hayley_bopp

Is it wrong that I now want to sail on Empress just to try the late night WJ offerings?

12 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Which ship are you sailing this time?  I'm already thinking ahead to next July! lol

We're trying P&O this year. 14 night Med cruise from Southampton. 

Nothing wrong with planning ahead. Im trying to plan how we can fit a cruise in around the other travel plans we've got for next year

46 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Thank you!  Did you celebrate with a cruise this year?

We're going on a cruise in a couple of weeks but not strictly speaking for our anniversary. We will however be in Edinburgh on our anniversary and have a nice meal booked. I'm sure we'll celebrate again onboard somehow!

Loving your live blog as always @twangster. Just right to keep me going through my last couple of weeks pre-cruise

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Happy Anniversary to you and Jack!!  Funny how all teachers have anniversaries around now.  You, @mom2mybugs, us, wonder if @Sweety does as well?

Another teacher with a summer anniversary here

Happy anniversary to you both. Looking forward to following along. 

Definitely not enough time to go up the tower on this tour. It is well worth the visit though just to see the tower from the outside. It might be possible for you to attend the acoustics demo in the battisterro though. You have to buy tickets for a couple of euros and only happens a couple of times each day hut it is breathtaking. Your guide will be able to advise you if you're in time and have time for it. 

Enjoy. 

1 hour ago, DDaley said:

Also I hope the Europeans don't judge us for the water slides! Big garish number comes sailing into Santorini marring the pristine coastline, haha 

In most places, they seem pretty happy with the income that tourists bring. The exception would be Venice where there have been big protests against cruise ships including small local vessels blocking the waterway. It looks like they're going to (if they haven't already) ban or limit the big cruise ships. 

@mom2mybugs hope you have a fantastic cruise (I'm sure you will!).  I'm looking forward to following along 

On 7/6/2019 at 12:01 AM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Tonight’s CK dinner features one of my personal favourites...the Valrhona Chocolate Bar

That looks amazing!

22 hours ago, Skid said:

 Ooooh, maybe that's the reason I never cared much for tiramisu (although it appears I may be the only one on the planet that doesn't).

Nope - you're in good company. I don't like it either (although I will eat it if it's the only option for dessert ). I do like mascarpone though. 

5 hours ago, Auto said:

And, as Americans, we made it better by changing the shape of the ball and introducing the forward pass....Happy Independence Day! 

Or what we were already calling 'Rugby'

Happy Independence Day 

4 hours ago, Skid said:

@Lovetocruise2002 try out John's Pizza on 44th st. We recommended it to @hayley_bopp recently and she liked it. Biggest bar in a pizza place you have ever seen.

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That is where our meet up is tonight! Stay tuned

Yes! That place was great. Now I'm doubly upset that we aren't at the meet up

1 hour ago, princevaliantus said:

"Football" is actually "Soccer" in Europe.

Again, we invented the game, therefore, the correct name is football

Hope you have an amazing holiday @Lovetocruise2002

Knowing you're an uber-planner like myself, I'd imagine you've already got your whole itinerary for NYC booked up but incase not, we were there a few weeks ago and particularly enjoyed a bike tour of Central Park and the all access tour of Madison Square Garden was surprisingly good

I know you're Canadian but saw you flew from DTW so guessing you're just over the border or living in MI - we have a friend from Windsor (which happens to be twinned with our home city!) but who lives in Ann Arbor so we've been to that neck if the woods a couple of times. 

Looking forward to following along with you. 

16 hours ago, CraftyCat05 said:

These past couple of days have been fun, and full of activities, excursions, shows, and food!

Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself

Barcelona is one of my favourite cities!

As others have said, multi-day pass for the HOHO Buses would be ideal for you. 

If you want to go to Parc Guell, ticketsist be booked in advance although it's very popular so might already be sold out. If you do get there, don't miss the viewing area that's up some steps right at the back of the park. The view over the city is fantastic. 

If not, the funicular del Tibidabo also gives great views. 

If you're a football fan, the Camp Nou stadium is well worth a visit. 

I'd highly recommend wandering around the labyrinth that is the Gothis Quarter- really fantastic architecture, very atmospheric but safe. Find a tapas bar on one of the placas and watch the world go by. We went to Ocana at place Reial and it was very good and reasonably priced. 

The fountain at parc de la ciutadella is stunning. We only had chance for a quick look but said if we went back we'd take a sandwich and have lunch there. 

17 hours ago, Joe01 said:

Hope you have had a great first 2 days!

You're lucky - just noticed that you have Joff on Ovation.

We had Joff on Indy last year. He was great. 

I'm gonna come right out and say it: I like it!

I pick up a slice nearly every time I go past

1 minute ago, hayley_bopp said:

You won't miss proper breakfasts on the ship. This is pretty much what my husband has every, single day!

Except for the haggis. I'm fairly sure he had black pudding at least a couple of times but that was in the Med. They also had 'proper' bacon as well as the American stuff. This could just be for European sailings but regardless, you'll get pretty close to a 'full English'.

On 6/27/2019 at 8:04 AM, Joe01 said:

At the airport - flight leaving at 0940. Time to go! Long day ahead, wish me luck.

Will miss proper breakfasts on the ship - this is this morning's offering:



You won't miss proper breakfasts on the ship. This is pretty much what my husband has every, single day!

7 hours ago, Skid said:

Hayley, I believe @Fairlynew was talking about the buffet that is inside the MDR for breakfast and lunch as opposed to the Windjammer. Every Royal ship that we have been on did set up a buffet in the center of the MDR for breakfast and lunch, as well as having waiter/menu service.

Yeah - the MDR buffet was on the lowest level of the MDR whereas the a la carte option was offered on one of the other floors of the MDR. I wonder if this is just a European thing...?

45 minutes ago, Fairlynew said:

Can you not convince him to have the buffet in MDR while you order a la carte?  

On the 2 Med cruises we've done - Navigator and Independence, they've been on separate floors. Do you think it'd be possible to ask for the a la carte whilst on the buffet floor?

I was in NYC last month and visited the Statue of Liberty. You have to book through Liberty State Park site - they are the only official ticket providers - but you can choose to get a ferry from either Battery Park in NYC or from a location in Jersey (not sure of the name but info is available on the website). 

Whichever departure point you choose, you don't have to return to it so it would be entirely possible for you to leave from Jersey, visit Ellis Island, Statue and then get the ferry to Battery Park to sight see in Manhattan before getting the bus or train back to your hotel. Or you could do that itinerary in reverse. 

Also, although you have to book for a certain timeslot, we found that they weren't taking much/any notice of this. We had a 2pm ferry booked but arrived at Battery Park at 12:30 and were just told to get into the queue. It was pretty busy (it was Memorial Day) but the queue moved really fast and we were on a ferry by about 1pm. 

We had started the day at the WTC Memorial and museum then walked down to Battery Park via Wall Street so can confirm that that's a very do-able option. 

13 hours ago, StayFrosty said:

We may be in the minority but we are main dining room breakfast people. Windjammer is okay but we like the more laid back atmosphere of the main dining room. 

I agree. I think the MDR makes for a much more relaxed start to the day. My husband prefers the variety in the WJ (even though he has pretty much the same thing every day ) so we tend to alternate and I convince him to go for the a la carte seating in the MDR once or twice during the cruise. 

I'm not sure on the legalities but for the sake of 1 day, I'd renew it to be on the safe side

With the package, you have to use it on night one or two. Royal will allocate a restaurant to you for whichever of those nights you choose. If you don't like what they've chosen, you can change on embarkation and at this point you should also make reservations for your other 2 nights. Hope this helps. 

Wow! Can't wait to follow along. Have a great cruise.