Tree_skier

Day 6: Sea Day The next morning began with Coastal kitchen again and after wrapping up breakfast I had just enough time to get to the theatre for the Captains corner. The captain, the cruise director and the Hotel Manager were the speakers. I can’t remember the Hotel managers name but he was a Scottish fellow and stole the show. He was very funny. The Q&A that followed was typical. The usual questions about how much food is wasted. How much time off do crew get etc…. And the one question that always seems to be asked and never ceases to amaze me that people ask this is “What happens to all the poop”. Not once in my entire life have I ever considered the journey my excrement takes once I push that button or depress that lever. My morning constitutional is completed with slightest curiosity about what comes next. My mind is on other things. Perhaps I would concern myself with this if I was a more environmentally conscience individual but alas that is not one of my virtues. After that it was straight off to Rising Tide for the veterans tribute. I met a very nice young lady recently out of the army. Also, a fellow Canadian who served with the PPCLI who now lives in Brampton. We exchanged a few good Canadian Armed forces stories. The ceremony began, it was short but tasteful and then it was time for a walk about the boardwalk. IMG_0856.MOV I think it is time for a room tour. This was our first CLS and I have to say it was a really impressive room that’ll make it hard when I back in my usual balcony cabin Lunch was at DW’s favorite Giovanni’s. We sat outside this time the temp and humidity cooperated and it made for a comfortable afternoon. Back to the casino to give back all the money I had won and a little bit more. Easy come easy go. Dinner that night was Izumi Hibachi and we were seated with a really great family from Minnesota. . Actually two really nice families of 2 preteen kids each. Coincidentally, we had the same last name with the exact same spelling. They had been on a couple of cruises of Royal and a couple of Carnival but this was the their first Oasis class ship and they were just blown away by the experience and now claim to be Royal Loyalists. It was this evening we chose to celebrate our 30th. I'll forgo the pics of our dinner at Izumi Hibachi and just show you dessert. 🙂 That evening was the long awaited performance of Cats. I first saw Cats in 1986 in Vancouver on its first continent wide off broadway run. I remember loving it then and 37 years later it was still as fabulous as ever. Truly a show not to be missed. Cats seems to draw controversy on these boards which is completely inexplicable to me. It is an iconic Broadway production that is as timeless as can be. Royal’s production of it is shortened because of the anti-aesthete aboard the ship. I think this is tragic but none the less it is still an excellent performance. When Grizabella, with her haunting performance of “Memory” is chosen to go to the heaven side layer and be reborn into a new Jellicle life a tear welled up in my eye. During the curtain call many justly stood for their ovation of Grizabella. After that DW went back to the room and I went back to the Casino to double down on my previous losses. I should have gone to the room with her. Or karaoke or just about anywhere else on the ship… I’m doing well to assist Royal in its post pandemic financial recovery.

We've got one like that scheduled next December. 4 adults and 3 teenagers (14, 17, 19)

Just stuff cash in an envelope and hand it to them before they leave. 🙂

I'm so over cruising I only have 7 more booked over the next 2 years. 😉

Yes, everything is on track to be on it. I started a Roll Call for it but it has been utterly dead. Nobody has joined up.

@FromSea2ShiningSea are you guys still planning on being on the Harmony cruise in December?

I thought so too. I didn't know it was part of the show as I've never seen it in any other Ice show. It was a very welcome addition. At first I thought... "What in the world is this!" but I was quickly captivated. It's an amazing talent.

Day 5: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas... Day 5 began with room service breakfast on the deck. We didn’t have to much of a view since we were parked right beside Celebrity Beyond. After breakfast I made my way outside and grabbed a taxi to the Sky ride to Paradise point. First off, a little review of Taxi’s in St. Thomas. For those unfamiliar, they aren’t really taxi’s as much as open air pick up trucks with wide bench seating where the truck bed should be. When you come off the ship you walk through the port shopping area and off to the right is where the taxis are. It is utter chaos, rows of them going in different directions. Eventually I found one that was heading where i wanted to go and got on. The driver, when the truck was fully loaded pulled away but stopped about a block from the pier and collected the $6 from every one. It seems no matter where you want to go it’s six bucks. At 5 people per row and 3, 4 or 5 rows per truck, somebody is making money! We then proceeded to our destination. The first stop was downtown about 2/3 of the passengers got off and the rest of us carried on. We got to the Sky-ride, a few of us got off and the remaining few carried on to whatever is the next and final destination. I think it was somewhere called Haverstock. One odd thing about St. Thomas all the roads are set up for and everyone drives like it is a right hand drive area but all the vehicles are left hand drive. It’s kind of weird. When getting off I asked the driver how I get back she advised me just to go out to the curb and look for someone going my way. More on this later… I love gondolas. They remind me of skiing and anytime I can fantasize about being on the slopes is a great thing. I call it mountain therapy. Anytime I’m stressed or work just gets to much or to depressing or to maddening I find a way to get some “mountain therapy”. Getting some mountain therapy in the Caribbean on a cruise ship is about as wonderful time as I can have. There is just something utterly relaxing for me being at elevation. The top of the Gondola has a few shops and a restaurant and bar. I think there might be other shops open previously but there were only two or three open when I was there. I bought an old license plate from the USVI to add to the collection and snapped some great pics and had a beverage overlooking the town below and dreamed of how I could someday retire to this beautiful place. Another little YouTube of my time at St. Thomas/Paradise Point. Now to finish my taxi story. I rode the gondola down and went out to the street as instructed to look for one of these truck/bus/taxi things that I rode there on. When I got there there was a woman waving at me from the other side of the street wearing the same shirt as I saw the folks directing traffic at the pier wearing. I crossed over with four other people who rode down in the gondola behind me and as we approached she directed all of us to an adjacent parking lot where there was a driver in a little subcompact of a late 90’s vintage waiting to take us. I can’t remember the make and model but think Nissan Micro or something similar. Somehow they expected the five us and a driver to fit into this micro car and make our way back to the ship. Of course all of us objected to this. The other four left but the driver didn’t want to take just me and said we would have to wait until he was full before we moved on. Not wanting wait and not being confident about the road worthiness of the interesting “taxi” I walked back to the curb to talk with the lady who directed me to the back parking lot. There she directed me to a waiting mini van. It was already filled with a nice family of five. I dutifully piled into the back row and joined a very polite and engaging 15 year old girl named Britney. She was quite animated and quite the talker. Considering I’m a grumpy looking old fat guy I was quite surprised at her willingness to engage in conversation. Her parents kept looking back towards us and chuckling while her younger siblings never looked up from their phones. Since these folks weren’t going straight back to the ship but instead were going to head downtown to shop I decided to do the same. I wandered through the local’s market and saw the usual assortment trinkets, t-shirts and cheaply made junk and I moved on the main shopping area in downtown Charlotte Amalie. Diamonds, assorted jewelry and watches abounded. Not much interested in any of that I found a little walkway leading back to the Main Street. Right at the edge before popping out to the main traffic thoroughfare leading back to the ship I found a great little walk up bar where I was able to secure a few drinks, enough to fortify me for long 5 minute cab ride back to the ship. St Thomas is a beautiful island and I’m looking forward to getting back and exploring it more. I’ve got 11 months until I get back here when I will celebrate my 58th birthday. Getting back on board I went to Playmakers for a later lunch only to discover that they didn’t open for 30 minutes at 2 pm. So I crossed the boardwalk and decided to have my first meal at Johnny Rockets. It was surprisingly disappointing. I got the original and fries with cheese and bacon. The burger was a plain lifeless boring burger that was about as tasteless as could be. Thankfully I’m on the UDP. Had i paid cash for that I’d have been really disappointed. After that while DW was at the spa for a massage I stumbled on over to the water slides and did what late middle aged fat guys are not supposed to do. To be honest these slides are really boring. The one that drops you into a toilet bowl sort of arrangement looked kinda of fun when others were doing it but when i did it I didn’t have enough speed to compensate for my weight and instead of spinning around the bowl before dropping into the last section, gravity took over, and as I exited the upper section i made a quick decent right into the side of the second opening slamming into it kidney first. Not even spiraling the bowl half a revolution. Throughly embarrassed I tried the next slide over. This one is a typical slide where you just went in and slid through twists and turns until you get to the bottom. Sadly, it didn’t work for me and I stopped halfway down and had to wiggle myself forward until I reached a steeper section and gravity could take over again. Fully embarrassed I gave up on water sliding and went back to drinking. Something I know I have expertise in. For @Ocean Boy This is a Curacao Cosmo A few of these blue babies and the embarrassment of the water slides was completely forgotten. Here’s a quick video of Sail away from our sail away from St. Thomas We went to Coastal Kitchen that night for dinner. I had a good steak and something else but I can’t remember what. Overall I have to say I really have enjoyed CK. I had 1 dinner, 2 lunches and a host of breakfasts. Service and food quality is excellent. That evening was the ice show. As a former hockey and rugby player I could never admit this to my old hockey/rugby buddies but I am a secret figure skating lover. It is just such incredible athleticism. I can’t help but love it. And to do what they do what they do on sheet of ice that is actually moving a little under your feet is amazing to me. This was a good show and I well and truly enjoyed it. The sand art was a unique addition to the skating show. That is truly an amazing talent. I was a little annoyed later on. The app had indicated earlier in the day that Tribute band, a Led Zeppelin act, was scheduled for 11:30 pm. However after my wife turned in for the evening and I went to check the for the the tribute band act in the planner it showed it had been moved to 8:00 pm so I ended up missing it and that was there last show for the week. It wasn’t the only time the app was messed up. I hate not having a paper cruise compass. I know I could have asked for one but I was trying to be low maintenance. Disappointed, I went back to the casino to finish off the night.

I have redeemed twice now. Each time it was at the 14 day mark that they showed up in my cruise planner online. I wouldn't even bother redeeming until 20 days before cruise time. Honestly, I don't understand why they do it this way. I wish they'd add it when you redeem them. I'd like to be able to use it to take advantage of known good sale times.

If they upset me me I just pitch them overboard! 🙂

I was on a cruise back in Sept where we brought two grand kids. I intended to book two interiors instead of our usual balcony. They were priced at $99. I ended up booking 2 connecting promenade view interiors for $125. It was a 3 day out of LA on Navigator. Maybe I was just lucky but those cabins were a good deal.

I've been out in JC's part of the country during tornado season. I hate it. I'm totally freaked out by it. Folks who live out there laugh at me but never again will I be in OK, TX or MO in spring time. Last year I was in Mississippi in March... We had two skid by way to close for comfort. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Here is 6690 on Ovation. I suspect it's same as Quantum

With kids absolutely Ovation to Alaska. The ship is great has tonnes to do. I think the Norway one would be a smaller ship with less activity. I'm looking forward to doing a Norway cruise but it'll just be my wife and I. If I had kids I would consider that.

Thanks, we're not there till December... Hopefully they get it sorted and reopen by then. It's a lot of fun.

I expect them by the dozen out in your part of the country starting now through till early May. Out here it's unheard of. People are bad enough drivers out here as it is. You add this much rain to the mix and people are mental.

I live in Central CA but I am currently in Burbank through the weekend then I'm off to Rancho Cucamonga till the end of April.

Weather stuff is just getting stupid around here !!! https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/tornado-damage-los-angeles-california Everything ok where you are @taznremmy

See the Maitre D' as soon as you board. They will work it out for you.

I agree with your comments... It is just hard to imagine that someone with 9 cruises under their belt would be so unaware of what they were getting and how above typical that pricing was.

This is. your best advise right here. Make a few friends here on CC and you may find a great traveling companion or two. Also you might find a singles meet and greet aboard the ship that provides you with a few new friends. Also, I have seen singles meet and greets in cruise planner before. I've never been as I'm not single so I don't know what age range they attract. Get a copy of the cruise compass when you get right away when you get onboard and keep an eye out for it.

Hey @Traveller1212 I don't have an answer except it is unlikely for you but I just wanted to give you a shout out. I'm a former Langley resident. I occasionally miss my old hometown.

Anyone can dress any way they like. I tend to dress reasonably well in the evening. Typically, I will wear a long sleeve, collared shirt for casual nights with Dockers for pants. Smart casual will see me drop the dockers and put on some nicer pants and better shoes, maybe a tie maybe not. Formal night will find me in a black suit, white shirt and a tie. If people want to look like they live in a van in the Walmart parking lot while on a cruise vacation it's no skin off my nose. That being said, I always encourage people to dress as well they can. LOL I still wear a tie when flying. My dad instilled that in me as a boy and I still follow that practice usually. I try and dress as well as I can while cruising. I dress for my companion and for myself. I like the dress suggestions and enjoy dressing up for formal nights and having pictures taken. Years ago I remember an old sergeant admonishing us about turning out as sharp as possible. He said "If you look like a bag of dirt you'll act like a bag of dirt". He actually didn't say dirt he said a different word but I don't want anymore strikes on my CC account. I want to present to best and most appropriate image possible at all times. When I'm by the pool or beach I dress appropriately. When sitting in the windjammer for breakfast I'll look different. When sitting down at Chops that look changes again. I'm glad that most cruises I have been on most people follow the dress suggestions and look sharp at least a couple of times on a 7 day cruise.

No I don't think anymore will be added. You are 7 months out from your cruise and I'd expect that all excursions have been advertised. Bar Harbor doesn't want cruise ships. As a result of that there will be a limited number available as tour companies start moving their infrastructure away from Bar Harbor and to more cruise tourist friendly areas.

None of mine for Adventure 2/16/24 are showing up yet. I imagine they will be loaded at various times. Keep checking.