mom2mybugs

11 hours ago, micahd said:

Realistically, without being rude to the crew. If we were out of our staterooms and in a public area. How late can we wait to depart the ship on turn-around day? We have an 8pm flight departing Orlando so we don't need to hurry at all.

We have a 9 pm flight so we went on resortpass and got a pool/resort access for a day.  Jane

I bet @Matt and @twangster have done most.  Harmony will be my 6th (I've done Majesty, allure, adventure, vision (2x) and freedom (2x).  Jane

I will echo everyone else--I love being near the elevator and was excited to get put there for my guaranty balcony on Harmony.   Not only is there a stairway and a wall between you and the elevator, but also you don't hear all the noise from people walking down the very narrow hallways.  You also don't have to avoid the obstacle course of dishes that sometimes happens in the hall late at night.  Enjoy your cruise!  Jane

11 hours ago, NotPayinExtra said:

Not a good endorsement for MEI. I thought of using them myself, but was really put off by some online reviews. 

I love my Mei agent but like someone said... There are good and bad employees in every company.  Jane

1 hour ago, octaviocloss said:

We are also booked on Harmony for the 31 sailing with my whole family, i honestly can't wait, first time cruising on new years eve!

So excited too!  There are a few of us here!  Have a great trip! Jane

I've been twice, and I just can't find stuff to do.  I'm sure the resorts are beautiful, but I can do the same type relaxing on the ship with my drink pkg so we aren't getting off the ship.  I'm hoping everyone else gets off so I can have less crowds on the pool deck!  Jane

13 hours ago, BrianB said:

@mom2mybugs   I've been lucky enough to snag a bed several times...I'm a really fast walker! I had one this past week. Etiquette is you have it for the day. Your personal stuff and towels (beach club supplied) spread out is enough to show it's taken. You can eat, go in the infinity pool or swim in the ocean...your bed remains yours. 

But...as posted above...it's not really in an ideal spot at the walkway between the pool and restaurant. Everyone coming and going all day seems to pass right behind you. As long as you don't mind it.....

This week I booked a bed on South Beach. Much more secluded. There's a bar nearby...good service...snack shack...restrooms.

But...my next Beach Club visit I'll forget about the rush to get there early. I'll take one of the many loungers in the back row...near the pool. Less stress trying to beat the crowd and less activity passing by, but steps away from that wonderful pool and restaurant. Enjoy!

This is super good to know!  Lots of traffic...  Trade off for sure!  It's our first time there and I would never have thought of that!  Thanks so much! Jane

10 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

Our Christmas cruises were enjoyed by our son, who was young enough to receive a gift from Santa.  The couple of spontaneous caroling experiences I remember were a lot of fun.  I must say New Year's Eve was a zoo, and we don't really want to do that again.

Uh oh!  What was bad about it? I'm on Harmony on Dec 31 and  I'm already thinking we might ring in the New year away from the promenade.  It's already bad for smaller things like the 70s party!  Jane

4 hours ago, Jax said:

This was the inspiration for the Christmas Vacation theme blog. Lindsay purchased this 1974 Ford Country Squire a couple of months ago and his dream was to drive it in our towns Christmas parade. The lighting isn’t the best but his brothers business was awarded 3rd prize It was a crowd favourite. 

I had this car as a kid!!!! I used to ride in the back no seatbelt lol!!! Love the decorations!  You will be getting off Harmony the day I get on so I can't wait to read what you do and see!!!!   It will make my last week pre-vacay bearable!  Jane

Uh... There is very very very bad news!  University of Michigan (my alma mater) is playing TCU at 4 Eastern Time!  Do I watch the game or sail away? And how do I do early dinner!!!!  Yikes!!!!!!!    Jane

On 12/4/2022 at 8:18 PM, Cruising12345 said:

I am also joining this cruise!!! Can’t wait to read your thoughts and updates! 

Awesome!  I'm so incredibly excited to get the heck back on a cruise ship!!! Jane

6 hours ago, NotPayinExtra said:

How about a compromise. Enjoy the bed for first half of day. Then take your things with you to lunch. So someone else can use it for the afternoon. Then after lunch get regular beach chairs. Split the difference.

We are thinking about doing 2/3 pool, 1/3 beach so that might work too.  Chances are we won't even get one but will give it a try! Thanks!  Jane

@Neesa@tonyfsu21 yeah I'm definitely not holding my breath for one, but if I get lucky, I wanted to grab one and not abuse the system!   Thanks!  Jane

Ok... Somewhat random question.  We are going to the beach club and I'm aiming to get there as early as I can and snag one of the pool beds.  (Or at least a great chair). My question is about lunch.  I don't want to be THAT person (you know, the chair hog), but I'm absolutely planning on enjoying the hopefully amazing beach club lunch.  Are we able to leave our stuff on the pool bed, go eat lunch, and then come back? Or is the etiquette abandon the bed?  I will plan the lunch time accordingly... If we can't keep the bed for an hour for lunch, then I will plan a late lunch.  If we can, then I will plan an early lunch so we can actually have room for dinner! 

   Just wondering what people have done and what you've seen.  I don't even know if I can snag one, but I'm going to try!  Jane

You can look up resortpass and get a one day pass to a hotel resort.  They will store your luggage at bell services. We are going to have a ridiculous amount of time to kill on our flight back from fort Lauderdale and this is what we are going to do.  In Barcelona, we did a total excursion and that made the disembarkation easy as well as luggage storage and got us to the airport.  Jane

31 minutes ago, PL8SWPR said:

Does RC still offer luggage valet to the airport?

No... Only in Seattle I believe.  Jane

8 hours ago, Neesa said:

@mom2mybugs I felt the same way with my first blog, thinking who would want to come along I'm not that interesting! Well I'm following and looking forward to your adventures. It's funny how in this huge world we are simply a smaller cruise family sharing our sailing experiences for all to enjoy. I was engaged in your story right away. I totally understand the kiddos and travel dollars scenario. This will be super fun, I love the pictures that really put me on the ship right there with you. I remember I was really apprehensive the first time I was invited to participate in her blog ( @Lovetocruise2002 ) & then (oh no ) to a meet up arranged by @Lovetocruise2002 I stopped by and waved hello.....and fled. Almost immediately realizing Holy Hannah what a friendly bunch, they will accept me with all my quirks! It's the craziest thing and we had the best time. 

Can not wait to share your journey 

P.S. I call my daughter bug as well, oh boy she hates it! But I can't help it, I love you bug just rolls off my tongue. 

My original email was mom2abug and then when kid 2 came it changed.  I used to call them little love bugs . 

   This will be my second blog...I blogged our trip from Barcelona... But that one seemed to just have so much more going!  I promise to take lots of pics, but whether I'm able to post them...hmmm that might be trouble.  My phone never quite crops things right to upload!!!   Jane

5 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Jane, sounds like it's going to be a great trip! But now all your talk about the weather is making me nervous lol. We are sailing the SY the same day you are sailing HM (on the 31st) and Hubby and my daughter's schedule does not allow us to leave until the day before on the 30th....fingers crossed for smooth travels for both of us!

Are you out of Miami?  You have a longer flight and I'm sure it will be fine!  We had the time since we are both off for winter breakand I'm a stressor (I'm the one who insists we are at the airport 2 hours before we leave at least!).  I actually almost did the symphony cruise and now I'm bummed we didn't so we could meet!  In the end, I liked Harmonys order of ports better.  I think I will definitely not like Harmony's solarium as much as symphony's and I still haven't done playmakers yet!  Alas... There will be other cruises.  Safe travels!!!!!   Jane

My daughter's showed up for her November 2024 about 13 months out in time for black Friday... Which wasn't a ton cheaper but saved her a little on internet.  I would start checking in February for March but Royal isn't real consistent with its timelines and actually I'm guessing icon might be a whole different thing anyway.  Jane

Still waiting on Harmony, but I have 3 weeks so hoping!  Jane

1 hour ago, Kathleen said:

If you have an iPhone and save your boarding pass to your wallet you can figure out your room number from the numbers under the bar code. The last four will be your room number. Although not official until they notify you it is a hack many use to figure it out. 

Yep.. Worked for me and then they finally put the room number in about a week later. You can also take a picture of the bar code and scan with a bar code reader on an Android phone (like I did).  Jane

31 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I don't know why you think this is going to be a boring blog, Jane !!  This sounds incredible to me and I can't wait to read every word !  Holiday cruises are the best.  Good luck with the weather, which is always the biggest risk item that time of year.

I know... I've gone to Florida and it's freezing one year and crazy warm the next.  Anything will be better than Midwest weather!!!  I'm so excited for the new years night!  Hoping the weather cooperates for the aqua show... Booked early in the week just in case!  Jane

I feel that you probably deserve it for pain and suffering! What a. Lot if work.  Hope it all works out.  I'm hoping to do a celebrity crush at some point and look forward to your pictures! Jane

   I wasn't planning on trying to live blog this trip, but when you have pretty much not stopped planning for a month, are under 26 days to leave, AND you can't sleep because your plumbing decided it was done working and we have no bathrooms until Monday morning....it was time to blog!  

   This cruise was purchased this past summer.  Our last cruise was our amazing 12 days in the Mediterranean on Vision of the Seas in 2019 (on the heels of a Majesty cruise in June for a mom/daughters college graduation where we didn't get to go to Cuba).  We booked a super cheap spring break cruise for March 2020 out of Tampa, but I was feeling like the piggy bank was empty and was ready for a bigger ship, so we cancelled at final payment.  It was fortunate we did, because covid hit 2020 and our sailing would have been cancelled.  We'd have had a great deal if we'd only kept it, but I would never have survived the stress.  So we waited to cruise, put another kid through 2 more years of college, got the 3rd kid through her first year of college (dang kids keep taking my travel money, though I did get to spend 8 days at Disney with said 3rd kid for a covid graduation trip 2021!!!  I could have paid another year of college or started trying suite life for that cost!). 

   Anyway..... It had been a very long 3 years and I missed my drink pkgs, the sun deck and... Did I mention the drink pkg and sun deck? (You might be getting a sense of why this will be a very boring blog lol).  So I decided to book, and spent agonizing weeks trying to decide Odyssey vs oasis class, and which oasis class, and if the 19 year old was gracing us with her presence or not.  Finally after the price went up a few hundred more, she decided she would rather hang with her friends, and it turned into an empty nest cruise. 

   We chose Harmony of the seas, but it was tough.  Odyssey had a much better southern Caribbean itinerary (Curacao is such a cool port) but we are both teachers and my husband has to be back Monday and that gave us a buffer travel day. In retrospect of various health issues we have dealt with, he has occasionally taken one of his 400 sick days he has accrued (he NEVER takes days off) and has now figured it won't actually kill him.  But too late!  We are booked :). As I implied, the itinerary doesn't wow me except for CocoCay.  I've never been there (our Freedom cruise couldn't tender due to nonstop pouring rain that day) so I'm beyond excited for that.  I loved labadee so I know I will love CocoCay.  We will be doing that port, 2 sea days, Naussau, Cozumel and Costa Maya.  We have done all of the other ports and we will likely not even get off the ship.  Naussau I just don't love, I've done the dolphins at Cozumel and the ruins are just too far away, and we have done the ruins closer to Costa Maya.  We might explore the port areas in Mexico a little, but it's hard to justify drinking in Port with the amount we paid for the drink pkg, and with the amount of stuff we now have from sadly emptying my in-laws house after they passed this past year, I do not need to do any more shopping.  

   All of this explains why this might be the most boring blog ever.  We splurged and got an guaranty ocean view balcony, which was confirmed this week to be 11560.  I've never been on that high of a floor (I think the highest was and I'm excited to wake up and see some amazing views!  I have only had a balcony 2 other times and I think I've spent about an hour a cruise on them since they can be pretty shady.  This trip however I'm planning on starting my days out there since I'm totally flipping how I do things.  Usually we have excursions, and I'm the person on sea days on my chair at 8am because I want to spend ALL day in the sun and you have to go early to avoid the evil nasty chair hogs .  However, if we aren't doing the ports, that means a lot more time on the ship, hopefully when people aren't on them, and so my plan is to sun worship on those days and actually do things on sea days. 

   I have been on one Oasis class ship before (Allure) and have never done the zip lines, the water slides, the ultimate abyss.  Never played bingo on the ship, never done a towel folding class, and never set foot in the spa or fitness room.  That's gonna change lol!  I plan on working out and actually USING the fitness clothes I pack every time and never remove from their packing cube!  I want to tour the spa and see about getting a thermal spa pass (although I still haven't actually seen pictures that Harmony does have a thermal spa).  Notice I didn't say I would be trying the flow Rider or the rock climbing wall... I would like to get my 54 year old self back home!  Oh yeah, and I also plan to watch my Michigan wolverines play in a bowl game and hope they look better than their horrible performance last New Years Eve! 

   The only excursion we have booked is the Beach Club at CocoCay.  I booked it at $103/person on the black Friday sale and it's $200 now!  I have gone back and forth and back again and finally decided we are going to keep it.  I want to eat that amazing lunch and since it might be the only lobster I get with our other dining, I'm looking forward to it!  And the infinity pool, and the fewer people!  I do want to spend a few minutes at the oasis lagoon pool, so we will do that on our way back to the ship!

   We have the DBP and I look forward to my St. Germaine's and Champagne, my kraken lava flows and amazing wines at vintages.  We have 4 specialties booked... Wonderland (so excited!), Izumi hibachi, 150 Central Park and Jamie's Italian for lunch on one of the sea days (again... Something I could never do before and give up my deck chair!). I also have the 3 night dining pkg.  Ok, so I'm an insane planner.  My spread sheets for Disney are epic (and my family did appreciate the shorter wait times, though they still think I'm insane).  I was able to actually pre-book entertainment on this sailing, and it all fits with my dining.  I'm not sure if I will try to run to izumi (we do have an 11am boarding) and try to shift the 3 booked times to the pkg, or if I will just pay more per meal, cancel the 3 night and not stress).  I'd love advice on this on how successful people were on really full ships.  

   I've never been on a ship over a holiday and I'm excited to see how Royal does New Year's Eve.  We are usually at home so I'm looking forward to buying the glitziest dress I can find and staying up till at least 1201!  And then sleeping in in Nassau!

   Travel is always interesting in winter from Chicago to Florida.  I still have nightmares about how my 2014 flight to the Disney marathon was cancelled due to extreme cold temps and I almost didn't get to the expo to get my pkg.  Because covid has made air travel even more unreliable, we are flying in 2 days early and spending 2 nights at the Hilton Marina.  There is nothing better than waking up and seeing your ship out the window!  We will likely sleep in, lounge by the pool if it's warm and get a water taxi ticket to look at mansions and get dinner somewhere.  Because we did Travelocity for flights, I did something I said I wouldn't do and decided to fly spirit airlines back.  I had a nice 130 flight... That was cancelled.  They graciously without checking put us instead on a 6 am flight.  Yeah, that wouldn't work... still on the boat!  So the only other option? A 915 PM flight.  Ok then... since I wouldn't have my drink pkg at the airport, it was time to rethink the day.  After waiting, thinking, planning, I decided to just give up on budgeting this trip and book the Hilton fort Lauderdale resort for a day.  They had a nice expensive canopy beach bed for $350.  I figured that would give me one more beach and pool day and a "free" pitcher of cocktails, so I would book it.  I forgot it was black Friday and it amazingly dropped $140 in the cart! Yeah me for procrastinating!!!

   So that is our trip!  I will attempt to at least explore things as I'm on a reconnaissance mission too.  My oldest daughter is getting married next year and is going to be on the first 7 day on Harmony out of Galveston in November for her honeymoon.  Her trip is $1000 cheaper than ours with the time of year, so I can't wait to retire and cruise hurricane season and early May. Anyway, Morgan and I  have spent hours watching @Matt's videos of the ship and taking about things and I'm supposed to tell her everything about everything when I get back.  So since I have no memory, I can have her read this blog!  

   And now...I will figure out how to put a countdown clock on my phone!!!   Jane

So glad you both got a break, though I'm sorry you couldn't stay on longer!  Thanks for sharing!  I'm excited for our beach club reservation and already told my husband we will be off the boat asap!  Jane