Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

Tag: Cruise Compass

• Vision of the Seas–Day 4 Bermuda!

  Posted at 1:38 pm by taryngirl, on September 27, 2023

  

  6/11/23

  I was very excited for our second day in Bermuda! On this day, our plan was to get off the ship and explore the port area. Since we were docked overnight, we were free to come and go as we pleased.

  This was the Cruise Compass with activities for the day:

  

  

  

  

  We started with a breakfast in the Main Dining Room on the ship at around 8:30 a.m.

  

  Granola Parfait

  

  Seasonal Fruit Plate

  

  Buttermilk Pancakes with Bacon

  

  Express Breakfast

  

  French Toast

  

  French Toast (no berries)–This was mine and delicious! I love french toast!

  

  Buttermilk Pancakes with Banana

  

  The Classic Benedict

  

  Everyone enjoyed their breakfast here. It was a nice change from the busy buffet!

  We finished up and were off the ship by 9:30 a.m. Here’s a map located just off the ship in the port area. We were going to walk over to the Clocktower Shopping Mall and do some shopping.

  

  I had to explain what these were to these teens…JUST KIDDING! We couldn’t resist a photo opp though.

  

  

  

  Here are some videos from the port area:

  Look at our tiny ship!

  

  Here’s a view from the ship into the port:

  We were back on the ship by 12:30 p.m. Our plan was to lay by the pool until dinner time. We were lucky and found great seats!

  

  I was realllllly thirsty for something fruity and came up with this concoction…1/2 strawberry, 1/2 mango daiquiri. Several people approached me and asked me what it was so they could order one too!

  

  Little did we know that we had the best seats ever for the Men’s Bellyflop Competition!

  This guy was so much fun and participated in everythingggggggg!

  We headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Tonight’s menu was “A Taste of the USA.”

  

  Buffalo Chicken Dip–creamy dip with shredded grilled chicken, cream cheese and hot pepper sauce, topped with blue cheese crumbles and crispy tortilla chips

  

  I got to taste this and it was very good!

  Baked Potato Soup–rich and creamy, served with cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream and fresh chives

  

  New York Strip Steak–prepared to order with choice of herb butter or green peppercorn sauce, baked potato, sauteed vegetables

  

  This was mine and it was yummy!

  Kid’s Menu Chicken Nuggets and Fries

  

  Royal Burger–1/4 pound patty served on a brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles, fried onions, cheddar cheese, secret sauce and a side of fries

  

  Maple and Bourbon Glazed Salmon–buttermilk mashed potatoes, crispy brussel sprouts and a Dijon sauce

  

  Funny story…someone wanted to order the Lobster Mac and Cheese, but our waiter politely said he thought she should order something else. But that he would also bring some for her to try. He wasn’t fond of the dish for some reason, so we liked that he was honest with us!

  Lobster Mac and Cheese–decadent lobster and pasta in a rich cheese sauce topped with toasted buttery bread crumbs

  

  I honestly don’t know which dessert this is! Maybe the brownie from the Kid’s Menu??

  

  Warm Apple Crumble–hot apple compote topped with crunchy streusel, vanilla ice cream

  

  This was mine and it was delicious!

  Royal Cheesecake–velvety cheesecake garnished with a glazed strawberry

  

  This was my daughter’s and it is her favorite cheesecake ever!

  Royal Chocolate Cake–layers of dark chocolate cake and decadent chocolate mousse

  

  Also delicious!

  After dinner, we went outside for some photos. (It was Tropical Night btw.)

  

  Sunset!

  

  We made our way to Some Enchanted Evening Lounge for some 90s Music Trivia. It was a blast from the past, and we knew every song!

  After trivia, it was off to the Centrum for If You Know It Dance It!

  We were feeling like it was time for a snack, so we went up to the Park Cafe which has late night snacks from 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. These were the offerings on this particular night:

  

  

  I opted for some pepperoni pizza!

  

  It hit the spot for sure!

  Overall we had a really great day shopping, eating, relaxing, and singing and dancing! Cruise perfection!

  Posted in Cruise, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized, Vision of the Seas | 0 Comments | Tagged Bermuda, Cruise, Cruise Compass, Dining Review, Main Dining Room, Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Vision of the Seas

• Vision of the Seas Embarkation Day!

  Posted at 12:14 pm by taryngirl, on July 19, 2023

  6/8/23

  We were so excited to go on this vacation! We cruised on Royal Caribbean out of Baltimore a few years ago, and it was a great experience. The pricing for this specific date and itinerary was excellent and we couldn’t resist.

  It was my mom, myself, and my two daughters (17 and 15), and we were booked in an inside cabin. I personally do not mind an inside cabin. We are basically only there to sleep and shower, and I’d rather have extra money to use on excursions, etc. My cousin and her daughter were also traveling with us as a high school graduation celebration.

  We live about two and a half hours from Baltimore, so my husband dropped us off at the port. Our port arrival time was 11:00 a.m., so we left home around 8:30 a.m. We arrived right on time. This was the line for those with the arrival window of 11:00-11:30 a.m. There was a separate line behind where I was standing to take this photo, for those who had a later arrival time. There were many more people in that queue. I *think* they had arrived prior to their port arrival time, and were not allowed to board immediately. If there was space within the terminal, I *think* they were letting them in a few at a time.

  You can see we walked right in because there was no line!

  

  There was a very short line to get through security once inside.

  

  This is the view once we were all checked in. You can see the check in desks to the left here.

  

  After check in, you walk outside the main building and head towards the ship.

  

  

  I would say from the time we entered the building to get in line for security, until we were on the ship, was about 20ish minutes.

  Our plan is always to get the earliest boarding group we can. Why not start the vacation as soon as possible??!! Something new post-Covid (this was my first cruise since), is the whole muster drill situation. For this particular ship, on this particular date, all we had to do was go check in with a person at our assigned muster station. There is a video that you can watch ahead of time through the app. We did not have to wait for everyone else who was assigned to arrive. There was no group drill. It was awesome!

  Each day we were given a Cruise Compass, which was the daily events guide. It had everything you needed to know about what was going on on the ship.

  This is Day 1:

  

  

  

  

  Once we finished checking into our muster station, we went directly up top Deck 9 to find a table and hit the Windjammer buffet for lunch. The pool deck (Deck 9) was empty! Another reason I like boarding early…

  

  

  

  It was kind of cool, which was perfect for me for a sailaway day. We found a table outside right near the pool and took turns going to get food. I had no idea what the buffet would look like post-Covid!

  Here are just some of the foods that were offered on the lunch buffet:

  They typically had a salad bar at lunch every day.

  

  They also always had a few ethnic dishes, which ended up being my absolute fave.

  

  

  So many desserts…

  

  This was my plate:

  

  It was all so delicious!

  The cabins were not going to be ready until about 1:30-2:00 p.m., so we still had some time to spare. There was a giveaway going on at the spa, so we decided to take a little tour and enter the giveaway. It was actually much bigger than I imagined it would be on this ship!

  The fitness center was above the spa, so we checked that out too.

  

  

  

  After the tour, we found a spot and just sat by the pool until our cabins were ready. There was a DJ playing some music. It still was pretty empty and we had no problem finding some chairs!

  

  

  Once our cabins were ready, we headed there to drop off all of our carry ons before the Sail Away Celebration started at 3:15 p.m.

  We found a spot up top on the 10th deck so we could look over the railing.

  

  

  The water sailing out of Baltimore is definitely different than sailing from somewhere in Florida!

  

  There was a party going on at the pool deck with live music and different line dances.

  

  Sailing from Baltimore, you go under the Key Bridge, under the Bay Bridge, and then over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel before making it out into the Atlantic Ocean. Here is one of the bridges:

  

  

  My kids thought thought it was freezing!

  

  Next up will be our dinner and evening on the ship!

  Posted in Cruise, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Baltimore, Cruise, Cruise Compass, Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Vision of the Seas

• Grandeur of the Seas – Day at Sea

  Posted at 2:45 pm by taryngirl, on September 5, 2018

  Today was our first sea day.  I must have been excited because I was awake at 6:15 a.m.!  Here’s the Cruise Compass for today:

  

  

  

  

  Once the kids woke up, we headed to the Windjammer for the buffet breakfast.  Imagine my delight to see FRIED RICE on the buffet!

  

  And it was DELICIOUS!  I would have this same thing every single morning (except when it was shrimp fried rice).

  Kinsey had her normal doughnut:

  

  After breakfast, we headed straight for the pool deck.  The weather was perfect!  Sunny and warm.  Apparently we were finished eating by 8:51 a.m.!

  There were tons of open chairs available.  There are always horror stories about people saving rows of chairs from the crack of dawn, and not actually sitting in them.  I didn’t experience this at all on this cruise!  I was always able to find a chair with no problem.

  

  My bathing beauties!  Around 11:30 a.m. the girls came to me with some new found friends, and wanted to go try the rock climbing wall.  We headed to the back of the ship, and it was currently closed because it was too wet.

  

  

  We kept checking back and finally they were open with a semi-long line already!

  These are the special shoes they have you wear:

  

  We did have our own socks on with them.

  My oldest daughter went first, and she was a champ!

  My daughter is on the left in the white.  The dad next to me was super excited for his daughter who was next to mine!

  I want to mention.  It was HOT this day!  Almost too hot to be comfortable doing this.  My youngest daughter was a bit grumpy once it got to be her turn.

  

  We headed to lunch at the Windjammer.

  They had a very good selection and everyone found something they liked.

  We stayed at the pool until about 2:30 p.m., and by then we had enough of the hot sun.  We headed back to the cabin to relax and shower before dinner.

   

   

   

   

  Posted in Cruise, Cruise Compass, Grandeur of the Seas, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized, Vacation | 0 Comments | Tagged At Sea, Cruise, Cruise Compass, Windjammer

• Grandeur of the Seas, Embarkation Day, Baltimore Cruise Maryland Terminal, Check In

  Posted at 9:28 pm by taryngirl, on August 21, 2018

  Our adventure began bright and early in the morning.  My husband was driving us and dropping us directly at the port.  It was about a two hour drive and our boarding time was anytime after 11 a.m.  I like to budget in time for traffic, accidents, etc. and I like to be EARLY!  So my goal was to be in the at 8:30 a.m.  SUCCESS!  We managed to fit 6 people and alllllll of our luggage and carry-on bags in my Sorento.

  

  The drive was very easy and we didn’t really hit any traffic.  We were to the port by 10:45 a.m.  I didn’t get any really good pictures of the Baltimore Port drop off area as we were very rushed!  Since we were being dropped off, we were in a line of cars, and the porters were waiting to take our luggage right away.  One note…porters generally do not work for the cruise line, but rather the port itself.  I always tip them $1 per bag that I’m checking with them.  They load the bags on carts that are driven to the ship.  They are then delivered to your stateroom sometime throughout the afternoon.

  Once our luggage was taken care of, we took our carry-ons with us into the terminal.  What do I pack in my carry-on for a cruise?  Normally, a bathing suit, deodorant, prescription meds, passport, wallet, ID, any valuables and electronics.  We then got into the security line.  This is where they check your ID and booking information.  The carry-ons do go through a scanner.  We were able to bring a 12 pack of bottled water with no problems at this specific port.  After security, we headed to the cruise check-in line.

  Here are a few pics from inside the terminal.

  

  

  

  At the counter, they gave us our first CRUISE COMPASS!  This had all of the general information we needed for our boarding day.

  

  

   

   

  We also received a paper with all of the Officers onboard and other useful information.

  

  

   

   

  We also received information about the various Adventure Ocean Kid Clubs onboard.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  MUCH MORE TO COME!

  Up next…Grandeur of the Seas, Windjammer Buffet, and more!

  Posted in Adventure Ocean, Cruise, Cruise Compass, Grandeur of the Seas, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Adventure Ocean, Baltimore, Cruise, Cruise Compass, Embarkation, Kid Clubs, Royal Caribbean, Terminal

• Search for:

• Follow Blog via Email

  Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

  Email Address:

  Follow

  Join 68 other subscribers

• Disney Topics

  AEP All Star Movies Animal Kingdom Baltimore Bay Lake Tower Beach Breakfast Carnival Carnival Cruise Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Venezia Contemporary Resort Costa Rica Cruise Cruise Cabins Cruise Compass CruiseTour Diagon Alley Dining Review Disney Disney Cruise Disney Cruise Line Disney Dream Disney Fantasy Disney Springs Disney Vacation Club Enchanted Garden Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Foodie Food Picture Galaxy's Edge Grandeur of the Seas Happily Ever After Hawaii Hollywood Studios Hotel Arenal Manoa Islands of Adventure Kid Clubs La Fortuna Liberty Tree Tavern Magic Kingdom Main Dining Room Memory Maker National Park NCL Norwegian Cruise Line Oahu Out West Polynesian Polynesian Village Resort Port Canaveral Pride of America Quick Service Resort Resort Review Room Review Room Tour Royal Caribbean Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Snacks Sunshine Seasons Table Service Tamarindo Tangierine Cafe Touring Plan travel Trip Report Universal Universal Orlando Vision of the Seas Walt Disney World Walt Disney World Resort Wizarding World of Harry Potter Yellowstone National Park

• Blog Stats

  • 30,624 Visitors