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@WAAAYTOOO and @RCL_Cruiser_Dan Christmas cruise on Adventure

Just a quick note on last night's Christmas dinner in the MDR. I had the Beef Wellington and I do not mind saying that it was the best meal I have EVER eaten in a ship's MDR. It was really REALLY good. I would suggest that they add it to the menu on some kind of recurring basis, but I'm sure if they did this, they would find a way to f'k it up...so I won't suggest that ! I'm not a huge fan of the MDR but when they do something good, I am happy to sing their praises.

How about we keep B&J and just get rid of Cats on Oasis of the Seas.

I love waking up to morning GIFs from Berty #itsthesmallthings Christmas Day This morning

The order of the groups has me last today resulting in a more leisurely morning. Yesterday in the first grouping made for a rushed breakfast. Apparently there was some drama recovering the zodiac tours when that snow arrived yesterday. That storm also brought 40 knot winds and it was difficult to move guests from the zodiacs to the ship. The ship had to reposition and another attempt was made. Guests were stuck on the zodiacs briefly where they broke out the cold weather emergency kit and passed out hand warmers. They also have a routine which includes exercise to keep the blood moving. Eventually everyone was brought back on board safely. I missed all this drama being in the first grouping yesterday. It goes to show you should always prepare for the worst and fully dress out despite what the weather looks like outside the window. Time for some breakfast.

We had dinner in Chops last night - Christmas Eve. TBH I had completely forgotten that Chops has the special holiday meal on Christmas Eve and Christmas day (night) so I at first I couldn't figure out why some of the people had strange, rolled-up paper menus. It finally dawned on me that these were the Holiday meal menus ! So the fact that we did NOT have the [needlessly expensive] special holiday menu didn't matter one single bit. We were seated as normal and given the normal Chops menu and had the normal wonderful meal that we always have. This meal was the first for us of our 3 night dining plan meals, so we didn't even pay full price for this meal ! IMO this was the perfect way to handle this situation. Let those that want to pay more do so but don't penalize those that don't want to get the special upcharged menu. Well done, Adventure ! Called at Puerto Plata, DR today. First time here. We decided to just get off the ship and walk about the port area. I couldn't believe how big and nice it is ! Better than Costa Maya, and I think CM is pretty big and nice ! They have a really nice complimentary pool with swim-up bar and a complimentary (I think....the sign was a big confusing to me) lazy river which looked like fun....but I know my fat a$$ will not fit into one of those floating tubes. I know b/c I embarrassed myself to an astronomical degree trying to do one at a resort in COZ once. Nope. Never again. The Valiant Lady is also here today. We got off and back on again before the VL really began to disembark, thereby beating the bulk of the horde. We met a wonderful guy, who owned one of the eat/drink concession who is a former Royal Caribbean employee - 18 years. He managed to work, save his money, put his children through college and then retire (from Royal), start his own business and be wonderfully successful. What a great story and I couldn't be more proud to have helped him (and those like him) achieve their life's dreams. They help us achieve our vacation dreams and it's nice to know that the favor can and IS returned ! He thanked US for being loyal to Royal and it almost made me cry. It's Christmas Day ! YIPPEE !! I hear that Santa found the children on the ship, which is a huge relief. I don't know how he manages to find ALL the kids, no matter where they are, but once again - complete success !! Merry, Merry Christmas to everyone !

TL;DR - All is well. Christmas is coming. The BOGO process is a Charlie Foxtrot. I promised a live blog for this sailing but in keeping with my utter unreliability for doing live blogs, I have failed again....this being day 3 already. I will skip all of the pre-boarding and boarding details as these are not of particular interest to anyone and it was entirely uneventful. All went well. We are here. The ship is in great shape for her age. We sailed on Adventure relatively recently so there haven't been any changes since that time. Sure, she needs paint in some areas and there are patches of carpeting that are in need of replacing but these are purely superficial issues and have not impacted our enjoyment at all. We are in a Panoramic Ocean View Suite (VP), a room which was converted at the time that part of the spa was removed. The room has an ENORMOUS panoramic view with ceiling-to-floor window panes. It makes for a really lovely view....particularly at sunrise and sunset. LOTS of space. There is a large-ish closet area that they advertise as a second bedroom but that's not fair. It's just a couple of bunk beds in a closet with a curtain. Yes, it provides additional beds. No, it is not a second bedroom. There is a bath-and-a-half (full bath and second toilet and sink) but the full bath is somewhat disappointing as it is the same size and layout of a typical stateroom bathroom with a space tube shower (ugh). Nothing special there. It is considered a full suite so we have access to the Suites Lounge and all of the suites' amenities. Breakfast is in Giovanni's on this ship (it's typically in Chops) b/c Chops is on Deck 4, forward and Gios is the only specialty restaurant on deck 11....and it is in an unusual place (instead of being located inside the Windjammer entrance as it is on most VY and FR class ships, the entrance is outside of the WJ). The food and service have been very good. It's a good thing that the VP is considered a full suite b/c we would otherwise be denied access to the Suites' Lounge on this sailing. There are 65 Pinns onboard this sailing (and I'm sure we are #'s 64 and 65 in seniority !). Only the top 30 are permitted in the Suites' Lounge and we certainly are not among those 30...but since we are in a full suite, we are allowed in. As may be expected, the SL is an empty wilderness and the Crown Lounge (CL) (or Clown Lounge as some are calling it) is a whirlwind of chaos. Since the only [public] computers that I am aware of are located in the back of the CL (there are 2), that is where you will find me in the AM. At least there is SOMEwhere to get on a keyboard ! As one would predict, there are many families and children on this sailing but I have not found it to be a concern. Everyone is having a wonderful time and the children are all looking forward to Santa's arrival. There was a show in the theater last night called "Can't Stop the Rock" which we fully intended to attend but failed (we decided that the hot tub would be a better thing to do)....but I heard it was tolerable. We went to the ice show on our last AD sailing so we will probably skip it this time but as I recall, it was very typical of all the ice shows and definitely worth going to if you haven't been before. We have not stepped foot inside the WJ and intend to keep it that way. Our one night of dining in the MDR (so far) was fine. Welcome Aboard is one of my least favorite MDR menus and that happened to be the night that we decided to eat there (having eaten lunch in Chops on boarding day....didn't think 2 big meals in one day would be a good idea). We will also eat in the MDR on Christmas evening and one more time during the last part of the sailing...which night, escapes me at the moment. We have a 3 night dining package plus 2, BOGO which works soooo well for us. Speaking of BOGO I thought I would relay the mechanics of using the BOGO on AD...or at least, on THIS sailing on AD as it never seems to be the same process, even on the same ship ! We ate at Giovanni's last night (night #2) and told the server that this represented the use of the first of our BOGO dinners and that we would be eating in Chops later in the week. Knowing that it is MANDATORY that you pay for your BOGO meals on nights #1 or #2, we requested that the server go ahead and charge us both, full price for our Gio's meal. That utterly confused her....so she called the manager over. The manager finally decided that the thing to do was to call Chops, have them charge us for our [yet-to-be-consumed] Chops BOGO and then when we get to Chops later this week, we will already have pre-paid. PERFECT ! Exactly what we wanted. We paid for our Gio's BOGO and went home full and happy. Later that evening we checked our onboard account. Gio's was charged...but no Chops. UGH. So this morning when enjoying our breakfast in Gio's we queried the manager...what happened to our charge for Chops ? Blank stare. So she got on the phone with someone...the final determination is that they will charge us for the second BOGO when we get to Chops in a few days. WHAAAAT ? I thought the charge had to be completed NLT day 1 or 2 ? It's an utter mystery and it's yet-to-be-seen whether or not this process will actually work but if I get to Chops and have some bill-issue, I will turn full Karen and somebody's going to be sorry. LOL I will report back. This is already waaaytooo long. That's what I get for waiting 3 days. I will catch up later. Merry Christmas to all ! Santa comes tonite !!!!

Oh. I forgot to show you what arrived in our suite last night. C&A status isn’t a motivator for us but we are slowly climbing.

My departure was at 9:30am so I had some time to wander the ship and get ready. I could see a penguin highway starting to get busy in the distance. Looks like kayaking is a go. The first group was called and off they went. Weather was starting to move in. Kayakers doing kayaky things.

Good morning from somewhere in the Gulf. The view may look the same as yesterday but it definitely feels different. Way more humidity. My hair!! Will check back after my steam.

I am sitting here on my balcony as we approach the first lock of the panama canal. I have coffee in hand from Caffe el Bacio and just had an almond croissant. Yesterday was Christmas day and it was really an amazing day. We did breakfast at Eden Cafe. I got the steak and egg bagel and then we sat in Eden and read for a while. Next, I called the room stewart. We wanted to use our Elite perks and send Greg's suit to be dry cleaned so I needed a second bag and paper so that I could send both his pants and jacket seperately (we each get 1 item dry cleaned). I decided to head back to the pool for the rest of the morning which I really enjoyed. Most of the chairs immediately surrounding the pool were already occupied, but I was planning to get in the pool with my float anyways. Everyone was jealous of my floating chair and drink holder. I got out at 11 to dry off and decided to get a mudslide. Ocean view cafe opened for lunch at 12. We were going to just go to the back and get pizza, but upon entering the ocean view we saw they had a special christmas lunch so we did not want to miss out on the prime rib they were serving. They also had some expanded cheesy breads, turkey and other dinner was at the Normandie restaurant. Normandie did not offer it's exclusive menu last night because of the holiday menu. For appetizers I got shrimp cocktail and a mushroom dish. For dinner my husband and I both got Chateaubriand which was delicious. After dinner we headed to the 7pm show in the main theatre. It was a special Christmas spectacular that incorporated all of the singers and performers in both the main theatre and Eden and also some of the guests performers.

Day 8 - Fortuna Bay and Grytviken, South Georgia Islands Our position has not changed from last night as we have been anchored in the bay as previously noted. The mist has lifted yielding some glaciers that were previously obscured. I have found reference to the Konig and Fortuna Glaciers. I'm not sure which it is.

Christmas dinner in The Restaurant included a special turkey dish as one of the mains. I was invited to join two other guests to dine with the assistant excursion team leader. Wonderful dinner experience with great conservation.

Let’s catch up. Lunch was at Izumi’s. We tried all our favourites; dumplings, udon noodles, California rolls, spicy shrimp and crispy tuna. It was all really good. I have noticed service has been a bit off. Servers distracted, rushing around and looking overwhelmed at times. I imagine the full ship is a factor. Supper was at Chops. It was very busy in there and it showed in service and food quality. I was doing recon on the holiday menu and noticed a surf and turf option with champagne. The sides and my lobster were lukewarm, my ribeye was just ok. The server took my baked potatoe and replaced it. You know it’s bad when the butter doesn’t melt. It was all ok but we felt rushed. In and out in under 75 minutes is not the norm. Berty said he hasn’t seen Chops that busy and will pass my feedback to the manager.

Ok, I am going to need a picture of the inside of these hats! Lol Ok not to try to one up @WAAAYTOOO but check this out Honestly who would wear these

We just arrived in Fortuna Bay where we will anchor for the night in the shelter of the bay.

Back to the beach. These guys can sometimes show some aggression but our guides deal with them. Ready for some more cute pup pics? There is our smiling assistant excursion team leader to help us back on the zodiacs. Despite the snow it was very beautiful.

It was time to walk back to the landing site but a few more photos along the way. Pups everywhere.

A short time later we come to the King penguin colony. Various stages of molting. Penguins as far as you can see.

Hours later the weather had changed and it was snowing pretty good. Finally our group number was called. We leave our life jackets with the excursion team and head up the path to meet a guide who will escort us to the penguin colony. These little guys were watching us from a few feet away. Like the penguins we join the Silversea highway and make off across the tundra. Everywhere around us are penguins and fur seals.

embarrassed to say that I know a few who might Yay!!! I literally think of that soup all the time. And if you did not taste the truffle oil in the fries, then they did not do it right. That is usually what sets them apart.

Daily briefing for tomorrow. Destination Fortuna Bay. Wet landing ashore! In the afternoon we sail down the coast to Grytviken. This will also be a wet landing but there are areas such as the whalers museum that is closed due to the Avian Flu. However the cemetery and some of the museum buildings beyond the whaler's area are open. Biosecurity inspection by the local authorities first.. Red area closed. Blue area open. After that...

Star Class Flowrider session 8:30-10am. I totally forgot about the star class session so my trip to the thermal suite was delayed. This session worked out great! I know it’s a hot topic but Lindsay definitely got lucky with only a couple star call guests there. He actually had more time on the flowrider this morning than he did in our private session yesterday. Shortly after our arrival it was just him and another man. Lindsay earned his white band for stand up!!

So reports on another site from this cruise... this person jumped. The post was from an eyewitness who was in line for dinner, and a yelling, shirtless\shoeless man came running down the hall, out the doors to the outer deck and jumped right off the edge.

No...I am not jealous....lol

This has proven to be the most difficult part of the voucher system, IMO. Sometimes they use your voucher and sometimes they do not, even if you tell them you want to use a voucher. Yes, they will EVENTUALLY show up on your account as a -0- purchase but that might take all day/night to happen. There are MANY days when absolutely nothing shows up on my account so I assume that the voucher(s) were never used. As others have mentioned, if you presume to have left-over vouchers at the end of the evening, drop by a bar and ask for some water/soft drinks/beers ?? to go. It is a shame to waste vouchers but admittedly, I do it every single day. It's a great perk but it isn't perfect. Keeping track of how many you have used/remaining can be a challenge but I guess it's a good problem to have !

it is the very best!!!

As mentioned earlier, 4 per day. Use or lose. But you can go to a bar at the end of each day and get bottles or cans of your favorite beverage and bring them to your room.

Thankfully the AC works great in our suite. It’s nice and cold in here. But the public spaces are another story. Bodies generate heat but this sailing seems particularly hot.

@WAAAYTOOO and @RCL_Cruiser_Dan still waiting to sail with you both one day!

Random observations. The ship is packed so it should come as no surprise that the ship is running hot and the elevators are a nightmare. It’s still annoying. Instead of up charging for holiday menus Lindsay said they should sell express elevator passes. Maybe this idea should GITCC @SweetPea We have spent more time on our deck than any other cruise. We didn’t go to the royal theatre Christmas singing show at 9pm because we had a feeling it would be hot from the 7pm show. We are grateful we can spend time in our suite and on our deck.

Here it is !

You guys look so cute and happy

my favorites!!!

This has been our day cruising up the coast of South Georgia Island. Destination unknown. Bertrab Glacier maybe? Some of the more interesting icebergs. Northern part of the Ross Glacier I think. This went zooming past pretty close. Our friend the Albatross bringing us good weather. Antarctic Prion. Weather has been variable. It's sunny then it's not. Clear then misty. Where did that Albatross go?

Christmas Cake Another cake Even if we don’t eat them all, I always enjoy trying a slice.

Thank you Royal Caribbean and Merry Christmas to all!

I don't judge but that makes more sense. I missed Playmakers on Allure but it gave me a chance to go to Sabor which I may not see again anytime soon (possibly ever) so it worked it out well.

Actually, priority boarding is one of the few perks that you DO get with a JS. Make sure you line up in the suites/Pinnacle line outside the terminal and you will be allowed into the terminal as soon as they open the doors, regardless of what your arrival time says on your boarding pass. Once boarding begins the suites/Pinnacles will board first to at worst, simultaneously with GenPop. Freedom docks at Terminal A so you will be in the Suites holding pin which is very nice.

Private Photo Shoot This happened last night with pictures taken in the studio and by the Boardwalk. I reviewed the pictures this morning and made my selections. Regular price is $499.99 and I paid $199.99 via cruise planner sale. 5 pictures are included. I didn’t have high expectations; my hair and the humidity was awful. I brought the wrong dress shoes for Reyd IYKYK. I thought there would be more pressure to upgrade but nope. So@Lovetocruise2002 I did not upgrade. As long as I kept my favorites to under 10 they were included on the USB. I need to go back tonight and get the pics airdropped as we don’t have a device with USB ports. I will post a few when I get them.

An hour and a half...they have increased that. Hopefully, all ships are doing that.

No it's not that bad, unfortunately the nature of human behaviour states if something is bad even a little bit I should tell the world. One review thousands read it and everyone says ooo the MDR iss horrible now. Satisfied people don't feel the need for the attention.

@asquared17 mentioned that Oasis was also hot in the middle of the night. I wonder if AC is another thing that Royal is cutting back on?

You should give it a go , I have never found it a hook up just people to talk to . It’s always different,the lunch just meet at a place outside the MDR and someone takes the group in. The happy hour is pretty unorganised,just take a seat at the bar and take it from there. If you don’t like it just leave.

Also Merry Christmas to you and your families, be safe and spread all the joy. p.s.....the Hong Kong flu sounds horrible.

We head over to the main beach. Where we find a motherlode of King penguins. ... and some Elephant seals. Some Chinstrap penguins shuffled in.

21 days to go. I meant to update a little while ago, but I caught the flu. I have never had the flu in my life......it is horrible, I would not recommend, zero stars. I can say that I feel like these next three weeks can't go by fast enough. The RUBs of my Allure sailing went down by about $200 but these prices are still insane for a 4N sailing. All the sailings had offers but I only put in bids for the Mariner sailing because they were acceptable. Though I doubt I will win because the sailing is almost sold out on the website. Speaking of the Mariner sailing, my GTY has not be assigned officially. My setsail has the deck and muster station on it but no official room. The thing I dislike is having to use those basic luggage tags. I am a light packer, nobody else is . But my brother and I will be sharing a 29in checked bag. Then we each will have a carry-on and personal item. My mother just said she will have three bags . I didn't realize that the Mariner sailing starts on MLK day, so the potential for a larger number of tiny humans is there. But after cheating death, this won't cramp anything . Amazon.com: UPPACK Travel Backpack For Women Men Travel Bag Watreproof Hiking Backpack College Laptop Backpack for Traveling on Airplane Travel Essentials Carry on Backpack Flight Approved Light Purple Large : Electronics I finally broke down and brough one of those travel backpacks, because they seem to be a little more efficient than my other bags I have been traveling with. I also want to shout out @asquared17 for recs on other travel accoutrements. Especially the squeeze pouches, they are 100% better than silicon containers. I keep hoping that the ability to book my UDP dinner would pop up before I leave but sadly, it hasn't. However weirdly enough Giovanni's has sold out for lunch on Wonder. But most of the shows are still available to book.

Please forgive the glare. Since the restaurant isn’t currently open there were no paper menus sitting around; I had to snap the posted (behind plastic) one. I tried a couple of different angles and this (believe it or not) is the best one !

Just a few highlights of the ways that AD may differ from other ships in her class. Giovannis is the only specialty restaurant located on deck 11 and it has a unique entrance location (starboard side NOT inside the WJ like most of the others). Sorry…mentioned this above but repeating it in this summary There is a complimentary sauna/steam room on AD (deck 11 forward in the vicinity of the gym…at least that’s what I’m told. I don’t go there, but Dan does). Most of these spaces have been removed or are $$ on most of the other ships. Izumi is located smack dab in the middle of the Promenade ! That’s the good news (I love the location). The bad news is….there is no kitchen associated with this Izumi so it’s basically sushi or sushi. I think they have some Mizo soup but nothing that really requires “cooking” such as dumplings, soba dishes or tempura. So, if you’re not a sushi eater this is probably not going to be your Santa’s list this year. I love sushi (as long as I can get soys wrappers…I loathe the seaweed ones) so I’m a cappy hamper. AD still has a Champagne Bar. YAY ! One of the only ones left that I am aware of. There are no computers in the Card Room/Library on deck 5 forward. I also mentioned this above so forgive the repeat. AFAIK, the only complimentary computers are located in the Crown Lounge. Maybe the VOOM bubbas have some somewhere but I haven’t found them yet if that’s the case. The Suites’ /Pinns breakfast is in Giovanni’s vs Chops on AD. No biggie. Same menu. Same great service. If other differences come to mind or to my attention I will review this topic downstream. In other news, a US Coast Guard helicopter just buzzed us. We are in Labadee. I did not hear an Alpha, Alpha, Alpha so hopefully they were just visiting.