eaglesfaninfl

An "urgently needed" response to 9/11
Not passed till 2005
Not effective till 2008
Overhauled for lack of participation in 2014
October '20 is probably the 100th "deadline"
19 years in the making...doesn't sound very "urgently needed" to me...
 

IMO, Trump has already signaled that we might be turning a corner soon.  Nothing could be MORE true than, "the cure cannot be worse (by far) than the problem".  Combined with the new/old treatment protocols that are showing serious promise and the fact that the lethality of the virus seems to be lower than originally anticipated, I think there will be a change in strategy fairly soon. 
Hopefully once the prohibitions are lifted (could still be a fair distance off, TBH) I think all of the onerous restrictions (self quarantine, 70 year old doctors' notes, etc.) will be lifted fairly quickly as well.  Not saying that things will return to the same level of effort as BCV (before Coronavirus) but they will come back on line in phases (my guess).
Fingers crossed...
?

Michelle Cunningham 
[email protected]

Thanks Waaay, the chances of me getting my wife into Izumi run to the infinitesimal! Good to hear it's not a major problem!

A few random comments:
1. The Christmas tree decoration does look like a mixed blessing. Overall I think I prefer it being there, because as I mentioned, the promenade was only full when there is a party (and there seemed to be a party like every night lol), but other than that there's plenty of space to go around. I do appreciate Royal Caribbean making it more festive for the season
2. Some people have asked me this: on the MDR, you are allowed to order as many appetizers / entrees / desserts as you want, up to your stomach capacity and your shame level I guess? I see a lot of people order doubles, so we know we're not the only ones. And the food that I mentioned above (and for the rest of the reviews) are not all my food. These are what me and DW ordered and we share most plates. 
Starting on day 2, once the in laws knew you can order doubles, they each ordered double appetizer every night, one of them is usually the shrimp cocktail. They were very good! I myself ordered double entrees every night, one of them was always the NY Strip Steak (it's that great!). I may or may not order double appetizers, but always double entrees. I only took pictures and notes of the "new" dishes that night though. Maybe in future sailing I'll take better notes of who ordered what.
3. I forgot to mention this: almost every night, DW went to WJ around 6-7 to stake out the food that night, and took some of the best ones. A few times I accompanied her and helped bring the food. We would nibble a little bit in our room, and then finish the plates later at night, and put out the plates right outside our room. This way we won't miss out on both WJ and MDR food. I still don't know the best way to get both. Should we try MTD reservation around 7 pm next time? The problem is that WJ closes at 9, and we won't be done with our MDR dinner until around 9:30 (especially because we order doubles lol). If you have any ideas please let me know. 
4. I really like the location of our staterooms (6224, 6228), because it's really close to the fore elevators and stairs. I tried to use the stairs whenever possible (to burn more calories). The Imperial Lounge and Lyric Theater is just 2 floors below, and Cafe Promenade is 1 floor below. I used Cafe Promenade every morning to get my latte, and in laws went there for snacks a lot. The balcony for deck 6 looked a bit worse than the upper decks (as you can see from the pictures ?) but I guess it's more secluded? 
Clarifications about ice show:
I'm also surprised to hear that we had to get tickets, as this is the first time I've heard it. Not sure if they're changing it or if it's difference between 6 and 8 nights. Basically on cruise compass of day 2, it says that the tickets would be distributed from 8 - 10 am at the Promenade. But we were in a hurry between Mass and breakfast, so we skipped it. I did see that there was a long line for that booth. They announced via the PA system that the tickets are free (and you could get as many as you want), but you do need one to get in. I'm guessing because they have 4 showings, this is their way to make sure the attendance is all spread out?
By the time I got back from breakfast, it was 10:15 so the booth was gone. I thought that they would have another distribution later on day 3. But when I got the Cruise Compass for day 3 (around 7pm on day 2) I didn't see any distribution time, so I called guest services and they said guest services had all the remaining tickets. They had a lot left, but only for Day 6 9pm showing, so I had to take them. As you can see later, this worked out better.
And if you do not have tickets, you can go into a standby line (right next to where the photo kiosks are). 5 minutes before start, they let you in. By that time, we couldn't find 4 seats together, or even 2 and 2. There were still more than 4 seats left, but they were all singles. You could also stand and watch from the back (near the bar area). If we didn't have tickets we would have done that, but since we had tickets for a later showing, we opted to go out, but not before watching the first 10 minutes ?
Day 4 : St Thomas
Day 4 is St. Thomas. This is the part where I was worried the most. On 12/20, when the weather in FL was rainy and windy, the ship captain decided to switch around the order of ports a little bit, while keeping the same ports. I think the port times were also changed but not too much. I had previously booked an excursion with Godfrey Tours on the 25th, so I had to call them to inform them of this change. He assured me not to panic because everyone on the ship will also be affected. He just needs to know the name of the ship and the new date, and he told me this kind of change happens all the time. Bonus points: St. Thomas is still US territory so the call was not an extra charge on my phone plan.

 
I started the day by going to the gym, and just lifting weights this time. Seeing that our excursion is at 9:30, we took our time in the morning. I woke up well after the sunrise, and we were already docked. We just had a quick breakfast from Cafe Promenade, while DW brought in breakfast from WJ to the room. 
 

Around 9 ish we left the boat. Unlike the embarkation, the gangway is now on deck 1. This was true for all the Caribbean ports, the gangways were always on deck 1, sometimes fore sometimes aft, depending on how the ship docked. When you disembark you have to scan your seapass card so that Royal Caribbean knows who's on the ship and who's not. After you disembark, on the pier, there was a towel station where you can check out towels. 
 

We docked at the Crown Bay Pier (on the Western side of the island) next to Celebrity Equinox, and while waiting for the tour bus to arrive, we looked at the shops a little bit. The excursion was called: See, Shop, Splash, where you can see the major attractions of the island, have some time to shop, and then they drop you off at the beach of your choice for about 1.5 - 2 hrs. There were several vendors for this type of excursion, but we booked from Godfrey Tours. It was 5/5, excellent tour. The driver was very friendly and explained everything well. The tour "bus" itself was more like an open-air passenger tram? So the passenger on the outermost side has to be careful not to let his leg sway out of the car.


 

The driver first dropped us off at the Amalie ("downtown" area) and let us shop for 2 hrs. I think there were many good shops, but we mostly shopped at the local shops ("tents") for their artisan product. The real (brick and mortar) shops mostly sold diamonds, watches, liquor, you know... the expensive stuff. 
Afterwards the driver picked us up and we started tour on the island, mostly just going to the mountain top and see views of the island from the top. We get to see both sides at different point. It's truly breathtaking, and also cool that you can see the other islands from the top. We slowly made our way to the top point where there is a large souvenir shop that also serves banana daiquiri. Behind that shop, there was an observation deck where you can also see more distant islands, and a place where Former President Clinton used to spend his vacation. We bought a large cup of virgin banana daiquiri, and you get to keep the cup as a souvenir.   In the picture below, we were facing South. So our ship was on the right side, and on the left side there were 3 more ships.        Afterwards he dropped us off at Magens Bay. This beach was rated as one of the top 10 beaches in the world by National Geographic (according to him, but I think I've heard that too). There was a $5 entry fee per person, but the other beaches on the island are free. Out of 5 families on the bus, 2 families chose this beach, the other families went to some other beaches, so just went around and dropped us off and picking us up afterwards.   The beach itself was truly spectacular. I forgot to take a picture of the beach and the sand because I didn't want my phone to drop to the ocean, but imagine the iphone background picture, that's pretty much what the sand and the water looked like. There were minor waves but it's very gentle. FIL took this picture.   I also brought my waterproof camera with me so I did take some underwater picture. I did a bit of snorkeling at the far end (I brought my own mask). It's not a great snorkeling spot, but you could see SOME fish there.   


This is a view of Magens Bay from the top:

 
After the beach, the tour bus dropped us back at the pier. We had about 1 hr so we shopped a little bit more. Recall that the tote bags on the ship were $10, with good quality. The tote bags here were also $10 with less quality, or $20 with the same quality as the ones on the ship. Frankly I was surprised, because I tote-tally (ha!) thought shops on board would be so overpriced.
We got back to the ship around 4 pm. On the pier, before the gangway, Royal Caribbean set up dispensers with water, orange-infused water, and cucumber-infused water. I like the cucumber ones, but where were these on the ship?? I couldn't find it in WJ. As we get back on, there was another towel station set up right after the security checkpoint, but it was crowded, so we just decided to hang on the towels a bit longer and return them later on deck 11. We went back to the main pool and set up shop there, while in laws went to rest. I did a few more slides and flow rider. This time the flow rider was for boogie boarding, so I had better luck, although still painful. I can hold for maybe 10-15 seconds and then wipe out, but there's no way I can go to "sitting" position like some other people I've seen.
After I've had enough of water slides, we went back to the room. This time I got a towel monkey. At least I hope it's a monkey...

 
Then we went to a 7pm show. Because this was Christmas Eve, this was a special Christmas show performed by the singers and dancers (same as 2 nights ago), but different pieces. They're all Christmas songs, with broadway-esque moves. There was even a tap-dancing number as well. Overall 10/10, but the family in front of me had noisy children that stood up randomly during the show, and the parents just refused to calm them down. 
Random comment about seating: the center section of balcony is usually reserved for suite guests, diamond guests, and the Key members. There were signs indicating as such. But this is the ONLY show where that seating was enforced. I saw attendants waiting on that section and verifying everyone's seapass cards before you are let into the section. On the other nights / shows, we could sit in that section without any trouble. I guess they must have anticipated this show to be a full house (and judging from the seats on the balcony, I think it was).

 
After dinner, we went to the MDR for dinner. We found out that if you arrive a bit late (8:05), then the crowd is gone and you can go straight to your table. This is the night where I forgot to take picture of the MDR menu, so I just included the menu from the monitor in front of the MDR. Oh yes that's the thing: you can "scout" what the menu that night would be on the monitor in front of each MDR (decks 3-5), so that you can decide if you want to go for MDR or just skip to WJ. I imagined it might be a tad rude to leave after you're handed the menu by the waiter ?




For appetizers, we went with seafood cake which was dense just like the crab cake. For entrees we did fish of the day (tilapia with cilantro sauce, VERY DELICIOUS!). I truly appreciated how the ship serves fresh water fish even though we were on a boat in the middle of the ocean. And tilapia happened to be my favorite  fish ever. We also did more NY strip, mushroom risotto. And for dessert we went for panna cotta, chocolate cookie, and chocolate cake. I think the cake was okay, on par with what you get from WJ. Rich and moist, but it's a LOT. I really liked the panna cotta (again, the no sugar added dessert), because the freshness and acidity it brings to wash down all the fat I ate.


 




 
After dinner, there was no more "show" to go to so we just relaxed at one of the lounges (I think Boleros). I also looked around for more shopping on the Promenade. I wanted to buy more totes because now that I know the ones in the port were not as good quality, but sadly they were not for sale anymore. One thing that I noticed is that many crew members were wearing santa hat because this was Christmas eve. I thought that was really nice. When we came back to the room, there was also a Christmas greeting card with Hershey kisses from our stateroom attendant. Aww...



 
Around 10:15, there's a Christmas caroling going on at the Promenade. This was their "party" of the night. There were lyrics distributed on deck 5, but we just watched it from the balcony on deck 6 (because it's so close to our rooms). But you can see how the Promenade was full of people.

Finally, at 11 pm, we went to the Lyric Theater for a Christmas Eve mass. The choir members were children from one family, they were really cute!

The mass ended around 11:45, so not quite Christmas yet, but we were totally wiped after a full day, so we went to bed early.
 

Thanks so much for doing this blog. We are scheduled to do a cruise in March 2021 from Tampa to Gatun Lake and back on Celebrity Constellation. Your pics and commentary showed us we made the correct decision!

Let’s add against the rules to that list...

Thanks to all of you for your comments and especially to Twangster for his blog referrals, they were both informative and enjoyable. Again, thanks to all!

Hi, all! We are considering a cruise this summer out of Bayonne on Empress of the Seas to Bermuda (two nights in Bermuda, porting in both Hamilton and King George, where we have vacationed many times and love being there). However, we are a somewhat leery of such an older and smaller ship. Usually we sail on Brilliance out of Tampa (or larger ships out of Miami or FLL), so we are looking for advice and counsel on a such a (smaller than Vision class) ship, if anyone has sailed on Empress recently (i.e. is there a walk-in shower, etc.).  We would really appreciate your thoughts and comments as we will be celebrating our respective 75th bdays and over 50 years of married life together!

We are also considering a Celebrity cruise to  Newport and Bermuda on board the Celebrity Summit, any comments on that would also be most appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your comments and suggestions.

I stand corrected and agree that the Mon.-Sat. scheduling is the probable cause. If my memory is correct (and it seldom is anymore!), our previous cruises actually left on Thanksgiving and covered the weekend.

Not surprising to me, Waaay...we've done the Tgiving cruise for the last 4 or 5 years and it is always full. Signs in the port and on board "No upgrades available." We always book at least 18 mos. out to make sure we can get what we want!

Hi, all! We are considering a cruise this summer out of Bayonne on Empress of the Seas to Bermuda (two nights in Bermuda, porting in both Hamilton and King George, where we have vacationed many times and love being there). However, we are a somewhat leery of such an older and smaller ship. Usually we sail on Brilliance out of Tampa (or larger ships out of Miami or FLL), so we are looking for advice and counsel on a such a (smaller than Vision class) ship, if anyone has sailed on Empress recently (i.e. is there a walk-in shower, etc.).  We would really appreciate your thoughts and comments as we will be celebrating our respective 75th bdays and over 50 years of married life together!

We are also considering a Celebrity cruise to  Newport and Bermuda on board the Celebrity Summit, any comments on that would also be most appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your comments and suggestions.

Good news for me anyway. Tampa does encounter fog problems occasionally, generally in January and February…I don’t recall one last winter, but they have occurred in the past. Since the height of the Skyway bridge limits RCL cruise ship size to Radiance and Vision classes, it is not surprising that RCL’s Celebrity line is refurbishing older Celebrity ships to service this market (and maybe Baltimore and others) that cannot handle the mega-ships/floating amusement parks RCL seems so bent on turning out. Living so close by (roughly 45-50 mins. condo to cabin), I am looking forward to this addition. Our first Celebrity cruise is next July from Seattle to AK and back, so we should get a taste of what is in store for us then!

Good news for me anyway. Tampa does encounter fog problems occasionally, generally in January and February…I don’t recall one last winter, but they have occurred in the past. Since the height of the Skyway bridge limits RCL cruise ship size to Radiance and Vision classes, it is not surprising that RCL’s Celebrity line is refurbishing older Celebrity ships to service this market (and maybe Baltimore and others) that cannot handle the mega-ships/floating amusement parks RCL seems so bent on turning out. Living so close by (roughly 45-50 mins. condo to cabin), I am looking forward to this addition. Our first Celebrity cruise is next July from Seattle to AK and back, so we should get a taste of what is in store for us then!

Just got back from Canada cruise on Adventure two weeks ago. Weather was fine for sightseeing...could feel a little motion (just a little rolling) the first night out of Bayonne and the last night back. Nothing to be concerned about, have a great trip!

No thanks! The prices on board are bad enough! Lol!!

My wife and I just returned from a 6 day cruise on Adventure, out of Bayonne to Bar Harbor, ME and St. John and Halifax in Canada. It was only our second summer cruise, the first being on Lady G to Bermuda a few years ago. I mention that because the crew on Adventure reminded us of the Grandeur’s crew; they were genuinely happy, pleasant and went out of their way to make our trip as pleasant as it could be.

As an example, Canada has a regulation that ships in port can only have one bar per deck open until the ship sails away. The second port we visited in Canada (Halifax) had a sailaway time of 6 PM, well into the cocktail hour.  When we arrived at the Champagne Bar for our pre-dinner libation, it was closed as we were still in port. Without batting an eye, our waiter took our order, walked through the Promenade to the Pub, got our drinks and brought them back to where we were sitting in the Champagne Bar! Andrei, Nino and Jorgi were excellent barstaff and very personable and pleasant

The embarkation was as smooth as can be, parking is right next to the Terminal and we were on board very quickly. Unfortunately, only my wife’s bag was delivered to our cabin; when mine finally showed up, the plastic sleeve containing the luggage tag had been removed, Interestingly, the metal ring that holds the sleeve onto the luggage was intact but the sleeve was gone. Later, there were signs around the ship stating there were some delays in luggage handling but no explanation. I noticed several other bags on our deck that also had a hand-written luggage tag as mine did, so it was not an isolated occurrence.

Muster was at 2:30 PM for a 3 PM sailing and it must have set a record for the shortest muster ever! We were back in our cabin at 2:43!! Probably, the 100 degree temps outside were a factor.

We had MTD all week and, except for one evening it went smoothly. The food ranged from very good to excellent, and the wine steward was attentive. Our servers, Joyal and Ying were also very pleasant and efficient and made our dining a pleasure. I should add that John in the WJ at breakfast would always come by our table to get me a glass of fresh OJ each morning and bring my wife her tea.

As for entertainment, a group of four called Company Men put on an entertaining show doing songs from the last six decades. An RCL production “Can’t Stop the Rock” was just OK, the funniest part was the singer imitating Annette Funicello was about five months pregnant!

A couple, Kyle and Mistie Knight, did an illusionist performance that was very entertaining.

Disembarkation was quick and easy, we were scheduled for 7:40 AM, and were off the ship and in our car heading south on the NJ Turnpike by 8:03!

Now, for a (very) few negatives:

The comedian, Basile, wasn’t very funny. I left the show halfway through.

On most other RCL ships, the Schooner Bar is a relaxing piano/solo guitar bar. On Adventure, the pianist was playing either an electronic keyboard or amplified piano at full volume. Now I like rock ‘n roll as much as anybody, but I don’t need to have it blasted at me.

Parts of the exterior need repainting, our balcony floor looked awful. Paint splatters and paintdrops all over the floor and the railings need to be refinished. There were some kind of stains on the overhead bulkhead in our cabin, could have been sticky tape residue or something similar. Neither affected our enjoyment of our trip but it wasn’t something I expected to see on an RCL cruise.

For the first time, we felt crowded on this cruise. Yes, it’s a larger ship on a summer cruise with two sea days and cool, rainy weather on the port days so most everybody was inside instead of being at the pool, but this would fall into a First World Problems category so I’ll say no more and be glad we had such a wonderful experience overall!

When it happened to us last week, I immediately thought of your previous comment which I had read and remembered. My guess it was some ILU job action although I don't know that for a fact. As an aside, right next to the RCL luggage tag was an ID tag with my last name and cell number. That was untouched and remained on the bag.  Gotta love NYC!

We are also on this cruise next November. Having cruised over Thanksgiving the last three years on Brilliance, I know you will enjoy the ship. Unfortunately, the Christmas decorations generally don't go up until the Friday after turkey day, so we probably miss out on that.
Also the the Tampa-Miami trip is not too bad until you pass FLL, and that last part down 95 is pretty awful...but, you are headed for another cruise, so you have that workin' for ya!!

I think you will really enjoy that class of ship, not too big but big enough to keep adults occupied and interested. Aft of the WJ, there is a fairly large open-air seating which is perfect for breakfast or a morning coffee or lunch or just about anything. Lots of glass, you can see water from almost any inside location, and the Schooner Bar is perfectly located for a drink and a view. The crew is really friendly and helpful. We've done Thanksgiving aboard her for the last three years and have a fourth planned for 2019. Enjoy your Trip!

Same for us, Poo-bah. We sail frequently on Brilliance as we live across the Bay from Tampa. Can't beat the convenience, out of our condo, up the Interstate and on board in an hour!

That surprised me also...maybe somebody at RCL discovered the Chesapeake and Tampa Bay bridges around 1998!!  ?

That surprised me also...maybe somebody at RCL discovered the Chesapeake and Tampa Bay bridges around 1998!!  ?

My wife swears by the sea bands and has never had a problem.

My wife swears by the sea bands and has never had a problem.