JennyB

You know you're a cruise nerd when...

I had heard with Ultimate Dining Package some people had been able to eat at a specialty restaurant for lunch. I figured it was worth the try to see if they would seat us.  Sure enough,  they looked us up and happily seated us for lunch. Keep in mind that if you are cruising soon, you can and should ask politely but be prepared for the answer to be no. The rules clearly state lunch with UDP is for sea days only  

This is the first Royal Caribbean cruise ever I have ever been on that I have not eaten embarkation day lunch in the Windjammer. 
 

Scientific proof the weather is absolutely perfect today in Tampa

Interesting. Doubt I will pursue it just because of all the hurdles required at this point. But if you can stack the discount then it would be a money saver. 
Regardless, this is the first time I’ve ever seen this bogo offer onboard. Not sure I’d ever recommend rolling the dice on waiting.  Not to mention ability to pre purchase and break up cruise cost, which I value. 

In my experience a man enjoying a "told you so" moment is short lived.  Recommend generous drink package utilization in hopes it purges her memory.  

I wanted to leave about an hour before my wife was willing to even consider it. When we arrived and boarding had begun I gave her my “told you so” face

without reading ALL of this thread yet, but catching a bit...it sounds like Star Class should be another of our HASHTAGCRUISEGOALS.  lol

without reading ALL of this thread yet, but catching a bit...it sounds like Star Class should be another of our HASHTAGCRUISEGOALS.  lol

We have arrived! Got to the port at about 10:15 and there was no traffic or fuss. 
Brilliance is at Terminal 3 today and it is a GLORIOUS day weather wise.  Perfect sailaway weather!

 

without reading ALL of this thread yet, but catching a bit...it sounds like Star Class should be another of our HASHTAGCRUISEGOALS.  lol

Cue #1 -- Don't blabber on as much as I do, at least not if there aren't pictures to break up the Tolkien-esque narrative! ?
Seriously, I re-read my live blogs and say to myself, "God almighty, SHUT UP AND LET THE PICS DO THE TALKING!" @Lovetocruise2002 and @twangster are far better at describing beautifully while keeping the actual words minimal.

Practice what you preach is what they say (whoever "they" are), so I'm dipping my toes into the fabulous Live Blogs forum of the Royal Caribbean Blog message boards!
We're headed on Brilliance of the Seas for a 4-night weekend getaway cruise and I usually post my live blogs on the blog portion of this site, but, I decided to do things a little differently this time because I've blogged this particular ship and sailing a few times already.  Instead, I'm taking my talents to the message boards to show some love for what I believe is a vastly underrated and extremely entertaining feature of this blog!

Our cruise departs the fabulous port of Tampa on February 14 and on this sailing, it will be just me and my wife.....and @ShakeDownCruise's family.  We originally booked our kids on this sailing with us.  Kids Sail Free was in full effect, so we put a deposit down. As it turns out, I convinced my parents to fly down and watch the kids so it will be just me and my wife enjoying this quick sailing. 
Fun fact, my kids are still technically booked on this sailing because we got kids sail free, so removing them from the reservation seemed pointless.  Plus, gives me a safety net if my parents reneged on the plan.

We booked a category 1B Spacious Balcony stateroom on deck 9.  We picked this room primarily under the guise of my kids sailing with us, but now we will enjoy some extra space and the ocean views my wife enjoys. In my experience, I barely spend time on the balcony on most cruises.  If I am going to lay out, I prefer the pool deck for the music and people watching.
Our 4-night itinerary takes us to one port, Cozumel.  While I went to Cozumel six times in 2018, this will be one and only stop in Cozumel in 2019. ? I will be sure to eat as much chips, salsa and guacamole as humanly possible. Nothing booked yet on what we will do, but we have some time to figure it out.

In the weeks left until this cruise, I will take some cues from some of the awesome live bloggers here, such as @ellcee, @melski94, @JLMoran, @Lovetocruise2002 & @twangster.

Haven't logged in here for so long but now I'm back just to follow your live blog @Lovetocruise2002!  Can't wait to see your pics and reviews even though I'll be onboard with you ?

You can now play the "one week from now we will be _____" game.  Or in your case, "One week from now we will be eating _______ because it's included with Star Class" game.

Yes, DX or Refreshment package, not the soda package.
Here on Navigator they are made with syrup, the same syrups that are used to mix frozen drinks.  The one I had wasn't the best smoothie I've had. 
If I recall on Oasis class in the Vitality Spa they use frozen fruit.

3 more days until we leave for Miami!!! And just in time too, it seems. Thank goodness we decided to fly out a day early, Minnesota is expected to get major weather starting around Saturday night into Sunday. I just hope and pray for all of the spring break travelers' safety and hope no one (including us) miss their vacations! 
I have another secret/tip to share! We booked a Central Park Balcony room which came with certain "perks": bottle of wine, lunch for 2 at Giovanni's, and a "Casino Lesson". Well, hubby and I are already knowledgeable Blackjack and Poker players (we don't play other casino games other than Roulette which is easy peasy), and we have the Deluxe Beverage package, so we didn't really care about the wine. On a whim, I Facebook Messaged Royal Caribbean back in October and asked if there was any chance they could switch our perks to what the Boardwalk Balcony gets: Lunch for 4 at Johnny Rockets, 2 Soda Packages , and a family Rock Climbing session. They needed to check with a manager, and after a few days wait, much to my surprise, they said YES! They did say it was a "one time exception" which I take to mean I probably can't ask this of them again in the future (understandable). I just wanted to share my experience and suggest that if you too want to swap your "perks", it can't hurt to ask! You might be pleasantly surprised! 
Royal's Facebook team is great! I have used the message feature about 10 times when planning this trip. Someone gets back to me right away, usually within minutes! I needed to reach out to Royal the week before my trip to confirm that our perks-swap was logged with the ship, and I just used Facebook Messenger to do that! They contacted the ship, made sure the swapped was logged (and I specifically asked for the soda packages to be assigned to my kids), and they messaged me back to confirm all was set and ready to go! I used a Travel Agent to book, but Royal's Facebook team was like a second, often more helpful, vacation assistant! Can't say enough great things ?

While I am a new Royal Caribbean Blog poster, I have been a quiet voyeur on the page for almost one year! We booked our Spring Break family cruise back in May of 2018 during a Kids Sail Free event. Man, did we score an amazing deal! Oasis Class was not in our price range, but the sale was too good to pass up. We are anxiously awaiting (T minus 12 days) our first family vacation (excluding Disney with the whole extended family 2 years ago). 
About us: My husband and I are in our mid/late thirties, and we love to travel. We’ve been on vacation together almost once/per year since we started dating almost 13 years ago. We enjoy going to warm, tropical locations (since we live in a frozen-tundra: Minnesota). I cruised with my family when I was in college and absolutely fell in LOVE with cruising, but, ironically, haven’t been on a second cruise until August of 2018. We already had our March 2019 Spring Break booked and, Surprise! My husband earned President’s Club through his work, and we were treated to a 5-night Italian Cruise on Celebrity Reflection (ADP chartered the entire ship- it was an absolutely unbelievable experience). That was my husband’s first time cruising. He is a rather tall/big drink of water, and his hesitation with cruises in the past was the size of the room/bathroom and feeling claustrophobic. He had NO issues on our Presidents Club cruise and really enjoyed the experience (though it will be very different cruising on a 100% booked Mega Ship @ Spring Break).
We have a seven-year-old son who will be celebrating his eighth birthday on the second day of the cruise, which he is rather excited about. We also have a five-year-old daughter who is an absolute joy, a social butterfly if there ever was one (don’t be surprised if she befriends you and your children at the pool or Adventure Ocean). We normally do adults-only vacations- when our kids were little it was imperative for us to take time to connect as a couple, and we are blessed with amazing parents who BEG to take their grandkids for the week! During our last AO trip in March 2018, I found myself missing the kids like crazy! They are not babies anymore, much easier to go out and do things with (plus SO MUCH FUN to hang out with), and decided that they are old enough to start taking on our “relaxation” vacations. We know this vacation will be more “work” than AO, and we will have times of stress and chaos, but I know we will have an amazing time as a family.
We are flying into Miami on Saturday, March 9th. We booked The Key, so we plan to be at the port as early as possible to board/start enjoying the ship right away! We do not have any specialty dining plans (other than Chops with The Key), and only a beach excursion booked for St. Maarten (Orient and Maho beach). Other than that we plan to hang out as a family by the pool and around the ship, hopefully the kids will enjoy some time at Adventure Ocean, check out the cruise activities (my son is ALMOST heavy enough to try the zip line!) and eat, drink, and play!
With The Key, we have internet access so I will try my best to post updates LIVE. If nothing else I will update you all when we get back. What else will there be to do in the remaining frozen months of MN winter (no more Cruise planning/daydreaming…might as well reminisce with pictures/write-ups of our adventures!)

Umm...I think if you scroll through live blogs, that would be you who started them at 6 weeks out.  I am simply following your lead ?

He sounds suspicious....and like he would be incredibly handsome.

@Lovetocruise2002 Look what you started with live blogs beginning a month ahead of time!

Exactly 2 weeks from today at this exact time we will be on the road heading south!!! I can hardly contain myself! Especially since out weather forecast for the next week calls for a decent amount of snow and a big dip in the temperature! I'm trying to not let that change my mood so today I have been thinking about what I enjoy most about vacations, especially cursing.  The first thing that comes to mind (only because I have not had lunch yet) is the food!

I have been dreaming about the roast beef sandwich at the Central Park Cafe since we got off of Allure of the Seas 2 years ago I can almost taste them now!
As I mentioned in a previous post we love the main dinning room. Yesterday I saw someone in a cruising facebook group describe the main dining room as similar to Applebee's. I could not disagree more!. Don't get me wrong I love Applebee's just as much as the next guy but, I think the food and service in the main dining room is at the very least is a few notches above Applebee's. 

I've never had a meal at an Applebee's that looked and tasted this good!
 
Obviously setting aside my current hunger my family is what I enjoy most about the cruise experience. Cruising has given us the opportunity to try new things.  From once in a lifetime experiences to learning about other countries and their culture it is a lot of fun for me to watch!
                             

I also love just seeing my kids relaxed and enjoying themselves it truly is great to see the world through their eye!
        
The next 2 weeks are going to be the longest 2 weeks of the year!

Our kids school is on what's called a balanced calendar. They Get  2 weeks off for fall, Christmas, and spring breaks which makes planning family vacations amazing. Some would say that the downside is the kids only get 8 weeks for summer break but, I argue that when they had a longer summer break, 8 weeks was about the point that most parents start saying, "school need to hurry up and get here, I'm ready for them to be back!" We love it. I work for a school that is on the same schedule as my kids so it works out great!

18 Days out! It is really hard to wait! I have to admit I’m here physically but, for the last couple of weeks I have mentally been onboard! I created a “cruise” playlist that is full of Bob Marley, Jimmy Buffett, Zack Brown Band that I have been listening to at work along with binge listening to the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast.  Yesterday I printed all our documents and luggage tags. I may or may not have pulled out all our suitcases and started packing a couple days ago! I really need to get out of this cold dreary weather here in central Indiana. The whole family had the stomach bug last week and I’m currently fighting a cold so some sunshine and ocean breeze are defiantly needed! I’m really looking forward to checking out the Royal app on board. I was happy to see they added the chat feature in time for us to use it. On our last cruise a few time we let our oldest go do things with plans to meet or have her check in periodically but, we did not have a means of communicating and it made us a little nervous. This should allow her to have her freedom and us some peace of mind. What I love about my family and our vacations is the little things that brings joy and our experience  with Royal Caribbean has supplied just that. I was looking trough pictures of our last cruise on the Allure of the Seas and I noticed a trend with my youngest. There were several pictures of her enjoying interesting chairs I thought I would share them! We have also found that by the end of our cruise our wait staff on the main dinning room are like family. It's probably one of my top 5 favorite things about cruising RCCL.

24 days until Embarkation Day! 22 days until we hit the road! We'd love to fly but economically for us it is a bit cheaper to drive. We enjoy a good road trip. Part of our love of a good road trip is some family road trip traditions we have either created for our family or taken from our experiences as kids being on trips with our parents. As a kid anytime we went on a long trip my parents did a couple really fun things. The first of which was rolls of quarters. At the beginning of the journey they would give my sister and I each a roll of quarters. Any time we cause trouble (usually arguing with each other) they would take a quarter from us. What ever we had left when we arrived at our destination as ours to keep and spend on what ever we wanted. The other tradition we have adopted from my parents are "State Gift" every time we entered a new state we received a gift. Typically these were cheap trinkets and usually they were something to keep us occupied. Both of these worked great back then when I  was a kid and as a parent I can tell you they still work great now. Even though my kids are a bit older now I'm pretty sure they would not be pleased if we did not do it on this trip. The challenge now is finding cheap gifts that will impress and 10 & 14 year old and not break the bank! The tradition that we have created and dearly love is something I call food adventures. We try to eat at places that we cannot eat at home. Usually we wait until we are hungry and start looking. On a past trip it's how we found a diamond in the rough call Mr. Biscuit in Dalton Georgia. It was a hole in the wall greasy spoon but, by far one of the best road trip breakfasts we have ever had and cheap to (if you seek that place out know that they are cash only). This trip I have decided it would save us time to know where we are eating ahead of time. On our way out of town to save time we are packing picnic dinner and since our first hotel has a free breakfast our first "food adventure" will be lunch on the 2nd leg of our trip. I found a place called Sergio's Tacos Mexican Grill in Titusville Fl. If there food is half as good as it looks on their website, we are in for a treat! On our first cruise we cruised out of Port Canaveral and the night before we ate at Fish Lips (on the advise from this dude on some podcast name Matt Hocberg). That night set the stage for a pretty amazing vacation so it has been my goal that the meal the night before Embarkation day be something truly amazing. Unfortunately the place I chose on our last cruise ended up being an epic fail. On paper it had every thing. On the water, seafood, tropical drinks, and a catchy name (you know life Fish Lips). I do not recommend a place in Ft Lauderdale called Flip Flops. Since I made that choice last time I charged my wife with selecting our per-cruise dinner selection. I think she may have hit a home run. Obviously proof will be in the experience but from the reviews I have read and the fact that this place has been in business since 1974 I think we are in for awesome time. From the pictures on both their website and those posted by people on Yelp “925 Nuevo’s Cubano’s looks like a very fun place to eat. One of the reviews I read describe it better than I can, as what looks like a "food truck on steroids".  While it is a building and not a truck, it does not have any indoor seating (which is fine with us). It appears to have some pretty authentic Cuban cuisine which, I could do some serious damage to my waste line! I will defiantly report  back on how both establishments are!
Here are links to both their websites if you are interested!
https://www.sergiostacostitusville.com/menu.php
https://nuevoscubanos.net
 

us too!! this cruise in Nov on Harmony