SteelCityCruiser10

Chops omelette 👍🏻

Tugs hard at work Statia Glory and Zealous

Just watched the St Maarten pilot boat pick up a diver from Chops breakfast table

Yes! watching P&O Arvia get a re-fuel from Chops breakfast.

My thoughts too. We as avid cruisers could see and feel the change but now it’s more of a company culture change which is concerning. Corporations are always looking out for the bottom line but a little less overtly would be nice.

Approaching

Wifi package is a must for me. I need to stay connected. I’m not one of those people that can turn my phone off at the beginning of a cruise and turn it back on at the end. In fact just thinking about that gives me anxiety 😬 It came in handy yesterday. Got an imessage from our doggy daycare/boarding that Emma (our English Setter) had some very red/itchy ears that were going to require some attention. I was able to text and email my vet and my mom at home to coordinate our vet to see her. Luckily our vet is a mobile vet so no issue for her to go see her there. Turns out she had an ear infection and needed a good flush and ointment. Miss Emma 😘

I can say with confidence now that the deluxe beverage package would have been a waste of money in this particular cruise. It was $65.99 at the lowest point. About $545/person. With only 1 sea day, 5 vouchers each, and concierge lounge free drinks from 5-8pm it would not have been a wise investment. I don’t think I’ve had to pay for a drink yet actually so I either wouldn’t have used the package at all or been leaving vouchers on the table.

Totally agree on this. I’ve come across a couple crew members who insinuated the profit making initiative being the main focus of Royal. Which I get. For instance when I inquired about the vortex bar spinning and we talked about the sister ships not working. The bartender unsolicited said unfortunately whenever it does break it will never get fixed because of how much it would cost the company to repair it. My take was that they don’t expect any non necessities to get much attention on the ship due to costs. Obviously there are many other maintenance items on a ship that require priority over a spinning bar though 😆

My coffee dealer for the week Concierge Lounge has been very lightly attended on this cruise. Edna agreed it has been unusually slow. Could be many suites are traveling with larger groups who are not allowed in the lounge combined with a port intensive itinerary. We usually see the same bunch. Many seats open and bar empty most of the time. Definitely a fair share of Pins in here or both Pin/Suite guests. Crown Lounge is getting more traffic but I’ve only popped in there a few times. Each time was early morning 6-7:30 am and I think 5-6 people were the most I ever saw in Crown Lounge. It’s a bit smaller than the concierge lounge and no bar area.

It’s Fri-Yay!

That is unfortunate and especially for such a special cruise.

Good Morning from St. Maarten We should be on the dock about 9am. A little over 2 hrs from now.

It’s been a very long day & Im exhausted. Until tomorrow friends…

This 👆🏻. 🍻

Today we planned to hang in the solarium for a little bit after we returned from the excursion however the pool was drained and closed for maintenance. They were painting. Whole solarium was useless unless huffing paint is your jam.

I have been up pretty early just about every day & chair hogs have not been an issue.

Yes - I should clarify that DW and I both got the lobster and split the tortellini.

We are really rocking again. Leaving the theatre was zig zagging my way to Vintages and it wasn’t from the Tito’s this time.

The dreaded luggage tags have appeared

We finished dinner quickly so we could make the 9:15 headliner show. Gold Art Duo. It thought it was very entertaining. A good mix of magic, acrobatics, dancing & humor.