Joe33472

We're going to try breakfast in our room again tomorrow morning and filled out the door hanger.   We had American Breakfast this morning, and that went much better than our last attempt when we used the door hanger because I called in the order.   Tomorrow we want to keep it light so we're just doing continental breakfast items, but trying the door hanger again. 

Cruise Compass Day 10

Cruise Compasy Day 10.pdf

6 minutes ago, jeb1990 said:

Great pictures from the Azores!  I'm on this Transatlantic cruise next Spring with the same ship and ports so have appreciated following along.  Did you experience the Azores on your own or did you book a ships excursion or independent operator excursion for this stop?  Any tips are appreciated!

Our plan was to take a cab up to the Sete Cidades and then just explore town afterwards.   Due to the weather being overcast when we first arrived, we decided not to go up there, but looking at @LooneyCruzer photos, it just looks wonderful the higher up you went yesterday.  We really didn't plan too well and would have loved to do the pineapple farm.  I'd definitely recommend coming up with a plan in advance to do something.   We're going to firm up some plans for Malaga today or tomorrow.   Maybe the hop on hop off or something   I've heard mixed reviews from other cruisers about Sete Cidades, with most saying it's over rated. 

Cruise Compass Day 9.   Cruise Compass Day 9.pdf

Had a great day in Ponta Delgada.  We stayed downtown and explored the churches, fort, etc. and had lunch at a local restaurant.  Because it is Sunday, a lot of things were closed, which was a bummer.  Love the mosaic streets and unusual trees. 

Looks like the Oasis is making a stop in the Azores.  Hope everyone is okay.  We're rapidly approaching Ponta Delgada.  Bit of rocking last night and this morning. 

I've put days 6 through 8 of Cruise Compass into the attached PDF if anyone considering a TA might like to see. 

Cruise Compass Days 7, 8 and 9.pdf

Internet is the slowest it's been the entire trip.   Maybe lots of people in their staterooms researching and making plans for tomorrow? 

Went to karaoke in the Music Hall and that was really fun.  Some brave people sharing their talents with the attendees.   We didn't end up staying for the orchestra that was after the karaoke. 

We're so excited for our stop tomorrow in Ponta Delgada.  The weather looks good (no rain but partly cloudy), so barring any unanticipated happenings, Captain Marek said he anticipates we should be able to port. 

Making it an early night so we're fully refreshed for a great day for tomorrow.

Went to Coastal Kitchen tonight and we really had a great dinner.   Started with the smoked tomato soup and mushroom risotto arancini.    Had filet and grilled chicken for our mains and we both had cheesecake for dessert.  The cheesecake was really the highlight.  I think we ate every morsel on both our plates.  Smooth and creamy, it was delightful.  

Unfortunately, we were half done our appetizers by the time we realized we hadn't taken taken pictures.  So, please forgive the 1/2 eaten arancini.  It was delicious and with spicy marinara and alfredo sauces. 

We're off to cause some trouble in the casino and in the bars.   Hope everyone is having a great day. 

49 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Yeah, my abusive parents made me go to school.

Me too!  My parents didn't even take us away on spring break. 

I keep thinking, but I wouldn't dare say it to a kid, "Why aren't you in school?".  Probably home schooled or something.   If home schooled, what an amazing learning experience to take a TA.    The kids on this cruise have been so well behaved and are hardly around. 

Beautiful day up on the pool deck.  Lots of folks sitting out sunning.  We're from South Florida, so it's a little chilly for us.   But beautiful day. 

13 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

I have used Airalo a couple of times when we've cruised out of Florida and it worked fine but I fairly recently came across another e-sim supplier that I prefer and which I have found is even easier than Airalo.

 

If you want to take a look it's called Roamless and what's different about it is that they don't have plans, just credit in your account that you can top up as necessary and that never expires.

 

They currently only cover 69 countries but their coverage in Europe is widespread and reliable. My daughter is currently working on board a cruise ship and has been using it through the Med and the Adriatic without issues.

 

If you (and anyone else following along) want to use it for a future trip, you can use my referral code which gets both parties a small amount of free credit: XN58Y.

Thanks for the heads up about Roamless.  I'll definitely check it out as I usually go to Europe at least once or twice a year.  The rates look really good.  

Had lunch at Playmakers again today and it was good.  I love these old school salt and pepper shakers that are reminiscent of the 1970s. 

Walked by the kids club on our way to Sprinkles and it looks like they've have a full day of activities for 13 to 17 year olds.   There are more kids on the cruise than I thought would be.   Would have been nice if my parents had taken us on a TA.  Lucky kids 🙂 

Our first Sprinkle's ice cream in 7 days.  It was SO good.  

Good Morning!   Took breakfast away from Cafe 270 and we really enjoyed the breakfast sandwiches, fruit, and yogurt.   I think we're either going to get a salad from Cafe 270 or go to Playmakers for lunch. 

Spent a little time this morning getting our phones ready with e-sims for Europe.   I used a variety of methods for Internet while in Europe in the past, and my favorite right now is Airalo.   Easy to set up and I think prices are really good for regional coverage.  There is probably cheaper regional options, but Airalo so easy.  I used Airalo last summer in France and last fall in Ireland, buying country specific plans, which were more reasonable.  

Of course, if you're only in Europe for the cruise, paying the $10 per day for Global Travel plans that most carriers offer that would be the easiest.  So, for $70 bucks you would have data from Portugal to Rome.  Most of the people we talk to at lunches and dinners have extended plans in Europe.  With the week on the cruise and time in Europe the $10 per day per device can really add up fast.  

Smooth seas this morning!   Maybe we'll start seeing some more birds today as we get closer to Ponta Delgada.

11 minutes ago, LeeW said:

Easiest solution to that is use an old phone with no sim card in it.  As long as phone doesn't use esims.

Thanks!  I think my Pixel is using an esim rather than a physical sim.  I received a text message from my provided that welcomed me to the cruise and let me know that I was on Cellular at Sea.  Hopefully I put the phone into airplane mode before I used any data.  

Forgot to mention we saw dolphins and whales this morning from our deck.  It was really the highlight of our day.   So cool.   There was a pod of about 20 or 30 dolphins.  Not sure about the whales, because they were further away from the ship, but in our binoculars you could definitely tell they were whales and not dolphins.  Not sure of the type of whale, but definitely whales.   That consumed some time.

Also, some of our Roku channels stopped working tonight due to geo-blocking.  I also had problem accessing my work email, because it said it thought I was in Spain.  Has to be related.  Our phones are also coming up with some Spanish signon pages.  

I went back to my iPad and used a VPN and the Xfinity streaming app.  I wonder if I use the VPN on my laptop if the Roku will work again.  Will troubleshoot in the morning.  Watching Two and a Half Men and then going to bed. 

Not sure where the day went today!   Time flies on ship time 🙂 

We got a late start because of the time change and pushed our Giovanni's lunch reservation back to 1:00 p.m.  That didn't work well as the restaurant was really busy by the time we got there.  There was no waiter to wait on us, so the manager ended up having to wait on us🤷‍♂️. He's a nice guy (Dragan) and really expedited our service.  Had a nice conversation with a couple the table over from us.

We wanted to make it an early night so we could get our stateroom organized, so we had dinner in the Windjammer, attended an event, and called it a day.  We're so ready for Ponta Delgada and hope we're able to port.   The weather looks like it's going to be great. 

Just left the maitre d' at CK about making a reservation for tomorrow night.  Since we're doing Giovanni's for lunch today, we decided not to eat at CK tonight.   But, the maitre d' said that last night he had 157 people with reservations and 50 didn't show up.  He seemed frustrated by that and made it seem like he wanted to seat more people.  

So our reservation tomorrow night is 7:30 p.m., but he says to come a little early and he can probably seat us.    We're on Odyssey's TA to Rome and there are a ton of diamond, diamond +, and pinnacle cruisers on board.  By all accounts 1/3 the total passengers.  Not sure how that affects reservations at CK and other restaurants.    

These time changes are rough.  As an early riser, when I travel to Europe by air I struggle with jet-lag and thought this one hour per day would be better.   Not sure about the one hour per day, but as of today, we're on Ponta Delgada time, which we don't reach until Sunday which I think is fantastic.  I think we'll have two more time changes between Ponta Delgada and Rome.  I'm hoing those are not as rough as the past four time changes.   

I think part of my problem is the amount of food and alcohol that I've been consuming. 🤣 All, kidding aside, I've stopped my daily "drink breakeven analysis".    Way too much time thinking about breaking even and the drink package is a sunk cost at this point.   The whole point I think was to enjoy what we wanted without worrying about it.  I don't drink a lot at home, so I will probably ease up on the alcohol and food.  That's probably more why I'm feeling the way I am feeling rather than the time changes, that I'd like to blame.   All that being said, we have lunch at Giovanni's today and will try to have some restraint.   But we did cancel two lunch reservations to Chops.  

1 hour ago, mets123 said:

I just booked Our first JS on the Odyssey for our next anniversary. Do we get any special benefits? Someone told me we could use CK if they have openings. Is that true?

Yes, it's true.  We're on the Odyssey right now in a JS and had dinner last night in CK and loved it.   I made the reservation embarkation day (6 days ago).  I thought I had to book day-by-day the day before, but the maitre d' seemed open to advanced reservations.   We're going to see if we can make a few more reservations today.   Yesterday they said that they only had 8 p.m. available and that's a bit late for us, but encouraged us to check during the day. 

7 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Just looked at your menu for CK you had on the app(pulled up your sailing), why no Rib Eye in CK ? I'm thinking can't you sometimes even get a good Grilled New York Sirloin in the Windjammer

I would have much preferred a grilled Rib Eye or even a filet, but it looks like the Grilled NY sirloin on the classics menu.   Having said that, I really enjoyed the NY sirloin.  Not something that I would ever order at a restaurant, but it was tasty, cooked perfectly, and tender.   It was served with a nice sauce and some mashed.   I had Chops filet and actually preferred tonight's dinner.  

Just got back to our stateroom after seeing the Book and stopping at Giovanni's Bar for a night cap.  We really liked the show, but it was a bit weird.  I wish there was a little more explanation of what the story was about.  @Ocean Boy's explanation about what the show is about really helped us to put the performance into context.   

The performers were amazing, especially the contortionist.   I would say that we arrived at the venue around 8:10 and it was already filling up.  We figured that 8:30 would be plenty of time, but arrived early just because we were done early with our prior event.   It was already filling up.  So, if you want good seats, definitely arrive early. 

We sat in the first row on the upper floor and the view was great. 

2 hours ago, GimmeOcean said:

We had Teppanyaki for dinner. Not the best Teppanyaki experience I’ve ever had (no fire!), but still pretty good and having the ocean view behind the chef is pretty cool. Food was overall very good too. Sing put on a good show.

Wow!   This looks like a great time.  We don't typically do Teppanyaki on land, so this was the only specialty restaurant we didn't book.    The view looks fantastic.  

24 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

How much does CK cost per person on your ship?

We're in a junior suite, so we can reserve for dinner only in CK based on availability.  Tonight we had a 6:00 p.m. reservation and all they had for tomorrow night was 8:00 p.m.  That's a bit late for us, but they said to check back in the morning.  We're going to check in the morning.  We have Giovanni's for lunch so maybe 8:00 p.m. wouldn't be the worst thing.   I don't think you can reserve for a fee otherwise.  I asked the concierge why our reservation tonight wasn't in my calendar and he said since it's not open for general booking it doesn't show up in your calendar.