Milestone "Adventure" on the High Seas

[Lovetocruise2002]

16 minutes ago, Neesa said:

We won't be clingers like @SweetPea met

Can definitely vouch that @Neesa and fam are not clingy lol. 

Love the suite even though it doesn’t look as modern as some of the newer ships. There is something about these older ones (I felt it when we had the RS on Freedom), maybe it’s the width of them, that makes it feel classy. Keep that room in good shape for us. 
 

3 hours ago, Neesa said:

Like a Genie she gave us an app to get in touch with her for anything we need.

Is it WhatsApp? 

[SweetPea]

Windjammer love, windjammer hate.  Underpants: packing them, not packing them, what color underpants to pack for the casino, shenanigans, clip cup crazes, the drink voucher challenge, and now ... clingers

This place is the best!

[Neesa]

@Lovetocruise2002 yes that is the app. 

I'm not doing pictures at dinner because I want to engage with my family with no phone, sorry

Some random stuff, albeit I purchased lunch on the cruise planner and gratuity was included when I received the check to sign the previous amount wasn't reflected anywhere. I usually give a bit more but that was sneaky. My mushroom soup had a sour taste, the rest of lunch was fine. The venue on this ship though for Chops leads a lot to be desired. One and done.

Why are there underwear outside my cabin?

Suite attendant is very nice but lacking in every way, first time maybe? No worries I'll help him along. 

Morning walk was glorious!

Oh who is that on the promenade?

Shhh, I did a morning shout out to the smokey bandit family on the heels of one for kiddo. Next up @TheoneandonlyMICAH where are you??

 

[Neesa]

Oh, as an aside lots of doorbell ringing last night, ugh!!!! But at least all my door magnets are still there. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 minutes ago, Neesa said:

 

@Lovetocruise2002 yes that is the app. 

I actually find this super ironic seeing that they don’t give complimentary wifi for the RS but here, you can reach me through this app

5 minutes ago, Neesa said:

The venue on this ship though for Chops leads a lot to be desired. One and done.

Yikes! I purchased the UDP for that sailing. 
 

6 minutes ago, Neesa said:

Suite attendant is very nice but lacking in every way

Also yikes!

5 minutes ago, Neesa said:

Oh, as an aside lots of doorbell ringing last night, ugh!!!! But at least all my door magnets are still there. 

Can you ask for the doorbell to be disconnected? We have done that before. 

[Neesa]

4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I actually find this super ironic seeing that they don’t give complimentary wifi for the RS but here, you can reach me through this app

Yikes! I purchased the UDP for that sailing. 
 

Also yikes!

Can you ask for the doorbell to be disconnected? We have done that before. 

I asked for the doorbell disconnect he looked at me like a deer in headlights. 

Chops is ......dark and depressing to put it nicely. 

[SweetPea]

55 minutes ago, Neesa said:

Why are there underwear outside my cabin?

Clearly that's a nod to our Live Blog Community, though one could argue they dropped the ball by not going red instead....

[SMOKEY0202]

Isn't ship going into dry dock soon?  Looks like needs some TLC.  I have sailing booked later this year and need to prepare for smaller ship options.....

Does ship seem crowded?

Let us know statistics from Top Tier event 

[smokeybandit]

3 hours ago, SMOKEY0202 said:

Isn't ship going into dry dock soon?  Looks like needs some TLC.  I have sailing booked later this year and need to prepare for smaller ship options.....

Does ship seem crowded?

Let us know statistics from Top Tier event 

Doesn't feel crowded at all. I'm betting it's pushing 4000 on board with a lot of first timers. Top-tier is tomorrow 

[smokeybandit]

I just waited 5 minutes for an elevator.  At 1030am.

 

RC needs to get this fixed as it has only gotten worse.

[Neesa]

True about the elevators, our side has one that been down, just plain not in service. We've been using the stairs a great deal but it is frustrating. 

I got into Chops and took some depressing photos!

Here is the receipt I referenced. If I'm a newbie I'm adding gratuity, thinking there was nothing included. We left an extra 10 but I felt this was fresh. 

Ugh, not one voucher used yet, but soon. 

[ScottD]

That Chops could definitely use a little brightening up and I feel like the doorbell thing should be something a passenger should be able to turn on and off, I mean really how often does someone REALLY need a doorbell?  Sounds like you better get moving on some vouchers!!

[smokeybandit]

Chops is just in such a dark place with no windows.  Last year the suite/Pinnacle breakfast was there. I'm glad they moved it to Giovannis.

 

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 hours ago, Neesa said:

I got into Chops and took some depressing photos!

That is a different location for Chops than what I am used to for sure. Was it only the mushroom soup that was bad, or the meal in general did not taste good?

2 hours ago, Neesa said:

Here is the receipt I referenced. If I'm a newbie I'm adding gratuity, thinking there was nothing included. We left an extra 10 but I felt this was fresh. 

I could be wrong, but I think that is what the SC receipt looks like as well when you go to specialty. I don't think that is new. But agreed, if you were new, and did not pay attention when you bought the UDP that grats was already on, you might not know.

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

I feel like the doorbell thing should be something a passenger should be able to turn on and off,

You should be able to turn them off. On Freedom's RS, our attendant showed us. There is a little switch that you can slide to turn it on/off.

[smokeybandit]

17 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That is a different location for Chops than what I am used to for sure

Oddly situated on the promenade 

[Neesa]

The mushroom soup was the only flop, everything else was Chop's standards. 

The stateroom attendant turned off the doorbell, yay!!

[asquared17]

12 hours ago, Neesa said:

Why are there underwear outside my cabin?

 

11 hours ago, SweetPea said:

Clearly that's a nod to our Live Blog Community, though one could argue they dropped the ball by not going red instead....

oh my gOSH IM DYING

 

someone ask @Sweety because i am relatively certain she has the red undies now and we can probably persuade her to donate them to this cause!!!

 

chops is…. something. i appreciate that they tried to???? lighten it up???? with the lights????

actually i remember chops being very darkness on the edge of town on odyssey when we went; but i also remember being VERY overstimulated on that sailing as it was our first one back post pandemic, and i was immensely grateful for the dark, empty tomb of a restaurant. (seriously. no one was there.) especially since we were constantly fighting for our lives on the esplanade

but maybe i am spoiled by the central park restaurants that have all the ambient and other lights streaming in the windows. 

 

i’m loving that your family makes use of the piano in the cabin what a treat!!!! and so nice to have musically inclined folks i can’t read a single note of music

[Neesa]

Spent the rainy afternoon utilizing this cabin. Hot tub with a book and a Evian, then lounging on that beautiful balcony. 

Room service for lunch, the Cobb Salad was fantastic, the quesidillas were fantastic. We figured why not use the dining area and we did. 

Hid some ducks and found one duck. Found a plastic religious figure, A Jesus hidden. I thought that was wonderful.

Had a great visit with the smokeybandit family, their son is the cutest. Kiddo said he is super cool she could tell by his choice of game on his device. We chatted only a short while in the Suite Lounge as we were going to the show Invitation to Dance. OMG energy for days. BUT so so loud, why?

I took on the MDR tonight. So hubby doesn't enjoy thick cream or buttery sauces because they don't like him. 

The salmon came with a butter sauce and the pasta with a thick white sauce. He asked for the pasta and hold the sauce, no! Then the salmon please hold the sauce, no! Look thats unacceptable so when the head waiter came over and asked if we were happy he got a very kind earful. 

Let's just say we received pasta with no sauce. It should not even have been a thing but it was. It was rectified but kiddo was mortified as she hates when mom complains. I'm not complaining but requesting kindly what I know we are paying for. 

All was fine after that. 

@Lovetocruise2002 pm me please? I can't do it from my phone, but I can respond. 

Sea day again tomorrow.

 

 

[smokeybandit]

Yeah I crashed Neesa's suite lounge party.

Service hadn't been great up there, but from talking to people, that hopefully has been fixed. Not an issue with the server, but the lack of servers.

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, Neesa said:

@Lovetocruise2002 pm me please? I can't do it from my phone, but I can respond.

Lol! I turned off my laptop hours ago. Reading this on my phone now and I cannot PM you either. Will message you tomorrow after church

[SweetPea]

@Neesa, it's just you and Cabosh and kiddo, right?

Don't ask me why i just noticed there are 4 guests on your Chops lunch check

[ScottD]

5 hours ago, SweetPea said:

@Neesa, it's just you and Cabosh and kiddo, right?

Don't ask me why i just noticed there are 4 guests on your Chops lunch check

Maybe they met a clinger who tagged along....

[Neesa]

7 hours ago, SweetPea said:

@Neesa, it's just you and Cabosh and kiddo, right?

Don't ask me why i just noticed there are 4 guests on your Chops lunch check

Just the 3 of us! It was not crowded...at all. Maybe us, 3 parties of 2 and a larger extended family of 6. It was so funny the place was empty and they sat everyone at tables right next to each other. It was like that movie where the theater had 2 people and the second person comes and sits right alongside the first.  So funny! 

@SweetPea they asked how many of us about 3 times and then left the 4th plate service. I thought they usually remove it, I'm glad they left it because we needed the extra napkin anyway. Lol!

 

[Neesa]

I know we discuss the cakes sometimes. We enjoyed this yesterday, and I mean enjoyed. It was very light, much lighter than it looks. Even the icing was light, not that gritty sugar one. Very nice cake. 

Also @smokeybandit is not kidding. We were told the service person is normally a pool person and this is his first sailing in the Suite Lounge, yikes he is getting pummeled. He just can't find his rythum I believe. I'm sure all of us staring at him with wanting eyes is crazy scary, and he needs back up. The back up I saw for a few minutes last night was also deer in headlights. Just not what we are used to in the Suite Lounge. Cabosh just went and got us beverages at one point. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I know the feeling (re: wait staff in the SL).  On Indy now and there is one poor fella working that HH and we finally ended up going to the VCL to get our own wine.  Give these people some help !

[smokeybandit]

The suite server is also helping out the bartender in the viking crown,  too. So really he's being pulled 3 directions. Hopefully that's fixed tonight.

 

I emptied the coffee grounds in the machine this morning.  My contribution to the morning cause is complete.

[Sweety]

10 hours ago, asquared17 said:

 

oh my gOSH IM DYING

 

someone ask @Sweety because i am relatively certain she has the red undies now and we can probably persuade her to donate them to this cause!!!

 

chops is…. something. i appreciate that they tried to???? lighten it up???? with the lights????

actually i remember chops being very darkness on the edge of town on odyssey when we went; but i also remember being VERY overstimulated on that sailing as it was our first one back post pandemic, and i was immensely grateful for the dark, empty tomb of a restaurant. (seriously. no one was there.) especially since we were constantly fighting for our lives on the esplanade

but maybe i am spoiled by the central park restaurants that have all the ambient and other lights streaming in the windows. 

 

i’m loving that your family makes use of the piano in the cabin what a treat!!!! and so nice to have musically inclined folks i can’t read a single note of music

I need all my undies to get to prime.

[Sweety]

16 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I know the feeling (re: wait staff in the SL).  On Indy now and there is one poor fella working that HH and we finally ended up going to the VCL to get our own wine.  Give these people some help !

I will be on Indy tomorrow. How's the casino? I have a goal.

[Neesa]

Oh, @Sweety, my casino misses, you reminded me. I've been there 4 separate times now. I go to the drums as in dancing I put my card in and the thing calls for service. No one comes, I look for someone no eye contact anywhere. I went this morning, and once again, nothing. I'm doing something wrong for sure. That's it! I need to sail with @Ampurp85 so she can teach me! 

[Neesa]

I'm not sure if it's just my hormones but the ship itself seems really warm. I walk every morning and even inside I'm breaking a sweat, not normal I'm no power walker.

FYI I checked the MDR on deck 5, the report was correct all very large tables set up there. So that answered my burning question. 

[smokeybandit]

The ship indeed feels warmer in the upper decks. Tough to keep it cool I guess with the deck 11/12 doors always open

[SweetPea]

1 hour ago, Neesa said:

I'm not sure if it's just my hormones but the ship itself seems really warm.

Worst ever. I can relate! 

[smokeybandit]

Top-tier event now starting.  Maybe 100 people here.  Very low turnout 

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, Sweety said:

I will be on Indy tomorrow. How's the casino? I have a goal.

CROWDED !!!

Both Dan and I are "up" overall on the last day so I can say that the machines have been fairly good to us.  I sucked the first 2 days but we made everything back on days 3 and so far, day 4.  Dan will most likely get a cert.  I definitely will NOT as I have very few points.

There are a bunch of Dancing Drum machines but only one of the pig machines that we like (Piggy Burst, I think it's called).  We got up early this morning and headed for the pigs b/c that machine is busy the ENTIRE time the casino is open.  We got on early, doubled our money and went to breakfast !

Have a GREAT time.  We've had an awesome cruise, even for a shorty.

@Neesa, apologize for the sidetrack !

[smokeybandit]

3910 on board. Nearly maxing out every berth.

[Ampurp85]

@Neesa I think you are pulling a "my mother" faux pas. She kep leaning on the machines and saying they dont work. Dancing drums is super sensitive, if you lean too hard in any direction the service button will get hit and you can't do anything. Next time just put your seapass in and lean back. Wait for it to turn green, put in birthday mm/dd and reset pin. Then access your freeplay and make it to Prime

But also it's a lot of newbies on that sailing, hardly any upper tiers. It also sucks there isn't more help in the SL. The CL on Freedom only had one server, he was also making the drinks but he was fast.

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

It also sucks there isn't more help in the SL. Tm

A few of us talked to the concierge last night and she said she already raised it with the bar dept.  It'll help that one of the people expressing concern at the same time also is #2 top tier on this cruise.

[Neesa]

Oh no, I'm channeling @Ampurp85 mom! How funny, okay I will get on it again! 

Just stopped at the Solarium, not a chair anywhere, people soup and bodies everywhere. Stopping at the SL for some cookies and back to our balcony. 

@smokeybandit great picture at the members event, I took some but yours was so much better, thanks so much!

Duck story time! I walk early in the morning and I hide the ducks, I only have 4 left! I saw 2 little ones digging in a plant, I mean digging! They were cute but digging, so as I walked by I tossed one of my ducks into that plant, they were so happy. Jumping and screaming, " mom she threw a duck at us" yikes, pointing at me as now my big butt is waddling at an rapid pace. No good deed, I didn't throw it at them, I tossed it in their direction, gees.

Edited June 9 by Neesa

[Ampurp85]

Omg that's so cute, the tiny smalls got" thrown" a duck for all their digging

[SweetPea]

12 minutes ago, Neesa said:

Jumping and screaming, " mom she threw a duck at us" yikes, pointing at me as now my big butt is waddling at an rapid pace. No good deed, I didn't throw it at them, I tossed it in their direction, gees.

The language of kids ... There was a time or two i thought my nephew was going to get CPS called on me because be misjudged his semantics. Wildly. 

We didn't bring any ducks this time, but i should've brought at least 2, and they would've been low effort. Someone had a handwritten sign on their door asking to please leave a duck. We passed it everyday, and no one ever did and their messages grew a bit more desperate by the day. It would've been a low cost way to bring someone joy. And then our stateroom host told us the family next door was looking for one for one of their kids so if we found any we weren't planning to keep, could we please we let him know so he could surprise the child. Now i just felt like a scrooge not bringing any!