BermudaDice

To wrap up, and in true @Matt blog style, I’ve noted some of my random thoughts below:
Despite our efforts on our last sea day, we did not manage to tick everything off of our lists.  A few things we had already decided that we wouldn’t try.  We didn’t feel the need to spend extra on any specialty dining and we decided prior to the cruise that we would give Mama Mia and the ice shows a miss.  Most of the things I had planned to try but didn’t get round to revolved around food (and coincidentally, the Boardwalk).  Specifically we did not get round to trying the boardwalk donuts, the complimentary hot dogs, Sabor guacamole, or a Kummelweck.
  I’ve read that they make Oasis class ships easy to find your way around and I have to say I agree.  The neighbourhoods mean there are only a few locations to memorise and then everything else falls in to place.  Similarly I’ve read that the ship is designed to not feel crowded.  Again I would say they succeeded.  Admittedly I don’t know how full the ship was but finding a table at the WJ was only ever a minor inconvenience and we never struggled for a lounger even on sea days.  We only ever tended to be in the Solarium however while walking through the rest of the pool deck there were always loungers to be seen, even if they weren’t right by the pool.
  I find it interesting that on one of the largest ships in the world with however many thousand people you still seem to always run in to the same certain people.  Like the pudgy kid who walked around like he owned the place with his vest top and flat bill cap looking like the stereotypical school bully, the girl with long braids dyed bright red, and the loved up couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and liked to sit in pools with their legs wrapped round each other.  Even though I understand that it’s just a form of confirmation bias – I initially noticed those people and therefore continue to spot them – I still find it interesting. 
  We both did enjoy having the drinks package however if we had to pay for it I doubt it would make sense. R doesn’t drink a whole lot.  For me even on sea days and really packing in the cocktails, I likely barely would have broken even.  I guess we will just always have to keep a look out for the deals where they include the package!
  We were in stateroom number 12680 which was aft.  I did put in a bit of thought when selecting a stateroom but since I had never been on an RCL ship let alone Allure specifically, I mostly just based it on checking what was on the decks above and below to avoid noise.  In hindsight the room choice was perfect.  Being aft it was at the right end of the ship for the WJ, Boardwalk and MDR.  The only place we went to often which was forward was the Solarium.  Also, 680 was only a few rooms along from the stairwell which meant no long walks along the corridor to/from the stairs. Being up on Deck 12 was also particularly good for quick stairs access to the WJ and pool deck.
  Speaking of the stairs, we made sure to almost always take them wherever we were going.  Aside from a very small number of exceptions the only time we took the elevators was after we got back from a day in port and we had to get from the gangway to Deck 12 after a long hot day.  R was good for regularly going to the gym on sea days, but for me the stairs were the key exercise throughout the week.  Unfortunately, despite the regular stair use including up to 10 decks at once, when I returned to work the stairs up to the fourth floor seemed no easier that they were before I left.

To wrap up, and in true @Matt blog style, I’ve noted some of my random thoughts below:
Despite our efforts on our last sea day, we did not manage to tick everything off of our lists.  A few things we had already decided that we wouldn’t try.  We didn’t feel the need to spend extra on any specialty dining and we decided prior to the cruise that we would give Mama Mia and the ice shows a miss.  Most of the things I had planned to try but didn’t get round to revolved around food (and coincidentally, the Boardwalk).  Specifically we did not get round to trying the boardwalk donuts, the complimentary hot dogs, Sabor guacamole, or a Kummelweck.
  I’ve read that they make Oasis class ships easy to find your way around and I have to say I agree.  The neighbourhoods mean there are only a few locations to memorise and then everything else falls in to place.  Similarly I’ve read that the ship is designed to not feel crowded.  Again I would say they succeeded.  Admittedly I don’t know how full the ship was but finding a table at the WJ was only ever a minor inconvenience and we never struggled for a lounger even on sea days.  We only ever tended to be in the Solarium however while walking through the rest of the pool deck there were always loungers to be seen, even if they weren’t right by the pool.
  I find it interesting that on one of the largest ships in the world with however many thousand people you still seem to always run in to the same certain people.  Like the pudgy kid who walked around like he owned the place with his vest top and flat bill cap looking like the stereotypical school bully, the girl with long braids dyed bright red, and the loved up couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and liked to sit in pools with their legs wrapped round each other.  Even though I understand that it’s just a form of confirmation bias – I initially noticed those people and therefore continue to spot them – I still find it interesting. 
  We both did enjoy having the drinks package however if we had to pay for it I doubt it would make sense. R doesn’t drink a whole lot.  For me even on sea days and really packing in the cocktails, I likely barely would have broken even.  I guess we will just always have to keep a look out for the deals where they include the package!
  We were in stateroom number 12680 which was aft.  I did put in a bit of thought when selecting a stateroom but since I had never been on an RCL ship let alone Allure specifically, I mostly just based it on checking what was on the decks above and below to avoid noise.  In hindsight the room choice was perfect.  Being aft it was at the right end of the ship for the WJ, Boardwalk and MDR.  The only place we went to often which was forward was the Solarium.  Also, 680 was only a few rooms along from the stairwell which meant no long walks along the corridor to/from the stairs. Being up on Deck 12 was also particularly good for quick stairs access to the WJ and pool deck.
  Speaking of the stairs, we made sure to almost always take them wherever we were going.  Aside from a very small number of exceptions the only time we took the elevators was after we got back from a day in port and we had to get from the gangway to Deck 12 after a long hot day.  R was good for regularly going to the gym on sea days, but for me the stairs were the key exercise throughout the week.  Unfortunately, despite the regular stair use including up to 10 decks at once, when I returned to work the stairs up to the fourth floor seemed no easier that they were before I left.

Day 8 – Sept 23 – Disembark day (a sad day - so sad I didn't take a single photo)
We were up at about 6am to get ready and pack.  We headed to the WJ for our final breakfast – sad times.  Back to the room to pick up our cases and then off we got. Overall I was very impressed with how they got thousands of people off the ship pretty seamlessly.
Once we got out of the terminal we ordered an Uber.  I was a little concerned at the prospect as it was a little manic but it all worked out fine.  It was helped by the fact that we were randomly allocated an Uber Lux even though we ordered the normal UberX.  It was a white Jaguar so pretty easy to spot when it arrived since it stood out from the mass of other cars.
Our flight was leaving Miami at 5pm and at this point it was about 9am.  We had thought previously about what to do in the interim.  One option was to kill the time doing one of RCLs excursions which is basically a bus tour which then takes you to the airport.  We wouldn’t have got much from that as it would really have just been a way to do an elongated airport transfer.  I had a better idea.  When we come to the States, especially Florida or Vegas, we like to hit an outlet mall and do a bunch of clothes shopping.  Neither of us particularly enjoy clothes shopping so at least for the past few years it has been a way to do a year’s worth of clothes shopping in one day and then not have to do anything else for the rest of the year.  So I had searched for outlet malls.  At first I saw the Sawmills one in Ft Lauderdale but the problem there would have been that we would need to get from there to Miami airport which is a long enough drive to encounter unexpected problems on our way to the flight.  So I looked for ones near Miami airport and found Dolphin Mall - a mere 10-15 mins drive from the airport.  That seemed like a great option.  The only downside was that since it was a Sunday it didn’t open until 11am so we knew we’d have to wait about. The upside, I imagine they do a fair amount of business from people either coming from or going to the airport so the website noted that they have lockers for luggage storage - ideal.
So that’s where our Uber headed.  We had no issues getting there and the Uber dropped us off at the main entrance.  We found some seats outside in the shade so we camped out and read as we had maybe 80 minutes until the shops opened up.  With about 15 mins or so to go we headed inside to find the lockers.  We found the closest ones we managed to get our two suitcases and all other carry on things in to two of the big suitcase sized lockers.  They were $5 each for the full day.  The smaller ones which we didn’t use were $3 each.  They are automated and seemed to be the exact same make as the ones at rides in the Universal Studios parks except without fingerprint scanners.  There weren’t a whole lot of lockers but I think there were multiple locations throughout the mall.  One thing I found strange was that later when we removed our things from the lockers there wasn’t an option to release the locker.  You pay for all day and they’re meant to be multi entry access so I think the two lockers would then be out of action for the rest of the day even though we’d left – unless they have another way of determining that the contents have been cleared out.
Anyway, we got a map and planned our attack.  We had a very successful shopping trip including purchases in Nike, American Eagle, Converse, Ralph Lauren and Levi – all American outlet mall classics!  At about 2.45pm we headed back to the lockers to clear out.  I had packed an extra duffle bag on the way here so we threw our purchases in there and I would just carry that on our flight.  One final Uber to the airport and that was our trip over.
We got a double whammy of frustrating news when we got to the airport. Out flight to London was delayed by 1.5 hours and our connecting flight up to Edinburgh had been cancelled and we’d been put on another one about 2.5 hours later than the first.  I knew we were likely to make most of the initial flight’s delay back and since we already had a decent layover in London, the extra 2.5 hours was not welcome – especially after a red-eye flight with little to no sleep.
A Taco Bell before security served as our farewell to fine American cuisine.  I then a beer after security while waiting on the plane, suitably shocked when they asked to be paid for the beer.  There was NFL playing at the bar so it wasn’t too painful a wait.
With the jet stream providing a tail wind the flight was only about 7.5 hours and as expected most of the delay was made back.  I watched one film while dinner was served - The Commuter – another perfect plane film.  Pretty silly and mindless with no great scenery that would be missed through the low definition screens.  Then as usual with a red-eye flight there was the usual struggle to get some sleep.  Once in London we settled in to our layover and read/tried not to pass out with fatigue.  One more short flight and we were back in Scotland – one week older, a little less milk-bottle coloured and livers slightly more pickled. 

To wrap up, and in true @Matt blog style, I’ve noted some of my random thoughts below:
Despite our efforts on our last sea day, we did not manage to tick everything off of our lists.  A few things we had already decided that we wouldn’t try.  We didn’t feel the need to spend extra on any specialty dining and we decided prior to the cruise that we would give Mama Mia and the ice shows a miss.  Most of the things I had planned to try but didn’t get round to revolved around food (and coincidentally, the Boardwalk).  Specifically we did not get round to trying the boardwalk donuts, the complimentary hot dogs, Sabor guacamole, or a Kummelweck.
  I’ve read that they make Oasis class ships easy to find your way around and I have to say I agree.  The neighbourhoods mean there are only a few locations to memorise and then everything else falls in to place.  Similarly I’ve read that the ship is designed to not feel crowded.  Again I would say they succeeded.  Admittedly I don’t know how full the ship was but finding a table at the WJ was only ever a minor inconvenience and we never struggled for a lounger even on sea days.  We only ever tended to be in the Solarium however while walking through the rest of the pool deck there were always loungers to be seen, even if they weren’t right by the pool.
  I find it interesting that on one of the largest ships in the world with however many thousand people you still seem to always run in to the same certain people.  Like the pudgy kid who walked around like he owned the place with his vest top and flat bill cap looking like the stereotypical school bully, the girl with long braids dyed bright red, and the loved up couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and liked to sit in pools with their legs wrapped round each other.  Even though I understand that it’s just a form of confirmation bias – I initially noticed those people and therefore continue to spot them – I still find it interesting. 
  We both did enjoy having the drinks package however if we had to pay for it I doubt it would make sense. R doesn’t drink a whole lot.  For me even on sea days and really packing in the cocktails, I likely barely would have broken even.  I guess we will just always have to keep a look out for the deals where they include the package!
  We were in stateroom number 12680 which was aft.  I did put in a bit of thought when selecting a stateroom but since I had never been on an RCL ship let alone Allure specifically, I mostly just based it on checking what was on the decks above and below to avoid noise.  In hindsight the room choice was perfect.  Being aft it was at the right end of the ship for the WJ, Boardwalk and MDR.  The only place we went to often which was forward was the Solarium.  Also, 680 was only a few rooms along from the stairwell which meant no long walks along the corridor to/from the stairs. Being up on Deck 12 was also particularly good for quick stairs access to the WJ and pool deck.
  Speaking of the stairs, we made sure to almost always take them wherever we were going.  Aside from a very small number of exceptions the only time we took the elevators was after we got back from a day in port and we had to get from the gangway to Deck 12 after a long hot day.  R was good for regularly going to the gym on sea days, but for me the stairs were the key exercise throughout the week.  Unfortunately, despite the regular stair use including up to 10 decks at once, when I returned to work the stairs up to the fourth floor seemed no easier that they were before I left.

Day 8 – Sept 23 – Disembark day (a sad day - so sad I didn't take a single photo)
We were up at about 6am to get ready and pack.  We headed to the WJ for our final breakfast – sad times.  Back to the room to pick up our cases and then off we got. Overall I was very impressed with how they got thousands of people off the ship pretty seamlessly.
Once we got out of the terminal we ordered an Uber.  I was a little concerned at the prospect as it was a little manic but it all worked out fine.  It was helped by the fact that we were randomly allocated an Uber Lux even though we ordered the normal UberX.  It was a white Jaguar so pretty easy to spot when it arrived since it stood out from the mass of other cars.
Our flight was leaving Miami at 5pm and at this point it was about 9am.  We had thought previously about what to do in the interim.  One option was to kill the time doing one of RCLs excursions which is basically a bus tour which then takes you to the airport.  We wouldn’t have got much from that as it would really have just been a way to do an elongated airport transfer.  I had a better idea.  When we come to the States, especially Florida or Vegas, we like to hit an outlet mall and do a bunch of clothes shopping.  Neither of us particularly enjoy clothes shopping so at least for the past few years it has been a way to do a year’s worth of clothes shopping in one day and then not have to do anything else for the rest of the year.  So I had searched for outlet malls.  At first I saw the Sawmills one in Ft Lauderdale but the problem there would have been that we would need to get from there to Miami airport which is a long enough drive to encounter unexpected problems on our way to the flight.  So I looked for ones near Miami airport and found Dolphin Mall - a mere 10-15 mins drive from the airport.  That seemed like a great option.  The only downside was that since it was a Sunday it didn’t open until 11am so we knew we’d have to wait about. The upside, I imagine they do a fair amount of business from people either coming from or going to the airport so the website noted that they have lockers for luggage storage - ideal.
So that’s where our Uber headed.  We had no issues getting there and the Uber dropped us off at the main entrance.  We found some seats outside in the shade so we camped out and read as we had maybe 80 minutes until the shops opened up.  With about 15 mins or so to go we headed inside to find the lockers.  We found the closest ones we managed to get our two suitcases and all other carry on things in to two of the big suitcase sized lockers.  They were $5 each for the full day.  The smaller ones which we didn’t use were $3 each.  They are automated and seemed to be the exact same make as the ones at rides in the Universal Studios parks except without fingerprint scanners.  There weren’t a whole lot of lockers but I think there were multiple locations throughout the mall.  One thing I found strange was that later when we removed our things from the lockers there wasn’t an option to release the locker.  You pay for all day and they’re meant to be multi entry access so I think the two lockers would then be out of action for the rest of the day even though we’d left – unless they have another way of determining that the contents have been cleared out.
Anyway, we got a map and planned our attack.  We had a very successful shopping trip including purchases in Nike, American Eagle, Converse, Ralph Lauren and Levi – all American outlet mall classics!  At about 2.45pm we headed back to the lockers to clear out.  I had packed an extra duffle bag on the way here so we threw our purchases in there and I would just carry that on our flight.  One final Uber to the airport and that was our trip over.
We got a double whammy of frustrating news when we got to the airport. Out flight to London was delayed by 1.5 hours and our connecting flight up to Edinburgh had been cancelled and we’d been put on another one about 2.5 hours later than the first.  I knew we were likely to make most of the initial flight’s delay back and since we already had a decent layover in London, the extra 2.5 hours was not welcome – especially after a red-eye flight with little to no sleep.
A Taco Bell before security served as our farewell to fine American cuisine.  I then a beer after security while waiting on the plane, suitably shocked when they asked to be paid for the beer.  There was NFL playing at the bar so it wasn’t too painful a wait.
With the jet stream providing a tail wind the flight was only about 7.5 hours and as expected most of the delay was made back.  I watched one film while dinner was served - The Commuter – another perfect plane film.  Pretty silly and mindless with no great scenery that would be missed through the low definition screens.  Then as usual with a red-eye flight there was the usual struggle to get some sleep.  Once in London we settled in to our layover and read/tried not to pass out with fatigue.  One more short flight and we were back in Scotland – one week older, a little less milk-bottle coloured and livers slightly more pickled. 

Day 7 – Sept 22 – Sea day
The last day of the cruise.  Again R got up a bit earlier and went to the gym.  Some impressive willpower on the last day of our trip!  I stayed in bed for a little longer and then headed to the main pool for a quick pre-breakfast swim – it seems this has quickly become a sea day ritual.  I lazed in the pool for a bit until R showed up.  She stuck her feet in for 10 minutes but then we got packed up and headed back to the room to get dried off for breakfast.
We once again opted for the WJ for breakfast, plus it turned out to be quite a large breakfast as they also had a chocolate delight stand set up with various chocolate items. I had some mousse from there which was good but very sweet.
Since it was our last day we wanted to try and tick things off that we hadn’t got round to doing so far.  First on that list was some bingo.  It happened to be the win-a-cruise version so that worked out quite well.  Unfortunately, not only were we unsuccessful, but we didn’t even get within one number of a full house at any point.  We only bought the lowest number of sheets possible so we didn’t have much of a chance compared to some people who were buying a ton of sheets.  The guy who ran the bingo said that someone had bought 45 sheets and that seemed to be confirmed by people who had to shout for him to slow down even though the pace between numbers was already quite slow.  I can’t imagine the feeling of winning a free cruise on your last day on a current cruise.  It would be an even sweeter feeling if, like us, it was your first time and you didn’t buy many sheets.  By the law of averages I guess that must have happened for someone at some point – sadly not for us this time.

We went to see if we could play some shuffleboard but it was closed for Aqua Theatre rehearsals.  We opted at that point to go to the Solarium.  It was another hot day so we both alternated between being in the pool and reading on some loungers.  I like to spend most of my time in the pool and R is the opposite but she did very kindly bring me a couple of cocktails to the pool.  I know that the bar staff would take orders and bring you drinks to the pool but not only did that involve having your Seapass card in the pool, mostly it just seemed a bit too indulgent for my tastes so sit in a pool while someone fetched you a drink!
We headed back to the room to get showered and changed for the evening.  We opted for the WJ again tonight since the MDR menu didn’t look spectacular.  I however went down to the MDR just after it opened to find our waiters to thank them.  As ridiculous as it sounds, they were so friendly during the week and since we were also at the WJ last night I wanted to make sure they knew that we hadn’t abandoned the MDR because of the service.  I know what you’re thinking - big softie!
While down on the lower decks, before we headed up to the WJ, we ticked something else off of our list that we hadn’t done yet - Sorrentos pizza.  I had read from a few posts that the pizza was awful and, being quite a pizza fan, I was keen to see how RCL managed to mess up dough, sauce and cheese.  I’m not sure if they have upped their game or I just have lower standards than some, but I thought the pizza was perfectly good.  Sure, it wasn’t gourmet Neapolitan pizza but it was as perfectly adequate in my eyes.
After our snack we headed to the WJ.  Unfortunately I wasn’t so impressed by the food tonight.  It was meant to be a wings/butchers night.  The wings were ok and so was some other stuff but they also had a seafood section that smelled really strongly.  Even R who loves seafood steered clear of that.
After dinner we headed out to the Flowriders and caught the end of some really good folk do their thing which was impressive to see.  The main reason we went out was to play mini golf – another item on the list – but there were no putters available.  We headed down to the boardwalk to play the game of shuffleboard that we had failed to play earlier.  I trailed R right to the end and then won it by one point with the last puck.  Pretty smug.

We dropped by the windjammer briefly so that R could get a cup of tea before heading back out and finding that the mini golf was much quieter.  R beat me to make up for the crushing shuffleboard loss, but I wasn’t really taking it all that seriously… honest!

We headed black to the stateroom at that point.  Sadly it was about that time so R did a bit of packing.  I had already got a lot of things ready for packing.  We had opted for the express departure so since we didn’t have to put our cases out tonight, my plan was to get everything ready to go but actually pack in the morning. 

Day 7 – Sept 22 – Sea day
The last day of the cruise.  Again R got up a bit earlier and went to the gym.  Some impressive willpower on the last day of our trip!  I stayed in bed for a little longer and then headed to the main pool for a quick pre-breakfast swim – it seems this has quickly become a sea day ritual.  I lazed in the pool for a bit until R showed up.  She stuck her feet in for 10 minutes but then we got packed up and headed back to the room to get dried off for breakfast.
We once again opted for the WJ for breakfast, plus it turned out to be quite a large breakfast as they also had a chocolate delight stand set up with various chocolate items. I had some mousse from there which was good but very sweet.
Since it was our last day we wanted to try and tick things off that we hadn’t got round to doing so far.  First on that list was some bingo.  It happened to be the win-a-cruise version so that worked out quite well.  Unfortunately, not only were we unsuccessful, but we didn’t even get within one number of a full house at any point.  We only bought the lowest number of sheets possible so we didn’t have much of a chance compared to some people who were buying a ton of sheets.  The guy who ran the bingo said that someone had bought 45 sheets and that seemed to be confirmed by people who had to shout for him to slow down even though the pace between numbers was already quite slow.  I can’t imagine the feeling of winning a free cruise on your last day on a current cruise.  It would be an even sweeter feeling if, like us, it was your first time and you didn’t buy many sheets.  By the law of averages I guess that must have happened for someone at some point – sadly not for us this time.

We went to see if we could play some shuffleboard but it was closed for Aqua Theatre rehearsals.  We opted at that point to go to the Solarium.  It was another hot day so we both alternated between being in the pool and reading on some loungers.  I like to spend most of my time in the pool and R is the opposite but she did very kindly bring me a couple of cocktails to the pool.  I know that the bar staff would take orders and bring you drinks to the pool but not only did that involve having your Seapass card in the pool, mostly it just seemed a bit too indulgent for my tastes so sit in a pool while someone fetched you a drink!
We headed back to the room to get showered and changed for the evening.  We opted for the WJ again tonight since the MDR menu didn’t look spectacular.  I however went down to the MDR just after it opened to find our waiters to thank them.  As ridiculous as it sounds, they were so friendly during the week and since we were also at the WJ last night I wanted to make sure they knew that we hadn’t abandoned the MDR because of the service.  I know what you’re thinking - big softie!
While down on the lower decks, before we headed up to the WJ, we ticked something else off of our list that we hadn’t done yet - Sorrentos pizza.  I had read from a few posts that the pizza was awful and, being quite a pizza fan, I was keen to see how RCL managed to mess up dough, sauce and cheese.  I’m not sure if they have upped their game or I just have lower standards than some, but I thought the pizza was perfectly good.  Sure, it wasn’t gourmet Neapolitan pizza but it was as perfectly adequate in my eyes.
After our snack we headed to the WJ.  Unfortunately I wasn’t so impressed by the food tonight.  It was meant to be a wings/butchers night.  The wings were ok and so was some other stuff but they also had a seafood section that smelled really strongly.  Even R who loves seafood steered clear of that.
After dinner we headed out to the Flowriders and caught the end of some really good folk do their thing which was impressive to see.  The main reason we went out was to play mini golf – another item on the list – but there were no putters available.  We headed down to the boardwalk to play the game of shuffleboard that we had failed to play earlier.  I trailed R right to the end and then won it by one point with the last puck.  Pretty smug.

We dropped by the windjammer briefly so that R could get a cup of tea before heading back out and finding that the mini golf was much quieter.  R beat me to make up for the crushing shuffleboard loss, but I wasn’t really taking it all that seriously… honest!

We headed black to the stateroom at that point.  Sadly it was about that time so R did a bit of packing.  I had already got a lot of things ready for packing.  We had opted for the express departure so since we didn’t have to put our cases out tonight, my plan was to get everything ready to go but actually pack in the morning. 

Day 6 – Sept 21 – Labadee
[not many photos from today since I didn't really have my phone out much on Labadee]
We had a bit of a lie in which was a treat since we didn’t dock in Labadee until 9.30am.  R however was up a bit earlier than I was so she headed to the gym for a bit.  I on the other hand was banking on the stairs continuing to provide my daily workout.
Once we gathered our things we headed to the WJ for breakfast.  We had a snorkelling excursion booked for 10am so we got off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot.  The excursion involved going out on a boat for about 15 minutes to a reef.  They then provided all the equipment for you to get in the water.  The group then followed a guide along the edges of the reef where he would point out various things he spotted.  It was a bit manic at times with people not looking where they were going and either swimming right in front of you or swimming up behind you and in to your fins.  I also had to tap a lady to point out that she was about to swim headfirst in to a jellyfish – you’re welcome!  After a while I just hung back to avoid the crush.  The snorkelling was good and more fun than just swimming about off a beach.  On the way back they provided some rum punch that wasn’t very strong.

Once we got back it was about 11.45am so we headed straight to the lunch buffet.  We weren’t too hungry after breakfast but our waiter had given us the tip that it was best to go when it first came out rather than get the old stuff later on.
We had a second excursion, kayaking, at 3pm leaving from Columbus Cove so we headed round that way to the beach there.  We got a couple of drinks and I went in the water while R lounged.  She did come in later on though and we threw a ball about in the water. The water was nice however it seems there were quite a lot of jellyfish around.  I didn’t see any myself at the beach but everyone was talking about them and I overheard a guy talking about something being closed because of them.  We did notice that no one was on the water park inflatables so perhaps it was that.  Either that or no one paid to use them but that seemed unlikely with up to 6,000 passengers.
Next we met our guide for the kayaking.  It turned out that only the two of us had booked the 3pm kayaking trip so we were essentially getting a private tour!  It involved kayaking out a fair distance to just off the coast of the proper Labadie town where the guide was from.  He said that that way we could see some of real Haiti.   We then sat in our kayaks in the water just off the coast while he gave some commentary.  He talked about life in the town and how much things had improved since the arrival of RCL.  Before RCL he said the town was made up of 700 people and now it is 6,000.  Now they have running water, electricity for 15 hours a day, 2 elementary schools and a small hospital.  He said that RCL employs at least one person from every household in Labadie.  It was good to hear him talk quite genuinely about the positive impact that RCL’s arrival has had on the town.  I guess the impact on Haiti as a whole would be relatively small but for this one small town the impact has been huge.
Once we were back I had to down a bottle of water.  It certainly wasn’t a leisurely paddle around.  I don’t know how the tour would have differed with more people, but as it was it was a fairly strenuous paddle across to the town.  We started to wandered back towards the ship.  I wanted to get a Christmas tree decoration so we went through the markets.  R went on ahead since she didn’t really fancy the haggling.  I’m not a big fan of it myself but mostly because I’m a bit of a softy when it comes to these local markets.  I get my Christmas tree decoration but to be honest it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.  When I asked someone if they had Christmas tree decorations he was of course like “oh, yes, yes” and led me to someone else’s stall.  What they had wasn’t too great and they didn’t even say ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them.  Of course being a softy I didn’t want to look at what they had then say no and leave.  When I asked if they had any that had ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them they were of course like “oh, yes, yes”.  He then left and promptly came back with a Sharpie.  Apparently they could make it so that they had any words I wanted on them!  Anyway, so now we have a pretty ‘rough and ready’ Christmas tree decoration with a story behind it and ‘Labadee’ written on it in Sharpie!
I managed to escape the market with only buying one other item (a wooden shot glass I didn’t need - big softy).  From there it was back to the ship to get all the salt showered off.
We headed down to the promenade for a bit and R got an iced coffee while I had a cocktail.  We decided to have dinner in the WJ tonight.  Firstly it was Indian night in the WJ which is up our street, and secondly it was the second formal night in the MDR which is not so much up our street.  We don’t mind it and make the effort when we go but our preference would always be casual.  So we headed up and it was very good. Very nice butter chicken and a made-to-order stir fry section.

We headed down to the theatre after dinner.  We had the Blue Planet show booked for 10pm but the way the week has been going so far I knew that there was no way R would have been up for a show starting that late.  So we headed down to be on standby for the 8pm show and we got in no problem.  It was good and the trampoline acrobatics especially were impressive but the singing and dancing was a little traditional.  A bit too Eurovision maybe for our tastes!
After the show we walked through the casino.  R saw that twinkle in my eye when I passed the craps table so she said she was going back to the room.  I hung about and watched for a bit before deciding ‘what the heck’ and playing for a while.  I don’t go to casinos often although there are plenty casinos back home if I was so inclined but not many have craps so that is generally the game I go for when I’m in Vegas or elsewhere.  Unfortunately, when I say I played for ‘a while’ that is probably being a bit generous – it didn’t go well.  I burned through my own budgeted allocation pretty dang quick not helped by a bad mojo croupier who I must have offended somehow since she spoke to me like I was a disobedient child.  In hindsight I should have taken a note of her name but in the moment I forgot I was on a customer service oriented cruise and not a cut throat casino.  Not wanting to chase my losses, I called it a night.  After burning through the cash and muttering about the nameless croupier on my way up the stairs, I headed back to the room. 

Day 6 – Sept 21 – Labadee
[not many photos from today since I didn't really have my phone out much on Labadee]
We had a bit of a lie in which was a treat since we didn’t dock in Labadee until 9.30am.  R however was up a bit earlier than I was so she headed to the gym for a bit.  I on the other hand was banking on the stairs continuing to provide my daily workout.
Once we gathered our things we headed to the WJ for breakfast.  We had a snorkelling excursion booked for 10am so we got off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot.  The excursion involved going out on a boat for about 15 minutes to a reef.  They then provided all the equipment for you to get in the water.  The group then followed a guide along the edges of the reef where he would point out various things he spotted.  It was a bit manic at times with people not looking where they were going and either swimming right in front of you or swimming up behind you and in to your fins.  I also had to tap a lady to point out that she was about to swim headfirst in to a jellyfish – you’re welcome!  After a while I just hung back to avoid the crush.  The snorkelling was good and more fun than just swimming about off a beach.  On the way back they provided some rum punch that wasn’t very strong.

Once we got back it was about 11.45am so we headed straight to the lunch buffet.  We weren’t too hungry after breakfast but our waiter had given us the tip that it was best to go when it first came out rather than get the old stuff later on.
We had a second excursion, kayaking, at 3pm leaving from Columbus Cove so we headed round that way to the beach there.  We got a couple of drinks and I went in the water while R lounged.  She did come in later on though and we threw a ball about in the water. The water was nice however it seems there were quite a lot of jellyfish around.  I didn’t see any myself at the beach but everyone was talking about them and I overheard a guy talking about something being closed because of them.  We did notice that no one was on the water park inflatables so perhaps it was that.  Either that or no one paid to use them but that seemed unlikely with up to 6,000 passengers.
Next we met our guide for the kayaking.  It turned out that only the two of us had booked the 3pm kayaking trip so we were essentially getting a private tour!  It involved kayaking out a fair distance to just off the coast of the proper Labadie town where the guide was from.  He said that that way we could see some of real Haiti.   We then sat in our kayaks in the water just off the coast while he gave some commentary.  He talked about life in the town and how much things had improved since the arrival of RCL.  Before RCL he said the town was made up of 700 people and now it is 6,000.  Now they have running water, electricity for 15 hours a day, 2 elementary schools and a small hospital.  He said that RCL employs at least one person from every household in Labadie.  It was good to hear him talk quite genuinely about the positive impact that RCL’s arrival has had on the town.  I guess the impact on Haiti as a whole would be relatively small but for this one small town the impact has been huge.
Once we were back I had to down a bottle of water.  It certainly wasn’t a leisurely paddle around.  I don’t know how the tour would have differed with more people, but as it was it was a fairly strenuous paddle across to the town.  We started to wandered back towards the ship.  I wanted to get a Christmas tree decoration so we went through the markets.  R went on ahead since she didn’t really fancy the haggling.  I’m not a big fan of it myself but mostly because I’m a bit of a softy when it comes to these local markets.  I get my Christmas tree decoration but to be honest it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.  When I asked someone if they had Christmas tree decorations he was of course like “oh, yes, yes” and led me to someone else’s stall.  What they had wasn’t too great and they didn’t even say ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them.  Of course being a softy I didn’t want to look at what they had then say no and leave.  When I asked if they had any that had ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them they were of course like “oh, yes, yes”.  He then left and promptly came back with a Sharpie.  Apparently they could make it so that they had any words I wanted on them!  Anyway, so now we have a pretty ‘rough and ready’ Christmas tree decoration with a story behind it and ‘Labadee’ written on it in Sharpie!
I managed to escape the market with only buying one other item (a wooden shot glass I didn’t need - big softy).  From there it was back to the ship to get all the salt showered off.
We headed down to the promenade for a bit and R got an iced coffee while I had a cocktail.  We decided to have dinner in the WJ tonight.  Firstly it was Indian night in the WJ which is up our street, and secondly it was the second formal night in the MDR which is not so much up our street.  We don’t mind it and make the effort when we go but our preference would always be casual.  So we headed up and it was very good. Very nice butter chicken and a made-to-order stir fry section.

We headed down to the theatre after dinner.  We had the Blue Planet show booked for 10pm but the way the week has been going so far I knew that there was no way R would have been up for a show starting that late.  So we headed down to be on standby for the 8pm show and we got in no problem.  It was good and the trampoline acrobatics especially were impressive but the singing and dancing was a little traditional.  A bit too Eurovision maybe for our tastes!
After the show we walked through the casino.  R saw that twinkle in my eye when I passed the craps table so she said she was going back to the room.  I hung about and watched for a bit before deciding ‘what the heck’ and playing for a while.  I don’t go to casinos often although there are plenty casinos back home if I was so inclined but not many have craps so that is generally the game I go for when I’m in Vegas or elsewhere.  Unfortunately, when I say I played for ‘a while’ that is probably being a bit generous – it didn’t go well.  I burned through my own budgeted allocation pretty dang quick not helped by a bad mojo croupier who I must have offended somehow since she spoke to me like I was a disobedient child.  In hindsight I should have taken a note of her name but in the moment I forgot I was on a customer service oriented cruise and not a cut throat casino.  Not wanting to chase my losses, I called it a night.  After burning through the cash and muttering about the nameless croupier on my way up the stairs, I headed back to the room. 

Day 2 (Sea Day)
We knew from multiple announcements the night before that we needed to set our clocks ahead one hour, but decided to see if maybe we'd cross the time zone boundary overnight so that our phones would just auto-update. No such luck. I woke up at what my phone said was around 7:00, and briefly turned on the TV to check the ship time.
8:00. Ugh. That definitely would eat into our free time before we had to be at North Star for our reserved slot. I manually updated my phone to the new time, and made sure my Fitbit got synced up as well so we had one watch that would have the correct time for our appointments.
I told Cathy, and we agreed to wait another half hour before doing anything since she wanted a bit more sleep. Since I was wide awake, I decided to hang out on the balcony for a bit. I was greeted by a heavily cloudy sky that the sun was trying mightily to break through.

I saw another ship not far off from us, but the overcast made it impossible to make out any markings. But the skies soon started to clear, and as the light improved I could just make out a set of mickeys on the stacks. I pulled up the Marine Traffic app and figured out it was the Disney Magic.

We headed down for breakfast a little after 8:30, and decided to avoid the Windjammer crowd and just go to Cafe Two70 again. We took the stairs down (a whopping two flights) and walked down the Royal Esplanade, actually taking in the decor this time.


This part of the ship was completely empty. I got the feeling that we weren't the only ones who didn't bother to set our clocks ahead before we went to bed. Guess we wouldn't have had any crowds in the Windjammer after all...
Cafe Two70 offers a fixed selection of breakfast items each morning -- breakfast burritos, mini-croissant sandwiches, bacon and sausage links, yogurt parfaits, cups of sliced fruit and whole fresh fruit options, a nice selection of bagels, and a pot of oatmeal if that's more your morning jam. In addition, the coffee area has a nice selection of pastries. We grabbed what caught our eyes, got a couple of cappuccinos, and made our way all the way to the back of Two70 to enjoy the wake view while we ate.


I was curious how the VOOM was measuring up here in Two70 with it so empty, so I ran a speed test. More or less the best possible results for Surf & Stream, but of course the room was empty and not under any load.

After breakfast, we split up for a bit and agreed to meet at North Star at 11. Cathy went to the gym for a quick workout, while I decided to just head over to the Solarium and check out the observation deck I knew was there. On the way, I took a couple more pictures of the Esplanade, including a different angle of what I call "the weird tuba sculpture".



I could probably have spent an hour just in that part of the Esplanade, looking at all the art on display and taking in the general design. When it's not jammed with a big crowd, it really is a very nice space. But, I didn't have an hour, and I had a couple of goals I wanted to clear before we went up in the big glass bubble.
As soon as I got up to the Solarium, I walked down to the bottom level, hung a right to walk past the hot tubs, and found the door that leads out to the observation wing. The view from there, both forward and aft, is really nice.


While I was enjoying the view, I noticed that there were some crew members taking a break in the recess at the bow where the winch is located. Given the three sets of tables and chairs, I figured it must be a regularly-used spot for anyone off-duty or on break to take advantage of if they didn't want to mingle with the passengers while still getting outside.

I still had a bit of time to kill, and I realized that in the previous day's rush to get so many things taken care of before muster, I never had a chance to just sit and the pool and enjoy a start-of-vacation Lava Flow. I went over to the Solarium bar and quickly remedied that, making it a Kraken Lava Flow when I saw the tell-tale bottle sitting on the shelf. It is definitely tastier with Kraken than the one I had on Freedom, with whatever default rum they chose to put in it!

While I enjoyed by belated "vacation is now officially ON" beverage, I chatted with a younger couple who were already there, enjoying mimosas and some other tropical beverages. When it was time for my North Star reservation, I headed on over to get in line and wait my turn. I needn't have rushed, they were actually doing two rides for the 11:00 to 11:30 slot, rather than having separate 11 and 11:15 reservations. Not sure why they did it that way, but it was fine since Cathy hadn't yet gotten back from her workout. I put us down for the second slot and waited for her to arrive, enjoying the view of the still-empty pool deck.

Cathy arrived not long after I'd settled down, and soon enough it was our turn to go up with Willy Wonka in the Great Glass Elevat... sorry, wrong story. We got into the pod along with the others who'd made reservations, several of them first-timers like us, and in short order we were enjoying the view from 300 feet above the ship. Which, given we were in the middle of the ocean, wasn't much besides the ship itself. It was kind of cool, though, to get our picture taken all the way up there.


 We asked the attendant if the North Star was available while in port, and when she confirmed it was we resolved to ride on it again on our second day in Bermuda.
Our ride done, we decided to head aft and check out the Sea Plex. We got there while the bumper cars were in full swing, but it was almost the end of the session and we didn't think we'd get a chance with the line that was still there.

At this point, we decided it was a good time to visit the thermal spa. We went back to our rooms to get our bathing suits (which you're advised to wear while using the spa), then back up to deck 15. Plenty of spots available at that time, so checkin was no problem. And the steam room was working again, so we'd have a chance to try that out. We started off with the heated loungers, just relaxing for a while and reading.

I tried out the other features of the spa, and apart from the steam room (way too hot!) I thought everything was good and worth the purchase. The rain shower chamber is interesting, as it has three modes that not only change how the water is sprayed down but also the temperature. Going with the coolest option right after a hot session in the dry sauna is bracing, to say the least!
After a little over an hour, we went back to the room and showered, then up to the Windjammer for a late lunch. I was glad the inside area was so crowded, because in searching for a table I found the outdoor seating area all the way aft! I don't know if I just forgot Anthem's WJ had this, or if I missed it in all the live blogs I've read, but it was a nice surprise now that the weather was warmer. The food was good but not great, but I'm as much a buffet denier as I am an Oasis class denier and I'm giving them a pass on this one. The fact I was enjoying a Blue Moon with my meal certainly didn't hurt the final evaluation. ? Cathy always finds the offerings in the Windjammer to be more than fine, and had no problems with her lunch.
Our bellies full, we made our way back to the Solarium and actually managed to score a pair of loungers by the side windows.

Cathy was tired and needed a nap, but the loungers were making me really uncomfortable (my feet and legs just aren't up for stretching out on hard flat surfaces any more), so I decided to head over to the Schooner Bar and actually played my first-ever trivia game. It was 70s trivia, which while a little bit early for me (born in 1970) I thought I could still manage OK with. Well, let me tell you, even after finding a couple to play along with so we'd have a better shot, I still only solidly knew the answer to two of the questions. My teammates weren't having any better luck, and we ended up with a final score of 6 out of 18. The best team got 15, so we were solidly trounced.
After that, I wandered by the Music Hall and remembered seeing the pool tables there. The tables were empty, and I played a couple of solo practice games. It was... an interesting lesson. Considering I hadn't played pool since college, I did a lot better than I thought I had any right to. I guess maybe there's still some residual muscle memory at work there. But I'm going to claim a bit of a mulligan as well, because those pool tables are not at all self-leveling. Two separate times I felt the ship lurch really strongly, and both times I saw the balls at one side of the table roll away to the other side or into the pocket they were next to.
After one round each of practice 8-ball and 9-ball, I headed back to the room to meet up with Cathy and get ready for dinner in Coastal Kitchen. While it was formal night, neither of us brought our formal wear for this trip. We dressed business casual nice and it was Good Enough. While I was in the room and waiting for Cathy to finish getting changed, I took another speed test. The result was really surprising, because our room had an access point mounted dead center in the ceiling!

Yes, that's a good 23% slower on download vs. Two70, in a much smaller room where the access point is maybe 3 feet from my phone.
We still had some time to kill since our reservation wasn't until 7, and my weather app said sunset was around 6:15, so we walked down to Deck 5 where Cathy had seen a couple of nice viewing nooks outside by the life boats. As we walked all the way aft to see what the different spots were, we unknowingly passed by @Broons77 and his wife, who were in the smoking area on the walking deck.
We settled on a spot to watch and I got a really nice photo, but the sun was still oddly high for a sunset that was supposed to be happening in just a few minutes.

You may have already figured it out, but it took me until a bit after 6:30 before I did. My weather app that reported the sunset time was still going off of New York and Eastern Time. So sunset where I was wouldn't actually be until 7:15-ish, by which time we'd be having dinner. So we headed up to deck 14 and Coastal Kitchen.
For the second time, CK had a menu item that I'd had at my Chef's Table dinner back on Freedom -- the Maine lobster salad. I had that along with escargots, while Cathy started off with the Caesar salad again after really liking the one she'd had the prior night. While we ate our appetizers, we also worked out the answer to the evening's riddle from Amar:
"I travel all around the world, but I stay in the corner."
Cathy looked it up and then gave me a very subtle hint, but it was enough to let me puzzle it out. When Amar arrived with our entrees, we told him the answer. Since Cathy looked it up, she got no chocolate, but I was allowed to get the piece since I'd only been given a very small hint. And then we got a second challenge, this one another stick-based puzzle.
You have nine sticks placed side by side, like so: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Rearrange the sticks so instead of nine, they make ten.
 
Our entrees were the pappardelle with veal ragout for me, and the zucchini spaghetti for Cathy. My entree was accompanied by a glass of the Chianti Ruffina that I like so much. For dessert, I got the Valrhona Chocolate Bar, which I found to just be OK, along with another Bailey's and coffee on ice; Cathy tried the sugar free chocolate ice cream and said it was really good. Neither one of us could figure out the second puzzle challenge, and gave up after dessert. Amar showed us the answer and I face-palmed. Thinking outside the box really isn't my strong suit.
 
After dinner we went to the Schooner Bar, where we were due to meet up with @ellcee and @Broons77. Only Ellcee showed up, as Broons was still dealing with an interesting situation at his Chefs Table dinner. The three of us had to relocate in short order; the piano player had started, and his instrument and mic were amped so loudly over the Schooner Bar's speakers that you couldn't even think about having a conversation with someone. We ended up going to the Bionic Bar, just because it was the quietest and least crowded place on the deck. Didn't order anything (hey, when everyone here says all of the drinks at that place are awful, I listen!!), we just found a table there with a few chairs and spent the next hour or so chatting and getting to know each other. It was a really nice meet-up, and I hope we'll have the chance to get together again on another sailing. (2020 CA/NE group cruise?)
We called it a night around 10:30 and went our separate ways, as we all wanted to be up early for our arrival in Bermuda. When Cathy and I got back to the room, we found someone had snuck in and was still trying to find something good on the TV.

Day 6 – Sept 21 – Labadee
[not many photos from today since I didn't really have my phone out much on Labadee]
We had a bit of a lie in which was a treat since we didn’t dock in Labadee until 9.30am.  R however was up a bit earlier than I was so she headed to the gym for a bit.  I on the other hand was banking on the stairs continuing to provide my daily workout.
Once we gathered our things we headed to the WJ for breakfast.  We had a snorkelling excursion booked for 10am so we got off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot.  The excursion involved going out on a boat for about 15 minutes to a reef.  They then provided all the equipment for you to get in the water.  The group then followed a guide along the edges of the reef where he would point out various things he spotted.  It was a bit manic at times with people not looking where they were going and either swimming right in front of you or swimming up behind you and in to your fins.  I also had to tap a lady to point out that she was about to swim headfirst in to a jellyfish – you’re welcome!  After a while I just hung back to avoid the crush.  The snorkelling was good and more fun than just swimming about off a beach.  On the way back they provided some rum punch that wasn’t very strong.

Once we got back it was about 11.45am so we headed straight to the lunch buffet.  We weren’t too hungry after breakfast but our waiter had given us the tip that it was best to go when it first came out rather than get the old stuff later on.
We had a second excursion, kayaking, at 3pm leaving from Columbus Cove so we headed round that way to the beach there.  We got a couple of drinks and I went in the water while R lounged.  She did come in later on though and we threw a ball about in the water. The water was nice however it seems there were quite a lot of jellyfish around.  I didn’t see any myself at the beach but everyone was talking about them and I overheard a guy talking about something being closed because of them.  We did notice that no one was on the water park inflatables so perhaps it was that.  Either that or no one paid to use them but that seemed unlikely with up to 6,000 passengers.
Next we met our guide for the kayaking.  It turned out that only the two of us had booked the 3pm kayaking trip so we were essentially getting a private tour!  It involved kayaking out a fair distance to just off the coast of the proper Labadie town where the guide was from.  He said that that way we could see some of real Haiti.   We then sat in our kayaks in the water just off the coast while he gave some commentary.  He talked about life in the town and how much things had improved since the arrival of RCL.  Before RCL he said the town was made up of 700 people and now it is 6,000.  Now they have running water, electricity for 15 hours a day, 2 elementary schools and a small hospital.  He said that RCL employs at least one person from every household in Labadie.  It was good to hear him talk quite genuinely about the positive impact that RCL’s arrival has had on the town.  I guess the impact on Haiti as a whole would be relatively small but for this one small town the impact has been huge.
Once we were back I had to down a bottle of water.  It certainly wasn’t a leisurely paddle around.  I don’t know how the tour would have differed with more people, but as it was it was a fairly strenuous paddle across to the town.  We started to wandered back towards the ship.  I wanted to get a Christmas tree decoration so we went through the markets.  R went on ahead since she didn’t really fancy the haggling.  I’m not a big fan of it myself but mostly because I’m a bit of a softy when it comes to these local markets.  I get my Christmas tree decoration but to be honest it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.  When I asked someone if they had Christmas tree decorations he was of course like “oh, yes, yes” and led me to someone else’s stall.  What they had wasn’t too great and they didn’t even say ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them.  Of course being a softy I didn’t want to look at what they had then say no and leave.  When I asked if they had any that had ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them they were of course like “oh, yes, yes”.  He then left and promptly came back with a Sharpie.  Apparently they could make it so that they had any words I wanted on them!  Anyway, so now we have a pretty ‘rough and ready’ Christmas tree decoration with a story behind it and ‘Labadee’ written on it in Sharpie!
I managed to escape the market with only buying one other item (a wooden shot glass I didn’t need - big softy).  From there it was back to the ship to get all the salt showered off.
We headed down to the promenade for a bit and R got an iced coffee while I had a cocktail.  We decided to have dinner in the WJ tonight.  Firstly it was Indian night in the WJ which is up our street, and secondly it was the second formal night in the MDR which is not so much up our street.  We don’t mind it and make the effort when we go but our preference would always be casual.  So we headed up and it was very good. Very nice butter chicken and a made-to-order stir fry section.

We headed down to the theatre after dinner.  We had the Blue Planet show booked for 10pm but the way the week has been going so far I knew that there was no way R would have been up for a show starting that late.  So we headed down to be on standby for the 8pm show and we got in no problem.  It was good and the trampoline acrobatics especially were impressive but the singing and dancing was a little traditional.  A bit too Eurovision maybe for our tastes!
After the show we walked through the casino.  R saw that twinkle in my eye when I passed the craps table so she said she was going back to the room.  I hung about and watched for a bit before deciding ‘what the heck’ and playing for a while.  I don’t go to casinos often although there are plenty casinos back home if I was so inclined but not many have craps so that is generally the game I go for when I’m in Vegas or elsewhere.  Unfortunately, when I say I played for ‘a while’ that is probably being a bit generous – it didn’t go well.  I burned through my own budgeted allocation pretty dang quick not helped by a bad mojo croupier who I must have offended somehow since she spoke to me like I was a disobedient child.  In hindsight I should have taken a note of her name but in the moment I forgot I was on a customer service oriented cruise and not a cut throat casino.  Not wanting to chase my losses, I called it a night.  After burning through the cash and muttering about the nameless croupier on my way up the stairs, I headed back to the room. 

Day 6 – Sept 21 – Labadee
[not many photos from today since I didn't really have my phone out much on Labadee]
We had a bit of a lie in which was a treat since we didn’t dock in Labadee until 9.30am.  R however was up a bit earlier than I was so she headed to the gym for a bit.  I on the other hand was banking on the stairs continuing to provide my daily workout.
Once we gathered our things we headed to the WJ for breakfast.  We had a snorkelling excursion booked for 10am so we got off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot.  The excursion involved going out on a boat for about 15 minutes to a reef.  They then provided all the equipment for you to get in the water.  The group then followed a guide along the edges of the reef where he would point out various things he spotted.  It was a bit manic at times with people not looking where they were going and either swimming right in front of you or swimming up behind you and in to your fins.  I also had to tap a lady to point out that she was about to swim headfirst in to a jellyfish – you’re welcome!  After a while I just hung back to avoid the crush.  The snorkelling was good and more fun than just swimming about off a beach.  On the way back they provided some rum punch that wasn’t very strong.

Once we got back it was about 11.45am so we headed straight to the lunch buffet.  We weren’t too hungry after breakfast but our waiter had given us the tip that it was best to go when it first came out rather than get the old stuff later on.
We had a second excursion, kayaking, at 3pm leaving from Columbus Cove so we headed round that way to the beach there.  We got a couple of drinks and I went in the water while R lounged.  She did come in later on though and we threw a ball about in the water. The water was nice however it seems there were quite a lot of jellyfish around.  I didn’t see any myself at the beach but everyone was talking about them and I overheard a guy talking about something being closed because of them.  We did notice that no one was on the water park inflatables so perhaps it was that.  Either that or no one paid to use them but that seemed unlikely with up to 6,000 passengers.
Next we met our guide for the kayaking.  It turned out that only the two of us had booked the 3pm kayaking trip so we were essentially getting a private tour!  It involved kayaking out a fair distance to just off the coast of the proper Labadie town where the guide was from.  He said that that way we could see some of real Haiti.   We then sat in our kayaks in the water just off the coast while he gave some commentary.  He talked about life in the town and how much things had improved since the arrival of RCL.  Before RCL he said the town was made up of 700 people and now it is 6,000.  Now they have running water, electricity for 15 hours a day, 2 elementary schools and a small hospital.  He said that RCL employs at least one person from every household in Labadie.  It was good to hear him talk quite genuinely about the positive impact that RCL’s arrival has had on the town.  I guess the impact on Haiti as a whole would be relatively small but for this one small town the impact has been huge.
Once we were back I had to down a bottle of water.  It certainly wasn’t a leisurely paddle around.  I don’t know how the tour would have differed with more people, but as it was it was a fairly strenuous paddle across to the town.  We started to wandered back towards the ship.  I wanted to get a Christmas tree decoration so we went through the markets.  R went on ahead since she didn’t really fancy the haggling.  I’m not a big fan of it myself but mostly because I’m a bit of a softy when it comes to these local markets.  I get my Christmas tree decoration but to be honest it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.  When I asked someone if they had Christmas tree decorations he was of course like “oh, yes, yes” and led me to someone else’s stall.  What they had wasn’t too great and they didn’t even say ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them.  Of course being a softy I didn’t want to look at what they had then say no and leave.  When I asked if they had any that had ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them they were of course like “oh, yes, yes”.  He then left and promptly came back with a Sharpie.  Apparently they could make it so that they had any words I wanted on them!  Anyway, so now we have a pretty ‘rough and ready’ Christmas tree decoration with a story behind it and ‘Labadee’ written on it in Sharpie!
I managed to escape the market with only buying one other item (a wooden shot glass I didn’t need - big softy).  From there it was back to the ship to get all the salt showered off.
We headed down to the promenade for a bit and R got an iced coffee while I had a cocktail.  We decided to have dinner in the WJ tonight.  Firstly it was Indian night in the WJ which is up our street, and secondly it was the second formal night in the MDR which is not so much up our street.  We don’t mind it and make the effort when we go but our preference would always be casual.  So we headed up and it was very good. Very nice butter chicken and a made-to-order stir fry section.

We headed down to the theatre after dinner.  We had the Blue Planet show booked for 10pm but the way the week has been going so far I knew that there was no way R would have been up for a show starting that late.  So we headed down to be on standby for the 8pm show and we got in no problem.  It was good and the trampoline acrobatics especially were impressive but the singing and dancing was a little traditional.  A bit too Eurovision maybe for our tastes!
After the show we walked through the casino.  R saw that twinkle in my eye when I passed the craps table so she said she was going back to the room.  I hung about and watched for a bit before deciding ‘what the heck’ and playing for a while.  I don’t go to casinos often although there are plenty casinos back home if I was so inclined but not many have craps so that is generally the game I go for when I’m in Vegas or elsewhere.  Unfortunately, when I say I played for ‘a while’ that is probably being a bit generous – it didn’t go well.  I burned through my own budgeted allocation pretty dang quick not helped by a bad mojo croupier who I must have offended somehow since she spoke to me like I was a disobedient child.  In hindsight I should have taken a note of her name but in the moment I forgot I was on a customer service oriented cruise and not a cut throat casino.  Not wanting to chase my losses, I called it a night.  After burning through the cash and muttering about the nameless croupier on my way up the stairs, I headed back to the room. 

Day 6 – Sept 21 – Labadee
[not many photos from today since I didn't really have my phone out much on Labadee]
We had a bit of a lie in which was a treat since we didn’t dock in Labadee until 9.30am.  R however was up a bit earlier than I was so she headed to the gym for a bit.  I on the other hand was banking on the stairs continuing to provide my daily workout.
Once we gathered our things we headed to the WJ for breakfast.  We had a snorkelling excursion booked for 10am so we got off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot.  The excursion involved going out on a boat for about 15 minutes to a reef.  They then provided all the equipment for you to get in the water.  The group then followed a guide along the edges of the reef where he would point out various things he spotted.  It was a bit manic at times with people not looking where they were going and either swimming right in front of you or swimming up behind you and in to your fins.  I also had to tap a lady to point out that she was about to swim headfirst in to a jellyfish – you’re welcome!  After a while I just hung back to avoid the crush.  The snorkelling was good and more fun than just swimming about off a beach.  On the way back they provided some rum punch that wasn’t very strong.

Once we got back it was about 11.45am so we headed straight to the lunch buffet.  We weren’t too hungry after breakfast but our waiter had given us the tip that it was best to go when it first came out rather than get the old stuff later on.
We had a second excursion, kayaking, at 3pm leaving from Columbus Cove so we headed round that way to the beach there.  We got a couple of drinks and I went in the water while R lounged.  She did come in later on though and we threw a ball about in the water. The water was nice however it seems there were quite a lot of jellyfish around.  I didn’t see any myself at the beach but everyone was talking about them and I overheard a guy talking about something being closed because of them.  We did notice that no one was on the water park inflatables so perhaps it was that.  Either that or no one paid to use them but that seemed unlikely with up to 6,000 passengers.
Next we met our guide for the kayaking.  It turned out that only the two of us had booked the 3pm kayaking trip so we were essentially getting a private tour!  It involved kayaking out a fair distance to just off the coast of the proper Labadie town where the guide was from.  He said that that way we could see some of real Haiti.   We then sat in our kayaks in the water just off the coast while he gave some commentary.  He talked about life in the town and how much things had improved since the arrival of RCL.  Before RCL he said the town was made up of 700 people and now it is 6,000.  Now they have running water, electricity for 15 hours a day, 2 elementary schools and a small hospital.  He said that RCL employs at least one person from every household in Labadie.  It was good to hear him talk quite genuinely about the positive impact that RCL’s arrival has had on the town.  I guess the impact on Haiti as a whole would be relatively small but for this one small town the impact has been huge.
Once we were back I had to down a bottle of water.  It certainly wasn’t a leisurely paddle around.  I don’t know how the tour would have differed with more people, but as it was it was a fairly strenuous paddle across to the town.  We started to wandered back towards the ship.  I wanted to get a Christmas tree decoration so we went through the markets.  R went on ahead since she didn’t really fancy the haggling.  I’m not a big fan of it myself but mostly because I’m a bit of a softy when it comes to these local markets.  I get my Christmas tree decoration but to be honest it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.  When I asked someone if they had Christmas tree decorations he was of course like “oh, yes, yes” and led me to someone else’s stall.  What they had wasn’t too great and they didn’t even say ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them.  Of course being a softy I didn’t want to look at what they had then say no and leave.  When I asked if they had any that had ‘Labadee’ or ‘Haiti’ on them they were of course like “oh, yes, yes”.  He then left and promptly came back with a Sharpie.  Apparently they could make it so that they had any words I wanted on them!  Anyway, so now we have a pretty ‘rough and ready’ Christmas tree decoration with a story behind it and ‘Labadee’ written on it in Sharpie!
I managed to escape the market with only buying one other item (a wooden shot glass I didn’t need - big softy).  From there it was back to the ship to get all the salt showered off.
We headed down to the promenade for a bit and R got an iced coffee while I had a cocktail.  We decided to have dinner in the WJ tonight.  Firstly it was Indian night in the WJ which is up our street, and secondly it was the second formal night in the MDR which is not so much up our street.  We don’t mind it and make the effort when we go but our preference would always be casual.  So we headed up and it was very good. Very nice butter chicken and a made-to-order stir fry section.

We headed down to the theatre after dinner.  We had the Blue Planet show booked for 10pm but the way the week has been going so far I knew that there was no way R would have been up for a show starting that late.  So we headed down to be on standby for the 8pm show and we got in no problem.  It was good and the trampoline acrobatics especially were impressive but the singing and dancing was a little traditional.  A bit too Eurovision maybe for our tastes!
After the show we walked through the casino.  R saw that twinkle in my eye when I passed the craps table so she said she was going back to the room.  I hung about and watched for a bit before deciding ‘what the heck’ and playing for a while.  I don’t go to casinos often although there are plenty casinos back home if I was so inclined but not many have craps so that is generally the game I go for when I’m in Vegas or elsewhere.  Unfortunately, when I say I played for ‘a while’ that is probably being a bit generous – it didn’t go well.  I burned through my own budgeted allocation pretty dang quick not helped by a bad mojo croupier who I must have offended somehow since she spoke to me like I was a disobedient child.  In hindsight I should have taken a note of her name but in the moment I forgot I was on a customer service oriented cruise and not a cut throat casino.  Not wanting to chase my losses, I called it a night.  After burning through the cash and muttering about the nameless croupier on my way up the stairs, I headed back to the room. 

Thanks for the report.
 

[I've now worked out how to insert photos in to the body of the post rather than have them all at the end, so I will do that to break up the text a bit]
Day 5 – Sept 20 – San Juan
Another early start, this one pretty dang early due to the arrival time of 7am in San Juan.  Since when was vacationing so tiring?  Back up to the WJ for breakfast due to the convenience for a quick breakfast.
Our plan for San Juan was to self explore and mostly visit the forts.  We were planning on trying to hit both forts in the one day before all-aboard at 1.30pm.  We were off ship before 8am but knew that the forts didn’t open until 9am.  So first we headed towards the cemetery next to El Morro since it looked like a sight to be seen and I imagined it wouldn’t have opening times – it didn’t.

Due to the time we decided we would attempt San Cristobal first as we figured by the time we walked there it should be bang on opening time.   We Followed a path from the cemetery and when we came round a corner we saw the view of a mix of colourful buildings which I was sure I recognised from the video for the Despactio song.  We hadn’t planned on it and I had no idea that it had been filmed so close to Old San Juan.

We walked through the La Perla area before cutting up on to the main street.  We got to San Cristóbal about 15 minutes before it was to open so we took a seat while we waited with others doing the same.  Right at 9am a park ranger came down to open up... or so we thought.  Turns out San Cristóbal wasn’t going to open today so everyone is turned away.  It was certainly annoying but it was just lucky that we had gone to San Cristobal first rather than rush round El Morro to then go and get turned away later in the day.
So we turned and headed back the way we came back towards El Morro. We spent a good couple of hours looking around El Morro and I found the history of it all very interesting.  In hindsight it was good that San Cristobal was closed as it meant that we saw pretty much all of El Morro rather than trying to rush round both.


After leaving El Morro we tried to find our way down to the pathway below the wall.  We managed to meet the path at the main city gate which was convenient since that was the main reason I wanted to walk the pathway.  We followed the path round until it came to an end and then we cut up the hill to search out Barrachina.  We knew it was very tourist-y but seeing as it was our first time in San Juan it seemed only appropriate to enjoy a couple of Pina Coladas at the birthplace of the Pina Colada.  They were certainly welcome after a hot day wandering the city.
We headed back to the ship a good hour before all aboard but felt like we had got a lot done in that short time.  Similar to yesterday we headed straight up to the WJ for some lunch and then I headed to the Solarium pool.  Another Pina Colada for me at the Solarium bar while we sailed past the once-daunting El Morro fort.  I wonder what an old Spanish soldier garrisoned there would think if they saw Allure of the Seas sail past!

After chilling out for a bit in our room we headed back down to the Champagne bar again before dinner for some martinis.  Since we enjoyed the novelty of drinks before dinner yesterday, it seemed only right to do so again.  Dinner again was in the MDR.  I had duck terrine and lasagne which was excellent.  R had potato soup and beef stroganoff.


We again headed up to windjammer for dessert however.  As good as all the desserts were they never quite made it back to Key Lime Pie standard.  Finally it was back to the room for some Thursday Night Football and then bed after a long day. 

Day 4 – Sept 19 – St. Maarten
It was our first port day so we had another early start.  We returned to the WJ for breakfast and went ready to go straight to the gangway after we had finished.
Once we were off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot for our tour.  On the recommendation of @KLA we had booked Tour 1 offered by Bernard Tours.  Today our tour guide was ‘Action’ Jackson.
The tour started off on the Dutch side and had a couple of quick stops for pictures.  As others have reported there is still sadly a lot of hurricane damage on the island.  Also, due to many of the tourism-related functions (i.e. airport, cruise port, many hotels) being on the Dutch side, this side has received much more support than the French side.
There was another stop to feed and take pictures of some iguanas which was cool.  The set up is that there is a stall selling some snacks (for humans) and they have a mat where the iguanas hang out waiting to be fed.  They’re not chained up or even in an enclosure.  The guys will give you a stick with a leaf attached to the end and the iguanas will come up and munch the leaf allowing you to get some photos.  There’s then a tip jar if you have opted to feed them and take photos.
There was another quick 20 minute stop at Orient Beach however we mostly used this as a toilet stop at the beach bar there and a chance to take in some views.  The weather had been a bit cloudy so far at that point but the sun was starting to come out making the water come to life with those Caribbean blues.
The next stop was in Marigot on the French side and we had an hour to self explore.  R and I hiked up the steps to check out Fort Louis.  There are a decent number of steps up to the fort and it was very hot but luckily it was nice and breezy once we got up there.  It was good to see a sight that was not officially on the tour and I’m glad we did that rather than spend the whole time looking round the market. There are some very good views from up there.
Once we came down we got a fresh coconut at one of the stalls and browsed other stalls where I picked up a spare pair of sunglasses.  Up to this point I had thought that I had left my good sunglasses at home and although I had a cheap pair of aviators with me as well, I prefer a wayfarer style when just walking around, hence the purchase.  Another spoiler coming, it turned out my good sunglasses were in R’s suitcase which she of course never fully unpacked so we only discovered them later in the cruise – grr! : )
The next stop was the famous Maho beach.  Luckily our visit coincided with a couple of jet plane arrivals which was very cool to see.  When selecting this tour I knew that this was one of the stops, but I wasn’t sure how likely it would see some landings.  I got a couple of videos however after waiting around for the biggest one of the day that would have best video, in my haste, somehow I managed to put my phone on to timelapse mode instead of normal video.  Therefore instead of a 1 minute video with sound, I had a 3 second silent video with an airplane going at the speed of light.
After Maho beach the stops were complete and we headed back towards the ship.  We browsed the stores briefly at the pier and I picked up a St. Maarten Christmas tree decoration – another vacation tradition.
Overall it was a very good whistle-stop tour of St. Maarten/Martin.  It is impossible to overlook the remaining damage and the continuing recovery but it is good that cruisers are still coming in their droves.  It sounds like the hotels are just starting to re-open so hopefully longer term vacations will resume soon, but from what I saw the island is still perfectly set up for cruisers.
Once back on the ship we headed straight for the WJ since we were both very hungry.  I then headed to the Solarium while R stayed in the room to chill for a while.  It was quieter at the Solarium presumably because we had been in port and it was later on in the afternoon by then.
Once back at the room we slowly got ready for dinner.  I suggested that we try to go down early tonight and get a drink before dinner rather than last minute scrambles to make it on time.  Somewhat surprisingly we did manage to do that.  We visited the champagne bar where I had a Bellini and R had a chocolate martini.  It struck us that casually having a cocktail before strolling along to a nice meal really was out of the norm for us and we enjoyed it.
We were once again in the MDR once again and Joel and Kadek seemed excited to find out how we had enjoyed our first port day.  I had a pepper soup and chicken Parmesan.  R had ceviche and jerk pork. We headed back to the room after that after a quick stop off at the jogging track to do one lap before bed.  Tomorrow is another early start in San Juan so it was early to bed once again. 

(Looks like order of photos got reversed below for some reason)
Photo 1 - Some hungry iguanas.
Photo 2 - Looking up to Fort Louis.
Photo 3 - Fort Louis pano.
Photo 4 - A gloomy tricolor.
Photo 5 - Duck!
Photo 6 - Green pepper soup appetizer.
Photo 7 - Entrees.

[I've now worked out how to insert photos in to the body of the post rather than have them all at the end, so I will do that to break up the text a bit]
Day 5 – Sept 20 – San Juan
Another early start, this one pretty dang early due to the arrival time of 7am in San Juan.  Since when was vacationing so tiring?  Back up to the WJ for breakfast due to the convenience for a quick breakfast.
Our plan for San Juan was to self explore and mostly visit the forts.  We were planning on trying to hit both forts in the one day before all-aboard at 1.30pm.  We were off ship before 8am but knew that the forts didn’t open until 9am.  So first we headed towards the cemetery next to El Morro since it looked like a sight to be seen and I imagined it wouldn’t have opening times – it didn’t.

Due to the time we decided we would attempt San Cristobal first as we figured by the time we walked there it should be bang on opening time.   We Followed a path from the cemetery and when we came round a corner we saw the view of a mix of colourful buildings which I was sure I recognised from the video for the Despactio song.  We hadn’t planned on it and I had no idea that it had been filmed so close to Old San Juan.

We walked through the La Perla area before cutting up on to the main street.  We got to San Cristóbal about 15 minutes before it was to open so we took a seat while we waited with others doing the same.  Right at 9am a park ranger came down to open up... or so we thought.  Turns out San Cristóbal wasn’t going to open today so everyone is turned away.  It was certainly annoying but it was just lucky that we had gone to San Cristobal first rather than rush round El Morro to then go and get turned away later in the day.
So we turned and headed back the way we came back towards El Morro. We spent a good couple of hours looking around El Morro and I found the history of it all very interesting.  In hindsight it was good that San Cristobal was closed as it meant that we saw pretty much all of El Morro rather than trying to rush round both.


After leaving El Morro we tried to find our way down to the pathway below the wall.  We managed to meet the path at the main city gate which was convenient since that was the main reason I wanted to walk the pathway.  We followed the path round until it came to an end and then we cut up the hill to search out Barrachina.  We knew it was very tourist-y but seeing as it was our first time in San Juan it seemed only appropriate to enjoy a couple of Pina Coladas at the birthplace of the Pina Colada.  They were certainly welcome after a hot day wandering the city.
We headed back to the ship a good hour before all aboard but felt like we had got a lot done in that short time.  Similar to yesterday we headed straight up to the WJ for some lunch and then I headed to the Solarium pool.  Another Pina Colada for me at the Solarium bar while we sailed past the once-daunting El Morro fort.  I wonder what an old Spanish soldier garrisoned there would think if they saw Allure of the Seas sail past!

After chilling out for a bit in our room we headed back down to the Champagne bar again before dinner for some martinis.  Since we enjoyed the novelty of drinks before dinner yesterday, it seemed only right to do so again.  Dinner again was in the MDR.  I had duck terrine and lasagne which was excellent.  R had potato soup and beef stroganoff.


We again headed up to windjammer for dessert however.  As good as all the desserts were they never quite made it back to Key Lime Pie standard.  Finally it was back to the room for some Thursday Night Football and then bed after a long day. 

[I've now worked out how to insert photos in to the body of the post rather than have them all at the end, so I will do that to break up the text a bit]
Day 5 – Sept 20 – San Juan
Another early start, this one pretty dang early due to the arrival time of 7am in San Juan.  Since when was vacationing so tiring?  Back up to the WJ for breakfast due to the convenience for a quick breakfast.
Our plan for San Juan was to self explore and mostly visit the forts.  We were planning on trying to hit both forts in the one day before all-aboard at 1.30pm.  We were off ship before 8am but knew that the forts didn’t open until 9am.  So first we headed towards the cemetery next to El Morro since it looked like a sight to be seen and I imagined it wouldn’t have opening times – it didn’t.

Due to the time we decided we would attempt San Cristobal first as we figured by the time we walked there it should be bang on opening time.   We Followed a path from the cemetery and when we came round a corner we saw the view of a mix of colourful buildings which I was sure I recognised from the video for the Despactio song.  We hadn’t planned on it and I had no idea that it had been filmed so close to Old San Juan.

We walked through the La Perla area before cutting up on to the main street.  We got to San Cristóbal about 15 minutes before it was to open so we took a seat while we waited with others doing the same.  Right at 9am a park ranger came down to open up... or so we thought.  Turns out San Cristóbal wasn’t going to open today so everyone is turned away.  It was certainly annoying but it was just lucky that we had gone to San Cristobal first rather than rush round El Morro to then go and get turned away later in the day.
So we turned and headed back the way we came back towards El Morro. We spent a good couple of hours looking around El Morro and I found the history of it all very interesting.  In hindsight it was good that San Cristobal was closed as it meant that we saw pretty much all of El Morro rather than trying to rush round both.


After leaving El Morro we tried to find our way down to the pathway below the wall.  We managed to meet the path at the main city gate which was convenient since that was the main reason I wanted to walk the pathway.  We followed the path round until it came to an end and then we cut up the hill to search out Barrachina.  We knew it was very tourist-y but seeing as it was our first time in San Juan it seemed only appropriate to enjoy a couple of Pina Coladas at the birthplace of the Pina Colada.  They were certainly welcome after a hot day wandering the city.
We headed back to the ship a good hour before all aboard but felt like we had got a lot done in that short time.  Similar to yesterday we headed straight up to the WJ for some lunch and then I headed to the Solarium pool.  Another Pina Colada for me at the Solarium bar while we sailed past the once-daunting El Morro fort.  I wonder what an old Spanish soldier garrisoned there would think if they saw Allure of the Seas sail past!

After chilling out for a bit in our room we headed back down to the Champagne bar again before dinner for some martinis.  Since we enjoyed the novelty of drinks before dinner yesterday, it seemed only right to do so again.  Dinner again was in the MDR.  I had duck terrine and lasagne which was excellent.  R had potato soup and beef stroganoff.


We again headed up to windjammer for dessert however.  As good as all the desserts were they never quite made it back to Key Lime Pie standard.  Finally it was back to the room for some Thursday Night Football and then bed after a long day. 

[I've now worked out how to insert photos in to the body of the post rather than have them all at the end, so I will do that to break up the text a bit]
Day 5 – Sept 20 – San Juan
Another early start, this one pretty dang early due to the arrival time of 7am in San Juan.  Since when was vacationing so tiring?  Back up to the WJ for breakfast due to the convenience for a quick breakfast.
Our plan for San Juan was to self explore and mostly visit the forts.  We were planning on trying to hit both forts in the one day before all-aboard at 1.30pm.  We were off ship before 8am but knew that the forts didn’t open until 9am.  So first we headed towards the cemetery next to El Morro since it looked like a sight to be seen and I imagined it wouldn’t have opening times – it didn’t.

Due to the time we decided we would attempt San Cristobal first as we figured by the time we walked there it should be bang on opening time.   We Followed a path from the cemetery and when we came round a corner we saw the view of a mix of colourful buildings which I was sure I recognised from the video for the Despactio song.  We hadn’t planned on it and I had no idea that it had been filmed so close to Old San Juan.

We walked through the La Perla area before cutting up on to the main street.  We got to San Cristóbal about 15 minutes before it was to open so we took a seat while we waited with others doing the same.  Right at 9am a park ranger came down to open up... or so we thought.  Turns out San Cristóbal wasn’t going to open today so everyone is turned away.  It was certainly annoying but it was just lucky that we had gone to San Cristobal first rather than rush round El Morro to then go and get turned away later in the day.
So we turned and headed back the way we came back towards El Morro. We spent a good couple of hours looking around El Morro and I found the history of it all very interesting.  In hindsight it was good that San Cristobal was closed as it meant that we saw pretty much all of El Morro rather than trying to rush round both.


After leaving El Morro we tried to find our way down to the pathway below the wall.  We managed to meet the path at the main city gate which was convenient since that was the main reason I wanted to walk the pathway.  We followed the path round until it came to an end and then we cut up the hill to search out Barrachina.  We knew it was very tourist-y but seeing as it was our first time in San Juan it seemed only appropriate to enjoy a couple of Pina Coladas at the birthplace of the Pina Colada.  They were certainly welcome after a hot day wandering the city.
We headed back to the ship a good hour before all aboard but felt like we had got a lot done in that short time.  Similar to yesterday we headed straight up to the WJ for some lunch and then I headed to the Solarium pool.  Another Pina Colada for me at the Solarium bar while we sailed past the once-daunting El Morro fort.  I wonder what an old Spanish soldier garrisoned there would think if they saw Allure of the Seas sail past!

After chilling out for a bit in our room we headed back down to the Champagne bar again before dinner for some martinis.  Since we enjoyed the novelty of drinks before dinner yesterday, it seemed only right to do so again.  Dinner again was in the MDR.  I had duck terrine and lasagne which was excellent.  R had potato soup and beef stroganoff.


We again headed up to windjammer for dessert however.  As good as all the desserts were they never quite made it back to Key Lime Pie standard.  Finally it was back to the room for some Thursday Night Football and then bed after a long day. 

[I've now worked out how to insert photos in to the body of the post rather than have them all at the end, so I will do that to break up the text a bit]
Day 5 – Sept 20 – San Juan
Another early start, this one pretty dang early due to the arrival time of 7am in San Juan.  Since when was vacationing so tiring?  Back up to the WJ for breakfast due to the convenience for a quick breakfast.
Our plan for San Juan was to self explore and mostly visit the forts.  We were planning on trying to hit both forts in the one day before all-aboard at 1.30pm.  We were off ship before 8am but knew that the forts didn’t open until 9am.  So first we headed towards the cemetery next to El Morro since it looked like a sight to be seen and I imagined it wouldn’t have opening times – it didn’t.

Due to the time we decided we would attempt San Cristobal first as we figured by the time we walked there it should be bang on opening time.   We Followed a path from the cemetery and when we came round a corner we saw the view of a mix of colourful buildings which I was sure I recognised from the video for the Despactio song.  We hadn’t planned on it and I had no idea that it had been filmed so close to Old San Juan.

We walked through the La Perla area before cutting up on to the main street.  We got to San Cristóbal about 15 minutes before it was to open so we took a seat while we waited with others doing the same.  Right at 9am a park ranger came down to open up... or so we thought.  Turns out San Cristóbal wasn’t going to open today so everyone is turned away.  It was certainly annoying but it was just lucky that we had gone to San Cristobal first rather than rush round El Morro to then go and get turned away later in the day.
So we turned and headed back the way we came back towards El Morro. We spent a good couple of hours looking around El Morro and I found the history of it all very interesting.  In hindsight it was good that San Cristobal was closed as it meant that we saw pretty much all of El Morro rather than trying to rush round both.


After leaving El Morro we tried to find our way down to the pathway below the wall.  We managed to meet the path at the main city gate which was convenient since that was the main reason I wanted to walk the pathway.  We followed the path round until it came to an end and then we cut up the hill to search out Barrachina.  We knew it was very tourist-y but seeing as it was our first time in San Juan it seemed only appropriate to enjoy a couple of Pina Coladas at the birthplace of the Pina Colada.  They were certainly welcome after a hot day wandering the city.
We headed back to the ship a good hour before all aboard but felt like we had got a lot done in that short time.  Similar to yesterday we headed straight up to the WJ for some lunch and then I headed to the Solarium pool.  Another Pina Colada for me at the Solarium bar while we sailed past the once-daunting El Morro fort.  I wonder what an old Spanish soldier garrisoned there would think if they saw Allure of the Seas sail past!

After chilling out for a bit in our room we headed back down to the Champagne bar again before dinner for some martinis.  Since we enjoyed the novelty of drinks before dinner yesterday, it seemed only right to do so again.  Dinner again was in the MDR.  I had duck terrine and lasagne which was excellent.  R had potato soup and beef stroganoff.


We again headed up to windjammer for dessert however.  As good as all the desserts were they never quite made it back to Key Lime Pie standard.  Finally it was back to the room for some Thursday Night Football and then bed after a long day. 

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.

Day 4 – Sept 19 – St. Maarten
It was our first port day so we had another early start.  We returned to the WJ for breakfast and went ready to go straight to the gangway after we had finished.
Once we were off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot for our tour.  On the recommendation of @KLA we had booked Tour 1 offered by Bernard Tours.  Today our tour guide was ‘Action’ Jackson.
The tour started off on the Dutch side and had a couple of quick stops for pictures.  As others have reported there is still sadly a lot of hurricane damage on the island.  Also, due to many of the tourism-related functions (i.e. airport, cruise port, many hotels) being on the Dutch side, this side has received much more support than the French side.
There was another stop to feed and take pictures of some iguanas which was cool.  The set up is that there is a stall selling some snacks (for humans) and they have a mat where the iguanas hang out waiting to be fed.  They’re not chained up or even in an enclosure.  The guys will give you a stick with a leaf attached to the end and the iguanas will come up and munch the leaf allowing you to get some photos.  There’s then a tip jar if you have opted to feed them and take photos.
There was another quick 20 minute stop at Orient Beach however we mostly used this as a toilet stop at the beach bar there and a chance to take in some views.  The weather had been a bit cloudy so far at that point but the sun was starting to come out making the water come to life with those Caribbean blues.
The next stop was in Marigot on the French side and we had an hour to self explore.  R and I hiked up the steps to check out Fort Louis.  There are a decent number of steps up to the fort and it was very hot but luckily it was nice and breezy once we got up there.  It was good to see a sight that was not officially on the tour and I’m glad we did that rather than spend the whole time looking round the market. There are some very good views from up there.
Once we came down we got a fresh coconut at one of the stalls and browsed other stalls where I picked up a spare pair of sunglasses.  Up to this point I had thought that I had left my good sunglasses at home and although I had a cheap pair of aviators with me as well, I prefer a wayfarer style when just walking around, hence the purchase.  Another spoiler coming, it turned out my good sunglasses were in R’s suitcase which she of course never fully unpacked so we only discovered them later in the cruise – grr! : )
The next stop was the famous Maho beach.  Luckily our visit coincided with a couple of jet plane arrivals which was very cool to see.  When selecting this tour I knew that this was one of the stops, but I wasn’t sure how likely it would see some landings.  I got a couple of videos however after waiting around for the biggest one of the day that would have best video, in my haste, somehow I managed to put my phone on to timelapse mode instead of normal video.  Therefore instead of a 1 minute video with sound, I had a 3 second silent video with an airplane going at the speed of light.
After Maho beach the stops were complete and we headed back towards the ship.  We browsed the stores briefly at the pier and I picked up a St. Maarten Christmas tree decoration – another vacation tradition.
Overall it was a very good whistle-stop tour of St. Maarten/Martin.  It is impossible to overlook the remaining damage and the continuing recovery but it is good that cruisers are still coming in their droves.  It sounds like the hotels are just starting to re-open so hopefully longer term vacations will resume soon, but from what I saw the island is still perfectly set up for cruisers.
Once back on the ship we headed straight for the WJ since we were both very hungry.  I then headed to the Solarium while R stayed in the room to chill for a while.  It was quieter at the Solarium presumably because we had been in port and it was later on in the afternoon by then.
Once back at the room we slowly got ready for dinner.  I suggested that we try to go down early tonight and get a drink before dinner rather than last minute scrambles to make it on time.  Somewhat surprisingly we did manage to do that.  We visited the champagne bar where I had a Bellini and R had a chocolate martini.  It struck us that casually having a cocktail before strolling along to a nice meal really was out of the norm for us and we enjoyed it.
We were once again in the MDR once again and Joel and Kadek seemed excited to find out how we had enjoyed our first port day.  I had a pepper soup and chicken Parmesan.  R had ceviche and jerk pork. We headed back to the room after that after a quick stop off at the jogging track to do one lap before bed.  Tomorrow is another early start in San Juan so it was early to bed once again. 

(Looks like order of photos got reversed below for some reason)
Photo 1 - Some hungry iguanas.
Photo 2 - Looking up to Fort Louis.
Photo 3 - Fort Louis pano.
Photo 4 - A gloomy tricolor.
Photo 5 - Duck!
Photo 6 - Green pepper soup appetizer.
Photo 7 - Entrees.

Day 4 – Sept 19 – St. Maarten
It was our first port day so we had another early start.  We returned to the WJ for breakfast and went ready to go straight to the gangway after we had finished.
Once we were off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot for our tour.  On the recommendation of @KLA we had booked Tour 1 offered by Bernard Tours.  Today our tour guide was ‘Action’ Jackson.
The tour started off on the Dutch side and had a couple of quick stops for pictures.  As others have reported there is still sadly a lot of hurricane damage on the island.  Also, due to many of the tourism-related functions (i.e. airport, cruise port, many hotels) being on the Dutch side, this side has received much more support than the French side.
There was another stop to feed and take pictures of some iguanas which was cool.  The set up is that there is a stall selling some snacks (for humans) and they have a mat where the iguanas hang out waiting to be fed.  They’re not chained up or even in an enclosure.  The guys will give you a stick with a leaf attached to the end and the iguanas will come up and munch the leaf allowing you to get some photos.  There’s then a tip jar if you have opted to feed them and take photos.
There was another quick 20 minute stop at Orient Beach however we mostly used this as a toilet stop at the beach bar there and a chance to take in some views.  The weather had been a bit cloudy so far at that point but the sun was starting to come out making the water come to life with those Caribbean blues.
The next stop was in Marigot on the French side and we had an hour to self explore.  R and I hiked up the steps to check out Fort Louis.  There are a decent number of steps up to the fort and it was very hot but luckily it was nice and breezy once we got up there.  It was good to see a sight that was not officially on the tour and I’m glad we did that rather than spend the whole time looking round the market. There are some very good views from up there.
Once we came down we got a fresh coconut at one of the stalls and browsed other stalls where I picked up a spare pair of sunglasses.  Up to this point I had thought that I had left my good sunglasses at home and although I had a cheap pair of aviators with me as well, I prefer a wayfarer style when just walking around, hence the purchase.  Another spoiler coming, it turned out my good sunglasses were in R’s suitcase which she of course never fully unpacked so we only discovered them later in the cruise – grr! : )
The next stop was the famous Maho beach.  Luckily our visit coincided with a couple of jet plane arrivals which was very cool to see.  When selecting this tour I knew that this was one of the stops, but I wasn’t sure how likely it would see some landings.  I got a couple of videos however after waiting around for the biggest one of the day that would have best video, in my haste, somehow I managed to put my phone on to timelapse mode instead of normal video.  Therefore instead of a 1 minute video with sound, I had a 3 second silent video with an airplane going at the speed of light.
After Maho beach the stops were complete and we headed back towards the ship.  We browsed the stores briefly at the pier and I picked up a St. Maarten Christmas tree decoration – another vacation tradition.
Overall it was a very good whistle-stop tour of St. Maarten/Martin.  It is impossible to overlook the remaining damage and the continuing recovery but it is good that cruisers are still coming in their droves.  It sounds like the hotels are just starting to re-open so hopefully longer term vacations will resume soon, but from what I saw the island is still perfectly set up for cruisers.
Once back on the ship we headed straight for the WJ since we were both very hungry.  I then headed to the Solarium while R stayed in the room to chill for a while.  It was quieter at the Solarium presumably because we had been in port and it was later on in the afternoon by then.
Once back at the room we slowly got ready for dinner.  I suggested that we try to go down early tonight and get a drink before dinner rather than last minute scrambles to make it on time.  Somewhat surprisingly we did manage to do that.  We visited the champagne bar where I had a Bellini and R had a chocolate martini.  It struck us that casually having a cocktail before strolling along to a nice meal really was out of the norm for us and we enjoyed it.
We were once again in the MDR once again and Joel and Kadek seemed excited to find out how we had enjoyed our first port day.  I had a pepper soup and chicken Parmesan.  R had ceviche and jerk pork. We headed back to the room after that after a quick stop off at the jogging track to do one lap before bed.  Tomorrow is another early start in San Juan so it was early to bed once again. 

(Looks like order of photos got reversed below for some reason)
Photo 1 - Some hungry iguanas.
Photo 2 - Looking up to Fort Louis.
Photo 3 - Fort Louis pano.
Photo 4 - A gloomy tricolor.
Photo 5 - Duck!
Photo 6 - Green pepper soup appetizer.
Photo 7 - Entrees.

Day 4 – Sept 19 – St. Maarten
It was our first port day so we had another early start.  We returned to the WJ for breakfast and went ready to go straight to the gangway after we had finished.
Once we were off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot for our tour.  On the recommendation of @KLA we had booked Tour 1 offered by Bernard Tours.  Today our tour guide was ‘Action’ Jackson.
The tour started off on the Dutch side and had a couple of quick stops for pictures.  As others have reported there is still sadly a lot of hurricane damage on the island.  Also, due to many of the tourism-related functions (i.e. airport, cruise port, many hotels) being on the Dutch side, this side has received much more support than the French side.
There was another stop to feed and take pictures of some iguanas which was cool.  The set up is that there is a stall selling some snacks (for humans) and they have a mat where the iguanas hang out waiting to be fed.  They’re not chained up or even in an enclosure.  The guys will give you a stick with a leaf attached to the end and the iguanas will come up and munch the leaf allowing you to get some photos.  There’s then a tip jar if you have opted to feed them and take photos.
There was another quick 20 minute stop at Orient Beach however we mostly used this as a toilet stop at the beach bar there and a chance to take in some views.  The weather had been a bit cloudy so far at that point but the sun was starting to come out making the water come to life with those Caribbean blues.
The next stop was in Marigot on the French side and we had an hour to self explore.  R and I hiked up the steps to check out Fort Louis.  There are a decent number of steps up to the fort and it was very hot but luckily it was nice and breezy once we got up there.  It was good to see a sight that was not officially on the tour and I’m glad we did that rather than spend the whole time looking round the market. There are some very good views from up there.
Once we came down we got a fresh coconut at one of the stalls and browsed other stalls where I picked up a spare pair of sunglasses.  Up to this point I had thought that I had left my good sunglasses at home and although I had a cheap pair of aviators with me as well, I prefer a wayfarer style when just walking around, hence the purchase.  Another spoiler coming, it turned out my good sunglasses were in R’s suitcase which she of course never fully unpacked so we only discovered them later in the cruise – grr! : )
The next stop was the famous Maho beach.  Luckily our visit coincided with a couple of jet plane arrivals which was very cool to see.  When selecting this tour I knew that this was one of the stops, but I wasn’t sure how likely it would see some landings.  I got a couple of videos however after waiting around for the biggest one of the day that would have best video, in my haste, somehow I managed to put my phone on to timelapse mode instead of normal video.  Therefore instead of a 1 minute video with sound, I had a 3 second silent video with an airplane going at the speed of light.
After Maho beach the stops were complete and we headed back towards the ship.  We browsed the stores briefly at the pier and I picked up a St. Maarten Christmas tree decoration – another vacation tradition.
Overall it was a very good whistle-stop tour of St. Maarten/Martin.  It is impossible to overlook the remaining damage and the continuing recovery but it is good that cruisers are still coming in their droves.  It sounds like the hotels are just starting to re-open so hopefully longer term vacations will resume soon, but from what I saw the island is still perfectly set up for cruisers.
Once back on the ship we headed straight for the WJ since we were both very hungry.  I then headed to the Solarium while R stayed in the room to chill for a while.  It was quieter at the Solarium presumably because we had been in port and it was later on in the afternoon by then.
Once back at the room we slowly got ready for dinner.  I suggested that we try to go down early tonight and get a drink before dinner rather than last minute scrambles to make it on time.  Somewhat surprisingly we did manage to do that.  We visited the champagne bar where I had a Bellini and R had a chocolate martini.  It struck us that casually having a cocktail before strolling along to a nice meal really was out of the norm for us and we enjoyed it.
We were once again in the MDR once again and Joel and Kadek seemed excited to find out how we had enjoyed our first port day.  I had a pepper soup and chicken Parmesan.  R had ceviche and jerk pork. We headed back to the room after that after a quick stop off at the jogging track to do one lap before bed.  Tomorrow is another early start in San Juan so it was early to bed once again. 

(Looks like order of photos got reversed below for some reason)
Photo 1 - Some hungry iguanas.
Photo 2 - Looking up to Fort Louis.
Photo 3 - Fort Louis pano.
Photo 4 - A gloomy tricolor.
Photo 5 - Duck!
Photo 6 - Green pepper soup appetizer.
Photo 7 - Entrees.

Day 4 – Sept 19 – St. Maarten
It was our first port day so we had another early start.  We returned to the WJ for breakfast and went ready to go straight to the gangway after we had finished.
Once we were off the ship and headed straight for the meeting spot for our tour.  On the recommendation of @KLA we had booked Tour 1 offered by Bernard Tours.  Today our tour guide was ‘Action’ Jackson.
The tour started off on the Dutch side and had a couple of quick stops for pictures.  As others have reported there is still sadly a lot of hurricane damage on the island.  Also, due to many of the tourism-related functions (i.e. airport, cruise port, many hotels) being on the Dutch side, this side has received much more support than the French side.
There was another stop to feed and take pictures of some iguanas which was cool.  The set up is that there is a stall selling some snacks (for humans) and they have a mat where the iguanas hang out waiting to be fed.  They’re not chained up or even in an enclosure.  The guys will give you a stick with a leaf attached to the end and the iguanas will come up and munch the leaf allowing you to get some photos.  There’s then a tip jar if you have opted to feed them and take photos.
There was another quick 20 minute stop at Orient Beach however we mostly used this as a toilet stop at the beach bar there and a chance to take in some views.  The weather had been a bit cloudy so far at that point but the sun was starting to come out making the water come to life with those Caribbean blues.
The next stop was in Marigot on the French side and we had an hour to self explore.  R and I hiked up the steps to check out Fort Louis.  There are a decent number of steps up to the fort and it was very hot but luckily it was nice and breezy once we got up there.  It was good to see a sight that was not officially on the tour and I’m glad we did that rather than spend the whole time looking round the market. There are some very good views from up there.
Once we came down we got a fresh coconut at one of the stalls and browsed other stalls where I picked up a spare pair of sunglasses.  Up to this point I had thought that I had left my good sunglasses at home and although I had a cheap pair of aviators with me as well, I prefer a wayfarer style when just walking around, hence the purchase.  Another spoiler coming, it turned out my good sunglasses were in R’s suitcase which she of course never fully unpacked so we only discovered them later in the cruise – grr! : )
The next stop was the famous Maho beach.  Luckily our visit coincided with a couple of jet plane arrivals which was very cool to see.  When selecting this tour I knew that this was one of the stops, but I wasn’t sure how likely it would see some landings.  I got a couple of videos however after waiting around for the biggest one of the day that would have best video, in my haste, somehow I managed to put my phone on to timelapse mode instead of normal video.  Therefore instead of a 1 minute video with sound, I had a 3 second silent video with an airplane going at the speed of light.
After Maho beach the stops were complete and we headed back towards the ship.  We browsed the stores briefly at the pier and I picked up a St. Maarten Christmas tree decoration – another vacation tradition.
Overall it was a very good whistle-stop tour of St. Maarten/Martin.  It is impossible to overlook the remaining damage and the continuing recovery but it is good that cruisers are still coming in their droves.  It sounds like the hotels are just starting to re-open so hopefully longer term vacations will resume soon, but from what I saw the island is still perfectly set up for cruisers.
Once back on the ship we headed straight for the WJ since we were both very hungry.  I then headed to the Solarium while R stayed in the room to chill for a while.  It was quieter at the Solarium presumably because we had been in port and it was later on in the afternoon by then.
Once back at the room we slowly got ready for dinner.  I suggested that we try to go down early tonight and get a drink before dinner rather than last minute scrambles to make it on time.  Somewhat surprisingly we did manage to do that.  We visited the champagne bar where I had a Bellini and R had a chocolate martini.  It struck us that casually having a cocktail before strolling along to a nice meal really was out of the norm for us and we enjoyed it.
We were once again in the MDR once again and Joel and Kadek seemed excited to find out how we had enjoyed our first port day.  I had a pepper soup and chicken Parmesan.  R had ceviche and jerk pork. We headed back to the room after that after a quick stop off at the jogging track to do one lap before bed.  Tomorrow is another early start in San Juan so it was early to bed once again. 

(Looks like order of photos got reversed below for some reason)
Photo 1 - Some hungry iguanas.
Photo 2 - Looking up to Fort Louis.
Photo 3 - Fort Louis pano.
Photo 4 - A gloomy tricolor.
Photo 5 - Duck!
Photo 6 - Green pepper soup appetizer.
Photo 7 - Entrees.