Live from Odyssey to Harmony Feb 10-25, 2024 🚢🥳🍾🌊🏝️🐚☀️

[Denversail]

It is silent again but only after I broke a nail pounding on it. 

Edited February 15 by Denversail

[fla33023]

6 hours ago, Denversail said:

We made it to Jamaica. We went to Chukka (?) good hope estate. I loved loved loved it. I would have liked to have had more time there. A ton of activities. I think we paid somewhere between $40 and $60, none of us could recall the exact amount. You can add any activities you want after getting there. They have river tubing, zip lining, horseback riding, ebikes, and more. We just enjoyed the grounds. I have a few pics. I think Dupable has some more. 

Loved Chukka, hated the bus ride. Our driver did a bad job at missing potholes!

[Denversail]

I was drunker than usual last night. Those Wonderland drinks did me in. I of course had to try all of them.

[Destaw71835]

On 2/15/2024 at 1:24 PM, Denversail said:

We made it to Jamaica. We went to Chukka (?) good hope estate. I loved loved loved it. I would have liked to have had more time there. A ton of activities. I think we paid somewhere between $40 and $60, none of us could recall the exact amount. You can add any activities you want after getting there. They have river tubing, zip lining, horseback riding, ebikes, and more. We just enjoyed the grounds. I have a few pics. I think Dupable has some more. 

I wondered if this was worth it or not. Thanks for reporting back.

[Denversail]

I was a bit of a dud today. Just relaxed all day. We had Giovanni’s for lunch and then enjoyed Hibachi for dinner. I took a nap in between feedings. We just packed and set our bags out. It has been years since we have done anything but self assist. Dupable wanted to do the Everglades tour in the morning and they gave us group #1 tags and told us to put it out. Not sure if it is required or not so we just put them out. 
 

Wolf and I have a 3 pm flight to Texas on United. Dupable and Good Sport are flying back to Colorado on a 3:45 Walmart flight. We hear it is snowing at home with 2 - 3 inches expected.

 

Dupable is now out still trying to hide her ducks. She struggled to hide them all week. It caused some arguments when Good Sport hid them in spots that were too easy. She said he might as well just be handing them out to people as they walk by. 🤣🤣

 

She was never able to find anyone else’s ducks. 😞

[DaniDanielle]

Safe travels.  Will Dupable surprise you on Harmony?😳

[SunandShade]

2 hours ago, Denversail said:

I was a bit of a dud today. Just relaxed all day. We had Giovanni’s for lunch and then enjoyed Hibachi for dinner. I took a nap in between feedings. We just packed and set our bags out. It has been years since we have done anything but self assist. Dupable wanted to do the Everglades tour in the morning and they gave us group #1 tags and told us to put it out. Not sure if it is required or not so we just put them out. 
 

Wolf and I have a 3 pm flight to Texas on United. Dupable and Good Sport are flying back to Colorado on a 3:45 Walmart flight. We hear it is snowing at home with 2 - 3 inches expected.

 

Dupable is now out still trying to hide her ducks. She struggled to hide them all week. It caused some arguments when Good Sport hid them in spots that were too easy. She said he might as well just be handing them out to people as they walk by. 🤣🤣

 

She was never able to find anyone else’s ducks. 😞

 

By the way, where did Dupable find her ducks?  Last we heard they were missing.

[Denversail]

4 hours ago, SunandShade said:

 

By the way, where did Dupable find her ducks?  Last we heard they were missing.

They were in her backpack. 🤣🤣

[Denversail]

7 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

Safe travels.  Will Dupable surprise you on Harmony?😳

No. Dupable doesn’t do things like that. We will have to find another source of entertainment during week two. Maybe not though, I’m sure we will hear from her multiple times a day. Wolf has promised to send her a lot of pictures of the big ship. 🤣

[Denversail]

We made it to Fort Lauderdale. They started letting self assist off the sip at 6:25. The line didn’t look that long when I walked by. The wind jammer was a mess the minute it opened. I tried going to crown lounge but I guess they don’t put food out on the last day. Hopefully we can find some food by early afternoon. 
 

Thing I loved:

 

1. The elevator buttons. I don’t like to touch things so these were great!

2. Two-70. You can’t beat that view!

3. Cleanliness. Everyplace was clean. Even the bathrooms consistently. Never walked into a gross one and I use the bathroom a lot.

4. The WI-FI. This worked well everywhere on the ship.

 

in my opinion this ship just doesn’t have enough crew. The bar service was slow 50% of the time. They didn’t have enough casino staff to open tables. I had never experienced that before. The food was fine but we ate 85% of our meals in specialty restaurants.
 

Now we are off to the Everglades.

[scubaslayer]

2 hours ago, Denversail said:

No. Dupable doesn’t do things like that. We will have to find another source of entertainment during week two. Maybe not though, I’m sure we will hear from her multiple times a day. Wolf has promised to send her a lot of pictures of the big ship. 🤣

I know you said this wasn't that type of review but I am trying to plan dinners. Can you see the showtimes for Harmony and if so any chance you can post them? Either way, I am still following along. This is one of the best reviews I've seen.

[Denversail]

10 minutes ago, scubaslayer said:

I know you said this wasn't that type of review but I am trying to plan dinners. Can you see the showtimes for Harmony and if so any chance you can post them? Either way, I am still following along. This is one of the best reviews I've seen.

Anything for a loyal follower ❤️

[Destaw71835]

35 minutes ago, Denversail said:

We made it to Fort Lauderdale. They started letting self assist off the sip at 6:25. The line didn’t look that long when I walked by. The wind jammer was a mess the minute it opened. I tried going to crown lounge but I guess they don’t put food out on the last day. Hopefully we can find some food by early afternoon. 
 

Thing I loved:

 

1. The elevator buttons. I don’t like to touch things so these were great!

2. Two-70. You can’t beat that view!

3. Cleanliness. Everyplace was clean. Even the bathrooms consistently. Never walked into a gross one and I use the bathroom a lot.

4. The WI-FI. This worked well everywhere on the ship.

 

in my opinion this ship just doesn’t have enough crew. The bar service was slow 50% of the time. They didn’t have enough casino staff to open tables. I had never experienced that before. The food was fine but we ate 85% of our meals in specialty restaurants.
 

Now we are off to the Everglades.

I was on the Anthem a few years ago and absolutely LOVED Two-70!

[Denversail]

We did have a little family spat at Hibachi last night. We have been kicking each other off devices all week. Good Sport was trying to get back on WiFi and a roaming message popped up. They handed me the phone and asked me what he should do. Now all I did was give an honest response. I suggested he put his phone back in airplane mode. This caused an uproar. Good Sport started scolding me telling me to stop teasing Dupable and trying to get her worked up. I’ve never seen Dupable move so fast. She heard the word roaming and snagged that phone right out of Good Sports hand. You can just guess who got the scolding then. Dupable was not happy. 

[Denversail]

I know I’ve fallen behind. Am I the only one who feels super busy on vacation? It’s like I just can’t find the time. I’m even neglecting Mr. IT even though I don’t mean to. I’m just always running to the next thing.  I hope to get caught up this evening. 

[Denversail]

I haven’t seen much discussion about the Everglades excursion. This was something Dupable wanted to do. Wolf and I decided to accommodate her. Actually I made Wolf accommodate her. Wolf described it as the worst vacation experience of his life. We vacation a lot but I normally do all the planning.

 

This started with almost 1 1/2 to get everyone gathered and on the buses. I think it is about a 30 minute drive to the Everglades. This is on a piece of crap bus that 90% of the time had an extremely loud buzzing sound. I think it was the guides speaker system. The guide was a flustered mess. Just watching her attempt her job caused me anxiety. 

 

We then got to the Everglades and stood another 45 minutes waiting to get on an airboat. This ride lasted about 15 minutes and caused me some ear pain that 12 hours later isn’t as bad but I can tell it isn’t right still. We saw a bird. Yep all that for a bird folks. 

[Denversail]

They wrap all that up with a gator show. I will say I did enjoy the 20 minute show. It was done by the gator boys and it was good. We did have to wait another 45 minutes for that. We were then immediately loaded back on the bus to the airport. It was 5 1/2 hours for about 35 minutes of actual entertainment if you want to call it that. I agree with Wolf, it was one of the worst travel experiences I’ve ever had. I would have preferred sitting in the airport for 8 hours next to a screaming baby. 

 

The entire experience was torture. If my ear doesn’t recover I’m at risk of having to cancel an excursion Wolf and I have later this week. 

[Denversail]

Wolf and I made it to Houston with no delays. We checked into the Marriott at the airport and will catch a shuttle in the morning. The hotel is okay. A little outdated. The restaurant is very expensive with no very good food. The placing of the toilet seems odd to me. It was under the sink. I thought I had a picture but I guess I missed it. I think it was about $260 for the night. It is very cold in Houston.

 

Dupable and Good Sport got delayed 3 hours I think. They were boarding after we had already landed in Houston.

 

Edited February 18 by Denversail

[Denversail]

I made a little mistake this morning. I thought our shuttle was at 9 am. Well that is our shuttle time next Sunday. The kind driver called me about 7:40 to let me know my shuttle was ready. I am Dupable’s daughter so I of course argued that my shuttle is at 9. He said if I wanted to change it I’d have to call the main office. I asked if I could have 20 minutes to get there and he agreed. I wasn’t even in our room at this point. So I ran. Came in the room shouting at Wolf that we had to go now. That boy can move. We shoved everything in our bags and ran out of the room. We checked out of the hotel and hopped on the tram back to the airport terminal. We made it at exactly 8 am. That wouldn’t have been possible if Dupable was with us. 

[Denversail]

We are now packed into a van like sardines for an hour drive. I assumed it would be more spacious. I questioned my ability to even squeeze my fat ass into the backseat. We will book a nicer accommodation in the future. I’m too old to be shoved in with a bunch of people like this.

[Denversail]

We are going to rub in as many things as possible. Dupable was kicking herself at the airport that she wasn’t joining us. She almost cried. In my opinion things are always more enjoyable when others are jealous. Well at least when Dupable is. So let’s get started. We got to stop at Buc-ee’s.

[Denversail]

We are on Harmony of the seas. We got to the port about 9:45. Wolf guided me to luggage drop off and where to get in line. I was basically useless this morning. We were on the ship by 10:30. For those worried about checkin times they didn’t even check and we were within the first 20 onboard after key and suites. Once they let us in the building about 10:20 we basically walked right on. 
 

A few negatives so far for Harmony in comparison to Odyssey. The dining reservations were a pain even though we were some of the first on the ship. Some restaurants were sold out. We were first told just to go to Sabor for lunch with no reservation. We had no other option for lunch today as everything else was booked. We were also told the only place we can make Hibachi reservations was at Hibachi. I hiked over to Hibachi only to be greeted with a long line. Most folks are booking an entire week so it doesn’t move fast. We decided we didn’t care enough. We had just done it twice last week with ease so we would just skip it. We then went back to another reservation desk to fill our hole we had left for Hibachi with 150. This person told us we needed a Sabor reservation for lunch today which we were still able to secure. Seems overall complicated to me. 
 

Wolf and I then headed to Boleros for our first drink. My first drink had about a drop of liquor in it. I quickly downed that in about 2 minutes. The bartender asked if I needed anything else and I asked for another. Just wanted a drink to carry as we were heading to our muster station. He informed me he couldn’t serve me back to back drinks on my package but he could give me one if I wanted to use my voucher. WHAT? I’ve never had this happen before on Royal. If I wanted to deal with drink restrictions I’d cruise on carnival. I of course passed on the voucher simply out of principle and let him know I’d just hop over to another bar. I walked across to On Air and got another drink no problem. 
 

I’m not sure what these two things are about. It was just inconvenient to me. Two points for Odyssey as I didn’t have these hassles on that ship. 
 

Anyways we just let that all roll off our back. Having a good time about to have lunch in Sabor. Sitting in my favorite spot in Aquatheater. Let’s get this party started! It is our long cruise, big ship week!

[scubaslayer]

7 minutes ago, Denversail said:

We are on Harmony of the seas. We got to the port about 9:45. Wolf guided me to luggage drop off and where to get in line. I was basically useless this morning. We were on the ship by 10:30. For those worried about checkin times they didn’t even check and we were within the first 20 onboard after key and suites. Once they let us in the building about 10:20 we basically walked right on. 
 

A few negatives so far for Harmony in comparison to Odyssey. The dining reservations were a pain even though we were some of the first on the ship. Some restaurants were sold out. We were first told just to go to Sabor for lunch with no reservation. We had no other option for lunch today as everything else was booked. We were also told the only place we can make Hibachi reservations was at Hibachi. I hiked over to Hibachi only to be greeted with a long line. Most folks are booking an entire week so it doesn’t move fast. We decided we didn’t care enough. We had just done it twice last week with ease so we would just skip it. We then went back to another reservation desk to fill our hole we had left for Hibachi with 150. This person told us we needed a Sabor reservation for lunch today which we were still able to secure. Seems overall complicated to me. 
 

Wolf and I then headed to Boleros for our first drink. My first drink had about a drop of liquor in it. I quickly downed that in about 2 minutes. The bartender asked if I needed anything else and I asked for another. Just wanted a drink to carry as we were heading to our muster station. He informed me he couldn’t serve me back to back drinks on my package but he could give me one if I wanted to use my voucher. WHAT? I’ve never had this happen before on Royal. If I wanted to deal with drink restrictions I’d cruise on carnival. I of course passed on the voucher simply out of principle and let him know I’d just hop over to another bar. I walked across to On Air and got another drink no problem. 
 

I’m not sure what these two things are about. It was just inconvenient to me. Two points for Odyssey as I didn’t have these hassles on that ship. 
 

Anyways we just let that all roll off our back. Having a good time about to have lunch in Sabor. Sitting in my favorite spot in Aquatheater. Let’s get this party started! It is our long cruise, big ship week!

 

Have you cruised out of Texas before? Texas has some kind of dumb alcohol rules while in port. Which is funny, considering my city has drive through margaritas and daiquiris. Though those drive thrus are nothing compared to the liquor barns in Mississippi.

[Sunandslots]

You are a riot!  I love your writing.  You should write a book about your adventures with your mother. It does remind me of my daughter and myself on a cruise and she kept writing things in her phone. Finally I asked about it and she said she was writing mumisms so the rest of the family would get a laugh!  Oh we just have to love our daughters!😳😃

[Denversail]

I’m not sure how many of you noticed but I’m a little famous. I have a bit of celebrity status. The first crew member I approached to make my dining reservations was Sunshine. She immediately recognized me. She works in Chops which we will be dining in a lot. We are looking forward to seeing her again.