Skid

Especially when those expectations came from ME☹

No worries. A great CD is icing on the cake. We don’t let that affect our cruise at all. ?

Aaaaaww..it's almost like he's 2 different people. See, even Canadians have a bad week, I guess. Sorry I got your hopes up.
I thought I was going to have Hugo on my Navigator cruise, but noooooo! Oh well.

I’ve actually been hoping that you would not ask, but since you did, here goes...
Unfortunately, Katy is not here as the AM.  It’s another person by the name of Hannah. She is not good. That is about as much as I want to say there. 
Looking back at our cruises in the past year, we’ve had Hugo, Jamie, Ricky, Mitch, and now Mike. Mike is our least favourite. I tried hard to like him as I know that you and many others have had good things to say about him but I just did not see it.
He did not seem very enthusiastic about any of the events that he was hosting. I think back to Mitch who we had on the Anthem GC and he was on his very last sailing before vacation and even he brought on more energy than Mike did. He almost seemed “distracted” most of the time. Hubby even went on to say that he reminds him of a younger version of Bobby Brown. 
 

We were in a place yesterday that put paper straws into their drinks (sodas) that were served in plastic cups! I was too tired to question them, but how weird is that?
 

But cruise calories don't count. Isn't that the rule?!

I may have to stop looking at your blog. I didn't know it was possible, but it appears I'm gaining weight just from your pictures!?

DAY 5 sea day...we got up at 8 (see above on chairs lol), I blogged for a couple hours and now I'm headed to learn the Michael Jackson thriller dance!  We will see how it goes and if I perform night 11 lol!!!  Jane

Chair hog update!!! For the first time ever, a royal Caribbean person is marking chairs!!!!   These chairs have been vacant for almost 2 hours!  

Ack.... Just lost 30 mins of blogging.  Argh.........   Hit read next instead of enter.   Ok... My beautiful Rome blog is gone... Argh....   You will be happy to know they gave those chairs away!!  
Ok ..no ❤️  to redo Rome right now.  Ugh so sad.  Anyway I will give the condensed version.  We met at 7am with our first guide and then added a tour guide to give history in Rome.  Both were excellent!  Our first stop was the ancient Roman area




It was really not very crowded and I felt really pretty safe from pickpockets.  I'd love to spend days walking around this area!  
Next we went to St Peter's in chains to see the st Peter relics and most amazingly, Michelangelo's Moses!  So incredible!  



After that we went to lunch.  The cafe had 2 other tour groups but the food was pretty good and the service was efficient.  The wine... Not so great lol!  





Madison was able to get a vegetarian salad and enjoyed the lasagna.  Then it was on to the Vatican and the Sistine chapel.  I'm not sure I can express it again (I did so well in the deleted one) but it was one of the most treasured memories of my life to look up at Michelangelo's ceiling. You could spend a whole day in the Vatican museum, but like Versailles and the Louvre, it is hard to absorb all the ceiling art, tapestries sculpture etc.  We kind of raced through that but then were able to spend 5-10 minutes I think ( I lost track of time) in the Sistine chapel.  They don't allow photos or videos there but I will remember it forever.  The art is amazing.
Next we went to St Peter's basilica to see  Michaelangelo's pieta and Bernini's alter.  So beautiful in that church and outside in St. Peter's square











We got back to citiavechia around 545.  It is interesting in the industrial port to find old Roman ruins!


We decided while we could find stuff in mdr, we would windjammer it again for dinner American night.  I ended up eating fajitas lol!   I found red velvet cake for @Sweety

All the cakes were yummy!


We finished the night with drinking blue drinks in the schooner bar... They have a pianist and violinist playing until the main piano guy comes at 945, watching the orchestra show and just relaxing.  It amazes me the people that come to shows late, flounce right up to the front row, stay for 5 mins and then leave.  Argh!  Jane
 

DAY 3 FLORENCE
Florence was both amazing and frustrating.  I would have liked to find a tour that got us into the duomo, the duomo museum and the uffizi and ended up with a general tour of all the outside areas.  We probably should have done more research and gone private.  It was all a bit overwhelming.  Anyway, Florence was amazing and beautiful and a port I want to go back to on my own with more time.   The guide was very good, the bus was comfortable and we did enjoy our day.  We started with wandering...




I was amazed at the colors on the duomo.  Unfortunately my really good pics are on my camera and I can't believe I didn't take at least one pic for everyone of the gates of paradise...ghiberti's amazing gold doors on the baptistry next to the duomo.  There have been many moments of tears of joy on this trip and seeing those doors and bruneleschi's (so not spelled rightdome were two of them.  
We then had 3 hours of free time.  It wasn't super crowded and we probably could have gotten into the uffizi but we knew the wait for the duomo was at least 1.5 hours and here is where we dithered and it kinda broke down.  But we walked around outside for a while longer, saw the Victoria's secret and Disney store less than 2 football fields away from the duomo (weird contrast of old and new) and then found an amazing cafe with wonderful Chianti classico and lasagna that melted in your mouth.  Madison had a vegetable rigatoni.  We ended that trip with gelato.  Yum....






We got back to the ship and were tired.  Nothing looked good in the main dining room so we went to the windjammer for dinner.  We relaxed and missed the first production show so we went to the second at 1015.  It was truly pretty not great.  I love the shows usually and the talent on the ship is very very young and energetic but the choice of music and staging was kind of baffling!  Oh well!  Jane

Just FYI...6 seats on solarium by pool by 8am available...by 830 none.  These chairs have been empty since 8



The roof has been closed at least since yesterday... Not sure why ?

Wow.. and that's my thumb.  Pics take too long to upload so my thumb is staying!  Jane 

Look...I'm back and didn't drown!   voom has been slow and sprint free data in Europe is really slow.  That's partly why I haven't scoped muchI have to add my exciting, exciting news!  Our pins came!!!!   Platinum here we are lol!

We got invited to our first to tier event lol, but I don't think we can go.  We will see ..we have izumi at 630 and the event is at 745.  If we are done, we will go!  
CANNES day 2. We have spent a fortune on excursions so decided to be cheap and low key in Cannes.  We slept in and caught the tender boat after all the numbers were called.  If you want to get a tender do a royal excursion or get there early because they were still calling tender numbers after 11!  
When you have a 16 year old fashionista, you shop.  I bought some soap and we went to a million little clothing boutiques... Mads had a blast!
  
We walked around for a while and then hit the public beach just to the left of the port when you really by.   Madison has now experienced 2 public beaches without flinching too much. There were only a few topless today.  It was warm but not horrible and we enjoyed it.  




We were back on the ship by 430 to relax and get ready for chops.  
Chops service was very good.  When we mentioned Madison's vegetarianism, he offered a couple options and she chose the eggplant parmesan from Giovanni's, which she enjoyed.  Our food was very good...my steak was a bit overdone but if that's all I'm complaining about, I'm happy!!  The steak pics liked kinda gross, lol, but here are some other pics!  I apologize for all the Jane, Jeff and Madison pics but I'm trying to use this as a memory as well!!!   






After dinner we headed to the show... The barrade boys are 4 theater singers who all performed at some point in Les Mis.  They did a wide selection and we enjoyed it.  Red velvet cake martini and off to bed!  



 
 

Flight was hands down, the best Royal Caribbean original production. We have now seen 5 of them and where The Gift is on one end of the spectrum, Flight is at the other.
The special effects and set designs are amazing!  Royal has really outdone themselves with this one.  Really impressive all around. We still found this cast a bit weak vocally, but the rest more than made up for it. 


I had high hopes for this show as I taught Grade 6 for a number of years and the History of Flight is in the Grade 6 curriculum.  I have always enjoyed teaching that unit.  
I thought they did a wonderful job giving a nod to all the important figures who contributed to Flight. My favourite scene was probably the “In Memorial” scene and the one following with the Wright Bothers.
Love the underlying theme in this production as well as this is the one thing, if only thing, I try to teach my students all year, Dare to Dream, Dare to Fly. ?

Dinner Night 6: CK
Tried to keep it light tonight as we have been eating way too much!

Mushroom Consommé 

Short Rib. This was absolutely perfect tonight!

Coconut Custard.  This is another favourite of mine. Really nice and light.

CK has been inconsistent this sailing in terms of quality. The first 3 nights, it was not up to the standard that we are familiar with. Last night and tonight, it was fantastic. 

Well if you are gaining weight from the pics, imagine my expanding waistline!  I need a major detox!

I may have to stop looking at your blog. I didn't know it was possible, but it appears I'm gaining weight just from your pictures!?

I may have to stop looking at your blog. I didn't know it was possible, but it appears I'm gaining weight just from your pictures!?

I may have to stop looking at your blog. I didn't know it was possible, but it appears I'm gaining weight just from your pictures!?

I may have to stop looking at your blog. I didn't know it was possible, but it appears I'm gaining weight just from your pictures!?

Today has been a simply relaxing day. We got off the ship for a bit so that Hubby could check out the buffet at Barefoot beach. He really enjoys it whenever we have access there. 



Labadee is so pretty, and natural. I really hope that they leave it instead of turning it into a theme park atmosphere like Coco Cay.  Here are a few pics from our time out and about today. 



Not a fan of the heat and buffet myself, I came back to the ship to enjoy this again.

Regarding Fast Track Boarding, the white flag was out today, no signage, and again, there was no difference which gangway people used. Oh well...lost cause.
The rest of our afternoon was spent laying out on the balcony with drinks. There was a nice breeze, our balcony faced Labadee, I did some reading and Hubby napped.  Perfect. ?
 

Hey, you would be just like Lionel Richie - wasn't he a Commodore too?

I don't blame you for being upset about this. I'm someone who believes that principles and communication mean something. If I were you, besides the survey, this would be a time I'd email Micheal Baily 's office. ( [email protected] ) I think it would be proper in this case to let them know your C&A status and that you not only sail in suites, but that you are also a star class customer (even if not this time).  The fact that 2 out of 2 crew members were of no help or just didn't know is inexcusable. You should find out the hotel director's email and copy that office.
Now that I got this off MY chest, you let it go for the time being and love every minute that's left on your cruise---it will be over all too quickly. Good luck and have fun!

Very nice post. 

There was just a discussion in a different thread about this very issue.
If you are already in a balcony, I would not recommend bidding on a RoyalUp for another balcony category.  I have read of people who paid big $$ to a RoyalUp to a different balcony category just to find that it wasn’t really an upgrade at all.  If you are in a balcony and want to bid on a RoyalUp, I recommend you only bid on a cabin that is a Junior Suite or higher. That way you KNOW that it will be an upgrade.  I have seen RoyalUp offers for balcony categories that do not even exist on the ships that they are being advertised for !  I say stay away from “same cabin type” upgrades and sick with ones that you know will be an upgrade.