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I finally met up with Alicia. Had a wonderful visit.

I wasn't going to start a cruise blog yet, and I actually just commented that I wasn't. Then I saw plenty of other posters starting their blog a month before their sailing. So I'm going for it! My (36) name is Natalie and I am a first-time cruiser (not counting the cruise I went on as a child with Disney). My (12-year-old) daughter and I are sailing on Adventure of the Seas on October 3rd. I booked this October 5th of 2024...so the wait has been torture, but planning has been half the fun. Itinerary is as follows: I love to make graphics so you might see a couple here. I'm extra, and I own it. I won't even embarass myself and show you my actual detailed itinerary and packing list (complete with photos of each item haha). I am very type A when planning, and what I like to call type C when I actually get somewhere. I am basically a vacation over-planner who never follows the plan to a T, but still knows the best restaurants and everything going on within a 2-mile radius at all times. We might not attend what I planned...but if you ever ask "what can we do next" I will have a list of multiple options. We live in Kentucky and will be driving because I could not find flights/hotel that were as affordable as driving down. Cheapest I could find was $903 and honestly the times for return flight are cutting it a little close on that one so makes me nervous. I doubt anything will change price wise but we are open to flying of course if it can be cheaper than driving. We are leaving October 2nd bright and early and driving all day. We will be staying in a hotel about 3 hours from Port Canaveral. Our boarding time is 12:30-1pm. I know that it is suggested to have less of a travel time to port on departure day but this is what works for us, and I believe it will be all ok. I can’t get off work an extra day as I have accruing PTO and I’ve already drained everything I’ve saved for taking off the 2nd until the 13th. Right now I am just purchasing a few last minute items over the next few weeks but everything is booked, and my sinking fund is almost capped to my goal. So feeling really good to go! I was able to pay off the cruise early, and as someone who strictly budgets...it's felt really good to work hard and pay cash for everything. I am currently getting my MPH and while my work pays for it, I have to pay taxes on everything over $5,025. So it's been a pretty big cut to my budget BUT I picked up a second job to help and the cash has been nice! I'm sure that is a lot of unnecessary info but I'm an oversharer. 22 days and 17 hours until cruise time! We have never been to any of these places, and I am so excited to show my daughter locations she has never seen. I did get the internet package so should be posting as I sail. We started with a smaller ship and hope to upgrade each booking as wel go along. I have refrained from booking a second cruise until I know we both love it...but I'm itching already and haven't even gone haha. Thanks for following along if you choose to do so!

@WAYNO and I met in the casino. He too is feeling the uncouth. But he is also braving the WJ. Today is a partial sea day basically because we get to port later. I went to the casino and won a little and lost a lot......at least for me . After getting my card situated at guest services we got a mystery charge. They said we didn't pay our balance from last cruise . But also we did because there is no balance. They are now working on the charge and will update us later. Also I wanted to take a photo but didn't.......the pools are filthy and full. I'm in a bubble. CL, casino (deck 4)CP, and my room. When I leave the bubble people are cuckoo bananas. I like morning room services. With my leakproof Ello bottle I can keep the ice I get cold and I can return to the room at any time without worry. They hung new art. It's very much on trend and people are flocking to buy some. We got our chef's treats. It was confirmed that the cards we got are the new cards going forward.

Day 5 PR, day 3 of this cruise Good morning, we are still chugging along. We have a late port day 2:30-8:30. We plan to get off right away and eat as last time it took almost an hour just to get the simple stuff we ordered. Guest services left a message that they couldn't charge my card so my account is now cash, I'm going to head there and then to the CL for breakfast. Tonight is the potato soup I love, so we made a reservation for 8:45. There seems to be an update in the app that let's you know when your table is ready......we'll see if it works. I might casino for a bit.....I want to use it like Ken just beach . Stray observations Nobody is watching their chereens. A little boy, maybe 8 or 9, stopped me asking if he could watch Netflix on my phone since I have internet. My brother was getting togo and 2 boys asked to play a game on his phone. For reference my brother has the PS5 controller you can attach to a phone.....it might be a regular controller but he plays Warframe and Genshin Impact on the cruises. Two little girls asked me to by them sugar beach.....I wouldn't ever buy random chereens candy......no jail for me, I am afraid of prison. Other chereens and teens are playing on the stairs. They leave stuff for people to trip, which is not a good thing with so many vintages. I have picked up legos and some other loose pieces more than once until I realized they were doing it on purpose. I still will pick up but I thought it was lost toys. I have seen the standard eating in the bathrooms. Last night it was a full steak in the bathrooms by the casino. I want to take photos of the ship but people literally keep jumping in like it's funny. I don't want random people in my immortalized musings . Despite all the shenanigans I am enjoying this immensely, people watching is the best.

GT was popping and our waiter wasn't happy with us. He brought out only olive bread, i asked about regular and he said that's what the bakery sent. I told him I didn't eat olive, but okay. He made a big deal of bringing back regular and then had an attitude . We ate pretty light; my brother 3 apps and me with the wild mushroom risotto and prawns. The risotto was great but the prawns were just oregano shrimp. My brother ate them. Waiter asked why I ordered them if I didn't like oregano. I smiled through that tomfoolery and went back to the casino. I wouldn't even care about the crowds, I expect them on something like an Oasis class. it's the awareness. I used the elevator once and instead of allowing me and others to exit, they just push in. No excuse me etc. Also why would you not close the bathrooms door when you go???????? I need to write a book about cruise people. Also I'm going to tell another funny story. I got to the lounge around 4:45. The food was out behind a rope, this vintage climbed over it, saying loudly he has low blood sugar. Now at that time I ordered a peach daiquiri. I got a shrimp cocktail, some cheese, a roll and 2 hazelnut truffles when it opened at 5. I ate those and then was telling my brother casino stuff. We hear some raised voices. This guy is complaining, he ordered his drink at 5:05 and it's almost 5:30. Well I ordered before him and still don't have my drink either. In fact I was planning to leave but he has my card. At this point my snack combination isn't agreeing with me, so I need to go and tell they CL concierge to cancel my drink and give my card to my brother. He is trying to get me to take the drink but I don't want my stomach hurting more. Then the rest of the vintages realized they waited 30min for drinks and all hell breaks loose. I then went to the casino and watched a guy blow through $500 on $20/spins to finally get a bonus and get a handpay for $1743. Which he said just broke him even for the trip. Im still low rolling, I've already got my brother 400pts and me almost 400. We are having takeout. My brother ordered sushi from Izumi, smoked turkey and fries from Portside and I am getting a Playmakers burger.

WE GOT A LIVE ONE!!!

Flights worked as design landed at 10:25 AM in Orlando on the Ship at 12:40.

We just got out of the ice show. The best ever!

I have been watching and reading lots of others so I'm excited to join ranks!! I've enjoyed yours!! I won't go cruising near as much as I'd like but I will certainly blog any time I do haha.

One thing after another. Will be interesting to see how that goes. So many WTF's here. I've seen kids play on the stairs as well as race up and down them but not that other stuff. "Standard"... As long as you keep enjoying yourself that's all that matters.

i love oasis but she is certainly putting you through your paces (not unlike she did to me last year…) also these kids are BRAZEN. dear lord. have a fun time in PR!!! ps: a FULL STEAK in the bathroom ARE YOU KIDDING ME goodbye FOREVER

yay!!! cruise blog family meetups!!

I got a good drop (finally!) on HM December 2026 over the weekend. $358 plus extra $50 OBC.

The journey started at the very grand Glasgow Central station. Onboard train 1. This is Avanti West Coast - one of the main train operators in the UK. If you’re in the UK and wanting to travel from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool or Glasgow, then it’s an easy way to get around. Almost 5 hours later and we’re in London Euston station, which is newly renovated. The journey was fairly uneventful - nobody sitting next to me so plenty of space, listened to some podcasts, had a nap. Dinner tonight was at a restaurant called Japes in Soho, it’s not too far off Oxford Street. I come here every time I’m in London, great deep dish pizzas. London has to be up there as one of, if not my favourite city in the world. Even the tube stations carry so much history.

I keep getting emails from my TA with price drops for our August 2026 Oasis cruise, even got some OBC tacked on this time... this is great because we changed the date and ship for this cruise twice, costing us $600 total in change fees, this gets us back to ALMOST even again... 9/7/25-$171 price drop + gained $50 OBC 8/21/25-$67 price drop 5/3/25-$50 price drop 4/21/25-$150 price drop

I am back from my cruise around the Mediterranean onboard the beautiful Allure of the Seas. Obviously not a live blog but had quite the interesting trip so will give a rundown on here with some pics along the way. I had quite the interesting pre-cruise adventure - I had done this exact itinerary on Oasis last year so to make this one different, I took the train from Glasgow to Barcelona, roughly around 2500km. The trip was as follows. August 27th - train from Glasgow to London , overnight in London August 28th - train from London to Paris , and train from Paris to Montpellier, overnight in Montpellier August 29th - train from Montpellier to Barcelona August 30th - full day in Barcelona August 31st - Board Allure of the Seas September 1st - Palma de Mallorca, Spain September 2nd - Marseille, France September 3rd - La Spezia, Italy September 4th - Civitavecchia, Italy September 5th - Naples, Italy September 6th - sea day September 7th - disembark and fly home

San Juan...

Nothing wrong with the bubble!

happy to have a new blogger join the ranks!!

You are so cute! Can't be upset about ice cream on a ship I'm very curious as to how they think you didn't pay your balance from the prior cruise...scratching my head on that one!

San Juan disappointed me Our plan was to get off, stop in the Walgreens for chocolate and then go to this restaurant we went to, last time we were there. We had a photo of the store front but no name. We walked there and the store front was the same but the decor looked different so we asked for a menu. It was all mofongo, all the time. In fact the mofongo everywhere. No other options other than seafood. Also im not paying $20 for 2 tacos with no sides just because you do happy hour drinks. That seems to be the rub, because of happy hour the food prices are insane. Also the beggars were mad funny. They literally were like " give me money senor/senorita" and there were so many. Also they were offering tours $20pp, like nope I'm not getting in no white vans. So after walking around an hour looking for something else to eat we got back aboard and went to ELF. The steak is still too salty and they burned the quesadillas. But I'm satisfied and full. The guacamole is still good. We sat there and ate and then I got my first ice-cream of the trip. I miss the strawberry one. This was only my 2nd time on deck 15 and the pools and hot tubs are still cloudy. Currently I'm chilling in the CL. I spoke with the concierge, he is new, only been with Royal's team a year. He comes from hotels, so he used to a different beast Guest services left a message and said that charge was for the people in the cabin before us and they will fix.

I totally agree with this statement! I have noticed the same on my summer sailings. My bubble consists of room, CL/SL/CK, sometimes the suite sundeck.

Welcome All of this will get addictive. It's also smart to start with a small class of ship so your appreciation can grow.

same - always kept them. Just make sure you put them away so you don't accidentally try to use them - or get yourself locked out of your cabin because you grabbed the wrong one

I am jealous. I live in Chicago, and I have not met Alicia.

People are crazy!!!!

@Gilley I have done most in the non-smoking casino. I go around 7am and have my pick of machines, although the selection is usually lacking. Re: spitting lady was Polish and I saw her pinch a crew member to get their attention. So that lady is a pure mess. @OCSC Mike there is an actual officer standing outside the CL checking cards. Lots of newbies keep bothering her, it's hilarious . I would probably sit in the CL on Utopia and expire from laughter.

This is great info. We will be diamond after this B2B.

When i am in dry dock I always look forward to reading these blogs. Does it seem like my cruise will come up any faster ? Don't know. I also am a planner and try to pay everything up front. I enjoy my cruise especially when my charges have a balance of zero at the end of the cruise Looking forward to reading about your cruise " adventure "

Aqua Show rehearsal. They said the show will likely be cancelled tonight due to weather.

Welcome! I love Adventure. I have been on her several times. You are going to have an awesome time.

Booked a sailing today (because I'm Zenith, I guess it's a day early). Pricing was way more than the brochure. Maybe I just picked a bad date

I would add to call Club Royale if there is a specific sailing you are interested in and haven't seen an offer. I had booked a holiday sailing in December and was hoping to get an offer for it. i called yesterday and low and behold I had an offer for comped balcony for 2 plus $500 freeplay. Merry Christmas saved $3600

Just did two Utopia B2B's in June and July... was never asked for our old cards either time.

Thanks for all the info guys. Philly Lady the gang way up is 3.30, not the boat departing at 3.30 like i originally said. Yes we are on the Explorer. We have moved the train tickets to an earlier one , arriving at Ravenna just before midday so will take the stress out of the situation that way. Many thanks again for all your help.

I've never been on Oasis, so I'm really enjoying all of the pictures.

Ms Alicia... We visited with your Brother today in the Windjammer. He said he abandoned you to the casino. We have been in there a lot but have yet to see you. We are in the ice show now. It hasn't even started but I am loving it already.

Get an earlier train in case there are delays. We hit several delays this summer. Better safe than sorry.

We received our second suitcase very late. It was busted up very well and with a tag indicating tools and or electrical cords removed. We had neither in the suitcase so I don't know what they actually took.

And a restaurant named for me.

Guess I am spoiled. This cabin seems tiny.

Don't know what bar we are in, but we escaped to here as this ship is terribly crowded with tourists.