Haljo1935

Bon Voyage @aliaschief

Interesting collection of days, like the quote; pass on the meal, possibly would try the drink and wine, not been to the port. Got mostly packed yesterday since I plan on getting off the ship this evening when we get to Ensenada and luggage has to be as soon as we get back - All Aboard is 1130pm. Will check in for my flight in a couple hours. Since I've not been to the port, here are views from the K'dam west of CA enroute to Ensenada. From my balcony (I was moved from the inside cabin a couple days ago due to the dogs) Bow Cam view Aft Cam view Weather Prayers and positive thoughts for all.

Here is the door to the men's sauna - even specifically says "sauna" on the door. I guess so it's not confused with the Housekeeping closet?🙄

Welcome to the good life aka the wake life!!

Currently on K-dam in Pacific to/from Hawaii - have only a few short-lived instances of internet (or TV) being out. Today has been the worst; there have been several times the TV lost connection long enough it went to sleep. But during those times, internet on my phone or computer were just temporary hiccups. I did have to upgrade to premium to be able to do Teams & Skype calls. Same experience last month on NS from Rome to FLL.

Now @Horizon chaser 1957 you need to update us on how the excursion went. Hope you enjoy it- have a great time. W/o the waffle, you'll have room for snacks!

Yes, it was quite good. It had a cracked pepper crust. Sorry I didn't get a picture. I think I was dazzled by it's beauty as all admired each others, lol.

Cruise I'm currently on is solo w/no surcharge. However, when I asked about upgrading, I was told it would be double.

I was in an OV on NA in Feb, but do not remember if bathroom had a nightlight. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!!

Bon Voyage

Somehow I did not get pictures of the escargot or prime rib - prime rib was beautiful, tender and tasted great. Also did not snap the tiramisu. That's it, I'm issuing a final warning.

We were in Venezia 7494 in Sept. No sofa, no room for a sofa. There was a chair under the windows. The layouts do vary as the balconies are different. Oh, and no binoculars, so thanks @Jules8888 for letting us know we missed out, lol. Although we had one of the larger of the corner balconies, we only had 1 lounger where some others had 2 (yes, I'm talking to you 6506 😉 ) Our cabin was nothing like the one in @Jules8888 video. I couldn't find the cabin pictures I took, only the balcony.

Yes, I will share my thoughts on the inside cabin before I wrap this up. For now, I will say having a Thermal Pass has probably helped w/the large number of sea days. Given you haven't really seen the dogs, I suppose you can't comment on if most of the dogs were well behaved and genuinely working dogs?

See, another OT game - gotta be a record in their future. I haven't checked the weather for Ensenada, but will probably around lunch time. Yes their pea soup is pretty great 😋

The elevator maps have not been fully updated, either. One can see the library, which is new, but the staircase is still shown. If I find the picture, I'll share it. Mis-labeled elevator maps are very confusing.

Congrats - that is a nice surprise. Happy to hear you're aware of what a fabulous opportunity you've gotten. Hope you see lots of whales 🐋

That is a great cabin location - congrats, enjoy your cruise! Double congrats for surviving the stressful ordeal.

I know I've been remiss in mentioning entertainment; I've been a bit distracted by the dog situation and it has kinda thrown me off. Seriously. I mentioned to one of my usual tablemates, that I thought conversations had taken a southward spin and I was spending too much time surrounded by negative energy. Absolutely not directed at her or anyone at our table - they're a fabulously lovely group!! It was a general statement about conversations and energy at large - excursions (did I tell y'all about the horrible experience at Pearl Harbor?), port trips, spa talk, other meals... just the overall vibe on the ship. Told her I need to change that and reshuffle my head. So, anyway, I think in all the drama, I failed to talk about entertainment. Here goes - it'll be brief. Oh, and unfortunately, I have no names of any of the performers from RSRR, BB King's or BillboardOnboard. RSRR is awesome - they're great, really talented, haven't heard a bad thing coming from there other than the art auctions @oakridger 🫣 BB King's has been solidly good. Billboard Onboard is worth avoiding. The female singer is so bad; every time I try to stay, I cannot get through 1 song when she starts in. No joke, it's brutal; like bad school talent show brutal. The guy may be good, but I react to her voice like novacaine-free dental surgery at which point he's erased from my memory. Since it's an open venue, I now avoid the area when I see they're on. Sorry... Comedian Bob Boronkay (an award winning broadcaster in a previous career) was pretty funny. Went to his early show (6pm) on World Stage; don't know if the later show (8pm) is more mature since I haven't seen it. Last night he was in BB King's; again, didn't see it so don't know if it was different. Gravity is a 3-pc female group performing on World Stage. They were ok - not bad, but not outstanding. I think they would be better individually as they just don't harmonize well. When they sang solo, they were each really good. During the intro, 1 of them said they had only been performing together about 8 months, so they probably just need time to gel. Step One "Humanity" was good - my first time seeing it and unless it changes, have no need to go again. But I'm glad I went - don't get me wrong, it was good, but a "one and done" for me. I haven't seen the other comedian Steve Caouette, singer Derek Floyd (does music of Lionel Richie - bummed I missed him), piano player Elliot Finkel or Step One "Move." As for special shows, I did not attend any of the Polynesian or Hawaiian shows - just not enough time or schedule conflict, but talk is they were all good. The Crew holiday performance was very good - it's not a recurring show, though, also just a special. I would go to other crew performance and would like to see them added in to the regular entertainment rotation.

Yesterday's lunch was from my favorite place (well, TBH, not THE favorite place [we all know I'm a Thermal Spa addict] but my favorite food place if you don't include PG for candied 🥓) GDC. Order placed, waiting on this when this happened I was standing at the edge of this counter, so once again in very close proximity to them She moved over to stand against the wall - I guess that keeps the petting out of the traffic flow I'll be back, like Paul Harvey, with rest of the story in a bit. I hope it's the last of the story - I don't intend to pack the shiny satin ribbon so I need to put a bow on something🎀 In case you're not tracking the days, this was AFTER my meeting with Hotel GM.😳 Previously posted the bar menu; here's the other ones

I was on NS last month; she's small compared to you guys - thanks for the memories...

And a little something in between 😉

So, speaking of the 🐕 🐶 here are a couple updates. Last we talked about them, I was going to speak w/GS and share my pictures and videos. Instead of going to GS, I requested a meeting with Rene Tuinman, Hotel Gen Mgr. I didn't feel like rehashing multiple times and, honestly, he's the person w/authority to take action. And I consider it a serious enough matter that his position needed to know w/o editing. It took a day, but I was notified of a 15 min slot to meet with him. After reviewing the pictures and videos, he took pictures of select ones and said he would also review security footage. He declined my offer to email them to him. He did apologize on behalf of HAL that I had been negatively impacted, said I was not the first passenger to bring this to their attention but was the first one w/documentation, said he would be speaking w/them about the seriousness of the situation and that he hoped I understood that he was in a very sticky (his word) place. They had what appeared to be valid paperwork (his phrase), but my documented issue of them being a nuisance was also valid. While he could not disembark them (again, his wording) he could extend an offer to move me since I was physically so close to them. Having a conversation with them and increasing the distance between us, he hoped would resolve the matter. As we were both on our way to the Mariner Lunch, he asked me to check w/John, GS Mgr, after the lunch to see what was available and to arrange my move. A couple hours (and a visit to calming heated ceramic loungers) later, I was moved. Same deck, same side, but there were now a couple turns and an elevator separating us. I packed up myself and just had Housekeeping load on a luggage cart and deliver to the other cabin. I do that on B2Bs, too - even though they'll help pack, I just do it myself. So, there ends another chapter in the chronicles of "My Life at Sea with Service(?) Animals." "Oh, but wait," you say - "there were a couple more chapters, this is only 1 chapter (long, but still, only 1) - you owe us more."...

Mama Mia - here we go again 🎶 No, not happy Abba songs and fabulous Meryl Streep kind of Mama Mia. The really are you serious, that's a sad swing and a miss kind of Mama Mia that I do not want included on my list of firsts. Opened cabin door after relaxing spa time and YAY was greeted with a HAL chocolate 🍫 😋 only to wonder if Steward left it to cushion the blow of me having to deal with the morning's breakfast tray 🤔 which he also left. So, things happen and maybe he forgot, but he moved it from the table in front of the sofa to the bed, placing it on top of the blanket that he had spread out after making the bed. Although there was an unrolled silverware napkin indicating perhaps I wasn't finished (there were 2 on my tray & I really only need 1), I think the empty bowl, empty plate and empty cup might have indicated otherwise. Oh wait, in fairness to Steward, I may have wanted to snack on the tomato later, so best leave it. 🙄 Surely, he would have seen it in a final sweep of the room before he left 👀 My untrained, non-professional eyes saw it in a very brief sweep on entry. Ugh😳 First time this has happened. Is that unusual that I've never before returned to a dirty tray so late in the day (it was almost 3pm ships time) in almost 50 cruises or have I been fabulously lucky and should have been buying lotto tickets? Absolutely not worth mentioning to anyone on the ship; it really is a small thing that doesn't ruin my cruise. It's just a little odd based on my experience. I showed you guys since you're along for the ride and thought I'd take a very random poll to see how often it happens 🤔

Couple bridge players sitting at my Lido lunch table. They're commenting about how slow the line moves due to lack of servers and how much they did not enjoy Canaletto. I have only grapped lunch up there a couple times and have not eaten at Canaletto this cruise, so I can't comment on either except to say I haven't had issues. But it's definitely a matter of timing The tables have promptly been cleared when I've been there.

You know, I thought the spa would be packed because of having so many sea days and wondered if I would get the value from it. But, there has always been room so it's been great. Other than a couple times, the hydra pool has had room. I'd say, water's great - jump on in!