Neesa

We are doing sail away from our balcony...I'm not a " crowds" person.

Ducking success, 1600hrs Central Park! I just took mine out of my carry on! Stateroom hosts very friendly, they were so happy when we told them we had no additional luggage. It's crowded right now, I took the stairs, I just could not get on those elevators...disgusting. From 5 up to 18, but I did take a break or two. Oh, I asked the Loyalty ambassador when I dropped off my crystal block request paperwork, 6,800 guests! Wow! Right now anyway you can feel it but I'm sure it won't be the same as the week goes on. Some more pics!

Cabash to the rescue! Enjoy these beautiful pics!

@WAAAYTOOO yes the balcony is much wider. Here are some C&A gift as well. Cabash took lots of pics of the sundeck on his device having trouble uploading those. Note in stateroom to fill out form and place on deck 6 in C & A mailbox to receive my block (210)

@OCSC Mike Vinay remembered you fondly, wishes you well. Yikes now the Captain is scolding people, just do the muster!!

While I'm no @twangster or @Lovetocruise2002 I have to thank them both for teaching me how to post photos. OMG still calling for people to do muster, ugh!!!

Okay our dessert was a cookie and ice cream, so sweet. Two thumbs up but I only had a quarter handed it to Cabash, I like sweet but this made me think about diabetes so delicious though. Some cabin picks, very clean and bright. Very organized. Lots of hangers, finally everyone unpacked. Enjoy! Our sea pass cards are ugly I think, so small but just my opinion. For the cost of the suites they should be Diamond color!! Crazy my DCL magnets stay on the door my Royal ones fall off

Some food porn, omg, @Lovetocruise2002 the chicken soup was amazing. The beautiful Oasis coming in for her port day! The shows for the week!

Some more pics from @CK

Not even giving boarding another thought, but I wanted to mention for anyone on subsequent sailings. Some pictures to start.

Some lounge pics! Freddie joined us on this sailing!

@OCSC Mike drive across the street uneventful. Embarkation was a bit of a weird one. I'm glad we know our way around the Terminal. The snaking line to enter was moving but I went to the side where they let the suites in and the girl didn't even know what sky class was. I asked someone else for the suites line and she let us in. Fairly short, up the escalators even as Sky class they said only Pinnacles & Star were allowed at that check in counter, where we always check in. So I thanked the lady and went where I knew we should go, all was well. The holding pen area is now only for Pinnacles and Star, we were made to wait with the 1030 General group....no biggie at all, just be aware. They told me the Wonder is so big they don't allow Sky there anymore. Not at all a problem, just something to know. We went straight to muster and now we are in #CK! Oh, boarding was really super quick, on the ship in about 10 minutes. Sadly I guess because it's big and we are early the ship is a bit dirty yet. Especially the floors, kind of a mess. Nice people today in the lounge!

Please allow me to introduce @Sharla [email protected] to this thread. She has been a phenomenal MEI TA as well.

@WAAAYTOOO actually I'm on 18, 1854 CLS. Im the Genie

@WAAAYTOOO yes! It's really clean and that's truly what matters. All the TV's are new and huge. The cabinets , countertops all seem upgraded. The girls at the front desk are accommodating and friendly. First time ever I'm happy to see expired for my RUB! Phew, no dog house for me. 29 bids and 1 win.

OMG @OCSC Mike no I'm so glad you told me this. Kiddo is nutzo for WaWa subs. The kids at her school always go, we just figured it was a bit of a ride so they wanted to have an outing. She begged this trip....please. please and we put the "cabash" on it. Well now I will try them for sure! I like speaking with staff I'm happy to say hi for sure when/if I am able. I didn't even realize i couldn't cancel my bid, I promise you his head will pop right off. He loves the deck 17/18 location as well, I'm pretty comfortable though there will be no RUB win in my future. I ghost booked Utopia today as a lot of cabins have since been released it seems. The price for the grand suite is up 1,000$ and there were two sky juniors that came in even higher then the grands on deck 6????? So with my C&A balcony/Suite savings as well as the silly kicker discount and the 30% I may just have purchased that cabin at a "decent" price. @Sharla is on this one so I know I am guaranteed for sure to be notified of a price drop....but I'm not expecting one at all. Our wedding anniversary is August 1 (1992) so I will RUB with gusto when that sailing comes along. He said this is my anniversary present, as well as birthday present, Christmas and so on an so on, lol!!!

Oh my RUB still says submitted, it's a minimum bid but after booking the super ridiculous priced Utopia yesterday IF I win the ability to pay more for the upgrade I might be begging for forgiveness. I'm not canceling it though, taheeheehee. The weather is good everywhere and the ship is sold out so I'm probably good, but canceling my chance just goes against my grain. Oops, oh, I forgot I did that, it was so long ago.

Just a quick update! Arrived safely in Cape Canaveral at the Residents Inn next to the port. This is a property we have stayed at before. I like that we have a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath plus little kitchen with large fridge. It is pricey coming in at 350.00 including taxes and 10.00 parking fee but we don't enjoy being on top of each other. We brought our cooler filled with our obligatory pre sail day pub subs and are just chilling tonight. The rooms are on the darker side but seem refurbished. I prefer a lighter and brighter property but it's only one night so it's fine. Lots of people here have Royal luggage tags on their things, looking forward to an enjoyable sailing tomorrow.

My parents are on this one, first time on Royal. @Sharla helped my family craft this 60th wedding anniversary celebration. Well I did my best & helped my dad and his wife the best I could. Sharla & Royal did the rest! I linked the reservations to my app & did it all, and it was a success! (I even sent pictures of terminal 5 & the parking deck, ) they were armed and ready. They are so happy right now...they loved the Hilton property I booked them in the night before. I secured them a early arrival & when they needed wheelchairs to navigate the terminal 5 ramp the terminal staff took great care of them I'm told. I was on the phone with them making sure they even checked in at muster. They LOVE their balcony cabin, they thinks it's so big with great storage! Cool who am I to differ? When they explained they were cold on the ship I explained how they could go sit out on deck. Dad is already reportedly 2 drinks in & they found the "jammers" oh how excited there was "so much food". I felt their joy it warmed my heart. The distilled water & extension cord wasn't in the cabin so I calmed them & explained it was still early but talk to the cabin steward as soon as he pops by. I explained the deck & table in the MDR situation and finally to place their phones on airplane mode! I'm still smiling because the excitement was priceless. It took a long time to arrive at this point but hearing them be so happy the only thing left is Bon Voyage! They are having so much fun, this is how Royal hooks the first timers for sure.

Me anticipating my next move...

That is what I imagined. I'm there for the experience for sure. I'm not expecting all to be up to snuff my days & nights will be filled with ducking,,,hiding & finding of course (I'm going to make special one's for sure) as well as photo bombing as many people as possible. I really don't care about cabin service, 4 nights no biggie at all. I'm doing #CK not MDR so that intimate venue should be fun. * But @twangster you are so funny! Cabash said & I quote..... "Let me get this straight, you want to sail 4 nights at DCL pricing so you can get a ballcap that they will be selling on the promenade the next week?" Scratches bald head, shakes it, sweats/swears & hands me the credit card while in a raised voice, NO MORE. Don't even ask, don't even think about asking. LOL sure honey, no worries....in the words of @Lovetocruise2002 YOLO I'm pretty sure this one we will just drive over from Tampa early that morning, but being D+ removes some of the sting. (no drink package)

For those who have sailed an inaugural, please educate me about the main differences...positives as well as negatives. I know @Sharla will snag any price drops, not holding my breath though. But one never knows.....and a huge huge plus is, she is also on this sailing so I get to meet her!!!

@WAAAYTOOO I agree with this, when I first saw the Utopia I thought um, wow this is DCL pricing (just leaving a 3/4 night on the Wish in a concierge cabin.) I thought wow, JL went over to their site to set Royals price! The consideration when booking took into account something someone else said here, in the grand suite we will have the suite lounge in addition to our D+ perks. I still have NO idea how I got Cabash to agree to it. Kiddo goes to college a few weeks later. We are enjoying the ship and not purchasing any extras, excursions etc. At that point it will make me feel the joy of being on an inaugural, just once as I have never experienced one before. This was the plan for Icon until I previewed the ship and realized for sure that wasn't the direction we wanted to go in. You are correct, the releases were spot on. The last I checked there were only a very few suites left on the July 22, 2024 sailing so clearly Royals plan worked, and worked well. I told Sharla though if the sailing is pushed to a later date then we will be out. I actually can't stand 4 nights but the 4 night is the reason I could pull it off.

@OCSC Mike I don't know how I did it clearly some voodoo magic but Cabash gave me the thumbs up for the inaugural 4 night. Sharla snagged me a cabin, yes it's pricy but as @Lovetocruise2002 taught me YOLO! I will be photo bombing all the bloggers. I'm going to hunt down Danny and ask him how tall he is again! Lol! Thanks so much @Sharla I have never done an inaugural before. The 4 night will be so quick, but at the DCL pricing I'm glad its only 4 days! Come on @OCSC Mike sail with us!