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Hasn't @Lovetocruise2002 already started hers?

Good morning from.... somewhere in the Pacific! If It weren't so chilly, I'd swear we were on our way to some tropical island! So let me go back in time a bit here and talk about boarding. Pier 91 seemed very organized and efficient. We hailed a Lyft from our hotel around 9:30 and were at the port in about 10 minutes. We passed the throngs of sad-that-their-cruise-ended passengers, dropped our bags off with the porter and waited for Polly and Sheri to arrive. We followed the signs for the key priority check-in where we showed our passports as well as our seapasses to the attendants. They scanned everything in with Ipads, took our picture and put a check in complete sticker on our seapasses. We were then sent upstairs and bypassed the larger check-in line where we were ushered to our priority seating area which was a combined space for Pinnacles, Diamond Plus, Suites and Key members. At around 10:45, the ship was cleared for new passengers. They called the suites first, and I think maybe a few people got up, then right after they called for everyone else in the priority area to board. We weren't the first people on the ship, but it was close! After boarding, we immediately went to a specialty restaurant to make our reservations for the 3 night package. We chose Jamie's Italian, Wonderland and Chops, starting with Jamies on night 2. Having been onboard Ovation's sister ship, the Anthem last year, we already had the lay of the land, and she felt really familiar. I also realized that I wasn't taking as many pictures as usual due to the familiarity, so I need to step up my picture game starting today! We went up to the Solarium where I had my first drink of the day, the Kraken lava flow! After a bit, we headed down to deck 3 where key members were able to drop their carry-ons and get their key letters which contained the wifi access codes. Right after, they welcomed us to lunch in The Grande dining room where they served a special Chops lunch menu for key members only. No pictures, unfortunately, but I ordered the filet, Polly ordered the Branzino, and everyone else ordered burgers. You really can't beat that Chops filet (although I know @Lovetocruise2002 would beg to differ). Next, we went to the opposite side of the ship to show Polly and Sheri Two70. I think the Solarium and Two70 have to be my favorite spots on Quantum class ships. We got the call that our rooms were ready at around 1:30 PM, so we headed up shortly after to take a look. Our luggage wasn't there when we arrived, but as we were leaving to do some more exploring I spotted it down the hall clustered with a lot of other bags, so I went down and grabbed them. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the ship, experiencing the different venues complete with a visit to my friends, the robotic bartenders Mix and Mingle After a few more drinks and a visit to Sorrentos for a pre-dinner slice of pizza, we headed up to the rooms to unpack before dinner. Here's a view from our balcony of the coastline: Dinner tonight was in the MDR, and of course they offered the standard night one menu: I can't recall what everyone else got, but I went with @Matt's suggestion from our last cruise and got the spaghetti bolognese! It did not disappoint. After dinner, more exploring. Hearing a live cover band in the music hall (didn't catch the name) we stopped in for a listen. They were pretty good! At 10 PM, there was an Adults only comedy show featured in the Royal Theatre, so we decided to go, hoping to further acclimate to the time difference. No offense to the comedian, (he was actually pretty good) but I was nodding off during the show, so clearly, it was time for bed. Today is a sea day so there should be lots of good activities around the ship.

Good Moring Everyone!! Today Marks Just One Day Until I Board The Lovely Harmony Of The Seas!! Also Royal IT Department Messed Up One Of Our Ports Of Call On The App!!

@SpeedNoodles this was our conversation last night: Me: So...You know Royal is coming out with a brand new ship called Odyssey. We haven't sailed it yet. Hubby: Ok, did you already do something? Me: Well, it's a 4 night and a ton of people are going. I may have put something on hold. Hubby: Do I really have options here? Me: Not really. Love you. ?

Get a couple of outfits that don't wrinkle just for cruising. Or as @sk8erguy1978 said, just embrace the wrinkles. Personally I have a few tops in some sort of poly-blend fabric that I enjoy and I have no problems. Of course, I'm also #teamNoMakeup for cruising, so maybe I'm not the best one to give advice ?

I was told that everyone was nice. That it was a fun place to be. And so far you all have lived up to the hype. Thank you all for being as advertised.

I initially booked the 8 day on Nov 20th, but changed it to this sailing. This will be my first inaugural sailing and I cannot wait! I look forward to meeting all of you.

We will be there too! I can't wait. I make a motion for super live blog collaboration with @Matt @Lovetocruise2002 and @twangster. All in favor

Moving Odyssey to Bayonne in 2022 and putting Anthem somewhere else would make a lot of sense. Gives new life to both ships and a reason to book another cruise. However it costs a lot of money to move a ship so we'll see.

Yeah, like Rated PG says, don't waste that Euro outlet. Get one of these(3 USB chargers), really work well.

Embrace it, wear wrinkles LOL Seriously though, in the beginning I'd send all my shirts for pressing then not wear some. I'll only consider press for formal night now. I iron at home and do my best to pack it safely. Worst case, as suggested, steam from shower and wrinkle release. Otherwise, it's embracing the wrinkles.

The beauty of cruising is we all get to do it how we want, disconnected or connected.

Onboard! Dining reservations made, Kraken Lava Flow ordered. Watching the latecomers trickle in. Vacation has begun!

Mine was just as easy

Day 6 Disembarkation dAY ? We’re back baby!! Our 20 month old/Alarm clock got us up before 7AM as usual and even though we put our luggage out the night before we still had four tote sized carry-ons and his stroller. Good thing he’s heavy enough that we just drape all of them on the handles and hope for the best. Off to the WJ for one last stuffing!! Petar was ‘Johnny on the spot’ with Z’s banana. Best crew member experience ever!! We have never disembarked this early so I/we have never had to follow the number system to get off. Typically our number has already been called for sometime and we just leave when we are ready. TODAY was different. Galveston ships disembark later for some reason, CCL too. We were luggage tag 5 at a time of 9:10 am. 1 started at 8:30am I’m pretty sure. After breakfast, we ended up in the theater until Zander was out of control…so when they called 3 we just left. No questions asked we disembarked, found out luggage, and got in line with others in this weird system of lines. You line up in number rows (line 1 being for porters) we picked line 3. Then your were shuffled to the other side of a wall into another set of lines. We were now in line 6 ….IDK Whatever…lol Custom was one question “ and food’ with you…and off we went. THEN as we approached the exit a group of custom agents asked if we had purchased any alcohol or tobacco. TEXAS’s TABC want their Tax money!! The only alcohol we had was the two bottles of wine we brought on….and brought back off unopened. We said nope and kept walking. Oh… and my R Bar Texas Tea purchase was taxed in port on day one. Backing up, Not sure if I mentioned this in Day 1’s blog. After security check point the agent asked. “is that two bottles of wine in your carry on”….yes, it was. They asked us to bring it “over there” to that table….I’m not 100% sure why ,but I shook my head and walked with the rest of the crowd right past them. Pfft, I ain’t got no time for that!! Texas is very weird about their alcohol tax and I thought they were going to look for their tax stamp (my wine was bought at a winery in Clermont Fl). My loving wife said they probably wanted to make sure it was sealed? Either way It was odd to me. Maybe they wanted the corking fee?? OK, ship to sidewalk to shuttle to car and back to terminal to pick up wife and Z 45 minutes. Car (2013 Mustang GT California Special Convertible) was perfect, as I left it. Hotel Galvez free parking Worth it $$. Harbor House Hotel night before is a must. The Strand for dinner and a stroll is a must also The port is real good. People have complained about it but the only thing is it needs updating…The exit is a long trek down a almost dirt roads though a warehouse areas (think Journey’s Separate Ways video from 1984ish). Not the best signage either to fine Interstate 45 (the only way out) toward Houston. A stop at Buc-eez and lunch at What-A-Burger and we were home before 2pm in San Antonio. Thank everyone for following along. Feel free to ask any questions about Enchantment, Traveling with a toddler, a very pregnant wife (24 Weeks) and the Port of Galveston.

I had the wrong email at first. I got a hold of them and the have changed the date for me.

This is just more of an FYI, relaying my just concluded experience with calling Royal to get an exception for the Deluxe Drink Package (wife doesn't drink alcohol). As most know, you can't do it on-line, so you have to call 1-800-398-9819 . The first person I spoke to didn't have an idea as to how to grant an exception, she said book the refreshment package first, then go in and book the deluxe for myself. All that does is add two Deluxe and one Refreshment Package to the cart (approaching $900). I cancelled that and called back. I wish I would have gotten the name of the rep as he knew what to do. I had to exit out of the cruise planner and then he was able to add the Deluxe + Voom for me and the refreshment package for my wife. I had to give him my CC info and I got the confirmation email and I've confirmed it's in my cruise planner. So as Matt has said in the past, if the first person you speak to can't help you, hang up and try another one. Also, as others have noted, the exception they will grant is for the other person to get the Refreshment package. That works for us but I know others don't want that. I'm not sure what to say about it as it didn't seem to be an option to not get a package or to just get the soda. The Bogo $ for the Refeshment Package was $18/day which I thought was pretty good as we'll go through several bottles of water a day alone. Four of those, an OJ, and a virgin daiquiri and you're at $18. Deluxe + VOom was $59.

We booked our entire cruise with MEI by email. Beyond simple, never even had to make a phone call. Very happy going with MEI.

I know what you mean. That's how I felt for Anthem in March.

It was a little chilly sitting in port LOL. This one was tough to pack for!

Good posts... thank you

You set it on the very lowest setting. I do not use a hair straightener for my hair, but I have one for my cruises....cheap. You do just a quick pull through.

Type C or F fits, if that helps.

please review your experience with the rest of us once you are reached out to

Downy Wrinkle Release, and hang them in the bathroom when you take a hot shower . Or if you or your traveling partner have a hair straighter with, that can easily be used for sleeves and legs.

I have my travel medicine kit, it includes anti diarrhea, anti nausea, a laxative, cold and flu meds, allergy meds, tylenol, alleve, heartburn (both of the pepsid variety and Tums variety) and dramamine. Then I have the first aid kit which has bandaids, neosporin, bug bite ointment, blister pads, an ace bandage, nu skin (this also works in place of the old nail polish for a run in the pantyhose trick), visine, alcohol wipes, and a small tooth repair kit (temporary filling, crown repair, oral lidocane etc) Yes my portable pharmacy goes with me wherever I travel on land or on sea. Also I bring a little thing of nicorette mints. This keeps the temptation at bay when you cant smoke anywhere (mostly for my train travels when there arent long stops for smokers, but they work on cruises too to kick the habit) Then I have the electronics kit. This has chargers in an elastic case with color coded labels for my cable checkin/checkout system. These are all spare chargers in case any did get left behind or lost, the originals are all at home. I also include what I call my squid, which is a USB splitter of sorts. 5 standard USB plugs for one port. And then 2 USB adapters (trade shows are wonderful places for giving these things away and if you're an IT company giving these away at trade shows, I love you for this). A european to US adapter because you can never have too many electrical outlets. Then the USB hub with 8 USB ports for one US outlet spot. Also included are 2 micro SD cards (and adapter) a flash drive and spare batteries for all of my camera stuff. Depending on my mood I'll also bring one or two power banks. Then the makeup kit. Its essentially duplicates of everything I use at home, and so I dont have to worry about losing my favourite foundation when travelling and then not having it back at home. Then the hair kit. Mini versions of my favourite hair brushes, travel hair dryer, flat iron, curling iron, I refill my travel bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash between trips, 4 hair scrunchies (I always lose these so my luggage accumulates these) Just for cruising I have a little travel alarm clock, travel fan, popup hamper, towel clips, magnetic hooks, highliters, sharpies, spare lanyards with leash (I love these leash lanyards) and an easily foldable tote bag. I usually dont pack so heavily that I need the tote but its there should the luggage ever get overly full. Also a throwback to the 80s, I bring business cards with hub and my names and our email address/social media stuff. Nice to give to new friends.

Its sky class from what I was looking at on their website.

USED GIFT CARDS: For staterooms that need them to turn the power on. My SeaPass card is in a sleeve and I don't want to get it out just to turn the power on in my room. EUROPEAN PLUG ADAPTOR: Allows the use of the outlet for US type plugs. Just make sure the item you are plugging in is rated for 220V.

Should be Sky class.

WoW....Pink Flamingos! Odyssey really stepping it up. ?

Ah..I just did the currency conversion and didn't even look at the comparable US site pricing. You may be able to look into booking with a US travel agent and get the USD pricing. I think the Australian pricing may include some things that the US pricing doesn't -- more consumer protection and included gratuities? Haven't really looked into it but I have heard some grumbling that they also don't allow taking advantage of price drops either when you book from the Australian site.

November 5, 2020 - Odyssey of the Seas Inaugural Bahamas 4-night (unofficial GC!)

OMG OMG OMG - Mr SpeedNoodles said "heck, we might as well get a quote!!" I flung "Maybe we should just stay on the ship and do the 5-night afterwards" and he's all "I'd do that". #EatingRamenForTheNextYear

Wow, I can see why they are your ex!

Hoski... I agree. Embrace your own style and don't worry what others think... it's your vacation. Enjoy it the way you want!

A table across from us had a woman who was dressed to the nines and looked fantastic. Her guy was wearing dirty jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt. There are varied opinions on what "your best" is.

Day 5 Sea Day Today, consisted of a lot of relaxing. WindJammier …no changes there. Petar brought Zander his banana without us asking the second he saw us. For those who do the soda package like I do, we received the old school RC soda tumbles with the new 50 Years Bold design. Coke Freestyle machines are available on deck 9 in the WindJammier and Deck 6 in the Centrum next to Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. We needed to change Credit Cards at Guest Services. For some reason I did not use my RCCL CC when setting up the account back home and wanted to get the double points for using the RCCL CC (Two weeks ago I cashed in 10,000 point for a $100.00 OBC. You do it online and it automatically shows up in your onboard acct). Line was long but not as bad as later on after dinner. 10AM final day….you know what that means!!!! The 2 for $20 T-shirt sail!!!!!!!! Picked myself up a RCCL Galveston T and the little guy got his first Cruise T. It is a little big but he’ll grow in to it!! After that mommy and Z went for a nap I headed for Roulette. Watched for about 20 minutes for I do not like playing at overcrowded tables (OCD). Funny story….a Frat boy rolls up and watched next to me. After a couple minutes, he turns to me and says, how do you play this?? Umm, Really. I explain and someone in his group come up and strong armed his way to the table and throws down $20. Hand 5 chips to this kid and he bet 3:1 and hits different 3:1 odds 8 times in a row!!!!! This kid turn a gifted $5 into over a hundred…Talk about beginner’s luck. After a while I was able to sit where I wanted and won back the money I lost little by little over the past 5 day…..turned $40 into $210. I was up $20 after tipping the dealer. After the Windjammier lunch, I went to the Art Auction just to see what their “Mystery” items were. I was hoping for Peter Max but it wasn’t. Wasted afternoon but plenty of free champagne. When the others woke, we dressed Zander and headed for the kiddie water area next to the pool. He absolutely loves swimming pools and playing in the water. It was another oppressively hot Caribbean day. We hit park Café a few time during this cruise…mostly me for a quick Roast Beed Sandwich and Sun Chips for back-up snack for the cabin. Today is no different. Dinner Me Shrimp Cocktail Caesar Salad Beef Rib AND lasagna Royal Chocolate cake Wife Don’t remember Zander Fruit Cup His own NY Strip This wait staff was memorable. Michael or waiter was always concerned about our happiness with the service as was his assistant and Petar the Head Waiter. All three receive an envelop tonight for their fantastic effort and making us and especially Zander happy. The only thing that saddens me is their FEAR of the after cruise survey. I know for a fact that the survey says …kinda “has anyone asked you to give them excellent scores on this survey” and I also have worked in customer facing roles where “I” have been the subject of such surveys...THE EMPLOYER, IN THIS CASE RCCL, does not, under any circumstance, want less that PERFECT 10 SCORES. I hate that Corporate America thinks this way. NOTHING IS 100% PERFECT…EVER!!! GET OVER IT !!!! that crew got A+ marks. Time to pack UGH!! We had everything out buy 8:30 and I did one last stroll around the deck to see if anything fun was happening. Nope, nothing really. I made it a night after waking car crashed and kids wipeout on skateboards and BMX bike for an hour or so. Good night Enchantment This is the other night's Chicken Parm … B+

Welcome to the blog, Rhason B. Just wear whatever is comfortable for you. Even though formal night isn’t called formal night anymore, doesn’t mean you can’t be formal if you want. I can guarantee that you will find men in tuxes and women in long dresses. Some people really love to dress up once in a while. You will not be out of place no matter what you decide to do.

Hi all, We are in the top 1% of the world's population that has a house, inside toilet, and enough disposible income to take a cruise. This is my mindset going on any holiday. Any problems we have are very minor first world issues. Firstly a bit of background. We were on a 2.5 week extended vacation visiting Boston, Cape Cod, Orlando then the cruise from Port Canaveral. Travellers were myself, my darling wife, sis in law, niece (16) who thinks she's 21 and son (14) who would prefer being on the PC than on vacation. We hired a car in Florida so got up late around 9am sunday went to IHop then drove the hour or so to the Port. Filled up with gas before hire car drop off. I dropped the car off first then arranged for my wife who has mobility issues to get a wheelchair then drove back to the car hire place. Point of note, the supervisors at the drop of point do not have a lot of patience for those lingering after bag drop but once I explained the situation with my wife they were ok. We were escorted through the process by the person wheeling the chair and we were on the ship after 15 minutes of checks and photos. Once we thanked the chair person we made a bee-line for the rising tide bar to sip our chocolate martini's until the cabins opened. (Time was around 12.30 so not long to wait.) We hired an electric chair for the duration of our cruise from special needs at sea. The process was painless and we thought it was good value at $185 for the week. It certainly afforded my wife much more freedom during our cruise. We even took it off ship for excursions. Day one evening was chaotic, we had to do windjammer as MDR mytime was just too long a line (stretched past the elevators) and we were peckish having not had lunch that day. We were enjoying the atmosphere and exploring the ship. We were going to turn in early as it was an 8am start in coco key. However due to a medical emergency we were back at Canaveral at 1am and so we didn't get to coco key until lunchtime which actually suited us as my wife isn't great in the morning. Coco Key was great, we hired the snorkels but at 47$ they were a lot more expensive than the 10$ we paid in Costa Maya and Cozumel. I wouldn't hire them again at the key as there isn't a whole lot to see but it was still fun. We ate the mozarella sticks and crispy chicken recommended by @Matt but didn't get the "secret sandwich" ? There was no shortage of chairs and my wife could easily take her chair to all places. There were even beach type chairs with big wheels available for free. Highly rate Coco Key for travellers with mobility problems 5* for RCI. That evening we choose to reserve the Bistro. I really enjoyed the entrees but the choice was too limited for some members of our party so we decided the next night to try for MDR. There was no shortage of food options on the ship anyway. ? The next day was a sea day and so relaxing on our balcony, this was our first balcony cabin and I would recommend it 100% it will be hard to go back to an inside. My niece met some friends the first night but my son didn't so he spent a lot of time in the cabin and hanging around with me which I really enjoyed we had some checkers games in the games room (Deck 14) and did the perfect storm slides together. We didn't do rockclimbing or bogeyboarding due to the 4 days at port we were off the ship alot. To be continued..... First sight of ship after hire car drop off at Alamo. First photo on Deck 16 Had to try the bridge glass walkway ? Isn't she a beut.... Courtesy Coco Cay photo lol I love this photo it's my fav. ? Back on the balcony about to go for early dinner. One of many fun checkers games. Final score that day 2-2 ? These biscuits are my fav.

I will be following with interest as our family is planning to sail this same itinerary in 2020. I'm leaning towards booking RCI excursions as I tend to feel anxious about getting back to the ship on time, and I know that with at least some of the ports, the travel time to sights is more significant.

We sailed to Rome and Florence last year and specifically used the cruise excursions in those ports since the sights were far. We were happy we did as the trip in Rome barely got back to the ship in time. Experience was awesome and worth the extra in both cases. D

In Italy I would take excursions through Royal. I can't comment on Spain or France. The tour groups we were in weren't that large, and there can be traffic issues that delay your return. Thus, the peace of mind associated with a Royal excursion might be worth it. That said, in many countries trains are easy to use -- did that in Germany for business trips. I do believe that in Italy the tours in Cruise Planner cover a lot of options. Whatever you choose, have a great cruise.

LEAVING FROM:Barcelona, Spain onboard Allure of the Seas VISITING:| Palma de Mallorca | Provence (Marseilles) | Florence/Pisa (La Spezia) | Rome (Civitavecchia) | Naples (Capri) |

Cruise Day 2 A Day at Sea Let me back up a little. In reference to check in…My wife is 23 weeks pregnant. RCCL limits pregnancy to 24 weeks on Disembarkation Day, but no one ever asked if she was pregnant, (it would be rude if they did) and most likely no one would if she was 30 weeks either. I guess this is a rule that is only a concern if you go into labor but then again that is too late. Anyone have any experience with this?? Another early day with the baby Zander. We always do breakfast at the Windjammier. I noticed RC is now cooking their bacon to my and most folks and likely everyone’s liking…crispy! Another observation. They do not serve bananas in the Windjammier in the morning….odd. Beautiful partly cloudy day. We are not ‘lay out by the pool’ kinda folks. We attended the Art auction as we occasionally do. Free Champagne is always a plus. Wifey likes the art and I ended up surprising her with a Thomas Kinkade portrait of the American Flag and Statue of Liberty. She completed 30 years in the Navy Reserve last year and I found the portrait to be fitting for her. Lunch at Windjammier then a quick donation to the casino while mommy and baby napped. Many folk complain about the age of this ship. The only things that, to me, make it appear dated in the exterior has a lot of rust and that cigarette smoke has just permeated everything around it. You can smell smoke all the way to the Centum on deck 5 and the forward elevator atrium on 4 5 and 6. Everything else about Enchantment is fantastic. I find it odd that the run movies in the room that are 3 hours long. Today was Aquaman. I never got to see the full movie for it always ran into other activities ☹ Day 2 is formal night and we didn’t overdo dressing for it. Khakis and a dress shirt for me, fancy slacks and blouse for the misses and a Tuxedo onesie for our son. I am an extremely picky eater, but I am consciously trying to “try” new things. This trip it’s escargot eh the garlic Me: Escargot Classic Caesar Salad Filet Royal Chocolate Cake Wife: Classic Caesar Salad Filet Sugar Free Dessert Zander Fruit cup His own Filet Cookie & ice cream After dinner we headed for the pool deck to walk of some calories and enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors. It early to bed for mommy and baby, and I headed to the casino for some Roulette and had to shower to get the smoke off me upon returning to the cabin. Wifey is highly sensitive to it. PICTURES TO FOLLOW

Good to know. I must have had the wrong email add at first. I found another email add from their facebook page. I emailed them but they are closed until Oct. I reserved that one too but not the lunch. It looks like a really chill kind of day, I hope the weather is nice.

Why would you be so concerned where someone else spends their money? I can see why you wouldn't want to do it, but why plea for someone else not to? How could it possibly affect you? I got it for last Feb's Mariner cruise. 4-day cruise, $19.99/day. If I eliminate what I would have paid for Voom, used my $25 OBC toward it, I basically paid $5-10 total for the rest of the perks (ummm....a nice embarkation day lunch?). I enjoyed having my carry on waiting in my room when I finally had access to it. Would I personally do it on every cruise? Certainly not. But it's a fine deal on short sailings if it can be snagged at the lower prices.

That is until they get to know you better. And warning...they pick on Canadians ?? Kidding of course lol...But you do have to watch out for this guy called @mworkman ?

He’s a bot. He has no head

They do!!!!! We got 3 on majesty in 4 days!

When I booked my cruise they said there would be no math.