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Adventure 5 Nights 5/5/18 Repositioning San Juan to Bayonne


twangster

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Day 5 - Afternoon

I found the ice cream station on the pool deck, forward, port side:

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It had rained a good part of the day and the water was a little choppy but the ship handled it well.  Late afternoon that changed.  The water become calm and fog moved in.

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They added a few watch officers to the bridge wings and the fog horn sounded every two minutes.  Our speed dropped to single digits.

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I attended another show in the main theater with the Royal Caribbean dancers but I missed the juggler.  Since I had only a small carry on bag I didn't pack until morning which came awfully quickly.  I awoke to a foggy NY harbor.

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Lady Liberty in the distance as we backed into the slip at Cape Liberty.

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Despite the fog we arrived on time.  Shortly after 6am I headed downstairs to the theater and the self assist area.

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The theater upper level filled up and it was pretty crowded.  Around 6:45am they started letting us off.  I thought I was doing well and had only a brief wait for a customs officer.  Unfortunately someone with my name apparently has a protection order against them and it 'won' me a trip into secondary screening.  After 10 minutes they cleared me and let me exit.

By this time the ride sharing waiting area was pretty busy with a lot of people hailing rides.  I had to wait just under 20 minutes for my Lyft to show up.  Both Uber and Lyft were showing ~$21 to Newark airport. 

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At 8am I was in the security line at EWR where they had one agent checking ID and one screening lane open for all passengers - so much for Pre.  35 minutes later I was in the Sky Club eating breakfast.

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2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This could ONLY happen to you...

Actually I just got finished with another dude with the same name who was wanted (arrest warrant).  For a couple years every time I crossed a border they would start to look me over with interest until I pointed out he was African-American and I'm not, something one agent let slip early on.  

Maybe it's the same guy but now he has a protection order filed on him.  Minor inconvenience that only takes a few minutes to research.  Not a lot I can do about it.  

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4 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Awesome blog as always, @twangster. ??? Looks like the Moment lenses worked out pretty well for you, a lot of those shots were spectacular!

I missed my Nikon.  The Moment lenses are fine but a phone camera struggles in low light.  I didn't post a lot of photos that were just too grainy.  

The filter holder works well too but I found it hard to use a CPL because the phone screen is hard to see in daylight.  You can see well enough to frame a shot but it's too hard to see detail to judge the CPL adjustment required.  

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12 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Group cruises never happen when I can actually go so more favourable to staying hidden.  You guys are welcome to come find me.  You know where I'll be until March 2020 ?  I already told @Floski and @Skid that it would make for a very interesting live blog.

I know where I will be in March of 2020, 11 night South Pacific cruise.

Where will you be?

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Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:

I'll be home eating beans and ramen noodles.  My next Star Class cruise is in Feb. 2020 so I will be broke for a while after that....

Understand that, I have three lined up in a row that are all about the same price...

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Outstanding review!!  You sure did get a lot more ship pictures than I did this cruise.  It's funny, in all the cruises I've never had "people" in my shots.  But this cruise I have more of those than the ship!  Special thanks to taking all the quest shots on my camera too.  And no, I didn't know I had the bra upside down! hahahah!!  It was so great meeting you, until next time! 

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On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 5:15 PM, twangster said:

You can see where they placed the new deck 12 cabins in the panoramic ocean view cabins.  The jogging track was re-routed around the solarium open ceiling and you can see the color difference where the new jogging track meets the old jogging track.

 

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The view of the solarium from St Tropez.

personally I think the st tropez is a waste of space, I'm very surprised they haven't put another speciality restaurant on the front like a hooked maybe????

 

lots of chairs for sunbathing though

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3 minutes ago, J_Keeble said:

personally I think the st tropez is a waste of space, I'm very surprised they haven't put another speciality restaurant on the front like a hooked maybe????

lots of chairs for sunbathing though

It's a nice quiet place to get sun.  Around the pool area you had better like what ever music they are playing, or the belly flop contest, etc.  St. Tropez is a great place to take a nap in the sun if that's your thing or just enjoy the sun absent of thump thump thump music.  

Each specialty restaurant needs its own support kitchen so it's a fair amount of work to  place a restaurant anywhere on the ship.  

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1 hour ago, J_Keeble said:

personally I think the st tropez is a waste of space, I'm very surprised they haven't put another speciality restaurant on the front like a hooked maybe????

 

lots of chairs for sunbathing though

 

1 hour ago, twangster said:

It's a nice quiet place to get sun.  Around the pool area you had better like what ever music they are playing, or the belly flop contest, etc.  St. Tropez is a great place to take a nap in the sun if that's your thing or just enjoy the sun absent of thump thump thump music.  

Each specialty restaurant needs its own support kitchen so it's a fair amount of work to  place a restaurant anywhere on the ship.  

This is my wife's and my favorite spot if the Solarium is completely booked solid. My wife can get shade and I can lay in the sun and read my book. I agree with @twangster, just a nice quite area to escape to. On Liberty they moved the miniature golf course up to this level so there is a little bit more activity.

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  • 2 weeks later...

@twangster, meant to ask once this was over -- How did you find the experience of using just your iPhone and the Moment lenses for all your photography? I know you like to take a lot of night shots and photos in more dimly lit areas, but the ones you posted here still seemed pretty good for being on the phone. Do you think that going forward you'll just stick with the phone and leave the big camera behind, or is there still too much of a gap with the kind of photos you like to take for that to be reasonable?

Lord knows phone cameras have come a long way in the last 10 years. But I can totally see where having the larger camera bodies with much bigger sensors and support for a variety of lenses is still going to be a necessity for quite some time, especially for those gorgeous night shots and photos of performers on stage.

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2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

@twangster, meant to ask once this was over -- How did you find the experience of using just your iPhone and the Moment lenses for all your photography? I know you like to take a lot of night shots and photos in more dimly lit areas, but the ones you posted here still seemed pretty good for being on the phone. Do you think that going forward you'll just stick with the phone and leave the big camera behind, or is there still too much of a gap with the kind of photos you like to take for that to be reasonable?

Lord knows phone cameras have come a long way in the last 10 years. But I can totally see where having the larger camera bodies with much bigger sensors and support for a variety of lenses is still going to be a necessity for quite some time, especially for those gorgeous night shots and photos of performers on stage.

While I enjoyed traveling light I missed the quality that comes with a better camera.  I felt very limited and "threw away" a lot of pictures I wouldn't post on the blog.  Even some that I did post were marginally acceptable and as i look at them I find myself saying "that would be such a better photo with my real camera".  

I'm keeping the Moment lenses and I'll take them on excursions or to places I can't or won't bring my Nikon but I won't cruise again without it.

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