CrznTxn

Port Parking. They opening their "Liberty" only parking on 111 18th street and Harborside.

They will have lots of business from the newbies but we will still park at our locked, inside parking for less and they recently moved just for Royal Caribbean cruisers only four blocks from the new terminal.

Have had it rain several times on shore excursions, especially on the beach ones. During one of them I was out snorkeling and looked around and everyone had gone in and was under cover. What the heck, I was wet anyway and the cool rain just beat down on my back and kept things cool. Usually it is not like back home where rain storms are accompanied by a lot of lightning. Best time ever.

We use our TSA locks on all our cruises. Unlike the airports, the port security does not open your bags and if there is a "suspicious" item they see they will hold your luggage on board and you will have to go claim it and open it for inspection. Mouthwash bottles shaped like liquor bottles and magnets stuck together in some "suspicious" shape are the biggest culprits. Know from experience.

We are on Liberty OTS out of Galveston.

Congratulations! We received our negative results results this morning and will be on our way Sunday to the sunny Caribbean.

With more people on the ships they have started opening up earlier check-in times. We saw a 10:30 slot on our June cruise check-in and snagged it. The wife went back and checked our May cruise on a whim where we had an 11:00 time slot as the earliest but it now showed 10:30. She snagged it and now we can start enjoying our vacation a little earlier. It is the little things in life that give us the greatest pleasure.

The good advice is to always check your bookings and not assume everything comes up correct. We now only book by phone and even then have it sent to us by email immediately where we check it for correctness before we hang up. There have been several times where something was not applied or something we did not want was applied. We do this before the credit card charge is applied. It is easier to have them fix it immediately and resend it than to try and fix it later.

Have yet to find a way to do this in the "new" planner. We have to put everything in the app now as soon as we get onboard. We have a list of possibilities when we get onboard but do the entry once we get there. Wish the app had audible reminders of our picks to let us know of upcoming events. Hear that Royal app developers!!!!

They still make you take everything out to show it (they have for us) but we also have them as it keeps everything in one place and in pristine condition both when we travel and at home.

You can add cash to your onboard account once you are on the ship.

This is the final sailing of Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston before Allure comes in. Saying farewell to a grand lady who has carried us many times though out the Western Caribbean.

The fitness centers are usually open between 6 and 7 am until evening for anyone, no check in required. There is plenty of equipment and free weights to satisfy them. When you get onboard, look where the center is, let them go visit so they are familiar with the layout and they can plan their routine and verify the hours. It is an early morning ritual for me even at an older age as I still actively engage in competitive sports as there are fewer people up and I enjoy their centers on all the ships we are on.

Enjoy the meal. Each of the courses are from different ships and restaurants onboard as not all ships have those particular restaurants. We enjoyed it very much.

For good Mexican vanilla get the bottle with the blue top in Cozumel. The others are fine but we have found the blue bottle top to be the best. You can find it at the cruise port or downtown depending on what and where you are going that day. I do not understand why they would remove the vanilla from your luggage. We have brought plenty back for us and our families and never had an issue.