WAAAYTOOO

Yeah...I have no idea. I suspect, however, that they pay for these gifts out of their own pockets.

What did we do on the ship ? So I had a bit of a break as I was on a biz trip last week but I have one more installment to complete this very short cruise blog. ? We were on B2B cruises on Anthem with almost identical itineraries. The only difference between the 2 was that on the first leg we went to Nassau first and Coco Cay second and on the second leg we went to Coco Cay first and Nassau second. Our other stop was at Port Canaveral. I will make the descriptions of what we did at our ports of call very simple. Other than getting off at Port Canaveral to conduct some quick business, I did not leave the ship. Dan got off briefly on the first leg at Coco Cay but that was it. Nothing to see here... While on the ship, we thoroughly enjoyed the shows, specialty dining, dining in our suites and of course, the casino. We skipped many of the headliner shows, only seeing 2 comedians and a juggling/magic act which was pretty lame. We saw The Gift once. Once was enough. Also pretty lame. But we LOVED We Will Rock You. We went to see that twice - once on each leg. The first time Yen sat us right up front, which is where Dan usually wants to be. The second time I asked her to move us back some and I enjoyed that location much more than being right up front. I think Dan still prefers to be up front. We each got what we wanted. Always a good thing. There were 2 tribute bands - 1 on each of the legs. The first one was a Journey Tribute band (can't remember their name) and we saw them at 270. I thought they were ok but I wasn't overly impressed. I was in a constant panic that the lead singer was going to lose his trou. They were so low and so loose that every time he would hop about, he would have to grab them to keep them from going to his ankles. He once jumped from the floor to an raised area on the stage and I thought it was all over for sure. He barely caught them in time ! The second tribute band was Wanted, which was a Bon Jovi cover band. I enjoyed that one much more, which is odd b/c I am much more of a Journey fan than I am a BJ fan but I just thought the second show was better. We saw that show in the Music Hall. Of course, Yen reserved prime viewing seats for us for both of these events (recalling that she was hesitant to do so at the Music Hall, but did anyway, in the end). We went to see the Spectra Cabaret twice (once on each leg). That was a very interesting and different kind of show. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We really liked 270, period. I think it is a GREAT venue and we liked going there during the day, at night and during shows. We ate at every specialty restaurant except for Wonderland, which we detest. Next time, however, I AM going to get one of those World things !!! The food was consistently good at Chops and when I finally found something that I really liked at Jamie's (mushroom fettuccine) I enjoyed going there, too. It shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone that I enjoyed the mushroom fettuccine....it is nothing more than a thickened version of the cream of mushroom soup, poured over fettuccine noodles. LOL It is good though ! I also liked Jamie's tiramisu. I think it is much better than Giovanni's...and it is the ONLY thing that I think Jamie's does better than Giovanni's. One really cold and rainy day on our way back on the final leg, I wanted Johnny Rocket's but since the JR on Anthem is a store front only it was much too cold to eat there. So we ordered our food and then asked Yen to have it delivered to our suite - which she did, joyfully. I visited Starbuck's every day in the AM before they divested themselves of the yummy chocolate croissants and even had Dan drinking hot chocolate with me there before the end. Neither of us are coffee drinkers but I do enjoy a good cappuccino. I even broke "the cappuccino rule" and had one after 10:00AM a few times. I found out, from my many trips to Italy over the years, that it is considered very bad form (especially for MEN !) to drink cappuccino after 10AM. Who cares. I'm not Italian ! We ate at Izumi a LOT b/c that is probably Dan's fave restaurant. I will say....after 16 days of eating at the same 4-5 restaurants, it was getting a bit tiresome. I never thought I would say that out loud...but I do think it's true. We never went to the MDR but we did go to the WJ twice (both times for lunch) ! We had room service most mornings for breakfast and had room service for dinner a couple of times. On the last night, Dan had the lamb shank and I had a Maine lobster - delivered to the suite. It was kind of like a "last supper". Very somber affair.... We did the bumper cars once on the first leg. Once was enough for them. Yen took us to the front of the line, we got in, bounced around for a while and got out. 'Nuff said. We did North Star 3 times. Once in the open ocean (boring), once in Port Canaveral (better) and once in Coco Cay, which was the best, IMO. We really enjoyed going up in the NS. I am really not that brave and I thought I might be afraid but it was so smooth that you hardly even notice that it's rising. The last time we caused something of a stir, I guess. I didn't know this until it was over but apparently they were running a bit behind schedule and there were some people who had been waiting over 30 minutes for their "reserved" ride on NS. Of course, Yen just walked us up to the front and put us on the next evolution and apparently there were some who were not too happy about that. I had no idea. I certainly wouldn't have minded waiting if I had known that they had been waiting for a while. Dan did not do the iFly even though he is a very experienced sky diver. I don't know why he didn't do it...he just didn't. Maybe it's for the same reason that he had no interest in doing the flight simulator in Nassau. I guess once you do the "real thing" a simulator just doesn't do it for ya. Whatevs... As a gift, Yen gave us a sushi making class on the last day. We didn't have the heart to tell her that we had already done this once on Grandeur so we went. I was much better at it the second time than I was the first time so maybe doing a second time wasn't a complete waste of time ! I absolutely hate that dried seaweed (YUK!) so I decided that this time I was NOT going to use it. My rolls were a bit - um - flaccid - because of the lack of the seaweed wrap but they sure tasted better ! The casino was the casino. Not much more to say there. The staff was very good...we made good friends with all of the pit bosses and a few of the dealers. We lost money - as we always do but much less than normal, especially considering that it was a 16 day mega gambling spree. These were the final 2 casino events for this casino year. We will not be on another cruise until after the new casino year starts on 1 April. We both qualified for Prime several cruises back but never even came close to qualifying for the next higher tier, which is Signature. It was a great B2B Star Class cruise. We enjoyed it so much that we are doing nearly the exact same itinerary next year. We are starting 1 week earlier than we did this year but will still be doing 2 Grand Loft Suites on 2 consecutive weeks in February 2020. YIPPEE !!!!

The tiramisu is the ONLY thing that I think is better at Jamie's than at Giovanni's.

Reyno did the same thing on our first SC cruise with him. I do not have a FB page so he found nothing on me BUT Dan has a blog dealing almost exclusively with his Military service and military associations. Reyno found that, recognized that Dan was a "milit'ry man" <in my best South African accent>. Reyno was also a military officer (in the SA Army) so they had that kind of soldier-bond-thing going on from the beginning. At the end of that cruise, Reyno gave Dan a solid bronze, antique ship's compass, which I thought was an extremely personal and considerate gift. The Genies really do their homework and try and make your experience very very special.

I am REALLY impressed. I cannot imagine that you ate all of that food PLUS the seafood tower ! WOW. There is no way we could have eaten all of that. The seafood tower is a right of passage for Star Class. Everyone orders it just because they can ! W ordered it one time...and we had a friend with us. Dan said NEVER AGAIN !

<embarrassed face> Thanks.... ?

We rarely do MDR anymore but when we did, we always used MTD and we were almost always able to get the same table/waiters. You do have to make those arrangements with the maitre d though. On your way out of the restaurant on the first night, just stop by the maitre d kiosk and tell them that you want to keep your table and waiters OR if you want a different table and/or waiters, let them know that, too. Our waiters have usually been very good but we've had a few bad experiences, too.

When I go to the EU on biz they still stamp my passport.

The sound on these videos isn't working for me. ?

I have noticed the hard mattresses, too. Last year on Liberty we were in an Owner's Suite and the mattress was so hard I could barely stand it. The attendant put 2 comforters on it and it helped at first but once they got "compacted" it was just another hard layer. We're back on LIB in August and I suspect it will be the same. No, I am not bringing my own mattress topper.

I am booked on Oasis in Dec 2019 and again in Dec 2020 - both Star Class. I can’t WAIT to see the Amped Oasis. We are on the second sailing after she comes back from being Amped. I love all of the O class ships so you will not hear any discouragement coming from me !

This is the worst feeling I have ever had without being at a funeral or a courthouse. I know it all too well.....

Geniebot !

Glad you finally stopped lurking and came out to play with us !!

It should definitely show up on your cruise planner before boarding.

Thanks for sending that. I knew I had seen it in writing before.

The OBC from the RC Visa card will usually show up around 2 weeks before you cruise. Sometimes they show up sooner. I hope they show up before the sale ends !!

No need to be embarrassed ! I have cruised nearly 50 times and I completely forgot to check in not too long ago !

I agree with Twangster. Very unlikely that Chops is actually $39 on Symphony. I don't know if Chops is $39 ANYwhere anymore.

Yes. It does.

YUM ! Who made this ??

No. "They" will make a reservation for you for the first night, which you can change once you are on the ship, if you like. Once you are onboard, you can make the rest of your dining reservations. When you purchase a dining package pre-cruise, you are trading cost for convenience. You save money but you are not permitted to make those reservations ahead of time. That's the tradeoff.

Recently, Dan and I were on a cruise and eating in the Windjammer. There was a couple next to us with 2 small children. The table was a complete wreck ! There was food on the floor everywhere and I said to Dan - "this is why they charge gratuities for children !". I feel terrible for whoever had to clean up that mess.

Congratulations on your sobriety ! It's not easy. I know.....

On our recent B2B on Anthem the price of the drinks package was different for each cruise so there is just no way to predict what the price will be. As a general rule, the prices of the drinks packages will be higher when there is a Federal holiday involved.