Sweety

5 hours ago, twangster said:

A spectacular sunset tonight.

For those keeping track, this was shot with my iPhone 7 Plus.  I was headed to the Diamond lounge when I exited the elevator on deck 5 and saw a glimpse of this through the doors to the promenade deck outside.  The best camera is the one you have with you...

 

Do I have to upgrade my phone? Beautiful shot.

Yes!!! Grilled Ribs with extra sauce.

2 minutes ago, arebee said:

We started on Carnival but my brother in law (who was diamond at the time now D+) talked us into Royal.  Now we are so close to diamond I want to get there but I will explore others after that.  Looking at Holland America first then we'll see after that where I go.  Not too crazy about Royal nickel and dime us but guess thats where they are all going.

I have 117 days on Holland. 

8 minutes ago, murphmatic said:

I’ll be cheating on RCL in March with NCL. So I’ll see what you’re talking about. This will be my first non-RCL cruise. 

Unfortunately I’ll be cheating again in 2019; will be on Carnival out of Long Beach for a family thing. Everyone lives in So. California except me. 

You know you're loyal when you use words like cheating.

When the new deployments dropped, you studied it as you are going to take a final exam.

@twangster congratulations on reaching Diamond status. I have been showing off your pictures. My niece and family are now going on the cruise with us December 2018. Now you are a silent travel agent.

10 hours ago, twangster said:

Day 6 - Martinique

Our weather patterns with periods of sun and lines of showers moving through continued today.  Such is the Caribbean.

 

This is my first stop at Martinique.  It's quite developed.  There is a small public beach (no facilities) within walking distance of the ship but the real beaches are a ferry ride away.  

The town is setting up for some seasonal festivities along the water front.  Martinique is French and uses Euros.  

The beach ferry is a short walk from the ship.

With the threat of rain looming I decided not to head to the beaches but planned to check out Fort Saint-Louis.

Unfortunately it was closed today, so I walked around town.  It has much more of a European ambiance compared to many Caribbean islands.

It was very humid and I was drenched so with rain clouds moving in I headed back to the ship.

Traveling solo I am less inclined to go sit on a beach for a day and I had toyed with a helicopter excursion over to the Monserrat volcano but with the weather as it was I just self explored on this trip, but I'll be back as it is quite nice here. 

Josephine was married to Napoleon. She lived in France. Her family owned a planation in Martineque.

5 hours ago, twangster said:

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

The Gingerbread Houses of Anthem of the Seas

Thank you very much for the pictures. They are spectacular. Can't wait until next year.

23 minutes ago, Matt said:

If you start buying new camera lenses, then that is an accurate statement

Because of @twangster, I brought a new fish eye lense to go with my Canon 6i .

Woohoo!!!!

Booked three cruises for 2019. Finally going on Adventure. I have two more cruises to book. Just waiting on the final deployment next Spring. It's so exciting booking and going on cruises. Next one is Brillance in June 2018. I have 7 in 2018. Wow! I am getting like @twangster.

My Empress cruises have been changed to Majesty:

July 14-23, 2018 B2B cruises

August 20-25, 2018.

Navigator, June 24, 2019

Adventure, July 20, 2019

Marnier, August 18, 2019

Have two more cruises to book.

Will be on Harmony April 2019 with my grand nephew who will be 6. He is all boy, can't wait for him to do the slides.

I booked my parents to cruise with us December 2018 on Anthem. This is a present for my Dad who's retiring after working for over 60 years. Woohoo Dad!!! Mom is a retired teacher. So grateful to be able to do this for my parents.

Good morning twangster. Where are the gingerbread houses? 

16 hours ago, twangster said:

Some random thoughts...

My canceled excursion on Coco Cay was automatically applied as a credit on my account.  I didn't have to call or visit anyone.  The credit appeared on the same day we missed our call on Coco Cay.

Anthem is a high tech ship.  The lights in the cabin hallways dim when no one is present but as you enter each 'zone' they return to full brightness.  This is a smart way to reduce energy consumption and it demonstrates the length that Royal Caribbean goes in their drive towards reducing emissions. 

Like Harmony, Anthem has the hand washing stations upon entering the Windjammer, Solarium Bistro, ice cream station, etc.  For those that haven't sailed the newest ships you are diverted into the hand washing area with a row of sinks as opposed to simply getting some hand sanitizer like on the older ships. 

We are off the Outer Banks of NC this morning and it's cool on the balcony this morning.  Hoping it warms up as day breaks else it may be a long pants day on the pool deck.

An envelope appeared in my cabin for 'Consecutive Cruisers'.  If I want to visit the area I can disembark anytime after 6:30am.  A new SeaPass card will be presented as I leave the ship and this allows me to skip the check in process when I return to the terminal.  Or if I won't be visiting the area I can meet in Boleros at 9:15am when we will be escorted to customs.  Since I am changing cabins I leave my bags in the stateroom and clothes hanging in the wardrobe can remain there.  All will be transferred to my new cabin for me.

Voom Surf and Stream has been pretty solid on this cruise so far.  4Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, ~200ms latency.  That seems to be the new Voom S & S standard being reported across many ships using O3b, except Harmony where I personally got much better speeds.

You really have a different mindset when cruising B2B.  We arrive in Bayonne tomorrow yet I'm feeling none of that 'OMG it's the last of my cruise I must do everything I haven't already done, the cruise is over' feeling.

I'm looking forward to another 12 night cruise on Anthem.  That's a good thing because I have a 9 night on Anthem in January.

Love B2B.

On 11/30/2017 at 11:35 PM, mom2mybugs said:

We are going spring break (teacher married to a teacher with a high schooler! ) so march 25 out of fort Lauderdale.   Jane

Teacher from Chicago. We will be on the Navigator March 25. We were able to get a junior suite for 1700 for two.

4 hours ago, FLGooner said:

Our Sept 2018 to Cuba is still showing as Empress

My last cruise on Empress 8/20/2018 was changed this past weekend. Price protected and the same category. The same cruise is 400 more.

My Empress cruises have been changed to Majesty this weekend.

Woohoo!!! More awesome pictures.

We were on Anthem last year for the holidays. We were off before 7am. We made a 10:15am flight with no problem. Express was very easy.

On 11/20/2017 at 11:22 AM, living4cruising said:

Our June 2018 sailing out of Tampa was changed from Empress to Majesty. It's our first cruise, and I had done a lot of research on Empress before booking and regarding cabin selection. Anxious to see our assignment for Majesty - hoping it's a good change! Itinerary changed as well (from Key West/Cozumel to Costa Maya/Cozumel).

My three Empress have changed for next year.

11 hours ago, mworkman said:

If you must book the Navigator...Do it for Nov 23, 2018...So i can have my private photographer on board.   No pressure, but i do expect pic's as good as twangster if not better 

i can cary the accessory bag around for you! 

Booked for June 2019 and Marnier for August 2019. Still have to book 4 more cruises. The decisions one must make.

Thanks to @twangster, I will be booking 2 cruises each tomorrow on Navigator and Marnier. My wide angle lens just came in. Can't wait to take pictures.

50 minutes ago, twangster said:

Formal Dinner #2

I had the Prime Rib AND the Lobster Tail.

This is one of the best prime rib MDR formal night dinners I've had.  My mouth is watering thinking about it 2 hours later... and yes that is how I ordered my prime rib.  Perfect.  Service from Adrin and his assistant Kresmir very good but a close second to Grandeur overall.  Time to step it up boys!

After off to Vintages to watch @Matt's periscope.  While others bragged about sitting by fire-pits at home watching, I sat by the fire in Vintages.  Ok, it was an LED candle, but close enough.

 

So the count is up to 2 lens, a filter and two cruises.  And there are two more days to go!  I feel like this is a telethon...  "Call Now!"

@JLMoran - I went through a phase like that too, still take many photos with my iPhone.  My "other camera" is an iPhone 7 plus.  The best camera is the one you have with you.  

November 21, I will be booking two short cruises on Navigator and Marnier. So your count is 6 cruises, 1 filter and 2 lens.