MamaShark

Tram time:
This lady and her husband, legit vintages, barreled their way onto the benches that Leticia was using to keep our group together. There were 9 of us, plus Leticia. She had called us a tram to pick us up right from the ship to go directly to the Beach Club.
I heard the wife say something about them being at PDCC last week, and the husband was wearing some sort of Casino shirt, so these are not unseasoned cruisers. Do your sea pass cards indicate Casino status? Because i feel like he was definitely casino man. Either from his lanyard or sea pass card or both. 
Our tram comes and this lady gets up and she actually tries to tell me that she was there first (she wasn't), and she and her hubby form a wall and don't want to let me and Batman stay with our group. 
Leticia and another pier worker are now blocking this couple from getting on the tram. They're trying to explain that we're a group and we're going directly to the Beach Club together. This tram was booked especially for us. 
This couple is having none of it, crying injustice and unfairness,  and now Derick comes over for muscle. 
The only reason this couple relented was because now Derick's ordered trams have arrived and they literally beeline it to his waiting trams, with no one to stop them from getting on, and they refuse to get off. Those vintages double downed and refused to move. 
So now we have a front row seat to crazy town, and we're all wondering how that show was going to end. 
Coming back on the ship, i was so happy to see the other family whose tram was commandeered. I had to learn how this ended, and they were happy to tell me. 
It sounded like some serious hostage negotiations occurred because that pair of vintages drew a line and they weren't crossing it. They finally agreed to get off, but, not before another tram was called for them. 
I hope they lose their shirts in the Casino tonight because they already lost their manners, or who am i kidding, never had them in the first place. 

I'm so late to this party, what a hoot! Life my friends...yikes. Kiddo finished year one of college in High School so she only has 3 years for that first degree, problem $44,000 a year as of today. My spreadsheets came out months ago, I'm forbidden to even think about any more sailings! Cabash can sense it.
LOVED your picture, it was beautiful. I always love when we all do this. Such an amazing family here. It's scary to post that first picture of ourselves but after that...watch out!
Quick responses to the last 7 pages off the top of my head, scary place right now! I'm trying to refrain from processed sugar since I'm not sailing forever and the only thing I'm loosing is my temper, gees! Weight still gleefully there 😞
I forgot Cabash underwear once, I told him I packed it and he didn't have to...well thank goodness he packed a few. As soon as we hit port it was off to Cariloha Store, they have bamboo underwear. We still laugh about that one!
Use the hangars the stateroom host used for the hanging towel animal to keep those curtains clipped closed, I did this on our Serenade sailing, works so well.
Finally, yes keep Batman blissfully in the dark about the blog. Cabash always wants to "help" then "preview" its exhausting. 
Loving your adventure! I'm here for the tram story as well! 

The illusionist, Jason Bishop, was a comedic magician, which is now termed an illusionist. Apparently.
IDK, it was worth the 45 minutes or so of our time. 
And now we think we're behaving, but we all know that in a series of questionable decisions, i just opened a bottle of Moet. But that's OK because we're not out tonight. We're drinking responsibly, at home. 
Clearly this is the epitome of adulting right here. 
I also need to tell you that our snacks today were a plate of chicken tenders with fries, which Batman promptly put in baggies to save for our late night feeding.
His plan?
Warming them up with my Dyson hair dryer. 
Who knew i was married to the man who inspired MacGuyver?

And I've realized I've left you hanging ....
We did go to Blaze last night, but they were holding the comedy show there. So no dancing, no clubbing. 
That would've been the safer bet. 
I refer you back to the title of this blog ...
So then we tried Playmakers again, which was mad stupid considering it was Monday night. 
We then thought we'd try the Schooner Bar. Is the Schooner Bar the old people hang out? I mean i know we're old, but we do not yet have matching haircuts old. 
So we wound up back with Jackson at G&A.
Big mistake. 
Huge. 
The second he saw us, i saw the beginnings of lemon drop shots which we did not order. 
Batman said, nah, they aren't for us. 
I'll let you figure out where that went. And it ends with us not being rude and refusing them. It was the polite thing to do after all. 
Not pictured: said first round of lemon drop shots. 

 

 
 

 

 
We are taking it slow today and tonight because we although we're idiotically unfrugal, i did not spend $1799 +tax for us 2 idiots to sleep in our OTW cabana all day tmw. (Even more stupid ... $1799 was a great price! It climbed to over $2400).
Dinner tonight at CK and then some Headliner show. And if we're smart, bed. 
However,  I think we've all figured out by now that "smart" doesn't exactly belong in this blog ....
 
 

Hopefully they know my C&A level is Brown and this is only our 3rd cruise? If they only want one and done cruisers, that's a pretty risky strategy. Although, we had some very serious issues on Mariner, and i addressed them in our survey, no one followed up with us either. 
Bygones. Needs to be said. And if enough of us complain, maybe they get the hint. Would i sell a kidney to cruise Star Class again?👎 We had fun, of course. However, it's a real stretch to see the value now. Embarkation/Debarkation really took the WOW factor out!
 
Oh P.S. i am negative for Covid, everyone, so there's that!

Royal's pro tip:

 
SweetPea's Pro tip: Don't drink and Zazzle your own Duck Tags after watching the movie The Help:


Oh, you didn't think we were Duckers, did you?
Yeah, good call. We're not.
Let's just say this turned into a series of "It seemed like a good idea at the time." 
I know what i was thinking, partially anyway.  I was 🤔 that I'm going to have a hard time getting Batman to leave the room. Hiding ducks would give us an opportunity to explore the ship.
I've since come to learn the error in that logic.
Because we all know exactly what's going to happen here. 1) i will bring some with me from Point A (our stateroom) to our next destination to hide while trying not to hold up Batman too much or 2) Batman will tell me, "Yeah, you have fun with that. I'll meet you back here when you're done. If you see our guy, get me some more Coors Lite on your way back. Thanks. Love you. Mean it. "
But now I'm committed and we're just going with it ... And by "we," clearly i mean "me" here. 
Obviously, Batman knows about the ducks. 
He's not seen the tags.
I can predict the conversation once he begins packing for us. I'm wondering if i should foretell it now to see how accurate it turns out to be?
Oh i should? 
Fine. 
Undoubtedly, it will start with ... "you're an idiot." (I think that's a given and by now well-established).  Followed by 'the font on the front is too small, but maybe that's a good thing" And finally, "who the hell is SweetPea? You're Batgirl."
Now i feel i have to explain that last part. Batman has always been Batman. I don't know why.  He just is. One cruise about a dozen years ago when we were sailing with Batman's family, Batman's sister announced in a booming voice, "GOOD MORNING, SweetPea!" (For the record, it was about 2pm).  She did this in a quiet but crowded outdoor bar. It was a smaller ship with the same crew grabbing a few drinks at the same bar at the same time every day.  My "Norm!" became "SweetPea!" when i would arrive.  No one knew my given name that cruise. Everywhere i went it was "SweetPea!" The end.
But my point is ... that is NOT what Batman calls me. 
Also, for the record, i do not eat Pork Roll, and I'm not sure what i was thinking with that helpful piece of advice, but those stupid tags were like $70 & I'm not changing them now. (i can almost hear @OCSC Mike's eyes rolling .... 😆)
 

Night 4 doesn't mean we're not eating. That is some crazy talk right there. It just means it's a game day decision with no commitments. We do this whenever we have an excursion that involves day drinking. Playmakers, room service... your guess will be as good as mine!
Hey, that 😃 came from a place of ❤️ since we've been bantering about here 😆, but I've seen lots of stuff requested. I'm sure more folks will chime in, but celebrations are arranged, special cakes, I'm pretty sure most activities can be arranged through your Genie, like Rock Climbing ... i say that with no confidence whatsoever, because, well, no, just no right there for this chick(en). 😉 But on Anthem, the Genie arranged bumper cars, iFly, NorthStar, Escape room, FlowRider, etc.... if we wanted. Now the FlowRider only has special times for Star Class.  Since i bet i will barely get Batman out of our stateroom, we're not exactly going to be living on the edge here. 😁

If you recall, i did forewarn you that we're not adventurous. Feel free to use this as a sleep aid 😴 

I may ask for a bridge tour, because that is my wheelhouse. I have some questions about how telemetry issues are handled. 
Conspicuously missing: Cats. Batman can thank me later. 
Also, be advised not all Genie requests are granted. I was bummed. I felt it perfectly reasonable to commandeer a Star Loft for like 20 min to set up a private zipline experience for the 2 of us. Hmmph.

I'm totally stealing this.  I'll give you credit when required....
😉

Leticia and her fancy heels lol
I was wondering who your genie was this whole time. You’re right though, people love her. She’s been around for a very long time.

Do you want to talk about the pre-cruise Star Class Questionnaire?
No?
Good, because we failed to complete it this time.
We didn't mean to. It sorta just happened that way.
We kept planning a date night to complete it together, but never got around to it. If you read my last blog (8.7 years ago), you know exactly WHY a joint effort was necessary this time. 
To be fair, of those 1426.89 cruises we had canceled during the 'rona, we did get to 'survey time' for one of the earlier canceled cruises.  My solo efforts wouldn't exactly earn me the Nobel Prize in Literature either.



However, the primary reason to complete a survey (IMHO) is to request a particular Genie. After talking to our TA for about an hour about which Genie we should request, we came to the conclusion that any Oasis Genie would be fine and we'd leave it to chance. To be clear, the "we" here is me and my TA.
Batman's sole input, you ask? "Are there any fat Genies? I think I'd be more comfortable with a fat Genie."
You'd sooner find yourself in the middle of a tango lesson with a chupacabra, but Batman gonna Batman.....
Imagine Batman's utter horror when we got a lovely welcome letter from Leticia and did a quick search in the SC Cruisers FB group. Leticia is a tiny little peanut of a pretty thing.  ("She's going to think we'll eat her for a pre-dinner snack.")
We both meant to be thin before this cruise but ...

As we say in the S/B house: our stomachs are "flat." The "L" is just silent....
We've had a terrible time losing lockdown weight. Still. It's just coming at a bad age.
Shut up. 
You're right. No need to rub it in. 
It is what it is and the only thing we can do now is make the best of it and make a more concerted effort for next cruise. Bygones.
Bottom line, Leticia seems lovely. It appears her Genie duties follow the OP suite. We learned that Derick would also be on the cruise, and we've had him as our Genie before as well. I'm thrilled, because ... follow my logic here ... we now officially have 2 Genies.
Because Derick will remember us and is undoubtedly also anxiously awaiting our reunion. Because we're *that* memorable. Really.
But still, this makes sense, right? It totally does. In my head. 
Oh, you were looking for this post to be helpful?
Right, got it.
Important dates:
Cruise start date: Sept 24
Pre-cruise questionnaire: July 25 
First comm from Sweet Leticia: Aug 10
Dining/Activities finalized: Aug 21
On a meaningful scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being most meaningful, hopefully the above puts me at a Solid 3.
You're welcome. 

Mike, i can attest Batman most certainly does NOT subscribe to the 2xN+1 formula. Does he send out laundry at that point or go Commando? Either way, i don't want to know. Marriages should maintain *some* modicum of mystery . .

Is our White Whale of Moby Dick proportions? IDK .. are you counting our financial well-being? Who cares! YOLO!!   Who: SweetPea and Batman, two crazy mutual enablers who found ❤️ about 23 (24, 25?) years ago. Married for most of those. Don't ask me our anniversary. I once proudly told Batman my new ATM PIN, proclaiming, "Get it?!  It's our anniversary backwards!"   Spoiler: it wasn't.    I've not heard the end of it since.    What: Our White Whale. Why, you ask? We had 3,462.7 cruises in the Owner's Panoramic canceled during the Covid. Seriously. By March 578th, 2020, I'd had enough, just like the rest of the world. This was bound to happen sooner or later. I made sure of it.    When: September 24-October 1, 2023. Too short and will be over too quick, but the ship is our destination so who cares?! (Our itinerary is mundane and boring. We'll only be getting off the ship for PDCC.)   Where: Oasis of the Seas (C'mon now. There are only 2 OPs in the entire fleet, so there's a very good chance you'd win that coin toss.)   Why: Why not?!! Besides, flying sucks and we can drive to the port! And by drive, i mean be driven. Because who drives on vacation? Is that even a thing?!   How: Selling one pickled middle-aged kidney on the dark web. Let's face it, there's a difference between a kidney from a 20-year old athlete and one from a 50-something whose kidney is going to be (a-hem) grape-flavored. Clearly what I'm trying to say is that you could probably book two Star Class rooms with the 20-year-old kidney. Our cost wasn't *that* bad, but should still leave you questioning whether you'd consider us sound financial advisors.    Crown&Anchor Level: Brown.    I briefly considered making a parody pin that said "Not Pinnacle" with the "not" in very, very small font. I think it'd have been an excellent conversation starter.    Pre-cruise Diet: Poor. I planned to lose 30 pounds. I only have 33 to go. Forget that noise.   So here we go on our 3.5-year-in-the-making adventure. If you know us, I'm taking a very liberal definition of the term "adventure" here. As in, you shouldn't expect FlowRider reviews from us. That would only happen if they privacy-tented the entire wave pool and literally no one else could see us. I've seen this new TikTok thing all the cool kids are talking about, and going viral for all the wrong reasons would send me into a Brendan Fraser Whale-spin without the need of a fat suit.    (Perhaps i should tell you about the time i managed to ATV my way into the middle of a sugar cane field in St. Kitts where the excursion leader pulled me aside and quietly asked if I'd consider a private lesson before allowing the group to continue. That was 20 years and 30 pounds ago and my grace and agility has not aged like the fine wine I enjoy so much. --- That was for the kids in the back who didn't get my grape- flavored kidney joke earlier.)   This is our first cruise post-shutdown. We wanted to feel like we were going on vacation, not checking in for a clinical procedure. So we sat out all mandates. We both found them too stressful and opted to wait until the craziness was well on its way to over before we even remotely considered cruising again. This is one of the reasons we're going to the poorhouse post-cruise. I booked this pretty late and didn't partake in opening day prices. However, i got worried this was Oasis's last season in NJ so i bit the bullet and made several payments Batman wouldn't notice so our final bill was more in line with what I thought he could stomach. I can't be the only benevolently devious spouse to do so. If you've done something like this yourself, blink twice.   (And, Mindy, if you're reading: You're a SAINT!)   For the record, i caught Batman in a good mood one night and asked him the max he'd pay for a week-long cruise in Star Class. Unsurprisingly, it was a *bit* less than the cost of this one. So this is just between us RC Blog family, right? Good thing he thinks this website is Royal.blog.Carribean.me.live.com/reports which he always forgets to find later ....    And to any dudes reading, please remember: there is no such idiom as "Bros before blogs." That does not and will never exist.... if i can help it.    So, as long as Batman never does find this blog ... Continue to follow along to learn the riveting answers to such burning questions as: how will Anthem Star Class compare to Oasis Star Class? Will we prefer O Class to Q Class in general? Is this Deck 17 we keep reading about an actual Nirvana? What else has the pandemic stolen from us in pre v post shutdown changes? Will we ever want to return to Norwegian Haven? And ultimately, will selling a functioning kidney be worth the experience?   Come with us! We'll find out together!

I might be on it,  and I might be on deck 10 with you lol

I'm sad you're home!! I had so much fun reading your blog and joining you! I think you blog your restaurant opening. No one here will mind it's not cruise-centric. 😃
And thank you for your female pilot story ❤️! Not to make this all about me, but i can very much relate as i work in Operations and its difficult to be female there sometimes. One time i was managing a restoration that was necessary due to a bombing (yes an actual bombing), and i asked something twice on a conference bridge to no response. I had to tell Batman to ask my question for me. Boom. Male voice got me the answer i needed. Happens all the time.  Fortunately, my last name is a common male first name. So when i have to reach out to someone who doesn't know me, i try to manage over MS Teams chat where I'm often called "sir." I just go with it!
 

Funny Krazy Lobster tidbit. While waiting for Taylor to get her braids I asked the Manager if they sold Krazy Lobster shirts. He said sure and brought out both a black one and a yellow one. I bought them. Last night when I was packing I noticed that on the sleeve of each shirt it says “Staff!”😂😂

Made it to Las Vegas. Plane change and a short hop home. Crew picked up our luggage at 0630. Breakfast in CK. Jay met us in the room about 8:50 and we were on the curb about 10 minutes later. Same car service as last week whisked us off to the airport. Had a snack from a business claiming to sell Chinese food. Routine flight in to Vegas stuffed full of Southwest’s yummy snack bags. Girls having fresh pretzels now. I’m waiting till I get home and make a fresh pizza!  
I’m telling you, these goodbyes with the Genies are just getting harder!  I may or may not have emailed Royal that I might not even cruise in the future if Jay isn’t aboard!😂. I’ll have more to share about him after I’m home. But for now I’ll just sit here at my gate, staring at a Burger King, and process those visions in my head of some strange people leaving 1740 on their way to CK for filet night. It’s not a good feeling😎

The laundry bag !  The laundry bag !

We were on Grandeur this past week and I have to say, when I looked up at the nasty brown stuff coming out of the smokestack (or whatever that’s called), I was like, “whew….that’s disgusting”.  I noticed that the smoke from Oasis (parked next to us in Nassau) looked so much cleaner.  It’s just a matter of time…

Good morning from Galveston!  Thought I would share this beautiful photo that perfectly captures the beauty of the Holiday Inn Resort’s HVAC system.😂. Polyanna opened the curtains and said “Honey come and look at how beautiful this is!”  I’m like “Yeah the coils need cleaning.”  That folks is why she is always happier than I am!  
But…IT’S CRUISE DAY!  (Sorry @Cruisin and Boozin🥲). 
The girls are still asleep in their room dreaming of frozen mojitos. But I just texted them this: “open your curtains.  Look at the flags. Re-pack those short dresses!”
Departing on the hotel shuttle at 9:30. 

So about the blog title.  I need to bore you with some history so it makes sense.  Many moons ago we booked our September 2022 cruise. Then in April of last year my bride, Nurse Ratchet, decided we should buy a building and convert it to a restaurant. Yeah, seriously she did. Build and operate a
So about the blog title.  I need to bore you with some history so it makes sense.  Many moons ago we booked our September 2022 cruise. Then in April of last year my bride, Nurse Ratchet, decided we should buy a building and convert it to a restaurant. Yeah, seriously she did. Build and operate a restaurant.  Not retire and take a couple cruises a year. No. Open a restaurant.  At that point, I used the amazing negotiating skills I learned in my law enforcement career and within 20 minutes the decision was made to build and operate a restaurant !  So, with two partners (don't say it) we purchased a market in town that we would magically convert into the restaurant of Ratchet’s dreams. I told the family we more than likely wouldn't make the Sep ‘22 cruise because we'd be slammed serving up pizza and other delights and wouldn't have time to cruise. It was only April, surely we'd be open by September.  Right?  Without going into the joyous details of converting a market into a restaurant we soon realized that an opening date wouldn't happen before December. So we didn't cancel that cruise. We weren't ready to open and we had partners to monitor the project for a week so we went cruising last September, as planned. After a wonderful cruise, I was sitting in an airport in Florida on September 11, 2022 waiting for our flight home. To kill time before departure I might have perused available cruises for THIS September. Lo and behold, the very suite that we had just left an hour before, was available for September 10 of this year. But should I book it?  The restaurant was going to open in December so I wasn't sure we could plan another week away. But, we had partners!  (Don't say it). Yeah they can watch the restaurant. That was the thought in my head as I hit the ”book” button. 
 
Now I told you all of that to tell you this:  It's Aug 28, 2023.  The restaurant is not open.  There are no more partners. But by golly we're about to go cruising!  Shortly after we returned home last year the partners requested we buy them out because the project was more expensive than they had planned. So that happened. (And yes, we're still all friends).  And the construction, which I do myself, continued.  As did the requests, requirements, questions, inspections and fees from our wonderful County Building and Safety, Planning, and Health Departments. Sometime around March or April I told the girls we needed to cancel. But we didn't. I said it again just before final payment was due. But we didn't cancel. A few weeks ago I told them to go without me because this is a critical time in this restaurant and I needed to be here. And then really just days ago I finally decided that this cruise is a go - for all of us!  I need the break. Dealing with the County is like trying to un-ring a bell, wash a cat and put toothpaste back in the tube – all at the same time. I won't mention which County. (It's San Bernardino, California 😂). Their emails flow like blended Mojitos on the pool deck. Their direction changes as quickly as Captain Johnny trying to outrun a storm.  I feel like I'm caught in the middle of the Escape Room and the Quest!  I need a break.  And I think a cocktail on the balcony as we sail out of Galveston will provide that. So,in just 12 days we will board a Southwest Airlines jet, with two good engines, and fly from Palm Springs, Ca to Las Vegas, NV, to Tucson, AZ, to Houston Texas.  With the price of the room, budget air is a necessity ! 
 
I know this is an early start to the Blog. But after making the decision to go and reading @Lovetocruise2002live blog I need to switch from restaurant mode to CRUISE mode!  I hope some of you will follow along as Stacy, Katie, Taylor, Melissa and I head out for 7 wonderful days on our favorite Allure of the Seas.  Now I can spend a few days of not only thinking about it but writing about it. Makes it seem more real this way
 
.  Not retire and take a couple cruises a year. No. Open a restaurant.  At that point, I used the amazing negotiating skills I learned in my law enforcement career and within 20 minutes the decision was made to build and operate a restaurant !  So, with two partners (don't say it) we purchased a market in town that we would magically concert in the restaurant of Ratchet’s dreams. I told the family we more than likely wouldn't make the Sep ‘22 cruise because we'd be slammed serving up pizza and other delights and wouldn't have time to cruise. it was only April, surely we'd be open by September.  Right?  Without going into the joyous details of converting a market into a restaurant we soon realized that an opening date wouldn't happen before December. So we didn't cancel that cruise. We weren't ready to open and we had partners to monitor the project for a week so we went cruising last September, as planned. After a wonderful cruise, I was sitting in an airport in Florida on September 11, 2022 waiting for our flight home. To kill time before departure I might have perused available cruises for THIS September. Lo and behold, the very suite that we had just left an would hour before, was available for September 10 of this year. But should I book it?  The restaurant was going to open in December so I wasn't sure we could plan another week away. But, we had partners!  (Don't say it). Yeah they can watch the restaurant. That was the thought in my head as I hit the ”book” button. 

IMO, the ONLY way to eat a lobster roll!! (I know with Mayo is the traditional way, but hot with butter is the best!!) Because everything is bettah with buttah!

🤣  Hahvahd is in Cambridge. You have to pahk the cah in a completely different paht of Massachusetts to go there.

Is that the euphemism for Harvard?! My brother said that once (I went to school in Boston), and that's what everyone assumed. But he went to BC. 😀

Most of our day has been spent chilling and being lazy. We’re ok with that because our next 4 days will be very busy.
Kids spent the afternoon trying to chase some free rope bracelet. It’s one of those “attend the seminar and get a rope bracelet at the end” things. Except they just want the bracelet. It’s like a scavenger hunt for them. They started yesterday and there are 8-9 to collect or something like that. Hubby took a nap and went to the gym, and I just took some “me” time. 
Now at one of my favourite places on any ship, the suite lounge. 😊