MichelleB1234

Is our White Whale of Moby Dick proportions? IDK .. are you counting our financial well-being? Who cares! YOLO!!   Who: SweetPea and Batman, two crazy mutual enablers who found ❤️ about 23 (24, 25?) years ago. Married for most of those. Don't ask me our anniversary. I once proudly told Batman my new ATM PIN, proclaiming, "Get it?!  It's our anniversary backwards!"   Spoiler: it wasn't.    I've not heard the end of it since.    What: Our White Whale. Why, you ask? We had 3,462.7 cruises in the Owner's Panoramic canceled during the Covid. Seriously. By March 578th, 2020, I'd had enough, just like the rest of the world. This was bound to happen sooner or later. I made sure of it.    When: September 24-October 1, 2023. Too short and will be over too quick, but the ship is our destination so who cares?! (Our itinerary is mundane and boring. We'll only be getting off the ship for PDCC.)   Where: Oasis of the Seas (C'mon now. There are only 2 OPs in the entire fleet, so there's a very good chance you'd win that coin toss.)   Why: Why not?!! Besides, flying sucks and we can drive to the port! And by drive, i mean be driven. Because who drives on vacation? Is that even a thing?!   How: Selling one pickled middle-aged kidney on the dark web. Let's face it, there's a difference between a kidney from a 20-year old athlete and one from a 50-something whose kidney is going to be (a-hem) grape-flavored. Clearly what I'm trying to say is that you could probably book two Star Class rooms with the 20-year-old kidney. Our cost wasn't *that* bad, but should still leave you questioning whether you'd consider us sound financial advisors.    Crown&Anchor Level: Brown.    I briefly considered making a parody pin that said "Not Pinnacle" with the "not" in very, very small font. I think it'd have been an excellent conversation starter.    Pre-cruise Diet: Poor. I planned to lose 30 pounds. I only have 33 to go. Forget that noise.   So here we go on our 3.5-year-in-the-making adventure. If you know us, I'm taking a very liberal definition of the term "adventure" here. As in, you shouldn't expect FlowRider reviews from us. That would only happen if they privacy-tented the entire wave pool and literally no one else could see us. I've seen this new TikTok thing all the cool kids are talking about, and going viral for all the wrong reasons would send me into a Brendan Fraser Whale-spin without the need of a fat suit.    (Perhaps i should tell you about the time i managed to ATV my way into the middle of a sugar cane field in St. Kitts where the excursion leader pulled me aside and quietly asked if I'd consider a private lesson before allowing the group to continue. That was 20 years and 30 pounds ago and my grace and agility has not aged like the fine wine I enjoy so much. --- That was for the kids in the back who didn't get my grape- flavored kidney joke earlier.)   This is our first cruise post-shutdown. We wanted to feel like we were going on vacation, not checking in for a clinical procedure. So we sat out all mandates. We both found them too stressful and opted to wait until the craziness was well on its way to over before we even remotely considered cruising again. This is one of the reasons we're going to the poorhouse post-cruise. I booked this pretty late and didn't partake in opening day prices. However, i got worried this was Oasis's last season in NJ so i bit the bullet and made several payments Batman wouldn't notice so our final bill was more in line with what I thought he could stomach. I can't be the only benevolently devious spouse to do so. If you've done something like this yourself, blink twice.   (And, Mindy, if you're reading: You're a SAINT!)   For the record, i caught Batman in a good mood one night and asked him the max he'd pay for a week-long cruise in Star Class. Unsurprisingly, it was a *bit* less than the cost of this one. So this is just between us RC Blog family, right? Good thing he thinks this website is Royal.blog.Carribean.me.live.com/reports which he always forgets to find later ....    And to any dudes reading, please remember: there is no such idiom as "Bros before blogs." That does not and will never exist.... if i can help it.    So, as long as Batman never does find this blog ... Continue to follow along to learn the riveting answers to such burning questions as: how will Anthem Star Class compare to Oasis Star Class? Will we prefer O Class to Q Class in general? Is this Deck 17 we keep reading about an actual Nirvana? What else has the pandemic stolen from us in pre v post shutdown changes? Will we ever want to return to Norwegian Haven? And ultimately, will selling a functioning kidney be worth the experience?   Come with us! We'll find out together!

Ugh, have a bad feeling they are going to start doing this with everything. God forbid I want my $1700 a person cruise price to include a free adults only beach on an island OWNED BY THE COMPANY IM SAILING WITH. Insane.

Day 8 - Halifax, NS 🇨🇦
Good morning 🙂

MDR - lunch 

After the tour ended (around 12:30pm), we headed over to Geddy’s for lunch. Even before @themillennialcruiser recommended this place, a few others had told me about it as well. Hearing it from @themillennialcruiser only confirmed to me that I wanted to go here. For those of you who don’t know, @themillennialcruiser sailed with us on the Anthem GC back in 2019 and I know she has awesome taste! 😉
Anyhow, I was so thankful because I was afraid that it would be very busy there and we did not have a reservation. There was a line to get, but the place is larger than it looks. We were seated pretty much right away. Our strategy was to order a few things that we wanted to try and then share it all. It was more than enough food for us for a lunch. Also, very delicious! That lobster pizza was a fantastic recommendation! 

Backtracking a bit….
The tour that we booked was “An intimate tour of Acadia National Park”. It was a max of 14 people and lasted about 2.5 hours. This tour was not cheap but I would say this tour was worth it for the convenience and small group size.
My only wish would be that more time be given at the summit of Cadillac Mountain and Thunder Hole. But for the amount that you see, it was a great overview of everything. Some random photos of the tour from Hubby’s phone. He is back flowriding again. 
 

The last stop of the tour was going back to see the reversing rapids and the change over the day. We first came here around 10:30am and then came back at 4:30pm.
Pics again don’t do this this justice and I will post video clips on IG later after dinner. 

Here is before:


Here it is again at 4:30pm:

After the sea caves, we headed back to Saint John and they took us to an Irish Pub for a quick beer from Moosehead Brewery. Other options were pop or water. 
 

When we arrived at the sea caves, we passed a boat. When we left, we passed the same boat. This gives you an idea of how fast the tide changes. All within a little over an hour. 

 

When we got to the sea caves, they fed us lunch first. I actually did not know that this was included when I booked the tour. Everyone had a choice between a bowl of chowder (lobster, scallops, haddock) & biscuits, minestrone soup & biscuits, chicken fingers & fries, or a salad. A can of pop or bottle of water was also included. I included the menu for those who just eat there without a tour. 
 

Well Royal needs to understand truth hurts, we as passengers pay a price sometimes hefty one which means quality of experience with main dining to the buffet to any other venue needs to be on point.  Each has their own opinions on taste; however, but lack of selection, quality, presentation, and those entrees coming out not even hot isn't acceptable at all.  Then when a curve ball thrown extra charge for this or that, it becomes discouraging.  Remember those days of cruising just fantasizing about a certain meal or food you couldn't wait for with that favorite 🍸or so many good options that couldn't decide.  Now it's a different story because of their cutting corners with nickel and dime and just lacks the WOW factor.  Speciality dining packages have drastically increased as well.  Days of gaining weight on cruise are long gone.....
Lately i have been eating more in port which gives to destination economy and i have much enjoyable meal.
Maybe Mr Liberty and Mr Bailey should try being on a cruise over a period of time and see some of the struggles we endure.  Episode Undercover Boss cruise food edition ....
 

After visiting the Reversing Rapids, we headed over to the Old City Market. They gave us about 40mins here to explore. 



Hubby even had time to visit a comic store a few doors down from the market. 

We are now back on the bus and headed to the Sea Caves in St Martins. It’s about an hour away from the ship. 

My personal favourite today was probably the Sea Caves at St Martins. I had very low expectations for here. These nature things are not really my scene. But when I stepped out on that rocky beach and took it all in, something about it was just breathtaking and mesmerizing to me. I really wish we had a bit more time there. 
Night time sail away from Saint John

Back to the high tide, low tide thing. It was truly a sight to see today. Back in Grade 4, so I would have been 9 years old, I learned about this concept through a research project that I had to do on one province in Canada. I was assigned New Brunswick and that was one of the things my Dad and I read and researched. Back then we were using encyclopedias 😊 Anyway, to see it live in action today, both the changing of the  tides and the reversing rapids was such a treat! A few more pics that Hubby put together to show the changes. 
When we left the port around 10am look at where the “Royal Caribbean” sign on the ship is in comparison to the ground or fence. Then, look at the second pic and see where it is when we came back after 4:30pm.

Another before and after of the rapids:

 

So wrong. Why wait for it to happen? Voicing an opion now makes more sense. Much better chance to stop it, then trying to reverse it down the road.
Again, I would like to point out that Royal did not make the survey available to everyone. So some have to find other ways of adding their two cents.
And nobody should ever be told to keep quiet about anything they feel is wrong. 

Which is why I suggested their social media pages. They are very responsive on there and you can generate visibility and reactions.

Does anyone read? Anyone at all? What the hell did I actually say? I said I want to let them know my displeasure about this change before it happens. If they hear from enough of us maybe it won't happen. 
I'm not gonna yell at anyone. 

I think anyone can contact them for any reason they want. Why not?
Also, since not everyone had access to the survey, why not let your opinion be heard.

Interesting article about all the up sell on the ships.  We don’t spend much after the cruise costs, other than a soda package and maybe one excursion, so we don’t see a lot of extras cost.  Of course it’s not my place to tell anyone how to spend their money either!  The only thing i do recommend to first time cruisers is to not do speciality dining and to eat in the MDR, after that first cruise then you can expand the dining.
 
https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-industry-business-model-changing-bad-news-for-travelers-2023-4

The article says they have higher bookings than 2019 and a record high deposit balance. Neither of those reflect the increase in pricing. 

Social media comments from people who have never set foot on a cruise ship

Lol
 
Social media:  Making everyone’s personal opinion feel relevant to individual echo chambers for a couple decades….and now it’s become “newsworthy”. 
 
In other news, different people like different things.  
 
I like broccoli. Fight me 

Except if you look at their overhaul, it's a bit different than Royal's. Though it probably helps that the general consensus on Carnival's MDR was that Royal's was significantly better.
"And while Royal Caribbean cut its menus back, Duffy [Carnival's president] said that Carnival has very different plans.
"We plan to bring more variety with nearly 60 new entree presentations that will rotate through the menu in Main Dining Room," she said.
The new menu will include offerings from the cruise line's specialty dining restaurants across the fleet.
"We're also addressing bigger portion offerings on certain entrees based on your feedback," she added.
Duffy also made it clear that fan favorites would still have a place on the menu and that more vegetarian choices are being added. The cruise line will also add an entree salad -- a "nice big salad with a protein," she shared."
https://www.thestreet.com/travel/carnival-cruise-line-shares-huge-main-dining-room-menu-changes

Great, now we'll have to rely on twangster to interpret anything Matt says since he'll be required to speak in Pinnaclese among us peons.  I think they call it Pin Latin.
 
Congrats Matt, hell of an accomplishment.

Thanks for sharing your adventure.