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Well my husband has been after me about blogging our trip, so here goes. He claims that he will be helping me blog, but I'll believe it when I see it. Atleast at this moment he is sitting next to me looking at the screen and not reddit for once. A little background on us: I'm Tiffany, and he's Steven. Our circus consists of four kids who are nine, seven, one, and eight months. Steven retired from the Army last year, and I'm a stay at home mom. We knew we wanted more time to be able to cruise, so we decided to take a stab at homeschooling this year. So far so good, and to make it even better, it is significantly cheaper cruising when it's not over school break. Our cruise plans: We were originally on the Allure of the Seas September 1st cruise that got shortened by three days due to Dorian. We stuck with the cruise, and had an amazing time and got a nice future cruise credit since we were in a 2 bedroom aquatheater suite. It was so great, in fact, that we had to do a "grounding cruise" in a non-Star class cabin to bring us back down to Earth. Guess it didn't work, because here we are doing another Star class cruise on November 17th. The ship and cabin: Allure of the Seas 10730 (2 bedroom aquatheater suite) We would have loved to be back in the deck 8 aquatheater suite, but since it's a last minute booking for a family of six, we were lucky to find this one open. We will try to keep this as live as possible but with four kids and star class food coma, no promises.

We do enjoy larger cabins from time to time but generally just get interiors to save money and really aren't in the cabin much. We just got back from a 5 night on Empress and the cabin was smaller than some other interiors we have had. We asked the room guy/steward to split the beds and it created alot more useable space and an aisle to get out of bed without trying to squeeze by cabinets. He gave us a funny look and asked "are you two ok?" Lol! Yea, we are fine, happily married. Anybody else do this or are we strange? BTW, this is interior cabin 3109 on Empress of the Seas. We tried a guaranteed cabin (GTY) this time and it worked out just fine. We will do that again in the future.

2014 we were on a charter cruise (Monsters of Rock...imagine that). It was on a different cruise line (rhymes with MSC). They did drink packages different. It was a deal, 72 drink TICKETS for $356.00 TOTAL. When we got on board we divided up. I was to go get our VIP stuff and the Mrs. went to the designated bar for our drink ticket. Well, bar could not find our confirmation...good thing I print everything out. By this time, I am back and they hand us a standard envelop with a large amount of ticket inside. There were 144 tickets in this envelop. Their mistake. Two nights later, the light on our cabin phone is blinking. We call....Guest services tells the Mrs. "We have your drink tickets here. Please come get them" She explains that we SIGNED for them already. They insist that we come get these tickets....NOT 72 but 144 more drink tickets for a 4 night cruise. SHOTS FOR EVERYONE. WE MADE A LOT OF FRIENDS THAT CRUISE!! 288 drink tickets divided by 2 people 144 divided by 4 days = 36 drinks pp per day or one drink every 40 minutes 24/7

We have two more booked after this ????

My daughter auditioned in general dancer auditions a few weeks ago.. she made it through to the end, where they then took her resume, headshot, body measurements, etc. Now waiting to hear if she will be offered a contract for any shows. Fingers crossed!

? That is the general consensus here on the message boards. YOLO Book It and we all enable each other.

Ain’t that the darn truth!

The Dream is most definitely not a Broadway production. I heard from a Genie that it is the sequel to The Gift...?

Is it just me or does anyone else prefer not having their bed made twice a day? I don't even like having to untuck those sheets come bedtime.

Day 4 in Costa Maya. We took the $4 shuttle to Mahahual and Crazy Lobster. $2 bucket of beers. Some rain came through but we missed the worst of it. Only ship in port today. Vibrant rainbow after leaving Costa Maya. The Magic of Puck in the theater tonight. He's pretty good.

LOL Nothing wrong with it at all! We had ours split one cruise too. We were in an interior with our two boys. They were in two pullmans, and having the beds together underneath that was crazy weird. They jumped down onto our bed then had to scootch to the end of the bed to get out, or, move over to where the gap was between the beds & the wall then duck to get out. For us, we had to do the same, scootch to the end or the side (which being an adult made it harder than for the kids). We asked for our beds to be split, and boy was life easier! The kids could use the ladder down to the gap inbetween and off they went. No more plopping on our beds. We sleep together every night - a week apart never kills anyone! LOL

? Only six days 'til we go on the cruise, only six days 'til we go...!! ? Awesome news for me -- I'm not allergic to these bandages!!! Did the first change and there is no redness, swelling, or anything else where the bandage was located. You have no idea how huge this is. Along with everything else, I have a fairly serious latex allergy; I haven't been able to use Band Aid bandages or any other brand, even when they're labeled as 100% latex free, for decades. I don't know if it's actually the adhesive they use or that the bandage material is still close enough to latex to trigger the reaction, but every over-the-counter bandage I've ever tried has caused a severe reaction within a day. The nurse at the wound center told me CVS also sells these same bandages under a different brand name, possibly generic; I just need to match up the manufacturer -- Mölnlycke. Imma going over there right now and buying up their entire inventory! ? I can use bandages again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Correct. I think royalup has worked very well to fix sorting demand for stateroom by category. Royal often has more "guaranteed balcony" staterooms fares sold than actual balcony staterooms available (or pick another category, I'm just using this for an illustration). Thus, the royalup emails get sent out a few weeks before your sailing and then depending on bids and status they reward the folks who were in balconies the chance to bid up the most to get into the junior suites, which are kind of an in between category that on many ships doesn't offer the whole high end experience. (You can also see that they've added a lot of these in the corners for front of the ships in each Amplified dry dock) Also lets high status customers or people already in the junior suites slide up to any unsold high end suites, etc etc. Just a good all around tool for Royal to sort everyone into a cabin they are happy with. Maybe they don't get the initial big up charge they wanted for some suites or other categories in the first place, but they do get a lot of valuable data on pricing demand, category breakdown, and customer trends moving forward. Hence, you almost never see last minute deals on suites or ocean view, they simply royal up and get more money from existing customers booked on that cruise, then blow out the cheap inside rooms in the bottom of the ship. It's obviously working very well for them. Anymore it's all about that big data and we are just the guinea pigs haha

RoyalUp offers can show up with absolutely no correlation to inventory. It's a way for them to gather offers in case of a cancellation. Of course if there's availability you would have a better chance if there was a room available..but there's no guarantee of that.

^^^ @DJsMrs That is truth right there!

Coudlnt have said this better myself. - Be careful with any agent or agency that wants to work for FREE. Not sure what service you will get if they are not making any money. Also, would like to add that I know a lot of people shop around for the OBC and extras, but the easiest way to book a trip is with a Travel Planner that knows what you like and this comes with working with them on a few trips. Trust me - it took a few trips with @Matt to figure him out! Still working on it! HAHA

I got by. With two weekend days and a day in Mexico where my phone works natively I was able to make it work but it definitely makes a difference.

Day 6 Update Back in Port Everglades for the start of cruise #2. Voom is back to normal today and I was able to stream this morning! Consecutive cruisers met in the Schooner Bar at 9:45am. We were escorted off and down to see CBP. We caught the tail end of departing guests so we had to wait briefly in the terminal. By 10:45am we were back on board. The Voom system hasn't reset yet for the new cruise so I can't validate if the platform is back to normal for this cruise but I sure hope sure as it was very slow doing anything last cruise. This cruise was supposed to be my Cuba cruise combined with additional OBC from a cancelled chart cruise so I splurged for the Deluxe beverage package. Last cruise I averaged around $23 per day in beverage purchases that combined with Diamond happy hour was enough to satisfy my libations but it will be nice to upgrade from the Diamond drink menu this cruise.

I almost always watch the shows on the ships twice (on the same night/sailing) ... I've even seen Pixels three times ... or was that four?

I "stole" this from somewhere. If we need to start a new thread for the list, please let me know. All Access (Grandeur of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas) A song-and-dance revue with past hits from Sly & the Family Stone; the Everly Brothers; Blood Sweat & Tears; and Earth, Wind & Fire. Bailamos (Empress of the Seas) Meaning "let's dance" in Spanish, Bailamos showcases Latin music and dance in a variety of styles. Ballroom Fever (Rhapsody of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas) A showcase of ballroom dances performed to pop tunes from several decades, including Fever, The Last Tango and They Dance. Blue Planet (Allure of the Seas) Visual effects and aerial acrobatics, along with atmospheric music, take the audience on a journey around the planet from the jungle to under the ocean waves. Boogie Wonderland (Majesty of the Seas, Vision of the Seas) All the best songs from the 70s from artists like KC and the Sunshine Band, Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, Lionel Richie and The Commodores. Broadway Rhythm and Rhyme (Grandeur of the Seas, Vision of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas) A retrospective of several Broadway's shows, including West Side Story, Dreamgirls, Chicago and a medley of favorite tunes from the Pajama Game, The Music Man, Oklahoma and My Fair Lady. Can't Stop the Rock (Adventure of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas) A stroll through the music of the movies from Mission Impossible and Purple Rain to Shaft, Men in Black and Charlie's Angels. Cats (Oasis of the Seas) Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit Broadway musical. Center Stage (Brilliance of the Seas) A traditional song-and-dance revue with singers and dancers performing classical, jazz, rock and swing. City of Dreams (Jewel of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas) A high-energy song and dance revue with colorful costumes, lots of acrobatics and popular songs including Stronger, Power of Love, Your Song and Heaven. Columbus (Harmony of the Seas) A musical telling of the story of Christopher Columbus' lesser-known cousin and his attempt to gain fame using a random selection of popular radio hits. Come Fly With Me (Oasis of the Seas) Aerial acrobatics set to tunes from such pop rock icons as U2, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson and Eurythmics. Flash Forward (Explorer of the Seas) Song and dance routines with music that spans the decades from the 50s and 60s through to the 80s and beyond. Flight (Symphony of the Seas) An original Royal Caribbean production, Flight is a satire on the history and future of air travel. Gallery of Dreams (Mariner of the Seas) Song and dance revue featuring music that spans the decades and includes popular songs like Rock Me Amadeus and Play That Funky Music.

Isn't that a great feeling when you've completed check-in, @DanielB? All of a sudden it starts feeling so much more real! ? If you want to do any specialty dining, book that in advance as well; prices are higher on board by about 20%. Don't forget to put in a travel advisory on your credit card, so it doesn't get flagged for any purchases you make on the islands. Likewise, remember to put a hold on mail and newspaper delivery.

Haha...we tried the “grounding” technique too. We failed. ? Following along.

Ohhh , you plan your activities based on RCL IT ? You are a very brave man ?

@JLMoran I am so excited your trip is nearly here because that means mine is LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY! I haven't decided if I'm going to not-so-blog it, but I may vlog it so we will see. Definitely a recap post-cruise!

Time to play catch up. Day 3 had us in Cozumel with just a couple of other ships. Sunrise arrival. They were exercising the lifeboats today. It was a work day for me so I stayed on the ship. One of the other ships in port today was one of those small specialty ships that do adventure cruises like Antarctica. The Fram: Definitely an adverse weather ship. I'd love to try one of these some day. You know it's a small ship when Majesty looks huge beside it. From MarineTraffic.com (Majesty on the left): The walkway in front of these cabins are well below the window level, except when crew are on top of the lifeboats securing them after the test runs today. El Gaucho! in the theater tonight. He was very entertaining, great show.

As someone in the medical field, I can highly recommend that you rapidly book two more cruises and post in the morning!!! That is exactly what helps my post cruise blues!!!?

? Seven more days 'til we go on the cruise! Seven more days 'til we gooooo!!! ? I was going to wait until the day before we left, just to avoid joining the @Matt and @Lovetocruise2002 bandwagon, but work is nuts and nights aren't looking to be much better this week, so... The Ship As the title says, this is our second trip on Anthem of the Seas, having sailed her just over a year ago! I've been looking forward to this since the day we booked it, which was (amusingly) at my wife's strong request a mere two weeks after we got back from that last sailing. ? Itinerary Day 1 - Depart Cape Liberty at 4:00 PM Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Arrive in Bermuda at 8:00 AM, stay overnight Day 4 - Depart Bermuda at 5:00 PM Day 5 - Sea Day Day 6 - Return to Cape Liberty and non-cruising life Why We Booked It Our trip last year to Bermuda left us loving this little island that's nice and close to our home state of NJ, and we knew before the first day was even over that we had to come back here. Lots of places we didn't explore last time and want to get a look at, and not enough time at Horseshoe Bay beach. I didn't think we'd be coming back just a year later, but Cathy said she really wanted to go back right away and not wait. Well, who am I to argue against a "YOLO Book It!!!" request? I'm guessing I'll be a bit more live this time around, for reasons I'll get into in another post or two...

Happy Thanksgiving. Do you guys do turkey, too ? Are the ovens in your igloos big enough for a 20-pounder ? ???

You obviously have a much higher threshold for pain than I do. Once was enough for me !

Agree with Ashely, just use a travel agent. Not only will they reprice (sometimes for a modest fee, but that can probably be more than paid for by your overall savings) they will almost surely be able to get you some onboard credit dollars as a perk just for using them, we've always done that to great success. Have cruised many times with groups from 6-30+ of us with my big family on Royal and princess, cannot stress the use of a good travel agent enough. They get paid commission by the cruise line, not us the cruisers and can answer all of the questions you have.

Well usually book with cruise.com but switched to MEI for our next cruise in May because I found this site. They are very, very good. Very nice, very helpful. Very happy with the deal we got and cabin too.

Petty sure the majority here gives cash and if the wait staff really takes good care of you be sure to write them up (by name) in you end of cruise survey.

Must sees from our 2017 trip. Bar Harbor- Acadia National Park. Halifax- Peggy's Cove and Titanic cemetery. St John- Reversing Rapids. Make sure it's during high or low tides. Portland- Great walk around town with must stops to eat at Standard Baking Co, Gorgeous Gelato, Holy Donuts, Eventide Oyster Co and Duckfat. Happy Cruising!

I wish Adventure had the option to chat

i agree! we want the use of the wow bands with or without door opening functionality (though it would be nice to have that too).

Anthem. It's a Royal Caribbean Original production. I had the unfortunate experience of seeing it twice. lol

Hmmm ... maybe the Genie can read you some stories and tuck you in too ... for a complete "childhood" flashback ... ha ha

Hah! You are all over social media that I've seen but I have yet to see Steven chime in ? Definitely following along! It was great to meet you guys on Allure and I can't wait until 2021 when we cruise with your crew again! I know you've got other cruises between now and then..if you blog all of them we can practically watch your kiddos grow up! ?

Hi @johnjr, welcome to the RCBlog forums! They generally don't lock down the headliner acts until a couple of weeks before sail date, but apart from that there's little variability in the "regular" shows, trivia gatherings, tasting events in Vintages, etc. With that in mind, you have a couple options to get a rough idea of what will be available. If you're sailing on a ship that's included in the new Royal app, you'll start seeing the entertainment options appear about two weeks before your sail date. It's not guaranteed to be 100% accurate, but it will give you a rough idea of what you can expect. That will be the most accurate "guess" of what's been booked before you board. Apart from that, you can check out the Cruise Compass section of this web site. Search for the same itinerary as you are sailing -- e.g., if you're doing an 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing on Allure, look for postings that match that itinerary. The more recent the posting, the more likely it will be that what you see there will be offered on your own sailing.

Cheapest rates are almost always to be had from withdrawing euros directly from an ATM once in the EU. Use euros in the ports; on board you can use dollars, for instance the casino is dollars only and I wouldn’t hesitate to tip in dollars if more convenient for you. Fyi if you need to break euros on board you can do so at guest services

The laundry was something we really enjoy when we do reciprocated diamond (Elite) benefits on Celebrity. My husband even got his suite dry cleaned on the summer Alaska cruise.

@StephanieH is also my TA and I'll admit I've asked up front what TA issued OBC I'd receive. After what I put her through a week or so ago adding a third to an existing reservation. I'll admit having a good TA is well worth it. Would a "big box" TA made the same effort, who knows. Now, it is really a passing thought. Anything I get is a bonus to the service provided.

Found this interesting.....we were coming back into Miami Thursday on Empress and saw Vision of the Seas there. Just came in from transatlantic. That ship seems to be a world traveller, all over the place so I thought it was an unusual sight to be there....I know I've never seen it before.

If you decide to work with NextCruise on the ship go to their office on the first - third day of the cruise as they will not be busy. If you wait later in the cruise it will get more hectic as the week progresses. On my last cruise I went to NextCruise on the first day with a plan already of what I was looking for and I was the only one in the office. It worked out well and was carefree as can be.

Mine said that until yesterday and now we have a cabin assignment. We leave in 2 weeks. We’ve never done guaranteed and won’t do it again. We ended up with a cabin at the back, with obstructed view. ? Not Happy.

This is so pathetic, grown ass man acting like a spoiled child/teenager. What kind of an adult acts like this?! Why not enjoy your cruise? As if the captain is purposely missing ports to spite the passengers. Wanting a full refund on a cruise that was probably already discounted if it was sailing in an a stormy season. Its like cruising the Caribbean in September/October, cruises are a little cheaper and odds are pretty good that your itinerary will be changed due to storms/hurricanes. Regardless there is absolutely no reason for an adult to be acting like this.

OMG!!! I can't wait until March 29th.

ABSOLUTELY I know that depending on were you get them here they can be as much as $3-4 per bottle and you KNOW that the price would be far more onboard a ship! She may save enough money right there to book another cruise!!?

Day 7 – Labadee We took advantage of our later port arrival to sleep in a bit. Where in my case, by "sleep in" I mean I naturally woke up at 7 instead of having an alarm jarring me awake at 6. Following my now daily ritual for port days, I went onto the balcony after grabbing my phone and lenses to see what was in view. I thought maybe that Royal had actually routed us to Isla Nublar this time, and instead of lounging in a cabana I'd be running from T-Rexes. But after about a half hour, it clear that this was no dino-topia... Especially not after spying the tiny rowboat making its way past us... When we had gotten close enough, the ship started turning around to actually dock, and I could see the pier and village of Labadee ahead of us. I had my YOLO shirt from RCBlog on, so I kept it all in stride... (#RCBlog_Supporter, #Chillin, #Mellow) Everyone else was up at this point, and we did need to get to breakfast before my wife and the girls had to get to their scheduled zip line run. So we headed down and once again just took advantage of the "cereal bar" in the MDR to have a quick meal without the Windjammer crowds. This time around, we got to the MDR a little late and had to share a table. Our table-mates were two elderly ladies who had no plans for Labadee, having "outgrown that stuff some time ago." After breakfast, we did the usual trip back to the cabins to sunscreen up and get ready to head out. Unlike the other times, we had a persistent wood block tapping coming in through our balcony windows. We quickly realized it was from the little band that had set up on the pier. With the window closed, the only thing we could hear was that wood block; after opening the balcony door we could hear the whole group, which was a lot less irritating for us. We ended up being a little too leisurely with getting up and ready, and found ourselves hurrying down the pier so all the ladies didn't miss their check-in time for the zip line. After we found where they had to go, I took their bags and made my way to Nellie's Bach and the cabana check-in desk there. I did have to ask a couple of times for how to get there and where to go, but I eventually got there and was checked in. I let them know that not only would my family be there, but we had also invited our table-mates and they should be expected later in the morning. Our attendant was a man named Fritz, and he led me to our cabin, which was the next-to-last one down the line. I had a chance later in the day to confirm that at least for these cabanas, they are not reserved based on when you booked, just on when you show up to claim one. So the earlier you get there, the better the cabana you'll be given as far as its position in the line and the view you get. Ours was definitely not at all shabby... After putting everyone's bags down in our cabana and taking the pics above, I went out and found Fritz, and asked him to please call one of the golf carts for me so I could go and ride the Dragon's Tail coaster before the lines had a chance to build up. It took about ten minutes for a cart to show up, but that was fine; I wasn't in any hurry at that point. Once it arrived, I was quickly whisked to the check-in desk for the coaster, where I filled out my waiver and got my all-day wrist band. While walking the short distance from there to the actual ride entrance, I was surprised to see a wild dog come into view. It was somewhat timid and didn't let me get too close, but I was still able to get a shot. I rode the coaster a total of four times over the span of about 45 minutes. I recorded every one of them, but I haven't yet reviewed them and decided which is best to share. Two of the times I went fairly slowly; the second time was a little too slow, as I had applied the brake for so long that I almost stopped dead on the track about half-way through! The other two times I went as fast as I was comfortable with while holding my phone (braced in the ShoulderPod grip) in one hand, and using the brake with the other. It was still plenty fast for me, and I definitely had a blast, as well as getting my money's worth out of my all-day pass. I'll try and get one of those videos up on YouTube to share here this weekend. By this point it was noon, and I was ready to go back to the cabana. The people at the coaster couldn't hail one for me, so I wandered over to the beach bed checkin spot on Adrenaline Beach and asked if they could do it. They could indeed, and paged someone over the walkie-talkies they had there. While I waited for my ride, I attempted to speak to them in French, dredging up what I could remember of my high-school classes to fumble out a basic conversation (prefaced with me letting them know in French that I honestly didn't speak it well but was hoping to have a little chance to practice). They were pretty patient with me and fell back to English when it was clear I just didn't understand / couldn't translate quickly enough what they were saying to me. But it did come back to me to a surprising degree, and I even understood when they said in French that their Creole language was much easier to learn since it didn't have all the grammatical rules and other complications that "regular" French has. They explained that they all had to learn both French and English in school, so they were at least conversant in all three, if not 100% fluent. By this time my golf cart had arrived. I thanked the gents I'd been speaking with for the conversation, and then hopped on to go back to my cabana. I got there to find that my wife, the girls, and our table-mates were all there. Everyone who'd been on the zip line absolutely loved it, and none of them found themselves scared all that much. They also said the jolt at the end wasn't as bad as the videos we'd watched beforehand made it look, so maybe the next time we're in Labadee I'll give it a try. They wanted to take video and made sure they had hand straps for their phones, but they were told that only head-mounted GoPros were being allowed since everyone had to hold on to the zipline bars with two hands. Now I was thirsty at this point, and Fritz had just showed up to deliver some drinks for Debbi and Matthew;. I didn't hesitate, and ordered my first Labadoozie of the day (with alcohol, natch). D14 already had a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple that she bought with her OBC, and my wife and D17 were just drinking the Evian that came with our cabana, so I was the only one left empty-handed. Fritz came back in short order, and I tried it out. As you can see, I totally hated it. After I had a chance to properly sample my beverage, we asked Fritz to call up another golf cart so we could grab some food from the buffet. Our driver was great, staying nearby so that we could grab what we wanted and then eat it back in the cabana without having to hoof it all the way there. The food was just OK for me, but I'm not a big barbecue fan; everyone else thought it was great. With lunch out of the way, the girls and my wife went to the Dragon's Tail coaster to try and get a couple of rides in. While they were off doing that, Debbi, Matt, and I went into the lagoon and enjoyed the water. It was very odd after a while; we all kept feeling cold patches going by while we stood there, so the water alternated between feeling nice and warm and feeling freezing cold. I eventually got out and decided to take another time-lapse while I warmed back up. Wade made another visit and gave his seal of approval... The ladies came back by this point, having only been able to get in a couple of rides on the coaster due to the long lines that had formed. Lesson learned -- ride the coaster early if you have an all-day pass, or you won't get nearly as much of your money's worth! The two girls and Matthew then went to the village to find some trinkets to buy. We adults just hung around in the cabana and enjoyed the lazy day, chatting and relaxing. I had another couple of Labadoozies, because why not? D17 came back from the village feeling robbed. She tried to haggle, didn't know how to properly do it, and ended up paying the full $25 asked for the two necklaces she wanted. D14 did a bit better, getting a carved bird for $12 (original asking price $20). Matthew was an old hand at this, and got 6 necklaces / bracelets for $4 each. The girls decided to vent their frustrations over haggling with a dip in the lagoon. I had seen a number of birds flittering around and tried to get some pics, but only got this one fellow as he gathered material for a nest... I did manage to get a shot of D14's "emotional support chicken" as well.. And just when I'd given up hope of catching any more birds, I got two in one shot! By this time, the cabanas were being cleared out and the beach was empty of people. We got the not-too-subtle GTFO hint and grabbed our stuff (plus the un-consumed Evian bottles) and started heading back. I tipped Fritz for the four of us, and Debbi tipped him some more for herself and Matthew. And we managed to score one last golf cart ride back to the ship, with the same driver who had gotten us to the buffet and back; my wife tipped him as well for taking such good care of us. We did the short walk back to the ship, once again among the very last to board (without being actual pier runners). We really loved having that cabana. If I can score one at the same low price I got this one the next time we're in Labadee, I will definitely do that again. It made the day that much more pleasant and relaxing, especially since that day there was absolutely no wind or any breeze to cool things off. We had the shade of the cabana as well as the fan in it to help us keep cool all day. No sail-away pics or video this time, we were already facing out to the ocean and sail-away was incredibly fast. I also missed the sunset again this time, but my wife got a nice shot from what we think was the deck 4 jogging path... Dinner this night included tiramisu for dessert. Now I've been on a quest for the best tiramisu for a long time, and I had high expectations. I have to say, when it came out and I took my first bite, I was... disappointed is the only word for it. It seemed bland to me, but my wife and D14 both said I was nuts and that it had really great flavor, and was one of the best they'd had. So, I did what anyone would do... I had a second helping. You know... for research purposes. I kid you not, it was night and day. That second piece was what I was expecting from a good tiramisu. Jigger was as shocked as the rest of us, and he guessed that because my entree that night was extremely savory and I was drinking some Zinfandel with it, my palate hadn't cleared enough to properly taste the dessert. By the time the second portion arrived, I'd had some additional sweet (a bite of my wife's chocolate panna cotta) and also some water, so I was better set for properly tasting my second helping. After dinner, my wife and I tried going to the helipad again to try and finally see some stars. And we hit the jackpot! The sky was almost completely clear of clouds, and from the helipad the stars just shined down by the hundreds. We saw more than we'd ever seen before, and could even see their actual colors as well! I'd never seen just how orange Betelgeuse, in Orion, actually is, or how blue Rigel is compared to other stars. We just sat there for almost an hour with a few other adults who'd come out before us, everyone in awe at this amazing view. And then the teenagers arrived... First a couple, keeping relatively quiet but using their flashlights on their phones. Then a bunch more, and several of them stupidly trying to take pictures with their flashes going off. Within five minutes, a deckhand came out and escorted every one of us off the helipad, telling us it was closed. Damn kids. We stayed up to watch the 70s party in the Royal Promenade from the chairs in our elevator lobby. It was OK, but I was glad i wasn't down there in the massive crowd. We called it after about 45 minutes, since it seemed the show was going to go on a bit longer and we'd had enough. Everyone else went to bed, but I wanted another crack at the craps table. Once again, it was cold and no one was doing better than winning a little bit followed by losses. I stopped after I'd lost another $33 on top of the prior night's $25, which was actually perfect -- counting the $50 I'd lost on the slots a few days earlier, I was exactly at break-even. I figured fortune was sending me a pretty strong signal, and decided I was done with the casino for this trip. I went back to my cabin, where I found a little seal pup waiting for me... Drink package tally for today -- I definitely made up for the prior day's shortfall!! Fresh-squeezed OJ and cappuccino at breakfast Three Labadoozies -- far too tasty to say no to these! ("Lord, show me how to say no to this!") 1800 Reposado margarita for sail-away, from the Schooner Bar Ravenswood Zinfandel at Vintages Marchesi de'Frescobaldi, Toscana, "Rèmole" at MDR with dinner