Live from Odyssey to Harmony Feb 10-25, 2024 🚢🥳🍾🌊🏝️🐚☀️

[Denversail]

So as advertised we will be live for these two cruises. This is a side to different state side? Maybe? That didn’t feel like it made sense. Let me explain our odd travel plans.

 

We have many things to celebrate this first week:

 

Super Bowl

Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday

Valentines Day

Wolf’s Bday

 

Cruise #1

 

This weeks characters are 4 travelers:

 

Your vacation guide = I (-30 from Dupable)

Your vacation guide’s mother = Dupable (78)

Your vacation guide’s mother’s husband = Good Sport (78)

Your vacation guide’s son = Wolf (23/24)

 

6 nights on Odyssey:

 

Coco Kay - Beach club - All of us

Grand Cayman - Stingray Sandbar, Starfish Point, Beach & Bites - Wolf & I 

Jamaica - Chukka Family Estate Pass at Good Hope Estate - All of us

 

Dupable and I will also be doing Pickleball the morning of Coco Kay

 

This cruise adventure will start with a flight from Denver to FLL on Feb 10, 2024. We will be staying in the Dania Beach area at AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport. Our flight is scheduled to land at 3:30 pm and our only plans are to grab some grub and find a liquor store to buy some bottles of Moscato. 

 

In addition to our excursions we will have the unlimited dining package. I purchased the deluxe drink package while bunking with Wolf who opted for the refreshment package. Dupable and Good Sport are going to flex their diamond benefits and see how they get by with that and a couple bottles of wine. We will share a WI-FI package for 4 devices.

 

We will have two Ocean Balconies on deck 9.  We are all diamond members. We have cruised many times and mostly with Royal Caribbean.

 

We will all join the Everglades excursion on disembark day to later be dropped off at FLL. Dupable and Good Sport will head home to Denver while Wolf and I will travel to Houston for the second leg of our journey. Our flights out are both scheduled to depart around 3 pm. At least that is the plan.

[Denversail]

Cruise #2

 

This weeks characters are 2 travelers:

Wolf

I

 

7 nights Harmony:

 

Roatan - Stay on ship(Wolf & I)

Costa Maya - ATV Jungle and Beach Adventure (I)

Cozumel - Blue Water Sea Trek Helmet Diving and Snorkel (Wolf & I)

 

So the last time we cruised out of Galveston wasn’t my best look. Let’s just say that I made a few rookie planning mistakes that had consequences. Well this one learns her lessons. I decided that we will likely be exhausted and just wanting some rest in between cruises. I booked us at the  Houston Marriott Airport for the night. Galveston Express is reserved for shuttle service at 9 am the next morning to get us to the cruise port. 

 

This is the first cruise I’ve attempted a Royal up bid. Just like the prior cruise we are booked in an ocean view balcony. This cruise we are on deck 6. I submitted bids on Royal up for a few reasons. The main reason is that it is Wolf’s birthday and he is a foodie. I thought it would be an opportunity to try coastal kitchen. This will be the first time Wolf and I will be on a cruise just the two of us since 2006. 🥳

 

 

 

 

[Denversail]

Anyhow…. At 2 1/2 weeks from our Harmony cruise and no Royal up bid response. I looked a few weeks ago at available cabins and realized it just wasn’t going to happen. This is President’s week and I’m expecting tons of family PACKED fun. So unfortunately not really seeing any upgrades in our future. 😕

 

Now something I failed to mention is that both these cruises were comped by the casino. We only paid for tax, port fees, gratuities, and add-ons. Well at least that is the case for Wolf and I. Dupable and Good Sport paid full price. Dupable likes to mention this fact a lot.

 

Would I have preferred staying on Odyssey for a b2b? Of course! It would have come with about a 4K price tag. I could have also hopped over to Symphony which would have avoided the flight and hassle of Galveston. I was on Symphony right before Covid. I also wasn’t thrilled with the thought of going to Jamaica and Labadee again. I have not enjoyed my last two trips to Labadee. So off to Texas we go.

 

So this review might read a little odd. I’m starting this post 6 days out but the tale started 17 days ago. If you only want to see stuff related to being on the cruise skip ahead to the post on 2/11/24. If you are like me and don’t mind a little drama on the side keep on reading. If you don’t like what you are reading just move along. No need to let me know you hate it. Happy Sailing! 

[Denversail]

This year has started pretty rough for all of us. The second week of January Dupable and Good Sport had to put their dog down. It was very sudden and although he was older we all expected him to still be around this year. One morning they woke up and he just didn’t want to move anymore.😔

 

The big guy is their dog. The tiny one is Wolf’s dog. This is when they were young and carefree. 

[Denversail]

Around that same time Wolf’s dog that he has had since he was a child stopped eating. She was still perky and moving around but didn’t want to eat. She is a 6 lbs dog and not eating at times isn’t unusual for her. This dragged on for a couple of weeks to the point where we could only get her to eat treats. No chicken or eggs and she seemed to think the idea of eating kibble was ridiculous. 

 

So a little over a week after the first dog was put down Wolf’s dog was hospitalized. They first thought she was having liver failure. An ultrasound showed all of her organs looked good. They are now convinced she ingested a toxin. Now obviously we are going to listen to the professionals and follow their suggested treatment plan BUT their explanation just seems ridiculous to me. This is a dog that never leaves the house and spends 22 hours of the day lounging on the couch or in her bed. She does not eat random things. She barely even puts her nose in the grass. 

 

So now we wait to find out if she will recover. At this point in the story we are 17 days out from this trip. Will Wolf still be able to join us? Will we be mourning two dogs this trip? Will she make a full recovery before we are scheduled to leave? A lot of unknowns now. 
 

So we wait….

 

Edited February 5 by Denversail

[Denversail]

So my packing prep is pretty simple. I have a few oddities I add when cruising but everything else is just the daily stuff of medication, hygiene, clothing. No need to spell all that out for you all. 

 

Liquid IV

Reef safe sunscreen

Waterproof lanyard for my mobile

Beach bag

Water shoes

 

Now I’ve been in a little dispute with Dupable the last few weeks about the weather. She has been lurking on Facebook and has decided it is going to be cold everywhere we go. Like why do we need to pack swimsuits type of cold. Now I’ll add that I do everything I can to discourage Dupable from going on social media. Unfortunately as she has aged she has become more and more like a defiant child. 

 

I will of course pack a few light sweaters and a couple pairs of jeans. I would anyways in case dinner is cool enough to warrant something warmer. We gave up the formal stuff years ago. The last time we dressed up was on Wolf’s 18th birthday cruise. 

[Denversail]

We were able to have a nice visit this afternoon with Wolf’s dog at the hospital. They said she is doing well and they got her to eat some baby food. They will draw her blood around 5 pm as long as they don’t have any emergencies. It takes about 30 minutes to do the labs. We are hoping to get a call around 6 pm.🤞

 

They are saying if it looks improved she can come home and continue her treatment here. We know she wants to come home. She was so excited to see us. She spent the entire visit wagging her tail and climbing all over us. 

 

Her Lepto test results won’t come back for another few days. They keep mentioning this as if it is a real possibility. Well folks if that’s the case we are all F@*KED. For those that are unaware it can pass between dogs and humans through exposure to urine. This is an animal that hasn’t been to the groomers recently. The last time she left the house was for dental surgery 3 months ago. At that time her bloodwork was normal. So if she has it one of us or my dog is the culprit. 😬

 

So we wait….

Edited February 5 by Denversail

[Denversail]

The bombs just keep dropping. We found out at this same time that Good Sport’s Mom who is 102 years old has been admitted to the hospital. She has been living in Georgia for the last few years with his sister. Unfortunately it sounds like she has some blockage in her foot and they might need to amputate. She will first have a procedure done in the morning to try and relieve the pressure. If that doesn’t work they will amputate. 

 

So we wait….

[Denversail]

I just want to insert here that getting old really sucks. It used to be births, weddings, and graduations but you start going down the hill and it becomes mostly divorces and funerals. 😔

[Denversail]

So maybe I should have started with this but I did a review back in April of last year and it kind of sucked. Haha… this one might too. 🤷‍♀️It was a last minute decision pushed forward with drunken inspiration. I blame @sid_9169 as he makes it look so easy. This time I’ve put a lot more thought into how I want to share our adventure. I hope you folks reading enjoy the journey. 

 

I’m hoping to provide an upgraded experience with videos. I conveniently told my partner right before Christmas that I really wanted to start making videos. So poof on Christmas morning I received not only a handheld video camera with mic, I got a Mac to edit my videos.

 

Fun fact: Dupable and I have discussed making videos for awhile now and she is super into the idea. Dupable is always ready to jump in and join the fun. Any kind of fun. We will see if she approves any for posting on this trip. 🤞

 

Now I’ve shot a few videos but have yet to load them to the Mac. I plan to spend some time learning how to do this over the next few weekends. Now this would probably surprise a lot of folks who know me but I’m technology challenged. There it is. I said it. I’m just not good at making technology work.  Now the conflict here and why folks who know me might get confused? Well I very much understand what said technology should and can do. So to put it in context I can lead the horse to water but can’t actually make it drink.

 

The good news is my partner whom we will alias as MR IT. You guessed it is in IT. So he makes all the stuff work. MR IT will not be making this trip unfortunately. So it will be up to me to make all the things work. 😓

[Denversail]

To provide a little context Wolf and Dupable are extremely close. Our homes are currently separated by three stop lights. They see each other almost daily. I will warn they interact like siblings. It can be very frustrating. They bicker constantly. Wolf has a unique sense of humor. He will intentionally lead Dupable into thinking he agrees with some of her let’s just call them conspiracy theories when he really doesn’t. He just gets a kick out of hyping her crazy for some reason. This should be enough to explain their given alias’s. They can be a little exhausting to be around.😮‍💨

 

So if you are on either of these cruises with us and you see a young man and an old lady bickering like adolescent siblings please introduce yourself. Don’t be afraid to say hi. I’m sure you’ll have just located Wolf and Dupable.

[Denversail]

The lab results are in and although they improved and are heading in the right direction they convinced Wolf that she should spend another night in the hospital. His logic is that although she is improving he wants her to get the best care possible. He thinks keeping her on an IV for another 24 hours in addition to completing a treatment that they stated would be finished at 6 am tomorrow would improve her chances of a quicker recovery. He thinks it will increase his chances of her recovering and allow him to proceed with our trip. Well I can’t argue with that logic. 

 

We are still 17 days out.

 

So we wait….

[Denversail]

Oh man it has been another day. We are 16 days out now and it’s still rough. Wolf’s dog’s bloodwork even after improvement yesterday has gone the wrong direction today. We have decided to bring her home. We know she has been miserable there and wants to be at home. They don’t know at this point what is wrong with her. They aren’t really providing any care for her there that we can’t provide. She looses her liquid IV. The liver protector she was receiving will now have to be given in pill form. They haven’t been able to confirm her liver isn’t functioning properly. Additional liver test require fasting. She is normally 6 lbs and is currently 4.4 lbs. 

 

Wolf is extremely upset. I told him to make the final decision. If he wants to keep her there I would support him 100%. If it were my dog who by the way I’m insanely obsessed with and so is Mr. IT, I would bring him home. We will still bring her in to get her blood drawn. If we need to check her back in to the hospital we can do that too. I just know she isn’t happy there and would prefer to be at home. It was a huge disappointment today to hear that she wasn’t improving but getting worse. 😔

[Denversail]

[Denversail]

I’m obviously writing this pre cruise portion prior to posting it. I have to say it almost feels like I’m keeping a journal. I’ve never considered doing such a thing. I do rather enjoy it. When I think about doing a live it is really just a way to record my journey. I’ll never be a writer. I don’t have the talent that @sid_9169 does nor do I aspire for such things. 

 

I used to use Facebook to kind of log our trips highlights. These days I try to stay off social media sites. CC is a nice alternative. Sharing the trip live when traveling solo especially just makes you feel like you are traveling with more folks. We all have a need to share our experiences with others. Just another form of entertainment I guess.

[Denversail]

Well my thread has gained 3 followers. At least I’m not this guy.🙈

Edited February 5 by Denversail

[Denversail]

Wolf is pretty upset about his dog. In her first hour home she wouldn’t eat. We had to force her mouth open to give her the liquid antibiotics. We are supposed to give her the pill form liver blocker in two hours and he doesn’t think she will eat it. He is difficult to talk to in this moment. I’m starting to wonder if this might be a solo trip for me. So many life crisis happening all at the same time. Things aren’t looking up. 

 

So we wait….

[Denversail]

Our last vacation was this past April. We were on Oasis. I did the first week solo and the others joined me for the second week. This was my first solo trip. I discovered that I love traveling on my own. Don’t get me wrong vacationing with others is nice it is just a different experience. When I first thought up this trip I had expected to do the harmony leg on my own. Wolf spoke up and decided he will want to stick with me for the second week. I’m ecstatic he is joining me but was a little surprised. Like I mentioned Wolf and Dupable are very close and I had assumed he would just return home with her. 

 

I think it just being Wolf and I on the Harmony cruise is what suckered me into the Royal Up bid. It is actually the first time I’m in a situation where I could bid. This will be my first cruise with only two traveling since they started it. It’s talked about a lot on CC but you don’t really want to be messing with Royal Up if you are traveling with folks in other cabins. You will end up getting separated from your parties cabins. If you gained suite benefits those are pretty useless if your entire party doesn’t have them. The only time that wasn’t my cruising situation I was solo. How much room does one person need? Wolf and I always book ocean view balconies. We are perfectly satisfied with those staterooms for the two of us. It would be fun to try the luxury experience once but not something we will probably ever outright book. 

 

With my new discovery that I love to travel solo I’ve made some decisions. I’m going to be taking two vacations a year for as long as I can starting now. I’m also ready to start doing some of my bucket list travels. Mr IT doesn’t have the vacation time that I do so he isn’t able to do these types of trips. I want to live now and have experiences now. I don’t want to wait until I’m retired when I may or may not still be able to do such things. I might be physically or financially limited by then and I don’t want to pass up my opportunity now. I might not even be living by then. It is impossible to know how long we will each exist. Some of the trips I want to do are also a little pricey and it seems easier to spend that money now. I might not have the budget for it later in life. Okay let’s get off the morbid and back on track. 

 

This trip will likely be my last to the Caribbean for at least the next few years. As Taylor Swift says… I think I’ve seen this film before. Next trip up is the Greek isles in Sept on Odyssey. That one is already booked and deep in the planning stages. I’ll be making that trip with my sister and her husband with some solo traveling post cruise. This has been a trip I’ve been wanting to do for many years. I’m super excited about it. 

 

When I return home from the Harmony I will be booking my spring 2025 trip. This one will be Tahiti on Windstar. We have always travelled as a family on mass market cruise lines. Our kids are all grown. I don’t use any of the bells and whistles on those ships. I personally don’t go to shows. I haven’t gone down a water slide in several years. My pocket book would benefit from the absence of a casino. We enjoy the speciality restaurants but wouldn’t need those if the free options were improved. I feel like we just continued on these types of trips out of habit. I don’t think at this point in my life I need to keep traveling with 5K other folks. I’ve got the time and the dime to do something different.

 

So let all the amazing adventures begin….

[Denversail]

We are now 15 days out. I guess over the next few days we will have to decide how to proceed. Some decisions will need to be made. The original plan was to leave Wolf’s dog at home with Mr IT. Considering her current condition that doesn’t seem like the best idea. He works 10 hour days and I don’t want to burden him with the stress. So we have decided that the best thing for her would be to board her at a vet or hospital. This way she will have access to medical care if needed. They would also have the time to attempt to feed her multiple times a day if needed. This would just be for the first week. Dupable would just pick her up when they get back and keep her the second week.

 

Wolf was able to get her to eat her pill last night. I was successful this morning getting her to eat a treat and a little more than half a jar of baby food. I hope that is a good sign. They want her back this evening to draw some more blood. I’m still hopeful that she can fight this off and turn things around. 🤞

 

 

[Denversail]

Good Sports Mom’s procedure went well. They were able to clear the blockage in an artery and she has been released from the hospital and is heading home. This is a temporary fix that bought her some time. They expect the artery to become blocked again. She thinks she will lose her foot before the end of the year. At least for now she is back home and in less pain. 

 

 

[Denversail]

Well it appears that boarding Wolf’s dog at a vet or hospital won’t be possible. They require that she have K9 influenza and Lepto vaccinations. They said these take two weeks to go into effect and then they require a two week window after that. So that took that option quickly off the table. Even if they didn’t require 30 days we still wouldn’t be able to do it. She is too frail for that right now and I doubt any vet would administer those shots to her in her condition. We wouldn’t want them to. Back to square one.

[Denversail]

So I had a difficult time staying awake to do the check in for our first cruise. Dupable is a night owl for sure and did better. Dupable and Good Sport got an 11:30 time on the first cruise. Wolf and I ended up with a Noon check in. If I recall even if they are enforcing it they will still let us pass with Dupable since we are traveling together. The only issue here is getting on so we can make our dining reservations. We will target getting to the port about 11 and see what happens.

 

We hope to be able to make the following reservations:

 

Sun - Chops lunch, Sushi dinner

Mon - Beach Club lunch, Giovanni’s dinner

Tues - Chops lunch, Hibachi dinner

Wed - We will probably just try and hit playmakers, sushi, or Buffet

Thurs - Wonderland

Fri - Giovanni’s lunch, Chops dinner

 

We have for the most part been successful booking what we want on past cruises. We do typically have problems with getting into Hibachi. They always only seem to have times after 8 o’clock. That is way late for me to be eating. If needed though I will of course go with the flow. I’m hoping we can get in on a sea day and we will just book a later lunch if they push our dinner late.

 

For those who are unaware they do charge a per person up charge for eating Hibachi with the unlimited dining package. So much for being unlimited. On Oasis earlier this year it was $15 per person. It is worth it to us. We all love Hibachi. We used to have a Benihani’s near our house that we would frequent but we have since moved. No good Hibachi near us that we have found so far.

[Denversail]

The four of us all took our first cruise together. It was on Monarch of the Seas back in 2004. Anyone remember that old Royal ship? We booked an inside for the four of us. Our room was this tiny box with two sets of bunk beds. It reminded me of Jack’s room on The Titanic. We could barely move around in there. To top it off Good Sport decided to indulge in escargot. Good Sport hasn’t always had the best digestive if you know what I mean. Imagine having to go through life without being able to enjoy yummy Mexican food? I couldn’t imagine! I love spicy food. Anyhoo they were either bad snails or his body just rebelled. It was like NO thank you sir. Fun times! 

 

We haven’t shared a stateroom since. 

[Denversail]

We are now 13 days out from our trip. Wolf took her in yesterday for more blood work. Her levels look worse. Her Lepto test came back negative. They are now suggesting we fast her and move forward with the liver function test. Today is Sunday so their lab is closed. We will fast her tonight and Dupable will drop her back at the hospital tomorrow morning for the test. She is eating maybe a jar of baby food and a few treats a day at this point. Obviously not enough to survive on. Up until about 4 months ago pre dental surgery she was eating 1/2 cup of kibble a day. After surgery it was more like 1/4 cup kibble and 1/4 cup chicken. 

 

So we wait…

[Denversail]

I don’t know how many of you have spent time in an animal hospital. This has to be one of the most depressing places on earth. I don’t know how people work there. I’ve only been once when we went to visit the other day. When we walked in a woman was sobbing in the entrance. I assume that she had just put down her pet. Wolf said yesterday as they were checking out that a family of 5 came in holding a dog and they were all sobbing. When the lady asked them what happened they said they think the dog is dead. They said he had just been sick for two days. They then found him unresponsive. All while sobbing and holding the dog. Just thinking about the stories makes me want to cry. I don’t know how the workers keep their composure.