Traveler

Not sure how far to get there from this port but I think you will enjoy it anyway it's quite amazing and there allot of options to eat something quick in one of the villages. Take into consideration it's allot of stairs to visit each village.

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.
 
 
 
 

It will be my 3rd time in Civitavecchia this test but I'll be visiting Rome for the 1st time. Your photos look lovely and whilst I'm not looking forward to the summer crowds in the heat of August, I am looking forward to seeing the sights. 
Your Cinque Terre photos have also made me consider booking a trip there whilst we are in Livorno...

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.
 
 
 
 

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.
 
 
 
 

Following, have a great cruise.

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.
 
 
 
 

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.
 
 
 
 

Breakfast in Naples

CK (finally) sunset

Breakfast in Naples

Ok , some bad news , tried to find out what will be instead of the diamond club . They thought to locate the wonderland there but they have changed there minds , now the rumours are they want just to add more cabins .... ?

So we done our way back to the ship as we booked the Chef table for day 4 , we started to get organized when I got a call from CK asking to verify our reservation for day 5 , day 5 what do you mean we ordered for today ?He said he will check and came back after few seconds saying many people canceled and we are the only one for today so they moved us to day 5 ? Well we did not want to be alone at the chef table which I think the people is part of the experience but hey let me choose,  do not let me think I suffer from memory lost... Anyway we agreed for that although it means we will miss the ice show , oh well next time

CK (finally) sunset

Ok you guys, I'm SO excited. Mr. SpeedNoodles and I have not been on a vacation for 10 years (yes, you read that correctly). We've had time off from work, hauling the hounds to dog shows, but those are work.  Lots of fun, but lots of work.  This year is our 25th wedding wedding anniversary, his 50th birthday, we found a hound(s)/house sitter, and we are READY TO GO!!!
I'll focus this blog mostly on the ship, since there's no way my photos of the scenery will do any justice of it, and Twangster did a superb job on his. Hats off to him - they were absolutely incredible!  I don't know that I'll be able to post daily, but I intend to do the best that I can.  We will have 36 hours in Seattle before we get on the ship, so we're super excited about that! 
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick .....

Day 9- Sea Day
 
Today demonstrated that weather in the Baltic can be quite unpredictable. We started the day surrounded by thick fog- it was like we were sailing through a cloud (and meant the view from the outlaws balcony was as good as from our inside cabin!) Breakfast was in the main dining room. I had the French Toast with Bacon and it was really good- much thicker and fresher than from the WindJammer. Whilst we were eating breakfast the fog suddenly lifted, and glorious sunshine replaced the mist.
 
We had booked Henry in for two hours at nursery. We decided to make the most of the sunshine and sat outside to play some Rummikub. It was quite crowded, so we went to the outside seating of the Wimdjammer, right at the aft of the boat (which may have accidentally lead to a second breakfast...just to make sure I was right about the French toast!). This seating is often quiet, but the view is spectacular and it’s really a good place to eat and relax. We found ourselves getting sunburned and the fog turned into a distant memory. 
 
Things turned a bit gloomy however when Captain Ante came over the PA system to say that we had slowed down and changed direction (we hadn’t even noticed!) due to a passenger becoming critically ill and needing to be taken to shore by the Swedish navy. The rescue boat pulled alongside the ship and the passenger was transferred that along with one of the doctors from the ship. This meant we had to wait for the doctor to get back, but Captain Ante said this wouldn’t effect the itinerary as we still had plenty of time to make it to Skagen at full speed. It was quite sad that someone was so Ill, but also reassuring to know how quickly and efficiently the crew manage these situations. 
 
For lunch, we went back to the MDR. I think lunch is the meal that the MDR does particularly well- there’s always been a wide variety on the menu which changes a lot as well as the legendary salad bar. Today, I had the seafood and tomato risotto which was fantastic, and for dessert we shared Cherry Custard Crepes and Caramelised Banana Mille Feulle  - both of which are vying for the title of best desserts on board! 
 
With Henry enjoying a post-lunch nap we decided to try out the cinema for the first time as it was showing Aquaman. It’s tucked away between the Pub and the Theatre on deck 6 and it’s quite neat and quirky. We arrived as the film was starting and only just got a seat because it’s quite small but the same film seems to play back to back throughout the day. The projector is a bit dated but it’s a great way to spend some time. Whilst the film was on, Captain Ante came back over the address system to say that we’d been back on our way but, unfortunately, another guest had been taken critically ill and so we’d need to take them aboard also. I don’t think they were related or caused by the ship! This did turn out to be a delay that couldn’t be mitigated , and so the Captain said the best option available was to arrive in Skagen 3 hours later than planned tomorrow. I guess that’s a small inconvenience when health and life are at stake. 
 
By this point, the weather had literally become gloomy. Undeterred, we headed at Henry’s insistence, to the pool for our afternoon swim. I’ve never been able to figure out a pattern to the water temperature. In St. Petersburg, at 30 something degrees and pure sunshine, it felt freezing. Today, in grey and windy conditions it felt like a bath! 
 
We then headed back to get changed ready for the second formal night, which we’d eat in the dining room for. People seem pretty relaxed about the dress- I saw about five tuxedos (including one on Henry who became a hit with the ladies!), a few lounge suits, but most were just slacks, shirts and blazers. The food in the MDR was really good tonight- we had, between us, Asparagus Soup, Fried mushrooms, Hallibut, Beef Wellington, Chicken Schnitzel and Pecan Pie. It was rounded off with one of the celebration Birthday cakes which Henry refused to share! 
 
Entertainment this evening was “BowJangles”. I was on bedtime duty but Mrs. M went to see it and said it was very clever. It was a string quartet who did quite a bit of comedy. She said it was quite clever but that there were a lot of musical jokes “We’re out in the ocean...The High C” and that a few people walked out! She enjoyed it though.

Day 8- Helsinki 
 
The aches and pains of getting up this morning felt a bit like the day after running a marathon..not that I’ve ever ran one, but we had done over 40,000 steps the previous two days in 30 degree heat! Feeling a bit jaded we grabbed a quiet breakfast from the Park Cafe before setting out to enjoy beautiful Helsinki (I’d tried to go for an alliterative adjective but I couldn’t think of a positive word beginning with H...). 
 
It was another gloriously sunny day and we’d booked a ship’s excursion, another similar one to Stockholm- an unguided tour where the bus drops you off at three locations. Our main reasons for this were a) the price (£22 in a cruise planer sale, comparable with the shuttle bus!) b) the limited time in Helsinki (all aboard at 3pm) and c) The fact that the three things we wanted to see(main square, Sibelius monument and rock church) are so far apart that reaching them by foot or public transport would have been tricky. This tour was a bit smoother than the Stockholm one and we’re glad we took it. The only slight grumble is that here, as at Stockholm, we got significantly less time at the sites than advertised. I completely understand about traffic times and things, but the fact that it seems to be regular (and that the printed guide on the day was already displaying shorter times than the brochure) makes me think they’d be better advertising for a “typical case scenario” rather than “absolutely best case scenario”. Nonetheless, it was a good tour, of a beautiful city. 
 
We were back onboard by 1pm and enjoyed our first lunch in the Windjammer. This was followed by an afternoon in the glorious sun playing Shuffleboard (fast becoming a favourite) and swimming in the pool. 
 
For the evening, Mrs. M and I had a date night and used the third night of our 3 night dining package at Giovannis- her choice! I preferred Chops overall, but both were excellent and made a very nice change from the MDR and Windjammer. Theincluded food has been fine, but the Speciality restaurants are a bit like going to a nice restaurant on land. The beauty of being onboard is that you can order as much as you like, so for example we were able to sample octopus, which we probably wouldnt have wanted to risk paying out for! 
 
With Henry safely in the care of the outlaws (or rather, the outlaws safely in the care of Henry) we had some drinks, played some Shuffleboard and checked out the 9pm production showtime of Tango Buenos Airies. Dance shows aren’t really my thing, but one can’t help but be impressed by the quality of the music and dancers. 
 
Coming away from Helsinki today felt a little bit like we’re on the Home Stretch (probably because we literally are!) but we still have four more days to look forward to aboard the beautiful Brilliance of the Seas.

This is pesto lasagne , very tasty

This is pesto lasagne , very tasty

Day 7 - Labadee
I think this has been our most enjoyable day.  This is the first time we actually used the suite area on the Labadee beach.  I think it was about 9:45ish or so when we finally got everyone ready to get off the ship and go to the beach.   It was very nice and not crowded.  The main side was a little more crowded, but it didn't seem unbearable.  Just first come first server on different spots with chairs and stuff.  If you are able to access the suite area, you'll exit the ship and go to the end of the pier.  From there, you'll meander a little towards the left.  On the right side will be a loading area with someone there coordinating getting people on a golf cart to take you down to the suite area, or you could walk it.  It's really not that far.  Once there, you'll get a wrist band to show that you have access.  You'll go inside the area and grab some chairs or if you reserved a cabana, you'll get one of those.  There are people there to escort you to a place.  I highly, highly recommend getting a few chairs in the SHADE - it's really hot and being able to cool or sorta cool off under some type of shade is a good thing.  Oh, and drink a crap ton of water.  You don't realize how much floating in salt water and being in the sun - while extremely nice, is very draining of the water outa your body.  
The beach on that side is really nice and calm for snorkeling, so we pretty much stayed in the water.  The girls floated on little rafts that they'll bring you - no charge, unless you want to tip the guy that drags it 25' to you  o_0    No, I don't mind tipping for most things, but there are a few things where it seems a little ... um ... not-tip-worthy.  But, to each his own.  Little man and I snorkel'd around a lot.  He was collecting all kinds of shells and coral and stuff and making a big pile.  My underwater camera died shortly after we got started but I got a few pictures.  It showed like 75% charged but you know batteries these days, they suck.  And to top it off, it's one of those funky batteries you have to take out and put in this box thing and plug it into the wall.  So, i resorted to trying to figure out how to use my phone camera to take water pictures.  Now, I have the Galaxy S9+ which is supposed to be water proof ... bbbuuttt .... yeah, not going to take to many chances to see if that's really true.  Well, what I would do is start a video and then sorta flip the phone upside down and stick it underwater to record some cool underwater videos.   Once I clean up the pictures, I'll toss quite a few out here.
Around 11:30, i guess it was, lunch was served.  The suite area has it's own section where the staff from the Coastal Kitchen show up and serve lunch.  Pictures of the lunch will be posted soon, along with more pictures of the suite beach, so be patient  ?    Lunch consisted of burgers, hot dogs, salad stuff, mac/cheese, ribs, lamb chops, sirloin steak and lobster.  Yes, all of that was served.  Do me a favor, just think about where you are when you go grab something to eat.   It's like 90 HOT degrees out there, you probably haven't drunk enough water and you want to gorge yourself on .... uh ... lobster and lamb chops.   Ok, so I didn't do that - I had 2 burgers and only 1 lamb chop (does that count towards my filet count).  
IMPORTANT!   This is for those of ya'll who like to consume a little alcohol on the beach.  Be mindful that some of the staff there sometimes don't get in a hurry.  They also don't seem to care who or what people order.  Our 14 yr old daughter ordered a cranberry red bull and the lady behind the bar gave her a cranberry and vodka - like wtf.  She knew that wasn't right, so dumped it out - glad we don't have to pay, otherwise i would be pissed they charged some weird amount for that drink that was never asked for.   Also, they have these really cool looking drinks you can get inside a real pineapple.  Don't waste your money, if you have to pay for one.  I think they are like $12 or something like that.  My wife got one and most of the drink started leaking out some crack in the pineapple - yeah, there goes your alcohol.  I got one for my son, virgin daiquiri thing that we were going to share.  Well, we couldn't get it through the straw because the ice chunks were too big, so we had to use a spoon.  Ok, no problem, right?  well, the freaking middle of the pineapple was still there.  #fail   yeah, you would get more drink just ordering from a glass.  Consider yourself warned    ? 
Moving on now, we swam / snorkeled for quite a few hours - forcing the kids to drink water and take breaks to reapply sunscreen a couple of times.  I walked down the way to the shops and was pretty much bombarded with calls from the guys there trying to get me to talk / buy something with them.  It way to aggressive for my tastes.  I mean, I understand trying to pawn your wears and stuff - but some of these dudes were just standing under a tree hollaring.  Glad I didn't take the family with me.  Nothing at the shops that wanted me to take the family back, so that was good.  I did pickup a couple of cheap flippy floppers for the kids, since those ding-dongs didn't bring their sandals and only had socks / t-shoes.  
Back on board around 2:30, as we had our trapeze session at 4.  We wanted to get cleaned up a little before doing that.  Well, some of us did - others, lucked out.  Dang kids called both the showers first - I got one that i have to tell him to wash twice and i have another who tries to drain the freaking hot water tank.  (oh, yeah - we renovated our house and installed a separate hot water tank so she would stop draining ours.  we now have our own dedicated hot water tank for the master bath)  After they cleaned up, they were gone like a freaking rocket.  Uh, bye - be at the trapeze by 350 dad-gummit.  
Trapeze.   Let me just tell you a little bit about this.  it only lasts like 15 minutes and most of that is waiting for a few others to swing.  You climb up this tall ladder in the SeaPlex (where the bumper cars are), and stand on a little platform at the ceiling with two staff members.  The pull the handle thing over, you grab it, step off and swing.  If you can, you put your feet between your legs and hang upside down while swinging (harder than you think), then back to swinging for a second while someone on the ground is asking if you want to do a flipping dismount.  Again, more intimidating than you think.  You dismount or just drop on this big air-bag, rolloff and your done.  Now, the reason i said all this was for two things.  The first being - if you are not confident in your ability to hold onto the bar during the first swing, you might want to skip this.  We saw a few people step off and pretty much get half a swing in before they lost their grip and fell on the air bags.  Good thing it's free huh?  The second, it's not as exciting as spending a little extra time trying to swing around and grab another bar or something else.  it's pretty short and sweet.  Each person's swing only lasts between 5 seconds (those who can't hold on) to may 90 seconds (those who can flip over with their knees and then do a flip for a dismount)
4:45 we got a private tour of the behind the scenes for We Will Rock You.  Yen was able to get a couple of the performers to walk us through the different areas behind the scenes, performer dressing rooms and how they move under the stage to get into different areas.  Our daughter has been in multiple drama performances over the past ... uh, 4-5 years, i think, so this was something we thought we be cool for her to see.  They gave us the tour and we got to see the performers setting up for a practice run.  One of the performers took the time to talk to our daughter about her experience in how to she became a performer on the ship and where she went to school and things she studied.  it was truly a great thing for her to spend a few minutes with us answering some questions.  #GoYen
6:30 was dinner at Wonderland with reservations to see Spectra at 9.  Plenty of time, right?  Well, for just two of us we finished with about 30 minutes to spare.  For a larger group, add another hour between events.  So, in some prior posts here i tossed out a ton of pictures as we were going through our courses.  We tried the Wonderland thing - no desire to do it again.  The concept is pretty cool, but there just wasn't anything that makes you go 'oh snap we gotta do that again', type feeling.  Our waiter was nice, but seemed sorta like he was new.  All the food we had was just ok ... the only good thing we liked was the shrimp in a cup thing.  Don't ask me what all the different 'elements' were because, even though they explained the idea - once you eat it, it just doesn't really stand out to let you know you consumed some element.  it's hard to explain, i guess.  I mean, there was this earth dish - and it sorta looked like it had dirt, which is the idea - but when you tasted it, it just tasted like some veggies with grounded up pumpernickel bread.  the atmosphere was kinda cool, the chairs were comfortable - but like i said, for us, it's not something we would do again.  I will say, however, the concept is interesting and if you have the time and money and are board, then consider it just for the experience ... don't do it for the food.
9pm - Spectra ... Ok, first off let me say GO SEE THIS TWICE!   Now, let me follow that up by saying, I'm a really big movie fan (though, I suck at movie trivia).  With watching movies, i really enjoy the music, sound, lights, motion and all the 'stuff' that goes on to make the movies.  We did a private tour a few days ago and our son was invited to hang out with one of the tech guys during the show.  Seeing all the behind the scenes and the workings is just cool to me.  I am a big science channel nerd and love watching how stuff gets made.  Seeing all the robot arms for the tvs, each worth a few million each (they are actually the same type of robot arms that build cars), also seeing the trap doors of how the performers move around for different scenes was just amazing.  With all that, watching the show - we were just mesmerized by the music, the dances and the effects on the big window wall and the choreography of the robot arms with their tvs.  Honestly, I have no idea what the show was about - lol - I just enjoyed listening and watching the performers.  Sure which i could dance like that  #IWouldBreakSomething   This show only lasts for about 45-50 minutes,  We Will Rock You - I hear is right at 2 hours  #BigBladder  After the show, our son was super happy he got to watch how they ran the technical aspect of the show.  He was so glad he did that and was able to have that experience.  #GoYenAgain   
I would talk about the casino, but not happy with it right now  - ha.  Now, we do enjoy playing around the slots in the casino but we have a strict budget.  If we run outa money for the night, it's an early night ... if we win a little extra, we can stay out a little later or have some extra play money for the next day.  We don't spend outside of our budget - that's a very strict rule we both agree on.  So, like i said - not happy with the casino right now, so you guess'd it ... it was an early night - lol
The next two days are at sea, so we are drawing close to the end - which is very sad.  I think i've scoped most everything on the ship - well, things that i thought people would be interested in.  I did manage to find the concierge club - which is sorta stupid where it's at.  It's on the back of the ship on deck 12, by itself.  I mean, i don't even think there are any suites back there by it ... maybe a grand suite.  I'll toss up some pictures in a little bit, but doesn't appear to be used much.  Few people were there grabbing some breakfast items.  It was extremely quiet in there.  You feel as if you are in the library and have to be quiet - not cool.  the same sorta space is apart of the coastal kitchen on the oasis classes, which, for us is the best way to combine those areas.  I also went and found the work-out area, at the front on deck 16.  Yeah, it's pretty much just a big area gym with lots of machines, free weights and some other workout type stuff.  not for me - i hate working out, i need to actually do something productive - lol.
Ok, off again - finished my burger / fries / sparking water and cranberry here in the coastal kitchen.  I got about an hour or so to kill now before the We Will Rock You 2-hour show starts.  I'll be tossing Labadee pictures and some other pictures up later today.  Oh yeah, we have Chef's table tonight.  That should be interesting ... as we don't drink we'll have to order white and red grape juice - hahah.

CK (finally) sunset

Getting ready .:-)

CK (finally) sunset

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...