WAYNO

How 'bout a big door-magnet with their name and a cruise theme.

We were given one with our names, and there's room to sharpie-in each cruise.  It resides on our refrigerator door between cruises.

Always the early dining slot, 5-5:15-ish.  Then we have time for the evening shows.

Johnny Rocket's was just another choice for us on previous cruises, and never worthy of any hype.  I've not used Johnny Rocket's for quite some time. 

I do understand too, some folks very much look forward to Johnny Rockets. 

We're lucky to have so many choices.

I also try my best to engage the crewmembers.  I've learned much from them, and I truly am interested in their life experiences. 

And those that I've spent time with, appreciate it also.    

As with so much cruise-related, 20 passengers will have 20 different preferences.

In every case, I prefer a bigger ship.  But bigger is relative.  The cousin that introduced us to cruising prefers smaller ships, as, say  Explorer or Freedom.  Small?  Really? They are still huge!

The only exception I have found to my large ship preference, is Odyssey.   A gorgeous, huge, beautiful ship, but without a conventional promenade, which I greatly miss. 

So obviously, size is not the only determining factor, but the amenities any given ships offer.  A larger ship most often offers more.

20 cruisers will have 20 different experiences.

November 2021, Oasis, the VOOM was mostly unusable.  I was at home, my Wife was cruising, and I was not able to communicate with her.   We found out later that subsequent cruise(s) on Oasis, VOOM was so problematic, folks received a refund for the VOOM experience.  We received nothing.

February 2022, Odyssey, First 5 days it was great.  Then it also became hit or miss for the remaining days of the cruise.

Hit or miss describes most of our VOOM experiences.

I am always interested in hearing folks' experiences in Ensenada and elsewhere on the Mexican Riviera.  We just don't hear of many folks actually cruising  there.  And I want to.  Schedules, dates, and packages just never align.

So please, share!

We no longer privately arrange a shuttle when we're done with a cruise.  We book a shuttle from the ship itself, and our bus is waiting at the terminal.  Painless.

We have attempted multiple times to upload the vac. record, and the app continues to reject it.  We can only do what we can do.  Ultimately, a real person may have to look at it before boarding.

I'm sure an app saves thousands of man hours for the cruise company, but not necessarily so if they don't have the bugs yet figured out.  Personally, I liked the old way. 

My tastes are simple, therefore I appreciate just about everything in the Windjammer.

However, I think my favorite foods there are breakfast items.  Simple scrambled eggs and peppers, bacon, link sausage, a potato patty, all smothered in sausage gravy. 

Probably not healthy, so I've gotta curb myself at least a little bit.  Then watermelon and other melons for dessert.

We used Galveston Express.  It was painless, and before the  covid shutdowns, it was $30 per person.

I'm lucky to have never had a weak drink on-board.  In fact, I've experienced the bartenders to pour very freely.  But, I also tip freely.

Astoria is quaint.

It wasn't always.  It used to be the industrial/agriculture/shipping/fishing/canning/logging/sawmill center of  Northwest Coastal Oregon,  very similar to early Seattle and even early San Francisco.  Anybody that wanted to work could get a job in Astoria.  With the above activities mostly gone, folks that live there now are doing so on the money they brought with them.  Meaningful work is difficult to find. 

That said, Astoria is a beautiful town, and the area is breathtakingly gorgeous.  The once thriving metropolitan downtown area is quite unchanged from what it looked like in the twenties thru the seventies.  It is now inhabited by local artists, and hawkers of tourist goods, much of it made by hand locally.  There is incredible history in the area.  This is where Lewis and Clark ended their journey to the Pacific Ocean.  There is much evidence of their stay here, and of their co-existence with the local Indians.  There are tributes, memorials, displays, as well as museums throughout this area, on both sides of the Columbia River.

There are military sites from the Jefferson era, from the Civil War era, and even a couple artillery batteries from both World Wars.

I know Astoria very well.  I've fished the Columbia bar my entire life.  My daughter went to Community College there.

We stopped in Astoria, cruising from Seattle to San Francisco aboard Explorer of the seas.  I thought, "what are we gonna do here?"  The dock the ship was tied to was completely covered with raw logs, bound for the Orient.  There is little sugar-coated here. We got on the local trolley at the wharf, rode to downtown and took our own walking tour.  Even as a seasoned far-West Coaster, I was reminded of the complexion of Astoria.  If a person desires, there are multiple shore excursions of the area, all of them interesting and educational, in addition to absolutely spellbinding.  Or as we did, you can do a self-tour of downtown.

A view from my daughter's apartment, overlooking the Columbia and part of downtown Astoria...

Speaking only for me...

I am normally very self sufficient.  Nowhere do I go that I don't at least have a few basic little tools at my disposal.  And they are used often.  I am naked when I don't have a knife, little scissors, pliers, screwdrivers, etc.

Having these things in a compact little Swiss Army Knife or Leatherman, can be a game changer at times.  I'd never push the issue with TSA, but having them in my checked bag, and then on the ship, if allowed, requires no explanation of the utility.

The point is,  I wish I could delete my posts when they are no longer useful.     

Wow.  I keep reading how awful the lobsters are aboard a ship.  And I completely disagree.  I love lobster.  I've had many aboard a ship, and in every case they were terrific!

We looked forward to lobster in Maine while we were on our Northeast cruise.  We even attended Captain John's presentation  on lobster, learning everything about lobster we never knew to ask.

Bottom line, our two Maine lobster experiences were disappointing.

Interesting how foodies tastes must differ wildly from non-foodies like me.  And I don't get their criticism.

So when I push myself from the table, stuffed with wonderful lobster, don't try to convince me it wasn't good.

I've toured Victoria a couple times.   I'll just share what has worked for us.

Victoria is a big city.  If it's a large attraction excursion (as Butchart Gardens) you're interested in, then go for it, and little of anything else.  I prefer bus or limo tours as a 1st or 2nd timer, seeing as much as I can in the relatively small amount of time available.  There are gardens everywhere, both on public and private property.  Then when the tour is over, there will be time to hang around downtown and the wharf. 

The beauty of Cococay, you can do as much or as little as you desire, while drenched in the sun.

I very much enjoyed sitting in the shade and watching the little free shows at Captain Jack's, sipping a fruity drink. I could have stayed there all day.

After some time, we wandered to the simple little buffet, which was terrific.

We were ashore maybe 3 hours, then shuttled back to the ship for the duration of the stop.

It was a Perfect Day.

We shop for ports, dates, and ships.  When those stars align, I say BOOK NOW.

Excursions just fall into place.

And we've loved not being sick the last two years.

I agree.  Not just on a ship, but everywhere touchless faucets are available, as well as soap or hand sanitizer dispensers, I wish they would take it seriously, and keep them full and working.

With the collapse of government required protocols, establishments are dropping the ball.

More confusion about MTD.   

I have My Time Dining, and as I book my cruises,  the agent at Royal asks me what time we wish to dine.  It remains the same time throughout the cruise, with the same servers, at the same table, and with the same folks that were originally assigned to share our table.

In addition, if for any reason I need to change my scheduled time, for example to attend a show, they are immediately accommodating.

Seattle has not been  transport friendly for us, getting to the ship  Since I live just a couple hours away, we rent a one-way rental car to downtown, drop it off and then get on a taxi to the ship.    We have tried multiple times for a shuttle or other transport to the cruise terminal, with negative results.

There are taxi's everywhere. 

13 minutes ago, Pooch said:

I have never heard of putting some in checked bags?  Everything I’ve ever heard or read says to ALWAYS keep prescription meds with you.

Some of us have enough medications in large bottles, we couldn't keep them all in a carry on even if we wanted.

And I have lost items via TSA in the airport.  My meds are important, and I cannot keep them all in one basket.