FionaMG

CRUISE DAY!!!

5pm update...
Wife - Basically done packing
Me - I have piles of stuff that just need to be put in my suitcase and my shirts hanging up to be folded tomorrow morning before we leave. I consider that basically done.

I haven't gotten much fitness on since HS, lol. I get plenty of exercise on the ship. Some of those food venues are kinda far apart and I hate taking the elevators.

Pic outside our balcony of the sea. Total millpond out there. Hope it stays that way for tomorrow. I was thinking I’d see @OCSC Mike out there paddle boarding getting his fitness on pre-cruise. 

Shout out to @OCSC Mikebwatdhed live launch of spacex falcon 9 rocket. Was freaking cool 😎 

If anyone's interested in China/Japan, Spectrum sailings out of Shanghai have just gone up on the website through to April 2026.

Me: blackened mahi Sammy 
Wife: Tuna poke 
 

Made it to Canaveral. Eating lunch at Fish lips at the port. 
Disney Wish, adventure of the seas and allure in port presently. Will be pounding a blackened mahi Sammy soon. 

Last day of work before the drive down to Canaveral.  Plan to get on road early and roll in in the early afternoon. I’ll post some grub pics from lunch and dinner for @OCSC Mike

Yes, all good ideas that I have pondered. Unfortunately, the cost completely blows out more than double the original cruise fare when I have contacted RCL to price them up.

Best balcony conversation overheard:
Guy down the way: Hey bro!
Guy somewhere below me: Who, me?
Guy DTW: Yeah bro!
Guy SBM: Do we know each other, bro?
Guy DTW: I don't think so.
Guy SBM: Ok.... Wanna get a drink?
Guy DTW: *really excited* YEAH BRO, I KNEW YOU WERE AWESOME!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Dinner tonight: Giovanni's Italian Kitchen
I've done Jamie's before on Navigator, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was GREAT. Not crowded, excellent service, and calm atmosphere. Typically I'll do a specialty restaurant for formal night, so tonight was it.
I started with truffle caprese salad and garlic knots. Knots = meh (but the olives it came with were divine), salad = interesting. After thinking about it a lot, I think I was in love with the greens and tomatoes for the salad.


Main course. My server recommend the osso buco (veal), so I got a small portion of that with spaghetti pomodoro. Oh. My. Gosh. I had no idea what to expect with the veal, so when it came out the look of it was just strange to me. However! I took a bite and fell in love. It was literally falling off the bone, and there was saffron on it as well. Absolutely fantastic, highly recommended.
The spaghetti pomodoro was exactly what I expected it to be and it tasted exactly that way. Definitely recommended.

For dessert, they automatically give you limoncello drink. I found it a very strange taste, even though I am a huge fan of lemon.
Then, out came my chocolate ravioli. I kid you not, I told Spouse later that I would totally marry it if I wasn't already married. We would have little chocolate ravioli children, our house would always smell like chocolate, and I would be able to eat it all the time because my chocolate ravioli spouse would constantly be making chocolate ravioli. If you don't order this, you're missing out. 

Then, to make it even more special, my server offered to get a pizza to go! I didn't even realize you could do this. So, of course I said yes. Of course I had part of it on my balcony while watching sunset. It's delicious (Giovanni's pizza).


 

This is a function that used to be available way back when. It would be good to see it return.

Happening right now: sunset over PDCC.
Or maybe the Vegas dome is happening here too? 🤣

I wandered over to Chill Island to shop and then South Beach. Successfully procured a Coco Cay shirt, something I forgot to do when I was here in September.
Best conversation overheard:
 
Drunk College Girl: *stands up*
College Girl 1: You're out! You're out! What are you doing????
Drunk College Girl: What?
College Girl 2: Oh my gosh, [name], your nipple is totally hanging out!
Drunk College Girl: Where?
College Girl 1: Do something about it! You're totally out!
College Girl 2: Fix it!
Drunk College Girl: *laughing* what?
She's lucky her friends were able to help her out. Or in, whatever. She's covered now, folks, we're all good. 👍

2nd lunch: crispy island fish sandwich, fries, and caramel brownie. The fish was good, the fries were fries, but the brownie was amazing.

1st lunch. Island guava pizza and beef empanada. The pizza really is the same quality as Sorrento's on board, but it has a really nice flavor with a bit of some spice/kick. The empanada was good, it just wasn't what I really wanted. I actually went back and got more pizza because it was that nice.
The last photo is the inside of my beef empanada. 👍

First observations about Hideaway Beach 
1. The shoreline around the horseshoe shaped bay looks like it would be perfect to walk on. Don't be fooled! That is some tough sand to walk through and there are even rocks.
2. There are no physical tickets that you need for this location. They have scanners at the entrance for your Seapass card.
3. I can confirm that the PDCC song is not coming from the Hideaway Beach pool area. I can definitely hear a little bit of music but it's not annoying at all on the far side of the bay.
4. The swings in the water are really fun! 
5. 8:30 in the morning, the sun is perfect for sunbathing on that far side of the bay. As a day progresses, the sun will be more direct for the people that are closest to the entrance.
6. Regarding the walkover- I think I read something about 3 to 5 minutes to walk it. I'm a pretty average speed walking person, and it took me a solid 5 minutes. Another 5 minutes to the other side of the bay. Definitely take the tram if you have any issues walking, as the sand path has not been compacted enough yet to be easy to walk on.
 


 

MDR Welcome Aboard menu/night. I was a bit apprehensive about doing the MDR as a solo cruiser, but it went brilliantly. I was in and out in 45 minutes. I went with the tomato soup (scalding but delicious), southern fried chicken (omg good and thoroughly cooked!), and key lime pie (good). It seems very appropriate that "food porn" seems to actually be exhibited here with what appears to be a censored bar across the key lime pie (chocolate). 🤣 And, of course, my first Shirley Ginger on board. ❤️
All around me were tables of college students. There is a group of 8 college guys at the table in front of me, and I was a bit worried how that was going to go. However, I could hear them being extremely polite and really excited about the menu. They did prove they were college students though when they cheered for the waiter who showed up with alcohol and toasted to him. 🍻

They opened up the rooms at 1:00 p.m. and I went straight there so that way I could start unpacking. I'm an organization freak, I love doing the unpacking part. Met my state room attendant, got things sorted with him, and now have two of my three suitcases. Once the other one shows up, I will continue to unpack. The view from this room is amazing, though I know it's just Miami's allure. Pleasantly surprised at the size of this room!
This room is also set forward of the forward elevators on this deck, which I think leads directly to the bridge through the crew door. It is incredibly quiet. When I look off my balcony, to the left I can see the bridge, to the right I can see the overhanging hot tub. 
Also saw a pirate ship cruising the harbor. Wtf? 😂

Look, @WAAAYTOOO, heaven! 😂😂😂

You live in Arizona, for God's sake !  Anything with blue water looks like heaven !
😝😇🤣

I'm teasing @OCSC Mike with photos of food places instead of actual food. 😉😂

Emptied out the suitcase to be donated. Spouse had 4061047684302 quarters in Ziploc baggies in there. It's apparently for laundry machines when Spouse travels, but Spouse hasn't used that suitcase in.....YEARS. Also found juggling balls (Spouse's), information fliers for the USS Midway, travel razors, and about 50 plastic grocery bags. 
Can't wait to put it all in the new suitcase! 🤣🤣🤣

Seconding the view from Desert Watchtower! @PPPJJ-GCVAB If you’re in the area a few days I also recommend a tour in Antelope Canyon (suuuuper cool slot canyon) near Page, AZ. We took a calm rafting tour down the Colorado from Page when we visited the Grand Canyon and got to go around Horseshoe Bend from the water’s vantage! The slot canyon was an easy add-on to our day. 


Sorry to hijack the blog @Cactus527,  got to help promote lovely Arizona!!