JohnK6404

Day 2 - Nassau
I did not carry my phone for much of the day so As a result I do not have as many pictures. Sorry.
I woke up to a view of Majesty of the Seas outside my balcony window.

We sailed on Majesty back in December of 2015. It ended up being a full house house as Carnival Liberty and Ecstasy along with Disney Dream were in port as well. Wow does Ecstasy look old!  
My wife was up early for a massage. She loved it. Her masseuse is married to the bar manager on board. They had previous been on Majesty. My wife commented that we had not felt any motion on Navigator compared to Enchantment and Majesty and the masseuse said that if you can sail on Majesty, you can sail on anything!  A quick breakfast in the Windjammer and I was off to Nassau. 

I went to the 737 flight sim that Matt and Twangster have recommended. It is a 15 min walk from the terminal. It was a fantastic experience. I young man who is studying to be a airline pilot guided me through the experience. I have played flight simulators on my computer since I was in elementary school but I was not prepared for how involved this was.  It really challenges my ability to multitask. I’d go to flip a switch and next thing you know the nose of the plane was 10 degrees higher. Oops. I did a take off, loop around and landing at a few airports: St. Maarten, Harrisburg PA (closest to home), La Guardia, and finally a landing in Toronto. My best landing was Harrisburg. I almost rand out of runway at La Guardia, even the attendant was shocked I didn’t put it in the east river!  The landing at Toronto was dicey because of high winds. I can’t believe I didn’t crash. Pretty sure if I had real passengers in the back, the air sickness bags would have gotten a work out. 

After a quick stop a store for my wife, we spent the rest of the day on the ship. We did the water slides. Both are really fun. The stairs where you wait can get very hot. The mat racer was very fast. I wiped out a little on the last curve.  Someone did get stuck on the water coaster and the life guards had to get them. Only took a minute and we were back to the races. 
We spent the remaining afternoon in one of the daybeds in the Solarium with drinks and a couple of good books. We got some snacks from El Loco Fresh which were pretty good and you can’t beat the convenience. 
Dinner in the main dining room was a little less hectic. The beef tenderloin was fantastic though the mashed potatoes were a little dry. 
 
Next up was the Escape Room.

Wow, what a fun experience. We had four people not show up which shocked me as they had paid for it. There were six of us and we had a great time. We worked well together which really helped. I won’t ruin any of the puzzles but the production values were very high compared to some other escape rooms I have done. We made it out with 37 seconds to spare!

We round out the night with watching Captain Marvel on the pool deck with some drinks from the Lime and the Coconut and snacks from Cafe Promenade.  Found some comfy chairs and relaxed. Finally back to the room around 10 to get a good nights sleep to prepare for Coco Cay!

Random thoughts:
I wish Cafe Promenade has breakfast sandwiches.  
I wish there were more late night food options. 
They need better airflow in the stairs to the water slides.

Day 1 
After a quick breakfast at the hotel (perfectly fine for an included breakfast), we grabbed an Uber and jumped on the nearby I-95 towards Miami. Now in theory, I am against tolled express lanes.  They take up valuable space essentially for those who can afford it rather than providing capacity for everybody (I also think all highways should be tolled, but that is a whole other issue).  However, in this instance they are the best thing ever.  We bypassed a great deal of traffic by using the express lanes from Ft Lauderdale to Miami. 
Wow, Royal Caribbean has really stepped up their check-in game!  We made it up the escalator and took the mandatory propeller photo. 

A rep retook our pictures because apparently I suck at taking pictures, a quick security check with no line and we were in the waiting room. Twenty minutes later they started boarding. Oddly, they are using two gangways but everyone was only heading for the forward gangway. Being that I hate lines, we went right for the rear gangway and were on board before you knew it. 

Next came the grand tour. We saw everything. I may have got a little sun on the back of my neck in the process. We made a pit stop at the upper level of the Lime and the Coconut, got some drinks, then hung out in the shade near the bar. The band that was playing was killing it. 



Lunch in the Windjammer was the usual fare.  I finally got some Royal Caribbean curry and it was pretty good. 
Rooms opened at 1pm and let me tell you, the space difference between an interior/ocean view and a spacious ocean view balcony is noticeable. I love the space and the balcony is nice too.


Unfortunately there was a note that my flight simulator excursion was canceled due to lack of participation.  I was very angry. They closed cruise planner purchases a couple of days ago, they could have emailed me but no, I am only getting word in the 11th hour. I was about to go down to guest services and give them a piece of my mind  (a big deal because I only have a few pieces left) but I calmed down and called the sim people directly and booked it myself. Problem solved no thanks to Royal. 
After settling in we hit up the sun deck to ironically find some shade while read and drank Watermelon-Ritas.

Normally I wouldn’t mention muster but there was a guy complaining the whole time about how stupid it was and why should he have to do this after paying all this money and so forth. I was about 3-5 comments away from saying something but I kept it to myself. 
Sail away on the helipad.  We saw some dolphins then went to prepare for dinner. 


This is where things started to go wrong. I signed up for the early seating of traditional dining. We like traditional because we like to have the same waiter and get to know the other people at our table. The problem was that there was no dining info on our Sea Pass cards. The dining room informed us that the early seating was full and we had MyTime dining.  He claimed the early seating was full by the time I booked, however the website let me book it and the app said I had early seating as well. I was very unhappy.  You expect one thing and at the last minute are substituted something else for the second time in a day can lead to some negative feelings. Since there seemed to be no way around it, we made reservations for 6:00. 
 
I can now say with authority that I do not like MyTime dining. It felt hectic, I barely got to speak with our waiter and we were seated by ourselves. Well, at least I can say that I tried it. 
 
The rest of the evening was the ice show, music, and drinks. The ice show was better then I expected, the were very good.


They mostly had trouble landing the big jumps and I suspect that the ice conditions may have played a factor. 
 
There was a funk band playing in the Royal Promanade. There were fantastic and played one of my favorites by Trombone Shorty.
 
We ended the night with drinks in the Bamboo Room. I tried many of the drink, though I could not tell you which (a sign of a good night).  The bar tenders were fun, poured unexpected shots (which of course I drank) and made for a fun evening. We also struck up some good conversation with some of the other passengers at the bar. 
 
I set an alarm on my watch to wake me up at 2:30 to see if I could see the Falcon Heavy launch from Cape Canaveral. Well, apparently my watch was on do not disturb and I woke up an hour too late. Not a big deal since at the distance we were at it would have just looked like a star traveling across the sky. 
Random Thoughts:
Here is the plug layout in the room.


Here is the most modern houseboat I have ever seen during sail away.

Great day and off to Nassau!

Day 3 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay
 
We may be in the minority but we are main dining room breakfast people. Windjammer is okay but we like the more laid back atmosphere of the main dining room. 
 
We loved Coco Cay before the renovations. We liked the deserted island feel and we would always go around to the south side of the island to what used to be called Barefoot Beach. Hardly anyone would be out there and we mostly had the beach to ourselves. 
 
That being said, we do generally like the changes that they made. What is amazing is how similar it is to the early renderings they were using in the advertising. 

We were joined by a rerouted Majesty of the Seas.

We started out heading to South Beach in an attempt to recreated our favorite part of the old Coco Cay. For the record as of the last week of June, no construction was happing on South Beach. We found a spot and swam in the water. There were a few more people than before but mostly a similar experience as before. 

We got a few drinks at the floating bar. They were playing lots of loud rap music that was entirely profane language and sexual language. This combined with the bar tenders general unpleasantness, kept us away from there the rest of the day. 
We had lunch at Chill Grill (with a stop at the snack shack for s crispy chicken sandwich).  Royal has really upped their game with food on the island. They still had the regular island barbecue menu but with addition items like sandwiches, tacos, and ice cream. Other than the seagulls it was a very good experience. 
We then migrated to the Oasis Lagoon. It is a very nice pool and the soft bottom is great. There were a lot of people there and it handled the crowds well. The bar was busy but we had no problems getting a few drinks. Be warned that in the summer the water is rather warm. 



Around 3pm storms started to approach and they cleared the pools and beaches. We decided to back to the ship and about halfway there the heavens opened up. Rather than wait in large lines to get onto the ship in the pouring rain, we sought shelter at Captain Jacks. It eventually cleared and we swam for about an hour at chill island with only two other couples on the beach. 

We returned to the ship, cleaned up and headed to the main dining room. I tried escargot for the first time and enjoyed it and the lamb was very good.  My wife and I had trouble figuring out the best way to eat the tiger shrimp. 
After dinner we took a stroll around the pramande deck where we unfortunately discovered that the entire port side is smoking and boy were people using it.


We then saw the magician who was pretty good. We tried to go to Karaoke but third song catalog is terrible. So terrible that that they often had other music playing because no one could find a song that they wanted to sing. 
We ended up at the Schooner Bar for Piano Entertainment with David. Incredibly funny!  He is increasingly talented, had everyone involved and got lots of people singing. I got to sing a song which was awesome. 

Around midnight we made our way to bed. 
 
Sea Day tomorrow!

Double transpacific! Sydney -> Hawaii -> Seattle

Cruise Bucket List:
Alaska plus days in Anchorage : Off the bucket list next month! It's been on my bucket list before I knew what a bucket list was.
Galapagos (inside)
Japan and south

That group is sooo good. I don't think they ever took more than 10 minutes to reply and they've always given us accurate information. I usually message if it's for something that customer service doesn't needs to do.

Yes... we saw a mix of shorts and jeans/pants on Allure last month! 

Yes, likely... My wife asked RC customer service a couple of weeks ago (RCI Facebook page via Instant Message) and they stated late summer/early fall for the Summer 2021 schedule to be released (at least Caribbean). We had asked the same question last month (in Next Cruise) while on Allure and they told us the same thing.
We were looking originally to book Harmony in MAY 2021, but decided to book it in APR 2021 since we liked the price and itinerary. If a more attractive cruise opens up in MAY for Harmony, we'll just make the switch (not sure if we technically have to cancel/rebook or if they can just move the reservation/refundable deposit to the new sail date... cross that bridge if necessary!). 661 days to go! LOL!

Yes, likely... My wife asked RC customer service a couple of weeks ago (RCI Facebook page via Instant Message) and they stated late summer/early fall for the Summer 2021 schedule to be released (at least Caribbean). We had asked the same question last month (in Next Cruise) while on Allure and they told us the same thing.
We were looking originally to book Harmony in MAY 2021, but decided to book it in APR 2021 since we liked the price and itinerary. If a more attractive cruise opens up in MAY for Harmony, we'll just make the switch (not sure if we technically have to cancel/rebook or if they can just move the reservation/refundable deposit to the new sail date... cross that bridge if necessary!). 661 days to go! LOL!

Airport Update
And now the 2.5 week adventure begins... We are now at the airport waiting on the flight to Seattle. Only 20 minutes until we board on the flight! We aren't even in Seattle yet and I already have a story for the blog... How exciting!
While sitting down at the gate we see that a passenger from the previous flight was being arrested for excessive intoxication. Sounds like their vacation isn't going to plan anymore! Hope we don't have any other crazy things happen to us on this trip. Fingers crossed that there aren't any crazy Canadians, Seattlites, or cruisers on this vacation like there were last year!
The plan once we arrive in Seattle is to go to the hotel and if we're hungry go get some dinner in Downtown Seattle. 
Chao Cha... wait, wrong blog. Talk once I'm in Seattle!

I have it on good authority that they've upgraded all of their backend systems to MS-DOS 6.22.  This will allow up to five guests to be logged in to their cruise planners simultaneously without the website crashing!

First cruise was a 5 night from NJ to Canada in 2004.  The bus ride from PA was a mess as the driver actually waited too long for no shows, making us late at the port, etc.  Then the muster was during our dinner hour, so there was a bit of a revolt at the MDR when everyone with early seating showed up late.  We were told to go to the WJ, but we had our heart set on the MDR, and the staff accommodated us after a wait.  That taught me to be more flexible and not expect perfection.  The cruise itself was a delight, and I enjoyed the Voyager.  Saw whales, found a couple of coin shops in Canada, did our own excursions without any problems.  I even lost my son in a men's room, panicked like any new father, and was greatly relieved when he returned on his own to our stateroom.  Smart kid!  The other take away is that 5 nights is too short for me....now I yearn for something over 7 days with a few sea days to relax.  I have learned to trust RCI staff and use them when I can't solve my own problems.   Since then we cruised whenever we didn't need to go house-hunting or visit family.

1994 Majesty of The Seas!  7 Nights - Miami to Cozumel Mexico, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Grand Cayman, ad CoCo Cay. 
It only took 25 years to go on cruise #2 (Empress June 2019...but will be on #3 (Adventure May2010) less than a year later!

Majesty (Western) in 1995!  My daughter was just going into the 11th grade.  Wow - seems so long ago.  We had our one and only inside cabin.  It was so small that we had to go out into the hall to change our mind! LOL.  One night we had very rough seas and walking back to our room we were all over the place.  My daughter was laughing saying that everyone would think that she was drunk! 

1. Australia
2. Alaska
3. Hawaii
Would like to spend a couple of weeks in Australia.  

Well...I can keep Cuba on the list, but likely will not get there after the first one for cancelled!  So many places to go!
1.  Greece and Italy....check that off this summer!
2.  Alaska!  
3.  I'd like to do a Transatlantic or Hawaii but I don't think I can get my husband to agree to that many sea days! 
4 Australia/new Zealand
5 maybe Asia....
Obviously around the world would be freaking awesome but we aren't gonna win a big enough lottery...I still have 1.5 college tuitions left to pay!  Jane

My wife more or less concurred with me on a cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti.
As for the value, yes, because resort hotels charge for everything.  Rooms are well over $200 per night, breakfast buffet is usually over $20 with tax and tip, and everything you eat or drink is a la carte except for mediocre in-room coffee.  Most resorts don't have the daytime music we enjoy on a cruise, and probably a single band in the bar at night, with very high drink prices.  Whenever I compare most RCI cruises to resorts or Cocoa Beach hotels, I see value in cruising.  I just avoid the scandalous last-minute pricing on some ships/ports.

Well, I *was* going on my bucket list Cuba cruise next week, but....  ????
Others include Panama Canal, Mediterranean and Alaska. Boring, I know. 

Last cruise for the season followed by repositioning followed by first cruise of the new season
If the ship has two different itineraries at each end it could be five consecutive sailings (or six if the Transpacific included a stop in Hawaii)

1, Transpacific, heavy on the South Pacific islands
2. Transatlantic, heavy on the Mediterranean, Greek, Croatia, Turkey, Gibraltar 
3. World Cruise.

Around the world.

I know that this would take quite a bit of cash as well as quite a bit of suitcases, but I would love to do the 10 day Hawaiian island cruise and then get off of the ship in British Columbia as it switches gears and then heads up to Alaska for 10-14 days!  I have already priced it, and it will happen after I retire in about 6 years! I think that it would be absolutely AMAZING! 

Mediterranean cruise heavy on Italy also with stops in Greece for good measure. 

We started checking of our Bucket List too:
Alaska (cruise & Land) - July 2018
Iceland (Magical Northern Lights Land tour) January 2020
Scotland, England, Italy and more

This is mine, but replace #5 with a world cruise... one of the 120+ day sailings. You know, when I win the lottery! ?