sharse

Now on page 10 and the lizard still haven't appeared. (If that's all it is) Time for me to move on.

Lizard? I guess it is a good thing you've moved on because if you were waiting for a story about a lizard I'm afraid I cannot help you, no matter how many pages in this thread. Blessings to you, and have a great day.

I absolutely can’t believe they allowed you two to walk around the ship, with all your problems! LOL

 

I’m surprised you two weren’t quarantined in your cabin!!

I get what you're saying, and it reminded me of another tidbit I haven't shared. And you might wish I hadn't! When Nicholas was in bed with a fever, I mentioned that I sat out on the balcony much of that day just reading. At one point I heard someone a few balconies away tossing his cookies. Upon making the decision that the sound of that was totally harshing my mellow, I went inside. I was wondering, "Is Nicholas going to get worse? Is this the flu? Is Noro wandering the Allure?" Alas... thankfully none of that was the case. It absolutely CBW!

Exactly. On Royal Caribbean they always go over so you can see the folded the corners of the leading edge.

This is not something that was planned to go into my review, but I now feel the need to mention that my cabin steward, maybe half the time, didn't put my TP on the spinner at all. It was just sitting there on the little shelf, which was A-OK with me! It was a pain to get it from down so low, under that silver cover thing-a-ma-jig.

That, and he probably figured out we kept taking it off because #theboy had recurring nose bleeds. Which, sadly, is very normal for him. Much to the dismay of the waiters at Johnny Rockets. They kept insisting he go to medical.

Oh... medical. Did someone mention going to medical...?

Never could get him to tell us where he went. He lived for another 5-6 years after that.

Love this! If only cats and old buildings could talk, the stories they would tell!

Another 3 pages and still no Day 6 and the unwanted guest. The suspense is killing me!!!

 

 

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Sorry. I had work to do! I'd love to mention what I do for a living but fear getting sent to the CC Pokey. But as you can see I'm back now. The unwanted to guest will arrive soon. And I fear you'll be underwhelmed or disappointed.

Maybe I should pull a Hucifer here and leave the boards for a few weeks to drum up anticipation.

Well I will disagree on this one, we have a lot of cats, as we do cat rescue. Ours is always over - never under.

 

On a side note I can't wait until October and getting to experience the Allure for ourselves. Will be our first time on one of these gigantic ships.

I LOVE this post! It is all about toilet paper, of which I have plenty in my home, and cats. Have two of them. It is the SIDE note that mentions the Allure. :') We have our priorities straight in this thread. Toilet paper, cats, and the Allure. In that order.

Your review has been fantastic...I am enjoying it more than most because of your writing style.

 

It is odd how a little thing can be like fingernails on a chalkboard . Your calling your son #theboy has been irritating me yet causing me to smile at the same time. For 8 pages I have tried to figure out why it bothers me and I finally came to me. I used to have a friend who always referred to his wife as “the wife” and never referred to her by her name. When he said “my wife” we believed he was being disrespectful. HOWEVER, when you call Nicholas #theboy it sounds endearing and cute because for 8 pages your love for him and the joy of your relationship has shined brightly and nicely enhanced your story. #theboy is so very fortunate to have such a wonderful mom.

 

Thank you for taking your time to include personal details in your review. They added to the pleasure of reading these pages.

Thank you so much. What joy your comments have brought me. I appreciate so much that you can feel my love for him. It is beyond anything I ever expected before becoming a mother. (And to be truthful, I felt like using his "real" name on the internet made me a bad mom, which is why I made up the hashtag name. Don't want anyone stealing his identity and making me wish I'd purchased Life Lock!)

I see you are in Virginia Beach... one of my favorite places! One summer perhaps 6 or 7 years ago we rented a condo in Sandbridge for a week. Nicholas was SO sick that whole week, and I spent so much time indoors with him (as did my husband). I was kicking myself for having gone cheap that week and renting a condo with a courtyard view. The ocean was SO close, but I couldn't see it when I was indoors with my sick boy. This past week on Allure when he was sick and in bed, I was thinking about that week in Sandbridge and SO thankful that I'd spent a few extra dollars on a balcony and that we weren't stuck in an inside cabin. (Not that there's anything wrong with an inside cabin, Hucifer. No disrespect meant!)

Day 5 – Roatan

At 8:25am (ships time - two hours later than Roatan's actual time) the pilot boat pulled up against us on the port side and I watched the Roatan pilot board our ship. That's always a cool thing to watch, I think.

After breakfast at the Solarium Café (which was packed, indicating everyone had finally found out about it) I grabbed my daily juice from Vitality (apple, carrot, celery was today’s choice) and then it was time to get off the ship. This was the only day we actually had something pre-booked.

We left the cabin about 20 minutes after the gangway opened and we walked right off the ship. I had booked a private tour with Johan of Real Deal Tours, so we headed out to the craziness of the parking lot to find him. It was just #theboy and me, not a big group, and we hopped in Johan’s car and off we went. Our primary destination was the Sloth Hangout, but on the way he gave us a little tour and told us some of the history and culture of the island. We stopped at a good photo opportunity where Allure was in the background and at this location were several vendors who had set up a little market. Johan explained that if we chose to buy anything here we were actually supporting a family whose primary business is making things and selling them here. I bought a pair of earrings ($5) and my son wanted a carved wooden dolphin ($13, but I gave her $15). After this, we got a little more of an island tour on the way to the Sloth joint.

Once at the sloth joint, Johan went in and paid our admission and secured us a guide. (I can’t recall his name.) First we went to meet a capuchin Monkey named Michelle. He instructed us to just wait for her to come to us and without warning she jumped on my head. Scared me half to death, for such a cute little creature! I held her for a while, then after biting my finger (not hard) and pinching my nose, she jumped on my son’s head and did the same to him. After we left Michelle we went over to the sloth. We only saw one, and we each got to hold her about a minute or two. She was 7 years old, very light, very soft, and very, very cute!

After the sloth we saw some birds, had a scarlet Macaw jump on my head – can you say “Ouch!” Those suckers have sharp claws on their feet – and the “tour” of the place was over in probably 20 minutes. I thought it would be longer, but it was still enjoyable and the highlight, so far, of the “CBW” trip.

Note: I later learned there are actually TWO sloth places in Roatan. Victor Bodden’s, which is where we went, and Daniel Johnson’s, which is where I thought Johan would be taking us. Johan said Johnson’s typically has an hour wait to get in, and is smaller than Boddens. Has anyone been to both that can confirm or deny that? I’m curious.

We got back in the car after buying #theboy a shirt, and Johan drove us down to the West End. We just drove by to see it, didn’t really care to stop because it was super hot, super early (again, ship's time was 2 hours ahead of Roatan time), and not much was going on, but I’m glad we got to see it. I imagine quite a lot of fun could be had in that neck of the woods.

Before I knew it we were back at the port saying goodbye and thank you to Johan. I told him I will definitely call him again and book an outing for our whole family when we are back in April aboard the Carnival Magic.

Before getting on the ship I wanted to head to a good spot at the port to take a selfie with my son (would that be an “ussie?) with the bow of the Allure in the background. As I dug through my bag and couldn’t find my phone I became increasingly anxious. There are approximately 437 pockets in my travel bag, and after scouring each of them thrice, I was ready to throw up.

A nice port worker saw the panic in my face and after I told him I couldn’t find my phone and was hoping it was still in Johan’s car, I asked if there was a quiet place I could call him. The port was so busy with shoppers and travelers I couldn’t hear myself think. They called security, ushered me to the security shack by the main gate, and I was expecting to have to pay $2.50 a minute on my son’s Sprint phone to call Johan, but one of the security guys let me call using his phone! So very kind of him. And sure enough… because it could have been worse… Johan confirmed my phone was in his car. It took him about 10 minutes to get back to the port, but that’s what he did, returned my phone (and, to be honest, a little bit of my dignity) and we parted ways again. Straight back to the ship we went, and the phone went straight in the safe, after I secured a drink of the day of course. First things first. I earned that Citrus Cooler. And the one after that.

Interesting side note. While standing at the gate waiting for Johan to return I was chatting with a few of the tour operators who were standing there trying to get Allure's passengers to buy from them. One gentleman asked which ports this cruise had been on so far and commented that he was glad we hadn't gone to Belize. I asked him why, and the gist of his answer is that the tour operators there are very unethical and pushy. When I told him I would be going to Belize on my next cruise, he told me in no uncertain terms that while in most ports, including Roatan, it is fine to plan tours directly and not through the cruise line, do NOT do that in Belize. He made me promise him that I would ONLY book through the cruise line next year. Has anyone reading this had any experiences in Belize to share?

Back to the review. Lunch in the windjammer was next, and then a little relaxing and cocktail consuming. This night we had reservations for the ice show. We were looking forward to that.

The Monopoly Ice Show turned out better than I expected. I was ready to leave about 10 minutes in, but it got better and we ended up enojoying it. After the show we went to dinner. We sat in a different section with different waiters and we really enjoyed them. They didn’t seem frantic or rushed as the past few had seemed. We had shrimp cocktail and baked potato soup and found both very enjoyable. #Theboy decided to go simple and order the chicken breast, because, well, that’s hard to screw up. He ate it all. I had the lasagna al Forno. Again, hard to screw up, but I swear there was a half pound of ground beef on my plate alone. I could eat maybe half of the lasagna. We both had the chocolate cake for dessert and this was the first time we left dinner actually FULL.

Went to our “secret” deck on 7 aft and watched the movie 15:17 to Paris, and then it was time for bed.

Day 4 and still no unwanted guest?

 

 

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***sssshhhhh... don't tell anyone, but the guest finally shows up on day 6 in the morning.***

Oh, don't be silly. [waves hand dismissively]

Girl, you are HILARIOUS.

 

 

I do believe that is WebMD's preferred method of choice for fever measurement.

*chestbump*

[Looks around to make sure nobody saw how awkward that actually turned out to be]

Kind of a random question, but what side of the ship was your balcony on? On Allure, most of the time, port side faces the port and Starboard faces the dock, although not all of the time. Nothing beats sitting out on the balcony and enjoying the scenery (and wildlife!) thanks again for the review, I too love your writing style and can’t wait to read more!

Thank you for your kind words. We were 7 Port aft. Cabin 7306. I actually chose the port side because every time Ive seen Allure docked in Nassau, it was docked straight in. In Cozumel, we backed in. In Roatan we backed in. And in Costa Maya I'm not sure which way we docked, but in all ports I had a lovely view of the ocean!

Day 4 – Cozumel

Woke about 8:00am, opened up the curtains and saw that we were already docked. Again today we didn't have any particular plans and were just going to play it by ear. I was actually happy I hadn't spent a bunch of money on an excursion! From the balcony we watched the Carnival Triumph pull up and dock next to us. I then went up to Vitality Café for another juice and a bottle of water, and then to the Solarium Café to feed myself and grab some food to take back for #theboy. (Is that a run-on sentence? Or just a wicked long one?). Anyway...he was feeling better, but not great. His fever had broken, thankfully.

After delivering his breakfast to the cabin, I went to Park Café for a latte and ran into some friends who used to live in my town. I had no idea they were on board because I hadn't purchased VOOM and hadn't been using the internet at all. Small world, this large ship!

After getting back to the cabin I convinced #theboy to go for a walk with me to see if he felt better, while letting the cabin steward in. We went up to the Solarium Café and got him a little more to eat -- he loved the waffles -- and then wandered around the pool deck, watching the Carnival Victory pull up and dock on the other side of the Triumph. After that we came back to the cabin and since the steward was not quite finished we decided to see if our deck (7 aft) had a “secret” deck. Indeed it does!

It isn’t marked on the map, but at the very end of the hallway is a glass door that leads to the back deck where the rock climbing wall is. There are seats and plenty of public space to hang out. This would be a great spot to watch whatever is going on at the Aqua Theater. Note to self! (And anyone still reading this thread.). There are also stairs right down to the Boardwalk, and one more set of stairs down to deck 5 and the jogging track. After making such a monumental discovery, #theboy was tired and wanted to go back to the cabin to rest.

I, however, was feeling like Columbus, or Ponce de Leon, or Lewis & Clark, and felt the need to continue exploring! I was in search of the other not-so-secret deck which I'd heard of but not yet seen with my own eyes… on deck 14. All the way forward, port side, is the Sun Deck. While docked in Cozumel there was a sign saying “Due to High Winds the Sun Deck is closed.” Huh? It was calm. There was clearly some reason they wanted to keep us away from this holy grail. Was there nude sunbathing out there? A special fountain of youth? Excellent umbrella drinks? Whatever. At least I could confirm the place was real, and not a mirage. I took a few pictures, then turned around, forgot that I’d just climbed two small stairs to get to the Sundeck, and promptly twisted my ankle by not paying attention. Score: Stairs - 1. Me - 0.

Spilled half my frozen mojito in the process. Now I was pissed.

I hobbled down that 4 mile long hallway (give or take) and took the elevator down to 7 and made it back to my cabin. After popping a couple of ibuprofen I sat there hoping I wasn't in need of medical attention. Time will tell. "Is this trip cursed?" I wondered.

A few hours later after resting my foot I decided it wasn’t broken, just bruised. Rather like my ego. I could walk on it, and while it was a bit sore, it wasn't bruising or swelling much. (See? I keep my promises. Told you you'd get more HIPAA details!)

My son was feeling better, too, so we went to dinner a little later than normal and sat in a different section. The waiters were nice enough, but didn’t take any time for chit chat. They’re busy. I know. We ordered our typical shrimp cocktails and they were as good as ever. I ordered the braised beef shortrib and #theboy ordered New York strip, which he typically loves. He asked for his steak to be cooked medium, and I asked the waiter if it would come out a true medium, or should he order medium rare just to make sure it was pink enough? (So many places over cook the meat, so wherever I am, land or sea, I typically order slightly under what I want and it arrives exactly to my liking.) The waiter assured us we could expect a true medium. WRONG. This was shoe leather. Dry, tasteless and not a speck of pink to be found. Actually it could NOT have been worse. I kindly asked for another piece of meat as this was WAY overdone. They brought another that, had I not been aware of what my son ordered, I would have assumed was a grilled chicken breast. Not a NY strip. It was definitely cooked with a little more pink, but it was just ugly. Not appetizing in the least, and my son sheepishly told me he didn’t want to eat it. Of course I told him he didn’t have to, and we then asked the waiters for just a plate of shrimp for him. We knew that was safe and would be enjoyable. They were kind enough to bring him 16 shrimp to fill his belly. My shortrib wasn’t terrible, but was underdone. I ate as much as I could, stole the baked potato off my son’s plate, and by the time we left we had managed to scrounge enough food to leave full.

After dinner #theboy once again decided to check out the teen’s club, but not finding anyone he wanted to hang with, he came back to the cabin. I went to the champagne bar for an adult beverage, brought it back to the cabin, and opened my book. The plan was to go to the 70s music party on the Promenade at 10:15 with our friends from back home that we'd just learned were on board, but we were tuckered and decided to just hit the hay.

Maybe a birdie joined them on the balcony.

 

 

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Actually, I hadn't planned on mentioning that, but yes, while docked in Nassau we did often have a bird come visit us! Freaked me out at first, but it became quite enjoyable to watch him (her? I didn't mean to assume gender, of course) come and go.

Love this thread....you are a hoot! Must be fun to live with..!

Funny you should say that. It is absolutely my goal! Thank you.

Day 3 – At Sea

I woke up to a noise at 7:00am, and quickly determined that the water cup on #theboy’s bedside table had been knocked over and his stuffed cat was in the trash can which was in between our beds. He was sitting straight up, staring straight ahead, and I asked him how he was feeling. He responded with an unintelligible grunt, and I asked him if he could just roll over and go back to sleep. Which he promptly did. When he woke again about 9:30 I asked him if he remembered the events of 2.5 hours ago. Nope. No recollection.

He had a fever according to the tried-and-true (if not terribly exact) method of mom's lips to child's forehead. Also a stuffy nose, but thankfully that seemed to be it for now. CBW, right? After dropping $18 on a $7 bottle of DayQuil in the shop on deck 5 and gathering a little food and some beverages now and again, I spent most of the day reading on the balcony, watching the sea and praying he gets better and not worse. He spent all day in bed. Sadly this meant we missed the 9:30am Cruise Critic meet and greet which was scheduled that morning.

That night I couldn’t bear the thought of going to my time dining by myself so I went to Sabor, which was empty. The guacamole was amazing. The empanadas were ok. The shrimp tacos were terrific, mostly because the tortillas were out of this world. After dinner I went to check on #theboy and he was definitely feeling better. I went and listened to a little music in Central Park. There was a wonderful guitar player and a I enjoyed a glass of wine from Vintages. Vintages was pretty empty, which was the case whenever I went back later in the cruise. Has anyone ever seen this place crowded? After that I went up to the Schooner Bar knowing a piano player would soon be starting. The Schooner bar on this ship is not a good music venue in my opinion. You can hear everything happening on the Royal Promenade, and if there is music down there too, it interferes. The pianist was good, but it is just not a top notch environment for music, sadly.

At the Schooner Bar I ran into a couple I'd met the first night at Rising Tide. They were in search of munchies. She ran to Johnny Rockets to get fries because they didn’t want pizza, and at that hour, that’s all that was available. Another downside to this ship, but CBW. It kept me from overeating, which is always a good thing!

I left the Schooner Bar, checked on #theboy again, and went to the 10:30 Love & Marriage show. It was fun and amusing as always. Jimmy is a fun CD, but sometimes he talks a little fast and I can't always understand him. After the show I went back to the cabin and Nicholas was awake and feeling a little better. I spent some time on the balcony just listening to the waves before heading to bed.

Quick side note regarding the Allure that I haven’t seen on other ships… there is no need for a nightlight in the bathroom. When you turn the light off, it actually doesn’t go all the way off. It stays on just enough to be a very effective nightlight. That's a good thing for people like me who drink 10 bottles of water a day. I'm just sayin'.

REALLY enjoying your report, your writing style, and your sense of humor.

This from the Master review writer! I'm not worthy! But thank you.

Following - so far, I'm really enjoying your review. I mean ..... it could be worse. ;)

High Five!!!

A PM feature would really be nice:D but don't believe CC has one!:loudcry:

Oh geez. :') Shows you how tech savvy I am!

Day 2 – Nassau -- Slept until 8:00, went for a latte at Café Promenade and noticed there was NO line at Guest Services. As it turns out I needed someone to come fix the safe which had glitched, so I used this opportunity to do that. They sent someone up within 20 minutes and all was taken care of. We had breakfast at Johnny Rockets, which was only open until 9:00 that morning. Since we have been to Nassau before we had no plans to get off the ship for any particular excursions and chose to play it by ear. We wandered ship to get to know her. Got fresh juice at Vitality Café ($7.25 but included in drink package as I mentioned before) and even though we'd already eaten we wanted to check out the Windjammer since we hadn’t been there yet. Super crowded. Shocker.

We lazed around the ship which was sparsely populated. I spent time reading on our balcony which, on 7 Aft, just happened to be staring at Nicholas Cage's house. We spent some time watching people on the flowriders. After his experience at Margaritaville I am still encouraging – unsuccessfully – #theboy to try again. Eventually we dressed and went to dinner and sat at the same table with the same waitstaff. Tonight’s pace was better, maybe because we arrived a bit earlier, although I didn’t really pay attention to the time. Shrimp cocktail and wedge salad were good. This was formal night, and some were very formal, and some were notsomuch. On the menu was Filet, which we both ordered. The waiter told us that kitchen was preparing it two ways: medium well or medium rare. WHAT? I expected the medium rare to come out a bit overcooked, which would have been my choice of medium, but it was actually a pretty perfect medium rare. And a tiny bit chewy. Coulda Been Worse. And there was not enough for the 13 year old, who took some of my meat to fill his belly. He had chocolate cake again, and I had a peach shortcake which was very good, and because I love cheese, I ordered that too. It was tasty. Of course. It is cheese.

After dinner we came back to the cabin to change, then went to the Aqua Theater as we had reservations for Ocean Aria. I am glad we arrived early because I didn’t realize that many seats there are an uncomfortable wooden bench seat. No thanks. We were early enough to secure decent seats that were actual chairs. Later arrivers were stuck on a hard wooden bench. The show was good, and the 13 year old enjoyed it as well. Neat combination of diving, acrobatics, and trampoline work. After the show #theboy went to the teen “Living Room” to see if anyone was there he wanted to hang out with. (The teens were doing ice skating that night, but he wasn’t interested.) I went back to the cabin to wait a bit and see if he came back, or if he found a friend. He came back. He said the place was packed, and didn’t really see anyone that he wanted to hang out with. Lots of older teens, he said. So we debated about what to do, turned on the TV, found that How to Train your Dragon was on. We’ve seen it before, but decided to just hang out and watch it again. (I’m sure he’ll deny it, but he climbed onto my bed with me and rested his head on my chest. Any chance to snuggle with my teen, I’m gonna take!)

After the movie, about 11:00, we needed a snack so we ran down to Sorrentos for a piece of pizza. The Promenade was hopping with activity, so we people-watched, ate our very average slices of pizza (Carnival’s is SO much better!) and then went back to go to bed. It was then that #theboy gave me a slight foreshadowing of what was to come. He wasn’t feeling so great…

Do you happen to have copies of any of those teen Compasses? Mine will be 16 when we sail the on the Allure, but it is our first time on RCI so I'd love to have an idea of the teen activities. TIA!

I do but posting pictures here on CC is so cumbersome... I have already put them up on another site that is more photo friendly. If you'd like to PM me I'll be happy to direct you to that place!

I'll answer that, but first things first. OP, it's great news to hear all is well. A heart condition is nothing to ignore.

 

I don't want to hi-jack the thread but for me, I just knew. Call it scared or whatever. It wasn't a 'grabber' but rather a tremendous amount of pressure. Like someone sitting on my chest. I could barely breath. And for some weird reason my jaw muscles began to ache. I drove home though persuading myself not to go asleep for fear I wouldn't wake up. So I quickly googled symptons of a heart attack and I had 7 of the top 10. I asked the wife to take me in. They immediately identified a heart attck not by EKG, but by enzyme levels in my blood. Boom... stint city here I am! I'm better now w/ my blood pressure under control, stopped smokng immediately, and a better diet. It's been about 15 months, or by my count, two cruises. LOL

 

Now back to the review.

May God continue to bless you and keep you here with your family and enjoying all that life has to offer!

We now know all the HIPPA stuff we are not supposed too.

The unwanted guest will show up soon. And sadly you'll have to learn a little bit more about my personal medical info before we get there. It is HIPAA, by the way. Not HIPPA. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. But I trust you all with this information. I know you'll keep it in the strictest of confidence. That's what we as a Cruise Critic family do, right?

Guessing #theboy is really Nicholas?

 

 

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We have a winner!!! Nicholas is my youngest son. He is 13. I also have a 14 year old (almost 15) who is traveling with my husband/his father on a Boy Scout campout this same week. Our first vacations apart. Which has added to my anxiety, much to my surprise. I didn't expect it to be emotionally taxing, but it was.

I know this won't shock any of you who've sailed before, but the lines to the Windjammer were unreal. Thankfully we weren’t hungry after our fantastic crepe breakfast in Hollywood so we just explored the ship. Finally grabbed a sandwich at the not-at-all-crowded Park Café. The cabin was ready at 1:00 on the nose. The suitcase didn’t arrive until after muster drill but no big deal. Muster drill was inside in the restaurant, not outside on deck which was FABULOUS! We didn't have to watch anyone faint or die of heat stroke.

Quick note: Having not sailed on Royal for 2 years, I’m not sure when it changed, but if you have the drink package they don’t make you sign for bottled water any more. And they will give you more than one at a time!

Quick note number two: I'd like to share my personal take on the drink package: Juices = $7.25 at Vitality Cafe. (For those who don't know, because I don't think many ships have juice bars, this is a place where you can order fresh pressed fruit and vegetable juices. We aren't just talking the fresh OJ on most ships. I ordered apple, carrot, celery, and ginger one day. Apple, cucumber, celery another day. We are talking fresh pressed to order.) Double Latte at Park Café = $4.25. Each bottle of water is around $2. A few lattes, a visit to the juice bar, at least 5 bottles of water a day is a little over $25. Add three alcoholic drinks, a few sodas, and you’ve just made the deluxe drink package very much worth it. I got my money’s worth for sure! Back to the review...

#theboy and I enjoyed sail away on our balcony, then headed downstairs to my time dining on deck 3 aft. There was a little bit of a wait, it was a little chaotic, but we were seated reasonably quickly after arriving at 6:45. Caesar salad and shrimp cocktail were very enjoyable. Prime rib entrée was mediocre at best. Have had much better at Longhorn Steakhouse. The gentleman next to us sent his salmon back and ordered something else. I had the pear/blueberry cobbler for dessert but it was more of a crisp, and not a very well done one at that. The fruit was ok, but the topping was terrible. Nicholas very much enjoyed his chocolate cake. Dinner felt rushed and I could tell the waiters were running their tails off. They work hard, but it was not an enjoyable and relaxing experience. But the first night is always a little crazy, right? Overall, dinner Coulda Been Worse.

After dinner #theboy went to the Living Room to hang out with teens. In the Living Room is a special Compass just for the teen activities. Not well publicized if you don’t know to look for it.

I took this time to wander the various venues. Schooner bar had trivia which was fun for a while, the champagne bar wasn’t very exciting, so I finally wandered into Bow and Stern Pub. Friendly bartenders made me something yummy when I said “surprise me”. He said it was a “Sexy Ocean” I think. Left there and wandered some more, ending up at the Rising Tide bar. Decided to head back to the cabin by 11:30, and Nicholas was already in bed. I decided that was a good idea.

Now that we've lost all of the 30 year olds who either think this crap won't happen to them later in life, or are too flipped out by it to continue reading, I'll carry on with my review. Quick side note to those 30 year olds... I was a triathlete... I still got old. It just plain sucks.