WAAAYTOOO

This is my prediction

After many tries I still do not have SPG combined with Marriott. It’s not a huge problem for me since I had a very meager SPG holding. Marriott, on the other hand is my “big boy” so as long as it stays updated, I am happy.

In my experience, Swedish massage always turns into deep tissue. If she is sensitive to muscle pressure make sure she lets the masseuse know up front so that they can adjust the pressure. I always end up in pain since I think most of the masseuses only really learn deep tissue techniques.

^^. This

As far as I know, the “official” rule is that once you receive a RU cabin assignment, it is final (as opposed to other situations where you ARE able to change cabins within the same category), however, I have read of at least 1 situation where the RU winner claims that they were able to change their RU cabin assignment. Who knows it it’s true.

I wonder about this. All I have heard is complaining about this design. Of course, I haven’t even seen one in “person” so have no opinion of my own.

You would not double C&A points even if you got the GS. They are not awarding double cruise points for RoyalUp upgrades unless your original booking was eligible for double points. The only one of these options that I would stay away from were it me, is the one for the spacious ocean view balcony. I have read a number of situations where people who were already in balconies bid on a different category of balcony only to find out that it wasn’t really an upgrade at all. I think you would be safe bidding on any of the higher level categories though. Just keep in mind that you can’t move your assigned cabin if you win a RU upgrade. If you like the location of your current cabin and would not want to get stuck with an undesirable location then it might be best to not bid. That being said, the locations of most full suites are pretty centralized. The only one where you might get stuck somewhere far forward or far aft would be the JS.

We’re in Coco Cay today with Grandeur. It’s like old home week ! First time (for us) to have 2 ship at CC at the same time. No wonder prices were so high on this second leg of our B2B.

Welcome to the blog ! Unless you suspect there might be a price change, I would book sooner rather than later. I like to have all of the loose ends tied up but that’s just me. ...and on a personal note, I still have not arranged our transport from Hobby (Houston) to Galveston (and back) for our Aug 25 LIB sailing. I should practice what I preach !

We were on NAV on the last cruise, too....are also on this cruise. Saw the piano man on last week but so far, not on this leg. I’m sure he’ll show up at some point.

They actually mentioned that the published closing time was “late” which is fairly useless in terms of planning. I guess they just wait until 11:00 and if no one is ordering food, they shut it all down.

Yes there is construction at South Beach and yes, the floating bar was open yesterday.

Agree about the bionic bar. Complete waste of space.

We are on NAV and a couple of nights ago our friends went down to Playmakers at around 11:15 to get a snack after leaving the casino. When they got there, they were told that they quit serving food at 11:00. They were very disappointed. The server told her that if nobody is ordering food, they just shut down the kitchen. Lame.

We just witnessed this less than 5 minutes ago. We are in Nassau. A lady was eating plate of French fries. The seagulls swooped down, ,sent her running and snatched every one of those French fries right off of her plate. This was on the ship !

Have a great time !

Yippee ! Enjoy yourselves. It will be next Oct before we are on another GC. Have a great time. I am envious.

Are they still doing the promo chips ?

OMG you couldn’t have shown a worse photo to me ! I miss my golden so much. Yours are beautiful. I love that picture. They’re hugging !

We were just at Coco Cay yesterday and I would concur that the water park did not appear to be worth the money. If you have children who would really enjoy the smaller water slides then maybe....but I will tell you that those smaller water slides yesterday were PACKED. The line was solid all the way from the ground to the landing. I could not really see how crowded the tall water slides were but the shorter one was really, really crowded. Due to winds the helium ballon was grounded and my opinion is that this balloon will be grounded more often than it will be operational. Great idea but completely impractical, I think. I don’t look for it to be duplicated at other sites. I agree that the free pool is the place to be unless you want the beach. We ate lunch at the Chill Grill and the food was very good. They had a portobello mushroom flat bread sandwich that was delicious ! There are so many loungers, umbrellas and places to sit. Very nice. We didn’t spend a dime and enjoyed the day very much. I felt bad for the Norwegian ship pax that were on their island. They had to tender in and I could just hear the sounds of little voices saying, “ mommy, I want to go over THERE” pointing towards Coco Cay.

I would have been appalled if the first thing I encountered was a filthy room ! Once we found a few pieces of clothing in a drawer (Grandeur) but the room itself was clean. I can’t say that I blame you for your reaction. It sounds like there were many disappointments on your cruise. Sorry to hear it.

We are on NAV right now on a B2B 3,4 night combo. We were not allowed to eat at Chops on embarkation day (Key only) but we were allowed to eat at Jamie’s. I’m not much of a Jamie’s fan but at least we got a nice sit-down lunch. There was no specialty restaurant open on our day at Coco Cay (yesterday) for lunch but we were told that Izumi would be open for lunch today (Nassau). We’ll know a bit later if it’s true. We LOVED Hooked. The amount of food that is included is truly amazing. It even includes the whole Maine lobster. Truthfully, I look for this restaurant to go a la carte soon...just my opinion. It’s an incredible value for the UDP. I don’t think it will last as an all-inclusive. Tomorrow is turnaround day so I suspect we will be stuck with Jamie’s again for lunch. Ugh. Chops has been on par with what we expect. Have not tried Playmakers or El Loco Fresh (or whatever it’s called). Stephanie and Canoe are on this trip with us and they went to Hooked last night for oysters and soup and then came to Chops later for a full meal and had no problem so it looks like the multiple dining venues option is working. That’s great news ! BTW, the New England clam chowder at Hooked is ALMOST as good as mine...and they give you a gallon. Lol. The oysters were only “ok”. I like them really salty and these were a bit bland and the crackers they gave us were more like Communion wafers than crackers. The oysters are very popular though !

I love everything about Curacao. It is so cute, to start with. When you pull into port you will see the lovely colors of the homes and other buildings. So welcoming. I love walking around downtown. When you get off the ship, head “right” out through the gates and walk along the waterfront. It will take you to a lovely area where they have renovated some fortress areas into businesses, restaurants and even a casino. America would never do that ! I love that they took an area of historical significance (I assume) and created a bustling business area. After you have seen that area, continue walking through and it will take you to the pedestrian floating bridge. It’s an amazing engineering creation. Walk across the bridge and on the other side, hire a tuc-tuc to drive you around. The city is amazing and has such an interesting history. There is a floating market where boats sail in from Venezuela to sell their goods. The island has a rich Jewish heritage which is very interesting. Of course there is a lot of Dutch influence since it was once a Dutch colony. A number of years ago we did a dolphin swim in Curaçao and really enjoyed it. Interestingly enough, we have never been to the beach in Curaçao but we aren’t beach people anyway. Someone else may have more information on beaches. Everyone always raves about Aruba but I really prefer Curaçao.

Oh how I wish....

I am on NAV in a Grand Suite right now. Suites have an exclusive breakfast in Chops Grill which gives you a nice, quiet, full service breakfast but unfortunately no other exclusive meals for suites. The Suites Lounge is open 24/7 but as KristiZ mentioned, the Concierge is only there during published hours. One note about the Suites Lounge. We went there (to get a cappuccino) right after we boarded and b/c we did not have Sea Pass cards yet we could not get in. Luckily we knocked and there was someone inside to open the door and let us in but if they had not been there we would have been SOL. One very big down side to the “no Sea Pass cards upon boarding” process. The Suites Concierge on currently (Andrea) is very nice I think she is new to being a Concierge (#1 we have not met her before and #2 she seems to have to consult with the Diamond Concierge regularly to get help/answers). I like her though. Suites perks do not include internet service on NAV (it does on Oasis and Quantum Class ships). There are reserved seating areas for suites in the main theater and the ice skating rink but they only hold those seats until 10 minutes before showtime. After that, they release the reserved seating to anyone. Be at the show at least 15 minutes before showtime. One other shortfall about the newly amped NAV that I somehow missed in the blogs...when the moved the fitness center and added new cabins, they completely removed the sauna and steam rooms. Dan was more than slightly annoyed to find this out. So, no sauna and/or steam rooms anymore on NAV. Unfortunate We have the Unlimited Dining Package and on embarkation day we were not permitted to eat at Chops but they did let’s us eat at Jamie’s.