How Much Independence is Too Much? (with a Radiance prelude)

[JohnK6404]

Happy Birthday!!! 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

Happy Birthday @AshleyDillo!  Wishing you many more to celebrate while cruising!   
Yesterday was my son’s 44th!  Ughhh, no idea how that happened…those years just flew by!  It turned into a great day as living in RI brought us about a 92% Eclipse, so all my grandkids were over and all my kids and it was just an awesome day celebrating .   The grands absolutely loved seeing the Eclipse!

[Neesa]

Happy Birthday @AshleyDillo ! Wishing you blessings and joy, today and always 

[Snotarni]

Happy Birthday!!!  Enjoy the adventure!!!

[SweetPea]

Hopefully i didn't miss it, but adding my birthday wishes. Hope it is (was?) !

[AshleyDillo]

7 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Yesterday was my son’s 44th!

My birthday twin to the day and year!

[AshleyDillo]

Here we go again...it's early (5:15am) and Tallahassee International () Airport is hopping.

Only reason I'm early is because I'm checking a bag. My flight boards at 5:45am.

[OCSC Mike]

47 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Only reason I'm early is because I'm checking a bag. My flight boards at 5:45am.

Beats driving in my book but that’s coming from an insomniac who is often up at 5am for no reason. Safe flight.

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

Beats driving in my book but that’s coming from an insomniac who is often up at 5am for no reason. Safe flight.

Driving + parking means it's a money win for me to fly this time around.  I don't need the car to get me between a side to side

Although there are no direct flights home that leave before 3pm..so lots of time to kill next Monday when I get back..made no sense to deal with connections that would get me home even later than the direct flight.

[AshleyDillo]

I have time to kill and it's $32 for rideshare from the airport to the port..or it's a $2.25 Metrorail ride and a $13 rideshare from the station to the port...hmm

There's a bus (trolley) stop at the port (Indy goes out of G) but I have a full size suitcase that I'm not keen on lugging up onto a city bus.

[OCSC Mike]

14 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

I have time to kill and it's $32 for rideshare from the airport to the port..or it's a $2.25 Metrorail ride and a $13 rideshare from the station to the port...hmm

There's a bus (trolley) stop at the port (Indy goes out of G) but I have a full size suitcase that I'm not keen on lugging up onto a city bus.

Don't blame ya for avoiding the trolley but you know I'd already be heading for the Metrorail to save the $16 or whatever.

[AshleyDillo]

I like to take advantage of public transportation whenever I can since it's sorely lacking in Florida. And I like to save money.

If you have a tap to pay credit card or can tap to pay with your phone you don't even need to purchase a ticket at the ticket machines...just tap and enter the turnstyle.

There's only one way out of the Miami Airport station so hop on the first train. The first stop is the transfer point if you're going north, but the port is south so you stay on the orange line towards Dadeland.

 

[AshleyDillo]

The trolley stop is right there at the Metrorail station and it's only a couple steps..but the app said it's 20 mins til the right trolley shows and Miami is not air conditioned while my Lyft is..so Lyft it is.

Good to know for the future, though.

[AshleyDillo]

I was onboard by 11:05..very little waiting.  You MUST spread yourself at least 3 escalator steps apart from the person ahead of you at Terminal G. They scream and berate people who do not follow this rule.

[AshleyDillo]

I tried to pull a @WAAAYTOOO and grab my SeaPass card from my stateroom door, but it wasn't there. I didn't break any rules or go behind any signs that said rooms wouldn't be open until 1pm.  But my room this time is tucked in a little hallway next to the stairs.

[AshleyDillo]

No SeaPass = no Crown Lounge so I just hung out in the public area up on 14 until the room announcements were ready.

I like the location of my room other than it throws me at the aft elevators. Those are always the busier elevators since it's the side of the ship with all the food. Lots of people riding up to go down and filling up the elevators before it gets to deck 10. Fortunately I tend to spend a lot of my time on this ship on decks 11 and 14 which are close enough to be stair friendly. 

 

[AshleyDillo]

To the room...

There are so few rooms in this little loop and it's behind a door so likely to be pretty quiet. The wifi is fast in the room too

From the decor it appears this is a bunch of newer rooms perhaps? It definitely looks different from my last room here:

Got my C&A amenity..

Even the bathroom is a different tone from the last one..

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Lots of people riding up to go down and filling up the elevators before it gets to deck 10. Fortunately I tend to spend a lot of my time on this ship on decks 11 and 14 which are close enough to be stair friendly. 

Pretty sure that was our chosen location on Indy a couple years ago when I was able to move whatever our GTY assignments were... deck 10 aft.

5 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

it's the side of the ship with all the food

Purely coincidence... definitely not the reason why... OK, it was the exact reason why, lol.

[Ampurp85]

I love the little tucked away rooms, they are often quiet. 

[AshleyDillo]

I had to check out Fish & Ships again for quality control. This room is handy for running up/down one flight and grabbing some..or some soft serve..or hitting up WJ for a to-go plate.

The chicken fingers were different this time. The fish they were frying fresh in small batches. It tasted less bland this time too..maybe because it was fresh.

Of course I had dinner 3 hours later. I'm at a 2-top in a row of other 2-tops so I have neighbors to pretend to ignore.  No great people watching to share. 

Now I'm in WJ for second dinner I needed vegetables because the MDR doesn't know what those are.

They are frying donuts up fresh tonight...

Those mugs are labeled as sugar donut with chocolate milk..because everyone likes their milk to sit under a heat lamp.

 

[GregD]

I am super late to this party. The freeloaders have been keeping me so busy I have not been on the blogs for weeks now. This is the perfect time for me to read this blog. @TheBoss518 and I just booked Indy for August. We actually got a casino comp for the cruise. This is our first "free" cruise (we of course paid to upgrade to a suite gty) I feel pretty lucky because the last time we were in the casino was two years ago. I ran the Facebook page for that sailing and ran a slot pull. depite not spending any more money there, we still get offers and this was the first one we have been able to do. 

We are excited because we are leaving the freeloaders home with the grand parents for this one. 

I do have a question for all you  casino pros. When you book a casino comp, do you get the opportunity for royal up bids? We did a suite gty rate because we would be perfectly fine in a jr suite since there aren't big differences in suite benefits moving to a GS. I don't feel like paying an extra 1k per person to book into a GS directly. There are so many rooms open still so fingers crossed we get a magical room assignment by default. I just found out that this cruise is also a Gaming and Anime convention cruise so I cant wait to see all the kids in their cosplay This should make for a fun blog when we go!

[Ampurp85]

@GregD Yes RUB are a casino comp thing, they (the powers that be for RU) don't see what you paid as far as casino comps go. They just know they can possibly earn money on your room.

[GregD]

28 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

@GregD Yes RUB are a casino comp thing, they (the powers that be for RU) don't see what you paid as far as casino comps go. They just know they can possibly earn money on your room.

Perfect! Thanks for the info!!

[OCSC Mike]

9 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

This room is handy for running up/down one flight and grabbing some..or some soft serve..or hitting up WJ for a to-go plate.

Yep, exactly why I liked it.

9 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

Those mugs are labeled as sugar donut with chocolate milk..because everyone likes their milk to sit under a heat lamp.

Warm milk to help you sleep better?

Nice doughnut spread though. That's the one thing I like about the non-Oasis class WJ's... they seem to have more unique, random stuff. Love the design on Wonder and there's always something to eat, but there are less surprises when I check there after MDR. Freshly made churros were pretty good on Mexican night though and they had crepes one night.

[AshleyDillo]

10 hours ago, GregD said:

I do have a question for all you  casino pros. When you book a casino comp, do you get the opportunity for royal up bids? We did a suite gty rate because we would be perfectly fine in a jr suite since there aren't big differences in suite benefits moving to a GS

You will still get a RoyalUp bid offer. What you get to bid on will depend on the category you booked, which in your case doesn't matter.

But on Oasis class for example they will offer bids on a different balcony types if you booked a balcony guarantee even if you've already been assigned a room unofficially (see a muster station listed but still showing GTY) so essentially you could have been assigned a spacious oceanview balcony already and not know, bid on and win a RoyalUp to a regular oceanview balcony, and effectively pay extra for the downgrade.

[AshleyDillo]

I did meet my room steward yesterday. He is a talker. His name is Oscar..he is from Belize and he has done the drive from the US border to Belize and it is beautiful. Oh, and Quiet Riot is his favorite band.

He asked me when I get up in the morning which is new to me. Usually they just tell me they clean once a day and give me their AM and PM hour range.  This time he didn't even mention PM. So now I've committed to relocating from my cabin at 9am daily.  I have to work today, so I will just spend a few hours working with a better view.

[AshleyDillo]

Pre-gaming before work with a Crown Lounge coffee. Scoped out the breakfast snacks..same old usual.

[AshleyDillo]

They are selling the Make A Wish shirts down in the Promenade. $19.50 of the $25 price is donated.

At 11:15am each Sea Day they're doing a walk up the track.

[Cactus527]

1. QUIET RIOT!!!!!! *jams*

2. Gildan shirts are the BEST. I would buy that in a heart beat, especially knowing that most of the cost goes toward Make A Wish. Are you going to do the walk at some point?

[Sweety]

16 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

I had to check out Fish & Ships again for quality control. This room is handy for running up/down one flight and grabbing some..or some soft serve..or hitting up WJ for a to-go plate.

The chicken fingers were different this time. The fish they were frying fresh in small batches. It tasted less bland this time too..maybe because it was fresh.

Of course I had dinner 3 hours later. I'm at a 2-top in a row of other 2-tops so I have neighbors to pretend to ignore.  No great people watching to share. 

Now I'm in WJ for second dinner I needed vegetables because the MDR doesn't know what those are.

They are frying donuts up fresh tonight...

Those mugs are labeled as sugar donut with chocolate milk..because everyone likes their milk to sit under a heat lamp.

 

My great nephews are going to eat all the chicken, fish and shrimp. They are 11-15 years old. They eat like football players already.

[Sweety]

8 minutes ago, Cactus527 said:

1. QUIET RIOT!!!!!! *jams*

2. Gildan shirts are the BEST. I would buy that in a heart beat, especially knowing that most of the cost goes toward Make A Wish. Are you going to do the walk at some point?

As a SPED teacher, I will be buying the shirt and doing the walk.

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, Cactus527 said:

Are you going to do the walk at some point?

Maybe on Sunday since that's the next Sea Day and I don't have to work, so won't feel guilty for having fun.

[AshleyDillo]

I used the Facebook group's slot pull as an excuse to take a break from my work and leave my room. But I got there too late and they had already started so I played a little video poker instead and I'm up $25 for the cruise and have 28 casino points despite not wearing red undergarments 

Since it was 2:30 and I have 5:30 early seating in MDR, of course I went to the WJ before it closes at 3:00. 

They had shrimp pad thai...burger bun for reference.

[AshleyDillo]

Despite dining solo..I can't manage to make it out of the MDR before they start the singing and dancing. Coming 15 mins early doesn't help anything..ughhhh.  I didn't even order an entree this time!

[AshleyDillo]

It was the Macarena. Didn't want to leave you hanging.

[Ampurp85]

OMG, I hate the dancing and singing. And it's always the macarena, where they insist on crowd participation and my service begins to suffer. 

[AshleyDillo]

3 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

OMG, I hate the dancing and singing. And it's always the macarena, where they insist on crowd participation and my service begins to suffer. 

There were these two ladies a couple tables down from me who were alllllll about it. Everyone else scurried away.

[AshleyDillo]

Any other Prime or above casino folks just order a drink from every roaming waiter that walks by to up the chances of actually receiving said drink and then ends up accidentally double fisting or is it just me?

[AshleyDillo]

Proof I got off the ship today!

Then got right back on

My first visit to Grand Turk... I guess it's convenient to have the beach *right* there at the pier, but you have to want to do the beach. There's also a pool at Margaritaville.  They offered some tour the island and snorkel trips and rum tasting excursions but I didn't venture out of the port area so I couldn't tell you what the rest of the place is like.

The water was very pretty and you could see lots of colorful fish by the pier and an occasional ray swim by. I'd imagine snorkeling here would be decent.

This was a replacement stop for Labadee which does not have Effy, Harley Davidson, Ron Jon, or Pirhana Joe's so it's up to you to decide if it's a worthy substitution.

[Sweety]

Like Grand Turk. It's very peaceful.