Traveling Mike

Don't Give Up the Ship Yesterday was the port Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico. For those of you that did not know this is one of those ports the Mexican Government created just for cruise ships. They put in everything you would need just as soon as you get off the ship. There are swimming pools, swim up bars, dolphin adventures and lots of shopping. I had real attentions on taking a taxi over to the real town beach and have lunch, a massage and do some swimming in the ocean. When I got up, I really did not feel like it and I did not want to eat food that I could get on the cruise ship and enjoy better. This is why I love cruising; I changed my mind, and it was no big deal. I sleep in and when I got up, I got off the ship and walked all of the port area. I ended up walking 2.5 miles there and back. I also confirmed that I did not like this port they setup; it felt like a tourist trap to me. After I got back to the ship, I spent the day having fun. With so many people off the ship I was able to do anything I wanted. I ended up playing miniature golf, shuffleboard, swimming in the pool, reading an entire book and taking a nap. I ended up the evening with dinner, listening to a jazz band and going to seeing Randy Cabral in the Royal Theater. Randy Cabral was a juggling act with comedy. If I knew he as a juggling act I would not have gone but I was glad I did. His comedy was very good and entertaining. The last thing I did for the day is booked a 4-day cruise during Thanksgiving 2022. I was able to get a Balcony Cabin for $720 out the door and they are giving me $150 to spend on the ship. It is out of Los Angeles so there is no flight, just drive to the port on Monday and enjoy a short vacation.

A Sea Symphony It seems like we have been on the ship a long time but yesterday was our second day and our first sea day on the Symphony of the Seas. I did fall in love with the ships size and wonder. … sounds fancy, I liked the ship I do not know if part of liking the ship is we are only 45% full and can do anything without lines. I walked lots of the ship looking and everything and just sightseeing. Then when I look at the ship layout, I only hit the highlights and there are still lots to see. Casino Life Our Facebook group did a slot pull yesterday. After some confusion about the time, we had 31 people show up. A warning about Facebook, if you put an event in your group it will adjust the time of the event to match your time zone. Our event showed 1:30 pm and the Slot pull post said 10:30 am. This one was done a little different than the ones I have done in the past, not better and not worse. Everyone kicked in $25 and $20 went into the slot machine and $5 went into a winner pool (person with the highest money won on their pulls). We started out with $620 in the slot machine and everyone did 2 pulls of $10 a pull. That thing was tight. It did not like giving anything back. When we were done it had $217 of the original $620 left in it. I am becoming a true believer that very few people win anything on a cruise ship. The Ultimate Abyss I went up to the flow riders yesterday and enjoyed an hour or so of watching people try to ride the flow riders. One side if for stand up and the other side if for boogie boards. It is neat to watch people learn and crash trying something that looks so simple when done correctly. But there is no bigger thrill than watching a someone get on for the first time and to be able to do it for 5 seconds. The pure enjoyment on their face just make you feel the fun. When I was tired of watching the flow riders I walked over and watched people get on “The Ultimate Abyss”. Check out the video here https://youtu.be/cvajQkIUNzI I wanted to do it but then I am telling myself, I am old (61), I am way overweight, I do not get up and down easy. I am not in good shape. I am wondering will they turn me away when they look and see my size. Will I get stuck in the slide halfway down. Will I not be able to get up when I get to the bottom. See none of the normal fears like it drops 10 stories and starts on deck 16. Well, I went over to the Bar and got a drink to steady my nerves (Diet Coke, plain). Now I was able to tell myself, I have lost 20 lbs. in the last two months, I walked 5 miles the day before and I am a water polo coach that can eggbeater for 2 hours without a break. Off to the slide I went. It was much easier to get in than I thought. As soon as I started sliding, I heard the guy on top tell me to scream. When I did, I realized it multiplies itself in the slide. The slide was full of lights and took long enough to let you realize you are going a long way. It was a blast; I am going back, and I want to do it at night. Everyone reading this, If I can do it, everyone can do it. A simple dinner at Jamie’s Italian I do not have a lot to say about dinner last night. I did Jamie’s Italian because I wanted to experience all the restaurants and my son loves Italian food. I was able to stay within my calorie count by having Garlicky Prawns for an appetizer and baked lasagna for my main course. The prawns were good but with the name I expected to taste the garlic. They were just well-cooked plain prawns. The lasagna came out and it was good but nothing I would write home about. It did have a good amount of meat in it and was well cooked. The last thing I had was Limon Cheesecake. If you are paying attention, you have figured out, I like limon deserts. This one also was OK. All in all, the dinner was OK. Now I do have to be honest and let you know. There were 2 couples in the table next to me that showed up (not their first time) and ordered the entire list of appetizers. They loved everything and were having a blast. My waiter was fantastic (I think his name was Boodoo). And I had a glass of wine that was so good I am going to find out where to purchase it when I get home. Now it is time to get up see what the day has to offer.

Run away, but we're running in circles One last one before going to sleep. Today I found the jogging track by mistake, but I like it. All the other ships I have been on the running track is above the pool deck and it the way of everything and everyone is watching you run or walk. On the Symphony it is on deck 5 and goes all the way around the ship. I got on it and walked 2 miles today and it did not see that far. It feels like you are inside, but you are really between the lifeboats and the ship. They have signs to encourage you to keep going. Here are a couple of pictures.

Shut up, count your calories, i never looked good in mom jeans (link to song https://youtu.be/3TPx2rIstWA ) I had dinner at the Hooked Seafood restaurant tonight and was able to enter all my calories into my app that is helping on my 2lbs a week adventure. About halfway through a manager seen me trying to figure out food close to what I was having to enter in my app. She informed me that all the restaurants can tell me the calories of the dishes. I just have to ask my server and they can get them for me. Yes, you can count calories on a cruise ship. Now onto my dinner. My expectations were mixed. I love seafood and the restaurant helped me the first day book all of my dinners. Then I read on a Facebook post that they did not like the restaurant. After eating there, I would go back. I had a water named May and she was fantastic. She took my order and helped me with choices. I had the soft-shell crab just because I have seen it on TV and never had one. To me it is kind of freaky eating the shell of the crab. I had it and ate all of it. I am not a big crab eater, and this just did not have much of a taste. Don't know if that is good or bad, just did not thrill me. Then my main meal come, Lobster Tail, Blacken Halibut and shrimp. These things, I do know about. The lobster and shrimp were good and were as good as anyplace I have eaten. Now the Blackened Halibut was very good to me. It had a good spice level and my old taste buds were awakened. If you do not like spicy things do not get the blackened fish. The last thing on my main dish was cajon French fries. Now let me ask you... have you ever purchased frozen fresh fries from the store that are thin straight plan fries? That is what they served me. They looked like McDonald fries without the taste. Now the cajon part was a little spice that you could not taste. It was not salt or flavor. I just need to thank Hooked Seafood restaurant for serving me the fries because it saved me 300 calories from not eating them. The last part was the best. I told May (the server) to check the calories on the Limon Tart and bring it to me if it was under 350 calories. She served it to me with a smile on her face telling me 280. I closed my eyes and really enjoyed my limon tart

This one is easy... Someone designing Royal Caribbean ships has a sense of humor. This is the men's bathroom on the ship.

Wonderland Restaurant Earl Turner Up and coming performer 1980's I was just going to write you a review of the Wonderland Restaurant and keep my babbling to a minimum, but I have to tell you about the show last night. I went to the show last night just because it was the show in the Royal Theater. I went 30 minutes early just to make sure I go a good seat down front (did not need to do that). I got my isle seat right in front of the stage. They played a video about Earl Turner right before he came out and I realized he was a performer from the 1980's. Then he came out and started singing his first son with the Cruise Ship Band. It was not really good, and he moved like an old man. I was stuck in the front and was wondering how bad it would look me getting up and leaving at his first song. I decided I would stick it out and not be the person everyone sees walk out of the show after one song. The second song was not as bad. Then after a few songs he started talking about the difference in music in the 1950, 1060 and 1970 having "Words" and the new stuff not. Then he got into having 45 records and how current kids do not know what they are or how to put the adapter in the 45. The next break he talked about growing up with one TV and it having rabbit ears. If you do not understand rabbit ears, ask your parents or grandparents. The show was getting really funny and entertaining. Then he showed us the cloths his son had to have in the 1990 (Snoop Dog). With his oversized jacket and hat on sideways he sang a rap song "with no words". He ended his show with Bruno Mars and everyone dancing with him. I was surprised I went from wanting to walk out to dancing in the theater. Wonderland Restaurant (Allice in Wonderland) Tonight, I have the pleasure of eating at the Wonderland restaurant. It’s a specialty restaurant based off of Alice in Wonderland. Before going I looked at the menu and decided what I wanted and then went to dinner. I had good intentions on entering all the calories in my app to keep track of everything and stay my diet. The waiter started out by asking me if I trusted him to bring me what I needed and not what I wanted. I told him to go for it. I soon figured: Nothing looked or tasted like the menu Trying to figure out how to enter anything into my calorie application was an exercise in futility Just set back and open my mind to new and strange things They kept bringing out food that looked like something else and had completely different flavors than what you would expect. Some of it was really good tasting. Others it just made you wonder what is that, what did that tase like, do I like that. during the dinner The Mad Hatter kept coming around and talking to us and make sure everything was OK. All in all, it was a delightful experience. I don’t think it’s a restaurant that I would go to twice on a cruise. Especially since I’m trying to count calories. I would suggest you go to the restaurant and tell them it’s your Un-birthday. FYI - I am starting to upload photo at https://photos.app.goo.gl/L4kMVCWVKpFW6vUT8

I was but now I am not I was going to write about my thoughts this morning but the boarding on the ship was so amazing I forgot everything else. I got up this morning after a great night's sleep in a bed better than what I have at home. I really liked my Airbnb in Miami and the best part it was only $80. I sent for a Lyft car (cheaper than Uber) and headed to the port. The Miami Cruise port is on an island and is very large. My driver did not speak English, but I was able to pull out my Google Translate app (get it if you don't have it). He had not been to the port before and both of us learned something important. Halfway down the port the road curves to the left and if you do not take the left curve you go to where the trucks are getting containers. It is one way, and you cannot get out. We had to make a U-Turn and drive the wrong way on a one-way street. The amazing thing is we passed 5 cars doing the same thing. As soon as we pulled up to the curve there was a porter there to grab my bag (have your tip ready). I went down to go in the building and got in the wrong like with 20 of my closest new friends. Noone was sure so I went to the front of the line and checked to see what it was, Suites and important guests. Me and my new friends left that line just in time for them to open a new line for us. Very Important... have your proof of immunization and proof of covid test in your hand. They will ask for it multiple times. I went upstairs and was sent to a young man just standing at a podium to check in. He just checked the immunization, test and room number. Because I did everything online, we were done. If you want to save time while you are doing the online check-in, take the picture of your passport. Once I was done there, they sent me upstairs to a holding area. After about 5 minutes (maybe because I was one of the last to fill the room) they told us to move onto the ship. The total experience from getting out of my car to being on the ship was about 20 minutes. once upon a dream Ship I have the Ultimate Dinning Package (one price for all specialty restaurants). I knew I wanted to book my times as soon as possible so that is the first thing I tried to do. When you get on the ship you are placed right in the middle of deck 5 the Royal Promenade. It was packed with people and lots of people in lines waiting to be helped. I knew I did not want to be there, so I grabbed an elevator and went up to the pool deck (it was quiet). I got connected to the internet, it knew I had an package. When I went to book my specialty restaurants it did not show me what I had for the first night and when I tried to book the first night it looked like it was going to charge me again. I realized this computer programmer was confused and over my head; I went to find help. I looked and the went to the specialty restaurant that would be away from crowds. I went to deck 16 to the Hooked restaurant. I found a very nice girl that helped me get everything booked. She understood that I was solo and was not picky. We were able to set all my dinners around 6 pm and I hit all the specialty restaurants. She gave me recommendations and made sure I hit everything important. The best thing she did is find me a place to eat on Valentine's Day and not feel like an outcast. People that are not single forget or do not know what it is like to be alone on these types of days. Feed the Addiction On the first of December I started a quest to lose 2 lbs. a week for one year. The first thing I did was drop all Diet Sodas, there is no calories, but it does make a difference. Until that point, I would drink 2 or 3 on most days. I had not eaten for the day, and I was on the Sympathy of the Seas. I thought of all of my options and decided low carbs at Playmakers. The first thing I did was get a Diet Coke on my Soda package; followed by 5 more and 2 glasses of water. I stayed away from carbs and ordered a 10 pack of Buffalo Hot Wings. I got the medium heat and that was just a little more timid that I like (I like hot things). The wings were very good. For those that do not know Playmakers it is a Sports Bar that is not free. You have to purchase food or have the UDP (dining package). At 11 am it was very quiet but now at 1 pm it is very loud with people, music and games. To finish my lunch, I ordered a plate of celery sticks (not on the menu). Lunch ended up being 744 calories out of my 1880 for the day. Now it is time to go see my room and explore the ship.

While you are here click the "Following" button above on the top and make me feel good. It would be nice to know someone is there:)

Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay Airport This blogging is about my cruise, but we are not there yet. Part of the fun is planning and traveling. The airlines made today lots of "Fun". I have found out that they airlines have been overbooking everything for the last month or more. There is not space on any flight, and I am traveling the day before the cruise and am still afraid of not getting to the ship on time. In the past you flew the day before to be safe, book the flight show up and get there. In the current environment I do not know if that is enough time. I ended up going to the airport 3 1/2 hours early to make sure I got out of Fresno. When we left there were some people trying to find another flight because ours was overbooked and they did not know to check in early. Eating at the airport on a diet I am on a mission this year. I am trying to lose 2 lbs. a week for the next year. I am just using an app to count my calories (My Fitness Pal). I did not eat before going to the airport because I was not hungry and the big part of losing weight is breaking bad habits like eating just because. After setting in the airport for a couple of hours I went to the one restraint that Fresno has in the airport. For breakfast they did not have anything that did not include toast and tater tots. I ended up eating eggs, bacon, toast and tater tots (900 calories out of my 1880 for the day). On the airplane I thought I was good and had cranberry juice but found out when I entered it in my app, I drank 210 calories. The next flight I settled for water. COOLEST NEW PLACE IN TOWN! "Peace" I am at my Airbnb in Miami. I looked at hotels and they were all $200 or more. I found this Airbnb that is a two-story house and they rent out 4 rooms. This section of the house if separated with its own entrance and has a little kitchenette and setting room. The house if older but it is clean and well maintained. He has all of them listed as "Coolest New Place in Town" with the name of the room. The one I have is a queen size bed with a very good mattress. There is a dresser with a couple of setting chars. There was a couple of waters for me, and I am all set for the night. O I almost forgot... I did my first ride share by myself tonight. When me and my son travel together, we each has things we do. His job was always taking care of the Uber. Before the trip I setup three different ones on my phone, Uber, Lyft and Bolt (Bolt is for Europe). When I got off the plane, I checked the prices, and it was $20 for my ride. After I got my bags, it was $30 for the ride. Lyft was about $8 cheaper than Uber and I had a coupon for linking Lyft to my Delta miles program. My ride went well, it was easier than I thought, and the girl was very nice. And yes... I way over tipped her because I found out she was a single mom. Now to sleep before boarding the cruise ship tomorrow. This is my airplane outfit (no covid for me)

A Hard Day's Night I pulled out my bags to start packing a week ago. I did laundry and ironed things this last Saturday. Tonight... the bags are empty. Tonight, I did the most important things; I printed and organized all my paperwork for both cruises. I am following recommendations and printing copies of all items I need to get on the cruise ship. The items are Boarding Pass, Luggage Tags, copies of my covid immunizations, copy of my negative covid test, list of all dinner bookings for when i get on the ship. I also am packing my passport, my global entry card, my traveling credit card. Next, I packed my large suite case. I started loading it and when it was full, I was done. The nice thing is I am a person that does not have tons of cloths and I am leaving for 14 days on cruise ships. I did make sure I had the few things I would need; dress slacks and button up shirt for nice dinners, bathing suit and swim shirt (with my body I need the shirt to cover up), shoes for (dress, walking and water), shorts for workouts and daytime adventures. Then I fill the remaining with all my socks, underwear and polo shirts and t-shirts (that I can wear in public). Preparing for Travel Day Before I star telling you about my night preparing for travel, I wanted to let you know I am flying out of Fresno. Fresno is a smaller airport, not tiny but smaller. I have been getting emails from American Airlines trying to get me to volunteer to move my flight to a different time or day. All of the flights out of Fresno on Thursday and Friday are way overbooked. That is putting a panic in me. One of the main reasons is I am a big man, and we are putting this big man in a packed plane. So, with this fun coming tomorrow I have to be at the airport much earlier to make sure I am on the plane and not cut off the boarding list. Getting ready I have my computer bag that I have to fill with all my travel needs. Just so you might think about what you might forget here is my list: Cash money, ones for tipping the people dealing with my bag. Pens for dealing with any paperwork. Face Masks, cloth and N95 (for the plane) miniature flashlight (if there is a crash, I have a light to get out) ... ok it won't work but it makes me feel better Mouse for my computer Phone charging cord and battery pack for recharging my phone Change of clothes (socks, polo shirt, gym shorts) Hairbrush, toothbrush and deodorant My laptop and power cord My noise canceling headphones **** I am on a diet so no snacks Now off to bed to see if I can sleep

Note: Page one is Symphony of the Seas. I start Celebrity Reflection tomorrow on page 2 Just took my Covid test and it came back negative. Now is the hard part, packing for 14 days at sea on two different ships. If you would like to follow me that would be great; I am no writer and my thought often get scattered but we will have fun. In the past I have done this for my friends and coworkers but I have started using Royal Caribbean Blog and thought this was a great medium to post my thoughts and experiences. I will be like a bad penny and my posts will keep showing up here. Introduction: Name: Michael, Mike, Traveling Mike, Dad, Coach.. Age: 61 … Still trying to figure out if I am old enough for the adults table at Thanksgiving Home Town: Fresno California … I have to say I also have been from Kingsburg CA and Paris Texas Traveling With: Solo.. I have been a single father for 24 years traveling with my son and now he stays at home and works so my traveling partner is myself now. Occupation: I spent 16 years driving truck, went back to school and now I drive a Computer (computer programmer) Spare Time: I coach water polo. I coach elementary kids and high school varsity Cruising Experience: as close as I can figure I have been on 20 cruises (5 with 1st wife, 12 with my son & 3 solo) (5 Disney, 6 Carnival, 1 RCL, 4 NCL, 3 Princes, 1 Celebrity) 2 days before my cruise: I am setting at work and do not want to work. I have lots of thing to do but nothing I want to do. I work for a School District and they have free testing every day. Because I coach water polo and am around lots of kids I test every Thursday. This worked great because today I just walked across the street and took the test. Fifteen minutes later, I got the results, printed them and saved them on my one drive (some place in the computer world that keeps my files so I can get them later). I have printed and saved everything on the cloud so as long as I have phone service or internet I can retrieve them. I have been told to print everything because they will ask multiple times at the port. .... I have to stop for now because someone is wanting me to do my job

I would recommend them having their own account and app on their phone. That will allow them to see what is happening and book reservations for lunch and dinner if they choose. Kids now a days are very phone savvy and are comfortable doing everything on their phone. The only thing you have to watch is kids spending and you know your kids and can lockdown spending if you feel you need to; but that is a different subject.

That is not correct. I applied 3 FCC on my April 2023 TP cruise. One for me, one for my son and one for a screw up Celebrity did on a different cruise. If you need to reach out to [email protected] . They are the ones that applied my 3rd FCC. >

I am a computer programmer and I work on most of my cruises. I have to remote into our server, so I watch the speed on all of my cruises. As a general rule this is what happens. In the morning before 9 am the speeds are pretty good because many of the cruisers are still asleep or gust getting around. between 9 am and 3 pm it gets slower because the ship is awake, and people are checking emails and posting social media. o between 3 pm and 7 pm it is pretty good speeds because people are busy with dinner between 7 pm and 11 pm it slows down a lot because people are streaming movies and doing internet phone calls. between midnight and 2:30 am or 3 am it is impossible to use the internet. The ship is taking all the bandwidth sending all of the day's receipts and information back to the home office. Between 3 am and 7 am the internet is very good. This is the time of day I can remote to my severs back home and do all of my work with no slowdown.

I have been on 18 cruises with my son from age 9 to 18. There is no reason for them to need money on a cruise ship. They do not need the arcade. The kids and teens area are full of games and game consoles. There is food and drink every ware. I did purchase my son a soda package on most of our cruises. I also made sure his room key was blocked from spending. I learned that the hard way when he was 10 years old. before I knew it, he had run up $40 in the arcade and $30 on ice cream. I did not know he was doing it and he did not realize that he was spending a lot of money. I would recommend that if they think they need the arcade or a drink they cannot get in the buffet they can find mom or dad.

I already have stocks and mutual funds in my IRA. Not a lot but enough to help my retirement. The Cruise Stock is just one of them that I added. When the cruise stock took a dump because of covid I purchased a lot more. If the stock goes back to where it was before covid I will triple or quadruple my money. In the meantime, I am getting OBC just for owning the stock. Like the others say ... it's a nice dividend.

My understanding is you can cancel the one room and get FCC. You can contact RCL customer service and get it assigned to you because you paid for it. I booked a cruise on Celebrity for me and my son. When it got canceled, they gave us FCC in my name and my sons name. When I booked a cruise for myself, I contacted Celebrity Engagement Center and they applied both to my cruise because I paid for both.

I have not stayed at this hotel but after doing my research I booked it for $130 a night from Alaska Airlines. It is downtown not far from the light rail station and a short taxi ride to the port. We will be able to walk to different sights we want to see. Executive Hotel Pacific 400 Spring Street Seattle WA 98104 US

I was just in checking the pricing of my cruises and noticed they now have View virtual tour on all of the cabins. I think this is something new and I really like it. Now you can see what the cabin should look like. To see them just go in like you are booking a cruise on the RCL site and when you get to the cabin types you will see the link for the virtual tour.

I book GTY when I can save some money. Most of the time I am pleased with the outcome. Before Covid I was able to move my balcony room after it was assigned to me to be able to be closer to some friends. There had to be available cabins of the same category. I had a GTY on my Feb 6 cruise and they assigned it 4 weeks before the cruise and 2 days before they canceled the cruise

Our message board for both of my February cruises is full of people dropping the cruise and rebooking later in the year or next year. I think opening the ships is people dropping. Our ship Sympathy Feb 12 was closed and now it is opened back up with lots of cabins.

Just a tip on booking things while planning. You can book an item now and cancel it later. The best deals seem to come out on Black Friday, and you will still see one before you cruise. If you decide that you want a drink package you can book one now. Let's say you book the drink package for $70 a day. You will pay for it when you book the drink package. Then you get around to black Friday and it goes on sale for $40 a day. You can cancel your $70 package and book the $40 package. The only issue is you pay when you book. So, you have to wait a week or two to get refunded and you have to pay then for the new one. The same goes for Shore Excursions and Dining packages. Note about drink packages: I am a 1 or 2 alcohol drink a day person. I purchase the Soda and Internet package. Then I pay for my one or two alcohol drinks a day. this gives me sodas for $10 a day and I spend $10 to $20 a day on alcohol giving me a $20 to $30 expense. Now if you are a 4-alcohol drink person that would be $50 to $60 a day and you are much better off purchasing the full drink package that you drink all you want and anything you want (almost). Shore Excursions: The way I book them is I compare in my mind. I picture myself riding the ATV through the jungle then laying on the beach with a drink in my hand. What one would I like most. My next cruise I have three ports. I ended up doing ATV in one, Tour of the island on one and laying on the beach on one. One last thought: You are on your honeymoon. How much are you going to be out of your room drinking? Would you be better off using the money on a nice dining package?

I am doing the same thing on February 19th but going from the Sympathy to the Celebrity Reflection. I was told by someone on the Celebrity board that they have done it a couple of times and RCL have supplied transportation to FL Port from Miami. He said once on bord he just checked with CS and they arranged him to get on a transfer. He said most of the people were RCL to RCL but they did not care he was RCL to Celebrity.

where do you see a deployment schedule? I would love to see to be able to help plan my retirement.

I am a water polo coach and me and my son can get a workout in the pool. We just would get up very early so no one would be in the pool We also did wall turns and not flip turns. When I am by myself, I will swim diagonal in the pool.