perfect match

Sue, thank you very much for sharing your cruise with us. I have enjoyed following along with you through the winning, the losing, the teenagers, and all of the other adventures along the way. 
 

Safe travels going home.

15 hours ago, laurieal said:

Don’t be like me. Don’t take it to the kitchen. It’s a trap!

I plan to learn from your experience! 😀

• Sue, you’re my hero! I am very impressed with your success in the casino. I have a lot of luck in the casino, too. Unfortunately mine is all BAD luck! I go in the casino. The casino takes my money. 🤷‍♀️

We get our first crystal block next week on Allure! I’m excited! I hope I don’t drop ours on the kitchen floor. 😱

12 hours ago, Lionesss said:

The crew called it Turtle Beach. 
But two years ago we were at another beach where the fisherman cleaned their catch and dumped fish remnants in the water  with more turtles feasting. 
 

Sad this happened to us. 
 

Be safe. 

I’m sad for you that you didn’t get to see any turtles this time around. There is a different beach on e that is called Turtle Beach. I haven’t been there. The sign at the beach where we went said Playa Piscado. The same spot was listed on Google Maps as Playa Piscado/Playa Grandi. Whatever you want to call the place it was an awesome place to swim with turtles.

The one drawback I saw with the place was that as a local fisherman’s beach, it was a place that you would not want to leave anything laying around there unless someone from your party was there guarding your things. Our guide was very familiar with the beach and was fluent in the local dialect. We thoroughly enjoyed our day there and had absolutely no problems at all. I would go back there without a second thought.

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

We loved Odyssey when we were on her in 2022.  We had almost the same cabin... We were in 10326

We were in the same neighborhood on Odyssey as well, in 10724. We loved it there! 
 

1 hour ago, Joe33472 said:

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

We haven’t booked Teppanyaki on a ship yet, but do occasionally go on land. I am now wishing that we had booked there when we were on Odyssey! Now I’m going to have to book another cruise on Odyssey so we can do that! 😂😎

On 4/22/2024 at 7:38 AM, Joe33472 said:

The HDMI option on the TV, along with the Internet is working great.   Watching Today show using Xfinity Stream.   Slowly putting ourselves together for brunch. 

 

 

 

 

 I really need to think about getting myself a USB to lightning cable before our September cruise. I have a very full schedule the next few days and even Amazon won’t get one here in time for our Allure sailing. I do plan to bring and try my Firestick. We’ll see how that goes.

On 4/23/2024 at 6:44 AM, Joe33472 said:

Good morning!  Ship was rocking a little last night and it's overcast and the sea has whitecaps.   

 

Charging my watch on the wall just makes me smile.   Not only does it save space on the desk area, it's just fun to look at.  Wonder how I could do this at home 🤣

 

Heading off soon to Windjammer to check it out.  

 

 

I love your watch charging on the wall! 😂 

Laurie, that is one very cute little cat! 😻😻😻

She doesn’t need that one orange cat brain cell, she’ll get by in life on cuteness alone! 

Thank you for the great pictures and videos from Hideaway! 

9 hours ago, Lionesss said:

Random pictures from the spouse Olympus water camera of missing turtles excursion.

Sue, do you know what beach your tour company took you to?  We  booked privately and saw plenty of turtles! Our guide did say that timing is everything because the turtles know when the local fishermen come back to shore and will be cleaning their catch. That’s a dinner bell for the turtles!

Since you didn’t get to see any turtles, I wanted to share one of mine with you. Enjoy!

Thank you very much for sharing your Panama Canal cruise with us. I really enjoyed sailing along with you!

Lioness strikes again! Congratulations on another handpay jackpot!

Laurie, I love your suitcase set up. What a great example of where there’s a will there’s a way! 
 

The solo travelers meet and greet looked like a lot of fun. I’m guessing that you will have a whole group of new friends for life by the end of this cruise. 

I’ve been running a bit behind here, so I didn’t get to post my fur kids when requested but I couldn’t let a request for pictures go unanswered! 
 

Meet Oreo, who is a very good boy along with his very favorite toy.

And this is Merida, our new little rescue who is a very Brave little princess and who was about to break that toy behind her into three separate pieces and send the balls it contained  flying all over the house! I don’t think she’s ever lived in s house before or had toys to play with before we adopted her three weeks ago but she’s learning fast! 
 

On 4/20/2024 at 8:00 PM, Rogueperson said:

Trip is complete!!!  

Glad you got to ride!

On 4/20/2024 at 12:53 PM, Teeara said:

Sorry for the delay kids.  My cold has been getting better but I’ve been going to bed early so I’m missing some of the time I would usually use for posting here.

Hope you’re feeling better soon. 🥰

4 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

@Lionesss I would be interested in knowing what slot it was and how much you put in before the jackpot? I told Linda about it and she wants you to rub your luck onto her. 😉

Me too!
 

Only problem is that I don’t even really know how to use our free play. 🤔. Can we even use free play in the non smoking casino on Allure?  Never mind me not knowing what machine to play or how much to put in it! I think that as Diamonds we each get $6 in free play. With my luck that will be gone in about 6 seconds! 😱😂

If I were to ever win anything at all I’d probably end up in medical in cardiac arrest!  

@Lionesss, I don’t know how you do it but I certainly admire your skills in the casino! 

On 4/19/2024 at 12:47 PM, prmssk said:

 

Loved this picture! Thanks for sharing both of the Brown Booby pictures. 

Thanks for including your Disney stay in your review, Laurie! I really enjoyed seeing WDW from your perspective. While you did a lot of our favorite things, you also did some that we’ve never done, or it has been a while and it’s time to go back and do them again. We board Allure in 9 days for a B2B and as usual a whole bunch of things that must be taken care of asap have appeared so WDW may need to wait until after we get home. I’ll still be able to follow your TAmthough! 

Thank you for sharing your Virginia International Tattoo pictures with us. I enjoyed seeing them. 😀

Thanks for taking us with you on Symphony! Your timing is perfect for getting me through my last days before our Allure cruise. We board her on the 29th. 🛳️😎

Hope you come home with some good winnings this time and that your new purple luggage that we haven’t seen yet and you and your DH as well have a safe trip. 

Aw, I completely forgot to look for the rocket 🚀 launch today! We were down in the Disney area this afternoon for a medical appointment for DH and then met some friends for dinner so we were a lot closer than seeing a launch from our house. It would have been a much better view than what we have at home. 
 

Laurie, I loved your dinner and fireworks around the monorail. We used to do that a lot before we moved down here. Might be time to give it another try. We also like dinner around the Boardwalk and even dinner around the Skyliner. You and your friends are really doing a great job with your Disney planning. You’re getting a lot done and seem to be having a great time doing it! 

18 hours ago, laurieal said:

Alright, people. A plan has been formed. 
 

Thanks to everyone who has offered suggestions. I went to the front desk last night when I came back to the resort and they gave me the number of the company they deal with for scooter and wheelchair rentals. They don’t do repairs, but they gave me the number of a company who does. The conversation with the guy went like this:

 

Me: one of my brakes is broken

Him: you probably have a screw loose

Me: the screw fell off

Him: well it’s definitely loose, then
 

That company doesn’t do “at home” repairs, but I booked an accessible taxi with Mears to take me there on Thursday. I can manage fine until then, I just want to get it fixed before the cruise where the waves could make transferring more…interesting. 
 

But now I’m late on my review again! I’ll just skip yesterday’s day in Animal Kingdom for now since I’ll be going again later this week. 

I’m glad to hear that you’ve found a way to get your chair fixed. There are lots of steep ramps at WDW where brakes would certainly come in handy! Never mind once you’re on the ship where it might be a bit more difficult to get your chair fixed. Maybe grab a few extra screws at the repair shop in case you have any more problems.

It’s going to be heating up the next couple days so be sure to keep up with your hydration, sunscreen and cooling breaks. Sounds like you’re having a great time at WDW. 

One more Beach Club question. I think we would prefer a later lunch time since we will probably just end up snacking for dinner after our big lunch. Did the restaurant seem to be functioning normally later in the afternoon or were they busy packing up or running out of food later in the afternoon? We will be making a reservation. I’m thinking maybe around 2:00. What do you think? Too late?

10 hours ago, Steelers0854 said:

Day 2 Coco Cay

 

 

 

We had 1 mission today. Be one of the first off and secure a good spot at the beach club. We got downstairs at about 7:45 and a few minutes before 8 the line was moving. Having never been here before we didn’t realize what a short walk it was and so we rode the tram. No big deal it was quick and easy and we were one of the first 10 people in.

 

 

 

 

 

We got very lucky, we grabbed one of the very few large loungers by the pool. These things are soooo comfortable. It’s worth hustling off the ship to snag one of these.

 

 

We paid $220pp for the beach club. I’m on team worth it. For what we got, the food, the floating mats, quiet atmosphere and not a hoard of people. I’m all in. I’ve paid far more for excursions and gotten much less.

 

We got a delicious coconut lime non alcoholic welcome drink. It was delicious. I would have paid for another but they said they couldn’t do that. SMH. Seems kinda silly. We had absolutely beautiful weather. High of 75, a cool breeze all day, and a few clouds in the sky.  Couldn’t have been better!

 

 

 

 

When you walk in to the beach club on your right when you walk in make your lunch reservation. They have slots based on the ship you’re on. We got 11:45. The beach club is beautiful. The bathrooms are very nice, it’s quiet, they have vibey music in the background but nothing loud or that stands out. The pool is great, service was outstanding. Always someone walking around asking if you needed anything. Towels were provided so no needing to wait in line and give your first born in exchange for one.

 

 

Before we knew it, it was lunch. You get a Bento box with all the appetizers. They brought DW bread that was safe to eat and the hummus and babaganoush was safe. DW doesn’t do seafood (preference) but the shrimp and ceviche would nah e been fine as well. The appetizers were good. Solid. Nothing to write home about.

 

 

The main course is where they knock it out of the park. DW got the filet (no modifications) and I got the surf and turf. It’s not on the menu but there are no issues ordering it. You get a half a lobster, 1 claw and what I’m guessing was a 6 ounce filet. It was amazing. Everything from the potatoes to the vegetables and the meat. All outstanding. And our server was fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

Some fun facts we learned from our server. He was from India and is on a 5 month contract. 600 people live on the island full time. The ship only sends some crew to supplement the front part of the island. He said about 70% of the staff were bahamanian and they work 2 month contracts.

 

After lunch we lounged around for a bit before calling it quits, visiting some other parts of the island before heading back to the ship. All aboard was at 3:30 and we got on at 2:30.

 

 

 

We certainly had a Perfect Day at CoCo Cay. I think the only other private island we have been to that gives it a run for its money is Disneys Castaway Cay.

Thank you very much for this Beach Club report and pictures! It is exactly what I’ve been hoping to find. 
 

On previous Coco Cay trips I have resisted booking the Beach Club due to the price. Then the price kept going up! 😱 However, on our last Coco Cay stops it was just way too packed with people to suit us, so I started looking for bargains. 
 

I first booked us into Hideaway beach but really didn’t think the vibe there would be what we were looking for. Then I found the Beach Club on sale! $76.99 for our upcoming Allure cruise and currently at $114.99 for Wonder cruise in September. It was a no brainer to cancel Hideaway and book the Beach Club! Maybe I’ll get really lucky and the price for our Wonder cruise will drop to the price we got on Allure. That would be awesome!

Is it really worth it to head out early and get seats by the pool? I’m a beach person myself but I think DH might prefer the pool. I don’t really care about the big beds much, but was pool seating I still available later in the morning? 
 

I think I’m a lot more excited about going to the Beach Club than I ever thought I would be!  😎