OCSC Mike Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 Been busy with my own cruise & blog but will follow more closely when we’re sadly back home Sunday. Safe travels! jbrinkm, PPPJJ-GCVAB, Cactus527 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 20 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said: What makes you think there is no sales pitch ? The first thing that popped into my mind was, “…timeshare…”. It didn't occur to me that they were selling cruise time shares. Or time shares on a cruise. I mean ... i might be open to buying a cruise time share I do hope @jbrinkm's mom reports back and gives us the juicy deets! Cactus527, jbrinkm and Neesa 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 48 minutes ago, SweetPea said: It didn't occur to me that they were selling cruise time shares. Or time shares on a cruise. I mean ... i might be open to buying a cruise time share I do hope @jbrinkm's mom reports back and gives us the juicy deets! Oops....I guess I misunderstood. I thought they were talking about the hotel where she stayed pre-cruise. I'll shut up now... Jax, PPPJJ-GCVAB, SweetPea and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 22 Author Report Share Posted March 22 1 hour ago, SweetPea said: do hope @jbrinkm's mom reports back and gives us the juicy deets! I'll definitely report back! I'm super curious myself. Neesa, PPPJJ-GCVAB and Cactus527 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 22 Author Report Share Posted March 22 Not too bad (luggage) for four adult-sized people! We each got the bulk of our clothes into a small suitcase and then put overflow, shoes, toiletries and all the cruise specific stuff into the larger two. And we each have a backpack for the airplane. Pancake definitely does NOT want us to leave without her. SweetPea, Jax, WAAAYTOOO and 10 others 3 3 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 i like how all the luggage matches Cactus527, jbrinkm, Neesa and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 23 Author Report Share Posted March 23 Zipped right to Newark Airport. Horrible accident & backup going the other way, we could see all of the feeders also completely at a stand still. Terminal A has been redone really well since we were here last. Raining badly in Fort Lauderdale. Flight had turbulence - we ended up flying over the ocean to go around some of it. FLL airport traffic was a disaster, but we somehow got really lucky and caught the shuttle right away. Homewood Suites Airport/Cruise location. We didn't need fancy- we got here late and leave after breakfast. Hotel is ok. Some wear and tear, short staffed, etc. We are a little tight on space but made it work. @Lovetocruise2002 I figured out the collage feature!! (Please ignore our junk everywhere, kids were tired so we got stuff pulled out before I snapped pics.) Neesa, MaryS, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 It’s here!!! Cruise Day! Neesa, jbrinkm and Cactus527 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorCruiser Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Congrats!! jbrinkm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Your Goldens seal the deal! Mine would probably love to meet your "pups"! Cruise Day !!! PPPJJ-GCVAB, FionaMG, Neesa and 6 others 3 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 ITS CRUISE DAYYYYYYY!!! and terminal A at EWR is BRAND NEW how fancy is it!!!! i LOVE it. i feel like im going back in time when i go out of C now i would tag in @SweetPea but… she doesn’t fly to cruise MaryS, Neesa, SweetPea and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Happy cruise day I guess my brain is scrambled because I was like how is it cruise day???? This is an 8n sailing . jbrinkm, Neesa and Cactus527 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said: Happy cruise day I guess my brain is scrambled because I was like how is it cruise day???? This is an 8n sailing . That extra night makes ALL the difference. Neesa, jbrinkm, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 3 others 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 I'm so glad you flew yesterday! As @asquared17 can attest our weather is all kinda of NASTY today! And, A, you're right. I haven't flown in so long, i had no idea that Terminal A was brand spanking new! I think our last flight was 2019 to Orlando! asquared17, jbrinkm and Neesa 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, SweetPea said: I'm so glad you flew yesterday! As @asquared17 can attest our weather is all kinda of NASTY today! we flew in at midnight today and it’s just miz outside. i’m glad we made it in before the weather but ugh what a welcome home. 1 hour ago, SweetPea said: I haven't flown in so long, i had no idea that Terminal A was brand spanking new! ITS SO NICE. perhaps worth a flight someday WAAAYTOOO, Ampurp85 and SweetPea 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 23 Author Report Share Posted March 23 Ok, we are on the ship. It has been a day! In addition to the horrible weather mentioned in @OCSC Mike and @GatorCruiser's blog, there was a VIP & Secret Service shut down of the port from 11am-noon. Traffic came to a grinding halt. For. An. Hour. My parents made it in just before and said nothing was moving and all baggage attendants were just sitting around with nothing to do. We were stuck in our Uber. The poor Uber driver had to just sit with us for that whole time. We tipped him well! I'll do a series of short posts as I'm able to try to recap our day. I don't plan on posting our MDR dinner options - I figure the menu has been the same for a year and people have probably seen all of the options by now. We did have lunch at Jamie's so I've got those (y'all are going to be so sick of my new toy - the collage!) Appys Mains Desserts (we all shared): Ampurp85, SweetPea, Cactus527 and 9 others 8 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 23 Author Report Share Posted March 23 We pulled up just after noon and were checked in and to Jamie's by 12:33 for our 12:30 reservation. It was packed and loud in there because no one could sit outside. Central Park was extremely slippery and we saw one girl wipe out leaving the restaurant. And then we scrambled- did our Muster station (very long line!), got our Freestyle cups, got our Voom working, came to our rooms and started to unpack which also included running back and forth from room to room to give and take things. We brought a pop up hamper for my parents and hand soap. They had our wine and allergy meds my son ran out of. We had a bunch of stuff for our kids and balcony wasn't opened yet. We decorated our doors too! We were supposed to do the pickleball lesson but they cancelled it due to weather so we switched to night 6. It was also the day we reserved laser tag so I had to switch times and luckily there were still spots available later the same night. Also we bought birthday package for my daughter (but haven't eaten the chocolate cake yet @Ampurp85) SweetPea, Neesa, Lovetocruise2002 and 9 others 5 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 23 Author Report Share Posted March 23 Our wonderful TA from MEI, Jennifer, gave us and my parents a bottle of wine and a cheese and fruit plate. She gave the kids some cupcakes. So we are stuffed from two meals in the last 5 hours, and we have a whole cake, cupcakes, and cheese/fruit plates in our rooms. We need an @OCSC Mike in our bathtub to help us eat it all. Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO, FionaMG and 10 others 4 6 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 10 hours ago, JohnK6404 said: Your Goldens seal the deal! Mine would probably love to meet your "pups"! Aren't they the best JohnK6404 and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 Oh, and we had to get my dad to download the app, create a Royal account and install Whatsapp. SweetPea, MaryS, Cactus527 and 3 others 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorCruiser Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 Love the pics so far. Can’t wait to follow y’all on symphony. Ampurp85 and PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 I'm so glad you made it safely. Let me know about the cake. Everyone looks soon happy in the photos. I wantJamie's arrabiata now. Neesa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 Yay, cruise day! Though being stuck in an Uber for a hour sounds awful. I've been stuck by VIP/POTUS stuff before, but it was at an airport and we just had to sit on the airplane. Luckily, from where we were on the plane, we could watch Air Force 1 take off. THAT was cool. Looking forward to more awesome photos! The coffee bean C&A logo is pretty sweet. jbrinkm and PPPJJ-GCVAB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 What a day! Have an amazing time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 CUP CLIP this trip has gotten off to a trafficky start BUT thing all appear to be moving along for the best!!!!! hope y’all had a great nights sleep and are staring out at the gorgeous blue open sea this morning Ampurp85, SweetPea, Neesa and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 14 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: . I wantJamie's arrabiata now It was soooo good Ampurp85 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 13 hours ago, Cactus527 said: Though being stuck in an Uber for a hour sounds awful. The poor guy was clearly stressed but there was literally no alternative. The app did increase our fare with the traffic so hopefully he didn't lose too much revenue, plus as I mentioned, we tipped him a lot more than we would have. Cactus527 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 I have a story about our MDR experience last night but I need to snap a pic to go with it so I'll come back to it. My daughter was super interested in the belly flop so we're standing out here but I want to do Zumba so I'll only be here for about 15 minutes. If you read my blog last year, you know my husband likes to dress up on cruises and also get my son to dress up. These are the watches he brought this year: Sunset and ship friends sailing near Ampurp85, Neesa, JohnK6404 and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 We went to HiRO last night. I'm not sure how I feel about this show. There were parts I really enjoyed and parts that were a little boring. Does it have a story line? The only other aqua show I've experienced was Ocean Aria on Allure which had a lot more diving but not as much of the tightrope. The "walking" was pretty cool. JohnK6404, Neesa, Lovetocruise2002 and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 Two years ago, my son left Mamma Mia early and went back to the room and then locked himself out. We all had our phones on silent for the show so he just wandered around and messaged us that he was a "stray Theo." Current status of our WhatsApp chat: Jax, Ampurp85, SweetPea and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 Lunch at WJ, nothing special, but here is some dessert I tasted. They had a very small gluten free section and a real ice cream station. I could have done what @OCSC Mike's wife did to make a chipwich but I didn't want that much. The pudding had fruit mixed in which was delicious- I finished that but just had a few bites of the others. I got these little magnetic guys and I'm going to put one more out each morning and cross my fingers they don't get stolen. Flyers colors @ScottD! We got each of the kids a drink at the Bionic bar which they enjoyed. We found these scrabble pieces in our hallway. I wrote, The Eel is SUS Watched a little belly flop then did a really fun Zumba class in the promenade. He was calling EVERYONE in to the dancing. Then he told us all to go shower They don't seem to be offering the flash mob. I'm disappointed. SweetPea, OCSC Mike, JohnK6404 and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 14 minutes ago, jbrinkm said: We went to HiRO last night. I'm not sure how I feel about this show. There were parts I really enjoyed and parts that were a little boring. Does it have a story line? The only other aqua show I've experienced was Ocean Aria on Allure which had a lot more diving but not as much of the tightrope. The "walking" was pretty cool. Hiro is the only one I haven't seen besides Icon (Symphony is blocking my Oasis class bingo card) but I feel each aqua show has a little more of something and a little less of something else. For example, InTENse on Wonder is lacking in diving and heavy in dancing (I guess that's what I'd call it). Jax, SweetPea and Neesa 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 These rooms are really well designed and it is clear that this is a newer ship than Allure. We're off to mini golf and the dry slide. Oh, and my husband created a WhatsApp group for the "Morning People" - my mom, my daughter and him, so I created one called "Party Animals Up All Night" for my son, my Dad and me. DoomSlayer, PPPJJ-GCVAB, Neesa and 8 others 1 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 16 minutes ago, jbrinkm said: so I created one called "Party Animals Up All Night" for my son, my Dad and me. Hehe! That's the one i would be on! Jax, Neesa and jbrinkm 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 53 minutes ago, jbrinkm said: We went to HiRO last night. I'm not sure how I feel about this show. There were parts I really enjoyed and parts that were a little boring. Does it have a story line? We actually love Hiro! I don’t think there is a story line but the show has great energy! Having seen them all, Hiro for sure is in our top 3 favourite Aqua shows. PPPJJ-GCVAB, Neesa, jbrinkm and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 So we went to go to dinner last night in the MDR and on the way down, we looked at our table number. With the huge embarkation delay and running around all afternoon, we hadn't stopped to check before. We have all been linked since we booked, but somehow we were all assigned to different tables! The kids were on a different floor!! The manager fixed it for us and found three two tops to push together and we ended up by the window so we ended up with a really nice table, but we still can't understand how that happened. WAAAYTOOO, PPPJJ-GCVAB, Ampurp85 and 8 others 3 1 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 40 minutes ago, jbrinkm said: we ended up by the window so we ended up with a really nice table, but we still can't understand how that happened. I wouldn't even try to figure it out. Glad they took care of it and you wound up with a good table! jbrinkm and Neesa 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 Mini golf was fun but hot, and I screamed the whole way down the Ultimate Abyss. Much faster and darker than I expected. Cute towel animal, and next to it was a note saying to return luggage that is not yours. Crepes in WJ tonight! And I love this stairwell landing. SweetPea, WAAAYTOOO, Jax and 7 others 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 Oh, I forgot to say, we sat on the deck late last night and nibbled at the cheese & crackers, the cake and the cupcakes. The chocolate cake was pretty good @Ampurp85! It was moist, which I find many of Royals' cakes are not. It had chocolate decorations on top too which added even more flavor. I wouldn't say it is the best cake I've ever had but it was better than most of the included cake on the ship. (I did not care much for the vanilla cupcakes - they were a bit bland). Neesa, SweetPea, MaryS and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 Went to comedy tonight. Decently funny - it was Lester Briggs & Brad Mastrangelo. Thought about going to Battle of the Sexes but decided to just get ready for bed since we have Falmouth tomorrow and a morning excursion. PPPJJ-GCVAB, MaryS, SweetPea and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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