# The Symphony, The Key, Two Teens, and Me: A March 2019 Review



## nancy drew

(Oh wow that photo is HUGE!  I might have to replace it, oops!!)

We just returned from the Symphony of the Seas Eastern Caribbean sailing from 3/16/19 to 3/23/19 and I miss the ship already!!  When I plan our vacations I obsessively read trip reports and LOVE reports that have LOTS of photos.  I hope this will be helpful in some way to others as they plan their vacations. Or maybe you'll just admire my photos.  That's OK too.  I'm still getting all of my photos sorted and Cruise Compasses scanned, but hopefully I can get this review completed before I forget everything!

Me:  I'm from Chicago, lived here in the city all my life, and while the winters can be brutal I can't imagine living elsewhere. My main job is in education, but my side gig is related to travel .  I am also taking graduate school classes online right now.

Since I call the city my home, I try to plan vacations that take us away from city life. We are relatively new to cruising, with our first cruise (on DCL) about 5 years ago.  What stopped me from sailing earlier?  Fear of claustrophobia, fear of motion sickness, fear of boredom, fear of the ship sinking... you name it.  We did a short 4 night sailing on DCL and we were hooked (get it?  See what I did there?  Nice nautical pun, right?).  We have since done another DCL sailing (Western Caribbean), a 7 night Alaska cruise on Holland America, and now this 7 night Eastern Caribbean on Royal Caribbean. 

DD:  DD is 15 and a freshman in high school.  She LOVES Disney, especially the villains.  She has had mixed feelings about the kids clubs on cruises and other resorts. 

DS:  DS is 13, and very much 13, if you know what I mean.  He likes Fortnite, Fortnite, oh and Fortnite.  Ok just exaggerating a bit.  Ok no I am not exaggerating at all.  He does enjoy Fortnite, but he also likes music, Garage Band, and antagonizing his sister.  Not very interested in sports. 

I was kind of apprehensive about how the kids would feel about the teen club.  They weren't too fond of the tween club on DCL, but both LOVED the clubs on Holland America. Did you even know they have kids clubs on Holland America aka the Floating Nursing Home?  Well they do, and my kids really enjoyed the smaller groups, which meant more interaction from the counselors.  Teen clubs can be hit or miss, depending on the kids and the counselors.  My kids tend to prefer fewer kids in the clubs, and, well, this was spring break so that just wasn't an option, at least not on Royal Caribbean. 

How this vacation came to be:  It is SUCH a long and boring story.  Needless to say, I had wanted to sail on Royal for a long time, I wanted to try an Oasis class ship because of all of the activities, and this one worked best with our schedule, for the most part. 

Our itinerary was:

Day 1: Miami
Day 2: At Sea
Day 3: At Sea
Day 4: St. Kitts
Day 5: St. Thomas
Day 6: At Sea
Day 7: Nassau
Day 8: Miami






I don't really like having a port on the last full day, because it makes the day go by way too fast, but this was the best option in all other ways.   

Ok, that's too much backstory and not enough pictures.  I promise once we get going there will be a lot more photos.  I'll be adding them after I write each section for the most part, because the photos are on my phone, my regular camera, and my under water camera, and I have to pull them all in to this report.  But that's a sacrifice I am willing to make, for you, because you're worth it.


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## nancy drew

Before we sailed, Royal introduced a new program called The Key.  Guests could purchase The Key for $19.99 per person per day (the price has since fluctuated).  The benefits were announced, but between the time the program rolled out and the time we sailed, the benefits changed significantly.  If you want to buy The Key, it must be purchased for all guests in your stateroom age 6 and up.

When I purchased The Key, these were the promised benefits, straight from the confirmation email from Royal (with the statement that benefits could change at any time).

Package includes:

Carry-on luggage drop off with delivery to stateroom
Welcome lunch at Chops Grille
Private hours for ship attractions
Priority debarkation and tendering at ports of call
Reserved VIP seating at shows
Complimentary VOOM Surf + Stream internet package for one device per person
Choice debarkation with exclusive à la carte breakfast

Here is the current list of benefits on the Royal Caribbean website:






And here is the letter Royal had waiting in our stateroom upon arrival, explaining the benefits we would receive:






(Whoa why are my photos so huge? Ok, I think I fixed it?)

Take note of these lists, and the minor and/or major differences in wording.

There has been much debate, both here and elsewhere, about whether the benefits are worth the price.  The benefits also changed with our sailing, or so it appears, as I had been closely watching for others' reports about their experience, and none of the previous reports, including the week prior on the same ship, had the same letter we had upon arrival.

I'll review our experience with The Key as I review, and I'll share my general thoughts at the end of the report.


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## nancy drew

Day 0:

We pack light on our vacations.  Why?  Another long and boring story, but my anxiety says that traveling is easier when we don't check luggage so we don't check luggage.  So far it has worked for us.  Thanks, anxiety!

We use packing cubes. I was skeptical about them for a while.  I mean, how would it possibly help you to use packing cubes?  Well, when we were on a vacation in Wyoming, where we were moving hotels every few nights, it seemed like a good idea to try the cubes since we would be living out of suitcases.  It was so easy to just pull out some cubes and then fit them back into our suitcases.  When we pack, we end up pulling things out and rearranging things, and cubes make that easy.  They are like this puzzle pieces.  They all fit perfectly in a suitcase, especially when you roll your clothing.  Yes, we often end up doing laundry on vacations.  Some people are astounded by this.  "What??? I would NEVER want to do LAUNDRY on VACATION!!!" Well calm down buddy, no one is forcing you to do laundry on vacation.  Personally I would rather throw a load of laundry into the machine while hanging out at the pool (conveniently there was a laundry room next to the pool at a hotel once), or while hanging out in the room in the evening.  For me it is preferable to either losing our luggage or looking like we are moving into the hotel for a year.  On our cruise we saw bags outside of the rooms that were the same bags my kids pack all of their gear in for a MONTH at summer camp.  I can't fathom bringing that much stuff on vacation and then having to wash all of it when we get home.

But to each his own, right?

Anyway, my daughter said on this trip that cruising is like going to overnight camp.  Every time you go, you figure out something that you should bring the next time, so next time you are more prepared.  Here is a very small list of things we have learned to bring on cruises, some obvious, some not so obvious:

Towel clips
Reading material
Snorkel mask
Sunscreen (high spf)
Laundry soap

Anyway, on to the vacation.

Our flight to Miami left Chicago at 2pm.  This was worlds better than our usual super early 7am flight when we go to Florida!  2pm meant we didn't have to worry about traffic, or huge airport crowds.  Traffic was pretty light, and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare:






DD and I have TSA Pre Check.  DS doesn't have it yet, because he was too young when DD and I signed up and I haven't taken him to get signed up yet.  Luckily he had it added to his ticket anyway, so we all went through TSA Pre line.  From the time we entered O'Hare to the time we reached the gate was 15 minutes, and that included going through the trippy walkway to the C gates.  If you've been through the United terminal at O'Hare and you've left or arrived through a C gate, you know what I'm talking about.  And if you don't, here is a visual:






I had upgraded us to Economy Plus on the plane.  It was so nice having that extra space!  We hadn't remembered to charge the iPads and apparently my computer needed an update in order to watch any of the United entertainment.  Somehow we made it work; I think DS watched something on one iPad and DD watched on her phone and I read.  In any case the flight was uneventful and soon enough we had landed in Miami.  

We grabbed a taxi and went to our hotel.  I had found a great rate at the Intercontinental Miami in the Club Level.  We had never been to Miami before, and we were only staying overnight.  The hotel was maybe 20 minutes from the port, and in a good location where we could walk to restaurants/entertainment if we wanted.  

When we checked in we were told the club lounge was closing in 30 minutes, and we should head there if we wanted any of the appetizers and drinks.  So we dropped off our bags in the room, took a few quick photos, and then headed down to the Club Lounge.
















We had great views of Miami, which would have been even better without my reflection.











This was in the club lounge.  I guess someone thought it would be funny to remove some letters from the sign with Breakfast and Happy Hour times.  Someone else thought it would be funny to take a picture of said sign, and post it here.  






Alas, vacation had begun.


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## eeyorefanuk

Really looking forward to more. We loved the harmony. Though disappointed to hear no more dreamworks


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## a1tinkfans

Awesome! Can’t wait to read and See more pix!!


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## mevelandry

Can't wait to read the rest of your review and see your pictures!


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## cel_disney

Looking forward to your review! Great photos so far!   (I am viewing on my phone so they all auto-size just fine!)


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## Magical2017

Thanks for this.  Symphony of the Seas is one of the ships we are thinking about booking for June 2020, same itinerary.


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## starvenger

Enjoying this so far. Laundry soap is an underrated item, especially on cruise lines like RCL where there is no self-serve. I bring a few of those Tide "sink" packets which helps for those emergencies.

Wish we could do just carry-on, all the time. I'm OK, as I've managed to pack 3 days worth of clothing plus a suit into a carry-on before. But my wife is a chronic over packer when it comes to her stuff and the kids as well, so I just play the hand I'm dealt. We managed to do it once, for 4-day trip to San Francisco for a wedding + my grandmother's 100th. She didn't want to do it again.


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## pattyw

Looks great so far!  We're on our first cruise 4/14- Allure 7 day Western Caribbean.  Looking forward to reading all about your trip!


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## trvlgirlmq

Great Review so far.  We haven't branched out beyond Carnival yet but I really want to try a big Royal ship someday.

We are also only carry-on packers.  I hate waiting for checked luggage and I also don't want to pull a 50lb suitcase anywhere.  We also do laundry on vacation and it doesn't bother us.  Heck we often rent a house and cook our own meals too!


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## cel_disney

trvlgirlmq said:


> Great Review so far.  We haven't branched out beyond Carnival yet but I really want to try a big Royal ship someday.
> 
> We are also only carry-on packers.  I hate waiting for checked luggage and I also don't want to pull a 50lb suitcase anywhere.  We also do laundry on vacation and it doesn't bother us.  Heck we often rent a house and cook our own meals too!



We are DVC and are soooo used to having a washer/dryer in our vacation room that cruising is almost scary to me because there is not one and I tend to overpack as a result...but we still do pretty good - our last cruise with 4 people and 10 days of travel we brought 2 -24” suitcases weighing in at about 40# each and a 22” carry on size.   Our April cruise will just me 2 of us but again 10 days...we just won’t make it to only carry on size..

The magnets/wall clips/towel clips, foaming pump hand soap for the sink, and assorted sunscreen and after sun products pretty much ensure that! ..plus we have rose gold Mickey ears and magic bands etc for our pre-cruise Disney Days... But those things make my week so much more comfortable I will deal..


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## Grumpy's Wife

I have a cruise booked on Symphony but not until next May.  We'll be heading to St. Thomas and St. Maarteen.  I look forward to hearing all about this great ship and your ports.


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## nickymaria

@nancy drew - #1: I love Nancy Drew! And #2: I am cruising with my two kids (12 and 15) solo on Saturday! We also bought The Key. I can't wait to read more!!!


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## nancy drew

eeyorefanuk said:


> Really looking forward to more. We loved the harmony. Though disappointed to hear no more dreamworks



Symphony has no Dreamworks and it was fine, though I don't have little kids who would care about characters.  There was a crazy pirate parade that was fun, and the shows were amazing.  I have no basis for comparison since I haven't sailed with Dreamworks characters but I think people will see that the cruise is still fun without the characters.  



Magical2017 said:


> Thanks for this.  Symphony of the Seas is one of the ships we are thinking about booking for June 2020, same itinerary.



Do it!  We really enjoyed it.  We didn't even do most of the activities because we were busy with other things or just relaxing.  There is no shortage of things to do!



starvenger said:


> Enjoying this so far. Laundry soap is an underrated item, especially on cruise lines like RCL where there is no self-serve. I bring a few of those Tide "sink" packets which helps for those emergencies.



I will have to look for the sink packets!  I use Woolite in the sink, and magnetic hooks in the shower to hang things to dry.  When we sailed on HAL I was panicked that there was no self-serve laundry, but we bought the Unlimited laundry package for $7 per day and it was so worthwhile, especially since we had been in Vancouver/Whistler for 4 days before going on the cruise.  



pattyw said:


> Looks great so far!  We're on our first cruise 4/14- Allure 7 day Western Caribbean.  Looking forward to reading all about your trip!



You'll love it!  



trvlgirlmq said:


> Great Review so far.  We haven't branched out beyond Carnival yet but I really want to try a big Royal ship someday.
> 
> We are also only carry-on packers.  I hate waiting for checked luggage and I also don't want to pull a 50lb suitcase anywhere.  We also do laundry on vacation and it doesn't bother us.  Heck we often rent a house and cook our own meals too!



Do it!  You will love Royal, I can't see how anyone wouldn't enjoy it!  I'm glad to hear I'm not the only lunatic who doesn't mind doing laundry on vacation!  



cel_disney said:


> We are DVC and are soooo used to having a washer/dryer in our vacation room that cruising is almost scary to me because there is not one and I tend to overpack as a result...but we still do pretty good - our last cruise with 4 people and 10 days of travel we brought 2 -24” suitcases weighing in at about 40# each and a 22” carry on size.   Our April cruise will just me 2 of us but again 10 days...we just won’t make it to only carry on size..
> 
> The magnets/wall clips/towel clips, foaming pump hand soap for the sink, and assorted sunscreen and after sun products pretty much ensure that! ..plus we have rose gold Mickey ears and magic bands etc for our pre-cruise Disney Days... But those things make my week so much more comfortable I will deal..



Yes, I panicked when we sailed on HAL and there wasn't self-serve laundry available.  But we bought the unlimited laundry package, $7 per day for a bag, and it was even better than doing the laundry myself!  Money well spent!  I did have a $5 off coupon with Royal and put that toward the $25 laundry bag.  

Pump hand soap is a great idea for a cruise!  I will be adding that to my list next time I sail!



Grumpy's Wife said:


> I have a cruise booked on Symphony but not until next May.  We'll be heading to St. Thomas and St. Maarteen.  I look forward to hearing all about this great ship and your ports.



You'll love it!!



nickymaria said:


> @nancy drew - #1: I love Nancy Drew! And #2: I am cruising with my two kids (12 and 15) solo on Saturday! We also bought The Key. I can't wait to read more!!!



. Yay solo moms!  You'll love it!  I want to hear about your experience with The Key.  I am very curious to hear about others' experience after our sailing.


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## nancy drew

*Day 0 continued...*

Turns out we needed a few things from CVS.  So we headed out and walked a few blocks to the CVS. 






We spent quite a while looking around as they had some really fun stuff there.  We needed an iPad charger, so we could use the iPads on the flight home, and I needed a small bottle of nail polish remover.  I ended up buying this gel nail polish remover (not for removing gel nail polish, but the remover itself is gel) which I have used before.  Spoiler alert: this stuff is HORRIBLE!  I forgot that I had used it before and it is awful!  The stuff is like super glue on your skin, plus it doesn't really get all of the nail polish off.  When I used it, it made such an incredible mess.  My fingers and toes looked like I had been given a manicure by an extremely energetic 3 year old.  The polish was everywhere *except* my nails. 

We did find some cool stuff, though.  DD and I are really into skin care, and sheet masks. At CVS we found some Hello Kitty sheet masks that are so cute, and so fun! 






We had more, but we used them before I took this photo. 

Armed with our CVS purchases, we headed back to our hotel.  As we approached our hotel, we could see there was a super cool projection of a person dancing on our hotel. 






We were tired, and wired, but we knew tomorrow would be a very exciting day.


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## nancy drew

(BTW if any of the pics are too big, please let me know and I will try to figure out how to post smaller photos.)

*Day 1:*

Cruise day!!!

We woke up bright and early, and headed to breakfast in the Club Lounge.  The choices weren't that great, but we managed to find a few things we liked.






Check out was smooth, and we found a taxi and headed to the port.  

There wasn't anything wrong with the Intercontinental, but I'm not sure it was worth the cost, even with the discounted rate, especially since we arrived late.  I think next time we will opt for something less spendy, unless we are arriving a few days in advance.  

The drive to the port was uneventful, until we approached the port.  It can't just be me, but there is nothing quite as exciting as seeing all of those ships lined up, looking for *your* ship among the crowd, waiting for that first glimpse of your home for the next week.  We passed by several ships.  

I don't remember which this was, maybe MSC?






Then there was the NCL Bliss.  A nice looking ship, and it wasn't the last time we would see her this week.  






I think this was a new NCL terminal under construction?  It was near the Bliss so I assume it was for NCL.






And then.  Is that it?  I think it is... YES!  I see The Abyss!  It must be our ship!  There is nothing quite like seeing your ship, or your resort, for the first time on a vacation.  You've been planning, researching, looking at photos, videos, reading about other peoples' experiences or remembering the last time you were there... and then there it is, right there, and it is finally your turn.  That feeling never gets old!






I had my son taking photos out the window of the taxi because I was squashed in the middle of the back seat so DS and DD didn't kill each other.  Tell me I'm not the only one whose kids still can't sit next to each other because they will fight?


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## nancy drew

*Day 1 cont'd:*

So, we had experienced 2 different cruise line embarkation procedures: DCL (Port Canaveral) and HAL (Vancouver).  I had read extensively about the new terminal in Miami, but I wasn't sure what to expect. 

On DCL we had always arrived early to a terminal full of people who were sitting around or standing in line, waiting.  We went to a person at a desk, checked in/got our KTTW cards, and then waited to be called to board. It was kind of a cluster, with everyone crowding the boarding ears waiting for their boarding group to be called, and you had to push your way through to board.

On HAL we walked through endless hallways, circled back, stopped at a desk and got our info and cards, then were directed to a specific row of folding chairs lined up Musical Chairs style until someone told our row of chairs it was time to board.  It was very methodical and structured. 

So let's talk about boarding in Terminal A in Miami.  As you enter you see this:






Suites and Pinnacles to the right, everyone else up the escalators or stairs.  Don't stop to take photos here, and especially don't stop to take zoomed in photos like this:






Because they will tell you to move along, and they mean it.  DS stepped to the side to get a better photo angle so DD and I waited for him, and we were told "You can wait for him upstairs!"  I said he was just taking a photo and we would move along in a second.  She said "No, your husband, that's who you're waiting for, right?"  Um, no?  "I don't have a husband," I said, and I smiled like this .  She laughed, and by then DS was done taking his photos, so we moved along.  

But they mean business.  Do not stop.  

This theme of DO NOT STOP continued all the way through the terminal.  I had wanted to take photos of the process but I could not because we were constantly being shuffled along and yelled at to move along.  

My bag was flagged in the scanner, so we had to stop (take THAT, RCI!) while they pulled out my stuff and uncovered.... the magnetic hooks.  






They had triggered the scanner, though TSA had let them through at the airport just fine.  Mmmmkay.  

Then DS decided he had to use the bathroom, so again we had to stop.  We were totally sticking it to RCI with all of this stopping, for real.  I had wanted to ask someone a question, based on a debate I was having with someone, but there wasn't anyone I could ask.  The question was: Are you allowed to bring on board 2 bottles of wine per stateroom or 1 bottle of wine per adult.  RCI policy is pretty clear to me, 2 bottles per stateroom, but someone who claims to be very informed about all things Royal Caribbean insisted that even though the policy reads 2 per stateroom, they actually mean 1 per adult.  That makes no sense, because what if there were 3 or 4 adults per stateroom?  

See, I ask the real questions.  And I want answers.  And I wasn't getting them in Terminal A.  

So once DS was done with his business, we moved along.  

There is some cool stuff to look at as you MOVE ALONG, like this:











And then... it is time... NO SITTING IN MUSICAL CHAIRS AND WAITING!  MOVE ALONG!  You walk through a hallway and think "THIS IS IT!!!!" but no, you turn around and walk back.  See the three hallways here, as seen from below?  Straight. Up. Torture.  






"Am I going back to the terminal?  What is happening here?" and then you turn again... 






and finally...






There you are!  Right smack in the Promenade, where you will inevitably spend a lot of time for the next week.  There is no announcement of your arrival, that's a DCL thing. I kind of hate the DCL thing, to be honest. Our last DCL cruise was a Star Wars Day At Sea cruise so I had them announce us as The Skywalker Family.  I mean, not all families are "The ONELASTNAME family" any more.  It is very common to have 2 or 3 last names in a family.  So you have to be creative, otherwise you just don't feel welcome.  So thank you, RCI, for making everyone feel welcome by not having your employees pretend to cheer for us as we board.  And for balloons.  Thank you for balloons.

So, from the time we exited the taxi to the time we stepped on to the ship, including the security check for the super scary magnetic hooks and DS's pit stop, it was less than 15 minutes.  I timed it.  

*The Key:*  As we entered the terminal I mentioned that we had The Key, because according to one of the many lists of benefits, priority boarding and check in was a perk.  I was shuffled along to the escalators with the masses (OK there weren't really masses yet, but YKWIM).   *No Key benefit here.  *But it doesn't matter because I doubt we could have made it on the ship faster, plus the Suites and Pinnacles were SITTING!!! OMGWTFBBQ none of that sitting stuff for us, thank you very much!  MOVE ALONG AND GET ON THE SHIP!!!


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## cel_disney

The comment about sitting in the Middle seat so the kids don’t fight ... why does the bickering never end???  And why do moms always give up their own sanity/comfort to avoid it...sigh...balancing #vacationgoals (relaxing and no fighting and whining) with #momgoals (developing capable people...ie, kids learning to get along like human beings) is always tricky...no doubt you made the right call sitting in the middle on day 1!!!

Thanks for the info on check-in!   We will be meeting up with friends - it sounds like we either need to meet up outside the terminal or on board?  Is there a forced group photo somewhere without the announcement?  We might need to be together before that...


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## nancy drew

cel_disney said:


> The comment about sitting in the Middle seat so the kids don’t fight ... why does the bickering never end???  And why do moms always give up their own sanity/comfort to avoid it...sigh...balancing #vacationgoals (relaxing and no fighting and whining) with #momgoals (developing capable people...ie, kids learning to get along like human beings) is always tricky...no doubt you made the right call sitting in the middle on day 1!!!
> 
> Thanks for the info on check-in!   We will be meeting up with friends - it sounds like we either need to meet up outside the terminal or on board?  Is there a forced group photo somewhere without the announcement?  We might need to be together before that...



Right?  I mean, how can they not sit next to each other for a 20 minute ride in a taxi?  

Oh right, there is a photo op before you board.  I totally forgot to mention that because we "nope"ed right past it.  You'll definitely want to meet up and travel to the terminal together or meet on board.  Though there is that sweet spot between security and boarding, where the bathroom is.  If you can manage to arrive at similar times you could stage a meeting at that part.  Best bet would be to try to arrive together and go through the whole thing together.  It really is so fast!  Very unlike DCL where you can easily meet up with someone in the port while waiting to board.


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## pattyw

nancy drew said:


> Tell me I'm not the only one whose kids still can't sit next to each other because they will fight?





cel_disney said:


> The comment about sitting in the Middle seat so the kids don’t fight ... why does the bickering never end??? And why do moms always give up their own sanity/comfort to avoid it...sigh...balancing #vacationgoals (relaxing and no fighting and whining) with #momgoals (developing capable people...ie, kids learning to get along like human beings) is always tricky...no doubt you made the right call sitting in the middle on day 1!!!



Middle seat mama here!!  Always sat in the middle seat to keep the peace. My boys are grown now and we rarely travel all together- but I still sit in the middle seat on a plane- DS22 is a window seat napper and DH likes the aisle seat.


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## savage1117

Love the review so far!!


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## trvlgirlmq

I love your writing style and wit!  You should do open mic night!

I have 2 Carnival cruises booked so I can be Platinum!  Status baby. Then I am hoping to branch out. Of course this all depends on if I am still paying for kids.


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## anitag888

OMG - loving this and relating to everything! We are sailing on the Symphony on May 18th, and we too are from Chicago. (Originally, anyway, we now live in the far northern burbs). Can I ask for a very, very specific favor? If you go to the HiRO show, can you tell me how bad the flashing lights are? I got a summary of the shows from RCI special services, and they said it's pretty extreme. I hate to miss this one if at all possible, but I can't risk my daughter having a seizure either. TIA! Great review and can't wait to see the rest!


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## MissDaisyofTexas

I'm interested to read more! We are going on Anthem of the Seas in 2 months after 7 DCL cruises.


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## nancy drew

pattyw said:


> Middle seat mama here!!  Always sat in the middle seat to keep the peace. My boys are grown now and we rarely travel all together- but I still sit in the middle seat on a plane- DS22 is a window seat napper and DH likes the aisle seat.



Yep, still sitting between them on planes, too.  I guess that will be my spot forever as long as we travel together!



savage1117 said:


> Love the review so far!!



Thank you!



trvlgirlmq said:


> I love your writing style and wit!  You should do open mic night!
> 
> I have 2 Carnival cruises booked so I can be Platinum!  Status baby. Then I am hoping to branch out. Of course this all depends on if I am still paying for kids.



Ha ha, open mic night!  I would be terrified!  But thank you .

Do you like Carnival?  They have that certain reputation as a party cruise line, but I am interested in some of their ports.  My son claims he will never set foot on Carnival because we saw a Carnival ship whose exhaust was super dark and he decided they are the worst offenders of air pollution.  



anitag888 said:


> OMG - loving this and relating to everything! We are sailing on the Symphony on May 18th, and we too are from Chicago. (Originally, anyway, we now live in the far northern burbs). Can I ask for a very, very specific favor? If you go to the HiRO show, can you tell me how bad the flashing lights are? I got a summary of the shows from RCI special services, and they said it's pretty extreme. I hate to miss this one if at all possible, but I can't risk my daughter having a seizure either. TIA! Great review and can't wait to see the rest!



Yay, Chicago people!  

We did go to Hiro and I don't recall the flashing lights.  I took a lot of video of the show, though, so I can look through and see if I have any of it recorded.  I wonder if there are You Tube videos of the show out there?  



MissDaisyofTexas said:


> I'm interested to read more! We are going on Anthem of the Seas in 2 months after 7 DCL cruises.



I want to sail on Anthem some day.  Royal was great, though!  I think you'll like it!


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## nancy drew

*Day 1 cont'd:*

We were finally on the ship!  We entered on the Royal Promenade, where we would spend a lot of time over the next week.  The Royal Promenade has food, drinks, shopping, parties, parades, and art.  In many ways it is the heart of the ship.  Before boarding I had sort of envisioned the Promenade as a mall.  It sort of has that vibe, but it would be a fairly cool mall that throws parties and has entertainment and bars.  

We admired the art as we walked around. 

This one is actually on deck 4, I think:






And one of the elevator banks:






Another elevator bank:






I guess all of the Oasis Class ships have a classic car on the Promenade.  For whatever reason, this is what they did to the car on Symphony:






My son made a comment at one point that the theme of the cruise was "Big Strange Art."  He's not entirely wrong.

So, as I mentioned, the Promenade is home to some dining options.  Sorrento's is one such option that we visited often. 






I need to side track a bit here.  If you are familiar with Royal, you can skip ahead to the bottom of this post or go to the next one.  

For those who are only familiar with DCL, Royal does not include soda/mocktails in their pricing.  If you want soda or mocktails or actual grown up drinks, you can pay out of pocket per drink, or you can buy a beverage package.  Some people are aghast at this, but when you think about it, you are already paying much less for your cruise than you would on DCL, even if you add drink packages.  Also, it is totally optional.  You are not obligated to buy a package.  There is water, coffee, tea, lemonade, and flavored water available at all dining locations.  

The beverage packages are available in your Cruise Planner, which is accessed through the Royal Caribbean page.  The pricing seems to be rather fluid (see what I did there?) so check your Cruise Planner often.  Pay no attention to the "% Off" fake sale and just look at the daily price.  If you know you are going to buy it, just buy it and keep checking for price drops.  If the price drops, cancel your package and rebook it at the new price.  You can do that with excursions, spa treatments, dining, etc. too.  

Here is the breakdown of packages, straight from Royal's website:






My kids enjoy mocktails on vacation and mama likes her grown up drinks, so the kids got the refreshment package and I got the Deluxe.  We all really like the Freestyle soda machines because they have SO many sugar-free, low/no calorie, no caffeine options.  And I had thought we would be getting lattes in the morning but that never happened because the line was too long.  

The beverage packages were totally worthwhile for us, as I was able to order a glass of wine without stopping to think about the cost, and the kids could try different mocktails, again without me having to worry about the cost.  Gratuities are added in to the package price, though you can always add more if you like.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 cont'd:*

Sorrento's has 2 Freestyle machines, where you can fill your reusable cup that comes with the beverage package.  Oh and they have pizza.  






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They always had cheese, pepperoni, and veggie pizza, then there was another option.  Here is the menu from day 1, I think:






But one day they had barbecue chicken pizza and it was soooo good.






Really, the pizza was all good.  They also had sauces for the pizza, which was totally unnecessary, but did that stop me from getting a small bowl of garlic sauce in which I could dip my pizza crust every time I got pizza?  No it did not.  






Oh and the pizza is included in your cruise fare, so you can eat here as often as you like.  They are open until 3am, too.  

Also on the Promenade is the eponymous Cafe Promenade.  Here you can get lattes, cookies, doughnuts, danishes, desserts, and wraps/sandwiches.  We got dessert here once or twice but that was it.  The coffee line was always at least 6 people deep so we skipped it and went straight to the pizza.  Did I mention the unnecessary yet oh so delicious garlic sauce?  

The food here at the Cafe Promenade is included in the cruise fare, but the specialty coffee (lattes, mochas, etc.) are not.  They did have regular coffee you could pour for yourself off to the side, that was included in the cruise fare.  






And now on to the bars!  Which I just realized I only took photos of two of them!  Oops!  Maybe I'll borrow from Royal's webpage?  Shhh, don't tell them.

Boleros is a Latin club with live music and dancing.  During the day I saw dance lessons happening here, which looked like a lot of fun, and they were well-attended. At night people were dancing, and the club seemed to have good attendance.






On Air is also on the Promenade.  This is where the karaoke happens.  Probably other things happen here too, but at night the only thing I saw as karaoke. Let me tell you, I saw some AMAZING karaoke happening here!  I swear these people must have been professionals planted in the audience.  There is no way there were that many talented people on our sailing!  The audience was super encouraging, even toward the greener karaoke artists.  It was a fun place, and was standing room only most nights.






Then there is the Rising Tide bar, which is technically only on the Promenade part time.  Why?  Well, the clue is in the name.  The Rising Tide bar rises up to Central Park every 30 minutes or so.  I am not sure of the exact schedule because I didn't want to be trapped on a rising bar with people I didn't know.  Also I was pretty much never alone, and DD would have had to go with me.  Maybe next time.











And an oddly shaky video of the bar coming back down, later in the cruise:






Then there is the Copper and Kettle.  This place had a Bloody Mary cart out in the mornings, where you could build a custom Bloody Mary.  I am not a fan, so that did not appeal to me at all.  I think I went here for bottled water (also included with the beverage packages) and that's it.  There was often a guitar player/singer in there, which you could hear out on the promenade.  I don't mean that in a bad way.  He was good!  I just mean you didn't have to go into the bar to hear him; you could enjoy his music from outside the bar as well.






And then there is the Bionic Bar!  






This was fun to watch!  We ended up ordering a drink from here later in the cruise, so you'll hear more about it then, but to order a drink you go to an iPad, choose your drink from a menu or customize your own drink, then there is a screen off to the side that has the queue for drinks listed.  When your drink is done, you scan your Sea Pass or Wow Band and the drink slides toward you.  Bionic Bar in action!  You can also hear the piano player from Schooner's (above the Promenade, on deck 6, which overlooks the Promenade).






Also on the Promenade is the Next Cruise store, where you can book your next RCI cruise.  This place was always busy, and you pretty much had to have an appointment if you wanted to be seen.  

There are shops and kiosks here as well.  There is a Royal shop, with all things Royal Caribbean/Symphony of the Seas.  There is a Duty Free shop, and a few other specialty shops with expensive things that I wasn't buying.  The kiosks had all kinds of watches/jewelry and had "Flash Sales" where everything was 75% off for 10 minutes, or something.  

Above the Promenade, on Deck 6, is the photography store, where you can buy your cruise photos, and my favorite spot to relax at night: Schooner's.  






There was a guy who would play piano and sing, and it usually turned into a sing along.  I didn't participate, I just sat off to the side and read or ignored texts from DD who refused to spend time in the Teen Club.  Finally I just had her go to Schooner's with me.  They did have these cool ship cut out things.






I am sure I am missing something from the Promenade, but you get the idea.  From Deck 6, you can go out to the Boardwalk, which will by my next post... some time probably later tonight.


----------



## aoconnor

Following! I was on Symphony in February and loved every minute of it. As much as I love Disney and happily spend far too much on WDW each year, I just can't justify DCL. RCCL is _nearly_ as good, and literally less than half price. Plus, I don't know what I'd do without an adult drink package...


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## nancy drew

aoconnor said:


> Following! I was on Symphony in February and loved every minute of it. As much as I love Disney and happily spend far too much on WDW each year, I just can't justify DCL. RCCL is _nearly_ as good, and literally less than half price. Plus, I don't know what I'd do without an adult drink package...



Thanks for following along!  

Yes, I have heard complaints about the "Nickel and Diming" on Royal, but you still spend less than you would on DCL. Spoiler Alert: IMO the service, food, and activity options were equal to DCL (minus the costumed characters). The shows on Royal were better than DCL.


----------



## MissDaisyofTexas

Did your DD not like the teen club?


----------



## nancy drew

MissDaisyofTexas said:


> Did your DD not like the teen club?



I'm getting ahead of myself, but no, she did not.  . I mean, it was great spending time with her, but I had wanted some time to myself too, and every time I tried to get time to myself she texted me nonstop as though she were being tortured.  She had been SO happy in the teen club on HAL so I did not expect this.


----------



## trvlgirlmq

nancy drew said:


> Thank you!
> 
> Ha ha, open mic night!  I would be terrified!  But thank you .
> 
> Do you like Carnival?  They have that certain reputation as a party cruise line, but I am interested in some of their ports.  My son claims he will never set foot on Carnival because we saw a Carnival ship whose exhaust was super dark and he decided they are the worst offenders of air pollution.  !


.

We love it!  The old reputation is not valid; at least on any of the cruises we have done.  We do stick to 5-10 day sailings though.  I know that the 3 day weekend cruises are a bit party-hardy.  They have really upped their game for family cruising.  They put a lot of money into redesigning the kid club spaces and what they offer in them.  The newer ships are all built with lots of fun things like water parks, rope courses, etc and they are adding these things to many of the older ships too. The included food offerings are varied and have lots of variety.  In fact, every time I try to show DS2 other cruise line's ships he says he only wants to sail Carnival.

I don't know about their pollution rating but I think all the ships are not environmentally friendly! They are building their first LNG powered ship as some of the other lines are also.


----------



## a1tinkfans

pattyw said:


> Looks great so far!  We're on our first cruise 4/14- Allure 7 day Western Caribbean.  Looking forward to reading all about your trip!


I hope you ll report back ur impression of the Allure itself and the cruise. I’m on it a few weeks after you.


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## a1tinkfans

Great report OP! The photos are really good and helps us to live vicariously thru  ur cruise, lol. 
Looking forward to the updates.


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## nancy drew

*Day 1 cont'd:*

So we had explored Deck 5, now it was time for Deck 6.  I should add, because I think someone asked about it elsewhere and I don't think I added it here. We had left our hotel at around 10:15 or 10:30 (not really sure), I think we arrived at the port around 11, and we were on the ship by 11:15.  And that was with the security check and bathroom stop, and the ride to the port.  So it was really quick.

Oh my goodness and I forgot that we had dropped off our bags in the theater! That's where we looked down and saw the sculpture of the lollipop!

*The Key: * One of the perks of The Key is that you can drop off your carry on luggage in the Royal Theater and it will be delivered to your room before any checked luggage.  We went straight there when we boarded, gave them our room number/name, and dropped off our bags.  *This was a very nice benefit, and one that I really appreciated.  Our luggage was in our stateroom when we went there, no problems at all.* 

*The Key:*  Then we were given wristbands, and we were told those were for priority access to activities like the Flowrider, Rock Wall, Zipline, Abyss, etc.  I hadn't heard of having priority access, so I was confused.  All of the documentation I had read said we would have special hours just for Key members.  I was told yes, there would be special hours, but we could also go to the front of the line any time with the wristbands.  I asked again and was told no really, you just go to the front of the line and show your wristband and you get priority any time.  We did not test this out as my son was not comfortable cutting in front of other kids who were waiting, and I was not about to encourage him to do so.  There were NO signs ANYWHERE stating that Key guests could cut the line, nor were there separate lines (I think there was a suite/Diamond/Pinnacle line at The Abyss, but NO Key line anywhere).  Some people have said they would have no problem cutting the line because they paid for the privilege and too bad for the people who didn't.  I have been told "It is just like having a Fastpass or Express Pass" but I disagree.  At Disney/Universal there are signs EVERYWHERE about Fastpasses/Express Pass.  You get emails from Disney/Universal explaining it all to you.  You see separate lines labeled "Fastpass" or "Express Pass".  You wait in a different line.  Imagine the chaos that would happen at Disney/Universal if there were only one line, and anyone with a Fastpass/Express Pass could just shove past everyone else and go to the front.  IMO this is a terrible system and not one we were comfortable using.  *This was no benefit to us as Key members. *

So Deck 6 has the Boardwalk, which leads to a few dining options, the Aqua Theater, and you can access the Rock Climbing wall.






You will probably visit this area at night, for the Aqua Theater, or maybe after you descend from The Abyss, but hopefully you'll also visit during the day to eat, or just to enjoy this part of the ship.

As you walk down the Boardwalk, you will see one of my favorite art installments on the ship:






It shows how carousel horses are made, with some disembodied hands (not my favorite part), and it leads to the carousel.











So yes, those pictures are from an evening, not day 1.  I cheated.  Sorry.  But I was kind of overwhelmed on the first day, getting my bearings, and I didn't take all of the photos I wanted to that first day.  Or if I did, they were kinda boring like this.






There is another art installment on the Boardwalk, but either it wasn't working properly or DD couldn't get it to work.  You are supposed to wear the "hair" and hear something.  She said she couldn't hear anything.






You'll also walk past Zoltar, who will yell at you, giving you flashbacks of the terminal in Miami.  And also you'll remember the movie Big.






For dining, you have the Boardwalk Dog House, Sugar Beach, and Playmakers.

Boardwalk Dog House is the only option of these that is included in your cruise fare.  They have a few options, different types of hot dog/sausage, not much in the way of side options.











I got a regular Coney Island Dog there once, and it was good.  Nothing outstanding, but it was a hot dog, and it was good.

Then you have Sugar Beach, which is a candy and ice cream shop, and none of it is included in your cruise fare, which is why we did not set foot in there until the last night of our cruise, when I figured I should at least take some photos.































Next to Sugar Beach is Johnny Rockets.  Johnny Rockets has a surcharge for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is included in your cruise fare.  Let me repeat that, because everyone hears "Johnny Rockets has a surcharge" and dismisses it.  But breakfast is included in your cruise fare.  You can order from the menu, it is made a la carte, and the servers are nice, and the food is really good!






Next to Johnny Rockets is this climbing structure for little kids.  We called it The Pringles Thing because it looks like a bunch of colorful Pringles.  Well the kids on the ship seemed to love it!






Past The Pringles Thing is the rock wall, and the Aqua Theater.  You need to make reservations for Hiro, the main Aqua Theater show, but the second show (Aqua Nation) does not require reservations.  Go to both shows.  I'll say it again later, but go to both shows!

This is not one of the shows, btw.  This is the cruise director.  Oh also they show movies here, and other shows.  And if you are doing scuba training this is where you will do it.






On either side of the Aqua Theater are the rock climbing walls.  DD had said she would do it, but that never happened.  I never really encouraged it, either. We were busy with other things.






In the middle of the Boardwalk is the exit from the Abyss slide, which is the 10 story slide down the back of the ship.  I'll talk more about this later.






Then turning further to the right is Playmakers, which is basically a sports bar/arcade.  The drinks are included in the beverage package, but you will pay for any food you order.  We didn't eat here, but I did get bottled water and a few glasses of wine throughout the week.






And I believe that's it for Deck 6!


----------



## nancy drew

trvlgirlmq said:


> .
> 
> We love it!  The old reputation is not valid; at least on any of the cruises we have done.  We do stick to 5-10 day sailings though.  I know that the 3 day weekend cruises are a bit party-hardy.  They have really upped their game for family cruising.  They put a lot of money into redesigning the kid club spaces and what they offer in them.  The newer ships are all built with lots of fun things like water parks, rope courses, etc and they are adding these things to many of the older ships too. The included food offerings are varied and have lots of variety.  In fact, every time I try to show DS2 other cruise line's ships he says he only wants to sail Carnival.
> 
> I don't know about their pollution rating but I think all the ships are not environmentally friendly! They are building their first LNG powered ship as some of the other lines are also.



I'm glad to hear that Carnival's reputation is not really true.  I do want to give them a try some day.  Perhaps I'll have to do a solo cruise.  I really have no idea why DS feels so strongly about this.  If he had once looked up at the Royal smoke stacks, or probably any ship's smoke stacks, he would have seen the same thing.


----------



## a1tinkfans

Since you mentioned getting the bottled water...I know u did deluxe, I got the refreshment pkg. we’re you able to grab/request more than one bottle at a time?
Or did you ever grab a bottled water from a  bar? 
Got my hubby the alcohol pkg but I’m a huge water drinker and wanted bottled, Not in a cup ( heard there’s stations of water?) 
Anyway... curious about the bottled water. 
TIA, if you know.


----------



## nancy drew

a1tinkfans said:


> Since you mentioned getting the bottled water...I know u did deluxe, I got the refreshment pkg. we’re you able to grab/request more than one bottle at a time?
> Or did you ever grab a bottled water from a  bar?
> Got my hubby the alcohol pkg but I’m a huge water drinker and wanted bottled, Not in a cup ( heard there’s stations of water?)
> Anyway... curious about the bottled water.
> TIA, if you know.



I was able to get 2 bottles of water at a time, from any bar.  No problem.  In fact, one time I said "Can I please have a boiled water?" and someone said "You can actually have 2 bottles..." so I asked for 2.  

There is water available wherever the lemonade/flavored water is available, at Windjammer, Park Cafe, etc.  Not bottled, just water.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

Ok, we've moved on from Deck 6.  I'm going to go a bit out of sequence and stick with Deck 8, even though we had walked around Deck 8, then explored the higher decks, then returned to Deck 8.  Don't hate me for it.  

Deck 8 has Central Park and Dazzles.  I'll get to Central Park in a minute.  

Dazzles is a nightclub that is on Deck 8 and Deck 9.  






They had parties here every night but I did not get to attend any of them because *someone* would not go to the Teen Club.    They had a great view of the Boardwalk.  Bet it looked even better at night.  Not that I would know... 






Central Park is a very pretty area of the ship.  Here you will find the Park Cafe, which is home of the famous Kummelweck sandwich which I did not try.  They have a late breakfast, and the food is included in your cruise fare.  There is also the Trellis bar, which I did not visit once, and Jamie's, 150 Central Park, and Chops.  All three of those are an additional charge.  

*The Key:*  Key guests can have lunch at Chops or Jamie's on embarkation day as part of the benefits of the program.  We chose to dine at Chops, as we all like filet mignon (snobs?  I guess?) and the menu at Jamie's wasn't appealing.   First we had to wait 10 minutes behind some woman who was complaining about all of her dining reservations.  Finally we were seated, and we ordered from the Key menu (a scaled down version of the regular lunch menu).  











I thought for sure we would all order the filet.  

Side track: we all LOVE Benihana and go every few months.  We all order the filet.  No question.  When I saw the menu, I assumed we would all order the filet.  That did not happen.  We ordered mac and cheese and mashed potatoes as sides, and cheesecake and chocolate cake as desserts.  Oh and Caesar salads to begin but BORING.  No, just kidding.  The Caesar salads on this ship were amazing.  

So, I could drag this out to simulate our experience at Chops but I will spare you, because it was torture.  We were in that restaurant for 1.5 hours.  I watched other tables who had been seated when we were seated and they were all on the same timetable as us.  Meanwhile, when we were waiting for dessert a family with young kids showed up and they were served WAY faster than us.  

At one point I went to the bathroom, figuring the Rule of Restaurants would apply and the food would arrive while I was in the bathroom.  NOPE.  But I did learn that the bathrooms all have motion sensors to open the doors.  






The Casear salad was the same as the one I would get almost every night in the MDR:






Don't get me wrong.  This was a GREAT salad.  Seriously.  I was glad to have it almost every night.  

DS ordered the burger and was unhappy.  How are you unhappy with a burger?  I don't know.  But if anyone can be unhappy with a burger, one of my kids can be unhappy with a burger.  Especially when he just should have ordered the filet like a normal person.  Who goes to a steak house and orders a burger?  Where did I go wrong as a parent?  Who would be unhappy with this?






 "The fries are good though!" Ok whatever.  Who even orders fries at a steak house?  I have so much work to do with this kid.  

Whatevs.  DD and I did the right thing and ordered the filet.  Like normal people.  






Somehow they had brought an extra mac and cheese for DS.  It's almost like they knew he wouldn't like the burger.  "Kid, what are you DOING?  Who orders a burger in a steak house?  Obvi your mom has failed you but no worries, we got you, son.  Eat this delicious mac and cheese and all will be well.  Your mom will learn.  It will take time, but she will learn.  And so will you.  So for now, enjoy this cheesy pasta that costs a fraction of what your mom paid.  And we will be laughing at your expense in the galley."






But really, it was good.  But the potatoes.  Oh Em Gee!  The mashed potatoes were TDF.  DS had none of that with his fried and mac and cheese.  Because I am not actually a horrible person I offered him some of my filet, and he enjoyed it.  SEE??  GET THE FILET!!!  The sauces were awesome, too.  I think it was a red wine reduction and a Bearnaise?  Whatever, they were great.  Full stop.  

And then dessert.  I mean, dessert is pretty much always good.  And this was good.  Was it worth the price?  I guess?  But it would have been better if it hadn't taken SO LONG.  











Both of these are good, so go with your gut.  Gut says chocolate?  Get the chocolate cake.  Gut says cheesecake?  Go with it.  You can't lose with those two options.  

*The lunch was delicious but it took WAY too long.  I wish we had asked to speed things up.  The food was amazing but overall we could have bought lunch and had the same experience.  I do recommend lunch or dinner at Chops if you like filet.  Whether it is worthwhile for The Key depends on how they proceed with the other benefits.  *


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## nancy drew

Someone asked elsewhere, so I will share here as well.  

*The Key: * We were promised exclusive hours for all of the on board activities, such as Flowrider, ice skating, rock wall, etc.  I had been watching the schedules posted, and all of them had multiple hours each week.  So when I saw this, I was shocked.  






That's it.  Those were the "priority hours" for Key guests.  All other sailings had multiple hours per activity.  Some had hours every single day!  

*This was absolutely a disappointment.  Not worthwhile at all. *


----------



## cel_disney

nancy drew said:


> Someone asked elsewhere, so I will share here as well.
> 
> *The Key: * We were promised exclusive hours for all of the on board activities, such as Flowrider, ice skating, rock wall, etc.  I had been watching the schedules posted, and all of them had multiple hours each week.  So when I saw this, I was shocked.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's it.  Those were the "priority hours" for Key guests.  All other sailings had multiple hours per activity.  Some had hours every single day!
> 
> *This was absolutely a disappointment.  Not worthwhile at all. *



This might be getting ahead of your review but I’m curious if you used these hours and how crowded they were?    There is no doubt that this is a disappointment and I hope that you and others voiced that in your survey! 

Also - Did you or your son observe anyone using the priority feature for The Key at  the FlowRider while he was in the regular line?   And did he do stand up or boggie boarding?


----------



## a1tinkfans

nancy drew said:


> I was able to get 2 bottles of water at a time, from any bar.  No problem.  In fact, one time I said "Can I please have a boiled water?" and someone said "You can actually have 2 bottles..." so I asked for 2.
> 
> There is water available wherever the lemonade/flavored water is available, at Windjammer, Park Cafe, etc.  Not bottled, just water.



Thank you!


----------



## pattyw

a1tinkfans said:


> I hope you ll report back ur impression of the Allure itself and the cruise. I’m on it a few weeks after you.



Sure will! I will try to report live!!


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## trvlgirlmq

I'm going with a big NO on that 10-story slide!


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> There was a guy who would play piano and sing, and it usually turned into a sing along.


One of my favourite people watching games at Schooner's is "spot the people that will get up and dance to a random pop song played by a guy on a mini-grand". 



nancy drew said:


> They always had cheese, pepperoni, and veggie pizza, then there was another option.


Did they have an option to order a personal pizza? The pre-made ones are perfect for grab and go, but sometimes you want a fancy-ish pizza. Or pineapples (ymmv, and apologies to those that hate pineapples on pizza).



nancy drew said:


> This place had a Bloody Mary cart out in the mornings, where you could build a custom Bloody Mary. I am not a fan, so that did not appeal to me at all.


I actually like having a Bloody Caesar every once in a while, and yet I really don't like Bloody Marys. Who knew that clamato juice made such a difference?



nancy drew said:


> Yes, I have heard complaints about the "Nickel and Diming" on Royal, but you still spend less than you would on DCL.


It's a psychological thing. It's easy to remember that it costs extra for soft drinks but in the moment, when you don't have free, easy and immediate access to the soda machines, it kind of sucks. Unless you're like me and avoid drinking the fizzy stuff, "daddy sodas" excepted. I'd imagine that those that go to all inclusive resorts have similar shock at having to pay a la carte for things.



nancy drew said:


> Boardwalk Dog House is the only option of these that is included in your cruise fare. They have a few options, different types of hot dog/sausage, not much in the way of side options.


Harmony has the same variety, but Allure has more dog options, plus sauteed onions.



nancy drew said:


> Johnny Rockets has a surcharge for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is included in your cruise fare. Let me repeat that, because everyone hears "Johnny Rockets has a surcharge" and dismisses it. But breakfast is included in your cruise fare.


This is something I always point out. I'm not as big a fan of the food as you are, but aside from that, it's relatively quiet, it's outdoors, and you sort of get a view of the water. Anyone who has been to WJ or Cabanas at peak breakfast times can probably appreciate this little bit of serenity (now).



nancy drew said:


> We chose to dine at Chops, as we all like filet mignon (snobs? I guess?) and the menu at Jamie's wasn't appealing.


I'd be tempted by the branzino. A simply oiled, salted and grilled whole fish can be incredible if that's your thing.



nancy drew said:


> Somehow they had brought an extra mac and cheese for DS. It's almost like they knew he wouldn't like the burger. "Kid, what are you DOING? Who orders a burger in a steak house?


Reminds me of my server on Harmony (Teo. If he's still there he was promoted to the specialty restaurants). One night I ordered the beignets for dessert, and he immediately looked at me and asked "you sure you don't want to order another dessert as well", as if to say "yeah, the donuts suck". He was not wrong.



trvlgirlmq said:


> I'm going with a big NO on that 10-story slide!


Honestly, it's a 10-story drop of meh. To me, it's like Aquaduck - a lot of hype building it up, but a lot of disappointment once you've tried the ride. 

I suppose that if you found Aquaduck thrilling you might find Abyss to be fun as well. For me, I was excited and thrilled by neither.


----------



## nancy drew

cel_disney said:


> This might be getting ahead of your review but I’m curious if you used these hours and how crowded they were?    There is no doubt that this is a disappointment and I hope that you and others voiced that in your survey!
> 
> Also - Did you or your son observe anyone using the priority feature for The Key at  the FlowRider while he was in the regular line?   And did he do stand up or boggie boarding?



We didn't use the hours.  My son ended up skinning both of his knees somehow, so he didn't want to boogie board anymore (you pop up onto your knees and balance).  He also didn't want to try the standing side.  

We did not see anyone jumping the line at the Flowrider.  And we didn't do any of the other activities, except The Abyss and there was no line for that at all.  



trvlgirlmq said:


> I'm going with a big NO on that 10-story slide!



I noped that slide as well, but from all reports it isn't that bad.  It isn't a straight drop, and it isn't dark.  Those are my two biggest concerns.  My son said there is one turn that is kind of hard, and that must be the spot I'd heard of where people have been a little banged up.  He was fine, he just said there was one turn that was a bit more sharp than the rest. 



starvenger said:


> One of my favourite people watching games at Schooner's is "spot the people that will get up and dance to a random pop song played by a guy on a mini-grand".
> 
> 
> Did they have an option to order a personal pizza? The pre-made ones are perfect for grab and go, but sometimes you want a fancy-ish pizza. Or pineapples (ymmv, and apologies to those that hate pineapples on pizza).  Yes, they did.  We were fine with the choices they had available, but you could also make a custom pizza.  Thank you for reminding me of that.
> 
> 
> I actually like having a Bloody Caesar every once in a while, and yet I really don't like Bloody Marys. Who knew that clamato juice made such a difference?
> 
> 
> It's a psychological thing. It's easy to remember that it costs extra for soft drinks but in the moment, when you don't have free, easy and immediate access to the soda machines, it kind of sucks. Unless you're like me and avoid drinking the fizzy stuff, "daddy sodas" excepted. I'd imagine that those that go to all inclusive resorts have similar shock at having to pay a la carte for things.  I do get it, but I guess my point is there aren't that many "extras" that you are paying for vs other cruise lines or all-inclusives.  Really it is just drinks, and if you buy the package then you have unlimited drinks.  I actually like the drink package concept better than DCL where you have to pay out of pocket for every alcoholic drink.
> 
> 
> Harmony has the same variety, but Allure has more dog options, plus sauteed onions.  I feel like maybe they had the onions?  I don't remember though.
> 
> 
> This is something I always point out. I'm not as big a fan of the food as you are, but aside from that, it's relatively quiet, it's outdoors, and you sort of get a view of the water. Anyone who has been to WJ or Cabanas at peak breakfast times can probably appreciate this little bit of serenity (now).  Yes, the food is not exceptional, but it is custom made (not sitting out under warming lights being touched and sneezed on by 5000 people) and you can always find seating.
> 
> 
> I'd be tempted by the branzino. A simply oiled, salted and grilled whole fish can be incredible if that's your thing.
> 
> 
> Reminds me of my server on Harmony (Teo. If he's still there he was promoted to the specialty restaurants). One night I ordered the beignets for dessert, and he immediately looked at me and asked "you sure you don't want to order another dessert as well", as if to say "yeah, the donuts suck". He was not wrong.
> 
> 
> Honestly, it's a 10-story drop of meh. To me, it's like Aquaduck - a lot of hype building it up, but a lot of disappointment once you've tried the ride.
> 
> I suppose that if you found Aquaduck thrilling you might find Abyss to be fun as well. For me, I was excited and thrilled by neither.


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> I noped that slide as well, but from all reports it isn't that bad. It isn't a straight drop, and it isn't dark. Those are my two biggest concerns. My son said there is one turn that is kind of hard, and that must be the spot I'd heard of where people have been a little banged up. He was fine, he just said there was one turn that was a bit more sharp than the rest.


I did brush my shoulder on the tube at one point, which would've been bad if not for the requirement to wear sleeved shirts.


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> I did brush my shoulder on the tube at one point, which would've been bad if not for the requirement to wear sleeved shirts.



That must be the spot.  Someone I met on the ship said that if you hold your arms they way they show you, it helps avoid getting your elbows scraped up at that part, too.  It looks awkward, but I can see how it protects you from tube burn.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

Lunch was great, and now the rooms were ready.  

We headed up to Deck 10 to check out our room.  I had booked an Ocean View Balcony Guarantee room, which means I did not get to choose the room, but would be guaranteed an Ocean View Balcony (as opposed to a Central Park or Boardwalk Balcony).  Booking a Guarantee room is a great way to save money, but you have to be careful.  I had checked out the available staterooms and determined that there were only a few that were somewhat undesirable, due to being near night clubs or restaurants, or in high traffic areas.  I took my chances and it worked out well for us.  Some ships have obstructed view balconies, and some of the obstructed views are more obstructed than others.  Sometimes it is just a pole in the way, but sometimes it is a whole lifeboat, so you have to be careful.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it were less expensive and if there were no undesirable rooms in that category.  

About 30 days before we sailed we were assigned a room.  Actually, before that, I had checked out my Set Sail Pass (kind of like a boarding pass) and saw that it said Deck 10 but the room number said GTY (guarantee).  I wasn't sure whether the deck was just a placeholder or the actual deck, but it turned out to be the actual deck.  

Our stateroom was 10330, which was allllllllll the way aft on the port side.  






This was both good and bad.  It was good (GREAT, actually) because it was super quiet.  Since the hallway ended with a door to the Aqua Theater Suite 1 door over, the only people who would be passing us would be the people in the suite and the people next to us.  The people in the suite seemed to have teenagers, and the people next to us were a couple.  So that means no kids running down the hallway screaming in the early morning, and it was likely there wouldn't be kids running above us either since again, the hall ends just 1 door down so anyone running would slam into the door.  

It was also nice because it meant we had to walk a lot, which meant we could eat more pizza .  

It was, however, a loooooooooong walk to the front of the ship.  So when I was going or coming from the Solarium (will get to that) or the theater, it was a long walk.  

But it was totally fine and I have no complaints about the room location.  

Now, I had heard that the sofa bed on the Symphony is actually 2 beds, and one pulls out from the bottom as a trundle.  I thought this would be great, and the kids could sleep there and I'd have the big bed all to myself.  Perfect, right?  Except that on rooms that are configured with the bed near the window, the sofa bed doesn't have the trundle.  So this room only holds 3 people.  I had no idea this was even possible, as I had only heard that the sofa bed had 2 separate sleeping areas!  So we ended up having our Room Attendant, Rodolfo, who was awesome, separate the big bed into twins.  It was disappointing, but again not a huge deal since I had saved a lot by not choosing my own room.  

The room was still really pretty, though I don't like having the bed by the window all that much.  






This is where the fridge was, and a few drawers for clothing etc.  The hair dryer and 2 boxes of Kleenex were in the top drawer over the fridge.  The fridge was empty, and had a lock on it (it was unlocked).  The cups you see are the refillable soda cups.  All of the cups looked the same, so we used a Sharpie to write our names on them.  That rubbed off a few times so eventually I put a Sea Band on mine so I could identify it.  






*The Key:* Our carry on luggage was already in the room, and since that was all we had brought we began unpacking.  *This was a great benefit, since we would have otherwise been dragging our suitcases around until the room was available.*

There are two closets.  One has hanging space only, and one has some hanging space and some shelves, as well as the safe.  I forgot to photograph that side.  






Our safe was locked, and we couldn't unlock it, so we had to call housekeeping.  They came and unlocked it, and we didn't have any issues with it the rest of the trip.  But let me warn you, it is SMALL.  You cannot even fit an iPad in there.  I fit my wallet and our Passports in there and could probably have put our phones in there, and that is all that would fit.  

Speaking of small, here is the bathroom.  I know, it is a cruise ship, what do I expect?  But it is a small bathroom, with a small shower.  I will say that over the week I noticed a mildew smell in there as well.  Kind of crazy for an almost brand new ship!











The shower was fine.  You could adjust the water pressure, and the water got VERY hot if you wanted it to.  One thing is, the door would close automatically, so if we were hanging wet bathing suits they didn't really get much air.  In fact there just didn't seem to be much ventilation in the bathroom at all, which I am sure it what is causing the mildew smell.  I had noticed the smell in one section of the hallway, too.  

Let me just say, this did not ruin the trip, nor would it deter me from sailing on the Symphony again.  It is just something I noticed, and wanted to comment on.  The ship isn't perfect, but it is darn close.  If an occasional mildew smell is the worst thing that I can say about it, that's pretty good. 

Our balcony had 2 chairs and 2 footstools, and a little table.  The chair could recline completely flat, so technically you could lay out there if you used the foot stool as well.  






This was our view, and it would again be our view a week later.  The traffic looked horrible going in one direction, and at no point did it look like it improved.  Yuck!


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

The photos are still showing up huge on my end, so let me know if this is bothering anyone and I will work on fixing it.  

I believe we received our first Cruise Compass in our room.  






[/url]
















Sometimes there was an insert with evening entertainment, sometimes that wasn't included.  I'm not sure if we were supposed to get that every night, or if it was only occasional.  The Royal Caribbean app also had the shows and activities listed.  The app is great for some things, like having a map of the ship, or checking what time an activity is.  But sometimes the times are wrong.  That happened to us more than once, and it was really annoying. I wish the app had texting capacity so we wouldn't have needed VOOM internet.  But right now only Harmony and Allure have texting turned on in the Royal app.  

*The Key:*  I've already shared our letters from The Key, outlining the program and the private hours for activities.  We also had our internet access codes in our room.

Since The Key included one VOOM Surf and Stream access code for each person who had purchased The Key, we were able to text each other on the ship.  We were also able to receive texts and emails from home, and use the internet as we would at home.  We didn't try to watch movies or anything, it was mostly for social media and so I could do some work.  I know some people say they can't imagine carrying their phone around a ship blah blah blah and back in my day we just left notes in the room to tell each other where we were going... yeah well when you know better you do better.  With our room being all the way on the far end of the ship, if we had to go back to the room every time we changed location, we would have spent so much time walking back to the room.  That seems so silly!  Sure, I would have preferred that DD couldn't text me every 5 seconds when she wasn't with me.  But my son was allowed to go places with his friends as long as he let me know where he was going.  He could do it discreetly on his phone, vs saying "Hey guys, I have to walk back to my room and leave a note for my mom" then showing up 20 minutes later to find his friends have already moved on to the next thing.  *This was definitely a worthwhile perk for us, and we definitely benefitted from being able to text each other.  *

Later on I found this helpful page that listed all of the shows.  I remember having this on HAL and it was really helpful in planning our week.  This was helpful as well, and I wish I had found it earlier in the week.






After we quickly unpacked, we headed up to Deck 15 to check out the pool and the Teen Club.  On Deck 15 just outside our elevator bank we found the musical staircase.  You have to try this out, both alone and with other people.  It was funny to watch people use the staircase when they didn't know how it worked.  They would just go up or down as usual, then suddenly realize there was music playing, and that it was coming from their movements.  






I'll start with the Teen Club and the surrounding area.  I'm afraid we never set foot in Adventure Ocean on Deck 14, so I don't have photos of that area.  I do have the activity pages for Adventure Ocean, though, and I will share those.  

The Teen Club is technically called The Living Room.  When you first walk in, you see these game chairs to the right.






Then there are all kinds of seating areas.






I think these were the chairs DD later referred to as The Tim Burton Chairs.






They had some events up on the wall here, so I assume this was sort of the announcement board.  They also had a bunch of the Teen Compasses lying here so I grabbed one for each age group (12-14 and 15-17).  






There was a foosball table, and another seating area.  The counselor desk was just over to the left where the people are standing.  That's where they kept the ball for the foosball table, and some other items.  Kids had to leave their Sea Pass cards if they wanted to check out items like the ball, or some video games.  DS left his card there on more than one occasion and had to go back to retrieve it so he could get off the ship in port.  






The teens have their own outdoor area as well, under shade.  






And then there is the Teen Disco, called Fuel.  They had a bar type setup, and a dance floor.  I know they had dance parties in here a few times.  They had a Silent Disco party, and something else.  Neither of my kids had interest in that though.






These are the teen compasses, with the activities for the week.  Now, I am not sure how many of those activities happened, because as I have mentioned DD refused to go t the club and DS went, but I am pretty sure he just played video games and foosball, or left and played mini golf with friends, or went and ate pizza 1 hour before dinner and then claimed he wasn't hungry for dinner so could he just go back to the club.  Um, no.  You're coming to dinner with us, buddy.


----------



## SDJEL

I’m really enjoying your posts.  We are in the Anthem this summer and we have booked the Key.  Also, my teens do not think that the teen room ca compare to Vibe.  The cruise compass show some activities I think my kids will love.  Thanks for the posts.


----------



## nancy drew

SDJEL said:


> I’m really enjoying your posts.  We are in the Anthem this summer and we have booked the Key.  Also, my teens do not think that the teen room ca compare to Vibe.  The cruise compass show some activities I think my kids will love.  Thanks for the posts.



From what I have seen, the kids make friends quickly and then come and go from the teen club.  My kids are currently away with their dad, but I will ask if the club did have activities going on.


----------



## Mikamarii

nancy drew said:


> Now, I had heard that the sofa bed on the Symphony is actually 2 beds, and one pulls out from the bottom as a trundle. I thought this would be great, and the kids could sleep there and I'd have the big bed all to myself. Perfect, right? Except that on rooms that are configured with the bed near the window, the sofa bed doesn't have the trundle. So this room only holds 3 people. I had no idea this was even possible, as I had only heard that the sofa bed had 2 separate sleeping areas! So we ended up having our Room Attendant, Rodolfo, who was awesome, separate the big bed into twins. It was disappointing, but again not a huge deal since I had saved a lot by not choosing my own room.



I've been scowering the internet looking for this info so thank you for posting. It's hard to find clear info on what the sofa bed actually looks like. We currently have a boardwalk balcony room booked and it says it sleeps up to 4 but I missed the part where it says this category only has a single sofa bed. Not sure how you can sleep 4 in the room with a single sofa bed. All the others say double. Anyways now we know and will have to change the category


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

I actually have the Adventure Ocean activities, but it is a LOT of pages and I would rather not post all of them.  So I'll share a few, just so you have an idea of what's going on there.  

Here's one for a day at sea:






I can't be the only one who laughs at the name of the morning activity.  I mean come ON!!!






And here is an example of the schedule for a day in port:


----------



## nancy drew

Mikamarii said:


> I've been scowering the internet looking for this info so thank you for posting. It's hard to find clear info on what the sofa bed actually looks like. We currently have a boardwalk balcony room booked and it says it sleeps up to 4 but I missed the part where it says this category only has a single sofa bed. Not sure how you can sleep 4 in the room with a single sofa bed. All the others say double. Anyways now we know and will have to change the category



Is there a way to see how many the sofa bed sleeps?  I'll have to look into that in the future.  I would think if it says they sleep 4 then you have the trundle.


----------



## Mikamarii

nancy drew said:


> Is there a way to see how many the sofa bed sleeps?  I'll have to look into that in the future.  I would think if it says they sleep 4 then you have the trundle.


Its been kind of confusing. The boardwalk view rooms seem to be the only category where it specifies a single sofa bed. All others say double. Other categories say single sofa for rooms that sleep 3 and double for rooms that sleep 4. The photos of the boardwalk rooms I've seen show the sofa bed near the balcony which aligns with your experience of it being a single. This might be one of those safe then sorry as there are 4 of us so having a single sofa bed would really dampen the experience!


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

So Deck 15 is a busy place.  Not only is the Teen Club there, but also the pools, water slides, El Loco Fresh (will get to that), several bars, the arcade, the Solarium (will get to that as well), several hot tubs, The Abyss, and the Flow Rider.  

Oh and this GENIUS room that should be not only on every cruise ship but in every hotel and on every corner.  All of the Starbucks that opened up 5-10 years ago are closing and THIS is what should replace them.  

I call it The Room of Requirement.

Let's start with the best part.  It's happened to everyone.  You're trying not to use your phone that much, because you're on vacation, and you want to unplug, but you can't stop taking photos because you want to remember everything and then share it with internet strangers, and your DD is texting you non stop because apparently the Teen Club is The Worst And Please Can I Leave Now.  So your phone is down to 15%, and your room is alllllllll the way aft, and you have finally found a seat in the sun, and it isn't near those people who sit far away from each other even though they are together so they can yell their entire conversation so everyone around them hears it, so you don't want to leave for toooooo long.... 

Royal's got you covered in the Room of Requirement.  You Harry Potter fans know what the Room of Requirement is.  It's a secret room in Hogwarts that only becomes available to you when you need something, and to access it you think of what you need while walking past its location and the room appears.  

Royal made it happen.  

You're walking back to your room thinking "If only I could charge my phone without having to go allllll the way back to my room!" and bam.  The sliding door opens and you see THIS:






These. Should. Be. Everywhere.  

You touch the screen, you choose a cubby, you enter a pass key, you confirm it, you plug in your phone, close the door, it locks, and your phone charges.  You can go get lunch at El Loco, you can go spy on your Teen (the one who loves the club or the one who hates, it; take your pick), you can go get some ice cream, or walk past the crazy intense game of dodge ball on the sport court with people screaming on the sidelines as you walk by and you wonder when dodge ball became such a popular spectator sport.  

And like 15 minutes later your phone is charged.  

But wait, there's more.  

A charged phone is not the only thing you need on a vacation.  

Those people I mentioned earlier, the ones who sit far away from each other and it seems like the only reason they did was so they could yell their entire conversation so everyone around them has to listen to it.  You sat in their vicinity and now you have a headache.  You don't want to go down to the Promenade (because they don't have it there anyway, I don't think) for some Motrin.  Just walk past the Room of Requirement thinking about Motrin and bam, the glass door opens and you see THIS:






The Health vending machine has a little of everything.  Feeling seasick?  Health has you covered.  Had too much garlic sauce on your pizza?  Health has you covered.  Aunt Flo got you by surprise and you weren't prepared?  Health has you covered.  

Health has some friends.  

Meet Splash.  Splash has everything you need for both sun and fun.  Sunscreen?  Yup.  Goggles?  Go see Splash.  Ray Bans?  Splash has them.  






Health and Splash are the kind, nurturing caregivers of the Room of Requirement.  They make sure you don't get too sunburned, too sick, or too gross, and they make sure you look cool at all times.  They take care of your needs.  

And then there is Tech.  Tech takes care of your wants.  Tech has all of the things you probably do not need on a vacation, but there they are.  I was going to say that batteries are the exception, but what do you even have on vacation that requires batteries any more?  A Walkman?  Probably not.  But if you do, we should talk.  

So what DOES Tech have?  Well the batteries, for the luddites and their Walkmen. Tech also has a Nintendo DS game.  Hmmm, Ok.  Not really a NEED, and oddly specific.  I mean, what if you already have that game?  Ok moving on.  Is that an iPod Shuffle?  I think it is.  Ok, that could be useful, I guess, especially if you're thinking about giving up that Walkman. Wait is that an iPad? Yep.  An iPad.  From a vending machine.  On a cruise ship.  It just makes me laugh.  It shouldn't, I guess, but it does.  






So there you go.  You thought the Room of Requirement was just a fantasy, invented by JK Rowling.  But no: its real, and its fantastic.


----------



## nancy drew

Mikamarii said:


> Its been kind of confusing. The boardwalk view rooms seem to be the only category where it specifies a single sofa bed. All others say double. Other categories say single sofa for rooms that sleep 3 and double for rooms that sleep 4. The photos of the boardwalk rooms I've seen show the sofa bed near the balcony which aligns with your experience of it being a single. This might be one of those safe then sorry as there are 4 of us so having a single sofa bed would really dampen the experience!



Actually it is the opposite, where if the sofa is near the balcony it is a double.  That's what our stateroom attendant said, anyway.  Ours had the bed near the balcony, and the sofa near the bathroom.  I swear I saw one that had the double sofa near the bathroom, though.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

So, we are still on Deck 15, but I'm going to jump up to Deck 16 so I can confess that I never once ate at the Windjammer buffet.  That's right.  We walked through once, and never returned.  Not because of anything we saw, just because we never went there.  DD has food allergies (tree nuts and coconut) so generally we tend to avoid buffets where you have no idea what people have been doing to the food.  On HAL we did go to the buffet because we didn't have all of these other options, but also because you couldn't serve yourself.  You had to ask the guys behind the buffet to serve your food.  So you didn't have people touching the food, using utensils to take one of everything, slopping food across the counter, etc.  I've watched so many cruise videos on You tube and I have seen more than one kid in the background of a video taking something from the buffet, licking it, and putting it back.  No thanks, I do not want a Licked Muffin.

DS ate at the Jammer once.  He went on the day they had the GIANT chocolate cake, and he said they handed out huge pieces.  How did he know that it was cake day?  I have no idea.  But I'm glad he got to see it, even if I didn't.  

The Windjammer has Freestyle machines, and this really cool wall.






And that is all I can say about The Jammer.  Maybe next time.  

So back to Deck 15.  

This is where the pools are.  I'm going to share photos of the pools from throughout the week, because it just seems to make sense to do so.  There is the Main Pool, the Sports Pool, the Beach Pool, and Splashaway Bay.  The pool area forms sort of an H shape, with the pools on the parallel lines and a walkway across the perpendicular line.  The negative space in the H overlooks Central Park.

I have no idea which this is, but I do know it is not the Beach Pool.






This one IS the Beach Pool:
















Several hot tubs all over the place on Deck 15:






The band plays in the middle of all of the pools, on the perpendicular line of the H.  They don't play all day, but when they play you can hear them at all of the pools and above on Deck 16.  That's not a bad thing, I'm just saying you can hear them.






And then there are the waterslides.  DS went down the two twisty ones but not the one we refer to as The Toilet Bowl.  He refuses to try those.  I didn't do any of them because we went to a water park in January and I just got SO motion sick on the one stupid slide I went on.  It was dark, and I got disoriented, and it made me feel super seasick.  So I kept saying "Maybe later in the week" and that never happened.  Maybe next time.  











DS said he liked the yellow one better because it wasn't as dark.






Splashaway Bay looks super fun, and I wish we had been able to experience it when the kids were younger.  I think they would have really enjoyed it, and it is fairly contained so you don't have to helicopter.  











There is a smaller area for the younger kids, too.






This whole area is amazing at night.  











Also on Deck 15 you have 2 hot tubs, with TVs, so you can watch sports and marinate at the same time.  Ok that's gross, sorry.  The hot tubs were always quite full.  But they were pretty at night.  And not nearly as full.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

Back to the daytime, after you pass the pool area, heading toward the aft end of the ship, you'll pass the soft serve station on your way to El Loco Fresh.  






They have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  You can do a chocolate/vanilla twist, and a strawberry/vanilla twist.  There are identical machines on the other side of the ship and NO ONE uses them.  This side?  Always a line.

El Loco is included in your cruise fare.  We ate here a few times and it was good.  I recommend the quesadillas.  The nachos were fine, nothing special.  I didn't try the burritos or the tacos.  They have these hand washing stations nearby, and outside of several of the dining locations.  Most people just walk on past them.  











It is really funny to me that there is only one bowl of chips here.  I must have taken this when they were closing.  Usually the counter was full of bowls of chips.  











There is also a condiment bar, which has everything you would expect to see on a condiment bar for this type of food: salsa (different varieties), shredded cheese, sour cream, and the most important: guacamole.  

Oh and dessert.  There is a chocolate dessert that is usually out that is much better than the other two, IMO.  






Deck 15 has the zipline over the Boardwalk (the aft end of the ship), and you can see the Sport Court behind it.  






Keep going aft and you'll reach the 2 Flowriders.  






Go even further aft and you'll reach The Abyss.






So, DS did go down The Abyss.  There was no line whatsoever, so we did not use our priority status to jump the line.  They show you how to sit in the mat thingy (kind of like those potato sack things for slides at carnivals).  You really do need to sit and hold your arms the way they show you, because DS said (and others have said) there is one part with a kind of sharp turn and you can bang your shoulder or elbow.  

As you walk up the stairs, if you look down you are on a glass (?) platform overlooking the Aqua Theater 10 floors down, and the ocean.  It is kind of terrifying.  They let me go up and take photos.  






On the opposite side from the sport court is the mini golf.  DS played a few times with his friends.  






Deck 15 has the Solarium, but I'm going to wait and do that one later.


----------



## buzzrelly

Joining in! 

I've never been on a RC cruise, but your report is making me want to try one! I'm going on the Fantasy in 9 days with my two teens and I'm looking at your ship kind of thinking there's more to do on RC. My kids do love the teen clubs on DCL though, so I don't expect to see them very much. It's too bad your DD didn't like the clubs. I think you just never know what kind of mix of kids you'll get and maybe she just didn't click with any of the kids on our cruise? 

I love that room with the chargers and health vending machines. How awesome is that?! It had everything you could possibly need!.

One question about the stateroom…did it not have beds that come out of the ceiling? Is that maybe just a DCL thing? We got a room that sleeps five for our upcoming trip. I'll get the big bed, my mom likes the lower bunk, DD gets the upper bunk and then we have a Murphy Bed pull-down for DS who is 6'1" and will certainly spill off the end 

Can't wait to read more!


----------



## cel_disney

buzzrelly said:


> One question about the stateroom…did it not have beds that come out of the ceiling? Is that maybe just a DCL thing? We got a room that sleeps five for our upcoming trip. I'll get the big bed, my mom likes the lower bunk, DD gets the upper bunk and then we have a Murphy Bed pull-down for DS who is 6'1" and will certainly spill off the end
> 
> Can't wait to read more!



I don’t believe that Symphony has beds that drop down from the ceiling in balcony rooms anymore (Pullman style is what it’s referred to) - although other RCI ships do have some depending on the room type.  Not sure if there are any insides that still have them.

Generally RC is switching to trundle sofas to accommodate the 4th.   Family state rooms that would sleep 5-6 people do have bunks but I’m not sure if they are retractable or permanent.


----------



## cel_disney

I don’t think I can convey my excitement about the hand washing stations...I am very anti - antibacterial gel stuff...much prefer the traditional soapy water method of cleaning my hands vs just trying to kill the germs but let them remain on me approach. 

Disappointed that folks don’t use them more but they are really a huge improvement from a sanitary perspective over the gel if people would use them!


----------



## starvenger

SDJEL said:


> Also, my teens do not think that the teen room ca compare to Vibe. The cruise compass show some activities I think my kids will love. Thanks for the posts.


I think that with kids, how much they enjoy a room/club is directly proportional to how many friends they make early on. And unfortunately there's no way of knowing that ahead of time. I mean there is, but I can't afford a Delorean or plutonium.



nancy drew said:


> So there you go. You thought the Room of Requirement was just a fantasy, invented by JK Rowling. But no: its real, and its fantastic.


Was there a charge to use the, um, charging station?



nancy drew said:


> I have no idea which this is, but I do know it is not the Beach Pool.


Looks like the sports pool, assuming that's the WJ up above. Main pool is where the smoking section is, I believe.



nancy drew said:


> And then there are the waterslides. DS went down the two twisty ones but not *the one we refer to as The Toilet Bowl.*


So it's not just me that calls it that. Excellent. I tried calling it the Flux Capacitor before, but it went over everyone's head. The lesson: I have an oddball sense of humour.



nancy drew said:


> As you walk up the stairs, if you look down you are on a glass (?) platform overlooking the Aqua Theater 10 floors down, and the ocean. It is kind of terrifying. They let me go up and take photos.


You should check out the glass floor of the CN Tower here in Toronto. Only a "short" 8 hour drive from Chicago!



cel_disney said:


> I don’t think I can convey my excitement about the hand washing stations...I am very anti - antibacterial gel stuff...much prefer the traditional soapy water method of cleaning my hands vs just trying to kill the germs but let them remain on me approach.


I'll use the gel/foam, but if the hand washing stations are there I'll almost always opt for that. Wish they went a step further and had wash stations like the ones in Oceaneers - stick your hands in and the station takes care of the rest - but better than nothing.


----------



## anitag888

aoconnor said:


> Following! I was on Symphony in February and loved every minute of it. As much as I love Disney and happily spend far too much on WDW each year, I just can't justify DCL. RCCL is _nearly_ as good, and literally less than half price. Plus, I don't know what I'd do without an adult drink package...



So can I ask how you made it work? I'm having trouble justifying literally $700 for a week. Plus I'm trying to find out how to get some sort of medical exemption for my daughter who is 25 and disabled. She can't drink because of her medications but the system won't let me reserve for only 2 people.


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## starvenger

If she’s disabled I’d call customer service and get an exemption. Generally with couples where one is a non-drinker (or “non-drinker”) they will allow the second person to purchase the soda package. 

In your situation I’d imagine a full exemption is warranted. So definitely ask.


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## nancy drew

buzzrelly said:


> Joining in!
> 
> I've never been on a RC cruise, but your report is making me want to try one! I'm going on the Fantasy in 9 days with my two teens and I'm looking at your ship kind of thinking there's more to do on RC. My kids do love the teen clubs on DCL though, so I don't expect to see them very much. It's too bad your DD didn't like the clubs. I think you just never know what kind of mix of kids you'll get and maybe she just didn't click with any of the kids on our cruise?
> 
> I love that room with the chargers and health vending machines. How awesome is that?! It had everything you could possibly need!.
> 
> One question about the stateroom…did it not have beds that come out of the ceiling? Is that maybe just a DCL thing? We got a room that sleeps five for our upcoming trip. I'll get the big bed, my mom likes the lower bunk, DD gets the upper bunk and then we have a Murphy Bed pull-down for DS who is 6'1" and will certainly spill off the end
> 
> Can't wait to read more!



Glad you're here!  I wasn't sure about Royal but I read a trip report with a ton of photos and it really helped change my mind.  

I think DD was overwhelmed by the number of kids who were there.  I'll probably get to this eventually, but her claim was "They all know each other already" which couldn't be true, but she also skipped the Meet and Greet so maybe it was true?  Who knows.  She did end up meeting some girls she liked but she never went back to see if they were there.  

Symphony does not have Pullman beds like that, but they have rooms with bunk beds or other options for sleeping 5.  A lot of people get 2 rooms across from each other, like an Ocean View Balcony for the adults and a Boardwalk View Balcony for the kids.  The people on our other side had that.  The doors are directly across from each other so you can go in and out easily.  

Other ships on Royal do have the pullman beds that come down from the ceiling.  Just not Symphony (or Harmony I think).  



cel_disney said:


> I don’t believe that Symphony has beds that drop down from the ceiling in balcony rooms anymore (Pullman style is what it’s referred to) - although other RCI ships do have some depending on the room type.  Not sure if there are any insides that still have them.
> 
> Generally RC is switching to trundle sofas to accommodate the 4th.   Family state rooms that would sleep 5-6 people do have bunks but I’m not sure if they are retractable or permanent.



They refer to the bunks as "Pullman" but they seem pretty permanent to me?  I haven't seen them in person, though.



cel_disney said:


> I don’t think I can convey my excitement about the hand washing stations...I am very anti - antibacterial gel stuff...much prefer the traditional soapy water method of cleaning my hands vs just trying to kill the germs but let them remain on me approach.
> 
> Disappointed that folks don’t use them more but they are really a huge improvement from a sanitary perspective over the gel if people would use them!



Same!  I think hand sanitizer is pretty useless.  I carry hand wipes with me when we travel, because at least those have the potential to wipe the germs off your hands.  Sanitizer just smears them around.  I used the washing stations at every opportunity, and I made sure to look around me obnoxiously, as if to say "See this?  This is what good hygiene looks like.  Take the hint and wash your dang hands!"  



starvenger said:


> I think that with kids, how much they enjoy a room/club is directly proportional to how many friends they make early on. And unfortunately there's no way of knowing that ahead of time. I mean there is, but I can't afford a Delorean or plutonium.
> 
> 
> Was there a charge to use the, um, charging station?
> 
> 
> Looks like the sports pool, assuming that's the WJ up above. Main pool is where the smoking section is, I believe.
> 
> 
> So it's not just me that calls it that. Excellent. I tried calling it the Flux Capacitor before, but it went over everyone's head. The lesson: I have an oddball sense of humour.
> 
> 
> You should check out the glass floor of the CN Tower here in Toronto. Only a "short" 8 hour drive from Chicago!
> 
> 
> I'll use the gel/foam, but if the hand washing stations are there I'll almost always opt for that. Wish they went a step further and had wash stations like the ones in Oceaneers - stick your hands in and the station takes care of the rest - but better than nothing.



No, the charging station was completely free.  And no one was using it!    

We have Sky Ledge here in Chicago in the Sears Tower (I will not call it the Willis Tower) and that gets a big nope from me.  

I do like the automatic hand washing stations on DCL.  Symphony has automatic door open sensors, though, so you don't have to touch the bathroom door handle.  I like that.  



anitag888 said:


> So can I ask how you made it work? I'm having trouble justifying literally $700 for a week. Plus I'm trying to find out how to get some sort of medical exemption for my daughter who is 25 and disabled. She can't drink because of her medications but the system won't let me reserve for only 2 people.



You can call RCI and get an exemption for her for the drink package.  The way I justified the cost was that I knew I would at least get the Refreshment package so I could get bottled water, lattes (which I never ended up getting), and soda.  Then I figured out the additional cost for drinks, and it ended up being the cost of maybe 2-3 glasses of wine per day.  That's a no brainer for me.  Normally I don't drink that much but on vacation?  Sure!  A glass of Prosecco in the Solarium pool while the sun set, 2 glasses with dinner (maybe), a glass at the bar later?  Pays for itself.


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> They refer to the bunks as "Pullman" but they seem pretty permanent to me? I haven't seen them in person, though.


I think the whole idea of the Pullman is that it's retractable. So if that's not the case, it would suck. 



nancy drew said:


> We have Sky Ledge here in Chicago in the Sears Tower (I will not call it the Willis Tower) and that gets a big nope from me.


----------



## aoconnor

anitag888 said:


> So can I ask how you made it work? I'm having trouble justifying literally $700 for a week. Plus I'm trying to find out how to get some sort of medical exemption for my daughter who is 25 and disabled. She can't drink because of her medications but the system won't let me reserve for only 2 people.



It's regularly "on sale" for 30% off in the Cruise Planner, so I think it ends up costing about $350 per person with that. Works out to $50 a day which is about 4 drinks.

For me that's easy- 2-3 during the day/pool, a couple glasses of wine at dinner, and a couple drinks at night. Not to mention the free bottles of water, specialty coffee drinks, etc. As others have mentioned it's easy to get an exemption for the other person in your stateroom, you just have to call.


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## starvenger

And if you don't get the drink package, a 10-drink card may show up about halfway through the cruise. At ~$8/drink (+18%) it gives good value if you're not planning to do 3-5 drinks a night. Drawbacks are that it may not show up, the card is good for your cruise only and you have to wait half the cruise to find out if it's available.


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## anitag888

Thank you everyone for the tip to call. I haven't had a great deal of luck via email, I'll try giving them a call tonight to see if I can work this out.  51 days and counting! Oh, and we're in the room DIRECTLY below the one you were in - 9330!


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## anitag888

OK, so now this. I looked at the packages this morning, and the deluxe was $49/pp, but now, just a few hours later, it's $56. Do you think when I call special services that they'd be able to honor the lower price?


----------



## starvenger

I would say that they're unlikely to, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, so definitely mention it.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1 continued:*

This is feeling like the longest day ever, LOL!  The rest of the days on this report won't go on as long, I'm sure.  I guess this beginning has turned into more of an introduction to the ship, but I am trying to be chronological here.

So we've covered most of Deck 15 from aft to midship.  At the front of Deck 15 you will find the Solarium.  The Solarium is an area for those 16 and up (I did often see younger kids in there in the evening, on the lower deck).  There are deck chairs, sun beds, a bar, 2 hot tubs, and a small pool.  The pool is not for swimming, just sitting and drinking, basically.  I don't have a photo of the pool and I can't find one that belongs to RCI.  So I will show you lots of other photos and let the pool be a surprise.  Unless you google it.

The Solarium has a restaurant called the Solarium Bistro.  We never ate there, but it has healthier options than your normal cruise food.  Breakfast and lunch are a buffet, and they have an omelet station and other offerings.  Dinner is a sit down meal with Greek inspired food.  This is included with your cruise fare, and despite the fact that the Solarium is restricted to ages 16+ I believe anyone can dine in the bistro.






There are a lot of chairs, but good luck getting one.  I am convinced that people slept on the sun beds in order to reserve them.






The bar is in the middle of the Solarium, and they have this really cool art installment there.











It was mesmerizing at night.
















The Solarium is actually 2 levels.  The bar etc. are on Deck 15, and the lower deck mostly has chairs.






However, the lower deck has 2 outdoor areas that extend over the ocean.  They are referred to as the "King of the World" deck, or something.

I did go out on it, and so did DD, but between the wind and the glass, we didn't go very far.  I was going to post a photo of my feet but I HATE feet photos (you know the photos people post from their lounge chair showing their feet and the pool or beach in the background, and you're like I KNOW you're there, you don't have to show me your feet to prove it) so I will spare you and just show the view down, from almost out on the glass part.











You could see the helipad from there.  One night there were a bunch of people out there.  It was some sort of invitation only thing, either for suite guests or top tier guests.  but other nights there would be one random person out there, or no one out there.






It was VERY windy out there when I went there, but it was a great spot for sunset photos.  You could look at the Solarium, or at the side of the ship.
















I'm skimming over sail away, because we really didn't do much.  The "Good" side of the ship was packed with people.  We were on the "Bad" side where all we could see were shipping containers and cranes.  I mean, maybe that is the good side, depending on your interests.  So, looking at the photo below, *everyone* was looking at the right side of the photo (which was the port side, oh geez I just realized we could have watched from our balcony, d'oh!).  We were on the other side.  Wah wah.






So let's move on from the ship tour in the next post.  Assuming I can even remember what we did next.  No, just kidding, I am sure we went to dinner and I have photos of almost everything we ate, and some stories about the great service in the MDR.

Oh, returning to this post because I forgot.  DS tried the Flow Rider for the first time on Day 1. 

*The Key: * DS was not comfortable cutting the line.  There were about 8-10 kids waiting (and one adult) at any given time.  We found that 5:00/5:30 was a great time to go.  They usually closed at 6, so this gave him a few turns with a shorter line.  DS enjoyed watching others, and I think it helped him figure out what to do, and what not to do, because he got to hear the instructions over and over, and see some of the more advanced kids (and adult).  He only did the boogie board side.  I think he was not comfortable trying the standing side because it looked difficult.  *The Key was no benefit to us with the Flow Rider, because we were not comfortable cutting the line.*  Perhaps if there were signs up, or separate lines, it might have been better.


----------



## nancy drew

anitag888 said:


> Thank you everyone for the tip to call. I haven't had a great deal of luck via email, I'll try giving them a call tonight to see if I can work this out.  51 days and counting! Oh, and we're in the room DIRECTLY below the one you were in - 9330!



My advice, which I just realized in my post above: watch sailaway from your balcony.  If I am not turned around, you should be on the "good" side for sailaway, unless you actually prefer to be up on deck.  



anitag888 said:


> OK, so now this. I looked at the packages this morning, and the deluxe was $49/pp, but now, just a few hours later, it's $56. Do you think when I call special services that they'd be able to honor the lower price?



Ugh.  Probably not.  Can't hurt to ask, though!  

FYI (for everyone) keep checking the price of everything in Cruise Planner.  Book at a price you are comfortable paying, and if it goes down cancel and rebook.  Our excursion dropped and I saved like $60.


----------



## anitag888

I just have to say thank you to all of you. I have posted many of the same questions on another board with very little response. I've never sailed RCI before - 2 DCL/1 Carnival - so I'm very grateful.


----------



## nancy drew

anitag888 said:


> I just have to say thank you to all of you. I have posted many of the same questions on another board with very little response. I've never sailed RCI before - 2 DCL/1 Carnival - so I'm very grateful.



If you ever have questions you can feel free to PM me.  I know there are people here who will likely be able to answer anything, but I wanted to offer anyway.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 1... will it ever end?  (Yes)*

So, in looking at my photos, it appears that I only have one photo from dinner the first night.  So to make up for that, here is another sunset photo from night 1. 






On Royal you have 3 dining options: Early, Late, or My Time.  Early and Late are similar to other cruise lines.  My Time means you can either make reservations in advance, or you can show up any time.  I can see advantages and disadvantages to both.  We chose Late, because I can't see myself ever eating at 5:30.  I almost switched it to My Time, because late dining interfered with a lot of evening activities and shows.  But due to DD's allergies and this being our first time on Royal, I wanted to do a traditional dining so we could have the same serving team each night.  

I have heard multiple times that you can request the same serving team with My Time, but there is no guarantee.  People respond with "Well it has never been a problem for me and I ALWAYS get the same serving team" well that's great.  But I didn't want to take chances on our first go with RCI.  

The Main Dining room is 3 stories tall.  Traditional Dining people will be assigned either to Deck 3 or Deck 5, and MTD will go to Deck 4.  My understanding is that they will also send MTD people to 3 or 5.  

I had read a lot about the MDR, and had heard horror stories.  "They are constantly pushing the specialty restaurants!" "They are constantly making announcements and interrupting my meal!" "The food is so bad!"  "Who has 2 hours to spend at dinner?"  We had none of that happen.  Well, the announcements happened twice in a week.  That's pretty standard, as it was the typical parade thingy.  I'll get to that later.  But no one tried to sell us specialty dining and the food was fine!  

Our table happened to be the same number as our stateroom, which was odd, but it helped us remember where we were sitting.  We were also right next to the serving station which was not ideal but really who cares?

We spoke with our Head Server (or was he the manager?) Vinko, about DD's allergies.  He was SO nice, and gave me his card and said to contact him any time with questions.  Every night he stopped by our table to see how we were doing, and if DD wanted anything, or if we had any questions.  Our server was Shadiek, and he was great too!  He and Vinko had both worked in Wonderland on Harmony, so they had a good relationship, which is great.  Our assistant server was I Putu and we loved him.  He was always high fiving the kids, and bringing them mocktail after mocktail.  He even got them hooked on a few new mocktails!  

I know I have a photo of the MDR somewhere but I can't find it right now.  I'm stealing one from another website, hope that is ok.  






So that first night, the Teen Club was having their Meet and Greet at 8:00pm, which is exactly when our dinner time was.  I asked my kids what they wanted to do, because I knew it was important for them to go to the M&G to make friends.  I said they could skip dinner and it would be fine, I just wanted to meet our serving team and introduce DD and talk about the allergies.  

DS decided to skip dinner entirely.  I said it was fine, but I did not want it to become a habit.  DD decided to dine with me, and perhaps that is why she had a hard time with the club later.  But I was glad for the company, and glad that we got to discuss allergies with the servers.  The bread basket had a type of bread with nuts in it, so from the second night on they brought DD a plate of her favorite kind of rolls, leaving the rest of the bread for me and DS.  Which was perfect, and just what had been done on other cruise lines.  

I asked our servers how long dinner would be, because DD was going to the club after, and they said it could be as fast or as slow as we wanted, all we had to do was ask.  So ask we did, and we were in and out in an hour or less each night.  

I do not recall what I ordered, maybe prime rib?  But I know I had a Caesar salad.  It is available every night, and I often ordered that as my starter.  






I think I was feeling awkward about taking pics at dinner that night.  I took pics most other nights, though.  

So after dinner DD went off to the Teen club, and I went down to the Promenade and walked around.  Took this photo of another elevator bank.






I stopped off at Guest Services and bought all of us WOW Bands.  What is a WOW Band?  Well, it is pretty much the same as a Magic Band at Disney.  It works as your room key, you can charge things to your room with it, and it does everything the Sea Pass card does but you can wear it on your wrist.  I am not a fan of lanyards.  I don't like things around my neck.  I don't care how "cute" it is, I don't like it on my neck.  I'm not a huge fan of things on my wrist, but this is made of silicone? or something, so it is really comfy, and waterproof.  DS had to take his off for the Flowrider but I think that was more about not wanting it to fall off in the machine vs not being waterproof.  I had already lost my Sea Pass once so this was a no brainer purchase for me.  

BTW if you lose your SeaPass just go to Guest Services ASAP and get a new one.  DS had to do that once too.  Kids need their cards for the club, I guess.  Otherwise we left our cards in the room (unless we were leaving the ship).

WOW Bands cost $5 each and come in Black, White, Blue, and Yellow.  By the end of the week most people were wearing these instead of lanyards.  WOW Bands are not available on all ships, but if you have it on yours, I highly recommend it.  

You do still need your Sea Pass card to get on and off the ship in port.  

I looked down at Rising Tide for a few minutes.






Anyway, I ended up at Schooner's, on a comfy sofa in the back.  I had my Kindle, I ordered a glass of wine, and all was well.  






I was enjoying myself, but DD had been texting me almost nonstop. DS was doing it too, a little bit.

"Mom"

"The kids are all older than me."

"They all know each other already."

"No one will talk to me."

"I want to leave."

"Mom"

"Really I want to leave."

"Mom"

"Can I leave?"

On the one hand, who wants their kid to be unhappy on vacation?  On the other hand, you can't just give it one try.  Also I had really wanted to have MY vacation, too, and have some adult time!  

DS stuck with it and ended up making friends (though maybe not until the next day?) but DD refused to stay and refused to go back.  I did force her to go back later, but it was more of the same.  

Finally I let her join me at Schooner's and I had to abandon my lovely evening of sitting and reading.  So we walked around and eventually it was time for the Balloon Drop.  This happens at midnight on the first night in the Promenade.  The band was playing for a while, and we found a good spot to watch them on Deck 6.  






I enjoy people watching, and this was a great place for it.  We saw someone who reminded us of someone we know here, and watched her for a while.  The Promenade was really filling up by now, and I was glad we had a good spot on Deck 6.  






As midnight approached, RCI people started moving in toward the balloon nets to release them.  The Promenade was packed at this point.  

There was a guy right next to me, getting ready to release the balloons.  I asked him if I could do it, and he said No.  So I included him in the video of the balloon drop 






It was chaotic, as you can see.  The balloons were constantly popping.  I have no idea how they were popping so quickly.  It was crazy, and I was very glad to be up on Deck 6.  






DD and I were tired, so I summoned DS via text to return to the room.  Down the long, endless hallway...






The stateroom TV had only a few channels, and somehow every night there was a BBC standup comedy show on, so we watched that.  It was hilarious!  The TV also had the normal things like the weather, activities, etc.  

It had been a long day, and Day 2 was a Day At Sea so we knew we would be sleeping in, at least a bit.


----------



## KashasMom

Loving your review!

Oasis class ships are my favorites! Symphony is the only one we haven't cruised. Too many land vacations coming up so probably not likely until 2021. 

We're pretty good about packing light (no formal clothes/8 pairs of shoes for us). I also do some laundry - even just hand washing when we travel. 

I think RC does a pretty good job of embarkation. Thousands of people and it seems everyone has a seat. Once Disney stopped addressing my daughter as "Princess Kasha" when boarding, I didn't care what they called us (and we have one of those names that no one can pronounce correctly).

We've never gotten any beverage package (we don't drink soda) but it might be fun to try for mocktails! Do love the pizza at Sorrento's though! Cafe was good too. Daughter and I did the Allure by ourselves (best cruise ever!) and we did Rising Tide. You should have done it!

I agree about The Key and the lines. Eventually everybody will buy it thinking that they're going to get to the front of the line. That's when it will really be
a mess.

Surprised (but understand) that you didn't eat in the WJ. We are there A LOT. I love to try a little bit of everything. 

And the pools!!!  Ahhhh sooo many pools! That's my biggest gripe about DCL. And I LOVE the live music too!! The toilet bowl was a blast! I lost count how many times we went on it. Enjoyed more than the "Aquas" on DCL. I didn't like the Abyss. I got thrown around inside and burned my arm up pretty badly. My daughter had no problem and enjoyed it.  

Looking forward to Day 2.


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## nancy drew

*Day 2!  Finally!
*
We slept in, because we could.  When we woke up, I checked the Cruise Compass to see what was still open for breakfast.





















by the time we were all awake, dressed, and ready to go, our only options were Park Cafe or The Windjammer buffet.  We were still trying to avoid the buffet so we went to Park Cafe.  I did not take any photos.  Park Cafe is located in Central Park, next to the Trellis Bar.  Park Cafe is home of the famous Kummelweck sandwich, which is a famous roast beef sandwich that I did not try once on the cruise.  I fully intended to, but I was ordering steak or prime rib almost every night at dinner, and I did not want more red meat for lunch.  Park Cafe had a few options for breakfast, including grab and go fruit, and pastries.  We got some pastries and they were eh.  Not great.  DD was mad because she couldn't have one, because of her allergies, but I truthfully told her she wasn't missing anything.  I mean, we have some AMAZING donuts here in Chicago (if you are ever visiting, you must try either Stan's or Do-Rite Donuts).  These were worse than Dunkin Donuts (and I won't turn down a Dunkin Donut).  

So we decided to get lunch instead.  Well, DS went to the Teen Club and DD and I went to get lunch. 

It was St. Patrick's Day, so naturally we went to El Loco Fresh and got nachos.  






Isn't that what you are supposed to eat on St. Patrick's Day?  No?  Oh well.  

They were good.  The beef was OK, but I am guessing the chicken would have been better.  The chicken in the quesadillas was pretty good, so if that's what they had out for the tacos, then I think it would be great on nachos.  BTW, as I posted earlier the nacho section has the chips, then they have a vat of chili beef (basically chili, which I got another time on the chips and it was better than the steak/beef you see in the photo) and a vat of cheese.  But next to that is the taco bar, so you can pile stuff on from there, too.  Don't feel limited by the setup.  

After lunch, DD and I went on a search for chairs near the pool.  Or anywhere on Deck 15 or 16.  It was tough. It was REALLY windy up on both decks, and all of the chairs were taken.  We eventually found some, but I wasn't happy with the location so DD held those chairs and I went searching for better chairs.  My persistence and refusal to accept the first chairs we found paid off, and we ended up near the Toilet Bowl slide.  Somehow this became our spot, and we sat there again another day.  It was a pretty fun place to be, because you could hear people screaming as they went down the slide.  Sometimes there was just an initial shriek as they went down the tube.  "AAAAAAAh"  We tuned those out because they were too boring and predictable.  Sometimes they didn't shriek until they got into the Toilet Bowl, and that was more entertaining because you could hear them going around and around, and if they weren't keeping their body together they slid around and it was all "WhhHHHhhhOOOooooOOOooAAaaaAAAA" as they swirled around.  Those were funnier.  Sometimes they just screamed the entire time "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" which was kind of funny, because most people didn't scream at all.  And it was both men and women screaming equally.  

We had show reservations today, for 2 shows.  The first show was 1977, which is one of the skating shows.  FYI there are 2 skating shows.  1977 is the "main" show, and you need to make reservations in Cruise Planner.  iSkate 2.0 is the other show, and you do not need reservations but I HIGHLY recommend this show.  I highly recommend both shows.  HIGHLY recommend.  

I forced DS to go to the show.  He didn't resist much, but it was a skating show and I could tell he was a bit reluctant.  I promised him Flow Rider time if he went, and said it would be worthwhile.  And afterward he said he really enjoyed it.  

*The Key: * We had reservations for the show, and I am glad we did.  As we entered they were scanning Sea Passes and WOW Bands and turning away people without reservations.  They had to go stand to the side and wait.  AS we entered I asked where the Key seating was, and I was directed to the giant sign that said "SUITES, PINNACLES, DIAMOND +" but said nothing about The Key.  I asked if this was our section, and showed our wristbands, and I was told yes, and there were 5 seats left.  Luckily 3 of them were together.  Our section was one of the sides, in the first several rows.  2 minutes after we sat down they removed the sign and opened up the section to anyone.  Our seats were OK, but I would have preferred center seats.  We were in the 2nd row and had heads in our way. It was my fault for being late (this would become a recurring theme) but I still wish the seats had been in the center, not off to the side.  *This was a semi-benefit to us, as without The Key we would have ended up much farther back, but I sort of wonder if we would have been able to see better from farther up?* 

Meanwhile... we were there for the show, and it was AMAZING.  That is actually an understatement.  I recorded a lot of the show, and I don't want to spoil the whole thing so I will only post one video of the beginning.  If you want to scroll past to avoid spoilers, go ahead.  But this is by far the coolest way to open ANY show, ice skating or not.  






After the show, the CD made a comment about the opening and how it was a great way to spend a million dollars, or something.  It was pretty bold of him, IMO, but also really funny.  

The show has a story, but it would be totally fine with me if it didn't.  These skaters were incredible.  The ice is so small, the ship is rocking, and they are doing jumps and spins and backflips... it was amazing.  Have I said that yet?






The costumes were amazing.  This particular woman did like 25 quick changes in 2 minutes, or so.  It was crazy!  
















It was amazing.  Go see the ice show.  Don't be all "Really?  An ICE show???"  Go see it.  I command you. Ok not really, but go see it.


----------



## nancy drew

KashasMom said:


> Loving your review!
> 
> Oasis class ships are my favorites! Symphony is the only one we haven't cruised. Too many land vacations coming up so probably not likely until 2021.
> 
> We're pretty good about packing light (no formal clothes/8 pairs of shoes for us). I also do some laundry - even just hand washing when we travel.
> 
> I think RC does a pretty good job of embarkation. Thousands of people and it seems everyone has a seat. Once Disney stopped addressing my daughter as "Princess Kasha" when boarding, I didn't care what they called us (and we have one of those names that no one can pronounce correctly).
> 
> We've never gotten any beverage package (we don't drink soda) but it might be fun to try for mocktails! Do love the pizza at Sorrento's though! Cafe was good too. Daughter and I did the Allure by ourselves (best cruise ever!) and we did Rising Tide. You should have done it!
> 
> I agree about The Key and the lines. Eventually everybody will buy it thinking that they're going to get to the front of the line. That's when it will really be
> a mess.
> 
> Surprised (but understand) that you didn't eat in the WJ. We are there A LOT. I love to try a little bit of everything.
> 
> And the pools!!!  Ahhhh sooo many pools! That's my biggest gripe about DCL. And I LOVE the live music too!! The toilet bowl was a blast! I lost count how many times we went on it. Enjoyed more than the "Aquas" on DCL. I didn't like the Abyss. I got thrown around inside and burned my arm up pretty badly. My daughter had no problem and enjoyed it.
> 
> Looking forward to Day 2.



Now that I've got my bearings and feel comfortable with the ship, I would do Rising Tide.  

I was kind of surprised that we didn't end up at the Windjammer, too.  There was one day we were going to go, but it was closed.  So we went to Loco instead.  Otherwise I sort of just forgot about it, to be honest!!!

Thanks for reading along!!


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 2 continued*

Tonight was formal night, so we were dressed fairly nice.  I had decided DS had to come to dinner with us every night, so we all went together.  I am sure I ordered the Caesar salad again, and this appears to be the beef tenderloin.  






For dessert, DS ordered the carrot cake






DD had something, and I had the souffle.  It was good, kind of eggy but that's how souffle usually is.  The sauce was really good.  






Then DS ran off to the Teen Club, and DD and I were left to wander until our next show.  We had reservations for Hairspray, but much later in the evening.  

Now, I had heard about the restaurant called Wonderland, and I went back and forth and back and forth on whether to reserve it.  In the end I realized I really just wanted the dessert, not the main courses.  We don't really eat seafood and that seriously limits what we can have at Wonderland, and at pretty much all of the other specialty restaurants.  

I had asked online if we would be able to go to Wonderland for dessert, and I was assured that wouldn't be a problem.  We would pay out of pocket per dessert, but it should be fine.  

Well that is not how it works any more.  

I had mentioned to our servers, who used to work in Wonderland on the Harmony, that we wanted to have dessert there one night.  He said "Well, that might not be possible.  Let me see what I can do, I will talk to my boss and see what we can do."  He said they used to let people go there for dessert but they stopped allowing it because they are too busy now.  I decided to stop by, and walk through the place, and ask there if we might be able to stop in for dessert.  

It is definitely a cool space.






To enter, you go down the rabbit hole.






And through (or around) the magical door.






There is this cool seat here.






Now, you may not want to eat here, but maybe you just want to stop by and experience the place for yourself.  You CAN go to the bar, and I believe they have a 2 for 1 Happy Hour.  











And here, below, is the restaurant.  If you look carefully, you will see the whimsy: mismatched chairs, chairs with rabbit ears, some random woman with a St. Patrick's Day fascinator looking at me, etc.  






So I walked up to the host stand, and asked if we could have dessert.  When I was looking over at the restaurant, I saw a couple that was just being seated and given menus.  The place closes officially at 9:30, but they were just being seated, and there were empty tables, so I figured no problem, squeeze us in for a quick round of desserts.  

Nope.  

I asked if we could just go ahead and make a reservation for later in the week for dessert.  

"Oh let me check, no, sorry, we are fully booked.  And with such a full booking we can't really let people in for dessert.  We used to allow it, but not any more, not for a year or so."  (Um the ship is not a year old but ok sure.)

So we left, and were thinking about going back to the room, because I thought we had some time.  I looked at the time for the show, maybe on the app, and realized I had the time wrong.  I had been thinking about another show that started at 10:45 later in the week.  Hairspray started at 10:30, and it was currently 10:35.  Oh great.  

We rushed to the theater and of course if had already started.  So no Key benefit here, but it was 100% my fault.  

We grabbed seats off to the side, so we weren't disrupting anyone.  It wasn't the best location, but the show was still amazing.
















Seriously, another winner. Go see the show.  And check the time, and double check the time.  This wouldn't be the last time this happened to us.

After the show I summoned DS to the room, where we found this guy waiting:






And that's the end of Day 2!  Day 3 would be another day at sea, so more sleeping in!  Yay!


----------



## starvenger

Donuts - please tell me Stan is short for Stan Mikita. 

Yes, I’m a big fan of Wayne’s World. Why do you ask?

Quick change lady sounds like the “feature performer” they add to the middle of the ice shows. Basically acts as a break for the skaters, and it’s usually fun for the audience.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 3!  Day at Sea!
*
Forgot to add the compasses!
*





























*
So again, we slept in, and missed most of the breakfast offerings.  I am pretty sure we just bypassed the breakfast thing and went for lunch, possibly pizza.

Oh by the way, we were making GOOD use of the soda cups.  I am super addicted to the Barq's Diet Creme Soda with Strawberry flavor.  Omg I drank that all week and I still want it.  Sometimes I was like "Look, I keep getting this.  I have HUNDREDS of options.  Why not try something different?"  So I would try the diet Fanta Strawberry (eh) or the diet Fanta Cherry (Ok that was good) and maybe the diet Minute Maid sparkling strawberry something?  In the end I was like "Why mess with perfection?" and I just got the diet strawberry creme soda.  Lots of it.  There was a machine up near El Loco and 2 machines at Sorrento's, and 4 machines (?) in the Windjammer, and one in the Park Cafe.

Day 3 was more of the same from day 2.  DD and I laid out on the pool deck after searching high and low for chairs.  Again it was REALLY windy, and difficult to find chairs.  DD wouldn't go to the Teen Club because "It will just be the same and all the people are older than me and they all know each other" ok FINE whatever.  I mean, I should be glad she wants to be with me but really?  What teen wants to spend their vacation with their mother?  I guess I'm just super cool and awesome.

You've actually already seen most of my photos from Day 3, interspersed in the earlier posts.  DS did the Flowrider again, with the same crowd, at the same time.  He was actually pretty good at it, especially considering he had never done it before!

Oh I did find a photo of the Main Dining Room!






Dinner must have been uneventful, but dessert was very special.  On day 2, Shadiek had said he and Vinko had no luck getting us in to Wonderland for dessert, but he offered to bring Wonderland to us.  I asked if that was really possible, and he said yes.

So for dessert, we had all of the Wonderland desserts.

The World (I do have a video but I don't want to ruin the surprise.  You can see videos on You Tube if you want to see what happens) chocolate, caramel, peanut butter... so good!






The Forbidden Apple (raspberry mousse, lemon curd, coconut)






The Mystical Mushroom which was meringue and marzipan?






Now, they were supposed to be safe for DD but they forgot about her coconut allergy, and the one that looks like an apple had coconut.  They had thought she was allergic to peanuts but she is not, so she was able to have the chocolate World dessert.  And the mushroom thing had loads of nuts so that was off limits.  So I ate the Apple Shaped Raspberry Lemon Coconut thing, DS ate the Mushroom Full of Nuts thing, and DD ate the Chocolate Amazing Everything I Like thing.

The Apple Raspberry Lemon thing was good, but the chocolate one was the best.

Day 4 was approaching, and it was our first port day!  We would wake up in St. Kitts, and we had a tour scheduled with a local guy.  I'd never been there before, so I was excited to explore the island.


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> Donuts - please tell me Stan is short for Stan Mikita.
> 
> Yes, I’m a big fan of Wayne’s World. Why do you ask?
> 
> Quick change lady sounds like the “feature performer” they add to the middle of the ice shows. Basically acts as a break for the skaters, and it’s usually fun for the audience.



Huge Wayne's World fan as well, and many WW references are made in our home.  Alas this Stan's is not Mikita. But still worth a try!  Or if you just can't, then Do Rite.  Their chicken sandwich is also amazing.  Donuts and chicken sandwiches, can't top that.  

Sounds like that's what she was doing, and it was fun to watch!  DD does theater and she always complains about the quick changes.  I said something to her like "Well at least you don't have to do THAT".  She was super impressed by her and very glad she didn't have to do it.


----------



## SorcererHeidi

@nancy drew - SO been enjoying your report, you have a wonderful style of writing!  I became interested because i'm trying to make my mind up whether or not to get The Key for my NE/Canada cruise on the Anthem this September.

I saw your Freestyle concoction of Diet Creme Soda and Strawberry, and I must say I am intrigued - it sounds just weird enough to be good.  LOL.  I'm going to see Dumbo this weekend at at AMC that has Frreestyles, adn I may just have to try this!  I will say I found (and love) the Diet Cherry and Fruit Punch mixed at this theater.

Can't wait to read the rest of your awesome report - thank you again!!


----------



## nancy drew

SorcererHeidi said:


> @nancy drew - SO been enjoying your report, you have a wonderful style of writing!  I became interested because i'm trying to make my mind up whether or not to get The Key for my NE/Canada cruise on the Anthem this September.
> 
> I saw your Freestyle concoction of Diet Creme Soda and Strawberry, and I must say I am intrigued - it sounds just weird enough to be good.  LOL.  I'm going to see Dumbo this weekend at at AMC that has Frreestyles, adn I may just have to try this!  I will say I found (and love) the Diet Cherry and Fruit Punch mixed at this theater.
> 
> Can't wait to read the rest of your awesome report - thank you again!!



YOU HAVE TO TRY IT!  It isn't even something that I made up, it is one of the offerings!  Just select Barq's Creme Soda (I choose diet, you can make your own decision about that) and then it offers you flavors.  

Google's got my back:


----------



## nancy drew

Wait, *Day 3* was not done yet.  I really am forgetting everything now.  I need to get this done before I forget everything!

I had booked the Adult Comedy Show and was excited to finally go somewhere that DD couldn't tag along.  Again, I enjoy her company, but she would.not.leave.my.side.  

I am an introvert.  I need to have some time where someone isn't interacting with me.  I can have my introvert time around others, as long as they are leaving me alone.  A lot of people don't understand what it means to be an introvert.  People often confuse "introvert" with "social phobia".  I hear things like "So you don't like people?" or "Oh I am such an introvert; social situations terrify me!" and neither of those things have anything to do with being an introvert.  I like (most) people.  Some social situations are terrifying, but most are not.  

Being an introvert or extrovert is more about how you recharge yourself.  Think of your phone (or your Walkman, if you're one of those people).  When it isn't plugged in, the battery is slowly draining.  It works just fine until it gets down to 10-15%, then it starts sending out warnings.  "Plug me in!!"  The phone (Walkman) is you.  Your battery is slowly draining when you are away from whatever it is that charges you.  You manage just fine, until you've been away from your charging situation too long.  For me, an introvert, I charge when I am not interacting with people.  If people keep trying to talk to me when I am trying to recharge it makes me angry and resentful.  I want be left alone, not because I hate them, but because I need a break.  I need to not have to answer questions or interact.  I need to process and think and be alone with my thoughts, again not because I am being dramatic or can't deal with your crap, I just need that time.  I can't explain it because it just is that way.  Extroverts, I guess, are the opposite.  I would imagine after being left alone for a while, an extrovert needs to interact with someone in order to recharge.  

So anyway, all that to say I had tickets to the 18+ comedy show and DD had to fend for herself.  I made her go to the Teen Club and said I wouldn't be able to text her during the show because I'd be heckled by the comedians (that is very likely to happen, right?) so she had to just do her best.  

So I tore myself away from DD and went to The Attic, which is illogically located on Deck 4 , and once again I got there RIGHT before the show was starting.  I was directed to an area where you had absolutely no chance of seeing the stage and had to watch on a screen.  No thank you!  I walked around a bit, and the other open seats were behind poles.  One of the comedians actually joked about this because it was ridiculous how many poles were in the room, blocking the view.  I finally found an empty chair in the middle of the main room, next to a couple.  I asked if it was taken, they said no, I asked if they minded if I sat there and they said it was fine.  

Simeon went first and was HILARIOUS!  There were some people up front who are Diamond status (not the highest loyalty level of Royal, but high up there).  He was totally picking on them (and others).  At one point he said "Oh, Diamond people, if you only knew what corporate thinks of you" and then he looked at the bar tender, who was laughing so hard she had to leave the room.  Yikes, guess he got a little too close to the truth there?  But it was funny!  

Simeon also said there were 1500 kids under the age of 12 on board, and someone corrected him and said 1700.  1700 kids under the age of 12!  That is insane!  When people say Disney is the only cruise line for families, I want to point out that statistic to them.  

Anyway, he did his bit and was awesome.  I had seen him the week before we sailed in some videos shared by some long time CC members, so it felt a bit like seeing a celebrity.  I guess he was the Cruise Director that week, but he was not CD on our sailing.  

Then Rich Aronovich came out and he was also hilarious.  Both guys picked on audience members (the way comedians do), so if you have thin skin don't sit anywhere near the stage.  

I was so glad that I went to the show.  It was nice to get out and laugh, and be around grown ups.  

Meanwhile DD was suffering in the Teen Club.  She did text me, asking when she could leave, etc.  I ignored her during the show.  Again, don't want to make myself a target.  

I finally texted DD that she could leave the club so she did, though she had actually made friends.  She said she talked to some other girls who also thought the club sucked.  I was so happy for her!  See?  You CAN find friends, DD!  That's great, what were their names?  I don't know.   Are you going to go back another night and see if they are there?  No, I hate the club and I don't want to go back there.  

So there we were, end of the night, ready for our first outing the next day.  One of the comedians had said "Oh, we're going to be in St. Kitts tomorrow.  Are you excited for that?" and after we all "WOOOOOOO"ed, he said "Obviously you haven't been there before.  

But we had plans, and I was hopeful that the photos I had seen would pale in comparison to the actual island.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 4!  St. Kitts!  Solid ground!
*
It had been windy, but the sea had been fairly calm.  We had started out wearing Sea Bands, the motion sickness bracelets, but we had taken them off by day 2 since we didn't really need them.  We would later, but at this point we didn't.  Nevertheless, we were glad to see land and get off the ship for a bit.

Before I forget again:





















So, knowing we had to be up and out early to get to our tour guide, I ordered us breakfast to the room.  There is a free a la carte continental breakfast option, with pastries, fruit, coffee, toast, etc.  You can add on options like eggs, bacon sausage, pancakes, etc. for $7.95 flat fee.  So we went for it and got some toast, doughnuts, eggs, bacon, hash browns, etc.  No photos, sorry.  It wasn't good.  The hash browns were too salty, the eggs were not salty enough.  The bacon was ok.  And I am pretty sure there was the requisite grilled tomato, so there's that. 

So we cobbled together enough to keep us satisfied for a while, and headed off the ship. 

When I booked this cruise I wasn't sure what to do in St. Kitts.  I knew we enjoyed snorkeling, but we were planning to do that in St. Thomas, and it didn't seem like that was as much of a thing in St. Kitts.  I asked DD (back at home, long ago) what excursions she had liked on our other cruises, and she said she liked driving around and seeing the place that we were visiting.  So I looked into it, and it looked like there were some tour options that would work.  I did my research on CC, and Trip Advisor, and found 2 tour companies that were run by locals, who would take you around in a smaller group and show you THEIR island. 

The first one I read about was Royston, the other was Thenford Grey.  I ended up with Royston, not sure why, but it was a great choice.  I am sure Thenford would have been great, too, but I think I hadn't heard of them yet and had already reached out to Royston.  After a few quick emails, we had set it up.  I would pay when we were done with the tour.  So far it was just the 3 of us.  I posted about it in our cruise group, and another mom said she would be interested in going.  Her son was about the same age as DS, and had similar interests, so we thought it would be a good idea.  She also had a 3 year old, and was traveling with her mom, sister, and sister's family (husband and young daughter).  She wasn't sure who would be joining us initially, but in the end everyone joined and we had a full van.

Now, when I was reading the reviews, the same words kept standing out to me.  Words like "rustic" or "rugged" or "off the beaten path" or "Royston are you sure this is a road".  I had read that his vehicle was a van where the glass had been removed from the windows.  One reviewer said something like "If you are expecting an air conditioned tour bus, this is not the tour for you."  They were right!  But all of the reviews were glowingly positive, and the photos on the website and Trip Advisor were stunning, so I felt like we would be fine.

When I told my kids about our plans, I was trying to describe the vehicle, so they wouldn't be surprised. 

What I said was: "It's a van with no windows."

What I meant was: "The glass has been removed from the windows."

What they heard was: "We are all going to be murdered."

So after a bit more explaining, they were on board.  But every time I mentioned the tour I kept talking about the van with no windows and they were like "Mom stop talking about that it sounds so shady" but I couldn't stop. 

First look at St. Kitts from the balcony!






I really love waking up and throwing open the curtains (and watching my kids writhe in horror from the sun like vampires) and seeing where we are. 

So when you order breakfast, you choose a time window for it to arrive. Little did I know they call you before they show up, so it is like a bonus wake up call.  I was already awake, but was like the third alarm for the kids (1.  the actual alarm on my phone, 2. me opening the curtains and saying "Oh look, we're here!  Look at that!", 3. the phone ringing so loudly in the room). 

We ate out on the balcony, at least I did, and the kids ate in bed because they really didn't want to leave their beds.

Eventually they rallied and we got up and got out.

I did have a few moments of self-doubt here and there.  What do I really know about this Royston?  How did I know he didn't write all those reviews himself?  _Were_ we actually going to be murdered?  But I shut those thoughts aside and decided it was probably going to be fine.

Always have to take photos of the ship so we know where we parked it and we can find it later on.  No? 






So when we got off the ship I quickly realized I had no idea where to go.  At all.  None. 






I thought somehow Royston would be in the port with a sign, or something, like the airport drivers, but of course that was ridiculous.  So what to do, what to do. 

There were lots of guys asking if people wanted tours, wanted taxis, etc.  So I approached one of the louder and more confident guys and said "Hi we're supposed to meet Royston, do you know where he is?"  I figured it was a small island, probably everyone in the tour business knows each other.  Well score one for Mom instinct because he was like "Oh yeah, Royston.  He'll be over there, outside the port, on that side." 

And there he was.  With the murder van.  And the other family we would be touring with.  Who we hadn't met yet, and someone had more people than they had said.  Royston was a little off guard about having so many people but the younger kids mostly sat on laps so it worked out.  We sat in the second row behind Royston and whoever was in the passenger seat at the time. 

Moms, get this: I DID NOT SIT IN THE MIDDLE AND MY KIDS (mostly) DID NOT FIGHT!!!!  I was the one paying for this tour (for my kids and I, not the other family), I was the one who wanted the photos, I was sitting next to the dang window.  It was a Christmas miracle. 

So we got into the murder van and headed out.  We drove through downtown Basseterre.
















And then we went out of the city and off to the hills.  There are 3 volcanoes on the island.  One of them is still active, and is smoking.  The last time it erupted was 1500 years ago.  We asked if it was going to erupt again and Royston kind of shrugged and was like "I don't know, maybe?" and we were all cool with that. 

We were driving down the road, all normal, like any other tour vehicle, and then suddenly Royston jerked the wheel and turned off the road onto this dirt path that was maybe as wide as the van and going up at about a 45 degree angle.  "Aha" I thought, this is where the "Royston are you sure this is a road" comment came from on Trip Advisor.  We went up and up, through the branches, bouncing around, swaying side to side, bumping through holes, up and up until the brush cleared from one side and we had a stunning view of the end of the island.  And also a sheer drop that was about 12 inches from the tires (maybe less but I want to believe there was a foot of road there).  We kept going up, and eventually came to a clearing and Royston asked if we wanted to get out.  YES we wanted to get out!  At least I did.  There was enough space to walk around, and here the drop wasn't so sheer.  There was a gentle slope, and a ledge, and another slope... it was fine.  That's what I told myself anyway.  But it was worth it for this.
















We piled back into the murder van and made our way down the "is this really a road" road.  Oh by the way DD would not get out of the car and she was terrified for most of the ascent and descent.  She had been in the window seat so she and DS switched so he was at the window.  Seemed to work out better for them. 

So this is the one thing I didn't like about St. Kitts.  Ok not the monkey, but what I'll show in a bit.  There were wild monkeys all over the island.  Royston said they had come over on ships (with humans, not on their own, although THAT would be a GREAT story).  Apparently the monkeys would climb the mast of the ship and they would get really excited when they saw land.  Probably because they had been trapped on a ship with humans for weeks or months and that isn't really the monkey's natural habitat, is it. 

So we started seeing the monkeys all over.  And chickens.  And roosters.  And chicken nuggets (baby chicks, duh). 






I'll circle back to the monkeys in a bit. 

We kept driving, and stopped at this cemetery.






Then, we got to the water, and a dock/pier, and Royston just drove right out onto the pier.  "Ok", I thought to myself, "We might not be murdered, but this IS where we will die."  I mean he was like 6 inches from driving off the pier, for sure.  I don't want to think about it.  I just looked out and admired the view. 






First we thought this guy was a statue.  Then everyone thought he was spear fishing.  But it turns out he was measuring the ground levels or something for something that was being built. 






I mean can you see how close we were to the edge?






There were huge fish down there, and I consoled myself that the water wasn't that deep and if we fell in it would be pretty easy to get out of the van, what with the lack of glass in the windows. 






Then we drove into a residential area and this is what I was talking about with being sad.  We stopped at this house, where this monkey was in this little chicken wire cage on the side of the house.  He was also chained to the house.  Royston gave us bananas to feed him, and petted him and loved on him, but it still made me sad.  I kept trying to ask questions like "But does it get to come out of the cage?" and "Does it get to go in the house, or go anywhere else?" but I don't think I got any real answers.  I probably don't want to know anyway. 






Royston also drove us past his house.  His dad has a shop in front of the house, and he has an amazing view of the Caribbean Sea (I stupidly called it "The Ocean" so I felt dumb for the next 30 minutes or so).  He also took our lunch order and asked if we wanted fish or chicken.  Almost all of us wanted chicken.  We had no idea what that meant, because that was the extent of the lunch order.  "Fish or chicken". Would there be something served _with_ the fish or chicken?  Were these sandwiches we were talking about?  It was very mysterious. 

We made a bathroom stop, which seemed to be a random bathroom in the yard of someone's house?  And Royston was friends with the guy of course.  I want to say that's where he got our lunch but that can't be right.  I don't want that to be right. 

We got out and saw some dogs, and at least one of them was chained.  I really just hate seeing this. I hate it.  We petted the puppies and then I realized they probably had fleas or worse so we washed/wiped our hands before getting back in the murder van. 

We drove out to this site, which is apparently an archeological dream come true as it has petroglyphs from the 1600s and they just recently discovered a whole rum distillery that they never knew was there.  We did not get out and explore, we just drove through.  There is a train that takes people around the island, but Royston said it just goes around the outside, not really inside the island.  Obviously these are not the tracks for that train.  That would be a death train for sure.  There were remains of the aqueduct, etc. all around.  I do wish we could have explored.











We drove around some more.


----------



## nancy drew

And eventually we came to the fortress.






Hey, you can see the murder van in this one!






Looking up to where we were heading.






I believe this was the gunpowder storage building.  Which seems odd as it was not all the way up, but what do I know about forts. I could also be totally wrong.











Looking down at what I referred to as the "gunpowder building" or whatever it really is.






This place was really cool.
















So this is where we had lunch.  There were picnic tables, and Royston drove right out to them, because of course he did.  This is what we ended up having.






You can't tell, but there was SO MUCH FOOD in here.  And it was all delicious!  His friend had made it.  I asked if he knew what was in it (like, the spices) and he said no.  We all told him how good it was, and said to tell his friend he is a great chef.  He said no way he was going to tell his friend that because then he would start charging more for lunch.

We all ate (though it was a bit unsettling eating chicken after seeing all those chickens running all over the island) and explored.











Speaking of unsettling...






What is going on there?  At first I thought "Oh he must be guarding the fort."  But no, the fort is behind him and he is 5/6 surrounded by solid walls.  He could easily be blown apart by anyone from most angles.  Then I thought "Oh, maybe he is off duty and that's where he rests."  But there is no resting happening there because it is basically a standing up open coffin.  It reminds me of the security guard in Seinfeld, when George wants to give him a chair.  I wanted to give him a chair.  But that didn't end well in Seinfeld and I am sure it wouldn't end well here.  But I still do not know what was going on.  So I just took a picture and moved along.

There was a long, sloped walk up to the top of the fort.  It's worth it.
















Down in here they have rooms set up like they were when the fort was active.  Go down and check it out.











"I can see my murder van from here!"






Let's take a moment to examine this picture.  On the right you see the sign for the Bake House, where they baked the bread.  On the left you see the bath house and latrine.  Hmmmm.  I would not be eating much bread if I were stationed in this fort.  Just saying.






This is the bake house.  "No thanks, trying to cut carbs!"  And norovirus. 






I did not take a picture of the bath house and latrine because there was an actual toilet in there.  I know I took a picture of a bathroom earlier.  I'm just making up excuses.

Then this was the barracks.  DD swears she saw one of these guys move.  That would be a fun prank.






We eventually piled back into the murder van and headed back down.  DS and the boy from the other family had become friends and were walking around the fort together.  The whole family was very nice. 

We were going around the other side of the island, where the weather is worse.  We had been on the Caribbean side, and now we were heading to the Atlantic side.  This here is where the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.  See the white waves out there waaaaaaaay in the distance?  That's where they meet.






This is just a pretty view.  There are lots of them here.






Oh yeah, so then Royston drove right out to the waters edge.  We were basically driving in the water.  I don't really remember why.  Probably just because it seemed like a fun idea.  If I recall we had a hard time getting out of here.  The wheels kept spinning.  That would start happening more and more.  Good times.

This was the view opposite the water:






And on the other side of the van:






See how uneven this terrain is?  Yeah we were still driving in this.  No worries its all good.  Royston's got this.











At this point there was not even a question of whether we were on a road because it was very clear we were not.  I mean it was fine, we were just 100% off road in a vehicle that did not seem like an off road vehicle.  But he knows what he's doing.

There were a bunch of cows chained up out here.  Again, so sad.  I hated seeing this.






We drove past this sugar mill.  I gave DS my phone to take photos, which was a mistake because he took selfies and pictures of his shoes instead.  Luckily Royston has been there done that and he turned around so I could take my own photos thankyouverymuch.






We asked each other whether anyone would want to sleep in here overnight.  There were a surprising number of "Yes" replies.  I am guessing those were false positives though.  Both of my kids said they would and I know for sure they would hear one random noise and bolt.






I'm sure this donkey was also on a chain.  Royston had stopped and bought some sugar cane, and he gave it to us to feed the donkey.  He said the donkey is probably diabetic now from all the sugar he gives it.  It was funny at the time, but now not so much.






We were near the end of the tour and we finally got to the place I had really wanted to see.  Black Rocks.






Of course it started pouring so everyone ran back to the murder van.  I didn't run.  I think we then drove out onto this crazy rugged terrain and got stuck.  Wheels spinning, we were on a steep angle, and I was sure we were going to have to get out and push the murder van out of there.  But sure enough it rallied and we got out.  Whew.

We drove through another town that was Royston's favorite town.  He liked the way it looked, and so did I.  We were rounding a corner and Royston was driving slowly so I asked DS to take photos of this tree because it was so cool.






After this we drove back to the port and said our goodbyes.  I told Royston truthfully that we would never forget St. Kitts or him, and that I would recommend him to everyone.  And I do.  Despite all of the "Uh oh, are we going to die now?" moments, it was totally worthwhile to see the island from his perspective.

I'm going to stop here because I am exhausted.


----------



## cel_disney

anitag888 said:


> OK, so now this. I looked at the packages this morning, and the deluxe was $49/pp, but now, just a few hours later, it's $56. Do you think when I call special services that they'd be able to honor the lower price?



I don’t believe they will be honor your quote but if you see it at the lower price point again - but it for all three of you and then call to have your daughters cancelled.


----------



## buzzrelly

nancy drew said:


> I think DD was overwhelmed by the number of kids who were there. I'll probably get to this eventually, but her claim was "They all know each other already" which couldn't be true, but she also skipped the Meet and Greet so maybe it was true? Who knows. She did end up meeting some girls she liked but she never went back to see if they were there.



That's too bad. I make my kids go to the icebreakers on the first night so they can make some friends.



nancy drew said:


> So, in looking at my photos, it appears that I only have one photo from dinner the first night. So to make up for that, here is another sunset photo from night 1.



Gorgeous 



nancy drew said:


> stopped off at Guest Services and bought all of us WOW Bands. What is a WOW Band? Well, it is pretty much the same as a Magic Band at Disney. It works as your room key, you can charge things to your room with it, and it does everything the Sea Pass card does but you can wear it on your wrist.



What the…??? Hello, DCL?? This is such a missed opportunity for them and I would LOVE if they had these on our cruise. I hate wearing the lanyards and so do my kids. They forget them and leave them all over the place, plus for pictures you have to keep taking them on and off, or just leave them on and ruin the picture. Good for RCCL for doing this 



nancy drew said:


> I was enjoying myself, but DD had been texting me almost nonstop. DS was doing it too, a little bit.
> 
> "Mom"
> 
> "The kids are all older than me."
> 
> "They all know each other already."
> 
> "No one will talk to me."
> 
> "I want to leave."
> 
> "Mom"
> 
> "Really I want to leave."
> 
> "Mom"
> 
> "Can I leave?"
> 
> On the one hand, who wants their kid to be unhappy on vacation? On the other hand, you can't just give it one try. Also I had really wanted to have MY vacation, too, and have some adult time!



Teens are so much fun 



nancy drew said:


> It was chaotic, as you can see. The balloons were constantly popping. I have no idea how they were popping so quickly. It was crazy, and I was very glad to be up on Deck 6.



It looks kind of cool, but I think I'd like it better from where you are standing too 



nancy drew said:


> Meanwhile... we were there for the show, and it was AMAZING. That is actually an understatement. I recorded a lot of the show, and I don't want to spoil the whole thing so I will only post one video of the beginning. If you want to scroll past to avoid spoilers, go ahead. But this is by far the coolest way to open ANY show, ice skating or not.



That looks amazing!



nancy drew said:


> It was amazing. Go see the ice show. Don't be all "Really? An ICE show???" Go see it. I command you. Ok not really, but go see it.



You've just about convinced me!



nancy drew said:


> And here, below, is the restaurant. If you look carefully, you will see the whimsy: mismatched chairs, chairs with rabbit ears, some random woman with a St. Patrick's Day fascinator looking at me, etc.



Holy moly, that restaurant! And that lady 



nancy drew said:


> Dinner must have been uneventful, but dessert was very special. On day 2, Shadiek had said he and Vinko had no luck getting us in to Wonderland for dessert, but he offered to bring Wonderland to us. I asked if that was really possible, and he said yes.
> 
> So for dessert, we had all of the Wonderland desserts.
> 
> The World (I do have a video but I don't want to ruin the surprise. You can see videos on You Tube if you want to see what happens) chocolate, caramel, peanut butter... so good!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Forbidden Apple (raspberry mousse, lemon curd, coconut)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Mystical Mushroom which was meringue and marzipan?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now, they were supposed to be safe for DD but they forgot about her coconut allergy, and the one that looks like an apple had coconut. They had thought she was allergic to peanuts but she is not, so she was able to have the chocolate World dessert. And the mushroom thing had loads of nuts so that was off limits. So I ate the Apple Shaped Raspberry Lemon Coconut thing, DS ate the Mushroom Full of Nuts thing, and DD ate the Chocolate Amazing Everything I Like thing.
> 
> The Apple Raspberry Lemon thing was good, but the chocolate one was the best.



Those all look super cool 



nancy drew said:


> I finally texted DD that she could leave the club so she did, though she had actually made friends. She said she talked to some other girls who also thought the club sucked. I was so happy for her! See? You CAN find friends, DD! That's great, what were their names? I don't know. Are you going to go back another night and see if they are there? No, I hate the club and I don't want to go back there.



 Of course!



nancy drew said:


> First look at St. Kitts from the balcony!



Gorgeous!



nancy drew said:


> Moms, get this: I DID NOT SIT IN THE MIDDLE AND MY KIDS (mostly) DID NOT FIGHT!!!! I was the one paying for this tour (for my kids and I, not the other family), I was the one who wanted the photos, I was sitting next to the dang window. It was a Christmas miracle.



Yay! It's the little things!



nancy drew said:


> But it was worth it for this.



Stunning 



nancy drew said:


> Then we drove into a residential area and this is what I was talking about with being sad. We stopped at this house, where this monkey was in this little chicken wire cage on the side of the house. He was also chained to the house. Royston gave us bananas to feed him, and petted him and loved on him, but it still made me sad. I kept trying to ask questions like "But does it get to come out of the cage?" and "Does it get to go in the house, or go anywhere else?" but I don't think I got any real answers. I probably don't want to know anyway.



Aw,


----------



## hdrolfe

As a fellow introvert, I get it! I love cruising with my son but he hates the kids club on RCL. He likes it on Carnival so we will now cruise Carnival until he gets to an age where he will try RCL's again... I love spending time with him but I need that "just me" time to keep me sane. Glad you were able to sneak in some time alone!


----------



## starvenger

buzzrelly said:


> What the…??? Hello, DCL?? This is such a missed opportunity for them and I would LOVE if they had these on our cruise. I hate wearing the lanyards and so do my kids. They forget them and leave them all over the place, plus for pictures you have to keep taking them on and off, or just leave them on and ruin the picture. Good for RCCL for doing this


Well the drawback is that the WOW bands cost money. I actually kind of like the idea of the medallions over on the Carnival brands, but since you dislike lanyards it probably won't be your kind of thing.

With that said, I did find it weird that while DCL has Magic Bands, it's for Oceaneers only. Doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch nowadays to extend the tech to the whole ship, so I'd say we keep an eye on DCL's new ship developments to see if they go in that direction.


----------



## OKW Lover

Really enjoying your review.  We've been on the Oasis 3 times now, and will be on the Allure in just a few weeks but we have never even seen the skating rink.  Maybe next time I'll actually go look for it.


----------



## anitag888

starvenger said:


> Donuts - please tell me Stan is short for Stan Mikita.
> 
> Yes, I’m a big fan of Wayne’s World. Why do you ask?
> 
> Quick change lady sounds like the “feature performer” they add to the middle of the ice shows. Basically acts as a break for the skaters, and it’s usually fun for the audience.


 

Me too!!


----------



## mevelandry

nancy drew said:


> *Day 4!  St. Kitts!  Solid ground!
> *
> (...)
> 
> Then we drove into a residential area and this is what I was talking about with being sad.  We stopped at this house, where this monkey was in this little chicken wire cage on the side of the house.  He was also chained to the house.  Royston gave us bananas to feed him, and petted him and loved on him, but it still made me sad.  I kept trying to ask questions like "But does it get to come out of the cage?" and "Does it get to go in the house, or go anywhere else?" but I don't think I got any real answers.  I probably don't want to know anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (...)




Poor Monkey


----------



## anitag888

I looked at the port schedule and it looks like we are going to dock in the less-popular port in St. Thomas. Is that where you docked? And did you go into town or take an excursion? I read that there are really limited taxis that will transport a wheelchair and I might have to make prior arrangements because it's like a 2 mile hilly walk.


----------



## SorcererHeidi

nancy drew said:


> YOU HAVE TO TRY IT!  It isn't even something that I made up, it is one of the offerings!  Just select Barq's Creme Soda (I choose diet, you can make your own decision about that) and then it offers you flavors.
> 
> Google's got my back:


I definitely do the diet, trying to watch my sugar.  But I've made up my mind - I am SO trying this tomorrow night, and I will think of you (also loved the Nancy Drew books as a teen!).  I think I might have to try at leat the orange/cream too.


----------



## nancy drew

buzzrelly said:


> That's too bad. I make my kids go to the icebreakers on the first night so they can make some friends.
> 
> ...
> 
> What the…??? Hello, DCL?? This is such a missed opportunity for them and I would LOVE if they had these on our cruise. I hate wearing the lanyards and so do my kids. They forget them and leave them all over the place, plus for pictures you have to keep taking them on and off, or just leave them on and ruin the picture. Good for RCCL for doing this



I knew DD should have gone to the icebreakers/meet and greet.  She still might not have found "her" group, but she would have had a better chance.  She really liked the club on HAL because there were only a few kids, and the counselors pretty much just led conversations.  Every time I would peek in there to see if she wanted to come out they were all sitting in a circle, playing cards and/or talking.  

I, too, can't understand why DCL isn't using Magic Bands on the cruise line, other than $$$.  But then again they use them at the resorts so....

I know Princess is rolling out their Medallions, and I plan to look into those a bit more.  I know, _Princess_?  But they have some itineraries that I really want to try, and RCI either doesn't offer them or only has 1 or 2 sailings at times that won't work for us.  And their newer ships and update ships are not bad.  They have updated the kids/teen areas... anyway, that's a whole other thing.  

Oh and I didn't really describe the food at Wonderland on the main menu.  Its... pretty much the kind of food you would expect at a place that looks like that.  Whimsical, unique, not quite what you expected.  Not so much odd food, like cow eyeballs or whatever, but regular food prepared in a unique way.  



hdrolfe said:


> As a fellow introvert, I get it! I love cruising with my son but he hates the kids club on RCL. He likes it on Carnival so we will now cruise Carnival until he gets to an age where he will try RCL's again... I love spending time with him but I need that "just me" time to keep me sane. Glad you were able to sneak in some time alone!



I would love to try Carnival but again, DS has some weird hangup with the soot.  I will have to find some You Tube videos that disprove his theory that they are the worst polluters in the sea.  Shouldn't be too hard.



starvenger said:


> Well the drawback is that the WOW bands cost money. I actually kind of like the idea of the medallions over on the Carnival brands, but since you dislike lanyards it probably won't be your kind of thing.
> 
> With that said, I did find it weird that while DCL has Magic Bands, it's for Oceaneers only. Doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch nowadays to extend the tech to the whole ship, so I'd say we keep an eye on DCL's new ship developments to see if they go in that direction.



I get the $$$ factor, though these are only $5 a piece and I would imagine you can reuse them, so if you sail often you are only making a one time investment.  Whereas I know a lot of people who get new Magic Bands every time they visit WDW.  It will be interesting to see if they expand their use of the bands to the rooms and charging privileges.



OKW Lover said:


> Really enjoying your review.  We've been on the Oasis 3 times now, and will be on the Allure in just a few weeks but we have never even seen the skating rink.  Maybe next time I'll actually go look for it.



I have no idea if the shows are as good on the Allure but this was fantastic.  This one guy was doing backflips left and right.  Very impressive.  I hope you are going to see Mamma Mia!  I bet that is a great production. 



anitag888 said:


> I looked at the port schedule and it looks like we are going to dock in the less-popular port in St. Thomas. Is that where you docked? And did you go into town or take an excursion? I read that there are really limited taxis that will transport a wheelchair and I might have to make prior arrangements because it's like a 2 mile hilly walk.



Probably.  I am not that familiar with the ports, but there were 2 ships (NCL and Princess) docked in a different area from where we were docked.  There were lots of stores near the port so we just did some shopping for souvenirs there.  I am very uneducated about the port shopping scene.  Our excursion was through RCI and on a boat so we didn't go into town or explore beyond the port "mall" at all.  



SorcererHeidi said:


> I definitely do the diet, trying to watch my sugar.  But I've made up my mind - I am SO trying this tomorrow night, and I will think of you (also loved the Nancy Drew books as a teen!).  I think I might have to try at leat the orange/cream too.



YAY!!  I hope you like it!  There were a few times when I approached the Freestyle and the diet Barq's sign was grey, meaning they were out of it.  I would always involuntarily semi-yell "NO!" and go find another machine.  Addicted.  The only place near me that has it here is a Noodles and Company.  I am seriously thinking about getting dinner there tonight so I can get my fix.


----------



## hdrolfe

Maybe direct your son to the new Carnival Mardi Gras and the LNG fuel which is supposed to be "greener"?  Also, pollution, I think is about more than just the fuel but also all the waste on the ships, bigger the ship, more waste (air pollution vs sewage type pollution). I'm sure you can find comparisons.


----------



## nancy drew

hdrolfe said:


> Maybe direct your son to the new Carnival Mardi Gras and the LNG fuel which is supposed to be "greener"?  Also, pollution, I think is about more than just the fuel but also all the waste on the ships, bigger the ship, more waste (air pollution vs sewage type pollution). I'm sure you can find comparisons.



I'll have a chat with him when it is time to plan another cruise and get his input.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 4 continued*

Before we got back on the ship, we wanted to do some shopping.  DD wanted to buy something to wear for dinner, as she had only brought t-shirts and jeans, and a dream.  So we explored some of the shops.  We had reservations at the Escape room at 4:00pm, and we had to be there exactly at 4 or we would lose our spot.  It was probably 3:30 and I kept telling DD that we had to get back on the ship, we had reservations, etc. but she was absolutely set on buying a "nice" shirt or dress. 

They really did not have anything good in the shops but she kept pulling out shirts and asking to buy them.  I made her try them on and all of them were awful.  She really likes the off the shoulder look, but doesn't understand that wearing an off the shoulder top means you have to adjust other things you are wearing.  So I kept saying no to everything she tried.  Or she would pull our some crocheted half top thing that was actually just a bunch of holes held together with yarn and that was a big no as well. 

The woman in the shop kept trying to convince me that whatever top DD was trying on looked great on her.  "It looks seeeeeeeexxxxxy!" she said.  That was exactly the wrong thing to say to convince a mother to buy ANYTHING for her 15 year old daughter, and I pretty much told her that.  So we left.  I think I bought a magnet or something.

We were definitely cutting it close on time, and we had to drop our bags at the room.  I really needed a bathroom stop (sorry for the TMI but it is important to the story) so I told the kids to run up to the room, drop their bags, and run up to Deck 14 to tell them we were there and that I was coming.  It was probably exactly 4 at this point, and I figured we would have a few minutes grace period especially if they were just waiting for me. I told them to go ahead and do it without me if needed, but to GO UP THERE ASAP.  It seems like that would be a pretty easy thing to do, but nope. 

I got up to the room and the kids were still in the room.  DS was in the room and DD was in the bathroom sobbing.  I asked what was going on and apparently they had some huge knock down physical fight in the 5 minutes it took to get up to the room.  I knew this meant that we had lost our chance at the Escape Room because there was no way they would wait if none of us were there.  I told them exactly how much this was costing me, and not to follow me, and that I was done with their nonsense, and I ran up to Deck 14 to see if at least I could still go. 

But the door was closed, and there was no way to get in.  We had missed it. 

The kids were texting me all kinds of "I'm sorry" messages, well DD was, DS just asked me if the stones in one of my rings were real (really, where on earth did that come from and NO that was like a $10 ring from Amazon). 

I went to Guest Services and explained that we had been late coming back and missed our Escape Room time, and was there any possibility of rescheduling or possibly getting a refund.  I figured there was no hope of either one, but it couldn't hurt to ask.  I was told the Activities manager would call me later.  Again I figured there was no way anything would come of this and was bummed but OK with it. 

I wandered around a bit, making DD and DS stew a bit (or so I thought).  I went to the Solarium for sail away and took some photos. 

I finally went up to the room after maybe 45 minutes and both of them were asleep.  Whatever.  I took some photos of sail away from the balcony.











Then I decided to go to the Solarium to get better photos.  Obviously this is when the special helipad access was happening, most likely for suite or top tier guests.











The Solarium had become my favorite place to be for sunset, so I went there every night.  Most people had left, the chairs were almost all empty, and you could watch the sunset no matter where it was (relative to the ship, I mean, obviously it was always in the west) because you are at the front of the ship.  Other people had the same idea, but not as many as you'd think.  Sometimes I wore my bathing suit and sat in the pool with a glass of Prosecco, reading, sometimes I just took photos. 

Before going back to the room that evening I took some more photos, which I think I shared earlier, of the pool deck at night. 
















I actually have dinner photos, yay!  I am sure I had the Casear salad again.  Then I ordered the Steak Diane, and the Mushroom Risotto.  The steak was good, the risotto was ok. 











DD or DS had the Chicken Parmigiana






And for dessert we all had the Warm Chocolate Cookie and it was amazing.






Tonight was the 80's party on the Promenade, so DD and I tried to get our spot to watch everyone.  Turns out more people had the same idea, but we managed to get a good view for a while. 






But we had bigger and better plans for the evening.  We had reservations for Hiro.  Now, if you have been reading along, you have noticed a pattern with me and reservations.  I was determined NOT to be late to this one.  DS was at the Teen Club but I told him he had to come to the show.  DD and I went EARLY (for us) and of course the place was almost full.

*The Key: * When we got to the Aqua Theater, they scanned us for reservations.  I mentioned that we had The Key and she sort of pointed to where we should go.  There was another woman, farther down, standing next to a whole row that was empty.  I asked if this was the section for The Key, and she said yes.  You guys, the whole row was empty.  It was the middle section, kind of toward the back but not technically IN the back, and it was all open.  We flashed our wristbands and took our seats right smack in the middle of the row. *This was a GREAT location, amazing seats, and definitely a worthwhile perk of having The Key.  *

I started texting DS and telling him he had better hurry because any second she was going to open up the row to the masses.  There was a long standby line, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they were let in. 

It was tight, but he made it just before they opened up the row, and oddly enough the row never really filled up.  I think it was still closed off on the side where the standby line was (left) but open on the other side?  I don't know. 

Anyway, it was time for Hiro.  Hiro is like Cirque Du Soleil meets the high dive team.  No, it is better than that.  By far.  I am not really a Cirque Du Soleil person but I am definitely a Hiro person now!  Once again they knocked it out of the park.  This show was amazing.  I cannot believe they can dive from such heights into such a small pool.  It reminded me of those cartoons where the guy dives into a cup of water.  That is basically what this show is. Or part of it, anyway. 

I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just share 2 videos and some photos.




































I wish this guy were doing a cannonball, because that would be amazing, but I am pretty sure it was a flip.
















Just see all the shows.  All of them. 

After Hiro I think DS went back to the club for a bit, and DD and I wandered.  I don't think I've talked about these yet.  It is like a giant iPad, and they are on every floor.  They are fully interactive, and you can search for info, find activities, see what's going on and where, etc.  Just tap the "Main Menu" button on the bottom and it takes you to a screen where you can search for anything and everything.  Really cool!






It had been a LONG day, and we would be waking up in St. Thomas tomorrow.  This guy was waiting in our room. 






We hadn't got a new breakfast ordering thing to hang on the door, and I stopped in at guest services to ask about it.  They said they would have housekeeping bring one up to us.  OR maybe they said to call housekeeping?  Its blurry now.  At any rate, housekeeping came and delivered like 12 breakfast menus.  I thought about filling out all of them and hanging them on all the doors on our end of the hallway but I figured they might not appreciate that.  Plus how am I supposed to know what everyone wants for breakfast? 

We decided to try the pancakes this time, since the eggs etc. were a disappointment.  It is pretty difficult to mess up pancakes, right?


----------



## orangecuse

Oh no, I worry for you on the pancakes! I am a very picky pancake eater though haha 

Loving the review!


----------



## buzzrelly

nancy drew said:


> The woman in the shop kept trying to convince me that whatever top DD was trying on looked great on her. "It looks seeeeeeeexxxxxy!" she said. That was exactly the wrong thing to say to convince a mother to buy ANYTHING for her 15 year old daughter, and I pretty much told her that.



Ha! Clearly this woman doesn't have a daughter…or. at least I hope she doesn't! 



nancy drew said:


> I got up to the room and the kids were still in the room. DS was in the room and DD was in the bathroom sobbing. I asked what was going on and apparently they had some huge knock down physical fight in the 5 minutes it took to get up to the room.



Sounds about right. I can see my two totally doing that 




nancy drew said:


> I finally went up to the room after maybe 45 minutes and both of them were asleep. Whatever. I took some photos of sail away from the balcony.



Pretty 



nancy drew said:


> Hiro is like Cirque Du Soleil meets the high dive team. No, it is better than that. By far. I am not really a Cirque Du Soleil person but I am definitely a Hiro person now! Once again they knocked it out of the park. This show was amazing. I cannot believe they can dive from such heights into such a small pool. It reminded me of those cartoons where the guy dives into a cup of water. That is basically what this show is. Or part of it, anyway.



That's amazing! looks like a great show!


----------



## starvenger

I have no proof, and I'm not a salesperson but extending the word "sexy" to "seeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxy" generally increases sales by 300%. Again, I have no true basis for this observation, and this doesn't take into accounts teens shopping with their parents. 

Also, if you ever go to Vegas, get tickets for "O". As amazing as the aqua shows are, "O" is even more so, and you can definitely see where Hiro got inspiration from.


----------



## cel_disney

Having fun keeping up with your review here an on CC!   I must ask this most important question - logistically - are you typing this all up in a word document or something and posting to both places?  And where are you hosting your photos?  (Which are awesome btw).

I am SOOO sorry that your kids made you miss the escape room...(they didn’t fight on the entire murder van trip they couldn’t contain it anymore?)...I would be so unhappy with them - not sure I could contain my anger as well as you!  But I love escape rooms and it’s one of the main things I want to do on board!

 One last thing - we have not been able to reserve it ahead of time.  Did you?  Or was it reserved on board?


----------



## nancy drew

orangecuse said:


> Oh no, I worry for you on the pancakes! I am a very picky pancake eater though haha
> 
> Loving the review!



Thanks!

Stay tuned to find out about the pancakes.  I'm really making this more dramatic than necessary, but oh well.  



buzzrelly said:


> Ha! Clearly this woman doesn't have a daughter…or. at least I hope she doesn't!



Right?  "Oh, it looks SEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXYYYY?  Well in that case let's get 3 of them!  Gotta get this girl married off before she becomes an Old Maid!"



starvenger said:


> I have no proof, and I'm not a salesperson but extending the word "sexy" to "seeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxy" generally increases sales by 300%. Again, I have no true basis for this observation, and this doesn't take into accounts teens shopping with their parents.
> 
> Also, if you ever go to Vegas, get tickets for "O". As amazing as the aqua shows are, "O" is even more so, and you can definitely see where Hiro got inspiration from.



You may be onto something with the "seeeeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxy" thing.  But man, she said it to the wrong person.

I will keep that in mind about "O".  Last time I was in Vegas there was a huge, horrible dust storm and it kind of ruined the desert for me.  But that was like 20 years ago so maybe it is time to try again.



cel_disney said:


> Having fun keeping up with your review here an on CC!   I must ask this most important question - logistically - are you typing this all up in a word document or something and posting to both places?  And where are you hosting your photos?  (Which are awesome btw).
> 
> I am SOOO sorry that your kids made you miss the escape room...(they didn’t fight on the entire murder van trip they couldn’t contain it anymore?)...I would be so unhappy with them - not sure I could contain my anger as well as you!  But I love escape rooms and it’s one of the main things I want to do on board!
> 
> One last thing - we have not been able to reserve it ahead of time.  Did you?  Or was it reserved on board?



Thanks!  

And thanks for asking the _real_ questions.  I am typing it up here, then copying everything over there.  Since I can edit these posts here, but not there, I can go back and get the... code?  I guess?  So I don't have to manually add all of the photos and videos again.  Just one big copy and paste.  It is a little messier over there, if you've noticed, because when I forget something I can add it to the right place here, but I have to make a new post there.  Pictures are hosted on Flickr and videos are on Vimeo.  

Now you know all of my secrets.  Well, not all.  There are some things a girl won't share with just anybody.

I love Escape Rooms, too, and so does DD.  Ooooh that reminds me I never provided closure on that situation.  Got to add that in when I write up the next part.  

Last time I did a report I took notes the whole time so I wasn't this forgetful when I typed it up.  This time I am relying on my pictures to remind me of things, but that is not working out so well.   

I booked the Escape Room in advance in Cruise Planner.  Keep checking, it should show up.  When do you sail?


----------



## MinnieFan4ever

I am so loving this trip report!  Thank you!  We wet sail in 60 days on the Symphony.  I can’t wait.  This will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise.


----------



## cel_disney

nancy drew said:


> I booked the Escape Room in advance in Cruise Planner.  Keep checking, it should show up.  When do you sail?



We cruise April 13th (so really soon!).  It’s still not in the cruise planner - I have checked almost every day for months and months.  A few others on my roll call are also watching for it and one called RC.   Phone reps will say anything whether it’s true or not but she said that they wouldn’t be releasing it ahead of time and it would need to be booked on board...the week before and after us also don’t have it in the planner...beyond frustrating! 

And thanks for the details on the posting process!  The CC edit timer is terribly unforgiving...I usually do live reviews on CC because I can upload photos directly there but we will see how this cruise goes having friends on board and also being in single parent mode with my 8 year old (I don’t know how you do it on such a regular basis and with teens no less!).  The only upside to my trip is that I get a brake from the quickly becoming hormonally unstable 12.5 year old boy!


----------



## nancy drew

MinnieFan4ever said:


> I am so loving this trip report!  Thank you!  We wet sail in 60 days on the Symphony.  I can’t wait.  This will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise.



Lucky you!  You will love it!!!  Thanks for reading along .



cel_disney said:


> We cruise April 13th (so really soon!).  It’s still not in the cruise planner - I have checked almost every day for months and months.  A few others on my roll call are also watching for it and one called RC.   Phone reps will say anything whether it’s true or not but she said that they wouldn’t be releasing it ahead of time and it would need to be booked on board...the week before and after us also don’t have it in the planner...beyond frustrating!
> 
> And thanks for the details on the posting process!  The CC edit timer is terribly unforgiving...I usually do live reviews on CC because I can upload photos directly there but we will see how this cruise goes having friends on board and also being in single parent mode with my 8 year old (I don’t know how you do it on such a regular basis and with teens no less!).  The only upside to my trip is that I get a brake from the quickly becoming hormonally unstable 12.5 year old boy!



When I was doing my Alaska report I started out live, since I could upload the photos directly.  So much easier!  This is a huge pain in the behind, which is why it is taking so long for me to get it done.  

Sailing with friends can either be great or terrible.  Mostly it has been great for us, so hopefully for you as well!  I am sure if my kids had friends along they would not have fought as much.

Lucky you, a break from the almost-teen!!  Enjoy it!!!!


----------



## SorcererHeidi

@nancy drew - Still very much enjoying your report, and your awesome writing style!  Why don't I believe your closing "pretty difficult to mess up pancakes, right?"  

So - had the Barq's Diet Cream Strawberry today at the AMC, and thought of you (hope that's not creepy - LOL).  Even told my friend WHY I was having it, she chuckled and said "You and your online people".  Thought it was pretty darned tasty, thank you!  Tasted much more of the strawberry than the cream.  Didn't try the cream/orange because we were running late.  The soda was better than the movie (Dumbo) unfortunately/  Not bad, just disappointed nowhere near as good as I'd hoped, got rather boring at times.


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> And thanks for asking the _real_ questions. I am typing it up here, then copying everything over there. Since I can edit these posts here, but not there, I can go back and get the... code? I guess? So I don't have to manually add all of the photos and videos again. Just one big copy and paste. It is a little messier over there, if you've noticed, because when I forget something I can add it to the right place here, but I have to make a new post there. Pictures are hosted on Flickr and videos are on Vimeo.


If it helps, when I write a report I use a google doc to put the whole thing together, but I usually put picture links in place of the actual picture so I know where to point to. Day of, I try to summarize everything in point form notes, then clean it up after the fact. And then I add in animated gifs, because you don't get enough pictures, and really, would a trip report be made worse by having an animated gif? I say


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 5!  St. Thomas!*

As I was replying, I realized I hadn't included a few important details.  I'll add them in above, but I'll include them here as well. 

When I had returned to the room after talking to Guest Services, the phone rang.  It was the Activities Manager, calling about the Escape Room.  I explained again that we had come back from our excursion late and we were rushing but did not make it on time, and was there any chance we could reschedule or possibly get a refund.  She said there were no spots left (so if you want to do the Escape Room book it in advance or as soon as possible on the ship because this is very popular, apparently) but she would gladly give us a refund.  I thought that was a great example of excellent customer service, and I thanked her over and over.  She really did not have to do that, we missed our reservation, but maybe the fact that I was polite and apologetic helped?  When I was at Guest Services I heard some other people really giving the GS person hell over something that was not remotely under their control (they were unhappy that their excursion left later than planned and that lunch on the excursion was served late).  They must see the worst of people in Guest Services.  They would see worse from me later, though it was over something that was more within their control.

So on to day 5.  There is something else I forgot to include but will in a moment, as it is both about The Key and exiting the ship in port. 

But first, Compasses!





















We had to wake up earlier today, as we were supposed to meet on the pier at 8:15 for our excursion.  We had booked the Buck Island snorkel through Royal.  This was the only excursion I had booked through RCI, actually.  FYI, if you book excursions through Royal in Cruise Planner, keep checking the price.  This excursion dropped in price during one of the "sales", so I cancelled and rebooked at the new price. 

I woke up with the alarm and checked out where we were.  Hello, St. Thomas!






We got our call that breakfast was on the way, so I roused the teens and before we knew it, breakfast had arrived.  I set up my plate on the balcony, and I think maybe DS joined me but probably DD ate in her bed again. 






You will all be happy to know that the pancakes were much better than the eggs etc. from the day before.  I forgot to order butter. You had to order butter and syrup separately, silly me I only ordered the syrup.  We finished eating and headed off the ship.  Don't forget the Sea Pass cards!

Now here's what I forgot to mention yesterday, and one of the other things I had been discussing at Guest Services on Day 4.

*The Key: * When reading the benefits of The Key, it sounds like you get priority debarkation at all ports of call.  The wording, however, is quite nebulous, and inconsistent.  Let's review, from the Key letter in our room, the confirmation email I received from RCI, and Royal's own website:
















So it sounds like Key guests get priority when leaving the ship in ports of call, no?  Now, I don't especially care about this, but since it is a listed benefit I wanted to try it, especially in St. Kitts when there was a massive herd of people exiting all at once.  I looked everywhere and could not see any priority line, or any sign for where we were supposed to go, nor had it been communicated how the "priority" would work.  Never saw a line or anything for debarking in a port of call.  I have heard it is only for tender ports, but doesn't the wording sound like it is for all ports?  

So when I was talking to Guest Services about the Escape Room, I also asked about this, not in a "WHERE WAS MY PRIORITY DEBARKATION" way, but in a "Hey, I was looking and I didn't see it, could you let me know how to get this priority debarkation?"  Well the guy said "Oh no, that's only when the cruise is over."  I said "No, it is at ports, see this email from Royal Caribbean?"  "Oh no, that is only for tendering ports."  Well I pushed back a little and said "But it doesn't say that, it says 'ports of call'".  Well he made some phone calls and apologized and said we would have priority debarkation if I just said something to the crew members as we were leaving.  But there were no crew members anywhere except as you are actually exiting the ship.  Like at the doorway, checking your Sea Pass card.  At which point there is no need for priority because you are 4 steps away from exiting the ship.  So it never happened.  *This was not a benefit to us at all but we pretty much did not need it as it never took long to get off the ship.  *

So I looked for the priority debarkation again when we were leaving St. Thomas, just to see if I had missed it during the mass exodus in St. Kitts, and did not see anything.  But it didn't matter because there were no masses leaving this time.  

Welcome to St. Thomas!






We found the people holding signs for our excursion, and lined up.  There were 2 excursions lined up here, and we then split into 2 lines.  

We boarded the catamaran and headed out to Buck Island.  We would be visiting 2 sites: one where we might see turtles, one where we would see a shipwreck.  When we sailed on DCL we visited Grand Cayman and snorkeled over a shipwreck, and it was really cool.  So this sounded really cool, too!

It took 20-30 minutes to get over there, and we were sitting in the shaded part of the catamaran because I had this weird sunburn.  Does anyone else get that?  I feel like when I look at other people sunning themselves they are 100% evenly tan, and I look like a patchwork quilt.  I had sunburn in lines on my upper arms up to my shoulders, plus like one blotch near my wrist, and my chest was 100% red, my knees were sunburned, I had blotches of sunburn on my back... why does this happen to me?  I swear I use sunscreen and reapply often!

We have our own snorkel masks.  I really do not like the snorkel thing that goes in my mouth.  Not only for sanitary reasons, but just because.  It always gets misaligned with the mask, there is so much adjusting, etc.  And I just don't like having it in my mouth.  

So we use these:






I do not work for the company or anything like that.  It has just changed snorkeling for us.  Nothing in your mouth, full view of the water, etc.  I really like these masks!

Mask in action:






I think the first place we went was the shipwreck.  I could be wrong. It doesn't really matter, right?  So there were 2 "guides" but one seemed to be more in charge than the other.  Once we got to the spot, he was all business.  They had been handing out masks, fins, and vests, and everyone was getting ready, and it seemed like everyone else was ready WAY faster than we were (you probably guessed that would happen).  My fins were a bit too big, so remember to try them on as soon as they give them to you, because when I asked for a new pair I was told "Hmmm, that seems to be the most popular size, I don't think we have any left!"  

Well she searched high and low and found... one.  Meanwhile the 2 guides had divided people up into groups and my kids were already out snorkeling and I had no idea which group they were in.  Some people were already coming back up, mostly kids who for one reason or another were already done.  Luckily one of them was wearing the fins I needed, so she handed them off to me and I hurried up and got out there.  

The good thing about us wearing our own masks is it is VERY easy to spot my kids.  And we all go our separate ways, then come back together, then swim away, etc.  So it is nice to be able to look up and make sure I can still spot them.  When everyone has the same snorkel that is not as easy.

My snorkel photos stink.  the only time I can get good under water photos is when it is really sunny and really shallow.  It was neither of those things.  Well it was kind of sunny, but it wasn't shallow.  The photos look dark, because of whatever setting I was using on this camera.  Ugh I don't like these.  So here.  (Imagine me dumping a pile of photos in your lap and stomping off.)






The shipwreck was actually really cool.  At one point there was a barracuda but I don't think I got any photos of it.  I think that was right when I joined the group.











So the one guide, the one who seemed more in charge, dove down to the ship, which completely freaked me out because it was far down there!!!  So naturally I did what anyone would do, I took photos.
















I don't know what he was doing down there.  Maybe just showing off.  After I took this photo I swam away because I couldn't take it anymore.  I'm that person who, when I see someone on TV who is under water, I hold my breath as though *I* am also under water.  It makes me crazy.






It was cool, but there weren't many fish.  We did see some as we came back to the catamaran.  






We called these "Baby Narwahls"






Then we were all called back into the catamaran so we could go look for turtles.  This time I had all of my equipment, so while I waited for others to get in the water, I was mostly with the group this time.  

It wasn't long before someone spotted turtles.











We left them to go explore some.  The guy dove down again, but this time he had a purpose.






He was picking up a conch shell that turned out to have a hermit crab in it and fire coral on the outside.  











We saw some striped fish.






There was a blue fish that was really pretty.  DD and I followed it around for a while.  It looks like everything else in this photo.  Can anyone recommend a good under water camera?  I need a new one.  











I guess this one is OK, but it is just coral.  But you can tell it was shallower here, which is why this turned out better.






There were other fish, but it wasn't terribly exciting.






DS spotted a stingray, so I went over to see that.






At some point the guy dove down again. This time maybe he was just showing off, but it was actually cool so I'll allow it.


----------



## nancy drew

Once everyone was back on the catamaran they hoisted the sails and poured the rum punch and we sailed back to the pier.  This took a while longer than the way out there, and DD and DS were still sitting under the catamaran roof so they were kind of inside.  I had gone out to take photos, and stayed there.  I went back to check on them and DS had his eyes closed and said he was feeling super seasick.  I told him to have a soda and come out on deck and look at the horizon.  I know soda helps me a lot when I am feeling nauseated, and fresh air and looking at the horizon help me when I am feeling seasick.  Sitting inside and closing your eyes is just about the worst thing you can do when you feel seasick.  So I got him a Sprite and dragged him out.  oh and I had him press on the pressure point that is supposed to help with seasickness, where the Sea Bands press.  I have no idea what DD did in there the rest of the time.  DS and I stood on deck watching us slowly sail back to St. Thomas.  He did start to feel a lot better before we got back, so some combo of all of my wacky home remedies must have helped.






You can see another cruise ship here, and there was another one behind it.  NCL and Princess were there, but this isn't where we were docked.  We were in another port, and we were the only ones there.





















And then finally, FINALLY, we saw our ship.











We got off the catamaran and explored the shops nearby.  I had promised DD another attempt at finding dinner clothes that weren't "seeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxy" and we had plenty of time to explore. 

I had posted some thoughts about the excursion, but I feel bad.  I'm going to ask my kids what they thought of it.  I think I had different expectations.

So as we were walking from the catamaran to the shops, DS (who was now a lot less green than he had been on the boat) pointed out an iguana.  I wish I could think of a good caption for this. 






Then we saw more iguanas.











This was in with the shops and restaurants.






We looked around a bit, and... DD found a dress!  It was beachy, but not "seeeeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxxy" and we both liked it.  It looked a bit like a shapeless sack, but DD said it would be fine with a belt, and she was right.  Hooray!  We bought a few more souvenirs and headed back to the ship.






Not sure where we ate, probably pizza?  Then we went back to the room to change and figure out the rest of the day.  I sat out on the balcony and watched these pirate ships blast each other with cannons.






Then one of them sailed off to search for treasure, or something.






St. Thomas is really a pretty place.  I'd love to visit again! 






DS went to the Flowrider






Then DS went to the club, and I think DD stayed in the room.  I went to the Solarium to sit in the pool and then watch the sunset. 






I took an obscene number of photos of the sunset, which was less than spectacular, which means I was eavesdropping on someone's conversation and pretending to be smitten with the (lame) sunset.  I won't subject you to all of the photos, and I won't share the conversation.  It wasn't gossipy, just interesting.  They were talking about traveling, and different places, and music, and education. 






I texted DS to come back to the room and headed there myself.  DS texted me that there was alcohol "there".  At first I thought he meant in the club, and I was alarmed.  But no, he meant in our stateroom.






It was from Guest Services, from the guy I had spoken to about the priority debarkation in port and the Escape Room.  It was very kind of him to do this.  I really wasn't asking for anything or expecting anything.  After our cruise I received an email asking for thoughts on our experience, and I made sure to mention his name when asked for any crew members who had done anything to make our vacation better.  He was very nice, and again it was so nice of him to do this.


----------



## nancy drew

SorcererHeidi said:


> @nancy drew - Still very much enjoying your report, and your awesome writing style!  Why don't I believe your closing "pretty difficult to mess up pancakes, right?"
> 
> So - had the Barq's Diet Cream Strawberry today at the AMC, and thought of you (hope that's not creepy - LOL).  Even told my friend WHY I was having it, she chuckled and said "You and your online people".  Thought it was pretty darned tasty, thank you!  Tasted much more of the strawberry than the cream.  Didn't try the cream/orange because we were running late.  The soda was better than the movie (Dumbo) unfortunately/  Not bad, just disappointed nowhere near as good as I'd hoped, got rather boring at times.



Yay!  A convert!  So glad you liked it!!  I must confess... I had it again tonight, too!  I casually mentioned that we could go to Noodles for dinner, and oh my, that's right, they have that soda machine don't they?  Ha.  



starvenger said:


> If it helps, when I write a report I use a google doc to put the whole thing together, but I usually put picture links in place of the actual picture so I know where to point to. Day of, I try to summarize everything in point form notes, then clean it up after the fact. And then I add in animated gifs, because you don't get enough pictures, and really, would a trip report be made worse by having an animated gif? I say



HA!  I love Ralph Wiggum.  

That sounds like a lot of work, but hey, this is also a lot of work so maybe it is just a different lot of work?  I don't know, it is late and my brain is fried!!!


----------



## buzzrelly

nancy drew said:


> It was the Activities Manager, calling about the Escape Room. I explained again that we had come back from our excursion late and we were rushing but did not make it on time, and was there any chance we could reschedule or possibly get a refund. She said there were no spots left (so if you want to do the Escape Room book it in advance or as soon as possible on the ship because this is very popular, apparently) but she would gladly give us a refund.



Wow, that was really nice!



nancy drew said:


> They would see worse from me later, though it was over something that was more within their control.



Uh, oh. And now that I read what it was…I can see why that would be frustrating. There's definitely room for improvement there, especially since I assume you paid for that benefit.




nancy drew said:


> We got our call that breakfast was on the way, so I roused the teens and before we knew it, breakfast had arrived. I set up my plate on the balcony, and I think maybe DS joined me but probably DD ate in her bed again.



What a lovely way to have breakfast 



nancy drew said:


> We have our own snorkel masks. I really do not like the snorkel thing that goes in my mouth. Not only for sanitary reasons, but just because. It always gets misaligned with the mask, there is so much adjusting, etc. And I just don't like having it in my mouth.
> 
> So we use these:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do not work for the company or anything like that. It has just changed snorkeling for us. Nothing in your mouth, full view of the water, etc. I really like these masks!
> 
> Mask in action:



What?? Those are really nice! I never knew such a thing existed and you have me checking Amazon right now. Though, we leave in 2 days so I don't think we can get them for this time 



nancy drew said:


> It wasn't long before someone spotted turtles.







nancy drew said:


> St. Thomas is really a pretty place. I'd love to visit again!



I'll be there next week for the first time! 



nancy drew said:


> I texted DS to come back to the room and headed there myself. DS texted me that there was alcohol "there". At first I thought he meant in the club, and I was alarmed. But no, he meant in our stateroom.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was from Guest Services, from the guy I had spoken to about the priority debarkation in port and the Escape Room. It was very kind of him to do this. I really wasn't asking for anything or expecting anything. After our cruise I received an email asking for thoughts on our experience, and I made sure to mention his name when asked for any crew members who had done anything to make our vacation better. He was very nice, and again it was so nice of him to do this.



Nice service recovery, RCCL


----------



## buzzrelly

buzzrelly said:


> What?? Those are really nice! I never knew such a thing existed and you have me checking Amazon right now. Though, we leave in 2 days so I don't think we can get them for this time



Okay, this is a first…I've never quoted myself before   I just wanted to come back and say I just ordered those masks from Amazon and they guarantee delivery by tomorrow! Thanks for the tip!


----------



## Mikamarii

nancy drew said:


> When I had returned to the room after talking to Guest Services, the phone rang. It was the Activities Manager, calling about the Escape Room. I explained again that we had come back from our excursion late and we were rushing but did not make it on time, and was there any chance we could reschedule or possibly get a refund. She said there were no spots left (so if you want to do the Escape Room book it in advance or as soon as possible on the ship because this is very popular, apparently) but she would gladly give us a refund. I thought that was a great example of excellent customer service, and I thanked her over and over. She really did not have to do that, we missed our reservation, but maybe the fact that I was polite and apologetic helped? When I was at Guest Services I heard some other people really giving the GS person hell over something that was not remotely under their control (they were unhappy that their excursion left later than planned and that lunch on the excursion was served late). They must see the worst of people in Guest Services. They would see worse from me later, though it was over something that was more within their control.



When I was going through University I worked part time at Best Buy at the returns counter. Someone could be 1 day past the return policy and come in yelling and screaming and I wouldn't return it. Alternatively, someone comes in one or two months past and really calm and polite, explaining what happened and I would do what I could to get them a store credit. The yeller and screamer would likely get their way by going up the chain....but not from me....it was my own absurd way of teaching people some manners. Who knows if it worked (probably not) but I always told the polite people the only reason I was doing it was because they were acting like actual humans.


----------



## SorcererHeidi

Mikamarii said:


> When I was going through University I worked part time at Best Buy at the returns counter. Someone could be 1 day past the return policy and come in yelling and screaming and I wouldn't return it. Alternatively, someone comes in one or two months past and really calm and polite, explaining what happened and I would do what I could to get them a store credit. The yeller and screamer would likely get their way by going up the chain....but not from me....it was my own absurd way of teaching people some manners. Who knows if it worked (probably not) but I always told the polite people the only reason I was doing it was because they were acting like actual humans.


Good for you - people on this earth NEED to be reminded that there are other HUMANS - with thoughts and feelings - that inhabit this planet, besides themselves!  And it's s shame they HAVE to be reminded!! I am a HUGE "courtesy and manners" person.  I also have a saying that you probably have thousand other people in your day to tel you you're doing a crappy job, let me be the ONE that tells you you're doing a GREAT one!  I love to make people smile by letting them know I "see" and appreciate them, and doing random acts of kindness.  Just yesterday at the movie theater - the young girl working the concession stand was obviously very nervous, and it was probably her first (or close to it) day.  She gave me popcorn instead of the drink I ordered.  When I corrected her, I could see she was getting very bent out of shape, and close to crying, trying to figure out how to "refund" the popcorn.  Didn't make it any better the manager was headed that way,. and she started shaking, poor thing, watching him approach.  I told her "Never mind, I'll pay for the popcorn - give it to the next person who orders it, on me.  And I'll also pay for/take the drink".  The look of relief on her face was priceless, and it made me feel SO good.  And I got to do TWO random acts of kindness!!


----------



## anitag888

I think that every person should be required to work in customer service or guest services at some point. It really gives you perspective on what is the best way to treat people. I spent 5 years in guest services at a theme park and I learned so much about how to deal with people. This continues to be a great thread, thanks!


----------



## SorcererHeidi

anitag888 said:


> I think that every person should be required to work in customer service or guest services at some point. It really gives you perspective on what is the best way to treat people. I spent 5 years in guest services at a theme park and I learned so much about how to deal with people. This continues to be a great thread, thanks!


You're right - I spent most of my life in public service - you learn how to treat others when you've been on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTER OR DESK for awhile!!


----------



## nancy drew

buzzrelly said:


> Uh, oh. And now that I read what it was…I can see why that would be frustrating. There's definitely room for improvement there, especially since I assume you paid for that benefit.



Actually we aren't there yet.  Stay tuned to the end .



buzzrelly said:


> Okay, this is a first…I've never quoted myself before   I just wanted to come back and say I just ordered those masks from Amazon and they guarantee delivery by tomorrow! Thanks for the tip!



Awesome!  I have to say at first it is really disorienting, putting your face in the water with the mask on and breathing normally.  I always had that with the snorkel tube too, but this seems worse to me.  I have to take it off and put it on a few times because my brain keeps saying "YOU ARE UNDERWATER YOU CAN'T BREATHE HERE!!!" and I have to be like "Chill out, yes I can" and it takes a while for it to resolve, but then I'm good to go.



Mikamarii said:


> When I was going through University I worked part time at Best Buy at the returns counter. Someone could be 1 day past the return policy and come in yelling and screaming and I wouldn't return it. Alternatively, someone comes in one or two months past and really calm and polite, explaining what happened and I would do what I could to get them a store credit. The yeller and screamer would likely get their way by going up the chain....but not from me....it was my own absurd way of teaching people some manners. Who knows if it worked (probably not) but I always told the polite people the only reason I was doing it was because they were acting like actual humans.



I always try to be polite and understanding.  Sometimes the service person is the one being the jerk (this is rare, and usually over the phone, when they are actually wrong about a policy- in your example it would be if I were returning something within the window and you said it couldn't be returned because it was Friday and you don't process returns on Friday or some made up thing like that).  That's when I start to lose my cool.  But otherwise, especially in my old age, I am finding that patience and kindness are appreciated.  



SorcererHeidi said:


> Good for you - people on this earth NEED to be reminded that there are other HUMANS - with thoughts and feelings - that inhabit this planet, besides themselves!  And it's s shame they HAVE to be reminded!! I am a HUGE "courtesy and manners" person.  I also have a saying that you probably have thousand other people in your day to tel you you're doing a crappy job, let me be the ONE that tells you you're doing a GREAT one!  I love to make people smile by letting them know I "see" and appreciate them, and doing random acts of kindness.  Just yesterday at the movie theater - the young girl working the concession stand was obviously very nervous, and it was probably her first (or close to it) day.  She gave me popcorn instead of the drink I ordered.  When I corrected her, I could see she was getting very bent out of shape, and close to crying, trying to figure out how to "refund" the popcorn.  Didn't make it any better the manager was headed that way,. and she started shaking, poor thing, watching him approach.  I told her "Never mind, I'll pay for the popcorn - give it to the next person who orders it, on me.  And I'll also pay for/take the drink".  The look of relief on her face was priceless, and it made me feel SO good.  And I got to do TWO random acts of kindness!!



That was a great save with the popcorn.  And a great act of kindness!  



anitag888 said:


> I think that every person should be required to work in customer service or guest services at some point. It really gives you perspective on what is the best way to treat people. I spent 5 years in guest services at a theme park and I learned so much about how to deal with people. This continues to be a great thread, thanks!



I haven't personally worked in customer service, though being a teacher is kind of similar because we definitely get parents who treat us as "service" employees and talk down to us or make unrealistic demands.  I was married to someone who was in a service based industry and after hearing years of stories I started to lose faith in humanity.  But it made me want to do better than the people in the stories I had heard.


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## pattyw

@nancy drew this is a wonderful report! So much information- great pictures!! I am loving reading along- and will re-read many times before our cruise on 4/14


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## nancy drew

pattyw said:


> @nancy drew this is a wonderful report! So much information- great pictures!! I am loving reading along- and will re-read many times before our cruise on 4/14



Thanks so much!  I have read so many detailed reports, and they have always been helpful to me.  I would never have considered going on a cruise if not for some of the really detailed reports I have read.  I guess this is my way of paying it forward!  I did a few reports a long time ago, for Disneyland, I think?  They are buried somewhere in my signature.  And I did one last summer for our Alaska cruise elsewhere.  Its fun for me, and I enjoy reliving our vacation!


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## nancy drew

*Day 5 continued*

After reconvening in the room, I tried to open the bottle of wine.  They had thoughtfully provided one of those corkscrews that you twist into the cork and then pull it straight out.  Well I could not get the cork to budge.  I let DS try and he couldn't do it, either.  I looked it up online and found all kinds of tricks that involve walking the bottle and a shoe against a wall, but I didn't want to do that to our neighbors.  We tried so hard but the darn thing wouldn't budge.  I ended up having the room attendant open it.  He put the bottle on the ground and squeezed it with his feet then pulled up on the corkscrew with both hands.  POP!  It came right out.  I had probably loosened it for him.  

One thing I have heard often when discussing cruises is "I can't have a balcony stateroom with my children, I would be terrified that they would go overboard!"  Well I wouldn't really worry about that.  First of all, you have to turn the balcony handle up and pull at the same time, and the door is really heavy.  Second, you can lock it way up high so no one can open it.  It is safer than having a balcony in a hotel room, where they don't always have all of these safety precautions.  I never hear people refusing to stay in a hotel with a balcony due to fears of their child falling.  

Anyway, I am sharing the photo because I remember a heated discussion once where someone insisted that this lock did not exist on cruises, they had never seen it, and that meant it wasn't there.  Well, it is there, at least on Symphony.  






We went to dinner, and I stopped to take a stealth photo of this art on the way in to the dining room.  I like those chairs a lot.  It would be cool to have a huge dining room, and one of those long tables that goes on forever, and have those chairs at either end.  






Our beverage server, I Putu, decided it was time for the kids to mix things up with their drinks.  They had been drinking non-alcoholic mojitos, and daiquiris, and he thought they needed to expand their options, so he brought us the bar menu.  I wasn't going to post it, because it would take up so much space, but I think this should work.
















This looks like maybe it is the prime rib.  I wish I had taken photos of the menus, but I somehow thought they had already been shared somewhere.  Unfortunately I cannot seem to find them anywhere to double check what we ate each night.






Dessert was pavlova.  The pavlova and fruit were good, but the whipped cream is that whipped cream that is thick, and obviously not actual whipped cream.  But I still ate all of it, so obviously it wasn't that big of a deal.






DD got the crème brulée.  She got this a few times, and DS got it at least once.






I have no idea what we did after dinner as there is no photographic evidence of anything.  DD and I probably went to Schooners and DS went to the teen club.

And that's the end of Day 5!  Day 6 would be our last day at sea, as we would be in Nassau on Day 7.  The plan was to enjoy the sunshine, sit in a chair, and read.  DS planned to hang out with friends, or whatever he was doing all week.


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## nancy drew

*Day 6!  Day at Sea!*
































I couldn't believe how quickly the week was flying by.  Again, I hate having a port day on the last day, because it makes it feel so much shorter.  But I don't get to make up the itineraries, so what are you going to do!

We slept in (big surprise, I know) and then by the time we all were awake and functioning breakfast was over, so we went down to the Promenade and got pizza for breakfast/lunch at Sorrento's.  DS headed off to the club, and DD and I were going to go up to the pool deck and get some sun and read.  However, they were setting up for a parade in the promenade, so we decided to stay.  Our usually spot was taken so we didn't get a very good view.  It was cute, though!  I know a lot of people are upset that Royal ended their contract with Dreamworks, and people are wondering what they are going to do.  I don't see a need to do anything!  Sure, my kids are too old for characters, but there was so much going on at all times, I don't really think characters make the experience that much better for kids.  With 1700 kids under 12 on board even without Dreamworks, I don't think Dreamworks is a make or break component of a cruise.

Who needs Dreamworks when you have pirates!

She came down on Rising Tide, which is an excellent way to make an entrance.  If I ever have to make an entrance on the Promenade it will definitely be like this.






There was some story, but I don't know what it was.  Pirates, Vikings, etc.  It was fun, but we couldn't really see it so we watched for a short time and left. I really just wanted to enjoy the sunshine.  I am making it sound awful, and it definitely wasn't.  It was rather fun, and very festive.  When you can't see it, though, there is no point in sticking around.





















So up to the pool deck we went.  It had been very windy up on deck all week, and today it was very rocky.  There were some really big swells out on the water that had us rocking back and forth.  DS ended up putting his bracelet on, and I did too, eventually.  But we stayed out for a long time, relaxing.






Ha, it looks completely calm there, but I was on Deck 16 so you can't really see anything.  It also got a bit worse later.  Not horrible, it was kind of funny, actually.

DS had promised he would go on The Abyss today.  He was done with the Flow Rider because he had fallen when running around and scraped up both of his knees, and he said he couldn't do the knee boarding thing any more.  So he had promised he would do The Abyss, and I held him to it because I knew he would regret it if he didn't.  Both kids tend to wait until the last day of vacation to try anything, and then they are like "Oh that ws fun, can we do it again?" and I'm like "No, we leave tomorrow, and you could have been doing this for 7 days if you had tried it when I first told you to try it."

Anyway, he tried it.  They let me go up and take photos, which I already shared, of the glass ledge overlooking the Aqua Theater and the water.  But I'll share it again, with DS's feet again, because yikes.  Also, feet pictures with shoes are OK, though still usually unnecessary, it is the bare feet pictures that I have issues with.  In this case I feel like the feet help you understand that you are looking down.  I am overexplaining it.






And the outside of The Abyss, again, just because






Here's DS getting his last minute instructions.  As I have said, listen and do what they tell you.  There are some sharp turns and you can get banged up if you don't sit the way you are supposed to.






He said it was fun, but he didn't do it again.  He told me I should try it.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no.

I went to the Solarium for sunset again.  I could swear this was the night the ship was rocking and rolling, but then I see we had the skating show and I thought they would cancel that for motion.  They did postpone the second aqua show, Aqua Nation, due to ship motion.  Anyway, I think it was this evening in the Solarium when I was in the pool with one other person.  You can see out of the windows of the Solarium from there, and see the horizon, and we were definitely going uuuuuup and doooooown.  The water in the pool was sloshing one way........ then the other way........ then back again............ and so on.  We were laughing when we had a big swell and it went up like 12 inches.  They had closed one of the pools earlier due to the same thing.  I heard kids screaming (with joy, always with joy) and I figured it was due to the water going back and forth so much.






I'm going to pause here.  School and work start tomorrow, and I have to get some sleep.  Sorry!!!  I had really wanted to get this done before work started up again, but grad school and parenting got in the way.


----------



## Mikamarii

nancy drew said:


> Both kids tend to wait until the last day of vacation to try anything, and then they are like "Oh that ws fun, can we do it again?" and I'm like "No, we leave tomorrow, and you could have been doing this for 7 days if you had tried it when I first told you to try it."



This reminds me of our trip to Aulani last year. DS was 5 and DD was 3. They love the water and DS loves water slides, but not the enclosed ones, those are too scary. It was day 1 So DS says he would be brave and do the enclosed waterslide. All 4 of us wait in line. We get to the top and Wife goes down, then DD (she’s fearless). DS gets up and chickens out. Try to encourage him but no go. Holding up the line so we do the walk of shame down. When we get to the bottom DD loved at wanted to go again. We all go up. Wife first, then DD. DS gets there and chickens out. Try to bribe him and no go. Knowing it’s day 1 and he’ll miss out on a couple weeks of this (I’m not listening to the whining on the last day!)  I tell him “just sit in the water, I’ll buy you ice cream and if you want out you can get out” he sits, annddddd I push him down the slide.....people behind us give that nervous laughter. I turn around and say “don’t worry, we’ll be back up ASAP” sure enough we were back up and he rode that slide multiple times a day for the rest of our trip! He still talks about that slide and can’t wait to go back. 

If onnnlllyyyyy kids would listen to their parents! Besides I have a good 5-7 years before I learn the trust ramifications I risked that day haha. 

PS I feel those end of trip blues coming on as if MY vacation is ending.  This report has been fun.


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## buzzrelly

nancy drew said:


> Actually we aren't there yet. Stay tuned to the end .



Oh, boy! I thought it was the Key thing. Can't wait to hear what it really was!



nancy drew said:


> Awesome! I have to say at first it is really disorienting, putting your face in the water with the mask on and breathing normally. I always had that with the snorkel tube too, but this seems worse to me. I have to take it off and put it on a few times because my brain keeps saying "YOU ARE UNDERWATER YOU CAN'T BREATHE HERE!!!" and I have to be like "Chill out, yes I can" and it takes a while for it to resolve, but then I'm good to go.



I think I'll have a problem with that too. I'm not a great snorkeler. I've only done it a couple times and the last time was in the shark reef at Typhoon Lagoon. I ended up just holding my breath and then popping up for air. I only ordered two of those masks, just in case. If the kids want them I'll just use the regular snorkel stuff and probably do the whole, breath-holding-pop head up-thing. My mom will also be with us but I don't think she'll be getting off the boat to snorkel anyway so I didn't order one for her. 



nancy drew said:


> I went to the Solarium for sunset again. I could swear this was the night the ship was rocking and rolling, but then I see we had the skating show and I thought they would cancel that for motion. They did postpone the second aqua show, Aqua Nation, due to ship motion. Anyway, I think it was this evening in the Solarium when I was in the pool with one other person. You can see out of the windows of the Solarium from there, and see the horizon, and we were definitely going uuuuuup and doooooown. The water in the pool was sloshing one way........ then the other way........ then back again............ and so on. We were laughing when we had a big swell and it went up like 12 inches. They had closed one of the pools earlier due to the same thing. I heard kids screaming (with joy, always with joy) and I figured it was due to the water going back and forth so much.



That's a gorgeous sunset.

 Doesn't it always seem way more wavy on the last night of every cruise? I think it's because they speed up to get back, or so I've heard. We have come to expect it now so it doesn't freak us out like it used to


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## pattyw

Beautiful sunset pictures! 
I've never had a motion sickness issue before- but this will be our first cruise and I'm a little scared for what you said about the big waves and the ship rocking! You used SeaBands ? I want to bring meds just in case I need them.  I'm ready to buy every variety on the market!


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## MissDaisyofTexas

I love the sunset picture!


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## nancy drew

Mikamarii said:


> This reminds me of our trip to Aulani last year. DS was 5 and DD was 3. They love the water and DS loves water slides, but not the enclosed ones, those are too scary. It was day 1 So DS says he would be brave and do the enclosed waterslide. All 4 of us wait in line. We get to the top and Wife goes down, then DD (she’s fearless). DS gets up and chickens out. Try to encourage him but no go. Holding up the line so we do the walk of shame down. When we get to the bottom DD loved at wanted to go again. We all go up. Wife first, then DD. DS gets there and chickens out. Try to bribe him and no go. Knowing it’s day 1 and he’ll miss out on a couple weeks of this (I’m not listening to the whining on the last day!)  I tell him “just sit in the water, I’ll buy you ice cream and if you want out you can get out” he sits, annddddd I push him down the slide.....people behind us give that nervous laughter. I turn around and say “don’t worry, we’ll be back up ASAP” sure enough we were back up and he rode that slide multiple times a day for the rest of our trip! He still talks about that slide and can’t wait to go back.
> 
> If onnnlllyyyyy kids would listen to their parents! Besides I have a good 5-7 years before I learn the trust ramifications I risked that day haha.
> 
> PS I feel those end of trip blues coming on as if MY vacation is ending.  This report has been fun.



I am familiar with the Walk of Shame.  If only you knew how many times I have dragged both kids out of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland: one crying because s/he didn't want to go in and one crying because s/he didn't want to miss out.  As a single mom it was all or nothing, and sometimes nothing won.  But then there was Star Tours, where I forced DD to ride, and she S.C.R.E.A.M.E.D. the whole time as though she were being digested by the Sarlacc Pit.  I mean top of the lungs panic shrieking the whole dang time.  Everyone was going back and forth between enjoying the ride and giving me side eye for torturing my child.  The ride ends, and she turns to me mid-shriek, stops screaming, and without missing a beat says "That was fun, can we do it again?"  The guy next to her said "Nice job, Mom" and I am still not sure if he said it because of the screaming or the "That was fun" comment.  I choose the latter.  



buzzrelly said:


> Oh, boy! I thought it was the Key thing. Can't wait to hear what it really was!
> 
> I think I'll have a problem with that too. I'm not a great snorkeler. I've only done it a couple times and the last time was in the shark reef at Typhoon Lagoon. I ended up just holding my breath and then popping up for air. I only ordered two of those masks, just in case. If the kids want them I'll just use the regular snorkel stuff and probably do the whole, breath-holding-pop head up-thing. My mom will also be with us but I don't think she'll be getting off the boat to snorkel anyway so I didn't order one for her.
> 
> That's a gorgeous sunset.
> 
> Doesn't it always seem way more wavy on the last night of every cruise? I think it's because they speed up to get back, or so I've heard. We have come to expect it now so it doesn't freak us out like it used to



The thing that happened with Guest Services isn't huge, but it is still a mystery to me.  Maybe one of you will help me figure it out because I am baffled.

I definitely hold my breath when snorkeling, for a while.  That's why I take the mask off and put it on again so often at the beginning.  But once I resolve the conflict between "NO NO DON'T BREATHE" and "Chill out" I am fine and I can go for a while.  Give the mask a try, and see if you like it!  It really made snorkeling easier for my kids.  The snorkel tube always pulled their masks off, or fell off the mask strap.  Oh and the plastic mask straps would rip out our hair.  The mask I posted has fabric straps, so putting it on and taking it off is painless, so you can do it way more often and easier than a regular snorkel setup.  And you get to keep all of your hair!

I was wondering about the speed causing the rocking, but there were definitely swells out there.  I wondered if it was from other cruise ships nearby, causing wakes?  They weren't that close, but maybe that's it?  Who knows!



pattyw said:


> Beautiful sunset pictures!
> I've never had a motion sickness issue before- but this will be our first cruise and I'm a little scared for what you said about the big waves and the ship rocking! You used SeaBands ? I want to bring meds just in case I need them.  I'm ready to buy every variety on the market!



I wear Sea Bands and have Dramamine as a back up but I have never used it.  I get nauseated on smaller boats, and I think the only reason I was OK on the snorkel boat is that I was already used to the motion from the cruise.  The motion wasn't that bad until day 4 or 5, so I had my "sea legs" by then.  I have been on smaller ships where the rocking was worse and I was a bit green (though it may have been a hangover, that is still unclear) but getting off the ship in port makes everything better.  How many sea days do you have before your first port?  For our first cruise, it was 4 nights so the very next day after we boarded, we woke up in Nassau.  So I knew I could get onto solid land in less than 24 hours.  

A few other things that help:

Fresh air
Look at the horizon
Green apples
Soda (the bubbles help, I swear)
Wear the Sea Bands before you board the ship, don't wait until you feel sick to wear them, and wear them on the right spot.  If it isn't working move it a bit.



MissDaisyofTexas said:


> I love the sunset picture!



Thank you!


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## nancy drew

*Day 6 continued*

We had plans to see iSkate 2.0, the other ice show on Symphony.  No reservations are needed, just show up.  I was a little nervous about finding seats, so I planned to arrive early.  You can guess how this went by now.  But for a different reason!  The Cruise Compass says the show starts at 7, but somehow I had 7:15 in my head.  I swear I checked the app and it said 7:15, and I swear I checked it later and it still said 7:15.  So we show up at 7 ("Yay, we're early!" I thought to myself on the way down there) and the freaking doors are closed.  NOOOOOOOOO!  How did this keep happening to me?????

Luckily they let us in, and we found seats.  Thank goodness because once again this show was awesome!  This is a fun show, no story, set to music you will mostly know, where they just go out there and show off their moves.  If you like the first show, see this one.  It has all the skating of the first show.  The only thing missing is the drones.  I have video, but when I posted it on Instagram and Facebook I received a notice of copyright infringement for the music from BOTH sites, so I don't want to post the video here.  Songs include: We Are the Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody (not the whole thing), This is Me, and other upbeat songs. 











The do all of these projections on the ice that add to the show and make it more immersive.











This was during Bohemian Rhapsody, I think.






During a song from The Greatest Showman which I cannot share here because I do not own the rights to the song or music (OK Facebook/Insta, I GET IT)






Great show, once again.  Try to sit in the middle and in the front, especially with kids as they will high five kids etc.

After the show it was time for dinner.  I had the Caprese Salad as a starter.  Could they have used less balsamic?  I don't think so.  But still, otherwise very difficult to mess up a Caprese Salad and this one was fine. 






I believe I also ordered the Onion tart because I couldn't imagine what that was, and Shadeik said it was like a quiche, and I like quiche.  I guess I really liked it because I ate it without photographing it. 

I think this was the tenderloin, which was pretty rare.  I know, I had a lot of red meat on this vacation.  I hardly ever eat it at home, so on vacation I order it often.  DD ordered a steak "medium" one night and it was SUPER rare (Shadeik took one look at it after DD cut into it and was like "Whoa, that's not medium, can I get you a new one?" so they were on top of it), but that and this were the only times the meat was a bit undercooked. 






For dessert... Baked Alaska!






Side note: the first time I had Baked Alaska I was in... Alaska. 

DD ordered the chocolate lava cake.






On the way up to wherever we were going next (probably to the room, to change into "normal" clothes, as it had been formal night again), I heard piano playing and singing, and I thought "Wow, the guy at Schooner's has his microphone turned waaaay up and has a huge crowd tonight!  As our elevator ascended, we spotted the Stowaway Piano Man! 






This guy moves all over the ship, and you never know where he'll be.  Sometimes he is in an elevator (DS found him there twice) and sometimes out near the dining rooms or other locations. 

Super short video:






You never know when or where you'll find him, so keep your eyes open, and watch other elevators through the glass, too!  

So we went up to the room, and this guy was waiting for us:






Then probably DS went to the club and DD and I went to check out other places besides Schooner's.  We checked out On Air, the karaoke club.  I had stopped in there after the adult comedy show, and there were teens there, so FYI this is a family-friendly place.  Would your young kids be entertained?  Maybe earlier in the day but not at 10pm.  I swear they brought in ringers for karaoke.  There is NO WAY there are that many amazing singers on one cruise ship, even if it is the biggest cruise ship in the world!  NO WAY!  A family sang Bohemian Rhapsody (I wonder if that is a popular song on the Rhapsody of the Seas?  Probably not), two teens sang "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night," a woman sang "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and it went on and on.  Really fun, and usually standing room only!  Bring your A Game to karaoke on RCI!

Then it was back to the room for bed.  Our last day was tomorrow!  Hard to believe it was almost time to say goodbye to the Symphony, and to our vacation!  In the past we had scheduled a few days at Disney or Universal after a cruise (sailing in and out of Port Canaveral) but this time the kids were leaving to visit their dad's family the day after we returned, so no post-vacation for us. 

We were docking in Nassau on Day 7, and our plans were a bit different than usual.


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## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> I think this was the tenderloin, which was pretty rare. I know, I had a lot of red meat on this vacation. I hardly ever eat it at home, so on vacation I order it often. DD ordered a steak "medium" one night and it was SUPER rare (Shadeik took one look at it after DD cut into it and was like "Whoa, that's not medium, can I get you a new one?" so they were on top of it), but that and this were the only times the meat was a bit undercooked.


As much as I love things like tenderloin being medium rare, I have my limits. Good on the staff for recognizing right away and getting it fixed.

btw can't tell if your picture is the medium cut or the rare one, as that's usually the colour I aim for when doing my roasts to medium.


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## pattyw

nancy drew said:


> I wear Sea Bands and have Dramamine as a back up but I have never used it. I get nauseated on smaller boats, and I think the only reason I was OK on the snorkel boat is that I was already used to the motion from the cruise. The motion wasn't that bad until day 4 or 5, so I had my "sea legs" by then. I have been on smaller ships where the rocking was worse and I was a bit green (though it may have been a hangover, that is still unclear) but getting off the ship in port makes everything better. How many sea days do you have before your first port? For our first cruise, it was 4 nights so the very next day after we boarded, we woke up in Nassau. So I knew I could get onto solid land in less than 24 hours.
> 
> A few other things that help:
> 
> Fresh air
> Look at the horizon
> Green apples
> Soda (the bubbles help, I swear)
> Wear the Sea Bands before you board the ship, don't wait until you feel sick to wear them, and wear them on the right spot. If it isn't working move it a bit.



We port in Nassau on Day 2 so that will be good!  Thanks so much for the tips!! I will bring some meds just in case- I'm going to check out Sea Bands!


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## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> As much as I love things like tenderloin being medium rare, I have my limits. Good on the staff for recognizing right away and getting it fixed.
> 
> btw can't tell if your picture is the medium cut or the rare one, as that's usually the colour I aim for when doing my roasts to medium.



They had two options for the tenderloin: medium rare and medium well.  I think.  I know there were two options.  I would probably choose the other option next time, just to be safe.  This was probably more on the rare side, and DD's steak was for sure very rare.



pattyw said:


> We port in Nassau on Day 2 so that will be good!  Thanks so much for the tips!! I will bring some meds just in case- I'm going to check out Sea Bands!



Oh that's good!  That's a good way to start off.


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## nancy drew

You guys, I had a panic moment (OK, panic 30 minutes).  My photos disappeared from my phone.  I have no idea where they went.  They are on the SD card, but the SD card gallery is gone.  I can't get the SD card out, either, because you need some pin-sized thing and an actual pin doesn't work, apparently.  I thought I was out of luck!

Thank you Google, for backing up my photos!!!!!!  They're here, but it is taking me twice as long to load them to Flickr.  I am hoping to finish this up tonight or tomorrow.


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## nancy drew

OMG it is a miracle.  I restarted my phone and it is back to normal.  Well, I can't get those 30 minutes of my life back, but at least now I can get the photos updated and finish this up tonight or tomorrow.


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## nancy drew

*Day 7.  The Last Day.*

It doesn't matter how long your cruise is, the last day is always sad.  Well maybe unless you go on one of those World Cruises that are 150 days long.  Then maybe you are ready to resume life on land.  





















Today we would be docking in Nassau at 10:00.  We woke up at around 8:30, and when I went outside I saw this:






Which is strange because it meant we were approaching Nassau.






I'm not sure I have ever been on a ship that arrived early, but maybe I have.  Doesn't matter, we were there and that's what's important.  











We did a 180 so we could back into the dock.  Wouldn't it be funny if cruise ships made that beeping noise when they backed into a dock?  






That meant our side of the ship would be against the dock.  This meant I could watch us dock.  

Celebrity equinox was already there.  Show off.  






I tried to raise the dead (you know who I mean) and only one of them thought this was worth watching.  I now wish I had taken a photo of all of the heads I could see looking over their balcony railings, watching us dock.  






Here comes the Pilot!






We would have lots of new neighbors when we returned later.  But for now, it was just us and our show off Celebrity sister.  

Sloooowly backing up now...











I've always wondered how these massive ships dock.  I used to sail at overnight camp, on sailboats that could hold 4-6 girls.  I was quite the sailor, but even so every now and then I would hit the dock too hard, or fly past the mooring and have to try again.  I know cruise ships sometimes have to try again, and again, and again.  It was smooth, so we wouldn't have to try again, but still, I was very interested in how this would work.  






This gave me pre-nightmares.  The kind of nightmare you have while you are awake and nothing bad has happened, but it really looks like something bad could happen at any moment.  This guy was out on the black thing, with his feet in the water, and all I could think was "What is he DOING???  What if he falls!??!"






I had started to go back inside because, well, pre-nightmare.  But I couldn't tear myself away.  I was behind the glass now, though, because I wanted to hide if something bad happened.  (Nothing bad happened). The guy was farther off the black thing at one point, and that is when I hid behind the glass.  You know, because then I can't see anything.  Behind glass.  Clear glass.  Yeah not sure what I was thinking.  






So it seems he had been pulling a very thin line out of the water.  By the way, if you know what is going on, don't tell me.  I like my uneducated version better.  Its more fun.  






Now even I know that line isn't going to hold the ship.  I've seen the lines that hold the ship and that ain't it.  But I couldn't imagine what he was doing with that tiny line.  Line?  Rope?  I don't know.  I haven't sailed in 30 years.






Ohhhhhhhhh, there's a bigger line/rope there, and the smaller line/rope is pulling it.  Ok, that's making more sense now.  






Now that I was fairly sure the guy wasn't going to fall in the water, I was fully invested in watching.  At least for 5 more minutes.  They hooked the line on that little forklift.






And the forklift started to drive away.











I decided to film this part, for some reason.






Interestingly, this is when I decided I was done watching this and we should go get breakfast.  I'm so disappointed in myself.  But, in my defense, we were eating at Johnny Rocket's for breakfast (included with your cruise fare!) and then we had plans, and I didn't want to spend all morning watching us dock.  Next time.  Maybe.  

Johnny was calling my name, so off we went.  Why?  Well let me tell you.  1) We had not successfully had an official breakfast in a buffet or restaurant once on our cruise. This in itself is both shameful and impressive.  2)  We had held out on the buffet so long, I decided to go the distance and avoid it again.  3) I don't even like buffet eggs, so that wasn't really a sacrifice.  4) I DO like buffet waffles, and the strawberry syrup that always happens to be nearby, and the whipped cream that also happens to be nearby (but only the real whipped cream, not that solid stuff that looks like whipped cream but tastes like paste.  5)  Not that I was planning to eat waffles anyway.  6) Or strawberry syrup.  7) Or fake whipped cream.  And 8) because I wanted an omelet and I forgot that the Solarium Bistro exists and also has an omelet station.  

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!  (At Sea!)






I was very happy to get my omelet.  It was good!  Nothing like the disappointing room service eggs. The potatoes were basically French fries, so that's awesome.  And the toast is toast.  






Somebody got this well-rounded meal of pancakes and bacon and someone else got French toast and bacon.  











Neither of them got the potatoes.  I did not want to share, but I did.  A little.  Luckily they liked their food so it was all good.  We ate outside and it was so nice. It was quiet, sunny, but we were in the shade so it wasn't hot.  It really was the perfect outdoor dining situation.

I wasn't sure what to do when we were done.  Do we still get a bill?  Do we just leave?  The servers were fawning all over this (admittedly adorable) baby who was hamming it up for them but I asked at the door and they said we could just leave.  Oh, I had ordered a Diet Coke (don't judge, I need my caffeine and I do not like plain coffee, lattes only for this gal) and it was included in the beverage package, as was the orange juice my kids ordered.  So we paid nothing for the meal.  

I am going to be mean and stop here, because it is late.  Sorry!!!!!


----------



## cel_disney

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day - I don’t know how you made it so long without enjoying a proper breakfast!!  

I want to eat at the WJ, Solarium Bistro, Johnny Rockets and maybe El Loco Fresh atleast one time each (and MDR for our Key breakfast!)!!!


----------



## pattyw

nancy drew said:


> I tried to raise the dead (you know who I mean) and only one of them thought this was worth watching



 I know exactly who you mean!! We still have a hard time waking DS22!! And.... we're usually late getting out the door!! 



nancy drew said:


> I decided to film this part, for some reason.



Very neat!! 

So sad the trip and TR are coming to an end!! You are a very good writer and photographer!


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## starvenger

cel_disney said:


> Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day - I don’t know how you made it so long without enjoying a proper breakfast!!
> 
> I want to eat at the WJ, Solarium Bistro, Johnny Rockets and maybe El Loco Fresh atleast one time each (and MDR for our Key breakfast!)!!!


I think that after you try places outside the WJ you might not go back. Cruise breakfast buffets always seem to be a zoo. Plus eating breakfast alfresco is great!


----------



## mevelandry

That breakfast at Johnny Rockets looks nice!


----------



## pattyw

starvenger said:


> I think that after you try places outside the WJ you might not go back. Cruise breakfast buffets always seem to be a zoo. Plus eating breakfast alfresco is great!



Thanks for the heads up about the crazy breakfast buffet! We'll definitely try Johnny Rockets- also interested in the room service option, too!


----------



## nancy drew

cel_disney said:


> Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day - I don’t know how you made it so long without enjoying a proper breakfast!!
> 
> I want to eat at the WJ, Solarium Bistro, Johnny Rockets and maybe El Loco Fresh atleast one time each (and MDR for our Key breakfast!)!!!



I don't know how we made it so long, either.  We usually get to the buffet for breakfast, especially on excursion days, but it just didn't happen.  

We did do the Key breakfast but I was stupid and didn't order what I wanted. 



pattyw said:


> I know exactly who you mean!! We still have a hard time waking DS22!! And.... we're usually late getting out the door!!
> 
> 
> 
> Very neat!!
> 
> So sad the trip and TR are coming to an end!! You are a very good writer and photographer!



Aw, thanks.  I have enjoyed writing about it and sharing our vacation with so many people.  Unlike all of you imaginary internet people , real people don't like hearing all about someone's vacation.  



starvenger said:


> I think that after you try places outside the WJ you might not go back. Cruise breakfast buffets always seem to be a zoo. Plus eating breakfast alfresco is great!



This is part of what kept me away from the buffet, too.  We had a hard time finding seats on DCL and I have heard The Jammer is worse.  



mevelandry said:


> That breakfast at Johnny Rockets looks nice!



It was good!



pattyw said:


> Thanks for the heads up about the crazy breakfast buffet! We'll definitely try Johnny Rockets- also interested in the room service option, too!



Don't get the eggs.  Go with the pancakes.  And don't forget to order the butter and syrup if you want it.)


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> This is part of what kept me away from the buffet, too. We had a hard time finding seats on DCL and I have heard The Jammer is worse.


WJ (at least on Oasis class) is worse than Cabanas in terms of crowds. Conversely, WJ _feels _more open because they don't have drink stations that create pseudo-rooms. Well, at least to me it did.


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> WJ (at least on Oasis class) is worse than Cabanas in terms of crowds. Conversely, WJ _feels _more open because they don't have drink stations that create pseudo-rooms. Well, at least to me it did.



The one time we walked through it did feel very open, which is funny because technically it was closed )).  But seriously, it did feel different than other buffets.  But again, it was closed so there weren't people there.


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## cel_disney

With our cruise coming up - I  have some questions  ... if you have any answers in the next few days that would help it would be greatly appreciated! 

Do you have any room hacks to help keep the space organized that you recommend?   Do you think there would have been enough room if there were 4 people in that room (including the trundle!) or was 3 of you already tricky?

Are there enough towel hooks thru the space for wet bathing suits and whatnot?   Are there any doors that you could add an over door hook too?  (Usually I put one on the closet doors but not sure that works on the closets on Symphony or if we need it!)

Did you use the hair dryer?  Is it stuck to a certain place or can it be moved from the bathroom to cabin and back?  

What was the temperature control in your room like?  Could you adjust from freezing to not freezing?


----------



## nancy drew

cel_disney said:


> With our cruise coming up - I  have some questions  ... if you have any answers in the next few days that would help it would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Do you have any room hacks to help keep the space organized that you recommend?   Do you think there would have been enough room if there were 4 people in that room (including the trundle!) or was 3 of you already tricky?
> 
> Are there enough towel hooks thru the space for wet bathing suits and whatnot?   Are there any doors that you could add an over door hook too?  (Usually I put one on the closet doors but not sure that works on the closets on Symphony or if we need it!)
> 
> Did you use the hair dryer?  Is it stuck to a certain place or can it be moved from the bathroom to cabin and back?
> 
> What was the temperature control in your room like?  Could you adjust from freezing to not freezing?



Hmmm, let's see.

The magnetic hooks we bought were very useful.  






If you hang them on the wall they can hold 16 pounds, and if you hang them on the ceiling they can hold almost 50 pounds.  I used these to hang bathing suits in the bathroom (no clothesline and the towel racks hold 2-3 towels), hang our snorkel mask bags, hang my hats, and hang my wraps for evenings/ice shows (it is cold in there). These things are so useful.  I use them in my classroom and in my home.  I hang aprons and oven mitts on the side of the fridge, hang keys on the magnetic door, etc.  

There is really no ventilation in the bathroom, so if you have wet clothes I recommend towel clips to clip things to the balcony furniture.  






You could also use regular clothespins.

The hair dryer is hiding in the drawer in the main stateroom, not the bathroom.  It is not plugged in, so you can use it anywhere.  

You could put an over the door hook on the bathroom door, probably.  

The temperature varied.  Make sure you have completely closed and locked the door or the AC won't work properly.  I tend to run hot at night, so it is really tough for me to say whether the temperature was OK.  If it was, it wasn't bad enough that I remember it, if that makes sense.  I do not think "freezing" was ever an option.  We had it set to the coldest possible option and it was medium.  However I am not sure we ever properly closed the balcony door.  Even when it was supposedly locked, we could pull it open.  

As for space, it was fine.  I don't like having the bed by the balcony, so I wouldn't knowingly do that again (though if it saved a lot of money like it did this time I would).  While it made the bathroom area more open, it made it difficult to get to the balcony.  Otherwise the size was fine.  DCL rooms are probably bigger, but Symphony rooms are newer and more sleek/modern.  I am not sure we would be OK with 4 in there, to be honest, but I am not used to being in a group of 4 people.  If I were, I might feel like it was fine.  Every hotel and cruise room we have been in, it has been the 3 of us.  If I were used to traveling with only one person then had a 3rd, it would feel cramped.  So traveling as a family of 3 and imagining a 4th person... it seems cramped.  If I were used to it, maybe not?  

Ask me more questions.  I am terrible at recommending things unprompted.  I need a push to get started.


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## starvenger

Room hacks 
- bring a bungee cord or something to use as a makeshift clothesline in the bathroom.
- I know it's frowned upon to use the balcony to dry clothes so I won't tell you to do anything like have the stuff outside at night when no one will see it and bring it in in the morning.
- I know that some people bring magnetic hooks for hanging stuff. It's not a bad idea, to be honest, but I've never tried it.
- The shower caddy does not hold travel-sized products well at all. Put a facecloth on that rack then put everything on it.
- magnetic whiteboard is a bit old school, but works to tell people where you are. Put it outside your door if you have large groups.
- Those towel clips @nancy drew mentioned are also good for clipping the curtains shut and keeping the light out in the morning.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 7 continued*

We left Johnny Rockets and headed off the ship.  It was nice not being on a tight schedule, since we had docked early and got up early.  






It was weird.  When we headed down, as we got to the gangway we were diverted and told to go to the next exit... through here...






Which was odd, Because it was clearly a crew area, and depressing because those are the luggage cages that would be taking everyone's belongings off the ship the next day.

So, on to our plans for the day.

DD is in 9th grade.  Part of her 9th grade graduation requirement is that she has to do at least 10 hours of community service by the end of May.  She has taken zero initiative on this and before our vacation she had done 2 hours, because her BFF's mom organized something for their group of friends.  I went back and forth.  Do I butt in and schedule it (she would probably need me to transport her to most service places)?  Do I leave it up to her and let her learn the consequences?  Tough parenting call.  She tends to ignore her responsibilities and hope they will go away, and that doesn't happen, so then she gets overwhelmed and has no idea what to do.  If she would ask for help in the first place this wouldn't happen, but that's a story for later.

So I remembered that sometimes cruise lines have volunteer excursions available.  Unfortunately ours had no opportunities (one later popped up but we had plans already).  So I did some digging.  And I found Hope Floats.  I am not affiliated in any way with Hope Floats.  I do not get any compensation or benefits for mentioning them.  They do not know I am reviewing this cruise, or any of this.  This is a genuine recommendation (as was my recommendation for Royston in St. Kitts- which was also unsolicited).  Both Hope Floats and Royston are excellent and I want to give back by giving them the credit they deserve.

I contacted Cathy at Hope Floats because all of their Nassau excursions seemed to begin at 9:30am, and we were supposed to dock at 10 and debark at 10:30.  I didn't know if it would be OK for us to be "late".  She replied that it was no problem, and she thought the Bahamas Humane Society excursion would be a good fit for us.  We talked on the phone and agreed to set this up.  She called them and made sure we could volunteer for the day, and gave us the go ahead to book this.  Yes, you pay to volunteer.  No, you are not "getting" anything for your money.  No free lunch, no air conditioned bus, not even a murder van.  Though I am certain you could find a murder van if you wanted to.  Do I know where the money went?  No.  Do I care?  No.  Why not?  Because they are connecting people with people in need, and that is a good thing, and in one way or another the money is going toward a good thing.  And that's what matters, right?  Right.

So we left the ship, and went into the port that some describe as "scary" or whatever because there are people "harassing" you (no they are competing for business not harassing you, harassment looks very different and if you don't know that consider yourself lucky).  I found a guy who was looking for people to put in a taxi, told him where we were going, and he led us to a taxi van (very different from a murder van as it had actual glass windows).  We were with a few other groups who were going to resorts.  It felt a little weird going to the Humane Society when everyone else has their bathing suits, beach bags, and towels.  I was almost embarrassed, like the others in the van would think we were looking down on them for indulging in an AI resort instead of doing community service like we were.  We weren't looking down on anyone, I just hoped it didn't seem like we were.

So off we went through Nassau, on the most perfect day ever.  The colors of the Bahamas never cease to amaze me.
















BTW those were all taken from the van, with my phone, as we were driving.  I have no idea how they turned out so amazing.

After a short drive, we arrived at the Bahamas Humane Society. 

I swear I had planned on writing this part up tonight but it suddenly is almost midnight and I have been exhausted at work all week.  More tomorrow, I hope!


----------



## cel_disney

Thanks for the room feedback!    Already travel with the magnets and clips!  Sounds like that will mostly be enough!  

Were the mattresses hard? (Did you already mention this?) Did you ask for a topper or anything?


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## anitag888

Wow! Do people from cruise ships adopt the dogs? Because, honestly, I want them all.  
All kidding aside, what a great way to spend the day and give back!


----------



## nancy drew

cel_disney said:


> Thanks for the room feedback!    Already travel with the magnets and clips!  Sounds like that will mostly be enough!
> 
> Were the mattresses hard? (Did you already mention this?) Did you ask for a topper or anything?



The mattress was fairly hard.  I didn't ask for anything, but I know some people did in one of the suites.  



anitag888 said:


> Wow! Do people from cruise ships adopt the dogs? Because, honestly, I want them all.
> All kidding aside, what a great way to spend the day and give back!



We wanted to take all of the animals home, too!  I was actually wondering whether there was any way to adopt an animal internationally.  I imagine it would be very complicated.


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 7 continued*

The taxi pulled up to the Humane Society, I paid our fare, and we climbed out of the (not murder) van. 

Now, when I had planned this, we had 3 options: Humane Society, Soup Kitchen, and Salvation Army.  I know myself fairly well, and I do not do well with homeless animals.  Meaning, I want to take them all home. It breaks my heart to think of all of the animals that do not have homes, or live in tiny spaces, with little to no human interaction.  Breaks my heart.  So I told DD in no way would we be going to the Humane Society.  No no no no.  When I spoke with the head of Hope Floats, I told her we would like to work in the soup kitchen.  Yes, homeless humans are sad as well, and I understand that people may not understand why I seem to care more about the animals.  I guess it is because the animals don't understand their circumstances.  Ugh I can't even talk about it.  It all makes me sad but I really did not want to go to the Humane Society.  But Cathy talked me into it.  How could I say no? 

I wasn't really sure what to expect, since we hadn't been in contact with anyone actually in the Humane Society.  And I hadn't really thought about that until the moment we got out of the taxi.  What are we supposed to do here?  Who are we supposed to talk to?  What are we even going to do for 2-3 hours?  I started to feel nervous. 

I am going to sidestep here to say there was some information that I did not find out until later, which affected our experience on this day.  I hesitated to share any of our experience here because I didn't want to make the Humane Society sound bad, but I wanted to be honest about our experience.  Let me be clear: this is not about the animals or their conditions or their treatment.  That is not where this is going.  The things that made this an odd experience had nothing to do with the animals, and nothing bad happened, and despite how things went I would still recommend this experience to anyone looking to volunteer or adopt an animal in Nassau.  So as you read this, keep in mind that there is an explanation at the end, and that at no time did anything bad happen to anyone or any animal and that is not where this story is going.  So exhale and read on.

We walked in to what was obviously a veterinarian waiting room. There were 4 or 5 people waiting, all with dogs.  There were 2 young men in an enclosed reception cubicle, and one was on the phone.  We walked up to the counter and said we were here to volunteer, and he said to have a seat.  We admired the dogs in the waiting area.  One was a little brown puppy named Chocolate, who was sleeping in a basket.  One was a little dog wrapped in a blanket.  One was a big dog that barked at any dog who came in to the room.  There were a few others who came and went.  All of the women with the dogs were very nice. 

We waited, and waited.  30 minutes passed, dogs had gone in and out of the waiting room and vet's office, new dogs and owners had come in, and we were still waiting.  I was hoping someone would come along soon so we could get started, so DD could get as many hours in as possible. 

Finally one of the guys in the cubicle waved us back through a door.  He didn't say much, just that this other guy would show us what to do.  The other guy walked us through the building, through a smaller building where there were a few animals in smaller cages (this was where the animals who would be having surgery were; the cages weren't their regular homes, but we didn't know that until we walked through later and took a little more time).  We went outside, walked past some large outdoor enclosures with dogs, past some other buildings (the whole place is a compound, with several small buildings, shelters, and outdoor enclosures), and over to a cinder block building that had a big dog in a fenced area next to it, and a bathtub on cinderblocks with a tap in the middle. 

"You're going to wash some puppies" he said.

"What?" I said.  "Um, well, part of that sounds OK, but part of that is a little bit of a concern because we have never washed animals before."

"No problem," he said.  "Its just like you wash yourself."

No.  It is NOT just like you wash yourself.  It is nothing like how I wash myself.  I do not try to claw my way out of the tub, screaming, only to be picked up and put back by a giant. 

But we were up for helping in any way possible, so he handed me a jug of soap, fished 3 puppies out of a small enclosure, and went about his work cleaning out their little area. 

Have you ever bathed a puppy?  How about three of them at the same time, with people (including yourself) who have never bathed animals before? 

Hilarity ensued. 

I have no idea how to bathe puppies.  But this is what we did. 

I sort of wet the puppies first, cupping water in my hand and rubbing it on the puppies' backs, thinking that was probably a good way to begin. The puppies did not think this was a good way to begin.

I had no idea how to hold down a puppy and get soap out of a big heavy jug, so I put the jug in the bathtub (we didn't fill the bathtub, just let the water run with the drain open), opened the jug, tipped it to the side, stuck my fingers in there and smeared soap on DD and DS's hands.  As I was doing this the puppies tried to climb out, we picked them up and put them back, they tried to get out, etc.  And they were yelping and whining.

Meanwhile the big dog in the fenced in area next to us decided this would be a great time to escape.  The fence was about 4 feet high on one part and very tall in other parts.  The dog basically climbed the short part and just scooted itself up... up... up... and over the fence.  The guys in the building didn't see it happening because they were very busy and they were inside so I started calling to them "Hey, HEY!  HEY the dog is getting out, the dog over here, its climbing out of the fence... hey... um, its over the fence....!" and finally one guy came out. 

"I knew the dog was crazy but I didn't know he was that crazy."  And he calmly took the dog and actually I have no idea what he did because I was trying to keep 3 puppies in the tub. 

So we managed to soap them up and then we cupped water in one hand while holding the puppy with the other hand and rinsed them off.  I have no idea if that is how you do it but that is how we did it.  DS and DD had no idea what they were doing, and were constantly just laughing and going "Aaaah, AAAAAH! MOM!  Its trying to get out, help... HELP!!" and I had to try to help them but also keep my puppy in the tub and in case you can't tell it was like some sitcom moment but we were actually living it. 

This makes it look so calm and peaceful and in all honesty I have no idea how I managed to get a photo of this.






But then how do you dry off 3 puppies?  I don't know how I actually managed to do this and not have it end in disaster but I think I had DS hold my puppy down and his puppy, and I grabbed a towel, then gave it to one of the kids and lifted the puppy into the towel and they wrapped it around the puppy.  Maybe, or maybe I did it myself and handed them the toweled puppy bundle.  I don't know.  It was chaos.

We gave the guy back the clean puppies (I wish we had snuggled them a bit more but we weren't really thinking clearly) and he handed us another round.  These puppies were smaller, and younger, than the first set. 

I felt so so so bad for these puppies.  They were screaming.  Screaming.  They hated the bath so so so much.  They were trying to get out even more than the first round of puppies.  We were talking gently and calmly to them but that did nothing.  We managed to get them soaped and rinsed and toweled, but as I was drying mine off I noticed fleas.  I pulled back the towel and there were fleas everywhere.  I looked at DS's puppies and there were also fleas everywhere.  DD had given her clean and dry puppy back already but it likely had fleas, too. 

I tried to wash the 2 puppies we still had again.  I looked at the directions on the soap and it said "For best results leave on for 5-10 minutes."  No, that's not happening, but I tried my best to keep the soap on for a while.  But they were soooooooo unhappy with this idea.  I tried my previous method of rinsing which was cupping water and rubbing the puppy with the water but that wasn't getting the fleas off.  I held the puppy's back in the water stream to try to wash off any dead fleas and that puppy did not appreciate my efforts.  We tried to wash DS's puppy again at the same time and it was the same thing. 

I couldn't get the fleas off.  There were just so many of them. 

I suddenly had visions of us bringing fleas back and infesting the ship, and infesting the airplane, and infesting our home... I have no idea how fleas work but I was not interested in finding out.

I wrapped up my puppy and snuggled and did more calm quiet talking and got her calmed down, but I was still so freaked out about the fleas I wanted to give her back to the guy.  I told him they were covered in fleas and we couldn't get them off and all he said was "Oh, they're supposed to have had their shots."  And that's it.  He put them back in the cage.  We picked fleas off ourselves and I asked the kids if they wanted to try something else and they said yes.

I asked if we could do something else, and he walked us back to one of the main buildings. 

We waited in the hallway for a while as he disappeared into some room.  A woman walked by, and she was wearing a name tag with her name on it (of course).  Her name rang a bell, and I realized it was the name the woman from Hope Floats had told me would be a contact for verifying DD's community service hours at school.  I stopped her and said we were here from Hope Floats, and that we had been washing puppies but they had fleas so we were hoping to do something else, and I thought maybe she would take over for the guys who didn't seem to know what they were doing.  She did not, however.  She said that perhaps the guy who was helping us (whose name I did not know) would have us walk some dogs.  Sure enough, as though she had summoned him, a new guy came out of a room with leashes and said we were going to walk some dogs.  Ok, we don't really have much experience with that either, but at least we won't get fleas. 

So he rounded up 3 dogs.  DS got a dog who had free reign over the whole complex.  DD got a mama dog.  I got a dog that had a LOT of energy.  A LOT.  The guy took us out through a parking area that had cars and trucks of people who worked there, on a dirt and gravel area.  As we walked through, we noticed that under every single car and truck, hiding in the shade, was a cat.  We had noticed a few cats roaming the property, and here were a bunch more.  I have no idea if they belonged to the Humane Society or not.  Maybe they just know this is a place that animals hang out?  Maybe they belong to people but come here to get extra food sometimes?  I still don't know.  It was really funny to see, though. 

The guy told us to go down the sidewalk, around the bend, and to the big open area. 

"[This dog] knows where to go.  He will show you the way." 

Ok. 

So off we went.  DS immediately fell in love with his dog and nicknamed him Burger.  Burger was pulling at the leash to go faster, so DS ran with him a bit.  My dog was pulling at me to go faster, and I wanted to run, but DD's dog seemed more timid.  You can see how far behind she was.






DD tried to encourage her, but she kept stopping and trying to turn back.  I took my dog back and tried to get the mama dog to go along with "the pack" but she was having none of it.  We really tried, but we are super inexperienced so DD just walked her back. 

DS and I ran our dogs around the bend to the open area, where they walked around and did their business.  The neighborhood was beautiful, and if you have ever driven through Nassau we were near the Ardastra gardens/zoo that is one of the excursion options on many ships.  In fact, unbeknownst to me, a friend had just been in Nassau a day earlier, on the Dream, and had gone to Ardastra, and had passed the humane society and heard about it from her tour guide.  

Our dogs were done, so we went back to the Humane Society. 

The dogs were returned to their places and we were told we would be going to the thrift store.  As we were walking thorough the complex, we said we really didn't have experience with dogs, but were very comfortable with cats.  He showed us the "teenage cats" house, and then the kitten house and I guess we must have had a big reaction because he ditched the thrift store idea and said we could just hang out and play with the kittens to help socialize them.  Fine by me!!!

I don't know how many kittens were in there, maybe 10-15, and to be fair most were probably closer to a year old, so not really what you think of when you hear the word "kittens" but they were still very playful and curious.  This was very familiar territory for us as we have 2 cats at home, so we just dove right in.  Within a few minutes DD had a kitten in her lap and DS was playing with a few kittens. 






They had named all of the ones that were interacting with us. 

We named this one Mittens, for obvious reasons.






We have nicknamed one of our cats at home "Mittens" for similar reasons, though she is polydactyl so she really does have "mittens". 

We probably stayed there for an hour, just playing and petting them.  I tried to get some of the shy ones to open up, and a few of them did.  There were a bunch of cats in one corner, sleeping and just being lazy, so I went over there to see them.  There was a table there, that had a shelf down under it, maybe a foot off the ground.  A few cats were on the table and a few cats were on the shelf. 

While I was petting one of the cats who was on the floor over there, a cat emerged from under the table and startled me for 2 reasons.  1) I had no idea it had been under the shelf, and 2) it looked like a watered down version of one of our cats!






Our cat:









She is the polydactyl, who has mittens:






And for good measure, our other cat, who looks like a kitten but will be 17 years old next month:






Back to the Humane Society...

These two were soooooo cute, but when I got close the one that is staring at me ran away.






We played for a while, and then it was about 1:15.  We hadn't had lunch, and the ship was leaving at 3:30, I think.  I collect magnets from everywhere we visit, and I wanted a t-shirt, so I decided we should leave.  I was getting anxious about having enough time to get to the ship. 

We walked back through the buildings, this time we took our time and looked around a bit, and that's when we figured out that the one building was the surgery waiting room, or whatever.  There were some TINY kittens in there that were SO SO SO cute!!!!! 

We found the guy at the front desk, and said we had to leave, and said thank you, and asked how to get back to the port.  He said he would call a taxi. 

Now, what I found out later was, the people who were supposed to be "in charge" of us were on vacation, and no one had stepped up to be our volunteer guide. 

When we got home, I emailed the founder of Hope Floats, who I had talked to on the phone and via email, who had set this up, and asked about our experience.  She told me, and I shared our experience (very, very politely and pretty much the way I did here, which hopefully does not make anyone there look bad).   They were supposed to give us a tour of the place, tell us about it, ask us what we wanted to do, and be nearby while we were volunteering.  Pretty much none of those things happened.  I only knew the names of 2 people there, and one was only because she was wearing a name tag. 

I hadn't expected a big welcome party or anything, but in my experience with volunteering there is usually someone there who greets you and is in charge of the volunteers for the day.  But those people were on vacation.  That's why we waited for 30 minutes.  That's why we were thrown into bathing puppies.  That's why we didn't know anyone's names, or anything about the facility.  That's why the technicalities of volunteering felt disorganized, even though everything else there seemed very organized and well-run.  There was no one in charge that day.  It happens.  The place was obviously still running smoothly.  Everyone was busy, animals were taken care of, no one was running around frantically trying to keep it together, it felt like business as usual, which is good because they were doing a great job with all of that!  They just didn't know what to do with us, and if that is the worst thing I can say about them, then I consider that no big deal.  If anyone feels differently, I could further explain my position.

We rode back to the port.  On the way, I saw this sign, and had DD take a photo.  Right as we passed this group of people moved in front of it and just stood there, like they were trying to hide it.











It must really be a secret. 

Do any of you know why I thought this sign was funny?  Think way back to the 1980's... or maybe 1970's.  I'll leave you to ponder that mystery.


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> Do any of you know why I thought this sign was funny? Think way back to the 1980's... or maybe 1970's. I'll leave you to ponder that mystery.


I'm old, and thus


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> I'm old, and thus


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 7 continued*

You guys, I have been burning the candle at both ends and the middle, and it has taken a toll on me, and my writing has sucked as a result.  I apologize that you had to read such boring drivel and I promise to bring this back to the standard you have come to expect. 

We got stuck in traffic going back to the cruise port, and it was stressing me out.  On the one hand I knew we had plenty of time, but we were sitting in a taxi, going nowhere.  There is nothing that feels good about that, regardless of how much time you have on your side.  There were tons of people walking around, and I wanted to get out and walk, but I wasn't sure how far we were from the port.  We eventually started moving and we were dropped off near the entrance to the port.

I could see that a few more ships were in port, which explained all of the people.  When I say there were a lot of people, I mean there were a LOT of people.  It was very obvious they had all come from cruise ships.  I was kind of glad we hadn't done anything else at that point.

I had wanted to do some shopping so we looked at a few of the stands in the port.  They mostly only took cash, though, and the one that said she would take credit cards didn't have anything we wanted.  So we had to find an ATM, which meant leaving the port.  Sigh.

So we went back out of the port and walked over to one of the streets nearby.  Just FYI because I know this is often a hot topic on cruise boards: it felt completely safe in the shopping area, and even in the neighborhood where we had walked the dogs, no different from other port areas or neighborhoods.  There were shops and restaurants and banks, or homes and sidewalks and grass.  There were tourists and locals.  Maybe it is because I have lived in the 3rd largest city in the USA all of my life so I do not live in a bubble, but it felt completely safe. I had no qualms walking around a place that had Cartier and Burger King down the block from each other (not that I was shopping at Cartier or eating at Burger King, not that there's anything wrong with that). 

I got some cash and we went looking for sweatshirts for DS, because that was what he wanted.  Take note: this is the ONE thing you apparently cannot find in Nassau: sweatshirts for men.  We did not know this until we looked in at least 7 stores.  Hats?  Of course, can I interest you in a baseball cap or a fedora?  T-shirts?  SO MANY T-SHIRTS.  Candles?  Sure, who doesn't go to the Bahamas to stock up on candles?  Seeeeeeeeeexxxxxxy shirts?  Most definitely!  But sweatshirts for men?  Nope. 

I was getting antsy about getting back to the ship on time, and I was getting frustrated with DS who would not budge on wanting a sweatshirt even though there were none to be found.  "How about a t-shirt?"  "No, I won't wear any of these t-shirts."  "Perhaps a hat, then?"  "No, none of these hats are anything I would wear."  We found a mega souvenir shop and I said this was it; find SOMETHING or get nothing.  I found a t-shirt, DD found a shirt (not seeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxy), I found a magnet, and DS decided on a bracelet (which I have not seen since I gave it to him after paying for it). Whatever.  We were done. 

And then we headed back to the ship.  I was still super anxious about boarding on time.  It was maybe 2:30 and I think we were scheduled to leave at 3:30 so we had plenty of time, I was just freaking out.  The panic had taken over and I was under it's spell.  It was an echo from my childhood when my mother would go into a Stage 10 panic both before and at the end of vacations.  I don't normally panic on either side of a vacation, unless we are genuinely running late, but there I was less than 10 minutes away from the gangway with more than 60 minutes on the clock feeling like...






I am going to repeat this again.  If you are feeling nervous walking around Nassau's port area because you heard they have a Level 2 warning from the US security or whatever, and you forgot that every other port in the Caribbean has the same warning, and the US itself has a Level 2 warning, and all of Europe has a Level 2 warning, but you heard that Nassau JUST got a Level 2 warning and now you have decided it is completely unsafe even though you never knew there were warning levels before, and now you are not sure you should go beyond that tall gate in the port because there are guys in camp with guns there and why would they be there if it were totally safe here is what you should do: just work yourself into a panic about getting back to the ship on time and not only will people leave you alone, you won't even care that other people are occupying the same space as you. 

So in a totally and completely unrelated note because of course I was not panicking or worrying about getting back to the ship on time, I made DD and DS half run back to the port with me. Of course we made it with plenty of time.  Just like I knew we would, because what kind of lunatic would panic about getting on the ship on time when they are less than 10 minutes from the actual gangway?  Certainly not me! 

I have no idea what came over me that day.  I should probably apologize to DD and DS. Or maybe just write this off as one of those "Character Building" things I am supposed to do as an investment in their future therapy sessions.

As I mentioned earlier, we had some new neighbors.  NCL Bliss had parked next to us, so I took some photos.






"Mine is bigger than yours"






We got back on board and grabbed some pizza and bought some Symphony of the Seas souvenirs in the Royal shop (BTW they DO have men's sweatshirts here, so save yourself the trouble and shop local), then went up to the room to shower and change.  While DD and DS were getting ready I took some more photos from the balcony.  I had so many questions about the one random sunbather on the helipad:






I wonder how many dads made the "Oh I see they parked my boat here for me, how nice!" joke. 
















I also sat out on the balcony to read and get some sun, rather than trying to find a chair up on the pool deck.  I also sat there to watch people return to the ship.  We were supposed to depart Nassau at 3:30, but it was 4:00 and people were still lallygagging and taking their sweet time getting to the ship.  What is wrong with these people???  Every time I thought the last people had boarded I saw more people with blue towels approaching at a leisurely pace.  I would have been sprinting and crying!  We didn't leave until 4:30!  What is wrong with people????

So anyway, with it being our last night, I wanted some Solarium time.  I changed into my bathing suit, grabbed my Kindle, and headed over there.  I don't know what the kids did.  Who cares about them, it was the last night of MY cruise. 

In the elevator I heard some people talking about the Aqua Nation show that was happening tonight.  They were saying that it was really lame, not nearly as good as Hiro, "just" a water show, and totally not worth it.  This sounded surprising, but I told DD later that we wouldn't go since it sounded pretty bad.

Got a few last photos in the Solarium, and of the hot tub just outside.











It looks so different in different lighting






I know I shared this already but I miss this pool!  My happy place on the ship!  I am sorry I did not fully appreciate you last time.  I will spend so much more time with you next time.  Love you!  Miss you!






Another fabulous sunset at sea in the golden hour.











And slowly walking back to my room to get ready for dinner.






We packed most of our things at some point, so we wouldn't have to do it later.  I have apparently blocked that from my memory.

This was the last time we would dine with Vinko and Shadeik and I Putu.  I wasn't ready to go back to planning meals, buying ingredients for meals, forgetting one ingredient and having to run back to the store, cooking meals, watching no one eat the meals, throwing the meals away, and washing all of the dishes.  So sad!!!

DD and I ordered Steak Diane with fries, because we could.  I am so so so hungry right now and this looks so good.  I really need to go get something to eat.  Also I highly recommend you just disregard whatever side is offered with your meal and ask for fries.  Just do it.  Don't wait until Day 7 like I did.  Just get the fries.  You're welcome.






For dessert, DS got the apple pie, which was shocking.  He doesn't really do fruit desserts, though he really loves these frozen chocolate covered raspberry things I found at the grocery store.  But apple pie?  Unheard of.






DD got the Cherries Jubilee, which was also shocking.  I have no idea what part of this dessert sounded good to her, but she ordered it and ate all of it. 






I got the beignets, and they were not great.  If you've had beignets in Disneyland, you have pretty high standards for beignets, and these did not meet those standards.  Get the apple pie or the cherries, I guess.  Or at least ask for real whipped cream, because you can. 






We gave our serving team extra gratuities and thanked them multiple times because they were so awesome. 

While I was researching RCI sailings, I had read all kinds of stories about how "they" will:

1) Harass you about specialty dining all the time from the moment you board.

2) Turn the Main Dining Room into a circus with announcements, songs, yelling, dancing, parades, etc.

3) Try to upsell everything all the time.

None of those things happened.  None. 

Ok there were 2 parades.  They lasted 5 minutes each.  The one on the last night is something that happens on every cruise ship I have been on, and it is a celebration of the servers and I see nothing wrong with celebrating them.  They work so hard, away from their families, for months at a time, making very little money.  I asked Shadeik something about internet, and he said he doesn't get internet on the ship because it costs him $5 a day, or something.  He sometimes goes into port and gets free wifi, but that is rare, because he is working breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the Main Dining Room.  These guys work so, so hard.  They deserve a parade and a dance party once a week, and if you disagree then you should try working a month in their shoes and see how you feel. 






We then headed back to the room, full of end-of-vacation misery and unsure of what we would do for the rest of the night.

The saddest sight on the last night.






We were doing self-disembarkation so we didn't have to set our bags out.  That was nice, as we could finish packing in the morning with our last minute things. but packing at the end of vacation... yuck.  I wish I could just throw everything away at the end of a vacation so I don't have to deal with it.  Except the souvenirs.  Especially the sweatshirts that no one sells in Nassau. 

DS went off to the club, and I went out on the balcony to see if we could see any stars.  Usually we couldn't, because of the ship lights and/or cloud cover.  But we could see quite a few this night.  We could also hear the Aqua show, and the crowd was cheering SO loud!  I told DD maybe we should go, since it sounded like people were enjoying it, and maybe it wasn't so "lame" after all.  So we ran down there and found a spot right in the middle, standing behind the last row of chairs.

I wouldn't call this "lame" at all.  Not even close.











We only saw maybe 10 minutes, but I wish we had seen the full show.  Next time!!  We stopped in Sugar Beach and took photos, which I already shared, and this photo of the carousel that is worth sharing again.






Then we headed down to the Promenade for one last night of fun.  We stopped in at karaoke and watched for a bit (I still think they have karaoke ringers on staff because how can everyone be SO good!), then headed to the Bionic Bar.  So, here's how it works. 

1) Find an iPad at one of the tables, and scan your Sea Pass or WOW Band. 






2) Scroll through the options.  You can choose classic drinks, Bionic specialties, or create your own drink.  This is not what DD ordered, this is just an example of what happens when you touch one of the options.  You can see the ingredients, the proportions, reviews, and comments.






3). Head over to the big screen and the robots, and check out the status of your drink.  I don't have a photo of the screen but you can kind of see it here.  It shows your spot in the queue, how long until your drink is made, and where it will come out. 






4). When it is ready, you scan your WOW band or Sea Pass card and it slides to you. 











DD was not a fan of her drink, unfortunately.  Lucky for her it was included in the beverage package, so it wasn't a waste of money. 

After that we headed back to the room and got ready for bed.  We had to be up and off the ship early tomorrow.  Our flight was at 10:30am and I had lots of people freaking me out, telling me there was no way we would make the flight, including Rodolfo.  He asked me when my flight was, and when I told him his face did one of these   "No!" he said.  "That is so early!" 

"Rodolfo, its fine.  We will walk off the ship with our bags.  It will be fine."

"No, that is so early.  That will be really early, I don't know if you can make that." 

K, thanks bye. 

But of course, that got me going again, and I started worrying.  We had sailed 3 times, and all 3 times (in 2 different parts of the country) we had arrived at the airport by 8:30am at the latest.  In Vancouver we were so early they wouldn't let us through security, and by the time we did get to go through EVERYONE had arrived at the airport and the line was insane.  Try killing 2 hours in an airport before going through security, then 2 more hours before your flight.  Not fun.

But yeah, now I was worried.  We had The Key breakfast, which was a sit down meal, which takes time, which pushes back the time we can leave.... You know how it goes. 

So I was worried.


----------



## nancy drew

I was asked else where to reveal the joke from my earlier post.

I did not make this commercial so please disregard any cultural offense.  I grew up in the 70's and 80's and early 90's, and this is the stuff that formed my identity.  Anyone in a 5 + - age range of me probably knows this reference.  People older than me probably all know it.  People my age definitely know it.  People younger than me probably know the later Calgon slogan for a different product: "Calgon, take me away!"

Whomever Calgon contracted for advertising did their job well.

I don't think I can embed it, so here's the link.  This was a thing in my day, and it became part of our language.  Don't want to tell your friend where you got that super sweet pair of acid wash jeans?  "Ancient Chinese Secret".  Can't reveal what you did last night?  "Ancient Chinese Secret".

If you didn't grow up with it, it probably just offends you.  As it probably should.


----------



## starvenger

FWIW I'm Chinese. I got the reference. Not offended because I know you were making a pop culture reference. Also I'm old. 

The beignets are definitely in the running for Most Disappointing Dessert. They probably make them way ahead of time which is not what you want in a beignet.


----------



## MissDaisyofTexas

Thank you for posting that Calgon commercial! It was driving me crazy. I knew the phrase "Ancient Chinese Secret", but I couldn't for the life of me remember what commercial it was from. I was thinking it was a shampoo commercial.


----------



## pattyw

This TR is amazing!! So helpful with all the tips- and the pictures are great!!

Yes- I'm old too and remember Calgon take me away very well!!

We sail 4/14 and I'm going to make a list this weekend of dos and do nots!


----------



## hdrolfe

I am sad the review is ending. I have almost a year until my next cruise. Though we are going to Disney in August. Your review made me feel like I was right there with you.


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> FWIW I'm Chinese. I got the reference. Not offended because I know you were making a pop culture reference. Also I'm old.
> 
> The beignets are definitely in the running for Most Disappointing Dessert. They probably make them way ahead of time which is not what you want in a beignet.



I am glad there was no offense taken.  You just never know.  I mean, I didn't create the commercial, nor did I post the sign in Nassau, but I did post it here. 

Yeah, that was such a disappointing last dessert.  Ugh, gotta do better next time.



MissDaisyofTexas said:


> Thank you for posting that Calgon commercial! It was driving me crazy. I knew the phrase "Ancient Chinese Secret", but I couldn't for the life of me remember what commercial it was from. I was thinking it was a shampoo commercial.



I couldn't remember the product for a while, either.  I *thought* it was Calgon, but then I thought no, Calgon is a bubble bath that is supposed to take you away from your stress and problems. 






But apparently it is both an Ancient Chinese Secret that cleans your clothes and transforms your bath tub into a small swimming pool and your home into a Roman temple.  Who knew!



pattyw said:


> This TR is amazing!! So helpful with all the tips- and the pictures are great!!
> 
> Yes- I'm old too and remember Calgon take me away very well!!
> 
> We sail 4/14 and I'm going to make a list this weekend of dos and do nots!



So glad you are enjoying it!  You will have such a great time.  Please feel free to ask any questions.  I am happy to help if possible!  I hope you will share your experience, too!



hdrolfe said:


> I am sad the review is ending. I have almost a year until my next cruise. Though we are going to Disney in August. Your review made me feel like I was right there with you.



Aww, thanks!  I am jealous of your upcoming Disney trip.  We haven't been there in over a year now, and my kids and I are going through withdrawal!


----------



## nancy drew

*Day 8.  Get Off The Ship.*

I had let all of the anxious naysayers get to me, and I was once again worried about getting to the airport and making our flight.  I swear everything I read and heard was about the long lines, both in the port and the airport, and how it was very risky to take a flight before noon.  I mean, I advise my clients to book flights after noon, too, but I don't completely freak them out about it.  

We had sailed 3 times, in 2 cities, and we had always arrived at the airport before 9.  I know, anything can happen, and the ship can be detained, and you never know.  And that is what was getting to me.  The "You never know..." thoughts, and the "We arrived at the port at 6am but we weren't allowed off the ship until 10!" stories.  

So I think I had us wake up at 6:00am, or some ungodly hour like that.  I went to the window and saw a very dark version of the exact view we had on boarding day.  So it was true.  The cruise had really ended, and we had to get off the ship.  

On DCL you are rudely awakened by announcements in your room that she ship has arrived and it is time to get off.  The whole vibe of the ship is "GET OUT".  We didn't hear any announcements in our room, ever.  If I ever heard an announcement I tried to step into the hall to hear it.  Usually I couldn't hear them.  This morning was no different.  

We got up and got dressed, and brought our bags downstairs.  I had picked up the account statement and I wanted to talk to Guest Services.  

When I had checked us in online, I am positive I was asked who would have charging privileges, and I only selected myself.  I made sure of this, because we had issues on DCL where someone had taken DS's card and charged $200 in the arcade.  DCL took $50 off the bill but made me pay the rest.  I didn't want to take any chances.  

On one of the nights, the teen club went to the arcade.  You see where this is going.  I assumed that if they were taking the kids to the arcade as an activity, it must be free play.  DD had been there that night, so it must have been the comedy night, and she had been texting me that the free games were lame blah blah blah.  Yet somehow she had played $50 worth of games.  You guys, I swear I turned off charging privileges!  Is anyone at check in time and if so can you tell me whether you can turn off charging privileges on your kids' accounts?  Because...

I went to Guest Services and asked how the arcade charges had happened, since my kids didn't have charging privileges.  They looked it up and said both kids had privileges.  I said no, I had turned it off online during check in and they said that wasn't possible.  I was told the ONLY way to turn off charging is through Guest Services on board the ship.  I argued it and they insisted I was wrong.  I wasn't going to spend hours arguing about it.  But it left a bad taste in my mouth.  The bill was really harmless, especially compared to DCL who hits you with the bill for all of your drinks and excursions and souvenirs and EVERYTHING at the end of your cruise.  Talk about a shocker!  We had about $20 in port fees returned to each of us, and $50 on board credit, and the Escape Room credit, so our ending bill was just over $100.  I said to go ahead and pay with the Visa on my account, and we headed to breakfast.

Again, I was feeling anxious about leaving.  When we went to Guest Services, there was a line down the hall and beyond sight of people waiting to get off the ship.  That did not help.  

*The Key:*  We went to the 4th floor, where the Key disembarkation breakfast was.  We were able to leave our luggage in the waiting area, and we were walked to a table.  It was maybe 6:45 and there were maybe 3 other tables in use.  I said we were in a bit of a hurry and could we please have faster service, and they said no problem.  We were given the menu, and we asked for orange juice.  They came around with a basket of pastries and I think one of us took a danish, or something.  I don't know.  I had planned on ordering the filet and eggs, because I could, but after all of the red meat/steak/filet I had over the previous week I just couldn't do it.  So I ordered French Toast.  I know one other kid did, and I think the other one ordered pancakes?  I don't know.






It was served quickly, and it was really good.  But I was still just in panic mode and I couldn't really enjoy it.  I like having plans after the cruise so I don't feel this pressure to get off the ship and go home.  It just doesn't feel good.  Or at least I need to schedule a later flight, or something.  *The breakfast was really good, and we enjoyed it.  *

I took this photo of the other breakfast that was being served on the 3rd floor of the MDR.  Looked like a buffet set up, and did not look too crowded.






*The Key:  *When we had finished, it was about 7:10am.  I asked about our priority disembarkation and I was told that they were escorting people off the ship at scheduled 30 minute intervals.  This had not been communicated previously.  I was told I could wait until 7:30 for an escort off the ship or walk off on our own now.  What do you think I chose?  Of course.  We left.  *This benefit was of no use to us.* 

We went back to Deck 5 to disembark, and there was no line whatsoever.  Sweet!!!  We got up to where they scan your Sea Pass one last time.  This was it!  We were saying goodbye to the Symphony, uncertain of when we would see her again.  It was really sad, especially because we could see the balloons set up for the drop that would happen at midnight that night with all of the new guests.  Such a punch to the gut.  Those balloons are such a happy sight on the day you arrive, and so incredibly depressing the day you disembark.  

I handed over my Sea Pass one last time.  

DING!  

"What's that?  What does that mean?"

"I'm sorry, you have a note that you need to go to Guest Services."

"What do you mean, I was just there.  Why do I need to go back?"

"I don't know, but you can't get off the ship until you go."

"I was JUST there, maybe this is a mistake?"

"I don't know, you have to go clear that up with them."

Of course now that it was after 7 the line at GS was much longer.  I was so mad.  I mean, looking back we had PLENTY of time.  It was 7:15 and our flight was at 10:30.  We had our bags, all we needed was a taxi and a 20-30 minute ride to the airport.  But try telling me that when I am in panic mode and I will cut you.  

I stormed off to GS and the wait wasn't too long, but that didn't matter.  What could they possibly want?  It was so frustrating.  

I get to a GS representative, and they scan my Sea Pass, and they said my Discover card had been declined and I needed to pay my bill with another card.  

"I'm sorry, what?  I don't have a Discover card."

"Your Discover card was declined.  You need to pay your account with another card."

"I don't have a Discover card.  I have never, in my life, been in possession of a Discover card.  Why is there even a Discover card linked to my account?  I had a Visa linked.  Use that to pay my account."

"I don't see a Visa here, only a Discover card."

"But I don't HAVE a Discover card!  I have NEVER had a Discover card!  Who linked a Discover card to my account?"

"Ma'am, I see a Discover card here on your account, and it was declined.  We'll need another card to close your bill."

"But there isn't a Discover card linked to my account.  I. do not own a Discover card and never have."

"I can see right here in your account that you have a Discover card linked."

"But I didn't DO that!  Who did that?"

"I can't see that.  All I can see is that your Discover card was declined and we need another form of payment."

This right here was the worst moment of the week.  How did this happen?  I have never, ever, ever, had a Discover card in my life.  I set up my charging account myself.  I am the only adult in my family, and the only adult on our reservation, and the only member of the family old enough to have a credit card.  Who did this, and how?

I still have no idea how this happened.

But at this point what can I do?  We have a plane to catch.  I have heard horror stories about leaving the ship.  I can SEE the exit from where I am, and I can't go until I just give them a freaking credit card and pay my bill.  I would deal with it later.  

I still haven't dealt with it.

So by now there was a long line again at the disembarkation place across from GS.  Great.  

I remembered someone had said there was another exit down past Sorrento's.  So we headed there, and lo and behold there was no line.  Everyone was going to the one exit where the line was.  I AGAIN handed over my Sea Pass card for the last time, and it scanned perfectly and we were told to have a safe journey home, or so I'd like to believe.  I have no idea what we were told because now it was time to get to the airport and I had no idea what to expect.  

It was 7:27am. 

We walked through the port.  I had our passports out but I was told we wouldn't need them.  Please step to the line and look right here.  Ok thanks, you are all set.  Thank you, have a nice day!

Whoa!  That was even easier than the passport scanners in Vancouver!  Facial recognition for the win!  

We walked out and easily got into a taxi. 

It was 7:35am.  

We headed to the airport and arrived without incident.  No traffic at 7:40am on a Saturday!  We got to the airport, went through security (TSA Pre-Check), and discovered that our gate was at the veeeeeeeeeeeery back of the airport.  Farthest gate possible.  I feel like this is always our gate, at every airport.  "Chicago?  Oh put them in the back.  All the way back."  Always!  So mean.  

So we shlepped our stuff, walked past every other gate, every newsstand, every bathroom, everything in the whole airport and we finally arrived at the gate.

It was 8:05am.

I guess we made it in time.  

I could go on about our return, but it was event-free.  We got home safely, the cats were happy to see us, and our vacation was over.  

I'll be back with a final wrap up, with thoughts about the ship, the itineraries, The Key, Royal, etc.  And ask me questions if you have them!


----------



## savage1117

I’ve really enjoyed your trip report. We will be on the harmony of the seas over Thanksgiving this year. We did purchase the Key too. I’m slightly nervous if the amenities for the key will change before we sail. It sounds like you didn’t really get any benefits from purchasing it.


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> The bill was really harmless, especially compared to DCL who hits you with the bill for all of your drinks and excursions and souvenirs and EVERYTHING at the end of your cruise. Talk about a shocker! We had about $20 in port fees returned to each of us, and $50 on board credit, and the Escape Room credit, so our ending bill was just over $100. I said to go ahead and pay with the Visa on my account, and we headed to breakfast.


If we're being fair here, you did get the drink package so you eliminated maybe 50% of your shock right there. 

Weird about the discover card. Here's a weird thought - did they accidentally link someone else's card to your room? Might explain the game room charges as when they linked this phantom card they also reenabled charging privileges


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> If we're being fair here, you did get the drink package so you eliminated maybe 50% of your shock right there.
> 
> Weird about the discover card. Here's a weird thought - did they accidentally link someone else's card to your room? Might explain the game room charges as when they linked this phantom card they also reenabled charging privileges



If we are being fair, it is more like 75-80% of my shock that was eliminated due to having the beverage package.

It is possible that is what happened.  But the guy was adamant that I would not have been able to turn off charging privileges in the first place without GS assistance.  He was 100% certain that only GS has the ability to turn on and off charging.  I am hoping that someone either here or on the other site where I am sharing this will have a reservation that is within the check in window, and maybe they can check whether they can manage charging privileges in their check in process.  My next RCI sailing is too far out for me to try it.


----------



## nancy drew

savage1117 said:


> I’ve really enjoyed your trip report. We will be on the harmony of the seas over Thanksgiving this year. We did purchase the Key too. I’m slightly nervous if the amenities for the key will change before we sail. It sounds like you didn’t really get any benefits from purchasing it.



I will be very curious to see how The Key plays out in the future.  Right now there is zero consistency in implementation even just among the sister ships, let alone the whole fleet.


----------



## starvenger

nancy drew said:


> If we are being fair, it is more like 75-80% of my shock that was eliminated due to having the beverage package.
> 
> It is possible that is what happened.  But the guy was adamant that I would not have been able to turn off charging privileges in the first place without GS assistance.  He was 100% certain that only GS has the ability to turn on and off charging.  I am hoping that someone either here or on the other site where I am sharing this will have a reservation that is within the check in window, and maybe they can check whether they can manage charging privileges in their check in process.  My next RCI sailing is too far out for me to try it.





nancy drew said:


> If we are being fair, it is more like 75-80% of my shock that was eliminated due to having the beverage package.
> 
> It is possible that is what happened.  But the guy was adamant that I would not have been able to turn off charging privileges in the first place without GS assistance.  He was 100% certain that only GS has the ability to turn on and off charging.  I am hoping that someone either here or on the other site where I am sharing this will have a reservation that is within the check in window, and maybe they can check whether they can manage charging privileges in their check in process.  My next RCI sailing is too far out for me to try it.


I feel pretty confident that I’ve assigned charging privileges to myself and my wife only during the online check-in process. Unfortunately I’m not cruising anytime soon. Will have to remember to do screenshots during the process but the memory isn’t what it once was...

I’m sure someone at CC will answer this but this will inevitably happen during a 2 page back and forth debating something or other in your thread.


----------



## nancy drew

starvenger said:


> I feel pretty confident that I’ve assigned charging privileges to myself and my wife only during the online check-in process. Unfortunately I’m not cruising anytime soon. Will have to remember to do screenshots during the process but the memory isn’t what it once was...
> 
> I’m sure someone at CC will answer this but this will inevitably happen during a 2 page back and forth debating something or other in your thread.



I thought about posting about charging privileges at CC but yeah, it would likely turn into a heated debate about something unrelated, like travel insurance, chair hogs, D+/Pinnacle benefits, or how/when/if the Oasis will get to Europe.


----------



## tigerchic89

Just read the whole 9 page trip report.  Thanks for posting.  We are cruising RCCL for the 1st time in a few weeks, only a 3 night on a smaller ship, but we purchased the key, so your notes on that were very helpful.


----------



## Almondmilktea

Thanks for the report!  My family and I are booked on this ship on the Nov 30th sailing.  Reading your review has only increased the anticipation.  

For all the reservations you made for the shows, escape room, and dinners, how far out did you book them in the cruise planner? 

Based on your comments on The Key, unless some improvements are made over the next few months, I'm likely going to pass on it and go with the Voom Surf + Stream.  I bought one of these portable wifi routers and intend to use that to share the connection with the group.  A friend did the same on a Harmony of the Seas sailing last year.  That said, does the internet service provided by The Key include 'Stream'?  Or is it simply 'Surf' level? 

https://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-Wireless-Portable-Streamer-Cellphone/dp/B07N6BYH7Z/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?crid=290CCCIMGXQ9W&keywords=filehub+plus+wireless+travel+router+portable+sd+card&qid=1554835914&s=gateway&sprefix=filehub+plus,aps,191&sr=8-3-fkmrnull


----------



## DetroitAvant

I have read elsewhere that you can't turn off charging in the arcades.  I know when I got the prepaid arcade credits through the planner (at a discount) I had to get them activated through the casino so I wonder if there's a way to turn of arcade charging through the casino.


----------



## nancy drew

tigerchic89 said:


> Just read the whole 9 page trip report.  Thanks for posting.  We are cruising RCCL for the 1st time in a few weeks, only a 3 night on a smaller ship, but we purchased the key, so your notes on that were very helpful.



Thanks for reading along!  Are you sailing on the Mariner or Navigator?  Those look awesome!  



Almondmilktea said:


> Thanks for the report!  My family and I are booked on this ship on the Nov 30th sailing.  Reading your review has only increased the anticipation.
> 
> For all the reservations you made for the shows, escape room, and dinners, how far out did you book them in the cruise planner?
> 
> Based on your comments on The Key, unless some improvements are made over the next few months, I'm likely going to pass on it and go with the Voom Surf + Stream.  I bought one of these portable wifi routers and intend to use that to share the connection with the group.  A friend did the same on a Harmony of the Seas sailing last year.  That said, does the internet service provided by The Key include 'Stream'?  Or is it simply 'Surf' level?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-Wireless-Portable-Streamer-Cellphone/dp/B07N6BYH7Z/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?crid=290CCCIMGXQ9W&keywords=filehub+plus+wireless+travel+router+portable+sd+card&qid=1554835914&s=gateway&sprefix=filehub+plus,aps,191&sr=8-3-fkmrnull



I booked the shows 3 months in advance, but they may have been available prior to that.  We switched to this sailing late in the game.  The Escape Room was available for a while, and then it wasn't, so you should keep checking for it.  We didn't reserve any dinners so I don't have an answer on that, sorry!

The Key internet is Surf and Stream and it was great!  

I am curious about the router, don't you all need to be in close proximity to it for it to work?  For us that would defeat the purpose, since we used the internet to text each other on the ship because that's the only way you can do it on Symphony. 



DetroitAvant said:


> I have read elsewhere that you can't turn off charging in the arcades.  I know when I got the prepaid arcade credits through the planner (at a discount) I had to get them activated through the casino so I wonder if there's a way to turn of arcade charging through the casino.



Interesting.  Since this is our second issue with the arcade I will specifically check GS when we board next time and make double sure the kids cannot charge ANYTHING.


----------



## chamberlain

Thank you so much for the trip report!  We are considering a cruise on RCCL and it helps to hear all the little details of the ship and their offerings.


----------



## Miggee

nancy drew said:


> If we are being fair, it is more like 75-80% of my shock that was eliminated due to having the beverage package.
> 
> It is possible that is what happened.  But the guy was adamant that I would not have been able to turn off charging privileges in the first place without GS assistance.  He was 100% certain that only GS has the ability to turn on and off charging.  I am hoping that someone either here or on the other site where I am sharing this will have a reservation that is within the check in window, and maybe they can check whether they can manage charging privileges in their check in process.  My next RCI sailing is too far out for me to try it.




this scares me as I also just checked in online (for my cruise in June) for my children to NOT have charging privileges as i know my 2 kids could/would rack up hundreds of dollars in the arcade alone.  thank you for this report, i will be sure to hit up GS once i'm on board to ensure my kids do NOT have charging privileges.


----------



## nancy drew

chamberlain said:


> Thank you so much for the trip report!  We are considering a cruise on RCCL and it helps to hear all the little details of the ship and their offerings.



Glad you enjoyed it!

It took me a while to finally get on a RCI ship, but I am glad we did!  It was a great cruise, and I am happily sailing on Royal again next year!



Miggee said:


> this scares me as I also just checked in online (for my cruise in June) for my children to NOT have charging privileges as i know my 2 kids could/would rack up hundreds of dollars in the arcade alone.  thank you for this report, i will be sure to hit up GS once i'm on board to ensure my kids do NOT have charging privileges.



Were you able to click something so that it appeared they will not have charging privileges?  Because I SWEAR I did that when we checked in.  But the GS guy was adamant that this wasn't possible.  Our next sailing isn't for just under a year so I can't check whether there is an option to select who will or will not have charging privileges.


----------



## Miggee

nancy drew said:


> Glad you enjoyed it!
> 
> It took me a while to finally get on a RCI ship, but I am glad we did!  It was a great cruise, and I am happily sailing on Royal again next year!
> 
> 
> 
> Were you able to click something so that it appeared they will not have charging privileges?  Because I SWEAR I did that when we checked in.  But the GS guy was adamant that this wasn't possible.  Our next sailing isn't for just under a year so I can't check whether there is an option to select who will or will not have charging privileges.



correct, when i checked in , there was a section called "Onboard Expense Account" and there you will find 3 options: Credit Card, Cash or No Charging Privileges, i checked the "no charging privileges" for my kids.   you will know if you click on the "Credit Card" option because it will prompt you to enter in a credit card info.


----------



## nancy drew

Miggee said:


> correct, when i checked in , there was a section called "Onboard Expense Account" and there you will find 3 options: Credit Card, Cash or No Charging Privileges, i checked the "no charging privileges" for my kids.   you will know if you click on the "Credit Card" option because it will prompt you to enter in a credit card info.



YES!!!  I KNEW IT!!!  You are my new favorite person. 

So now I have a new issue to take up with RCI because DD should not have been able to spend a dime in that arcade.  

They still haven't responded to my 2 emails about The Key and The Discover Card Incident.  Time to escalate, I guess.


----------



## nancy drew

I just got a call from someone at Royal Caribbean regarding my email about The Key.  She apologized for the issues, and said that most likely the issues with reduced private hours and no priority debarkation were due to the amount of people who had purchased The Key on our sailing.  She said she understood that the idea of telling guests they can cut the line at activities is uncomfortable and she wouldn't want to do that either.  It sounds like they are working on figuring this stuff out but it is going to take a while.

If anyone is still looking to communicate with RCI regarding disappointment (or satisfaction) with The Key, I would recommend going beyond the post-cruise communications options and heading to operations managers etc.  Be polite, obviously, and let them know that you are telling them about your experience so they can work on making the experience better for future guests.  

I also brought up the issue of charging privileges, and the Discover. card that was somehow linked to my account.  She did not confirm whether I should or should not have been able to turn off charging privileges, though she acknowledged that it is a step in the check in process.  She is refunding the amount that DD spent in the arcade as a courtesy. I did NOT ask her to do this, and I even said it wasn't a huge amount and I didn't care about the amount of money, just that I thought I had done something to prevent ANY money from being spent at all.  

She has no idea how the Discover card thing happened and agreed that this would be concerning.  She is going to look into it, though.  

So the moral of the story is that if you have issues, reach out to RCI.  It might take a while to hear back, but they will respond if you go to the right people.  She had copies of all of the communication I had sent, including my emails to post-cruise services, so be aware that everything you send them *is* being read.  I have a tendency to get hot-tempered when I feel like I am not being heard, and I am glad I managed myself this time because it would have been embarrassing to deal with someone who had read an angry email that I had written.


----------



## nancy drew

Oops, double post.

Please enjoy some gifs since I can't delete this post.


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## RunningWithScissors

Recently booked a "last minute" sailing on the Harmony for Dec 15-22 and your trip report has me ready to leave tomorrow!!  Seriously, the BEST trip report I have ever read.  I love your humor and hints of sarcasm when discussing your DD and DS!  LOL!!  You sound like a super cool mom and your kids are blessed to have you! <3  We will be traveling with DS16, DD22 and her DDB23 (boyfriend) as a college graduation trip.  We are also celebrating DH and my 50th bdays and our son turning 16 last spring.  Gotta rationalize spending this money, amirite?  Ha!  After pricing DCL and NCL, it was cheaper for us to get 2 Ocean View Balcony Staterooms on RCCL than 1 on both NCL and DCL.  I could not IMAGINE spending 7 days in a room the size of my master bathroom with 3 grown children!  Thank you, NEXT!!  We saved almost $1000 by cruising RCCL.  Of course, the difference will be made up in the drink package, The Key, etc. but to have 2 staterooms is so worth it!! 

Also, @nancy drew what kind of camera did you use?  Your pictures are STUNNING!  I've been an iPhone user for going on what seems like forever and have ditched my Nikon because it's so easy to get good photos with the iPhone. Not having to lug around a big camera is such a joy.  Anyway, your trip report was amazing and you gave me so many good ideas!!  Thank you and enjoy your August Disney trip!!


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## Lynne G

Thanks for this.  First time with RCL in two years with the Harmony.  Enjoy reading your report.


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## nancy drew

RunningWithScissors said:


> Recently booked a "last minute" sailing on the Harmony for Dec 15-22 and your trip report has me ready to leave tomorrow!!  Seriously, the BEST trip report I have ever read.  I love your humor and hints of sarcasm when discussing your DD and DS!  LOL!!  You sound like a super cool mom and your kids are blessed to have you! <3  We will be traveling with DS16, DD22 and her DDB23 (boyfriend) as a college graduation trip.  We are also celebrating DH and my 50th bdays and our son turning 16 last spring.  Gotta rationalize spending this money, amirite?  Ha!  After pricing DCL and NCL, it was cheaper for us to get 2 Ocean View Balcony Staterooms on RCCL than 1 on both NCL and DCL.  I could not IMAGINE spending 7 days in a room the size of my master bathroom with 3 grown children!  Thank you, NEXT!!  We saved almost $1000 by cruising RCCL.  Of course, the difference will be made up in the drink package, The Key, etc. but to have 2 staterooms is so worth it!!
> 
> Also, @nancy drew what kind of camera did you use?  Your pictures are STUNNING!  I've been an iPhone user for going on what seems like forever and have ditched my Nikon because it's so easy to get good photos with the iPhone. Not having to lug around a big camera is such a joy.  Anyway, your trip report was amazing and you gave me so many good ideas!!  Thank you and enjoy your August Disney trip!!



So jealous of your upcoming cruise! We sail again in March and I.Cannot.Wait. Of course we have a little visit to The Mouse to give me something to live for in the meantime, though that isn't in August. Our August trip is a National Park/hiking trip. I would love to write up a TR for it but there is absolutely no place to do that here. It would be so much fun to share the crazy stuff we come up with on the trail. Last time we went on one of these trips we outlined an entire musical, with a full song list. I just found it the other day and I think we might just write the sequel this time. It was hilarious.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so amazed that people are still reading this!  You are going to LOVE Royal. There is just so much to do, the ship is so nice and new, the shows are awesome... you will have a blast! And you are very smart to get 2 rooms. You will be soooo glad, especially for the extra bathroom! And if your rooms are next to each other you can have the balcony opened up so you share the balcony!

Thank you for the kind words about my pictures. I used my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) or my Nikon D55 with a lens... not sure which one but probably my favorite mid-range lens that I cannot find at the moment. That's helpful, right?  I promise when I find it I will come back and let you know which lens it was. 



Lynne G said:


> Thanks for this.  First time with RCL in two years with the Harmony.  Enjoy reading your report.



Thank you! You will love it!! Since you are planning far in advance you have plenty of time to learn as much as possible about the ship. Keep an eye on your Cruise Planner and book excursions and packages as they come up. You can always cancel and rebook if the price drops, or if you change your mind.


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## dmetcalfrn

Thank you for your trip report!  We just booked Harmony for August 2020. This will be our first RCCL cruise.


----------



## jameyh

Amazing information, we are sailing with RCCL in June of 2020 although we will be on the mariner of the seas. I found lots of your information helpful. 
Do you remember how long before your cruise that you booked the key?


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## RunningWithScissors

nancy drew said:


> So jealous of your upcoming cruise! We sail again in March and I.Cannot.Wait. Of course we have a little visit to The Mouse to give me something to live for in the meantime, though that isn't in August. Our August trip is a National Park/hiking trip. I would love to write up a TR for it but there is absolutely no place to do that here. It would be so much fun to share the crazy stuff we come up with on the trail. Last time we went on one of these trips we outlined an entire musical, with a full song list. I just found it the other day and I think we might just write the sequel this time. It was hilarious.
> 
> Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so amazed that people are still reading this!  You are going to LOVE Royal. There is just so much to do, the ship is so nice and new, the shows are awesome... you will have a blast! And you are very smart to get 2 rooms. You will be soooo glad, especially for the extra bathroom! And if your rooms are next to each other you can have the balcony opened up so you share the balcony!
> 
> Thank you for the kind words about my pictures. I used my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) or my Nikon D55 with a lens... not sure which one but probably my favorite mid-range lens that I cannot find at the moment. That's helpful, right?  I promise when I find it I will come back and let you know which lens it was.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you! You will love it!! Since you are planning far in advance you have plenty of time to learn as much as possible about the ship. Keep an eye on your Cruise Planner and book excursions and packages as they come up. You can always cancel and rebook if the price drops, or if you change your mind.


You MUST put the National Park trip report somewhere!!  Seriously--you should do a facebook page or something with your trip reports.  We've always wanted to do a National Park trip and your tips would make or break it!  We've always done Disney every year as we own DVC but once the kids got older and had so many activities, we are on an every two year cycle for Disney.  So sad!  haha!!  I think we may fit a Disney visit at the end of this coming school year, hoping the newness of Star Wars has worn off--or maybe it will still be in full freak out mode and we can go to AK and ride Flight of Passage over and over!  LOL!!  My dream!  Anyway, thanks again for the tips and please let us know if you publish those other trip reports somewhere!


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## Kirbo

Just finished your report. Thank you so much for all of it. You definitely sound like my kind of person (introverts unite, but separately).

We have only been on the older ships (Explorer and Liberty) but have had a fantastic time on them. We miss DCL but not enough to pay three times as much (our last cruise was 1/3 the price for two interior promenade rooms vs one interior DCL room for us four).

Your report definitely makes us want to try one of the mega ships. Thanks.


----------



## Mousefan mom

nancy drew said:


> *Day 2 continued*
> 
> Tonight was formal night, so we were dressed fairly nice.  I had decided DS had to come to dinner with us every night, so we all went together.  I am sure I ordered the Caesar salad again, and this appears to be the beef tenderloin.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For dessert, DS ordered the carrot cake
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DD had something, and I had the souffle.  It was good, kind of eggy but that's how souffle usually is.  The sauce was really good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then DS ran off to the Teen Club, and DD and I were left to wander until our next show.  We had reservations for Hairspray, but much later in the evening.
> 
> Now, I had heard about the restaurant called Wonderland, and I went back and forth and back and forth on whether to reserve it.  In the end I realized I really just wanted the dessert, not the main courses.  We don't really eat seafood and that seriously limits what we can have at Wonderland, and at pretty much all of the other specialty restaurants.
> 
> I had asked online if we would be able to go to Wonderland for dessert, and I was assured that wouldn't be a problem.  We would pay out of pocket per dessert, but it should be fine.
> 
> Well that is not how it works any more.
> 
> I had mentioned to our servers, who used to work in Wonderland on the Harmony, that we wanted to have dessert there one night.  He said "Well, that might not be possible.  Let me see what I can do, I will talk to my boss and see what we can do."  He said they used to let people go there for dessert but they stopped allowing it because they are too busy now.  I decided to stop by, and walk through the place, and ask there if we might be able to stop in for dessert.
> 
> It is definitely a cool space.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To enter, you go down the rabbit hole.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And through (or around) the magical door.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is this cool seat here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now, you may not want to eat here, but maybe you just want to stop by and experience the place for yourself.  You CAN go to the bar, and I believe they have a 2 for 1 Happy Hour.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And here, below, is the restaurant.  If you look carefully, you will see the whimsy: mismatched chairs, chairs with rabbit ears, some random woman with a St. Patrick's Day fascinator looking at me, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I walked up to the host stand, and asked if we could have dessert.  When I was looking over at the restaurant, I saw a couple that was just being seated and given menus.  The place closes officially at 9:30, but they were just being seated, and there were empty tables, so I figured no problem, squeeze us in for a quick round of desserts.
> 
> Nope.
> 
> I asked if we could just go ahead and make a reservation for later in the week for dessert.
> 
> "Oh let me check, no, sorry, we are fully booked.  And with such a full booking we can't really let people in for dessert.  We used to allow it, but not any more, not for a year or so."  (Um the ship is not a year old but ok sure.)
> 
> So we left, and were thinking about going back to the room, because I thought we had some time.  I looked at the time for the show, maybe on the app, and realized I had the time wrong.  I had been thinking about another show that started at 10:45 later in the week.  Hairspray started at 10:30, and it was currently 10:35.  Oh great.
> 
> We rushed to the theater and of course if had already started.  So no Key benefit here, but it was 100% my fault.
> 
> We grabbed seats off to the side, so we weren't disrupting anyone.  It wasn't the best location, but the show was still amazing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, another winner. Go see the show.  And check the time, and double check the time.  This wouldn't be the last time this happened to us.
> 
> After the show I summoned DS to the room, where we found this guy waiting:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that's the end of Day 2!  Day 3 would be another day at sea, so more sleeping in!  Yay!


Can you tell me a little about "Formal night"?   We've cruised DCL, and there was a dress up night, but only about 50% of the people participated.  We are not formal attire folks--so I see recommended suit and ties, cocktail dresses, etc. and we'd need to buy a whole new wadrobe for our family for this.  Can you still go and dress casual, and are you totally out of place if you do?


----------



## nancy drew

dmetcalfrn said:


> Thank you for your trip report!  We just booked Harmony for August 2020. This will be our first RCCL cruise.



You will truly enjoy it! It will be very similar to Symphony, and it will be awesome!



jameyh said:


> Amazing information, we are sailing with RCCL in June of 2020 although we will be on the mariner of the seas. I found lots of your information helpful.
> Do you remember how long before your cruise that you booked the key?



I just went and checked. I booked it 2 months before we sailed, *BUT* it had been available before that, and then disappeared from CP for a while. As soon as it was available again at about 2 months out, I booked it. 

I am so curious to hear your experience on Mariner! I really want to sail on one of the "Amped" ships! Our next sailing is in that class, but not on an Amped ship. 



RunningWithScissors said:


> You MUST put the National Park trip report somewhere!!  Seriously--you should do a facebook page or something with your trip reports.  We've always wanted to do a National Park trip and your tips would make or break it!  We've always done Disney every year as we own DVC but once the kids got older and had so many activities, we are on an every two year cycle for Disney.  So sad!  haha!!  I think we may fit a Disney visit at the end of this coming school year, hoping the newness of Star Wars has worn off--or maybe it will still be in full freak out mode and we can go to AK and ride Flight of Passage over and over!  LOL!!  My dream!  Anyway, thanks again for the tips and please let us know if you publish those other trip reports somewhere!



Wow, such a huge compliment!!  I have thought about doing a website or something, since the reports are currently all over the place, but figured 1) no one would read it and 2) no one would think it was worth reading if they did. I will consider it, though.

But seriously, GO TO A NATIONAL PARK!! I cannot believe how amazing these places are! And, if you like all of the planning stuff about Disney, then National Parks are a GREAT choice because you have to plan a year in advance to get lodging, and there are SO many hikes, lakes, trails, etc. and you need to plan so you don't do what we did in Grand Teton and set out on a challenging hike with no water and no idea what to expect. NEVER AGAIN! 

How old are your kids? We started the National Parks when they were maybe 9 and 11? I don't recall. But it was a great time, and they still remember it fondly. If you have questions please reach out. We did an organized tour in Yellowstone and it gave me the confidence to figure out our own tour in Glacier National Park and now in our upcoming trip. I would be happy to share my experience if you are considering Yellowstone, Grand Teton, or Glacier. And once our vacation has ended, I will be happy to share that experience as well! PM me any time. 

And I suppose I will be taking notes, just in case a trip report happens!



Kirbo said:


> Just finished your report. Thank you so much for all of it. You definitely sound like my kind of person (introverts unite, but separately).
> 
> We have only been on the older ships (Explorer and Liberty) but have had a fantastic time on them. We miss DCL but not enough to pay three times as much (our last cruise was 1/3 the price for two interior promenade rooms vs one interior DCL room for us four).
> 
> Your report definitely makes us want to try one of the mega ships. Thanks.



I would love to hear about your experience on Explorer and Liberty, as our next 2 sailings will probably be on ships in those classes!  Symphony was amazing and I know I will miss the "shiny new ship" vibe. But we do love the smaller ships, and I hope we won't be disappointed on our next cruises.



Mousefan mom said:


> Can you tell me a little about "Formal night"?   We've cruised DCL, and there was a dress up night, but only about 50% of the people participated.  We are not formal attire folks--so I see recommended suit and ties, cocktail dresses, etc. and we'd need to buy a whole new wadrobe for our family for this.  Can you still go and dress casual, and are you totally out of place if you do?



I don't recall it being any more or less formal than DCL. It is really one of those things where some people dress up, some don't. We sort of did. I really don't care much about what other people are doing in situations like that, so I didn't notice how others were dressed. I think as long as you have long pants and a shirt with a collar (men) and something other than shorts and a tshirt (women) and shoes that are not flip flops (all of you) you should be fine. I have always brought maybe 1 pair of "not jeans" pants, and at least one casual dress (like, from Target, Nordstrom Rack, or similar). I use those for formal night and haven't noticed much side eye. Just enjoy that beverage package and you won't care much about what anyone is wearing . I will look through my photos later and see if I can find examples of what people were wearing.


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## WorldWacky

I’m not planning a cruise, but I too, really enjoyed your trip report! As far as a trip report on your upcoming National Park visit, why don’t you just put it right here on this thread? You do have a very engaging writing style and once people read through your cruise trip report, they’ll want to read more from you. Or...you could always leave your National Park trip report on the Community Boards page. People bring up National Park trip questions all the time over there.


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## nancy drew

WorldWacky said:


> I’m not planning a cruise, but I too, really enjoyed your trip report! As far as a trip report on your upcoming National Park visit, why don’t you just put it right here on this thread? You do have a very engaging writing style and once people read through your cruise trip report, they’ll want to read more from you. Or...you could always leave your National Park trip report on the Community Boards page. People bring up National Park trip questions all the time over there.



Thank you. I really appreciate the compliments.  Maybe the community board would be a good place for a report, or here. I will think about it. 

We are back from our trip and I took notes, more or less, with the intention of writing up a report. We will see if it happens. It will have to wait, though, because I left my camera in California. I cannot believe I did this. Who leaves their nice camera behind in the hotel? I think I left it in the safe. We only had a safe in one hotel (the last one) so I wasn't used to checking in there when we were moving on.


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## WorldWacky

nancy drew said:


> Thank you. I really appreciate the compliments.  Maybe the community board would be a good place for a report, or here. I will think about it.
> 
> We are back from our trip and I took notes, more or less, with the intention of writing up a report. We will see if it happens. It will have to wait, though, because I left my camera in California. I cannot believe I did this. Who leaves their nice camera behind in the hotel? I think I left it in the safe. We only had a safe in one hotel (the last one) so I wasn't used to checking in there when we were moving on.


Oh no! I hope they find it and send it back to you quickly.
I’ll be lurking to see when/if you get that trip report going.


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## wendiloveswalt

Great TR! I love your sense of humor and writing style. You had me chuckling many times. We're planning to sail in November on Symphony so this was informative and fun to read.


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## nancy drew

wendiloveswalt said:


> Great TR! I love your sense of humor and writing style. You had me chuckling many times. We're planning to sail in November on Symphony so this was informative and fun to read.



Thanks so much! We are sailing again soon, and I am hoping to take enough notes to provide a report about our experience! Enjoy the Symphony, she is an amazing ship!



WorldWacky said:


> Oh no! I hope they find it and send it back to you quickly.
> I’ll be lurking to see when/if you get that trip report going.



Somehow I did not see this or reply until now! I am so sorry! 

I did end up getting my camera back. I realized it when we got to the airport (4 hours away from the hotel). I called, and they had it. Thank goodness! I had left it in the safe and forgotten about it. Good thing it was safe! (See what I did there?). The really dumb thing is that the safe was open, because we had to take other things out. I just somehow did not notice my huge camera in there. Sigh. 

They shipped it back to me (at my expense) and it is now back at home. I didn't even bring it on our last vacation to Disney. I am undecided on whether I will bring it on our next cruise.


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## ljcrochet

Great report.  We are going on Symphony of the seas in the fall.  Started out just 4 of us.  Now we are up to 9.  I'm trying to convince my sister that her and her husband should join us. 
I'm impressed that you got your daughter to even try the teen club.  My girls hated the kids club when they were 11 and haven't been back in 2 other cruises ( one at age 12 and one at age 14).  We have 3 cruises booked so I'm hoping they will give the teen club a shot on them.


nancy drew said:


> I am undecided on whether I will bring it on our next cruise.


What ship/line are you going on next?


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## nancy drew

ljcrochet said:


> Great report.  We are going on Symphony of the seas in the fall.  Started out just 4 of us.  Now we are up to 9.  I'm trying to convince my sister that her and her husband should join us.
> I'm impressed that you got your daughter to even try the teen club.  My girls hated the kids club when they were 11 and haven't been back in 2 other cruises ( one at age 12 and one at age 14).  We have 3 cruises booked so I'm hoping they will give the teen club a shot on them.
> 
> What ship/line are you going on next?



Thanks! You'll love the Symphony! I've had mixed feelings about the "Mega Ship" thing, and our next sailing is a much smaller ship (Adventure of the Seas) but I think we'll be back on the big ships, much to DD's dismay. We were just talking about how this upcoming cruise is a much smaller ship, so the teen club might not be quite so overrun with people. I know she appreciates a much smaller group. But she is almost aging out of the teen club (!) so this won't be an issue much longer. I am sure we will be back on a smaller ship, because there are some sailings I want to do that are only offered on smaller ships. But I am already panicking at the idea that we have to eat at the buffet on this sailing, and won't have Sorrento's available whenever we want.


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## rramsr

I just read your whole trip report. What a great report and a beautiful ship. I have sailed DCL twice and looking to try RC someday. I love your sense of humor


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## nancy drew

rramsr said:


> I just read your whole trip report. What a great report and a beautiful ship. I have sailed DCL twice and looking to try RC someday. I love your sense of humor



Thank you! Symphony is a truly beautiful ship. I am actually worried that we will be disappointed now, on our next cruise, as we are sailing on an older and much smaller ship. I just keep telling myself we are going to some amazing destinations and if we could enjoy ourselves on a "boring" ship like the one on our Alaskan sailing, we will be fine. But I feel so spoiled by Royal's beautiful big new ship! #firstworldproblems


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## ucf_knight

Thanks for such a comprehensive review of the key (and changing the color of the text to highlight it). We are regulars on Royal and have thought of purchasing the key bc it does include the internet. My TA said it’s probably not worth it (this is when it was first released a while back and we are diamond members so we occasionally get some perks) so we have not booked it. I get the impression it’s not worth it yet but I’m curious if you’d get it again.


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## nancy drew

ucf_knight said:


> Thanks for such a comprehensive review of the key (and changing the color of the text to highlight it). We are regulars on Royal and have thought of purchasing the key bc it does include the internet. My TA said it’s probably not worth it (this is when it was first released a while back and we are diamond members so we occasionally get some perks) so we have not booked it. I get the impression it’s not worth it yet but I’m curious if you’d get it again.



Thanks for reading and replying! 

We are sailing again soon and I have not bought The Key. While it does include internet and I did buy an internet package, I didn't think the other benefits were worthwhile. If the price goes down to where the price is almost the same as the internet package I might consider it, if only because we could drop off our luggage on the ship when we arrive instead of carrying it around until the room is ready. I just noticed it is sold out for our sailing, but I imagine it will be available again. 

I was 100% against getting it again, but it would certainly be an interesting comparison to last time, especially since we will be on a very different class of ship! I'll be sure to update if I end up buying it last minute.


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