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Good morning everyone! We are on sea day number 2, day 3 of the cruise. I again was up early, (5:30) but didn’t want to commit any crimes against humanity @GatorCruiser so I did manage to fall back asleep for a few more hours. Our Starbucks order has just arrived so @TheBoss518 and I are making use of the balcony and some @asquared17 Bezos purchases. we don’t have too much planned for today so we are perusing the cruise planner to see what piques our interests.

@asquared17 I have a sneak peak of formal pictures for you!

Dinner was at 150 Central Park. With the mixture of plenty of cocktails and feeling like crap because Sabor lunch was not sitting well with me, I wanted to attempt to keep this meal a little lighter. I ordered the beet salad, Lydia the Ceasar salad, and The Boss got the short ribs. First course started well. Everything was delicious. In between courses we took some awkward family photos and had some good laughs and made good memories. When our entrees arrived we tucked in. The Boss got the tenderloin, which she said wasn’t as good as CK. I tried to go lighter with the halibut. This also was delicious. Johnny got a cheeseburger. FYI for future cruisers. Be proactive when ordering. His burger came with a mix of American and Swiss cheese, which he did not like at all. This wasn’t mentioned anywhere on the menu. I’ve also noticed on other meals, the chefs will sometimes get creative. So those with picky eaters, it’s best to say exactly how you would want something. Lydia ordered the spaghetti bolognese. In her true “bread confessions of a teenage cruiser” she filled up up bread and was able to eat only a little. Partway through dinner I realized that my belly was reaching full capacity. I stopped our server and canceled my dessert and said I would share with the rest of the family. Our server remarked that multiple people that night were canceling dessert. We shared the fried cheesecake, and the chocolate peanut butter tart. This had a black currant sorbet with it, and I loved that dessert. The combination reminded me of peanut butter and jelly. The sorbet was quite refreshing after that dinner.

Evening shenanigans!! So the freeloaders went back to the stateroom to relax while The Boss and I went to the adult comedy show. The two comedians were pretty good. The first one made fun of all the late comers and had good crowd interaction. The second we had seen before on Oasis, and he also was funny. There were plenty of cruise related jokes, Which morphed into viagra jokes and others associated with that specific body part and self stimulating activities. What made all this funnier was there were three women sitting next to us. Appeared to be her mother and adult daughters who were at least 21 because they had boozy drinks. Anyway, those two girls had lived a sheltered life because the mom had to explain what the comedian was talking about. Their reactions were priceless. This couple apparently missed their afternoon nap. The gentleman did wake up in time for the show, and laughed along to the whole thing, he clearly understood all the jokes Following this, we went up to the schooner bar for a plethora of cocktails. We watched these girls commander one of the only available staircases for their own photo shoot. Then to sit down on the gross stairs in their fancy dresses I did watch the one at the top of the stairs nearly fall down them, so I can only assume she was well lubricated and not thinking clearly. We could see people getting frustrated trying to get around them. Apparently, the schooner bar was the place for shenanigans. Plenty of wardrobe malfunctions as the lubricated women with fancy slit dresses weren’t paying attention to how they were sitting. Then this guy made an appearance. He is very vintage and was with a group of 3 other men, all wearing matching pineapple garb. There were a collection of women they were with as well. They were all very handsy. At one point, this vintage was openly groping a woman who could have been his granddaughter. It was actually getting kind of uncomfortable. I think one of the bartenders said something because the whole group of them left together for what I can only assume was….relations….. I wonder what this is code for?

Back to last night. @Jax you will be happy, we have a #starclassbehavingbadly moment!! So, we finished our photos in Central Park, and The Boss wanted some on the stairs. As we headed over, we saw our friends doing theirs, so of course I photobombed and we got this gem of a photo The photographer was confused at first when I invaded the space, but quickly recovered and snapped this one.

Introducing the newest suite snobs! Dan, his wife Kristie, their daughter Ashlyn, and her friend Livi (all blue dress)

This isn’t good….the food coma is settling in early….

You know what a great addition to the doghouse would be? Funnel cake..you're on the boardwalk..it only makes sense!

CUP CLIP CLUB UNITE!!!!!

Best way to start a cruise, IMO, two sea days in a row!

Hmm, it looks like you're intently looking up and to the right. I'd look up body language and secret signs, but I'm afraid to go down a pineapple rabbit hole In all seriousness, lovely pic! Sorry though that no one is shirtless a la @Jax

Oh, and you and @TheBoss518 look amazing too! See you in December

Forgot to post this, Johnny had some fun in the splash pad area

Not just the wind but wind direction and swell conditions.

I second this^^^ I think the dog house is one of the better no fee options for a quick bite. Obviously nothing is going to be as good as a Chicago dog in Chicago or a Sonoran dog in AZ or the epic capitol lunch hot dog in Connecticut. IMHO, I will take a mediocre “free” hotdog with a Caribbean view on a cruise any day over any other option!

They really have! Lydia heads off to High School while Johnny is heading to middle school in the fall. She’s already starting to look at colleges….i am NOT ready! Thank you!! We can’t wait!

Lunch today was Sabor.........and we can say it is a one and done for us. The meal started out good. Our apps were good and the margs tasty. But, like has been mentioned before.....the rest sucked. I'm willing to try everything once, and for us, that was enough. Our final dinner on the ship is also supposed to be here, but we will change it. All was not lost though, because we had a pirate sighting!! He must be on vacation because he looks dressed for casual Friday and his parrot was nowhere to be found. After lunch we all felt quite full, we headed back to the room...and we time traveled for a bit. Now we are all getting ready for formal night. We will do some pictures etc. Dinner is at 150CP. We also have the adult comedy show scheduled as well.

So....wife and I have only been on 2 RCCL cruises and both times had the Cranberry Raisin Almond Strietzel Bread at the Windjammer. We absolutely fell in love (not with each other, with the bread!). We loved the bread so much that in our excitement to eat it, we never got the name of the bread and I have been searching ever since. In fact, I posted here asking about it but I don't remember getting a positive ID. Recently, I was watching a YouTube of the ICON Windjammer and spotted the bread! Paused it, wrote down the name, and searched for it. Found a recipe and made it. Even with my limited baking skills (although I am a former professional chef), the bread turned out pretty darn close! I am sharing the recipe below in case anyone wants to try! https://www.food.com/recipe/cranberry-raisin-almond-strietzel-bread-330178 Bon appetite and Bon Voyage!

Berty at lunch today, “would you like some light snacks this afternoon? Maybe some meats and cheese, some fruit?” Me, that sounds perfect Also Berty…..

Passenger count 6,394

My master plan is the same as yours. However, the problem that I have, which I am assuming you don't, is that I have 3 next cruise certificates that I need to apply before March 2nd. So they better not push it back any further.

I am just going to say again, I hate staggered deployments! lol

Nice pineapples

Assuming she is not going to LA, I would think week of 2/26 with the Caribbean short sailings.

Agreed. Aside from liking to be on the ship the last day to just chill and do random stuff, I obviously have a food reason as well... even I'm too full by the last day to properly stuff myself on CocoCay, lol. I've avoided the dreaded day 7 CocoCay thus far and only have it scheduled for March 2025 as of now.

I agree! It’s so nice to be able to relax for the first 2 days. Think I will be monopolizing the suite sun deck again today!

We were on Oasis 2 weeks ago with Freedom docked alongside us when we had some nice choppy waters. Using @BrianB's picture above Oasis was left of pier and Freedom right. Weather got worse so they called everybody off the island about 14.30 to try to get away early. Oasis provided some shelter and Freedom got away, but we ended up moored to the pier until about 02.00 apparently, when it was safe to get away. On that occasion the getting there was fine, it was the getting away was hard! Some fantastic views of waves crashing against the windows on deck 3 for dinner!

@Geoff P I'm no expert, but Celebrity ships were not designed with kids in mind, whereas Royal Caribbean ships were. I don't know that either ship has much for the under 5 crowd, but everything I've read indicates that while you can take kids on Celebrity, Royal is far better for kids. If we were taking kids, I would definitely stick with Royal. I'm only looking at Celebrity because this will be our first cruise without kids.

Ok, can’t be my stash…didn’t store anything but the lays potato chips. You think someone found my stash then added to it! Lol

I love the family photo, everyone looks beautiful , your daughter looks tall. Where does the time go that 28 y/os have high schoolers.........ain't no vintages in that photo.

The real question is when will they be joining the live blog

I LOVE THE FAMILY PICS AND NEW FRIENDS!!!!

There are sort of already tiers within D+ at 340/350 and 525 they just don't have names. Granted the 525 level is effectively an extra bottle of wine, DP340 for solo cruisers is a massive benefit that has saved me thousands. Of all the CAS perks offered, DP340 has netted me the most dollar impact of any benefit. Many couples leverage DP340 to accelerate the climb to 700 so it's not just solo that can benefit from DP340.

Very sweet family pic. We have to hold on to them while we can since they grow up so gosh darn fast.

I got you on this amigo. I’ll post some suite lounge martini pics and me lounging in the suite sun deck, humbly of course. For academic purposes and to contribute to the liveblog.

Lets get caught up here. Breakfast at CK today. Johnny got his french toast, Lydia, eggs and sausage, granola for Heather, and I got the Baja Eggs. Everything was good as usual. After breakfast and a little wandering, we made our way up to the suite sun deck. Dan and his family met us there. The kids were off in the pools while the adults relaxed. It was really a nice time.

I love this seating area along the bow of the ship along the running track. It’s quiet, has some nice airflow, and is great for enjoying my iced coffee.

Don’t forget about the crouching tiger hidden dragon pictures. Still no idea why the photographer kept telling Lindsay to crouch down further but it was all the urging Lindsay needed to misbehave. Some sans shirt inspo for @GregD

I'm finding new silver linings to my boring cruise style of just sailing whatever is at PC. Sorry Royal is turning this into such a pain in the butt for you guys.

Izumi's hot options are really good. Shrimp is the only seafood I eat, so I thought I would struggle with finding options at a sushi place. But Izumi's is one of my favorite specialty restaurants on Royal.

Duhhhh, but my traveling companions want to go for dinner, and I want a sandwich! Not that crazy. If I’m willing to pay $43.99 for a chicken sandwich, that’s my prerogative. lol

We just booked 8 GTY Interior staterooms 10 days ago on the Liberty of the Seas for 6 nights and we have already been assigned room numbers for 6 of the cabins 240+ days out!

I loved the idea of Sky Jr Suites when they were announced...but the fact that they are on a such a low deck, don't come with internet and are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive (which also bumps the price for GS up to the heavens) really makes me hate them. I would hope that in a year or so, they come down to a reasonable price but who knows.....

I hope it’s available more often. If not, I’ll buy drinks a la carte.

Eagle beach is pretty epic

As always, food is subjective. Some of us enjoy the included dining options quite a bit. I'm one of them.

Thank you so much I’m so excited to see you as well. Will be an awesome time!

Yes, just did the lunch option, premier is no extra charge. The ticket says $0.00. Definitely worthwhile if you're fine doing lunch rather than dinner. Just don't have a big breakfast beforehand though.

The prices on the menu are the a la carte options. If you book through the cruise planner there's no more to pay and you can choose any of the protein options. Be aware that there will be an 18% gratuity added to the total when checking out in the cruise planner. No further tip required on board. Note that if it doesn't have to be dinner, you get the exact same menu at lunchtime for a much cheaper price.

Another tier? No. Here's the loyalty program benefits charts for Carnival, MSC, NCL, and Royal. Royal's for everyone who doesn't have the chart memorized already: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf Depending on what you value, Royal's or NCL's program is going to be the best. Interestingly enough, both of which have similar point requirements for the tiers. It's just that Royal's has a hidden tier at 340 points versus NCL giving it a name at 350.