Vwjo

Tito's Vodka has gluten free on the label!
FYI: My wife has to be gluten-free fee and if you click my post below, you'll see a lot of good information about cruising gluten-free. Royal Caribbean has been very accommodating to food allergies/sensitivities!
 

Thank you for sharing your experiences.  It's fun to live vicariously through your videos.

I wish I had known about this whole thing 25 years ago.  ? 

Final sunset of the sailing


"Thank you for Cruising" cake in Windjammer

New drink on CocoCay? Spotted at Captain Jack's

Sorry for so few updates today, the Deluxe Beverage Package got the better of me last night.? My first ever visit to Boston was not nearly as enjoyable as I planned, but it’s my own fault, lol. Here is the end of tonight’s sunset from a chilly pool deck.

Before I forget, here’s a first sunset pic. I apologize for the scattered nature my posts.This whole live blog thing works much better before I’ve started using my Deluxe Beverage package, lol. ?

The drill was incredibly quick, and we are being treated to a statue sail by like last cruise!

In the end, the only person to whom you need to justify your purchase of anything is you.  If it makes sense to you, then you've made a good decision.

Agreed!
I purchased it for our January sailing on Mariner after weighing out the worth for me. It was priced right for my budget on that sailing and for just a 3 nighter it made sense in our case; we plan to use the FlowRider and slides and have an extremely flexible schedule so won't mind using it during port or dinner times. Another reason this time was for priority debarking. 
 
However I did not purchase it for our seven night Allure sailing next year because the price was a bit higher and our schedule/vibe is a little different for that sailing (might change my mind ?). Priority disembarking not important that time, schedule won't be quite as flexible, and we will need only 1 Voom device. 
I definitely don't feel judged by anyone who offers their opinion as to why it is or isn't worth it for them,  I appreciate the variety of opinions and viewpoints to help me make an educated decision, including yours!
 
 

I know there has been a lot of back and forth about if The Key was really worth it. @Matt did a great job, pointing out why it wasn't a good deal for everyone.
So with all that being said, here's my reasoning for buying it.
The current price for The Key for our cruise is $16.99 pp/pd. That's the lowest I've seen on any cruise since The Key program started. I'm sure the price has to do with the fact that it's about 340 days from sailing and it's for Rhapsody, a smaller ship with admitted limited Key benefits. The total for our cruise with tax comes to $237.93.
We would have purchased Voom Surf and Stream for one device anyways. The current price for one device is $15.99 pd for a total for our cruise of $111.93.
So, with all that being said, the net cost, The Key minus the Surf and Stream for one device comes to $125.93.
I felt the benefits of The Key, besides Voom Surf and Stream, were well worth what comes down to $9 pp/pd.
With all that being said, I will probably put a Royal Bid in when it comes time to move up from our current JS to GS or OS. If I win, I will just cancel The Key and just add Surf and Stream.
Does this seem to make good sense? It did to me.

Flying out of FLL airport I had noted planes were taking off to the East so I grabbed a window seat on the left side of the plane.
One final view of Majesty of the Seas and Port Everglades terminal 19.



 

Day 7 / Day 3
Whats better than visiting Coco Cay?  Visiting it again a few days later!
This time I was a little more prepared and looking to take some photos of parts I had missed previously.  We also didn't have a Cabana so we knew the experience was going to be a little different.  Mariner docked back in again, but on the opposite side of the pier.  Thankfully this once again gave us a great view of the island from out balcony.

One thing we had learned from or previous visit was that the shuttles they had taking us ashore were easier to get into the rear facing seat at the back of the cart.  This also gave a neat perspective for photos.

Today we also used the tram once on the island to head to a beach area near the upcoming Coco Beach Club and check out the water there.  This also provided a nice view of the Beach Beds which were at this point uninhabited.


We placed our belongings on a couple of chairs and ventured into the water.  Unfortunately the luxury of the pool from a few days earlier had spoiled us and due to the recent churn from hurricanes in the area there was still a lot of sea grass.  We got in up to just past our knees but that was the extent of before we decided the pool was calling us.
We took a very short walk from the beach area to the pool and found two well placed chairs under an umbrella with a small table and near the stairs into the pool.
 
This was a Sunday and the cruise was populated with many young people and a few bachelor and bachelorette groups.  As a result the bar area of the pool was quite busy.

One other benefit of the location we had chosen was a very close proximity to the Snack Shack.  I really must say those chicken sandwiches are incredible.

For the record you MUST order the Shack Crispy Chicken.  The simple Crispy Chicken just isn't the same.

Pictures following are from another photo walk of the island.


Chill Island Cabanas


Island Tram

Up Up and Away

Straw Market

Harbor Beach


Wedding Pavillion

Mariner of the Seas

Coco Cay Pier and Entrance




Snorkeling Area Beach



Captain Jack's

Skipper's Grill

Island wildlife

Decorative Entryway's




That bring us to the end of most of our photos.  There are a few photos taken using my iPhone that I need to sort through and will post later.

A note on the dining choices we made on this trip.  On the 4 night, we purchase the Chops +1 on board after we talked them into including Izumi Hibachi.  That was our dining sorted for the first 2 nights.  We had selected My Time and had a later dinner planned for night 3 anyway but the sunset cruise made us too late for that so we ate in the Windjammer.  On the final night we made it to the MDR and found that we felt like we had completely missed on one of the hallmarks of cruising, meeting new people over a meal, having a great conversation and the superb service of the MDR staff.  Out waiter asked why we hadn't been and was understanding of the choices but as I say, we felt like we missed out.  We resolved that on the second leg we would not repeat that and were we ever glad.  For the 3 night cruise we also had My Time, but since we had a consistent time we were able to be seated in the same section of tables with the same servers and passengers seated around us.  It was one of the best dining experiences we have ever had.  I will say that we find some of the menu choices not to our liking but we can generally fond something to eat.  The food quality was good and never a problem but the company and service are where this experience really shined.

Not something you see every cruise

Humble room for this voyage, better photos are to come.
 

Priorities...

We all know the adage... good luck sleeping tonight...
One final thought, this is the best thing to see.

I am on break at work only 3 and a half hours left. I got some solid sleep before work and finished the majority of my packing! Just add toothbrush! 
I got my early bird check in A25. The bf checked in normal A33... lmao
I'm so ready for vacay
 

Back to the present...
Disembarkation was even easier than last time, which was surprising because we didn't actually stay on the ship until 10 AM as indicated on our sheet. Around 9:15, a crew member was walking the hallway by Vintages that leads to Two70; he was informing the passengers there that all luggage was now delivered to the terminal, even for the numbers that hadn't been called yet. He was also rather firmly (but very politely; maybe he was Canadian? ?) asking that all passengers please disembark immediately. This seemed kind of odd to me given the printed schedule, but I had just read the comment here that there was a coast guard inspection / drill happening, so that was almost certainly the driver behind it. At least we were asked nicely to GTFO.
Ship to curb was 10 minutes, tops. We got a porter this time, but even without one we wouldn't have had much of a wait; the terminal was almost empty when we got off the ship and got our bags. Paid for our parking, got in the car, and we were back home in about 45 minutes.
 
And after getting home and finally syncing together my iPad, iPhone, and iMac for the photos, I was reminded of something very critical to do with any dedicated camera that doesn't have a GPS system in it for tagging photos -- make sure that the clock and location setting in the phone is accurate for where you're using it!
I never updated the clock on my camera since the day I got it, and it was still on Pacific time for all timestamps on the photos.The clock also drifted a bit, so instead of being exactly 4 hours off from Atlantic time, it was about 3 hours and 50 minutes. ? Took me a little while to figure that out, but it was easy enough to fix in the Photos app on my iMac.
So, I'm back to editing the photos that I didn't get done yesterday, and should be putting up the posts of our time in Bermuda tomorrow or at latest Saturday.

Travel alert done!
Apartment so locked box for mail
no light timers bc apartment!
Fresh perspective ✔ Happy go lucky attitude: Confirmed! 
 

Thank you all for the kind words. We just left CocoCay in a few (stragglers!) and it was truly the Perfect Day! We had zero problems finding chairs underneath an umbrella. I kept my floating mat all day. I had multiple Coco Locos and I always swear off souvenir cups until I’m presented with one. Somehow I now have not one but 2 CocoCay cups. Well done, Kim. 
Currently: on deck 12 listening to One to One play us out of the island.  Next up is 6 pm dinner, a Beatles tribute in the promenade, (eyeballs Mom), and watching karaoke. 
 
Photo is of the end of the balloon solar eclipse. 

A little epilogue to our Horseshoe Bay visit. The ocean took it back from us moments after I snapped the picture.

Greetings from Nassau! Last night we sat in the solarium until dinner, then met the other 2 lovely couples at our 6-top in MDR. After that we saw the Ice show (great!), hit the casino, (not so great), and collapsed at 10. 
This morning we ventured out for a Kim-planned walking tour. We visited the Watling Distillery, Greycliff, Christ Church Cathedral, and the Straw Market. This afternoon brings and appointment at To Dry For for mom, and a trip to the spa for me. The special is a full body massage, skin brushing, facial, and scalp massage for $149. Maybe it’s the rum talking, but that seems much more reasonable that what I saw in the planner a few weeks ago.  
 
Full write up at a later date ...VOOM is not great in our cabin this time. Must be the GOLD plating ?. 

This is me completely blending and not looking like a tourist. Classy broad. 

Holy cats were you all correct about arriving early. We left the hotel at 10:45 and with expedited boarding we were on  the ship about 11:15.(Our set sail passes told us to report at 12:30, btw) 
She’s gorgeous.  Detailed write up later but  here’s Mom and me holding court in the Gold Lounge (there is no Gold Lounge) on deck 12. 

I will be on the same trip! Worried about the weather though. Doesn't look good from what I've seen in the forecasts.  I wonder what a cruise would be like if it rained the entire time. Anyone had this experience? Will the water attractions still be open?
 Haven't cruised in 20 years so I am excited and will make the best of it regardless. Celebrating 34 years of marriage on this trip!