Jax

Vitality Spa The experience was much better this morning although the steam shower turned itself off again mid way through my steam. It was a quick fix once I alerted the staff. Given the limited amenities I have decided it’s best to return to our suite to shower.

Returning to Canada early Just prior to our flight to MCO, Canada issued a travel advisory on all non essential travel. We suspect further border restrictions and quarantine measures will be announced just after Christmas so we moved up our flight hoping to avoid them, returning home on Dec 27th instead of the 30th. It was a hard decision but ultimately it came down to Lindsay’s return date for work. He is in the film and television industry so working from home is not an option. He has to be available for work when the production resumes. There were some upsides; we can now use the shipboard PCR test results. We will have to catch the Margaritaville resort next time. We will enjoy our remaining days because when we arrive back in YYC it’s expected to be -32.

Shipboard PCR tests I can’t believe it’s time to do our onboard PCR tests tomorrow. Shane scheduled them for tomorrow morning at 8am deck 3 forward in conference center. He included our friends at the same time. He will accompany us to the testing center. They schedule guests requiring PCR tests first thing in the morning to ensure results are back.

BINGO Today was the first day Bingo was offered and the line ups were huge. Shane took care of getting us cards and dobbers and we were able to bypass that huge line and head right to the first row of the theatre. Our friend Robert was in that huge line but Shane quickly pulled him out of it. Shane truly is one of a kind. Once Bingo began it only took 30 minutes to get through the 3 games. We had lunch plans at Hibachi for noon but given the long ticket sales line Bingo was delayed until noon. Shane worked behind the scenes to reschedule us for 12:30 and spoke to the Bingo host about speeding the games along. #teamShane #genielife **Bingo was an unvaccinated activity held in the Royal Theatre so the Bingo host gently reminded everyone to wear their masks.

Thank you for all the tips. I am actually really looking forward to this one. I will encourage Lindsay to try the cucumber martini and report back. Haha

Photo package I learned once onboard that they have changed the photo package slightly. On formal nights they use to offer white backgrounds but now you have to purchase a private photo session in studio to get the white background. I purchased the 100 digital prints on the cruise planner but likely would have opted for a private photo session because our favourite background is the white one. I am going to go to Focus today to start selecting my 100 pictures as this process must be done while onboard.

Happy Christmas Eve Day everyone. It’s Day 6 already and it’s a sea day for us. I think Bingo may finally be offered today. Shane mentioned that it was only being offered on the final 2 sea days. We hope to do mini golf and maybe the flow rider. We are scheduled to eat at 150 Central Park for the first time and are really looking forward to Frozen on Ice. I am off to the relaxation room shortly and will report back.

Rising Tide Bar With the cancelled Aqua Showtime we decided to experience the Rising Tide Bar for the first time. It goes from deck 5-8 with stops on deck 5&8. I wasn’t sure if Reyd could join but Shane contacted his beverage manager and made it happen. Shane met us there; he is so good at always popping up.

Still to come: Airing of grievances and feats of strength.

Aqua Showtime (Encore) Postponed due to technical difficulties which Shane said was due to movement of the ship and water. It’s been rescheduled to Saturday night. Hoping the scheduling will work as their is OTS Christmas Showtime that night as well. It’s instances like this where having a genie is do helpful. I just know Shane will make things work.

Family Comedy - Paul Agato ️️️️️ You guys are probably wondering why I am giving everything 5 ️ Ratings but honestly everything has been outstanding. There really has not been a dining or entertainment experience (other than Cats) that hasn’t been worthy of this rating. This show didn’t disappoint. Holy smokes he was funny. It felt good to laugh for 45 minutes without a mask on and see other people do the same. **Once again masking on deck 4 in Royal Theatre is optional regardless of whether consuming a beverage. Masking is mandatory on deck 5 (unvaccinated) and parties are asked to socially distance.

Chops ️️️️️ Our selections looked much like they did the first time so I won’t repost a bunch of pictures. Always a great choice and one of our favorite specialty dining venues. We are eating their Christmas Day and weather permitting Shane is going to seat us outside. Honestly everything we have consumed throughout our cruise has been excellent.

Random photos of our trip to SXM.

This is kind of a funny story that mothers may relate to. Reyd and Lindsay were on the beach watching to video the planes. I was at the loungers watching our stuff. I swear it was mothers intuition but I look up as a large plane takes off and see this young person holding onto their hat and glasses running to stay upright as the jet blast pushed him into right the ocean. It took me a few seconds to realize it was my Reyd! He says the sand burn and heat blast is real. His legs are well exfoliated and burnt. Lindsay got caught up in it to a lesser extent but he went into protection mode and thankfully kept my iPhone 13 safe. At least they got their moneys worth. These will make for great stories when we return home.

Maho Beach Plane Spotting ️️️️️ We booked this excursions through the cruise planner. Shane met us in our suite and accompanied us to the meeting spot. It is about a 35 minute drive but that is dependent on traffic. Our return trip was closer to an hour. The amenities are very basic but we didn’t book the excursion for cabanas, attendants or any type of upscale experience. The objective was to experience lots of planes and boy did we ever! I stopped counting at 20 arrivals. Flights ranged from smaller private jets to larger flights from Delta, United and a 787 from Air France. When we arrived we booked 3 loungers with umbrellas for a coat of $10 per person. It was a good decision as it provided much needed shade. This was a great excursion but once is enough; we would try something new next time. You are instructed to wear masks as you board the bus but there is no enforcement. Several removed or lowered their masks. We had to put our stateroom # on a seating chart provided at the beginning. Likely for close contact purposes. They organize transportation for vaccinated and unvaccinated. We were on a vaccinated bus. On our return trip the guest sitting behind Reyd and I was sick to her stomach. I moved seats and hope it was just a case of too much sun or motion sickness. If there is a trick to uploading videos let me know; so far I have not had any luck. I have a couple good ones. Edited to add You Tube videos https://youtu.be/ewiSWOsB7ug https://youtu.be/a9DyvsW9_QE https://youtu.be/YNYvNtbZm4Q

Check out this ride beside us. The Flying Fox is reportedly owned by Jeff Bezos. Update: you and 25 friends can charter it for $4MM per week

Happy Festivus and good morning from St Maarten. Another start to a perfect day. I will check in with you later as we won’t have Wifi while on our excursion. Love these views from our deck.

We are in St Maarten tomorrow so follow along for our trip to Maho beach, Family Comedy, Aqua 80 Encore and more. Plus it’s Festivus!

Adult Comedy Club - Paul Agata ️️️️️ Reservations were required so Shane took care of this for us. At the last moment Shane expressed some worry over Reyd being admitted. We did not want to put Shane in an awkward position so Reyd and I stayed back while Lindsay, Robert & Tammy went. Lindsay said he was by far the funniest comedian he has seen in a long time. He hasn’t laughed that hard in a long time. There is a family version tomorrow night so Shane is adjusting our schedule to include this. **No masks required provided you had a beverage.

Random thoughts on room so far: I tried laying down for the first time and you can definitely hear music from deck 16 and possibly 15. (Pool area) Nothing a set of ear plugs couldn’t solve but certainly more noise than other suites we have stayed in. The lack of privacy in the bathroom is not a deal breaker as we were aware of the bathroom set up going into it and the privacy shades on the bedroom exterior windows address that issue. The storage in the master bathroom is impressive. There have been a few issues when we are all trying to get together for dinner with the master bath shower and makeover area setup but we found solutions. Not fond of the frosted bedroom and master bath doors but none of this would prevent me from booking this room again. The one level set up is preferred over the lofts and the room is beautiful.

More food! Genie delivery arrived this afternoon about 3pm. Love the festive strawberries.

Giovanni’s ️️️️️ Another 5 ️ Review. This was our first visit to Giovanni’s and it was a great dining experience. Sampled several items off the menu. Excellent service. Shane takes such great care of getting us settled at our table. Gnocci was a table favorite and tonight’s special was Alfredo sauce. I swear Shane made this happen as I mentioned how much I hoped Alfredo sauce was on the menu.

Omg yes! Haha Even with a mask on Shane’s facial expressions were so animated when he spoke of much better dining experiences than WJ.

I haven’t reported much on our breakfasts. Mostly because we are trying to pace ourselves when it comes to food, so breakfasts are light Lol Reyd and I went to CK the last 2 mornings; service was very fast and food was excellent. We were in and out within 30 minutes. Lindsay isn’t as convinced about CK and this morning grabbed something at the peoplejammer. His words “it was a zoo”, long lines”. Shane is all about experiences so he tried to steer Lindsay & Robert away from WJ. He will be mortified when we tell him. Lol