heffy2

Weird feeling seeing this...I remember very well my first cruise on her in 2013...made me fall in love with cruising. I have flashbacks to certain experiences and wow moments and amazing times on that first cruise whenever I see a pic of her.....guess there wont be many left now.........

Filtering the photos out, some night shots of Harmony
 

Toss in a few night time shots of Adventure.
 

A first look inside this little beauty.

With the electronics they have rumored to have removed maybe they can't figure out which direction to Turkey? ?

Time will tell.  
Monarch:

Sovereign is a day behind her:

For years now there are sites that display a ship without explicitly naming it.  They slap some arbitrary price on the posting and sit back and wait.  If someone comes along and expresses interest (some rich oil prince maybe?) they'll connect them with the owner for a smallish multimillion dollar finders fee.  
If anyone is referencing these sites are proof of something it's leaves a lot to be asked about the legitimacy of said person.  These sites have been out there for years now and every couple month someone finds one and thinks it's breaking news.

Unfortunately even when there are official releases from Royal Caribbean the agents that you speak with aren't "in the know" about them.  They aren't been apprised of all the changes to Terms & Conditions in a timely fashion.  There are releases that go out to the Travel Agencies that outline the specifics when they make offers.  I believe in the blog post about this, it's showing the letter that was sent out to Travel Agents that have customers impacted by this change.  Your TA may not have gotten this email for a myriad of reasons (most of them the fault of Royal's poor IT and communications) so they didn't know about it.  
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/06/12/royal-caribbean-expands-options-guests-affected-cancelled-allure-of-the-seas-sailings
This wasn't originally an option,  but they listened to the feedback/complaints they received and some folks have reported success in escalating to get moved to a cruise that works for them.  They've posted in Facebook pages and that's trickled over into messageboard posts so if you're reading the messageboards you will see the changes happen in real time.  
I know @Matt tries really hard to put out accurate information through the blog and not post based on rumors without substantiation or official word from Royal Caribbean.
 

They have confirmed bookings they can simply move to Liberty.  They were almost certainly not sold out so while they had Allure with an average of something like 30% sold now they have those folks on Liberty at something like 60% sold out since it's a much smaller ship.  Next step is make Allure available in FL for a whole new set of cruisers to book.  
I always hate it when someone declares "bait & switch" when the majority of the time it isn't.  I have a hard time seeing this any anything but bait and switch.  Alure people to book Allure (pun intended) then move them to Liberty while offering Allure to whole new set of unsuspecting guppies.  
On another note, it's possibly a red flag.  Bankruptcy may be closer than many of us would like to admit.  They can't cancel Allure bookings - the refunds would sink the company.  
We didn't get stuffed into a JS, but probably only because the number of us in our two bedroom ATS wouldn't fit in a JS.

I learned from tiger king that the best way to look cool on the water is on a jet ski. So when you see me pull up just open then gangway 
 

I was just cleaning out a drawer and found something that I kind of miss. This is from my 2nd sailing with Royal Caribbean.

Hi everyone, I know we get heated debating which dessert is the best one to order, or if a balcony room is worth it, but let's keep these basic rules in mind when chatting here.
No profanity No personal insults No political discussion This includes tropes about politicians and generalizations about political parties No debating religion Keep your posts relevant and accurate to each specific thread. We can all have our little fun within each thread but please make sure the information you're putting out there is correct and current.   Topics not related to Royal Caribbean may be removed. Posts or comments encouraging cruisers to break any Royal Caribbean policy is not allowed and will be removed.

Additionally, my kids and I prepaid the arcade and I prepaid Thrill water park. We didn’t use the arcade and I didn’t end up going to Thrill WaterPark and they were very accommodating to refund all to my account. As with all things Royal Caribbean just have to ask and the worse they can say is no. 

IMG_4844.MOV Yesterday was great other than the weather. Just yours the ship with our friends who were on their first cruise. Went to the ice skating show after MDR and then stopped by the Schooner Bar, Boleros,  Studio B and the Pub. Didn’t stay in any more than 15 minutes, just wanted a feel. Had to get up early for today but that’s only after I won $50 playing blackjack. I know small stakes but that’s big for me. ?  The folks with My time dining were very accommodating with our party of 14. 
i have cruised before but my major takeaway if this cruise, and forgive the All CAPS but it’s “ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT”. The worse they can say is no or offer an alternative but they will bend over backwards to accommodate most requests. 
Today in St.Kitts and went to the Marriott resort for the day on the beach and this hotel pool.  The weather is beautiful, 83 and sunny. We have been starving for good weather. We have reservations at Wonderland tonight with the kids. Look forward to it. 
Sidebar:  The Starbucks on board is like being at home other than they don’t have the warmer for breakfast sandwiches or lunch sandwiches. They have the vast bay majority of the drinks you want from home with the sweetness that Starbucks offers, they don’t use the Royal Caribbean sweetness. They are truly an independently owned type of operation who happen to be on a cruise ship. Yes you can use your Starbucks apps to purchase but NOT redeem. You can also use your Seapass or being a Starbucks gift card. No, your drink package DOES NOT WORK. I see this question gets asked a lot and I did myself prior to the cruise. 
As with most who travel on the larger boats when you pull into a port you feel as you are the big dog, the big man ok campus and compared to the other ships most folks are truly in awe. Once you get off the ship and compare to the other ships it makes you appreciate how huge this ship is. Thank you for taking the time to read my  Rambling  ? 
 
The drones at the ice show are GREAT!

Next cruise is July, this blog will continue in August. It’s going to be an awesome summer!

It has been a crazy few days. Lots of back and forth between go and don’t go. Ultimately, a few things sealed the deal for us.
Never were we worried about the virus on the ship. I am still of the mindset that the ship is likely one of the cleanest places at the moment. Quarantine on the ship was also an afterthought, because how bad could it be in the ATS?  
What really made us re-think over the last few days was the possibility of being further quarantined in Trenton (military base). That is where they are taking all the Canadians on the Princess ships. That does not sound like a great time.
Yesterday, Delta also waived change fees for all travel this month, and Royal revised their “Cruise with Confidence” policy in that we would get back our FCC that we redeemed for this sailing. So really, we would lose nothing by not going. It was beginning to get harder to justify going.
The ultimate deal breaker is that Plan B, was better than Plan A. This blog is officially, “To be continued...” in 166 days.  
We are sad, but at the same, for the hockey people out there, we feel like we just won the Stanley Cup of cruising!  

When one door closes, another one opens. ?

My climb excursion ended around 8am.  I had a tour of the Sydney Opera House reserved at 10am.  That left two hours to fill so I stopped by Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast.  It's a 24 hour eatery that specializes in pancakes but has other food.  It's 3 minute walk from my hotel. 
I didn't have my camera with me since I couldn't take it on the bridge climb but I stopped here again so pictures will be coming up soon.

Day -1
Early start but with my body split between time zones it wasn't a problem.  This morning would be the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb.  
I chose a 4:35am reservation in hopes of clear weather and a nice sunrise.  I also wanted to avoid the heat of the day so getting this done early checked that box as well.
It takes about an hour to go through orientation, suiting up and a test climb on a small rig within the event facility.  They supply everything and everything gets clipped onto the jump suit they supply so nothing can fall off and land on the cars driving below. 
No cameras allowed.  No anything allowed really.  Just eyewear if you need them including sunglasses and they use special straps to secure them in place.
Emerging onto the bridge lower structure around 5:15am I could see a faint hint of building red sky.  By the time we reached the upper arch of the bridge to begin the climb up the steepest part the sunrise was in full effect. 
In this picture you can see a ship coming around a point in the distance.  Based on the folks across the aisle from me on the plane I guessed that was the HAL ship they were embarking today.

We climbed and stopped for individual pictures that I'm not including here.  With each passing moment the sunrise was getting better and better.


By the time we reached the summit and did another round of photos including a group photo the Noordam was getting ready to dock.  At this point we were right under the flags at the top of the bridge.

It was a pretty incredible experience and the perfect weather day.  The sunrise was pretty spectacular and we took a lot of breaks to take it all in.  
We crossed over to the west side of the bridge at the summit and began our descent, down more ladders and across the lower span back to our starting point.  
We were provided headsets and our guide would occasionally provide commentary about the area and the bridge itself.
We were also given tickets for the Pylon climb that we could later or on another day by ourselves.  It's a little pricey but I am very glad I did it and will forever remember seeing the bridge up close everytime I see Sydney NYE fireworks year after year.

Wow, I don't know how you live bloggers manage to keep up.  Its been a hectic two days.  Let me try to catch up with Day 1.
Cruise Day 1:  Embarkation from Port Canaveral:  I woke up early and drove to the port to watch Harmony come in before daybreak.  It was amazing how effortlessly she came into port, turned and slipped into the dock. 
Had a bit of panic set in, somehow my trunk popped open after returning to the hotel and before breakfast.  The front desk called to let me know my trunk was open; with most of my bags in the trunk I flew down four flights of stairs worried that my bags were gone.  Was relieved to find all was safe. Once my heart returned to a normal beat, we were off to eat the complimentary breakfast.  It was pretty much standard free hotel breakfast.  They had fixings to make a breakfast burrito, waffles, cereal, bagels and such. 
I dropped the bags off at the porters around 9:45 and went to return the rental car.  Entered the terminal at 10:10 and seated in “The Key” area at 10:20, no sooner had we sat down they started boarding.  The Key boarded right after B2B, Suites, and Diamond +.
Once onboard we stopped to make our specialty dinner reservations, then off to Bolero’s for WOW bands while the DW ordered our cruise starting Kracken Lava Flows.  With drinks in hand, we dropped the carryon bag at the MDR to be delivered to the room and set about exploring the ship a bit.
Lunch was the Chops Lunch in the MDR which is part of “The Key”.  Started with the shrimp cocktail, 6 oz. fillet mignon and we shared a warm chocolate cake.  Steak was tender and cooked to order, although I would have seasoned the meat.  Tried the peppercorn sauce, wasn’t my cup of tea, I generally cook my steaks at home with a little salt and pepper and that’s it.  It was a larger lunch than we normally have but it was a nice relaxing way to start the cruise. 
The rooms opened up before we finished lunch so we checked out our room.  My carryon bag was in the room and I spotted one of my suitcases down the hall.  After unpacking the carryon and hanging clothes suitcase; went back down the hall and my other two bags were there. 
Tonight’s supper was in the MDR, a dance or two in the Promenade and then to the showing of “Grease”.  Seating for Key guests was on deck 4 in the balcony, better seats were available 30 minutes before the show on deck 3 center.  We enjoyed the show and it definitely is not for children, yet many were in attendance.  The gestures were very explicit, much more than I remember in the movie.
After “Grease” we went back to our room to change shoes around 10:15pm, only to find out the doors on all of deck 6 were malfunctioning no one could get into their rooms.  After waiting a bit and talking to several ships’ crew members, Security came with the key and lets us in.  Doors were working again around 11:45 pm but we had decided to call it a night.

Trust me when I say that you’re not alone. ?
Have a great pre-cruise and actual cruise! I’ll be following along. 

Ovation of the Seas, 11 Nights departing from Sydney Australia to New Zealand
For many years I avoided Alaska cruises on the premise that bikinis are better than parkas.  Then I finally did an Alaskan cruise.  Just wow!  Why did I wait so long? 
That experience got me looking even farther from home and I realized the same could be said for Australia and New Zealand.  Learning from Alaska I decided to just do it. YOLO! 
I've always wanted to visit both Australia and New Zealand so hopefully this will be a rehearsal for more cruising down under.  Practice makes perfect.
This is me doing my single digit dance.  

It's a long flight to Australia,  I take off early one day and land two days later.   Somehow it ended up being 2 days and a few hours to get there with a connection.  Fortunately it takes less than 6 hours to fly home.  Strong tailwinds I guess.
With the time change it's already well into tomorrow there.  I can never keep that straight.   All I know is that this cruise is costing me two days of my life just to get there so I have high expectations. 

This is an 11 night cruise but weather permitting we'll have one day sailing through Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds.  With the three sounds all on day 9 the itinerary looks longer than it is.  Here's hoping for good weather.
Just one tender port so that's a plus.  I tendered on Ovation in Hawaii so that doesn't concern me. 
With the time change it seems that Sydney always celebrates New Years Eve before North America so on that basis I'll get to watch the Super Bowl a day before you folks in North America.  I'll post the outcome here, get ready to place your bets.  Super Bowl Monday here we come.  The game starts mid-morning so there may be some day drinking involved.  At least it's on a sea day.  
Flying into Sydney two days prior and staying downtown my plan is to take the train into the city and sleep for the rest of the day.  Other plans include the Sydney Bridge Climb and a tour of the Sydney Opera House after which I'll either crash hard or have some gas left in the tank to explore a little bit more.  If I have time I may try to find Alice.  Maybe I'll get up early (or be up already) to watch Ovation come into port.
My bags are packed, I'm ready to go... 'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

I forgot to add the photos I took from the helipad of the stars. 

Ouchhhhhh.  

I know what you are thinking.  January 2022?  Did I read that right?
In order to secure a great price on one of only two Star Class Ultimate Panoramic Suites on Oasis I booked this a couple of months ago when the itineraries where first released.  Within minutes of them going public I secured the 2nd of these two suites in the name of research and, well it seemed like a good excuse to book a cruise.
That's nice and all but why start a blog now?
I am so tired of @Matt beating up on my fellow Canadian @Lovetocruise2002 even though we all knew he has the record for starting a cruise blog the longest before any sailing in the history of these boards that I had to step in and take action.   So back off Matt!
Seven hundred and twenty nine days.  
Itinerary as it stands today includes Puerto Plata, DR, St Thomas USVI and San Juan Puerto Rico.  
This may be my only 2020 update.  I'll do my best to update this blog at least once in 2021.  
Until then, let it be known I hold the record for the longest pre-cruise early blogging award!

^^^This.  lol