Babsy47

Long story to a short, last minute trip . . . We booked a long, long time ago on Harmony for a 2BDR Aquatheater for parents, adult kids, and teen kid during teen kid's Spring break. Harmony switched to Wonder, and we had the 8th floor 2BDR on the Wonder for a reasonable Star class rate. Yeah us! As sometimes happens, life interfered with best laid plans. My Dad got very ill. DIL got pregnant. Other adult kids decided to spend pre-baby time traveling the world. So, that just left three of us in a 2BDR suite that, while at pre-crazy prices, was still a hefty amount for three people. Moreover, baby is due shortly before scheduled trip departure and Dad started hospice. Hubby tells me that he is overwhelmed at work (as am I). I decided to cancel; too much uncertainty and chaos for an expensive trip. Much relieved after cancelling, I decided on a cruise free 2023. Then, teen kid (Senior in HS) tells me (in all honesty) that he would really like to spend Spring Break with just parents on a final, pre-college trip. He does not whine or make a big deal, but says he enjoys trips with just us and little other distraction. So, I decide that we need to do something as a family with him. But, new baby?? Sick dad?? Work?? How does one do all of this? In the end, we decided on a short cruise from Port Canaveral. We can fly direct to MCO and use points, making the trip shorter and more manageable. Baby will come, at the latest, a week before we leave so I can care for already alive granddaughter during new grandchild's entry to the world. By the time I make this decision, however, Spring Break is only three weeks away; not much choice of cruises and cabins. I call RC, and the nice man on the phone finds me a Junior Suite on Independence of the Seas. So, it appears we are going on a 2023 cruise after all! We have never been on this ship. We cruised on Liberty a very long time ago when she was new, but that was the last time on this class of ships. We have stops in Nassau and Coco Cay. Usually, we dive in Nassau, but Stuart's Cove is the only dive operator I have found. I vowed never to use this company again after a third bad experience. We have done Atlantis several times (always fun). We have rented a boat and captain; an awesome alternative for a larger group. For this trip, we decided to visit the new water park at Baha Mar. I reserved day passes and loungers at the beach club. I'm looking forward to exploring this new alternative! At Coco Cay, we have Beach Club passes and a water park pass for son. I'm thinking of just sticking to the included dining this trip. We will see how that goes. We are going to Universal before we head to the ship, so no local hotel. I'm planning carry-on only packing; we've had negative checked bag experiences over the past year or so.

If you are not on an excursion, you have to wait for a tender and then get up to Fira. Either you walk up and up and up (down is fine) or you wait for a gondola.

In Santorini, we took the Royal excursion “Oia on your own” which got us off the ship and to Oia quickly. We told the bus driver we would not be going back yo Fira with the group. We then walked the cliff trail from Oia to Fira using the directions from Santorini Dave. We had refreshments at a cliff side bar in Fira and then walked down the donkey path to the tender back to the ship. It was one of the best days ever! Honestly, magnificent scenery with every step. Caveats: We we’re not there on a hot day — high was mid 70s. Our family hikes all of the time, so the walk was fine. If your kid are accustomed to 6-7 mile walks with 2000ft elevation gain, it should not be a problem. But, it is a real hike with significant elevation gain. It has some remote areas with no easy out alternatives. I seldom take a RC excursion. In Santorini, however, the excursion gets you off the ship and to shore efficiently. Without an excursion, you will need tender tickets and will wait for a tender. You will then need to either ferry to Oia or wait in a long line to take a gondola to Fira. Excursions avoid all of this.

Perhaps it is just my family . . . The bars would make much more from us if the added interesting mocktails to the printed menus. As it is, you need to know what to request which removes the fun of trying new things.

I reserved one for September 2024 on Harmony for a bit less than the $15k mentioned earlier on the day the were released. For 8, this is a reasonable Star Class price in my view.

I use the spa often. On my three 2021-22 cruises, not a sales peep! This is very welcome! Either there has be a change, or they now take, “I do not want anything” seriously.

As a grandma, rest assured that some of us love having grandkids for a few days. I know that for me, it is a win all around — I get grandkids in a limited dose and parents get a nice break and each other alone for a few days. Have fun!!!

I’m sad. The flowrider priority is a primary reason I book Star class. I do have teens and they love to flowride and rock climb. For my family, losing the line priority benefit is a really big deal.

This is one of the few things that just makes me nuts about RC. They hold your money forever (not really forever, but 2-3 weeks). I once needed to make a change that was net $4,000 back to me, but I needed to pay $4000 and get an $8000 refund. They charged me card the $4000 the day of the change, but I did not get the $8,000 back for 3 weeks. So to avoid credit card fees, I needed to pay the entire 12k. Not much makes me mad, but this did.

We took a Norway and Iceland cruise and loved it. We had four days in Iceland, and we enjoyed every one of them. It is an hiking/nature port where you need to get out to experience the amazing beauty of the place. It is not warm, but it stays light until late. It is more Alaska weather than anything else.

I’ve not seen CATS on the ship. But, I’ve enjoyed the on-land performances that I have attended. I go for the music and dancing—there is not really a story. It’s just more of a review.

I was able to cancel my water park cabana at PDCC and rebook for $400 less on my 3.26.23 Wonder sailing.

One final, final post . . . I neglected our final night and debarkation. Our final night's dinner was Hooked. I'm not generally a fan of this venue - it is fine, but not generally my favorite. On this trip, however, Hooked stood out as the best of the speciality experiences. We had a great server, great service, and wonderful food. Among our group, we sampled mussels, calamari, shrimp cocktail, clam chowder, and the ceviche as appetizers; not a bad one in the bunch. The messy fish sandwich is far too big for a single person, but my son said the portion he could eat was good. I had the platter consisting of lobster, shrimp, fish, and vegetables. I thought it was the best meal I had on the trip. The family was in high spirits and enjoyed interacting with the server -- it was two hours of pure fun! I went up to the Suite lounge for a final goodbye, and the concierge told me how to debark the easy way. We met her in the Schooner bar at 7:30 am the day of debarkation. She walked us off the ship and put us on an escalator to the warehouse where you collect bags (if you had parted with them). They now have photo passport scanners, and we waiting for no more than a couple of minutes to get out to the parking lot. I was in the car by 7:45 and on my way home. The sad part -- it was pouring rain when we debarked. A great thing for California, but not so great upon returning from vacation. Two other debarkation items that are very important it appears: (1) they will not let you off the ship with a cracked Sea Pass card that will not scan (the people in front of us in line tried to convince the poor employee to let them off even though the card would not scan. After a long argument, the passenger finally relented and departed to get a new card from guest services; (2) under no circumstances can you take a stroller on the escalator, and all todders must stand with two feet on the escalator step! As I removed my GD from her stroller to take her on the escalator, the port staf made these rules abundantly clear . . . repeatedly. Well, that is about a wrap. Next scheduled trip is not until March of 2023 -- it is Star Class on the Wonder with the whole family again! (Just as an aside on this one -- we got lucky on the March 2023 cruise. I booked way back during COVID when the sailings opened. I booked the Deck 8 aquatheater suite on the Harmony for a reasonable price (for Star Class anyway). The Harmony switched with the Wonder along with our cabin, so now we will experience the Wonder. It was pure luck, and I am never lucky (part of the reason the Casino is not part of my cruise experience).

Final thoughts . . . Since COVID, we have sailed on the Symphony (Western Caribbean), Odyssey (Greece), and the Navigator (Mexico). I really enjoyed the Navigator. The things I particularly appreciated: 1. The food was very good. While we mostly stick to specialty restaurants for dinner, I have never been disappointed by the food quality in either WJ or the MDR. The only exception was one bad Izumi experience. Also, I have never experienced WJ overcrowding on the Navigator as I have on other ships. 2. The entertainment quality is simply fantastic. The musicians in all venues are top notch. I have no idea whether this results from proximity to LA or something else, but I just enjoy listening to the musicians on the Navigator more than on the other ships. 3. For teens, the Navigator's activities work. You might think as a much smaller ship, the activities would be lacking in comparison to other ships. Our teen actually found far more to do on the Navigator than on the Odyssey. The Odyssey's activities all had long lines and did not handle capacity well. TWhile the Navigator only has two slides and the flowrider, the lines are not as long and the activiities are, therefore, more accessible. 4. The suite concierge was just amazing. She socialized with all of the suite guests, got us onto tenders in Catalina, got us off the ship at the end of the trip, and otherwise really enhanced the trip. 5. The suite lounge was a terrific refuge on this ship. On the first night, I overheard one of the guests request gluten free snacks. Each night after, to my delight, the lounge provide an array of absolutely to-die-for gluten-free options. Seriously, the dessert options were far better than those provided as gluten free alternatives in the specialty restaurants. By the last night, we opted for dessert in the lounge so that my DIL (who just cannot eat gluten without having terrible issues) could enjoy the spread. I intended to take pictures -- options included dark chocolate with rice crisps (doesn't sound as good as it was), the standard chocolate-covered strawberries, tarts with almond crusts (that were great), and several other alternatives. The not so good: 1. There is not much for the under 3 set to do. The baby splash pad is tiny and there is no other play area for toddlers to play. We spent much time on the mini golf course with our GD. 2. One of our kids' cabins did have a cleanliness problem that was quickly remedied. Overall, the ship is a bit older. On the positive side, this trip was relatively affordable when we booked, and we were then able to Royal Up to an OS, which was fantastic! Each ship has goods and bads, and each cruise its positives and negatives. Since COVID, I most enjoyed the Greece itinerary but did not like the Odyssey as much. The Navigator is an old ship, but to me, it offers a very good short get away at a relatively good value.

Just to finish up . . . some pictures from Ensenada and the hot springs:

This summer on the Odyssey, we participated in a Puzzle Break activity. It is very similar to an escape room, but does not need the room for the puzzles. They put us in groups of at least six, and off we went. They may be holding something similar in the space that is supposed to be an escape room someday on the Wonder.

Today is a sea day. This morning, we had a time change, making early at the gym easy. We also tried playing pickle ball, but they cancelled because of wind. We ended up playing (kind of) basketball. In reality, I ended up bouncing the ball back and forth with a two year old alternating between a bounce and a kick, and just running around while the others actually played basketball. We then tried the flowrider and waterslides, but it was just too cold. The captain tried to find warm, but it is poor weather and too cold to be on the deck in the wind. We played some games in Schooner bar, had lunch in the Main Dining room, and then retired to our room to relax and read a bit.

Ensenada! We arrived early in Ensenada for a short stop -- all aboard at 2:30 pm. Given that we have a sea day tomorrow and LA is not far away, I'm not sure why we stay such a short time in port. We would have enjoyed more time. In any event, we left the ship after breakfasting at Windjammer. We were relatively early to WJ, so it was not too crowded. We met our tour guide Emilio from ATVEnsenada a short walk from the ship. Emilio then drove us a short distance to his shop where we quickly filled out paperwork and got geared up to take ATVs. Our guide took four of us to a "mountain hot spring." We drove the ATVs down a busy highway for about 20 minutes. We then turned onto dirt roads, and we drove another 30 minutes to a hot spring area. I will try to add photos that convey the beauty of the place. We arrived after about 50 minutes to an oasis consisting of several pools where they pipe in water from the mountains -- one hot pool, one cold, and a couple mixed hot/cold. We enjoyed the pools for about an hour before driving back. It was a dusty trip, and we arrived back to the ship hungry and dirty, but happy with the excursion. If you have more time in port, the trip ends with a lunch stop. We, however, did not want to miss the ship (and I get anxious about such things), so we walked back from Emilio's shop and boarded the ship at about 1:30. We had worked up an appetite, so we settled on lunch at Playmakers. Hunger did not survive the experience. We had burgers, nachos, and shared a sundae. It was enough for the remainder of the day and night. I was still full upon arrival at Jamie's for dinner! By then, it had warmed enough to enjoy the outdoors. We watched the kids do their thing on the flowrider, played mini-golf with GD, and otherwise enjoyed the afternoon. As mentioned above, we had dinner at Jamie's, but I remained full from lunch so did not have too much. I did think the tiramisu was the best dessert I have experienced on the ship!! After dinner, we went to the iSkate show. We all found it entertaining. By then, we listened to music a bit at the countryish bar on the Royal Promenade that I cannot name, and called it a night. Another great day!

A few more (hopefully)

Here are a few Catalina pictures Catalina 4.msg

Thank you for the name change on the blog! I have not really figured out this live blogging thing too well yet. Well, today (November 4) turned out fantastic. We could not ask for a better vacation day from start to finish! To start, the weather cooperated -- no wind and an ok air temperature (perhaps in the high 60s). Catalina sits less than 30 miles from our house (across a very deep channel), but we've only visited a handful of times in the past 30 years. The island proved an amazing cruise port; honestly, we enjoyed our time on this island about as much as any we have visited. Our kids turned up in our cabin at around 8:00 for breakfast. With a toddler, room service in a large cabin beats the chaos of Windjammer. Food arrived as ordered and hot -- no complaints. Son, DIL, and GD booked a submarine tour with RC, so they did not need to manage tendering on their own. Another son, DIL, DH and I had a dive booked at 10:00 am, with a start time of 9:45 am about a 15-minute walk from the tender drop area. The amazing concierge met us and escorted us to the tender, so we did not need to collect tender tickets. The tender, however, waited until fully stuffed with people to leave, about a 25-minute wait. This made us a bit late for our tour, but the other couple diving with us were on our same tender so we all arrived together. The water temperature for diving was a chilly 66 at the surface (colder in some areas during the dive). We suited up in our 7 mm wetsuits, hoodies, and boots and went right in. There is a protected dive reserve for shore diving, which made everything quite simple. We had great visability and managed to find two octopus, a few eels and lobster, and tons of fish. All and all, a great way to start the day! After diving, we managed to change in very clean porta-potties (an oxymoron, I know) and after warming up a bit, we headed to lunch at Descanso Beach Club. Our afternoon tour (an "Aerial Adventure") met up the canyon from the Beach Club, so we decided to head in that direction rather than back to town for lunch. If warm, I highly recommend the Club. We sat right at the water at a comfortable table and enjoyed a nice lunch (nothing fancy) of bar food (pictures to follow, I hope). For kids, the Beach Club has a good beach with no surf and many loungers. After lunch, we walked up the canyon a bit to the Aerial Adventure. This was a series of high ropes courses: 2 easy, 2 intermediate, and 1 advanced. After gearing up, we started on Beginner 2, which went fine. We then conquered Intermediate 2, before heading over to the advanced course. This one about did me in. Lucky for me, no pictures. These courses were super challenging (for me anyway), but great fun for all of us. The ropes courses worked up a need for gelato, so we stopped by to indulge on our way back to the line for the tender. We spent about 30 minutes or so waiting for the tender. The purported last tender was at 5:00 pm. We got on ours at about 4:55 with a long line still behind us. Obviously, the last tender was later. I think as long as you were in line to tender by 5:00, there was no problem. We had the same experience in Crete this summer. We took a RC bus to Chaina, and got in line to return about 60 minutes before all aboard. We ended up waiting longer than this for the return shuttle, but it was not an issue. RC had people at the shuttle telling everyone not to worry -- the ship would not leave without us. Dinner tonight was at Chops. What an improvement over the Izumi experience last night! Service was perfect, food pacing was perfect, food tasted great. Just a great dinner experience. After dinner, we walked around the ship and listened to some music. We were pretty tired from the day's activity, so headed to our room relatively early. All and all, an amazing day! Tomorrow is Ensenada! I'm going to try and add some pictures of the day as well.

Boarding day! All seven of us made it on the ship -- it was touch and go for a bit. My day started at 2:00 am upon my return at home from work. My husband woke up to share the wonderful news that he would not be able to leave work until 2:00 pm today, giving him less than an hour to get from work to the ship. I had an appointment at 6:30 am, giving me not much of an interval for sleep. I made it to the 6:30 am appointment, finished up my work by noon, and felt satisfied that I would make it to the ship in time to meet my family on the ship for lunch. I arrived at the port of LA, parked, went to remove my bag from my car, and . . . no bag. I was on the phone as I left my house, and my bag failed to make it into my car. So, back home to retrieve said bag, turn around, and back to the port. Suffice it to say, I missed lunch. On the positive side, boarding late has its advantages. The kids arrived early for their 11:00 boarding time and did not make it on the ship for over an hour. According to them, the lines were horrendous -- some type of coast guard inspection. By the time I boarded at about 2:15, I walked right on with no wait. A very friendly shuttle driver picked me up at my car as soon as I got out of my car with my bag, dropped me at the entrance, and I was through security and on the ship in less than five minutes. They no longer check for COVID vaccination status or testing -- they simply scanned my boarding pass on my Royal Caribbean app and I was on! Next, was my worry about whether hubby would make it. He thankfully arrived a little after me. We grabbed a quick bite, dropped our bags in our very nice room, and headed to our couples message. At this point, we felt it was a good way to start the vacation after a crazy week. Our 4:00, 75-minute message started at 4:25 and ended at 5:25. You would correctly note that this does not total 75 minutes. I thought about saying something, but we are on vacation, and it seemed better to just enjoy what is than worry about what should have been. I went the Suite lounge to get extra keys for our room for family members (and a replacement key that said kids had lost). I chatted a bit with the Suite concierge. She took care of everything we needed including all of our dining reservations. It is cold for Southern California today. Seriously, today on deck shared more similarity with Alaska than Florida. Sailing out of the LA Port offers stunning scenery at sunset, but the deck outside was simply too cold to enjoy the view. The Suite lounge offers a fantastic view out of the wind and cold -- I enjoyed the sunset with a lively group in the lounge. We went to Izumi for dinner, and that did not go so well. We arrived at 6:30, got our drinks at about 7:15, sporadically received various food items from about 7:30 - 8:30, and finally finished dessert at about 8:45. Two plus hours for an Izumi dinner is a bit long for me, even with great company! For those interested, the nursery only allowed us to reserve 3 hours for the whole cruise. We took the time for tonight, and hopefully there room will open tomorrow. We will see. GD enjoyed herself, and did not want to leave. She loves the company of other tots! After Izumi, we loved the escape room. We managed to escape -- good thing, otherwise I could not write this too long post! We then enjoyed ice cream and music on the Royal Promenade. The guy in the bar played sing along songs and everyone in the full bar (spilling out the the Promanade) sang along -- great fun for all! Izumi was a bit of a disappointment, and one of the kids' rooms was not clean when they arrived. But, the room got cleaned during dinner, and dinner eventually ended. Other than these two minor hiccups, a great first day! I hope the temperature rises and the wind calms tomorrow. We will still have great fun, but we may freeze on our diving trip.

Three days out from out next sailing — four nighter to Mexico on the Navigator of the Seas. Much to do between tonight and Thursday, including a work trip to Atlanta and back to LA! We all live in Southern California, so it’s an easy trip (particularly if you do not need to travel to the other side of the country the day before). The itinerary is Catalina on Friday, Ensenada on Saturday, and sea day Sunday. Initially, we were 7 in three cabins, but we lost our high school Senior son, who has overcommitted his life at the moment. Thus, it will be hubby, two sons, two DILs, and GD (she is an adorable 2 year old). We started with a GS, a connecting balcony room, and a third balcony room down the hall a bit. With just above a minimum bid, the GS Royaled Up to an OS (happy dance) so we no longer have connecting rooms for GD. I’m speculating that GD will take over the OS. DIL is pregnant and not feeling awesome, which means more of GD for hubby and me! We are diving on Friday morning in Catalina and then doing a ropes course in the afternoon. GD and her mom and dad are doing the submarine. Saturday, adults are riding ATVs to a hot spring — we enjoy the ATVs, so it should be a fun day. The weather looks mild, so a good option for riding! I arrive back in California during the wee hours of Thursday morning, so I see an afternoon nap as the first onboard activity. We have the UDP for all. I emailed back to the Suite concierge for reservations, but no word back yet. We are looking forward to the trip! Hopefully, the internet works well enough to do this actually live!

I looked at that family Suite in mid-September. It was $68,000! For one week! That cabin is not in my future.

We have been to Labadee at least 4 times. It is simply beautiful. If you enjoy a day at the beach, it does not get much better. The coaster is great fun as is the inflatable water park. Other than reading these posts, I did not know that there was an artisans’ village selling stuff. Seriously, we missed it entirely and not on purpose!