Skigoofy

After a VERY hectic few months, it's almost time for our very first Caribbean cruise sailing on Allure Of The Seas over Christmas.
Itinerary 
22/12 - Embark at Fort Lauderdale 
23/12 - Sea Day
24/12 - Sea Day
25/12 - St Maarten (hopefully ?)
26/12 - San Juan
27/12 - Sea Day
28/12 - Coco Cay 
29/12 - Disembark at Fort Lauderdale 
 
The Crew
Me, husband (both Brits) & our USA-dwelling British & Canadian friends all in our late 30s to mid 40s.
For us, it's our 5th cruise - 3rd on RC having done the Med on Navigator and Independence.  For our friends, it's their very first cruise and we've told them they'll love it. I hope we were right!
We chose this sailing to fit in with my holidays from school (I'm a primary school teacher) and because I really wanted to try an Oasis Class ship.
Pre-Cruise
We've driven down to Heathrow airport from our home in the Midlands this afternoon and are spending the night at the Radisson Edwardian Blu. We stayed here earlier this year and were really impressed so we booked again. They do a deal where you get a hotel stay and parking and it's just a short Uber ride to the terminal in the morning. They have a funky bar with great cocktails and a couple of restaurants. Tonight we're trying the Indian restaurant. 
We're flying into Miami tomorrow (after original direct flights to FLL were cancelled and we had to rebook at extra cost or face going via Chicago or somewhere in Texas!) and staying at Pestana Beach hotel in South Beach. 
Our friends fly in to FLL from Detroit in the morning, are renting a car and picking us up from MIA when we arrive in the afternoon. 
We've got no firm plans ( we've all been REALLY busy, plus we thought we weren't going to be able to go at all when our TA went bust!) but we're hoping to see the Everglades and do an Art Deco architecture tour.
 

All checked into the Marriott in terminal hotel at YYC airport.  We love this airport hotel as it is connected to the airport and offers a M Club lounge. There was a nice spread tonight but in my excitement to eat, I forgot to take pictures ?. I will try to do better because who doesn’t like to look at food pictures right? Due to the busy holiday travel we are required to check in 3 hours before instead of our usual 2 even with our NEXUS.  So it will be an early morning.  But we are pumped to get this party started!
I was able to complete our online hotel check in at the Conrad Hotel Downtown NYC (Hilton) earlier today and select our room. Being able to select our room online was a first...I liked it as it avoids any disappointment at checkin and we were able to select the floor and room location we wanted. 
My random thoughts as I sit in our room is that I sure hope our driver meets us as planned at JFK. I will check in tomorrow from NYC. ?

Had dinner with Betty White and Robert Goulet at the captains table. He was the headliner act she was a passenger.
 
Although this was back in 1978. 

So... that just happened.   Turns out that cruising in a group of 7, with 4 boys is a LOT busier than I ever anticipated and the whole "live" portion of the blog went completely out the window.   We got home super late last night and are getting our feet under us today (kids actually went to school) and I'm plowing through a million work emails... I will attempt to recap and recount over the next few days.   
 
Needless to say - we all woke up this morning in official Starr Class Withdrawal (whaddaya mean there's no starbucks waiting for me on the table???)  

Post-cruise Miscellaneous Musings #2 - Our experience as newbie Diamonds 
We definitely enjoyed the benefits of our newly acquired Diamond status. 
We thought the concierge was courteous and attentive and the lounge itself was lovely. We had breakfast there on the first morning due to the early timing of the M&M and it was adequate for our needs, although unfortunately the coffee machine ran out of milk so we only managed to get tiny coffees and the people after us had to wait for it to be replenished. The coffee machine had been one of the perks we were most looking forward to and, unfortunately, it was a little disappointing. Whatever coffee beans they were using were fine for drinks with milk in them but very harsh and bitter if you just wanted espresso. As espresso drinkers at home, we do feel qualified to comment.
We also used the lounge on several occasions to get drinks in the evening just before our late seating dinner at 8 pm. When I say "drinks" I actually mean a can of soda and a bottle of water each, since we don't drink alcohol. Perhaps we did not get as much "benefit" out of this perk as others who do drink alcohol, but it saved us the cost of the sodas throughout the cruise. On other occasions, we simply stopped at one of the bars to get the sodas. Interestingly, at two of them - the pub and the Champagne bar - they insisted they had to open the cans before giving them to us, whereas this did not happen at the café promenade. Also interestingly, none of the bars we visited had the happy hour menu on display.
We also took advantage of the free photo perk. Usually we would buy one photo each, so this again saved us some money, since we were able to choose one each at no cost.
And we also made use of the Diamond section in the MDR at breakfast on two occasions. We did not use it more often partly because the MDR finishes serving breakfast quite early and partly because we found the service to be excruciatingly slow.
All in all though we were happy with our new status. 

And that brings me on to Post-cruise Miscellaneous Musings #3 - Dining
Dining is obviously highly subjective so our opinions may well be different from yours, but here goes.
Over the course of our cruise we had breakfast once in the DL, twice in the MDR and the rest in the WJ. I think I have already mentioned my dislike of the layout of the WJ on this class of ship but one thing that I did like was the toast station right at the entrance. This was the area where we usually sat and it meant we were able to have hot toast when we wanted it, rather than the cold version we received on both occasions in the MDR.
All of our lunches were in the WJ and again that area at the entrance was our go-to spot. They had the makings for some tasty salads there, with several types of salad leaves, beans, corn, chickpeas, tuna and more. All in all the quality and variety were very acceptable.
We did not eat dinner in the WJ so I can't comment on that aspect.
On this cruise we had the three-night dining package and there was a specific reason for this, harking back to our cruise last year on Navigator. That was our first encounter with the new menus, which we found to be very limited in terms of choices. On that 9-night cruise there were three or four nights when we struggled to find something to our liking. Also on that cruise, by mere coincidence, we tried our first ever specialty dining because I got a cracking deal on the now demised BOGO.
With this in mind, when I saw in the app that the menus for our Adventure cruise were the same as those last year on Navigator, I thought we would be best with a three-night dining package. That way, we would only have to eat the NY strip steak once!
That said, on the nights we ate there we found the quality of the food in the MDR to be very good and, in fact, I think our most disappointing meal was probably the one in Chops. However, what we did notice in the MDR was the distinct downturn in the level of service and this was certainly not due to the staff themselves but to the fact that they (serving and kitchen staff) were clearly insufficient in number. I remember in our early years of cruising that dinner in the MDR used to be a fancy affair and one of the highlights of our cruise experience. That unfortunately can no longer be said to be the case but times change and since we're not really paying a great deal more for our cruises than when we first started back in 2001, I think we can probably bear to put up with it. 

To the extent that we're already planning our next one. Unfortunately it's not going to be until spring 2021 because we want to spend a few days doing touristy stuff in the Big Apple and then cruise from there, which means some serious saving up will have to be done beforehand.
In the meantime, and since that really does wrap up my rather long "not-very-live-at-all-and-actually-mostly-recap" review, a huge thank-you to all of you who have indulged me by following along. 
Until our next Adventure, from us to you - Happy Cruising!

Hi my name is Amanda. My family and I are booked in the royal loft suite and my in laws have the owners pan in our upcoming allure sailing!!! 30 days!!! This is our 3rd Star class sailing but for  my parents this will be their first star class experience. I’m doing this semi live review because before our first star class cruise in March we searched all the boards for reviews on star class so we knew what to expect and I wanted to help others! So if anyone has any questions fire away and I’ll help anyway I can. I’m beyond excited to share this experience with my parents. They luckily have cruised  royal before with us, so I at-least know that they like cruising.
    Our first star class cruise was in March 2019 on Harmony in the Royal loft suite and we had Araceli as our genie  and she was by far amazing! She set the bar so high for genies. I honestly felt like I had it the jackpot of genies! She is wonderful with kids as our daughter is 5 and she made her trip so special. If your lucky enough to ever have her as your genie your in for a real treat.    Our second star class cruise was on Allure in September 2019 in the deck 8 Aqua 2 bedroom, our genies name was Agostina. We really did like her but as I said Araceli had set the bar extremely high and we now had an idea of how we expected star class to go. She did really well but I learned to just be very direct in what we wished to happen or what food we wanted sent to the room. Just be very clear on that and your trip will go really well. Our daughter Lexi loved her, she spent extra time making Lexi feel comfortable and kept doing little surprises for her to make our trip magical!      So for this cruise we have already filled out the pre cruise star class questionnaire and we just found out we have Luciano Santos!!! 

A huge change for Oasis of the Seas is the addition of the Perfect Storm water slides.




The entrance and stairs for all three slides is on deck 15 port side.









 



The slides are a lot of fun and they've been open even on port days when there are no lines and you can slide and slide again.

Adventure Ocean.  
In the interest of full disclosure my kids are all grown up so my so these pictures are the extent of my awareness or knowledge of Adventure Ocean.



Down the hall to the right is AO Babies, ages 6 - 36 months.



On the other side of the hall is AO Junior, ages 3-5.


The AO Theater 



The play area around the corner had a number of workers adding some new items so I took this picture around the areas where they were working.

Down the hall is the workshop and hangout areas.

Hangout first for ages 6-12.

Workshop area.

The reason I ventured into the arcade above was to find my way into the teen club, Social 298.
Out of respect I waited until turn around day so as to avoid running into any teens or interfering with the use of their space.
Honestly it took me a couple of laps around deck 15 aft to find the entrance.  Maybe that's a sign of my age but I eventually came across this mysterious door in the back of the arcade.

They had the various monitors off so you don't get the full effect.






Social 298 has its own outdoor space on the aft near the sports deck area.







The outdoor space for Social 298 is in the middle between port and starboard near where you can sit and look over the boardwalk to the left in this picture.

From the starboard side:

It looks like a nice space to hangout but before I say anymore and cause eyerolls across the nation I'll quit here.

The Arcade.
I didn't visit the arcade on my last Oasis sailing so I can't say what if anything was done here but it appears to be clean and fresh.

The new Diamond Club located on deck 4.

The brand new lounge is fresh with modern decor.  It's actually a really nice venue.





The club includes two workstations and a printer.  The new Oasis doesn't currently have an internet lounge or computer area in any public place on the ship.  For Diamond and above members this will be the place to print those boarding passes. 


Water is available throughout the day.

The popular specialty coffee maker is available in the new lounge.

Like Harmony and Symphony, the Diamond Concierge has their desk near the entrance. 

First off, apologies for the out-of-sequence photo in my previous post. By the time I realised it wasn't where it was supposed to be it was too late to edit it. 
On now to Miscellaneous Musings #1 - the Gym
Many years ago I did athletics at international level and I still compete in the veterans' age groups, so keeping fit while cruising is very important to me.
One of the things I particularly like about cruise ships is they tend to have fantastic keep fit facilities and Adventure did not disappoint in this respect. However, having sailed on her before, some years ago now, I immediately noticed a difference. Because of the addition of extra cabins during her last makeover, the aerobics room at the gym was swallowed up. To replace it, they did away with the big hot tub that used to be at the entrance of the gym.
This is the current aerobics area:

The gym per se remains intact with a decent weight-training area and lots of cardio equipment, although now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing a rowing machine.



I particularly liked the Life Fitness cardio equipment (I used a cross trainer and a treadmill), which were extremely simple and intuitive to use (just as well, given the lack of instructors to assist - soap box moment coming up). For me, it was a great plus that if you entered your weight in kilogrammes the machines automatically switched distance and speed to kilometres.

For the time being, Adventure's gym also still has locker rooms with showers. Unfortunately, as I understand it, there is a good chance that this nice gym is due for the chop when the ship is amped in 2021. I have heard that it could be downsized and shifted to the same place where the gym is now on Navigator.
Various organised activities were on offer, some of them at a cost, but I can't say whether or not they actually happened. One evening when I was training in the aerobics area another guest came in looking for the evening stretch class which was due to take place, but there was nobody else about and it still had not started when I left. In any case here is the list of activities:

As for my soap box moment (I'll keep it short) this is to do with the dire lack of assistance in the gym. For some years now, staff cuts and/or sales drives have resulted in the gym instructors being largely unavailable simply to supervise the gym, assist people with the machines and look out for safety issues. Nowadays, they are mostly invisible because they have to do paid activities such as foot analyses and weight-loss consultations. This is an accident waiting to happen. One day, a cruiser in flip-flops or a long floaty dress is going to get seriously hurt as they try using equipment they would never dream of even approaching at home (and, yes, I have witnessed both of these situations, although admittedly not on this sailing). I did mention it on my questionnaire but I have mentioned it on my questionnaire for the last three cruises and the situation remains unchanged. I find it hard to understand how a cruise line which puts so much emphasis on safety in practically every other area seems completely blinkered as regards the hazards of inappropriate gym use...

Made into the terminal just waiting to board now. Dropping the bags off and parking was quick and easy. Check in was smooth and only took a couple of minutes since there was no line. Unfortunately since we are good members we have to wait for just about everyone to board before we can.
-Eric

Thanks for tuning in to my no-so-live coverage. Happy holidays and Happy New Year!

So Day 2 was not a good day for me since I was severely hungover.  Shame on me.  The day was spent in my room trying to sleep it off.  I went to Izumi for lunch but just couldn’t eat.  The morning consisted of breakfast in our room with a Mimosa and Blood Mary Bar!!  It was fabulous!  The balcony was a little windy so it was made up in our room.  More pictures to follow on that.  Even better, everything was cleaned up and our suite looked amazing.  
 
We spent some time at the Kids Splash Away Bay.  Emily desperately wanted to go on the slide that Axel went on but she wasn’t tall enough.  So they spent some time running around together.  
 
Something that I can appreciate is there were a ton of photographers out and about.  We bought the photo package so we should have a ton of good ones!
 
I was still feeling pretty crappy but I mustered you the strength for the cabin crawl.  I thought there was about 8 rooms including ours, but seriously 30+ people came into our room.  We had some meat planks from Jamie’s delivered so we had some bites to eat.  It was so fantastic to just call Lisa and she took care of it!  

Made it to the hotel but we are unable to check in until 3. Having an hour to kill.....

Eviction day - 1 December - Post-cruise excursion to the Everglades with Miami Airport drop-off
We were up bright and early at 6 am this morning to ensure we had time for one last WJ breakfast before they made us get off the ship. We timed it very nicely; they had just opened up the second side of the WJ so there were plenty of seats available and it was a far cry from the pandemonium we were expecting.
We arrived at the meeting point in the Imperial Lounge a couple of minutes early and I was expecting us to be held captive there for a good half hour before being led of the ship, as this has been our experience in the past. But, no. After a mere 10 minutes they called us for our final "ding".
When we first booked our cruise I knew we would be doing a post-cruise tour with airport drop-off because of the fact that the sailing was from Fort Lauderdale. For ease and convenience it's hard to beat, but I wasn't thrilled with the prices on the cruise planner, and however obsessively I checked them (at least once a day) the price on those excursions never budged an inch.
There were only two that fitted our timing needs, the hoho bus tour and the Everglades one, and we were not particularly enamoured of either, especially at the prices they were charging. However, the alternative would have been to book the shuttles (no internet access to order a Lyft) and then spend hours at Miami Airport. I did momentarily consider the possibility of storing our luggage at Miami Airport and using the metro-mover rail thingy to go to Bayside but bearing in mind it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving I was concerned we might get ourselves in a pickle trying to do that.
Then when we went to the excursions desk to book they told us that the only tour at all that was operating was the Everglades ones. Well, that at least saved us tossing a coin. 
The whole "get off our ship" process was the easiest and quickest ever and the tour bus was loaded up and ready to go within about 20 minutes of the final ding.
We did this "same" tour 17 years ago but there were some significant differences this time round.
First off, the last time we did it there was a dedicated Miami bus and a dedicated FLL bus. Not so this time. Everyone was piled on to the same bus, meaning that at the end of the tour we had three drop-off stops at FLL, a traffic-jammed side trip back to the port to drop the tour guide off, and two stops at Miami. It also turned out that there were folks on our bus from the Allure of the Seas as well. Sales clearly were very poor.
The tour guide, Yvonne, was outstanding and I do not give that praise lightly. I was a tour guide myself in my younger days and I have absolutely zero tolerance for sub-par guiding. I particularly liked that she politely but firmly told the chatterboxes on board to shut up and let those who wanted to hear her commentary do so! Tops marks for that.
The facility with the airboat ride that we visited was very different from the one 17 years ago. This was a rescue facility as opposed to one where the animals are largely kept for human entertainment and I liked that about it. We were the first bus to arrive so we did the airboat ride straight away. We saw several alligators and a soft-backed turtle that swam past the boat within touching distance of where I was sitting.


There were also two talks/demonstrations about the animals that were sheltered here.
Some of the cages had a plaque telling the resident's story, although not all because they were in the process of renewing them.




After we had finished our visit to the facility we went to another - unscheduled - stop at a nature park, which I felt was largely pointless but was still better than sitting around in the airport. I overheard a guide from another company commenting that on her tour it was actually a scheduled stop but that most of the time they never made it there because of delays at the airboat facility.
From here it was time to head back to the airportS. I was less than impressed with this part and made a point of commenting about it on my post-cruise questionnaire. First off we went to FLL, where we made three stops, one at each of the two end terminals and a single stop at the V-shaped intersection of the two middle terminals. This was also where passengers with "hotel drop-off" were dropped off.
After this, we had to go back to the port to drop the guide off since that was where she had started her day. This was very frustrating and annoying and, to my mind, not acceptable. Separate arrangements should have been made to get the guide back to the port. We got stuck in a monumental traffic jam and it took us 30 minutes to get from FLL to Port Everglades. Once we did finally manage to drop her off it was the driver's responsibility to get us to Miami, which he did in timely fashion. There were two drop-offs at Miami, one at the North Terminal and the other at the South Terminal.
Once we had figured out where we needed to go from the drop-off point we pretty much breezed through the bag drop for our TAP flight and the security check. I did see a notice saying that were no TSA pre-check lines at that security check (area F) so that's something worth bearing in mind if it's something you would normally expect to use.
While we were waiting in the departure lounge we had some lunch - pizzas from the pizza hut, which were ok - before boarding our flight. The flight was actually on time, something of an achievement for TAP whose punctuality record leaves a considerable amount to be desired.
In similar fashion to our outbound flight, we had paid extra for the exit row seats, and again this made a huge difference, especially on an overnight flight.


The in-flight meals were passable.
Dinner:

And breakfast:

The breakfast could have done with an extra bread roll, though.
On arrival in Lisbon we had an almost four-hour layover before our connecting flight to our local airport. As usual, TAP had ground staff on hand to usher folks through who had tight connections. They do handle this very well and it's important because you actually have to go through another security check to get into the main part of the terminal where the connecting flights depart from.
Lisbon is a very easy airport to connect in, and TAP have some very competitive pricing with a free stop-over option, so if anybody is looking at travelling to Europe in the near future, this is worth consideration. TAP fly non-stop to Lisbon from the following US airports: Miami, Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Newark, JFK, Washington and San Francisco.
And suddenly our trip was over. It took us almost 24 hours straight from the wake-up call at 6 am on the last morning on board till the moment we put our key in the front door. We were exhausted and Kitty, our cat, was ecstatic to have her "hoomans" back. She was meowing and purring and rubbing and head-butting us all at once! What a welcome! 
Here she is supervising our packing the day before we left. 

And that pretty much concludes the trip report per se but I have another couple of posts still to add with miscellaneous musings about dining, our experience as newbie Diamonds and the gym.
Thanks again to everyone who's stuck with me for this long. I truly appreciate it. 

The FCC is based on the base fare only.  IOW, the taxes, fees, gratuities etc do not count towards the FCC.  I don't think the fact that it is a casino comp factors in at all....from what I understand it it based wholly on the cruise fare that you paid.  Since our cruise fare was $6255.70, I would expect our FCC to be $1251.14 but our TA told us to expect in the neighborhood of $1100 so there must be some factor included (or excluded, in this case) that I am missing.  We all know how Royal uses "fuzzy math" and it looks like this is no exception.  I know from reading others' accounts, most people are consistently disappointed that their FCC is lower than they expected.  I'll join that group, I guess.
Here's a bit of good news though....we found out that we will be able to combine this FCC with ANOTHER casino comp upgrade.  I'm using a free casino comp certificate (which I am upgrading) for a sailing on Liberty next September (Labor Day) and I will be able to apply this FCC to that casino comp upgrade.  So, you can combine a casino comp upgrade with an FCC which is great news.   As Twangster has explained to us a couple of times, the FCC can only be used to pay for base fare.  We cannot use it to cover taxes, fees, gratuities, etc.   Coincidentally, the FCC will almost exactly cover the cost of the upgraded fare, so this one will be almost "FREE".

Ship could not make arrangements to see a proper orthopedic, so we are more or less stuck in the room. 

Bumped into @JetlaggedAgain and his wife quite shocked at the news because we meet in the plane and chatted,  today they were tucking into a Italian lunch both seemed in good spirits, I gave him some pointers on how to push a wheelchair as I’ve been doing it a long time and there’s a knack to it ?
all the best 
ps I’ve still got more chocolates if it helps ?

Wife is doing ok. We are still on the ship. We will try to enjoy as much of all things the Oasis have to offer. Ship offered a x-ray at San Juan for the final assessment. And we got the wheelchair to make things easy. Now we are going to the cc meet and mingle, after that I have gift exchange at Jazz on 4 at 11 am 50 people signed up. 

This is probably the last update. Just after the muster drill my wife fell badly.
She was seen by the medical staff onboard and are now in a halfcast on her left leg, waiting to get a proper medical examination at the hospital in Puerto Rico. She got a wheelchair to use while onboard, no swimming, no walking. This vacation could have started better. 

After about two hours in the lounge, we made our way to gate 16 and the flight to Miami. The boarding began almost immediately. It took nearly only two minutes, and we were on board. Our seat 43H-K positioned on the right side just above the wing. The legroom was nothing to write home about. And I think the chairs were pretty hard. This flight was sold out to the last seat. Push-off right on time, and after a short taxi, we were in the air at 1.13 pm local time.
As soon as we arrived at cruising altitude, the onboard meals service started. The first part of this is that you hand out menu cards even to us in economy class. We had three options for the main course. After handling out the menu, the staff came with a drink cart through the cabin. All refreshments are free, and the choice fell on a pre-dinner cocktail. Dark rum and ginger ale, we also got a small bag of pretzels. 
Now the holiday has started for real. 
Just before the crew starting the serving, the aircraft entered an area of turbulence shortly after we passed the coast of Ireland. The captain turned on the seatbelt sign, and all meal service ended.
Now the drink started to make its own, and I began to crave some food. I had set my eyes on the chicken with mushrooms. And so had everyone else in coach. When it was our turn to choose food, the chicken option was long gone. What we had to choose from was a vegetarian cauliflower curry, and mac & cheese. Looking at my personal preferences, I do not touch cauliflower, not even with protective gloves. 
So the only option left was the pasta, here is the next problem I don't eat pasta.
So now I sit here with a tray with a small green salad and two crackers, and some cream cheese. Maybe a good thing when going on a cruise. I can say that several people did not get their choice. There were quite upset feelings in the cabin. After I started eating my green salad and biscuits, a steward came by with a cold chicken wrap and a bag of potato chips. As I understood this, this came from the first-class cabin. The staff on board apologized for not getting my first choice, and I said these are my preferences, so it is my choice if I don't eat anything The wrap turned out to be an excellent lunch.
After that, I returned to wrestling with the absolute worst inflight entertainment system I have tried. Touchscreen that does not respond to touch, and an Interface design that asks more questions than it answers. Fortunately, there was one of the old-style wired remote that could control the system.
After about five hours, they passed through the cabin and offered us an ice-pop. After that is was time for the drink cart again. This time the choice just fell on diet coke. I'm going to drive from the airport to the hotel. When we have only about 90 minutes left to landing, the cabin crew started to serve a box called mile-high tea. In this box, you will find a sandwich with mozzarella pesto and arugula — also a scone, clotted cream, and a raspberry jam. I only ate the bottom half of the sandwich. I cannot eat large amounts of bread and pasta after gastric surgery.
Now, finally, we have begun the approach to Miami, and we will land ahead of the timetable.
As soon as the plane had parked, we were out in five minutes. Then it was a pretty short walk to the ESTA machines, and CBP it took about 15 minutes max before we went to pick up the luggage our bags that were already on the band. Next, stop the car rental center. I always use Alamo. We have never had any problems with this company. I always arrange everything in advance, that is: bypass the counter. I do not have to queue, go down and choose the car in the class I want. The choice this time was a Ford Fusion. Brand new with android auto so I connect with the mobile phone. After about 20 minutes after we left the car rental center, we arrived at Holiday inn Express North Kendall.
It is now almost 8 pm, and we have been on the road for 20 hours. Slightly tired after the day, we take the elevator up to the fourth floor where our room. The hotel room is very typical of a holiday Express. Minor wear-and-tear but very clean, and most important of all, the beds are comfortable. While my wife is unpacking stuff, I take the opportunity to order pizza. It's not so much about the fact that we like pizza, but it's simple, and they bring the food to us. It took a maximum of 20 minutes before the pizza guy was here, and he got plenty of tips. It is now 9 pm, and I can no longer keep myself awake. 
It is 3:15 am and I am clearly awake and incredibly craving coffee, jetlag my old friend came to visit. The wife fits asleep while I find the coffee machine in the room, and soon the room is filled with a wonderful scent of God's nectar.
I'm used to getting up at 6am every day, whether it's work or not. So sleeping to 9 has kind of never happened. Because when it is 3am in Miami, it is 9am at home. Think I can start with a nap in the middle of the day.
Today is finally time for the cruise. But first breakfast and shopping at Walmart.
I promise there will be more updates, as I write in Swedish and then translate this into English. Then make sure that the text is correct.

The next update will be later on Sunday.
Thank you for reading, and you who just look at the pictures

The first part of this trip is to London from our home airport Arlanda. 
Arlanda is the largest airport in Sweden. The airport has three runways to compare to Heathrow that has a much larger volume of both ingoing and outgoing traffic.  Flight leaves from terminal five and gate19. Terminal 5 is the main terminal for international flights; some flights also go from terminal two aswell. 

After we passed the airside security checkpoint, we headed straight for the gate. The flight is scheduled to leave at 07:55 local and boarding set to 07:15.  Were are booked into the SAS Go class; this is a no thrills product.
The only complimentary thing onboard is coffee. All other items are for sale; you can pay with points or credit card. No cash is allowed onboard. As we booked into a budget ticket, we did not choose to pay for seat placement.
The seat we got assigned at check-in was 16A/B. I have a fantastic view of the wing and engine. The estimated flight time is only two hours and 20 minutes. That may change if that gets in the infamous figure-eight holding pattern over London.

I love to sit in the window seat, looking at the flaps and that magnificent view over the wing. Today's departure with estimated pushback at 07:55 got delayed. Aircraft is an Airbus A320 Neo, and it almost got that new aircraft smell. As the captain announced, we are good to go.
The taxi time on the runway was short and effective. In a few minutes, we all heard the familiar sounds from the cockpit "Cabin crew take your seats for take-off."
We took off from runway 19R. Woo-hoo, we are on our way. Now the vacation started for real. As I mentioned earlier, the only free item onboard is the coffee. After that fantastic hotel breakfast, a cup of God's nectar is just what I am craving.

When we arrive in London, we have a layover before we can board the last flight of the day.  We have a layover time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. Therefore we have pre-booked access to Aspire Lounge to relax.
Before we can get there, we need to pass the security after taking the ride on the cross terminal buses. After the bus ride, it was time for the airport terminal 3 security checkpoint. I don't get it; we only came off an airplane on the airside. Everyone that's was on this bus has already passed an airside checkpoint. As this is a major hub, the line to the screening was quite long. 
We headed to the Aspire lounge for a pre-flight breakfast beer with a plate of English breakfast. 
The lounge was packed to the brim, pro tip; if you pre-book, you get a reserved table. That's service.
We got assigned a table in a quiet room. Very relaxing if you compare to the central departure hall.  After a plate of food and that small beer, we started to relax and wind down before the 10 hours flight to Miami.
next update in 12 -16 hrs