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Day 2- Mallorca It is the fourth time we visit this Island but the first time we planned a shore excursion using RCL , during all the pervious visits we just took the shuttle to the city and roam by ourselves. The excursion meeting time was 8:20 am so yes another night excursion. Around 7:30 we woke up, quick treatment in the sarcophage ( or the tardis, although the last should be much bigger in the inside) which RCL refer as the shower and of we went to the first breakfast. We choose the park cafe as it is much less crowded than the WJ and we like the bagels option. We went to the meeting point and after around 5 minutes we did our way to the bus . The excursion took us to the north part of the island, the guide was from the school of thoughts of I "I must say something until we reach the first point even if I run out of what to say so I will just repeat what I said before" lucky for me she was also monotonic so I felt a sleep for a while. The first point of the tour was some old house which had a small museum and very nice landscape , we roam it for a while and went to the nice backyard to take some pictures. Next we went to a local winery for a tour and wine tasting , I must say I have been to many wine tours around the world but this one was quite impressive as the tour was done inside the real winery and some visitors center that just demonstrate how to create wine. The winery guide was very good with excellent English. After the tour we went for some wine and food tasting , wine was good and the food that came with it was interesting. In the excursion description it said we will have three wine to taste but we finish up with four , do you think I should complain ? Something like " dear RCL I planned to have only three wines consumed for today and yet you have tricked me in drinking four, this really hurt my feeling and made me lost trust in your company and maybe even in humanity , shame on you , please some OBC " ? . Anyway we both liked this tour although I had to take another conference call, so bought some spices and nice strawberry vinigar . We went back to the ship to catch late lunch in WJ and get some needed rest. The daily visit to the Casino followed slice of pizza in Sorento , must say the pizza taste much better than on my last few cruises. We took a frozen mojito from the Casino bar and went to see what there is in the WJ as we knew we will miss the MDR to the aqua nation show. Food was interesting and contained all of the MDR menue for today (the first official night) including the duck orange and the lobster bisque. As I was full from the pizza I just took some berries they offered We grabbed another diamond drink from the Sabor bar and went to watch the aqua show , they had a towel station near the entrance as it was quite cold and people used them to cover themselves , nice touch. The show was a limited show due to the technical issue the theater still have due to the incident but it was very energetic and impressive Post the show we roam around ending in the Latin dance party , we even dance for a while , well my spouse danced and I did some movements while need to explain people I am not suffering from a stroke. After all tommorow is another day *Sorry for any errors , I am writing this directly on my phone while waiting for someone to finish shopping

Thanks , yes we are going on the Spectrum of the seas at October , it's should be a very different experience but I believe a nice one.

Thanks , yes we are going on the Spectrum of the seas at October , it's should be a very different experience but I believe a nice one.

We just came back from the show , it is different , the stage is always down during the show which mean zero dancing sequence and more acrobatics and high jump acts. The show was around 35 minutes , I think it still a very nice show.

Day 1 Barcelona , As always on a cruise day I got up around 6 am just to realize that I am going to loose this time the endless battle of “should we go to the port early as possible or not”. My spouse was so tired , the fact she just came back from a business trip to the US did not helped. Know to recognize a lost battle I also went back to sleep (hey if you can not beat then join them and if you can not join them then run but I do not have this option anymore ? ) @Matt any good advice how to handle it ? . Around 9:30 PM we went down to eat breakfast , took our time there and checked out around 10:45. 15 minutes after and 23 Euros we arrived the port , no traffic at all even inside the port. There were some lines to drop the luggage as many people missed to add the tags , but it was not more than 5 minutes. Only two lines for security were established , Diamond and above and all the rest , but no queues at all. Check in was separated to regular , gold , Platinum and above + the key . Check in took 5 minutes , 4 of them as I wanted to switch my CC I used for online check in with another. All in all it took us around 10 minutes to complete all the process and get onto the ship , Love Barcelona port , everything simple. They offer some “champagne” on deck 5, we took our internet password and went to seat at park café for a light snack, the next station was the WJ as no boarding day can complete without visit to the WJ, interesting , it was quite empty for 12:30 PM , maybe since many people are coming from Europe they were flying the same day (very bad advice) the WJ food was the same old lunch food. We went to visit the diamond club , first time for us as we just got our diamond status, we tried the coffee and took some pictures which I shared yesterday , but that time the rooms were ready so we could drop our carryon. Our luggage arrive 5 minutes after, guess the tip helped (or at least I want to think like that so I can tell some people “told you so” ? ). It took me some time searching for the walking in closet to drop the suitcase just to realize I am not in a JS this time ☹ we are in a boardwalk balcony room ,very near the back of the ship with wonderful view of the aqua theater , the plus is the Soda package that comes with the room (yes also free meal at JR but have not decided yet if it is a plus or not) After we finish unpacking we went to do the usual tour at the different neighborhoods , although the ship is few month before its refurb it really good maintained and not showing her age (well I am sure if I will look very hard I will find something to complain about but hey , its not that site ?) It already 5 PM so we said we will go and check the diamond club happy hour , the club was not full at all , the second floor was empty and there were many available tables including the ones adjusting to the big window. We took some drinks and tip whenever we got them which made the drink stronger after the second time , or at least that’s what we felt. The club continued to be empty , that’s the advantage in a non US cruises (yap , the biggest one , not the ports right ?) here is the list of the drinks , not sure it changed or not but I will put it here anyway. The next station was the casino were I went to get my sticker for the free drinks , for some reason its not printed on the card automatically , well it was expensive sticker . Between the diamond drinks, the casino “free” drinks and the port intensive itinerary we thought we done good not to take the drinking package. As we booked the cruise only few weeks ago the only available seating was 8:30 PM which mean we can not use the diamond drinks there (by the way in the letter we got it says you can use them in the MDR during happy hour) so we went to one of the bars at 8:25 took glasses of wine and went to eat. The food was Ok , some better some less , we took the onion tart (too eggy for me), the BBQ ribs (very good) and the Salmon, oh we took also the Waldorf salad which was mehhh (there was one tiny piece of apple in it) , I guess first day MDR stuff. I am missing the CK , maybe if I will go up and tell them I am a follower of @Lovetocruise2002blogs they will give us to enter for one night ? As the dinner was late we missed cats , although I am a cat person (ask my neighbors they will tell you ) I was not that sad for missing it. We went up to rest for a while and continued to the balloon drop party which was as always nice , Tomorrow early day at Mallorca .

If flights are planned good they are bearable , most of the flights to Europe will be afternoon/night flights , they will arrive early morning so make sure you have an early check in option in the hotel , that for sure can help. Regarding the 6 ports , some are short like Palama some are long like Florence and Rome. Do not try to do everything ? Capri is very nice , I would not miss it. .

7 day cruise life cycle Day 1 Day 8

I must admit I have not seen it yet even that is just across from my balcony , tommorow we have it scheduled so I will be able to update.

The Aqua theater looks fine , no real signs for the incident

The diamond lounge , before it will move to the 4th floor

One of the things that I did not notice at Port was missing of the expedite boarding that was announced last year. Not sure if it was due to the ship ( for sure is not due to the port as we used it last year at the same port) or maybe due the key program ... Oh well lines were not bad anyway.

Raphsody is a nice ship although it's not a big one , the service on this ship is o e of the best we ever experience. We actually plan another cruise with Rhapsody at August. The Casino is OK yo have enough tables and machines (some are new) and it usually was not too crowded. Enjoy the cruise

And here we start another cruise It look as we have a religious group on the ship this cruise, there is some blockchain convention ? , the group will be here until we get to Rome

9:48 am we still just eating breakfast , it's so wrong ? I guess this time my spouse idea of getting to the port near noon time is winning. The idea is not to carry the bags with us for too long. I start to be nervous. Oh and it's our first cruise as diamonds.

So , how can I describe this day, easy going I guess, We started the day very early around 2:30 AM catching a taxi to the airport for our 4:30 am flight, I hate the early morning fights as they kill the night before and most of the day but again that was half price of taken the direct flight the day before. lucky for us the flight was not that full and we had enough space to catch some sleep (although it is flight sleep which is never enough). We arrive around 8:30 AM to Brussels which left us 9:30 hour until the flight to Barcelona . after a quick check we found out it will be too expensive to catch the earlier flight. The weather was quite cold and very windy so we decided no to catch a train to downtown and spend the rest of the time at the lounge. So we went to sleep in one of the private rooms they offered after eaten a quick breakfast . the lounge is very impressive I might say , many places to reset, many wireless charging points and decent food. And yes this car is from chocolate We also found the massage chairs , my spouse kept re starting the massage session (the lounge was empty so no queues to use the chairs) I think she mostly loved the fact it never tried to sell her any products at the end of the massage session nor try to convince her she must sign for another treatment ? . The down side is that now I need to find out how much the chair cost and if it will fit our apartment. Time went by and we went to catch the next flight (not before we bought some chocolates , hey after all we are in Brussels) . Two hour later we landed and went to the hotel (the Hilton this time ) , taxi cost around 30 Euros , the hotel is nice and the rooms are just big enough. To make sure I will have something to report on and to do something else in Barcelona beside sleeping we decide to go to a restaurant , quick check in the app (The fork) ,we found a near by resto bar which looked nice. The restaurant was very good , perfect ambient and just good food (which was also cheap with the app 40%) Two first course (carpaccio and a warm cheese salad) and two main course (Tuna stake and risotto) + two glass of the house wine was around 33 $. Now its time to catch some sleep for the big embarkation day tomorrow

Enjoy the cruise happy you will still be able to make it with all the current changes

We did it , just landed in Barcelona, although too late for quick supermarket run but at least no worries about missing the ship due to flight issues ? we'll just one more day.

Plan B did not work either , they offer us to take the earlier flight but wanted 500 Euro which is more and less what we paid for the return ticket for both of us , we kindly refuse and went to the lounge yo eat breakfast and decide what to do. We can stay here for 8 hours, catch some sleep (they have private rooms with beds , very comfortable) or to leave our stuff in the lockers and catch a train to the city for some Belgian fries ? only issue is the cold weather . We will see how it will go (I am voting for team go sleeping ?

Well , we are in the airport , so far could not changed my flight to an earlier one as the line for ticketing are way too long , we will try our luck in the connection.

So , Just finish to pack and now the phase of thinking what I missed to pack and what I could packed less ? Packing for a cruise includes one more problematic phase for me , ironing the T shirts , its just takes too much time. I think someone gave me the bad eye ? after all the issues with the cellphone , I came back home from a family early dinner to find my refrigerator stop working , I am sure our son would love it as an excuse to only order takeaway from his favorite restaurants ,using his favorite credit card , his mothers. lucky for me I found out its just a bad outlet so quick switch fixed the issue. Oh regarding the lost cell phone , the good thing is that I got it from the company I work for , the bad thing was that I had to go to work after the nightly flight to find a solution . the com team at my company were very helpful , they manged to block my phone , activate two new SIM with my numbers and supply me a new device. All I need to do now is to retrieve my old phone to give it back, as said , now I have what to do in the first Italian port , although I might give it up for now and collect it on my next flight. Well , 3 more our and we will need to catch a ride to the airport , time to try and sleep for an hour or two .

Time arrived , another half YOLO cruise will start soon , YOLO since we booked it only at April. This is the 5th time we are doing the same cruise (Two times on Symphony, one time on Harmony and one time on Liberty) but there are always something new to do in each one of the Med ports Here is our plans : Day -1 – Barcelona/ Brussels - our flight is planned via brussels as it was the cheapest option , the only issue is that it comes with a very long stopover, the plan is to try and take an earlier fight from brussels , if not we will take the train to the city and eat fresh fries and maybe some famous Belgium chocolates. Day 1 – Barcelona. Day 2 – Palma de Mallorca, we have some excursion planned to the north part of the island. Day 3 - Marseilles , take the buss to the city and walkaround until I will need to catch a conference call , work related (the things I am doing to be able and cruise more). Day 4 - Florence/Pisa (La Spezia) – I might have something special for this port , a trip to Milan airport to retrieve what I left there yesterday , more about it later. Day 5 –Rome (Civitavecchia) – I booked a train trip to Rome , directly with the railway company , ¼ of the price the ship offers , to be on the safe side we are planning to catch the 4 PM train back which should bring us 3 hours before all aboard. Day 6- Naples (Capri) – No plans yet , we might take the bicycle tour if the weather will be nice or rent a car or just go off the ship and tour the city. Day 7 – be sad the cruise is over maybe overcome it with the Chef table. Day 8 – catch a 9:30 am flight back home (yes , we are walking over the edge this) time , still trying to see if I can find a direct flight in a decent price , if not it will be a very early day for us. As you can see we are traveling a day before the cruise and leaving on the same day coming back , I wanted to add at least one more day in Barcelona but I just could not make it happened, this time its really hard to navigate between work and vacation. So, why I consider to drive to Milan during the cruise ? , very simple , I was on a business trip few days ago, making sure I will be back on time for the cruise (meaning running away one day earlier than usual). I went to the airport , passed check in , security and border control enough time ahead to seat and relax in the airline lounge. I was drifted away working , trying to complete some tasks so I will have less things on my mind during the vacation when I heard the call for boarding. I packed very quickly, boarded the aircraft, went to my seat then reaching for my cellphone just to realize its gone, TA, TA , TA (dramatic music please) , my worst nightmare (naa , not really , my rea nightmare is to be late boarding RCL cruise ship ?). Quickly I went to the front of the aircraft (was not upgraded this time , poor me) to notify the flight attended about the crises , she escorted me back to the gate , passing some un happy security people , were one of the ground team went to try and find my cellphone in the lounge. After five minutes I asked if I can go by myself , apparently it was Ok , went to the lounge just to hear that they did found it , but they were supper efficient and sent it to the lost and found …. , yes this is the first time they were really efficient. Now I had two options, one go out and fetch the cellphone from the lost and found , but it means I will need to do security and boarder control again, in other words I will loose my flight, which can risk the cruise … I had chosen the other option , leave my communication center , my camera , my VPN authentication device , my two phone numbers (the local one and the roaming T Mobile which is very useful for cruises) , my restaurant guide , my taxi and many other things , amazing how much of our lives is relying on one device. I did run back to the aircraft as they were waiting just for me. So here I was seating at my chair doing plans how to recover from the situation in the day or two I still had before the cruise. We landed at early morning and after a short taxi ride I was back home , finding that beside the cellphone I left behind also my keys … ops, lucky for me I have spare keys, what a ride . To be continued , need to pack ? For now , here is some last minute Caprese salad I prepared today to get ready for the trip

craps is also the same but if you play less than 25 $ the odds are lousy 1:1 ... pinging @JLMoran who researched the RCL crap tables

Usually you will find a 10 and 15 $ blackjack tables in Symphony during the evening , during sea days you can find special morning session with table minimum that will be lower (I think 5 $ for few hours) . Slot machine you will fine many Penny machines , some 5 cent , very few dollar and above. just take into consideration that many time if you want to play the penny machines and cover all the lines it will cost between 10 cent to 1 $. Enjoy your cruise.

Even with one Oasis ship it can be very crowded , that is why I booked the train ahead of time so we already have the tickets and even assign seating (which not so sure if will work) I took the train to Termini , planning to use the subway (1.5 Euro per ride or around 6-7 Euro for a day pass).

As always in a cruise its a good way to get a taste of the port and decide later if you want to do a land cruise there or not. Do not try to do everything, leave something for next time ? Regarding the restaurants I must admit most of the restaurants I tried were honest , remember , most people wright reviews when they want to complain .., for sure there are restaurants that will try to take advantage but they can easily avoid . Always ask for the menu with the prices, if a price is missing do not be shy and ask for the it, be ready in Italy to pay for the "Coperto", if you are being offer the special of today dish , ask how much it cost. If it is you see fish/seafood/stake in the menu check the price is not per 100 g ... use gogal translate to read the menu , they added now scan option. use application like the Fork to find a restaurant, There also good surprises - last year , when we went to Athens and seat in one of the restaurants there were bottle of mineral water on each table. At the minute we set down the waiter open it and pour it to our glasses , I told my spouse , a tourist trap now they will ask 10 Euros for the bottle , well at the end of the meal when we got the bill I was quite surprised to see that the water was on the house. Two weeks ago in Paris, I booked a place with the fork application , it showed 30% on the fixed menu but only until 8 PM while we wanted to eat at 9 PM , we went anyway , the waiter (which I suspect was also one of the owner) did not speak one world in English but she had a good Spanish and I could communicate with her with my restaurant Spanish. She offer us the fixed menu which we wanted and wine paring which we kindly refuse as my spouse did not want to drink too much wine. The waiter offered us to take only one wine paring and she will share it between us , so we took it , I must say , she brought allot of wine for a single wine paring so we thought maybe she did not understand, when we got the bill , we saw , yes she charged us to only one wine paring and also she gave us the 30% discount ...