Dan Curtis

I'm guessing to early, we have a cruise in February, looked at excursions a couple weeks ago, they was only showing six, I called, they said look back in mid December, I'm not sure why they are waiting so long. 

Last minute sailing surprise! First time on this class of ship. First time out of Tampa. First time sailing as D+. First Royal Up success selection.
When: November 19, 2022
Who: Three Best Friends; Hubby, Myself, 16 year old daughter. 
Ship: Serenade of the Seas
Cabin: Owners Suite
Itinerary: Tour of the Bahamas, seriously a snooze fest but I'm sailing AND I Love Sailing! 
One RUB placed, not holding my breath. Hoping we will enjoy sailing from Tampa. 
 
 
 

Day one was very busy. I'll now do a little catching up.😴.
We met with TessOr and her husband  from this forum in the Diamond Lounge and had a delightful introduction and visit. Coffee and water were the only drinks available until just before we left, when other drinks became also available. And by then the lounge was packed with guests.
MDR... 5:30 dinner was   wonderful. We had prime rib.  The wait staff and/or cook  staff was spread thin, and it took a long time to be served all our courses.  I finally excused myself at 7:20, before the rest of our table mates, as the ship was putting on a Veterans tribute in the Promenade I didn't want to miss.
The maestro of the small orchestra at the Vet's ceremony is a Marine, so between him and the cruise director, the presentation was done right.  Thanks for that. 
Luggage to our room was later than I've ever experienced, so I had to wear my traveling clothes until bed time.
 
It was the cabin attendants doing all the luggage delivery. I didn't unpack my suitcase til after midnight.
The casino... Let's just say I paid for my next cruise. The slots were tight.  The entire casino is a smoking zone. A yuck for me personally.   
This boat seems a bit aged, but the housekeeping is mostly top notch. 
It's now after noon on the next day while I'm writing.  A task for me on a cell phone.  Oh... And the VOOM works perfectly on my android phone, but not so  well on my wife's i-phone.
Excuse me now while I get  dressed and find some breakfast.  Sleeping in was a blessing.
Our Royal Up was not successful, so our most wonderful Junior Suite will remain our home for a week.🤩

It took us until Day 10 but we finally had enough room for a real breakfast. We’d planned to go to Johnny Rockets but after seeing the queue we quickly rerouted to the MDR. Guess this will be the only time we’re in the MDR this cruise. Ok, we were here for the Muster Drill but that’s it. We started the day with Breakfast Burrito, Market Vegetable Breakfast Bowl and shared Banana Pancakes. Having breakfast meant skipping lunch – I’m pretty sure we won’t be booking the UDP again. Just way too much food and we didn’t even always get a lunch reservation.



Most of the day was again spent either on the pool or in the cabin. All this relaxation makes for a boring blog but we really needed the opportunity to switch off. The time zone switches are also taking a toll on us this cruise – maybe because we both still have a bit of a cold or even a light form of seasickness. Wonder is moving much more than Symphony was – no idea why as I thought she’s more or less the same than her older sister. I haven’t felt a 100 percent since this cruise started so I’m napping way more than I’m used to. Hey, at least the cabin upgrade really paid for itself, we’ve never spent so much time in our cabin.
 
This evening’s entertainment was Spotlight Showtime – Beyond Broadway. This is a special show to fill up the entertainment calendar for this longer cruise and you won’t get it on 7 night sailings – or that’s what our CD Mike said. In this show you get to know the vocal cast for the Theatre. They’re interviewed by the CD and each present their favourite broadway song. The show has a bit of an improvised feeling to it, but we really enjoyed it. It was far better than yesterday’s Voices. You can never go wrong with Broadway songs.
 
Dinner brought us back to Hooked. With skipping lunch Michael was getting ambitious and opted for two appetizers – he didn’t even regret it later 🤔 We had Maryland Crab Cake, Ceviche (the spicy version), Clam & Crab Chowder, Surf & Turf, Messy Fish Sandwich, Coconut Cream Pie and Cherry Pie. They give you a bib for the Sandwich, but I could’ve made better use of it for the Chowder 🤣







 

Day 9 brings the last Sudoku Challenge for this cruise. As per usual (mostly), Michael won this round and received Royal highlighters for his effort. Now the morning trivia crowd can have Schooner to themselves. We spent the morning in the Solarium Pool and hot tubs as the main pools are still dry. Rumour has it they will be filled during the day but even so, we’ll let them warm up for a day or two. Being able to cool off is nice and all that, but we wouldn’t want to overdo it 🤣
 
For lunch we scored a reservation in Hooked. Well, theoretically… because it never showed up in the app although it was confirmed twice by Hooked staff. When we showed up for our reservation they suddenly didn’t have us in the system anymore. Strange, but they thankfully still seated us. We had Drunken Mussels, Baked Oysters (once and never again 😉), Maryland Clam Strip Sandwich, Maine Lobster Roll, Lemon Tart and Decadent Chocolate Brownie. Be careful, the latter realy is decadent and can put you in a chocolate food coma on its own. But the best part of the menu were the crisps - it's a pity you only get them for lunch.






Unfortunately the afternoon was mostly spent in the cabin still trying unsuccessfully to sleep off my cold. This evening’s entertainment was the  Signature Production Voices – completely a capella although part of the voices is prerecorded. Sadly, this show didn’t do much for us, it’s the least impressive we’ve seen on Royal. We’d very much prefer another Broadway show but it is what it is. Dinner brought us back to Giovanni’s (again). This time we shared the Italian Stromboli appetizer and had Osso Buco, Chicken Parmigiana, Chocolate Ravioli and Mamma’s Tiramisu. We went to bed with a few drinks.

I picked out my free diamond photo,  I looked confused in all the photos. So I just picked the one where I'm confused but happy. I went to the casino to chat but didn't play. I am.......I don't know the word. All I know is I watch people win $300-4000 and continue to play. I have a weird system were if it's more than $150 I cash that out and play with my intended amount. Some of these people aren't even trying to make prime because they aren't tapping their cards. My casino friend has the same system, she hit $326 and cashed that out. She then put a fresh $100 in the machine. The guy across hit $900. Then played fast and loose until he lost it all. $900 is like half a cruise fare.....or the full fare for an upgraded casino comp.
After some casino people watching, I headed to the main theater for Columbus. I have to say this was my favorite original production. You think it's about Christopher but it's about Marvin and so funny. I laughed and really thought the main actor's voice was so good. I also appreciate that they include actors with various body types now. You don't think you would care or notice but as a chubby person, it's nice to see people chosen for talent.
I have only received 1 towel animal for the entire cruise.....I think it's a squirrel. I originally had planned to dine at Sabor, but when the app glitched, it didn't register my reservation. It was a good thing I checked after leaving the Aqua show because I would have been embarrassed. I had made a MTD reservation weeks ago, so I begrudgingly went there.
I had an 8:15 reservation so I got there at 8. They still had not sat the 8pm people and they made me get out of line so they could take them. The none reservation line was moving faster. Then at 8:20 they let me get in line. It went fast until I was stuck behind a guy trying to get his same waiter, but not remembering the name. After 5min I ask to move because I shouldn't be standing in line that long to actually be sat after confirming my reservation.  Unfortunately I had a waiter who automatically mentioned the survey and tens before he even got my order. I got the garlic shrimp and cheesecake. The shrimp and jasmine rice were very good. The veggies left tons to be desired. I ate the carrots but the squash and celery weren't a good texture. The cheesecake was okay. The assistant waiter came as I was getting my tip out and mentioned the survey again. 
I breezed through dinner in like 45min because I didn't get much. So I went back to pack and put my luggage out before 10pm. I then went to Schooners, used my last two vouchers.  So far only in the DL have I signed and that's exactly where I had 3 drinks stolen from me.  The piano man in Schooner's was taking requests and the songs people chose......
Deck 3 wasn't too bad, I didn't get sea sick even though the ship was rocking. The only thing is because I was so low, I rarely went higher.  Mainly because I prefer to take the stairs and 12-14 flights of stairs is a beast. Interior cabins on Oasis class are a good size, 2 people can be very comfortable. The shower is roomy too. I had no problems closing the door and still being able to move. I had 4 outlets, one by the bed and 2 USB ports, so I was able to designate a plug to my laptop and keep my fan blowing cool air on my face.
Some stray observations....
The ship stinks. I thought it was just my deck but nope. Everyday it has smelled like butt and BO. I walked the promenade to get my photo and it smelled like everyone there had an accident. 
People think they can vape anywhere. In specialty restaurants, theaters, the promenade, etc. I sat inside Park Cafe and the couple across were vaping while eating salads. 
Freestyle was without carbonation for almost 2 days. They were sending people to bars. Guest services were full of people complaining. 
In general people are filthy. Dirty dishes and food left in elevator,  on stairs, in the plants at central park and littered throughout hallways.
Internet has been good. I did a Teams and Zoom call with no buffering. I also took plenty of calls over wifi that never dropped.....not to mention I have been able to post easily. 
I always tip as I go because I don't know if I will see that person again. Several crew members have told me they have not been getting much and that people have been removing the auto gratuity. I don't know.....if I had bad children, bad manners and funk I would be tipping extra.

It’s finally here, the first official sea day for this cruise - day 6. Nobody’s getting off the ship any time soon – at least I wouldn’t recommend it. We woke up to quite some rolling and pitching which is astonishing considering the waves are still harmless. Maybe you feel it more because the Med had absolutely no waves. It just takes a day to adjust and then you won’t feel it anymore – I hope 😄 We started our day with speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade and Michael had his usual donuts – apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t like them. The morning was spent walking around the ship and having a drink here and there.
 
Für lunch we had scored an Izumi reservation. The goal for this cruise is to try every sushi roll once so this takes a few trips. We realised just how lucky we were when we saw literally dozens of people being sent away for not having a reservation - even though they were informed on day one that reservation for lunch wasn’t possible. I can’t even say they’re being a Karen as we got the same information. We only ignored it and tried booking via the app (nearly impossible) and when that failed we just talked to each restaurant separately. Going this way we managed lunch reservations for Giovanni’s, Izumi, Hooked and Chops. I’m still p***** about no Mason Jar brunch. And it’s not as if the restaurants are fully booked – every time you’re in a speciality restaurant up to half of the tables are unoccupied. Lack of staff seems to be the problem. But back to Izumi – today we had Crispy Chicken Kara-Age, Pork Gyoza Dumplins, Izumi Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Chicken Teriyaki, Poke Bowl, Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Chocolate Lava Cake. Michael also took the opportunity to try some Asian beers – with mixed success. When in Izumi, I just stick to She’s a Geisha, definetely one of the best cocktails on board.




 
Once we were finished with desserts we rushed to the Music Hall for our Meet & Greet and Cabin Crawl (organised by that other website which I’m not naming 😉). Meet & Greet proved two things – we’re introverts at heart and if you don’t talk to us we’re highly unlikely to start a conversation – not a big surprise here. The other thing: it’s a small world! We talked to a couple from Texas who have a granddaughter in Cologne (where I’m originally from) and she is married to an ex-Bundesliga player whom I met personally once. After an hour of chatting and drinking it was time for the Cabin Crawl. We had originally volunteered our Interior Virtual Balcony cabin but when we upgraded to Ocean View Balcony this became obsolete as there was already an Ocean View Spacious Balcony on the list. This meant we were able to concentrate on checking out the other cabins. A few take aways from the cabin crawl: the spacious balcony Ocean View doesn’t really look bigger than ours so good thing I didn’t try Royal Up for this (minimum bid was 200 $ per person). We were really impressed with the size and layout of the Junior Suite we saw. The only thing I didn’t like was the bathtub – seems like a safety hazard getting in and out. On a positive note, while this cabin crawl was a zoo (hence no pictures), it has improved my chances of booking a Sky Junior Suite on Icon as Michael was also suitably impressed (see what I did here? 🤣). The Grand Suite wasn’t much nicer than the Junior Suite, but the Owner’s Suite was really impressive. I’d say the balcony alone was bigger than our whole cabin. We also saw the accessible Crown Loft and a 2 BR Aqua Theater suite. We loved the balcony of the latter but Star Class is just waaaay too expensive for us. Especially when we’re planning to buy a new RV next year. The current one wasn’t bought with a dog in mind and we’re experiencing a lot of quality problems so we’d better get rid of it as long as we can still get a good price for it.
 
Still feeling a bit under the weather we took an extended nap before dinner at Chops Grille. This being the first formal night we decided to dress up a bit. If you don’t like it, don’t bother. Apparently shorts and funny t-shirts are also acceptable 😉 Unfortunately Chops was the first restaurant on this cruise we weren’t impressed with. Good thing we only scored two reservations here. Our waiter was completely out of his depth, forgetting drinks and ignoring us for half an hour at times. The Prime NY Strip that Michael ordered Medium Rare came out more Well Done but as our waiter had completely vanished there was nothing to be done about it. At least the other food was quite nice, though nothing to write home about. We had Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Charred Beef Carpaccio, Caesar Salad, Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, Prime NY Strip, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp, Gruyère Cheese Tater Tots, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, New York Cheesecake and Warm Apple Pie à la Mode. We also tried two of Chops' speciality coffees - note to my non-German friends: the Bavarian Coffee has absolutely nothing do to with Bavaria 😄 The best thing about this dinner: we finished early enough to watch the 8 pm show of Headliner Jennifer Singer instead of the 10 pm showing. The show was nice – I mean who doesn’t like Broadway songs? After the show I went to bed to try and sleep off my cold while Michael went to the pub to try out some new drinks. We found a new favourite with Angry Orchard Peach Mango Cider - at least while on the ship. With access to delivery from the whole wide web, I'd recommend Kopparberg, a Swedish cider company.

Day 8 - Welcome to Tenerife


If this had been your standard 7-night cruise, we would have been on the eviction list right about now but instead we had another FIVE days! I can't begin to tell you how ecstatic that made me! 😆
This was the last of our Canary Island port stops and we really didn't have a plan for this one. There is a man-made beach nearby but not near enough to walk to. Royal did offer a transfer to this beach but even with the cruise planner sale it was going to be more than the cost of a taxi, so we decided to wing it. This was also partly due to the fact that Royal made changes to our itinerary several months before the cruise and this was one of the ports where we lost the most amount of time; instead of staying till 6 pm we had to be back on board at 2.3 pm. 😕
In the end, we thought this would be a good place to do some shopping for souvenirs and gifts, so we strolled through the marina and into town, where we had a lovely wander and found a very nice shop where we bought everything we needed. And the sun came out despite the cloudy skies as we were arriving.



This is a dragon tree (Dracaena draco). They are native to the Canary Isles, Cape Verde and Madeira.



We also learned something interesting today. While we were wandering around I noticed what appeared to be the Scottish flag flying from some of the buildings and there were souvenirs in the shop with it too, so I asked the shop-owner about it and it turns out that it wasn't the Scottish flag but the Tenerife flag. They are virtually identical and apparently there is just a very slight difference in the shade of blue. I looked it up later when we got back to the ship and one suggested reason is that both places have Saint Andrew as their patron saint. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
As we were making our way back, the nice blue skies were progressively and quite rapidly clouding over again and it started raining just as we reached the ship.

We found out later from our CC roll call friends that they had gone on the beach transfer and spent the last hour of their time there huddling under the awning of a beach bar as the rain poured down. I'm so glad we decided just to go into town!
We made our way up to the WJ for lunch and although it was pretty busy it wasn't an absolute zoo. I found a very nice roll there that looks a lot like a cinnamon swirl but had cheese and tomato in the swirls instead of cinnamon. I had never seen them before and they were very good, lovely and soft and just plain yummy! 

Although the rain had stopped while we were having lunch, it came back on again very shortly afterwards and we left Tenerife shrouded in mist. Once we were away from the harbour, we could feel some significant movement and I spotted the barf bags out on the stairs a bit later on as I was heading to the gym.

Tonight's dinner menu

Salmon and shrimp fritters. I'm not quite sure what to make of these. The texture was much firmer than I was expecting and they were quite spicy even though there was no mention of that fact in the description, other than the name of the sauce, which wasn't familiar to us. Someone who doesn't like or can't eat spicy food would definitely have given them the thumbs-down, especially if, like us, they weren't expecting it and although I thought they tasted OK I probably won't go out of my way to have them again.

Chicken marsala. This was quite nice. The sauce wasn't too sweet, which I was glad of because I'm not a fan of sweet and savoury together.

DH didn't fancy any of the main courses on today's menu so he just went for the strip steak. With the ubiquitous fries, of course.

And for dessert, we both had the red and white cheesecake. I'm not a huge cheesecake fan but because this one was a bit different I decided to give it a go. I thought it was OK but definitely not worth giving up my Royal chocolate cake for. DH on the other hand, who loves cheesecake, thought it was very good.

Tonight's show was the Love and Marriage Show, which we usually go along to and enjoy. It was even more hilarious than usual tonight because somehow a Dutch couple ended up on the stage as the longest-married couple (this on a ship where 96% of the passengers were Brits!) and while she spoke good English, he spoke hardly any, which made communication very difficult while adding to the hilariousness of the show. When it was time for the husbands to be asked their questions and his wife obviously couldn't be there to translate for him, the staff ended up using Google translate. As a professional translator, I can tell you that Google translate has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, but the questions being asked here were obviously way beyond its pay grade and ROFL ensued. 🤣 It was a really fun evening.

 

Tonight's MDR dinner menu

I wasn't at all inspired by the starters on this menu so I just went for the garden salad, not very exciting but the vinaigrette dressing was very good.

DH was similarly uninspired and went for the crab and shrimp risotto as his starter, which he enjoyed. Since this is actually a main course, he would subsequently be too stuffed for dessert. His loss! 🤣 I had it as my main course and enjoyed it too.

Then for his main course, DH chose the pork chop, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Despite its uninspiring appearance, it was very tasty and the vegetables were, as he put it, "properly cooked" (he's not a fan of al dente veggies 🤣). Note the side of fries... for anyone who likes their fries and doesn't know, you can always get them but you have to ask specially as they're on the kids' menu. Maybe Royal think adults shouldn't be eating fries in their fancy MDR.

Dessert was wonderful. Chocolate cappuccino, a very light chocolate mousse with a coffee foam topping. I loved it.

The main "show" in the theatre tonight was the continuance of the Name That Tune competition. We decided to give it a go and luckily managed to get some seats near the end of a row this time, meaning only two people would subsequently be inconvenienced when we cleared off before the end.

Apart from the contest per se, tonight's episode also included some numbers by the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers, which we enjoyed. This is the type of entertainment that we always enjoy and which we found to be rather lacking on this particular cruise.


On returning to our cabin, we noticed that we were sailing close to land so I had a quick look on the Marine Traffic website and discovered that we were sailing the long way round Gran Canaria en route to our next port stop, Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Deciding to try my (largely non-existent) photography skills and with the help of my phone's night shot function, I managed to get a couple of interesting pics of the clouds illuminated by the lights on land.


 

Day 7
Today was the second of our Canary Island stops and this time we were in Gran Canaria.
Today, at breakfast, I tried a piece of the raisin bread that I have seen so many people rave about. Sorry folks, it did nothing for me. I won't bother looking for it again. 🤣

We had a window seat for breakfast and were able to watch as a big boat pulled up alongside us. We had no idea what it was at first but a public announcement informed us that we were bunkering and that there was to be no smoking until the process was completed (which was not until after we came back on board in the afternoon!).


You can see in these pics that it was very grey and cloudy and this was still the case when we were ready to get off.
We had intended for this to be a beach day since there is a beach - Las Canteras - within easy walking distance of the port, but given the cloudy sky and despite being firmly in the "better to have and not need than need and not have" camp, we left the towels in the room, since it really didn't look like it would clear up at all.
Famous last words... I should have followed my own mantra. We had only got as far as the big mall and the garden at the end of the port when you could see that the sky was clearing...

and as you can see from these pics, in next to no time the sun was splitting the bricks, as they say where I come from! 🙄


We should have gone back to the ship to get the towels but DH decided it wasn't worth losing the half hour it would take us to get there and back, so we pushed on towards the beach, where we stopped at a souvenir shop on the promenade and became the proud owners of a Gran Canaria beach bag and towel. 🙄🤣
Las Canteras is a lovely beach, nice and flat to walk along the water's edge and very clean. There are public toilets and showers too and the promenade has lots of places to "fuel up". We decided we needed to come back here for a short winter break as well as Lanzarote! I definitely recommend it.




To be honest, we are not really big beach fans; a couple of hours and we're usually done. So since it was lunchtime by then, we wandered up off the beach to a place we'd spotted along the way and had a very tasty lunch of Iberian cured meats.


And then it was back to the ship for our usual evening routine. Here she is, waiting for us, with the bunkering barge still tied up beside her.

 

Sunday started not so bright and not so early, After a shower and a bit of repacking we ordered an Uber to the port. Amazing driver with awesome choice of music – him being a Venezulean with his own metal band. We skipped breakfast thinking the food coma would start soon enough – spoiler alert: it already has 🤣 We arrived at terminal C at 10 am sharp and were able to leave our luggage with the porters and get in queue as the terminal wasn’t open and they were still disembarking passengers. Fair enough, we received an e-mail telling us to arrive at least 30 minutes later than booked as boarding wouldn’t start before noon. Well, I don’t see an advantage in sitting around at the hotel compared to sitting around in front of the terminal so we chose to ignore the e-mail – along with everybody else with a 10 am to 10.30 am timeslot 😂 They opened the terminal around 10.30 am and check in was a breeze. Some more waiting around IN the terminal and boarding started at 11 am.

And that’s when the zoo started. The escalators in the terminal where still going downstairs so everybody had to drag their carry ons up the stairs. I might or might not have learned a whole new array of Spanish expletives 😂 Arriving on board we weren’t able to book entertainment via the app so we had to get in line at the kiosk. After waiting around some time a very nice crew member showed us that we were just constantly looking the wrong way – oops. With that out of the way I tried booking dining via the app but was unsuccessful. The app told me to go to guest services or a kiosk so we got in yet another queue. When it finally was our turn the mad hatter took our reservations but was unwilling to book our lunches or the second week. We were told that we could only book the second week dinners from next Sunday on as this was a new cruise. Ahem, I’m so not disembarking the ship in the middle of the Atlantic... Not being a Karen I unfortunately decided to let it slide.
 
We were tired from queuing and starving from skipping breakfast. We had planned to do The Mason Jar Brunch but it was closed for maintenance. The only specialty dining open was Giovanni’s so we went there for lunch. They were quite short staffed and it took ages to order. Not a problem, we made the most of our time by trying to book dining via the app. Well, after endless tries we were somewhat successful and have our dinners covered. Unfortunately by then Chops was already booked solid for the whole cruise so we only have one dinner there. We weren’t able to score a Mason Jar brunch reservation as it’s only open 4 times in 14 days ☹ Possibly due to staffing problems? To say I’m p***** is quite the understatement. With over 400 B2B cruisers, a few hundred Pinnacles and a forever sold-out UDP there’s only so much time you have until every slot is gone.
 
Lunch was a bit slow but other than that we really enjoyed it. I’ve apparently forgotten how to blog (or we were just starving that much?) that I mostly forgot to take pictures. I’ll try to improve in the future. For starters we shared the Meatball Gigante and the Calamari. Due to some hiccup in the kitchen we also got the Calabrese – funny enough this was the best of the 3 even if we didn’t order it. Michael went with Lasagna for his main and I tried Steak Muffuleta. Lasagna was meh or maybe just not what we’re used to. The steak was really enjoyable, just waaay too much. With dessert (Tiramisu and Go Bananas) we were completely stuffed.

 
We ended lunch about 2 pm and went to our cabin. We found all our luggage in the hallway and used the time to unpack. Met our staterrom attendant Igede and were able to order a kettle for Michael and distilled water for me. Our cabin has the bed next to the balcony – no idea if this is the better configuration or not. Writing this on day 2 I fear we may be spoiled already and can’t go back to an Interior cabin. Well, I have a few ideas about a Sky Junior Suite anyway – if Icon ever comes over to Europe… Between unpacking and dinner we managed to spend some time on the pool deck making the DBP magic work.

Dinner was at Izumi Sushi. We won’t be doing Hibachi this cruise as we feel it’s a been there, done that thing. For small plates we had the Pork Gyoza Dumplings and Crispy Rice Spicy Tuna – of course I forgot to take a picture 😋 Our large plates where (from left to right) Izumi Ryu Futomaki Roll, Crispy Philly Roll, Champagne Lobster Roll and Snow Crab California Roll. Three rolls were really good, only the Crispy Philly Roll was a bit boring. All in all, we had totally forgotten how much food you get at Izumi and food coma was already kicking in. For dessert we went with the German phrase „Eis geht immer“ (Icecream is always possible) and chose Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Green Tea Ice Cream.

Tbh our food coma (and maybe sleep deprivation?) was so bad that we just went to the cabin and took a nap. We had a real hard time getting up for our inTENse reservation but boy were we glad we did. From our last transatlantic we had learned the hard way that you should reserve the Aqua show as early as possible. Hiro was postponed about a dozen times and the other Aqua show didn’t run once. The center seats were once again reserved for the Key guests, suites and Pinnacles with the exception of the center splash zone. I didn’t mind, because I was pretty sure the whole center seats might get wet. The fact that the reserved Star Class seats were quite a bit off center was a dead giveaway 😂 We thought inTENse was amazing, even more impressive than Hiro. Unfortunately the pictures don’t do it justice. We’ll maybe try to sneak in to the show again (time permitting), we‘re on deck 7 aft and there is a door that leads directly to some seats next to the rock climbing wall at the end of our corridor. We took a detour to guest services for the German cruise compass for tomorrow and to get our DBP cups – afterwards it was straight to bed.

Three days out from out next sailing — four nighter to Mexico on the Navigator of the Seas. Much to do between tonight and Thursday, including a work trip to Atlanta and back to LA!  We all live in Southern California, so it’s an easy trip (particularly if you do not need to travel to the other side of the country the day before).
The itinerary is Catalina on Friday, Ensenada on Saturday, and sea day Sunday.
Initially, we were 7 in three cabins, but we lost our high school Senior son, who has overcommitted his life at the moment.  Thus, it will be hubby, two sons, two DILs, and GD (she is an adorable 2 year old). We started with a GS, a connecting balcony room, and a third balcony room down the hall a bit.  With just above a minimum bid, the GS Royaled Up to an OS (happy dance) so we no longer have connecting rooms for GD.  I’m speculating that GD will take over the OS.  DIL is pregnant and not feeling awesome, which means more of GD for hubby and me!
We are diving on Friday morning in Catalina and then doing a ropes course in the afternoon.  GD and her mom and dad are doing the submarine. Saturday, adults are riding ATVs to a hot spring — we enjoy the ATVs, so it should be a fun day.  The weather looks mild, so a good option for riding!
I arrive back in California during the wee hours of Thursday morning, so I see an afternoon nap as the first onboard activity.
We have the UDP for all.  I emailed back to the Suite concierge for reservations, but no word back yet.
We are looking forward to the trip!  Hopefully, the internet works well enough to do this actually live!

I am not going to lie........I thought that was a picture of Ronnie peeing.
Have a wonderful time on this TA. I look forward to your blog.

L Canario Lagoon, highly recommend, we have stayed three times before and after cruise, these folks are so nice, they charge us less every time to show appreciation for returning, if your early, they will lock up your bags, give you towels for a short beech walk, this is on a lagoon and you can see the ships from a distance, the reviews are awesome. Nothing fancy, its next to a comfort inn and probably 40 to 50 cheaper, we walked to resturants, beech, shopping, safe area. Has small breakfast as well.

Some of you might remember my last live blog from the Symphony TA. We were so happy with this cruise that we decided there and then to do the Oasis 5 TA. Unfortunately Royal announced Wonder would be going to Asia, so no TA. Instead, we booked an Eastern Med cruise on Odyssey for 2021. And then Covid happened. Odyssey was first relocated to Israel and afterwards to the US, our cruise was cancelled. We used Lift & Shift to protect our price for an Eastern Med cruise on Odyssey in 2022 – thinking Covid would be over by then. Well, how wrong you can be… In April we finally gave up on that cruise as neither Italy, nor Greece or Israel were showing any signs of stopping the craziness. As Germans can only book with non refundable deposits, we were looking for alternatives – and stumbled upon the Wonder TA. So four years after our first Royal cruise, it’s finally happening again – and it’s the cruise we wanted all along!
 
Here are the basics of this trip:
Travelling will be me (Kerstin, 39f) and hubby Michael (38m). We’re in 7310, an Ocean View Balcony. Funny enough, this will be first time ever we’ll be in a Balcony, we’re usually Interior people but got the opportunity to jump from Interior Virtual Balcony to GTY Ocean View Balcony for a steal price of 27 €. We have purchased UDP, DBP and Voom Surf & Stream.
This cruise brings us from Barcelona via Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Cartagena, Malaga and Nassau to Port Canaveral. We have planned nothing for the port days. If we’re in the mood we’ll just get off the ship and walk around town, if not, we’ll just stay on board and enjoy the empty ship.
Saturday will be a loooong day. Drop the 5 cats at the cat hotel at 8 am, drop the dog at the kennel at 11 am, take Covid tests and drive to Munich airport for our 8.55 pm flight to Barcelona. We’ll be arriving at 11.05 pm and have chosen the Alexandre Hotel Frontair Congress because they offer a shuttle and it isn’t far from the airport. Our boarding time is 10 am on Sunday which leaves us no time to do anything in Barcelona, but been there, done that… For disembarkation in Port Canaveral we’ve rented a car and will be spending a week in Florida essentially doing a road trip.
 
Last but not least, time to introduce the only good thing that came out of Covid (apart from this cruise of course 😆) – our newest addition to the family. This is Ronnie on our summer trip to Sweden with the RV. He’s a Romanian rescue dog of unknown breeding, history and age (approximates say 2 to 4 years). Thanks to Covid we can now mostly work from home and have enough time to do him justice. Even without Covid restrictions we’re only required to meet in the office once a month so it’s easy to make sure he’s not home alone. Only hard thing will be not seeing him for three weeks 😭 The cats are used to spending their vacation at the cat hotel, but we take Ronnie with us on our RV trips. He has been practicing by staying at the kennel for a few days twice so I’m sure he’ll be fine.
 

So in the spirit of live blogging, feel free to ask questions and I’ll do my best to answer them, take pictures and keep this as ‘live’ as the DBP allows 🤣

Okay so details....
For the very first time I am flying Southwest. 
I continue to commit the cardinal sin of flying in the day of the cruise. I only do this because I fly solo and it is always the first flight of the day. FLL is so close to Port Everglades you can see it. Since I am doing 2 cruises, I will be checking a bag. I did pay for Early Bird, so I hope to do okay with picking my seat.
Ship: Harmony of the Seas- Nov 7 — Nov 12, 2022
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA PUERTO COSTA MAYA, MEXICO COZUMEL, MEXICO Room: GTY Interior........not assigned.
I found out around the end of Aug that I would actually have a light work month for Nov. I decided to tack on an extra cruise when I was on my Sept Nav of seas sailing. I booked this one with NextCrusie, as it was already past FP, the pickings were slim. As I stated my family is obsessed with Star class now, so I couldn't justify almost $2000 for a balcony on a 5N sailing.  That meant I booked my first ever GTY interior. I have not been assigned a room, but I hope I don't get a studio as I want my double C&A points for being solo. I also have some RU bids in as I got the email about 2 days after booking back in Sept.
Since I am both Diamond and Prime, I decided to forgo any beverage package. The UDP was sold out, but I did book a 3N dining package with current plans to do my favorite 150CP, then Wonderland..........yes who would have thunk that! and Jamie's. I have Izumi's booked as a specialty lunch. I got Surf and Stream for $12/d and that trumps my Prime internet discount and Diamond free day. Most of the excursions were sold out, so I might just spend my time getting prime for next year.
1 Night stay at the hotel for 7 people across 3 rooms
Hotel
Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport-Cruise Port, 2081 Griffin Road Fort Lauderdale FL 33312 US I let my mother attempt some of the planning and she chose a bad one. I found this one and have heard good things. Hopefully it is and there is no bad juju. 
Ship: Odyssey of the Seas Nov 13 — Nov 19, 2022
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA PERFECT DAY COCOCAY, BAHAMAS FALMOUTH, JAMAICA LABADEE, HAITI Rooms: Obstructed Balconies 6292, 6296, 6300 and Interior 8277
I let my mother choose the rooms and she chose the cheapest ones. I was fine with that as I plan to explore the ship and casino. The only thing was the rooms were originally spaced because of Covid. It would have been nice to be able to open the dividers and make one large space. But by the time most protocols were dropped, people had booked the rooms in between.
I scored an 11am check-in time. We have MTD for nights 1, 3, and 6, Chops+1 for nights 2 and 4, and the Solarium Bistro booked for my mother's bff birthday which occurs on night 5 of our sailing. She turns 67 and she is proud. I booked the sip and paint for Labadee and with the other ports we plan to just get off and walk around. My brother and BFF have the DX, I got a soda package for this sailing. Everyone else decided they will bring their wine and pay as you go. 

So, here we are in Wikiki getting ready to board the NCL Pride of America for a 7 day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. We've been staying at the Hyatt Regency on Waikiki Beach. Went happy hour tonight and here is what we saw when we walked into the poolbar. A WHOLE new spin on a chair hog! 😎
PS-This trip is for our 50th wedding anniversary and RCL does not have a package deal like this. Will let you know how the Pride of America was.

assuming we're not up against any hard deadlines (like dining reservations or food venue before it gets too insane for the later boarding groups) we find a spot to grab a quick bite until they open the cabin.
after we've checked into cabin + (hopefully) unpacked -- first stop is schooner bar for a red stripe. i won't drink it any other time on board but it's tradition! the first drink to kick off the cruise is always a red stripe + always from schooner bar.
then we meander through the ship, usually boardwalk + central park, while finding snacks to soak up aforementioned red stripe so that i am not passed out for sailaway.
then i figuratively hold my breath until whatever florida port we have sailed out of is in the distance, and i can finally breathe and realize: hey. you made it. you're on vacation.
that's when i take off my watch for the rest of the cruise and realize that all the stress/angst, planning and lack of sleep finally paid off.
and then!!! we PARTY!  🥳

Must be on top deck for sail away
Get frozen drink
Casino 
Dinning room, being waited on 
Laying in the sun

Not in any order:
--Finding a venue to dance with my wife.
--Eating escargot at least once.
--Dressing up for dinner a few times.
--Having an espresso drink on the promenade.
--Walking the perimeter of the ship.

😄In my case it would be the hubby

Say a very quiet YAA WHOOOOO! 
Then grab a shot and a beer, 

Must do!
The first thing we do as soon as we get onboard is find our dining area and check our table.  If it's not right or what we requested is very easy to get it fixed...A simple conversation with the head MDR person will get it fixed.   
If on an Oasis class ship, we've must get a roast beef sandwich from the Park Cafe.
Meet our room steward to make sure they keep our ice bucket full...Lol
Attend the Quest!  We are hoping they bring it back now that the Covid restrictions are going away.

I just asked my wife and her immediate response was “go to the shows”

Depends on the destination. Caribbean is a pina colada, Mexico is a margarita, and Alaska is a beer