kadmgs

I mean..even for a one-and-done post I thought I'd at least get to enjoy a poorly told story of woe.... but no...just...one grammarless sentence... 🥲

I can think of lots of worse cruises than this one.  They may not have been entirely pleasure cruises, but there was one that ended abruptly on April 15, 1912.  Another on May 7, 1915.  There was one in April of 1865 where 1100 heros were lost.  One on November 10, 1975 was worse.  One in July of 1915 in the Chicago River was pretty bad.  There's one in Hawaii that's still leaking oil some 80 years later.  I think Leon Klinghoffer had a worse cruise than OP. There was one off the coast of Italy where the Captain was showing off for a woman he met and crashed his ship. Somewhere I have a map that shows thousands of ship wrecks in the Great Lakes. I'm pretty sure most of them were worse.  That's just off the top of my head without cracking a book or even the internet.

Thanks! I really appreciate it. 

Oh my gosh, thank you all sooo much! These are some great tips! I plan on trying some and hope it helps. I usually am okay, but when it hits, it hits! Plus, the possibility of Enchantment makes me really want to find a reliable solution. I def will be getting ginger, having apples, maybe the over the counter pills as back up and look into the bands. Thank you, thank you! And, @kadmgs, I pray all goes well with your treatments. 

I have not tried it yet for sea sickness, but I recently bought and used a Relief Band for chemo nausea. It was amazing. Its effectiveness definitely justified the cost for me. I plan on taking it with me in November on our Adventure cruise and we bought one for DW since it worked so well for me. 

the view of Battleship Texas from Pier 21 

I will echo @Galveston Steve's statement. I haven't tried Koop's as well, but everyone on the Galveston Eats facebook page rave about it. I'll be down there in October and plan to try it. Depending on the amount of time you have while in Galveston, I recommend taking your boys to LaKing's Confectionery. It is an almost 100 year old candy store in the historic part of the Strand. My brother and I loved going every summer on vacation when we were kids. 

I will echo @Galveston Steve's statement. I haven't tried Koop's as well, but everyone on the Galveston Eats facebook page rave about it. I'll be down there in October and plan to try it. Depending on the amount of time you have while in Galveston, I recommend taking your boys to LaKing's Confectionery. It is an almost 100 year old candy store in the historic part of the Strand. My brother and I loved going every summer on vacation when we were kids. 

We live an hour from Galveston. I'm IHG and a HIVC owner, so we stay mostly out at one of the timeshares. I would not recommend the Holiday Inn Resort next to the San Luis Hotel. It is old and needs serious updating/remodeling. I haven't stayed at the Holiday Inn Express @ 3228 Seawall, but it is next door to a great option for dinner, The Spot. It is very kid-friendly and has tons of outdoor seating, both covered and not, with great views of the Gulf. It is actually several different restaurant concepts in one area, kinda under one roof, but not really. They are known for their burgers and they are good in my opinion. They also have seafood and other stuff, but it might not all be available in the same area. If you go there, look at the menus before you choose which place to order from. We have the Holiday Inn Express booked for our Thanksgiving cruise because I could use points. I would recommend Uber or Lyft if you want to venture out and for the morning of departure. 

We live an hour from Galveston. I'm IHG and a HIVC owner, so we stay mostly out at one of the timeshares. I would not recommend the Holiday Inn Resort next to the San Luis Hotel. It is old and needs serious updating/remodeling. I haven't stayed at the Holiday Inn Express @ 3228 Seawall, but it is next door to a great option for dinner, The Spot. It is very kid-friendly and has tons of outdoor seating, both covered and not, with great views of the Gulf. It is actually several different restaurant concepts in one area, kinda under one roof, but not really. They are known for their burgers and they are good in my opinion. They also have seafood and other stuff, but it might not all be available in the same area. If you go there, look at the menus before you choose which place to order from. We have the Holiday Inn Express booked for our Thanksgiving cruise because I could use points. I would recommend Uber or Lyft if you want to venture out and for the morning of departure. 

Seriously! Give me a corn tortilla and some salsa and I can put together a bomb taco with what's available in the Windjammer. It is a shock to the system traveling outside of Texas that breakfast tacos aren't available. They are my quick go to for breakfast. Breakfast burritos are not the same... I don't want a flour tortilla twice the size of my head! 😂

Seriously! Give me a corn tortilla and some salsa and I can put together a bomb taco with what's available in the Windjammer. It is a shock to the system traveling outside of Texas that breakfast tacos aren't available. They are my quick go to for breakfast. Breakfast burritos are not the same... I don't want a flour tortilla twice the size of my head! 😂

We are 5000 guests and 1200 staff. That ratio is not normal, right?
Today was a great day. Labadee is amazing. Get up early enough to watch the approach and eventual docking. So beautiful. I got up to the top deck about 715 as the sun was finishing rising, and the looming mountains approached. It was so beautiful, laid out like that.
I gorged at the Windjammer and had enough food to last for the whole day. I felt so guilty that I waddled around the deck five running track for a while, while I waited for the ship to clear and the gangway to open. I had a lot of company out there, including a lady with a walker who was chugging along with great spirit. I really admired that.
Be aware there is a LOT of walking from ship to shore, and then to your chosen beach. There are trams to help out once you actually arrive, but getting from ship to shore is a walk. If you need assistance or a wheelchair or anything like that, make sure to arrange it beforehand. It’s not like Coco Cay, where there are trams to take you from the ship to the island. I’m almost positive I heard the cruise director announce there would be golf carts to help people down the pier, but I didn’t see a single one.
There was a crush to get off the ship because we were told unexpectedly early that the gangway was open. I think everyone was anxious to get on the beach and grab a really good chair, but there were plenty of chairs to go around and of course a lot of people rented cabanas or things like that. 
The minute I got off the ship, I realized I left my phone in the room. So I had no way to take pictures without going all the way back up to the 12th floor and that just wasn’t going to happen. But I sure wish I had made the effort. It was a spectacular opportunity to take pictures of the ship. She looks gorgeous and huge, docked there against those bright blue waters. There are some photo ops at the entrance to Labadee as well.
we had perfect weather and the beaches were photogenic and the water is just amazingly turquoise blue. Lots of different nooks and beaches to choose from. Watching people zip-line across the ocean on the dragons fire zip line experience was a lot of fun. I could’ve sat there all day. Every group that went by was just whooping and shouting with delight. Two young men that rode the elevator down with me flew by at one point, in the lying down superman position. They were whooping it up!
I definitely recommend spending a little time on adrenaline Beach to watch them go. Keep in mind that it takes them a while to get through their safety training, so they won’t be zip lining the minute you get off the ship.
I rode the Alpine coaster and it was a lot of fun. I almost wanted to stop the coaster in the middle of the ride and just look at it the views… Such an excellent view of the ship and the ocean. 
Here’s something I learned on the beach today. When I arrived at Nellie’s Beach, I was looking around to choose a beach chair. An attendant dressed in uniform with a name tag came over and asked me what kind of chair I wanted, shade or sun? He said, “you’re the boss today!” He led me to the perfect chair, dusted it off, and put the umbrella up. Then he stood there, clearly waiting for a tip. Fortunately I had brought a five dollar bill with me so I gave it to him, but that was a surprise because I’ve never been here before. I just assumed this was like Coco cay, where the staff come off the ship and do things on the island and then get back on the ship with you. The employees on the island seem to be independently employed or something like that and are very hungry for tips— and I got the feeling they were kind of competing with each other. There was a lot of eagerness to help people with simple things.

I knew that once I started swimming, I wasn’t going to want to ride the alpine coaster, so I left my towels in the chair and went and did that three times in a row. So much fun and I recommend an all day pass.
Sidenote, there was a pretty heavy smell of pot at the very top of the coaster where the employees sit around watching over things. And the attendant standing next to the track looked normal on my first trip, and seriously stoned by my third trip.  No judgment here, just commenting.
Speaking of that—I went up to the pool around 6 o’clock last night and as I passed by the smoking section, the smell of pot hung heavy in the air. I’m not sure if the employees don’t notice, don’t care, or if they’ve just been instructed to leave everybody alone. But that’s the first time I’ve seen pot smoked that blatantly on a cruise ship.
Back to Labadee:
I did not go to the market because I was afraid of being harassed. I ran into two ladies who had bought a small piece of art and said that they left because the harassment from the vendors was so aggressive they couldn’t take it. 
I strolled most of the island but I did not tackle the walking trails like I had planned. I pretty much withered in the heat and after a couple of hours I was ready to go.
By the way, Nellie’s Beach is the perfect place if you have small kids, or if you want to just rent a beach mat and float around without being pulled out to sea or bumped into by snorkelers.
I was back on the ship by lunchtime and lunch choices were quite limited. The main dining room was closed, Sorrento‘s did not open until one, and the solarium bistro is not open for lunch this whole cruise and the park café was closed for lunch today as well. And yes I did eat that giant breakfast, but I still wanted lunch so I had ice cream at Scoops. 

The pool was mostly empty until about 2 o’clock and the hot tubs, too! I went up there and swam for a while and hit the hot tub and had a great time. I went back to the room and cleaned up and then I had to work for a few hours. So I took my laptop to the library and all four chairs were filled. Then I took it to the card room and found a nice table and set up there. There were some people playing cards nearby and all of a sudden a woman started shouting at her husband to shut up, shut up, shut up. So I got up and left. Yikes.
Tons of live music on the promenade tonight and all of it was so great. Observation: The champagne bar is always packed with silver-haired people.  And no one else.
There was karaoke tonight with an enthusiastic and supportive crowd, and then another comedian in the Amber theater.
Side story about the karaoke: I was sitting next to a 70-ish year old couple who seem to be from New York. I grew up in New York and the husband of the couple looked like every dad of every friend I had growing up. He had the accent, the 70’s clothes, the aggressive edge to his voice, he snapped at his wife, the whole 9 yards. So somebody got up and announced they were going to sing “my way“ by Frank Sinatra. The man said “oh no“ and covered up his face. His wife patted his arm and said, “don’t.“
The man kept his face covered while the singer on stage worked his way through the song. When the singer got to the part “for what is a man, what has he got, without himself, he has not,” the guy choked out a sob. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his eyes and cried while his wife patted his arm. 
 
So that was that, and after karaoke, I walked around the promenade listening to all the various live music and there was quite a bit of it this evening. All of it’s so good. I tried a virgin Miami Vice and it was delightful! And I found a cruise duck, which is a thing now.  All in all, a really wonderful day. I feel like Labadee is well worth a trip to come see.

A tip to make this happen easier for folks who want to use Uber or Lyft: you can schedule your ride ahead of time in the app, so you're not stuck waiting behind everyone else trying to get a car at the same time.

Just a tin foil hat response, but the staff may be saying this to make sure you rate everyone 100%. I hate when people tell me about a survey and then proceed to tell me how I should rate them. Major turnoff and it will most likely result in a lower score or rating. Also, people need to be honest. It's the only way things or people are going to improve. If you just mark the highest rating all the time, nothing is going to change.

yes my facebook sailing page is full of canceled flights and people having to turn around to go back home. someone just posted that they opened up royal ip again. They got an offer and bid on it. Seriously this is insane. Looking on the bright side. The rest of my family is here and we will be sailing… just minus the fun italian tony who was a surprise for the entire family. Don’t judge all the typos. I always have typos. Throughout this blog just accept it. 🤪 I blog on my phone. The beers and margarita I bought in the pantry at the hotel may not help. ( They tasted like cat liter.)  pineapple jalapeño margaritas taste like cat litter FYI don’t do it.🤫 I let my daughter take a sniff and she ran coughing like she inhaled taki chip dust. she ran around for a second and told me what I knew. It smelled like cat litter. well guess what ? It tasted like it too🤣

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away. 

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away. 

We are IHG rewards members, so we've stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and the Intercontinental Miami. Both are located on Biscayne Bay Blvd. and are across the street/across the park from Bayside Marketplace. Bayside is a shopping/dining/entertainment area on the edge of Biscayne Bay. You can see the cruise terminal from both hotels. The Holiday Inn is a more affordable location compared to the Intercontinental. We Lyfted from the hotel to the terminal and it took less than ten minutes. We love to spend time in Little Havana when we are in Miami and its about a 10 minute Lyft to there from both hotels. 

At your best, you were a program that provided piece of mind for cruisers to book a cruise knowing that they had flexibility in case their travel plans changed and could even reprice their fare even past the final payment deadline.
At your worst, you were a complicated mess of conflicting information from support agents, redemption deadlines, issuance delays, and transfer restrictions.
We'll always remember waiting for the next notice that you may stick around just a little longer; that you might be a part of our next booking.  This is bitter sweet because we know that in order for us to get back to the way that things used to be, we have to go our separate ways.

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away. 

So...I actually proposed on a Royal Caribbean ship. Enchantment in '99.  My biggest advice?  Talk to the Cruise Director.  They LOVE doing this kind of stuff!  He talked me through several options, but to keep the story down to non-novel length, essentially he and the assistant cruise director schemed to get her on stage between the opening act and the main show in the theater on the 2nd formal night.  I intentionally got a big drink so I could "excuse myself to the bathroom" just as the opening act was ending (helped for nerves, too!).  While I was out, the director came on stage doing the normal how's everyone doing shtick, then said someone had dropped their SeaPass card.  He called her by name and brought her on stage.  "How's the service been?  Enjoying table 153?"  So on and so forth.  Finally gets to how important it is to take care of your SeaPass because it's like losing money.  Asks her how she'd feel if he bought everyone in the theater a drink?  "I wouldn't care," she replies, deadpan as can be.  "It's linked to my boyfriend's credit card."  Crowd loses it.  Has to look like she's a plant at this point.  Until he says, "Well, I'd bet he'd have something to say about that!" At which point, I come on stage left after the assistant director lead me through the back of the house and proceed to propose.  She never saw it coming, and I know that for a fact because another benefit of using the Cruise Director as an accomplice is that I have the whole thing professionally videotaped, and can see the look of shock on her face.  Big or small, very public or private and quiet, they can make it happen.  They'll be able to share ideas and experience about what has worked, what hasn't, and how they can make it more likely to match your desires.  My biggest regret is that I did it on the 2nd formal night and not the 1st, because neither of us could buy a drink the rest of the cruise!  😂. Whatever you do, best of luck!

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away. 

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away. 

I agree. Central Park is pretty busy on formal night. The reverse thinking on this is that there will more than likely be a ship photographer near by that you can take pictures with. You could even speak with the photo people to see if they would be in on it with you. There is an option to buy a private photo session with a photographer. You could tell you're girlfriend you won a free session and you thought pictures together in Central Park would be nice. You could do the whole, "Oops, I dropped my seapass card" drop to your knee to it pick up trick, all while the photographer is snapping away.