Sea Dog

This is what I got. I thought it would have all my transactions. I wanted to count up how many drinks we had. It helps for determining value. I did not want to take a bunch of screenshots of the account through the app or on the stateroom tv. I thought the email attachment would have everything.

Hilton Miami Downtown The hotel was nice but boring. Only a restaurant/bar and not much else. Many had suggested we stay at the Double Tree. We walked around a little bit after checking in and putting our bags in our room. The Double Tree is across the street. It had so much more going on with shops, restaurants and being right by the marina. We will stay there next time. The rates were just about the same. Across from the Hilton I did see my Uber ride.

Taxi and Uber Lessons Learned Having not been to Miami since I was a kid I was pretty unfamiliar on how things worked. My plan was to get the luggage and find a taxi or get an Uber to take us to the hotel. First time for me at Miami airport and I had not idea that I would have to do the "Bataan Death March" to the bag claim. On that level I saw many yellow cabs. I thought to myself we will just get that and not worry about an Uber location. Once we exited bag claim I was greeted by a man who rushed us and asked “Taxi?” I said sure. He proceeded to take us over to white van. I asked “are you Uber or Lyft?” He replied independent and said it would be $45 to take us to the hotel. Against my better judgement I said ok. I was tired and just wanted to get to the hotel. I will say the man was professional, courteous and helped load and unload our luggage. With tip I gave him $50. Later I searched on Google average taxi fare from Miami Airport to Hilton Downtown and I found out it should have been about $22 half of what I paid. Lesson learned, do your research before and know what the cost should be. I’ve used Uber only a few times. At the hotel we thought we would use it to go to our dinner. In the room I pulled up the app and saw an Uber was 4 minutes away and booked it. We went downstairs and I was messaging the driver where to meet us and what we looked like. We stood on the corner of the hotel even when the message said he was a minute away, no driver after that minute and several minutes after that. I then get a message that the trip was cancelled as he waited two minutes for us. I got a notice from my bank that we were charged for the fare and an extra $6 dollars. We disputed the charges with Uber and got refunded. The rest of the evening was more successful in getting Ubers and had no problems. I am going to chalk this up as a bad driver who last minute decided to stiff us.

Tag You’re It ! Speaking of Christmas, last year my DW Linda gave Air tags for Christmas for our cruises. For those of who don’t know, Apple Air Tags are round little devices that you can put into your luggage, or for finding your car keys, something my son needs. You can keep track of their location via “Find My iPhone.” Setting them up was easy pull the little plastic tab out of them and have it near your phone. It will beep and your phone will recognize it and you can follow the prompts to custom name it and assign an icon for it. How do they work? The Airtags send out a Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the find my network. These devices send the location to the iCloud where you can see it on a map. How did it do? Pretty well as you can see it showed my two pieces of luggage were together at KCI. In Atlanta I got some funky locations. Sometimes a signal could not be picked up. RPReplay_Final1663338874.mp4 My guess is that it was having a hard time picking up nearby devices. I did like the fact while we were at the luggage carousel in Miami waiting for all the bags. It did show that they were both in the same area near us.

‘Twas The Night Before Flightmas! The night before leaving on a cruise I feel like a young child on Christmas Eve waiting for the arrival of the fat man and his sleigh. I tossed and turned dreaming of the skinny man with 3 strips on his shirt whisking me away. O dark thirty came pretty early with an obnoxious alarm at 2:45am. The pups were like what the heck is going on here? After taking them outside and encouraging them to drop a present on this special morning , we crated them up and told them mommy and daddy loved them and the dog sitter will be here soon. It really helps to have a good sitter that loves all dogs. Her first meeting with her went well. I hope the pups are nice to her. 4:30 and we are at the gate thanks to TSA Pre Check which made everything so easy. Note to self, I need to get used to the X-ray machine beeping at me for a new knee that has metal in it. This is the first time using my last years Christmas present Apple Airtags. More on that later. Imagine my relief and comfort knowing our suitcases each with Christmas ribbon tied to the handles were now safely under the tree… I mean plane. Now in the gate area patiently waiting for my gift to open soon we will be up, up and away where I hope to nap in route to Atlanta to change planes. Soon away we all flew, like the down of a thistle: I drifted off to sleep but could of sworn I heard the Captain exclaim, ere we flew out of sight- Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Note: Those who know me well know that I am a Christmas freak.

It’s time to strike up the orchestra and conduct another review. This time on Symphony of the Seas. This is our first cruise on Symphony. This Symphony cruise will feature the Unlimited Dining Package and Deluxe Drink Package. It’s going to be musical cornucopia of fine food and drink. After all a good pirate knows how to eat and drink. So without further a due it’s time to strike up the band and what better way to preview what you will be in store for is watch my cruise hype tease video. THE DETAILS: Who: Sea Dog a bonafide pirate with a love for the sea and ships and his lovely wife Linda. What: A 7 night Western Caribbean (our first Western itinerary) When: September 17-24 with one night pre stay at the Miami Hilton Downtown. Where: Leaving from Miami with stops in: Puerto Costa Maya Roatan Cozumel Perfect Day at CocoCay This itinerary includes two sea days Here is Google Earth Video of our adventure.

QUESTION??? I got my statement emailed to me from Royal of our charges but it is only one page and is a hodge podge of dates. Is there a way to get the complete statement like I could see in my app? Is there someone at Royal I could email to get the full statement?

The TSA a pre check worked great coming out of KC. Going back in the Miami airport was a nightmare. First there was shift change and they took forever to change out agents. Then our line TSA Pre-Check was funneled into the regular line of folks for the x-ray machines. I had to go through the standing arms above your head scanner because of my knee replacement. I even had to take off my shoes. It was a joke. I hate that airport. You walk for miles to get your luggage. More about that in my review. It seemed like the people that had "Clear" moved along faster than anyone else. We even joked with other passengers what's the point of having TSA Pre if you get bunched with everyone else. That's great news Ken. Hoping for a speedy recovery . I agree. He takes a million photos. I did cameras for 40 years when I'm on a cruise I don't feel the need to shoot pictures of everything. My review is really going to be more story telling with pictures. It's my journey and experiences and I hoe people will enjoy it. One more post and then I am going to start it.

Looks extremely painful. Give her our love and hope for a speedy recovery. Yes I was nervous all day. Too many people. Too much chaos.

Finally back home after traveling for most of the day. We got to the Miami airport at 9:30am for a 2:10pm flight. Had to wait to check bags and of course there were no chairs. Then the flight got delayed. Luckily we had a over two hour layover in St. Louis. With the delay we only waiting in St Louis for an hour. The pups were very happy to see us as you can imagine. tomorrow I will start my review. I have lots of competition with Benny Bruns live review. It’s interesting as his take on some things are a complete opposite of mine. Bottom line everything is subjective.

Just saw this as we just got home after a long day of traveling. I’m so sorry this happened to Vicki. Looks very painful. I hope the can reset it good and she will be on a fast mend.

Interesting ! I loved CP150. We ate there twice. I guess everyone’s palate is different. The only thing I found lacking was the Lobster Thermidor. Details in my review. I would love to know how they did that? It was the highlight of the show. I was pleasantly surprised at the bourbon and whiskey selections. Much better than in the past. Schooner Bar had Whistle Pig. Most of the bars had Buffalo Trace. The pub had the biggest selection with Elijah Craig, Four Roses, Angels Envy, Old Forester, Makers, Gentlemen Jack, Jack Daniels, and Woodford Reserve. I was a very happy camper all week.

I saw the line because I was in it. Our Internet info was not in our cabin so I had to go down and stand in that mess. I thought if I catch COVID this week this is where I would catch it. We snagged a day bed in front of the open window in the solarium. Perfect place with a perfect breeze. I loved this cocktail!! waiting on my final leg of my flight. I’ll read the rest of your great review and comment later. I hope you will like mine. It will be very different. Btw, what camera are you using? The hairspray pics turned out great.

Sorry I missed you I would have liked to hook up. It was a great week on Symphony. I’ll start my “As if Live review tomorrow focused on the UDP. Spent yesterday at Coco Cay Beach Club were it was not crowded and was very chill unlike the very crowded Oasis pool. Wish we would have booked a B2B since the second leg is going eastern. Great job on the review. Ny view at the Beach Club.

Yes Crystal that is it.I think you will like it.

My guess as with everything it will be for an additional fee. I tried on too and liked it. I also tried an Tequila Old Fashioned with a good Reposado and it was very good.

We paid $177 per person. Yes it was expensive and from a value standpoint not as good as other deals but it was worth it to me and what’s worth something to someone may not be worth it to another. The fact that I had a beautiful pool at my disposal that wasn’t crowded like the Oasis Lagoon pool was (stay tuned for review with pics ) and multiple waiters and waitresses getting you drinks. The fact that I had custom over sized beach towels and my own beach bed. We had a fantastic steak and lobster lunch and not chicken nuggets was worth it to me. Too me having fewer people and great service was the deciding factor for me. It may not be for everyone but I’m glad I purchased it on this day. Ding..Ding…Ding winner!

Teaser: this appetizer is the most mouth watering tender piece of meat that has been cooked for 4-5 hours. What is it and where?

Next Month October 16th, Liberty out of Galveston. I should start Sunday. I hope it will be really good. Lots to say and lots of food porn to share. Thank you stay tuned the Conductor is tuning the orchestra now.

The Beach Club is fantastic.It was our first time but we will book it every time we stop at PD. The BC was never crowded as opposed to the Oasis Lagoon which was a zoo. The infinity pool at the BC is so nice and we got there early enough to get a beach bed. Food was incredible. The filet is as good if not better than most of the specialty restaurants.

My view. I’m hooked on the Coco Cay Beach Club.

Looks like it’s going to be a Perfect Day at Perfect Day!

What a great idea! I’ll have to try that.

Worst picture of the day!

I should have taken a pictures of the hats. They were those obnoxious brightly colored sombreros. Nachi was AI only $25 online deposit and I believe $94 due on arrival. They said there was 59 there but I never counted over 38-40.