Sailing12Away

Changes in schedule and the entertainment list

Wines around the world and district brewhouse

More excessive food in our room, in the lounge, and around the ship.

Beer tour in Guatemala today. Long bus ride to city center where we switched to a different smaller bus to get through the cobblestone streets. Beer was good, but some miscommunication after to find the bus to get back to the other bus. Hiding out inside a church for a seat and shade.

Some called them jellyfish shots, others said zombie brains. The red turned to a jelly. It was more pretty than tasty. The rainbow ones are good and fruity.

The special offerings at the Haven restaurant were the same from the main dining room, so that was a bit disappointing to see that they're not really special per se. For dinner they had the beef slider app that I had from them MDR and a lemon pepper shrimp that was available. We missed lunch though because of our wives around the world adventure and I would have enjoyed that. Corn fritters and Cajun chicken over noodles for lunch. My lava cake at dessert was served upside down...

Was at the bar until 1am the other night, so just made our way to wines around the world at 1pm on the sea day. Will have to upload videos now that we're at land, but man, that group of German passengers know how to party. They're dangerous with their shots. Getting a bit out of sorts with where things left off due to the every other day Internet connection. But today we arrived in Guatemala with a scheduled beer excursion beginning at 7:45am. I think it's a long 1.5 hr bus ride so will try to nap on the way. Last night we had dinner with the officers and it was a good experience. No shots at the bar, most of us were still recovering from the other night. Even with my upgrade with T-Mobile Internet is very slow here in Guatemala so videos may have to wait. I'll look for the officer list when we're back on board, I don't remember what deck I saw it on. VID_20230228_230254.mp4 VID_20230228_231203.mp4 VID_20230228_232300.mp4

We went to our dinner last night, and it was lovely. They had us in Savor at 6pm, 2 crew members and 6 passengers. Had a great chat with both of them as well as our fellow guests, nothing awkward about it at all. Starlink is coming, but will take about a year to implement in all ships. At a minimum you leave with a full belly, free wine if you don't have the drink package, and a nice photo to take as a souvenir. Both of our officers were ecstatic about the photo and being able to show their wives back home.

Pier runners at their finest... Sea day tomorrow, then beer tasting in Guatemala. VID_20230228_162905.mp4

We didn't care for her actually. Have a hard time getting past her squeaky voice.

Very hot in Acapulco today. We walked and wandered around town with some new friends from the UK. Four beers for 100 pesos ($5). Going to catch the footloose show tonight. Probably skipping dinner since our room is still full of too many snacks and sandwiches.

The potato was filled with chili and cheese, very crispy and I was tempted to just get 2 more orders of them and forgo traditional lunch. Hubby got the ribs, they looked like Fred Flintstone dinner.

Yes, so far the shots have all been at the Haven bar. Not sure about the lost luggage, but have amazingly good news for folks that travel in the Haven. They've started offering specials for lunch and dinner each night in addition to the regular menu. Today for lunch they had loaded baked potatoes and BBQ ribs. Tonight for dinner they're offering coconut shrimp and pecan crusted turkey medallions.

Dinner at La Cucina last night. Observation lounge has been mostly empty, but I imagine when we go through the canal it will be packed.

Breakfast and behind the scenes tour...

Day 4 – Sea day Up early for our behind the scenes tour. They run them apparently on different days/times, so if the one they give you isn’t ideal just ask for the other options. We started with behind the theater in the backstage areas with the manager there. Learned a lot about the shows and how they get put on which gives a new level of appreciation for the performers. I forget which one he said, but either Priscilla or Kinky Boots has ended and they’re on the search for a new show to replace it. Contracts for performers last ~6-9 months, contracts for the shows themselves last 7 – 10 years. Yikes, I thought it was a few years, but not THAT long. Biggest issue he said they have is the costumes and shoes – they’re fitted for that first cast, and so unfortunately the replacement cast needs to be similar sized/shaped to get the role, depending on the costume. The Kinky Boots are all handmade and start at 3K per pair…. So if you’re not the same shoe size, forget about getting a new set of custom heels for yourself. Even though we saw Footloose in September, this is a new cast that just came on in November so we’re going to catch it the night we’re in Acapulco. From there we headed to the laundry…. Yeah, wow. Only a total crew of 25 people for 10hr shifts throughout the cruise. 4K napkins a day get washed and folded, mostly everything is automatic with conveyor belts…. Really need and eye opening. Then we headed to the kitchen, got to step in the walk-in freezer which was refreshing coming from the hot laundry area. The other interesting thing they pointed out here was that they plan the food supply 6 months in advance of each sailing and alter it based on the demographics of the passengers. If it’s an Asia itinerary with a large population of Asian travelers, they double the amount of rice they have on board. So based on the passenger count and demographic of where we’re from, they stock up extra on the things they presume we like and will go through more of when we’re on board. Which reminds me, we still need to talk to the concierge and see if they can do a custom Indian night for us in the restaurant one of these nights. Mmmmhm, massaman curry and coconut rice….. After the tour we grabbed a board game from the room and headed to the observation lounge for drinks and relaxing for a bit. Saw they had an escape room happening down in Q at 1:30 and headed there. We didn’t do so good, but it wasn’t our fault. We had the right codes, but our locks just wouldn’t open even when the staff did it. So that delayed us and threw us off track, but they gave us all consolation prizes of a clear zip up tote (like for your travel bathroom stuff on the plane for TSA). It was a decent way to pass some time. Had dinner at La Cucina that night, and I went with my standard order of the mozzarella, pest gnocchi, and a pizza that was big enough to share with the table as well as take some back to the room for breakfast the next day. After dinner the 4 of us had some port wine at the Cellar bar…. You have to ask them for what you want. They only advertise one single option for port – but they have more not on the menu. Not sure why they do that, but going forward we’re going to head there and grab a bottle of wine with our friends PP plan, and bring it to dinner with us. Lots more options there than they have at the restaurants and they were easier to understand with what is/isn’t included with the package. Then once again closed down the Haven bar with all sorts of crazy concoctions. I headed up to deck 19 to try and look at the stars, but there was too much light out there. We chatted with our new friends from the UK just outside of the elevators until 1am and finally called it a night. No plans for Acapulco so a few of us will try to meet in the Haven lounge at 11 and walk and wander together. Sometimes the best plans are those not made where you let your feet take you where they want to go.

More photos back on the ship...

I took a lot more photos with my regular camera during our tour and wanderings, but easier to just put the phone ones up for now.

Photos from the tender boat ride over. Someone on our tour complained 'why did I pay for this when I could see everything from our ship'.... well sir, if you feel the experience was the same as that short choppy tender ride from far away, then ask for your $30 back. My goodness.... some folks just need to flip that glass over and start calling it half full once in a while.

Day 3 – Cabo San Lucas We have T-Mobile for our cell phone carrier, so when we’re on land we have unlimited text and data. So on port days I’m able to check in back home and upload some photos/updates here as we go. We had booked the Lands End Boat Tour through NCL, which was a short 1hr boat ride along the coast to see the famous arch and rock formations near the sea of Cortez. It was a perfect little trip as it helped us get off the ship and onto one of the first tenders of the day, but was short so we had plenty of time to do our own thing as well. There are a lot of seals hanging out near the tender drop off points, so our tender actually had to relocate to another one as they weren’t budging and jumping off. If you wanted to walk and wander on your own you could, there’s lots to see/do right there. Tons of people offering private boat tours or water taxis too, all very easy to find. We took the long walk around to the other side in search of the Baja Brewery. It was about a 25-30 min walk with one part towards the end up hill. A water taxi (or a swim) would have been 5 mins. But figured get some exercise in and walk there, then drunken boat ride back. When we got near the beach on the other side where the brewery was supposed to be, a hotel worker saw us looking confused and helped us find the elevator to take us up to the 7th floor where the brewery was. Gorgeous views of the water where we could both our ship and the RCC one, decent beer, decent food, and a good place to sit and veg for a bit. We did a tasting flight of all they had to offer, 2 full pints each, and a platter of food each for ~$60. Then we walked about 2 mins from there to a bar recommended to us by @HBCruiser called The Office. Had about 4 margaritas (the frozen fruity ones were our favorites) and then started the walk back. On the way over every other person was offering a water taxi, but on the way back they were silent. Eventually found one and for $20 total they took us across to the other side and saved me ~20 mins of walking after a long hot tiring day. On the line for the tender I saw that magical Haven guest placard and we were able to skip to the front of the line (sorry, not sorry) and get on the next tender back. Took a shower, relaxed in the room with more excessive snacks from the butler (still no pitchers of juice though…. *****), and headed to Food Republic for dinner with friends. We used a single dining credit and shared 4 items between the 2 of us, and it was more than enough food. Some of the food has changed since the last time we ordered items in September. Still good, but different. My shishito peppers weren’t breaded in tempura, they were just dusted with a tempura flake on top. Food that wasn’t advertised as being spicy was too spicy for our friends to eat so it had to go back for something else. I had heard some folks here say the hypnotist was worth watching, so we headed there after dinner. We walked out halfway through… just not for us. The woman’s voice was not soothing at all, so not sure how anyone up there could be lulled into a peaceful state with that sound. But yeah, not for us so we left and headed to the Haven bar where we spent the next 3+ hrs chatting with folks from all over the world and getting Rodney to make all sorts of crazy concoctions and shots for us to try. For us, that’s one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip – making new friends and chatting and drinking the night away. For folks with the premium plus beverage plan – more grumblings from folks that have it. They’re limiting what you can get with regards to champagne. The Vuvee is free by the glass, but you can’t get it by the bottle (no change there I think). But for folks who don’t like the taste and prefer Moet – they’re being told it’s not included in their package at all and being charged for it. So lots of grumblings, fighting, and the concierge is ‘looking into it’ as the passengers have photos from here on the ship advertising the package specifically saying it IS included, so why are they changing it mid-trip and saying it’s not. Lots of confusion regarding that package… Clocks went ahead another hour that night, and we had the behind the scenes tour at 8:40am. Before leaving the Haven area that night we saw the night butler and asked him for a pitcher of apple juice in the room at 8am the next morning. Well…. It’s still not here. So not sure if they don’t provide pitchers, just don’t have that particular juice, or what the deal is… but it’s my 3rd time asking and still not here so one of those annoying things. Not a deal breaker, but more of a head scratcher. (Typing this and uploading it at different times… so happy to report by the afternoon of day 4 we did finally get our juice).

And videos of cocktails, our other favorite part of cruising VID_20230227_201647.mp4 VID_20230227_220125.mp4

Videos from Cabo... VID_20230226_113428.mp4 VID_20230226_122409.mp4

One of my favorites views while sailing VID_20230225_172014.mp4

Let's see if the muster drill video goes through... VID_20230224_163855.mp4