DJsMrs

I literally can't take it... 45 days out and I can barely wait to have our first Star Class experience.   I know, I know, 45 days - why blog now?  Why so early?   I have to vent some of this energy, and I've seen some other blogs start a smidge early which has assuaged my angst about jumping the gun!
I'm inspired by some great writers on this blog (fellow Canadians included!), so thank you for some great reviews providing inspiration.
A little about our crew.  Hailing from beautiful (albeit very wet lately) Vancouver, BC it'll be me (Alison), my DH and 2 boys (ages 9 and 11).  We've been on 7 cruises to date, most recently in a 2BR Grand Suite on a 9 night Anthem Bermuda/Caribbean out of NJ, a 1BR Grand suite on Oasis 7 night Eastern Caribbean, and a Boardwalk Balcony also on Oasis 7 night Eastern Caribbean.   We booked this cruise December 2018 wile on Oasis... but it wasn't in a star class - that came about 7 months later.   We are sailing with one of my best friends and her two boys (ages 6 and 12).  They've never been on a cruise and I cannot wait to "sea" and Oasis-class ship for the first time again through their eyes.  Plus they get star class on their first experience - it's doing to be a doozie!
We initially booked this cruise in a CLS last December when we were on Oasis for our family.  We then convinced our friends to come along and they booked an ocean view balcony about a month later.  We had a bit of trepidation about travelling with peeps who weren't in a suite as the suite lounge and CK are both a big part of our cruises when we're in a suite.  Afternoon reading and drinks in the suite lounge is a real treat for us and we love it.  Fast forward to July of 2019 and DH noticed a 2BR Aquatheatre suite is available on the website.  It was right after the itinerary change was announced (lost St. Kitts to San Juan - mega bummer) - so we inquired with our travel agent.  There was a definite price increase, but when weighed against all the Star benefits we decided to bite the bullet and we merged everyone into one room.   None of the kids know - and it's been the hardest secret to keep.  I have said to my boys a few times "wouldn't it be fun if we were all in the same room -  maybe we can have the other boys over for a sleepover one night...  too bad they're not on the same deck as us... etc."   I can't wait to board and all go to the same room - hopefully they're half as excited as I am.
We've also had angst about travelling Dec 8 rather than waiting for the Christmas school break.  Not because we are worried about them missing a week of school (I know - we're terrible parents!), but because both boys play hockey and my youngest son is the sole goalie on his team.  Ugh.  We obviously didn't know he'd be the lone "tender" on his team when we booked or we may not have, but c'est la vie.  Luckily I'm co-managing the team and will attempt to reschedule any games for before we go or after we get back.   My husband also plays on a senior men's team as their lone goaltender - so hopefully we can find backups or reschedule games for him too.  Having said that, I will be ready for a break come December, it's been a literal gong show this season managing three players and getting everyone to games, practices, and development sessions, and we're only a month in!
Feeling like I've let some energy go ...  will update as the nerves and excitement to build.
 
 
 

Awesome thanks so much, same here with our 10 year old she’s picky lol

All the specialty dining restaurants offer a kids menu.  Bon Appetit!

Adrenaline beach is often quite windy - and I understand can be rocky.  Columbus cove has lots of trees, shade, chairs, sun, food and bars nearby, it's sandy and the water is super calm (the three times we've been).   But you could do 1/2 day at one, and 1/2 day at the other for a nice change of scenery ?

Nellie's Beach and Columbus Cove are both free and also have complimentary loungers; they also have softer sand / no rocks in the water (unlike Adrenaline Beach, where water shoes are mandatory if you're going in the water). You have to walk pretty much all the way to the far end of the main path to get to Nellie's Beach, and Columbus Cove is all the way at the end. But Columbus is also usually the least-crowded because no one wants to walk that far! ?
Nice thing about being at either beach is that you're also reasonably close to the alpine coaster and have a bar in between the two beaches.

We have two more booked after this ??‍♀️??

Even booking is addictive.   We have three more Star class booked after this and seven on ships that don't have Star class.  I need to delete Royal out of my phone, I feel like I book a new cruise everytime there is a new sale.

We have two more booked after this ??‍♀️??

We have two more booked after this ??‍♀️??

We have two more booked after this ??‍♀️??

You are going to be spoiled.  I understand how waiting feels like eternity as we had to wait about 11 months between our last cruise and our September 1st cruise due to pregnancy (can't cruise after 24 weeks pregnant) and waiting for the littlest one to turn six months.  Once we got on board... or rather, once we met the genie in the terminal, we realized how much the wait was worth it.  Just keep yourself busy with blogs and youtube vlogs, and it will be here before you know it.

We’re in that exact room Dec 8 - super excited to follow along!!

I have always been "colorful" and not one to follow the beaten path. I have had a couple occasions  where staff had to ask me nicely to stop fishing off my balcony. This time I decided to go a slightly different direction. Brought my daughter to Coco Cay when she was about seven and came up with a "good way" to spice her trip up some. I brought her to the little shallow beach away from the popular snorkeling one to do some "special snorkeling". Being a fisherman and diver over the years I developed a collection of old galleon "pirate coins". brought one along tucked in my waist band. The water on that south beach was maybe knee deep, sand bottom and of course gin clear. We were maybe thirty yard from shore and I tossed the coin out in front of us without her seeing... I nudged her and kept her on course to "find" it... I remember her making noises through her snorkel when she "found" it.  
"Daddy its a pirate coin!" Wow was she excited! Mission accomplished  (or so I thought). We exited the water and she ran off showing the coin to every person she saw. Before I knew it,  the other areas emptied out and we were "joined" with a couple thousand "treasure hunters"... She's 27 this year and getting married. I had that coin set and unbeknownst to her I will make it available for her to wear when I walk her down the aisle... ?

October 9, 2019.
Back from the wasteland of being land locked, I'm writing this from Majesty's VCL.
Rather than creating a whole new thread I'll just revive this one.
IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!
This booking started as a Cuba booking departing on Oct. 14.  As it turns out that wasn't going to be so to drown my sorrows I added the Oct. 9 cruise.  Very recently (last week) the Oct. 19 sailing was very inexpensive.  I looked at Southwest and could change my return flight for a $2 credit.  So... YOLO, this has become a B3B.   When you can book a Royal Caribbean cruise at these rates it's hard to say no.
5 nights to Mexico, 5 nights to the Bahamas and 4 nights to the Bahamas.
Cozumel, Costa Maya.  Key West, Nassau.  Key West, Nassau.  
I've managed to book the same cabin for the first two legs but change cabins for the 3rd.
We embarked at terminal 19 in Port Everglades today.  Arriving to the terminal at 10:21am I was on board at 11:01am after a short wait in the terminal.
I'm going to be lazy from this point forward, only posting when it's blog worthy.  
Cabins are almost ready, time to go...

+1 for seeing the rest of your adventure!! 

I have noticed some people have concerns about digital passes and systems failures, etc. when choosing that option. But please remember problems that can arise when making the choice to use paper:
1. Paper can get wet. When wet, information on the form can "bleed" causing it to be difficult to read. Keep the paper away from sweating bottles of water, and of course rain, snow and heavy fog. Also wet paper becomes weakened and easily torn. See #2, next.
2. Paper can tear. Treat your printed boarding pass with respect and keep it dry. Also, excess opening and closing of a folded form can cause a weakened fold seam which could cause an unwanted rip. Don't constantly do this every day for weeks or months prior to your cruise just to look at it. Examine the paper for weakness prior to putting it into use. 
3. Dogs will eat your SetSail Pass. Canines are notorious for consuming valuable documents. Many times I was unable to provide my teacher with mandatory homework because my dog ("Sarge", God Rest His Soul) made it a late night snack, I swear.
4. Paper is vulnerable to the wind. We have all seen paper blowing around the streets of our neighborhoods at one time or another. This is usually the result of someone not grasping a piece of paper in a controlling manner. Always keep a firm grip on any printed paper when windy conditions are prevalent. Of course it can at times be amusing watching someone chasing a piece of paper in the wind. Don't be that person.

Not all drawbacks to paper have been listed here but by remembering these tips when choosing the paper option it can result in an enjoyable and pleasurable cruise experience.

I'll note that if you have the app installed, it does allow you add your Set Sail passes into your phone's digital wallet (e.g., the Wallet app on iPhones). Once added there, you do not need to open up the app at all to show the passes, and even if the app is misbehaving that day you still have the passes available from that virtual wallet. Process is pretty easy, I'll give the steps for iPhone but should be nearly identical on Android:
From the Royal app, tap on the profile icon at the top of the screen; it's the right-most icon in the row with a ship, calendar, and person Tap "View SetSail Pass" Tap "Add to Apple Wallet" on the first pass in the set; you'll be asked if you want to add all the passes, or review and select which to add Choose Add All to add the whole set Choose Review to go through and pick just one (if, say, you just want your personal pass on the wallet, while everyone else puts their passes on their own phones) You'll be taken to the Wallet app, where you'll see the newly added passes; they will not look like they do in the Royal app (mine show up with a dark blue background instead of the gold I see in the app), but will still have all the relevant info for name / deck / room / drink package marker / etc Tap "Done" to return to the Royal app To verify the cards are there in your Wallet, do the following:
Start off with your phone locked / dark Access the wallet from the lock screen by double-pressing the home button (iPhone 8 and earlier) or the sleep/wake button (iPhone X and newer) The Wallet view will come up with your default card in full view and the other cards it saved in a compact stack at the bottom Tap on the stack to scroll through the full set of credit cards, store cards, etc until you see your saved Set Sail pass(es) Remember they're not the same color as before If you saved all the passes, you'll only see one item in the "stack", not one for each of the saved passes Tap on the pass to bring it fully into view from the "stack" If you saved multiple passes, you can now view them all by swiping left/right When you're ready to check in, just repeat the above steps and you're good to go!
NOTE: I added my passes way back when they first became available in the app, but when I was going through this write-up I found they were no longer there; Wallet deletes passes it considers "stale", and app updates might trigger this. So if you want to add them ahead of your embarkation, make sure not to do it too far ahead and to re-check they're still there before you leave for the port.

Second the rental car.   We’ve used national and had great experiences.   Also - if you have the rental gives you a bit of freedom to stop for last minute provisions of the need arises.  

After 45 minutes in the water we were given some turkey wraps, chips and water or local fruit juices.  We were getting ready to leave when a pair of dolphins visited.






On the ride back to Maui more dolphins came by.



Pretty cool seeing them up close like this.

wow - the floating cabanas are 2,300 CAD for our April 2021 cruise.  That's a hard no.  Pretty sure there will be a sale... but hard to justify for 4.   And will you actually be able to use the slide into the water?  The water levels look super low around that "floating" bar and I'm guessing the cabanas will be at a similar depth or distance from shore.    Time will tell.

Wind chill, plus I wear gloves in Canada.  Those July 1st celebrations are known to cause frostbite.

Finally it was time for the main event.

  As the sun dropped lower it reappeared from behind the clouds.





It was pretty magical and soulful.  
With that it was time to regain feeling in my frozen fingers so we boarded our bus for the drive to our restaurant just over an hour away. 

Home is Tel Aviv , Israel

5:00 am - works for me!

Flight is on time.  ? Won at gate roulette.  Gate changed from 90 (ass end of nowhere) to gate 61 (stumbling distance from a variety of places that serve alcohol).  Next up: IAH (Houston) layover.  If there's an airport I hate with a burning passion, it's IAH.  80% chance of it being a cluster-f*ck.  I'll be brave and wear my big boy pants.