Dan Curtis

Got a text, message on the RC app to my apple watch and an email last night while at dinner and a show that they are monitoring the weather and there were no changes at this time. ooof. 
Finishing last minute packing stuff, drinking coffee and trying not to feel guilty for leaving my pup. 

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!!!
We didn't make it long last night before our whole party was passed out from sheer exhaustion and the stress of getting to Florida.  I think we were all asleep by 9pm, including the late-night party animals (Kenzie and Kayla).  
Shortly before heading to the hotel in Portland on Friday, we learned that Kayla is not vaccinated. 😲  I grabbed two at home tests and threw them in our bag to bring with us because she is required to take a test within three days of the cruise.  Incidentally, we had $250 worth of the proctored tests that were beyond the two week return date when we learned fully vaccinated passengers no longer have to test for our cruise.  That is in addition to the free tests received via the postal service when the government said we could get them for free.  I think we're good for tests!  Kayla did her test last night and she is negative - THANK GOD!!  That would have been a major disaster!
We're at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th and we're in a 2 Queen bed suite.  Our room is great!  The beds are comfortable and there was a great mix of pillows so we all got the one(s) we wanted!  I'm not convinced the beds are queens - they feel a bit more like doubles to me, but we're used to sleeping on a King.  The girls had the pull out sofa bed, and it's a typical sofa bed, so it wasn't comfortable like the beds, but they're young - they'll recover.  🤣
Tim and I woke up at 5am, because we just couldn't sleep more than 8 hours, and decided to go down and get coffee.  
NEWS FLASH!  The t-shirts all fit!!!  I'm so glad the dryer didn't turn them into doll clothes!!  😍🥳
 

Glad your mom is ok!

VACATION...STARTS...NOW!!!
We are in Fort Lauderdale...and our luggage made it too!  I'm so happy!!  It was quite a journey getting here today...
Kayla, coming from Jersey, didn't get her passport in time, and had sent her original birth certificate with her application, so she only had a copy.  Friday at 4pm Est, she texts me and asks if she needed an original or if a copy was okay.  I reached out to Royal to see if they make any exceptions, and the answer was a hard no without something original.  There are combinations that they would take with a copy of the birth certificate, but none of them were things she had.  Turns out that her mom had an original, but she lives three hours away from Kayla and Kayla was working a closing shift at work last night.  She got off at 11pm and took the six-hour round trip to get the original birth certificate so she could come with us.  Got back in time to finish packing, take an hour nap and head to the airport.  Whew!  Crisis 1 evaded! 🤪
Crisis 2 came with picking up mom and her meds.  When you get older, you end up needing to be on things for various reasons, and she is no exception.  We got to her place and checked her meds.  One of her meds ran out in the middle of the cruise (we had addressed the meds earlier in the week with the pharmacy, but the promise made to us did not pan out).  We called the pharmacy and got her meds worked out - but that was a three hour delay.  😒
We FINALLY made it to the hotel last night and had to repack stuff to make it flight worthy.  I was so afraid some or all of our luggage wasn't going to make it that I had myself tied up in knots over cross-packing.  Turns out there was no issue with our luggage making it, so my extra efforts were not necessary, but we just didn't want to take a chance.  I stayed up a little too late working on luggage stuff, and we finally climbed in bed at around 9pm Pst.  We had to be on the 3am shuttle to the airport, so we were trying for about 5 hours of sleep.  😴
Well - I got maybe 3 hours - if I'm lucky; Kenzie and Tim slept like babies; but Mom and Cindy stayed up like little school girls chatting all night and they maybe got an hour or two.  That turned out to be a bad thing on our second leg of flights.  We all made it on time for the 3am shuttle with fresh lobby coffee in hand.  We got to our gate with 90 minutes to spare and got to chill for a bit.  Then Kenzie and I noticed that Starbucks right next to us was open, so we went and placed a mobile order.  20 minutes later, we asked about it and she went and pulled it off of her machine - really???  The entire line that wrapped around the store was done when we finally got ours. I swear we weren't mean to her!  By the time we got our coffee, it was time to board and we made our way onto the plane - no drama there - just uncomfortable plane seats and faulty wifi.  We got to watch the safety video like 10 times while they tried over and over to reset it.  That was fun!  🙄
Got to our layover spot to switch planes and made it with enough time to drink a bottle of water, down a protein bar, and make sure we all had our boarding passes ready.  We got on the plane and it was like a sauna!  We all instantly started sweating and wished we had more layers to shed.  We shared some of the little Hershey Kisses gift bags with the flight attendants to show our appreciation for all they do, and started our flight.  This time the wifi worked and we only watched the safety video once.  
About 30 minutes into the flight Mom started feeling off and within a minute, leaned forward with her head against the seat in front of her and passed out.  I ran and got someone and they called for medical assistance.  We got a physician, a raspatory therapist, and a nurse who responded.  They took her blood pressure, checked her blood sugar, and her oxygen level.  Blood sugar was fine, blood pressure was low, and her oxygen level was super low.  They brought oxygen and put her on that for a bit until she started feeling a bit more normal.  She ate a little, drank some orange juice, sipped on ginger ale, and then took a nap for a bit.  When she woke up from her nap, she was still not all the way better, but the flight attendants brought her some food which brought her back to life.  After eating, she felt waaaayyyy better and finally had her color and her big smile back.  Dang!  She gave us a scare!  😳
Made it to FLL late afternoon and Kayla was waiting for us at the gate because her flight landed before ours.  It's so good to see her!! We got our luggage and hopped on the shuttle to our hotel.  Kenzie and Kayla went to Publix to get some fried chicken for us (IMHO - the best fried chicken) and the rest of us jumped in the pool for a quick refresher.  😋
We learned that because of hurricane Ian we're losing our stop in Roatan Honduras.  Kind of sad, but in the end, I don't mind an extra sea day.  It gives us that much more time to relax in our suite.   😎
Tomorrow we sail!  We're so excited!!!!  

 
 

Here is a simple, cheap thing to try, works for my wife, an elderly Asian lady told my wife, don't laugh until you try it everyone, a band aid over the belly button. Works great for my wife.

Here is a simple, cheap thing to try, works for my wife, an elderly Asian lady told my wife, don't laugh until you try it everyone, a band aid over the belly button. Works great for my wife.

Here is a simple, cheap thing to try, works for my wife, an elderly Asian lady told my wife, don't laugh until you try it everyone, a band aid over the belly button. Works great for my wife.

I am on Allure right now.  Our itinerary was changed when Fiona was threatening Haiti!  We ended up at Curacao first (gorgeous weather), Aruba yesterday (beautiful weather with exception of torrential downpour late morning) and now heading to Labadee for tomorrow.  It is bright sunshine this morning and still very smooth seas.

In the event a Hurricane will hit the port on debarkation day, will they typically bring you back a day early, or keep you out at sea until the storm passes?

We was on a cruise a few years ago, everyone back home was worried, it was the smoothest cruise we had, we kind of trailed it, did a reserve stop on two islands, they was concerned we might have to stay at see one day as it was headed to our port, we was even allowed to make a phone call on the Royal phones from stateroom, as it turned out, it missed Florida , thank goodness. Royal is usually on top of things come hurricane season.

We was on a cruise a few years ago, everyone back home was worried, it was the smoothest cruise we had, we kind of trailed it, did a reserve stop on two islands, they was concerned we might have to stay at see one day as it was headed to our port, we was even allowed to make a phone call on the Royal phones from stateroom, as it turned out, it missed Florida , thank goodness. Royal is usually on top of things come hurricane season.

I will disagree that Pinnacle is easy to achieve, at least for us.  We are Diamond Plus, 204 points.  We need 496 more points to achieve Pinnacle.  No way we will be ever able to do that.  We do not have the $$ to cruise that much even with double points for suites.  We would need ~36 (7) night cruises in a suite.    
 

First cruise in a while, last three canceled by Royal. We are already excited.

If you're properly camouflaged, how can they even tell you are there?

I'm finally starting to feel the excitement of a booked cruise after 3 canceled solo trips! The first two were canceled by Royal in 2020 and then this past January I chickened out and canceled my upcoming March cruise. I just wasn't ready. Was talking to a work friend one day and saying I had all of these FCC's I needed to use but the thought of cruising solo after basically being alone for two years did not interest me at all. She said she was interested and we booked. This isn't necessarily my dream itinerary but when we booked in March flying didn't sound so good and neither wanted the extra expense of hotels and flights. Luckily it's Oasis so there is plenty to see and do.
 
The Ship - Oasis, first time on this ship for me!!! Out of NJ, about an hour and change from my Long Island home. I love the idea of getting in my car after the cruise, even better it's a Sunday, traffic wise. 
The Where - Orlando, Nassau and CocoCay. 
The Who - 2 ladies above 40, that's all y'all need to know. 
Staterooms - We have 2 balcony staterooms on the 12th floor. I don't think I've been that high in a while. Solo rooms tend to be lower but no solo room for me this time. I love this friend but not enough to share a room and thank goodness she's on the same page.
Drink Package for both of us - I have dreams of making this package work for me and 100% forget that even in college and part of the pandemic learning to make fun cocktails I have a low tolerance. Wish me luck. Ordered water for the room because I had extra OBC. I drink a lot of water anyway.
3 Night Dining Package - I had a ton of OBC so I got this for both of us. I'm a little picky. I don't hate the MDR but can't do it every night, I've done Unlimited Dining but that's also too much food wise. 
Excursions - Orlando, not getting off the ship. I don't see a purpose and we have a perfectly good ship to run around or relax on.
Nassau - forgot the exact name but the VIP Cabana for 2. Unlimited drinks and plenty of food. Gonna have to run to guest services Day 1 because it won't let me add my friend's name and when I bought it said "for 2" - now the price is double. Worst case scenario I'll buy it for her without telling her. This is something I wanted to do so it's not her fault if I messed it up.
CocoCay- we did the beach club. From what I hear we'll be able to find loungers with little issue. She's looking forward to the food. I just want to be served and be lazy. Maybe I'll paddle board if I can find it, maybe I won't leave the lounger, we'll all find out that day.
Randoms - I booked 2 days for casitas. I hear mixed reviews but yet again, I had extra OBC and if it means not having to be mad at seat savers well then it's worth it to me. Booked a massage for myself because, duh, vacation.
 
It's helped to read all your blogs and how you've all fared - whether covid wasn't a big deal to you or not. Thanks for sharing (and if you made it this far, thanks for reading!)
 

Day 5 we had breakfast in the room again before arriving in Aruba. We caught a cab for the short ride to Mambo Beach. Very beautiful and very hot and humid. I’m not a big beach guy but the family loves it. So I was a bit surprised that not one of them wore bathing suits or brought towels!  We sat at a beach bar and enjoyed the views for a bit. Took a cab back to the port area and made a stop at The Paddock, a bar and restaurant near the ship. @CravingaCruisenote this is where the Genies hang out and eat chicken wings!  Then we shopped for the usual T-shirt and other touristy crap. Back on the ship for snacks in the room and time on the balcony. Had dinner at Izumi Hibachi with a wonderful, funny chef. His laughter had us in stitches. I had lobster and shrimp which were both great. Then off to Ice Games which was good. We were seated next to @Lonnieand his friends who were Sailing with Genie Alan. Had a little casino time and called it a night. 

We have used Royal on all excursions except one time, you pay a little more, but they guarantee you getting back on board, if a bus was to break down or something happens and you use Royal, they will know about it and wait, if on a private tour, and something happens, you might miss the ship, for us, ill pay a little xtra for that peace of mind.

We have used Royal on all excursions except one time, you pay a little more, but they guarantee you getting back on board, if a bus was to break down or something happens and you use Royal, they will know about it and wait, if on a private tour, and something happens, you might miss the ship, for us, ill pay a little xtra for that peace of mind.

So I did talk mad crap about Hooked as I'm not big on seafood. First the restaurant is cute, it's the best decor I've seen on this ship. The waiters wear suspenders and look casual cute. I have had shrimp cocktail as an app, every night. I got the turf and turf, which subs a grilled chicken breast for the lobster tail. The steak was at least five times better than Chops.  Seasoned and cooked perfectly. Thr chicken was juicy and also flavorful. The sides were a meh, except the fries which were perfect. The coleslaw was fresh and crunchy but lacked flavor. The corn was so mushy.....I didn't know corn on the cob could be that way. I would go back with someone who loves seafood as I left full.
Side note. ...
Normally the piano player in Schooner's is great, sometimes even amazing. This guy is more like "I get paid either way." He isn't in key, plays what he wants even though he asks for request, and likes to talk about himself more than sing or play. Hooked is right there and every time the door opened all we heard was abrupt singing or chatty McChatterton. After dinner I went on deck 7 and watched the 70s discovery party and laughed off the food. 
Stray observations :
So far every speciality dinner/lunch we have seen the family who changed the diaper of their baby in Jamie's. The baby is under a year and cries and screams. It is disruptive. They also make the staff do a lot. In Hooked they had the staff remove the lobster and oysters from the shell, while one person walked around the restaurant entertaining the baby. 
Lots of loose people, in risqué outfits. Lots of children and teenagers, more than the last sailing which actually included a weekend.....??????
Saw a man in a stuffed speedo....I will just leave that here.
There is a large number of RCG crew on this sailing. Some are from Celebrity others are entertainers. They have on nametags but are drinking, gambling etc. 
I got no drink package and between my diamond drinks and prime drinks, I haven't needed it. I was 3/4 on diamond both nights because of prime. My cooler still has 8 bottles of water and 3 coke zeros and tonight is last of cruise. 
I used my diamond internet the first night and my prime 30% for other nights. The surf internet is bad, the whole first day I had issues. Then I got surf and stream and was back in business. It was $25.98 each day.
 
Last sea day.
I got even less sleep than usual. The kids were in bed when I got back to my room but exactly at 5am they were a terror. So I showered and hit the diamond lounge around 7:45. No one was in there so I chatted with Francisco until another woman came in. She was insistent that she be allowed in the lounge, why was the door locked....blah blah. Francisco explained about it being diamond and above. She didn't know her teir, she was only platinum, but walked around and got herself coffee. 
Another woman came in to complain about the staff. It was her son's birthday and she requested cake and a candle, through her TA before the cruise, and also at dinner. The staff told her they didn't do that and argued with her. She never felt so disrespected and Francisco is the only nice crew member she has met.....on this entire cruise. I enjoyed my lite breakfast and left.
I went to the casino to play half of what I had allotted. I played 25min on one machine but didn't do well. On the search for a better machine I met Mary who was playing her husband card to get him prime. She made prime on her very first RCG cruise in June. Her and her husband were RV'ers but just sold theirs to live on cruise ships full time. They currently have 17 cruises booked between now and April 2023. Only 4 of them are paid, all the rest are casino comps. She said her budget is $500 a day for the casino. Thats my entire budget for a sailing under five nights. They were on the last sailing and come back after the charter. I chatted with her while she played. She is booked on 6 different lines for the cruises; she has 2 transatlantic cruises and a Panama canal which are all above ten nights. Must ne nice to not only be retired but live close to a port.
After a while the casino started to get busy and smoky. So I went back to my room to answer emails and pre-pack. Royal offers a shuttle to the airport for $35pp but it leaves at 8am. I would rather eat a leisurely breakfast and get a Lyft after 9 or 10. Lunch is at Izumi and dinner is at Jamie's. I think I don't want Jamie's and might do Playmakers instead. 
 

Wow, so sad, feel for the family, on a cruise, enjoying life, blessing to the family.

If doing regular dining and / or have the same table and waiters; I take a picture of the names of the waiters plaque. So I have the correct spelling of their names.

I concur with this one wholeheartedly.  Most newbies try and do too much and maintain a horrific schedule.  You're on VACATION.  Enjoy doing nothing at least some of the time.

Biggest mistake would be not asking experts on here so top marks for you! 
Research research research, plan plan plan, so you can enjoy enjoy enjoy!!

Pretty much the biggest mistake most people make is over packing. We still bring more than we need but we don't have three large suitcases in our stateroom anymore. Getting tips is a great start to making fewer mistakes. Hope y'all have a great time!

Not checking out every included food venue for each applicable meal/time and/or not trying more things before it's too late.
Caveat: The food is a big part of cruising for me if you couldn't tell. 🤣😋