DDaley

@Lovetocruise2002 We were given a tea kettle on the Wonder when we asked for it in the CLS last month.  I was surprised because we were told NO on the Mariner (panoramic suite up front) NO on the Harmony in a CLS & NO on the Serenade in the 2 bedroom owners suite.  We don't drink coffee & I love to prepare tea in the cabin early to start my day, just another suites amenity that is being phased out it seems. 

so many different crew and passengers across so many ships, some sailing multiple times a week so your mileage may vary etc etc
all that said, I really thought these made a big difference on our Freedom cruise a month ago.  we were able to find a chair when we wanted to.  my tenth cruise overall (seventh with Royal) and first time seeing these signs, I really thought they made a difference and was happy to see them.  it's at least a gesture in the right direction, a shrug, haha hey something is better than nothing and this is a nice easy, passive (mostly) non-confrontational acknowledgement of the problem.  they're also bright pink and fun and very straightforward, now let's make something like this for the (now all but defunct) dinner dress code 
IF YOU ARE NOT SURE AND ARE THINKING ABOUT ASKING, THEN NO, IT'S NOT IN THE DRESS CODE.
 

Maybe I can shed some light on this, I was chit chatting with our cabin attendant about this too!
Not just Navigator OTS but many other smaller ships are slowly transitioning out of compact/mini refrigerators to coolers (no refrigeration) in their efforts to optimize operating cost on smaller ships. (Since the pandemic)
If you take a look at the sticker attached to the front panel door you can request for an actual mini-fridge if you require one for medical purposes BUTTTT you can also ask them for one even if you have no medical conditions.
Ive requested a mini-fridge and notify them I did not have any medical needs for one, they checked to make sure they had spares, sent a attendant to install it while we were out of the cabin. The attendant stated there was a storage room stacked to the ceiling with mini-fridges and there is more than enough for anyone who requested during the sailing.
All the oasis and quantum class ships I've been on have mini-fridges so far but several of the small ships similar to navigator has replaced them with traditional coolers.
Those coolers purpose is to extend the coolness of food and beverage for maybe a few hours but definitely not recommended for longer periods of time to avoid bacteria and spoilage.
They have mini-fridges prioritized for medical needs guest first but they have a lot of spares, don't be afraid to ask and let them know you have no medical purposes but would like one if available!

They of course both need a plug. 
These coolers, like a wine cooler you might have at home use Thermoelectric Cooling.  Essentially plates that transfer the heat from one side to the other.  They are reliant on the ambient temperature to be effective.  A fridge uses Compression Cooling where refrigerant is moved through the system. 

Our home for the next 9 nights is a Two Bedroom Grand Suite on Deck 8.
Kids love their space. This room is great for allowing the 4 of us to spread out but if you look closely at the pics, it is a bit worn in some areas. 
Not much opportunity to enjoy the balcony yet as it has been raining for the most part since we got on board. 
Photo dump ahead….
Entrance to the room

Second bedroom right as you enter 

Bathroom for the second bedroom. This is located inside the the room. 

Closet in the hallway for the second bedroom. The safe in this closet is the only safe in the whole room. I found this odd for a room of this type. 

Living area 

Master bedroom 


Master Bathroom 


Balcony. You can also see from these photos that there is not 100% privacy on this balcony. 

Seconding shoreexcursioneer.com. I have had ships not dock at the port and in other instances suddenly change my itinerary before departure and I have been able to cancel or replace my purchased excursions very easily. Their customer service responds only 1-2 hours later! Also, every time I book with them I get some money back in my “digital wallet” which I can use on future excursions. This knocked my Mendenhall Glacier kayak for 2 down to $404 from $550! I have successfully used this company 3 times and successfully cancelled/been refunded 3 additional times. Easy! 

Seconding shoreexcursioneer.com. I have had ships not dock at the port and in other instances suddenly change my itinerary before departure and I have been able to cancel or replace my purchased excursions very easily. Their customer service responds only 1-2 hours later! Also, every time I book with them I get some money back in my “digital wallet” which I can use on future excursions. This knocked my Mendenhall Glacier kayak for 2 down to $404 from $550! I have successfully used this company 3 times and successfully cancelled/been refunded 3 additional times. Easy! 

Seconding shoreexcursioneer.com. I have had ships not dock at the port and in other instances suddenly change my itinerary before departure and I have been able to cancel or replace my purchased excursions very easily. Their customer service responds only 1-2 hours later! Also, every time I book with them I get some money back in my “digital wallet” which I can use on future excursions. This knocked my Mendenhall Glacier kayak for 2 down to $404 from $550! I have successfully used this company 3 times and successfully cancelled/been refunded 3 additional times. Easy! 

Waiting for rooms to open. Kids have already disappeared. We are stuck babysitting the luggage 😔

After we were done going through Grand Central Terminal, we were losing steam big time. There was a restaurant (Mad Dog & Beans) that I had discovered online a few weeks ago. They have fried ice cream on their menu and you all know that we cannot resist places that have that on their menus. We headed over there for an early dinner. 

Dinner was good but still not my beloved La Bamba. I feel like we will forever be chasing and looking for a La Bamba replacement. 
Took another wander through Times Square on the way back to the hotel. 

No energy to do anything else. It’s been a long day and tomorrow is cruise day! 

The main reason we wanted to come here was for the Treasures collection. It was well worth it. Inside there is a nice collection of “first works” from Shakespeare, Mozart, Beethoven, Euclid, various aspects of US History, and much more. We found this both interesting and we learned quite a lot too. 
 

NYPL

We are so tired! Going to try and backtrack the day from when we checked into the hotel and then head to bed. 
Staying at the Intercontinental Times Square. We like this property. It’s close to Times Square and once here, we can easily walk to pretty much wherever in midtown/Manhattan. This Intercontinental is not quite up to par with the Intercontinental Miami, also no club lounge, but for the prime location, it works well for us. 
Today we have a King Corner Suite. Kids are sharing the sofa bed tonight.




Because it’s a corner room, views from 3 windows.

I should add that the first night we had booked the main ice skating show, 1977. When we showed up it was announced that it was changed to iSkate 2.0 due to injury to two of the cast members.😬
We liked it okay. M fell asleep about 2/3rd through but our two year old powered through and clapped his heart out. While waiting for the show to start we saw an extremely stressed genie who had reserved seats front row center for a family who did not show until the minute the show was starting. In the meantime he had to ask three different groups to vacate the reserved seats. When the family finally arrived, he put on a game face and didn’t display any of the stress to them. Moral of the story -  don’t keep your genie waiting!  They have a stressful job and may not always show it, but they do a lot of work behind the scenes to create a seamless experience. 

Like this cool animated one I got yesterday for my birthday!? Funniest part to me is they must know I’ve already purchased the DBP, Voom, excursions, dining for this sailing yet they still offer these “discounts” “for my birthday.” Then there is Celebrity, who I have never sailed with, offering me actual discounts on fares! 
 

On to day 1, no time to waste. 
 
We bought a few breakfast items (yoghurt, apples and muffins) at the grocery store directly across from our hotel the evening before, so the kids ate that for breakfast. We ordered our Sun Transfer van to arrive at 10:05 -  he arrived at 9:55 with both the car seat and the booster seat as requested. It was again around €75. We could have gotten a taxi for cheaper but I like to have it booked in advance with a reliable company that will provide car seats.  
 
We arrived at terminal B at the port around 10:30 and were able to check in with no lines. We had a boarding time of 11 am (the earliest available to select) and were given boarding group 20.  Th first groups were called around 10:50 and we were called right around 11.
We headed straight to Playmakers to watch the WWC finals and were pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was.  Rooms were ready around 1 pm and our luggage was just down the hall by the time we made it to our rooms around 1:30 pm.  
We ate at the MDR at 6 pm (early seating) and I have to say it was our worst MDR experience yet, and I’m an MDR apologist. They didn’t bring any food out for the kids (even starters) until after the adults’ mains were delivered, despite us inquiring twice. M was at a breaking point by the time his food was delivered.  The kids mac and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches were comically bad. They just half melted a square of cheese on the macaroni, and didn’t even half melt the cheese for the grilled cheese. Even our two year old turned his nose up at the food. The adult meals were better, but check out how many vegetable were included in our “seasonable vegetables” side!

Happy Birthday @DDaley

Like this cool animated one I got yesterday for my birthday!? Funniest part to me is they must know I’ve already purchased the DBP, Voom, excursions, dining for this sailing yet they still offer these “discounts” “for my birthday.” Then there is Celebrity, who I have never sailed with, offering me actual discounts on fares! 
 

Wandering around Times Square and Midtown right now. Will probably spend the afternoon uploading to stories on IG and then update here later. 🙂

Just landed!
 

Nothing solid yet, but wherever she goes, our vacations with her will take a dive. We will lose March Break for sure because universities have "reading week" which is mid-October and mid-February. But I work during those times. That leaves us with summer (but she might be out for that too if she has a job that she cannot get out of or takes summer courses), or NYE sailings (she might be getting to a point where she wants to spend NYE with people other than her parents lol). So we know our vacation time as a family of 4 is running out. Just trying to maximize it the best we can. 😥 Wow, that makes me so sad to even type that....

Like this cool animated one I got yesterday for my birthday!? Funniest part to me is they must know I’ve already purchased the DBP, Voom, excursions, dining for this sailing yet they still offer these “discounts” “for my birthday.” Then there is Celebrity, who I have never sailed with, offering me actual discounts on fares! 
 

I hope you and the family are doing ok. I also can’t wait for your next adventure because perhaps there is a @Rags1 blog coming? 😉 by then, I will need something to pass the time 
Oh my, I cannot even go there in my mind. I know post secondary is coming and I keep asking myself where my little girls have gone.