harryfat1

Haha, thanks for reading this from the beginning to the end. It’s probably equivalent to binge-watching 3 seasons of a show on Netflix. I never promised quality in any of my reports but quantity I can do. This started out as a regular cruise report on the Odyssey and evolved into NYC trip reports on the back half as it dovetails with the Odyssey repositioning to the NJ/NY area this Fall. I doubt I will ever write another 1,900+ post-trip report on its own as this was 2 vacations sewed into one. As for NYC, are you referencing the Halal food on 46 and 6 Royal Grill Halal? That one was my backup choice on day 1 of the trip in case the line for Adele’s was too long or it was raining too hard and we just wanted something simple to fill the stomach. It was favorably reviewed in this YouTube video: The drawback of only one visit is you can only select one place to eat. You want to go to the most popular place even at the risk of being overrated as you want to see for yourself what hype is all about. Only after subsequent visits will you be able to differentiate between overhyped or underrated places. The Japanese store is just a few blocks away from the Royal Grill Halal to the East (see all the red arrows). You must really love NYC to be going back numerous times especially coming from the opposite side of the world in Australia. I still need to come down under some day someday as it’s on my bucket list. Perhaps on a cruise. Cheers, Harry

Hi Patty, Thanks for the kind words and appreciate your continued support in reading my future travel installments. Yes, I’m happy to have a permanent site to house all my future travels here at CC. Cruise trip reports are easy as you just pick the forum of that particular cruise company but land trips are tricky as it doesn’t fit easily in a cruise forum. Glad CC was ale to grant my request for a little corner of the world to do my spiel. Going forward, I can just create a new topic for every trip I plan to take and drop in the info/photos there. The only caveat is after a while, the dumb jokes repeat as I only have a staff of one to write my comedy material and he’s not very good but you get what you paid for…

Good question. I was going to ask you the same question as I figured you are more in tune with what others have posted here on the RCI boards. I was hoping some cruiser would have mentioned something if they saw construction had started as they boarded the ships. The latest news I can find via Google search was this news release from late last year saying construction could start in mid-2024 and won’t be complete until 2027. Given that almost every construction project in the US is over budget and running behind, this may not be in operation until maybe 2028 and beyond: https://www.porteverglades.net/articles/post/port-everglades-welcomes-new-lines-new-ships-and-a-new-terminal/ Meanwhile, the Port of Miami is way ahead of the game in already having 3 cruise terminals with Plug In capabilities as this article shows the Freedom of the Seas plugged in during its stop a couple of months ago: https://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/article289271390.html Surprised on how far behind Port Everglades is in comparison.

Quick Public Service Announcement – CC has granted my request for a special forum section in which I can share my future non-cruise experiences. There’s a somewhat obscure section in the CC forum called “Friends of Cruise Critics” and CC has created a new “Cheapo Dad Travels” section where I can create a new thread for all my future road trips, such as the upcoming European trip in 2025 (assuming everything goes according to plan). Here is the link as I just posted a welcome message to it. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2735-cheapo-dad%E2%80%99s-travels/ Or you can just scroll to the bottom of the boards' web page and find it there. I have also updated my signature page at the bottom for a quick link as well. Everyone is welcome to drop in to say hi over there. Even though my name is on the top, I welcome everyone willing to share your travel stories there. It’s “our forum” and not just mine so feel free to create a new travel topic to share with everyone once you are inside the section. Hope to talk to everyone there going forward as y'all know I'm not big on talking to myself. Maybe the only person in the new forum will be Biker and me discussing the progress of the Fort Lauderdale Shore Power Installations (It’s supposed to start in mid-2024)…🤪

Hi, You must be referring to my ancient post regarding the cruise part of this trip report - after 1,900+ posts, I almost forgot what I had said...🙂 Are you referring to my post about the sales price I got for the photo package/several dining venues on Black Friday sales? If so, this typically happens a week or two before Black Friday itself. This year's BF is November 29, so you can probably start checking the RCI app a couple of weeks before to see if any of the prices have gone down to book them. If this isn't what you are referring to, come back and let me know. Side note - are people ready for Christmas? The reason I asked is that I saw Costco selling Christmas trees yesterday. So it must almost be holiday season. Ho, Ho, Ho...(Not exactly)

Sand Dunes in Death Valley And there's a crater as well Gives you warm fuzzies when you see this sign Yeah, let's not step too much back as my wife is more brave than me Steep hill to get all the way to the top Going back down isn't easy either as it's slippery

If you are visiting Vegas, be sure to go out to Death Valley for a visit (but not during the summer months when it can get above 120 degrees). If you are a Star Wars fan, you will love Death Valley as they shot many of the original movie scenes in the area. There are YouTube videos that tell you exactly where some of the locations are: They show this area as part of the Mandalorian TV show This area is called the Devil's Golf Course Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America at 282 below sea level. So you can be way under sea level and not even need to get wet

Here are a few pictures from 2017: The fake sky color at the Forum Shops is similar to the Odyssey of the Seas Odyssey of the Seas Speaking of fake skies, the Venetian has it as well for the Gondola rides. This is all indoors as nobody would want a boat ride when Vegas is at 110 degrees. We saw the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage (which is no more)

Since Vegas is on the list, let me throw in a few of our Vegas pictures to check another item from the list that is included in those trip report: The last time we were there was Christmas of 2019 pre-Covid. The water fountain in front of the Bellagio Hotel is a must-visit. It's themed to Holiday music in December: The Ballagio's conservatory of flowers is always packed with people. They change the theme seasonally. Of course, for the Holidays, they go all out: The entire bear's skin consists of flowers The Mirage Hotel is no longer there. The volcano show was one of the best shows What's a cruise report without a picture of Senor Frogs? Hey, here's the Eiffel Tower. No need to go to Paris, right?

You are welcome. Most of the famous places in NYC are in Manhattan so it was within a subway ride from Midtown. We were fortunate with the weather as there weren't too many rainy days as those would have limited what we could see. Speaking of NYC, I just read this article on the top Instantgrammable places in the US. As luck has it, besides the NYC spots, I also just added the distance photos of the Golden Gate Bridge as well as others have contributed their photos. So this report covered many items on the list... https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/these-nyc-spots-were-just-ranked-the-most-picture-perfect-in-the-u-s-081324

Oh, very nice photos. You sailed out on a clear day. Not always a given in SF. Yeah, I want that underneath-the-bridge shot as well as a picture from the bridge when the ship sails right under it. I had forgotten that RCI does come to SF when their ships do the reposition cruises in/out of Alaska. Looks like Brilliance and Radiance of the Seas are coming to SF next month after they wrap up their Alaska season. As you mentioned, they stay overnight in SF for the cruisers to see the city.

No need to look over there. As I promised Jim, I will come back to this thread in January and leave a link after I have started the report. As long as you "follow" this thread (CC version of YouTube term "Subscribe"), you should get a notification that a new post is up in January. It normally takes me a couple of weeks after the cruise to come home/do laundry/re-stock the refrigerator and back up the pictures into the hard drive before I start the report. Maybe I'm not a natural writer like Mark and others here on CC but it takes me a few days to think about what to write and how to write it. The lazy person in me sometimes says, "Nah, no need to write another report. Way too much work. You can use the 2 months of time to watch Netflix instead". So I also have to convince myself I should write one to help other travelers. That mental debate always takes a few days as I need to psyche myself up to write it. In most likelihood, I will probably share a few pre-cruise photos in @dani negreanu mega thread before I board the ship. I can upload pictures but am too dumb to walk and text at the same time so I can't do live reports like others can. As Cheapo Dad is not willing to buy an Internet package, I can't upload pictures from the cruise even if I wanted to...🙂

Mark, Thanks for the video. I was thinking yesterday that a fun picture would be to stand at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge and take a top-down picture of the cruise ship sailing under you. This picture would normally be from a drone shot but it would be cool to experience. Of course, you would have to be very anal to check the SF port schedule to know what cruise ship is sailing out on that day and be there at 4 something to take the picture. With my luck, it'd be foggy that day...🤪

Wow. That's bad timing, especially with the move happening. Moving is bad enough, let alone having to deal with it in a walker/wheelchair. Hope you recover soon and enjoy your new surroundings. On a side note, I grew up in the Central Valley of CA outside of the Stockton area so between that and Modesto will be your 2 bigger towns if you come down from the foothills to get supplies.

The last set of pictures is just what we had for dinner at the restaurant 3 minutes' drive from the parking lot near the water. So this is the "final set" of photos. Until the next trip report, bye y'all....

This is the final viewing spot of the walking trail next to the golf course The fog lifted just slightly when we arrived as you can see a patch of blue behind the bridge After that, it was time to double back and go back to the parking lot where we started. There was a cargo ship sailing out after the Princess ship and with the fog, they had to sound their fog horn every few minutes as we could hear the ship but couldn't see it until it cleared the fog on the way out to the Pacific Ocean. One of these days, maybe we will take a cruise out of SF just to sail underneath the Golden Gate Bridge but the waters outside of SF are pretty choppy, and more likely than not, I will be seasick from the motion

As we approached the end of the walking trail, the fog was rolling in and it was almost impossible to see the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance. You will need to use your imagination on the missing sections of the bridge. London Fog? That’s nothing compared to SF fog in August…

As this is a cruise-related forum, let’s go a full circle and insert some cruise ship-related photos at the end of this supplemental trip report. As luck have it, we saw the Crown Princess ship sailing right underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on her way to Alaska. Not the best quality pictures as the ship is pretty far away and the foggy condition doesn't help but you don't always see cruise ships sailing out of Golden Gate Bridge often. Princess is the biggest cruise ship company using SF as a home port

Sailboat way out in the distance heading back into the bay After resting, it was time to walk back up to the top to get back on the main trail again

OK, a few more pictures from our hike, and then we are "done, done" You can see the Golden Gate Bridge between the rocks

Thanks for the suggestion. This name seems to be highly recommended by many people. I will try them next year in the UK and France.

You are moving? Out of the Bay Area?

Mark, Thanks for the compliment. Welcome back from your trip to WDW and the new Utopia of the Seas. I might have been one of the few minority readers who enjoyed the WDW part of your vacation more than the cruise part. I saw in your review that you felt the Utopia was too much of a party atmosphere. I had thought of taking a short cruise out of Cape Canaveral the next time we go to WDW but maybe I will need to reconsider. How did your family like WDW? Does your grandson prefer WDW or Universal more? You can go with them to Disneyland next time and then take the RCI cruise to Mexico from LA on the Navigator or Ovation of the Seas as RCI has repositioned the Ovation to be in CA going forward. At the latest D23 Disney meeting, they announced a whole slew of Disney park upgrades if your family is interested in going back later on: https://www.travelandleisure.com/disneys-d23-park-announcements-villians-coco-avengers-8693799 We are looking to go to the Disney parks overseas to complete the whole set first. Maybe by then, they will have completed most of these park expansions for us to re-visit Disneyland and WDW. For those not familiar with the Bay Area geography, Mark is referencing the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge. See red arrow so he had a different perspective of the bridge:

Yes, SF downtown wasn't great 20-plus years ago when I was there and it's gotten worse. My wife and I commented that we felt much safer in Midtown NYC than in downtown SF

The 2 hotels you mentioned are all very close to where we stayed. The Fitzpatrick by Grand Central is along our walk daily on the way to the subway. The Hilton is just a few blocks from the very busy Adele's Halal food cart we ate from on day 1 and Rockefeller Center. You can see from our photos that there are always a lot of tourists around even at 11 PM. Especially if on 6th Avenue. I hope you get to go back to NYC to relive some of your fond childhood memories.