AlmondFarmer

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

Based on my observations walking through the casino-
step 1- light cigarette
step 2- push flashing button (apparently pulling handle is too strenuous) 
step 3- smile or curse depending on outcome
step 4- return to step 1
I hope this tutorial is helpful.

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

On Allure. Sailed by Icon.
I wanted to jump off Allure, swim towards Iconand be rescued. My wife took off her wedding ring.
I climbed off railing. 

Also no rule preventing you from leaving kids in port when you return to ship. 

Six inches.

You must have a long pole.
 
The photo looking back at ship appears to be a great distance away. 
 
Mind if one man asks another the length? 

For a Canadian, your command of the English language is amazing. I’m sure an MEI agent will be able to understand you.
Enchange rates will be the biggest challenge. 

The A7R IV is a high resolution body taking 61 megapixel full frame images.  While I loved my Sony A7 III I've become addicted to the high resolution images of the A7R as this provides the luxury to crop my way to appear to be a better photographer.  

I have the Sony 200 - 600mm and the Sigma 60 - 600mm which is a beast of a lens.  It's also the weight of a beast and while I would have loved to bring it along I wanted to travel light and be agile.  Slinging a beast of a lens for hours from a bouncing zodiac would be a workout on my poor arms.  I believe the key to expedition photography is being light and nimble.   

The Sony f2.8 70 -200mm is an impressive fast lens.  Coupled with a teleconverter it moves me into the range of those longer lens I left at home while being nimble and lightweight.  Add in the cropping capability afforded by the high resolution "R" series body and I can produce images that exceed what my 600mm lens on my old non "R" body would have achieved while reducing weight.  

The teleconverters charge a hefty light penalty but the 200 - 600mm and 60 - 600mm are not fast lenses to begin with so the teleconverters simply level the playing field of the 70 - 200mm in terms of aperture. 
The combination of the A7R IV body and the 70 - 200mm with 2x teleconverter put me at 140 - 400mm in a form factor I can carry around and use for hours without fatigue.  It is also easier to manage the smaller 70 - 200mm lens on a bouncy zodiac. 

The 24 - 105 lens is a great general purpose travel lens that I tend to take everywhere just because.  At f4 it’s not a fast lens but the noise profile of the Sony bodies allows me to cheat a little with ISO and dealing with it later in post.

The “Blackrapid” camera strap has been one of the best investments I’ve made for carrying a full frame camera around the planet.  It takes the weight of the camera from the neck and moves it to a shoulder.  It allows you to walk or hike more naturally leaving your hand free for when you need them.  
Full frame camera bodes use full frame lenses which are bigger and heavier compared to crop camera bodies.   The Blackrapid camera strap has been a game changer for me.  

For a Canadian, your command of the English language is amazing. I’m sure an MEI agent will be able to understand you.
Enchange rates will be the biggest challenge. 

Smoke signals, although not specifically banned in cruise contract, are likely frowned upon while on ship or private islands. 
Carrier pigeons are also questionable. 

We had dinner in Chops last night - Christmas Eve.  TBH I had completely forgotten that Chops has the special holiday meal on Christmas Eve and Christmas day (night) so I at first I couldn't figure out why some of the people had strange, rolled-up paper menus.  It finally dawned on me that these were the Holiday meal menus !  So the fact that we did NOT have the [needlessly expensive] special holiday menu didn't matter one single bit. We were seated as normal and given the normal Chops menu and had the normal wonderful meal that we always have.  This meal was the first for us of our 3 night dining plan meals, so we didn't even pay full price for this meal !  IMO this was the perfect way to handle this situation.  Let those that want to pay more do so but don't penalize those that don't want to get the special upcharged menu.  Well done, Adventure !
Called at Puerto Plata, DR today.  First time here.  We decided to just get off the ship and walk about the port area.  I couldn't believe how big and nice it is !  Better than Costa Maya, and I think CM is pretty big and nice !  They have a really nice complimentary pool with swim-up bar and a complimentary (I think....the sign was a big confusing to me) lazy river which looked like fun....but I know my fat a$$ will not fit into one of those floating tubes.  I know b/c I embarrassed myself to an astronomical degree trying to do one at a resort in COZ once.  Nope.  Never again.  The Valiant Lady is also here today.  We got off and back on again before the VL really began to disembark, thereby beating the bulk of the horde.  We met a wonderful guy, who owned one of the eat/drink concession who is a former Royal Caribbean employee - 18 years.  He managed to work, save his money, put his children through college and then retire (from Royal), start his own business and be wonderfully successful.  What a great story and I couldn't be more proud to have helped him (and those like him) achieve their life's dreams. They help us achieve our vacation dreams and it's nice to know that the favor can and IS returned !  He thanked US for being loyal to Royal and it almost made me cry.
It's Christmas Day !  YIPPEE !!  I hear that Santa found the children on the ship, which is a huge relief.  I don't know how he manages to find ALL the kids, no matter where they are, but once again - complete success !!  Merry, Merry Christmas to everyone !

TL;DR - All is well.  Christmas is coming.  The BOGO process is a Charlie Foxtrot.
 
I promised a live blog for this sailing but in keeping with my utter unreliability for doing live blogs, I have failed again....this being day 3 already.
I will skip all of the pre-boarding and boarding details as these are not of particular interest to anyone and it was entirely uneventful.  All went well. We are here.
The ship is in great shape for her age.  We sailed on Adventure relatively recently so there haven't been any changes since that time.  Sure, she needs paint in some areas and there are patches of carpeting that are in need of replacing but these are purely superficial issues and have not impacted our enjoyment at all.
We are in a Panoramic Ocean View Suite (VP), a room which was converted at the time that part of the spa was removed.  The room has an ENORMOUS panoramic view with ceiling-to-floor window panes.  It makes for a really lovely view....particularly at sunrise and sunset.  LOTS of space.  There is a large-ish closet area that they advertise as a second bedroom but that's not fair.  It's just a couple of bunk beds in a closet with a curtain.  Yes, it provides additional beds. No, it is not a second bedroom.  There is a bath-and-a-half (full bath and second toilet and sink) but the full bath is somewhat disappointing as it is the same size and layout of a typical stateroom bathroom with a space tube shower (ugh).  Nothing special there.  It is considered a full suite so we have access to the Suites Lounge and all of the suites' amenities.  Breakfast is in Giovanni's on this ship (it's typically in Chops) b/c Chops is on Deck 4, forward and Gios is the only specialty restaurant on deck 11....and it is in an unusual place (instead of being located inside the Windjammer entrance as it is on most VY and FR class ships, the entrance is outside of the WJ).  The food and service have been very good.
It's a good thing that the VP is considered a full suite b/c we would otherwise be denied access to the Suites' Lounge on this sailing.  There are 65 Pinns onboard this sailing (and I'm sure we are #'s 64 and 65 in seniority !).  Only the top 30 are permitted in the Suites' Lounge and we certainly are not among those 30...but since we are in a full suite, we are allowed in.  As may be expected, the SL is an empty wilderness and the Crown Lounge (CL) (or Clown Lounge as some are calling it) is a whirlwind of chaos.  Since the only [public] computers that I am aware of are located in the back of the CL (there are 2), that is where you will find me in the AM.  At least there is SOMEwhere to get on a keyboard !
As one would predict, there are many families and children on this sailing but I have not found it to be a concern.  Everyone is having a wonderful time and the children are all looking forward to Santa's arrival.  
There was a show in the theater last night called "Can't Stop the Rock" which we fully intended to attend but failed (we decided that the hot tub would be a better thing to do)....but I heard it was tolerable.  We went to the ice show on our last AD sailing so we will probably skip it this time but as I recall, it was very typical of all the ice shows and definitely worth going to if you haven't been before.
We have not stepped foot inside the WJ and intend to keep it that way.  Our one night of dining in the MDR (so far) was fine.  Welcome Aboard is one of my least favorite MDR menus and that happened to be the night that we decided to eat there (having eaten lunch in Chops on boarding day....didn't think 2 big meals in one day would be a good idea).  We will also eat in the MDR on Christmas evening and one more time during the last part of the sailing...which night, escapes me at the moment.  We have a 3 night dining package plus 2, BOGO which works soooo well for us.  Speaking of BOGO I thought I would relay the mechanics of using the BOGO on AD...or at least, on THIS sailing on AD as it never seems to be the same process, even on the same ship !  We ate at Giovanni's last night (night #2) and told the server that this represented the use of the first of our BOGO dinners and that we would be eating in Chops later in the week.  Knowing that it is MANDATORY that you pay for your BOGO meals on nights #1 or #2, we requested that the server go ahead and charge us both, full price for our Gio's meal.  That utterly confused her....so she called the manager over.  The manager finally decided that the thing to do was to call Chops, have them charge us for our [yet-to-be-consumed] Chops BOGO and then when we get to Chops later this week, we will already have pre-paid.  PERFECT !  Exactly what we wanted.  We paid for our Gio's BOGO and went home full and happy.  Later that evening we checked our onboard account.  Gio's was charged...but no Chops.  UGH.  So this morning when enjoying our breakfast in Gio's we queried the manager...what happened to our charge for Chops ?  Blank stare.  So she got on the phone with someone...the final determination is that they will charge us for the second BOGO when we get to Chops in a few days.  WHAAAAT ?  I thought the charge had to be completed NLT day 1 or 2 ?  It's an utter mystery and it's yet-to-be-seen whether or not this process will actually work but if I get to Chops and have some bill-issue, I will turn full Karen and somebody's going to be sorry.  LOL  I will report back.
This is already waaaytooo long.  That's what I get for waiting 3 days.  I will catch up later.
Merry Christmas to all !  Santa comes tonite !!!!

Estimated to be 100,000 mating pairs.   Minus one.  

So long as contaminant inspections are limited to outerwear, embarrassment should be minimal. 

Captain deemed the New Years Eve Sangria supply insufficient.
Nearest Costco was Algeciras.
Very few stores West of the Azores. 

I booked a Norway sailing for June 21, 2024.
This booking was made when itineraries released in November 2022 and surprisingly had kids sale free. 
 

Captain deemed the New Years Eve Sangria supply insufficient.
Nearest Costco was Algeciras.
Very few stores West of the Azores. 

Captain deemed the New Years Eve Sangria supply insufficient.
Nearest Costco was Algeciras.
Very few stores West of the Azores. 

Captain deemed the New Years Eve Sangria supply insufficient.
Nearest Costco was Algeciras.
Very few stores West of the Azores. 

I booked a Norway sailing for June 21, 2024.
This booking was made when itineraries released in November 2022 and surprisingly had kids sale free.