Jax

Yes, in my initial attempt to narrow down my favorites to 5 I had 9. She said as long as they are under 10 they are included.  Who knows with Royal if it’s a ship of fleetwide policy. 

Sorry, I meant Johnny Rockets. My bad.  We love Playmaker's and really miss it on HM. Such good food and vibes.  

Never had a Chops burger for obvious reasons but we really like the Playmakers burgers.
As the resident WJ fan, I’d be grabbing Sabor too (when not eating sushi).

Lindsay and Reyd were going to do the rock climbing with our friends.  Berty was in our suite at the time and mentioned that there is no star class priority between 1-4. Lindsay was like “no problem” but Berty and I knew it would be a problem.  But off they go and return 5 minutes later saying “the lines are huge” 🤣 Hopefully they can catch it another time.  

Holy smokes I knew it was hot but wow. 36C

It’s absolutely beautiful today so eating lunch on the patio seemed like a great idea.  My goto is the Chop burger. So much better than Johnny Rockets. The boys planned on WJ but after the alpha alpha alpha grabbed the dog house and Sabor. They talk a good WJ game but they have yet to actually go. 🤣 I told them to take a picture.  

Private Photo Shoot 
This happened last night with pictures taken in the studio and by the Boardwalk. I reviewed the pictures this morning and made my selections. Regular price is $499.99 and I paid $199.99 via cruise planner sale.  5 pictures are included.  I didn’t have high expectations; my hair and the humidity was awful. I brought the wrong dress shoes for Reyd 😬 IYKYK. I thought there would be more pressure to upgrade but nope.  So@Lovetocruise2002 I did not upgrade.  As long as I kept my favorites to under 10 they were included on the USB.  I need to go back tonight and get the pics airdropped as we don’t have a device with USB ports.  I will post a few when I get them.  
 

An hour and a half...they have increased that. Hopefully, all ships are doing that.

Star Class Flowrider session 8:30-10am. 
I totally forgot about the star class session so my trip to the thermal suite was delayed.
This session worked out great! I know it’s a hot topic but Lindsay definitely got lucky with only a couple star call guests there. He actually had more time on the flowrider this morning than he did in our private session yesterday. Shortly after our arrival it was just him and another man. Lindsay earned his white band for stand up!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 
 

Good morning from somewhere in the Gulf. The view may look the same as yesterday but it definitely feels different. Way more humidity. 😬 My hair!! 😩 
Will check back after my steam. 

I love waking up to morning GIFs from Berty ❤️ #itsthesmallthings
Christmas Day 

This morning 

Let’s catch up. 
Lunch was at Izumi’s. We tried all our favourites; dumplings, udon noodles, California rolls, spicy shrimp and crispy tuna.  It was all really good.  I have noticed service has been a bit off.  Servers distracted, rushing around and looking overwhelmed at times. I imagine the full ship is a factor. 

Supper was at Chops.  It was very busy in there and it showed in service and food quality.  I was doing recon on the holiday menu and noticed a surf and turf option with champagne.  
The sides and my lobster were lukewarm, my ribeye was just ok. The server took my baked potatoe and replaced it. You know it’s bad when the butter doesn’t melt.  It was all ok but we felt rushed. In and out in under 75 minutes is not the norm.  Berty said he hasn’t seen Chops that busy and will pass my feedback to the manager.  

Christmas Cake 
Another cake ❤️❤️ Even if we don’t eat them all, I always enjoy trying a slice. 

Sailaway/Graduation Celebration 
The sun came out and it turned into one of our best sailaways.  We celebrated Reyd and Michael’s upcoming graduation.  ❤️  The in room appies were perfect and the best part, I didnt have to do any planning. Great way to start our cruise.  

Lunch Jaime’s 
Because the weather was overcast we opted to dine in at Jaime’s. We tried a sampling of appetizers, Caesar salad, the chicken sandwich and penne pancetta Alfredo pasta. It was nice to see some familiar crew faces from last year. Food was good as always.  
 

Suite Decorations 🎉🎓
Berty decorated the suite with a variety of pictures of us. It took us a moment to ask him “how did you find these”. Well, he was resourceful and pulled them from Facebook. 🥰
 

ATS #9730 
We were in #8730 last year so the set up of the room is essentially the same. A slightly smaller eating area, different closet configuration in the master bedroom and access to the deck via 1 door instead of 2. The large deck is definitely a highlight of the room. 

We are onboard! 
We woke to a partly overcast day but no rain! Lindsay dropped us off at 9:15 and was back by about 9:45am after dropping off the car rental.  The terminal could not be accessed until 10am but thankfully it wasn’t raining. The terminal genie met us just before 10am and we were through security and in the terminal lounge in minutes.   Berty met us around 10:15am, took us to the suite lounge for about 5-10 minutes before he brought us to our suite.  More on the suite later.  Luggage arrived by 11am. 🙌🏻 This is the first time we have had a repeat genie and we feel so lucky we get to spend the week with him.  
📸 Pano from our deck. It’s a flurry of activity below us as truck after truck unloads supplies.   

IYKYK ❤️❤️

Throughout the day the suite is cold but during sleeping hours Reyd and I have both woke up sweating.  So now I am beginning to wonder 🤔

Star Class Flowrider session 8:30-10am. 
I totally forgot about the star class session so my trip to the thermal suite was delayed.
This session worked out great! I know it’s a hot topic but Lindsay definitely got lucky with only a couple star call guests there. He actually had more time on the flowrider this morning than he did in our private session yesterday. Shortly after our arrival it was just him and another man. Lindsay earned his white band for stand up!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 
 

Alpha alpha alpha deck 16 WJ. 
This is the first time I have heard an alpha alpha alpha. 

Alpha alpha alpha deck 16 WJ. 
This is the first time I have heard an alpha alpha alpha. 

Good morning from somewhere in the Gulf. The view may look the same as yesterday but it definitely feels different. Way more humidity. 😬 My hair!! 😩 
Will check back after my steam. 

I love waking up to morning GIFs from Berty ❤️ #itsthesmallthings
Christmas Day 

This morning