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T-2 Packing and stressing out Who? Welcome to the Skis crazy family travels. I'm Mel, married to Mr. Ski and we have 4 kids: DD18 College Ski, DS15 Football Ski, DS12 Soccer Ski and DD7 Cutie Ski. I'm not a great blogger and I'll be without my computer this trip. All updates and pictures will be on my Iphone. I'll try to remember to upload the daily activity sheet and I'll send Matt the Cruise Compasses after the cruise. Where? This sailing will be Independence first regular Caribbean cruise after her TA and the "Bliss" clothing optional cruise. Yes, I have medical grade sanitation wipes to wipe down the stateroom. This 5 night Western Caribbean takes us to Labadee and Falmouth. Why? Why this cruise instead of the amazing group cruise on Symphony also going on this week? I'm having a bit of FOMO but this works better for us. We typically go to WDW every 2 years this week and I just couldn't do it again! WDW is the exact opposite of a relaxing cruise vacation. So in January, I looked at cruises and felt that we got a good deal during a school holiday for 2 connecting Junior Suites. Also, in the mix was College Ski. She wanted to spend some time at home seeing friends. So the 5 night was a compromise. I want my kids to want to vacation with us as we will most likely only be able to do family vacations with everyone for a few more years. What could go wrong? Flying separately on 3 flights over 2 days. Soccer, Cutie and I will fly out tomorrow. Weather looks good. I'm not worried which probably means I should be! And here comes the drama(s). When I booked in January, I knew there was the slimmest chance Mr. Ski and Football Ski would not make the cruise. That slim chance has become a 50-50. DS HS football team is in the quarterfinals (awesome) and if they win Friday night Mr. Ski and Football Ski will not be on the cruise (bummer). I have to root for the win even if that means missing the cruise. If the team loses tomorrow night, they will fly out Saturday morning. A day of the cruise flight and it would be horrible to lose and then miss the cruise due to a flight delay. Next, College Ski is in the path of the nor'easter that is hitting today. Hopefully by Friday night, it looks that by tomorrow night it will be dry. This is her first flight by herself to somewhere other than home and school. I've checked the aircrafts entire path for tomorrow and other airlines flights out to FLL. Fingers crossed. Starting to question the decision to take this trip. Too much pre-cruise excitement and I haven't started packing! Speaking of packing, I should start! I'll come back with plans, excursions, etc. It will be my reward for packing. Brothers Osborne "It Ain't My Fault" is my packing theme song!

Day 1: Embarkation Day Once again, I was up early and excited. Since we had to have two, non-adjoining rooms at the hotel, my wife and I had to text each other to coordinate our morning plans and get the girls up and ready for breakfast. Breakfast was really good, one of the better we've found in a European hotel, and we all got filled up for the morning. By the time we got back to our rooms and re-packed our bags, the front desk called and said that our driver was waiting for us downstairs. We were in the van and on the road by 10:00. The drive was very quick to the port, and we were walking into the terminal at 10:20. There was no one in line, and even the photographers were still setting up. We got boarding group 7, and found seats to wait to be called. No sooner had the girls pulled out their iPads to pass the time did the boarding commence. It quickly advanced to group 7, and we went through security and on to the Rhapsody of the Seas by 10:40. I must say I was really impressed with how quickly everything went and how soon we were on board! And thanks to every one who advised getting to the port early! We boarded and were immediately shepherded into the Centrum for the girls to get their wristbands with out muster station on them and we sat down to get our bearings and figure out a plan of attack- still 45 minutes until Windjammer opened! Meanwhile, my wife made friends with an older couple from Canada who were sitting nearby...apparently traveling with 4 girls draws attention- who knew?!? We then headed up to the pool deck and jogging track for a lap around the ship and see what we could see. Granted, I have only sailed out of Barcelona, but I can't imagine a better port to sail from than Venice. Pictures and selfies taken, we headed down to WJ for lunch, and were quite happy with the selection and quality. Following lunch, we went down to the Promenade deck to kill more time before rooms were ready and we could register the girls for Adventure Ocean. I've become a bit of a cruise geek, and have been watching lots of documentaries about the behind the scenes of cruise ships. I also have indoctrinated my girls to watching them with me (so I have more firepower when talking to my wife about future cruises), so they were fascinated watching the loading of provisions and luggage. Right at 1:30, we went down to deck 2 to check out our staterooms, two connecting ocean view rooms on the port side. We met our cabin steward, Yerri from Indonesia, and got him to open up the door between the rooms and told him that we wanted the one room made up for the 4 girls to sleep and the other one just for my wife and I. Yerri was great and had already learned all of our names before we got there, which was a nice touch. At 2:00, we headed up to Adventure Ocean to get the 3 younger girls registered. We had be preparing the girls that the kids club on this ship would be a lot different than on the Disney Magic and to try to temper their expectations, but spoiler- we shouldn't have worried about that. From there we went to the Roam the Rhapsody presentation in the theater, where I won one of the raffles: a soda package! In my opinion, that was the best giveaway of the presentation. Plus, I won on a raffle ticket that was left over from the previous talk that some guy handed me on the way out of the theater. After the presentation, we went back to our cabins to find our bags outside, so we quickly changed for dinner, and headed up to the top deck to watch the sail away from Venice. I said it before- leaving Venice at sunset was worth the price of the cruise. Once we passed St Mark's Square, we hustled down to the MDR for dinner, only getting there about 5 minutes late. Dean, from the Philippines, was our server, and he was great all week. The rest of the evening was wandering the ship, letting the girls go to AO and the oldest to check out the teen club (turns out only she and 2 other teens showed up all week, from Australia of all places, but they became good friends), and watching the Welcome Aboard show. The show was fine, but after the elaborate Broadway-style productions on DCL, kind of a let down, and I thought the entertainment was a bit inconsistent across the week. Since the show let out at 11:30, we were all ready for bed after that, fortunately, our first port call wasn't until 1:00 the next afternoon.

Day 4 - Falmouth Not a whole lot to report today, and I didn't really take too many pictures. Today we were in port in Falmouth. We woke up a little later, and headed to Windjammer for breakfast. Unless I am missing a section of the restaurant, the Windjammer on Majesty is much bigger. Food was ok, nothing great to report. We miss having all of the assorted pastries to eat. Then it was up to AO for Virginia, and Abby and I headed off the ship. In Falmouth we mainly just walked around a little bit. We hit up a shop to get some coffee and Havana Club rum. I was going to get some cigars as Casa del Habano, but I thought I remembered a discussion that the one in Cozumel was better. After some more walking around it was back onto the ship. Disney Fantasy was in port with us today, and Abby commented that all of the kids in port from that cruise look like they had been brainwashed, and were walking around like zombies... I can't say I disagreed with her. Definitely a little "cult-ish". Back on board was a light lunch at Park Cafe, then to the thermal spa for a while to relax. After that we spent some time in a cantilever hot tub, before getting Virginia and getting cleaned up for the night. Tonight's entertainment was "Oasis of Dreams". The story line must have been from an LSD filled dream, because I could not follow it at all. However, I will say that the athleticism on display is absolutely amazing. This was an all new cast, and it was their first performance. I could see some hesitation, but it was still amazing. We had seen some of the divers on the beach at Labadee, and at least one had an Olympic Rings tattoo, so I think it's great for those athletes to have something to do, get paid, and still practice their sport. Virginia does swimming and gymnastics at home, and we've talked about starting her in diving after she turns five. We haven't mentioned this to her at all, and after the show, we asked her what she though. Her response: "I want to be a swim-gymmer!" I guess that means we're heading for diving lessons. After that, we grabbed some pizza for her, and then took her to AO for Pirate Night. Abby and I had reservations at Giovanni's. We rode the Rising Tide a few times before our dinner, and then prepared for some Italian. We had the plank to start, and it was ok. Nothing as good as the ones in Jamie's look. For pasta, we had the bucatini bolognese and the tagliatelle carbonara. Both were amazing. I preferred the tagliatelle. It was cooked perfectly, and seasoned very nice. For entrees, I had the osso bucco, which was very tender and flavorful. Abby had the filet, and we both believe it was better than the filet at Chops. It seem more tender, and a little more flavorful. It's splitting hairs, but I would go back to Giovanni's for the filet before I went to Chops. Plus, everything else was seasoned much better in Giovanni's. For dessert, we split the tiramisu and the chocolate torte with vanilla gelato. The tiramisu was ok, but the torte was amazing. Dessert edge goes to Chops, but just slightly. Then it was up to AO to get Virginia, and head to bed for an early night. Day 5 is a sea day, formal night, and we have 2 shows scheduled to go see, Come Fly with me and the Ice show.

Because I'm lazy and cheap.

To be fair, let me say that my agent will always check my fares when a new sale comes along to see if I will save any money BUT she does not (nor do I expect her to) check daily to see if there has been a random price fluctuation. It would be virtually impossible for any agent to do that. There have been many times when I have found a random fair reduction and contacted Michelle. She has always responded very promptly to let me know how the change would affect my fare. Sometimes it works out to be a real savings but more often it does not. So, if you are looking for someone to check every day to see if your fare could possibly be reduced, I think you will be sorely disappointed. No agent has the time to do that for every client and every cruise. If, on the other hand, you have an agent who is not responsive, then I say find a new one. Even travel agents have personal lives !! ...so it is possible that something in the "real world" can affect an agent's responsiveness but if it is a behavior that is repeated then it's time to find someone new. Just remember that YOU are your best advocate and NOBODY is going to care more about finding price reductions than YOU. For some people, saving a little money isn't worth the requirement to track prices every single day (sometimes more than once ?) and then there are those of us who make an obsession out of checking prices and we are a TA's worst nightmare !!

One of the coolest things I've done on a ship involves the bathrobes. January of 2007 on the Carnival Legend was Ships and Dips 1 which was the Barenaked Ladies Cruise. One morning an announcement came as an invitation to go to our staterooms, remove all clothing, put on the robe, and report to the Lido Deck. With robes on, 700 of us were staged for a photo. the band was there too. After about 10 minutes to set the whole thing up, we were told on the count of 3, drop the robes. You can still find the "Barenaked as Sea" photo on the internet. We were naked for about 5 seconds, and now 700 people I will never see again were part of one of the coolest things ever. You can check it out.

There's a gym on the ship? ? That's a lot of wasted space that could be used for more food venues ?

The Forgotten Thought – Drink Package One thing I meant to talk about in my final thoughts and totally forgot about was the whole drink package thing. Specifically, was it worth it? I had never meant to buy it, figuring a five night sailing with an overnight port day where I might not be drinking on the ship at all might not be the best conditions for the package. And when I first looked back on it after getting home, I thought that buying it just because of the $42/night sale price was a mistake. I was feeling massive pressure to drink more the last two nights because of the fact that there was no bar option at Wonderland, so I ended up drinking hardly anything that day, exactly as I had thought might happen. But after working out the breakdown of what I really needed to "break even" every day on another thread, based on that $42/night, I've since realized that I wasn't ever "behind" on the package. What did I need? At $13 covered per drink, and everything alcoholic I had on board being that much or more, it worked out to one cappuccino and 3 cocktails (or glasses of wine) a day; that's one more alcoholic drink a day than I typically have at home. After going through my daily tally, I was actually ahead by four cocktails ($52) at the end of the trip, all of them from the last two nights. My worries about that were totally unfounded, and that pressure was all my own doing from psyching myself out. So, the drink package was totally worth it. I could have skipped out on those two extra cocktails that I felt I had to have each of the last two days, drank at my typical vacation level (including my daily cappuccinos and the odd OJ), and been totally fine. Will I buy it again, given I'm going back next year? It seems like $50 is the lowest people have been reporting so far for 2019 drink package sales. If I can get a rate at or slightly below it, I think I will do it again so I have that part of the trip paid in advance. The extra $8 per day would translate to a second cappuccino (which I was already having most days) and a couple of bottles of water, or one premium beer. I'd be OK with just the one extra cappuccino and leaving a few dollars on the table each day. Considering I typically indulge the most on embarkation day, I'd likely take care of any "gap" on day one and have nothing to worry about anyway.

So, who at your table is going to say anything?

To relax and see my family in the Carribean.

My wife and I cruise for a few reasons, the biggest being we get to disconnect from the world. We work crazy hours being in our late 20s trying to grow our careers, so a week without cell phones or the internet is pure heaven. We also love getting to explore multiple locations in one trip, we are trying to identify as many places we would want to do a long term land vacations in the future. Another big reason is we love food and drinking. We live in Charlotte, NC which has a heavy social culture around bars and drinking, so a cruise gives the same environment along with lots and lots of food.

Because I can.

on loan when returned went in a container to go to the ships cleaners but guest services said if I liked some or all I could keep it

Umm...have you seen some of the live blogs? Obviously, many of us snap away ?

I will solo dine even with my husband is with me on the cruise. I like to take my time and have an awesome time.

For us it's simple.....you only have to unpack once to visit multiple destinations and the only decision we have to make is where do we want to have dinner.

For me who has yet to cruise ( 11 days and counting) it's ticking a few things off the bucket list. Always wanted to go on a cruise, visit the caribbean, travel in a submarine and try some Caribbean Malboro while sitting on a beach listening to Bob Marley ? so thought i may as well do as many as i can in one go.

For my wife and I it is about the entire experience. We love the entire cruising routine. We love waking up in the morning and laying in bed watching the morning show to see what all is going on throughout the day. We love choosing between a great buffet or full service breakfast in the MDR and then just showing up and eating with no hassle or reservation. We love choosing whether we want to relax by the pool all afternoon while listening to steel drum music or participate in activities such as waterslides, rock climbing, surfing simulators, or escape rooms. Even with all that goes on during the day it is the nights that we love the most. We love being able go out to eat for a nice dinner with excellent service and order anything we want on the menu without worrying about the bill, then go to a Vegas quality show, and then end the night dancing or just relaxing at a nice bar listening to live music. These are all things we really enjoy on land, but to do it often is incredibly expensive. The value proposition cruises offer for us, especially with the quality of entertainment on Royal Caribbean, is unbeatable. Even if we didn't ever get off of the ship I would consider it an ideal vacation. But what really puts it over the top is the fact that we get to visit multiple countries all without dealing with multiple flights and hotel check-ins. We love to research the ports before the cruise and then rent a vehicle and explore them on our own when we can. To me there's nothing like driving down a Caribbean coastline on a scooter or in a Jeep with the top down checking out all the hidden beaches or authentic restaurants. We love eating the food and finding the spots that are unique to the port. Sometimes we also love just heading to an all inclusive resort for the day and just relaxing with unlimited food and drinks. I think sometimes cruising gets a bad reputation from people who have never experienced it as a really touristy thing. It can be that if you want it to be, but it can also be the ultimate adventure. It is the most versatile and affordable vacation there is. Nothing even comes close to it in my opinion.

Well, I certainly think that @twangster has fully answered that question, no further replies needed! ?

Since the 2020 summer Europe itineraries will be released soon, what are your predictions for which ships will be where? Feel free to add you own suggestions, but here’s mine: Jewel of the Seas (replacing Serenade) departing Copenhagen and Stockholm Brilliance of the Seas (replacing Vision) departing from Barcelona (12 nights) Vision of the Seas (replacing Brilliance) departing from Amsterdam Allure of the Seas (replacing Oasis) departing Barcelona (7nt. cruises) Liberty of the Seas (replacing Jewel) departing Rome (7nt. cruises) ^^seems feasible if Oasis moves to Galveston. Let me know what you think!

Thought it would be fun to see the different reasons why people choose to cruise. For me, I just love being on a ship out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but water surrounding me. It gives me a sense of freedom and relaxation. For you is it about the ports, the ship, the food? Look forward to seeing what gets everyone excited about cruising.

I agree with Raye. From what I have read, and heard from others, there will not be.

@twangster my goal is to be able to cruise as much as you some day. And maybe even be able to do some awesome blogs as well. I’m no photography buff, so I know my pictures won’t ever stack up, but hopefully I can provide great insight to others some day. Your blogs have been very knowledgeable and I learn something awesome about the ships and ports when reading them. Hopefully you know people truly appreciate that, and I hope to be able to provide that as well some day.

First and foremost unplug, unplug, unplug. We are the type that don’t want the internet package, we love the feeling of turning off our phones and no distractions from emails or searching the web. Just me and the wife and lots of fun.

We love to cruise for several reasons. 1. Top reason: Sea days and being surrounded by nothing but water. - where else can you find such spectacular views all day long from no matter where you are on the ship. 2. The ability to be totally unplugged. - We never get the internet packages. When we sail away from embarkation port, our phones go off. It gives us time to unwind, relax and really focus on each other. 3. The variety of activities - There is always something for everyone and unlike other vacation spots, no one feels like they have to do the "family" thing all the time. It's okay to go our separate ways for certain activities and then come together to enjoy other activities together. 4. Ability to visit so many different locations. - Typically on a vacation, you go to one place and explore that area. With cruising, you get to visit 3, 4, 5 or more locations on one vacation. Those locations usually include different cultures and history at each port. 5. Did I mention the views of the ocean?? ?

When you get on board, you can visit Guest Services and put however much cash you would like on your account. We typically do anywhere from $200 to $300, at the most at one time. If you spend your balance, you can go back and add more to your account. During the cruise, you can visit Guest Services to get a printout of your spending or you can view it on your cabin TV. On your last night, you will need to visit Guest Services and settle your account. They will give you back anything not spent, in cash. Just make sure you are done spending for your trip. We always choose to go this route, as when you use a credit or debit card, they can put a hold on your account that can take up to 7 to 10 days after the cruise to be removed. Plus, an added bonus, we never overspend on our vacation.

St George (Dad's name) and Horseshoe Bay did it for us. My Dad took his picture by the sign St George. Thank you for your awesome blog.

We are late 50's and never thought of cruising until this year - and only at the recommendation of my in-laws who had never cruised. We'll be doing 4 cruises in 13 months including the first one. Why? 1. Multiple cities/ports in one trip without having to pack and unpack 2. Relaxing on a balcony as the sun comes up or goes down - nothing better 3. Don't have to cook, clean, etc. 4. We always rented houses at the beach in NJ or SC and cruising is cost-competitive especially when you consider (3.)

Day 3 After a nice sea day to start the journey, and get used to where everything is on Oasis, we docked in Labadee for the day. We woke up a little later, and headed to Johnny Rockets for breakfast. There was no wait, and we started eating after we were docked, so by the time we were done, it was easy to head down the stairs to the gangway, and go immediately off of the ship. Breakfast was very good, and I wish I could bring a cook home with me to show people how to properly cook over-easy eggs. As we were disembarking, Virginia saw her favorite teacher from AO, and had to give her a hug. It makes it very comforting to know that she's having such a great time in AO. We had a beach bungalow booked for Labadee, so we headed for the water taxi to Columbus Cove. We had just missed it leaving, so it was a short wait for the next boat. A short ride and walk later, we were at our bungalow. We spent half as much on the bungalow as we would have a cabana, and I think it was perfect. If we were in a real suite, and had access to barefoot beach, I would probably do that, but the bungalow was perfect. The beach was not very busy, it was near the food and bathrooms, and there was great service. Plus, we had 6 bottles of water waiting for us when we got there. We had bungalow 3 out of 8 or 10 total. Very nice and relaxing. After plenty of relaxing and swimming, we had lunch. It was typical BBQ food, and did the trick. They had Coconut Ranger Cookies, so Abby and I were happy. Back into the ocean for more fun, then it was time to head back. We took the tram back to the ship. We thought about walking, but we were glad we didn't. Nothing in the artisan market looked of interest to us, and we could tell they were a little aggressive in their sales. It would have been tough to keep Virginia from wanting something. Through security and back on the ship in no time, so we headed upstairs for a nap and shower. After a nap and shower, I had to print some documents for work, and I wasn't sure where the printers were, so I went and asked Guest Services. While I was there, I asked about CK, and they gave me a weird look as to why I even asked if JS could eat there. They gave me the number for the manager, since it was after 4 pm. I printed my documents, then went back to the room. We were a little tired from the day, so we thought we'd just pop onto the Boardwalk and eat at Sabor. The food was excellent, and the service was great also. We had a little wait between apps and entree, but that helps my stomach digest, so I was ok with it. There was no wait to sit down, we just walked right up with no reservation. It is amazing to me that with this many people on board, it does not seem any more congested than we were on Majesty. We have had very little waiting in lines, or claustrophobia moments. No pictures of food from Sabor, but we had the beef empanadas, calamari, and chicken stuffed jalapenos as "small plates". They should change that moniker, as they are by no means small. The calamari was some of the best I've ever had. Abby even ate it, and she hates calamari. We also had some guacamole. Neither of us are guac fans, but this was pretty good. Abby got the sweet and spicy marg, and it was quite good. For our mains, I had the spicy chicken and pulled pork tacos. The chicken was good, but not very spicy. The pork was too fatty for me. We asked if they could do just a plain beef for Virginia, and they were able to. Abby had a quesadilla. The tortillas, made on-site, are very good. After dinner, we were stuffed, but the waiter had promised Virginia a special treat if she was good, so he brought her some churros. Of course, mom and dad had to try one also, and they were very good. There was a small wait between apps and entrees, as I mentioned, but nothing I would complain about. When the waiter brought the check, he apologized for the wait, and had taken 20% off of the bill. He also had not charged us for Abby's margarita, even though she doesn't have a drink package. I tipped heavy, since he was very good with Virginia. Then it was off to do some shopping on the boardwalk, and another trip around the merry-go-round before we took V up to AO for the night. While she was there, Abby and I made another donation to the casino. Someone hit a jackpot on slots while we were in there for $19,000. She was very excited. What struck me as odd was that they came and paid it to her in cash. In land casinos, it would be in a check. I'm not sure I'd want to have $19k in cash, but I guess I'd just be too happy to care. It was amazing watching the stacks be handed to her on the casino floor. We wandered up to the Focus gallery and checked out some shots from the week so far, and ended up purchasing the all-inclusive package. On Enchantment, we will stick with just a couple of photos. Then it was back up to AO to get Ginny, where it had been Superhero night, and we ended up picking up Wonder Woman! Then it was off to sleep for our big day in Falmouth. -Again, it is amazing how much room there is on the ship, and how little we feel crowded. -All of the staff has been great with Virginia, and she is having an absolute blast. She's definitely hooked on cruising, and hopefully the post-cruise depression isn't too bad. -After breakfast today (Day 4), I went by CK and got in. I spoke with a manager to get reservations for dinner. Everything they have available conflicts with shows we have booked, but she went ahead and put us in, and said she would call us if they got an earlier time on Day 5. I asked her about the cruise compass not saying anything about Sea Class, and she said that must be a typo, and she would have it corrected immediately. If I would have pushed harder earlier in the trip, I'm sure we would have been able to get reservations. It was never the main reason we booked the JS, so I didn't push too hard, and it definitely has not impacted our experience. Hopefully we get to try it. If not, we can go on the Anthem GC, or next time we're on Oasis.

Nice question, for me it has to do with a few things. 1. Being able to go to multiple places and not have to drive. 2. Being able to eat almost 24 hours a day and not have to pay for it or worry about how much it costs, if not doing specialty restaurants. 3. Being able to relax and hang out at the pool/hot tub.

According to Wikipedia, the Quantum 5 Ship is to be released in 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum-class_cruise_ship

Wifi-calling and texting are features of your cellular provider and smartphone. For example with TMobile on my iPhone having activated wifi-calling at home on my home wifi it works on the ship over Voom. It's important to use it at least once at home prior to sailing. For help with that go to a store for your cellular provider and ask them to help you activate it. As far as purchasing Voom it doesn't matter if you book it using the cruise planner or through your agent. While I book my cruises using a travel agent, I make my own cruise planner purchases.

Day 2 I'm realizing that I'm not all that great at remembering to take pictures... I'm also realizing that it would probably be easier with a real camera, as I have conditioned myself not to be on my phone much, so it's hard to remember to get it out to take pictures... Either way, today was our first sea day. I was concerned about having the 7:45 am Character Breakfast since we had a late night last night, however my body woke up at 6 am anyway. Also, we are deck 6 aft, and the breakfast was in Silk, so just one floor down. If you have young kids, it was definitely worth it. The breakfast menu is the same as a standard MDR breakfast, but with catchy names for the kids. It was $10 per adult, but free for kids. We waited in the waiting area of Silk, and then were seated at our own table, with the waiter from Solarium Bistro from the night before. After placing our order, they had all of the kids come up and dance to shake out the wiggles, and then three characters came out individually. We had Shrek, Puss in Boots, and Princess Fiona. After each character came out and danced, they came around to each table and took pictures. Virginia expressed her desire to not have us in any pictures. We also learned she is scared of Shrek. After that, it was up to Adventure Ocean for the morning session. Virginia has had a lot of fun every time she's gone. There's been no crying when we drop her off, and it takes some coercing to get her to come with us. We're very impressed with all of the staff and programming. While Virginia was in AO, Abby and I had our mud scrub scheduled as part of the Ultimate Thermal Pass. While I'm not normally a Spa type of guy, it was $199 for the 2 of us to have the thermal suite all week, or $250 to add a 1 hour private mud scrub and a 1 hour private jacuzzi. We took the upsell. While very weird at first, I will admit that the mud scrub was very relaxing. They take you to a private room, where you use multiple levels of exfoliant. Then you apply the mud mask all over your body and enter a steam room. The steam room has 2 seats that face each other, and after about 20 minutes of steam, water starts to fall from the ceiling so you can get completely clean. Once finished, you apply moisturizers. My skin felt amazing afterwards, and it was nice to have a relaxing 60 minutes with just my wife and I. I'm not sure I would clamor to do it again, but I would think about it. After getting cleaned up, we picked up Virginia and had lunch at Wipeout Cafe. We figured it would be less crowded, and we could eat quick and head to the pool. The water in the pool was extremely cold, but after doing the circular wave pool, we went to a hot tub and felt much better. Then it was time for a nap, so Abby and V took a rest while I went back to the casino, and proceeded to give them back what I borrowed from them the previous night. I played for quite a while, but ran into some pretty lousy hands at UTH. I went for a walk around the jogging track, then thought I'd go back up to CK and see if I could rouse anyone. I knocked on the door, and two people in the suite lounge just looked at me through the crack, then turned their back. I guess no riff-raff mingling with the suite guests. I plan to go back up Day 3 around 5:30 and see if I can get reservations, although the Day 3 Cruise Compass still lists it as Star, Sky, and Pinnacles. After that adventure, it was back to AO to pick up Ginny and get ready for formal night. While we don't go full CLR style, we like to get a little dressed up. Before we went back to the room, I took Ginny to Sorrentos to get some pizza, and we just happened to run into one of Ginny's favorite characters. Night made, we headed up to get changed. Again, our cabin is in a great location. We got changed and were on the promenade around 5:30 to get pictures, with very little lines anywhere. Later in the evening it was a much longer wait. We took our pictures at several locations, and then went back up to change Virginia into regular clothes for AO. Another quick stroll through the promenade, picture with Captain Goran, whom Ginny had already met earlier in the day at AO, then time for a kid free date night. Dinner tonight was in Chops. This was our first Chops experience, and I was very excited. With my current diet, I am limited on red meat and carbs, so I was saving myself for the filet. It was absolutely amazing. Better than a lot of land-based restaurants. The service was amazing. None of my pictures turned out very well, except for the Red Velvet cake that we had to get for @Sweety. Abby told me to order, since I "have the inside scoop". I had the peppered bacon app, and she had the crab cake. The bacon was pretty good. The crab cake was on the dry side, and very crumbly. Flavor was nice though. Next was a Caesar salad for Abby, and the mushroom soup for me. The soup could have used a drop of creme fraiche to balance the earthiness of the mushrooms, but was nice. Both of us had the filet for main, and our sides were baked potato, mushrooms, cheesy tots, and mac and cheese. Baked potato was the best, as we seasoned it ourself. The rest of the sides suffered from lack of seasoning. This must have been common, as the table next to us asked for some sea salt to garnish their sides as well. Service was spectacular however. Dessert was the red velvet cake, and warm apple pie a la mode. Bother were excellent. (I should mention, Abby and I met in culinary school, where we trained to be pastry chefs. Neither of us do this professionally anymore, but we still dabble.) After dinner, we decided to call it a night, pick up Virginia, and head to bed. We had big day at Labadee planned for Day 3 in a beach bungalow.

I got an email from RC telling me my excursion changed days. I emailed my TA and found out there was a port day switch. I guess since the TA booked the cruise she got the port change email but since I booked the excursion through RCCL I got the excursion change email. But I did get an email for it directly unlike yourself.

On our recent Grandeur trip, I found out about a change from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning for my excursion AFTER BOARDING. At least you know well in advance.

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)

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.

Very smart. We will already have one too so it can be a back up though I’m sure it’s also slightly annoying to use. Think I'm going to pack ‘em! All responses ease my mind a bit. Thanks!

Day 8 - Part II Dinner was at Windjammer – well kind of. We were still quite full from Johnny Rockets, so it was more a litte bit of salad and a few desserts. As this is likely our only evening in Windjammer, we did a bit of recon. A bit more choice than TUI Cruises, but overall we’d say they’re on par as TUI has way better gelato. Side notes: 12.6 k steps Do Americans ever use spices on fries and the like? I start to understand your penchant for ketchup and other condiments. No idea what the h*** Aqua Theater is for. If they can’t run a show in the conditions we had today, they’d need perfectly flat seas to do it. Is the Caribbean sea always completely flat or do they just cancel most of the shows? If you see the Starbucks on board, you'll come to the conclusion that being a Starbucks addict is a requirement to get promoted to officer with Royal. Towel animal of the day: peacock (at least I'm certain of that one) More staircase art – I think we’ve got them all now – well, the ones I liked anyway. Finally, the best piece of art on Symphony of the Seas:

Understood. To each his own. I am speaking from first hand experience telling you I have witnessed knife fights, beatings with clubs and shots fired. A tour guide is NOT private security. You are literally up shits creek w/o a paddle unless: A: You carry a lot of cash for bribery. B: Your really lucky (like win the lottery lucky). I can only hope that you are not toting children along for this journey because it can get rough really quick. Don’t let the new road and the Citadel put lipstick on that pig.

Service on Royal Caribbean is exceptional. When I was on Symphony I asked once for a green tea. They don't always have it in Windjammer but the waiter had to go get it from somewhere else on the ship. Took him a long time I thought he forgot about me, but I was surprised when he finally showed up with my cup. That's true dedication! I wish I got his name.

I have been to Cap Haitien when I was in the Military stationed in Haiti, Port-au-Prince, circa 1997, with United States Support Group-Haiti building wells and roads. It is actually a very nice place, in regards to overall Haiti, and the Haitian people are a really nice lot. All that being said, you can get placed in dangerous situations really fast and the place is prone to political turmoil. One minute it can be calm and the next there are machetes being carried by the crowd. And the problem is unless you understand Creole you won't understand the situation. It can be calm as can be, and you can have an awesome time, with great people; however, there is that one-time, maybe 1 out of a 100, and it can go bad. It's all about calculated risk and only you know your tolerance. And, understand the nearest security is not going to help you unless you pay them too. For perspective, when I was in Cap Haitien I was armed and still felt odd sometimes.

Yes, that's one thing about the stair cases. Always great artwork.

Day 5 Today we again took it upon ourselves to climb the stairs to Windjammer for breakfast. We found seats quite easily – only thing missing was the English Bacon ? Fortunately a staff member overheard hubby telling me that were was turkey bacon instead of English bacon – so he just got some English bacon fixed for us! Wow, that’s dedication and a service level we really don’t have in Germany. Robert, our cabin steward, was also exceptional this morning. As we kept the cabin on don’t disturb after the mayhem we left when preparing for Halloween, we didn’t get a towel animal. So instead of yesterday evening, we got our elephant this morning. The rest of the morning was filled with our usual programme – morning trivia (didn’t win) and pop choir practice. Then it was up the stairs again, this time for some table tennis. We planned to have lunch in El Loco Fresh, but for whatever reason it was closed. So we decided to get some Hot Dogs. I went down the fast (well not really that fast) route – Ultimate Abyss – hubby had to take the stairs because he had the camera with him. We skipped 1pm trivia – let’s face it, we would’ve been quite useless at Game of Thrones trivia. Instead, we did the Royal Heist Puzzle Break in a multinational team (Brits, Belgians, Dutchmen and us). Fortunately, everyone was fluent in English so no language barriers here. I can proudly report that we managed to name the guilty party with about 4.5 minutes to spare. That meant 3rd place for us, although there were no prizes anyway. At least it was good practice for Escape the Rubicon and so much fun! Quite the contrary to progressive trivia, which really isn’t much fun. Riddles, tribands and dingbats are especially difficult when English isn’t your mothertongue and the theme of US-based questions did continue a bit. Pity we had to skip the pub crawl to attend this, but we couldn’t let down our team members. At least it was already part 2 of 3 – we won’t do the second progressive trivia. After trivia we managed to get in some laps on the running track. It’s much warmer now and less wet as the waves really improved over night. Dinner was at Chops Grille – this will be its own post. Had some interesting discussions with hubby while at dinner. When Oasis 5 comes out, we want to do the TA on her (if she moves to the US) – Matt, shouldn’t that be the 2021 group cruise ?? Post-cruise plan is Orlando with Disney and Universal (and whatever else we can manage there) – in 3 years we should easily be thin enough to do all the attractions. The other topic we discussed: we thought about skipping our reservation for the headliner show (Hector is Magic) and try to see 1977 again as we were SO impressed. Unfortunately, we kept our reservation and went there. The magician wasn’t really bad or anything, we just didn’t enjoy it too much. Not our cup of tea – we’ll know next time. We had some drinks at Schooner but called it an early night as Symphony was like a ghost town – probably the Halloween aftermath ? Side notes: 11k steps Pools still drained in the morning – rumor has it they were filled in the afternoon – will check tomorrow

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year and everyyear Morris would say, "Esther, I'd like to ride in that airplane."Esther always replied, "I know Morris, but that airplane ride costs 50dollars, and 50 dollars is 50 dollars."One year Morris and Esther went to the fair and Morris said, "Esther, I'm85 years old. If I don't ride that airplane I might never get anotherchance."Esther replied, "Morris, that airplane ride costs 50 dollars, and 50 isdollars is 50 dollars."The pilot overheard them and said, "Folks, I'll make you a deal. I'll takeyou both up for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and notsay one word, I won't charge you; but if you say one word it's 50 dollars."Morris and Esther agreed and up they went.The pilot did all kinds of twists and turns, rolls and dives, but not aword was heard. He did all his tricks over again, but still not a word.When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, "By golly, I dideverything I could think of to get you to yell out, but you didn't."Morris replied, "Well, I was gonna say something when Esther fell out, but50 dollars is 50 dollars."

Day 3 Today is our last port before the crossing – Malaga. Due to the abysmal weather, we aren’t venturing out. It’s just not worth catching a cold with still more than 3 weeks of vacation in front of us. We’ve already got a trip to Spain on our list, we’ll visit Malaga then. We estimated many people would be on excursions today, so we thought we might give Windjammer a try for breakfast. Brilliant idea, now I’m really sold on Royal Caribbean – they have English bacon! Best breakfast item in the world. While trying to flee from the rain by using the corridors to get from aft to fore, we noticed a lot of halloween decorations on cabin doors. Kind of strange to us, but we really love it. Really looking forward to Halloween with so many Americans – it’s not a big thing in Germany. By the way, I’ve kept my promise – Schooner Bar is my new blogging spot to facilitate hubby’s use of the drinking package. Not that it would be necessary, a quick calculation showed we’d already made up for half of what we paid by the end of day 3. Even if drink fatigue starts some time in the future, we’ll have made the packages pay already (and I’m certain drink fatigue won’t be an issue for hubby ?). After our depressing first try with trivia on day 1(Michael Jackson music quiz – we hadn’t planned on participating but were late finishing our drinks in Boleros and just thought why the h*** not), we gave visual trivia national flags a go. Luckily we teamed up with a couple from Belgium and got 13 out of 15 right –we didn’t even come close to winning. Apparently some people know the flags by heart, including Tonga and Aruba. This was followed by an impromptu surprise trivia – scored 3 out of 15 – no worries, best score was 8 or something. On to the pub quiz where we scored 14 out of 21. At least we’ve learned to take the provided answers with a grain of salt, we’re still not able to prove some of them no matter how much research we do. Guess the use of unsourced wikipedia articles is at an all time high with the cruise director’s team ? Trivia isn’t really a thing on German ships but we like it – even though we sometimes have to resort to leo.org for translation purposes. Doesn’t help much to write down the German answer if the team checking your sheet doesn’t speak the language ? As trivia makes hungry (it’s a sport after all), we headed to Park Café for a light lunch. We really love this venue, especially the create your own salad option and the Kummelweck. With all the heavy rain it was easy to get a seat and you had no lines at all. On to the next trivia in Schooner Bar – unfortunately just the two of us as the venue was packed and we couldn’t find our teammates. I don’t recall our score but short answer is we didn’t win. Schooner still was packed afterwards so we moved to Playmakers for more games of Connect 4 and some IPA. The goal is to try out each IPA available – current favourite is Stone IPA. Fast forward to dinner which was at Jamie’s and will be discussed in its own post. Spoiler alert: dinner again was quite big portions, so we decided to walk some of it off on the running track. Looks like our torture devices handle walking on a moving ship completely differently. We both use Garmin vivoactive3 for torture devices (aka fitness watches) – still hubby’s device recorded not only his movements but also added the ship’s movement – while mine did subtract part of the ship’s movement! Quite unfair if you ask me… looks as if Royal isn’t the only company with a questionable IT department. Highlight of the evening was 1977, our first Royal production show. And wow, we were so amazed. As Twangster already said, it’s difficult to give it the credit it deserves in words or pictures. The drones were so cool, especially from a technical standpoint. Brilliant costumes and stage design and impressive ice skaters if you factor in the movement of the ship. The show might be lacking a storyline, but we didn’t mind one bit! That's a quick change! The end of the show coincided with our passage through the strait of Gibraltar so off we went all the way to the aft on the running track. We were quite surprised that nobody seemed to care but well, each to their own. It was quite a sentimental moment to me as it marks the moment I’m leaving Europe for the first time (if you don’t count one day in Agadir, Morocco on a shore excursion). With that it was time for bed. Spain/GIbraltar Morocco Not sure if it wanted to catch a ride or chase us away? Side note: 13k steps Hubby might have spotted the elusive Twangster bot – we’ll have to wait for his day 3 blog post to be sure. We didn’t want to disturb a few hundred people by shouting across the venue for confirmation ? PS: Was finally so annoyed with the way this board handles uploaded images that I switched to using imgur. At least I can now decide on the correct order of things.

It would be a good idea to make reservations ahead of time. If not, then like any land restaurant, there might be a bit of a wait.

Yes, most definitely. When you get to there just ask for a table for 2. We have never had a problem.

I was close to telling them all sorts of things, but just smiled and let them know I enjoy getting away from everything and disconnecting. I don’t think I look too pitiful, but hey, who knows!! ... I am still undecided, the MDR is fine for solo dining, I just enjoy sharing the experience of a nice dinner. We shall see. I can come up with a slew of remarks as to why I am solo, @twangster, those were some excellent ones!!

Have fun with it. "I'm a really mean person and no one likes me" "They went overboard at the first opportunity" "It was a last minute deal and the cruise only cost me $60. How much did you pay?" "I'm doing research for a blog" - then turn the table and ask them all sorts of questions. Seriously though, I just explain I have a flexible travel schedule and my friends and family do not, which is the truth.