Harmony Aug 4, 2019 - We're not on Empress anymore.

[SilkySal]

Thanks for taking us with you! Kay and I have Allure in less than a month; then, Tom and I will board HOS the following month! We'll be looking at ocean front condos soon too! We want a view like yours! Hope to see you soon at the Rad!

[John&LaLa]

St Thomas, kind of gloomy

 

 

 

I think we arrived at noon, we had an invite to a sail in on the helipad, but we forgot about it. 

 

Apparently the lure of the art auction enthralled my wife. We probably haven't been in 20 years and she wanted to check it out

I guzzled 3-4 mimosas, but didn't bite on anything.

Surprisingly I saw several purchases for over $3,000 😱

 

I won a free something, but by the time I pay all the fees, I'll bet it's $100+

I got yelled at for taking a photo of my prize.  Nothing I'd want anyway.

 

Now there was some controversy.

Laura did find a painting of a sailboat interesting. It was colors she liked.

So she asked about it. Get ready for the hard sell. 😉

 

The lovely young lady helping her said retail was around $1300, opening bid would be around $1200, but if she wanted it pre bid she could have it for around $1100. Laura said she'd think.  

Lady comes back in about 10 minutes and says it's going on block soon, last chance to buy pre sale.  Laura says she's still thinking about the placement in the condo, and worst case is she'll buy it in two weeks.

Lady says she should not wait it may be sold by then.

 

About 5 minutes later, it is placed on the auction block.  But guess what......

It's not available, someone bought it. Apologies. I call BS, Laura is pissed.

 

I know that no one in the room bought it. There were no markers on it other than Laura's. Plus they make a big deal when anyone buys something.  My guess is they will contact us in a couple of days and say the deal fell through, would we like it.  Something to create urgency, and force her off the fence.  Big mistake, they scammed the wrong person. 

 

to be continued...

[John&LaLa]

18 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

Thanks for taking us with you! Kay and I have Allure in less than a month; then, Tom and I will board HOS the following month! We'll be looking at ocean front condos soon too! We want a view like yours! Hope to see you soon at the Rad!

 

Good for you, she didn't tell me you were her roommate. 

I hope she gets back in the swing of things. 

Is this her first cruise since John passed?

[SilkySal]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Good for you, she didn't tell me you were her roommate. 

I hope she gets back in the swing of things. 

Is this her first cruise since John passed?

Yes, it is and I'll do my best to keep her amused!😄 Of course, I don't think that will be too hard since that woman seems to laugh at everything, which is a good thing, cause I heard that laughing makes you stay young, so let's laugh away!!

[A&L_Ont]

7 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

St Thomas, kind of gloomy

 

 

 

I think we arrived at noon, we had an invite to a sail in on the helipad, but we forgot about it. 

 

Apparently the lure of the art auction enthralled my wife. We probably haven't been in 20 years and she wanted to check it out

I guzzled 3-4 mimosas, but didn't bite on anything.

Surprisingly I saw several purchases for over $3,000 😱

 

I won a free something, but by the time I pay all the fees, I'll bet it's $100+

I got yelled at for taking a photo of my prize.  Nothing I'd want anyway.

 

 

About 5 minutes later, it is placed on the auction block.  But guess what......

It's not available, someone bought it. Apologies. I call BS, Laura is pissed.

 

I know that no one in the room bought it. There were no markers on it other than Laura's. Plus they make a big deal when anyone buys something.  My guess is they will contact us in a couple of days and say the deal fell through, would we like it.  Something to create urgency, and force her off the fence.  Big mistake, they scammed the wrong person. 

 

to be continued...

 

I was silent bidding on a fundraising charity item at a Hockey Game, a signed Gretzkey Jersey.  The last 6 bids were against one other person, making it $450 more than when we went back and forth.  Turns out I get a call at home stating that the item was still available as the other bidder backed out.  They wanted me to pay the full price, and I stated that since the other bidder ran me up I would gladly pay a lower cost as I had been run up $450.  They either failed to understand or didn't want $500 for their charity. 

 

This type of stuff happens, and you have to hold your preverbial guns on this one.  

[John&LaLa]

AuctionGate pt2

 

Now Laura wants to give the young lady a piece of her mind, I say it's not worth it. Surely this is a sales technique.

She really didn't want it anyway, not for $1100. 

 

So we headed upstairs, for lunch. Nibbled at the chicken sandwich, it was good.  the soup was cold.  It was the last day for the good lunch menu in CK.  Laura is still mad about the auction.

 

Adult pool looks empty, so I dropped Laura off at the cabin and decided to walk laps in the pool for an hour.

 

I got rained on eventually, kind of worried about our sunset catamaran at 5:00

 

Laura finds me as I'm drying off to head back to the cabin.  She's been busy......

Apparently she went down to Guest Services to find out who is in charge of Park West since they are a contractor.

Turns out it's Julia, the Revenue Director.  So Laura asks them to have Julia call the room when she has time.  She's been busy interviewing staff for the VOOM Manager position. No idea why anyone would want that job. 

 

So, eventually Laura and Julia have a long chat about the incident and she assures us she does not find that to be appropriate.

 

Our excursion is in 2 hours, we are moving dinner back a couple hours, so let's go up to Mini Bites for nachos. 

 

 

 

Nice pre excursion snack

[John&LaLa]

Night of the Iguana

 

Weather is cooperating and we head to the pier for our evening excursion. 

As usual we get there early, but we find some company waiting with us.

 

 

Any of these your subjects @Merion_Mom 🤔

 

This one looks like Spike from Gremlins

 

 

 

They are pretty much blocking the path to the pier. They really startle some folks

 

 

 

A little experimenting with bokeh

 

Turns out pretty good. Not sure why the hat went out of focus.  Just a bit overexposed as well.

 

Oh, those sunglasses we wear are prescription and only cost about $25 at Zenni.com 😎

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by John&LaLa

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

St Thomas, kind of gloomy

 

I think we arrived at noon, we had an invite to a sail in on the helipad, but we forgot about it. 

Apparently the lure of the art auction enthralled my wife. We probably haven't been in 20 years and she wanted to check it out

I guzzled 3-4 mimosas, but didn't bite on anything.

Surprisingly I saw several purchases for over $3,000 😱

 

I won a free something, but by the time I pay all the fees, I'll bet it's $100+

I got yelled at for taking a photo of my prize.  Nothing I'd want anyway.

 

Now there was some controversy.

Laura did find a painting of a sailboat interesting. It was colors she liked.

So she asked about it. Get ready for the hard sell. 😉

 

The lovely young lady helping her said retail was around $1300, opening bid would be around $1200, but if she wanted it pre bid she could have it for around $1100. Laura said she'd think.  

Lady comes back in about 10 minutes and says it's going on block soon, last chance to buy pre sale.  Laura says she's still thinking about the placement in the condo, and worst case is she'll buy it in two weeks.

Lady says she should not wait it may be sold by then.

 

About 5 minutes later, it is placed on the auction block.  But guess what......

It's not available, someone bought it. Apologies. I call BS, Laura is pissed.

 

I know that no one in the room bought it. There were no markers on it other than Laura's. Plus they make a big deal when anyone buys something.  My guess is they will contact us in a couple of days and say the deal fell through, would we like it.  Something to create urgency, and force her off the fence.  Big mistake, they scammed the wrong person. 

 

to be continued...

One can get pretty tipsy at the Park West event. 

[booplesnoople]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Night of the Iguana

 

Weather is cooperating and we head to the pier for our evening excursion. 

As usual we get there early, but we find some company waiting with us.

Greenies! I had one of these big sassmasters as a pet. His name was Pugsley and he broke out of his habitat CONSTANTLY. Used to scare the death outta me to open the garage and find him lurking in the shelving.

[John&LaLa]

Gotta take a break.  Headed to the groomers to pick up Bella

[TripleQ]

On 8/12/2019 at 12:42 PM, zoepipes said:

I'm hearing that there is a chocolate buffet in the Windjammer, typically (unannounced) on day 5. . .

 

There was a chocolate buffet.  I believe it was on day 6, because I missed it due to day 6 being formal/lobster night in the MDR.  I remember seeing it posted at the WJ entrance the morning of.

[cravingthis]

14 minutes ago, TripleQ said:

 

There was a chocolate buffet.  I believe it was on day 6, because I missed it due to day 6 being formal/lobster night in the MDR.  I remember seeing it posted at the WJ entrance the morning of.

Just chiming in here 

This is great news, thank you!

Would it be in our cruise compass as well, or just posted at the WJ entrance the morning of?

[TripleQ]

6 minutes ago, red-dragon said:

Just chiming in here 

This is great news, thank you!

Would it be in our cruise compass as well, or just posted at the WJ entrance the morning of?

Don't remember seeing it in the cruise compass, but I will double check when I get home.  The WJ entrance always seemed to have the theme nights posted the morning.. mexican, chocolate buffet, mongolian.  Ate in the MDR every night though so didn't pay close attention.

[dani negreanu]

18 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

 

Posing with Mr Izumi. He doesn't talk much

 

Pls. tell Laura I like her dress very much 😀

 

 

 

[TripleQ]

2 hours ago, red-dragon said:

Just chiming in here 

This is great news, thank you!

Would it be in our cruise compass as well, or just posted at the WJ entrance the morning of?

The themes are in the cruise compass, but no mention of the chocolate buffet 🤔

 

Day 1:Grill Night

Day 2:Crepe Night

Day 3: Indian / Ceviche Night

Day 4: Caribbean

Day 5: Mexican

Day 6: Mixed Grill / Crepe

Day 7: Mongolian

[cravingthis]

8 minutes ago, TripleQ said:

The themes are in the cruise compass, but no mention of the chocolate buffet 🤔

 

Day 1:Grill Night

Day 2:Crepe Night

Day 3: Indian / Ceviche Night

Day 4: Caribbean

Day 5: Mexican

Day 6: Mixed Grill / Crepe

Day 7: Mongolian

Thank you so much for taking the time to find the info, much appreciated!  Maybe they'll re-start the chocolate buffet by the time my sailing comes around 😐

Wondering what grill night is?

Edited August 14, 2019 by red-dragon

[sunsetme]

hey going on Harmony Aug 18 would love to know what day is chocolate buffet

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, jdechter said:

hey going on Harmony Aug 18 would love to know what day is chocolate buffet

 

Just ask your MDR waiter, this could vary cruise to cruise.

[maxthedog55317]

Question for you please.  When you arrive at the port to get on-board is there a "Priority Check-in" for Signature level players Casino Royal program.  Kinda like Sky and Star class, etc. for when you arrive to avoid the lines in security.  

Thanks:) 

[John&LaLa]

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

Pls. tell Laura I like her dress very much 😀

 

Will do, it's recent. Really cool fabric

Edited August 15, 2019 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, jdechter said:

hey going on Harmony Aug 18 would love to know what day is chocolate buffet

 

We'll find out together.  😎

 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, maxthedog55317 said:

Question for you please.  When you arrive at the port to get on-board is there a "Priority Check-in" for Signature level players Casino Royal program.  Kinda like Sky and Star class, etc. for when you arrive to avoid the lines in security.  

Thanks:) 

 

Not sure, I'm thinking that does not show up until Masters.  They get the same Gold card as the Pinnacles is my understanding.  I'll try and ask the check-in folks

Edited August 15, 2019 by John&LaLa

[lovelife]

2 hours ago, maxthedog55317 said:

Question for you please.  When you arrive at the port to get on-board is there a "Priority Check-in" for Signature level players Casino Royal program.  Kinda like Sky and Star class, etc. for when you arrive to avoid the lines in security.  

Thanks:) 

 

Priority check in is a Signature member benefit. Don't  know if it helps with going through security.

[John&LaLa]

Sunset Catamaran - Castaway Girl

$60 pp, pretty good price for a two hour booze cruise

 

This could have been so much better, I'm guessing this is a great excursion in the fall or spring, summer no so much

Wind would have helped

Having the sun go down would have helped

A non Irma ravaged St Thomas would have helped

 

At least the rum was free flowing

 

Just a wee bit crowded, typical of a ship's excursion

 

Our USCG Certified bartender

 

The lovely Laura

 

Marriot Frenchman's Reef. Nicest, biggest hotel on the island. Might be back next year, but I doubt it.

 

It used to look like this. 😥

 

Pretty sea and sky, but no wind.  We tried to go under sail, but that was a joke.  We just bobbed up and down like a cork. 

Fire up the engine, Cappy

 

A very welcome sight

 

We pretty much motored around Water Island 

 

Probably should have done this. Actually we have, around 20 years ago. 😉🥤

 

Well after we got back to the ship. 

 

Overall a disappointment. Castaway girl is probably better suited for daytime snorkel tours. 

 

[John&LaLa]

13 minutes ago, lovelife said:

 

Priority check in is a Signature member benefit. Don't  know if it helps with going through security.

 

Pretty much everybody get's priority check in these days. 😉

Like I said earlier, there was no security line outside terminal at noon. Very similar to a Mariner sail.

Oasis always had massive lines around that time. Not sure why so short last week