MaryS

Today was the Top Tier Event.  We missed nearly all of it.  I thought it started at 10:30 but it must have started at 10:00.  By the time we got there they were introducing the top cruisers and it was nearly over....so I didn't get any intel on how many pax there were in the various C&A levels.  I had heard earlier in the week that there are 36 Pinns but I didn't confirm that info today.  It was hotter'n blazes out there anyway, so I'm not sorry that our trip to the AT was cut short.
The Pinn luncheon started at 11:30 and we did manage to make it for that.  The lunch was very good, as it almost always is.  Shrimp cocktail, filet and carrot cake for both of us.
Tonite is dinner at Hooked.  Looking forward to some oysters.  I hope they're better than the last ones we had there.
Dan is at the Suites' Sun deck while I'm down here doing my daily computer stuff.
Not much happening today since it's a sea day.  Tomorrow is COZ (I think).

My grandmother has a bit of a fear with water. Plus, she doesn't like to go no place that doesn't have Seagram's gin and Miller Lite. She will drink other gins but somehow, they are all inferior to Seagram's 😳.
I would love to get my grandmother to cruise, but every time I ask her, she backs out. I had finally gotten a yes and covid happened. She said God was telling her something, so........but whenever we do land-based vacations, the shenanigans are nonstop🤣. Plus, she feels like my fur baby is the only grandchild she will get out of me and if we all go, she can't watch her. 

Put me in the same category - I love the shenanigans stories. It keeps me going on cruises and wonder why I never see these things minus the skimpy bathing suits 😀!

both lines in this sent me TO THE MOON 😂😂😂😂😂
i feel like we’d need to sponsor a cruise for her afterward to simply ~recover. 😂😂

Not just you, I'm here for it!!!

This is just me, but I'd love to read a blog where mom and grandmother sail with you. 😅

6 Days to go.........
I have been putting out fires at home and work. So, this vacation will be sorely needed 😂. 
I will have to work that Sunday morning before we cruise but I will be done no later than 2pm. 
Last Tues my fridge went out. We do have a chest freezer but that is for vacuum-sealed frozen food. The refrigerator is under warranty, so they must see if they can fix before they just give us a new one. The tech was supposed to come on Thurs, and he didn't show until today..........but he forgot an important tool, so he is on his way again🤬. Which pretty much means we won't have a new refrigerator until we get back. So, I have not only had to cook every day but go to the grocery store more often because nothing can be refrigerated. 
Since I don't normally cruise in May I had to do my Mother's Day tradition a week earlier. I treat my mother and grandmother to a spa day. Let me just say they have no problem getting mani/pedis and massages from stranger. But they refuse to allow anyone but me to touch their hair and face........I think it might be a culture thing. I normally give them a facial, scalp massage and trim, with styling. Thankfully they now share a house, with my grandmother staying on the first floor, so I only had to go to one location this year. My grandmother is all shenanigans all the time and I am not allowed to do anything while the Young and the Restless is on. Also, it is always five o clock, if you get my drift 🤣🤣😂.......which bothers my mother.
So, I went upstairs to her place to view the pile. My mother's mode of packing is to pile all her stuff on the dining room table, she never uses it, and then a few days beforehand just pick through and pack. It is a fairly neat pile but a pile, nonetheless. Also, she always has a list that she checks off as she goes through the pile, while talking to herself. It is really disorganized, organization. She is convinced that she will be moving to FL with her bf at the end of the year and will cruise enough to surpass me in loyalty levels. I am here for it if it happens, but I am 95% sure it won't.
I did finished packing. My brother, who for years has been the ultimate procrastinator, actually was packed before me. When we went to Egypt, he literally packed at like 2pm and our flight was at 8:30pm. We currently have five bags between us and only one will be checked. The checked luggage is at 38lbs, but I believe that after I do laundry tomorrow maybe one or two things will make their way in. If you have read my blogs with my brother, then you know he can eat. So, I must point out that over half of one luggage is "snacks." My brother needs his honey, sesame sticks and chocolate. I know a lot of people think how you can bring anything when the ship has so much food......but food isn't snacks 😉😂.
I did book hibachi for the third leg of the B2B. Izumi is exempt from the D+ BOGO and I knew I was going to want Izumi's. I didn't realize Freedom class ships have the same small sushi area as Voyager class ships. I think the hibachi lunch suits me better, as I usually get udon and teriyaki anyway. My brother had already planned just to get some a la carte rolls. Plus, yesterday it was like $33+grats, I get the shrimp and steak with hibachi, so that is a win. 
I have printed all the tags, but I am not making paper copies of the setsail. They never seem to work for me and it's just a waste. I will take screenshots of them instead on each person phone. My passport expires in Sept and the plan is to get it renewed as soon as I return from this cruise. I am bringing my BC as a backup since it is below the 6-month threshold. I went to get the photo done and they are $19!!!!!!!! I felt old because I could remember when they were only $12, and I thought that was expensive. 
I have downloaded this cruises books to the Kindle. The weather is looking good for Chicago and hot for the cruise. In the immortal words of SpongeBob "I'm ready!"
 

No problem! Definitely good to share other perspectives from people who are more adventurous since we are only doing ship tours.
Anyways, I will write up about our tour in Chania tomorrow sometime since tomorrow we have an early start in Mykonos so I need to get to bed 😂.
- Ashley

Super easy to rent a car in Crete, all you need in a $20 International Driver’s permit from a AAA before you leave and a reservation. We drove to Elafonisi (pictured below) and Falasarna beaches from Chania and it was welllll worth the 1.5 hour trip. The beach was gorgeous and the drive was also memorable as you pass through some small picturesque towns. I also loved an ATV tour we took in Crete as well as a snorkeling excursion from Marathi. 
 
Sorry for the hijack @mashley1021. Amazing blog so far!! 
 

Final thoughts
i would absolutely take a transatlantic again or even try transpacific. I loved the entire trip especially the 10 sea days. The sea days were so relaxing. Of course the port days were so busy they flew by. 
 The most difficult part was returning home. Trying to adjust back to our time at home has been slightly difficult. We had a long flight home. When we finally got to bed we had been up over 24 hours.
Thanks for following along. Until our next cruise in September happy sailing.
As I blog this I sit holding my 3 month old grandson, thinking toward February when he will be on his first cruise. 

Hey All!
Back to recap Day 2 onboard the cruise.
First Towel Animal:

Sailing through the Strait of Messina:

Norwegian Epic Docked in Messina Today:

It was a sea day so we spent the day relaxing for the most part and at all 3 meals in coastal kitchen and pre dinner drinks in Giovanni's wine bar again. Here at the pictures from that:
Breakfast:




Lunch:





Dinner:








 



We also went to top tier in the morning, there were quite a few 1050 milestones and one 1400 milestone. Here are some pictures I took there, not posting the milestones pictures for privacy but if anyone was one of them and wants a picture of their slide I got all of them. Here are what I can share:








We wrapped up the night in the pub with Vishal, a bartender we first met on Symphony before covid and we are glad is in a bar we actually go to this sailing (he was in windjammer in December and as I stated earlier, we basically never walk in there 🤣). Mark James, the guitar player, played this night and so far so good although I know this is a more difficult crowd with these port intensive sailings. Anyways, here are some pictures from those shenanigans including another water dump:








Thanks again and I promise I will get to a hotel review eventually, I think the time change and lack of sleep caught up to me as I napped a lot this afternoon. Rome was all go go go for us as you saw 🙃. Tomorrow, we are in the first port of the cruise, Chania, and doing a walking tour with very little description so wish us luck there.
Thanks and TTYL!
- Ashley

@Sweety You are so close, congrats. With what I have on docket, until Oct 2025, I will just cross the 300pt threshold. I definitely didn't think I would get there so fast. So, Pin still seems in reach over maybe the next 5yrs. 

I will have over 600 points after this year. I  can't wait.

Sorry, I should have put my cabin info in earlier.
Yes, we are in an OVB on deck 8, so no suite.  This is a 100% comped cruise since it is our Pinnacle award cruise.  We won’t receive any C&A points for it, but it cost us nothing other than taxes, port fees and grats, so we’re ok about the points. Too bad they don’t follow the casino “rules” about comped cruises still getting C&A points.
According to the CK Maitre’d, there are only 36 Pinns on this sailing (Dan laughed and said that’s b/c they are all on the Ossis crossing !) so all Pinns have full access to the SL and CK for all meals. I fully expected to have to eat breakfast at Chops but that’s not the case.
We spent a nice afternoon up on the Suites Sundeck and I have to say, “WOW” !  What an incredible place.  I felt like we had a private pool (it’s actually just a big hot tub and boy was it HOT), bar and comfy day beds.  I really fell in love with this sundeck.  Unlike the other O class sundecks, it is located right in the same location as the Suites, CK and SL (deck 18) and not way up forward like it is on other O class ships.  I had read about it before but never realized how awesome and different this area is !  It really sets Wonder apart from its older sisters.  I have some photos that I will share when I get them synched.
Yes, making Pinnacle has made a huge difference in our cruising life.  We now get to enjoy everything that we love about sailing in suites except for the big cabins.  I’m sure there will be times when we have some access(s) limited, but those have been, up until now, very rare.  I’ll take it !

Someone from Jersey "has a mouth at times"? No way! 🤣
I say that lovingly coming from the Philly 'burbs, of course... and my wife doesn't exactly speak like a kindergarten teacher when off the clock, lol. She has quite a few novelty gifts alluding to her... umm... let's go with potty mouth.

🤣🤣🤣 Imagine being the poor crew member who has to find a way to retrieve those lost puppies!
 
#Twinsies 😅😅😅

Surprisingly, we are at PDCC alone.  I was certainly expecting another ship to be here as this is a "traditional" 7 night cruise, leaving port on Sunday.  To my surprise, nope.  Just us here.  I guess the new mix of shorter cruises has provided a schedule of PDCC stops that no longer revolve around Sat/Sun departures.  I suspect that this is no accident....I personally believe that the new shorter cruise schedule is designed to intentionally bring the ships to PDCC throughout the week.
Since we (or at least, I) will not be getting off today, it is a nice, quiet day onboard.  Dan had hinted that he might want to go snorkeling, but once I agreed to go with him to the Suites' Sun Deck, which we will do later this afternoon, I think he was appeased and so he may or may not go ashore.
After breakfast I agreed to go and play putt-putt with him.  This is NOT something that I actually enjoy, but he likes to pretend to play so I agreed.  It is, after all, his vacation, too !  🙃  I am a notorious putt-putt cheater and today was no different.  It is a fun course, though, and I had to admit (after it was over) that it wasn't all that bad.  Beware, if you play putt-putt on Wonder that the first "hole" has a treacherous starfish, which will devour your ball !  My shot went through, but Dan's got "lost" in the starfish.  I suspect that there is a bounty of balls in the belly of the starfish b/c there were only about 4 balls available when we started playing.  There are now 3.  I imagine the rest of them are forever lost in that treacherous starfish's belly !
The elevators continue to be the biggest headache on this sailing.  I ran into a new Pinn "friend" when I left the SL for the first time (more on my merry journey, later) and he said he'd been waiting for an elevator for 20 minutes !  Holy cow !  Now....this was right at the peak time for the hordes to be disembarking but still....that's a little ridiculous.  I left Dan in the SL where he was dutifully translating an investment document for one of his mining stocks (this is an obsession of his which I rarely discuss as it bores me to tears) from Danish to English.  
An elevator finally arrived and we both boarded.  My destination was deck 14 where I had been told by one of the Suites Concierges (I still do not know any of their names.  I need to get that info.) that there was a library on deck 14 where I could access laptops.  Well, guess what.  No, there isn't.  There IS a card room there, but no computers.  So, totally miffed, I reboarded one of the elevators (after a fairly lengthy wait) bound for deck 17 only to find that the Suites' access doors were now secured.  Now please understand....I do NOT mind that they are secured.   AaMoF, I think that they should be secured ALL the time, but now I was stranded outside, b/c my freaking SP card would not work to open the doors.  DRATS !  Luckily, there is a "call" button above the sensor, which I depressed, and was given access, remotely.  My first stop was to inform Dan that I had utterly failed in my computer quest and then I strolled over to the Concierge to register my gripes.  #1, why the F'K wasn't my card working to gain entrance, and #2, where are the F'N computers !  His answer to #1 was...I will check into it.  I'm not sure what will or can be done.  I guess time will tell on that one.  Actually, I have -0- confidence that anything will change.  That's ok.  As to #2, he quickly informed me that there were NO [public] computers on this ship, save the 2 in the Crown Lounge.  Just about that time, the Concierge who had provided me with bogus gauge, showed up and was embarrassed that he didn't know that the computers had been removed on Wonder.  He apologized profusely, while backing up.  I guess he thought I might make a "move" on him.  HA !  I may have a "mouth" on me at times, but I am not a threat !  LOL   He had recently moved over from Harmony, where (apparently) they still had the computer area.  I guess we both learned something, today !
So.....I rested up for my long journey forward, to the CL, then set out once again, on my quest to find a laptop.  Eureka !  I finally got to the 'puters and here I sit, pecking away.

I am surprised how quiet and empty the CK was this morning for breakfast.  I guess lots of folks are getting off today (PDCC).  It’s nice to have a “new” breakfast menu.  We’d been eating at Giovanni’s and/or Chops for over a month now and those menus never changed.  While the CK breakfast menu isn’t really that much different, it IS different in a few minor ways.  Dan was so excited to be able to get his flatbread eggs !  It’s kinda like breakfast pizza with an egg on top.  It’s actually better than it sounds !

Ugh.  Never mind.  I forgot we have an AT show at 10:45.  I’ll never make it…

Just got back from dinner at the CK.  The apps were really good.  I had the smoky tomato soup and pork belly.  Dan got a Caesar salad with a lobster tail on top.  He said his filet was good but mine was only ok.  I had a gristly end piece and that ruins the entire piece of meat for me.  But I was so full from the apps that I didn’t care about the filet anyway.  We shared a peanut butter  crispy bar and a piece of cheesecake.  I am now miserably full.
We went up to the SL for a drink around 5:00 and I have to say - I am impressed (in a good way) with the SL/CK on Wonder.  The view is so different from the othe O class ships.  We really enjoyed sitting there and having a drink.  That’s not something that we normally do (HH at the SL).
After that we strolled down Central Park and recounted how our previous cruise on Wonder had been so different from this one.  On our last Wonder cruise we were in a CP balcony and did not have access to the SL so never went there.  I must say, when you can enjoy the SL/ CK it is a completely different experience.
We then went to deck 4 and popped into the smoke-free casino where we both came away winners on the Dancing Drums. 🎉🎉
Then, back up to the CK for dinner and now back to the room.  I had intended to go back to the casino but now I’m full, sleepy and tired so maybe an early night ?

Hi Everyone!

We obviously made it on board the beautiful Odyssey of the Seas so here is a wrap up of our boarding day yesterday.
In the morning, we went to the same cafe near our hotel for coffee and pastries. After that, we got a porter to help us take our luggage down to the hotel lobby where our driver picked us up promptly at 10am. We used Stefano's Rome Cabs for our transfers between the airport, hotel, and ship. We have been very happy with them. We booked them through Viator (you can find the Viator links on their TripAdvisor).
From there, we arrived at the port a little more than an hour later just after 11am. At the port, porters approached us to help with the checked luggage right away and then we walked in with them and they directed us through security. Security was a breeze. After that, we lined up for check in, they checked our passports and set sail passes and gave us a boarding number. In order to get a suite/pinnacle number, we then had to walk up to the Key sign to get our number replaced with a suites card so we could board immediately. This process was a bit confusing as there was no signage in the terminal for suites, only the Key, and it was after check in and receiving another number.
Once we got the suite number, we proceeded to boarding. After boarding the ship, we headed straight to our muster station to check in. We watched the safety video while we were driving to the port so it was very quick, they scanned our set sail passes and we were done with the worst part 🙌. After that, we headed up to Coastal Kitchen where we saw Mihai, the Coastal Kitchen manager, who is on board until we get to Turkey and Jose, the Coastal Kitchen host who was also on board in December, along with most of the same wait staff. We were seated right away for lunch. While we were waiting for our food, I headed over to the reservations desk by Teppanyaki to get our reservations set for the rest of the cruise for our 5 night dining package as well as an Izumi Sushi lunch one sea day. By the time I was done making reservations, our food had arrived (I forgot to take a picture of the lunch menu and my dessert, it was the chicken sandwich menu and I had key lime pie for dessert while my parents had ice cream):

Our staterooms opened at 1pm so by the time we were done with lunch, our staterooms were ready so we headed down to them. Our cases were shockingly already outside our door so we unpacked and then it was time for a short and very interrupted by announcements nap before getting ready for dinner. They did a diamond and above sail away party at 4:30pm in the Music Hall but we all decided we needed to take a nap instead, it was a busy few days in Rome. We then got ready for 8pm dinner in Coastal Kitchen. Before dinner, we had some drinks in Giovanni’s wine bar and then headed up to dinner. Odyssey just got the new Coastal Kitchen dinner menus from Icon of the Seas a month ago so you might see some new options in the pictures and menu below:

After dinner, we had some drinks in the pub. The compass had an error and it was actually the pub player’s off night so I can’t comment on him yet but hopefully I will see him tonight. I have heard he plays Alice so I will definitely report back on the front. Anyways, here were some of our drinks in the pub as well as our first water and soda dump from our vouchers:

And then we headed to bed, we lost an hour last night as we moved to Greece time.
I will try to post tonight about our hotel in Rome.

Thanks and TTYL!
- Ashley
 

BIG NEWS! we get to add "visit the next cruise desk" to my embarkation day agenda. Last night I somehow convinced Mr. Reg to book a Symphony 7 Night Bahamas and Perfect Day out of NJ. Don't ask me how, don't ask me why, just ask me when, lol. I think it's because when pricing a 5-day Disney trip vs. a 4 night Utopia cruise vs not flying anywhere and doing 7 nights on Symphony, the money spoke for itself! I'm letting my Disney AP lapse since I don't anticipate being able to go much over the next year (I logged 17 days on my current AP but my circumstances, sadly, are changing). I still need to look a little closely at when the current promotion expires and if a different promotion takes effect on Sunday and if it's better or not as great. If it's not as great, getting $100 or whatever in onboard credit (that's usually what you get for a balcony) and a reduce deposit at Next Cruise is not really worth waiting for and I'll just ask my TA to book it before we go. We are looking at September 22-29, so I know it's a bit of a calculated risk weather wise with hurricane season but honestly we aren't in it for the itinerary as we've done it before and been to Perfect Day twice. It's all about that ship for me. Do they still give a gift for booking at Next Cruise on embarkation day?
Anyway, back to the cruise at hand (one cruise at a time, as my TA likes to say!). We are t-minus 6 days! The packing has started, the last minute bookings have been made, planning for pre-embarkation brunch in Vancouver is solidified, and the weather is looking pretty ok for traveling on Saturday (so far). Photos of packing and suitcases and backpacks, etc. to come later this week. Of course our daughter is moving out of college early now so she needs allllll the suitcases 🤪 and I told her she must empty our brand new one no later than Thursday. Mama needs to get packin!

Hi All,
We made it onboard the Odyssey of the Seas today but once again I need to catch up on what we did yesterday. I have a feeling I am going to be continually behind but hopefully I will be able to catch up since tomorrow is a sea day but then I might quickly end up behind again as the port days start. Anyways all of that to say just bear with me 🥺.
Ok so back to yesterday. We started our day heading to a cafe near the hotel for coffee and pastries. We opted to not do the hotel breakfast again after the first time so I literally searched coffee shop on Google maps and went to the first place that showed up. Here are some pictures of the pastries and coffee:

After that, we once again ordered an Uber and headed to the restaurant for our cooking class. The class was called “3 in 1 Cooking Class near Navona: Fettuccine, Ravioli & Tiramisu” and was conducted in the back room of a restaurant. Promptly at the start time of the class, our chef instructor Danilo came out to check us in for the class and had us come in and wash our hands before starting with the Tiramisu. Danilo already had the eggs separated in two bowls and then added sugar to the yolks. From there he asked for two volunteers to use the hand mixers to beat the egg whites and beat the yolks. I volunteered and ended up beating the yolks and sugar mixture. About halfway through the beating process we stopped and he got another volunteer up to drop spoonfuls of mascarpone in the yolk mixture as I continued beating with the hand mixer. Once the egg whites were stiff and the yolks, sugar, and mascarpone mixture was completely mixed, my job was done. From there he had a few more volunteers come up to fold the egg whites into the yolks mixture. My dad volunteered for this part and ended up being on of the people doing the folding. 
From there, Danilo instructed us how to assemble the tiramisu. We each were given a glass and two lady fingers (they have a much nicer Italian name that I don’t remember 🙃). They had bowls of brewed coffee on the tables and we broke the lady fingers in half and quickly dipped the first half in the coffee and smushed it on the bottom of the cup (smushed is a technical term 😂). We then layered in the cream, the other half of the lady fingers dipped in coffee but not smushed and some more cream. Finally, we topped it off with cocoa powder. We then labeled our cups of tiramisu and put them on trays to go chill while we prepared our pasta.
For the pasta making, we did the whole process by hand including the rolling and cutting. Danilo demonstrated each step and also came around to help. My mom has never been the cook in my household (she likes to talk about how she failed home ec in high school), and she required a lot of assistance to get the pasta mixed, kneaded, and rolled out. Thankfully he helped her out otherwise she wouldn’t have had lunch, he said there was one of her in every class 🤣. Not only did we cut thicker fettuccine noodles, we also filled and cut ravioli. We were given a card to write our name on and select one of three sauces for our fettuccine. My mom and I both selected cacio e pepe and my dad selected a tomato sauce with pork in it called Amatriciana. From there we left our finished pasta on our boards with the cards and headed to the actual restaurant side of the space to sit down at a large table as a group to enjoy what we made. 
The server came around with some house wine for everyone and then our pasta started coming out as it was prepared. Unfortunately one of my ravioli burst in the water so I lost one but it was still really cool eating what we just made. After we ate our pasta, they passed out our tiramisu and each enjoyed what we made.
It was definitely a fun experience that while not a typical tour was a fun way to experience Rome. The class was operated by Eat and Walk Italy and I once again purchased it through Viator. The whole thing including the lunch took about 3 hours and at the end we got to download a recipe booklet of what we cooked to keep. The same operator also offers pizza and other classes and all the recipes for all the classes are included in the recipe booklet. Here are some pictures I took at the class:

After the class, we finally had some free time so we walked to the Spanish steps (about a half mile from where the class was) and did some shopping. Let’s just say we did some damage and now have to figure out the VAT refund process when we leave FCO in 2 weeks. I will report back how that goes if we are successful. From there we got ditched by an Uber driver who started driving in circles trying to get us to cancel until he finally canceled so we ended up shopping some more before getting a cab at a taxi stand to get back to our hotel. We once again ate dinner at the pizza place near our hotel. Here are our pictures from this time:

After that we got some gelato near our hotel:

And finally went back to our rooms to pack up and prepare to board the ship the next day.
Overall, this was our most relaxed day in Rome and definitely needed after the 2 busy days prior. My next post will probably be a shorter post about boarding day, it was rather uneventful as everything went pretty smoothly, as well as finally a hotel review. Spoiler: we definitely would recommend the Doubletree by Hilton Rome Monti.
Thanks again for reading and TTYL!
- Ashley
 
 

Alright, I am convinced regarding printing things - I'll do that tomorrow. 
Packing is 90% done, thank goodness. Although looking around my room I've seen a couple of things that will need adding. But so far, one large suitcase and a carry on. For 9 nights. I feel I may have overpacked...
We have secured a new tour - Pompeii, an Italian lunch and wine tasting, and a hike to the crater of Vesuvius. I'm very excited - I did a similar Pompeii and wine tasting tour last time I was in Naples, but never got to get up close to Vesuvius. A little nervous about the hike, just because I can struggle on uneven ground due to questionable depth perception, but Jamie is a good guy and will make sure I'm OK. I'm determined to make it to the top. 
Still feeling overwhelmed - I feel like a first time cruiser again!! But this time next week, we'll be on board!
Also, if anyone can explain how to insert pictures within text, that'd be awesome, ready for the photo spam that will be happening! I not only ramble in writing, I take a lot of pictures!

MJ lunch was great.  I had the chicken sandwich; Dan had the shrimp po-boy.  We shared a cinnamon roll. OMG, so delicious !  I had the tater tots which were kinda bland but not terrible.  Dan had the Cajun fries.  They had cut my chicken breast in half ( thank goodness) b/c it was such a fatty but it made the sandwich so much easier to eat as I removed half of it.
Dinner tonite is in the CK (filet night).  The only dinner we have scheduled in the CK.  We may pop in for lunch randomly and I assume we have breakfast there (I forgot to ask an about breakfast).  I guess I need to confirm that…
Tonite we have inTENse at 10:45.  Hopefully I’ll still be awake for that !