WAAAYTOOO

We are home now, but not without a bit of drama. We got to the parking garage (remember...we parked offsite on this one due to the length of our B3B). Dead battery. UGH Dan and I had already been talking about getting a new battery. I guess we waited too long. So, we tried to do a jump with the parking garage's jumper doo-hickie (apparently dead batteries are a frequent enough occurrence that they have a jumper doo-hickie on hand)....but the battery was too far gone. D.E.D. Had to call AAA. Now, I have been a member of AAA for 31 years. I probably haven't used any of their services for at least 10 years, maybe more. Today I thanked the heavens that I had kept my account current. Less than 10 minutes after my call a REALLY nice (and truly helpful) guy was there with all the answers. He checked our battery (confirmed that it was, indeed, D.E.D) and then replaced our battery with a sparkly new one. All was well. We were on our way by 10AM which was only about a 1.5 hour delay. I can't say enough good things about AAA on this occasion. They truly saved the day. Backing up for a review of Premier Parking (offsite for PoM). We saved a $hitpot of money so I will say that it was worth it in THIS case but I don't think I would do it again unless we were going to be gone a really long time, again. While they did, indeed, have transfer vans running fairly regularly between the Terminal and the parking garage, it was very disorderly and each time a van appeared, it was a shoving match to push your way to the front of the line to try and get on. They absolutely SQUOZE (yes, I know that is not a real word) into the van but thankfully it was a short trip so it was over soon. Cheaper ? Yes. Worth the hassle. Probably not.

Dan laughed... We're looking forward to our trip together, too !

Here’s a little bit of intel that I didn’t have 30 minutes ago… If you forget to cash out a casino voucher (guess how I know this…) they can redeem it for you at Guest Services ! I almost left my voucher in the stateroom, certain that it was trash…but I told myself, “you have to at least TRY and get this money…”. So I did…and nobody was more surprised than me that they could and did. It wasn’t big money ($31.95) but it was worth the try. I gave him a nice tip… He did tell me though, that once you leave the ship there’s no way to redeem a voucher so even if you forget to cash it out at the casino, you must do it before you leave the ship.

Relaxing in the room after our wonderful dinner with @JustMeJoe and his wonderful wife. We most definitely have made wonderful new friends with them. What a great couple ! While enjoying our quiet and restful post- gluttony coma, I suddenly got a VERY strong whiff of skunk weed through the ventilation system ! At first I wasn’t sure where it was coming from but since we have NO balcony, there was only one possible source. It went away quickly so I guess nothing to worry about. For a while there, we were smelling it far too frequently on other ships but lately haven’t smelled it. Was surprised when it happened tonite. Hmph.

I hope all you suite snobs are taking notice of the fact that I am no longer among your ranks. Be careful what you wish for. It’s a huge change of “cruise-style” when you decide to trade quality for quantity. Maybe you guys won’t have to make that shift but we certainly did. I’m not sorry and I’m very comfortable with my new cruise-style but it WAS a big change !

Thank you so much ! What a sweet thing to say. As the ATeam used to say, “It’s nice when a plan comes together”.

When we boarded EX for the first leg of our B3B (4-5) there were baby chicks scrambling around with the hens. They were sooo cute.

Yes, mommy.

That's a great question. I doubt seriously that they would allow any combinable booking incentives on the casino comp but I truly don't know the answer.

Today is the last day of our journey. Sea day. Nothing much going on. Dan and I both qualified for comp cruises so we spent some of our morning getting our [other] open booking from NC. We both ended up making Prime on this set of cruises so that is one headache out of the way. I hate the last day. All I can think about is the dread of packing....which really only takes maybe 15 minutes but it's the idea that we are leaving....very depressing. LOTS of people boarded this cruise last week and will continue on the "crossing" as they refer to it. It would have been nice to stay on for the crossing but as we have made a pledge not to fly for a while, we couldn't justify it. We'll just have to settle for Freedom and Wonder in the next week or so. Tomorrow will be an incredibly busy day as we go home to laundry and repacking for the FR cruise the next day (4-29). I have a ton of "home" stuff to take care of in this short visit but luckily (or unluckily, I guess) this next one is only a 4-nighter so we will be back home much sooner than we were on this B3B. Of course, when we get back home from the FR cruise we only have 2 days to get ready for our 7 night Wonder cruise (5-5). THEN we have a bit of a break. Still trying to get the specialty dining changes all sorted out. I made a ton of changes again yesterday. I discovered through higher math (HA !) that it is actually a better deal (on a per-meal, per person basis) to get the UDP on our 4 night Utopia cruise than it is to do the lunch plus 2XBOGO. That's a rare situation...but there's also the big bonus of getting to dine at all of the "new" (not really new) restaurants on Utopia so we threw that weighting factor in and decided to the UDP which we haven't done in a very long time. Truly, it is too much food for us but it's only 4 nights so we will just suck it up and deal with too much food. A good problem to have, I guess (summoning my inner @OCSC Mike). There's also the uncertainty of whether or not the UT will be excluding low-level Pinns from the CK/SL and I don't want to wait until we find out that little gem to make my plans....so we will simply plan on NOT eating at the CK at all (unless they let us go there for breakfast which is unlikely, based on recent experiences). Since we will be doing self-assist departing, we will meet the SL Concierge (haven't seen her at all on this leg since we were banned from the SL) at the Schooner bar 7-ish tomorrow morning. Hopefully the disembark will go smoothly and we will be on the road bright and early. Being a Sunday disembark will be a huge advantage. Unfortunately, we will be making the RT BACK to PoM in less than 24 hours and that will be on a Monday morning so we have that fun to look forward to. It's been an awesome 23 days. I could learn to live like this.....

Do you feel like they answered your question or do you think this is a “form” letter ? I don’t see where they addressed your low sodium issue….but maybe it’s the thought that counts ?

Hmmmm...trying to remember. It was long....1.5 hours each way ? I'm guessing as I do not remember exactly. Hopefully others will have a better recollection.

This is the first time I've ever heard of Bermuda having some weirdo deposit requirement. Something to put away in the ol' brain pan....

Ditto. They were there yesterday.

This. The Star Class MB beds, for example, cannot be split.

Update on this one. It seems that they DID use the available OBC for these purchases even though it didn't seem like it was, at the time that I purchased. I just reviewed all of the purchases I made online yesterday and the ones where I wanted to use OBC, do show the OBC calculated in the purchase price. So ignore this statement from above.

Exciting news about Hard Rock ! This is the first I’ve heard of it. Woohoo. We used to stay at the Hard Rock when we were still flying in. I really hate that they got rid of the outside shopping/eating area. We quit going there once they shut all of that down…

Thanks, Greg. We really are having a blast. Unfortunately we will just be on that 1, 4 nighter (8-15). We usually try and snag a couple of add-ons (just like we’re doing now on EX) but so far it hasn’t happened with these IN cruises (June and Aug) but there’s still time ! It would be great to finally meet you guys.

Same

I was able to save quite a bit of money today with both dining packages and individual specialty meals. BE CAREFUL though, some of the items have gratuity included and some do not.

Others have already posted tibs and tabs about this but I don't think there's a thread devoted to it...at least, not that I know of. There has been a CP "sale" going on for a couple of days. It is "on again/off again" but it's back on today. BUT - BE CAREFUL. Some of the dining packages include gratuities in the "list price" and some do not so be careful cancelling something that you already have until you know for SURE that it's going to be a savings. 1. It appears as though MOST of the packages - UDP and 3 night, already include the grats. If the grats are included, it will say so below the advertised price. If it says "Gratuities Included" then the final price will simply be the number of packages that you are purchasing, multiplied by the price of the package(s) you are purchasing. If it says "pre-cruise savings", the grats are NOT included in that price so you will have to calculate the total price to see what the final $$ will be. 2. It APPEARS as though the requirement to eat at least one meal on nights #1 or #2 is gone. The CP no longer required me to choose a "first" meal time. That's a good thing, IMO. Hopefully you can now use your packages on any days/nights that you choose. 3. It appears as though all of the individual restaurants still require you to calculate gratuities....IOW, the grats are not included in the posted price for individual restaurants. Some of the individual restaurants that I checked were less $$ than when I first purchased and some were not. Just be sure that you know what you'll be paying BEFORE you cancel anything and/or purchase at the "reduced" price. It seems like the package prices include grats. 4. I was not able to use any of my available OBC when I purchased/repurchased my specialty dining. It gave me the option of using the OBC but the final price was never reduced by the amount of the OBC so I am HOPING that the OBC is still there. This is uncertain to me at the moment. Hopefully the OBC will reappear in a day or so. 5. As far as I can tell, the ability to make pre-purchased dining reservations ahead of time has still not been implemented. I was never prompted to make any specific reservations. 6. Other items in the CP may also be on sale. I have only looked at dining so I am unaware if other areas of the CP are similarly affected. The prices are pretty good (considering the upward trend for specialty pricing) and I saved quite a bit of $$ by cancelling and repurchasing but it took me a while to figure out the secret code.

Thursday, day 7. Due to call at St Kitts today but not arriving until 11 AM. Nothing planned for today. We have been blessed with beautiful weather and calm seas for this entire trip. So fortunate ! Off to breakfast at Giovanni’s. It’s one of my very favorite Pinn perks.

Tonite dinner was Izumi. There is no hibachi on EX so it’s always sushi only….which is fine with me. I’m not a fan of the hibachi menu (or the “show”) anyway. This was night #2 of our 3 night dining package. Chops on night #9, the last night. Insider tip: if you see chopsticks nearby, this is probably NOT guacamole. We went to the casino after dinner (who’s surprised) and it was a mixed bag. Dan and I played some Dancing Drums (b/c the pigs were all occupied) and we lost a little bit. Dan went and played some video poker and won while I played some UTH and lost. Ugh. Back in the room now. Tomorrow is St Kitts (again) and we have no plans to get off. Today was another visit to Grenada and we just got off for a little while and browsed the terminal shops. I bought Dan a couple of new Caribbean shirts which he DESPERATELY needed. He’s been wearing the same sad ones we bought in Aruba probably 12 years ago ! Most of them are missing buttons and I’m a terrible wife who has never fixed them for him. It’s easier just to buy some new shirts ! He now has 2 new ones…

I would never use a bag that had previously been used with firearms or ammunition of any kind. Just too many things can go wrong. Sniffing dogs, for example. Why add that risk of suspicion and attention.

Dan - Symphony 2-2-25 Raye - Symphony 2-9-25 Both are OV balcony guarantees so undoubtedly we will have to change staterooms….but the upgrade fee was right. $-0-