Live - One Way Voyage(r), Boston to San Juan 10/30

[Tree_skier]

40 minutes ago, LATTELOVE said:

You changed my mind on Giovanni's Table.

Food looks much better on your photos.

Going to try it on our next cruise in December.

Thank you!!

Giovanni's has become our new favorite specialty restaurant.  I'm a steak man and have always gravitated to Chops but after the last couple cruises I'm sold on Giovanni's

[Sunshine3601]

40 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Giovanni's has become our new favorite specialty restaurant.  I'm a steak man and have always gravitated to Chops but after the last couple cruises I'm sold on Giovanni's

Same here.  

[Tree_skier]

9 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Same here.  

Of every dining venue, to me, it is the one that is the most flavorful.

 

[Ozark_Kid]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

Giovanni's has become our new favorite specialty restaurant.  I'm a steak man and have always gravitated to Chops but after the last couple cruises I'm sold on Giovanni's

Tried it for the first time last cruise and it is now our favorite too.  We were just discussing our January cruise.   If we do the 3 dining plan it may be 2 Giovanni’s 1 Chops. 

[Momof3gurlz]

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.  

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Giovanni's has become our new favorite specialty restaurant.  I'm a steak man and have always gravitated to Chops but after the last couple cruises I'm sold on Giovanni's

 

I love their filet. Better than Chops.

[Sunshine3601]

9 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Of every dining venue, to me, it is the one that is the most flavorful.

 

For several years now, we have always enjoyed the filet at Giovannis and lots of other delicious dishes.  Their deserts, and Canolis are always good😀

[bobmacliberty]

10 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

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.  

 

 

I'm a big Caipirinha fan, at least now.  I first ordered one on a Royal ship because I had the drink package.  Figured it was a good way to try one, in case I didn't like it.  I didn't like it.  I don't remember why exactly, but I ended up throwing it away.  Fast forward a couple of years to a business trip in Brazil where I tried again.  This time, I loved it...so refreshing.  I could completely understand why it's the national drink of Brazil.  Maybe the Royal version was made wrong? Or maybe they used cheap Cachaca? Who knows.

 

If you're a vodka fan, try a Caipiroska.  It's like a Caipirinha but made with vodka instead of cachaca.  Good drink package experiment if you find a bartender that knows how to make it.

[LATTELOVE]

On 11/2/2022 at 5:24 PM, Momof3gurlz said:

Last night was formal night as well as 70’s night.

First stop was Viking Crown Lounge (or whatever they’re calling it these days) for sunset.

It was nearly empty. 

 

Next was 70’s music trivia in the Schooner Bar.  Our score was 13 correct answers out of 20.  I take credit for most of them, the 70’s was my era.  Andy would best me hands down if there was an 80’s music trivia contest.  

 

Dinner in the MDR.  I remembered pictures this time!  

Pumpkin Soup

Beef Carpaccio 

Beef Tenderloin 

Apple Blossom 

 

After dinner we spent time at the R bar again, and watched the 70’s show on the Promenade. 

Nice!

I love the 70's party.

 

I miss the real apple pie and  Ice cream.

Remember when they used to serve a nice

slice of warm apple pie??  

This little tarts does not do it for me.

I really don't get it.   

Now the only place to get a slice of

apple pie is at Johnny Rockets

on the ships that have this restaurant.

 

 

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, LATTELOVE said:

Nice!

I love the 70's party.

 

I miss the real apple pie and  Ice cream.

Remember when they used to serve a nice

slice of warm apple pie??  

This little tarts does not do it for me.

I really don't get it.   

Now the only place to get a slice of

apple pie is at Johnny Rockets

on the ships that have this restaurant.

 

 

The only problem with those apple pie slices, is they had raisins in them. 

[grapau27]

On 11/3/2022 at 3:41 PM, Momof3gurlz said:

We got back onboard around 3 pm and since the ship was pretty empty, I took a few more pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Tavern Bar on deck 4.  Although it’s a larger bar and seating area, we haven’t found it to have the same fun energy that R Bar has. 

 

A few shots of the Solarium area.

 

 

 

 

Nice photos Debbie.

Graham.

[maggieq]

22 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Giovanni's has become our new favorite specialty restaurant.  I'm a steak man and have always gravitated to Chops but after the last couple cruises I'm sold on Giovanni's

Us too!  I wish they would start replacing Jamie’s with Giovanni’s.  

[Ozark_Kid]

30 minutes ago, maggieq said:

Us too!  I wish they would start replacing Jamie’s with Giovanni’s.  

I sure would love to see that too.  I don't think we will ever do Jamie's again.  

[Momof3gurlz]

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.  

Edited November 5, 2022 by Momof3gurlz

[Tree_skier]

16 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Canolis are always good😀

Oh my mouth is watering...

[Momof3gurlz]

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!

 

[Ocean Boy]

10 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

 

 

All in all, it wasn’t in impressive cruise stop.  

I appreciate your opinion on the port. I was a bit disappointed when this port was removed from our itinerary last January (new pier was not finished) as it would have been a new port for me but I guess I didn't miss much.

[Td6462]

@Momof3gurlz I'm finally able to login in to CC after connecting to 5G here in St. Thomas. For some strange reason I could not login after 11/2 and the update. It was very nice to meet you and Andy last night and chat for awhile. 

[Ocean Boy]

14 minutes ago, Td6462 said:

@Momof3gurlz I'm finally able to login in to CC after connecting to 5G here in St. Thomas. For some strange reason I could not login after 11/2 and the update. It was very nice to meet you and Andy last night and chat for awhile. 

Since the Nov update I cannot quote people using the Samsung browser, I have to use Chrome.

[Td6462]

50 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Since the Nov update I cannot quote people using the Samsung browser, I have to use Chrome.

If you have any insight.... I still can't upload photos. I can now post text only. I've cleared all cookies, restarted my phone and am using Chrome.  

At the end of the photo upload I just get (server error -200). 

Next week is island hopping every day and really was looking forward to sharing photos with the group. 

The only successful photo upload was cruise port boston on embarkation day.

[Momof3gurlz]

1 hour ago, Td6462 said:

If you have any insight.... I still can't upload photos. I can now post text only. I've cleared all cookies, restarted my phone and am using Chrome.  

At the end of the photo upload I just get (server error -200). 

Next week is island hopping every day and really was looking forward to sharing photos with the group. 

The only successful photo upload was cruise port boston on embarkation day.

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).

[Momof3gurlz]

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. 

 

[DaniDanielle]

Rain, boo

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

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. 

 

We had a day like that in St. Maarten once. In fact, it rained almost the entire week on that particular cruise. Never encountered that before in the Caribbean.

[mo&fran]

55 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

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. 

 

I looked at some weather stations on St Thomas , and it showed some pretty heavy rain fall rates and like 40mph wind gusts. Our weather guys are predicting we may get some of that next week.  Weather service is not currently looking at any tropical systems.