Skigoofy

At the muster drill. Dan took our cards and had them scanned while I saved us 2 seats looking out over the Centrum. 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

So we got to the room about 1:30.  First time in a full suite on a rad class (that’s how long it’s been since we were on one !).  A bit narrow but the everything on a rad class is narrow.  One thing, the closets are big !  I think there’s more room in those big closets than there is in the Owners Suites closets on the bigger ships.
 

 




 

 

 

 

Day 3 - Coco Loco Wednesday
 
Despite my week-long excitement about CocoCay, I slept until almost 8!  Must have been the late night shower. Or the alcohol.  
 
After breakfast at the Windjammer, we disembarked around 10am. We took the tram to arrivals -- a BRILLIANT IDEA --  and then headed to Chill Island, where we secured 2 chairs under an umbrella AND under some palm trees for the warm, shady, morning we dreamed of since June. 
 

 
I picked up my floating mat and the experience was well worth the 12.99. The water was warm and peaceful.  Mom also floated for a bit. It was a soul-replenishing experience. (I may have cried.) We took turns in the water and on the chairs, reading. Even though I swear off souvenir cups on every trip I take, this time I drank 2 coco locos and happily accepted the cups. One pink, one orange.
 

 
By the way, if you purchase a Summersalt swimsuit in the colors “Pacific & Blue Lagoon & White Sand” you will match most of the CocoCay colorways and your pictures will look phenomenal.
 

We were too chill to try and look decent for the selfie stick photo.
 
There was glitter in my beach bag. 
 
I turned in floating mat and we went to lunch at Skippers, which was where the GF food was.  A very helpful crew member took Mom around the buffet and showed her which foods were gluten free. She had tacos! I also had tacos and bbq ribs. And some corn. And some fruit.
 
We spent the afternoon at the Oasis Lagoon pool where the party was. Front row seats in shade. I had another Coco Loco, sans souvenir cup. We saw a lifeguard save a kid! 
 

Me, matching the pool and sky, oblivious to the drunk, pasty guy behind me photobombing our photo.
 
At 4:30, we reluctantly trammed it back to the ship. It was really, truly, a perfect day. All of my worries about shade and crowds were unfounded. Even if there were 2 ships there, we’d have still found seating.
 

My version of the same picture everyone else takes.
 
We showered up and headed to 6pm dinner. My chair still had glitter on it.
 
Mom: Steak, SUPER WELL DONE. 
Me: Asian pork tacos, chicken cordon bleu, tres leches cake. And 50th birthday cake! And a glass of wine. 
 
We watched the Beatles tribute show in the Promenade, and then returned to the Cosmopolitan Lounge to watch another round of karaoke, where one giant family brought the house down with their rendition of “O Happy Day” from Sister Act 2. The drinks flowed, the crowd cheered, people were Saved.
 
It was the Perfect Day.
 
Grade: A+++

Day 2 - Nassau and Glitter Tuesday
I woke at sunrise and Mom and I headed to the Windjammer for our sunrise cups of coffee, which we have on deck 11. 
 
Because I’m a nerd, I pulled the Port Nassau webcam up on my phone and tried to find myself. And I did! Behold blurry me!
 

This is a screenshot from the Port Nassau webcam. I'm in the purple circle and spent far too much time of my life trying to get this shot.
 
We went to the Windjammer for breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit, and the amazing Austrian Striezel bread that I loved 2 years ago and promptly forgot about. I’m an okay bread baker now, so I found a recipe on … um … another cruise board and I’m going to give it a try.
 
Back to the cabin to get changed. Mom saw a spa special in the cruise compass: $149 for a body brushing , full body massage, scalp massage, and facial. Hmmm… okay. I could do that.  
 
Me: $149 plus tip and then I’ll probably buy something - that’s pricier than I thought.
Mom: We just spent 11 days thinking you had cancer.
Me: You win.
 
Twist my arm and all. For herself, she wanted to try To Dry For. We headed up to To Dry For on the 5th floor and made our appointments: 2:15 for her and 2:45 for me. They were able to make my spa appointment there too.
 

I blend.
 
Wearing our matching “Resting Beach Face” tees and along with 2 bottles of delicious $1/bottle Miami water, disembarked at Nassau a little before 10am.  We didn’t purchase an excursion. Instead, I created a small walking tour based on this site and this site.
 

Evidence that I planned a route making my poor mother walk on strange streets without sidewalks.
 
But I wanted to hit the distillery first, so instead of using those maps exactly, we went down (up?) West Street. It was very hilly, and no tourists. I didn’t feel unsafe, except when the cars went barreling by. Plus, a Disney ship was at port too, and I knew that even if we looked touristy in our matching shirts, there would likely be 1,000 people in Mickey Mouse shirts and ear hats behind us.  You don’t have to look the savviest, you just have to look savvier than the person behind you.
 
Soon, were were at Watling Distillery, sampling the rum. It was very hot and very sunny. We took the informative, free tour. The rum bottles were VERY HEAVY and as I mentioned it was VERY HOT so I opted for a beach towel as a souvenir instead.
 

We are exhausted and sweaty and this is hands-down my favorite photo of the trip. Mom printed 2 copies of this, framed them, and gave me one.
 
After the hike to the distillery, the rest of the trip was literally downhill. We poked into Greycliff and sampled chocolates. We walked by the Government House. We were stopped in our tracks by the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral. The stained glass artwork is breathtaking. Mom and I slipped inside a pew and sent up a few words of gratitude. We left donations and continued on our way to the straw market. Which was the same that it was last time. I waved to Twangster on the Majesty and as planned, we were back on the ship by 12:30. 
 

I'm glad we stopped in the Cathedral.
 
Lunch was at our beloved WindJammer. A huge fan of buffets, I took a spoonful of every pasta available  with a ladleful of every sauce available. Mom, more restrained, had a bunless burger and some vegetables. And tiny desserts!
 
I dropped Mom off at To Dry For at 2:14 and hung out on a deck chair until 2:40 when I headed to Vitality. Elinor was my masseuse. I upgraded to hot stones ($20) and Elinor effortlessly took me from “OH GOD IT BURNS” to “more please thank you.” I told her my shoulders are where I keep my tension and she managed to work them back down from my ears. Then I bought the Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel ($50 on ship, $55 on Amazon, Icy Hot costs $8) and, suitably oiled up, slid down the hallways back to my cabin.
 
Mom! Looked! Amazing! She had the best time at To Dry For and the curls in her blowout lasted 2 days. She would definitely go back and while I love my Mom ... she’s picky (Mom: “I’m discriminating”) about a great many things so any endorsement from her is automatically a ringing endorsement.
 
Let’s talk about Formal night. It’s now called “Wear Your Best” and I’m 100% fine with that because it’s vacation. Do what you want. I choose to dress up. Not to a formal level, but to a holiday party level. Or a wedding guest level.  Because other than my own (first) wedding, I’ve never been to a truly FORMAL wedding.
 
I spent a whopping $17.99 on my dress at Ross Dress for Less - black with silver sparkle. I kept it in the Ross bag because I didn’t want any stray pieces of glitter to rub onto my other clothing. I bought a blingy silver bag for $13 on Amazon. My shoes are my trusty silver “wedding guest shoes.”  Mom also bought her dress at Ross, for just about the same amount.
 

Dressed in our finest C&A GOLD status duds.
 
When I pulled my gorgeously cheap dress on, I noticed a few sparkles of glitter flutter to the ground. Okay. No big.  We went to dinner a little early to take advantage of the photo ops. 
 
“You’re sparkly!” Mom said.
“Thanks!” I replied.
She continued, “No, really...it’s … on your arms. And your chest…”
 
Remember the massage? And the massage oil? Yeah. Any glitter that my body came in contact with was adhering to me. Between that and the oily sheen I strode through the ship resembling either a gymnast or a stripper.  
 
Formal night breakdown: About 25% of the crowd brought the sparkle. Another 25% dressed up slightly. The rest are still wondering how they got glitter on them. Sorry! That was me.
 
MDR: My dinner was linguine with seafood. Mom had almond crusted cod. After dinner we went up to the pool deck to kill time before the Ballroom Dancing show.  I saw Super Mario’s cabana, which is blocked off from us peasants by a chain and enclosed with plexiglass. He was working. And smoking a cigar. That was the only time we saw him the entire cruise. Anyway, the wind blew as we walked by and I’m pretty sure I glitterbombed his cabana. Sorry, Mario! 
 
The ballroom dancing show as very good - maybe a tad bit long at a full hour. They even did a good job with Moon River, which is a song that usually makes me want to throw myself down multiple flights of stairs. 
 
After that we went to see Karaoke in the Cosmopolitan lounge on deck 14. I walked in and thought I had stumbled into a pinnacle platinum plus lounge but I was right. Either that or breathing Mario’s second hand smoke earned me some more points! (It didn’t) I tried my first-ever Dark and Stormy and enjoyed it! 
 
We stayed for most of karaoke, and then I went back to the cabin and tried to shower off the glitter. It was on my face, in my armpits, between my toes. The dress went back into the Ross bag and then zipped into a gallon ziploc bag and there it still remains, in the back of my closet, until I want to destroy somebody’s house this holiday season.  
 
Grade: A+++ and a pile of glitter.

Remember me? Welcome to my ... not so much LIVE blog but a blog that was put into suspended animation for a month.
****
Day 0 - Miami Sunday
It’s on! My devoted husband had the privilege of driving a maniacally giggling me and my equally excited mother to Philadelphia International Airport. We checked our bags and sashayed through TSA PreCheck.  I paid for it and it was literally the best money I ever spent on travel. Mom got it for free. She said it’s because she was traveling with me. I say it’s because she’s Of An Age. We had breakfast at the terminal. Yogurt and coffee for me, a scrambled egg bowl and coffee for her. We boarded the plane without incident, left early, and arrived in Miami a little after 1pm. Mom watched the first part of Rocketman.
 
Mom: This is depressing.
Me: I’m sure his story gets better. I think he makes it big.
Mom: Eh, I know how it ends. (closes movie)
 

Us.
 
Our luggage was within the first 10 bags that dropped onto the belt. We hailed a taxi and sped to…
 
InterContinental Miami! Huzzah! I picked it strictly based on this blog’s recommendation. Thank you!  Our standard room on the 18th floor was ready when we arrived. We changed into more comfortable duds and hit the pool bar for lunch. There were chairs along the railing and we stared at PortMiami (and drank) for the afternoon. It’s a much nicer view in person than via webcam.
 
After whiling the afternoon away, we walked to Bayside Mall for dinner. The walk was gorgeous, with a water view the whole way. There was live music at the mall. We ate at Chili’s, which would not by my typical first choice in a new city, but it was familiar and had a short wait. Compromise. 
 

Bayside Mall.
 
There’s a construction wall bragging that a giant Ferris Wheel will open at Bayside “Holiday 2019.” I’m a sucker who will ride any Ferris Wheel she sees, so that only means I have to come back to the Intercontinental (and I guess PortMiami) eventually. The walk back to the hotel felt 100% safe, even in the dark. We headed back to the pool bar, but it had closed due to lightning. The Starbucks inside the hotel was also closed, so we headed back to the room to relax.

Day 1 -  Embarkation Monday
Today! Today we go on our cruise! I woke up and went outside to wave fanatically at Navigator. I loved having the hotel right on the water.  Mom and I had breakfast at Ole, which is the Intercontinental’s breakfast buffet. It was pretty expensive ($29pp for the non-continental version) but the food and service were amazing.
 
Before we left for port, we bought 6 bottles of water at Miami One Market for $1 each. That with the free bottle from the Intercontinental meant Mom was set with water for the trip.
 
For embarkation, I wore a Roxy sundress that I coveted at one of the shops on the Enchantment 2 years ago (it was cheaper to buy online rather than in the ship’s store), my casual flip flops, and a beach hat. Mom also wore a sundress and a beach hat.  We looked so touristy that the bell services agent immediately said, “taxi to the port?” Mom laughed, and I said, “I guess we don’t blend with the IBM AI conference that’s happening?”
 
“Yes, but I also saw your luggage tags,” he replied.
 
We arrived at Port at 10:50 and left our bags with the porter. Our SetSail passes indicated that we had expedited arrival. We entered the (short) line, had our photos taken and our passports looked at, and then we were okayed to board.
 
Of course we took the gangway photos, because I will NEVER turn down a photo.
 
We boarded the ship at 11:15 and I cried. 
 
Yes, I’m a big baby, but it’s not just that. I had a mammogram that came back problematic and then a breast biopsy 11 days before the trip. That came back clear. I would have come on this vacation either way (I didn’t buy that deluxe of a travel insurance plan) but I know “death doesn’t discriminate” (Miranda L, 2014) and I was thankful to be here AND healthy. So go get your mammograms if your breasts are of age. But maybe don’t do it 3 weeks before your cruise.
 
And then Mom cried because I was crying and I was glad we already had the photos taken. 
 
After I got myself together (am big baby) we marveled at the ship. Enchantment was certainly beautiful, but Navigator is spectacular.  
 
It was a little overwhelming, but in an “everything is the same but different” way. Our first order of business was to go up and see the pool deck.
 
Mom: It means so much that we travel tog-
Elevator: DOORS CLOSING!
Us: (simultaneously scream)
Elevator: DOORS OPENING!
Me: Okay. That’s helpful.
 

We stopped crying.
 
I loved the amplification efforts - the happy colors, the beds and the chairs and the shade that was built in. Naturally, we had to check out the Windjammer.
 
Where Enchantment had hand sanitizer stations, Navigator has a giant handwashing area complete with fully-functional sinks and a staff members singing songs about washing your hands. This would by my mother’s perfect cruise ship job.  Mom grabbed a sugar free gluten free coffee mousse and I had a little plastic cup of jello. It was only 11:30, so we weren’t super hungry. There was a giant cake welcoming us all to the Windjammer. It had to be 4 feet long.
 

 
 
We took the stairs to the 12th floor and found a covered seating area near Lime & Coconut. Mom classily drank a pinot grigio while I slurped down the signature Lime & Coconut drink.

This is not Lime and Coconut
 
And I need to say this for everyone to hear: OH MY GOD YOU ARE ALL RIGHT ABOUT GETTING HERE EARLY.
 
At 1pm, when the announcement was made that the cabins were ready, we headed to Windjammer for lunch. We figured everyone would charge to the cabins at that time and it would empty out. We were correct!! The Gluten-Free options continue to impress. 
 
Mom: vegetable medley, hamburger sans bun, fruit, another coffee mousse
Me: hot dog (classy broad), vegetable samosas, seafood paella, fruit..
 
After lunch we went down to the bowels of the ship to our cabin on deck 3. The beds were pushed together, which could have been avoided if cruiseplanner had let me set a preference for it like I did 2 years ago. Our garbage can was GOLD because of our killer GOLD C&A status.
 

Ocean view cabin, bed pushed together
 
Our SeaPasses said we had My Time dining and to go to deck 3 to make our reservations. Hm. I had reserved traditional 6pm dining when I made our reservations. The app confirmed it. I went around the corner to the dining room, explained my predicament, showed the Royal App and the gentlemen said I had a 6pm reservation every night. Good!
 
We explored the promenade on Deck 5. Mom and I played 2 games of giant Jenga at Playmakers. She won 1 and I also won 1. We decided it would be best to leave it tied. My family is very competitive. We returned to the room and met our steward, Miguel, who said he’d switch the beds before bedtime. Fantastic!
 
Back up to deck 11 for --
 
Elevator: DOORS CLOSING!
Me: Omg. This is going to be anno--
Elevator: DOORS OPENING!
 
Back to deck 11 for the sailaway party. I had a Bahama mama and we slipped away from Miami so smoothly that if you didn’t see it, you’d never know we were moving.  We found 2 comfy chairs in the Solarium and stayed there until I looked at my watch and said, “Um, we have dinner in 4 minutes.”
 
We went to MDR on 3 and the maitre’d said, “Ma’am, you’re a My Time Diner so if you wait right here we’ll find a table and ---”
 
And I took a deep breath, smiled, showed my app which confirmed I was traditional dining and I would like to have the same table every night. And with a swipe of a Sharpie, we were given table 521 on Deck 5.
 
Mom took the elevator, I took the stairs. We were seated at a 6-top by the window with two other couples. Couple 1 was married over 20 years, and couple 2 were honeymooners. Both were from Florida and both were just  the right level of talky. 
 
We went to the 7:30 ice show which kicked off with an amazing drone display! The skaters were fantastic and at 45 minutes it was just the right length. We arrived 10 minutes early, which was still too late to get seats together, so I sat in the row in front of Mom.
 
After that we stopped at the Casino for Mom to lose her obligatory $20. The big draw was the game where for only a dollar, you had a chance to move a “key” forward into one of 12 ‘locks.’ Behind each lock was a fan of US bills -- some were $10s, some were $20s, some were $100s. You’ll be surprised to know that while MANY people were feeding MANY dollars into that, nobody won. We perused the shops on the 5th floor and then when headed up to bed, exhausted. The beds were split and I tumbled in. And almost broke my collarbone because I forgot how FIRM the mattresses were. 
 
Grade: A++

Final thoughts:  This cruise exceeded all of our expectations. 
After our last Star Class cruise, we were hooked and this just cemented it even more.  While our last genie was great, Alan was a much better fit for our family.  Because of his past experience as an Adventure Ocean staff member, his boundless energy, and his knack for going above and beyond, our family couldn't have asked for a better genie.  Our kids grew very attached to him over the week, and Steven and I have the utmost admiration for him.  I hope he is on Oasis for our B2B next year as we would request him again in a heartbeat.
The next person who made our cruise extraordinary was our room attendant, Karen.  She was always smiling and happy to do anything we asked.  Her personality never ceased to brightened up our day.  She had a great repertoire with our family, and always took time to give the kids attention.  If you are lucky enough to get her as a room attendant, you are in for a real treat.
One of the Star Class perks that we used a lot yet have not addressed in the blog is the free laundry.  We probably did enough laundry to pay the difference between a balcony and a Star Class cabin.  We sent our laundry off every morning and sometimes at night.  Karen always had our laundry returned washed and pressed within a few hours.  Our last room attendant was relatively quick getting our laundry back, but Karen's turn around time was astounding.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the food since the vast majority of our cruise was spent eating.  We went to all of the specialty restaurants (with the exception of Chef's Table and Samba) atleast once.  We chose to skip Chef's Table because it is too long for us to be away from the babies and we skipped Samba because we were very disappointed with it last time we were on Allure.  Chops, 150 Central Park, and Giovanni's Table were all amazing.  Sabor is not our favorite, but their guacamole and chicken-stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon are very good.  I think Johnny Rockets burgers are overrated, but their hotdogs are delicious.  We tried the Vintages cake pops, and they are good as long as you like really sweet foods.  We visited Cups and Scoops atleast once every day but usually more.  None of us really cared for the cupcakes, but we ate tons of ice cream.  At home, I visit Starbucks every day, but on the cruise, I went atleast three times a day.  The drinks are free for Star Class, but the pastries are an additional charge, so if you are Star Class, and want to try a bunch of new Starbuck's drink, this is the perfect time.  Cruising while Starbucks is doing their holiday drinks allows you to try even more drinks.  During this trip, I discovered I really like their chestnut praline lattes.  We only had Coastal Kitchen in the mornings and once for dinner.  I have to agree with @Lovetocruise2002, their filet is amazing.  We popped in to the Windjammer a few times, and overall, is was just ok but a good option if you are in a hurry.  The main dining room called almost everyday to inform us of our reserved table, but when specialty is included, we opt to skip the main dining room.
Mama Mia was phenomenal, and we would definitely recommend it to anyone.  We were on the fence about going to see it, but really enjoyed it and would go see it again (especially the first half).  The comedians on our sailing were hilarious, and much better than the ones on our last sailing.
Overall, this was a very relaxing cruise.  One of the best things about Star Class is you can accomplish way more during the week than most people and still have time to relax.  If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Day 7: Nassau 
We slept in and had breakfast from Coastal Kitchen delivered to our balcony at 10am.  The Coastal Kitchen breakfast this week has been great, but for some reason today's was very underwhelming.  Christian and Sophia went to Adventure Ocean,  and the babies, Steven, and I enjoyed a mostly empty ship while everyone was off in port.  We generally stay on the ship when we visit Nassau as it is probably our least favorite port.  I'm guessing it was pretty packed in port because in addition to the Allure, Navigator, Mariner, the Disney Dream, and a Carnival ship were all docked. We went to the Windjammer, Starbucks, and the baby open play area.  After picking up Christian and Sophia from Adventure Ocean, we took the kids to the arcade and then had our daily snacks in our room.  Alan had a special surprise for the kids planned out.  Christian has been talking about how much he loves gaga ball for the entire cruise.  Almost every night in the late night party zone in Adventure Ocean they would have a gaga ball championship.  He wanted to stay for it every night, but since we don't like to stay out late and since it doesn't start until after 10pm, he only was able to go two or three nights.  He won two bronze medals for coming in third place twice.  Alan surprised him with a VIP gaga ball tournament in our room.  He even brought medals for the kids.  They were beyond excited.  We had Chops delivered for dinner, and I was too impatient to take pictures of the food.  By the time I realized that I hadn't took any pictures, most of my food had already disappeared.  I should probably be embarrassed of how much I ate, but I shrugged it off and said Yolo.  After dinner, we dropped all the kids off and headed to the casino hoping to finally get some time to play quarters.  It was rather disappointing because one of the two machines was down for maintenance and the other was full.  When we dropped into the casino the other day, this was also the case.  We played a few slot machines or maybe I should say lost on a few slot machines.  We headed to the promenade and bought a bottle of fireball for Alan as a gift.  After getting Starbucks, we headed back to the casino and finally found an empty seat at the quarter's machine.  I could easily see why it was empty as it was obvious that no one was going to win anything on that machine.  I needed my quarters fix, so we spent about $30 in quarters before deciding to call it a night in the casino.  After picking up the kids, we went to the arcade and then headed to the Boardwalk.  We were going to ride the carousel and get Cups and Scoops one last time, but unfortunately, we arrived at 10:03pm, and it closed at 10pm.  We headed to the room and about the same time our doorbell rang with the Johnny Rockets we had arranged for.  Now we are rushing to get everything packed in time, which speaking of, I better hop off and help Steven pack before we are late getting our luggage out.  I will type up my final thoughts tomorrow on the drive home.  This has been a very fun and relaxing cruise, and we are sad to see it come to an end.

Day 6: At Sea
We were supposed to do the sushi class, but we opted to sleep in instead.  We took the morning kind of slow and had breakfast delivered at 10am.  There was a nice breeze without being too windy, so we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony.  We took the kids to the pool and picked up ice cream on the way to the room.  By the time we arrived to the room, we had the Johnny Rockets that we had requested waiting for us.  We spent a little time enjoying the balcony trying to relish the time we had left in 10730.  While I prefer the deck 8 aquatheater suites for the extra space, the proximity to the aquatheater, and being on the same deck as Central Park, I actually think the ocean view is better from Deck 10.  We took the kids to Adventure Ocean and Royal Babies and Tots and headed to the Star Class Bridge Tour.  It was short and sweet and allowed us to take a few picture of the bridge and with all three genies.  Because it was shorter than we expected, we had time to zipline again before picking up the kids.  We played a few games in the arcade, and our daily snacks were waiting for us when we arrived back to the room.  After naptime, Christian and Sophia informed us that they wanted to ditch us for Adventure Ocean again, so they had dinner with Adventure Ocean while we planned to have dinner at Chops.  Nyssa, of course, had other plans and decided she didn't want to sit through a long dinner.  After Alan stopped in, we took our order to go.  In Nyssa's defense, we had been there 45 minutes and still didn't have our entrees even though Alan had once again asked for our meal to be delivered quickly.  Nyssa and Kat had mac and cheese waiting when we arrived which was great, but also was a problem since they finished before we even had our food arrive.  Having their food waiting at all the other restaurants was wonderful because our food was also delivered quickly and it allowed us to get in and out before the babies got fussy.  At Chops, they were a little slower taking our order when we arrived, so it took longer to receive our food.  I did have time to eat Lobster Bisque and Mushroom Soup before leaving, and they were very tasty.  Steven had the Wedge Salad and Black Pepper Bacon, and he agreed that it was appetizing. We skipped the seafood tower this time, and had filet, lobster, warm chocolate cake, and red velvet cake delivered to our room.  It was absolutely delicious, so much so, that we canceled our Day 7 Izumi dinner plans and opted for Chops delivery.  We were hoping to spend some time with the kids before going to the the Quest, but when we went to pick them up, Christian wanted to stay.  We took Sophia, Nyssa, and Kat to Cups and Scoops and to ride the Carousel.  After hanging out on the Boardwalk for awhile, Sophia was ready to go back to Adventure Ocean, but we made a pit stop in the room first.  When we arrived, Alan had gifts waiting for us.  It was a very kind gesture, and we were very happy to see it.  Steven and I collect magnets, souvenir spoons, and shot glasses from the place we visit, and recently we had been throwing around the idea of collecting the ship models.  Alan must have read our mind, because that was the gift we received.  It was perfect for us and we are very appreciative of that and everything else he has done to make our week so unforgettable.  He also left gifts for the kids which they were happy to see.  After dropping the kids off, we headed to the Quest which was hilarious like always.  We picked up the kids and called it a night.  

Day 2 - Sea day 
We decided to try out breakfast in the main dining room since my mom is a big fan of a nice, leisurely breakfast. Unfortunately the service was incredibly slow for this, so maybe a bit TOO leisurely (took prob around an hour and a half for breakfast. Maybe 40 mins to get our fresh squeezed orange juice.) I’m not sure how much was due to volume or understaffing or what. The servers seemed hardworking so I doubt it was laziness. So that was disappointing and I think we might stick with the windjammer from now on this sailing. Even though it took a long time, breakfast really hit the spot in settling my stomach. I had been feeling a bit nauseous and slightly dizzy when I woke up, but I could tell it was more related to needing food vs motion sickness. Though if you WERE feeling motion sick, they had you covered in the stairwells. 


After our very long breakfast, we decided to wander over to the solarium after stopping by the room to grab our stuff. Thought we’d cut across the pool deck to get to the aft from our cabin. Well that wasn’t going to work out too well as the wind made them shut down the pool deck.

We had to go down to deck 8 to cut across. By the time we got to the solarium between it being 11am on a sea day and the pool deck being closed it was quite packed. Since I couldn’t find a lounger, I decided to go up to the Viking Crown lounge since those chairs are so comfy. Unfortunately it was closed for the suite party so I made my way back down to the solarium to try my luck. Thank goodness by this time a lounger had freed up so I was about to get settled in, when I noticed a free chair closer to the rest of my family so I decided to relocate. That lounger ended up being my home for the next 5 hours and I was in HEAVEN. No one next to me, had a table, was in the shade. I have no idea how I lucked out. I DID have to put on noise cancelling headphones at one point though when a table near me decided that loudly and passionately ranting about politics was an amazing idea on a cruise. Nah. I pay to get AWAY from that crap. Let me read in peace please. But no big deal, my headphones did the trick and I was perfectly happy besides that. I had a nice little stream of virgin strawberry daiquiris and 1 daiquiri with Kraken as is RCB tradition. To keep them cool longer, I put them in my yeti which worked out VERY well though I think I would bring a smaller one next time. Putting a likely 16oz drink in a 30oz container was just comical. 

I stayed in the Solarium reading until about 4:30 (finished off one book and got started on another!) when I decided it was a good idea to go back to the room so I could shower before dinner. We had 7pm reservations, but lord knows what the shower situation is with 3 adults sharing 1 bathroom. After my shower, my mom started to complain that her phone was giving her an error that too many devices were on the internet even though we had a 3 device package. Since we had been diligently using the logoff.com thing to kick our devices off, this didn’t make sense. I decided to go to the Internet cafe to see if they could trouble shoot. On the way, instead of cutting through the smokey casino to get across the ship I went outside to walk on the deck and was it ever worth it. Please pause for what is basically an ad for the iPhone 11. These were taken without filters, fancy settings, or any adjustments. Stunning. 

It turns out that the Voom station didn’t have an employee there so guest services it was. They tried to send me to the Voom station for help, but when I told them no one was there he went and tried paging the guy. When he asked me to take a seat, I asked if it was possible for him to just kick all the devices off the connection so we can just start over. He was able to do that with just the room number and the Internet started working again so yay. While I was there I also decided to grab some of the free sea sickness pills just in case we needed them later. So far it’s not been needed, but you never know. 
 
After that, it was back to the room to toss on my dress for formal night and make our way to the MTD reservation. We ended up with Jorge as our waiter and he was super efficient without rushing us. We were in and out in just under an hour. He also would come around and ask if we wanted second helpings of anything. He also came around after my dad had the lobster bisque to see how he liked it and to see if he wanted something else because apparently it’s very common for people to find it too salty or too fishy and prefer something else. Overall he was great and we requested to have him if possible for the rest of the week. The host said he put the note in and will do their best to accommodate the request so we shall see. 
 
After dinner we went up to the Viking Crown lounge where my dad was delighted to find out about the buy 1 beer get the other 50% off happy hours sale (I think it ran from something like 7:30-10:30?) We hung around there for a bit until our signal that it was time to go in the form of a very toasted group of women behind us who had whipped out a Bluetooth speaker to play their own Rihanna concert. I mean, good for them. They were definitely having a blast and living their best life, but I was too tired to cope with it lol. Back at the room Derique left us a...bird? Penguin? Some sort of towel animal with sunglasses and it was very cute. Very nice ending to a cruising day!  

Beautiful cats! Have a great time!!! Following!
Yes, they know! Found this one of our Simba!

Ok let’s try this at 6am instead of 9pm when the Internet was really not having it! Some of my photos are having trouble uploading, but I’ll post what I can. The internet isn’t the WORST, but it’s definitely not Oasis class WiFi.
 
Embarkation day! The drive down to Baltimore from the Philly area was a breeze once we got past Wilmington or so. Bit of traffic on 95S but nowhere near the traffic there would have been if there was summer shore traffic. We ended up getting on the road proper sometime around 9am (had a CVS pit stop for some last minute items). Arrived at the port around 11:20 and waited in line for luggage drop off. The luggage drop off process is definitely faster in some of the FL ports, but that’s just because there was way more porters there. I only saw 2 guys working through the line of cars. We weren’t waiting super long. Maybe 5-8 mins? Just wasn’t instant. After we dropped off the luggage, we were directed to go to the parking lot where it is $15 a day. I did notice a sign that said they don’t take Discover. After parked, we took our carry ons to the terminal to start the security process. Luckily my parents just hit Platinum on our last cruise so we got to go through the express security line. That definitely saved us some time. 
 

For Grandeur they still give you your physical sea pass card at check in as opposed to in your room. When we were through security and checkin, we were able to board right away so that was nice. When we got on, we pretty much made a bee line to the Solarium to stake out some seats and grab lunch at Park Cafe. I have to say, for a small ship their roast beef sandwich rivaled the one in Allure’s Park Cafe. The rolls were incredibly fresh and I’m a huge bread snob. I’m of the opinion that bread makes or breaks a sandwich. 


At Park Cafe in the Solarium they also had some pizza which was decent but pizza from Sorrento’s is better, and some sandwiches and quesadillas which looked interesting. I recommend going to Park Cafe with a buddy because once you have your food, it’s really hard to get your drink one handed. It helps to have one person hold the food while the other gets the drinks. 
 
After lunch, we grabbed some loungers and my mom got to her very important work of watching the Penn State vs Ohio football game on her phone. (NB: she had some issues with seeing the game once she switched to the WiFi from her data because it was saying it couldn’t show the game in that region. Could be because the WiFi shows as Miami even in Baltimore. I know sports are weird with their regional licensing). I went to keep my dad company when he went to guest services to add cash to his account as he doesn’t like keeping a card on file. The line wasn’t too bad around 12:30 when we went down but it was CRAZY after muster drill. If you need guest services on the first day, I def recommend sooner rather than later. I made a quick stop over to the excursion desk when he was in line to see if it’s 100% true they are always assigning the Coco Cay cabanas instead of you getting to choose one. It is, but we got a very good one I think. Cabana #2 on Chill Island! All the information was in our rooms when they opened at 1pm. 
 
When rooms opened, we made our way to deck 2 and found the room. We have an inside cabin this time and it was quite a shock after having a Junior Suite on Allure for our last cruise. It’s not that bad once you are used to it and everything is put away, but it looks very cramped at first. I noticed that the beds weren’t separated like we requested and my mom’s extension cord and distilled water for her CPAP wasn’t in the room so I made a mental note to mention it to our stateroom attendant after muster drill. Carry ons being dropped in the room, we went up to the Centrum to figure out what to do until muster. 
 
I should rewind a second to explain what we decided. So for Thanksgiving 2021, we had originally been talking about trying out a land all inclusive in Mexico somewhere. When Royal Caribbean bookings opened for 2021-2022, I went to make a refundable backup reservation in case we couldn’t find pricing or a location we were happy with on the land AI front. I noticed that there were some ABSURD deals for suites on the newly refurbished Oasis of the Seas over Thanksgiving 2021. I booked a refundable Junior Suite as that’s the highest room category you can still book refundable and posted in the Insider FB group about how I was having preemptive FOMO over the pricing of the 2 bedroom grand suite. 3 people in the room came out to $1,550 each. For a grand suite. A TWO BEDROOM grand suite. Well, I mentioned to my mom before this cruise that I had made the backup reservation and made a casual comment along the lines of “its a shame we don’t know what we are doing for that vacation because if we were ok with non refundable, we could get the 2BR suite for this price”. This was on Wed. Well I guess my mom kept thinking about my comment because out of the blue, while we were in the security line, she said “you know, I’ve been thinking about what you said about the 2 bed room suite”. And I POUNCED. Launched into full out selling mode, talking about the benefits that come with Sky class vs Sea class (highest we’ve done so far) and her eyes got brighter and brighter lol. I also said “let me know if you are serious, bc we can make this happen. A quick trip to Next Cruise and we can get this booked with some nice OBC as well”. Backstory done. After we put our stuff in the room, she said “so...about Next Cruise.....” and I got excited. I quickly looked the room up online to make sure it was still available and we wouldn’t be wasting a trip. I saw that the room category was still listed, but if you clicked on it, it gave an error message that it was unavailable. I vaguely remembered hearing that that can happens if a TA has a soft hold on a room or if someone was looking at it too close to when you were so we decided to try anyway since they likely have some override tools. As luck would have it, we snagged the last room in that category and even the Next Cruise guy was shocked at the price. We also got $450 in OBC which I think we will be able to spend somehow.... as a bonus we got a bottle of champagne since we booked on the first day. So my dad got a reward for sitting through the appointment that his wife and daughter dragged him to since he’s the only one who likes champagne in the group. 
 
After that, we hung around the centrum near R Bar and there were servers coming around seeing if you needed drinks. The server was super hard working and never let your glass get empty without checking to see if you wanted something else. I noticed that my dad ordered 2 beers in a row so I mentioned to him that he has the BOGO for beer/wine on his card and the server overheard and unprompted brought my dad a printout of all the C&A coupons on his card. So thoughtful! Eventually they began making their muster announcements and they went through the alternate muster drill locations since it was a bit too chilly to hold outside. I didn’t keep track of where all of them were, but I know 2&3 were in the theater on deck 5. I have to say, muster drill is much more tolerable when you are sitting in a nice theater seat as opposed to standing outside praying you don’t get sunburn (recall, ghost of a human being). 
 
After muster, we went up to the Viking Crown lounge to watch sail away. Love all those windows and omfg the seats are so comfortable!!!! I could easily see you accidentally taking a nap in one of them. It was really cool going under the first bridge. It definitely looked like we wouldn’t make it, but of course we did.
 

After hanging around there for quite awhile, I suggested going back to the room to see if our luggage had arrived. As we walked up to the room, we didn’t see anything so I was preemptively disappointed. My mom said “maybe they put them in the room” and I replied “I highly doubt it” as the door swung open to reveal....our bags! “Well. I take that back. That’s really nice of them to bring our stuff inside” As if on cue, our stateroom attendant Derique introduced himself, gave us his card, and told us to let him know if we needed anything. I mentioned the CPAP stuff and the beds and he assured us he would take care of it right away. We started to unpack a bit and made some pretty decent progress when my mom started to feel a little dizzy. Right around then, we heard a knock on the door and it was someone there to separate the beds and also had water and a cord in hand for the CPAP. We grabbed our stuff to clear out since there isn’t much room to hang out while someone is changing the bed configuration. At first we were going to just look at the menu for MTD that night, but then my dad suggested we just go up to the Windjammer for dinner since none of us really seemed in the mood to get all dolled up and changed for dinner. Grabbing food at the buffet while in yoga pants sounded a whole lot more appealing at the moment. 
 
The theme was American and they had things like buttermilk fried chicken, cherry cobbler, an American flag cake, etc. My favorite station was a “healthy corner” one where they were putting out freshly grilled chicken breast and grilled steak, among other things. The chicken was shockingly moist and well seasons for just being a boneless skinless breast. The steak was quite tender for how much it was cooked (looked like medium well. I’m a rare gal) and was also well seasoned. We went back to the room to finish unpacking after dinner and then decided that waking up at 5:30 am took a toll and we would just stay in for the rest of the night and read or crash early. It might be lame, but I am really happy with that choice this morning because I feel much more well rested and refreshed. 
Some bonus pictures from our room: the snack mirror (shelves behind one of the desk mirrors) and the decorated door so we can easily find our room. 

Haha, they always know when you're going away, don't they?

We are boarding today as well, but on Adventure. Yay!
Have a great cruise!
 

It is amazing how much realizing it’s cruise day when you wake up immediately jolts you to alertness without the possibility of going back to sleep. My (first) alarm was set at 6:30. I first woke up at 5:30am having to go to the bathroom. I was a goner after that. Lol oh well, I shall just use the extra time to double check that everything is packed and do a bit more straightening up before I leave in an hour and a half. 
 
To be fair, this little angel dropping her stick toy on my face because she wanted to play ALSO didn’t help my possibility of going back to sleep....

Top tier numbers:
Gold: 1300?
Platinum: 470?
Emerald: 213
Diamond: 436
Diamond+: 185
Pinnacle: 44
Top 3 cruisers had 8369, 3180, 2595 points respectively.
Win goes to Super Mario.  Shocked, I tell you.

Then it was off to the top tier party.  It was held in Studio B..so bonus score, no sun and air conditioning!   And free drinks..

I ran into the Hochbergs and @Matt bought me a free bloody mary.  What a guy!

I "napped" until 2:45am.  Apparently I am able to self-regulate my naps as to ensure I won't miss the 3am room service hanger final call, but not to get up and go around crowds of people. ?‍♀️
I filled out my room service form and hung it on the door.  I like to use this as my alarm in the morning.  They call your room before your order is delivered.  Continental breakfast is completely free and the hanger clearly marks the items that fall under the $7.95 service charge.

Watching aquatheater rehearsals is a low key way to experience it with zero crowds.

 

Just for your kiddos..smells like diabetes in there.  They don't rotate flavors..this is what they always have.

Food porn..we ordered 12 wings, buffalo chicken crunch roll, and the Playmakers classic burger.



Overall this was a bit of a miss.  The wings ARE breaded for those who care about these things. My mom complained the wings were small.  The aged cheddar in the burger was so aged that it reminisced a Kraft single.  The handformed patty I remembered from Symphony is some tough pre-formed thing now. Bacon was crispy though.  Fries were steak fries with parmesan cheese melted on them. They warranted a "good".  The buffalo chicken crunch roll was the star of the show..think shredded buffalo chicken inside of an egg roll wrapper.  Delicious.  
The waiter resolved the UDP issue and brought the check before the food in which I tipped and signed.  Havent seen him since the food was delivered.
Note we were a party of 2 in 2 different rooms. He only took one card and put all $22 on it and zeroed it out.
I wouldn't pay extra based on this experience but I would use it as an included dining option to stave off food coma from dining in the coveted specialty dining restaurants.
 

Back to the little boardwalk interactive app games..found them!  Very cute touch.
 



So instead of letting the kids play in the arcade..get them a $600 smartphone and let them loose!

I see exploding $ in front of my eyes!

I scoped. Scoping is awkward. I prefer typing over talking.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/cKsEUzFYSmprVnliYXdOS0x8MWpNSmd3cWxCTk1KTNwgahxhNfasq4VvT83YHNqhfdzReFfpYcI-CNNWSjzO?t=1s

All the other ships are sailing off.  We are waiting for a grand finale send off.  Horn battle with Explorer of the Seas as they passed got tons of laughs up on the new Solarium sun deck.

Music Hall still has a view during the day.

Upstairs theming is spot on..

Teehee..

Take THAT #teamnoDX.