Ampurp85

Did you get to feed and/or play with the sea lions? I love sea lions, they are so ugly cute 😍..........dolphins seem sweet, but I read they are sea sexual predators, so no thank you. 

Did you get to feed and/or play with the sea lions? I love sea lions, they are so ugly cute 😍..........dolphins seem sweet, but I read they are sea sexual predators, so no thank you. 

I didn't see if @WAAAYTOOO mentioned it; but to give you an idea of what a cluster TAD was; yesterday they delivered an apology note along with a bottle of champagne to all of the B2Ber's.  🙂

No.  We did not feed the sea lions nor the sharks, unfortunately.  Lots of touching and petting (sea lions, that is) but no feeding. 😪

@Ampurp85 ^^^ now that's some serious sea shenanigans if that's the case. 

Awesome, Schooner bar is beckoning

Did you get to feed and/or play with the sea lions? I love sea lions, they are so ugly cute 😍..........dolphins seem sweet, but I read they are sea sexual predators, so no thank you. 

Today was Puerto Plata and we did the Ocean World Sea Lion Encounter & Snorkeling with sharks and Lunch.  This is one of the best excursions we have ever taken.  I have lots of pix but of course, they are not yet on my iPad so I will have to post them later.
We had soooo much fun and saw so many awesome critters.
Ocean World is a Dominican Sea World -an Aqua park with shows and exhibitions.  I was very surprised to find it was very well maintained and well organized.  I have been to aqua parks before in other countries that were…well….sad.  But this one is not.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.
There were dolphin and sea lion shows as well as the shark encounter and multiple snorkeling/swimming aquariums.  There were aviary enclosures (small but fun).  There was a beachfront swimming area as well as fresh water pools.  Some of the interactions were additional $$ (dolphins, in our case since we paid for the sea lions and shark interactions) but we did not pay for anything more than our original excursion included and we had a blast !   Lunch was a pretty typical Caribbean buffet….nothing to write home about, but it wasn’t bad….but was very busy !
Transportation from the port was in a big, comfortable, air conditioned bus….may 15 minutes from the port,  fast, efficient and well organized.  I will definitely recommend this excursion or the one like it that included the dolphin interaction.
This excursion wasn’t cheap.  It was nearly $200 PP but you got a lot for your money and I think it was worth the cost.  We go on VERY few excursions.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship.  The bus left the port area at 8:30 and we got back at 2:00 so it’s a very full day and there’s lots to do.

@OCSC Mikehas it right.  Retirement is the key.  Of course, our cruising style has taken a bit of a downgrade since retirement, but where the quality went down, the quantity went up !  Nothing truer than the old adage, “When you’re working you have the money but no time and when you’re retired you have the time but no money”.

Sisters nails this cruise.

OMG, I hate the dancing and singing. And it's always the macarena, where they insist on crowd participation and my service begins to suffer. 

This has been known for a while(since the release of itineraries in Feb), they posted about it in the "rumors and news" thread.

What we have to hide for two weeks 

No packed antacids ? That’s an epic pack fail. We bring a pharmacy with us when we sail. You just never know when you’ll need various items. 

This has been known for a while(since the release of itineraries in Feb), they posted about it in the "rumors and news" thread.

They didn't offer it on any recent sailings, I asked about it in Jan and everyone (crew members) was unsure if it would be back. 

We have been on 80+ cruises with Royal Caribbean and we have never ever gone to a L&M game OR a Quest.  Just not something we enjoy.

Oscar has been killing it with the mini menagerie..

Matches the theme of the little choking hazard I found yesterday..remote for scale.

And got my B2B letter!
 

Like Grand Turk. It's very peaceful.

Proof I got off the ship today!

Then got right back on😂

My first visit to Grand Turk... I guess it's convenient to have the beach *right* there at the pier, but you have to want to do the beach. There's also a pool at Margaritaville.  They offered some tour the island and snorkel trips and rum tasting excursions but I didn't venture out of the port area so I couldn't tell you what the rest of the place is like.
The water was very pretty and you could see lots of colorful fish by the pier and an occasional ray swim by. I'd imagine snorkeling here would be decent.
This was a replacement stop for Labadee which does not have Effy, Harley Davidson, Ron Jon, or Pirhana Joe's so it's up to you to decide if it's a worthy substitution.

OMG, I hate the dancing and singing. And it's always the macarena, where they insist on crowd participation and my service begins to suffer. 

OMG, I hate the dancing and singing. And it's always the macarena, where they insist on crowd participation and my service begins to suffer. 

It does! We had it booked for the 4 of us for NYE 2018 on Indy (not Mariner but I believe those rooms are set up the same). That was a sailing that we booked only a few months out from sailing so there were not many choices left. But then closer to the cruise, I couldn't bring myself to do it. A Cat. 1K (Ultra Spacious Ocean View) opened up and I moved us. In retrospect, that was the worst room that we have ever stayed in! Front of the ship, so loud, so much motion. I would assume the Panoramic rooms on those two ships are going to be similar. 

Boy, what a difference in this cruise and the last 2.  Waaay more folks in the Crown Lounge on this leg.  Dan and I had to sit out in the VC area while I drink my coffee.  It’s a zoo inside.  Same thing with breakfast this morning in Giovanni’s.  Waaay more people in there and the service was very slow.  On the past 2 cruises we were in and out in no time.
The TTE will be this morning at 10:00 (which is typical rather than the 5PM nonsense of the past 2 cruises) and then the Cheers lunch at noon.
Our Loyalty gifts are still dicked up.  They brought our water but we’re still missing my Cokes and our Chandon.  What a PITA.  The LA doesn’t go to her desk until 4:00 today so I guess it’ll have to wait until then.  I’m sure she’s tied up with the TTE and Cheers stuff this morning.
Seas are nice and smooth, thank goodness.  Our new dwelling location can suffer greatly with ocean motion so I’m grateful that it’s calm.

Any other Prime or above casino folks just order a drink from every roaming waiter that walks by to up the chances of actually receiving said drink and then ends up accidentally double fisting or is it just me?