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If memory serves, there's a machine in the Horizon Lounge that can make cappuccinos, cocoa, etc. Not the same as in-cabin service, but an option. Have the butler bring you something? 😇 j/k

Looks like the Joy has shown up in Curaçao. Play-date with the Sky?

Sorry, gang...just checked my reservation for the “Joy” on 12/8 and got the dreaded “time is running out” screen, so a December announcement must be forthcoming. Not unexpected since she’s still hanging around in the general vicinity of Manila.

More than anything, I resent how they try to push their products. It ruins my experience.

It's never ruined the experience for me, but it's certainly an unsettling jolt back to reality. Here's a sneaky little ploy that seems to work well, although maybe it was just luck. If you have your treatment(s) early in the cruise and they start putting the screws to you to buy something, just pleasantly tell them that you'll think about it, and maybe you'll be back later. After all, you've got the entire cruise to think about it and return to make a purchase...of course, you won't... :D Or defer the issue by asking if you can order something online when you get back home. (When in doubt, a simple and polite but firm "no, thanks" with a smile could also work. As a marketing guy myself, I hate the hard-sell and I can usually smell the traps...but I'm also a terrible liar! :rolleyes: )

The seaweed wrap is one of the more expensive treatments they offer, and it's a little surreal to be covered in green mud-mask stuff and wrapped in foil...but it really is out of this world. They were selling this one pretty hard on the Conquest last fall, either because it's really beneficial or because it costs more, but I remember them offering it at a fair discount as the week rolls on. One of my friends' wives tried it on the Pride, and we thought she had been drugged when she joined us for lunch afterward--kinda mellow, not quite all there. She inspired two of the guys in the group to go and make appointments immediately (including yours truly). If that's a little too strange for you, the hot-stones massage was also good. Another friend said that the basic Swedish massage was good but not great. I've never had any treatments at home, but I've heard that the ones on shipboard tend to be a little more expensive. Hope this helps!

"Yellowbird" !!

Agreed...a good Yellowbird is a treat! Also pretty much any daiquiri, and anything with bananas.

My friends and I still talk about this trip to this day. Many stories, but here's our favorite. The Pride was running Saturday sailings from Port Canaveral at the time, and the second day out we stopped at Half Moon Cay. Like most private island stops, you have to tender ashore...so we're waiting our turn to disembark. As we're standing there, a member of the cruise staff begins to pass down the line, and we hear her ask in a delightful but slightly weary Aussie accent, "Is there anybody here who's missing a crazy guy on crutches?" Puzzled, we look at each other and wonder what's up. The line advances, and then we see the source of her inquiry: there is indeed a gentleman on crutches standing just inside the tender station, very loudly and repeatedly demanding to see the captain immediately. We agreed amongst ourselves that whoever was missing him probably didn't claim him right away. :p