Grenouille21

March 31, 2019

1 hour ago, mayleeman said:

My brother and I bickered a lot and my mom thought that she could stop us by jumping in and trying to record us to embarrass us, I guess. Her doing so could stop the fight, but only because we ganged up on her by ridiculing her refereeing attempts. One time we bought her a whistle and tried, but couldn't find, to get her a striped shirt.

We were little sh---s!

Glad you have retained your sense of humor!

Don't ever talk to my kids! I don't want them getting ideas!!! 😉

My brother and I fought. This is totally karma. But then again, they're going to get it some day too. 😛

March 31, 2019

3 hours ago, VPIcruiser said:

At least they held together in van, in front of other people. 😀.

I have threatened one one of my children that I was going to video their tantrum and send it to their teacher.

Your review is very entertaining. You are doing a great job.

I have threatened to record their bickering and post it on all of their social media. I'm so mean!

1 hour ago, MandyMommyof2 said:

Enjoying your review! Can't wait to read more. 🙂

Thank you!

March 30, 2019

5 hours ago, blueridgemama said:

That monkey breaks my heart. It looks like it has to stand on its water bowl as the only option to standing on chicken wire. Very hard to see.

It really was so sad. I hate seeing things like that. Unfortunately it wasn't the last time we would see sad animal things.

1 hour ago, Max and Ruby said:

OP- your daughter and my 14 yo daughter would be the friends complaining about the teen club. In 2017 when then 12, DD tried the teen club and didn’t stay long. Yes, the other girls were like 16 and much too old, buy my DD didn’t really give it a try. Flash forward to this summer. I’m insisting that the 14 yo and my other DD 12 go to teen club that first night. I told my 14 yo about your daughter’s feelings on teen club and she agreed with your daughter! 😊

I too too need my alone time. 🤞🏻That I can bribe her to go with activities like trivia or just dance!

Enjoying your review!

Thanks! They should open separate Teen Clubs on cruises for kids who don't like the Teen Club. I don't know what they would do there, maybe just complain about everything that is happening in the real club and/or complain about their parents forcing them to go there? I bet it would be popular.

48 minutes ago, er345 said:

HIRO was definitely my favorite show! I’m so glad you got to see it and that the key seats paid off.

Fantastic night pictures!

I am sorry to hear about the escape room miss. I can’t tell you how many times I am running late for things because of every scenario imaginable with my teenagers. I can relate completely. I’m glad you got some much needed mom relaxing time in the Solarium.

Thanks! It was a great show!

I thought we would be past the stage of missing things because the kids can't get their act together, or have a tantrum as we are leaving the house, or did not do ANYTHING until I was ready and then had like 15 things to do that they could have done but instead they were just scrolling through Instagram. Ok maybe the last one is unique to teens, but still, I thought we would be able to leave a place on time by now.

26 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:

Agreed, I am so sorry - I think all parents have had those moments - more than once certainly too. I hope you got a refund or just kept holding it over their heads!

I forgot to provide closure on that. I will add that to the next segment. I keep forgetting things, because I am relying on my photos to remind me of what happened. But of course I do not have photos of things like my kids fighting (but OMG I really should do that next time!) or how the Escape Room was resolved. When we were in Alaska I kept typing quick notes in an email draft on my phone, so I would remember things. I really should have done that this time. Next time!

March 30, 2019

Day 4 continued

Before we got back on the ship, we wanted to do some shopping. DD wanted to buy something to wear for dinner, as she had only brought t-shirts and jeans, and a dream. So we explored some of the shops. We had reservations at the Escape room at 4:00pm, and we had to be there exactly at 4 or we would lose our spot. It was probably 3:30 and I kept telling DD that we had to get back on the ship, we had reservations, etc. but she was absolutely set on buying a "nice" shirt or dress.

They really did not have anything good in the shops but she kept pulling out shirts and asking to buy them. I made her try them on and all of them were awful. She really likes the off the shoulder look, but doesn't understand that wearing an off the shoulder top means you have to adjust other things you are wearing. So I kept saying no to everything she tried. Or she would pull our some crocheted half top thing that was actually just a bunch of holes held together with yarn and that was a big no as well.

The woman in the shop kept trying to convince me that whatever top DD was trying on looked great on her. "It looks seeeeeeeexxxxxy!" she said. That was exactly the wrong thing to say to convince a mother to buy ANYTHING for her 15 year old daughter, and I pretty much told her that. So we left. I think I bought a magnet or something.

We were definitely cutting it close on time, and we had to drop our bags at the room. I really needed a bathroom stop (sorry for the TMI but it is important to the story) so I told the kids to run up to the room, drop their bags, and run up to Deck 14 to tell them we were there and that I was coming. It was probably exactly 4 at this point, and I figured we would have a few minutes grace period especially if they were just waiting for me. I told them to go ahead and do it without me if needed, but to GO UP THERE ASAP. It seems like that would be a pretty easy thing to do, but nope.

I got up to the room and the kids were still in the room. DS was in the room and DD was in the bathroom sobbing. I asked what was going on and apparently they had some huge knock down physical fight in the 5 minutes it took to get up to the room. I knew this meant that we had lost our chance at the Escape Room because there was no way they would wait if none of us were there. I told them exactly how much this was costing me, and not to follow me, and that I was done with their nonsense, and I ran up to Deck 14 to see if at least I could still go.

But the door was closed, and there was no way to get in. We had missed it.

The kids were texting me all kinds of "I'm sorry" messages, well DD was, DS just asked me if the stones in one of my rings were real (really, where on earth did that come from and NO that was like a $10 ring from Amazon).

I went to Guest Services and explained that we had been late coming back and missed our Escape Room time, and was there any possibility of rescheduling or possibly getting a refund. I figured there was no hope of either one, but it couldn't hurt to ask. I was told the Activities manager would call me later. Again I figured there was no way anything would come of this and was bummed but OK with it.

I wandered around a bit, making DD and DS stew a bit (or so I thought). I went to the Solarium for sail away and took some photos.

I finally went up to the room after maybe 45 minutes and both of them were asleep. Whatever. I took some photos of sail away from the balcony.

Then I decided to go to the Solarium to get better photos. Obviously this is when the special helipad access was happening, most likely for suite or top tier guests.

The Solarium had become my favorite place to be for sunset, so I went there every night. Most people had left, the chairs were almost all empty, and you could watch the sunset no matter where it was (relative to the ship, I mean, obviously it was always in the west) because you are at the front of the ship. Other people had the same idea, but not as many as you'd think. Sometimes I wore my bathing suit and sat in the pool with a glass of Prosecco, reading, sometimes I just took photos.

Before going back to the room that evening I took some more photos, which I think I shared earlier, of the pool deck at night.

I actually have dinner photos, yay! I am sure I had the Casear salad again. Then I ordered the Steak Diane, and the Mushroom Risotto. The steak was good, the risotto was ok.

DD or DS had the Chicken Parmigiana

And for dessert we all had the Warm Chocolate Cookie and it was amazing.

Tonight was the 80's party on the Promenade, so DD and I tried to get our spot to watch everyone. Turns out more people had the same idea, but we managed to get a good view for a while.

But we had bigger and better plans for the evening. We had reservations for Hiro. Now, if you have been reading along, you have noticed a pattern with me and reservations. I was determined NOT to be late to this one. DS was at the Teen Club but I told him he had to come to the show. DD and I went EARLY (for us) and of course the place was almost full.

The Key: When we got to the Aqua Theater, they scanned us for reservations. I mentioned that we had The Key and she sort of pointed to where we should go. There was another woman, farther down, standing next to a whole row that was empty. I asked if this was the section for The Key, and she said yes. You guys, the whole row was empty. It was the middle section, kind of toward the back but not technically IN the back, and it was all open. We flashed our wristbands and took our seats right smack in the middle of the row. This was a GREAT location, amazing seats, and definitely a worthwhile perk of having The Key.

I started texting DS and telling him he had better hurry because any second she was going to open up the row to the masses. There was a long standby line, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they were let in.

It was tight, but he made it just before they opened up the row, and oddly enough the row never really filled up. I think it was still closed off on the side where the standby line was (left) but open on the other side? I don't know.

Anyway, it was time for Hiro. Hiro is like Cirque Du Soleil meets the high dive team. No, it is better than that. By far. I am not really a Cirque Du Soleil person but I am definitely a Hiro person now! Once again they knocked it out of the park. This show was amazing. I cannot believe they can dive from such heights into such a small pool. It reminded me of those cartoons where the guy dives into a cup of water. That is basically what this show is. Or part of it, anyway.

I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just share 2 videos and some photos.

[MEDIA=vimeo]326485942[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA=vimeo]327405894[/MEDIA]

I wish this guy were doing a cannonball, because that would be amazing, but I am pretty sure it was a flip.

Just see all the shows. All of them.

After Hiro I think DS went back to the club for a bit, and DD and I wandered. I don't think I've talked about these yet. It is like a giant iPad, and they are on every floor. They are fully interactive, and you can search for info, find activities, see what's going on and where, etc. Just tap the "Main Menu" button on the bottom and it takes you to a screen where you can search for anything and everything. Really cool!

It had been a LONG day, and we would be waking up in St. Thomas tomorrow. This guy was waiting in our room.

We hadn't got a new breakfast ordering thing to hang on the door, and I stopped in at guest services to ask about it. They said they would have housekeeping bring one up to us. OR maybe they said to call housekeeping? Its blurry now. At any rate, housekeeping came and delivered like 12 breakfast menus. I thought about filling out all of them and hanging them on all the doors on our end of the hallway but I figured they might not appreciate that. Plus how am I supposed to know what everyone wants for breakfast?

We decided to try the pancakes this time, since the eggs etc. were a disappointment. It is pretty difficult to mess up pancakes, right?

March 30, 2019

4 hours ago, kendevjay said:

I can 100% relate to this. I also have a teenage daughter that doesn't quite understand my special needs. (BTW apologies to anyone reading if I didn't post this correctly)

It seems like extroverted behavior is the "norm" in society, and so it does feel like having a special need when you are different from what you are supposed to be. I have been accused of "pouting" or "sulking" when really I am just recharging, and thinking about something completely benign like what color nail polish to try out next.

March 29, 2019

2 hours ago, Loonbeam said:

Excellent! I also put that in there in case someone saw it and went 'What a good idea! Lets take my drone!' for future reference.

56 minutes ago, lcpagejr said:

Really enjoying your review..... I was thrilled to read about Royston!! Like you, we read glowing reviews on Trip Advisor....but its always great to hear input from someone who just toured with him. We are scheduled to tour with him the week of April 15th...Although we won't be on Symphony of Seas...we will be cruising on Adventure of the Seas. Looking forward to the rest of your review!!!!

Don't tell him I repeatedly referred to his vehicle as "The Murder Van" OK? Thanks.

He was great. He will take good care of you, for sure. I would go on a tour with him again, definitely.

56 minutes ago, Judyrem said:

OMG I was looking at the schedule for the shows and they are on rather late!😴

My ten year old grandaughter and her slightly older🙄 grandmother will be lucky we can make the 8:30 shows!

Where your kids exhausted? I am, and I am just reading your post!

1977 was at 7, if I recall, and iSkate was at 4 or so. Yes, the others were late. We are night owls so it didn't phase us. DS stayed at the club until 12 every night, so it was a non-issue, though it was likely part of the reason he had a hard time waking up in the morning.

38 minutes ago, rccllovergirl said:

Have they charged you for the deserts from Wonderland?

Great question, and I wish I could recall. We had a few other issues to deal with on our bill so I never really thought to look for whether they charged us for dessert.

March 29, 2019

13 hours ago, perfect match said:

Yes, there is another Nancy here. Actually, I’ve run across a few of us around here.

It it will be just DH and I on Symphony, no teens involved. We are ziplining in St Kitts, I will be scuba diving in St Thomas, not sure what DH will do there yet, and we are both snorkeling in Nassau.

I would love to get my hands on those Wonderland desserts without actually having to go there. I’m sure it would be fun, but like your DD, I have food allergies, so I really don’t like to go outside of my comfort zone.

I totally understand your explanation of being an introvert. While I really enjoy being around people most of the time, but I also need my time to recharge. On a cruise, that is usually balcony time for me.

I was hoping to figure out when the iSkate and Aqua Nation shows would be on our cruise, but the show schedule on your sailing is very different from ours. Our first night has just one show, one performance of Hairspray. Hiro starts on day 2, with1977 and Flight being at the end of our sailing. Right now the app has iSkate just on day 4, I think, with one show during our late dining and a second show at the same time as our comedy show. I guess we’ll have to wait until we are onboard before we know for sure. I know we will have a great time regardless of what the show schedule turns out to be.

I can’t wait to hear about the rest of your cruise !

You are a brave and fearless Nancy. I am a keep-my-feet-on-the-ground Nancy. I would love to see and hear about your experience zip lining but I will never do it!!

I hesitated on whether to share that they brought us the desserts, because I don't want to get them in trouble or have everyone requesting this from their servers. BTW every table around us was staring, and people came up to us after we finished and were asking "What WAS that????" as though they had missed something on the menu.

So, when I was booking our shows there were only a few options and most were during dinner times. We did not see Flight 😞 but I have heard it was great, too. Aqua Nation (which we only saw the end of) was postponed due to weather. I wonder if they will change the schedule at all for you. It seems odd that it is so different.

7 hours ago, ShillyShally said:

Why yes, you are! Mine always hung with me except my middle one, she would often go find people to hang with but spent part of the time with me. Heck we just took youngest and his GF and they stayed with us a lot of the time, it was nice.

BUT I completely get when you're hoping for some downtime of your own - been there!

I guess we are both just the coolest moms ever! 😛

7 hours ago, CruisinMama2003 said:

What an amazing review so far! And SO hilarious too 😂 (im)patiently waiting for more......

Thank you!

6 hours ago, Denversail said:

Nice Review! I have around 100 days and counting. Can't wait!

Lucky! I have far too long before my next cruise and I may have to squeeze one in there sooner.

6 hours ago, Just Jo said:

Thanks for this hilarious and informative review! It's making me rethink my idea of cancelling our December sailing in favor of another cruise line (trying to speed up the tier climbing). Looking forward to reading more.

Ooooh tough call. I keep going back and forth between sticking with one line vs trying out a bunch. RCI has great itineraries but some of the ones I want to do are at times when I can't go. Such big problems, LOL.

5 hours ago, Judyrem said:

Ab fab report! Love it! You so "get" the kids and I LOL at it.

You dear, are quite a descriptive writer!

Thank you so much!

4 hours ago, Loonbeam said:

Still catching up on the great review, but one thing I need to point out if no one has..

Not sure if you took the drone pic at the beginning, or someone else, but...

Don't fly drones on ship. I had mine on the Anthem and was considering it, and noticed someone starting to fly one off the pool deck late at night (presumably for a similar shot).

I'm not kidding. 3 minutes later 2 security guys and an officer were there requiring he bring the drone it, land it and never use it on board again or he would be disembarked immediately...

I knew they had a policy but assumed it was hit or miss enforcement. Nope. Not this one. (https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/can-guests-bring-drones-onboard)

And now, back to the review (only on P2 so far! Great work!)

I did not take the drone pic, that was borrowed from Royal's site. Drone flying is far outside my skill set at the moment, so I am not that familiar with the rules on ships. I know I have seen some recent drone pics but I do not know the details behind them.

3 hours ago, Marbel69 said:

OMG, I love your review - it's both informative and very funny. You tell a good story. Can't wait to my November sailing. I've taken notes along the way, but most definitely will keep referring back to your review.

This is by far the best review of Symphony.

Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Thank you so much! You are going to have a great time!!!

27 minutes ago, Marbel69 said:

What time did Royston get you back to the ship - how long was his tour?

Thank you.

Great question! So, it was flexible and sort of up to us. We stopped and shopped a bit before going back on the ship. We had plenty of time to spare, though. I want to say we returned around 3? 3:30? We met him right after we docked, 9:30ish. After lunch we had the option of going back or continuing. I definitely wanted to continue. I think some people felt it was too long, but I was happy seeing so much of the island.

March 29, 2019

Day 4 continued

And eventually we came to the fortress.

Hey, you can see the murder van in this one!

Looking up to where we were heading.

I believe this was the gunpowder storage building. Which seems odd as it was not all the way up, but what do I know about forts. I could also be totally wrong.

Looking down at what I referred to as the "gunpowder building" or whatever it really is.

This place was really cool.

So this is where we had lunch. There were picnic tables, and Royston drove right out to them, because of course he did. This is what we ended up having.

You can't tell, but there was SO MUCH FOOD in here. And it was all delicious! His friend had made it. I asked if he knew what was in it (like, the spices) and he said no. We all told him how good it was, and said to tell his friend he is a great chef. He said no way he was going to tell his friend that because then he would start charging more for lunch.

We all ate (though it was a bit unsettling eating chicken after seeing all those chickens running all over the island) and explored.

Speaking of unsettling...

What is going on there? At first I thought "Oh he must be guarding the fort." But no, the fort is behind him and he is 5/6 surrounded by solid walls. He could easily be blown apart by anyone from most angles. Then I thought "Oh, maybe he is off duty and that's where he rests." But there is no resting happening there because it is basically a standing up open coffin. It reminds me of the security guard in Seinfeld, when George wants to give him a chair. I wanted to give him a chair. But that didn't end well in Seinfeld and I am sure it wouldn't end well here. But I still do not know what was going on. So I just took a picture and moved along.

There was a long, sloped walk up to the top of the fort. It's worth it.

Down in here they have rooms set up like they were when the fort was active. Go down and check it out.

"I can see my murder van from here!"

Let's take a moment to examine this picture. On the right you see the sign for the Bake House, where they baked the bread. On the left you see the bathing room and latrine. Hmmmm. I don't think I would be eating a lot of bread if I were stationed in this fort.

This is the bake house. No thanks, trying to cut carbs! And norovirus!

I did not take a picture of the bath house and latrine because there was an actual toilet in there. I know I took a picture of a bathroom earlier. I'm just making up excuses.

Then this was the barracks. DD swears she saw one of these guys move. That would be a fun prank.

We eventually piled back into the murder van and headed back down. DS and the boy from the other family had become friends and had walked around the fort together. DS said he was really nice, and he did seem really nice. The whole family was very nice.

We were going around the other side of the island, where the weather is worse. We had been on the Caribbean side, and now we were heading to the Atlantic side. This here is where the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean meet. See the white waves out there waaaaaaaay in the distance? That's where they meet.

This is just a pretty view. There are lots of them here.

Oh yeah, so then Royston drove right out to the waters edge. We were basically driving in the water. I don't really remember why. Probably just because it seemed like a fun idea. If I recall we had a hard time getting out of here. The wheels kept spinning. That would start happening more and more. Good times.

This was the view opposite the water:

And on the other side of the van:

See how uneven this terrain is? Yeah we were still driving in this. No worries its all good. Royston's got this.

At this point there was not even a question of whether we were on a road because it was very clear we were not. I mean it was fine, we were just 100% off road in a vehicle that did not seem like an off road vehicle. But he knows what he's doing.

There were a bunch of cows chained up out here. Again, so sad. I hated seeing this.

We drove past this sugar mill. I gave DS my phone to take photos, which was a mistake because he took selfies and pictures of his shoes instead. Luckily Royston has been there done that and he turned around so I could take my own photos thankyouverymuch.

We asked each other whether anyone would want to sleep in here overnight. There were a surprising number of "Yes" replies. I am guessing those were false positives though. Both of my kids said they would and I know for sure they would hear one random noise and bolt.

I'm sure this donkey was also on a chain. Royston had stopped and bought some sugar cane, and he gave it to us to feed the donkey. He said the donkey is probably diabetic now from all the sugar he gives it. It was funny at the time, but now not so much.

We were near the end of the tour and we finally got to the place I had really wanted to see. Black Rocks.

Of course it started pouring so everyone ran back to the murder van. I didn't run. I think we then drove out onto this crazy rugged terrain and got stuck. Wheels spinning, we were on a very steep angle, and I was sure we were going to have to get out and push the murder van out of there. But sure enough it rallied and we got out. Whew.

We drove through another town that was Royston's favorite town. He liked the way it looked, and so did I. We were rounding a corner and Royston was driving slowly so I asked DS to take photos of this tree because it was so cool.

After this we drove back to the port and said our goodbyes. I told Royston truthfully that we would never forget St. Kitts or him, and that I would recommend him to everyone. And I do. Despite all of the "Uh oh, are we going to die now?" moments, it was totally worthwhile to see the island from his perspective.

I'm going to stop here because I am exhausted.

March 29, 2019

Day 4! St. Kitts! Solid ground!

It had been windy, but the sea had been fairly calm. We had started out wearing Sea Bands, the motion sickness bracelets, but we had taken them off by day 2 since we didn't really need them. We would later, but at this point we didn't. Nevertheless, we were glad to see land and get off the ship for a bit.

Before I forget again:

So, knowing we had to be up and out early to get to our tour guide, I ordered us breakfast to the room. There is a free a la carte continental breakfast option, with pastries, fruit, coffee, toast, etc. You can add on options like eggs, bacon sausage, pancakes, etc. for $7.95 flat fee. So we went for it and got some toast, doughnuts, eggs, bacon, hash browns, etc. No photos, sorry. It wasn't good. The hash browns were too salty, the eggs were not salty enough. The bacon was ok. And I am pretty sure there was the requisite grilled tomato, so there's that.

So we cobbled together enough to keep us satisfied for a while, and headed off the ship.

When I booked this cruise I wasn't sure what to do in St. Kitts. I knew we enjoyed snorkeling, but we were planning to do that in St. Thomas, and it didn't seem like that was as much of a thing in St. Kitts. I asked DD (back at home, long ago) what excursions she had liked on our other cruises, and she said she liked driving around and seeing the place that we were visiting. So I looked into it, and it looked like there were some tour options that would work. I did my research on CC, and Trip Advisor, and found 2 tour companies that were run by locals, who would take you around in a smaller group and show you THEIR island.

The first one I read about was Royston, the other was Thenford Grey. I ended up with Royston, not sure why, but it was a great choice. I am sure Thenford would have been great, too, but I think I hadn't heard of them yet and had already reached out to Royston. After a few quick emails, we had set it up. I would pay when we were done with the tour. So far it was just the 3 of us. I posted about it in our cruise group, and another mom said she would be interested in going. Her son was about the same age as DS, and had similar interests, so we thought it would be a good idea. She also had a 3 year old, and was traveling with her mom, sister, and sister's family (husband and young daughter). She wasn't sure who would be joining us initially, but in the end everyone joined and we had a full van.

Now, when I was reading the reviews, the same words kept standing out to me. Words like "rustic" or "rugged" or "off the beaten path" or "Royston are you sure this is a road". I had read that his vehicle was a van where the glass had been removed from the windows. One reviewer said something like "If you are expecting an air conditioned tour bus, this is not the tour for you." They were right! But all of the reviews were glowingly positive, and the photos on the website and Trip Advisor were stunning, so I felt like we would be fine.

When I told my kids about our plans, I was trying to describe the vehicle, so they wouldn't be surprised.

What I said was: "It's a van with no windows."

What I meant was: "The glass has been removed from the windows."

What they heard was: "We are all going to be murdered."

So after a bit more explaining, they were on board. But every time I mentioned the tour I kept talking about the van with no windows and they were like "Mom stop talking about that it sounds so shady" but I couldn't stop.

First look at St. Kitts from the balcony!

I really love waking up and throwing open the curtains (and watching my kids writhe in horror from the sun like vampires) and seeing where we are.

So when you order breakfast, you choose a time window for it to arrive. Little did I know they call you before they show up, so it is like a bonus wake up call. I was already awake, but was like the third alarm for the kids (1. the actual alarm on my phone, 2. me opening the curtains and saying "Oh look, we're here! Look at that!", 3. the phone ringing so loudly in the room).

We ate out on the balcony, at least I did, and the kids ate in bed because they really didn't want to leave their beds.

Eventually they rallied and we got up and got out.

I did have a few moments of self-doubt here and there. What do I really know about this Royston? How did I know he didn't write all those reviews himself? Were we actually going to be murdered? But I shut those thoughts aside and decided it was probably going to be fine.

Always have to take photos of the ship so we know where we parked it and we can find it later on. No?

So when we got off the ship I quickly realized I had no idea where to go. At all. None.

I thought somehow Royston would be in the port with a sign, or something, like the airport drivers, but of course that was ridiculous. So what to do, what to do.

There were lots of guys asking if people wanted tours, wanted taxis, etc. So I approached one of the louder and more confident guys and said "Hi we're supposed to meet Royston, do you know where he is?" I figured it was a small island, probably everyone in the tour business knows each other. Well score one for Mom instinct because he was like "Oh yeah, Royston. He'll be over there, outside the port, on that side."

And there he was. With the murder van. And the other family we would be touring with. Who we hadn't met yet, and somehow had more people than they had said. Royston was a little off guard about having so many people but the younger kids mostly sat on laps so it worked out. We sat in the second row behind Royston and whoever was in the passenger seat at the time.

Moms, get this: I DID NOT SIT IN THE MIDDLE AND MY KIDS (mostly) DID NOT FIGHT!!!! I was the one paying for this tour (for my kids and I, not the other family), I was the one who wanted the photos, I was sitting next to the dang window. It was a Christmas miracle.

So we got into the murder van and headed out. We drove through downtown Basseterre.

And then we went out of the city and off to the hills. There are 3 volcanoes on the island. One of them is still active, and is smoking. The last time it erupted was 1500 years ago. We asked if it was going to erupt again and Royston kind of shrugged and was like "I don't know, maybe?" and we were all satisfied with that reply.

We were driving down the road, all normal, like any other tour vehicle, and then suddenly Royston jerked the wheel and turned off the road onto this dirt path that was maybe as wide as the van and going up at about a 45 degree angle. "Aha" I thought, this is where the "Royston are you sure this is a road" comment came from on Trip Advisor. We went up and up, through the branches, bouncing around, swaying side to side, bumping through holes, up and up until the brush cleared from one side and we had a stunning view of the end of the island. And also a sheer drop that was about 12 inches from the tires (maybe less but I want to believe there was a foot of road there). We kept going up, and eventually came to a clearing and Royston asked if we wanted to get out. YES we wanted to get out! At least I did. There was enough space to walk around, and here the drop wasn't so sheer. There was a gentle slope, and a ledge, and another slope... it was fine. That's what I told myself anyway. But it was worth it for this.

We piled back into the murder van and made our way down the "is this really a road" road. Oh by the way DD would not get out of the car and she was terrified for most of the ascent and descent. She had been in the window seat so she and DS switched so he was at the window. Seemed to work out better for them.

So this is the one thing I didn't like about St. Kitts. Ok not the monkey, but what I'll show in a bit. There were wild monkeys all over the island. Royston said they had come over on ships (with humans, not on their own, although THAT would be a GREAT story). Apparently the monkeys would climb the mast of the ship and they would get really excited when they saw land. Probably because they had been trapped on a ship with humans for weeks or months and that isn't really the monkey's natural habitat, is it.

So we started seeing the monkeys all over. And chickens. And roosters. And chicken nuggets (baby chicks, duh).

I'll circle back to the monkeys in a bit.

We kept driving, and stopped at this cemetery.

Then, we got to the water, and a dock/pier, and Royston just drove right out onto the pier. "Ok", I thought to myself, "We might not be murdered, but this IS where we will die." I mean he was like 6 inches from driving off the pier, for sure. I don't want to think about it. I just looked out and admired the view.

First we thought this guy was a statue. Then everyone thought he was spear fishing. But it turns out he was measuring the ground levels or something for something that was being built.

I mean can you see how close we were to the edge?

There were huge fish down there, and I consoled myself with the knowledge that the water wasn't that deep and if we fell in it would be pretty easy to get out of the van, what with the lack of glass in the windows.

Then we drove into a residential area and this is what I was talking about with being sad. We stopped at this house, where this monkey was in this little chicken wire cage on the side of the house. He was also chained to the house. Royston gave us bananas to feed him, and petted him and loved on him, but it still made me sad. I kept trying to ask questions like "But does it get to come out of the cage?" and "Does it get to go in the house, or go anywhere else?" but I don't think I got any real answers. I probably don't want to know anyway.

Royston also drove us past his house. His dad has a shop in front of the house, and he has an amazing view of the Caribbean Sea (I stupidly called it "The Ocean" so I felt dumb for the next 30 minutes or so). He also took our lunch order and asked if we wanted fish or chicken. Almost all of us wanted chicken. We had no idea what that meant, because that was the extent of the lunch order. "Fish or chicken". Would there be something served with the fish or chicken? Were these sandwiches we were talking about? It was very mysterious.

We made a bathroom stop, which seemed to be a random bathroom in the yard of someone's house? And Royston was friends with the guy of course. I want to say that's where he got our lunch but that can't be right. I don't want that to be right.

We got out and saw some dogs, and at least one of them was chained. I really just hate seeing this. I hate it. We petted the puppies and then I realized they probably had fleas or worse so we washed/wiped our hands before getting back in the murder van.

We drove out to this site, which is apparently an archeological dream come true as it has petroglyphs from the 1600s and they just recently discovered a whole rum distillery that they never knew was there. We did not get out and explore, we just drove through. There is a train that takes people around the island, but Royston said it just goes around the outside, not really inside the island. Obviously these are not the tracks for that train. That would be a death train for sure. There were remains of the aqueduct, etc. all around. I do wish we could have explored.

We drove around some more.

March 29, 2019

Wait, Day 3 was not done yet. I really am forgetting everything now. I need to get this done before I forget everything!

I had booked the Adult Comedy Show and was excited to finally go somewhere that DD couldn't tag along. Again, I enjoy her company, but she would.not.leave.my.side.

I am an introvert. I need to have some time where someone isn't interacting with me. I can have my introvert time around others, as long as they are leaving me alone. A lot of people don't understand what it means to be an introvert. People often confuse "introvert" with "social phobia". I hear things like "So you don't like people?" or "Oh I am such an introvert; social situations terrify me!" and neither of those things have anything to do with being an introvert. I like (most) people. Some social situations are terrifying, but most are not.

Being an introvert or extrovert is more about how you recharge yourself. Think of your phone (or your Walkman, if you're one of those people). When it isn't plugged in, the battery is slowly draining. It works just fine until it gets down to 10-15%, then it starts sending out warnings. "Plug me in!!" The phone (Walkman) is you. Your battery is slowly draining when you are away from whatever it is that charges you. You manage just fine, until you've been away from your charging situation too long. For me, an introvert, I charge when I am not interacting with people. If people keep trying to talk to me when I am trying to recharge it makes me angry and resentful. I want be left alone, not because I hate them, but because I need a break. I need to not have to answer questions or interact. I need to process and think and be alone with my thoughts, again not because I am being dramatic or can't deal with your crap, I just need that time. I can't explain it because it just is that way. Extroverts, I guess, are the opposite. I would imagine after being left alone for a while, an extrovert needs to interact with someone in order to recharge.

So anyway, all that to say I had tickets to the 18+ comedy show and DD had to fend for herself. I made her go to the Teen Club and said I wouldn't be able to text her during the show because I'd be heckled by the comedians (that is very likely to happen, right?) so she had to just do her best.

So I tore myself away from DD and went to The Attic, which is illogically located on Deck 4 , and once again I got there RIGHT before the show was starting. I was directed to an area where you had absolutely no chance of seeing the stage and had to watch on a screen. No thank you! I walked around a bit, and the other open seats were behind poles. One of the comedians actually joked about this because it was ridiculous how many poles were in the room, blocking the view. I finally found an empty chair in the middle of the main room, next to a couple. I asked if it was taken, they said no, I asked if they minded if I sat there and they said it was fine.

Simeon went first and was HILARIOUS! There were some people up front who are Diamond status (not the highest loyalty level of Royal, but high up there). He was totally picking on them (and others). At one point he said "Oh, Diamond people, if you only knew what corporate thinks of you" and then he looked at the bar tender, who was laughing so hard she had to leave the room. Yikes, guess he got a little too close to the truth there? But it was funny!

Simeon also said there were 1500 kids under the age of 12 on board, and someone corrected him and said 1700. 1700 kids under the age of 12! That is insane! When people say Disney is the only cruise line for families, I want to point out that statistic to them.

Anyway, he did his bit and was awesome. I had seen him the week before we sailed in some videos shared by some long time CC members, so it felt a bit like seeing a celebrity. I guess he was the Cruise Director that week, but he was not CD on our sailing.

Then Rich Aronovich came out and he was also hilarious. Both guys picked on audience members (the way comedians do), so if you have thin skin don't sit anywhere near the stage.

I was so glad that I went to the show. It was nice to get out and laugh, and be around grown ups.

Meanwhile DD was suffering in the Teen Club. She did text me, asking when she could leave, etc. I ignored her during the show. Again, don't want to make myself a target.

I finally texted DD that she could leave the club so she did, though she had actually made friends. She said she talked to some other girls who also thought the club sucked. I was so happy for her! See? You CAN find friends, DD! That's great, what were their names? I don't know. Are you going to go back another night and see if they are there? No, I hate the club and I don't want to go back there.

So there we were, end of the night, ready for our first outing the next day. One of the comedians had said "Oh, we're going to be in St. Kitts tomorrow. Are you excited for that?" and after we all "WOOOOOOO"ed, he said "Obviously you haven't been there before.

But we had plans, and I was hopeful that the photos I had seen would pale in comparison to the actual island.

March 29, 2019

Oops, forgot to add the Cruise Compasses from Day 3! I'm getting sloppy here!

March 29, 2019

Day 3! Day at Sea!

So again, we slept in, and missed most of the breakfast offerings. I am pretty sure we just bypassed the breakfast thing and went for lunch, possibly pizza.

Oh by the way, we were making GOOD use of the soda cups. I am super addicted to the Barq's Diet Creme Soda with Strawberry flavor. Omg I drank that all week and I still want it. Sometimes I was like "Look, I keep getting this. I have HUNDREDS of options. Why not try something different?" So I would try the diet Fanta Strawberry (eh) or the diet Fanta Cherry (Ok that was good) and maybe the diet Minute Maid sparkling strawberry something? In the end I was like "Why mess with perfection?" and I just got the diet strawberry creme soda. Lots of it. There was a machine up near El Loco and 2 machines at Sorrento's, and 4 machines (?) in the Windjammer, and one in the Park Cafe.

Day 3 was more of the same from day 2. DD and I laid out on the pool deck after searching high and low for chairs. Again it was REALLY windy, and difficult to find chairs. DD wouldn't go to the Teen Club because "It will just be the same and all the people are older than me and they all know each other" ok FINE whatever. I mean, I should be glad she wants to be with me but really? What teen wants to spend their vacation with their mother? I guess I'm just super cool and awesome.

You've actually already seen most of my photos from Day 3, interspersed in the earlier posts. DS did the Flowrider again, with the same crowd, at the same time. He was actually pretty good at it, especially considering he had never done it before!

Oh I did find a photo of the Main Dining Room!

Dinner must have been uneventful, but dessert was very special. On day 2, Shadiek had said he and Vinko had no luck getting us in to Wonderland for dessert, but he offered to bring Wonderland to us. I asked if that was really possible, and he said yes.

So for dessert, we had all of the Wonderland desserts.

The World (I do have a video but I don't want to ruin the surprise. You can see videos on You Tube if you want to see what happens) chocolate, caramel, peanut butter... so good!

The Forbidden Apple (raspberry mousse, lemon curd, coconut)

The Mystical Mushroom which was meringue and marzipan?

Now, they were supposed to be safe for DD but they forgot about her coconut allergy, and the one that looks like an apple had coconut. They had thought she was allergic to peanuts but she is not, so she was able to have the chocolate World dessert. And the mushroom thing had loads of nuts so that was off limits. So I ate the Apple Shaped Raspberry Lemon Coconut thing, DS ate the Mushroom Full of Nuts thing, and DD ate the Chocolate Amazing Everything I Like thing.

The Apple Raspberry Lemon thing was good, but the chocolate one was the best.

Day 4 was approaching, and it was our first port day! We would wake up in St. Kitts, and we had a tour scheduled with a local guy. I'd never been there before, so I was excited to explore the island.

March 29, 2019

8 minutes ago, Ralphinsc said:

Loving the review! The Wonderland bit has me a bit nervous now. We have the BOGO and cannot reserve until we get on the ship. My goals are Hooked and Wonderland. I'm going to have to make that priority #1 when we get aboard, even before the Key luggage drop, it would seem. Don't want to miss the opportunity.

We were asking about it on Day 2, when everyone had made their reservations on Day 1. I'm sure you will be fine. One tip I have heard is to go up to Hooked to make your reservations, as most people go to the restaurants on the lower floors. We didn't do specialty dining so I can't vouch for that, but perhaps someone here can chime in and say if this is a good way to avoid lines of people booking their dining.

March 29, 2019

Day 2 continued

Tonight was formal night, so we were dressed fairly nice. I had decided DS had to come to dinner with us every night, so we all went together. I am sure I ordered the Caesar salad again, and this appears to be the beef tenderloin.

For dessert, DS ordered the carrot cake

DD had something, and I had the souffle. It was good, kind of eggy but that's how souffle usually is. The sauce was really good.

Then DS ran off to the Teen Club, and DD and I were left to wander until our next show. We had reservations for Hairspray, but much later in the evening.

Now, I had heard about the restaurant called Wonderland, and I went back and forth and back and forth on whether to reserve it. In the end I realized I really just wanted the dessert, not the main courses. We don't really eat seafood and that seriously limits what we can have at Wonderland, and at pretty much all of the other specialty restaurants.

I had asked online if we would be able to go to Wonderland for dessert, and I was assured that wouldn't be a problem. We would pay out of pocket per dessert, but it should be fine.

Well that is not how it works any more.

I had mentioned to our servers, who used to work in Wonderland on the Harmony, that we wanted to have dessert there one night. He said "Well, that might not be possible. Let me see what I can do, I will talk to my boss and see what we can do." He said they used to let people go there for dessert but they stopped allowing it because they are too busy now. I decided to stop by, and walk through the place, and ask there if we might be able to stop in for dessert.

It is definitely a cool space.

To enter, you go down the rabbit hole.

And through (or around) the magical door.

There is this cool seat here.

Now, you may not want to eat here, but maybe you just want to stop by and experience the place for yourself. You CAN go to the bar, and I believe they have a 2 for 1 Happy Hour.

And here, below, is the restaurant. If you look carefully, you will see the whimsy: mismatched chairs, chairs with rabbit ears, some random woman with a St. Patrick's Day fascinator looking at me, etc.

So I walked up to the host stand, and asked if we could have dessert. When I was looking over at the restaurant, I saw a couple that was just being seated and given menus. The place closes officially at 9:30, but they were just being seated, and there were empty tables, so I figured no problem, squeeze us in for a quick round of desserts.

Nope.

I asked if we could just go ahead and make a reservation for later in the week for dessert.

"Oh let me check, no, sorry, we are fully booked. And with such a full booking we can't really let people in for dessert. We used to allow it, but not any more, not for a year or so." (Um the ship is not a year old but ok sure.)

So we left, and were thinking about going back to the room, because I thought we had some time. I looked at the time for the show, maybe on the app, and realized I had the time wrong. I had been thinking about another show that started at 10:45 later in the week. Hairspray started at 10:30, and it was currently 10:35. Oh great.

We rushed to the theater and of course if had already started. So no Key benefit here, but it was 100% my fault.

We grabbed seats off to the side, so we weren't disrupting anyone. It wasn't the best location, but the show was still amazing.

Seriously, another winner. Go see the show. And check the time, and double check the time. This wouldn't be the last time this happened to us.

After the show I summoned DS to the room, where we found this guy waiting:

And that's the end of Day 2! Day 3 would be another day at sea, so more sleeping in! Yay!

March 29, 2019

50 minutes ago, RazorbackIslandGirl said:

They are normal size on my end.

Good to know! Whew!

March 29, 2019

Day 2! Finally!

We slept in, because we could. When we woke up, I checked the Cruise Compass to see what was still open for breakfast.

by the time we were all awake, dressed, and ready to go, our only options were Park Cafe or The Windjammer buffet. We were still trying to avoid the buffet so we went to Park Cafe. I did not take any photos. Park Cafe is located in Central Park, next to the Trellis Bar. Park Cafe is home of the famous Kummelweck sandwich, which is a famous roast beef sandwich that I did not try once on the cruise. I fully intended to, but I was ordering steak or prime rib almost every night at dinner, and I did not want more red meat for lunch. Park Cafe had a few options for breakfast, including grab and go fruit, and pastries. We got some pastries and they were eh. Not great. DD was mad because she couldn't have one, because of her allergies, but I truthfully told her she wasn't missing anything. I mean, we have some AMAZING donuts here in Chicago (if you are ever visiting, you must try either Stan's or Do-Rite Donuts). These were worse than Dunkin Donuts (and I won't turn down a Dunkin Donut).

So we decided to get lunch instead. Well, DS went to the Teen Club and DD and I went to get lunch.

It was St. Patrick's Day, so naturally we went to El Loco Fresh and got nachos.

Isn't that what you are supposed to eat on St. Patrick's Day? No? Oh well.

They were good. The beef was OK, but I am guessing the chicken would have been better. The chicken in the quesadillas was pretty good, so if that's what they had out for the tacos, then I think it would be great on nachos. BTW, as I posted earlier the nacho section has the chips, then they have a vat of chili beef (basically chili, which I got another time on the chips and it was better than the steak/beef you see in the photo) and a vat of cheese. But next to that is the taco bar, so you can pile stuff on from there, too. Don't feel limited by the setup.

After lunch, DD and I went on a search for chairs near the pool. Or anywhere on Deck 15 or 16. It was tough. It was REALLY windy up on both decks, and all of the chairs were taken. We eventually found some, but I wasn't happy with the location so DD held those chairs and I went searching for better chairs. My persistence and refusal to accept the first chairs we found paid off, and we ended up near the Toilet Bowl slide. Somehow this became our spot, and we sat there again another day. It was a pretty fun place to be, because you could hear people screaming as they went down the slide. Sometimes there was just an initial shriek as they went down the tube. "AAAAAAAh" We tuned those out because they were too boring and predictable. Sometimes they didn't shriek until they got into the Toilet Bowl, and that was more entertaining because you could hear them going around and around, and if they weren't keeping their body together they slid around and it was all "WhhHHHhhhOOOooooOOOooAAaaaAAAA" as they swirled around. Those were funnier. Sometimes they just screamed the entire time "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" which was kind of funny, because most people didn't scream at all. And it was both men and women screaming equally.

We had show reservations today, for 2 shows. The first show was 1977, which is one of the skating shows. FYI there are 2 skating shows. 1977 is the "main" show, and you need to make reservations in Cruise Planner. iSkate 2.0 is the other show, and you do not need reservations but I HIGHLY recommend this show. I highly recommend both shows. HIGHLY recommend.

I forced DS to go to the show. He didn't resist much, but it was a skating show and I could tell he was a bit reluctant. I promised him Flow Rider time if he went, and said it would be worthwhile. And afterward he said he really enjoyed it.

The Key: We had reservations for the show, and I am glad we did. As we entered they were scanning Sea Passes and WOW Bands and turning away people without reservations. They had to go stand to the side and wait. AS we entered I asked where the Key seating was, and I was directed to the giant sign that said "SUITES, PINNACLES, DIAMOND +" but said nothing about The Key. I asked if this was our section, and showed our wristbands, and I was told yes, and there were 5 seats left. Luckily 3 of them were together. Our section was one of the sides, in the first several rows. 2 minutes after we sat down they removed the sign and opened up the section to anyone. Our seats were OK, but I would have preferred center seats. We were in the 2nd row and had heads in our way. It was my fault for being late (this would become a recurring theme) but I still wish the seats had been in the center, not off to the side. This was a semi-benefit to us, as without The Key we would have ended up much farther back, but I sort of wonder if we would have been able to see better from farther up?

Meanwhile... we were there for the show, and it was AMAZING. That is actually an understatement. I recorded a lot of the show, and I don't want to spoil the whole thing so I will only post one video of the beginning. If you want to scroll past to avoid spoilers, go ahead. But this is by far the coolest way to open ANY show, ice skating or not.

https://vimeo.com/327188084

After the show, the CD made a comment about the opening and how it was a great way to spend a million dollars, or something. It was pretty bold of him, IMO, but also really funny.

The show has a story, but it would be totally fine with me if it didn't. These skaters were incredible. The ice is so small, the ship is rocking, and they are doing jumps and spins and backflips... it was amazing. Have I said that yet?

The costumes were amazing. This particular woman did like 25 quick changes in 2 minutes, or so. It was crazy!

It was amazing. Go see the ice show. Don't be all "Really? An ICE show???" Go see it. I command you. Ok not really, but go see it.

March 29, 2019

Just now, VPIcruiser said:

I am enjoying your review! And no, you aren’t the only one! Last summer, I sat in the middle of my 11 and 8 yo and let my 13 yo sit int the front while we were in Kauai to keep all 3 of them from fighting in the back seat of the Jeep. We should have rented the minivan! I keep saying we should get a 15 passenger van so each kid has their own row. They can keep it together driving around home but the excite of vacation makes them crazy!

Truly what IS it about the car that makes kids insane??? And yet they could be back there with 10 friends, squished as can be* and not fight once. Put them in the back seat with one sibling? World War 3.

*I am not condoning cramming 11 kids in the back seat of any moving vehicle. This is hyperbole.

March 29, 2019

1 hour ago, ShillyShally said:

I had to scroll back and find where you talked about it, I don't think I realized it played music - very cool!

I think I also mentioned, but in case I didn't, it is really fun to watch people going up and down when they aren't expecting the music. At first they notice the lights, then they realize the music is going along with their movements, then they start laughing. Its really funny and cool!

1 hour ago, perfect match said:

Thanks for doing this review. I’m really enjoying following along. I have been hoping someone would do a review of the same itinerary we will be sailing at the end of next month, and here it is!

(Hey, another Nancy here!)

I kept searching for reviews of this itinerary, and couldn't find any. What excursions do you have planned?

March 28, 2019

Day 1... will it ever end? (Yes)

So, in looking at my photos, it appears that I only have one photo from dinner the first night. So to make up for that, here is another sunset photo from night 1.

On Royal you have 3 dining options: Early, Late, or My Time. Early and Late are similar to other cruise lines. My Time means you can either make reservations in advance, or you can show up any time. I can see advantages and disadvantages to both. We chose Late, because I can't see myself ever eating at 5:30. I almost switched it to My Time, because late dining interfered with a lot of evening activities and shows. But due to DD's allergies and this being our first time on Royal, I wanted to do a traditional dining so we could have the same serving team each night.

I have heard multiple times that you can request the same serving team with My Time, but there is no guarantee. People respond with "Well it has never been a problem for me and I ALWAYS get the same serving team" well that's great. But I didn't want to take chances on our first go with RCI.

The Main Dining room is 3 stories tall. Traditional Dining people will be assigned either to Deck 3 or Deck 5, and MTD will go to Deck 4. My understanding is that they will also send MTD people to 3 or 5.

I had read a lot about the MDR, and had heard horror stories. "They are constantly pushing the specialty restaurants!" "They are constantly making announcements and interrupting my meal!" "The food is so bad!" "Who has 2 hours to spend at dinner?" We had none of that happen. Well, the announcements happened twice in a week. That's pretty standard, as it was the typical parade thingy. I'll get to that later. But no one tried to sell us specialty dining and the food was fine!

Our table happened to be the same number as our stateroom, which was odd, but it helped us remember where we were sitting. We were also right next to the serving station which was not ideal but really who cares?

We spoke with our Head Server (or was he the manager?) Vinko, about DD's allergies. He was SO nice, and gave me his card and said to contact him any time with questions. Every night he stopped by our table to see how we were doing, and if DD wanted anything, or if we had any questions. Our server was Shadiek, and he was great too! He and Vinko had both worked in Wonderland on Harmony, so they had a good relationship, which is great. Our assistant server was I Putu and we loved him. He was always high fiving the kids, and bringing them mocktail after mocktail. He even got them hooked on a few new mocktails!

I know I have a photo of the MDR somewhere but I can't find it right now. I'm stealing one from another website, hope that is ok.

So that first night, the Teen Club was having their Meet and Greet at 8:00pm, which is exactly when our dinner time was. I asked my kids what they wanted to do, because I knew it was important for them to go to the M&G to make friends. I said they could skip dinner and it would be fine, I just wanted to meet our serving team and introduce DD and talk about the allergies.

DS decided to skip dinner entirely. I said it was fine, but I did not want it to become a habit. DD decided to dine with me, and perhaps that is why she had a hard time with the club later. But I was glad for the company, and glad that we got to discuss allergies with the servers. The bread basket had a type of bread with nuts in it, so from the second night on they brought DD a plate of her favorite kind of rolls, leaving the rest of the bread for me and DS. Which was perfect, and just what had been done on other cruise lines.

I asked our servers how long dinner would be, because DD was going to the club after, and they said it could be as fast or as slow as we wanted, all we had to do was ask. So ask we did, and we were in and out in an hour or less each night.

I do not recall what I ordered, maybe prime rib? But I know I had a Caesar salad. It is available every night, and I often ordered that as my starter.

I think I was feeling awkward about taking pics at dinner that night. I took pics most other nights, though.

So after dinner DD went off to the Teen club, and I went down to the Promenade and walked around. Took this photo of another elevator bank.

I stopped off at Guest Services and bought all of us WOW Bands. What is a WOW Band? Well, it is pretty much the same as a Magic Band at Disney. It works as your room key, you can charge things to your room with it, and it does everything the Sea Pass card does but you can wear it on your wrist. I am not a fan of lanyards. I don't like things around my neck. I don't care how "cute" it is, I don't like it on my neck. I'm not a huge fan of things on my wrist, but this is made of silicone? or something, so it is really comfy, and waterproof. DS had to take his off for the Flowrider but I think that was more about not wanting it to fall off in the machine vs not being waterproof. I had already lost my Sea Pass once so this was a no brainer purchase for me.

BTW if you lose your SeaPass just go to Guest Services ASAP and get a new one. DS had to do that once too. Kids need their cards for the club, I guess. Otherwise we left our cards in the room (unless we were leaving the ship).

WOW Bands cost $5 each and come in Black, White, Blue, and Yellow. By the end of the week most people were wearing these instead of lanyards. WOW Bands are not available on all ships, but if you have it on yours, I highly recommend it.

You do still need your Sea Pass card to get on and off the ship in port.

I looked down at Rising Tide for a few minutes.

Anyway, I ended up at Schooner's, on a comfy sofa in the back. I had my Kindle, I ordered a glass of wine, and all was well.

I was enjoying myself, but DD had been texting me almost nonstop. DS was doing it too, a little bit.

"Mom"

"The kids are all older than me."

"They all know each other already."

"No one will talk to me."

"I want to leave."

"Mom"

"Really I want to leave."

"Mom"

"Can I leave?"

On the one hand, who wants their kid to be unhappy on vacation? On the other hand, you can't just give it one try. Also I had really wanted to have MY vacation, too, and have some adult time!

DS stuck with it and ended up making friends (though maybe not until the next day?) but DD refused to stay and refused to go back. I did force her to go back later, but it was more of the same.

Finally I let her join me at Schooner's and I had to abandon my lovely evening of sitting and reading. So we walked around and eventually it was time for the Balloon Drop. This happens at midnight on the first night in the Promenade. The band was playing for a while, and we found a good spot to watch them on Deck 6.

I enjoy people watching, and this was a great place for it. We saw someone who reminded us of someone we know here, and watched her for a while. The Promenade was really filling up by now, and I was glad we had a good spot on Deck 6.

As midnight approached, RCI people started moving in toward the balloon nets to release them. The Promenade was packed at this point.

There was a guy right next to me, getting ready to release the balloons. I asked him if I could do it, and he said No. So I included him in the video of the balloon drop 😛

[MEDIA=vimeo]326485765[/MEDIA]

It was chaotic, as you can see. The balloons were constantly popping. I have no idea how they were popping so quickly. It was crazy, and I was very glad to be up on Deck 6.

DD and I were tired, so I summoned DS via text to return to the room. Down the long, endless hallway...

The stateroom TV had only a few channels, and somehow every night there was a BBC standup comedy show on, so we watched that. It was hilarious! The TV also had the normal things like the weather, activities, etc.

It had been a long day, and Day 2 was a Day At Sea so we knew we would be sleeping in, at least a bit.

March 28, 2019

32 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:

Thank you for pics of the Solarium - we've come to love that area and spend all day there most days!

It became my favorite place, but I only went there around sunset, when most of the other people had left :p.

1 hour ago, gatour said:

Thanks for the info about the musical staircase. I haven't seen any references of this on other trip reports. I will need to check this out.

Plus I appreciate you posting the Cruise Compasses. Gives me an idea on our entertainment options may be.

My pleasure! I saw it in someone else's trip report and as soon as we saw it, I made DS try it out without telling him what would happen.

March 28, 2019

7 hours ago, tfabriz99 said:

Debarkation was a mess. We chose to use the "express" debarkation. ( take your own luggage). We were at the designated area 30 minutes before the gangway opened and still stood in a very long line that filled a dining room. We recommend heading down at least an hour early.

We were on the same sailing, and I'm posting a long review. but I wanted to address this. There are two places to exit the ship. We saw the line for the one exit, but there was another exit near Sorrento's that NO one was using. We passed the long line and walked right off. We walked off the ship at 7:27 and we were in a taxi at 7:35.

March 28, 2019

Day 1 continued:

This is feeling like the longest day ever, LOL! The rest of the days on this report won't go on as long, I'm sure. I guess this beginning has turned into more of an introduction to the ship, but I am trying to be chronological here.

So we've covered most of Deck 15 from aft to midship. At the front of Deck 15 you will find the Solarium. The Solarium is an area for those 16 and up (I did often see younger kids in there in the evening, on the lower deck). There are deck chairs, sun beds, a bar, 2 hot tubs, and a small pool. The pool is not for swimming, just sitting and drinking, basically. I don't have a photo of the pool and I can't find one that belongs to RCI. So I will show you lots of other photos and let the pool be a surprise. Unless you google it.

The Solarium has a restaurant called the Solarium Bistro. We never ate there, but it has healthier options than your normal cruise food. Breakfast and lunch are a buffet, and they have an omelet station and other offerings. Dinner is a sit down meal with Greek inspired food. This is included with your cruise fare, and despite the fact that the Solarium is restricted to ages 16+ I believe anyone can dine in the bistro.

There are a lot of chairs, but good luck getting one. I am convinced that people slept on the sun beds in order to reserve them.

The bar is in the middle of the Solarium, and they have this really cool art installment there.

It was mesmerizing at night.

The Solarium is actually 2 levels. The bar etc. are on Deck 15, and the lower deck mostly has chairs.

However, the lower deck has 2 outdoor areas that extend over the ocean. They are referred to as the "King of the World" deck, or something.

I did go out on it, and so did DD, but between the wind and the glass, we didn't go very far. I was going to post a photo of my feet but I HATE feet photos (you know the photos people post from their lounge chair showing their feet and the pool or beach in the background, and you're like I KNOW you're there, you don't have to show me your feet to prove it) so I will spare you and just show the view down, from almost out on the glass part.

You could see the helipad from there. One night there were a bunch of people out there. It was some sort of invitation only thing, either for suite guests or top tier guests. but other nights there would be one random person out there, or no one out there.

It was VERY windy out there when I went there, but it was a great spot for sunset photos. You could look at the Solarium, or at the side of the ship.

I'm skimming over sail away, because we really didn't do much. The "Good" side of the ship was packed with people. We were on the "Bad" side where all we could see were shipping containers and cranes. I mean, maybe that is the good side, depending on your interests. So, looking at the photo below, *everyone* was looking at the right side of the photo (which was the port side, oh geez I just realized we could have watched from our balcony, d'oh!). We were on the other side. Wah wah.

So let's move on from the ship tour in the next post. Assuming I can even remember what we did next. No, just kidding, I am sure we went to dinner and I have photos of almost everything we ate, and some stories about the great service in the MDR.

March 28, 2019

4 hours ago, ShillyShally said:

LOl Me too 🙂

Ugh on the Key hours - I really think they need to make Key more like Carnival's FTTF and sell an activity jump the line pass or something similar to what amusement parks do - though I don't think they ever have issue selling the Flowrider private hours and advanced lessons either.

I feel like they need to figure this out. The hours are so inconsistent across ships, and from one week to the next. if someone sees the hours posted by others in the Key thread, and then they get on board and get the hours we had? Well, they would have every right to complain.

2 hours ago, RazorbackIslandGirl said:

LOVE LOVE LOVING all the photos! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this review. I'm really enjoying it so far. You are totally cracking me up! It's making for a super fun read.

Thank you! The photos are still showing up HUGE to me, so hopefully they are normal size to others.

1 hour ago, ShillyShally said:

Also loving your photos! It's making me want to go back on this size ship and I didn't think I'd ever want to - I just prefer the other classes but I'm starting to feel I should give this class a try again!

Thanks! I was worried about the size of the ship, since we really did enjoy the smaller ship (HAL) but I would do it again. We are on Adventure next and now I'm worried about the size, but mostly because of the seasickness factor!

March 28, 2019

On 3/25/2019 at 1:06 PM, cruisingzen said:

For anyone who has used the $25 for a bag of laundry, (may be higher due to inflation), while on board, how has it been? Do you only put in certain fabrics? I know the laundry on ships are very strong, or do they use smaller regular machines for guests laundry? Trying to determine if we want to chance using them or just pack more, as we won't be home for another week after the cruise. TIA

We just used this service on the Symphony. I actually had a coupon for $5 off. Here is the page they gave us:

We stuffed a few tshirts, underwear, pajamas, socks, and shorts in there. Our Room Attendant encouraged us to stuff it as full as possible. Everything came back good as new, and nicely folded. We washed other things in the sink and used magnetic hooks to hang them to dry, as there is no clothesline in the bathroom on the Symphony.

March 28, 2019

Day 1 continued:

Back to the daytime, after you pass the pool area, heading toward the aft end of the ship, you'll pass the soft serve station on your way to El Loco Fresh.

They have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. You can do a chocolate/vanilla twist, and a strawberry/vanilla twist. There are identical machines on the other side of the ship and NO ONE uses them. This side? Always a line.

El Loco is included in your cruise fare. We ate here a few times and it was good. I recommend the quesadillas. The nachos were fine, nothing special. I didn't try the burritos or the tacos. They have these hand washing stations nearby, and outside of several of the dining locations. Most people just walk on past them.

It is really funny to me that there is only one bowl of chips here. I must have taken this when they were closing. Usually the counter was full of bowls of chips.

There is also a condiment bar, which has everything you would expect to see on a condiment bar for this type of food: salsa (different varieties), shredded cheese, sour cream, and the most important: guacamole.

Oh and dessert. There is a chocolate dessert that is usually out that is much better than the other two, IMO.

Deck 15 has the zipline over the Boardwalk (the aft end of the ship), and you can see the Sport Court behind it.

Keep going aft and you'll reach the 2 Flowriders.

Go even further aft and you'll reach The Abyss.

So, DS did go down The Abyss. There was no line whatsoever, so we did not use our priority status to jump the line. They show you how to sit in the mat thingy (kind of like those potato sack things for slides at carnivals). You really do need to sit and hold your arms the way they show you, because DS said (and others have said) there is one part with a kind of sharp turn and you can bang your shoulder or elbow.

As you walk up the stairs, if you look down you are on a glass (?) platform overlooking the Aqua Theater 10 floors down, and the ocean. It is kind of terrifying. They let me go up and take photos.

On the opposite side from the sport court is the mini golf. DS played a few times with his friends.

Deck 15 has the Solarium, but I'm going to wait and do that one later.

--

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The Symphony, The Key, Two Teens, And Me!

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The Symphony, The Key, Two Teens, And Me!

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The Symphony, The Key, Two Teens, And Me!

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