mets07

When looking at your particular cruise in the app, see if you have a rectangular area in the middle of the screen that says: Welcome aboard. Make the most of your vacation. Click on those words and it will open up a page that says "Hints and tips to help you get ready for your cruise" ... Then you can click on Day 1, Day 2, etc at the bottom of the screen. That is where I see the dress suggestion for one of my cruises. The dress info will be there if your cruise is relatively soon, as yours is. Enjoy your cruise.

Friends, we have been blessed with a sixth grandchild, born yesterday. A boy. We now have 3 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. Ages are 7 years, 5 years, 3 years, 22 months, 14 months, and a one day old. Life is good. We have a bunch of Royal cruises planned, a couple locally out of New Jersey to experience some new ships for us, and then some out of Florida to experience some other much newer ships, and eventually a cruise to Alaska, a first for us. Best to all! 🍼🚢

I got it too. Started to fill it out. It was rather simple ... seemed aimed around whether you were a member of the various loyalty programs (of course that is automatic now anyway) and whether it impacted your likelihood to book cruises on Celebrity vs. Royal, for example. ANYWAY, I exited the survey once I realized it was forcing you to answer personal questions including your income level without any option such as "I don't want to share this info...." 😉

You could not have arrived on a more gorgeous-weather day! Have fun.

That drives me crazy. Seems like it should be a given. Welcome to NY/NJ!

Your baking is amazing! And I am also impressed (pun?) you are still ironing. I don't think I have used an iron in 20 years. Have a wonderful cruise!

Question. I have never done that for an excursion (called for a "price match") ... I have cancelled and re-ordered online. If you call, are they cancelling and re-ordering for you or just giving you a credit for the difference?

Totally agree. That is where we had lunch. 🏖️ 🍻

Excellent. Today we are back on.Long Island. Jones Beach. Another beautiful day. Flags flying..

Yesterday a beautiful day here in the New Jersey / New York area. Today expected to be as well. We drove to the beach at Robert Moses State Park, Long Island, New York. Here are some photos: NYC from the George Washington Bridge as we "crawled" over .... At the beach. A pretty calm ocean and we saw a bunch of dolphins (not pictured) as well. We walked by the Fire Island Lighthouse on our way to the town of Kismet for lunch. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. PS We did a B2B in Europe in July / early August on Anthem. Our first cruising in Europe. Loved it!

Awaiting Zac Brown and Kenny Chesney....

Cloudy skies in New Jersey, USA, but lots of fun as you can see. Met Life stadium before Kenny Chesney concert. Random shot...

I always asked my mom for spice cake for my birthday. I think I was rather unique in that regard. 😉 We made it from a cake mix, similar to picture above. Betty Crocker has one too. Not sure if I ever had it on a cruise ship.

Looks like Day 4 and Day 6 based on the app. Day 4 Caribbean and Day 6 Lobster.

We have done Venezia and will do Symphony this year. We have already done Oasis and Harmony, so just doing Symphony as it is a different ship and for the convenience of being out of New Jersey. As you say, it has the same rather lackluster itinerary. But we like to try different ships and we really enjoy our Royal loyalty benefits. Venezia is a beautiful ship and there was a very lively atmosphere. There are more complimentary food options than on Royal. The cruise you mention is longer which is nice and with at least some other islands included. Pool area was limited as I recall if that matters to you. I might lean towards Symphony so you can try an Oasis class ship with its wealth of venues and entertainment. Whatever you decide, enjoy!

Thank for all this feedback. I am sure it may help others. From Paddington Station, I believe we took the Bakerloo line to Waterloo Station. In any case, our method was simple enough and worked for us.

Hi, no, there was an employee of Heathrow Express there. We bought something called a "Two Together" ticket which I think provided a small discount. In any case, I know there are many options for traveling about in London. This one was fine for us.

Thanks for your feedback. We also bought some Euros as one of the cruises took us to Spain, Italy, and Portugal .... and we were able to spend them at smaller stores, some cafes, other random places. You certainly don't need a lot.

In case of it is of assistance to anyone, here is a quick summary of our recent trip to London enroute to back-to-back cruises from Southampton. We spent 3 nights in London after flying from Newark, New Jersey. My focus here is primarily transportation, with a few other things thrown in. Upon arrival at Heathrow Airport and picking up our luggage, my husband and I took the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station and from there the Underground to Waterloo station. We stayed at the Hampton by Hilton Waterloo which was a block or two from the Waterloo station. It was convenient and included a breakfast typical of Hilton hotels. We got there early morning, so they held our luggage until our room was available. We had been to London before (me, once, and my husband several times), so we did non-touristy things that involved a lot of walking to various neighborhoods, etc. One thing we did do which was recommended here on CC was visit Sky Garden. This is a gorgeous space about 38 flights up with tremendous views, cafes, gardens, etc. Make a reservation about a month before a visit. It is free. I believe it is on Mondays that they release tickets. Check their website. Sky Garden photo: We brought about $200 worth of British pounds with us, but most places accepted credit cards. There was no problem using our US Visa credit card. No PIN was required. Enough places took cash that we were able to use most of the British pounds we brought with us. Two old pubs we enjoyed in London were Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and The Old Wine Shades. 🍺🍷 We took South Western Railway from Waterloo to Southampton. We did not make advance reservations, so paid full fare. We bought the tickets and were on the train within about 30 minutes. We walked to the cruise terminal when we got off (there are youtube videos showing you the roads to follow), but simply take a taxi if preferred. On turnaround day between our two cruises we explored Southampton and visited the Sea City Museum (Titanic exhibits) - excellent - and the Dancing Man Brewery. Photo of Dancing Man Brewery (2nd floor, 1st floor was crowded so we decided to go up there and have lunch). When we departed the second cruise, we took the National Express Bus/Coach to London Heathrow Airport. We took a taxi from the cruise terminal to the Coach station. Taxi was about 7 BP. Bus (coach) was about 40 BP or less for both of us. We reserved the bus in advance. We took the 9:45AM bus and our flight was at 4PM. We were at the airport around Noon. Enjoy! Cheers!

It realizes if you are using a US credit card and does not require a pin.

My Dad so agreed. Salt water cures everything 😉 he would say. On Anthem, my husband just took this photo. We are enroute to Sardinia.

Captain Toni left Anthem today. I think the new captain is Captain Srecko.

I noticed that also, but someone else commented that only the bar code matters, so just make sure that shows in the screen shot.

I so agree!! Great line, @cublet

We sailed on MSC once (Meraviglia) in a balcony cabin and with Aurea experience. The "anytime dining" was truly anytime for us and worked beautifully. There was some excellent live music. The ship was beautiful. Aurea included access to the thermal spa, which was nice. We did not enjoy the buffet. It was extremely linear in nature and we found the food of average quality. The drink dispensers in the buffet were often not working or supplies e.g. tea bags not available or depleted and not replaced/maintained. Brooklyn was not as convenient or easily accessible a departure point as Bayonne NJ or NYC. However, your opinion on that might vary depending on where you live.