mamabdw

She's trying to avoid this

Those would be the drink package folks!

The biggest problem I see is that these are not taken on a cruise ship 
The telephoto outdoor picture does display some chromatic dispersion in the upper corners.  You can see the dark blue edge of the tree on one side a slight yellow glow on the other side.  You'll have to experiment a bit more in different lighting to see how visible it is under various conditions.  It appears worse in the bright background in the upper left and it may be the lower corners also have this but without the bright light it isn't as evident.  Something to play with or be aware of using the telephoto.
Nice kit.  Certainly a lot smaller than mine 

Found a full profile picture.
 

Personally I don’t understand the controversy. Everyone knows the reason why they did this.  They aren’t alone. Other cruise lines have the same policy. I used to buy a pkg for myself and not my wife. Now I can’t do that. It’s their ship and MY choice. So, now I don’t get any pkgs, go a la carte, and there’s NO WAY my bar tab will be anywhere near the cost of 2 pkgs. 

@mamabdw Ya'll need to switch to the 25th and bring me some KC BBQ ?

Don't remove gratuities.  If anything, tip additional for good service.  Envelopes can be found at guest services.  That's my two cents.

Actually, I think it's just the opposite.  Maybe RC thinks that people would be willing to pay $79 for the "star class" treatment without paying $20K for the star class suite.

I just assumed this was an add-on activity that you could do, similar to getting a VIP or backstage pass. I would be very surprised if they only offer paid reservations for shows, but I could see them pushing paid experiences like the one you mentioned.

I agree, they should send every new guests an email encouraging them visit this site :-)

I'm hearing whisperings of an overnight stay here in Nassau and a missed call on CocoCay for tomorrow.  Waiting for the Captain to announce it.  

Day 6 - Nassau
We arrived early with the morning mist yet to be burned off as the sun began to rise.


First into port this morning.


Soon after we docked another Royal Caribbean ship entered the harbor.

That's Independence of the Seas executing a turn so she could back into the slip beside us.



Nice day here today.  Later in the day I was walking laps around the ship and caught Gigi looking whimsically at me with North Star looming over her shoulder.

I stayed on the ship today and that decision would pay dividends for me.  In my last live blog I talked about a venue that is unique to Quantum class ships - Two70°. 
Here is the Two70° venue on Anthem of the Seas during its first ever visit to the Port of Miami with Miami as a backdrop:

With Royal Caribbean's Headquarters right here they took an opportunity to introduce this Quantum class ship to many HQ employees and local travel agents who may not have had an opportunity to set foot on board one before since the other two in this class, Quantum and Ovation, are not based in North America.   Walking around the ship I saw numerous employees taking it all in.  Just before noon our cruise director announced that none other than Nick Weir would be doing a presentation in Two70° and guests were welcome to attend.  
For those that don't know Nick Weir, he is the Vice President of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean.  If you've seen a show on a Royal ship lately, you've likely experienced the work of Nick Weir and his team.  I follow him on twitter @NickWeirShowbiz where he occasionally leaks tidbits about the new entertainment coming to Symphony of the Seas.  For those that saw Project Atlantis, the RCTV production about the last time Allure went to the Freeport dry dock - that was Nick Weir hosting it.
Walking into Two70° today the room was rotating through some background scenes.  The room was filling up, my daily KümmelWeck from Café270 would have to wait. 



Have you noticed how the color of the house lights change based on the content that is being displayed?  Also note this was at noon during full daylight outside.  Consider my first photo above and how this room has transformed since, in the middle of the day.  Cool stuff here.
Nick took the stage and began his presentation.



Today Nick would be showcasing the incredible Two70° venue to an audience that consisted mostly of Miami employees and local agents - there were only a handful of ship guests other than myself in attendance.  The room cost an estimated $27M per ship plus the cost of content.  He discussed not only the evolution of these Quantum class rooms but the need to create content for them.  With eighteen individual projectors synchronized to produce the 'Vista Display' as it's called, it amounts to a 12k screen with a 5:1 aspect ratio (if you thought 4k was impressive, ha!).  The problem is no one has content for this screen size or resolution so Royal Caribbean Entertainment had to create it from scratch.        

During Top Tier events I've seen the virtual fleet presented before.  Nick explained this was created for a Royal Caribbean Board of Directors meeting that took place on Ovation a few years ago.  Since it was such a hit, they have kept using it and made it part of the Crown and Anchor Society Top Tier event.

During the presentation more and more of the fleet, old and new are brought to life on the screen sailing virtually behind us. 

Nick stepped us through various pieces that were produced for this venue some of which simply don't photograph well since they combine both the Vista Display and six robotic screens that move and are choreographed with content on the Vista Display and each other.
One piece that stands out is called 'Dance In A Box'.

They literally made two boxes the size of two robot screens and recorded dancers in a studio constrained to dance within those dimensions.  The robot screens move and rotate, separate and come together in three dimensions all choreographed to music.  This had never been done before.  It's one thing to make a robot that can build a car on an assembly line but Nick explained frankly it's quite boring watching a robot repeat the same move over and over all day long.  They needed to make the robotic screens performers themselves and that is what they have done. 

I've seen many of these productions before on previous Anthem cruises but hearing their origins and how Nick and his team produced them brought new respect for each show.
I'm really not doing the entire presentation justice in this blog.  It's something you have to experience which is the magic of this room.  It's not just a video played on a big screen, it's the manner in which the technology of the room is used to immerse the audience into the production.  In the interest of brevity I'm skipping several pieces of great entertainment but Nick brought it to a close with a virtual fireworks show his team created for New Years Eve one year that was so popular they play it on all Quantum class cruises now.  Watch your cruise compass for it when you sail on one.

 
Our Miami visitors had a lunch to get to in the dining room so the few guests like myself that attended then saw the virtual symphony orchestra on the Vista Display.

I had an opportunity to meet Nick after the event and talk briefly with him.  Nick if you ever read this, I decided to spare you from displaying how you showcased the rotating stage using yourself as a prop in the process.  Well done sir!

39!

The Titanic Soundtrack, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the Gilligan's Island Theme are some of my pre-cruise favorites.

@tallpaul86 cut and pasted something he read on Cruise Critic and that review was made by a lady.  

True story:
When you end an otherwise okay 1st date because she makes a negative comment about cruising in general

Perhaps the best place to live is Wisconsin, so that you have more appreciation for vacations when it's -25 outside 

Any answer other than a Miami Vice is wrong 

That's horrible news. You MUST try it. It's part of the shared experience talking about how bad it is. 

Sorrentos: Second best reason to get the drink package!

After a night of exercising my drink package, I think it taste good...

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!!!!
I woke early in my hotel and plotted how to kill some time.  I've decided to give @Matt a two-fer blog on this sailing.  Since the next Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise is to Alaska I'm going to post a recap blog on my Celebrity cruise this past summer.  Some of the ports are the same so hopefully that can give folks an idea what to expect.
With five hours to kill I started writing that blog.  Look for it soon(ish).  
At 10am I repacked my 43 bags.  For some reason I do this every time.  Despite knowing I need to change clothes in the hotel I never remember to pack the next's days clothes separately.  So I unpacked so I could change and re-packed.
I headed down and hailed a Lyft 5 ton truck for my 43 bags.  $8.  By 10:32 I was pulling up to the terminal. 
Today we are using terminal 18, not 29 as I was expecting.  As we entered the port I saw it on the sign board overhead.  It's awfully lonely in port today, no other cruise ships (it's Thursday).  We were handed a letter explaining a delayed boarding due to continuing cleaning efforts.  No big deal, I was expecting this.  We did score a $25 OBC from it as compensation on a card taped to my Emerald card.  Apparently cards are printed a long time before sailing so my Diamond status wasn't available to the folks in the terminal.  My C&A account is correct so I'm not anticipating any issues once the Loyalty Ambassador starts at 4pm.  At the check in counter they have sanitizing people rush up and wipe down the counter between guests.
@rjac - I checked the onboard Diamond guidebook and apparently it is okay to talk to other members.  Merry Christmas buddy!
Voom on board is $15.99 for Surf and $19.99 for Surf and Stream (holiday pricing).  Since they tagged me as Emerald I used my 15% Emerald discount which is actually a few bucks cheaper than the one day Diamond discount I was offered on Anthem.  This also came out cheaper by a few bucks compared to the pre-cruise pricing in the cruise planner.  With the unexpected $25 OBC it makes it even cheaper.  
I continued writing my Alaska blog in the terminal.  I'm sure I look like I was in vacation mode banging away on my laptop.  I had 'snuck' into the Diamond area upstairs by tail-gating a family.  At 11:52am I looked up and saw the suite guests nearly all on board.  A minute later they called Diamond. Not bad, $25 extra OBC and I still was on before noon.   
They handed us a glass of sparkling wine as we boarded.  Nice touch!
Windjammer was lightly occupied so I started on my food coma 'diet'.   We were able to serve ourselves.  Despite being on Freedom in November my Anthem lobotomy erased all knowledge of a Freedom class WJ.  Thankfully my aging memory started coming back to me. 
Heading out to the pool deck I saw some contractors taking measurements around the main pool area outside.  I'm thinking they are preparing for the upcoming dry dock so look for some changes to the hot tubs and under the outdoor screen if not the whole outdoor pool area.
Somehow as I went through security in the terminal I ripped my Caribbean shirt.  I didn't shave this morning.  I'm looking quite the homeless blogger part sitting on the pool deck writing this post with my ripped shirt.  Cabins are ready at 3pm so until then maybe I'll put out a cup and hope for donations.  
  

Our first cruise was on Royal for our honeymoon.  It was a brand new ship, but the crew was constantly cleaning & sprucing things up.  The ship was so nice, the staff so friendly, etc.  We loved everything about it.  We were docked next to a Carnival ship, and from our deck it looked so old & run down.  So, when my Mom & I decided to do a girls' trip, I didn't think twice.  I've never used another line and can't see any reason to.  Royal has never disappointed - even their older ships are so clean & well maintained.
(Also - is it bad when I see friends post cruise pics on FB and I'm zooming in to figure out what line they're on?  My sister-in-law was on Carnival and I was pretty snobby in my thoughts about their pool deck! )

You haven't tasted a bad LIIT until you've had one made by the robot bartender.  UGH.  Worst drink I've ever tasted.  That was our first and only trip to visit the robot bartender.