Guy Gadwa

Our progress so far...

Boston Sail Away
I ventured up after I did some work and discovered we were backing down out the channel we had sailed into upon arrival.  The wind was up and rain had moved through.  It was cold and nasty.  Yet our Captain did an amazing job backing the ship down the channel past the AIDA ship that was still docked in place.


It was so windy this arriving Air France 777 had to abort it's landing approach at Logan and perform a go-around.

Fort Independence in better light.

The sky was very dramatic tonight.

The Silverseas Silver Wind that we started this cruise with in Quebec City was arriving.  At a distance I thought I saw her towing a yacht behind her when I realized it was a pilot boat.  It was so windy the pilot boat took shelter behind her and stayed in her wake.  

Being a 'company' ship (now owned by RCCL) the ships did a horn salute to each other as they passed.

The pilot boat then turned in behind us to pick up our pilot.

The sky ripped open above Boston and it looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie where the whole city was about to be engulfed.  

Instead a plane flew into this tear in the space-time continuum... wait, that's a different sci-fi movie. 

Ask and you shall receive...  Boston in pictures.
Exiting the ship there is a moving walkway down to ground level.

A shuttle is available to a popular tourist area approximately 2 miles away.

I chose to walk...

Our cruise terminal on this day.

I followed the signs towards the Liberty Wharf and wouldn't you know it... a brewery!

Yes indeed.  Too early to get distracted I kept going...

Boston is clearly the biggest city on this cruise but very walkable.

Pretty soon a harborwalk started and much of my day was spent exploring it. 

Fall colors also ramping up here in Boston.


Boston has a series of piers and each is named.  This is the fish pier.

Aptly named and clearly a source of fresh seafood.


Continuing along...


You do get a sense of the history of Boston when you see things like where the edge of the pier was in 1876.







I had a barking squirrel in a previous port so The Barking Crab seemed to fit this journey.

Too early to stop I continued along the harborwalk.

Underneath the bridge was the Boston Rowing Club.


Around the corner I saw some people throwing stuff into the water.



Fed up with taxation the local population was doing something about it!






The Boston Aquarium.





I was getting thirsty from all this walking.  This looked as good a place as any.

Harpoon IPA.

Refreshed and recharged I ambled on.



I needed to head back to the ship for a conference call so I hailed a taxi.

A water taxi that is.





Up until this point my day had cost me the price of a beer so I treated the water taxi like an excursion.  A water tour of the Boston shoreline.



It was a quick and easy way to get back closer to the ship at a reasonable price.

Approaching the last stop on the route I could see the top of the ship over the buildings.

A very enjoyable and quick ride back.

The cruise terminal and area is named after a previous mayor.

As it turns out the ride back was was faster than I anticipated so I had some time to kill.


Enough time for a flight of beers at the Harpoon Brewery.



With that complete I did the final 10 minute walk back to the ship.
Security was quick and easy, typical cruise terminal experience.

Then up the gangway towards the ship.

It was a beautiful and sunny day in Boston and I got to explore a harbor front and part of Boston that I never have when flying here for business. 

Day 10 - Boston, MA
I woke at 5am and ventured outside.  The helipad was open so I headed there.  This is where I noticed a limitation of this point and shoot camera.  On my A7III this picture would have been much clearer.  In fairness, it's pitch black out so the little camera did pretty good.

As I endured the strong breeze and wind chill of the helipad a sunrise was starting behind us.

The lights of Boston had slowly been growing as we navigated through a myriad of boat traffic on our approach.


Eventually the crew came out to raise the Royal Caribbean flag on the bow.


Fort Independence on Castle Island, one of a number of forts that protected the city of Boston.

Logan airport was on our right and I had been watching a steady stream of airplanes taking off.


As we inched closer I could see two ships in port already.

Aircraft coming in for a landing in the sky at Logan.

It appeared we would be docking in front of the AIDA ship.

Tight fit in this channel.



Time to slide the ship towards the pier. 

With that I can add another port I've been to (by cruise ship) on my list.

Portland Sail Away.

The local island ferry.

Portland basking in the sunset.


On schedule at 5:30pm we cast lines and began pulling away from the pier.  



This was part of the Fort that defended Portland.








One last look as we sail away from Portland.

A short 147 nm to Boston tomorrow at a speed of 8 knots.

Extra thoughts: Loved my room, it served it's purpose. Two weird things that were just annoyances , one was the TV - very awkwardly placed. In order to watch you needed to sit on the edge of the bed. It wasn't a big deal, I only really watched to get ready. The second thing, while the shower was a better set up that Harmony the shower head always aimed for the door no matter how you tried to fix it so water would run out. My attendant was KOKO - very nice. Every time he saw me he screamed and laughed, I wasn't sure what to do with that but he got a good tip for making me need nothing all week.
Specialty dining; for me, worth it. I really love food and enjoyed the different restaurants. Chops and Chef's Table were my favorites with Izumi for honorable mention since I went 2x. Jamie's was good but I wasn't wowed. I visited Windjammer and Cafe 270 for breakfasts, lunches and second lunches. 270 for the win for views. I spent a lot of time there when it was too cold to go outside reading and just looking at the water. I skipped Wonderland because it seemed more of an experience I wouldn't want to do alone. Service everywhere was top notch, I was impressed.
Again, I made a bunch of reservations for shows then went to NONE OF THEM. I love a good show so I'm not sure why I never seemed to want to go. We skipped all the shows on the big group cruise too.
Voom Surf and Stream - great until last night and morning. I've read this before and expected this as well. I enjoyed watching Netflix before bed, waste of money or not.
I was left alone which worked for me. I enjoy meeting new people but also enjoy being by myself. I spent the first day in Bermuda on a 5 hour tour with good people. The Chef's Table bunch - so much fun. Had drinks with @JLMoran and his wife. Sorry @Broons77 we didn't get to meet up!!! It was a good amount of people vs me time. People seemed to be shocked I was solo, I was prepared from what I had read here that people would ask, a lot, and they did. Most women had the same exact response - that they had wished they went solo once in their life.
Bermuda was perfect. I'd definitely take this exact cruise again. I liked the ship. No complaints, it was easy to get around and the crowds were never too bad. Considering the sea days were colder that's a good thing. Not sure when I'll be cruising again, hoping the 2020 group cruise is doable. Next year I have my land trip for Italy so imma try and be responsible and book nothing else til 2020.
Last thing - I sort of wish I got the drink package. I had the refreshment package which was great for coffee and water for me but I found myself thinking WAY too much about cost. I say I'm not a big drinker, and I'm not usually but on a cruise I like to drink more. One Old Fashioned with 18% grats came to $16.36. I think unless I'm going on more than 7 days a drink package would be the way to go. They did offer the 10 drink package but it was the day I had Chef's Table so I didn't think I'd get use out of it.  (I still should have gotten that for peace of mind).

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Day 2 - At Sea
My husband is a light sleeper so getting a good night's sleep on this cruise was a worry of mine...he slept the best he has ever slept in his life on the ship! The first few days we ran into some rough seas so there was considerable rocking side-to-side throughout the first half of the cruise. I was surprised that we would feel anything on the ship but the crew kept saying they have never felt so much on this ship. It turns out that there were lots of storms going through the Caribbean over the week so the high winds contributed to the rougher seas. But we had planned ahead and worn motion sickness patches just in case so while we felt the movement we were never bothered. Rather, I would argue we slept so well because of the side-to-side "rocking" motion as the ocean "rocked" us to sleep nightly. ?
For our first day, we chose to eat breakfast in the Windjammer. I want to say we ate breakfast around 8:30/9ish and the Windjammer was slammed with a wait to get in and gentle announcements to encourage people to leave their tables in favor of their fellow guests having space to eat. I had heard that the Windjammer would be slammed in the morning but I wanted to at least try it out. I don't think we waited more than 5 minutes to get breakfast but we decided that we would eat elsewhere on the ship for our breakfast after that experience. It certainly wasn't bad, at all, but we wanted a quieter start to our day.
We tried our luck at morning trivia which was our first introduction to some of the Activities Staff. I have to pause here and say, the Allure of the Seas has FANTASTIC activities staff and we also loved our Cruise Director, Mitch. Paulo, from Brazil, lead morning trivia and was just hilarious and a great start to our first full day at sea.
We spent much of the day by the pool and had quickly discovered "The View". Before I describe our love of The View, I have to mention that I was really worried about finding seating by the pool. I don't know if we got really lucky or if people just embellish but we never had a problem finding a chair poolside. That said, I suppose if you are extremely picky and need a chair literally next to the pool...yes, you're going to have a problem finding a chair. We embrace the casual side of vacation and choose not to worry. So if you go into it with the mindset that "I'm on vacation, nothing is going to stress me, I'll take everything in stride", you will not have a problem finding a chair. So....back to "The View". I think The View is midship, behind the Sports Pool which has "stadium seating". The View is shaded and has floor-to-ceiling windows with plenty of chaise loungers. We spent the middle of most days at this spot, we vacillated between reading, eating, sleeping and back again totally at peace and relaxed. I honestly think this is the most underrated spot on the cruise ship. I don't recall reading or hearing about it anywhere in my research and I can't recommend it enough if you're looking for a peaceful day at sea. 
As far as the pool deck goes, we spent most of our time in the Solarium, The View and the Beach Pool and loved each for different reasons. We experienced excellent service from the bar staff...if we ever wanted something to drink they seemed to always come by...we never felt like we had to approach a bar. The Wipeout Cafe was a favorite for pool deck snacking, there never was a line so we were always able to grab something quick to hold us over between lunch and dinner LOL.
For dinner, we used our final night of the BOGO package and dined at Sabor which we loved. Again, we had excellent service and enjoyed some delicious tacos and churros ?
We went to OceanAria on night 2....I don't have the words to explain how amazed we were by the exceptional talent on this ship. I should also say that I go to New York as a Broadway-phile 2 - 3 times a year and have seen over 20 shows on Broadway in probably the last 3 years. So I think it's fair to say that I have high expectations for performers and was consistently entertained and impressed by the entertainment staff. Also, given the rough seas we were experiencing we were shocked that OceanAria was being performed. While we were watching the show the pool was sloshing back and forth into the seats, considerably. Our choice to go on night 2 turned out to be a smart one...the show was canceled due to weather almost every other night until the last three days of the cruise when they started packing extra performances in. From our boardwalk balcony we were able to catch snippets of subsequent performances and again were amazed nightly.
After OceanAria we meandered around the ship, stopping in on the myriad music options and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Day 2 was an absolute blast on the Allure!

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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 ?

Day 6 - Halifax, Nova Scotia
I woke early to capture our arrival and I wasn't disappointed. 

 

it was nice to see sun and sky after several days of gloomy, wet weather.

I went to the main theater but while the singer was good, it wasn't my era of music so I left from the back of theater standing room only area.  It was packed.
Seas have settled down quite a bit and checking the radar it seems what's left of Michael is straight off our port side several hundred miles away.  Seas were quite normal and what you might expect on any cruise.  It's hard to capture in the darkness but there is really nothing to show.

To the pub where once again I finished off the Kraken.  Where is @Matt when you need him?  (or his disappointed, rejected mug?)

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. 

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.

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.

I didn't have an excursion booked so I just started walking in the light rain.  I'm glad I brought my rain coat.

I had spotted a church from the ship and it looked like a natural destination so I headed in that direction.





I can only imagine the sounds once this huge pipe organ gets cranking.


Charlottetown is the birthplace of Canada in the sense that the founding Fathers from the original five colonies (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec) gathered here in 1864 to write the document that would lead to formation of the British North American Act that Queen Victoria signed into law in 1867.  That is how Canada was granted it's independence from England.  
Here are two of them.

This is set in front of The Great George Hotel which in that day would have been the premiere hotel to stay at.  Apparently some of the rooms still have the original furnishings from that period.
Nearby is the Province House where the Colonial Government was located in the day.


A memorial to the PEI Soldiers who lost their lives in the two World Wars, in Korean and Afghanistan.

The building is being restored at the moment and was closed on this day.


Continuing my walk I found the store for The Anne of Green Gables (it's a Canadian thing).

Time for lunch.

PEI Halibut and Chips and a local IPA.


With that I headed back to the ship.  First I had to get past the guard who wanted to see ship card and photo ID.

Day 4 - Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
The Captain was right on with his weather forecast for the day and it was cold and wet upon our arrival.  
Our first look from the ship.



The terminal building has a variety of shops and food available as well as free wifi. 



I guess the AARP cell plans don't include roaming in Canada as the free wifi area was very popular.





 
 
 
The opportunity for real lobster presented itself quickly off the ship.  Real lobster meaning not that Caribbean lobster stuff they serve on the ship on formal nights.

A short walk down the shore led me to another seafood store and restaurant.

The menu was bilingual - English and Japanese.  

The store side of the building had a pretty good supply of live lobsters sorted by weight.


Lobster was also available cooked, ready to go.

Other types of seafood also available.

Day 3 - Dinner
MDR Menu

I ate in the Windjammer - Italian Night.
We've entered a dead satellite coverage zone.

Some channels continued to work such as BBC News and The Weather Channel that is temporarily available while Hurricane Michael is in play.  Royal worked out a deal with it's TV provider Global Eagle and The Weather Channel to allow this channel, not normally part of the TV channel lineup, to be available on some ships (according to James Van Fleet, Royal's in-house Chief Meteorologist).   
Our progress and location where satellite coverage is absent.

I checked out the Las Vegas Tenors in the main theater, pub singer, Schooner Bar piano player and the silent disco in the Viking Crown Lounge which was surprisingly well attended.   
After that it was time for bed.

Day 5 and wrap-up
Last night dinner was at Chops. We both ordered the lobster tail from the MDR along with our choices from Chops.  I had the petite filet, which I split with Dan and he ordered the shrimp which he shared with me.  
The reason that we decided to purchase the Ultimate Dining Plan on this trip was b/c on our last 5 night Bermuda cruise (July 4th), they did not serve the 2 dishes that we most enjoy in the MDR - lobster and lamb shank.  We assumed (we all know what happens when you ASSume) that they would not serve these 2 dishes on this trip either, only to find that they were serving BOTH.  But we weren’t going to let them deprive us of our fave meals...we just had them bring them to us in the restaurant(s).
Nothing  much to report about the evening. Casino actions as always.  I am happy to report that on this cruise I got both a straight flush and 4 of a kind (Ultimate Texas Hold’em) so I had a profitable trip for the first time in MANY cruises.  Dan also came out ahead. Woohoo !
Nothing particularly interesting to report for today.  B’fast in the D section of the MDT, lunch at Izumi and dinner at Giovannis (Dan had the lamb shank brought from the MDR and it was disappointing for the first time ever.  Just wasn’t as good as it usually is).  Casino closed around 9 PM as we entered the Chesapeake Bay.
Random musings
This is the first time we have been to Bermuda that the NCL Dawn was not also there.  As a matter of fact, we were the only ship at King’s Wharf both days.
Due to the anticipated affects of Hurricane Michael, Grandeur will be leaving port tomorrow early (New England 9 day)  - around 2 PM. Normal departure is 4PM.  We are now in the Bay and are having the smoothest seas we have experienced since we left Baltimore on Saturday.  Not likely to stay this way.
Never saw a drink card but it could have been offered.
Was not able to get any information about the unplanned dry dock being discussed for March 2019.
We will walk off tomorrow morning and will catch the hotel shuttle back to the hotel where our car is parked.  I will drop Dan at work (Washington Navy Yard) and I will go home and work the rest of the day.
Next stop - Navigator for Thanksgiving.  Then we will be back on Grandeur for Christmas and NY.

Day 4 - Casino edition
The biggest change I have noted at the Casino on this cruise is that all of the tables (that I have visited) now have at least a $10 minimum. In the past most tables had a $5 minimum. Conversely, the Texas Hold’em table (as opposed to the Ultimate Texas Hold’em table), which had been a $2/$5 table is now a $1/$3 table, which is a welcome change.
i have already mentioned that Joyce is the hostess. She has been moderately visible but has not presented a dynamic environment. When Kaia was the hostess here she had lots of fun events like a 007 scavenger hunt and some fun tournaments. Nothing like that going on this week.
Not that we expect it, but we have not received any casino gifts at all on this cruise.  Sometimes we get champagne or a specialty dining meal (which would have been wasted on us this cruise) but nothing at all on this cruise.
IMO the casino on Grandeur needs some TLC.   Carpets, chairs and table top felts are looking very worn and dated.  I don’t play slots so I have no idea if the games need updating or not but my guess is that some of them have been there a while. I noticed that the chips are filthy.  Last night 2 of my chips were completely stuck together.  I’m sure drinks get spilled all the time but they need to wash them very once in a while.  Gross.
I’m certain that someone will have a question about craps odds or other similar subjects. I will say now that I just don’t know but if anyone is interested in knowing, ask and I will try and find out.  The craps tables have been very popular on this cruise; they’ve been very enthusiastic and vocal.  ??
The Ultimate Texas Hold’em table is very very popular this trip. This is “my” game and I have gone down just to find the table completely full only minutes after the casino open multiple times.  Guess I’ll have to get there before they even open to be sure and get a seat.
As of day 4, I am dead “even”.  I won $700 on the first day the casino was open and I lost $700 yesterday ?? so I’m back where I started.  Frankly, by day 4 I’m usually well “in the hole” so being even at this point is welcome.
 

Day 3
Pulling  into Kings Wharf  right now.  Finally no rocking and rolling !  Much appreciated relief.
Momentary flashback to yesterday and last night. Lunch at Izumi. Delightful. Much busier than I expected but service and food were still great. Dinner at Chops was ok.  Our steak on embark day was much better.  Service was S.L.O.W.  We actually got up and left before they even offered dessert which means we missed our red velvet cake (sorry, Sweety) dessert.  We never got a receipt to sign or anything. I guess they know where we “live” if they need to talk to us ! Tonite is Giovanni’s.
Back to the present.  Coolish in Bermuda. We have no plans to get off the ship so likely we will just saunter down this evening and ride the  shuttle train around the circuit. It’s one of my fave things to do here. One of the items that was lost in my recent luggage debacle on Liberty was a beautiful hand woven wrap that I bought in one of the craft shops here at Kings Wharf a number of years ago (it was my favorite wrap to wear at nights in the casino where it’s always arctic temps) so maybe I will see about replacing it. <Still pissed off that somebody took our bag in Galveston>
To my great surprise Izumi is open today for lunch and is eligible for the dining package. I never even looked in the Compass b/c I figured today would not count as a sea day (arriving in port around lunchtime) but the lovely lady who has been at Izumi on Grandeur for as long as I can remember was walking through the WJ this morning hocking the sushi-making class and asked if we were coming to Izumi for lunch today.  Dan’s sleepy eyes came to full attention immediately and a recognizable look of pure joy spread across his face instantly. Guess we’re Going to Izumi for lunch AGAIN today !  As a matter of fact, he has asked me twice, while I was doing this post, when we were likely to be ready to go.  He’s so easy to please !  Just shove some eel, salmon or tuna nigiri in his face and he will agree to anything. ??
So why were we in the WJ for b’fast this morning instead of the D area of the MDR, you may ask ?  B/c of the stealthy time change last night, I would answer.  We got up at what we thought was 8:30 AM just to realize later that it was actually 9:30 AM and the MDR was already closed.  PLUS, this morning at 10:15 AM was the Diamond event (referred to by us as the “cattle call”) and for reason not fully understood, Dan loves going to those things.  I hate them but I went.  At any rate, there was not enough time to eat a sit-down b’fast AND get to the D event by 10:15 thus, the WJ it was.  Lovely b’fast, BTW. We missed Yogi and BooBoo and I’m sure we’ll hear about it from them tomorrow morning.  They so absolutely adorable. You canNOT tell them apart.
Dan has started making impatient movements towards the door so I think I’d better cut this off.  Another best day on Lady G.  Happy Columbus Day, everyone.

Enjoying your blog & periscopes! ?