FionaMG

Yes, it is very frustrating. That was the calculation I used too, expecting Caribbean night to be on the night we were in Aruba. And then in the end it was the night after that when we were in Curaçao. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I missed the mark with both of our specialty bookings and had to change them both but I had no trouble doing that other than that you have to go to the actual restaurant to do it.

I think it showed up on another too, maybe the British night which we skipped to go to Hooked.

The colours were what particularly drew me to her work. So bright and cheerful. The prints I bought are mounted on what feels to be good quality card, size including the card is 20 cm x 25 cm. They cost $20 each. I also saw some posters at $10. I don't see either of these on the website so if you were looking for something small then I guess the shop would be your place. There were lots of other prints in varying sizes and formats but I didn't price them so don't know how they'd compare. On our cruise, the theme nights and menus were skewed by the fact that Super Bowl was on night two. That would normally have been the first formal night with the French menu and the Italian night would have been on night three. They switched these two around. White night was the Mexican night on night four when we were in Aruba. And the Caribbean night was on night five, when we were in Curaçao. However I can't be sure if white night is usually Mexican or if that was another switch caused by Super Bowl. Dress your best is indeed Royal Night with lobster. The lobster is TINY. I didn't have it but DH did and once it was shelled there was practically nothing of it. The meals in the app were all over the place before our cruise too. In theory, they're supposed to reflect the menus on the current cruise but I found that not to be the case. They were showing menus for a 7-night cruise rather than an 8-night. Between the Italian and the Caribbean menus, I would definitely skip the Italian one. However, on our cruise we also had Mexican and British, which we thought were the worst of all, so those were the ones we skipped when we did specialty.

Don't you just hate when work interferes with important stuff like cruise blogging? I am so glad it's the weekend so I can catch up. Day Eight - Cruise Day Five - Curaçao Here is our Symphony parked in Curação. We were at the pier farthest from the town. I think it was a P&O ship at the closer pier but I'm can't remember for sure. We were doing another cruise line excursion today, although to be fair it was more of a beach transfer than an actual excursion. I knew this when I booked but there was method in my madness. Firstly, it included a stop at Curaçao artist Nena Sanchez's gallery. I had wanted to go here on our previous two visits to the island but had never managed to make it work for us. And secondly, we wanted to try one of the beaches a bit farther from the port so the cost of the excursion for the two of us was more or less the same as the taxi fare would have been but without the hassle of having to ensure we could get a taxi back to the port afterwards. The beach we went to today was called Cas Abao. So this was the "Cas Abao Beach and Scenic Drive excursion". There were two departure times, 8.45 am and 11.45 am. We chose the earlier time, partly so it wouldn't run over lunchtime and partly so we would be able to go back out into town afterwards if we wanted to. The weather was looking very unfriendly when we set off but at least it wasn't cold and I'm glad to say it eventually cleared up. First stop at the gallery. There was a nice expansive view from the top of the staircase leading to the gallery entrance. Note the little white building in the foreground of this one. Bathrooms! It's tucked away on your right as you approach the gallery entrance so not everyone notices it at first. Ladies, there's only ONE for us, so go there before heading into the gallery to avoid the worst of the queuing once others realise it's there! I had not realised that the artist had passed away; I kind of assumed she was still alive and working but apparently she died back in 2017 (the guide found out the year for me). The gallery is run by the artist's older sister, who survived her. It's mostly just a shop that sells prints of her work but that's what I was looking for. What more genuine souvenir could you get than a picture created by a local artist? In the end I bought two prints set in stiff card that are now gracing a shelf at home. I think if you wanted to buy something bigger or less transportable they would ship it for you but these two fit nicely into my bag. I'm very pleased with them. After a stop of about 20 minutes at the gallery we headed to the beach, where we would stay for about 3 hours. The excursion included a lounger in a dedicated space, a non-alcoholic drink voucher and a shower token. The space set aside for us was roped off and had enough loungers for everyone in the group. Some had full shade, some partial and some were out in the sun so it's best to try to be at the front of the group as you head onto the sand in order to get the best choice of spot. This is the third beach we've visited in Curaçao and it is the one I liked best (the others were Mambo Beach and Blue Bay Beach). It's a bit rocky underfoot when you go into the water though, so if you do have water shoes it would be a good idea to bring them. At the beach there is a bar/snack bar where you can buy drinks and food. We didn't so I can't say what the prices or quality were like but we did see some people in the loungers behind us happily digging in to some generously sized burgers. Next to that is a smaller bar that only has the included waters/sodas, which is where you pick up your included drink. Then you have the bathrooms and showers. The showers are outside and are only really meant for you to rinse off. There was a lady on duty by the showers to turn on the water for you and turn it off again after about 30 seconds so there's no point in taking shampoo and shower gel! And there is also what appeared to be a very well equipped dive shop. Details are available on the beach's website. https://casabaobeach.com/facilities/ WiFi is available free in the vicinity of the beach bar and the password was displayed on a poster at the counter. The signal was strong enough that it worked at our loungers, which weren't right next to the bar. The amount of time we had here - about 3 hours - felt perfect to us. Long enough to actually get settled, relax and go for a dip or two, but not so long that we were bored or getting too hot and frazzled. On the way back we had a bit of a drama. Smoke starting billowing out around our feet in the bus, accompanied by an electrical burning smell. We and others around us called out to the guide and the driver pulled over. The guide told everyone to get out of the bus and it was good to see that nobody panicked and everyone exited in an orderly fashion. The guide had us all move well away from the bus while the driver investigated. It turned out to be a short circuit in the wiring of the safety lighting and it was deemed safe for us to continue our journey as long as he kept the lights switched off. So we all got back on but had only gone a short distance when the guide told us the company operating the tour (FBTT Travel) was sending out another bus to meet us as they didn't want to take any chances. After we had changed buses everything went smoothly. We stopped on the way to the port to drop people off who wanted to stay in town and who would later make their own way back. We stayed on the bus as we didn't fancy traipsing around town with all our beach stuff. Plus we were hungry! With these delays we only just made it to the WJ in time for lunch. I heard the maître d' in charge telling the staff at the counters "As soon as these last people (us!) have served themselves, clear everything away!" Although we did not go back out again after lunch, there would have been time if we had wanted to, so that's worth bearing in mind if you're not sure whether to get off the bus in town or head back to the ship first. Tonight's dinner was the Caribbean menu. We think it's an OK one. It wouldn't be our first choice to skip for specialty dining. Coconut shrimp. Has never disappointed. DH's pork chop which he said was good but was too big for him to finish. He really liked the plantains although he mistook them for sweet potatoes at first. Garlic herb-buttered tiger shrimp. One of my favourites. It never looks the same from ship to ship and sailing to sailing but I always enjoy it. DH's pineapple cake, which he didn't really like, although he didn't say why. And my all-time favourite classic, the Royal Chocolate Cake. In the past, I would have had this almost every night. I was devastated when they took the classics away in the menu reshuffle. Most of the other desserts I had during the week were second best to this one. This being Valentine's Day, they had the Love and Marriage Game Show on in the theatre so we went along to that after dinner. It was quite funny but I've seen much better ones. I don't know what it was, I just felt the CD wasn't really interacting very well with the couples. And after that, and our usual casino and tea & cookies ritual, it was time to head off to bed in readiness for the next day, which would be another sea day.

Not every ship populates at the same time. I’ve had occasions where it's been several weeks in advance and others where it's been days. You wouldn't see the soda package in the app, just on the cruise planner so you don't need to be concerned about that.

I may be looking at this wrong but it seems to me like you have two different directions here? One is from Anchorage to Seward, whereas the other is Seward to Anchorage?

Be aware that once you do connect to ship's WiFi, some activities may change or disappear while others may be added, so what you're seeing now is not set in stone. Still, it's handy as it gives you a heads-up for planning your days.

If you decide to go with it, take a screenshot of the description just in case.

Oasis class distances (taken on Symphony). Soooo much better than on the teeny tiny ships.

Yes, you can cancel any cruise planner purchase up until the cruise planner closes, which is usually about 3 days before your cruise. You'll find the exact cut-off date for your particular cruise by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. The money will be refunded to your original form of payment, which may take a few days, depending on your bank. If you want to repurchase because you saw the item at a cheaper price you do have to pay for it a second time round, so you'll be out the additional cost until the refund hits your account.

The percentage discounts are largely meaningless. If you monitor the cruise planner prices regularly you will often see that the final price with a 30% discount is cheaper than with a 50% discount! The only number that matters is the one on the bottom line! The best strategy is to buy when you see a price you can live with and then keep checking. If the prices goes down later on, you can cancel and rebook.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. The markings I was referring to are on the dedicated track on deck 5 of Oasis class ships, so you wouldn't see them on Anthem, where the track is up top. I honestly couldn't say if there's any prescribed walker/runner use on Anthem or other non-Oasis class. Maybe it's just a case of one person starting on a particular side and others following suit. One thing I did notice on my recent cruise on Symphony was that the loungers and deck chairs on the top deck were all roped together so they couldn't be moved around. That is a huge improvement for anyone wanting to walk or run up top because, in the past, you'd often be having to dodge around loungers that folks had moved to better catch the sun! I absolutely agree with you that the treadmills are deadly dull in comparison to the gorgeous views you get going around the deck. I only use them because it's the only way to get in a decent session. At least they usually have a nice view out of the window!

I wish everyone was like you. As a serious runner, I only ever use the track on Oasis class ships (on other ships I use the treadmills in the gym) and it's clearly marked that walkers should keep left and runners keep right. I've lost count of the number of times this is ignored by groups of several people who spread themselves across the whole track and don't listen out for runners. Sometimes they don't move even when I yell at them that I'm coming through and I end up having to try and dodge around them. On a couple of occasions it hasn't been possible to avoid them and I've bumped into them.

Another quiet time is from 4.30 pm onwards as it starts to cool down and folks begin drifting away from the top deck to get ready for their evening activities. I'm not sure that timing would work for you though, with the little one.

I think it must be. I went from having a bunch of options to exactly what you're seeing.

I do understand that and you're absolutely right to be proud. We're not far behind you, at 36 years. The thing with the game show though is that, as I understand it at least, when they ask if there's anyone there who's been married x-number of years, they're essentially auditioning for participants, so that's why I don't know why you'd say something if you weren't interested in participating. And, in fact, I do agree with you that I don't know why anyone would want to participate in it, but there always seem to be plenty who do.

Departure times on our Symphony cruise. I don't know if they started exactly on time. We had an excursion and were off the ship by about 8 am.

What sailing is that? Sounds interesting. With the disappointing lack of longer cruises out of FL on Royal, might need to start testing celebrity waters.

Day Seven - Cruise Day Four - Aruba (continued) As I mentioned in part one of today's adventures, we were due to eat at 150 Central Park tonight. I booked this during that sale they had with special prices for C&A. Without knowing at that time what menus they would be having in the MDR on which nights I used an educated guess to pick a night that I reckoned would be one we didn't like. Super Bowl skewed that and I ended up switching this booking from night three to night four. To change it, I had to go to the actual restaurant. The guys at the kiosk in the promenade tried in vain to do it for me and it was only when they called a manager over because the line behind us was getting bigger and bigger and bigger that they realised they couldn't change a cruise planner booking. Anyway we got it changed to night four without any issues while still holding on to our special price. The MDR menu that we skipped for this was the Mexican menu. Also, tonight was "white night" attire-wise. This was hands down the best meal of the cruise (although Hooked, later on, would be a very close second). I would happily have eaten here every night if it weren't for the upcharge. I know, dream on. The bread was very good. For starters, DH had the pumpkin soup. His face was a picture when the server brought the bowl with just the bits in. Where's my soup???? He was very bemused to see it being poured in from a jug. He thought it was nice but a bit on the sweet side. I had the roasted organic beet salad. I absolutely loved this. So good! We both had the lobster thermidor for the main course. It was very tasty. And we both had their signature dessert, the fried cheesecake. DH thought it was wonderful; I thought it was nice but no more than that, being that I am not a big cheesecake fan. The portion sizes were nice. We were pleasantly full when we were finished but not stuffed to the point of feeling uncomfortable. However, bearing in mind the amount we ate, it really wasn't worth the upcharge, even at the reduced rate. People around us were eating far more than we were for the same price. This is the main reason why we only very rarely book specialty dining. I really wish they had à la carte pricing at all of the specialty dining places or a lower-priced option for folks who don't eat much. After dinner we went to see the aqua show, Hiro. Usually I would have booked this for the very first night it was offered (which was actually day one on this sailing) but taking the itinerary into consideration, I reckoned there would be a better chance of it not being cancelled on night four when we would be sailing very slowly between Aruba and Curaçao. And also I reckoned it would be warmer and so more enjoyable sitting in the open air. There were a lot of people in the standby line tonight. We reckoned many of them would have been folks who had had bookings for the previous night's cancelled show. I don't know if they all got in, but the replacement show for them, on night five, did go ahead, so hopefully everyone did get a chance to see it. Having seen these shows before on Oasis and Harmony, our expectations were high and we weren't disappointed. This was one of the highlights of the cruise. Again; i was too busy watching it to get much in the way of pics. Definitely a do not miss!

What D+ luggage tag? Is it still a thing? Can I ask the LA for one on my next cruise???

I'm pretty sure you don't get WiFi included on Radiance class ships either.

Oooh, that's frustrating. Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

Thank you!

I would love to be able to do this and wish the specialty dining places would have a la carte pricing so you could pick and choose. I did think about asking if they would let me have a dessert in exchange for a diamond drink voucher but when push came to shove I chickened out.

Yes. We did this. We took advantage of those C&A special rates that they had a while back. On day one, when I checked the app, I saw that neither of our two disliked MDR menus coincided with the days we had specialty dining booked. No extra charge. However, to change, you need to go to the actual restaurant. The staff at the kiosk can only change time slots booked on board. It took them 20 minutes of trying before they finally figured out why they couldn't do it for us.