cruiselife

Parents are on HOTS and mentioned a guest jumped from the ship and met an unfortunate end to their life on the concrete pier at Labadee this am. 

I was wondering this exact thing about a month ago so I asked Royal.  Here was their response:

Oh sure --- I'll try that, while holding a plate of bacon and my coffee

The only thing I'm going to do is POSSIBLY jog around the track if I'm up early enough in the mornings.  Other than that, I'm going to eat what I want and enjoy. Presumably not to the point of exploding ?

I just told my wife last night that my #1 goal on our cruise coming up is not to eat myself into a food coma. I have never successfully gone on a cruise and not been miserable at some point from eating too much. Ordering multiple entrees/appetizers combined with sugary drinks is a terrible combination for me, but also way too delicious to pass up. The pain is real but the food is real good. But this cruise is the cruise that I'm going to control myself. Hopefully. Wish me luck...
Side Note: We purchased a 5 night dining package since this is our first Oasis class cruise. I'm screwed.

 

Day 8 &9 - Sea Days
I really love sea days, as they are so relaxing.  Up early to grab a cup of coffee and up to the pool/track deck to catch the sunrise, then off to a leisurely breakfast in the MDR.  Day 8 started with the Captain advising us that the seas would become increasingly rougher throughout the day.  True to his word by the time the second formal night the ship was rolling side to side.  It became a challenge walking trying to anticipate the ships movement before you stepped off.  After dinner it was off to the Headliners Show featuring Marcus Terell; songs and dancing to Motown, Soul and Pop Hits.  He and two ladies that accompanied him put on a pretty good show.  To end the evening we were back in the Schooner bar for music, talk and drinks.
 


Day 9 the ship was still rolling but not as much as the day before and it gradually ended with calmer seas and us reaching the mouth of the bay at around 3:00 pm.  One final dinner in the MDR to say so long to our table mates, waiter and asst. waiter.  After dinner we went to the Parade of Flags in the Centrum; several of the countries represented put on a show as their country was called.  We missed the Farewell show as we were just finishing up our dinner.  They evening was capped off with a few drinks in the Schooner bar and saying goodbye to two of the wonderful waiters we had there.
Managed to catch us sailing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
 

Guide to watching the Super Bowl on a Royal Caribbean cruise

I was on Allure during the playoffs years back.  They had the games on in the on-air club and on the big screens at the Aquatheater.

We haven't done it before but will be experiencing it firsthand this year on Symphony.  I expect that Playmakers will be quite busy and the perhaps even the Aqua Theater screens will be showing the game as HiRO is not scheduled for that night.

+1 for Bernard's! I've written about them before here on the boards and it's an amazing way to see the island. 

We did rent a jeep and had a lot of fun! It was around $100 for the day. 

Filtering the photos out, some night shots of Harmony
 

Here is the neglected Windjammer Recon from last night.
The theme of the night was International with the Mongolian Grill once again plus all the other standards.
 
International selections





 
Tonights Indian selection
 

 
Standard dessert bar

 
Dessert in the giant pan

Love their dogs!

A little off topic but we visited Maya Chan last May (2018) and had an awesome time.  We highly recommend it.  And this was in spite of the icky water and sea grass (which I read has gotten better).   JUST GO!  We loved it so much that we booked another cruise for early next year that stops in Costa Maya just so we could go back there.   As others have described, when we assembled at the meeting point we were shown pictures of the beach taken that morning and could have cancelled.  One of the others had been there several times before and convinced us to go (so glad we listened to her). 
Lunch tip:  Try a sea bass soft taco...  Yum!!      Also, if you like playing with dogs, take a small bag of dog treats.  We had a blast playing with one of their dogs on the beach.

Well --- I can at least go for question #2 ---- The lower the deck and the more to the middle of the ship you are (mid-ship) the less motion you'll feel.  This is really important for those that get motion sickness.

We get the drinks package for a completely different reason.  We get it so that it IS paid in advance (no surprise at the end of the cruise) and so that I feel free to order any drink at any time anywhere, even though we could get "free" drinks in the evenings in the lounges and we drink for free in the casino (which is where we spend most of our time).
I blame Star Class cruising for this compulsion.  LOL  Once you travel in Star Class and never have to worry about anything you eat or drink you realize what a pleasure it is not to have to even think about it.  There is NO WAY that it makes financial sense for me to have a deluxe drink package.  There are many days when I don't drink any alcohol at all.  I always drink sodas, water and cappuccino's though.  I do it for the convenience and not for financial reasons.

You're correct, 'bottomless' doesn't mean "trousers optional".  Perhaps RCI should make that clear in the description.  After finding out it's endless champagne some might also think wearing their pants like a chef's hat is a good idea (hic).  Not that you'd ever catch me doing that..
Sorry, I'm originally from North County STL (Bellefontaine Neighbors).
 
Edit: Added photo of sign that confused some Cebuanos after maybe 6 drinks.  And 295 PhP is about $5.80.

Current line at Cafe Promenade, back on board is 5:30 (about 15 minutes from now). Guess pizza must be the major craving after a day on the island.

Today was mostly spent at Gulmohar's Whisky Paradise. Did some minor damage on the behalf of a coworker.

Wait....we're supposed to work while at work???

I'm curious exactly how anyone is productive at work, in the first couple weeks after a cruise. I sure am not, lol! Also, anxiously watching and waiting for my C&A status to switch from Pre-Gold, lol. It's been 10 days!

Now Here Are Some Sunset Photos I Found On The Flash Drive. Hope You Enjoy This.

 

Yep I Found A Whole Lot Of Photos From The Flowrider So Here They Are.

Lucky Me. I Was Going Through My SD Cards And Found Some Photos Of My Ride On The Roller Coaster In Labbadee. Hope You Enjoy These Photos.

Food Tour time!
Booked the very last minute for the Old San Juan Food Tour with Flavors of San Juan (not a ship sponsored tour). Our guides for this journey were Shannon and Fernando. The size of our group for this culinary journey hovered at 8. Meeting point was at POPULAR Bank/Carli's Fine Bistro & Piano between Calle Tizol and Calle San Justo and Calle Recinto Sur at 2:45 pm.
Stop 1 was at Cafe Cuatro Sombras where we enjoyed a croissant with black forest ham, provolone cheese, and guava butter along with a cortadito coffee. What made the coffee unique was the fact the beans are single origin local to the island.


Nonfood stop 1 was bonus stop at a shop called The Butterfly People. Here was on display and for purchase artwork made using butterflies that had lived their life to the fullest. No butterfly were purposely harmed for use in the artwork.  
Stop 2 was at Marilyn's Place where we had a nice refreshing rum punch. What made this rum punch unique was the homemade punch blend consisting of 10 different types of juices (passion fruit, orange, pineapple, apple, grape, peach, pear, mango, grapefruit, and final cranberry) mixed with Club Caribe rum. Inside of the venue was plenty of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.


Shopping stop 1 was quick stop at Spicy Caribbee. As the sign below states they has all sorts or sauces and spices plus a few other odds and ends. The shop also had out a few of their sauces and jams for tasting. As a guest of the tour we also received 10% off any purchases made.

Nonfood stop 2 was a brief tour of Catedral de San Juan Bautista.
Stop 3 was in Old Town Princesa Park where we tasted a passion fruit popsicle from Señor Paleta.

This is more or less a @Matt warning, on our way to stop 4 we passed by pigeon park. While the park wasn't open at the time the pigeons don't understand the concept of a fence. Other word plenty of pigeons in the street that one could have at their feet.
Stop 4 was at Cafe El Punto where we got to mash our own plantains for a chicken mofongo along with rice and beans. Plus, we got a mojito as a reward for our hard work and to wash down our meal with.


The final stop on our culinary journey of Old San Juan was Chocobar Cortes. There we had hot chocolate, churros, plus chocolate and cheese. Process for enjoyment at this stop was placing the cheese in the hot chocolate to melt and then fish out using the churros. Sound weird but it was very good. 




At this point it was just a bit after 6pm and the group parted ways to enjoy the rest of the evening. Overall, I had to stay it was great tour and something different to give a try. Plenty of historic tibits and other details were given. Having done a tour with the same company in St. Martin it held up to the expectations from that tour.
Note that this tour has plenty of walking up and down hills with a good slope, few steps here and there outside of the steps leading up to the entrance of the Catedral. Also note with the Catedral we were told to remove our hat and sunglasses.
One other thing to keep in mind is these stops aren't set in stone. So others may be added or removed.