CarlaB

and the fact that, if there's an outbreak at Disney, you have immediate access to healthcare, can send sick people to hospitals if necessary and send healthy people home.  What do you do if there's an outbreak in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico?  Life boats???  I am as anxious as anyone to be able to cruise but IMHO cruising is NOT the same as opening land establishments.

Is it not impossible to think that the cold shoulder by the CDC is due the fact that cruisers are notoriously sloppy and lazy? The demographic class of the typical cruise ship passenger is over 60 years old and has known health issues? The reason the CDC has been deliberately silent is because a cruise ship has so many factors making it a pandemic bullseye that at this point in time it's off-the-charts crazy to change behaviors and make them a safe place???
Also, you are aware of what happens if any single person; passenger or crew, enters the medical facility on floor two not feeling well with a respiratory problem? You know the chain of events, right?
 
 

Wow, are you really suggesting the the CDC (the people who worked to stop the spread of Ebola, SARS, Swine Flu, Measles, Aids) are ENJOYING THIS?????  I'm sorry but I cannot believe any human being would accuse them of such a horrible thing.  

If you want quality, don't shop at Walmart!

EVERYTHING ISN'T A CONSPIRACY, PEOPLE 

Pretty sure that the CDC has more important things to do, than answer your personal question of when you can drink a labadoozie again...

This is what I did too. Royal told me they would issue my refund within 30-45 business days. That was well over two months ago and times up. This weekend I called Discover and a very nice rep was able to dispute the charge and hopefully I'll have the few thousand back that Royal has been so dearly hanging on to for months now. 
I have been following this blog for over a year now and really enjoyed the live blogs and info from the veteran cruisers. Sadly I never made it on a Royal ship as our Anthem got canceled last year and then Oasis canceled back in May. Not Royal's fault but the way they have handled customer service leaves so much to be desired. At this point I'll be happy to have my money back and not sure if I'll ever set foot on their ships even in the future. This latest fiasco with changing ships without notice just adds to my hesitance. 
I will say it's interesting (and a bit sad) to see the shift in attitudes here from the long time cruisers, from Royal enthusiasts to now disillusioned with the whole company. I've quietly lurked these boards and witnessed a lot of disputes between the Royal enthusiasts and anyone else who would speak something negative about Royal in the past. Some veteran cruisers here ardently stood up for Royal time and time again, even in instances where I didn't think it was justified. Now it looks like everyone is finally fed up with the company and have seen for themselves the kind of selfish tactics Royal uses. 

While I have been a dyed in the wool Royal fan for over 20 years, the handling of the refunds, and now the latest issue with unilaterally transferring reservations to the Liberty has definitely caused me to step back and look at the company in a different way.  I am still a fan and will continue to cruise them,  but the way in which I conduct my business transactions with them will most certainly be changing.

Could it be like a lot of things, that everything tastes better on a cruise?? My wife still raves about the pumpernickel type bread with I think raisins or something like in it from our last cruise that was served in the MDR. We have had similar breads at home, nope, not the same.

I kept thinking, as some people were complaining that they weren't doing enough, "Just hang tight, this isn't over, their offers may change with time."  Auto-refunding for no shows without any communication is pretty awesome. Definitely disappointing, and inconvenient for those who've planned their week/vacation around it, but I think Royal is taking what is a really unfortunate situation, that they did not create, ,and doing their best with it.  I do feel for those whose vacations are altered, though.

Given that it's a sea day I worked much of the day.  A periscope notification told me some of the RCPeriscopers and Royal Caribbean Blog readers were starting their Yeti Pub Crawl.  Then they were sliding down the Ultimate Abyss.  Not long after they were below my cabin in Playmakers.  Soon enough they did the Carousel.  All in their bathrobes.
@Big Dawg Ron

@cookingyo and Mrs. Cookingyo







What happens on Symphony of the Seas stays on the internet.

Our last stop on this journey back in time brings us to the first machine powered flight.

Our daring pilot prepares to take off for the first time.


Not only does he take flight but he flies out over the audience in the theater.





With that it's time to land

To a hero's greeting


To a standing ovation the show has reached it's conclusion.

Another Royal Caribbean Entertainment hit, Flight should not be missed.

Fantastic job, as always, @twangster.  Your attention detail and ability to combine amazing photos and great summary of what's happening is what brings me back to to this live blog time and time again.  Thanks for sharing so many details from the ice rink, Captain's Corner and (my favorite) Central Park at night.

Cabin tour
Standard balcony cabin, port side, deck 9.
I've come to really appreciate the Quantum class balcony cabins.  Plenty of storage and great bathroom layout.  These are probably my favorite standard balcony cabins across the fleet.


The TV hinges outward for viewing from the sofa.

Desk power includes two 110v North American outlets, 2 USB outlets and a 220v Euro power port.

Bedside there is one 110v North American outlet.

It's not every day your balcony view has the Sydney Opera House perfectly framed.

I waited until we were at sea to take some balcony photos.


The view down:

This cabin is aft of the midship elevators on the indented sections.  The view forward:

The view aft.

Not bad at all.

This is really hard for me to say but it’s day..S....I...X.  Always goes by way too fast!  This morning Taylor and we’re up and out at around 650 for our excursion. We ate a bite at the Jammer.  The others were having breakfast delivered to the suite at 8. We went down to Studio B. At this point both of us were going through Star Class withdrawals. We had to sit with people we didn’t even know!,??. After about 30 minutes we walked down the pier to the nice guides holding the various excursion signs. We only chose our tour yesterday and really picked it at random. Sounded like fun. Dune Buggy and snorkeling. Not at the same time though?. I had visions of being loaded onto a bus or van and being taken to a place where we would chug along in cool dune buggies down sandy roads lined with palm trees. Nope. We walked about three blocks from the pier to find our buggy parking lot. Each is a four seater. Taylor and I got two passengers, a Bf and Gf in their 20’s. They rode with us because they couldn’t drive a stick shift. Youth.  They were reassured after I told them I haven’t been involved in an auto accident since we left Miami. And off we went. About 15-18 little buggies filled with tourists. Driving through town. Around horses, trucks, busses, motorcycles.  Through traffic circles. I’m amazed this tour even exists. During our lunch stop folks were eating chicken tacos and slamming tequila. Before driving back!  It was awesome?. Our snorkel stop was at beautiful little beach area. Taylor had never snorkeled before. I had done it years ago before God made fish. But we pressed on. Donned the vests, masks and fins that I’m sure were sanitized in a bucket of tequila or something. We saw some beautiful fish and amazing coral. We spent about an hour there before we took the buggy brigade back on the road to our lunch stop. You basically drive around the entire island before you get back to the port. We made a memory and that’s what this is all about. 
Tonight dinner is in CK. Then we have the comedy show. I’m hearing rumors of laser tag, we shall see. 
I hear that our friend Djuro just might have been reading this blog. If that’s true Taylor and I missed you today!  I’ll see you tonight my friend. 

Wow, these grapes out here trying to live their best life to reach raisin-hood and all y'all hatin. I know raisins are an acquired taste but y'all got these raisin crying themselves to sleep and committing suicide with all this bullying. No wonder it was only like 3 in that apple pie.

Then off to Izumi Habichi. And oh my god. The food, the entertainment, and sake were all top notch. I was seriously blown away... and completely stuffed! I highly recommend Izumi! Best hibachi for the experience hands down. They let us do Sake Bombs but we had to drop them in, that was disappointing but I can understand the rule. 



 
Grandma was gracious enough to watch the kid for the night. So Off to rising tide, a few chocolate martinis for the wife and a few espresso martinis for me (no wonder I cant sleep) was a perfect night cap! We went back to the room for a bit ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) then closed down the suite deck jacuzzi. 

Jackie was beat but I cant sleep so I explored the ship with noone on it. And got some amazing pics.
 
I'll attempt to organize the next set of pics better. For now here is the port say at st maartin and the room decorations.

Multi part post because I can't  sleep. Rain, lots of it,   is called for our coco cay day as of right now. Pray to the sun gods for me!!!
 
What an amazing day.
 
The other 9 did a catamaran excursion. Me and the wife got the day to ourselves. We did the St Maarten bus tour. Very interesting but odd at the same time. St Maarten is hard to explain,  beautiful and sad at the same time. The last hurricane did a number and parts of it seem too poor to rebound. There were also 6 ships docked so or was jamming everywhere. 
We were the biggest but a couple of these werent small.


Iguanas of the seas.

Yeah... mountain goats visible from the port exit!


 
After that we rushed back to do our vow renewal. I had to sit in the suite deck while they all got ready. I reread my vows, and madE a few last minute adjustments at the bar with vodka on the rocks. The  loft attendants and concierge helped out with some decor and a cheese plate. It was amazing! My sister in law did an amazing job officiating the vow renewal in the suite. Most of those pics will have to wait as we used a better camera than my phone. Our daughter was the flower girl and my wife came down the loft stairs in a beautiful dress and we had a beautiful ceremony. We were about 15 minutes to late for a sunset back ground. we made up for it with pics around the ship! We even got a pic with the cruise director Mark right when they finished taping a show.




 

Day 4 (Day 2 of cruise) Sea Day
So we are boring folk, we had coffee in the room and Scott ordered danish.  Ordered for 7-7:30 and got the call at 6:30.  Coffee was good and Scott was not impressed with the danish and said they were better on Disney, but the danish were eaten....so not sure what were not good.  LOL  El Loco Fresh opened at 8a so we are there, Scott enjoyed the breakfast burritos and my cold scrambled eggs were well cold.  My only complaint about the food would be breakfast, you can't keep skillets of scrambled eggs warm and they are full skillets.  Breakfast was never busy that we saw here but the skillets always were full.  After El Loco Fresh we went to the Solarium to see what was there and shockingly Scott ordered an omelet and I had an apple.  Scott was impressed with the omelet as it was served quick (Disney omelet station is a mess) .  After breakfast #2 it is time for a Cold Brew from Starbucks then we walk around and people watch.  
The carousel opens at 10a and well we must ride it!
 
F
For reference I am the one with sun glasses.  ?
So the reason the carousel was a must for us is because it was made in our hometown.  Both the Oasis and Allure carousels came from good ole Mansfield, Ohio.  No idea why only 2 of the Oasis class were made here and not the others.  Below is a link to the company and pictures from the install and facts of each
http://www.carouselworks.com/carousel/carGalls/caroGall.htm
 
Lunch was at Windjammers as El Loco had a huge line and well I hate standing in line for food.  LOL  
After lunch it was nap time for Scott while I got my steps and and also zip lined, I figured if I died from the zip line it would be better for him not to witness it.  I made it btw 
Dinner was scheduled at 7:30 tonight but we show up at 7 and get taken in right away.  We were not seated in the same section as the first night and service was slow.  No clue what we ordered but no complaints.  Even though service was slow we were out by 8:45 and then we went and watched Aqua 80s in the back stand up area since we do not have reservations until tomorrow.  Even only seeing 1/2 the show wow it is amazing!  I will hold off my review until I see the entire show.
Bed time for now.
 
Day 5
Labadee
We were excited for this beach day but the wind and rain had other ideas.  We did make it off the ship early.  Love the LABADEE sign when you first enter from the pier but we never got a picture as everyone is there first thing.  We collect ornaments and this is the only port we have not been to so first thing on list is to get a christmas ornament.  Growing up on a working farm I am used to tractors, but honestly I didn't think one would be pulling the tram on the island.  We made it to the vendor market and well the we did get our ornament but the vendors were so aggressive that I just wanted to get back to the ship.  Scott thinks I am over reacting but it was not my cup of tea.  I know many prefer Labadee over CoCo Cay but I look forward to trying CoCo someday!  LOL  I grew up on dirt roads and well I prefer then paved or concrete or something....sand roads and random animals (I swear a dog was following us and was hungry- I can run faster than Scott so if needed I will sacrifice Scott).  The ship was empty and we just walked around and again people watched.  The shirtless crew may have been doing the slow rider and we may have watched as well.  
Lunch was at Windjammer and El Loco and refreshments from Starbucks.
Dinner was back in the section from the first night, we were asked where we were last night and we told them we were seated in another section.  They told us they had 2 tops free all night so that made no sense.  Service was great and dinner good.
Tonight is Aqua 80, however due to ocean conditions it was cancelled.
Bedtime for us 
 
 

There may be an O and a A and an S on the Oasis, but the H you need to spell OSHA was removed during drydock1??

To the extent that we grew up with these beliefs, and that we sincerely believe them, we usually don't feel deprived. There's no denying a certain amount of difficulty on a practical level, but we accept it as a "given", much like the salary that gets withheld from my paycheck for taxes - I don't miss it because I never realistically saw it.
In any case, I keep reminding myself about people with unusually severe allergies. Compared to them, I have it very easy.

@Keeves, I find your post interesting and am somewhat aware of eating Kosher from past bosses.  I also find your attitude to be tremendous considering some the items you would really like (like Vanilla or Hazelnut for your coffee!) not being available.  You appear to be a very humble man. I hope you re enjoying your first cruise!

Day 2
Who needs sleep anyways?  Seeing that we paid for that Bayview we slept with the curtains open.  Not a big deal really but we live in the "country" with total darkness outside so the lights from the city are bright for us.  I did fall asleep but woke up around 2:15a to watch the first ship come in, then back to sleep until around 5a to watch the others come in.  I was not positive which ship was coming in at 2:30a but knew it was an Oasis class, when it made its turn in the basin to go back to the dock....WOW it is huge.  I failed to mention it is extremely windy out and being on the 17th floor with a patio above us it sounds like the roof was gonna fall in at any moment.  We loved this room even with the additional noise from the wind. 
Ships in port today:
Carnival Conquest, Carnival Horizon, Norwegian Escape, MSC Seaside, Empress of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas.
Scott finally woke around 7a and asked why I was sitting on the sofa and how long I had been up.  Without glasses on or contacts in I explained I was just watching the little blurry ships come in to port all night.  He claims I have issues.  I'm a morning person and he is not so I jump in the shower and tell him I am heading to Publix to Starbucks, he of course wanted to join me as it is Publix so now I wait for him to get ready, so I will just sit and watch the ships...I can see now as I have contacts in.
Again I love the convenience of Publix to grab stuff while at the Hilton.  So I went to Starbucks and got a real coffee with Splenda and egg white bites and honestly I have no clue what Scott had for breakfast, I sure you he ate as remember a hungry Scott is a hangry Scott.  Oh wait thats right we got 4 donuts from Salty Donuts last night so he had donuts and coffee.  If you like overpriced donuts, Salty Donuts is there for you, Scott said that Publix donuts are better....well darn I tried. At least the box is cute.  
About 9a we head to Bayside Marketplace as we bought a Groupon deal for a water tour.  Again we took the MetroMover that is right next door to the Hilton the the Marketplace.  Quick, easy and free transportation.  I am amazed at how efficient it is and that there is no charge.  It is limited to the downtown area but you can get a lot of places.  We checked into the podium at Bayride Tours and were placed on the 9:30a tour....awesome but I thought the first tour was at 10:30a, no biggie.  Around 9:30 we boarded the vessel with about 20-30 other people and did out tour around Jungle Island and saw all the celebrities homes.  One of the homes we saw was the old home of Madonna.  This made me smile and warm as she is my sisters favorite performer and I lost her this summer to lung cancer.  The tour was great and lasted about 90 minutes as advertised.  If you want to do a tour in Miami I would check out Groupon as they have some good deals and usually buy 1 get 1.  Here is the Symphony ? 
 
After the tour it was lunch time and Scott wanted to eat at Chili's at the Marketplace.  Wouldn't be my first choice but I suppose he can have some say.  It was a lackluster meal but his tank is full.  We walk around the marketplace and find a Starbucks so I do the mobile order and get my coffee.  We also find the Disney Store, remember we are Disney gays and it is just like every other Disney store....cramped and packed to the rafters.  It is now around 2p and Scott now declares it to be nap time so we head back to the hotel.  During the nap I hear a horn and out of bed I go to watch a Carnival ship leave, then I watch them all leave.  It is now 6p and I pounce on the bed to wake Scott from his sleep coma, I get in trouble for not waking him to watch the ships leave...SMH I can't win.
For dinner we wanted Tacos so we went to Tacomiendo which is a Taco Truck in the Midtown Garden Center in Wynwood.  We arrive and were a little worried but just do it anyway.  Having this little truck tucked into a corner of the Garden Center is beautiful with all the foliage and flowers around you.  They have plenty of tables and you can see even more tables across the way.  The waitress explains the tacos and Scott gets 2 chicken tacos and I get 1 fire brisket taco and we order chips and salsa to share.  My brisket taco was amazing and lots of meat, easily as large as both of Scotts tacos put together.  It was 7p on a Saturday and we were the only ones there but the food was really really good and we would definitely go back, Scott would get the brisket instead though ?  The waitress explained that it is BYOB so next time to bring a bottle of wine or a beer to drink with dinner.  After dinner we head back to Publix to get some more water for the room and then head back to the Hilton for the night.  Time to get repacked and ready to head out on the Oasis of the Seas tomorrow.

Also BLASPHEMY!

I have no problem in that area.  They are struggling to provide for their families.  
Yes they will invite you to visit their booth.  No one has ever touched me so it's just a matter of looking around to see if anything interests and if not moving on.  Yes sometimes there are two or three inviting you to visit their booth at the same time.  It's just words.  "Come look what I have for you", "I have something for you", etc.  It's hardly offensive or scary.  
When I took my adult son there he walked into several booths and bought a handful of small items.  Later I told him he could have negotiated the price down.  He acknowledged that but recognized they are dirt poor so he didn't try to beat them down. 
We don't appreciate how well we have it, the people of Haiti have very little and jobs are non existent.  It's not unsafe, just a different culture.