Norwaylady

So, our cards for first part of our b2b had not arrived to our cabin…. Mr asked for them yesterday. No cards on our door during today… So at 19.00 we asked again in the retreat😣 Well, here’s the problem… since we didn’t stay in the retreat last part of our b2b…. They don’t have the cards in their possession…. So after some phones and Physical movement, the cards arrived in the retreat🤩 we just sat down on a sofa with a pre dinner drink😆 so no sorrow for us😅 They had our cards in guest relations🙈 We are satisfied and have our cruise cards for both cruises in hand👍🏻👍🏻 After the search of cruise cards we decided to go for dinner at 20.00. We arrived during rush hours. But we had plenty of time🙃 So no stress😅 We had a table on I-95 but not an awful location. The most bothersome is people unpacking or packing plates and cutlery. Today’s menu: Chefs delight:

There are now bad weather😁 it’s just bad clothes😎 So we went to the retreat pool deck. It was only a super light drizzle and it slowly cleared up😉 We sat in the gray sun and enjoyed ourselves. This is a day you get mega lobster 🦞 if you think the light is not sharp. (Believe me, the uv is out😎) We took a dip in the pools, the gelato walk served cassis gelato😋 Cheers to a great holiday 🥂 Around 15.15 we decided that it was time to go inside. We took a Clark-Kent and went for some afternoon tea and pick up the passports😌 Will really miss the opportunity to sit outside in shorts and a light shirt 👚… its a long time until next time🥶😎 We asked for our cruise cards from last sailing yesterday. They have still not arrived…. (We always need to deliver them to the gangway and then they return them back) we want our cards to our stack of cards 🃏 Now it’s time for me to do luggage 🧳 Mr will have a last date by the ducks 🦆 Then it’s time to enjoy the last evening onboard for this time💙⚓️💙 When they changed from breakfast to lunchtime, it’s the day of their “dress to impress” cakes, food and decorations was rolling out🩷❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩵

😅 sorry for laughing this is really the worst nightmare when you plan to use it😳 We have extra batteries. So this has saved us. But our old GoPro just died on holiday. It was working perfectly and suddenly it was just completely dead 🫠 It was kaput☠️🙈 This was during our NZ advanced experience🙈 So we called a store and ordered a new one for pickup!

Good morning from a wet and humid sea day! It’s showers off/on. I was awake to my normal time… Mr was half way dead😜 So it was buffet breakfast on the last minutes (together by lots of others🤣🤣) Mr had his usual omelette and had my milk, apricot and cereal. It’s dry by the windows on the balcony. So we could sit outside😉 On our door, the letter for passport delivery had arrived. I was surprised it wasn’t on our bed already when we arrived back yesterday…. At some point we needed to get them back😝 Well, make the best of it🤩 What to do? Jacuzzi, shopping, live music, have some martinis? Well, as the big drinker I am, martinis are out😅 I think we will hit the pool for a dip😎

Cruise Compass Day 12. Sea Day. Time change to Singapore time +1h.

We love Thailand for The seafood options😍 In Hua Hin they have a great selection also. One of our favourites are flambé mussels and fish garlic 🧄 then a hole fish is covered and baked in garlic boats. Mmm really 😋 and scampi and lobster on the grill is never a bad option😋😋😋 We both like Thai style food. (Only thing is not to spicy for Mr😅) I have changed my dinner several times to save him from hot hell🤣🤣🔥🔥🔥🌶️

Phuket 🇹🇭 Oh, what a day😎🇹🇭 I ❤️ love Thailand 🇹🇭 I have visited every year since 2005 at least once a year. Only time not during Covid😩 I always go to Hua Hin. This was the first time in Phuket and we decided to go all-in for Phi Phi island. Tour was via the ship. I was in contact for private tours, but docking times was not good for making it back in time to the ship. (Very good decision!) It was 4 groups on our tour today. 25/26 guests in each group. So 4 buses/speed boats. We left the theatre on time and took the tender to land. The pier in Phuket is long, so a far way to walk before you are on land. (Important to know if you have a walking issue) Our tour guide was waiting a far stretch of walking from the pier. The tour numbers started at 39 on the pier end and we needed to go to nr 3😂😂😂 From there we needed to walk to the bus parking… So a decent tour on foot before we left for the bus👍🏻😂😎 You need to take a bus from this pier to another pier. It took 40.mins in the morning. At the pier they had toilets, water and coffee available to all guests. The speedboat ride is 1h to Phi Phi. Our first foto stop was the famous “the beach” movie spot. A million boats and people on the beach😂🇹🇭😎 Onward we moved to the caves. Foto stop. Then we continued to our snorkel reef. The reef was okay 👌🏻 lots of fish and decent visibility. For us a good time🐠🐟🐡 the water was warm and perfect for snorkelling 🤿 Not everyone on our boat had snorkel experience, so it was some arms and legs hitting wildly around the reef. Our guide did a great job explaining how to snorkel for them and helping them out into the water. After 45.minutes in the water, we moved onward to lunch. It was a Thai 🇹🇭 buffet. They served the classics from the Thai food. It tasted excellent 👌🏻 After lunchtime it was time to move onward to last stop. A little island you could snorkel 🤿 or just swim on the beach. At 16.30 it was departure time for our boat trip back to the pier. 1 h travel time on the boat again. On the pier, it was back on the bus. Due to rush hours, the guide said minimum 1h. So if everything was going well, we would be back in town to 18.30…. Well…. 😜 you probably understand where this is going🤣🤣🤣 We parked in the city centre 19.15… so after last tender😝 Not a huge problem, 100 people just from our Phi Phi groups…. And other ship tours were also delayed. So we arrived on the ship 20.00🙂 And still several tenders left to go before everyone was back onboard. The ship was ready to departure around 21.00. Then we raised the anchor ⚓️ and started to move. We needed to shower off and change. We decided quickly that tonight is buffet time…. We had a great Thai food luncheon and we had no interest of dressing up to Luminae…. Just to much to do after a long day😎 In the buffet, the rest of the ship was going also😝🤪🤣🤣🤣 Everyone was late back onboard😅 They had an Asian theme tonight and thanksgiving turkey. So plenty of options for everyone. Mr went for Ramen and I had some nachos😊 We had a great day to Phi Phi. We will definitely do an overnight there if we travel to Phuket on holiday. It was a long day and it’s lots of transportation. So keep that in mind. I will go thru the GoPro footage later tonight. Maybe Nemo is caught on tape🙃🐠🐟🐡

Phuket, 🇹🇭 A bit gray and foggy 😶‍🌫️ Fingers crossed it will clear up a little more during the day😎 We have a shore excursion: Meeting time 10.00. We had breakfast in Luminae. Menu: We asked for porches egg and avocado toast👍🏻

And for all Americans, Happy Thanksgiving❤️ May you have a great celebration by family and friends❤️ In Norway, we don’t celebrate it.

Cruise Compass Day 11, Phuket Thailand 🇹🇭

Tender information The Retreat, Phuket

Departure information on the bed:

Tonight’s show is Matt Hale. He is a hypnotist. So this can be fun or not😅 It’s fun if you like this type of humour and maybe not if you don’t… 😅 let’s just say it was 50/50. After the show we went to watch the flair show. They are getting into shape now🥳🥳 We had a chat by Mihail hotel director. Things are changing in the industry, so some things are for the better or worse. It’s has been harder to get senior crew back. So training is something that takes time and patience. After our chat, it was time to go for dinner. It was still a bit crowded, but people was eating desserts, so it calmed down quite quickly. Today’s menu: Chefs taste We had the asparagus for starter and then we ordered scallops, lobster and the lamb. So we had a little buffet bonanza😅 Lamb was much better then last time we tried a lamb dish😉 Food tasted good 👍🏻 sauce on the lobster was really tasty and not too strong of taste. So you had the taste of the lobster and the sauce😋 Dessert menu We had ice cream. The peanut gelato was extremely powerful. It was like eating a bag of nuts😅😅😅 So probably very good together by some chocolate or caramel sauce. By itself a bit overkill😅 After dinner it was time for bed…. The dreaded departure letter and tags had arrived on the bed😩

We picked up breakfast there from the self-service buffet this morning. We eat on the balcony in the retreat. We have had som cocktails before dinner 2 days. They have afternoon tea delights from 15.30-16.30 daily. It’s scones, fruit and sandwiches in minis. We rushed by once. They have a snack bar from 17.30 to 20.30. It’s nuts and fruits. They have 2 servers in the lounge taking orders for drinks. But at peak times it’s very busy. The self-service beverage is open 24/7 style. It’s sodas, water and sparkling water. A coffee machine and tea serving. It’s like an airport lounge style. and the retreat hostess has their “office” so they can help you during their work hours. Im not sure what I think about it…. It’s not that I hate it. I just don’t know what I think about the concept. In one way i feel a bit “airport” over it. On the other side I feel it’s a good place to be social. Specifically if you travel by friends in several suites. Then you have more space to meet and mingle. Personally it’s not worth double price compared to a veranda stateroom🫥 But that’s my opinion of it.

yes🙂 He is a very good captain. Very visible and seems like a very genuine good person🥰

Captains Club Senior Officers party, here we come🥰 Today’s party was all according to plan. Drinks, canapés and sweets 🍭🥂🍹🍸 Captain Matt introduced the entire family of senior officer crew and he was giving out diplomas to employees that reached 5, 10, 15 and 20 years in X 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🍾🥂🥳

I woke up to clouds and showers of rain. The rain was drumming on our balcony. You could see the showers coming. I tried to have a family chat by my mother, she was in transit in Dubai from Thailand. She’s on the way home after a visit to Hua Hin. Connection was not great. So message worked well but no phone calls. I went upstairs to deliver the immigration cards to Thailand 🇹🇭 at 09.30. It was several people in the retreat. I went back downstairs to check on Mr. What was his wish…. We agreed that we should have breakfast on the balcony of the retreat. Since they have yoghurt, fruit, pastries and cold cuts. Then we would be able to sit outside under the roof and enjoy the food on a large table and walking distance of collecting all of it. It was almost empty when we arrived at 10.20. So we had a nice breakfast in the rain. Temperature was good, so no reason to sit inside. We had coffee and just enjoying life for a while. We went downstairs to change into pool clothes. It’s just showers of local rain, so no need to be sad. Go to the jacuzzi, enjoy the day and have fun🙃 We had some showers, but not a problem😎 Around 13.30 it started to clear up😎😎 So then it was time to move over to a sun lounger and play a round of Ludo🎲 at 15.30 we called it for today’s outdoor party 🎉 Don’t want to get grilled lobster 🦞 since we have a full day outside tomorrow😎 Its captain’s club senior officers party tonight at 17.15 in Eden. This was waiting on our bed back on arrival: Tender priority information for Phuket. Elite and above

It’s an amazing trip! love your photos and videos. We feel very confident that it’s a great trip for us in 2025❤️👍🏻 we made the correct decision to book it🤩

Love love this! im so happy for your live and the other from Galapagos❤️ We are booked for 2025 and it seems like a perfect fit for us as of now👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Cruise Compass Day 10, Sea Day. Clock turned 30.min+. We are now in Bangkok, Thai 🇹🇭 time

Information regarding Thailand & arrival cards (same you need to fill by air arrival in Thailand)

Afternoon and dinner arrived fast… (you see, those sea days are running of) Mr sat in the tub for a long time, I was just taking it easy. The sunset was beautiful (tonight it was a sunset veranda million dollars hit🤩) so we could only see the colours from the side of the balcony. Around 19.15 we were ready to go downstairs. We had a coffee from Al Bacio and Mr wanted to try out the “healthy” martini 🍸…… 🥬 kale martini 🥬 It’s green😆 it smells like a vegetable smoothie and looks like it. Celery, kale, ginger….. And it taste like it😅 So it might count as 1/5 daily vegetables🤣🤣🤣 After seeing the flair show and listening to the live music, we decided it was time to go for dinner. We arrived around 20.45 and it was less crowded than yesterday. So that’s good 👍🏻 Tonight’s menu: both of us said synchronous: this menu isn’t great. The Tuna main course looks good…. Luckily for us… our waiter came by to say that tonight they had a chef’s special. Chicken tikka. (Same we had earlier this week) We said bring it on😋🇮🇳 chefs taste Again, excellent taste and chicken was delicious. 😋 Dessert menu: For dessert, we had sorbet.

@Ken the cruiser when we had concierge on last part. It was no problem to get a fixed table in same zone. Just ask, and they can add a “fixed” every day booking. We choose to do a Tour’MDR voluntary. Since we find it a bit fun to test out what’s going on…. I completely agree by you. For E-class we will probably do sunset/porthole/front window/biggest window. For S/M-class some sort of balcony.

He suddenly realised that when he gets home, and it’s time to take it away…. He will have a white moustache 🥸😂😂 So he was a bit 🤔🤔🫣 no…. No tanning moustache😝

Some thoughts about our sky suite experience as of now, day 9. This is really not easy. I feel that you are walking on a thin line of offending people and their preferences. What I will make absolutely clear is that the crew are working their socks off. This is not a crew issue on the ship. It’s connected to corporate decisions and their lack of contact to the their product. Cut backs is a major part of this problem. So, we are b2b. So we did board the ship in Italy in a concierge cabin. I know this sailing is very special in all ways. Number of captain’s club higher levels are far over the usual numbers. Specifically Zenith’s. So they shouldn’t cut anything in butler’s or people connected to the retreat before after the ship arrives in NZ/Aus. It’s a demanding crowd onboard🤓😅 What would be the correct decision was to keep the number as before until they reached NZ/AUS. I was in one way a bit surprised that we received no contact or letter from the retreat wishing us welcome to us on your next part of your sailing adventure a day before turnaround day. I was following our mail box as a hawk to hide it from Mr…🤭 Nothing….. Upon boarding in Dubai, we were lucky. Since we could walk straight on, due to clearing of b2b in the morning. But there was a group of ladies in front of us sailing in SS on the gangway and they were greeted and followed onward by someone from the retreat standing on the destination deck. They had made it very visible and loudly marked we sail suites😅(we are not there😝….) We just walked on as normal. It was a made house of chaos. So not angry or upset. But it’s the lack of personal touch and the cherry on the top. We did not see our housekeeper until we tried to find him at 21.05 in the evening. Then we walked in the hallway back to the fun downstairs… Our room had not received turndown service yet…. So we went out again so they had a chance to get thru the staterooms. Our deck is definitely overwhelmed in housekeeping. It’s many suites and our fellow passengers are demanding in many ways. It’s stacks of plates and glasses in the hallway. People bring food from the OceanViev and don’t want the plates in their stateroom. (Fair enough, but team housekeeping is running a marathon picking up all of this on the floor in our hallway. I’m really surprised over the amount of this on our deck) They should definitely have an assistant on those floors containing several suites. To help off the pressure. To force on service from a butler to a housekeeper is not by chance possible. They lack training and don’t have time. They are already working on max capacity to serve their staterooms in ordinary housekeeping duties. (It’s already very clear to me that they are behind schedule of what corporate office thinks is possible and what in reality is possible to do in x hours) I can, but will not in a million years call my stateroom attendant to get coffee, I know he’s already overwhelmed by work. This was just another example of missing cherries 🍒 on the top…. We had to ask on day 2, is the 2 bottles of water for us or do it belong to the mini bar? No notice or any information in the stateroom. (Communication is really not to underestimate😜) Breakfast from room service paper order has worked okey. We had to ask for them. It has arrived as requested and contained what we ordered. But they don’t follow it completely. Last delivery we ordered fruit and I always write in big letters and ! NO Pineapple 🍍! I’m allergic…. On our fruit it was pineapple…. The orange juice is concentrate. It has tasted so sour that your hair is raised. Why can’t they serve real juice? It’s just the detail of attention. It’s not ruining my stay. The biggest problem is the lack of a table to eat on. It’s very low and not really good for eating. This is a design error and they don’t use a pop-up table for serving. So it’s either sit on the floor or have you plate on your lap or in bed. So we have a balcony but no table suitable for eating🙄 There’s no paper menu for room service daytime available. Only in the app. No options of pre ordering a fruit plate or something when you return from a shore excursion. We can walk to the buffet and pick up something. But I have this really nice balcony that I want to use also😜 at least offer me a tray to carry it with me🙃 So I can get something to eat and drink on one tour🤪🤪🤪( or X probably prefer that I go to the retreat… but half way dirty and done after my day. It’s nice to just land in your own home) Would I be welcomed and allowed to sit in the sofa if I were arriving as after my ship tour on Sil?😝🤭🫣 What can we ask for? Can we request dinner delivery? So we can eat private on our own balcony. We can probably ask for some of it. But no one has greeted and told us from day 1 in our own home away from home. This is mega important for new people! It’s honestly a very important way to connect and make a good first impression! (And we all know that the first impression is important) We needed to raise some of our questions in the retreat(how do we order breakfast, should we have order forms?). The message is just call us, room service … or housekeeping. Again, my apologies for not wanting to be the demanding lady on holiday. (I really hate to call people I know is super busy and have loads of work. So I can put extra work into this….🫠) Things that they could have easily answered and made in order if they had time to stop by on day 1 in our suite or your housekeeping had time to actually visit and say hello. This and this works like this and this and this is the best way to make it happen. In one way, it seems to me that The Retreat team assume everyone is regularly sailing in a suite. We have sailed several times on X, but none in suites on X. (Only JS suite on Royal, Voyager, and that’s only a bigger room and nothing more. We where extremely underwhelmed) I find it a bit difficult to have to ask all this questions. It’s not my job. When we have stayed at places you want/can compare to The Retreat experience/SS to in Mauritius/China/Japan/Hong Kong/Dubai/USA/Thailand/Singapore. We have had a personal connection from the first few hours after arriving and they have talked us thru how to proceed for different services and how things work. We have not had anything near that. That’s our feedback…. We didn’t see/hear the butler before day 6. He meet us in the hallway. He knew us from pictures. He is definitely overwhelmed in people to take care of and serve in a decent way. 3 butlers for all suites are crazy overloaded. Luminae is a nice restaurant in many ways. The crew works hard and nothing wrong in the crew. The biggest issue is the compose of the menus. Some days it’s an excellent selection and the next day is really hard to find something. (This is a personal preference, from a fish/seafood eater perspective) Both me and Mr agreed on that it’s good, its details and what level they want to be that lacks the details. Personally we leaning towards Blu in menu options for vegetables and fish/seafood. Some things are better than others. But we are not wowed from a food perspective. My preference point is high, since it’s marketed and sold as excellent. Yesterdays dessert was on target+ of all parameters. We can pick up water and soda drinks in the retreat self-serve section. Okay, but I feel like a bad person when I stuff my x shopping bag full of water and sparkling water. Why can’t you just on day 1 tell your preference and what you need. So housekeeping can put it inside your fridge during day service? Not a full container, but 4 bottles of water at least. I’m not joking, we get 2 bottles of water in our stateroom and we need at least 3 more bottles of water and 4 bottles sparkling water. That’s what we drink every day in warmer climates just in our stateroom. I need to drink at least 1l after my 1 hour power walk in the hot sun. This is so far our experience and we are a decent distance from wowed about it. Mr likes the tub and likes the retreat area. But he’s not sold as of today. Crew is friendly and they work very hard. But corporate has taken the cut too far to deliver what they advertise. In my eyes it’s a miss/match of what they are advertising and what they deliver in reality. So we will see if we change our minds, but I think we will stick to “steerage class” if this is what you can expect from a SS experience.