“Suite!” Just Retired to be a pirate at sea with Sea Dog and Polly The Pirate Semi Live Explorer Nov. 7th

[RCCL Fan]

Greg, I'm sooo happy to have found your thread. You've been waiting for this one, so well deserved!!!!

 

Enjoy it my friend, while I'm here slaving over a hot dejero.

 

I can't wait to see how service is onboard.   Our trip on Adventure was amazing, i think you'll experience the same.

 

[perfect match]

Glad to see you’re finally on board. Your sailaway video was beautiful, and Chops looked delicious! 
 

I guess I’m in the minority in not liking the new coffee machines. We’re not coffee drinkers, and they’re not particularly useful for tea, which I do enjoy. All ours did was take up space. I did ask our cabin steward if we could get a kettle for tea and was told no. I should have asked him to just get the thing out of my way!

[Sea Dog]

5 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

Greg, I'm sooo happy to have found your thread. You've been waiting for this one, so well deserved!!!!

 

Enjoy it my friend, while I'm here slaving over a hot dejero.

 

I can't wait to see how service is onboard.   Our trip on Adventure was amazing, i think you'll experience the same.

 

 

Thank you friend. I'll try to follow in your footsteps. Your review really inspired me. Yes I can't tell you how good the service is. At Chops last night, we were visited not only by the restaurant manager but even the head chef came out to talk to us. Bartenders were great and really appreciated the dollar per dink tip even though we had the DDP. You are cruising pretty soon are you not?

 

 

2 hours ago, perfect match said:

 

I guess I’m in the minority in not liking the new coffee machines. We’re not coffee drinkers, and they’re not particularly useful for tea, which I do enjoy. All ours did was take up space. I did ask our cabin steward if we could get a kettle for tea and was told no. I should have asked him to just get the thing out of my way!

 

I am not a coffee drinker either. I like a cold diet coke in the morning so I'm not sure we will even use it. Plus I'm using PAL plug with a converter for an extra outlet.

 

[Sea Dog]

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead !

So I am wide awake at 4:30am. Most people who know me know that I am not an early morning guy. I never wake up early. But, when you are on a cruise, let's go baby. Things

to do, things to see.

 

I went to bed at midnight and did have one of the most restful sleeps in a long time. My wife and I snore so it's hard to get a peaceful night of sleep. Linda had gotten some of those breathe right strips for your nose. They really do work.

 

The other thing that helped was my new pair of Bose Sleep Buds. Thank you @John&LaLa for the recommendation. They really work. I heard nothing but a peaceful drone all night.

 

 

So a couple of things from yesterday I forgot to mention. I attacked the deluxe drink package with a vengeance. So don't judge me but yesterday's drinks included:

2 Diet Cokes

2 Kraken Colada's

Manhattan at Chops

House Malbec

Espresso after dinner

Old Fashioned at Schooner Bar

and 2 Templeton Rye's

I am really not an alcoholic. So at a price of $42/per day I would say I am ahead.

 

Other musings. 

 

 

 

No more self serve ice cream (for now) which I like. A crew member made consistent cones that did not flop on the floor. Seems like there are a lot of kids on this sailing or at least more than I would have thought.

 

Disregard this .mov file. upload failed and I can't delete the placeholder. Arrrggggg this pirate would say.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Sea Dog

[Sea Dog]

 

My view from above the pool deck yesterday.

[Ocean Boy]

Very cool sail-a-way video! What is a Kraken colada?

[Sea Dog]

32 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Very cool sail-a-way video! What is a Kraken colada?

A pina colada with Kraken dark spiced rum. Very tasty.

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Arrrggggg this pirate would say.

 

What is a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?

[John&LaLa]

31 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

What is a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?

 

R

[bobmacliberty]

23 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

R

 

Tis true, a pirate does love R.  But his first love be the C.

 

One of my favorite dad jokes, in honor of "C Dog".

Edited November 8, 2021 by bobmacliberty

[barbeyg]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Very cool sail-a-way video! What is a Kraken colada?

 

Heaven in a glass.   First drink I'm going to get in December.  😀

 

Enjoying the blog, and congrats on retirement, SeaDog!

Edited November 8, 2021 by barbeyg

[Ozark_Kid]

6 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Disregard this .mov file. upload failed and I can't delete the placeholder. Arrrggggg this pirate would say.

Might be a different problem but when I was posting video I had to to down grade the quality.  I had the phone set to 4k.  I would go to edit and change them to a 720.   Might be the size of the file that is causing trouble.  Timing out.  Just make sure you don’t lose the high quality for when you get home and watch it on the big screen.

[Luckynana]

7 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead !

The other thing that helped was my new pair of Bose Sleep Buds. Thank you @John&LaLa for the recommendation. They really work. I heard nothing but a peaceful drone all night.

 

2 Kraken Colada's

 

 

By hearing nothing but a peaceful drone, does that mean the sleep buds do make a sound, while blocking all other sounds?  I have yet to find ear plugs that keep out sound, or that they are comfortable.  You may be giving me some hope here.

Kraken Colada sounds delicious!

Great job on your sail away video😉

[island lady]

13 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Explorer of the Seas sail away was beautiful. Check this out.

 

 

 

Later drinks in the Schooner Bar and a lovely meeting with Cruise Critic members David and Beth. I enjoyed meeting and talking with you. Let's do it again. Cheers!

 

Beautiful!  And is the reason we always book starboard side when we cruise out of SJ.  🤗

[Sea Dog]

5 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Tis true, a pirate does love R.  But his first love be the C.

 

One of my favorite dad jokes, in honor of "C Dog".

 

That's why this pirate like to cruise. To get a little arrrrg and arrrg. (insert rim shot here please)

 

 

5 hours ago, barbeyg said:

 

Heaven in a glass.   First drink I'm going to get in December.  😀

 

Enjoying the blog, and congrats on retirement, SeaDog!

 

My sentiments exactly. Thank you.

 

 

2 hours ago, Luckynana said:

By hearing nothing but a peaceful drone, does that mean the sleep buds do make a sound, while blocking all other sounds?  I have yet to find ear plugs that keep out sound, or that they are comfortable.  You may be giving me some hope here.

Kraken Colada sounds delicious!

Great job on your sail away video😉

 

There is some noise cancelling. The ear buds fit nice and tight to mask out any other sounds. I found the peaceful drone to be very relaxing.

 

 

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Beautiful!  And is the reason we always book starboard side when we cruise out of SJ.  🤗

 

Yes that view was amazing.

[Sea Dog]

To be continued since CC is so difficult to post on a ship's wi-fi. I apologize.

 

St. Thomas

 

I love St. Thomas. As in my earlier post I got very earlier to get the sunrise and approach to St. Martin. Our excursion was to Secret Sands Beach. A 21-acre Secret Sands/Smith Bay Beach Eco Park located on St. Thomas' east end. Beautiful light pink sand beaches, luminescent aqua-blue water, which was some of the clearest water I've ever seen and complimentary beverages of a killer rum punch. More about that later.

 

Here is a little video of the day.

 

 

 

Polly the pirate really loved this spot.

 

 

 

She gives it two wings up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son Jonathan had never been to the Caribbean. he had spent a summer abroad in Hong Kong and went to some beaches there but said the water was full of trash. Not here. He was amazed how lear and warm the water was.

 

 

Just a perfect day and we aren't even at Coco Cay.

 

 

Our hosts Kareem and Spartan had free use of water noodles, floaties, and snorkel gear (with encouragement to tip) and I'm good with that. They also had snacks, water, soft drinks and a killer rum punch all free, but again encouraged to tip. He wouldn't say what was all in the punch but it was a local rum filled half way up the cup and then a fruit punch mixture that had pineapple juice and some others. I saw 3 cans on the ground. I made out one to be pineapple but did not recognize the other two. All I can say it was really good and packed a punch. Everyone on the open air taxi was a lot more chatty and animated on the way down the hill.

 

 

And finally it's always nice to visit with the iguanas in St. Thomas.

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Sea Dog

[bobmacliberty]

Very important question Sea Dog 😁...are you a Final Cut guy or a Premiere guy?  Either way, great results.

[Sea Dog]

Just now, bobmacliberty said:

Very important question Sea Dog 😁...are you a Final Cut guy or a Premiere guy?  Either way, great results.

I use Premiere Pro now. I used to be a big Avid user for years. I have Final Cut and have used it but because we switched from Avid to Premiere at work I can work pretty fast in Adobe. I may start using Final Cut more to do something different. It works very well.

[Sea Dog]

Some more pictures of St. Thomas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windjammer Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner now.

 

 

Forgot to take a picture of lunch at the WJ but here is dessert.

 

 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

 

To be continued since CC is so difficult to post on a ship's wi-fi. I apologize.

 

Yea, non O3B internet can be frustratingly slow. 

[Sea Dog]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Yea, non O3B internet can be frustratingly slow. 

Yes the kind of review I'm trying to do doesn't lend itself to doing it live. Some of my high resolution pictures and videos stall out when I try to upload. Also if I do not post or edit quick enough the post will stall out such as evidence of post #295. Even the Go Pro stuff that I upload to You tube takes forever.

[Ocean Boy]

Explorer is looking great!

[Sea Dog]

3 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Explorer is looking great!

She is clean as a whistle and even though her interior is a little dated it still looks good. Easy to get around and everything is laid out well.

[Ocean Boy]

3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

She is clean as a whistle and even though her interior is a little dated it still looks good. Easy to get around and everything is laid out well.

I will never forget the first time I set foot on the Royal Promenade, it was so different from any previous ship we had been on. Even though I had seen pictures, it was so exciting to finally be there.

[MJSailors]

Bon Voyage, Sea Dog and family !

The Junior Suite looks similar to the Mini Suite category on Princess. However, for Princess , the Suite part of Mini Suite does not afford any special perks other than a roomier cabin, larger bathroom with a tub/shower and,possibly, good locations on the deck plan.

Does RCCLoffer perks to those occupying the Junior Suite category ?

Have you enjoyed any special perks yet on this cruise ?

Wishing you continued enjoyable days aboard ship !

MJ 🙋🏻