Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation since 03/21/2024 in all areas

  1. Just saying a quick hello here, first time in about four years. I just booked the 12-night Odyssey sailing in Jan 2025, which is an itinerary I've been wanting to do kind of since I first started sailing with Royal in 2018 and learned about it. Seemed like a nice way to celebrate turning 55. To everyone I haven't spoken with in all these years, hope you've been well!
    27 points
  2. White night & formal night table pictures. I have a funny smile in the white night pic because the lady at the next table took it and didn't really tell us when, so I got smile fatigue. And my son's eyes are closed for the same reason.
    15 points
  3. Last food pic (although I brought home enough ranger cookies for a few more days, lol)…
    14 points
  4. WJ shrimp & ribs for lunch. Really not bad by WJ standards. Now sitting in a very windy & empty ELF for perhaps my last tacos of the cruise.
    14 points
  5. 14 points
  6. Excursion today was plane spotting at Maho Beach. It was really cool seeing the planes come in overhead and Sunset bar and Grill was really cool. We then hit front street where I went to my favorite bourbon place in the world Guhlomars and purchased some bourbon and cigars.
    14 points
  7. Finally made it home. We left ship around 730ish with wonderful Norman and Kenny concierge escort. On road before 8am and arrived home after 500 plus miles of driving around 430pm. I’m smoked and have added joy of work tomorrow. Did I mention I wish I was retired? awesome week with getting to meet @OCSC Mike and his lovely bride and seeing matt briefly twice. Wonder is just an awesome ship. Crew killed it as always. Royal for the win! Next cruise is icon in August. y’all thanks for following our posts.
    13 points
  8. Our wonderful TA from MEI, Jennifer, gave us and my parents a bottle of wine and a cheese and fruit plate. She gave the kids some cupcakes. So we are stuffed from two meals in the last 5 hours, and we have a whole cake, cupcakes, and cheese/fruit plates in our rooms. We need an @OCSC Mike in our bathtub to help us eat it all.
    13 points
  9. Lost internet for a little while. Storm seems to be letting up but now the Solarium has become a mild flood zone, lol. Not sure where the water is coming from but there’s almost inch-deep water flowing in front of our loungers by the windows. Saw at least one flip flop float by.
    13 points
  10. Today was Falmouth where we had picked a river tubing trip from Viator. They sent me a message yesterday to meet at 10:30am Jamaica time and I screwed up the time zone. We got there an hour early because Jamaica is on Eastern time but no daylight savings HOWEVER, my husband, who is beloved by grandmother-aged women everywhere, sweet talked the lady into letting us go with the earlier tour. There wasn't much of a description and it ended up being a bit too strenuous for my parents (although they did make it!). There was a walk to a small falls, over a wobbly plank bridge, and down a path quite a ways. Then everyone got in the water and essentially got dunked under the falls. We didn't get a great explanation, other than just "to get used to the water." It was fun for me and the kids but difficult for my parents. We went down a bunch of wet rocks which was especially hard for my dad who has had two hip replacements. The guides were absolutely fabulous. Helping and joking in a way that did not make him feel bad. There were people of all ages and sizes on the tour and all of the guides were phenomenal with everyone. They kept calling my dad Papi which he got a kick out of. So after the waterfall dunking, we backtracked a little bit and got in our tubes. Oh, we had to carry our own tubes all the way down the long path with us too, including over the wobble bridge. Each group had one guide with them and we each held our neighbor's tube with one hand to make a circle. We floated all the way down this river, some parts very calm and some parts with small rapids. My mom started to feel unwell here and thinks it was because of the helmet pushing her neck in a weird way and it made her nauseous. There was one place to stop and get out and jump into the river from a platform. My son did a flip. Towards the end, we switched to a raft and paddled into the ocean/bay where we pulled up at a beach. Once we got in the raft, my mom was able to take off the helmet and started to feel better after that We walked all the way down the beach to a place with a bar and tables and a lifeguard. The beach & ocean here were absolutely beautiful. My son has been very interested in alcohol and asking if he can try stuff. We know officially we can't on the boat, but we kind of feel at home that if we let him have a sip of stuff here and there generally with family, European style, he might be less likely to do it in an unsafe way. So he was curious about the offerings at the bar, and I said - I wonder what the drinking age is in Jamaica. Then my husband said to the bartender, my son wants to know what the drinking age in Jamaica is and the bartender asks my son, how old are you. My son - "14". Bartender- "then 14!" So we got one Red Stripe beer for my husband and I to split and let him have a few small drinks of it. Later at dinner, he asked me, "why do people even drink beer? It's not like it tastes good." We had no wifi or cell coverage so only took 1 phone along and didn't use it to take pictures. My husband had a go pro but we don't have a computer to download to videos until we get home.
    12 points
  11. tonyfsu21

    Icon boarding day

    FYI: onboard by 10:20 with no special access credentials (key, suite exc) and a late boarding time. Red stripe # 1 at 11am. Very efficient boarding in Miami!
    12 points
  12. My parents went to the thing today and actually had to sign an NDA. So they haven't even told US what it was about.
    12 points
  13. Last breakfast in Solarium Bistro. Chocolate donut for @Ampurp85. Need to have more donuts next time.
    12 points
  14. Rest of Mason Jar story… Pretty sure I mentioned that my wife ran into the very friendly & excellent server we had with the family last June on day 1 while I was getting a drink from the bar. Anyway, she was our server for brunch on day 3 and we got to know her a bit more. The plan was to go back that night and my wife was going to get a milkshake. When we did, our server wasn’t there & someone told us she wasn’t feeling well & had to go to medical. Naturally we were concerned. Fast forward to tonight when I went there for a drink… my wife saw her and I think she’ll be fine but we went back to our cabin to get her some OTC meds to leave with her. She was very appreciative & even got my wife her favorite dessert (Gone Bananas) to go at no charge. I don’t want to share specific details and that stuff isn’t important anyway. I’m just happy to report that we’re still having many of the experiences that have always made our cruises so great. Sure the WJ has a bit less variety, the MDR may not be as good as it once was (you know I’m not even a huge subscriber to that one), our bed was only made once/day, etc. but our overall enjoyment hasn’t really diminished.
    12 points
  15. We pulled up just after noon and were checked in and to Jamie's by 12:33 for our 12:30 reservation. It was packed and loud in there because no one could sit outside. Central Park was extremely slippery and we saw one girl wipe out leaving the restaurant. And then we scrambled- did our Muster station (very long line!), got our Freestyle cups, got our Voom working, came to our rooms and started to unpack which also included running back and forth from room to room to give and take things. We brought a pop up hamper for my parents and hand soap. They had our wine and allergy meds my son ran out of. We had a bunch of stuff for our kids and balcony wasn't opened yet. We decorated our doors too! We were supposed to do the pickleball lesson but they cancelled it due to weather so we switched to night 6. It was also the day we reserved laser tag so I had to switch times and luckily there were still spots available later the same night. Also we bought birthday package for my daughter (but haven't eaten the chocolate cake yet @Ampurp85)
    12 points
  16. Pre-breakfast of champions… or one pre-vintage at least…
    12 points
  17. Wife found a new way to use her vouchers (yes, both are for her)…
    12 points
  18. Insane sunset , did I mention how much I love cruising? You either know or you don’t. Seems insane to me that there are people you couldn’t convince to step on a ship.
    12 points
  19. I forgot to say the first night - no one was under our bed when we shoved our suitcases under there!
    11 points
  20. These rooms are really well designed and it is clear that this is a newer ship than Allure. We're off to mini golf and the dry slide. Oh, and my husband created a WhatsApp group for the "Morning People" - my mom, my daughter and him, so I created one called "Party Animals Up All Night" for my son, my Dad and me.
    11 points
  21. That’s probably it for now. I have a handful of random thoughts to share but I’ll post them from home. We’re doing self-assist in the morning with no real plan as far as timing other than sometime after I have one more morning of CL cappuccino & stuff myself one last time. Thanks to all who followed along & contributed (especially @GatorCruiser of course).
    11 points
  22. Dangit I would have loved to see y’all one last time to say goodbye. @Matt the community he’s created on this board brings people together if even temporarily. That’s powerful human connection and he should be proud. I guess I’m getting contemplative because im nostalgic and I’m sad about this cruise being over.
    11 points
  23. Y’all’s MDR dinner looked great @OCSC Mike Our final dinner was CK. Service was over the top good. Not sure if they were angling for extra grease or 10/10 on the survey. Food was great. Nevertheless the staff everywhere works their arses off and what make Cruises so good. Pics below
    11 points
  24. Ok, we are on the ship. It has been a day! In addition to the horrible weather mentioned in @OCSC Mike and @GatorCruiser's blog, there was a VIP & Secret Service shut down of the port from 11am-noon. Traffic came to a grinding halt. For. An. Hour. My parents made it in just before and said nothing was moving and all baggage attendants were just sitting around with nothing to do. We were stuck in our Uber. The poor Uber driver had to just sit with us for that whole time. We tipped him well! I'll do a series of short posts as I'm able to try to recap our day. I don't plan on posting our MDR dinner options - I figure the menu has been the same for a year and people have probably seen all of the options by now. We did have lunch at Jamie's so I've got those (y'all are going to be so sick of my new toy - the collage!) Appys Mains Desserts (we all shared):
    11 points
  25. MDR Bon Voyage Menu Mediterranean Tapas Steak - Again, surprisingly edible Apple cobbler
    11 points
  26. I may not have found Matt but I did just run into the comic we liked at Park Cafe. Going to see the 10:00 main theater show tonight. Last stop at CL happy hour & MDR before that, then 90’s Name That Tune b/c that's the type of pre-vintages that we are. Light drizzle at the moment. Ship never got rocky so the storms weren’t a big deal to us.
    11 points
  27. Really storming now. I can’t even hear the music above the sound of the rain & thunder. Lots of lightning too. Don’t think I’ve actually sailed through a thunderstorm before.
    11 points
  28. Waiting for wife to finish her last morning walk. Today will be a repeat of yesterday. Will have actual breakfast after she showers then camp out in our same corner of the pool deck as yesterday & leave for a couple trivias & food runs throughout the day. Going to see the adult comedy main theater show tonight since we enjoyed one of the comics & they usually change up their sets a bit. We did wind up seeing Effectors II for the 2nd time last night btw. For some reason I didn’t really like it this time. Costumes & special effects are still cool but it felt a lot slower this time until the end scene for whatever reason. Don’t mean to be negative, everyone should see it once, especially if they have kids.
    11 points
  29. MDR Royal Night Vidalia onion tart - Presentation looked different than I’ve seen but it was pretty good. Lobster - It was fine but soooo small I have no idea who would pay $16.99 for another. I ate mine & my wife’s. Chocolate molten cake - just as good as Allure, my wife’s fav dessert by far & probably mine too. Very rich.
    11 points
  30. Truly blessed and privileged to be invited on a bridge tour. Thanks to concierges Kenny and Norman!!
    11 points
  31. First Park Cafe McMuffin. I usually get them more often in the early am since Park Cafe opens at 6:30am on some ships but each cruise is different & I haven’t been up as early as usual to have a big pre-breakfast with my CL cappuccinos this week.
    11 points
  32. Health is good. Had another foot surgery in '21 that took a while to heal, but that’s finally good and things are stable again. My older daughter is doing great; she graduated college in '22 and has been figuring out what she wants to do for a living, and has been living on her own for the last several years. My younger daughter is also doing great; she finished her freshman year in college last year, and is now living in Tokyo, Japan to pursue a career as a manga artist. She’s loving it there, and already has a job as a part-time assistant with a published manga author who told her that she’s already good enough to be published in a year or two. He’s helping her with getting her first full work created and submitted to one of the regular competitions, so she can start getting the notice of publishers. Hope you’re also doing well!
    11 points
  33. Huge plane from France landing at Maho Beach…
    11 points
  34. Dinner at Izumi. Great as always. Didnt see @Matt Who I know lives here. Server was kind enough to get my boys vanilla ice cream which isn’t on the menu.
    11 points
  35. I just want to see people having a good time, while being respectful of all other cruiser's. How you look, dress, etc, is not of any importance to me. How you treat fellow passengers and respect the rules of our shared experience is all that matters to me. It's your life, you get to live it, nobody else. I cruise on Royal Caribbean and that's how this passenger thinks.
    11 points
  36. Churros They had warm freshly baked soft chocolate chip cookies in little dishes but can’t keep up with the demand, lol. Wife is patiently waiting to see if more are coming. This is as busy as I’ve ever seen a WJ & Wonder’s is large & well-designed so that’s really saying something. I’m sure many of you reading would want no parts of the chaos but we have no plans for a while & my wife wants her cookies, lol, so no biggie to us.
    11 points
  37. I got these adorable ducks but never printed tags so I'm about to handwrite something and use little clear hairbands to attach them. My husband had to do some work today so he parked himself in the upper deck of Dazzles where he was in air conditioning but could still see out of a window (he likes to have a full table when he's working.) He mentioned at lunch that he was having trouble finding a spot and my daughter took it as a personal challenge to find him somewhere.
    10 points
  38. My parents left their Freestyle cups on the MDR table at lunch and guest services replaced them for free! I thought that was a really nice gesture. We tried to track them down but with no luck. We came across a small vessel this morning that didn't respond to hails. So we slowed, stopped, turned around came back to it, and sent an emergency craft over. Turns out it was just a loose boat that had floated to here with no one aboard. I've smelled a bad sewer smell twice, briefly. The weather is lovely. Hot, yes, but in the shade, with a bit of breeze, just amazing to sit out on my balcony and type this and watch + listen to the water. This is the furthest south I've ever been and I'm glad it is March rather than April.
    10 points
  39. We've been missing the Boardwalk Donuts so I got room service breakfast yesterday before our excursion and ordered a chocolate donut @OCSC Mike! This was the best donut I've ever had on a cruise ship. It was fresh, soft and still a little warm but with that harder chocolate on top. Delish!! Although I wouldn't have used the room service if I had gotten Jamaican time correct. Oh, @Ampurp85 , I think you like these too?
    10 points
  40. We got back to the ship around 3:30pm (all aboard was 5:30) so we decided to go down the Perfect Storm since we were already in bathing suits. Then rushed to get ready for dinner - it was white night - and then had reservations for Hairspray. I enjoyed it somewhat, especially the upbeat songs. Since we had rushed dinner, we stopped in the Windjammer after the performance and nibbled on a few things. I was really surprised at how many people dressed for white night. I don't think I've seen this level before. My best estimate is that at least 80% of the people out and about were wearing white.
    10 points
  41. Mini golf was fun but hot, and I screamed the whole way down the Ultimate Abyss. Much faster and darker than I expected. Cute towel animal, and next to it was a note saying to return luggage that is not yours. Crepes in WJ tonight! And I love this stairwell landing.
    10 points
  42. Back in the Solarium which is now very crowded but we’ve had our loungers since this morning so all good. Wife went back to the cabin after WJ to grab something & said the glass elevators were shut down. I was pretty cold after sitting in the wind tunnel of ELF so I followed @GatorCruiser’s lead. Figured the jalapeño might warm me up. Same as the Goalpost margarita from Playmakers just in a pool deck friendly plastic glass.
    10 points
  43. So this happened right after I posted the radar
    10 points
  44. [email protected] make your complaint much shorter and more concise.’ cruise date and ship reservation #’s Brief sentence-booked abc cabins. problem -did not get your full days worth of hours due to late arrival State asked about compensation from (insert names ) while onboard State call /email to customer service State response by Marth F and date State what you want from them Prorated $back? closing:looking forward to a resolution to this. Sign off Name, Crown and anchor # Phone # not sure if attachments are a good thing…could send your email to spam so perhaps offer to forward correspondence if needed
    10 points
  45. Not too bad (luggage) for four adult-sized people! We each got the bulk of our clothes into a small suitcase and then put overflow, shoes, toiletries and all the cruise specific stuff into the larger two. And we each have a backpack for the airplane. Pancake definitely does NOT want us to leave without her.
    10 points
  46. Stopped in WJ since wife doesn’t eat ELF and got distracted by paella & a cookie I’ve never seen before in the kids section.
    10 points
  47. Think we’re ok now. Server named Mike came over & said he thought someone else took our order & apologized like 5 times. Got my goalpost margarita… Sorry, kinda dark in here.
    10 points
  48. Western omelet & blueberry smoothie from Solarium Bistro.
    10 points
×
×
  • Create New...