Dogmom

I told Hossain that we went to the windjammer and he texted back with the vomit emoji!

I told Hossain that we went to the windjammer and he texted back with the vomit emoji!

I don't know how to say this, maybe just pull the bandaid off...I LOVED the STAR class experience, and I have designs on booking another Star Class cabin BUT and here goes, oh dear oh my....... Sky class is the perfect sailing experience for me BUT I had to experience STAR to understand this.
I enjoyed embarkation so much, I enjoyed Derick even more, he was very grounded and understood right away we wanted to be present in the experience and didn't want to ONLY check off boxes. 
I enjoy a large cabin and a balcony space I can spread out on, I'm content spending hours out there. We normally eat in a snack type way, my daughter and her weightlifting has us eating smaller things more frequently so while reservations for lunch and dinner were amazing to have, we did cancel a few lunch dates for a more brunch or even one time linner situation; as there was a great deal of time spent meeting Derick on time for things that were set and we sometimes sail a bit looser then that. 
**as suspected we canceled a dinner for the last night .... we eat sparsely the night before disembarkation for a more comfortable morning and drive home, we were just going to grab picky bland things from WJ I thought his head would pop off. He secured us an early table in Chops, so funny!
I thought I loved the laundry but good for pressing that's all. Several of my shirts and one cardigan were toddler sized when I received them back, shame on me totally on me I should not have sent them. Lesson learned, no biggie. 
I like to walk and I felt like a proper jerk on the golf cart going to and from Barefoot Beach beeping at people walking on the path, I was trying to disappear myself it's not that far but I did feel special at the same time, weird dynamic. Love the Bare Foot Beach experience. 
I enjoyed the seats chosen for us in entertainment venues but in Sky if I arrive at the proper time I can secure great seats myself. 
I LOVED how stress-free and easy disembarkation was, as no one ever dwells on this process the ease in which we arrived at our SUV was priceless.
I am so happy and blessed I enjoyed my STAR Class experience, I will do it again. But to say I will only sail STAR is just false, it's wonderful. But Sky class is my happy place. While my daughter will beg to differ, hahaha I created a Star class snob, boy does she miss Derick!
Our next sailing is on the Mariner so that will actually be a pretty proper shock. We are in that little Panoramic Suite 1804 for the first time, no balcony but two restrooms. 
Will I reach for my Star again?  Yes, but personally for me I hope you are sitting down reading this...... Sky is my sweet spot, my perfectly adequate happy place! I too am in shock by this admission, lol. 
Humble and kind, have you heard that song? That is my center, I tell myself that everyday and my blessings are to many to count. Thanks for sharing your time with me!
 

I totally get it. Between navigating through all the the pandemic took from us, all the complicated and not logical travel restrictions, it has not been easy.  This was cruise #2 post start up (coming from Canada), and all I can say as complex as it may be, it is worth it the second you step on board!

Allans gift to you, on you final night, will be a piece of luggage to get home the gifts he has given you all week!

I told Hossain that we went to the windjammer and he texted back with the vomit emoji!

I told you, I gave up on that custom when they implemented pre-cruise testing lol.   Cannot jinx it.
And the luggage thing was a great learning experience.  Had I asked Allan to look into it immediately (on Sunday) we might have gotten it back halfway. But I am thankful that I am Type A and pack the way we pack.  Otherwise, it would have not gone well at all.  In the end, I warned the SC gang upon landing in Miami that I am usually a way more fashionable dresser and I just had to go more casual on this sailing, but that sure beats not being able to go at all 🙂

I'm struck by two facts from this live blog....
1. @Lovetocruise2002 didn't start the live blog six weeks early, as is her custom.
2. How well she handled the lost luggage fiasco. Not much you can do, but geez, I'm not sure how I would have handled that problem.
Great live blog, it was fun reading about all the fun.

I told Hossain that we went to the windjammer and he texted back with the vomit emoji!

I told Hossain that we went to the windjammer and he texted back with the vomit emoji!

It is currently 7am and we are nearing our destination for today. Today we are docking in St. Maarten. We are doing the Philipsburg  by Trolley Train excursion with the whole crew. I thought I’d try and get a jump start on todays writings.
 
Jake, McKenzie and I plan on trying Johnny Rockets breakfast at 8:30. We told our genie this and he said ew, and reminded us that their is Coastal Kitchen from 7:30-9:30. 

My brother complained to me that I didn’t write my post day blog post yet. So my apologies for being late for anyone who maybe waiting. Yesterday (day 2) was a beautiful sea day.  We had breakfast delivered to our balcony at 8:00am along with our standing Starbucks order. I had the salmon and lox and a grande ice chai tea latte made with oat milk. The salmon bagel is my typical go to breakfast on cruises. 
 
After breakfast, Little Wayne, DJ, Jake, and I did the Escape Room with other Star Class families. It was submarine theme but that’s the extent I’ll say in case anyone else participates in the future. We escaped with 10 minutes left. 
 
After the escape room, we all went back to the room to relax for a while. Around noon the whole crew went to Playmakers for a light snack. Wayne, DJ, and I went down via the Ultimate Abyss and my Mom, Dad, and Jake went down with McKenzie via the elevator. My husband is freaked out at heights, hence why he didn’t go down. The pulled pork nachos were Devine and I think I’m going to make a whole meal out of them one day. Little Wayne didn’t care too much for the pulled pork on the nachos since they were a sweeter tang and he prefers a more savory taste. The garlic fries were also really good! 
 
Wayne, Jake and I are on a Facebook group for the sailing that we are on. On the Facebook group, a Slot Pull was organized for 1pm. Buy in was $20 and a total of 60 people signed up. So all in all $1200 was played. We started at Wheel of Fortune for $5 bets. Everyone got to spin 4 times. So much fun. If anyone has the opportunity to be part of a slot pull I highly recommend. We ended up at $1160ish when everyone took their turns. The group then decided to move to another machine.. quick hits. $5 max bet and everyone spun 4x again. That machine was a terrible decision. We ended up with around $900 I believe. Finally the group decided to head to high stakes room and do a $25 max bet until we lost or won jackpot. We ended up winning a $2,600 jackpot! Everyone took home $45! We all tipped the girl who hit the jackpot $5 as a thank you. 
 
After the slot pull we took McKenzie and walked around the ship. She was due for a nap (her and her pappy played while the rest of us were at the casino). Jake took McKenzie on the carousel and the BEST thing happened. McKenzie waves for the VERY FIRST TIME. I’m sure the other passengers thought I was crazy because I started cheering and crying. We then got some icecream at Sugar Beach and it was DELICIOUS. I got the tiramisu and I think I could service solely off of that.
 
McKenzie fell asleep on me and we headed back to the room and let her nap, Jake took a nap as well. We were awoken about 30 minutes in to a doorbell ring with special infused water for DJ. Just a little bitter but it was funny.
 
Dinner was at 150 Central Park and nothing disappointed. I had the Lamb Wellington. It was good, no complaints. After dinner Jake and I stayed in with McKenzie and put her to bed around 8:30pm. Jake then asked Hossain, our genie, for a pizza and a dozen wings to be delivered. I thought he was crazy because we JUST had dinner. But by the time it came… I had two slices of pizza as well. We then crashed around 10:30pm. 
 
All in all, day 2 was a very relaxed and chill day. Nothing over extraordinary for readers but everything that the hubby and I needed, relaxation with our daughter ❤️

Random thoughts....asked for 2 donuts this arrived. ( see photo below) We actually shared with another cabin as to not be wasteful.
This cuteness was observed when returning to ship at Labadee.
I took photos of crew members who went above and beyond, they were sometimes desperate to wait on us and it made me a bit uncomfortable. I kept saying, please take it easy ( as in the song slow ride)
Was treated to animals in the cabin which puts a smile on my face. 
Send the teens duck hunting early!
Stay still a bit, soak it in. I actually liked this balcony more than I thought I would. I know these photos are not @twangster level but I did my best. 
I am home now, and can't wait for our next adventure! 
**I personally did think the entertainment lacking, I did appreciate that they tried though. The absolute highlight for me was Jesse Hamilton, he made me feel emotion. That is a good entertainer, any questions please reach out.
@GregD being neighbors with @Lovetocruise2002 will guarantee smiles and great conversation. What an amazing family, the girls are true light and Justin just the kindest. Down to earth people, you are lucky to be able to sail with them soon. 
 
 
 

Wow. I am trying to sum up my thoughts from our first day and the easiest thing to say is just wow…
Yesterday was amazing. We got to the port around 10 and the star class porters were right on getting our bags tagged and loaded up. Check-in was smooth and took roughly one minute for all seven of us. We sat down in the suite lounge which in my honest opinion was a little bland for being the suite section but I guess Covid has a little to blame for that? The couches were very comfortable but that’s about it. Hossain met us and another family of his and walked us on board around 10:45ish. He has us waiting in the Royal Promenade while he took his first family to their rooms. We decided to have our first beverage on the rising tide bar. I had a lovely mimosa! 🙂 It was nice hearing the champagne bottle popping open. That was the sound that officially resonated vacation for me. 
 
After about ten minutes waiting on the rising tide bar, Hossain came and got us. He walked us to our room (2BR AT deck 9). McKenzie and I were the first in the room and wow, I knew we were in for a great time. The decor on Symthony is beautiful. We had birthday decorations in the room for DJ and I and Hossain gave us birthday cards. I could right a book on the room but I’ll save that for another time.
 
We then went to our mustard station to get that out of the way. Jake got a hot dog, then we all rode the carousel with McKenzie for the first time. She loved the vibrant colors of the animals. We then came back to the room, our luggage was waiting for us so we unpacked. At 12:30 we had a welcome lunch from Chops delivered to our balcony. I had the shrimp cocktail and filet mignon with asparagus. The filet was a bit over cooked but was still juicy and flavorful so I didn’t mind. 
 
After lunch we finished unpacking, explored a bit, ate Sorentos pizza, went to the spa for the raffle (lost), then came back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had Coastal Kitchen. I got the Smoked Salmon and Crispy Pork Belly for an appetizer and the Salmon for my Entree. I could see myself eating at Coastal every night. My only complaint was our service was a little spotty. We will definitely have to ask for speedier service moving forward because 2 hours sitting for dinner with an eight month old is not my definition of fun. Pre baby I may have liked that but not anymore. I had to leave before dessert was brought out because McKenzie was getting fussy and was ready for bed. 
 
My parents thankfully took night duty for McKenzie so us ‘kids’ could go out. We saw iSkate2.0 and I LOVED it. So much passion in some of the skaters and spunk. I would watch it again. After the ice show…. Well there’s not too much to remember after that because we all got drunk… off of lemon drops for me! 
 
This was a lot to unpack but it is nice looking back at our first day. I am currently the first one up and I am watching the beautiful blue waves on our balcony. Life is good. ❤️
 
 

In the car driving home, was blessed to see @Lovetocruise2002 & @tiny260this morning to say until we meet again!
CK this morning was "frantic" when we arrived. It is always better then WJ though. 
Our disembarkation was a breeze, I was surprised at how many people stopped us to plead with Derick if they could participate in our walk off. It was shocking.. One aggressive man dragged his family through the roped off area with us telling the staff he was with us, he got as far as having his sea pass card swiped and then they were not allowed to proceed to the luggage area with us as we said goodbyes and Derick handed us over to Maria. Derick directed them to their correct avenue of escape! 
I just kept thinking now I underestimated this perk, I quite liked being whisked through the terminal to the parking garage elevator. 
We really enjoyed the Star Loft and would not hesitate to book it again. 
 

Another late post tonight. I realized as I was packing up after dinner that I have not been keeping up with the blog at my usual pace. Apologies for that. But this has truly been a fantastic sailing! 
 
Where did I leave off earlier? Oh yes, after the escape room, we had Izumi delivered to the room. Then we met up with the group for a photo with all the Genies. After that, Hubby and the girls went and did a last hurrah of all the outdoor activities (zip line, flow rider, abyss, rock climbing). For anyone who doesn’t know, star class “skip the line” privileges for these activities cannot be used between the hours of 1-4pm. 
 
Dinner brought us back to Chops and for the first time ever, I have zero dinner pics to share. Tonight I am so happy because we got our final gift from Allan. It is something I have wanted for a long time and haven’t had much luck with getting it granted. There are no pics to share because, to our surprise, Allan accepted our invite and sat down and had dinner with us! Well, sort of. He did not eat, but he sat with us through most of our meal. I loved the conversations that we have had with Allan this week. Other than sailing with friends, the chats we have shared with Allan are probably some of my favourite moments this sailing. He is not only a top notch Genie, but he is genuine, so funny, and he clearly loves what he does. 
Each day of this sailing I was thankful that we pulled off what we planned 2.5 years ago on a whim lol. Thankful to sail with @tiny260 @bellemiche again and also to have been able to finally (after many years) put faces to names@ShakeDownCruise and @Neesa. And also truly grateful for the new friends and people that we have crossed paths with this sailing. ❤️
 

We made it out with 2 mins to spare! 😂 I cannot take credit. I was ready to call Allan to get us out. 

 

We loved our B2 cabana yesterday! 

Jaye and I felt the same after eating at 150, we thought 150 was good, but CK was better.

There is no Ben and Jerry's but there is Sugar Beach on the Boardwalk. Ice cream is included with Star Class but the candy is not.

We did the escape room on Symphony 3 weeks ago. We didn't make it out but it was a lot of fun!

It’s official!!! We all tested NEGATIVE!! Mimosa’s here I come! Can’t wait to share our star class experience with you all ❤️

Nothing much to report on my end today. I stayed on the ship and it was the best day ever! Barely saw anyone onboard. Spent a bit of time in a cabana on the suite sun deck, then spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying the balcony.
 
Dinner brought us back to 150 CP because I needed to follow through on what I promised @GregD. Tonight Hubby and I both tried the 150 CP filet. The verdict is…I am still #teamCK for the filet. It was not bad, still good, but if I had to pick one, it would be CK. It’s more tender and has a slightly better flavour. 
 

After dinner we caught the ice show, Frozen in Time. The girls said this was their favourite show on the ship. After that, we headed back to the Aqua Theatre to see Aqua 80 again since my 13 year old fell asleep the other night and escaped the hose down. A friend in the Deck 8 ATS did invite a bunch of us to watch from her balcony but we took a chance and stayed down below. From the looks of it, they were prepared this time to record if we got soaked again lol. 
 
Aqua 80 tonight was shortened even more than the other night. The support divers were injured tonight so it was basically down to dancers only. Overall, Aqua 80 has been a bust this cruise, between the weather, tech issues, now injuries, we never saw the full show. Going to have to sail Oasis again to see the full show. 🙂

Allans gift to you, on you final night, will be a piece of luggage to get home the gifts he has given you all week!

Allans gift to you, on you final night, will be a piece of luggage to get home the gifts he has given you all week!