Cruising to Retirement!

Thank you so very much for blogging this cruise.  We are sailing on September 23rd on the 7 day in a Grand Suite after using fcc's we figured let's just splurge a little more on this one.  We are excited to go back to this Honeymoon cruise that was almost 39 years ago!  (Well I just aged us)  Well age is just a number, right?  We absolutely love the Navigator after sailing on her right after the massive renovation for 9 nights in March of 2019 and had upgraded to the Owner's suite then!  We truly are 90% balcony and now ultimate dining package people so this was a treat!  We loved all the great new restaurants, etc.  We definitely wanted the ultimate dining package on this cruise instead of our normal 3 night.  I was hooked on Hooked!  That is a must to try for a sea food lover.  
Your whole family will love this ship!  If you could post either cruise compasses or give a short overview of the shows and music, it would be much appreciated!  I'm getting a little more excited now for this cruise.  I didn't mean to blab on but getting ready to go on the Symphony on the 14th with my daughter and new son in law (who has never cruised) so getting just really excited!  We are native Californians that Royal brought Navigator to CA which was the icing on the cake for us!
P.S.  We all 4 have the ultimate dining package!  Hooked here I come! (after testing)
Michelle

As Royal Caribbean kicks off the 2022 Alaska cruise season it's time to look North, all the way North... to the Southeast coast.  The Southeast coast of Alaska that is.  
Serenade of the Seas sails from the Canadian port city of Vancouver, British Columbia heading North to Alaska and back, round trip to Vancouver.
Itinerary
Sun 01May2022     Vancouver, British Columbia    -    5:00 PM    Boarding
Mon 02May2022    Inside Passage    -    -    Cruising
Tue 03May2022     Sitka, Alaska    8:00 AM    5:00 PM    Docked
Wed 04May2022    Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska    5:00 AM    9:00 AM    Cruising
Wed 04May2022    Juneau, Alaska    12:00 PM    8:00 PM    Docked
Thu 05May2022     Hubbard Glacier (Cruising)    11:00 AM    2:00 PM    Cruising
Fri 06May2022       Ketchikan, Alaska    2:00 PM    10:00 PM    Docked
Sat 07May2022      Cruising    -    -    Cruising
Sun 08May2022     Vancouver, British Columbia    7:00 AM    -    Departure
This is an unusual opportunity for Royal Caribbean International in a number of ways. 
First of all Vancouver roundtrip hasn't always been a Royal Caribbean International offering.  Secondly an itinerary that includes sailing by two glaciers on Royal is not common.  Thirdly, visiting Hubbard Glacier, the premiere tidewater glacier of Alaska, has traditionally meant sailing a one-way North or South itinerary on Royal.  Lastly, sailing into Tracy Arm Fjord has not been offered by Royal in some time, even before the industry shutdown.
Admittedly this thread may not be live at all times since the internet when sailing this far North can leave a lot to be desired.  
This year brings some additional requirements introduced since this cruise departs from another country (Canada) and that means satisfying both CDC requirements since we visit US ports and Canadian requirements since we sail from Canada.
Despite the anticipated internet challenges as the cruise sails North I thought it would be helpful to discuss the additional requirements introduced by Canada this year due to the pandemic.  

We're getting VERY excited! All travel documents together, luggage tags together, going to start packing soon! We have started using packing cubes, and they make everything so easy! We go with 1 garment bag on wheels, 1 large suitcase, 2 "carry on" bags and 1 travel bag. The garment bag is perfect for her dresses, my dress shirts and slacks and my size 16 clunker shoes. Getting our nightly dinner list set.

Day 7: Cococay
Everyday I was excited for but I was especially excited for Cococay. We had booked the over the water cabana in the beach club. 
 
We started the morning with breakfast being delivered to our stateroom. We asked Hossain to put the exact same order as he did the first day. We woke up to rain so we just ate breakfast inside. The whole day had a calling for rain and overcast so we were all very bummed. 
 
After breakfast, we met Hossain at the bionic bar so he could escort us off the ship. This escort probably wasn’t needed because the line was very short. It was probably because it was pouring at this point. 
The whole crew took the trolley to The Coco Beach Club. I loved the beautiful scenery walking in. We had cabana number 16 which we requested through our genie. We were only docked in Cococay from 10-5 which didn’t seem like a long time at all. We swam, tanned, floated, ate like 3 lobsters each. I loved it all. It was the first true do nothing day. The only thing I didn’t get the opportunity to do that I wanted to was snorkel. I’m not mad about that though because I still saw and held a star fish on the near by sand bar that was about 20 feet away. 
 
We started packing up and left around 4:30. We didn’t get back on the ship until 5 minutes until all aboard. Once onboard we got ready for dinner. Tonight’s dinner was at Hooked Seafood. I was tired and wasn’t too hungry but the food was good. I had the soft strip crab and captains platter with an assortment of seafood. 
 
After dinner, we put McKenzie to sleep then switched off with my parents. They packed in the room and Jake and I went to see 1977 Ice show. We both discussed afterwards that we were really impressed with the talent the skaters had. We would watched all the ice shows over again. I really liked the ice shows videography on the ice. Jake laughed that it was just projectors but it was still cool to me. After the show we got icecream, then headed to the Rising Tide Bar since we haven’t rode it up yet. It was fun but definitely a novelty just like the bionic bar. To the the night, we headed back to the room and stressed out over all the bags we had to pack!
All in all, the day went by WAY TO FAST and we are all sad we have to leave. We talked about our highs and lows on the cruise and I plan on sharing a few of them on another post soon. Maybe when I’m flying I’ll start composing that. I will also have to share photos, pros and cons of star Class (almost no cons) and also the adventure of traveling with an 8 month old baby. 

I'm on the Summit currently and everything is great as expected.  650 passengers, 940 crew.  No waiting for anything. 

Just booked our 2nd Celebrity cruise today. It will be our first, though. 🙂 RCI cancelled our Wonder OTS cruise, so we are making lemonade out of their lemons. 🙂 Celebrity Apex, 12/3/2022, here we come! 

Just got off a 4 day cruise on Summit in the Retreat and we are hooked. book Summit again for November and Silhouette for Feb 23. My goal now is a 7 day on an Edge class. The thing that stood out from Royal the most was the food quality and the service. Both were 5 star resort quality. Even the buffet food was amazing. Luminae fast became our favorite restaurant on any ship we've been on. Highly recommend Celebrity for anyone looking for that next level experience. 

Thanks!
Ovation in 2019.  Amazing cruise.  

Posted this in August, 2021.  Now it's 3 weeks away!  Hooray!

All of your pictures should be in a book for both Royal and Celebrity!  I'm such an avid admirer of your talent!  You bring the ships to life for all of us.

Final thoughts. 
This probably will be a rambling post as I try to sum up everything about this cruise.
We went into this cruise with our eyes open, and zero expectations. This was our first cruise back, first star class, first oasis class. I've read many star class blogs heading into this, thank you @Lovetocruise2002, @WAAAYTOOO, @Jax and I'm sure many more for sharing your advice, and experiences, and ultimately had a great time. We all said that this was the best cruise we had been on to date. 
Star class experience. We are pretty low key people so we probably were some of the easiest guests that Derick had to manage. We never had any spur of the moment requests asking for drinks, pizza, parties etc. Derick was receptive to anything that we asked of him, but didn't go beyond that, which has been discussed before about other genies. I agree/feel that with COVID, they have been hamstrung a bit here. Don't get me wrong, because I am not complaining at all. Though I am looking forward to next year when COVID is no longer a thing and a star class sail away party on the helipad can return etc. He did try to fish things out pre-cruise, asking if we had anything to celebrate, but sadly we didn't at the time. We are sailing on Anthem this July in a star class room, so we shall see how things are different. That will be during our 16th wedding anniversary, so something to celebrate there! Get ready for a party @Lovetocruise2002
I completely forgot to take advantage of the laundry service...oh well......
I think one big take away is that being in star class for this cruise was that there was no stress for us. With reservations required for things etc, it was nice to know that it was just done and taken care of for us. We saw many people show up to shows etc that we were going to and turned away because they did not have a reservation. For that star class made it worth it even more. 
The crew was fantastic. Everyone was very friendly and glad to be back at work. I don't think that other than the extra food in chops were we ever treated any differently than other passengers due to our star class status, and I'm perfect okay with that too.
The crew were also excited that shore leave was being approved again. Capacity is being ramped up quickly. Our cruise had 3000 passengers. This week they were expecting 3800, and they were expecting increases each following week. 
We have all said we are interested to see the differences in the experiences when the ship is full, both with crowds and how star class will play a role in that. Like I said earlier, I didn't feel the need to jump lines for things, but with the ship so empty, there really weren't any lines to jump. 
My biggest gripe was the internet. It was almost non-existent in our stateroom, and then out on the ship, I would constantly loose connection and would have to turn the wifi on and off and reconnect multiple times. I wasn't the only one with this issue too. 
Thank you to everyone who followed along, this one was hard to do with my internet woes, and generally being busy with other activities. I really appreciate that you all took the time to read along and for all the reactions and comments!
I'll be blogging again in July as we head to Norway on Anthem. This should be interesting because @Lovetocruise2002 is in the cabin next to us. We are all in deck 10 GLS. So say we are excited is an understatement!!

Guest Services








The Champagne Bar

The card room.



café promenade lunch snacks

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Our 3rd day was a stop in the Dominican Republic.  This is a new port and has only been open a couple of months.  I did not book a shore excursion and just got off the ship to walk.  The port area had shops and restaurants like most ports.  They were there to greet you but not pressure you.  Oce out of the port area there were police everywhere.  I found out that they were there to help the people from the cruise ship.  As soon as you got to a crossing they were out there and stop the traffic for you.  The walk to the town center was only a 10-minute walk.  There were lots of different kind of shops and services along the way.  In the center of town, they had a large town square that was very relaxing to set and enjoy the day.  Two blocks from the town square is a street they call "Umbrella Street".   They have umbrellas hung over the street the entire way.  At the corner there was a cigar shop that had to men making the cigars from hand.  I would have purchased one to take home to my son but I would not be able to stand the smell.
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
When we got to St. Thomas I found out there are two different ports, and they are not close to each other.  The Royal Caribbean and Celebrity port is on the East side and not close to town and many of the attractions.  The other ships dock close to downtown.  I (again) did not book a shore excursion.  I got a shared taxi ($7) to the Sky Tram.  For $24 I rode the tram to the top of the hill.  Once there they had drink and food to purchase.  The only bad thing is the food was not what I would consider Caribbean food.  As soon as I got to the top, I started getting phone calls and spend the next 1 1/2 hours on the phone dealing with work.  I did not mind because I was relaxing at a great location and getting paid overtime to deal with it.  When I was ready to leave, we could not get a taxi to come to get me to take me to the ship.  I ended up going to the street and trying to catch a taxi.  after being turned down by 3 or 4 of them when they found out I wanted to go to the RCL Port I got on one that would take me to the town center.  I did a little shopping, and they shared a taxi with friends I ran into to the ship.
Note:  I just found out I lost all my photos from St. Thomas.  I guess I was only there in my mind... 🙂

It's well past the point of pressing Celebrity to at least address the inconvenience you experienced. IMO, and as you have described it, this is no small matter. Celebrity is very sensitive to guest inconveniences where guests feel that these were not acknowledged to the satisfaction of the guest involved.
Form your post I'm going to assume this occurred at Terminal 25 at Port Everglades. Under normal circumstances, boarding at this terminal is a breeze and the staggered arrivals work well. Where were you in your travels when you were notified of the 4-5h delay and how did you get notified? It sounds like you were enroute to Terminal 25 and had already checked out of your hotel or arrived same day at the airport and shuttled to terminal 25. Did you book transportation from the airport with Celebrity? If Celebrity was late in notifying you - IOW, you were already on your way to the terminal - I feel confident they would have recognized that and worked with you to insure your concerns were addressed.
For others reading about this, do not hesitate to speak to Guest Relations as soon as you board if you have been inconvenienced in anyway during the boarding process and let this department sort out the problem and give you an explanation - this isn't about getting compensated although you may be. This is about communicating to this department that your experience was not the best way to start an anticipated vacation. Celebrity wants to know about problems so that they can be corrected in the future. The best way to do this is to request a meeting with the Guest Relation's manager. You may not actually get a sit-down with him but you will be seriously listened to by one of his assistants. If you are dissatisfied with the response, ask to speak to the Staff Captain. If there is an identifiable problem that Celebrity is responsible for, you will get, at the very least, an apology and explanation.

Last one... 2nd formal night.
Cheese plate. DD ordered one of these on night one, and 2 showed up at our table every night thereafter. 

 
Shrimp cocktail, Vidalia onion tart, fruit salad from the kid's menu.



 
Everyone ordered lobster and DH and I were talked into also sharing the roasted beef tenderloin. 


Pineapple sunshine cake and baked Alaska - DS ate both of them! Everyone else got the molten chocolate cake.


 
Thanks for following along!

Married vs Single
I know some of you are following this because I am a solo (single) cruiser, and you want to see what it is like or if it compares to you.  Something happened to me tonight that made me evaluate my life choice.  First before I get into that I want to let you know a little about me that will help you.  I have been married two times; in my 20's and in my 30's.  I still like (maybe love) my ex-wives.  I have been single and a single father for the last 24 years.  My son's mom has not been in the scene, so it has been the two of us for the 24 years.  I have been single by choice, and I can say I like my life the way it is.  
Now for what I am talking about.  Traveling on cruise ships you are confronted with married couples all the time.  Cruise ships do things for couples all the time including pricing and formal nights.  Every time I book a cruise, I am reminded that I am single and have to pay extra for that choice.  Every formal night I want to hide not come out.  All the couples dressed up in their best blocking the stairs to take their pictures.  On those nights you can see all the solo cruisers spread out in the buffet.  Some of the time they do not realize what they are doing.  last night I had dinner and went to a show with a couple from Canada.  They were so friendly and made me feel so welcomed with them.  But some of the time that is the problem.  I wish I had what they have, a loving caring relationship.
But then there are times like tonight that help me realize I like my life and being single.  I was at a nice Italian Steak House eating dinner.  I was all dressed up because I wanted to be that way.  Setting next to me was a couple.  When I sat down, she was complaining about the way they brought the wine.  Then it was complaining about the appetizer, how they did it.  Then it was the way her husband should have ordered his meal.  It went on and on for the entire meal.  Her husband just sat there not saying two words.  I could not see him (his back was to me) but I am sure he was "Just shoot me". 
I know this is not normal, but it reminds me that we are all different.  Some of the time we are happy with our lives and some of the time we are not.  I can honestly say I am happy with my life and would not trade it with anyone. (Maybe Elon Musk but that is another story)

ITS CRUISE DAY!!!!! 

I've got the required uniform on for today...get we skip to the good part?

Well we did it again, booked a second Celebrity cruise since 2024 itineraries are already out. Panama Canal plus Southern Caribbean, 11 nights, Jan 29,2024 on Celebrity Beyond in a Sky Suite. Definitely a YOLO booking but couldn’t be more excited!

Thank you for letting me know about the track being on the Oasis ships.  I have never used a walking track and just walked the ship because of dodging loungers.  This is the first time I had something that was usable on a ship.

Real Meal at 150 Central Park
I saved the calories and went for a full meal at 150 Central Park.  150 Central Park is a fancy restaurant that I would classify it as an "Above my class" restaurant.  I got the same waiter as the night before and he brought me the bread with my menu.  I am not sure what was on top of the bread other than butter, but it was too good.  You could destroy your meal with just the hot bread.  I decided this meal was going to be "everything I have never had" meal.  I started out with seared scallops.  I figured out scallops do not have a taste to me.  Next came the main meal.  I got Venison Loin.  If you are not failure with it, it is a very lean meat from deer.  I was surprised I did like it.  I just had to not think of it as beef because it had a completely different texture; think and dense.  The last think was my desert.  The waiter said I had to get the fried cheesecake.  In my mind I was picturing like they do at the fair with everything you can imagine, put a slice of cheesecake in batter and deep fry it.  What I got was not that.  It was cheesecake filling deep fried with a very light thin shell.  It was paired with something between a cream and meringue.  This was what I call a "One Bite Desert".  You can take one bite close your eyes and enjoy.  I can stop with one bite because it is so good.  I did not want to waste so I ate both of them.  If you have this desert have some black coffee with it.  That made the perfect pairing.
 
 

Chops Grille did it right
I wanted to put this on its own post because I liked it so much.  When I went to dinner it was pouring rain.  It seemed strange being in the middle of the ship on deck 8 and running to the restaurant to keep from getting soaked.  When I got into Chaps, they made me feel right at home from the start.  I knew this was a top fancy steakhouse, but it did not feel like it, it felt like friends.  Do not get me wrong, it looked like a fancy place, but I felt comfortable there in my blue jeans and polo shirt.  I started my meal with Grilled Black Pepper Bacon.  It was good but not what I expected, and I would not order it again.  They brought me bread and the one that looked like pretzel was very good and soft in the middle.  The other bread was very bad and hard, not my liking.  Then came my 16 oz Prime Bone-In Ribeye; It filled the plate.  This was easily the best steak I have had in a very long time.  I added on the mushroom to give me some vegies.  I took my time and really enjoyed the meal.  I finished the meal with the Key lime Meringue Pie.  I took the meringue off and at the key lime filing.
When I was done, I changed my day 6 reservation to Chops Grill.  I will end up eating here 3 times out of the 7 dinners.   If you get the chance come and let me know if it is as good as I think it was.
Note:  After my dinner, before I left, the main waiter of the "Main Dining Room" came over to talk to me.  He tracked me down to find out why I have not been to the main dining room for any of my meals.  Evidently if you do not eat any meals there it looks bad for them.  I tried to tell him when you are counting calories you are picky about where and what you eat.  Maybe they need to make it easier to keep track of a diet in the main dining room then I would eat there all the time.
 

A Sea Symphony
It seems like we have been on the ship a long time but yesterday was our second day and our first sea day on the Symphony of the Seas.  I did fall in love with the ships size and wonder. … sounds fancy, I liked the ship 😊 I do not know if part of liking the ship is we are only 45% full and can do anything without lines.  I walked lots of the ship looking and everything and just sightseeing.  Then when I look at the ship layout, I only hit the highlights and there are still lots to see. 
Casino Life
Our Facebook group did a slot pull yesterday.  After some confusion about the time, we had 31 people show up.  A warning about Facebook, if you put an event in your group it will adjust the time of the event to match your time zone.  Our event showed 1:30 pm and the Slot pull post said 10:30 am.  This one was done a little different than the ones I have done in the past, not better and not worse.  Everyone kicked in $25 and $20 went into the slot machine and $5 went into a winner pool (person with the highest money won on their pulls).  We started out with $620 in the slot machine and everyone did 2 pulls of $10 a pull.  That thing was tight.  It did not like giving anything back.  When we were done it had $217 of the original $620 left in it.  I am becoming a true believer that very few people win anything on a cruise ship.
The Ultimate Abyss
I went up to the flow riders yesterday and enjoyed an hour or so of watching people try to ride the flow riders.  One side if for stand up and the other side if for boogie boards.  It is neat to watch people learn and crash trying something that looks so simple when done correctly.  But there is no bigger thrill than watching a someone get on for the first time and to be able to do it for 5 seconds.  The pure enjoyment on their face just make you feel the fun.  When I was tired of watching the flow riders I walked over and watched people get on “The Ultimate Abyss”.  Check out the video here https://youtu.be/cvajQkIUNzI  I wanted to do it but then I am telling myself, I am old (61), I am way overweight, I do not get up and down easy.  I am not in good shape.  I am wondering will they turn me away when they look and see my size.  Will I get stuck in the slide halfway down.  Will I not be able to get up when I get to the bottom.  See none of the normal fears like it drops 10 stories and starts on deck 16.  Well, I went over to the Bar and got a drink to steady my nerves (Diet Coke, plain).  Now I was able to tell myself, I have lost 20 lbs. in the last two months, I walked 5 miles the day before and I am a water polo coach that can eggbeater for 2 hours without a break.  Off to the slide I went.  It was much easier to get in than I thought.  As soon as I started sliding, I heard the guy on top tell me to scream.  When I did, I realized it multiplies itself in the slide.  The slide was full of lights and took long enough to let you realize you are going a long way.  It was a blast; I am going back, and I want to do it at night.  Everyone reading this, If I can do it, everyone can do it.
A simple dinner at Jamie’s Italian
I do not have a lot to say about dinner last night.  I did Jamie’s Italian because I wanted to experience all the restaurants and my son loves Italian food.  I was able to stay within my calorie count by having Garlicky Prawns for an appetizer and baked lasagna for my main course.  The prawns were good but with the name I expected to taste the garlic.  They were just well-cooked plain prawns.  The lasagna came out and it was good but nothing I would write home about.  It did have a good amount of meat in it and was well cooked.  The last thing I had was Limon Cheesecake.  If you are paying attention, you have figured out, I like limon deserts.  This one also was OK.  All in all, the dinner was OK.  Now I do have to be honest and let you know.  There were 2 couples in the table next to me that showed up (not their first time) and ordered the entire list of appetizers.  They loved everything and were having a blast.  My waiter was fantastic (I think his name was Boodoo).  And I had a glass of wine that was so good I am going to find out where to purchase it when I get home.
Now it is time to get up see what the day has to offer.

I really enjoy reading these blogs of solo travelers. Looking forward to the rest of this one. Happy cruise day!

Just got off the Reflection and cruising again on The Reflection in November after the revolution, then to the Edge over the holidays (2022), after that we have in 2023, the Celebrity Beyond, then off to down under for a trip hopefully of a lifetime!
We love cruising!