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Day 11 - Sea Day I woke to an overcast day. The ship had a small swagger to it, or maybe that just me walking the hallways as if I'd been drinking already. Nothing too bad, just a subtle shimmy like riding on a train. The outer decks were not calling my name so it was an inside day. The Captain had hugged the coast throughout the night to avoid some rougher stuff farther off-shore. Weather improved throughout the day and I've stopped wearing a jacket if outside briefly just to take pictures and look around. Tomorrow should be even better. Day 11 Dinner Menu Formal Night, lobster night. Pretty sunset tonight. Our progress so far... We are in Grandeur waters. Distance traveled 2,446 nm.

I wonder how many people are like me and would like to gamble but won't go near the casino because of the smoke. I can't stand the smell and hate how that smell lingers in your clothes after being around it.

Just back a few hours ago from our 5-night trip to Bermuda that @ellcee and @Broons77 were also on. I have a ton of photos to go through and edit, and I'm taking my older daughter to SUNY New Paltz tomorrow for a campus tour and maybe interview before she applies to transfer, so I probably won't be posting anything detailed before early next week or even next weekend. But here's a quick preamble of what, where, and why: This was a double surprise cruise for my wife and me. First surprise was that I even booked the thing, as we had only booked our cruise on Freedom in December 2016, still had nearly a year to go to sail that cruise, and here I was going and booking another one! Why? My wife had mentioned a while back that she's never been to Bermuda, so when I saw this itinerary I figured I'd jump on it. While we were "officially" declaring the cruise on Freedom as our 20th anniversary celebration, I wanted something for just the two of us where we could have a chance to reconnect over a few days. The second surprise, as most here have known for quite a long while now, is that when a BOGO 60 sale came along I upgraded us from a D2 Balcony cabin to a J4 Spa Junior Suite on deck 7. I managed to keep that secret until embarkation day, and I'll give the details about the reveal and reaction when I start making the real posts. You all already know from @ellcee's great live blog that this was a single-stop cruise to just Bermuda, nowhere else, with an overnight stay that gave us basically two full days on the island. Since we had free rein of the island for that whole time, we'd worked out a plan for what mattered most to us and when we'd try and see it: First port day – St. George, Crystal Cave and the nearby Swizzle Inn, and if time permitted, Hamilton Second port day – Horseshoe Bay Beach and the shops / sights around Royal Naval Dockyard In addition to our time in Bermuda, we made plans to check out the North Star and try out Ripcord by iFly, see all the on-board shows, and have dinner at Wonderland. We also wanted to buy the Thermal Spa package and have a chance to enjoy that throughout the trip. It was a pretty packed itinerary for a 5-night sailing; stay tuned to see how it all turned out!

Day 12 - Sigh Day... I mean Sea Day I'm getting really tired of taking sunrise and sunset photos. Seriously. Sunrise this morning. Coming back from lunch I spotted some people getting ready to do some scuba instruction with the on-board PADI 5 star dive shop. It's beginning to look like a normal cruise again! 7am and people are sitting on loungers by the pool! By noon it was full cruise mode with people in shorts and bathing suits, swimming, sunning, having fun. This may seem all right and normal to anyone reading this but after 12 days of cool weather with no one outside day after day, this is very different! It's a cruise! People were lined up for the flowrider. People, plural. More than one. Not quite sure what move this is but I took this just before... Looking at our progress it just now dawns on me how much of the U.S. East coast we have covered. Pretty much all of it by the time we finish. Just about at the FL/GA border. I hear rumors that several hundred are disembarking in Port Canaveral tomorrow. Could it be true? Might I have a chance at a seat in the Diamond lounge after all? Only time will tell...

Glad you had a great time, @ellcee! It was really nice meeting you, just for the validation that we're not all a bunch of bots! ?

Chef’s Table. sigh. It was amazing. Remember (or not) I said Chops was the best meal. No. No. No. Chef’s Table was the perfect ratio of excellent food, people, and service. Only 7/14 showed. The 7 who showed were fun and open. This will be one of my favorite memories. The service was superb. The food was above expectations. The people made it a 10/10 experience. Put it all together and it was ? worth the extra cost.

Im from scotland we call 40 degrees with wind swirling round you outside " SUMMER" Also I dont smoke inside my house, be it sun, rain or snow i go outside, it comes down to having respect for non smokers which includes my wife. However respect should work both ways, if im in a designated smoking area outside no one has the right to complain or make comments to me about the smoke or smell

It would be interesting to see the revenue numbers from Celebrity casinos. Are they low because they are smoke free? Or will gambling smokers overcome their addiction to gamble? Only RCCL knows. Right now, I don't go into the Royal casino, not even to spend my free $5 offer. What revenue is lost from non-smokers? A smoker asked Bayley on the president's cruise about more smoking areas. His response was "yeah that's not a trend we are seeing in society".

Actually, I think they tried this already. A couple of years ago there was at least 1 ship that they tried a non-smoking casino for a couple of cruises. Granted, it was not a LONG test but they did try it. That was the last I heard of trying a non-smoking casino so my guess is that it did not go well. Of course, you cannot expect a test like that to go well when nobody was forewarned. I'm sure they had nothing but complaints from smoking gamblers who had no idea they were going to be victims of a non-smoking experiment. The non-smokers weren't made aware of it so they stayed away, like they always do. I think that the results of going non-smoking is pretty well established in other industries, such as restaurants. At first there is a holy uproar from smokers who either deal with it or change restaurants/lines but in the end, they gain more non-smokers, who eventually make up for the smokers that they lose. We are going through this exact scenario right now with our American Legion Post. The smokers are in full revolt as our new social quarters are going smoke-free but trust me, there are far more non-smoking members who have been campaigning for YEARS to have a smoke-free Post. They will now come where they would not, before. I believe, in the long run, we will gain more than we will lose but it will take time. BTW, there will still be a smoking bar for those who smoke; it's just the new lounge and dining room that will be smoke-free. Celebrity seems to do well with non-smoking casinos but everyone knows they are non-smoking before they ever book so the expectations are established, beforehand.

its not automatic though - you have to tell this to the Celebrity/RCI agent that does the booking so they can create the status for you. Just fyi

Someone had passed away from what I have been hearing. Hence the delay, I guess?

I second that motion. I used to dislike Italian food, then I ate there, and everything changed. But still, Giovannis > Chops ?

Mine is simple. A least 14 days, star class suite, unlimited drink package, unlimited specialty restaurants, unlimited on board credit, Southern Itinerary and I don;t have to pay for ANYTHING!

Hopefully we don't fall off the "edge of the earth" when we sail with them. ?

Extra thoughts: Loved my room, it served it's purpose. Two weird things that were just annoyances , one was the TV - very awkwardly placed. In order to watch you needed to sit on the edge of the bed. It wasn't a big deal, I only really watched to get ready. The second thing, while the shower was a better set up that Harmony the shower head always aimed for the door no matter how you tried to fix it so water would run out. My attendant was KOKO - very nice. Every time he saw me he screamed and laughed, I wasn't sure what to do with that but he got a good tip for making me need nothing all week. Specialty dining; for me, worth it. I really love food and enjoyed the different restaurants. Chops and Chef's Table were my favorites with Izumi for honorable mention since I went 2x. Jamie's was good but I wasn't wowed. I visited Windjammer and Cafe 270 for breakfasts, lunches and second lunches. 270 for the win for views. I spent a lot of time there when it was too cold to go outside reading and just looking at the water. I skipped Wonderland because it seemed more of an experience I wouldn't want to do alone. Service everywhere was top notch, I was impressed. Again, I made a bunch of reservations for shows then went to NONE OF THEM. I love a good show so I'm not sure why I never seemed to want to go. We skipped all the shows on the big group cruise too. Voom Surf and Stream - great until last night and morning. I've read this before and expected this as well. I enjoyed watching Netflix before bed, waste of money or not. I was left alone which worked for me. I enjoy meeting new people but also enjoy being by myself. I spent the first day in Bermuda on a 5 hour tour with good people. The Chef's Table bunch - so much fun. Had drinks with @JLMoran and his wife. Sorry @Broons77 we didn't get to meet up!!! It was a good amount of people vs me time. People seemed to be shocked I was solo, I was prepared from what I had read here that people would ask, a lot, and they did. Most women had the same exact response - that they had wished they went solo once in their life. Bermuda was perfect. I'd definitely take this exact cruise again. I liked the ship. No complaints, it was easy to get around and the crowds were never too bad. Considering the sea days were colder that's a good thing. Not sure when I'll be cruising again, hoping the 2020 group cruise is doable. Next year I have my land trip for Italy so imma try and be responsible and book nothing else til 2020. Last thing - I sort of wish I got the drink package. I had the refreshment package which was great for coffee and water for me but I found myself thinking WAY too much about cost. I say I'm not a big drinker, and I'm not usually but on a cruise I like to drink more. One Old Fashioned with 18% grats came to $16.36. I think unless I'm going on more than 7 days a drink package would be the way to go. They did offer the 10 drink package but it was the day I had Chef's Table so I didn't think I'd get use out of it. (I still should have gotten that for peace of mind).

Our progress so far... Boston Sail Away I ventured up after I did some work and discovered we were backing down out the channel we had sailed into upon arrival. The wind was up and rain had moved through. It was cold and nasty. Yet our Captain did an amazing job backing the ship down the channel past the AIDA ship that was still docked in place. It was so windy this arriving Air France 777 had to abort it's landing approach at Logan and perform a go-around. Fort Independence in better light. The sky was very dramatic tonight. The Silverseas Silver Wind that we started this cruise with in Quebec City was arriving. At a distance I thought I saw her towing a yacht behind her when I realized it was a pilot boat. It was so windy the pilot boat took shelter behind her and stayed in her wake. Being a 'company' ship (now owned by RCCL) the ships did a horn salute to each other as they passed. The pilot boat then turned in behind us to pick up our pilot. The sky ripped open above Boston and it looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie where the whole city was about to be engulfed. Instead a plane flew into this tear in the space-time continuum... wait, that's a different sci-fi movie.

Ask and you shall receive... Boston in pictures. Exiting the ship there is a moving walkway down to ground level. A shuttle is available to a popular tourist area approximately 2 miles away. I chose to walk... Our cruise terminal on this day. I followed the signs towards the Liberty Wharf and wouldn't you know it... a brewery! Yes indeed. Too early to get distracted I kept going... Boston is clearly the biggest city on this cruise but very walkable. Pretty soon a harborwalk started and much of my day was spent exploring it. Fall colors also ramping up here in Boston. Boston has a series of piers and each is named. This is the fish pier. Aptly named and clearly a source of fresh seafood. Continuing along... You do get a sense of the history of Boston when you see things like where the edge of the pier was in 1876. I had a barking squirrel in a previous port so The Barking Crab seemed to fit this journey. Too early to stop I continued along the harborwalk. Underneath the bridge was the Boston Rowing Club. Around the corner I saw some people throwing stuff into the water. Fed up with taxation the local population was doing something about it! The Boston Aquarium. I was getting thirsty from all this walking. This looked as good a place as any. Harpoon IPA. Refreshed and recharged I ambled on. I needed to head back to the ship for a conference call so I hailed a taxi. A water taxi that is. Up until this point my day had cost me the price of a beer so I treated the water taxi like an excursion. A water tour of the Boston shoreline. It was a quick and easy way to get back closer to the ship at a reasonable price. Approaching the last stop on the route I could see the top of the ship over the buildings. A very enjoyable and quick ride back. The cruise terminal and area is named after a previous mayor. As it turns out the ride back was was faster than I anticipated so I had some time to kill. Enough time for a flight of beers at the Harpoon Brewery. With that complete I did the final 10 minute walk back to the ship. Security was quick and easy, typical cruise terminal experience. Then up the gangway towards the ship. It was a beautiful and sunny day in Boston and I got to explore a harbor front and part of Boston that I never have when flying here for business.

Domestic violence / attempted murder on radiance of the seas. https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-19/man-charged-after-trying-to-throw-partner-overboard-cruise-ship/10397886

Call your credit card company. File a dispute with them.

Probably. But room service is cheaper. Order 5 orders of chicken wings from room service and it's $7.95. Order 5 orders of wings in PM and it's 5 x $8.

Logan is right across the water from Flynn. Granted you can't swim across, but any traditional airport transportation options would suffice. If you don't use Uber/Lyft then a taxi would likely be the next best thing, depending on how many are in your group. This photo of Logan was taken as we pulled into the Flynn cruiseport:

When you put your iPhone into airplane mode, the watch goes into airplane automatically. You have to manually take it out of airplane mode, even after taking your phone out of airplane mode. My series 4 with cellular doesn't roam like my phone does. It Canada my phone works great, full LTE service. My watch? Nope. It behaves like a non-cellular watch when roaming.

The casino on Navigator has been fully non-smoking for many (if not all) of the sailings from Southampton this year. At least, that was the situation whilst we were on board in September and we heard from others that this had been established some time before we boarded. I also recall that Independence had trialled a ban on smoking in all interior venues a few years ago. I don't remember if the ban extended to exterior spaces as well.

As a smoker myself i think smoking should be banned from all in door areas, you cant smoke in bars or resteraunts nowadays ( even in asia ) so why allow it on ships? Even though its allowed i myself will go outside to designated smoking areas.

Yes, and Yes --- there's also a small store that sells souvenirs, and, a bathhouse where you can change your clothes

Hello! I am new to the forum but not to cruising. I recently went on an ncl cruise with a thermal spa. When looking for RCCL thermal spa info it seems very vague. The ship I am most interested in knowing about is the Jewel. If you sailed on the ship within a year please tell me, do they have a very strong eucalyptus steam room? Is it co Ed? Is it extra charge? Are the hot tubs on the ship always packed? Is there only 1 hot tub in the solarium? (The solarium tends to have less crowded hot tubs from my recollection) Basically all I do in a cruise ship is rotate from hot tub, to eucalyptus steam room, to food, and back around. ?

There is water but no snacks. They will feed kids who are left over meals on port days. I think it is a good idea to try again. My kids have been on ships where they loved AO and only once have they not. It is somewhat dependent on who else is in there and the personalities on that sailing.

I believe Empress is the only ship in RCCL's fleet that has a 100% smoke-free casino. Royal is in a tough spot. Do you completely segregate your traditional money trifecta (gambler+drinker+smoker) as your ships are offering more family-orientated experience? At the end of the day, it's all about the Benjamins.

Totally agree - smoking should be banned from the whole ship - and i mean the whole ship!!

It’s sweet!

I also will post some pics I took from my new Nikon. For now just a few iPhone shots

That’s because I’m the worst! I hate being in pictures. This was the only selfie I posted!

You all did not post a photo...no photo evidence, no proof ?

Home. Debarkation was ridiculously simple and quick, I did the first round of self assist. It maybe took 5-10 minutes. Unfortunately the machines were down and a ton of us had to wait an hour outside waiting to pay for our ticket at Cape Liberty. If you had cash you were fine but I used my cash to settle up since I didn't really buy anything (not a shopper). An hour later they let us go. It was about 44 degrees and standing still for an hour was interesting, I was FINE until it seemed they were gonna skip me and I MIGHT have sounded a tad desperate. An hour and a half home. No real complaints since it's still rush hour in NYC.

I just make my own monthly payments and don't have to pay any interest rates.

Izumi round 2. While round 1 was good round 2 was even better. The ramen was good but the Udon was amazing. Mostly packed and ready to watch more Haunting of Hill House before sleep. More thoughts when I get home but 5 days was perfect for me.

Day 10 Dinner Menu I ate in the Windjammer having missed my MTD reservation (again). International Night. Crepes for dessert!

$2 mimosas in the casino. It’s raining. Guess what I’m doing.

Coffee has been very good, both the complimentary coffee and the $$ options.

Same on Anthem. Not bad at all.

Woke up, no hangover. Not really sure how that happened with the amount of wine at Chef’s Table. Lots of water. Raining here on the last sea day. Walked the track until it was too much. I don’t even mind the rain today, while I’m not hungover I am slow today. Absolutely no idea how I’m spending today. All good.

Portland Sail Away. The local island ferry. Portland basking in the sunset. On schedule at 5:30pm we cast lines and began pulling away from the pier. This was part of the Fort that defended Portland. One last look as we sail away from Portland. A short 147 nm to Boston tomorrow at a speed of 8 knots.

With your educated knowledge of each port, I highly doubt you arrived here by accident

And y'all want to do a GC

Today was real test for me but saying that it was a very good day. We docked in Bermuda this morning. Of course I cannot find my tour group. I found another woman from the same company and between her and a ton of helpful people - nothing. $144 and not to be found. Juanita from Viator is a trip and let me join her group, and even though I paid again (less but still) she and her group were worth it. I’ll have to deal with this later when I’m home. Then I lose my sea pass. Honestly, that wound up being a hiccup, an annoying one but still very simple. Just had to go through extra security from Bermuda to the ship and then a few extra moments at the ship. I’m hoping that’s all for today because I’m still in a very good mood and would like to stay that way. Bermuda is amazing. Beautiful. Clean. Friendly. Tomorrow hopefully beach day. Jamie’s tonight.

Ran into @JLMoran in the spa. Went to the gym to walk on the treadmill a bit while watching Lady Liberty. Have a killer headache for the past two days, have migraine Meds but doesn’t really feel like that. Singles trivia was group trivia so I got a drink (habanero grapefruit daiquiri) and left. Went to Izumi for dinner and got spicy crispy tuna and spicy ramen. It was good, not as good as Harmony’s Izumi but the service was top notch. It was good enough that I’ll likely go back at least once more before I leave. I didn’t need the $35 allowance, I was good with what I ordered. Headed to Cafe Promenade for cookies...Royal Caribbean has the best cookies, not always amazing other desserts but the cookies are my favorite! I have reservations for The Gift but not sure I feel like it. It’s been a long day and I’d like a shower, book and my bed. Btw- bed is great as is. Firm but not painful. (Harmony was crazy hard and needed a mattress pad). Time to find the Coke Machine for some seltzer...

Dropped pup off last night and passed out on the couch before 9. I haven’t been sleeping all week. This is my first time playing with the camera and Luna is my favorite subject. It only took a half hour to figure out how to get the picture from my camera to anywhere else.

I wish they would cancel formal night altogether. We mostly ignore it anyway, but do bring dressy casual for formal night. The big issue is the cost of paying for baggage fees if you have a heavy suit and dress shoes etc. that make you go over the limit. I know they make a lot of money on photographs on formal night, so I am sure it will go on.

Yes, they follow the same scheme as the other specialties, but pasta at Giovannis is considered a side so you can get pasta plus a main (read that as “meat”) course. On our recent Liberty cruise Dan asked for some chicken parm as a “side”and even though it was listed a main course, they brought it as a side without any hesitation. It is my opinion that the progression of Italian restaurants from Portofinos to Giovanni’s to Jaimie’s has gone steadily in the wrong direction. While I think that Giovanni’s is definitely better than Jaimie’s, I think Portofinos was better to either of them. I wish they would bring back Portofinos !

I would try the Schooner Bar. In addition to the Old Fashioned, they have a drink menu with several variations on the Old Fashioned. Schooner has been one of our favorite bars in general on board Royal ships.