mom2mybugs

Yeah I remember asking you how strenuous you thought it might be!  I will definitely let you know how it goes!  Jane

I think a lot of people ask for window. Near railing, in a corner, on the end of a row, banquet half booth/chair, etc are all probably easier to get.
If you are a large person "on the end of a row" help's to not have to fit between 2 tables close together to get to your seat. 

No guarantee you get what you ask for of course but no harm in trying. I know the 2-top rows you're talking about and I get it.
Last cruise (Wonder in March) we were one 2-top removed from a window (after my request) so it was kind of like being at a 4-top with another couple but fortunately they were nice and we got along and chatted for a while.

Tonite dinner was Izumi.  There is no hibachi on EX so it’s always sushi only….which is fine with me.  I’m not a fan of the hibachi menu (or the “show”) anyway.  This was night #2 of our 3 night dining package.  Chops on night #9, the last night.
Insider tip:  if you see chopsticks nearby, this is probably NOT guacamole.

We went to the casino after dinner (who’s surprised) and it was a mixed bag.  Dan and I played some Dancing Drums (b/c the pigs were all occupied) and we lost a little bit.  Dan went and played some video poker and won while  I played some UTH and lost.  Ugh.  Back in the room now.
Tomorrow is St Kitts (again) and we have no plans to get off.  Today was another visit to Grenada and we just got off for a little while and browsed the terminal shops.  I bought Dan a couple of new Caribbean shirts which he DESPERATELY needed.  He’s been wearing the same sad ones we bought in Aruba probably 12 years ago !  Most of them are missing buttons and I’m a terrible wife who has never fixed them for him.  It’s easier just to buy some new shirts !  He now has 2 new ones…

I’ve never even thought about requesting location…just the 2-top.  Now I will definitely add on window or edge near railing.  I hated being smooshed in between a bunch of other 2 -tops.  They might just as well sat us together they were that close.  Jane

Ok.  I’m gonna try and upload these Ocean World photos.  Wish me luck.
I know this is hard to read but it will give you an idea of the content of the Park. It’s much bigger than I would have thought before I saw it for myself.

Again, maybe not so easy to read, but some idea of the show schedules
 

This is the only photo I got of an actual dolphin since the dolphin encounter wasn’t included in our excursion.  I will say though, they make it very easy for you to watch all of the interactions/encounters, even if you haven’t paid to participate.  The shows are all readily visible from a distance.  You just don’t get to interact with the animals if you haven’t paid for the excursion.  Lots of opportunities to observe.


 
We (at least, I did not.  Dan watched a bit) did not watch the dolphin show but this is a photo of the dolphin show area.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to watch a show from this vantage point even if you’re not directly involved.


Fresh water pool

 

Dan actin’ the fool.  This is by the kiddie area of the fresh water pool.  OBTW, the fresh water pool was COLD
 

They have 2 bird houses.  This is the macaw area.  Beautiful birds.

The second bird house was for the smaller birds, primarily love birds.  
 

No explanation needed for this one…

…or this one…

The snorkeling area had a couple of plexiglass viewing areas.  Lots of fish and coral to see.  I really enjoyed snorkeling in this area but we were fortunate enough to have done this early.  Later in the day it was crowded and chaotic as there were kids in there who had no idea how to snorkel and were thrashing about maniacally.  I’m sure it was very disruptive to the fish.  Glad I missed that…
 

Bizarre photo of Dan in the snorkeling area.  Actual arms and reflections of arms.  Yikes !
 

This is a rather crappy photo of the shark encounter area.  It’s actually quite large.

The sharks in this interaction are nurse sharks and the are extremely wimpy as sharks go.  They ran and hid in the rocks once the snorkelers entered the water. When this photo was taken (before the snorkelers got in) the sharks were just looking for a free meal.  They know when the chow is coming out !

 

Moving on to the sea lions.  Here is Dan about to get a kiss.  While I was taking this picture, I had an employee telling me, “Sorry, no photographs allowed”.  I just ignored him and took this one but put my phone away after that.  I had no interest in seeing the inside of a Dominican jail.  😵‍💫

After the encounter was over, photography wasn’t a problem.  This was during an actual sea lions show which was open to the public

Obligatory balancing-the-ball-on-the-snout photo.

Heres the sea lion (I can’t remember his name) giving mouth-to-mouth (or boca-a-boca, depending upon which narration you were listening to) to an unfortunate member of the staff who nearly drowned when this SAME sea lion pushed him off the rocks, moments earlier !

Scene of the crime…
Welp, that’s all of the exciting things we saw and experienced at Ocean World.  If you get the chance to go when in Puerto Plata, I do recommend it.  
 

Yesterday we had a mysterious bottle of “champagne” show up in our room.  It had an apology note with it from C&A so we assumed it was due to the fact that they royally screwed up our loyalty gifts twice on both of our turnarounds.
I bumped into @JustMeJoe this morning and he asked me if we had received our bottle and then explained that (apparently) everyone that was B2B on that last leg got a bottle.  You may recall that our TAD was something of a Charlie Foxtrot due to the number of Guest Services “issues” on the 4-14 leg (those that were disembarking) and that disembarking and reboarding were delayed for over 2 hours that day.
One thing that I failed to mention in that discussion was the weirdo fact that we actually checked in for our new muster station BEFORE we even left the ship on our turnaround !  First time that’s ever happened.  It just so happened that our new muster station was in the Star Lounge which is also where we were assembled for rurnaround…so we scanned our new Seapass cards and completed the muster station requirement before we even departed the ship to go through CBP !

If I'm being honest, I will say that the shark encounter was the least interesting of everything we did yesterday.  They are nurse sharks, and they are quite boring, TBH.  Big ?  Yes.  ....but they run and hide in the rocks whenever people are in the water.  This is maybe one of the only species of sharks that doesn't have to continuously swim to keep oxygen in their system, so they go to the bottom, sit and hide.  I totally understand the concern for SHARKS !  ....but these are wimpy, totally benign sharks. They look more like big catfish !  🤣

I didn't see if @WAAAYTOOO mentioned it; but to give you an idea of what a cluster TAD was; yesterday they delivered an apology note along with a bottle of champagne to all of the B2Ber's.  🙂

Greetings, RC Blog friends! It's me, Mrs. Regular, back again for another blog. This year we are leaving the Regular kiddos at home and making it an extended family affair! Follow along for preparations, travel, and semi-live updates from the Brilliance of the Seas!
Background Info
Picture it... Sicily, 1929... Just kidding. I'm in my Golden Girls era so I often channel Sofia when I begin telling a story. Picture it... my living room, November 2022. Alaska 2024 deployment would be announced and bookings opened within a few days. We already had cruised in the Mediterranean, cruised from NYC down to the Bahamas, and were booked for summer 2023 on the Mariner of the Seas for my 40th birthday. Generally we are a "one cruise at a time" kind of family but something struck me about the 2024 Alaska deployment that just felt.... right. Like it was the exact right time for Mr. Regular and I do book something for ourselves. A treat. A reprieve. Alaska has been on our bucket list for a long time and at first glance when bookings became available, the price was pretty good. I knew I couldn't just book something without speaking with him first, so I laid out all the benefits and trade-offs (small ship! leaving from Vancouver! Aft balcony! I just got a pretty sizable raise so I will foot the bill! He saw no tradeoffs, lol), and got his ok to contact the travel agent. YES! It was so early in the deployment I got to hand pick our room and with over 600 days to go, we started planning and researching.
Eventually, our other extended family (mainly our parents) caught wind of our plans. We scheduled a mid-May itinerary for a few reasons, one of the best being our kids wouldn't be able to go. I know, we are Regular mean parents. But also because the likelihood of the ship being overrun by school kids would be lower. We love kids, we have two, we have kids in our family and extended friends group. There's nothing wrong with kids. But, we loved our experience cruising during a non-break time. The last two cruises we've taken have been with our kids during school breaks and they have been vastly different experiences. Not bad, but different. We wanted to return to those non-break vibes. But this time in Alaska. Anyway, our parents wanted to tag along and we were ok with that. Getting my sister to come rounds out our merry group of 6!
The Intergenerational Regular Family Tree
Me, Mrs. Regular. 40 years old. Working at a university full time and full time PhD student. I am finishing up coursework and successfully defended my proposal last month. This itinerary falls over the one break I have between spring and summer terms. I have been on 3 RC cruises and will reach Emerald on this cruise.
Husband, Mr. Regular. 45 years old. Working at the same university and teaches snow sports on the side. He is bummed there will be no skiing or snowboarding while visiting Vancouver or Alaska. Has been on the same cruises as me and will reach Emerald.
Regular Mom. My mother! 70 years young. Doesn't travel much, retired 3rd grade teacher. Has always wanted to go to Alaska. Will be her first cruise.
Regular Sister. My sis! My best friend. 38 years old, never cruised before. Just there to show up and have fun!
Regular Father-in-Law. Mr. Regular's dad. 79 years old, has cruised once before from FL. Certified renaissance man, he is an acrobatic pilot, flight instructor, motorcycle racer, and welder. Ran a multi-million dollar business but never earned a bachelor's degree. He is just so cool.
Regular Mother-in Law. Mr. Regular's mom. 84 years old, has cruised once before from FL. Recovering from a mild stroke in January, she is a remarkable person. She's improved so much in 4 months mobility and speech wise. She's still sharp as a tack but just a little slower than before. In her 80's but acts not a day over 60. 
Why are we "regular people"?
My username and the name of my cruise blogs came out of an observation that post-COVID restart, most people in the RC Blogs were taking their "revenge" travel trips and there was a run for a while of suites only travel blogs. No shade to the "suite snobs" out there or to those who are blessed enough to cruise frequently at the premium of a suite. But, while I am still fairly new to cruising I wanted to read more from perspectives that didn't go for all the extras or bells and whistles. Thus, "regular people cruising" was born! Not only do we not tend to travel in suites with the amenities, we also don't splurge on other luxuries like drink packages, unlimited dining, spa treatments, a lot of excursions, etc. Now, this will change a little bit this trip because I think Alaska affords some special opportunities.
Our Itinerary
My in-laws are flying in on their own schedule, but mom, Husband, Sis, and I are all traveling together from NJ on a direct flight to Vancouver on the 11th. Crossing fingers for smooth travels! We are all staying at the Sheraton downtown and will get brunch on the 12th before heading to Canada place to board our ship!
Day 1 - Vancouver
Day 2 - Inside Passage/At Sea
Day 3 - Sitka in the afternoon. No plans other than walking around port and maybe going to the totem poles
Day 4 -Juneau. Mom, Sis, Husband and I have the dog musher's camp excursion in the morning. Regular in-laws may or may not get off the ship, much will depend on how MIL is doing. She can do activities in small bursts but then needs time to sleep and recover. We will be done at the camp by 1 but the ship is in port until 7 p.m. so I am sure some sub-group of us will explore Juneau a bit. This night Husband and I have date night at Chops.
Day 5 - Haines. We all have the White Pass Railroad excursion booked through RC. Most looking forward to this one!
Day 6 - Tracey Arm and glacier viewing/At Sea
Day 7 - Inside Passage/At sea
Day 8 - Vancouver. The Regular In-Laws are staying at a hotel on Vancouver Island to relax for a few days and traveling home later in the week. The rest of us have a red-eye back to NJ. We will look into storing luggage somewhere and taking a tour around Vancouver before heading to the airport.
Next Update: Packing! Packing! Packing!

I’ve never even thought about requesting location…just the 2-top.  Now I will definitely add on window or edge near railing.  I hated being smooshed in between a bunch of other 2 -tops.  They might just as well sat us together they were that close.  Jane

UPDATE:
Due to the fact that one of our port stops was cancelled and replaced with a sea day, we were able to get lunch reservations at Izumi Hibachi for that day once on board the ship. It was excellent and the kids had a blast!

Pompeii is one of those places that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.  

Absolutely!!

I am on SY right now, had an 1130 checkin time this past Saturday. Was at the terminal at 1015, went straight in and sat in a holding pen for about 30 mins. Was on ship by 1100-1115.
 

I really hope to stay in one of these rooms at some point.  I was planning on them for our 2025 grad cruise on voyager until my kid convinced me to do the corner aft balcony!   Jane

I really hope to stay in one of these rooms at some point.  I was planning on them for our 2025 grad cruise on voyager until my kid convinced me to do the corner aft balcony!   Jane

Our caymon excursion got cancelled due to weather and I’m still hoping to swim with the rays someday!   Jane 

We are doing Alaska on radiance in 2025 and I’m so excited for the movie theater!  And all the windows….   Jane

The shuttle bus is a ~10 minute ride.  I suppose you could walk it but there isn't a lot to see on the road.  It's 5.5 miles.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&mid=14wMpL7D-1JbSoYZt6jr5FfOwpuE&ll=57.091431313510576%2C-135.36448000000001&z=13
The trails around the National Historical Park are easy with minor elevation changes.  I just did them a few weeks ago.  I took the free shuttle and walked the 10 minutes from the shuttle bus stop to the Park.
If you are going to look for more hiking in the area outside of downtown come prepared with bear spray and a cowbell or something that makes noise.  Definite bear country.  

Hi @OCSC Mike! I was definitely going to recon #22 if they've put it in place for you as I saw your concerns on an earlier post. 😀

Going there for the first time in July; looking forward to your review and pics! We have daybed #14 (obviously we preferred the beach) but I learned they are about to install those 3 new beds (#20-22) in the next 2 weeks so we may switch to #22 after seeing the view. We wanted to be on the end but I want to look out at the ocean, not the restaurant. Their customer service via e-mail has been great and they told me they would send pics from #22 once it's installed so we can decide to switch or not.
Plenty of info in the thread below if you're interested. My only specific question would be is #22 there yet but I don't want you going out of your way to do recon for my trip. As long as they keep bringing me food and drinks, the daybed we wind up with really won't matter a ton. 😁
 

Today was Puerto Plata and we did the Ocean World Sea Lion Encounter & Snorkeling with sharks and Lunch.  This is one of the best excursions we have ever taken.  I have lots of pix but of course, they are not yet on my iPad so I will have to post them later.
We had soooo much fun and saw so many awesome critters.
Ocean World is a Dominican Sea World -an Aqua park with shows and exhibitions.  I was very surprised to find it was very well maintained and well organized.  I have been to aqua parks before in other countries that were…well….sad.  But this one is not.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.
There were dolphin and sea lion shows as well as the shark encounter and multiple snorkeling/swimming aquariums.  There were aviary enclosures (small but fun).  There was a beachfront swimming area as well as fresh water pools.  Some of the interactions were additional $$ (dolphins, in our case since we paid for the sea lions and shark interactions) but we did not pay for anything more than our original excursion included and we had a blast !   Lunch was a pretty typical Caribbean buffet….nothing to write home about, but it wasn’t bad….but was very busy !
Transportation from the port was in a big, comfortable, air conditioned bus….may 15 minutes from the port,  fast, efficient and well organized.  I will definitely recommend this excursion or the one like it that included the dolphin interaction.
This excursion wasn’t cheap.  It was nearly $200 PP but you got a lot for your money and I think it was worth the cost.  We go on VERY few excursions.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship.  The bus left the port area at 8:30 and we got back at 2:00 so it’s a very full day and there’s lots to do.

Dinner was very good.  I had the garlicky shrimp and Dan had the seafood linguine.  I was surprised that he chose the pasta dish as we had both eaten pasta for lunch at the B2B luncheon and Dan is not much of a pasta guy.  But he did, and he said it was very good. I absolutely love their olive bread and you could tell that it had just come out of the oven.  Oh, Lordy !
We both won a bit in the casino.  We broke even on Dancing Drums and then played a bit of UTH and both cashed out ahead.  I suppose my purple drawers we “red enough” to bring me a little luck !  😂😜😂
Sea day tomorrow.  We’re on our way to Puerto Plata, DR where we will be snorkeling with the sea lions and the sharks !

I think this room does sleep additional guests….it seems like the couch would fold out although I haven’t tried it to see.
I think you might be right about the noise….i have already heard a few grumblings in the hallway.  One thing I will say about the PV room, it was QUIET !
We’ve stayed in this cabin category before and while the location is not my favorite, I do like the space and the view.  This particular room is located on the port side and has a totally unobstructed view and of course, has the floor-to-ceiling windows.  Some of the cabins in this category look out over the bow and IMO the view is much diminished by views of the ship’s structure and hardware such as antennae and comm towers, etc.
Dan has gone for his daily sauna (which is now VERY convenient). I took a bit of a nap but it was really more of a “rest”.  I never actually fell asleep. I’m not used to all the light !  😜😜