CruzOnBye

Big fan of the jalapeno pineapple margarita from Playmakers and the jalapeno cucumber one from Sabor the other night was good too. Bacon wrapped chicken jalapeno app at Sabor is also my favorite thing on the whole menu. We had the nicest server who brought me a triple order when I told her that, lol.
May you find many jalapenos on Liberty!

Friday October 20
Transportation Strike Day!!
We got back to the airport at 500 and had no problems going through security. The process was fast and simple...nothing came off our body or out of our bags. They didn't care about liquids, tablets, etc. In addition, since our flight was within the Schengen Area, we didn't have to go through any kind of passport check.
Our flight took off and landed as planned...it was rather uneventful. Two and a half hours of nap time for us.
Once we landed, we had to figure out transportation to our hotel since there was a scheduled National Transportation strike in Italy today.
Our original plan was to take a water taxi from the airport to our hotel when we arrived, but the canceled flight changed that. Thankfully, one of the bus lines, the ATVO bus is privately operated and we were able to take that from the Venice Airport to Piazzale Roma at the end of the bridge to Venice. The cost was 20 € for the both of us. Tickets can be purchased inside the airport just beyond the baggage claim area or outside at ticket machines in the ground transportation area. We bought ours inside because I wanted to try my hand at Italian. The woman at the ticket counter understood me fine, but replied in English. This was a common theme in the Venice area....people seemed to rather speak English than risk a non-native Italian speaker misunderstanding something.
The bus trip was 20 minutes and you get off at Piazzale Roma, right in a big area with lots of bus and car activity. Watch out for vehicles cause they don't seem to watch out for you. There are many vaporetto stops nearby and the train station is a very short walk away.
Since no water buses (vaporetti) were running because of the transportation strike, we decided to walk to our hotel....Google Maps said 35 minutes. We didn't have a ton of luggage, and we're both in good physical shape...what could go wrong?
This was one of the only real mistakes we made during the whole trip. The walk on the uneven ground and narrow alleys in the heat and humidity was brutal....and the crowds. Holy S the crowds!! The popular areas were shoulder to shoulder people. It's currently the time of “acqua alta” (high water) in Venice so the water was shin deep on me in places...and I'm 6'4”...my wife is 5'2”...she was not impressed.
The Rialto Bridge was so crowded that it was an exercise in futility. We ended up finding a reroute which added another 25 minutes to our walk.  We were absolutely exhausted when we arrived.
On the flip side, the hotel experience was great.
We stayed at the Locanda Silva. It's an easy walk (5 mins) from a Vaporetto stop, and the owners are wonderful. I had contacted them the day before to let them know we would be a day late and they said not to worry. I neither expected nor asked about a refund for the missed night of lodging due to our canceled flight. We have trip insurance for that.
Our room included a private bathroom, included a breakfast, and ran us 200 € each night.
The check in process was easy and the owner spoke good English and humored me while I spoke in Italian.
After changing clothes and hydrating, we spent the next few hours walking around Venice...unencumbered by luggage.
Our hotel was in the Castello neighborhood and we headed deeper into it, going away from the tourist areas. We love to see normal people like us going about their daily lives rather than fighting the crowds.
Dinner tonight was at place recommended to us by the young man who was at the hotel desk. He even called to get us reservations.
We ate at 6342 Alla Corte. Dinner ran us 75 € and even our “thrifty” selves thought it was worth it. There are pictures below. The appetizer was a local seafood platter, I had a chicken dish, and my wife had bacon wrapped monkfish. We're not foodies, so I can't tell you the names of the dishes. Sorry.
The restaurant was very nice and to be honest, a lot higher class than we're used to. I felt like the proverbial bull in a china shop, but everyone was really nice to us. The owner felt bad that we didn't have a drink and wanted to give us one on the house after dinner, but we don't drink alcohol.
This was a recurring theme. We ran into a lot of confusion from people who didn't understand why we wouldn't have a glass of wine or an after dinner drink.
The walk back to our hotel from the restaurant was amazing, even in the drizzle. Venice at night is worth seeing.
We were in bed by 2230. Tonight, we had two single beds pushed together, so while we could sleep together, there was a light outside our window that shone in on us all night. We were exhausted, so it didn't bother us, but I could see some people complaining about it. It's something to be aware of at least if you consider staying here.  Another consideration is there are no elevators at the hotel.  You will have to walk up stairs to get to the desk and then more to get to your room.
Tomorrow: travel to Ravenna
 
Edit: Added one final picture to this reply...it's of the entrance to our hotel, Locanda Silva.   It's the brightly lit open door.
 

Wednesday October 18 into Thursday October 19, 2023
My wife and I both worked this morning...me 330a-9a and she 7a-10a.  I convinced her that we should leave at 10 instead of 11.  No real reason for this other than I wanted to start our trip.
We went from Maine to Boston's Logan Airport via bus. This was the cheapest way to get there...parking at Logan is crazy, and we knew we wouldn't want to drive two hours north when we finally got back on the 29th....Boston traffic is never light.  We are only 7 or so miles from the bus station in Portland, and parking is $5/day.
We flew on TAP Air with a connection in Portugal. We booked Economy then paid 50 € each for “Comfort Plus” seats with more leg room and recline. The seats were comfortable.  The plane was an Aerobus 321LR.
We chose the second row from bulkhead on the port side so we had under seat storage. The third seat was empty so it was just the two of us. I had checked the seating map two days prior and moved us to that row because the third seat was empty. Bathrooms were all the in the back though.
The flight was incredibly bumpy. Extreme turbulence doesn't bother me, but I thought my wife broke my hand squeezing it. The people in the row in front of us shrieking didn't help either.
We had no hot meal service because of the turbulence. They served cold cheese sandwiches a couple hours out from Lisbon.
 
We departed Boston at 1755. Our scheduled arrival time in Lisbon was 520 and we arrived a bit before 500.  We went faster to avoid an incoming storm.  We disembarked from the plane on the tarmac and were taken in shuttle buses to the terminal.  This was kind of pita, but thankfully it wasn't raining too hard.  First impressions:  Damn, it's hot and humid here.
Passport control was easy...10 minute wait but area was wicked hot....everyone was uncomfortable, not just us.  The immigration agent was very brusque...he said two words to us “Come!” and “Go!”  I'm assuming there was a language barrier.  In any case, we had no problems getting our passports stamped to enter the Schengen Area.
Our connecting flight was scheduled to depart at 1420.   We had originally planned to go out in Lisbon and be tourists but weather was very windy and rainy, so we booked the TAP Air Lounge for 48 € each. The lounge is upstairs and opens at 0500. Included food, drinks, showers, etc.
There's no decent place to lay down, and by 1000 it was packed with people.  We ate and napped in a booth until noon then went downstairs to terminal to walk around a bit and wait for a gate to be assigned. We did not have to go through security again since our bags were checked all the way to Venice. We stayed right in the Schengen Area with no problems.
 
At 1330, our flight showed up as canceled. The TAP service desk was swamped because two other flights to Italy were canceled as well. I was on the phone with Air2Sea while my wife waited in the line with some other couples who we met who were going on cruises. Air2Sea couldn't find verification of flight cancellation so the agent asked me to get back in line with my wife while we were still on the call so the Air2Sea agent could talk to the TAP agent. Unfortunately, all cell service and wifi dropped when I got close to the service desk. No one had any service. I was using ATT International Day Plan which worked well everywhere but this spot. Wifi calling using airport wifi was a no-go too.
The TAP agent was very helpful. When he saw our boarding passes, he immediately gave us hotel vouchers, meal vouchers for the hotel restaurant, and four vouchers for airport restaurants the next morning....two for the Schengen Area and two for the non-Schengen Area. We were rebooked on a flight to Venice the next morning at 0755.  The total wait was around 40 minutes from getting in line to getting our new flight.  While in line, we met three other couples who were on the cruise as well.  We stayed together as a group since there was a definite "safety in numbers" thing going on with keeping your place in line.  TAP Air was trying to separate people into four separate lines because four flights were cancelled, but a lot of people just inserted themselves into whatever line looked like it was moving the quickest.
 
We shared an Uber to hotel with one of the other couples.  The hotel we were booked at was the Sana Metropolitan. It was nice hotel with decent rooms, although we had two single beds that couldn't be put together.  We definitely felt like there were much nicer rooms in the hotel, but we just wanted a place to shower and sleep. 
We put our carry on bags in the room and went for a walk in Lisbon. Beautiful city and we felt very safe.  All the people we interacted with were very pleasant and welcoming.  We used a translator app on my phone and had a great time walking around and seeing that part of the city.
The hotel restaurant had a huge buffet filled with local specialties. I have no idea what the things I ate were called because I didn't understand the Portuguese, but it was all excellent.
Despite sitting around the airport for 8+ hours before our flight was cancelled, we ended up having a great day.  We weren't stressed about getting to Venice a day late because we built extra days into our trip.  We also have an annual trip insurance plan so we knew the missed night in Venice, the water taxi ride from the Venice Airport to the hotel, and the Uber in Lisbon would be reimbursed.
The little bit of Lisbon we saw left us wanting to go back and spend more time there.
 
**Edited to add this**
As soon as we stepped away from the TAP Air service desk after we got our new flight, my phone buzzed with a couple messages. It was Air2Sea trying to call me back after our call was disconnected.  I called them back to let them know we were rebooked the next morning.  They asked for our updated flight info and thanked us for letting them know were were all set.  Then they closed out our incident.
 

This will be a work in progress. 
I've reserved replies for each day and I'll come back and add to them.  It will take me a few days to complete, but I wanted to show how easy it was to cruise from Venice/Ravenna despite the long travel distance from either Bologna or Venice airports.  We are really travel newbies, and we were still able to navigate our first European cruise easily.
I'm a butcher, not a scholar, so please overlook typos, grammar issues, etc.  Yes, I'm literally a butcher.  I've been doing it since I apprenticed at 15.
I took pictures of things I found interesting.  Others may or may not be interested in them...you've been warned. 🙂   We kept meaning to take food pictures, but forgot when we started eating because we were hungry.  🤷‍♂️
My wife and I are in our mid-50s, pretty frugal, and never started cruising until our youngest was 19 in 2019.  We weren't quite prepared to enjoy it as much as we do.  We managed three cruises before the shut down. When we were jumping through the hoops to go to Nassau in 2021 to sail on Adventure, we realized we had become "Cruisers". 🙂
We booked this cruise as soon as the 2023 European itineraries were released (Jan 6, 2022 to be precise).  I woke up in the middle of the night every day of release week until they were finally live.  We wanted an aft corner balcony cabin and there are only a handful.  We ended up with cabin 9690.  Aft port corner on deck 9.  Total cost for booking (before gratuities) was $2318. 
Flights were $1412 for Economy, then we had to add the cost of individual seat upgrades for a bit more legroom.  We flew in to Venice Marco Polo Airport and returned from Rome Fiumicino.  We also paid for post-cruise transfers through Air2Sea at $71.95 each.  I'll get in to how we made our way from the Venice Airport to Ravenna (via Venice) on those specific travel days.
We went back and forth about whether to check bags or not.  We decided to each buy a convertible soft backpack/suitcase and check those.  Airtags went in the checked bags, but thankfully we had no problems with our bags arriving.
In preparation for traveling to Italy, I started learning some basic Italian through the popular apps like Babbel, and DuoLingo.  I moved from there to podcasts, videos, and settled on a paid membership to Coffee Break Italian.  I watched a lot of Italian tv shows and movies, some dubbed in Italian (like Friends) and some were actual Italian tv shows (like Un Medico in Famiglia).  My prep work helped, but not quite in the way I expected....more on this later.
 
When we decided to cruise out of Italy, we thought we might have bitten off more than we could chew, but we didn't.  Trust me...if we can do it, anyone can.
 
Note...I'm using 24 hour clock for times because I'm still screwed up enough with the time zone changes that it's easier for me to keep track of things...plus, that's how I wrote things in my notes I took over the week.

Girl, I live for jalapenos! DH and I were shocked we didn't have the option to have them on our cheesesticks last night.  #youknowyourefromtexaswhen

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day here in Ft Lauderdale. High of 84, and there are a few clouds in the distance. With the rip current warning still in effect, we think we made the right decision to forego surf lessons today.
We went to the hotel's included breakfast and were able to catch the sunrise over the pool. The ocean is just on the other side of the pool.

Breakfast was the typical just OK free hotel breakfast. A step up from Homewood suites with an omelet station in addition to buffet eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, muffins, bagels, and oatmeal. There was no waffle maker which disappointed the kids. 


after breakfast we walked over to the beach which was clean and drops off pretty quickly at the foot of the loungers. DS and I are headed to the pool, DH is taking a nap, and DD needs a break from yesterday's over stimulation and is going to watch TV until DH is up. They'll join us at the pool then.

Phew, what a day!
We arrived at the port around 9:45am, easily dropped off our luggage and got in line for the parking garage. We were only 5 or so cars back from the gate, however there was some commotions so the parking staff had us all reverse back out away from the gate and let someone exit the line. The lady in front of us reversed into us, pushing us into the guy behind us…panic. 
 
I apologized at least 5 times to him, while the lady in front of us just went on through. None of the PC staff seemed to have caught the accident, but we had no damage on the front end so DH and I just let it go. I did have a small dent on my back bumper, fortunately the guy behind us had no damage and was so calm and cool about the whole thing. “We’re on vacation! Y’all go have fun!” I offered several times to buy him a drink and he wouldn’t take me up on it. I hope the universe dishes out some good karma somewhere for him. 
Got in line around 10:10, not too far back from the door. All of a sudden we start seeing several people in full suits. The moment we saw the dress bags we connected the dots. There seemed to be a lot of people a part of this wedding ….it took several buss loads to get them all in. I’ve read that sometimes things can run ahead of schedule, but that wasn’t the case for us today. Once we finally breezed through the check in process we were finally seated in our check in group at 10:45am. That’s when we found out not only was it one wedding, but two! AND apparently one was for an actor - I had to google his name to find he was on the Love Boat (how fitting) and a soap opera? It seemed to take several people coordinating who was just there for the wedding and not sailing, I thought this was a weird concept, but to each their own. By 10:55, we finally hit the walkway into the ship. I have also heard rumors from some B2B people on board that there was a disturbance onboard early this morning. An adult apparently punched a child. I have not heard full details, but police were brought on board and someone was arrested. 
 
Quickly found our muster and headed straight to the Solarium for lunch. We figured we’d start off in a quiet spot first and then walk the length of the ship and get our bearings. DH hopped on the Flowrider after a bit of waiting. Definitely feel like they needed two of these instead of the golf area. There was a small issue with kids jumping in front of others in line (parents of course, idle) but DH is a good sport and let them go. There seemed to be an intense brother-sister competition going on. 
Our room was ready at 12:45. It was hard not to take a nap right then and there. We saved our champagne and strawberries for an after dinner treat, grabbed the waters, and headed back for some Solarium pool time to read and snooze, we stayed there quite a bit today, but it just felt like our vibe. We’re retirees stuck in 30 year old bodies apparently. 
 
Dinner was pretty good tonight, I’d say 7.5/10 if you desire a score. Our server Donna is very sweet and assistant Leo was so kind to the table next to us with small kids. One had found a duck, but he must have overheard the other being upset not to have one, so he made a duck out of a napkin and gave it to him.  
 
DH did well and explored some options out of his usual palette. The escargot wasn’t for us, but the flavor of the sauce went well with the bread. He was jealous of my crab cake, yeah I could take two more of those. Nothing too exceptional with the fish, but the potatoes we good. Cheesecake is always a winner for me. 
 
We came back to the room after dinner to enjoy the rest of sunset with champagne and strawberries. We almost dozed off but had the comedy show booked at 8:30…I applaud you all with children because we were exhausted. Glad we went though because it helped us unwind for the rest of the evening. Clocking out for now 😴

DAY 1: Embarkation Day - (SUN, 10/29)… Continued…
Let me wrap up Day 1 before we head to the Coco Beach Club for the day!
Last night we went to Izumi (Sushi/Restaurant side) for dinner. Our waiter was excellent!
With the UDP, you can choose one “small plate”, two “large plates”, and one dessert. If you want to skip dessert, you can pick another “small plate”.
I ordered the Shrimp and Pork Wonton Soup, Spicy Crispy Shrimp Roll, Champagne Lobster in Yuzu Wrap Roll, and the Crispy Sesame Balls.
The waiter also brought out Edamame, Miso Soup, and 3 different kinds of sake during our meal.





My wife the chocoholic went with the Chocolate Lava Cake!



The food and service was excellent!!! We have another dinner and a lunch here during this sailing. Can’t wait to try something different!
After dinner, we explored the ship and headed to the Boardwalk to watch some football. Love the ship st night!










After spending some time at Playmakers, we explored a little more and headed back to the cabin.
We skipped Tap Factory this evening (9:45pm) since we’ve seen it twice (once on Odyssey and again on Wonder last January).
OK, time to get off the ship!
Have a great day everyone!

DAY 1: Embarkation Day - Port Canaveral (SUN, 10/29)
The shuttle ride to the port was quick with no traffic. Approaching Cruise Terminal 1 and Wonder!


The whole process was very efficient. We got off the shuttle, handed our tagged/checked bags directly to the porter, and walked to the entrance of the terminal. Once again, we have the Key and the 10:30am-11:00am boarding window for this sailing.
The outside of the terminal had a short, quick moving line…

Once we entered the terminal, we were surprised that it was completely full this early! I doubt people were adhering to the boarding times!
The regular security lines snaked throughout the terminal. Thankfully, there was signage to the left for the Key which had no line. In this pic, we’re near the beginning of the line for the dedicated security station assigned for the Key guests. You can see there was no line (on the right) for the Key behind us at that time. I think these folks were wondering why we were flying by them!

We went through security and up the escalator to check in with the folks handling the Key guests. The ship had already started boarding, so we walked right through and onto the ship. So excited to see the ship again as we approached!

Next, we went directly to Izumi to make all of our specialty reservations. We could not believe how long the line was before 11:00am! Once again, this is the first time we have purchased the Unlimited Dining Package.
All of our specialty dining reservations were made except for Izumi Hibachi. By the time we got to the podium, they only had late night (9:15pm) available reservations! They explained that the hibachi side (both lunch and dinner) was mostly booked pre-cruise (folks that purchased a-la-carte through the planner). So, we decided to make reservations for Izumi Sushi (table service side) for multiple dates. 😄
Next, we headed to MDR and checked in with the Key station. We dropped off our carry-ons and headed into the MDR for our Key lunch (still the same Chops Grille menu). We all had the wild mushroom soup and filet mignon. For dessert, we had the Royal chocolate cake or New York cheese cake.





The soup and dessert were excellent, but the filet mignon was just decent (temperature, tenderness, and taste not as good this time). Also, I found it strange that they eliminated the mashed potatoes and mac & cheese and substituted french fries! Overall, it still was a nice way to kick off the cruise, but we remember having a much better experience pre-Covid. We booked Chops Grille for lunch so we’ll have a chance to really experience the difference later this week. I missed when the Key lunch was actually in Chops Grille!
The rooms were ready before we finished lunch. We completed the phone app portion of the safety exercise and checked in at our muster station. We cut through the Royal Promenade to grab some Starbucks from the Cafe Promenade (included in the beverage package unlike the actual Starbucks kiosk near Spotlight Karaoke and Boleros).
Here is the menu for products available in the Cafe Promenade:

You enter a separate line on the left side of the Cafe Promenade to order from this station. I had a Caramel Frappuccino and my wife had a Caramel Cappuccino.


A couple of random shots of the Promenade with the balloons prepped for the midnight drop!


… one of the quirky murals in the bathrooms… remember this ship was originally designed for deployment in Asia…

We headed back to the cabin to unpack and settled in before meeting up with the rest of our group for Sail Away! We met at the aft of the ship near the Ultimate Abyss. This time, unlike during our JAN cruise, the ship was positioned with the bow facing Grills Restaurant. Not much of a view while we waited for the ship to head out. 
We ordered a few of our favorites at the Wipeout Bar… First, Lava Flows with a Kraken rum floater (more lava than anything else apparently!).  🤣 
… and then frozen mojitos!


A couple shots of the coast as we headed out…


 
I’m running out of gas and we have an early day tomorrow at PDCC!
I’ll finish up Day 1 when I have the chance. 
Have a good night everyone! 😃

Writing all this down, I have much to learn 😅
 
 
We have arrived! The second leg of the drive was quite chaotic. A few months ago a hurricane came through the Madison county area of Florida and took down as many as 10,000 trees. Well, today was the day they decided to try and clean some of that up so we were in either bumper to bumper traffic, or dodging reckless 18-wheelers all day. 
 
I originally had us booked at the Hampton (connected to Home 2), but H2 had some last minute deals this week so I just swapped us over. Saved about $50, I’ll take it! Room is very spacious and has a nice walk in entry pool. We might start our paddles early tonight and stretch these legs. 

How exciting!! I can't wait to hear about the St. Thomas excursion, we have this same itinerary next year so really interested to hear all about it...I might snag a Black Friday deal on the excursion.. 🤔

Nothing like starting the blog last minute! We fly out tomorrow and set sail this Sunday (10/29)!   🚢 🌴 🌞
I kept wavering on the title of this blog… trying to keep up with everyone’s clever titles (especially @Lovetocruise2002's 😆)! Should it be, “Return to Wonder”, “All the Wonder”, etc.
This year, my wife and I are experiencing some cruising firsts. This is the first time we were able to schedule two cruises in a calendar year. Also, the first time we sail the same ship twice. Finally, 2023 is a “Year of Wonder” because this will be our second time on Wonder! Our sad version of a B2B I guess 😃… instead of getting off and immediately reboarding, we had to wait almost 10 months to reboard Wonder! 🤣 A true B2B is definitely on the bucket list!
Once again, our only other cruise this year was on Wonder last January. We originally booked Harmony (CP balcony), but got to jump to Wonder due to the redeployments! Also, when they first posted Wonder’s new PC schedule right after the redeployment announcement, fares were very low at first (Harmony rates), so we booked this sailing (OV balcony) immediately!  😎
On this cruise, we’re sailing with 2/3 of our January traveling group. So, it will be my wife and I, and my wife’s uncle and GF!
We’re all so excited! This will be our second Halloween cruise!  🎃 👻 🎃 
 
* Time for some trip details…
Cruise Details:  
Wonder of the Seas, 7-night, Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day itinerary Out of Port Canaveral, FL 10/29/23-11/5/23 Itinerary:
Day 1 (10/29):              Port Canaveral, FL Day 2 (10/30):              PDCC, Bahamas Day 3 (10/31):                (* At Sea *   HALLOWEEN!  🎃 👻 🎃) Day 4 (11/01):              Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas Day 5 (11/02):              Philipsburg, St. Maarten Day 6 (11/03):                (* At Sea *) Day 7 (11/04):                (* At Sea *) Day 8 (11/05):              Port Canaveral, FL Cabin Details & General Plans/Stuff:
Oceanview balcony (Deck 9, Port side)… we love being just above Central Park! Selected Traditional Dining (5:00PM according to Cruise Docs) Purchased the Unlimited Dining Package… first time for us! Purchased the Deluxe Beverage Package… expensive once again, but had to do it! Purchased the Key… we’ll see if this is the last time! Purchased the All Access Ship Tour… always wanted to do this! Purchased the Pickleball at Sea (Intro Clinic)… I blame my wife on this one! Purchased the Full Day Pass to Coco Beach Club (CocoCay). Purchased “Mountain Top & Villa Botanica” excursion in St. Thomas. Purchased “Philipsburg by Trolley Train” excursion in St. Maarten. Booked all major entertainment via Cruise Planner (365 Seasons on Ice, The Effectors II: Crash & Burn, Tap Factory, Voices, inTENse, Adult Comedy LIVE). We have other plans beyond the excursions while at port in St. Thomas and St. Maarten… we’ll see how that plays out!
Miscellaneous Stuff:
Flight on Southwest Airlines out of Islip/MacArthur Airport (ISP) on Long Island (NY) early on SAT (10/28/23) morning to Orlando (MCO). Reservations were made for the Radisson Resort at the Port this time. We’ll be able to see the ship from the hotel once again! We all booked the “Fly, Stay, and Cruise” package which includes shuttle service from MCO to the hotel upon arrival on SAT, service from hotel to the port on embarkation day, and service from port directly back to MCO when we disembark. We booked the 10:30-11:00 boarding period so we could board and take care of the specialty dining reservations, relax, explore, and start our vacation right away!  
I guess that’s it for now... my wife had to work today 😔, so we’ll need to finish packing later! On to yardwork to prep for the trip!
*** Please let me know if you have any questions or would like me to post pictures of something you are interested in... I'll do my best to keep up throughout the sailing!

Then there were two.

Unfortunately my kids like to eat, so I'll have to stop to feed them dinner before their taekwondo class. I also have to make a batch of macarons for tomorrow's baking class, so I may not make any more progress until Saturday afternoon. I scheduled a massage for Saturday morning, and I'm not bumping that.
Sunday's weather isn't looking great here or in FLL for our flight. The forecast for Monday may cancel our pre-cruise beach plans too. Rain, rain, go away!

I’ll resist ranting about those, lol. They’re a mess. On the plus side, my wife did find a nice couple on there to split a taxi with us to go to Nachi Cocom in Cozumel tomorrow so they’re not completely useless. 😁

Echo this 100%. Our cruise group on FB has made at least 30 post this week about dress code because Halloween falls on the typical "formal" night, so it was unclear what day it would be on. I don't think I've ever seen more panic over something so trivial to us. They finally uploaded it to the app, but we literally had people fighting about what day is white night/ Caribbean/ formal...people were even making up their own nights just to be funny.
DH's "formal" is close toed shoes and jeans. If I can get him to wear a shirt with buttons on it that might as well be a tuxedo for him. 

I had my 45 day check-in at midnight for Allure in Dec. Scored a 10:30am check-in window! Then I got way too excited to go back to sleep, I was already thinking of my packing list. 🤪

She gets it! 😅

Specialty Italian lunch $16
Refreshing adult beverage $13
Avoiding Windjammer zoo on embarkation day….Priceless

This made me laugh. My wife made me take her picture 2 weeks ago for our Nov 16th check in cause she had gotten her hair done and wanted to look fancy 

If you change your mind, I'll be following in preparation for my Dec cruise. 🙂 

Last night was the first time the passport scan worked for me! It's never worked and always had me input the digits so I usually skip that piece as well. However it was easy peasy since it scanned quickly. We always take our headshots too, a couple days after check-in, but every.single.time. the gate agents rescan us. I'm like helloo.....that was a fabulous kitchen picture of myself 😭 Instead they make me take off my baseball cap and it's #cruisehairdontcare

@Ampurp85 here's the before...

 
and the after...

I had forgotten how dark my natural color actually is. It still surprises me every time I walk by a mirror. 

Nice price!
Think Giovanni's will give me a discount when I go to move my reservation after boarding Allure today? 🤣

I know some folks like to know RUB offers- mine just came in today. As mentioned above, I'm pretty content with my freebie Boardwalk View room so I don't plan on bidding. Otherwise, I may have attempted to roll the dice on one or two of the below.