jam19872016

I think my duck is alive. I left it on the top of my nightstand and this morning it was in the cubby below. I guess i could have knocked it down in my sleep but that is a pretty perfect landing. It could be the room steward being silly but I did not notice it last night after turndown. Speaking g of the steward, he left me a turkey last night along with a handwritten Thanksgiving wish.

No sales that I could find. T-shirts were 2 for 30. Was hoping for today maybe they would drop back to 2 for 20 or even 25. There was a table with giant variety bags of chocolate on sale 50% off but no price listed. I looked at it's spot on the shelf, also no price. That tells me they marked it up 200% first and couldn't even print new signing. There was also no price listed on the white Hennessey. Last check on royal was $69 (which is the cheapest I've found recently) so it's probably over $70 by now in line with the islands and carnival. Off to the dining room for lunch now.

Good morning and ummmm happy Black Friday. I'm pretty sure there are no actual sales going on but I think I will stroll through the Promenade and see what their BF sales are all about.

Rounded out the night at Schooner and now I'm back in the room for the night. Next up, day at sea Good night.

Moved to star lounge for the game show. It is not 60 seconds or less it's majority rules. Teen karaoke was still going on but it was over quickly. Plenty of room to find a seat for a solo and still not full as it has started.

Honey baked ham. Chestnut truffle risotto. Chocolate whipped coconut parfait. Pecan pie.

I didn't know know what to expect with dinner. It was a very nice looking menu. But they don't prepare it often and if they use cheap ingredients it doesn't matter how nice the menu is, it's gonna disappoint. I was very happy with how it turned out. It certainly didn't compare to a home cooked Thanksgiving meal but everything was very tasty and I enjoyed my special dinner very much. Started with a festive drink. Apple martini. The more obvious choice was a vodka cranberry but I drink that all the time, wanted something a little different. Almond crusted fried brie. Seafood salad.

Menu continued.

They also had a very nice menu tonight in the dining room.

I stopped by the Windjammer to see what they had going on for Thanksgiving. It was Mexican night so they had the normal Mexican night fare. They also were carving turkey, ham, and beef wellington. I saw most of the traditional fare also including stuffing, carrots, sweet potatoes, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and some other stuff I'm likely forgetting. Cupcake display at the entrance. Fruit art.

The sunset tonight was obscured by heavy clouds. This is the railing the kids climbed over yesterday. The glass portion not the wooden portion. This is what's below. Yeah they were probably not in danger of going overboard but still a major safety issue.

60 seconds or less is at 9 in star lounge. I was going to just camp out there with with drink so I could get a seat. Teen karaoke is from 8-9. If I can't get in at the last minute I won't be going because there is a zero percent chance of me sitting through teen karaoke 😅. Parked at the Schooner for now. Tunes begin at 830.

It took 21 minutes to make it through that line. Completely unacceptable the way royal handles MTD. The line for those without reservations was actually slower despite being shorter so having having reservation was definitely the way to go but defeats the purpose of MTD.

In addition to the pool and playmakers, one random TV in the gym was also playing sports.

In line for dinner now. The reservation line is wrapped to the elevators. It's easily twice as long as non reservation lime. Let's see if it moves quicker.

They have the sports ball game playing on the big screen but the sound is off. You've really got to be a fan to watch sports ball with no sound. They did the same with the world mug game the other day. Seems odd to not play the sound. Sound was on in playmakers. Heading to the gym now.

It's very nice out on the shady side of the ship. Because I haven't learned my lesson guessing the ships, I'm going to call this celebrity beyond and ncl prima. It's 408 degrees on the sunny side of the ship. Oasis, carnival Vista(maybe?) and horizon.

I think I'm finally past my hot dog craving so I nervously went into the Windjammer in search of a decent meal instead of the doghouse. I had forgotten that Mariner had a decent buffet compared to liberty and indy (and freedom in October since she is feeling so left out 😆) That's a shrimp po boy station which you can't read through the glare. It was pretty good just light on the shrimp. Next time I'll add a fish to it from the fish and chips station that was also good.

I found a duck hiding in the bushes.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope everyone has a great day however you choose to celebrate the day. I didn't go to sleep till 3 so I'm still good to roll over and sleep some more but I guess I need to get up and let the steward have the room.

Back in the room now and winding down for the night. Tomorrow for Thanksgiving we will be in Cozumel. Good night and see you all on turkey day.

Let's talk about capacity and high kid counts. I knew what to expect for a Thanksgiving cruise. I sailed extensively this summer and during Easter. I'm used to crowded and kid heavy cruises. This is pretty bad. Probably the worse I've seen from kids (not adults, sailed with way worse groups of adults). First day was slightly annoying but about what I expected for Thanksgiving. Second day was alarming just because they had a beach day to tire them out but were still running all over the ship. I thought uh oh what is the sea day going to be like. Things got pretty wild today. The elevator games I've never personally witnessed in all my cruises. I've had the buttons pushed on me twice today. One had to be 17 far too old for that. I witnessed a group of young teens climb over the railing in the front of the ship. Not even just on top of but over completely. Evem took some selfiea of their behavior. It gets worse. When I alerted a crew member what was going on, kids climbing over the railing above the deck overlooking the bridge. His response was but it's just over the bridge right? Wow, guess falling onto the bridge is no big deal and no chance of falling the rest of the way down to the helipad. I'll be honest, I'm not one to deal with shenanigans. I will physically detain a child until security/parents show up. A kid running will be in a lot more pain than me if they decide to bump into me. I'm a big dude and will be like running into a brick wall. Kids running down the hallway is an opportunity to stick a foot out my door. My hall has been quiet so far other than my poor neighbor who keeps getting male genitals drawn on her whiteboard despite pleas that there are children in the room. Marshal law. If that offends you, control your kids. That is all.

I'm very spoiled. I'm going to want all my bloody Mary's to have a salt rim now 🤪. Super crowded at the bar now and I still have all 5 vouchers so I got a habenero grapefruit daiquiri at Schooner. Good but not spicy enough. Then again my new BFF at casino bar has my mouth on fire so maybe it is spicy and I just can't taste it lol.

I showed up 15 minutes early for finish that lyric and still couldn't find a seat. It was notbthia hard to get in on Liberty or indy. I'll try 20 minutes next time see if that is early enough. Plan b, at the Schooner enjoying the piano man and some drinks.

Indian night at the Windjammer was good. It certainly looks like a hot mess but the flavors were very good. I also got some vanilla ice cream and cherries for some cherry jubilee. I added what I thought was brown sugar to the top and it turned out to be cookie crumbs. Not the flavor I was trying to build but ended up being good. The only disappointing part was they ran out of salmon and replaced it with barramundi. It was not good at all. Other than that a great dinner.