Friday, September 20, 2013

We were really tired this morning after being up so late the night before but we were up early for breakfast.  We were going to try out the Solarium Bistro but decided on the Concierge Lounge instead.  Since I normally eat cereal and fruit it really doesn't make any different where I eat.

At 9:00 we went with Pat and Terry to meet with the Future Cruise Planners.  We were wanting to ask questions about how the program works and also they have a new ship coming out -- Quantum of the Seas and I wanted to ask questions about it.  Unfortunately the guy we met with didn't seem to know much but wanted to get us in and out in a hurry and to book something.  We didn't book anything and we somewhat understand the program.  He told us things different from what we were told last time we were on board.  I guess we will sort it all out later.

Mary P and i went and played Bingo and didn't have any luck.  There really weren't that many people there but I figured out later that there was also something being held at the same time for Crown and Anchor Members so that may have been where some people were.

We decided to eat lunch at Rita's.  This is a Mexican food restaurant onboard where there is a cover charge and also a la carte pricing.  The food was excellent and I think I could eat there every meal but not interested in paying every meal since there is plenty of free food on board.  

We rested more this afternoon.  There were lots of activities going on but nothing we really wanted to do.  I did sit out on my balcony for a while and watched all of the things going on out there.  I decided that this cruise really wasn't like a cruise.  It is more like being in the middle of an amusement park because of all the things constantly going on.  It is really noisy out on our balcony.  This would usually bother me, but I kind of like it.

Mary P and I decided to go to Win a Cruise Bingo.  There were a lot of people coming in to play and I asked Mary P if she thought we should play.  She said well we have as much a chance winning as all these people.  I agreed so we decided to play.  They had 3 regular games and the 4th game was to Win a 7 Day Cruise for 2 people.  I am glad we played because I won game 2 and Mary P won game 3.  We didn't have to split with anyone either.  Between the 2 of us we won over $900!  That is probably more than the cruise would be worth because it is for an inside cabin and those are pretty cheap.

After Bingo it was time for dinner.  It was formal night tonight so we had to change into our formal clothes -- black pants and a shirt.  As we were walking into dinner I said this should be renamed Formal Night to Going to Church Night.  At the early dining people weren't dressing formal, they were dressing like they were going to church.  I did even notice one family coming in to eat in jeans.  On other cruise lines I have been on, they would not have let them in the dining room dressed like that but I think on Royal, anything goes.

We rested after dinner because we didn't have anything to do until our show at 11:00 pm.  The 9:00 pm show was booked to capacity so we didn't try to crash it and waited for the late show and it was really crowded too.  This show was the Singers, Dancers, and Acrobats and was really good.  It is being done again tomorrow at 5:00  pm and we may go back and see it again.

When we got out of the show at midnight we decided to stroll through the Promenade to see what was going on.  We stopped by at the Pizza place for a late night snack.  This was the first time I have been there and it was really good!

We finally got back to the cabin at 1:00 am.  We decided not to hop up first thing in the morning for breakfast but to order room service.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Today we were in St Marten.  I have been here several times before.  The island is divided in 2 parts -- one side being Dutch and the other side French.  

We didn't know what tour to sign up for so Terry got the Concierge to pick one for us.  He signed us all up for an Art Tour.  I thought what have we gotten ourselves in to.  However, it turned out to be one of the best tours we have ever done.  There were only 9 of us that signed up for the tour.  We were on an air conditioned bus and we were able to spread out and have plenty of room.  We went to 4 homes of different artists and 1 art gallery.  All of the artists were there for us to meet except for one and he had passed away at the age of 59 I think they said 17 years ago.  His daughter was there for us to meet.  Along the way to the different places we also got a tour of the island.  This was like a private tour and was just what we like.

Once back on the ship we immediately went to eat lunch.  The choice for today was the Park Cafe in Central Park.  They had where you could get a salad made to your liking and also grilled sandwiches.  There weren't many places open at the time we got back on the ship and that is why we picked this place.  I am glad we did because I hadn't yet eaten there.  We were able to beat the rush.  It filled up right after we got there.

I actually took a nap this afternoon.  The sun really takes it out of you and it felt good to rest for a bit.  It is probably a good thing that I did because we were up really late.

We were invited to a Sail Away Party out on the Helipad.  This event was for Suite Guests only and there were several Officers there talking to us.  We were also joined by Shrek.  It was really hot out there.  They served us drinks -- a choice of champagne or fruit punch.  I opted for the punch.  I noticed that the champagne was flowing freely and they only brought around refills for the punch once.  That was fine because there really wasn't any place to set your glass down and I was so afraid i was going to break it or spill something.

Dress for dinner tonight was Smart Casual so we had to go back to the cabin to change clothes for dinner so we left the Sail Away a bit early.  It felt good to get out of the sun anyway.

Dinner seems like it gets slower every day.  I can't really figure it out.  Our waiter has a helper and they only have 4 tables to wait on which doesn't seem like much compared to other ships I have been on.  I guess if I was going to complain about anything on this ship it would be the slow service in the dining room but we have plenty of time so we just wait……….

Our show for tonight was the ice skating show.  I always enjoy this show a lot.  We got to sit on the front row and during the show one of the skaters came straight at me and I thought he was going to jump in my lap.  It was really funny.  

After the ice show we decided to go back and see Mo5aic again.  I love the energy in their show.  They were selling CD's and I would have liked to have had one but I didn't want to wait in line and they were probably expensive.  They said that they had a free download on Facebook so I will check that out when I get home.

There was one more thing that we went to after Mo5aic.  The Adult Quest Game Show.  This is always fun to watch but I don't want to participate so we always sit towards the back.  This is more of a young peoples game but there are some older people that make fools of themselves.  For those of you not familiar with this game, they divide the group into teams.  There were 8 teams this time.  They have team captains (male and female) and a staff person in charge of each team.  The Cruise Director tells each team to do certain things and they get judged based on how fast they do it.  Several examples -- bring a set of false teeth; 6 belts all tied together; 6 bras; 2 people wearing the same pair of pants; 6 people forming a human ball and then rolling on the floor.  When they asked for the false teeth, one man threw his down on the floor trying to get it to the team captain.  I don't know about you all but if I had false teeth, the last place I would want it would be on the floor!

When this was over it was after midnight so we were ready for bed because it had been a long day.  In fact it was hard to believe that we actually had been to port that day.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Today we are in St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.  We had booked a tour to St. Johns and had to ride a ferry from St Thomas to St Johns.  We had to be on the pier by 10:45 and had to be on time.  We got there with time to spare and it was so hot out there waiting for the ferry.  

When the ferry got there since we had gotten down to the pier early we were towards the front of the line but something happened and they started from the middle of the line to board so weren't the first ones on the ferry and when we got on all of the seats inside were taken so we had to go up top.  All of the covered seats were taken as well so we had to sit in the sun.  I had sunscreen that I put on but I found out when I got back to the cabin that I guess I didn't put enough of it on.  My face, arms and feet got burned.

On the ride over it was pleasant at first but then we started getting sprayed by salt water just a little bit.  By the time we got to St Johns I was soaked all the way through.  My eyes were burning with salt water and my hair was tangled and stiff.

We boarded an open air taxi which was on the back of a pickup truck.  He drove us around the island and we saw some beautiful views.  We had a restroom break and could walk down to the beach if we wanted to.  I just stayed by the truck with a few others.  The mosquitos were really bad and were eating us up and i was glad to get out of there.  

When we boarded the ferry to go back, we found out that there was a downstairs that was air conditioned with tables so we sat in there on the way back and we didn't get wet.  When we got back to the ship we were so tired and dirty so the first thing we did was shower and put on clean clothes.  After relaxing some we went to the lounge down the hall and met up with George and Bennye to hear about their day for a bit.

We had not eaten lunch and we were starving.  It was still an hour before dinner so we went to the Concierge Lounge where they had snacks and drinks before dinner.  That helped to get that in our stomachs before dinner.  We went to dinner at 6:00 and I had pork tonight with crab meat on top.  It had to be some of the best food I have ever had.  To begin with i didn't know if I would like it but thought I would give it a try and it was wonderful!

Tonight the show was a group called Mo5aic.  I had seen them before but I think they were better this time around.  They use no musical instruments, but make the musical instrument sounds with their mouths.  When they are singing, you think there are instruments playing but it is all their voices.

After the show we went through the casino on the way back to the room.  We didn't stay long since we have an early day tomorrow.  We will be at St Marten and have to be on the pier at 8:15.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Today was a sea day and there were a lot of things going on.  We decided to start the day out eating breakfast at Johnny Rockets.  It was free for breakfast and pretty good.   They only had hot dishes which was a change for me since I always like to start out the day with cereal and fruit.  I had an omelet and it was really good but really too much food.

We went walking around the pools to see what was going on since we hadn't been on that level before.  It was obvious that some people don't own mirrors.  We saw something interesting -- a rather large woman wearing a thong (dental floss).  She was laying on her stomach in the water (shallow) and it appeared that she didn't have a top on but surely she did.  We didn't stick around to see.  There are a LOT of foreign people on this cruise so they do things a lot differently than we do as far as dressing for the pool.

We went to an activity that was planned for the Crown and Anchor Society.  It was held at the Aqua Theatre and they had some of the acts back that had been there during the nightly show.  It was good to see them in the daylight.  We also got to meet the Captain and Hotel Manager as well as others.  I had never been to one of these events before but I really enjoyed it.  After it was over, they invited everyone to come down to the stage and take a look around.  Before going down there I saw George Rice walking down there.  I said that Bennye had to be close behind and she was.  I was able to meet up with them and talk for a while.  I knew they were on this cruise but hadn't been able to find them.  For those of you that don't know George and Bennye, they go to my church and were very good friends with my Mother.

After talking with the George and Bennye, I invited them up to my cabin to show them where we were staying and we visited some more.  I really enjoyed catching up with them.

They were having a talk on port shopping so we went down to listen to that to see if they were going to tell us anything we needed to know.  It was kind of boring so I found the Rosgas down towards the front and went and got them and told them we had another meeting to go to so we all got up and left.

We went to the talk by the Future Cruise Consultant.  It was very interesting to see all the ships that Royal Caribbean have and to see where all they sail.  I really didn't realize that they went as many places as they do.  They are really changing things up.  There will be a ship coming to Galveston and it will be there year round instead of just seasonal.  We are on the Allure and they are going to be building another one just like it.  I think they said it will be out in 2015 or 2016.  They also are coming out with a smaller ship at the end of 2014 -- Quantum of the Seas.  It will be ported  out of Bayonne, New Jersey going to the Caribbean.

By the time this lecture was over, it was getting late.  Poor Terry thought we had missed lunch.  Not to worry, there was no way we would skip a meal.  We went to the Hot Dog place to try it out.  It was just ok.  I am in no hurry to go back.

Mary P and I went and played Bingo but had no luck but had fun.  As soon as we finished Bingo, it was just about time to eat dinner.  

When we got to dinner we told our waiter we were in a hurry because we had a 7:30 show.  They sped everything up.  We were out of there in less than an hour.  We saw an act at the Comedy Cub.  We enjoyed it.  They warned us it was for audiences over 18 years old.  I was afraid it was going to be to risqué but it wasn't at all.  We all agreed that we had seen one of the comedians before but not sure which ship we saw him on but his routine was the same as before with very little changes.

After the show we stopped in the casino for a short time before calling it a night.  We have a full day tomorrow.  We will be in St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.  That will be nice so we can get phone service and see what has been going on.

Monday, September 16, 2013

We got in to Nassau around 7:00 am this morning.  We had no plans for the day so didn't get in a hurry to get off the ship.  The ship was only going to be here until 2:00 pm so w didn't have much time to do anything and we had both been here before.

The morning started off with room service for breakfast which was on time, in fact I think they came a  little early.  After relaxing a while we decided that we would either try to go to Atlantis or the Sheraton -- both had casinos.   it was quite a walk to get from the ship to the information center where we could pick up tours. On the walk a rain shower came up so we had to take cover while it passed.

The last time we were in Nassau we took a ferry boat over to Paradise Island which is where Atlantis is.  We really didn't want to do that because it was so muggy this time and there was a little bit of a walk that you have to take once you get off the ferry.  We didn't want to get caught in the rain again.  In the information center they were advertising taxis to Atlantis for $4 per person.  This was what we had paid for the ferry so we decided that a taxi it was.  They got a group of people together and loaded us in together and off we went.

When we arrived at Atlantis it seemed they had turned things around  but it could have been that we went in a different entrance this time.  We all agreed that we would only stay an hour and we would meet up with the Rosgas again at 11:30.  

Off we went to the casino in search of keno.  We never could find it.  We opted for some other machines where we both put $20 in.  My money was gone promptly and Mary was hitting so her money was lasting a little longer.  I went and started playing another game.  I put $20 in and was doing pretty good.  I hit some bonus games and got up to $50 so I cashed out and was watching Mary P.  By that time she had brought what she had won in the other machine and put it in the one next to me.  She didn't do too good so she moved to the machine at the end and she started hitting left and right.  At the end of the hour, we combined my $50 and her winnings and it totaled just shy of $500.  We got our money and met back up with Pat and Terry and it was time for us to go -- probably a good thing that we had agreed to only stay an hour!

Back outside we found a taxi that agreed to take us back to the pier for $4 each.  Traffic was terrible and our taxi almost hit a horse!  We did see a wreck along the way.   Once to the ship terminal we started our long walk back to the ship.  We weren't even half way there and another rain shower popped up.  This one lasted longer and was heaver.  There were places we could stop along the way to get out of the rain but we were soaked by the time we got back to the ship.  We had to go back to our cabins and dry off before we could go eat lunch.

Once dried off, we went to the dining room for a bite to eat.  After having a leisurely lunch we rested for a while but not for long because we had to go play Bingo -- where I won the first game.  Unfortunately I had to split with 4 other people so only got $50.  

We had been trying to make reservations for one of the shows later in the week but were having problems so Mary P called the Concierge and he told us that he was going to bring us a sticker to put on our card so that we didn't have to make any reservations and could go to any show we wanted, whenever we wanted.  That was nice to know because we had tried to make reservations for another show on the first night and it was already booked so now we can go!

Tonight was formal night but we weren't in any mood to dress up so we opted for Johnny Rockets instead.  Their burgers are always pretty good and we got them to dance for us.  

We went to the 9:00 pm Water Show.  It was really good -- high divers, acrobats, etc.  It reminded me of a Cirque Du Soleil show.  In fact some of the performers had even been a part of Cirque Du Soleil before.  When the show was over, we called it a night.  We were both exhausted.  I am not sure what Pat and Terry did.  I think Pat wanted to go back and see Chicago again.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

This morning we got up fairly early so we could go downstairs and eat breakfast before the crowds came and we were successful.  Right after we finished eating the lines were long.  I am so glad we got up early.

We decided to walk over to Publix to pick up a few things to take on the cruise.  The most important being Diet Dr Peppers!  As we started walking over there it started thundering.  We hurriedly got our things and got back to the hotel just in fine.  Once we got back the bottom fell out and it really stormed for a while.  It rained off and on the rest of the day.

We went to the ship around 12:30 pm and check in was quick and we were in our cabins in no time at all.  This is our first time on Allure of the Seas and the ship is beautiful and HUGE!  Since we had a hefty credit that Royal Caribbean had given us after our last cruise because of some mishaps we decided to splurge and get a Crown Loft Suite.  This suite is 2 floors.  The upstairs has the bedroom and a bathroom.  The first floor has a living area, table, and bathroom.  The balcony is a lot larger than I thought it would be.  It looks out over the Boardwalk.

There are so many things to do on the ship.  I just hope we have a chance to try them all out.  We started out by trying out the Windjammer Buffet.  The food was good but it was so crowded.  They finally came on the speaker and told us when we were through eating would we please leave so we did.  There was a long line of people waiting to get in to eat.

We went to the mandatory Safety Drill.  Ours was held in the restaurant which is so much better than having to stand outside in the heat.  They scanned our cards as we came in so they knew who all showed up.

We then went to dinner in the Main Dining Room.  We were able to get a table for 4 and we have good servers.  I wasn't too crazy about the food but it was ok.  

We had made reservations for the shows and tonight we were going to see Chicago, the musical.  I am so tired I hope I can stay away.  However, I did stay awake and it was very good.  I had seen Chicago several times before and I didn't remember the story line.  This one lasted 1 1/2 hours exactly so I am sure they had cut some of it down some because the other times I had seen it, I know it lasted longer then that.

It is now time to turn in for the nights.

September 14, 2013

We left DFW and flew to Ft Lauderdale.  All flights were on time and everything was uneventful as far as the flights.  We were staying at the Embassy Suites for the night and we had purchased a package that included transfers from the airport to the hotel and to the cruise terminal the next day.  

Upon arrival at the airport after we collected our luggage we called the hotel and told them we were ready for our pickup at the airport they told us someone would be there in 5 to 10 minutes. It took more like 25 minutes but we got everything sorted out once we got to the hotel.  Our room was nice.  It was on the 8th floor and we had a view of the ships in port.

We were pretty hungry.  The Rosgas had arrived earlier in the day and had already checked in at the hotel.  We all went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.  It was across the street from the hotel.  Service was good and the food was good.  Once we finished eating it was time to call it a night.  It had been a long day and we were tired.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

This Saturday we fly off to Ft Lauderdale to board the Allure of the Seas on Sunday, September 15, 2013.  Mary P and I will be traveling with the Rosga's once more.  The last time we were in the Caribbean our ship was docked next to the Allure of the Seas.  We went to the top deck of our ship and walked from one end to the other to try and look over at the Allure to see what all was on the ship.  We decided then that we wanted to sail on that ship so that is why we are going on this trip.  People ask me where we are going and I can't even remember.  This trip is all about the ship.  It should be fun -- hopefully we won't get in the middle of any hurricanes or tropical depressions.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Well I have been meaning to finish posting for this trip and didn't ever do it.  I will try to post a few things several months after the fact but don't remember much.

We had a 6:00 am flight leaving Bangkok.  We had to get up really early.  Since we would not be able to eat breakfast that morning, the hotel offered to deliver a continental breakfast to us free of charge so we took them up on it.  Since we had gotten in late the night before after the dinner cruise we didn't get much sleep.  Our wake up call was around 2:00 am and our breakfast was around 2:30 am.  I really don't remember what time we had to leave the hotel but I think it was around 3:30 am or 4:00 am.  The hotel provided the transportation to the airport and since it was so early in the morning there was no traffic.

We flew from Bangkok to Tokyo and arrived without incident.  We were to have about a 3 hour layover in Tokyo but it turned out to be much longer as there were maintenance problems with the plane and it left very late.  We were flying to San Francisco and from there to Phoenix and on to Dallas.  Our flight was so late arriving into San Francisco we were sure that we would miss our connection.  We had to claim our luggage and go through passport control and customs and them walk to the other end of the world to check our bags again.  We dropped our bags off and they told us our plane was already boarding and we needed to hurry.  We were able to get there with just minutes to spare.  The rest of the day was uneventful.

Once we arrived in Dallas we were so glad.  It had been a long trip but very memorable and enjoyable.  Craig met us at the airport with a Diet Dr Pepper.  It sure did taste good.

This was truly a trip of a lifetime that we will always remember.