PrincipalTinker

@melski94 and @GaCardinal For both Harmony and Anthem it was not available online. When I sailed Allure it was. On Harmony you can do in on your stateroom TV. It literally takes a minute. Super easy.

Waldo? @twangster?? ???

Thanks.  Dumb luck really, night shots are usually taken after diamond happy hour, so...
I'll try to get some shots to show the balcony on a sea day coming up.  You get a good view when sitting but more private.  You do need to lean onto the railing to look down at the pier or ocean.
All iPhone photos.  I am experimenting with 'Moment'  app so some are shot with that, some with the native camera app.  No tripod on this trip, all handheld. 

Day 2 - St. Maarten
No official excursion today although I did get a letter in my cabin with a 20% offer if I took it to the Shore Excursion desk to book one.  


Instead of booking something through Royal I jumped in a shared cab to Maho Beach for $16 roundtrip.




This is the beach at the end of the runway for the airport on the Dutch side of the island.  I had looked up incoming flights and scheduled my day to arrive when a couple of larger jets would be arriving.  First WestJet from Toronto:



A few minutes a Delta jet from Atlanta arrived:
 



A JetBlue plane took off between the two arrivals.  I had been sitting on a beach towel lined up with center of the runway.  When I saw the JetBlue plane getting to takeoff I moved over closer to the Sunset bar.  I've been here before and didn't want to discover sand in crevices I didn't my body had for the next week.   
A short time later that group of friends in the water when WestJet arrived broke into cheers and I looked over to see a guy had hit the sand on his knees and opened a ring box that he was presenting to a girl standing there in shock.  Before I could react and try to save him, she accepted.  Another man down. 

With that it was time for a beverage so I jumped in a taxi and headed back to the cruise ship pier.  I decided to contribute to the local economy before getting back on board.  $3 plus tip or 2 for $5.

Main Dining Room:

Day 1 dinner menu:

With a 6pm dinner but an 8:30pm sail away it left some time after dinner to explore the ship.  It did feel odd after the muster drill at 4:30pm not immediately having sail way but it allowed me to have a few diamond happy hour drinks and take some pictures around the ship.







The peak-a-boo bridge.  More on that later.

Cabin Tour!
9532 port side forward balcony





The balconies on Adventure are somewhat cove type in nature.   Lots of privacy from neighbors.

We arrived into San Juan a few minutes early.  Standard approach with views of Old San Juan on the left side of the plane.

New San Juan:


Off the plane a few minutes before noon.  Signs and a kiosk near baggage claim pointed to the Royal Caribbean transfer desk.  Checked luggage is accepted here and placed on a truck.  Have your luggage tags handy as you won't see you bags again until they are delivered to your stateroom.  I only had carry on and the bus isn't really set up for people with carry on luggage, requiring a seat be used for it. 
Rumors of a delayed embarkation, boarding apparently started at noon. A simple extension cord was confiscated.  Security was the most thorough that I've seen.  I had to argue to keep my cell phone charger but in the end they relented.  It's a European style that plugs into the euro power port on board leaving the North American outlet for other things.  They asked me if I was from Europe.  Sure, if I can keep my charger, yes, I am!  Ten minutes spent having them go through every layer of clothes in my carry on.  Despite that I was on board by 12:45pm. 
The escalators to the upper floor where the main gangway is located are broken so we boarded on the pier where you would normally would at a port of call.
It's 1:35pm and they just announced cabins are ready.  Time to check out my cabin!

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!
I'm writing this at 33,000 ft on the flight from NYC to San Juan.  So far this has worked out well.  Three hours of sleep heading to NYC and a couple more on the flight to San Juan.  There are a few cruisers on this flight, quite a few.  Looking at the map on board made me realize this is likely close to the course we'll sail North from St Maarten.  

 

I'm doing something I never do and don't recommend.  I'm flying in the day of the cruise, tomorrow. 
Coming from the US West I'm taking a red eye tonight at midnight to NYC then off to San Juan in the morning landing in San Juan at 12:05pm.   I booked air through Royal's Air2Sea program plus I have travel insurance so between the two and with a evening sail away I'm rolling the dice. 
I came across a deal on this 5 Night cruise and couldn't pass it up.  $549 all in, solo in a balcony with $50 OBC.  Air2Sea was actually cheaper than Delta direct plus it provides some limited coverage in case of delays.  Between air and cruise fare I'm right at $1k for this trip. 
Shortly after I booked the news of a cheap cruise broke and many members of the RCPeriscopers.live group jumped on board including @mpoole3 who will be live blogging on the main page of RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com so this will be a light blog for me.  Keep an eye on the main page for his blog.
We have one port of call on this cruise, St Maarten.  I have no plans this time and may just take a taxi to Maho Beach and explore that area and a few beaches nearby.  On my last stop in St. Maarten I took a coastal catamaran and we sailed past Maho Beach but we were offshore.  There are few other beaches close by so I may just beach hop this time.
After St Maarten on day 2 we have 3 sea days on our way to Bayonne, NJ where Adventure will spend the summer alternating embarkations with Anthem. 
On this cruise I transferred the booking over to mpoole3's brother who is a travel agent which netted another $50 in OBC.   Consequently gratuities are covered and I'll have little left over for a few drinks since I'm sailing without a drink package. 
I'm traveling light having crammed everything into a 22" carry on suitcase.  That'll help if I have flight delays or need to leverage Air2Sea to fly me to St. Maarten.  I should have enough time for a shower in the JFK Delta Sky club in the morning.  With no checked luggage I'll have everything with me in the club and as soon as I board Adventure in San Juan.
Two other new additions for me on this cruise are a new travel router and some iPhone lens(es).  Credit for this travel router goes to @Galveston Steve and credit for the Moment iPhone lens goes to @JLMoran.  Indeed this blog has the effect of causing people including myself to spend some money!  
I've used the new travel router on a couple of business trips to share my free wifi plan on Delta courtesy of TMobile so my non-TMobile work phone and laptop could join.  It worked well for that so in the interest of traveling light I'm leaving my trusted travel router at home.
It's been a while since I've taken a red eye but it's practice for my overnight flight to Barcelona to join Symphony on her transatlantic to America in October.  Looks like my inbound aircraft is now in the air on its way here.  So far so good. 

I got more than a little excited when I saw the post from @Matt about the Royal Amplified fleet upgrade schedule, which included some new details on what each class of ship was getting as part of its refurb. In particular, I saw that Freedom class is getting all of these features from her bigger Oasis-class siblings, and Symphony in particular:
Sky Pad (what I call "the bounce house") The Perfect Storm water slides Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade Sugar Beach Laser Tag Escape Room Fish & Ships Emphasis on Playmakers and Escape Room is mine. I'm wondering where Playmakers would go, given that Freedom class doesn't have an outdoor space like the Boardwalk on Oasis. Maybe the space where Johnny Rockets currently sits on deck 11, right next to the existing kids' arcade? It wasn't very busy on any of the days I'd walk by there on my recent Freedom sailing, and Playmakers would clearly replace the burgers-and-fries offering of JR. Plus, by putting it right in the space next to an existing arcade, they can refurbish that arcade space with newer games and maybe increase the size a little. Would be some effective use of the space, and anything on the burger front should be better than JR. Even on land, I'm not a fan of JR burgers.
The escape room -- I wonder if this would be like on Anthem, where it's just the Teen Club space repurposed for part of the day, or if they might do it like Escape the Rubicon and other dedicated rooms that Oasis-class ships get? I'd really prefer the latter, as a purpose-built space for escape rooms is so much better than just slapping some props into an existing room for a couple of hours on one or two days. But what space would they replace if they did this? Apart from JR, I can't say I noticed any other really "dead" spaces on Freedom.
I'm assuming Laser Tag would be done the same way as on Symphony, with walls and other props set up in the Studio B ice rink. Sugar beach -- probably replacing the current cupcake store in the Royal Promenade. Fish & Ships -- NO idea on this one, but I'm surprised (and a little disappointed) they're doing this and not putting in an Izumi like they did on Adventure. There's already the Bull & Bear Pub that could be used as a fish & chips place, keeping the overall theme of British Pub going; why install another restaurant that sort of duplicates a theme already in place? Especially when the marketing material clearly shows the pub is not going anywhere?
 
Overall, this is kind of exciting to see, especially when it's coming in 2020. I really liked sailing on Freedom, and while I'm not a huge sports bar fan, if it improved the beer selection so I could choose something other than Paulaner Salvator or Guinness Draught cans, I'd be very happy to sail her again and try out all the new shiny. Maybe even forego the Europe trip I've been mulling and sail her instead.

Hi Guys
Just found this forum and am sure you all get asked these question from new people  
After a few weeks of dithering we have bit the bullet and booked our first ever cruise. It’s going to be on the enchantment of the seas in Nov. 
Any tips or does and donts would be very helpful. 

If you don't have a set time, you may have to wait. While it is called My Time Dining that doesn't mean you show up and immediately get a table. The dining room typically gets full with the first seating by 6:15, then you have to wait until those tables clear out before they will sit you which could be as late a 7 -7:30.  You can make reservations from 5:30- 6:15 and 7:30 and later. Online you can't make them between 6:15 and 7:30.  We are a party of 6 and have always done MTD on 4 cruises and except for the first night on the last cruise we never had a wait for our 6:15 reservation. The first night is crazy but since you are doing the FNDR you should be ok. 
I like having a reservation and I like getting the same table and wait staff every night. They tend to know our drink orders and what my kids like a few days into the cruise. It is really easy to change our reservation if our plans change. I just called and told them so they don't hold the table. I suggest you make a reservation and can change that day if your family wants to do something different. 

I found value with this card on Empress. I did not find value with it on Brilliance. Those are the two ships I used it on.
Empress -- has an AMAZING coffee bar -- just awesome -- features all the regular drinks plus a great set of Cuban selections
Brilliance -- Cafe Latitudes was just ok, and they really enforced the one punch per shot rule. Not the best value in my view.
Upcoming sailing on Allure -- I am not going to bother...Royal's complimentary regular drip coffee is really good, and if you mix in the free soft serve ice cream from the Windjammer or the pool deck, you have a better drink in my opinion at no charge (I have done that on other ships)

I've been watching the coffee card for two sailings, six months apart, for as long as each has appeared in my Cruise Planners and they have never changed in price.  Not even during Black Friday sales when pretty much everything is on sale. 

http://www.bahamas-treasures.com/bahamas/Nassau_Taxi_Fares.html
Taxi fare are above and should be about $15 going. I don't believe the toll is paid in the return trip. There are also shared taxis at $5 per person. 

On our cruises we rarely have any extra bill. Prepaying the Gratuities, internet, and excursions ensures that nothing extra will be required. The only extra bills we have had at the end of our cruise have been gifts we bought on board for our kids. It is not hard to avoid extra expenses if you try a little.  

Having been on Symphony's Maiden voyage I got to try Hooked restaurant, we had this booked up for day 5 of the cruise at 8pm. the restaurant was fairly busy but we were seated in good time and met the waiter Robert who was outstanding. I've attached some images for you all to drool over.

Main Menu^

These were a sort of pre starter, very hard to explain what they are but it was like breadcrumb / cheese straw but in a cluster .... whatever they were they were scrumptious
 

take a look at the oyster shooters!
 

Calamari which was not rubbery in the slightest
 

Muscles in a white wine sauce, one gripe was that the pot was a little too deep to get the remaining sauce out but I got there in the end
 

Shrimp Coktail, pretty standard really but my father in Law ate it all!
 

Clam Chowder ... faultless
 

Captains platter which is a lobster tail, this fell straight out the shell, shrimps and a whole filler of cod which was one of the best meals ive had on a ship
 

 
my fiancé grace had the roll , she admitted she ordered wrong but the flavour was still amazing
 

now for the Sides! the mac and cheese was to die for! we got 2 portions, fries and corn on the cob were all fantastic
 

another picture of my half eaten captains platter
 

one of the shooters, certainly an experience to be had if you have the drinks package
 

we didn't have much room for desert but here they are

 

well and truly HOOKED for hooked
overall as I've heard a few say the menu could have some improvements I guess but its very early doors for Hooked but I can certainly see it being a hit on other ships in the future.
would I go back Most Defiantly
 

Living at the beach as we do, in a resort area, NOBODY dresses up to go to dinner. I think I"m usually the most dressed!  Beautiful restaurants and shorts and tank tops. Men don't even remove their baseball hats which drives me crazy!  I no longer can wear heels so a complete formal with gown is out for me but there should be respect for the dining venue.  On the other side of the coin, the way people dress is not going to make me have less of a great time, to each their own.

I was on Harmony in March and also thought it was the most casual cruise we've been on...especially the couple in a Phillies shirt and shorts on Formal nights. As this is the most expensive cruise we've ever taken, I was a bit surprised. I think it is the way RC labels the dress code. There were 2 formal nights and the other nights were labeled as "Casual". 
If you were off a ship and someone said the dress for dinner was "Casual" wouldn't you think it was nice shorts or jeans, polo shirt or button down shirt for men, etc. We routinely go to expensive restaurants where people dress like this on land so why wouldn't they on a cruise ship. Even RC doesn't suggest Smart Casual any nights so I can't blame the people for not dressing up to a smart casual look.  
To me, I think the way of the world is changing. As a society we have become more casual whether at work, church or on a cruise ship. Now do people take it too far...absolutely... take the baseball shirts on formal nights.

I am going to do this tour in November!

Today is our scheduled Nassau day. We booked a brewery tour. We really enjoyed the tour. I don’t know how to post text between photos? Our tour guide was Jamie. There were only five of us on the tour since there in the group were sick on the boat. This is a walking tour and at each stop we were to sample three beers. I believe they were 4 oz pours, but at the middle stop we needed to drink all of the beer so there were refills.
The first stop was here and was accompanied by conch fritters.
 
 
 

Here you go...

I got both also and I wasn't on Friday, I'm using Chrome and going Incognito.

I just tried to book a cruise for April 2020 and they offered both. (I was looking at Suites) and they offer the Junior Suite and Ocean View Suite (this was on Grandeur) Refundable.

If I'm supposed to dress up, I will. If it's formal night and and I'm not in the mood to wear a dress and I have nice pants and a top on, so be it. My travel mate last time took formal night to another level - it was a borderline costume  - she looked beautiful. I, on the other hand, had a little black dress on.  Nothing fancy. I'd prefer people to put a little effort for the overall feel of the night BUT, at the end of the day, you do do. Mr-I'm-Wearing-Shorts is not ruining my night or my experience. I judge others on manners  not their clothing on a vacation.