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I am shocked...just got an e-mail of our successful bid. We were below the waterline with an "Ocean View" on Deck 2. I low balled (as low as I could bid) for a balcony at $150ea...Shazzam!, we're now on Deck 6 with a balcony. And for less than we would have paid if we were to book it straight up (for the particular cruise, Feb 10 on the FOS).

I just told my wife last night that my #1 goal on our cruise coming up is not to eat myself into a food coma. I have never successfully gone on a cruise and not been miserable at some point from eating too much. Ordering multiple entrees/appetizers combined with sugary drinks is a terrible combination for me, but also way too delicious to pass up. The pain is real but the food is real good. But this cruise is the cruise that I'm going to control myself. Hopefully. Wish me luck... Side Note: We purchased a 5 night dining package since this is our first Oasis class cruise. I'm screwed.

Rumor has it there's a new guy on the block....everybody calls him Super Twangster! ?

Day 7-Nassau I love sunrise and sunset at sea, so again I was up on deck to watch us sail into Nassau. I had signed up for a tour through Cheryl’s Bahamas Taxi and Tours for a 3 hour Forts and Queen Staircase Tour. She had told us where to meet our tour guide and the time. Once off the ship we made our way through the port, after wandering around in circles for a few minutes, I finally asked for directions and we made it out of the port area and to our meeting place. For those who have never been to Nassau the first challenge was finding how to get out of the port area. I saw a closed man gate that was guarded and finally the second time around it was open and people were going thru. The meeting spot was the water fountain; it’s to the left when you get out of the port gated area. This spot is where several people picked up their tours. Our guide was on time although he did have to make three loops around before he could pull over and stop long enough for us to get in.

Here are a few parting shots leaving Nassau. I understand that this one house belongs to Nicholas Cage, does anyone know why it fell into disrepair?

Current view sailing towards San Juan Just before noon (ship time -4 GMT) pilot was picked up.

Went into the Pirates Museum, it was fun and interesting; I love the lore of the pirates. Whether what we saw was true or not is anyone’s guess. So much of what we know of the pirates is woven with truth, legend, lies and myth; never the less I found it interesting. We also checked out the Anglican Church across the street from the Pirates Museum.

The Queen’s Staircase was next, the stairs were carved from the limestone by slaves to allow easy access between Fort Fincastle and Nassau. We opted to drive around the Fort Fincastle in lieu of walking up the staircase. This was a mistake because when we got up by the water tower our driver didn’t want to get rapped up there by the buses.

Next up was a tour of Paradise Island and Atlantis; it is beautiful and his commentary was interesting.

Speaking of the distance between Port Everglades and Miami, here's an interesting photo of a ship at Everglades, but if you look in the background to the left, it would appear to be a ship that just left Miami.

Next up was Fort Montagu; as a retired Marine I was interested in seeing this fort as it’s the first amphibious landing by the newly formed Continental Marines in 1776. Captain Samuel Nicholas led 200 Marines to take the fort; while the landing was successful the munitions that they sought had been moved to Fort Nassau and spirited away during the night. In the park adjacent to the fort. they had a stand offering drinks, one of which was called sky juice. A mixture of gin, coconut milk and condensed milk; according to our tour operator so named because after a few you find your self flat on your back looking up at the sky.

Summary of the rest of the day. Get back onboard from Labadee and relax some, Windjammer Recon phase, go to Top Tier Party, head back to Windjammer for dinner, post dinner recover, and then head to the Pub to watch the Alabama/Clemson game. Quick post sunset photo Without further ado, tonight photo selection from Windjammer. Theme was Mediterranean and the live station was Mongolian again. Same grill selection, pizza, burgers, hotdogs, tacos, yada yada yada... From the Mediterranean section. One thing I just noticed was when I came back later the beef kabobs were gone and replaced by another chicken dish. Plus the cake in the pan was gone as well on the return visit. Cake in the giant pan Indian selections Finally dessert

Some pictures from roaming around Labadee, didn't go over to Nellie's Beach or Columbus Cove.

Breakfast of Champions after a night of Dilly Dilly. Good Grease.

Now here is a job I could love.

That moment of bliss you experience when you're using domestic wireless/cellular/data service. Pull up a web page, boom right there!

I use Michelle Cunningham ([email protected] 703 881 2727). I highly recommend using her or any of the other MEI agents. Just an FYI - Michelle has been away for the past several days on personal family biz. I think she is back now but I am not 100% sure. If you contact her and do not hear back IMMEDIATELY (which is always the case if everything is normal) that will be the reason why. Good luck, Robert !! Very envious. I have yet to do Alaska. Retirement...hurry up !

Leaving the Pirates Museum we went to the Pompeii Museum. The Pompeii Museum tells the story of slavery in the Bahamas and throughout the world from ancient times to today. We started walking back to the ship in search of conch fritters. Only place that I saw was a Greek restaurant offering conch fritters. Didn’t seem like an authentic place to try them. Unfortunately we found our self at the port area and decided to just get lunch on the ship. I know many dislike Nassau but I did find quite a bit of interesting things to see and do; next time I go I’ll just walk around to see what I want to see without the detours. I will say that traffic is horrible and the few people I engaged were friendly and hospitable. We did get the travel advisory in our cabin the night before that caused a ruckus with the tourism board; I didn’t see it as more than a heads up to use precautions and be aware of your surrounding when out in town.

Leaving the Fort Fincastle area we made our way to a where wine was offered and a chocolate store. Not one to pass up chocolate the wife purchased a small batch to take home. Off we went to John Watlings Distillery; it was an interesting history filled tour of rum making in Nassau. As our three hours was nearly up, we had our guide drop us off at the Pirates Museum.

Our guide was friendly, polite and knowledgeable and his vehicle was clean. We had booked the Forts and Queen’s Staircase tour; specifically I wanted to see Fort Montagu, Fort Fincastle, Fort Charlotte and also the Queen’s Staircase. Our guide assured us we had plenty of time to see the forts and he wanted to show us a few other things also. First stop was a rum cake bakery where we sampled rum cake and I did purchase one cake; next was “The Cloisters” our guide told us the story behind it and how it was maintained. Many of the parks and such are sponsored by businesses on the island who maintain them.

@twangster, please don't forget the countless advice you share. The amount of money we spend in your advice. I love my camera and lenses due to your advice. I will post some pics later. Now I am looking at the mirrorless cameras in the future.

You’re crazy.

On our 12 night Christmas/NY cruise on Grandeur last month we had the Ultimate Dining Package. While I love Chops, Giovanni's and even Izumi, I have to say....by that last night, I was SO DONE with these 3 restaurants. Not only did we eat dinner there EVERY night, but we had lunch there on 8 of 12 days. I love the specialty restaurants but I would never recommend to ANYone that they should avoid the MDR completely - especially if they have never tried it. I think one of the 3, 4 or 5 day packages would be more than adequate to allow you to try both the MDR and the specialty restaurants.

I'll have to buy tent dresses in port to have clothes to wear home.

I just spent a day in Key West and did the following: Toured the Truman Little White House - This was interesting particularly if you have an interest in Presidential history. Tour was about $20 a person for 45-60 minute tour. Toured the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum - I did not find this tour as interesting as the Little White House and it's a little chaotic because they allow people not on the tour to enter and exit areas where the tour is currently operating. If you go here bring cash (about $15 per person) as they do not accept credit cards On the budget friendly side: Definitely watch the sunset at Mallory Square, get there at least 30 minutes early to get a space near the water. There are also a bunch of "street' performers there if that interests you. We went to the southernmost point. Really just a picture spot, nothing else to do there but you have to say you were there if you go to Key West Walk Duval Street from Mallory Square (bay side) to the Ocean. Lots of window shopping and people watching to do and gives you a great feel of Key West. I would guess its about 15 blocks long. Sorry, can't recommend any of the beaches or water sports as we didn't have time. Lastly, I wanted to visit Dry Tortugas Park, located West of Key West but it was all booked up that day. It's an all day excursion to the park/fort but it is a little expensive, you can get more information here: https://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm Hope this helps, congratulations and have a great time.

Thanks for the TA info. Have reached out to Michelle & she is working me up some Alaska quotes. Hopefully get some booked later today

About 30 Minutes To 45 Minutes With No Traffic.

My recent experience, was that it was cheaper for me to fly in to FLL and then fly out of Miami. I fly out Saturday and the cruise leaves on Sunday. My cruise leaves in and out of Miami, so I will be taking a limo/car down from the FLL airport to my Miami hotel and then Uber to the port in the morning. The reason I did it this way was if I flew into and out of Miami my tickets went up by about $200PP. I don't know why or understand why, other than Miami may be a busier airport. So I didn't really answer your question, if money is not an issue I would fly into and out of Miami for ease of transportation to the port and or hotel/port.

+2 On Michelle, just booked an Alaskan cruise with her a couple of months ago, excellent service

I was so proud of my wife this past October on Grandeur (Halloween Cruise) ... She won the "Finish The Lyrics" Contest... It was Night 1 -- I kept telling her, YOU NEED TO DO THIS!!! Her response was, I"M TOO DRUNK ? My response was "EVEN BETTER -- THE LYRICS WILL FLOW OUT OF YOU INSTINCTIVELY" (Her musical knowledge can put people to shame) I WAS RIGHT!!!! --- I'm SO GLAD I Scoped It!!! We've watched it several times .... We laugh every time. Now she'll need to Protect that Victory by doing it on the Next Cruise. I think what shocked her was the number of people that came up to her to congratulate throughout the 7 Day Cruise. I kept telling her she needs to wear the gold medal pendant they gave her ..... NOPE!!!! I kept saying, "It's a Badge of Honor" --- Now you need to DEFEND IT!!

5 Days!!!!! to cruise day on the Allure.

Will say the suite I'm in has the new "wavy" style carpet.

^^ Wall of text...my eyes are bleeding.

My current view

Windjammer photos = nothing in my house is good enough now

My advice is if you really want to move up, is to have your TA price an update by changing your reservation. The upgrade program leaves too much to chance.

Had a few issues this morning trying to post the post above. I thought I lost it and was going to put one together real quick here before bed, but then it showed up and let me post. Will post some more photos and details of day 2 tomorrow, but was a fun day at sea. Did some rock climbing, relaxed on sun deck, watched sexiest man alive, watched the Bears blow their playoffs, got all dressed up for formal night, and watched hairspray. My All Access Ship Tour was moved to tomorrow morning so have to get up early for that. More on day 2 tomorrow. Good night.

Day 1 Took an Uber from the hotel to the cruise port at 9:45. As many people have noted the new Terminal A is pretty efficient. We dropped our luggage to the porter, headed up the escalators and got checked in. Check in process took maybe 5 minutes. Any easy walk through security and we were seated waiting to board by 10:15. Boarding started a little later than when we were on Harmony last year. The seating area was getting pretty crowded and about 11:30 they called for Diamond Plus to board. We are gold so had to wait our turn, but it went pretty quickly. Once on board made a quick stop at Boleros to change out our Wow Bands and our first time travel partners purchased some for them. We then headed up to the sports deck, took a quick look around and headed to the windjammer around noon. Windjammer was pretty busy, but we were able to get seats without any issues. Sorry I totally forgot to get pictures here, but will do so later. After lunch we decided to just walk around and tour the ship a little. I will upload more photos later. Have to get them from my wife’s phone. She’s better at remembering to take pictures than I am. Rooms we ready right at 1pm. My family has an Oceanview Balcony on deck 12 Starboard side. Their luggage was at the room when they arrived. My wife an I booked an interior guarnateee. We are on the 9th floor with a Central Park view. Our luggage didn’t show up until just before Muster at 3:30. After muster it was up to the sail away party. Had a couple Carnival ships pass us as they left before us, and then shortly after 4:30 it was our turn. After sail away my cousin and her friend wanted to try out the flowrider. It was fun watching them wipe out several times, but they seemed to have a good time. Next up was get ready for dinner. We had 7:30 reservations in the MDR with MTD. Here was tonight’s menu: I went with the French onion soup for appetizer. Sorry it looked so amazing when I got it that I just dug right in and forgot the picture. Don’t worry, I will be getting it again and remember to take one. Main course I went with the Prime Rib. Sorry I’m not super adventurous with food so it might be a lot of the same. Again I forgot the picture. I promise I will get better at taking them as this blog goes along. And for dessert it was the cheesecake. I don’t know why but I remember to take a picture of it however it isn’t uploading so I will add it later. Everything tasted amazing, but service was Really slow We had several tables around us that got their later than us and were done way before us. We weren’t in any hurry so it wasn’t a big deal, it was just much slower than we experienced on Harmony last year After dinner we did late night comedy. We felt both comedians were pretty funny. After that we strolled up on the top deck just to take everything in. Had several other ships at sea pretty close to us. The internet must be struggling now though as I can’t get any other picture to load. We then watched the balloon drop at midnight, made a quick stop in Schooner bar for a few songs and then it was time to crash. Time now to get ready for breakfast and see what today brings. Plan to try and catch the Bears game this afternoon, but otherwise just see what comes up. I will upload more photos later, and if there is anything you want to see let me know.

I hate when people bogart the trivia games. I swear, every time we play onboard, the Rain Man comes out of nowhere and wins every time. Whining aside - impressive, indeed.

Soon it was time to walk back and get on the tenders to head back to the ship.

Hi Sue, like Kathy said we cruise often with our son in a wheelchair. We have sailed Harmony, and the ship itself is very accessible. The accessible cabins are large and easily maneuverable . All common areas will be no problem navigating. You may run into the occasional area he can not get to with maybe a few stairs or something, but for the most part he will be good. I would recommend going to any dining room or specialty restaurants that you will be eating at and make sure they are aware that you require a table for a wheelchair user that is easily accessed. Sometimes they pack people in and it is very hard to maneuver through the crowds. Bring your patients With the elevators. It can be pretty crazy, people can be very rude. Nothing that Im sure yoir brother hasn't already encoutered. Make sure when going to Muster drill that you stay out of the crowd of people lining up, they will realease your brother before anyone else, go as quickly as possible to the elevators if you need one, or you will not get one for a VERY long time, or just plan to stay put for a while where you are. As far as entertainment on the ship....I am not certain of your brothers level of mobility, but if he is not able to walk at all or take any stairs certain things will not be accessible. Ie: water slides, abyss slide, zip line sadly there is no elevator to get up to these things so wont be able to do. There is a ramp to get to the back sports area to see the flow rider and other fun stuff back there. Plan to get to the theaters or any shows VERY early. There is very limited accessible seating, (very last row in the theaters) and it goes quickly. Able bodied people sit there and unfortuatley Royal doesn’t enforce it being for special needs cruisers. As far a excursions... Royal unfortunatly has very limited accessible excursions. Mostly just tours of the town and shopping. Again a lot is determined by your brothers mobility. Is he able to transfer into a van or taxi? My son is able to, so we can venture out. You will have better luck wih private tours. We have found accessible parasailing , snorkling, boat tours. Just have to really do your homework. A lot of research. We have found that almost all port areas around the ship are accessible, maybe a few issues with curb cuts, but workable. We have been to several of the ports you mention, if you let me know your brothers limitations and interests I will try to help you find something fun to do. If you have any more specific questions I am so happy to help you. I know how difficult and intimidating travel can be with special needs. Royal does have a special needs department that can be helpful if you have any special requests like extension cords or shower chairs that type of thing. Hope this helped!

Practice what you preach is what they say (whoever "they" are), so I'm dipping my toes into the fabulous Live Blogs forum of the Royal Caribbean Blog message boards! We're headed on Brilliance of the Seas for a 4-night weekend getaway cruise and I usually post my live blogs on the blog portion of this site, but, I decided to do things a little differently this time because I've blogged this particular ship and sailing a few times already. Instead, I'm taking my talents to the message boards to show some love for what I believe is a vastly underrated and extremely entertaining feature of this blog! Our cruise departs the fabulous port of Tampa on February 14 and on this sailing, it will be just me and my wife.....and @ShakeDownCruise's family. We originally booked our kids on this sailing with us. Kids Sail Free was in full effect, so we put a deposit down. As it turns out, I convinced my parents to fly down and watch the kids so it will be just me and my wife enjoying this quick sailing. Fun fact, my kids are still technically booked on this sailing because we got kids sail free, so removing them from the reservation seemed pointless. Plus, gives me a safety net if my parents reneged on the plan. We booked a category 1B Spacious Balcony stateroom on deck 9. We picked this room primarily under the guise of my kids sailing with us, but now we will enjoy some extra space and the ocean views my wife enjoys. In my experience, I barely spend time on the balcony on most cruises. If I am going to lay out, I prefer the pool deck for the music and people watching. Our 4-night itinerary takes us to one port, Cozumel. While I went to Cozumel six times in 2018, this will be one and only stop in Cozumel in 2019. ? I will be sure to eat as much chips, salsa and guacamole as humanly possible. Nothing booked yet on what we will do, but we have some time to figure it out. In the weeks left until this cruise, I will take some cues from some of the awesome live bloggers here, such as @ellcee, @melski94, @JLMoran, @Lovetocruise2002 & @twangster.

For those of you that are cruising this month, Congrats and Smooth Sailing! January 2019 4- KLA (Mariner of the Seas) 5 - FlowBro Ty (Majesty of the Seas) 5- Broons77 (Rhapsody of the Seas) 5- TCinME (Rhapsody of the Seas) 5- BeatArmy2010 (Jewel of the Seas) 6 - yaya luvs to cruz (Anthem of the Seas) 6- MaryCS62 (Anthem of the Seas) 6 - Deedeelynn (Anthem of the Seas) 9- BeatArmy2010 (Jewel of the Seas) 11 - SouthernYankee (Mariner of the Seas) 12 - Ashlynne12 (Brilliance of the Seas) 12 - krwillia (Granduer of the Seas) 12- L454S (Vision of the Sea) 13 - tiny260 (Allure of the Seas) 13- Jolly Ogre (Allure of the Seas) 13 - jrmende63 (Jewel of the Seas) 13- Oliver (Liberty of the Seas) 13 - Casino Crazy (Oasis of the Seas) 14 - SouthernYankee (Mariner of the Seas) 18 - mworkman (Anthem of the Seas) 18 - kpersons09 (Anthem of the Seas) 19 - SouthernYankee (Symphony of the Seas) 19 - davelliott (Vision of the Seas) 20- lauraodonnell86 (Freedome of the Seas) 20- Irieman (Freedome of the Seas) 24 - JohnUK (Grandeur of the Seas) 25 - RBRSKI (Independence of the Seas) 26 - SouthernYankee (Symphony of the Seas) 26- Gabe (Symphony of the Seas) 26 - fbcmusicman (Rhapsody of the Seas) 26- Joy (Rhapsody of the Seas) 26- Tammylee63 (Rhapsody of the Seas) 27 - SPS (Freedom of the Seas) 27- BTE (Allure of the Seas) 31 - Rede411 (Briliance of the Seas) 31- KathyC (Brilliance of the Seas) RCPeriscopers Group Cruise! 40+

Fourteen cruises marks the most I've cruised in any single year so I thought I take a second to put it down in a post. I started 2018 as a relatively new Diamond member in the Crown and Anchor Society and finished just over the halfway mark to Pinnacle. Anthem -> Liberty -> Serenade -> Adventure -> Explorer -> Empress -> Radiance -> Mariner -> Enchantment -> Adventure -> Symphony -> Serenade -> Oasis -> Navigator The scary part is I missed a cruise when my daughter graduated from the Air Force or it would have been fifteen. Oh well, well worth it. Of all these cruises I think Navigator to the ABC islands was my best cruise, in no small part due to the ABC islands and my cruise mate (step daughter and scuba diving buddy). Other notable 2018 cruise events for me First Transatlantic (Symphony) First Canada/New England (Adventure) First ABC island cruise First visit/cruise to Cuba First Diamond Plus cruise (Adventure repositioning San Juan to Bayonne) First Radiance class experience First Voyager class experience Completed the Oasis class challenge (sailing all Oasis Class) Completed the Freedom class challenge (sailing all Freedom class) Completed the Empress class challenge (easy one here) My longest single cruise (Adventure 13 night Snowbird Migration) Paid for a cruise in full and didn't show up (cruise #15 above) Sailed six different classes of ship in a single year (would have been seven classes if not for the missed cruise) First time on a FlowRider Five Crystal Blocks First year not sailing in a full suite Sailed on a ship every month of the year First RoyalCaribbeanBlog Group Cruise!!!! What was your most notable cruise moment of 2018?

Wish it was CocoCay instead, they managed to change our itinerary, but from the looks, Freeport seems to have improved greatly!

There are a number of us who had a very bad experience with the Bamboo Beach Club. It was a horrific hot mess but that may have been due to our very LARGE party. At any rate, that is the only on with which I have personal experience. You may also want to consider the amount of commute time for the various excursions. Be sure and find out how long the drive is. That was ONE of the many problems we had with the Bamboo Beach deal. Since Falmouth is a relatively new port, there are few excursions in the immediate area. It's a long bus ride to the other side where most of the established excursions are. One thing's for sure. Tiny260 is right - stay with an organized tour, whatever you do.

He had his office set up on Marnier in Oct...but I never actually saw him there or anywhere on that cruise

I can't wait to see what you find, because Id love to be able to text. Even if there is no notification, just checking every 30 mins is better than what we usually have because we don't get the voom. My teenager (and prob me lol) need to disconnect! I'm glad things are not showing up for you...I know everything is set but only a couple things show up, I start to worry! Jane

I had seen the reviews for a restaurant called “El Cristo Restaurant” so we wanted to eat there. Remember I said we weren’t foodies, well we split a chicken empanada appetizer that was like tasting heaven. I had the Cubano “El Christo” sandwich and the wife had the Cuban sandwich. The sandwiches were large and we couldn’t finish them no matter how good they were. If I had it to do over again I would have a made a meal of the empanadas, it’s a restaurant I would highly recommend.