twangster

What does your cruise history show?

Seems like they are providing evidence against their case. The picture they shared at the hockey rink has the girl standing on the floor leaning on the glass. Freedom has glass starting at the floor. Standing on her feet she could lean on the glass and look out. There was no need to lift her to the railing. Some hockey rinks have wooden boards starting at the floor going to waist level then glass above the boards. Freedom isn't like that. There was no need for Grandpa to pick her up in the first place, unless... she wanted to look out the window. It seems the little boy knew it was a window if he offered that he would jump out the window after her. Only Grandpa supposedly didn't know there was a window. I don't buy it. She wanted to look out the window instead of the dirty glass. Grandpa lifted her up and lost his grip. That's what the investigators reported in the first hours after it occurred. They talked with him. They drew their conclusion from their initial review. Hours later after they lawyered up the story changed.

Day 6 - Bridge Tour On our final sea day back to Miami the C&A bridge tour was offered. Empress has variable pitch propellors. Shaft speed is controlled by the engine room and is mostly fixed. Ship speed is controlled by varying the pitch of the propellors. I had noted our wake seemed to indicate we weren't using both propellors equally. This voyage doesn't require both to maintain schedule so we often run on one drive while the other propellor is trimmed to minimize drag. This is more efficient. If more speed was required they would call on both equally.

Also verified, luggage valet is not offered on Empress.

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Since he signed me up I thought I might as well take the tours. You learn little things with every tour. Now I don't have to take them next time.

Day 6 Galley Tour While waiting for other guests to arrive at the galley tour I asked Louis what the guest count was on this sailing. Somewhere around 1,790 he thought. With a capacity of 1,840 that's pretty good, 97% of capacity. Doing the math, if 540 are C&A members that means 1,250 are first time on Royal. I haven't been in the MDR yet on this voyage so I grabbed a picture. Our guide today is one of the Sous Chefs, Jeyanej Gotta love all the windows in the MDR Empress has a series of galleys on decks 2 through 5. Deck 2 is a cold galley, deck 3 through 5 are hot galleys. Here on deck 5 this little slice of heaven is the area within galley for Chops. Fish prep area Order up! Omelettes ready to go to the table. All eggs are fresh, no powdered scrambled eggs are used. Down a deck into the bakery. If you weren't hungry you would be walking in here, it smells so good. Behind the scenes crew staircase, down to the deck 3 galley. Even the crew only areas haven't escaped Perfect Day marketing. Luggage carts used on embark/debark day stored away getting ready for tomorrow's onslaught. Down in deck 2 galley we found the chef responsible for those yummy sandwiches in the Windjammer. Seasoning and spice and everything nice. Cold stores. These range from deep freeze to thawing rooms to get items ready to be cooked. Meats in one, seafood in another, vegetables in another, and so on. Beverage stores. Beer anyone? Vegetable prep area. Meat prep. Pies being prepped, lot's of them. Lobster night tonight so trays and trays of lobster are being readied. Our chef talks about the process of preparing the lobster for cooking later today. Water tight door down on deck 2. Note to self, don't tamper with the water tight door. Hmmm. Maybe for guests who share the drink package? Space is at a premium. More luggage carts stowed.

Shhh. The Westin TSA security area is a secret best not advertised on the internet.

Empress has a late night Windjammer feast. It isn't a full dinner spread but it's more than just burgers and hot dogs that Marner and Navigator feature late night. No ice sculptures though.

A message about Newark Liberty International Airport Yesterday, we announced we will cease operations at Newark Liberty International Airport on November 3, 2019. We know this announcement affects you as you have travel booked to/from Newark on or after that date. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes. We hope you will keep your travel plans with us, but understand if you must cancel your trip. If you choose to keep your travel plans with us, you may change your flight to one of the following airports: • New York (LaGuardia), NY - LaGuardia Airport • Long Island/Islip, NY - Long Island MacArthur Airport • Philadelphia, PA - Philadelphia International Airport • Baltimore/Washington, MD - Baltimore/Washington International Airport/Thurgood Marshall • Washington (Reagan National), D.C. - Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport • Washington (Dulles), D.C. - Washington Dulles International Airport • Hartford, CT - Bradley International Airport For reference, the closest airports to Newark we service are New York (LaGuardia) and Long Island/Islip MacArthur. For expedited service, you can change or cancel your flight at southwest.com/rebook3. You may also call us at 1-800-IFLY-SWA, but please keep in mind the time to reach a representative may be longer than normal during this time. Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon. Sincerely, Your Southwest Family

Day 6 - Sea Day Noted a Diamond only breakfast area in the MDR Voom results this morning. Voom history for this sailing. Our progress so far... I tried to use the new Royal app to look at a something in a future cruise. Empress isn't supported in the app but I wanted to look at a future cruise that is supported in the app. I couldn't get past this screen while on Empress. There is no moving this past this 'link a cruise' page unless you connect your phone to a VPN service, then the Royal app functions like it does when you are at home looking at future cruises. Flat seas this morning making for smooth sailing as we make our way back to Miami for turn around day. Chops breakfast available in the morning but only from 7am to 8am. Consecutive cruiser letter was in my cabin last night. Meeting point is deck 5 Schooner Bar at 9:30am.

You know what they say... What happens at The Quest stays on the internet.

Crew Flag of Nations in the Centrum Comedian and Hypnotist in the theater tonight The moment during the CD's wrap up that one guest discovered her belly button was missing. No worries, it will reappear once she leave the theater.

Day 5 WJ dinner: American Night Wings and beer sounded like a great dinner idea. Jerk and BBQ seasoned wings available. Tequila tasing in Boleros, $16 I checked out the VCL during Diamond Happy Hour. It was a ghost town.

Some stray observations... Teas and coffee offered in this JS: Five types of sugar/sweetener/artificial whatever Deck 6 walking/jogging track is 1/4 mile per lap There is a small arcade on board.

Be careful to separate rumor from speculation from facts. Until the White House announces it, it's not going to happen. Even if it did, the cruise lines lost so much money on the abrupt short notice changes they will be a lot more careful going back absent of anything that doesn't confirm another whimsical change couldn't occur a month later. The current administration isn't very business friendly towards the cruise industry. Even if a new administration were to allow it, the cruise industry would be cautious. Most cruises are booked over a year in advance. The cruise industry will always struggle with a flip flop government policy that allows it for a few years then changes it's mind with zero notice. It's challenging to build a business model when nothing is certain and the government can rip the rug out from under you tomorrow. In the past there were grandfathering clauses that provided some stability. Those were not offered this time where they could have been. Once bitten, twice shy.

No. Studio B has a floor that comes out for non-ice events. Laser tag is an inflatable obstacle course that sits on the flooring above the ice. A day later it's removed and skating goes on.

Welcome to the message boards. September 1st is well past final payment due date. I'm sorry to say they don't do price adjustments past final payment due date. You can always call and plead your case but unfortunately history isn't on your side. On the bright side you didn't mess up. You booked a vacation at a price that is likely cheaper than a lot of other people on the cruise given it's 30-ish days away when you booked. When you booked it you were happy with the price, you could afford it, it had the value proposition required for you to book it. Enjoy your cruise!

And now I'm shopping for January flights... (while my booked SWA flight to EWR still appears normal). Ugh. LaGuardia. The worst airport in the entire country. Guess I'm flying another airline. There's always JetBlue if I am willing to connect in Boston, fog capital of America. Delta is looking pretty good right now.

A somewhat "hidden" feature are the forward public decks on 7 & 8. The bow is open with no helipad. This area exists on all ships but for the most part we don't see it as it's covered with a helipad. The stairs are open and free to use. They lead to this open public deck 7 space. Note the staircase on the far left. Deck 7 view forward. Going up one more level to deck 8 you can see the bridge on deck 9. This also provides a nice view forward. Some people never find these public decks and they do have OV cabins that are right there so if you book a forward facing OV cabin be aware this space in front of your window is open to the public.

When I talk about Empress not feeling small that comes from spaces like the forward elevator lobby that has spaces like this: One deck down. Even the computer area has awesome views of the sea. The Centrum is unique to the fleet. The generous spaces can be found around deck 5 and guest services. Of course no ship is complete without shops. Also not pictured is Port Merchants with tobacco and alcohol.

Be aware by default any cruise booked at Next will be assigned to the travel agent that you booked your current cruise through. You can request to leave a Next booking unassigned and then it will qualify for transfer to MEI but you need to mention this while booking at Next otherwise your existing travel agent will get the cruise by default. If you have never used a travel agent and booked direct with Royal this isn't a concern.

I was also on an impacted sailing and interacted with them directly as I hadn't transferred it to my travel agent yet. Royal was great to work with. The short notice also created a lot of opportunities to cruise on very short notice. Normally the sales window to sell a cruise is measured in years from the time bookings open. In this case they had weeks so fares became very affordable. The cruise I am on right now has many people disappointed about losing Cuba but still loving the cruise and at a great rate. #winning All kidding aside as I know you meant this in jest, they did hit a grand slam with Perfect Day. A couple of us saw this coming like Matt and myself. The combined strategy to AMP Voyager class ships and create Perfect Day at the same time then combine the two for the short cruise market was brilliant. There were naysayers talking down the CocoCay upgrades but the results have proven them all wrong. By the numbers they provided they are tapping into the new-to-cruise market in a big way. Some 40% booking for Perfect Day have never been on any ship before. That's impressive and long terms results of creating happy first time cruisers will pay dividends for years to come. The cruise industry longs to entice new cruisers like any business desires to find new customers. We are witnessing some pretty savvy business leadership that has to have the competition green with envy.

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