Joe01

We have Tim Horton's in the UK now. It's nice but nothing special. It's probably hard for them to compete with Greggs which is a British icon.

Just finished my final exam and I am now officially a HS graduate. Been a long ride. Now time to focus on cruising! I've seen a few people start their live blogs early on here, so I'll follow suit.
I'll be leaving 1 month today (June 27th) to head for 2 weeks on the Harmony of the Seas. Below is the itinerary:
June 27th - Flying from Edinburgh to Orlando (on United via Newark) June 28th - Orlando, Florida June 29th - Orlando, Florida June 30th - Embarking Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida July 1st - Perfect Day at CocoCay July 2nd - Sea Day July 3rd - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas July 4th - Phillipsburg, St Maarten July 5th - Sea Day July 6th - Sea Day July 7th - Port Canaveral, Florida (turnaround day) July 8th - Perfect Day at CocoCay (again!) July 9th - Sea Day July 10th - Costa Maya, Mexico July 11th - Roatan, Honduras July 12th - Cozumel, Mexico (docking with the Liberty of the Seas!) July 13th - Sea Day July 14th - Disembark Harmony/transfer to Airport/Fly to Newark/6 hour layover in EWR (may go to NYC for lunch) and fly home to Scotland July 15th - Arrive in Edinburgh/Drive home to Glasgow (hopefully won't be 5 hours late like in 2016) I was quite hesitant to return to Harmony initially (I'm a Sagittarius, I'm easily bored and like to try different things), but the 2 calls at CocoCay were too tempting to pass up. In addition - Port Canaveral, Costa Maya and Roatan are also new to me. I've never been to the Orlando area, so I'm going to need some help regarding what to do on my 2 days there pre-cruise. Definitely planning a Cheesecake Factory visit! Planning an express visit to New York for lunch on debarkation day - I will need it since United Airlines serve awful food. I wish there was a decent airline that flew between Scotland and the USA - who wants to fly across the Atlantic on a 757? I digress - just not a fan of flying.
I'm going to have a 2nd stab at live blogging. I tried it last time and I wasn't too successful for multiple reasons but none of them should apply this time, particularly since I now have more phone data so will be periscoping more. No pics until I'm home, but plenty of scopes + commentary. All comments, questions and compliments welcome, although if you dislike what I'm saying, please don't try to derail my blog - I'm deadly serious, it happened last time and I was pretty irked by it. Any issues with my comments, then drop me a direct message. Thanks. ?
In addition, you might know me as the CD connoisseur on here. For now, Marc Walker is scheduled to be the CD (let's hope there will be no changes at the eleventh hour like in 2016 when Abe Hughes had to extend his time home and John Blair came in instead). I've heard great things about Marc so hopefully I will enjoy him. Moe is his AM and I believe that they are a team that work well together so I'm getting the best of the best for the CD/AM combination. Captain Gus is onboard as well, we've sailed with him several times - great guy although I hope he's updated his schtick now that the ship has switched homeport.
We'll be in an inside stateroom on Deck 6. We had options to upgrade but no point paying extra when the inside is perfectly sufficient. 
I think that's all for now. Looking forward to this sailing. If you have anything to say, I'll see you in the comments below. 

Just finished my final exam and I am now officially a HS graduate. Been a long ride. Now time to focus on cruising! I've seen a few people start their live blogs early on here, so I'll follow suit.
I'll be leaving 1 month today (June 27th) to head for 2 weeks on the Harmony of the Seas. Below is the itinerary:
June 27th - Flying from Edinburgh to Orlando (on United via Newark) June 28th - Orlando, Florida June 29th - Orlando, Florida June 30th - Embarking Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida July 1st - Perfect Day at CocoCay July 2nd - Sea Day July 3rd - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas July 4th - Phillipsburg, St Maarten July 5th - Sea Day July 6th - Sea Day July 7th - Port Canaveral, Florida (turnaround day) July 8th - Perfect Day at CocoCay (again!) July 9th - Sea Day July 10th - Costa Maya, Mexico July 11th - Roatan, Honduras July 12th - Cozumel, Mexico (docking with the Liberty of the Seas!) July 13th - Sea Day July 14th - Disembark Harmony/transfer to Airport/Fly to Newark/6 hour layover in EWR (may go to NYC for lunch) and fly home to Scotland July 15th - Arrive in Edinburgh/Drive home to Glasgow (hopefully won't be 5 hours late like in 2016) I was quite hesitant to return to Harmony initially (I'm a Sagittarius, I'm easily bored and like to try different things), but the 2 calls at CocoCay were too tempting to pass up. In addition - Port Canaveral, Costa Maya and Roatan are also new to me. I've never been to the Orlando area, so I'm going to need some help regarding what to do on my 2 days there pre-cruise. Definitely planning a Cheesecake Factory visit! Planning an express visit to New York for lunch on debarkation day - I will need it since United Airlines serve awful food. I wish there was a decent airline that flew between Scotland and the USA - who wants to fly across the Atlantic on a 757? I digress - just not a fan of flying.
I'm going to have a 2nd stab at live blogging. I tried it last time and I wasn't too successful for multiple reasons but none of them should apply this time, particularly since I now have more phone data so will be periscoping more. No pics until I'm home, but plenty of scopes + commentary. All comments, questions and compliments welcome, although if you dislike what I'm saying, please don't try to derail my blog - I'm deadly serious, it happened last time and I was pretty irked by it. Any issues with my comments, then drop me a direct message. Thanks. ?
In addition, you might know me as the CD connoisseur on here. For now, Marc Walker is scheduled to be the CD (let's hope there will be no changes at the eleventh hour like in 2016 when Abe Hughes had to extend his time home and John Blair came in instead). I've heard great things about Marc so hopefully I will enjoy him. Moe is his AM and I believe that they are a team that work well together so I'm getting the best of the best for the CD/AM combination. Captain Gus is onboard as well, we've sailed with him several times - great guy although I hope he's updated his schtick now that the ship has switched homeport.
We'll be in an inside stateroom on Deck 6. We had options to upgrade but no point paying extra when the inside is perfectly sufficient. 
I think that's all for now. Looking forward to this sailing. If you have anything to say, I'll see you in the comments below. 

Just finished my final exam and I am now officially a HS graduate. Been a long ride. Now time to focus on cruising! I've seen a few people start their live blogs early on here, so I'll follow suit.
I'll be leaving 1 month today (June 27th) to head for 2 weeks on the Harmony of the Seas. Below is the itinerary:
June 27th - Flying from Edinburgh to Orlando (on United via Newark) June 28th - Orlando, Florida June 29th - Orlando, Florida June 30th - Embarking Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida July 1st - Perfect Day at CocoCay July 2nd - Sea Day July 3rd - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas July 4th - Phillipsburg, St Maarten July 5th - Sea Day July 6th - Sea Day July 7th - Port Canaveral, Florida (turnaround day) July 8th - Perfect Day at CocoCay (again!) July 9th - Sea Day July 10th - Costa Maya, Mexico July 11th - Roatan, Honduras July 12th - Cozumel, Mexico (docking with the Liberty of the Seas!) July 13th - Sea Day July 14th - Disembark Harmony/transfer to Airport/Fly to Newark/6 hour layover in EWR (may go to NYC for lunch) and fly home to Scotland July 15th - Arrive in Edinburgh/Drive home to Glasgow (hopefully won't be 5 hours late like in 2016) I was quite hesitant to return to Harmony initially (I'm a Sagittarius, I'm easily bored and like to try different things), but the 2 calls at CocoCay were too tempting to pass up. In addition - Port Canaveral, Costa Maya and Roatan are also new to me. I've never been to the Orlando area, so I'm going to need some help regarding what to do on my 2 days there pre-cruise. Definitely planning a Cheesecake Factory visit! Planning an express visit to New York for lunch on debarkation day - I will need it since United Airlines serve awful food. I wish there was a decent airline that flew between Scotland and the USA - who wants to fly across the Atlantic on a 757? I digress - just not a fan of flying.
I'm going to have a 2nd stab at live blogging. I tried it last time and I wasn't too successful for multiple reasons but none of them should apply this time, particularly since I now have more phone data so will be periscoping more. No pics until I'm home, but plenty of scopes + commentary. All comments, questions and compliments welcome, although if you dislike what I'm saying, please don't try to derail my blog - I'm deadly serious, it happened last time and I was pretty irked by it. Any issues with my comments, then drop me a direct message. Thanks. ?
In addition, you might know me as the CD connoisseur on here. For now, Marc Walker is scheduled to be the CD (let's hope there will be no changes at the eleventh hour like in 2016 when Abe Hughes had to extend his time home and John Blair came in instead). I've heard great things about Marc so hopefully I will enjoy him. Moe is his AM and I believe that they are a team that work well together so I'm getting the best of the best for the CD/AM combination. Captain Gus is onboard as well, we've sailed with him several times - great guy although I hope he's updated his schtick now that the ship has switched homeport.
We'll be in an inside stateroom on Deck 6. We had options to upgrade but no point paying extra when the inside is perfectly sufficient. 
I think that's all for now. Looking forward to this sailing. If you have anything to say, I'll see you in the comments below. 

Just finished my final exam and I am now officially a HS graduate. Been a long ride. Now time to focus on cruising! I've seen a few people start their live blogs early on here, so I'll follow suit.
I'll be leaving 1 month today (June 27th) to head for 2 weeks on the Harmony of the Seas. Below is the itinerary:
June 27th - Flying from Edinburgh to Orlando (on United via Newark) June 28th - Orlando, Florida June 29th - Orlando, Florida June 30th - Embarking Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida July 1st - Perfect Day at CocoCay July 2nd - Sea Day July 3rd - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas July 4th - Phillipsburg, St Maarten July 5th - Sea Day July 6th - Sea Day July 7th - Port Canaveral, Florida (turnaround day) July 8th - Perfect Day at CocoCay (again!) July 9th - Sea Day July 10th - Costa Maya, Mexico July 11th - Roatan, Honduras July 12th - Cozumel, Mexico (docking with the Liberty of the Seas!) July 13th - Sea Day July 14th - Disembark Harmony/transfer to Airport/Fly to Newark/6 hour layover in EWR (may go to NYC for lunch) and fly home to Scotland July 15th - Arrive in Edinburgh/Drive home to Glasgow (hopefully won't be 5 hours late like in 2016) I was quite hesitant to return to Harmony initially (I'm a Sagittarius, I'm easily bored and like to try different things), but the 2 calls at CocoCay were too tempting to pass up. In addition - Port Canaveral, Costa Maya and Roatan are also new to me. I've never been to the Orlando area, so I'm going to need some help regarding what to do on my 2 days there pre-cruise. Definitely planning a Cheesecake Factory visit! Planning an express visit to New York for lunch on debarkation day - I will need it since United Airlines serve awful food. I wish there was a decent airline that flew between Scotland and the USA - who wants to fly across the Atlantic on a 757? I digress - just not a fan of flying.
I'm going to have a 2nd stab at live blogging. I tried it last time and I wasn't too successful for multiple reasons but none of them should apply this time, particularly since I now have more phone data so will be periscoping more. No pics until I'm home, but plenty of scopes + commentary. All comments, questions and compliments welcome, although if you dislike what I'm saying, please don't try to derail my blog - I'm deadly serious, it happened last time and I was pretty irked by it. Any issues with my comments, then drop me a direct message. Thanks. ?
In addition, you might know me as the CD connoisseur on here. For now, Marc Walker is scheduled to be the CD (let's hope there will be no changes at the eleventh hour like in 2016 when Abe Hughes had to extend his time home and John Blair came in instead). I've heard great things about Marc so hopefully I will enjoy him. Moe is his AM and I believe that they are a team that work well together so I'm getting the best of the best for the CD/AM combination. Captain Gus is onboard as well, we've sailed with him several times - great guy although I hope he's updated his schtick now that the ship has switched homeport.
We'll be in an inside stateroom on Deck 6. We had options to upgrade but no point paying extra when the inside is perfectly sufficient. 
I think that's all for now. Looking forward to this sailing. If you have anything to say, I'll see you in the comments below. 

Just finished my final exam and I am now officially a HS graduate. Been a long ride. Now time to focus on cruising! I've seen a few people start their live blogs early on here, so I'll follow suit.
I'll be leaving 1 month today (June 27th) to head for 2 weeks on the Harmony of the Seas. Below is the itinerary:
June 27th - Flying from Edinburgh to Orlando (on United via Newark) June 28th - Orlando, Florida June 29th - Orlando, Florida June 30th - Embarking Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida July 1st - Perfect Day at CocoCay July 2nd - Sea Day July 3rd - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas July 4th - Phillipsburg, St Maarten July 5th - Sea Day July 6th - Sea Day July 7th - Port Canaveral, Florida (turnaround day) July 8th - Perfect Day at CocoCay (again!) July 9th - Sea Day July 10th - Costa Maya, Mexico July 11th - Roatan, Honduras July 12th - Cozumel, Mexico (docking with the Liberty of the Seas!) July 13th - Sea Day July 14th - Disembark Harmony/transfer to Airport/Fly to Newark/6 hour layover in EWR (may go to NYC for lunch) and fly home to Scotland July 15th - Arrive in Edinburgh/Drive home to Glasgow (hopefully won't be 5 hours late like in 2016) I was quite hesitant to return to Harmony initially (I'm a Sagittarius, I'm easily bored and like to try different things), but the 2 calls at CocoCay were too tempting to pass up. In addition - Port Canaveral, Costa Maya and Roatan are also new to me. I've never been to the Orlando area, so I'm going to need some help regarding what to do on my 2 days there pre-cruise. Definitely planning a Cheesecake Factory visit! Planning an express visit to New York for lunch on debarkation day - I will need it since United Airlines serve awful food. I wish there was a decent airline that flew between Scotland and the USA - who wants to fly across the Atlantic on a 757? I digress - just not a fan of flying.
I'm going to have a 2nd stab at live blogging. I tried it last time and I wasn't too successful for multiple reasons but none of them should apply this time, particularly since I now have more phone data so will be periscoping more. No pics until I'm home, but plenty of scopes + commentary. All comments, questions and compliments welcome, although if you dislike what I'm saying, please don't try to derail my blog - I'm deadly serious, it happened last time and I was pretty irked by it. Any issues with my comments, then drop me a direct message. Thanks. ?
In addition, you might know me as the CD connoisseur on here. For now, Marc Walker is scheduled to be the CD (let's hope there will be no changes at the eleventh hour like in 2016 when Abe Hughes had to extend his time home and John Blair came in instead). I've heard great things about Marc so hopefully I will enjoy him. Moe is his AM and I believe that they are a team that work well together so I'm getting the best of the best for the CD/AM combination. Captain Gus is onboard as well, we've sailed with him several times - great guy although I hope he's updated his schtick now that the ship has switched homeport.
We'll be in an inside stateroom on Deck 6. We had options to upgrade but no point paying extra when the inside is perfectly sufficient. 
I think that's all for now. Looking forward to this sailing. If you have anything to say, I'll see you in the comments below. 

Following Joe. Hope You Have A Great Cruise!!

Just finished my final exam and I am now officially a HS graduate. Been a long ride. Now time to focus on cruising! I've seen a few people start their live blogs early on here, so I'll follow suit.
I'll be leaving 1 month today (June 27th) to head for 2 weeks on the Harmony of the Seas. Below is the itinerary:
June 27th - Flying from Edinburgh to Orlando (on United via Newark) June 28th - Orlando, Florida June 29th - Orlando, Florida June 30th - Embarking Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida July 1st - Perfect Day at CocoCay July 2nd - Sea Day July 3rd - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas July 4th - Phillipsburg, St Maarten July 5th - Sea Day July 6th - Sea Day July 7th - Port Canaveral, Florida (turnaround day) July 8th - Perfect Day at CocoCay (again!) July 9th - Sea Day July 10th - Costa Maya, Mexico July 11th - Roatan, Honduras July 12th - Cozumel, Mexico (docking with the Liberty of the Seas!) July 13th - Sea Day July 14th - Disembark Harmony/transfer to Airport/Fly to Newark/6 hour layover in EWR (may go to NYC for lunch) and fly home to Scotland July 15th - Arrive in Edinburgh/Drive home to Glasgow (hopefully won't be 5 hours late like in 2016) I was quite hesitant to return to Harmony initially (I'm a Sagittarius, I'm easily bored and like to try different things), but the 2 calls at CocoCay were too tempting to pass up. In addition - Port Canaveral, Costa Maya and Roatan are also new to me. I've never been to the Orlando area, so I'm going to need some help regarding what to do on my 2 days there pre-cruise. Definitely planning a Cheesecake Factory visit! Planning an express visit to New York for lunch on debarkation day - I will need it since United Airlines serve awful food. I wish there was a decent airline that flew between Scotland and the USA - who wants to fly across the Atlantic on a 757? I digress - just not a fan of flying.
I'm going to have a 2nd stab at live blogging. I tried it last time and I wasn't too successful for multiple reasons but none of them should apply this time, particularly since I now have more phone data so will be periscoping more. No pics until I'm home, but plenty of scopes + commentary. All comments, questions and compliments welcome, although if you dislike what I'm saying, please don't try to derail my blog - I'm deadly serious, it happened last time and I was pretty irked by it. Any issues with my comments, then drop me a direct message. Thanks. ?
In addition, you might know me as the CD connoisseur on here. For now, Marc Walker is scheduled to be the CD (let's hope there will be no changes at the eleventh hour like in 2016 when Abe Hughes had to extend his time home and John Blair came in instead). I've heard great things about Marc so hopefully I will enjoy him. Moe is his AM and I believe that they are a team that work well together so I'm getting the best of the best for the CD/AM combination. Captain Gus is onboard as well, we've sailed with him several times - great guy although I hope he's updated his schtick now that the ship has switched homeport.
We'll be in an inside stateroom on Deck 6. We had options to upgrade but no point paying extra when the inside is perfectly sufficient. 
I think that's all for now. Looking forward to this sailing. If you have anything to say, I'll see you in the comments below. 

2 great ships - enjoy! Voyager will be newly revamped as well.

Yes - Oasis is visiting but that's not the same as two being homeported from there. Oasis is taking people from the New York/New Jersey market, while Harmony is serving those sailing from PC. 

Melbourne would be an awesome home port. Not so sure that they would send a mega ship there first though, but could be a good place for Voyager or Serenade to sail from. I imagine Ovation will stay in Sydney.

They are sailing empty between Bayonne and FLL.

Family comedy in Royal Theater tonight. CD Mike is a magician. He did about 20 minutes and was funny and talented and very touching at the end. Love and Marriage is on later and we are really looking forward to that. Comedian  Simeon Kirkiles was decent. Comedian  Rodney Johnson was hysterical. We will try to catch their adult shows also.
Here's the backstory on Mike

 

I don't think Vision Class would have worked in Southampton - the last time we had a small one was Legend, which was 13 years ago and the first ship that actually sailed from there in the first place. Since then, we've seen Navigator, Independence, Adventure, Anthem and Explorer.
What I feel could have worked alongside one larger ship in Southampton is re-introducing the Radiance Class in Harwich. Both Jewel and Brilliance spent several years on that itinerary, and I believe Splendour did it in the 90's, however the itinerary was cut in 2016. That could have taken on the Norwegian Fjords/Scandinavia market. 
 

It's been rumoured for a while that she would be in Florida. With Adventure going to Galveston, I think Odyssey will do the 6/8 night sailings.

Plenty of time for them to do something between now and then - I remember the old Bayonne terminal pre-Quantum which was certainly not fit for that class and they managed to update the port enough to take them.
Maybe she'll do Friday and Saturday departures?

They didn't reduce capacity in the UK during the recession 10 years ago, even though Indy was their flagship at the time that the recession began. Might be some food for thought.
And if Brexit was going to be as devastating as you predicted, why did RCI even consider having Indy back in 2020?

Yes - had him on Oasis 5 years ago. Didn't pay much attention as it was my first time on the Oasis Class but came across fun, friendly and energetic. I think his style appeals more to a younger audience and works better on the big ships, which is why some older people (mainly on CC) have given negative reviews but the younger guests love him.

Coco Cay is going to be a a huge cash cow for RC, so don't be surprised if it's soon incorporated into every itinerary.
 
Heading to Anchorage tomorrow, then Coco Cay, and then to Glacier Bay - what a great vacation!

@twangster
It has nothing to do with Brexit. It was due to them having extremely high prices and not enough people booking. 

Speaking of Tim, I just saw that he recently joined Viking River Cruises...

To be fair, Tim was only on RH as it was where he was needed while Joff was on ID. He returned to ID before he left.
Indy is the same ship that did Leigh Xuereb (another awesome CD) in, so I'm guessing that there issues with senior management there.

It will probably be a while until they are released. Hoping Indy does 7 nighters - Navigator and Mariner are wasted on the 3/4 night cruises.

They had 2 Oasis Class year round until last October...

Good...glad to see this. This is the only way Royal or any company will ever listen to customers..by taking their money elsewhere.