JennyB

Speaking of the distance between Port Everglades and Miami, here's an interesting photo of a ship at Everglades, but if you look in the background to the left, it would appear to be a ship that just left Miami.

My recent experience, was that it was cheaper for me to fly in to FLL and then fly out of Miami. I fly out Saturday and the cruise leaves on Sunday.
My cruise leaves in and out of Miami, so I will be taking a limo/car down from the FLL airport to my Miami hotel and then Uber to the port in the morning.
The reason I did it this way was if I flew into and out of Miami my tickets went up by about $200PP. I don't know why or understand why, other than Miami may be a busier airport.
So I didn't really answer your question, if money is not an issue I would fly into and out of Miami for ease of transportation to the port and or hotel/port.

It is abundant in many types of shops at and around the port - in fact once you look for it you'll find it hard to miss.

San Francisco beach is only a short taxi ride.  It is free.  I've only been there once but had a great time.  There is a swim-up bar which wasn't the greatest but it was fun.

I would consider it...but there are no casinos on those river ships, if I'm not mistaken.  Can't be bothered with a ship with no casino !

send a request to [email protected], give them your cruise info, and they will tell you if they can accomodate you.

I've never bought any but know some who have.  Find a place in the shopping area and get some.  Shouldn't be a problem bringing in on board since it isn't alcohol.  
 

Just be careful and read the label and hope it is accurate.   It should have vanilla bean extracts and 35% alcohol and that is all.  It should not have coumarin.  Here is an article about Mexican vanilla and coumarin.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vanilla-iced/
Bring ziplock bags to make sure it doesn't leak on its way home.

Yes, it is sort of like the Magic Bands in that you can purchase with them and get in/out of your room. You will still need your seapass card to get on/off the ship.  And it's $5 if you are not in a JS or above.  But Indy doesn't have them (you mentioned that was your next cruise).  Only Harmony/Symphony and Quantum class ships at the moment.

Woa, we need more details on this!!! ?

Well the @twangster is very elusive and you will need to work harder to catch a rare picture opportunity of him , here is how : 
First, go to all the bars on the ship and order Kraken rum until the barman will tell you he don not have anymore. Be sure to buy one bottle for later , you will need it.  Second collect some diet coke from the vending machine.  Wait until  4 am a, leave the bottle of rum and the diet coke on the pool deck were it is visible from an excellent photo ops location, it might help if you will hang  near the bottle a sign saying "the best Voom reception point on the ship"  . Now all you need to do is to wait and cross you fingers, with some luck you might catch a glance of his shadow.
Good luck.

No-elevator-rule means we don't use the elevator at all. Only allowed exemptions are travelling with luggage and -  since yesterday - when wearing heels.
Unfortunately no sighting of the twangster bot yet. Will only take and post a picture if he allows it, don't want to risk his bot status ?

What's the no-elevator-rule?
Have you met twangster yet? If you do please take a photo of him, would love to see him in person!

Thanks for all the kind words, love to do this kind of interactive. Actually, the blogging is fun and not a burden. Will be nice ro relive this once post-cruise depression kicks in. Currently waiting for hubby to upload the pictures on the laptop. I'm way too clumsy to type the whole thing on the phone ?

Nope, that threw me for a loop, too! It's a dry slide, and based on @twangster's photos it seems you go down using some kind of sack or cloth to sit on and put your feet in. Reminds me of the Giant Slide at Dutch Wonderland in PA.
Fun Fact -- On one of the group cruises that sailed on Harmony, the gang doing the pub crawl used the Ultimate Abyss to get down to the next bar on the route! ?

See this blog post:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/questions/what-wow-band
They are now only complimentary in suites, otherwise $5 each, unless you can trade in one from a past cruise.
 

It's a new sports bar on Mariner and Symphony, coming to more ships soon.

Given that it's a sea day I worked much of the day.  A periscope notification told me some of the RCPeriscopers and Royal Caribbean Blog readers were starting their Yeti Pub Crawl.  Then they were sliding down the Ultimate Abyss.  Not long after they were below my cabin in Playmakers.  Soon enough they did the Carousel.  All in their bathrobes.
@Big Dawg Ron

@cookingyo and Mrs. Cookingyo







What happens on Symphony of the Seas stays on the internet.

The selfie @twangster took of himself as he soared through the air dangling from one of the drones was amazing.  It's a shame you and @Matt missed it since you skipped the photos. I can't believe they took a volunteer from the audience for that role. Shows a lot of natural athletic ability, obviously.  

Captain's Corner

Given the large numbers of C&A Top Tier they figured this would be well attended and moved it into the main theater.
Captain Rob has a unique and dry sense of humor.   It was used extensively during this session much to the crowd's delight.
Just as he was about to begin, some guests in the crowd broke out in "Happy Birthday to you...".  Apparently today is his birthday.

Symphony has a number of innovations including a slightly different hull shape that along with the air lubrication system (and other changes) make her 25% more efficient than Oasis.  According to Captain Rob if you could see both ships in dry dock side by side the differences in the hull would be pretty apparent.
Captain's Rob first ship (at Royal) was Grandeur.  He was a Bering Sea fishing captain before joining Royal.  Moving to Royal he accepted a pay cut and joined as a junior bridge officer.  He worked up through the ranks to eventualy become a Captain again here at Royal.  
There are currently two Masters for Symphony, Captain Rob and Captain Rick.   They work a 10 week on/off cycle.  They keep in touch with each other at all times and let each other know what's going on around the ship.
According to U.S. Health Department code that the ship follows even in international waters, any food that is once placed out for consumption but not used is destroyed and run through the waste management process.  It is not, despite rumors, fed to the crew or used the next day.
The little deviation we did last night was due to cleaning out the ship's economizers in the stacks.  They need to be cleaned periodically and the zig zag course was executed as part of the cleaning process according to Captain Rob.
Captain Rob is not aware of any four sisters meet up.  He thinks it may happen, but at some future point.  He was on Oasis during the planning of the three sisters and that planning started months before it occurred. As he offered "Photoshop works really well and is a whole lot cheaper".

An enjoyable session with the Master of the vessel.

Probably avoiding a pod of whales, Pirates or Russian submarine. ?

that's a BIG NOPE!

It looks like we are headed to the new world.  
What have you guys done to Miami while we've been gone?

The second weather and course update on RCTV was made available today.  In it the Captain explains the factors that can influence the feeling of motion on a ship.  I've always known there is more to it that "big wind means big waves means motion" and Captain Rob did a good job explaining it here.
As a cruise geek I love that they take the time and effort to make these videos available on RCTV.

Walking around the ship I noticed the Halloween decorations are up including balloons for the party later tonight.






In the afternoon hours I saw several people beginning to appear in costumes.  At least I think they were costumes.