LIVE! -- Dragon of the Seas goes to the Beyond and Back, October 26-Novemeber 4

[hcat]

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

The Apex is much better 

This looks better...wider walkway and the displays are mostly encased.

The S class walkways are much brighter, not visually distracting  and easier to  pass through from what I recall,.

I appreciated most of the art on EDGE but think well travelled public walkways should focus on folks getting through without migraines and  visual/ sensory  issues....or risk being run into by speeding  scooters.  

 

We have a strategy to avoid the area on BEYOND so no impact..hopefully.  just using stairs near BLU..there might be an outdoor path as well.. We will explore???

[Ex-Airbalancer]

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

The Apex is much better 

That is hallway that did the wife in 

 

[hcat]

35 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

That is hallway that did the wife in 

 

Oh no..avoid them ALL

 

I also skip any  theater shows with bright blinky lights and very high volume.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

Oh no..avoid them ALL

 

I also skip any  theater shows with bright blinky lights and very high volume.

No worries, we have Reflection April TA book  , and the Conny TA book in Nov 😁 for next year 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We have arrived at the dock in Aruba. The weather is overcast but it’s not raining. Yippee! There’s a stiff breeze.

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

It is 8 am and our cabin attendant knocked on our door to clean our room . I was awake but DH was sleeping. 
 

I wish the ship had one of those door magnets that you can put on the outside of your door when you’re away and you want them to clean your room. They do have a magnet that says I’m sleeping. But most people would assume that’s what you’re doing at 8 o’clock in the morning when you’re on vacation.
 

I’m sure he is new. He’s made lots of rookie mistakes. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

5 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

It is 8 am and our cabin attendant knocked on our door to clean our room . I was awake but DH was sleeping. 
 

I wish the ship had one of those door magnets that you can put on the outside of your door when you’re away and you want them to clean your room. They do have a magnet that says I’m sleeping. But most people would assume that’s what you’re doing at 8 o’clock in the morning when you’re on vacation.
 

I’m sure he is new. He’s made lots of rookie mistakes. 

 

I'm confused... WAS your magnet on the door? If so, that's a mistake that he knocked. If not, he had no way of knowing people were still in the room and/or sleeping and would rightfully assume that you are out and about - or at least awake.

 

Because no, not everyone sleeps the day away on vacation.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

I'm confused... WAS your magnet on the door? If so, that's a mistake that he knocked. If not, he had no way of knowing people were still in the room and/or sleeping and would rightfully assume that you are out and about - or at least awake.

 

Because no, not everyone sleeps the day away on vacation.

No, no magnet on the door.  And I would agree 9am is fair game. 

 

But, I think 8 am is too early to knock on anyone's door. I don't think that is sleeping the day away. LOL

 

We will just have to agree to disagree. 

[RichYak]

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

But, I think 8 am is too early to knock on anyone's door. I don't think that is sleeping the day away. LOL

Agreed. 8am is too early unless it's disembarkation day.

[jelayne]

If you have the Deep Sleep sign on the door they will not knock or enter.  

For my   DH 10 in the morning is too early for anything, on the other hand I'm usually up and out of the cabin by 7 ish.  People have different schedules and the only way to avoid having someone knock is to use the sign even if you are not sleeping..

 

 

[dlh015]

6 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If you have the Deep Sleep sign on the door they will not knock or enter.  

For my   DH 10 in the morning is too early for anything, on the other hand I'm usually up and out of the cabin by 7 ish.  People have different schedules and the only way to avoid having someone knock is to use the sign even if you are not sleeping..

 

 

It's the reverse here...DW is not a morning person...lol...I bring the coffee and such back to the stateroom for her morning routine...then I'm back out and about...

 

Still, I agree with others that 8 am is too early...

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have been locked out of the account since morning. I am glad to be able to log in on my laptop. This is encouraging.  However, my pictures are on my phone.   I will do a couple of posts as I am able.  

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am going to email them to myself.  It will be a little cumbersome.  But it will work.  😊

 

We shared the port in Oranjestad, Aruba with 2 other ships.  

 

The Carnival Horizon. . .

 

 

 

 

. . . and the Freewinds.  I had never heard of it before so I looked it up.  It is a Church of Scientology ship that is based in Curacao.  It is used for religious retreats and spiritual rejuvenation.

 

 

When 3 ships share the port one ship has to be the farthest away.  Unfortunately, that was us.  It was a long walk down the pier to the main street in Oranjestad. DH couldn't walk that far and he stayed on the ship.

 

We had planned to reserve a day pass at a hotel using Resort Pass.  We have used them before on other islands.  [our most recent was Margaritaville in Nassau, Bahamas] We had picked out a hotel on Eagle Beach.  It was only $25 pp.  Since the weather has been so iffy we decided not to reserve it. [we always wait until a couple of days in advance to check the weather] . . . and it turned out to be a nice day. 

 

You can thank me later. 🙄 If we had booked it would have rained buckets. LOL

[kwokpot]

6 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

.  Since the weather has been so iffy we decided not to reserve it. [we always wait until a couple of days in advance to check the weather] . . . and it turned out to be a nice day. 

It was so overcast I never bothered to put on sunscreen when sitting out by the ship's pool. My husband, who never ever goes out sunning, sat outside with me by the pool, which was empty, for about 90 minutes. There wasn't a stich of sun today. 

Edited November 1, 2022 by kwokpot

[DELTABLUE]

45 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I have been locked out of the account since morning. I am glad to be able to log in on my laptop. This is encouraging.  However, my pictures are on my phone.   I will do a couple of posts as I am able.  

It's THEM not US!  I could not get on the site earlier today either.  First there was a notice that there was some sort of problem with the site.  Then I was not allowed to post on a particular thread without signing in.  THEN>>>it would NOT ALLOW ME TO sign in!  Kept trying and now things seem to have resolved themselves and are working again.  Phew!  Don't take my Cruise Critic away from me!😉

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We have been to Aruba a few times in the past.  This time I just walked around the downtown shopping area and bought a few things.  I took a couple of funny pictures.  

 

The main Street

 

 

I have always liked this shopping center with all of its pink gingerbread. 

 

 

 

My crazy picture

 

I was just sitting on this bench and someone told me to moooove over and they would take my picture.  HaHa  It was an ad for a steak house restaurant.  

 

 

Lucy's is a hot spot for beverages on the harbor. 

 

[calicakes]

@DragonOfTheSeas  It sounds like Diamond Plus should at least Equal Elite PLUS.  You have so many cruises to just be "Elite". 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

17 minutes ago, calicakes said:

@DragonOfTheSeas  It sounds like Diamond Plus should at least Equal Elite PLUS.  You have so many cruises to just be "Elite". 

That is as high as the match goes.  . . . it goes in the other direction, too.  Elite plus on Celebrity is only Diamond on Royal Caribbean.  I think it has always been this way--or for a very long time anyway. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

On another visit we took an island tour.  There were taxi tour operators in the port today offering these for 25 pp. 

 

Here are a couple of the highlights. [taken in the past]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ayo Rock formations. There are Indian cave drawings nearby.

 

 

 

 

The California Lighthouse:

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am not sure why we were almost an hour late leaving tonight.  However, it gave me the opportunity to take a couple of pictures of Aruba at night.  

 

 

 

 

The pool deck is also bathed in color at night.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The show tonight was" Lady Valentine," an all male group.  I missed the first minute or two so if they explained why a male group is called Lady Valentine, I missed it.

 

They were a good group with lots of energy and rock!  The Beyond's use of the screen and lights sets the stage.  It must be hard to do this in theatre in the round. I am really impressed with the theatre on the Beyond and on the entertainment in general.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kwokpot]

6 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

The show tonight was" Lady Valentine," an all male group.  I missed the first minute or two so if they explained why a male group is called Lady Valentine, I missed it.

It's the name of one of the singers niece. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Just now, kwokpot said:

It's the name of one of the singers niece. 

I knew there was an explanation.  Thank you!  I thought they were very good.  Did you like them?

[kwokpot]

21 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I knew there was an explanation.  Thank you!  I thought they were very good.  Did you like them?

I thought they all had great voices. Some numbers were better than others. I wish they sang the whole Bohemian Rhapsody, their voices were great on all the Queen songs. Their choreography is a little hokey. 

[mfs2k]

9 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I am not sure why we were almost an hour late leaving tonight. 

An ambulance came and they took someone off the ship. We left as soon as the ambulance departed.