Dlove707

carnival awaits for pending reservation

Its a very interactive adult scavenger hunt. Amazing for people watching and also very trifling. 

I did come across an issue on Odyssey over Thanksgiving week at Lime & Coconut. I ordered a couple Pina Coladas for my brother and I while hanging by the pool and they had no alcohol in them. I went back after we finished them and mentioned this to the bartender and she replied “you didn’t mention you wanted alcohol in them”…….. Odd. I learned my lesson and now opt for the Kraken Coladas so you can physically see the rum in the drink. I feel like the Lime & Coconut owes me 2 diamond drinks! 

And if you're not part of the GroupMe official chat for this sailing, make sure to pester @JC Pats or @Beci for an invite!

I like the PM burger better than JR, but that's just me.

Events have been posted!
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-blog-wonder-of-the-seas-group-cruise-events?fbclid=IwAR08jVF2D3I_eWg1zmdoVlgpj5jfpRTHcbNrH4V5OIAWevKCia166ycRR1g

And finally the window... it was mine! Vintage Magnet got under that fancy window cover for this one.

This question came to mind last night at dinner. We pay 18.50 per night each because we are staying in a suite. We already pay more for the suite. Does the extra gratuity money at least go to the state room attendant? The MDR and dining is exactly the same as every other cabin. So I'm curious, what is the justification of the extra monies? Again, we know about this going in but we like the room a suite cabin affords, so why? 
Funny thing this morning, training in the Solarium pool of crew members. Water rescue training, wow there were some angry individuals but mostly empty chairs watching. Daughter and I enjoyed it, we thought it should be advertised. It was more entertaining then Amy Jo the Adele singer! I have a pic I'm trying to upload. 

I am always shocked when people are like "I don't have Covid....just a cold/the flu" as if that is okay. Stop spreading your germs people!!!
Also, I love it when people are just loose on their balconies. I once saw a guy come out of his CP balcony in just a towel and lay out. 
I am happy "vintage" is working for people. We have now added a "vintage" male to our group cruise in Oct 2023. I like how the more vintage women keep coming for your husband, they try hard on these cruises. 

Holy Hannah! Mr. Cabash has a new name....ready, thanks to @Ampurp85 its Vintage Magnet! I dont know if its his bald head and clean shaven face or what, his big round head or green eyes im dying here!! So even last night in the lounge when I arrived a lively and lovely Pinnicle Olga I think was sitting with him at our table up on the stage. She was an amazing chatty Cathy and we learned about her life in Germany (she is a Sprite 90 years young) and she brought me to tears with her stories.) Today, I have hardly seen cabash; first I found him in the hot tub with one, I joined them and they were chatting it up and now I just found him in the pool with another one. Please understand, Cabash doesn't talk (30 years of marriage 30+ LE career he just doesn't, yet on this ship with these amazing people he is chatty as all hell, seriously he is cracking me up. Vintage Magnet yes that one's gonna stick!

At the beautiful Solarium

The Bimini water was gorgeous, lots of stingrays and little sharks, you could see them from the pier. Found another duck, not getting off the ship tomorrow in Nassau, going to hide them again then. There are some really fun people on this ship. The ducks and I sharing the spot light on my cutie balcony. Even Mr. Cabash found one today!
I have pics of humpy the golf cart and some other fun things but they are on Cabash phone and for some reason they won't transfer to me, I will upload when I can. Bimini is very clean and there are very few street vendors and things. The biggest haggle is for the golf cart rentals.
I edited this one, this is a family site! Cabash took the pic too, and didn't even notice! 
 

Just waiting on one more piece of info from the ship --  🙂 
And group chat is coming @JC Pats- I promise

Now we just need @Matt and @Beci to poke the intern and post the group events itinerary! 🙂
 

Congrats and Happy B-day! God Willing,  I should be picking up my 1 yr on Dec 6 

I appreciate it, and yes- got that 1 year chip on Friday night! 

The biggest disappointment when twitter took down periscope was the lack of @mpoole3 drunk scopes at 1am.   Those would never have occurred without unlimited DX.

It wasn't because you were drunk. It was because you picked the most annoying fight song to sing.

I've only been cut off by the DX onboard 3-4 times, usually if I hit 20+ drinks I start singing Rocky Top and that's it, bar staff cuts me off!

Did you stay in the hot tub after hearing that? More than likely Mr. 21 Drinks hasn't left it all day so....ew.

...wait but what does all of that have to do with stopping the unlimited drink plan....?

We got our shirts!!

I also will point out that BFFs mom eats the tomatoes!!!!!! Whenever we got one on a plate, she would eat it.
You know how you are in the moment, and you come home and then remember all the little weird things? Well I just started that!
You all know that sign on the back of the door? The one that says NOT to have your cabin door and balcony door open at the same time? Well, the vintages had to be told twice to adhere to it by staff. The first time they did it I was coming up from the casino and felt craziness in the hallway, I prayed it wasn't them........I got round the bend and heard it was them. I told them they can't do this. Well, they didn't listen and got yelled at by another steward, then ours caught them. It was like the beginning of a hurricane, very freaky. 
The casino would give you multiple drinks. I am used to getting a margarita and a soda/water. They would give you 3 beers, 2 mixed drinks, a mixed drink and beer plus your soda and waters. If you tipped well, so would a lot of bars. I only signed for one diamond drink and never used them up. My brother was using his diamond drinks to get the vintages a smoothie or daiquiri but was rarely charged.
 

Okay I know it's a little late, but literally most of took our phones off of airplane mode and exploded with work crap. 
Disembarkment was late but smooth, I mean they took a long time to call luggage tags. I told everyone they didn't need their passports just walk and scan, all the vintages had theirs out and one......cough chough** my mother, almost lost hers during the process. I was behind everyone, and she dropped it and kept walking. I picked it up and when we got outside, everyone was putting theirs away and she became panicked. I told her plenty of times to be more aware of everything. If I wasn't walking with the vintages, 2/3 have that problem where they literally will just stop in the path of traffic, it would have been a 5-10min process from room to curb. 
The rideshare area was a mess, I didn't have any problems when I got off Harmony, but I think it was the large group that became the issue. We needed 2 vehicles, and one was Uber and the other was Lyft, so they had different standards and practices. They cost us $30+ a piece because they were surge pricing as so many people were leaving and arriving at the port. Our driver was watching a podcast as he drove us, not good.
I should say I didn't plan most of this cruise, but I always offered suggestions. We had a long wait because our flight left around 7pm. I suggested the Hop on and Hop off tour, I asked about day resorts, etc. They said they would find something. Even the first day of the cruise I said late flight, should I book an excursion? After I gave them prices, on day 4 they said no they were okay waiting. Come disembarkment morning, they try to book a day stay. Of course, everything is booked, or they want us to get 2 rooms.........but only have 1 available. This becomes a thing that sours a lot of moods. We make it to the airport and drop luggage around 12, I ask I they want to Lyft/Uber to the movies, and they are tired and being drained of vacation joy, so we go through TSA and begin our long wait. 
My brother, me and my BFF end up working most of the time and it flies by. We had to change gates 2 times and our flight was delayed. We started at B5 and then around 5:45 they move us to A2 which already has a connecting flight going to Detroit by way of Midway. So, everyone was confused and lots of the passengers were rude to us. Then at 6:45 after that flight has finished boarding, they move us to A1. Then we have no crew, we have to wait for one to fly in and we can start boarding. The flight was empty by 20 seats, so we were able to space ourselves out and be more comfortable. We left around 8pm and got to Chicago an hour later than scheduled and had to wait 30 minutes for our luggage to load, thankfully it was in the very beginning of the process. 
I will say that the current Odyssey sailing was also delayed in departure and possibly boarding. When we left our first gate around 5ish she was still in port.
Final thoughts.............
So, nobody liked quantum class. In that nobody wants to sail Anthem or Odyssey again.
The fact that whole areas of the ship, on multiple floors, were cut off, was a big issue.  We were all use to maybe you can only get to the conference room from forward, or the Loyalty Ambassador from aft. But the staterooms, sports deck, etc. all were inaccessible depending on the side of ship. We missed the neighborhoods. 
Staff were worked to the bone, and you could tell it. Service did suffer in places like the WJ and MDR, we would sit with uncleared plates for a very long time. None of my reservations were correct, we would get incorrect food, things not replenished in the buffet, late starts, etc. I also felt like morale might have been low because people wanted nineteen-star service but weren't tipping. 
Early on most of the items we received were from European countries, on the last day I started to see the brands Royal normally carries. All of the gravy was red and sort of off-tasting. Also, they had bacon rashers and regular bacon, of which most were a soggy mess. 
I very much enjoy cruising with my family, but I think I might need to schedule a solo cruise/vacation after them to decompress. 

I still need to order mine. 20% off expires today, delivery by 12/5 so will get here on time!
https://rclblog.myspreadshop.com/