xpcdoojk

Another thought, the Border entry process is just wierd, where you look at a camera and then you just go. How do they collect any income from people who might claim they bought more than the limits in the islands? Don’t get me wrong, I like the system, I just don’t understand the change. jc

Another thought, since we were trying to catch early flights, we did self carry of our luggage. They started about 15 minutes after the scheduled time. It probably took another 20 minutes for us to get off. JC

So, I have officially survived Covid and the Flu and I am back to something close to 100%. We spent New Year’s Eve at our lake house, and we took our bikes to Dogwood canyon for a ride. Then after the New Year we travelled with friends back to Chapel Hill to show them around where we used to live, and Franklin Street and we went to the Notre Dame and Wake Forest games with very expensive stubhub tickets.😂 So, I am just now finally getting caught up to finish off this Not Alive review. We had a great time in Carolina, Erby, and makes me think that my future Airstream needs to winter at Jordan Lake during basketball season in the future! 😁 So, Saturday was the last day of the cruise, and we had extremely calm seas all the way back. The FlowRider crowd was predictably bad, and I was still having sore legs, so I only surfed for a couple of hours. I didn’t participate or watch the BOB, but Rodney from Florida won according to MX. I made the mistake of joining the gang for some trivia games, the music one was somewhat tolerable, but the identifying the celebrity by baby photos was an absolute no go on my part. I went back to the wave for an hour, got in another two rides and called that a trip. Our flights were scheduled for 1PM from FLL and there was a 9 something flight that was wide open so we decided to go standby for that flight to Dallas (DFW) and then try to get home earlier. There were something like 80 empty seats and the flight attendants were outraged when Krystal and I were assigned seats in the last 8 rows. Apparently, they like to keep that area for themselves as a private hang out. They were like what are they doing putting passengers back here. So much so, they told us to sit in a row a couple up from where we were assigned. When we got to DFW we could see that the next flight only had about 8 empty seats and the standby list was about 18. I had the highest standing in the AA system, and I was able to get one of those seats. I am guessing that the luck of my seat mate might have been the source of my flu/covid, as it was a college kid coming home from Arizona and he didn’t seem like he was feeling well. That said, my DW got symptoms more intense and sooner than I did…. So it could have been from the cruise. I had my nephew pick me up at the airport(we had a limo to and from), and I was able to get all of the groups luggage, I was able to go to the grocery store, I was able to go to the pet resort and get Rodrhi the Welsh Terrier, I was able to prep dinner, and still have time to go back to the airport to pick up the group (we cancelled return limo). At work the next afternoon, I was dealing with drainage and a lot of throat clearing. Krystal said she felt awful. We both stayed home on Tuesday with temps over 100F, and did self-testing on Wednesday Krystal got a positive test after a visit to CVS. I continued to test negative, even after I got a positive Quad test on Thursday. I know I mentioned this earlier, but it was eye opening. All in all, the Harmony is a great ship. We did zero specialty restaurants. We found the food to be be mostly good, and I don’t think our experience suffered by eating all of our meals in the MDR (I did eat in the Wind Jammer one night, and it was less than good, previously mentioned). We had a good wait team and the head waiter was flirting with Sally (she is single and attractive), so our service was exceptional. Any need or want they took care of. Every night after the first night (different wait team) was perfect on the service side. We like the pumpkin side rolls and after the first night (2nd night overall) with the final team, we always had those rolls. The rest of our group initially was not a fan, but by night 5 they were eating our pumpkin seed rolls! The Diamond lounge, like others, needs to have jelly or marmalade or something to go with croissants in the morning. I don’t understand this. The lounge was almost always empty (less than 6 people in the morning) when I went for the coffee run. The raisin bread formerly Austrian Stritzel was my go to, and it was good. The one time I mentioned previously that I went to the lounge during the early evening time, the lounge was still sparsely filled. We got two different Aqua Theatre shows since it was an 8 night cruise and two different ice skating shows. Our group appreciated this. Sally, who was on her third cruise with us, felt this was by far the best cruise, and that it was perfect. She even loved her inside cabin because it was much better sized and laid out than the Radiance. Of course, she preferred the balcony on the Navigator, but liked the money savings. We are on the cruise shelf until the Anthem Transatlantic this spring. Not sure I can wait that long. Feel free to ask any questions. JC

Of course. JC

Chief, what are the odds the captain was actually on duty at that time. I would think less than 50/50… but I have zero actual knowledge, just know that during routine times the captain is often out doing PR and not driving the ship.

Of course, I remember.

So, we have been traveling 3 different trips inside a month, and Covid/Flu for a week…. During that time watched some below decks on Bravo, no context, just watching them as they appear during the times we are sitting in a bed watching tv……. I thought they are currently watching a version of the show in the South Pacific which I have not seen. I was thinking captain Sandy took over for the captain, I see mostly when I happen upon BD when he had a bad leg. Is that the current show and not a show from the SP???? Anyway, the chef hates picnics, so why don’t they cater it let the locals wherever they go do it. They would probably save money, and have a better experience.???? I know they paid for the cruise and expect the over the top experience. Our country club does an annual Farm to Table event 3 nights in a row, that is extremely hard to get into. 2 nights before our reservation the chef said she couldn’t accomodate my wife’s Alpha Gal allergy? I was like, just throw a piece of salmon on the grill, and she will be fine. So, instead of them making $300 for dinner they ended up with at least two empty seats. I found out when we went to Chapel Hill to watch a couple of basketball games that they fired the chef over Xmas. She used to be the personal chef for INXS back in the day…. I hate to see her go, at her best she was really awesome, day to day she was lazy and terrible. I can only imagine what it is like to find chefs to do a show like BD. I am way behind on this forum, as I haven’t posted for over a week. Work is horrible right now. I am getting really close to saying Eff it and getting on with retirement. JC

Yes, on my birthday, no on NY Eve. We have celebrated Krystal’s last two birthdays on a cruise. Our anniversary as well a few times. Have fun. Be careful with the sports staff, there are two lovely ladies there, that look alike. I kept calling Veronica Hannah, and Hannah Veronica. One if from Russia (I think) and the other South Africa.

We are on the 11 night TA next May 1. Will spend a couple of days in Jersey at the hotel near the train station, but will actually be in NY city. booked the tour the crown tickets today from NY. Got a 6$ discount since apparently we are old.

Sea Dog, I posted a video of me surfing boringly on my Not LIVE thread. I mentioned that all 5 of us got sick within a day or two from returning. I, personally, tested positive with a PCR test for Covid and Influenza A. Pretty awesome! I am much better with a lingering cough. We had a very boring Xmas, coughing and snotting all over the house. Happy NY! sigh….. jc

He is from South Africa and he has a gold tooth…. When he gets going on the microphone he doesn’t know when to shut up. We bonded during the key hour. Good guy.

Andrew, the staff was reasonably good about the newbies on the wave. However, we didn’t have very many on our cruise. You are supposed to ride the boogie board wave, get a signature on your white band then you can go to the stand-up side. They frequently announced these rules. Of course, the newbies are not around during the announcements and even if they are they aren’t listening. Generally, they allowed 2 plus minutes for experienced riders. Some would time you but they weren’t super hardline on time. My experience was by 11AM on sea days the line got long, and it got worse in the afternoon. I felt like both waves were good. I think your cabin would be great for seeing when the line dwindles for a lunchtime oppurtunity. Tell MX JC says hi!

Not a particularly good run, BTW. Liked the intro. 😆

For Sea Dog, I have some of my standard Nikon videos edited. Here is one with Mike from Florida panhandle and Bronson from Manchester UK goofing on my video then me immediately following. As I said super boring. https://xpcdoojk.smugmug.com/Travel/Cruises/Harmony-of-the-Seas-2022-surfing-edited/n-8JFF6H/i-mSXPCtc/A It won’t play, so click the link

Small world. The food was outstanding, no matter what OB says about it! So fresh. Yum.

Erby! I will be in your fine airport again next week on the Wednesday and Sunday. On a more serious note. I haven’t posted in over a week, because on Monday the 19th, at work I had a little cough…. Got home went to bed and woke up sick as a dog. Krystal, was sick when she got home from work. We both tested Tuesday for Covid at home, both negative. She went to CVS minute clinic because it is covered by her plan they tested her and she was Covid positive. I continued to test at home and kept returning negative tests. Thursday my doctor had me come in for a quad test (Covid, influenza A, B and RSV). I got a positive on Influenza A and Covid that afternoon. I tested at home again and got another negative. Tests are simply a joke. We treated and are treating just the symptoms, big one for me is a lingering cough. At night taking a codeine cough syrup which works daytime, I am sucking on a tablet that I picked up on one of our trips to Germany called GeloRevoice. They work better than any cough over the counter pill I have take here including the Perles my doctor proscribed. I didn’t do much except hang around until this past weekend. K and I are both back at work today. Feel pretty good. Just wish the tickle in my throat would go away. I will try to finish this review. This week! On another point. Sue and Shelby both tested positive for Covid after us, and Sally tested positive for influenza A. JC

I believe the ship was mostly full 100%+ occupancy. Obviously, I was intentionally, lucky with my FlowRider needs, as it was not a time when families have kids out of school. So, I would imagine that from my perspective your NYE cruise will seem fuller. 😜 The areas, where this cruise seemed more challenging than sailing the exact same time frame in December 2021 for a similar 8 night sailing on the Allure. It was clearly more crowded. Elevators were always a challenge in the middle of the day and in the evenings. Pool areas were very crowded. Most of the shows it was possible to find seating at the last moment. Exception, of course, was the comedy club. The Allure cruise was super awesome for ease of access. We do MTD and the early seatings 7 and earlier there is a significant line, as they don’t seem to seat people except in 15 minute intervals, so it always seems like they are behind. For example you have a 7:15 time, and it is 6:59 they will chase you out of line. 8PM and later there was no line at all. Overall, everyone in our group of 5 had a great time. Nobody wanted to come home. I know that is a pretty low bar!😆 jc PS, I will try too do a full review after I manage to recount the individual days.

Friday was Labadee, and I think I mentioned it was about the fifth time we have been there and the first time I planned on getting off the ship. It was a warm and sunny day with light winds. So, ideal would be my description. I had booked the Dragon’s Fire for me and the other for my wife on Black Friday sale. They had very limited availability but both were half priced. I, also, booked the Coaster. I booked them for after lunch. I mentioned them to Sally, and she waited to look at it until less than 7 days prior. The pricing jumped back to either full price or maybe 10% off. We did the Coaster first, and it was surprisingly fun. I would absolutely recommend that to any one. It was fun it was thrilling and a cool view of the island. After a bit of a wait, we got to do the zip lines. The ladies did the practice zip line. The one I did where you hang in a bag horizontally came with no practice. So, when I was told I was doing the torpedo position instead of airplane I had no clue what I was about to experience. We have done zip lines many times in many places, but nothing quite like the one I did. I was very comfortable it would hold me in vertically, because my feet were pushing against the straps, and I was very comfortable that it would hold me in from falling in the direction of my belly because I had this huge strong apron on. Unfortunately, I had not thought about how it was holding me in from falling out on my head. I might not have worried if I could feel the straps over my shoulders, but as I left the tower doing Torpedo, I could feel my head falling forward, and I was not flying like Superman, but with my head very low at about 60 degrees from horizontal. This as I continued to feel light in the Apron made me make the torpedo more of a hug on my body. I thought as I rushed at the ocean that I was going to die in a really stupid way, all the while knowing that surely RCI had considered my flight plan and had indeed put straps over my shoulder. It was over before I could have a full on panic attack, and I am pretty sure that I was in no danger, but it sure didn’t feel that way. As I launched I yelled at Krystal and Sally on the other tower as I passed. I could see them waving as I approached. The scary part started once I got past them as the speed increased and the flying angle changed. They both loved their zip line, and the coaster. We all felt that these were much better activities than we originally thought. After we got back on the ship. The FlowRider in the morning session was really good, as the line varied between 3 and 5 people for the two hours(if you are not a FlowRider fan skip this paragraph). At this point in the cruise my legs were suffering a bit, from just being tired, and a little sore. Not falling much means you spend 2-3 minutes at a time working constantly. These muscles don’t usually get used in this fashion so it is probably natural for the human body to start to complain after 7 days. Since the line was short I worked on my drop in from the top, by adjusting where I placed the board. When I first learned to do this, back in 2015 from the Pez, the Oasis, wave on that sailing was pretty much non-existent outside the white line, so he taught me to start inside the white line on the goofy side. This wave pretty much reached with force all the way to the wall. So, I was struggling to have enough downforce on the board to keep it lined up so when I got on it I had zero confidence. So, I started watching others, and I moved the board to where it was at least a foot outside the wave. Once I did that I was able to drop in successfully, but I still can’t turn enough or get enough weight on my back foot to avoid riding up on the board at the bottom, but I know how to survive that. I at did at least improve a bit on that. After lunch, the crowd was predictably bad, and I surfed for an hour only and since we were on the starboard side, we invited our group to a sailaway party at 4:30PM in the shade, to watch the last people on the ship arrive before be on board time of 4:30PM. Between 4 and 4:30, I searched for snacks. I ended up going to the diamond lounge for cheese bread sticks. It was my first trip to the lounge other than in the morning to get coffee. I was surprised that there was less than 20 people in the lounge. First time I laid eyes on the concierge. The wait staff gave me the evil eye and I loaded up two of the ridiculously small places with cheese and breadsticks and two little cups of fruit and veggies. Other than Sorrento's that was the only venue that had any snacks. I then stopped by the Trellis bar and got a G&T and a Cabernet for myself, the DW had a bottle left of Kim Crawford for the other ladies, and Shelby was told to get his own drinks! 😆 While we were sailing away on an almost calm sea, I watched someone forward of our cabin a deck up throw some pizza slices over the side. At first I wasn’t sure what I was watching, but looking down, they were perfect triangles and the floated just like a little triangular boat. 🤣 They all left about an hour later and we got dressed for dinner. JC

Yesterday was mostly sunny with occassional clouds a couple looked like rain, but never happened. I did the 9AM FlowRider until about 11:15. I was not actually sore, but my muscles were not feeling the same. The first hour it was the regular 6 or so, and as the morning went on more and more came and left. After 11 the line reached about 13 and I grabbed my board and went to the cabin where I joined the others for MDR lunch. After lunch, Shelby and I did the slides, so we started with the Ultimate Abyss, ie the Piranha on the deck beside the FlowRider since we were dry. Then off to the water slides. The UA was better than I remembered from doing it on the Symphony in 2018. The water slides were good as well. After we went to the Arcade, where we were going to race the KO Drive game of which they had two machines. We kept putting our sea pass to the reader, it would say paid, then no credits. Shelby finally got the machine to accept his card and he got one race by himself because I could never get it to give me a credit. Finally, he called the number by the phone to have someone come up. A nice young employee came up saw the problem, rebooted the machine, which took several minutes. Took our account numbers and said he would have us credited within 10 minutes and would add to our Arcade limit. I guess, I hadn’t hit the magic number yet, and my sea pass card worked one time before I hit the Zone limit. We sat there for about 30 minutes before we gave up and left as the zone limit never went away. Small thing but they cost themselves some easy money. I decided it was a good time to skip the FlowRider and try to get some life back into my legs. Hopefully, I will surf better this morning. After that, I came back to the cabin, the ladies were sitting in the shallow soaking pool. They returned and we dressed for dinner on formal night. We went first to the Rising Tide bar (I think that is what they call it, the one that goes between deck 8 and deck 5). Had a cocktail or a wine. Dropped from deck 8 in about 10 minutes, then went to Aqua Theatre for Hidden Hideaway beach resort that was scheduled for 6:30PM. Arrived more than 30 minutes in advance and the theatre was already partially full. At the end there was a pile of people behind show. Very good show, our viewing angle was not as good as the previous show, but still very entertaining. After that we went down a deck to the Royal Promenade, went to the bar where they do the salsa dancing near the theatre and ordered 5 glasses of wine. Sat there for 5 minutes, chatting about the Aqua Theatre before heading into the main theatre for the Columbus production which was silly, and strange, with sometimes recognizable (by me) pop songs. It was a good show, can’t say I will need to see it again. Now it was dinner time. Arriving at the MTD at 9PM is a lot different than arriving at 7PM. We went straight in. Drinks ordered, food ordered and eating began within 5 minutes of arrival. This is where a problem was discovered. Krystal and Sue decided they needed a quick potty break before the mains were served. So, off they went 5 minutes went by and Rodney our waiter saw 2 empty seats at our table of 5 and served the 3 remaining. Since it was getting cold, we ate. I kept scanning the room for signs of their returns. My beef tenderloin was good, and the lobster tail on the side was tasty too. Cooked pretty close to perfection on the tail. I was finished eating when they returned. Seems the toilet on deck three was closed due to something clogging the system, they said the floor was a complete disaster (I haven’t yet asked for a real description as I shut them down when they started to describe it). They then went up to deck 4 and the restroom near the casino, it was closed. Then they went up to the restroom on deck 6 and there was a long line. They finished eating mostly by themselves with us sitting sipping our wine. I ordered a double Gran Marnier with my last two diamond plus vouchers. We all ate our dessert (molten chocolate cake, meh), and rushed off to deck 5 for the disco party at 10:05 (it started at 10). We were there for 25 minutes till it ended. I hugged and fist bumped all of my sports staff people, including the one who didn’t like my little camera at the bottom of the wave. Peer pressure got him. 😆 We went back to the cabin sat on the balcony looking at the stars. Today is Labadee, we have the coaster and the zip line booked this afternoon, Shelby has a massage scheduled on the ship. I will head to the FlowRider at 9AM for a couple of hours. Then lunch on the ship or maybe on the shore, but most likely the Solarium. jc

Day at sea on the way to Labadee. so a new pet peeve sea pass cards are now laminated with the print they are constantly coming apart Once they peel you are left with a lovely blank card. Already have had to replace once. Not sure new card will make it til Sunday. jc

Chilling in the room after the hour night surf. OB, I ate on my own in the WJ, and I had a hard time finding anything appealing to eat. I ended up with some roast chicken, some beef stroganoff without anything but the beef, and a hot dog. The hot dog was the star of the meal. I ate a salad and it was fine, tried two desserts, they were great. Went out of my way to the ice cream cone area on deck 15 and had an one. It was the true best. So, tonight new staff, who I haven’t seen on the FlowRider all cruise. One immediately saw me setting up my little Nikon on my 3 inch flexible tripod. He said that is not allowed. I said, it has been there every single day for the entire cruise for a large portion of the time the wave has been open. He backed off after that. Lord give me strength. Evening session ended my streak of 4 hours in the line with zero falls, 3 runs 2 with falls. The other sports staff was Pamela and on the last ride before the end of the session when I fell, and I came walking down to start on the side again, she said why didn’t I drop in on the top since I was so good. I said, I am good at what I do and that is carve at the top of the wave, I am not good at much else. 🤣 I prefer not falling so I don’t practice it much. Wife and friends are at dinner and then going to Whitney Houston tribute show in the main theatre. I am just going to sit in bed and watch TV. Did a little work. Then posting here. Today in Curacao, the gang minus me went shopping. I met them at 11:45 on the Queen Emma Bridge. We wandered around the shops, Shelby bought a Curacao Flag. We then went to the Freeport Jewelers and nurse Sally found a John Hardy bracelet. The other Freeport Jeweler had FOPE which my wife seemed to like, but I hadn’t seen. We tried to have Lunch and drinks at the City which is one of the little bars on the water between the swinging bridge and the big bridge. They didn’t have menus, and I could never log into their WiFi to look at the digital menu. No wait staff came to help us for 20 minutes, so we got up and moved 20 feet to the Green Iquana. I had a Blue something and a different Blue something drink. For lunch I had a red snapper with coconut cream topping which was really really good. Fresh, and just yummy. After lunch we went to the other Freeport Jewelers needless to say the lovely and gracious Krystal has two new bracelets. Ouch…. I, found out after the afternoon session that Krystal’s 96 year old mother had fallen in her senior apartment. Seems she is ok, but she broke her phone. So, now I am going to research phones for old people who keep breaking their phones and can’t understand how to use them except by opening them up and talking. So, if anyone knows of a phone that works for people like that please share!!!!! FlowRider 9 to 6. I will probably do 9-11 and 4 to 6. I expect a lot of people. I don’t think I shared that it quit raining by 10 and got quite warm and humid. jc

We just got back on the ship. The FlowRider is open 3 to 6 then a special 8-9. Skipping group dinner. Heading to the wave shortly. 5 of us until right before the last 30 minutes of the 2 hour session, then 1 came 2 more came just in time to be last in line. So, I will be off there shortly as it is 3:45. I never fell this morning, just to punctuate how boring I am. It stopped raining about an hour in, getting warm now, but still not sunny. JC

Ugly day. May be drizzly all day. Some pics while waiting.

I was surprised while we were on shore there were 4 large cruise ships in port plus a masted ship in addition (Cloud something), and the ABC regular the Scientology ship. Which when I first saw it in the 90s I thought it was pretty big. I missed the Carnival Horizon and HAL Eurodam slip past us to their berths which due to the narrow channel they passed us by fairly closely. jc

Back to important stuff, the FlowRider was awesome yesterday morning. Session went from 8:30 until 11, and I had the rhythm. I am a rhythm surfer, and because of the initial 3 person line, I was able to really get into the flow. I am the most boring FlowRider because all I really want to do is just carve at the top of the wave, and I was able to almost flawlessly do short quick carves and long sweeping smooth carves. Best couple of hours I have had on a wave for a while. Today we are in Curacao, I need to check the daily planner and see if the hours are the same as yesterday. Sue and Shelby have a ships tour, the rest of us are just going to wander around downtown, so I imagine I will get both morning and afternoon sessions on the FlowRider….😁