Hi Blog readers, it’s time for another Live Blog from Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Harmony of the Seas. I know, you must be thinking we already read the live blog preview for Harmony? Well for the first time in Royal Caribbean Blog’s history, we will have two live blogs on the very same ship in action.

Matt and Michael on board together sharing our experiences from completely different views, and doing different things. 

The Cruise

This cruise is a special 2 night sailings that Royal Caribbean invites travel agents, media, contest winners (Ticket to Adventure), and top tier members from their Crown & Anchor society.

On this sailing they will have some special events taking place to help promote the ship. The main event-taking place Thursday afternoon is the naming ceremony. If you recall a few weeks ago Royal Caribbean hosted a contest to name the new Godmother of Harmony of the Seas. I have watched these events take place over the years, but it will be my first time to experience it live. 

A week ago, Royal Caribbean announced another contest “Friendsgiving Celebration” with a live performance by DNCE. The band will be hosting a concert on board, so you never know what you might see when I go live on Periscope. I am hopeful they preform in the Aqua Theater, and I’ll enjoy it from Sabor. 

Stateroom 

For only my second time ever, I’ll be sailing in a deck 14 Central Park balcony cabin. My last time was in 2011 on Allure of the Seas.

Personally, I enjoy the boardwalk balcony cabins better. The only reason I prefer one to the other, is because you have a view of the ocean and the boardwalk. With that being said, I’m sailing with my girlfriend, so I’m really excited for her to experience the central park balcony cabins. 

Itinerary 

This cruise is only 2 days, so you might be surprised to see we do have a stop planned. On Friday, we will dock in Nassau, Bahamas from 12-6. I was here a month ago, so I likely won’t get off the ship and continue to enjoy the ship. I might get off to just take pictures from the pier and jump right back on board. 

Top 3 things I’m looking forward to 

 3. Bionic Bar 

 When Quantum of the Seas came out she was the first ship at sea with robot bartenders. Ever since then I’ve been very curious about the experience and taste of those cocktails. I’ve heard mixed feelings about removing the Champagne bar from the Harmony of the Seas to make room for Bionic Bar. However, I welcome the change and really excited to finally be able to see it in person. 

 2. The Fine Line 

 Generally when I cruise I don’t see any shows unless I’m on an Oasis Class ship, because you just can’t miss those. My all-time favorite show I’ve seen is on Oasis of the Seas – Oasis of Dream’s Aqua show. I really enjoy the story line and the divers in the Aqua Theater. So I’ve made reservations to see The Fine Line Aqua show night 1, and I can’t wait! 

 1. The Ultimate Abyss 

 The biggest change and most noticeable when you look at Harmony of the Seas is the new Ultimate Abyss 10 story slide. Sure other cruise lines have slides on their ships, but none of them have one that’s 10 stories down. I can actually picture myself now on deck 16, taking it down to deck 6 for Sabor. Do you plan on trying this slide? 

Well friends next time I join you, I’ll be on board Harmony of the Seas sharing my short journey with you. If you have any questions please feel free to comment below and I’ll jump in and respond. Do you have any cruises booked on Harmony of the Seas?

Today is our third and final day on board the Enchantment of the Seas. The only negative thing I have to say about this cruise is that’s it’s too short!

We are docked in Nassau, Bahamas today from 8AM – 5PM.

We tried ordering room service but kept getting put on hold so we decided to eat at Chops Grill for breakfast.

On Enchantment of the Seas if you are Diamond Plus or staying in a suite, you have a perk of having free breakfast in Chops. The options are like the dining room, but you have outstanding service and not very busy either. I had the ham and cheese omelet and it was much larger than the one I had yesterday from room service. 

Nassau, Bahamas 

We got off the ship around 9AM, and headed to the Queen’s Staircase.

As you are well aware Hurricane Mathew hit the Bahamas very hard this week. First, my thoughts and prayers go out to Nassau as they have quite a recovery to go through. The island looks very bad in a few areas; I saw a lot of trees down everywhere, power lines down, and rooftops down.

Once we arrived to the Queen’s Staircase, I could not believe the condition it was in. If you recall from my last Enchantment of the Seas live blog in February, it was so beautiful. They had trees down everywhere and you were walking through branches.

My experience here did not matter at this point, it was just sad to see it first person.

Once we left our plan was to visit my favorite rum stop, John Watling’s distillery. Halfway there we saw so much storm damage we just could not do it anymore, it was so upsetting to see we turned around for the straw market. The island has been closed for almost a week, so people were extremely aggressive for sales. 

My friends have been telling me about a craft brewery here in Nassau for sometime, so I decided to check it out. The pub is called Pirate Republic and it’s the first thing you see coming off the ship if you head to Senor Frogs direction.

The pub is very cool for those looking for a relaxing spot, and they offer free wifi (with purchase of something). I went with their beer flight, which was $8, and their beer was outstanding. The service was also very good; the staff talked to you and wanted to know about our home life.

Around 1PM we decided to head back to the ship and enjoy one last pool day. 

Afternoon on board 

We headed to the Windjammer for lunch and I got the basic fish and rice. The ship was pretty empty as most everyone was still in Nassau.

Shortly after we ate we enjoyed a few hours on the pool deck. I had wish they had live music playing, but I understand why they don’t since it was pretty empty.

This is when I noticed Empress of the Seas was docked in Nassau too. She was hiding beside another cruise ship and I couldn’t see her.

I did notice they were not asking for our Sea Pass cards on this cruise when you needed pool towel. This policy seems to vary from ship to ship, but it’s mostly to prevent you from leaving the towels all over over the pool deck. 

Evening 

Tonight we enjoyed some live music in the centrum and I really enjoyed it. The last two nights I’ve been kind of disappointed with entertainment, but it was great tonight.

Around 7:30PM we were getting hungry, so off to the main dining room. We had My Time Dining and made reservations for 8:45pm each evening, but we were seated with no problem.

We left one glass worth of wine in the bottle on the first night, and our waiter brought it over to our table tonight. Dinner tonight was a unique dinner options that I hadn’t seen before. I had short rib and a small cut of filet.

Hillary went with a tomato based pasta, which was very plain tasting. The waiter noticed she didn’t like her meal and wanted to bring her something else. They really want you to have a great experience, so if you ever get something you don’t love ask them to change it. 

After dinner, Hillary watched the Presidential debate in our cabin and I went to the Quest. I was 20 minutes late to the quest, dang it if I would just read my Cruise Compass. The game was fun and very adult themed game show as usual.

After the Quest I was walking out through the Schooner Bar and the bartender called me over by name and said grab a seat. I love how the crew really gets to know you in just a short time of 3 days, it’s quite hard to believe how they remember it all. 

Well friends, this ends my 3-night live blog on Enchantment of the Seas. I want to thank you for coming along with me this weekend. It was my 8th time sailing on this ship and the memories just keep building. 

 Random Thoughts:

• Voom worked very well, kept you logged in at all times. Struggles a little on the top pool deck.
• No checking out pool towels
• Octoberfest beer offered at $8, but won’t work with any drink package nor is their a discount.
• Saw beer bucket specials “buy 4 beers get 1 free”
• The crew seem very happy and always smiled.
• The Diamond lounge is open until 9PM for happy hour.
• Park Café no longer serves Roast Beef, just pizza, pre-made sandwhiches and salads. 

 See you next month for my next live blog on Majesty of the Seas!

Today was our missed Coco Cay day, which is now a sea day. I didn’t really mind spending a fun day around the ship, because it is my favorite ship after all. I woke up at 5:30AM and thought let’s get this day started.

I headed up to the Diamond Lounge for some coffee and relaxing morning. I was so early they didn’t even have any of the pastries out. After relaxing for a while I decided I’d head out to the pool deck to enjoy the sunrise. This might have been the best sunrise I’ve ever seen; I can’t even describe how perfect it was. 

For breakfast we had room service on our balcony, which has become a tradition of ours. One of the perks of a suite is an upgraded room service breakfast menu. Very similar to the menu you would find in the dining room for breakfast. I had a ham and cheese omelet and no less than two pounds of bacon. 

After breakfast we headed to the pool deck, we got worried at first because all the pools were closed. Shortly, after being there the staff opened them both up as guest started to arrive. I’ve always noticed on Enchantment no matter when you try to get a pool chair it’s no problem. This is the one ship that I can think of that there is no rush trying to get up there for a prime location chair. 

For lunch, we had my favorite Park Café which is located in the back of the centrum.

For all those roast beef lovers out there (like myself) they no longer serve any at Park Cafe. So when I need my kummelweck fix I suppose I’ll be doing Oasis class. I did ask why they no longer offer it and they said due to customer feedback requesting pizza. That left me with having a salad, which was quite good, and a nice non-heavy lunch for pool time.

Shortly after lunch we both decided to take a nap, I know… what’s happening to me and my cruise styles? 

Evening on board 

Tonight was formal night, but I only saw one person wearing a suit and tie.

Often on these shorter cruises their formal evenings are not what you would find on a 7+ day cruise. I can’t really say much for myself since I was in shorts, as I forgot to pack any pants. The Crown & Anchor top tier party was combined with the captain’s reception.

They don’t usually do it this way but due to the low guest count of 1,700 only 400 are members of C&A. They have reported around 700+ people didn’t make the cruise due to the hurricane. 

We lounged in the Diamond lounge a bit to enjoy some pre-dinner snacks. They had cheese, rolls, egg rolls, and fried shrimp. I also noticed we were the only ones in the lounge and we stayed a little over an hour. 

Dinner tonight was in Chops Grill, if you are still taking notes I’m wearing shorts in Chops. I went earlier today explaining what happen, and they said no problem. The cover charge here is $35 per person, but we used our Crown and Anchor coupon for Diamond Plus members, where it’s a BOGO cover charge.

The service tonight was outstanding, our waiter was having fun with us and making us laugh all night.

For starters I had shrimp cocktail and mushroom soup.

I went with the NY Strip over the filet. I had this on my Empress of the Seas sailing last month and loved it, so I decided to give it another try. I am happy to report, I ate every bite! Just a really fun dinner, and the staff made it so much more enjoyable. 

After dinner we were really tired but I said lets at least go to the pool deck dancing under the stars party. Well there wasn’t much of a party at 11PM, so we called it day. 

Tomorrow we are in Nassau, Bahamas so I’ll be sure to report our full adventure there and the condition post hurricane.

Due to Hurricane Mathew, our cruise was delayed back into the Port of Miami. I received a text and email last night around 6:00PM advising us not to arrive to the port tomorrow until 5:00pm. Since we live in Tampa, Florida, that just means more sleep for us before we head to the port. 

We arrived to the port at 2:00PM and I noticed people were still coming off the ship, so we decided to come back at 3:45PM. Once we arrive it was actually quite empty with zero lines and boarding had already started. 

Afternoon on board 

We are jumping to afternoon already since it’s 4:00PM, but we headed straight to the pool deck to enjoy our first round of drinks. The ship felt empty as most people were waiting until 5PM to board.

I took my girlfriend, Hillary, to the two lounges available on Enchantment of the Seas for Diamond Plus members – Diamond Lounge and Concierge Lounge.

These two are beside each other and located in the part section of the Viking Crown. 

Cabin 

Well, this my friends, is where today’s blog post gets more interesting.

Yesterday I noticed Crown & Anchor had provided us with a free upgrade from an Ocean View cabin on deck 3 to a category D1 Balcony stateroom on deck 7. Since we were within 24 hours of sailing there was no new luggage tags issued. I wanted to keep this as a surprise to Hillary, so I had to play it off like I printed our wrong luggage tags.

Upon check-in, the agent had some issues finding our cabin, but I told him the new cabin number and we were off. When the cabins were opened at 5:15PM our keys did not work, so off to Guest Services. 

This is where the trouble started.

They said our keys would work in a few minutes when cabins open. Well, that did not happen and we actually saw another couple go into our cabin!

Back to guest services and explained what was happening. It took them an hour to figure out that our cabin was double booked, but they were doing the best they could.

At this point, I’m starting to wonder if we are even sailing, since we don’t have an official cabin. The Guest Services manager comes out and said someone just canceled and we could have their Junior Suite. At this moment, I started to smile.

So off we went to our new cabin, walk in and discover it is actually a Grand Suite!

We were both so excited and all our frustrations were gone. Our cabin attendant stopped by and explained we could have full dinner in the cabin and some other benefits of the suite. 

Evening on board 

Our muster drill was at 8:00PM, and after finishing, went straight to the main dining room for dinner.

We have My Time Dining, and to be honest, the dining room was not very full. With the whole day being thrown off people were likely still unpacking their rooms.

We asked for a table of two and got it with no problem by the window. It was a unique experience seeing the Miami night light while eating.

Our waiter also brought us our Diamond Plus wine they issue you every cruise.

Dinner was Italian night (Matt’s favorite) and I went with the lasagna.

To me it’s nothing special, but I’m also obsessed with Giovanni’s Table lasagna. Dinner was around 1 hour and we decided to head to bed. 

Update on our schedule 

Due to the Hurricane Mathew, we will not be stopping at Coco Cay tomorrow due to the damage. We will now have a sea day and then a stop in Nassau, Bahamas.

We also received a letter saying we would be issued on board credit for ½ a day paid. Based on my math, that’s around $80 for me, so I’m happy with that. 

Stay tuned for a fun action packed sea day!

The time has come again for another live blog, but this one is really special because I’m headed back to the Enchantment of the Seas.

The Enchantment is my favorite ship in the fleet and this will be my 8th time sailing on her. I’m guessing you are probably thinking why does Michael love the Enchantment so much? I think my most honest answer is I have so many fun memories from this ship. Sure I love the R Bar, Park Café, covered solarium, and hands down best pool bar in the fleet.

This cruise ship is also very special to me, because my girlfriend and I actually met on the Enchantment and it’s our first time returning to the ship together. 

When I booked the cruise for this weekend, I was originally on a 4 day Empress of the Seas sailing. After thinking about how much I’ve missed the Enchantment recently, I decided to lose a cruise day and jump ship. My last two cruises have been on Empress of the Seas and also live blog my cruises on her. She is a great ship, but I always say there is no place like home and I’m headed to my home at sea! 

Cabin 

When I changed ships to Enchantment it was a little more expensive than the Empress, so I picked the cheapest cabin on deck 2 - inside. As the weeks past, the price dropped a little and I was able to change into a large ocean view cabin on deck 3 – 3616. Kind of random, but of all my time on Enchantment I’ve always stayed on deck 2 or 3. I’ve never had any issues staying on the lower decks, and find it quite easy to get to the centrum on deck 4. 

Schedule 

My short 3 day sailing is leaving out of Miami, FL and schedule to stop in Coco Cay then Nassau.

At the time of writing this we are still on schedule, but is subject to change due to the hurricane in the gulf. I’m not very worried about our schedule, as being back on the Enchantment is what I’m most excited for.

Since I live in Florida now, I’ll be driving in the morning of the cruise. As far as parking goes, I’ll park at the pier for $20/day. Now that I don’t have any true traveling expenses (flights) I can pay justify overpaying for parking. 

 Drink Package 

I hope you are sitting down as you read this, but I will not be buying the drink package on this sailing. I was actually logging into the system to buy it a few weeks ago and for 2 people it came up to $340. I thought to myself that just seems a lot for just a weekend. After talking it over with the girlfriend, who’s also Diamond Plus we are doing “research” and going without the package. We are going to carry on 2 bottles of wine, which is the allotted amount per cabin. We also have a bottle coming to the room from Crown and Anchor, plus our 3 per drinks per night loaded to our sea pass card and the Diamond lounge. I just thought, let me try a cruise without the package and see what my final bill looks like. 

Well friends, I’m excited to take you along with me over the weekend. The cruise will go by fast, but I plan to make the most of it. Feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll respond. I’ll also be doing daily live periscopes of my adventure @mpoole3 

See you at sea!

Well friends, it is day 5 already, these shorter cruises just go by so fast.

Today I planned to enjoy Empress of the Seas, but try to do something different activities. I woke up and saw that the Oasis of the Seas was actually sailing beside us, so I ran up to the top deck to check her out. We both traveled back home together for most of the day. 

At 10AM they were doing Royal Caribbean trivia in the Schooner Bar, they had some pretty hard questions, I was surprised. I learned that Empress has the largest Schooner bar in the fleet, which I always thought it was Majesty.

After the trivia game I had been invited to the Galley tour for being Diamond Plus.

This was my first Galley tour on a cruise, so I was very excited. The Galley was actually quite smaller than I thought it would be, but everything was so clean.

Royal Caribbean spent $20 million building this new galley during the Empress dry dock. In the tour I was able to see the Chops section and they were working on the shrimp cocktail for the evening so that was pretty neat to see. They did prepare a special lunch for those on the tour, but I decided to skip it and head to the pool deck. 

Afternoon on board 

The pool deck had really come to life today; I haven’t seen it like this all cruise. Everyone was just enjoying themselves and their wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

I watched the belly flop contest and it was quite entertaining. The assistant Cruise Director hosted the party and she did a nice job, she tried to create a dance party after the game.

However, the ship had to turn around due to a floating man-made raft out in the ocean. This caused everyone to run over to the side of the ship to look over; thankfully no one was in the raft.

Great job by Royal Caribbean for turning the ship around to make sure it was clear. 

After we received the all clear from the raft, I decided to grab some lunch in the Windjammer. Today I went with chicken wings and ribs, almost like being in Coco Cay. I have never seen chicken wings on board before, so this was new for me.

Once lunch was over I thought it was time to start packing up the cabin. This is never as much fun as packing up, but I like to do it early so I can enjoy my evening. 

Evening on board 

Tonight, I decided to go see the show, I know that’s two shows this cruise! The show was outstanding! The theme was past, present, future and a Las Vegas themed show.

The show only last 35 minutes so it was a nice short activity before dinner. I’m very happy I went and highly recommend the shows on Empress.

For dinner, it was back to the Windjammer for a quick meal. Again the place was pretty empty but almost 8:30pm, so perhaps most people eat earlier. The options for dinner were a little different tonight; I went with pasta and fish.

They had a large cake for desert that said, thank you for sailing with us, I passed on the cake. 

After dinner, I went to the Viking crown lounge and it was pretty full, everyone taking full advantage of their last evening. I just enjoyed one last drink before wrapping up my last day. 

Wrap up 

The Empress of the Seas is a great value for those looking for a quick getaway. The ship on the inside feels very new in parts and older in others. She is a very relaxing ship, so if you enjoy a slow paced cruise this is for you. All the crewmembers get to know you, I think just about every one of them knew my name when they saw me. The cabins are small, so just be ready for that but not a deal breaker for me.

I was able to peek into an Owners Suite to take pictures. 

The Voom high speed Internet worked great, I never had any issues with it. From in my cabin to the pool deck it was fast Internet. The staff was very friendly; they are trying so hard to create a good experience for the guest. 

Thank you so much for following along this week, it was a really fun cruise! 

Until next time, I’ll see you at sea!

Good morning from beautiful Cozumel, Mexico!

It is always a great day when you are in Mexico and the weather could not have been better. Last night I was thinking about not having any plans in Mexico, so I booked Nachi Cocom on my phone. They do require you to bring the printed confirmation email, so I asked the Loyalty Ambassador to print it for me.

The cost for the all-inclusive Nachi Cocom is $55 per person. This covers all the drinks & food you want, but you still need to get transportation to and from. The cost for a taxi is $17 (up to 4 people) per way and you can usually just share a ride back to cut the cost in half. 

I knew the Oasis of the Seas was coming to Mexico today too, so I wanted to get up to make sure I could watch her dock. I guess I should add that the Empress of the Seas was docked beside the Oasis of the Seas today.

Let us just say we did not even come up halfway on the Oasis, but that is okay Empress is just perfect. I was able to take some pictures of the two of them together. 

There were five ships in port today, so the lines for a taxi were long. I also saw some competition going on with runners and bikers, not sure what it was but they had people from all over the world. My taxi ride was a van with another family they were going to Mr. Sancho’s so we stopped there for a quick dropped off, then Nachi is right beside there.

I was greeted to take my photo and was showed to my seat. I got there around 9:30am, but they are on central time, so bar service did not start for an hour – I know the struggle is real. 

My afternoon at Nachi Cocom was very relaxing and they did not have very many people here today, which surprised me with the number of ships in port.

I had them bring me some guacamole down to my beach chair for my pre-lunch. I went up to sit in the hot tub for a while to enjoy the swim up bar and made some new friends.

For lunch I went with shrimp fajitas and well more guacamole. They can either bring it down to the beach or you can eat it up by the entrance with tables and chairs. When you look at their menu, you will see prices on everything, not sure why they are there but just order away it is all included. 

I decided to head back to the ship at 3pm just to avoid getting close to that all on board at 4:30 time.

Of course since we were in Mexico we had a family of 5 that was running late. The Captain made an announcement that we would wait 5 more minutes. Sure enough 2-3 minutes later they were running down the pier to get back on board, they were lucky we waited. 

Evening on board 

Tonight, I was feeling sleepy all ready from all that sun in Mexico. I went casual again for dinner in the Windjammer. It was not my favorite meal again, but fine for a quick dinner.

I have noticed at dinner they are only using about half of their set-up and it is always empty. I had grilled fish and french fries, got to love that combo.

After dinner I went out to the pool deck and they were showing a movie. At the bar they were selling popcorn for $2 a bag for the movie. The pool was empty and a man was cleaning down in there. I tried to take photos of this for the blog but a bartender rushed over and said no pictures or video, this was a first for me. 

By around 10PM I decided to call it a day, all those drinks in Mexico and sun had me beat for the day.

Tomorrow is our last day, we have another sea day and I have a few new things planned to share!

Today was my first sea day and I was really looking forward to it. I did manage to sleep in until 8AM, if you call that sleeping in. I did not have many plans today other than just enjoying Empress. 

Brunch 

On Empress of the Seas they have a brunch on sea days in the main dining room, from 10AM-1PM. This is something you do not want to miss because they also serve free Bloody Mary’s and mimosas. Yes, you read that right, free drinks!

The options for food are also very large, from made to order omelets to grilled salmon.

The brunch is something you do not want to miss on Empress, its really nicely done and very casual style. 

Afternoon on board 

Most of the day I just hung out by the pool and listened to the live music, which was very relaxing. The band started playing at noon and into the afternoon.

I took full advantage of my drink package today, and why not when you are on vacation. I forgot to mention they are now printing the drink package on the SeaPass card if you purchased it online. I suppose they made this change because the stickers would always rub off. 

Also noteworthy, I always saw open deck chairs, so no need to rush to the pool deck on Empress.

Around 3PM, I noticed the ship starting to rock a little and noticed the clouds were turning darker. We were actually headed into a very large storm and heavy rain.

The rain was coming in so hard I thought I was back in Florida. The pool deck cleared including myself and I decided it was time for a nap. 

Evening on board 

Tonight, I decided to keep it casual and just eat in the Windjammer for dinner. I used my drink coupons at Schooner Bar and headed up to grab dinner.

Perhaps I am very spoiled from the Windjammer on Brilliance of the Seas, but the options for food were very limited to what I have seen. That being said, the ship is not nearly full so I know they don’t want to waste a large amount of food.

I decided to go with chicken tacos and just pretend I am at Sabor. I walked away from dinner just not very pleased, but I kept thinking about that steak at Chops.

As far as the service in the Windjammer, it is the best I have ever seen, they always come around and bring you drinks and sometimes-even cookies!

After dinner, I went to see the Battle of the Sexes game, which pits the men versus the women. I have never seen this show before and would compare it to a mini Quest in a way. 

I headed to the top deck for a while after the game to enjoy some open air and decided I would call it a night.

Not a lot going on today, but no worries tomorrow is going to be action packed in Cozumel, Mexico.

Today we are in Key West, Florida, which is our first port stop on this five-day cruise.

I woke up this morning at 5:30AM, I do not know why, but I decided to enjoy the ship while I was awake. I went around many of the public areas and able to capture some great pictures without people in them. I will admit it was kind of weird at points feeling like you were the only person on this ship.

I went into the Windjammer at 6AM when they opened. However, they only had breads and coffee available, no bacon until 7AM, bummer. I decided to head to the back of Boleros where they had that day one welcome party, to watch the sunrise.

I ended up staying well over an hour just taking in the views; it was absolutely breathtaking to watch. 

Docking in Key West, Florida 

I was able to see the local pilot board our ship to help us sail into Key West. For those wondering what that is, every port a cruise ship docks in, a local pilot boards the ship to help guide the captain to dock. They know the port and help provide the Captain some guidance along the way, however the Captain is still in control of the ship.

Since the Empress has recently added these short sailings to fill time before Cuba, the main pier in Key West was already booked by Carnival. Today we docked at the United States Navy training facility.

I actually thought were going to have to walk all the way into town and went back into my cabin to put tennis shoes on. However, once we got off they had rows of trolleys to take us into town. This was a different Key West experience and I really enjoyed the short 10-minute ride through the base and into town. They asked that we take no pictures of the base on our ride; so sorry I don’t have any. 

Once I got into town, my mission was simple find some Key Lime Pie! A few friends recommend I try Kermit’s pie, so off I went. The walk to their shop was very short, I just plugged it into my GPS, but it was around 2 blocks.

When I arrived I noticed it was empty, but I guess that’s because it was 10AM. I went inside and ordered their classic Key Lime Pie, those wondering it cost $4.80. I’m not a huge sweets guy and it was early in the morning for pie, but it was amazing!

The staff here was really nice too, they actually asked if I wanted a sample of their other pie. Who turns down free pie? They brought out a chocolate covered froze pie, which was also good but I preferred the classic version or maybe I was just too full. 

After, I headed to Sloppy Joe's for a beer. They did not have live music playing yet, so no real excitement there today on my visit.

By this point it’s 11AM and I’m getting tired and decided to head back to the ship. Well what an adventure that was, since we took trolleys into town you had to take one back. Let’s just say I got on the wrong one, not once but twice. The second one was an actual tour of Key West, so off I went.

They made a stop at Sloppy Joe's on the tour and I jumped off, and walked back to the bus area again. Now on my third try I asked the driver if we were headed to the ship, I can only laugh at myself on this one. 

 Afternoon on board 

I wanted to take a nap but they were running test on the ship, which caused them to turn off power (including air conditioning) for a half-hour, so off to the pool deck I went. Not really a big deal since there were very few people on board, but I did notice how the temperature rises quite fast without running air conditioning.

I made some new friends in the hot tub and made good use of my select drink package.

I went into Windjammer for a small lunch; I was still full from all that pie in Key West. The options today were not as great as yesterday, but I usually just get rice and fish anyways.

Around 4PM I left the pool deck to get ready for the evening, still going with no nap. 

Evening on board 

Right at 5PM, I went down to Schooner Bar and used my Crown and Anchor drink coupon and noticed the bar was full. This was the first time I’d seen it so full like this, but I don’t think I usually go around this hour. Almost everyone was using their 3 free drinks loaded on their card, since this is pretty much the only place to do so.

Around 6PM I was starting to get hungry, my Chops dinner was not until 7:30 but I went early and they seated me right away. I was the only person in the restaurant when I arrived and there were 3 tables when I left.

The service was outstanding and I got to know my waitress during the meal. I decided to order shrimp cocktail, mushroom soup (which I can’t decide if that’s better or French onion) and a salad to start (if you were counting that is three starters!).

For my entree, I went with the 16oz New York Strip and let me tell you this was the largest steak I have ever seen. It was almost falling off the plate; once again the NY strip surprised me with how great it is compared to the filet. Which do I prefer? I am going to say I enjoy them both, but if you are really hungry, get the NY Strip. 

After dinner, I decided to go the headliner show in the main theater.

I do not usually attend any shows unless I’m on an Oasis-class ship, but I wanted to try something new. We had Finish Henderson hosting the show. He sings all types of music and his voice sounded exactly like singer he was singing, no idea how he does it.

I looked on his website looks like he is headed to Anthem of the Seas next, and Allure/Oasis this fall. If you get a chance, go to the show. He received a standing ovation at the end of the show for quite a while. 

Tonight is the white pool deck party; dancing under the stars they call it. It started raining and they moved it inside the Viking Crown lounge. I will say the event was packed, almost everyone wearing all white. I even saw a guy down their in his white crown and anchor robe, points for being creative. I stayed for an hour talked with the Cruise Director Elvis for a while really nice guy. Around midnight I called it a day, what a full day of events. 

Tomorrow we have our first sea day, and I’m really looking forward to it.