perfect match

So I thought I was excited about our September 8 Wonder cruise, but you win! I haven’t even started to think about packing yet! Never mind starting a review. Today’s distraction was the lawn mower guys trying their best to destroy the sprinkler system. Minor distraction since they were not successful but still did create some unreported damage. Love your camera collection! I think I still have a few from the same era that many of yours are from. I’ll be following along from home for now, from Wonder in 13 days time hoping you’ll find the note you left or maybe a note someone else left in response to yours.

I’d not only check my order history, I’d print out a copy of it just in case the reservations “happened” to disappear from your order history. I had issues with some of my reservations on our Allure B2B and was very glad I had physical copies of everything. Those copies made it a whole lot easier to get everything sorted out!

When I saw that you were sailing on September 8 I was hoping you’d be on Wonder because that’s where we will be. I would have loved to meet you. I wouldn’t have followed you into the casino though because I wouldn’t want my casino luck - all of it bad luck - to rub off on you!

Nobody knows who Andrew is, or if he really exists. His name keeps coming up throughout the cruise though.

I hate to burst your bubble, but hurricane season runs through the end of November. You’re actually sailing during the height of hurricane season. That said, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Since we started cruising in 2011, we have sailed every year in September or October and have never had a problem yet. I know there’s a first time for everything and we are on the September 8 sailing on Wonder in 3 weeks but I’m not worried and you don’t need to be worried either. I do think you dodged a bullet with your room upgrade We were originally booked in one on Wonder but we changed out of that room when I remembered how noisy they can be. My DH is an early to bed, early to rise person and his schedule would not fit well with loud late night AquaTheater shows and action adventure movies going on every night. You also can’t leave your blinds open because the passengers in the rooms across from you can see into your room. If those things wouldn’t bother you, then you might like the room. Your daughter can certainly spend as much time there as she would like and you can go back to your own quiet room when you’ve had enough of all of the noise. Speaking of shows, don’t forget to reserve your spots in the app or cruise planner. Stand by is usually available but not guaranteed. Our itinerary departs from Port Canaveral which is 90 minutes from our house and our first stop is Coco Cay. We also stop in Cozumel, Roatan, and Costa Maya with Roatan being the only new port for us.

Yes! It must have been Andrew causing all the problems. I’ve got a few mort that he must be responsible for as well. 😂 Maybe he’s the one who put the wrong sail date for our January Utopia cruise in my signature because I know I couldn’t possibly done that myself. I did fix it as soon as I saw it tonight. I am so jealous that you could drop 5.2 lbs just like that! It would take me wayyyyy longer than it took you. I’m happy for you though. I will definitely be looking to sail along with you on your next cruise. Just don’t expect me to keep up with your eating. Oh, and don’t bring that troublemaker Andrew again please! 🤣

I’ve been somewhat MIA due to internet connection issues. Somehow without really knowing what I was doing I got the problem fixed a little while ago. At the rate I’m going lately I’m just hoping it stays fixed! It’s been like Groundhog Day around here. Something stops working, I fix so it’s working again - until it isn’t! 😡 That cycle continues on repeat. I’m out of patience with it. Hope your cruise weight gain proves to be as easy to lose as it was to gain. You’ve come too far overall to spoil your progress now. Thank you for another great trip report. I’ll be checking for your next one.

Glad to see you’re doing better in the casino. Hope it continues. I see you’re enjoying another performance by Darla. Excellent choice. Enjoy the show

We booked Hilton Rose Hall for our Falmouth stop on two different cruises and had a great time both days. They pick you up inside the port area and whisk you off to the resort, then pick you up at the end of the day and drop you off back inside the port area with plenty of time remaining before all aboard. We were very happy there. How about a rowboat towed behind Monarch? 😂🤪🤣 I think you’re really liking Darla. 🤩 Maybe you should be trying for Freedom again before she gets off, or find out where she’s going next and try for that. 🤷‍♀️

Thank you, Harry, for your great cruise and WDW report. I have enjoyed following along with you and your family. Since your Carnival cruise looks like it is next up, I’ll be looking for you down the road on the Carnival board.

Mark, I have really enjoyed following along on your very well written and insightful review, both of Utopia (we’re on in January) and WDW, where we go on a regular basis. I’ve definitely made some notes that will help us to get the most that we can out of what I know will be a way too short for days on Utopia. I am a planner, but I think you and a few others here have me beat. I’ll do my best to keep up. Your Disney planning section is outstanding! While you spent some money on the various ride reservation systems currently in place you seem to have a much better understanding of how to make the system work for you to get the most out of your time at the resort than pretty much anyone else I’ve seen, and your summary of how the system works was excellent. Once again I was taking notes not so much for myself but for friends and family when they’re in town and want to get the most out of their Disney visit. Thank you to you and of course, Daryl for sharing your insights and planning tips with us.

We enjoyed our Safari. We saw Simba, Nala, Pumbaa but not Timon, a very young baby elephant, rhinos 🦏, giraffes 🦒 and quite a few other members of the Animal Kingdom. Roller coasters are fun! Well, maybe with a few exceptions! Casinos on the other hand are scary, at least to me. DH had his cataracts removed a few years ago. The surgeries on both of his eyes went very well. He had no problems at all with either. Our plan for surgery day was to go to the surgery center, get cataracts removed, go out to breakfast, go home and take a nap. It was a good plan. 😀 I did a very enjoyable snorkeling excursion in Nassau this past May when we were on Allure. We dove on a massive statue, Ocean Atlas. The sculpture depicts a Bahamian woman in the role of Atlas who is holding up the ocean like the traditional Atlas holds up the world. The stingrays were pretty cool, too! https://underwatersculpture.com/projects/ocean-atlas-bahamas/

Does that mean you’re finally winning? The casino must know who you are now if that’s the case! I would normally be up for a while longer but I have roller coasters to go ride later today and safaris to go on and a Lion King and his friends to go meet so I need some sleep 😴. 🦁 🦓 🦒 🦍 🐘

I turned 18 that summer. You know what that means? I’m old now! 😂🤪😂

That was a great summer! Great times, great memories! I sure wish I was as fit and healthy now as I was then.

@jam19872016, I think I know what your problem is in the casino! The casino must think you’re the mystery man, Andrew, who is not lucky in the casino! Now all you have to do is convince the casino that you’re you, not this unknown Andrew person who has my kind of luck in the casino. Once you do that you’ll go back to your own winning ways. Let me know if that works. I’ll pick someone I know who is lucky in the casino and try to pretend I’m her! 😂🎰😂

That’s exactly what I say too. Soarin’ is still great but Avatar is next level.

Exactly! 😂 There are so many of these references throughout WDW and Disneyland that I can’t possibly list them all here. Annette was my favorite Mouseketeer way, way back when so I always look for her when I visit the Muppets. In case anyone hasn’t figured it out by now there is literally a cargo net full of fake Jello cubes hanging in the pre show area of the Muppets theater. Always take in the little details when you’re wandering through Disney parks, watching Disney movies, cruising on a Disney ship. You never know what, or who you might find there either literally or in in some unexpected way. I’ll bet you probably did see her but just didn’t know what that net full of some kind of gel cubes was doing there. It’s those little details that keep me interested in Disney after all these years. Did you at least see any hidden Mickeys? Or Minnie’s? Or any of the other characters? Should I have mentioned this stuff before you started touring? I didn’t because I think discovering them on your own is the very best.

Sounds like my virtual Alaska cruise is off to a good start! I’ll be following.

Hope your luck in the casino turns around soon. Right now it sounds more like my luck in any kind of gambling - bad! A really good price on a guarantee room on Wonder. Knowing full well that I could get any room in my selected category and that sometimes rooms are held back from showing up as available so I checked online to see what did show. There were a number of rooms in great locations, any of which I would have loved and one that I was hoping to avoid. If you follow the drift of what I said so far you’ll know what room I got. Yep, it’s the one room I was hoping to avoid! Now the category is completely sold out, so no chance to switch to a different room in the same category! I didn’t think I was taking that much of a gamble with the guarantee because we did get a higher category room. Apparently my thinking was incorrect! 😂 This won’t spoil our cruise by any means but I will keep checking just in case something else does show up and I can get us moved. This story in a nutshell is why I stay out of the casino. It takes my money and I get nothing. No casino 🎰 for me!

I’m hoping that you will decide to be a good influence on me with eating on a cruise. We’re on Wonder in 27 days. My goal is to enjoy eating, not deny myself anything I really want, but not go overboard and end up gaining back any of the weight I’ve worked so hard to lose once all over again. Sounds to me like after today’s eating your mind is back on the right track! Good for you! So, why are you sitting during Silent Disco when “You Could Be Dancing, yeah! 🎶 Have some fun and get some exercise at the same time! It’s a win-win situation! Now “Get on your feet🎶” 😂😂😂

@ReneeFLL and @njkruzer, did you ever find each other? Hope you did. Glad your luggage arrived and you’re under way. Hope you and @little britain have a great cruise!

I’m not @h20skibum, but I’ve ridden both rides numerous times. While Rise of the Resistance is a really, really great ride, Avatar Flight of Passage is the winner in our book. We absolutely love that ride! We’re planning to ride on Tuesday! 😃 @h20skibum, do you remember original Mouseketeer Annette Funicello? Did you see her in the waiting room for the Muppets? I think she’s still there. She was the last time we visited that attraction.

How did you like Space 220? We saw the prices there when it first opened and decided that for us it just wasn’t worth the price. Needless to say we haven’t been there yet.

It’s the curved screen. The direction of the bend is determined by where you sit. I do tend to find the bent landmarks somewhat disturbing but it doesn’t stop us from going on Soarin’ pretty much every time we’re in Epcot. After many years of riding Soarin’ in a regular basis we till find things we’ve never noticed before depending on where we’re sitting.