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Navigator - 911 hits the High Seas (Dec 2 - Dec 6, 2019)


SpeedNoodles

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14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

That sounds like such fun !

So who was the first to ask, “When are we going to do this again ?” ?

Ha, the one who had never cruised before. They are annoyed that I have so many cruises booked because it'll be hard for me to fit another in just with them. 

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Sea Day - my favorite! 

A day to explore the parts of the ship you haven't seen yet. Or hang out in your favorite nook. Keep busy. Do nothing. I love it. 

We partied hard the night before and nobody woke up until 9am. For the first time we decided to divide and conquer. One went to the gym (guaranteed not to be me), another explored a few Bloody Marys at the pool bar. I went to watch people on the Flow Rider, then took a little nap on the deck above the Lime and Coconut. We all met up for lunch in the MDR. 

I always love looking at the Itinerary channel on the TV. The captain has to be creative when trying to stretch the short trip from Coco Cay to Miami and make it last nearly a day and a half. That, or he also had the Deluxe Beverage Package. 

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We then hit the Schooner Bar for some Harry Potter Trivia (I just drank since I've neither seen nor read the stories). After a little shopping on the Promenade, we settled back into our room to enjoy the balcony for the last evening before dinner. 

Since it was a sea day and I had no sky rats, chickens, or iguanas to soothe me, I had to settle for #FakeDog. 

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After dinner (I miss you already, Malcin!!!) one of the women had a slight headache and went up to the room to lay down. But the two of us left were not ready to give up yet. We headed to the Hush Party to give that a try. It was definitely amusing for a short time, although the music waa pretty monotonous, and I was done after about 15 minutes   I wanted to get to the 80s party on the Promenade! 

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I couldn't remember exactly what time it was supposed to begin, so I stopped next to an elevator to check the Compass on the interactive screen.

Suddenly I hear my friend SCREAMING my name. I rush over and she dragged me into an elevator absolutely stuffed with people and the Stowaway Piano Player!!! 

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I was beyond thrilled. We'd been looking out for him all week. And my friends learned this week that few things entertain me as much as the opportunity to sing out loud with fun people and fun music. It was really the funnest 20 minutes of the cruise.

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The look on people's faces from outside the glass elevators, and from other elevators, was priceless. And the look when the elevator doors would open to people waiting... it varied from shock to awe. I probably would have stayed in there longer, but decided other people should be able to play, too (blah). 

It was time for Showgirls to start, so we ducked into there too check it out. The singing was good, but I was mostly impressed with the costumes. 

It ended in time for the 80s party, so I hung out there until I realized that I had not even begun to pack yet (denial was strong). It had only been 4 nights, surely it wasn't time to leave yet!!!! 

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Disembarkation and a few closing notes:

Oh gosh, what a whirlwind of a trip. 4 nights is simply too short!  I originally wanted to book a longer sailing, but one of the women had never been away from her two little girls, and I totally understood.  I managed to pack up the night before in half darkness (impressed the heck out of myself, lemme tell ya!). 

We sauntered down to The Key breakfast around 8am and treated ourselves to some decadent Eggs Benedict (the ONLY time I ever allow myself the pleasure is on a cruise), and lamented our impending doom. I mean, departure. When we finally dragged ourselves away from the table, we made it to deck 4 and off the ship with nary a line.  Zip .... off.  Since we carried on at the beginning of the trip, we carried off, and were rolling past all of the other people picking up luggage within about 3 minutes (which was as long as it took us to drag our heels off of the ship). 

I was kind of cruel at this point. My friends were booking along ahead of me - apparently trying to reinforce that they did, indeed, have longer legs than I, so I hung back at my own pace.  La la la la - watching them trying to finagle their passports out of their bags. BWAHAHAHA..... there was my chance to pass on the left! Passports?? We don't need no stinking passports!! This is Terminal A, BABY!!!  I stepped through the facial recognition before they even saw me.  But it was a nice surprise for them.  "Wait, that's it? We don't need to do anything else?"  Nope!

We scoped out the RideShare area (such as it is) and checked the price for an Uber ($37.14) to MIA.  Then a man from Koala Transportation offered a shuttle direct to the airport for $10/ea. Saving money AND Koalas???? SIGN ME UP.  Our wait for the shuttle was about 5 minutes. We loaded into a large Sprinter van with 10 other people who were similarly depressed to be off the ship, and were at the airport within 15 minutes.

Where we waited. And waited.  I went through the TSA Precheck line at 9:45 am and our flight wasn't going to board until 1:30pm.  Yep, that was the first flight available.  We eventually moseyed off to the Budweiser Brew House for our last libation and another snack (because, let's face it, it had been more than 30 minutes since we'd last ate), where one of them ordered a Coors Lite.  In a Budweiser Brew House.  I thought the ceiling would come down on us - I nearly ducked under the table - between the staff and all of the customers we were nearly booed and laughed out of the airport.  I told my friends that we could wander down to the Heineken Bar if it would make them feel better (that joke was not well received, btw).

Suffice it to say that they have kind of been spoiled for cruising in the future. Getting a little extra special treatment with The Key, having a beautiful aft-facing balcony (and that room really had a lot of space!), a cabana at Coco Cay - I think their expectations for the next cruise will be high (sorry, not sorry).  They are already looking at cruises for next December (7 night Allure). I'm trying to encourage them to do it, even though I might not be able to join them.  I will be starting a new position in April, and I''m not sure that I'll get approval for a week off in October (Group Cruise), November (Odyssey), December (girl's trip?) and January again. It MIGHT be asking too much.

But then again ... YOLO.

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6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I so enjoyed your blog.  It sounds like your girls' trip was a great idea.  I'm glad it worked out.

If it's of any consequence at ALL, Dan and I are already booked on the 6 December 2020 Oasis....hint, hint....

I'd LOVE that - I've never been to Labadee.  But the chances of getting them on a cruise that does not go to Coco Cay is pretty much zero at this point, lol. But I'll see you in October!!!!!

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