twangster

The Top Tier event line was longer than it was for the ice skating show the night before.  Deck 3 cabins are to my back, the MDR to the right past the stairs and Studio B seemingly 3 1/2 miles to the left.  I've never seen a Top Tier event attended like this one.

A few minutes before the posted time they opened the door and we proceeded inside.
I always like when Top Tier is in Studio B because it means the skaters will do a quick routine for us.  Tonight was no exception. 
It starts with a fun skit with a couple in what appears to be a French restaurant with the girl tipsy with wine while her companion tries to keep her on the straight and narrow.  Pulling her back at times, spins, twirls and a bunch of skating routines I don't know the proper names for while she shrieks with 'drunken' joy.

Very well done.

Next up an individual skater doing some more amazing skating moves.

At one point she is skating backwards and does a full backflip.


Nailing the landing like she did the night before.

This is a very small sheet of ice.  It's no where near what we see in the competition skating or the Olympics.  Very well done.
Next the Senior officers are presented ending with the Captain who a does short speech.  I was a bit surprised when 25-30% off the people got up and walked out once they sensed his speech wrapping up.  Indeed this is a strange cruise.
The Captain offered there are over 10 million Crown and Anchor members now.
Time for Top Tier numbers.
Gold 685
Platinum 406
Emerald 225
Diamond 630
Diamond Plus 499
Pinnacle 78
That amounts to 1,838 Top Tier with 1,207 vying for Diamond Lounge access.  
Top cruiser 1,975 nights.

Just try to sleep tonight, I dare you!
Enjoy your cruise!

I tried specialty restaurants once and couldn't get used to it. Dim lighting and small portions. Even MDR wasn't my thing. I try to be less formal on a cruise because that's the main point behind a vacation.
When I was on Adventure last year on my South Caribbean cruise, people used to takeout their Windjammer dinner and go sit on the deck to watch the movie while eating. I loved that experience , so relaxing ?

Day 5 - Dinner
I decided to eat dinner in the MDR after looking at the menu.  MTD reservation set for 6pm off I went arriving at about 10 minutes before my 6pm reservation.

My section from a previous night full they put me in a new section.  While the wait staff were friendly and well suited for the job service was slow.  Possibly the slowest I've experienced in any MDR on any ship. A full twenty five minutes after being seated they came to take my order.  First course arrived after another 30 minutes.  To put that in perspective as a solo traveler I've frequently been out of the MDR in under 60 minutes.
French onion soup

Australian Bass

I was careful to ask if this was a fresh water Bass or a Sea Bass.  Sea Bass I was assured.  
For those that don't know I am not into super fishy tasting seafood.  What most restaurants pass off as SeaBass is often pretty mild and I've had it numerous times.  This was pretty fishy tasting.  I know it's good for you and I tried, but two bites in I was done.  
This is what I like about cruising.  Try something.  If you don't like it, order something else.  
On this night thought I was already an hour into the meal and I knew the Top Tier event would be a zoo.  I'll grab something later, dessert please!
Next up, Sugar free Cheesecake.


Gobbling that down off I went straight out of the deck 3 MDR into the line for Studio B and the Top Tier event. 

I looked far and wide and the most dramatic TWC (The Weather Channel) moment I could find was this lounger that tried to liftoff at some point.

Most outer decks remain closed.  Pool deck is open as is the sports deck, but no one is up there.


With a small stagger to my step I figured I might as well have a pint to justify the stagger so I went to the pub.
I noted they put take-home bags for the dining room near the stairs.  They must be planning on feeding us well tonight.

While in the pub the ship became very smooth again.  I ventured out to fog and the fog horn protocol activated.

Since then, a few hours later, it's gotten even smoother and the fog has lifted quite a bit. Still raining lightly.   The sky is looking distinctly brighter.

Back to normal ocean conditions and smooth sailing.  i suspect what we sailed through isn't related to Michael and likely just the North Atlantic being the North Atlantic.
All in all the ship behaved very well and I didn't see any guests upset by the subtle rocking we experienced.
Off to dinner, top tier event at 7:15pm.  I suspect I better show up an hour early to get a seat.

Just try to sleep tonight, I dare you!
Enjoy your cruise!

I looked far and wide and the most dramatic TWC (The Weather Channel) moment I could find was this lounger that tried to liftoff at some point.

Most outer decks remain closed.  Pool deck is open as is the sports deck, but no one is up there.


With a small stagger to my step I figured I might as well have a pint to justify the stagger so I went to the pub.
I noted they put take-home bags for the dining room near the stairs.  They must be planning on feeding us well tonight.

While in the pub the ship became very smooth again.  I ventured out to fog and the fog horn protocol activated.

Since then, a few hours later, it's gotten even smoother and the fog has lifted quite a bit. Still raining lightly.   The sky is looking distinctly brighter.

Back to normal ocean conditions and smooth sailing.  i suspect what we sailed through isn't related to Michael and likely just the North Atlantic being the North Atlantic.
All in all the ship behaved very well and I didn't see any guests upset by the subtle rocking we experienced.
Off to dinner, top tier event at 7:15pm.  I suspect I better show up an hour early to get a seat.

Just try to sleep tonight, I dare you!
Enjoy your cruise!

Just try to sleep tonight, I dare you!
Enjoy your cruise!

Day 1 - Fort Lauderdale
We flew JetBlue from New York and utilizing the Hopper app several months ago managed an excellent deal ($500 roundtrip for two people). We were also fortunate to stay with great friends of ours right in Fort Lauderdale so we were fortunate to not have a hotel expense as we flew in the night prior. 
The morning of our cruise, we made sure to purchase our two bottles of wine (intending to minimize alcohol purchases onboard). 
We found our boarding experience at the terminal to be organized chaos which I don't intend to sound negative, only to illustrate that WOW Royal does an incredible job of moving thousands of people quickly through Terminal 18 at Port Everglades. We arrived at the terminal around 11 and were onboard by noon -- we were impressed. The initial hour or so onboard was exciting and slightly overwhelming. Our Boardwalk Balcony cabin was ready at 1 and we found the room to be very comfortable and spacious enough for the two of us. Frankly, I was shocked by how "big" the bathroom was...so we were definitely happy!
We chose the running track on Deck 5 for sailaway and it was just a gorgeous view leaving Port Everglades. 
For our first meal, as part of our BOGO dining package, we went to Giovanni's Table and we really enjoyed our meal there (sorry I don't remember what we ate!). After dinner we continued to explore the ship and went to Karaoke which was HILARIOUS.

I have been a mostly silent Royal Caribbean Blog follower/listener since May of this year when we booked this Allure of the Seas September 30th Eastern Caribbean sailing. Before I go any further, I must say that I would be remiss not to acknowledge and thank @Matt for creating this community which proved to be an incredible asset for myself and my husband as we planned our vacation. We had an incredible time, Matt, this forum, your website and your podcast were absolutely invaluable to me as I planned our cruise THANK YOU!
Next, I have read many live blogs on this site and could only aspire to blog with such excellence as @twangster so I must preface this by saying....I have no pictures to share and this review is in the rearview but nevertheless I thought it was a good idea to share our experience with the community! I will attempt to share each day's activities here for your enjoyment (and mine, reliving the joy of our vacation) ?
So! I'll start with:
Planning/Choosing this Sailing
I haven't cruised since college but I have been on two cruises in the past. My first was on the Splendour of the Seas (many years ago!) and on Carnival Legend. My experience on Splendour left an indelible impression, one that made me love RCCL and my experience on Carnival was "meh", at best. My husband has never cruised before and I have been aching to book a cruise for the two of us. I stumbled upon this blog while I was doing cursory price shopping on Royal's website and thus began the effort to campaign for a cruise vacation with my husband who was quite skeptical of the experience he would have. In my past experience, I have been on two Western Caribbean itineraries and thus wanted to try something different. I was considering Eastern and Southern itineraries and we were thinking about the early fall. We live in New York so other than taking a cruise on the Anthem, we were going to need to fly to Florida or elsewhere so I was a little anxious to fly during hurricane season to Puerto Rico where most Southern itineraries were embarking from. Thus....we landed on Eastern itineraries. My husband gets bored easily so we thought an Oasis class was a good place to start and I like shiny new things....so trying out one of the megaships felt like a perfect idea. Taking the advice preached by many in this forum, we worked with a local travel agent and got a great rate on the Allure of the Seas in an oceanview cabin over the bow. Again at the recommendation of many here, I continued stalking pricing on the RCCL website and long story short ended up with an opportunity to move up to a Neighborhood Balcony Guarantee for literally an additional $20 (I felt like we stole the rate, honestly). Our Eastern Caribbean itinerary included St Maarten, Puerto Rico, Labadee and three days at sea. 
Our booking yielded a modest amount of OBC so we also booked a 2-day BOGO specialty dining package that we needed to use on the first two days of our cruise. We did not take advantage of a beverage package because we were confident that we would not drink enough to breakeven which proved to be a great decision.
So I'll end my rambling here and try to add an additional entry for each day of our cruise ?

Should I delete those 12 accounts I created yesterday?  Just kidding...
Congrats! 

I looked far and wide and the most dramatic TWC (The Weather Channel) moment I could find was this lounger that tried to liftoff at some point.

Most outer decks remain closed.  Pool deck is open as is the sports deck, but no one is up there.


With a small stagger to my step I figured I might as well have a pint to justify the stagger so I went to the pub.
I noted they put take-home bags for the dining room near the stairs.  They must be planning on feeding us well tonight.

While in the pub the ship became very smooth again.  I ventured out to fog and the fog horn protocol activated.

Since then, a few hours later, it's gotten even smoother and the fog has lifted quite a bit. Still raining lightly.   The sky is looking distinctly brighter.

Back to normal ocean conditions and smooth sailing.  i suspect what we sailed through isn't related to Michael and likely just the North Atlantic being the North Atlantic.
All in all the ship behaved very well and I didn't see any guests upset by the subtle rocking we experienced.
Off to dinner, top tier event at 7:15pm.  I suspect I better show up an hour early to get a seat.

Noon update from the Captain.   Not much has changed as we slowly poke along at around 10 knots.  Winds are expected to reach 40-45 mph max.   Stabilizers are extended.  Seas of 12-13' expected or up to 4m.  
We are hugging the Nova Scotia coast just far enough out I'm sure to be in international water.
If anyone has been on a bus driving down an interstate and walked back to use the restroom that is sort of like what it's like.   Not that bad at all.   
Not very good visibility but they aren't sounding the fog horn.   Perhaps when it gets dark they will.  
First beer of the day tasted very good.  It tasted like "more". 
A band is playing Caribbean music in the Promenade.   I suspect Windjammer seating will be scarce.   Time to find out.  
 

I looked far and wide and the most dramatic TWC (The Weather Channel) moment I could find was this lounger that tried to liftoff at some point.

Most outer decks remain closed.  Pool deck is open as is the sports deck, but no one is up there.


With a small stagger to my step I figured I might as well have a pint to justify the stagger so I went to the pub.
I noted they put take-home bags for the dining room near the stairs.  They must be planning on feeding us well tonight.

While in the pub the ship became very smooth again.  I ventured out to fog and the fog horn protocol activated.

Since then, a few hours later, it's gotten even smoother and the fog has lifted quite a bit. Still raining lightly.   The sky is looking distinctly brighter.

Back to normal ocean conditions and smooth sailing.  i suspect what we sailed through isn't related to Michael and likely just the North Atlantic being the North Atlantic.
All in all the ship behaved very well and I didn't see any guests upset by the subtle rocking we experienced.
Off to dinner, top tier event at 7:15pm.  I suspect I better show up an hour early to get a seat.

My son is allergic to peanuts and shellfish.  I've cruised with him a couple times on Royal.  He is an adult now but that doesn't lessen the concern.
Even when I cruise alone without him it's very common for MDR wait staff to ask "Any allergies?".  They take it very seriously.  
Upon boarding I would visit the dining room and ask to speak to a chef about your allergies.  They will discuss it with you.  When you sit down for dinner mention it to the head waiter (sometimes assistant waitstaff are in training and you are better to mention it to the head waiter).  They know to listen for the keyword "allergy" and that usually means they get a chef from the kitchen to come out and talk to you.  They'll tell you what menu items are a go and no-go.  The Apple Pie is a no-go for dessert for example.  
I'm on Adventure as I write this.  I was on her in May and did a galley tour.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6297-adventure-5-nights-5518-repositioning-san-juan-to-bayonne/&do=findComment&comment=68165
Mid-way through I mention how they have distinct cooking stations to keep foods separate to avoid cross contamination.  Chicken at one, beef at another, shellfish somewhere else, etc.  Waitstaff are not allowed to enter very far into the galley to avoid them introducing cross contamination.   They are very aware of allergies and do their best to avoid issues.
I'd also call Royal and ask them to document it.  
Carry more than one epi-pen just in case, just as you should at land restaurants and on airplanes.  They can't stop other guests from eating peanuts or any other food that someone might have an allergy to.  

Day 4 Sail away to more rain and overcast.
The typical rolling hills that PEI is known for.


Fall color is getting more intense.


Day 4 dinner menu.

I went to the Windjammer again.  I wanted a quick dinner to try to catch the skating show at 7pm.  Scandinavian Night.
@Sweety, this photo is for you.  All the Red velvet Cake you can eat.

At 6:15pm I headed down to deck3 when stepping off the elevator I encountered the longest Studio B line I've ever seen.  At 45 minutes before show time it stretched from Studio B all the way into the MDR.  I guess with a rainy day and many folks not leaving the ship they were anxious for something and they all came to Studio B.  
I'll try for another showing...

Day 5 - Sydney, Nova Scotia  Sea Day
I woke to take in our arrival to Sydney.  Sunrise was supposed to occur at 7:11am although with the rain and overcast conditions it wasn't going to be a visible sunrise.  
All the upper decks were closed due to high winds but I found the sports deck was open.

I ventured towards the Windjammer for it's 6:30am opening.  Early I had some time to kill so I took some pictures of Giovanni's.



The Windjammer opened a few minutes early and I enjoyed a custom made omelet and some fruit.
The sky was beginning to brighten and I could see we were well off shore for a 7am arrival.  I sensed something amiss.  
I walked trough the Solarium and planned to take some pictures out a window since the upper deck was still closed.  The hot tub looked very enticing given the cool and wet conditions outdoors.

Those city lights barely visible on the horizon are the lower tip of Cape Breton.   

Our progress so far:

I checked the marinetraffic.com app and it confirmed my suspicions.


Sharp at 8am the Captain made an announcement. 
Winds up to 40mph at the pier.  Pier closed.  Port officials offered anchorage which didn't make sense. 
We gain a sea day and plan to keep our scheduled call into Halifax tomorrow.  As the remnants of Hurricane Michael approach us we are expecting 35-40 mph winds and 12' seas but with our slower speed towards Halifax the Captain predicts very little ship movement. 
At the moment there is very little movement.  Once in a while you feel a little side-to-side shimmy, much like a really smooth subway train ride or if riding in an airplane and you feel just a little bit of bumpy air. It's barely perceptible.  

Day 4 - 70s Party
Like other ships with a Promenade, Adventure has a 70s party.

Day 4 - Ice Skating "Cool Art, Hot Ice!"
7pm and 9pm
I showed up outside Studio B to find the doors opened early and a packed house at 8:20pm.  I managed to find a single seat while it was standing room only not long after I arrived.
Very good show but I'll let the pictures do the talking.



















Another 'don't miss' skating show.

Should I delete those 12 accounts I created yesterday?  Just kidding...
Congrats! 

A revised Day 5 cruise compass was found outside my cabin door.

I suspect the terms and conditions on board (which look like they were copied from a residential ISP) are very old, possibly from before Voom existed and they had the old satellite system with per minute plans.  
I have purchased (or obtained Surf and Stream for free from being in Sky class) on every sailing.  I've streamed and made VoIP calls.  No lawyers knocking on my cabin door or loss of outright privileges.  On Serenade I was in the top 10 of users on board, consuming several gigs of data but I wasn't in the top 3.  
They did slow me down to a snails pace and I couldn't stream any more.  I complained and proved it was my account by having the Voom specialist log into my account on her phone.  She refunded my plan since other users weren't being throttled.  It was out of her control and being implemented by Speedcast, their satellite internet provider.  
So try it day one but if you can't stream by mid-voyage find the Voom specialist and complain.  

A revised Day 5 cruise compass was found outside my cabin door.

A revised Day 5 cruise compass was found outside my cabin door.