CatLadyFemme

Yes! Spencer, King Richard, the new James Bond, The Eternals, plus both new Addams Family and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I love that too!

They are not offering testing at boarding except for unvaccinated kids. However, there is testing at the Copenhagen airport, in the arrivals/departures section for a fairly affordable fee (approximately $30 for the rapid NAAT), and you get a paper copy right there.

I love sea days! Slept so well. We are usually lower, around deck 6 if in a balcony or deck 3 with an ocean view, but being on deck 12 meant we got a little bit of swaying, which rocked me to sleep like a baby! Woke up to a view of the water with fog rolling in, so was not too surprised by the fog horn going off every few minutes. Apparently on the upper and bow decks, you hear it VERY clearly. Put in my Loops for a bit to help block it out. Finished unpacking, and then MrCatLady came back for the gym (he said it was SUPER crowded and that people were strolling the track which made it nigh on impossible to run), he showered, and we head down for coffee and lunch. Saw Timothy on the way down to ask about the light (they are now supposed to fix it while we are out) and extension cord (he found one for me!), so that’s a relief. Swung by the Wi-Fi stand; was told that we should not expect to have good Wi-Fi in our room. Which seems…weird? But ok. He was coughing a lot behind his mask, so we just smiled and nodded and headed to the nearest hand sanitizer. Glad we are masking! The coffee line on the Promenade was outrageous, and walking through was crowded as they were having a cornhole tournament indoors (whhhhy???), so we headed straight to the MDR, which was much less overwhelming. My celiac safe meal order from last night came through just fine (the sides from the Atlantic cod for an appetizer: roasted cauliflower, spinach, and this amazing caper vinegarette, and the butternut squash risotto), while MrCatLady didn’t see much he liked on the entrees, so did the wedge salad and mozzarella sticks. We will probably swing by the WJ later to get him more food. Now, we are chilling in the R Bar, which had decent signal. We both had some emails from anxious students (we both are teaching online courses this summer), so answering those. MrCatLady grabbed another iced coffee and a Pellegrino, while I am enjoying a mint berry delight without the vodka (reminder that many drinks can be made as mocktails, even if not advertised as such!). I missed my napkin folding class, so will have to try for it on day 7 (though have taken one before, so it may just be more of the same), and we are debating whether to do the pool and hot tubs next or…?

It may not surprise you to know I already own this 😂

Update 2.0. Timothy’s shift ended, so no electric cord tonight and no reading lamp. Will try again tomorrow. I am slightly irritated because it would make my evening less painful, and my sleep better, but I can definitely survive without. However, as a disability activist, this makes me very worried for other disabled folks that also requested one and *need* such an item, perhaps because they need to charge their power chair, or run a more necessary machine. Again, recognize that folks are new and I certainly am not going to go Karen on anyone, but find this a bit frustrating. It also appears that even though I downloaded books to read from my library, the app requires a modicum of internet to open, so am booklets. Luckily, I brought a few paper books as well. I will just have to read with the overhead light on, at least until MrCatLady falls asleep! sweet dreams everyone.

Helpful to know; thank you! This is a great example of the greenness of the crew. Folks sent us all over the ship looking for these machines. All we needed would have been to be told they didn’t have them, and we would have been fine. Again, not a biggie in the scheme of things; people are super kind and wanting to be helpful. They just don’t know the answers. and good to know. This is truly awful. I was able to head back down to the Promanade to get enough internet to type those, but no way to upload photos for now. Will keep y’all updated the best I can! Thanks for reassuring me this isn’t just user error.

Just got back from my pedicure, dinner, and navigating some room drama. Pedicure was nice but not super accessible (had to essentially climb onto a thing), and there was no massaging chair, and a lot of upselling. I don’t think I would use a spa service again based on the upselling alone. It’s pretty hard to relax when you’re having to think ahead about how to plan for the next “no thank you.” But my toes are cute! After grabbing MrCatLady, we headed down, across, and down some more to the MDR on level 3. I had emailed asking for a table for 2, and ideally somewhere quieter (I am autistic and super noise/commotion sensitive, so really appreciated being in a wing on the Allure). Here, they put us in a lovely corner table by the window. Could not have asked for better! Our serving team is super nice, though also clearly new, and the chefs might be newish too. I had the butternut squash soup off the vegan menu without the Apple fritters (fairly tasty), gave the warm fennel and quinoa salad another shot (much better an last month, but I still have no idea why they boil the flavor out of the fennel??), the polenta (always a solid first night choice), and a fresh fruit plate (almost nothing was ripe, sadly). They also brought me GF rolls (MUCH better than the random bread slices I often get). MrCatLady had the Maryland crab cake (very good), the Caesar salad (very good), the prime rib (usually his favorite dish on board, but he ordered it medium rare, it came medium well and with a lot of fat around it; he didn’t eat more than a third of it…he wouldn’t let me send it back, but definitely was disappointed ), and the key lime pie (solid). Following this, I tried to stop by Cafe Promenade for an Udi’s gluten free cookie, but they had never heard for them. I am so baffled; this is maybe my 10th cruise since my celiac Dx and I have never had an issue getting one. But I had him double check with the chef, and he too had not heard of them. Very disappointing, especially given how few MDR GF deserts there are. After dinner, we went back to the cabin. Our lovely steward Timothy already had my requested ice for my ice pack, but I needed to track him down for my extension cord (ordered in advance through special needs for my CPAP and heating pad) and extra pillows. He told me everyone wanted an extension cord and he had someone looking for one but it might not happen (which would be incredibly frustrating) . Pillows would be by shortly. welp, then my reading lamp didn’t work. Back down the hall to Timothy…this time in my robe 😬 He wanted to make sure I tried a card in the thing by the door…this made no sense to me, since MrCatLady’s lamp worked fine, but ok. Still nothing. He stopped by to deliver the pillows (yay!) and call maintenance, and so we are lying here waiting for it. My internet (yes, the newer more expensive kind) keeps dropping off, so adding that to tomorrow’s list. I am not going to make up my mind on the first night, but this is definitely not the level of service we have been used to on Royal, not only pre pandemic, but also last month. I know they have a lot of new folks, so we are trying to be super friendly and calm, but it’s starting to get a bit frustrating, that things we informed them of months ago were not taken into account. I am also afraid I am going to get glutened again somehow because not everyone seems to get it. Some of the public spaces are not getting cleaned up as often as one would expect, and we’ve been in two different bathrooms that were out of soap. Also, we were given our Freestyle cups, but not one of the staff members we have asked has any idea where the machines are on board 🤷🏻‍♀️ I am sure we will have a great time regardless (a cruise is a cruise, and the views have been lovely!), and we really love the more chill, friendly, and less drunken vibe on board, compared to the Caribbean sailings we’ve done. MrCatLady says it feels like Alaska sailings, but think even more chill and friendly as far as the guests. If they are going to have a mostly brand new crew, this is the place to do it. I think many would get eaten alive on Florida sailings. Send is good wishes for an extension cord and a light bulb. I always bring duct tape, but never would have thought of bringing a reading lamp or light bulb replacement. Alas!

Indeed, it is quite the adventure. So glad to be on the other side!

I believe it was from Torrid in mid 2020. You can probably find one on Poshmark now! Ha! I was actually shocked to see them because I assumed they’d taken them all out after payphones went the way of the Dodo. The black one is actually a Wi-Fi hot spot. And thank you! A huge relief to be sure.

I didn’t know either, but it came up as an accessible option when we rebooked our 2021 Venice cruise (which was a rebook from summer 2020), and so ai took a chance! Cheaper than a balcony but still super fancy feeling. I think only Voyager class has them. Let me know if you wind up trying one

We stayed at Skt Petri. Really lovely, but two steps to get inside, so not WC accessible. Loved their restaurant and design.

We are boarded! Of all the piers we have sailed out of in Florida, Texas, and Seattle, this was by far the easiest, smoothest, and quickest. It took maaaaybe 12 minutes from our taxi pulling up to checking in at our Muster station on deck 4. Boom! We then explored the Solarium for a bit. I wish I had brought my swimsuit like I usually do, but at least I could put my legs in the hot tub, which was actually properly hot! After sometime there, we headed to deck 5 for some iced beverages. They were out of both cold brew (MrCatLady’s coffee drink of choice) and boxed chai (I like a good iced chai), so it seems like still some supply issues. Luckily, we are both pretty chill, so we took our second choice drinks to the Star Lounge and just chilled out until our rooms were ready, much earlier than expected, at 1pm. Oh my goodness y’all; I love this room! We are in an accessible Panoramic Ocean View and it is STUNNING. So worth it. I plan to spend lots of time in bed or on the couch, just watching the sea out the window! Finally, back to the promenade to upgrade our internet. I though Surf on the Allure was bad; here, I couldn’t even open this website (or Google or CNN), none the less post. For $5/day per device, you can upgrade to surf and stream, which is marginally better (I don’t think you can actually stream on it though), and since MrCatLady uses the internet way more than I do, it is worth it for us. Now, sitting in R bar with a Shirley Temple and a Pellegrino, killing time till my pedicure. It was on a great sale in Black Friday and almost the same cost as going at home, so I snapped it up, and it will be my first spa service on Royal. Looking forward to it!

Fantastic! We are bored and everyone seems very nice so far 💜

It’s boarding day! So stoked. we are packed and breakfasted. Cannot love the breakfast buffet here enough; highly recommend, and I am not even usually into breakfast. Just waiting for check out and our taxi and head over!

From our Allure cruise last month, from both formal nights. we are doing Alaska in August and plan to do it up a little more. I have a few full length dresses I ordered on sale early on in the pandemic and look forward to debuting them.

Still not feeling fully up to snuff; likely a combo of not recovering from the glutening yet (oh hey joint pain and bad cog fog) and still learning to navigate post COVID syndrome/long COVID (that would be the immense fatigue, bad headache, and memory loss), so took it fairly easy. We wandered around the area a bit more, coming across a pedestrian mall. Picked up some D&D related presents for MxCatLady at a new nerdy store, and tried for a chai at a coffee and juice place. For some reason, their machine would not take any of our four different Visas (two credit, two debit, through Chase and PNC), so we had to go get cash from an ATM…and then the resulting drinking wound up quick disappointing and not drinkable. Alas. However, we did also find the Normal store, which was like a high end drug store meets dollar store. Picked up some fun foot masks, face cream, Milke chocolate for folks at home, and so much gluten free black licorice! Sweet AND salty! I am in heaven! After more wandering around, made it back to the hotel for a lie down, while MrCatLady went to explore more gardens, a canal, and some old buildings. We decided to do dinner in the hotel restaurant after last night’s failure and an hour of browsing local places that were either great at veggie or solid at GF, but both both. The meal and drinks (beer for him, Bartender’s pick mocktail for me) we’re all delicious! Printed off our confirmations for local hosted private accessible excursions in Tallin and Helsinki, and took a shower, while MrCatLady is enjoying a bath bomb he picked up at Normal in the huge bathtub. We stopped by the concierge to order a cab for tomorrow…super excited! We can tell this isn’t a traditional tourist hotel, as he had to look up where the port was 😂 It has been really nice being in the middle of everything though! A smattering of pictures from today:

While you’ll need to check the app for your specific cruise, usually Chops, Portside BBQ, and sometimes Giovanni’s. I believe Johnny Rocket’s too.

Hello - it's time for another live review! I'm CatLadyFemme, a professor at the University of Michigan, a cat lady (obviously, with four cats and one cat like blue nose pittie across our two homes), and a moderately experienced cruiser. I am disabled/live with chronic pain, and so walk with a cane, plus I am a vegetarian and have Celiac disease, so am super duper gluten free. In addition to things like photos of the rooms, ports, pools, etc., I will post about finding vegetarian GF food (we've had some AMAZING luck like with Belic on the Explorer, and some not great experiences where I ate iceberg salad and berries for days), and access/ADA issues. Oh! I'm also queer and nonbinary, so there may be some stuff about the LGBTQ meet up, etc. I like to stay in the shade/find a nice lounge and read, or enjoy the hot tubs with a big floppy hat if it is warm enough. We have a RCCL excursion in Stockholm, and booked accessible excursions through a local accessible guide in both Helsinki and Tallin. We also plan be to do the last day Royal tour of Copenhagen and getting dropped off at the airport. We will test, spend the night in Copenhagen and then fly home (fingers crossed, though I also booked a week in a local hotel I can cancel in case). This is me and MrCatLady: We'll be staying in an accessible panoramic ocean view, which we have never done! We bid to Royal Up to a GS or OS, but no luck. Oh well. This is my second time on Voyager; first was summer 2002, so it’s been a while. We have early seating at dinner, like seeing most of the shows, and I am super excited to travel with MrCatLady together for the first time in over 2 years. (MxCatLady and I did Allure in April). We both have the refreshment package, internet packages (surf only, and will likely upgrade), and will probably do one night at Giovanni’s if we get a good deal. I should note I am immuno compromised, and despite isolating for two years, I finally got COVID in January (MxCatLady caught it from work for the second time), and have dealing with some pretty seriously long hauler syndrome. I also know getting it more than once can be additive, so at my HCP’s advice, we will be masking indoors or in crowded outdoor spaces. I also got my 4th shot (which is considered my booster) in March, with MrCatLady having gotten his two weeks ago, so we will be at maximum protection for this cruise. Please don’t argue COVID stuff with me, and I won’t spam you with peer reviewed studies, and we can all have a nice time. Our trip starts tonight (Monday the 16th) with flying DTW to Heathrow on Delta One (combined all of our canceled trips over the past two years to afford it). Either of us have ever flown first class or been in a Delta Sky Lounge, so excited to feel fancy. Then we will have a few days in London (including an all you can eat cheese conveyor belt visit and a GF/veggie friendly High Tea to hopefully celebrate my tenure decision. Then to Copenhagen on Friday for a few days before we leave next Sunday. Let me know if you have any specific questions or requests; otherwise, I'll try to do regular updates (assuming the internet isn't wonky), post occasional pictures, and hopefully induce a small amount of envy.

Hello - it's time for another live review! I'm CatLadyFemme, a professor at the University of Michigan, a cat lady (obviously, with four cats and one cat like blue nose pittie across our two homes), and a moderately experienced cruiser. I am disabled/live with chronic pain, and so walk with a cane, plus I am a vegetarian and have Celiac disease, so am super duper gluten free. In addition to things like photos of the rooms, pools, etc., I will post about finding vegetarian GF food (we've had some AMAZING luck like with Belic on the Explorer, and some not great experiences where I ate iceberg salad and berries for days), and access/ADA issues. Oh! I'm also queer and nonbinary (as is MxCatLady), so there may be some stuff about the LGBTQ meet up, etc. I like to stay in the shade/find a nice lounge and read, or enjoy the hot tubs with a big floppy hat. One of my partners, MxCatLady, will be joining me. They run a Starbucks on land (sadly, cannot use their discounts aboard), and this is their first time in Florida, first time on a raise, and first time anywhere outside the US (except Canada, which is 45 min from us). We both will likely frequent the shows, the jazz club, napkin folding/towel animals, the Solarium, and Central Park. Any tips for a first time to make sure I give them the best experience? We'll be staying in an accessible ocean view balcony, where as last time I was in a Central Park accessible balcony (I have been on Allure before with MrCatLady, my MIL, and her husband during summer 2019, when our cat Jasper had to be put down while we were away. It was incredibly traumatic). I am glad to get to try to enjoy the Allure again. We have early seating at dinner, like seeing most of the shows, and are super excited to travel for the first time in over 2 years.. We both have the refreshment package, internet packages (surf only), and we are trying the unlimited dining package for the first time. I wanted an option to eat at places without outdoor seating, depending on rates. I should note I am immuno compromised, and despite isolating for two years, I finally got COVID in January (MxCatLady caught it from work for the second time). We are both dealing with some pretty seriously long hauler syndrome. We also know getting it more than once can be additive, so at my HCP’s advice, we will be masking indoors or in crowded outdoor spaces. I also got my 4th shot (which is considered my booster) yesterday so I will be at maximum protection for this cruise and going on Voyager with my other partner in May (stuck in bed, hence being so verbose). Please don’t argue COVID stuff with me, and I won’t spam you with peer reviewed studies, and we can all have a nice time. Our trip starts on Saturday April 9th with flying down to Ft Lauderdale, getting to the hotel (Oasis something? Nothing fancy), and finding a vegetarian/GF friendly place for dinner (any suggestions?). We'll probably take a Lyft to the port on Sunday. Let me know if you have any specific questions or requests; otherwise, I'll try to do regular updates (assuming the internet isn't wonky, post occasional pictures, and hopefully induce a small amount of envy.