Our Pre-halloween Oct 25th 5-day Mexican Riviera Cruise in Cabin 18100 (DOS) on the Bliss

Grimix · November 3, 2022

Now that I remember correctly we went to the go-karts before heading to the pool. On the way out of the haven to the back of the boat I remembered I needed to change out my flip-flops for closed-toe shoes! I quickly changed into my shoes and we headed to the go-kart. The pool deck was lively. They were doing Mr Sexy Legs, and my daughter was intrigued and wanted to watch the show. Unfortunately we told her we had reservations for the go-karts and we had to get over there. We check-in for our reservation and there were only a 4-5 other people there. They go over the safety briefing also tell slow people to keep to the right so others can pass on their left (which apparently nobody listens too), give you your hoods because you're using helmets that probably aren't washed that often. After a 5 minute wait for the prior race to end we were escorted to our cars. I unfortunately got the last car in the line so would have to struggle to get free.

We get the green light, and my eldest son who is right in front of me struggles. Hits the wall on the way out. I manage to pass him. After a lap or so I see them waving some people off the track, and they look like my kids. I'm trying to go full-speed but the things slow down every minute or so because of some accident. People in front of me go slow right in the middle of the road so I can't pass. All in all I got about 3/4 of one lap that I was able to go all-out on. We get the checkered flag and hit pit row.

When my wife and I get out our kids are no where to be seen. We look around the area but can't find them anywhere. I suspect they might have gone back to room. It's not a big boat so the odds are they weren't lost. My wife to her credit was holding it together, although I could tell she was worried. We make it back to the stateroom and the kids aren't there. Only grandpa with the TV blaring. I head back to racetrack to try and track (pun sorta intended) them down. I find them upstairs at the chairs they make you wait for the next race. The guy there said they were removed because they hit the walls, and they had already refunded their fare. My youngest was in tears because he didn't get to do the whole thing. I think the race track people just didn't want to deal with our kids because one of the adults rammed into my wife full on, and I saw several spin outs, and others not making way for faster carts. My wife said our youngest was trailing her the whole time until they took him off, and it didn't look like he had even done anything (my wife was slow too; the whole nervous thing.) Even more ridiculous was that they bring them to the start and don't tell the parents where they took their kids. Either way, none of us really enjoyed it. I did manage to get the second fastest lap time though on my 3/4 full-speed lap. I probably wouldn't do it again.

Grimix · November 3, 2022

I should add that my oldest who is 15 doesn't want get his learners permit when he's 16 because he thinks there are too many rules to driving. My wife and I are happy with his decision!

We regrouped at the room, and I got prepared to go over to the slides with the kids, while my wife went to get grandpa to go to the Haven pool. My kids first wanted to do a quick game of mini-golf before the slides so we headed towards the back by the racetrack where they have a little 5 or 6 hole setup. The balls/clubs are in a holder on the starboard side of the ship. Unfortunately, this is also the last hole. Whoever designed this course did it backwards. We had to walk the whole course (and there is no walkway around) to get to the first hole. Which wasn't a problem for us as no one was there so my kids didn't ruin anyone's game! I let them play, because if I had played they would have lost big time and my son already cried once this morning (I'm a little competitive, and don't let people win. If you beat me you don't have to wonder whether I was trying to beat you or not.)

After this diversion we headed to the port slide which has less restrictions than the ocean loops on the other side, and you go down on a raft. They had a scale at the entrance that gave you actual numbers. You have to be below a certain weight to be able to ride it I believe. On the Ocean Loops you have to be ABOVE a certain weight and below another. My daughter weighed and she was 118lbs. She needed to be 120lbs to do the ocean loops so she was sad, but consoled herself with the slide she could go on. She went down with my youngest, and my eldest went down alone. I just watched and took pictures. My daughter said it wasn't that exciting, but they would go down it again.

My eldest wanted to do the ocean loops (it hangs out over the side of the boat, and has one of those drops where they release a trap door and you head down at around a 70 degree angle or so. We get over there and weigh us. They tell me I have to take off my hat and sunglasses. Go back to a chair with my other kids and drop those off. Head back and realize I probably need to take off my watch so I go back and take off my watch. Get back again (and my son is almost at the top) and they say I have to take off my wedding ring as well. Back to the chair. Now all I have is my swim shirt, and swim trunks. They say I should take off my swim shirt because it will slow you down. (This slide has a large turn that goes up and around after the drop. If you don't get enough speed you won't make it over the top and will end up back down at the bottom where you will be removed via a hatch, and there endeth your ride.) One more trip back to the chair to deposit my swim shirt, and my son is getting ready to go. My son didn't make it all the way, and had to rescued via the hatch. I talked to the attendant briefly and he said you really need to keep your feet crossed. He said if you don't your legs and crotch area essentially become a big parachute that will slow you down and prevent you from getting over the loop (I found out later that my son had in fact uncrossed his legs and that was probably the reason he didn't make it over the loop.) I listened to the advice and managed to make it to the end, and thought it was a lot of fun, and I didn't think it was that scary. I didn't even know I was over the edge of the boat because all you really see if the tube (although there are clear sections they go so fast and there's water in your face you don't see much.)

Waiting their turn at the top of the slide.

Eldest finishing his ride. He loved it more than the other 2. Unfortunately no pictures of the ocean loop this time because I was going to ride it and had already put down my phone. We will return later in our cruise to attempt it again, and that time I have pictures!

Sthrngary · November 3, 2022

Wow and I do mean wow, that was on heck of a story. My name on CruiseCritic is @sthrngary. I wrote the Op-Ed the secrets of the Haven VIP Experience. I also stayed in 18700 (same as 18100 just the other side. It was on the NCL Joy. It also was a vacation for my family just no Grandpa. I did a video on my experience and the room on YouTube.

I read most of your posting but not all of it. The H2 Haven Deluxe Owners Suite was a very special experience. I was also originally on the Encore in the Owners Suite but four covid cancellations later, it ended up being Mexico on the Joy. My adult daughter got the Second Bedroom and I thought she was going to hate it. Instead she loved it. When she wanted to see the world, she just came out. I asked the Butler to put four lounge chairs outside on the crazy big deck and that was no issue.

I am not going to say much but I am really glad you had a great time. Can't wait to hear about your Encore experience. We are both all spoiled. Where do you go from the Owners Suite?

Cruise well and enjoy every Haven Moment.

Grimix · November 4, 2022

19 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Wow and I do mean wow, that was on heck of a story. My name on CruiseCritic is @sthrngary. I wrote the Op-Ed the secrets of the Haven VIP Experience. I also stayed in 18700 (same as 18100 just the other side. It was on the NCL Joy. It also was a vacation for my family just no Grandpa. I did a video on my experience and the room on YouTube.

I read most of your posting but not all of it. The H2 Haven Deluxe Owners Suite was a very special experience. I was also originally on the Encore in the Owners Suite but four covid cancellations later, it ended up being Mexico on the Joy. My adult daughter got the Second Bedroom and I thought she was going to hate it. Instead she loved it. When she wanted to see the world, she just came out. I asked the Butler to put four lounge chairs outside on the crazy big deck and that was no issue.

I am not going to say much but I am really glad you had a great time. Can't wait to hear about your Encore experience. We are both all spoiled. Where do you go from the Owners Suite?

Cruise well and enjoy every Haven Moment.

Yeap I know who you are! Your thread was probably my first stop after learning about what the Haven offers. A lot of the information there made me the know-it-all in the facebook groups!

I'm a little verbose, but if someone can get a little nugget of information that they find useful then I've done my job. The other reason I do it is because then I can re-live my cruise whenever I want. I actually went back and re-read my last one, and while my writing hasn't improved (I think faster than I type so things don't always come out on the page as they came out in my head.) I got to enjoy that last cruise again. It was a great time on Carnival, but this cruise blew that one away!

Both the stateroom and service where great! The Encore might be my last in a DOS (unless I win tomorrow's lottery!) because they are expensive. This one was a 5-nighter where we had to pay for Grandpa, the Encore is a 7 nighter where my brother will be a contributor. With his contribution we can get the DOS for the price of the 2-bedroom. He gets his own room, we all get a lot more room, and the fabulous balconies for glacier viewing!

Thanks for your nice comments and I hope to finish this novel sometime soon. It's turning into an almost virtual live...

Grimix · November 4, 2022

We headed back to the room to get ready for our Dinner at Q. It was an early sitting because we wanted to go to the captain's reception in the Haven's Horizon lounge. As was the normal case for this cruise we were seated almost immediately. We had a nice big table near the stage. There was a band playing mostly country songs, but they mixed some pop-country stuff in there as well (I remember them playing Islands in the Stream, one of my wife's favorites.)

I remember thinking I'll order the Pitmaster platter so I can try a little of everything. This being my first specialty dinner I figured I should try a couple of the sides (potato salad, and coleslaw), the lonestar potato, and fried green tomatoes and deviled eggs (sans bacon for my wife the vegetarian, although my bacon loving daughter was horrified...) Lets just say, way too much food! I really felt guilty leaving so much on the table, and although we took some back to the cabin it was thrown out the next day because there is just too much food on a cruise... We ordered a couple of deserts to go. When he saw our card he said he would get the butler to take them back to the room. We said we could just take them, and he said no, the butlers don't like it when you do that. So kind of like being forced to be escorted on the ship, they were going to pamper you whether you wanted it or not! (I suspect if we tried harder we could have forced the issue, but I didn't see the need to upset the cart, and it wasn't like we planned on eating it right when we got back to the room!)

We waddled back to our room, where the wife wanted to freshen up a bit before heading down to the Captain's reception. One of the nice things about the Port-side DOS is that once you leave the room, in about 5 feet you can turn to the left and you're on the second floor of the Horizon Observation lounge. We took this route and made our 'grand' entrance down the spiral staircase into the reception that was already going on for about 15-20 minutes. My wife dragged the kids with us (she needed her pictures!) but we left Grandpa in the room as he was tired from the dinner. When we get to the bottom of the stairs we see the senior officers lined up near the 17th floor entrance in a greeting line. People are there taking pictures with them and engaging in small talk. About 1 minute after we arrived Joana the pool attendant (who was there helping to serve drinks) calls our names, and heads over to us and asks what she can get us to drink.

This is the moment of my greatest embarrassment on the cruise... (and you should see my kids!) My wife and I tell Joana Hi, and agree with the drinks she has already memorized we like. She then looks at me, covers her name tag, and says you don't know my name do you? (Well as you know, I do know it now!) Sheepishly I tell her I can't remember (in truth I'm horrible with names, and will forget someone's name about 2 minutes after they tell me unless I use it a lot...) To be honest she might have said her name when we first met her (she probably did) but I tell her I didn't want to be staring at everyone's name tag (which I would have to do to be able to read it) as I thought that might be kind of rude. I thanked her for calling me out, and didn't forget her name for the rest of the cruise!

We hung out long enough to get pictures with the captain and senior officers (and no, I don't remember any of their names either!) Unless I'm mistaken who the captain was, he looked pretty young to me. I was expecting more of a Captain Stubbing.

Our table at Q. For some reason iPhone's mirror the image when taking a pictures with the front camera. We were actually on the other side of the stage. You can see the backwards Q in the TV monitor as proof!

Unless I'm wrong I believe the captain is on the right. The one in the center (who I think is the chief engineer because of the propeller on his epaulet) looks more of what you think a captain looks like to me!

And no, that is not Brett Favre standing behind my wife... I had several people tell me I look like him on this cruise (and elsewhere in my life.) It's slightly annoying to me because I'm a 49er fan and he gave us a lot of trouble, but mostly because he was born about 6 months after me so if anything he looks like me!)

Found this in another thread if you guys want decipher everyone's ranks! (Not my photo!)

Edited November 4, 2022 by Grimix

Grimix · November 4, 2022

We made our goodbyes for and headed back up the spiral staircase to make our 'grand' exit. We had a date with destruction, or laser tag, but that doesn't alliterate as well... This being a pre-halloween cruise my kids decided they wanted to dress up in their costumes for laser-tag. We head up to the laser tag deck, which is on floor 20 a floor above the Haven sundeck. Getting there I find out that once again you must have close-toed shoes. We head back down and change into sneakers. Once we get back up they split us into groups. One of our group has to go to the opposite team to keep things fair. My kids decide to sacrifice mom (For most things they would pick her, but for this activity they knew I would show no mercy to the kids on the other side, or my wife.)

We hear that the blue team has won the last battle. Each group is given a coach who explains the rules, and basically tells you the strategy you should use. I asked him did he coach the blue team? He says, no we're the red team. After a little moment of hesitation (I mean, he did coach the losing team) I tell him we will redeem him. Basically you can choose 1 of 4 different types of characters. I don't remember the other choices, but our coach tells us the only one you want to be is commando. Just pick that one. So we all pick commando. He then teaches you about the rapid fire button on the barrel, and the most important thing he says whenever you see the shield icon your gun's display push it. You are then immune, and can blast people with impunity. Also, no-running! When you die you're supposed to walk back to your base where you push a button and you're brought back to life after about 3 seconds.

We start the game and I wait until I see the enemy and push the shield button. Then just stand out there shooting people until I either ran out of bullets and needed to reload, or was killed. Sometimes if I was still alive and figured my shield was down I would crouch behind an object and snipe people. But I died quite a bit, but not without taking 2-3 of the enemy with me. After 10 minutes the game was over and red had won! Our coach asked who number 9 was and looking at my gun I said it was me. He gave me a fist pump and said good job. Outside we looked at the monitors and I had got 22 kills, 2 of my kids tied at 10, and the other had 8. The other people on our team were less. My kids were thrilled we had won and made sure mom knew how much our team owned theirs. My wife said I had made one of the kids on her team cry because I shot him a couple times... I mean I felt a little bad, but in the words of Cobra Kai, NO MERCY!

We walked down to the suite with the kids reliving the whole 10 minutes non-stop. They absolutely loved it, and we were going to do it again later in the cruise, but as you know it was only a 5-day cruise, and not enough time for everything!

My wife put the kids to sleep in record time (although I doubt they went to sleep for a while) because we wanted to make the 9:30 Beatles show, and it was 8:30 before we got down to the Cavern club. Reading on here I see people recommending showing up early to avoid having to stand for the whole show. We got down there about 9:10 (20 minutes before the show) and there were still plenty of seats. I originally sat in the first 2 seats I found upon entering the club. My wife wanted me to go get drinks so I headed to the bar which is on the other side of the club. I passed my friend from the cruise group who was at a table in the back. He said we should sit closer to bar like him, because it's easier to get a drink. I saw the logic in his argument and moved my wife to 2 seats near the bar. They were doing the psychedelic (Sgt Peppers and such) era. My wife and I both love the Beatles and they put on a great show. 'John' commented you might have guessed we're not from Liverpool (in his decidedly non-liverpoolian accent), we're from Argentina. He got some good laughs at that.

After the show my wife was a little hungry so we decided to head over to the local. She got some nachos and got some drinks for us. We ate, drank, and listened to Siglo who were playing in the Atrium I believe. The were playing older rock which my wife and I also love, and were really good. We knew every song they played, which is usually what we like from bands we go listen to live.

We stopped for a night-cap at the Haven bar (once again being greeted, in fact I don't think I could get anywhere near that place without them calling my name!) I made sure I asked all the bartenders their name. Telling them Joana has put me in my place, and I wasn't going to make the same mistake again! From that point forward I knew all their names! I told one of the bartenders (Al, not his real name, but he told us to call him by that so it's the one I remembered!) they must have the advantage because they probably have all our pictures in the back and make them memorize our names. He says they don't. They just remember them from the cards we give them.

Out of sequence thought alert! I'd like to point out that when Joana called me out, she did call my wife CC, her names Chelsea (like the futball team). We didn't correct her, because my wife thought it was cool being called CC! But I wasn't the only one who didn't know a name! (But hers was much closer, and I can understand how she could hear CC, and I didn't even know hers started with a J...)

We then closed out the night back in the stateroom where the kids we already asleep. Tomorrow was our first port stop in Cabo! (I also forgot they had fixed our bedroom door while we were out at breakfast this morning. Finally we were able to close it!)

Prepared for laser-tag... Daughter went as the Onceler from the Lorax. (I teased her remorselessly that she looked more like the Twiceler or Thriceler, of which there is no such character(s))

My youngest son went as an unhappy Starbucks Barista (note the lack of smile. we do have one picture where he was having a hard time maintaining his grumpy look)

My eldest is obviously shrek. He had green face-paint but my wife wisely decided that we would do that only for the real Halloween...

(He couldn't help himself... He actually decided to do that. Don't know how he would know since he's never been to a Starbucks. We should have brought him to the one on board in his outfit and put him to work paying for the next cruise!)

Waiting their turn at laser-tag. Kind of cool because you see the reflection of the laser-tag score screens in the glass (and see the pool deck at night)

Let me introduce to you, the Argentinian Beatles Band.

Sthrngary · November 4, 2022

The normal of a cruise is everyone over eats the first two days. When we realize that we are not hungry for dinner, we cut back during the day. The second think that happens on a cruise is the day you body and mine chills out. It is usually day three unless you have Grandpa with you. That was a joke, he looks like he is having a ball. He probably loves his second bedroom and the privacy it gives. I hope you asked for more lounge chairs on the deck. The most fun my family and I had in the DOS was sitting outside, with a drink and some snacks. It is a little windy when the ship is sailing but I did not care.

My thoughts were, this is a once in a life time experience with my family. Soak it up. You never mentioned that I recall the three bottles of sprits you should have received. I hope that was just an oversite. Truth be known, we took them all home unopened and when we wanted a drink, we brought it to the room. Old habits die hard.

Cruise well and try to spend just one time on the small balcony off the master. We never ever sat there.

Grimix · November 4, 2022

7 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

My thoughts were, this is a once in a life time experience with my family. Soak it up. You never mentioned that I recall the three bottles of sprits you should have received. I hope that was just an oversite. Truth be known, we took them all home unopened and when we wanted a drink, we brought it to the room. Old habits die hard.

We only received one because it was a 5-day cruise. I did crack it open and put in a half-shot of vodka to refresh a vodka soda that was mostly water from melting ice. The rest of the bottle made it home with us!

I also kept forgetting to bring the bottles of wine back to the room for later! I didn't remember until day 4 of 5 where I asked for another bottle of wine just before we were leaving. The waiter came back with one and gave it to us unopened. (As per your expectations thread, I suspect that was an exceptions as I believe they're probably supposed to open them) That bottle also made it back home, and we'll open it one day and remember what a wonderful cruise we had while sipping on it!

Edited November 4, 2022 by Grimix

Grimix · November 4, 2022

I also wanted to add that on the way down to Cabo we must have been travelling with the wind because I went out on the forward balcony several times and all we had was a slight breeze which felt good with all the sun! On the way back it was very windy, and we didn't go out as much while we were under steam. LOVED those balconies though!

Grimix · November 5, 2022

We wake up the next morning and we're still steaming for Cabo. We haven't pulled into the harbor yet we're still rounding the tip of Baja. We hang out on the balcony a bit before heading over to Haven restaurant for a little breakfast before boarding a tender for our planned 'Luxury Day Sail.' It was such a nice day we decided to eat in the outside portion of the restaurant. We had another wonderful breakfast while the ship pulled into the harbor. Unlike the princess ship that I had seen here last year we pulled into the bow pointed at the arches (the Princess ship was in a little further in with the bow pointed towards the marina.)

After breakfast we headed back to the room. We had decided that Grandpa would stay on the ship this port because it is a tendered port. We figured it might be a little difficult to get grandpa onto the tender, and then onto the smaller boat we would be taking for the sailing. Grandpa was actually too happy just just relax in his cabin watching his shows. (I think he watched that new Elvis movie about 6 or 7 times on this trip...) We head down to the concierge, but of course the chorus of our names being called made us stop at the bar for a drink (we didn't want to... peer pressure!) We hadn't got on the first tenders because our excursion wasn't until 10:30. Our concierge still escorted us down the elevator and right onto a tender (this was one of the smaller ones on the way to the marina.) The operators made sure we all knew they accepted tips, and I handed them a $10 for my family.

We get out to the dock, and all the way down there are little white signs with the names of the excursions on them. As luck would have it, our sign was the very last one on the dock. We stood in line where a man was checking everyone's tickets. (Our tickets were waiting for us on our bar when we first boarded and entered our room.) He sees our tickets and says he's taking tickets for the 10:00am sailing. He says have a seat and he'll be back to collect ours. (It was actually 10 at this time.) He comes back a couple minutes later and asks how many are in our party. I told him 5, he says sorry, they had 4 no-shows so too few to get us on the earlier sailing so he'll be back in 5 minutes to take care of us. While we're waiting my kids are looking over the dock at the fish, and see a large crab that they were really excited about. I asked if they could see the frog. My daughter said there is no frog. She bet me. She lost because I turned her around and showed her Senior Frogs. She was not happy with dad...

Our ticket taker was back in 5 minutes and took our tickets, and after another 15 minutes he led our group over to the boats. We get on the boat and the first thing they ask is if we'd like alcohol in our welcome drink. My wife and I say duh... and received what I believe was a Paloma in a plastic champagne flute. My kids received some kind of fruit punch in the same type of receptacle. My daughter loved it, my sons not so much. After that we took off for our snorkel location. On the way there they served us two courses of food (which contained multiple types of food.) I think we got chips with salsa and guac, and some shrimp skewers. Followed by a ceviche, a salad, a taco, and some kind of pasta salad. It was all very good. In addition, unlike many of these trips I've been on, the bar was open on the way out. I had switched to Pacifico, because I can drink that all day and not really feel anything.

On the way down we got a rare treat! Off to the left of our boat probably around 100ft or so we got to see a whale swimming along with us. I say it was rare because we are a couple months before whale season begins. My wife the biggest animal lover (Dr not Vet because she likes animals better, and would have a hard time dealing with sick/injured animals.) was absolutely thrilled! (Even though we had seen whales in Hawai'i earlier in February off Oahu...)

We end up sailing all the way to Santa Maria bay to snorkel. For those unfamiliar with Cabo, most of the beaches are not-swimmable. The currents and waves make them unsafe. Santa Maria bay is one of a handful places you can swim since it is protected on the sides by the rocks. It is also the location of the Montage hotel. That is where we stayed for a night last year (We stayed at an all-exclusive for the other few nights. You should definitely do it the other way around! Do the montage last or you will regret having to move...) It is either #1 or #2 on her list of favorite hotels (The other one is also in Cabo. Zadun which is a Ritz-Reserve which now accepts Bonvoy points which allowed us to stay there a couple nights a two months before this cruise. My wife didn't want to leave... but I told her we'd be back soon!)

They chummed the water with some bread and when I jumped in to snorkel I actually hit quite a few fish because they were all swarming the area. You couldn't really see the bottom, and there weren't too many types of fish, but it still was fun getting in the water. Definitely not a great snorkel spot though, you really need a reef for that. From our stay last year I knew there was a reef closer to the rocks on the right of the hotel, but that was long way from where we anchored, and it still wasn't as nice a snorkel spot a Molokini in Maui...

On the way back we had several more drinks, and they raised the sails to go under wind power. We passed Cabo and headed to the other side of the arches for a quick look at the beach and hotels over there. Then back to the dock to get on the tender. I had asked the guards at the entrance where there was a bathroom as I really had to go after all those pacificos. I'm usually like a camel and can go for hours, unlike my wife who went into a shop to use their bathroom. We get back to the dock, and it's later in the day so there really isn't a wait (I think we could have done some kind of haven priority haven on the way back but there was no need.) This was a larger tender than the one on the way out. We got to our seats and were waiting for it to fill up, but as I mentioned I was already filled... And I couldn't wait anymore. I told my wife I'm going to find a bathroom and catch the next tender. I get up and ask the guys helping people on where I can find a Banos. Luckily he pointed down at the bottom of the tender. I was really thankful to get in there, and I feel like we were riding lower in the water! (Yes physics doesn't work that way but still. :)) We made it back to the ship and offloaded from the tender.

Backside of the arches from our balcony as we were approaching Cabo.

The view of our ship from the Tender.

It's a beautiful ship! You can see our balcony up there one floor from the top. Maybe it does go a third of the ship!

A better view of our cabin. Just below the top deck. You can see the front and side deck. If you see those glass windows right under the overhang on the top deck you can see the master bedroom balcony just to the left.

Ready to set sail for our snorkeling adventure!

No trip to Cabo is complete without an arch pic!

The Montage, and our snorkel location.

Daughter watching our beautiful ship!

Even better view of our cabin! You can even see the 2 chair on the master's balcony.

I've attached the whale video. Hope it comes out! It was exciting to see because while we were eat breakfast people yelled out they had seen a whale, and we had missed it. It's also a good video because our ship is in the background!

PistolPete13 · November 5, 2022

Really enjoying the review!

For some reason I'm not seeing any of the photos posted here on page 2. Is it just me or my account? The only photo that showed is the graphic with the officer names and shoulder bars.

The earlier photos still show but beginning with post #24 it's all showing a grey "-" symbol.

Edited November 5, 2022 by PistolPete13

libtrek · November 5, 2022

Same here.

JoeTec · November 5, 2022

It's the same for me from my phone & my tablet

Edited November 5, 2022 by JoeTec

LaCal · November 5, 2022

Photos not showing

Rulers Mom · November 5, 2022

Loving your review, thank you for taking time to post it. We are going on the same itinerary in January in a Haven Spa room.

Photos stopped on post 24. I can see the video in post 35, and the pic of the officers bars that you said wasn’t yours. The photos before post 24 are lovely!

swanhaven · November 7, 2022

I can't see them either 😞

Maleficent's Dad · November 7, 2022

On 11/4/2022 at 11:48 PM, PistolPete13 said:

Really enjoying the review!

For some reason I'm not seeing any of the photos posted here on page 2. Is it just me or my account? The only photo that showed is the graphic with the officer names and shoulder bars.

The earlier photos still show but beginning with post #24 it's all showing a grey "-" symbol.

Thanks, Pete! I can't see them either and thought it was just my computer!

Grimix · November 7, 2022

Sorry, for the pause. It was my wife's birthday yesterday, so it was her 'birthday weekend' and wasn't able to work on this... The lack of pictures is weird... They show up for me. Does clicking on the video link work? I thought maybe throwing that one in might have messed up things, but there was a normal post between the officer shoulder bars and the one with the video...

cruiseny4life · November 7, 2022

2 minutes ago, Grimix said:

Sorry, for the pause. It was my wife's birthday yesterday, so it was her 'birthday weekend' and wasn't able to work on this... The lack of pictures is weird... They show up for me. Does clicking on the video link work? I thought maybe throwing that one in might have messed up things, but there was a normal post between the officer shoulder bars and the one with the video...

The photos haven't worked for me since you posted them, except for those prior to post 24. I thought it was a me thing, but apparently it's a Cruise Critic thing.

I was able to watch the video, but it didn't clear up the photos.

Edited November 7, 2022 by cruiseny4life

Grimix · November 7, 2022

I should add that my oldest who is 15 doesn't want get his learners permit when he's 16 because he thinks there are too many rules to driving. My wife and I are happy with his decision!

We regrouped at the room, and I got prepared to go over to the slides with the kids, while my wife went to get grandpa to go to the Haven pool. My kids first wanted to do a quick game of mini-golf before the slides so we headed towards the back by the racetrack where they have a little 5 or 6 hole setup. The balls/clubs are in a holder on the starboard side of the ship. Unfortunately, this is also the last hole. Whoever designed this course did it backwards. We had to walk the whole course (and there is no walkway around) to get to the first hole. Which wasn't a problem for us as no one was there so my kids didn't ruin anyone's game! I let them play, because if I had played they would have lost big time and my son already cried once this morning (I'm a little competitive, and don't let people win. If you beat me you don't have to wonder whether I was trying to beat you or not.)

After this diversion we headed to the port slide which has less restrictions than the ocean loops on the other side, and you go down on a raft. They had a scale at the entrance that gave you actual numbers. You have to be below a certain weight to be able to ride it I believe. On the Ocean Loops you have to be ABOVE a certain weight and below another. My daughter weighed and she was 118lbs. She needed to be 120lbs to do the ocean loops so she was sad, but consoled herself with the slide she could go on. She went down with my youngest, and my eldest went down alone. I just watched and took pictures. My daughter said it wasn't that exciting, but they would go down it again.

My eldest wanted to do the ocean loops (it hangs out over the side of the boat, and has one of those drops where they release a trap door and you head down at around a 70 degree angle or so. We get over there and weigh us. They tell me I have to take off my hat and sunglasses. Go back to a chair with my other kids and drop those off. Head back and realize I probably need to take off my watch so I go back and take off my watch. Get back again (and my son is almost at the top) and they say I have to take off my wedding ring as well. Back to the chair. Now all I have is my swim shirt, and swim trunks. They say I should take off my swim shirt because it will slow you down. (This slide has a large turn that goes up and around after the drop. If you don't get enough speed you won't make it over the top and will end up back down at the bottom where you will be removed via a hatch, and there endeth your ride.) One more trip back to the chair to deposit my swim shirt, and my son is getting ready to go. My son didn't make it all the way, and had to rescued via the hatch. I talked to the attendant briefly and he said you really need to keep your feet crossed. He said if you don't your legs and crotch area essentially become a big parachute that will slow you down and prevent you from getting over the loop (I found out later that my son had in fact uncrossed his legs and that was probably the reason he didn't make it over the loop.) I listened to the advice and managed to make it to the end, and thought it was a lot of fun, and I didn't think it was that scary. I didn't even know I was over the edge of the boat because all you really see if the tube (although there are clear sections they go so fast and there's water in your face you don't see much.)

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Waiting their turn at the top of the slide.

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Eldest finishing his ride. He loved it more than the other 2. Unfortunately no pictures of the ocean loop this time because I was going to ride it and had already put down my phone. We will return later in our cruise to attempt it again, and that time I have pictures!

Grimix · November 7, 2022

I reposted the first post after #24 that had pictures. Can someone verify they can see the photos now? I think it might be the blocking 3rd party cookies. Since I was posting my pictures from google photos they probably want to be able to monetize you. I copied the cruise pics over to shutterfly to see if I have better luck sharing these. If this works I'll repost the remaining threads with shutterfly pictures (at least until they stop working!)

swanhaven · November 7, 2022

I can see the pics in the last post 🙂

Thanks for the review also!

Grimix · November 7, 2022

We headed back to the room to get ready for our Dinner at Q. It was an early sitting because we wanted to go to the captain's reception in the Haven's Horizon lounge. As was the normal case for this cruise we were seated almost immediately. We had a nice big table near the stage. There was a band playing mostly country songs, but they mixed some pop-country stuff in there as well (I remember them playing Islands in the Stream, one of my wife's favorites.)

I remember thinking I'll order the Pitmaster platter so I can try a little of everything. This being my first specialty dinner I figured I should try a couple of the sides (potato salad, and coleslaw), the lonestar potato, and fried green tomatoes and deviled eggs (sans bacon for my wife the vegetarian, although my bacon loving daughter was horrified...) Lets just say, way too much food! I really felt guilty leaving so much on the table, and although we took some back to the cabin it was thrown out the next day because there is just too much food on a cruise... We ordered a couple of deserts to go. When he saw our card he said he would get the butler to take them back to the room. We said we could just take them, and he said no, the butlers don't like it when you do that. So kind of like being forced to be escorted on the ship, they were going to pamper you whether you wanted it or not! (I suspect if we tried harder we could have forced the issue, but I didn't see the need to upset the cart, and it wasn't like we planned on eating it right when we got back to the room!)

We waddled back to our room, where the wife wanted to freshen up a bit before heading down to the Captain's reception. One of the nice things about the Port-side DOS is that once you leave the room, in about 5 feet you can turn to the left and you're on the second floor of the Horizon Observation lounge. We took this route and made our 'grand' entrance down the spiral staircase into the reception that was already going on for about 15-20 minutes. My wife dragged the kids with us (she needed her pictures!) but we left Grandpa in the room as he was tired from the dinner. When we get to the bottom of the stairs we see the senior officers lined up near the 17th floor entrance in a greeting line. People are there taking pictures with them and engaging in small talk. About 1 minute after we arrived Joana the pool attendant (who was there helping to serve drinks) calls our names, and heads over to us and asks what she can get us to drink.

This is the moment of my greatest embarrassment on the cruise... (and you should see my kids!) My wife and I tell Joana Hi, and agree with the drinks she has already memorized we like. She then looks at me, covers her name tag, and says you don't know my name do you? (Well as you know, I do know it now!) Sheepishly I tell her I can't remember (in truth I'm horrible with names, and will forget someone's name about 2 minutes after they tell me unless I use it a lot...) To be honest she might have said her name when we first met her (she probably did) but I tell her I didn't want to be staring at everyone's name tag (which I would have to do to be able to read it) as I thought that might be kind of rude. I thanked her for calling me out, and didn't forget her name for the rest of the cruise!

We hung out long enough to get pictures with the captain and senior officers (and no, I don't remember any of their names either!) Unless I'm mistaken who the captain was, he looked pretty young to me. I was expecting more of a Captain Stubbing.

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Our table at Q. For some reason iPhone's mirror the image when taking a pictures with the front camera. We were actually on the other side of the stage. You can see the backwards Q in the TV monitor as proof!

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Unless I'm wrong I believe the captain is on the right. The one in the center (who I think is the chief engineer because of the propeller on his epaulet) looks more of what you think a captain looks like to me!

And no, that is not Brett Favre standing behind my wife... I had several people tell me I look like him on this cruise (and elsewhere in my life.) It's slightly annoying to me because I'm a 49er fan and he gave us a lot of trouble, but mostly because he was born about 6 months after me so if anything he looks like me!)

Found this in another thread if you guys want decipher everyone's ranks! (Not my photo!)

Grimix · November 7, 2022

4 minutes ago, swanhaven said:

I can see the pics in the last post 🙂

Thanks for the review also!

Thanks for the info! I'll try and get caught up now!

Grimix · November 7, 2022