Arubamoose

We stayed there years ago and enjoyed it. Glad it is still there.

Thanks!! Will have to check them out.

We have not done a TA (our daughter giving birth to our first grandchild kinda killed that). But we did a TP on the Explorer in 2017 from Sydney to Seattle. We left Sydney on April 22nd and arrived in Seattle on May 15th. Our weather was perfect for all our stops in the Hawaiian Island and the South Pacific. No storms - no rain.

At pandemic lows we bought 100 shares of RCCL, CCL and NCL. Since then the RCCL stock price has gone through the roof. We have also had a nice "dividend" of at least $1000 of OBC. We haven't cruised the CCL or the NCL ships but will be in the future.

We did Tours by Locals. Our Tour guide was lilian.sierich@thefriend.com She picked us up at our hotel and she had a driver who took us around. We did both side of the falls. She spoke impeccable English and got us around without waiting. She was fun. We had a blast! Did a high speed boat ride to the falls. Thrilling. We stayed two nights at the Viale Tower Hotel. Rooms were decent. Rooftop bar was awesome for sunset. Walking distance to some good restaurants. We took a flight on LAN from IGR to Buenos Aires to meet our cruise.

Chops used to be really good. Last few times we did our BOGO there it was really mediocre. Service and ambiance was nice. Steak - meh..... I cook better myself. Usually don't do Italian because I am Italian and why? However, we did Jamie's on the Anthem for a BOGO and was pleasantly surprised. The service was great but the ambiance - meh.....

OK - Asian Carriers. Will be doing Singapore Airlines in Premium Economy to SIN from EWR. Using Chase Sapphire points. What Asian Carrier can I use my United Mileage Plus award on?

Haven't done the Beyond (2026) but have done the Apex and Edge. We've done an obstructed balcony (can actually sit outside of your room), which we loved and an inside. Had no issues with not being in a suite. The only thing is that we weren't able to eat in Luminae. No big loss with the other specialty restaurants that we did. Friends who had done a suite were really not that impressed for the price.

Pre Covid - years ago - we did the pizza thing up at the Lawn Club. It was very much hands on and we had a lot of fun. The pizza was so-so but the rest of the meal was great.

You missed a step before 1) Leave the pre-salted steak out in your refrigerator a few days to age.

There are now some UBER/LYFT drivers that offer car seats. It may take a few pokes around to see if they have two. You can reserve rides ahead of time. What are you using for the plane ride? My daughters use CARES - Child Aviation Restraint System - for their 3 and 5 year olds. You could possibly use that for the car ride.

When we were on the Anthem in February, they were pretty strict about using the BOGO on nights 1 and 2. We did Chops the first night and Jamie's the second night. I would have preferred later in the week as the menu's the first two nights are usually pretty good.

As am I....I logged in on my Dell Laptop and my iPhone.

We've done Bonaire Cruisers (who rent the golf carts) several times. A lot of fun!! On the south route - do stop at Foodie's for lunch. They book out quickly so if that's what you want to do - don't wait.

We did the very last balcony on the 9th deck on the Allure right above the Aqua Theatre. On a whim. We could see the ocean. We could see the rehearsals for the Aqua show from our balcony. We could watch the wall climbers. We listened to the staff at Johnny Rockets do impromptu shows down below. We could people watch. It wasn't too noisy at night. During the day it could be, but we were also out and about. Would I book it again? No. It was a LONG WALK from the elevators. I certainly got my steps in on that cruise. If it were that or an inside.....I probably would book it again....! 🙂