Leaderboard

Day 9 & 10 (Debarkation, Return Home) The dreaded day has arrived. There are no more ports, no more sea days. We didn’t even have a docking to watch when we woke up. We woke up at 6:30 to the first announcement, letting those doing self-disembarkation know the ship was docked and that they should be able to leave the ship around 7 or 7:15. We wanted to eat in the MDR and not have to rush, so we up at this point and got dressed. Looking out the balcony window, we could see the port and non-cruise life waiting for us. It was patient, it knew we couldn’t stay on the ship forever. We went down to the MDR for the final time. As we walked in at 7:20, we heard the first GTFO call for those self-disembarking passengers. No cereal bar in the MDR today, only regular menu. We got seated at a four-top after thinking we’d be sharing a table and at least having some other conversation to distract us, but nope. No fresh-squeezed OJ available today. The waiter explained the machines were off limits to them on this day. My wife settled for a glass of the regular OJ, but I would not settle; I made do with just water and coffee. After breakfast, we went back to our cabins one last time and cleaned out the last of our stuff, getting everything into our backpacks and bags. We went down to deck 5 and were able to get one last round of caramel macchiatos and cappuccinos at Cafe Promenade. It was a little before 9, and we only had a short time before it our time to leave our little slice of heaven. We went to the Arcadia Theater and waited there for our turn to go. The screens in the theater were showing CNN, and it was piped out over the sound system. News?!? What fresh hell was this?? We got called off at 9:15 sharp, and decided to leave rather than stay the extra 15 minutes since we could only stay in the theater and we’d had quite enough news, thanks. We walked out to the deck 4 running track and got in line. Wade was trying to figure out where to hide until the next embarkation started. Or who to steal the Sea Pass and passport from. He could pass for a Julian Guilfoyle, right? I do have to say here that the cruise was not exactly giving us an incentive to return to dry land. The second we walked onto that track, before we even got to the end of the line, our noses were assaulted by the stench of the waste systems being emptied. Couldn’t they have done this from downwind? We all really wanted to turn and go back inside where the air was still pleasant. It took about 15 minutes to actually get off the ship and into the terminal building. There was a bottleneck at the gangway station where they scanned everyone’s Sea Pass card for the last time, and the gangway itself wasn’t exactly moving at a fast clip. A woman in the building was calling to all the passers-by that an elevator was right there and ready to go down to the ground floor. No one took it, not even me with my bad feet. She asked aloud why no one was interested in taking it. We all thought the same thing, I know we did: It wasn’t a convenience, it was a speedway back to reality and regular life. No one wanted that, and we all took the nice slow escalator, or the stairs. Once in the main waiting area, we found a porter right away; he helped us find our luggage, and took care of hauling our eight bags while we made our way through the customs line. He then led us to where we could wait for our Lyft, then dropped off our bags and headed back after I gave him a solid $2 per bag tip for hauling those 8 bags on a single dolly all that time. Our Lyft took us back to the same Embassy Suites hotel where our adventure started, and we checked in very early; we had to wait until nearly 2 for our room to be ready. We hung out in the atrium, going through photos, the girls working on some of their remaining homework. Once our room was available, we headed up and got our stuff squared away, then my wife and the girls went to the trolley to check out the Galleria mall and get some lunch. I stayed behind to rest my feet, got a small lunch from one of the places in the Publix mall right there, and went through the photos I hadn’t yet edited or culled. We had dinner at La Bamba, bringing the trip full circle and wrapping it up the way it started. After checking out the next day at 11, we took one more Lyft to the airport and waited for our flight. It got delayed by nearly an hour not long after we arrived, but similar to the flight down, they made up most of that time in the air so people with connecting flights weren’t impacted. We managed to pull up to the gate in Newark only about 20 minutes late. Our baggage showed up fairly quickly, and we made our way to the off-site parking pickup area. Did I mention yet that it was 41° F in NJ that day, and none of us packed for temps that low? We froze at the off-site pickup area for about 20 minutes while we waited for a van to come and get us. Why is it still in the low 40’s in April?!? We picked up our car from the Park Plus, and headed out for home. It was after 7 t this point, so we grabbed some dinner at the Tick Tock Diner on the way home. We got home just after 9, and after greeting our cats for the first time in almost two weeks and giving them lots of love and attention, we crashed. Today as I write this, it’s April 12. There are 183 days until my wife and I board Anthem of the Seas and kick off our next cruise. I’ll write up the final verdict and the things we loved and... not hated, just... found wanting... when I’m on a computer and can make bullet lists, but I think everyone here knows that this was an awesome trip that everyone really enjoyed.

First part went ok , we made it to Rome , waiting for the next flight

Considering my consumption level while on vacation, I can just imagine what mine would look like --- it would have to be bound and stitched because of how many pages it would be.

Day -2 Well after few months it is time again for funny spelling mistakes/bad grammar and near real time blog. If everything will be ok and nothing change our flight we will be on the Symphony Of The Seas at this Saturday from Barcelona. So why this ship ? – really should I explain why one wants to go on Symphony ? ? Actually, when the first itineraries were published we already booked a cruise for September time but six weeks ago we decided we need some extra vacation until September, we thought first to travel to Thailand for some land vacation but after checking the April/May weather over therel we dropped this idea. I started to look for April cruises and I preferred something around Europe to shorten the flight time , apparently the only available ship was the SyOTC , so well we decided to volunteer and as @Matt says : do it for the research. For sure I have not canceled the September cruise as I believe it’s going to be two different experiences. Europe April Weather can be still cold and rainy while September weather will be much warmer (in Italy too warm) so we are planning to focus doing internal ship activities and some shore excursions while in September focus on other stuff like the water slides and water activities. Another difference is that for this cruise we booked Ocean view room as I do not think we would use the balcony too much (too cold) while in September we do have a balcony. Here is the itinerary: (this is the third time we are doing the same one with Harmony OTS and Liberty) Day -1 – Barcelona (getting to the hotel and find a nice Tapas restaurant) Day 1 – Barcelona (We have BOGO deal) Day 2 – Palma de Mallorca, we will take the bus to the city see what is new. Day 3 - Marseilles , we took a ship tour around the city , last time we went on a tour to one of the small cities in Provence . Day 4 - Florence/Pisa (La Spezia) – We will stay around la Spezia which is a nice small city , Florence is quite far and we already have a tour booked for the next cruise to visit Florence. I guess we will do some of the shopping there (wine, Balsamic vinegar and yes maybe shoes) Day 5 - Rome (Civitavecchia) – We have a ship tour that will transfer us to Rome , we will have around 6 hour to tour Romr by ourselves , since we already been to Rome (land tours) I think we can find our way. I took the ship transfer to make sure we will be back on time, train and buses can be delayed from time to time. Day 6- Naples (Capri) – We did not plan what to do there yet , we might take the bicycle tour if the weather will be nice or just go off the ship and tour the city (by tour the city I acutely mean go to eat a pizza ? ) . From all the ports of call this one is the closet to the city center, walking distance . So tomorrow early morning we are planning to catch the train to the airport (15 minutes) and start our journey to Barcelona (the flight will be via Rome which is funny consider our itinerary, but it was very cheap comparing to the direct flight, so cheap that it would not make sense to use miles). Drinking – No drinking package this time, we will bring two bottles of wines and we are planning to buy drinks from time to time (it is a very heavy port itinerary and they want 49 $ per day for the package ). Special restaurants – We got the BOGO first two night restaurants , I hope one of them will be Hooked and will try Wonderland (even if we need to add some money) but almost everything will be nice, but must have Hooked at least one time to write a report for the blog. Please feel free to ask questions or ask me to take pictures of certain things on the ship, I will try to bring as much information as I can. My partner finally got her SLR camera back from where we left it last time (long story) so maybe we can have some better pictures (although still it is a basic SLRs). Tomorrow Barcelona Hey , you do not need to buy me ticket , I will be in the suitcase , no one will notice

Day -1 So we arrived to Barcelona after a very long night which I did not catch too much sleep checking if no one decide to escalate a certain situation which will bring to cancellation of the flight but as you can see all was ok. We left the airport after around 20 minutes so it was quite fast including collecting our suitcases. We took a taxi to the hotel which was around 20 minutes and 45 $ ,not a big surprises. On the way to the hotel we passed near the cruise port , there were still some ships ibut nothing even close to the Symphony , RC have their own league. The hotel we took is in Zone 22 on Diagonal Av (not Diagon , no wizards here) , again I used some points I collected during my business trips , they were kind enough to offer us also a free breakfast as a gift for the status (SPG) we will check how is it tomorrow . The hotel is very well located near many restaurants and several malls. We went to buy some water and wine for tomorrow at a huge supermarket, I almost bought a huge Jamon leg but I understood it does not make much sense to carry it with us during the cruise (or in other words it was vetoed ? ) We drop the stuff at the hotel and went to eat at one of the tapas bar we found. The food was fresh and tasty. Now I am preparing the suitcase tags which I had to create almost from scratch as our guarantee room was not assigned to us until this Wednesday so the tag RC site gave me were blanked … Tomorrow finally it happens , Symphony here we come Preparing for Hooked. Some Papas Bravas , when I go to a tapas bar I always order Papas Bravavas , it is simple dish but it give a good indication if the place is good or not as it is very easy to ruined it. If the Papas are ok , I order more things, It was very good here The view from our hotel window

Stop throwing those four letter words around

With all these changes..Royal has not made their offerings BETTER...all they have done is charged more for more options and taken away less complimentary options. I am not saying there has to be a race to the bottom, but Royal had a good product that offered those people who WANTED to pay more some extras the opportunity but also made sure that everyone had lots of included options. This now is not such the case. Royal already consistently charges more than Carnival just to cruise on their ships, never mind the extras once on board. So I wouldn't say they are cutting corners to make it more affordable .If anything, Royal is consistently upping the cost of cruising with them even for the basics often included elsewhere. It wasn't broken before..they really didn't need to fix it. The only thing that has changed in the past 5 years or so is the push to MEGA ships and those huge costs have to be recouped somehow!

@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!

I'm glad you brought this one up ADK, we haven't talked about it in a while. No matter what you might think, RCL wants their excursions watered down. They want all their excursions so that anyone can participate and make tour operators refrain from offering advanced, or faster pace, or more difficult excursions aimed for those who can ride a bike for more than a few miles, maybe are a runner, or otherwise are in reasonably good shape. Except for the St Kitts Volcano Hike! And for what reason this one is allowed to be so advanced we'll never know. A test of fortitude, stamina, and guts. Less than half who start will finish. My wife Susie trained on a Stair Master at her gym for 6 months in preparation and she completed it in 2014. Here are some pics (spoiler alert: the video is from the top of the climb....and the view is probably a lot less than you think you have should have earned.) Below is the Golden Ticket, the path and terrain in general what you climb, her shoe back onboard, and finally short video at the summit. DSCN1543.m4v DSCN1543.m4v

Same here, maybe even only once every 18 months after the Bermuda trip. But that doesn't mean I have to like it! I Wanna Be the BOSHI @twangster

Day 8 (Sea Day) It’s the final day of our cruise. We all agreed we were just going to be doing our own thing, since the girls had homework to keep working on, I had photos to edit and review, and my wife had her massage this day. I invited D14 to join me in the MDR for breakfast since we were both up kind of early, but she said she wanted to go to the Wind-jah-mehr. Her loss; Debbi had told us earlier on how sometimes they did a Chocolate Breakfast, and guess what today was? ????? I had chocolate pancakes that were reeeeaaalllly tasty, along with bacon, sausage, over easy eggs, and proper hash browns (not triangle shaped, but the shredded potatoes formed into a nice patty). I shared the table with a couple from Michigan and another from Kentucky, who were there with their grandkids. We had a nice conversation and I actually ran into the couple from Michigan later in the day. After breakfast I got my usual morning cappuccino and headed back to the cabin. My wife was up and getting ready for her massage at 10:30. We chatted for a bit, then she dashed off to the Windjammer for a quick bite before going to the spa. D17 went to the Logo Shop sale, and while she didn’t pick up any t-shirts she did pick up one of the long-sleeved shirts (hoodies?) they had on display. I also went down to check out the sale as I was interested in the scale model; while I thought the $32 asked (not a sale price) was semi-reasonable, I realized we have zero space for it in our luggage or carry-ons. ?? After the logo shop, I decided I’d get some work done on the photos, but I needed a pick-me-up first. Time to hit the Bloody Mary station! I ordered a spicy one with Grey Goose, horseradish, jalapeños, celery, and bacon (because everything is better with bacon). I sipped on this while doing my photo editing from the balcony and taking in the ocean view, getting one more hit of that deep cobalt. After a while, I remembered I needed to swing by the Schooner Bar to capture another item for my “photo safari”; a pair of collected ships-in-bottles that I passed a couple dozen times walking from the bar into the casino, but somehow never noticed until the day before when my wife and I were down there chatting and people watching. I also picked up a more literal “safari” capture, a rare and seldom-seen lion... D14 had her cupcake decorating class coming up at this point, and I decided since I was already on the right deck that I’d walk over to the cupcake place and watch while she did it. They were given two cupcakes, a bag of icing, and some candies; this was magically transformed over the span about an hour into a pupcake. D14 did a great job, and staying true to herself she deviated from the steps for making the face, paws, and tail so that it looked more like a Pomeranian than the plainer puppy-like cupcake the rest of them made. We went back to the cabin after this to store her pupcake in the room fridge, to enjoy after lunch. My wife was back from her massage, and when she saw me she exclaimed, “Hey hon! I got stoned!” Yup, she used some of her OBC to add hot stones to her Swedish massage. Cost $20 and plus extra tip, and she totally loved it. D14 and I had to rush now so we could make it to our planned lunch at Sabor as they would be closing their doors in about 20 minutes. We’d both had big breakfasts and wanted to keep lunch light, so we just had the guacamole and two of the small plates: A double order of the chicken stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon, which were sooooo good; plus an order of the spicy beef empanadas, which we found just so so. As for the guacamole, we agreed that it was good but not mind-blowing. Could be because it was closing time and they rushed it out; maybe it was because it was the end of the cruise and they didn’t have as good a selection of avocados; maybe it’s because we make our own kind of regularly and tend to make on the spicier side; but we just didn’t did it as awesome as we’d hoped for. I also got a sweet & spicy margarita, which was very tasty. The Prefect Margarita wasn’t listed in today’s featured ones, and didn’t see it listed elsewhere on the lunch menu. It was fine, I’d wanted to try this one as well. I just wish it had come with my meal instead of at the end; we had finished off our guacamole and the small plates, and turned down the offer of dessert, and our waiter was bringing the check when I finally had to remind him I hadn’t gotten my drink order. He apologized profusely, and I’m guessing it was again because we came in so close to closing and they were trying to wrap things up and start the dinner slot prep. He brought out my margarita and also the check. Because we only had appetizers and no dessert, he gave us 20% off (the check showed a “crew-bar” notation for this). I tipped him the full 20% of our meal’s original cost in thanks. After this, it was to meet up with our MDR table mates for a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity. We had some trouble finding a place to play that wasn’t totally full of young kids, but finally found a spot in “Cloud Nine” room of the Viking Crown Lounge. Hilarity ensued as we played several rounds, with D17 snagging the win with 8 black cards in a clutch comeback. Now we come to a matter of some unpleasantness. I finally tried Sorrento’s pizza. I knew everyone here wanted to get my own opinion as a cruise noob and a Jersey pizza snob, so I decided I’d better just do it now or there would be a lot of disappointed readers. I got one slice of the specialty pizza offered this day, a cherry pepper pizza with sausage and pepperoni. My slice didn’t seem to have much of the latter two items, if any. I braved myself, and took my first bite. I tried to be neutral, and reserve judgement. Really, I did. I will say this: It wasn’t god-awful. But this pic pretty much sums up my overall feeling. It was utterly flavorless. The crust was beyond bland; it didn’t taste like there was even any salt in it, and it barely had any crispness. The cheese was also “just there”, and there was no sauce to speak of. The only part with any flavor was the cherry peppers, which actually had heat and tasted like real cherry peppers. There Might have been a tiny bit of pepperoni or sausage in the first bite, but I couldn’t taste anything like either of those. My mouth was crying for relief from this assault, so I walked over to the Bull & Bear Pub and got a Paulaner Doppelbock, because you still drink beer with pizza. And this was something with actual flavor that could wash away the blandness. Before dinner, my wife, D17, and I all went back up to the top pool lounge above Deck 12 to catch one last sunset. While we waited for the sun to get lower, my wife and I took some pics of each other. After this, we watched and waited as the sun got lower. For the second time, D14 totally missed out. It was by far the most spectacular sunset of the entire trip, and I had to get a ton of pics to show the progression, especially as the sun was eclipsed by the clouds on the horizon and then broke though one final time before disappearing over the Earth’s curve. When I first saw the sun break through again, I quickly switched to my tele lens and got this stunner before switching back to the wide lens for the other pics. After this stunning show, we headed down to our final dinner in the MDR. It was Debbi’s birthday, and we were also making this the “anniversary” day since we won’t be on a ship in May. Jigger, Danny, and our head waiter gave us a rousing “Happy Birthday” / “Happy Anniversary” performance, accompanied by a slice of cheesecake for each of us. My wife doesn't care for cheesecake, so I ended up having three desserts that night; a bit much after a goat cheese & tomato tart and pappardelle carbonara. We went back up to the room and finished packing the bags that we were putting in the hallway for transport to the terminal. We got #29 on our bands, which was only one 15-minute slot earlier than the last group would have been, so we were glad to have a leisurely morning ahead of us. We realized not long after we got back to our room that I had forgotten to bring down the WOW envelope for Jigger and Danny. So while everyone else kept packing, I grabbed it and shot back down to the MDR. They were both still there, so I was able to hand it to them personally. We’d also left Miriam a WOW envelope as well. We could see that she had picked it up when she came in to do turndown for us. We got the last things packed, and had all the luggage out by 10:30. I didn’t take a picture of the hall, didn’t want a reminder of the sad time coming soon. I tried going to the helipad one last time, but the gate was closed and there would be no last viewing of the stars. ?? I called it a night and went to bed. Drink package tally: Fresh squeezed orange juice from MDR 2 grande cappuccinos at Cafe Promenade (morning and afternoon) Spicy Bacon Bloody Mary Sweet and Spicy margarita at Sabor Paulaner Salvator at Bull & Bear My usual Chianti at dinner (MDR) Random notes: I got the online checkin notice for the hotel, and got that squared away; I was able to request a digital key for my phone this time, so I decided to try it out. This wasn’t offered with our original stay, so it must have been part of the lock maintenance they were doing during our last visit. This was written during my lunch hour. It’s weird to be back at work.

Day 7 – Labadee We took advantage of our later port arrival to sleep in a bit. Where in my case, by "sleep in" I mean I naturally woke up at 7 instead of having an alarm jarring me awake at 6. Following my now daily ritual for port days, I went onto the balcony after grabbing my phone and lenses to see what was in view. I thought maybe that Royal had actually routed us to Isla Nublar this time, and instead of lounging in a cabana I'd be running from T-Rexes. But after about a half hour, it clear that this was no dino-topia... Especially not after spying the tiny rowboat making its way past us... When we had gotten close enough, the ship started turning around to actually dock, and I could see the pier and village of Labadee ahead of us. I had my YOLO shirt from RCBlog on, so I kept it all in stride... (#RCBlog_Supporter, #Chillin, #Mellow) Everyone else was up at this point, and we did need to get to breakfast before my wife and the girls had to get to their scheduled zip line run. So we headed down and once again just took advantage of the "cereal bar" in the MDR to have a quick meal without the Windjammer crowds. This time around, we got to the MDR a little late and had to share a table. Our table-mates were two elderly ladies who had no plans for Labadee, having "outgrown that stuff some time ago." After breakfast, we did the usual trip back to the cabins to sunscreen up and get ready to head out. Unlike the other times, we had a persistent wood block tapping coming in through our balcony windows. We quickly realized it was from the little band that had set up on the pier. With the window closed, the only thing we could hear was that wood block; after opening the balcony door we could hear the whole group, which was a lot less irritating for us. We ended up being a little too leisurely with getting up and ready, and found ourselves hurrying down the pier so all the ladies didn't miss their check-in time for the zip line. After we found where they had to go, I took their bags and made my way to Nellie's Bach and the cabana check-in desk there. I did have to ask a couple of times for how to get there and where to go, but I eventually got there and was checked in. I let them know that not only would my family be there, but we had also invited our table-mates and they should be expected later in the morning. Our attendant was a man named Fritz, and he led me to our cabin, which was the next-to-last one down the line. I had a chance later in the day to confirm that at least for these cabanas, they are not reserved based on when you booked, just on when you show up to claim one. So the earlier you get there, the better the cabana you'll be given as far as its position in the line and the view you get. Ours was definitely not at all shabby... After putting everyone's bags down in our cabana and taking the pics above, I went out and found Fritz, and asked him to please call one of the golf carts for me so I could go and ride the Dragon's Tail coaster before the lines had a chance to build up. It took about ten minutes for a cart to show up, but that was fine; I wasn't in any hurry at that point. Once it arrived, I was quickly whisked to the check-in desk for the coaster, where I filled out my waiver and got my all-day wrist band. While walking the short distance from there to the actual ride entrance, I was surprised to see a wild dog come into view. It was somewhat timid and didn't let me get too close, but I was still able to get a shot. I rode the coaster a total of four times over the span of about 45 minutes. I recorded every one of them, but I haven't yet reviewed them and decided which is best to share. Two of the times I went fairly slowly; the second time was a little too slow, as I had applied the brake for so long that I almost stopped dead on the track about half-way through! The other two times I went as fast as I was comfortable with while holding my phone (braced in the ShoulderPod grip) in one hand, and using the brake with the other. It was still plenty fast for me, and I definitely had a blast, as well as getting my money's worth out of my all-day pass. I'll try and get one of those videos up on YouTube to share here this weekend. By this point it was noon, and I was ready to go back to the cabana. The people at the coaster couldn't hail one for me, so I wandered over to the beach bed checkin spot on Adrenaline Beach and asked if they could do it. They could indeed, and paged someone over the walkie-talkies they had there. While I waited for my ride, I attempted to speak to them in French, dredging up what I could remember of my high-school classes to fumble out a basic conversation (prefaced with me letting them know in French that I honestly didn't speak it well but was hoping to have a little chance to practice). They were pretty patient with me and fell back to English when it was clear I just didn't understand / couldn't translate quickly enough what they were saying to me. But it did come back to me to a surprising degree, and I even understood when they said in French that their Creole language was much easier to learn since it didn't have all the grammatical rules and other complications that "regular" French has. They explained that they all had to learn both French and English in school, so they were at least conversant in all three, if not 100% fluent. By this time my golf cart had arrived. I thanked the gents I'd been speaking with for the conversation, and then hopped on to go back to my cabana. I got there to find that my wife, the girls, and our table-mates were all there. Everyone who'd been on the zip line absolutely loved it, and none of them found themselves scared all that much. They also said the jolt at the end wasn't as bad as the videos we'd watched beforehand made it look, so maybe the next time we're in Labadee I'll give it a try. They wanted to take video and made sure they had hand straps for their phones, but they were told that only head-mounted GoPros were being allowed since everyone had to hold on to the zipline bars with two hands. Now I was thirsty at this point, and Fritz had just showed up to deliver some drinks for Debbi and Matthew;. I didn't hesitate, and ordered my first Labadoozie of the day (with alcohol, natch). D14 already had a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple that she bought with her OBC, and my wife and D17 were just drinking the Evian that came with our cabana, so I was the only one left empty-handed. Fritz came back in short order, and I tried it out. As you can see, I totally hated it. After I had a chance to properly sample my beverage, we asked Fritz to call up another golf cart so we could grab some food from the buffet. Our driver was great, staying nearby so that we could grab what we wanted and then eat it back in the cabana without having to hoof it all the way there. The food was just OK for me, but I'm not a big barbecue fan; everyone else thought it was great. With lunch out of the way, the girls and my wife went to the Dragon's Tail coaster to try and get a couple of rides in. While they were off doing that, Debbi, Matt, and I went into the lagoon and enjoyed the water. It was very odd after a while; we all kept feeling cold patches going by while we stood there, so the water alternated between feeling nice and warm and feeling freezing cold. I eventually got out and decided to take another time-lapse while I warmed back up. Wade made another visit and gave his seal of approval... The ladies came back by this point, having only been able to get in a couple of rides on the coaster due to the long lines that had formed. Lesson learned -- ride the coaster early if you have an all-day pass, or you won't get nearly as much of your money's worth! The two girls and Matthew then went to the village to find some trinkets to buy. We adults just hung around in the cabana and enjoyed the lazy day, chatting and relaxing. I had another couple of Labadoozies, because why not? D17 came back from the village feeling robbed. She tried to haggle, didn't know how to properly do it, and ended up paying the full $25 asked for the two necklaces she wanted. D14 did a bit better, getting a carved bird for $12 (original asking price $20). Matthew was an old hand at this, and got 6 necklaces / bracelets for $4 each. The girls decided to vent their frustrations over haggling with a dip in the lagoon. I had seen a number of birds flittering around and tried to get some pics, but only got this one fellow as he gathered material for a nest... I did manage to get a shot of D14's "emotional support chicken" as well.. And just when I'd given up hope of catching any more birds, I got two in one shot! By this time, the cabanas were being cleared out and the beach was empty of people. We got the not-too-subtle GTFO hint and grabbed our stuff (plus the un-consumed Evian bottles) and started heading back. I tipped Fritz for the four of us, and Debbi tipped him some more for herself and Matthew. And we managed to score one last golf cart ride back to the ship, with the same driver who had gotten us to the buffet and back; my wife tipped him as well for taking such good care of us. We did the short walk back to the ship, once again among the very last to board (without being actual pier runners). We really loved having that cabana. If I can score one at the same low price I got this one the next time we're in Labadee, I will definitely do that again. It made the day that much more pleasant and relaxing, especially since that day there was absolutely no wind or any breeze to cool things off. We had the shade of the cabana as well as the fan in it to help us keep cool all day. No sail-away pics or video this time, we were already facing out to the ocean and sail-away was incredibly fast. I also missed the sunset again this time, but my wife got a nice shot from what we think was the deck 4 jogging path... Dinner this night included tiramisu for dessert. Now I've been on a quest for the best tiramisu for a long time, and I had high expectations. I have to say, when it came out and I took my first bite, I was... disappointed is the only word for it. It seemed bland to me, but my wife and D14 both said I was nuts and that it had really great flavor, and was one of the best they'd had. So, I did what anyone would do... I had a second helping. You know... for research purposes. I kid you not, it was night and day. That second piece was what I was expecting from a good tiramisu. Jigger was as shocked as the rest of us, and he guessed that because my entree that night was extremely savory and I was drinking some Zinfandel with it, my palate hadn't cleared enough to properly taste the dessert. By the time the second portion arrived, I'd had some additional sweet (a bite of my wife's chocolate panna cotta) and also some water, so I was better set for properly tasting my second helping. After dinner, my wife and I tried going to the helipad again to try and finally see some stars. And we hit the jackpot! The sky was almost completely clear of clouds, and from the helipad the stars just shined down by the hundreds. We saw more than we'd ever seen before, and could even see their actual colors as well! I'd never seen just how orange Betelgeuse, in Orion, actually is, or how blue Rigel is compared to other stars. We just sat there for almost an hour with a few other adults who'd come out before us, everyone in awe at this amazing view. And then the teenagers arrived... First a couple, keeping relatively quiet but using their flashlights on their phones. Then a bunch more, and several of them stupidly trying to take pictures with their flashes going off. Within five minutes, a deckhand came out and escorted every one of us off the helipad, telling us it was closed. Damn kids. We stayed up to watch the 70s party in the Royal Promenade from the chairs in our elevator lobby. It was OK, but I was glad i wasn't down there in the massive crowd. We called it after about 45 minutes, since it seemed the show was going to go on a bit longer and we'd had enough. Everyone else went to bed, but I wanted another crack at the craps table. Once again, it was cold and no one was doing better than winning a little bit followed by losses. I stopped after I'd lost another $33 on top of the prior night's $25, which was actually perfect -- counting the $50 I'd lost on the slots a few days earlier, I was exactly at break-even. I figured fortune was sending me a pretty strong signal, and decided I was done with the casino for this trip. I went back to my cabin, where I found a little seal pup waiting for me... Drink package tally for today -- I definitely made up for the prior day's shortfall!! Fresh-squeezed OJ and cappuccino at breakfast Three Labadoozies -- far too tasty to say no to these! ("Lord, show me how to say no to this!") 1800 Reposado margarita for sail-away, from the Schooner Bar Ravenswood Zinfandel at Vintages Marchesi de'Frescobaldi, Toscana, "Rèmole" at MDR with dinner

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.

Someone is realizing he’s about to be without his “hoo-man” for a long stretch...

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!! Disclaimer - @SaltyNavyCruiser15 started a live blog a few weeks ago but out of respect I'm trying to avoid taking over his post and starting this. I'm hoping they continue to blog as it will be an interesting comparison having different users providing perspective of the same sailing. Their blog is here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5849-30-mar-09-apr-southern-caribbean-cruise-on-serenade/ This week has been a busy week for me. Between business trips and my flight to reach Serenade there were four flights to her the day before sailing (an unexpected business trip had me flying over 6,000 miles this week). From my 3am ET start to the day to landing in Fort Lauderdale at 1:44am ET on the day of the cruise I would have been up for 24 hours by the time I reached my hotel if it were not for sleeping on the MD88, 767, 757 and 737 it took to arrive here. Someone today asked me what class of ship Serenade is and I drew a blank, I couldn't even remember half the classes. Yeah I'm tired. A cruise starting with two sea days is perfect right now. Itinerary Sea Day, Sea Day, St Thomas, St Croix, Martinique, St Kitts, St Maarten, Sea Day, Sea Day Excursions (booked during a recent sail event:) Skipping St. Croix excursion due to work requirements. I'm familiar with St. Croix from having done some work there so once conference calls are over I'll wander around a bit on my own. Fun fact - St Croix is home to the Eastern most point of the United States (excluding the main land). Fort Lauderdale - Port Everglades I called my hotel twice throughout the day to make sure they wouldn't give away my room as a no-show given my 2am arrival. It was nearly 3am when I crashed into the hotel bed. I woke at 8am to re-arrange my luggage and inventory what I missed since packing for the cruise a week ago. I did pretty good and double packed some items. Lyft was $12 and I arrived at terminal 19 at 10:10am. Apparently they were doing work on some terminals so we couldn't use terminal 18 or 29. I haven't used terminal 19 since a cruise on another line in 2013. It hasn't changed much (still small). The terminal contractors seemed to like it as much as I did. Suites/Pinnacle boarded at 10:30, Diamond Plus at 10:40-ish and a few minutes later they called Diamond - the escalator can only take so many at a time so they regulate flow. Not bad - just over 30 minutes from my early terminal arrival to boarding. Pretty painless. BTW - terminal 19 also has free wifi. Lunch in the WJ. Honey Stung Chicken and Curry and a few other things and before I knew I it my plate looked like food coma. I need a nap. Cabins opened right at 1pm as offered. Cabin and dinner pictures tomorrow once I've slept.

Here is a video from the chef who developed it. https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/304/a-sensational-sandwich-royal-caribbeans-kummelweck-tantalizes-guests/

If I had a sense of humor, I would send them someplace else on the ship to look for them. But you can't escape on a ship too easily.

Not sure about the individual you are talking about but it probably got removed from CC if you mentioned FB. That's a no-no over there. I would be suspicious too if I were you. I have joined FB groups too for sailings. Not many but a few. But all of the ones I have joined were created by people from the CC roll call who were also on the sailing.

LOL. @Floski I completely understand. I live in Charlotte and every once in a while I will look at the Carnival ship that sails out of Charleston to see if I can do it....but I just can't.

I have a two year old iPhone 6s Plus, believe it or not. And every photo was taken using the stock Camera app, with one exception: the night-time shot of the Solarium, where I used the app NightCap. The lenses I bought from Moment have made a world of difference for me, and combined with a fresh battery have given this old phone a new life. There was no one lens I found the "most" useful, but certain lenses definitely worked better in certain situations. The telephoto lens was probably the one I used most heavily, only because my older phone has no telephoto lens of its own and always shoots wide. Examples of where I used it in this blog were: The busker in OSJ, or the guy performing in Bull & Bear Pub on night 1 The diving woman in the ceiling of the Promenade Surprisingly, it really helped a lot with panoramic photos or the panning style of time-lapses that I took That last sunset photo I posted The wide angle lens was the second most-used. I found it to be most handy in cases where the stock lens just didn't quite capture enough of the area I was trying to shoot, since this lens increases the field of view by about 50%. Some of the places I used this lens were The town square near El Morro in OSJ Some of the pool deck shots on the ship All of my sunset shots, to get the full sky and really capture as much of the colors as possible (after dialing down the exposure on the phone) Big structures like the Museum of the Americas The fisheye lens was least-used, but still handy in some situations; I think part of this is that I've never used one of these before, and I need to practice with it more so I can start seeing cases where it would work better than the wide-angle lens. Do be aware that I used some extra tools on my phone to clean up my pictures and handle making resized copies of the final products: The stock Photos app for cropping and image cleanup (I really need to learn how to do it manually instead of relying on the Magic Wand) Snapseed for times when I need to fix the perspective a little (like the one full-on shot of Museum of the Americas), or fix things like the green dot that sometimes shows up in iPhone camera shots Image Size (recommended by @twangster) to watermark and resize a copy of each picture for posting

Not sure what worked or how they ever made it for the past 30 years of offering room service then for free?? Its a money grab...please.

Awesome job on the live blog @JLMoran, I really enjoyed it! It was especially great for me since on my next cruise I will be going to St. Maarten, San Juan, and Labadee for the first time. The photos are awesome and I would never guess they were taken from a phone. What kind of phone do you have and what was the lens you found most useful? I have been accumulating some photography gear as of late, but I am thinking about getting one as well for our cruise because of the simplicity of use that cell phone cameras provide.

Thank-you Joe and family for taking me on your wonderful first Cruise I truly felt like I was there with you your photos were outstanding and the narration was even better I will never forget the site of the pidgeons and will actively seek this out for my girls in nov in OSJ once again thank-you Joe and Family for a second shot at having another First Cruise an experience I thought I lost in time PS I love the two birds my daughter frequently expresses this sentiment when my camera comes out

I just hit 100 days and the Count down to cruise showed up to me on the new web page, could have been there all day yesterday but I was flying most of the day and didn't look. Also noticed the link in my Crown and Anchor started working, it's always been blue, but it never acted like a link, from what I could quickly tell it doesn't link you to the old profile page, just the new Crown and Anchor page.

She was scheduled to be, but plans have changed and she is on Explorer instead then Symphony. Glad to hear that you liked her!

Carnival ain't no picnic either and they are also adjusting their onboard MDR experience which is one of many reasons why I opened my eyes to look past them and try Royal a couple years ago. Other than formal night they stopped using table clothes in the MDR and you eat off a plywood table that wasn't designed to be used without a tablecloth much like a country barn experience. I will say that Guy's Burgers on Carnival blows away Johnny Rockets which has become a WJ burger and fries with something like a sauce trying to resemble what you get in a JR land restaurant but not pulling it off very well. On more than one night on a Carnival cruise I skipped the poor MDR experience and just had Guy's Burgers for dinner which are included. Food is such a personal experience. What I think is terrible (sushi) other people crave. In many ways Walmart of the Seas (Carnival) is dragging the industry down with it. Cheap cruises come with cheap onboard experiences. The competition can't price themselves too much higher or people will jump ship and accept the poor Carnival experience knowing they paid less for it. For many people cheap is best and their expectations are lower because the price is lower. No one walks into Walmart expecting it to be a Nordstrom. That leaves better cruise lines having to find ways to cut corners to keep the price gap small enough for people to remain loyal. The downside is people expect better because it's more money. It's very hard to find the balance between better but not much more costly to deliver. For me, Royal is still better and worth the additional cost if for no other reason than to avoid cruising with carnies. YMMV.

Following...can't wait for you to show up Twansgster-bot and JLMoran with pic's and blog :-)

Have a great trip. I will be on Freedom the same days you are on Symphony so I will have something to read when I get back.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Day 8 - St Maarten A beautiful day in St Maarten to start the day. We arrived early with the sun rising but still below the horizon. Soon we were joined by a TUI ship, the Mein Schiff 6. RCCL owns a portion of TUI. Not long after another ship appeared on the horizon. The Adventure of the Seas joined us and we shared the pier today. Still early I enjoyed a freshly made omelette and some fruit at one of my favorite WJ outdoor tables. I took the water taxi over to Great Bay Beach. The round trip cost is $7 and for that you get an all day pass. I find a lot of value in this $7. Amazing views of the area, the ships in port and by the way the water taxi has $2 beers. The beach area is great with lots of options for some time here. Cheap chair rentals, cheap beers & frozen drinks plus great views. What more can you ask for? I've captured this on a previous cruise a few months ago so I'm not going to capture it all again. Here is a hyperlapse from the pier having just stepped off the ship to Great Bay Beach using the water taxi. This was during peak when the most crowds were involved from all 3 ships.

Midnight stroll through the Centrum:

Day 6 Dinner Menu My balcony beckoned and while I was writing up this blog a sunset happened right in front of me. Needless to say I missed my MTD dinner reservation, again. Windjammer had Caribbean Night. Once again I had to fend off food that just jumped onto my plate. Yum. After dinner the Royal Caribbean band was playing in the Centrum. Very good!

Day 6 - Martinique Beach and Snorkel (offered by RC) The excursion group met in the theater and we were led down the pier to a boarding area right off the pier. We never had to leave 'security' or use the general pier area for beach ferries that anyone can use. Our excursion begins sailing across the bay from Fort-De-France. Our guide informs us it will be a 40 minute trip to the first stop. We arrive at out first snorkel stop. It was formerly a fisherman's village and some of the original small fisherman houses still standing are made of conch shells. One note about this excursion. 'Beach and Snorkel' isn't so much about beach as it is about snorkel. While we did get to see a beach, it isn't really a beach excursion. You could swim in to the beach if you chose to, or snorkel. This was as close as we got to the beach. No one chose 'beach'. In the middle of this bay it is prime turtle territory and while some people reported seeing them, I ventured towards the edge of the bay where there is more coral hoping for better marine life. The water was full of small fish and my pictures are not doing this area justice. There was a lot of small marine life to see but it wasn't the best snorkeling I've experienced but heck, its the ocean. It's not a stocked fishing pond where they can guarantee marine life from day to day. Closer to land is where I spent most of my time enjoying the coral and marine life in that area. In the distance to the right is Fort-De-France and the ship. Forty five minutes here before we boarded the boat to head to 'The Bat Cave' 10 minutes away. Carved into the rock is a cave loaded with bats. It's hard to see in this photo but we were able to swim right into the cave and there were hundreds of small bats above us. The GoPro has a fisheye wide angle lens and it's not the best camera to use to see the bats but it is waterproof so... You can sort of see them in the fork to the right as small white and dark spots clinging to the rock ceiling. They warned us that this area does usually have some jelly fish. The good news is the small ones with four dark spots don't sting and are very safe. The other news is that there are sometimes even smaller cousins that can cause a mild sting. These were actually quite beautiful and mesmerizing to watch. They were everywhere around us. It was very fascinating to watch them and this picture doesn't do them justice. As suggested the smaller cousins do have a slight sting effect but thankfully it only lasted a minute then was gone. To reach the bat cave I jumped off the front of the boat due to a large number of snorkelers aggregating towards the back of the boat. Apparently a number of them jumped in, felt the tingle of a jelly fish and immediately in mass most of the boat's passengers returned to the safety of the boat. That's unfortunate because the stings I felt were very slight and quickly went away. They were not like a jelly fish sting on the Florida coast. I'd have no issue jumping in again given the opportunity. Back on board they began serving more than just water and juice now that snorkeling was over. Choices were light rum, dark rum, spicy rum and rum punch. I sampled several and all were good. In fact they tasted like 'more'. In the distance you can see Serenade and Jewel along the shore as we made our way back across the bay towards Fort-De-France. They really should remove 'Beach' from the title of this excursion. I couldn't see trying to swim to the beach. Snorkeling was good but not great. The bat cave was a cool experience and I am glad I did this excursion.

Day 6 - Martinique The morning starts of with our approach to Martinique and a double rainbow. We arrived to the pier downtown next to a Seabourne ship. Martinique is very developed as Caribbean nations go. I spotted a ship in the distance and could faintly see a Viking Crown Lounge. Jewel of the Seas would be joining us today. She is a sister ship to Serenade of the Seas. Today's excursion will be "Beach and Snorkel" booked through Royal Caribbean. I'll post photos of that excursion next.

You'll never forget your first Solarium.

Day 4 - St Thomas Departure I had a 6pm MTD reservation but decided to skip it in favor of the sunset. Not a bad decision as it turns out. It started out pretty great but as the sun went down further it got a bit better. Looking back towards St Thomas with the Windjammer Al Fresco seating area: At this point the sun was below below the horizon but it begin to illuminate the clouds and I just couldn't stop taking pictures. As it became darker the colors became more vibrant. Show nearly over, I grabbed one more photo with the deck 12 slide in the foreground. These were all taken with an iPhone 8. I think they turned out okay.

Day 4 - St Thomas There is no easy way to put this, this post will be photo intensive. Sorry @Matt, in the immortal words of Roy Sheider's character in Jaws... "We're going to need a bigger boat". I met with a friend and former co-worker before the excursion. He reports the majority of residents on St Thomas have power back but other luxuries like cable TV are still a work in progress. Residents on St John are still getting there. Many areas have power but more remote areas are still without. Despite that people are settling back into a routine. My excursion today - St John's "All Inclusive" Beach & Snorkel To clear up a commonly heard misconception, all inclusive refers to ferry + taxi + park admission + snorkel gear. Nothing else. No water, food or anything else. A few pictures around Crown Bay to start us off: Our greeting committee: Our chariot (ferry) to St Johns. We cruised along the Southern coast of St Thomas and from a distance much looked normal but you could see many of these coastal buildings took it hard during the storm and they are a work in progress. Twenty fives minutes later we approached Cruz Bay in St Johns. We loaded into our taxi's to begin our way to Trunk Bay. Our first glimpse at Trunk Bay. After a 15 minute drive we arrived at the Virgin Islands National Park - Trunk Bay. Restrooms and showers faired well during the storm: Some things like the concessions are not open yet. Chairs are available for rent. Snorkel gear included in the excursion was available near the beach. There is a snorkel trail underwater. The beach is gorgeous with sugar like sand. The snorkel course is to the left of the island with marker buoys in the water. I set my stuff in the sand and donned my snorkel gear. Lots of Sea Urchins. You do not want to step on one. If you look closely you'll see lots of minnows. This complete and about an hour later we boarded our taxi. Our driver stopped at several viewing spots so we could take pictures. That's the British Virgin Isles in the distance. Jumbie Beach This is the Caneel Bay Resort. Like most hotels it's closed pending restoration. Back on our ferry and heading to St Thomas they offered beer for $5 (brewed in Portland, ME). I managed to talk to a few locals this trip. Most hotels remains closed with no word when they might reopen. Building material and labor are hard to come by to fix them. While some hotels have opened, tourism is swayed towards cruise ships at the moment. While island life is settling into a new normal, the storm's effects continue. For example, rain inundated many homes. Appliances not physically damaged are beginning to rust and break down just now from water damage, even if minor at the time. The storms that keep on giving. Those that had the money built with concrete and faired better than those with older homes. They didn't escape unscathed though, even the concrete began to saturate from the days of rain before, during and after both storms which amounted to weeks of rain. The concrete in some cases withstood the wind but leaked water from saturation. I was glad to make it over to St Johns and just as happy to see life moving forward. It's a process but the tens of thousands of dollars each cruise ships brings are very welcome. With hotels shut many are out of work but they very much appreciate each ship and the jobs that are created from the cruise industry.

Day 2 (Sea Day)... I just spent an hour writing up yesterday’s summary, and the fracking WiFi died again and caused my post to be wiped out. Sorry, no narration now, gonna just give the pics and executive summary. Delivered to our room before I crashed on night 1: In the entry of Windjammer at breakfast: Awesome view looking aft from the helipad after a small storm had passed over us: Band playing during the captain’s meet and greet, and the crew presenting themselves: Our towel animal, waiting for us after the Marquee show: Day was basically everyone doing their own things. Daughters hung out together for a bit, tried to sign up for rock wall and Flow Rider, but they were closed due to the wind. Formal night dinner was very good. D14 and I had the escargots again, we’re hooked. Marquee show at 10:30 was good, wife and I enjoyed it and thought the performers were all quite good. We just wished they had some newer songs and not numbers from broadway shows that came out at least 30 years ago. $35 “all you can stuff in it” laundry bag appeared last night. Drink package tally: - 1 fresh squeezed orange juice - 1 grande mocha at Cafe Promenade - 1 Blue Moon at Bull & Bear Pub - 2 glasses of Tennuta dell’Ornellaia, “Le Volte”, a Tuscan Sangiovese, from Vintages ($4 overage applied against OBC). I have to find this when I get home!! - 1 glass of Marchesi de’Frescobaldi, Chianti Ruffina, “Castello di Nipozzano”, Riserva; ordered in the MDR, had a $5 overage applied to my OBC. This was also really good, not quite as good as the Sangiovese

#balconylife #chillin #rcblogsupporter

Took a couple of minutes to stand in our balcony and take in the view. It’s truly breathtaking. I am SO glad I invested in these add-on lenses, as they’re helping me take photos that capture the memories so much better than the plain camera. As you can see, we’re almost exactly in the middle between the bridge wing and the whirlpool on deck 11. I’ve never seen the ocean such a cobalt blue. It makes me pause every time I see it, just to take it in. Being a New Jerseyan, the Atlantic has always been more of a greenish tint whenever I’d go to a beach. I just assumed you had to get to a Caribbean island to see blues like this.

Playing around with a timelapse video from my balcony. The wind blowing the tripod around makes it look like I'm on a train more than a ship but I'm traveling light and left my heavy duty 8 lb. tripod at home so my cheap but light tripod can't hold still in this wind. The ship isn't moving very much, just an occasional gentle and slow pitch. I don't feel it but looking aft I can see a slight up-down slow pitch. Great day so far. Lunch is calling, gotta run.

Guess what @JLMoran ? IT'S CRUISE DAY!!! Finally !!!!!

T-minus 1 day to embarkation... The weather is a lot nicer today, as expected. Just some scattered clouds, and nice and warm. We’ll be catching the shuttle at the Publix in a little bit to get to the nearby beach; only $1 per person vs whatever we’d have to pay for a Lyft. Will be another “take it easy” day, no set agenda. A few random thoughts: - Our room lock was adjusted yesterday, and it is much more reliable now - I can’t for the life of me understand why a room meant to sleep four has two double beds instead of two queens, especially when the bedroom section is more than large enough to accommodate them. The girls are doing OK with it, but my wife and I are finding it a little too cozy. I called the main desk before we came in and confirmed that there are no queen bed rooms, only two doubles or a single king. - D14 painted this last night, just for fun. Sketched the drawing from a photo she pulled up on her iTouch, then painted with watercolors. I continue to be amazed by the artistic talent of both my girls, but D14 is rapidly outpacing her sister (which is understandable, since D17 takes art for fun and is focused much more on music, where D14 is planning on an art / visual design focus in high school and eventually college)

T-minus 2 days to embarkation... Today in Fort Lauderdale is gray, windy, and a little cool. Plus, there’s a riptide warning until Thursday. No beach for us today, and even the hotel pool is unlikely since it’s outdoors. We’ve decided to just make today a day to relax and hang out at the hotel. Which means @Lovetocruise2002 starts getting some pics of the place! Main lobby Atrium where the complementary breakfast is served While it only says “omelets” here, I found you can get fresh eggs cooked any way except scrambled (since they already have a platter for scrambled eggs in the hot buffet line). Many people were ordering eggs over easy or sunny side up. In addition to the fresh egg / omelet station, they have fresh grits and oatmeal, cereals, yogurts, assorted pastries (muffins, mini danishes) and breads, a juice station (one of those dispenser types, which my wife said came out really watered down), and a coffee dispenser that actually served good coffee (same flavor profile as a blonde-roast Starbucks). It’s really a step up from most complementary breakfasts and another element that makes you feel you’re getting your money’s worth for the higher price. Next is “The E Spot”, the hotel’s bar and restaurant. It’s right next to the atrium area and from a quick glance didn’t appear to use separate seating for those having a meal. To take advantage of the free happy hour, you need to show your room card. Drinks appear to be anything you want, as I saw multiple mixers and spirits getting poured along with bottles of beer and fountain sodas. There’s probably some limit on it, but the line was long and I didn’t want to hold it up asking a million questions of the poor bar lady. I’ll try and get a pic of the menu later today; I got a glance yesterday, and it’s typical high pricing for a hotel restaurant. E.g., $20 for a chicken quesadilla. I’d say just go the regular restaurants like La Bamba that are in easy walking distance. Last up is the hotel’s outdoor pool, which includes a whirlpool tub at the far end and a nice little waterfall.

Hey ..... Am I the only one that feels like we're all on this cruise with Joe and his family? We all know the thrill of the anticipation of an upcoming cruise...... and being the first cruise, it is ramped up a bit .... But in Joe's case, this is an incredibly unique case in which he already has an entire family (us) going along with him for the ride. Joe ..... Thank You for allowing us to be a part of your vacation. Mark

Thanks, @Traveler! I'm actually skipping the four bottles of wine since I invested in the drink package. I'd rather not skew the "break even" tally.