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After lunch we tailgated our way into the suite lounge to find Jen, who was the CL concierge last month we became friends with. She seemed happy to see us & surprised we remembered to bring her the Chinese hot sauce she had asked for. She told us to contact her if we need anything but we wouldn’t bother her & rarely need much concierge help anyway. She told us last month that she prefers the CL & it definitely seemed that way. It never dawned on me but being a SL concierge on a ship doing shorties means she has new e-mails to send out & requests to fill twice a week. Just our luck, today was her first cruise in the SL. I jokingly said “now we get suite lounge access, right?” And she said sure, she’d let us in. We’d never do that of course and without the perks it’s the same as the CL. It was good to see her though so maybe we’ll sneak in again just to say hi. She also gave my wife her social media info to keep in touch. I stopped back in Mason Jar to get a Peach Tea (with very little tea, the bartenders are all new compared to last month), then grabbed the raspberry cheesecake dessert from Spare Tire on our way to the Solarium. We’re just chilling here for now. It’s much cooler than last month; hopefully that continues. Suite Lounge Peach Tea (mostly peach) Raspberry Cheesecake Chimi

Moonlight WJ lobster & shrimp Churros Random desserts Welcome display

I am on my couch right now, really jealous! Moonlight, lobster, SL, peach tea! I need another cruise lol

Might not be around after sail away. You know we share our free D+ internet but we might just go dark until after midnight then we can each have our own account for the rest of this leg. Plans for tonight are WJ dinner whenever, Aqua80TOO at 8:30, and Perfect Couple at 10:15. I’m sure there will be pre & post dinner snacks as well.

Cabins were ready right at 1pm, luggage was waiting for us, this is an incredibly well run ship, especially for turnaround. We unpacked, took a walk through the promenade, saw bbq chicken pizza for @dustfsu at Sorrento’s & the curried chicken salad on a croissant at Cafe Pomenade I liked (since they have the audacity to not serve tuna for @asquared17), then stopped at Pesky Parrot before heading back to the Solarium. Definitely more people in here now but not overcrowded. It’s only 3pm but so far this 3N leg seems to have a much more relaxed vibe with more kids than last month’s 3N leg. Painchiller from Pesky Parrot (minus the tiki glass)

Rescues ions = bad autocorrect for shore excursions

Susan, the MJ manager, called down to Royal Railway where Eric (Jocelle’s significant other) was taking reservations. She told him a guest wanted to speak to him b/c they were unhappy with him, lol, and he hung up on her. Apparently she’s a prankster. She called him back with the real message and we went down to see him, give him his gifts, and took a quick photo. He said Joelle was doing well & let us take a peak inside. He also said he thought we met before. As it turns out, he was a manager in Giovanni’s on both Indy & Wonder so we probably saw him multiple times in the past 3 years, even before we met Joelle. He was also offering 20% off for dinner tonight (to anyone). I don’t think the Railway ever goes on sale pre-cruise so just a heads-up for anyone interested.

We breezed through boarding & walked right on the ship before 10am again. It’s crazy empty so far. Stopped in Mason Jar for my wife to drop off some gifts (her manager friend was all smiles & gave us each a hug). Going to get my usual Moonlight first drink & wait for WJ to open.

Happy Cruise Day! Looks like a good day for a cruise. Sunrise was pretty red this AM, but think we’ll be okay on the big boat… Tidbit… This weekend red snapper are allowed to be caught/harvested. Watched the drove of fishermen head out this am on the webcam (still some heading out now) We will probably get to see the hoard coming back in once onboard… Many will get there bag limit in a few hours if they know where to go…

the MSC disembarkation (in AA) was chaotic BUT a lot of that has to do with the backwards design of their terminal — you embark/drop off on level two — have to go down to level one to collect your luggage — AND then get elevators round the other side to take back up to two to pickup a ride share. we disembarked on a sunday and symphony was also in port with us, so… that was something like 10k pax just at our end of the port. get off the ship early and you’ll be fine; the hardest part was waiting for a ride. once the car came, we made it to FLL airport in 30 mins. would have hated to try and catch a ride once the masses let off though. it was still fairly early on our end, around 7:45-8am. they released gen pop around 8:15 i believe. @Southern Dan when and where is your flight? we do the 11-12 window out of FLL and still made it with time to spare but have some priority screening options that get us through security a bit faster.

Great pics so far!

i’ve heard rumors that they’re going to share AA with MSC and that couldn’t be worse outcome. it’s the farthest down on strip, rideshare drivers straight up ABANDON rides because it was just such cluster. my embarkation on MSC in april resulted in a 45 min wait time and three failed drivers before i finally got into a car. i am not looking forward to this

Normally the excursions are pretty punctual. Is there a chance to put the child into adventure ocean “just in case”? I’m not familiar with that program as my kids are grown

we love a quality marg!!!!!!

This just occurred to someone on my live sailing from June 17. No points showing, despite having a certificate. They had called the casino a few times and were told they had no points and to wait. I encouraged them to call c&a and it turned out they were issued a new C&A number, so the points were under that. C&A had to merge accounts and said it takes 2 weeks. Meanwhile certificates are good for 30 days

Short cruise, no pacing, full speed ahead!

That bbq chicken pizza is GOOD!!! I will have to pace myself with all the seafood in the WJ

It’s actually pretty hot here (relative to Scotland!) and only getting hotter over the weekend, so to celebrate, I made my goalpost marg! @OCSC Mike hope to see one posted over in your blog in the coming days! Tin of Aldi spicy marg Twice slices green chilli Some pineapple Muddle the pineapple and chilli Ice Add the tin, top with some pineapple juice. God tier level. Actually spicy. 10/10. No notes.

Millennials will have the phone on live when off the ship as their phone is attached

All Gen X and older will not like this change as we have been burned too many times by 'faulty' connections in our lives. Millennials and younger will not bat an eye at this.

I am not completely sure I like the paperless either. As we all know, electronic anything can be gitchy at any given time. I always have my phone with me; however, I know there are many people that like to take a break from electronics while on vacation. I wonder if your phone is in airplane mode off the ship will you be able to get to the ticket from the app? I see this causing lots of issues....

I hope they don't roll this out entirely until things are fixed to work faster especially on islands with less internet infrastructure...

@Pattycruise I'm in favor of this change, since we have had excursion tickets not make it to our cabin on multiple occasions and it's a hassle to track them down and ensure that no one else uses the ticket. But I also understand and will miss the tickets (much like the Old Fast Pass Tickets at Disney). While I don't get internet on the ship, I do use the Royal App so finding the meeting spot and such should be easy and for cruisers like @Jolly Ogre I would suspect that cruisers can go to the excursions desk and get a list of thier scheduled activities. I'm getting really close to ditching the phone completely, since in reality I use it mostly to look at dinner menus (during breakfast of course!) and to check out which bar(s) have the drink I'm looking for before trekking across the ship Good Luck!

Will they have written reminders of where to meet and when put in your stateroom? I do not use a phone when I am on vacation. It is turned off and locked in the safe at all times when I am on vacation.

Its cruise day . It rained and thundered hard here and now it's muggy. I only enjoy that weather on a cruise ship

We try to get there 9:30 outside lot… hang out and watch for the doors to open..go in after the rush..

We get there crazy early and park in the lot which wasn't even open at 9:15am last month (machine wasn't activated yet); it opened 3 minutes later. Garage opens later these days and has gotten messy from what I've read. It really depends if you want to be on very early, if you're parking or being dropped off, etc. I can respond more later.

Yep, I'm with ya on all counts... though I manage to get my boxers on right side in, lol. As long as my wife sleeps better (which is more important), we get up together and just head in different directions. If not... it's back to getting dressed in the dark and sneaking away. It's kinda backwards on cruises since I need to get dressed in order to go get my coffee across the ship. I've certainly seen bath robes in the CL, but that's not my style, lol, and I also wouldn't want to cross the length of the ship in one. Maybe when the CL was below us on deck 4 (nah, not even then).

Family cruise is next March (also a Utopia B2B and they got everyone the UDP for all 7 days). This is a test run of the UDP with just the two of us (not really, it was the 55% off sale, happy accident).

Cruise day!!! Stayed up a little later last night & still woke up early but that’s OK. 5 hours sleep isn’t optimal but we should be up later on the ship. I did want to get up early to go to the CL more often & my wife wants to walk more if she sleeps better. Weather looks OK for today & nothing too ominous for the Bahamas right now. Can’t trust any forecast though so not worried about it. Supposed to be rainy here in FL early next week (sorry @dustfsu) but rain on turnaround day isn’t a big deal, especially when you chill in the Solarium. Just made coffee, need to finish packing, then will get on the road sometime after 8an.

yes us too!! we will have to compare notes i think you’ll have an amazing time and no creaking in your cabin (structural, or…. pineapples next door )

i was buried under work this week, but — glad to know that mike is finally (ALMOST???) packed, @GregD has included the cup clips for scotland, and @Lovetocruise2002 sabrina has been BETRAYED by mike’s refusal to try the mushroom soup. for what it’s worth, i don’t even like mushrooms, but the truffle saves me

As a Canadian, we would like to take a trip on Royal Caribbean and have been making plans to book… However, due to the USA and it’s recent decision to harass travellers I am not sure I am confident in boarding in a US port. Are there plans for the Royal Caribbean to have New or different ports of entry? I am certain that they will soon start harassing travellers for cruises. It’s a lot of money to book and then find out they just felt like harassing random people.

@JustMeJoe thanks. Done.

Get off the radical left news. Canadians are welcome and not harassed coming to the US and sailing from US ports

I am changing what I posted. This is another person that joined us just to give his political opinions. They always have 1 post. I wish they would just stay away from us.

I won't forget any bar... I'll have a list on my phone of what drinks to try where, lol. It's not like trying the Pesky Parrot menu which is one new bar on a ship I was already familiar with (from Wonder). I feel like I'll need a tour guide to find all those new places (between bars and food venues) when I finally try Star.

5pm update... My wife is mostly packed. She did some prep yesterday but somehow did everything else today in between a 7am 3-mile walk, a doctor's appointment, a trip to Walmart, a 90-minute voice acting lesson, and she's currently recording auditions. I helped with a few things but it was mostly her. Oh yeah, she also received a few Bezos packages that weren't really cruise-related, she just ordered them on the first day of the Prime Days sale so they'd get here before we left. She plans to print some stickers later to put on the small crew gifts (she has some nifty little sticker maker thingy). I think I posted pics of the Easter stickers she made in April. I feel like I've been sitting on my all day by comparison. I did manage a haircut and a quick trip to the pharmacy and I pretty much just have my t-shirts and polos left to fold and pack. I also may or may not have increased the cruise note on my phone to include some specialty info... as if I won't remember what to order once I sit down with a menu in front of me. That's me getting into cruise mode I guess.

Yes, it's been in the news. But you probably won't find it on the entertainment channel. Try BBC, AP, and others.

Don't forget the 1400 Lobby Bar!

Do you have any examples of a green card holder being denied reentry to the US?

For Americans abroad, anti-American sentiment has increased, and some ports have had an uptick in crime. For foreigners coming to US, the border issues have been documented. I have felt safest transiting locations with facial rec. If I were a green card holder, I would be careful about leaving the US to cruise. In general, geopolitics have raised travel risk some undetermined amount. We just need to pay attention to what is going rather than deny it. Many hope for clarity in the months to come.

I’m worried about the risk cruising poses to my liver.

Some of you might remember that I had shared our sailing qualified for the Spend to Save Challenge. When we did our post cruise questionnaire on Sunday, there was actually a question asking if we had received information in our stateroom and via emails about this Spend to Save Challenge. We answered yes to both. On Monday, I got an email that they were "calculating our qualifying purchases" and that an FCC would be on the way shortly. Like all things Royal IT, I fully thought I would have to pursue this on my own lol. Pleasantly happy to report that on Tuesday, we got our FCC for 10% back on the RGP. Seeing that we already purchased it on sale in the cruise planner, and now 10% back, it's a win! Definitely good to try once. FCC is safely applied to our Utopia NYE sailing since we only have 60 days to apply it.

Looks like another post and run. OP was looking for a forum to stand on his soapbox.

None of this is true.