IRMO12HD

I can see it two weeks from now...
@kimberussell has gotten over the buzzkill of getting off the ship for the last time. She's finally back into her routine, and has some friends over for dinner Saturday. She serves them a new soup they've never had before, and all rave about it.
An hour later, as they're sitting and chatting, one of them comments, "I think I'm buzzed from this soup."
And @kimberussell smiles quietly to herself.

I laughed,  I cried!   I think we need to chip in to send you on anther cruise.   You managed to find all the humor and fun of the cruise... and to be able to ignore the bad!   Start planning your next one...it gets you through that first week when you actually have to make your own meals lol.  Jane

Haha...do you guys comp me trips if I work for this blog? ;)
***
(apologies to Captain Toni for calling him Chef Toni yesterday.)

Day 4: I woke up on my own at 7am, which is good because we had to clear immigration at 9:30. It would have been 11:15 based on our muster station, but since we had an 11am excursion, we got to leave earlier. We got dressed and headed to our beloved windjammer for breakfast. Mom got her usual gluten free grub, I got "fruit" (chocolate covered bananas), some sweet bread with berries in it and sugar on top, a grilled tomato (good and I think something I can do at home), carved ham (apologies to yesterday's pig) and coffee. And mimosas, of course. After that we took our second cups of coffee to the pool area to watch us dock at Key West.   We went to MDR at 9:30, and were trooped up the stairs, across the ship to the theater, and down those stairs. Our group was puzzled, but compliant.  The very nice agent looked at our documents and cleared us to leave the ship. (background music: Neil Diamond's "America")
I chose the Conch Train Tour for our excursion because it was hop-on, hop-off and that was an easy way to get Mom around town. Plus, it looks like a cute little train! What I didn't realize (I probably should have researched it more instead of gazing lovingly at port webcams) was that there is a 50 minute tour ride between Stop A and Stop B, AND that Stop B was only a few blocks away from Stop A. We were driven right by the Southernmost point buoy without the opportunity to hop off. We hopped off at B and decided to walk down Duval Street in the 85+ degree weather to the Southernmost point buoy and then walk back to Train stop C to continue on. YES my mother is still walking slowly with a cane, NO I didn't think this out, and YES I stink at map skills.
My first stop was at a shack that claimed to have Best Conch Fritters. I had a 3-piece and I can verify that they are the best conch fritters I ever had. We meandered down Duval Street into and out of shops. Sloppy Joe's was full, so I mugged at the Duval Street webcam instead. My productivity is going to improve 100% once I get back to work because my second monitor will no longer have 5 webcam feeds running on it all day long. We saw the oldest (still-standing) house in Key West. I squeed at the Margaritaville restaurant but we didn't eat there because I was full of chocolate covered bananas and conch fritters. Instead, I bought a shirt with a parrot and "it's 5:00 somewhere - Key West" on it because I excel at being a tourist.  After about an hour of walking, I brought up Google Maps and had my expectations reset as to how quickly we'd get to the buoy. It was literally closer to go back to Stop B and ride down to Stop C. We turned around and walked back, hopped back on the train and rode to Stop C at Truman and Duval Streets, which was still a good 5 blocks away from the buoy. GOTTA GET THAT PICTURE!
Wouldn't you know, that the buoy was repainted yesterday (Wednesday) because of the damage it sustained from Hurricane Irma? The colors are painted onto it but the words haven't been redone yet. So we had our picture taken in front of the plain buoy.  I smiled for the webcam and considered the walk back to Truman/Duval. And then we saw him. Like an angel sent from above to save my mother from her daughter's bad decisions...a young man with a pedicab. It was very hot, and I ran out of my liter bottle of water.
He took us back to Mallory Square and it was a gorgeous, breezy ride. Just amazing. We tipped him well. We bought touristy things at the open-air shops (more non-magnet souvenirs for the nephew and a wooden Key West sign for me, and I don't know where I'm going to put this thing) there and called our trip to Key West good. I didn't have an alcoholic beverage or a slice of pie, but I loved the artsy, beachy, slightly drunken vibe there. I'd like to spend 3-4 days there in the future, drinking at sticky bars and listening to music. I'd have rather been docked at Key West until midnight instead of Nassau.
If I had to do it again (I hope I get the chance to do this again!) I would take the Trolley tour instead of the Conch Train because the trolley tour had more stops around town. 
My clothes were stuck to me, so I tossed on the sundress I wore on the first day because it's the coolest non-swimsuit item I brought. We missed Windjammer lunch but Windjammer afternoon snack time is just about the same thing. I had a hot dog and a fruit crumble drowned in chocolate sauce and then we returned to our solarium lounge chairs.  I wonder how much it would cost to renovate my living room into a mini Solarium?
We went to the photo shop to make our tough decisions about photos. It wasn't open yet so genius me used the kiosk. I ordered the digital 4-photo package, put in my stateroom, prepared to slice 20 photos down to 4 and ... it thanked me for my order.  Uh. When do I choose the photos? I guess I'll find out after dinner.
Bingo was starting up it the Centrum. I smugly prepared to walk by until my Bingo Boo JP announced that the jackpot was $300 and it was only a $25 package instead of $33. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. We bought 2 packages, got the third one for free, and lost AGAIN. Bingo is gambling. Don't be like me. By then it was 5:45. Mom went to get a sweater and I watched us pull away from Key West. Sadly. Wistfully. Lip-quiveringly. 
Our tablemates didn't come to MDR that night, so again we had the table to ourselves. I had French Onion soup which was oh my goodness so good. I could have had 3 more bowls and skipped everything else. Instead I had a turkey dinner and carrot cake. Mom had shrimp cocktail, Angus beef sliders without the buns, and a gluten free sugar free chocolate cappuccino mousse. Ajay and Jesus (assistant waiter) wished us well and said they'd miss us. We were THIS CLOSE to breaking down into ugly cries but pulled it together.
After dinner we went back to the cabin to pack. Sadly. Wistfully. We were almost done when I saw that it was 8pm. Parade of Flags! We need to see this! We dropped everything and fled back to the Centrum.
I thought this would be the hokiest event EVER. It really looked like it would be. I rolled my eyes as my GenX people do. Whatever. Let's watch this. You know what's coming, right? Because you've all seen this before.
It. Was. So. Fun. We really enjoyed the dancing interludes and the love and pride the crew has for the countries they are from. (USA's dance was to Cotton Eyed Joe which, okay fine.) When the Cruise Director Michelle said if the over 800 crew members from over 50-some countries can work together and be a family, so could we all, I got a little choked up. Let's all be nice to each other. We all want food, love, warmth - that should be more than enough to overlook whether or not I voted for that candidate or that the lady over there wears a headscarf or that other weird person thinks chocolate covered bananas are awful. I'm glad we took the time to see it and still feel guilty for mocking it prematurely.
We finished packing, put the bags out, and went back to the photo store. Turns out that the digital package is a computer program that allows me to pick 4 photos to download once I go home. Perfect. The best hard decision is a postponed one. After that good news we went to the Spotlight Lounge to watch another round of karaoke. I collected my final drink of the day, the Citrus Cooler. We had 14 fantastic performances and one guy who drank too much and wanted attention. I will listen to people sing off key all night as long as they're trying in earnest. But when Drunky McLookAtMe tries to be cute, I'm done. On the positive side, there was a young German couple who sang "Stumbling In" ("Our love is alive, and so we begin...") perfectly and got a standing ovation. When we went back to our cabin, they were rebroadcasting the Parade of Flags on the RCI channel so we watched it again. Mom told me this was the best vacation she ever had and thanked me for planning it and I cried because I'm a giant baby. 
It was a great end to a long day and a beautiful cruise.
Day 4: A++

Day 5 - the Saddening: 
Since our departure time was slated for 9:10am, I set my alarm for 7. We were awake before that though, because at 2am I realized I packed my keys into the big suitcase that I left out last night and what if the bag doesn't make it to Philadelphia and my keys aren't there and how will I get home and I don't want to call my husband and say the keys are lost and .. and ... and... That kind of put a damper on my sleep quality for the rest of the night.   At 6:30 Mom and I sat in the dark in our cabin as we glided by Miami's pink and blue lights and docked for the last time of our cruise. SIGH. 
Mom went up to the Windjammer to get a table (good plan, it was crowded) and I went to pick up my photo DVD and get boarding passes printed out.
When I got up to the Windjammer it was bedlam. As God is my witness it was like nobody was going to EVER eat again. People were running and grabbing and stacking plates high with food. It's a freaking hashbrown, people - they sell them at McDonald's. Get a grip. Of course with all of the chaos, people were spilling things left and right and the floor was dive-bar-level sticky. Mom had her usual gluten-free grub. Two truths and a lie: To fit in I had 3 pieces of that sweet bread, 5 pieces of chocolate covered banana and did a keg stand at the orange juice dispenser. 
After that we walked the pool deck one last time. We went to the Spotlight Lounge at 9:00 and at 9:10 we were processed off of the ship and into the terminal. Something happened with Customs and we waited an extra 30 minutes before being able to get downstairs to the baggage carousels. I found the bags without a problem, and we got into the other line to be cleared by the Customs agent. Which made us late for the shuttle from the port to Ft. Lauderdale airport, but gave me time to feel through my bag and find my keys. All of the fruit that people collected during the morning's breakfastpocolypse ended up abandoned.
The ground transportation area of the terminal was loud and crowded and chaotic. We ended up on the 10:30 Miami Port Express shuttle.  Major props to them, because they kept in touch with me though all the delays. The FLL -> MCO -> PHL flights went without a hitch, and on the flight I typed out Day 4's blog post and scrolled through pictures. Sadly. Wistfully.
Got back to PHL, found our bags, shoved onto the Economy Parking shuttle, got to the car (oh crap I only have 1/8 tank gas left thanks Past Kim for leaving me this mess), stopped at the nearest gas station (Wawa, and this Jersey girl DOES pump gas when she has to), headed back to Jersey, dropped off Mom, went home. And here I am, filled up on husband hugs and on the sofa with two happy, snoring spaniels in my lap.  The suitcase needs to be unpacked but I am tan and happy and sleepy and ... sober.
Day 5: B-. Points off for being told we had to get off of the ship.
****
THANK YOU for all the compliments.  This was a fun exercise to help me remember and document this amazing trip. And also it's my thank you gift back to this community. I have a rough list of of takeaways that I'll come back and post in a few days.

I think Matt and his gang should hire kimberrussell as a full time writer!

Thank you all for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying it. We are having a blast. 
Day 2: I woke up with a start at 6:30am because I was going to be late for work, which of course I was not. I peeked out the window and saw tiny glimmering lights in the distance. "Self," I said. "It's time to go see the sunrise." With Mom as my willing accomplice, we put on some appropriate duds and headed up to deck 9. There were clouds on the horizon so we didn't get the full effect, but it was lovely nonetheless. As we approached Nassau, I saw a castle up ahead that turned out to be the Atlantis resort.  Well, since we were awake, may as well have breakfast. And that's how we ended up in the Windjammer at 7:15am. I had eggs, bacon, a grilled tomato (good!), and a chocolate covered banana. Mom hit up the gluten free area and ended up with eggs, potatoes, and fruit. We had mimosas because WHY NOT??
We had no excursions planned because I wanted us to take it easy. But how could we skip the opportunity to set foot in Nassau? After breakfast we left the ship (had the gangway photo taken because we are cruise noobs) and headed to shop. We are tourists so we stuck to the touristy area. I won't lie, being loudly solicited for hair braiding and taxis as soon as we left the pier was a bit of culture shock, but whatever. Everyone was nice, just loud. We shopped on Bay Street. I picked up some gifts for coworkers (spoiler: magnets), Mom bought some gifts for friends (spoiler: more magnets), and something for my nephew (not magnets. He's 3 1/2.) at Del Sol. I bought color changing nail polish that is a gorgeous pink in sunlight and a jaundiced yellow when I'm not in sunlight. I spend my days in a cubicle, so in retrospect that was not the best choice.
We were back on the ship in time for lunch at the Windjammer, which was very empty today. Mom had a bunless hamburger, some fries and fruit. I had Caribbean curry chicken with coconut and cranberries, some mashed potatoes, a dollop of penne alfredo, a giant piece of sourdough bread, a slice of peach pie and a plop of bread pudding. As you can tell, I've taken to the concept of a cruise buffet like a duck to water.
Speaking of water.... Mom told me to order bottled water for the room. I idly picked the 12-pack of 1-liter bottles but I'm an idiot who has no idea how much a liter actually is. We have a LOT of water here for just two people. Caveat emptor when buying water.
Next up: POOL TIME. I suited up and headed to deck 9 while Mom chilled in the cabin for a bit. It was ridiculously hot, and even the drink of the day (Portside Punch) failed to cool me off. The movie playing was the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which I have serious and angry feelings about. Mom came up to join me and we (along with 2 liters of water) moved to the Solarium which was quite a piece of paradise. 
Back to the room to shower. (I read someone on these boards who said there is no soap in the cabins. We have bar soap and some sort of squirty soap in the shower.) Tonight is formal night. Dinner is at 6 and skipping bingo is not an option, so we suited up in our LBDs and were the most fancy-pants ladies at the 5pm bingo session. Those who brought receipts from the previous day's bingo session received even more cards and I really have a problem. I won another free tablet full of cards before the game began and I got down to waiting for one number and ... STILL LOST. Bah.
Formal night dress code: Don't sweat it. Some people were in super fancy duds, some people were in nice-casual duds like us, and some people were in MDR in shorts and tees. I wore a black dress, silver heels, and a black and white Kate Spade scarf as a pashmina. I concluded that I spent far too much time worrying about how to dress.
Off to MDR for dinner. Our friends from last night had a sunset cruise excursion, and the other ladies never returned so Mom and I had the table to ourselves. Mom had another amazing gluten-free night: shrimp cocktail, chicken breast au jus, and coconut rice pudding.  I had a chilled banana rum soup as an appetizer. You could have just put a fancy umbrella and a straw in it and handed it to me as I sunned on the deck today. For dinner I had pan-fried corvina (a white fish I never heard of before) and dessert was a chocolate mousse-like bar. Our server is Ajay and he is the best.
Mom: "I don't know how I'm going to go back to tossing chicken tenders in the oven."
Me: "I think I'm buzzed from this soup."
After dinner (and numerous formal night photos because we are cruise noobs) we settled into the R bar for the captain's reception. I spied that Super Mario guy at a "reserved" table and because of Michael Poole's live blog from this past weekend, I knew who he was. I enjoyed the reception, especially that each officer had their own walk-on music like baseball players. Mario was called up and given a bottle of wine because he has 7009 nights logged on Royal Caribbean ships. This is Mario's last time on the Enchantment -- he's moving to the Freedom. I tried to get Mom to hook up with him to see if we could glom some points from him (or at the very least that bottle of wine), but she was not willing to take one for the team. Whatever, Mom. I drowned my sorrow in a Captain's special peach champagne drink because the soup buzz was wearing off.
Music this evening was from Mood Icons, a 3-man cover band with a repertoire of American sing-along songs. Friends in Low Places! Margaritaville! Wonderful Tonight! Sweet Little Sixteen!
We asked Guest Services about the food at Coco Cay tomorrow and was sent back to talk to the head waiter at MDR. He's going to make sure Mom has a gluten-free bun at the lunch area. Everyone is so nice and accomodating. We hit the stores on deck 6 and I bought a non-magnet gift for my nephew. There's a Roxy sundress I'm lusting over but it's $64.50 and ... nah. I'll by myself something to wear in Key West.
After going from deck 3 to 4 to 6 to 5 to 4 to 6 again, my feet were howling. Back down to 3 to change shoes, and then we called it a night shortly after. We are docked in Nassau until midnight so I won't get to see us leave. That's a bummer. I don't know why we're here so long - we are the last cruise ship in port. There was a snail towel sculpture waiting for us in the room. I like it here. :)
Day 2: A++

Random thoughts and loose-ends as I wrap this trip up:
- In Phillipsburg, bring cash if you are visiting the Amsterdam Cheese Shop on your own or as part of a tour.  I saw quite a few people disappointed that they couldn’t make a CC purchase and didn’t have cash to cover it.
- Go to Maho beach if you hate beaches and love crowds.
- In Coastal Kitchen, you absolutely want to try the cured salmon appetizer, and the seared branzino and braised lamb shank entrees.  The cured salmon was 3/4” cubes (belly meat instead of filet?) with the usual cast of creme fraiche, dill, chives and a splash of lemon, served on squares of dense and nutty pumpernickel bread.  It was amazing.  The branzino was the the #1 stand-out dish for the entire cruise.  Perfectly cooked, skin on, seared until skin was crispy — served over a bed of sautéed large-dice squash and zucchini, also perfectly cooked and seasoned.  Good enough, in fact, that I asked if I could thank the person working the fish station.  That’s tough to get perfect in a regular kitchen, much less on a ship.  The lamb shank was done just right as well.  Braised within an inch of its life, perfectly tender, and served over garlic-y orzo and spinach dotted with pearl onions.  Drool.
- If you need to resolve something at Guest Services and are an early-bird, go down there at 6AM on day two.  Two people working the counter, zero people in line.
- If you want to see San Juan, absolutely skip any of the cruise itineraries that give you a short (1PM out) day.  Last time I, caught a cruise originating from there and arrived 2 days early to explore.  Personally, I won’t be doing a cruise with a short San Juan visit again.  This is a place you definitely want to linger a bit... go out to Arecibo, see more than just the capitol.  Totally worth planning more time in PR.
- After a bit of Googling, it looks like the unmetered taxi ride from Port Everglades is a common scam.  Make them start the meter.  And taxi drivers are wondering why Uber and Lyft are eating their lunch?  Taxis in my home city were a similar shit-show until competition finally forced them to clean up their act.
 
 
 

Noticed they were doing lifeboat training today, so I bopped down to deck 5 to make an inquisitive nuisance of myself.
Putt-putt-putt... I’m a lifeboat!  Putt-putt-putt... 

Look at how spacious I am!  You and 369 of your closest friends fit in me!  Hope you wore deodorant.

This is my friend.  We have our ups and downs.

Not sure who this guy is, but he likes bossing me around.

The Star Class lifeboats have a wet bar and priority boarding.  Keep that SeaPass handy.
 
 

5:40PM.  Ship just doooooted one long fart, so we’re departing 10 minutes after the all-aboard cutoff.  No runners.
The casino should allow bidding on runners the night before.  Best guess wins the pool the next day.  OK, that would be rude.

Captain Fancypants reversed our way to the dock.  Ship didn’t make that beep-beep-beep backup warning sound.  They should just do that as a joke.
Our neighbor this morning is the MSC Seaside.
Breakfast in CK now.

 

Nah, the dolphins know that Tiny Aquarium is where it's at. ?
 

Day 2.  Both today and tomorrow are sea days.
As usual, I woke up early. Popped down to Cafe Promenade for coffee and a pastry.  I was surprised to see Guest Services open and 2 people working the desk at 0530.  Nobody was in line, so I took the opportunity to see if I could straighten out my erroneous Voom charge and figure out where my missing shore excursion ticket for Phillipsburg was.
For the Voom charge, they sent an email off to someone in corporate to see if they could remove it.  My shore excursion was cancelled.  No notification, but I do see that the money was refunded to my credit card.  Off to the Excursion desk later today to book something else.
Weather is very nice, but it was windy AF earlier this morning.  We’re doing ~18 knots directly into a 10-15 knot gusty breeze.  I was down on the pool deck and a lady opened one of the now-famous windows to stick her iPad mini (with a cover opened like a book) out to take a pic of the sunrise.  That worked out just about as well as you might imagine.  Some dolphin is probably playing Angry Birds on it now.
Ate at Windjammer.  Being an early bird has its merits.  One of which is not having to elbow my way to the trough through a crowd.

Oh man. Casino TVs are all tuned to ESPN for (an?) NFL game today.  I just happened to be sitting in a chair facing a TV.   Nice person next to me asked for my opinion on some football-related minutiae. 
I said, “I don’t usually watch soccer.”  Priceless.  I resisted asking him about sportsball. 

Day -1 , Shanghai.
Today we foght to get up early to enjoy the breakfast which I heard it's very good at this hotel, the rummers were true. There are two main Islands , one western food and one eastern. The western includes fresh egg station , salads station and many fresh worm options.


The eastern contains many kind of dumplings, soups, fried vegetables and other good things.


I took one plate from each island 


Now that can be useful for busy days at the WJ buffet , just think oh simple life would be if we had this option

After the big breakfast we went to check the big  shopping street of Nanjin, my spouse wanted to buy some pearls  for her mother, we went to a pearls mall, found something we thought is nice and started to negotiate. I must it's easier for me to negotiate with our clients than the sellers there but we got a good price for two chains which per our request combined to one. The street itself very impressive.



We also passed this Royal Caribbean Blog caffe

We walked all the way to the famous  Bund street which as a perfect view on the Pearl tower and the other to towers.

This area includes also some monuments and nice small gardens




We wanted to cross to the other side of the river so we took the new small under the river train were we bought combo tickets for the Bund tunnel and Shanghai tower observation. The small tunnel trains take you into a tunnel full with light effects , nice but not a must:



We got out from the tunnel and haded to the tower (around 20 minutes walk) passing near the impressive pearls tower, near buy you also have the aquarium and many other tourist attractions which we decide to pass 

We finally got to the second biggest building in the world , the Shanghai tower , it's around 650 meters high with 128 floors. The amazing thing that in one year from now it's going to be only number 5 or 6 in the world.



At the ground floor you have some exhebition of how the build it plus the future and the past of skyscrapers. From there we took the super fast elevator (10 M per second) to the observation platform (118 floor) to watch the very nice view .






After the Shanghai tower visit we went back using the Bund tunnel to the other side and walking to the hotel , lots of steps . It was already evening so we went to the lounge to eat something , lots of options, I do recommend to book a room with access to the executive lounge.  

I must say we found Shanghai to be very beautiful

Day -2 Shanghai.
We landed on time, no much queues in the airport . Around 8 am we checked in and went up to the room telling ourself that we will rest for 30 and decided de what to do , not to my surprise it was 12:30 Pm when we woked up , we 0 Jet lag 1.
We organized quickly and went to drink something in lounge which is by far the biggest I ever so.

After the lounge visit we went out to check around. I must say Shanghai seems to be quite clean it's also very quiet as most of the motorcycles are with electric engine. We went to the people square, so some group of people dancing in the park and catched the Subway

WiFi 

Two comments regarding navigate in Shanghai :
1. Most of the signs are also in English so it's easy to navigate the street and the subway.
2. Google maps does not have any clue regarding the public transportation databases in Shanghai so it can only show you how to travel by car or foot but not by subway or a bus. If you want better public transportation application for this city try moveit.
We have done our way to train station were we should find the international glass mall. We went off the right station just to find out that although the mall is only 0.3 miles away Google showed 22 minutes walk. At first I thought there is some issue with the app but later I understood we had to take a bypass bto cross the rails which created the long walk. We arrived the mall and searched for the store we got recommendation for. You see both of us use eyeglasses and China is a good place to get some for much cheaper than home. This mall is 3 floors of just eyeglasses shops and factories , it's seems we were almost the only clients. We both choosed 3  frames , 2 regular and one as prescription sunglasses. I paid around 280$ for the three eyeglasses all of them are multifocal/progressive with  lean lenses, so a good deal, oh and it includes eye exam , back home I would pay twice for one per. After we negotiate the price (you must do it in China) we went to eat something while we were waiting for the glasses. We consider eating something local so we went to the local MacDonald and order some hamburger with pineapple and there local version of Poutine its was quite good. I will spare from you the description of some of the food stand we so , but let's just say they do not throw any parts of the chicken, everything is being used, but everything. 70 minutes later and all of our six eyeglasses were ready including the sunglasses, we both already using them and the quality is good, zero adjustment time. We started to do our way back and tried to find out our line , Everytime we went by the signed we found ourself out of the subway again and again , at the end I have up and took another line which we had to switch to get to our station. By the way the price of subway ride is around 40 cent's.
 
Finally we got back to the hotel , enjoyed some drinks at the lounge and went to find a foot massage location. We found one near the hotel that charges 30 $ for 80 minutes massage. The message included soakings our feet while getting back massage , foot massage , pounding our foot with small hammers and finally warming our legs with some ambers . I was not sure if it is a massage or they just prepare our legs to be sold in one of the night food market , after all they marnnied it , tender and grilled it ? but it was good. Post the massage we walked around some more before called it for the day. Indeed interesting day. 

Home is Tel Aviv , Israel

Well here we start ? 
The flight back home was OK although I almost did not slept , not sure why , but it was quite short flight so I survived.
Quick taxi ride home and I went to sleep for a while . Last arrangements , some more packing and even had time to go and visit my father  before my long trip , had to help him configure the Youtube from the IPAD to  be shared with the  TV screen and upgrade his souse  Fitbit. 
As we had early flight decide to try and go to sleep. We both set our alarm clock and I said to myself I will decide later if to add to the suitcase another bottle of wine or not . I order a taxi for 3:40 am and went to rest my eyes. I open my eyes and looked on the clock - 3:33 am , uffffffffffffff   , for some reason the alarm did not worked , go trust google assistant. 7 minutes to get ready , in that 7 minutes , I took a shower (must for me at the morning) , shaved, dressed up and answered the taxi driver call, And what you know we both were ready (I guess  there are  some things your learn while in the army you never forget). Currently , the only thing I found that I forgot are the headphone  but I bought new one in the airport.
So we are in the lounge waiting for out first flight , 

Well I love the dragon fruit (mainly the red one) , but I think the white one here is  other member in the Pitaya family the Kobo  , I prefer the Dragon fruit and when I am in Singapore at the first day when I just land I  go to the market buy myself few of them and when coming back from another long meetings day I will eat a cold one. I also buy them from time to time back at home , this is the session were you can find them in the supermarkets but the price is 5 times what I pay for them in the far east.
By the way the red dragon fruit (there is also a yellow one) is consider very healthy and contains allot of antioxidants

I just started reading this and I'm so excited for you.  I lived in China for a few years.  I love your attitude of an open mind.  A few tips: 
It will sound like everyone is always mad and shouting.  They aren't, it is the language and tones.  Just take some getting used to.   You do need to be demanding and firm if you want something.  You can't wait for your waitress to bring you the check, or another drink, but you need to ask for it.  It is considered rude to bring the check before it is requested. Don't stand in line waiting your turn.  You will need to push yourself ahead or you will be left waiting forever.  There is no personal space, it will be ok.   Bring addresses of places you want to go written in Chinese characters, not pinyin.   Many taxi drivers can't read pinyin and our translation of Mandarin is terrible as we can't do the tones.  If you can't do the tones, they have no idea what you are saying.   Have a great time!  I LOVE shopping in Bangkok but love the islands even more!

Ok , lets talk about the elephant in the room.
When we just thought on taking a cruise from China we started to read around, well lets say , you can find better reviews for Nassau  ? 
I think many people expects such cruise will be just exactly the same as any other RCL cruise without taking into consideration that different places has different culture and different  customs. 
Some of the things I have read :
1. Food , not enough western food - Well I Think its a good time to try other things , western food I have everywhere
2. The Chinese food is not that good - I think when most of us think about Chinese food  we think about restaurants as PF Changs or fast food like Panda express (which I admit I like) but that is western Chinese food not really Chinese food ... I also like authentic Chinese food  which I experience mainly in Singapore Chinese street food.
3. The messages are always first in Chinese - Well what do you expect when at least 90% are people from China , I do not mind as long as the important announcement will also be in English .
4. People are pushing in queues and into elevators - Oh you mean like most of the cruises I have been in the Caribbean during rush time ? 
5. People do not respect people personal space - For this one I do not have any answer .
6, Not enough Trivia - Not a showstopper for us.
7. Shows story lines is not clear - The Gift anyone ? 
8. Shows are boring  - mm , Cats anyone ?  
Let me tell you story ,  17 years ago (when I was young and handsome) I worked on a prove of concept that we had to present to a Japanese company , we worked like crazy to meet the time line , 20 + hours per day. Few days before we had to go to Tokyo someone arranged us culture differences lecture  to prepare  for the travel . We have been told we must come with a suite to the meetings, we must bow when presenting ourselves , never to show our shoe sole , never cross our legs when seating  and many other things. AS I did not had a normal suit with me I had to find time to go and buy one at the last minute and find someone that will do the require  alters  on the spot. The flight day arrived (the good thing no WIFI during the flight so I could sleep few hours), we landed checked that everything still working (it was not , we had to spend another sleepless night to fix it) and run to the hotel to get prepare. We all came to the meeting location  with our best suits, ties and shoes just to see our customer coming without suits , some with sandals and jeans. Yes we all bow and exchange business cards holding it with our two hands but later I notice people were seating almost the opposite from what we have been told.
After few days when we already had some off the record small talks I asked one of the people for the difference ,first he told me that what we have been told is true mainly for older generation and second , that they also got a lecture on the  culture difference before our meeting .... 
So I hope for the  good , we will come  with opened mind ,  I am going to participate in many activities as I can and to have fun.

Today I went to collect our passports from the Chines visa agents  , finally we found few days were we are both at home and can leave the passport for few days (it takes up to four days to get the visa if you are not paying for expedite process) so I guess it’s a good opportunity to start this “I do not know how live it will be” blog.
It’s a different cruise for sure , many first times for us , first time going to China , first time on Quantum class , first time cruise to Japan and firs time on a cruise that English is not the first language. I am sure we will have much more first times , but that’s what make us so excited.
Why we choose this cruise  ?  well , apparently it was a childhood dream of my spouse to visit Japan and it will be her first time there , for me it will be the second time but the other  time was quite a long time ago and was a business trip, also it’s a new ship , and a new class , do we really need other reasons ?
So what is the plan :
Two days in Shanghai – Some tour in the city , still did not choose one  although I so a nice bicycle day trip which we might take.
I already booked a nice hotel near one of the main square , the location is important as we wanted to be at the center to reduce traveling , as we are landing very early in the morning I guess we will store our suitcase in the hotel and start to tour the area. I thought to book the hotel a day earlier so we will get the room once we will arrive but as I know both of us , we will get to the room and go to sleep and miss important hours in the city ?.
On 1-October we will do our way to the port .
 
Our itinerary :
 
01 OCT - SHANGHAI (BAOSHAN), CHINA
02 OCT - Cruising
03 OCT – OSAKA, Japan  
04 OCT-  OSAKA , Japan
04 OCT – Kobe Japan
05 OCT – Tokyo (Yokohama) , Japan
06 OCT – Cruising
07 OCT – Cruising
08 OCT - SHANGHAI (BAOSHAN), CHINA
 
After we booked the tour I found out that 1-October is also what they call in China  the Golden week , this is a mandatory vacation week in all China so we expecting to have many local families and not many foreigners on board.  We might experience some traffic as many are traveling this week but I do not think its going to be showstopper. We choose this period as we also have some holidays and many bridge days between.
 
Post the cruise we will go to the airport and fly to Singapore , we considered to stay some extra days in Chania but was not sure if we will have multi entrance visa or a single entry which mean that we will have to use transfer visa on the way back, at the end we got the multi until as long as the passport is not expired.
We will be in Singapore for three nights at our favorite hotel in the world (or should I say our favorite swimming pool in the world), it will be good for some rest time although I might need to have a face to face meeting with one of our customers for few hours.
From Singapore we will fly to Thailand to chill out , currently only Bangkok but we might fly to one of the islands , depends what the weather will be.
So almost three week vacation before going back home.
 
There are many difference is cruise out of China  :
1.       Activities cost money (north star ,Ifly , skypad, laser tag) I will give the prices later.
2.       Food in the MDR is different – the menu is a picture menu with many Chinese flavor.
3.       Instead of sea class , sky class and start class there is golden class and silver class.
4.       In the golden glass there are not just suites but also balconies cabins with suite services.
5.       No coastal kitchen but golden dinning room and maybe silver dining room (not sure yet).
6.       The solarium is only for Golden and Silver class.
7.       Golden class have access to some other dedicated places (again not sure about silver) , there are also elevators just for suites class.
8.       Wonderland with Chinese menu.
9.       Dining package is not offer before the cruise.
10.   No Diamond lounge – only the 3 free drinks during happy hour.
11.   Many first timer.
12.   MDR late seating is 7 PM.
 
I  am sure I will find more differences , but difference are many time a good thing , it will push us from the comfort zone to experience new things.
 
More to come.
 

Here is a video of the fantastic dessert from our experience at Chef's Table on Brilliance of the Seas.  It was a chocolate sphere with vanilla ice cream inside, there were toffee like crunchies surrounding it on the plate and then they poured hot caramel sauce over the top!
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Ain't that the truth!  Peak breakfast is the only time I've tried to pop by, took one look at the line snaking from the entrance down several flights of stairs and just noped the heck out of there.
It's fine if you go early (7am) or late (10:30ish), but it gets crazy busy in the 8am-10am prime time.
Embarkation day can be a bit crazy, particularly later in the afternoon, but if you get there by noon you'll be fine.  Beware of roller bags.
All other times, it's been busy to varying degrees but it's never taken us more than a few minutes to get a table or have to dodge elbows to get to a food station.  Breakfast is like Mad Max.

I am going to agree with all that is said here, and give you a quick tip!  We made the mistake of going outside to eat, and we forgot our drinks as well as silverware so we grabbed a table and walked back inside to get them, needless to say at that point we were docked and there were seagulls present and our breakfast was destroyed.  Some wonderful folks got them away from the table but they had already done their damage!  Just a heads up to pay attention to where you are when you eat outside it is a lesson we will never forget!!!!?
 

Joe is correct regarding Radiance Class ..... Brilliance has an awesome outdoor seating area at the far aft of the ship ..... you can relax, watch the wake, and enjoy a nice meal.
Now, on Vision Class --- there is an outdoor area that flanks the beginning parts of both sides of the pool deck ...... not as nice as what's on Brilliance, but still serves a purpose when it comes to added seating for the WJ

Cafe Promenade and here is a picture of the adult coffee choices: