Cruise Day 2 – Nassau, Bahamas – 9/12

Marty and I have an excursion to Atlantis Resort today but we don’t meet with the tour operator until 10:00am on the pier. We were scheduled to dock at 7:00am. We got in about half an hour earlier than that and I was the only one on the balcony watching as Marty was in the spa doing his early morning work-out routine and Mom and Dad were still sleeping.

I knew Marty would go eat after his work-out so I headed to the Diamond Lounge (for Royal Caribbean frequent cruisers) and had some fruit and cheese for my breakfast along with a cappuccino.

By the time I got back to the cabin, Mom and Dad were enjoying their balcony:

Then they headed to Park Café for breakfast:

We still had some time before getting off the ship so we watched different excursion boats pass by. I’m sure glad we weren’t on this one as it looks to be a wee bit overcrowded:

When it was time, we all headed down to get off the ship as Mom wanted a port picture of all of us for scrapbooking. Once we got the picture, I talked to a crew member about getting Mom and Dad back on the ship and he called for someone to come down and help get Dad back up the gangway in the wheelchair. They went back for a nice, relaxing day on the ship while Marty and I headed on our hot, humid tour to Atlantis…

Set Sail Day – Sat 9/11

We started the day with Mom and Dad catching up on the blog in the hotel room:

We took the 10:30am hotel shuttle to the port. Julio (the driver who had picked us up at the airport) was in the lobby but he was not able to be our driver because of a scheduling conflict and he was upset about it but we got one last chance to visit with him. Once the driver (I didn’t catch his name) got us all on the shuttle he warned us that security was tighter than usual at the port (due to it being 9/11) and to be prepared to show identification in case we were stopped and boarded by security when arriving at the port. He was quite relieved when we were waved on through but I expect he had a long day ahead of him.

The luggage transfer from shuttle to porters went very smoothly. While the Hyatt Place may not be the nicest hotel to stay in Ft Lauderdale pre-cruise, it is one of the only (may be THE only) hotels that provides shuttle service to/from airport and cruise terminal in addition to nearby restaurants, shopping and attractions. The hotel is adequate (clean rooms and mostly good service) but that shuttle service made up for any and all deficiencies.

Security and check in also went very smoothly at the cruise terminal and we were aboard the ship a little after 11:00. We each said the requisite “WOW!” as we entered the Royal Promenade but we didn’t dawdle or spend much time ogling as we were anxious to get to our home deck, Central Park, have lunch at the Park Café and wait for our cabins to be ready at 1:00 (besides the fact we were all lugging around our carry-ons). We did, however, take time to stop off at the Cupcake Cupboard and make reservations for the decorating class. Marty is really excited about that. hehe. Finally, we arrive at Central Park. We found a quiet corner to hang out in until the restaurant opened:

We had a nice lunch at Park Café – soup and paninis. By 12:30 or so the café was getting really crowded so we headed back to our quiet corner until the magic hour of 1:00 when our cabins were finally ready. Home sweet home (at least for the next week) at last!

Mom and Dad’s bags arrived first and they laid down for a nap. All of our bags arrived pretty quickly and I was completely unpacked by 2:00. Now I’m on vacation! YAY!

Muster Drill was at 4:15 and you are no longer required to carry that pesky life preserver down with you! They also allow you to stay inside the air-conditioning instead of standing out in the scorching heat and humidity. I’m not sure if that’s just for Oasis or if it is now fleetwide. One nice crew member even got Mom a chair to sit in (I think maybe because she saw me ram Dad’s wheelchair into the back of her ankle when she stopped in front of me as we arrived at our muster station).

The new and improved Muster Drill!

Sail away at 5:00 on the balcony:

Marty being himself (goofy) - the next two pictures taken while we wandered around the Royal Promenade after sail away. Marty thought the music was too loud and then he found a free liquor tasting booth so he didn't care anymore:

That’s about it for set sail day. It was a long day and we all turned in pretty early. Marty and I have a big day ahead in Nassau where we do our excursion to Atlantis Resort.

Brief explanation of non-posting

I had trouble getting the ship’s wi-fi to work with my netbook. I had to get help in the conference center yesterday afternoon. But I’m up and running now and will be working throughout the day playing catch-up. I hope to have a couple more posts published by this evening.

Just wanted to let everyone know all is well and we're having a great time!

Marty's Birthday in Ft Lauderdale

Hard to believe I'm the youngster in the group as tired as I feel and we're only on day 2 of our 10 day adventure! And we haven't really done that much. LOL! I told Marty this afternoon that I will be so glad to get on that ship, unpack my bags and be done with that for 7 nights. That's one of my very favorite parts of cruising is being able to completely unpack and stay in the same "hotel room" while visiting different places. Pure heaven!

I want to go ahead and at least get this started tonight as tomorrow morning will be a busy one. So let's talk about Marty's actual birthday day.

I mentioned in my last post that Marty went exploring after his early continental breakfast. There is a Publix about 3/4 of a mile away and we like to take some bottled water on the ship. The tap water onboard the ship is fine but it is desalinated sea water and I swear it has more sodium than your average bottled water and I have issues with retaining water and with all the rich foods on the ship I need to cut down the sodium somewhere. Or maybe we're just bottled water snobs but I do like to try to rationalize it somehow. ha! Whatever - we go through the trouble of buying and taking some on board.

Marty is ever the frugal shopper which is not a bad thing, I just want to point it out before I finish the story. Our original plan was that on his reconnaissance mission he would bring back a 12-pack and then both of us would walk over later and each carry a 12-pack. So, Marty calls me from the Publix to tell me the selection and prices. He says, "They have 12-pack Zephyr water for $3.69 but we can get a 24-pack of Publix water for $3.99." I pointed out to him that 1) I didn't think he could manage to carry a 24-pack of pint-size water bottles nearly a mile and 2) bottled water onboard the ship is $3.50 PER BOTTLE so paying a little more for the smaller package is still saving us a lot of money. LOL! He concurred and settled for the 12-pack.

By the time he got back to the hotel, Mom and Dad were ready to go down to the lobby for some breakfast. They have a pretty nice set-up and places to sit so we stayed awhile and planned our day. I had called the front desk earlier to see if the hotel shuttle could take us to Chart House for lunch and found out it was out of their range. So I asked for suggestions and was given a couple. I checked them out online and when I got downstairs I asked if she could print the menus out for us and she did. We studied the menus and Marty decided on Bimini Boatyard and it turned out to be a fine selection.

We came back up to our room so Mom could check the latest blog post and send a couple of emails while the guys did some channel surfing:

Pretty exciting birthday so far, huh? But channel surfing *IS* one of Marty's favorite activities. ;-)

We still had some time to kill before lunch so Marty and I hiked back to Publix and got some more water and a few other small items that were forgotten during the packing frenzy.

It was after 11:30 by the time we got back and we all headed down to the lobby around noon and I asked about getting a shuttle to the restaurant. It would be about 15 minutes so we hung out in the comfy lobby and waited while Marty received and replied to some of his MANY text messages wishing him a happy birthday:

He is apparently a very popular and well-liked guy! Who knew?! ;-)

Okay, now on to the good stuff. Lunch!

We actually managed to get a great group shot in front of the signage!

And you might as well come to expect plenty of food pictures on my "live" travel blog as we do like our food.

crab cake appetizer

shrimp cocktail (skewered on sugar cane!)

The "garnish" is a vertical salad in a cucumber base. Pretty *and* tasty. Dad had the clam chowder along with the crab cake appetizer for his meal. Marty also had some chowder and blackened Mahi Mahi. Mom had the fish tacos and I had the shrimp cocktail and jumbo crab cake. All the food was DEE-licious! And somehow we all decided we still had room for dessert (except for Dad - the smart one of the bunch!). Mom had tiramisu (another first for her). It was HUGE and very good. I got the creme brulee and Marty got the "Award Winning" key lime pie. I wish I had gotten it. It was SO GOOD!

Marty's scrumptious key lime pie

He also had some espresso after dessert:

drinking espresso using the proper pinkie technique

The only exception to our excellent lunch was the service which started off well but significantly slacked off by the end of the meal.

After the check was paid, I called the hotel to ask for a shuttle pick-up and was told it would be 15 to 20 minutes. We barely got out the door when the shuttle pulled up. The driver said he was close by and decided to pick us up before doing his airport run. We have had great luck with the shuttle service. It is a wonderful perk. We hope our luck holds out in the morning.

It was nearly 3:00 when we got back to the hotel when is the time they start the sign-up for the shuttles to the port for the following morning. We are the first 4 signed up for the 10:30am (earliest) shuttle. YAY!

Again, we were all pretty wiped out (and excessively over-stuffed) so we each headed for our own rooms. After a couple of hours Marty was determined we should do something else for his birthday. He was talking about walking to some of the places we passed on our way to the restaurant and I told him I could walk no further than the Outback so we went there for one last "No Worries Hours" and being Friday it was much more crowded than yesterday. We stayed for one round and we were both so tired we limped back to the hotel.

Mom had left us a message (she's getting to be a whiz with the phone system here!) so I called her to let her know we were in for the night (after all, it was 6pm local time!). The game plan is that she will call us when they wake up and get moving around. I will go to their room to get all the cruise luggage tags on their bags and we will head to the lobby around 9:30 to hopefully find a nice spot to camp out in until our shuttle. We will let Marty deal with getting all the luggage down from the rooms. Hey, his birthday is over by then! hehe.

I took a shower after I talked to Mom and seem to have gotten my second wind once I started typing. Sorry for the verbosity the last couple of posts but that will more than likely slow down. No free internet on the ship - far from it! But I promise to attempt to keep up the daily posts even if they are brief (which you will probably appreciate at this point). LOL!

I'll leave you with one last picture. Marty and I never travel without him checking out nearly every tree he passes. I've learned to deal with being married to a tree doctor by using these moments as photo ops:

Marty examines tree behind our hotel

Ft Lauderdale - we have arrived!

Marty and I arrived at the airport extra early to avoid the worst of the 8:00 Houston traffic. We got checked in and through security quickly and headed to Bubba's Bayou Grill for a leisurely breakfast. It has a very limited menu but it's a hot breakfast in a quiet, sit-down restaurant directly across from the frantic pace of the food court which makes for good people-watching.

Here are couple of photos of Marty and me around the Houston airport. Look quick, there is actually a picture of me! I'm not often in pictures since I'm usually behind the camera:
 .

I love a Starbucks Mocha Frappacino but rarely indulge. But, hey, I'm on vacation! Marty couldn't help but stop to browse the labels when we were passing by a closed wine and food bar.

We arrived at what we thought was our gate around 9:00, half an hour before Mom and Dad's flight was expected to arrive and an hour and 45 minutes before our flight was scheduled to depart. We were so early the previous flight was still listed. After we'd been sitting there for about 10 minutes (the previous flight was just leaving so we were alone at the gate) one of the gate agents asked if we were going to McAllen (TX). Um, no, we're going to Ft Lauderdale. She says, "Oh, that gate has changed to E-23." Huh? She asked if we needed a cart and I was like, nah, we can handle it. About halfway to the new gate I was regretting that decision!

Mom and Dad's flight arrived on time (actually a few minutes early) at IAH and I wasn't too worried about our gate change because I knew the gate agents at their arriving gate would know where they should go.

I was surprised to see Mom and Dad arrive to our gate by foot. Well, Mom by foot, Dad being pushed in his wheelchair by an airport employee. They had walked all the way from Terminal B. That is a LONG walk! I asked Mom why they didn't take a cart and she said the cart at their arrival gate was waiting on someone to go to the bathroom and she didn't want to wait and, of course, she didn't realize how far the walk was going to be. The lady kept asking her along the way if she was okay and she said she was but she should NOT have walked that far. Her impatience gets the best of her sometimes.

Marty spotted them approaching the gate first and went running and waving his arms in the air at them. I think it startled the lady pushing dad's wheelchair as she probably thought he was some crazy person. Mom assured her it was just their whacky son-in-law so the lady turned over the wheelchair pushing duties to Marty:

Arriving at the gate for our flight to Ft Lauderdale

Our flight was delayed about 20 minutes because one of the flight attendants was delayed getting to the gate. Everyone applauded as she came running on high heels toward the gate. She seemed properly embarrassed. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming her previous flight was late which would be bad planning on the airline's part. But who knows, maybe she just overslept. LOL!

It sure is nice being able to pre-board and get all settled before the masses start boarding! We had a nice flight. They serviced turkey sandwiches with carrot sticks and a small Kit Kat bar. Even with our delayed departure we arrived at FLL a few minutes ahead of schedule.

We allowed everyone off the plane before us as it's slow going getting us all off so by the time we made a rest stop on the way to baggage claim, our suitcases were the only ones left when we got down to the carousel. That's kind of nice! We gathered them all up and then I called the hotel for our free shuttle and was informed Julio would be there in 15 minutes. And he was! He is a very nice man and was most helpful. We ran into him several times later in the hotel. I think he's planning on coming in early on Saturday so he can drive us to the port. The first shuttle leaves at 10:30 and he heard us tell the hotel clerk we wanted to take that one. He wasn't scheduled to come in until 11:30 but last time I saw him he said he would see us in the lobby at 10:00 Saturday morning.

We were checked in at the hotel by 3:00. Mom and Dad were pretty wiped out so we got them settled in their room for some rest. Marty and I went out and explored the area a bit. Ended up at the Outback and it was "No Worries Hours" (like what we call Happy Hour in TX). So we sat at the bar for a bit and visited with the bartender about the area. Turned out she was a True Blood fan (I had on my Fangtasia shirt) so we talked a lot about that. LOL!

Marty ran into Mom in the lobby around 5:15. She couldn't figure out how to use the phone in her room so was at the front desk. Marty brought her back up to our room (we're on different floors). She had taken a bath and felt refreshed. We agreed to meet them in their room in half an hour and then go to dinner.

We couldn't get our TV to work and I had called down to the front desk earlier. I called again and was told we could change rooms. Marty can NOT be in a hotel room with no TV! So we did that before meeting with Mom and Dad. It was 6:00 by the time we got to Outback and we had a lovely meal. We got a Blooming Onion for an appetizer. Another first for Mom and Dad. They liked! Dad got ribs and chicken, Marty and Mom both got the filet/shrimp scampi combo and I got the teriyaki medallions. All was excellent.

It was nearly 7:30 when we got back to the hotel. We were all pretty wiped out. We got Mom and Dad settled in their room and as soon as we got back to ours, I did a little unpacking, took a shower and went to bed. I think it was about 8:15 when I crawled under the covers (which was 7:15 body time). I think Marty stayed up and watch the Saints/Vikings game. I slept pretty good but woke up at 2:00 and never went back to sleep. I finally got out of bed about 3:30 and quietly tried to get my netbook set up but woke Marty up. I had it set up in the old room but was too tired when we got back to the room last night to set it up. Wish I had now. Marty was downstairs for the continental breakfast at 6:05 (they start serving at 6:00). He is now out exploring more of the area. There is a Publix across the way and we need to pick up a few things before the cruise.

Mom just called so she's figured out how to use the phone! YAY! They are awake and starting to stir. I'm not really sure what the plan is for today. We've ruled out the all day water taxi plan as it is way too hot and humid for Mom and Dad to be out in. I think we'll do the early birthday lunch for Marty at Chart House and then play it by ear. Marty and I may do the water taxi after lunch if that's what he wants to do. After all, it is his birthday (which he's been reminding us at every opportunity since we all got together yesterday morning - LOL!)

Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas

SHIP FACTS (for those who care about this sort of thing):
Inaugural Cruise Date: December 12, 2009
Guest Capacity: 5,400 double occupancy (6,400 max)
Crew: 2,150
Gross Tonnage: 220,000
Staterooms: 2,700
Decks: 16 high
Length: 1,187'
Max Beam: 184.40'
Draft: 30'
Cruising Speed: 22 knots
Let's just say - IT'S HUMONGOUS!!!

Now for some pictures of this gorgeous ship (again, click on any image for full-size view):

Aerial Shot

Look at all those decks! We're in the middle on deck 8.

Our connecting Junior Suite cabins are on deck 8 - the Central Park deck. Yes, a Central Park on a cruise ship! I'm not making this stuff up. See for yourself:

Interior (!) balconies overlooking Central Park

Maybe Marty can get a job on the ship taking care of the trees!

Now, are you ready for the Boardwalk?! 

More interior (!) balconies, these overlooking the Boardwalk (deck 6)

Artist rendition of wooden carousel
(note the guy on the zipline above the carousel!!!)

Royal Promenade on deck 5:

This is where the "action" is - many shops, bars and eating venues here

Rising Tide Bar
(moves - like an elevator - from deck 5 to 8)

And, finally, a couple of exterior shots of the aft of the ship which has some unique features:

Sports Deck with 2 (count 'em) Flowriders! Aquatheater seating below.

Aquatheater where water shows are performed (artist rendition)

 

Trip Itinerary

On Thursday, September 9th, Mom and Dad will meet us at IAH. Their flight arrives from Amarillo at 9:25am CDT. They arrive at Terminal B and will meet us at our gate at Terminal C where our flight to FLL departs at 10:40am CDT. We arrive at FLL at 2:07pm EDT where we will head straight to our hotel for 2 nights and 1 full day in beautiful Fort Lauderdale.

The "plan" is as follows:

Thur - 9/9: dinner at Outback Steakhouse (right next door to our hotel and my parents have never eaten at an Outback!)

Fri - 9/10: Marty's 55th birthday! Spend the day on the Water Taxi doing the full tour. Lunch at the Chart House (formerly Charley's Crab House) for some yummy, fresh seafood.

Sat - 9/11: Set sail day! Arrive at Port Everglades around 10:30am EDT. Get checked in and then explore the fabulous new cruise ship and set sail at 5:00pm EDT. Mom tells me that soon after we get onboard we must make a beeline for the Cupcake Cupboard to get our reservations for the cupcake decorating class because it fills up quickly! Marty is particularly interested in this activity. ;-)

Sun - 9/12: Nassau, Bahamas from 7:00am-2:00pm. This is the only port on our cruise itinerary that Marty and I haven't visited before. He and I will go check out Atlantis Resort while Mom and Dad stay on the ship. This is our first formal night and we have reservations to eat at Chops (specialty steak house) at 6:00pm and then we will go see the water show, Oasis of Dreams, at the Aquatheater at 9:00pm.

Mon - 9/13: At sea day. We will see the show, Hairspray, at the Opal Theater at 2:30pm.

Tue - 9/14: Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas from 9:00am-6:00pm. Probably won't get off the ship here except for the requisite port photo to show we were there. (Mom's a scrapbooker.) We will go to the Headliner Show at the Opal Theater at 8:30pm.

Wed - 9/15: Phillipsburg, St Maarten from 7:00am-5:00pm. I hadn't planned to get off here but Marty is talking about going back to Maho Beach (right next to the airport so the planes fly very low over the beach). So he and I may grab a cab and do that. It *is* a pretty cool place! But very LOUD! ha! After dinner on the ship, we will see the ice show, Frozen in Time, at Studio B at 8:30pm.

Our last visit to Maho Beach - red arrow points to Marty (gray shirt)
(click on image for full-size view)

Thur - 9/16: At sea day. Second formal night. We will eat in the main dining room for dinner so we can get the lobster tail! After dinner, we will see the show, Come Fly with Me, at the Opal Theater at 9:00pm.

Fri - 9/17: At sea day. Absolutely nothing pre-planned for this day! We may try to see the comedy show on this night since I think that's the only show we don't have scheduled. And the only reason we know when we will see all the other shows is because with 6,400 guests (max) on the ship, it is recommended to make reservations for the shows ahead of time to ensure you will have a seat! And there are 24 different dining options so we haven't done much pre-planning for our meals either. We'll play that by ear and see what we're in the mood for each meal.

Sat - 9/18: Arrive back at Port Everglades at 7:00am EDT. :-( Head to the airport and wait for our mid-afternoon flights home. We won't be flying back to Houston together as Marty and I are using our OnePass miles for our tickets so we fly home via Newark. I know, makes a lot of sense but our round-trip tickets cost a total of $15 per person so it's worth a little detour. Mom and Dad are scheduled to arrive back in Amarillo at 8:24pm CDT. Marty and I should arrive back at IAH at 10:14pm CDT.

So that's the itinerary in a not-so-small nutshell. I pledge to attempt to publish a post daily with more details of our actual adventures (if you think you can stand it) and toss in a few photos along the way.