Va4fam

Absolutely!  Buc-cees business headquarters is not far from the southwest point of Galveston Island in a town called Lake Jackson.

It appears there are a few in the area, but definitely one along the freeway. I remember passing it this summer and thinking what is that massive place?!?? 🤣

Yes there is, but there's extensive road construction on the freeway out front. It's reasonably accessible southbound, but don't try it northbound. 

If it’s refundable OBC it will go back to your card on file if you don’t use it on the cruise. 

I always like to save my OBC for on the ship. Because all you see before you are on the ship is pre-cruise purchases, I think of  "to spend on pre-cruise purchases" as available to spend on pre-cruise purchases (but also available to spend on during-cruise purchases). 

@Cactus527....thanks for response.   We booked multiple dining and excursions but had excursion cancelled by Royalthat gave us a big credit.   The "Pre Cruise" part is what made me nervous that it had to be spent before the cruise.   Might be a good time to try a Flow Rider Surf lesson, or sign up for another round at Chef's Table.

You can use it for all of the things that you have listed. That money is redeemable before the cruise as well as on board. Most of the time, though, it will just disappear if you do not use it at the end of your cruise (you can't get the money to take with you). I suggest you hop on the Royal Caribbean cruise planner and start booking things that you would like to do/have with that credit. Enjoy your cruise!

No cruise in January for me, but check-in opens Jan 30 for my next cruise so I'm relishing in that.

18th-Va4fam (Anthem)

Day time activities:
The activities schedule was jam-packed on the cruise and I got the chance to go to many of the activities. I was happy that they had a Captain's Corner unlike on Harmony in August, and it was a good Q&A/info session with Captain Per. Some of my party liked the dance classes and enjoyed the team who led them. I didn't participate but I did observe a few trivias and bingos, they were pretty good. Some of the trivia is a bit beyond me. I'm not religious so did not attend but some of my party are Catholic and appreciated having midnight mass on Christmas. I unfortunately missed World's Sexiest Man as it was moved time at the eleventh hour due to bad weather, shame as I reckon it would have been fun. Belly Flop however was one I did attend and that was great, Ricky definitely brought great energy to the proceedings and we had a nice variety of contestants (including the first ever female contestant who I'd seen do it)
Evening entertainment:
This is a bit of an N/A category for me as I rarely see headliner shows and usually stick with aqua & ice shows, neither of which are on this ship. I missed the Two70 shows but they look cool. I did however love the theme parties & game shows. This was my first time attending the Quest (held in SeaPlex), not sure why it took so long but I'm glad I finally went as it was pretty epic, and about as risqué as they could get. Some of those team captains are crazy! Love & Marriage is always a hit with me, possibly not the most exciting participants that I've seen but Ricky kept it entertaining. As for the parties, they were hit and miss - 80s would have been a hit but was a miss because of the venue (Music Hall), felt like a nightclub and the room was too loud/crowded for me to stay in despite an enthusiastic staff & audience. 70s OTOH was great, held in the much more spacious Two70 and was so much fun, with the perfect CD to lead it (more on that later).
Things to do:
I hate making reservations and try to keep my onboard account as low as possible so no North Star again (at least did it once on Anthem though). I did do Bumper Cars on the last day and that was always great fun, though I was able to avoid colliding for the most part. I will note that the SeaPlex can get pretty crowded, and we were surrounded by some queue skippers (being from the UK, that is a total no-no). I don't usually do Rock Wall or FlowRider but did notice that the SkyPad is now redundant, I wonder what they'll do with that space when she goes to drydock in 2 years, I was thinking a waterslide? Most of my afternoons were spent in the Solarium and that was my happy place on this ship.

Included..it's calling your liquor brand. You can do that with any drink you order..you don't have to go with the house brand.

Northern Europe/Norway, Panama Canal, and Japan are on our bucket list.
But being able to travel with loved ones every year is the best reward.

Northern Europe/Norway, Panama Canal, and Japan are on our bucket list.
But being able to travel with loved ones every year is the best reward.

We were on Anthem for Christmas 2019 and it was wonderful! (Aside from the fact that my husband had covid before we knew what covid was.) As others have said, the ship was beautifully decorated. There was an ugly sweater-themed event one night and the cruise director's staff were all decked out - along with lots of passengers. There were even some passengers dressed as the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who! There were multiple opportunities to have pictures with Santa, and Santa was there on Christmas morning. I took small decorations to put on our door & in our room - cheapy things that I could throw away at the end of the week, but it made it feel more festive.
Definitely lots of large family groups & lots of kids. But, I think a cruise is what you make of it. We expected it to be kid-filled given it was the holidays, so we didn't let it get in the way of our fun. Personally, I think it is the absolute best way to spend Christmas and would do it every year if I could.

We got the same.  Total surprise and very nice.

I’m on Adventure. Last night the singers, dancers, and ice skaters put on a Christmas show on Studio B. This morning all the kids were invited to Studio B to visit Santa.  We got there and they had a list of all kids on the ship - each child got a gift. All 5 of mine are 10-17 years old, and got a nice big Royal Caribbean Beach towel. 
Everyone has been so kind, other guests  are handing out goodie bags to the kids and are making it so special. 

We got the full RC travel kit last year. Two toiletry bags, backpack,  tote, and something else I think. Maybe a cooler bag

We're on Adventure 12/22 - 30 and we received these beautiful beach totes and two towels for Christmas! What a treat!

Themed Christmas Eve meal...yes! 
Towel animals...yes! Displays on every floor on Christmas Eve. 
Live Christmas music in the Esplanade (I didn't see a singalong but there definitely could have been one we missed)
I do remember Christmas themed drink specials. 

I am not sure about a ginger bread house making activity but some ships will have a gingerbread house TOWN set up at the entrance to Windjammer.
 

Great responses everybody.  
We thought of matching holiday shirts, ugly sweaters, and santa hats.
Didn't think about stockings or door decorations---great ideas.
Understand that passenger mix can influence the overall experience.....what about Royal, what types of things do they do?
Sing-a-longs?  Special Christmas themed meals?   Egg nog is a given, what about other Holiday themed drinks?
Gingerbread house making?
Any special towel animals?
Christmas trivia?
Does the crew dress up in Holiday outfits?
 
 
 
 

We often cruise during the holidays and we are again this year.  I have to say, this has been the best holiday cruise ever...so far...and I have no reason to believe it will not continue.  We had a number of friends sailing with us this year and have run into new old friends that we didn't expect to see.  I have had a wonderful few days.  Looking forward to the rest of the 2 weeks with the same anticipation.

It's funny, we sailed over Christmas last year and didn't really like it because there were so many first time cruisers (like 70%) and despite RC doing a fantastic job with the Christmas vibe, the ship felt quiet and alone due to a lot less intermingling of passengers.
 
But we decided to book one next year anyway, mostly due to getting a great price, and, well Christmas on a cruise is still better than Christmas in the cold.

Anthem had a fantastic special Christmas show in the theater last year on Christmas Eve (or was it Christmas Day?). I also loved the pop-up brass concerts in the Esplanade, the egg nog (both of the "adult" and non-version), the hot cocoa stations, the Christmas cookies in the Facejammer, the special events (including a Santa meet/greet), the decorations, etc. We cruised last week on Anthem and none of this (other than the decorations) took place so it must just be for cruises over the holiday itself. 
Lots of decorated Christmas cabin doors on both cruises...we brought battery-operated lights for extra pizzazz 😄

Our family did several Christmas cruises over the years.  It was the easiest way to enjoy the season with high school and collage-aged family members.  Nobody has to cook, clean, or worry about being the designated driver.  My wife is the planner and enjoyed working with everyone to decide what theme we would do.  We've done funky Christmas ties, ugly sweaters, Santa/Elf hats, and matching flannel pj's, all captured in pictures by RCL's photography team.  Doors decorations and magnetic hooks for hanging stockings in the stateroom are must have items.