MaryS

My sister and I did the same excursion back in Sept 2022 (also on Odyssey).  It was a very long, sunny, warm & crowded day but it was a bucket list for me and I'm so glad I did it.   I was so exhausted after dinner that I fell asleep watching the Effectors show in the theater.  I missed the whole show and my sister had to wake me😂.  

Hi All!
Back again, now to recap Day 10 in Athen (Piraeus), Greece!
So this was the day I went alone on a very long tour in Athens. The tour I ended up on after lots of back and forth was "Acropolis Sightseeing, New Acropolis Museum with Plaka Free Time". It had literally the earliest meeting time of all the tours in that port of 7am in the theater on deck 4. Cafe 270 opens at 6:30am so I was literally the first person in there that morning grabbing a bagel and filling my water bottle (of course using glasses of water to do it). I then headed to the theater to get my number and wait for the announcement that we were cleared to go ashore. Literally as Captain Per was announcing the ships clearance, they came over to my tour's section and told us to head down ashore.
From there, we got on the bus and got one of my least favorite things on tours: radios. They just hurt your ears, especially after a 7+ hour tour. Anyways here is what those joys look like, I would later find out they were 70 euros if we lost them, I didn't lose mine but you will find out later why I know this:

Then we drove away from Piraeus as we headed to Athens. I snapped a few photos as we were driving through there and our guide, Eva, started commentating:


It was a cloudy day but thankfully had no rain in the forecast and the clouds kept the temperatures down in a comfortable range.
Our first stop was the Acropolis. Here was our first view of the Parthenon as we reached the site:

Our tour guide, Eva, led us through the site with her red umbrella, commentating a lot, so much so that it was fairly empty when we got there but fairly full when we finally made it up to the Parthenon. The only good thing about that is it allowed for lots of breaks from the steps. Here she was:

And here are some photos I took of the ruins during the walk up:



When we made it up, she stopped just beyond the Parthenon to walk us through even more of the history including many pictures, here is a sample of just one:

After our extremely thorough history lesson, we finally got a little time to explore on our own. I snapped a selfie to prove I made it to the top and then headed back down with the guide as I was alone and didn't want to get lost:

The steps themselves weren't bad, there were only a couple really high ones, the worst part was that many of them were marble and it had rained the day before so on top of marble being slippery by itself, it was extra slippery with the little dampness that was still there.
Anyways, from the Acropolis, we had about a 10 minute walk to the new Acropolis museum:

Outside the museum was a spot where you could see the exposed ruins that they found under the site:

Once inside, we had a bit of a wait (probably close to 40 minutes, although many of us spent some of that time waiting in the line for the toilets) while our guide bought our tickets and then we proceeded through the museum. We had the choice to go through it alone or with the guide, if you went alone, she told us to meet outside the entrance at noon. I opted to stay with her as she explained everything since once again, I was alone and I didn't want to get lost. You will notice that theme in my day.
Our guide commentated for us throughout the whole museum. Those of us who stayed with her got an extremely thorough history lesson that we didn't know we needed 🙃. I said my dad would have loved this tour so it was extremely ironic I ended up on it alone, although he didn't want to see the Acropolis since he saw it 28 years ago when I was just shy of 3 on the Pacific Princess. After doing it, I can't help but agree that once is enough, 
Anyways, here are some photos I snapped in the museum, a lot of the artifacts are replicas since the British have many of the originals but there were still many original pieces:






(Some samples of what the tools used to make everything at the acropolis probably looked like, although we don't know since no tools were found in the ruins)






We finally made it through the museum with the guide at close to 12:30. Remember how she said to meet at noon? Anyways, from there we walked back to our bus and had a city tour from the comfort of our bus. We saw the modern olympic stadium and other sites and took photos from the bus. I got very lucky that I was sitting on the right side as pretty much everything she pointed out was on the right side. Here are some photos I snapped during this portion:



From there, we headed to a square where we got the included snack on our tour. The tour description said souvlaki but we actually got gyros and a bottle of water. We ate these at a square, we weren't allowed to sit at the tables at the restaurant. I forgot to snap a photo of the gyro but I didn't eat much of it.
After that, we headed to the Plaka. At this time, we were already at the time our tour was supposed to be back on the ship so we ended up having less free time, only 30 minutes. Note the wait we had for tickets in the museum as well as how long we took going through the museum. Our guide blamed the traffic but I can't help but think it wasn't just the traffic.
We stopped on a square with the Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary and there was a large souvenir shop on the same square. Here is a photo of the church, you will notice women with roses in it, we were strongly told not to take their "free" roses (just a note: this was the only port where I felt slightly uncomfortable about the possibility of pickpocket's, I was happily carrying my locking travelon that day, and our guide consistently reminded us to watch our bags):

From there I headed to the souvenir shop to get my magnets (I have a magnet board in my laundry room so I get magnets from each port to put on there). Our guide was very much so "hyping" this store but I will acknowledge these were the cheapest magnets I got in Greece, they were less than 2 euros each, so while every tour went to this store and the tour operators clearly got a kick back, I didn't necessarily mind. We also got free samples of baklava there which were a great treat.
Finally, now approaching an hour late, we met up to join our bus to drive back to Piraeus and join the ship. Thankfully all aboard wasn't for a few hours so that wasn't a concern, just how long the tour was running. Our guide then started to count us and continually came up 2 short. We waited 15 minutes in the square and then headed back to the bus, she counted again, and we were still 2 short. After everyone accounted for their neighbors, we figured out who was missing and they had apparently already tipped our guide, they just didn't give back their radios or tell her they were leaving. This is when I found out how much those radios cost🤦‍♀️. I think that couple probably got fed up with the history lessons but they should have at least said they were leaving because we waited another 30 minutes on the bus before leaving. Our crew member escort even walked around with the paddle trying to find them. We finally gave up and headed back to the ship more than an hour behind schedule. The combination of this and the delays in the museum, and the supposed traffic, all led to us getting back to the ship close to 4, we were supposed to be back originally at 2:15.
As sail away approached, no names were called so I am going to assume those 2 made it back on the ship. Anyways, I dropped off my stuff in the cabin and saw my towel animal:

Anyways, since it was close to 4, and I hadn't eaten much all day (I had excited myself for the souvlaki and really didn't eat the gyro when that is what we got instead), I ate at playmaker's when they opened at 4. I didn't get a menu and just ordered right away when I sat down since I know that menu nearly by heart. Here are my standard chicken tenders order:

Then I napped basically until our 8pm dinner in Giovanni's. I was exhausted and it was a really long day.
Dinner photos:





(we didn't order these, our waiter didn't think we order enough 😂 but we definitely did, we were completely stuffed after this meal)




And then it was time for the pub, even though I was tired from 2 early days in a row and the extremely long day in Athens, we were gaining back the hour we lost earlier in the cruise that night and the next day (today) was a sea day, which meant I could sleep in.
The stowaway crashed the pub and it was a hoot:

Ok now for my overall assessment of the tour and my day in Athens: I am very glad I did it once (I was 3 last time so I didn't do it obviously) but I don't need to do it ever again. Unlike Mykonos and Santorini that I would gladly see again, this did not join the list. I can see why my dad bailed on me and obviously my mom could not do this tour. Speaking of this tour, it was listed as strenuous and that was definitely correct. It had significant walking plus all the steps and climbing at the Acropolis (on slippery marble). And our tour guide, Eva, she was definitely interesting. She has been doing this for 40 years. She spoke great English but probably spoke way too much although I know a few people on the tour very much so enjoyed it, but many did not. I felt bad for our crew escort as she continuously called her the wrong name the whole day. I do know the other groups that left the ship after us on this same tour made it back earlier so take with that what you will. Overall, this is probably a doable port with a private excursion but not sure you will get far completely on your own since Piraeus is a bit of distance from Athens. I also enjoyed having a guide in the Acropolis and the museum so that would also justify at least a private tour, although of course the assurance of the ship waiting for you in the event of traffic or something was worth it for me especially being alone that day.
Today we were at sea, we also started packing as tomorrow, our last day, day 12, is a port day in Naples. We have a shore excursion called "Sorrento with Pizza and Gelato" tomorrow and I am sure that promises to be a good time but I will definitely report back. I am now a day behind again so some of this might get caught up on when I get home but I will see how I do the next couple days. I will try to post about our sea day that we had today tomorrow sometime but this next day will be busy.
Thanks again and TTYL!
- Ashley
 

After some required rest we just decided to seat at the balcony and enjoy the view . For sure this I'd the cruise which you want to have a balcony.  We saw countless of water falls and snowing peaks. 




We went again to the MDR , our table is near the window and the view continued (sunset is only at 10 PM).


I tried the Greek salad and the ossobuko which wad good. On the MDR I always try slow cooked dishes as they better for mass produce compare to a steak and fish. 


I went to the casino which was again a pure madness, it was better fir me this time but still , something is not really there, can't put my finger on it.
Tomorrow Geiranger  .

wait i’m sorry……..
does this mean that the men are…….……
.…………..
goODBYE. 

Stray observations.....
We peeked into Marquee. It wasn't my cup of tea. My mother claims to love musicals but didn't want to stay by herself.
Lots of tiny smalls, a lot are just unsupervised balls of energy. Worse are the teenagers who just sit on the steps and congregate. I take the stairs as much as possible and I constantly have to stop and ask to be let by.
The casino isn't as crowded as it has been on other ships. A lot of machines sit empty even after 11pm.
The shenanigans are always how people are dressed. We have seen at least 20 wardrobe malfunctions a day. Lots of people seem to be turning regular swimsuits into thongs. Just loose, uncovered butt cheeks everywhere. .....the women are more classy with it. They usually wear sheer or mesh over them.
The bars on deck and the promenade are the only one's that seem to be crowded and/or popping.
These shorties seem to attract a lot of people celebrating something. This sailing had the most matching shirts I have ever seen.  I counted 8 different wedding parties, only two involved the groom and his groom mens. Some of the matching stuff is scandalous.
People keep lying in the casino. My brother likes to hang out at the bar and people watch. He said several people tried to scam. They order drinks and say they are prime, but aren't. So when the bartender ask for their card, they say it's in machines 🤔 🙄. Thinking they will let it slide. Then they get charged and make a big deal. I didn't know this until last night when I saw it.
 

Day 3 Nassau
They have really built up the Nassau port. It was really on and popping. We were parked pretty far away and many people opted for the tram. We walked in this humid 90s weather. Some of the area had shade but thakfully it was a cloudy, overcast day. I got some coffee mugs and an inappropriate something for good friend who loves things shaped like genitalia 😱🤪. My mother and brother got necklaces and bracelets. The best prices were at shops close to the entrance.
We wanted fruit drinks and Gelato but at $25/10 respectfully, we said no. We were hot and thirsty but not desperate. We spent a little over an hour there. Then got back on, took a transient bath and got ELF. It was way to hot to eat on deck, so we ate in the WJ.......where my brother got his real lunch.
I then went to the Crown Lounge. My mother met me on the CL deck, she is listening to her audio book and reacting as I type this. Only 2 people are I'm the actual Lounge doing work. For reference both the library and CL on Freedom has computers.
 

Day 4 - Olden 
Wow , what an amazing combination of weather and location. We woked up at 4 am as someone forgot to close the curtain, let's say for the sake of the argument (and fact I don't want to sleep in the upper deck) it was me. It's amazing how it's saw bright here at 4 am . Anyway the view was amazing.


After taken some pictures we tried to go back to sleep,  the gangway were suppose to open at 7:30 pm but since we dud not have any excursion (the one we had from RC was canceled) we did not had to wake up so early. At 7 am I was already up , since my spouse was still sleeping I got organized and went to eat and bring some food back to the room , this is the vew from the aft part of the WJ

. Around 09:30  we were ready to go , not before another coffee from the coffee shop. Embarkation was quick as most of the people are better morning persons than us. Per the very good and helpful advises of @FionaMG we waited to book our excursion at shore, it was very easy to find were they sell the excursions. Since it was such a sunny day , it was no brainer and we went with the Sky lift at Loen. It was around 90$ PP , much less than RC excursion. We waited fir the shuttle about 10 minutes , it's took around 10 minutes to arrive the lower cable car station. The view was already amazing even from the lower station.


There were no lines so we went all the way up , it took us around 5 minutes.  Up and above the view is stunning. Highly recommend in a clear sky day.



Here is our little ship

 
On the other side you could still see lots of snow , actually some of the snow at that session grows iPhone ( somehow I was responsible for that also, not for finding of course:-) ) 


There were some base jumpers with frying suites,  it was amazing watch them jumping,  sorry for not be able to deploy a video here. I sent the video on the famely what's up group saying "finally fulfilled one of our dreams" , for some reason people assumed we were jumping,  not sure why.
We started our way back,  all in all it took us around two hours.


Back on the ship we took a quick lunch before heading back to the shore. We checked if we can still take the glacier tour but it was fully booked so we just walked to Olden town enjoying the weather and the view. We stopped at the local supermarket to buy the local brown cheese which is one  the Norway typical food we wanted to try.
All is very green, 



Back to the ship my spouse wanted to enjoy the sun and have some pictures with her bathing suite withe the background of the white  snow mountains. Amazing 75 f 
 

And that's what you see if you wake up at 4 am in Norway

Yesterday another med evacuation,  this time from the peer. I hope it was the last time.
Some good news , someone got a 32000 jackpot in the casino, the bad news , it's not me .
 

Hi All!
Back on the morning of Day 11 (a sea day) to finally talk about Day 9: Santorini Day! Sorry for the delay, had 2 early mornings and long days in a row.
On day 9, we had a tour meeting time of 7:25am in the theater so we each did what we needed for breakfast to be good for the day, I went to 270 and grabbed a bagel. And then it was off to the theater to wait for ships clearance. Once we got ships clearance, they started calling numbers for shore excursion only tenders to Athinios and we boarded I believe the second tender over to the shore excursion port:



(Norwegian Epic that was not scheduled to be there as seen from our tender)

(Marella Explorer, the former Celebrity Galaxy, as seen from our tender, we do have a story from her, our cabin got flooded! I guess that could be told another time haha)
Once we made it to Athinios, we boarded our bus for our shore excursion, "Pyrgos Village with Mezes and Wine". Then we had the very interesting switchback roads up the island:

(View from our bus ride)
On the way to our first stop, we saw the first grape vines we would see on the island. It is very interesting how they grow them in Santorini since they grow them flat:

Then we had a photo stop on the highest point of the island:


Then we headed to Pyrgos village where we spent a little more than an hour. We had the option there to climb to the top to see the church with our guide or stay in the lower part of the town. We all opted to stay in the lower part, grab a coffee,  and relax a bit. My mom could not have done the climb and when I saw the first part of the cobblestone stairs, I decided not to go since I knew what lied ahead for me the next day in Athens. 
Some photos I got there:


(The church part of our group climbed up to)
Then we headed off to the Venetsanos winery for our wine tasting and snacks.
As we pulled in, we could see the Regent Ship, the Seven Seas Voyager, sailing in from the distance:

We then had a short wait for another tour before we were seated for our wine tasting and snacks:



(We tasted a dry white wine, a dry red wine, and a sweet dessert red wine)
By the end of the tasting, the Regent ship had made it into position for tendering:

A picture of us at the winery:

Then we drove to Fira, our final stop on the tour! From there, our guide, he told us at the beginning to call him "F" (he said it would be easy to remember, think of the American curse word, 🤣), he told us his actual Greek name but it was very difficult to pronounce, anyways, he led us from the bus stop uphill to the pedestrian zone in Fira. There really was nothing in this port that was flat, so it was a good thing we made sure my mom was well rested.

(Oh yeah, we were number 12 for the 3rd time on this cruise 😂)

Once in the pedestrian zone, he explained the cable car system, showed us where to get the cable cars and gave us our cable car vouchers. From there, the tour was effectively over and we were free to explore Fira on our own. It was shortly after noon at this point, we had about a 20 minute walk to the cable cars, and we heard the line for the cable cars would start to grow significantly at 1pm (especially given the additional ship in port, more reason to dislike the ugly NCL Epic 🙃 ) so we opted to go straight there, albeit with a few quick stops inside various stores along the way. 
Sign with a map of the island at the cable car station:

We waited in line about 30 minutes for the cable cars. Views from the cable cars once we finally got on them:

(I ended up in a separate car from my parents so they snapped this picture)



(The cable car station at the bottom in Skala, the old port)
We made it back to the ship at about 1:30 so no surprise at this point, we headed to Coastal Kitchen for lunch:






Then we once again had Siesta time before dinner in once again, Coastal Kitchen:

(Same menu as night 1 and we all got the same appetizers and entrees so no need to post anything new there)

(I did get a picture of the dessert menu this time, and we did get some different desserts)


View of the sunset in Santorini from Coastal Kitchen with Fira all lit up:

Overall, Santorini was beautiful. It is definitely not an island for someone will any mobility issues, there are steps everywhere to get on and off the cable car, in town, etc. My parents are both very glad they saw it when they did. We did hear from some people who chose to walk up that the stairs up are completely covered in Donkey poo making them even more slippery so just a heads up if you decide to make that climb. We also heard someone on the Epic fell on the steps and broke their ankle that day so also be aware. They were rushing down to meet their all aboard since theirs was earlier and a crew member we are friends with on here said they helped them call for help and they were likely not making their ship at that point. Anyways, my mom said she got her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" moment but admitted that Mykonos was also just as beautiful and a little more accessible (still not devoid of stairs in the winding streets in town but didn't have the cliff aspect). She is very glad she made it as this was on her bucket list.
The only regret is we didn't pick a tour that went to Oia to see the windmills but I heard it was very crowded there that day and Pyrgos was pretty quiet so that might have been a good thing. Also, just the logistics of a shore excursion in Santorini do make this port a lot easier as you get to take a bus ride up and you don't have to line up very early for tender tickets (although all the shore excursions met pretty early so it might be a wash there). I would probably recommend a shore excursion for anyone's first time in Santorini because of the logistics of everything.
Anyways, there is (finally) my discussion on Santorini. The next day, yesterday now, was Day 10 and we were docked in Piraeus (Athens), Greece. My parents made the decision a couple days ago that they no longer wanted to do Athens, they needed a break from shore excursions. We were booked on a panoramic tour, "Ancient Athens, Plaka, and Shopping", and when we went to cancel them, the suite concierge talked me into changing my tour as well if I was going to go alone as I wouldn't get much out of the panoramic tour. This was the tour we changed a few weeks before the cruise after my mom's fall and we originally had "Acropolis, Plaka and Lunch at the Famous Bairaktaris Tavern" so I went to book that one again and found out it had significantly increased on price on board, it as now over $300 a person and we had it booked for well less than $200 a person so me being me (and being a bit cheap), I booked a similar tour that didn't have the sit down lunch and was much less money, it was also 2 hours longer as it included the museum for a total of 7 hours and 15 minutes scheduled. All that to say, I ended up on "Acropolis Sightseeing, New Acropolis Museum with Plaka Free Time" that had a meeting time yesterday of 7am, it was literally the earliest meeting time of all the tours in Athens 😳. Anyways, that is why this got delayed. Hopefully I will get to posting about Athens later today since it is a see day.
Now off to get ready for a relaxing sea day today!
Thanks and TTYL!
- Ashley

How can he eat so much and still be rake thin??? This is so unfair!!! 😂

My mother shenanigans 🤣
As previously stated, she has doesn't listen syndrome.
The staff from specialty dining keeps coming around with their spiel. She doesn't listen so she always say "yes I want all you can eat....." and starts ordering. They ask her for room number and preferred time, she then gets confused. She claims she fails to notice the different uniforms 🙄.
She then only focuses on certain words and we have to stand there and explain what they said, not what she heard.
Despite them saying her name and looking directly at her, she doesn't acknowledge them when they are trying to get her order. This is despite the fact that she has been narrating her order since we sat down. Then the minute she gets asked, she brand new.
Since she got drunk, she is requesting mocktails.  But can't remember her drink, even if she hsd it in her hand. It goes " Alicia what's that drink I had? A virgin cucumber? You know the strawberry daiquiri?" So she knows but does straight tomfoolery 😂🤣🤣😂🤣🙄.
When the room got changed she decided instead of just asking the steward to separate the bed, she would sleep on the bay window couch. BTW she is 5'5.

Day 3 Nassau
We are getting off to shop at noon. I haven't gotten off on Nassau since my first cruise on carnival probably over a decade ago. My uncle just crossed 10 years sober and he requested a coffee mug from every port we visit.
Surprisingly enough my brother and mother have never eaten breakfast in the MDR.  So we made plans to try it. We were in line at 8:50, slept in 😂, and sat by 9. Our server was short, like maybe she was overwhelmed.  But when she came she said "the assistant will get drinks and bring out the assortment of pastries, give me hot food order." Both my mother and I ordered the quick breakfast, she requested all hers be cook hard. She black, so everything must be well done 🙄. I only wanted my sausage well done because otherwise they too grey for me.
I also said I wanted hash browns and the waiter shut me down saying the quick breakfast came with hash browns, despite it not being listed. We didn't get pastries,  nor juice and my food came out burnt. The single hash brown was about as big as a strawberry. Also that toast was both burnt and soft. No crisp whatsoever. I was disappointed because I needed my chocolate croissant.......so we went to the WJ.
The WJ was crowded. It was the first time I felt the number of cruises on this ship. But I got my juice, donuts and chocolate milk. The hash browns were almost twice the size othe MDR ones
There will be a coast guard inspection on turnaround day, so those embarking were asked to come an hour later. I took a photo of the B2B letter.

Day 2 PDCC  continues  So I learned something new about myself which I am all for🥰. 
But first the bathroom completely stopped working in my brother's room. No toilet or water coming out of the shower. So he went to guest services and they told him the only option was to move. Thankfully since we are staying on, we packed well. It took us one trip and 15min to move them to their new room.
This made my brother extra hungry, despite him having 4 tuna sammies from cafe promenade and a family size taco dinner from ELF between 2pm and 5pm. So at 7:35 we went to the WJ and he ate.
We have late traditional dining that starts at 8:30. I have always scheduled specialty and MTD for 8/8:15 and never felt it was late. But man this late traditional dining is rough. We don't even start getting food to 9pm and it's 9:30 when we get our entrees. That's late. I start to get sleepy. With MTD we are usually out by 9 maybe 9:15 if they do the dancing. So I learned I don't actually like to eat that late.
After getting out of dinner at 10:15. We had some drinks at Schooners. The piano player was actually both funny and good. We then played at the casino until 11:30. I learned they now put the value of the diamond drinks you purchased on your receipt.
Also I keep finding food and drinks in the bathroom. This one lady brought the full plate of WJ food with her but left the drink in the bathroom 🤢🤮.
My luck was better on the dancing drums. My brother's luck was amazing. He turned $25 in freeplay into $86.76 by playing on 16 cent a spin.
We went back to out rooms and conked out.
 

Day 3: Roatan, Honduras (CONT.)
OK, back for a bit before bedtime… Costa Maya was cancelled because the wind and waves were too strong to dock. 🥺
This was one port we were looking forward to since we’ve never been and we had booked a tour with Native Choice to see the Chacchoben ruins and Bacalar Lagoon. It will have to wait until next time. Native Choice was prompt e-mailing us to confirm our refund is in process (less than 3 hours after the visit was cancelled)!
Let’s continue with early AM Promenade pics… Deck 5…







This station is the only table they set up to sell shirts, booze, etc… keeps the Promenade clear of clutter!

















Now on to Deck 6…






















 





Morning offerings at the Pearl Cafe…





Yes, the Pearl Cafe, like Cafe Promenade on Wonder (and other ships) sells a limited Starbucks menu included in the drink packages and Royal coffee cards…







That’s it for now! It’s past 1:00 AM ship time and I’m wiped out again! 😴 
Have a good night!

Had a great day in Sitka! The bike and hike was a great time, we recommend this but only if you have zero mobility challenges and can manage a 21 speed road bike with long but gentle uphill climbs and a two mile hike on uneven gravel trails. You do not need a lot of biking experience but you should be comfortable with cycling outside next to sporadic traffic. It was a fantastic way to learn about Sitka history and the ecology of the island.
Our bus dropped us off downtown and we walked to the totem park, then shopped for our traditional magnet souvenir at a charming artisan boutique. We caught one of the last shuttles back to the pier. We were too late for our dinner time so we took a chance on the Windjammie and were pleasantly surprised by the quality. Lunch has not been the best there but dinner was much better. Depending on how long we are in Juneau today we may or may not make it back to the MDR. I might make the effort because it’s the Italy menu, which is one of my favorites.

 
my mom went on her own tour she booked at the port that was essentially a three hour highlights tour. It stopped at the raptor center, fortress of the bear, totem park, and drove around the island. She loved it and thought it was worth the money, about $100. My in-laws stayed on the ship to rest and they plan to go to the glacier today in Juneau. Last nights entertainment was a very fun performer who had been on AGT and after I found the perfect espresso martini before bed. Super smooth waters and no rain but overcast skies this morning as we sail into Juneau.

So development. .....
The room my brother and mother were in, is apparently uninhabitable. So they were moved to a promenade interior on deck 8. So I am now in the catty corner bowels by myself 😒.
I got my first towel animal. I also got the consecutive cruisers letter. There will be a lunch.
I am currently sitting in the WJ listening to a tiny human screaming, while my brother eats his pre dinner.

PDCC was a fun mess, the seagulls are back being trifling. Stealing tiny humans food and fighting.  It's so entertaining.
So since indy was also there I got us a table in the shade at chill grill. My brother and mother went to snack shack.  She was supposed to bring me a shack chicken, minus mayo only, and mozzarella sticks. She comes back with just a plain piece of chicken.........no bun, lettuce, pickle.....etc. She order and said "plain just the chicken." My brother said she ordered so confidently, he didn't say anything. Thankfully the chill grill had all the accessories I needed. The worst part is she opened hers and said " I thought they came on a bun?" Then she just started eating the chicken.
A bonus was the steak is back for ELF and PDCC when it comes to tacos. Funnel cake was good but the softserve was sour, like it had curdled. It was a good thing I only put a little on my funnel cake.
We ate and walked the island for a little 
then got back on the ship.
So far no casino shenanigans.
However they tried me. If you want to use the D+ internet and prime discounts, you will need to buy it separately.  I was using the discount for the whole thing and then getting the 2 days discounted. But they won't do that.
Anyhow. I went to the Crown Lounge. My mother came up to the deck attached to it, it's no longer blocked off. Instead you just use your card to access the lounge.
So my grandmother is the queen of fringe. She said she would fringe some leggings for my casino outfit. She is convinced they provide better comfort because the shingles make a breeze. So here's a picture of them and my Croc sandals.
 
 

Do they not have the "don't flush your undies" sign over the toilet?! C'mon!!

Must have been a really bad Code Brown... 💩 😱

……………..HOW DO YOU FLUSH YOUR UNDERWEAR
gOOD B Y E. 

Day 3: Roatan, Honduras
I got up early this morning (MON, 5/13) so I could explore the ship more thoroughly and take pics without crowds.
I started in the forward part of the ship on Deck 15 and worked my way down… inside areas for now!
Here comes the first picture dump!
Just another shot of the awesome destination elevators…

Lobby outside of the AquaDome and entrance. You can see the AquaTheater directly ahead…




A couple of shots of the Royal Bling Store just to the right side as you enter…


A quick shot of the AquaTheater on my way to the AquaDome Market (on the right after the Royal Bling Store)…

Entering the AquaDome Market…

Menus from all of the stations…









Exited the market from the door I entered and continued counter-clockwise toward the Rye & Bean Bar and the Overlook which is just in front of the AquaTheater…










Exited the Overlook and now walking past Hooked…


I left the AquaDome area and moved on… An exterior shot of Coastal Kitchen…

Some shots of Vitality Spa and Cafe..




Another sculpture…

Empire Supper Club…






The Crown Lounge… a no-go this cruise! 


Royal Theater and tonight’s show…


A bunch of shots of the Music… Phoenix is on this sailing…









 
I’ll be back later… we have to start getting ready for Chef’s Table!

Day 3 Bergen 
Morning started  slow as we were planned to be docked only on 12:30 PM. Breakfast was at the WJ , mot too crowded so it was fine. We went to take a coffee in the CL, the new machine that replaced the broken one is not as good so we took a coffee from the Starbucks again. Once again we went to play some pool.

Returning to the room we notice the water is not working , I called house keeping they told me it's all the back of the ship that dose not have water due to some emergency shutdown and it will take at least 3 hours to be  fixed , not a good news for the morning. Good that the room is not the only place with a bathroom on the ship. Of course after 15 minutes the water returns,  that time I was happy with the false information.
We started our way near the shore and strated to see amazing view from the balcony. 


The weather today was perfect around 70 f without any clouds.  This is a rare weather for this time of the year , but I will not complain. Once the gangway was opened we started our way into the city. We had tickets to the funicular which takes you up to the hill to a stunning 360 view of the city and the ports. It took us around 20 minutes to reach the station.  The line was very long but once I checked I saw there are actually two lines , one for people with tickets which was much shorter and one for buying tickets. We stand on the right line when people started to ask us about the second line . Apparently,  many people with tickets were standing in the wrong line without checking... Maybe people  thought "hey , it's a longer line it must be for something better". The train takes about 5 minutes , indid amazing view



And here she is 


We went to walk around , meet some locals 

You can do some short trips around the mountains but we decided to go down and tour the city. Bergen is a lovely city , at that time of a year they had tulips everywhere.



For lunch we went to the fish market, we shared a salmon sandwich which I thought was amazing (although not cheap) . Anyone see something strange in the menue ?

We continue to walk around the city until we decided to go back to the ship. 





Arriving to the ship we went to have some drinks in the sun . After that we decided to try and go up on the north star. As we thought , many people reserved it but only few arrived so there was no issues to join and go up. 


Dinner today was at the main dining room, it was Italian night so we both took the lasagna which, as always was very good.

Today show was the gift, after reading all the reviews about it we skipped it , thanks 🙂 .  The Casino was again packed and all the few machines I like thete were taken , so I saved some money.  Tomorrow early port day.

I will do that for you tomorrow - we have come back to the room straight after dinner as we’re both feeling the last 4 late nights. 
 
Not much to update on today. This afternoon was spent in the Schooner Bar and then wandering the top deck for a bit. We watched some folks on the FlowRider, some had obviously had a lot of practice, others were beginners and we saw some pretty tough wipeouts. Tonight we had a pre dinner drink at the Globe and Atlas. Dinner was good, UK night. Not my favourite menu but everything we had was tasty, at a good temperature and the service was great as ever. 
 
Tomorrow is La Spezia, and we’re renting a car and going to Pisa.

Some of the afternoon before trivia was spent in the Solarium, which was very relaxing - we got talking to a couple form North Carolina who had experienced crazy flight delays and were lucky they were coming to Barcelona a few days beforehand of they could’ve missed the ship!

After trivia we came back and got ready for our first formal night. 

Dinner was good again - Taste of France menu. 
I had the French onion soup, which I was nervous about but wanted to try and loved it. Jamie got plate envy and ended up ordering one so I decided to get some escargot again too! Jamie had previously ordered the iceberg wedge and had enjoyed this too. 
Then Jamie got the beef tenderloin which looked, and apparently tasted, fantastic and I went with the chicken cordon bleu which was really good too! I went into the cruise with zero expectations for food, and although I know it’s not the best, it’s better than I expected so far! 
For dessert I had the crème brûlée and Jamie went for the apple crumble. I enjoyed mine, the texture has previously been one I’ve not cared for but this time I liked it. Gotta love changing tastes. Jamie said the crumble was good too. 
 
Then we went to see Aqua80. 
Wow!! The best show I’ve ever seen on a ship, and possibly one of the best shows I’ve seen period. Insane that they did all this stuff while on a moving ship!! As an aside, we got there at 10.40 for the 11pm show and were directed to some good seats out of the splash zone after explaining my vision issues. I could see clearly so was really happy - the show filled up in the last 10 minutes before but our side was still pretty quiet. 

Today is a sea day, it’s a little cool so far (10.20am as I write this) so it’ll be interesting to see how the ship handles the crowds if people are drawn inside. Today we have Izumi for lunch and then white night tonight.