JLMoran

For me, it was:
First cruise ever in my life First cruise on Freedom First cruise on Anthem After over a decade of trying, finally convincing my wife (with lots of help from the kids) to give cruising a shot Seeing her discover it’s as awesome as I’d always imagined it Getting to know the amazing, helpful, supportive people here!

For me, it was:
First cruise ever in my life First cruise on Freedom First cruise on Anthem After over a decade of trying, finally convincing my wife (with lots of help from the kids) to give cruising a shot Seeing her discover it’s as awesome as I’d always imagined it Getting to know the amazing, helpful, supportive people here!

For me, it was:
First cruise ever in my life First cruise on Freedom First cruise on Anthem After over a decade of trying, finally convincing my wife (with lots of help from the kids) to give cruising a shot Seeing her discover it’s as awesome as I’d always imagined it Getting to know the amazing, helpful, supportive people here!

Santa will look like this for @tiny260 ?‍♂️

I look like Santa right now, but it will probably get shaved off before the cruise.

For me, it was:
First cruise ever in my life First cruise on Freedom First cruise on Anthem After over a decade of trying, finally convincing my wife (with lots of help from the kids) to give cruising a shot Seeing her discover it’s as awesome as I’d always imagined it Getting to know the amazing, helpful, supportive people here!

I'm back home and found some aft balcony pics from 9392 on Mariner.


Looking down:

To the side:



Here is 9390.  Note the hinge door versus patio door, plus window.  It does have a support beam that runs down but don't let the pictures from this angle fool you, it's a nice balcony with side and aft views, just no loungers.


Aft panoramic view at sea:

First time cruising on a ship that didn't have mouse ears on the stack.

Fourteen cruises marks the most I've cruised in any single year so I thought I take a second to put it down in a post.
I started 2018 as a relatively new Diamond member in the Crown and Anchor Society and finished just over the halfway mark to Pinnacle.
Anthem -> Liberty -> Serenade -> Adventure -> Explorer -> Empress -> Radiance -> Mariner -> Enchantment -> Adventure -> Symphony -> Serenade -> Oasis -> Navigator
The scary part is I missed a cruise when my daughter graduated from the Air Force or it would have been fifteen.  Oh well, well worth it.
Of all these cruises I think Navigator to the ABC islands was my best cruise, in no small part due to the ABC islands and my cruise mate (step daughter and scuba diving buddy).
Other notable 2018 cruise events for me
First Transatlantic (Symphony) First Canada/New England (Adventure) First ABC island cruise First visit/cruise to Cuba First Diamond Plus cruise (Adventure repositioning San Juan to Bayonne) First Radiance class experience First Voyager class experience Completed the Oasis class challenge (sailing all Oasis Class) Completed the Freedom class challenge (sailing all Freedom class) Completed the Empress class challenge (easy one here) My longest single cruise (Adventure 13 night Snowbird Migration) Paid for a cruise in full and didn't show up (cruise #15 above) Sailed six different classes of ship in a single year (would have been seven classes if not for the missed cruise) First time on a FlowRider Five Crystal Blocks First year not sailing in a full suite Sailed on a ship every month of the year First RoyalCaribbeanBlog Group Cruise!!!!
What was your most notable cruise moment of 2018?

Dinner tonight in the MDR got off to an interesting start. As stated in my previous post, the line was so long, even with reservations. Maybe because it was NYE and they were extra busy? I don’t know. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. When we got to the podium, the crew member there tells us that we don’t have reservations for 7:45pm that it was for 6pm and they gave our table away. I pulled out my app to show him that it was indeed for 7:45pm and he seemed confused. In the end, they found us a table but I was not impressed. 
NYE menu:

Caesar salad:

Butternut squash soup:

Onion Tart:

Lobster:

NY Strip Loin:

Apple Pie:

Spiced cake:

Cheesecake:

For the record, dinner was slow again. Was it MDR FTW? No. But the lobster tail was good. The steak was dry and tasteless and the rest was just ok. I am so happy that we are trying Giovanni’s tomorrow night. 
Our plan is to spend the rest of the night on the promenade. There’s a “Time’s Square” countdown there. @JLMoran it would not be your scene as there are many balloons on the ceiling right now. ?
 
 

Celebrity dress code is pretty relaxed.  They don't even call it formal night. 
Seems like a cruise line not allowing shorts is on this tuber's 'con' list.
"Evening-Chic":
https://www.celebritycruises.com/company/customer-support/help-and-faqs/during-your-cruise/onboard-dress-code
Onboard Dress Code
Q. What is the onboard dress code?
A. Formal Night gets a modern luxury reboot. Say goodbye to Formal Night, and hello to Evening Chic. It’s your time to shine—your way. Get glamorous. Get chic. Be sophisticated. Now, on up to two nights on every cruise, Evening Chic activities have been introduced, and Evening Chic attire has replaced Formal attire. While dressier than Smart Casual, Evening Chic is intended to be less dressy than Formal attire.
Women should feel comfortable wearing:
A cocktail dress Skirt, pants or designer jeans with an elegant top Men should feel comfortable wearing:
Pants or designer jeans with a dress shirt, button-down shirt or sweater Optional sport coat or blazer Evening Chic means that you can get glamorous and be sophisticated in your own way. If you would like to still wear a tuxedo or formal gown on Evening Chic nights, you absolutely should.
All cruises that are 7 nights or longer will feature two Evening Chic nights. Any cruise 6-nights or shorter will feature one Evening Chic night. All other nights of the cruise will feature Smart Casual attire. Celebrity Xpedition will continue to feature casual attire for the entire cruise.
Smart Casual attire can be enjoyed every other night of your cruise.
Women should feel comfortable wearing:
Skirt, pants or jeans with a casual top Men should feel comfortable wearing:
Pants or jeans with a short sleeve sport shirt. Note: T-shirts, swimsuits, robes, bare feet, tank tops, baseball caps and pool wear are not allowed in the main restaurant or specialty restaurant at any time. Shorts and flip-flops are not allowed in the evening hours. The dress code will be enforced at all restaurants. And guests are asked to follow the Smart Casual or Evening Chic dress code in the Celebrity Theater for all evening performances. The daily program, delivered to your stateroom and available at the Guest Relations Desk, will be your guide to the correct attire each evening.

Given the “in China sailings” qualifier at the end of that, I think you’ll be OK for your Alaska sailing. 

If you have booked it yourself and are not transferring the booking to a travel agent, you'll want to check the price of your sailing every time a new promotion comes out. @Matt posts to the main blog whenever a new promo starts, so you'll always know. The more zealous among us check the prices daily, because sometimes a random drop happens. To check the price, go to the site using a private browsing window, so that your login isn't picked up by the site, and do a mock booking -- select the same cruise, same number of cabins / passengers, and as close to the same cabin selection as you can (e.g., if you booked a 4D balcony, pick another one close to what you have). At that point, see what the final price is (including port taxes and fees); if it's lower than your current booking price, call Royal and ask them to rebook new at the new rate.
If you have transferred your booking to a travel agent, he or she should do all of that for you with every new promotion, and will handle calling Royal to rebook for you. Several of us here regularly get emails from our TAs with savings they've gotten us every so often. But keep in mind that a travel agent typically just looks for the lowest overall price, which will include any on-board credit in the promo. If you prefer to simply have the lowest possible booking price, regardless of OBC offered, be sure to let them know so they take that into account whenever they do a price check.

Just under the Lido Deck will be the Holodeck.

Hi, this is part of a response I got from a C&A rep mail:
 
So we'll be Ok on Alaska cruises! ?

Rates are crazy high, but I’m sure that’s to offset the cost of the talent. All in a balcony room for two is over $5K

OMG - you've turned into @mpoole3 !

Good morning! Day 3: Labadee
I have decided as of last night that I don’t like my cabin. While the additional space is nice, the small bathroom frustrates me and this morning while docked in Labadee, there was so much noise and vibrations coming from below us. 
I don’t think that we are getting off the ship today. D10 has decided that we will make today a mini golf and pool day.  
Some more random observations: 
@CruiseLifeRick has got me thinking that I should start collecting these. I do wish they updated it to include the additions to the pool deck.

I missed so many ships already, not sure if I should start. Buy it? Yay or nay?
Tonight’s festivities:

 
 
 

The original Love Boat at her final resting place in a Turkish scrapyard. Sigh.

Hope you wake up feeling a lot better, and that the motion in the ocean is much more bearable!

Can you imagine, only ONE Bartender????  How did Isaac survive?

We were in Curacao until 11pm 2 years ago and we went to dinner at Perla Del Mar at the suggestion of a cruiser who had been on board for 9 weeks and frequently ate off of the ship. It was very delicious and it's an easy 20(ish) minute walk from the ship. We walked back to the ship after dark and never felt unsafe. The restaurant sits on the water and the view of the ship at night is wonderful! There are several shops and bars in Rif Fort that are also really cool at night. That is right off of the pier. 
For Aruba, we are thinking about going to dinner at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar or West Deck. I think they are both about 10-15 min walk from the ship and both sit on the water. 
I look forward to reading your live blog when we get back! We aren't purchasing Voom but it'll be cool to read about the same cruise through someone else's eyes!