Hockeyman55

This is how we dressed up for the first formal night on Harmony last May. The second formal night we ditched and at at Jamies Italian 

I usually wear a collared shirt and nice pants or jeans.  Jacket about 75% of the time (full disclosure, I enjoy wearing a blazer/suit because I rarely wear them).
Wife goes for cocktail dresses and dresses in general.  
My wife will sometimes dress the kids to match or in a nice dress for photos.
 

This is how we dressed up for the first formal night on Harmony last May. The second formal night we ditched and at at Jamies Italian 

So some of you might have followed along from my previous post from our cruise on Harmony this past May, well . . . . . we went and did it again. We just recently booked 2 room for 6 of us on Symphony of the Seas for May 2020 and couldn't be more excited after the fun we had on our last cruise.  We are officially hooked on cruises and our kids are constantly asking us if it time for the next cruise and then get sad when we tell them not yet. 
 There will be six of us all together with myself, my wife, our 3 girls who at the time of sailing will be 9,8 and 6, our youngest will be turning 7 on the last day of the cruise, and then my brother. We loved our balcony rooms in the boardwalk section last year and went with those again, drink packages and John Rockets meals where a nice perk as well.
This trip will be headed out to the east side of the Caribbean with stops in Labadee, Puerto Rico, St Thomas and Coco Cay 
 
442 days to go, lol. 

This is how we dressed up for the first formal night on Harmony last May. The second formal night we ditched and at at Jamies Italian 

This is how we dressed up for the first formal night on Harmony last May. The second formal night we ditched and at at Jamies Italian 

This is how we dressed up for the first formal night on Harmony last May. The second formal night we ditched and at at Jamies Italian 

So some of you might have followed along from my previous post from our cruise on Harmony this past May, well . . . . . we went and did it again. We just recently booked 2 room for 6 of us on Symphony of the Seas for May 2020 and couldn't be more excited after the fun we had on our last cruise.  We are officially hooked on cruises and our kids are constantly asking us if it time for the next cruise and then get sad when we tell them not yet. 
 There will be six of us all together with myself, my wife, our 3 girls who at the time of sailing will be 9,8 and 6, our youngest will be turning 7 on the last day of the cruise, and then my brother. We loved our balcony rooms in the boardwalk section last year and went with those again, drink packages and John Rockets meals where a nice perk as well.
This trip will be headed out to the east side of the Caribbean with stops in Labadee, Puerto Rico, St Thomas and Coco Cay 
 
442 days to go, lol. 

So some of you might have followed along from my previous post from our cruise on Harmony this past May, well . . . . . we went and did it again. We just recently booked 2 room for 6 of us on Symphony of the Seas for May 2020 and couldn't be more excited after the fun we had on our last cruise.  We are officially hooked on cruises and our kids are constantly asking us if it time for the next cruise and then get sad when we tell them not yet. 
 There will be six of us all together with myself, my wife, our 3 girls who at the time of sailing will be 9,8 and 6, our youngest will be turning 7 on the last day of the cruise, and then my brother. We loved our balcony rooms in the boardwalk section last year and went with those again, drink packages and John Rockets meals where a nice perk as well.
This trip will be headed out to the east side of the Caribbean with stops in Labadee, Puerto Rico, St Thomas and Coco Cay 
 
442 days to go, lol. 

A quick recap of our cruise along with some more pictures
 
Where do I even begin . . . rating these on a scale of 10
 
Cruise 10/10
Id give the cruise itself a 10 out of 10. Was everything I knew it would be, well actually better than I thought it would be. Can't wait until we can book another cruise and have already begun talking about it.  More than likely will be in 2020 and the revamped Coco Cay is on our list of stops we would like to hit up. 
 
Room 9.5/10
Besides being on the smaller side, which being on a ship, I totally understand, our room was great. Loved the location overlooking the boardwalk and being able to see the water and The Fine Line was a wonderful thing. I am deducting half a point because of the rock hard beds. Other than that we were totally happy. Also being able to watch the movies on the big screens at the aqua theater from our balcony was super cool. 
 
Crew 10/10
Everyone we interacted with was wonderful. Our room attendant Sydney was the man and took care of us and  anything we needed. The few times at customer service went smoothly with no issues. No complaints here from us. 
 
Food 8/10
There were a few things we came across that was so so, like super burnt and crispy toast and french toast in Windjammer but then there was some amazing food as well, like our meal in Sabor. 
 
Shows 10/10
The shows blew our minds, didn't expect them to be that good, even the ice skating shows. I preferred Iskate over 1887 and Columbus over Grease but all were spectacular. The Fine Line was an action packed spectacle and a must see. We did miss the headliner act and comedian. The character meet and greets and breakfast was a lot of fun as well as the parade in the promenade.  
 
 
 
 
Labadee 10/10
Was really more than we were expecting. Could have spend a few more hours here. Zipline and coaster were highlights for me and my kids loved the beach and aqua park. 
 
Falmouth 7/10
For me this port was just ok. Probably the one port I would have been ok skipping, would have like to see more of the country side though 
 
Cozumel  8/10
The rain really did put a hamper on the day but made the best of with some shopping and lunch, the shopping did make up for a lot for us. Along with Jamacia, would have loved to see more of the real country 
 
 
Things we would have done differently 
Packed less, we severely over packed. Being our first family cruise we didn't know how much to bring and really could have brought less. 
Sign up for my time dining. I selected the 5:30 dining time and only made it to one meal at that time. Next time will def do the my time dining. 
Bring/save more money to spend in Cozumel, lol.  
Book back to back cruises. This is a pipe dream but would have been really great
 
Odds and End
Embarking and disembarking the ship couldn't have gone smoother for us. I was pleasantly surprised how smooth and really didn't have to wait in any long lines either day. Even finding our luggage was a breeze
Ship could use a few more Coke Freestyle machines IMO ?
Elevators could be a pain sometimes but with that many people its understandable 
Ship could use a few more of those frozen yogurt stands also ?
Getting to and from our home in Palm Beach Gardens to Port Everglades was pretty easy as was dropping off our bags and parking

So tomorrow we get to book our next cruise for May 2020. Will start a new thread for that, super excited. Stay tuned. . . .

So tomorrow we get to book our next cruise for May 2020. Will start a new thread for that, super excited. Stay tuned. . . .

So tomorrow we get to book our next cruise for May 2020. Will start a new thread for that, super excited. Stay tuned. . . .

The D7200 is a respectable camera for sure.  If you pick your lenses carefully you may be able to start acquiring FX lenses that can be used at crop factors.  This somewhat future proofs your lens investment.   The Nikkor 20mm f1.8 I may sell on eBay is ~30mm on a DX and it is a sharp lens.
Full frame opened a world to me in terms of landscape and ultra wide photography.  My next body may be a crop sensor to give my 70-300 full frame lens a boost to 450mm on crop.  That's cheaper than buying a full frame telephoto to get me there.  The beauty of two bodies, one crop, one FF is not having to take the lens off and exposing the guts to the humidity of the Caribbean on a cruise.  I was starting to look at a crop body but something went haywire in my brain and I switched to Sony.  Waiting to see what the evolution of the Sony A6500 crop may be.

Day 8 – departure ☹
 
Lucky for us we went sleeping quite early for a last day (around 1 AM ) so we could catch few hours of  quality sleeping time.I found out the hard way that one of the departure day depression is lacking good sleep on the final day.
Our departure time was schedule to 9 am so we had time to organize things and catch some last breakfast in WJ , this was the first day I saw the WJ full but still we found some space to seat and eat a quick one.We left our room around 8:40 directly to the gangway, In Barcelona they have two terminal for Oasis class , terminal C and B , even tag numbers are sent to Terminal C and odds goes to terminal B , as I was not paying attention we found ourselves in the wrong terminal … so we had to do all the way back to the other terminal , the advantage was that we could take one last picture of the ship.

As our flight was schedule only to be the next day (500 $ less) we waited for a taxi to take us to our hotel. Beware , taxies lines in Barcelona port can take up to 30 minutes (that’s the cases if you are not leaving the ship at 7 AM anyway).
We arrived the hotel (Crown Plaza 10 minutes ride from the port and 18 $) as no rooms were available yet we were given access to the launch were we had our second late breakfast  , rooms were available around 11 AM so we went up put our stuff and left to tour Barcelona for few hours.The hotel, although not in the main center, is located near Espania square (10-15 minutes walk) which has a metro , a very impressive fountain nearby and some museum/shops


We took some picture and went to the Subway so we can catch a ride to boqueria food market and to La Rambla avenue.
 
Boueria became a very touristic place although still there many stores which sells fresh food for locals.
If you can avoid it during weekend it is best as the place is  very crowded. Still I would not miss it .
We took some small mixed Jamon plate and fresh exotic fruits cups.
Off we went to walk at  Rambla  until we decided to add back to the hotel.

Later we went to a Supermarkets to buy some Jamon and Cava to bring back home (remember we promised some Jamon to the cat ? ).
Flight back was 6 am so we went to sleep early,  during the cruise I found out that I will come back home , do my laundry and fly day after to South America for some meetings. 
So some thoughts about the ship :
First , it is wonderful ship , I am so happy we will be on it again on September.
We discussed with some crew member which told us that RC brought many people from other ships for few weeks , I do hope they will continue with the excellent service.
The same crew member told us that the new bar, Playmaker was a big success, I could so that every day it was full of people.
Internet was excellent in the entire ship , when we wanted to work on another device we just had to login on this device without logout the other (which is good but can also create some internet wars, sure  I need to buy the travel router for next time as suggested by @twangster  , will do it next week when I will catch my connection flight in EWR)
We brought two bottles of wines and open them one in Hooked and one in the MDR , we were not charged for any fees.
The laser tag is fun, I would recommend to try it, if you come as family maybe even try to be on opposite teams.
The ice show is not to be missed.
Hairspray is very nice, well performed.
We did not took the drinking package  as there was only one sea day so with two bottles of wines , three paid drinks and some very drinks in the Casino we managed to handle it.
RC were very generous with the sparkling wine, almost every day they gave it free in the WJ.
Going on one of the first cruise prove itself to be very good, the ship for sure was ready with 98% of her features.
Another cruise came to its end, thanks whoever followed, as always it was enjoyable to write it , let me know if you have any question on the ship or the ports, would happy to answer.

Welcome to Gold!

This blog is getting to be an expensive place to hangout. 
Since I'm going to Alaska in a few weeks I've picked up a Sony A7 III to see how it compares to my Nikon D750.  I blame @Hockeyman55 for this unexpected expense ?
The low light level performance of the Sony looks amazing and I like to do low light photography.  Nikon is threatening to release a mirrorless system next year but they have the legacy baggage of a million Nikkor lenses that Nikon enthusiast keep in their closet.  The reality is a mirrorless system calls for a new approach to a lens mount.  No doubt in my mind Nikon's first attempt will be super expensive with the impossible challenge they face of appeasing a vested user base with a million lenses. 
Since a switch to mirrorless will likely call for new lenses to do it properly, my investment in Nikkor lenses becomes somewhat a moot point.  Enter eBay. 
Between an Alaska cruise in June and a Cuba cruise late July I'll have some cruise photo ops to help me decide which one ends up on eBay.  Unfortunately that means slugging both around until then.

I for one am excited for this expansion but im also a huge waterpark fan and am planning our next cruise to make sure this is one of our stops ?. I was actually pretty surprised the all day pass wis only $44, when you compare to most other waterparks that charge $50-$60 its not that bad.

Based on the pricing we've seen so far, I don't think its egregious at all. In fact, their prices are lower than I was expecting.  Look at how much Atlantis charges for its water park passes, as a good example.
At the end of the day, this represents choices.  There will still be plenty of beach to go to and plop down and enjoy like you always have.  If you want to spring for a cabana or water park pass or ride on the helium balloon, you can do that.  I think it's better to have those choices rather than RC roll the costs into everyone's cruise fare and then you pay for experiences you aren't going to be using.
I cannot wait to see what the finished product looks like

LOL ?
I get excited taking the photos and look forward to seeing the results so on a typical night we were back in our room 9-10pm ish and would work on a few then for an hour or so. Then wake up and do it all over again. Think I averaged 5 hours of sleep each night 

LOL ?
I get excited taking the photos and look forward to seeing the results so on a typical night we were back in our room 9-10pm ish and would work on a few then for an hour or so. Then wake up and do it all over again. Think I averaged 5 hours of sleep each night 

More beautiful pictures.

Great photos.
How much post do you do on your photos?  Is the noise level of the night shots straight out of the camera or have you tweaked noise levels?

Man.....that picture of all your girls on the bench is definitely mantle-worthy!  
 
 

Lovely photos!
I need to consider doing more post-processing on my photos, but when I'm on a cruise....