Dan83

So I don’t mean to jump on the complaint bandwagon here. But dining on royal is nowhere near what it used to be. And we just started in 2018. We don’t go hungry though. It’s just not as upscale and delicious as it once was. Personally, I’ve lost a lot of weight in the past 2 years. I’ve started a low carb lifestyle and have maintained it for a long time now. 120 lbs lost total. I splurge a little on vacation. It’s part of my long term strategy. It works for me. I eat the things that I miss while on vacation only. But it’s not a binge. A week on Royal Caribbean leaves me a little unfulfilled and I’m more than happy to resume my normal low carb diet. I’m actually looking forward to it.

Yes. It was out most of the day. I’ll do that.

Our lobsters were tiny as well. Still calling them Maine lobsters but they’re smaller than the old ones. However, ours were cooked perfectly this time and were delicious. Every cruise we have ever been on has overcooked lobster. These were perfect. But we would have needed 3 or 4 to make a meal. We ordered 2 servings of cheese tortellini and shared them. We left full and had a delicious meal.

If you like bourbon then I recommend trying the Kentucky summer.

Last sea day. Solarium has plenty of space available. It’s still early though. I’m still unable to report a Daryl sighting. Not for lack of effort. I think I know his morning routine but I keep missing him. Maybe he will show up in the solarium.

Labadee stop has been cancelled for tomorrow. Replaced with Nassau on Saturday. My first thought is stay on the ship. Anyone have a suggestion for a day in Nassau with kids?

Adding some pics from yesterday in Curaçao. Playa PortoMari has a nice lookout tower. It’s a beautiful beach. Diving was good here too. It’s just a bit of a swim out past the sandy area to get onto the reef. I should have some diving photos to add soon. On the way back we stopped to see the flamingos. This is where our trouble on the way back began. My wife got out of the car and realized she only had one croc. It must have fallen out of the car door when we left the beach. I don’t know how you can get into a vehicle and leave one shoe on the ground. But we cruise with a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of crocs. So this is a problem for her. I do the math and decide to go back for the shoe. Hardly worth missing the ship but I felt confident we could make it. Found the shoe and made good time back to the ship. Parked the car, walked back into the port area for ice cream. Boarded the ship with 8 minutes to spare. Favorite ship, favorite port. If you feel comfortable driving in Curaçao. I recommend these guys.

After we followed the piano player to the boardwalk, there was a carousel ride and somehow we got into the Hiro show. My memory is fuzzy after this and the pictures on my phone start to get increasingly inappropriate.

It started with a holiday pour at the main dining room. I had enchilada. It was not bad to nearly delicious. Salmon for the wife. Caramel Flan and apple cobbler were very tasty.

I had to leave also. They were very good. But not worth hearing loss. Since I’d already burned through my 4 vouchers, I was just going to catch an elevator and go back to the cabin for the night. I picked the right elevator. This guy is good. Crazy talented. I stayed on another 10 minutes until a supervisor came and moved him to the boardwalk. So we had to follow him there. And then the alcohol started making the decisions for the rest of the night.

I’ll have to push through a bad hangover, but my main goal is to find Daryl today.

We pulled right up to the ship to return our rental car. Highly recommend smart wheels car rental for Curaçao. We did have some trouble on the way back and pushed it a little closer than I would have liked to. We boarded with 8 minutes left before all aboard

This was our ride for today. 83% less cool than yesterday’s ride. I was planning to explore more of the island today but we went straight to PortoMari and just stayed all day. Pickup and dropoff couldn’t have been easier. Local traffic was a bit messy though.

Playa PortoMari today. We met one other family from the Symphony. The rest are locals and tourists from the Netherlands. We did one guided dive with the local dive shop. Kids took a private snorkel tour while we dove. Then I went back for a second tank. About to head back to the ship, local traffic is a mess and I don’t feel like chancing it today.

Beach tradition. Kids bury their dad in sand.

Partial refinery view. But hey, we had the place to ourselves. Stairway to the sea

Found a beach almost to ourselves

More off road views

Found some ocean views on the off road adventure

Our ride for Aruba. Lighthouse view

Dang it! Just missed him

Our first block delivered today. Another attempt at Hiro in 20 minutes, then I’ll try to upload some pics from Aruba.

We flew Delta. I’m a little biased toward them. For these particular dates, PBI was the cheapest by far. Although last cruise FLL had the best deal.

I told my wife that we shouldn’t do the usual balcony clothesline since we had a Central Park balcony this time. She immediately pointed out that everyone else is doing it. I don’t have a counterpoint, so I guess it’s happening.

She also twists balloons. She stood in line for ballon animals and asked for an untwisted balloon.