abbydancer2003

Beyond Day 6, Bimini Bahamas, June 28, 2024 Today was the the Captain’s Club Resort World buyout event. Last night, we got wristbands for our departure time from the ship (for the shuttle). We have Tangerine bands, whatever that means. We got up for breakfast, since our time was 9:30. I went light and fast with just a bagel with cream cheese. It was fine. We went down to deck 4 to go to the gangway, and while passing Al Baccio, I managed to trip on my shoe (I think they stick to the floor surface. A couple of people from Al Baccio and Daniel came and helped me up, gave me some water, and then I continued on. I did manage to bruise one knee and skin both, but not bad. We walked to the shuttle area. There’s not much at the dock area, so unless you want to keep walking, you should board a shuttle. On this cruise, the shuttle stopped at a shopping area and they told everyone without wristbands to get off. (I don’t quite know who that is, since all you had to do to be invited is to sign up for Captain’s Club - isn’t that everyone?). Also, there were lots of different wristbands on the shuttle, so I don’t know what that meant. We then continued on to Resort World’s beach area. There was a beach, two pools and some eating areas. We snagged a couple of chairs, and I went to the pool and did my therapy things and wandered in the water for a while. Following that, we sat in our chairs and read for a while. We then decided we were getting bored, so we went to the buffet they had set up. We looked at the menu, and it was pretty good. They did have a lot of options. Including steak and lasagna, but it was very hot so we decided we could go back to the ship and enjoy an air conditioned buffet there. We really aren’t beach people. We were not the only people heading back on the shuttle. I did get a picture of the beach part on the way out. At the shopping area stop on the way back, a group got in behind us and we had a nice chat about how all Caribbean Islands seem the same, and how many of us do the cruises just to be on the ship. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. Our next stop, once we walked back to the ship (they do have a shuttle to the end of the pier, was to drop our stuff and go to lunch. Today it was a French buffet, and so I had beef bourgeon and rice and it was yummy. The next thing after lunch (in the dead spots in the review I’m usually in the room working on this.) was to go to afternoon tea in the lounge. Our butler suggested we talk to the concierges about our room swap. Of course they knew about it. We ended up spending about an hour chatting with a couple who it turns out is a friend of a friend, and knew a lot of the same staff I do (they are of course Zenith). It was very pleasant. We eventually went back to the room, and I watched some of the gymnastics Olympic team trials. Today was the woman’s meet (and in this case there actually are some women competing, not just teens. In this case of the 7 gymnasts (including the 2 alternates) all but 2 are 20 or above, and Simone Biles is closer to 30 than 20. That’s like 100 in women’s gymnastic years. After that we went to dinner. Tonight I had their tomato soup, which is quite good and the grilled filet mignon. I decided to try the almond cake for dessert. Sorry I don’t have more on Bimini, there didn’t seem to be a lot there. I did see some shops and restaurants by where the shuttle stopped, and there seems to be lots of nice beaches. Tomorrows update (which I’m hoping to post tonight), will likely have some thoughts on the President’s cruise.

No but yesterday they did swap Aruba and Bonaire. So we're going west to east instead of east to west. I think the idea is to be west of the hurricane as it passes into the Windwards, and then be well south of it as we go east. That said, this may not be a smooth ride.

Beyond Sea Day 2 June 27 We decided not to get up in time for breakfast, but we did want to go to the Conversation with Celebrity presentation in the theater. We had coffee and a pastry from Rudy, and then headed to the theater. It was pretty well attended, but not full. The panel was Captain Leo, Laura three names, the head of hotel, head of marine operations, and head of marketing (I forgot all their names). Shauna hosted. She started with some pre selected questions, mostly about XCel, which weren’t answered. Other questions were about moving a ship to the West Coast. Laura kept talking about needing a bigger fleet, which means no, since she’s seems somewhat committed to short Caribbean cruises. There were a couple of questions about the status match at Zenith, specifically about Zenith events. The answer was also punted as Laura just said things will be capacity controlled. Whatever that means. The question that never came up was about the removal of tips (and OBC for suites). I’d guess it was asked a lot in the presubmitted questions, but they probably don’t want to answer it. Again, I thought this was an an entire softball q&a. After that it was room and pool exercise time. The pool was crowded today (I was hoping noon would mean it wasn’t but I was wrong). Certainly more than the occupancy 12 listed on the rules sign. I decided that if all these drinking people could ignore the limit so could I, and I was only going in for about 5-10 minutes. After that, once again, I was the only person using the hot tub. For lunch after that, I had chilled minted pea soup, which I like, and my half Luminae burger. For dessert, I had their apricot basil, which is pretty much an apricot tart. After lunch, back to the room to work on the blog, etc. While doing the day I was doing, I wanted to check the daily to see if I’d done anything. I couldn’t find it, but I did find this: Keep in mind we boarded on the 23rd. I hope the people for this enjoyed their last full day. Around 3:15, I went to get a latte. There was a long line because I guess the cooking competition had just finished. Guess I missed it. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. During that time we did get the Roku set up, so at 6 I watched most of the US Men’s Gymnastics Olympic trials on Peacock. We watched until it was time to leave for our reservation at Eden. It was a lot more crowded than when my sister and I went in February. Maybe because this is only a 6 day cruise. Nova (wife of Rozi in Luminae, and my previous server) was our sever. I did learn that she and Rozi have been extended through August, and will be home in time for their daughter to start school in September. She told us what to order. We both had two appetizers. Glen started with the Crab Cake I had the Reuben Raclette, which I don’t see on the online menu. It’s some kind of meat, potatoes, and veggies covered with Raclette cheese. If I go again, I’d order it, but I’d ask them to leave off the chunks of meat and add more potatoes. It was really good. For our second starter, Glen had the Carabinero Shrimp. And I had the truffled risotto. Also really good, and Glen reported that both of his were very good. We both had the beef combo - Filet mignon and mini short rib Wellington, and liked it. For dessert, Glen had butterscotch cream brûlée, I had the lemon tart, which is what I think I had last time. Overall, it was very good, and the service great. Glen really enjoyed it, and we’d certainly consider it again. After a short walk, we headed back to the room, and I watched the rest of the men’s gymnastics. Tomorrow is our visit to Bimini, and the last full day of the cruise.

My plan is to use this thread for both cruises, today is day 7, I think and tomorrow will be day 8. And on yesterdays or todays, I'll try to post some final thoughts on doing a Presidents cruise. To elaborate on the music at the event. The band plays before the bartender starts. They'll do a song while the waiters are passing out the samples, and maybe play some low music while he's doing his thing (not always). They do a couple of songs afterwards, I think the number depends on when the venue is next needed. As far the pool goes, I'm doing some physical therapy exercises to strengthen my legs (while they figure out why I'm having problems) that take about 10 minutes to do. Honestly, the retreat pool isn't really big enough for much else.

June 26, Grand Cayman Our plan for the day was to get off the ship and go shopping to see if we can solve the pant problem here. We woke up in time for breakfast. I asked for some watermelon and one banana pancake. I got three pancakes. They were small at least and good. After breakfast, we went back to the room, gathered our stuff and went to the lounge. We were redirected to Fine Cut where Azeno and Janelle were running the tender operations. I guess I didn’t read the instructions we were given last night. We were soon on the tender. They used the local big boats, which is kind of too bad, because I am curious about using the Celebrity tenders and the Magic Carpet. Maybe in Norway this summer. One on shore, we tried to figure out where we could go. Apparently Glen had done some googling and found a mall that had a store that might have pants. So he asked a local how to get to Camana Bay shopping center. The lady was very helpful, and told us to walk about 2 blocks to the library and get a number 2 bus. We walked to the library and while we were debating where exactly to catch the bus, one pulled up. We got on, paid the 2.50 each for fare, and off we went. The bus stopped along the main road (along the water) to pick up some people going to the beach. After a drive, he stopped, told us to exit, cross the street and follow a foot path to the mall. It went up and over a hill or or a building, but we did eventually reach the mall. THere’s a small store called Tabs, but it is a clothing store. They did have a limited selection of long pants, so Glen got a pair. We decided that for the cruises, 1 pair is enough, since he’s wearing shorts during the days, and just needs them for dinner. We started the walk back, because the store said that the buses didn’t run there, only along the Main Street. Midway back, Glen realized that he left his hat at the store. He went back, and I took this picture. The sign you probably can’t read was a sign for the mall. Once back to the Main Street, we walked along until a bus came by. It was a different number, but he said he could take us to the port. So we got in. It left the Main Street before the port entrance, so I was a bit concerned, but eventually they stopped, and told us to walk one block and we’d be at the Main Street. We were, and about 4 blocks from the terminal. Next it was back to the ship. There were only a few going back now, so no wait to go on. The Carnival Paradise was also here, and their tender seemed very full. It was before noon, though so I’m not sure why. Once back on the ship, I decided to do my pool exercises. There were a few people there, but only me in the hot tub. I decided to try a shower there but it only, apparently came in one temperature, “cold”, So I went back to the room and showered. There was a minor crisis at my mom’s house, so I spent a few minutes dealing with that. Got resolved. After that, we went to lunch. Today was the British buffet (I do like that there are different cuisines every day), so I had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. I also had a bit of both chicken and beef pie. I finished with a very small cone of strawberry soft serve. After lunch we went back to the room to do the usual, blog and exercise, but left a little before 5 to go to Music and Mixology. It was pretty much the same as always, but fun. The band was pretty good so we danced a little. Following that was a CruiseCritic party. One of their marketing people was on board, and he arranged it. It was very nice, and he got a lot of good feedback, but they had a band, and passed appetizers. I think the Club wasn’t the right venue, and passed appietizers didn’t really lead to mingling. We did get a Cruise Critic messenger bag, though. By then it was almost time for the show, so we went over to the theater. Glen likes the front row of deck 5, so we sat there. The show was Elements, and quite good. Here are some pictures. After the show we waited for the elevators to clear a bit, and walked up a deck to 6. No room in elevators, so we went to 7 and found one. We stopped at the room to drop the swag, and headed to Luminae. That was normal tonight, and we were with Jesus. I did tease him a bit about the VIPS,. Apparently they were in Eden tonight, (Good that we’re there tomorrow night). Jesus recommended the octopus and short ribs. I don’t like Octopus, but Glen does so he had it. It came while he was in the restroom so I took a picture. Agus, our usual assistant waiter, decided that they should give Glen a new one since he was in the restroom and took it away and replaced it. The replacement wasn’t quite as pretty. I started with the burrata cheese and we both had the short ribs. We also both had the Coconut Cremeux for dessert. I’m not quite sure what it is, but it was good. That was it for us for the night. Tomorrow is sea day 2. We did decide not to set an alarm for breakfast.

We got a move up to a Royal on the first of 3 b2bs earlier this year, then we went back to the sky suite. It's hard to say if anything in the restaurant was different, since the Matire'd changed, the host changed, and we moved from the front room to the back. One thing - when we did in suite parties, our sky suite butler said there'd be a charge for food. (There wasn't, actually). In the Royal they brought chicken skewers, shrimp, and a charcuterie plate. In the Sky, we just got the charcuterie, but we told them that was all we needed.

Haven't done, it but we did get the flyer.

The swag thing? A pouch to keep things dry I think.

June 25,, day 3 Sea day 1 Our first of two sea days, so we decided to go for breakfast. I still wish that sea day breakfasts went until 9:30, but they don’t, so up at 8, coffee at 8;15. Breakfast today was was eggs for both of us. After breakfast, back to the room, but Edy was doing his thing, so we went to Al Baccio. We were talking to a nice family next to us, and I noticed over at the bar a supervisor, who looked like Daniel (our good friend who we met on the Summit back in 2021). We’re friends on Facebook, etc and have kept in touch with over the years. Beth and I saw him on this ship in February, but at my last contact with him, he indicated he was starting his vacation before the previous cruise. I kept thinking it looks like Daniel (apologies to Elton John), but I wasn’t sure. So I decided to go to the restroom and check on my way. And sure enough, they’d decided to keep him through this cruise. So that was great! He came over to where we were sitting and we had a nice conversation with him. I was very happy to have them meet. After that we went back to the room so I could go do my pool exercises (this happens right before lunch every day). After my 5 or so minutes in the pool, I went to one of the hot tubs for about 10 minutes. Nobody else is using them, so that was nice. The clocks went back an hour last night, and somehow my math got off, as we went to lunch at 1:15, or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when they were still admitting people at 2:00. Yup, turns out I went at 12:15. After lunch both Glen and I went up to the Retreat Sundeck to do some reading. We also went to afternoon tea in the lounge. After changing for Evening Chic, we went to the lounge again, for the Officers Soiree. This time the captain and some of the officers were outside the lounge greeting the guests. That was nice, actually and an improvement from last few times when a couple of people showed up late, and stood by the entrance inside talking to each other. No sign of Celebrity President Laura “let’s be Royal Caribbean” though. We sat with another couple and enjoyed conversation and several appetizers. When they left, we joined another couple who had been on our megatrip with us. We stayed there until it was time to go to the show. Tonight’s show is Captain Kirk’s Rock Show. Apparently, he’s Captain of the Reflection and also a rocker in his deepest dreams (I guess he’s not running the Reflection tonight). So they let him do a Rock Show. We arrived at the theater for our reserved seating and Rudy wasn’t there, so Pratip, our butler from the Summit escorted us. That was nice. Once again a long intro by Shauna and President Laura “RC Rules”. It was a lot of fun, and he did a lot of hard rock (not entirely). Among the highlights were were Sweet Home Alabama and Sweet Child of Mine. He also played the drums when making Shauna do “Best Days of my Life”. I hope she doesn’t quit her day job, as she’s decent as a cruise director, not so much as a singer. She said she was mortified. I felt her pain. The only issue was because of the long introduction, it was 8:50 when he got to his encore song. So we left during that and got to the elevator while I could. We arrived at dinner a little before 9. One of the front desk staff escorted us, and tried to seat us at the benches that backs up to the crew area. I pointed out that Jesus is our waiter, and he’s in the front, but they guy said that he was serving the Presidents party and that section was blocked off. (Maybe she’s afraid to hear with suite patrons think of her changes). I asked if we could have a window table, and he was able to accommodate that. Our server was Tyrone, and the service was good. Soon after we sat down, I noticed the Presidential party leaving, oh well. I decided to start with the beef tartare, which I haven’t had in a while, and then I tried the lamb loin. That was quite good, and not that different in taste from a rack. I did the marscapone cheesecake for dessert, since I didn’t feel like removing the actual carrots from the carrot celebration. When Janice, the headwaiter came by, I told her that I didn’t mind the change in service team for the night, but I wasn’t happy that it wasn’t sprung on us as we walked to the table. She agreed7, and apologized. It would have made a big difference in how I felt. (Jesus did stop by after the foo foo people left). That pretty much ended our sea day. Going back to the room for the night, we had this. Apparently you get swag for port days. We’ll see later about Bimini.

May 17th. 8 nights. Wee're going there this summer, so won't go back next year, and I'm not convinced that I care about the President's cruise. Maybe Alaska next time they do it. And thanks to all who suggested stores. Tomorrow, probably, you'll find out we did get a pair in Grand Cayman, so he'll be able to wash the pants he's been wearing since we left San Francisco. Current plan for Fort Lauderdale is to just flip around and stay on the ship.

June 24, Day 2 Coco Cay Today is port stop 1, “Perfect Day in Coco Cay”. Whatever. Not being beach people, this was not a factor in booking this cruise, but I’ll admit I was curious. We woke up at 8 to see we’d arrived. Here’s Coco Cay from our room We had Rudy bring us coffee, he’s of the drop it off and wish us a good day set (Some butlers pour and set up the tray, others drop and go). After coffee and preparing laundry, it was time for breakfast. We got a somewhat better table, on the other side of the corridor. We both had French toast, his with the peach cobbler, mine plain. After breakfast, we gathered our stuff (towels, sunscreen) and headed out. We were there with the Wonder of the Seas, so probably between 8-9 thousand people there, roughly. We waled around the island for a bit. WE crossed a bridge, and here’s a picture of the two ships that are there today. Wonder is an Oasis ship. We continued walking and settled on some no charge beach chairs. I believe it was Chill Island, assuming it is the free one. We found some chairs towards the back of the area, and parked ourselves for about 20 minutes. It was starting to rain, and we’d now seen “Perfect Day at Coco Cay”, so we headed back to the ship. My physical therapist has given me some exercises to do in the pool, so this seemed like a good time to go to the retreat pool. There were a few other people there, but I got them done quickly. After some time in the room (I mostly do email and this), we headed to the buffet for lunch. Glen thought Luminae would be open, but I thought it wouldn’t since this was a port day. Today was the Spanish buffet, so I had salad and some sliced beef, since the Spanish stuff wasn't appealing. While we were eating, Alan, our sommelier, stopped by. He said that while in Coco Cay, Luminae is open for lunch. Oh well. (I guess it’s because Coco Cay does have limited dining options). After lunch, I worked on the blog until tea time in the lounge. I did see Briton, the suite manager (our concierge on Silhouette 2022), and had a nice talk with him, and I also say Pratip, our butler from the Summit in 2023, and our last dedicated butler before they took them away. I also asked the concierges about Go Green (confirmed we have it) and if there was any way to use one of our 4 dining package dinners on this cruise. There’s really not, but Briton figured out a way to fudge it. (Hopefully it will work). I watched the sail away from the lounge. I went back to the room to change for the evening, and then back up to the lounge for a drink. At a little after 7 we went to the theater to see the show. It was Stage Door, which is a show about musicals. It started with an introduction with the cruise director (Shauna) the captain (Leo) and his staff, and finally the President (Laura), That took about 20 minutes. So show started about 7:50. They started segments with interviews with performers. In one case, it was Marisha Wallace from Dream Girls, and at the middle of the song, she came out from backstage and sang with the performers. Apparently she’s the special guest performer tomorrow on the sea day. Part of the Presidents cruise stuff. Because of this, it was about 8:50 when the show ended. We had 10 minutes to get to dinner, and the front elevators were packed. So we thought we’d try the back. Also packed, so we went up 3 flights. On 7 there was one emptying, so we took it to 14, walked across to the front stairs and took the stairs to 16. Made it at about 5 minutes to 9. Dinner was nice. We both started with the Kale salad with watermelon and feta, although I substituted romaine, since I don’t like Kale. Jesus also gave us the short rib appetizer to try. For mains, we had the New York strip steak. It was good. Jesus also brought a sample of the veal Cannelloni. I’ve had it before and it’s pretty good. I finished with the Citrus, Orange Blossom sponge. After dinner, we called it a night. That’s the thing with eating late. A little walk and then back to the room. Before I go, a bit of housekeeping. First, for today, we got some swag for the beach day today. I guess because it’s the Presidents cruise. Inside Also, I promised the information about activities. Here’s the perk page and the CC activities pages. They’re in the President’s cruise booklet, I’m sure next week they’ll be back to the card. Let me know if I’m missing something.

The President, Laura three names, and a lot of big wigs sail on it. There are special events throughout and some things that are not so good (it will be in tomorrows update). There is some swag. We booked without knowing that, but lots of people book for it. Next year Norway. We go this year, so not even slightly tempted. @DaKahuna. They're renovating the top to floors right now. Iasked if they were taking out the lounge - guy didn't know. I tend to think they will. We'll be back for one night in January between our Sun Princess and Ascent cruises, so we'll find out. (Night before first cruise we're at the W since it's near where friends are staying.

@DaKahuna They do offer a 16.00 credit towards the cooked to order. I didn't check prices on Sunday, but if you have to pay for coffee/juice separately, I'd think you'd quite easily go over 16.00. @depplep There are kids, but not a huge number. Definitely more than usual, and more than we saw last Xmas (off the ship on the 21st). I wouldn't say a ton though. And I haven't been on deck early yet. I'm not sure this would be a representative cruise, since it's the Presidents cruise, as we are constantly reminded of.

@mac_tlc I haven't seen Rozi yet, but I'm in a different section of the dining room. We had his wife as our server in Eden in February, I remember she was a lot of fun, and reminded me of the charactor played by Awkwafina in Crazy Rich Asians. I'll ask about Rozi. @DaKahuna 17th street Renaissance. And big improvement since February, as both elevators are working. Still no lounge reopening. For our night at the end, we're at the airport Marriott.

Beyond Day 1. Today is boarding day. I’m hoping to see a few people that I know. We got up around 8:45, got dressed, and went to breakfast. Because of status, I get free breakfast at most Marriotts. We opted for the buffet, and I had eggs and bacon with a pancake. Not terribly excited. After breakfast, we went back to the room. I looked out and our ship is there. Glen had this idea that our boarding was at noon, and I said 11, and we could go whenever we wanted. So he took a brief nap and at around 10:45 we headed down and called an Uber. Les than the price of one on the shuttle, so even with tip, it would be cheaper. Our driver came around 10:55, and we headed out. I’m not sure he’s been to the Celebrity pier before, because at the gate he asked where it was. He was using GPS, though, so he got us there fairly quickly. We dropped our bags, showed the boarding passes to several people on the way to the retreat area, went through security, got checked in (including a picture - I don’t know why I bother to upload one) and on to the ship. All told, about 15 minutes. Once on the ship we headed up to our room to drop the backpacks. We’re on starboard about 10 rooms behind the forward elevators. We’d booked this with a suite guarantee, since there wasn’t much choice left and we weren’t going to be able to stay in the same room for both cruises, so it was a decent choice. The steward had set most of it up. We did put our wallets and passports into the safe and then headed up to the retreat lounge. It was fairly busy and there was a line. I decided to ask about one of our dinner reservations for the next cruise. During the flash sale, I booked a 4 dinner package, and on my birthday (6/30) I wanted to eat at LeVoyage. That was the only one where the day matters, so I thought I’d try. Azino, the concierge, remembered me (which was nice) and said she’d send a note to the Maitre’d to reserve it (the issue is that it’s not on this cruise). After that, we headed to the Art Gallery to finish our muster drill (we did the videos when we dropped our bags), From there, we went down to deck 4 and toured the ship. I pointed out the small differences with Apex, specifically the sunset bar, the shops by the entrance to Eden, and the free standing martini bar. Along the way, we went through the entrance to Eden. All are different. Glen reminded me that Edge has trees and I think Apex has funhouse mirrors. After that, Glen decided to go to the room to take a nap (he likes doing that) and I went to the lounge to read a book on my phone. While I was there, Concierge Ian came by, and we reconnected (he was there in February). At about 1:20, I decided that I should probably get him, as I wasn’t sure if lunch closed at 1:30 or 2. We arrived at 1:31, and Kema, the hostess from February remembered me. I asked if the new Maitre’d was Arika, and she said, yes and she’s right behind you. We had a very nice reunion. (I think this is our 4th cruise and third ship together). I asked if Gary or Ali were still there, and if Jesus had come with Arika. Ali just left for vacation, and Gary has gone to Ascent, but Jesus is here. So I asked for him to be our water, and they said yes. His section is at the front of the ship, and we were seated there. We got big hugs when he saw us. For lunch we both had the new “borsch”, which is not the red borsch my mother loved. It’s more of a stew, with yellow beets. I tried last cruise and decided it was pretty good, and easier than have them replace the kale with romaine in the salad. I had the New York steak as I usually do. I asked for medium rare, but I got medium, which is OK. Glen had the soup and the Cobb Salad. He said it was good, but the chicken was rather dry. For dessert, I had the berry cobbler. Glen decided to skip, but Made, the assistant waiter brought him vanilla ice cream. It’s been 2.5 years since we’ve last had Jesus, and he remembered. Wow. During lunch a couple of servers remembered me and stopped by to say hi. One was our assistant waiter from February. He shared that he’d been on vacation and was just back. His wife is now expecting their second child and he asked me to share that with my sister. (They talked about that a lot in February). After lunch Glen went back to the room, and I went to the Captains Club desk to ask about tickets for the Captain’s Club event in Bimini. There was a line, and the people at the two desks were taking a long time. A couple got in line behind me. They told me it was their first cruise, and they were asking about dinner reservations. I found out they were asking about Blu, so I told them they didn’t need to wait. Once it was my turn, I found out I don’t need tickets, just show up, so back to the room. The luggage had arrived, so we unpacked. Glen realized he left all his pants on the bed. So I guess in Grand Cayman we’ll look for somewhere he can get one pair, and then on turn around day, we’ll go shopping in Ft. Lauderdale (Does anyone know if there’s something like Kohls, Target or a well stocked mall nearby?) While there, we sailed. I also met our butler Rudy. Next stop was the lounge for a cocktail before dinner. Glen tried one of the Retreat Lounge specials, and I had a light rum punch. There are new bartenders there. At about 8 we went to Luminae, but there was a bit of a line, so we weren’t out to the sundeck to look at whether you could see stars. It was raining a bit, so no. We waited about 10 minutes and then went in. It was still pretty busy, so Arika first seated us at a 4 top, but we decided we didn’t like the round table for two people. We went to the front of the restaurant (hostess station is in the back), and found a table near the back wall. We won’t do that again, as it’s along the corridor from the kitchen, so people were going by all the time. I’d rather wait for a table than that. It took a little while to get service, but it went well after that. I started with the Daniel Boulud corn soup, without the prawn. It’s chilled and pretty good with this asparagus mousse thing. There’s supposed to be crispy leeks, but I don’t think they put them in so next time I’ll ask for extra. For my main, I tried the guinea hen with spaghetti squash and pepitas. It was good, and the pipits were there. When the dessert menu came, I noticed that one of the desserts, the Vacharin, had a different description on the app than in the restaurant (I’ve seen that before occasionally). I mentioned that to Jesus, as I thought it was funny, and he took phone to show the chefs. Apparently, they ended up sending an email to someone about it. This is the Vacharin we got. Not sure which one, but it was good. Before we got our desserts, Jesus brought us each a small bowl of strawberry sorbet as a palette cleanser. I’d given up on those a couple of years ago, but he remembered we liked them. Wow again. After dinner it was back to the room and we called it a night.

I think there are 2 parties. I'll have pictures of the benefits page on my update for today (yesterdays update is almost ready to go). This is the Presidents cruise, so may be different, but it's in a separate section of the brochure for Presidents cruise. And the Persian garden benefit is, I believe, excluded from E ships.

Would love that, but we're on Apex until 9/7 and I don't think I can talk Glen into September.

When I asked DH, he said they're orange (a few are yellow) because they need to show up against the blue of the water. And Beyond's, which I can see from my balcony are indeed orange.

Not sure what airlines and flights have to do with the logo, but I thought the lifeboats have always been orange.

Beyond Day 0 We last left us at the airport with our bags at 7:30. We were planning to spend the day with our friends Ann and Ralph, who we know from our Caribbean Princess cruise last fall. She works out early in the morning, so told us she’d be done by 8, and would pick us up at the airport (I’d emailed about doing lunch). I found which door we were near, and about 15 minutes later, she texted that she was home and would be there within 20 minutes. So we went out at 8 and she was there a couple minutes later. We were able to get one of our suitcases into the trunk but had put the other into the back seat. Once at her condo, we called Ralph at his gym and decided to go to breakfast at a local restaurant. The issue was the suitcase in the back seat. Ann suggested that we just leave it by the parking space, but we weren’t exactly comfortable with that (the issue is that her condo is on the second floor with no elevator). She then suggested the office for the complex. That was fine, as it was out of sight. We had breakfast at a little cafe that I believe is a Turkish cafe, since there was a Turkish breakfast item. I had eggs and bacon, nothing exciting. After breakfast it was back to their condo for a couple of hours. While there, I helped with with getting onto the the Power Up points thread on Cruise Critic, since they need 1 more point to make Elite before their next cruise in September. If there’s a July activity, they can do it. Next activity was lunch. They took us to a neighborhood bar which was pretty much famous for a large number of beers, both on tap and in the display refrigerators that covered all the walls (may have been the Riverside Market - not sure). Everyone but me had beer. We all had different sandwiches and shared fries. The food was good, and I enjoyed a coke. After that, back to the condo and then at 3:15 or so, it was time for us to go the hotel. Ann took us since we had to grab the suitcase back. I have a standing request for a high floor Marriott. When I looked at the app, it said they’d reserved a low floor. I did chat and they said there was construction on 10 and 11, so low to avoid noise. I asked them to change it and they did. However when we got there, they said they had a corner room on floor 10, but it was right below the construction. So we talked about other corner rooms, and they said 9, 6 and 7. I asked for 7, but it wasn’t ready, so we decided to wait. We went to the restaurant and had lattes while we waited. About 4:55, our room was ready. I went to the front desk and it was 901, which was higher than we wanted, but at that point I figured it was one night. From the room, we did hear some noises during the first hour. They told me they started construction at 9, and we’ll be up by then. We rested and I took a lovely shower. We had friends from our last cruise coming to pick us up at 7:10, so at 7:05 we headed to the lobby. The last two times we were her, one of the elevators was being updated but this time, they’re both working. While in the lobby I asked how much the shuttle to the cruise terminals was, because this time we’re the only ship there (June and December are very different seasons in the Caribbean). The price went up to 9.00 per person, so not as cost effective as Uber or Lyft. We had reservations at a local Cuban chain called Padrinos/. It was great and their Churassco (skirt steak) was amazing. We had a very nice dinner, and it was great seeing them. About 9:45 we got back to the hotel. I wrote the last update and went to bed. Tomorrow we board!

Beyond June 21 Night First the flight. I don’t sleep on planes, so it was very helpful for me to hav the empty seat. I spread out a bit, and didn’t have to worry about someone next to me. First thing I did was to select a movie that I’m very familiar with This is so that I don’t miss anything important if I sleep. We had the TV on the middle seat set to the flight map, and it was kind of fun (or what passes for fun after 1 am) to watch the path of the flight. Following that, I picked a random Harry Potter movie and watched the beginning of that. (Turn out it was Prisoner of Ashkaban). One thing I did do when bored, change a flight next year. Earlier in the day, I’d had an email that our flight home from our November Azamara cruise had changed to an hour earlier. Which was fine, since it was originally a 6:30 pm non-stop. Lots of hours to hang out in Miami airport. It did, however, say that we could get one change to any flight within a short range. So, since the only site I could visit was United. I looked at all the connecting flights, and discovered all were free. So I moved us to a 1pm departure, which eliminates a lot of our wait time. Otherwise an uneventful flight. They did a few drink services throughout (coffee and water mostly) and the flight ended up being about 35 minutes early. After leaving the plane, we stopped at the United Club to use the rest room. When I got out, Glen was sitting at a table having a light breakfast of eggs and sausage. (The staff who scanned the boarding passes said to have breakfast if we wanted). I got a small amount of eggs and potatoes. After that, we went to baggage claim, and bags were going around but we were pretty sure it was from a previous flight. Once the bags from our flight came, ours came quickly. We had them 5 minutes before the flight was supposed to land. Not bad. On that note, I’ll stop for now, as I’m nodding off. We spent today with friends, and I’ll go into that a little bit tomorrow.

On United, there's a box you can check for an extra seat. You then select comfort or extra baggage. The seat gets a boarding pass. I scanned it so that nobody would think it was an empty and available seat.

Greetings from SFO, where for some reason I booked us on a Red Eye. We're off to Ft. Lauderdale for B2B on the Beyond for two weeks. How did this come about? My sister and I were on the Beyond in February. I learned from the hostess in Luminae that the lovely Maitre'd was moving to a different location, and that the Maitre'd from the Equinox and later Eclipse was coming and bring Jesus (everybody knows Jesus!) was coming over in March. We had our megatrip in late March, and I was a poll worker in early March, so I couldn't come back. However, we had nothing between early May and August, so I picked a 6 day followed by an 8 day in June. I learned from someone on the Solstice with me that I'd booked the Presidents cruise for the first one. Quite by accident. Air from SF to FLL was ridiculous in first class, but, if I took the red eye, coach was pretty cheap, so I booked the middle seat as well as aisle and window. That should make it more comfortable. Glen is telling me it's time to board, so I'll have more tomorrow.

Thanks. We're on Apex August 16 and 27, and I see it will be at City for both.

When we did it on Royal (Symphony) to Apex, we asked for the last luggage tag for airport transfers. By the time they figured out what to do with us, and waited for some stragglers (last bus), we could get right on board. Lyft would have been around 8.00 plus tip. We could have walked if it wasn't humid, raining and we were shlepping luggage.