Who feels like a Thread-Killer? Part 6

[Cruisin]

I was awake quite early the next morning (around 4:30 - 5 am) I looked out our window in time to watch our ship pulling up to the dock

We had breakfast at the hotel and decided to go for another walk along the water since we had lots of time before the shuttle to take us to the port.

Our ship waiting for us.

Got our shuttle to the port and arrived about 10:45am. Check in was a real breeze. No one in line at all, walked right up to the counter person. We were directed to the waiting room and told since we were return cruisers that we would board after a small wedding party and 2 higher levels of return cruisers.

We boarded at about 12:00 noon. After the obligatory welcome aboard picture (turned out like crappola ) we were onboard and headed to our first lunch at the buffet

After lunch checked out our teeny tiny little cabin, met our room steward (nice guy) and explored the ship. After lifeboat drill, we were off and sailing.

Strategy planning session:

Oh, yeah, we managed to change our dining from late to main seating. We went to dinner that first night and were directed to our table. We were sitting with the wedding party that boarded the ship first A man and woman (been together 23 years and were just getting married ) his daughter and her husband (young 20's) and another young 20's couple and us. We had the crappiest location in the dining room but we had a great time. We all got along well together and I think a good time was had by all.

All of our tablemates were first time cruisers, so we had tons of questions that we had to answer every night

Rick retired early but I went to the evening show, wandering the ship, went to midnight buffet (Mexican) and went to bed about 12:15am.

The seas were fairly calm and so a good ending to our first day.

Tomorrow..... San Diego

 

[Cruisin]

After breakfast it was all ashore in San Diego.

We booked an excursion to Balboa Park. It is a very nice area that has a whole bunch of different museums all on the same site. First we took a tram ride over to the park with a short narrative and tour by the driver.

When we got to Balboa Park we were on our own to explore as we wished. We were given admission to 4 museums of our choice and there was tons of other stuff to see that was free.

One example of the neat architecture found in the area.

Neat flowers that caught my eye.

Back to the ship again for dinner and then the evening show which Rick was able to stay awake for. It turned out that our of our dinner table of 8 people the first night I was the only one still awake to see the evenings entertainment

Don't know what we filled the rest of the night with but it passed. I think I went and tried out the pizza bar later that night after Rick went back to the cabin.

 

[Cruisin]

Aw, Catalina Island day. We have an excursion planned for the afternoon and nothing really planned for the morning except hanging around.

Go up and deck for breakfast and this is what we see.

Come back little tender boat..............

Captain announces that the tender boats cannot connect with the Monarch of the Seas and therefore today will be a day at sea

Oh well, better a day at sea than a yucky rainy day on Catalina Island. So off we sail in search of better weather.

I don't know how well this will turn out but.... shortly after lunch we were on the front of the ship and we saw literally hundreds of dolphins swimming toward the ship. They were jumping and dancing... how very exciting that was to see. The water looked like it was "boiling" with dolphins. So cool. That was so worth the sea day right there.

So, we spent the day just lazing around, did a backstage tour of the theater, read some, watched a movie "Red Eye" it was pretty good too.

After dinner a show that reminded me of a certain someone There was a juggler and he was juggling 7 lemons at one time. BP will you and PA please come on the TKERs cruise so that we can witness first hand your juggling skills

Watched this crazy adult game show called the QUEST. So silly, grown men holding hands, bare chested, skipping around the dance floor to win a tshirt Pretty funny though.

 

[Cruisin]

Today ... Ensenada, Mexico.

It looked beautiful from the ship but I heard reports that it wasn't necessarily so beautiful close up. The sewage smells were unbelievable, or so we were told.

We only got off of the ship to take a short walk and never left the dock area or entered the town.

There were tons of seals in port. They sure make a lot of noise So nice to see though for us.

Our ship, taken while on our walk ashore.

This day was our best weather day of the whole trip. It was still cool but the sun was shining very strongly and it was hot if you were sitting in a sheltered enough spot. I spent some time on deck in a chair listening to music and reading a book.

Dinner our last evening aboard.

After dinner, another show of course. I was so tired for some reason that I could hardly keep my eyes open during the show.... and it was REALLY LOUD too

We went to bed around 10pm, felt like a waste of our last night on board but I was really too tired to function.

 

[Cruisin]

Back to reality.

We arrived back to San Pedro the next morning. The sun was shining, it was beautiful weather.

We had our last breakfast aboard and collected our luggage and left the ship.

We found our shuttle service and headed to the airport. We decided to try and get on an earlier flight home (12:35pm instead of 5:30pm). We went on standby and were able to get on the plane so we arrived home earlier than we were planning on. It was better than spending useless hours sitting at the airport though.

Some final thoughts

Royal Caribbean Cruise line is NOT Disney Cruise line The cruise was okay, the food was not really fantastic, the entertainment was not really fantastic, the service was passable but not really anything special (although our room steward was great). Our dining team was fairly bland although the assistant waiter warmed up more as the trip went on. He kept bringing us bread and rolls and telling us we should take some.... "just in case"

We spent the whole time comparing the two different cruise lines and unfortuately this ship does not come anywhere near the Disney ships. It was an enjoyable cruise and we got what we paid for.

I don't regret going at all and I would probably cruise with Royal Caribbean again but I would like to try one of their newer bigger ships.

This trip only made us more excited for our upcoming Disney Cruise I'm looking very forward to that one.

 

[KimRaye]

Wow Robin! Thanks for the great trip reports and pictures! I'm feeling a little better about the TK '07 cruise from your posts. (Still worrying about claustrophobia and 'no way to get off' feelings. ) I wouldn't call myself a good swimmer, barely a swimmer at all , but I loved to water-ski when I was younger. Go figure. Any chance of the ship letting me water-ski?


Kelly & I got back about 3 hours ago from the latest DIS Meet. 4 hour Meet, nice time. 5 newbies I think, so that's always nice. Lots of no shows tho, probably because of the weather.

Prior to that, we went to see Junie B. Jones, the musical. Very cute show, lots of adults laughing too. Gonna look into their Cam Jansen show in Feb. Nice theatre, but a little .

I have a ton to do tomorrow, being I was out all day and night, so I won't be back until later in the evening Sunday - as usual.










BP - squirrels? "STOP the madness!!!" (Phoebe from Friends)

 

[Cruisin]

Kim

I honestly don't think you will have to worry about claustrophobia or not being able to get off the ship. The cabins on the Wonder are much larger than the ones on the Monarch and much nicer too. The ship is absolutely huge, so you won't feel closed in at all. I think you will be just fine.

I told Rick yesterday about the TKER cruise I asked if he wanted to go on a Disney cruise on that date and said that I DO want to go and if he wants to come along he can

Sounds like you had a busy day yesterday Kim. So did I. We decided to go shopping in the "big city", all four of us. My niece is going to school in that city and Liz wanted to spend the night with her so we left here there. So that means that I have to drive back today to get her (an hour in each direction). So I know what I will be doing sometime later today . That's okay, I don't mind. She really needs the time she will spend with her cousin right now. They are within 8 months of age of each other and have always been close friends.

Tons to do today..... starting with laundry I will check in later to say hello

 

[Dalpal]

Good Morning everyone!,

Late start today...went to church and just now had a chance to post....

weather report ...
Today its very nice out...looks like a sunny day so far...not to cold..around 50 right now...not to shabby for mid nov.
end of report

Wow! It looks like most of us are going or trying to go on this cruise! Hope it all pans out..What a blast we will have!

Now up....She who has no name (SWHNN) kind of like Swan? more like the ugly duckling. anyway, hi again, shopping til we drop. swhnn

Hello miss "SWHNN"<~~~~~I like it! ...So glad you have joined us here...it now completes the sisters...Take it easy on Ann OK?......We dont want to have to have Susan treating her for "shoppers shock" Oh and have a good time !...

Robin,
Thank you for the trip report.....I have to say that the rooms on the disney ships(from the pictures Ive seen)are ALOT bigger then the rooms we had on our cruises...We were on the RCCLs Nortic Empress..and Carnivals Ecstacy...which had the bigger of the two....The food was alot better on the Ecstacy also...

Well better get going...The crew will be here soon!
Kim,


Colleen,

BP,

everybody else who stops by.....

TTFN

 

[Cruisin]

Yes, the rooms on the Disney Ships are definitely a lot bigger and also nicer than the rooms that we have had on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Absolutely, no contest about that. Even the lowest category level on Disney has a beautiful cabin.

I was thinking this morning too that the Disney Ships were much easier to find our way around than the Royal Caribbean one. They seem to be laid out more logically.

I sure hope that most, if not all of us, go on the cruise. We will have a great time together. We will have to make sure that our reservations are linked so that we can eat all together or at least nearby each other in the dining rooms.

Ann and Tom will have to learn how to stay up later at night before they go though or they will miss all of the fun I can absolutely picture some of you guys getting right in there with all of the "special" events at night in the clubs

 

[belle_of_the_ball]

thread killer....yup...im ashamed...we're all a bunch of murders here!

 

[Cruisin]

thread killer....yup...im ashamed...we're all a bunch of murders here!

Well not here we aren't because we can't kill this thread and we really don't want to.

Welcome belle_of_the_ball, glad to have you stop in and visit with us.

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Great Report Robin!

Makes me feel a little guilty - I took notes my week in October and never wrote it up

I am totally up for Jan 7, 07! I was thinking of booking it for hubby and me and surprising him with it later

Robin, you and Rick are such a cute couple

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Ok, this is sad...I killed it today for six hours today!!!!!!!!!!

Come out come out wherever you arrrrrrrrrrrrrre!

 

[ophie]

Happy 1555!!!​

:thewave:​

 

[Cruisin]

Ok, this is sad...I killed it today for six hours today!!!!!!!!!!

Come out come out wherever you arrrrrrrrrrrrrre!

You can rest easy that you did not kill it. I have been on silent guard off and on all day long

Nothing gets by me

 

[Cruisin]

Happy 1555!!!​

:thewave:​

 

[tiggerwannabe]

You two lurkers are good

Happy 1555 to you too!!!!

 

[Cruisin]

Off to do another load of laundry

 

[TKERBELL]

weather report ...
Today its very nice out...looks like a sunny day so far...not to cold..around 50 right now...not to shabby for mid nov.
end of report

DP - I hope you took my WP comment as a compliment - that is how I meant it - I do appreciate the WP - Thank you thank you thank you!!!

WOW - Cruisin' sounds like you had fun on your cruise

I would be interested in TKer's Cruise in January '07 - I will speak to DH and hope we can jump on the bandwagon so to speak -

Been a busy weekend and a busy week coming up - not sure how much I will be around - Don't miss me too much.....(I have no fear)

To everyone TKer's and lurker alike!!!

Ciao - Janet

 

[Cruisin]

Janet

Just passing by the computer and stopped for a little look

I too will have a busy week, since I took all of last week off. I hear there are some nice cheques on my desk I like it when there are cheques on my desk Too bad all that money always has places to go before it even gets here isn't it

Have a good week Janet