GatorCruiser

So, where are we going ?  Not that it matters, of course….
5 ports of call:  Puerto Plata, DR (day #3), St Thomas (day #4), Antigua (day #5), Grenada (day #6) and St Kitts (day #7).  We will be doing 2 excursions on this sailing (very unusual for us).  We will be swimming with the stingrays in Antigua and taking a familiarization tour in Grenada since we’ve never been there.  
 
Dan is strutting about in his underwear with the curtains open, violating the #1 rule of interior view rooms, “thou shalt not expose thyself”.  I did quickly pulled the curtains together but I’m sure it would have been too late for anyone looking up.  He truly does NOT give a flying fu##.  😜🥰. Hopefully being up on 8 will protect everyone !  This is gonna be a fun cruise.
I LOVE our Cap !  I couldn’t make out his first name but his last name is Mortensen (from northern Norway).  He offered an unambiguous threat to all of the pool lounge chair hogs !  He said, “These chairs do not belong to you.  They ALL belong to ME”.  I love it !  He sounds like a fun guy.  

God bless you @WAAAYTOOO , it’s incomprehensible to me how much y’all cruise. Obviously I’m envious as hell. You all may be sneaking up on super Mario. I’ll be following this live blog 

Yes, I’m sure you will not be impressed with the Concierge/Suites Lounge on EX.  I truly don’t understand why they haven’t moved it and renamed it yet.  Oh well…
I do enjoy this class of ships.  They have everything I need (except for the cinema found on the Radiance class, which I really do enjoy).  They are slightly “shorter” than their big brothers, the Freedom class, but it makes the walk down the Promenade SO much easier when you’re traveling the length of the ship.  It certainly doesn’t have the dazzle of an Oasis class but I appreciate the better itins on EX as compared to the short, boring 4-nighters to Nassau and PDCC.
I will go up to the Crown Lounge and take some pix up there.  As @OCSC Mikementioned, it’s nice to have a choice.

It ain't Wonder... no CK, no 11-11 drinks... abort abort!  🤣

@WAAAYTOOO my wife and I are sailing explorer in November. More suite  lounge pics please!! It’ll be our first time in a voyager class suite lounge. As you have mentioned, it’s in a really poor location compared to other classes of ships per the deck plans I’ve perused. Crazy considering the crown lounge as you mentioned is up in the crown with awesome views. 

Lol.  Um….no.  I think Mario is a few cruises ahead of us  😂😂🥰
….but we are very proud of the way we have fulfilled our “lifestyle” dream/plan to move to FL to cruise MORE.  It has truly worked out just the way we planned it. I documented the entire move in an old thread from 2020 but I don’t know how to copy the link so anyone that wants to read it will have to sleuth it out.  It’s entitled “House Recon”…something something…. 😵‍💫
Actually, there are 2 S2S following these 3 EX cruises.  We have 1 day in dry dock (4-28) then board FR for 4 days, then 2 days in dry dock followed by 7 nights on WN (5-5)….nearly 6 weeks of cruising ! Things slow down after that !

God bless you @WAAAYTOOO , it’s incomprehensible to me how much y’all cruise. Obviously I’m envious as hell. You all may be sneaking up on super Mario. I’ll be following this live blog 

God bless you @WAAAYTOOO , it’s incomprehensible to me how much y’all cruise. Obviously I’m envious as hell. You all may be sneaking up on super Mario. I’ll be following this live blog 

😂😂 They're reserved for people that don't want to sail Amusement Park of the Seas or who didn't do their research.
Although my only other experience on Radiance was in a GS and it was a massive tub with a half glass partition if I remember correctly. The hot water on that sailing was jacked up and it would go from freezing to scalding and I would have to time it right running under the showerhead and to the other side of the tub..that was fun times.

What are these showers curtains y’all  speak of ? are those reserved for the poors? 😜

I struggled with whether to do a live blog for these 3 rather mundane EX cruises but I decided to give it a go.  I even have some photos !  Shock, I know….these might be the only photos you get but at least there will be some !
Absolutely nothing interesting to report about our drive in.  Left Port St Lucie at 5:30AM and arrived at the parking garage (finally….more about that in a minute) at 8:00.  Since we had an 8:00 reservation, right on time.  We normally do not plan to arrive quite THAT early, but since we have a couple of “firsts” on this trifecta, plus, it being a weekday, we decided to leave a bit early.  In the end, it was a very good thing we did.

God bless our teachers! 

The bar at hideaway beach was wide open. In fairness however, we were the only  ship at coco  that day. Captain jacks may have quicker service? Agreed on the beach club bar, I’ve been twice and it’s been molasses both times. 

I think you should be grateful they still want to refund anything since we're long past the pandemic.

You really need to learn the “ cool story bro” expression or extend your hand for a handshake when someone is bragging. 

God bless our teachers! 

Agreed @WAYNO. It’s like people expect every meal on a mass market cruise line to be a 3 star Michelin meal and if it isn’t they’re  pissed. I have never really been aghast at anything I’ve had on a Royal cruise. Some items are better than others no doubt , but it’s all fine. 

You really need to learn the “ cool story bro” expression or extend your hand for a handshake when someone is bragging. 

Agreed @WAYNO. It’s like people expect every meal on a mass market cruise line to be a 3 star Michelin meal and if it isn’t they’re  pissed. I have never really been aghast at anything I’ve had on a Royal cruise. Some items are better than others no doubt , but it’s all fine. 

😂
I sure as heck asked Alaska last night if she was going to order the chili lime salmon after she told us all about how she won't do cruise ship fish.
I'm going to ask her if she tried any of the desserts from the Windjammer tonight. She had a bad experience in the WJ and refuses to set foot in there ever.

Last night my handcuff beastie didn't show for dinner. Neither did scuba boy (who apparently won 2nd place at the belly flop competition). So it was just chatty Alaska and her new friend that she invited to join us. What killed me last night is Alaska made it a point to sit in the chair next to where handcuffs had sat the first 2 nights so she could talk to her, leaving her new friend on the complete opposite side of the table by herself.
Then her friend's salmon was overcooked and that was a whole thing. I think I lost my voice from saying, "Thanks, everything was great" eleventh five hundred times to every random crew member that had to stop by the table because the salmon was dry.
Alaska won't eat seafood on cruises because she catches and cooks her own and it is much better, which I don't doubt at all and didn't doubt any of the 10 times she mentioned it 😅

We are getting ready to board in a few hours. I’ll have to go look to see what I can find!

This trip was a flash in the pan. It was wonderful.  We get off the boat  in an hour and must wait til tonight for a flight.  Connections to PDX are not always convenient and we must take what we can get.
I was thinking, we don't take advantage of most of the perks available with out C&A and casino status.  Laundry is one of these perks.  I tried it for the first time on this cruise and it worked!  I may be onto something new.  
Thanks for coming along with us on this cruise.  My wife cruises to Alaska with a friend in July, and then we will do the same cruise together in September.  We both received very decent cruise certificates on this cruise, so now we've got to start planning all over again.🤩

God bless our teachers! 

Very cool.
I have some that similarly show how fast they grow up. One day they're smaller than us and in the blink of an eye they're towering over us as we ask ourselves where the time went. 🥲