Ken23

I'm a fairly regular traveler to China (several times each year) and was last there in early December. Next trip is to Changsha, Hunan in early March...I haven't cancelled yet. No point to, we have no idea what the next five weeks will bring. Knowing that China under-reports this kind of stuff, I'm guessing I won't go, but I certainly am not making any decisions this far in advance. We could all be dead by then, or we could have all forgotten it even happened. 
I don't know anything about your father-in-law, but based on the vast majority of people freaking out from this, I do have one recommendation - tell him to turn off the network news ?
 

Lots of swaying on this cruise. Started feeling kinda nauseous. Of course it happened right in the middle of our lunch at Jamie's Italian. I stayed for the pics of dessert but didnt eat any of them.  The waiter was great and wrapped up some brand new ones for us to take back. 
 
Attempting a nap with some dramamine. So far unsuccessful, but the nausea is going away.
 

I'm on harmony now. I'll be there on Saturday in an overwater cabana. I'm posting pics in my thread in the live blog boards. Already posted the new map there

As for people saying its no big deal and 300,00 ppl a year die from the flu...well there must be a reason why this particular outbreak is concerning? Building 2 hospitals in 2 weeks, thousands of ppl infected in a couple weeks with this strain....and it concentrated in one large area....all reasons to be concerned and not be so flippant about it...
 
All fun and games till it happens to you or someone you know....

I’ll try to catch up.  Dinner at 150 was good. Kaitlyn loved then martini made table side. Shari and I had the mushroom soup brought over from chops and it was amazing again.  We were scheduled at 150 again on Friday but now have changed that night to CK.  Nothing wrong with it, but 150 just isn’t our favorite on this ship.
After dinner it was off to One Sky.  The cast is tremendously talented!  The show itself is....well...not my cup of tea.  Guess I’m just an old guy who prefers something with a story to it.  Or something.  But again, the singing and dancing was amazingly good.  The props and stage changes are really good also. I’m looking forward to seeing how they do all that when Allan takes us backstage on Thursday!
Couple of us had a little casino time after the show, others had pizza and drinks in the room.  
Met Allan at 9 this morning to help him use that magic Genie elevator card.  He put us on the shuttle cart (which is brand new) to the suite beach. He raced us on foot to the beach.  Almost a tie but we weren’t as winded?  The ladies spent a couple of hours in the water while I walked anc took pictures.  I’ll post some of those in a bit.  This is such a beautiful, relaxing place.
Back on the ship around noon and hit Loco Fresh for lunch.  Pretty much all the Mexican fast food you want:  burritos, tacos, nachos...lots of fresh ingredients to “build your own” creation.  Enjoyed by all of us.
The ladies are all napping now so I’m going to take the camera and explore. 

Got a few pics of Fine Line.  Those will have to wait until after I'm back home so I can sort through them better.
 
After the show some of the group wanted pizza. I'm sorry sorrento's just isnt good. I hated pizza until I moved to jersey though.
 
I went and got a Kraken Lava Flow. Oh man it was good. Then I rode up and down the elevator with the guy and his piano... it was a blast.
 
 

 

Still not CK pics. But got pics before we ate this time. Formal night!
MDR has been conistantly adequately satisfactory.
 
Our 8 year old had her first meltdown after dinner. Had to take her up to the room for a stern talking to. We got things sorted out just in time for Fine Line

The truth is, on our last SC cruise (Oasis) our Genie told us that we could have filet in the CK for every meal if we wanted it.  We just had to let them know ahead of time.  NotTHAT big a fan....

@Andrew72681, I’m not sure I could even figure that out!  Maybe my 20 year old a can.  I’m actually amazed that Jack Daniels and I have been able to even do this much?

@Lovetocruise2002 I hear your pro tip about blogging solely from my phone. Here is an elderly tip:  I can barely see the damned thing!??

Here are a few more pictures from the items in our room when we arrived.  Each of our preferred drinks.  Ranger cookies for Taylor.  Graduation cake for the Dr.  Birthday cake for the twins.  Gifts for everyone. 
And we have already asked for adoption papers for our room steward.  Her name is, sing along now, G. L. O. R. I. A.  GLOR-I-A!!!.  Her assistant is Iwayan.  Pictures of these two sweethearts will follow.

Good morning, it’s day 2..This blogging thing that some of you make look so easy, isn’t!  I’m still learning how to transfer pictures from the camera and my phone to the IPad.  Also still figuring out how to actually post them.  I should have it all mastered by day 7?  So back to yesterday.  We took an Uber from Staybridge Suites at MIA to the port. 5 people, 5 suitcases, $30.  At Terminal A we got out and walked the last 200 yards because it was faster!  Gave our names at the Star Class kiosk and we were whisked upstairs to the lounge. The checked us in and called for Allan  This all took about 10 minutes.  Plenty of drinks and snacks were there.  Super Mario was definitely the celebrity in the room! Taylor immediately began her quest to eat her weight in Ranger cookies.  Allan took us and one other family immediately on the ship and into the suite lounge.  We were on deck 17 eating more snacks 20 minutes after getting out of the car an it was still only 1040am  Allan pulled me aside to explain that he was making sure all of his welcome surprises were ready in the room.  After 10 minutes he escorted us to the room and I found out how fun and creative he is!  From gifts to jokes to cakes he did an amazing job of welcoming our family  We hung out in the suite for a little and then ventured out to Playmakers for lunch  i believe we ordered all of the appetizers.  Our waiter, Djuro from Bosnia, was amazing!  Today is his niece’s 4th birthday.  His mother back home grows all of her own vegetables.  He appreciates his parents more now that he’s older.  You think we had some time to chat???  This is one of th great things about cruising - the interaction with others from such diverse and different backgrounds.  This young man was just great fun to talk with.  And, according to the bevy I’m cruising with he’s not too hard to look at either!
 
 
 

I’m downloading pictures now from my camera and then will post some of them.  I think I only took 275 or so since we boarded.  
We had lunch at Playmakers.  Maybe a star class tip here:  it was empty.  Pretty much had it to ourselves.  We sampled almost everything and it was all good.  
The suite is amazing, as always.  
We have met with Allan now several times.  I’m impressed!  Just the things waiting in our room showed creativity and humor.  I think this will be a very good week!
And for the M&M gang - we had M&M’s in the room?
 

We are Home!  Suite 1740!

So I started this whole thing by quoting Garth Brooks.  Tonight it’s Tom T. Hall.  Y’all sing it with me...”I was sitting in Miami, pouring blended whiskey down..”. And I did.?  Lots more to share about today, including our shuttle to the hotel with the most talkative and funny guy every.  We are now tucked into our two bedroom place at the Staybridge Suites which is comfy and ok for the 5 of us.  We’re all ready for some sleep and ready to be on the ship!  We are due to meet Allan at 10:15 to begin the food and fun frenzy!  Thanks for coming along.

Welcome to Dallas!  One step closer. By my standards in was an excellent flight - we had an equal number of take offs and landings.  I watched a “free” movie that AA had, Angel has Fallen.  Action flick with probably 3000 rounds fired, bodies everywhere and lots of blood.  Having served nearly 8 years in the White House I can confirm it portrays a typical day in the life of a Secret Service agent. ?? Had a gentleman fall ill about 30 minutes out of Dallas so we were met by paramedics at the gate. He appeared to be not too serious and left under his own power. As luck would have it he was seated next to Katie so he had his own private nurse until we landed.  Had lunch at Friday’s and are now waiting to board the flight  to Miami. More from Miami in a couple of hours!

I got these two guys for Taylor when they were really tiny. They would go to sleep in her lap. Now she has grown and moved away. And they have grown into big old ugly goats that I feed everyday. That’s the story @WAAAYTOOO. Say hello to Sammy and Oreo. You can guess which is which. 

Well it is almost time to get this party started for real!  In 15 hours we will hopefully depart Palm Springs, Ca aboard the always wonderful American Airlines. I decided to take the day off today to wrap up last minute “stuff.”  Did some cleaning so our house sitter won’t know how we live. ?  Went to get hay for our two Tennessee Fainting goats. Yeah, really, two goats.  Then I sat down to check in all five us for our flights tomorrow.  Nothing tougher than getting M&M’s on the Oasis except maybe doing that 5 person check in!  I think it took longer than tomorrow’s flight to Dallas will.Then just to make sure that i am super impressed with the food on Oasis, I had a frozen Stouffer’s meat loaf for lunch!  I’m all packed and ready for an 0430 departure from the house in the morning.
Stacy and Kaitlyn are out getting their nails done.  Taylor is still at work for another couple hours.  We will meet the twin at the airport in the morning.  I’m going to relax now with a Jack/7 and let the 3 dogs, 3 cats and the two fainting boys know that were leaving them behind for a bit.  But they’ll be in good hands.
I will email Allan once more tonight for any final updates. I’m glad some of you are going to follow along on the trip, it’ll make it more fun to be able to share it.  Tomorrow I’ll begin posting much more often and with pictures.  I know you’re all on the edge of your seats waiting for someone to post a picture of another airport.?  It’s almost time to ‘Slip on Down.....”

Fresca is a Coke product though, so this shouldn't be an issue. 

And all this talk of not getting our way with M & Ms, makes me want to ask for absurd stuff like this?:

I sent a bag out on the second to last day of my first cruise last week.   It came the last day.  Now I have clean clothes for this cruise. 
 
All you can stuff in the bag was $35
 
thats kinda splitting hairs after paying for two cruises. 

Really?! Aren't you on vacation? Stuff as much as the plastic laundry bag will hold for a flat rate price and it all comes back clean and folded for you. That's a deal in my book.  I'm not bring laundry detergent...sitting with my clothes....guarding then against walking away...etc.  Get the picture? It's a Win Win in my book! I love this service and use it every cruise.

You must be confused with your cruise lines, Royal has never had self service laundromats (at least not in the 20 years I have been using their ships)

Ken,
Many times when things are in limbo we advise that you wait until the cruise lines make a policy.  If you try to move before that you could miss out on the offerings they give to others booked on the same cruise.  It can be frustrating to wait for them to decide, but it is the best plan.

That's identical to what my pricing is. Overwaters Cabanas were 1499 when I scored mine and then  jumped up to 1649.
 
Very excited to be one of the first in one. Cabanas are well worth it to me when it comes to how I enjoy a beach day!
 
Current cruise status report: nap on the balcony before formal night