Guy Gadwa

Well, I did it again, and forgot to get pictures of our dinners for the people that like them. Heather said that @Matt and @Lovetocruise2002 are going to suspend my live blogging privileges ??

The kids with their Aunt Julie
Someone is living her best life

We clean up pretty nicely when we want to

there’s always one in every crowd.

 

Cruise Day 2:  Coco Cay, Bahamas:  I woke up around 6:30 to find us about 30’ from the dock in Coco Cay, we were scheduled to be there at 8:00.  I thought maybe they would open the gangway earlier, but apparently they had to wait for the dock workers to arrive.
Empress joined us in port today,  with Harmony and Empress both at Coco Cay there was plenty of free  loungers both at Chill Island and Oasis Lagoon;  spent a couple of hours at both locations soaking up the warm sun.  We didn’t go into the water heard several people say the water was cold, a few were in the ocean but there were quite a few in Oasis Lagoon. Grabbed a crispy chicken sandwich and funnel cake from the Snak Shack it was less hectic there than our previous lunches at Labadee and Coco Cay.
Summary of Coco Cay:  I’d say they have it right for calling it Perfect Day, there is something for everyone.  The only food place that seemed busy was Chill Grill, Snak Shack and Captain Jacks were not crowded at all.  One observation is that there were plenty of empty day beds at Chill Island and most of the over water cabanas were empty also.  If that is a trend maybe prices will come down.  After lunch we headed back to the ship and found a fruit basket waiting for us (nice touch), partook of an embarrassing round of mini golf before getting ready for dinner.
We had our first specialty dinner tonight at Chops; DW had the Tuna Tartare, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp and Key Lime Pie, I had the Charred Beef Carpaccio, NY Strip and Warm Chocolate Cake.  I must say everything was delicious and the service was excellent.  It was a bit louder than I thought it would be but still quieter than the MDR.  I don’t normally eat steak out as I purchase a ¼ of a Black Angus cow each year and find most steak houses disappointing.  The fillet I had for the Key Lunch was good and tender but I wasn’t impressed with the flavor, but the NY Strip was seasoned just right and very tender.  Wrapped up the evening in Boleros dancing to the Latin Band.
 

Wow, I don't know how you live bloggers manage to keep up.  Its been a hectic two days.  Let me try to catch up with Day 1.
Cruise Day 1:  Embarkation from Port Canaveral:  I woke up early and drove to the port to watch Harmony come in before daybreak.  It was amazing how effortlessly she came into port, turned and slipped into the dock. 
Had a bit of panic set in, somehow my trunk popped open after returning to the hotel and before breakfast.  The front desk called to let me know my trunk was open; with most of my bags in the trunk I flew down four flights of stairs worried that my bags were gone.  Was relieved to find all was safe. Once my heart returned to a normal beat, we were off to eat the complimentary breakfast.  It was pretty much standard free hotel breakfast.  They had fixings to make a breakfast burrito, waffles, cereal, bagels and such. 
I dropped the bags off at the porters around 9:45 and went to return the rental car.  Entered the terminal at 10:10 and seated in “The Key” area at 10:20, no sooner had we sat down they started boarding.  The Key boarded right after B2B, Suites, and Diamond +.
Once onboard we stopped to make our specialty dinner reservations, then off to Bolero’s for WOW bands while the DW ordered our cruise starting Kracken Lava Flows.  With drinks in hand, we dropped the carryon bag at the MDR to be delivered to the room and set about exploring the ship a bit.
Lunch was the Chops Lunch in the MDR which is part of “The Key”.  Started with the shrimp cocktail, 6 oz. fillet mignon and we shared a warm chocolate cake.  Steak was tender and cooked to order, although I would have seasoned the meat.  Tried the peppercorn sauce, wasn’t my cup of tea, I generally cook my steaks at home with a little salt and pepper and that’s it.  It was a larger lunch than we normally have but it was a nice relaxing way to start the cruise. 
The rooms opened up before we finished lunch so we checked out our room.  My carryon bag was in the room and I spotted one of my suitcases down the hall.  After unpacking the carryon and hanging clothes suitcase; went back down the hall and my other two bags were there. 
Tonight’s supper was in the MDR, a dance or two in the Promenade and then to the showing of “Grease”.  Seating for Key guests was on deck 4 in the balcony, better seats were available 30 minutes before the show on deck 3 center.  We enjoyed the show and it definitely is not for children, yet many were in attendance.  The gestures were very explicit, much more than I remember in the movie.
After “Grease” we went back to our room to change shoes around 10:15pm, only to find out the doors on all of deck 6 were malfunctioning no one could get into their rooms.  After waiting a bit and talking to several ships’ crew members, Security came with the key and lets us in.  Doors were working again around 11:45 pm but we had decided to call it a night.

Pre-cruise Day:  We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson which is the closest hotel to the port.  The room was pretty nice and the bed was comfortable; however the hot water was so-so sometimes warm and other times okay. 

Pre-cruise Day:  We flew from Dulles International Airport to Orlando on a morning flight on Southwest Airlines leaving the cold freezing weather behind.
Arriving in Orlando it was a long trek from the Southwest gate to baggage claim.  Played the baggage claim musical chairs, first bags are coming out at one carousel the no it’s over here, no we were just kidding back to the original location.
Collected our rental from Alamo it was quick and painless and we were off to Disney Springs for lunch.  Walked around Disney Springs a bit then headed to the hotel.  A couple of days earlier, I realized I scored a rental car bonus by renting from Alamo.  I’m not loyal to one brand over the other usually going with the best rate, but I was happy that the return location is like a 10 minute walk to the ship.
 

Explorer just left a couple hours ago for a chartered cruise.  It was some Ohio Buckeye cancer benefit event.  While we were waiting for the disaster that was disembarkation, they were posting the stuff for this ALL over the place.  5 night cruise with only 1 stop....and that is Cococay.  After this cruise it goes back to normal cruising.  Sounds like a lot of the cruise staff doesn't really have to do much during this charter, especially the singers and dancers.  They were just hanging out for the next few days I guess.
We are now just hanging out in Miami until Tuesday morning......early morning!  We went and checked out downtown Miami and the Bayside Market area.  Pretty neat area!  Tomorrow we are going to try and get to South Beach and check that out.  We are doing some vlogging while we are here to showcase what we see here, as a side note.
I plan to have a recap down the road when I can put all my thoughts together.  One thing both of us have commented on a lot was all the "firsts" that we experienced on this cruise, which is odd since this was our 10th cruise together!!!  So again, tomorrow is hopefully South Beach!  
Sure is nice not being in the MN cold yet but it sure is nice to go home after the cruise.  There's just something about ending a cruise and going home.  That last night aboard kinda just puts you in that "go home" mode.  We much prefer to extend the trip BEFORE we board and then go straight to airport from the ship.  Maybe that's just us but just feels like it should be that way.  This is the first time we have not gone straight home and it all just feels "weird".  
 

Here is just a picture from the pool deck last night.  It was dead there and it was only 9pm!!!  Everyone must have been packing or eating.

Last night we went to Johnny Rockets for the first time ever on a cruise ship!  We got the milkshakes.  I had caramel and Lisa had Oreo.  Apparently they are included on the refreshment and liquor drink packages!!!  This will be dangerous now that we know that!!!  The server even offered us fries for free but we already should not have been eating the milkshakes so we passed...  I would highly recommend getting a milkshake as a treat at night!  SOOOOO good!

Sorry had to take a picture of the picture but here is formal night!
 
 
 

So yeah, ITS CRUISE DAY. The plan here is eventually I’ll drag everyone out of bed and we will have breakfast here at the hotel. We are to meet our shuttle to the port between 11-12 at the baggage claim area of IAH terminal C. So we will probably leave the hotel around 10 to head back to the airport. 
 
We have been getting updates in a Facebook group from a passenger who is currently on the ship. They were expecting fog so Liberty has been sailing full speed ahead, and were due to get into port late last night. He just posted that they have made it to port and are tied up. 
 
He has also posted that there is an issue with the gangways. A minor thing, but I do like that elevated view of the ship as you board. Oh well.

The kids are still on NY time and both are now up, and asking to use the iPads while I’m working on these past two updates. At least with this 2br suite we can give them the iPads and we can have a little bit longer period of peace and quiet.

I’m up early this AM because well, it’s 7 in NY and my internal alarm AKA bladder started screaming at me. While everyone else is sleeping let’s get caught up. Oh did I also mention ITS CRUISE DAY!!!


Last night we headed out for some dinner. My father has traveled to Houston many times for business, and he recommended a place called Fajita Willies. 

We were happy we made this choice. The food was good. The portions are large, and priced well. All in with an App, drinks, tip, we were only out $65.
 
Early into the meal, we were starting to lose this guy. He’s a boy who likes his sleep, and getting up at 5 am for our flights was rough on him.


 
Here is a shot of the meals.

I got the mixed fajitas. Lydia got the kids taco that she loudly exclaimed that “this taco is even better than the ones you make dad!” Kid, I would certainly hope so????‍♂️ Johnny got a quesadilla, and Heather got a combo with an enchilada and a taco. Chips and salsa and deep fried jalapeños rounded out the food. The salsa is made fresh every day by a woman who comes in the AM. It’s flavor was rich and smoky, and what surprised us was that it came to the table warm, almost hot. We were discussing this with the waitress who looked at us like we had theee heads when we told her that in NY it’s served cold. 
 
With full bellies, we headed back to the hotel. Poor Johnny was unconscious three minutes into the ride. We all called it an early night since we were tired. That is all of us except for my sister Julie who was supposed to meet a friend for dinner. That turned into a late night for her, as her friend got out of work waaaay later than she had planned. She didn’t get to dinner till close to 9pm. Oh well, we can sleep when we are dead.

Hotel Tour: We are staying at a Homewood Suites by Hilton. We have a 2br suite. 

Living room

Master BR has a king size

 
Bedroom 2 is two queens

There is a small kitchenette 

I always find these situations funny....

I do a lot of codes inspections with the FD, so when I see stuff like this I wonder how this got past the design phase.??‍♂️
 
The kids are already in the pool

Quote from the wife
”absolutely, because it is a dinner and a show, and was absolutely hysterical”

Representing today?

Now we are all caught up. We were pretty tired at the end of the dinner. It was nearing 10 when it ended, so 11 NY time, we have not adjusted yet, so we headed to bed. 
 
This morning we were all up, not by choice, at 6ish ship time. Stinking time adjustment. Coffee was obtained, I found 2 cruising ducks, and now we will be going about our day. Today and tomorrow are sea days so we will be exploring the ship, checking out the activities etc and generally relaxing. It’s still pretty foggy, but the seas are calm at least. 
 
The sun is trying to break through and burn it off. The temperatures are pleasant. 

I forgot to add, at the end of the dinner, you fill out a card of who done it, and why. The correct answers are put in a bucket and one is drawn. The winner got a bottle of wine and some RC swag.

Mystery Dinner Theatre: So this was interesting. The premise of the story here is that there are two mob bosses who control the ports in NY and NJ and they have plans to join forces and control all of the ports and cruises etc. There is a lawyer, two women fighting over the attentions of the bosses, and a waitress who seems to want to know too much about all of them. Eventually there is a murder and it’s up to us to figure it out. Spoiler Alert, it was Colonel Mustard, in the Ballroom with the candle stick. ?
So theater part stared in the Star lounge. We were given champagne and some small canapés, and the show started. First thing, this show is NOT PG. There were many references and innuendos throughout the show. My kids were too young and they all went right over their heads. There were some families with younger teenagers who looked like they were cringing a little.
The cast did a great job, it started out a little rough, lines were forgotten, characters were broken, but they did an amazing job of with the improv that it became part of the show and made it funnier and that much more enjoyable. 
 
If you choose to do this show, be warned if you sit in the seats closest to the dance floor, on along the isles leading to it, you may become part of the show. The cast WILL interact with the audience, and throughout the show, audience participation is encouraged.
Following the show, we were then brought up to Giovanni’s in groups that were assigned at check in, where we were all seated together at long tables. As a group you work together to solve the murder. The case comes up as well and the show continues there. You have opportunities to ask questions to the cast memebers to help you solve the crime.
We had a limited menu that we got to choose from. Everyone is served an anitpasti plate with some Prosciutto, mortadella, another cured meat I have never seen. There are some olives, arugula and peppers. Coming from an Italian family, it’s was pretty good. I will apologize now, my picture game was not on point here. After a few cocktails in the suite lounge, champagne at the start of this, and at dinner the wine was endless, our servers were topping off our glasses the minute we took any sips, I quickly forgot to take pictures as the food right away. The wine was included in the cost. There were no questions on weather or not you had a beverage package or not.

Antipasti plate.
You then had a choice of appetizers. There was a Minestrone Soup, a beef carpaccio, and a tomato mozzarella plate. I got the carpaccio.

Entrees was a choice of Filet, prawns, or gnocchi with a Gorgonzola sauce.
I ordered the filet, Heather got the prawns, and Julie got the gnocchi. The staff were accommodating, and were able to bring out some spaghetti with butter for our kids. Turns out there was no set kids menu, so plan accordingly.
The filet was very tender and cooked perfectly.

The shrimp was a little overcooked, but still tasty.

I never got a picture of the gnocchi. This also tasted very good. 
 
Dessert was a choice of tiramisu, and chocolate cake and ice cream. We all go the tiramisu, which was good. At this point I was well over a bottle of wine in sooooo, sorry about the picture.

Final thoughts. We had a blast doing this. We laughed hard, made some new friends and had a great meal. At $79 the price is a little high, but with the alcohol included and ennnnndddlleeessss the value proposition is there. Would I do it again, absolutely. 
 

Sail away: After the cattle rustling of mister drill, we went up to the suite lounge for sail away. We had a great time there. The food was delicious that they had for their happy hour, and the drinks were flowing. We met some very nice fellow cruisers. Thankfully we got out on time because the fog rolled back in right at the time we were to depart.

This picture was taken at the end of mister drill. By the time sail away happened, you couldn’t see those drilling platforms across the channel.
Thankfully we got out, and I happened to cath the pilot returning to port from our balcony as we got ready for dinner.

 
Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Houston Rockets and the restaurant company Landry’s was out on his yacht doing laps in the Galveston Harbor.

Getting on the ship as late as we did, the rooms were already open, so we headed there to drop off our carry on bags, and went and stuffed our faces.
Stateroom Tour: So we are in the GS2BR on the aft of the ship. We have been in three 2br grand suites now, and I have to say this is my least favorite. 
 
You open the stateroom door into this hallway

there is the second bedroom on your right with it’s own bathroom.


there is also a large closet in the hallway on the left.

main living area

Master bedroom 

Overall, the suite seems cramped with that hallway. We were in the same room on Navigator, and the layout of that room was much better. Our first foray into suite snobbery was on Anthem and that suite was great. 
Like many have noticed on other ships Liberty doesn’t disappoint with its lack of outlets. In the second bedroom there are no outlets near the beds, so if you like to sleep with your phone near you for any reason, plan accordingly. I bring adapters for the European style plugs so that helps.

So back the live/semi live portion. We got to the port at 1:30. We got some brief instructions from the shuttle operators. Oh, @Ampurp85, this was a third party company as well. We were given the option to use the porters, or carry our bags across the street to the drop-off area. With a small tip exchange , our bags were whisked off by the porters and we headed to the terminal. There was a surprisingly long line in the terminal still but we got to use this one.
and we were through security. We then got to the checkin counter. We were asked our corona virus screening questions, pictures were taken, and we headed on board. With our last cruise being on Navigator and in Terminal A being so fast and easy, today seemed slow and cluncky. Not that I am really complaining, it was all of 10 minutes from drop-off to on board. Terminal A seems much more efficient. 

Current mood....

There will be more in the morning, it’s very late and the rail car quantity of wine I have consumed is catching up to me. Plenty of down time with two sea days here to rest and recuperate.

Man, what a day! Soooo much to catch up on here. After all we have done, where to begin. 
 
air2sea shuttle: @Ampurp85, so the shuttle wasn’t bad. Like I had said earlier, we booked through air2sea since it was cost effective, and provided some security for travel delays. I’m a very patient person and know delays can be part of traveling. That doesn’t mean I won’t do everything in my power to prevent delays from messing up my vacation. We had planned on staying in Galveston the night before, but with Mardi Gras happening, hotels were pricy and when we got around to booking there was nothing to be had. This is how we ended up near the airport, and I wanted to be a nice brother so that my sister could see her friend. So now the decision became how to get to the port. With 5 of us and multiple suitcases, Uber wasn’t really an option. I looked at other private companies but with booking through Royal it had a kind of set it and forget it. 
 

 
we had a nice bus to take us to the port.

 
we soon encountered heavy traffic on the highway to Galveston that was not moving.
 

The driver took us around the traffic and we made it to the port.
we left IAH at noon, and we were unloading at the port by 1:30. 
 
my final thoughts. I felt the shuttle was worth it. I got to sit back and enjoy the ride, and not have to stress about it. In the future, I would only use this if the distance to the port was far from the airport.