MotleyCruiser

Is this a time share. Do you get a Deed?

We have a 20 month old who is heading on his 3rd cruise next Wednesday. 2. If you fear that you will disrupt other while at the same table them you can request a table to yourselves. We have done that in advance by emailing dining. Your waiter will knew what we needed for our little guy and had it at the table as soon as he saw us sit (at nine months they brought him mash potatoes and a fruit bowl right away) more info here: 3. My only concern with excursions is the Baby/Child sitting in cabs or shuttles. you can drag your own around OR you can chance it like when we were kids and just put him on your lap or in a traditional seat belt. It's my understanding drivers do not care what you do...but something you might not have thought of.?!

1. Don't be up until 2 am the night before you leave packing. Pace yourself and don't over pack. every little item adds up in a suitcase and if you are flying every little bit counts. get to port city at least one day before. 2. Try new foods. I have to consciously do this. I am a notorious steak and potatoes guy. if it ain't broke why fix it kinda attitude. 3. Meet new people. Go for the table for 8 in the Main Dining Room. As much as we all want to keep to ourselves, it typically ends up being fun to get to know people onboard. 4. Be aware that in port, locals can be pushy trying to get you to come into their shop or buy there wares. There use to be a young gal at the Straw Market in Nassau that would say "free free' as she put a bracelet on you, and then say "$5 tip please" . NOT meant to scare your. Just be on your toes. 5. Don't be afraid to let your children enjoy the kids club. Have time for yourselves and have a Miami Vice at the bar...or 5.

Howdy Folks!! In six days we will be heading to the mediocre city of Galveston, Texas for an adventure of nominal proportion. This is cruise #26 for me and first out of the Port of Galveston. Who: Me, My beautiful wife Brenda, and our 20 month old son Zander or Z as he's been nicknamed....Oh and this is his 3rd cruise. Side note... I am the OCD planner in the family and use to plan vacations down to the foot step....almost. Now I/we have plans but nothing in concrete with a flexible timeline. Why this cruise? Research of course...We had Symphony booked for last month for a business conference (We flip houses in San Antonio as a side hustle) but weren't able to swing the massive final payment in time so we rebooked Enchantment for the five nighter, so not to lose all the deposit from Symphony, and sill make to Diamond (only needed 5 points) this year....everyone needs goals. Also...I feel Galveston has not been represented much and typically has been given a bad rap (I'm from Jersey and don't care 'that' much... but still). Galveston is going though a revitalization and I'll cover that further dawn and next week when we get to town. ...and even more so the cruise is going to the 'up and coming port' of Progreso, Mexico. It a little town up the coast from Cancun, on the north shore of the Yucatan. I hear the pier is 4 MILES LONG!!!! Itinerary! Day 1: Galveston, Texas Day 2: at Sea Day 3: Progreso, Mx Day 4: Cozumel, Mx Day 5: sea day Day 6: Galveston, Texas Cabin: We are slumming it and maybe a little over cautious. We have a bare bones Inside GTY stateroom on deck two (Never been on deck two). Inside because it is least expensive, balconies were twice the price, and with a 20 month, who is into everything, it scares me that he may find his way on to the balcony. Excursions: We ae not big excursion people. The Mrs. loves the shopping aspect of cruising and not a fan of the cattle call that sometimes happens with group activities. This time around with a new port to explore, Progreso, we are just going to explore the city and hit the beach. Z loves the water. It is my understanding it is a brisk one hour walk just to get off the 4 mile ship pier. a shuttle bus is provided free so we will be taking that with concern that we will not have a baby seat. Once in town, we will explore the shops along the beach and hit the Corona Beach Club...There is an excursion for this place BUT all the reviews I see say it is a waste of money. It consists of a shuttle ride and two chairs and an umbrella for $35 pp. The shuttle is free and you can go to the beach for free too. An umbrella and chairs are negotiable I'm sure. Something is fishy. I'll ask at the excursion desk...maybe. My understanding that the locals can be extremely pushy with their wares that are set up along the walkways at the port and beach areas. Bing map of the pier. This will be probably my 10th trip to Cozumel and we have done all there is to do there from buying to much jewelry to Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlie's to swimming with the dolphins & Mayan ruins. With advice I received from y'all we are going to hit up Nachi Cocom at $55.00 per adult and Z will be free of charge. Unlimited drinks, 4 course meal... I am very excited to visit here especially knowing they limit the number of guests to 130 per day (I'll believe it when I see it) http://www.cozumelnachicocom.com/ Extras: In my older younger years I am not the big drinker as I use to be and have opted for the Soda Package. We will bring the allotted wine on board that we love from Lake Ridge Winery near @Matt place in Central Florida. As much as everybody LOVES the WindJammier on embarkation day is blows my anxiety off the charts. That whole part of the day where EVERYBODY is clustered in the Centrum/Royal Promenade/Esplanade & the WindJammier drives me a little nutty when I should be relaxing. Ok...focus...I went ahead and pre-booked Chops for lunch to hopefully avoid the whole waiting for 1 o'clock for the staterooms to be ready crowd dealio. Our little guy loves steak and since he's 20 months he can order for free of the kid's menu and help daddy with his ribeye or filet and maybe mommy's salmon. I also pre-ordered some branded RC toys for Z for a surprise for him. Pre Game: We will be taking the 3+ hours drive from San Antonio to the port area the day before and staying that a quirky looking hotel adjacent to the two cruise terminals aka terminal one and terminal two... The Harbor House at pier 21. https://www.harborhousepier21.com/. Granted this hotel is owned by Wyndam and the Mrs. likes to do 'local' things, yet this hotel appears to have a mom and pop charm to it. we will walk the two blocks the next day to the terminal. We are big 80's rock fans (8 Monster of Rock cruises under our belts) so we will be stopping at the Hard Rock Café in Houston (Right off the interstate) for lunch, on the way, to break up the ride for the little guy and hit a one off restaurant called Shark Shack (unless I get vetoed) for dinner. Side note...Landry's OWNS the food and Beverage industry in Galveston. (Landry's Rainforest Café, Cadillac Bar, Fish Tales, Kemah Pier, Bubba Gump even SaltGrass) we want to eat local fare and enjoy fresh local seafood, and we want to avoid that Landry's chain food...be aware. We will be parking overnight at the onsite parking for the one night fee and leaving the car at the Harbor House's sister hotel, the Galvez Hotel, for free parking during our cruise. I will take the car there day of and they have a free shuttle to take me back to the terminal. I will go solo to retrieve the car upon return. I have been studying the port and the surround area for months. I go to Google maps and tour the streets and read reviews (with a grain of salt) to lay out my plan of attack of Galveston. I will be Periscoping our trip the day before and up to sail away day of. I typically put the phone away and do not get the internet package...1. because I'm cheat and 2. I like the disconnect aspect of cruising. I an MOTELYBRUE on periscope. the link below is a PowerPoint of the master Plan for the harbor area. You will see the plans for the new terminal 3 at Pier 10. Notice the ship that is placed in the rendering is an OASIS CLASS SHIP!!!!! Looks like the Texas market is growing!! https://www.portofgalveston.com/DocumentCenter/View/2607/Strategic-Master-Plan-Preliminary-Draft-Presentation-Website Notice upper right Oasis Class!! This is how close the Harbor House is from the Whale Tail Cruise terminal... RCCL is one block behind. Strategic-Master-Plan-Preliminary-Draft-Presentation-Website.pdf The Landry's family of restaurants

repeat on what @Matt said. Same with Friends of Dorothy.

I'm on Independence of the seas Feb 8-13 for the MONSTERS OF ROCK CRUISE. My 8th MORC www.MonstersOfRockCruise.com

Before Terminal A in Miami ...THIS WAS STATE OF THE ART...lol

I'm Sailing Aug 28 on Enchantment and today's sales are for embarkation Aug 29 and later :( Just my luck...I was going to book Photos and Refreshment Pkg with the sale.

Talk about ALL OUT!! You're going to spoil cruising for the rest of your life or go broke chasing the Suite Life.!?

yep, Filet & Lobster for everyone!!

Closter Burger King to the Hudson River 2.6 miles

10 Ft or 4 MILES Hmmmm . I'll take 10 feet...lol. Enjoying the blog and the pics.

WOW, that's scary enough to make your change your tighty whities!!!

Many times you will find their secret stash 'under' the trash liner in the pail....but I'm a guy and would have dumped the trash on the floor and used the liner that was in there too.

Quick tip if you go to the shopping seminar. ( my wife is a port shopper and I like to go to the seminar. it gives you the quick lesson on the port) The shopping dude will give a place to meet (Boleros on HOTS), his staff will escort you off the boat QUICK, get you to the front of the line for ferry tickets, and a $1.00 off each ticket you need to go to get downtown. the ticketing area was a cluster the day we were there.

We were in Bermuda for a few days. there was 9 of us and we went with the Public bus transportation. It was 11 years ago and I do not remember what the bus pass price was for the 2 day'er. https://www.gov.bm/department/public-transportation

Sanford is a good 10 miles further and you may run into that issue Twangster mentioned about limited flights....it's also on the 417...another Toll Road.

I do MCO because I'm use to that airport, I lived in Central Florida for 11 years, and my mom is in Davenport...just south of Disney. A lot of times we fly into Miami or FLL for a cruise (Typically the Monsters of Rock Cruise) after the cruise ...again....rent a car...lol, drive to O-Town and fly home out of Orlando/MCO.

I was going to mention this...The farther north you go the earlier the sunrise/dawn

Typically there is a FaceBook page for every sailing lately...find yours or make one and recruit folks that way.

"Hungry Now?" What is this??? Sound like RCCL's version of GrubHub??

Get your self a decent $400.00 watch(Citizens) at half price or get 153 Invicta watches for free...or 25 RCCL T-shirts

wow...good to know.

Budget's shuttle does pick-up at all Terminal's

I agree with Matt. REPRICE. It is a little bit of a pain if you're the one returning the vehicle but it's better that the cattle call on a shuttle that will most likely stop at every hotel on A1A. I used Budget and returned to that actual location on Astronaut Blvd. I also returned to that location after the cruise and picked up a car and dropped it the next day at MCO Orlando International.