MaryS

Recap of last night:  we lounged most of the day until finally heading out around 4pm where we headed back to the hide away which was at full party mode 😜



We had aqua action at 6pm.  Ok, they just switched over to a new cast and it was short and underwhelming.  The couple Ariel dance was missing and the robot lights wasn’t in the show.  He did have a girl doing an incredible balancing act, which I hadn’t seen yet and they had skate boarders which were Meh.






 
Dinner was at hooked and I failed on pics.  It was ok, I had oyster shooters which were good as were the baked oysters.  For main I had surf and turf and while the lobster was good, the filet they had with it I doubt would even be categorized as “choice”. It was pretty bad and chewy for a filet.
After dinner, I made a donation the the casino and then headed to bed.
Today is Coco Cay.

We have a cabana which is nice.

and the current view😜

We’ll see what we get into here today 😉.

i used to travel with a light up travel mirror to combat this… but i decided to leave that out of the secondary duffle, in favor of other things 😂 

Just checking in with the girls.
The cabin mirror still does not suggest that I tweeze my eyebrows. I’m convinced that once I get home I will have to elicit the help of my lawn guy instead of my wax girl.
That’s it for now. 

I gotta say, my step Husky is the best dog I’ve ever owned and he seriously doesn’t take a lot of maintenance! He gets groomed 3 times a year and otherwise I brush him randomly (maybe like every 3 months?) when he looks a little fluffy. He is the calmest and sweetest boy. On walks everyone is barking and going absolutely apes%&* when they see us and we just trot right by smiling! 😂
Your Alaskan packing list sounds perfect! Happy to see binoculars made the cut, I spied on a treetop filled with 4 eagles with mine! If you can squeeze a mini one in, I’d recommend an umbrella too. 

Lunch in Coastal kitchen


lobster pie

swordfish

Alicante Spain 
we walked from the ship to citywalked around and returned to ship

I have the laundry sheets. Make sure you bring a stain stick or equivalent! They are not my fave but definitely are convenient for travel!
I thought about that cup holder, but opted for a bag that goes over the handles as well. My backpack has too many compartments and the older i get, the less i remember which compartment i put what ... 

i also love the cup holder thing… but alas, my bags are always in the way of the handle 😂

Hi Everyone!
Just got back from our Vatican tour. My parents are in siesta mode before our food tour tonight so I figured now was a good time to catch up on yesterday’s activities.
Yesterday we did a private golf cart tour booked through Viator operated by Rolling Rome. The driver picked us up from our hotel at 10am and it was a seven hour tour so we were dropped off back at our hotel at 5pm. Unfortunately yesterday morning started off quite rainy so the rain shields were down on our golf card but thankfully it cleared up for the afternoon and we were able to roll up the rain shields. As far as itinerary, we pretty much left it up to our driver/tour guide Antonio, although I did tell him we had a tour booked at the Vatican so we didn’t need to see that. Also told him that we have been to Rome a few times before so we didn’t need to try to squeeze everything in (for example, the Trevi Fountain was very packed yesterday as was the Pantheon so we skipped those this time). We did see a couple churches, the Borghese gardens, the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum, the Spanish steps, Circus Maximus, and a few other sites that I can’t remember anymore. The tour also included lunch and gelato so at 1pm we stopped for lunch and afterwards had gelato. Our driver also took us for some Italian pastries at the end, I don’t think those were supposed to be included in the tour but I think he liked to treat his guests but not sure honestly.  My parents didn’t get coffee before the tour yesterday so I did request a stop for coffee at the beginning so he did take us to a cafe with coffee and pastries to satisfy that need, we paid for that ourselves of course. 
Anyways, the tour was overall a pretty good tour and I think you could cover a lot of ground if you needed to and it wasn’t raining. It was also kind of fun being in the golf cart and being able to ride through lots of interesting areas that are not accessible by car. It worked out really well for my mom since we didn’t do a crazy amount of walking.
Here are some assorted photos from our tour yesterday:

After the tour yesterday, we got back to the hotel, we walked over to the termini station as my mom needed something from Sephora that she forgot (and she is the one with a packing list 🤦‍♀️) and then went to a pizza place near our hotel for dinner. Here are some assorted photos from dinner:

After dinner, we went to a wine shop near our hotel so my dad could buy some bottles to carry on the cruise on Sunday. Here are the bottles my dad selected with the help of someone at the store:

Then it was time for bed as we knew the next day (today) was going to be an earlier day since we needed to get breakfast before heading to the Vatican. 
As I said earlier, this morning we did the Vatican and rain came down again. Tonight we are doing a food walking after some rest. I will try to post about that either tonight or tomorrow sometime. I also finally got photos of my parent’s half of then hotel room so I will talk about the hotel in the next couple days sometime. Tomorrow morning we have a pasta cooking class (when in Rome I guess!) and then are free the rest of the day to relax (and maybe shop if my mom gets her way) before getting on the ship on Sunday.
Thanks again for reading and TTYL!
- Ashley
 
 
 

Hi All!

Just had a wonderful first full day in Rome doing a private golf cart tour (despite some rain). More on that later though, I am going to back track a little and talk about our travel day(s).
On Tuesday, we were picked up by the local transportation company we use right around 4pm, as I stated earlier, first they picked up my parents and then headed my way. We were dropped off at Phoenix Sky Harbor just before 5pm and checked in for our 7:35pm British Airways flight to London Heathrow. Our luggage was checked all the way through to Rome FCO. 
Once through TSA, we headed to the Escape Lounge that British Airways gave us access to in Phoenix for flying Club World (there version of business class) with them. Phoenix Sky Harbor also has a Centurion lounge right next door to the Escape lounge that we also had access to for being American Express Platinum card holders and meeting the minimum spend every year to get guest access but you can only check into one for some reason. We opted to go to the Escape lounge since it was primarily British Airways passengers in there. No clue if anyone reading this will ever be in the same situation but we should have gone in the Centurion lounge (I am speaking that into the universe to avoid anyone else making the same mistake, albeit a super minor mistake in the long run). The Escape lounge was small, cramped, and pretty much full when we got there at just shy of 2 hours before boarding. It was still an adequate lounge just a bit of an awkward situation especially with all the British Airways Club World guests in there from a sold out A350.

Anyways, after all that fun, we board our plane. Here are some pictures I took of the Club World Club Suite:
 


The flight being pretty much right at 10 hours meant we got served 2 meals. Shortly after boarding they came around with the menus for the meals:



They also came around with a choice of pre departure beverage, either orange juice or champagne. I got a champagne:

Shortly after take off, the flight attendants took our orders for dinner. They also took our drinks orders. First my soda was delivered with some nuts:


Then our dinner was served. I opted not to have a starter and to have the salmon as my main course:

It was good, a little bland but the fact that I ate a full meal on a plane is still amazing to me. My dad had the lamb and my mom had the courgette fritters. My dad said his was good and my mom said hers was gross but she is a very picky eater so take that with a grain of salt.
After the main course was done, the flight attendant took my dessert order. Having flown American Airlines for long haul international flights multiple times, I am a little spoiled with their sundaes. British Airways doesn’t come close there sadly. Anyways, I ordered the cheese plate:

Then, I made my seat flat and settled in to try to sleep for a few hours. I think I maybe got 3 hours of sleep when I gave up. Yes, I know I am the young one in the group and should have no issues sleeping on anything but I just couldn’t get comfortable in addition to the plane being overly warm (which shocked me since I am usually freezing cold on planes). On the plus side, my mom seemed to get more sleep than I did.
Anyways, about 1.5 hours before landing, the flight attendants started coming around again for breakfast. I had the omelette:

And shortly after that we landed in Heathrow Terminal 3 almost exactly on time at 1:35pm and it was now Wednesday (which is crazy to think about since it feels like we lost that day). Now the fun in Heathrow began. As an in transit passenger. we had to follow the purple connections signs on a long walk from one end of Terminal 3 all the way to the other end where we saw the flight screens to check the terminal for our connecting flight to Rome FCO. We knew in advance we would have to change terminals to terminal 5. We then got in a line for the bus to terminal 5. A few minutes later, one arrived and we boarded it. After they stuffed it completely full (I was shocked how full they filled it), we headed to terminal 5. Since these buses are only for connected passengers and technically “airside” (although not considered post security, it’s complicated), we drove literally right next to planes at gates. I thought it was kind of cool watching all the planes out the window, I even saw an Emirates A380 very up close. Anyways, now you see the geek side of me 🙃. After arriving at terminal 5, we passed by a British Airways check in counter. They are big on paper boarding passes but thankfully we already had ours from Phoenix so we had no need to wait in that line. 
After that was the dreaded London Heathrow security screening. Long story short, LHR doesn’t trust security at any other airports so they make all connections go through security again. We knew about this in advance and were thankfully prepared. Since we have TSA pre check, we are a little spoiled with not having to take liquids or laptops out. Also, TSA is much more relaxed about the size of your liquids bag than LHR security is. It was the first time in ages I used an actual ziplock bag and not a reusable pouch that is definitely bigger than a quart bag despite the marketing saying otherwise. I also took out my laptop and iPad while I was in line and took off my jacket. With all my preparation, I had a smooth security experience. Also, one important note: they are going to be relaxing the liquid rules later this year after they install new scanners. I am pretty sure they were already installed in the security line we were in but not all the airports in the UK have them yet and Heathrow is behind in some terminals. The date to be done was supposed to be June this year but it sounds like this is going to be delayed.
Now we were finally able to head to the club world lounge in Heathrow terminal 5. The whole process took a little more than an hour even with us stopping in terminal 3 for the facilities. The Heathrow website has a tool for checking connections and it told me the process would take 90 minutes which I would say is extremely generous. Even with a moderate security line we were less than their estimate although I would definitely refer to their tool when booking connections to be on the safe side. British Airways had marked our boarding passes for the fast track lane due to our class of travel on the flights so we had a slightly shorter line but not significantly by any means, so I could see their estimate even being long without that but I would still follow it. This is also a good time to talk about the advantages of flying through Heathrow over something like Dallas or Chicago beyond just the flight timings for us. We didn’t have to reclaim our bags in LHR and re-check them. It was nice not having that extra hassle. We also didn’t have to go through UK immigration and on the way home we won’t go through US immigration until we are back in Phoenix and therefore won’t be stressing about making a connection while in immigration. 
Anyways, back to the terminal 5 lounge. We got to the British Airways Galleries North Club Lounge and it was completely packed. It made the Escape lounge in Phoenix look empty by comparison. My dad headed straight to the shower rooms. He was determined to clean up after the long haul flight. My mom and I walked back and forth a bit until we were able to snag a table and 2 chairs when someone left. When the group next to use was leaving, we also grabbed a chair so we would have 3. When my dad got out of the shower, I followed him and got on the list for the showers as well. By the time I went, there was a short wait but we had no stress since our flight to Rome wasn’t until 7:10pm. I got a pager and about 15 minutes later it went off (the girl at the desk quoted 30 minutes when I asked as I checked in). The showers were cramped, it was difficult to open my luggage in there to grab things I needed, but it was nice to clean up a bit. It also woke me up after the minimal sleep I got. They had a wall mounted hair dryer in the shower room and no outlets to plug mine in to use instead. They only had shaver plugs so I rocked wet hair for a bit as the wall mounted hair dryer gave no pressure. Thankfully I have short thin hair that dries quickly (well not so thankfully on the thin part).

Anyways, after many hours in the lounge, it was finally approaching boarding time for our flight to Rome FCO. Heathrow does not give you gates in advance (and is quite famous for it) but at least for our flight, flight aware posted the gate a bit before they even posted their standard “Head to B gates” message on the Heathrow signs. This was helpful as we had time to get to the gate and didn’t feel so rushed (which was especially good for my mom). Thankfully, the flight aware gate was correct for our flight but your mileage may vary. After a short wait, we boarded our final flight of our day and a half of travel. We were in Club Europe (business class) for the short 2.5 hour flight (since we booked club world for the long haul and the British Airways booking engine doesn’t really let you downgrade segments in our experience. Unlike the US, the seat is no different than economy but the middle seat is blocked off and has a tray on it:


(my knees in the above photo are for reference since I am only 5'2")
They also serve a meal which was interesting to me as I have flown US domestic first class on American Airlines before and from PHX to DFW we don’t get a meal and that flight is about the same length as this. I guess the offsets the sundae situation at American Airlines. Anyways, here was that meal, we had a choice of a vegetarian pie (I think it was mushroom and asparagus) or prawn (Shrimp) Thai curry. I got the shrimp:

Anyways, we finally landed in Rome at 10:45pm. We went through probably the simplest immigration I ever have to get into Rome and after claiming our bags and walking through the nothing to declare door at customs, our driver from Stefano’s Rome Cabs was waiting their with a sign with my name on it. He didn’t speak much English but it was not a problem as he knew our destination in advance. I also knew that would be the situation since they typically only book the English speaking drivers on tours and this was just a transfer. He walked us to his van and helped us push our luggage. Then we had a quick drive to our hotel where we checked in shortly before midnight. We woke up this morning and were pretty much adjusted to the time (the primary reason we booked these flights), so aside from having a strange, short Wednesday, we would definitely do this again if we go to Europe and I know I at least intend to do the PHX-LHR flight again next year for a cruise from Southhampton I am doing without my parents. That is actually the Royal Caribbean Blog Group cruise on Independence of the Seas next year!
So far we are very happy with our hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton Rome Monti. We have a family connecting superior room and it is really the perfect set up for us where I have a separate room from my parents and a separate bathroom but we share a little hallway with 1 door that goes to both the doors for our 2 rooms. Anyways, more on that later, I need to photograph my parents half of the room.

Tomorrow, we are going to have a semi-private guided Vatican tour in the morning and then we have a break until the evening when we are doing a food walking tour.

Sorry for the long post today about flights and not a cruise 🤣 but just in case someone was looking for this information, I definitely wanted to be of help. I know I had a difficult time researching the whole process at LHR in advance of the trip. Tomorrow I will try to catch up and post about the golf cart tour we did today but no guarantees as our food tour ends kind of late.

Thanks again and TTYL!
- Ashley

Having fun and full days, will update when I can while at Paradise Beach tomorrow. 
I will say Escape the Rubicon was a go today! And we escaped with a few minutes to spare!

I know everyone keeps asking about the gym so I just wanted to fill you in. I stuck my head in and it’s beautiful, huge, tons of machines. It was pretty busy in there.
 
Then I promptly turned around and went to get some soft serve. 

I’m a little better at taking pictures so here are a ton from Paradise Beach if anyone is interested. It was pretty quiet there and I didn’t get the feeling of being in a pool with 30% water and 70%…umm..bodily fluid…like some of the pools on the ship. Speaking of that, bathrooms are very clean too. 

Ok, to get caught up, we managed no further food pics at Paradise Beach, though we did get the ceviche and quesadillas which were both good.  On the way back I snapped a quick pick of the ship it is just so impressive.

we had asked for some charcuterie along with a couple glasses of red wine and we got the wine glasses, but they forgot to put the wine in it. We were besides ourselves laughing when we sent this pic to Marla.  Of course she was appalled and apologized profusely. We weren’t even angry. It was actually just too funny that someone from the beverage department brought wine glasses with no wine. 😂

dinner was hibachi and you all have seen a million pics of that so we didn’t even bother. 😂😜
after dinner we wondered up to the schooner bar and I had to try the toasted marshmallow old-fashioned.

quite tasty indeed 😉
After that Kelli decided it was time for bed and I made my way to the casino, where I finally got to meet @CHRIS WONG and I managed to walk out ahead after a bit of 3 card poker.

That was all the excitement I could handle for one day.
Today we are being lazy, we had breakfast on the balcony 

 
but other than that haven’t managed to leave the cabin yet and it’s almost 2pm. 😂🤣
To steal Kelli’s line that she stole from toby Keith… we ain’t as good as we once was…
now that we’ve recharged a bit, we’ll see what we can get into.

Guilty!

I just went to turn off your post moderation and I think it's already off. One of the other mods probably let you loose. 😄

Since my posts still need to be approved by a moderator, I’m posting once thanking all for the happy birthdays! 😊
Also wanted to add, if you like these, you’ll love this drink. I know these chewy wax paper covered filling extractors get a bad rap, but I personally love them. Yes, these came from the cheap house, the next neighborhood over from the “full Snicker Bar house”, but who would’ve known Screwball Whiskey and pineapple juice would mimic this delicacy from our youth? 

“Trick or Treat” Asian bartender named “Jim”, fill her up! Cheers! 

Snow capped mountain leaving Malaga Spain

Lunch Johnny Rockets 

Today was the 2nd port stop. Temperature today 68f/20c.                             
winds nw @17kts.      
sunset 9:06pm
our excursion met in royal theater today at 9 am we loaded the bus and we were off. We returned to port at 1:45pm. It was a beautiful day. Yesterday started out cool, breezy and rainy
Malaga Spain and Village of Mijas pictures 


 




 

 
lady of the rock
 


 

That is right by where my parents used to live and not far from where I live now, so I definitely know the area. Also I love Sedona, your daughter should love it too, it is absolutely breathtaking. I can share reqs when I am not jet lagged 🙃.

Anyways, just made it to the hotel in Rome after a very long day of travel. Tomorrow (actually today now) we have our golf cart tour (with a high chance of rain so we will see how that goes). After that I will post about how our travel day went, nothing terribly eventful but probably useful for others to share the process since we flew British Airways and connected in Heathrow with a change of terminals as well.

Anyways, TTYL!
- Ashley

Hmpph, as funny as it was, i bet the R-rated version was better. 🥰
I think we need an "after dark" section of the board that's age protected 🤔 😂😂😂

Looks like they already edited it and I unhid it. It's back visible in its spot on the last page of this thread.
Click for comment!
 

Parental Advisory: Explicit language 
Greetings from Mrs. Calvin,
I’ve been informed that y’all are anxiously awaiting a guest post by yours truly and I apologize that I kept you waiting. As you know, I’m almost 50 and in the words of the late and great Toby Keith, “I ain’t as good as I once was”. I’ve managed to muster up a few brain cells after 5 days of drinking and I think I can coherently put a sentence together. Figured I’d do this before I have my first margarita of the day…morning. 
I’d like to add a little entertainment for the ladies reading this, I hope you appreciate. 
I can’t for the life of me get good “makeup lighting” in these cabins, is it me? I mean, I’ve been doing this female thing for almost 50 years now and I KNOW my eyebrows need to be tweezed (and at my age, probably my mustache) but I’m just not seeing it in these mirrors. Maybe eyebrows don’t grow on ships, I dunno, we’ll see when I get home. We went to The Empire Supper Club last night so I wanted to add a little eyeshadow to these saggy eyes, truth be told I probably looked like a damn clown because of the very forgiving lighting in the cabin. &$#% you mirror, I know the truth.
I’m finally at the age that I just don’t care, but admittedly I do when it comes to swimwear in public. While I can finally not care and walk around awkwardly in a swimsuit, I gotta make sure these bottoms are where they’re supposed to be as I exit the pool. There are a lot of buttcheeks….err…umm…Europeans on this cruise and I have to admit that I admire their confidence and their “I don’t care” attitude. More power to you. 
Speaking of not caring, go see Grace at the piano bar. She’s a blast and I had a girl crush on her. Not one care given about anything she said, even with a kid front and center. Mr. CK got to hold her harmonica during Piano Man and she told him that he had strong hands and they needed a safe word. I love it. 😂
I got called up on the stage at the headliner show the first night. While I would’ve loved being the center of attention in my younger days, I was quite embarrassed. He was cute though…and sweaty. Very sweaty. Those damn lights are hotter than heck. He also doesn’t know the difference between parallel and perpendicular, but because of the reason previously mentioned, I’ll give him a pass. 
I’ve just been scolded by Mr. Live Blogger himself that this is “TLDR” so I must end it here. Besides, my margarita just arrived. Hope you all have a great time! Cheers! 🍹

Excursion 1 in the books