mom2mybugs

After lunch yesterday, we spent the afternoon exploring Voyager, and enjoying drinks at the various bars. 
 
We decided to come back to the cabin, where we met our cabin steward, Suraj, and unpacked. After that was done we grabbed our swimwear and hit the solarium, spending time in the hot tubs and pool. 
I really liked the solarium, the one on Oasis could be like a greenhouse but this one is nice and open, but with covered hot tubs and shady spots. 
 
Then we had a bit of a rush to get ready for the welcome on board show. We used the Key reserved seating and ended up with a great view.

Then we headed up to watch Athens sail away with a beautiful sunset 

 
Then it was finally dinner time, we’ve been given a reservation at the same table each night and told to arrive any time between 8.45 and 9pm. For some reason we’d been moved to MTD despite booking late seating, but they got it sorted for us at lunchtime. 
 
We have a table for 2 by the window, and are being taken care of by the lovely Wahyu and Windi. 
 

 
Wahyu saw that Jamie can do napkin folds, so he made us this cute little penguin! 
The food was good, I had escargot, prime rib, and the key lime pie. Drinks service was pretty quick, food temperature and flavours were good too. 
 

We ended the night at the silent disco, followed by a visit to the Schooner Bar, where I got my first peanut butter tropic of the cruise. We took our drinks back to the room and sat on the balcony, getting to bed around 12.30. 

So far this morning, Jamie went and got us coffee when he went for a cigarette, he’s in the shower, I’m drinking my coffee and catching up on this blog. 
Today we are in Kusadasi, no real plan so we’re just getting ready now and will see what happens.

We are at the port! Checked in and waiting to go through security! 
I reckon we’ll be on board just after 11 so the Key is paying off already.

Not even on the ship yet and I’m behind on the blog!
So after we landed on Friday, we met our driver for our transfer to the hotel. She was lovely and gave us some tips for our time in Athens - mostly about being careful in the heat and when crossing streets.  
When we got to the hotel things took an interesting turn - we’d been given a double room, and as 2 friends we’d prefer a twin. We asked, and they said there was nothing available that night, but something may come up the next night. Apparently British Airways Holidays never gave us the option to request this when booking, annoyingly. We have shared before, for one night, so decided we could make it work. 
Our room is lovely but has a full length window into the shower! Again, we’re making this work by one of us going for a drink at the bar while the other showers 😂


We spent the afternoon and evening exploring the area around the hotel, and had dinner in a place recommended by reception. It was a really good meal so we’re planning to go back tonight. 
 

We just completed a cruise out of Vancouver, and I wanted to point out that no one at Canada Place looked at checkin times. We arrived at 1035 with a 1100 checkin time I obtained at 3 am Eastern time. So even though I put in the extra effort, it didn't matter Memorial Day weekend. Canada Place moved everyone through quickly, at least until we hit security.

I am a Moderator in that group.  It is legit.

Yes, it's me. And that is my group.  

I started the group eons ago, but it's taken a life of its own.
You can even find the same mods from here over there. Be nice to them there too!

If you are tipping on land, then you need to tip in the currency of that country and be mindful of the tip culture of that country, for EU and the UK, its mostly not expected or needed.  On board USD is fine regardless of where you are. 
 
 

I do know the tipping culture is very different, but I also know every tour I was on last time had the tip jar on the bus ready to go!  Just don't have a lot of time pre-trip to organize ordering at the bank but want to be ready.  Thanks! Jane

I do tip all tour guides in the local currency (unless they really don't deserve a tip). Sorry, American, can't help it - and the tour guides are always waiting for it at the front of the bus - in fact a guide in Denmark even had the driver keep the back bus doors closed so that we had to go by them out the front door. I know that tipping isn't the norm in many countries, but tour guides do come up in most searches as the exception. I am usually able to order all of the currencies I need from Bank of America, but they don't always do a great job with the "small bills" request. I was recently on a trip where I wanted to have currencies that BofA didn't carry and ordered from Currency Exchange International and they truly honored my small bill request such that I was able to sort tips for each day ahead of time, which made the organized me very happy!  Guest services does have some change for Euros, but they don't like to give you all their small bills. Have a great trip!

Thanks! 😀 As @smokeybandit mentioned, U.S. dollars on the ship are appreciated. Easy way to remember is that the ship uses U.S. dollars for pricing of everything onboard whether in the Caribbean or Europe.
Also, the ship's ATM dispenses U.S. dollars... However, if you need euros in a pinch, Guest Services has euros. We used Guest Services to break larger euros/bills into smaller bills last month on Allure.

Dollars on RC ships are fine anywhere.

Hi!  We are headed out for our 2nd European cruise through Italy and Croatia.  I don’t remember how we handled tips last time.  We usually have a bunch of $1s and use those with drinks.  However, the euro coin thing is a pain.  Can I tip with ones or do I need to hit an atm for euros?  Will I be able to take the big bills and exchange for smaller currency at guest services?     In addition, how do we tip on tours? American dollars or euros? Does it make a difference if they are rec tours or viator?   Thanks! Jane

So I guess just so everyone doesn't get upset, I will thank everyone and guide us back....I will be tipping private guides, it was more a question of how.  I will definitely pull some Euros.  Back to the ship. We have the drink pkg and I know gratuities are in there.  I still like to give a little extra to great bartenders and wait staff who bring drinks to my pool chair, etc.  I give dollars in the Caribbean... Can I still do that here since it's easier than a bunch of Euro coins? Or Euros for the win? Just curious what people do. Jane

I've heard this bathroom is epic! Jane

So I guess just so everyone doesn't get upset, I will thank everyone and guide us back....I will be tipping private guides, it was more a question of how.  I will definitely pull some Euros.  Back to the ship. We have the drink pkg and I know gratuities are in there.  I still like to give a little extra to great bartenders and wait staff who bring drinks to my pool chair, etc.  I give dollars in the Caribbean... Can I still do that here since it's easier than a bunch of Euro coins? Or Euros for the win? Just curious what people do. Jane

SORRY! DUP OF NEXT POST!

Use ATM at a bank in Europe to get needed Euros. To tip meals, we round up a little.

I know! It's so hard to break our U.S. tipping culture mentality for sure! All of us had to keep reminding each other constantly last month that these folks are salaried employees and make a "living" wage.
As mentioned above, we followed the general recommendations of rounding up on a check for a meal, tipping hotel porters and of course the porters at the cruise port.
We also tipped the excursion tour guides (all very good) maybe 5 or 10 euro per couple (especially for the 10+ hours tours) and more for our private tour guide out of Barcelona (Viator) because it was just the four of us and he was amazing! No tipping for taxis.
Also, consider keeping a few 1 euro coins on hand just in case you need to use a public bathroom. Most public bathrooms (including the one in McDonald's next to the Pisa complex) charge 1 euro (they actually had a portable credit card terminal for the bathroom! 🤣). We all joked that the bathroom must generate more revenue for that McDonald's than the food! Of course, most restaurants/cafes you visit are free, but it's appreciated to buy something if you're using their bathroom.
Have a great time!!! 😀

The tip jar is out to take advantage of the Americans on the trip.

While this doesn’t answer most of your questions, in Europe you only really tip on tours if it’s a private tour. You can always tip, but it’s not really a thing there.  It’s very different there than in the West. The locals will tell you to leave US tipping culture in the US. They want no part of it. If you were to tip a tour, it’s Euros.

Thank you! I'm very excited - I think I posted in your thread we did almost the exact same itinerary as you in the Med last year and loved it. Very much looking forward to this one. Friday is 14 days til travel day and I'm slowly getting the stress under control.
Had the skating competition today - not the score I wanted but I got out there, and stayed on my feet. 
The university assignment is getting finished tonight as best I can and submitted - I may need to resubmit in the summer but I'm OK with that at this point. 
I totally forgot something important in my first post:
Our cabin!
We booked, as we did on Oasis, a Guarantee Oceanview Balcony. We also put in RoyalUp bids for a spacious oceanview balcony, and a junior suite. Well, we got our cabin number at around 30 days out and we got the spacious balcony, but not through RoyalUp! Jamie got an email saying the bid had been cancelled due to a change in our reservation. So we got it through pure luck.
We are in 6516, couldn't be further forward if we tried! I don't mind, neither of us suffer too much with motion sickness, and it's close to the forward elevators, and above the promenade, so easy to grab coffee in the morning or a drink to enjoy on the balcony. I can't find much about the cabin, good or bad, online, so hoping it's OK!
Another new thing for us is we've purchased the Key - we have 2 tender ports and aren't doing excursions through Royal so the priority tendering will be useful. We were planning on getting internet anyway, and we got it at a price where the difference was minimal. We'll see how we get on with it. 
I also only have to work one more Monday before cruise time thanks to next Monday being a Bank Holiday (public holiday) here in England. 

2 - WAAAYTOOO (Jewel)
6 - WAAAYTOOO (Jewel)
9 - WAAATOOO (Jewel)

My ex-brother-in-law pieced together a cruise for his family, my ex wife, her boyfriend and my daughter's family. Then, brother in law had to miss the cruise for serious medical procedure. 
When it counts! The Icon is more than a ship its a living breathing city equipped properly to deal with the unforeseen... My grandson aged 1 1/2 picked up a respiratory infection about mid way through this weeks cruise. The med center was sharp! The staff were full on professional. The virus was not responding to meds and they moved him to their ICU.
BY the time they were ready to dock at Coco Cay the fluid in lungs had continued to worsen. IN a seamless team effort, they got my grandson off the ship to a seaplane air ambulance they brought in. My son in law accompanied him to Lauderdale while my daughter remained aboard with my other grandson. Another ambulance transported the baby (and son in law) to Broward. Diagnosed as bad RSV and not possible suspected pneumonia. The meds kicked in. Baby was discharged to heal at home. Daughter, both grandsons and son in law all doing better. Thank you Icon for having a state of art facility and staff...
 

Our first B2B was just an awesome experience! We were on Liberty for a 4 day to Halifax and then 5 to Bermuda. We had the same room for both and it's really cool because it really feels like home if that makes sense. It's like settle in because we are 2 cruises 9 days. 
The transition from the 4 to the 5 was really, really cool. Almost feel like a celebrity, I would say there were 34 of us on back to backs. I forget the little theater room we all met in but it was nice. They took a new pic for the second cruise and handed us new cards. Old card to get off, new card to get back on. Wisked off to customs and turn around back on. This was Cape Liberty so it was cool to see a completely empty cruise terminal. Really fun experience I have to say. We did have a consecutive cruise lunch. That was a nice touch. 
The cruise themselves, well I just it's Royal Caribbean so it was FANTASTIC. 🤣 We are just a Royal Caribbean family what can I say. I do all the bookings, I typically don't even ask as my wife and the kids trust me with everything. I chose 2 really great excursions. Halifax was the island hopper which is a truck/boat where you go through the city and the bay. That was so much fun! Great tour guide and driver. They worked so well together. 
Bermuda we did a full tour on a small bus. Our freaking guide was just amazing. A local Bermudian, family arrived in Bermuda in the late 1,800s. This guy knew every nook and cranny of that island. He loved to take pictures for every one at every stop. He was so nice to my little 3 year old son. We were walking about one of the stops and saw us and brought us over to this spot and pointed out that beautiful colorful fish to my son. 
Anyway great, great 2 cruises. Awesome back to back experience! That was a fun thing to try. Definitely want to try that again. Not as easy to do from NJ as it is in Florida. Oh and Liberty of the seas, love her. That is a great ship and even for her age and needed a makeover. Awesome room, extra large promenade view. 

We are planning on an icon cruise next April.  I decided to embrace the loud one day and booked one of the daybeds.  I have a feeling we will spend a lot of time in the dome area... Just not in a swimsuit.  Hoping overall icon won't feel overwhelmingly crowded.  Jane