Vacation Crazy

I'm by far no expert on the casino but I would guess it is against the rules. My luck if I was using someone else's card I would hit the jackpot and they would deny the payout. I'm sure it is written in fine print somewhere.

We always bring our small electric clock with no issues. The problem is we never sleep in. I guess we have FOMO! We love walking around the ship early in the morning when everyone is sleeping. We can catch up on our sleep when we are home!

The little 50th birthday cakes are very cute and festive. The real question is....are they good? I will be happily sampling one very soon. Our Ovation sailing is almost here!

I had the mentality "the bigger the better" for ships. Our last 3 cruises have been on Oasis class ships. We were offered a free cruise from the casino on Empress. We had low expectations after reading reviews. We were pleased to come to our own opinion that she is a great ship. She felt a lot bigger than expected and the staff were top notch. We enjoyed every minute of our sailing. We usually travel with our teenage boys but this trip was just us. Our boys may have been bored without all the bells and whistle the bigger ships have. We had a great time and would not hesitant to sail Empress again!

We usually use our OBC for additional bar tips, some pictures and a game of bingo. The only time we ever play bingo is when we are cruising. It has become a fun tradition for us. And it helps we won a few years ago.

Smart decision! Enjoy the savings elsewhere.

Enjoying your blog so far. Thanks for sharing. We sailed Empress a few years ago when we were offered a free cruise from the casino. We loved every minute aboard. She is a great little ship with a big heart!

We are fan sleepers and always travel with one. We have a small fan but it is not battery powered. It works great at blocking out any outside noise too.

IFly just opened for booking for our Aug 23rd sailing on Ovation. Stalking the cruise planner has paid off! I was able to get the day and time I wanted. 6 more weeks to go!!

The bed is near the balcony. Balcony staterooms are installed in pairs. Looking from the corridor, the right stateroom has the bed by the balcony. Left has the bed by the bathroom. Find a connecting pair to start.

Harmony has computer stations in the Card Room. We used the computer to check in to our return flight home. I believe it was around $10.00 for an hour of internet. We always happily go off the grid when we cruise!

On our last cruise we used the app with the chat feature. It did not work out well for us with no push notifications. I found myself using the phones throughout the ship to call into our room. My lazy teenage son would get a wake up call from "housekeeping" to get up and meet us somewhere. He would never check the app but always answered the in room phone!

We are on Ovation in August. I'm realizing we will not need as much cold weather gear as originally planned. I already have our trip on my weather app. It is supposed to be 78 degrees in Juneau today! When I booked this trip some 500+ days out I pictured us bundled up in snow gear. I'm leaving the snow gear at home and packing lots of light layers.

An additional suggestion would be to find some videos of Symphony of the Seas on You Tube. That way she will get a feel for what cruising is really like. Hopefully she will see all that cruising has to offer and put some of her fears to rest.

We are on Deck 7 in a obstructed ocean view balcony for our upcoming Ovation cruise. We found pictures of our room online before booking. Our balcony has a small section of the davit in the corner view. Plus we are on the hump so it is a bigger balcony. It was over $1,000 cheaper than the regular balconies. I'll happily look at the davit and keep the $1,000 in our bank account any day! There are lots of pictures and videos online to help you make a decision. Good luck!