Momof3gurlz

I know your last name and still didn’t put 2 + 2 together! I hope you have a great cruise.

Interesting that AJ was a more recent addition, they worked together like they’ve been doing it for years. And as you said, in a very small space. Manan & Bradley said they’ve had offers to move to the bigger ships like Wonder and Ovation for their next contract but they weren’t going to take the offers. Both prefer the smaller ships. When asked why, they said “too many people” and the ships are so big that when they get their break, just walking to the crew area takes up half the break.

What does it say about us that the bar experience makes such a difference in the cruise 🤣?!

I’m so far behind here after cruising last week that I won’t even bother to catch up. Apologies if I missed any milestones or important news. We had a great week on Voyager, came home to temps in the mid-70’s yesterday but back to 50’s today. The amount of leaves to be cleaned up is staggering! We couldn’t even see any grass in the backyard, but fortunately those can all be blown into the woods behind us. Andy has his work cut out this week. I’ll be busy unpacking, doing laundry and putting all that summer stuff away until we need it again in January. I’m also looking forward to catching up on our recordings of last weeks Jeopardy Tournament of Champions and watching the second half this week. We’re Jeopardy junkies. Not particularly good at, but we try. Some nights I feel like I’m killing the game and other nights I’m clueless. Soup is on the menu tonight for the chilly weather - quite a step down from our dinners for the past week.

As promised, here’s my summary of the cruise. In a word, EXCELLENT! We really enjoyed the repositioning aspect and I’m going to actively search for these going forward. For us, leaving out of Boston (or even a repo back to Boston) was so convenient. I really wish Royal offered more options from this port. I’m going to break this up into categories. The Ship - knowing the age of Voyager and based only on my recollection of Explorer’s old teal decor, I was a little worried the ship would feel dated. This was completely unfounded. We thought the ship was in beautiful shape, seemed very up to date and was exceptionally clean. We also loved the size of the ship and its classic lines and features. As an example, these two pictures of an empty schooner bar. I love the round windows where you can look out at the sea, not to mention the outside promenade deck. The Crew - overall very good and unfailingly friendly. Without exception, all were wearing KN95 masks, even outside on the pool deck, until about mid-week when it became optional. Our room steward wasn’t the greatest. He was very friendly, just a little forgetful. He would refill the ice bucket for my wine bottles every day but never remembered a wine glass. I took to just grabbing one from a bar. I know, first world problems, right? Also, our towel refreshment was always a guessing game. Some days 2 hand towel and 3 washcloths, another day no washcloths and 1 hand towel 🤷🏻‍♀️. We started just disassembling the towel animals to get what we needed. The one thing that really annoyed me is the washy-washy lady at the WJ entrance. Her speel was non stop, even directing people to the sinks on either side of the entrance, but there was no enforcement. So many people just ignored her and walked right in, and she let them. There did seem to be some inconsistency with bar servers on the pool deck. There were a couple out in the mornings who were excellent (you know the type, they remember your drink order from the day before), but they disappeared in the afternoon, I’m guessing to other duties. Some of the other servers appeared to be new - kind of wandering around with that deer in the headlights look. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I can’t say enough good things about the staff at the R Bar. Just amazing camaraderie and excellent service. They were A.J., Romulo, Bradley and Manan. I believe Manan was a manager as he wore the black shirt & black pants while the others wore white shirts & gold vests, but he was in there working and joking around with them & the patrons every night. The Food - we found it to be very, very good. We didn’t have a bad dish in the MDR. My only complaint about the MDR is long wait times between courses. We stuck to the WJ for breakfast & lunch. I can’t say a lot about breakfast because mine usually consists of fresh fruit and those little round cinnamon rolls. There was good variety at lunch. The usual hamburgers, hot dogs, breads, deli station and salad bar but also something different every day. For example, a carving station, sweet & sour pork, paella, roasted chicken, beef stroganoff. There were a few Indian dishes but I didn’t pay much attention because we don’t care for it. And of course our meal at Giovanni’s was excellent. Pizza from Cafe Promenade made for an okay afternoon snack but my favorite item there was a Greek salad wrap that I’m going to try to recreate. Our Cabin - we were very happy with our Jr Suite. For just the two of us, way more storage than we needed. We loved the privacy that the enclosed balcony provided and I loved how the wide, wide sliding doors brightened up the room. I will say there was a bit (and I mean a very little bit) of rust in the nooks and crannies of the balcony but that type of thing doesn’t bother us. Around day 5 we noticed the room feeling very warm, even with the AC at the coolest setting. We reported to Guest Services before dinner and by the time we got back to the cabin a few hours later it was working just fine. And they followed up with a phone call the next day to make sure it was working. I would book this category again for the right price, but don’t feel it’s necessary for just the two of us. Entertainment - for us, this was the only area lacking. But as I type that, I realize this is just for OUR taste. There was live music most nights in either the Star Lounge or High Notes up in the Viking Crown Lounge area. Problem is, by that time we were already settled in at the R Bar (have I mentioned how much we liked it 😂) with the regular crowd. The one I will comment on is the piano bar guy, Juan, in the Schooner Bar at night. Just our opinion but we thought he was awful. We didn’t attend any shows, we’re boring like that. So for me to say it was lacking isn’t a fair assessment. I guess what I mean is it would’ve been nice to have some music at the R Bar. We were not the only ones who thought this, one of the regulars brought a little blue tooth speaker one night and it was great. One lady did a knockout karaoke version of Son of a Preacher Man, the bartenders were singing. Just great fun. So that’s about it. I’ve enjoyed doing this but it’s a lot of work, I’m not sure I’ll do another. Our next cruise is at the end of January in NCL. I might just post a few things about it over on Dani’s thread. Then the Bella cruise in March which I’m hoping we will have one combined thread we can all contribute to. Thanks for following along! Now I need to catch up over at “Dani’s house” 🙂

Just found this thread and I’m happy to follow along. Great pictures you posted, so glad you were able to get the issue resolved. Too bad that excursion was cancelled, but what a beautiful weather day you had in St Thomas. That was also great that management acknowledged the previous nights problems and treated you to a nice dinner.

Wow, that’s really unacceptable, both the MDR and WJ situations. Not sure if this is accurate but I thought I read they were having a lot of new crew coming aboard in SJ. That could explain the dining issues, but still not acceptable for guests. I hope it improves for you!

Oh, good lord don’t tell me I can buy that locally. I’ll never lose my cruise weight!

Hallelujah! What was the issue? The weather looks a little better than Saturday.

We made it home around noon today with no flight delays and with all our luggage. The Air Tags worked great and confirmed our luggage made it onto the second flight. We departed SJ at 6 am, first half hour was fine, then I guess we were over that tropical disturbance because it was very, very bumpy for about an hour. Things smoothed out finally and then we had something of a medical emergency onboard. An elderly gentleman about 4 rows in front of us passed out. I didn’t see what happened but I believe he stood up and passed out on the floor. Someone rang the FA’s who came running and another one made an announcement asking for a Dr or nurse onboard to assist. The FA’s also had a blood pressure cuff and an oxygen canister ready if needed. He came to, they assisted him back into his seat and the nurse stayed with him a while and they got an ice pack for the back of his neck. FA’s checked on him repeatedly and I guess he’s fine because he deplaned on his own in Baltimore. But boy those FA’s sprung into action when it happened. Our flight from Baltimore to Providence was uneventful. I started jotting down notes to summarize the review so I can do it in a somewhat orderly way. I also want to go back and reply to several people who’ve commented. Thanks for the anniversary wishes and thoughts for our safe trip home. Stay tuned for the final chapter!

Diner at Raices was excellent. I had Skirt Steak, Andy had paella. Earlier this evening we realized that we met 36 years ago tonight, so we toasted ourselves at dinner. The streets of Old San Juan are so pretty at night. I took these on our walk to the restaurant. Tomorrow is a very early wake-up. We arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 4.30 am, I hope he shows up! I hope to be able to post my final thoughts and a few more random ship photo’s tomorrow also. Sorry for all the typos today, I was tired and posting on the run.

I’d rather not know 🫣

No worries Greg! It was on my short list to begin with. It gets so many great reviews, this can’t possibly be the norm. The replacement room is much better. still the same lousy view brut we’ll be checking out at 4:15 am so it isn’t a big deal.

She would’ve loved that!

We’re currently waiting for a table at Raices. I hate to say this but our experience at Hotel Casablanca hasn’t been the greatest. We went back there around 3 pm, tired from walking and the heat. Figured we would just wait in the lobby for our room to be ready. We let them know we were there and sat and enjoyed the a.c. It got very busy with checkins at 4 pm, with everyone getting their room keys right away. Around 4 :15 we checked with the desk and were told our room “ wasn’t quite ready”. Around 4:30 we were given a room that was — disappointing to say the least. I had booked a balcony queen room that offered “ beautiful views”. The room was not clean. Dirty floors and the clincher was someone’s dirty washcloth hanging in the shower. I went down to the lobby to complain and they gave us another room, same lousy view but it’s clean. filthy, stained lampshade

Tell me about it! I really wish we could’ve booked next week too. If it wasn’t for our youngest turning 30 next week we would have.

I was up early this morning to check-in for our flight tomorrow morning at 6am on Southwest. We were already in port and once the sun came up, this was our view, looking out towards Condado and Old San Juan. We did self walk-off at 8:30 am and breezed right through. Once outside the port building, you are kind of rushed by taxi drivers and your guides but they’re not pushy, a simple “no thank you” and they walk on to the next person. I had ordered an Uber XL which was 7 minutes away and only $10.33. The street our hotel is on is closed to vehicles, they’re laying an all new brickwork. It’s a pain for Uber or taxi service because they have to drop you at the nearest intersection. But it’s a short walk and if your room is on the street side a bonus is it should be pretty quiet. The hotel is so charming. Check- in isn’t until 4pm ( we were there before 9 am), but they held our bags. My plan was to go to Cafe Mallorca for breakfast but they’re closed on Sundays. The hotel has a ver small restaurant in their lobby so we ate there and it was quite good. The name of it is Cafe Mimosa, so naturally…. Next we set out exploring. Not many shops were open, so we headed to the Paseo de la Princesa and started walking along the edge of the water towards el Morro. Along the way we came across many groups of the famous “gatos” (cats). We finally reached the end. It was almost a 3 mile walk with a beautiful sights and a nice view at the end. We’ve toured both el Morro and San Cristobal previously, so after that it was time for a refreshing drink at Barrachina. More to come later.

Last night’s dinner in the MDR. Coconut shrimp appetizer Roasted beet salad We both had prime rib (sorry, I cut into it before remembering the picture) We also had the apple blossom again for dessert. it was back to the R bar after dinner where we again met up with Td6462 and chatted for a while. After he left, the bar staff got up to some shenanigans, pouring rainbow shots, tiered martinis and Jaeger bombs for the bar. We’re off the ship now, enjoying San Juan, the weather is sunny & hot. I’ll have more pictures to upload later today along with my final thoughts.

The pictures don’t really capture it, just torrential rain with those strong wind gusts. That lasted for about 30 minutes or so in the downtown area. Light rain has continued all afternoon with heavy fog over the hills. The forecast is looking good for San Juan tomorrow 🙂🌤️.

So this is how St Thomas day is going 😕. We gave up and got back on the ship, both of us completely soaked from the hips down. Even though we had rain ponchos, the wind kept blowing them up. I feel bad for those that had fun excursions planned today.

That has to be so frustrating. Even if you can’t post photos next week, I hope you’ll share them when you return (if you can).

Dinner was in the MDR again tonight for lobster night. Caprese salad and Caesar salad for Andy Vidalia onion tart for me We both ordered lobster and beef tenderloin, but skipped dessert since we had two entrees each. After dinner we went back to the R bar. I ordered my new favorite, the Caipirinha and the highlight of the night was meeting @Td6462. We chatted for quite a while, comparing our experiences on this cruise as well as other cruises. While he’s still experiencing internet issues, I was happy to hear he hopes to continue reporting next week (with a better internet plan) since he and his family are doing the B2B. TD, it was great meeting you and I look forward to your input when you can!

The weather turned out better than I expected in Puerto Plata DR, the rain held off for most of the day with the exception of a few light showers. We docked at Taino Bay, which is much like Costa Maya, a nice planned port area. There are many shops all selling basically the same stuff, a restaurant, several bars and a nice pool area. Aside from that, it’s a very industrial port. It’s a bit of a walk from the ship to the port area but they do have free shuttles. We walked through the area of shops and headed to the town of Puerto Plata. There were many aggressive taxi drivers and “tour guides” offering to show us around, with the reminder that they work only for tips. We just said “no, thank you” and kept walking. There are police at most intersections. We walked about 3/4 mile to the umbrella street and further on to the cathedral and Central Park area. Umbrella street was pretty but there really wasn’t much else to see. We headed back to the port area and had a drink at one of the bars, then returned to the ship. A quick snack in the WJ, where I took this picture of part of the industrial area . Clouds were moving in so we hung out on the balcony and read for a while until sailaway. All in all, it wasn’t in impressive cruise stop.

Today was a hot, sunny day with a nice breeze. We spent most of the day on the pool deck reading. The musical duo did a line dance segment that was very popular and another set of my favorite, Latin themed hits. Since we didn’t do quite enough relaxing on the pool deck, we headed back to our cabin and hung out in the balcony for a while, just enjoying the sight & sounds of the ocean. We stopped at the R Bar before dinner and I ordered a Caipirinha. He made it by muddling several lime wedges in a rocks glass along with Monin Cane Sugar syrup. Then two shots of Leblon, which I learned from Google is a brand of cachaca, or Brazilian rum. Here’s the finished drink and a photo of the bottle of Leblon. Dinner was again in the MDR. The food has been very good but I will say there’s quite a wait between courses. It’s hard to fault the servers because they’re all hustling . Greek salad Smoked tomato soup Garlic Tiger Shrimp for me Steak Diane for Andy We both had the Apple Blossom for dessert, no picture. Tomorrow is Puerto Plata. The weather forecast is iffy and we have no plans other than to explore the area a bit. I hope to be able to get a lot of photos to share here and also over on the Ports of Call board.

We weren’t crazy about last nights MDR menu so when we got back onboard at 3, we decided to take a shot at getting a reservation at Giovanni’s. We had no problem getting one and could’ve chosen any time we wanted. When we arrived for dinner, the restaurant was nearly empty with just a few other diners in the far corners. We had the meat plank for an appetizer, half portions of the pasta special (Arabbiata with capers for me, spinach gnocchi for Andy) and we both had filet minon four our mains. Dessert was Tiramisu and Gelato. It was a wonderful meal from start to finish. We stopped at the Schooner Bar to check on the baseball score. Since it wasn’t looking good for the Phillies, and because the piano entertainer was making my ears hurt, we headed to R Bar. I tried a new drink that the gentleman beside me was having, a Caipirinha. It was fan-tastic! But very strong so I could have one. Sorry I didn’t take a picture. Guess I’ll just have to order another one tonight 😀, for all of you of course!