Deedeelynn

It was late but I was motivated to see how the ship looked at night.

With muster complete it was time to prepare for sail away.  My friends had suggested to meet in the Solarium so that's where I headed.


The sun was beginning to set.




We had to wait for a departing cargo ship to make her exit.

With a blast of the ship's whistle we were away from the pier.

With the bow thrusters fully engaged the Solarium pool rippled from the vibrations.

Darkness was rapidly moving upon us.





We slowly backed out of the harbor.



We then turned and with that our cruise had begun.

With my suitcase unpacked and clothes sprayed down with wrinkle release it was time to explore the ship!








A look down at the terminal from the ship.

Solarium:



The solarium pool.

I needed to take care of something inside so I made my way back down to the Promenade.



I went to Boleros to see if I could trade in a previous Wow band.  My old one had a muster station printed on it.  On Anthem they would not allow me to trade in my Wow band and required me to purchase a new one because the muster station from Harmony was different than my Anthem muster station. 

I was pleased to discover that Symphony accepted my old "Muster Station E2" Wow band and gave me a new one that has no muster station on it.   No charge.

At 1pm an announcement let us know our cabins were ready.
Cabin 8327.  
Boardwalk balcony, port side, second boardwalk balcony from the aft.


Standard Oasis class bathroom.

Balcony:

The view aft is fairly obstructed.



After taking these pictures and checking out my cabin I ventured into the hall and discovered my bag just down the hall.  Luggage delivery was pretty quick.

Up the escalator where we were led outside to get our first look.  Like her sisters she is big!

With a place to step aside I found the screen shot of my SetSail pass and got it ready.  I wanted to make sure I could use my phone to board.  No issues with a screen shot of the app's SetSail pass.
Finally!  On board.



 
I visited the spa to check on a cruise planner purchase I had made, the Thermal Spa pass.  It is fairly recent that this has become available for pre-purchase and I wanted to validate how it worked.  In the cruise planner I was required to select a time of day, I chose 2:30pm.  I was hoping that wasn't the only time I could use it but I wanted to check.  The staff at the spa confirmed I could use it at any time during open hours.  I then did a quick tour of the spa.

The spa waiting room.

An add on service, private couples aroma bath.



They mentioned to come back once I had my SeaPass card to have a sticker placed on it indicating my spa pass.
Avoiding the Windjammer on boarding day I then headed to Park cafe for a Kümmelweck.

Soon after I found some friends and we sat in Central Park enjoying our first beverage as we waited for cabins to become ready.

I think perhaps @twangster has spent too much time with @Big Dawg Ron, which has left this live blog limbo ?

I guess "loyalty" means nothing to RCCL. If that's the case, since being Diamond + will then be treated the same as the other levels, I'll take my business elsewhere. 

T-1!
After a very short night’s rest we got up at 4.15 am. Thankfully the hotel provided some tea, coffee and croissants. Well, tea for Michael – I usually don’t drink coffee or tea, but if hubby doesn’t get his regular fix he really is unbearable. Airport security was a breeze and we boarded the plane on time. Can’t tell you how the flight was, I slept away most of it ?
 
The good news: all our suitcases made it to Barcelona (I had a bit of a panic over this) and we promptly got them. The bad news: apparently we are NOT the only ones with poison green suitcases, some others indeed had the same model. Well, we got that sorted and everybody left with the right suitcases even though the luggage handlers managed to lose one of our luggage tag covers (the ones that were recommended on this board) ? Luckily, we got one spare.
 
Taxi to the hotel was 45 € (tip included) and I even got the chance to practice my long forgotten Spanish skills. Our hotel is Barcelona Catedral right in the middle of Barri Gótic. We arrived at 11 am, room would be ready at 2 pm so we went to explore the Disney store we saw coming in. Looks like it will be quite difficult to buy something for a baby boy if you don’t want it to be Marvel themed – maybe Miami has a better selection. On the way back we got soaked by torrential rain and decided to wait in our hotel’s lobby for the remaining hours. Thanks Eurowings for the priviledge – our original flight would have gotten us to Barcelona at the right time, but a few months back they decided to cancel it and book us on this 6.45 am flight – of course forgetting to mention this detail to us… it sometimes pays that I have travel OCD and religiously check everything countless times.
 
2 pm sharp we could finally check in and got a room on the 5th floor – great, I’m already being punished for my self-imposed no elevator rule. After dropping off the luggage we went to Santa Caterina market to get some softdrinks for the day. The market hall is smaller than la Boqueria but also less crowded and touristy. Unfortunately no pictures as they didn’t come out right with our old camera – didn’t want to risk the DLSR in the rain. As the weather was only getting worse we decided to cancel the walking tour and switch to appropiate acitivites – watching sports! German football (Borussia Dortmund) for Michael and eventing cross country in Pau for me. Who am I kidding? We both fell asleep while watching ?
 
When we awoke, the weather seemed ok so out we went. Strolling through Barri Gótic and up and down Las Ramblas. On our way back to the cathedral we found a restaurant to our liking and got some tapas. I even remembered to take a picture! Not bad for someone who’s so forgetful that she forgets to breathe when sleeping ? The restaurant’s name is Colom and we can definetely recommend it – great food, nice atmosphere and reasonably priced.
 
Now it’s off to bed, thankfully we get an additional hour of sleep as Europe is setting back the clocks tonight. Taxi is already booked for 10 am.
 
Side notes:
14,5k steps today
Need to get my sister to explain Whatsapp calling to my parents (again) – apparently our crash course on Friday didn’t stick
No laps in the (rooftop) pool today – it was way too cold – and yes, I know I’m a wimp

We got right on the ship as they opened the doors at around 11:15ish.  Since we have the 3 night dinging package, we went directly to wonderland and changed our dining reservation tomorrow to Chops from the default assigned restaurant.  Then we hit up the shockingly empty Windjammer for a bite to eat.
I was immediately offered a rum punch when we walked in, so who am I to say no?  They bartenders kept cruising by and offered me another.  Why not? I’m on vacation now.  
We then explored the pool deck and solarium for a bit and right at 1:00 they announced that the rooms were ready.
I’ll  update more and add more pictures later when I’m not in my phone.

It’s nasty out, but we made it!  

Our contact really hooked us up and Moved us straight through security and sat us in the suite area. We’ll also get a personal escort onboard when it’s time. It pays to know people! 

 

Day -2
I've made it to New York!  One more flight!  
Uneventful trip to JFK, I watched two movies on the flight from Denver.  I'm sitting Delta's Skyclub writing this.  They used to be called 'Crown Room' but having flown a bunch back in those days I used to call them the 'Crowd Room'.  The terminal 4 Skyclub is living up to that legacy.    
Curious how our weather will be on this crossing.  It is what it is.  On a recent cruise down the U.S. East coast I didn't lose the jacket until we were almost off the Florida coast.  
My flight is delayed an hour.  Just received noticed my bag was loaded on the Barcelona flight.  That's always a welcome sign.  
Forecast is rain tomorrow.  I would have liked to stay longer and explore Barcelona but my schedule didn't cooperate.
The ship is the destination.
 

Thank god it’s Friday! Only two nights and we’ll board Symphony – it’s finally getting real!
 
The day started early for us as we had to drop off the boys at the cat hotel. Luckily, everything went way better than expected. Four of them have never been there but instead of hiding under an armchair, they just went and explored the rooms and sometimes passed by to get some cuddles in between. We shouldn’t have worried, they’ll also have a great vacation.
 
After rushing home and loading the suitcases in the car, we were back on the road and vacation mode really started to kick in – true German style – getting all annoyed with other drivers because the motorway was packed. Turns out Southern Germany had their last school day before the autumn holidays – and a few other federal states had their last day of autumn holidays today. Not the best conditions for 400 km (249 miles) to get to my parents, but what can you do? Slowly crawl, I guess – at least in comparison as Germany doesn’t have a general speed limit for motorways.
 
4 hours later we did the required pre-cruise family visits and then went to the airport with my parents. Cue another hour of – you guessed it – packed roads and traffic jams. Finally, my parents dropped us off at the airport and took the car home with them – instead of us paying the astronomical parking fees, we prefer to spend the money on some speciality dining ?
 
Evening check-in was painless – we got rid of the suitcases in 5 minutes and walked to the Maritim airport hotel. After dropping our carry-ons off in our room, we went back to the airport for dinner. Mussels for me and pizza for Michael at L‘Osteria. Sorry, forgot to take pictures (I’m new to this blogging thingy) – but the food wasn’t something to write home about anyway. We also had our first beer as a warm up for the ultimate beverage package – an original Bavarian Franziskaner. The other option would have been Duesseldorf’s alt bier and as a born Cologne girl I’d rather die from thirst than drink that. I’m sure there are similar animosities between neighbouring cities in the US? ?
 
After dinner we went to the spa – Michael for the sauna and me for an hour in the pool to burn off the alcoholic calories. Now it’s off to bed as boarding starts 6.15 am tomorrow.

After more than a year of lurking in the forum, vacation time has finally arrived! With all the help I got from this board and all the live blogs I read to live vicariously through, I decided to return the favor. This will not rival Twangster’s quality live blog, but we’ll try our best and offer a new-to-Royal perspective. I’ll do the typing and hubby will provide the pictures. If you’ve got any questions, I’ll do my best to find the answer. So without further ado...
 
Who are we and why this cruise?
Kerstin and Michael, in our mid-thirties, from Germany (Bavaria to be exact) and on our first TA, first Royal cruise – and first time out of Europe. We’ve cruised before – 3 times with TUI Cruises (German cruise line, joint venture with RCI), once with AIDA. We usually cruise for the itinerary, but made an exception for this cruise. After a brilliant video of Harmony from our favourite German Youtuber – the Schiffstester – we knew we wanted to try Oasis class – and that really experiencing it would take more than 7 days. We’d originally planned to book a Med B2B and not leave the ship, but the price on the TA was just too good – YOLO! I hate flying so to make it worthwhile, we added a 14 night Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess (RCI itineraries just weren’t to our liking).
 
Cruise preview – Barcelona to Miami
Ports of call: Malaga (Day 2) – not sure if we’ll get off the ship, maybe just for a stroll; Port Canaveral (Day 12) – Kennedy Space Center Guided Tour with Royal to avoid the long lines for immigration
Food & Beverage: we both got the deluxe drinking package and 5 night dining package. Additionally reserved Izumi Hibachi and Jamie’s as we plan to check out all the options.
Entertainment: all shows reserved, we’ll participate in a few CC events (Meet & Mingle, mini golf tournament, pub crawl, scavenger hunt). We’re also planning to book the all access tour.
Cabin: 8411 - inside stateroom at the fore
 
Pre-cruise & post-cruise
We’ve already prepared everything we want to pack and will pack tomorrow. Friday morning, we’ll drop off the boys (our five coonies) at the cat hotel, rush home, throw the luggage in the car and drive to my parents. They’ll drop us off at the airport Duesseldorf for our evening check-in, we’ll stay at the airport hotel as our flight is at 6.45am on Saturday. We’ll stay at Hotel Catedral in Barcelona and have booked a walking tour of Barri Gótic for the afternoon.
Post-cruise we’ll stay at Sense Beach House in South Beach until we board Caribbean Princess on 11th. It’s our first time in Miami, so we rented a car to get a good overview and do the essential shopping – I might pillage the Disney store as my sister is expecting her first child on November 23rd.

Day -4
A year or so ago I had been thinking about Symphony and when I might be able to sail her.  Prices, as expected for her first year were elevated over her sisters.  That is until I came across the transatlantic sailing which at the time was priced close to many seven night Caribbean sailings on her.  Twelve nights on what would become the largest cruise ship in the world for the price of seven?  
I was on Anthem when the light bulb went on and I booked it in a YOLO moment that only the drink package can induce.  
Itinerary is pretty light as ports go:
Day 1 - Embark in Barcelona, Spain
Day 2 - Sea Day
Day 3 - Malaga, Spain
Days 4 - 11 - Sea Day
Day 12 - Port Canaveral
Day 13 - Debark, Miami
No excursions booked or planned.  The ship is the destination.
I'll be sailing in a Boardwalk balcony cabin almost as far aft as you can go on deck 8 right above Playmakers.  My step count for this cruise should indeed also be elevated.  
I'm sailing solo as I often do since friends and family just can't keep up.  I won't be alone exactly as there will be a decent contingency from the RCPeriscopers.live community sailing with me.  Voom and satellite coverage permitting, there should be ample scopes from this sailing.
A business commitment is keeping me stateside until Friday when I'll fly overnight to Barcelona arriving Saturday morning for a Sunday embarkation.  Not ideal but I've got to pay for this cruising addiction somehow.  
Since I'll be in the cruise capital of the world when we disembark in Miami I couldn't let that opportunity go without jumping on another ship so I'll be sliding up the coast to Fort Lauderdale to board Serenade the day we arrive in Miami.  That is a factor in my packing strategy since I'm not flying home between cruises.  
Speaking of packing, I should probably start,  later today, ...or maybe tomorrow.  

Day 0 – Sept 15 – Travel Day
We awoke pretty early (4.45am) at our home in Scotland’s Central Belt.  We packed as much as possible the night before but as always there were a few items to finish off in the morning.   My parents were kind enough to take us to Edinburgh airport for the flight and the roads were not a problem at that time in the morning, especially not on a Sunday.  Eggs Benedict at the Wetherspoon’s pub in the airport is becoming a bit of a tradition for us at the start of holidays.  R departed slightly from tradition and went for Eggs Royale with smoked salmon (traitor!).  
Luckily we had no issues with our flights.  Even traveling out the day before embarkation, with two flights between home and Florida I was conscious that it wouldn’t take much disruption to cause problems.  We also did not have a long layover in London which added to the concern but ultimately worked well.
On the main flight I partook in some in-flight entertainment.  On a day time flight it always seems like a bit of a treat to sit down and watch three films in a row.  When else do you have the time?  Adding to the treat is the lower concern of the quality of the film because, well, what else are you going to do?  Watch the clouds?  Specifically I watched Tomb Raider, Paterno and Game Night.  All of which I thought were perfectly watchable for airplane films.
We took an Uber from Miami airport to where we were spending the night – Hampton Inn Downtown Ft. Lauderdale / Las Olas.  Getting an Uber involved obtaining some roaming data on my phone as it was not possible to arrange this pre-trip.  My mobile provider is somewhat unreliable but luckily experienced no issues with that.
We were on the earlier flight out to Miami and arrived at the hotel for around 5.30pm.  A novelty since we are used to spending all day traveling to the US, arriving at a hotel late in the evening and going straight to bed.  So once we arrived, we showered and headed out to Las Olas.  We both like Mexican, and I had already pre-researched what looked like a good option – Rocco’s Taqueria.  Fortunately, while I was in the shower, R did some research on the fly and found the same place.  “Let’s go here” she said as I exited the bathroom.  I probably had a confused look on my face while I tried to determine if I had already mentioned the place or not.
It was a walk of only just over a mile but it was pretty dang hot for a couple of Scottish milk bottles.  When we arrived it was a bit of a wait for a table so we grabbed a couple of margaritas until one freed up. It was a good sign since on our walk there were not many places which were doing a roaring trade at that time in the evening.  Funnily enough, I seem to remember the only other place that looked busy was another Mexican place (something Cantina from memory). 
We opted for some fresh guacamole made at the table and for main I had three different tacos (chicken, pork, steak).  R had fish tacos and we shared some fried jalapeños.  The tacos and guac were very good.  R also enjoyed her tacos however not being a fish fan, I did not sample.  The jalapenos we got on the side were good initially but a bit samey after a few.  Only so much ‘fried-ness’ you can handle especially as you start to get a bit more full.
On the walk back, we tried to get to a CVS to pick up some extra sunscreen but we came up the wrong street and overshot it.  I didn’t have any more roaming left at that point for an en route GoogleMaps check.  I ended up going back out to find it myself after we got back to the hotel and I checked the best route.  I have to admit, after dark, alone, in downtown Ft. Lauderdale it did not seem like the safest of walks – even for someone used to wandering Glasgow.  However when I arrived back to the hotel room, jubilant, with trophy sunscreen clutched in my hand, I was sure I would find my dutiful partner, her hand quivering over the 911 buttons of the telephone anxiously awaiting my retu… nope – she was asleep.
I joined her for some zzz’s of my own at the back of 9pm.  Understandably I was very tired after a long day. Officially we were up for about 21.5 hours after only 4 hours sleep night before and about half an hour, max, on the plane.  However with some tacos, and a couple of miles walked (unmurdered!), it seemed like a successful travel day.
 
Photo 1 - view from our hotel room
Photo 2 - a tortillia-chip view of the fresh guac
Photo 3 - trio of tacos
Photo 4 - fried jalapenos with avocado ranch

I am not long back from my first cruise with RCL with my girlfriend (referred to as ‘R’ throughout) and we had a great time.
On the run up to our cruise, I very much enjoyed reading some of the other members’ live blogs.  I wanted to give it a bash, but knew I would struggle with the commitment of blogging while we were away, especially without a laptop.  However, I decided to take some notes in my phone while I was away to allow me to write up a retrospective blog once we were home.
I will write up one day at a time – partly to recreate the feel of a live blog, but mostly just to give me the chance of writing up each day!  I will also try to provide a few photos from each day.  I tried to remember to take some food photos in true blogger style however that was not in my nature and I’m afraid I don’t think I remembered to take any ‘Windjammer recon’ photos.  I think whenever I was there I was too hungry to think about grabbing a camera rather than some cutlery and a plate!
Since I took some notes at the time of the cruise but am writing it up afterwards, apologies if there are some past/present tense mix-ups.
I also acknowledge that this is coming a decent while after the actual trip, however it did take me a bit of time to write up as it coincided with some busy time at work and a bit of further travel for me – specifically a trip to Bermuda to visit some friends.
I will start tomorrow with our day of travel.  For now, here is some background…
It was a 7 night cruise.  Itinerary: 2 days at sea, St Maarten, Puerto Rico, Labadee, day at sea. It was both R’s and my first cruise with RCL. We were in stateroom 12680, a Deck 12 balcony room, slightly aft. We have no kids so no opinions on family activities/experiences. We both had the drinks package as it was included in the deal we got. We did not have any specialty dining package and didn’t feel the need at any point to partake. We were on My Time Dining.

Hello! This is my first post as a blog, but I still vividly remember the trip (of a lifetime). I live in 'central' New Jersey, in between Philadelphia and New York City, so our flight to Europe out of Newark Liberty was convenient. The ship itself left out of Civitavecchia (roughly translate to old town), about an hour and a half from center-city Rome. I've been reading a lot of live blogs lately and was inspired to write a recap of my outstanding trip... In fact, this was my first Royal Caribbean cruisers. We are generally fans of Carnival, however, after this trip, it may be hard to swerve back over to Carnival.
 
Day 1 - Portugal and Rome
We flew overnight to Lisbon, Portugal and had a 7 hour (approximate) layover before our next flight to Fiumicino, the major airport serving Rome. The city of Lisbon is rich with culture and has amazing pastries, statues, monuments and history. Besides the airport being confusing, we navigated through the city with no problem and made it back in time for our flight to Rome. Landing at around 4PM, the peak rushhour time, it was a hassle for our driver to navigate the narrow streets of the countryside and to our hotel. If you were driving in America, with a 3 lane highway, the Italians would find a way to make it 5 lanes. This was our second time in Rome, the first being five years ago. The food, like last time, was out-of-this-world and after dinner, we retired at our hotel for our first sleep in over 30 hours.

 
If anyone is interested in seeing further Rome sightseeing, drop a comment and I could share some images. This forum is for cruises so I will be posting cruise information in the coming hours/days.
Please let me know if you are interested in reading more about the trip or the Rome pictures!

I’ve used different browsers, incognito mode...nothing makes a difference 

I hade this problem for the first time ever, when I tried to check in for my upcoming Anthem cruise in January! I was so frustrated because I am not computer literate! I remembered from the blogs people saying to go incognito, whatever that means! Well, thank goodness my husband knew and he tried and we were able to check in! Thank goodness for RCL blog!! Thank you! Does anyone think they will ever fix the website? Beyond frustrating!!

Try a different browser. There is no rhyme or reason to RC's site.

Day 12 - Evening
Dinner menu

In the Viking Crown Lounge the food and beverage team was doing a presentation for us.

Dinner in the Windjammer.

Main theater entertainment wasn't working for me.
To the pub!

Dancing in Boleros.

At 10:30pm the Quest was on...

No words.

As the saying goes... "What happens at the Quest, ends up on the internet"

Late night music.

Finally, in the realm of unicorns and pink elephants, the diamond lounge was empty.

Chef’s Table.
sigh. 
It was amazing. Remember (or not) I said Chops was the best meal. No. No. No. 
Chef’s Table was the perfect ratio of excellent food, people, and service. Only 7/14 showed. The 7 who showed were fun and open. This will be one of my favorite memories. The service was superb. The food was above expectations. The people made it a 10/10 experience. Put it all together and it was ? worth the extra cost. 

Ran into @JLMoran in the spa. Went to the gym to walk on the treadmill a bit while watching Lady Liberty. Have a killer headache for the past two days, have migraine Meds but doesn’t really feel like that.  
Singles trivia was group trivia so I got a drink (habanero grapefruit daiquiri) and left. 
Went to Izumi for dinner and got spicy crispy tuna and spicy ramen. It was good, not as good as Harmony’s Izumi but the service was top notch. It was good enough that I’ll likely go back at least once more before I leave. I didn’t need the $35 allowance, I was good with what I ordered. Headed to Cafe Promenade for cookies...Royal Caribbean has the best cookies, not always amazing other desserts but the cookies are my favorite! 
 
I have reservations for The Gift but not sure I feel like it. It’s been a long day and I’d like a shower, book and my bed. Btw- bed is great as is. Firm but not painful. (Harmony was crazy hard and needed a mattress pad).
Time to find the Coke Machine for some seltzer...

Dropped pup off last night and passed out on the couch before 9. I haven’t been sleeping all week. 
This is my first time playing with the camera and Luna is my favorite subject. It only took a half hour to figure out how to get the picture from my camera to anywhere else.