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Day 1 - Embarkation Day After over a year and a half of waiting, but a "scant" six months from our very first cruise, my wife and I were finally heading out for our long-awaited trip to Bermuda! We'd packed only the night before; partly because it was such a short trip that we didn't need to pack much, partly because work was crazy busy for me the previous two weeks and I just didn't have the time or energy to pack before then! ? Since we live only 45-60 minutes from the port, depending on traffic, we didn't need to get up at the crack of dawn. I was still up at 7:30, because ? come sail away, come sail away, come saiiiilll awayyyy with meeeeee! ? I ate an early breakfast with my younger daughter, and my wife came down a short time later. While we were sitting at the table, our daughter asked what kind of room we had, and my wife answered, "A balcony, like last time." The time for the big reveal had finally come. ? I said, "Well, actually... there was a really good sale about three months after I'd booked, and... I upgraded us to a Junior Suite." Cathy was very happily surprised by this, and as I told her about the room (tub and shower, bigger balcony with loungers instead of chairs, access to CK each night for dinner), she just got happier and happier. This was the kind of surprise she really liked! She was excited for the trip before, but now she was really excited! With breakfast done, we wrapped up the last of our packing, I went to the bank for cash, and we took care of some final things to make sure the kids would be OK while we were gone. It ended up taking longer than expected (doesn't it always? ?); I'd planned to be on the road at 9:30 to do our checkin right when the terminal opened at 10:30, but we didn't actually back out of the driveway until just after 10. Traffic was still pretty light, and we pulled into Cape Liberty port a little bit after 11. I'd seen from a Periscope that @KathyC did a while back that the terminal road just leads right up to the terminal entrance and porters, so I just stayed in the outside lane I was in and waited for the traffic to crawl its way forward. Other drivers weren't so patient; I saw one guy try to go into the left breakdown lane and cut off some other drivers, only to be halted by the port staffer who was directing traffic there. Guy was forced to wait his turn like everyone else, and I was glad to see it! And then the really crazy driver appeared; someone driving a minivan, possibly an Uber/Lyft, refused to stop when the port worker said to wait a moment, and just blazed on through the road to the pickup area! That port worker was livid, especially since he'd just narrowly avoided being clipped by the driver! After that bit of excitement, we were directed to one of the drop-off zones at the terminal entrance. A porter took our suitcases, and we made our way to the parking garage where I had the first nice surprise of the trip; the entire ground floor is reserved for drivers with handicap placards! I was directed to a spot and parked the car, we grabbed our carry-ons, and in short order we were inside the terminal building. Now I've only seen Port Everglades before this, but talk about a night and day difference! Where Terminal 29 in PE looks every inch like the refurbished cargo warehouse I'm guessing it once was, Cape Liberty is a bright, airy, modern looking building with nice decor inside. We made our way to the security checkpoint lines, and thankfully I thought to look for a suites line because the woman who looked at our Set Sail passes had us enter the general access security line. We jumped over to "our" line, which had only a few people waiting in front of us, got through the scanners without incident, and made our way to the suites and pinnacle checkin line. There were about a dozen passengers in front of us, with four port staff handling checkin. We got our turn in about 10 or 15 minutes; I know many here have said they ended up having their pictures re-taken after submitting them online for pre-checkin, but we must have done it to their liking because as soon as our passports were scanned, we were good to board! From garage to ship was maybe 20 or 25 minutes total. No pics of the terminal, our line, or the regular access line (which was a lot more crowded but also being serviced by a lot more people and moving noticeably faster than the one I was on); I'd promised my wife I wasn't going to go overboard with the picture taking (at least until we were in Bermuda and both of us were gawking), and I was not going to break that promise in the first hour! Before we could start exploring the ship, we had two important things to take care of first -- Making our reservations for CK each night, and getting a couple's pass to the Thermal Spa. We hit CK first, since it was the deck below the spa, and I was happy to see there was no line. We got our reservations squared away in just a couple of minutes, and there was no problem getting the times we wanted for each night. As we walked away, some other passengers had lined up behind us to make their own reservations, so we made the right call going there first. I found a Royal IQ terminal nearby and used that to cancel our MTD reservations. Next up was the spa. We went up one deck and all the way forward, and while waiting for a chance to ask about the pass, who should we run into but @ellcee! She recognized us from the pictures I'd posted of our last trip. We chatted for a couple of minutes, then went our separate ways to take care of our appointments at the spa and get on with exploring the ship. I found out that the thermal spa's steam room was having mechanical issues and wasn't going to be available until the next day, and the spa staff were giving a small discount for the passes as a result. This was fine by us, and our OBC (and then some!) was gone in a swipe of a pen on the receipt. We were instructed to come back to the spa after rooms opened and we got our SeaPass cards, as they would need to be stamped to show we had access. By now it was after noon and we were getting hungry, so we headed down to deck 5 and Cafe Two70. Sorry, guys, but no kummelweck for us (not fans of roast beef). I started off my drink package with a Royal Dream spirited coffee along with the sandwich and pasta salad I'd taken; it was very tasty, and very strong! After finishing our food, I wandered to the far back of Two70, where the panoramic windows are located, and found this interesting chair that from where we'd been sitting just looked like some kind of decorative piece. Just after 1, while still in Two70, we got the announcement that our rooms were available. We headed up to deck 7 and finally got to see our Spa Junior Suite in person. Sorry, but once again no pics; my wife hates when I take a bunch of room pics and hold up the start of unpacking. ? But suffice to say that we both loved this room. It's located right next to the aft stairwell, so there's no travel down the hall whatsoever. And being on deck 7, we could easily use the stairs for access to everything except the amenities on decks 14 and 15. The balcony, while not huge, was a good deal bigger than what we'd had in our balcony cabin on Freedom. Being 6' 3" (1.9m) and long-legged, I was grateful to be able to stretch my legs out while sitting in the chairs. We went to the general info session and raffle at 2:30, didn't win a single thing. Since most of what they were offering was stuff we'd already bought on the Cruise Planner, it was just as well! We cut out a little early and went to Silk, which was our designated station for muster drill. We were a smidge early, but the bars had already closed and I didn't want a repeat of the standing room only experience we'd had on Freedom. We grabbed a seat at one of the tables and waited for the presentation, which was delayed a bit by 4 passengers who didn't bother to show up when the general notice went out. Like @monorailmedic says, they were closing bars and taking names!! No in-person explanation of the procedures, we just watched the washy-washy song, the secret agent video (with a crew member showing the life jackets), and we were free to begin our cruise in earnest! With sail away close at hand, we headed over to Boleros for a proper beverage; I got their Mango and Melon Rita, while Cathy got a virgin cocktail. Drinks in hand, we headed up to our room and sat out on the balcony in the still-chilly air to enjoy sail away and watch as we went under the Verazzano Narrows bridge. We were underway at 4 as scheduled, even with the slight delay in starting muster drill. We had a coast guard ship escorting out of the harbor, a fire fighting vessel by the look of it. The Manhattan skyline was receding behind us faster than I'd thought would happen. I always thought the Hudson was narrower for a longer time and that we'd be following the coast of Manhattan for longer, but it was far off in just a few minutes. Had to use my tele lens to get this shot. We quickly approached the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. A Chinese cargo ship was coming the other way, and we passed close by. As big as that ship was, ours was bigger still. And then we were passing under the bridge, maybe all of 10 minutes after we'd left port. I thought that the bridge would be the boundary between New York and entering the Atlantic, but the channel actually goes on for a really long way. When it looked like we were reaching the end of the channel and getting close to the Atlantic, our escort was joined by another Coast Guard fire vessel. They sent us off with a water gun salute, which I honestly wasn't expecting to see. Does anyone know if this is standard for all cruise ships that depart from New Jersey and Manhattan? I thought that our escort was leaving us after this, but it stayed with us and made sure the other smaller vessels that were out kept a good distance from us. At this point we went back out to explore the ship for a bit. The logo wear store was having a two for $30 sale on hats, towels, and tees, but it was tough finding a pair that was valid and that we liked. In the end we got a tee shirt, a hat, and also found a couple small items for souvenirs for the girls. We saw through one of the windows that the sun was setting, and we stepped outside to enjoy the first sunset of our cruise. It was truly spectacular, as the now-distant remnants of hurricane Michael made for a "sailors delight"; these pictures don't do it justice. To be continued.... Coastal Kitchen awaits!

Day 2 – Sept 17 – Day at sea We were up pretty early again – 6.30am or so – still not quite off of UK time. We both got up and headed to the gym for a bit of cycling to burn off that key lime pie from the night before. After that we got changed and decided to check out the solarium. The pool there wasn’t open by that point so we headed to the main pool which was just opening. We stayed in for only about 20 mins but it was great. Nice and warm and completely empty except us – the small benefits of early nights and early starts. R even jumped in for a bit which was testament to how warm it was. I had not expected to see another empty pool this trip after the Ft. Lauderdale hotel but it seemed that even on a ship with up to 6,000 other people, we were some of the few who didn’t party hard on embarkation day. After heading back to the room to dry off we headed for breakfast in the WJ around 8.30am. It was certainly busy enough but similar to yesterday, it wasn’t too bad. This was to be a day for exploring so we started off by heading downstairs and checked out the arcade for a bit including a quick game of air hockey – one of our favourite competitive exploits. We then headed to a table tennis tournament at 10am. I consider myself as decent at table tennis. I can certainly beat the average person who does not play regularly however R’s badminton skills means she usually beats me pretty handily. I got beaten in my first game by someone who could only be described as the Queen of Spin. She started all meekly, overhitting a couple of early shots and apologising while smiling coyly. It wasn’t long before she was hitting shots from below the table when you couldn’t see the ball anymore and the ball would loop over with an unpredictable swerve. I can’t remember the final score but it was probably something like 21-12. However, it seemed luck was on my side - I got a reprieve and got to play again due to odd numbers and… I got beaten again. This time it was to a guy who was pretty good – although he also started off a bit rocky. I got most of my points early and then went on a losing run of about 10 points. I think I did slightly worse in that one – maybe 21-11. R narrowly lost her second match but got a silver medal for 2nd best female. Next R wanted to have a go at the rock climbing wall so we headed to the Boardwalk. She had her eye on the wall ahead of the cruise since it is a bit of a novelty having one so accessible. I watched while she had a couple shots, doing well on the second go. We messed around a bit with one of the cornhole games on the Boardwalk before walking over to Johnny Rockets. We had no intention of paying for a burger but I had read on the blog that milkshakes were now included in the drinks package, although I wasn’t sure if this was only if you were already paying for a burger. We were happy to find that they were free at any time and we enjoyed a chocolate milkshake. It is good to find small areas where they add to the value rather than chip away at it as most companies like to do these days. Being a sea day, we decided that there would need to be at least some laying by/in a pool. We headed back to the stateroom to change in to our pool gear and then on to the Solarium. Being childless we had decided that even though the Solarium pool is a little small that it would be the place for us. With no kids running around and a bit of heat and UV protection from the glass overhead it definitely seemed like the best option. We had a chilled out afternoon on the loungers and in the solarium pool with many drinks. Being a sea day, it was definitely busy but not too bad (you see a pattern here). No problem getting a lounger although the pool was a little like human soup at times but it was all good. I’ve never been a particularly heavy drinker of frozen drinks even on holiday but with the heat (and the drinks package) I was certainly enjoying them. A Miami Vice was one of my favourites. After a few hours there we headed back to room as we had an early dinner at 5.30pm due to a show later on. It was the first formal night so we changed in to our finery and headed down for dinner. Only had two courses and we were early so it was very quick – in and out in under an hour. I had French onion soup and beef tenderloin. I have to say the beef was fantastic. I’ve had plenty of fillet steak in my time but this was some of the most tender I’ve had and perfectly medium. R had lobster bisque and duck a l’orange. We headed back to stateroom and changed out of formal gear after what felt like no time at all since we had put it on! We then headed up to the windjammer to check out the desserts. This had been our plan since the desserts on the MDR menu did not seem all that interesting. It was our lucky day – they had the same key lime pie as the MDR from yesterday so I was very happy. After that we headed to the Aqua Theatre for the Ocean Aria show which we had previously booked. It was very good. I thought that it would have been impressive enough if it had been in a Vegas hotel so it was unbelievable that it was at the back of a cruise ship. We headed back up to the room after the show. Another early start and no naps meant that we were pretty tired. Another spoiler – there was never any evening activity noted in the cruise compass that we thought sounded unmissable so mostly we stuck to the early night/early start pattern for most of the trip. Photo 1 - A crackin' Kraken Colada in the Solarium. Photo 2 - All these activities but R is already climbing the walls! Photo 3 - The very warm french onion soup. Photo 4 - The very good beef tenderloin. Photo 5 - Waiting for Ocean Aria to begin.

If RCL is going to introduce new on-ship excursions - how about the .50 cal pirate shoot? You get 200 rounds of .50 cal and whoever sinks the most Somali pirates - wins a prize!

Friday: Labadee We were late getting to port and we were delayed getting off the ship (1015-1030). Unusually for us, we had no plans or really no idea where to go (no cabana). We walked over to the beach lounger section on Adrenaline Beach. We didn't get a lounger but got two chairs under a palm tree and it was great. Despite the 6K passengers, it wasn't overrun on the island (imo). Except maybe for lunch. Decent buffet but one time through took about 20 minutes. Bar service was a bit lacking. I know it's a pain to truck over the supplies but they ran out of margarita mix by 1:30 (at the main bar over by Nelle's Beach). We stayed until 4ish when we were chased off by a storm. Tonight was lobster night and we cancelled our MTD reservation and went to the Windjammer. Neither of us are that crazy about lobster and it was going to be crazier in the MDR than the night before. Plus it was Indian night up at the WIndjammer. Dinner at the Windjammer, who knew? I didn't know what to expect and we really liked it. I thought the food was good. Blue Planet was the main show. The performers were good but the show was just okay. I hated the song arrangements. U2's Pride is a stadium anthem, it doesn't work as a Broadway stage song. We went to the Quest and it was a good time.

Wednesday (St Maarten): Bistro for breakfast and then we had an island tour at 8:45 . It had been a few years since we'd been so we opted to see the island again and while some of the views were great, it was sad to see the destruction from last year. Some buildings are just walls and floors, power line towers are just laying on the mountain, boats are still submerged in the harbor. We stopped somewhere and got some pastries and bread which was very good. We got back to the ship around 1230 so we decided to just get back on the ship and enjoy it. The overall goal for this cruise was to relax as much as possible and it's been a stressful year. Sitting by the pool with Simon/Tamra drinks worked for me. No pier runners as we sailed away.... This was our second Giovanni's night and it was better than the first. Our waiter Asu was great. My wife wanted what I previously had (gnocchi with the Bolganese sauce) but he had other ideas. "No no, i'll bring you that and the pasta of the day to share. Madam, you like shrimp? I'll bring you that. Sir, you get the Filet" . both were very good. That was a great meal, both with food and service. We caught How to Train your Dragon after dinner which was good but not as good as Ice Games. This was our make-up reservation for Oceanaria as well and we liked it just as much the second time. Another good night.

Sunday Continued: Once we got on board, we followed message board advice and went right to the dining room to make reservations. We had a Bogo and one other voucher from AAA. They gave us Samba Grill the first night and Giovanni's the first second night. We switched out Samba for Chops, booked 150 Central Park for Wednesday. We had My Time Dining so we made 6:00PM reservations for the other days. With that done, on to lunch! We decided to try the Solarium Bistro and we liked that alot. There wasn't as large of a selection as Windjammer but the food was good and we got ahead of the crowd. We left the Solarium and went to the pool deck for our first drink. As soon as we sat down, the announcement was made that the rooms were ready. When I mentioned the hump balcony, I forgot to add that the bed was by the bathroom and the couch by the balcony. It didn't matter to us but I know others prefer the reverse. Continuing our good travel luck, our bags were actually outside the room, so we were able to unpack, get changed, and back up to the pool deck by 2:00. After the muster drill (leaving that was the only time the ship felt claustrophobic), we watched sail away from the balcony and got ready for dinner. One word about Chops... awful. the service was bad, the entrees weren't good, it was just bad. The host looked like we were bothering him. The server was inattentive and absent for 15-20 min at a stretch. THe apps were okay but my wife's chicken was dry and tough, my NY strip was cooked perfectly but was more like sirloin. We should have complained but we were an hour in and who to complain to? The surly host or the ghost waiter? As this was our second lackluster Chops experience, we decided lesson learned on Chops and hoped for better at Giovannis. We had reservations for Oceanaria but that was cancelled for the evening due to conditions so we checked out some of the music venues in the Promenade. I applaud Royal for the broadway productions but we skipped Mamma Mia. 147 min based on Abba music is too much for us. Grease, We WIll Rock YOu, Chicago, we're in.

After more than a year of lurking in the forum, vacation time has finally arrived! With all the help I got from this board and all the live blogs I read to live vicariously through, I decided to return the favor. This will not rival Twangster’s quality live blog, but we’ll try our best and offer a new-to-Royal perspective. I’ll do the typing and hubby will provide the pictures. If you’ve got any questions, I’ll do my best to find the answer. So without further ado... Who are we and why this cruise? Kerstin and Michael, in our mid-thirties, from Germany (Bavaria to be exact) and on our first TA, first Royal cruise – and first time out of Europe. We’ve cruised before – 3 times with TUI Cruises (German cruise line, joint venture with RCI), once with AIDA. We usually cruise for the itinerary, but made an exception for this cruise. After a brilliant video of Harmony from our favourite German Youtuber – the Schiffstester – we knew we wanted to try Oasis class – and that really experiencing it would take more than 7 days. We’d originally planned to book a Med B2B and not leave the ship, but the price on the TA was just too good – YOLO! I hate flying so to make it worthwhile, we added a 14 night Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess (RCI itineraries just weren’t to our liking). Cruise preview – Barcelona to Miami Ports of call: Malaga (Day 2) – not sure if we’ll get off the ship, maybe just for a stroll; Port Canaveral (Day 12) – Kennedy Space Center Guided Tour with Royal to avoid the long lines for immigration Food & Beverage: we both got the deluxe drinking package and 5 night dining package. Additionally reserved Izumi Hibachi and Jamie’s as we plan to check out all the options. Entertainment: all shows reserved, we’ll participate in a few CC events (Meet & Mingle, mini golf tournament, pub crawl, scavenger hunt). We’re also planning to book the all access tour. Cabin: 8411 - inside stateroom at the fore Pre-cruise & post-cruise We’ve already prepared everything we want to pack and will pack tomorrow. Friday morning, we’ll drop off the boys (our five coonies) at the cat hotel, rush home, throw the luggage in the car and drive to my parents. They’ll drop us off at the airport Duesseldorf for our evening check-in, we’ll stay at the airport hotel as our flight is at 6.45am on Saturday. We’ll stay at Hotel Catedral in Barcelona and have booked a walking tour of Barri Gótic for the afternoon. Post-cruise we’ll stay at Sense Beach House in South Beach until we board Caribbean Princess on 11th. It’s our first time in Miami, so we rented a car to get a good overview and do the essential shopping – I might pillage the Disney store as my sister is expecting her first child on November 23rd.

Day -3 With a burst of motivation last night I got most of my packing done. Now if I can just get through my work activities I can focus on what's really important. I'm going on a cruise!!! Symphony will be the fourth Oasis class for me having already sailed on her other three sisters. This will be the first time I've sailed Oasis class without access to Sky Class benefits. Sailing solo I just couldn't justify the cost. I booked entertainment the day it opened and secured all of my desired times. Having booked this cruise while on another cruise at the NextCruise desk I have some On Board Credit or OBC to use. I had a 4 night dining package but later cancelled it thinking I'd rather do that when sailing on her again with family in the future. I may do one or two specialty dinners as the mood suits me if they are available. I'm usually fine with the MDR or even the Windjammer for dinner so I may just go without any specialty dinners. Flush with OBC I've booked a new offering, the Thermal Spa pass. It's been available for purchase onboard for a while but being able to purchase this before the cruise is somewhat new and Royal is working through some growing pains rolling this out. When purchased onboard the pass provides access to the Thermal Spa facilities during open hours. In the Cruise Planner I was required to pick a specific time of day. A phone call to Royal confirmed this was my time of day to use the spa for each day of the cruise. If this wasn't a transatlantic with many sea days in a row that sort of time of day reservation wouldn't work for me. I'm hoping that is just a glitch as they roll this out to the Cruise Planner and it will actually allow me access the thermal spa anytime during open hours. I'll find out on Sunday! I had acquired the drink package during a sale at a very good price but later cancelled it. Twelve nights is a long time to drink day after day after day. On my most recent cruise, a 13 night sailing, I didn't have the drink package and even my daily Diamond Happy Hour drinks started to venture into drink fatigue zone after so many days. Consequently I'm joining #TeamNoDX on this sailing. My OBC also covered my Voom plan which was just $11.99 per day for Surf and Stream. As a long time Voom consumer that's a pretty good rate. My remaining OBC will be my drink package offset with Diamond Happy Hour drinks. The Delta app on my phone just let me know it's time to check in. Finally! After waiting so long, it's finally here.

The car is packed (food for the cats) and our luggage is downstairs, ready to load. Don't worry, we won't take everything on the ship. Part stays in the car as we're expecting to come home to winter weather. Although Bavarians should know how to drive in winter conditions, they certainly don't, so you always have to prepare for the worst. The presents are for the soon-to-be mommy and daddy ?

Monday (Sea Day): Breakfast was at the Bistro (a theme for the week) and we hit the pool deck. We were on the Starboard forward pool and go some decent seats on the third row. The pool could get crowded but you could always get a spot to cool off. Simon and Tamra at the Starboard side pool bar were great. We tried lunch at the Wipeout Cafe but that's more of a place to grab a burger or hot dog. We left the pool deck a little early to catch the 5:00 Ice Games which was great. And we were at Giovanni's by our 6:00 reservation. We really enjoyed Giovannis, the service was great and the food was really good (imo). It might not be the absolute best Italian food (that was my Grandmother's kitchen) but we thought it was really good. We liked it enough to cancel 150 and book Giovannis again. i know some are shaking their heads at that move but my wife isn't a big foodie and she was happy with Giovanni's so it worked out. We were able to catch Oceanaria that night and we really enjoyed it. It's our first time on an Oasis Class ship and we were blown away. I think both Oceanaria and Ice Games are drop what you're doing and go see them events.

Day 1 – Sept 16 – Embarkation Day After a solid amount of sleep, we awoke around 6am. Since I knew that with the jet lag and the early night we would wake early, my plan was to get up and go for a swim in the hotel pool. However it was still very dark outside. Scotland be a cloudy, gloomy place so it is easy to forget that even though in Summer Scotland is light very early and until very late, lower latitudes are not so – even though they have more sunshine in general. So we lazed about for a bit until it lightened up and then headed down to the pool once the sun had decided to show up. The pool was pretty basic but crucially it was empty (people-wise, not water-wise) while I was there which was nice. At that point, I was fairly sure that I wouldn’t have an empty pool on the cruise at any point. Spoiler alert – I was wrong! We took some dry clothes to the pool so that we could go straight to breakfast. Again pretty basic but, as a Scotsman would say, ye cannae beat free! The highlight was definitely the waffle maker allowing you to make fresh waffles which were superb. Back up to room to shower and pack up before heading to port. Again we got an Uber from the hotel and arrived at port around 11.15am – this was contrary to our set-sail pass instructing us to arrive from 2pm. Check-in was quiet however one small issue was that US immigration in the airport had not stamped our passports which they had done on previous trips to the US and that the cruise staff feel like they should have done. Luckily I had a copy of the ESTA printed which smoothed feathers. However, I feel like therein lies a tip! Even though it is meant to be wholly electronic, print a copy of your ESTA confirmation. My father will be proud! The holding area unfortunately was quite busy so we had to wait a while before boarding. We did get boarded at about 12.30pm which is long before we would have been boarded if we had arrived at the port at 2pm. Since this was our first time on a RCL ship, let alone an Oasis class ship, I can attest that it is very disorientating when you first get on. You emerge on the Promenade and, with no directions on where to go next, stop dead. All while the RCL veterans behind you file on with their tried and tested battle plans. Contrary to some aforementioned veterans’ advice (and perfectly in line with others’) we headed straight to the Windjammer for some lunch. There was a short queue but really not that bad seeing as it had been open a while and was peak lunchtime. It was not the doomsday that some say will befall you if you dare enter the WJ on embarkation day. Glibness aside, I will however take this opportunity to point out that when I state that something was quiet, in truth I never found out how full the ship was compared with capacity. Being a September cruise outside of any school holidays of which I’m aware, it is entirely possible that the ship was generally much quieter that it could have been. Getting back to the food, we both had a small plate each plus our first of many sweet items. More importantly, I got my first beer of the cruise. Upon exiting the WJ we were also able to sort our dinner times for the rest of the week. I had booked My Time Dining times for some key dates (namely embarkation and two days we had shows) but the available times online for the other days were not very convenient – Either 5.30pm or after 8.30pm. Arranging the other days on the ship however allowed us to secure 7.30pm for all other days which seemed much more reasonable. Conveniently the rooms were open by the time we had finished all of that so went down to dump our backpacks and have a read of our first cruise compass. First stop was the theatre for a welcome presentation with a raffle. We both got a Mai Tai on the way – as you do. No prizes at raffle even though we managed to sneak double tickets by arriving at the theatre and then leaving again to go and get the aforementioned Mai Tais. We then took a wander through Central Park. I attempted to get another cocktail on the way however I was not allowed since it was close to the time for the muster drill. The fact that this was the only lack of freedom for the whole week did not make the knock-back any less irking. After said muster drill we headed to spa for another raffle but no luck again – this would be a theme. We both grabbed a peach margarita on the way. I promise not to mention every single drink we had for the whole week however for some reason it seems obligatory on embarkation day! While at the spa, they of course use the raffle to drum up interest for their various health offerings during the week. As a gym staff member announced that since we were there we must have some interest in staying healthy, I slowly lowered my peach margarita from my lips. We headed back to the room for a bit and I watched some NFL while I unpacked. R opted for a nap over unpacking and, much to my chagrin, managed to avoid at least fully unpacking for the entire trip! After we showered and dressed casually (and casually dressed), we headed down for our dinner in the main dining room. We were given a nice table for two in a corner of the MDR. Spoiler alert again – without asking, the host sat us in the same area each night we went to the MDR and in hindsight, I’m glad they did. Before the trip, I was not bothered about having the same servers each night but the ones we were randomly allocated on Day 1 were very nice and it was good to go back to the same ones each night. The ability to get a table for two however still certainly makes MTD the better option in my opinion though. In my opinion, strangers do not make for a relaxing dining experience! Back to the food, I had antipasti and a pork chop. Both were very tasty although the pork chop had a lot of bone which made it tricky to cut. R had crab cake and a fried fish platter (white fish, prawns and scallops) which she enjoyed but was not blown away. We shared a slice of key lime pie which I have to say was fantastic. Other note was that I had a kind of wholemeal bread roll which had some seeds and cheese on top. This too was very good, and it got me thinking; you can tell a lot of a dining establishment by their bread. If they don’t care about the quality of their bread, they probably won’t care about the quality of much else. After dinner we headed up to the deck 14 sun deck to have a look outside while at sea. Although we didn’t make it there for sail away, I was keen to check out this as it was one of Matt’s hidden tips for Allure. After grabbing a couple of bottles of water (thanks free drinks package), it was back to the room for a relatively early night. Photo 1 - R enjoying the balcony Photo 2 - Antipasti and the top quality bread rolls Photo 3 - The tremendous key lime pie

Hi all! I'm planning to try my hand at live(ish) blogging my upcoming cruise. As of right now, I'm just 3 short work days (including today) away from setting sail! Who's cruising Myself (Phill), wife (K), Sister-in-law (C) and her husband (G). We all caught the cruising bug back in 2014 when we enjoyed our first cruise on Explorer of the Seas - a 9 nighter out of Cape Liberty. Since we had such a wonderful time, we pretty much decided that cruising should be an annual event! This will be our 4th cruise (The wife and I didn't cruise in 2017 since we went to Disney & also St. Martin). It's now just over 2 years since we've set sail, so needless to say, I am ready! Cabin Both couples are booked in balcony rooms right next to each other on deck 12 near the mid-ship elevators (12654 and 12656) Itinerary We live in Southern New Jersey across the bridge from Philadelphia, so Cape Liberty is about an hour and 45-minute drive for us. G works in Newark so we will be able to park at his workplace and hail an Uber or Lyft to the port. We embark Saturday the 27th, (just in time for the huge Nor'easter to roll in!) and will be at Port Canaveral on Monday the 29th, Coco Cay on the 30th, and Nassau on Halloween! Cruise Planner Bookings G and I both have the drink package (look out!) and my wife and her sister have the refreshment package. We also booked the 3-night dining package starting on night 2. We are thinking Chops, Jamie's Italian for sure, and the other night is up in the air! I may get brave enough to try Wonderland... we'll see. We are booked on NorthStar for day 2. As far as the shows go, we booked The Gift on night 2, Spectra's Cabaret on night 3, and We Will Rock You on night 6. Whether or not we go to all of these shows remains to be seen, but at least we have the option! We purchased the 2 device plan for Voom Surf and Stream to share between the four of us. Excursions/Plans In Port Canaveral, we are planning on hailing an Uber/Lyft and heading to Kennedy Space Center - we also have a friend that lives in the Orlando area who will meet us there. For Coco Cay, I was able to get a great deal on a bungalow, so we booked that for the four of us - hopefully, we will be able to tender as this will be my first time at Coco Cay! In Nassau, we will most likely walk around the port area and I will most definitely be hitting up Pirate Republic Brewing Company https://www.piraterepublicbahamas.com/ We visited when we were on our Oasis cruise in 2016 - they had some great brews! Blogging Most of my blogging will probably be done in the morning while my wife sleeps in and I'm sipping coffee on my balcony ? Let me know if you have any Anthem questions and I'll try to answer them. Thanks for following along!

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!

Great! I'll bring my own foil...

RCL doesn't offer it but there is a "pirate hunting cruise" that operates in that area of the world, read about it a couple of years ago ... for a lot of money you get a boat with a crew of former soldiers and they take you out to try and get "attacked" ... im guessing travel insurance costs a little more for that cruise.

Thursday: San Juan Guess where we had breakfast... We had never been to San Juan before so our plan was to get off the ship around 7:30-8:00 and just walk around old San Juan. We really enjoyed just wandering through the old city, the forts, and the gate. We are looking forward to going back. We walked around for a few hours and got back on the ship a little after noon (1:30 all aboard). We were delayed leaving as there were still 4 people not on board as of 1:30. Two came back around 1:40 but we were still missing two. Finally at 1:50 they appeared on the docks. Note: if you're going to be a pier runner (intentionally or unintentionally) you at least need to be able to walk fast. The two stragglers could not move fast at all. We didn't leave until around 2:30. Whether that was the reason or not, we were doing about 21.5 knots that whole night to Labadee. Dinner at the MDR with 6:00 reservations. The line for no reservations was out into the elevator lobby so they were able to find an empty table for us up on Deck 5 which is for traditional dining. My wife got the pork chop and it was good. I got the Ahi Tuna and it was delicious. Not good by ship standard but just outright good. Big thick piece of Tuna, cooked correctly, piping hot. Earl Turner was the headliner and he was fantastic. I must say the entertainment was great all week.

Exciting, I did a little fencing in college, are they going to allow me to bring my own mask and foil? That is not specifically listed and is a sporting goods item, but yes weapons are banned.?

As little as I can... And I volunteer at RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com ?

Day -4 A year or so ago I had been thinking about Symphony and when I might be able to sail her. Prices, as expected for her first year were elevated over her sisters. That is until I came across the transatlantic sailing which at the time was priced close to many seven night Caribbean sailings on her. Twelve nights on what would become the largest cruise ship in the world for the price of seven? I was on Anthem when the light bulb went on and I booked it in a YOLO moment that only the drink package can induce. Itinerary is pretty light as ports go: Day 1 - Embark in Barcelona, Spain Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Malaga, Spain Days 4 - 11 - Sea Day Day 12 - Port Canaveral Day 13 - Debark, Miami No excursions booked or planned. The ship is the destination. I'll be sailing in a Boardwalk balcony cabin almost as far aft as you can go on deck 8 right above Playmakers. My step count for this cruise should indeed also be elevated. I'm sailing solo as I often do since friends and family just can't keep up. I won't be alone exactly as there will be a decent contingency from the RCPeriscopers.live community sailing with me. Voom and satellite coverage permitting, there should be ample scopes from this sailing. A business commitment is keeping me stateside until Friday when I'll fly overnight to Barcelona arriving Saturday morning for a Sunday embarkation. Not ideal but I've got to pay for this cruising addiction somehow. Since I'll be in the cruise capital of the world when we disembark in Miami I couldn't let that opportunity go without jumping on another ship so I'll be sliding up the coast to Fort Lauderdale to board Serenade the day we arrive in Miami. That is a factor in my packing strategy since I'm not flying home between cruises. Speaking of packing, I should probably start, later today, ...or maybe tomorrow.

Yet another post cruise live blog. Similar to @BermudaDice, I didn't want to attempt to keep an actual live blog with only my phone. And since my photo skills (only carry an IPhone) pale in comparison to @twangster @JLMoran, @Rimmit, and others, I don't have any pictures to share, but I'll do my best. Our itinerary was: Sunday: Excitement day Monday/Tuesday: At Sea Wednesday: St Maarten (ATV Excursion via the cruise planner - more on that later) Thursday: San Juan (only in port from 7:00-1:30) Friday: Labadee Saturday: At Sea Sunday: Sad Day This was a 25th anniversary celebration so we had three specialty dinners with a deluxe drink package (me) and refreshment package (wife). We stayed in cabin 10590, starboard side, slightly forward of mid ship. It was an ocean-view balcony at the beginning of a "hump".

Ha - you're right. I was mixing in the departure time from Nassau... It's actually Noon to 9:30 PM. I was starting to wonder how those folks that bought the Universal transport were going to fare ?

Following.

Following! ?

Only ships I know of so far are the Quantum class plus Harmony and Symphony. Think @twangster has mentioned in the past that an upgrade to RFID would be a costly venture with minimal ROI.

I've already bought Voom. At $11.99 per day for 12 days it's cheaper than buying a full voyage plan onboard, even with a D+ onboard discount. When I have pre-purchased Voom, I'll sometimes use my D+ discount to 'buy' a day of Surf just to test Surf and have a second device connected that day.

obvious sand baggers.... ???

No, of course they wouldn't....but I promise you that they would damn well turn me away if I tried to get into Dazzles during "their" time. Not that I would, of course.

Looking forward to the blog!

Liberty of the Seas- 10/28/2018 Oasis of the Seas-11/11/2018 Liberty of the Seas-12/9/2018 and 12/16/2018 Oasis of the Seas-12/30/2018

Yes, I read that one, too.

So..no cabin tour? ?

@tonyfsu21 I am betting that you are not the only one. I just followed the most interesting thread on another forum a week before the President's cruise about that exact issue.....

Correct. All dining packages require you to wait to book onboard.

We've done two 14 nights (Canaries and Baltic Sea), one 7 nights (Med) and one 5 nights (Metal event cruise). We prefer the longer cruises, albeit usually with many port days. Up to this cruise we thought sea days were a necessary evil. Guess this view will change - this is the first time I had to make a spreadsheet for a cruise so we won't be bored. On another note, with cruise fever finally starting we decided to pack today. I can report we have been successfull - after a bit of reorganization (and sorting out an abundance of clothes) all lugagge is below or at the weight limit. All I can say is I have no idea how I managed 3 months in London with a limit of 88 pounds a few years back ?

Tuesday (Sea Day): This was basically a repeat of Monday. Bistro for Breakfast and lunch. Pool time and multiple trips to Simon and Tamra. Lots of sun and Kindle time. As I hadn't seen our ATV excursion on our Personal Calendar (tv), I went down to the shore excursion desk to double check and the conversation went something like: Me: "I'm here to check on our ATV excursion tomorrow" Them: "We don't have an ATV excursion in St Maarten" Me: "Yeah yah do, i've got a paper receipt to prove it" THem: "Are you sure it's not in Puerto Rico?" Long story but after 15-20 minutes and me showing them the hard copy receipt, the tour operator had canceled the excursion, but I never got any notification from Royal. I had to go to guest services and they had to call the main office to verify that I had been refunded the $276. (confirmed via credit card statement upon return). We were looking forward to it so it was disappointing but it happens. We had dinner at the main dining room this evening. The dining room is the one part of the ship I did not care for. I prefer the grand, multi-story MDRs. I understand why the Allure is the way it is but I really didn't care for it. And we were put in a side room with about 10 tables. The food was okay, my wife just got the chicken and I got the Tiger Shrimp. Both were okay but the chicken was way better than Chops. Tres Leches cake and Creme Brulee for dessert. Our assistant waiter was a bit of a ghost but Mario the waiter was very good. As it was our anniversary cruise, he got us a cake and they did the singing, which was nice. We made spent time in the Promenade and did the Love and Marriage game. Yes it's corny and a bit kitschy, but it was funny and we enjoyed it.

Lol! That is how it always starts!

En guarde! Allez! I'm in!!

When a pinnacle fences with anyone lower, the pinnacle gets the foil and head gear, the opponent gets a 12" wooden ruler.

Psst, buddy. Wanna buy a new excursion? It fell off a truck. Ten cents on the dollar. Now do those above a certain class of accommodations get both foils and sets of protective gear?

You're welcome.

There is. It's called group cruises! ? https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/events

Managed to get a few shots in. Didn't have a whole lot of time to take pictures on my tour and have a very hard time not being in the moment - so I forget to take pictures most of the time. The first is The Port Royal Golf Club. The middle is up top from the road looking down Horseshoe Bay.The last two are Horseshoe Bay. As you can tell I need more practice with the camera.

All great suggestions but as eluded totally not a big deal so we will (or better yet my husband) will suck it up. We have our young son with us so thought if my husband could unload his carry on it would just make it that much easier. You bring up a good point- I can tell my husband if we upgrade to a suite he will have no issues... if only. Not this time but maybe cruise #2.? I am however way too excited to board that “late”. My excitement overrules his potential grumbling over carry the water. Sorry honey lol.

Sunday Fun Day: We woke up early, dropped the rental car off by 09:30 and made our way to the port by about 10:00, figured we'd be waiting at least an hour. We had Expedited Embarkation but at that hour it really wasn't needed. Curb to waiting area (with pictures) was about 10 minutes. Then we just waited, and waited, and waited. Apparently there was a customs issue on the previous voyage so it was taking a long time to clear the ship. We've all heard about not booking a flight before noon. Depending on when you left the ship, you would have had a problem that Sunday. They finally started boarding a little before 1200 and that's where the disorganization occurred. There was poor delineation with Diamond, Diamond Plus, Emerald, etc. So when they started with Diamond Plus "this row only", well that row actually extended into Platinum (our level) so people started boarding from that section. Then others starting filling in the spaces vacated by those people, and so on. People couldn't adapt to "this row only" They'd hear Emerald or Platinum and come from the other side of the terminal as they called Emerald. Not chaos, but annoying.... but we made it on-board and we were off to the races.

I'm on ovation in 29 days, so I'll see if anything has changed and I'll ask the crew if they know anything. I will let you guys know!

Just bought this, great camera for beginners.

Albuquerque or Denver

Goes to show how the media rarely gets it right, Vista isn't the largest ship in Galveston. Carnival Vista: 133,500 GT, 1,055 ft long, 3,950 passenger capacity Liberty of the Seas: 154,407 GT, 1,111 ft long, 4,370 passenger capacity (4,960 maximum theoretical capacity if every bed was occupied) Largest cruise ship at the Carnival pier maybe. Carnival only has medium sized ship, by RC standards. Largest cruise ship when Liberty of the Seas isn't in port? Furthermore, Vista isn't Carnival's largest ship either. Sister ship Carnival Horizon is 96 GT larger and has 4 additional passengers.

You don't NEED passports but it's strongly encouraged that you do. If you do not bring passports, then you do need to bring birth certificates. The reason why passports are better is because if you get stuck in another country, for whatever reason, you can easily fly home with passports. It's a much bigger problem when you don't have them.