JLMoran

How would your parents feel about adopting a 48-year old dude and his family? ??

How would your parents feel about adopting a 48-year old dude and his family? ??

My Parents Gave Me A Cruise For Christmas
7 Night Harmony OTS September 2019  . 

We are having a great time on Grandeur. Today is Tuesday, we left on Saturday (4 days ago) and we still haven’t gotten to our first port yet !  Tomorrow we hit St Croix. Everything but the internet has been great. They rebooted something this morning and the internet is a bit better but it’s still very slow.  We’re on our way to Chops for lunch. We’ll be at Chops again for dinner tonite.
I hit a straight flush in UTH last night so I am ++$$$. Yippee !!!
Merry Christmas to everyone !

Day 3 - Labadee
After only having 5 hours of sleep the day before I took the liberty of sleeping in, so I wasn’t up and moving until 10. I was out of the room and down to the Windjammer to eat breakfast by 10:15. My mom was the only one there because my grandmother and dad had already eaten and my grandmother’s friend doesn’t eat breakfast.
I actually enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer more than I thought I would. I tend to stay away from the Windjammer if at all possible, but my two experiences there so far on this cruise have been great. They had an awesome topping bar for the pancakes which I really enjoyed.
Then after breakfast, at 11:30, we all met back up and got off the ship to go to Labadee. We took the tram straight to Adrenaline beach (the last stop) and got a table there right on the edge of the beach. It was 75 and windy so the weather was very pleasant.

I took the liberty to catch up on some more sleep, and took a nap on one of the loungers out on the sand. I woke up at 1 and went to grab some food before the buffet closed. There wasn’t a ton of selection for a vegetarian, but the red beans and rice were good.
When I got back to the table, only my parents were there and they told me that my grandmother and her friend had already gone back to the ship. We decided to do the same since it looked like it was about to rain. Before getting back on the ship I took a few last pictures.



Once back on the ship, I took a quick shower and my parents took a nap. Then my dad and I went to the 3:00 trivia. We got there right at 3 and they were already 4 questions in, so it wasn’t worth participating. It was a bit frustrating that they started early, but we were fine to just sit and listen. We would’ve missed most of the questions anyways lol.
After trivia I went to find my friends and hung out with them until 5. Then I went back to my room to get ready for dinner. Since we had a little time before dinner, we finally got around to putting our Christmas decorations up.

Tonight at dinner we were finally able to find a dish that pleased my grandmother. I don’t know how our waiter managed to do it, but he convinced her to get the crab cakes for an appetizer and she loved them. Everyone else, except for my mom, also got the crab cakes and really liked them. They said they were different but very good. My mom got the burrata salad for her appetizer and said it was one of the best salads she had ever gotten. I stuck with my kids meal and just got carrots with ranch.
For the main course, I finally ventured away from the kids menu and got the ravioli. It was delicious. My mom got the roasted beef loin, my dad got the jerk chicken, and my grandmother and her friend got the roasted pork loin. They all thought their meals were good also.
Then for desert I went back to the kids menu and got the dark chocolate brownie again. It wasn’t as good as last night, but it was still fine. My mom, grandmother, and her friend all got the apple pie again which they enjoyed. My mom also got the soufflé, but she wasn’t a fan. My dad got the no sugar added desert again, so tonight, that was the strawberry trifle. He thought it was pretty good.
Here’s the menu:

After dinner we rushed to go see the show at 7. My dad was right; the Absolute Journey tribute band was spectacular. The lead singer looked just like Steve Perry (I know Gregg Rolie came first, but I still consider Steve the lead singer) and they sounded just like Journey. 
After the show, I stuck with my normal routine of just hanging out with friends until 1.
Some other notes:
•The WiFi was great the first two days, but it’s become awful today, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. I’ll edit the post when I get back home and add the rest of them.
•I got to see the iconic I-95 today.

•I finally got around to taking some pictures of the decorations on the ship tonight. Although the ship is a bit worn, the decorations are still beautiful. (I’ll post pictures of them when I get better WiFi)
 
•The time is going one hour forward tonight. Little disappointed that that means one last hour of sleep lol.
•Labadee has some really nice Christmas decorations. It was the most it’s felt like Christmas time since I’ve been on the ship.

Thanks, @Skid! And the same for you!

Well....I got the answer on board....you have to play the chips (obviously) but they don't replace the played chips....so you are basically pledging to lose all the chips.
They pay your winnings in regular chips, but I was very upset on board to find out that I bought 2k in chips and every hand I played (for instance I played hold'em and was betting between $75 - $175 depending on the round)....and if i won...I still had all my wager as free play chips that was not converted back to regular chips.  It severely curtailed my play and enjoyment for obvious reasons.  With the way I play I had gone through 2k in bets within 10-12 hands easily (and was technically UP for that first day) but I still had over 1k in chips that I 'had' to play which of course means that after the table luck turns and they go away fast....sigh
It was upsetting enough that I may actually not return to the cruise line again in the future because of the different answers I got on the phone versus on the floor. 

Awesome!
Just a note that Deck 11 on Mariner and Navigator are not the same.  The new JS on Mariner (1100, 1102, 1104, and 1106) are along the Starboard side and they do not have the large balconies like Navigator will.  The new JS on Navigator are right along the very front (kind of like the panoramic suites) and they have the larger balconies.

No need for a gazillion. Just book a JS in four 10+ day repositioning or transatlantic trips and you’ve got half the points for Diamond.  ?

Day 2 - At Sea (pt. 2):
Dinner was really good once again. For appetizers my dad got the calamari, my grandmother got fruit, my grandmother’s friend and my mom got French onion soup and a ceaser salad, and I got vegetables off the kids menu since none of the appetizers really appealed to me. My dad and grandmother both thought their appetizer was good enough to order a second helping and my grandmother’s friend loved the French onion soup as much as my mom. They also both thought the Ceaser salad was delicious. My vegetables off the kids menu were good, but you can’t really mess up cold cut vegetables lol. The ranch was really good, though.
For the main course I stuck with the kids menu and just got a grilled cheese with fries. Once again it’s hard to mess that meal up, but either way, I enjoyed it. My grandmother and her friend both got the prime rib for their main course. My grandmother’s friend loved it, but my grandmother wasn’t a fan. We have all decided that it’s impossible to please my grandmother, though, so I’m not sure you can blame the food?? My dad got the pork chops which he thought were pretty good, and my mom got the chicken Marsala which she thought was spectacular. Both of my parents also got the salmon to share just so they could try it and they both agreed it was just average.
Then finally, it was time for my favorite part - dessert. I kept the them of ordering off the kids meal going and got the dark chocolate brownie. It was honestly the best dessert I’ve ever had on a cruise ship. My grandmother’s friend, my mom, and my grandmother all got the apple pie and all thought was great (well as great as it can get for my grandmother lol). My dad always sticks with sugar free desserts since he’s diabetic, so he got the blueberry cobbler. He really enjoyed it.
After dinner we stopped and got a couple formal pictures done, then I headed back to the room for a few minutes to change and unpack while everyone else made their way down to the theater for the “ballroom spectacular” show at 8:30 (forgive me if I got that name wrong. My memory is quite awful sometimes. I’m sure it had the name ballroom in it, though).
While in the room I saw that our towel animal for the night was a cat.

I met back up with everyone at the theater right at 8:30 and they had great seats in the balcony.
We all kinda agreed that the show was just average. Don’t get me wrong, those singers and dancers are spectacular, and maybe it’s just a my family thing, but after an hour of a show solely with dancing and singing it becomes a little repetitive and boring. The main female dancer was absolutely spectacular though. She immediately captivated me every time she was centered on the stage.




At the end of the show our cruise director announced that the absolute journey tribute band would be performing tomorrow, which my dad and I are both stoked about since we’re huge Journey fans. We had read before the cruise that they would be on the ship, but we hadn’t seen anything about them so we weren’t sure it was true. My daw saw them on a previous cruise and said they were mind blowing so I have very high expectations haha.
After the show, I split up with my family and met back up with my friends. We hung out in the teen club for a bit before heading to the hot tub and spending the rest of the night there. On our way back to the rooms at 1, we stopped at cafe promenade to get a quick slice of pizza and headed our separate ways. 
Some other notes:
•I like just Cafe Promenade rather than Sorrento’s and Cafe Promenade like it is on some ships. It’s nice just having all the food in one place.
•We saw two other Royal Caribbean ships, I couldn’t make out the names of either and only was able to get a picture of one. It’s always cool to me to realize we’re not the only ones in the middle of the ocean.

•My friends and I tried our hands at sports trivia today and actually ended up with 14 out of 18. The winning team had 16, but my friends still nominated me as the team MVP. I guess me being obsessed with all things sports does pay off??
•If y’all want to hear more about what I do with my friends just let me know and I’ll start including it. I’ve just been keeping it vague so I don’t bore you with information you have no interest in hearing lol.
 
Next stop, Labadee!!

To play devil's advocate...Booking a gazillion cruises in JS and above will move you up the C&A ladder even faster.  Win-Win. ?

?

Thanks, @Skid! And the same for you!

Wishing a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous 2019 to all. And happy cruising!

 
 
 

Day 2 - At Sea
Much to my surprise I actually woke up to the alarm that I had set for 7:30. I left the room at 7:45 and headed up to the gym to meet a friend to work out. The treadmills were all full (3 were actually broken) so we went out to the jogging track. He was much faster than me so we kinda gave up trying to stay together.
After running, we went to put our feet in the pool. The water was ridiculously cold. It was a little chilly in Miami yesterday when we left, but I still didn’t think it should’ve made the water that cold.
Then at 8:45 I went to go meet my dad and grandmother for breakfast at the MDR. They had one side that was for a buffet and another side that was a la carte, which was difference than my last cruise. We sat on the buffet side and all enjoyed our food. I especially liked the biscuits. They were kinda sweet which was odd, but surprisingly good.
After breakfast I went up to the sports court to meet my friends for teen only dodgeball. There was a huge group of teens that showed up for it. By the end, a huge group on onlookers had also gathered to watch.
When dodgeball was over, I headed back down to the MDR for more food. I feel like all I do on a cruise ship is eat, but I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do??
I skipped the appetizer, but everyone else got a make your own salad that they chopped up for you. Everyone loved it. Then for the main meal my dad and grandmother skipped it, my mom got the Asian chicken over noodles, I got a corn cake, and my grandmother’s friend got catfish. Once again we all thought it was great.
One thing that you’ll quickly realize about us is that we pretty much enjoy all the food we get. We’re definitely not foodies and we understand that when a kitchen makes all these meals, you’re bound to run into some items that aren’t spectacular.
They also had a great dessert table set up in the MDR. They had a ton of choices and a really big topping bar for the ice cream. I meant to get a picture, but completely forgot about it.
After lunch it was time for the sexiest man competition. It was a little risqué, but quite entertaining. An 80 year old named Joe ended up winning. I think when he dropped and did 5 push ups in a row is when he won everyone over???
Then I just hung around the ship with my friends until 5. At 5 I went to go get ready for dinner. Tonight was formal night so we all dressed up - well at least we tried to. When my mom and I went to put on our heels we realized they weren’t there and that we had forgotten the bag that had all of our dress shoes in Miami. So now we’re both currently wearing super dressy dresses with flip flops. It’s not our best look but it will have to do lol.
As promised, here’s a picture of the menu from dinner tonight:

I’m actually sitting at dinner waiting for the food right now while writing this. So I don’t know how good the food is yet. I’ll let y’all know what we think of it in my next post.
Some other notes:
•The Diet Coke tastes a lot better on this cruise than it has on others.
•A lot of machinery on the ship is broken. They had three treadmills broken and most of the arcade were out of order. I guess they’re just letting them just stay broken since the ship is going dry dock in a couple weeks.
 

Well, just leave any sappy romantic stuff about the cute girl you met out of it. We're all old and past those days, all that matters to us are the port photos, the sunsets, and the food pics. ??

Don’t worry haha. I think of dawg as being male too. I just chose the username because I’m a huge Georgia bulldogs fan lol

@chalkdawg4 I am loving this blog for several reasons:  Love the pics so far.  Not sure if you know but I am a teacher.  I teach mainly 13 year olds but over the years, the writing skills of young people have been going downhill.  Quite scary at times.  As I read this with my "teacher hat" on, this blog is so well written for a teenager.  The style and wording is not only descriptive but there is an excellent voice coming through.  Love it!  

Hah! Sorry, in my old age I forgot that “dawg” was no longer a male-only thing. ?
 

@Jason +1 in appreciation of the post about the price drop from $24.99 to $19.99.  I caved and bought it for my Symphony sailing with just Hubby and I. 
My justification was this...currently we are booked in a JS as GS+ is sky high on that ship for July.  We bought the 2 device plan over Black Friday for $132.93.  The Key cost us $279.86.  The difference is an extra $146.93 total.  We already have the UDP so the Chops Grille lunch is a write off bonus.  Basically, I asked myself if the reserved seating for shows and the special hours at the activities was worth $147?  My answer is yes because Hubby does enjoy the rock climbing and flow rider etc. and those do get busy at times. 
For me what makes it really worth it is the reserved seating, especially now that they have updated it so that it requires no reservations.  Now, some might not understand the value in this but back in August 2017 when we sailed Harmony, a stage part broke down in their main theater on Day 1 causing them to have to rearrange all the shows for the entire week.  This created a domino effect and not only the theater shows had to be rescheduled but the ice shows and aqua theater shows as well.  For us, we were in a GS for that sailing so it did not matter as we did not need reservations for the shows.  But in speaking to many people that we met, many of them ended up missing some shows because either they filled up quickly or they could not work it around their dining schedules.  That perk alone is worth $147 to me.  If I upgrade to a GS between now and then, I will cancel it.  I am of the mindset that The Key is not worth it at all if you have Suite perks already.
I looked at The Key for the Anthem GC as well.  It too has dropped to $19.99pp/day.  However, with our kids sailing with us on that one and it's a 9 day cruise, it is not worth it.  The price difference is $548 for that one between The Key and what we paid for VOOM.  And we all sailed Anthem back in March 2018 so we have watched all the shows. If we missed one, it would not really matter.

@JLMoran My Two Blogs Are Written From Me A 13 Year Old. 

LOL!  @JLMoran foot in mouth!  Too funny!

I’m a girl, so for me it would be a guy?? I’ll be sure to keep that out of it though lol

Well, just leave any sappy romantic stuff about the cute girl you met out of it. We're all old and past those days, all that matters to us are the port photos, the sunsets, and the food pics. ??

I'm enjoying the blog, it's nice to see what it looks like from a younger pair of eyes. ?