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Day 3 - Rhodes Got some few our sleeping (not enough for sure) and went to eat breakfast at the diamond club , the useal selection was there and it was nice to start the day in a quiet location. How quite well let's just say that beside the diamond concierge we were the only one there until now , oh maybe beside the loyalty ambassador that comes to visit from time to time. No wonder as only 12 diamonds and above are on the ship (and no any pinnacles). The cruise port is very close to the old city, only 5 minutes walk and you are in the main tourist attractions in the old city. As it was my first visit ever to this island (my spouse was there already) we took a RCL tour . Oh what a big mistake. The tour went to a hill with a nice view of the island and an old church to visit followed by old city walking tour. The tour was Ok and the guide was very good and gave allot of information about the island or at least that's what we guessed she did as it was very hard to listen. The tour was full with small kids who kept shouting and screaming in the bus. The tour was in English which small kids not yet practice too much so I guess they got board. Well lesson learned for next time , take a tour that includes alcohol , it will reduce the chance of too many small childrens. If you just want to tour the old city you can do it early by yourself. This guy also tried to inspect if we have some extra corn. The old city is very interesting with Meadville like building and forts , you can spend early few hours there although the city was very crowded (Jewell of the seas was also in port). To me some of the street looked like as they were par of the Lord of the ring -The two tower.

I would never have expected my response to having the Key. Normally something I wouldn't consider it popped up on my cruise planner for less than the Zoom Internet alone. Made no sense not to get it for my Oasis voyage. Arriving "Port Liberty" there were lines around the building. Dropped off my sweetie while I parked the car. Got to the garage that was already full and asked the attendant where I should go and that I had the key. He just said " Key? there's room in here". Walked back past thousands in line to my sweetie. Asked where "Key" goes. They escorted us past long lines to one roped off and nobody waiting. Right to and through security then to check in and escorted right to the ship with zero wait. Deck four MDR was waiting for us to set down our carry on bags and eat a really way good Chops lunch. Shows? Right in... treated royally. Anywhere we dropped the "Key" word we bypassed lines and were pampered, even the dinner lines... A special line at customer service even was open for suites, diamond and up and Key people. Getting off special breakfast of crab eggs benedict was had then walk past the crowds and fast tracked back to the car. I didn't ever think I'd like being pampered but I did and my Fiance' really loved every bit of it. I will splurge any time it gets available at reasonable rate...

Embarkation Day (Day 1) Breakfast and coffee were just what we expected and then we finished getting all packed back up. It's crazy how much gets unpacked for one night in a hotel!! We all sat in the room for the last hour just tapping our toes waiting to leave. Cindy asked every five minutes if it was time to go yet. We were all so excited! I had confirmed 10:30am with Jay though, so I didn't want to get there too early. We took two XL Lyfts that showed up at the hotel just a minute apart. The two lifts ended up at ~$12 each plus tip, and for one person to use the shuttle from the hotel it would have been $15. Had we used the shuttle, I guarantee we would have lost our luggage to the over zealous porters as soon as the driver opened the door. Instead, Lyft was an excellent choice! I highly recommend it!! The two vehicles went through the security gate at the same time - which was good because I had already collected everyone's documents and Tim had them in his bag in car #1. Since they wanted to see everyone's ID, we sent our person over to his car and they checked everyone off. Loved passing everyone at the port to get to star class. Everyone knew not to even get out of the vehicle until we had a star class porter. He showed up with a cart, loaded it up, and we were on our way with an escort passed the incredibly long check-in line!!! We walked by them all and weaved in and out of groups as we made our way directly to the counter where it took about 5 minutes for us all to be on our way up to the suite waiting area. As we made it by the last group into the building, Tim threw his hands up with the rock and roll signals celebrating our front of the line pass. If there was ever a reason to book star class, this is it people!!! Jay was busy when we arrived so we found some comfy seats and the conversation that started Friday night at the hotel in Portland continued. Man, we can talk!! Okay - mostly Cindy, Kenzie, and Kayla, but we keep it going. We didn't pay attention to how long it took for Jay to arrive (because we were talking), but it wasn't long - maybe 10 minutes? He came over and we were instantly family. He got hugs from everyone and we chatted for a few minutes. He needed another 10 minutes before he would be ready for us, so we chatted a bit longer and he came back over and got us. We made our way onto the ship and Jay used the magic card to get us up to the 17th floor where he dropped us off in the Suite Lounge to await our room readiness. The girls went nuts over the magic card. So easily amused! We met Dr Booze (aka Sachin) in the Suite Lounge and when Cindy asked for Pims, he said he didn't have it there, but he knew it was at Blaze because he had served it last night there. We figured we'd go there later and get a drink. Nope! 10 minutes later, he arrived with Pims in hand and Cindy got her drink. Great way to start the trip! Jay arrived shortly after and took us to our suite that was all decorated for our different celebrations. We had a few snacks and cake number 1. Jay made sure we had macarons because Kenzie has a bakery that specializes in them. Nice touch! Our luggage (minus one bag) arrived shortly after we did and once we got a chance to ooh and aah over the suite, we started unpacking our 11 bags. Lunch arrived and all but Kayla had Caesar salads and shrimp cocktails from Chops. We also had a couple of sides of mac & cheese and tater tots. It was great! The girls and Cindy went back up to the suite lounge after they unpacked and got Cindy's Pims drink, and they stopped by and got pizza for Kayla. It was almost 2pm and we decided to go up to the Schooner bar for the 9/25 bday meet & greet. We met some great people and hung out until we realized at 3pm that we needed to go get checked in at our muster station by 3pm. We headed out and did that, then I went back to the room to finish unpacking while everyone explored a bit - hoping my bag was there. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Jay had to go track my bag down and found out it was in the naughty room. It was tagged with "Kettle" but there wasn't anything in the bag that was not allowed. We did bring our own hand soap pumps onboard because the bar soaps dry out our hands, so maybe that popped up on their scanner? They waited for Jay to arrive before they opened the bag and he said they were amazed by how organized it was. Nothing was "naughty", so he gathered the bag and brought it to me. We met Iman, our cabin attendant, and he is awesome! We walked through a few things we needed and when we came back from dinner, they were all handled. I finished the unpacking - after having to get more hangers (yes, with 12 bags, we used a ton of hangers), and made sure things were picked up for our turn-down while we were at dinner. While at dinner, Jay collected our drink order for our show tonight. Dinner: 150 Central Park - The bread!!!! The bread is a loaf of 6 chunks (seemingly) soaked in truffle butter - YUM!! I ate waaaay too much bread! Kenzie and Kayla didn't want any, so I helped them out. We had a mix of things - halibut, braised short rib (again, yum!), and the Lobster Thermidor, pumpkin bisque, and scallops. Kayla has a tough time with most food, so she asked to order off-menu and got the steak salad from Chops' lunch menu. For dessert we had a couple of the fried cheesecake (yum again), Kenzie got the peanut butter chocolate thing, and Kayla got strawberry ice cream. Ritikesh was our server, and a few of us had cappuccino with dessert. When Kenzie asked for vanilla for hers, he said he had some because he got it by accident earlier that day when he got the lemon liquor for the garden martini. So we all had vanilla cappuccinos. They were great. Oh - we had one of the famous garden martinis too! That is now Cindy's new favorite drink! It was cool that he made it tableside! Aqua Show: We watched it from our suite deck and that was a really cool thing! This is our first aqua-theater suite and watching the show from our balcony was the reason Tim wanted it! Bucket list item - check! After the show, everyone pooped out and migrated to their own spaces. The first day was a huge success! Side note about the room so I don't forget to tell you later: There are outlets behind each nightstand in the master bedroom!!!! I probably watched every video on the internet about our room and not one of them said anything about outlets behind the nightstands! Let me tell you that this made me VERY happy!! Okay - going to bed! Photo dump coming next...

Good morning from I don’t know where. I’m so happy I have a balcony, I woke up and got a latte at Cafe Promenade and watched the sun rise. A little cool at the moment but just slightly. Oasis is in great shape. A little wear and tear in the furniture but overall great room. Haven’t tried the chairs yet but I’m not a crowded pool person so not important yet. I learned my friend can drink. I cannot keep up nor would I try but let’s say what’s ever I paid for drink package was worth it yesterday. Oof. MDR dinner. No complaints. My friend didn’t love her fried chicken but said it was fine. I got the battered seafood and I liked it. Service was good, loved our server. called it an early night and read in my room til sleep.

Photos from Day 1

When my sailing was about 10 days away, the App showed all the activities and showtimes in the daily calendar. Even included each days "Drink of the Day".

When i was 15 i was in a glider that almost crashed into a building, it took me another 15 yrs after that to get back up in the air and i hated it!!! Being honest i had to be half cut before boarding and only did short flights of about 2 hrs max to Paris. However i had to bite the bullet and do long haul and take family to Orlando for a vacation. Hated Orlando but best thing i did was a long haul flight! Wish i had done it sooner because being in the air for a longer period of time about 8hrs helped me more than just being up 2. Also the more you do it, the more you become accustomed to it, now i can't wait to fly off somewhere new.

Official announcement came out this morning https://www.thestar.com/politics/2022/09/26/feds-to-lift-border-vaccine-mandates-mandatory-use-of-arrivecan.html However, they put a caveat in there that they could reintroduce them

I'm a very nervous flier and I took meds for a few years before giving them up. I took various derivatives of Xanax. I found I felt indifferent as opposed to scared. Some of the meds would also leave me quite tired and I'd find myself kind of blacking out. I was coherent and with it, but after the flight I'd have memory gaps of what happened. This isn't a bad thing, but my wife needed me to be helpful on a flight and not a vegetable, so I had to give it up. I'm still scared, but what's helped me is reminding myself how this flight was completed safely yesterday, the day before that, the month before that, et al. I hate that I'm so nervous (especially on takeoff), but I promised myself I wouldn't let it stop me. I may not enjoy it, but I can deal with it if it allows me to go to places like Alaska because of how amazing these places are.

I am a nervous flyer, I hate flying, but before COVID I did it a couple of times a year for trips with the family. On a trip to Hawaii (our longest) I did get my doctor to prescribe me two Xanax. I took one on the way, one on the way back. It did just make me feel like everything was fine, no reason to worry, and very sleepy. On shorter flights I will generally get on board, shut my eyes, pray, and think happy thoughts. I wish I had more helpful advice, but I don't. Fear of flying sucks. I hope you can figure out a way to make it happen, Alaska was a beautiful cruise.

I apparently took exactly 3 photos on Day 7, so here is a view the Mediterranean Sea in the morning and my husband and Monster sneaking in an afternoon nap.

Funny, that's my condition on every cruise I sail on.

Hi Everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post. I have half a mind to delete this because it might be a little strong for a first post- LOL! The last time I cruised was on Explorer back in 2006. I recently booked my family on Allure going to Roatan and Mexico in March. It's a surprise and I'm excited to see my kids faces when we get dropped off at the cruise port and they see the ship for the first time. "Yep WE are going on THAT!" One thing I've noticed since 2006 is that things seem much more complicated with the add ons and tack on fees and complex reservations etc. It's kind of made me half crazy and anything, but relaxed. "Manage your cruise" What? Isn't that sort of what I'm paying you a whole lot of money for, Royal Carribean? When I last cruised my wife and I did one night at Portofinos which was a restaurant that used to be on the Explorer. The food was good I'm sure of that, but I don't even remember how it tasted these years later or what I ate. Here is what I do remember: the fun we had with our dinning room waiter and tablemates. We still laugh about them to this day! The cabin attendents making towel animals and the bartenders, and looking out at the ocean, the sailaway party and the New Yorkers saying "Heyyyy! it's the Verrazzano!!!" as we glided underneath the bridge on the start of our carribean adventure. As soon as I booked Allure, I was introduced the the Key program and dining packages which are not cheap! Forgive me for saying this but it seems like a rude bait and switch. A cruise should be about hospitality and abundance and the Key program introduces scarcity...that little fear that you know "they really are short on Flowrider time and show tickets and if you want your kids to be able to try it you need to give us $160 a day for 7 days..." Honestly, I'm not trying to be cynical, perhaps this is the way it is and I'm making a "rookie" mistake in this day and age, but I'm taking a different approach so tell me if you think this could still work. 1. We're going to eat in the MDR and have fun at dinner. We're going to eat at the Windjammer and try to find a nice table near a window and try food from around the world. 2. We're going to eat soft serve ice cream at 2 o'clock every single day! 3. We'll eat Sorrentos and the Park Deli. 4. We're going to look up at the stars at night and go for walks around the ship. Maybe watch a movie! 5. We're going to get up early and watch the sun come up over the ocean and whisper a quick prayer or two. 6. We're going go to the pools and shoot hoops in the middle of the carribean sea and play ping pong and do the flowrider and have mini golf tournaments everyday with prizes I'll be giving out. 7. We'll book some shows and hope we get seats. It'll be great if even one of my kids begins to love theather. 8. We're going to enjoy time together and walk up to the bow of the ship and stand on the helicopter pad. We're NOT going to have internet. 9. I'll buy my daughter some candy-- Ok there's 7 bucks, I can't say no! 10. We'll spend money doing excursions and see some Mayan ruins and enjoy being in another country and play on the beaches. I just want to be together with my family on an already great ship. Let me know if I've got this wrong. Thanks, T.

Somewhere in some back room I swear people are laughing at the people waiting for an elevator when 3 are like 1 floor away yet the one 10 floors away is the one that answers your call.

Mr. T's buddies used to just drug him and he'd wake up in a new country! Things were much simpler in the 80's

I'm thinking your kids should each get a free day of internet as well. They share your C&A loyalty status. So you might be covered for more than 4 days.

To all the folks mentioning using pills - just please be careful. While it's exceedingly rare, there are times when evacuation is necessary, and being on certain meds/pills/drugs can definitely hamper this and cause issue to yourself and those around you. I am an aerospace engineer who is also a private pilot. I have had many conversations with people who were clearly nervous flying, and have said that my explanations have helped. I really do try to hammer home the point that we spend years and years (literally) designing and testing new aircraft, as well as creating incredibly sophisticated and all-encompassing maintenance routines. Sure, we're not perfect, but one look at the number of commercial aviation deaths in the developed world over the last 20-30 years goes to show that it works pretty damn well.

Well, as they say around here, YOLO. We just booked a Christmas cruise for this year.

I don't know if it would help you in your particular situation, but sometimes it helps to talk with someone knowledgable about the situation, i.e. a pilot. I've talked to several people about their fear of flying from a pilot's perspective, and I like to think it helped them somewhat. Full disclosure, I am a pilot and also have an overwhelming fear of heights and roller coasters.

What works for my wife is squeezing my hand/arm hard enough to leave bruises and draw blood with her fingernails All kidding aside, she is in absolute terror during take off and landings. I’m not quite sure how she manages to find the courage to fly, but she does. While I can’t say I understand the fear, I can see it in her eyes and I know there is nothing I can say to take it away….I worked on jets in the military, but she doesn’t care at all when I explain what’s going on. I’ve learned that all I can do is be there for her. I hope you are able to find a way to conquer the fear. I know it’s a tangible thing.

Just wanted to let you know how we do things with special needs In Port Everglades. In the morning, we are given a list with those who have registered with Autism/Special needs. As soon as the guest arrives and identifies as special needs, they are escorted immediately thru security, check in and upstairs for boarding. If boarding has not started they will sit in a segregated area and once boarding starts will be ushered in. I can't promise the same procedure is in place at other terminals, but I hope it will be similar.

We are so bad , not one day untill now we used all the 5 drinking vouchers, shame , shame . Well we need to practice before the December group cruise

New Caledonia's government has announced that it will officially reopen its maritime borders to cruise ships on Tuesday 5 October.

Oh! Thank you all for your well wishes for Mom - she's doing great now!

I believe someone on one of the live blogs stated they used an un-proctored test and just showed a picture of the test to satisfy the requirements.

I fly a lot both for work it comes with the job and vacation one of the perks of the job. I will say the back end of an aircraft definitely feels more claustrophobic than the front and the longer the aircraft is or the larger the aircraft is the more you feel back end of the aircraft moving and that is because the vertical stabilizer is doing its job keeping the nose on track. For those two reasons I would advise you avoid anything behind the wings on an aircraft. If you really want to do an Alaskan cruise my suggestion would be this book a short flight but not on an RJ (regional jet) instead on a mainline narrowbody because you will be on a mainline narrowbody perhaps maybe even a widebody aircraft flying from the Northeast to Alaska. But more importantly regional jets have a totally different feel than a regular mainline jet. From NYC or NJ I would book a flight to perhaps Boston I believe most airlines are back to flying mainline jets on EWR-BOS and JFK-BOS routes on weekdays and the flight is around an a hour. Avoiding the back of the airplane also means you will have to pay more money and I'm not talking about first class although that is an option for you. I'm talking about EconomyPlus, Comfort+, or whatever other airlines are calling it now days. You get more leg room in those sections and you are close to the exit so you don't feel so trapped. Another thing I think helps with the feeling of being trapped is seat location meaning aisle or window. I personally like the window I like looking outside for most if not the entire flight, some people prefer the aisle. What I would advise you avoid at all cost even in EconomyPlus or Comfort+ are middle seats because they tend to increase the feeling of being trapped.

Royal Caribbean plate for Jewish new year , they put one on each MDR table. Shana Tova.

Day 2 Limassol. We arrived quite early to Limassol, well at least that I have been told as I overslept, got a good excuse I have two hours jet lag . The crew use Limassol port as a mini hub both to practice safety drills and also to replace crew (I guess it's easier with the visas) the Captain and many other were replaced today. We went quite late to the WJ for breakfast, many stations were already closed so we got the scraps, that's what happen when you over sleep. One thing Finlay happen , first time ever, vegetables for breakfast in the WJ ! Hope it will be copied in other ships/routes. We did not had special plans for this port so we just went on the shuttle buss (10 $PP) . The bus takes you to a big mall (which we skipped) and continue to the Marina. We stroll around the Marina for a while and walked to the old city very the very nice promenade which is full with resturants and coffee shops. I must say some people that leave in the Marina don't need to think which flight to take or where to park their car for their next cruise Well that's a good option I sure need to think about it for next time , much less stressed. I wonder if they have also at home PCR service. We spend few hours at city and took the shuttle back to the ship. A I do recommend to visit there , it's quite relaxing and the city is nicely kept including the old city. Back on the ship we went again to the WJ , the problem on such small shop is that you don't have many options for lunch on port days but it was Ok. Unfortunately the show for the evening got cancelled due to one of the participants injury, hope she or him will get well soon. There were other activities like 70s party and some live music. They showed some movie in the main theater but we skipt it. Dinner was again in the MDR , service is very good but did not find any main course I liked so I took a soup instead. We decided to split , wise spouse to rest and me to continue and make sure royal will have some more revenue, although I must admit this evening they may have lost some now I am writing this post thinking how to wake up in time for our shore excursion in Rodes.

Don’t forget to do your muster drill again on the second half of your B2B

That's what makes it an irrational fear. It drives me nuts too, especially when I have zero concern driving on the highway and the amount of fatalities on the roads every day.

Thanks to you both. I got it booked today through my TA, but it's good to know for future booking impulses that aren't within final payment.

1. Yes, each person who is diamond will get 24hrs of internet. If you share logins that is effectively 4 days of internet. But be advised it is Surf. I used mine on Navigator and to say it is slow would be an understatement. Indy Surf and Stream isn't that great to begin with, I imagine the free day of surf will be worse. So, plan accordingly. 2. You will have to re-enroll as each reservation is separate. However, ymmv, as you can ask the host at Adventure Ocean on the last day if you can set things up for the next cruise. Crew members will have access to the manifest and other schedules, so they might be willing to allow you to do it at the end of the first cruise.

Hi, I live in NJ as well and I am terrified of flying. I went over 10 years without getting on a plane. I take Xanax and it helps. I find that I need it more beforehand then actually on the plane. Definitely try out any medication before you get on a plane as you never know how it will effect you. I recently booked an Alaskan Cruise and I have to fly to Vancouver and home from Alaska. Not gonna lie, I'm low key freaking out about that part. I fly to Florida once a year to visit relatives but this will be something else. I follow this guy on Youtube, he's a United pilot based out of Newark! I really like this video as it helps explain different things.

This just out. Now we await Royal’s notice. We sail on October 3 for 10 days but if Royal updates their requirement at least it will be a non proctored test!!

Starting October 1, Canada will officially be removing COVID-19-related travel restrictions. https://www.cruisehive.com/canada-to-remove-all-travel-restrictions-including-cruises/82448

On some Celebrity ships that are more than 9 nights, you need a proctored test and what we found out is the app (needed to be proctored) and the web page (did not need to be proctored) did not match up. We planned on doing a proctored test regardless of what was required and this time it worked out in our favor. We called in advance and the info was still conflicting - and confusing welcome to ongoing Covid things!!!

I wouldn't say it's not safe nor would I say it's 100% safe. There are risks and with lower than normal ground crew staffing issues mistakes can happen. On our return flight after our cruise last month, a couple did actually have their luggage lost. They were the only ones on the whole, fully packed 737 non-stop flight that were missing things. I don't know when they checked in or if they had had a layover prior to the flight (all of which are factors that apply). That said, if you do everything in your power you should be good. 2 hours before means your luggage is on the cart and waiting to go to the plane as soon as the plane arrives/starts loading up. Those trackers seem to be a good idea if you're worried about it getting lost cuz then you at least know where it actually ended up which I imagine would be helpful for staff so they could call the exact location vs hoping the system tracked it to the new destination. We fly with 28" suitcases so there's just no way to do carry on. We don't have trackers (yet, thinking about them for a December trip we have) but we do all the other things and have so far been safe.

Take all important items-medicines, ID and medical equipment in your carry on. Add a day or two of clothing just in case. it amazes me when I read of lost bags and the owner complaining their meds or documents were in there. I even have a foldable recycling bag in the outer pocket of my carryon. If they tell me there’s no room for my carryon I’ll unpack half that stuff from the carryon into my recyclable bag so I still have my most important items in my possession.

You so need to try an open MRI. It’s like a hamburger bun with you in the middle. There’s enough space between the top & bottom that you can breathe and it's open all the way around. A life saver for me!

Day 7 - Sea Day I may be three weeks late but I refuse to give up! However long it takes, this blog will be completed… In our last full day of the cruise l spontaneously woke up around 7 am and spent a few hours on my own while the kids were still sleeping. I used this opportunity to check out the Solarium for the first time, which was pretty nice, and I took a few moments to relax and do some reading. However, towels were already laid out in most of the prime loungers with the forward view which was a bit baffling. Who are these people who wake up at 6am??? I also picked up a couple of extra tip envelopes from Guest Services and reserved our casita location for later in the day. Once back in the stateroom the kids were up and we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast around 10 am. We had been debating doing brunch in the MDR instead, but decided we’d rather have something quick so we could get to the pool deck before it was too crowded since it was the only sea day. Before heading to the pool we tried to catch the parade at 11:15 am on the promenade deck. We got there right at the start time, but by that point it was too crowded to see anything, especially for the kids (strangely it seemed like more adults were watching than kids), so we left for Splashaway Bay. When we got to the pool deck just before 11:30 am we didn’t see a single spare lounger, so we were glad to have the casita reserved even though we didn’t end up staying too long. It was our third day spending time on the pool deck and the kids had a bit of a been-there-done-that attitude, so they were happy enough to leave after an hour or so. I should note that my 6 year old spent about half his time in the beach pool on our first day at the pool deck, but after that he only wanted to stick to Splashaway Bay because he didn’t like the salt water in the pool. We had lunch at El Loco Fresh which I thought was pretty good (at least compared to UK Mexican food), and it was convenient to be able to eat outside while still wet in our swimwear. We planned to spend the rest of the day doing our favourite things on cruises that we hadn’t had much time to get to yet: trivia, bingo and game shows. First up was cartoon trivia where we got second place after a tiebreaker, driven 95% by my husband (I literally only knew one answer)! I then headed straight to bingo while my husband took the kids to play mini golf again and to finish up our arcade credits. I paid $49 for six cards (three games each) plus one extra for having gold C&A level, which was an unexpected perk (the staff noticed this when I went to pay; I didn’t bring it up). The expected value of bingo was super low relative to jackpots in the $300-500 range, but I love bingo and the only time I ever get to play is on cruises so I was willing to eat the last investment. I also got a scratch card as part of the package and won $10, to be redeemed from the casino. I did not win at bingo sadly. What remained of the trip took a big turn at this point. I had woken up with a stomachache that got progressively worse throughout the day, until sitting through bingo, which went 20 minutes over schedule, became agony. Since bingo went over my husband had already started Trivia at 5 at Schooner’s, so I met him there. We did miserably bad again, as had been a trend for any of the general knowledge trivia sessions on this cruise. Afterwards we should have gone to dinner at 6 pm in the MDR, but I wasn’t up to it at all. I ended up in bed with bad chills. My husband took the kids to the windjammer for dinner but dropped off our tip envelopes with our MDR waiter staff first and explained our absence. We didn’t want them to think we were ditching them on the last night on purpose. I proceeded to sleep from 6 pm to roughly 3 am, when I got up in order to pack in a panic, despite feeling like death, with only the force of sheer adrenaline behind me (given we would be leaving the room within 5 hours at that point and hadn’t packed a thing). I took a a rapid antigen Covid test to be sure that wasn’t the root of my illness, but tested negative. I then crashed in bed again around 5 am for basically a nap before needing to get up in the morning to get everyone ready to leave the room by 8 am. That brings us to the end of Day 7. At some point in the near or distant future, I’ll update on Day 8 and overall thoughts on the trip.

That is one of my issues with the UDP - it's not exactly clear what is covered and what is not.

I would never suggest drinking on anxiety meds. Really NOT a good idea. I am severely claustrophobic. Tried to put me in an MRI tube and I started screaming like a banshee before I was in past my chest. I cannot handle the feeling of being trapped, open MRI’s only. Many airports have programs for fearful flyers to introduce you to what you can expect. Then, as suggested, a short flight perhaps. I didn’t like to fly, never got sick but queasy the whole time. Then my beloved daughter moved from CT to FL and I had to fly to see her. Now I fly like a champ!

I had a doctor prescribe meds for a brief anxiety I developed about flying. The pill itself didn't do too much. But once I had a drink with it the anxiousness completely disappeared. I would absolutely recommend going that route rather than miss out on something I really wanted to experience. Just my two cents.

If you go the medication route, try a dose before you fly to see how you handle it. It can make you more miserable during and after the flight. Distractions are your best bet. Load up your favorite phone/tablet with lots of shows/movies. The minute you sit in your seat, start watching.

We're rather spontaneous, so we tend to book, then transfer to our great travel agent.

For those curious: The Port Conditions are: Condition Whiskey (IV): The ALERT condition in which winds above 39 mph are expected within 72 hours. Condition X-Ray (III): The READINESS condition in which winds above 39 mph are expected within 48 hours. Condition Yankee (II): The WARNING condition in which winds above 39 mph are expected within 24 hours. Condition Zulu (I): The DANGER condition in which winds above 39 mph are expected within 12 hours and until the storm has passed and is no longer a threat.

Day 1 - Hifa. Most of the information regarding the embarkation I already described in the previous posts , all in all not too bad, I do hope they will finish building the new terminal. Once we board and done with the muster we went to the WJ , food is regular WJ food nothing to write home about. Looks like the WJ will be busy. We wanted to drink a coffee so we went to check the diamond club but 8t was closed or more likely our card did not open it. I think they did not prepared to have any diamonds from Hifa . We went to the concierge club in the 10th floor. It was open and no cards was required, coffee machine was working. Rooms were ready at 1:30 and the luggage arrived already. The JS suite is smaller than in the new ships but still allot of space for both of us. Tour at the ship, deck 5 outside deck is one of the best in the fleet , wide and open. Around 6 pm we left the port , always a nice view . The other side of the port is the military ship docking location , no pictures from that side , still planning quick return home This was the pilot ship , funny We watched the sell away while I heard our neighbors trying to convince the cabin attendant to put some blocking fence on the balcony so their kid will be safe I thought that that's why you have a door to the balcony but what I understand. Dinner was in the main dining room . It was very organized and fast for the first day. I took the cheese plate, antipasti plate and the rib eye . Always make me smile when they ask me how I want my steak cooked as no matter what I will ask it will always be well done (at least in the MDR) anyway , it was good. Post dinner we went to contribute some money playing in RCL, it was not that crowded but still tight as always. At 10pm we went to watch the welcome on board show. The cruise director was followed by an Hebrew spoken assistant who explained the show and next activities, it took around a minute. The main performer was a comedian juggler, he was funny and performed some nice juggling tricks. Tomorrow, Limassol.

My rule of thumb has always been: Stairs down are always an option, stairs up 2 decks are an option, stairs up 3 decks or more will depend on my mood, destination and time available. Save the elevators for those who need them. Also allows me to indulge more at the bars and restaurants...lol

They should add betting machines at the elevators.