harryfat1

Desserts Jello and pudding? Nah. Easy pass. Got these instead

Lunch Time...

Don't have the moves like Grandpa. Besides, if I competed in anything, it will be edited out of any CC trip report. I will just say I fell asleep on the lounge chair somewhere...🤪

Sat in “our usual table” in the Windjammer near the back of the buffet (not to be confused with Our Usual Beach)...

Time for lunch at the Windjammer. And time to meet Mr. Washy-Washy, The dude is like an Energizer Bunny or drank the ship’s coffee by the bucket full as he’s really energetic. 20230808_130017.mp4 So you kids (and adults) all hear that? Wash hands before eating... You will see him later on the cruise as well…

And the winner is…Grandpa. Yeah, better help Grandpa get off the podium. Doesn’t look good if the world’s sexiest man has a broken leg and in a cast from falling off the winner’s podium Ok. That was done and the pool area returned to normal.

Grandpa was one of the top 3 finalists 20230808_125319.mp4

The event is very popular and it gets crowded on deck 12 railing areas so the family split up to each person getting the best view possible. One advantage of that is y’all get to see the same event from different perspectives. Here was my wife’s view. Note how many people are watching. My son was over at the other side by the ship’s video camera person. All these daily events get broadcasted to the TV back in the cabin the next day so if you missed any of the big events the previous day, turn on that channel to see it the next day. Here are the contestants all lined up waiting for the lady judges' vote. The top 3 finishers get to go to the next round The top 3 people get to stand on the red podium

Back to the Men's Sexist Contest ++++++++++++++++ And then there’s Grandpa… Grandpa was probably a party animal in his younger days as you can tell he has the moves in trying to impress the 3 lady judges 20230808_124554.mp4

Very nice, Mark. Any pictures of the current legs to show off for the ladies/guys to admire?

Yeah, we walked by the library on Day 1 but we didn't take any pictures as there were people there. Didn't want to disturb them. Never made it back there as it was a short 4-day cruise but I agree that's a nice place to be.

At any rate, it’s 12:30 and time to head onto the top deck and catch the “World’s Sexiest Man Contest”. It’s not as fun as other events we experienced on the cruise but it’s not bad. I rather watch this event than be at the solarium looking at my belly button. I’m sure y’all prefer this event as well instead of me posting pictures of my belly button... Dudes strutting their stuff...

Anyway, we went back to the cabin to use the rest room and wash hands after playing with the public clubs. One habit from the Covid days is trying to be vigilant in washing hands after touching shared items like shuffleboard sticks. Took this picture to note the cabin steward tugged the comforter too high up and exposed the metal part. Trust me when I say it hurts when you bump into it. After that, I made a point to un-tug the comforter daily ASAP after the bed had been made so as to cover the metallic area.

I like this picture. Whoever designed this class of ships is my hero is doing things more symmetrical. In case it’s not obvious, I really like the end zone shot from either end of the promenade as it’s perfectly symmetrical on both the right and left sides. This compared to the Oasis class ship where the Promenade is asymmetrical is not as appealing to me visually even though the Oasis class ships have much wider areas to walk around. This brings up another “poll question” – how many people read CC on the computer versus the cell phone? Whatever your preferred method, switch over to the other method and you will realize the pictures look very different. On a cell phone when looking at the portrait pictures, it’s much more striking as it takes up the entire cell phone space versus the laptop version which has a lot more white space full of ads to the side because laptop screens and monitors are typically horizontal based.

Few more pics of the outside before we head back in Helipad area. If the ship was sailing fast, you can barely stand up if visiting the area. But since the ship was barely moving, it was a rare chance to go to the front on a sea day. Where's the Captain? Time to do the iconic Titanic pose… Enough of being outside, let’s come on back inside the ship.

Totally still water. No waves to speak of. Great for people worrying about motion sickness. As previously discussed, the island of Catalina is only about 25 miles from San Pedro so we are not really that far away. As such, the captain is just doing donuts out in the open ocean by sailing like 3 knots as we are just out in the ocean chilling. This is the obligatory “wake” shot from the back of the ship. You can barely see a ripple.

So what we are doing outside besides walking around? Playing the granddaddy of all the cruise ship activities – shuffleboard. LONG before there were Flowriders/rock climbing/ice skating on cruise ships, people used to play shuffleboard on deck. So that’s what we wanted to do as we are going retro. If there’s one picture that shows the age of the ship – it’s that one of the shuffleboard sticks lost the rubber tip so my younger son and I had to share one as he and I teamed up against my wife and my older son. I blame the fact that we had to share the stick as the reason we lost the game…

It's time to walk outside to actually see the ocean as we are supposed to be on a cruise ship after all. As discussed previously, I’m a big fan of the open wide Promenade decks that are disappearing with all the newer ships. Typical of the California coast this time of the year, it’s a bit cloudy/overcast out in the morning. The coastal fog sometimes lingers on until later in the afternoon. Unlike being in the Caribbean during the summer where I would feel like dying from the heat/humidity just by walking outside, the California coast is pretty mild even in August. It’s not just me as you can see other people in hoodie/long sleeve shirts being outside. How many people want to wear a hoodie in the Caribbean in August? The Promenade deck has you walking by the MDR (glass structure to the right)

OK. Let's take a few more pictures of the RP while we leave Grandma at the Bamboo Room chilling with her drink. Every RP I have been on has a car. Here's the Navigator's version. English Pub. RCI is very animal friendly as you see animal statutes on various ships. Beside the RP area, they can be found at the miniature golf area, and on the Quantum class ships, each has a supersized animal display.

Sorry, I couldn't find any Christmas ornaments during the uncle's prison visit. Maybe it's seasonal, and they only have them during the holidays.

Hey kids, don't bother Grandma as she's trying to decide if she should buy a T-shirt here at 2 for $25 or wait until she gets Ensenada on Day 4 to buy you guys the T-shirts you will never wear. If she gets those from Ensenada, with some bargaining, she might get some bargain basement T-shirts at 2 for $10. With the $15 she would save, she could get a drink for herself at the Bamboo Room next door instead of buying the more expensive T-shirts for her bratty grandkids from a marriage that she didn't approve of as her daughter married some bum 20 years ago... Oh, I think she has made up her mind on what to buy as I see her walking inside the Bamboo Room to chill out and get a drink with Sea Dog as they sit around talking about the best angles to get the Mooring line photos at Ensenada...

OK. The first thing is going down to deck 5 as we saw lots of people from our cabin so we wanted to see what kinds of goodies they have. So it’s time to visit the uncle in prison (aka shopping). Nobody was in line at Guest Services on the morning of Day 2. I was hoping for hard copies of the daily compass by the walls to the right but nope, not that.

OK. We decided on what we would do for the day. Time to head out. Saw Little Henry working hard in the hallway as the cabin steward was cleaning various cabins as people were mostly awake by now after 10 AM The Next Cruise area is where you can book your next RCI cruise while on board. I don’t think they offer any better perks than what you can do with your own Travel Agency back home that should give you better OBC. Nobody is looking to book the next cruise so early anyway on day 2. The classic-looking cruise ship staircases. Only on cruise ships have I seen these types of staircases as the land-based hotels typically don’t look like this. This look has been the same for the past 25-plus years since I started cruising. If physically possible, use the staircase instead of the elevators as it’s faster than most elevators as well and it’s a good way to exercise off the 3rd dessert from lunch. However, if you need to go from deck 2 to 12, maybe walking up isn’t a good idea unless you can find some chairs and donuts and drinks along the way as a pit stop…

OK, more trip reporting time... +++++++++++++++ Looking down below, it looks like they have opened up shops and have some sort of sidewalk sale. That’s part of the reason we like these cabins as we can see what they have out for sale. Looks like a visit to an uncle in prison (aka shopping) is in order later today. There was a raffle event downstairs and the winner was allowed to select a couple of sales items from the table Looking over on the left side of the 3 side glass we see a watch sale No, kids, grandma is not buying you the $60 Playstation game from this cruise. Instead, you might get an “I love Navigator of the Seas” t-shirt if it’s on sale or else it’s an “I love Ensenada” t-shirt instead…

I have yet to meet any of my TAs in person in all these years. At most, we have a one-minute phone call for me to give him/her my credit card info on the payment dates. Some online agencies are all automated so you never need to talk to a live person. All info is self-input and you get the OBC on the back end while on board. If that money-saving cruiser can get a stapler from the hotel front desk on checkout, that's the best way to do it. Since she is not paying for the staples, she can even use more than 2 staples per tag to ensure everything is strapped on... Or go to the port and ask a porter for a free luggage tag there and use their stapler. But I guess that person is also so cheap that she won't tip the porter for it as part of their handling of the luggage