Traveler

I am using the art auctions  papers to wrap my wine bottles before packing them on the last day , very useful

Home to scan! Need to scan recent Harmony Western Caribbean cruise. Love looking at CC before we go...

It would be great if the apps were correct and we could mark those for what we wanted to do and get an alert so we don't miss an activity but they aren't.  I would prefer to avoid the paper but many people would be lost without them and since there is no good alternative we probably would all be lost.

I have the feeling that it will not take long for the CC paperwork to be by request only, now that you have the app and other way to get the info from . Maybe it will start as a discount for internet  pakage to whoever give up of getting the hard copyi . I will miss them as there is something special about comming back to the room every evening and find out what are the next day activities but it still allot of waste (even if most of it being recycled)

I am using the art auctions  papers to wrap my wine bottles before packing them on the last day , very useful

Have a wonderful cruise 

Boarded around 3 hours ago.
Had great fun so far. Was in the elevator with Captain Gus - told him that Harmony is better than Symphony. ?
Been around the entire ship, feeling at home.
In a virtual balcony cabin on Deck 6 forward. Currently watching Marc's ship tour - he seems to have Abe Hughes doing the voiceover for some of the venues. Speaking of Cruise Directors, I have also seen Dennis Charles onboard.

I am using the art auctions  papers to wrap my wine bottles before packing them on the last day , very useful

I have the feeling that it will not take long for the CC paperwork to be by request only, now that you have the app and other way to get the info from . Maybe it will start as a discount for internet  pakage to whoever give up of getting the hard copyi . I will miss them as there is something special about comming back to the room every evening and find out what are the next day activities but it still allot of waste (even if most of it being recycled)

Uh oh....do not say this to @Sweety! I personally hunt out any chocolate period....red velvet or no lol!   Jane

I have mostly given up on the app.  The chat feature wasn’t great on allure and the activities listed are either wrong or incomplete.  Give me the old school compass anyway.  I am going to make sure I bring a highlighter though next time!! Jane

There seems to be an update about every 2-3 weeks so maybe it'll be better your next time around.  It'll be in Beta mode for awhile so I'll give you update in a couple of months

I am using the art auctions  papers to wrap my wine bottles before packing them on the last day , very useful

I have the feeling that it will not take long for the CC paperwork to be by request only, now that you have the app and other way to get the info from . Maybe it will start as a discount for internet  pakage to whoever give up of getting the hard copyi . I will miss them as there is something special about comming back to the room every evening and find out what are the next day activities but it still allot of waste (even if most of it being recycled)

Our first cruise was around 2015 , YOLO moment after heard good things about RCL . Four week before the cruise we booked Liberty of these seas out from Barcelona. The wow factor of entering the ship Royal promenade was so amazing that we knew it's not the last time we will cruise ?

I am using the art auctions  papers to wrap my wine bottles before packing them on the last day , very useful

Have a great cruise , one day when all the stars will aligened we will be able to join a group cruise ?

Now we just need someone from NYC and the riots will start 
And I will add  it's not a Naples pizza 
 

So some updates:
As I have not drive to Milan to pick my forgotten cellphone (we had much better time going to Cinque Terre) I been able to retrieve it last week which was good. Although I got alternative phone with the same numbers still for some reason some of my pictures were not transferred to the cloud so it's good I got them now. (Including some very valuable cruise pictures) . If you using Google photos , check if the backup is working from time to time.
Anyway as our next cruise is almost two months from know (Greek Islands) we decided to take my father's offer to join the for a long weekend in other par of Greece (so I can do so e research before the cruise and taste the local cousin , plus to find a good resturant for @mom2mybugs in Athens ? )
Here are so e pictures from Pielon Greece if anyone looks for a shore excursion ? . Although it's a sea it's feels more like a lake  , clear clean water




Day 8 - back to Barcelona ? 
We woke up at 5:30 am , much to early but we had a flight to catch at 9:25 and we wanted to play it safe. quick breakfast and WJ (which was open from 5:30 AM) and a coffee from the coffee machine in the diamond club. we finish to pack the leftovers and started our way with the suitcases to the embarkation gate.from the time we left the room to the time we took the taxi it was less ten minutes, another 20 minutes and we were at the airport just to find that check in counters were not even open (yes , we could spend another hour sleeping). Check in was done 30 minutes after and we waited to catch our flight for our connection. Connection was way too long , but we decided we both will work during the connection time so we can catch before coming to office. at 2 am we landed back home , tired but happy  to return home.
Few things we learned during this cruise :
1. Even if it is the fifth time we are doing this route there is always something else to see.
2. No need to be afraid taking a cruise for a ship that is due to refurbished , the ship looked great.
3. If you know what you want to do in port  you can save allot of money doing it without RCL, we done the Cinque  Tere by our own which cost us 38$ comparing to 120-130 RCL wanted , we went to Rome using a bus and a train which cost us around 30 $ comparing to 60$ RCL wanted for transfer , we could even made it 20$ if we did not missed the train. There is a free shuttle in Marseilles port gate comparing to the 20 $ shuttle that RCL is offering. Many other examples ,  One exception will be if you want to see Florence, its just too far to take any risk.
4. No issue to take early flight from Barcelona , the ship most of the time arrives way before the official time.
5. It was the first time we have done self embarkation , it was very easy and smooth and we will try it again. 
6. Its bad tell people at work you will be available if needed , people do not know to decide what is real emergency ...
7.We need at least one more sea days to enjoy the ship.
8. We love Oasis class , can not wait for the new Oasis ship.
9. Cats is not becoming better when you watch it for the second time.
10. Drinking package dose not make much sense with Med cruises without sea days.
11.  Always do a WJ recon , you never know what you will find.
12. 7 days is not enough , 10 days or B2B should be considered ?
 
It was another fun experience , thank you for following. See you next time  over Rhapsody at the end of August and Spectrum of the Seas during October.  

Day 6 Naples.
This is the easiest port as it's located very near the city , just a convenient walking distance. We actually slept a while during the morning , I guess all the wine from Chef table helped ?. We  skipped breakfast as even the WJ was already closed and we did our way to the city. It was again a very hot day so after a while (and the must coffee in Naples) we went to find a good Pizza. I checked the app (the fork) for  what is around and found a nice restaurant which offered 50%  discount for all the  items in the menue  and got good reviews (most in Italian). The restaurant was less than 400 meters from us so we got there quite fast. It's located inside a very narrow old  street but the restaurant itself quite modern with a big pizza oven.


The most important thing they had air conditioning.
They gave  us a tablet for order whatever we wanted, very traditional I must say. We ordered two pizzas, water , diet soda (no they are not accepting the soda packages) and waited for the food. The pizzas arrived after 10 or 15 minutes then we understood the big mistake we have done again , we should have ordered only one to share , they were quite big (maybe we thought about Sorento) after fighting with the pizzas (which were very good)



we order a traditional Naples cake and two coffees . All in all after 50% off and service charge it was 16 Euros, added some tip and we went away to walk some more in the city before heading back to the ship after buying some  balsamic vinegar to take back home.



Quick beer at the diamond club , and a fruit dinner in WJ (could eat anything else , too much food). 




We went to see the "come fly with me show" the acrobatics act was very good , the singers on the other hand could practice some more. We spent some time at the casino and went to see the quest , this time it was in Blaze and not studio B which made it hard to track what happened but still nice with decent amount of participants.

 

One note regarding chef table (or any other special restaurant) if you book it via the cruise planner you get the price without the 18% service charge while if you book it on the ship they are adding it. So 20% discount is not really discount ... In my case the cruise planner showed 105 pp  so we saved something like 10 $.

UIDay 5 part 2 
So we arrived enough time before we needed to go to the chef table. We booked it on the ship on day 1 , when we have asked if there is any offer they told us 20% and been told it's 20% as it's only day one and they have only spots for day 4 and 5 . We booked it for day 4 which became day 5 as most of the people canceled for day 4 . The chef table take place at a strange location - it's inside the suite lounge across from the bar near the CK. Not the best location but Ok we did not mind. It was us and a family from Madrid that did not spoke English but we got alone after the the third glass ?. Food was good as always and they kept fillings the glasses if you  allow them. 
We started with the scallop carpaccio 

Continued with the amizing smoke tomato soap which came in a big bowl but we finish every last drop of it.

Next was the shrimp salad  that replaced the lobster one I thought it was it was better  , maybe because all the wine I consumed until this point.

The truffle spaghetti followed , it was my second one for today , but this one with truffle oil so different.

For main course we both took the fillet it was amazing and came with truffle mushed potatoes.

At this stage I was already heaving food comma but could not leave  it in the plate.
For dessert we got the famous chocolate sphere I could only take one spoon of it no more although it was quite good.


That came with chocolate martini

All and all it was a good experience which I might do again next time , but maybe a day of fast before 
 

Day 5 Rome (part one)
We arrived around 7 am  to the port , not that I know the exact hour as I was sleeping during the process. We had a train tickets to Rome which I have booked online for 9:16 am and did not cost much (19 $ I think). When we planned to go out I noticed I can not find the tickets so we spend around 10 minutes to find them but  no luck , we decided to use the online copy I had. Quick breakfast at the diamond club and  we rushed to the shuttle bus which took its time. By the time we were near the gates it was already 9:05 , quick look in Google maps show that it will take us around 19 minutes to walk to the station. Although there is a bus to take you to the station I could not seen it so we had to think what to do . One option was to try to catch the train maybe it has some delays (quite common in Italy considering it's was not the first station for this train) and if we miss the train just to take the next one which was 30 minutes after or to take a bus/taxi. We decide to approach one of the people that offer a ride to Rome (you have there a Bazar of offers  each one try to shout loader and offer a ride) they offer a bus ride which will drop us neat the Vatican , they want 19 for return trip and agreed to 18. We boarded the bus and after 5 minutes we started our ride . During the ride they offered skip the line tickets for the Vatican, HOHO tickets for the panoramic buss and Leonardo Da Vinchi museum , we took the museum tickets which cost 12 Euro .The ride took around 70 minutes and we done our way to the museum which is near the basilica.



The museum is small but interesting enough , it contain models of his inventions and copy of is famous paintings , you also get an audio guide with interesting information . Most of the models are build to be touched so I think it's a good option for children's during an hot day.
 




Next we started our way to Navona square were we found a nice restaurant to eat lunch


. I took the truffle pasta , mind , for a change it was not a facke truffle oil but the real thing , the waiter come with a truffle mushroom and shread it over the pasta , it was very good.

We started our way to the train station planning to pass near some of the famous places but it was a very hot day so after a while we decided to call for a taxi (not before getting tone of the supermarkets to buy some Italian wine) I used the local taxi application and after 30 seconds our taxi arrived. What a relief he activated the air conditioning , not something that common around here. After few minutes and 8 Euros we arrive to Tremini train station were we schedule to meet an old friend which we did not meet for many years,  he actually leave near Rome. So we had a nice meeting over a coffee and grappa until it was time to take the train back. It was super easy to find the train and it took less than 45 minutes to arrive to Civitavecchia train station, we took the 2Euro bus back to the port , it was only 5 minutes ride, by the way , I checked the price of trains to Rome , it was 4.5 Euros if you took the early 8:40 am  train  or the 9:45 train.
Strange , the port security did not told us anything about the wine bottles so we just took it with us to the ship.
We went back to our room to get prepared for chef table which will get it's own post.
 
 
 
 

Some people use a hand held scanner and get good results. I use the flat bed scanner at home. It is not necessary to include every page, every day. Some are basically a repeat of other days, so I will scan once for a Sea day and once for a Port day.