Vision ~ B2B ~ 5 Nights ~ July 21st & 26th: My Diary

[maxs mom]

Thanks, Mickeefan! Enjoy that Diamond Lounge!! We enjoy going on the mega ships when we can find a good price, but these smaller ships make us feel so special.

[jo24]

I really do love you reviews Jane - I learn so much!

 

We are looking at the same beach break in Cozumel next year, so the fact that you return every time is a great compliment to the place.

 

I saw you in your signature that you are doing a B2B on Jewel later this year. I do hope you manage to do a review for that as it is something I am looking at doing in 2016.

 

I hope you don't mind, I have a small 'rookie' B2B question. I understand that the cruises are separate, with separate references but do you have to link them with RCI in some way or do they just know!? Sorry... :/ I really hope that by booking early we will be able to get the same cabin and have been reading more and more about the joys of B2B cruising :)

 

Thanks again

 

Jo :)

[maxs mom]

So we hit the Concierge Lounge around 7:30 this evening...not too many folks there, but I believe more would use the lounge this cruise than last. Julio was once again the bar waiter. Nice sunset this evening.

 

 

 

We once again had our first night reservations at Chops. There was a pretty good crowd in there this evening. We had the same waiter as last week. We both ordered the same thing as last week.

 

I got the yummy warm goat cheese salad again....petit filet....and then I got the Red Velvet Cake.....John got the blueberry cheesecake. The Red Velvet Cake was good....not great....but the cheesecake may be my new favorite dessert here since the demise of the Mud Pie. If you order the Mud Pie expecting the Mud Pie of old.....you will be disappointed! It's GONE. So we have to move on! Blueberry cheesecake, it is!! (Still not the same!) Here are some pictures from dinner.

 

 

 

 

Monica wanted to say goodbye when we were leaving.

 

[maxs mom]

Jo.....Glad to be of assistance. I hope you will enjoy Nachi.

 

B2B's are the way to go! We especially like the ones out of San Juan. We've done those a few times.....they're the best! Yes.....your 2 reservations should be linked, but we've been on when they weren't for some reason and it was OK. They didn't have our seapass cards ready, but they fixed that in about 2 minutes. But if you have a B2B booked, just ask if the two cruises are linked.

 

Happy Cruising!

[jo24]

Jo.....Glad to be of assistance. I hope you will enjoy Nachi.

 

B2B's are the way to go! We especially like the ones out of San Juan. We've done those a few times.....they're the best! Yes.....your 2 reservations should be linked' date=' but we've been on when they weren't for some reason and it was OK. They didn't have our seapass cards ready, but they fixed that in about 2 minutes. But if you have a B2B booked, just ask if the two cruises are linked.

 

Happy Cruising![/size']

 

Thanks ever so much for the reassurance Jane :)

 

We have San Juan as a stop on our November TA, I am looking forward to going there for the first time and then revisiting for a B2B ;)

[attitudeda]

Jane what deck is the Diamond lounge located on.

 

Doug

[maxs mom]

We heard that they put in some 20 something new machines in the casino today, so we went to check those out. Sure enough....they were there.....but not operational yet. Actually I think they only got a few of them operational this cruise. Looked like a lot of penny slots. Unfortunately I lost some more while we were in there, but John recovered his losses from last cruise, so he was happy.

 

As we walked through the Centrum....we actually got to see part of the live aerealist show.

 

 

 

 

On to bed after that!

[maxs mom]

Jane what deck is the Diamond lounge located on.

 

Doug

 

Doug.....the Diamond Lounge is on Deck 6 It is right between the Schooner Bar and the Some Enchanted Evening Lounge and across from Giovanni's Table. It's pretty conveniently located.

[maxs mom]

Sunday ~ July 27, 2014 ~ Key West

 

Good Morning Key West! Looks like a great day.

 

 

 

Morning coffee!! (decaf, of course!)

 

 

We arrived in Key West around 8 o'clock and we went to breakfast around that time. The dining room closes at 8:30 today. (Something else that I think could be improved.....most other ships have a 2 hour window of time for breakfast in the MDR....this ship only allows an hour and a half....oh well). More people seemed to be utilizing this area this cruise...two big tables were already filled and we sat at a third table with another couple. This overwhelmed Ryan and Clifford, so the service was very, very slow today. They made adjustments, though....and the rest of the cruise, it was fine.

 

Morning views from our balcony:

 

 

 

Today....I was going on an adventure by myself. John didn't particularly feel like getting off the ship today, so at about 9:30....I headed out by myself. I had two goals in mind....1) to see the Hemmingway House and 2) to get a frozen chocolate covered Key Lime Pie on a stick. We've been to Key West a few times before so I pretty much knew my way around.

 

First I made my way.....(a short walk from the pier).....to the corner of Green and Whitehead Streets. The Hemmingway House is on Whitehead, so I hung a right and started walking. It really wasn't too far.

[maxs mom]

I passed a lot of neat sights along the way.

 

 

 

This is part of the Truman Annex..... a great place to visit. They have a good tour that I think we might do next time.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

This was a lovely street and I was able to stay in the shade for most of my walk. (It was HOT) I passed by this lovely timeshare place appropriately named The Banyan.

 

 

 

I thought this was cute.

 

 

I finally made to the Hemmingway House at the corner of Whitehead and Truman.

 

 

The entrance fee was $13 and I was immediately able to join in on a tour. We met in the living room of the house.

 

 

This was our very knowledgeable tour guide.

 

Edited August 6, 2014 by max'smom

[Borgcruiser]

Jane

 

Yet another fab report , so looking forward to my cruise on Vision , this coming March.

 

I was last on her in 2007.

 

Bryce x

[h20cruzer]

Love your reviews, and this is just what I needed today!!!

Without being rude could could tell me who this man named Mario is. Is he a guest or crew member, sound like he is on the ship a lot.

Thanks Norma

[maxs mom]

We went all through the house and gardens. The informational tour lasted about 20 minutes and was well worthwhile. I learned a lot that I didn't know. Such interesting stories about this author and his family and the history of the house. Here are some pictures of the house and gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Love your reviews, and this is just what I needed today!!!

Without being rude could could tell me who this man named Mario is. Is he a guest or crew member, sound like he is on the ship a lot.

Thanks Norma

 

Thanks!

 

LOL! No it's not rude! Super Mario is Royal Caribbean's top cruiser. He has well over 4,000 nights at sea with RCI. He basically lives on the ships. So he is pretty famous in the RCI community. He told me he has booked 48 weeks of 2015 all on the Independence.....all in the same cabin. Amazing. Hope to see him again soon either on the Vision or the Independence for sure. He is taking the Oasis over on the TA. He said that was going to be a zoo!! So many D+ and Pinnacle folks on board!

[maxs mom]

Notice the cat by the bathtub. (Lower right). This house is famous for it's 6 toed cats....all descendants of cats back in Hemmingway's day. There are 55 of them on the property......very nice cats and well taken care of!!

 

 

 

These cats were everywhere! More pictures of them later.

 

 

 

Notice the lighthouse in this picture. I will use it as a point of reference later.

 

 

 

 

They have lots of weddings here. I think that would be cool!

Edited August 6, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Here are some of the cats that I came across.

 

 

 

Notice the toes:

 

 

Beautiful pool with an interesting story. It was so hot that I wished I could just dive right in!!

 

 

 

This is one of the houses for the cats:

 

Edited August 6, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

This is a urinal that Ernest Hemmingway took out of the original Sloppy Joe's. Interesting story about that, too!

 

 

When I went to use the restroom......this cat was just laying on the floor in there! They were everywhere!

 

 

And of course they must have one of these:

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

This little guy let me share a bench with him for a while, so that I could rest! Again, notice the toes.

 

 

This is the room above the carriage house where Ernest Hemmingway wrote a good many of his works. That is the typewriter that he used.

 

 

 

One more view of the pool from up there. It looked so inviting!!

 

 

This was very nice and I thoroughly enjoyed coming here. I highly recommend a visit here when you are in Key Wet.

[maxs mom]

Jane

 

Yet another fab report , so looking forward to my cruise on Vision , this coming March.

 

I was last on her in 2007.

 

Bryce x

 

Hey Bryce!!

 

Thanks for stopping by! We'll keep an eye on that March sailing that you are on. It would be so nice to see you again and hang out!

[maxs mom]

So now I'm ready to go after goal # 2......frozen chocolate covered Key Lime Pie on a stick! My friend who lives in KW half of the year told me that Kermit's was the best......so off I go to look for Kermit's.

 

I take a leisurely walk back down Whitehead.....probably should have walked over to Duval...but actually I think other streets are more interesting and less crowded than Duval.

 

I passed by this beautiful church.

 

 

The Green Parrot Bar.

 

 

You will always see plenty of these guys in Key West.

 

 

Pretty soon, the Conch Train rolled by. If you are a first time visitor to Key West, this is a great way to check everything out. You can get off when you want or just stay on for the whole circuit. We did this our first time here and it was very helpful.

 

 

It is so beautiful here.

 

[maxs mom]

I have a pretty good little hike to get to Kermit's. It was several blocks past Duval near the Historical Harbor. Here is Duval as I passed by.

 

 

So I get my frozen KLP at Kermit's (I wish they had a child sized one of these!) Since I was by myself....I tried making selfie's without too much success.

 

 

 

Mmmmmm! This thing is good. But it is so hot that I had to hurry and eat it or I would have George Costanza moment! Some passersby came along and felt sorry for me and offered to take some pictures.

 

 

 

Gosh .....that thing was good. I walked so much today that I did not feel too guilty eating it.

 

On my way back down the street towards the ship, I saw this sign!

 

[maxs mom]

This is always interesting to see.

 

 

I took another leisurely stroll back to the ship and was thoroughly wilted by the time I got back.

 

 

 

I called John and told him to come out on our balcony and I would take his picture. Can you find him? Too bad I forgot to bring the telephoto lens!

 

 

Back on the ship now......I was so happy that I accomplished my two goals in Key West.

 

 

[Ander026]

Turns out it was a long walk! There was a little waiting involved' date=' but we quickly showed our passports to the immigration officer and we got right back on.

 

 

 

Thanks for the review of the Vision. I am sailing on her in Sep. Interesting that FLL loads on Deck 4 for this class. Enchantment loads on Deck 5 on PC. Can't wait till I go to Key West since I have not been there since I was a teenager, (more than 20 years ago), I am thinking of taking the ship tour to Hemming but also thinking of getting there on my own. What do you suggest?

[SherriZ366]

Saturday ~ July 26' date=' 2014 ~ Ft. Lauderdale[/u']

 

We had to get up very early this morning......6 AM!

 

I rode up to the CL this morning with Mario. He grabbed a coffee to go. He was getting off with the walk offs this morning. He always drives in to Miami on turnaround days to go to his condo. He keeps his car parked at Park n Go. So he left the ship early and came back at around 2:30. Interesting!

 

Beautiful sail in to FLL!

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, we pulled into a different dock from the one we left on the 21st. it was right next door, though.

 

More early morning beauty:

 

 

Too bad you had to get up so early but those pictures of the lit up ships are awesome. Interesting about Mario going to his condo on turnaround day.