ckmommy

Thanks for doing this review. We were in Australia in September. Now, planning a NZ cruise. Not sure when, but hopefully in the next few years. Can't wait to see the photos of the NZ leg of your trip!

We were looking for El Fuerte--which is close to Pez Quadro

Sorry fo the delay--we asked to taxi to take us really far down the beach. We had been at a resort we liked many years ago when it was the third stop--this is when they had a tram type thing that took you to the beach. We were looking for that same resort--which I found when we were leaving--it was on the next block. The beach place was called Kraken. Stay away!

We got the cigars from a beach vendor--we should have known better...I think when we got home my husband looked on the LCDH website and realized he did not buy real Cuban Cigars. It will be a funny story to tell one day.

We went to the beach -- using a $4 per person Taxi. As soon as we got out a guy was asking us to come to his beach area for $15 per person. He showed us a menu and we agreed to stay. Beer was $4. Until we got the bill--they ended up charging us $6 a beer. They kept bringing the buckets of beer even though it was not being drank. Somehow we got charged for 5 buckets of 6 beers (30 beers drank by 2 people--in 2 hours--I don't think so). Plus, 4 shots were billed to us--the shots were drank by the people---(while we watched) that served us as a thank you! Those shot were $40. I was not drinking--but I did get a massage. While I was getting a massage, the bill was given to the others in my party. When I got out of the massage, I took a photo of the bill, a second before the server took the cask and bill away. I did not look at the bill till we were on the ship--$300 was the total. For sure, we were very overcharged--but those paying the bill were not paying attention to the total at all. Also, my husband bought Cuban Cigars for our boys and him to enjoy when we are all together at Christmas. 6 Cubans for $50. When we got home my husband looked up the Cigars and they are NOT cuban--just some junk cigar. If you are planning to drink in Costa Maya--find a beach club that offers an all inclusive drinking deal. And, don't buy anything from the vendors that are constantly asking you to buy from them--unless yo are okay with the price and you know that the stuff you are buying may not be what it is supposed to be.

You can get Pizza and Sandwiches in the Park Cafe in the Promenade. I do not think the MD was open for Lunch on Embarkation day. I could be wrong.

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Other Thoughts: Good: -ship was full so that is good for RCCL--most places the ship did not feel full -the music was good in the bars--Pig and Whistle had an older guy playing the guitar and he was taking requests. Fun but older crowd. -wide range of ages on the cruise -easy to get off and on the ship in ports -I slept like a baby due to rocking of the ship--pretty high seas this trip -The quest was fun but lightly attended -ice show was good as always -the Diamond Lounge was small but good--nice appetizers at night. The breakfast was very basic, but if you just wanted a danish-they had you covered. I loved to go there at night. Bad: -Only 2 outlet in the room. USB on phone did not charge my Apple Watch. So, we had to plug and unplug our stuff all the time--I know--first world problems -my husband likes bourbon-so he was drinking bourbon old fashions-the consistency between bars and even bartenders at the same bar was terrible. Even the Pina Colada and Mai Tai's were inconsistent. -Internet was not working--we were going to use our free days, but Maddie in the Diamond lounge said that there were some problems -the free texting through the app was nice, but it did not work immediately--it could take 20-60 mins before the person you sent the text to got it. Not very helpful -Time of the Quest show was at 10:15 the last night of the cruise. There were only a handful of people that came to the show. It was a really rocky night onboard, but the last night when people are packing to go home, I would have picked a different night -This is not for this cruise only--but I sure wish that RCCL went to more than just Mexico, Belize and Roatan out of Galveston. What happened to Grand Cayman and Jamaica. We had a really bad experience in Costa Maya this time and will never go back there. We are probably not going to br cruising out of Galveston anymore--Mexico does not do it for us anymore Ugly: The very first night of the cruise, after dinner I went to the Perfume shop. I was looking at the bottles and I heard someone come running into the shop. I turned to see what was wrong--a young lady had her hand over her mouthed vomit spewing out--she took her hand away and projectile vomited over everything!! The store clerk looked at her mortified. That was it for me for the night!! Overall a great cruise. The ship is in good condition. There needs to be more crew onboard. We will be on the Symphony of the Seas for Christmas with our 5 kids--3 in college, 1 just graduated from college and our youngest, who is in the Army. Can't wait to be all together on a ship again!!

Casino Good: -lots of machines to choose from -there were people winning pretty big (the lady across from us won $1800) and the people sitting nest to us at dinner won $5000--both on slots -we spent $60 and on our last pull won $45--so only lost $15 -everyone seemed happy Bad: -the smoke!! Not a smoker and hate the smell -the smoke smell was not contained well in the casino--you could smell it as far as the Main dining room

Service: Good: -Maddie in the Diamond (Crown) Lounge--she was attentive, knew our names and asked what we liked about the ship and what we did not like--she seemed interested -Washy washy lady Bad: -This is a broad opinion, but it seemed like the crew was just done. Very few workers seemed very happy. They seemed overworked and unable to to their jobs well--they were so busy. -DISHES IN THE HALLWAYS!! There were so many dishes and cups. There were plates of uneaten breakfast food in the hallways when we returned from dinner. I was shocked. I have never seen so many dishes being left in the hallways for such long periods. Again--I think it has to do with the staff cutbacks and this being a sold out cruise. -Bar service was slow everywhere was awful. Lines of 3-20 people long. There was an obvious issue with the cash registers reading the room cards. Your best bet is to get a drink from the bar server that walks around by the pools. There are way fewer of them around and they do not seem to be on deck until after noon. Ugly: None

Dining Good: -Specialty Dining food was good--not great but good--we went to Chops and Giovanni's -MDR--My Time--I was happy with the food, it was much better than I expected. We have been on lots of RCCL cruises, and the food seemed pretty similar to the what we had on our January cruise -Windjammer--Washy Washy lady was by the hand washing stations for breakfast every day--she was a joy to see. -Pizza was RCCL pizza--they had 3 different choices in toppings--they were just fine for us -You could get a whole pizza to take away if you wanted--you had to wait for it though Bad: -Service in Chops was bad. It started out really good, then our server got overwhelmed and it ended up being a 3 hour dinner with more that 45 mins between the main course and dessert -Not enough staff in the Windjammer -No Pumpkin seed rolls on white rolls in MDR after the first day (which we were not at due to dinner at Giovanni's) -Pushing additional specialty options after eating in Giovanni's -Ice cream line only had one person making the cones--the line had to be 30-40 long Ugly: So many dishes being not bussed--in the MDR, Specialty restaurants, and Windjammer--its a really bad look and fairly gross

Rooms: Good: -Room was ready at 1:30 -room keys on the door -Met our room attendant--he would be cleaning our room in the mornings -plenty of storage for our clothing and room under the bed for luggage storage -nice reading light over bed -there was an offer for pressing of clothing (up to 10 items that fit in a provided bag) for $17.49--But it stated to allow up to 48 to get the clothing back. Our stateroom attendant assured us they would be back in 24 hours (and they were--we gave him 2 mens dress shirts and to pairs of pants) -we got towel animals 2 of the 5 days--that was fine for us The Bad: -the shower head did not have a diffuser (?) on it--so it was just one strong stream of water--we did not ask for maintenance to come and fix it. I wished we had after getting a sunburn the 2nd day. But that was our fault for not asking for it to be fixed. -No paper Cruise Compass--I did see some on people's doors, but I did not see our stateroom attendant after the first day to ask for one. I really did miss the paper copy -Some one stole some of my door decorations. -We only had 2 in our room- but have cruised with 3 in the room before. With Cabin service only in the AM OR PM, the couch that makes into a bed would have to be left open all the time. That would be an issue. -For some reason the cabin attendant only left 1 towel on the 2nd day of the cruise. So we had to share that wet towel. I guess I could have gotten a pool towel, but we did not realize this till too late. And, there were not cabin stewards around to ask for more towels The Ugly: -there was a lady across the hallway from us that was loudly complaining about crazy things the first few days--why are my sheets not being changed everyday?, where is my ice? Can you push the beds together to make more room during the day and then take them apart at night? I felt bad for the Attendant

Port Arrival: Good-- Port of Galveston parking is close and convenient. New Terminal is efficient, clean, comfortable On board by 11:00am Bad-- Got Scissors confiscated--my fault Ugly-- None Ship Embarkation: Good-- -Safety Briefing on Mobile App--better than good--Love this -Muster Station Check in--easy--hope they do not change this -Low lines at Guest Services -Elevators with no lines--we try not to use elevators, but we had friends with us that do need the elevators. They are Carnival cruisers--this was their 1st Royal--they could not believe that there were no line for the elevators. -Found a table in the Windjammer for 4 on Embarkation Day! -Food is fine in the WJ--nothing to write home about be just fine for us. Bad-- -Long Lines at the Main Dining room to get a My time reservation -the constant badgering for buying the Speciality Dining -lack of staff anywhere (bars, My time reservations, Windjammer, Park Cafe) -Windjammer service--no drinks being brought out, plates piled up on tables not being taken off, tables not being wiped off -Bar service. We went to the Solarium to get a "Are on a Cruise" drink. The line was about 6 people long. So we went to the Pool bar--only 2 people in Line. BUT--only 1 bartender. It took 20 mins to get the drink. The "cash" registers were not working properly and it was taking a ton of time for the card to process. That was annoying and was a problem the whole trip. Ugly-- -saw so many couples arguing/fighting --it was embarrassing to witness -

Just got home from a 5 day trip on Voyager of the Seas leaving from Galveston. Our port stops were Costa Maya and Cozumel. When we booked we did not realize that this week was a school holiday for several school districts in the USA and did not plan for high seas. We live in Houston--so I know it is still hurricane season. That said, by October we are usually clear. Well, this ended up being the highest seas we have experienced on our cruise vacations. We were fine and had no issue with the rocking and rolling, but many did not have this same experience. Let me get my thoughts together and I will post a review in a bit. Hit me with any questions--I'll do my best to answer. IMG_0668.HEIC

I did not know this. I thought that kids under 16 (now under 18) were not allowed into the Solarium at all--that would include the Solarium Bistro on the ships that have that venue. I have been on several Oasis class ships that have the Bistro--only the last cruise in January we saw (lots of) kids in the Solarium Bistro. I was a little taken aback by that. But, now I know and will not be seeking this food space for a kids free space.

We went here in 2016--it used to be the third stop on the Trolley. This place made us fall in love with Costa Maya. So glad it is still here. We are heading to Costa Maya in October--have been trying European and Miami cruises for the last few years. Glad to be taking a Texas cruise again. I did see the $50 AI for this place. The AI would be good for my husband, but not me. I guess, we will just take a cab here and pay as we go. I sure hope they still have the cheap hour long massages.

FWIW--my son is in Basic Combat Training for the Army. He is being paid $1400 per month. He also gets his room and board included. Just thought is was ironic the minimum for a cruise line crew member is just about what a US Army member makes. As for the increase in tips per day, if you are against it, pay in cash to who ever you want. Tipping is personal and so is everyone's experience. Personally, I rarely (even on vacation) have cash, so I pay for the tips prior to getting on the ship.

Berlin/Warnemunde It was an early morning wake up today. We decided to book a tour on our own to Rostock. My sister and her family did the ship tour to Berlin—they were meeting their tour at 7:30 am. We did an early morning workout. Just a little note about the workout room. It was moved in the refurb. The workout room is VERY small!!! There is a small wall of portholes to look out while doing the elliptical or treadmill—I believe there were about 12 treadmills and 6 ellipticals—but don’t quote me on those numbers. There so a small area with weight machines and free weights. The still is a room for classes, but it is quite small. The workout area is on deck 12 aft port side. We grabbed breakfast in the WJ. It was super crowded at 7 am. At 7:20a the call came in that the gangway was open. The WJ immediately cleared out. There were only a handful of people left. We went back to the room to shower and get ready for our day. We met our guides right outside the port—about 100-yard walk. We then walked to the train station—about 200 yds. They got our tickets to Rostock. It was about a 25 min ride on the train, then we transferred to a different train to get to the old city center. Our guide, Dianna was from Russia and her husband grew up in Rostock. He was 8 years old when the wall came down and saw a lot of history. He said that he was well taken care of as a child and never wanted for anything. But his parents had very few choices in Rostock and were forbidden from leaving the area. He had great insight into what life was back in the 80’s. A lifetime ago for him, but not really that long ago. We had wonderful, sunny weather that day. Dianna explained how a city was formed in the 1400’s—you needed a church, a wall, a city square and a town hall. If you had all these things, you had a town. She showed us the wall, the church the hall and the square for Rostock. We walked around the town and saw a church that had apartments for anyone to rent in what is now the artist area of town. We were told that the houses in this area (that are now very nice) were for sale in the 90’s for as little as $1000. They were bought by the people in Eastern Germany and are now $500K. The people of Rostock did not have money to buy them in the 90’s. A lot of the buildings in Rostock were built by the Russians and are very plain. After the fall of Germany, the buildings have gotten facelifts—they have been painted and Gothic pieces have been added to the rooftops. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a German Brewery. Great beer and pretzels. I made the wrong choice for my lunch (a French Pizza) but the rest of my family had better luck with their choices. We walked through the college area of town. Found a liquor store that sold a special bottle of Alcohol that my son wanted—then caught the first train back to the port. While on the second train, Dianna explained that there are a ton of Ukraine refugees in Rostock. There are whole apartment complexes set up for them. It is really sad. She has tried to reach out to the refugees, but she cannot help them as much as they need. When we got back to the train station in Warnemunde, Dianna gave us directions to the shops and the beach—which was just over the bridge. We did some shopping, but nothing really stood out for us to buy. The people in the shops did not speak English, so we made our shopping time short. Easy walk back to the ship. We got back on board, got a drink in the Crowne Lounge and headed for dinner. We knew my sister and her family were not going to make it back for dinner in the Main dining room. We were all able to sit at one table tonight. Enjoyed the cheese plate, escargots in rolls. Our servers had all our drinks ready for us when we got there and did a great job taking care of our needs! Met up with my sister and her family. They had a great time in Berlin. It was 3.5 hours there and 3.5 hours back. The only had 3.5 hours in Berlin but loved it. They were surprised by the size of Berlin and the how green (park like) it was. It was a very long way to go for the day though. Tonight was Bingo night in the Star Lounge. We have never played Bingo on board a ship before. So, tonight was a first for us. My husband bought 15 cards—Yikes!! Turns out that 10 cards is a lot for one person to keep track of. Unfortunately, we did not win, nor did not husband find it fun to play—like I said, 15 cards was a lot… After Bingo, we headed to the Royal Theatre to see the Barricade Boys. They sang a bunch of broadway songs. They were pretty good if you like that sort of music. My husband and the boys decided that they wanted to go in the hot tub. The wind had picked up and it was freezing outside. They still wanted to go in. They choose the hot tub closet to the ping pong table on the port side. They said the hot tub was not that warm—we would discover later that the hot tubs all varied in temps. About midnight security came by and told the boys that the pools (including the hot tubs) were closed. Oops, did not realize that. We looked at the Cruise Compass and saw that they had closed at 9 pm. So, a heads up to everyone on that. Just a couple of extra pictures of thins we saw: My kids thought a vending machine with cigarettes was so weird. Best things of the day: Our Guide Dianna! German Beer Only a 30 min ride to Rostock Worst things of the day: 15 Bingo Cards Bad choice in lunch selection—my own fault!

We walked to the town in Visby and Taillin. We did the Hop on Hop off bus in Helsinki. There are two companies that are right off the ship selling their service. We got the City Sightseeing one. It was terrible. The other Hop on Hop off was much better. Every time we hopped off our bus it was an hour before another would arrive. Super frustrating and a waste of time. The other bus company had more buses running. If you do the Hop on buses beware!

Day 4 Rønne Denmark When we went to bed, we looked out the window and saw a beautiful bridge all lit up. What a great way to fall asleep. We were a little surprised about the route we were taking to Rønne. We went north of Copenhagen then around the top of the island that Copenhagen is on. It was a nice way to go, but far longer than needed. We got up early this morning and went for a walk and then watched us park in the port. What a cute little city that we could see on a hill just a little bit from port. We went and got breakfast in the WJ—self serve. Lots of choices. Nothing that was a home run, but everything was good and filled us up for a day of exploring. We did not have an excursion planned for today. My sister heard about a museum that had Grandfather clocks in it. So that was the plan. We were not sure how long of a walk the town was from the ship. Turned out that there were shuttle buses for free that dropped you off at a stop that was just a short walk up a hill to the town. What a sweet little sleepy town. Cute little homes, quaint shops and cobblestone streets. We walked around the area with the homes, found some shops and then found the museum with the clocks. It was a history museum and most of the information on the plaques was in Danish. It was tough to figure out what was really happening. We did find the clocks though. I guess a boat had sunk with the clocks and the people of Rønne took the clocks apart and learned how they were made and started making there own clocks. The company that made the clocks does not exist today though. Outside the museum there was an old WWII bunker that we found by accident. There were bunk beds and a way to get outside air inside. It pretty cool little find. We went to the town center and found some ice cream and did a little more shopping own—there was a store on the corner of the town square that sold housewares. It had the cutest ducks with boots on that were made in Denmark. I wish I had bought one. They were about $40. We did a little more exploring then headed back to the ship. Bus ride back was uneventful. Headed to WJ for some snacks. Walked around the Promenade and did a little shopping. It was pretty cold today. Breezy and temps in the 60’s. Drinks in the Crowne Lounge followed by dinner. Ate way too much, but, hey its vacation. We did not go to the show, but my sister did. She was not all that impressed. We were exhausted and decided to listen to music in the Pig and whistle and then went to bed.

Staff was wonderful on the ship. I was worried after hearing how disorganized they were in April and May. They got their kinks worked out by mid June. The staff is only about half what it would normally be. Lots of bars closed--especially the outside ones. The bars that were open only had 1 bartender. Not a lot of waiters around getting drinks either. The Solarium was open, but the bar was not. We spent no time in the Solarium on this ship--which surprised us because on the Symphony we spent all our time there...

Sorry for the Delay--my parent sold their house after the cruise and I had to go to Wisconsin to help pack them up--here is the next installment. Day 3 Copenhagen and Voyager of the Seas Woke up at a reasonable time today—5:30am. The sun was out and it looked to be a gorgeous day. We decided to go to the Executive Lounge and see what they had for breakfast. Oh my gosh!! If you are staying at the Marriott Copenhagen and have access to the Lounge, go for breakfast. Such a nice set up for breakfast. The breads were to die for. I had the very best croissant that I have ever had in my entire life here. I would go back to Copenhagen just for that croissant! After breakfast, we got ourselves repacked and at 10 am headed to the front desk to check out. There was a short line, but no issues. We decided to walk to the translation and take the Metro to the Pier. Looked like there would be a shuttle bus waiting to take us to the ship. We started walking and my husband commented that we were going to be late for the train. I told him that we had 1.5 hours to get to the pier and should have no problem. It is about 10:08 am at that point. Then, it clicked in my brain what he was saying…our (24 hour) train tickets were only valid until 10:15 am. Ahhhhhhh. We quickly turned around and walked back to the Marriott. There were 5 cabs in the drive. I asked the front doorman if the cabs were already reserved and he said no. I then went to the first cab and put part of the family and 3/4 of the luggage in his car. I talked to the 2nd cab in line and put the rest of our bags and the rest of our family in this cab. Onward we went. I had a great talk with our driver—he was very talkative and answered lots of questions: What is the tax on a Car here: 180%—except for cabs—no tax for cabs Do lots of bikes get stolen since I did not see any chained up? Yes, but they get returned. A bike has to be licensed and the police look to make sure bikes have a child license and the person on the bike is who it is licensed to… Is it expensive to live in CPH? Yes—50% of your pay check is taken out in taxes. But if you lose your job, you are taken care of for 2 years. Lot more questions and answers, but I’ll move on. I am so glad the train did not work out. I loved the Taxi driver, but I also looked for the train station and did not see it. I was really happy to get out right at the dock. Each cab was about $60, I think. The SHIP!!! We got out of both cabs and as soon as we got out, there was someone helping us with our luggage. Easy, easy, easy. It was 11:00 at this point. We were 30 mins early to check in, but were told we could get in line. There were only about 50 people (including my 2 nephews who beats us by 5 mins) in the area to check in. We went through the X ray machine and then were told we could choose either side to check in. We went to the left. There were about 5 families in around of us. We wanted under 10 mins to check in. I had given everybody in our family all the documents they needed to check in. I did not want to be searching for the correct persons passport, Covid test etc. That worked perfectly. The gate agent lady looked at my info first. She looked at my passport, asked for my Covid test—looked at the date and the negative result. I believe she took a picture of my passport, but there was no photo taken of anything else. My photo had to be retaken, but the rest of my family was able to use the photo I uploaded to the app. That was it. We were cleared to board. It was 11:15 and we were walking on the ship!!! Just as we were about to leave the check in area, I saw my parents and Sister walk in. We were all there! On to the ship!! We have been on several ships similar to Voyager, so kind of knew the lay out. We found a bathroom, then headed to the Windjammer. We got our food and waited for the rest of the family to join us. While waiting, I was enjoying people watching. I was pretty shocked by the amount of families and multi generation groups that were on board. This was going to be great!! The whole family got reunited at about 11:45. What a mess my parents and sister and brother in law endured, but we were all together and ready for an adventure. We were talking and just enjoying being together. We finished lunch and went to our muster stations to check in and then made our reservations for My time dining for the week—then the announcement that the rooms were ready came on. I think it was before 1 pm that this announcement came, but I am not for sure. We all headed down to our room to see our home for the next week. As we were walking down the hall, we saw our luggage right near the aft elevator/stairs. Grabbed our bags and found our rooms—we had 1668 and 1672—spacious balcony staterooms. These rooms were very nice and newly renovated. We had never stayed in a balcony stateroom with more than 2 people. This time we had my daughter with us and the 4 boys had their own room. When sailing before with the kids we have gotten the 2 bedroom family suite. Well, not this time. We decided that now was the best time to unpack and then we would heck out the ship. It took us a little wile to unpack and find room for everything. By 3pm we started to explore. We found my kids playing on the Flowrider. What a perfect afternoon for some surfing. We ended up leaving port while we were watching the kids on the Flowrider. That was a perfect way to start our cruise out. We had a set reservation for 6:45 for dinner. When we made the reservation, we asked to see the tables what we would be at. We were shown 2 tables on the starboard side in the middle of the dining room. At 6:45, we all went to the dining room and checked in for our reservation. we were taken to 2 totally different tables on the port side. Not a big deal, but this was not what we were expecting. My mom had also asked if we could find a table that would fit all of us together. We were told that the biggest table they had would only fit 10 people. So that was a no go. Dinner was lovely and the Key Lime pie was yummy. There was no prime rib that night (or any other night), one of my boys was disappointed, but no the end of the world. We read that there was Karaoke that night in the Star Lounge and a game called Majority Rules. We had a blast doing both of those things. We knew we would be back for more games and singing all week. Best Things about the day: CPH Croissant Easy Check in My whole family on the ship Key Lime Pie Pumkin seed Rolls European Butter Karaoke Worst Things of the day: No Table for 13

This was ours from last week

London to Copenhagen I made a mistake—our flight to CPH was at 6:45 am. So, we were out of the hotel at 3:45 am. Everyone was awake at 2:30 am naturally anyhow, so this was not a big deal. We dragged our bags down the road and across the street and caught the bus to the airport. Side note—I bought a Travelpass from a company in London before the trip. It was a 1-day pass that could be used for public transportation in London. I know the bus and tubes use a credit card and it is easy to use, but with our family so big, the kids not having credit cards that are contactless (the touch and go kind), and the fact you had to use different credit cards for each person, this made the most sense to buy. No problems with the bus and then the walk to the terminal was easy since we just did it 15 hours before. We got in line for SAS and realized they did not have anyone working yet. So, we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, at 4:45 the agents showed up. We were finally all checked in and through security at 6 am. We grabbed some Breakfast and walked toward the gate. Sadly, the Harrod’s in terminal 2 was not open until 11 am and there was not time to go to terminal 3. It’s okay, we will be back to London for a much longer trip another day!! Flight to CPH—easy!! Airport in CPH—small, not crowded, easy to get luggage. Got 24 hour CityPass bus/train tickets—I think it was $12 per person. Took the train to Central Station and walked to the Marriott Copenhagen. We checked in and only one of our rooms were available, but that was perfect. We dropped all our bags off and headed out to explore! The bikes!!!! Wow—never have I ever seen so many bikes!!!! I loved it. The people on bicycles and cars were so respectful. Weird statement, but in my area, the bicyclists are either almost getting run over by cars or almost running over people on sidewalks. The food—ate at TorvehallerneKBH. I got the Oat Porridge 1. It was so good. Apples, Caramel and almonds. My kids and husband got sandwiches and a Korean taco from a stand outside the market. We also found a delicious croissant and chai tea as well. Sightseeing—saw so much on the walking tour. Enjoyed it all. Although, we were exhausted and had to make a stop to get off our feet just before seeing the Little Mermaid statue. Dinner and Guests— Got back to the hotel and got some water and put our feet up. My parents and sister and her kids were supposed to be arriving in a little bit. I got a text from my sister saying that my parents and she and her husband were delayed and stuck in Reykjavik. They were unsure when they would be getting to Copenhagen—and may have to meet us in Ronne. I then texted my nephews. They just landed in Copenhagen and were at their hotel. We decided that my daughter would take a bus and meet them at their hotel. Our other rooms were available at our hotel for the boys. They got their stuff all moved in the rooms. I grabbed a shower and DH was getting himself ready for dinner. All the sudden, I hear the huge crash. I look out the shower and my DH is on the ground—flat on his back!! Turns out the shower did not seal at the bottom, so all the water was spilling out the shower door onto the tile in the bathroom. My DH was not wearing shoes and slipped. I was like—get up—you can’t be hurt 12 hours from leaving on the cruise. He was okay—nothing a little ibuprofen could not fix! We all did our Covid tests sometime during this time too---all negative. E-med was wonderful. We met up with my one nephew—the other decided to go shopping on his own. We walked to Tivoli area to find a hot dog stand—but never found it. We did find a hamburger place and filled up on good food and fun conversation. We split ways with my nephew and told him we would meet at the Cruise Terminal in the morning—11:30 check in!! Would we meet up with the nephews? Would the rest of the family arrive in time for sail away? Did check in go smoothly? Did we make the train to the terminal? Are we going to get to the cruise already!!!! More to come…

Day 1—and some explanations My family decided to leave a few days before the cruise so we could stop in London for the day and then fly on to Copenhagen and explore that city for a day before the cruise. I am an Admin for the NextGen areas of our church. The week of Memorial Day was our 4-5 year old camp, followed by our Student Week Camp June 6-9th. Both camps were at church and I was heading up the student camp. I swear, the only thing that kept me going was this vacation. The preschool camp went off with out a hitch. The Student camp (225—6th-12th graders) was crazy. It was a 12 hour camp each day with a lot of moving parts. 3 kids came down with Covid—yikes!! I was doing a lot of praying that I would not catch it! Finally, the camps were over and I could START planing our trip out—-yes you read that correct. Between having this trip canceled 2x and both of these camps, I had not done any planning. So, onward we go. I was able to get 2 tours booked and then made some brief notes about the other ports. Nothing like flying (or in this case, cruising) by the seat of your pants. Friday night—T minus 2 days before flying out Go to the airport to pick up my oldest college kid. He flew in from Lubbock (Wreck’em) ready for some family time. When he comes out of the terminal, I notice he only has one small roller bag of clothes. When he gets in the car, I casually ask if that is all he has for luggage?? I get the—I’m an adult, Mom—I know how to pack. That, my friends, is foreshadowing!! We get home and I again ask about the 1 small bag he has packed for a 15 day trip that we are not planing on doing laundry on. I once again get the—“Mooooommmm, I got it!!” They next day, the brothers all go out shopping. They return with nothing. I ask what they were shopping for—my youngest says—“mom, you know K (oldest brother, who only brought 1 small bag home) did not bring any pants or long sleeved shirts or a jacket, right?” Of course he did not!! The boys all decided that they would go on a hunt to Goodwill to buy clothes. Oh my gosh!! So, off to JCPenney to buy college student that knows it all a new wardrobe! Sunday—start to pack!! Iron clothes for hours. Find garment bags and hangers that fit. Decide that I need clothes for all seasons—from swimsuits and shorts to winter coat and sweaters—boy am I glad I brought my whole closet. Load bags in car—and realize we have a problem. We loaded the luggage in the car, but now only 4 people fit in the car with the luggage. Add another car!!! And we are finally off to the airport! Parking was no problem, tram to the terminal no problem, check in no big deal. 7 people 8 bags. Except, one bag is over 50 pounds. No big deal in Houston, but the United baggage person says that when we fly SAS out of London they may charge us for any bag over 50 pounds. That makes us think, but not for long. TSA for the kids easy, CLEAR for DH and myself—super easy. United Club bound!! Scan in—my daughter gets the dreaded red flag. She is over the age to come to the Club as a child of a member. UHHHHHHH. So, she and I go explore the airport, get a Cinnabon and water. Plane ride—easy as pie!! Overnight flight into London. Full flight—no sleep. But, we are in London!! London Heathrow That airport is huge and people speak english!! We walked forever—went through customs—easy. Went to get our luggage—only had 3 of or 8 bags. Wait for more luggage to come off the belt. Nothing of ours—go to baggage service—they are no help. Look around the other luggage carousels—nothing. Make one last pass before going back to Luggage service—clear on the other side of the baggage area—that is HUGE we find all of our luggage. Head outside to find our bus—after zigzagging up and down elevators, escalators and tunnels. Cannot find the double deckers city buses!! No one was around to help. I was about ready to sit down and cry. I finally saw a worker and ran to ask for help. He pointed to a sign saying Underground and told us to take that downstairs and the signs would directs where to go. So after another tunnel, escalator and elevator, we found the buses. I luckily found a nice man that helped us find the correct bus and told us exactly where to get off. We landed at 10:45 am and got to our airport hotel at 1:15 pm—it had already been a day!! Marriott London Heathrow and London We chose this airport hotel because we have a 9:00am flight to Copenhagen the next morning. Wr got off the bus and the hotel was right there. We brought all our luggage in and was planning to just drop it off thinking our rooms would not be ready for a few more hours. But, our rooms were ready!! We piled into the elevator and found our rooms. Dh grabbed a shower. The rest of us got ourselves ready for our day in in London. We headed across the street and got on a buss that took us to the Underground. Got on the tube and headed to Central London (Tower Bridge). 90 minutes and 2 tubes later we got to our destination. We found some fish and chips and started our tour. While on the plane I made a list of all the things we were going to do—Tower bridge, Globe theatre, Bourough Market, London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square. It was going to be a great night. Well, I bet you can guess what happened….We saw Tower Bridge, walked to Bourough Market then to Big Ben. By the time we got to Big Ben, everyone was drawing, felt sick to their stomachs and were exhausted. And, we knew we had a 90 min ride back to the hotel. I was so upset/sad (and probably tired) that I literally teared up because this first day of our journey did not go as planned—and I did not get my Harrod’s bag!! By the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was in bed and asleep before I got out of the shower. With a 4 am wake up it was going to be a short night!! Will I get my Harrod’s bag? Will we ever sleep? Are we going to talk about the Cruise?? Stay tuned…