Denversail

So it was eggs Benedict for breakfast. Eggs were perfect as you can see here since I tore into before taking the pic. I only ate 1/2 my breakfast since I have lunch scheduled for noon. Was in and out in 30 minutes. I stepped outside and it is still a little chilly and windy. The sun hasn’t made an appearance yet. i will check back in later from the beach club.

Good morning, the ship woke me up while docking in CocoCay. We got here around 6 am. Skies are a little cloudy and it was windy a little bit ago. I’m sure it will get nicer as the morning gets later. I headed to the MDR for breakfast about 8 am and no problem getting seated right away. I did manage to catch the Exployer docking next to us. We will be the two ships here today.

A few notes: 1. If you have an excursion @ coco Kay you won’t get normal tickets in your stateroom like the other excursions booked. I did end up getting a letter with details. I was told by an employee that because Royal owns it they don’t do tickets. 2. Voom. You can set this up immediately when you board. You put your phone in airplane mode and join Royal - guest wi-FI. From there just follow the steps.

That red eye wiped me out. I’ve decided to have a successful red eye the flight needs to be at least 6 hours. It might not be great rest but rest is rest. I’m running on fumes. After dinner I spent a few hours in the casino and now I’m ready for bed. About dinner… I’ve seen all the complaints and honestly because of them I was slightly horrified about what I’d be served. Would I be able to cut my meat? Would I have to go to the kitchen myself to retrieve food? Am I going to starve on my cruise? My experience today was the same as I always remembered. Did they scrap my breadcrumbs off the table? No. Was I offered pepper on my salad? No. Did I feel like my server gave me special attention? No. Did any of these things ruin my experience? No. It all seemed pretty much the same other than the staff seemed a little more spread thin. The food tasted the same to me. A lot of folks have talked about the amount of time it took for their meal. I chose to skip dessert for two reasons. 1. I don’t need the extra sugar when consuming all this liquor. 2. It gave me the freedom to leave when I was ready. I was in and out in an hour. I had 4 appetizers and one entree. It was a fabulous first day. The weather was gorgeous and comfortable. The food and drinks were plentiful and good. The service so far has been great. Tomorrow is the beach club. Sweet dreams y’all 😴

The prime rib was very good and tender. It was all served hot and as expected.

I don’t agree with you. It is not fact. I assure you that two different people can prepare the same meal with very different results.

That is like saying food taste the same regardless of who is eating it.

Next was Caesar salad and shrimp cocktail. Both of these were fine and unremarkable just as I remember them. I realized when I was almost done with the salad that it was missing ground pepper. They used to come by and offer it after they served the salads. No big deal just a difference I noticed. If I order another I will be sure to request the pepper.

First served was the crab cakes and spinach artichoke dip. The crab cake was decent and served slightly warm. It had good flavor but less crab than you would normally see in that dish. The dip had a good amount of artichokes and was served hot. The chips were stale. I solved that by just using bread. Overall both were good.

Sail away was a little wet. As I mentioned they moved the events inside. I was able to go out on the balcony and get a few pics. Outside of the rainy sail away the weather was gorgeous. Just sat down for dinner. Ordered some apps and the prime rib. Found my table earlier so was able to just walk in and sit down.

I haven’t been outside in the last 30 minutes. I saw this morning that we were expecting a thunderstorm around sail away. They announced a few minutes ago that the sail away party is being moved to the royal promenade. We had amazing weather all day so no biggie.

My room steward Shawn came by and offered me my morning or evening service. He is very nice and I told him whatever balances his schedule. I’m just one person, how much of a mess can I make? He also agreed to bring in a mattress topper for the brick. I did have a problem with my safe which was addressed within 2 minutes of me mentioning it. So I enjoy a good red bull & vodka. I’ve noticed when ordering this at the lime & coconut and the solarium pool that it is served in a shooter sized glass. I ordered from the pub and boleros and those were in a normal short drink glasses. I don’t care cause I have the drink package so I can keep ordering. If I was paying for individual drinks I’d be annoyed. I’ve been to almost all the bars on the ship today and haven’t had delayed service in any of them. sail away is soon and dinner @ 5:30. Food porn coming up…..

It is blueberry jam, mint, vodka, and I think club soda. It was not too sweet in my opinion. I can’t drink a bunch of the sweet drinks and I found this refreshing. I’ll be repeating this one a few times.

Stumbled to my stateroom at 1:30. I’m forward starboard. I will have to get used to that fast since you can’t cross aft to forward on deck 7. Room is as expected. No smells and toilet seems to flush fine. I have an ocean view balcony. Not a fan of the tiny table and little chairs on the balcony but it will be fine. Bed is very solid like I’ll be bruised after one night solid. I can feel the ac running so that is a good sign. Saw my luggage on my way to the room so grabbed it. Time to settle in.

That Mint Berry delight was really good. knockout punch from Playmakers

Mint Berry Delight from the trellis bar.

I couldn’t make it through the Miami vice. It wasn’t blended properly and had a lot of chunky ice. Too much work. So moved onto the lime & coconut for one of cruise favorites a Mojito. This was another disappoint as none of the ingredients appear or taste like they were ground up. I was strolling through the Solarium and noticed the Bistro just opened. It is about noon and it is nice and quiet in here. Small selection with Indian, pasta, salad, hamburgers, and a few other dishes. Decided I’d grab a snack.

I had zero service when I got on the ship so had to get my voom setup right away. Then went straight to the schooner bar for my first drink. Miami Vice

Getting on board was quick enough. Got in line for the terminal about 9:45. There was a lot of back and forth with some groups wondering if they going to let 11 o’clockers on. When I got towards the front were they forming the first group I saw them turning people away. Well I’m tired and hungry so I handed him my paper anyways. He asked if I was with the couple ahead of me that he’d just let in. I nodded towards the random people he seemed to think I was with and he let through. So I guess I cheated. Everything from there was super fast. Was onboard with muster done, reservations fixed, and eating by 10:45. I will say it took me a trip to park cafe, windjammer, and sorrentos to figure out the only food I was going to get before 11 was cafe promenade. I now have early dining all set with my assigned table. I was told to just go directly to my table tonight. snack was tomato mozzarella sandwich and roasted turkey wrap.

So I got in a taxi at 9 to head to the port. Traffic was light. It was pretty backed up getting into the port. My taxi driver who was a NASCAR driver is a past life seemed to avoid all that. The total drive time was 20 minutes. The cost was $47.95. After my knee jerk response of “excuse me” I remembered I’m on vacation. I pasted the smile back on my face and handed him $55.00 and wished him a good day. He dropped me right at bag drop off. I walked over gave the porter $10 and custody of my suitcase and backpack. I had carried the backpack on the flight but the only purpose it served was a change of clothes. Since I’ve already changed no need to lug it around. Terminal doors should open at 10. This place is a zoo.

Just been sitting at the airport in a zombie like state. The mugginess went away. It is nice and cool now sitting outside. I’m starving but to tired to get up and drag my heavy bag looking for food. My plan is to hop in a taxi and head to the port around 9.

Made it to Miami. Flight was uneventful. We landed about 5:20 AM. It took about 40 minutes for them to send the bags through. I’ve changed my clothes. I of course started dripping sweat the minute I stepped out in the humidity. Just sitting here not sure what to do with myself for the next few hours.

Pilots are boarding.

So here we are at the airport. I’m flying American Airlines out of DIA. They are in the west terminal. My flight is out of terminal C. Flight is showing on time. Airport is pretty empty. No line at security. It was amusing that the woman in front of me got beeped 7 times before they pulled her aside. No biggie for me as I have plenty of time. See you on the plane. Boarding is in about 20 minutes.

My mom and her husband geo-cache. They travel to a lot of the events. They have been into it for years. Such a great hobby especially for retired folks.