Something Old, Something New, Nothing Borrowed, Something Blue

[Flossbolna]

Those sea days sound so wonderful!! I am really excited about my next cruise, which will be a Western on the Fantasy and about the excursions we have planned. But I am so sad that we only have two sea days and that just seems far too few. Your cruise definitely did not skimp on the sea days. Smart choice of itinerary!

Sorry that the airlines quiz was so short - especially since you gave up another event that you were interested in.

The North Star is fascinating. I was amazed to see how empty the pool was! Not at all comparable to the kid soup at the family pool on a DCL ship.

 

[dgbg100106]

Day 23

This morning we had an earlier start and were up and about by 9:00. I was a little torn that morning. As it was a Sunday, there was a nondenominational service in Music Hall at 9:30 and originally it was my plan to attend this. However, I then spotted that there was a visual quiz about airlines in the Schooner Bar at 10:00. I do not only work in this industry, but this has been a big passion of mine ever since I was a child. I could not do both and in the end the quiz won out. We will be on the Navigator for two Sundays and both will be sea days so I am hoping I will get the chance then.

We got up and ready and headed down to the Cafe Promenade for a light breakfast. We had plans for a sit down lunch that day so did not want a proper breakfast. Graham had a lemon and poppy seed muffin and I had a vanilla donut. We both had some coffee. Once we finished our breakfast, we headed on deck up to the Schooner Bar. There were quite a few people there already and more people came drifting in while we were sitting there waiting for the quiz to start. There was somebody conspicuous by his or her absence though and that was the person running the quiz. 10:00 came and went and nobody turned up. After about 10 minutes people were drifting away. Somebody headed down to guest services and they contacted somebody in cruise director’s staff department. The person, who had gone down, came back stating that they would send somebody. Somebody did turn up about 10 minutes later. This must have been the quickest ever quiz as a lot of people there needed to be at the progressive trivia at 10:30. It was fun though. Each team was given a sheet with logos of various international airlines and a pencil. The idea was to complete them all and hand the sheet in first. I had expected tail designs, but it was logos that can be found on the main body of the aircraft so that threw me a little. Graham commented that he was surprised that our logo was not on there until I pointed it out to him. Tail designs would definitely have been easier. We did OK, but did not win.

We play progressive trivia all the time on the cruises. We have managed to win several times, but mostly because we get paired up with really smart people. we find that people do not show up to trivia or other events from the crew. I have never seen a progressive trivia described as you have here. We have only seen it with written trivia questions.

This day we had another time change so when the progressive trivia was over, the cruise director announced that the time was now noon. I find this very strange to do the time changes in the middle of the day rather than over night as this is the case in DCL. I find this a lot less disruptive. We were just about to head for lunch as this normally starts at 12:00, but with the time change they put this back by an hour.

I have not seen this happen before, we have always done it over night, easier to sleep thru a change than in the day, and at noon!

Fortunately I did spot this on the Royal IQ app before we set off so we had another hour to relax. This worked out for another reason. I was facing the window and was blissfully oblivious about what was going on behind me. Suddenly Graham tapped me on the shoulder and told me that there were some penguins behind me. At first I did not understand what he wanted from me, but he pointed in the general direction of the stage and there were the penguins from Madagascar. They did a little dance and then their escort invited people to come and see them. To my delight, they had a photographer with them. So I got in line to meet them. This was another thing that I wished I had found out earlier in the cruise. Apparently there was a photographer with all of the character performances.

oh how fun! Love the penguins!

Shortly after the penguins had left, so did we. We headed down to American Icon Grill. We were seated and our server for this meal came to take our drinks order and bring the menu. I had some Coke and Graham had some water. We both passed on a starter. I had a look at the salad bar that they had set up further back in the restaurant, but the line for this was long so I passed. Graham had the fish and chips, which he said was just OK. I had the Nasi Goreng, which came with a fried egg and some Chicken Satay. This was absolutely delicious. I also could not resist the dessert. When I looked at the menus before the cruise, there were lots of different desserts with peanut butter. However, they had changed the menus and they had all disappeared. This was the one exception and they had a chocolate and peanut butter pie. This was amazing. This was hands down the best dessert I had all cruise.

glad that lunch was ok but more excited that you got a great dessert!

After lunch, we headed back to Two70. Shortly after we go back to our favourite spot, the lecture started. This was about photo editing on smart phones and tablets. This was done by the same guy who had done the Vatican lecture. Graham did not go to that so he had no idea what delight was waiting for him. One of the Chinese crew members introduced the lecturer. She introduced him as Professor Warren. However, she had quite a strong accent and what Graham understood was something quite different. Graham looked at me quite bewildered and asked me if she had just called him “professional boredom”. I just cracked up. This was such a fitting description of that guy. Graham came to that conclusion as well. I really hope that they won’t have the same lecturer on our next two cruises. I normally enjoy the lectures on our longer cruises and especially on the Transpacific it would be great to have some interesting lectures to go to.

now that is funny, what if she really did say that!

Around 15:30, we left. We had the North Star booked for 16:00 that afternoon. We headed up to the check in for the North Star. This was an altogether different experience than what it had been on the first afternoon. When we checked in, we were each weighed and were then given a card with a number on. It turned out that they were checking in two “flights” at the same time. We were on the first one. The previous group of people had only just gone up so the person checking us in offered that we could get some water and advised that it was OK to bring water onto the North Star with us. We were all OK. Once the previous group had landed, we were allowed to go up. There was a photographer taking photos in the North Star before we went up. As we were the first people on board, we just got a photo of the two of us. This time round we went up and then over the side of the ship on either side. That was a very different experience and it felt we were up there for quite a while. I took some more photos from this unique perspective. Once we landed, the photographer offered to take some photos outside. We stopped for a photo and then headed downstairs.

oh that looks like a lot of fun, very exciting to be up there and get to Hang over the side of the ship.

[/QUOTE]

There was a gold Vespa on the landing on that deck and I took a photo of this before we headed back down. Graham wanted to have a closer look at the outside deck on deck 5. So we headed in that direction. We had a look on one side first and then headed over to the other side. There we found some nice loungers with a view. We settled down and stayed out there to watch the sunset. It was still pretty warm, but because it is pretty sheltered on deck 5, it was actually pretty nice. The sunset was pretty lovely, too.

that sound slovely, to just relax and watch the sunset.

Once the sun had gone down, we headed back to the cabin to get showered and changed. We enjoyed a glass of wine while we got ready. Once we were done, we headed down to get some photos. Then we headed to dinner. Only my "dad" and his partner were there that evening. Our other two table mates had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants this night and the following one. This was our last meal at Chic. Graham had the shrimp ceviche followed by the grilled Atlantic salmon with crushed red bliss potatoes with a white wine butter sauce. I had the tomato bruschetta again followed by the Beef Wellington with roast potatoes, broccoli, asparagus and a Bordelaise sauce. Graham passed on dessert and I was going to pass, too, but then I heard that they had pistachio ice cream, which I have a weakness for. So I had some of this.

yummy pistachio y'all's photos are very cute, that deep royal looks good on you, another jewel tone.

After dinner, we said goodnight and headed back to the cabin. Graham got ready for bed. I read a couple of chapters in my book and then I called it a night as well.

Great day with lots of exciting things to do.

 

[dolphingirl47]

That shade of blue is lovely on you!

Thanks. Royal blue is my favourite colour.

I am glad the 'grand quiz master' eventually showed for the aurline quiz.

So was I.

The trivia in the afternoon sounds fun.

It was and I can't wait to get to play for a whole cruise.

At first I thought what! Penguins in that region lol.. This is not the south pole..

That was exactly my reaction when Graham told me that there were penguins behind me.

You both look great at dinner.

Thanks.

Very odd a time change in the middle of the day.

That is what I thought.

Those sea days sound so wonderful!!

They were.

I am really excited about my next cruise, which will be a Western on the Fantasy and about the excursions we have planned.

I love the Western Caribbean itinerary. What are your ports of call?

But I am so sad that we only have two sea days and that just seems far too few.

I can understand this. On the Arabian Gulf cruise last year, we only had one sea day and that was nowhere near enough for me.

Your cruise definitely did not skimp on the sea days.

Definitely not. We are also doing OK in that regard during our next two cruises. Our November cruise will have 8 sea days plus we don't get into New York until 16:00 on our first day there so that is almost another sea day. In April, we will have 15 sea days.

Sorry that the airlines quiz was so short - especially since you gave up another event that you were interested in.

It all worked out though.

I was amazed to see how empty the pool was! Not at all comparable to the kid soup at the family pool on a DCL ship.

The pools on the the two Royal Caribbean ships we have been on were a lot bigger than on the Disney ships and we did not have many kids at all on this cruise.

I have never seen a progressive trivia described as you have here. We have only seen it with written trivia questions.

What a shame. The variety of questions is what this made such a lot of fun.

I have not seen this happen before, we have always done it over night, easier to sleep thru a change than in the day, and at noon!

That is good to know. It be interesting to see how this will be handled on our next two cruise. In November we will have 5 time changes and I don't even want to think about how many we will have in April. At one point, we will gain a whole day.

but more excited that you got a great dessert!

I was, too. I would have been gutted to finally find a dessert with peanut butter and it had not been good.

now that is funny, what if she really did say that!

She would only have spoken the truth.

oh that looks like a lot of fun, very exciting to be up there and get to Hang over the side of the ship.

It was a great experience.

yummy pistachio y'all's photos are very cute, that deep royal looks good on you, another jewel tone.

Thanks.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 24

We were awake just before 9 and got up and ready. Graham headed out on the balcony to admire the view and during the short time that the door was open, the mirrors in the room completely misted up. Even though it was still early, it was pretty hot outside and Graham did not stay out for very long. We then headed up to the Windjammer. I was off my food that morning, but was thirsty so decided to come along. I stopped at one of the Coca Cola Freestyle machines on the way in and got an error message that this cup has expired. I had purchased the soda package for the length of the cruise and was a little surprised by this. The bar was just around the corner so I went to see somebody there. He did not quite believe me and came with me. He got the same error message. After some shaking of his head, he asked me to come with me. He asked me to hand him my cup. I thought he would reprogram it, but he put it in the bin. He handed me a new cup. Initially I was a little upset as I loved the design on the old cup, but did not like the new one very much. I soon warmed to it though. It had "Ovation of the Seas Inaugural Season" on it and this made a nice souvenir.





With my new mug in hand, I could go and get myself a drink. I opted for some raspberry Coke and then went to join Graham. He had already had some fruit and was just going for some bacon, sausage and scrambled egg. He mentioned that he fancied some toast and I offered to get him some. When I was waiting for his toast to be done, I noticed that they had some peanut butter so I ended getting a toasted bagel and some peanut butter for myself. This went down a treat.

After breakfast, we briefly went our separate ways. Graham went back to the cabin to pick up the telescope. I handed him my cup and asked him to pick up my iPad. I told him that I would meet him back at the Two70. I then headed down to the Royal Esplanade for the DreamWorks performance. First Fiona from Shrek came out to do a little dance and then she was joined by Shrek. After their performance, they stayed behind for photos. They had a photographer with them again. Once I had my photo, I said goodbye and joined Graham at the Two70.



I got there shortly before progressive trivia started and I was guessing along. The rest of the morning was spent admiring the view and reading. Around lunchtime, we took turns to head to the Café Two70 to grab something to eat. We both ended up with a hot roast beef roll and I also had a peanut butter cup cake. After lunch we relaxed a bit longer and then Graham suggested that we could do the round of the ship and take some photos of the artwork. I was up for this. We took the telescope and the iPad back to the cabin and I picked up my big camera. I took the first couple of photos near the elevator lobby on our deck and then we headed up to deck14.

 

[dolphingirl47]

The Ovation of the Seas has a 10000-piece art collection. Some of it is weird and wonderful and some of it is just weird. However, there was a lot that I liked, too. We started in the solarium and worked our way downstairs via the forward staircase. We stopped to take photos of things we liked. Once we got to the second floor, we headed back to deck 4 for a quick break. We had a look at the Music Hall as neither of us had been in there during the cruise. Near the Music Hall is an interactive piece of art with butterflies that I wanted to show to Graham. When you touch a butterfly it flies away. We had great fun trying if we could get all butterflies to fly at the same time. We did succeed. Then we went to the Café Promenade for a coffee and some cake. I had a flourless chocolate cake and Graham had some strawberry cake. While we were on deck 4, we decided to see Guest Services to check if they were offering transfers from the port to Dubai International Airport. This turned out to be the perfect moment as there was only one person in front of us. They did offer transfers and we got this all booked.

 

[dolphingirl47]

 

[dolphingirl47]

Then we headed to the midship lifts and went back up to deck 14 and then made our way down the staircase on this end of the ship taking photos as we went along. Once we were done, we headed back to our cabin. One of my favourite pieces of art was on our corridor not far away from our cabin. The piece of art actually had kind of a harmonica texture and depending on from which direction you looked at it, the design was either in black and white or in colour. I thought this was really clever.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Then we headed to the midship lifts and went back up to deck 14 and then made our way down the staircase on this end of the ship taking photos as we went along. Once we were done, we headed back to our cabin. One of my favourite pieces of art was on our corridor not far away from our cabin. The piece of art actually had kind of a harmonica texture and depending on from which direction you looked at it, the design was either in black and white or in colour. I thought this was really clever.

 

[dolphingirl47]

 

[dolphingirl47]

We still had some time until we needed to be somewhere and decided to just chill out in our cabin for a bit. Graham found the Next Cruise channel and it was quite interesting to see what different destinations they offer. We were hoping that there would be a programme on repositioning cruises, but we were out of luck. Shortly before 5, we then headed up to deck 15. I still get teased about this particular adventure. They have a skydiving simulator called Ripcord by iFly on the Ovation. This was something I always wanted to try so as soon as bookings for activities opened, I booked this for me. Graham had shown no interest in this in the early planning stages so I just booked this for me. When I mentioned this when I got home the evening on which I had made the booking, Graham said that if I was doing it, then so was he. He is still denying that this conversation ever took place. Anyway, I rebooked this for both of us and while we were on the ship, I ended up rebooking this a couple of times as this clashed with other activities. When I booked this, I had to confirm that we were under a certain weight limit, which we both were. However, I had spotted earlier in the day that there were separate weight limits for people over 6 foot and under 6 foot. Although I was within the weight limit that was on the website, it turns out that the weight limit for people under 6 foot was a lot lower and I was over this. So I was not able to fly. I was gutted. I still went with Graham with my camera.

He checked in and had to fill out a waiver and was then given a wristband. Then we were told to take a seat. The group before his slot just came out of the classroom and got suited up. Once they had gone upstairs, one of the instructors came back for Graham. The group that went upstairs had been pretty big, but Graham turned out to be on his own. He was taken to the classroom where he watched a safety video of some description. When he came out, it was time for him to suit up. At this stage, I re-joined him. The instructor went over a few hand signals again and then he told us that we had to wait until the previous group had come down. I asked the instructor on how I could get to the observation area as I had overheard with the previous group that observers were told to go to an observation area. He told me to just come up with them. I was happy with this. When we got there, the instructor told Graham to wait just outside the doorway of the wind tunnel and he went in first. He then motioned Graham forward and Graham started flying. Every now and again, the instructor made some slight corrective maneuvers. This looked a lot of fun and I took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately not many came out as my lens kept steaming up. Graham had a lot of fun, but he is still asking me how it happened that I wanted to do this and he ended up doing it instead.





















There was another professional photo opportunity with DreamWorks characters that evening. So once Graham had got rid of his flight suit, we headed down to the Via. This was supposed to start a few minutes later, but although there was a backdrop in the usual spot, this was rolled up and there was no photographer in sight. Some staff from the photo company turned up shortly afterwards and put the backdrop down. There was just one problem with this. They had put up the wrong backdrop. They had put up the backdrop for the Madagascar characters, but the characters due out where Po and Tigress from Kung Fu Panda. When our friend Laura arrived with Tigress, she noticed the problem and pointed this out to the photographer. He did not really see the problem, but due to character integrity considerations this was a no go. In the end it was agreed that they would just take the photos in front of the red sculpture. This worked as at least it represents the correct country. It took a little while for them to set up for photos there while Laura and Tigress had a little dance. Eventually they were all set and I got my photo taken with Tigress. While we were waiting for Po to start his set, we made use of a couple of other photo opportunities and then we came back so that I could get a photo with Po. After this, Graham headed to the pool and I went back to the cabin to get changed before joining him.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I found Graham in the indoor family pool and I was actually brave enough to join him. The temperature was quite pleasant and it was nice to get to swim. After a while, I headed for the hot tub and Graham joined me shortly afterwards. We stayed there for a while before getting dried off and then heading for the cabin to get showered and changed. We then headed down to dinner. This was our last meal at Grande and it also turned out to be our last dinner at one of the main restaurants. First of all, we made the rounds of the photo opportunities though. When we got to the backdrop outside Grande, we realized that two of our tablemates had the same idea. They waited for us and we went inside the restaurant together. There was only the four of us for dinner that evening.

















Graham and I decided to have a glass of wine with dinner this evening. With Royal Caribbean, Crown and Anchor Society members get a variety of “coupons” loaded on their SeaPass card and one of them was Buy One Glass of Wine and Get the Second One Free. So we decided to use this that evening. We both had a glass of White Zinfandel, which went down rather well. I went with the French onion soup again and Graham had the escargot. For our main courses I had the Coq au Vin with creamy potatoes, carrots, onions and bacon. Graham went with the Pasta Pescatore, which was pasta in spicy marinara sauce with scallops, shrimp and mussels. Graham passed on dessert, but I could not resist the pistachio ice cream.

We had a lovely, leisurely dinner and some good conversation. We got a group photo when the photographer came past. After dinner, we took another group photo on the stairs near the restaurant. I thought I had passed my phone to the person taking the photo for us as well, but unfortunately I do not have a photo from this. Then it was time to say goodbye and we headed back to the cabin. We found another towel creature. We put the TV on for a bit. I wanted to take a video of the Wash Your Hands video. I finally succeeded and after a while we got ready for bed.

 

[franandaj]

It sounds like you had a great day at sea.

Your pictures with the photographer were excellent!

Dinner looked very nice. That was an upcharge restaurnat right? It looked like a great choice for the food you got!

 

[dgbg100106]

Day 24

We were awake just before 9 and got up and ready. Graham headed out on the balcony to admire the view and during the short time that the door was open, the mirrors in the room completely misted up. Even though it was still early, it was pretty hot outside and Graham did not stay out for very long. We then headed up to the Windjammer. I was off my food that morning, but was thirsty so decided to come along. I stopped at one of the Coca Cola Freestyle machines on the way in and got an error message that this cup has expired. I had purchased the soda package for the length of the cruise and was a little surprised by this. The bar was just around the corner so I went to see somebody there. He did not quite believe me and came with me. He got the same error message. After some shaking of his head, he asked me to come with me. He asked me to hand him my cup. I thought he would reprogram it, but he put it in the bin. He handed me a new cup. Initially I was a little upset as I loved the design on the old cup, but did not like the new one very much. I soon warmed to it though. It had "Ovation of the Seas Inaugural Season" on it and this made a nice souvenir.

So glad this got sorted out, I have heard this a few times, but I would say more than not it seems to be working.

With my new mug in hand, I could go and get myself a drink. I opted for some raspberry Coke and then went to join Graham. He had already had some fruit and was just going for some bacon, sausage and scrambled egg. He mentioned that he fancied some toast and I offered to get him some. When I was waiting for his toast to be done, I noticed that they had some peanut butter so I ended getting a toasted bagel and some peanut butter for myself. This went down a treat.

mmmm Peanut butter

After breakfast, we briefly went our separate ways. Graham went back to the cabin to pick up the telescope. I handed him my cup and asked him to pick up my iPad. I told him that I would meet him back at the Two70. I then headed down to the Royal Esplanade for the DreamWorks performance. First Fiona from Shrek came out to do a little dance and then she was joined by Shrek. After their performance, they stayed behind for photos. They had a photographer with them again. Once I had my photo, I said goodbye and joined Graham at the Two70.

very cute photos, Love Shrek and Fiona

I got there shortly before progressive trivia started and I was guessing along. The rest of the morning was spent admiring the view and reading. Around lunchtime, we took turns to head to the Café Two70 to grab something to eat. We both ended up with a hot roast beef roll and I also had a peanut butter cup cake. After lunch we relaxed a bit longer and then Graham suggested that we could do the round of the ship and take some photos of the artwork. I was up for this. We took the telescope and the iPad back to the cabin and I picked up my big camera. I took the first couple of photos near the elevator lobby on our deck and then we headed up to deck14.

So how did you do on the trivia? Was this desert any better?

The Ovation of the Seas has a 10000-piece art collection. Some of it is weird and wonderful and some of it is just weird. However, there was a lot that I liked, too. We started in the solarium and worked our way downstairs via the forward staircase. We stopped to take photos of things we liked. Once we got to the second floor, we headed back to deck 4 for a quick break. We had a look at the Music Hall as neither of us had been in there during the cruise. Near the Music Hall is an interactive piece of art with butterflies that I wanted to show to Graham. When you touch a butterfly it flies away. We had great fun trying if we could get all butterflies to fly at the same time. We did succeed. Then we went to the Café Promenade for a coffee and some cake. I had a flourless chocolate cake and Graham had some strawberry cake. While we were on deck 4, we decided to see Guest Services to check if they were offering transfers from the port to Dubai International Airport. This turned out to be the perfect moment as there was only one person in front of us. They did offer transfers and we got this all booked.

I often wonder who the buyer is for the art on the ships, some it is so strange that it makes you shake your head, and some it is very interesting and thought provoking. Thank you for taking pictures around the ship, i tend to do the same thing.

Then we headed to the midship lifts and went back up to deck 14 and then made our way down the staircase on this end of the ship taking photos as we went along. Once we were done, we headed back to our cabin. One of my favourite pieces of art was on our corridor not far away from our cabin. The piece of art actually had kind of a harmonica texture and depending on from which direction you looked at it, the design was either in black and white or in colour. I thought this was really clever.

Oh that is very neat, it reminds me of an artist by the name of Yaacov Agam.

We still had some time until we needed to be somewhere and decided to just chill out in our cabin for a bit. Graham found the Next Cruise channel and it was quite interesting to see what different destinations they offer. We were hoping that there would be a programme on repositioning cruises, but we were out of luck. Shortly before 5, we then headed up to deck 15. I still get teased about this particular adventure. They have a skydiving simulator called Ripcord by iFly on the Ovation. This was something I always wanted to try so as soon as bookings for activities opened, I booked this for me. Graham had shown no interest in this in the early planning stages so I just booked this for me. When I mentioned this when I got home the evening on which I had made the booking, Graham said that if I was doing it, then so was he. He is still denying that this conversation ever took place. Anyway, I rebooked this for both of us and while we were on the ship, I ended up rebooking this a couple of times as this clashed with other activities. When I booked this, I had to confirm that we were under a certain weight limit, which we both were. However, I had spotted earlier in the day that there were separate weight limits for people over 6 foot and under 6 foot. Although I was within the weight limit that was on the website, it turns out that the weight limit for people under 6 foot was a lot lower and I was over this. So I was not able to fly. I was gutted. I still went with Graham with my camera.

He checked in and had to fill out a waiver and was then given a wristband. Then we were told to take a seat. The group before his slot just came out of the classroom and got suited up. Once they had gone upstairs, one of the instructors came back for Graham. The group that went upstairs had been pretty big, but Graham turned out to be on his own. He was taken to the classroom where he watched a safety video of some description. When he came out, it was time for him to suit up. At this stage, I re-joined him. The instructor went over a few hand signals again and then he told us that we had to wait until the previous group had come down. I asked the instructor on how I could get to the observation area as I had overheard with the previous group that observers were told to go to an observation area. He told me to just come up with them. I was happy with this. When we got there, the instructor told Graham to wait just outside the doorway of the wind tunnel and he went in first. He then motioned Graham forward and Graham started flying. Every now and again, the instructor made some slight corrective maneuvers. This looked a lot of fun and I took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately not many came out as my lens kept steaming up. Graham had a lot of fun, but he is still asking me how it happened that I wanted to do this and he ended up doing it instead.

Oh, now that looks like fun. I am not sure how David would feel about it, but I would like to try it. DId Graham enjoy himself? Would he do it again?

There was another professional photo opportunity with DreamWorks characters that evening. So once Graham had got rid of his flight suit, we headed down to the Via. This was supposed to start a few minutes later, but although there was a backdrop in the usual spot, this was rolled up and there was no photographer in sight. Some staff from the photo company turned up shortly afterwards and put the backdrop down. There was just one problem with this. They had put up the wrong backdrop. They had put up the backdrop for the Madagascar characters, but the characters due out where Po and Tigress from Kung Fu Panda. When our friend Laura arrived with Tigress, she noticed the problem and pointed this out to the photographer. He did not really see the problem, but due to character integrity considerations this was a no go. In the end it was agreed that they would just take the photos in front of the red sculpture. This worked as at least it represents the correct country. It took a little while for them to set up for photos there while Laura and Tigress had a little dance. Eventually they were all set and I got my photo taken with Tigress. While we were waiting for Po to start his set, we made use of a couple of other photo opportunities and then we came back so that I could get a photo with Po. After this, Graham headed to the pool and I went back to the cabin to get changed before joining him.

sorry about the back drop issues, but the pictures turned out beautiful.

I found Graham in the indoor family pool and I was actually brave enough to join him. The temperature was quite pleasant and it was nice to get to swim. After a while, I headed for the hot tub and Graham joined me shortly afterwards. We stayed there for a while before getting dried off and then heading for the cabin to get showered and changed. We then headed down to dinner. This was our last meal at Grande and it also turned out to be our last dinner at one of the main restaurants. First of all, we made the rounds of the photo opportunities though. When we got to the backdrop outside Grande, we realized that two of our tablemates had the same idea. They waited for us and we went inside the restaurant together. There was only the four of us for dinner that evening.

Graham and I decided to have a glass of wine with dinner this evening. With Royal Caribbean, Crown and Anchor Society members get a variety of “coupons” loaded on their SeaPass card and one of them was Buy One Glass of Wine and Get the Second One Free. So we decided to use this that evening. We both had a glass of White Zinfandel, which went down rather well. I went with the French onion soup again and Graham had the escargot. For our main courses I had the Coq au Vin with creamy potatoes, carrots, onions and bacon. Graham went with the Pasta Pescatore, which was pasta in spicy marinara sauce with scallops, shrimp and mussels. Graham passed on dessert, but I could not resist the pistachio ice cream.

We had a lovely, leisurely dinner and some good conversation. We got a group photo when the photographer came past. After dinner, we took another group photo on the stairs near the restaurant. I thought I had passed my phone to the person taking the photo for us as well, but unfortunately I do not have a photo from this. Then it was time to say goodbye and we headed back to the cabin. We found another towel creature. We put the TV on for a bit. I wanted to take a video of the Wash Your Hands video. I finally succeeded and after a while we got ready for bed.

Dinner sounds like it was fun and your dress is very pretty.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

That does sound a delightful day. I am pleased they sorted your mug out.

That artwork is indeed strange but I like the idea of the butterflies.

Shame about the flight but looks a bit scary anyway! Brave of Graham. They often won't do me either as I don't meet some health or weight requirements. I know the dissapointment.

Yeah photo of Fiona! Lovely character pics.

Dinner sounds wonderful and what charming photos tonight you both look lovely.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Love that art that changes on the angle!

Sorry you weren't able to do the flight; Graham had such a big smile!

You dinner dress is very elegant.

 

[dolphingirl47]

It sounds like you had a great day at sea.

It was a very enjoyable day.

Your pictures with the photographer were excellent!

Thanks.

Dinner looked very nice. That was an upcharge restaurnat right?

No, this was one of the complimentary restaurants. The only upcharge meals we had was dinner at the noodle bar on the Suez Canal day and lunch at Jamie's Italian the day after Petra. Everything else was at the complimentary restaurants.

It looked like a great choice for the food you got!

It was.

So glad this got sorted out

It was all handled very efficiently and courteously.

So how did you do on the trivia?

I did OK apart from with the music questions.

Was this desert any better?

I did like those little cup cakes.

I often wonder who the buyer is for the art on the ships, some it is so strange that it makes you shake your head,

I have to say this must be a great job as they seem to be able to let their imagination run wild. Some of it is strange, but I love the variety.

i tend to do the same thing.

We like going on a little art tour on our cruises.

DId Graham enjoy himself? Would he do it again?

He did enjoy it and will do it again if the opportunity arises.

Dinner sounds like it was fun and your dress is very pretty.

Thanks.

That does sound a delightful day.

It really was.

That artwork is indeed strange but I like the idea of the butterflies.

The butterflies were amazing and I liked most of the art.

Shame about the flight but looks a bit scary anyway!

I thought it looked like great fun.

Love that art that changes on the angle!

This really captured my imagination.

Graham had such a big smile!

He did enjoy himself.

You dinner dress is very elegant.

Thanks.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

I have spent several enjoyable hours by the pool catching up on your report. Too much to comment on but I have enjoyed it all.

Petra looks beyond amazing. I must get there one day. Sounds like a very long port day? Glad the drive there was enjoyable but the drive back sounds stressful with the traffic.

Glad the crew member took care of getting you another soda mug without issue.

Goodness gracious about the $550 photos... I have never heard of such a thing.

You are seriously making me consider RC for a future cruise.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I have spent several enjoyable hours by the pool catching up on your report.

I am glad you have enjoyed it.

Petra looks beyond amazing.

It was absolutely spectacular.

Glad the crew member took care of getting you another soda mug without issue.

Their customer service is fantastic.

Goodness gracious about the $550 photos... I have never heard of such a thing.

I nearly fainted when he told us.

You are seriously making me consider RC for a future cruise.

We have most certainly not regretted jumping ship and I am very excited about our upcoming cruise. If you decide to go down that route and if I can help at all, just ask.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

The artwork around the ship was definitely unique. It's interesting how modern the ship is.

Sorry you didn't get to do the flying experience. Fran has talked about doing that on Las Vegas, they havery those simulators there as well.

You really did get a lot of nice sea days to relax, and again fabulous pictures with and withoutthe characters.

 

[dolphingirl47]

The artwork around the ship was definitely unique.

I thought so, too. There was not a lot that I would like to have in our apartment, but I did appreciate it for what it was.

It's interesting how modern the ship is.

This was a brand new ship. Ours was only the 5th cruise.

Sorry you didn't get to do the flying experience.

I was so disappointed, but I understand the reasoning behind this.

Fran has talked about doing that on Las Vegas, they havery those simulators there as well.

There is one on International Drive in Orlando, too.

You really did get a lot of nice sea days to relax,

This was just the perfect mix of ports and sea days.

and again fabulous pictures with and withoutthe characters.

Thanks.

Corinna