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I spent a nice amount of time in the Crown Lounge. We didn't depart so I went over the sports deck to see what ship was next to us. Turns out there was a ton of pier runners. We waited almost 30min for the stragglers, worst, they didn't care. Just moving at a snails pace. CL had slightly different offerings but my fruity pebbles rice krispies treats were all that mattered. Somehow a nearly naked man, who was clearly drunk, followed someone into the Crown Lounge. Everyone was clutching their pearls. The concierge called someone because he walked straight through to the deck. Then tried hard to get back in. He was wearing a speedo that was wet but only in the neither region. The rest of him was dry.....make of that what you will . I met two recently retired sisters who are part of the royal degenerate gamblers Facebook group. We traded casino and royal stories. They informed me that Atlantis no longer gives prime players any freeplay. Maybe because royal has new relationship. We went to the casino for a couple of drinks. Hardly anyone playing on machines around 7:30. Then went to the MTD room around 7:50. Got sat right away without a reservation. But our server was slammed.....or slow. So it was 8:15 when we ordered. Food was coming out fast and hot but drinks took forever. They were starting that dancing at 9:25, right as we were leaving. Stray observations MTD is until 9:30. We saw people getting sat as we were leaving. The WJ will let you in 5min to closing and not rush you. They changed the program channels. I will turn on white noise, usually the children channels. For 3 years it was the same thing. Now it's the newer shows like bubble guppies and paw patrol. Newer films on the movie channels as well. The shows seem much later. If I recall the last show used to be at 10, with adult comedy the latest at 11pm. They now have 10:30 ice shows and other things besides parties starting at 10:45/11. There are a lot of large groups. They wear matching shirts, take up loungers, elevators and so on. We counted 4 tables of 10 in our little section and a lot more just when walking in. Also a lot more dude bros. So many dude bros that constantly say "bro and bruh" The water smells in our cabin and the whole aft section of deck 9 has a unique and unpleasant smell. Somehow there has been a different CL concierge on each leg. All super nice but different.

Last day of shenanigans... I woke up earlier than expected. I had some freeplay from earning my cert and went to the casino to play it. I turned that $30 into $187. So I'm a little less in the red. We have hibachi for lunch and then nothing else planned but some packing. Next cruise is giving more OBC if you book Europe, Alaska or icon for 2025.

They say once you start sailing in suites you can't go back. Well...they weren't kidding! We attempted going back last year...all the way back. We sailed three consecutive cruises in February 2023 on Navigator of the Seas in an interior cabin. I don't know what we were thinking! We survived, but determined we are officially suite snobs now! Now when I start looking at cruises and suggest a cruise, my hubby is the first to ask if it's a suite. If the answer is no, it's a no-go! I've created a monster...but I'm okay with that. LOL We've been busy with wedding planning this past year with our daughter, so we've taken a break from cruising. Since the newlyweds were on a cruise for their honeymoon (naturally), they shared pics of their adventures and I got jealous. Now we're going on a cruise! Details on our adventure: Who's Going Just the empty nesters! Flight & Hotels Flying in two days before on a super duper early flight non-stop from home to Orlando. Staying one night in Orlando to meet up with our middle daughter who lives in Florida. Taking the Brightline train from Orlando to Ft Lauderdale the day before the cruise Staying one night in Ft Lauderdale at the Hilton Ft Lauderdale Marina (hopefully) with a view of our ship!! Cruise Celebrity Beyond July 7 - 13, 2024 Cabin Booked Retreat Guarantee and were assigned a Sky Suite on deck 9 Itinerary Day 1: Leaving Ft Lauderdale at 4pm Day 2: Perfect Day at Cococay Booked the Hideaway Beach (Adults Only) Day Pass Day 3: At sea Day 4: Grand Cayman (haven't been here since our very first cruise 25 years ago!!) Day 5: At Sea Day 6: Bimini Bahamas (never been before) Day 7: Back in Ft Lauderdale I'm 4 minutes from checking in for this cruise! I hope you'll join us for our adventure! I'll be taking a ton of pics of the ship and the Retreat and comparing to Star Class on Royal! If you have any specific questions, let us know and we'll do our best to answer them along the journey.

People have been putting their dirty dishes everywhere and breaking things. But I want to say something about the casino host. I have always loved the casino host, the one on Wonder was so personable. The one on Freedom last year was friendly as a puppy. There are two on Freedom and one is soooooo nice. The second one, pardon my French, is a bitch. She has had a nasty attitude all three cruises. I gave her the benefit on the doubt on the first one. I came over and smiled, asked how her day was going and if I will need 2 nextCruise certificates if I was combining earned casino certs. She went.....double sigh... you only need a NC certificate for freeplay. I smiled and said that wasn't my question and she said you don't understand me call club Royale and just dismissed me. So I called. The second cruise my brother's card wouldn't work and she mumbled he must be one of the stupid ones and rolled her eyes. So we waited on the other lady and she fixed his card. Today my cert was wrong. I had earned my 1500pts on Tues morning but I received a 1200pt certificate on my door this morning. I know the rules, if you don't fix it onboard, good luck. So I went there, smiled and asked how she doing and said, hello I think I was given the wrong voucher. I earned 1500pts on Tues but this one is for 1200. She went ugh, we print them after what you earn on day 3. If you continue to play it will update. I said I understand that but I earned my points day 2. She repeated the same thing and rolled her eyes. So I explained nicely I didn't want to leave without the proper certificate. She huffed and was like I guess I will print you a new one. Then proceeded to dig in her bag, eat something and then printed while a line was formed behind me. I got my new certificate and the vintage behind me wanted a print out for the 2000pt list and she told her no 3x before saying yes. Two guys we were sitting next to in Giovanni's said they assumed her attitude has to do with her culture and dealing with stupid people. I get that. But don't be rude to everyone. Anyhow if I had just been playing for myself over these three cruises I would be double prime. I just went to the Crown Lounge, so our room attendant can clean. Tonight is the last night. I have checked in for our 12:30 United flight home. They say it's a full flight and allowing people to check carry-ons through the app.

Hibachi was a hoot. There was two ladies celebrating their milestone birthday, aka turning 40 but not looking it because black and Asian don't crack. It was their birthday year. Meanwhile me and another guy were like wait our actual birthday was Sunday and Tuesday this week. Neither of us had said anything until they brought out cake and the ladies felt guilty. Our chef was so funny. Mostly everyone at our table was on their first cruise, while my brother and I were 3 in for this one. He said if we wanted to stay longer, he actually had a big room. I got the samurai(beef tenderloin and shrimp)and my brother the Izumi(lobster and scallops). The shrimp were so good, they cook the seafood with garlic butter and lemon. Nobody at our table could even do two proteins.....my brother ended up with 3 because one lady didn't want her chicken. He also had 2 bowls of rice and ate all the desserts. Everyone was impressed.

Although late , but better then never. Last day and recap: Our flight was around 3 PM so we had allot of time to travel to the airport. the option to go to the airport are : 1. Train - you need to go to London and from there to connect to the Elisabeth line , Piccadilly line or to use the Heathrow express from Paddington Station , not the best option if you have allot of luggage. 2. Take the national express buss - This bus station is around 20 minutes walk (more and less like the train station) , the cost is depends when you book it , if you book it 5-6 month before the travel date , you can pay around 15 $ PP . Unfortunately, I tried to book it too later so it was around 70 $ PP and the time slot which worked the best for us was not longer available. I think its not a bad option as it will go directly to the airport (which is better than first go to to London). 3. Reserve a car - that actually what we done using BlackBerry car service , you can pay with paypal or credit card as long as you pay at least one day before. The cost was 160 GBP. We had a 8 AM disembarkation time , we left our suitcase a day before (since we had allot of time to spare and I did not want to wait 30 minutes for the elevators). We went for a quick breakfast at the WJ, we even found a table , but maybe because it was very early (6:45 am). around 7:40 we left the cabin and went to wait near 270. at 8:15 they announced our number and we disembark. Funny but this was the coldest day from all out trip , I even used my light coat for the first time , missing warm Norway The driver called us around 9 and we even got a link from the car company to track were he is , very comfortable. He picked us up without any issues and we started the way to the airport. It was an easy drive and it took us around 50 minutes. We found some spot to seat and wait for the airline counter to open. Flight back went OK without any issues and 30 minutes after landing we already got our luggage and catch the train back home. Recap : The itinerary - Wow , defiantly a must , the view is amazing , the ports are easy to navigate and easy access to all main activities , I know we were very lucky to have amazing weather but I must admit we liked it better than Alaska cruise we have done half a year ago , again maybe because the weather which most of the time grey in Alaska or we just did not book the right excursion. If you try to take this cruise , try and catch one that goes to Geiranger , its an amazing place and soon Norway will not allow most of the cruise ships to access. The ship - Anthem looks good , its clean , cabins looks updated and as always we liked the music hall , less like the fake "promenaded" and the lack of ice ring. Food - We had one lunch in Jamie's , which was very good , two dinners in the Main Dinging room , which were not bad , slow but we mostly enjoy it . Rest we took our dinner in the WJ which was not bad , not the best we ever encounter but we always found something to eat. Elevators - Maybe because the ship was not full or maybe because we did not had many kids , we did not had to wait too much for the elevators nor they were too crowded. When we could we used the stairs, Entertainment - We saw Spectra which was nice , maybe because the extra close seat we took, we skipped the gift and the headliner and we saw We will Rock you which was wonderful and we would like to watch again. Casino - Always crowed (with the advantage that its non smoking as any cruise our of the UK) , the slot machine are just dated , very old and the poplar machines were never available always occupied. Cabin - we had a 13 floor ocean view cabin , it was large with allot of space , the only problem was that the balcony was covered with the roof from the 14 floor deck (the pool deck) which prevent us from heaving perfect view. Next time I would try to avoid this floor if I have a balcony. The cabin was quite , we did not had any noise from the upper deck. Southampton Terminal - Both embarkation and disembarkation were very easy , we did not had to stay at the terminal as we went directly to the ship. The cruise terminal is in a walking distance from the train station (15-20 minutes , mostly flat). Shore excursion - Adding to what other people already saying , no need to take any shore excursion from RC , everything is very near to the port and in each port there were companies who offer shore excursion on the spot and less costly. The electric small cars is better to reserve ahead of time as they are poplar. The other things which you might want to reserve is the ability to go to the glacier using the trucks . thanks for joining our journey, until next time

Day 7: PDCC, Bahamas (CONT.) After breakfast, we disembarked and headed to Hideaway Beach! If I didn’t already mentioned it, Adventure OTS arrived shortly after us and will be joining us for the day. At least it’s not an Oasis class ship! To get to Hideaway Beach, you follow the path just to the right of the entrance to the water park (just past the orange closed umbrella). There are now two tram pick-up stations… the one on the left still takes you to Coco Beach Club, Oasis Lagoon Pool, etc. That's the station we've always used in the past. The new station on the right appears to be dedicated to Hideaway Beach and will take you directly to your destination. A quick shot before our tram arrived… We’ve arrived! Here's the map of the area... as with all the pics and panoramas, just click to enlarge! A chance to get your bearings as soon as you enter... The first area you will see and can’t miss is the massive Hideaway Bar & Infinity Pool… these pics only show a small portion of the pool! The DJ booth is the multi-colored structure to the left of the palm trees. Better shot of the bar (left) and DJ booth (right)... If you get low enough in the water, you can't see the beach... We arrived just a little too late to grab loungers with umbrellas near the pool so we grabbed a spot closest to the pool on the beach. Here are a few shots of the beach… The edge of the infinity pool… You can see the Hideout Cabanas in the distance and the in-water hammocks and palapas (not part of the Hideout)… The water was really nice and clear… some small fish and a little bit of floating organic material (maybe reeds/plants). You can walk pretty far out and still see the bottom as the water is not that deep (waist to chest high the further out you go). The Lost Flip Flop Bar located right near our loungers… If you head toward the Hideout, you will first pass the “regular” Hideaway cabanas… Then you will find the Slice of Paradise concession stand (pizza and empanadas). They also have a soft serve machine at that location! Later in the morning after they opened (around 10:30AM I believe)… I could just catch a glimpse of the Hideout Cabanas… I take it roosters are not allowed in the Hideout! Heading back in the opposite direction past the infinity pool toward the end of the Hideaway Beach area, first you have the Hideaway Hut which is the food/snack shack… Walk a little further to the end of the property and you’ll come to the On the Rocks Bar… A view of the pier from here… A distant view of the beach from the bar… Back at the Hideaway Pool… pics of the swim up bar side and the ground level side of the bar… We really liked the infinity pool as it really never got too crowded. The large structure over the bar was awesome because you could move in and out of the sun into the shaded areas throughout the day to keep from burning without leaving the pool. As you would expect, the area was busiest between say 11:00AM and about 2:30PM… people started heading back to the ship at that point. We enjoyed the food from the Hideaway Hut. No pics, but Christine had the Crispy Island Fish Sandwich and I had the Hideaway Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I didn’t turn it into the famous Chicken Parm sandwich (blasphemy ), but we did order some mozzarella sticks as a side. Oh yeah, same issue here at Hideaway Beach… watch your food as there are tons of seagulls! Later, we tried the pizza at the Slice of Paradise. To us, it’s just Sorrento’s pizza with more exotic toppings. I tried a slice of the Island Guava Barbeque Chicken and Christine just had a regular slice. Tasty, but once again just fancier Sorrento’s pizza. Of course, we could not leave the area without grabbing a soft serve cone! Later in the afternoon, as we started packing to head back, a ton of that organic stuff (not really seaweed, more like reeds/plants) washed up on the beach. They workers came out to try to rake it onto the beach to collect and clean it up, but then for some reason they eventually gave up and left… Back at the tram station waiting for our ride back to the entrance of PDCC. The next challenge for Christine will be to go up in the balloon with me! Last pic before heading back to board the ship… Overall, we liked the Hideaway Beach area. We also loved the Coco Beach Club (went there the last three sailings that stopped at PDCC). Completely different vibe of course! The Beach Club is more serene and resort-like with that awesome upscale lunch (I love the Surf & Turf!). The Hideaway is a nicer version of the Oasis Lagoon Pool including the DJ party vibe. Naturally, this area is adults only, which may or may not tip the scales for you. However, we never saw children at the Beach Club during any of our three visits. Price/value will always be a factor of course. Also, be aware that the music gets really loud in the pool area during the late morning and afternoon. If this bothers you, you will probably need to move closer to the On the Rocks Bar or splurge for one of the expensive cabanas at the Hideout since these two points are farthest from the pool and DJ. I’ll pick up from when we boarded the ship tomorrow and hopefully get through Day 7! Have a good night!

Thank you so much everyone, so kind. I appreciate all your contributions to make our cruising that more enjoyable and informative. We are staying at the Marriott in West Orange, NJ about 13 miles (29 minutes) away from Cape Liberty. We stayed closer for the Anthem sailing, but was more expensive. I really like this hotel, very clean and modern. Right off the highway and located next to a mall with probably 10 fast food/restaurants within walking distance. No charge for parking. Its about a 5 hour drive for us and maybe some day we'll try flying into Newark and Ubering around. A rock put a nice crack in our windshield on the way down..ouch on my wallet. We have an 11:30 board time and its showing rain in Bayonne..ughh. We booked kinda late with this sailing, so we went for the GTY Balcony and won the Spacious Balcony, so I'm interested in feeling the difference, if any? If you have any Liberty of the Seas insight feel free to share, its our first time. Shout out to Jenn Greene @Jenn G-MEI Travel ever since we started cruising again we've had the privilege of her knowledge and professionalism every step of the way and looking forward to our future vacations with her.

Yeah, I started writing an intro to my 6/2 blog but not posting it til sometime next week. I started mine early last time and then realized I had virtually nothing to say in the 10 days leading up to the cruise, lol.

i……………. WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THIS SHIP!!!!!!!! goODBYE

Well if they would lower their crazy prices...there's an obvious thought smh

I'm going to wait until the end of June. Let all of you work it out first lol Besides, if I start too early, the rumour will be that I started a blog 2 years in advance

OMG! That rumour totally won't die! It was 6 weeks early Wait? I am already confused. You and @OCSC Mike aren't even on the same ship right? Maybe I should join the fun and start my 7/8 blog too right now LOL! Not...

Since we'll overlap, i think we should do a joint blog and really confuse folks!

Now hold on there Baba Looey, I will not use the sanitizer after I just washed my hands with soap and water. edit: I don't use hand sanitizer as a rule here at the clinic. It dries out your skin to much... use soap and water all the time, and some lotion once in a while and you are fine.

And i thought it was too early to start my 5/31 blog . In all seriousness, looking forward to your Retreat v. Star Class smackdown.

Sounds like a typical cruise by @Ampurp85 shenanigan standards. I've never really minded sailing with tons of kids like we normally do b/c of our schedule and now I'm thinking I'll take the occasional misbehaving tiny humans over the naked, drunk, misbehaving adults she runs into.

Money saved on your Star Class cabins = more money to book more Star Class!

I just recently won a RU bid on a casino comp. It’s for my 6-6 Indy cruise. Even better, it was one of those BOGO comps and I wasn’t sure it would even qualify, but I guess it did ! I didn’t want to upgrade this one directly b/c the second guest would have been expensive to upgrade….but I got a nice RU from an inside 4V to a panoramic OV 1L on Indy. Very happy. I have one more of those to get rid of (8-15 also on Indy) so I’m crossing my fingers that RU works again next time.

wonder if icon sailings are not where they want them to be for 2025 with star and utopia and.... hopefully the rest of us going, 'this shiz is CRAY'

Yes, he sails 6/2 (wonder?) and I'm 5/31 (symphony). Join the fun!

Poor Sabrina will never live that down! i can hear her now. ... that happened ONCE! YEARS AGO!!!

It’s never too early!! Didn’t @Lovetocruise2002 start one like a year in advance one time?

They should be enforcing hand sanitation before entering food venues irrespective of any noro breakout. My personal pet hate is the entitled people who body swerve the hand sanitizers outside the WJ.

I'm just hoping my surfside suite on Star continues to drop to make upgrading to a better suite more palatable after reading some of the reviews.

Agreed... and to be clear, my friend made no mention nor speculation of causes or origins, just mentioned people were sick and RC was using countermeasures to prevent spreading. She also mentioned she was having a great time as usual.

Got some free upgrades on my casino comps as the category I was booked in became more valuable than a balcony.

I checked prices this morning and many of the PDCC activities - including the Beach Club and Hideaway are on sale. Cabanas are still laughable. The Beach Club is $92.99 and Hideaway is $29.99 again. This is for Indy 6-6-24. I am slightly tempted for the Beach Club although this is still too much....no interest in Hideaway as that was a one and done for us. Hopefully others will find similar sales for their cruises.

Your post has not been rejected. But we do keep new accounts here moderated for a short time to keep the spammers away. Your post just got around to being approved now. There are 3 mods here: @AshleyDillo @SpeedNoodles, and myself, and @Matt is admin. @Matt is on a cruise right now, and the rest of us have day jobs and other obligations too. We try to get them approved asap but sometimes it can be a bit before we get to it.

Go the the Cruise Compass button at the top of this page, type in the ship name, and you'll get a terrific idea of all the shows by reviewing past cruise compasses. Happy Sailing!

Yeah, it really is (I know "cheap" sounds silly but I get it). I know what my family paid for the OTW cabana we had that was booked in 2021 for 2022 and it was only slightly less than the $1740... then I watched them go to $3-4K for a while which was crazy. I kinda wish this was this was a family cruise b/c I know they'd pay those prices, lol. My version of "splurging" is a $70 daybed at Paradise Beach in Cozumel (with a 10% off promo code from Matt).

I wish I would have found this forum before the cruise! I was on this sailing as well and we had a blast! Already booked another cruise on Icon for this fall! I was blown away by not only the ship, but the staff as well…everyone we encountered onboard was incredible!

Thanks for following along. Looking forward to your blog too! From all the reviews online it feels like Celebrity is geared a bit more toward the Gen X crowd. I’m excited for the new experience! Have a great time on your trip! Thanks for the follow!

I know it's bad, but this whole bit made me laugh out loud while having my tea this morning lol I'm totally here for this! Well at least I will try my best. I just realized while re-reading this that you aren't sailing until July 7th. We'll be in Barcelona by then getting ready to board Voyager but I will still try to follow along. Hubby and I are doing our own "retreat" vs "star class" comparison a few weeks afterward that Voyager sailing.

“On eastbound (from America to Europe) the time changes are midday. It's 11:59am and then it's 1pm.” This was not the way Explorer handled the time changes for the April 2024 crossing from Miami to Barcelona. All time changes occurred at 2am.

My brother decided against breakfast and got his work done. I thought I was well rested but took a slight nap after finishing my work. We then went to ELF, the picture is of one of the 3 of my brother's plates. We sat on deck and ate, it's hot and popping. So many wardrobe malfunctions. Personally if I have to constantly adjust or be afraid of the elements, I wouldn't wear it . The app updated and now it won't display anything. My brother said if there are escargot on the MDR menu, he wants. So we will see. Sailaway is soon. People continue to vape wherever. The promenade, restaurants, on the deck by ELF. Its crazy.

Dan loves to snorkel and it's really the only reason he gets off at PDCC. There is no real snorkeling at Hideaway unless you just want to swim around in a sandy beach environment. IMO there is nothing at Hideaway that you cannot get for free over on the "free" side....with the exception of some nice overstuffed chairs/couches in a couple of locations. If you want beach or poolside loungers, you can get the same thing on the free side for - FREE. Since I cannot lay for long in a lounger (it kills my back) AND I have to stay out of the sun, those comfy couches were pretty nice. You have to get there early though...they are gone fast. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with Hideaway...it's just not worth any extra money to us.

Day 7: PDCC, Bahamas Wow, the last day has arrived… I woke up early again to take pics of the pool decks and PDCC. Here comes another photo dump! I started on Deck 17 and worked my way down to Deck 15. We're not huge fans of the layout of some of the pool decks on Icon. There are so many dead ends and areas that can only be accessed by certain doors or from certain elevator towers. It took us some time to get used to it! Access to Cloud 17 is to the left… Sports court to the right... When you exit to Cloud 17 and the pool deck here, you walk through the smoking section. Super Mario’s “office” is roped off and to the right of the folks smoking outside (just a table and a couple of chairs). His table moved around throughout our sailing within the smoking section. The Cloud 17 pool which was originally the 18+ pool until they made the Hideaway adults only. I can’t imagine this small pool and small section of Deck 17 as the adult area. Next I went down one level to Deck 16… A bunch of pics of Thrill Island… I caught up with Christine and we stopped for Starbuck’s in the Pearl Cafe and had breakfast again in the Surfside Eatery before disembarking for PDCC! Bedtime once again… I’ll try to wrap up Day 7 tomorrow!

Even if food is properly cooked, it could've been been held too long at temps between 40 and 140, thus becoming dangerous for public consumption.

Yes, you can visit them once a day.

Wow! That’s “cheap” relatively speaking!

Not a chance it was undercooked pork. Just the nature of pulled pork. Now something that got into the properly cooked pulled pork (or the sauce), that I can believe.

July will be here before you know it! Have a great time!

I’m on Allure now. They did make an announcement before noon day 3 and they have implemented the normal safety procedures as mention in the Reddit post. They are cleaning everything and enforcing hand sanitation prior to enter food venues. I can’t comment on the pork taco rumor. First I heard of this. We are currently sitting dockside in CocoCay waiting to see if the Bahamian govt will clear us. We’re over an hour late at this point.

Yes Yes https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/05/20/royal-caribbean-express-boarding-review

First post on this board. We (Jim & Kitty) will be on this cruise. Since we are from Rotterdam, departing from Amsterdam is very convenient for us. We have done Norway already, but not the Arctic Circle and we are very much looking forward to going on the Jewel again.

Thank you for all of your service and congrats on your retirement!!! I love that itinerary... very similar to our Liberty sailing out of Bayonne back in 2015! Bermuda is amazing! Have a great time!!!

Just woke up from my nap. Dinner is at 7:30. Oddly enough I switched to MTD and haven't been able to make reservations in the app. Not that it matters, since I have no plans to eat there. When I went to the casino there was almost nobody there and those that were there, were doing the most. A lady was either drunk or delirious because she kept asking if I seen her phone and why were there no crew. Her machine was loud as hell. Eventually I went over and told her the phone was right there on the machine. She laughed and lost it an hour later. Another guy sat at one machine drinking coffee and chain smoking, talking to himself......he could have had an ear piece because I was at a machine on the opposite side. As I have stated, the wifi is bad in our room. My brother ended up going to the library to work while I slept. Also none of the amenities were sat up in this cabin. The water that comes out of the basin smells like sewer. I normally wash my face before I get in the shower, but the water makes me leery. Yesterday the thermostat didn't work. So my brother turned it halfway on warm, now it's too hot in the room. I used no vouchers yesterday but I will use them up in Giovanni's today. My cooler isn't super cold but it's currently filled with water, sodas, sparkling water and 2 Stellas. I need to drink them. The drinks really pile up when you are on foe 11 days.

Okay a little more about day 1. Our room steward has the exact same name as the first one. This is the third time it has happened that way. He said he would try to come between 8am and 1pm, he never asked about morning or evening service. The type of cruisers on this shorty versus the previous one are night and day. The first person on made a beeline to the bar, while taking his shirt off. By dinner all sorts of tooters and cooters were on display. A lady threw a glass at her travel companion, who ceased being her boyfriend when he got cut. Another lady went off on guest services because she wouldn't listen and was confused. She wanted a refund because things were being charged to both her room and card on file......she couldn't comprehend how an onboard account worked. Rumor was she was put off today because not only was she cursing up a storm but throwing things. That was just on the promenade. The casino was a different beast. Way less crowded than the previous cruise but way more full of trifling folks. I want to say that more than 90% of this cruise a first timers. So the casino and cruise line are making bank off them without giving much in return. I was in the casino from 9:30ish to 1am and only maybe 3 people had their seapass in to earn points. Several people charged their card and removed it. Some were so drunk, other people were stealing their money. There was a gaggle of drunk Italian vintages who wouldn't shut up. They were as bad as my mother because they would yell across to each other after each spin. Thankfully they were playing $3.52/spin, so they left after 10min. Also a large group of babies with babies, playing their first slots. I have no ideas why you would strap 10-12mo to you and play craps.......but oh well. By midnight it was only the thirsty swinger's left. While I was with my mother I never got hit on. But as soon as she left, I couldn't play in peace. The promenade and "nightclub" was popping. The type of people on this cruise was looking to party. Schooners was empty when I went to get the remainder of my drinks. Bit I peaked at the promenade and it was a mess. Day 5/2 PDCC. I had planned to play low and slow to get my brother his 1500pts. I did 655 the evening before and was hoping to get the rest today. l had pasta and ELF yesterday forunch plus half a prime rib for dinner. So no breakfast, the plan was Playmakers once I finish my quest. I got to the casino at 9am and there was people drinking at the bar. I settled in and did great. I earned my brother the 1500pts at a cost of only $800. That's about 54 cent a point, less than half of what it cost me for my mother. He was super happy. He brought my burger at Playmakers . He gets his money worth drinking at the casino bar.

Hmmmm…I wonder who that could be ??