Thetechie

mmm, I love RumChada! We were on Navigator on March 15th, and I didn't find anything there that was like it, other than Baileys, which isn't really the same thing... Where did you see those little creamer cups?

I'm thinking I need to come too! I miss it already

The worst day of the cruise... The day is here, the day we leave our home on the seas... We pulled into Miami around 5am, and from what I could tell, we were cleared and self disembarkation started around 6:45am We headed up to Chop’s about 8:15 for our breakfast, it was delicious We decided not to use our Key benefit for disembarking because we wanted to leave with my cousins, they had the latest departure possible, so we wandered around the ship a bit. The next cruise is the Zumba chartered cruise, so the pool deck was oddly empty, and they were craning in a ton of equipment We were let off the ship about 9:20, and going down the gangway, we passed the crane When we got to the baggage area, our bags were already off the belt and waiting for us, assuming because of the Key Going through customs was super easy, nothing like I was expecting. We were out on the curb about 9:30. Driving away from the port, the last view of the ship, you can see the crane putting crates up on top We had decided to rent a car for the four of us to drive up to Ft Lauderdale, that ended up being quite an adventure with shuttles and Uber’s to finally get us a car at the Miami airport, and we had to try a couple of them before we found one to fit all of our baggage We stayed at a hotel for the evening, and now we are at the airport waiting for our plane. Thanks so much for following along, this has been fun, and I think it actually caused me to take more pictures and remember things more to be able to document them. I don’t know when our next cruise will be, but likely something from the west coast, burning a couple days flying back and forth just makes it hard. I am jealous of all you guys that can just hop on a long weekend cruise!!

Day 9 - Last full day.... Didn’t take a ton of pictures today, but I have a few We had a slow start to the morning, and went to the spa about 9 for a nice massage / nap! We were done just after 11 and went to the Windjammer for lunch. After lunch, we caught the show with the house band, it was a big band style and we loved it We went out on the deck and played shuffle board for a bit before heading up to the pool deck pro-tip, do the pool at slides starting at 5PM, there is no one out there! While walking the halls today, I looked up and noticed this right outside our cabin door, makes sense that we had good WiFi reception all throughout the cabin! Tonight’s dinner was at the Windjammer, it was seafood night, which meant I grabbed a burger and fries from the kids section After dinner was the fair well show in the theater, it was great After the show, we hung out at the Bamboo room, this became our favorite place to relax! Played some games and enjoyed our last few hours The Key breakfast was moved to Chop’s grill tomorrow

That’s funny, gotta figure it could happen! And that wouldn’t have been me in the Diamond lounge, I am still pre-gold. After today I will be gold though!

Here ya go.

It’s amazing, that’s what it is! I will swing by there today and take a better picture of the menu

Day 8 - at sea Today was our first of two sea days headed back to Miami, and it was wonderful! I got up early and took my laptop down to the promenade about 7:30 to get some stuff done, it was wonderfully quiet down there, and I grabbed some fruit from the Cafe. A little later in the morning, they had a Bloody Mary bar set up on the promenade There was a “flash sale” on accessories, and it got pretty busy I stopped in one of the shops, and noticed that the ship models have already bred updated with the new slides and such, but a lot of the picture related items have not While wandering around, we came across the Stowaway Piano Player. This guy is awesome We went to a Q&A with the singer/dancer/ice skaters that was quite interesting. Did you know that the singers and dancers will help out backstage with costume changes etc. at the ice show, and the other way around? They also run spot lights for each other’s shows Tonight was formal night, we went to the main dining room With celebrations of the the 50th anniversary for Royal, the had birthday cakes Tonight’s headliner show was a Whitney Houston tribute, she was great! She was backed with all live music from the house band, they are incredible. After catching the late show, we wandered around the ship more, made a stop at the R Bar and got a red velvet, wow! After playing some late night (early morning) mini golf, we decided to call it a day. Last full day tomorrow!

We are on Navigator right now, our first cruise. We get back to Miami on Sunday, and I am planning on just getting an Uber or Lyft when we have all our bags and are ready to go

Day 7 -Aruba This is our last port stop on this trip, and maybe the one we were most looking forward to, because of the excursion we had booked. The ship docked about 7am and the gangways were down and open before 8. Our tour was picking us up just outside the port at 8:45, so we had a little time to grab a quick bit at the windjammer. Today's tour was a Harley ride, touring the island. We have done this kind of thing in Hawaii before, and have always said there is no better way to see the island. Today did not disappoint. We took off from the shop about 9:30am and the weather was perfect for riding, not so much for pictures though. Overcast for the most part Saw some beautiful sights along the way The last stop before heading back to the shop was Baby Beach. There is a new adults only bar/lounge/pool that just opened about 3 months ago that our guide took us to The tour lasted almost 5 hours, and it was incredible! After returning to the shop, they gave us a ride back to the port. We had gotten a recommendation from our guide about a place to eat, and we were hungry, so we walked there, about a 15 minute walk to a little place called El Gaucho. Incredible steak and fish! We spent some time walking around the shops, then headed back to the ship. All aboard is 6pm, and we were back on about 5. Dinner in the windjammer tonight was Indian theme, I didn't care for much of it, so I hit the Kids Corner for a burger and fries, perfect! We went to the main show at 10pm tonight, it was a ballroom dancing show by the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers, it was a lot of fun! As soon as the show let out, it was time for the 80's party on the Promenade. The people watching during and after did not disappoint! The cruise compass for tomorrow shows the drink card as coming available! That's about all for today. The next two days are sea days as we make our way back to Miami...

Absolutely! More pictures, more better!

Day 6, Curaçao. Today we visit the island of Curaçao, the weather is in and out overcast, but still plenty warm. We docked about 7:30am and the gangway was down about 8am. We are sharing the port with a Celebrity ship today We had ordered room service for delivery between 7:30-8, but by 8:05 they hadn’t shown up and we were ready to get going, so we ran up to the Windjammer for a quick bite before heading out. We booked at ATV off road tour for today, and they met us out front of the port to take us to their shop. They had a van, and several 6-seat buggy’s to transfer everyone. There were a lot of people that were booked! We were directed to a buggy with Lorenzo as our guide, and he drove the 20-minute ride to the shop. We got a good view of the ships from the bridge Once we got to the shop, everyone went to fill out paper work and pay the money after that was done, we grouped up into our different groups for the tours. Our group was originally supposed to have 8 people on it, but 4 backed out, so it was just us and another couple from the Celebrity ship, nice small personal tour! Our guide was awesome, so happy and loves what he does! Took us to a spot where we climbed up and through some lava caves and came out up on top with and awesome view Then to the “cave of doom” were we found some beautiful pink rocks in this little cave He took us to the only sand beach on the north side of the island. It’s not a tourist spot, and we had the beach to ourselves for a bit till another couple came in. Did some swimming for a little bit before heading back When we were maybe a mile away from the shop, the drive belt blew on our machine, and left us dead. Luckily he had a tow rope (which he hadn’t had to use yet) and was able to tow us the rest of the way to the shop It was an awesome tour, and would do it again in a heart beat! We headed back to the ship to shower and change (we were quite dirty from all the dust) then grabbed a lava flow from the Lime and Coconut and some El Loco Fresh for lunch Then we ventured in to town for some exploring and shopping. All the colors here are incredible! Went across the pontoon bridge We decided to come back to the ship for dinner in the MDR. On the app, the menu stated there would be buttermilk fried chicken, but it was a completely different menu when we got there. (This isn’t the first thing that the app has been different than what actually happens. They still have some work to do) I decided on the Chicken Parmigiana and my wife had her staple, a steak The service in the MDR was the best we have had thus far, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Our waiter was super attentive and on the ball We decided to hit the theater for the headliner act, a ventriloquist/comedian. He was ok, good enough that we didn’t leave, but don’t feel the need to see him again. During the show he was interrupted by an announcement for ‘alpha, alpha, alpha’, I feel bad for that person. After the show, we went to the helipad to check out the night time view Went and spent some time in the Schooner Bar listening to the great live music. It’s been the same guy every night, and he is super talented. Came back to the room to find it ready for bed, complete with a towel elephant Tomorrow is our last port day, at Aruba, then two sea days back to Miami

Day 5 (I think?) Bonaire! Such a beautiful day today. We docked about 8:30, and the captain gave us the all clear right at 9am We were the second ship in port today, the first was the old Monarch We decided to rent a couple scooters for the day and just tour the island on our own. Turned out to be a fantastic idea! The guy we rented from was awesome, picked us up at the port and took us to two brand new (in November) Yamaha scooters. These are the bigger models that you actually have to have a motorcycle endorsement on your license to ride. My wife and I are both endorsed, and decided to get our own, instead of riding tandem. We set off to see the sights! The beauty in these islands just amazes me the shape of the corals that have washed onshore and now line the shore are just incredible Saw some incredible kite surfing down at the south end We rode the whole south end of the island, and stopped back in Kralendijk to grab some lunch, and then headed north We stopped at 1000 steps and went down and got in the water with our snorkels. Wow! After the snorkeling, we were beat and decided to head back. After stopping for fuel (and putting in a whopping $2.48 between the two bikes) We got back to the rental shop about 3:30 and he took us back to the port where we walked around for a little bit and then headed back on the ship. We hadn’t had a chance to catch the Iskate show yet, so we headed down to studio B to take it in. I was a bit skeptical walking in, but then the show started and I was hooked! Tonight’s dinner was the Windjammer, and then up to the room. We are beat and want to get some good sleep before we hit Curaçao tomorrow!

Day 4, at sea. Today was a pretty laid back day for us. Beautiful views from all over the ship We started off with breakfast in the MDR I had the French toast and an omelet, they were fine, but I don’t think the quality of food was any different than the windjammer, and I don’t particularly care for taking an hour and a half to eat breakfast, I think we will stick with the Windjammer. After breakfast it was time for our All Access Tour It was a group of 18 people, and was quite informative. I took most of the pictures on my GoPro, and haven’t loaded them yet, but here are a few We had lunch in the MDR again today. We really enjoy the salad bar and Buffett, but I’m still not sold on the slow service. It takes 20 minutes to get a refill on a soda or water. Maybe I just drink too fast. After lunch we just cruised around the ship for awhile, and then went a took a nap, it was wonderful. Just after 5pm we went out to the sports deck (around this time, the pool deck and sports deck are all but deserted) and went down the slides about 6 or 7 times each, basically no lines. It was awesome! We went back to the room and got changed, and watched the sunset. Then we ran up to the Windjammer and grabbed a plate of food and took it out to the Lime and Coconut to enjoy the movie on the pool deck, that was fun. The pool deck at night is beautiful We decided to catch the Headliner show his name was James Stephens III, he was an impressionist and musician, it was fun and a totally packed house! Tonight was the 70’s party, we stayed on the promenade for a little bit, but it was really warm, so we decided to call it an evening and went back to the room to cool off and relax on the balcony for a bit before bed. The wind kicked up quite a bit this evening and there was a fair amount of rocking, but it hasn’t bothered us yet, we haven’t had any issues with seasickness! Next stop is Bonaire!

Yeah, my cousin has some digestive issues and got a Dr note to bring all that on, it helps him a lot