Sept. 29, 2018 cabin crawl

Got up early and Annie and I went for breakfast and then to the Atrium where we met the Cruise Critic group for the cabin crawl. There were about 20 people there, maybe a little more and off we went up and down elevators and long hallways to check out the cabins that passengers had agreed to let us see. If you’ve ever cruised you might have noticed that you don’t get a chance to see what other cabin types look like unless you have family or friends occupying a different category cabin or maybe you’re lucky and meet someone and they invite you in. You might even notice that if you walk down hallways that have cabins on both sides and the room steward is making the beds, vacuuming or whatever you won’t be able to catch much of a glance because even though the door is open they always open the bathroom or closet door to block a passerbys view. I never understood why they did that but now I get it. So today for my first time on my 9th Cruise I am finally going to be able to check out other cabins.

First up was a small inside cabin, no window or porthole, just the basic inside plain Jane room. These rooms are very cozy but very dark day and night without a window. Next was a porthole cabin that was in the category of being an inside cabin. I don’t really understand why or how they could call it an inside when you could look outside. Whatever, I found it be be quite nice and now that I’ve learned that little ditty it might be possible that I’d stay in such a room someday. When looking at the cabin prices for a cruise remember to look through all the inside cabin prices as they’re all priced different prices due to location on the ship or because a ship has odd shapes and some insides are better than others maybe because some are larger than others as well. The most expensive one in this category would be the porthole version. But wait, it gets more complicated than that as we found out looking at the next cabin which had a much larger porthole window than the first and it was in the category of ocean view. OV rooms are located fwd or aft and also within this category are cabins with obstructed view. There might be a lifeboat outside your window or maybe half of a lifeboat or a structural thing like a post. You’ll likely get some light at least but maybe not a great view.

The largest selection on the ship are the Balcony cabins that run along the outside on several floors just like all the others do. But here too are many differently priced cabins. Midship Bal is more costly than fwd or aft and then there’s a lot of categories within that as well. Some ships have a bump and the cabins there are usually bigger and therefore pricier. As well, you have to take into consideration what floor a cabin is on and know that the lower the floor the less movement of the waves you’ll feel. The higher the room the pricier it gets but if you fear getting sea sick go lower for less movement. Probably everyone is different and they’ll choose their cabin accordingly but remember when you see the price for any room it’s for two people who each have to pay that price. If you want to cruise alone you’ll be charged for two unless you find a solo cabin priced and sized for one. If I had my druthers I would always choose midship 8th floor or higher. This also means you’re close to the elevators but I’ve never heard them or the traffic in the hallway even when staying in the closest cabin to the elevators.

Next on the list was a different class of Balcony room and it looked pretty much like a mirror image of ours. Some might be bigger, some might have a larger balcony, some might sleep up to 4 people if it has a pullout couch or a bed that magically drops out of the ceiling. Some cabins have a door to the next cabin but it'll be locked if you don't want or need that access. You can let the cruise line pick you a room by asking for a guarantee and hoping you get upgraded or choose your own room for a higher price but then there’s no chance of getting an upgrade.
It seems I didn’t take pics of some of the general categories and maybe it was because they were so small and crowded with all the cabin crawl people.

And then we went to AN OWNERS SUITE........omg. OMG!
Ok this is supposedly where the cruise line owner stays when onboard. But I seriously doubt that because it isn’t like there’s just one or two people who own a cruise line. So lets just say a VIP. We heard that one of these suites can cost $45,000.00 for a cruise but of course that must vary depending on how many days. Nobody asked the couple who allowed us to view their suite as far as I know but let’s face it, we don’t ever have to know or find out, or even want to know, lol.

The suite was so awesome and I’ll let the pics tell the tale but the stuff that goes with this suite is pretty sweet too. Three balconies and one is quite large, squarish and very private and open to the sunshine on the Fwd deck and the others are on either side with a glass wall part way up like a normal reg balcony. A huge living room and dining room with awesome art on the walls, comfy couch and chairs and a dining table large enough to have dinner parties and views that go on forever, two bathrooms and one has a big tub with an ocean view and a tv, the master bdrm was huge and so was the bed all fluffy with the best linens and quilts and about a million pillows A great perk is that you get a butler.....but what do you do with him? Well I guess he’ll unpack your suitcase and pack it up for you when you have to leave. He’ll hang up your clothes everyday and take care of your personal laundry. He’ll also bring flowers, and pastries and other treats, whatever you want all day, everyday. I suppose you could make all sorts of demands and he’ll oblige, within reason of course. He’ll make restaurant reservations for you, run any kind of errand etc and he’ll be at your beck and call 24/7. The trouble with this is that eventually you’ll have go home! It was awesome to see this suite! Many thanks to the generous tenants who let us all in to view it.

We all then went to the Tzar restaurant for lunch which was lovely. I had a Vietnamese soup with rice noodles and carrots that were quite raw and later had an appetizer that consisted of beets, avocado, and shrimp and then misc. fruits with agave.

I phoned my hubby at home today and it was very fast and a quicker connection than what I thought it would be. It was just like calling next door! I tried to be as brief as possible because I’m calling from a cruise cabin somewhere in Asia near Japan and in the line a typhoon is heading and phone calls are $6 per minute. He sounded sad and when I asked he said our good friend Bob had passed away. Bob was a retired fireman, a street rodder with a beautiful red 1932 Ford and we had done many out of town show n shines with he and his wife Diane. They were the ones who taught us the ropes of cruising years ago. We did the Mexican Riviera out of San Diego with them and the next year the Panama Canal from Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver. Bob was a diabetic and he knew he had to take care of his feet so he went to a nail salon where they cut his toenails for him. Recently he got a sore on his foot, not sure if it was a nail infection but it turned into gangrene and that’s what killed him. Who knew that was possible in this day and age?
I didn’t mention to my Bob about the typhoon headed our way and anyhow I know ships can change course and avoid such storms so why worry him.

Later Annie’s friend Scott came by and he used his phone to make my reservation for my third night in a Singapore hotel. I wanted to stay there just 2 nights and fly home on the 3rd. day but my flight was cancelled 3 times and it ended up that there was no fight to connect to Vancouver. Which I think is bs. I paid for my flight with my Royal Rewards points (Visa) and I think they’re jerking me around as I’m sure had I paid cash I could be on Air Canada any day. There was no offer to pay my hotel for that night either. So as it stands now I might still have a problem with them because I have no phone for them to contact me in time if they expect me to linger around another day or two. The original plan had me flying to Hong Kong and finding myself a hotel there for the night. The second plan was to fly to Beijing for a night. The third plan was back to Hong Kong but a day later with a 3 hour layover on the third day in Singapore. Either way I’m not going to enjoy because I already know I’ll be exhausted with the stress of it all. The last conversation I had with the Royal Rewards people i added a few years to my age hoping they’d take pity and give me a better flight but it didn’t work.

I went to the showroom to watch a Las Vegas card shark/magician show and the guy was quite good but I think he was using marked cards like the ones we had as kids that had a very ornamental back. It included a clock in each corner of the cards that didn't look like a clock but it told you the time which co ordinated with what number the card was. I can’t remember how it was decorated to show each suit but the entire show very well could have been centered around those cheap and easy old fashioned trick cards but with a very good card shuffler.
I went to the buffet for my dinner of all sorts of misc ending with a blueberry crepe with whipped cream. I then made a cuppa tea and brought it to my room to enjoy before going to sleep.

The last few pics are of watching a medical evacuation of a very ill person on our ship. Unlike the one that was on a different cruise in 2014 where they lifted the person off the ship in a helicopter. This one today was easier because we detoured a little bit to get close to land and the patient was taken ashore in one of the ships lifeboats. As we watched they arrived onshore and within a few minutes the person was in the helicopter and there it is flying off to a hospital. I hope the patient is ok; we never did find out how it all went.

 The owners suite....