SpeedNoodles

Some picture from throughout the day. Tonight is the first formal night so we plan on getting all fancy later.
 

I assume that you are sleeping on the couch, because your daughter is definitely wondering why you are taking pictures in HER room.

Quote from the wife
”absolutely, because it is a dinner and a show, and was absolutely hysterical”

Representing today😂

Now we are all caught up. We were pretty tired at the end of the dinner. It was nearing 10 when it ended, so 11 NY time, we have not adjusted yet, so we headed to bed. 
 
This morning we were all up, not by choice, at 6ish ship time. Stinking time adjustment. Coffee was obtained, I found 2 cruising ducks, and now we will be going about our day. Today and tomorrow are sea days so we will be exploring the ship, checking out the activities etc and generally relaxing. It’s still pretty foggy, but the seas are calm at least. 
 
The sun is trying to break through and burn it off. The temperatures are pleasant. 

Mystery Dinner Theatre: So this was interesting. The premise of the story here is that there are two mob bosses who control the ports in NY and NJ and they have plans to join forces and control all of the ports and cruises etc. There is a lawyer, two women fighting over the attentions of the bosses, and a waitress who seems to want to know too much about all of them. Eventually there is a murder and it’s up to us to figure it out. Spoiler Alert, it was Colonel Mustard, in the Ballroom with the candle stick. 😂
So theater part stared in the Star lounge. We were given champagne and some small canapés, and the show started. First thing, this show is NOT PG. There were many references and innuendos throughout the show. My kids were too young and they all went right over their heads. There were some families with younger teenagers who looked like they were cringing a little.
The cast did a great job, it started out a little rough, lines were forgotten, characters were broken, but they did an amazing job of with the improv that it became part of the show and made it funnier and that much more enjoyable. 
 
If you choose to do this show, be warned if you sit in the seats closest to the dance floor, on along the isles leading to it, you may become part of the show. The cast WILL interact with the audience, and throughout the show, audience participation is encouraged.
Following the show, we were then brought up to Giovanni’s in groups that were assigned at check in, where we were all seated together at long tables. As a group you work together to solve the murder. The case comes up as well and the show continues there. You have opportunities to ask questions to the cast memebers to help you solve the crime.
We had a limited menu that we got to choose from. Everyone is served an anitpasti plate with some Prosciutto, mortadella, another cured meat I have never seen. There are some olives, arugula and peppers. Coming from an Italian family, it’s was pretty good. I will apologize now, my picture game was not on point here. After a few cocktails in the suite lounge, champagne at the start of this, and at dinner the wine was endless, our servers were topping off our glasses the minute we took any sips, I quickly forgot to take pictures as the food right away. The wine was included in the cost. There were no questions on weather or not you had a beverage package or not.

Antipasti plate.
You then had a choice of appetizers. There was a Minestrone Soup, a beef carpaccio, and a tomato mozzarella plate. I got the carpaccio.

Entrees was a choice of Filet, prawns, or gnocchi with a Gorgonzola sauce.
I ordered the filet, Heather got the prawns, and Julie got the gnocchi. The staff were accommodating, and were able to bring out some spaghetti with butter for our kids. Turns out there was no set kids menu, so plan accordingly.
The filet was very tender and cooked perfectly.

The shrimp was a little overcooked, but still tasty.

I never got a picture of the gnocchi. This also tasted very good. 
 
Dessert was a choice of tiramisu, and chocolate cake and ice cream. We all go the tiramisu, which was good. At this point I was well over a bottle of wine in sooooo, sorry about the picture.

Final thoughts. We had a blast doing this. We laughed hard, made some new friends and had a great meal. At $79 the price is a little high, but with the alcohol included and ennnnndddlleeessss the value proposition is there. Would I do it again, absolutely. 
 

Sail away: After the cattle rustling of mister drill, we went up to the suite lounge for sail away. We had a great time there. The food was delicious that they had for their happy hour, and the drinks were flowing. We met some very nice fellow cruisers. Thankfully we got out on time because the fog rolled back in right at the time we were to depart.

This picture was taken at the end of mister drill. By the time sail away happened, you couldn’t see those drilling platforms across the channel.
Thankfully we got out, and I happened to cath the pilot returning to port from our balcony as we got ready for dinner.

 
Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Houston Rockets and the restaurant company Landry’s was out on his yacht doing laps in the Galveston Harbor.

Current mood....

We have made it on the ship!

currently in the windjammer....stuffing food in our mouths since we are hungry!  More updates in a bit about the transfer, embarkation process etc. later. Muster is soon, then we have to get the kids registered for adventure ocean. Time for some more food. But first, find some booze!

Yay, turn up $18 DX and cruise day

That's how we feel every time without them! 🤣
Save that gif for our Odyssey Inaugural joint monster blog. 😄

Our dog Rusty would prefer to come with us as well. He is a huge snuggler, and sometimes I feel that we are his “emotional support humans” It is hard to leave him with the boarders sometimes.

I mean, look at that face!

I think that "somebody" wants to come along, too! It's hard for me to leave our "somebody"(Manny) with sitters, but I know he will be happy-ish. 

Well it’s @waaaytooo early, but we have made it to the airport. Coffee has need procured, and it’s go time.
One day till we go on a cruise, one day till we go. The sun comes up, and goes back down, one day till we go on our cruise!
 

I'll be documenting the Kimpton Epic in Miami again in a few days (for those who may have missed it on my Navigator blog).  It's a beautiful hotel in a great location.

I'm officially ON VACATION!!!!   I worked my last overnight (dog) shift last night and my last night as a 911 dispatcher .... it crawled along for the most part.  Now I have 2 1/2 days to get house and hounds ready for our pet sitter, and to get us packed.  The weather away from here is looking like it's going to be pretty good, except when we leave.  5 degrees? REALLY?  I do NOT want to drag a winter coat with me to Miami, to the ship, and back.  This is BS.  I'm going to FREEZE  in the Uber.  I want to talk to the weather manager.
Speaking of wanting to file a grievance, the first hound to be bathed has some issues with this entire process.  (i.e. the princess is NOT happy).  I'm sure the boys will feel the same way.

I'll be documenting the Kimpton Epic in Miami again in a few days (for those who may have missed it on my Navigator blog).  It's a beautiful hotel in a great location.

Dan and I both got My Pillows and both hate them. I hope you have a better outcome.

Some updates from this past week: 
Izzy has confirmed that the Thermal Spa is indeed complimentary for Star Class guest.  Each adult receives a one day pass.  Too bad for the kids.  We asked Izzy if we needed to pick a day and make reservations ahead of time.  He told us no, we could just show up whenever and he would let the spa receptionist know and they will handle the charges.
The other thing that I found interesting, which I did not know before this, is that they reserve specific blocks of time in the Escape Room for SC guests.  He originally had us in for Day 7 and we wanted another time and date.  He told us that if we went to a time slot that wasn't blocked for SC, we would have to pay the normal fee.  Again, there may or may not be inconsistencies with this between ships in the fleet.  In the end, we moved to another SC time block.
We are just about a month away and everything is pretty much good to go.  All schedules and reservations are taken care of already.  Izzy has already given us information on what to do when we arrive at Terminal A.  I am really pleased with how smooth this has been.  I also think that it has to do with the fact that I know more of what to expect this time. 
I asked Izzy if he could make time go faster?  That is pretty much the only "No" that I have received so far. 😆

Welcome to the forums!
I board Symphony on Feb 22 and have absolutely zero concerns.

I have 2 Meow's that are terrible and 1 Big Boy named Troll that loves a good bath, every Friday in fact. Loves it! It is crazy.

I'm officially ON VACATION!!!!   I worked my last overnight (dog) shift last night and my last night as a 911 dispatcher .... it crawled along for the most part.  Now I have 2 1/2 days to get house and hounds ready for our pet sitter, and to get us packed.  The weather away from here is looking like it's going to be pretty good, except when we leave.  5 degrees? REALLY?  I do NOT want to drag a winter coat with me to Miami, to the ship, and back.  This is BS.  I'm going to FREEZE  in the Uber.  I want to talk to the weather manager.
Speaking of wanting to file a grievance, the first hound to be bathed has some issues with this entire process.  (i.e. the princess is NOT happy).  I'm sure the boys will feel the same way.

Single digit dance!!! The weather sucks today. We don't typically get this kind of cold so late in February. The wind chill has dipped under -20F.
I'm on my 4-day weekend, and I only have two more nights of work before we go. Sunday and Monday. Oh, and I requested Monday off because it's guaranteed to be the LONGEST 10-hour shift OF MY LIFE. I should know soon if it's been approved. TICK, TICK, TICK

@SpeedNoodles I love it. Professor had a bad habit of wanting to put all four paws on my passport or any document I needed. It would take him 6 or 7 mins to do this and then he would refuse to move. Then glare at me if I physically picked him up to retrieve whatever i needed.

Since we’re officially 4 weeks away from our cruise I thought it was an appropriate time to start the blog? (No? Meh, I’m going with it anyway).
I never expected to book a cruise like this with Mr SpeedNoodles.  He’s more into the “culturally enriching and/or scenic” sort of cruises.  He wasn’t really thrilled about booking a cruise to the Caribbean because “they’re just islands - what is there to see that’s different from the next island?”.  Plus, he’s a small-ship guy.  He likes being able to walk around that outside Promenade level and visiting the helipad.  He likes that connection to the sea.
Honestly, since I’ve never been to the Caribbean myself so I couldn’t really negate his impressions. I have no idea myself.  My two, short, warm-weather cruises were to Nassau/Coco Cay.  
So how did we end up booking this? Well, a year and a half ago, we had our Alaskan cruise booked on Ovation for June 2019. We hadn’t taken a cruise, or any vacation that didn’t involve showing dogs, in ten years (pet sitters are hard to come by). But we finally secured one, and we had quite the trip planned.  We were going to drive to Seattle, spending 2-3 days in Yellowstone (we had the historic Yellowstone Inn booked), and then we were going to spend about 4-5 days exploring the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where we plan to retire, before we boarded Ovation for our 7-night Alaskan cruise.
But things happen, and in September of 2018 my husband slipped on a wet floor at a business and tore his quadricep.  He was out of work for 4 months after his surgery, which ate up a significant portion of his PTO that he had saved for the trip.  We decided that we couldn’t pull off the 3-week trip, and would have to fly to Seattle if we wanted to still go (note: Mr SpeedNoodles is terrified of flying - serious druggage is necessary to accomplish a flight).  So MY thought process was that we could use the money we were saving by shortening our trip to Seattle to book a winter Caribbean cruise! #speednoodleslogic.  I threw the idea out there at him, expecting him to poo poo it, and to my great surprise he just said yes! HOLY CRAP!  I emailed @michelle at MEI and quickly booked Symphony before he could change his mind. 
During the 13+ month span of time since I booked the cruise I’ve been exposing him here and there with Royal Caribbean Blog podcasts (as well as the Cruise Tips TV Unplugged podcast), live YouTube and Facebook chats, etc etc.  After the Ovation cruise, he was even more excited about Symphony.  Planning. Could. Begin.
Itinerary
Miami - Sea Day - Sea Day - St. Maarten  -  San Juan, PR - Sea Day - Coco Cay - Miami
Pre-cruise hotel: Kimpton Epic
What have we booked onboard? We went all out on our first Oasis-class ship.
Unlimited Beverage Package ($18 intern special, TYVM)
Unlimited Dining Package
All Access Ship Tour
Escape Room
The Key
Excursions? You betcha!!! (#OfficialMinnesotaTerminology)
St. Maarten - 3rd party ATV tour
San Juan - ATV tour booked through Royal Caribbean (this one should be very special to me and later I’ll tell you why!)
Nothing special on Coco Key - Mr. Speednoodles’ plan is to snorkel, eat crispy chicken sandwich, snorkel, eat crispy chicken sandwich, repeat. I'll do some of the same with breaks to find the chickens and iguanas (I believe we are now on a first-name basis).
This cruise is actually ending up being a sort of celebration.  Immediately upon our return I’ll be starting my new job - I’ve been promoted to supervisor!  I’m very excited (for many reasons, not least of which it is much easier to get PTO approved at that level!!)
Ugh, the waiting is the hardest part (or so said Mr. Petty).  I want to pack and go NOW!!!!!
(Shameless Fezzik photo, just because).