Skigoofy

Thanks.
 
It's very "resting bitch face" while doing everything in your power to NOT look at your partner. 🤣
 
Right! I loved my Capezios. That was exactly my thought. These are designed for west coast swing, so the toe box isn't blocked for stands and the soles and heels are thinner. Other than than that, they feel just like my old Capezio pair. 
 
So we met up at the dance shoe store and we both bought a pair of shoes. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow a new practice skirt made it into my car as well. They had a cute tank top, but it wasn't meant to be. We have a west coast swing class tonight, so we'll try to break the shoes in. DH will have to get used to the different feel of the more plastic-y soles for sure.
Keeping this a cruise live blog and not a dance journal...I also dropped off a little bit of dry cleaning. The at home laundry saga continues as well. We can ALL officially start packing now too.

Tonite dinner was Izumi.  There is no hibachi on EX so it’s always sushi only….which is fine with me.  I’m not a fan of the hibachi menu (or the “show”) anyway.  This was night #2 of our 3 night dining package.  Chops on night #9, the last night.
Insider tip:  if you see chopsticks nearby, this is probably NOT guacamole.

We went to the casino after dinner (who’s surprised) and it was a mixed bag.  Dan and I played some Dancing Drums (b/c the pigs were all occupied) and we lost a little bit.  Dan went and played some video poker and won while  I played some UTH and lost.  Ugh.  Back in the room now.
Tomorrow is St Kitts (again) and we have no plans to get off.  Today was another visit to Grenada and we just got off for a little while and browsed the terminal shops.  I bought Dan a couple of new Caribbean shirts which he DESPERATELY needed.  He’s been wearing the same sad ones we bought in Aruba probably 12 years ago !  Most of them are missing buttons and I’m a terrible wife who has never fixed them for him.  It’s easier just to buy some new shirts !  He now has 2 new ones…

This is part of our tango routine the day we learned it. It's not polished in this video - just recorded so we could remember the steps at home.
VID-20240127-WA0000.mp4

My purse arrived, and I was a little disappointed, but not surprised, that the pattern was not aligned as in the photo. 
 
However, when I opened the flap, she was waiting for me! I have no idea why I find this so amusing, but I'm taking votes on names. 🤣

 
I mentioned to DH last night that I want some dance sneakers for the ship, and he jumped onboard. I know this may seem weird, but cruising is actually our second obsession. Our biggest concern wearing our usual dance shoes is water or spilled drinks on the floor because they have suede soles. Getting them wet would break down the glue, or cause long term sticking or slipping issues in the case of a spilled drink. Because of that, we leave the cabin in our everyday shoes and carry our dance shoes with us to change into when we want to dance on the ship. It's a little inconvenient to carry them around when we want to also do other things like go to a show or hit the casino without dropping them off at the room first. Plus we still have to worry about someone spilling a drink on the dance floor. I rationalized that I could wear a hard sole dance sneaker around the the ship, and I can use them to teach in this fall - I'm teaching dance at our co-op next semester. Anyway, we're meeting up to buy some for both of us this morning when our local(ish) dance store opens at 11. 💃🕺
I'm sure this seems nuts to most of you, but we all have that one thing, right? 
This also happened yesterday! One more to go!

Ok.  I’m gonna try and upload these Ocean World photos.  Wish me luck.
I know this is hard to read but it will give you an idea of the content of the Park. It’s much bigger than I would have thought before I saw it for myself.

Again, maybe not so easy to read, but some idea of the show schedules
 

This is the only photo I got of an actual dolphin since the dolphin encounter wasn’t included in our excursion.  I will say though, they make it very easy for you to watch all of the interactions/encounters, even if you haven’t paid to participate.  The shows are all readily visible from a distance.  You just don’t get to interact with the animals if you haven’t paid for the excursion.  Lots of opportunities to observe.


 
We (at least, I did not.  Dan watched a bit) did not watch the dolphin show but this is a photo of the dolphin show area.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to watch a show from this vantage point even if you’re not directly involved.


Fresh water pool

 

Dan actin’ the fool.  This is by the kiddie area of the fresh water pool.  OBTW, the fresh water pool was COLD
 

They have 2 bird houses.  This is the macaw area.  Beautiful birds.

The second bird house was for the smaller birds, primarily love birds.  
 

No explanation needed for this one…

…or this one…

The snorkeling area had a couple of plexiglass viewing areas.  Lots of fish and coral to see.  I really enjoyed snorkeling in this area but we were fortunate enough to have done this early.  Later in the day it was crowded and chaotic as there were kids in there who had no idea how to snorkel and were thrashing about maniacally.  I’m sure it was very disruptive to the fish.  Glad I missed that…
 

Bizarre photo of Dan in the snorkeling area.  Actual arms and reflections of arms.  Yikes !
 

This is a rather crappy photo of the shark encounter area.  It’s actually quite large.

The sharks in this interaction are nurse sharks and the are extremely wimpy as sharks go.  They ran and hid in the rocks once the snorkelers entered the water. When this photo was taken (before the snorkelers got in) the sharks were just looking for a free meal.  They know when the chow is coming out !

 

Moving on to the sea lions.  Here is Dan about to get a kiss.  While I was taking this picture, I had an employee telling me, “Sorry, no photographs allowed”.  I just ignored him and took this one but put my phone away after that.  I had no interest in seeing the inside of a Dominican jail.  😵‍💫

After the encounter was over, photography wasn’t a problem.  This was during an actual sea lions show which was open to the public

Obligatory balancing-the-ball-on-the-snout photo.

Heres the sea lion (I can’t remember his name) giving mouth-to-mouth (or boca-a-boca, depending upon which narration you were listening to) to an unfortunate member of the staff who nearly drowned when this SAME sea lion pushed him off the rocks, moments earlier !

Scene of the crime…
Welp, that’s all of the exciting things we saw and experienced at Ocean World.  If you get the chance to go when in Puerto Plata, I do recommend it.  
 

Sisters nails this cruise.

What we have to hide for two weeks 

For those of you who Facebook, the official Royal Caribbean Blog Facebook page was taken down by Meta. @Matt has had no luck getting the page restored, so a new Facebook page has been created. Please visit the new page and like and follow it.  Thanks!
https://www.facebook.com/royalcaribbeanblogcom

So things really did pick up at Hideaway after my last post. By the time we left the place was packed.  The music finally got to me….and I tagged out.
Will I go back ?  Probably not.  There is very little at Hideaway that I could not get elsewhere on the island for -0- $$.
1. Hideaway pool is heated.  I liked that…but I was still chilly when I got out of the water.
2.  Dan said the choice of alcohol was better at Hideaway.  E.g, he likes Grey Goose for his Bloody Mary and he said he couldn’t get that on the “regular” side.  I have no idea since I’ve never had a [alcohol] drink at PDCC
3.  Padded chairs and couches.  I don’t recall seeing that outside of the Beach Club.  Maybe they are somewhere that I haven’t seen.
4.  No kids
Other than these few things, the “regular “ side and Hideaway are the same (to me).
We each had a crispy chicken/mozz sticks sandwich and I had 1/2 of a fried dough ball with powdered sugar on it (can’t think of what it’s called).  Pretty tasty.

Lost $45 today but I won’t cry too much as I’m still “up” slightly for the first leg.  I just have keep this momentum going for 2 more weeks !  I earned enough points for a comp cert myself although it’s the lowest level comp cert so the pickin’s are pretty slim. Most likely I will still use the cash value to upgrade Dans comp but I purchased a Next Cruise future cert so I will have the choice to book from the very short list of offered cruises if we choose to do that.   We picked a 10 night EX in March 25 for Dans comp.   I won’t be able to book it until tomorrow so I hope there are still some of the pano ocean views left by the time I get around to booking.  I’ll take care of that while we’re in port on TAD.
Dan enjoyed his lamb shank and I had the spaghetti in the MDR.  I love that they put the Pinns at window tables (at least, whenever they can).  It’s a nice perk.  Also, on EX, Pinns have priority seating  for MTD so the waiting is minimal.  They told us to just go straight to the podium and that’s what we did.  I will say, the MTD lines have been longer on EX than they had been on some of the other cruises we’ve taken recently.  The priority seating was particularly nice on this cruise.
We have the same room for leg #2 so we don’t have to pack - thank goodness !  So nice to be staying on when you see everyone else’s luggage outside and you are still snuggled in your stateroom !  It’s a great feeling.
Stand by for Part II !

Dan and I hit a Royal Flush on video poker tonite !  Woohoo.  Too bad we were only playing a quarter. 😔
…but it made us much healthier than we were !  He will definitely make Prime on this cruise as he’s more than halfway there and this is only night 3 of 9.

 
Yikes.  Sorry this picture is so big !
About 5 minutes ago we had an Alpha, Alpha, Alpha call come over the stateroom speakers.  I don’t recall them usually making that announce inside the rooms.  It is for a passenger cabin on deck 12.  I hope whoever it is will be ok.

As I’ve already mentioned, boarding was very timely and efficient.  We stopped by our mustard (sic) station on the way in and got that out of the way.  Then straight over to the specialty dining kiosk near the dining room to make our specialty rezzies.  No one else in line…easy peasy.  Woohoo !
 
On our way up to our room to sneak the keys off the stateroom door, we ran into Gigi, the Suites Concierge.  I asked her if there were any Pinnacle exclusions to the Suite Lounge.  Very sheepishly, she said, “Yes.  Only the top 30 allowed in the Concierge Lounge” (EX STILL has not converted their Concierge Lounge to a Suites Lounge despite the fact that they underwent a dry dock fairly recently.  Why ??).  She continued, “If your key works, you’re allowed in”.  My heart sank as I’m certain that we would be excluded.  I’ve been waiting for this to happen.  It was just a matter of time.  “oh well” I tell myself.  It’s not the end of the world.  Truly, the Crown Lounge is actually nicer than the Suites/Concierge Lounge on this ship since the Concierge Lounge is still, inexplicably, located in an uninspired inside room on deck 9 while the Crown Lounge is up in the Viking Crown are with an ocean view.  “We’ll be fine”, I said, as I choked back the tears of disappointment. 😜😜
So I went and snatched the keys from the door (we’re right by the elevators on deck 8 so I was and out like a special forces recon team.  Nobody saw me come or go (except for security, of course)).  Even though I knew it was a waste of time, I told Dan that we had to try the key to see if it would open the Concierge Lounge door.  I held my breath.  I slipped the key in.  I heard the “click” that the lock makes when it magically unlocks the door.  The light blinked.  I couldn’t believe our luck !  Our successful record for Suites Lounge access was still intact !  Yippee !  Now…are we in the top 30 Pinnacles ?  That’s a big “no” unless there are only 29 Pinnacles on board !  So either it’s a one-time lock glitch OR Gigi was hedging her bet.  I guess we’ll find out the next time I try to get in !
I got my cappuccino, and a stale lemon cookie and we waited in the [absolutely deserted] Concierge Lounge until it was time for lunch.  For those who need to know (Mike ?  …the tag-thing isn’t working !) here are some pix of the unimpressive treats in the Lounge for embarkation.
Poor Dan.  He’s all alone in the Lounge !
 
 

Yes !  We ate lunch today at Chops, which is a kind of tradition for us.  There were only 4 other people eating in the restaurant which is REAlLY a slow embarkation day for Chops.  
 
We are dining at Giovanni’s tonite and Chops tomorrow night (our BOGO vouchers).  We also have a 3 night dining package so we are doing Izumi on night #4 (skipping the USA menu in the MDR), Chops on night #6 (skipping the Caribbean night) and Giovanni’s on night #7 (skipping Italian night).  That leaves Mexican night (night #3), Asian night (night #5), Royal night (lobster, night #8) and lamb shank night (can’t remember the theme) on night #9 for the MDR.  I actually like Italian night in the MDR so on the repeat of this itin (cruise #3 4-19) I will choose to do Italian night and switch it out for something else….plenty of time to make that decision !

So what “firsts” are we doing on this cruise ?
1.  First time ever parking offsite.  The second “first” (how confusing is that ???) is really just a subset of the #1.  This is the first time we have used Premier Parking in Miami.
2.  The only other “first” has nothing to do with boarding day - we will be calling on Grenada for the first time ever.  Rare for us to have a new Caribbean port, but we do.  As a matter of fact, we will be calling twice b/c our third cruise in this trilogy is identical to the first so we will be visiting twice.

We are onboard.  The suite check in was incredibly easy and fast.

 

For the record, I also went to Park Cafe but didn’t get anything. And I had a ranger cookie on my way out of WJ.
Cabins were ready at exactly 1:00 and our luggage was waiting for us! We also met our cabin attendant within minutes. He quickly introduced himself & said he’d be back at 3:00. We told him no rush but asked if he could bring us extra hangers when he returned. He knocked on our door 5 mins later with a dozen hangers. Great first impression!

Incredibly already met @OCSC Mike and his lovely bride during boarding. I can confirm car to bar in 15 mins 

Insane clown duo ready to cruise !! They have their embarkation gear on as well. 

Intro
I don't normally start blogs early since I don't have any flights, hotels, or packing shenanigans to share. We live an hour's drive from PC and I finish packing the morning of the cruise but here goes anyway. BTW, while this intro post will be long, I do plan to try my best to keep my reports from the ship much shorter and spread out rather than long daily recaps. We'll find out how successful I am when the time comes.
We sailed Wonder last June with family and absolutely loved the ship... but it was not our usual cruise M.O. as we were freeloading in Sky Class and spent A LOT of time in the suite neighborhood with the fam. Semi-live blog here if anyone hasn't read it and wants to: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/41233-semi-live-trip-report-wonder-june-4-11/.
Cabin
Since it's just me and my wife, we're back in one of our beloved caves... err... interiors on deck 10. We like being somewhere in between the higher and lower decks to avoid elevators in either direction when possible so 10 seemed to fit the bill. We actually have three more Wonder cruises booked after this one and they're all in roughly the same area, deck 10 forward near the elevators. I chose forward after noticing from YouTube cabin videos that many (all?) aft interiors don't even have the small couch, just a tiny chair with a strange layout. I may not need a fancy room but I do like the little couch so forward it is.
Food
Anyone who reads my posts knows I like to eat and do so off and on from the early AM throughout the day and into the evening. Between frugality and my picky wife, the only specialty dining we have planned is Mason Jar brunch on day 3 (LOVED it in June and it was 40% off during the Black Friday sale) and one dinner in Playmakers b/c we love the burgers and garlic parm fries there. Breakfast and lunch could be wherever (likely not the MDR) and our other dinners will mostly be in the MDR (early seating). We didn't step foot in the WJ for dinner last time b/c we were always busy going from CK to a show. We will definitely pop in there this time, even if it's after the MDR, and if my wife finds something appealing, we could wind up skipping the MDR for a night or two and just heading there (@Lovetocruise2002's worst nightmare, I know).
Shows
We saw every show offered in June (including the now retired Tap Factory) so this time around the only shows we will definitely see are the ice show (our new favorite) and adult comedy b/c obviously that changes with the comics. We will probably see InTENse (aqua show) again just for the heck of it and if there's a headliner and it's an act we feel like seeing, we could go to that. The app shows singers on the last couple and next week's Wonder cruises and that's not something we'd bother with.
I'm actually looking forward to not having plans every night so we can just find something random to do... game show, music at a bar, watching Karaoke, etc.
Ports
Day 2: CocoCay - We'll be parked at our favorite spot by the Oasis Pool making frequent trips to the nearest Snack Shack and Chill Grill while using a few Diamond vouchers. We could have tried Hideaway Beach for $19.99pp, which I know is a very low price, but other than the additional food options (of which my wife would eat none unless she wanted plain pizza), it held no appeal to us and I'd rather spend $40 at Playmakers or Mason Jar. We've always been very happy with the included food on CocoCay.
Day 4: St. Thomas - No plans as we don't dock until 12:30pm and finding an afternoon excursion wasn't appealing to us. We may just stay on the ship unless we decide to take a quick walk around the port.
Day 5: St. Martin - We're going back on Captain Bob's powerboat snorkeling tour after loving it 7 years ago. If you're not familiar, I highly recommend it as it has a little bit of everything... fun fast boat ride, tour of the island by sea, a couple snorkeling stops, a couple beach stops, a stop near Maho Beach to see the planes, plus lunch and beverages (mostly beer and soft drinks) included. Bob and his kids are from New York and moved to the island a long time ago. His son, Brett, was our boat captain in 2017 and I requested to sail with him again. Here's their website if you're interested... https://www.soualigadestinations.com/most-popular-tour-for-cruise-ship-visitors/. Like many things, I first chose this as something we could both enjoy. My wife is far more into snorkeling than I am but I can handle it in small doses and I'm content to chill on the boat with a drink if I get tired of it before she does. I also like that it has multiple stops. The only time I park myself on a beach is if there's shade and food/drink included (like CocoCay or a beach club).
Milestone
I almost forgot, we will be turning D+ on this cruise, woohoo!
Shipmates
@GatorCruiser will be on this cruise and has promised to pop in with his own commentary. He'll also be posting from the luxurious trappings behind the (rarely) locked glass doors of deck 17.
@Matt will also be onboard with his kids for spring break (same as my teacher wife's as we live very close to him) and he's more than welcome to drop in if he wants to grace us with his presence. At the very least, I hope to run into him just to say hi but I'm an introvert IRL and I don't want to impose since he'll be with his family.
Not sure I'll have much to share between now and then. I don't think this intro was TOO long-winded by my standards and, again, I will truly try to keep my posts from the ship shorter and more spread out. Looking forward to bringing you all along as I definitely feel more like a part of the community since I've been posting so much over the past however many months.

I think we definitely got the “genie special” this afternoon! I have to say, I am not easily surprised but I did not see this one coming! 
When getting drinks with @recogneyes, she asked me if we had been to the pub. I said no and that we are not huge fans of the pub in general. She said we have to at least pop by for a  visit to see the pub signer because he is really good.
Later then evening, we ran into @recogneyes again at playmakers, and Stephen, the pub signer was there. She introduced us and we said will try to find time to see him. If you are wondering where I am going with this, keep reading…
Today is a sea day, and Shane overheard us saying last night that we might do El Loco today. He suggested that we do a delivery because it might be busy and our kids never get anywhere early. When we came back to our room to eat, this is what we found. 
 

After the SC session, I met up with Shane for another coffee at Starbucks. Then we headed off to Izumi for lunch. Izumi was yummy, a bit slow, but not a big deal cause it’s not like we have anywhere to go.


SC food coma has finally set it. Everyone is stuffed, and napping 😂

I will leave you all with this puzzle before bed…

While Hubby and the kids were gone, Shane was working his genie magic. 
 

Room tour! 

Main entry 


 
Downstairs bedroom and Bathroom 


 
Main living area 














 
Upper level






 
Balcony ❤️