cruiselife

Another beautiful sunset this evening. 

I spotted popcorn for sale at pool bar. $2 per bag. Popcorn for sale onboard has been something I’ve seen here and there over the years.  


On the one hand, it’s inexpensive but on the other hand the fact it costs anything is a bit ridiculous.  I recall on the one NCL cruise I did their pub had popcorn all the time that was complimentary. 

I don't know about that, looks okay to me.  Besides, fashion goes out the window below 5°C.

After lunch we headed down to the Pub for some sports trivia.  Didn’t win, but learned the origin of the saying “a hop, skip and a jump”

After trivia I made the fateful decision that all must wrestle with on a sea day: to nap, or not to nap.  That, is the question.  Whether ‘‘tis nobler to remain awake or prepare for the evening.  Anyway, I opted for a nap.  

For lunch, we headed up to Izumi.  Just like dinner, you get a $35 stipend to use per person. That gets you a lot of sushi.  

I am so excited that the spinning guy is still there!  I really want my girls to see him!  Fingers crossed that he will still be there for the March 10th sailing.
When we sailed Harmony last time, we had the opportunity to meet the spinning guy.  Your question was the first question I asked him.  He explained that he is difficult to replace and when he is sick or on vacation, they just sub in with another act.  Not sure if that has changed since August 2017, but that was his answer then.

Day 4 (Jamies Italian and The Fine Line)
Tonight was dinner at Jamie's Italian.  I really liked the menu selection at Jamie's Italian so it was hard to decide what to order. I ended up having the calamari for an appetizer while my wife had the vegetable plank. For our entrees I had the Dry Aged Tenderloin and my wife had the Risotto Caprese. We both wanted to try some kind of pasta so we each ordered the Truffle Tagliatelle and the waiter was able to give us each a half serving of that. The tenderloin may have been the best cut of meat I had on the ship and we both agreed that the pasta was incredible. This was probably the best restaurant for vegetarians in terms of menu selection. For dessert we had the Tiramisu and the Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. Both were great.



Now it was time to see The Fine Line. I knew the Aquatheatre shows were going to be great, but I didn't realize how great. To be honest I thought it seemed a little gimmicky. All of the videos and pictures I had seen of them were basically the parts where they were just splashing around in the water. I knew there would be some diving, but I had no idea the level of acrobatic stunts and artistic quality that went into the show.
This show was absolutely incredible and was by far the best show we have ever seen on a cruise ship and is right up there with some of the Cirque Du Soleil shows we have seen in Vegas. I got a lot of great footage from the show but I am going to leave it out so that people can experience it first hand. I have one question about the guy who we fondly referred to as "Spinny Man" for anyone who knows. When he goes on vacation do they bring on a new person to do the same thing? I feel like I have seen a lot of pictures of him on the blog and it always looks like the same person. It seems like it would be hard to find other people who can spin in circles for almost 10 minutes straight.

After the show we did another one of our favorite things to do on a cruise and that is the Love and Marriage Game Show. This was probably the funniest group of couples we have ever seen on the show but I will leave out the details to keep it PG. Our cruise director Daniel was a great host for the show.

We just relaxed for the rest of the night because we wanted to catch the sunrise in San Juan the next morning so I didn't take any more photos. I figured this would be a good time to highlight some of my favorite wall art from around the ship.

Tomorrow we arrive in San Juan bright and early! 

Day 4 (St. Maarten)
Today was our first port day and we grabbed a quick breakfast at Park Cafe before heading out to meet the famous Leo Brown who we had hired as our driver for the day. We were joined for the day by Independence of the Seas. Leo has new van now that is much larger than his old vehicle and we had been trying to find someone to join us but were unsuccessful. Arriving in St Maarten was beautiful and unlike any ports that we have been to before. It was cool seeing all of the massive yachts. The black one had a helicopter on it!


When we met up with Leo we found out that he had found another family that were also Royal Caribbean Blog followers from Canada. Neither of our groups knew we had anyone else joining us but it was a good surprise. They were really great people and it was a lot of fun meeting them and having some company for the day. One thing we didn't know would be included was that Leo had a big cooler in his trunk with plenty of drinks of some of his own homemade rum punch. I thought it was a nice touch!

Our first stop was Maho Beach to watch a few planes land. I have seen tons of photos of this place, but I had no idea how crowded it actually was. I agree with @Matt on his opinion that it is definitely something to see, but I wouldn't want to stay for very long. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then headed out.

Next we drove around and saw different parts of the island. Being a native of the island Leo had a lot of information that you wouldn't be able to get from just anywhere. It was cool learning about the history of the island, the impact of the hurricane, as well as Leo's experiences growing up there.
We headed to the French side of the island to get some food and stopped somewhere in Grand Case that Leo said was one of the best areas to get some local food. I didn't get the name of the place, but it was really good food. I had the Mahi Mahi and rice and it was delicious. My wife had some rice, cole slaw, and fries. The restaurant was located right on the end of Grand Case Beach so we were able to go back and get a look at it. There were a few locals there enjoying the beach but it was pretty much empty other than that. 

Following lunch we drove around a little more including brief stop at Orient Beach. It looked incredible there and I think when we return to St Maarten that is where we will probably spend the majority of the day. It was just massive and seemed so natural compared to a lot of the beaches we have seen in the Caribbean. In order to make sure we got back with plenty of time we headed back to the port stopping at one more overlook.

We really enjoyed the tour of the island but would have liked to have spent a little more time out of the car. It was a great way to see the whole island and learn where we would want to spend our time when we return though. We still had about an hour and a half and we kind of regretted not spending a little more time on the beach so we decided to take the water taxi over to downtown Philipsburg and get our toes in the sand.
This area was a lot cooler than I was expecting and I really liked the Dutch architecture. There were lots of stray dogs running around that seemed to just be a part of the community there. 
St_Maarten-Phillipsburg_A.mp4 We didn't want to stay too long and risk missing the ship so we headed back on the water taxi. The sail away in St Maarten is absolutely beautiful and at that point was by far the most beautiful island we had ever visited. This is definitely a place we will be returning to because there was still so much more to experience. The sun was beginning to set as we sailed away and it made for an amazing view.

St_Maarten-Sailaway_A.mp4
Tonight we have dinner booked at Jamie's Italian and are seeing The Fine Line!

Day 4 (Jamies Italian and The Fine Line)
Tonight was dinner at Jamie's Italian.  I really liked the menu selection at Jamie's Italian so it was hard to decide what to order. I ended up having the calamari for an appetizer while my wife had the vegetable plank. For our entrees I had the Dry Aged Tenderloin and my wife had the Risotto Caprese. We both wanted to try some kind of pasta so we each ordered the Truffle Tagliatelle and the waiter was able to give us each a half serving of that. The tenderloin may have been the best cut of meat I had on the ship and we both agreed that the pasta was incredible. This was probably the best restaurant for vegetarians in terms of menu selection. For dessert we had the Tiramisu and the Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. Both were great.



Now it was time to see The Fine Line. I knew the Aquatheatre shows were going to be great, but I didn't realize how great. To be honest I thought it seemed a little gimmicky. All of the videos and pictures I had seen of them were basically the parts where they were just splashing around in the water. I knew there would be some diving, but I had no idea the level of acrobatic stunts and artistic quality that went into the show.
This show was absolutely incredible and was by far the best show we have ever seen on a cruise ship and is right up there with some of the Cirque Du Soleil shows we have seen in Vegas. I got a lot of great footage from the show but I am going to leave it out so that people can experience it first hand. I have one question about the guy who we fondly referred to as "Spinny Man" for anyone who knows. When he goes on vacation do they bring on a new person to do the same thing? I feel like I have seen a lot of pictures of him on the blog and it always looks like the same person. It seems like it would be hard to find other people who can spin in circles for almost 10 minutes straight.

After the show we did another one of our favorite things to do on a cruise and that is the Love and Marriage Game Show. This was probably the funniest group of couples we have ever seen on the show but I will leave out the details to keep it PG. Our cruise director Daniel was a great host for the show.

We just relaxed for the rest of the night because we wanted to catch the sunrise in San Juan the next morning so I didn't take any more photos. I figured this would be a good time to highlight some of my favorite wall art from around the ship.

Tomorrow we arrive in San Juan bright and early! 

Day 4 (St. Maarten)
Today was our first port day and we grabbed a quick breakfast at Park Cafe before heading out to meet the famous Leo Brown who we had hired as our driver for the day. We were joined for the day by Independence of the Seas. Leo has new van now that is much larger than his old vehicle and we had been trying to find someone to join us but were unsuccessful. Arriving in St Maarten was beautiful and unlike any ports that we have been to before. It was cool seeing all of the massive yachts. The black one had a helicopter on it!


When we met up with Leo we found out that he had found another family that were also Royal Caribbean Blog followers from Canada. Neither of our groups knew we had anyone else joining us but it was a good surprise. They were really great people and it was a lot of fun meeting them and having some company for the day. One thing we didn't know would be included was that Leo had a big cooler in his trunk with plenty of drinks of some of his own homemade rum punch. I thought it was a nice touch!

Our first stop was Maho Beach to watch a few planes land. I have seen tons of photos of this place, but I had no idea how crowded it actually was. I agree with @Matt on his opinion that it is definitely something to see, but I wouldn't want to stay for very long. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then headed out.

Next we drove around and saw different parts of the island. Being a native of the island Leo had a lot of information that you wouldn't be able to get from just anywhere. It was cool learning about the history of the island, the impact of the hurricane, as well as Leo's experiences growing up there.
We headed to the French side of the island to get some food and stopped somewhere in Grand Case that Leo said was one of the best areas to get some local food. I didn't get the name of the place, but it was really good food. I had the Mahi Mahi and rice and it was delicious. My wife had some rice, cole slaw, and fries. The restaurant was located right on the end of Grand Case Beach so we were able to go back and get a look at it. There were a few locals there enjoying the beach but it was pretty much empty other than that. 

Following lunch we drove around a little more including brief stop at Orient Beach. It looked incredible there and I think when we return to St Maarten that is where we will probably spend the majority of the day. It was just massive and seemed so natural compared to a lot of the beaches we have seen in the Caribbean. In order to make sure we got back with plenty of time we headed back to the port stopping at one more overlook.

We really enjoyed the tour of the island but would have liked to have spent a little more time out of the car. It was a great way to see the whole island and learn where we would want to spend our time when we return though. We still had about an hour and a half and we kind of regretted not spending a little more time on the beach so we decided to take the water taxi over to downtown Philipsburg and get our toes in the sand.
This area was a lot cooler than I was expecting and I really liked the Dutch architecture. There were lots of stray dogs running around that seemed to just be a part of the community there. 
St_Maarten-Phillipsburg_A.mp4 We didn't want to stay too long and risk missing the ship so we headed back on the water taxi. The sail away in St Maarten is absolutely beautiful and at that point was by far the most beautiful island we had ever visited. This is definitely a place we will be returning to because there was still so much more to experience. The sun was beginning to set as we sailed away and it made for an amazing view.

St_Maarten-Sailaway_A.mp4
Tonight we have dinner booked at Jamie's Italian and are seeing The Fine Line!

Day 4 (Jamies Italian and The Fine Line)
Tonight was dinner at Jamie's Italian.  I really liked the menu selection at Jamie's Italian so it was hard to decide what to order. I ended up having the calamari for an appetizer while my wife had the vegetable plank. For our entrees I had the Dry Aged Tenderloin and my wife had the Risotto Caprese. We both wanted to try some kind of pasta so we each ordered the Truffle Tagliatelle and the waiter was able to give us each a half serving of that. The tenderloin may have been the best cut of meat I had on the ship and we both agreed that the pasta was incredible. This was probably the best restaurant for vegetarians in terms of menu selection. For dessert we had the Tiramisu and the Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. Both were great.



Now it was time to see The Fine Line. I knew the Aquatheatre shows were going to be great, but I didn't realize how great. To be honest I thought it seemed a little gimmicky. All of the videos and pictures I had seen of them were basically the parts where they were just splashing around in the water. I knew there would be some diving, but I had no idea the level of acrobatic stunts and artistic quality that went into the show.
This show was absolutely incredible and was by far the best show we have ever seen on a cruise ship and is right up there with some of the Cirque Du Soleil shows we have seen in Vegas. I got a lot of great footage from the show but I am going to leave it out so that people can experience it first hand. I have one question about the guy who we fondly referred to as "Spinny Man" for anyone who knows. When he goes on vacation do they bring on a new person to do the same thing? I feel like I have seen a lot of pictures of him on the blog and it always looks like the same person. It seems like it would be hard to find other people who can spin in circles for almost 10 minutes straight.

After the show we did another one of our favorite things to do on a cruise and that is the Love and Marriage Game Show. This was probably the funniest group of couples we have ever seen on the show but I will leave out the details to keep it PG. Our cruise director Daniel was a great host for the show.

We just relaxed for the rest of the night because we wanted to catch the sunrise in San Juan the next morning so I didn't take any more photos. I figured this would be a good time to highlight some of my favorite wall art from around the ship.

Tomorrow we arrive in San Juan bright and early! 

Day 3 (Sea Night)
We had reservations at Wonderland tonight and we weren't really sure what to expect. We knew the experience was going to be really cool, but we had also heard a lot of mixed reviews about the food. We were pleasantly surprised. At first we were a little concerned that we weren't going to be able to find much for my wife to eat since she is a vegetarian but it actually turned out to be her favorite restaurant on the cruise. They modified a lot of the dishes to make them vegetarian and there were a few that already were anyways. Personally I didn't like the entrees nearly as much as the appetizers. They weren't bad, but the appetizers were just incredible in my opinion. We enjoyed the cocktails as well but forgot to get a picture.
There will be a lot of pictures here because the courses just keep on coming. In the spirit of Wonderland I won't explain any of the pictures and let your imagination do it's thing (I wouldn't be able to explain them anyways). We loved the whole experience and we had a joke that if you didn't go through the door then you didn't really eat at Wonderland. 



Following a great dinner we had reservations to see impressionist Jeff Tracta. He did impressions of people and music and he did them very well. He had a great Donald Trump impression that either side of the spectrum could get a laugh out of. He covered every genre of music and I think cruisers of all ages really enjoyed it. We are always so impressed with the types of acts that Royal Caribbean brings onboard. We really missed that when we tried out Carnival on our last cruise and they rolled out the same cast every night to just sing and dance to a different genre of music. 

After the show we headed into the Promenade and caught the 50s and 60s party. One thing we really love doing on a cruise is just standing by and watching people have a good time. There is something about being on a cruise that lets people really let loose unlike anywhere else in my opinion. 

When the party ended we decided to close out the night at the pub with our favorite entertainer Kieron. We were joined in the pub by several cast members of The Fine Line that you can see in the picture. Kieron was really popular among the crew and you could always find members of the Grease and The Fine Line in the pub when he was performing. He was really good about playing requests which is always nice. I requested Let It Be and was able to get a video of him playing it. 


Day 3-Kieron Movie.m4v No late night on a cruise is complete without a slice of Sorrento's. I also found that the quality of pizza has improved since our last cruise. I actually found it quite good but the drink package helps. It was a great sea day today and the port stops begin tomorrow morning with St. Maarten. We were very excited to check out 3 brand new ports for us.  

Day 3 (Sea Day)
We woke up around 9:30 after a late night and decided on Park Cafe for breakfast. This became our go to spot most days because it was just so easy to run in and grab something. The selection isn't nearly as good as in the Windjammer or Johnny Rockets, but the convenience factor was there and the food was still good. I always got the fried egg, ham, and cheese muffin while my wife had the vegetarian options that changed each day. She would also get the fried egg one as well and switch out the ham with the vegetables occasionally. 

After that we took a few laps around the jogging track and heard some commotion coming from the Aquatheatre so we went to check it out. It was the Crown and Anchor ceremony. For those curious the top cruiser had 2,340 days and he gave a really awesome speech about his love for the crew, but also the Flowrider. Once the ceremony was over we headed over to get in a round of putt putt. One thing I noticed was that they are using some kind of foam balls, I am not sure if this has always been the case. Being a golfer I didn't love the way they felt putting but I guess I could always use an extra excuse anyways!

Next we went back to the room to get dressed to hang out on the pool deck. We said we were going to take it easy on the drinks for the day, but then the pineapple guy showed up. We are suckers for a Pina Colada in a pineapple just once on a cruise, so we paid the extra $9 to get one. It was an absolutely perfect day at sea and this is the calmest I have ever seen the ocean on all of my cruises. 


This one is for you @FlowBro Ty. We hung out on the pool deck for the majority of the afternoon before heading back to the Flowrider. I gave it a shot and it was a lot of fun, but I am not very good at it. It is hard to get practice because there is usually a 30 minute or longer wait and I don't like to spend my whole day waiting for my turn only to fall after a short time. There was a guy that was ridiculously good at it and you could always find him back there killing it. Here is a 20 second video of him doing his thing on another day. He was definitely the best of the cruisers that we saw all week. I added a picture of someone else riding just in case the video won't load for anyone.

VIDEO Flowrider-Surfer.mp4
After that it was time to head back to the room and get ready for dinner. We are going to Wonderland tonight...
 

Kieron is my FAVORITE pub performer on any ship - we were in the pub every night of our Allure B2B to listen to him play. 

The app does allow you to add events to your own calendar.  Very handy. 

A toast to you sir.

Getting my day started. 

Happy Friday! A little inspiration for everyone, as I share my current situation. 

As I mentioned, we hit up the main dining room for breakfast.  I will have to enjoy windjammer for the outdoor seating, but I do enjoy a leisurely breakfast in main dining room. 

Main dining room breakfast menu

Good morning from the Gulf of Mexico

I don’t recall a cruise where everyone on the ship got free play, and/or it was this advertised.

TFW it’s 10pm and ready bed
https://giphy.com/gifs/jamie-lee-curtis-boho-freaky-friday-TfseOfhwd6BJC