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ALLURE OF THE SEAS JUNE 30 2019--THE CURSE OF BRANDON

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Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

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PART 1

 

Yes we just returned from an almost fabulous cruise on the Allure sailing the western route in a Crown loft (2)

Me- Sue

DH- Rick

DD- Christina

THE BOYFRIEND BRANDON THE UN LUCKY ONE.

 

It all started two days before the cruise when we went to print our airline boarding tickets.

We were thrilled we had TSA PRE-CHECK.

And then we realized when we booked the airlines in January Mr. Brandon did not have a passport so we just booked his name on the tickets BRANDON *******.

Well when he got his passport it had BRANDON HAYES *******. and his drivers license had BRANDON H. *******.

So we called our travel agent and she said to come on in and she will change the ticket (no fee) and reprint a new one at office so we would have no issue getting thru TSA.

 

Well it took 30 min. to correct the mistake.  But a security issued thru delta would not let us print the ticket, it said it would be provided at the airport.

 

We flew first class, and upon arrival at the check in the attendant said the ticket is fine for TSA and would not give us a new one.  I did not realize that delta controlled TSA, but onward.

 

Thank God we had TSA pre-check.

The line for regular TSA was wrapped around the check in area, we later found out it took 2 1/2 hours to clear this, we would have missed our flight as many did that day  had we not been so lucky with TSA pre-check.

And thank God they did not issue Brandon another boarding pass, it would not have had TSA approval and we would have been sending him post cards "having a great time wish you were here"

 

So onward to TSA trouble maker Brandon in tow.......................damn we cleared no questions asked even though his boarding pass did not match passport.................mmmmmmmmmmm.

 

So a quick coffee and onto gate.

Now to boarding.

 

Yup Brandon was held up due to the fact he did not have a legal boarding pass????????  It red alerted not valid......*****.

It was good enough for TSA, but not good enough to board.

So me and my DH stand with Brandon, and finally the attendant goes where is your luggage, he goes the check in girl tagged it and sent it through.  

The attendant goes well if your luggage is good enough go ahead and board, 

we ran on board.

 

Arrived in Atlanta for our next flight.

(I swear when I die on my way to heaven I will have a lay over in Atlanta)

 

So we go to customer service  for delta in Atlanta and the attendant goes I do not know where you got the idea that your boarding pass is not valid you made it here didn't you?

 

Ok so after a quick drink we go to our gate and guess what?   Brandons boarding pass was not valid    really?  Surprised?  The girl at the gate goes I see her on your profile that you had to correct his name in Niles Ohio, well they issued him a new boarding pass and new customer service number.............they did not change the number let me fix it.  She did and we did not have any further problems coming home.........................Kudos to the girl in Atlanta at the gate.

 

So we landed in Fll.  All the luggage was there.

Took a cab for 4 to the Embassy and room not ready, thats ok we went to Publix to get some last minute items.

DH's phone tinged we got a text that room was ready at Embassy, so we walked back and got our keys at the desk.

 

We go to room and it was trashed, beds not made, dirty glasses and linen, food in refrigerator. (Curse of Brandon)

This never happened in all our previous 7 stays here.

The DH picked up the phone and called the front desk and demanded someone come up.

They apologized and gave us a better port facing room and we went and got our room keys and the girl goes, it will be $25 dollars for the upgraded room.

 

My DH asked to speak to the manager and said, he will not pay, it was their error for providing us with an unclean room, and we will gladly take the new room at no extra charge.

And so it was no extra fee.

 

Well, we always check our statement before we leave a hotel to settle any conflict.

Well Embassy was going to bill us for the first room as a "no Show"  REALLY!!!!!!

Well that was fixed very quickly.  And we were not charged the upgrade for the better view room.

 

So we called a cab and as we got to port boarding was in progress at 10:45am.  and we set forth.

 

 

 

Further travels of the Curse of Brandon to include, but not limited to.............

 

1.  Meeting some very nice Pinnacles on board, (there were 12 on our sailing).

2.  Meeting one very cranky Pinnacle on board.............and what occurred in CK!!!!!!!!! 

3.  No one would admit to changing our dining reservation for Chops that we made before we sailed through concierge on Monday the week before we cruised, .

4.  The "STOW-A-WAYS " we encountered.......... YOU WILL LOVE THIS ONE.

5.  The roulette dealer who attempted to short pay a cashout..................really!!!!!!!!

6.  The behind the scenes tour. 

 

Okay gotta unpack go get groceries start the wash, get the cat.

 

Later

 

 

Hope I have your attention.

 

 

And if anyone would like to meet or borrow Brandon let me know.

 

Later 

 

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Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

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The curse eventually continues but first I must correct....................

 

We were in a CL 1, not that it matters, but just for clarification (1748).

 

Also, while at the Embassy they were running low on room keys and they might get a shipment in that Saturday, so they would only issue one key for 4 adults.........................my new famous word of the day...................REALLY!!!!!

(had to be the curse of Brandon).

 

 

Oh we enjoyed the captains drinks at Embassy sat at one of the tables next to the bar  and I learned a new card game the kids taught us

BULL****

Yup, we just had to keep our voices down when we yelled BULL****, because it was an attention getter.

(Thank you Brandon).

 

 

OK.

Back to the story, back to the ship.

 

So now our rooms are ready before 1pm. on board.

Sea pass on door.  All of them and they were correct.

We enter room, once again it was spectacular.

 

I go why don't you guys chill I'll run down get them punched  (Yup were fuddy duddies, we use lanyards)

 

So I go down to customer services and their was a man standing by the line with an RCI shirt on and he saw I had four sea pass cards and said he could punch them................I go great, the line was already wrapped around inside and out.

 

Well he punched them over the black chip that holds the information to use to charge, and he goes

"WHOA, these are no good"  I go REALLY!!!!!

He goes-------" you have to get in line and get new sea pass cards, sorry."  (Brandon?)

 

So I wait 45 min. to get to a customer service person, and guess what...........she was out of sky class cards and told me it would just be a few min. and she would have new ones for me.  I go great, and do not forget I want the embossed drink package ......................do not give me a flimsy sticker.........................my wishes were granted and back to cabin.

 

So about 1;30pm a torrential downpour started..............I was never so happy.. you see we had our muster station in the aqua theatre and I did not want to sweat my brains out in the hot sun, if it was raining they would move it indoors.............so I was happy to see the monsoon.

 

Well all good things must come to an end.  The rain stopped and at 3:30pm. me and the DH went down and got seats in the shade in the last row as the sun and humidity came out.

Damn it was hot.................well yea your in Florida.

So now we watched the video and were waiting for the captain to speak, and all of a sudden the cruisers one by one got up and left, not wanting to be excluded we joined the masses leaving....................the muster  people said you cannot leave, but we were pushed along harder and faster than exiting a Jimmy Buffet concert drunk.

 

So now I flew to the elevator, and got a lift to the 17th deck and went to suite lounge for sail away.

Just then over head ALPHA-ALPHA-ALPHA...........deck 15 by life guard station.

Here a 49 year old mom of 2 fell down the stairs and had a compound fracture of her anklle.

 

The first Sail--away was just a tad after  4:30pm.

Beautiful, calm seas, a lot of beach goers waving at us. Brandon was awed.

 

Then the captain came on and said we needed to go back to Port for a medical evacuation and hope all would understand.

It was neat to see the ship turn around at sea.

 

So our daughter texted us that they were at the front of the ship and saw a coast guard ship approaching on the starboard  side (Yea after 10 cruises I know that is the right side), so we all gathered on deck 5 by the life boats.  Here an elderly lady and man were distraught with two small children,  I asked her what was wrong and she said her daughter in law fell and she is being evacuated for immediate surgery and they were waiting for coast guard,   I asked her  what I could do, and she said just to stay with her.  We did.

We talked. I learned everything about their family, where they were from, their travel plans.

We helped hold the two grand kids back as they leaned over the rail telling mommy good bye.

 

The coast guard would let the ladies husband go with her, but no other family members.....RCI helped the family sign custody of the kids to grandma and they would be flown back to Florida at Labadee..................(did not know this could happen).

 

So we saw the coast guard in action from a front row seat, comforting and being with the family.  We gave them our cabin number and said to call us for anything.

 

While we were waiting for the coast guard vessel to leave a pod of dolphins came by their vessel and stayed till they left, they were doing what dolphins do and jumping and just being dolphins.  The two boys loved it and this calmed down grandma.

 

So back to suite lounge and after a drink (hahahahaha)   after a couple drinks it was time for dinner, we had requested 7pm.  at CK, well things were running behind, early seating arrived late and Jose, said he would come get us shortly  in the suite lounge.  So a few more drinks and we quickly were summoned  (8:15pm.)  NOT HAPPY.  I go if this is going to be an every night event, then change our time to 6pm.

Jose apologized and said it would not, it did not and we were happy.

 

SIDE NOTE:

This is not I repeat, this is not the main event that occurred in CK, that has yet to be shared.

 

Dinner was excellent and we really enjoyed it.

So now tipsy, but not drunk what is one to do.

Well we missed Mama Mia, so why not gamble, and besides I have not had a drink in lets say 45 min.

 

So gamble the night away, and when I could barely move after 3 hours on a fun  machine

and a captain diet coke in a tall glass with cherries,

playing (Quarters) (50 cents a pull) I left $350 ahead.  Not bad for a first night.

 

So as the DH walked me to Sorenttos for a pizza, and stopped at park cafe for milk (yea, we borrow it from the coffee section) and back to the cabin.

Shortly after Daughter and the boyfriend arrived feeling no pain and all were off to sleep.

 

That ends embarkation day.

 

 

Still to come:

 

The main event...............................a pinnacle in CK.

The overheard conversation that really made her day!!!!!!!!!

 

And also the un invited guests..............(stow-aways at sea................wonder what his was about  🙂

 

 

Later

 

 

Gotta fold the dryer and clean up cat puke..............yup.  she is just being a cat and getting even.  If this is like any home coming, once she hisses at  me a few times will sleep with us tonight and not leave our sides.

 

Later

 

 

 

 

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Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

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52 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Do you recall what machine you were playing? I need to get Laura off the $7 a spin WoF machine 

 

OMG

 

YES

 

 

 

 

 I will tell you that after the first day things changed on that machine.

I left it everyday ahead.......the  most I walked away with was after a $900 win (I was running it out changed to dollars and won triple triple 7 the 7 worth 300, so I got over $1000 cause I had still had cash in machine).

I averaged leaving the machine daily $350-$450 ahead, the big $1000 cash out was a one time event.

 

So

Do you know where you get change at the cashiers.

If you are facing the counter.

you need to go right a couple rows where those goofy quarter change machine is to play that quarter slide game.

 

It is the third machine to the left of the quarter change machine

It has the triple triple triple on top 

And all the multi colored 7's

And

You can change the amount bet from 

25 cents to

$1.00

$2.00

$5.00

 

It is a good machine, 

I almost always played quarters, but that night  it was late change to $1.00 to run out money and I won.

 

Okay enough about casino..........................

 

But eventually I will tell you about the roulette story.

 

 

Also I need to clarify one thing.

 

BRANDON. What is this about.

 

As a family of three all through life we never ever took anyone else with us on a cruise.  

Did not want the responsibility of caring for someone elses kid. Especially if something would happen.

The DD always had a great time on cruises growing up and made new friends and could not wait till the next cruise.

 

Well, Mr. Brandon came into the picture about 27 months 12 days ago, and at first I thought it was just another Boyfriend.

Well one thing lead to another, and the relationship grew.  Brandon helped Christina graduate with her masters in one year, and is a great protector.

The asked for our approval if they could cohabitate together and share an apartment about 12 months back.

Being the strict catholic school  girl that I am (drink, gamble, ex smoker), and realizing times have change I said yea go ahead.

And besides I think I will be baking cookies in the near future for those of you who get my drift 🙂

For those of you who do not, your not from Ohio.

 

So, since she graduated with her masters and he will in August, we decided to be great and wonderful parental units and give them a vacation to really enjoy, since they are poor college students living off Ramon noodles (not--she worked thru her one Year masters program and graduated with full honors and was scholarship-ed by the dean, so we pulled out all the stops and gave them a cruise to enjoy).  Brandon the unlucky charm was invited.   

Nothing ever goes right for him, except of course our daughter.

He has this little black cloud over his shoulder.  We wanted to change it.

 

So Mr. Brandon's sharing his un lucky charm with us.

And that is the theme of this thread....................................and I am sticking to it.

 

Did I tell you I have to share with you what happened in CK, that I made my husband shut up so I could eavesdrop?

 

Damn, it is time to start dinner.

 

I'll continue later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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UFMOM

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Can’t wait to hear the rest of this.  Btw I had a compound broken ankle on an NCL cruise to Cuba. Stayed on the ship for 2 nights and we drove directly to the orthopedic clinic as soon as we left the ship. Didn’t even drop off the luggage first.  

 

 

Mary Ann

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Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

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OKAY now for an extra added attraction deviating from my original out line.

 

Oh yes I had a rum and diet coke no cherries at home before dinner,   okay I had 2.

Well 3 actually.

 

So when we met our cabin attendant I told him how much we love the shampoo and the four of us like to take a lot of showers a day......we need much more of those bottles of shampoo  (yea I'm a miser, I know I can order online, but why when you can borrow from a cruise).

Well the next thing you know we received the super duper big size bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, you know the biggies 300 ml. of all of the above into both showers, so what is one to do, yup hide them in the suitcase, tip the cabin attendant, and guess what happened the next day, 6 more bottles appeared.

I should have enough till Disney land vacation in October when we get their awesome shampoo, and conditioner well you know we do take a lot of showers.

 

To say the least our cabin attendants were the best

My daughter and her BF well, to put it mildly are slobs.

Clothes everywhere, towels, and their bathroom, well not organized.

 

Catman folded their clothes and cleaned up after them.  I was very pleased with his actions, and just an FYI, my daughter gets her clutter mode from the DH side of the family.

 

It was truly amazing sharing the suite with 2 other adults................never a private moment............not going there  :)

 

OMG

Gotta load the dishwasher.

 

Next up, yea either the pinnacle suite event or the stow aways, I haven't decided yet, but both are good.

 

Later.

 

 

 

 

 

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Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

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10 minutes ago, DanvilleCruiser said:

Brandon didn’t happen to fly from Lexington KY to Sanford in July of last year on Allegiant did he?  We had an 11 hour flight delay.  LOL

 

following to see what happens next.....

 

Actually no.

 

He is a strength and conditioning coach for a famous very famous football school that has won many, did I say many national titles..................he is built like a brick you know what kinda of house.......     :)

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Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

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Just an FYI 

 

I have nothing against a persons C & A status. Whether it be gold or pinnacle. 

Everyone deserves what they attain. 

My intention is just to state what I personally observed. Non judgmental. 

 

I am trying to figure out how to put it into words as to not seem like, well a instigator of trouble and get this thread locked or post deleted for others own opinions. 

I guess I need to regroup the situation and then I will share. 

So. 

 

Be patient. 

I don’t want to cause any conflict. 

 

 

With  that I just want to say remind me to share with all the “ lower GI story”. 

If you have lived with older grandparents giving you a daily bowel update then you know where I’m going with this one. 

 

Later 

 

 

 

 

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