Ken23

And this is why you go on Day 2 in Bermuda. It’s 10:22 AM and the beach is practically empty! Woo hoo!

Waves are gentle, maybe 3 feet tall when the break. I can’t go in, unfortunately, but Cathy is going to take full advantage!

Hey guys!
So I have some exciting news!
I found out last night that I'm going to be transferred to Oasis Of The Seas in 3 weeks time. This is a big step up for me, and a lot more responsibility is going to be put on me - but I'm excited for this challenge.
I'll be flying out to Spain to join the ship, and then crossing back to America for the beginning of the Caribbean season.
Let me know if any of you will be on Oasis! I look forward to meeting you!

New vlog has just gone live!
I reveal how much money I make working onboard!
 

Hi everyone,
 
For 6 months, I was working in the shops onboard Independence Of The Seas. I actually got the opportunity to meet some of you guys, and I just wanted say thank you for saying hello!
 
I actually made some YouTube vlogs of my experience during this contract, and wanted to share it with you guys. I'm trying to show what being a Royal Caribbean crew member is like, and I think a lot of you guys will find this very interesting!
 
In this first vlog, I show you the sign-on process. Me, walking on to the ship as a new crew member - followed by a ship tour.
 
https://youtu.be/TwY2wMDjpBk
 
I'm have begun my next contract onboard Mariner Of The Seas for 7 months, starting my new role as a Casino Host.
 
I hope to meet more of you soon, and ask me any questions you may have about being a crew member!
 
Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel as well. One day, I hope to vlog for Royal Caribbean full time!
www.youtube.com/ChristopherWongVLOGS
 
Chris

Time to leave Key West.
As we started to drop lines and get ready to sail away it seemed this one wouldn't be as majestic as the last Key West sail away sunset.

The crowds gathered in Mallory Square to see me off.  Okay, may the sunset had something to do with it.

Yeah not as spectacular as last cruise.

But wait, what's that?  An opening between cloud layers?

Maybe tonight would be a decent sunset after all.  

Like that it was over.  

October 9, 2019.
Back from the wasteland of being land locked, I'm writing this from Majesty's VCL.
Rather than creating a whole new thread I'll just revive this one.
IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!
This booking started as a Cuba booking departing on Oct. 14.  As it turns out that wasn't going to be so to drown my sorrows I added the Oct. 9 cruise.  Very recently (last week) the Oct. 19 sailing was very inexpensive.  I looked at Southwest and could change my return flight for a $2 credit.  So... YOLO, this has become a B3B.   When you can book a Royal Caribbean cruise at these rates it's hard to say no.
5 nights to Mexico, 5 nights to the Bahamas and 4 nights to the Bahamas.
Cozumel, Costa Maya.  Key West, Nassau.  Key West, Nassau.  
I've managed to book the same cabin for the first two legs but change cabins for the 3rd.
We embarked at terminal 19 in Port Everglades today.  Arriving to the terminal at 10:21am I was on board at 11:01am after a short wait in the terminal.
I'm going to be lazy from this point forward, only posting when it's blog worthy.  
Cabins are almost ready, time to go...

Got some very nice sunset pics using the Sony camera. Sorry to be a tease, but trust me when I say that they came out better than anything I got on the phone.
And those of you who like clouds (@DDaley, was it?)... you’ll probably be quite happy. ?

Wow, the ship really wants to make amends over this.
I got a call from the Windjammer Manager about 20 minutes ago. Got another apology and thank-you for reporting the issue at Guest Services so they had the formal record. Was told not only are they going to speaking to the supplier, but also their own QC team that picks up the shipments.
After this, I was asked to confirm our table in the MDR, and then offered complementary specialty dining in any venue of our choice. Initially asked if we wanted it tonight, but we already had all of our plans timed out around MDR schedule so I asked if it could be a different night. Was told no problem, and that he’d send his business card so I could call him after I had a chance to talk with Cathy and figure out which night and venue.
It arrived about 10 minutes later, attached to this:

Say what you want about Royal; when they are politely notified about a matter like this, with zero histrionics and no demands or even requests for compensation, they seriously go out of their way to let you know it’s being treated with all seriousness, and that you are part of that treatment.

I decided I should formally report the sausage matter to Guest Services. Not because I’m looking for something — I’m not injured, not even a cracked tooth — but because I felt like that might be a larger safety issue to be looked into. Maybe nothing beyond an utterly random accident at the plant, but why take chances?
The senior officer working the line for quick triage items was visibly appalled when I showed her the picture of the piece of metal. She immediately thanked me for not just telling the guy at the Dog House, because she wanted to have a formal report of that on record that could go to upper management. Said also they would definitely be taking that up with the supplier.
Duty is done, back to cruise enjoyment.

Saw Joyce’s set, was 100% acoustic and 100% ballads. Really enjoyed it, and had a chance to talk with her after the show.
She’s been playing guitar for about 13 years, the last 3 on Anthem. She didn’t simply audition and get the job; she had to be personally approved by Brian May himself! And after that, she was taught and mentored by him for how to play the songs. She said he’s an absolute genius, really humble, a great guy all around to work with and learn from. And he’s really particular about who gets to be the guitarist in each production.
She’s only been doing acoustic guitar for the last few years; apparently Royal is expanding the number and variety of “intermissionists” (she said that’s the official term for the people who play those short 45-minute sets between the big performances). They want acoustic guitar players now, along with the piano players, horn groups, etc.
I did a short periscope for a few of the songs during her set, you can see it here:
https://www.pscp.tv/w/cHuV-zFXZ0VnYUdYbFdtS3Z8MW1uR2V6a1FQcVJKWLARq5Bi5-aQ4Z-8QV5rDFYhz9fsx6ojTTC5k_IYzKmr?t=3s
 
Off to dinner now!

Rooms weren’t ready at 1, got told it wouldn’t be until 1:30. So we went to Two70 Lounge, where I was able to confirm the $75 new onboard price for the DBP.

Had to wait a bit for a bartender, but eventually got myself my first drink of the trip: a genuine Dark and Stormy! Yes, they have Goslings ginger beer as well as Goslings Black Spiced rum!

 
Now sitting in the “All About Anthem” presentation; using it be off my feet, have a chance to blog, and with some luck score something in the raffle.
After that, it’s muster drill and then sailaway!

?
Today is the day that we go on the cruise!
Today is the day that we gooooo!
It’s gonna be great!
I just cannot wait!
TODAY IS THE DAY THAT WE GO ON THE CRUISE!
?

? Seven more days 'til we go on the cruise!
Seven more days 'til we gooooo!!! ?
I was going to wait until the day before we left, just to avoid joining the @Matt and @Lovetocruise2002 bandwagon, but work is nuts and nights aren't looking to be much better this week, so...
The Ship
As the title says, this is our second trip on Anthem of the Seas, having sailed her just over a year ago! I've been looking forward to this since the day we booked it, which was (amusingly) at my wife's strong request a mere two weeks after we got back from that last sailing. ?
Itinerary
Day 1 - Depart Cape Liberty at 4:00 PM Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Arrive in Bermuda at 8:00 AM, stay overnight Day 4 - Depart Bermuda at 5:00 PM Day 5 - Sea Day Day 6 - Return to Cape Liberty and non-cruising life Why We Booked It
Our trip last year to Bermuda left us loving this little island that's nice and close to our home state of NJ, and we knew before the first day was even over that we had to come back here. Lots of places we didn't explore last time and want to get a look at, and not enough time at Horseshoe Bay beach. I didn't think we'd be coming back just a year later, but Cathy said she really wanted to go back right away and not wait. Well, who am I to argue against a "YOLO Book It!!!" request?
 
I'm guessing I'll be a bit more live this time around, for reasons I'll get into in another post or two...

Ok I guess I'll jinx myself like @Matt and start the live-ish blog early.  
So this cruise was many things to my husband and I.  First, it was a yolo black friday sale and I had been eyeballing cruises to take my husband on for a while.  He's not really the vacation-y type and I adore exploring and vacationing.  I've been very comfortable travelling solo but I really wanted him to experience a cruise.  He's a Marine so his idea of a cruise is hot bunking, doing fire fighting training onboard a carrier and being miserable while the Navy got him where he needed to go.  Vacationing to me is at least 4 star hotels, gourmet meals, relaxation, spa visits, etc.  We're like night and day when it comes to travelling.  His last experience with "Thyri Style" travel was our honeymoon in the Poconos doing the whole champagne glass whirlpool thing.  He needs to get out more.
I adore cruising, I adore the water.  I'm not married to any cruise line in particular but Royal does give us the option to sail out of Baltimore, which is a 20 minute drive from our house.  
So when the price was right on black friday, I asked hub, "can I book this PLEASE?  I need a vacation, WE need a vacation"  mega SWMBO guilt trip pouring on and he allowed it.
5 nights to Bermuda.  But it has to be "Thyri style".  So I debated for about 20 minutes between the Grand Suite and the Owners Suite.  I knew I didnt want or need the Royal Suite because well, my logic is I dont play piano.  The price difference wasnt too much, and the larger balcony just sealed the deal for me.  So I booked it.  
Then I found this blog and these forums and learned about MEI travel.  I was considering being my own travel agent for this but Pam Richter at MEI really has been a godsend.  She sorted me out on a name discrepancy on our tickets and our travel documents.  Hub's last name has a III at the end.  That wasnt on our tickets.  Pam to the rescue!  She also helped us sort out travel insurance.
I kind of was excited, relieved, and nervous at the same time.  I've wanted to go on a cruise with hub for a very long time.  I also must be the only woman on the planet who cant remember her anniversary to save her life.  I realized at the time of this cruise, it would be 15 years of putting up with each other.  
 
Fast forward to tax time.  I had expected my work bonus as well as my tax refund (YAY), and I just said the heck with it and paid off the cruise.  I wanted it done, I wanted it to be "complete".  I wasnt planning on changing cabins or ships.  I knew I could get the time off of work because I always book my time off so far in advance before anyone else can take it.  So now what else.
I decided to completely splurge and do the "as close to all inclusive as you can get on a cruise" method.  So there was a WOW sale that happened with a deal of $52 for the deluxe beverage package and the voom internet.  Ok that was a no brainer, I wanted a beverage package anyways.  I'm not a huge drinker, but I do like the convenience of being able to have that extra drink after dinner, or at a show, or a latte with breakfast.  I also wanted that convenience of knowing that was all taken care of before the cruise.  And the price was nice for both the drink package and the voom.  Then I started looking at specialty dining.  I knew I wanted to do that.  I kind of like doing a "pre dinner" at a place like Izumi and then go to Chops or Giovanni's for the real dinner.  Or have the option to go to the windjammer for pregame, go to Chops for the main course, and then maybe have dessert by room service.  Again this was more about the flexibility than it was "getting the most" out of specialty dining.  I'm sure my hub and I wont come close to making the ultimate dining package worth it, but its the flexibility for us.  Also I can devour a lot of sushi.
Ok with drinks and food taken care of.  I pivoted to excursions.  I really wanted to show hub the beauty of Bermuda, the history.  And about 24 hours to do it in, it would be challenging but I'd use this as a teaser to go on more cruises.  So I booked a snorkeling excursion and a glass bottom boat ride for our first day, and a history bus tour on the 2nd.  Well unfortunately the history bus tour got cancelled, so our 2nd day has become a free day.  Personally I want to explore more of the Dockyard this visit.  I really REALLY wanted to go to St George but with all of the activities booked on day 1, it just wasnt going to happen.  I figured that the first day it would give us something fun, and then something relaxing while really taking in the sights of Bermuda.  
I also decided to "treat yo self" and get a few things for the room as well.  I got the anniversary decorations gift thing, I got a bottle of champagne, 2 beach towels, a tote bag, rum and coke, and some sodas.  Since hub is a bit of a homebody, I didnt want him missing out if he didnt feel up to going out and about with me.  I wanted things to be as absolutely smooth as possible for his first cruise.  Excessive?  Possibly.  But that's just my kind of style.  
And that was it for the planning phase.  Then it was 10 months of waiting.  Stalking the cruise planner for better deals (except on the intern mistake day of course).  Reading the blog, chatting with other cruisers.  I was in full cruise planning mode and 10 months felt like forever.
 
Now its 10 days and I'm starting a blog.  I'll do my best depending on the Voom to post as many photos and details as I can.
At 10 days out I have not heard from my concierge yet.  But I'm expecting to hear from them in the next week to book dining reservations.  I do tend to be a little cavalier with my dining on a ship though.  So I just want to book Chops on the first day because hub desperately wants the seafood tower and I promised I'd get him one.  We even say to each other now "seafood tower?" and give a thumbs up.  I fear our little inside joke will happen onboard when we actually get it.  
But I'll do my best to share the suite life on a Vision class ship.  

Cruise Summary
This was a bucket list cruise for me and I am so glad I did it.  Like my first time to Alaska I suspect this may be repeated in the future.  
The newer O3b internet platform worked great over the length of the cruise.  
Ovation of the Seas once again did not disappoint.  
The sea days flew past and the three port days in a row including an overnight stop made the rest of cruise very enjoyable.  Debarking in Honolulu was a breeze.  I'm glad we had a day in Seattle to visit as a port of call and not simply as an embarkation/debarkation city.
Cruising to Hawaii is very different compared to cruising in the Caribbean, in a very good way.  The ports are very interesting with a lot to choose from.
I picked my excursions carefully and watched some of them fill up and become unavailable so I'm glad I booked them when I did and saved quite a bit of money by watching for sales as the months went by.  
The tendering process was mostly a pretty good experience other than that one night coming back late when there was a wait.  Still it was quite impressive to see them perform such a large tendering operation as efficiently as they did.
I'm torn between picking a smaller ship next time to Hawaii to gain a few more ports that only smaller ships can visit or repeat on Ovation.     
I wish I could have stayed on for the next cruise to Sydney but that will have to wait for another year.  
I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.

Our progress back to Oahu somewhat in the middle of the Hawaiian island chain.

Debarking was super easy.  Just walk off.  They scan your SeaPass card one last time and from there you follow the flow and exit the terminal.  We pre-cleared US customs and immigration in Vancouver so none of that was needed here since all of our stops after that were in the US.
The port is a quick ride share away from HNL airport.  Almost as convenient as Port Everglades.  

Signs direct you to the ride share pickup area a short walk past the taxi stand area. 

After 45 minutes in the water we were given some turkey wraps, chips and water or local fruit juices.  We were getting ready to leave when a pair of dolphins visited.






On the ride back to Maui more dolphins came by.



Pretty cool seeing them up close like this.

Beautiful water with depths around 17' that slope up to the walls teaming with fish.





Very different reef with more brain coral and fewer sea fans or tubes compared to Caribbean snorkeling.




The water was an amazing blue color.  

Finally it was time for the main event.

  As the sun dropped lower it reappeared from behind the clouds.





It was pretty magical and soulful.  
With that it was time to regain feeling in my frozen fingers so we boarded our bus for the drive to our restaurant just over an hour away. 

Today's excursion is called the Haleakalā Summit Sunset Experience. 
Our excursion met and we boarded a small shuttle type bus where we met our driver and guide.  We drove around 45 minutes to their business where we could get a coffee, snack, use the restroom and get a jacket for the summit.  

The summit is around 10,000 feet in elevation and the weather is very cool up there.  Today it was 41°F.  Jackets were highly recommended due to the strong winds and wind chill.
Menus were passed around for a post-summit dinner.  We picked our entree which was called into the restaurant prior to our arrival later in the evening.

Our bus ride continued up through changing weather and ecology.  Entering the Haleakalā National Park we stopped at the visitor's center for a restroom break and interesting talk about the type of plants in this area.   At this point we were above the clouds at around 7,000 feet.

We learned that many plants found here are endemic to Hawaii - they only exist here and nowhere else in the world.  Some are unique to each island and are not even found on other Hawaiian islands.

The Silversword is an example of one unique and exclusive to Maui.

We continue our drive towards the summit first stopping at a viewing area halfway there.

The sun was getting lower on the horizon.

Our guide tells us the story of Pele and Maui, both gods in Hawaiian culture.  Pele is the goddess of volcanoes and fire and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands.  Maui was responsible for the mountains rising from the ocean floor.  

This area includes a viewing platform for a view into the crater behind the summit.


Cinder cones were easy to spot on the crater floor.  These are from past eruptions.  Scientists believe Haleakalā has erupted at least 7 times over the past 1,000 years and they predict she will erupt again at some point.

From here we proceeded to the summit.

Another view of the crater from the visitor's center at the summit.

Not quite sunset yet the sun popped behind a cloud.  Looking closely you can see the shoreline of Maui before us.

Day 7 Night
As we make our way along the chain of Hawaiian Islands towards Maui the North Star was empty and they were begging for participants to justify the ride.  Minimum 6-7 was being requested.  So... why not?





Later on my balcony I spotted an old friend... the Milky Way.  We've come far enough South that it's still visible.   It's hard when shooting off the side of the ship given the ship's forward motion so I had to crank up the ISO and shorten the exposure.

Way back on day two while we were in Seattle Captain Henrick recorded a video that addresses our voyage information for our sea days over to Hawaii.  For those interested in this sort of stuff here it is:
 

Hilton Vancouver Airport
Free shuttle from the airport. I don't recall booking a Junior King Suite but that's what they gave me.   Separate sitting area from the bedroom.



Bedroom.


Bathroom.


I walked over the the Richmond Center shopping mall and their food court for dinner.  

Last cruise I was sat next to a loud drunk obnoxious Texan who was smoking (which is fine). What was not fine was that he was continually blowing smoke towards me and my face. I asked him to stop politely and so did the staff. Next time he did it I poured the rest of my drink on him. When he complained I said you wanted to share your cigar I wanted to share my drink. He was escorted out and the staff got me another drink.
 

My older one, D13, wants nothing to do with blogs and message boards.  My younger one, D11, reads every blog and she reads the message boards regularly.  She's not signed up as a member because I won't let her but she wants to.  I'm sure she will be an Insider in no time.  It's cute.  She only 11 but she knows quite a bit about cruising and Royal.  I raised her right! lol