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Day 1 Travel day was relatively uneventful. SWA is always very easy to deal with, plus we are TSA Pre-check, which is always better. TSA was a little delayed since a cat had attacked a woman just before we got to the airport, and there was apparently blood all over, so they had to move the regular line to the Pre-Check line. Luckily our daughter handled it well, and got a nifty Jr. Officer sticker, and who doesn’t love stickers? National Rent-A-Car was easy in Orlando. If you are an Emerald Club member, you just go to the garage and pick any car you want. We were out of the airport about 5 minutes after getting our bags, and on our way to Port Canaveral. Checked into the hotel and then headed out to dinner. We ate at Cocoa Beach Ale House per @Matt recommendation. It was very good. Abby and Virginia shared a pizza, which was very tasty. Dough and sauce both made in house. I had the Mahi Mahi sandwich, and it was also very good. After dinner was dessert at Twistee Treat? It’s soft-serve ice cream from a building that looks like an ice cream cone. Then it was back to the hotel to get to bed. We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites near the port. Originally, I picked this hotel both due to the proximity to the port, and because it has on-site laundry, and we would stay there again in between cruises. The room we had was a queen bed for the adults, and then two twin beds in a separate area, almost like an alcove, for Virginia. It was kind of a cool concept, but the bed was pretty rough, the walls were thin, and I’m not sure I would stay there again. Being right across from the elevator I’m sure didn’t help much. The next morning was cruise day!!! The upside of our room was being able to see Lady O from our window: We were up early, and needed to kill time, so we went and ate breakfast down the street at Southern Charm Café. It was very good, and I highly recommend it for breakfast. Their cakes and pies were homemade and looked delicious. We may try lunch here on “turnaround” day. Then it was to the port to return the car and board. With the Jr. Suite, we went through the suites line for security and check-in. We got to the port at 10:20, we were checked in by 10:36, and after a short wait in the holding pen, we were on-board at 10:45. It was absolutely amazing to step into the promenade, and the breadth that is an Oasis Class ship. We loved Majesty, but I feel like you could almost put her inside the promenade. We explored the promenade some, and then went straight up to 17 to try and get reservations for Coastal Kitchen. I had some concerns about this due to a couple of factors. The biggest of which was from recent Cruise Compasses that showed CK as Star and Sky Class only, and Pinnacles. We went up to CK, and our card wouldn’t work in the door. We waited for a while to see if there was anyone inside, or to try and catch someone, but had no luck. Virginia was getting anxious, so we decided to come back and try again closer to dinner. Luckily, Paul was at Grills, so we were able to connect via the Insider group on Facebook, and we headed to Deck 5, Aft, where Paul got this picture of us. Great thanks to Paul, and it shows how being an Insider is so great! (Shameless Plug). Off to Central Park we went to update our 3 night dining reservations, with no issue at all in getting our choices. Then it was to Park Café for a Kummelweck Sandwich, extra horseradish and mustard. Just as tasty as advertised. Neither Abby nor Virginia wanted one, so it was off to the promenade for Sorrentos. They both thought it was pretty good. Virginia liked it so much that we had to go back for two more pieces after muster drill to take to the room for “pre-dinner”. After some more exploring of the ship, taking a spa tour, and getting a stern talking to from Virginia that I didn’t pack swimsuits in the carryon, it was around 1 p.m. so we headed to the room. Luggage was outside the door about an hour after we got in the rooms, and thankfully nothing was in the naughty room. Muster went relatively quickly. As I type this, the “wash your hands” song is now invading my brain again….. After muster, Virginia needed a rest, so we went back up to the room for sail away and sat on the balcony. Then it was time to get her to lay down and unpack. After a fight, we got a successful nap, and then she woke up not knowing where she was. Once we figured that out, it was all good, and time to head back up to try Coastal Kitchen. We did confirm that the CC said Star and Sky class only for dinner. We get to 17, try our card… No luck. Confirmed that the first few nights it is only for Star and Sky. It might be open later in the week to try. We decided we would go try the Solarium Bistro, as we didn’t want the hectic mess of the Windjammer. This ended up being for the best, as Virginia didn’t handle dinner well, and it would have been tough in CK. Dinner was good. Our waiter, Angelo, was very attentive. Due to V’s issues, I didn’t get any pictures of the food. The appetizers were very good, my favorite being the mushrooms. I had the grilled shrimp as an entrée, Abby had the salmon, and V had the chicken kebabs. It was definitely nice to have a lighter meal. The desserts were also very good, and V’s serving of chocolate cake turned the night around for her. Then it was off to play a windy round of mini-golf before Adventure Ocean opened up. The check-in for AO took about 20 minutes, mainly due to a long line of people who had not registered yet, as well as some kids that were having separation anxiety. V took off like a freight train with no care in the world, so I headed to the casino as Abby took here ritual first night early bed time. At 10 o’clock, I left the casino up more than double, so it was time to go get V. Then it was off to bed early so we could be ready for the Dreamworks Character breakfast tomorrow morning. Random Thoughts -It astounds me how many people were buying the drink package on-board. Do some research! -The Pineapples walking around with their nametags on makes me giggle a little. If I ever reach that status, I don’t think I could have the ego to walk around with the badge on… -We were bummed about CK, but hopefully we can try it in the future. Solarium Bistro was good, and it was a peaceful option compared to the Windjammer. -We purchased the Ultimate Thermal pass for the spa. For two people, it includes unlimited use of the thermal seats, a 1-hour private mud bath/scrub, and a 1-hour private jacuzzi. Tomorrow is a sea day. We have the character breakfast in the morning, then the mud bath, and dinner at Chops. As I type this, I’m on my balcony enjoying the nice breeze. Vacation is great. Step count: 13,200 (half of which I had V on my shoulders. Should count for double)

No Pressure. Lol. Thank you. I feel like a new person. This is from our family pictures, separated by one year. Should have about another 50 lbs to go... Also, you know it's time for vacation when you get a text from school saying "Your daughter has been tormenting one of the boys at school today, and decided to pull her pants down and shake her butt and him." SMH.....

Day -2 - Pre-cruise As I looked out this morning, the weather in beautiful St. Louis, MO confirmed that it is indeed time for a cruise. Nothing like a dreary day with the first flurry of snow for the year covering the roof tops to remind you that it's been 364 days of dry dock, time to start the live-blog, and offer a miserable picture to test out how to insert them into the blog and have them sized correctly. Sailings We will being a pseudo-side to side on Oasis and Enchantment out of Port Canaveral. Oasis will be a 7-night Western Caribbean starting November 11 through November 18. One night spent in Port Canaveral, then a 4-night Bahamas sailing on Enchantment from November 19 through November 23. Itinerary Day 1 - Port Canaveral, FL Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Labadee Day 4 - Falmouth Day 5 - Sea Day Day 6 - Cozumel Day 7 - Sea Day Day 8 & 9 - Port Canaveral Day 10 - CocoCay Day 11 - Nassau Day 12 - Sea Day Day 13 - Port Canaveral We have a beach bungalow booked for Labadee. Falmouth we will probably stay in the cruise terminal. Cozumel we will be going to Nachi Cocom, then heading downtown to Coz Coffee and Chocolateria Isla Bella. CocoCay we have a Cabana booked, and then probably the cruise terminal again in Nassau. Who is Sailing: It will be my wife, Abby, our 4 year old daughter, and I on this sailing. I cruised once when I was a kid on the Big Red Boat. My next cruise was last year with Abby on Majesty of the Seas, and went to Grand Bahama and CocoCay (which we missed due to weather.) I get cruise incentives from my land-based casino, so we booked that cruise after final payment date on a whim. It was right before we left on the sailing that I found RCBlog, and now I am fully indoctrinated. This will be our daughter's first cruise, and she's been counting down the number of "sleeps" left since we were at 20. She can't wait to meet new friends in Adventure Ocean, and has been trying to convince us that all of her friends from school can come with us. So while this is our second RC cruise, it will be our first 7-nighter, first Oasis Class, and first just about everything else including first time in each of these ports. Other logistics Packing has been ongoing for about a week. Hoping to get it all finalized tonight. We fly out tomorrow from STL to MCO via Southwest. Tomorrow night will be in the Country Inn & Suites near the port. We will have a rental car from MCO to the hotel, returning it at the port. For the night in between cruises, we had the same hotel booked, choosing it originally due to the on-site laundry facilities. After @Matt posted the blog about the Holiday Inn Beach Club, we changed our stay there, due to in-room laundry, as well as everything else on property. Possibly even taking the rental car to Publix to cook dinner for ourselves. After we debark Enchantment, we are taking a shuttle from PC to MCO for our flight back. Cabins On Oasis we have a JS on deck 6 booked. The location should be great for it's location, and we envision Johnny Rockets for breakfast most mornings. On Enchantment, I've done the best I can do to ensure that my daughter will become a full on suite snob by booking a GS. The pricing was great for the upgrade, plus we got a great deal on the Oasis sailing by booking during a WOW sale last year with KSF and free gratuities. (Although I feel like I'm probably heading to #suitesnob status as well. Looking at booking Oasis again in Feb of 2020, and my eye is on a Crown Loft Suite...) Other thoughts -We will be #TeamNoDX. I had weight loss surgery in February and can't really drink much (down 200 lbs in about a year). My last drink was 2 weeks before surgery, but I imagine I may have to have at least a sip or two while on the ship or at Nachi. -We have the 3 night dining package booked on Oasis. We plan on being #TeamCK (more influence from our favorite Stubborn Canadian (wouldn't let me tag @lovetocruise2002 for some reason). If we can't do CK, we may opt for Solarium Bistro. On Enchantment we don't have any specialty dining booked. We'll either see if there are deals available, or take advantage of the MDR service in our room, especially on Thanksgiving Day. -Pictures will be with my iPhone 8 and the moment lenses. I'm opting not to bring my DSLR this trip, just so I can enjoy the journey, and work on shot selection vs. shot quality. Once I get a better idea of what shots to take on a cruise, and how to frame them, I move to bringing my DSLR. -We are excited for our daughter's first cruise. This will be her second time flying, but the first was with Grandma and Grandpa, so we're looking forward to that also. We are doing the Dreamworks Breakfast on Oasis, and the girls will be doing the Cupcake class on Enchantment. Finally, I'm hoping to do the live blog justice. Lots of great influences on the site, and I hope I hold a candle to some of them. We do have VOOM, so I'll try to be as interactive as possible. If there are questions, I'll try to get them answered. Now it's off to iron my best shorts and t-shirt for formal night and finish packing. -Lance

Wonderland: Wonderland was our most anticipated restaurant – spoiler alert: rightly so. To fully enjoy Wonderland, you have to appreciate the concept and be a bit of an adventurous eater. We loved the whole atmosphere of the place – it’s a real trip down the rabbit hole with everything including the waiter’s uniforms or the Mad Hatter’s conversations fitting in. We even found a little Alice ? As we were planning to get the most of this experience, we ignored the menu even though painting your own menu was a nice touch. We let our waiter Sorina chose our courses as we only had good experiences with following our waiter’s recommendations. For starters, we got the whole ride: Citrus Seas, Crispy Crab Cones, Mad Hatter‘s Purple Potted Shrimp, Liquid Lobster, The Chicken & the Egg. We loved all of them! When forced to pick a favourite, I’d go with the Citrus Seas even though the Liquid Lobster was the most surprising taste. For entrees, Sorina hadn’t forgotten that hubby isn’t that much into fish as a main course. So we got Snap, Crackle & Pork and The Rib ‚I‘ Luscious Short Rib (aka Chocolate Brownie ?). Personally, I prefered the latter as the pork is quite greasy. Hubby did enjoy the pork so it might just be my pet hate talking. I can thoroughly recommend the short rib – I liked it even better than 150 CP’s main course! For dessert, we were in for a surprise! As I’d hoped, we got The World – it’s not only a visual treat, it’s also absolutely delicious. Our second dessert was the Forbidden Apple, also very good but just not as perfect as The World. On the other hand, the Forbidden Apple was decorated for an anniversary that we still don’t know about ? Guess it was a mix up in the kitchen as neither me nor hubby had informed Royal about an anniversary. Instead of worrying, we just went with the flow and got nine times Happy Anniversary from Sorina and the Mad Hatter. We’ve been married 9 years now, it’s only we married in August, not in November. Who would voluntarily marry in the German winter season? Back to the topic: we loved the whole Wonderland experience, it is easily our favourite restaurant onboard! In fact, we enjoyed this kind of imaginative and adventurous cuisine so much, that we’ll take the leap and try some fusion cuisine at home. If you only want to try one speciality dining venue – I’d chose this one as it offers the most different experience. We’ll definetly be back on another ship!

Day 5 - Sea Day (continued) After finishing my cocktail, I wanted to get to lunch ahead of our 2:30 showing of We Will Rock You. I had told Cathy ahead of time that I wanted to have lunch at Izumi one day on the trip, and this was my last chance, so I went down to deck 5 while Cathy headed over to the Windjammer. Since I was solo, I just asked for a seat at the sushi bar. That actually required a short wait, as all the seats there were taken along with the tables. They were doing a busy lunch business today. Fortunately, someone was just about done and I got seated in about five minutes, ten tops. The meal was... OK. I have to agree with @ellcee, it wasn't bad by any stretch but it also wasn't amazing. She had already eaten there when we met up, and given her underwhelmed reaction to their ramen (which I had originally planned on getting), I decided to go with two sushi items instead -- the Tuna Wasabi appetizer that @Matt had written about in his own review a while back, and the DX Sushi Combo. To go with the meal, I had one of Izumi's signature cocktails, "She's a Geisha". The cocktail was actually very good. It's a mix of sake and various berry juices, and it was really light and refreshing. The sake flavor was noticeable, but not overpowering, and it was clearly just the right amount for this beverage. I think the right to think of this, or any of Izumi's other signature cocktails (all of which have sake as the base) is a Japanese style wine cooler. But with good (rice-base) wine instead of the crap those store-bought mass-produced drinks have. And none of the sulfites for preservatives that in my case always give a monster headache. The food part was good, overall, but the one area they fell short was the tuna. In both the Tuna Wasabi and my combo, the tuna was mild to the point of being flavorless. It was most noticeable in the tuna nigiri, where it's just the tuna and rice; I never use soy sauce with my sushi (I feel like it masks the fish flavors too much), so I could really pick up on how bland the tuna was. I've had a lot of tuna sushi and sashimi, along with seared ahi tuna, and there's always that distinctive flavor -- not the overwhelming one from the canned stuff that's often overcooked, but still distinctive and tells you you're eating tuna. This tuna was just there on the plate, and with the nigiri the dominant flavors were the rice and the bit of wasabi used to hold the fish on it. With the appetizer and the spicy tuna roll that comes with the combo, the amount of jalapeño was overwhelming. I couldn't help feeling like they were trying to make up for the tuna's lack of flavor by putting in more jalapeño than should have been necessary. It stopped being a complement to the main ingredient and just took over. What made this problem with the tuna such a standout factor was that the rest of my sushi was really good. The octopus, which I'm not the biggest fan of but will eat when it's part of what I ordered, was firm and had a solid chew but wasn't the least bit rubbery. The eel and salmon were both great, with rich flavor. And all the other fish were equally good. But the tuna was so off compared to the rest it was hard not to have it bring the rest of the meal down. I skipped dessert, as I was figuring on having another cocktail while watching We Will Rock You, and just settled my bill. I still had about half of my "She's a Geisha" left, so I took it with me and wandered over to the Music Hall. There was a family at the pool table, with the husband and son playing, and they asked if I wanted to play the winner. I wasn't sure after my practice the other night if I'd offer them any real challenge, but the pool gods decided to smile on me for an hour or so. For the most part, I played better than I have in years, although my first break was an absolute embarrassment to pool players everywhere and I had a couple other mishaps that couldn't remotely be blamed on the ship shifting suddenly. In spite of those blunders, I actually managed to win both games that I played, and both were nicely competitive. The husband and son both were great sports and we had some good conversation while playing, no one taking the games too seriously. Karaoke started in the stage area after my first game, and all through the second game I was happy to hear no bad singers. Everyone carried the tunes well enough, and I didn't really hear any blown notes or songs done horribly off key. The only one that was a bit of a letdown was the first singer, who performed "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. She did really well through the song until the final lines, where the song just got just a bit too high for her range and she was forced into her falsetto range. Having finished my second game of pool, I saw that the Royal Theater's doors had opened to start seating for We Will Rock You. It was still almost 45 minutes to show time, but I wanted a good seat close to the stage. So I thanked my opponents for the good games, wished them a good rest of their trip, and headed down to Deck 4 where I took a seat and eagerly waited for what was going to be the headline show of the trip for me.

Or just sail in Star Class all the time, then drinks are included.

I still say "COMMANDO" is the way to go... loose and free..

Day Three Labbadee Haiti Part Two I Went To Sorrento's And Tonight They Had Barbeque Chicken Pizza. There I Met Up With @Twangster Fan Me And Him Ate Two Pizza. They Where So Good. After That I Went To Dinner And Had A Creaser Salad. For The Main Entrée I Had A Baked Potato With Lots Of Sour Cream. For Dessert I Had Cheese Cake And Three Scoops Of Ice Cream. After Dinner I Went Strait To Bed. Tomorrow Will Be A Long Day In Jamaica.

Day 5 - Sea Day I was glad today was a sea day, because when we woke up the skies were completely overcast and it was threatening to rain at any time. Would definitely be a day to stay indoors and take advantage of Anthem's accommodations for inclement weather. Unfortunately, I had to take care of a couple of unexpected issues, like the sewer stink that flooded out of our bathroom this morning when we opened the door! Nothing like what @twangster had happen; this was only a stink and no sewage backlog. But good lord was it pungent in there! The other unexpected problem was that I found Royal had been charging me the daily gratuities, even though I had pre-paid them through my travel agent. With two of the days looking like I had been charged twice! Before dealing with that, we had to get down to breakfast before things closed. I wanted to change the venue this time, as I was a little tired of Cafe Two70, so we decided to go to the Main Dining Room. On Anthem, this meant going to the American Grille room, and it was a madhouse! The place was packed, and even though we had asked to be given a shared table so we could have some companions and conversation, we ended up seated at a two-top. Granted, the tables were really close-packed so we had no trouble talking to our neighbors. They were a very nice couple from Buffalo, NY, who were on their honeymoon. We talked about Bermuda and agreed it was gorgeous, and that we had to get back as soon as we could. We also talked about our experiences on this ship so far; it was interesting to get their point of view, as they had previously sailed only on Carnival and this was their first time on Royal. They said Anthem was definitely a good bit nicer than Carnival's ships, and that it definitely had better food and a nicer crowd (not nearly as many drunks as they tended to find on Carnival, and they liked that it wasn't such a constant party atmosphere). But, they felt Carnival had the edge on activities. For us, the food in the main dining room wasn't really any better than if we'd gone to the Windjammer, and it took a long time to both place our orders and then get our food. My pancakes were actually cold; not just room temp, but like they had been in the refrigerator and not quite reheated enough to reach room temp. On the other hand, my omelet was totally fine, probably because it was cooked to order. Cathy had the buffet, and felt it wasn't as good as the one on Freedom; fewer choices, and what was there also just on par as if we'd gone to Windjammer. I was able to get my fresh-squeezed OJ, at least, and it was as good as I remembered. So, with breakfast out of the way, it was time to go and visit Guest Services. For the sewage smell issue, the person I spoke with was very apologetic, and paged both our floor attendant and maintenance to check it out. He also looked up my reservation and said he had no record of my prepayment on the gratuities, but after showing him my invoice and confirmation email from my TA, he offered to remove the gratuities without any further action on my part. I still wanted to get to the bottom of this part, so I emailed Heather and asked her to look into it. While I was doing all of this, Cathy was at the logo store taking advantage of the two for $20 t-shirt sale. She scored a few more t-shirts, including one for me, and caught up with me just as I wrapped up with Guest Services. With that out of the way, we went back up to our cabin. Our floor attendant was already there and taking a look at the problem. He agreed there was a smell, and shortly after we arrived Allen, our cabin attendant, arrived. He checked and told us the problem was that the ship had run into some bad weather last night that had been tossing a ship a fair bit (which was surprising, because we never felt that once); all the movement caused some rooms to have the bathroom floor drain's trap clear out, allowing the sewage smell to come up through the now cleared pipes. He poured some water down the drain to re-fill the trap portion, and left to check on some other rooms. And then maintenance came by not half an hour later, to further follow up on the problem. The timing was good on that as I was just heading out for my iFly session. By this point, about 11 AM, it was actually raining, albeit lightly. So we stuck to the indoor paths as much as possible for getting to iFly, stopping at La Patisserie along the way so Cathy could get another latte. I should have asked her to just meet me there rather than waiting, because by the time we got to the checkin area my group had already been taken inside and my spot was given to someone on the standby line. There were no other openings for iFly that day, unless I wanted to wait around for my own shot at a standby slot, but I was OK with this. My feet were still sore from all the walking over the last two days, and I wasn't sure how they'd hold up being buffeted by the simulated winds inside the iFly chamber. Plus, the day was already feeling a bit rushed and it was good to have a chance to slow down. Since the weather wasn't great, we went down to the Solarium to just relax and enjoy a beverage or two. I got another Lava Flow, but I had to make do with another rum; somehow @twangster had teleported from Adventure of the Seas onto my ship and run off with all the remaining Kraken! ?

Just remembered... Carnival Horizon has a Victoria's Secret store. Perfect excuse to tramp around in lady's undergarments if he is into that sort of thing. "Oh dear, I forgot my underwear, better go to Victoria's Secret..."

I have a strong feeling, especially after @twangster's blog, that Symphony will soon be my new favourite. But I will still gladly sail any OA class ship!

Wonderland menu's can vary ship to ship much like Jamie's Italian varies in subtle ways. On Harmony and Symphony Wonderland is a two story space with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the boardwalk. It's a much nicer, larger and secluded venue. On Anthem it's off the Esplanade with just a sheer curtain separating it. My Anthem experience was constantly interrupted by sales pitches in the Esplanade. It's much larger on Oasis class with a distinct and dedicated Wonderland Bar on the second floor with the hostess and waiting area. Anthem is more of a Wonderland-mini.

Right back at you, it was so cool finally meeting you. Hope we'll meet again on other cruises! As for the top tier bunch, it did annoy us quite a bit. Were not used to being treated as second class passengers, and sadly you got that feeling on more than one occasion on this cruise. We prefer TUI's approach to this one where loyal cruisers are rewarded without taking anything from the experience of other guests. Examples include bridge tours, free champagne, free speciality choclate, free laundry... TUI does have a designated venue for guests staying in suites and that is fine by us, as it doesn't impact our stay in any way. But taking away a third of the available seats in all entertainment venues and closing numerous venues at times does get on your nerves. We'd still sail with Royal but we made sure Royal got this feedback. I'm now sitting next to the aft pool on Caribbean Princess and enjoying a nice view of the ocean (something that's hard to come by on Symphony). So it's finally time to do the blog posts that fell victim to too much to do and not enough time - and some post cruise land sickness. I'll also do a summary of what we liked and disliked on our first Royal cruise. As for comparing our Royal and Princess experiences, I'm thinking of doing it once I'm back home ?

Day 0: Travel and Venice I was up bright and early (actually dark and early in these parts) today, and finished the last minute packing and loading of the van for the drive up to the airport. It took a little over an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the airport, which is about the minimum time it takes to drive to Frankfurt from our place. We parked and then made the long hike from the parking garage to the check-in counter, hauling all of bags and corralling the 4 kids along the way. We were informed that the gate was the furthest away in the airport, and sure enough, it was at the extreme end of the terminal. We stopped for lunch and to let the younger girls play on a little playground in the terminal along the way. Boarding started about 10 minutes late, and it turned out that we were at a bus gate, so we had to go down the stairs and board a bus that then drove us the length of Terminal 1 and most of Terminal 2 (if you have ever been to Frankfurt, you know that this took almost 10 minutes) out to the plane. The flight was uneventful, and a perk of flying Lufthansa is beer and wine are included in the complimentary beverage selection, which both my wife and I took advantage of. We collected our bags and made contact with the hotel to arrange a shuttle to get us there. We stayed at the Best Western Titian, which was about 5 minutes away from the airport. It was a very nice hotel, friendly staff, and pretty convenient for a place to stay the night before a cruise. After we checked in, we inquired at the front desk about the best way to get downtown Venice, and if it was still flooded. From there, we caught a bus just down the street from the hotel and rode it to the end of the line where we caught a water bus and headed down to Rialto Bridge. By this time, it was dark out, but cruising the Grand Canal is always special. We wandered around the bridge, and then went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza place for dinner. It was excellent as always, and we went out in search of our favorite gelato. Bellies full, we continued our journey to St Mark's Square to take in the after dark ambiance and listen to the music from the various cafes around the square. Unfortunately, being there off-season, the bell tower and basilica were already closed by the time we got into the square, but St Mark's is one of the most magical places I have been in Europe, regardless of the time of day or year. After taking the obligatory pictures of the Bridge of Sighs, we got back on the water bus (or vaporetto, if you prefer) and made our way back up the Grand Canal to the bus station and reversed our journey back to the hotel. We were in bed by 10, and at least I had a hard time sleeping with excitement for tomorrow's embarkation...

I Had A Hand Strap And It Worked Very Well. Here The Video I Took From The Hand Strap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ1sZh8VOLk&t=25s

I’m a poor firefighter, give me a break! Lol!

It was great to meet you both and I hope the top tier numbers didn't impact your experience too much. When I realized how many Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacles would be on board I was concerned the Oasis class experience would be very different for you compared to a normal Oasis class cruise. Normally for example, the entire center section of the Aqua Theater is NOT reserved for suites and elite like it was on this sailing. It's always nice when multiple people blog from the same cruise because you get a different perspective and the opportunity to see it through a different pair of eyes. Great job and enjoy your next cruise. I'd to love to hear the differences between Princess and Royal.

As D+ I was fine with what they offered. Nothing was taken away from us. We never have access to the suite lounge so no loss there. Dazzles was one venue dedicated to Pinnacles for happy hour. I don't normally visit Dazzles between 4:30pm and 8pm so no loss there. Chop's Pinnacle breakfast also no impact since that isn't a D+ benefit either. D+/P/S had the entire center section of the Aqua Theater and Studio B plus the entire second floor of the main theater. For breakfast the entire deck 4 MDR was set aside for D+. There were 2,589 Diamond and Diamond Plus. I had no problem getting happy hour drinks in The Attic and taking them out to where ever I wanted to including Central Park. With so many D+ if anything we had the run of the ship. Bottom line - any cruise with half the ship being D/D+/P it is not going to be a normal cruise experience. Honestly on a normal Harmony/Symphony sailing D/D+ have to share the small D Lounge on deck 4. Any given week that lounge is slammed during happy hour. I had the same experience on Adventure with over 1,500 D/D+ on the Snowbird migration cruise. They gave us the entire Viking Crown Lounge but that still wasn't enough. President cruises are much the same, an abnormally high number of top elite. I experienced no crew issues, at least no different from any Oasis class crewing. Smaller ships have a better crew experience in general. The mega ships suffer but that's just mega ship cruising. Even with that my experience everywhere was quite good. Dinner in the MDR was some of the best as was dinner in the Bistro, very fast and quite friendly. Windjammer had crew offering to get you drinks just like any other WJ. I don't recall a single bad crew moment. As far as immigration - blame our government, not Royal. Oasis uses that same terminal. I don't think CBP was ready for the high numbers of non-US citizens that take longer to process. They didn't staff up for this and just went with a normal Oasis shift. That's on CBP, not Royal (they had the manifest, CBP knew this was coming at them). I did experience some confusion debarking in Miami but I think that's just a lot of Uber/Lyft clogging up the lanes and taxi and bus drivers who don't understand the flow of the new terminal yet. Terminal workers are not Royal employees and if you look at terminal 18 in Port Everglades the local sheriff's office does traffic management. That was absent in Miami so there was chaos as a result.

I don't recall seeing underwear on any cruise line I've sailed. I can't imagine it's a common need for them to consider and then having to stock different types and sizes. No socks either that I've seen.

Day 4 - Bermuda (continued) The shuttle bus left Horseshoe Bay at 1:30, but we didn't get back to the Dockyard until almost 2:30 because of traffic and rain. With our all-aboard time at 4:30, we didn't have a lot of time to finish up our day. And we still needed to eat some lunch, we were both getting pretty hungry. Rather than burn a lot of time at any sit-down restaurant in the dockyard, we went back to the ship and just grabbed some small items at Cafe Promenade to take the edge of our hunger and let us get back off-ship ASAP. We headed back out to the dockyard with about an hour we could safely spend without risking being pier runners. Even with that decent amount of time, we were kind of hurried to get our shopping done. We ended up only making it to the craft market, where we got our traditional souvenir holiday ornament and a couple of prints, and one other store where we got some limited print coasters and a few t-shirts. After that, we made our way back to the ship, cutting it a little close as we boarded at 4:15, but not all pier runner territory. To our surprise, as we waited in the security line we heard one of the staff holler down from the card scanner area to the people at the entry booth that there were still over 250 passengers not yet on board! We looked back and there were nowhere near that many in line to board, so it was looking like there'd be at least a few pier runners today! I have no idea if that ended up being the case or not. Our room was on the opposite side from the dock, and all I wanted at that point was to enjoy my traditional sail-away margarita from our balcony and take in one last sight of Bermuda. We sailed away promptly at 5:00, so either everyone made it on board in time or there were some people (possibly happily) left behind. We had to get ready for dinner in CK, as we were eating a bit earlier to make the evening's showing of Spectra's Cabaret. As it happened, while this night wasn't formal night it was still the night when the kitchen pulled out almost all the stops. That's right, almost all the stops... This was a set of impossible choices. There was no way I could decide between salmon sashimi or the risotto, nor could I choose just scallops or lobster. So, I did what every enterprising cruiser does in this situations... I got 'em all! Sorry, escargots, but there is only so much room in this stomach and you got the short stick; considering Amar brought me a second lobster tail without prompting, I was glad I left them behind. Appetizers were paired, at Amar's recommendation, with the "Conundrum" blend from the "Adventurous Whites" section; yes, I actually had white wine and I enjoyed it! It was very dry, which I appreciated, and only a little fruity with a slightly spicy finish. With my entree's I also had white wine, this time the "Mer Soleil" Chardonnay; also very nice, and I have to say after having this and the Chardonnay served at Chef's Table back on Freedom that I do like that kind of white. I may have to pick up a couple of bottles for at home when I have meals that traditionally do get served with a white wine rather than a red. Cathy kept it far simpler than me, and just had her favorite Caesar Salad and the gnocchi. She said the gnocchi was very good, not too heavy and really good flavor. Then it was time for dessert. Cathy got the crunchy chocolate bar, which had her back in heaven again; we're all chocolate lovers, and she said that was a really good dessert. I had the Baked Alaska and, as usual on this sailing, an iced Bailey's and coffee. Here's the Baked Alaska. And lest I forget, our meal once again came with riddles! First was this one: "The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never uses it. The one who uses it, never sees it." I actually figured this one out after a very small hint from Amar, with confirmation that "it" was a real thing and not some metaphysical concept or the like. After this, we got another stick challenge – There are 12 sticks arranged into a square, like so: Moving exactly 3 sticks, change the four squares into three squares; you cannot double up any sticks, and you cannot have any sticks jutting out on their own. This one neither Cathy nor I was able to figure out; when Amar showed us the solution, I shook my head again. And the solution he showed isn't the only valid one; we showed this puzzle to our kids and my older daughter came up with a different solution that was still valid. And now, it was time for... We arrived a solid hour early, actually getting to Two70 as the first show was ending. This was good, as it gave us our pick of the available seats. Make note -- if you want to have a chance to see the cast up very close as they leave the main stage area in a couple of parts and walk around the perimeter, then find the third ring of seats, which are a set of tall couches and love seats. Cathy asked to sit here as her back was bothering her and she wanted something with a taller back than the other seating, and wow was it the perfect place to enjoy the show! I respected the "no photography" announcement, so I can't show you anything of the actual show, but both Cathy and I were very impressed. This was the kind of show we'd been waiting for, and it really was incredible how they blended the singing, dancing, aerialists, robot displays, and projection wall into one seamless whole. It's not Cirque du Soleil, as I had first imagined it to be. It's something all its own, and you really do have to see it to appreciate it. And if you sit where I indicated, you'll have two times that either the emcee, Spectra, or the full show cast walks past and you can fully appreciate the costuming and the performers' talents. Spectra actually took time on his pass-through to say hello and shake people's hands, including mine, which I thought was a very nice touch. When the show ended, we gave the cast a huge round of applause. And we were even more excited now at the prospect of seeing We Will Rock You the next day, as that show was supposed to be even better! Not wanting to go to bed quite yet, we decided to wander the ship a bit. There were some interesting chairs laid out in front of Wonderland and by the Music Hall, so we decided to have a goof and do our best Game of Thrones impressions. Cathy played Circe Lannister. I, on the other hand, was Ned Stark. After having our bit of fun, we went up to the pool deck and Solarium to see how they looked at night. The Solarium was surprisingly empty. We contemplated getting our bathing suits having a private dip in the Solarium's hot tubs, but didn't want to take yet another shower before bed when it would be really late; we figured we'd do that on our sea day tomorrow.. At this point, Cathy was ready to call it a night. I was still pumped up between my evening Bailey's coffee and Spectra, so I continued to wander for a while. I stopped off at Boleros and tried out a Royal Mojito; not at all bad, but not as good as the one I had in Old San Juan back in April. While I sipped my drink, I decided to finally pay a visit to the casino and see how the craps tables might treat me. Not nicely, as it turned out. As soon as I joined the table went cold, and I lost to 8 shooters in a row; I ended up leaving before I could even get a chance to be the shooter, having lost $40 in about 10 minutes. I saw the same thing happen towards the end of my trip on Freedom, and I'm starting to wonder if I make any table I join colder than a Polar Vortex hit in January. Just for grins, I put $10 into the one $1 Double Diamond slot machine they had, as that has been a somewhat reliable slots game for me. No luck here, either. Out $50 total, I cleared out of the casino and decided it was time for me to get to bed as well. Tonight's drink package tally: 2 cappuccinos 2 glasses of wine 3 cocktails Definitely ahead tonight, but still "making up" for yesterday's big shortfall.

Cruise Summary Symphony is a fantastic ship. The evolutional changes and differences compared to her sisters including Harmony have been well thought out and executed. The Solarium is outstanding and my favorite of all in this class. The changing colors of the art in the Solarium day and especially at night is pretty great. Playmakers is a hit and from my deck 8 boardwalk balcony very nearly on top of it I never heard any noise from Playmakers. The main shows such as Hairspray, 1977, Flight and HiRO were also fantastic. Flight was very well done and I look forward to experiencing it again on the 50th birthday cruise. The enhanced projection technology even in HiRO was noticed. I appreciated the artistic nature of HiRO more and the symbolism of equality and unity. The crew were all top notch and I can't recall a single poor crew interaction. Like all Oasis class the crew can be very busy at times but they always had a smile on their face. I was pleasantly surprised how well the O3b Voom held up across the Atlantic. There are times when poor weather or satellite switch-over can impact even the best satellite technology so it's not the same as internet on land but it never really let me down. This was my first transatlantic but it won't be my last. The days flew by and before I knew it I had to think about packing. Next cruise - Serenade of the Seas from which I am writing this post. Ten days in the Eastern Caribbean. I hope you have enjoyed following me on this journey and I thank you for viewing.

WOW ! Congrats on the weight loss. That's incredible ! 200 pounds in a year !

So the couple my parents were traveling with on the Symphony transatlantic had a bit of an issue. The gentleman left his underwear in a stack at home and forgot to pack it. They checked every venue on the ship and could not locate any boxers or underwear. This guy had to wash them every night of a 12 night voyage! The Symphony has just about everything you can think about EXCEPT underwear. Moral of the story is check and double check your bag before leaving the country on a 12 night cruise.

Day 10: This day was off to an early start, therefore we had breakfast in our beloved Park Cafe. Why the early start, you might ask – the All Access Ship tour, of course! At 119 $ each, we had a YOLO moment when booking this. Hey, when will I be ever able to get a behind the scenes tour on the biggest cruise ship in the world? Our tour guide for the morning was Charly from Shore Excursions, who gave us some insight into crew life on Symphony. First stop of the tour was the engine control room where we were lucky to meet the chief engineer. I don’t want to bore you with a multitude of numbers so here’s the highlights: of 6 generators for the engines, Symphony uses 4 on a transatlantic sailing compared to only 3 when on normal Caribbean itineraries. Symphony has enough fuel to immediately return from Miami to Barcelona without refueling – but we’d lack food and drinks ? Our next stop was the MDR galley on deck 5, where we got all information from one of the sous chefs. The MDR has 3 galleys (one on each MDR deck) – deck 5 is mainly responsible for soups, sauces, salads, cold plates and breakfast room service. The sheer amount of food that has to be prepared here is really impressive. Royal uses a computer system to predict the amount of dishes they’ll need for each seating – interesting to see this in use. Down from deck 5 it was back into the bowels of the ship, taking the I-95 to provisions. On I-95, we saw the crew activities board. I’m really quite angry about the amount of money the crew have to pay for internet – in my opinion, it should be free of charge for them as it’s the only way to stay in contact with their family at home. And Royal should be aware that a happy crew makes for happy cruisers! But on to a more lighthearted topic – provisions: Symphony’s provisions master took care of all our questions. As we still got a few days left, the walk in refrigerators were well stocked - nobody can starve on a cruise ship. For the European season, Symphony had to restock in Barcelona and Civitavecchia on each sailing – not because of the longer advance booking periods but because all goods arrive on (wooden) EU pallets and have to be reloaded on the steel pallets that Royal uses! That’s why Symphony only needs restocking once a week (in Miami) for Caribbean cruises – it just takes less time. Our time with the provisions master also answered another question: how does Symphony dock in Miami? Always on the starboard side, as they can use 2 doors for loading instead of only one when docking portside. Unfortunately, this means that Symphony will always turn in the basin when entering the port – so in the middle of the night most likely. From provisions, we ventured even further down the ship. The laundry is as far down as you can get on Symphony (assuming you don’t want to take a swim in the fuel tanks). The laundry master explained his department to us and also showed us the use of some of the machines. You can even stumble upon Captain Rob in the laundry ? Most interesting information: crew’s uniforms are cleaned free of charge, but they have to wash their private clothes themselves. Our last stop on this tour was the bridge, where we met one of the First Officers – and Captain Rob again. It's amazing how approachable and chatty the Captain is – what a nice experience. Best thing about the bridge is the unobstructed forward view, but all the instruments on the bridge wing were also quite interesting. We were even lucky to have not one but two ships in our safety corridor when on the bridge – in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic! The route is completely at the Captain’s discretion so we took a southern route on this crossing for better weather. Even though the southern route is longer than the northern route, it’s more fuel efficient due to winds and drift. # After this illuminating tour, we went to the MDR for an early lunch. We were seated with Americans, Brits and a couple from Taiwan. This mix made for some very interesting political discussions. (Hey, I thought you don’t small talk about politics and religion?!) Fortunately, we don’t mind political discussions as we like to hear opinions from all sides. In fact, we’ve redpilled quite a few fellow cruisers on the topic of Germany on this crossing ? As for the food, can’t remember the exact names (and forgot to look them up before disembarkation ?). Hubby had the Greek Salad, Chicken Sandwich and Chocolate Cake, I had the Tortilla Salad, Steak Sandwich and Apple Pie. The next event of the day was the Guest Talent Show. The choir's This is Me was the first act, the song was enhanced by a choreography from the progressive dance class. Other than that, it was mostly musical acts. We were quite surprised about the confidence of some of the participants but a few acts were REALLY impressive. The best act was a guy singing New York by Frank Sinatra – in fact this guy was on par with headliner Gary Williams. No surprise he won progressive karaoke. As we’d had an early lunch and were planning a late dinner, we had a 2nd lunch at Playmakers – again Base Loaded Potato Skins but this time accompanied by Pulled Pork Sliders. From there it was on to Laser Tag. Sadly a session only is 10 minutes, but considering the long lines it’s understandable. Due to the de-icing of Studio B there were only 4 sessions on this 12 night cruise - the first two on one of the first sea days, session 3 on day 10 during formal night dinner and session 4 during sailaway from Port Canaveral. We had other plans for the first two sessions and didn't want to miss sailaway so we chose the lesser evil. Our team didn’t win but at least we were the team’s top players. Day 10 was the 2nd and last formal night, so we went to the cabin to change into more formal wear (so not playing laser tag in dress and heels!) and then get some pictures taken on Royal Promenade. Dinner in the MDR consisted of the Mediterranean Tapas Plate for starters, Seafood Linguini and Broiled Lobster Tail for entrees and Chocolate Profiteroles and the Artisan Cheese Plate for dessert. Feel free to guess who ordered what ? Verdict on the food: to us it feels as though MDR food is better on Formal Nights – so a good reason to dress up. When leaving the MDR we were advised to come back the next day for dessert (we have a reservation in Izumi and the dessert isn’t really our cup of tea). After a few drinks at the pub we went to bed. Side notes: 10.3 k steps – most of them on the tour ? If anyone wondered, yes, drink fatigue is a thing. Well, for me – not for hubby. Food fatigue is also getting real, guess we’ll have a breather in Miami. Can't really call this a towel animal, can I? ?

I can't imagine your reaction going from Majesty to Oasis ! I think you might be right ! I'll be your could almost fit Majesty in the Promenade ! Bummer about Coastal Kitchen. Honestly, this is the first time I have ever heard anyone say that the CK was only for Sky, Star and Pinnacle or that it was "off limits" the first part of the cruise. If this is true, I think it is a new development and not one that is likely to go over well. While I think that the food in the CK is a bit overrated, it is a lovely venue with a nice, relaxed atmosphere and you should be able to go there as dinner at CK for Sea class was one of the perks that was advertised. I would probably cause a semi-scene if I were barred. Special situations like crossings or otherwise extra long cruises where there are tons of the upper tiers and Pineapples is one thing but a run-of-the-mill 7 night Caribbean sailing is something else completely. Good luck. I hope you are able to report back later that you were able to get a good reservation.

This to me (although superficial), is the main difference, other than the slides and a few restaurants. If I took out all the other factors, I still prefer Harmony over Oasis just simply because of decor.

Love your review of Wonderland, @Neaxan! The menu is a little different from the one on Anthem, so I'm wondering if changes are coming to the fleet (maybe in response to more guests than your husband not being big fish fans!). The decor there also looks far nicer and varied than what we saw on Anthem (e.g., bigger variety of chair styles and designs), not to mention that it looks much more brightly lit. Can I ask if the room was actually dark and you just used the flash or a longer exposure to get your pictures looking that well-lit, or was the restaurant lighting truly not all that dim? We felt like we were eating in a cave at times, it was so dim in there, and we had noticed they actually raised the lights a little as our meal was coming to an end. @twangster or maybe @monorailmedic, either one of you happen to know if Anthem was one of the first ships to have a Wonderland? Just wondering if the difference in decor is due to age, and maybe when Anthem goes in for a dry dock they'll do a small cosmetic upgrade to get it looking more in line with the other restaurants in the fleet.

Thank you for your excellent review

Day Two Continued Tonight I Had Frozen In Time In Studio B. It Was Very Good. I Saw It Last October On The Oasis. The Sand Art Guy Did A Great Job. This Voyage He Did The Tin Solider. After This I Went To Dinner. I Had For The Appetizer I Had Cesar Salad. It Was Pretty Good But Today They Put To Much Dressing In The Salad. For The Entrée I Had The New York Strip Steak It Was Very Good. For Dessert I Had The Royal Cheese Cake With Two Scoops Of Ice Cream.It Was So Good. After Dinner I Went Back To The Room To Go To Grab My DJ Stuff To Make A Track For My Local Radio Station. Today I Went To The Pool Deck To Record It. I Did A Ten Minute Mix. After That I Went To Bed. Tomorrow Will Be A Long And Fun Day In Labbadee Haiti.

Go to the main blog page and pull up the cruise compasses and look for the one that most closely resembles your itinerary, since Adventure was up East for most of the year you might not have that many to look at. The CC will tell you the show times, the shows are usually set up to match the MDR dinning time 6ish early and 8ish late.

Well....do you enjoy drinks by the pool, or do you drink mainly at night? Do you enjoy drinks around the ship or are you fine just drinking within the SL? I have mixed feelings about this. The SL is up on Deck 17 and often I like to grab drinks by the pool or at a bar when I'm out and about. I find it inconvenient to walk all the way up to Deck 17 just to get something. And often, during the day, the drinks that I like are not wine/beer. If your drinks of choice are wine/beer/water, then you probably don't need the package. Also, if you are Diamond and above, that would probably deter you more from getting it. Sorry I don't have a more solid answer. I really think you have to look closely at your personal preferences. The lounge only offers beer/wine/water during the day and certain cocktails during happy hour (I think around 5-8pm). It is limited. Personally, I use to get the package still even with access to the SL. For me, it was just more convenient to do so. However, now that both adults sailing in the same cabin must purchase, and now that we are Diamond members, we have stopped buying the package. It just simply doesn't make sense financially for us.

I can PayPal you the money, if you can find one, obviously including shipping and everything. They should be in the gift shop in the promenade... the one I am specifically looking for is the clear glass with the pewter emblem on the side (the short one, not the tall shooter). They should only be around $6-7 there. I will be in my cruisewhen you return, but if you do find one, message me here! I will get it when I am back stateside. thank you so very much!!!!

Happened to my elderly uncle on a trip to Europe many years ago and is the story we tell when explaining why you should ALWAYS cross-pack. Airline lost his bag & he could not find underwear in Europe (Italy mostly) that fit his “body type”. My aunt washed the one pair he had every night in the sink.

Oh man, you're making us look bad.......

I don’t know & don’t really care. I don’t leave my underwear at home. Again, the point was to highlight the fact that the ship has none available onboard. Whether or not this person or the people traveling with him are stupid is not relevant to the point of the post.

...and nobody else travelling with him was kind enough to offer to get some for him while they were out and about in port? That's not so cool either...

Or maybe just go "COMMANDO" who needs the extra baggage anyway?

After breakfast I went down to deck 5 to have a look at the new terminal. There is another new terminal that has just started construction. If I recall this is for another cruise line. That's Mariner of the Seas back down at terminal G. She was using this new terminal for almost two weeks, testing it out and getting it ready for Symphony. There were a number of loyal guests transferring from Symphony to Mariner as well as Serenade today. Royal Caribbean very generously offered a free transfer for us and that was greatly appreciated. We were instructed to had down to Studio B at 9:15am as our meeting place. Luggage tag #75 were distributed to us (the last of the luggage tag zones). I placed my bag outside of my cabin the night before as instructed. Can you figure out what the mess is on the floor of Studio B? It's the inflatable laser tag from the night before. There were over 110 guests transferring to Mariner and Serenade today. Mariner guest count was in the mid 80s and Serenade guest count around 30. Sometime around 10:15am were led out to be scanned off the ship and down the gangway into the terminal. We didn't get the full terminal experience but it certainly looked great and had that new building smell to it. No customs processing here. I found my bag and exited the terminal. The pick up and drop off area is under cover of the building and it was pretty busy. There was a little confusion at this point with respect to where we were to find our shuttle bus. I found some fellow luggage tag 75 people and discovered they were also transferring to Serenade so we hung out as a group on the assumption there would be safety in numbers. Eventually a Mariner bus was called and not long after another motor coach pulled up for Serenade. Safely on board our bus we settled in for the short ride up to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The transfer could have been a little better organized but it was free and greatly appreciated so I'm not complaining. I checked Uber and Lyft and both were in the $45 range. Loyalty does pay. I don't think this is normally offered as a free service so if you are planning a side-to-side cruise I wouldn't count on this. One last look at Symphony as we drove away in our bus. Sometime around noon I was onboard Serenade using terminal 18 in Port Everglades. My 'office' here on Serenade as I finish with these last few posts.

Day 13 - Miami and Debarking Since I was up late with friends I slept as we arrived into Miami. Our progress: Cruise total, 4,701 nautical miles. Still dark I ventured up to deck 16 to see what I could see. True to his word, Captain Rob had delivered us to Miami. A first look at the now complete new Crown of Miami terminal building. Since I was up here already I zipped into the Windjammer for a final breakfast.

Hey Goodsmith. Here's an actual photo of the Twangster at formal night in the MDR last week!

Day 12 - Evening Our last night on board. Sigh... Our progress so far: With 4,551 nautical miles behind us we hug the coast just far enough out to be outside the territorial boundary. Dinner tonight would be in Playmakers. Since it's Thursday, football was on. I had wanted to see what their wings are like so for $8 I ordered the hot wings. They are pretty good and it's a great place to hang out and watch the game. Shortly after I ate they announced a hot wing challenge. The winner got this super sized beer dispenser delivered to their table. Perfect for when the doctor or wife says you can have only one beer. While I'm back here I thought I take a few more pictures. I'm not normally one to take pictures in a bathroom, but I wanted to show you some of the bathroom art: Back in Playmakers for a last night of Jenga with friends. Not bad on a moving ship doing 20 knots. Ugh. What a horrible thing to see.

Day 12 - Port Canaveral Sail Away Our sail away was the highlight of the local news. The largest cruise ship in the world coming to America was a big deal. With a water cannon salute we pulled away from the pier with news helicopters flying overhead and a blast of the ship's whistle. A lot of people came out to see us off. We slowly made our way back into the Atlantic for our final night on board this wonderful ship. Looking back at Port Canaveral we had a beautiful sunset tonight to send us on our way to Miami.

The U.S. Coast Guard performs routine and periodic inspections of all ships. When a ship arrives from outside of the region or in the event of new ship arriving those inspections are more thorough. Inspections today had begun. The crew was also exercising a fire drill throughout the morning witnessed by the USCG inspectors. My destination today was very close, Grills restaurant where local Florida members of the RCPeriscopers.live group were meeting those of us from Symphony. Located right behind Terminal 1 it's a great location to get pictures of the ship as well. With many guests already off the ship I took advantage of taking more photos with fewer people around. Our cruise director had been making periodic announcements including frequently that port officials had requested they hold guests to avoid over crowding the terminal. At 11 am I headed down to join the queue waiting to debark. Once inside the terminal I eventually reached a point where they separated Canadian and American guests into their own queue for Customs and Border Patrol officials. Just before noon I was outside the terminal on my way next door to Grills. They had life boats down exercising them. All life boats are lowered and operated on a periodic basis. They were also touching up the paint getting ready for the grand debut in Miami. Who knew there was a 'Baby' Symphony of the Seas? A great time was had meeting other members of the RCPeriscopers.live group all of which were extremely jealous that they weren't guests on board Symphony. It's always great to meet people and put internet usernames to faces. After several rounds and some food it was time to get back on board.

Day 12 - continued... Everyone on the ship was required to meet Customs and Border Patrol on this day. They had to get the ship to 'zero count' meaning all guests had to be off before any guest was allowed back onboard. With over 2,200 crew they had to be cleared by CBP as well which for them began at 4am as soon as we arrived. The crew were cleared early and first so that they could go in waves and get back to the ship to prepare our breakfast and do all the other things that the crew does. TV displays around the ship indicated when we were expected to debark. Guests with excursions were to meet in the theater closer to the start of the process. Since my muster was G4 I had a couple of hours so I headed to the Solarium Bistro for a buffet breakfast. The Bistro is much like the Windjammer for breakfast, self service with open seating. There is an egg station where cooked to order eggs are prepared as you wait. With the two story floor to ceiling windows the Solarium Bistro is a great alternative to the Windjammer for a buffet type meal. That second story seating area is part of the Hooked specialty dining venue.

Day 12 - Land Ho! "Far, We've been traveling far..." Neil Diamond, "America" Sometime around 3am I ventured to the port bridge wing to capture our arrival in Port Canaveral and to North America. Several people would join me, the bridge wings were very popular. We did a quick turn in the mid-port turning basin and backed into the slip for Terminal 1 that Oasis of the Seas uses as her home. Captain Rob expertly brought us in and we gently made contact with the pier. With that we had arrived. Our progress... For the first time on this voyage we were pointing due East. With our arrival complete I went back to bed. I wasn't expected to meet Customs and Border Patrol until late morning so sleep seemed like a good idea.

@CruiseLife72 Thank you for the link. Looks like I'll be booking Voyager for the Jan school holidays then.

My Amazon tags JUST came in the mail today! So excited I spotted them on Pinterest!

I plan to continue the timeline and post more to this thread but the last few days have been quite hectic. More to come... soon.

I just realized I'm way overdue for writing this. But that's good, it gives me a chance to remember what was easily the most amazing meal on my recent sailing on Freedom of the Seas! I booked this dining experience on the Cruise Planner, about 2 months ahead of our sail date, for $89. I got to choose from any night of our sailing, so I chose our third night (second sea day), figuring it would be better to enjoy this on a day when I wasn't completely worn out from a port day excursion. I did not receive a confirmation of this booking when we boarded. Instead, I had a paper delivered to the cabin on Night 2 noting to meet in Bolero's Lounge, where we would all be escorted to the actual table once everyone had arrived. Oddly, the invitation said to dress in Smart Casual style, where the Cruise Planner indicated Formal. I don't know if this was a glitch in the on-board system or if Royal is moving yet another dining venue to less formal wear, but I decided I was going to ignore this and dress as if it were formal night. And it was a good thing, as everyone else who showed up for the meal was also in their fancy dinner best! The experience actually started while waiting for everyone to gather, as we met the gentleman who would be our waiter, sommelier, and host. His name was Mario, and he came out dressed in a very formal charcoal gray suit and white gloves. If this wasn't an indication for everyone attending to be dressed formally, I don't know what is! That made the invitation's suggestion of Smart Casual even more inexplicable. Mario had a tray of champagne glasses waiting for us, and we were welcomed to enjoy a glass while we waited for everyone to gather. As I usually do on events like this, I showed up about 10 minutes early and ended up being the first one there. Mario and I chatted a bit, and he told me his nickname among the crew was "Super Mario" because of all the jobs he has to manage among the dining staff, including his role in the nightly Chef's Table experience. No, he's not that "Super Mario", but they actually do know each other and get along very well. The other guests arrived, and it turned out we were a small group -- only 7 total (I was the only solo guest, as I was never able to convince my younger daughter to join me). Two of the three couples were also from NJ, but much further south than me; the third couple were from Texas. We were told that normally they have between 12 and 15 guests each night, but for whatever reason this particular night had only about half that. Now the second discrepancy from the printed invitation came out – While the invitation said that we would be dining in Giovanni's Table, it turned out that our group was so small that evening that we would be dining in the MDR, on a small balcony towards the top of the staircase that's located between decks 4 and 5. This was kind of amusing, since we had the My Time dining folks on deck 5 and several of them walked down the stairs and past our table to leave; we got more than a few stares as they looked us in our finery and dining on food that was definitely not the same cut as what they had on their menus. I'm undecided if I preferred actually eating in the MDR, with the elegant decor all around us that I felt fit the theme of the night better, or if it would have been a little better to eat in Giovanni's just for a chance at fewer bystanders walking by. The view of the MDR from our private table / balcony, taken after the meal had ended Speaking of menus, we had our planned menu for the evening waiting for us at our places: We were told by Mario that the order of the menu was being adjusted slightly, so as to work better with the order in which the wines were being served. It was also explained to us that the menu was a little misleading in terms of the Entree selection, as there were really only two choices; the branzino or the filet mignon. The Truffle Tagliatelle was a Pasta course that would be served before the entrees, and have its own wine pairing. Finally, Mario pointed out the dessert – Yes, you're reading that right; we were going to be served the same dessert that is offered in Wonderland on the Quantum and Oasis class ships! All of us were super-excited when we saw this! Our scallop carpaccio was the only course served without a wine pairing, as it was intended as a palate cleanser. It was absolutely delicious, and as we ate the chef came out to tell us about the dish: what carpaccio meant (a dish of raw meat or seafood that was sliced very thinly), how the dish was prepared, and why each ingredient was chosen / how it enhanced the desired flavors; this would be repeated for each course, and I was really wishing my younger daughter was there as I know she would have absolutely loved this facet of the experience. Next up was the salad, a Maine lobster salad served with hearts of palm of and pineapple, and paired with a Chardonnay named Ausièrres Blanc. I never would have thought that pineapple and lobster would work, but it did and very well! And the Chardonnay was also very good; it's actually one of the few varieties of white wine that I like. Next was our soup course. This was a smoked tomato soup that had been in the smoker literally overnight; the soup actually smelled like barbecue sauce, the smoke flavor was so strong! It was served with a crouton, a slice of fresh parmesan, micro greens, and creme fraiche; the wine pairing was as rosé wine named Whispering Angel. All of us were quite surprised that a mildly flavored, more fruity rosé would be paired with something as bold and strongly flavored as this soup; many of us asked how the wine would not be overpowered by the soup, but Mario assured us that it would balance surprisingly well. And wouldn't you know it, he was right! I'm not a real fan of rosé wines, but this worked remarkably well and the wine itself was quite palatable for me. And the soup itself was amazing! Every one of us was gushing to Mario about how great it tasted; it may have smelled like barbecue sauce from the intense smoking, but the flavor was not at all overpowering, just this rich and intense flavor of the roasted tomato blending beautifully with the smokiness. We all were wishing there was some way to get some to take home and enjoy after our trip. Next we had our pasta course, a truffle tagliatelle. The pasta was freshly made, and the black truffles gave it a really distinctive flavor; not the same as truffle oil, though similar; it was much more intense and I found I much preferred it. The butter was very light, just enough to keep the pasta from sticking. And it was served with what was my favorite wine of the evening – a Tuscan red named Lucente LaVite. I ended up having 3 glasses of this! Next, our main entree was served. I chose the branzino, along with about half of the table, and it was served with a Pinot Grigio named Danzante. This white I wasn't as fond of, but the branzino was quite good. I'd never had it before, and the main reason I ordered it is because of all the seasons of Master Chef that I'd watched, where the restaurant takeover episode would have the contestants serving a branzino appetizer; I wanted to know what the heck this fish tasted like that was such a standard! ? Those who ordered the filet mignon had their entree paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon named Sequoia Grove. Each of us was allowed to try the other's wine to see how we liked it; I've never been a fan of Cab, and I found this one to be no different. I don't know what it is about that variety vs other reds, but I haven't yet found one that I don't wrinkle my mouth at after the first sip. Finally, it was time for dessert. Before we were served, Mario poured each of us a small glass of a late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc named Errazuriz. This was definitely a dessert wine, very sweet and not something to have with an earlier course. With the wine poured, each of us had a plated chocolate globe placed in front of us; not one who knew what this dessert was failed to take a "before" picture: Mario then went around the table with a gravy bowl filled with melted caramel, which was poured over the chocolate until the surprise inside was revealed. And again, not one of us who knew was this dessert was failed to have our phones out, ready to take video as our turn came to pass: We all agreed that this was one of the best desserts we'd ever had, whether we'd already gotten to enjoy it on a previous Oasis / Quantum cruise, or if it was the first time we'd had it. And the wine worked very well with this; I will have to remember to see if this wine or a similar one is offered when I sail Anthem in October, as my wife and I agreed we would like to try Wonderland during that trip. After dessert was done, we were allowed to enjoy another glass or two (or three!) of whichever wines we particularly enjoyed. Mario had multiple bottles of each one available, and we all stayed at the table for maybe another half hour while the plates were cleared and our chef came out one final time. We all thanked him heartily for one of the best meals we'd had, and each of us took our photos with him to remember the experience by. Yeah, I definitely look like I've been enjoying the La Volte Toscana by this time! Each of us was presented with a check showing a zero balance, but all of us wrote in an additional tip to cover the service and meal prep that went far above and beyond the price that we paid. I learned afterward that the tip was recorded in the final bill as a charge to Giovanni's Table, which makes sense since that was the originally planned venue. Keep this in mind should you decide to do Chef's Table yourself and also give an extra tip to your waiter and chef. Because believe me, after that meal and the wine, you may not remember doing it by the time you see your final cruise bill! ? That wraps up my review of Chef's Table. This is definitely a must-do experience at least once in your cruising life. And I have to say, the price is unbelievably reasonable considering typical on board prices for high end wines like the ones we were served. The Toscana that I enjoyed so much was over $30 a glass in Vintages, and even when I found it in my local wine store it was over $60 a bottle! Considering we were served 5 different wines, that's at least $90 in onboard pricing right there, considering that not one of the wines we were served would be an "average" wine found on the MDR menu or in the lower-priced section in Vintages; on land it would still have likely been at least $40 or $50 for the wines. And the food itself was easily a $125 affair if I had anything similar at a local land restaurant, keeping in mind that I'd likely have to travel to Manhattan or one of the more popular culinary hubs in northern NJ like Montclair, Ridgewood, or Morristown. For only $89, this meal was an absolute steal and one of the few true bargains I would argue you will find on board without buying a package of some sort. This is true fine dining and And don't feel that you can't bring your kids to this. I know I had asked about this months before my cruise and was told the same, but I want to just offer my own confirmation now. As long you have kids with an adventurous palate or who enjoy gourmet cooking, they'll be fine with this. And while they can't drink the wines offered, as I noted the meal alone is easily worth more than the price you're charged. On the other hand, it also makes for one hell of a date night with your SO if you can arrange for the kids to be left at Adventure Ocean or the nursery.

I'm in! For me, it's the Navigator. But probably after Christmas -- All my funds are going to my Liberty cruise right now! Live like a pauper now, cruise like a king!