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OK, we are back home and I've finally reviewed all the photos I took and edited the ones I judged worth keeping (which was still over 400 total!). With that taken care of and only watermarking of the copies for here needed, this blog is officially resuming... NOW Day 4 – St. Kitts Today is our first port day, and we're really excited because it's also dolphin swim day! We wanted to get up early enough to catch the sunrise today, but my Fitbit alarm wasn't strong enough to wake me up (might have had something to do with all that wine I'd had the night before). At least we still woke up around 7, so we didn't have to race through breakfast before going out to our excursion. While we missed the sunrise, we were still up early enough to see the island of St. Kitts somewhat far off in the distance, shrouded in clouds and mist. We went to breakfast in the MDR, and got a table right alongside one of the large porthole windows. We were treated to more views of the island as we sailed into the port, and could see the clouds rapidly burn away as the sun rose higher. After breakfast, we went back to our cabins to get ready for our outing, and got our first view of the port area. We disembarked on deck 1 and walked out onto the pier. I finally had a chance to get some shots of the ship's exterior, as well as our approach to the port entrance. We actually went out to the port around 9:30, and our meet-up for the dolphin swim wasn't until 10:15, so the girls and I explored the port area a little bit while my wife held our place in line and stayed in the shade. We thought maybe the girls might find a souvenir or two to pick up for themselves or their friends, and we at least wanted to get a view of the place. I'll be honest, this was not a good first impression of a port village. The girls and I couldn't walk three steps without someone walking up and offering us a guided tour, or a taxi ride to some place, or a chance to take a photo with one of the monkeys the island is known for, or to step into their shops to just look around and get some free stuff in exchange. Even if I had wanted to take any pictures of the place, and believe me I didn't, I didn't feel like I could do that safely or without someone jumping into the shot and then telling me I owed them money for taking their picture. We all quickly grew tired of saying no and having to rush away, and went back to the port entrance. One important note here, for those who have said in the past they would just bring their Sea Pass cards off the ship and nothing else: The port security people were not allowing anyone out of the village and back onto the main entrance / pier area if they did not have both their Sea Pass and a passport or other valid ID (I think they were accepting driver's licenses, but preferred passports). This was a big surprise, and I was very glad that I had our passports in my foldable backpack; otherwise we'd have been in a lot of trouble since my wife was nowhere near close enough to hear us holler at her to get them from the ship. So with that little "adventure" out of the way, we waited while the excursion team got everyone grouped together, had us sign in, and gave us the appropriate wrist bands for the specific activity we'd signed up for. The vast majority had signed up for the same Push / Pull / Swim as us, with just a few people doing the higher-end option that included a push by two dolphins, and maybe a dozen or so (mainly families with toddlers or other very young children) doing the baseline "experience" option. Once everyone had signed the checklist and gotten their wrist bands, we were put into vans and driven over to the Dolphin Discovery site, near the Bird Rock Beach hotel about 15 minutes away. Many others here have written about these excursions before, so I won't go into any great detail here. The staff were quite knowledgable about dolphins in general and the ones in their care specifically, telling us about our particular dolphin's history with the organization. They definitely seemed to care about the dolphins we were interacting with, treating them well, frequently reminding us to be careful around them and not try to stroke their face or under their chins as it was not comfortable for them, and making sure to reward them each time that they successfully did one of the actions with us. For our package, we got to go into the water and "cuddle" with our dolphin, Dante, get pulled by him by grabbing his lower fins while he swam on his back, and ride a boogie board while he pushed us by one of our feet. We also did the standard "kiss" and cheek peck while standing on the platform by the dock, as well as a couple of other typical trainer tricks. All the while, the photographer was there getting lots and lots of pictures. Since this was a bucket list item for my wife, I did buy the photo package, which was $210 for a CD with all of our photos on it and well as the ability to download the full-resolution images via their app for up to 15 days after our visit. I had hoped to get a chance to haggle about that price a bit, but it was bedlam inside the gift center area where you bought this, and we were getting close to the time we'd have to get on our vans back to port, so I ended up paying the full price. But in my view it was totally worth it. It certainly supports the place and the locals who staff it, and helps keep the dolphins in their care in good shape; and if nothing else, I can make my own prints at larger than 8 x 10 to hang on our walls, and I can also share some of them here (with proper attribution in the watermark). For here, I just chose the photos that showed our faces, as I think it sums up the experience pretty well. My wife only liked the one photo of her that's posted here, so that's why you don't see more of her. After this, we returned to the ship, showered, and then spent the rest of the day doing separate things. My wife and daughters did go back to the village for a bit, aware of what it was like but still hoping to find something decent; and D14 was debating spending the money to get a picture with a monkey. They came back after a short time without anything, and D14 agreed that the prices charged for the monkey pics were ridiculous. For myself, I relaxed on the balcony and broke out my mini-tripod, Camalapse, and phone bracket (as well as getting creative with stacking our two balcony tables to get a clear view above the railing) to take a nice time-lapse of the port area. I used the telephoto lens for this, and I really like how it came out: Besides the time-lapse video, I also took some stills using my different lenses. For sail-away, I went back out to the helicopter deck and tried another Periscope, since the ship was parked "backwards" and I could be closer to the interior while still getting video of the island. On my way there via the Star Lounge side door, I found this sight: I really don't get these people. You can find out why when I post my Day 7 recap. After scoping, I was treated to a very nice sunset. My wife had just messaged me to see if I wanted to join her for a bit before dinner, but I had to wait a few minutes so I could get these shots. The sky was just striking at those moments. The sky faded far too quickly for me to have my wife join me, but I did message her that it was happening and to get to the balcony fast so she and the girls could watch it. Afterwards, I went to the cabin and my wife and I spent some time relaxing on the balcony together before dinner. Dinner was in the MDR again, and as with all the prior nights D14 and I made sure to order escargots as part of our appetizers. The girls and my wife were tired and went back to the cabin to relax, and in the girls' case do a little homework or drawing before turning in for the night. For myself, I went to see the headliner act for that night, a ventriloquist named Ronn Lucas. He was very funny, and reminded me in a lot of ways of Jeff Dunham, as their acts shared a lot of similarities. Lucas didn't use as many puppets, but I have a feeling that one of them is drawing on the other's routines; either that, or it's a standard in ventriloquist acts to have things like the "you're arguing with yourself!" bit, or doing the multiple characters / voices in rapid-fire back-and-forth. As soon as the act was over, I went back to the cabin. I had considered going back to the craps table for a bit, but decided sleep was more important given the long day ahead of us in St. Maarten. We had this fellow waiting on our bed when I came in: That's it for our day in St. Kitts. I have to watermark all the pics from St. Maarten now, and I have to get back to laundry, ordering new eyeglass lenses, and a few other chores; so that day's post will be out later tonight. EDIT: I forgot the drink package tally! Fresh squeezed OJ in MDR with breakfast Grande cappuccino at Cafe Promenade right after breakfast 2 Patron reposado margaritas, one right before sail-away and one after the sunset, from Bull & Bear pub A glass of the "La Volte" Toscana I'd had on Day 2, from Vintages ($4 overage applied to my account) Something of a "light" day, but I think I just broke even with the $43 daily cost, since the three alcoholic beverages were $36 against the package, and the non-alcoholic ones were about $10 total.

Oops. I though I deleted that last one. Meant to, anyway.

Yippee ! I did it ! I will have to practice with the captions.

One more set. Then I have to start getting ready for formal night.

I’m afraid to get too many pix at once. Matt is going to block me from this site !

Sorry, I couldn't Help myself help myself!!

Thanks, Twang-bot. High praise coming from you.

If there is ANY negative about this suite, it would be the loud music coming from the sports/Flowrider area. The noise certainly is not unique to this particular suite but rather a general problem with the loft area suites in general. It was very loud out on the balcony yesterday but once you come inside there is no noise from the outside at all. I think I prefer this suite to the one that looks out over the sports area even though this one it a bit smaller. The view of the ocean is a giant plus, IMO. I love being up on 17. While we really, really enjoyed being back in the Aqua Theater Suites (there’s just nothing like that view and those GINORMOUS balconies), the convenience of being just an elevator ride up to 17 away from most activities is so nice. I can walk to get my cappuccino in the Suites Lounge in 2 minutes while back in the ATS it’s a LONG walk to get anywhere and then a long walk back. I’m glad we did the ATS but I think I’m done with them. It’s going to be deck 17 for me from now on.

More pix

We went to Giovanni's for dinner last night. We had reservations to go to Chops but Charlie the Genie called us yesterday afternoon to tell us that he had changed the Rez to Gio’s b/c Chops was going to be very busy (formal night) and Charlie was afraid that our service would be slow. I thought that was extremely proactive on his part and we had a wonderful meal at Giovanni’s. Dan had the Oslobucco and I had the filet. We are rescheduled to go to Chops tonite. I’m sure it will be great. We did not have lunch in a specialty restaurant yesterday. If we had, we would not have been able to enjoy our dinner. I just cannot eat 3 big meals a day anymore. We have enjoyed breakfast in our suite every morning so far. It’s a great solution for us as we like to sleep in. In the past, we’ve always waited until the last minute and then scurried around trying to find somewhere to eat breakfast. No such worries this trip ! I could really get used to this !

Hey, everybody! What a great day we had yesterday. Too much champagne and fireball so I am having fireball’s revenge today but it was awesome while it was happening! We had lunch at Chops and dinner at Izumi. We went to the Aqua Theater show and the Genie kindly reserved Jim’s place right with us. I really like Charlie. Great Genie. Our suite is incredible. This SLS is a tiny bit smaller than its companion next door and the balcony is definitely smaller but when you’re talking about “small” it’s all about relativity. The suite is beautiful and the balcony is huge. I’m going to try and post some pix but since I have no f’n idea what I’m doing I may lose the entire post, which would ruin my entire day ! I’m no Twang-bot or Sabrina so please don’t judge by those standards ! I will post over on Tony’s Club Royale thread, too, but just wanted to mention that I believe that Tony’s horrific experience on Enchantment was a one-off and unfortunate mishap. We were given all of the CR privileges that we expected, including free drinks and no 5% fee. We were also promised that by the end of the cruise we would be given our tear level in the new program. On another issue of recent contention, our D+ list of amenities include 2 free days of Voom or a dollars off discount (can’t find the paper at the moment) so it seems that the panic over maybe losing those free days is either premature or unwarranted -at least, here on Allure. i have run out of time (blackjack tournament) so I’m going to have to make the brave attempt to insert a photo later on in the day. The thought of wiping out this post (so much pecking !) has brought a bead of sweat to my brow so I’m going to “submit” before anything can go wrong !

I am making no promises. I have only my iPad so not really equipped to create a full cruise blog but I will do what I can without interrupting the groove of the cruise. I’m not much of a picture-taker and I don’t even know how to post a pic so probably won’t have photos unless I can figure that out. Today was travel day. Left DC at 5:30 AM. Wow. That is early ! ...but had an uneventful flight down. The air was very unsettled so it was a bumpy and turbulent ride but we made it. Since we are both status members with American Airlines, we always fly American. From DC, American does not fly nonstop to Fort Lauderdale so your choices are, nonstop to Miami or go through Charlotte. We chose to go through Charlotte this trip so we had 2 segments, but the flights were so close together that we basically got off the first leg and hustled to the gate for #2 with no time to spare. We are staying at the Residence Inn Airport and Cruiseport. While the hotel is very nice, there is absolutely nothing nearby unless you want Wendy’s or Dunkin Donuts and even with those, you would have to cross a busy highway to get over there. They do have a shuttle bus that picked us up from the airport and will take you to a couple of nearby restaurants or Publix market at no cost but that got old quickly. I don’t think I will stay here again. Dan used points for this room so at least the price was right. They only have a complimentary happy hour Mon-Wed so nothing for us there. There is a complimentary breakfast which we will check out tomorrow morning. There is shuttle service ($8 pp) from the hotel to the port so we are scheduled to leave here at 10 AM. The Genie is expecting us at 10:30 so we may be a bit early. We’re in for the night at this point. Very excited about boarding Allure in the morning ! We were on Allure over Thanksgiving last year but not in Star Class. This will be our first time in Star Class on any ship other than Harmony. It will be interesting to compare the service on the different ships. They’re calling for rain tomorrow so it might be a wet start. Our friend Jim flew in much later this afternoon and is staying elsewhere so we will not see him until after we board tomorrow. It’s always an adventure when you vacation with one or more of the Jim twins.

Loop is absolutely useless. It’s not a true messaging service. The Genie must be at his/ her computer to get message so you might as well be using email. All of our Genies simply gave us their phone number and have us call their phones if we need anything. So far, on this cruise, we have not called Charlie even once. We simply have not needed anything. Pre-cruise you can either email or use Loop. We have our breakfast delivered every morning at 9:00 but I’m sure you can have it delivered up until the CK stops serving breakfast. For us, on this cruise, 10 AM would definitely be within those hours. The nice part about it is, as long as someone can answer the door, you’re good ! Nobody has to be dressed to go out...just able to get to the door and let them in. Usually, they call to let you know they’re on their way. This morning we got no such call and Dan had to answer the door in his robe. He had just gotten out of the shower when they showed up. But all was well. Yesterday morning we ate out on the balcony. This morning we ate at the table inside. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. We have preordered breakfast for every morning but by doing that, we are getting basically the same thing every morning. I was trying to keep the ordering overhead down for Charlie by keeping it simple but honestly, I may have to change it up a bit. There is a trade off between convenience (not having to preorder every day) and monotony. I absolutely love their French toast but I don’t want it every day. Whatever we decide to do, I will not bother Charlie with it. I will just go down to the CK and take care of it myself. Charlie is so nice. He’s an American from upstate NY. Rather unusual for an American to work on a cruise ship. He couldn’t be nicer and he has even taken a small shine to the utterly obnoxious Jim. We have met 1 of the other Genies, Phillip and he’s a very gregarious and fun guy too. I do not know who the third Genie on Allure is. On an interesting side note (regarding Royal Genies) nobody seems to know what has become of Alexandra, who was the lovely Genie on Harmony when we were on there with the Jim twins. Consensus seems to be that she is no longer a Royal Genie. I can’t help but worry that the Jim twins drove her to seek another line of work. I hope she found a wonderful, rich husband and decided to retire and have a big family in Transylvania, which is where she is from. I would hate to think the the Jim twins ran her off. ???

OMG! Totally a plant then! That was the same guy back in August!

Sounds like a great day. Unfortunately the vendor experience is far too common across the Caribbean. I have built up a resistance to it and I think they sense that since they often leave me alone. Or maybe its the scowl on my face as they approach that is my tell. Love the pics!

Ok here goes. I will do a trial posting and then go crazy ! someone mentioned not having a cooler for their beer so just wanted to show that you CAN get a cooler if you have a good attendant. Somehow got the captions reversed. Sorry. This pic was from yesterday today there are twice as many bottles and can in this space. Yikes ! Stop bringing new stuff !

Totally agree, used to enjoy the old "spice-themed" menus but the MDR on our recent Oasis cruise was really poor, so we ended up using the specialty restaurants more than normal. Fairly sure that's the intention. Been loyal RCL customers for years but we are now seriously looking at other lines.

I haven't written about the last couple days of Voom. It became slower and slower. Yesterday on day ten I was getting 0.5Mbps down but the normal 2Mbps up. I've never experienced this before. Normally if satellite coverage is an issue due to weather or position then both the up and down speeds are impacted. I stopped by the Voom desk yesterday. The girl there reported everything was fine and showed me her phone getting 3.78Mbps down, the normal Surf and Stream speed. "Everything is working normally" she reported. I showed her my phone getting 0.5Mbps down. Over the next hour she went through the usual IT explanations such as too many apps open, satellite coverage, wifi coverage, slow processor in my iPhone 7 Plus compared to her new Samsung S8 and so on. As we progressed I could she wasn't buying her reasons any more than I was. She closed all my apps, restarted my phone, reset my code, replaced my code, changed my plan to a maximum 8Mbps doubling it from the normal 4Mbps limit, she even tried raising the limit to 20Mbps. None of it explained why her phone could pull in normal speeds while mine was clearly capped at 0.5Mbps. Then she logged in on her phone using my code and she got the same 0.5Mbps download speed on her phone. At this point she should have been getting 20Mbps down. The hour was pleasant and we talked about various IT things and the change to Speedcast from Harris even though they are both part of the same larger company. She told me my usage to date was 6.8GB over the ten days which in her opinion was above average but not nearly the highest and not extreme in any way. In the end she was powerless to resolve the issue or explain it other than saying she would report it to Speedcast. She offered a 20% discount but since I had purchased Voom in the cruise planner she would have to refund that back to my credit card then charge my SeaPass account with the 20% discounted amount. This on the last day late in the afternoon made me nervous it wouldn't get straightened out or I would never see the refund to my credit card and I would end up paying twice. My best guess - the recent contract with Streamcast announced a few weeks ago is more than just a contract renewal. The sign in screens have changed and it seems as if the technology used has also changed on the ground within Streamcast's domain. It's not O3b and still uses the higher and slower geostationary satellites. Something was throttling my account. She confirmed Surf and Stream is supposed to be unlimited yet clearly my account was not being allowed to stream despite purchasing that option. Whatever was doing it wasn't within her power to change, I suspect it lies within the Streamcast technology or platform. This morning my SeaPass account statement was on my door and the full cruise planner Voom purchase had been refunded to my onboard account creating a small balance due mostly from gratuity. It pays to remain calm and be nice while working through these issues. Posting and writing this blog is mostly about upload speed much like broadcasting on Periscope. Since my upload wasn't throttled in the same manner I was able to continue blogging and scoping however loading websites was very slow and trying to watch scopes was impossible. In the end they refunded my Voom purchase so all is well that ends well but it pays to keep an eye on your Voom performance and politely discuss it with the Voom specialists on board if you suspect you are having issues.

Day 8 - St Maarten continued... This afternoon's excursion would be on the catamaran 'Swept Away' which is why this excursion was called "Swept Away Coastal Cruise". We met on the pier and guests from both Adventure and Serenade were present. From here it was a short walk to the boat which used the water taxi terminal at the port. The boat featured both covered seating as well as mesh areas in the front where you could sit for an over water full sun experience. We left the Great Bay area where the ships dock and headed along the coast. Captain Kevin at the helm had Caribbean music playing stopping it occasionally so they could narrate and inform us of interesting facts along the way. We passed Fort Amsterdam and Little Bay. The Divi Little Bay Beach Resort where the King and Queen of The Netherlands stay when they visit is one of the first and few hotels that have reopened. From here we continued to the water and electric plants that generate all the electricity and water desalination for the Dutch side. The tankers here were offloading fuel for the generators used to power this side of the island. This was my view straddling the right pontoon most of the day. This is the the draw bridge used for boats to enter the lagoon which is one of the largest lagoons in the Caribbean. This is where everyone moves their boats during hurricanes. During Irma over 300 boats were damaged beyond repair and they continue to deal with wrecks to this day. According to our hostess no sailboat masts survived the storm including the 'Swept Away' we were on. As a result we had no 'sailing' and our tour used engine power all the way. This took us into Simpson Bay where we saw beaches lined with people and water sports underway. The bay is a popular anchoring spot for many boats and yachts such as this unique craft. It was reported the entire craft can be controlled by the owners iPad. Continuing along the coast we made our way to Maho Beach, the famous beach area at the end of the runway where people go to watch planes land. You could hear the music from the Sunset Bar located at Maho Beach with scores of people on the beach just like it used to be. We hung out here for a while and watched as some airplanes landed above us. Continuing along the coast... This beach in Mullet Bay is where the locals like to spend most weekends. The water was crystal clear and we were told it was 35' deep where we were but you could see the sand bottom very easily. The spot marks the border between the Dutch and French sides of the island. If you look very close there is a small green fence separating the two sides even though it is an open border and you can freely move between the two countries. We continued sailing up the French side of the island with Sylvia our bartender keeping the drinks flowing. This area Baie Longue (Long Bay in English) on the French side is one of the most expensive parts of the island. At this point we turned and started making our way eventually back to Philipsburg and the ships. A few dolphins swam near us briefly on the way back. It was a very enjoyable excursion and it was great seeing the coast of St. Maarten from a catamaran. Our hosts explained everyone on the Dutch side has power and water at this point and they were very proud of how strong and resilient the people of St Maarten have been through to this point. One them explained that the boat she used to work on was destroyed and she was so happy to be working again now on the 'Swept Away'. They were all very happy to be working again and they thanked us for that. With only one or two hotels open it really drove home the impact that the cruise industry has on the local economy.

RCI have announced their itineraries on the Australia / New Zealand website. It is the usual mix of Australia / NZ / Pacific Islands with a couple of new itineraries thrown in. There are quite few sampler cruises as well, more than ion previous years. You need to call them to book and they have introduced the dreaded non refundable deposit. Will Have a good look through tonight to see which one we will do. There are none leaving from New Zealand this time so it looks like another trip to Australia will be necessary.

@rjacI know you're not going to see this until after you're done living it up on your B2B but wishing you a Happy Birthday anyway!

if it was current or winds etc., people wonder why RCCL skips out on Coco Cay and other tender ports periodically, I agree with @monorailmedic, the speed is just why off, what did they do, bring in the junior, junior assistant (Janitor) harbor pilot? I know Roatan is a small island with little or no infrastructure, but come on? Tug boat anyone....

I find the certificates to be nearly useless. The emailed comp offers are extremely valuable to us as they are cheap to upgrade. Since the no longer allow us to combine carts and casino rates (or comped rates) then the carts have nearly no value to us.

Tony, I am SO happy to hear this news. Imagine how many people that hostess totally screwed with her incompetence not to mention how many loyal CR members she disappointed, like you. I hope she gets soundly reprimanded. Totally inexcusable ! I’m glad the shoreside folks made it right for you.

GREAT JOB!! Beautiful Suite and that Balcony!! I'd never leave it, just keep bringing room service!! So happy you are enjoying your cruise!!

A prep cook who used to be tasked with chopping up the lettuce for the Caesar salads realized that the tedious effort could be eliminated and suggested the wedge as a "time saver" for the kitchen.

WOW! Thanks for such a thorough and beautifully photographed blog. After seeing this, I would definitely book a cruise on Serenade. I just changed my St. Maarten excursion to Swept Away after seeing your photos. :) I was there last year on Adventure and I will be back there on Allure the end of May.

She worked for a while with Captain Johnny so not surprised that she is a personable Captain herself. She seems to really love her job.

This is an access point: Its the small square thing mounted on the ceiling in the hallway in this case it says Cisco on it. Sometimes they are painted over with no words visible. This one is in between cabins 7028 and 7030. Every four cabins there is another mounted between the doors of those cabins. This small survey I did show where they are in the forward area of deck 7 port side (green stars):

Day 10 - Dinner Reflections Dining Room Crispy Coconut Shrimp and I think I'm seeing double. Richard my waiter brought two as they are small. Earlier I mentioned the Chops Grille manager offered me a glass of wine for my issues in Chops. That turned into a bottle. A "good:" Chianti. It was actually a nice wine and I shared some with the couple at the table next to me. The Braised Lamb Shank was very good. The meat was very tender and fell off the bone with only a touch of my fork. Richard and Christian were excellent wait staff and I was lucky to have them all but one night in the My Time MDR. Dinner complete and with the remainder of my wine bottle in tow, I headed to my balcony for a final sunset. This cruise has had many great sunsets and while not as dramatic as some, the pastel colors tonight were fantastic.

Yes, I've seen at least two in the Windjammer and two in Sorrentos in a current walkaround video. Even better, they're already working although Symphony is still in Europe.

That phone call was just plain rude. There's no real excuse for that.

Gee he sure was rude!! I'd love to hear what his excuse was for no water refills. I guess they pull in seawater, desalinate, and treat it to order as well? LOL

Thanks! I only saw RVC is in the WJ in relatively small pieces.

Day 10 - Sea Day Smooth seas mark the start of our last full day on the ship as we head back towards Ft. Lauderdale. Our track so far: A few words about Voom on Serenade of the Seas. Voom wifi coverage has been pretty good. There are a few spots where the wifi coverage is lacking such as outside on deck 13 forward above the gym. For the most part wifi coverage has been good. Cabin coverage has been fine but that will vary cabin by cabin depending how close an access point is in the hallway. Voom's satellite connection remain on the older geostationary satellites (as opposed to O3b on newer ships). Ping times or latency are in the 600-700ms range. On this ship uploads speeds have typically exceeded download speeds. That is unusual. I purchased Voom Surf and Stream before the cruise during a sale event. With my Diamond status I received a free day of Surf so I took the opportunity of trying both on a Sea Day. Surf and Stream: Day 7 Day 10 I tried these tests numerous times around the ship, in the pub, in my cabin, in the Diamond lounge and around outside decks. Results were occasionally better but these are the average results I observed time and again. Surf: The results that stand out here are the download speeds for Surf and Stream. Normally on other ships, O3b or otherwise, I've experienced download speeds in the 3-4Mbps range compared to 1-2Mbps on Serenade. What this all means - I was able to stream Amazon Prime Video but I was not able to stream HBO GO or my Slingbox. I could broadcast on Periscope but I couldn't watch any scopes that other users were broadcasting. Periscope is a fickle application, watching FB Live broadcast yielded better results. Despite this unusual reversal of speeds I was able to place several wifi phone calls through the voyage. These worked quite well. Bottom line - if you want to stream movies or TV you may be disappointed but for general internet including wifi phone calls it worked pretty well and better than my Grandeur of the Seas non-O3b experience. The Voom screens have been updated and the provider is showing as "Speedcast Communications" compared to "Harris CapRock" I'm used to seeing. secure.elevenwireless.com now re-directs to secure.guestinternet.com There is now a link to download the new Royal Caribbean App: Being the curious person I am I tried this option even though I had the app already installed. After filling out the form I had 20 minutes of free internet and not the slower Surf speed! I tired this a second time on another day and it reported an error and directed me to stop by guest services if I am experiencing an issue. It appears to be a one time offer. Speaking of the app it is enabled for Serenade of the Seas but I found it lacking a lot of events that are listed in the cruise compass. Quite a few were missing actually, like 75% of events going on around the ship. I learned early to use the paper cruise compass left in my cabin each day. My experience using the app on board was identical to that I observed before sailing when I used the app to preview the cruise. Unfortunately the app has stopped working all together around day 6. After a couple of minutes of the blue background with the white polka dots this is what I receive now. Trying again yields no better results. I did try uninstalling the app and reinstalling it which led me to the free 20 minutes of internet discovery noted above. Side note - 20 minutes was not enough to load the app from the app store (due to the slow Voom speeds). My free session ended and I had to reconnect to my paid Voom plan to reinstall the app. My theory is that the app is a really a type of a browser that pulls content over the internet within the app. It seems the Voom speeds are too low or the latency too high for the app to work properly on Serenade. I guess it remains a work in progress and this is possibly why they are testing the app in the real world on an older ship like Serenade. I can only guess that better times are in store for the app in the future.

Eh-oh....tough act to follow...

Day 9 - Sea Day Reality is creeping in, departure tags and instructions were dropped off today. This confirms the cruise will end soon. Sexiest man contest today by the main pool. Not a cloud in the sky, it's hot and I'm thirsty. The moment called for the official drink of the RoyalCaribbeanBlog... the Kraken Lava Flow. A stroll around the ship to burn of 1/1000 of the calories led me to the helipad on this glorious sun filled sea day. Dinner tonight in the MDR as it is formal night and that means lobster. Caesar Salad to start. Lobster AND Prime Rib tonight. And for once I had dessert... Baked Alaska. Following dinner was The Parade of the Chefs. Dinner complete and with the need to walk some more I headed to the helipad once again just in time for sunset.

Day 8 Dinner Menu Crispy Puff Pastry and the Roasted Chicken Breast were both good. I'm trying to eat a little better on this cruise so I kept it towards the cleaner side of eating tonight. I forgot to take pictures... sorry.

I haven't seen the solarium roof open very often so I grabbed some photos while passing through with Adventure of the Seas beside us in St. Maarten.

I headed back to the ship by water taxi (did I mention the water taxi offers $2 beers?) so I could grab a quick bite of food in the WJ once again returning to the Al Fresco seating area outside.

Day 7 Evening Tonight's main theater entertainment included a Celine Dion tribute by Elissa Furr. Very good.

Don't even worry about it! Enjoy your cruise time. It will be over before you know it and your blog will still be here

Day 7 Dinner Before dinner I slipped into the Vitality Spa for a massage. Oh so relaxing... I feel like butter. Dinner tonight in the MDR. We start with the Escargots. Basically this is a plate of melted butter and who doesn't like butter (except your heart surgeon). I also had the Caesar Salad. For my main I had Roasted Prime Rib because Prime Rib is something I've never mastered at home, so why not?

Joe I am loving your blog. We got off as you got on and I was ready to stowaway in your suitcase! We loved chefs table (one of the best meals ever) and getting to try the wonderland dessert made my cruise complete! Every picture you post makes me remember what a great cruise it was! Glad you are having a great time! Jane

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Actually, it is very similar to deportation because if you don't disembark they will force you off the ship. :)

As an example, from an Anthem of the Seas departure letter delivered to my cabin on the last sea day:

Found a full profile picture.