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I always like when people post their comparison shots of ships in CocoCay, we were on Enchantment on the right. Funny enough I ran into someone from Symphony wearing the same outfit as me at CocoCay!!

Johnny Rockets for breakfast. I got the B.E.L.T. sandwich that I love and it did not disappoint. They apparently only seat outside for breakfast, not inside anymore. Or maybe it was just a thing for today? Unknown, but it was a little annoying to be in all the humidity. That's just me. Sorry, I took a bite of my food because I was so hungry before I remembered I needed to take a photo of it.

Suitcase story: I have a Monos Carry-On Plus that I have been carting around with me since January 2023. Over the summer, with one of the trips that I took, one of the straps that does the compression on one side snapped off its base. I took pictures of it and, since it's under a lifetime warranty, filed a warranty claim with the company to see if they might be able to send me a new strap/connector. It's been a couple weeks, and I got an email today saying that they would be able to send me a new strap/connector, but it wouldn't be able to be at my house until late October. Would that work for me? I emailed back and said no, it's really annoying having to work with the broken strap and I am traveling multiple times before the replacement strap would arrive. Customer service emailed me back and said that they are sending me a new suitcase free of charge to replace the one with the broken strap. That's customer service! I think I may give the one the broken strap to DQ since she has her school trip this coming spring, and then I get a new one in that beautiful ocean blue color I love. Score for customer service!

I decided to attempt a cartwheel in the space. Good news = You can definitely do one. Bad news = I'm not sure which deck medical is on because I'm too old for this cartwheel s***. I'm brilliant.

It's amazing - I haven't been out of my room a huge amount today, but the things that I have seen make me question what's going on with humanity. First the naked man in Central Park. Then, plenty of women walking around that I don't think they realized that their top parts were out quite that much. I haven't even ventured up to the pool deck yet cuz I'm afraid of what I'm going to see! This ship is absolutely packed.

Right? I've never heard people commenting on the quality of things at Vitality Cafe, so I wanted to check it out. Those granola bars are the bomb. I may have to stockpile those with the chips from Park Cafe. EDIT: The bottom is coated in a really thick layer of chocolate, if that helps.

So, I will be super honest, my brother would show up sometimes with granola bars and I would be like of course as a chubby, picky eater I would ignore granola bars. Which is to say I was "today year's old" when I found out the vitality spa is where there are free granola bars. Also, I got off at Nassau for the first time in like 10+ years on my Freedom cruise this May. I actually enjoyed the port area despite the heat. The things (drinks, food and souvenirs) are overpriced but the place was clean and popping as far as people watching goes.

Lunch was a combination of things. First, pizza from Sorrento's (BBQ chicken & pepperoni). Second, granola bars and berry smoothie from Vitality Cafe. The barbecue chicken pizza was definitely better than the pepperoni. The berry smoothie leaves much to be desired, but I think I may have to go back down for more granola bars because they are A M A Z I N G. (Smoothies are free if you have the refreshment package or DBP. GRANOLA BARS ARE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Decided to get off the ship and actually just explore the port area in Nassau. I'm glad I did. It was completely overcast when I stepped out, which was perfect for tamping down the heat and humidity a little bit. It has since started raining, but it was dry while I was out there. I'd forgotten how colorful the port area is. Lots of people wandering, lots of different shops, lots of music, and lots of people shouting for you to try out their excursions or take their taxi. A fun cacophony of sounds. Found a couple souvenirs for the family, dashed across the street to the straw market for a literal run through it, and enjoyed the exploration. As musician and music teacher, I have been wondering about the Museum of Junkanoo for a while since it opened. I decided to venture in. It was $11 and I think it was well worth it. If you are a costume designer or into fashion of some sort, you definitely want to check out all of the stuff in here. It's a small museum, but there is plenty of historical and informative signs, tons of costumes and props, music displays where you can push a button to hear things, and then a whole room where you can experience junkanoo. When I say experience, I mean there are giant screens on three sides of the room with junkanoo dancers and the parade displayed, lots of music playing, and a whole ton of costumes and instruments in the middle of the room that you can try on and play. The family I went in with had a ball, and I had a ball just watching them. It took me a grand total of 20 minutes to go through, but I was also trying to be super thorough. The gift shop was extravagantly overpriced, which is normal, but I appreciated learning more about the music, dance, and history. Things I learned: Junkanoo is named after John Canoe; the celebration happens around Christmas time; the parade takes 12 hours; all the costumes and floats are made by hand.

Guess who's parked next to us in Nassau this morning?

A few pics..starting with the cabin and the hallway right outside with the glass wall, a few of the ship areas, Liberty of the seas we met up with in Halifax, and a couple of me with some of the Love boat cast and the bar from Fenway park that got added to the post by accident, lol

Came back to my room and unpacked for a while, then I headed off to watch Blue Planet: Home in the main theater. I'm really glad I got there about 20 minutes early because it got totally filled. The show itself was fine, definitely an original production: A girl is led through the world by all of the different parts of the world, like the Sun, fire, water, etc. Essentially, it's a message that we need to take better care of our Earth because it's also their home. The music is popular stuff but with lyrics changed a little bit to reflect the theme. Every time the girl that was the sun sang, I wanted to strangle her because she was a half step off, but maybe that's my problem because I'm a musician and no one else noticed? Definitely kid appropriate and great energy, I would recommend it if you haven't seen it before.

MDR for dinner tonight. I typically do late dining, but for some reason I think my TA put down early dining this time. Whatever, it's fine, and the table was absolutely appropriately placed because I get to sit by Arizona. For reference, I got a two-person table on Deck 3. I am going to nickname tonight's dinner the Indy 500. It's called that because from the time that I walked into the dining room to when I exited was a total of 35 minutes. I kid you not. The amount of attention I got from my wait staff as well as the head of the dining room was bordering on ridiculous! It's the welcome aboard menu, and I went with the Caesar salad, the fish for my entree (tilapia), and got both the royal cheesecake and key lime pie for dessert. All of it was great, but none of it was over the top terrific. And now I present......food porn.

yeah IDK bc you are a shenanigans magnet so i was kind of thrown by your lack of reaction. and then i thought, well maybe it just doesn’t even faze her anymore???? GLAD TO SEE I WAS CORRECTED. unsure but inquiring minds WANT TO KNOW. LITERALLY ME THO!!!!!!!!!! SIR. NO. STOP.

And now it's raining! It's been raining for almost an hour, pretty steady ranging from medium to light showers. It's been pretty fun to watch, glad I'm not out in it.

Photos from the Nassau port. Ships in port today: RC Allure, RC Utopia, and Disney Wish.

To be honest, I wasn't really looking. I'm going to tonight though! You're full of great ideas!!!!!!

Another story: I am actually a very clumsy person. I trip over my own feet, am constantly doing sidewalk checks, and run into door frames regularly. There was one time I was even walking by the dining room chairs at our table and hit my hand so hard on a chair (accidentally) I sprained my wrist. Keep this in mind. When I realized that I had a forward-facing ocean view room for this trip, and that they kept the helipad area super dark at night for navigation reasons, I was really excited by the idea of making my room as dark as possible so that way I could open the curtains and sleep that way. I could wake up naturally with the sunrise! Last night, I did exactly that - I made the room as dark as possible, and then I went over to open the curtains. In my darkness and not knowing the room super well, I started opening the curtains without realizing that there is a huge down hang between the window and where the curtains are. I turned to move the curtains as far to the side as I could and slammed my head into the overhang. OOWWW. I really did see stars for a second. Managed to get the curtains open, went back to bed, and then cursed myself for being so clumsy. This morning, I have a nice bruise just barely covered by my eyebrow. Like I said before, I am brilliant.

I thought they would have tied in the opening of the Nassau beach club to Star of the Seas launch until I realized Star isn't going to Nassau at all. So it makes some marketing sense to push it back so they can get a different news cycle out of the beach club

I forgot to relay a not-so-great story from last night in the Amber Theater. As you know, there are waiters wandering around to take your drink order. The guy that came by my section took the drink order for the two people beside me, and then asked me if I wanted anything. I asked. Do you have Coke zero? He said no, we only have diet Coke down here. I said that's fine, and went to hand him my card. He asked so you want a diet Coke? I said yes, again, and held out my card. He didn't take the card, he wandered away, and when he came back with drinks for my section, I could clearly see there was a diet Coke on there. He gave everybody their drinks, and then WANDERED OFF. I swear he looked right at me at one point, and then just went away. I watched him wander around the rest of the theater taking drink orders from other people with my diet Coke on his tray, and then he just disappeared. Never got my drink.

First the beard is amazing...... But also, Issac looks good, but the doctor is definitely vintage now though

Stray observation: I have yet to see the Royal Promenade not packed with people. #itmustbethepizza

I had to try bursting the Piggies on Enchantment last week after reading this. Found the fattest swine I could find each time and they never wanted to burst more than an occasional minor for me. Then my wife walks up and hits bonus after bonus and burst after burst and did a lot better than me with these pork bellied daemons.

UMMMMMM how did I breeze past a nearly naked man?????? First ewwwwww***** Second why do people go on cruises and lose their minds I keep looking at the travel yoga mats but I need thickness and can't afford the luggage space. *****I am not saying the human body is gross or nasty, just how unsanitary is it to be sitting naked or nearly naked in CP where people eat and relax!!!!!!!

Always book as early as possible to pay the best price and have the best selection.

$100 in quarters GOODBYE FOREVER

wow I AM BEHIND LET ME CATCH UP. okay so where….. on earth…… the couch has…… magically reappeared by the window!?? you could do pirouettes in that space! also. BLESS YOU. a tuna sando from the park cafe!!!!!! THE BEST WAY TO KICK IT OFF. the risotto with “fragrant truffle oil” seemed like a tease. they swapped in slimy mushrooms instead of hardcore truffles. i was saddened by this. but the reappearance of the chips (!) was astonishing!! almost made up for the (near) naked man in central park. ………sir. pls. NO.

My travel agent checked my cruises for the above months. The prices went down. Saved $300 for the casino.

Dinner at Sabor. I must just be hitting servers that don't want to actually serve me. While everything was good, I did order the yucca barrel fries and they never came out. Whatever, I guess. Chips, salsa, queso fundido, margarita, chicken/bacon/jalapeño appetizer, chicken tinga flautas, steak, and something con leche. If anybody wants to know what to get me for my birthday, get me about 100 of those chicken appetizer items and the con leche dessert. This restaurant is so not busy. I'm sitting here at almost 7:00 p.m. and the restaurant has about four tables in use. It is definitely not air-conditioned, but it's not terrible after the rain either. While I love the food, I kind of understand why RC would want to change it because it's probably not much of money maker at this point. Missing my dang fries.

I can only remember stepping foot in there once and it was to take my young niece to get a smoothie a while back (which she hated and promptly went back to using her vouchers on virgin daiquiris, lol). The last thing I need is MORE snacks but if I happen to be near it...

I check several times a week & have gotten $1400 in price drops and $100 in OBC on our March cruise. Checking frequently is a no brainer to me. It only takes a few minutes and could lead to substantial savings.

I enjoyed the fact that you were the first person we just randomly happened to run into and meet on the ship!

I have cruises in both of those months, they haven't changed. Actually one was booked so long ago that it'd take one hell of a price drop to make me even notice, so maybe that one did drop, just not enough to matter for me.

I've been on deck 10 on many Voyager/Freedom class ships, never an issue with noise. Once in a while you can hear the DJ late, but never enough to disrupt sleep (and I'm a light sleeper)

We had a GS on deck 10 back in 2017. My wife and I both are light sleepers and neither of us remember any noise issues at all. We are in an OS on 10 this coming Feb.

I dont know I'll ever feel comfortable taking my phone underwater like that without a case. I'm too traumatized

I love the Octoberfest (Heidi) machines on Mariner... drink beers while you play and enjoy the music!

Quarters, for the really terrible strippers that you don't want to give $1 to for their efforts.

I just have this mental image of you with your arm out and your hand in a stop motion saying that to the person. I can't stop laughing now.

Yeah, I wasn't thrilled by that either. The risotto itself was fine, but the mushrooms that were adorning the top were a little sad.

It was a fun trip and it was nice to meet @LTR on board!

Thanks @ScottD. Since I am prime and D+, it is hard for me to find the value in other lines. I do have Celebrity on the books, but a lot of people swear by Princess, and I was just wondering if you thought the offerings beat out Royal.

Honestly..it's hard for me to compare, I think the prices and the value were pretty close. I got this as a "free" cruise so all I paid was taxes and to add the package. But I do have to say, the packages are great and basically turn it into an all inclusive.. 60 a day includes all drinks except top shelf, gratuities for everything, 4 casual meals (think playmakers or johnny rockets...but not gios or chops...those are included in the higher package), specialty desserts (huge sundaes from the paid ice cream shop) and some free gym classes. I did hang at the casino a bit...it was nice, and was pretty good to me overall. It's just a bit small.

@OCSC Mike and @Ampurp85, I went back down to Park Cafe and asked what all of my chip options were. The people working said that they only had two choices at this point, so I took both. Stockpiling.

My room is interesting. It is quite the hike from the forward elevator bank to these forward-facing ocean view rooms. The first thing I noticed when I entered was just how warm it was in here, especially closer to the window. After I closed the curtains though, it did become much more bearable. Now there's a little bit of cloud cover (or the sun has just disappeared somewhere) and the temperature is just fine. It is unbelievable the amount of space there is in here - in fact, if this was a regular room, the couch would probably be between where the bed and closet is. Instead, I've got a giant yoga studio over there! There's also a massive amount of room between the bed and the window, just with a little bit of a slanted wall because of it being the forward-facing ocean view. I'm feeling completely backwards in here because this room is mirror image of the room that my girls and I had last summer - I walked in the bathroom and wondered why the toilet was on the wrong side. Found my bags down a hidden hallway of rooms around 2pm (even though there are magnets on all the doors saying that we would get our bags after 3:00 p.m.), so I dragged them back to my room a while ago. Took a nap, woke up to some announcements being made, and now we are sailing out of Port Miami. There was never any announcement about people not finishing the muster drill, which is probably the first time that has ever happened for me. Off we go! Nassau tomorrow. EDIT: Now that it's night time, it's actually almost frigid in here. Good to know that the heat is because of the window.

It's because Princess guests steal fewer towels than RC guests. I guess they see RC guest the way we look at Carnival guests.

I even got a travel mat this time so it's easier to put in a suitcase. I love Moscato as well. I'm not typically a wine person, but those are my go-to's now.

I may do that! Great idea.

If I were a bettin’ man (or if I was a man at all !) I would say that the couch has been moved from between the bed and the closets to its current position. I suspect that previous passengers wanted to be able to sit and look out the window….but that huge empty space between the bed and the closets is….big. They need to out some chairs/table or another couch there ! if it were me, I would swing that couch around so that it was looking out the window

Gross. Just gross.