u/jobifresh

This was only my second cruise, my first with Norwegian. The last ship I was on was an Oasis class RC, so the Jewel was a little easier to navigate, but you definitely felt the motion of the ocean. 

We paid for parking ahead of time at the Clarion. Unloading our luggage and getting a spot were pretty straight forward. We stuck to the plan of going in when our check in was. Later on we realized that wasn't completely necessary. Once we were in, received our key cards and placed on the bus, I noticed a few people with a lot later check in times with us. Getting on the ship was pretty straightforward. My wife and I both had a carry on with swim gear.

We paid for the free at sea package and got to getting our money's worth. There was tax at the bar while we were in the Philly port, but it was nothing crazy. We also paid for the Vibe area, which we took full advantage of all week. We met a lot of nice people up there. Walking down to the Pit Stop or the bathroom wasn't a total hassle, but it was a little annoying as that's where most of the smokers gathered, and that's not my or my wife's thing. The bartenders were super fun and made you feel welcome. The pours were surprisingly yuge.

Our room was ready pretty quick and we settled in and unpacked. Plenty of closet space and drawers for us. We were on deck 11 and had a slightly bigger cabin and it was nice. Something we didn't realize until our first day at sea was that our toilet was clogged before we got there. It took a good part of the day, but it was fixed and we never had an issue after. The shower pressure left something to be desired.

We did some research on Bermuda and went our own way when we got in. We got bus passes and made our way a little past Horseshoe bay to Warwick. The beach didn't disappoint. It was a little dream of my wife's to see the pink sand. I did a little exploring and found a cool little cove where there weren't many waves and plenty of shade and even some sea life. After we had our fill, we hopped back on the bus and made our way back. The weather cooperated but it was getting pretty hot. Everyone in Bermuda was super nice to us.

Honestly, Halifax was a bust. When we first signed up, we were going to Charleston, but then that was changed and we just rolled with it. We got off and got some local breakfast. We had to be back to the ship by 12:30 and the consensus was that didn't really leave much time to do anything. It didn't help that it rained. We did some walking around and then got back on and headed to the vibe. It was pretty watching the fog roll through the trees. Of course, as we left port, it cleared up and we got some pretty awesome views. 

The entertainment was so-so. I honestly could've been a better DJ than the one that was onboard. I don't know how many times we heard the same 5 songs. Brian on the acoustic guitar made me want to sleep. Gustavo was pretty good on the piano. We really did enjoy the group The Sea Shakers though. I did some karaoke and that was fun. Having seen cruise stand up before, we decided to skip the comedy and we heard that was a great choice. The star of the cruise was Victoria, a line dancer who we talked to and could really tear it up. I even tried the line dance class where I started strong but once they threw some spins in I was out of it 😂

Overall the food was the food. Main dining was all over the place. Small portions of protein and a lot of starch/vegetable. We really enjoyed the soups. One night the steak was great, one night I couldn't believe how inedible it was. The breakfast buffet was great. The pizza was no Sorrento's on Royal, but it was still pretty decent. I was pretty impressed with the Indian cuisine. Desserts were fine, but my wife's a pastry chef so I'm going to be a little harder on it. We only went to O'Sheehans once. The wings were pretty sad. We pretty much used our onboard credit for Starbucks as the coffee in the dining area was just ok.

We did the self assist disembark and that went pretty smoothly. Highly recommend doing that if you can. It was bittersweet getting back to our car, but I guess that means we had a great time overall. 

Overall, I'd give our trip an 8/10. A 7 just doesn't feel right. We got to see some pretty amazing things, drank like there was no tomorrow while avoiding hangovers, and got to meet some fun people. Shout out to Jan and Ron, Jennifer and her husband from the Chicago area, Damon and Victoria, and the lovely old couple whose names we didn't get but were fellow Baltimore sports fans and had a nice little after dinner conversation with us.

I got up at 4am and took a bus from Baltimore to NYC. We got home around 10:30 and I just have to say how great it was to not worry about my phone dying. Made it with about 30% left while taking pics and using Google maps to find our way around. Had a battery pack just in case but didn't really need it.

This is my first foldable, and my first Motorola that wasn't a budget phone. A week into using it and I'm really enjoying it. The rear camera is amazing; even coming from an S23 Ultra. The front facing is leaving something to be desired. The solution of "flip the phone and take a selfie with the rear camera" function is decent, but a bit cumbersome even for someone like me with big hands. I do get worried I may drop it in that mode. The size of the front screen is good, but I do miss the width from the Ultra. I do find myself fumbling between the lock and voulume buttons; they feel a bit high. Using "Quickshortcutmaker", I made the Moto AI button a camera shortcut, as I really don't have any interest in using that. Having a case on can make swiping gestures a little problematic, but I'm not going back to buttons, haha. Yeh, you can notice the crease in the fold, but after awhile I forget about it. For me, it runs smooth and I love the multi windows. Desk mode is pretty cool. Laptop mode I haven't had much use for so far. I don't have the stylus, but I'm not missing it. What I do miss is Samsung's native apps. Depending on Google's is fine, but I especially miss the phone and gallery apps. So overall, I do have some nitpicks, but I'm pretty happy with the Fold.

Just wondering if anyone knows how to get Brave to fill the inner screen. Currently have black bars on the sides. Chrome fills the screen.

So I didn't realize there were other phones that are considerably cheaper that I could use for the fold trade-in and still get the $500 value. I've already submitted my order with my current phone as the trade. If I substitute my backup phone, will that mess up the whole trading process or will phobio just reavulate with the other phone I send in?