aubreyc1988

everyday slots open up in the evening at 8pm, so you just have to watch in the cruise planner!

Like other posters have said, really subjective -So far, I like Symphony's Aqua show the best. Couldn't tell you why. All of the Aqua shows are very good though -Out of the current Oasis class line up of broadway shows, I liked Mamma Mia best, with Hairspray coming in second. I mean, Grease was just OK to me. I've seen the movie and theatre production many times elsewhere which may have factored into my MEH rating. I did also really like Columbus on Harmony, which surprised me - In other classes of ships, Navigator has a GREAT ice show, better than other ships in that class. I also liked Showgirls. -As for headliner shows, those do change from sailing to sailing so can't chime in there, but I will say that "iMagician" Jamie has been following me from ship to ship ALL year long 😛 I think Royal could use a spruce up in this department.

And then made our way back to our hotel (Stayed at London House again, couldn't beat the price) Once we checked in and freshened up, we checked out the local pub, which had live music, which was AWESOME Next morning, our flight was at 12:50pm so we headed to the airport at 8am on Elizabeth Line again, and spent a little bit of time in the airport lounge before boarding. We felt fine until after 3 hrs into the flight, our throats started to get sore By the time we were back at our house in Dallas, we definitely didn't feel well at all and TJ tested positive that night. It took two days for me to test positive but my symptoms were much more mild than his. At this point in time, I'm pretty much over it, but TJ still has a slight cough. Anyhow, that's a wrap for this trip! In about 2 weeks, we are doing Vegas for three days, then taking a short flight to Long Beach CA to do a 3 day cruise on Navigator of the Seas. The theme of this trip is RELAXATION and hopefully GAMBOL REDEMPTION haha!

After disembarking the ship, we had private van transportation lined up to take us back to London House Hotel. This was through a company called Jewel Transportation and OMG was it awful. I paid extra for a meet and greet (you know, the signs with name of it) so I could quickly see who my driver was and get on our way. He calls me at 6:50am asking where I was. We were scheduled to meet him at 7am, and I was making my way through customs at the time and I told him I would be there shortly. We were done with customs at 7 AM exactly and whenever I was looking for the van, I didn't see a sign or anything with our name on it. So I call him, and he picks up and then exits from one of the vans. He barely says two words to me before loading our stuff into the van. He then asked "WELL, where are the other two people" and I said "Oh, they cancelled the cruise so it's just us" and he grunts and we get in. The actual van was OK, but nowhere near as nice as the one we took to Stonehenge. Then on the ride back into London, it got crazy, This guy was basically asleep at the wheel, driving all over the place, and couldn't stay in his lane, it was unreal. Then he had such a hard time getting us to the hotel, even though the address he had was correct, it was unbelievable. But we did make it there alive, which was a miracle. On our last day in London, we went to Borough Market for breakfast, then did Buckingham Palace. * I liked Buckingham Palace, but honestly, it was a ***** show inside. No photos are allowed, and apparently, no food or drinks either, and no bathrooms until you leave the Palace. In addition to that, if you brought a backpack, you had to hold it in your hand the whole time. So it was super hot inside, everyone was dehydrated, everyone had to go to the bathroom, and guards were yelling, which honestly brought the enjoyment factor WAY down. Then we took the train and walked to Borough Market * *TJ took a photo of these guys because they had Leica cameras as well We went to the Transport Museum, walked around Covent Garden again, then found a pub to do Sunday Roast for dinner This actually was the best meal I had IN London and for both of us with drinks it was only 60.00. It was a little cold when it came out but it was still decent * Then we took a ride on the Uber Boat

Now, before I go into my last day in London, I'll talk about some pros/cons of the Anthem of the Seas - the casino was brutal, but at least it was nonsmoking. I heard a lot fewer handpays than other ships I have been on, but could be circumstantial. The dealers were nice, but really had no idea how to deal the games. - Shows were Spectra's Caberet, The Gift, and We Will Rock You. Spectra's was good, I thought The Gift was dumb, and We Will Rock You was good. I was disappointed with the seat saving and how Royal Caribbean really does not give an F. I got to WWRY about 30 min early, people were saving whole rows. When I confronted these seatsavers about how it's against RCI rules to do this, they laughed. So I went to get a crew member who was working helping people find seats and said "Hey, this person over here is saving a whole row of seats, isn't that against your policy" and crew member was like "Yes it is" and I was like "Can you help me with this" and they were like "not really" -Game shows were kind of funny, because apparently British people only like to watch these things and not participate so it was mostly Americans who were contestants and whatnot. -Loads of trivia, and I am terrible at it LOL -Ship layout was OK, but the elevator banks were kind of strangely placed. Like I would constantly be walking PAST them. -Food was pretty good, especially in the buffet -Drink service and quality was on par with other Royal Caribbean ships = poor but free for me -I love the balcony rooms on Oasis and Quantum class ships, they are so spacious and have really good storage. In fact, they were about 2x the size of my room in London. -Diamond Lounge sucked. The coffee machine rarely worked and whenever I had a small issue with something, the concierge couldn't give a sh*t less. Honestly, she was terrible, probably the worst staff member I have encountered on Royal Caribbean and she's supposedly supposed to be a concierge? She never even said hello whenever I entered the lounge while she was sitting at her desk. Very impersonal and somehow rude? Bizarre. -The Solarium is great on this ship, with lots of mini pools and hot tubs. Wish we would have had more time to indulge. I also really like that there is an additional indoor pool area as well as an outdoor pool -I did the free version of iFly by Ripcord and it was so much fun. My husband didn't enjoy it as much as I did but for free it was a good value. We didn't get a chance to do bumper cars, but did do the North Star viewing pod which was OK, esp for free. I wouldn't pay to do any of these things The best venue was the Music Hall, a shame that the cover band on this trip was SO BAD, imho Some more rand om photos I forgot to splice in * * * * * * * * * *

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I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty miserable this whole walk. My body was broken after DAYS of long physical activity, ti was 85F and I was just TIRED. The scenery was pretty, but to be honest, Haugesund didn't appeal to me as much as the other ports. Maybe I was just grumpy, idk. Probably should have booked a proper excursion. The sheep were cool, but because of them, basically sh*t everywhere and you had to be very careful to not walk in it

The next day, we were in Haugesund, Norway. For this port, we decided to not book an excursion and just do this scenic walk on our own. Back in pre-cruise planning mode, I thought this was a GREAT idea. But IRL, I was exhausted at this point and my body was BROKEN. But I was determined to make it as far as I could with the plan Here was our resource: https://www.fjordnorway.com/en/inspiration/day-trips/haugesund/walk-the-coastal-trail-in-haugesund It was also really hot this day, which kind of sucked. So many people were rejoicing about this weather, most likely Londoners but being from Dallas, I was hoping for 50-60F weather It was more like 85, almost 90. We stopped for a cupcake at Jåblom Bakery before our hike, which was very good. I also took a couple of cute photos of these two randos while waiting to get our own shots and I was going to be nice and airdrop it to them, but whenever they came to where we were on the path, they were SUPER rude so I didn't lol (sorry not sorry if you two are reading this LOL)

* * Then after spending a relaxing afternoon out there, we went to the buffet for dinner. Honestly, the buffet was better than the MDR. They had so many good choices vs what normally is offered on North American-based sailings. there was BEEF WELLINGTON for lunch one day in the buffet and it was chef's kiss. And if you are patient, you can get some good seating, which isn't always the case in the MDR.

We then made our way to the forward balcony room to sit out there while we made our way out of Geiranger Fjord. The captain does a 360 turn so everyone can see the Seven Sisters Waterfall, which is spectacular. I recommend just seeing it on the balcony. * We also went to the decks but it was too chaotic and a worse view. * * *

We got back on the ship after this because we had an appointment to go on the North Star, the pod that goes over the ship. It's best to use it when in port. They have free sessions and paid sessions. They have a cool bar up there, so we each got a drink and it's about 10 min at most in the pod. It was OK. I mean, we had just been to the top of Mt Dalsnibba so hard to top that haha.

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After Mt. Dalsnibba, we went back down the mountain to the drop off point, although we did stop twice, at a lake and at a bridge * * * * * We chose to get dropped off at this building so we could see the waterfall and walk the rest of the way to the ship. This waterfall is easily accessible by the cruise port and doesn't cost anything, just your time and energy

This was us pretty much the whole trip, having to pee real bad and not being able to find restrooms lol SO MANY CAIRNS

And here is Mt. Dalsnibba. Because we were a private tour, we left about 1 hr before the busses, it gets MUCH busier. you can't tell, but that brown grating...there's nothing but air underneath that and a steep drop. Lots of little bits of dried puke from people looking down

The next day, we were in Geiranger, Norway. We booked a private 2 hr Tesla tour with Geiranger Fjordservice as to Mount Dalsnibba and a few other stops. As soon as I finish this review, I am leaving a negative review on this tour. When we got to the meeting spot, the driver looked confused and said "Oh there are supposed to be four of you" and I said "yes, but two canceled, so just two now" He seemed a little confused and I then said, "We paid already for the whole car, so it's not a big deal, just two people instead of four". Then he nods and says ok, and tells me that he's spilled coffee in the front seat. I was sort of thinking "um ok well we aren't sitting in the front seat" LMAO but I didn't say that I was like "Oh ok no worries we will sit in the back" After we get into the Tesla, he tells us that he's actually not a tour guide, but a truck driver. Something happened with the tour guide/tour company and he was asked to drive the car for the day. The company did not let us know and we basically had a ***** tour guide, which sucked. I mean, the first thing he said after we got into the car was "I hate cruise ships and tourists". OK then, GREAT start as we are tourists who came by cruise ship. And then throughout the tour, he kept on kind of shitting on Norway and how much he just wanted to leave, etc. Whenever I asked a mundane question just to make it less awkward, his answers would be like "Tourists ruin this" and "Soon they won't allow you guys to come" - And I'm not saying he doesn't have a point, tourism does tend to ruin things, but c'mon, what a wet blanket. He was saying how much he wants to tour Miami and I thought to myself "hope you find a good tour guide" lol IDK, really pushed my limits but the scenery was amazing. My husband of course zoned out and was just taking photos and he lets me ease the awkwardness but on the way back I just sort of sat in silence. Whenever the tour ended, I think he expected me to tip him, but one of the few times I had not tipped someone. Really pissed me off, to be honest. I paid a ***** ton of money, esp since my inlaws didn't get to make it, to be told over and over how much he disliked tourists and cruise ships. Like jesus, keep that to yourself for 2 hrs and maybe you would get a tip. Ok time for some photos (these are on the way to Dalsnibba)

Oh I bet that cruise was amazing! I'd love to do it one day!

45 minute journey back to the ship. Forgot to mention that after our Stavanger excursion, we never made it back to the MDR. Our dining time was 5:30am and it was just too early. I couldn't get back on the ship, shower, and make it to dinner in time so just gave up. When we got back on the ship after our Olden excursion, it was about 2:30pm and we went to Sorrentos for pizza. One of the sales team members sold us on a later dinner at Izumi for a 30% discount and free sake. We stuffed our faces and then went to the top decks to watch us sail out of the fjord for the evening. I like the slight RCI logo in this one up above I love the way the water looks in these * * * * *

This trip was so packed with activities, I never styled my hair, just washed and conditioned it and let it do it's thing, lol. Looking at these photos, I cannot believe how fast it is growing from my bob I got last summer.

The Troll Car ride was about 10 min, maybe less (basically 2 miles) and it was so scenic and pretty, definitely a must do. The hike would have been nice as well, but after the Manafossen hike, I was glad to mostly get shuttled around Once the Troll Cars stop, you get out out and walk maybe 10 minutes to the Glacier

It was pretty nice weather, maybe 60F I stopped by the gas station to get a snack and got these chips, which just kind of tasted like BBQ. I was afraid there would be no lunch on the excursion and I was correct so really glad I picked these up Once on the bus, it takes about 45 min to get to the bus area to get on the troll cars I wish I had a better photo of this area. There were probably like 10-15 busses and the drivers could really maneuver these things around people and to tight parking spots. Hopefully, at the end of this review, I will have some video clips of this trip to show you guys because all of my videos are SO much better than my photos. I took video footage of most of the ride in the troll car, which was so thrilling and fun. We went right by a waterfall, got soaked. It was so magical.

The next day, we arrived in Olden, Norway. WOW, what an amazing port. We didn't book with the cruise line this time, instead, we did Olden Adventures, Troll Cars to Briksdal Glacier. It's another 1 hr bus ride to the troll car area, which is where a LOT of buses stop. You can hike to the glacier from the bus area, which I think is two miles, and everyone else who is there is taking troll cars (Which are like modded John Deers, see photo below) It was really foggy in the morning, but it did clear up around 7:30am when we were waiting for our excursion bus * * * * * * * * * See, here is a photo I took while waiting to get on the tour bus and it already cleared up

I just looked and saw that I forgot to take photos of our staterooms on the ship. They were very nice. We had one room in the aft and one forward. I liked the forward room better, as it just seemed to have better views from the balcony and closer to elevators. They were almost identical to Harmony/Symphony rooms we had. I love the layout and the storage in these balcony rooms. A HUGE point to Royal for the balcony size as well. On NCL, this would probably be categorized as a Large Balcony. We slept in the aft because it was less noisy and less motion. Crazy having two rooms! Sucks my in-laws were not able to come, we never would have used two certificates otherwise but we DID get double points, so at least there is that. Here we are sailing away from Stavanger

On the way back to the cruiseport, I am pretty sure the whole bus fell asleep so no van pics of the way back. After being dropped off at the port, we had enough time to walk around, get some stuff to take back home, and grab a snack Here is the AIDA in port with us today And here is Anthem We walked around some * And here is where we went for a sandwich and a waffle. This was called a princess waffle and it was tasty