Skigoofy

J⁸Day 3 - Sea day
So today is the first sea day which allow us to explore the ship. The ship is 180 thousand tons , so it's somewhere between Independence class and Oasis class. The ship has four pools (one big one and one inside big pool) and many Jacuzzies.

 

There is full section for the Yacht club.
Breakfast we took in the local  buffet.  They have excellent pastries and breads , lots of cold cuts and nice cheese selections and most important for me warm cinnamon buns 🙂 here goes my diet. I think at that aspect to my opinion,  they are doing better job than RC. 



 

They even have a factory for mozzarella 
 

Day 2 Copenhagen. 
We arrived at the morning to Copenhagen port. This port is also an embarkation port for more passengers who join the ship or leave it so we get to experience the safety drill again. The Muster drill is very strange , a combination of old and new. First you are being called to go to the stateroom. Once the alarm starts you need to watch a safety video . At the end of the safety video you are getting a phone number you need to call to confirm you watched the video.  This call is automatically answered.  After the call you are requir to go down to your assembly station and scan your card ...
We both never been to Copenhagen before so we decided to go to the city center. There are two options for that: first you can take a ship shuttle bus that cost 17 E return ticket or you can just take the free bus (number 25) from the peer which will bring you to the subway station. From the subway it's 3 E per direction. We took the bus and subway and after 25 minutes we arrived the city center (near the train station) 

 

 

Tivoli garden are also near by , Tivoli gardens are one of the oldest amusement park in the world that still active. We thought to visit it but it was very rainy so we decided to skip it and just drink a coffee , look around and go back to the ship. Back on the ship we went to try the thermal spa. Our cruise fee  included access to the thermal spa (otherwise around 100$ PP) . The thermal spa on Euribia is very impressive,  it contains 2 dry sauna,  two wet saunas, 2 Turkish Hamam , two big Jacuzzies and a salt room. It also include a "car wash" shower that you walk in a tunnel under four different showers each with different water temperature. 
I must say it's a very impressive thermal spa comparing to RC ships and even to some big land hotel spas. 

 
Salt room

Car wash 

One of the smallest steam room

 
We enjoyed our time there. MSC done excellent job there , one thing was missing , a nice water station:-) 
Dinner today was at the buffet. One nice extra in the buffet is a call button which you can press and a beverage waiter will come to take your order 
 

post dinner we want to see the daily showc, this time it was about rock show , which brought many classic rock song , very energetic and enjoyable.  In MSC you can not pre book the show nor you know what showes they going to have. Every night they open the ability to reserve the next night show. Every show performs 3 times , 7:30 pm , 9 pm and 10:30  pm. If you did not reserve you can stil stand in the standby line. 
Guess which song was performed... 

 
tomorrow sea day.

We got our rooms , most went to sleep but we decided to go to find a bar , after all it was our first time in Berlin. We found a near by bar , looked like a local bar , nice atmosphere and good beers.  We tried some local beer and went back to the hotel.
Breakfast was very good with allot of selection,  it was crowded but it was easy to find table fir the six of us (2 were still dreaming about vacation). Post breakfast we went to tour around and some shopping for the cruise.

 
In MSC you are not allowed to bring anything aboard,  not wine nor even water or at least that what they are claiming. Around 1 PM we checked out of the hotel and order two big taxis to take us back to the airport. Once again the better option was to take the near by train but this trip I am not the organizer. We went to the renting  car area just when a tragedy striked the 12 YO , she found out she left her phone in the taxi. Tragedy ended once we were able to call her phone and the taxi driver came back. I asked her what she prefer to loose the phone or her one of her parents,  I will not write what she answered. We got our cars and star our way to Kiel,  I proud to say I succeeded to find a way to find a space for all 4 suitcases in a midsized SUV trunk. Driving from Berlin Airport to Kiel is around four and a half hours , the first one hour we spent in a traffic jam , there was a stuck car which created this issue l. Rest was mostly smooth.  One think interesting in Germany,  in some of the autobahns (highway) you have only recommendation for 130 KPH speed limit , which mean you don't have a hard speed limit. So the trip went quite fast (not going to tell how fast) . We did one stop to grab quick bite and off to the road again. Finally we got to Kiel,  my brother got almost one hour after, he thought the 130 KPH was a hard stopped 🙂 but mostly he had to do three stops. 
Dinner was at one of the brewery,  after all its October and therefore Octoberfest 🙂

tomorrow boarding and what is the main difference between RC boarding process and MSC

You'll find this advice in various blog posts, threads and just about everywhere.  Yesterday while traveling unrelated to a cruise I saw some unfortunate cruise guests learn this lesson the hard way.
My own travel was changed three times due to a canceled flight and then separate delayed flights for my alternate itineraries.  This has become a new normal occurrence on more and more of my air travel recently.  I'm well used to misconnects and delayed flights as a former business traveler who used to take over 250 flights per year, year after year mostly domestic.  Yet I'm experiencing it more now and the time to recovery is greater than it ever was back in my hayday of being a very frequent flyer.
Yesterday as I was in the process of working with a gate agent to find new alternatives for a delayed Seattle flight I saw two separate groups explaining to other gate agents they are going on an Alaskan cruise and now they were going to miss their cruise.  There was nothing the gate agents could do, there was no alternative flights to put them on.  Our plane broke to the point they took it out of service and they were working to find us another aircraft.
One party stated they had bought travel insurance.  That was wise but they are still missing the cruise, a cruise they probably spent a lot of time preparing and planning.  Getting some or all of your money back through travel insurance softens the financial impact but insurance will never make up for the time invested and the disappointment of not sailing on a cruise you've been excitedly waiting for a long time.
In my case they re-routed me (again) through a different city but I followed the progress of that delayed Seattle flight and it didn't work out well for any cruise passengers looking to sail yesterday.
I heard one gentleman ask the other party impacted "they'll give us our money back right?".  That's when the other party stated they bought the travel insurance so they'll get their money back.  The blank response from this person told me he hadn't bought travel insurance.  You could see his mind doing the math to calculate his losses.
Many years ago I learned this lesson myself the hard way.  Flying from Denver to Houston the day of a cruise involves a short direct flight.  Southwest had five flights that would work and I was on the first one.  What could go wrong?   We got on the plane right on time.  Fully boarded we were ready to depart on time.  That's when I noticed they hadn't closed the boarding door.  Then we didn't depart on time.  Then they cancelled the flight and asked us to deplane.   
No problem right?  Four more flights could get me there.  I was solo.  I just needed one seat.  The best Southwest could offer was the same flight the next day.  All of their flights were already full.  By that point the ship would be well at sea.  After a prolonged battle with my travel insurance provider I did get all of my money back, eventually, but I still missed the cruise.
So as tempting as it is to save the cost a hotel room, just don't do it. 
Don't fly in the day of the cruise.  

Gelato! I got coffee. It was not too sweet so perfect for me! Hubby got 2 scoops, chocolate and caramel. No charge for us. The waffle cone is freshly made and rolled in front of you. 😋

When we came back to our room, we received the one thing that is often talked about here on X in these suites. 
They are ultra soft, and seem to be super comfy. We will see how they hold up when washed. 

It has been a fantastic week on Adventure this week. The ship is still in good shape. They were constantly cleaning and maintaining it all week. Food was good at the specialty restaurants we went to. This Izumi is my least favourite on the promenade, noisy, not too private. 

We loved our room this sailing. Compared to the RS on Freedom class, it’s a bit of a toss up. FR class RS has 2 bathrooms and a bigger closet so I would still probably give it to that. But nonetheless, this room, while 23 years old or so, is still in relatively good shape. 

My one complaint is the SL. It was constantly packed during the 4:30-6pm time. No seating at all. Even Carl was apologetic. It was overloaded with Pins and they were camped out there. Not to say that Pins are bad, we love some of our Pins here, but still problematic when your suite guests cannot get a seat in the suite lounge. 

Without a doubt, Carl has been the one to shine for us this sailing. I have already talked about him already, but I do sincerely hope to see him in the Genie world one day. He has the potential to be a star! 

If there is anything I haven’t answered, please ask. 

We are headed off the ship in about 15 mins. Will check in again later. Until next time Adventure! 

After JR, we took a wander down the promenade. Hubby insisted that we re-create some pics 🤦🏻‍♀️ he even wanted to find our old MDR table but we could not remember the exact location lol

Last blast from the past…..
See you again soon Adventure! This was taken on disembarkation day in 2002. 

I wanted to come back with the room pics. Unfortunately, we did not get here until after dark. The room pics would have looked much better in the daylight. This hotel is fantastic….if it’s your scene.
I am reminded of a YouTube video I watched a while back of a review on the Margaritaville cruise. It was coming from a YouTuber who was a seasoned cruiser of many lines, and he commented that his sailing on Margaritaville was missing a few touches that he is used to on other lines. That is exactly how I feel about this property here in Orlando.
We are booked in a Deluxe King One Bedroom suite. It’s huge! Pricing is almost half the price of the Conrad or Swan Reserve (a property that I really liked). Despite this room and property being huge, bright, and modern, it’s missing some of the touches I would expect from this sort of property. Don’t get me wrong, if you stay here, you will probably be quite happy here. It’s just not my scene. Truthfully, I think the lack of a kettle did it 😂 
 










 

3 nights before cruise day…blast from the past time. IFKYK 😉

So remember that Plan B refundable flight that I grabbed this morning? Well it went down $500. So I just cancelled and re-booked it. Hubby said, "Wait a second, so now you are price adjusting a back up flight?" 😂 old habits die hard lol 

In honour of bringing it back to where it all began, photo drop circa 2002, pardon the early 2000s fashion 😂
San Juan boarding, and proof that I was not always a suite snob 😉

I replied back to the email while we were in Europe and asked them to make specialty dining reservations for us. I had my times picked out already before I left for Europe so that was easy. I want to note here that they would not make lunch reservations, just dinner. They said lunch reservations are made with the butler on the ship.
Next, I had some questions for them. I asked for my two bottles of liquor, I could get Patron and Moet (even though that was not listed as an option). They did not seem to care as they replied that my requests were noted.
I also asked about a sizing chart for PJs as many have said that they run small. Not sure what we will end up with. I sized up a bit and I ordered s/m for myself and l/xl for Hubby.
This is the sizing chart they sent me:
Pj Sizing:
xsm - equal to women's size 0-4  / Men's Chest Size 30/32 inches
s/m - equal to women's size 6-8  / Men's Chest Size 34/36 inches
l/xl- equal to women's size 12-18  / Men's Chest Size 42/48 inches
2xl - equal to women's size 20-22  / Men's Chest Size 50/52 inches

Who’s Going?
Just Hubby and I!
Flight
Delta from DTW-MCO. I only booked one way with Air2Sea on this one. Even before I booked the S2S, Air2Sea would not let me book anything earlier than 2pm out of MCO back to DTW so we booked directly with Delta coming home. This worked out well because when we turned it into a S2S, the flight change with Delta was quite seamless.
Pre-Cruise Stay
If you recall from our WN sailing last year, I wanted to stay at Conrad Orlando, but it was not opened yet. It is now open, but I could not justify the pricing. It is expensive! For quite some time, I had 2 hotel reservations. I was booked at both the Conrad, and Margaritaville Orlando. I was really hoping the prices would come down at the Conrad but no such luck. Prices did come down a bit at Margaritaville and in the end, Conrad was a couple of hundred of dollars more than Margaritaville, so I cancelled it before we flew off to Europe a few weeks ago. We’re not doing the cottages. I will admit, I was interested at first, but after talking to @jax about the mixed reviews on the cottages, we will be staying in the main resort building.
Itinerary
25 JUL DTW - ORLANDO
26 JUL ORLANDO
27 JUL ORLANDO – PORT CANAVERAL (CRUISE DAY!)
28 JUL CRUISING
29 JUL PUERTO PLATA
30 JUL GRAND TURK
31 JUL CRUISING
01 AUG PERFECT DAY @ COCO CAY
02 AUG PORT CANAVERAL – FORT LAUDERDALE (CRUISE DAY !)
03 AUG CRUISING
04 AUG NASSAU
05 AUG FORT LAUDERDALE - DTW
Cabins
For AD, we are booked in something we could only dream of 22 years ago.
For RF, the purpose of this trip is research so one can only research when comparing apples to apples.
Pre-Cruise thoughts
-            Absolutely none! The theme for this whole trip is relaxation! It might be a very boring live blog lol
-            Once again, in the spirit of a live blog, please do not hesitate to ask any questions.  I will do my best to find out whatever I can for you.
-            When responding to a post with a series of pictures, please do not include the pictures in your reply.  It just makes for easier scrolling.
-            Lastly, I will try to post videos and stories on Instagram.  You can follow me @lovetocruise2002

App shows reservations now. We are in Izumi sushi for our scheduled dinner. 
Reminds me of my mother when she isn't getting her way...



She has dictated to them exactly what veggies and sauce to use to make her yaki udon and until the food comes all is right with the world.

We had a great time with Berty on Harmony in February. If you see him, tell him these crazy kids say hi (Lydia and Johnny)

Brian has arrived.  He is Marty from Icon's cousin.

Second lunch...


 


Thanks Jason Liberty!

Everyone else in the Windjammer: Ooooh, lobster 🦞 
Me: 😛

 

Home for the next 7 nights...

Day 1 swag.
Ship was empty last night so rooms were ready on boarding...always a nice bonus for the inaugurals.

This mug is making everyone lose their minds..Pesky Parrot is shoulder to shoulder waiting for them to restock.


They were asking if anyone actually wanted a drink..I felt bad so when in a tiki bar...

First stop safety briefing. Second stop lunch with my ziplock bags. Third stop next cruise.

Wearing this now outdated shirt today.

Number of times I've been told they need to update the shirt with Utopia so far: 2.