Year 3 Day 142 – “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 9/21/2023. We were up early and ready to head out on Liberty of the Seas. We watched the kids get off to school.
and headed to Bayonne, NJ. On the drive to the cruise port we talked about how we want to visit every state in the United States. Here’s a map of where we have visited so far. The pink are the states we have been to.
Our cruise boarding time today is at 11:30 am. If you are going on a cruise, be sure and do a search on Facebook and join the Facebook group for your sailing. It really is a great way to communicate with others going on your cruise. Through this group you will learn and share things related to your cruise. This morning as we are driving to port, people are posting about the parking at the terminal and this week’s upcoming weather.
They are saying that the covered parking garage is for handicapped only now at Cape Liberty. The Ship!! The Ship!! No matter how many times we go on a cruise I am excited when I see the ship. Be prepared for the best time of your life. There she is. That is our home for the next nine nights. Here’s a link to her stats. Liberty of the Seas – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count We were at the cruise terminal at 11am. We dropped off our luggage with the porters. Then drove past the parking garage, past the employee parking, and parked in the last parking space by some old warehouses. Hey what do you want for $270.00 for nine days of parking. What a rip off.
Our check in time is 11:30 am. The terminal is mobbed at 11:30am.
The boarding process went really fast, and we are headed to the windjammer for the buffet lunch very quickly.
We ate, and then went and checked in for our muster station. At 1pm we are in our stateroom after getting the sea pass card from the envelope on the door. The Sea pass card is used for everything on board the ship including getting into your room. It is basically a cashless environment on a cruise ship. Our stateroom is a forward deck 10 starboard side balcony. The view is beautiful of the Teardrop Memorial. “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” is a monument that honors 9/11 victims. It was a gift from Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli and the Russian people to the United States.
While we are away enjoying our first cruise day, Justin is mowing our lawn in the hot sun.
We always try to get early regular dining. Our assigned dining time is 5:15pm on Deck three at table 356. You will find your assigned time and table number printed on your seapass card. After we got a little settled in our room, we headed to find our evening dining table.
We also went to the Diamond Lounge because I love the specialty coffee in there. The machine is broken today though boo hoo.
Our departure was at 3pm.
At 3:45pm we find ourselves with some very good seats to watch the Anchors Aweigh Parade in the Promenade on Deck 5. Check out this video. I missed the first few minutes of the parade. I thought I was videoing and of course I wasn’t. Idiot time!!
At 5:15pm we met up with a friend and her sister for dinner. They are sharing our dinner table every evening.
The cruise compass has gone green. They leave a card in your room which you scan and can download the compass. You also have everything on the Royal Caribbean app including your bill. It is a really nice app! Easy to use. You can see all the menus for meals, the suggested attire for the evening meals, all shows, activities, your room number, your reservations, and just about everything about the cruise and the ship. You can ask your stateroom attendant to leave a paper copy in your room or go to guest services for one if you want. I use the app and download the compass to my phone also. Here’s today’s cruise Compass!
It is a gorgeous beautiful sunny day. Our room is very large with a large balcony. We elected to have morning room service. So, before we went to dinner, Steve turned down the bed, set up mood lighting, and soft music. What a guy!! Here are some things to ponder today.
Today’s product recommendations are cruising essentials: 1) It is so nice not to have to worry about stapling your luggage tags to your luggage handles and to have them rip off. We have these plastic holders on our luggage and love them. We use them for Royal Caribbean cruises and also fold the MSC tags to fit in them when we travel with MSC cruise lines. Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/3RAGgED 2) A lanyard is great to have. It makes it so easy to carry your seapass card and some tip money around the ship. These are really nice. Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/3PTVLGB 3) I have found that a nice toiletry bag is essential, and this is the one I love. Here’s a link to it: https://amzn.to/3EO2Y4F 4) Packing cubes – I can’t say enough about them. I would never go on vacation without them again. Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/3Rxx8AA 5) You have to have a small purse for getting off at ports or for carrying a few things with you around the ship. Great for when you have no pockets to carry the cell phone. This one is beautiful. Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/3ETJNpS 6) Room Thermometer- I leave one of these packed in my bag. The temperature fluctuates so much, and I like to try and keep my room at a stable temperature. This keeps me honest with myself. Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/46tNoXH
To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count