Movie review: "Rio 2"

By now you all probably know that I am entirely mildly obsessed with animated movies; I watch them, I enjoy them, I dissect them, I review them... I basically LOVE them!
When the movie "Rio" came out back in 2011, I knew they HAD to make a sequel; the characters were fascinating and everything about the movie was perfect (the review for the original "Rio" can be found here); I thought there was so much material to explore within this compelling story...
Fast forward 3 years, and here's "Rio 2" (yay!).  As much as I agree that sequels are never as good as the originals, I have to say that this one was pretty close.
We are back with Blu and Jewel and their lovely Blue Macaw family; in the first part of the movie their day to day life is described and we get a glimpse of all the familiar characters!
The story unfolds as Linda and Tiago (the human characters) discover the possibility that there might be a whole other flock of Blue Macaws in the Amazonia and they decide to save their ecosystem.  Blu and company decide to fly out to help them out and once they reach their destination, they run into some crazy adventures and hilarious characters!
The sequel follows up with the witty humor of the first part and the characters do not disappoint! There's music, colors, great scenery and of course a wonderful lesson at the end!
I really loved how the writers delved deeper into each character and produced yet another fantastic movie; entertaining for the whole family.
I will say, however, that the movie was a bit slow around the middle part and the kids seemed to drift off for a bit, but in the end it was an overall success!
This one gets 3.5 out of 4 stars and definitely deserves a trip to the theater! :)

Traveling jetBlue & Virgin America

This past weekend we traveled to San Francisco (post to come) and due to flight schedules, we used two different airlines for our journey. 

On the way to San Francisco, we flew Virgin America and then jetBlue on the way back. 

Even though I rarely review products and services on my blog, I feel compelled to talk about how wonderful these two airlines were during our trip and how special we felt as passengers in this day where most airplanes feel like cheap buses and more often than not, staff members on long flights aren't precisely peachy at all times. 

Virgin America's experience was definitely unique! The check in process was amazing as the staff was very friendly and attentive; they quickly wrapped up my car seats in a durable plastic bags and labeled everything very clearly.  They do charge $25 per bag, but the service is definitely worth it. I was traveling along with both girls (Iggy was already in San Fran) so the staff was particularly considerate and placed us in strategic seats (close to the front).  We were able to board before everyone else so that was definitely a huge plus.  The plane features very comfortable seats, a TV set in every seat and a very entertaining security video (cute jingle and all!).  Perfect experience! Highly recommended. 

On the way back to Florida, we flew jetBlue.  By this time we were all together (Iggy was coming back with us), so the experience was bound to be less traumatic. Again, check in process was prompt and courteous and this time, NO FEE for the bag; each passenger gets their first bag for free, which is awesome since most airlines do charge some. 

Again, the seats were incredibly comfortable and each had a TV set as well.  Service was great and again, the staff was very attentive to our needs as a family with young children. 

I am very pleased with the service that each of this airlines had to offer. 

We're frequent travelers and often end up with a bad taste in our mouths when it comes to airlines. 

This time, I am very happy to say that our traveling experience was that much better because of these two airlines. 

Way to Go Virgin and jetBlue! :)

Royal Caribbean: Cruise review

I will start off by saying I'm no cruise expert, and definitely don't claim to be one, but considering I have cruised twice this year, the contrast between both experiences is very fresh in my mind, so I will go ahead and review my latest cruise onboard the Majesty of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International.
The ship is about 20 years old, which in cruise years is ancient pretty old and I could definitely see that the upkeep of it was lacking...(below you will see some photos of what I'm talking about).

The pool area was nice and spacious; this ship can hold up to 2700 people so it was nice that this area never felt too crowded.  The water was REALLY cold so I would say they could improve that, but oh well.. it's just water and the kids really didn't mind.
Here are some specific things about this cruise experience:
* The Staterooms: in comparison to the Disney cruise, the staterooms were TINY... I felt trapped and it was definitely not comfortable enough for the 4 of us.  It was more of a box than a room, but since very little time was spent in there, the size of the room was not a deal breaker, even though we could have used a little more privacy... oh well!
* The Food: Menu selections were rather limited and the food was just "ok" for me.. the first night I had a steak that was hard as rubber and very dry and the rest of the food wasn't even memorable enough to take pictures of it, so there's that...
* Entertainment: There were a couple of shows and stand up comedians that were pretty good, but the main show on closing night was very cheesy. I did see a lot of talented performers, but nothing really impressed me enough to do it again... they could definitely improve in this department!

* The service: even though I won't say the service was bad, I will say that it wasn't stellar either.  I had a few encounters with VERY rude crew members that seemed to really hate their job.  I did complain and they apologized very deeply, but I could have done without the crankiness that stemmed from this.  I got a free bottle of champagne and a couple of complimentary pictures from the apology, but then again, wouldn't it be better if the service was just awesome instead?!  Our stateroom attendant WAS in fact pretty amazing and even got in on the "Elf of the Shelf" game and for that he scored some extra tip money a warm hug from me before we left!

* Activities: tons of activities were available on the cruise, and even though it was a rather short one (3 nights), I will say that we kept pretty busy. Iggy participated in a table tennis tournament and even scored a bronze medal.  There was a huge sports area, fitness center, spa and a few other things which were pretty good.  I have nothing bad to say about this area; they definitely did well and I praise them for that!
* Adventure Ocean: the kids had an amazing time in the kid's club, where they have trained staff members who are pretty good at what they do.  The ship offers several activities geared towards kids ages 3-11.  The only down side is that the club was closed during the "Coco Cay" stop and I though that was crappy.  I'm sure the kids would have loved a few extra hours at the Adventure Ocean, but it is what it is..
* Destinations: since this was a short cruise, the ship only stopped at "Coco Cay" (Royal Caribbean's private island) and at the island of The Bahamas.  We didn't get off at the first stop since I really dislike tender boats, but the stop at Bahamas was pretty awesome.  We didn't buy a ship excursion but rather went with the local option, which was much cheaper and just as good (or even better); we got a guided tour of the island and visited Atlantis Paradise and a few Bahamian beaches, which made for beautiful picture spots! :)

The ship was beautifully decorated with Christmas trees and all sorts of holiday ornaments.

Here are a couple of pictures of the "Centrum" which was the main lobby, where everyone gathered every night and where most of the action happened! 

* The "nickel and dime" culture of Royal Caribbean: out of all the things that could be wrong with this cruising experience, the one that bothered me the most was the continued "nickel-and-diming" going on; sodas were NOT included and there were several food items (some very basic ones) that also cost extra, which I think it's just wrong.  And of course I'm not talking about alcoholic beverages, but rather juices, coffee and stuff like that.  Also, I found staff members often harassing me to buy extra things, which got a little tiring and annoying! 

And here a pictures of the ship's "flaws", which definitely took away from the whole experience. 

I would have certainly liked a nicer, newer and better ship and I strongly believe Royal Caribbean could do a MUCH BETTER job at maintaining the Majesty of the Seas. 

So, for all fellow travelers and cruisers out there, I'm going to recommend against cruising on this particular ship.  I have heard much better things about other ships from this cruise line but I will say this one didn't impress me at all.  

After cruising with Disney and seeing how AWESOME a cruise could be (old ship or not), I will stick to paying a little more and getting the best experience possible. I will NOT be using this cruise line again any time soon and will probably submit some of my blog comments to their customer service department!