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Day 5 – St. Maarten To use a @twangsterism – This is going to be a photo-heavy post. Consider yourselves forewarned. Our day in St. Maarten ran from 8 until 5, and we were in the process of docking around 7 AM when I woke up. What woke me up was the sound of two men in what sounded like an argument. I went out to my balcony and saw these two gents down on the pier, still having a rather animated discussion. While the rest of the family got up and ready to go down to breakfast, I continued to take pictures while docking wrapped up. Even from the pier I could see the island was beautiful, and I wanted to capture as much as I could, especially that unparalleled water. It was still cloudy this early in the day, but in a way that was better since the light hadn't yet gotten harsh. We went down to the MDR for a slightly hurried breakfast, since we needed to make our way over to Dock Maarten where our excursion with Captain Bob's Soualiga Adventures would depart. We left the ship and started walking through the port market around 9:10, having been notified through email that checkin was at 9:30 and departure at 10 sharp. Thankfully, this market was a complete 180 from the one in St. Kitts; while it still had plenty of shops, we didn't get harassed even once as we walked through. If we weren't in a genuine rush, it would have been nice to wander a bit and maybe give these folks some actual customers. As we left our ship's pier and headed to the market, we saw the other ships who were in port for that day -- Celebrity Eclipse and MSC Seaside: It's actually a pretty straightforward trip from the market to Dock Maarten -- if you're walking, it's only about 15 minutes (20 if you're more slow-moving like me); but since we were running a bit late and needed faster transport, we grabbed the first taxi that was offered to us by the gents at the port entrance, where it meets the main road. The taxi driver was this particular gent's mother, and she was driving a seriously beat-up Hyundai that the four of us had to somewhat squeeze into. It cost us $12 to get there, but for saving the strain on my feet that morning it was worth it. And it gave some funds to the locals who I knew could use it. We did get a chuckle on our way there; our driver had gone into the left lane to bypass the backlogged traffic and get us to Dock Maarten more quickly, when she saw a police car coming our way. She quickly pulled into a gravel parking area on the other side of the road that looked like it was part of a construction site for some rebuilding work, and while she checked to make sure the policeman had passed by and wasn't coming back, she explained that this was the sole policeman in the area -- and her nephew! She chuckled as she said she'd almost certainly see him again later that evening around dinner, and he was sure to ask her what she was doing on the wrong side of the road by the port; she told us she was going to play all innocent and say she wasn't anywhere near there. It was something of a game the two of them played every day while he patrolled the area and she worked her taxi service, and we had to laugh along with her. We got to our destination and met up with Captain Bob himself. He handled our checkin, then introduced us to his son, Brett, who would be our tour guide and captain of the particular boat we were going to be on. The first mate was Brett's fiancée, Laura. I'll be writing up a longer review of the whole excursion in the Shore Excursions forum, for now I'm going to stick to the highlights and the photos that go with them... As promised, we departed at 10 AM sharp. As we pulled out of the port area and into the open water, we saw a Costa ship making a late arrival into the port; so there would actually be four ships in port that day, which I'm sure the people of the island were more than happy to see. I wasn't able to get a photo at this point as the ship was too far away and we were moving a bit too quickly to get a steady shot. At this point, Brett took us along the Dutch side of the island, and we made our way to the big marina that houses the most expensive yachts. All along the way, there were visible signs of the devastation that Hurricane Irma had wrought and that hadn't yet been repaired. But there was also still a lot that was intact or rebuilt, and a lot that was still really pretty and good to see. I took some video while we went through the marina, but my phone's mic picked up way too much wind noise and I haven't been able to clean up the sound enough yet to make it worth sharing. iMovie is still my editing tool for video, and the latest version removed the manual equalizer tool that could have allowed me to clean up that wind noise. As we exited the marina and made our way to the next area of interest, we passed a graveyard of wrecked ships that were waiting to be destroyed, having been sunk and beyond the point of repair or salvage. From here, we moved out into open waters again and made our way to the first destination of our trip. I continued to take lots of pictures, capturing both the beauty and the tragedy that was on display. I was using my tele lens the whole time, and you're going to see that it has some... interesting... effects on the corners of these images. I took most of them using the phone's burst mode, so I could get some reasonable shots as the boat bounced and sped along, and combined with the tele lens it introduced what looks to me like a tilt-shift effect in the corners of many of these pictures. If you've ever watched Sherlock on PBS, you'll know tilt-shift from the show's opening sequence. Here we have the governor's house for the French-side governor. Not long after seeing this (and Brett kidding with us that it was Oprah's winter home), we officially crossed to the French side of the island as we passed under a small drawbridge. Once we were on the French side, we saw a lot more boats docked in the area. Brett explained that the rates for boat moorings on the French side are significantly lower than on the Dutch side, so most of the local folks who have smaller and cheaper boats dock them in that area. It's been nicknamed the boat trailer park of the island. Ummm, I can't really talk now. I've got cows... Brett and Laura said they stumbled across them one time while just going to that beach on their own for a picnic. The herd has some bulls and they actually charged the two of them; they had to clear out of there in a big hurry! The little island above is named Tintemarre, and this was our first snorkeling stop. The prime "catch" here is sea turtles and sting rays. My wife and the girls got their snorkeling gear and dove in to explore. I stayed on the boat and spent the 45 minutes we were there just chatting with Brett, getting to know him a bit and talking about things like the add-on lenses he saw me using, investing (he was a hedge fund manager before he joined his dad in doing the boat tours), and other small talk. After everyone was back on board, we made our way to the next stop, Pinel Island. The island is both a wildlife refuge / nature preserve, and also a day trip spot for the neighboring locals and people looking for a little pleasure cruise. In addition to the small beach that offers loungers and umbrellas, there are two small restaurants / bars and a little gift shop that offers hand-made items. The water here is really only about chest height, so you just jump off the boat and wade to land. I took advantage and made my way up to the little yellow hut at the top of the second picture above, which is the sole restroom on the island. On my way back, I noticed as I passed the gift shop that there was a big cluster of hermit crabs sheltering in a little bit of ground cover around a palm tree. I wish I had my phone, but there was no way with my non-waterproof model that I was throwing it in my backpack and risking it getting soaked in the ocean while I waded from boat to land and back. I did tell my wife and the girls about it, and they went to take a look and also look at the gift shop. D17 bought a couple of sets of hand-carved and -painted cats, one set for us and the other for her boyfriend's family. She also picked out a couple of other knick-knacks. We spent a little over an hour here, relaxing and having lunch. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, chips, and apples that were packed on board, since the beach restaurant they used to go to was destroyed by Irma and not yet rebuilt. I gathered that the places there on Pinel wouldn't have catered to us, for whatever reason. The sandwiches were quite good, and there was plenty of water and beer to go around and wash it all down. I enjoyed a nice light French lager that was a local favorite and quite tasty. After lunch, we went to our next stop, which is named Creole Rock. It's literally a massive rock thrusting up from the otherwise open ocean, and which harbors a wide variety of sea life, including urchins that will wreck your day if you swim on the ocean side and get dashed onto the rock by the powerful waves there. My wife and the girls took another dip in the water, although this time D17 was content to just swim and not snorkel; she found breathing through the snorkel tube too weird and unnerving to give it another go, especially after swallowing a bunch of sea water the first time when she didn't clear it properly after water got in. D14 and the wife both stayed well clear of the rock, where they'd been told they'd also see octopi as well as the sea urchins, and managed to catch sight of some of the many fish there. I once again stayed on board, having gotten quite refreshed at Pinel and not feeling the need to get in the water again. I also found climbing back into the boat via the rail-less ladder they attached on the back very difficult, and that definitely played a part. Once our time at Creole Rock was up, everyone got back on board and we sped back over to the Dutch side of the island, where we had a quick stop at a very lavish mansion in Plum Bay that we learned had been bought a few years prior by one Donald J. Trump. Ironically, the water and land surrounding the building are declared public by the government, and people regularly show up around the building just going about their business without the owner or his staff being able to do a damn thing to keep them off his lawn. We also passed this ship, which seemed to have a Viking theme to it. I assume it was another excursion vessel. From Plum Bay, we made our way to Long Bay. This is the area with the many beautiful white houses and villas with red tile roofs. We spent a half hour here for more beach time and swimming, and in my case more photography. Having done this a few times now, I really like how a panoramic image comes out when taken with the tele lens vs. no lens. It's a night and day difference. Once we wrapped up our time in Long Bay, it was time to head back to the marina. Brett opened up the triple engines on our boat and we were seriously jetting along, far too fast and bouncy for me to even think about taking any photos. He was in a rush for a reason. We pulled up to Maho Beach just as a big private jet zoomed by overhead. We got there just a little too late; I had needed to stow my phone and lens in my pockets / under my towel, with the lens in its travel bag, because of the splashing we were getting from our fast ride. There was just no time for me to pull everything back out and get a photo before that jet zoomed by. Two of the other boats from Captain Bob were already there and those folks were definitely luckier in that regard. There were no other planes coming, and we needed to get back to the marina so we didn't miss our 4:30 all-aboard time. The three boats got into a rather fun and exciting race to see who'd make it back to the marina first. Although our boat had three engines while the other two just had a pair, we ended up getting into the marina second. Partly because we needed to yield to some other boats that came along, partly because the captain of the "winning" boat was driving like a bat out of hell. Once we were back on land, I tipped Brett and Laura $25 to thank them for the great trip, the good food and drink, and the good conversations I'd had with them. We stopped briefly at the cheese shop, where Brett said we'd be able to get a free treat, and a part of me wished we didn't still have five days left before we'd be home. They were selling a really awesome Gouda that I was given a sample of, and while they said it was designed to travel well, I didn't think a wedge would hold up for that long on a ship and also a hotel before going on a plane back home. As we made our way through the port market, we passed by a yacht I'd seen docked there since we left in the morning. Because I had to walk slowly, we barely made it to the ship for all-aboard. We were among the very last to get back on, with a few of the ship's staff who had the day off ahead of us. We laughed privately as we heard two of them getting super-excited because they just found out their next contract would transfer them from the Caribbean to a ship that would be sailing Alaska and then Australia for the winter months. D14 and D17 both had a scare as they got back on board. Their Sea Pass cards had smudged and faded to the point of being barely legible, we assume from the sunscreen they were using. The security guards told them that while the scan of the bar code on back was good and they could board, they had to get new cards from Guest Services immediately or they would be denied permission to leave the ship the next day in San Juan. Needless to say, they both went straight to Guest Services and got new cards printed out. While they got that taken care of, I quickly grabbed my standard sail-away margarita (sadly, "just" a Patron Silver and not a reposado) and went back up to my balcony. The Costa ship I'd seen earlier was still there, and I could now see clearly that it was the "new" Costa Classico (which I later learned from our dinner mates was about to be decommissioned, so none of us could figure out what it was doing all the way out here). I heard a vehicle coming down the pier, and looked down to see a dock worker release the last of the mooring lines from the pier. It was quickly drawn in and I knew sail-away was about to start. Freedom's horn called out to signal sail-away... and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WAS THAT COSTA SHIP'S HORN CALLING BACK TO US FRACKING LOUD!!!!! I had no idea she was going to do that, and the ship is so much smaller than Freedom that her horn is practically on the same level as our Deck 8 cabins. I was maybe a couple of hundred feet away from it when it sounded. And then sounded again. And then again! I had my ears covered each time I heard Freedom's horn sound again, knowing that Classico was about to respond. Once that ended and I saw we were moving, I took some more pics of her as we pulled away and left St. Maarten behind us. Once sail-away was done, I grabbed our towels that we'd checked out and returned them to the pool deck. On the way back, I noticed a tile mural in the solarium that I had somehow missed in my earlier "photo safari". After I got back to our room, I suggested to my wife we watch the sunset. We went down to deck 4 and the Schooner Bar so I could get another margarita (an 1800 reposado this time) and she got a mock lava flow. Drinks in hand, we made our way to the Star Lounge to get to the helipad... and found ourselves blocked by a locked door. Rather than try to find our way to the outside walkway on deck 4 and then back up to 5 and the helipad, we went up to deck 12 and then onto the top-most lounging area above the pool. We were a little late to catch the full show, but it was still nice and I got one really nice shot, with a cloud edged in fire as the sun went behind it and a visible shadow shooting up from it into the air. Sunset over and with some time to kill before dinner, I went to Boleros after getting changed and just people-watched while editing some of my photo backlog. The Latin band started playing while I was there, and some of the passengers got into the spirit of the music and started dancing. I joined the rest of my family for dinner, where D14 and I sadly saw there were no escargots on the menu. We ordered some other appetizers, and I also ordered the Tiger Prawns that were the specialty of the evening for my entrée. Much to our surprise, our waiter Jigger brought out a plate of escargots for each of us that he "had found in the kitchen". We were beyond thrilled, although now I was wondering if I'd have enough room for the rest of my meal. The challenge was amplified when Jigger then brought out my Tiger Prawn entree... and then came with another plate that he split between me and my table mate, Debbi... followed a few minutes later by another plate that he split between us! This night was the first time in the whole trip where I felt a little more than comfortably full, but I still didn't feel like I'd over-eaten. None of us were interested in that night's headliner, a magician duo. So dear wife and the girls went to bed, while I went to the casino for another round at the craps table. Luck was on my side again, and I came out $66 ahead after only a half hour of play. This was good enough for me, and I called it a night and went to bed. I found our night's towel animal still intact. Two port days down, two to go! And for San Juan, we were really going to be off the usual path since we were meeting D17's friend Estefania, who lives right in Old San Juan and would be acting as our personal tour guide! More to come tomorrow! (well, later today at this point)

if I had to choose it would be Otto Bang capt of the Liberty he was so kind taking my wheelchair bound daughter for a personal tour of the ship

I feel everyone's pain, I've got such a long wait between cruises. I'm at least 17 days from the single digit dance.

I'm going thru cruise withdrawals...our next cruise isn't until Nov, but we have several land vacations prior to that. Y'all know it's not the same ? And these blogs are killing me ?

Thanks for the info on Alex, Sabrina. I hope she’s doing well. She is a very classy lady. So, it’s Wednesday. The cruise is now half over which is not good news but we still have 3 good days left. Dinner last night was at Chops. Dan, Jim and I had a great meal. Dan thought it would be fun to order the large seafood tower. All I can say is, it’s a damn good thing that we had Jim there to help eat it. It was enormous! There was enough food there for 4 people. We did our best but even with 3 of us, we still left a lot of food. 2 full lobsters, 12 ginormous shrimp, countless clams, mussels and crab claws. Jim has ordered the filet so he wasn’t as much help as he could have been but at least we had some help. I recommend that you do NOT order the large one unless there are a lot more than 3 people to eat it ! The evening was our usual casino extravaganza but I was able to have a chat with the hostess who informed me that I accumulated 11,667 points over the past “evaluation period” (18 months, ending Dec 31 2017). This puts me exactly where I presumed I would be, smack dab in the middle of tier 2 which is a-ok with me. As long as I continue to get my 5% fee waived, I’m good. The one point upon which I have been mistaken is the issue of whether or not you must accumulate a minimum number of points on every cruise to keep you free drinks and fee waiver privileges. The answer to that question is “no”. Once you achieve a level that grants free drinks and fee waiver, you retain those privileges for the duration of the evaluation period regardless of whether you accumulate 1000 pointson any single cruise or not. I was relieved to hear this as it will not penalize a player if they have a “slow”cruise or if you are on a shortie, where it is more difficult to accumulate points. Beginning 1 April, a new evaluation period began so we are now accumulating points for our next rating period. 1 year from now I will either remain where I am, go up or go down depending upon my play over the next year. My play patterns have been very consistent for a number of years, so I expect to remain right where I am, generally. Interesting item(s) on our onboard account this morning. There were 87, $0.00 entries from the Adaggio bar from yesterday. It made it look as if we had gotten 87 drinks ! I don’t even know where the Adaggio bar is ! I think it’s one of the MDR bars but we have not set foot anywhere near any MDR all week. Obviously some kind of weird glitch, but a call to Charlie took care of it. Dan did not want all those entries, even if they were $0.00 on our account. Charlie just dropped by with a very interesting explanation for these mysterious charges. Basically, every time they bring a bottle of water or soda to your suite, they record it. It’s their way of accounting for where their inventory is going but more importantly, they are determining how much their “complimentary”services are costing them. It’s totally bogus b/c it makes it look as if we are consuming waaay more products than we actually are. I think I’ve drunk 2 Coke Zeroes and maybe between us we’ve had 4-5 bottles of water. They just keep bringing more and more bottles ! If that is, indeed, the reason for the entries, they need to find a way of tracking such things in the background, not on our visible onboard account. IMO they are going to justify raising Star Class prices by citing inflated consumption values. Maybe it’s just the skeptic in me. Neither Dan nor I are getting off the ship today (Falmouth). Jim has friends here so he’s going to do God knows what with them. Dan was supposed to go with him but Dan got too much sun yesterday so decided to stay indoors today. I’m very glad Dan isn’t going out into the wilds of Jamaica with wild-ass Jim. I can just imagine getting a ransom note for the 2 of them ! I’m just kidding of course. ...but I am glad he’s not out today. They are washing the deck outside this morning. We haven’t noticed any soot out there but I have read other accounts where soot in the loft area has been a problem in the past. Tonite will be dinner in the Coastal Kitchen (Filet night), then the headliner show (some kind of cover band, I think) and the late night comedy show. The Genie will save 3 seats for us as he promised. Apparently, on Allure, at least, they decided to move filet night from the first night (as it is on many ships) to night 4 b/c “the word has gotten out” that night 1 was “filet night”. I guess they want keep the number of people who enjoy steak to a minimum. Pretty sad, actually.

I don't have a favorite, it's never occurred to me to rank Captains. Much like CD's I may dislike 1 or 2 but I don't book a cruise or avoid booking a cruise because of any personnel on-board.

So I did one periscope but my cruises are about absolute relaxation! So no voom, no live blog and not a ton of pics. But I had an amazing time with my husband and 15 year old daughter (who I pretty much only saw 1 day lol). I had not been on a cruise until 2015. We did 3 cruises in 2 years and then we hit Disney (the other obsession!) I can't even describe how much I missed being on a ship. This was the 2nd time on freedom. I did like the cruise terminal at port Canaveral better than port Everglades but embarkation was super easy... under 40 minutes for sure and drinking my first lava flow (with kraken rum) by 11! We had an ocean view... plenty big enough for the 3 of us. Our stateroom attendant suzanna was wonderful and we loved our 4 towel animals! The 6 days was too short (Joe took my extra day for his 8 day. Freedom alternates 6 and 8 day cruises right now) but we still hit 3 ports... grand Cayman, Costa maya and cozumel. The biggest disappointment of the trip was that it was so windy in grand cayman that they canceled all excursions to stingrays city. I was very bummed but we still got to swim with lucky the dolphin and buy lots of pics! In Costa maya my husband did one of the ruins while my daughter and I shopped and enjoyed the one day we could get near the pool (chair hugs were awful and i sure wish rc would enforce their policy). In cozumel we went to nachi. Since there were a ton of ships in port I'm glad we went. We got in so early we beat all the employees... got a beautiful beach spot! We enjoyed it... the food was excellent! Speaking of food, we ate...a ton! Sabor was excellent (service not great though) and I loved the tuna tacos and the guac. I tried all 3 margaritas (goes love the drink pkg) and liked the cucumber jalapeno the best. Chops was so good (and the service great) that we took the 25%off and went back the next night. The my time dining was mixed.... the service was fast (almost too fast) but the tables for 2 were right on top of each other and the food was good, but not amazing. I'm glad we tried my time but not sure we will do it again. And then....CHEFS TABLE! the chef was amazing, the wine was amazing, the food was amazing and the dessert (the world from wonderland) was ever moist AMAZING thing I've ever eaten or watched!! This was our 2nd chefs table and we will definitely do it again. RC lost money on my drink pkg for sure. Most days I parked myself on my sky deck chair with my book... read, eat, drink, repeat. We also had a mocha or latte every morning, wine with dinner (loved the bartender at vintages... she never steered us wrong and one of her suggestions was served at chefs table) and after dinner drinks. My daughter was probably a wash in terms of cost...we got her the refreshment pkg and she was over a few days, probably underused more but it was nice to have it paid for before the cruise. The ship never felt crowded and traffic flow was great. It's really a perfect size... not too big and not too small. For what I do (loaf in a chair and try to thaw) it works well. I'd love to try oasis class for the dining and the shows... someday lol! Precruise we stayed at the Hilton marina. We had an amazing corner balcony that had views of the intercoastal waterway as well as the port. Their pool area was a perfect way to unwind precruise! We ate at cheesecake factory on Las olas and that was fun. Post cruise we stayed at the W hotel and got upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite...amazing! I could sit on the balcony staring at the ocean and the waterway!. Both were absolute splurges but we decided to yolo book them! And so now I'm over 400 days till my next ocean cruise. I thought about a 5 night navigator next spring break but we really need to save for our summer 2019 cruise...12 night Mediterranean/ Greek isles out of Barcelona on vision of the seas. It will be the trip of a lifetime and with 8 ports we will spend a 5 night cruise amount just on excursions. We also have Paris this summer to link forward to (we have never been to Europe and will be going on a viking river cruise!) Both are very different from our Caribbean cruising! So that is my freedom trip. I wanted to share more since I love reading everyone else's blogs but I was too busy reading and being lazy! Let me know if you have any questions! Jane

I imagine the vast majority of cruisers never create an account on a cruise-related website to voice opinions or get involved. Just like the vast majority of flyers don't get active on FlyerTalk. What you really have is the top 1% who are going to have strong opinions because of so many cruises. I'm a pretty new cruiser (just about to go on my second one), and I personally don't care who the cruise director or anyone else is, because they don't have any impact on my trip as I don't participate in anything that they might have an influence on (shows, competitions, etc.) To me, they're just the loud annoying person shouting over the speaker when I'm trying to relax.

The one who gets me home safe.

Wow! Excellent post and excellent photos! Well done sir!

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. ???

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

Who's the bot now?

I use the Ship Mate app on my phone that has a countdown built in, maybe that will help! I

I guess this puts an end to the "captain for a day" tour option ...

Same here, so I don't even bring it up! They hear my schedule and "assume" certain things which are not true so I keep my mouth shut. Imagine what they would be saying if I was that BOT @twangster!!!

This blog will make people do crazy things!...ha I try to stay away cause it drives me crazy, but then I go crazy when I am not looking up and watching and reading stuff so I cant win!

Because of this blog I'm actually looking for a cruise for by myself for the first time. Just trying to weigh the odds.

Anyone who lives in the US has it so made when it comes to cruising options. Between cheap gas, cheap flights and way shorter driving distances to ports, you don't know how lucky you are! I would be cruising 5-6 times a year if I lived in the US...... While driving to Baltimore/Bayonne is kinda an option from here....there aren't many cruise options to make it work like out of florida or texas..... I have to wait till OCT for my next one, but we will be booking one for Feb so that makes the waiting a little easier knowing I will have 2 cruises in 4 months!

I booked through a TA, March 12, 2020, From Sydney, 11 night South Pacific and New Zealand, on Ovation, Grand Suite.

Can't wait to see and hear about the rest! BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS!!!

I've never understood that or sailing on just a birth certificate. You're still in a different country, I always have my passport with me as you never know what can happen. BTW: great pictures and recap! I hope everyone had a great time (looks like you all did).

I thought I was only feeling like this. My only relief is that I have a cruise in June, July and August. I am catching @twangster cruise flu.?

You're not alone. We have one in July and then a long stretch till march 2019. We can only cruise twice a year because of work. And @mworkman I agree, the live blogs are a catch 22! First world problems....

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....

Looks great, I will be in the same room January of 2019, can't wait. Great job on the Pictures and the blog.

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.

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

They’re really good friends and they ARE a lot of fun. Update on Jim. He made it back to the ship well before we had to send out a search party. Heading out to the CK for dinner soon. Will be consuming our final bottle of champagne with dinner tonite. I was beginning to worry that we were going to have to carry some of that home or leave it. One of the nice bennies of Star Class is that you can have your laundry done every day if you want. It’s an unlimited benefit. I sent some out this morning and it came back all clean and pressed a short while ago. I will probably do one more batch for the week.

That's correct, we ate there for our last night on Allure in October, the only problem was that I was on food overload by the last night and while the food had good flavor I didn't really eat very much, I would probably go eat there again but move it up in the week. All the meat had excellent flavor and was really tender, typical Brazilian steak house, they just cut you off a few slivers for you to try.

I don't know actually. When we cruise, hubby drives to the airport and I sometimes don't even bring my driver's license. We travel with as few cards as possible.

I'm ten minutes from the terminal in Charleston, and it's quite common for me to consider "scratching that itch" by just jumping on a Carnival tug for a few days. Then I get some calamine lotion and that problem goes away. Now, if RC came to Chucktown, that would be a !

On Allure, they have moved filet night from night 1 to night 4. Apparently the word has gotten out about filet night on night 1 and they were overwhelmed. Tonite is night 4 so we will be going there tonite. So much depends on whether you have children traveling with you or not. Star Class has “access” privileges to some of the activities (zip line, flow rider, etc.) on sea days during certain hours so this would very useful if you have people in your party that would enjoy those things. There is so much to do on Allure it’s hard to choose which ones are “not to miss”. The Aqua Theate shows are fun and the ice shows are fun. We have seen Mama Mia enough times that we skipped that one this trip. The Blue Planet is a show I like seeing over and over so I wouldn’t miss that one.

We leave it in the safe unless the Cruise compass say that a certain port requires photo ID. If so, then we bring it.

When I go to Magens Bay Beach I just get a local 'safari' taxi. This is a shared taxi ride. It is ~$8 per person one-way plus tip. The park itself is run by the local USVI government and charges a $5 per person entrance fee. Ask the driver to stop by Drake's Seat for a nice view of Magens Bay before going down the hill to get there. From a December trip to Magens Bay Beach:

I booked Asia B2B over the Christmas & New Year's holidays for $1,300.00! I'm sooooo excited! I will also FINALLY get to go to Universal Studios Singapore!!!! ????

March 14, 2020 on Radiance of the Seas 13 night New Zealand cruise

AWESOME! I'm so glad you had a great time! I love Freedom, too, but man, the Solarium on Oasis has me hooked! I am anxious to hear about your Viking cruise this summer. We used to live in Germany and have thought about it, but we would rather go with an open itinerary so we could visit some of the towns where we used to go (especially Trier!). Paris is phenomenal! I hope you can get some macaroons from Laduree!

At cruise law news a user claims to be on it: http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2018/04/articles/collisions/msc-armonia-crashes-into-dock-in-roatan/ lloyd allen - April 10, 2018 3:02 PM im on the boat at the moment and the speed it came in was way too fast.just before the crash a guy came over the tannoy screaming something over and over.were stayimg in room 9003 which is just below bridge so we had a front row seat.im reluctant to carey on as last night was a terrible rougb ride and now this basic area give s me no confidence.

Glad that you relaxed. I did the same thing on the Navigator. You are going to love Paris and the Greek Islands. I loved both places. I did have three pieces of red velvet cake (the third piece jumped on my plate). Next cruise Bermuda on Grandeur in June.

This is my understanding as well. I asked Anthem's Captain this question and he said that Captains are always responsible for the ship and in command of the ship. The local pilot may provide input and warn of currents or winds but there are very few ports in the world where the pilot assumes command of a vessel. Time may or may not tell. Honduras may not have an official inquiry board or make findings of any investigation public like the NTSB and/or Coast Guard would here in the US. Another question would be liability. Millions of dollars in damage to the pier plus the loss of income from potentially months of cancelled calls by many cruise lines. The ship is in Honduran waters so legally I think they can seize it until an understanding is negotiated. If they fled the country after such an incident I imagine there would be a lot of repercussions from international marine organizations. The ship will need to be inspected before sailing for sure. If I were a passenger I'd be asking to fly home, not what time are we leaving port. That kind of fatigue to a critical area of the ship near the water line could be pretty significant. I'm also concerned about passengers on board. She was going a pretty good clip and came to a halt pretty quickly. Passengers were likely thrown to the floor. Try walking in a motorhome at 5 mph when the driver brakes hard. You likely won't be standing. I also noted the lack of any warning signal or ship whistle. Very odd. The angle of approach seems off as well. When I sailed Liberty into that port last month I don't recall approaching that steeply towards the pier. After they wipe out the anchor point on the pier the bow thrusters are working as is the main aft propulsion trying to reverse. That rules out complete loss of control. There is a lot of momentum in something this big and they should have started slowing long before. The anchor was a nice idea but depending on the bottom may have been of little help and possibly damaged a lot of the sea floor. That area has a lot of coral on the other side of the pier. No doubt that damage will be added to the pier damage when Honduras presents its bill to MSC. Liberty docked in Costa Maya with high winds pushing us directly into the pier and we inched our way towards the pier and it took for ever, but this is why. Would be interested in any on board video to hear if the bridge warned the passengers to brace for impact.

You can see the ship dragging the anchor....obviously a mechanical failure. I am surprised you don't hear a collision alarm. Could of been worse.

There is still a lot of mystery involved with determining what the onboard amenities are going to be. While this has NOT been confirmed, I understand that once you are rated to a certain tier, you will remain there until the next rating system comes around, at which time you will be re-assessed and either remain in the same tier, move up or move down depending upon your accumulated pounds during the rating period. I also understand that in order to keep your “free drinks”and waiving of the 5% convenience fee, you must accumulate at least 1000 points on the previous cruise. This may all be wrong. I plan on having a chat with the Allure hostess before getting off this cruise and hopefully she can let me know the truth. Fingers crossed anyway. I have a couple of flyers that we received on this cruise, which I plan on posting once I get home and can scan them.

I read that if you think you only want to order for one, order for two because they basically only bring you coffee and danish for 1 person, which the blog post said equated out to one cup of coffee in the carafe,

I'm interested in what the root cause ends up being. They generally inch toward the pier so quickly that I just don't understand the speed with which they approached. Even if currents were crazy (and yes, that's one of the things harbor pilots should help account for) the rate at which they were approaching is just bizarre to me.

@JLMoran ditto what @accio7 said! Waiting to hear how you all made out!

Civitavecchia: If you have the chance, do Rome separately for a few days. I hate the hassle of trips from Civitavecchia - it takes ages to get to Rome so your time there is limited. If this is your only chance to see Rome in the foreseeable future, I'd recommend taking the train which is usually faster than the bus, so you have more time in Rome. Can't really give any recommendations for Rome because this is highly subjective. You might want to do a bus tour for an overview, or take the time to visit the Colosseum or Vatican... Livorno: Personally, I think Pisa is overrated - ok maybe the tower is a "you have to see it once in your live" thing, but don't be too disappointed - a bit like the Amber Room in St. Petersburg. You might consider a trip to Lucca, it's a beautiful city and not as overrun with tourists as Pisa. Marseille: I love trips to Avignon or Aix-en-Provence but both require some time on the bus, so it might be better to book it via Royal. Barcelona: If you've never been to Barcelona, a hop on hop off tour might be a good way to get an overview of the city. I can also recommend walking Barri Gotic and Las Ramblas and maybe a Gaudi tour including Park Guell, Sagrada Familia and Casa Batllo. If you want to try some Gaudi attractions on your own be sure to book a time slot online to avoid queing for hours.

Hi @MamaB. Welcome to the boards. Here is a past thread that is similar Have a read through it. You will love Oasis (but I a biased as I am a huge Oasis class fan). It beats any other DCL ship in almost every area and your money goes further with RCL. The solarium (adults area) is way nicer and larger than Quiet Cove on Disney. And as far as must see and do...take a stroll in Central Park (it's wonderful there at night), don't miss the shows in the Aqua Theater and the ice shows. The list goes on, there's so much to do on Oasis class ships. Have a read through that thread from above and come back and feel free to ask questions. You've found a great place here to help you.

Hello Jen and welcome! I have never cruised Disney, but I hope that you will enjoy your first cruise with RCCL, good choice with Oasis! I believe that you will have a great time on her! That being said formal nights on most 7 day cruises are going to be the second and fourth nights We have found that there are several things that we enjoy while we are onboard, I know there will be more places that people will chime in on that I may leave out! We absolutely love the kummelweck sandwich at the Park Cafe, please try a meal at Giovannis table everything we had there was wonderful! We also liked Chops Grill as well as Sabor, if you like Mexican then you should love Sabor! The food there almost brought a tear of joy to my eye, especially the extremely fresh salsa and guacamole!!! It is hard for me to answer this question because I am not sure what your demographic is, but usually it is the wife and I that end up on the larger and longer cruises and we are mid 40's. We have done just about anything from movies, to the Love and Marriage game show which is absolutely hilarious!!!! Another thing that you may want to check out is the Quest game show, it is held in the evenings and will have you laughing so hard that your sides will hurt! I am not sure what your preferences are but I can assure you that the two shows that I mentioned will have you laughing! If I remember correctly there is only one pool in the Solarium, with several hot tubs I hope that this helps! Have a great cruise!!

The cruise industry has evolved just like the travel industry overall has. Don't get me started on how airline amenities have changed. Relative to the competition within the same market or price range it's all relative. From hotels, to resorts and cruise ships. Having said that nothing wrong with changing things up once in a while. Keeps things fresh.