Floski

This is so unfair.  All these people going on cruises.  I better do something about that... 
Enjoy your cruise @Floski !

You do have to call (or ask your travel agent) to prepay gratuity.  My understanding was you had to do this by Jan. 2, 2018 to secure the old rate. 

Metric money.  Completely different.

Inner Circle, Maxi Priest and Billy Ocean. Don't forget Shaggy and Shabba.

Ha!  My plan worked.  I just copied some text from a photography forum and pasted it above.

Sometimes, when you guys get to talking, I feel like this

 
I feel like such a noob...

Sometimes, when you guys get to talking, I feel like this

 
I feel like such a noob...

Champagne Bar or while dining at 150 Central Park.  

Umm. I think you meant "blender"? Maybe? But I feel like the word that actually came out might be the better context. God knows I wouldn't mind a good bender right now. 

visited NY for 1st time in july, saw lots of bums, wino's and litter filled streets but as hard as i tried i just couldn't find any hookers 

Pretty much all my life, I was fed the whole "NJ and NY suck" thanks to Baretta and Kojak, etc.  Nothin but bums, winos, hookers, and litter-filled streets.  
 
Man, was I dumb.  Get away from the city and NJ is beautiful.  I saw more different types of animals in NJ during my couple of days there than I've ever seen here.
 
And NYC blew my mind.  We stayed in Weehauken, and took the ferry over to the city and it was wonderful!   
 
Very good people up there, too.  More like "Friends" than "Jersey Shore".

Pretty much all my life, I was fed the whole "NJ and NY suck" thanks to Baretta and Kojak, etc.  Nothin but bums, winos, hookers, and litter-filled streets.  
 
Man, was I dumb.  Get away from the city and NJ is beautiful.  I saw more different types of animals in NJ during my couple of days there than I've ever seen here.
 
And NYC blew my mind.  We stayed in Weehauken, and took the ferry over to the city and it was wonderful!   
 
Very good people up there, too.  More like "Friends" than "Jersey Shore".

Yeah too much snow in Charleston.
(Former Myrtle Beach resident)

I gotta go with Waaaytooooo as well.
 
Look, it ain't artisanal, I get it.  But when the time comes, and we all know what time I'm talking about, Sorrento's is as good an option 
as there is on the boat!  If I'm looking a little cock-eyed and listing a bit when I walk, I don't want lobster or prime rib - just gimme some za, even Sorrento's.

I've waited for all of the "haters" to have their say and I will take a stab at standing up for Sorrento's pizza !!

I will start out by admitting that I am neither a pizza snob nor a pizza connoisseur but I think the pizza at Sorrento's (at least, on Allure, which is one of the very few times I have tried it) wasn't bad.  I have certainly had better but I have had FAR worse, too.
Admittedly, we got the pizza when it was very fresh (immediately after they opened) and we were enjoying a nice cold beverage across the way in the pub while they were putting up the Christmas tree on Allure in Nov. but we rather enjoyed it.
Not much else to say, really.  When you are really hungry and it is right there waiting for you, it's ok.
I will make myself an even GREATER target by admitting that I also don't mind the hot dogs at the Dog Shack (or whatever it's called).  I love the greasy burgers at Johnny Rocket's too.  So there.

I am picky about good food and I like sorrento's better than johnny rockets. Johnny rockets is terrible. Greasy cold fries and onion rings, Cheap frozen pre-formed patty's with no seasoning, limp greasy undercooked bacon. AND IT COSTS EXTRA! At least sorrento's is free and their sandwiches/stromboli's are good. Carnival has Guy Fieri's Burgers and I have heard from everyone that has tried them how great they are and it's included! Royal Caribbean needs to up their burger/pizza/bar food game. 

I saw what you did there 

Reminds me of the time we walked on the nude side of Orient Beach (no, the Greeter wasn't there, unfortunately)...kept expecting to see the lovely sights, but it was anything butt that.  

Reminds me of the time we walked on the nude side of Orient Beach (no, the Greeter wasn't there, unfortunately)...kept expecting to see the lovely sights, but it was anything butt that.  

I really like rum and tequila, but don't really know much about it, such was what's good and what's not.  
We will be hitting Falmouth and Cozumel in a month.  I see that you mention Casa Noble - any other suggestions?  I don't plan on heading into Falmouth; probably stay in the scaredy pants area.
 

Just give me the pizza kit in a box that we used to make as kids, I'll be happy

Day Two, Part One
 
We slept in almost 8am, which is astonishing for us as we’re usually pretty early risers, but we also don’t usually sleep in a pitch-dark room.  We got ready and headed up to the main dining room for breakfast and were seated by 8:45.  We were seated at a ten-top with a family of three and an older couple, all of whom were friendly and had a nice conversation.  We ordered off the menu, it looked like there was a buffet area set up, but we didn’t go over to check it out.
After breakfast we went up topside to watch the ship pull in to Nassau.  We were early and arrived a little after 11.  The cruise director decided to postpone the belly flop competition until the sea day so we could maximize our time in Nassau.
We decided to do the Discover Nassau Land & Sea tour.  There was a bit of a wait after getting off the ship for the tour operator to corral us towards the tour boat, but once we were aboard, we got underway fairly quickly.  The boat was a comfortably sized catamaran with ample seating for everybody, unlimited rum punch (and plain punch for the kiddies or those who prefer a non-alcoholic option), and the crew was very friendly and accommodating.  Our guide, Chris, was very energetic and entertaining and pointed out many of the houses of the rich and famous and we saw lots of different kinds of fish over the side of the boat down in the crystal-clear water.
We had a few minutes of excitement when the tour guide announced that two of the passengers intended for this tour had accidentally boarded the snorkeling boat instead.  They decided to meet in the middle of the water and have the guests jump over from the other boat!  If you’ve seen how they drive boats in the Bahamas, you’ll understand why this was exciting.  We matched speed, pulled up alongside, threw some ropes to the other boat while they crew held us together and the guide had the two guests step off the snorkeling boat and on to ours.  Nobody fell in the water and everybody clapped as we went on our merry way.
At the end of the boat tour, we pulled back in to the docks to board tour busses for the other portion of the tour.  This took us into town and narrated about what we were seeing.  We stopped for a few minutes at the queen’s staircase and then went over the bridge to Paradise island to Atlantis.  There was an interesting sculpture at the entrance to the casino at Atlantis.  It reminded me of the Iron Thrown from Game of Thrones, except made out of ice instead of swords.  After walking around there a few minutes, we went back on the bus back to the ship.  To be perfectly honest, I would’ve just as much skipped the bus tour and walked around on our own.  The boat tour was a lot of fun, but I don’t think the bus tour was worth the time.
We boarded the ship again and hung out on deck a little while before dinner.  We also had ice cream from the pool deck before dinner because we are adults and we can make those kind of decisions!

Hope the injured crew member is okay.  I got up looking for the windjammer this morning and couldn't seem to find the elevator. I called for room service....wife hung up her cell phone on me. ;-(   8 more days baby till i sail...with all these pic's i'm ready to go!

Hardest part of vacation!   Leaving the baby behind!  I swear I miss the dog more than the kid's! Jane

I can't believe it's nearly here, but we will be heading out on Majesty of the Seas out of Port Canaveral tomorrow for a 4-night trip to Nassau, Coco Cay and back; spending Christmas Day at sea!  I have the VOOM package, so I'll try to live-blog as much as I can without getting yelled at, but I may have to keep it quick and fill in more details from home . . .
So, a little background on how this trip came to be might be in order.  If you've seen Christmas with the Kranks, we're basically living the set-up to the movie.  My other half's mother (I'm calling her MIL from this point forward, not technically accurate yet, but let's roll with it) throws a huuuuuuuuge Christmas Eve party in upstate New York.  We live near Orlando and went up last Christmas.  We spent a few days before in NYC, it was my first time in the city and AWESOME, then took the train to his parents on Christmas-Eve-Eve.
MIL was up into the wee hours making cookies and snacks and all sorts of stuff for the big party.  She slept all of maybe 3 hours, got up at 7am, made breakfast for everybody and then went right back to party prep.  I played Sous Chef and helped her with all the prep work for the rest of the day until people started showing up for the party.
People came and went, everyone had a wonderful time, cleaned up the bulk of the mess and we all turned in for bed around two or three in the morning.  Up again at 7am, MIL made breakfast for everybody (again) and on her way to pour herself a cup of coffee, promptly collapsed on the floor.
We all rushed over to her, called 911 and started to assess what happened (I strongly recommend that everyone take the Red Cross first aid and CPR training, it could save a loved one's life).  She was conscious, but dazed and disoriented and weak.  The paramedics came to take MIL to the ER, FIL rode along in the ambulance.  I followed in one of their cars w/ Other Half.
So we spent Christmas Day in the ER, and the next few days back and forth between the hospital.  Long story short, MIL is fine but also the proud owner of a brand new pacemaker and we decided that we would be removing her from any sort of Christmas exhaustion, by force if necessary.  And we could think of no better way to forcibly remove her from throwing Christmas parties than a cruise to the Bahamas.
MIL & FIL arrived a few days ago, and we'll finish packing up tonight and heading down to the port tomorrow morning!