GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 1 minute ago, Yesiamthere6 said: Cruise day, and I’m so jealous as I head out to snow, ice, and freezing weather! Have fun! It snowed the night before we left. We were more than ready to get out of there! WAAAYTOOO, MaryS and Yesiamthere6 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandstromCruise Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 2 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said: Yeah but at least there is no weight limit now! Stuff ‘em to the max! Well luckily the items were small, but that’s my wife’s line of thinking no weight limit for the cruise. Problem is I always have to remind her that we still have to fly home and get it in the suitcase PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 10 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said: Honestly why do they make you take your shoes off in the United States? Every other country I've been to, you can just leave your shoes on, but when we went through TSA Customs back in 2017, we had to take everything off, including socks and shoes.... Whoa, I would not be happy if they made me take off my socks! I have Pre-check now so I don't have to take off shoes, but before that, I would wear socks on purpose so I didn't have to touch the ground with my bare feet. PPPJJ-GCVAB and MaryS 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 4 hours ago, GregD said: Did you even go on a cruise if you didn’t stop at target first thing in the morning for forgotten items? Didn't you just pack half the house?!?!?!? HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY NEED MORE STUFF? WAAAYTOOO, PPPJJ-GCVAB, asquared17 and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 Also...CRUISE DAY!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 Oops, final posting for now, I promise - what hotel did you stay in, @GregD and @TheBoss518? I love that view! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 4 minutes ago, Cactus527 said: Oops, final posting for now, I promise - what hotel did you stay in, @GregD and @TheBoss518? I love that view! We stayed at a Tru by Hilton. It’s right on the sea wall. It’s nothing fancy and good for one night. It’s also one of the combo places that also has a home2suites attached. WAAAYTOOO, PPPJJ-GCVAB, Lovetocruise2002 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 So, we are on the ship!! this morning was a whirlwind of activity. After I returned from our target/starbucks run we loaded up the car. @TheBoss518 wanted a picture on the beach, so we made that happen. Once that was completed we headed off to the port. Sweety, SweetPea, Cactus527 and 8 others 7 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 FAMILY PHOTOS!!!!!! yesssssss Ampurp85, GregD, Sweety and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 Arriving to the port, we got our first glimpse of our home for the week! We pulled in at about 10am. As you come into the port, we kept right and the entrance to the parking lot is there right on the left. We got a spot about 100 feet from the terminal. As has been reported, the suites/pinnacle area is well marked and easy to see. The star class greeter was right there. She called a porter who took our bags and we were escorted inside. We had to wait a few minutes at the bottom of the escalator because they weren’t quite ready for everyone. About 5 minutes later we were allowed upstairs and through security. All of the genies were already there in the lounge waiting so we met Berty right away. Shortly after, checkin was completed and we were on ship! I took the picture of the ship while in the car at 9:59. The Boss took this photo at 10:30. While we were going through our boarding process, I kept in touch with our friends. Their boarding process was also smooth. They arrived at 10:28 and were on the ship at 10:48. We had the following conversation Cactus527, WAAAYTOOO, MaryS and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 Interwebs speeds seem pretty good. Much better in this stateroom than Oasis. We will see how it goes during the rest of the week when more people are on board. Cactus527 and Lovetocruise2002 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 I’ll skip the stateroom photos since there have already been a bunch recently. I can confirm that nothing has changed since @Jax and @Yesiamthere6 sailed Jax, Cactus527, Lovetocruise2002 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 As you can see from the earlier post. We all met up on the boardwalk while we finished our portion of the muster drill. We all headed to our stateroom to let our friends drop their bags etc and to let them see the room. They were quite impressed. The boarding process for them has “ruined” gen pop sailing for them. Their part cruise was a boardwalk balcony on Wonder. They aren’t sure if they can go back. We then headed off to explore the ship together. The kids were registered for adventure ocean, and we showed them the other suites areas. We also started to make use of our beverage package and treated our friends to some drinks courtesy of our diamond vouchers. While relaxing in the suite lounge, Dan remarked that he was really impressed by the response from the concierges. When he got the email, he responded with their dinner reservation and show requests which were all immediately taken care of. I think we have officially inducted new members into the suite snob club WAAAYTOOO, Yesiamthere6, bellemiche and 6 others 6 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 I'm sure everyone is wondering how the pineapple shirt went....... So it actually didn't work out the way we thought..... I never got a chance to put it on, but I casually mentioned pineapples while we were all relaxing in the suite lounge. Dan immediately said, "did Adam put you up to that?" No Adam is the guy that works on my shift and encouraged me to get a pineapple shirt and wear it and get a video. He is the ultimate in playing the long game......because, he worked with Dan one day recently....and told Dan to do the same thing!!! Dan and I had a good laugh at this....now we are thinking how he can get a shirt, and the two of us can make it weird for the rest of the guys at work... I told you....we play the long game... Also, for those keeping track...We are now one Guiness and two very strong mojitos in at this point (before noon) MaryS, Ampurp85, Cactus527 and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 Embarkation day lunch: Dan and his family quickly discovered the benefits of coastal kitchen. They were originally were going to go to the face jammer, because their daughter is a fan and wanted to show her friend the buffet....Then they saw the line. They quickly abandoned those plans and went to CK We, courtesy of Berty, had reservations at Jamies. Now I'm sure people have seen my reservations about the food there, and it's not our favorite. Today, I would like to amend my statement and say lunch was delicious. Our waiter was very friendly and started us on our star class food coma quickly and added extra appetizers to our order. We initially just wanted the meat plank and the burrata. The waiter added the arancini and the bruschetta......okay fine, if you insist Our starters were very tasty. The honey and truffles on the burrata worked better than I thought, though I still prefer GT with the pesto. For entrees, Truffle lovers @Ampurp85 and @asquared17 will rejoice. @TheBoss518 got the truffle tagliatelle. Johnny got the cheeseburger, Lydia got breakfast pasta, and I had the chicken burger with truffle fries. Everything was very good, also add two glasses of wine to the drink count. I think I will need that liquid IV later tonight. asquared17, MaryS, Lovetocruise2002 and 9 others 10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 The “complete your muster drill” announcements have started. As of 2:30pm local time 841 guests have not completed their muster drill requirements. Time to make them walk the plank! Lovetocruise2002, PPPJJ-GCVAB, Cactus527 and 4 others 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yesiamthere6 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 38 minutes ago, GregD said: As you can see from the earlier post. We all met up on the boardwalk while we finished our portion of the muster drill. We all headed to our stateroom to let our friends drop their bags etc and to let them see the room. They were quite impressed. The boarding process for them has “ruined” gen pop sailing for them. Their part cruise was a boardwalk balcony on Wonder. They aren’t sure if they can go back. We then headed off to explore the ship together. The kids were registered for adventure ocean, and we showed them the other suites areas. We also started to make use of our beverage package and treated our friends to some drinks courtesy of our diamond vouchers. While relaxing in the suite lounge, Dan remarked that he was really impressed by the response from the concierges. When he got the email, he responded with their dinner reservation and show requests which were all immediately taken care of. I think we have officially inducted new members into the suite snob club Great idea to treat your friends using your diamond vouchers. I would of done that, but Old White Woman doesn’t have any friends. Sweety, Cactus527, GregD and 1 other 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 3pm down to 360+ guests still need to their muster drill…. Lovetocruise2002 and asquared17 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 I love the new chicken sandwich at Jamie's. But I thought the honey was too much for the burrata.......and those aracini are so good WAAAYTOOO and Sweety 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 1 hour ago, GregD said: The boarding process for them has “ruined” gen pop sailing for them. Their part cruise was a boardwalk balcony on Wonder. They aren’t sure if they can go back. and so it begins. WAAAYTOOO and Lovetocruise2002 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 1 hour ago, GregD said: @asquared17 will rejoice. @TheBoss518 got the truffle tagliatelle THIS IS WHY @TheBoss518 IS THE BEST!!!!! GregD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 Calling all vintages. Is this the new way of identifying your luggage? Lovetocruise2002, Cactus527, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 18 Author Report Share Posted February 18 General boarding day observations. I’m sure the ship is full. I’ll get some numbers as soon as I can. Crowds don’t seem too bad. The face jammer line was long as to be expected at lunch time. Plenty of tiny humans on board as well. It’s a vacation week for us in the frozen north east so that’s also to be expected. So far everyone seems to be happy and behaving. Every now and then I see a happy camper who found a duck. We rode the rising tide bar for grins and giggles. Slowest elevator ever. @TheBoss518 has assumed her position for sail away. The binoculars on the balcony make a great spot to set a drink….(add a couple of bourbons to the tally) MaryS, Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO and 5 others 6 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted February 18 Report Share Posted February 18 1 hour ago, GregD said: Calling all vintages. Is this the new way of identifying your luggage? are those bows or shower thingees? I use ribbons but those look a bit wild! Yes I am vintage…really getting used to that description now! I love “pet” names. Several years ago one of my granddaughters started calling me “Juicy”..no clue why but regardless the name stuck and now all 5 grandkids lovingly call me by that name! MaryS, Lovetocruise2002, WAAAYTOOO and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 3 hours ago, GregD said: Lydia got breakfast pasta, Curious minds want to know…What’s that? 30 minutes ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said: are those bows or shower thingees? I use ribbons but those look a bit wild! I wondered the exact same thing! We use ribbons too! PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 2 hours ago, GregD said: Calling all vintages. Is this the new way of identifying your luggage? When I had soft-sided luggage, I would actually sew the most atrocious looking fabric I could find to it for 1) easy identification at the baggage carousel, and 2) no one with two brain cells would want to steal something so ugly. We're talking ugly fabric covering 75% of the side. One time it was dinosaurs wearing sombreros, another time it was orange/purple chevron zigzags, etc. It's the only thing I miss about having hard sided luggage now - maybe I should apply stickers? WAAAYTOOO, Yesiamthere6, MaryS and 2 others 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Va4fam Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 Congrats making it to Cruise Day and welcome @TheBoss518. How did you get from the hotel to cruise port.........how far was it? I've heard Jamie's has a great cheeseburger but never saw it on the lunch menu last month, maybe I need to look more closely. Was looking forward to the great pineapple shirt shenanigans, but it sounds like you have a new plan in the works. Never sailed Star Class, but curious if they make you stop and take a family picture with the big ship background thingy? Any Lone Star beer sightings on the ship? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 8 minutes ago, Va4fam said: Congrats making it to Cruise Day and welcome @TheBoss518. How did you get from the hotel to cruise port.........how far was it? I've heard Jamie's has a great cheeseburger but never saw it on the lunch menu last month, maybe I need to look more closely. Was looking forward to the great pineapple shirt shenanigans, but it sounds like you have a new plan in the works. Never sailed Star Class, but curious if they make you stop and take a family picture with the big ship background thingy? Any Lone Star beer sightings on the ship? Jamie's had a great cheeseburger, it was replaced by the chicken sandwich. Sweety, asquared17, Va4fam and 2 others 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 2 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said: are those bows or shower thingees? Those are loofas!!! Never thought I would want to use things that I would wash my bits and pieces to identify my luggage....hopefully they are new and not....contaminated...... 2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: Curious minds want to know…What’s that? Pasta Carbonara pasta made with eggs....Breakfast Pasta!!! 33 minutes ago, Va4fam said: Congrats making it to Cruise Day and welcome @TheBoss518. How did you get from the hotel to cruise port.........how far was it? Thank you. We have a rental car. It was 3.5 miles from our hotel to the port. About 12 minutes to drive there. Lovetocruise2002, Sweety, Va4fam and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBoss518 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 Took some photos from sail away. Love the view from the balcony, no matter what ship I’m on! Learned a little bit about the ship wreak you can see as you are leaving port, the SS Selma. Was intentional sunk there! I don’t remember seeing it the last time we left from Galveston, but @GregDreminded me that it was foggy, cold and cloudy so we didn’t sit outside for sail away. If you zoom in on the one photo, you will see 2 dolphins! Apparently there are lots of them that like to hang around there, saw over 10 of them. The kids weren’t outside with us and when I told them they missed out, they had real FOMO! Cactus527, Jax, Ampurp85 and 5 others 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 5 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: I love the new chicken sandwich at Jamie's. But I thought the honey was too much for the burrata.......and those aracini are so good Can't wait to try. Ampurp85 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 After sail away, we all had dinner at Coastal Kitchen together. We got to experience the first crack in the genie magic. As we walked in, Berty was there to meet us and brought us to a table for 4. We had made plans with him to have a table for 8 for all of us. He quickly admitted that he completely forgot Thankfully there was a table for 8 all ready to go, so it was no big deal. Amazingly, we have discovered that the genies are human too! We all tucked in for a very nice and enjoyable meal. Appetizers consisted of the Buratta Salad, shrimp cocktail, escargot, caesar salads. I failed as a blogger since I didn't manage to get pictures of everything, but I assume everyone knows what a caesar salad, shrimp cocktail and escargot look like As you can see in the picture below, I somehow managed to get the smallest fillet at the table....Lydia filled up on bread, so I ate the rest of hers. I also discovered during desert that the espresso martinis are very good! 10 out of 10 highly recommend. I did try to give the creme brûlée the benefit of the doubt.....0 out of 0, would not recommend......again, I make that myself at home, and if I do say so myself, its damn good. For main courses, it was Filet all around. Johnny chose to get the grilled chicken because he is picky about his steak....again my fault..... All in, today was a great start to the cruise. It's nice to sail with friends and share our love of cruising with them. Dan and his wife were happy to find out that all the wine and drinks they had at dinner were covered in the suite lounge happy hour. They typically don't drink too much each day, so this benefit really works out well for them being in a suite. MaryS, Jax, Lovetocruise2002 and 5 others 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 51 minutes ago, Va4fam said: Never sailed Star Class, but curious if they make you stop and take a family picture with the big ship background thingy They asked if we wanted to, we said no, it's not really our thing. We have had pictures done before and weren't happy with them. 52 minutes ago, Va4fam said: Any Lone Star beer sightings on the ship? Not yet, but I have not been looking. I'll do some research and let you know. Sweety and Va4fam 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 44 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: Jamie's had a great cheeseburger, it was replaced by the chicken sandwich. I actually was in the mood for a burger for lunch, but I was happy with that chicken Sammy. It was really good! Sweety and Ampurp85 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 After dinner, we wandered a bit.. @TheBoss518 found the Luis Vuitton shop.....this will probably not end well for my bank account.... We were able to get her away empty handed.....for now..... We came back to the suite to change and get ready for Grease. The star class food coma is already setting in, because we had second dessert waiting for us. I'm gonna gain a million pounds this week..... Sweety, SweetPea, WAAAYTOOO and 7 others 8 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmondFarmer Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 20 minutes ago, GregD said: I'm gonna gain a million pounds this week..... My record is 19 pounds on 7 night sailing. A million is a bit ambitious… Key is starting at a lean base and then say no to nothing. Also somewhat counterintuitively, working out each day stimulates appetite and thirst and results in the ability to consume larger amounts of unhealthy items. good luck SweetPea, Ampurp85, Sweety and 6 others 2 3 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 1 hour ago, GregD said: Those are loofas!!! Never thought I would want to use things that I would wash my bits and pieces to identify my luggage....hopefully they are new and not....contaminated...... i think the best part about your live-blogging is the commentary. sometimes i even wish it wasn’t so painfully accurate/disturbing 8 hours ago, Cactus527 said: Didn't you just pack half the house?!?!?!? HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY NEED MORE STUFF? liSTEN. SOMETIMES. THERE ARE NEEDS. i am only slightly envious of the contraband bags of chips and chocolate truffles!!! jk jk ENJOY!! and happy first night aboard Ampurp85, PPPJJ-GCVAB and Cactus527 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 1 hour ago, asquared17 said: am only slightly envious of the contraband bags of chips and chocolate truffles!!! Wait till you see what we found in the drawers!! we found this in the living room of the suite while unpacking the suitcases!!! Cactus527, MaryS, asquared17 and 7 others 1 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 2 hours ago, AlmondFarmer said: My record is 19 pounds on 7 night sailing. A million is a bit ambitious Challenge accepted!! Cactus527, AlmondFarmer and OCSC Mike 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 Other stray observations. So far everyone seems to be respectful of each other and friendly. Not a lot of pushing and shoving while leaving the theater tonight. People were actually curious and letting rows empty before coming up the aisles themselves. @TheBoss518 did witness some vintage shenanigans as a well lubricated one was dancing her heart out while someone else was trying to hold her up so she wouldn’t fall and break a hip. So far no ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA’s were called so she must have been successful and kept the vintage in her feet. PPPJJ-GCVAB, Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO and 6 others 4 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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