25th Anniversery Extravaganza Cruise! Live from the Royal- Southern Med. 6/25/16

[Pam in CA]

Have a great cruise! I'll be following your adventures. :)

[dchip]

Congratulations, Tracie!! I'll be following along as you celebrate your very special day. We are on the Ruby right now celebrating our 50th anniversary. We have seriously been together forever. 💕💞💖

 

Cheers, Denise

[DJVKN]

Safe travels Tracie to you and 'Bradley'.

 

I am following along as we are on the same intinerary/ship starting July 16th.

 

Also, like you we were in a minisuite and had an upsell to an OS for a reasonable price adjustment which was also our hope since we are onboard for 14 days.

 

Anxious to hear what you think of the suite and balcony as we have never been aft before so we are excited!

 

Diana

[seacrystal]

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary cruise & Buon Viaggio!!! :D

 

Ditto for me!!! I love your LIVE reports. Enjoy this special time with your hubby. Lots to see and EAT;).

[Colo Cruiser]

Lucky Duck!! Bon Voyage!!

 

Have a safe trip and fantastic cruise. :)

Edited June 24, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[Sadebud]

Hi Tracie,

 

Congratulations on your 25th! We celebrated our 25th in May, on a land trip down to Cancun. Will be still celebrating our "year of 25" in January on the Grand to Hawaii (also an early 50th for me...yikes).

 

We have been to all of your ports (on different cruises tho), and did a lot of them DIY style. In Genoa we rented a car and drove up to Parma...ate lunch in a small café and had the BEST prociutto EVER. And all the Parmesian cheese you could hope for! It was a beautiful drive. In Barcelona we did the HOHO bus...it was great! Cartegena (twice) was wonderful just walking up and down the streets. We ate at a little café halfway down the main road...the mussels and brava potatoes were fabulous (as was the Sangria!). Enjoy your trip!!! Congratulations again!

 

Tracy

[TracieABD]

Hi Friends-

We have made it to the airport, and thanks to Global Entry, our wait time in TSA was about half of our neighboring friends. We had a little Japanese food for dinner and have been waiting for our boarding time at the gate.

 

For the most part, I love the Charlotte Airport. It is conveniently located. It has some pretty good parking options- and you can park here for as low as $5 a day- which is great considering what airport parking costs in some cities. Though, truth be told, we has stopped driving to the airport. We Uber now- it is door to door service- and almost always ends up being cheaper than parking. The Charlotte Airport (or CLT) also has some pretty good dining. Much of the focus is on local restaurants- which makes it just like home. CLT also has really lovely rocking chairs- and sometimes a pianist. We typically head to the airport a bit early, because it is not the most awful place in Charlotte.

 

So here we sit and wait. Sit and wait. Sit and wait. I think I will go get a bit of candy.

 

More later-

TL:)

[sunsetbeachgal]

HI Tracie Lynn! Congratulations on your anniversary. I will be following along on your journey and hope it is wonderful.

 

We just returned home (and also flew in and out of CLT) from our first ever river cruise, on the Rhine with a week before the cruise in Switzerland. We had always wanted to try a river cruise, loved it, some things similar to an ocean cruise but boat so much smaller. More ways to spend our travel budget!

 

Ps, I have a replacement hip now for three years that I tested out on a Med. cruise four months post surgery. We are big walkers too. No problem but tell him to be careful in uneven footing, which Europe has a lot of!

Edited June 25, 2016 by sunsetbeachgal

[Astro Flyer]

I'm not fully relaxed until the flight is en route to my destination. :p

 

Hopefully you're better than me at sleeping during a flight but sometimes a redeye is a necessary evil for me. Even when using FF miles to fly in a fully flat reclining premium seat on an international flight, I rarely get much sleep. :(

[vickie_bernie]

Hi Tracie... I found the live from... so glad you are doing one I love reading and following along.

 

Congratulations on you and Rich... sorry Bradley's 25th Anniversary!

 

We did our Europe trip for our 20th Anniversary last year. We too love to go at it on our own. And visit almost always include food, wine and people watching.

 

I love the Royal...

 

Raise a glass to your Mom at Sail away

 

vickie & Bernie

[Woobstr112G]

Have a wonderful cruise. I'm looking forward to reading your reports.....:):):)

 

Bob

[DrivesLikeMario]

Bon voyage, Tracie and "Bradley"! We have so many things in common - ages, anniversary, little time off from work, fly in the "day of", etc. that I'm looking forward to your take on the cruise & the ports. Always enjoy your entertaining writing too.

 

We'll be going through CLT for the first time this fall and I'm looking forward to it since I've heard so many positive things.

 

Have a GREAT time! Happy 25th! :)

Edited June 25, 2016 by DrivesLikeMario

[BLJBLJ]

Happy Anniversary and thanks for taking us along. I can now take down the post it from the edge of the computer that says "Tracie ABD Royal 6-25. Have a GREAT trip. :)

[PescadoAmarillo]

Happy anniversary to you and B, Tracie. (What is it about these guys and anonymity?) I love your live froms and will be getting through the next seven days by reading your reports on my iPad with an iced coffee at hand (but sadly not sitting next to you in the IC).

 

But, girlfriend, those clothes! I pack about 1/4 of that for an entire winter! I wondered how you fit it all in but then you said you were on the shorter side. That would help. Can't be 5'11" with size 11 shoes and squeeze all that in one suitcase!!

[BLJBLJ]

Happy anniversary to you and B, Tracie. (What is it about these guys and anonymity?) I love your live froms and will be getting through the next seven days by reading your reports on my iPad with an iced coffee at hand (but sadly not sitting next to you in the IC).

 

But, girlfriend, those clothes! I pack about 1/4 of that for an entire winter! I wondered how you fit it all in but then you said you were on the shorter side. That would help. Can't be 5'11" with size 11 shoes and squeeze all that in one suitcase!!

Can't wait till you and G get back out there. Brenda from California

[TracieABD]

Hi friends-

So this is the current situation... I am sitting in a comfy spot in the International Cafe, drinking a pot of vanilla bean tea and typing. You know what that means! We made it!

 

So I will backtrack a bit by asking this very important question-- Are planes getting smaller or am I just getting larger. Holy sardines, Bat Folks! That was one crowded flight from Charlotte to Barcelona. We boarded fine. We had great seats. And everything was completely operational, save for the 30 minute delay in leaving the ground-- which we made up for in the air. Some of the issues were just so many people. The plane was freezing. Bradley is always on the verge of over-heating, and he shivered his way over the Atlantic. Actually, he slept a good portion of the trip and I dozed in two half hour increments-- which may contribute to the pending delirium of this post. We were so happy to deplane onto the tarmac at BCN- We finally got warm. We made it through immigration without a single issue; actually we were one of the first in line- because with Bradley's new hip, we can really hoof it.

 

Once we reached baggage- we waited. and waited. and waited. And watched about a million colourful bags come down the carousel, But alas. No bags for us. I began to the the wardrobing dance in my head-- what exactly could I do with one pair of black travel pants, a blue and white t-shirt and a navy hoodie, one pair of running shoes, and a pair of navy flip flops. Oh and I forgot the super snazzy compression socks. Finally, Bradley's bag came down. But not mine. He began to root through the carry-ons for the luggage tags- and Poof! My bag decided to make an appearance. Thank goodness. You have no clue the swivet I was working up in my head.

 

We grabbed a cab. We tried to impart to our cab driver that we needed to make two stops. One at a Tabac on La Rambla and another at an ATM. I think I have shared about my linguistic skills in Spanish, but in case you missed it- here is a brief recap: I fancy that I can actually speak passible Spanish. In truth, I know about 100 words and that which I don't know, I just add La or El and say the word in English with a Spanish accent and then at a vowel to the end- normally an O. For example, if I were dying of an arterial bleed in, let's say, Uruguay, I would tell the cab driver- "Take me to El Hospital-o, pronto, por favor!" And to make this even more embarrassing for whomever my travel companion is, I also say it really loudly- well, shout it, actually- as though I am making up in volume what I lack in skill.

 

Back to our taxi ride- we ended up at the wrong Tabac, and never did make it to an ATM. But we did make it to the ship at around 2 pm. Tired and grumpy. We checked into preferred and boarded immediately.

 

Our luggage made to the room around the same time we did. We ran up to deck 14 to grab a quick latte- first coffee of the day- and then headed back to unpack. I got everything out of the suitcases and onto hangers- and decided we had enough time to do a little ironing, so I schlepped 6 shirts to the laundry for a little touch-up. You gotta love cruise ship laundry rooms- We came perilously close to having a Laundry Room SmackDown. Lots of folks fighting over 4 washers and 4 dryers. I have to admit, I might have taken a little extra time to iron because it was just so darn amusing. Oh, and then calamity struck! The machine ran out of tokens. I tried to explain that you could get tokens in other laundry rooms, but was having a difficult time with my foreign language skills- (see paragraph 4). I am not any better in any other language, I guess.

 

At 4:45, we were summoned to muster. Lots of first time Princess cruisers- but, alas- not one person blew the whistle. Muster was a really serious affair- no jokes, no cruise director's staff to warm up the crowd- just straight- up muster drill.

 

After, I ran upstairs, and showered- I consider that my act of goodwill for the day- and got ready for dinner at the Crown Grill. I have been on this ship twice before, and both Eric, our waiter recognized me. Then Jonathan- who was one of the waiters at Sabatini's for breakfast- said he remembered me. I intimated that I might be memorable as the "Crazy Coffee Lady", and he laughed and said, "Well, you would sit in the corner all by yourself with your little computer and type, type, type". Nailed it! That sounds exactly like me. (As a matter of fact, I am sitting in a corner at the IC, drinking tea and typing as we speak!)

 

We had a lovely dinner and ate way too much food. We had not really eaten since dinner the night before at the airport- so I guess we were a tad hungry. We had scallops, black and blue onion soup, salads, exquisitely rare steak, lobster, and dessert. After that caloric catastrophe, Bradley finally gave up the ghost and headed to bed. And I came down to write...

 

... and develop a full on case of PTSD. Right here, right now. There are Quick Change artists in the Atrium- and one of them is wielding a whip- that he can crack with military precision. Every time he cracks that whip- I flinch. The show has finally ended and I am just a hot mess.

 

I think I will quit here and post. Thank you to those that are reading along. I promise to try to post often.

 

Tomorrow is Cartagena- and the marathon begins....

 

Anyone want a to drink a pot of tea with me?

 

Tracie-Lynn :) :)

[Astro Flyer]

Good to read that you made it to the ship & are already enjoying yourself...Buon Viaggio! :D

[Steelers0854]

Can't wait for this review. Have a fantastic time!

[bcnvcanada]

Glad you made it okay. There is an ATM on the right on the main street.

The main street is marble pavers, also at the end of the street near the

circle is a Carrefour. There is another market also on the circle but across

a couple of streets. Corte de Ingles is a couple of blocks up from the main

circle.

.

[Woobstr112G]

Glad you made it onboard. Enjoy your first day on the ship.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited June 25, 2016 by Woobstr112G

[socaljo]

Yippee! A LIVE from Tracie! Just caught up with it all! Congrats on the Silver Anniversary! That's no small feat these days! Good for you & what-his-name! :p

 

Sailing along with you is fun, but no tea for me, I'm a coffee girl! :D

 

 

[metairiegal]

Hi Tracie, Glad you made it to the ship. Love reading your reviews - you crack me up! :D

 

Enjoy yourself!!

[lovevacadays]

Yay! A live from thread from you. I always enjoy reading them. Congrats on your Silver Anniversary.

[TracieABD]

Sunday, June 26

Cartagena, Spain

 

Good morning, friends-

 

Cartagena, Spain.... well, not yet- so I am reporting live from Sabatini's where I have resumed my post as "Crazy Coffee Lady"/ She-who-sits-in-corner-and-types. Bradley opted to sleep in- and since he having some success in that area of life- who am I to argue? I have had more than one breakfast in Sabatini's by myself and in truth- this is my Happy Place. I have already ordered my coffee- which is really- 2 shots of espresso in a tea pot, a glass of cold skim milk, and a separate glass of ice. Once it all arrives, I pour 3 Splenda in the pot, then the milk. then I pour the whole mess over ice. That way I get a lovely iced latte with out getting a sloppy, melty ice, weak coffee-type drink. I followed that with a fruit plate, one egg Benedict (which was curiously missing the Canadian bacon- but had a gracious plenty of Hollandaise sauce) and a spot of hash browns. Oh, and the fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious. It tasted like welcome home, Tracie!

 

Let's chat a bit about last night.... Bradley went to bed at 7:30 and I made it up until 9:45. And then we committed the venial sin of time zone adjustment. (and this may just strike fear in the hearts of World travelers) We took a nap. Ugh. We woke at midnight all full of spit and vinegar. So we dressed and skulked around the ship until 3 am. It is Richard's first time on the Royal, so I showed him all the nooks and crannies. We finally returned and tried to sleep. Bradley won the war and I could not even engage in the battle. So i fussed around until 5:30 when I finally fell asleep. Then, I took another nap- waking at 8:30 to scurry down to breakfast, missing both my morning walk and yoga. Happy vacation!

 

We will port in Cartagena around noon- and our plan is to.... anyone care to guess? Anyone? Find an ATM machine! Oh. and see stuff. I have a plan all written out for seeing some ruins and riding a funicular. And I fully hope that happens. But in truth, we have decided to give ourselves a little break this trip. We are normally planned, spread-sheeted, scheduled down to the last second. And we are pretty tight structure on this trip as well, with this one caveat... If we find a more interesting option, we will let go of the plan and just follow our instincts and interests. With such a port intensive cruise, if we push it as hard as we normally do, I fear this will feel more like a drill and less like a vacation. So we have given ourselves abundant permission to abandon the plan and just enjoy the day- and each other.

 

And speaking of which- the best part of wandering the ship last night was just reconnecting with one another. We both work very intense jobs- long hours- late nights. Hopefully this vacation is shaping up to be exactly what we want- a chance to spend time together. I absolutely love the time Bradley and I spent just chatting and laughing. We stopped solving problems and just enjoyed the moment. It makes me really, really, really look forward to retirement with this old guy. :)

 

I am going to end here before I get any sappier. I hope to write more after we return from Cartagena.

 

Thanks for having brekkie with me!

 

Tracie-Lynn :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Love Cartagena. Have a great day! :)