Blue Collar Diamond joins the Symphony - 4/27

[Beav1279]

I'm enjoying your review. Thanks for sharing!

[Sobro]

Fun review BillOh. Question: what was the date of Freedom's 100th cruise in 2008? My first cruise ever was on Freedom in September of '08.

[BillOh]

45 minutes ago, Sobro said:

Fun review BillOh. Question: what was the date of Freedom's 100th cruise in 2008? My first cruise ever was on Freedom in September of '08.

3rd cruise - 4/27/08 Freedom of the Seas -Western Caribbean

[Sobro]

Thanks! 

[BillOh]

I will get back at this tonight with day 4  St Kitts!   By the way, I stole this photo elsewhere.

 

 

The pattern on this cup doesn't match what was given our week, but it matches the style. THEY WILL NOT LAST.    People don't take the time to screw on the lid and slam goes a full beverage to the floor.  Saw it 4 times on my week.  This is the first ever cruise I didn't get the soda package.  Probably why I didn't gain any weight despite 5 Captain and Cokes daily. 

[dreadpirate3]

On 5/10/2019 at 10:21 AM, BillOh said:

 A tale of Caution for Disney as well. 

 

Disney, and Universal, has very strict security standards and police at each entrance to the park. This kind of thing is no longer overlooked. Until it is legal here, and CBD oil allowed to come into the parks, I can't hold them at fault.

 

 

[BillOh]

I'll do more tonight.  On my phone I did find a photo of the back up in boarding at Terminal A on 4/27.    Not the worst on record, it did cause about 90 minutes of uncomfortable delay for people who arrived between 10:30 and about noon. We were among about 500 people stuck at the top of the stairs at check in, before security. 

 

[Mikew0805]

2 hours ago, BillOh said:

I will get back at this tonight with day 4  St Kitts!   By the way, I stole this photo elsewhere.

 

 

 

The pattern on this cup doesn't match what was given our week, but it matches the style. THEY WILL NOT LAST.    People don't take the time to screw on the lid and slam goes a full beverage to the floor.  Saw it 4 times on my week.  This is the first ever cruise I didn't get the soda package.  Probably why I didn't gain any weight despite 5 Captain and Cokes daily. 

I am not sure I like that cup. The other ones have always been good for "Coffee to go" in the car on the way to work. These ones will not work for that, and cannot see a use for them after the cruise. hmmm.

[Mikew0805]

30 minutes ago, BillOh said:

I'll do more tonight.  On my phone I did find a photo of the back up in boarding at Terminal A on 4/27.    Not the worst on record, it did cause about 90 minutes of uncomfortable delay for people who arrived between 10:30 and about noon. We were among about 500 people stuck at the top of the stairs at check in, before security. 

 

That is a lot of people. When Josh & I went in March... we were running late. I want to say we got to the terminal at about 215-230pm. The place was a ghost town. We started talking that we may have to wait until later to board from now on. 

 

My biggest problem was the line for the elevators to the parking garage when we disembarked. (Self Assist) OMG they should have re-thought those elevators, and had some escalators or something. It was at least a 45 minute wait, and it was too hot to just stand there in a line, so we carried the luggage up the stairs. 

[BillOh]

Hard to believe it was day 4 and we hadn't been off the ship since noon Saturday.  Today was our 2nd visit to St Kitts.  We were last there in 2014 on Jewel.

 

According to most websites I checked, we were supposed to be alone in St kitts, but when we arrived  Celebrity Summit was there. I was happy to see this as I'm considering Summit  for a future cruise.  From the front she looks almost as big 🙂

 

 

But alas, she has no booty.

 

 

I don't believe the fencing was up along the pier last time and a 2nd pier looks like its nearing completion this year.   Back in 2014, I was just recovering from back surgery, but we took an excursion " Catamaran with Nevis Beach lunch"  It was a good time, one of the better Royal excursions we have done.  I have mainly gone private, but we booked this one again. Same boat, same lunch, but it was very good and worthwhile even with about 50 people on board. (It was no Calabazza, but it was a good time)

 

 

[BillOh]

I just noticed in this hap hazard review, I totally skipped the 2nd Sea day. I still haven't gotten use to this itinerary. 

 

Day 3 at a glance. - 2 miles on the track.  On this day, I noticed several things about Symphony that were already worn out. They were either worn out, or just made cheaply. (I didn't get involved in the whole "welds issue"  between the first two ships of the class and the last two)   A piece of the sports court had already come up. A sizable enough hole for someone two twist an ankle.  Next, I noticed the "rock wall" that surrounds the beach pool.  It felt softer that what I remembered on Oasis or Allure. It felt like it was coated with a rubberized material like kids playground equipment might have.   Maybe I don't remember Oasis and Allure right, but I found a big chunk of this wall missing already and I never saw that on Allure in 2011 or Oasis in 2016.  Finally on the stairwells, which I used a lot. The railings are metal with "wood corners" where they reverse direction. Several of these are broken and had packing tape holding them together.   Not impressive for a new ship.

 

We went to look at some of our pictures in the photo place. Here is another area I was disappointed with.  I'm sure this will come to the other ships as well, but I hate the Picture This studio on this ship  Yes, they have done away with the walls of photos that were a big waste and yes, you can view all your pics on a 14" screen.  However, because of all you cheap idiots who like to cheat the system and take photos of the photos and not pay for them, you have ruined it for me.  All the photos are heavily watermarked and while they attempted to create a system where you can move the water marks for better viewing, you can't remove them and I couldn't see the pictures well enough to decide if I wanted them.     Later we would visit the studio on the last night to look at pictures and of course everyone else did too.  It was a confusing mess and I ended up paying $59 for photos I didn't get. I'll dispute that soon. The employees there were of little help.

 

Dinner that night was Lasagna for me, it was good.  We ended up at Hair Spray that night.  I didn't see Hair Spray on Oasis, it had CATS in 2016.  I really had no idea what Hair Spray was going to be like.  I liked it. The singing and characters were good, but I really liked the story and the high tech special effects added to the stage. I'm glad we went. I won't see it again.

 

[perfect match]

15 hours ago, BillOh said:

I will get back at this tonight with day 4  St Kitts!   By the way, I stole this photo elsewhere.

 

 

The pattern on this cup doesn't match what was given our week, but it matches the style. THEY WILL NOT LAST.    People don't take the time to screw on the lid and slam goes a full beverage to the floor.  Saw it 4 times on my week.  This is the first ever cruise I didn't get the soda package.  Probably why I didn't gain any weight despite 5 Captain and Cokes daily. 

 

We had the soda package on this cruise, and we really didn’t like the cups much. We did not have any spills like you saw, but that’s because we were careful to put the top on tight, and we did not use their handles.  We brought our own handles that worked very well on the cups. We hated that you had to drink from the straw they provided to keep from spilling, or leave the top off when drinking. Also, when walking around with a full cup you had to keep one end of the straw in each of the openings in the lid to keep the liquid from spilling out that way.  I did find out when we got home that the lid from the same shaped cup from our previous cruises fit perfectly on the new cup. Wish I had known before we sailed that I needed to bring my own lid!

[Big_G]

On 5/7/2019 at 11:46 AM, BillOh said:

 

Speaking of the Diamond Lounge and the ship's art. I'll skip ahead and say that I was on a 7 day cruise, ate what I wanted, and had 5-6 Captain and Coke's each night in the DL and I didn't gain a single pound on the cruise!  Part of that was enjoying the artwork in the stairs, part was 2 miles on the running track 3 times, and part was only eating till I was full. 

 

It took years for them to put Captain in the DL so enjoy. I may have to reconsider buying the drink package.

[BillOh]

10 minutes ago, Big_G said:

 

It took years for them to put Captain in the DL so enjoy. I may have to reconsider buying the drink package.

 

I was surprised when I heard someone order Bacardi and coke, so I asked about it and saw an updated list. (didn't have my camera)  But I was very happy. 

[brookmill18]

The cup posted is not the one given with soda package to be used with the Freestyle Machines, correct?  It's like the Labadoozie cups on Labadee?

[MrFunInTheSun]

Another great report Bill! 

[BillOh]

48 minutes ago, brookmill18 said:

The cup posted is not the one given with soda package to be used with the Freestyle Machines, correct?  It's like the Labadoozie cups on Labadee?

Its the same design given out on Symphony and several other ships in the last week or two,  Just not the same perfect day artwork on it. 

[BillOh]

On 5/11/2019 at 1:05 AM, Coralc said:

 

I don't think those cardboard backings are intended for consumption. 

With salt, it would beat the turkey bacon.

[perfect match]

11 hours ago, brookmill18 said:

The cup posted is not the one given with soda package to be used with the Freestyle Machines, correct?  It's like the Labadoozie cups on Labadee?

 

Here’s the cups we got on Symphony to use for the Freestyle machine. The handles on the cups are our own, not the ones that come with the cups and attach to the lids, thus leading to the spills Bill saw.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by perfect match

[BillOh]

DaHow could it already be day 5 of  cruise I booked 750 days ago!  I'm sure most of you can relate to this sentiment.    For this cruise this was St Thomas.  This port and Saint Martin, I always get up early and sit on my balcony as both ports have beautiful surroundings that make the balcony worthwhile.    St Thomas does offer a chance to get close up shots of the side of the ship.

 

 

The plan for us evolved around me being a scuba diver traveling with non diving friends and wife.  We didn't have a beach day yet, so I planned on diving with the people at Coki Beach while the others enjoyed the beach.   When they found out what time I had to be there, they sent me out by myself and they went shopping, planning on meeting me between dives.   That worked out great for all of us.

 

 

 

I found the people at the Coki Dive place very nice, professional and enjoyed my dives here. I dive with just my own mask and snorkel. I rent the rest of my equipment rather than carry it on a cruise.  I only dive once or twice a year, so this works for me.  Below if the first picture I have seen of me diving. I as you might see, have my own GOpro on my mask, so I never get pictures of me.   Coke Dive offers you a few pics from your dive at a fair price.

 

The dive master took this photo of the eel.  I haven't looked at my go pro video yet, but my view would have not been frontal and a wider angle view.

 

 

Below is Larry.  

 

 

When I came out of my first dive, I saw my wife and friends had made it. The un supervised shopping trip didn't set me back too badly.

 

Oh, I just found this photo I took of the new terminal.

[BillOh]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 11:44 AM, dreadpirate3 said:

Some time we will be on the same ship at the same time. You are a month before me!

 

I can't wait to see your stateroom photos! We have an ocean view balcony on deck 9.

One week to go! Enjoy. 

[BillOh]

Sorry for all the interruptions to this review.  Looking back at my notes, I've skipped over a bunch of things.  I just noticed that a few posts of mine are missing.  I was making  a mistake when posting pictures that caused the entire post to disappear, so posts I thought I made aren't here, which hurts the flow.  For this post, I am going to randomly throw in a few pics. 

 

The Solarium pool?

 

 

 

Anyway, going back to Sea Day 1, we did the ESCAPE THE RUBICON escape room.  My wife looked forward to this a lot.  She has done many.  I had never done one, nor had Jon and Penny.  The Rubicon is a submarine tasked to fire a torpedo into an active volcano to stop a major eruption.,  You have to solve many puzzles to make that happen. I won't give anything away.  We came within 5 minutes of solving it, but we didn't.   I was working on one puzzle, and all I will say is, we were trying to make something happen when we were actually supposed to make it not happen.  

 

3 of my crew did enjoy the Rubicon, I did not.  I probably wouldn't enjoy any escape room, they just aren't my thing, but I see why people like them and commend Royal for offering it.  I was smart enough to bring my glasses. If you need reading glasses, bring them, you will be almost worthless without them. (They don't tell you this)  The other problem was the light level is too low for someone my age. Even with reading glasses, I couldn't see a couple of the clues.  They said they didn't allow cell phones so people wouldn't cheap, but I sure could of used mine for the flashlight.

 

Below, NCL's round terminal is being build next to Royal's angled one.

 

On Day 1, we stopped at the Bionic Bar, thought, "cool" and never went back.  Another, "Not my thing" situation, but as I say about the Oasis class, things that don't interest me, draw people's attention away from things that do interest me, so less crowds.

 

Not sure why I put this picture in, but I've deleted it twice.  Moving on.  This was a boat ferry from one of the Harbor islands back to the port of Miami.

 

[BillOh]

For our 3rd time, we tried out for Love and Marriage. We got picked as the middle couple.   I had found out Mike was the CD a few weeks ahead of time and sent him a message on Facebook welcoming him and mentioning that I would love to see new Quests and new questions on Love and Marriage.   He replied that he did his differently and he had about 10 questions for everyone.  This was true. I did like his version of the show the best.  He had 3 sets of 2 chairs on stage.  Each set was back to back from each other.  There was a nice newlywed couple from Nashville on the left. My chair faced the bride, which she wasn't bad to look at.  Later when the bra side question came out, I correctly guessed 36DD, but I didn't get credit for that!  We would lose to the older couple, a pair of Floridians by way of Brooklyn.   Mike did a great job with the L&M.   

 

Below is a better picture of my wife's favorite art piece which is located on the port/front stairwell

 

This reminds me, a lot of the art on this ship is 3D, which invites the user to touch, which I don't think you are supposed to. This is the only one she touched. I did see one small piece of artwork that featured playing cards covered with a clear cover that had a handle on it for removing the cover, which you couldn't do. Someone had already pushed the cover in an left a big dent in it.  This was the first ever damaged art I have seen on a ship. (Assuming the dent wasn't artist conceived.)

 

 

[exercisemama]

On 5/15/2019 at 2:26 AM, perfect match said:

 

Here’s the cups we got on Symphony to use for the Freestyle machine. The handles on the cups are our own, not the ones that come with the cups and attach to the lids, thus leading to the spills Bill saw.

 

 

Where did you get the handles? 

[perfect match]

7 hours ago, exercisemama said:

Where did you get the handles? 

 

Amazon. They’re called Clip Grip. Each band stretches a little bit, then clip it into whatever slot gives you a nice secure grip. They worked really well for us, easy to pack, and will work on any of the different size cups we’ve gotten on our various cruises.