fireclan

Time change notice. This is really weird because it’s not happening over night.

Tonite dinner was Izumi.  There is no hibachi on EX so it’s always sushi only….which is fine with me.  I’m not a fan of the hibachi menu (or the “show”) anyway.  This was night #2 of our 3 night dining package.  Chops on night #9, the last night.
Insider tip:  if you see chopsticks nearby, this is probably NOT guacamole.

We went to the casino after dinner (who’s surprised) and it was a mixed bag.  Dan and I played some Dancing Drums (b/c the pigs were all occupied) and we lost a little bit.  Dan went and played some video poker and won while  I played some UTH and lost.  Ugh.  Back in the room now.
Tomorrow is St Kitts (again) and we have no plans to get off.  Today was another visit to Grenada and we just got off for a little while and browsed the terminal shops.  I bought Dan a couple of new Caribbean shirts which he DESPERATELY needed.  He’s been wearing the same sad ones we bought in Aruba probably 12 years ago !  Most of them are missing buttons and I’m a terrible wife who has never fixed them for him.  It’s easier just to buy some new shirts !  He now has 2 new ones…

Ok.  I’m gonna try and upload these Ocean World photos.  Wish me luck.
I know this is hard to read but it will give you an idea of the content of the Park. It’s much bigger than I would have thought before I saw it for myself.

Again, maybe not so easy to read, but some idea of the show schedules
 

This is the only photo I got of an actual dolphin since the dolphin encounter wasn’t included in our excursion.  I will say though, they make it very easy for you to watch all of the interactions/encounters, even if you haven’t paid to participate.  The shows are all readily visible from a distance.  You just don’t get to interact with the animals if you haven’t paid for the excursion.  Lots of opportunities to observe.


 
We (at least, I did not.  Dan watched a bit) did not watch the dolphin show but this is a photo of the dolphin show area.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to watch a show from this vantage point even if you’re not directly involved.


Fresh water pool

 

Dan actin’ the fool.  This is by the kiddie area of the fresh water pool.  OBTW, the fresh water pool was COLD
 

They have 2 bird houses.  This is the macaw area.  Beautiful birds.

The second bird house was for the smaller birds, primarily love birds.  
 

No explanation needed for this one…

…or this one…

The snorkeling area had a couple of plexiglass viewing areas.  Lots of fish and coral to see.  I really enjoyed snorkeling in this area but we were fortunate enough to have done this early.  Later in the day it was crowded and chaotic as there were kids in there who had no idea how to snorkel and were thrashing about maniacally.  I’m sure it was very disruptive to the fish.  Glad I missed that…
 

Bizarre photo of Dan in the snorkeling area.  Actual arms and reflections of arms.  Yikes !
 

This is a rather crappy photo of the shark encounter area.  It’s actually quite large.

The sharks in this interaction are nurse sharks and the are extremely wimpy as sharks go.  They ran and hid in the rocks once the snorkelers entered the water. When this photo was taken (before the snorkelers got in) the sharks were just looking for a free meal.  They know when the chow is coming out !

 

Moving on to the sea lions.  Here is Dan about to get a kiss.  While I was taking this picture, I had an employee telling me, “Sorry, no photographs allowed”.  I just ignored him and took this one but put my phone away after that.  I had no interest in seeing the inside of a Dominican jail.  😵‍💫

After the encounter was over, photography wasn’t a problem.  This was during an actual sea lions show which was open to the public

Obligatory balancing-the-ball-on-the-snout photo.

Heres the sea lion (I can’t remember his name) giving mouth-to-mouth (or boca-a-boca, depending upon which narration you were listening to) to an unfortunate member of the staff who nearly drowned when this SAME sea lion pushed him off the rocks, moments earlier !

Scene of the crime…
Welp, that’s all of the exciting things we saw and experienced at Ocean World.  If you get the chance to go when in Puerto Plata, I do recommend it.  
 

I used to habitually check, check, check. But recently I began using RoyalPriceTracker.com and I think it's working out for me. I get an email when the price drops on something, like Voom, Chef's Table, excursions, etc. and I've saved a few bucks here and there. 
 

I used to habitually check, check, check. But recently I began using RoyalPriceTracker.com and I think it's working out for me. I get an email when the price drops on something, like Voom, Chef's Table, excursions, etc. and I've saved a few bucks here and there. 
 

I used to habitually check, check, check. But recently I began using RoyalPriceTracker.com and I think it's working out for me. I get an email when the price drops on something, like Voom, Chef's Table, excursions, etc. and I've saved a few bucks here and there. 
 

Oscar has been killing it with the mini menagerie..

Matches the theme of the little choking hazard I found yesterday..remote for scale.

And got my B2B letter!
 

Today was Puerto Plata and we did the Ocean World Sea Lion Encounter & Snorkeling with sharks and Lunch.  This is one of the best excursions we have ever taken.  I have lots of pix but of course, they are not yet on my iPad so I will have to post them later.
We had soooo much fun and saw so many awesome critters.
Ocean World is a Dominican Sea World -an Aqua park with shows and exhibitions.  I was very surprised to find it was very well maintained and well organized.  I have been to aqua parks before in other countries that were…well….sad.  But this one is not.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.
There were dolphin and sea lion shows as well as the shark encounter and multiple snorkeling/swimming aquariums.  There were aviary enclosures (small but fun).  There was a beachfront swimming area as well as fresh water pools.  Some of the interactions were additional $$ (dolphins, in our case since we paid for the sea lions and shark interactions) but we did not pay for anything more than our original excursion included and we had a blast !   Lunch was a pretty typical Caribbean buffet….nothing to write home about, but it wasn’t bad….but was very busy !
Transportation from the port was in a big, comfortable, air conditioned bus….may 15 minutes from the port,  fast, efficient and well organized.  I will definitely recommend this excursion or the one like it that included the dolphin interaction.
This excursion wasn’t cheap.  It was nearly $200 PP but you got a lot for your money and I think it was worth the cost.  We go on VERY few excursions.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship.  The bus left the port area at 8:30 and we got back at 2:00 so it’s a very full day and there’s lots to do.

I hear those noises every morning when I first step out of bed.

I seem to recall a limit on the use of outdoor PA announcements in Alaska but I can't find a regulation that imposes this restriction.  I think it was on a more recent Alaska cruise in 2022 when it was stated there would be minimal outdoor announcements while in Alaska so as not to impact wildlife.
I do recall in 2018 on Radiance the captain making some PA announcements while at Hubbard but it wasn't a narration of the visit.   
Here is some video from that visit:
Honestly I prefer not to have outdoor PA announcements so you can hear the glacier moan, crack and make other noises. 
It's bad enough that other guests can't seem to avoid talking nearly non-stop, often making obvious statements that amount to useless drivel.  "I hear it cracking" (duh!) or "I think its going to start, there it is, look, it's calving now, it's definitely calving, oh my god its calving, wow look at it calving I've never seen it calve like that and it's still going, OMG its still calving and blah, blah, blah".  Some guests, especially their spouses when talking to each other just feel the need to talk and talk and talk.  
In making the video above the hardest part was finding bits where there wasn't useless endless talking.
I guess many spouses in long term relationships learn to tune out their spouse's endless drivel but it can sure be annoying for the rest of us at moments like this. 🤣😇

Dinner was very good.  I had the garlicky shrimp and Dan had the seafood linguine.  I was surprised that he chose the pasta dish as we had both eaten pasta for lunch at the B2B luncheon and Dan is not much of a pasta guy.  But he did, and he said it was very good. I absolutely love their olive bread and you could tell that it had just come out of the oven.  Oh, Lordy !
We both won a bit in the casino.  We broke even on Dancing Drums and then played a bit of UTH and both cashed out ahead.  I suppose my purple drawers we “red enough” to bring me a little luck !  😂😜😂
Sea day tomorrow.  We’re on our way to Puerto Plata, DR where we will be snorkeling with the sea lions and the sharks !

Sorry Turnaround went so poorly. Hopefully dinner and your new view make up for it.
BTW, I stay in the real dungeons... you had a window! 🤣

Back onboard for the last leg.  This is a 9 night cruise with the exact same itinerary as leg #1, 2 weeks ago.
TAD was kind of a mess although it didn’t really impact us much.  More of a problem for new cruisers boarding and, of course, for the crew.
Apparently, the number of folks with “Account issues” was enormous, which caused a 2+ hour delay in boarding of new guests.  When I passed by GS ~8AM, the line stretched all the way to the entrance of the MDR.  I should have sensed, then, that this was going to cause issues.  Apparently, it did.
Finally, some time around 11:45, they began the B2B parade.  Everything went smoothly once we got started and the B2B luncheon, which was supposed to start at 11:30, got underway at around noon.  Presumably, general boarding began shortly after that.
As was the case with leg #1, our Loyalty gifts were incorrect.  On leg #1, we got a bottle of St Michelle “champagne” rather than the Chandon “champagne” that we have chosen. On this leg, the champagne was again wrong, as well as missing Cokes and missing water.  We strolled down to the Loyalty Ambassadors desk and she, I’m sure, will rectify everything.
We had to change cabins on this leg and we are now in a panoramic OV cabin on deck 12.  These are the “newer” rooms created when they downsized the spa.  It’s much bigger than our Promenade View dungeon and the sunshine and view are an extremely welcome change.  I’m not as fond of the location of this new room but I’m glad to be here.
We’re pulling away from the dock right now (4:45) so the last adventure has begun !  Dinner tonite at Giovanni’s (first of our BOGOs) at 7:00.

A generic violation of terms or something useless like that.

Do they give a reason why it was taken down (I'm not a facebooker)?

I was on Icon Maiden and it truly was a set apart experience.  I don't mind RCL pricing up significantly for Icon class ships, especially in the first 2 or 3 years.  My real issue is that they hiked pricing on the rest of the fleet.  I've got 7 booked RCL cruises and the pricing is significantly higher than pre-COVID, way more than inflation.  The most interesting thing to me is the squeeze between the mass market segment and the premium segment.  For apples-to-apples cruise lengths and ports you can now book Celebrity or Princess for the same price as Royal.  Virgin and Holland America are still a little higher.  I've got a side-by-side pair of cruises out of Galveston where the 7 day Princess with drink package and gratuities is exactly the same price as Royal with gratuities but no drinks package (I'm D+ so this is an equivalent cruise for me).  I'll be interested in my reaction to consecutive cruises to the same ports on different cruise lines.  I've got a 15 day Oceania which is definitely higher price as it is a luxury small ship line but their alcohol drinks package is $30 pp / per day including gratuities.
If you follow RCL bookings they are definitely not negatively impacted by their huge price increases but I have to wonder if the "empty nesters" move to better alternatives over the next 3-5 years. 

We were just notified yesterday of our bid acceptance for a sailing in two weeks. 

Wish that was the case.  I have 3 cruises that will only let me check in from that damn Royal App.  Hate that thing!

So things really did pick up at Hideaway after my last post. By the time we left the place was packed.  The music finally got to me….and I tagged out.
Will I go back ?  Probably not.  There is very little at Hideaway that I could not get elsewhere on the island for -0- $$.
1. Hideaway pool is heated.  I liked that…but I was still chilly when I got out of the water.
2.  Dan said the choice of alcohol was better at Hideaway.  E.g, he likes Grey Goose for his Bloody Mary and he said he couldn’t get that on the “regular” side.  I have no idea since I’ve never had a [alcohol] drink at PDCC
3.  Padded chairs and couches.  I don’t recall seeing that outside of the Beach Club.  Maybe they are somewhere that I haven’t seen.
4.  No kids
Other than these few things, the “regular “ side and Hideaway are the same (to me).
We each had a crispy chicken/mozz sticks sandwich and I had 1/2 of a fried dough ball with powdered sugar on it (can’t think of what it’s called).  Pretty tasty.

Funnel cake? If it was actually a ball they screwed it up, lol. That sounds more like a munchkin from Dunkin or a messed up beignet.
EDIT: @Ampurp85 beat me to it. 🤣

Yes.  Funnel cake.  😵‍💫😵‍💫

I hope everything was worked out to your satisfaction! Here's a screenshot that may be helpful in the future (and you may be aware of this). When you select your cabin when using Royal's website,  such as interior shown here, the little blue box to the right will say "View Details". Click it to view some details about the room, including the beds. This example is from an Interior on Grandeur but I'm assuming,  and maybe I shouldn't,  all ships would include this information. 
I hope the rest of your family's cruising experiences are wonderful!

Moving on to leg #2.  Explorer 5 night 4-14-24 thru 4-19-24
Turnaround was uneventful.  We met in the Star Lounge at 9:15 and the B2B parade started a bit after 10:00.  It seemed like we were a bit behind schedule but not significantly.  I’m guessing there were 30-40 B2B’ers.  Frankly, I expected more.  We had a very short walk through CBP and then right back on the ship.  There was a tasty B2B lunch at 11:30.
Upon our return to the ship we made our BOGO reservations and visited the mustard (sic) station.  That was it.
Interesting cruise passenger make-up dynamic between this cruise and the last….very predictable.  Many more young families on this shorter cruise.  Not nearly so many scooters…but more strollers.  Not sure which is worse !
Bad start in the casino.  I should have stayed in the room.  😂😵‍💫. At least I had the good sense to cut it off and go home.
Dinner at Izumi tonite.  Yum.  Chops tomorrow and then MDR the rest of the nights.
We went to the ice show.  We always enjoy those even if we’ve seen the show before.
When we came back to the room after turnaround, but before going to the B2B lunch, I called and booked our 2 instant comps from last cruise.  While my original plan was to use the cash value of my cert ($300) to upgrade Dans, we changed our mind and instead booked a 5 night Enchantment cruise (1-27-25) from the short list of comp cruises on my cert.  We have never been on Enchantment and we decided that if we were EVER going to book EN, this probably the only chance as we always look past EN to choose a newer/bigger ship. So we booked it.  Dans cert went for a 10 night EX southern Caribbean (3-20-25).
Tomorrow is PDCC which is usually a stay-on-the-ship-day but we will be going to Hideaway Beach.  I had no intention of ever visiting Hideaway b/c I thought it was so slimy the way they originally  announced that Hideaway would be adults-only and complimentary and then decided to charge for it.  But I got it for $19.99 PP so we will see what it’s like. I’m not one that enjoys laying about in a lounger (it kills my back) so not sure what we’ll do, but I will give it a try.

One thing I found great (that was on Brillance) is that we were able to borrow toys from the nursery to bring to our cabin. We could rotate as we pleased. We brought our own toys, but my youngest was more interested in the 'new' toys.
I always pack magnets. They are a big hit as it sticks to the walls of the cabin and it's easy to bring. 
My spouse and I rotate the naps/bed time schedule so we can both enjoy the ship and activities. I will admit that I love to nap so I don,'t mind staying in the cabin for my youngest's nap. If not tired, I have my Kobo to read. They are getting older now (3&6 years old) so we may be able to enjoy the evening shows and etc. as a family this time around. My youngest was about your LO's age when we first cruised with them and everything went very well! 
 

I hope everything was worked out to your satisfaction! Here's a screenshot that may be helpful in the future (and you may be aware of this). When you select your cabin when using Royal's website,  such as interior shown here, the little blue box to the right will say "View Details". Click it to view some details about the room, including the beds. This example is from an Interior on Grandeur but I'm assuming,  and maybe I shouldn't,  all ships would include this information. 
I hope the rest of your family's cruising experiences are wonderful!