Skigoofy

Some of the comments here belong on the "other" board. Some things should just plain not be joked about. Do not want to hear how I should lighten up or get a sense of humor---"it's not me, it's you".

As you can see it's not just rest and food
Typical day
 
 

Day 3
 
We waked up from the noises of the ship navigating to the Marseilles port.At this port you can take a shuttle to the city center (18 $ both ways kids ride for free).We eat a quick breakfast in the WJ , nothing really new here , same egg station, same lack of choices in breads and missing some fresh vegs but enough things to make almost everyone happy.
We booked a tour called Scenic Marseille , it’s a three hours long which start by driving between different interesting points in  Marseille with one stop in the old city water tower  and one stop at the city old port for one hour of do what you wand time. If anyone wanted to have some extra time at the city there was a shuttle station near by which allow you to catch a ride back to the ship.The tour was ok but I think it’s not really the best tour to take, I was missing some more stops and maybe some extra time , but hey I had to read better about what is offered..


After we stopped at the old port we went to find some macrons to eat , after all we are in France.We did find some nice bakery that had fresh Macrons and excellent almond croissants.The Macrons were good but I can actually get better back at home. As the bakery did not had coffee to go with the pastries we went to find us some good original French coffee , we found one next door , a small local French coffee shop called La Starbucks, so went outside to drink our fresh local coffee and eating the pastries. At that time the sun went out and it became another wonderful day.


After an hour or so we took our bus back to the ship.
We went to eat something in the park café , the park café here has the same exact menu as all the other ships have , the main change here is that RC organized more space to seat inside.
Next we went to play the mystery puzzle, we joined one of the groups and it was quite fun to try and solve it while knowing new people. We solved most of the puzzles but fail to find  the right criminal, apparently none of the other groups came to the right answer either.
It was SPA time ,so we went to the thermal suite to use the heated chairs, my partner was listening  to some music while I , to another podcast ?.I must say this time the room was quite full but we found two spots.We had to go catch some rest before dinner (actually catching some rest its an excuse for me to return to the room and write the blog updates).Dinner tonight was in the MDR , we were seated near a nice Italian couple which did not speak a word in English which was nice as it let my spouse practice her Italian , I on the other hand had to communicate with my Taxi/restaurant Spanish, it was very funny as many words are almost the same but pronounce differently and some have other meanings.
We saw the comedy show which was what I was expecting, glad I did not missed it this time.The night was ended at the Casino with some more Mojitos  from the Casino bar (thank you sticker) , I got three of a kind in 3 card poker so it was nice ending to this long day.

I'm taking a page from @KLAconQueso and splitting out my review of one of our major excursions to this board, rather than making it part of my live blog. Now, I've already posted the photos from that excursion on my recent live blog; you can view them here. This entry is more to talk about the excursion and the folks who run it, how to book it and what to expect when you go.
The official name for the company that runs this tour is "Soualiga Destinations", and this is also the name of their web site. But everyone who's told me about it, and the owner himself, tends to refer to just as "Capt. Bob's". They're an independent outfit and don't do bookings through Royal; everything is done directly with the owner, Capt. Bob himself. They only offer this one tour, which runs daily from 10 AM (with 9:30 checkin) to 4 PM; they expect that if you book with them, your all-aboard time is no earlier than 4:30 PM so you have enough time to walk or get a cab back to the port. In all honesty, our trip with them was back at the marina at 3:45, and I've heard other accounts that indicate 4 PM is really a buffer, and they tend to get back a bit earlier so no one misses their ship.
They currently have 9 boats (having lost 3 to Hurricane Irma in 2017); the larger ones hold about 16 people, while smaller ones hold groups of 8 or 12. While all of the boats have a canopy of some sort, none of them offer full-time shade and you will definitely need to bring a lot of sunscreen for this trip and/or things to cover up with!
At the time we booked in April of 2017, the price was $119 per person plus 5% tax, with a 20% deposit. Payment of the deposit is done via PayPal, and the balance is due in cash when you check in at the port. I was able to pay in full up front, as I wanted to do this for budgeting purposes, and Capt. Bob was up-front that he holds on to your money until you've arrived and taken the trip; if your ship can't make or a disaster like Irma strikes, he issues a full refund of whatever you paid. You are welcome to charter a boat for just your group, but pricing will be affected depending on how large your group is.
Booking with them is done through email. The site's Contact page also lists phone numbers in the US and St. Maarten, but it's clear that email is the preferred method. I actually had a lot of questions before I booked, due to my mobility limits and concerns I had about how much I could take part, and Capt. Bob took the time to answer every one of them before I booked. He's very low-key and has no problem if you end up saying no after first contacting him.
When you arrive in St. Maarten, you'll go through the port market to the main road and make a left. You'll follow the road until you see a yellow building with a cheese shop, which is where the Dock Maarten marina you embark from is located. There's a little walk-through archway on the side of the building that gives you direct access to the marina, and this is where you'll find Capt. Bob and the other boat captains who will be taking care of you. It's a fairly easy 15-minute walk, even for a moderately mobility-limited person like myself. We took a taxi to get there only because we were running a bit late and didn't want to miss check-in, and walked back to the ship afterward.
Our captain that day was Bob's son Brett, and our first mate was his fiancée Laura. We were going out on the only boat that had been docked in Dock Maarten during Irma and survived (albeit banged up and in need of some minor repairs); not just the only boat of theirs, the only boat in the entire marina. Capt. Bob's other surviving boats (two that he owned himself and 7 owned by the other captains who he works with) were docked elsewhere during Irma, so they definitely did well by not pulling all of their figurative eggs in one marina-shaped basket!
I'm going to take a moment here to talk about Brett and Laura, as they were just amazing hosts for this tour and we couldn't have asked for a better pair to guide us around and help make the trip memorable. I was especially grateful to them since I ended up staying on the boat almost the entire time and it was good to have someone to chat with while everyone else was in the water snorkeling or swimming. They told me (and eventually the others on our trip) their back story, and it kind of blew my mind. If you'd rather skip this part, just pass over the quote block.
 
Now for the actual tour!
Every boat that is going out leaves the marina separately, and I think each one also changes up the overall timing of the itinerary a bit to avoid overlap. Even though there are a total of nine boats, and from what I saw at least five of them were going out the day we were there, the only places we saw any other boats from Capt. Bob were at lunch and when we arrived at Maho beach towards the end of our trip. At our snorkeling and beach destinations, ours was the only boat anchored there at that time.
After leaving the marina, you make your way along the coast and quickly move into another inlet. This leads to the most expensive marina on the island, where the truly wealthy dock their multi-million dollar yachts in the winter months. You get to see a lot of amazing vessels here, although when we went through there were several that were damaged (and one sunk) thanks to Irma. Your captain will tell you about the ships that are there at the time; one of them on our trip belonged to a Russian oligarch, and cost a cool $500,000,000! That is some seriously insane (and from what I've heard separately, most likely illegal / laundered) wealth on display!
From the marina, you make your way through a channel and continue along the Dutch side of the island. The channel is wide enough that you speed along, seeing all the buildings built on the shoreline as well as the natural beauty of the island. Even with the devastation still visible everywhere, it was amazing. The color of the water alone will blow your mind. You'll also pass by the mansion of the French side's governor, prominently on display by itself at the top of a modest hill.
At this point, you'll pass under a small drawbridge and cross to the French side of the island. You are warned that on this side the beaches are clothing-optional, but we never saw anything at any point that made us stare (or want to look away quickly). The channel opens back onto the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean not long after, and you'll continue along the coast for a bit before cross over to your first snorkeling stop, Tintemarre Island. This is a small little island with no inhabitants, and is part of a nature preserve that surrounds a lot of St. Maarten and encompasses the surrounding little islands. (islets?) The island is home to sea turtles and sting rays, both of which often keep to the sea grass under the surface of the water.
For those who didn't bring their own snorkeling gear, your captain will hand out fins and also a mask with snorkel. You're instructed to hold onto these for the duration of the trip, until the last snorkeling stop is done. The mask is sprayed with some anti-fog solution so you can see clearly at all times. Those who are unfamiliar with snorkeling get about 10 minutes of instruction here, and both the captain and first mate will check that your mask is on your face correctly before you dive in to the water. Everyone is free to jump in from either the sides of the boat or from the back. You get about 45 minutes at this stop before everyone has to board again. Boarding is done through a short rail-less ladder that gets attached to the back of the ship after everyone has gone into the water. Based on my experience using this ladder at our lunch stop, it's not really something for a mobility-challenged person like myself with a lot of foot problems. The steps of the ladder tended to be a little slippery, and since it's rail-less you need to hang on to the side of the ship, or the engines, or the thick fuel hoses, or anything else that offers a grip while you're pulling yourself back up into the boat.
After everyone is back on board, you go straight to your next stop – Pinel Island. This is also part of the wildlife refuge, but has a small strip of beach with umbrellas and loungers, plus a little bar / restaurant and a small gift shop selling hand-made and -painted bird feeders, wind chimes, and carved trinkets. There is a "bathroom" here, but it's really more of an outhouse; there was no running water to flush with that I could see, and there is also a warning sign outside the little cabin telling you in French and English to not put any toilet paper into the toilet! This is the only spot where you'll have access to any kind of bathroom, though, so if this just doesn't work for you then you'll need to either hold it until 4 PM, or do like the fish do.
I suppose I should mention at this point that from the moment you set out from the marina, there is plenty of water and also beer to be had. Brett told us that the beer was actually cheaper to buy than the water! For our boat, we had Coors Light and a very nice French lager that I'd never had before. There were only a few bottles of that, and I only scored one of them, so the rest of the time it was Coors beer-like tap water for me! But this does make it difficult to avoid needing a restroom the entire trip! 
While at Pinel Island, everyone is free to swim, relax on the beach, visit the gift shop, and also enjoy lunch. While they used to do lunch in a different spot that had its own restaurant, that place was destroyed by Irma and hadn't yet been rebuilt. While I clearly smelled food cooking at the bar here, we were more or less told that we couldn't get anything to eat there; if I had to guess why, it was because on the French side they only accept Euros, not dollars, and this place didn't take credit cards. In any event, the new arrangement is for plenty of fresh-made sandwiches that are packed on the boat before you head out. These are really good and come in a nice variety – we had ham, tuna, chorizo, crab, and veggie as our options; and all were on fresh-baked mini-baguettes from one of the local bakeries on the French side. The sandwiches are served with chips and apples, and there are enough sandwiches for everyone on board to have two or even three if they want.
After about an hour and a half, you head out to your second and final snorkeling stop, a large rock that juts out of the water and is named Creole Rock. This is where you will snorkel to see a wide variety of fish, octopi, and sea urchins. The latter tend to make their home on the sides of the rock, so you get a pretty strong warning to stay clear of the rock and stick to the areas marked by little buoys that let you know where the fish tend to congregate. You also have to keep to the side facing the Caribbean Sea, which is much calmer; the other side faces the Atlantic, which has much more wave action, and you'll be warned that going to that side could lead to getting smashed against the rock and the sea urchins.
This stop is shorter, about 25 minutes, and then the really fast part of the trip begins. After everyone's snorkeling gear is gathered up and stowed, the captain opens up the engines and you go flying back to St. Maarten and the Dutch side of the island. It's a literal "hold onto your hat" ride, as the wind is strong enough to rip baseball caps or loose sunglasses off heads and send any loose towels or garments flying off the boat, never to be seen again. You quickly make your way to Plum Bay, where you will see the Dutch governor's home, as well as a large mansion currently owned by the 43rd President of the US. After a quick look and bit of background on that mansion, you fly off again and quickly make your way to Long Bay, site of the white villas with red tile roofs that show up in so many photos from St. Maarten. This is your final beach stop for the day, and you get another half hour or so to just relax and swim. The water is a bit deeper here and the current into the beach a lot stronger than on Pinel Island, so if you want to go to the beach you'll need to prepare for a bit of a fight back into the deeper water where the boat anchors.
When this round of beach time is done, the captain opens up the engines again and you speed along the coast to Maho Beach. You don't get that close to the actual beach area, this is more about hoping to catch a plane flying close overhead. It's kind of luck of the draw here; on our outing, we had a plane pass overhead just as we arrived, with no chance to pull out a camera and get it lined up for a picture. You only spend a couple of minutes before making one last speed dash back to the marina. I'm not sure if this part is common, but there were three other boats from Capt. Bob's at Maho when we arrived, and all four of us left and once and turned that final run into a race to the finish line. It was actually really fun to see which boat would end up "winning", and everyone was hooting and hollering for their captain to the be the one to come in first.
After returning to the marina, your captain will winch the boat back up part-way in its lift before you disembark. You'll be asked for a very well-deserved tip, and you'll also be advised to stop in the cheese shop that you passed on your way to the marina; here you can get a free treat by just mentioning that you were with Capt. Bob. It's normally ice cream, but in our case they had sold out and were instead giving away small caramel waffle cookies. You'll also have a chance here to buy some cheese (no Monty Python jokes, please!), made following authentic Dutch recipes and guaranteed by the owner to travel just fine for the rest of your cruise and your flight home. When we were there, they were giving samples of a really tasty Gouda that I'd have loved to buy, but I wasn't certain it would hold up to the time out of a fridge between getting off the ship and finally getting home.
You'll definitely be pushing the boundaries of your all-aboard time with this trip, but it is incredibly worth it in my opinion. This was far more than any excursion we saw offered by Royal, the group size was very small and made for great snorkeling without a lot of people crowding you, and your captain and first mate are excellent tour guides. I also think they're far less expensive relative to the duration of this trip vs. anything you can book in the Cruise Planner. $119 per person for a six-hour outing is, I want to say, half the price I saw for an equivalent duration excursion on the Cruise Planner. And judging by the feedback from my wife and daughters, the snorkeling was really good and offered a lot to see. Throw in the included beverages and food, and you've got one heck of a value for this trip, even after including a good tip!

Day 2 part two.
 
So, after we finish with the C&A event (with some sparkling wine) we went up to get ready for the first official night.We had some spare time so we tour the ship again, I must say , the number of people that were dressed up to the official night looked to me much more than in  a Caribbean cruise.The dinner was set at Hooked(the second part of the BOGO deal) which is locate on the 16 floor with some view to the sea.

The restaurant looked very roomy with allot of space between the tables , it does not look too fancy but nice.We got the menu which does not include any extra payment items.The waiter came and recommended some dishes so we started to order , if we just knew how big the plates are we might order differently ?
We stated with baked oysters, some mussels in wine and cream , it come with some bread that you can dip in the sauce which I liked very much.

Followed by  green salad with shrimps , the shrimp was huge and excellent the rest of the salad not so much, some will say the two items does not  correspond with each other (ops , its seems I watch too much master chef) the greens could use some better sauce, something light like like citrus based vinegar.

The waiter asked if we want also some  raw oysters , we did not answer fast enough so he said “why not” and brought six, I did not protest , you know … for the research. Apparently, they get the oyster twice during this cruise, at Barcelona and in Rome, so better to try them or in the firs/second day or I guess in the fifth/six day.

For main dishes, we took the surf and turf which was  a lobster tail and a tenderloin steak, both were excellent, the stake was very tender.

My spouse ordered  the captain dish which includes : Jumbo shrimps, big lobster tail and some fish filet, each one of them could be a main course. The dish comes with some vegs and lobster mac & cheese.

Everything was very tasty , but too much for us (maybe if we did not eat a big lunch before could help).I must say the service was very fast and everything arrived promptly , we liked it but I heard one table complaining that it comes too fast, well you cannot make everyone happy.They have four dessert to choose from we took the Boston cream pie and something  called Whoopie pie we could both skip the dessert as we were very full but hey , research.I am happy that we did not skip it as the Whoopie pie  was very good and different from the regular RC dessert.
 The chef and the restaurant manager came to ask how was it , they explained since it Is a new restaurant they still do some  fine tuning in the menu and to the size of the portions.All in all we liked it allot.
After dinner we somehow found are way to the room, to recovered and later continue the night by contributing some money to the casino and walk around between the different activities.
We thought to go to the silent party but the lines were huge so we skipped it and went to sleep.

If I am using hi
heated seat in the thermal suite while listening to RC blog poodcasts do you think I need to seek help ?

Day 2 part 1
 
After a few hours of sleep (although I consider sleeping as waste of cruise time) we looked at the window and saw we already in Palma de Mallorca , second look  showed us that the forecast was not that accurate as instead of nice sunny day it looked quite gloomy, or so we thought
As we did not have special plans for Palma we decided to take it easy and postponed our travel to the city.We took the regular breakfast at the WJ , I order some eggs (sunny side up , hey at least I thought here I will have some signs of sun)    As the weather was not that nice yet and since we already visited last year the main attraction of the city we just turned it to a sea day and stayed on the ship.If it’s  your first visit to Palma , I will not skip it , after all it is a nice small city with some interesting building and a nice cathedral.First thing we done was to use our spa access (yes the one from the research) , we did a quick check in , got our scrub packages and of we went to the thermal suite.We used the wet sauna which felt very good, helped to ease some of the non-sleeping enough pains.We tried also the heated chairs which was very nice. We were the only one there.


As the spa team were kind enough to allow us to take the rube out  we decide to do another thing new. believe or not until this cruise (our sevens one) we still have not any of the Jacuzzi's  or the pools in any of ships. We do not feel that comfortable with the public Jacuzzi which are usually very crowded but as it is a very new ship and most of the people went to the city we thought it is a good opportunity to try it.
So quick shower in the spa and of we went to the pool deck, we choose one of the jacuzzies with a nice sea view that was empty (from people not from water, I am not that weirdo). By that time the sun came out and it became a very nice day. 
 
 
We spent some time in the water and went to enjoy some PinaColadas near by (10 $ each, not sure how they got to it but after gratitude it was 23 something for both).
We took  another quick shower, changed and went to try another activity we never done (and I am not talking about napkin folding class) , yes it was time to go down by the ultimate abyss. No lines at all (wired for a sea day no ?)  just two girls that went down screaming all the way which made us think if we are going to do the right thing but no way back.


We both went down the slides on the same time , I can tell you it is much scary to watch the boardwalk from the top of the glass floor than to do the ride itself. It not felt too fast and was fun, will do it again for sure.As we already nearby we thought to walk for a while on the running truck to accumulate some steps and burn some of the calories before heading to the WJ for lunch.After resting a while in the room we visit the C&A event which was conducted at the aqua theater.So around 1500 CA , 900 gold , 18 Pinnacle , the person with most points had 2180 cruising points.
End of day2 part one  

Day 1 Barcelona  , part one
Wow that was a long day,
It started at 5 AM, hey who can sleep late during embarkation day, I started to browse the internet thanking someone that decided to wait with the fireworks until we arrived  Barcelona.
When my spouse finally waked up we organize our suitcases and the backpacks with the water and wine.
Quick breakfast ,some last minute shopping for some stuff  we found that we forgot and we did our way to the port.
The drive  took about 10 minutes and around 25 $ including the tip.
We arrive to the port around 10:30 AM , security and check in took about 10 minutes (just validating our CC) but the ship was not ready to board , they said it will be ready around 11:30AM but I knew better (I read this blog after all)  and waited in line. Funny thing about the terminal , once you pass security you arrive to a small mall with several shops , one of the shopssells wines and water, which mean you can bring to the ship  as much wine as you want unless they check the wine for you , I forgot to ask as I already had two bottles  (and 8 bottles  of water +4 Sodas)    , well will find out next time.
They open the gate to general boarding at 10:50 , so up we went.
On deck 5 they gave some free sparkling wine which was nice.

First thing we  done after we finished the first glass of wine was to go to the central park area to find an open restaurant so we can reserve the BOGO (again thank you RC blog).
CG was opened and I booked as planned Wonderland for first night and Hooked for the second one (you know , for the research)  , no issues and no extra cost was required for the BOGO deal.
Next thing we done was to eat something in the WJ , after all breakfast was a fade memory as it was two hours ago , one may call it second breakfast (Hobbits maybe)
WJ was quite empty, lots of open tables. Food was the regular WJ food, Hamburgers, some carving station, pasta station , vegs and even Indian food.




We went to take some pictures of the pool deck but since it was rainy we did not stayed there too much time and continue our tour inside.
At 1 PM we went to the room , I really wanted to get rid of our bags has for some reason carry 10 bottles  around the ship is not that comfortable.
 
The room is organized very nicely and feel bigger than the room we had few month ago on INDY.
It was time to try something new, so we went one floor up to studio B were they had the laser tag.
We had to wait few minutes until more people will arrive and started the session.
The way they set it up is using some inflatables dividers over the Studio B floor.
They divide us into two groups (aliens and robots) and a 10 minutes session started.
It was fun and full of energy but our team lost ☹ which made us decide we need to try it again ? .

I think it is a very nice addition to the ship. Like many other activities its better to try and do at the first day before everyone finds it.
To relax after running in the laser tag we went to the SPA to add our name to the raffle , they took us a to a tour in the thermal suite and it looked very nice so we decide to buy the pass for the week (200 $ for couple) you know , for the research …
We thought what to do next and it was time to check El Loco fresh , I took a beef Taco (the option are beef , chicken, pork , rice and beans) topped it with some guacamole and fresh cream.
I know we just were in WJ two hours ago but hey it was for the research …
It was quite ok , not Sabor level but still a nice free option.

We made it ! 11 AM 

Can not wait and can not sleep , 
No matter how many cruises I will do I can not sleep over 5 am on the cruise day and I think it happens to most of us.
Every cruise it's like the first cruise 

Day 9 & 10 (Debarkation, Return Home)
The dreaded day has arrived. There are no more ports, no more sea days. We didn’t even have a docking to watch when we woke up.

 
We woke up at 6:30 to the first announcement, letting those doing self-disembarkation know the ship was docked and that they should be able to leave the ship around 7 or 7:15. We wanted to eat in the MDR and not have to rush, so we up at this point and got dressed. Looking out the balcony window, we could see the port and non-cruise life waiting for us. It was patient, it knew we couldn’t stay on the ship forever.
We went down to the MDR for the final time. As we walked in at 7:20, we heard the first GTFO call for those self-disembarking passengers. No cereal bar in the MDR today, only regular menu. We got seated at a four-top after thinking we’d be sharing a table and at least having some other conversation to distract us, but nope.
No fresh-squeezed OJ available today. The waiter explained the machines were off limits to them on this day. My wife settled for a glass of the regular OJ, but I would not settle; I made do with just water and coffee.
After breakfast, we went back to our cabins one last time and cleaned out the last of our stuff, getting everything into our backpacks and bags.
We went down to deck 5 and were able to get one last round of caramel macchiatos and cappuccinos at Cafe Promenade. It was a little before 9, and we only had a short time before it our time to leave our little slice of heaven. We went to the Arcadia Theater and waited there for our turn to go. The screens in the theater were showing CNN, and it was piped out over the sound system. News?!? What fresh hell was this??
We got called off at 9:15 sharp, and decided to leave rather than stay the extra 15 minutes since we could only stay in the theater and we’d had quite enough news, thanks. We walked out to the deck 4 running track and got in line.

Wade was trying to figure out where to hide until the next embarkation started. Or who to steal the Sea Pass and passport from. He could pass for a Julian Guilfoyle, right?
I do have to say here that the cruise was not exactly giving us an incentive to return to dry land. The second we walked onto that track, before we even got to the end of the line, our noses were assaulted by the stench of the waste systems being emptied. Couldn’t they have done this from downwind? We all really wanted to turn and go back inside where the air was still pleasant.
It took about 15 minutes to actually get off the ship and into the terminal building. There was a bottleneck at the gangway station where they scanned everyone’s Sea Pass card for the last time, and the gangway itself wasn’t exactly moving at a fast clip.
A woman in the building was calling to all the passers-by that an elevator was right there and ready to go down to the ground floor. No one took it, not even me with my bad feet. She asked aloud why no one was interested in taking it. We all thought the same thing, I know we did: It wasn’t a convenience, it was a speedway back to reality and regular life. No one wanted that, and we all took the nice slow escalator, or the stairs.

Once in the main waiting area, we found a porter right away; he helped us find our luggage, and took care of hauling our eight bags while we made our way through the customs line. He then led us to where we could wait for our Lyft, then dropped off our bags and headed back after I gave him a solid $2 per bag tip for hauling those 8 bags on a single dolly all that time.
Our Lyft took us back to the same Embassy Suites hotel where our adventure started, and we checked in very early; we had to wait until nearly 2 for our room to be ready. We hung out in the atrium, going through photos, the girls working on some of their remaining homework. 
Once our room was available, we headed up and  got our stuff squared away, then my wife and the girls went to the trolley to check out the Galleria mall and get some lunch. I stayed behind to rest my feet, got a small lunch from one of the places in the Publix mall right there, and went through the photos I hadn’t yet edited or culled.
We had dinner at La Bamba, bringing the trip full circle and wrapping it up the way it started.
After checking out the next day at 11, we took one more Lyft to the airport and waited for our flight. It got delayed by nearly an hour not long after we arrived, but similar to the flight down, they made up most of that time in the air so people with connecting flights weren’t impacted. We managed to pull up to the gate in Newark only about 20 minutes late.
Our baggage showed up fairly quickly, and we made our way to the off-site parking pickup area. Did I mention yet that it was 41° F in NJ that day, and none of us packed for temps that low? We froze at the off-site pickup area for about 20 minutes while we waited for a van to come and get us. Why is it still in the low 40’s in April?!?
We picked up our car from the Park Plus, and headed out for home. It was after 7 t this point, so we grabbed some dinner at the Tick Tock Diner on the way home. We got home just after 9, and after greeting our cats for the first time in almost two weeks and giving them lots of love and attention, we crashed.
Today as I write this, it’s April 12. There are 183 days until my wife and I board Anthem of the Seas and kick off our next cruise.
I’ll write up the final verdict and the things we loved and... not hated, just... found wanting... when I’m on a computer and can make bullet lists, but I think everyone here knows that this was an awesome trip that everyone really enjoyed.

First part went ok , we made it to Rome , waiting for the next flight 

Day  -2
Well after few months it is time again for funny spelling mistakes/bad grammar and near real time blog.
If everything will be ok and nothing  change our flight we will be on the Symphony Of The Seas at this Saturday from Barcelona.
So why this ship ? – really should I explain why one wants to go on Symphony ? ?
Actually, when the first itineraries were published we already booked a cruise for September time but six weeks ago we decided we need some extra vacation until September, we thought first to travel to Thailand for some land vacation but after checking the April/May weather over therel we dropped this idea.
I started to look for April  cruises and I preferred something around Europe to shorten the flight  time , apparently the only available ship was the SyOTC , so well we decided to volunteer and as  @Matt says : do it for the research.
For sure I have not canceled the September cruise as I believe it’s going to be two different experiences.
Europe April Weather  can be still cold and rainy while  September weather will be much warmer (in Italy too warm) so we are planning to focus  doing internal ship activities and some shore excursions while in September focus on other stuff like the water slides and water activities.
Another difference  is that for this cruise we booked Ocean view room as I do not think we would use the balcony too much (too cold) while in September we do have a balcony.
Here is the itinerary: (this is the third time we are doing the same one with Harmony OTS and Liberty)
Day -1 – Barcelona (getting to the hotel and find a nice Tapas restaurant)
Day 1 – Barcelona (We have BOGO deal)
Day 2 – Palma de Mallorca, we will take the bus to the city see what is new.
Day 3 -  Marseilles , we took a  ship tour around the city ,  last time we went on a  tour  to one of the small cities in Provence  .
Day 4 - Florence/Pisa (La Spezia) – We will stay around la Spezia which is a nice small city , Florence is quite far and we already have a tour booked  for the next cruise to visit Florence. I guess we will do some of the shopping there (wine, Balsamic vinegar and yes maybe shoes)
Day 5 - Rome (Civitavecchia) – We have a ship  tour that will transfer us to Rome , we will have around 6 hour to tour Romr  by ourselves , since we already been to Rome (land tours) I think we can find our way. I took the ship transfer to make sure we will be back on time, train and buses can be delayed from time to time.
Day 6-  Naples (Capri) – We did not plan what to do there yet , we might take the bicycle tour if the weather will be nice or just go off the ship and tour the city (by tour the city I acutely mean go to eat a pizza ? ) . From all the ports of call this one is the closet to the city center, walking distance .
 
So tomorrow early morning we are planning to catch the train to the airport (15 minutes) and start our journey to Barcelona (the flight will be via Rome which is funny consider our itinerary, but it was very cheap comparing to the direct flight, so cheap that it would not make sense to use miles).
Drinking – No drinking package this time, we will bring two bottles of wines  and we are planning to buy drinks from time to time (it is a very heavy port itinerary and they want 49 $ per day for the package ).
Special restaurants – We got the BOGO first two night restaurants , I hope one of them will be Hooked and will try Wonderland (even if we need to add some money) but almost everything will be nice, but must have Hooked at least one time to write a report for the blog.
Please feel free to ask questions or ask me to take  pictures of certain things on the ship, I will try to bring as much information as I can.
My partner finally got her SLR camera back from where we left it last time (long story) so maybe we can have some better pictures (although still it is a basic SLRs).
 
Tomorrow Barcelona
 

 
 Hey , you do not need to buy me ticket , I will be in the suitcase , no one will notice 
 
 
 
 
 

Day 8 (Sea Day)
It’s the final day of our cruise. We all agreed we were just going to be doing our own thing, since the girls had homework to keep working on, I had photos to edit and review, and my wife had her massage this day.
I invited D14 to join me in the MDR for breakfast since we were both up kind of early, but she said she wanted to go to the Wind-jah-mehr. Her loss; Debbi had told us earlier on how sometimes they did a Chocolate Breakfast, and guess what today was? ????? I had chocolate pancakes that were reeeeaaalllly tasty, along with bacon, sausage, over easy eggs, and proper hash browns (not triangle shaped, but the shredded potatoes formed into a nice patty). I shared the table with a couple from Michigan and another from Kentucky, who were there with their grandkids. We had a nice conversation and I actually ran into the couple from Michigan later in the day.
After breakfast I got my usual morning cappuccino and headed back to the cabin. My wife was up and getting ready for her massage at 10:30. We chatted for a bit, then she dashed off to the Windjammer for a quick bite before going to the spa.
D17 went to the Logo Shop sale, and while she didn’t pick up any t-shirts she did pick up one of the long-sleeved shirts (hoodies?) they had on display. I also went down to check out the sale as I was interested in the scale model; while I thought the $32 asked (not a sale price) was semi-reasonable, I realized we have zero space for it in our luggage or carry-ons. ??
After the logo shop, I decided I’d get some work done on the photos, but I needed a pick-me-up first. Time to hit the Bloody Mary station! I ordered a spicy one with Grey Goose, horseradish, jalapeños, celery, and bacon (because everything is better with bacon).

I sipped on this while doing my photo editing from the balcony and taking in the ocean view, getting one more hit of that deep cobalt. After a while, I remembered I needed to swing by the Schooner Bar to capture another item for my “photo safari”; a pair of collected ships-in-bottles that I passed a couple dozen times walking from the bar into the casino, but somehow never noticed until the day before when my wife and I were down there chatting and people watching.

 
I also picked up a more literal “safari” capture, a rare and seldom-seen lion...

 
D14 had her cupcake decorating class coming up at this point, and I decided since I was already on the right deck that I’d walk over to the cupcake place and watch while she did it. They were given two cupcakes, a bag of icing, and some candies; this was magically transformed over the span about an hour into a pupcake. D14 did a great job, and staying true to herself she deviated from the steps for making the face, paws, and tail so that it looked more like a Pomeranian than the plainer puppy-like cupcake the rest of them made.

 
We went back to the cabin after this to store her pupcake in the room fridge, to enjoy after lunch. My wife was back from her massage, and when she saw me she exclaimed, “Hey hon! I got stoned!” Yup, she used some of her OBC to add hot stones to her Swedish massage. Cost $20 and plus extra tip, and she totally loved it.
 
D14 and I had to rush now so we could make it to our planned lunch at Sabor as they would be closing their doors in about 20 minutes. We’d both had big breakfasts and wanted to keep lunch light, so we just had the guacamole and two of the small plates: A double order of the chicken stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon, which were sooooo good; plus an order of the spicy beef empanadas, which we found just so so. As for the guacamole, we agreed that it was good but not mind-blowing. Could be because it was closing time and they rushed it out; maybe it was because it was the end of the cruise and they didn’t have as good a selection of avocados; maybe it’s because we make our own kind of regularly and tend to make on the spicier side; but we just didn’t did it as awesome as we’d hoped for.
I also got a sweet & spicy margarita, which was very tasty. The Prefect Margarita wasn’t listed in today’s featured ones, and didn’t see it listed elsewhere on the lunch menu. It was fine, I’d wanted to try this one as well.

I just wish it had come with my meal instead of at the end; we had finished off our guacamole and the small plates, and turned down the offer of dessert, and our waiter was bringing the check when I finally had to remind him I hadn’t gotten my drink order. He apologized profusely, and I’m guessing it was again because we came in so close to closing and they were trying to wrap things up and start the dinner slot prep. He brought out my margarita and also the check.   Because we only had appetizers and no dessert, he gave us 20% off (the check showed a “crew-bar” notation for this). I tipped him the full 20% of our meal’s original cost in thanks.
After this, it was to meet up with our MDR table mates for a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity. We had some trouble finding a place to play that wasn’t totally full of young kids, but finally found a spot in “Cloud Nine” room of the Viking Crown Lounge. Hilarity ensued as we played several rounds, with D17 snagging the win with 8 black cards in a clutch comeback.
 
Now we come to a matter of some unpleasantness. I finally tried Sorrento’s pizza.
I knew everyone here wanted to get my own opinion as a cruise noob and a Jersey pizza snob, so I decided I’d better just do it now or there would be a lot of disappointed readers. I got one slice of the specialty pizza offered this day, a cherry pepper pizza with sausage and pepperoni. My slice didn’t seem to have much of the latter two items, if any.

I braved myself, and took my first bite. I tried to be neutral, and reserve judgement. Really, I did.

I will say this: It wasn’t god-awful. But this pic pretty much sums up my overall feeling.

It was utterly flavorless. The crust was beyond bland; it didn’t taste like there was even any salt in it, and it barely had any crispness. The cheese was also “just there”, and there was no sauce to speak of. The only part with any flavor was the cherry peppers, which actually had heat and tasted like real cherry peppers. There Might have been a tiny bit of pepperoni or sausage in the first bite, but I couldn’t taste anything like either of those.
My mouth was crying for relief from this assault, so I walked over to the Bull & Bear Pub and got a Paulaner Doppelbock, because you still drink beer with pizza. And this was something with actual flavor that could wash away the blandness.

 
Before dinner, my wife, D17, and I all went back up to the top pool lounge above Deck 12 to catch one last sunset. While we waited for the sun to get lower, my wife and I took some pics of each other.

After this, we watched and waited as the sun got lower. For the second time, D14 totally missed out. It was by far the most spectacular sunset of the entire trip, and I had to get a ton of pics to show the progression, especially as the sun was eclipsed by the clouds on the horizon and then broke though one final time before disappearing over the Earth’s curve.

When I first saw the sun break through again, I quickly switched to my tele lens and got this stunner before switching back to the wide lens for the other pics.

 
After this stunning show, we headed down to our final dinner in the MDR. It was Debbi’s birthday, and we were also making this the “anniversary” day since we won’t be on a ship in May. Jigger, Danny, and our head waiter gave us a rousing “Happy Birthday” / “Happy Anniversary” performance, accompanied by a slice of cheesecake for each of us. My wife doesn't care for cheesecake, so I ended up having three desserts that night; a bit much after a goat cheese & tomato tart and pappardelle carbonara.
 
We went back up to the room and finished packing the bags that we were putting in the hallway for transport to the terminal. We got #29 on our bands, which was only one 15-minute slot earlier than the last group would have been, so we were glad to have a leisurely morning ahead of us.
We realized not long after we got back to our room that I had forgotten to bring down the WOW envelope for Jigger and Danny. So while everyone else kept packing, I grabbed it and shot back down to the MDR. They were both still there, so I was able to hand it to them personally.
We’d also left Miriam a WOW envelope as well. We could see that she had picked it up when she came in to do turndown for us.
We got the last things packed, and had all the luggage out by 10:30. I didn’t take a picture of the hall, didn’t want a reminder of the sad time coming soon.
I tried going to the helipad one last time, but the gate was closed and there would be no last viewing of the stars. ?? I called it a night and went to bed.
 
Drink package tally:
Fresh squeezed orange juice from MDR 2 grande cappuccinos at Cafe Promenade (morning and afternoon) Spicy Bacon Bloody Mary Sweet and Spicy margarita at Sabor Paulaner Salvator at Bull & Bear My usual Chianti at dinner (MDR)  
Random notes:
I got the online checkin notice for the hotel, and got that squared away; I was able to request a digital key for my phone this time, so I decided to try it out. This wasn’t offered with our original stay, so it must have been part of the lock maintenance they were doing during our last visit. This was written during my lunch hour. It’s weird to be back at work.

All of your pictures are fabulous! Old San Juan is such a beautiful city. I can't wait to get back there.

All of your pictures are fabulous! Old San Juan is such a beautiful city. I can't wait to get back there.

Day 5 – St. Maarten
To use a @twangsterism – This is going to be a photo-heavy post. Consider yourselves forewarned.
Our day in St. Maarten ran from 8 until 5, and we were in the process of docking around 7 AM when I woke up. What woke me up was the sound of two men in what sounded like an argument. I went out to my balcony and saw these two gents down on the pier, still having a rather animated discussion.

 
While the rest of the family got up and ready to go down to breakfast, I continued to take pictures while docking wrapped up. Even from the pier I could see the island was beautiful, and I wanted to capture as much as I could, especially that unparalleled water. It was still cloudy this early in the day, but in a way that was better since the light hadn't yet gotten harsh.

 
We went down to the MDR for a slightly hurried breakfast, since we needed to make our way over to Dock Maarten where our excursion with Captain Bob's Soualiga Adventures would depart. We left the ship and started walking through the port market around 9:10, having been notified through email that checkin was at 9:30 and departure at 10 sharp. Thankfully, this market was a complete 180 from the one in St. Kitts; while it still had plenty of shops, we didn't get harassed even once as we walked through. If we weren't in a genuine rush, it would have been nice to wander a bit and maybe give these folks some actual customers.
As we left our ship's pier and headed to the market, we saw the other ships who were in port for that day -- Celebrity Eclipse and MSC Seaside:

 
It's actually a pretty straightforward trip from the market to Dock Maarten -- if you're walking, it's only about 15 minutes (20 if you're more slow-moving like me); but since we were running a bit late and needed faster transport, we grabbed the first taxi that was offered to us by the gents at the port entrance, where it meets the main road. The taxi driver was this particular gent's mother, and she was driving a seriously beat-up Hyundai that the four of us had to somewhat squeeze into. It cost us $12 to get there, but for saving the strain on my feet that morning it was worth it. And it gave some funds to the locals who I knew could use it.
We did get a chuckle on our way there; our driver had gone into the left lane to bypass the backlogged traffic and get us to Dock Maarten more quickly, when she saw a police car coming our way. She quickly pulled into a gravel parking area on the other side of the road that looked like it was part of a construction site for some rebuilding work, and while she checked to make sure the policeman had passed by and wasn't coming back, she explained that this was the sole policeman in the area -- and her nephew! She chuckled as she said she'd almost certainly see him again later that evening around dinner, and he was sure to ask her what she was doing on the wrong side of the road by the port; she told us she was going to play all innocent and say she wasn't anywhere near there. It was something of a game the two of them played every day while he patrolled the area and she worked her taxi service, and we had to laugh along with her.
We got to our destination and met up with Captain Bob himself. He handled our checkin, then introduced us to his son, Brett, who would be our tour guide and captain of the particular boat we were going to be on. The first mate was Brett's fiancée, Laura. I'll be writing up a longer review of the whole excursion in the Shore Excursions forum, for now I'm going to stick to the highlights and the photos that go with them...
As promised, we departed at 10 AM sharp. As we pulled out of the port area and into the open water, we saw a Costa ship making a late arrival into the port; so there would actually be four ships in port that day, which I'm sure the people of the island were more than happy to see. I wasn't able to get a photo at this point as the ship was too far away and we were moving a bit too quickly to get a steady shot.
At this point, Brett took us along the Dutch side of the island, and we made our way to the big marina that houses the most expensive yachts. All along the way, there were visible signs of the devastation that Hurricane Irma had wrought and that hadn't yet been repaired. But there was also still a lot that was intact or rebuilt, and a lot that was still really pretty and good to see.

 
I took some video while we went through the marina, but my phone's mic picked up way too much wind noise and I haven't been able to clean up the sound enough yet to make it worth sharing. iMovie is still my editing tool for video, and the latest version removed the manual equalizer tool that could have allowed me to clean up that wind noise.
As we exited the marina and made our way to the next area of interest, we passed a graveyard of wrecked ships that were waiting to be destroyed, having been sunk and beyond the point of repair or salvage.

 
From here, we moved out into open waters again and made our way to the first destination of our trip. I continued to take lots of pictures, capturing both the beauty and the tragedy that was on display. I was using my tele lens the whole time, and you're going to see that it has some... interesting... effects on the corners of these images. I took most of them using the phone's burst mode, so I could get some reasonable shots as the boat bounced and sped along, and combined with the tele lens it introduced what looks to me like a tilt-shift effect in the corners of many of these pictures. If you've ever watched Sherlock on PBS, you'll know tilt-shift from the show's opening sequence.

 
Here we have the governor's house for the French-side governor.

 
Not long after seeing this (and Brett kidding with us that it was Oprah's winter home), we officially crossed to the French side of the island as we passed under a small drawbridge.

 
Once we were on the French side, we saw a lot more boats docked in the area. Brett explained that the rates for boat moorings on the French side are significantly lower than on the Dutch side, so most of the local folks who have smaller and cheaper boats dock them in that area. It's been nicknamed the boat trailer park of the island.


 
Ummm, I can't really talk now. I've got cows...

 
Brett and Laura said they stumbled across them one time while just going to that beach on their own for a picnic. The herd has some bulls and they actually charged the two of them; they had to clear out of there in a big hurry!

The little island above is named Tintemarre, and this was our first snorkeling stop. The prime "catch" here is sea turtles and sting rays. My wife and the girls got their snorkeling gear and dove in to explore. I stayed on the boat and spent the 45 minutes we were there just chatting with Brett, getting to know him a bit and talking about things like the add-on lenses he saw me using, investing (he was a hedge fund manager before he joined his dad in doing the boat tours), and other small talk.
After everyone was back on board, we made our way to the next stop, Pinel Island. The island is both a wildlife refuge / nature preserve, and also a day trip spot for the neighboring locals and people looking for a little pleasure cruise. In addition to the small beach that offers loungers and umbrellas, there are two small restaurants / bars and a little gift shop that offers hand-made items.

The water here is really only about chest height, so you just jump off the boat and wade to land. I took advantage and made my way up to the little yellow hut at the top of the second picture above, which is the sole restroom on the island. On my way back, I noticed as I passed the gift shop that there was a big cluster of hermit crabs sheltering in a little bit of ground cover around a palm tree. I wish I had my phone, but there was no way with my non-waterproof model that I was throwing it in my backpack and risking it getting soaked in the ocean while I waded from boat to land and back. I did tell my wife and the girls about it, and they went to take a look and also look at the gift shop. D17 bought a couple of sets of hand-carved and -painted cats, one set for us and the other for her boyfriend's family. She also picked out a couple of other knick-knacks.
 

We spent a little over an hour here, relaxing and having lunch. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, chips, and apples that were packed on board, since the beach restaurant they used to go to was destroyed by Irma and not yet rebuilt. I gathered that the places there on Pinel wouldn't have catered to us, for whatever reason. The sandwiches were quite good, and there was plenty of water and beer to go around and wash it all down. I enjoyed a nice light French lager that was a local favorite and quite tasty.
After lunch, we went to our next stop, which is named Creole Rock. It's literally a massive rock thrusting up from the otherwise open ocean, and which harbors a wide variety of sea life, including urchins that will wreck your day if you swim on the ocean side and get dashed onto the rock by the powerful waves there.

 
My wife and the girls took another dip in the water, although this time D17 was content to just swim and not snorkel; she found breathing through the snorkel tube too weird and unnerving to give it another go, especially after swallowing a bunch of sea water the first time when she didn't clear it properly after water got in. D14 and the wife both stayed well clear of the rock, where they'd been told they'd also see octopi as well as the sea urchins, and managed to catch sight of some of the many fish there. I once again stayed on board, having gotten quite refreshed at Pinel and not feeling the need to get in the water again. I also found climbing back into the boat via the rail-less ladder they attached on the back very difficult, and that definitely played a part.
Once our time at Creole Rock was up, everyone got back on board and we sped back over to the Dutch side of the island, where we had a quick stop at a very lavish mansion in Plum Bay that we learned had been bought a few years prior by one Donald J. Trump. Ironically, the water and land surrounding the building are declared public by the government, and people regularly show up around the building just going about their business without the owner or his staff being able to do a damn thing to keep them off his lawn.

 
We also passed this ship, which seemed to have a Viking theme to it. I assume it was another excursion vessel.

 
From Plum Bay, we made our way to Long Bay. This is the area with the many beautiful white houses and villas with red tile roofs. We spent a half hour here for more beach time and swimming, and in my case more photography.

 
Having done this a few times now, I really like how a panoramic image comes out when taken with the tele lens vs. no lens. It's a night and day difference.

Once we wrapped up our time in Long Bay, it was time to head back to the marina. Brett opened up the triple engines on our boat and we were seriously jetting along, far too fast and bouncy for me to even think about taking any photos. He was in a rush for a reason. We pulled up to Maho Beach just as a big private jet zoomed by overhead. We got there just a little too late; I had needed to stow my phone and lens in my pockets / under my towel, with the lens in its travel bag, because of the splashing we were getting from our fast ride. There was just no time for me to pull everything back out and get a photo before that jet zoomed by. Two of the other boats from Captain Bob were already there and those folks were definitely luckier in that regard.
There were no other planes coming, and we needed to get back to the marina so we didn't miss our 4:30 all-aboard time. The three boats got into a rather fun and exciting race to see who'd make it back to the marina first. Although our boat had three engines while the other two just had a pair, we ended up getting into the marina second. Partly because we needed to yield to some other boats that came along, partly because the captain of the "winning" boat was driving like a bat out of hell.
Once we were back on land, I tipped Brett and Laura $25 to thank them for the great trip, the good food and drink, and the good conversations I'd had with them. We stopped briefly at the cheese shop, where Brett said we'd be able to get a free treat, and a part of me wished we didn't still have five days left before we'd be home. They were selling a really awesome Gouda that I was given a sample of, and while they said it was designed to travel well, I didn't think a wedge would hold up for that long on a ship and also a hotel before going on a plane back home.
As we made our way through the port market, we passed by a yacht I'd seen docked there since we left in the morning.

Because I had to walk slowly, we barely made it to the ship for all-aboard. We were among the very last to get back on, with a few of the ship's staff who had the day off ahead of us. We laughed privately as we heard two of them getting super-excited because they just found out their next contract would transfer them from the Caribbean to a ship that would be sailing Alaska and then Australia for the winter months.
D14 and D17 both had a scare as they got back on board. Their Sea Pass cards had smudged and faded to the point of being barely legible, we assume from the sunscreen they were using. The security guards told them that while the scan of the bar code on back was good and they could board, they had to get new cards from Guest Services immediately or they would be denied permission to leave the ship the next day in San Juan. Needless to say, they both went straight to Guest Services and got new cards printed out.
While they got that taken care of, I quickly grabbed my standard sail-away margarita (sadly, "just" a Patron Silver and not a reposado) and went back up to my balcony. The Costa ship I'd seen earlier was still there, and I could now see clearly that it was the "new" Costa Classico (which I later learned from our dinner mates was about to be decommissioned, so none of us could figure out what it was doing all the way out here).

 
I heard a vehicle coming down the pier, and looked down to see a dock worker release the last of the mooring lines from the pier. It was quickly drawn in and I knew sail-away was about to start.

 
Freedom's horn called out to signal sail-away... and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WAS THAT COSTA SHIP'S HORN CALLING BACK TO US FRACKING LOUD!!!!! I had no idea she was going to do that, and the ship is so much smaller than Freedom that her horn is practically on the same level as our Deck 8 cabins. I was maybe a couple of hundred feet away from it when it sounded. And then sounded again. And then again! I had my ears covered each time I heard Freedom's horn sound again, knowing that Classico was about to respond. Once that ended and I saw we were moving, I took some more pics of her as we pulled away and left St. Maarten behind us.

 
Once sail-away was done, I grabbed our towels that we'd checked out and returned them to the pool deck. On the way back, I noticed a tile mural in the solarium that I had somehow missed in my earlier "photo safari".

After I got back to our room, I suggested to my wife we watch the sunset. We went down to deck 4 and the Schooner Bar so I could get another margarita (an 1800 reposado this time) and she got a mock lava flow. Drinks in hand, we made our way to the Star Lounge to get to the helipad... and found ourselves blocked by a locked door. Rather than try to find our way to the outside walkway on deck 4 and then back up to 5 and the helipad, we went up to deck 12 and then onto the top-most lounging area above the pool.

We were a little late to catch the full show, but it was still nice and I got one really nice shot, with a cloud edged in fire as the sun went behind it and a visible shadow shooting up from it into the air.

 
Sunset over and with some time to kill before dinner, I went to Boleros after getting changed and just people-watched while editing some of my photo backlog. The Latin band started playing while I was there, and some of the passengers got into the spirit of the music and started dancing.

 
I joined the rest of my family for dinner, where D14 and I sadly saw there were no escargots on the menu. We ordered some other appetizers, and I also ordered the Tiger Prawns that were the specialty of the evening for my entrée. Much to our surprise, our waiter Jigger brought out a plate of escargots for each of us that he "had found in the kitchen". We were beyond thrilled, although now I was wondering if I'd have enough room for the rest of my meal. The challenge was amplified when Jigger then brought out my Tiger Prawn entree... and then came with another plate that he split between me and my table mate, Debbi... followed a few minutes later by another plate that he split between us! This night was the first time in the whole trip where I felt a little more than comfortably full, but I still didn't feel like I'd over-eaten.
None of us were interested in that night's headliner, a magician duo. So dear wife and the girls went to bed, while I went to the casino for another round at the craps table. Luck was on my side again, and I came out $66 ahead after only a half hour of play. This was good enough for me, and I called it a night and went to bed. I found our night's towel animal still intact.

 
Two port days down, two to go! And for San Juan, we were really going to be off the usual path since we were meeting D17's friend Estefania, who lives right in Old San Juan and would be acting as our personal tour guide!
More to come tomorrow! (well, later today at this point)

if I had to choose it would be Otto Bang capt of the Liberty he was so kind taking my wheelchair bound daughter for a personal tour of the ship 

OMG!  Totally a plant then!  That was the same guy back in August!

OK, we are back home and I've finally reviewed all the photos I took and edited the ones I judged worth keeping (which was still over 400 total!). With that taken care of and only watermarking of the copies for here needed, this blog is officially resuming... NOW
 
Day 4 – St. Kitts
Today is our first port day, and we're really excited because it's also dolphin swim day! We wanted to get up early enough to catch the sunrise today, but my Fitbit alarm wasn't strong enough to wake me up (might have had something to do with all that wine I'd had the night before). At least we still woke up around 7, so we didn't have to race through breakfast before going out to our excursion.
While we missed the sunrise, we were still up early enough to see the island of St. Kitts somewhat far off in the distance, shrouded in clouds and mist.

 
We went to breakfast in the MDR, and got a table right alongside one of the large porthole windows. We were treated to more views of the island as we sailed into the port, and could see the clouds rapidly burn away as the sun rose higher.

 
After breakfast, we went back to our cabins to get ready for our outing, and got our first view of the port area.

 
We disembarked on deck 1 and walked out onto the pier. I finally had a chance to get some shots of the ship's exterior, as well as our approach to the port entrance.

 
We actually went out to the port around 9:30, and our meet-up for the dolphin swim wasn't until 10:15, so the girls and I explored the port area a little bit while my wife held our place in line and stayed in the shade. We thought maybe the girls might find a souvenir or two to pick up for themselves or their friends, and we at least wanted to get a view of the place.
I'll be honest, this was not a good first impression of a port village. The girls and I couldn't walk three steps without someone walking up and offering us a guided tour, or a taxi ride to some place, or a chance to take a photo with one of the monkeys the island is known for, or to step into their shops to just look around and get some free stuff in exchange. Even if I had wanted to take any pictures of the place, and believe me I didn't, I didn't feel like I could do that safely or without someone jumping into the shot and then telling me I owed them money for taking their picture. We all quickly grew tired of saying no and having to rush away, and went back to the port entrance.
One important note here, for those who have said in the past they would just bring their Sea Pass cards off the ship and nothing else: The port security people were not allowing anyone out of the village and back onto the main entrance / pier area if they did not have both their Sea Pass and a passport or other valid ID (I think they were accepting driver's licenses, but preferred passports). This was a big surprise, and I was very glad that I had our passports in my foldable backpack; otherwise we'd have been in a lot of trouble since my wife was nowhere near close enough to hear us holler at her to get them from the ship.
So with that little "adventure" out of the way, we waited while the excursion team got everyone grouped together, had us sign in, and gave us the appropriate wrist bands for the specific activity we'd signed up for. The vast majority had signed up for the same Push / Pull / Swim as us, with just a few people doing the higher-end option that included a push by two dolphins, and maybe a dozen or so (mainly families with toddlers or other very young children) doing the baseline "experience" option. Once everyone had signed the checklist and gotten their wrist bands, we were put into vans and driven over to the Dolphin Discovery site, near the Bird Rock Beach hotel about 15 minutes away.
Many others here have written about these excursions before, so I won't go into any great detail here. The staff were quite knowledgable about dolphins in general and the ones in their care specifically, telling us about our particular dolphin's history with the organization. They definitely seemed to care about the dolphins we were interacting with, treating them well, frequently reminding us to be careful around them and not try to stroke their face or under their chins as it was not comfortable for them, and making sure to reward them each time that they successfully did one of the actions with us.
For our package, we got to go into the water and "cuddle" with our dolphin, Dante, get pulled by him by grabbing his lower fins while he swam on his back, and ride a boogie board while he pushed us by one of our feet. We also did the standard "kiss" and cheek peck while standing on the platform by the dock, as well as a couple of other typical trainer tricks. All the while, the photographer was there getting lots and lots of pictures. Since this was a bucket list item for my wife, I did buy the photo package, which was $210 for a CD with all of our photos on it and well as the ability to download the full-resolution images via their app for up to 15 days after our visit. I had hoped to get a chance to haggle about that price a bit, but it was bedlam inside the gift center area where you bought this, and we were getting close to the time we'd have to get on our vans back to port, so I ended up paying the full price. But in my view it was totally worth it. It certainly supports the place and the locals who staff it, and helps keep the dolphins in their care in good shape; and if nothing else, I can make my own prints at larger than 8 x 10 to hang on our walls, and I can also share some of them here (with proper attribution in the watermark).
For here, I just chose the photos that showed our faces, as I think it sums up the experience pretty well. My wife only liked the one photo of her that's posted here, so that's why you don't see more of her.

 
After this, we returned to the ship, showered, and then spent the rest of the day doing separate things. My wife and daughters did go back to the village for a bit, aware of what it was like but still hoping to find something decent; and D14 was debating spending the money to get a picture with a monkey. They came back after a short time without anything, and D14 agreed that the prices charged for the monkey pics were ridiculous.
For myself, I relaxed on the balcony and broke out my mini-tripod, Camalapse, and phone bracket (as well as getting creative with stacking our two balcony tables to get a clear view above the railing) to take a nice time-lapse of the port area. I used the telephoto lens for this, and I really like how it came out:
 
Besides the time-lapse video, I also took some stills using my different lenses.

 
For sail-away, I went back out to the helicopter deck and tried another Periscope, since the ship was parked "backwards" and I could be closer to the interior while still getting video of the island. On my way there via the Star Lounge side door, I found this sight:

I really don't get these people. You can find out why when I post my Day 7 recap.
 
After scoping, I was treated to a very nice sunset. My wife had just messaged me to see if I wanted to join her for a bit before dinner, but I had to wait a few minutes so I could get these shots. The sky was just striking at those moments.

 
The sky faded far too quickly for me to have my wife join me, but I did message her that it was happening and to get to the balcony fast so she and the girls could watch it. Afterwards, I went to the cabin and my wife and I spent some time relaxing on the balcony together before dinner.
Dinner was in the MDR again, and as with all the prior nights D14 and I made sure to order escargots as part of our appetizers. The girls and my wife were tired and went back to the cabin to relax, and in the girls' case do a little homework or drawing before turning in for the night. For myself, I went to see the headliner act for that night, a ventriloquist named Ronn Lucas. He was very funny, and reminded me in a lot of ways of Jeff Dunham, as their acts shared a lot of similarities. Lucas didn't use as many puppets, but I have a feeling that one of them is drawing on the other's routines; either that, or it's a standard in ventriloquist acts to have things like the "you're arguing with yourself!" bit, or doing the multiple characters / voices in rapid-fire back-and-forth.
As soon as the act was over, I went back to the cabin. I had considered going back to the craps table for a bit, but decided sleep was more important given the long day ahead of us in St. Maarten. We had this fellow waiting on our bed when I came in:

That's it for our day in St. Kitts. I have to watermark all the pics from St. Maarten now, and I have to get back to laundry, ordering new eyeglass lenses, and a few other chores; so that day's post will be out later tonight.
 
EDIT: I forgot the drink package tally!
Fresh squeezed OJ in MDR with breakfast Grande cappuccino at Cafe Promenade right after breakfast 2 Patron reposado margaritas, one right before sail-away and one after the sunset, from Bull & Bear pub A glass of the "La Volte" Toscana I'd had on Day 2, from Vintages ($4 overage applied to my account) Something of a "light" day, but I think I just broke even with the $43 daily cost, since the three alcoholic beverages were $36 against the package, and the non-alcoholic ones were about $10 total.

I haven't written about the last couple days of Voom.  It became slower and slower.  Yesterday on day ten I was getting 0.5Mbps down but the normal 2Mbps up.  I've never experienced this before.  Normally if satellite coverage is an issue due to weather or position then both the up and down speeds are impacted.
I stopped by the Voom desk yesterday.  The girl there reported everything was fine and showed me her phone getting 3.78Mbps down, the normal Surf and Stream speed.  "Everything is working normally" she reported.  I showed her my phone getting 0.5Mbps down.
Over the next hour she went through the usual IT explanations such as too many apps open, satellite coverage, wifi coverage, slow processor in my iPhone 7 Plus compared to her new Samsung S8 and so on.  As we progressed I could she wasn't buying her reasons any more than I was.  She closed all my apps, restarted my phone, reset my code, replaced my code, changed my plan to a maximum 8Mbps doubling it from the normal 4Mbps limit, she even tried raising the limit to 20Mbps.  None of it explained why her phone could pull in normal speeds while mine was clearly capped at 0.5Mbps.  Then she logged in on her phone using my code and she got the same 0.5Mbps download speed on her phone.  At this point she should have been getting 20Mbps down. 
The hour was pleasant and we talked about various IT things and the change to Speedcast from Harris even though they are both part of the same larger company.  She told me my usage to date was 6.8GB over the ten days which in her opinion was above average but not nearly the highest and not extreme in any way.
In the end she was powerless to resolve the issue or explain it other than saying she would report it to Speedcast.  She offered a 20% discount but since I had purchased Voom in the cruise planner she would have to refund that back to my credit card then charge my SeaPass account with the 20% discounted amount.  This on the last day late in the afternoon made me nervous it wouldn't get straightened out or I would never see the refund to my credit card and I would end up paying twice.
My best guess - the recent contract with Streamcast announced a few weeks ago is more than just a contract renewal.  The sign in screens have changed and it seems as if the technology used has also changed on the ground within Streamcast's domain.  It's not O3b and still uses the higher and slower geostationary satellites.  Something was throttling my account.  She confirmed Surf and Stream is supposed to be unlimited yet clearly my account was not being allowed to stream despite purchasing that option.  Whatever was doing it wasn't within her power to change, I suspect it lies within the Streamcast technology or platform.
This morning my SeaPass account statement was on my door and the full cruise planner Voom purchase had been refunded to my onboard account creating a small balance due mostly from gratuity.  It pays to remain calm and be nice while working through these issues.
Posting and writing this blog is mostly about upload speed much like broadcasting on Periscope.  Since my upload wasn't throttled in the same manner I was able to continue blogging and scoping however loading websites was very slow and trying to watch scopes was impossible.  In the end they refunded my Voom purchase so all is well that ends well but it pays to keep an eye on your Voom performance and politely discuss it with the Voom specialists on board if you suspect you are having issues.

Oops. I though I deleted that last one. Meant to, anyway.

Yippee !  I did it !  I will have to practice with the captions. 

Hey, everybody!  What a great day we had yesterday.  Too much champagne and fireball so I am having fireball’s revenge today but it was awesome while it was happening!  We had lunch at Chops and dinner at Izumi. We went to the Aqua Theater show and the Genie kindly reserved Jim’s place right with us.  I really like Charlie.  Great Genie.
Our suite is incredible.  This SLS is a tiny bit smaller than its companion next door and the balcony is definitely smaller but when you’re talking about “small” it’s all about relativity. The suite is beautiful and the balcony is huge.  I’m going to try and post some pix but since I have no f’n idea what I’m doing I may lose the entire post, which would ruin my entire day !
I’m no Twang-bot or Sabrina so please don’t judge by those standards !  
I will post over on Tony’s Club Royale thread, too, but just wanted to mention that I believe that Tony’s horrific experience on Enchantment was a one-off and unfortunate mishap.  We were given all of the CR privileges that we expected, including free drinks and no 5% fee. We were also promised that by the end of the cruise we would be given our tear level in the new program.  
On another issue of recent contention, our D+ list of amenities include 2 free days of Voom or a dollars off discount (can’t find the paper at the moment) so it seems that the panic over maybe losing those free days is either premature or unwarranted -at least, here on Allure.
i have run out of time (blackjack tournament) so I’m going to have to make the brave attempt to insert a photo later on in the day. The thought of wiping out this post (so much pecking !) has brought a bead of sweat to my brow so I’m going to “submit” before anything can go wrong !

I am making no promises.  I have only my iPad so not really equipped to create a full cruise blog but I will do what I can without interrupting the groove of the cruise.  I’m not much of a picture-taker and I don’t even know how to post a pic so probably won’t have photos unless I can figure that out.
Today was travel day.  Left DC at 5:30 AM.  Wow.  That is early !  ...but had an uneventful flight down.  The air was very unsettled so it was a bumpy and turbulent ride but we made it. Since we are both status members with American Airlines, we always fly American.  From DC, American does not fly nonstop to Fort Lauderdale so your choices are, nonstop to Miami or go through Charlotte.  We chose to go through Charlotte this trip so we had 2 segments, but the flights were so close together that we basically got off the first leg and hustled to the gate for #2 with no time to spare.
We are staying at the Residence Inn Airport and Cruiseport.  While the hotel is very nice, there is absolutely nothing nearby unless you want Wendy’s or Dunkin Donuts and even with those, you would have to cross a busy highway to get over there.  They do have a shuttle bus that picked us up from the airport and will take you to a couple of nearby restaurants or Publix market at no cost but that got old quickly.  I don’t think I will stay here again.  Dan used points for this room so at least the price was right. They only have a complimentary happy hour Mon-Wed so nothing for us there.  There is a complimentary breakfast which we will check out tomorrow morning.  There is shuttle service ($8 pp) from the hotel to the port so we are scheduled to leave here at 10 AM.  The Genie is expecting us at 10:30 so we may be a bit early. 
We’re in for the night at this point. Very excited about boarding Allure in the morning !  We were on Allure over Thanksgiving last year but not in Star Class.  This will be our first time in Star Class on any ship other than Harmony.  It will be interesting to compare the service on the different ships.  They’re calling for rain tomorrow so it might be a wet start.
Our friend Jim flew in much later this afternoon and is staying elsewhere so we will not see him until after we board tomorrow. It’s always an adventure when you vacation with one or more of the Jim twins.