hayley_bopp

We’re in Miami!  All checked and waiting for complimentary Happy Hour ?
I love this hotel.  Nothing beats the Bay view rooms.  This is the Club Intercontinental King room with Bay views.

You can do it! ?

You can do it! ?

Day 6 - Sea Day
Noted a Diamond only breakfast area in the MDR

Voom results this morning.

Voom history for this sailing.

Our progress so far...

I tried to use the new Royal app to look at a something in a future cruise. Empress isn't supported in the app but I wanted to look at a future cruise that is supported in the app.  I couldn't get past this screen while on Empress.  

There is no moving this past this 'link a cruise' page unless you connect your phone to a VPN service, then the Royal app functions like it does when you are at home looking at future cruises.

Flat seas this morning making for smooth sailing as we make our way back to Miami for turn around day.  
Chops breakfast available in the morning but only from 7am to 8am.
Consecutive cruiser letter was in my cabin last night.  Meeting point is deck 5 Schooner Bar at 9:30am.

You know what they say...
What happens at The Quest stays on the internet.

Crew Flag of Nations in the Centrum



Comedian and Hypnotist in the theater tonight

The moment during the CD's wrap up that one guest discovered her belly button was missing.  No worries, it will reappear once she leave the theater.

Day 5 WJ dinner:  American Night

Wings and beer sounded like a great dinner idea.  Jerk and BBQ seasoned wings available.

Tequila tasing in Boleros, $16



I checked out the VCL during Diamond Happy Hour.  It was a ghost town.

Some stray observations...
Teas and coffee offered in this JS:


Five types of sugar/sweetener/artificial whatever

Deck 6 walking/jogging track is 1/4 mile per lap

There is a small arcade on board.

Perhaps they're all headed to Florida for a cruise? 

Have a great cruise! #jealous
Happy Anniversary, too! My wife and I are celebrating 18 next week (hmmmm...she was teaching when we got married, so I guess we are in on the trend, too).

Since there are so many Disney fans here, I have to post this picture I saw near an apartment!  

Today we spent several hours at segrada familia and now are trying to great you the energy for a couple hours at the Picasso museum!  More later!  Jane

The end of the first day was amazing!  We knew we would be tired so found a great Italian pizzeria.  Drank cervasa and are thin pizza!  






We finished the night with a walk to get gelato near the segrada familia.  The area is so funny... There is a whole street filled with 5 guys, McDonald's, taco Bell etc!  The gelato was just ok but what was amazing was there was a big street concert set up.  We ate our gelato on the stairs of the segrada familia listening to music.  Amazing!!  

We are going to try and do this tomorrow!  Jane

Glad you're enjoying Barcelona. It's one of my favourite cities. 
If you get chance, have a wander arpind the gothic quarter. There are lots of quirky little shops and amazing tapas bars (and it's nice and shaded!)

Haha....Tell them to just lean with the Captain like you do on a motocylcle.

I've just had a fall from my TA advising that our 22nd Dec itinerary has been changed with St Thomas replaced with San Juan.
For me it's not an issue - it will be my first time in the Caribbean and from everything I've read on here, San Juan looks like an interesting place. Plus I'll get to try some Pueto Rican food ?
Now my only problem is trying to allay the fears of our first-time-cruiser friends who are sailing with us that the ship is not going to sink/drift off around the globe...

We are in an airbnb a few blocks from the segrada familia.  It is a neighborhood with a mix of tourists and locals.  There are tons of supermarcats to grab food from, and bakeries and gelato places (the one we tried last night was just ok... Looking forward to Italy lol).  
Airbnb pics:

View from our tiny terrace:

Again... More pics on the camera, but it's a decent 2 bedroom  with 2 bathrooms.  There are definitely issues... The walls are paper thin in this apartment and we hear lots of street noise... That's ok... But Madison hearing people at 3am doing "other things" wasnt great.  There is also only 1 little futon to sit on in the living room.  But it really is a nice spot for us!  Jane

More highlights:. Gaudi architecture is amazing.  It is much more interesting than it is in the pictures.  Our driver was awesome about stopping and having us take some pics!  



Apparently casa Mila (the first one) was called "the stone quarry" by the owners... They hated it.  It is fascinating to look at these "modernism" buildings right next to Gothic type older buildings.  Jane

Our tour was very nice.  Plenty of time to see things and get out of the very nice van.  Here are some highlights:. 



Park guell:




I apologize in advance...I'm taking most pics on my camera but trying to do some for here on my phone.  I had beautiful pics of the buildings with the columns in the back. I also have some amazing pics of the tile work close up. The pics here don't do it justice!  Give yourself at least an hour here... We only had an hour and we'd have liked at least another half hour or so.  Jane

Ok... Still haven't figured out resizing so what I may do is a lot of small posts!  
Or flight took off over an hour late  I can't fault Norwegian airlines since it was ohare traffic.  They did make up a ton in the air (arrival times are seriously passed) so we were only 25 mins late.  I got maybe 2 hours sleep overnight.  The seats are divided and you can't lift the armrests so it was tight for our family (we were hoping to squash the skinny teenager lol) but would be good if you were sitting with strangers.  The food was really solid for dinner (I had the Korean beef stew), and we were able to order a vegetarian meal for Madison.  They even brought her a vegetarian breakfast the next morning!  Bonus I picked the exit aisle at the boarding door for no extra fee.  We had to store our bags at take off and landing but they let us keep them under our feet the whole rest of the flight.  Tons of leg room and it was free!!!!   We arrived maybe 25 mins late.  Customs and baggage was an absolute breeze and when we got out our driver from Barcelona City tours was there with a sign to get us out of the airport.  It was so much less crowded and stressful than O'Hare!  
Jane

A somewhat "hidden" feature are the forward public decks on 7 & 8.

The bow is open with no helipad.  This area exists on all ships but for the most part we don't see it as it's covered with a helipad.  

The stairs are open and free to use.  They lead to this open public deck 7 space.  Note the staircase on the far left.

Deck 7 view forward.

Going up one more level to deck 8 you can see the bridge on deck 9.

This also provides a nice view forward.
   
Some people never find these public decks and they do have OV cabins that are right there so if you book a forward facing OV cabin be aware this space in front of your window is open to the public. 

When I talk about Empress not feeling small that comes from spaces like the forward elevator lobby that has spaces like this:

One deck down.

Even the computer area has awesome views of the sea.

The Centrum is unique to the fleet.







The generous spaces can be found around deck 5 and guest services.

Of course no ship is complete without shops.


Also not pictured is Port Merchants with tobacco and alcohol.

2 days out...
Nothing new to report today other than the usual “day before we leave” business. 
Mani/Pedi ✅

Check in ✅

Packed ✅ ... Hubby zero in this area ?

Eat “healthy” ? dinner while I dream of CK ✅

Note of apology...all food pics following this one should be way better! ?
Headed to bed early tonight as we have a pretty early start tomorrow. Sleep should not be a problem as I barely slept last night.  

They are not near one another.
It will take you the entire day to travel to and from Chitchen Itza and is an an excursion I'd definitely book through the cruiseline in case of delays. 
We went on an excursion when staying at a hotel in Costa Maya and although it was a long day, it was well worth it. a very impressive site and, if you're lucky, a chance to swim in a cenote on the way back. 

There is also legitimate danger to your bank accounts when you read and follow a @twangster live blog, even if you don't understand the camera talk ?