MaryS

This was me !  Dan has never cared about being in a suite.  He would always have been happy in an inside room, but not me.
Reality has a way of changing your perspective !  I have slowly come around to realizing that “regular” rooms aren’t so bad, after all.  🤭😵🤭. It was either adjust my expectations or find another hobby.
In fairness, turning Pinnacle has also a lot to do with my “relaxed” accommodations mindset.  There are many Pinn perks that make non-suite rooms much easier to accept.  I guess that’s why Pinns have that reputation of staying in inside rooms, even though it’s not actually true, for sure.  I will never be an “inside” person.  I need SOME minimal amount of space, which standard inside rooms just don’t have, but I have found there are certainly alternatives to suites that work for both of us.

Hahaha they’ve taken to the upscale fare! Funnel cakes are for the rough-hewn sea pigeons.

9pm sunset 

I'm enjoying following along @Cruisin and Boozin so thanks for sharing.
At some point in the next few hours you're going to be more or less sailing past my front door. I say "more or less" because you'll be too far over the horizon for either of us to see each other but I'm tracking your progress on cruise mapper and will be waving madly as you go past anyway! 😂
I'm right where it says "Loule" on the map.

The greenish ship ahead of you is Odyssey so I'll be out on my balcony waving to them imminently. 😂
 

Has anybody else noticed the recent total lack of seagulls on PDCC ?  When we were there the last 2 times, I never saw a single one !  I wonder if they’ve been “relocated” …

don't get me started on these feral creatures!!!!!!
THEY CAME FOR MY FOOD!!!!!

I’m not gonna start a new live blog for this FR shorty…I will just post a few nuggets here.
The good news - we are in the top 10 Pinns on this sailing !
The bad news - there are only 9 Pinns onboard 😂
It’s raining big time today. I hear thunder out there !    We’re on our way [back] to Puerto Plata, DR.  It’s our only port of call on this sailing.  We are seeing more of this port than we are of Nassau, which I didn’t think humanly possible. We like PP so that’s fine with us.
Lunch yesterday at Giovanni’s Kitchen and I’m happy to say that it was a great lunch.  I have had few awesome meals at GK but this was really good.  I got the Chicken Parmesan even though I knew it would fill me up and I would not be hungry for Chops (which was an entirely accurate prediction).  Since I judge all meals relative to my non-ethic love for Chicken Parmesan, I can say, this was the BEST chicken parm yet !  It was super thin and extra crispy.  It’s the new “bestest” standard.  Dan had the seafood linguini and man, it was overflowing with clams and shrimp.  Both meals were really excellent.
Since we both really hate the “Welcome Aboard” menu, we went to Chops on our first BOGO voucher and it was very good.  If I hadn’t still been stuffed from lunch, I think I could have rated it as “excellent “.  I guess I should do that anyway.  I can’t blame them for the fact that I stuffed my face at lunch.  😥😥. We both got a filet and the steaks were very flavorful and tender.  I felt a little bad for our next door neighbor.  He ordered a T-bone and while I didn’t examine it closely, it looked “wrong”.  He said it was underdone and gristly.  IMO, when a customer is completely dissatisfied with his/her steak (which he clearly was), they should be offered something to replace it.  He was not given such an offer.  They were a young couple, probably inexperienced cruisers, and I think the poor service (in their case) left a sour taste in their mouths.  I know it would have, for me. They never uttered a word of complaint.
The second of our BOGO vouchers got kinda FUBAR but we got everything straightened out, eventually.  When I made our rezzies (when we first boarded, yesterday) I told the gent helping us that I wanted Giovanni’s on the last day (day 4, which is Caribbean night -my very LEAST favorite menu) but it turns out he made the rezzie for night #2 and I didn’t catch it until later in the afternoon.  When we went to Chops for dinner, I asked how we could go about fixing this and the Host (at Chops) said he would take care of it but that we must pay for the meal before the end of night #2.  I thanked him but said that we would go over to Gios and do it rather than bugging him with doing it….since we have to pay, anyway.  So we did just that.  After dinner we walked over to Gios and got our rezzie changed and pre-paid our night 4 BOGO.  So we got what we wanted in the end but with a little extra work that could been avoided (IMO).
We’re going to the ice show today at 1:00 even though we have seen this show MANY times.  There is a production show at 9:30 called Once Upon A Time, which I’m sure we’ve seen but I can’t recall it….so we will hop over there, most likely.  I look for the ice show to be VERY crowded today with the crap weather…but hopefully we will be ok since we should have a reserved section.  I say “should” b/c we seem to have randomly bad luck with reserved seating on some of the ships -particularly during afternoon performances.  Sometimes there just isn’t any enforcement of the reserved areas so basically there IS no reserved area.  

Day 14 
Valencia Spain
Excursion: Valencia, city of flowers

Day 12 2nd port stop
Malaga Spain 
village of mijas excursion

Excursions day 11 first port of call
Seville Cadiz Spain 
Cadiz Jerez and sherry cellars

Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the delayed post, things have gotten a bit hectic between getting ready for this trip and me finishing up things at work before I leave. Anyways, happy to report that more than just my mom is packed now, my dad and I are now pretty much packed as well, unfortunately we ended up taking one more case than planned (I am going to plead the 5th on what the planned number was).
Anyways, here are all the shore excursions we have planned for on the cruise (all booked through the cruise, we don’t normally do this but given foreign countries we did this just to be safe):
Note: I should clarify that we booked most of these last year and did have a family meeting going through them after everything that happened in February, at that time we changed one and held on to the rest after both my parents read descriptions and agreed, I am trying to take no responsibility if things go wrong here 😆. There is one port we are still concerned about (Santorini, more on that below, but nothing else was available).
Day 3: Chania
Chania Old Town Walk
When in doubt about what we wanted to do, we tended to pick walking tours (or tours involving food or wine, more of those later). We will see how these go with my mom but for the time being we are going to be optimistic. Unfortunately, this is our first port so if it is a flop, it will be down hill from there on the excursion front for my mom. Also unfortunately, this one doesn’t list a distance and just says “extensive walking on cobblestone streets”. Wish us luck with that. (Not sure if I said this before but she was told she should walk and get exercise but she just needs to be careful not to overdo it.)
Day 4: Mykonos
Mykonos Exploration with Farmhouse Wine Tasting 
This was one of the ports added late. When we finally got around to booking a tour here, we saw wine and said that’s the one (pretty much all the thought that went into this). Anyways, this one has a small walking element but lists it specifically  at 1400 yards over cobblestones and very specifically 3 steps. That should be fine if it is accurate. Will report back on all of these.
Day 5: Ephesus
My mom and I are not planning to get off here, we understand the Virgin Mary sight is rather strenuous and my mom was not interested. I am staying on board with her to keep her company. My dad finally booked a tour today! He booked the Exclusive Small-Group Best of Ephesus tour, I will make him report back on how that goes. We did a "small group" tour through Celebrity last year when we were on the Apex in Belfast... it didn't go well, Celebrity overbooked it so the small group ended up being a completely full, full sized coach bus. They should have split us up but they didn't. We fought for onboard credits in the retreat which was a whole other ordeal I don't need to get into here. Hopefully this one goes better for my dad's sake.
Day 7: Limassol
My Mall
Yes, we booked a transfer to a shopping mall on our Europe trip. And yes, I did it to make my mom happy. Also, nothing else really interested us there and I was not pushing another walking tour.
Day 8: Rhodes
Medieval Rhodes Walking Tour
Yes, another walking tour, this one says 2 miles over uneven surfaces. The whole tour is 3.5 hours so that time with that distance once again should be fine. Once again, wish us luck.
Day 9: Santorini
Pyrgos Village with Mezes and Wine
Once again, the wine stole our interest. This one will truly be a play it by ear situation for my mom as it is 1 mile over steep surfaces with 30-40 steps. We are nervous about the steep but we also know that is the reality in Santorini so there wasn’t really an alternative. We just need to think positive “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” vibes.
Day 10: Athens
Ancient Athens, Plaka, and Shopping
This was a last minute change. Originally we were doing a longer tour that went into the Acropolis. This was an easy one for us to change to make it easier on my mom by instead getting more of a panoramic view of it. This one still says one mile of walking with some steps but didn’t sound nearly as strenuous as what we originally booked.
Day 12: Naples
Sorrento with Pizza and Gelato  
This time, the pizza stole our interest (see a theme here?). Anyways, this one says 600 feet and 5-10 steps. All of that sounds doable. I should note we have been to Pompeii before and done tours there before so there was no need for us to do that again this time.
Anyways, we fly out tomorrow night so it is getting very real now! I go into the office one last time for a bit tomorrow (don't feel too bad, my commute is only 1.8 miles from my house 🙃) and then have to head home a bit early as my parents are getting picked up by our transportation company at about 3:30pm and my house is 30 minutes away from them, and a lot closer to the airport so I am getting picked up second. We went out for Mexican food on Sunday since we know we won’t be getting that for the next few weeks so enjoy the pictures of some wonderful Arizona Mexican Food:
 

Thanks again and TTYL!
Ashley

We're coming up on Cozumel,  we passed Mariner- here's the pilot boat with her in the background. Looks like we're headed to the usual dock. Celebrity Apex is there.
Day 2 - we went to the crown lounge for coffee and I really don't like how it is set up. There is only about 3 feet of space to walk in because of the divider making it really cramped if someone gets coffee first then food or tries to go back down the line because they forgot something. 

WJ for breakfast then the kids and I went to the flowrider. We were there about an hour and a half and headed back to the room. DH and I weren't hungry, but the kids wanted to try Mini Bites which is tex-mex snacks by the sports court. Long line and just meh.
The kids went to the teen club for thr afternoon and DH and I found our way back to the casino. I was down. He was up.
We came back to our diamond amenities. 
We tried out the Latin dance class and wound up teaching the instructor a new move or two. 
Formal night - DD ordered the escargot and liked it so much she asked for a second plate. French onion soup and a wedge salad also made it on the table. Entrees- tenderloin, salmon, and beef bourguignon. DH and I also split the lamb Rogan. Desserts- apple cobbler and cappuccino chocolate cake. 






we had Fine Line reservations for 10pm, but the show was canceled due to high waves. We were automatically rescheduled for 10pm on night 4.
 

They just announced that we are stopping in Cozumel on our way to Roatan. We're dropping the captain off for a medical emergency. He just joined the ship.

Here are pics of the cabins.
12152 has the bed closest to the door. I asked 12150 to have the beds separate, but it really makes it tight between the bed and balcony door.
@Carlos A. the last picture is the divider open.
The connecting door (inside the cabin) is nice, but I wish there was a way that we could keep it open if we wanted.

I just realized I have never tried Boston cream pie before 🤔. I think it's because I keep mixing it up with banana cream pie and I don't like bananas 😅.

After sail away, we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We stopped by the crown lounge to check out the snackies too.
Roasted tomato soup, crab cake, spinach artichoke dip appetizers. Prime rib, roasted chicken, stuffed portobello mushroom, and chicken saag entrees. Key lime pie, Boston cream pie, and cheese plate for dessert.
Kids went to thr teen club and DH and I tried our luck in the casino. Down a little for the day. We all called it a night around 11pm.

We're waiting for the aqua show to start,  and I finally have a few minutes to catch up a little. We arrived at the terminal at 10:48am and were onboard by 11am. We decided to brave the Windjammer which didn't start to get too crowded until about 11:45. We got a variety of items and a ton of cookies.
Then we went to our muster station to check in and wait for rooms to open at 1pm. We had barely been in the rooms long enough to set down our carry on bags when there was a knock at out door. It was a crew member delivering our luggage. We got all our bags and quickly unpacked. DH decided to take a quick nap and the kids and I went to explore a bit. First stop - sprinkles.

Next up the teen club, a little table tennis, flowrider waivers, and back to the room.

We met our cabin attendant who had our beds already separated in one of the rooms and the connecting door opened. @Carlos A. we asked if he could also open the balcony divider, and he had the key on him to do so.
Then is was time for sail away. We went up to the pool deck to grab a drink and we were treated to a dolphin show as we pulled away from the dock.

There were at least 5 out there including a mama and baby.

Slight long-winded story.
I canceled the celebration cake. I am not really a cake person. I was getting the cake for my brother's birthday mainly. He and my mother can eat cake and sweet things like crazy. I am not actually huge on sweets. I eat more sweet things when I cruise than in real life. But my brother can eat a whole cake almost every day. During the pandemic, he or I was making him a cake every other day 😱🤯🤣🤪.
Since I don't normally cruise during his and my birthday "season " I had forgotten about his birthday shenanigans.
For over a decade I have been getting him his favorite cake from a local bakery, it's a double tiered tres Leche. It usually takes him 2 days to finish. Then my mother gets him a traditional sheet birthday cake. His best friend gets him a fruit tart. Now for a couple of years as a mechanical engineer he has been working from home. But prior to that he always got a birthday cake from his compay. Last year his company went back into the office, though it was now a communal one. He also started doing freelance with two other firms. On Monday's he commutes to meet with all three.
Which is a long way of saying between Saturday and today he got 5 full sheetcakes. This is on top of the fruit tart and tres Leche cake. My BFF is into the instasnaps and whatnot, so he got him the viral McDonald's sheetcake 😂🤣😂😂😂. I came home to a refrigerator filled with so much cake. I'm talking cake. Which will last him well into next week. So much cake that my mother took the equivalent of half a sheetcake home, and that will last her until next week. My brother hits the gym 3-4 times a week to afford that type of lifestyle 🤣
My brother does love him some cake but he needs variety and it would take him at least a month to want basic chocolate or vanilla cake. So he was like I doubt I will want to eat half a cake on a cruise. This is also compounded by the fact that because my mother has worked for a local supermarket chain, 42yrs, she gets all the holiday sweets and candy for next to nothing. We are currently sitting on a treasure trove of Easter candy. A ton of which I will give to the crew. Don't worry none of it is expired, it's just wrapped in pastel colors. 🤣😂🤣😂
 

Recap of last night:
We had dinner at Giovanni’s, which was awesome as usual. I did manage to snap a couple pics although I completely missed appetizers.
Osso Buco

Linguine and seafood

After Dinner we had Starburst which was really good!

Then it was off to Dueling Pianos for more shenanigans and late night debauchery. 😇


Don’t ask why I thought it was a good idea to order the signature pop rocks martini, but here’s proof it happened.  😂😵‍💫
Also here’s a video screen grab of me attempting to hold the harmonica for Grace during Piano Man.

 
By the time that was over it was almost 1am and it was definitely time for bed. 😂.
Today we are in Costa Maya and have nothing planned until 2:30 in which Marla has signed us up for Crowns Edge and declared that it will be Unacceptable to not do it. 😂🤣🙈.
Then tonight is Empire Supper club!
Also, Kelli’s stated she was going to hijack the blog today and give a little perspective from her side.  She is far funnier than I am. 😜

Also came back to a nice surprise for Kellis upcoming birthday on May 16th.
 

 







Marla and our loft attendant Carmen have really out done themselves.
tonight is Giovanni‘s at 8 PM and then we have the starburst ice show at 9:30.
I’ll try to remember to take pictures at dinner tonight lol😎
 

Came back to some serious swag in our room from Hard Rock!

Home ?  What’s that ?
We’re sailing out of Miami on Freedom at the moment. 🥴🥴
We did get about 17 hours at home before we had to repack and come back down to Miami.  I did sleep like a rock in my own bed though…❤️❤️

14 days to go......
The luggage tag and my setsail pass updated at 17 days to display the cabin numbers on my first GTY. Since I used the barcode trick at check-in, I already knew the cabins. 
I have a Chase sapphire reserve card. Usually I spend on cruises: paying them off, gambling, etc. then I use the points earned to book my hotels and flights. Some airlines are now only allowing you to earn status if you book directly through them, cough, cough AA. Which sucks because if you book through Chase travel they give you 50% extra. I booked the flights for this cruise through the portal. For my mom, I booked her a nonstop flight home from MIA that left at 6:30. Last week I got an email that, that flight was cancelled, and they rebooked her on a connecting 7:30 flight from FLL that got in after midnight. I was pretty upset because my mother is not the well-traveled woman, she tells her friends she is. Her "brand newness" comes out hard when she has connecting flights and/or have to travel after midnight. Usually with SWA and well most airlines, if they change your flight, you have the option to select another without any fees or cost online. I had to call the travel department of Chase instead. She lucked up, sort of, there was a direct flight from Mia at 8:30pm. She doesn't care about waiting at the airport because she has audiobooks and tablet games to farm. As a nice gesture the rep gave her SWA "business select, " which will give her a nice seat selection and alcoholic drinks. 
I am sorry if the pictures are too big🤣.
So here are a couple of the offerings I made to Bezos:
Amazon.com | riemot Luggage Travel Cup Holder Free Hand Drink Carrier - Hold Two Coffee Mugs - Fits Roll on Suitcase Handles - Gifts for Flight Attendants Travelers Accessories Grey | Travel Accessories
 

I always have preflight drinks and struggle with finding somewhere to put them, some airports don't have the cup holders. This was recommended to me by a coworker who must have their kombucha and coffee. Plus, it keeps me from having to constantly remove my backpack to access my water bottle. 
Amazon.com: Portable fan Battery Operated Fan USB Desk fan Camping Fan for Tents,Battery Operated portable Fan Personal Fan battery powered fan camping portable fan Outdoor fan Rechargeable Fan with Hanging : Home & Kitchen
 

Every couple of years I update my travel fan. We did a glamping trip last year and a mutual vintage had this fan. It has an adjustable night light and blows out amazing air. Since I am staying in interiors, that light comes in handy. It is also small enough to fit in a backpack or purse without being cumbersome. 
Amazon.com: Greatever G2 Full Face Snorkel Mask with Latest Dry Top System,Foldable 180 Degree Panoramic View Snorkeling Mask with Camera Mount,Safe Breathing,Anti-Leak&Anti-Fog : Sports & Outdoors
 

That is the snorkel mask my brother brought. We hit PDCC 3x on this cruise, so it will have paid for itself. 
Amazon.com: Poesie Laundry Detergent Sheets Fresh Scent 160 Sheets Clear Plastic-Free Hypoallergenic Liquid Less Sheets for Home Dorm Travel Camping & Hand Washing Clean No Waste : Health & Household
 

 
 
Since these cruises are shorties, there won't be any D+ laundry perks, so I am bringing a couple of the laundry detergent sheets. They take up no space and I can wash a few things out and hang them in the shower if need be. 
I don't think I have mentioned this before, but not only do I cut my brother's hair, I do mine as well. So, I will be packing sometime later this week, as next week will be too busy for me. There are fur babies to be dropped off, Mother's Days to be celebrated and of course work. Although these cruises can't come fast enough 🤣. 
 

Snacks delivered to our cabin

Saturdays night sunset