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How would your parents feel about adopting a 48-year old dude and his family? ??

We are having a great time on Grandeur. Today is Tuesday, we left on Saturday (4 days ago) and we still haven’t gotten to our first port yet ! Tomorrow we hit St Croix. Everything but the internet has been great. They rebooted something this morning and the internet is a bit better but it’s still very slow. We’re on our way to Chops for lunch. We’ll be at Chops again for dinner tonite. I hit a straight flush in UTH last night so I am ++$$$. Yippee !!! Merry Christmas to everyone !

Perhaps some of the people in suites think enjoyment of the cruise is a zero sum game....and they can't have full enjoyment if the staff is sharing extras with people ;). I'm not like that.....then again....the concierge is always like "How come you don't come up to the lounge" when I am on board ship ? and I'm always like "ohh too busy" but the real reason is that it is often filled with people who complain about free bread on a cruise ?

With a cup of coffee...that's how I would take it, along with one bite at a time..?

My Parents Gave Me A Cruise For Christmas 7 Night Harmony OTS September 2019 .

The Port of Nassau is tired, run down filthy and not very appealing at all unless you are going on a sanctioned excursion to places like Atlantis or Pearl lsand. I agree that any tourist in any city should be wise in how they explore a new city but when the cruise line is adding an additional warning to its passengers attention should be paid. Nassau is very convenient for cruise ships clearly. I am sure many ships register in the Bahamas as well but I would much rather have an extra day playing at Coco Cay or at sea or even throw in a day trip to Key West than waste a full day stopping at a port that I won't bother leaving the ship for. As long as there is a continuing stream of new passengers with new adventures on their mind I doubt that Royal would consider an itinerary change though. The cinic in me wonders if a letter like this is an intentional statement of the obvious but will push some passengers toward paid for excursions.

How would I take that? With coffee and perhaps a little more marzipan in that stollen! Merry and Happy Christmas! Bah Humbug to the complainers!

My Jan.12 sailing on the Vision had CC replaced by Miami ! I will trade you Miami for Grand Bahama.

A Merry Merry Christmas Everyone.

Oh I Just Heard Now I Get To Be Sailing In A Jr. Suite. Not A Interior. Guess I Did Not Read The Paper All The Way.

did anyone else catch the tweet in the OP that stated 2 days before departure that Royal is moving departure from Tampa to Port Canaveral?? What a logistical nightmare that must be for travelors! 2 days before your departure: Airline tickets - Check! Online Check in done - Check! Airport transfers and/or hotel reservation in place - Check! Dog sitter - Check! Change of port of departure by 128 miles - OMG!

We did a Christmas cruise last year, I have to say that I was a little worried about the same things that you are concerned over. I have to say that I would GLADLY take another! We did a four day to Nassau, and of course CocoCay and back. On Christmas day they had a special dinner, and the menu DEFINITELY was not the typical menu, food was better and absolutely amazing! I have to say that the Christmas spirit was alive and well, I was actually impressed with everything that happened on that ship! I can tell you that we will do another and the only thing holding us back from booking another is the wife is about to start a new job and we are unsure of how her vacation picks will be for the next year or so. We were on Majesty and it was just about sold out, even though it was packed it was not rushed, and it was very well done. I can assure you that once we find out how things work we will be booking another! The food on Christmas Eve wasn't any different than any other day at sea, but as stated the day of it was amazing! If you are on the fence I would highly suggest that you get off the fence and start booking!!?

Day 3 - Labadee After only having 5 hours of sleep the day before I took the liberty of sleeping in, so I wasn’t up and moving until 10. I was out of the room and down to the Windjammer to eat breakfast by 10:15. My mom was the only one there because my grandmother and dad had already eaten and my grandmother’s friend doesn’t eat breakfast. I actually enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer more than I thought I would. I tend to stay away from the Windjammer if at all possible, but my two experiences there so far on this cruise have been great. They had an awesome topping bar for the pancakes which I really enjoyed. Then after breakfast, at 11:30, we all met back up and got off the ship to go to Labadee. We took the tram straight to Adrenaline beach (the last stop) and got a table there right on the edge of the beach. It was 75 and windy so the weather was very pleasant. I took the liberty to catch up on some more sleep, and took a nap on one of the loungers out on the sand. I woke up at 1 and went to grab some food before the buffet closed. There wasn’t a ton of selection for a vegetarian, but the red beans and rice were good. When I got back to the table, only my parents were there and they told me that my grandmother and her friend had already gone back to the ship. We decided to do the same since it looked like it was about to rain. Before getting back on the ship I took a few last pictures. Once back on the ship, I took a quick shower and my parents took a nap. Then my dad and I went to the 3:00 trivia. We got there right at 3 and they were already 4 questions in, so it wasn’t worth participating. It was a bit frustrating that they started early, but we were fine to just sit and listen. We would’ve missed most of the questions anyways lol. After trivia I went to find my friends and hung out with them until 5. Then I went back to my room to get ready for dinner. Since we had a little time before dinner, we finally got around to putting our Christmas decorations up. Tonight at dinner we were finally able to find a dish that pleased my grandmother. I don’t know how our waiter managed to do it, but he convinced her to get the crab cakes for an appetizer and she loved them. Everyone else, except for my mom, also got the crab cakes and really liked them. They said they were different but very good. My mom got the burrata salad for her appetizer and said it was one of the best salads she had ever gotten. I stuck with my kids meal and just got carrots with ranch. For the main course, I finally ventured away from the kids menu and got the ravioli. It was delicious. My mom got the roasted beef loin, my dad got the jerk chicken, and my grandmother and her friend got the roasted pork loin. They all thought their meals were good also. Then for desert I went back to the kids menu and got the dark chocolate brownie again. It wasn’t as good as last night, but it was still fine. My mom, grandmother, and her friend all got the apple pie again which they enjoyed. My mom also got the soufflé, but she wasn’t a fan. My dad got the no sugar added desert again, so tonight, that was the strawberry trifle. He thought it was pretty good. Here’s the menu: After dinner we rushed to go see the show at 7. My dad was right; the Absolute Journey tribute band was spectacular. The lead singer looked just like Steve Perry (I know Gregg Rolie came first, but I still consider Steve the lead singer) and they sounded just like Journey. After the show, I stuck with my normal routine of just hanging out with friends until 1. Some other notes: •The WiFi was great the first two days, but it’s become awful today, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. I’ll edit the post when I get back home and add the rest of them. •I got to see the iconic I-95 today. •I finally got around to taking some pictures of the decorations on the ship tonight. Although the ship is a bit worn, the decorations are still beautiful. (I’ll post pictures of them when I get better WiFi) •The time is going one hour forward tonight. Little disappointed that that means one last hour of sleep lol. •Labadee has some really nice Christmas decorations. It was the most it’s felt like Christmas time since I’ve been on the ship.

I got the infamous email last night that on our February cruise on Grandeur, The Perfect Day at CocoCay is experiencing a "minor delay", so going to Grand Bahama instead. Anyone else get this? You really just have to laugh at this point. Oh well, you're still on a cruise! Merry Christmas to all!!

Wishing a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous 2019 to all. And happy cruising!

??@JLMoran did you just make that all up?! Honestly, I think it might just be Newbie and Advance Member. There definitely isn't a "Master"...I'm still laughing! I even checked @WAAAYTOOO's and @tiny260's ranking to make sure.

If people are wigged out about the "lower class" getting a few pieces of coffee cake on Christmas Day, they really need to get their priorities straight. Merry Christmas to you!

I think you have Newbie rank until you've made around 50 posts. Then you get rank 2 (I forget that's called) until around 250 or maybe 500 posts, at which point you hit the top rank (Master?). Any unusual titles you see, like "Oasis Class Denier", "Stubborn Canadian Scorpio", "Kraken Absconder", "Grandeur Poobah", or "Wants to be the Next Michael Poole" are all honorary titles given by @Matt to frequent posters who've become well known here. (and got on his very good side ?)

Merry Christmas all.

Thanks. On Allure I never went there even though I planned to go. So I wasn't sure of the layout. To many places to explore on Allure in a week. No worries about the lack of smoothies on Grandeur. All of that is just window dressing for the main attraction of the cruise.

It’s good to be the king!!!! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!!!

Wow This Week There Were A Lot Of Ships Missing Ports Due To Storms. Here Are Some Tweets From @James Van Fleet.

Passports...

Merry Christmas to everyone from the beautiful Lady G.

I have to laugh, they tell you to go to Cruise Planner and pick your excursions for Grand Bahama, it's listed now on the itinerary, but ALL of CocoCay is still listed, not one tour of Grand Bahama! Way to go RC!!

We are still going to CocoCay.

It probably is, but I wanted to see what the hype was about! LOL. From reading online, I think I would like Labadee better.

I'm glad someone finally said it !!

Exactly! And IMO, CocoCay is overated.

I’m honestly not a huge fan of the flow rider so I don’t know if I’ll make it over for that. I’ll try to, though!

Everyone Have Great Christmas And A Happy New Years.

Holidays cruises are very festive. I will be going on a New Year's cruise this Saturday. The food, Christmas trees, carolling, and favors

Wishing you all a white, sandy beach Christmas and a joyous new year!

Happy new year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays to everyone, hope everyone stays warm and safe.

Thanks @Skid Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!

Same to you @Skid and everyone else here! Enjoy and cherish the holidays with those you love!

Happy Holidays!!!

Thanks, @Skid! And the same for you!

The only ship that has had nasty drinking water was Navigator on our Thanksgiving Cruise. After the second day it tasted fine. Usually the ships water is very good.

They have those at just about all of the bars on board the ship. Just ask for a Kraken Lava Flow, sit down, sip and enjoy!

If possible, I would not wait around for the next KSF sale. Just book now and re-price later. The longer you wait, the higher chance you run of choice of cabins running out and there is always a chance that a sailing could max out on lifeboat capacity and not allow more than 2 in a cabin. There is no further discount for the 5th passenger. They way Royal's pricing works for multiple passengers in the same cabin is that Passenger 1&2 pay the higher amount and then all additional passengers pay the same reduced amount. So the 5th passenger (if sailing in the same cabin) would just pay the same amount as 3&4.

I have no ill will against Nassau, but out of the Bahamas ports my favorite stop is CocoCay, we cruise in March and am looking forward to the stop there, I can assure you that when we stop in Nassau this time we will be staying onboard Anthem (for the first time) and enjoying everything that she has to offer. My only issue with Nassau is that too much stuff is tied into Atlantis and its way too expensive because of that. We have been to Nassau at least 5 times already so we have more than enough souvenirs, and are looking forward to being able to relax with fewer people on the ship! ?

Just booked a 10 day England and Ireland cruise on Reflection. But its not until May 2020. Snagged a Sky Suite facing aft on Deck 12. We love to sit on the balcony and watch the wake.

@DocLC re: Bucee's... we love Bucee's! We're getting one in our town, so we can stop on our way out and again in Madisonville for refills. ?