Leaderboard

Phew! It’s been a long day. Our flight made good time today. Took off early and landed early. I did not realize how tired I was until I passed out even before take off. Slept most of the way home. However, despite making good time with the flight today, crossing the border was awful! We were on the bridge for almost an hour and a half and at the customs plaza for another half hour after that. So about two hours to cross the border today. Came home and had our traditional post cruise pizza with D18. It is good to be back together again. As much as we enjoyed our week, it always felt like something was missing. Now all unpacked and off to bed asap.

Suite pics, pretty standard. Identical to suite we had on Jewel.

#ballers ready for vacay. This way @smokeybandit can identify me and decide if he wants to risk knowing me IRL

Got my embarkation drip all ready!

On board at 1048

Rise and shine Saturday cruisers

Since we have a car we booked a hotel west of town to save a few bucks. No pictures necessary, just your run of the mill Hampton inn. Planning to get to the port by 10am

Suite lounge grub pics. Also, newsflash, worlds have collided. I met @smokeybandit in the suite lounge. Lovely fellow. Bloggers rule !!

Boarded about 1130, very relaxed boarding. latest we’ve ever boarded. Straight to muster station, then to schooner for a jimmy rigged desert pear marg. #inspectionimpactingbooze

We’re still dillydalling at the hotel. Plan to roll out soon once I rangle up beavis and butthead. (My kids)

The suite is fantastic! We had the same room on Deck 10 on Wonder and these ones are so much more open and bright than the ones on the older Oasis class ships. And yes, please do come and say hi. I love meeting others from our RC Blog community!

Gator wasn't nearly as scary as I was led to believe by you guys. I kid, I kod!

You're cookin' it with the lingo Sadly yes, I fear my brain has rotted a bit over the last few years lol

Sucked down some El loco fresh for lunch. I wish all ships had it

I'll be on the lookout and warn the terminal staff to be as well

That's sus, bruh

Bruh I’m down with the whippersnapper lingo. remember I have two pre teen boys who keep me contemporary.

There’s a political joke in there somewhere but I digress. Glad you had an otherwise good trip back. I’m spending the next two years gathering up the courage myself. Her blogs are great but she is kinda intimidating, right?

Enjoyed following along this week! Also realized my parents and I have the same exact deck 9 starboard 2 bedroom ATS booked in 2026 for Christmas and NYE on Utopia (her first 7 day sailing ever for Christmas... and possibly only 7 day... and also our first star class cruise). Hope the suite treated you well! And also hope the next time I run into you I am not too afraid to say hi again haha.

@WAAAYTOOO answered all the questions. Although what one likes is subjective. My recommendations are to try Portside at least once (pulled pork, chicken, and jalapeno cornbread) and then get cheese fries and a shake from JR. I like 150CP, the lamb wellington and bread are amazing. The cucumber martini is also very good. GT has grown on me and the minestrone soup is surprisingly good.

1. Yes. You can definitely make adjustments to your rezzies once on board; of course, they are subject to availability but I have always been able to make adjustments…even last minute 2. The $$ dining allocations are good once every day at each venue. You can use it every day at the same location or move about as you wish. E.g., you can use an $20 vouchers at Playmakers, then move down to Portside BBQ and use your voucher there then move to any other venue, etc. All dining package perks work whenever the restaurant(s) is open…day or night. 3. Yes, if Playmakers is open on boarding day (and I believe that they are), you can use your $$ allocation. 4. No specific recommendations. As @OCSC Mike will say, everyone likes what they like. I’d just say, give’m all a try ! Be careful though. The legendary food coma is real. Pace yourself but enjoy !

This will make you feel better. Paradise tiki bar was an organic choice, I looked out our hotel window and saw it and said let’s go. Waterfront dive bar with live music. Works for me.

Our 40th anniversary cruise!

I emailed The Bicycle Thief and they are very kids welcome. They even have a kids menu. Feeling good about this, wanted to try it the last two times we were there.

I have been packing for weeks! First all the toiletries, sunscreen, every OTC med known to man. Then, because it’s cold here and we don’t need them, summer clothes get separated into two suitcases. Now it’s underwear & Jammies. Monday I’ll take it all out to be sure I haven’t missed anything. God I am SOOO anal retentive! I sing with a symphonic chorus and we have concerts all weekend. Can’t wait til Sunday night when I can finally focus on just the vacation!

AMEN!!!! Our daughter lives in Clearwater and it would make our lives so much easier if we could visit her and sail away from a nearby port at the same time! We won’t sail the small ships though. Not until there are new ones that size.

Tried to make fetch happen and eat lunch at playmakers. Once again, service was terrible, left, went to windjammer. Completely insane. Lawd have mercy

That's the idea. We're D+ so do use the BOGO on the nights we don't like

Thank you all! The price went up so I’m now not upgrading my 3 night package. I will jump on it if it goes down. I was not feeling good yesterday so not on the ball. I think I would struggle with the food coma part. I currently have the 3 night package booked and will buy playmakers on day 1 lunch. I was also struggling with missing out on the main dinning room. I don’t like welcome aboard, taste of Mexico or taste of USA which are currently showing up as night 1, 3 and 4 so will use my package then.

Nextcruise booked, free cheap champagne in hand

I haven't packed a single thing yet, which is very unusual for me! Monday will be my "pedi & pack" day - the official beginning of vacation! We had lots of storms late last night/early this morning. Tornados, lightening, hail, etc. My granddaughter's school group was traveling home from Missouri to Indiana - I'm thankful they made it home safely. Have a great weekend!

I'll be on the lookout. We'll be in the suite lounge by 4:30 with our newly minted 13 yr old in tow

Wow that's two. And that's awesome! Sounds pretty amazing. I'm excited to try it now. Skipping breakfast on the ship. Excursion is 9:30 that's supposed to be an hour. Reservations at noon. Very excited now!

Happy Cruise Day!

We ate there during our Canada/New England cruise in September 2017. We did a B2B and stopped in Halifax twice...and ate there twice because we liked it so much! We dined outside and people watched.

Guess it depends who you are asking? lol

I'd love to try a longer cruise someday but I'd have to seriously pace myself compared to how I eat on a 7N cruise (without the UDP) and what fun is that? For now I like splitting up two 7N cruises during my wife's summer break. It gives me 4-6 weeks in between to recover.

Another vote for the food coma warning...it's a real thing! We're still "recovering" from a 14-night "UDP Binge" we experienced on a Symphony B2B sailing several years ago! LOL

Got to the port right at 10am. The check in agent said we could drop our bags off at the room, which would be a stark change. I'm assuming she thought she was working a different line today

Drip? And I got crap for wearing cargo shorts? Act like the pre-vintage you are, lol. @smokeybandit This is how you can find @GatorCruiser (or avoid him), by looking for his t-shirts. That's how I knew who he was in the terminal last year.

ITS CRUISE DAY

Playmakers will be open when you board. Ultimately, PM is a bar, which is one of the best perks of the UDP. When other restaurants are closed while in port, PM is usually open.

They differ and with the UDP/any dinning package the cost of hibachi will incur a surcharge that the regular Izumi won't. I personally will just book Hibachi as a lunch because you get better food options at a better price than the dinner.

It is getting close for all of you. I am envious.

I’m hoping boarding on a Thursday will help with the chaos of POM, only 3 ships in port that day. We will be taking a shuttle from our FLL hotel that morning. The Sunday return looks like a zoo but we are in no particular hurry, going back to FLL to pick up a rental car.

Thank goodness we are parking offsite so we’ll have a shuttle drop and pick us up. It’s a true PITA to leave from one terminal and return to another if you’re parked at the wrong terminal. Glad we’re leaving from A though…much nicer terminal.

Has anyone don’t the land tour portion that RCCL offers? We have ours booked for May 2026 with a one way sailing right after. But there is very little information out there about the land portion. If you have experienced the land tour.. 1) when did you get additional information since you don’t use the app for it? 2) it comes with excursions, when do you pick those and do you have the option to do other excursions for additional pay or can you book something on your own? 3) What was your experience with the food options? I know food does not come with hr land portion. 4) Any tips or tricks you would give for the land portion?

I didn't realize ovation did one ways. is that new? before i thought they were just round trip from seattle and radiance class did the one ways. maybe this is new for 2026 season.

i love the ducks!!! @TarheelCruiser also the hotel looks quite nice

We have done it twice and loved both times. 1) when did you get additional information since you don’t use the app for it? We never really got any additional information. We had to search for it and found most it on Royals Booking page in our original booking. Once we found out the hotel, we would be staying at...We then researched it and made a rough game plan 2) it comes with excursions, when do you pick those and do you have the option to do other excursions for additional pay or can you book something on your own? Your adventure Specialist or tour guide will be with you the whole trip…Both time we had exceptional tour guides and made the tour great. They will let you know the group included excursions available and extra excursions available…You will book and pay through them. You can find and book on your own also. 3) What was your experience with the food options? I know food does not come with the land portion. Some meals were included but the tour guide always had great recommendations of places to eat. If you have a train portion…The whole train car should be just your tour group. The car had dining options and even bar service…Pay as you go of course. 4) Any tips or tricks you would give for the land portion? They will deliver your luggage to your room every night and tell you what time to have them outside your door in the morning. We found it easier to put together one bag for the trip and have them just store the other one. We could always have access to it if we need it. A small classable cooler is fantastic to have. We would stock up on drinks and get ice at the hotels so we always had something cold to drink. Our second time…Before we even started our tour…Our tour guide had the bus driver stop at supermarket to allow us to stock up on snacks and drinks. If you’re doing a post tour and drink alcohol…Buy a bottle on the ship. Booze isn’t cheap in Alaska. Let me know if you have any other questions.