Xaa Posted February 18, 2023 Report Share Posted February 18, 2023 Glad to see that you're still serving the "Classics" menu in the fire house. Looks great! Have an awesome week. Ampurp85 and GregD 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2023 10 hours ago, Xaa said: Glad to see that you're still serving the "Classics" menu in the fire house. Looks great! Have an awesome week. I serve the classics, as well as a wide variety of "Chefs Suggestions" as well! The guys on my shift eat quite well. Xaa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2023 All our bags are packed and we are ready to go! We woke bright and early this morning, and got to play luggage Jenga. We managed to fit everything in the car and headed off! Our drive to BWI was uneventful and we made great time. Sirius XM didn't disappoint! Once we got to the airport, we had an interesting shuttle ride, when the last guy on the bus tossed his large bag on the smallest one on the rack. The bag was rocking back and forth and looked like it would fall off onto our laps at any moment. Julie and I joked that this was a Farmers Insurance commercial waiting to happen....How did you die? Crushed by a suitcase...Seen it, covered it..... We are currently sitting in the terminal waiting for our flight to board! FireFishII, Lovetocruise2002, MaryS and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 18, 2023 Report Share Posted February 18, 2023 27 minutes ago, GregD said: We are currently sitting in the terminal waiting for our flight to board! Have safe flight! GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2023 Flight 1 of 2 is done. Got to start the DX package early. Thank you Southwest Airlines for the complementary beer! Next stop Miami! FloatyBoaty, SweetPea, FireFishII and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted February 19, 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 Safe trip! Can't wait for you to get onboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 1 hour ago, SweetPea said: Safe trip! Can't wait for you to get onboard. Thank you!!!! We have made it to Miami!!! On our second flight leg, I got another free beer. It's a minor consolation prize because when we got to baggage claim, The Boss's bag had been smooooooshed....Southwest did give us a $100 voucher to use within the next year. I also get to test out our travel insurance to see how that goes. Things happen, and we aren't letting it get us down. In the grand scheme of things, this is really minor. Once we were done in the baggage office, we called for our Uber, and 5 minutes later we are at our hotel. Again, this is a Homewood Suites by Hilton. We were able to get a 2br Suite. This has 1 king bed, 2 queens, and a sleeper sofa. There are 2 bathrooms, and a small kitchen. With our group this is perfect. King room Bathroom for the other bedroom. two queens Kitchenette Living room....Julie was misbehaving, so she is in timeout.. Apparently the people fitting the bathroom out, didn't know how to use a square.. Time to catch some zzzzzz's. We have an early AM target run for some beverages to bring on board with us, and then our ride to the port will be here at 10am. sammy79, DDaley, Yesiamthere6 and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rags1 Posted February 19, 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 Have a great cruise! Enjoying following along GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 19, 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 I'm glad you made it safely and with minimal difficulty. I stopped doing cloth luggage mainly because my bag kept getting smashed and I had lots of damage to items inside. The hard side kind can still sustain damage but at least the stuff inside is protected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: I'm glad you made it safely and with minimal difficulty. I stopped doing cloth luggage mainly because my bag kept getting smashed and I had lots of damage to items inside. The hard side kind can still sustain damage but at least the stuff inside is protected. I think that is the direction I'll be heading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 Lots to catch up here... So I woke up at 6am before my alarm. So much for sleeping in on vacation. After a quick breakfast in the hotel, nothing exciting there, typical hotel breakfast. Julie and I grabbed an uber to Target to get a few last minute items. While getting ready, I discovered the reason for the angled toilet. Either someone got measurements completely wrong, or the size of the door was increased after the plans were finalized. I had pre-booked an Uber to the port and he arrived right at 10am and we headed off to the port. As everyone has remarked, the route to the port is a mess right now. The tunnel is closed, and there is construction everywhere slowing everything down. Our driver didn't think ahead and got frustrated when he got to the tunnel and found it closed. I was thinking to myself, how did you not know this..... Eventually we go to the port and saw our favorite sign We were greeted by the porters and the shoreside team who quickly whisked us away, past the suspended propellers and into the elevators. We got to the port right around 10:45 and boarding had just commenced. The suites/pinnacle lounge was empty at this point, so there was no wait at security. We were quickly checked in and messages were sent to Derick that we had arrived. The shoreside team told us that he had just boarded one of his other families, so we sat and watched our muster drill videos. Shortly after, we got to see the smiling face of Derick approaching from the gangway. We never really got to see him last year without his mask, so it was nice to really see his face, and his huge smile. Hugs were exchanged all around and we headed onto the ship. I blame my mother for this, since she cried for Hallmark commercials, but I always get little emotional when you step onto the ship, and the crew says "welcome home" On our way to the muster station to get that out of the way, Derick let us know that there are 6400 passengers with 1400 kids, so we are full. As 3:30 there were still 780 passengers who had not completed their muster check in. We were pleasantly surprised, but our room was ready for us, so we headed there. We had a nice chat with Derick, who went over our benefits, and the usual housekeeping items. He let us know that requests for food things are taking 45 minutes or more to fulfill if they are spur of the moment. If we let him know the night before, they can assign someone to the request and it's fulfilled for when you want it. He reminded us that the venue has to be open for you to order from it. He also mentioned that the snacks will be more on a per request basis. He did say we will have daily fresh fruit, cookies etc because those keep better. We actually like this better, because so much food went wasted last year. Our lunch this afternoon was at Giovannis. I actually stuck with my plan for a lighter lunch so I can fully enjoy dinner, and some snacks this evening. Derick has us scheduled to watch Aqua80 from the balcony tonight, and told us that he will be having snacks and desserts from Playmakers delivered. I'm looking forward to seeing what he sends up. There were three Caprese Salads and a Cheese and Meat Board ordered ordered as appetizers. Lydia also got the Chicken Picatta and The Boss ordered the Garlicky Herb Prawns Desserts were Tiramisu for The Boss and I, and Ice Cream for the kids. of course I used this as an opportunity to get some embarrassing pictures of the kids. Lunch was delicious and we left with full bellies and with optimism for a great cruise. Cheers to you all for reading along. I will have many of beverages for you while at sea!! Side note, starklink is so so. We shall see how the inter webs performs during the week. Lovetocruise2002, MaryS, asquared17 and 14 others 16 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 We are off!! SweetPea, Yesiamthere6, Lovetocruise2002 and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 19, 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 bon voyage!!! have a wonderful week aboard!! GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 Your meal at Giovanni's was the same we had last month on Oasis for lunch (minus the meat platter), but you have actual Picatta sauce and The Boss's shrimp look more beautiful than mine did. I guess star class does get better everything. Edit.... Those are a lot of children, that is 20% of the pax count. GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 6 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: Your meal at Giovanni's was the same we had last month on Oasis for lunch (minus the meat platter), but you have actual Picatta sauce and The Boss's shrimp look more beautiful than mine did. I guess star class does get better everything. Edit.... Those are a lot of children, that is 20% of the pax count. Lets say its from the chefs getting better at their job The ship does feel quite full, and it's good to see. I remember last year the musicians in Central Park at night playing to nobody. Last night, most of the chairs were full. There are kids all over the place. So far my only "yep, I'm definitely a dad moment" was at Giovannis and there was a teenager there with her family who was wearing a pair of tiny shorts and two small triangles up top and remarked, "that poor girl forgot her clothes at home" PPPJJ-GCVAB, Ampurp85, asquared17 and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLH Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 We just disembarked yesterday. The internet kept bumping me off. Turns out you have to go into the network and make sure autojoin in activated. Once I did that it was great all week! Coastal Kitchen staff and food was excellent. Overall a good cruise. We had about 1400 kids as well. Normally I don't even notice, but this week I did. There were so many strollers and wagons for little ones. It was very rare not to be in an elevator without one. Even saw a Quad stroller and one family that had a double and a single. My biggest complaint was on the pool deck. people would park their strollers in the walkway blocking the path and there was always a traffic jam. With the ksf promotion, lots of people are taking advantage of it for sure. Although on the boogie board there were mostly adults versus the kids which is a change. SweetPea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 This morning I woke up early again. My bladder finally had enough and said it was time to get rid of the waaytoo many drinks/cocktails that I had yesterday. I’ve wandered up to the suite lounge while the rest of the family is still sleeping. I like this area of the ship. It’s a good place to watch the ship wake up. While here I had a couple of cups of coffee and a pre-breakfast snack. The chair hogs were out early too. I saw many people clip towels to chairs and wander off, and clearly not to the pool. The deviant side of me thought of the chaos I could create is I went down and took everyone’s towels. Jax, FireFishII, Lovetocruise2002 and 6 others 6 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 the way that morning light hits the breakfast offerings, though... DDaley and Ampurp85 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 1 hour ago, MLH said: We just disembarked yesterday. The internet kept bumping me off. Turns out you have to go into the network and make sure autojoin in activated. Once I did that it was great all week! Coastal Kitchen staff and food was excellent. Overall a good cruise. Thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a try and see how it works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 I know the free drinks are a major draw but the only thing the SL has over the DL is the breakfast offerings. It is a great place to have breakfast as opposed to the WJ and even MDR. WAAAYTOOO and asquared17 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 4 hours ago, GregD said: While here I had a couple of cups of coffee and a pre-breakfast snack. The chocolate glazed donuts are surprisingly good! At least on SY they were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 4 hours ago, GregD said: The chair hogs were out early too. I saw many people clip towels to chairs and wander off, and clearly not to the pool. The deviant side of me thought of the chaos I could create is I went down and took everyone’s towels. What if, instead of taking everyone's towels, you randomly moved towels to opposite areas of the pool, taking great care to split up towels that reserved chairs in groups of two or three? Like, if a run of 3 chairs are reserved on port side, I'd take the middle towel and move it starboard, etc. Then I'd grab a drink in the SL and watch the impending confusion. asquared17, WAAAYTOOO, MaryS and 3 others 1 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: The chocolate glazed donuts are surprisingly good! At least on SY they were. I’ll have one tomorrow and report back 1 hour ago, SweetPea said: What if, instead of taking everyone's towels, you randomly moved towels to opposite areas of the pool, taking great care to split up towels that reserved chairs in groups of two or three? Like, if a run of 3 chairs are reserved on port side, I'd take the middle towel and move it starboard, etc. Then I'd grab a drink in the SL and watch the impending confusion. I like how you think. The crew ARE cracking down on the hogs. People are reporting that after 45 minutes towels are being removed. Lovetocruise2002, WAAAYTOOO, SweetPea and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 Back to yesterday. After lunch we wandered a bit then headed back to the room to unpack. We also got to sit and chat with our stateroom attendant Ketut. He is very nice and so far the room has been perfect. Later I headed up to deck 15. I again managed the Facebook group for this sailing and we had our sail away meet and greet. I got to meet a lot of members and enjoyed many a cocktail. Actual departure was delayed because traffic at the port was so bad, supply deliveries were late. I remember seeing one truck arrive at 3:30. Soon enough it was time for dinner. Is should come as no surprise we were in coastal kitchen for filet night. Our waiter Elroy told us that filet night is the busiest night they have. Dinner did not disappoint, it was delicious. Appetizers consisted of a Caesar Salad, escargot, crispy pork belly, and since the mozzarella from Giovanni’s is never enough, we got the burrata salad. Johnny got the chicken noodle soup. Entrees were the filet for all of us adults. Lydia was a degenerate and ordered the sirloin, and Johnny asked for grilled cheese. I was pretty jealous of his cheese pull. Jax, asquared17, FireFishII and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 16 minutes ago, GregD said: Johnny got the chicken noodle soup. Entrees were the filet for all of us adults. Lydia was a degenerate and ordered the sirloin, and Johnny asked for grilled cheese. I was pretty jealous of his cheese pull. this had me cracking up and when you wrote that you were jealous of his cheese pull, i thought you were referring to the pull he had in getting a grilled cheese or multiple cheese dish items and then i saw the picture and it all became clear!! GregD, Ampurp85 and IRMO12HD 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 @MLH Your tip seems to be working for me. My internet connection is much more stable now. Unfortunately, our upload speeds are really slow which is making loading pictures into this blog tough, so low quality pic-collage images it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 After dinner was a little more wandering, and then we headed up to our room for the first showing of Aqua80. Our plan of not eating to the point of exploding was done in by the snacks that Derick sent up. Bonus was another embarrassing picture of the children to use later in life. unfortunately, sea conditions were not ideal. They gave it a shot, and started the show, but there was enough side to side rocking that they could not safely put on the show. It was bad enough that the water in the pool was sloshing into the audience. They were able to complete the opening bit. While disappointing, the safety of the performers is paramount, so we will have to try another night. The audience was great too, because when the cast came out to wave, there was a very raucous round of applause and standing ovations. Sweety, Lovetocruise2002, SweetPea and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 We all went off exploring and hiding/hunting for ducks. The Boss and I ended up in Central Park listening to the guitar player. We had all planned on staying up to watch the balloon drop, but The Boss I finally ran out of fun and passed out. We lost Lydia even sooner. Julie and Johnny made it to the drop. Once the balloons were on the ground it became a stomp fest of balloons being popped, so they too called it a night. MaryS, Lovetocruise2002, FireFishII and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 Back to this morning. After my journey to the suite lounge I returned to make sure at least someone was vertical for when our Starbucks got delivered. It’s a good thing I went back, because that person was me. Eventually the creatures started emerging from their slumber and we headed off to Coastal Kitchen for breakfast. We got to see our first real bit of bad behavior this morning. So CK was packed this morning. Every table was full. There was a guy berating the host because they had the audacity to seat a two top before their four top when “they were there first.” The host was very patient and reminded the guy that “we told you it would only be a few minutes to clear and set your table.” The two top was already set, and clearly wouldn’t have fit 4 people. What made it worse is that he did this in front of his kids, so he’s now teaching them that this is acceptable behavior. Oh well, enough complaining about complainers and back to the important things..the food!! I got my usual Mediterranean Plate, Johnny got the French Toast, and The Boss got bacon and eggs. I have said it the past, and I will say it again. Not all CK’s are created equal. I’m not alone I’m thinking that Anthem has the best CK. On Anthem, the French toast is coated with cinnamon sugar and is decadent, where Oasis was plain and drab. My Mediterranean Plate was just plopped on my plate, while on Anthem, there was at least an attempt to make it look nice. FireFishII, SweetPea, Lovetocruise2002 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 How are you finding the hike from your ATS1 to Deck 17? Hit any traffic yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 21 minutes ago, SweetPea said: How are you finding the hike from your ATS1 to Deck 17? Hit any traffic yet? It’s not horrible. Prime time like breakfast, the elevators are a little slow. We jokingly say that every time we do the walk we earn an extra dessert FireFishII and SweetPea 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 After breakfast, I organized a slot pull for the facebook group. We had a good group of people…..as I expected, we walked away $20 less. I did manage to earn a bunch of casino points out of it though, nowhere near prime status, and probably not near casino comp cruise, but who knows. They is always the people that say, I only played $200 and got a free cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 20, 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2023 2 hours ago, GregD said: Not all CK’s are created equal. I’m not alone I’m thinking that Anthem has the best CK. I agree with this completely. The French Toast in Allure and Oasis's CK did not impress me either. However, the ones I had on SY last cruise were just like Anthem. Let's see what happens on HM in a few weeks. GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Lunch today brought us to Portside BBQ. We were all really looking forward to eating here, as last time it was so late in the cruise that we hit the food coma wall big time and only had one or two bites before we couldn’t physically eat any more. We tried a bunch of things, pulled pork, brisket, BBQ chicken, wings, sides. All of it was outstanding. I know it’s bizarre to read that in NY we have some good BBQ places, and Portside does it well all things considered. I would absolutely eat here again. KristiZ, Yesiamthere6, MaryS and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yesiamthere6 Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 6 hours ago, SweetPea said: What if, instead of taking everyone's towels, you randomly moved towels to opposite areas of the pool, taking great care to split up towels that reserved chairs in groups of two or three? Like, if a run of 3 chairs are reserved on port side, I'd take the middle towel and move it starboard, etc. Then I'd grab a drink in the SL and watch the impending confusion. A guy wrote that he removes the towel, but doesn’t sit in the lounger. Someone eventually claims the open chair. He sits back and watches as the person comes back to someone in his chair, and enjoys the show. SweetPea, FireFishII, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yesiamthere6 Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Excited to hear you think Anthem as the best CK, as we will be sitting there next week! GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Following lunch was a cabin crawl. We ended in our room. It was a nice group of people and by the end of it everyone had fun. I did discover that the GS2BR will probably be off our lists of rooms to book. One member let us see her deck 12 room with the hot tub. The second bedroom is so small, there is about 5 inches between them when you split them. It’s even worse if they are together, you would have to crawl onto the bed from the foot. After talking with The Boss and I, her next room will be in Star Class. I think this means Michael Bayley owes me a commission right? SweetPea, Jax, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Hehe, Batman (my better half) will only cruise Star Class as well. I'm happy to oblige, but he has zero clue what our next 2 cruises cost, and i have no plans to tell him ... #HappyHubbyAllisChummy asquared17, FireFishII, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 And oh, i would tell you to tell Derick big hello, but i have no doubt he doesn't remember us from Anthem and he would only be polite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 16 minutes ago, SweetPea said: And oh, i would tell you to tell Derick big hello, but i have no doubt he doesn't remember us from Anthem and he would only be polite. Sooooo, should I just say hey, SweetPea says hi, or should I use another name? SweetPea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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