ONE if by Land, TWO if by Sea - A Combo Summer Trip Report

[HouCuseChickie]

We've now come to the end of the "ONE if by Land" portion, but there was lots in the works for the "TWO if by Sea" part of the trip.

July 4th-July 21st

I feel like so much happened in this span of time. It was a much longer window than I had between softball travel and family travel in 2021 (5 days, I think), but there was so much more that had to happen between trips. Covid testing was also a factor.

- July 5th- Sam went to the dr for the infection on her arm. I witnessed the most disgusting draining I’ve ever seen in person. They also changed her meds. Her new antibiotics were every 8 hours. With the timing of her first dose, that set me up for 3:30am meds for her for 10 days as well as redressing her arm at least twice a day. It had only been a week since I had been relieved of this with Kendall, and here I was again. I seriously celebrated the last day of having to administer this regimen. Not sure if I've mentioned it here, but after going through the dressing care required for my leg from January through March, I have become quite a pro at dressing wounds. While it's an old picture, I was back in triage station mode.

- July 7th- This was the day our Covid testing for the cruise got turned upside down. Through the magic of Facebook groups, I learned that free testing was a thing of the past. Home proctored testing suddenly became the cheaper option (by about $340). I also got some clarification on when testing needed to occur. I knew it was 2 days before the cruise, but the earliest could be any time on the 22nd. With the genius of 24/7 at home proctored testing, we could test just after midnight on the 22nd. While it ate into my sleep time a bit (since we'd be hitting the road early), it meant we shouldn't face the risk of a positive test on the road...assuming all went as planned. It still wasn't cheap, but I ordered six kits (always should have backups in case of a faulty kit) and paid the $10 extra for expedited shipping (turned out to be wise, since they were suddenly running several days behind due to increased demand with the Federal changes).
- July 7th- I guess this was a big day for shopping. Today was also the day I bought all of the little helpful cruise doo-dads, like towel clips and the day I got everybody's clothes...well, for me and the girls. David would freak me out with last minute shopping...as usual. Kendall was easy...she filled up my Amazon cart with anything of interest and then we spent about 30 minutes editing. I braced myself because there was now literally thousands in clothes in my cart and she's a bit stubborn, but things with her were a dream. Sam, on the other hand, hates anything but shorts and t shirts. We spent close to 4 hours fighting over dresses, jumpsuits, finding the right ripped jeans, and me losing my mind. Whew!
- July 8th- Kendall had been complaining of pressure in her right ear. It had lasted too long to be altitude related, so it was her turn at the dr. I thought it might be swimmer's ear, but no… she had an inner ear infection, like she used to get as an infant. So now she was on antibiotics for 10 days. Hers were every 12 hours, with her second dose being 11:30pm. I was starting to wonder if we were doomed for the sea part of travel.
-July 9th- This is when we went into sort of a bubble mode. I was so afraid of picking up Covid before the cruise and having to cancel. We started limiting our activities and masking up in KN95s. It was reminiscent of our actions before my surgery in December. The worst was animal shelter volunteer time. I feel like we've been triple digit heat nearly every day since mid-June, and unlike desert spots, ours comes with humidity. Kendall got all cranky because she couldn't do sleepovers and hanging out at houses with her friends. Sam was less bothered as she just skipped a bday party...one that she would have been sidelined anyways since it was stuff she couldn't do with her boot.

- July 13th- This was the day of the epic meltdown with Sam's old team. It really had no impact on upcoming travel aside from trying to schedule tryouts, but I figured I'd share since I got into some of the drama in part 1 of this TR. It was ugly, but I'm kind of glad it happened, because it allowed David to see how many lies he was fed and how they couldn't even take ownership of things they said in front of the group. In any event, I was kind of happy because I didn't want Sam going back to these people under any circumstance.
- July 14th - Our test kits arrived! I was kind of freaking out because of their shipping delays, so this was a big relief. The tests themselves did create some stress for my dad. While we had previous experience with the Binax card tests, he did not. So this launched a lot of back and forth on instructional videos.

- July 15th - My dad started to panic again about Covid and started to propose plans for what we should do if any one of us tested positive. I know it was the stress talking, but he and my mom are the only ones retired and not having to schedule around kid and job stuff. There was also confusion over whether or not we'd be able to cancel or reschedule if we weren't the ones testing positive. Thankfully, we never had to explore any of this, but it just added drama to the mix.
- July 19th - This was a big day. We had an 8am at the pediatric orthopedic sports medicine dr for Sam. If all was good, she could ditch the boot and start conditioning for tryouts. It also meant she could do all kinds of things on the cruise. By 8:25am she was out of the boot and cleared! She didn't want any pics, so I took a pic of the lonely boot when we got home.

- July 20th - Aside from getting in a last minute visit to the orthodontist, today was the day to book our backup plan for Covid testing...ya know, just in case something was wrong with too many of our proctored test kits or the apps. After some deliberation, we decided Lafayette, LA would be the best spot for our backup plan. So, if any of the four tests went sour and the backups went sour too, we had four slots waiting for us between 10-11am at a Walgreens in Lafayette. The cost of having it done at Walgreens would be painful, but better to have a plan. We also had four non-proctored Binax test kits at home if we needed to use this backup plan...ya know, unofficially test before getting in the car to make sure we weren't setting ourselves up for hours of driving in vain. Still, Lafayette was only about 3-3.5 hrs away, so it wouldn't be like testing positive in FL and having to turn around.
- July 21st early in the day - So, here I am, wanting to take the day before travel to finish packing (I'd started days ago) and I have to go to the dr for me! I knew this was coming and I knew I couldn't back out, but going into MD Anderson right before vacation wasn't ideal. Still, cancer comes before vacation. Ugh. I'm assuming it's like this going into any big cancer hospital, but it messes with your mind. Thankfully, I got a clean bill of health and don't go back for another 6 months, but I still hated having to go. At least now I could go home and settle into day before departure prep.

- July 21st late evening - After realizing that we could test right at midnight, my brother and I chatted and decided to have him serve as a bit of a sacrificial lamb. He and my parents are on eastern time, so that means he could start testing an hour ahead of us. He and my parents really didn't need to, since they planned to drive up to Port Canaveral on the 23rd (they're in south Florida), but this way...he could give us pointers before the four of us had to do it. Around 11:25pm, he called me and walked me through everything we thought we needed to do vs. what he actually did. Sounded simple enough. At least my testing center was set up and ready to go.

- July 22nd MIDNIGHT - I was up first. I had EVERYTHING ready to go and it went about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. The kids were a little more complicated (just trying to position both of us with the camera) and I sat by and mothered David through his LOL. By about 1:15am everyone had tested and we were all negative!!!! Next task was printing out all of our test results and getting screenshots of everything from EMed and Navica. After stuffing it into my documents case, messaging the family that we were all negative and would be heading out by 6am CT, and then it was time for some sleep. Alarm was set for 5:15am!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 22nd-
(a little later in the super early morning)

I thought about letting everyone sleep in another hour or two. I mean, we no longer needed to stop in Lafayette for testing. Which reminds me, I also canceled all of those appointments. I then remembered that we were supposed to be doing to college drive throughs. Kendall is starting her junior year and is starting to fine tune lists of schools she wants to consider. Florida State, University of Florida and University of Central Florida were on the agenda before arriving in Port Canaveral. So, I figured we might as well aim for Tallahassee at a decent time so we could drive around FSU.

Everything was looking pretty good until we hit Lake Charles, LA...which really isn't that far from home. I could see weather up ahead of us. We have been so deeply set in drought and dryness at home that I was kind of thrown for a loop. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see anything. I-10 was just a complete blur. I was found myself going about 35MPH max in 65-70MPH areas. Thankfully, this pocket of rain wasn't huge. In fact, when I took a radar screenshot a little later on, it just looks like a basic shower over this area. We changed drivers in Lafayette and look at everything that was around us!!!



It was an utterly miserable drive for a while. I ended up relieving David driving for a bit because he was having some stomach pains. Sam also was having stomach pain. Heck, I was having some stomach pain! We had all eaten some leftovers (Kendall being the exception) that may no longer have been good. So after going through all of the poisoning accusations, I pulled off the highway somewhere in MS, east of Biloxi, in hopes of finding a Walgreens or something to get some tummy meds. After stopping at the most horrible gas station, we wound up going WAAAAAAAAAY out of our way, but eventually found a Walmart. I made it out in record time and we were back on the road...although, now an hour+ behind schedule.

Next stop for gas was in the western portion of the FL panhandle. If I hadn't gotten a crazy compliment from a passerby and been in an odd lottery situation, it would have not been worth a mention.
1. As I was pumping gas, a guy in an older white suv pulled up and asked if he could pay me a compliment. I had to ask him to repeat himself, partly because I wanted others around me to witness and notice in case this went badly. After repeating himself, I said OK and he told me I was the most beautiful looking woman he's ever seen. I didn't really know what to do with that, but I thanked him.
2. Once inside, there were crazy lines. I guess because the lottery was ridiculously high. Suddenly, my truck stop angel called out that she could help anyone not buying lottery tickets. So, I got my soda, some almond M&Ms and I was on my way!

We arrived in Tallahassee with a little bit of daylight left in the day...which is nice, because we lost an hour crossing into the eastern time zone. There are a number of hills in this part of Tallahassee. We have previously stayed on the upper end of this hill and now we were down at the bottom. It was kind of pretty with all of the Spanish moss, but it was a super odd hotel and kind of gross. I'll get to that after dinner.




So, we did our best to drive around FSU. We were losing light, but I wanted K to at least see some. I was driving, so no pictures, but she got a decent look at the campus, including their circus building. It was nearly 9pm by the time we were done and everyone was starving. David mapped us to some pizza place that was in a part of Tallahassee I don't think anyone was comfortable visiting, so I selected and navigated on the fly. I found some seafood place called Wahoo Seafood Grill. It was right next to the highway and was right across from a bunch of hotels (hotels my family wished I'd selected). So, this was what was for dinner.



And this is me taking a personal victory lap for finding a decent dinner spot that was still open...even if my family felt we were dressed a bit too casually. Sorry...if it's along the interstate, I'm sure they see all kinds of dress.



The food wasn't bad. Not amazing...but not bad. David and Sam went more basic, but Kendall had a huge bowl of crab bisque and I believe wahoo Thermador. And I guess everyone was starting to get into vacation mode, so we even ordered desserts...although, it was so late in the evening that they were out of everything but brownie and key lime pie.







I left off David’s salad because that’s not fun! Not that all salads are lacking fun. This was just a large house salad with chicken.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

So we go back to the hotel for the night. Online, it didn’t look too bad, reviews weren't that far off from other hotels and it was near other hotels and restaurants. In fact, the Tallahassee Melting Pot pretty much shared part of the parking lot. There just seemed to be some sketchy clientele, the whole set up was strange and some things were dirty or broken.

First thing I noticed when we got back to the room was frogs…



I personally like tree frogs and loved when they congregated on our kitchen windows back in my Gainesville days. We periodically see them in the Houston area, but not enough for my family to know that their constant croaking sounds like ducks quacking. It was especially bad because a couple of frogs got into the room. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to escort them to the doors.

I say “doors” because it was essentially two rooms. To make it an all-suite place, you received double room numbers that are connecting rooms. Room 1 was a traditional queen motel/hotel room, while room 2 had a kitchen and queen sofa. That’s all well and good, but the a/c wouldn’t turn off or adjust to a warmer temp in room 1 and it wouldn’t turn on at all in room 2. As a result, room 2 was musty smelling and had visible signs of mold mildew. Oh and it got pretty toasty after we closed the connecting door. It wasn’t until morning that we realized the air issues, or we would have insisted on a new room.





Oh yeah…and the floors were absolutely filthy. It was so bad that we scooted along on towels, since all of our easy on/off shoes were packed.

July 23rd-

The girls swore they’d be good in the room with the sleep sofa, but come morning, I found two miserable teens. In the morning, we packed up our stuff, headed up to the clubhouse for some breakfast and moved on.




The place looks like they are trying to improve. It’s not awful looking beyond the mildew and the clubhouse had fun touches like a modern wine bar dispenser system for gatherings. Oh well…we weren’t sticking around. It was time to head to Gainesville, Orlando and then Port Canaveral. We also had 5pm dinner reservations in Port Canaveral, so we really couldn't linger anywhere too long. We'd be meeting up with my parents and brother's family at our Port Canaveral hotel and then meeting up with some cousins at a nearby restaurant. We had hoped for 6pm or later, but 5pm was the best they could get. So, we had to make it work.

 

[cgersic]

Congratulations on the good news doctor appointment and for the compliment!! I am exhausted reading about all that you accomplished in that week, so I can imagine how you felt. Love reading about people touring around Florida too - how fun that I get my two favorite states in the same report!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Next stop...Gainesville...a place I kind of know. Gainesville is not exactly my favorite place to visit, but University of Florida is a great school and because of my parents and some legislation changes regarding tuition, my kids may now qualify for in-state tuition. So, we're giving some extra focus to some Florida schools. A little backstory...

Caution- wordy section

Some time ago, my dad took a job in Gainesville. He commuted back and forth between FL and NJ until I finished school, and then we all moved to Gainesville. I opted to go to college in NY, so Gainesville was never really home. It became the place I'd go when college wasn't in session. Because UF is such a huge part of Gainesville, and colleges tend to have similar schedules, Gainesville was usually very quiet and boring when I was home from school. Not that it really mattered, because I didn't know anyone there. It wasn't until after I graduated from college and was living in Gainesville full time did I start to meet people, but it was tough because everyone my age seemed to be tied to UF and the job market for a recent grad from an outside school wasn't the best. I had started a grad school program for a bit while in Gainesville, but just hated it. I couldn't stand being there and had to get out. Less than 2 years after graduation, I moved away.

My brother and SIL are UF alums and I have a number of friends who are as well, so I gave Kendall as good of a tour as I could and she really liked it. We drove to the Orlando area next to see UCF. There was that temptation to pop into WDW, but I stayed strong. We were starting to run short on time and weather was getting nasty, so after a quick drive through and a stop at a local Wawa (been decades since I've been in one) we headed to Port Canaveral. My parents and brother arrived about 20-30 minutes ahead of us (they all tested negative too, so everyone was cleared to travel), and all seemed good. So we just needed to get there.

When we arrived, I think there were three ships in port. Two Carnival and one Norwegian. While not our ship, it's always kind of exciting to see the ships in port. There was a bit of a line to check in when we arrived, so everyone in the car eventually got restless and carted in all of our bags while I waited. What's really funny is that the people checking in directly in front of me were people I spotted several times during the course of our cruise. Funny how out of 6,000 passengers you can see the same people so many times. After getting full check in spiel (breakfast at these times, ask now for shuttles, hot tub closed because someone broke glass in it, etc.), we headed up to our room. They must have seen our names, because we were all on the 4th floor. After falling for my brother's joke that they were crammed into the same room with my parents Willy Wonka style, I'd see they were in side by side rooms facing the port and we were a couple of doors down on the other side facing the water and pool. I knew I'd booked a suite, but the kid area decor was a hysterical surprise.



I also popped over to my parents room to check out their view...




I know I saw my brother, niece and nephew after this. They were utterly giddy that we were all there and staying in the same place. My brother also got a kick out of me falling for his joke. We don't see them as often, so I guess I'm a good target for his humor. LOL. I went back to our room for a bit, but got a text from my parents to come back to see one of the Carnival ships sailing away...



It was kind of a free for all for a bit with people going between rooms, but eventually, we had to freshen up for dinner. In our case, that meant splashing some perfume and body spray onto our road trip clothes, because we were not digging into the big bags until boarding the ship. While I was a huge fan of our travel agent, my dad was able to give us the travel packets she put together, which included laminated luggage tags for the cruise. The ones I'd tried doing were a stapled mess, so this was one nice perk.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Congratulations on the good news doctor appointment and for the compliment!! I am exhausted reading about all that you accomplished in that week, so I can imagine how you felt. Love reading about people touring around Florida too - how fun that I get my two favorite states in the same report!!!

Thank you! Add on a full time work schedule and it's just so much. With so much of my family in Florida, I feel like we can never go without visits to the Sunshine State. We'll be back again in November! That will be more traditional FL and holiday stuff with family...but more Florida in our future

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Dinner for the night was a big family get together. You had our four, my parents, my brother's family, and a few cousins that I haven't seen in forever. They live about 45 minutes from Port Canaveral and had recently met up with family when they were down in Ft. Lauderdale for a recent cruise out of Port Everglades. In any event, they cruise a bit and know the area well, so we had reservations for our party of 13 at Fishlips. In hindsight, it was also really great because it familiarized us with the area right around the Royal Caribbean terminal...not that I paid attention, but more on that to come.



It never fails, you get family together and you all just stand around catching up vs. checking in for your reservation. Of course that's a wonderful thing...a total blessing. I haven't seen the one cousin since about 1997 (first time meeting her husband(and I'm still not convinced I'm not confusing her with her sister LOL)) and I haven't seen the other since sometime in the early 1980s. The kids were also floored. I keep telling them that they have a lot of family out there, but we're not usually in positions to see everyone. So, this made it more real for them.

I wasn't planning on drinking until onboard, but we'd made it to Port Canaveral, there were ships in port, and I could see our terminal and port area. Yeah...I was having a drink!



I can't, for the life of me, recall what it was...other than GOOD!

I didn't take pics of everyone's food, but I got a good laugh that both kids were ordering bisque. We had a bisque moment the night before...now more bisque!



My cousin recommended an ahi salad. The salad looked phenomenal, but when ordering seafood in Florida, I usually go for grouper. I was a little sad that the only grouper option was coconut crusted. I do like tasting the fish, but I figured I'd try it. It wasn't bad, but heavier than what I had in mind.



It was a nice long meal and it introduced my niece and nephew to how teenage girls will vacate the table for bathroom trips all meal. I think my nephew got a little bit jealous that my niece could go along with my girls, but it is what it is. Oh well, some of them got dessert...checks got sorted out...and then someone noted that the Norwegian ship was making its way out of the port. So, we wrapped up at the table and headed out to the patio area.






As it got closer, I realized the moment called for video.



As a big Love Boat fan (not kidding) it was pretty fun to have that sail away moment getting to wave at all of the passengers. There's also no FOMO when you know it'll be you the next day. Well, a smidge to the east...pretty much next door...and not passing in front of the restaurant. LOL

We had a long string of goodbyes from the back of the restaurant to our cars and then it was back to the hotel for the night. My kids had contemplated going for a swim, but just decided to explore for a bit. We were all a bit anxious for the next day. My parents haven't cruised since the pandemic started, neither my parents nor my brother have cruised out of Port Canaveral, and we were first time cruisers. By this point, my dad had sent us all satellite images and videos of how tomorrow should go...which I'm not sure helped or hurt. We also wanted to get an early start...

1. We wanted to make sure we got breakfast. We had an early check in time for the cruise, but with everything day 1 just after boarding, I wasn't sure how quickly we'd be able to get to food.
2. We did have a 10:30am check in time and I wanted to be there as early as allowed without it being insane. I still wasn't confident about where to turn to park, where to drop off bags with porters, and there was concern about available spaces in the garage after seeing a video.
3. Space-X- Yes, you read that right. Several weeks before the cruise, I looked at the launch schedule and there was nothing. Suddenly, the week before, a launch was added to the schedule...and we'd be there! They changed the launch time from about 8:30am to 9:30am the day before, but that would be right before we'd need to leave...meaning we should still be able to see it. I hadn't seen a launch since 1992 when we happened to be in Cocoa Beach for a rocket launch (satellite for the Barcelona Olympics)...at least not from this close (lots of shuttle launches from afar). So, we were all really excited.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I too was & am a big Love Boat fan. If you ever watch tv on the Pluto app (its free) there is a Love Boat channel.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 24th-

I think I woke up around 7am. I had thought about getting up earlier...maybe see the ship come in...but sleep is pretty important in my life. Which reminds me, if you've ever wondered things like: What time will a ship be arriving in port? What time will a ship be leaving port? Is the ship visiting as a port of call? Where is the ship currently sailing? What other ships will be in port on a given day? etc. ...This is the site to visit: https://www.cruisemapper.com/

It's not perfect, especially since things can change, but I knew our ship would be arriving at 6am, I knew MSC Divina would also be in port, I knew we were supposed to leave around 4pm, I knew we'd be the sole ship for two of our ports of call, I knew we'd be sharing CocoCay with another RC ship (arriving before us) and I knew RC's Oasis was also supposed to be in port. In fact, that gave me an all out freak out moment for parking. I believe two other smaller RC ships are going out of Port Canaveral and sharing the parking, but Oasis scared me. Harmony and Oasis are sister ships and I worried that Oasis would eat up our parking...until I realized that Oasis was visiting as a port of call and nobody would be parking. WHEW!

OK...back on track...so, I threw on enough clothing to run down the hall and look out the window. It was like a kid on Christmas morning looking to see if Santa brought gifts. I wanted to wake up and see that our ship was in port...and there she was!!!!!!!!



I've seen cruise ships before in person (various smaller Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Norwegian, Holland America, Disney, MSC, Carnival, Princess)...even been on my dad's boat next to a couple. They are all HUGE!!!!! But I've never seen an Oasis class ship in person. I couldn't help but be in awe of her size. MSC Divina is the ship on the left in that third pic and while the perspective is a bit wonky, it should give you a good idea of size. OK...so, now that the ship had arrived, it was breakfast time. It was just OK, and Kendall was all bothered because the attendant gave her attitude for asking if they had hot sauce for her eggs. I also grabbed some muffins just in case David got hungry and we were still without access to food. We saw most of the family downstairs and took turns afterwards in and out of each other's rooms. My dad had noted that the elevators often get crazy as we get closer to shuttle times and suggested I load up my car pronto...so that was my next objective.

After that, it was pretty much wait on SpaceX. We grabbed a table to the side of the entrance and just waited. As we got closer to time, everyone and their mother came out to the parking lot and just stood there watching the sky and waiting. My dad's calculations were a smidge off on where it would appear in the sky, but we all saw it. I thought I had also taken an amazing video...but I accidentally flipped back to photo and had a fabulous picture of nothing. Thankfully, my mom at least got some video.



As soon as it disappeared, it was go time. There were a few people at the hotel heading over to the MSC ship, but the bulk of us were on Harmony. Thankfully, most didn't seem to be in the first check in group. We loaded the final things into the cars and headed over to the terminal. Of course, I missed the turn (it seemed too obvious and easy) and ended up near the loading area, but I turned around and was good. Still couldn’t believe I did that after being there the night before. I was pretty anxious, but as expected, there were plenty of people telling us where to go and waving us through. First stop was the porters. We dropped off all of the checked bags and after tipping him (which I always planned to do, but interesting that he waited for it and paused before being helpful, like he had to decide) he told me where to turn to get up the ramp to park. I paid for my 8 days of parking and then it was time to find a space. I got separated from the rest of my family, but it may have been an omen because we found something right by an elevator. It was only about 9:25am, so we were also good on time.



I also made sure to snap a pic of the area we were in. We also had a good laugh at the FE, because David and I have a long standing joke pertaining to FE and iron tabs during one of my pregnancies.



Once at the elevator, we met up with the rest of the family, took the elevator down and started brisk walking to the check in lines. OK, we thought we were all together, but it wasn't until we were halfway into the 10:30am line (later times were being held in areas behind us) that we realized that it was just the four of us. We were too far in to really move. I started texting frantically to see where everyone had gone. They got turned around and then someone wanted a bathroom break. Thankfully, it wasn't a big deal. I'm not sure how or why (may be disability related), but they were suddenly in line right next to us. This first check in spot was just an extension of the garage, so it was still all pretty unnerving. First check was vaccination cards and negative test results. This went super smooth...like all of that fuss for nothing...smooth. While the rest of our group also went through easily, I'd learn that other people weren't so lucky.

After this, we went in and had to go through security. Again...we wound up in a normal line while the rest of them went through quickly...which I can only assume was disability related. I was afraid I was going to have issues because they weren't sure how to get my carryon through the scanner. You'll see it later in the trip, but it's a big BOGG tote and it just barely fit. After that, we were directed to escalators and it was upstairs to formal check in at what reminded me a lot of airline check-in. Again...first cruise!



Check in was a breeze. I was also happy they didn't ask for the girls' birth certs. We all have passports, but since K and I were on the same room and I have a different last name (never changed it), I was advised to bring birth certs just in case. David was there though and they have his name, so it was a non-issue. After that, we just sat and waited until it was time to show our Set Sail passes and board.



David complained because he felt we'd rushed for nothing. It was about 10:25am...so about 5 minutes ahead of our actual check in time. I guess he thought 10:30 was boarding time and was taken aback by now having to sit and wait after a solid hour of lines and checks. The kids played around while we waited, but I was just mainly waiting on announcements. Eventually, they informed us that 10:30s in the area would be boarded first and people in the top level of their loyalty club, some special paid perk called The Key, and suite guests would be boarded ahead of the other groups. So, at 11am, all of these people in these more elite or paid for groups went first...including my parents and brother's family. After that, they started announcing boarding groups (listed on our Set Sail pass). Based on the time stamp on my next picture, I'd say they called our group by 11:07am, because I took this right after we got through the line and were cleared to enter the gangways and board the ship.



I always heard horror stories about embarkation day, but this was very easy.

There were a bunch of backdrops along the way with pics of Harmony and lots of people waiting to take pictures. I know my brother did a picture package and some people just enjoy family pics like this, so there were actually quite a few lines. I just wanted to get on board, find my family and figure things out...because I was soooooooooooo confused on what next. I knew I needed to book entertainment, I knew rooms and bags wouldn't be ready until at least 1, I knew we'd have to do muster, I wasn't sure how to get our seapass cards- since we had these drink packages tied to them...nor did I know anything about our cups (how I get my soda fix), or how to utilize our wifi/streaming package because we'd need it for some things, etc. Just sooooooooo much, and even though I asked people for info, I really had no idea how to do any of this. I think everything I learned flew out of my head the moment we stepped onto the ship. I'm not sure if it's because the promenade area doesn't really feel like a ship, the culmination of months of planning coming together, or if it was the big head throwing me off...


(this was taken later in the cruise (plus it's at night) and I'm going to use it again in place...but this is the first thing I saw when boarding...and it's a jolt!) I knew the ship had a big chrome head, but you just don't expect it right there as you're boarding.

There were at least plenty of crew members around to try and help us. Mind you, we got turned around a few times and pointed in what seemed like the wrong directions. Or maybe it was the big floppy sunhat I had on that I was trying to save from being crushed any more in my bags?

We eventually found the area (On Air) where everyone was booking entertainment. The crew member at the entrance had to reset my phone, which was probably a good thing because it was how it needed to be set for airplane mode and wifi connection. After that, he handed me a sheet...kind of like this...



...and it was time to book shows. Funny, but I also found my parents and brother's family in here too. It was too much to try and plan around everyone's interests, so we just booked our own things. What's crazy is that several of our bookings ended up aligning and we ended up enjoying several shows together.

Not knowing how to use our drink package, David just ordered some water from the bar at On Air, but we were done booking...he was thirsty...and certain people who didn't have enough breakfast. So, we decided to go in search of the Windjammer buffet.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I too was & am a big Love Boat fan. If you ever watch tv on the Pluto app (its free) there is a Love Boat channel.

I had no idea that Pluto had all of these channels. I know what I’m going to be watching!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I was trying to not be too hard on myself (since it's a huge ship), but after examining deck plans, I hated that I was all turned around. While I'm sure most ships are like this, there are maps everywhere and always at the elevators. So, we quickly found that we needed to take the stern side elevators from deck 5 to deck 16. We did catch a quick glimpse of one of the pools when we exited the elevator...it looked refreshing and pretty quiet (for now).



After being guided through the required hand washing stations, we walked past the cake. I was excited because I had wanted to see it before it was cut.



We managed to get a nice window table. We had a great view of the port and could see Kennedy Space Center from up there. It's too bad we didn't have this view for the launch!





I had space for four as well as our carry on bags (which I was more than willing to move if someone needed the space)...and then everyone else found us! We managed to grab another four top, which became the kid table and we stacked everyone's carry ons in the corner next to the bussing station.



Drinks were still confusing, but we'd at least figured out how things work before rooms are ready. They took my room number when I ordered a soda and took it again when I got my first adult beverage. One of the servers was going around the dining room with Bahama Mamas! Yes, please! This server would be one of the funnier ones of the trip.



So, I'm sitting there eating my lunch and chatting with family, when I caught something out of the corner of my eye and jumped...which kind of freaked everyone else out. As I noted before, I knew Oasis would be coming into port...it just scared the heck out of me to look up and see this huge ship suddenly coming up along side of us. I was just getting used to how the glass angled out a bit and gave you views straight down onto the water. It's a looooooong way down!



But here she is!



*Even in the video, you can tell that some of us are still a bit disoriented about our location on the ship.

We finished waving good-bye to Oasis...



And then it was cake time (brother grabbed a bunch of slices since they go fast).



It looked amazing, and there was nothing bad about the basic white cake. It just is guilty of what I consider a cardinal sin in the cake world...whipped cream frosting. Blech. When my SIL came back with her cake, they had also loaded her up with some shards of sugar. It was just sugar, but I had to have a taste. I'm not sure if it's because they burned the sugar or used too much food coloring with aftertaste, but it tasted like toasted green Nyquil. I had to get that taste out of my mouth, so K and I went up to the buffet to search for other options to cleanse our palates. This was the first sign that we had a problem.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I went in search of more satisfying desserts and found myself a nice little assortment. The best was that chocolate mousse cake. They had some variation of that one every day. They also had some variation on a cream puff every day. Maybe I've lost my taste for choux dough...although, I was pretty fond of them on the day they had lemon.



Unfortunately, Kendall had some issues. She asked several crew members if there was anything safe for her allergies. First, there were some language barrier issues. When she did find a crew member that understood, he said he'd go check. We waited for quite some time with no answer, so when the announcement was made that rooms were ready, we gave up. This would become a theme, one that turns out to be the result of a much bigger problem.

Our decision on the way to get to our rooms wound up being good for an unexpected reason. We knew we were on the opposite end of the ship from our room, but I had this crazy idea that we should just take the rear elevator down to 9 and walk the hallway down to our rooms. Why I chose the port side is beyond me...but we did...and it was a lucky choice. At some point, between walking between the midship section and the bow, one of the kids asked if the bag next to them was my suitcase. Sure enough, it was. We wound up finding nearly all of our bags in this small section (and one probably 10-12 doors away). They were supposed to be outside of our cabin doors, but they were just randomly placed portside bow. I'd later find out that my parents had the same problem and even one of my brother's bags wound up near ours...which is crazy, because his cabin was on 14! Thankfully, our rooms were easy enough to find. Our seapass cards were there, which I promptly fitted into lanyards for us to wear all trip. Technically, you're also supposed to use them to power up things in your room, but it's a real pain to take them in and out of lanyards, so I used a trick I learned pre-cruise. I just used some other basic cards to insert in those slots (AAA to be specific LOL).

I know my SIL and parents wanted to move in, but we just pretty much threw our bags into the room and were ready to explore!




And you might notice that our side has the beds separated. I thought about asking the steward to put them together, and then I thought about not having to share blankets. LOL

As some of you know, we picked non-balcony rooms because the girls had their own room and I had this crazy fear of them fighting and going overboard. On the plus side, these rooms afford travelers some extra square feet because of the location and angled windows. It became the ideal place to store our luggage.




I was also really happy to see that the rooms truly were connecting rooms. Everyone kept telling me that we'd just be next door to each other, but we did have an internal door that connected us. This was especially helpful since I was tied to one room and David was tied to the other...same goes for the kids. So, if I was going back to the rooms on my own, I'd access through the kids' room and use the connecting door to get into ours. As for layout, the kids got the better bed position. In hindsight, we should have switched with them.

The kids were really anxious to go off to explore on their own, but I wanted to make sure we did muster before that happened. I have no perspective on how it used to be, but I heard people rave about the new e-muster. It consisted of a short video, a short audio clip, and a quick in-person check in at our muster station. We all traveled down to our muster station, which was between the spa and fitness center on the 6th floor. Figures...we had to go through the spa where people were trying to sell us things in order to muster. After we each went through muster, we decided to check out the fitness center. We were all hoping to get some time in here, and I have to say...this treadmill view isn't too shabby...



The kids were still antsy to run off and do their thing, but it occurred to me that I still hadn't figured out the wifi. David said he'd seen something in the room in the paperwork. Ok...so let's go back to the room...again. I know every cruise line is different, but I bought some package where we could all have one device with connectivity. The three of us with iPhones probably could have just texted in airplane mode over wifi, but David has an Android. So, I suggested we all use What'sAp to communicate. In fact, everyone in our group wound up using it. In any event, we got the wifi figured out and the kids ran off to explore. Meanwhile, I decorated doors just to make sure nobody got lost.



After that, David and went off to figure out the beverage package cup situation. I hindsight, we should have kept the kids with us until we had the cups. We had to go down to the 5th floor promenade area to get them and we were stuck with them after picking them up. I just wish we'd known this sooner. People who bought the beverage package on board (more expensive) were getting them in the Windjammer and the center of the promenade, but we had to find this table tucked away where they were giving out cups and checking off names. I guess at least we got them...two pink, two green. Somehow my SIL got blue. We never saw any blue!



The next couple of hours before sailing were kind of crazy. We got a few drinks and explored a little...



Then we grabbed another set of drinks from one of the bars near the FlowRiders and grabbed a couple of Adirondack chairs in the shade near the ship's mini golf, Harmony Dunes. I can't remember what tipped off David to wonder what the girls were doing, but we turned around and saw they were playing ping pong right behind us. So, it was the perfect time to also give them their cups.



After settling back into our chairs, I got an alert that our muster wasn't complete. Due to the initial wifi issues, the videos and sound recording sections were showing incomplete. So we grabbed the girls and got everyone to try and get theirs to show completed. Only problem...the sound part and video wouldn't work on Sam's and all of ours were showing failure to muster in person. So, we trekked back to the fitness center to try again. I was getting pretty annoyed, but they assured us it was taken care of. We were so close to the rooms at this point that we decided to head up to drop off the cups. While I was up there, I got another alert that our muster was incomplete. I was halfway out the door to wait in like for Guest Services when our room steward came out and made the suggestion that I skip the long line and call. I always have heard how wonderful cruise room stewards can be, and Dawa was no exception. I had guest services on the line in just a couple of minutes. They said a lot of people were having issues and would make a note on my account. It turns out my parents had the same issue. I'd continue to get warning messages, literally right up until a few minutes before sail away but all was good.

We found a spot for sail away on the starboard side right near a little quick service grab and go spot called Mini Bites. The nachos we grabbed were meh, but it was a nice little snack. Unfortunately, David got stuck at the bar waiting on drinks and missed some of it...but I got these two videos. In the first, if you look carefully around 0:07 and 0:17 you'll see a dolphin.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The ship looks really cool and love the views of NASA. I do have to disagree about the whipped cream frosting on the cake, that is my favorite to have on cakes. That was always on my and my sister's birthday cake each year. Buttercream is good but it can be so sweet and sugary sometimes and whipped cream is not.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The ship looks really cool and love the views of NASA. I do have to disagree about the whipped cream frosting on the cake, that is my favorite to have on cakes. That was always on my and my sister's birthday cake each year. Buttercream is good but it can be so sweet and sugary sometimes and whipped cream is not.

You would have LOVED this cake! It's definitely lighter to have whipped cream frosting, but my brain tastes it and I immediately taste Cool Whip. What's funny, I shared a pic of the cake slice with a friend and her first statement..."Girl, that had better be buttercream!" There are definitely some great NASA views in that area and certainly from the ship. The ship itself was very cool. It makes me wonder if we'd be disappointed going smaller should we cruise again.

 

[Sans Souci]

Your stateroom looks really nice--very clean and streamlined. Does the window go down to the floor?

The cake looks good. I'll eat any kind of cake with any kind of frosting. I'm seeing these desserts and talk about cake and I am feeling like baking a pan of brownies now. My sweet tooth has been activated.

Side note: I remember in one of your trip reports, you said your daughters were playing "Hide the Pepto Bismol." That still cracks me up.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

After we got past the coastline, people pretty much dispersed and started to do their own thing. I know David and I got a quick drink at that On Air spot we first went to for entertainment booking, just to start trying out some of the indoor spots on the promenade, but I was feeling the stress of the day and decided to head back to the room. I just hung out in front of the window for a bit...



I also used this time to unpack a little. I had no plans to fully unpack, but I think we all had some dinner clothes that needed to get on a hanger. I brought some Downy Wrinkle Release, but having them hanging would also help.

Next was to plan for dinner. When I booked the cruise, I put us into "My Time" dining, which meant eating whenever, but possibly having a wait like a normal restaurant. My dad wanted to change us to "Traditional Dining" so that we'd all be able to sit together. Of course, this also meant having a fixed dining time and location. The options were 5:15pm and 7:45pm. I pushed for 7:45pm, simply because the other seemed too early and it could possibly cut into activities time. Having no prior cruise experience, I had no idea that it was a challenge to secure this. All I know is that they were very excited that we were able to pull this together for the 10 of us to have traditional dining at the later slot.

We tend to be fairly casual people and while I know cruises have become more casual, I'd seen many debates about what's appropriate attire for the main dining room (MDR). With the way people talked in my RCCL Facebook groups, I had no idea what to expect. I just know we shopped according to what seemed appropriate. David was literally shopping day before we left because we've been working from home since March 2020 and don't have much in the way of dressy casual anymore...and he procrastinates. I wanted to let the kids have some fun on their own time...but it was time to get their booties back to the room to get dressed...since I knew I'd be dressing myself and helping them. I had also been hoping to get some time to do K's nails, since she was kind enough to do mine the night before, but playing on their own was what they wanted. After a great debate over men and dress shorts and the best way to tuck Sam's Romero Britto inspired top...we headed to the MDR.

My dad was hoping everyone could meet up at 7:30 and not knowing how crazy elevators would be or the walking time...we were running a bit early. Sam's stomach and David's stomach were acting up again...possibly now with some mild seasickness...so there was a lot of back and forth from the bathroom in the mix. At least we had time. The MDR is located on three separate floors, but we were always 5th floor...table 819...so at least it helped being locked for that with tummy uncertainty. On night 1, they had all of the doors closed off (there's a large walkway and sitting area between the promenade and the actual dining room) and guests were clustered around the entry...so it added to some of the anticipation and restlessness. It was a really nice presentation when they opened the doors. The MDR staff was lined up and applauding for the guests and since it was night 1, we were led to our official table for the rest of the cruise.



I regret never getting to see the other floors of the MDR, but ours was quite pretty. My only complaints were 1. the digital picture frame I always faced never changed images. On the last night of the cruise, we realized the one behind us that those on the other side of the table could see always had changing images. 2. I wish there were some outward facing windows. It's just the design of the ship, but I would have liked an outside view. I had what looked like a window next to me, but if it looked out on anything, it would have been the ship's jogging track. Oh well...time for food...






I'm surprised I didn't take a dessert pic this evening. Or as our server called it…the yummy yummy. Cheesecake maybe? I wish I could remember what I ordered?!?!?! It's tough, because they had us ordering everything at once. I guess that's the thing with cruises...you're usually ordering multiples for each course. It wasn't uncommon for people to be ordering three appetizers, two entrees, and three desserts. Our server would also often bring doubles of things she thought we really liked. This evening, I had dual appetizers...French onion soup and a crab cake. They weren't bad, but both were a bit cold. My NY strip was also overcooked (I always order rare). The bread was good and they also gave us a cheese plate every night that consisted of some cheddar, Swiss, a ball of bleu cheese, some figs, walnuts, and some veggies. Speaking of the walnuts...Kendall's allergy came up again. They didn't know she was allergic, so we had to go over everything. In fact, the server from the Windjammer who went off in search of info and never came back appeared...said we just missed him...but went over some of the things she could eat in the MDR. He also said he could help in the future in the Windjammer. Sadly, that was the last time we saw him for the cruise.

Dinner went really late...like close to 10:30pm. It wasn't the food or us dragging things out...it was our lead server. And it would be an issue all cruise. She was new to the role and we were brought our food much later than all of the tables around us (including her other tables). This is likely why several of us had cold food. We were the second to last table to leave the dining room this evening...simply because of the speed of service. We had large tables all around us, including one with over 20 people. So, it's not like it was one party of 10 and a bunch of 2 and 4 tops.

We didn't stay out too late...no pics...but we had a few more cocktails and hit the ship's pizza place (Sorrento's) for a late snack. The tummy issues continued, but my SIL is a pharmacist and had a bunch of good OTC options with them that worked wonders for Sam and David...which is good, because we could really feel the ship moving.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Your stateroom looks really nice--very clean and streamlined. Does the window go down to the floor?

The cake looks good. I'll eat any kind of cake with any kind of frosting. I'm seeing these desserts and talk about cake and I am feeling like baking a pan of brownies now. My sweet tooth has been activated.

Side note: I remember in one of your trip reports, you said your daughters were playing "Hide the Pepto Bismol." That still cracks me up.

Aside from the beds (too firm) and the tiny showers/cramped toilet space, I was very happy with the rooms. The windows went almost to the floor. I'd say maybe about a foot from the floor. While it was an angle, and we didn't get headroom all the way into that window space, we estimate that it added over 20 sq ft of floor space to each room and the huge windows kept me from feeling claustrophobic. The basic ocean view rooms are 179 sq ft each, so before adding in that window space this location afforded, the two rooms gave us 358 sq ft bare minimum. The average junior suite was 287 sq ft (my brother got an accessible one that was about 1/4-1/3 larger) and more expensive...so these rooms seemed like a good bang for the buck. Not my picture, but the area circled in red are our rooms...



I actually have to bake for next weekend, so I have cake on the brain!

Oh wow...hide the Pepto! I do remember! I think there would have been some fighting if anyone hid the tummy meds this trip.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 25th-

Having never been on a cruise before, I have to say that it's a little unnerving to wake up at sea. Obviously, it wasn't a surprise, but I did have that minor moment of panic when there was nothing but water. I also have no perspective for what's calm and what's rough...so it looked and felt pretty rough to me. There were mixed feelings about that from passengers on our sailing, but there were constant swells and white caps. Yes, we were staying in a part of the ship where we'd feel the most motion, so it also wasn't unexpected that we'd really feel it. Still, I wasn't expecting to hear waves crashing into the hull and find myself stopping to brace a little as the ship rocked. It wasn't awful...just unexpected.

David wanted to sleep in (even though we we were getting quite a bit of extra light in those big windows...drapes hanging at a diagonal have gaps), but the rest of us wanted to hit the fitness center on deck 6. Maybe it's because it was the first full day at sea, but that fitness center was jam packed! We opted to take the stairs inside the center down to the track on deck 5 and walk a few laps. The track was pretty busy, but still walkable. It also gave us a chance to see some of the nice quiet places if I wanted to go and read. We headed back up into the fitness center shortly after to try and get in at least some of a gym workout. The kids did their own thing, while I got onto a recumbent bike for about 20 minutes. I attempted some circuit training, but after two machines, I got tired of waiting and headed to the Windjammer buffet for breakfast. It was also tail end of breakfast, so I was in quite a line waiting for the handwashing. At least there's a view with the wait...



I thankfully found myself a nice window table with a view of the back. It also occurred to me that I never took any pics or videos of the zip line in action across this area.





At first, it was just me. I did see my brother's family at one point and got some hugs from my niece and nephew, but it was back to being just me. I had messaged others, but got nothing. What's funny is that people just showed up. The kids...then David...and then my parents. We were there long enough that they started serving lunch! I had a plate of dessert!



Today's cream puff was equally blah, but I found that the green cake on the end was decent and the chocolate mousse cake was consistently good. The green one was a pistachio glazed pound cake. You'll also see in future posts that they do some version of this cake each day.

My parents were late to join us and my mom was waiting in a long line for something custom, so we opted to move on. The girls wanted to ride The Ultimate Abyss (the big hot pink dry slides on the back of the ship), so they headed up to deck 16 while I went down to deck 6 to greet them at the bottom. In doing so, I got to see the boardwalk area for the first time.



I never rode the carousel, but the kids did. Oh well. After passing the carousel, I got a treat...the Johnny Rockets servers dancing...



Johnny Rockets is the burger joint on the ship. While milkshakes were included in our drink packages, dining there was extra. Sadly, David had gone to the bathroom and the kids were still waiting for the slide, so I was the only one to see this. Oh well. So, I just waited at the bottom of the slides for the girls.




I guess there was a decent line up there, because it took a bit for them to come down. I know they both felt like the slide should have been faster, but they're also teens and it's not too fast unless it's Action Park dangerously fast. One of the crew members joked with Sam about how she came down, but I think the joke lost something in translation. He said something like she was farting on the slide that was causing her to have a rough ride and go more slowly. He looked very amused, so she laughed along.

We were still waiting on David, so we headed around the Aquatheater area to check out they very back...well, as close as we could get on this deck.

 

[MinnieM123]

Based upon your photos, that ship is very impressive looking. I like how each deck has its own individual designs, etc.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The kids wanted to go off and do their own thing, so David also I decided to go explore the Central Park area of the ship. It’s kind of crazy to have all of these trees and shrubs growing in a park type setting on a sea vessel. Our travel agent called me pretty early in the process to offer us connecting balcony rooms in this area for the same price, but I was just too worried about the noise. While Central Park seems to be much quieter than the rooms looking in on the boardwalk, it still gets a lot of foot traffic...partly because it's pretty and partly because it has three restaurants, one shop, and 1.5 bars. The half is because there's a bar called Rising Tides that moves up and down between decks 5 (promenade area) and deck 6 (central park area). I also still didn't want the kids with a balcony, so I passed.



There’s a small bar in this area called the Trellis Bar (the other bar). We decided to stop for some drinks. I ordered a mango daiquiri, but they were out of big glasses, so I was given two small.



We enjoyed our drinks while relaxing on a park bench. We also met a couple during this time that was hiding from the kids and grand kids. I get it…finding some peace. They were describing their frustrations because they were all originally booked on deck 3, but two out of three rooms for their groups got moved last minute to make room for Covid quarantine space.

During our conversation, we were also interrupted by a trio of teens on a kids club scavenger hunt activity. While they were having fun, it made it very clear that the teen club was definitely not something ours would really enjoy. I encouraged ours to go check it out, but I know neither one would have been comfortable with this activity. They were competing with other teen groups to see who could gather the most bizarre items from fellow passengers. I had nothing but K's allergy meds, so we were no help.

At this point, David wanted to go check some things out that didn't interest me...so he went one way and I went back to the room to grab some things. When I got back to the room, things were feeling particularly rough to me, so I checked out the window and saw some decent swells right off the bow.



It also started to make me long for land (we had another full day at see ahead), so I pulled up the CruiseMapper site to see where we were...



I decided to grab some me time and headed to one of the little quiet areas I'd seen on the 5th deck. It was open air above the windows, so it gave a decent view and breeze all at once. I just sat back and read some college books for K for a while...





I'll be honest...while I did get in some decent reading, the area was putting me to sleep. There were a number of people napping in lounge chairs, so I wouldn't have been the only one.

I'm not sure how long I was there...maybe a couple of hours...but David messaged me asking me to meet him up at the Solarium. I wasn't sure which floor to exit since the Solarium is on 14, 15 and 16, but I found him in the Solarium Bar area on 16. The Solarium is supposed to be the adults only part of the ship.



I say supposed to be because it's 16+, which still invites some of the teen element. You also get a number of kids up there for the Solarium Bistro restaurant and others whose parents feel their younger children are well behaved enough to be there. I think the biggest gripe people have with the area is that Harmony's Solarium is the only Oasis Class ship that doesn't have a pool in this area. It has a few hot tubs, including a couple of nice infinity style ones, but a misting station where the pool normally resides. Oh well...it is what it is. So, I went up to the bar to get a drink...and this time they mixed all of the daquiri flavors on hand to make me this tasty thing...



We stayed up there for a while, but eventually headed back to the room and instructed the kids to do so as well. It was the first of two formal/dress your best nights and I knew we'd need some extra time to prepare.