poncho1973

On 6/13/2024 at 9:18 PM, Seville2Cabo said:

Not sure where you work, but high end watch sales are growing at a higher rate than smart phones or smart watches.  For the last 2 years most high end watches were selling for over list price.  The market has softened this year, but not below list and most companies are selling what they can produce.  

 

Luxury watch market is over $40 billion dollars per year and growing  Certainly not for the snowflakes that can't tell analog time, but still and large and growing market.  

 

 

And THAT answer shows who exactly is still buying watches.

I work with commoners.

On 7/16/2023 at 11:01 PM, Merion_Mom said:

My watch takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

 

Yep, I wear a Timex.  Cheap and durable.

You have to wonder what the watch manufacturers all over the world are thinking.  Obviously, as a GenX I'm not young anymore, but even people my age have long stopped wearing typical watches.

Are they trying to sell as many as possible to the Boomers before they die off and resting on that?

I looked around the office and there is ONE watch that isn't a FitBit or smart watch.  One out of 30+ people.  He's retiring June 30th.  So if you're wearing a watch... isn't it just a cheap watch or is it a smart watch or a fitness tracker?

I'm sure there will always be a niche market of rich people with money to blow, but how long will watches be a legit thing?  It has to be going the way of the Dodo.

On 6/12/2024 at 8:16 AM, The Scurvy Pirate said:

So, just curious, but did RCI continue to honor the beverage package or Diamond vouchers during your extended stay on the ship?

We probably should have tried, but we didn't.  I'm very sorry I can't answer you.  I was already showered and ready by the time the first announcement came.  My wife rolled over.  I went on the balcony to read.  We went to the WJ for breakfast, thinking we better get back to the room because it would be over.  We got back and there was another not very information announcement.  She went back to bed.  I went back to reading.  Another announcement said they expected noon.  She got ready.  We sat there for a few more hours.  We were out on the balcony waving until we docked.
 

One funny-ish story I didn't relate above: when we were pulling in the dock dozens and dozens of the workers started yelling and making the global sign of FLASH US to someone(s) in the aft of the ship on our side.  Apparently, she(they) did because there were multiple rounds of cheers.  It was like being at a 90s minor league hockey game all over.  We couldn't see who because of the hump.

On 6/7/2024 at 7:32 AM, BillOh said:

We started our trip 6am on a Tuesday and that I think turned out to be a great idea.  There was almost no traffic the entire 976 miles!  We planned on stopping between Savannah, GA and Jacksonville, FL, but when the GPS said 10pm arrival on Captain Morgan Drive in Orlando, I called my  brother in law and asked if we could come in that night!  We made it just before 10pm!

My co-worked lives in Gulfstream Harbor, too!  His grandfather was one of the first 10 people to move in there decades ago.

I think it's Captain Morgan Blvd, though.  🙂 

Ship - Quantum of the Seas

Deck - 10

Stateroom # - 10222

Stateroom Category – Junior Suite

Starboard or Port Side - Port

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Very quiet.  It was far from the action and nearly in the dead center of the ship (just forward of the hump)

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View (Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue) – No obstructions.  Could see balconies of rooms on the hump.  Looking down on a lifeboat many decks beneath you.

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal

Was wind a problem? - No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? - No

Any other comments? - Had a second half bath in the room which was very handy.  Lots of space and a comfortable bed.  Everything about this room was very enjoyable and we would stay in this room any time!  If you had mobility issues, this seems like a good room, but I'm not sure about the bathrooms.

22 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

Hey poncho!  Welcome back, and thank you for your review.  

 

I cruised a few weeks before you on the May 6 cruise.  We had a fantastic time but yeah, I've never seen the paint on an RCI ship look so bad.  We had a deck 11 balcony and like you, it was a steady snow shower of white paint chips the entire cruise.  The hull is looking pretty rough as well.  Good thing she's headed to drydock after the summer.  

 

I had a great view of you from my office the whole time you were anchored, and probably saw you on your balcony.  In fact, I ride the ferry to work and got a great pic of Quantum as we passed you.  😁

 

 

 

I'm glad she's headed in.  I saw the ferry multiple times... so I probably saw you back!

16 hours ago, snaefell said:

Thanks for a nice review,really enjoyed it!

We sailed on Quantum in October 2019 from China to Singapore where she was to enter drydock for her 5 year refurb,we were shocked because she looked like new,the last 5 years obviously haven't been kind to her!

Interestingly her stay in Singapore ended up lasting years rather than the planned months due to the pandemic so she has been pretty inactive for part of the time since.

We too had a JS,totally agree they are lovely rooms,as the split bathroom was really handy for us too,my Wife could have her bath while I had a shower!

Food wise we had a bad experience in the MDR which saw us use the WJ for the rest of the cruise.

We have just returned from a TA on Anthem & the MDR experience was so different,great food & service,we don't put salt on or in anything & didn't notice anything at all salty.

Interesting to read about your encounters with rude/stupid passengers,we have sadly met too many of them!

Happy cruising!

Thanks for the history.  I appreciated that.

I wouldn't call the WJ a step up from the MDR either, though.

After posting about crawling like a grizzly out of hibernation and thinking about an Alaskan cruise.  We just decided to book one.  A last minute cruise to Alaska on Quantum of the Seas.  I was warned about the North Star being out of service, but everything worked out for us better than taking Ovation of the Seas on a similar route.  Timing-wise for us, it was ideal.  We booked & packed & flew to Seattle.  It helped that it was a great non-stop flight from Orlando to Seattle at an amazing price.  There weren't a lot of room options available.  In fact, there were no normal balcony rooms at all, but we booked a Junior Suite.  We weren't going to get a bargain on any room, so we decided to celebrate our first time back at sea since 2019 and our wedding anniversary in style.  Plus the flights were so insanely cheap, it made us feel like we could splurge a bit.

As I've done many years in the past, I try to spill the facts and our opinions without a ton of fluff/frills.  If you have questions or comments, post and I'll gladly expound or explain.

The home port:

We've been to Seattle before.  My wife had been for several days, but I was only there for one day and had done almost nothing in town.  It's a fun town and there is a lot to eat and see there.  It's a bit on the pricey side, but it's a fun and belly filling town.

As usual, when you are spoiled by an EPIC port like Port Canaveral, it's hard not to be disappointed in another port.  Pier 91 was much nicer than some of the ports we've been to, but it's a micro terminal and was about as bare-bones as you can get.  That said, we've been to MUCH worse.  If I would've paid attention to know @Aquahound (an old school poster like myself from way back) and @Ferry_Watcher were nearby, I would've said hello.  Royal tells you over and over and over DO NOT COME EARLY because the port is tiny.  As Diamond members and JS people, we were expedited through the terminal.  It was quick and painless.  We also always have everything properly filled out prior to sailing.  They double-checked and we were on the ship in minutes after arrival.  It was 1:30, but that was our window.

The Ship:

One of the first things we noticed about the ship itself was that she's in need of some love.  The paint was in really rough shape.  Our deck looked like confetti with paint chips everywhere.  The blue was coming off in giant chunks near the waterline.  We saw multiple places where the carpets looked worn.  The elevator lights were in various states of disorder.  Sometimes they lit up telling you up or down.  Sometimes they didn't.  Sometimes lights were out inside the elevator.  Some of the buttons didn't seem to function.  In several of the bars/lounges the chairs were ripped or in some state of disrepair.  These are all signs that a dry dock is near.  Overall, they were all small things, but they told the story.

One thing I haven't experienced before is that they seemed to have some food supply issues.  Only small things, but they ran out of cream cheese on the 2nd day.  They ran out of orange juice at many of the stations on the 6th day and said there wasn't enough to go around.  They ran out of a couple of the salad dressings.  We had a couple of people mention they were out of weird things like one of the types of jelly and one of the drink mix flavors that I didn't catch.  Seriously, nothing missing was a huge deal at all.  It was just weird.  They also didn't have a couple different beers in the pub and one of the popular whiskeys.  Oh well.  Nothing big.  No one starved or went thirsty.

The room:

Seriously, this was the best room I've had on a Royal ship.  The extra toilet seems superfluous, but when your wife takes an hour shower after pool days and you've gotta go... it's a game-changer.  We were mid-ship on deck 10 and it was heavenly.  The halls were pretty quiet.  The room was in perfect condition.  The views were epic.  The JS size is so so so nice.  I could rave about the room for days.  Loved it.  The bed was great.  The deck... well it kept raining paint chips on us.  That wasn't great.  However, it was cold out (40F-55F every day) and we didn't spend a ton of time out there except on the glacier watching day.  That said, the paint chips were everywhere and it was bad.

The food:

I'm going to be frank, I don't care for the food and I never have.  Cruise ship food is like bad wedding reception food.  The meat is dry.  The meals are needlessly complicated.  The food is always super salty.  For every ounce of fancy... it's an ounce of not done right.  The menu reads like a Michelin star restaurant.  The plate looks like an airport hotel banquet room.  The flavors are muddled and muted.  Everything is a few shades of brown, even the non-brown things.  I wish they just said "we're going to make dinner like Olive Garden or Applebee's or whatever... we know it's super mediocre, but it's done consistently."  I would like that better.  I don't eat at many chain restaurants at home, but at least I appreciate they know their niche and they nail that niche.

Don't tell me I'm getting Fancy-Fancy Meat with a side of super fancy-fancy item glazed with fancy sauce over a bed of fancy veggies and deliver me salty brown mush.

Tell me I'm getting a mediocre, but still tasty plate of Fettuccine Alfredo with bread sticks and a salad.  Then deliver that with all the style you can muster.

We ate at the Coastal Kitchen every night and probably shouldn't have.  The service was stunning.  The view was amazing.  The privacy was epic.  The food was... meh.  It's a slightly different MDR type of menu.  It wasn't crowded at all for dinner, so even as a JS we had zero trouble with reservations.

The ports:

Ketchikan, Sitka, and Juneau were awesome.  We had private excursions in Sitka/Juneau and they were awesome.  We did our own thing in Ketchikan.  We loved these 3 towns.  We had so much fun.

Victoria is the required Jones Act stop and they annoying treated it with contempt.  We docked in the late evening on a Sunday, so most of the town is closed.  They don't actually care if you get off or not.  The stop was at dinner, so you either eat super early or eat in town or super late.  The town was very pretty and Royal doesn't do this right at all.  This stop deserves the same respect that the others get.

I must add the only bad thing about the ports.  The gangway exit in Juneau was the worst I've ever been on outside of a tender in my entire cruise life.  The absolute worst exit.

We lined up 45 minutes early.  We tried to go to Deck 3 AFT, but were turned away and told to go to Deck 4.  We did.  The line stretched from the port side aft elevators (just past Boleros) to where we joined at the Beauty & Sunglasses store.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/quantum-of-the-seas/deck-plans/2252/04

After us, the line kept growing and wrapped all the way around the elevator bank, through Music Hall upper deck, past Sorrentos and the Guest Services to points unknown back by the dining rooms.  We never saw the end of the line.  We were just glad we didn't wait any longer to join.

We stood there for about 30 minutes before we suddenly started to move.  We were going to walk down and off the ship.  WRONG.  It took 15 minutes but we finally reached the stairwell to Deck 3.  That was only the beginning.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/quantum-of-the-seas/deck-plans/2252/03

We went down the stairs, through the Casino, through the Music Hall lower deck, back past the forward elevators, around the back side of them, past the forward elevators again on the starboard side, through the Music Hall again, through the Casino again and out the door.  It took forever to get off the ship.  It was a massive cluster and people kept jumping the line.  It wasn't 3 people, it was hundreds of people jumping the line.  There was no real oversight from the crew, so a small minority of people just did what they wanted.

The weird:

One morning in the Windjammer, the Washy-Washy person stopped a lady from walking around the sinks and said "washy washy" which was met with this fine piece of human trash telling our dear crew member to "STFU and wash this" while licking the palms of her hands.  In the words of Star Trek's Mr. Sulu... OH MY!  It's a good thing I don't get control of the ejector seat.

The cruise that didn't want to end:

We arrived back in Seattle and couldn't get off the ship.  As described in this thread:

We were stuck on the boat for hours and hours and hours and hours.  If you could magnify that thumbnail... I'm probably on the balcony in the picture.  Above the 5th lifeboat and before the hump.  I was out there most of the day reading in the chair.  We were on the port side.  What a mess, but safety is the key.

We met a woman in the Diamond... errrr Crown Lounge who was very angry that she was going to miss her 11:30am flight to Alabama.  I bluntly asked her why, if she's cruised as much as she obviously had to be in the lounge, she'd do something silly like that.  She said she'd been assured the boat always docks perfectly on time and she would have no issues.  Another woman in the lounge seemed annoyed at me and said she cruises all the time and was going to miss her noon flight to Florida, too!  They both seemed to think we were weird for not booking a morning/lunch flight out on disembarkation day.  A family in the Windjammer was fuming because missed their 11-something flight to London!!  Seriously?  You book an 11am international flight on docking day?  This isn't Port Everglades, where the FLL airport is a half mile away on a nearly abandoned to anything but cruise traffic road.  This is an airport 20 miles away on the opposite side of a town with busy rush hour Monday traffic.  Coming out of a dock where you have to walk a half mile to get to the taxi/Uber stand.

The meme of The Simpsons' Principal Skinner popped into my head.  They were looking at me thinking "Am I out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong."

The Verdict:

We loved it.  I'm excited to a Vancouver to Anchorage one-way with a land tour.  This was great.

Dupe

2 hours ago, Donsyb said:

What was wrong with Oasis? We loved it.

You didn't see?  It was a DISASTER! In all caps.  The world ended that day.

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

We are Pinnacle, with more than 100 RCL cruises, and we are going the other way. IMHO, the bloom has been off the RCL rose ever since the restart, and they seem to have no plan to get it back. There is a wide world and a lot of other choices out there. 

I gotta say, I commend you for this level of dedication.  Get the Pinnacle and fly the coop.  That's serious.  I mean, it never hurts to have fewer Pinnacles on a ship for us D/D+ folks and we appreciate it, but this is in all seriousness a big statement to go another direction.

On 5/7/2024 at 8:52 AM, OCSC Mike said:

 

No problem and I don't want to get your hopes up about the deals. There have been VERY FEW deals like that from PC over the past year and the GGG flier is currently a joke for anything from FL, but if you have the time, doesn't hurt to check.

I'm really starting to see that after looking for a few days.

10 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

What a reference. 🤣

 

They serve the same snacks as before. Your 4 vouchers are good anywhere at anytime (they reset at 5am each day). You don’t have to use them during HH but if you ordered a drink you would have to use a voucher (or pay).

 

While very rare these days, keep an eye out. We booked Allure’s first sailing from PC last October about 30 days out for under $100pp per night.

 

It’s definitely not like the previous October when Indy 4-nighters started at $129pp base price in the GGG sale for 4-5 weeks in a row. I just wish our schedules allowed us to go more than once at the time.

Thank you for the info.

We'll be watching for the deals.

13 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Well you can probably tell that prices on everything on the cruise have gone way up.  There are a lot of threads on the diminished quality of the food in the MDR.  You can judge for yourself.  Diamond plus gets you an extra drink voucher (5).

I've never thought the MDR had that great of food.  I never cruised in the glory days of cruising where you received Michelin star food and everything was gold plated.  By the mid-2000s everyone told us it sucked compared to those days already.  So we just enjoy it for what it is.

I do miss the days (I live less than 45 minutes from PC in Florida) where we could just go on last minute shorties for well under $100 a night.  Sometimes $60/70 a night if it was a weak season. 

On 5/5/2024 at 6:43 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

They have been trying to go paperless with the cruise compass.  You can use the App for daily activities or you can ask your room steward to bring you a daily compass (usually only provided by request) or you can download via the QR code that is available to use while onboard.

 

If staying in any cabin other than a suite you will have once a day room cleaning and can select your preference of morning or evening when you meet your room steward on embarkment day.   We usually prefer evening and ask for it to be done while we are at diner. 

 

You will need your sea pass card to check out towels at the pool or for any excursions.  If you do not return those towels by end of cruise you will be charged $25/per towel.   

 

Muster station is now easy peasy as mentioned above.   

 

Enjoy the fun of planning your cruise.    Welcome back

Thank you.  The towel thing was in effect prior to our sabbatical.  The twice-a-day cleaning always seemed unnecessary to me anyway.  We'd grab our person and tell them we'd just use them every other day and not to worry about us.  We'd put the DND magnet on the door.

On 5/5/2024 at 6:38 PM, Tatka said:

There are changes. You no longer have Happy Hour with unlimited liquor + 3 vouchers during this time from limited menu. You get 4 vouchers during whole day from unlimited menu at any bar under $14. 
 

HH is still held in Crown (not Diamond) lounge, but no unlimited drinks. If there are too many Diamonds and up you won’t have access during this time. 

Thanks!  This is great to know.

What do you get for HH if you don't get unlimited drinks?  Do you just have to use your 4 vouchers and there are some appetizers?

12 hours ago, marci22 said:

You came back for the upcoming 10 year anniversary of bananas in a bowl, next to the ketchup and mayo!

 

We have to find pinkribbonlady.

Much like Jessie Spano, I'm so excited and I just can't hide it.  I'm so excited and I just can't hide it.  I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

I'm so happy that I'm not the only one who remembers this.  THE DREAM CONTINUES!

On 5/5/2024 at 6:00 PM, smokeybandit said:

Just browse a few pages of this forum.  Lots of info already there for you.

I'm sure you meant well by this, but I certainly already did this.  I looked through the first dozen or so pages and... well, quite frankly, didn't see much in line with this.  I did several searches, as well.  It's not my first rodeo, but after doing several things like that I decided just to ask my questions and see who responded.  Thanks for yours.

Hello!

Just trying to get caught up a little bit.  I have thousands of posts here and a couple hundred nights at sea under my belt between several different lines.  That said, we last cruised right before COVID hit and I haven't really visited CC since.  I am severely out of the loop.

We're actually looking at a few up & back Alaskan cruises this summer on either Quantum or Odyssey.  That's a class of ship we have never been on.  We are going to go on a real Alaskan cruise at some point, doing the entire one-way trip with the land/sea option.  This is more just about getting us back out on the seas.  A taster cruise, if you will.

Has a lot changed? I've been trying to piece together things and do a few searches here, but I don't see that a lot has changed. 

We are Diamond... in that sad gap where we've been Diamond for a good while and we're getting close to Diamond Plus, but we're still seemingly so far away!  We need a few more weeks at sea to get there, but we're well over half way there.

Any voucher changes?  Any Quantum-class tips?  Anything you think we should know about sailing these days or new perks to know about? 

I'll properly ask any Alaska-specific questions in the Ports of Call section

On 1/13/2020 at 7:16 AM, FlowBroTy said:

This may sound weird. But I use the caps as a "Watermark" of my post. 

It does sound weird, especially since the photos (the thing most likely to get stolen from your review) aren't actually watermarked.  Were you expecting people to randomly steal your comments or thoughts and pretend they are their own?  If you are concerned about theft, please watermark those photos.

I see you dropped it from most of your review after these comments.

That said, nice photos and it looks like you've had a wonderful time.  Thanks for the photos.  You really did a great job of capturing a few things that most people don't post photos of.  That's really helpful!  

You'll have a great time.

Are you using some weird program to type?  Every Single Word Is Caps Is Why I'm Asking.

I talked about this a bit in my last Mariner review because Navigator was in port with us.

Messaging worked on Mariner last month.

I tip per night.  $5 for a normal night, $10 for a better one.

Whether we each have 1 drink or a few.

The water was Florida cold.

We have British friends that live on the sea.  Their water temps at their beach run from about 48-66F with that 66F being at the peak of summer in August.  Their air temp is only about 65 in August, with highs in the low 70s.  Most years, at least.  I think this year they had some 90s, which was insane and most of them just have small, portable a/c units that only cool one room.

Cocoa Beach water temps run from about 68-86F, so it is relative.  Our absolute coldest water temps are still hotter than their peak temp in August.  So as long as the air temps are roughly "summer" temps (to them at least, so that low bar of the mid 60s is a relative term, too) for them, they love to get in the water all year round here.

Coco Cay

There are a few negatives about the new Jan Brady of the Royal family.  (Whether you are thinking the 70s curly hair or the 90s full-on afro, is up to you) and there are many positives.

We did not do any of the pay items, but I have a bit of info.  However, we randomly ran into a friend and her two teens.  They had paid and liked most of it.  They added a few things they didn't like.  The son burns easily, so he wears a t-shirt.  He wasn't allowed to wear his shirt on the water slides, but said it was odd because females wearing a shirt WERE allowed, but he said he was told if he was wearing a rash guard shirt, it would have been allowed instead of a t-shirt.  This is all from a teen boy, so it's not gospel.  They also were required to sign up for the top, tallest slide or not ride it.  They called this a rip off, but went back very late in the day and rode it with no problem.  They loved the wave pool and the obstacle course, calling those the best attractions.  They loved all the slides.  They did not pay for anything else like zip lines, the balloon, or cabanas.

The free areas are both greatly improved AND not as good at the same time.  That sounds backwards, but it isn't.  Everything they improved is awesome.  The chairs are 100x nicer. There are tons of chairs.  The beach bungalows are awesome, but we didn't buy one.  The cabanas out on the water looked amazing.  Not $1k+ amazing, but amazing if your cruise is cheap.  There was a lot of seaweed in the water in places.  What was not as good is the privacy.  You used to could wander down the beach, grab a quiet spot and maybe a hammock and chill out.  I found ZERO quiet spots.  ZERO.  We walked the entire beach and didn't find anywhere that met that quality.  The section of South Beach that is open (most is behind a fence) was smelly and full of seaweed.

The Chill Island area was our favorite and the Chill Grill is legit night & day better than the old food area.  There are still chickens randomly walking around, so that was fun.  The food area is really nice.  They have a lot more choices, including tacos!!!  I was very happy.  I was very unhappy with the child who was pulling food off with his fingers and standing there eating it.  I said something to his dad, who said he was only 8.  I told him that was about 5 years older than he needed to be to know that was gross.  His dad told him "stop doing that" but he did it about 30 seconds later again and dad just sheepishly walked away leaving the child there.  A couple of other people told the child to stop and called over a worker.  The worker replaced the corn on the cob that he was eating from and pulling some in and putting some back.  This is entirely on poor parenting and not Royal.

With both Navigator & Mariner in port, seating was tough to find.  There were seats available, but it wasn't easy around noon.  There were a LOT of chair hogs present.  You'd see 20 chairs in a row with towels on them.  The water was CHILLY so there were barely any people in the water compared to the number of chairs with towels.  This might need review by the staff.

I'm very anti-smoking, but I'm reasonable enough to know that people smoke and they need a place to do it.  HOWEVER, there was a ton of smoking in the non-smoking areas and even worse a ton of vaping (you know it's 100% safe, it's just water vapor... OOOOOOOOPPPPPPPSSSSS!  Guess that's not true!) going on.  There were so few workers that it almost never got dealt with.  This wasn't the case at the Oasis Lagoon Pool.  There were workers everywhere and they were vigilant about almost everything.

The pool was amazing.  It was freezing cold and I'm very cold tolerant.  It was much warmer if you go to the side near the DJ and the float-up, swim-up bar.  Part of me assumes that was because of all the bodies.  Part of me cringes to assume there were a lot of drunks peeing in the pool there.  However, the pool is massive and the 80% of it that wasn't up by the DJ & bar was awesome.  It was a great pool with great places to hang out.  The pool loungers were 100% full, but people were swapping out regularly.  Some dude came by and put like 4 flip-flops on some chairs and wandered off, I'm assuming to find the 3 other people he was with.  Someone else self-policed and tossed them to the side and her party sat down.  I see both sides there, but I tend to think that real people > flip-flops.  I saw a couple of mommies with preteen kids on the chairs next to them... I'm biased because I don't like kids hogging people chairs, but most of the kids weren't there long and the moms gave up the chairs.

The area near the swim-up bar was a hot mess.  The drunkenness was a bit much.  There were people who clearly shouldn't have been served, still being served and almost hounded to drink more.  A girl fell like 3x, her friends pulled her up and the next round arrived.  She was back in!  I don't want to give the wrong impression.  I love to drink.  I've been young and drank too much.  I just hate to see people being served when they can barely stand.  I also have reached an age where drunks are more annoying than fun.  The guy puking in his hat and tossing it into the trash was rough to watch.  The fact that he booted and rallied back to drinking more was both impressive to younger me and disgusting to older me.  The group that came over and dropped like a 3' high pile of gear (including a baby stoller... which didn't have a baby in it) on the sand in front of me sucked.  It was just a random pile of crap.  Towels, shirts, cover-ups, snorkels, plates, bottles, packs of cigs, hats, what appeared to be a flashlight????, and other crap.  Just piled it up on the sand.  There weren't chairs available, so they made a pile at the foot of mine around the trash can in front of me.

Kudos to the security who nabbed a guy, who was extremely drunk and walking around air-grabbing women's butts.  To his drunken credit he wasn't actually grabbing them and not actually very close, but he was sticking out his tongue and pretending to grab dozens of butts.  To his not credit, it is still inappropriate, unacceptable, and rude.  He was doing this repeatedly and he was escorted away.  I saw him walking around later, so they didn't toss him.  He was behaving himself later.

Harbor Beach was rocking!  I loved that little cove.  This is the former lagoon where you'd tender into from the ship.  It's cleaned up and we liked it.

We spend almost the full day here and enjoyed almost every minute.  I'd guess we were in the last 100-200 people back on the ship.

Poor Chris is gone.  His successor changed the rules!

I noticed the cream cheese thing AND the syrup!  Same thing.  You could get the syrup in the tubs, now you can ask for the sugar free ones, but they don't set them out.  I don't NEED sugar free, but I like the tubs.  Like you, I see the point.  Less waste.

I'll add my CoCo Cay stuff later today hopefully. @Anita Latte