Travelicious

You can most definitely smoke in approximately half of the casino. Unfortunately, all of the good slots were in the smoking section.

@Travelgrrl I very much enjoyed your review, and am so happy to know you enjoyed the trip!

The two times I ate burgers at the American Diner, they were delicious, juicy, and huge.

I just finished listening to the audiobook of "The War that Saved Me." It was enjoyable. Thanks for the recommendation!

Ooh! I just tagged this in my Libby app for when I finish current book. I also see they have "The War I Finally Won."

We were there last October and Oia was so packed. I can't believe you were able to get such great pictures without people in the way.

BA did the same thing to me last October - 2 days before flight. Also canceled one leg on the way back, but it was due to strike. Still, BA sucks!

Thanks.

Are any sit down dining options available for lunch on day of embarkation? What I mean is anything besides buffet.

My thoughts exactly after my recent trip to Miami, complete with American Airline delays. All of the delays for that trip were apparently due to mechanical issues. We are flying out (on American) Thursday enroute to Seattle to board the Solstice on Friday. After the air travel fiasco of my last trip, I think I'm due non-stressful flights.

Yes, I was caught up in that nightmare. Then I missed my connection in CLT due to a delay in MIA. We were an hour late getting started. The only direct replacement flight today to get me to LIT was going to be around 10:00 tonight, getting me there around midnight and then an hour drive home. I decided to stay the night in Charlotte and booked a direct flight home at 11 tomorrow morning. I just hope this one goes as scheduled. I’m due for good flights after this trip. I hope your travel day was better than mine. Nice to meet you two. Maybe we’ll sail together again one of these days.

Well, another great cruise has come to an end. As good as Band Camp? Maybe not quite, as the ship was full and people did get in my way. But I met lots of nice folks and made a few new friends. The food was consistently good. Service was mostly good except in Manhattan the one night I ate there. Now to try to get home. First flight is delayed 20 minutes, and I am again at risk of missing my connection.

Dinner was at Bayamo last night at 7:45. Ugh! I was seated outside by some people I sat with at the Sail and Sustain class a few days ago. We carried on with conversation, so I neglected to get food photos. As always, the food was tasty and way too filling. I have been trying to get the higher end wines and spirits because I have the premium plus package. Whatever happened to bringing the bottle to the table, presenting it, and pouring a bit to taste before filling the glass? At every restaurant this week, with the exception of Le Bistro, they have just plopped a glass of already poured wine in front of me. I’m pretty sure that at least half of the time it has been the cheap stuff instead of what I ordered. I guess this is the reason to order a bottle instead of a glass. Today we will anchor at GSC. I’m staying aboard, will get mostly packed this morning, and enjoy the ship and Vibe Beach Club. I’m going to try to eat light today so I can be at least a little hungry for Cagney’s at 5:30.

I was just told by a wait person in Bayamo that you are not allowed to take anything to go. She said this is ship-wide.

I haven’t tried. I’ve been way to full to even think about it, plus I’ve had all those treats delivered to the room every day. I’ll see if I can find out.

you only need a towel and money. The painkillers are $8 each. You can also order breakfast there if you didn’t find anything to eat on the ship that early. I had the Egg Sandie for $9. The main thing to do is just to enjoy the beautiful view, the nice drinks, and take a swim in the clear water. On the way back, you will be offered included rum punch. Some folks enjoyed it very much. It was way too sweet for me.

A knock, and another tray of goodies. I’m going to be fat as a tick.

I’ve been a bit neglectful, so I’ll make this one short. Yesterday was St. Thomas. I had no plans, but just walked around the stores a bit. It seems to me that there are no longer good deals either on land or on the ship. But a bottle of liquor I’ve had my eye on was $17 more in St. Thomas then on the ship. Guess I’ll be using some of that OBC. Dinner was at Le Bistro. Again, great food, but way too much. I once again had to forego dessert. Today I took the Escape to Jost Van Dyke excursion, which meant a 5:15 wake up, 6:20 meet up, and 7:00 shove off. I vowed not to get as schnockered as I did last time, so I had only 2 Pain Killers from the Soggy Dollar bar, and a few sips of the terribly sweet rum punch back aboard the Rebel Yell. We only had about 2.25 hours at JVD, but it was long enough for me. The water was gorgeous! upon return, I showered and went to O’Sheehans for some lunch. Found this in my room. Good to have around because I never have room for dessert. I just awoke from a nap, and am going to see if I can get my hair to look like I did not just awake from a nap. Then I’m going to go in search of an espresso martini. Oh, during my nap I dreamed a bunch of us CC’ers went to visit @sid_9169. It seems he was on the verge of marriage or some sort of such merger, and we were there to meet his proposed.

Oops. Kind of messed up that last post with the photos. Anyhoo, hope you enjoy!

Had to get ANOTHER remote control, as the new one developed problems. Every button turned on / off the tv, and did not perform proper functions. My room steward tried several before he found one to work properly. I was then able to watch episode 2 of Dahmer, before having a nice nap. NCL had a Latitudes showing on Steve Trevino (?) at 5:00. I went for the first half hour, as I had previously scheduled dinner at 5:30. I was sad to have to leave early, after enjoying a White Russian during the show. Dinner at La Cucina was excellent. This used to be my least favorite of the specialty restaurants, but trying different things has really improved the experience. I had the Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon the gnocchi, which is homemade and the best I’ve ever had and the pollo cacciatore. All so good! Note that I remembered to take photos of the food before taking a bite, just this once. Too full for dessert, I got a lemoncello to go, took a walk, and stopped in the casino for a few minutes. Won all of my money back plus a little. Came back to the room to find my daily treat. Not sure if this is Band Camp redux or part of the Latitudes experience. forgot to post yesterday’s treat.

The cruise director is William Oliva according to the screen. I did not see your friend showing as executive chef. It had someone else listed.

Today we are at Taino Bay. I just walked around to see the sights. It is a very nice port, and the lazy river looked refreshing.

So, posting and photographing dropped off yesterday. In a change of scheduling, I went to the solo meeting in the studio lounge. It was kind of fun and I got to meet @Travelgrrl. This prevented me from having dinner before the show. Choir of Man was a lot of fun. I’m glad I went. After the show, dinner in Manhattan. It was about 8:30 and crazy busy. I never go to dinner that late. Because I ate so late, I decided I should stay up for a bit to burn off some of the calories. The casino paid me back about half of what I previously lost. Here’s the big news: I actually, for the first time ever, stayed up and went to the 80s dance party! I definitely burned some calories there, but quickly replenished them with delicious alcoholic beverages. Got to bed around midnight. That’s much too late 2 times in one week.

Thanks. I never found this one.

I think we had 6 officers there, plus the cruise director. The chef was not in attendance. Still going to try to get the photo you want, just haven’t had a chance to stand and wait for his time to appear on the monitor. I’ll try for tomorrow while people are off the ship.