Dan Curtis

Today is debarkation day and we are sitting in the aiport until our 2 pm flight ( hoping the weather will not delay us back to Cincinnati. :).  I thought I would catch up on the blog.  Debarkation was super easy.  We always carry off our own luggage so that we can pack some last minute items in the am.  We slept in until around 7:30 and then headed to the windjammer around 8 for 1 last breakfast.   The windjammer is always crowed at that time on debarkation day, but we easily found a spot with a great view of the NYC skyline.    Overall,  we thought the windjammer on anthem was a lot easier to find a table than on other ships.  We do realize the crowd was different this week.  There was a record number of children on board for the holiday week, but it felt more compartmentalized with their activities in the Seaplex etc. compared to the Oasis thanksgiving cruise last year.  The last 2 seadays sailing back have been cold.
Yesterday morning the boat was very rocky, and I actually felt really sea sick which is unusual for me.  I think it was heightened by the fact that I was pretty hung over from staying up late for the Quest. ? . We attempted to grab some breakfast in the solarium bistro which was only 1 deck up from our forward balcony cabin on deck 13.  I found this location very convenient to the north star bar, gym, and solarium.  Often we would go out the forward door on deck 13 which exits into the bottom of the solarium in the very front of the ship.  
I forced myself to do the elliptical yesterday before lunch, and I did feel much better.  My husband wanted to go back to WJ for lunch.  I was not that hungry so I just got an iced coffee and settled for desert for lunch.   I went back to the cabin to do some pre-packing and then we went to the We will rock you singers concert in the theatre in the afternoon, went and picked out our complementary diamond photos ( a perk I sometimes forget to take advantage of), and then we went to hear the Royal swedes pan in the music hall at 4pm.  I thought the band was really outstanding, and I went back to hear them play from 10-12pm again that night.    I am really glad I decided to get the DX this cruise because of the itinerary with Cococay, and the fact that we had so many sea days and stayed on the ship in both Nassau and port Canaveral.   Yesterday was day 8 though, so I was feeling drink fatigued.  I started off easy with mostly champagne. :), and then had my usual glass of wine # 490 ( an Italian red) with dinner and 2 lemon drop martini's later while listening to the band.  I found it super easy to get our money's worth outside of diamond hours on this cruise, but I am on the fence about it for the RCL blog New Year's 2020 cruise because of the port packed itinerary.  I think we will just try to get buy with our diamond drinks, 2 bottles of wine, and will probably do chef's table on new year's eve. 
We stopped by the diamond lounge per usual for some snacks and a pre-dinner cocktail.  Most of the week, we set with another family in the extended lounge area roped off in the music hall.  It came with some entertainment, ( unfortunately most of the time the entertainment was family karaoke. :).   We prefer my time dining because with just 2 of us, we can usually get through dinner quickly in just over an hour.  For most of the week, we were set at the same table.  Unfortunately on Thursday night, we made a later reservation because of a scheduled show, and we were set in a different area.  Last night, we went at our usual time of 5:30, but Unforunately, the table we had been sitting at for most of the week was already o ccupied.  I understand this is not unusual in MTD, but it is still disappointment when you have established a relationship with a particular wait staff team.  The assistant waiter saw us when the performed the Goodbye song that evening and both he and the waiter came by our table to say goodbye.  Last night was my favorite meal of the cruise.  I love the lamb chops served with the mint sauce. :).  For an appetizer I got the asian pork tacos.  They were great, and were almost exactly like eating an asian pork bun like you would find in China town in most cities.  For desert I got cheesecake, and my husband got the tres leches.  More to come.  I will blog from the beginning to share more details of our really fantastic and relaxing week! 
 
 
 
 
 
 



IMG_8472.HEIC

Fabulous blog.  We, your dear readers, give you this:

Dinner in CK tonite. The place was packed !  Good thing we had a reservation.  Huge disappointment with the filet.  It was overcooked and just -meh. Dans was cooked perfectly but he said his was just-meh as well. Sad that I wasted a specialty dining night on it. I am having desert since I only ate 2 bites of my steak. I normally skip desert. So that I have something else to bitch about, it’s freakin freezing in here !
Headliner (juggler) at 8:30. I hope I don’t regret that decision...   I told Joyce NOT to put us up front. I do not want to become part of the show. 
 
Since I don’t really enjoy the sauna and Dan does, I asked Joyce if he could use my day pass and she said “of course”.  Right answer.  
 
Cheesecake is waaay better than the steak

Dan schmoozing with Super Mario


 
He told Dan he will be on Oasis for a couple of months.  His office sign has been relocated from the pool deck on NAV to the pool deck on Oasis

What is the deal with the rubber ducks, I have never found one, can't say I have ever looked for one. Will,start looking, thanks for pics and info, looks like a great cuise. 
 
 
 

What is the deal with the rubber ducks, I have never found one, can't say I have ever looked for one. Will,start looking, thanks for pics and info, looks like a great cuise. 
 
 
 

What is the deal with the rubber ducks, I have never found one, can't say I have ever looked for one. Will,start looking, thanks for pics and info, looks like a great cuise. 
 
 
 

Lobster ? night on Rhapsody! 

Today was incredibly busy and I am beat.  Will give a very brief overview
Walked off with self assist at 7:15 with the Suites Concierge. Without a doubt the best disembarkation ever, including Star Class.  Dan and I were #3 an 4 off the ship.  Basically never even slowed down. Walked straight off.
First disappointment - no National Rental car shuttle but in fairness, it was 7:15. I suspect they showed up later.  We grudgingly paid $8 ea for a shared shuttle to the airport where we got our ride for the day from Tampa to Miami.  Total cost - $17.09 b/c I wanted XM radio.  Great deal (used points).
We did 2 real estate recons and neither really suits our needs.  Honestly, The only thing that is going to make Dan happy is a high rise condo in downtown Miami that overlooks the port.  That’s all....
After leaving our second stop (Lakewood Ranch), we began the very long and very boring drive to Miami.  I thought it would never end !  
Finally pulled into Miami airport to return the rental car a bit after 6 PM.  Called for an Uber to pick us up but he never found us and cancelled the trip on us.  Very annoyed !  Ended up taking a taxi from MIA to the Marriott Biscayne Bay. It didn’t cost much more than Uber would have been but it was still annoying.  Is there a way to rate an Uber driver if you don’t actually complete the ride ?
We hadn’t had anything to eat since b’fast at Chops at 6:30 so we were famished.  The slop they were offering in the Concierge Club was utterly unappealing so we went down to the restaurant downstairs.  I had forgotten (until I looked at the menu) how awful the food was the last time we ate there....but I was out of options so I ordered a quesadilla. Ugh.  2 bites and I was done.  The truth is when I am very tired I just can’t eat so I don’t think I would have enjoyed it even if it had been appetizing. Dan gobbled down his poke bowl.

Can’t wait to board Oasis in the morning.  We anticipate calling an Uber at 10:00AM. Sorry you are having to disembark, Ashley.  I enjoyed your blog so much !
Night, all.
 

Good morning.  We are exactly two days away....ahhhhhhhhh!  I saw this and it made me laugh!
update...still haven’t packed yet.  Ugghh.  The idea of packing seems fun till you have to actually do it.
On other news, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Diet?  What diet?
I will have to say this round at Playmakers is the hottest food I've had on the ship this entire cruise.

These bears were in the car on the Promenade on day one and then disappeared.  They've been showing up all over the ship.  Some folks we befriended on this cruise said they found them on the carousel..and the sailing's Facebook group also found them as well.  Love these little touches!

01C5B0C3-28A7-46DC-BC7E-E746C9E40FF3.MOV

Well the internet seems to be working much better now. Looks like they may actually have managed to fix it. Fingers crossed.
Dinner tonight was very nice. The menu was presented like a rolled-up scroll, tied with a yellow ribbon. The wait staff were collecting them after taking the orders but I asked if I could keep it. ?

I started with the sweet potato and butternut squash soup, which was very good.

The beef wellington was excellent, very tender and tasty. Luckily we ordered it done medium rare; I think if we had asked for medium well it would probably have been too dry.

And for dessert, since I couldn't decide between the pumpkin pie and the pecan tart, I just asked for both! ? They were very good. It was just a pity I was too full to finish them!

 

On a cheerier note, we were in St. Thomas today, where we did a ship sponsored tour (5 star island tour) that took us to Mountain Top, Magen's Bay and shopping.
I can't say enough good things about Magen's Bay. What a gorgeous beach!

Is it still stir fry if you don't use a wok?

Also blew the budget on lobster in Windjammer ??

shh..he's sleeping

Awesome blog, we cruise late January and seeing your pics is making it seem so far away, thank you, although we mostly see the sun deck it seems.

Most popular guy on the pool deck!
 

I had to ask about my Diamond pin at Guest Services.  I hit 80 points after my last cruise.
I am somebody now.

Good thing too.  I have been Diamond Lounging 6 whole days without this proper piece of attire.  I felt naked.

That really looks delicious, thanks for all the photos.

@Dan Curtis
 
It’s my pleasure! It’s the least I could do to pay back everyone here on this blog for all the useful information. 

That really looks delicious, thanks for all the photos.

That really looks delicious, thanks for all the photos.

Day 7- Sea Day 
 
Like most vacations, this one is ending way too soon. Time certainly does fly when you are having fun. It’s been difficult to write with so much going on, so I apologize for the big gaps and so few posts. 
I guess I’ll catch everyone up by starting with the excursions and ports. 
Key West: 
No official excursions were planned, but I was on my own mission to find an authentic key lime pie, sample some conch fritters and to make it to the Southern Most Point. 
-Kermit’s came highly recommended by Yelp reviewers and it certainly didn’t disappoint. They also had several samples of key lime flavored desserts including cookies, taffy, peanuts and hard candy. 
-The Southern Most Point was crowded and there was a long line for people wanting to get their selfies with the iconic monument. We cheated and took our selfies from a different angle in order to bypass the the queue. The key lime pie was delicious and I would have had another slide had I not been so full from lunch earlier in the day. 
-Thanks to Yelp again, we ended up at a place called, The Conch Shack, to get our fritter fix. I’ve never had a conch fritter before, but they reminded me of hush puppies. They were good, but nothing that I needed to try again necessarily. 
Grand Cayman: 
We’ve been to Grand Cayman before and didn’t feel the need to visit Sting Ray City and we wanted to avoid the crowds on 7 Mile Beach. With a little research, we found Smith’s Cove. In reviews on other sites, it was rated highly and apparently had better snorkeling and fewer people compared to 7 Mile Beach. The 1.5 mile walk was not pedestrian friendly and required us to walk on the street occasionally and sometimes through people’s yards. The cove itself was small and there were only a handful of people around. The snorkeling wasn’t spectacular, but did manage to see a few different types of fish and a lobster. If you’re considering going, you might be able to get a taxi there, but not sure how easy it is to get transportation to take you back to the ship. I’d be hesitant to take smaller kids on th
 
Cozumel: 
Here we booked the Chaak Tun cenote swim and Mayan ritual cleanse. The cenote swim was one of the neatest excursions I’ve done in the Caribbean. You basically are snorkeling in fresh water cenotes surrounded by stalagmites and stalactites. I’ve been able to see these formations in caverns before, but this is the first time I’ve been able to swim and snorkel while seeing them. 
The Mayan cleansing ritual was interesting on many levels. This part of the excursion was added after we booked it. I feel like I won’t do it justice by attempting to describe it in my own words (I’ll try anyways), but I encourage you to do a little research into it before you participate. We went into the ritual without any research and the whole thing took me by surprise. The majority of the ritual involved stepping into a brick hut that was like a sweat lodge. There were 8 of us piling into the little hut, the entrance was sealed with blankets and we were sitting around a little pit filled with HOT lava rocks. A shaman would throw water on the rocks which would create HOT! steam and she would play the drums and sing. I’m not a huge fan of saunas or steam rooms and I wasn’t sure if the steam and the stifling heat was too much for me. I found it difficult to breath sometimes and I started to wonder if I was going to pass out or if I would start to hallucinate. The whole ritual took about 20 mins. When we exited the hut, someone poured cool water over us and I thought I was going to pass out from the drastic change in temperature. The whole thing was surreal and otherworldly, but not sure I could do it again. 
Costa Maya: 
We decided to bypass the shopping area “labyrinth” and decided to book an independent excursion at Maya Chan Beach. You may have heard about Maya Chan from one of Matt’s earlier posts. For those of you unfamiliar with Maya Chan, this is an all inclusive food/open bar excursion located about 30 mins away from the port. Included in the fee, there was snorkeling equipment, a small pool, water shoes, paddle boards, boogie boards, floating beach chairs, and kayaks. We also had a semi-private palapa, beach chairs, a bed, and a hammock. You have to book your spot in advance and they only accept a limited number of people. The beach never felt crowded and the staff are very accommodating. The staff will even take your drink order and deliver your drink to you while you are comfortably situated in a floating beach chair! It’s a bumpy 30 min drive and the beach is in the middle of nowhere, but I highly recommend this little jaunt.
***Feel free to ask me questions about my excursions or the ports of call we’ve visited. It’s the least I can do to repay everyone for the plethora of helpful information I’ve taken away from this blog!***