Ampurp85 Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Glad you made it to Miami safely . I am one of those people who is a very picky eater, I don't like seafood....except fried shrimp. That being said I will try something once and I have learned that cold seafood is the worst. Deep fry and blast with seasonings so I cannot taste please. Alligator bites looks a lot like stretched out calamari....did it taste good...or did the beer really help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Friday - Miami Day!!! Today was a long day. We booked a full 3-part tour that included a double-deck bus tour of Miami, a boat tour of the Miami harbor (with an emphasis on the islands between Miami and Miami Beach, where many celebrities live), and a short air-boat ride in the Everglades. We booked it through Trip Advisor, and figured it'd be a convenient way to see a variety of things with little effort. One of our traditions is to take some sort of harbor tour in each port we sail from at least once. It was touristy to a cliche, but we were ok with that. (https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g34439-d11451472-Miami_Combo_Tour_City_Sightseeing_Biscayne_Bay_Cruise_and_Everglades_Airboat_Ride-M.html) We caught a Lyft around 7:50 am, as there was a lot of traffic/construction/road closures around the Kimpton and ride shares were taking a little longer to find us. We arrived VERY early to the Miami Beach area from where the tour departed, and did a little walking and people watching. We went to CVS (since I lost my hair tie in the hotel in a matter of about an hour, and I forgot to bring makeup remover wipes. There was a pigeon in CVS. I seriously just wanted to catch it and rehome it outside with its pigeon friends, but I managed to quell the desire. I'll be frank here. I didn't take a lot of photos. While we sat on the top level of the bus, and we could see a lot of things, to get good photos I would have had to stand up, which would have put me at risk of (quite literally) losing my head to low branches. We were taken through the lovely Art Deco regions of South Beach, then headed over to Little Havana, were we debussed and were told we could get some "free Cuban Coffee" at store right where the bus was parked. I don't drink coffee, but Mr. SpeedNoodles does, and he was told by his Cuban coworker that he MUST get some Cuban Coffee. We peeked into the store where people were getting their free coffee, and it was a paper cup about the size of a ketchup container at McDonalds, so we wandered across the street in search of a shop that he'd see on one of his many, obsessive, Google Street View "walks". We just couldn't find it. Until...... some very kind local recognized what we were looking for and pointed us to a coffee shop that opened at 10am (it was 10:15, and he simply shrugged and said "Island Time"). He wasn't wrong. Within minutes they opened the door. And Mr SpeedNoodles was in heaven. Communication was somewhat tricky since we don't speak Spanish, but with some pointing and back and forth he managed to get two very strong coffees before we had to get back on the bus. It was a beautiful little shop and almost made me wish I drank coffee. After only 35 minutes (too short!) in Little Havana, we headed back to the Biscayne Marketplace for lunch. While they led us into a specific restaurant (with a promise of free appetizers), we chose to go a more economical route and we just hit Five Guys. The menu at the other place was not only overpriced, but the just didn't have any items on the menu that interested us. After lunch we boarded the harbor tour boat, and had a lovely 90 minute tour into the "islands" area. On the way we slipped right past Explorer of the Seas, who was in port exchanging passengers. We had a fantastic, high-energy, tour guide for this part, and we really enjoyed him (great job, Ricky!). I've never heard anyone so seamlessly go back and forth from English to Spanish. His jokes worked in both languages, judging by the laughter on the boat. I got several pics, but really nothing worth sharing. Little islands hosting extremely expensive houses owned by people I'll never meet. I'm not much of a celebrity person. Frankly I was just as thrilled sailing past the big MSC cargo ship while it was offloading containers - I thought that was pretty cool. PLUS we saw an actual, live, swimming, wild sea turtle come up twice on that side of the bay. I'm all about the wildlife. As anyone who's followed any of my previous blogs knows, I will be just as thrilled sitting around talking to local pigeons and sky rats (i.e. seagulls, for those not previously indoctrinated), as anything else that I do. #formerzookeeper #completenerd We were told to meet a "double-decker, non-open-top bus" at 2:15 to go to the Everglades right there at the Biscayne Marketplace. We did so. We got on the bus, with about 15 other people (not many, but who are we to judge?). Off we went! We were really looking forward to this part, having never been there. The bus took off....east ... across the bridge (full view of Navigator, Explorer, MSC Divina, Carnival Legend, Regent Seven Seas, and a Viking ship) .... but .... Ok, I'm no geography genius. But aren't the Everglades BACK THATA WAY??????? We're on the top deck, so we have no communication with the driver. The driver isn't communicating with us. Other passengers are looking likewise baffled. Others, not so much. We are all wearing the green "I'm on the 2:15 Everglades tour" sticker. Traffic was nothing less than awful. An hour after boarding, we arrive back at the tour company main office, where we are asked to debus and get on yet another bus. Ummmm, sure! It seems it would have been more efficient to bring THEM to US since we were already farther west, but again, I'm no geography/traffic genius. We get everyone on the bus. It's the first non-bilingual driver/guide we've had (it didn't bother US, but we the English speakers were definitely a minority on this one). Harry was our driver and guide. Harry was different. Harry made up a lot of ecological "facts" (Harry, they are Turkey Vultures, not "American Vultures", and they didn't come to the Miami area to breed in the winter. I've raised TV babies in Minnesota in June. They're just here to stay warm and eat. And don't even get me started on his opinions on the South Florida "Indian Tribes" -lawd man, you don't know who your audience might be). We arrived at the Sawgrass Recreation Area shortly after 4pm.. The cold front had moved in, and it was 65 degrees and windy. Most people were not dressed for the weather. This was very good news for the gift shop, as probably half of the bus passengers went in and purchased sweatshirts. or jackets. I had brought a zip up hoodie with me (#becauseMinnesota), and MrSpeednoodles will go out and grill at 11pm in January at 10 degrees in shorts and flip flops, so he didn't care. The problem? Gators don't like wind. The crawl back up into the grass and hide so that they don't drift all over the place. Frankly, I didn't care. I'm all for Gators. They're super tasty. And fascinating, ancient, creatures. And I would have been trilled to see one. But I was happy to see the Cormorants drying their feathers as well. I would have loved to see some egrets, or otters, but the weather just wasn't right. That's ok. The airboat was pretty hecking cool, and I know I want to come back during warmer weather and maybe book a smaller, more private boat and ask to focus on birds and mammals. Someday. I had some time to have a short conversation with this female Boat-tailed Grackle (we have regular Grackles in Minnesota. The females aren't nearly this pretty). Unfortunately the camera didn't really correctly portray her beautiful brown color. (I know - average birds. I appreciate sh** like that). The tour people seemed really super disorganized. It was easily an hour between when we got to the Sawgrass Visitor's Center and when we actually got onto an airboat. The airboat tour was 30 minutes, and we didn't see any alligators (and not much of anything else). Nobody can control the weather, or the animals' behaviour in the weather, so we really didn't care. The trip back took another 90 minutes in awful traffic. The driver ended up just going back on city roads, through Hialeah (Big Havana). Nothing he could do about the traffic either. We'd been planning to go to Ceviche 105 for dinner, but by the time we got back to the Miami Tour Bus Company in Miami Beach and hailed another Lyft it was after 8pm. We'd been going all day, and hadn't had any food since 1pm. We were tired and blood sugars were low. By the time we'd get back to our hotel, shower, change, and get to the restaurant it would have been at least 9:30. Which is apparently when people in Miami leave their hotels and head out on the town. But be real here. We're middle-aged-plus Minnesotans. We arranged for the Lyft driver (a fascinating man from Nigeria! Thanks, Daniel!) to drop us off a block away from the Kimpton at Whole Foods. We picked up some pizza and sushi (not to be mixed, we each wanted different things), and a bottle of wine (O. M G. Wine at a grocery store??? This is UNHEARD OF in the land of 10,000 lakes! How incredibly convenient!). We ate, drank some wine, and watched half of "Guardians of the Galaxy" (I challenge anyone to guess who my favorite character is.) and Mr Speednoodles is already asleep. I'll be there right after I fix all of the typos in this blog (no guarantees, I will offer no compensation for emotional trauma caused by grammatical/typographical errors). !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOMORROW IS CRUISE DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! spiralqueen, Dan Curtis, Lovetocruise2002 and 11 others 11 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 52 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: Glad you made it to Miami safely . I am one of those people who is a very picky eater, I don't like seafood....except fried shrimp. That being said I will try something once and I have learned that cold seafood is the worst. Deep fry and blast with seasonings so I cannot taste please. Alligator bites looks a lot like stretched out calamari....did it taste good...or did the beer really help? I felt the problem with the cold seafood is that it tasted like absolutely nothing. It was super Canadian (sorry, Sabrina, someday I'll tell you that inside joke - I've had lots of great food in Canada). Mr Speednoodles often gets King Crab legs for us, puts them on the grill, and serves with drawn butter, and they are SO sweet. These had zero taste. The alligator (at least in this presentation) was unlike calamari in that most calamari has a somewhat rubbery texture. I don't know if this is a result of cooking or not. Ika is one of my favorite types of raw sushi (when ordered at a quality restaurant it's not remotely tough or rubbery). But cooked seems to do something to it. The alligator wasn't tough, chewy, or rubbery. At the risk of sounding like I know it's going to read, it's more similar to chicken than any seafood. Does it taste LIKE chicken? Not so much, but you could probably fool a child. Or a drunk. I liked them. I'd order them again if I was already somewhere they were served. They weren't special enough to go out of my way for in the future. Lovetocruise2002, Rose City Cruiser, ellcee and 4 others 5 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 @SpeedNoodles Rocket cuz he is a foulmouthed racoon. Wonderful pictures and like you I care more about the animals than people...most people aren't as adorable SpeedNoodles, RWDW1204 and JLMoran 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 1 minute ago, Ampurp85 said: @SpeedNoodles Rocket cuz he is a foulmouthed racoon. You got it!!!! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Happy Cruise Day! SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 @SpeedNoodles it’s cruise day!!! SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srp431 Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Thanks for sharing your pre-cruise trip of Miami. Looks like a great time and the food, YUM SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike P Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Boarding day is here......have a great time!!!!!!!!! SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Curtis Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Have a awesome trip, thanks for sharing. SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnstewarth Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Loving your blog! Happy Cruise Day and can't wait to read your embarkation post! SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 YIPPEE!!! Boarding day. My favorite day !! Have a GREAT time. SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Update from the field: Mr SpeedNoodles has already declared the Oasis Class his "favorite class of ships". We've only seen the pool deck and Deck 4 so far. brianmorris, Skigoofy, Ogilthorpe and 10 others 10 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnickerTail Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said: Update from the field: Mr SpeedNoodles has already declared the Oasis Class his "favorite class of ships". We've only seen the pool deck and Deck 4 so far. If nothing else, that's definitely a great attitude to have on day one! SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 Once again, as always, I cannot connect to Voom. It won't open automatically, and anytime I try to go to login.com it shunts me to loginbusiness.com. Nothing that worked to fix it before is working now. ****update : working now **** Ogilthorpe and JLMoran 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 22, 2020 Report Share Posted February 22, 2020 3 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said: Update from the field: Mr SpeedNoodles has already declared the Oasis Class his "favorite class of ships". Yay! Tell him we will get along great then! lol The Cruise Junkie and SpeedNoodles 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2sail Posted February 23, 2020 Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 Ohhhh! I am happy that I checked out the Live Blog forum tonight! So glad I found your blog! We will be at our Symphony 90 day mark the day after you return to Miami. Thanks for helping me with the "pre-cruise excitement - everything is planned - what do I do NOW waiting game." SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 Day 1 - Embarkation Day!!!!!! Yay! The best day of all! We woke up at 8:30 and took our time showering and packing up. My goal was to get to the port by 10:30. We rolled our bags out of the Kimpton around 10:20 - I was so annoyed that I was getting out of the hotel so late! I ordered a Lyft, and within about 50 seconds he rounded the corner to pick us up. Fastest. Ride Share. Ever. We got to the port within 20 minutes (7 minutes to get there, the rest just trying to maneuver through traffic to be dropped off. Our driver was exceedingly patient). A porter descended upon us before we were even out of the car and whisked our bags away. We checked in in the Expedited Check line (in in?). We could have checked in with The Key line. Neither one had more than one person in line, so it was simply a matter of where my eyes wandered first. A quick run through security with our carry ons, up the elevator, and we waited to be let onto the ship. We waited all of about 8 minutes. Shortly after we claimed our spot, they called the Diamond/Diamond Plus members (Pinnacles were screwed?), and then The Key. Boarding was seamless. Having cruised twice already out of Terminal A, this came as no surprise to me, but Mr SpeedNoodles had never experienced anything like it, and he was newly impressed. We boarded the ship right next to the MDR, where they happened to have someone waiting to make our specialty reservations. CHECK! Done. We went down one floor to drop our carry on bags off on Deck 3 of the MDR (another Key benefit). It was still only 10:50 am. We swang by Boleros to exchange (or purchase new) Wow bands, but there were at least 30 people in line, so we bailed on that idea. We instead decided to make a quick stop at the Bionic Bar. On Ovation the robots "names" are Mix and Mingle. On Symphony they are Rock em and Sock em. Sock em made a reasonable Long Island Iced Tea for Mr SpeedNoodles, and we then decided that an early lunch would not be a bad idea (we skipped attempting any breakfast in the morning before departing the hotel). Lunch was on deck 3 in the MDR for The Key - Chops menu. I took no photos of lunch as, really, most people have seen plenty of photos of shrimp, soup, a burger, etc. We enjoyed lunch, or server was quite nice, and we were ready for our day. We went up to Deck 15 (pool deck), grabbed a drink (they had no Kracken yet, I had to "settle" for a Tequila Sunrise with Patron Reposado (cuz Momma doesn't do Cap'n Morgan - it isn't a substitute for Kraken). We wandered until the rooms opened up at 1pm. We're quite pleased with our room. We have an oceanview balcony on deck 12 midship. It's a very similar layout to Ovation, except the balcony is much deeper! We unpacked, threw our swimsuits on, and headed to the extremely uncrowded Solarium to hang out in the hot tub (margarita in hand to celebrate National Margarita Day) before the assembly drill. RWDW1204, Lovetocruise2002, Vangrizz and 8 others 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 It's very windy (the itinerary channel refers to 45 kts Apparent wind) tonight. The AquaTheature show was canceled, but we had reservations for Hairspray at 8:30pm, so that didn't bother us. At the assembly drill the captain informed us that he was adding about 60 extra miles onto our route to Saint Maarten to hopefully avoid some rougher seas. After watching all of the other ships depart from the port, we took off toward downtown Miami to turn around in the basin. We took in sailaway from our balcony since we had to get ready for dinner at 6:15. While sailaway was supposed to take place at 4:30, we didn't start moving until about 5:35. We enjoyed dinner at Wonderland. The staff was incredible, and the food was inventive and, we thought, pretty darned tasty. We booked it twice this week and I'm glad that we did - there were other things we wanted to try! I was useless with food photos. I suspect that most of my photos will be from port days. The ship itself has been covered well by people much better at it than I am. (Apologies to friends back home - I promise to spam Facebook later with ship photos for you later). The internet is, as the internet speed test showed, "very slow". Still, I am managing ok Ogilthorpe, Lovetocruise2002, twangster and 9 others 11 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 23, 2020 Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 Have a great cruise! I’m working on getting caught up with all the other live blogs That are out there. It was herd enough to keep caught up with mine, let alone everyone else! Thankfully I have many hours of waiting at the airport to do so. SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 We attended the Top Tier event. Here's what I caught on the numbers at various levels: Gold - never heard them sayPlatinum 424Emerald 185Diamond 325Diamond Plus 100Pinnacle 14 They then had one of the performers from. Hiro show off a bit of show technology : 20200223_104223.mp4 20200223_104223.mp4 twangster, MaryS, Lovetocruise2002 and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2sail Posted February 23, 2020 Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 16 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said: The AquaTheature show was canceled This is a concern of mine. We leave on May 30th. I am not sure about the typical ocean conditions during that time of year. But I read to book the reservation for Hiro on the first night so you would have another chance to see it if it is cancelled. That is what I did and now I am wondering if that is a mistake. If it is cancelled, then that many more people will be in the standy by for Hairspray. Not to mention, if you don't have a reservation for the future Hiro show, you would have to be in standby for that show as well. I wonder if I should change my reservations???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 I'd book Hiro first. There was tons of room at Hairspray for people who didn't have reservations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2020 I handed Mr SpeedNoodles the NextCruise flyer that our stateroom attendant left on our bed today. He said "let's do it, but only if it's an Oasis Class ship". I'm just dying, lol. ellcee, monctonguy, Srp431 and 6 others 2 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 20 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said: Shortly after we claimed our spot, they called the Diamond/Diamond Plus members (Pinnacles were screwed?) I believe the Pinnacles board via the Suite Lounge, so they wouldn't be called for general boarding. 3 hours ago, luv2sail said: if you don't have a reservation for the future Hiro show, you would have to be in standby for that show as well. Usually they will have a make-up show and move all the reservations to that show automatically. Now it may conflict with other things that you have planned, but most of the time they try to make an extra show happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 I got my brother looking at cruise blogs and he is obsessed with Oasis class. He believes the more people the merrier so he is excited about the two Oasis sailings we have booked. On another note I would be barfing like crazy if I had to wear that 3D harness. SpeedNoodles, Ogilthorpe and ddmcruiser 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa6191 Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 4 hours ago, luv2sail said: This is a concern of mine. We leave on May 30th. I am not sure about the typical ocean conditions during that time of year. But I read to book the reservation for Hiro on the first night so you would have another chance to see it if it is cancelled. That is what I did and now I am wondering if that is a mistake. If it is cancelled, then that many more people will be in the standy by for Hairspray. Not to mention, if you don't have a reservation for the future Hiro show, you would have to be in standby for that show as well. I wonder if I should change my reservations???? You are able to make reservations for shows for a May 30 cruise? Nothing is showing up on my May 24 Oasis cruise yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2sail Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 9 hours ago, lisa6191 said: You are able to make reservations for shows for a May 30 cruise? Nothing is showing up on my May 24 Oasis cruise yet. Yes, I have all my shows booked. It opened maybe two/three weeks ago. I was surprised - but happy. The app is also already showing all of my reservations and everything that I have booked. We are sailing on Symphony. All of this is sooner (as far as I can recall) than my Harmony cruise last summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2sail Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 10 hours ago, AshleyDillo said: Usually they will have a make-up show and move all the reservations to that show automatically. Now it may conflict with other things that you have planned, but most of the time they try to make an extra show happen. Ok, thanks! This makes sense. AshleyDillo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 Heard at lunch: "This ship, including the Eatin' Package is ruining me for other cruises." - Mr SpeedNoodles RWDW1204, JohnK6404, KristiZ and 8 others 1 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising to Retirement! Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 41 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said: Heard at lunch: "This ship, including the Eatin' Package is ruining me for other cruises." - Mr SpeedNoodles It sounds like you guys are having the time of your lives! I'm so happy for you both! P.S. Now is the time to book that next cruise onboard. Hint! Hint! SpeedNoodles, KristiZ, The Cruise Junkie and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWDW1204 Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 17 hours ago, AshleyDillo said: Usually they will have a make-up show and move all the reservations to that show automatically. Now it may conflict with other things that you have planned, but most of the time they try to make an extra show happen. Agreed. Has happened to us before. We got a letter in our cabin showing the new date/time and that our reservation was still good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose City Cruiser Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 21 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said: He said "let's do it, but only if it's an Oasis Class ship". I'm just dying, lol. Hook. Line. And..... SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saytheb Posted February 24, 2020 Report Share Posted February 24, 2020 @SpeedNoodles - Very jealous right now that we handed off the ship to you and I drove to work today in a sudden snow storm How was the ride out on Saturday from Miami? We came into port early for a medical emergency and arrived around 1am instead of ~6, but still had wind at 40 knots and 15ft swells from Coco all the way in! Are those Salukis, or Borzois? We've got Greyhounds.. given the amount they still manage to shed I can't imagine luxuriously long needle nose hair everywhere haha Enjoy the trip! If you end up having drinks in Central Park, the bartenders there were outstanding. Sadly I can't remember their names, but we spent a few hours there at a table drinking away and never waited for our drinks. The managing bartender even went so far as to track down a 12-pack of Coke Zero during some down time even though I was perfectly fine without one at all. Some of the most considerate our entire trip, really. Watch out for Rock Em by the way. He loved spilling my drinks. Must have been sneaking some of his own every so often.. Ogilthorpe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2020 4 hours ago, saytheb said: @SpeedNoodles - Very jealous right now that we handed off the ship to you and I drove to work today in a sudden snow storm How was the ride out on Saturday from Miami? We came into port early for a medical emergency and arrived around 1am instead of ~6, but still had wind at 40 knots and 15ft swells from Coco all the way in! Are those Salukis, or Borzois? We've got Greyhounds.. given the amount they still manage to shed I can't imagine luxuriously long needle nose hair everywhere haha Enjoy the trip! If you end up having drinks in Central Park, the bartenders there were outstanding. Sadly I can't remember their names, but we spent a few hours there at a table drinking away and never waited for our drinks. The managing bartender even went so far as to track down a 12-pack of Coke Zero during some down time even though I was perfectly fine without one at all. Some of the most considerate our entire trip, really. Watch out for Rock Em by the way. He loved spilling my drinks. Must have been sneaking some of his own every so often.. The upper deck, above the pool, didn't open at all until today - it's just been too windy. Even today the ship has been rocking - I've read lots of people that are bothered by it or have said they've never had such a rough sailing on an Oasis Class ship. We survived 35 foot swells on Jewel in 2003, so this is just nothing to us - we like it. But the ship is definitely rocking. My kids are definitely Borzoi! We've been living with the breed since 1999 - and we could basically make our own clothing from the amount of hair that they donate to the household! They're worth it, though. I'm trying to catch up on my blog - I'm just having trouble downloading my photos, so I'll hopefully get Day 2 and 3 taken care of before I hit the hay tonight, but it's not looking good. Voom is being ridonkulously slow right now. Skigoofy, The Cruise Junkie, ellcee and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2020 Day 2 - at Sea Neither of these are going to be super exciting reports. On Sunday we spent the day exploring the ship, drinking and eating. Mr SpeedNoodles became more and more enamored with the Oasis Class ship. This is our first cruise as Platinum members, so we were invited to our first Top Tier Event. It was held in the AquaTheatre, and champagne and mimosas (and some non-alcoholic something or other #whocares were provided. While I don't think they said (or I didn't catch) how many new or Gold Members were on board, here's the rest of the breakdown: Platinum 424 Emerald 185 Diamond 325 Diamond Plus 100 Pinnacle 14 One of the things that I love about Royal Caribbean ships is the artwork that is EVERYWHERE. So far this is my favorite piece. I took a photo of the entire thing, but then photos of individual elements that I thought were worth remembering. (Newsflash, they are wild animals): It was still a very windy day, and the upper deck was, again, closed off. People on the Feb 22 Symphony Facebook page continued to lament over the movement of the ship (i.e I thought we'd feel no movement on a ship of this size .... this is the roughest sailing we've ever had). We were unfazed. While Mr. SpeedNoodles uses an EmeTerm band (electronic anti-nausea band), I have zero issues with nausea on a moving ship. While I"m not a big fan of wind itself (so annoying), I don't mind the movement of the ship. In Sept 2004 we were on Jewel of the Seas on a 10-night round-trip, Boston to Quebec saling, and we were caught in both a Noreaster and the tail end of Hurricane Ivan. Over about 24 hours we had consistent swells of 30-35 feet. Everything was closed down with the exception of the casino bars. We had to skip our stop at Sydney, Nova Scotia. This was prior to drink package, and they offered free champagne and mimosas to anyone who wasn't stuck, nauseated, in their cabins and could make it down there. I was having no issues, and Mr. SpeedNoodles had taken a sufficient amount of Dramamine (Pre-Emeterm) that we joined in. With, quite literally, 4 other people. It was still rocking enough that we had to hang onto our drinks and they only took enough out of the cabinets to make the drinks, and then put it all away. That night I had a difficult time sleeping due to the rocking of the ship. I'd look out our balcony, and the sea would rise up to meet us with each back and forth. It looked like the ship was going to tip into the sea. We survived, and ended up spending two days in Quebec City (instead of one), and that was totally worth it. But I completely digress from this cruise. Lunch was at Hooked. We ordered (likely too many) oyster shooters, oysters, and lobster rolls. We approved of each course. Our favorite may have been the Coconut Creme Pie, though - tasty and not overly sweet). We had dinner reservations at 150 Central Park at 6:15 with the plan to see Hiro in the AquaTheatre at 8:30. For the 2nd night in a row, Hiro was cancelled. We had dinner at 150 Central Park. We had a scallop appetizer ( Smallest scallops ever - about the size found in the Trader Joe's frozen triple seafood blend - some of you know what I'm talking about). I had the Lobster Thermidor (really good) and Mr. SpeedNoodles had the short ribs (he said it was good, but not as good as in Wonderland). In lieu of Hiro we decided to go to the Love & Marriage Show (always a favorite of ours, since we were "contestants" on stage in 2004 on Jewel and will never forget being recognized ALL OVER THE SHIP for the remainder of the cruise, due to ONE stupid question #askmeaboutitonagroupcruise). A little friend awaited us upon our arrival back to our stateroom: Ogilthorpe, The Cruise Junkie, JLMoran and 8 others 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 26, 2020 Report Share Posted February 26, 2020 Elephant ! I win ! JLMoran, PRebecca, SpeedNoodles and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2020 14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Elephant ! I win ! You do! The prize is a drink on Brilliance in October! Ogilthorpe and AshleyDillo 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 26, 2020 Report Share Posted February 26, 2020 16 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said: You do! The prize is a drink on Brilliance in October! Yippee ! Did you see the post where we got the DBP for $48 for that cruise ? I cancelled the refreshments pkg and got the DBP. We’ll definitely be sharing a couple of cocktails ! Ogilthorpe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2020 Day 3 - Another Sea Day!!! (also, OMG - Dullest. Blog. Ever.) I love sea days. The are so relaxing. I woke up before the DH, caught a quick breakfast at El Loco Fresh, and hit the Solarium to enjoy a quiet soak in one of the hot tubs. Unfortunately the Solarium was already full of people. I did find an unoccupied hot tub on the port side of the main pool, though, so I enjoyed that for a little while. After about an hour the sun finally woke up Mr SpeedNoodles, so I followed him into the WindJammer for his breakfast. We typically avoid the Jammer, but we were pleased with the variety of breakfast offerings, and more impressed that we were able to find a place to sit. For the first time it was calm enough (although the ship was still rocking and it seemed almost as windy) for the staff to open up deck 16 and the water slides. I took one turn down the racing one (DH doesn't like heights) but I just left it at that. We then just wandered around aimlessly for a while, then headed back to our stateroom to read on our balcony in peace and quiet, until lunch rolled around. I swear that we're mostly killing time between meals #unlimiteddiningpackagewoes We had lunch at Jamie's - our first time there. I'm not a big lover of Italian food, but #diningpackage. We had a very friendly waiter, Victor, who brought us more food than we ordered, and refilled every drink, without us requesting it. I hadn't planned on eating OR drinking that much, but it is what it is. It was good. It may have been great, but not having a great love of Italian food, I'm not much of a judge. We had the Crispy Squid, the truffle ball things (I can't remember the name of them - I personally thought they were bland). DH had the eggplant parmesean, I had the Caeser Salad. Victor overheard us talking about the Truffle Tagliatelle and insisted on bringing it to us, despite our desperate pleas to not do so. At 1:30 we met in the MDR for our All Access Tour. This was totally worth the money. It was fascinating to see the various parts of this massive ship that is usually out of view. We went first to the galley, then to the Engine Control Room. We saw the provisions coolers/freezers, and then the laundry, before we headed up to the Bridge. There were a few areas where we had to present our SeaPass card to enter and leave - they keep VERY close tabs on anyone who's out of a public area! Our guide was a very nice woman from Shore Excursions - unfortunately I cannot remember her name. She was from Russia, and there were a few things that she either couldn't find the English words for, and/or I couldn't understand her, but overall the communication was very good. Unlike some bloggers (and I love you guys (guy?) for doing so) I have no memory for facts and wouldn't be able to really relay any of the various things they told us about the areas. Sorry Galley Engine Control Room Provisions (cooler/freezer) Laundry Ecolab is a company that started in St Paul, MN in the 1920s. It was fun seeing, what we consider to be a home-town company name, way out at sea. Giant washing machine for sheets/towels: I-95: : Bridge I'm pretty sure we literally did almost nothing of note until dinner, which was, again, at Jamie's. This time we devoured a meat plank - DH had the lamb and I had the bolognase. I was still full from lunch, and thought everything was good, but pretty much nothinged it. We went to bed early so we could be ready for our excursion in St Maarten the next day! The Cruise Junkie, RWDW1204, KristiZ and 10 others 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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