, and still holds well over 4,000 passengers I feel they close enough to form my opinions. Pre Boarding/Cruise Planner - Prior to sailing on Harmony, Royal’s cruise planner drove me nuts. Several different glitches, and it that it never worked properly on my phone. I hate having to get my laptop out! But, I was able to browse and book Shore excursions right away, they ran several different sales and everything was easy to find. NCL - I couldn’t even view most excursions until about 120 days out. I am a HUGE type A personality planner and this drove me nuts! I don’t book most excursions through the ship so this wasn’t a huge deal except for the fact that I wanted to book a Beach Villa on their brand new private island in Belize called Harvest Caye (more on this later). So, needless to say I was checking on a weekly basis and finally around the end of July (we were sailing in November) I was finally able to book the Villa. I found the website lacking and a little hard to navigate, and I was unable to link our dining between our different reservations. Because of this, and the timing of them releasing their Shore excursions, Royal wins for pre cruise planning. RCI 1 NCL 0 Embarkation - We were lucky to be one of the first sailings on Harmony, which you entered your credit card info, uploaded your picture etc all ahead of time. It is my understanding not all RCI ships are this way, so I’m not going to take that into account, although I definitely liked that better. Embarkation was fairly simple on both, fast and effecient. On NCL we were traveling with my elderly grandmother who needed wheelchair assistance, we were one of the first people on the ship! This also happened to me on my first two sailings with Royal (my grandfather was with us), moral of the story, if anyone in your party can justify a wheelchair, take advantage! Lol. Overall embarkation is a tie with very little issues on both RCI 2 NCL 0 First impressions on board - Royal ships are just gorgeous!! I have not sailed on one without a Promenade and I really missed it! That giddy feeling when you first walk on board was missing. We boarded NCL on deck 7, and got to see the stairwell.. talk about underwhelming. Luckily my TA had given me a heads up so at least I was prepared RCI 3 NCL 0 Staterooms - We had a standard balcony room on Harmony. It was my first time on a balcony and I was officially hooked! We are a family of 3, so 2 adults and a child. We had more than enough storage and closet space, including room for my 15 pairs of shoes (don’t judge). NCL, because my grandmother was traveling with us, we had connecting staterooms. One a Family Mini Suite and the other an Angled Balcony Room. The balcony room was their standard balcony room, but our balcony was where the ship “jutted” out, giving more room. We had planned on opening the divider for one large balcony. Well, “they don’t allow it for safety reasons” a quote from our room steward. My question, why was the ship built with opening dividers if it’s a safety issue and they aren’t allowed to open them? Major disappointment number 1. We were warned the balconies were going to be tiny, but were not cocnerned as we thought we would have one long one. I am an average height woman at about 5’6”. When I sat in ththere chair that was all the way back, my knees touched the glass on the standard balcony of the mini suite. Slightly more room on the angled balcony, but because of th angle we could only look forward not aft.. without hanging over the edge with someone hanging onto you so you don’t fall. No thank you! Bathrooms in both balcony rooms were fairly similar in size. The Family Mini Suite is a glorified balcony with a larger bathroom. It is NOT similar to a Junior Suite on RCI. It did come with a full bathtub with a double sink which was nice. The only closet in the room is very close to the couch and you had to shimmy in sideways to get in. I definitely did not have room for 12 pairs of shoes (I tried to pack lighter this year). Decor was only meh.. Royal wins for staterooms hands down RCI 4 NCL 0 Food (the best part!) - I was actually disappointed with the overall food on Harmony. I was used to the old style cruising of one specialty restaurant and set dining time with the same waiter each night. Traditional dining was booked so we had to go with My Time Dinning. We ate in the dining room 3 times and 4 Specialty (Chops, 150 CP, Jamie’s and Wonderland). All our specialty dining was amazing, main dining room not so much, including service. One night the food was just disgusting. And another night our server left much to be desired. NCL has 3 main dining rooms, they have named theirselves “Freestyle cruising”. At first I thought I wouldn’t like this. I like traditional cruise dining, I enjoyed getting to know your waiter and your table mates, I enjoyed formal nights. When else as an adult do you have an excuse to get all fancy?? We decided well in advance we would be doing our own formal night. To our surprise, many people did the same! You would see eveverything from evening gowns to shirts and tanks and no one judged. I even wore shorts and sandals one night and I loved it! The food, I didn’t have one bad meal, including complimentary. There is a pub type place called O’Sheehans that is complimentary, we are not big buffet people so this is where we ate most lunches. Everything was at minimum average and at best, delicious! There is also a Margaritaville onboard (for a charge) because of the fact they had so many choices for complimentary dining and literally didn’t have one bad meal, topped with the relaxed dress code, NCL wins this one. I’m even going to give them 1.5 points since I am combining dinning and dress code.. it really was nice being able to go casual without any glaring eyes RCI 4 NCL 1.5 Kids Club - I should start with saying, my son has slight special needs being diagnosed ADHD with ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) basically, he does whatever he wants and doesn’t care about consequences. He was borderline on the spectrum with Aspergers, but was just under the line. I didn’t know at the time, but RCI is endorsed by the Austism Research Institute and even has sailings Autism of the Seas. I was so nervous about dropping him off and having behavioral issues. He had so much fun there!! Everything was structured and organized, what he thrives from. He wanted to be at the kids club any moment he could. He was just as excited to try the NCL kids club. NCL was much smaller, but I had expected that knowing Harmonys was the newest and best with a science, art and theater room. 2 out of the first 3 days we had behavioral issues. Now, I know more than anyone that my son can be a handful, and he defiantly did wrong, I felt the staff on RCI was just better trained to accommodate “non mainstream” children like himself, and were able to see certain behavior be triggered and able to redirect prior to meltdowns. We took 2 days off from the club then went back for short time periods and with a track phone. He still had fun! RCI 5 NCL 1.5 Ship Activities/Overall layout - Harmony was so easy to navigate, it didn’t matter it is the largest cruise ship in the world. I never got lost once, things made sense. The neighborhood concept is amazing and makes you feel comfortable and at home. I enjoy having the promenade and almost a “central main location” the hub of the ship sort of speak. I never had that feeling on NCL, it always felt like something was missing. The Atrium was just not the same, I am not sure if I would feel the same on a RCI ship with an atrium instead of a promenade. I may need to stick to Voyager Class or above! The casino was in the middle of the main deck and we had to walk through with children to get to the main dining room and if it wasn’t for all the smoke I probably wouldn’t care. There is no mid bank of elevators, only forward and aft. You have to walk outside to get to ththe buffet... did I mention it was downporuing in Honduras?? I was warned ahead of time the pool was tiny, and it was. There is only one main pool, and it’s adults only. There is a glorified hot tub squeezed between the slides and the splash area that they called the “kids pool”. Because it’s in th middle, there is no wherno for chairs. Since I am one of the parents that watches their child, unless I wanted to go in I had to sit on the side. They should have planned better and thought of parents. The splash area looked good for small children, but did not interest my 8 year old. We was luckily tall enough to do some sides this year which was a plus, although we only did them once. Mini was gold was average for a ship, but the sports complex area was impressive overall. The ropes course and plank over th edge was pretty sick, in addition to the bungee trampoline for anyone under 90lbs. The sports complex is really the good thing I have to say about the ship RCI 6 NCL 1.5 Private Islands - I have only been to CocoCay, not Labadee but I need to make it happen. I loved CocoCay, water was beautiful and it was so relaxing. Loved everything was included like the ship. Tendering is a downside although that is now changing! I was so excited for Harvest Caye in Belize. They just built it and it looked amazing. As time went on I found out it wasn’t your typical private island and everything was run by locals not the ship, so nothing was included. After some time I became ok with the idea that it wasn’t truly a private island, instead just another port stop. There were some people on board who hadn’t done their research and were not pleased which is understandable. It is also why you do a little research first. The island landscaping and water was beyond beautiful. I felt like we were on a pacific island. We had the last villa on the beach so it was nice and private and service was amazing. I defiantly enjoyed my day there more than CocaCay but I think the villa had something to do with that.. I will totally be looking into one for the 2019 GC. Since to me it’s not truly a “Private Island” I’m giving NCL .5 points, making the total RCI 6 NCL 2 As you can see by the scores, it wasn’t all bad. I found the ship not as family friendly as Royal Caribbean, and if you are traveling without children you may have a very different experience, and until the last day I was thinking I would maybe sail them again, just as an adults only cruise, until... I was looking over my bill the last sea day and noticed a $300 charge from the Tempanyaki night. My sons birthday was one night on board and 9 of us went to dinner there. 6 of us had the specialty dinning package and I was paying for the other 3.. I promise you it’s not $100 per person. I went to guest services to correct and she insisted we used all the nights and that’s why we were charged. After arguing for 20 mins and a few phone calls, she finally figured out that they not only charged me for all 9 but thwas dining was applied that night. Now, to issue the refund she had to get the manager of that restaurant to do it, she couldn’t. We waited abou 15 mins and he argued with us and didn’t even understand the receipt from HIS restaurant. It clearly said “9 @ $29.95” then the service charge the and the total (around $310). He was an asshat (can I say that on here?) and said I was “wrong” and he needed a calculator. Needless to say I got my refund. Did I mention I am an accountant? The last night of the cruise we went to get our pictures. My mother and I split a 30 print package for $250 prior to sailing. There was a special onboard for that price plus a USB of all the images. We asked a girl if ours had that and she said yes. We went to order our prints and another asshat (I can say that, right?) said it was $20 extra. He called the girl over and proceeded to argue with her, she was insisting it did and he did not. She ended up apologizing saying she was mistaken and it doesn’t come with ours since we bought ahead of time. So basically they penalize you for buying ahead even though the falsely advertised you were saving money booking ahead. More importantly the horrible customer service from Jovan in the photo studio who not only argued with me but also very rudely with a coworker right in front of us. Over a $20 USB after spending $250 on pictures!!! I walked out of there with my free USB and someone who will only be sailing RCI from now on!! Did I mention my son and grandmother who shared a room both left with rashes? They decided to check for any infestation on disembarkation day I feel like I may have rambled there at points and also probably forgot to touch on something so if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Would do that but figure they'd mostly be over 60. Nothing wrong with that but I'm not there yet!

@twangster has "must be Pinnacle in C&A" on his dating profile IIRC, so you wouldn't be the only one with high standards ?

I haven't gone yet (going in July on the Seaside) but I have been following all reviews and comments on many other forums. They all echo what @DocLC is saying. The main complaints are lack of variety in buffets for dining, poor customer service. The main takeaway I have so far, and my opinion is my own, is that you cannot compare it. If you go, you will need to go with the mindset that you are not cruising a major NA line and that there will be marked differences. That's not to say that it's going to be better than RC or worse. Just different. It's like someone cruising Freedom of the Seas and complaining that there is no Central Park or Aqua Theater. You just cannot compare it. I am pretty loyal to Royal. I'm a huge fan of the Oasis class ships. The reason why we are going this summer is part curiosity and part pricing. We are staying in a YC suite and the price of it was less than a JS on any Oasis class ship. However, hubby and I are going to go with the mindset that it will be a different cruise experience for us. For yourself, you have to ask, are you open to a non-North American experience? Are you open to different types and flavours of food? Are you going to be upset if they don't offer you coffee at the end of dinner and that you might have to ask for it? Are you expecting RC type entertainment or are you open to more of a European flair on stage (operas?)? If yes, then consider it. If no, then maybe stick with RC. Do your research. Know what you are getting into first.

So what from I understand from what @HLWIser and @jticarruthers is saying is that for example, if my kids are Diamond (because of us) when they turn 18 but they only have 60 cruise points on their own, then they will have to get another 20 to reach true Diamond status and another 115 to bump themselves up to Diamond+. However, they will continue to reap the benefits of Diamond after they turn 18 even though they have not reached it yet on their own. But yes, the way I see it, it's a win-win for the kids. I wish my parents had starting cruising before I turned 18 lol!

Yesterday in St Maarten was quite an experience - all around an awesome day We started the day slowly with breakfast in the main dining room, featuring Crab Benedict. For our day, we had planned a third party tour with Bernards SXM Tours. I can not recommend this tour enough - it was absolutely excellent. For $40 (tour 1) we had a Air conditioned van taking us all over the island, with a cooler of beer, soda, and rum punch provided. Our tour guide was the Mailman, and he was AWESOME. Incredibly nice and knowledgeable. The thing that appears to be the most marked difference is that the theme of the tour became less about the island, and more about the damage sustained from irma. There is still evidence of damage everywhere, particularly on the French side. One of the stops was Orient Bay Beach, and it looked like the entire thing was still covered in the rubble of old buildings. Most places you go on the island, you will be seeing mangled metal and piles of debris. It was incredible to see and learn what these people went through. All of this said, don’t be deterred from going. Take this tour, see the island, learn their story, and spend some money on souvenirs if you can. This island is reliant on tourism, and due to how insurance works on the French side it sounds as though it will still be quite some time before most of it is built back up - probably another year. Kind of an afterthought, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Maho Beach. It struck me as a bit of a tourist trap with kind of a Senior Frogs vibe. After our tour, we enjoyed another dinner in the dining room, happened upon some additional luck in the casino, and went to the silent disco in the VCL - don’t miss that late night event! It was a blast. We are currently docked in St Kitts after having spent a morning poolside with mimosas! We will be headed off shortly for a quick afternoon excursion. Thanks for following! Here’s a photo dump.

If you are stuck on land, you may not like this next post. It's time for a Windjammer breakfast. Windjammer bar: Fresh fruit as always: Lots of different breakfast choices Donuts anyone? French toast and waffles covered: Several flavors of pancakes, all covered: Chocolate overdose available on board: Scrambled eggs or scrambled eggs with Jalepeño and Salsa - because some like it hot. Lot of different teas.

No dining package. MDR or WJ all the way...

The cruise port area in Costa Maya has a free pool. Also, search for 'Krazy Lobster Mahahual'. Cheap shuttle ride.

I had interior cabins on both Freedom and Indy that were pretty much mirror images of each other. This photo from Indy: I find my cabin on Liberty easier to get around the bed and to access both sides. This is largely due to the rounded bed found on many of the newer ships. On Freedom/Indy access to the right side of the bed is a bit of a pain. I noticed some elevator lobby noise on day 1 right after cabins opened up but haven't heard much more. I crashed early last night and wasn't bother by any. Any noise I do hear is coming through the door (not through walls) and like any cabin, any where, loud talkers or laughers in the hall can be heard as they walk past your cabin. Given a choice I'd take this new cabin on Liberty. Still has that new cabin smell.

Have a wonderful cruise, Kayla...or whatever... :-P

Here are some pictures of the hotel grounds and also you can see how close the ships are. The water and beach are absolutely gorgeous. Another plus is the pool is heated so no "ice box" feel when you get into the water!

Definitely a certified copy of the birth certificate as @tiny260 stated. You shouldn't need any type of picture ID prior to 12 years old, but if you plan on cruising in the future it's probably worth investing in a passport for your child.

Getting to the hotel is super easy and only about a ten minute walk. Once you leave the port area head west all the way till the road turns left. You'll see a Senor Frogs right at that corner. Turn left and go about 3 blocks and you're at the Hilton. Check in was easy... I'll go over the details a little later today. The hotel lobby is beautiful as you'll see in these pictures:

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

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!

I'm very late to the party, but I don't recall seeing a report on the first drink. Inquiring minds want to know!

So firstly, I wasn't hungry but now I really am. I can see why norovirus (or any virus for that matter) would spread so easy with people putting the tongs back inside the food. (This is why I ALWAYS reach in the back under the top layer to try and get the safer stuff. Thanks @twangster so looking forward to next week.

Not crowded at all considering we had 5 ships in port that day. No issue finding a chair at the beach or seat at the open air bar and grill

lol. There is (or was, I haven't actually checked in a while) a magazine, Star Wars Insider, and IIRC if you subscribed to it then you were automatically signed up for the Official Star Wars Club. I just saw you mention Star Wars in another post about your husband, so it might be something for you to look into for him. I loved it, and people thought I was uber nerdy when I showed them my member card, can't blame them if the shoe fits.

Confirmed. Went onto cruisedeckplans.com and verified 10238 is a JS. OCD in me wouldn't let it go until I knew for sure.

To make things MORE confusing, when I added my boyfriend (who has the same address so he was linked to my C&A account since he is considered a household member), he got "Diamond" Status since that is what my true points reflect. So, I'm Diamond Plus because of my parents, and he is Diamond because of me. LOL. I hope that makes sense.

Here is one from 2002 ?

YIPPEE !!! Another Twangster live blog. YIPPEE, YIPPEE !!!

Hi @twangster! Love your blogs! I'm going on the Freedom next month and we will be in Costa Maya as well! Never been to this port, wondering what to do?!? We have a group of seven and we don't want to pay for an excursion. Maybe a nice beach, drinks, some decent local food, safe! Thoughts!

Thanks @Matt and @DocLC. Our next trip won't be until next year, and we'll have a new 6 monther by then, so we'll probably wait and get them passports at the same time. Great info, thanks!

Good morning everyone! So I have also received different answers from different C&A's reps when I called.. I think it might be time to start using a travel agent honestly (lol). I also had this issue as my tags were showing up as Diamond. I finally spoke with a supervisor and he told me that I will keep my parent's status from before I turned 18 (i was 16 when my father achieved Diamond Plus) even though I currently have 109 points, which makes me a Diamond by points alone. So, I have my own set of points but keep his Diamond + status. I now build on my points alone. It seems their computer system might not always be correct since this has happened to others I know as well! I would call the C&A line and explain that your sons information is incorrect and you just want to make sure they have the appropriate status.

What did you end up choosing for your first drink? We must know! :P

As said @DocLC I would not take a flight before 12 PM , I went to the airport twice after a cruise from Barcelona, one time we went of the ship around 8 and one time around 7:30 AM , Take into consideration at least 30 minutes drive to the airport , I would not risk it.

Last post to close out this thread. I’ve been driving for the last few days, with the longest time spent today while I finally bought a new suit, which will get its inaugural wearing on this sailing’s formal nights! And I’m feeling so normal that I forgot the prohibition about lifting nothing heavier than a gallon of milk for another couple of weeks, and proceeded to carry not just a gallon of milk but five other plastic bags of groceries into the house after getting stuff for dinner and the pantry on the way home. Grateful I didn’t inadvertently hurt myself! The suit was an absolute bargain. Joseph A. Bank had a clearance sale, and I picked up a Select Gold 100% 150’s Italian wool 3-season suit that looks really sharp and has a (probably very inflated) list price of $1,100 for $160! Plus a couple new matching ties on BOGO sale. I’ve read and guessed from past experience that this particular place is known for stupidly high markup on their list prices, so I’m taking the final value with a grain of salt. But I also read that this line of theirs normally doesn’t go on clearance for less than $250-$350, so that’s a definite win! And there’s no question after trying it on that it looks great, fits really nicely, and the material feels fantastic! Tailor is making alterations, and I pick it up on March 16. 33 days, 2 hours, and 32 minutes until sailaway day. Not that I’m counting or anything. ?

Following!

Thanks!! I started searching but the dinner dishes called and I had to deal with those before I could finish. :D My boys will be very happy that they get BOGO milkshakes!!

PDFs by @twangster:

We've been on both of Liberty's itineraries and enjoyed both. Have a great trip and I'm looking forward to following along!

I am with you in spirit. Let the food pictures began. Do you have the dining package this time?

Will do...we’re finally underway

Safe travels @twangster! Will be following along as always ?

$28 before tip for 6 adults and 6 pieces of luggage!

Wife is relaxed as you can tell in the pic ?

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.

This will be a useless post because I've never cruised with that big a group, but my wife and I rarely pay for excursions. We get off the ship, wander amongst the little trinket shops, find a place to get local fried seafood and a local beer, and get back on the ship. We are exciting people.