DDaley

So…Day 3, we’re now caught up! 
 
It’s Bermuda day! We decided to do the full breakfast on the balcony again. Another beautiful sunrise!
We wanted to conserve energy for our adventure in Bermuda so we are very lazily getting ready for our 1 pm arrival. 
 
Our plan is to ferry to St. George for sightseeing and then make our way back down to Hamilton where we’ll have dinner at Flanigans. This is now a family custom for us. This is my 4th visit to Bermuda and the Artists 2nd and each time we have a meal at Flanigans. The food is amazing and the Guinness is perfection. After that, who knows?! We’ll just play it by ear. 
 
Tomorrow will be our beach day. We brought snorkeling gear and will explore Horseshoe Bay and it’s connecting beaches a little further than we’ve done before. 
 
More to follow!

Day2: 
I ended up awake at 4:30 am so I decided to take an early morning walk around the ship. I took video but it’s kinda boring but if anyone would like to see it, let me know and I’ll post it if it’s not too long. I think it’s mostly deck 5 and 6. 
 
We ordered room service and splurged on the American breakfast and ate on our balcony. It was delightful! Food was hot and tasty. Balcony breakfasts are our favorite! It was a whopping 9$ and change including gratuity. Totally worth it especially when it’s accompanied by a beautiful sunrise!
The artist loves fancy coffee so we ventured out to find Cafe Lattetudes. Mocha Lattes to go. The best way to start the day  
We decided to take advantage of everyone being on the pool deck to get our reservations for dinner straight. We have the Chops plus one package and purchased a BOGO deal for an additional night on day one. We decided for Izumi tonight, Chops on Monday and the Artists favorite, Giovanni’s Table on our last night. 
We hung out on the pool deck for a while chatting with new friends. There is nothing better than that breeze and the smell of sun lotion and Pina Colada mocktails! 
 
We decided to tour the top deck and watched a little girl kick butt on the rock climbing wall. She was killing it and rang the tippy top bell! Very impressive. 
 
We ate lunch again in the windjammer. The cream of broccoli soup was very nice and the artist enjoyed the cheeseburger and fries. 
There is something about the cookies on a cruise ship. I discovered this back on my first cruise in 2013. I later found Emma Cruises and felt validated when I learned I wasn’t alone in understanding the cruise cookie phenomenon. I never eat oatmeal raisin cookies on land. But, on a cruise ship? I can’t get enough of them.  
After lunch, it was siesta time. A little nap before dinner was the perfect recharge. On our way back to the cabin, I bumped into an old friend from high school! I couldn’t believe it. We hugged and caught up in a hurry in the elevator and vowed to find each other again so we could catch up properly. 5 cruises under my belt and never met anyone I actually knew. So fun. 
 
After our nap it was time to get ready for dinner at Izumi. It was dress to impress night so we gussied up a little and headed out. Izumi is a very lovely space at the top of the ship. We were sat right at the front window and it was amazing. 
 
I ordered the crispy rice with spicy tuna aioli (amazing) and the artist had the shrimp and veggie tempura (also amazing). Our server, Ryan, gave us Miso soup on the house. The artist loved it, me not so much. Lol I’m sure it was good if you like miso soup though. 
For our large plates, I had the dynamite roll and the seared tuna tataki roll. The artist had the rainbow roll and ramen. We shared between us and absolutely every bite was heaven. Not even exaggerating. 10 outta 10. We’d do it again. 
For dessert we each had a lava cake and could barely look at them we were so full. But we were brave and forged on! When, to the artist’s surprise and my delight, Ryan and the hostess started making a scene and placed a plate of Mochi ice cream with Happy Bday lovingly scrawled with raspberry sauce before the artist and proceeded to sing happy birthday! The whole restaurant joined in and it was wonderful! 

Needless to say, it was a beautiful day so when the artist told me they were full and sleepy, we called it a day. Back in the cabin we sat on the balcony for a little while then passed out. 
 
It just doesn’t get better than this, or maybe it does  that was only day 2!
 

 
 

Sounds like we will all be getting the app!  Thank you so much for your help.
On a side note- it's exciting to have Matt answer your question.  It's like getting help from a celebrity!

I was at the Department of Motor Vehicles last week.  I was surprised at the large number of older people there.  This is not meant to be a jab at older folk and by "older" I mean 75 years old and older, give or take a few years.  
Reason I mentioned this as a reply to the Photos post is because a lot of older people were struggling with the online application process at the DMV.  Alot did not seem to use smart phones or want to use a computer.  Then again, I am friends with an 83 year old who thrives on social media.  
I see how my parents struggle, or sometimes don't even want to bother with, technology.  Heck...I'm not even middle-aged and I struggle sometimes.  In fact, I am still in the "paper Compass please" group.  
Point is, there are some things that might require a slower gradual phase out such as the Photo deal.  I know that my parents want prints.  I imagine that my personal experience could be an outlier, but I am sure that a company like RCCL takes these kinds of things into consideration.  

I just spent over 30 minutes Googling this and have sadly found no evidence that this re-using photo paper suggestion is possible. Every single post or article about unused souvenir photos I could find mentions how they toss them out and how printing them doesn’t cost more than the overhead to take them. This is also why they’re priced so high at amusement parks (generally $20 a print). This thought was so cool to me I had to see if it was true! Unfortunately, it seems like Royal is actually just tossing em.
Once when I was on HAL, the photo gallery worker let my friend and I take every single 8x10 picture of ourselves around midnight on the last night of the cruise because they were going to be tossed the next day! We got like 25 prints and split them amongst ourselves. 😂

So I need to amend.
The reason my mother was charged the full $250 is because she had made a payment of $200. They will charge the full $250 NRD on a next cruise booking if you have money paid. So they won't charge you extra for canceling when you just paid the $100 reduced deposit.

Definitely. I am usually the only tourist in any ocean with my own float I brought from home. People always ask where I rented it from, sorry guys this ones from Amazon. 
This trick saves a TON of money in places like Waikiki where everyone is buying cheeeeap ABC Store floats that cost an arm and a leg! 

That sounds like stereotype and generalization to me but ok... 

Make the "island time" emphasison the quotes ... I think any caribbean port counts here.🏝

Nope. There have been LOTS of travel advisories for Haiti in the recent past. No itinerary changes.

There have been ongoing travel warnings to Haiti for years.  This question keeps getting asked every few months.  The answer is still no.

Labadee is probably the safest port stop in the caribbean,  despite it being in haiti

Yep, has been that way for years. And of course Labadee is nowhere near "actual Haiti."

I do not think they will.  I feel like there's a travel warning for Haiti every few months.

Yep then I was sucked down the “can you recycle glossy photos” rabbit hole and seems like you really cant! Recently I wouldn’t let my mom toss out a photo we found at my grandma’s of 5 people none of us could identify. Ancient, random family photos are safe at my house and kept out of the landfill! hahah

I did the same thing! Nothing. Everything I found states that cruises AND amusement parks just toss them. Most do mention they are recycled, but to what extent, who knows.

I just spent over 30 minutes Googling this and have sadly found no evidence that this re-using photo paper suggestion is possible. Every single post or article about unused souvenir photos I could find mentions how they toss them out and how printing them doesn’t cost more than the overhead to take them. This is also why they’re priced so high at amusement parks (generally $20 a print). This thought was so cool to me I had to see if it was true! Unfortunately, it seems like Royal is actually just tossing em.
Once when I was on HAL, the photo gallery worker let my friend and I take every single 8x10 picture of ourselves around midnight on the last night of the cruise because they were going to be tossed the next day! We got like 25 prints and split them amongst ourselves. 😂

A change I have noticed on RU's is the minimums have gone way UP!

No, you misunderstood. Your bid and such don't really matter. Royal has your money you paid for the room, they upgrade you to a room they haven't sold or issued a refund/FCC for. Then they get to sell the room you are no longer in at a premium. 

But....they didn't. They do not have access to the card on file, as mentioned above it is an outside company and they would not have access to the credit card on file. 

Royal Up is operated by a 3rd party "PlusGrade" who doesn't have access to the card on file from the booking.  

Does anyone know if one could buy the bread from 150 central park a la carte?
👀
Asking for a friend......
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Friend is me 😅

Tick tock.....time start your live blog for next cruise in 24 days......
Each live blog gets better and better with thrills, laughs and suspense
"Memoirs of Lovetocruise series available" 

Yes! Speaking for myself I come to the Live Blogs FOR the pictures. I always still read the entries but blogs with pictures are the best! Pics of literally ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated! You were in Italy!! Any pictures from off the ship, any pictures from on the ship. LITERALLY ANY pictures from your crazy cabin you barely mentioned!! Pretty please!!! 🤩

I cannot speak for anyone else, but YES! Pictures are always great!