Step side to side to side.... there's a Star in the middle!! Jan 10-28th

[RWDW1204]

3 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Went to the bathroom and just barely found a seat.

Love reading your adventures and the brutal honesty.

But this caught my eye. You're not talking about in the bathroom right? 

 

[Ampurp85]

@RWDW1204 Yes to both. The bathroom lines get long

[Ampurp85]

Sorry for the delay, life happens.

My flight was a hot mess. Severe weather was affecting the Midwest and east coast, so lots of flights were delayed. My flight was on time until 2pm when it ended up delayed 40min. Further compounded by a very late woman and her 6 kids who refuse to sit down so we could take off. She was a standby and all their seats were scattered. A bunch of pax moved to accommodate her. After she sat down, she started watching Instagram and had to be told twice to put her device in airplane mode. She instead brought Wi-Fi so she could snap or TikTok her plane ride. None of her children, who ranged in age from just under 2 to possibly 16, wore their mask the entire fight. We ended up getting to Chicago about 30min in total, after our scheduled arrival time. I waited another 30min for luggage and was home a little bit before 8pm. 

My cat was very happy to see me. Unfortunately, I had to be at work at 9am, meaning my final thoughts would have to wait. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

One thing I realized by doing multiple cruises, in different classes of ships, is that I like the larger ships. Not just because the food quality is better but because of how the space is being utilized. On Harmony with 2100, it felt like a ghost ship: like I saw people, but I didn't feel people.... even on a seaday. I felt every single person on Mariner. I also lost all my love for Mariner on this cruise. The shows were lackluster and dated. The rooms felt old, and it felt like a party ship instead a cruise ship in which one parties. If you get what I mean. To cruise during this time requires patience, fortitude and understanding. There seems to be very little difference in itineraries, you are going to have hiccups. 

I used to always believe that the cruise food that was complementary was enough. It really isn't once you have started cruising more often. The MDR menus were the same across the entire fleet. Literally night 1 was the same on Indy, on Harmony and on Mariner. The only difference was they might taste different. But the different taste was also prevalent across the specialty restaurants. My tempura shrimp and chicken kaarage was much greasier and smaller from the Izumi on Mariner. I couldn't just chalk it up to star class either as they looked different. The same with Jamie's on Mariner.......let's call a spade a spade, Mariner wasn't up to snuff. Indy had some old looking decor, but she was a nice fun ship. The shows were actually okay. The only true negative was guest services refusal to test me. I loved Harmony and if she had all her shows going on she would have gotten a 5/5.

I always knew that the casino folks are a special breed, but I just learned you can tell someone who isn't playing to move from a machine. Cruising seems to attract a certain crowd. The entitled ones provide much needed comic relief. I have never heard so many people throwing around their status, it was hilarious. The times that caused me to giggle the most when people say I am diamond and it's my...birthday, anniversary, I just got married, etc. I actually had some people mad at my diamond status. I know it is because I look so young. But one lady rudely asked how much I spent to make it to diamond so fast and if I could give her one of my vouchers. I also had a great time with Ashley and her family. It might seem weird to go on someone else's cruise, but it was a wonderful experience. I got to experience star class and I learned a lot from them, things I can pass down to my family when we cruise.

I still hope to do a B2B one day but my next batches of cruising, boohoo not until Oct/Nov, are S2S.......only 281 days until then

 

[Ampurp85]

More food

[Ampurp85]

Random photos I took. 

AO was nicely populated, and the kids were having fun. Not really spaced out looking sad like some reports. My hallway curved and I never saw people in it.

 

[CGTLH]

17 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

More food

Grilled Bacon: Have to say that is the best looking slice I've seen in some time. Most of the time I've seen it come out as one blackened slab, one giant grill mark.

Chicken Karaage: Please tell me you ate some of it before taking a picture. If not, that would have been some expensive chicken purchased a la carte.

30 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I also had a great time with Ashley and her family.

Glad we didn't cause too much trauma. It was a pleasure sailing with you as well.

31 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I got to experience star class

Wish it had been a better first experience. With the bad timing of current events it really chipped away at some of the perks and the experience on Harmony in general.

[Ampurp85]

12 hours ago, CGTLH said:

Grilled Bacon: Have to say that is the best looking slice I've seen in some time. Most of the time I've seen it come out as one blackened slab, one giant grill mark.

Chicken Karaage: Please tell me you ate some of it before taking a picture. If not, that would have been some expensive chicken purchased a la carte.

Glad we didn't cause too much trauma. It was a pleasure sailing with you as well.

Wish it had been a better first experience. With the bad timing of current events it really chipped away at some of the perks and the experience on Harmony in general.

Yes, that bacon was super delicious, ... I had 2 bites of the chicken Karaage, it wasn't a lot. The portions as a whole were smaller on Mariner. The exception being Playmakers. 

No trauma, just wonderful memories. 

I definitely would like to experience Star class with a higher capacity and more offerings.

[Ampurp85]

I just wanted to post this.

Ashley had a goal to make Prime before March. That wasn't an actual goal of mine. It was to have fun and make a little money at the casino. We had talked about since it is 1 point for every $5 it would take $12,500 to make prime. I don't think that is the case. I think it might actually be quite easy to make prime even if you aren't a tried-and-true gambler.

Starting this cruise, I was at 215 points (from my Oct Allure cruise) and of course choice. I had set a budget to gamble with, the acceptable amount I was willing to lose. I completely broke even on Indy, was up when I left Harmony and down about $400 when I left Mariner. So, I only spent $400, which included the winnings from Harmony, meaning I was actually only down $260.

I got an offer for money off a cruise, and it says I have 1490 points. I didn't gamble every day or spend over $500 and still earned over 1000 points during my cruises. So effectively you don't have to lose much to make it to prime. I played with a lot of the houses money to get points. 

So, while getting prime wasn't my goal this time around. It will be starting with my Odyssey cruise.