wannabecruiseexpert

I felt like no one was talking and it was so quiet. There was another table with kids but they didn’t seem to be talking either. We’re just so used to talking about our day during dinner at home after work and school and it just felt awkward. We weren’t loud by any means but still….

Those sandwiches are really good! We’ve had tuna salad and chicken salad and some pesto thing so far. I’m with you on the simple food!

Day 3 (Cozumel) started with breakfast delivery from Coastal Kitchen and Starbucks I think we all like Johnny Rocket’s breakfast better. DD22 and her friend explores to port area, which equates to some drinking at Senor Frogs. DD14, her friend and I did a ship sponsored excursion swimming with dolphins. When we went to Cozumel in June on the Adventure sailing, we went to the same place but did the encounter. DD watched all of the people swimming with them and knew she’d want to do it the next time. The excursion included lunch and open bar. Rum punch was REALLY good and the kids quesadillas were very tasty. I had chicken nachos and they were just ok. But that’s ok because when we returned to the ship, it was snack time….

After dinner we had an adult comedy show scheduled that DH & I had to miss because the little one was really cranky and needed to go to bed. The 2 older girls had a great time so we will probably try and catch it another time. We also had our first towel animals, which are one of the kids favorite things on a cruise

Day 2’s dinner was at Central Park 150. I didn’t love it. I personally just didn’t care much for the atmosphere. Here’s some of the food. Fried cheesecake was amazing!

Agreed! I’m not going to weigh myself for a while when I get home

After lunch we walked around more and when we got back we had more snacks More sushi! Smitha is doing a great job sending assorted mixed drinks for the adults and virgin drinks for the kids. Earlier I said I don’t eat sushi but those fried things in the picture at about 10 o’clock were amazing. Anyone know what those are called? The night before, one of my kids asked if there was anywhere to get a pickle, and I told her I didn’t think so but I would find out. I asked on Facebook and they said maybe the Windjammer but everything was already closed so I asked Smitha the next day if there was anywhere and she said they have sliced pickles didn’t know about big ones but she would find out. Less than 10 minutes later the doorbell rings and we got this Smitha for the win!!

Yesterday started with breakfast on the balcony from Johnny Rocket’s. I was worried about the temperature of the food but it was still hot. Today was a sea day and our first formal night. The big kids roamed the ship and we took the little one to the pool. I haven’t noticed any capacity limits for the pool but they were enforcing a limit of 7 (or 8 ) on the circle current thing that makes you swim around in circles. Not sure what it’s called but it was really neat and after a a few minutes we were told to get out, even though there were no people waiting to get in. I’ll take pics of it later. For lunch, half of us went to Johnny Rocket’s and the other half went to Izumi for sushi. I don’t eat sushi but they said both the food and the service was great! Our waiter at Johnny Rocket’s began telling us all the prices and how shakes were extra and then I asked if it was included in star class and he was like, “oh you have a black card? Forget everything I just said” Told us we could order anything we wanted and as much of it we wanted and then told us we could take the chairs if we wanted Kids thought it was hilarious! It was also really great seeing the staff dance. DD6 got up and danced with them and it was so cute

There were a few cans of Dr. Pepper in the fridge. Not sure where she found them but the kids were extremely happy about that!

We had lunch at Sabor, which we ALL loved but the portions are huge. I had the chicken stuffed jalapeños and shared quesadillas with DD6. The staff was also really good, especially with the little one. There’s not many things she likes better than being called princess Dinner was at Coastal Kitchen. I’ve talked up the filet so much (after reading all about it here) that everyone other than DD6 got it and everyone loved it.

So getting on the ship was horrible! We arrive at 11:30 and didn’t get on the ship until about 1:20. It took forever to get the test result for the little one. Finally get the negative email and finish checking in and we had no clue if we were supposed to wait for Smitha or not. I ask someone if we’re supposed to be with our genie and they went and asked a different person who told them that Smitha had been there waiting for us. Once we got with her, she took us to our room which was full of snacks and drinks.

Tomorrow’s the big day! I can’t contain my excitement. This trip has been such a long time coming. 1 CVS test and 6 at home tests done and all negative. Our flight to MCO was Friday at 6. I saw on our FB group that cancellations were starting due to MCO halting flights in and out due to some bad storms. I saw 4 flights heading to MCO and 3 were either delayed or canceled. Ours said on time. We boarded and started moving, only for the pilot to say they were told we couldn’t land so we’re going to wait a while and they would update us in 30 minutes. Then another 30. After about an hour and half they had us get off and said they were trying to figure it out. I had no clue what I was going to do. The drive would have been about 8 hours and by this time it’s after 8 pm so I figured I better go ahead and start the drive. Decided to check one last time and by some miracle, they said we were allowed to land and we’d board again in about 15 minutes. We ended up landing about 11:30 pm. So many people are still having issues trying to get here! Now off to TRY and get some sleep and dream of an easy embarkation

Today's task - manage to somehow get something done at work before I leave. Not sure how successful I'll be This evening consists of DD6's test at CVS and then we also have to pack. Kids are mostly done and they are the hard part I did email Smitha yesterday and ask for an entertainment schedule and was told shows have been changing (which I knew from reading the boards) and she didn't have a confirmed schedule yet. Our original schedule she sent us has watching the aqua show from the balcony but kids want to watch from the seats so I'm trying to see what the best options are. Countdown: 1 day until flight ; 3 days until boarding

Thank you for following along! I'm currently in the....need to get 2 weeks worth of work done in 1 week....phase so being super busy at work is helping some. Did you hear anything about your royalup? I saw on the FB group that a lot of people got upgrades! I'm embarrassed to say that I know know ship lingo yet but we are in 10330. Thank you! I hope we have as much fun as you just did

Beautiful family! When I read 601 days, I was thinking....wow....that's a long ways off to be starting a live(ish) blog Everyone planning on dressing up for Halloween? We've never been on a holiday cruise but the pictures always look so fun!

So I guess the final week or so leading up to the big day is pretty agonizing. Other than figuring out transportation for everyone, everything is pretty much planned so it's a bunch of...hurry up and wait. Countdown: 7 days until flight ; 9 days until boarding

I've been semi-following the FB threads as well since we are on Oct 10. Hoping everything returns to normal soon!

I love the little note from the genie!

I was definitely surprised. That does make sense though to offer to others when bookings are down. The dates range from November through February. I may see if I can cancel one I have on another line in January and take one of these instead. This REALLY makes me want to move to FL though

On one of Matt's podcasts he mentioned that you can order food from snack shack in the beach club. He said something along the lines of...you can but I don't know why you would want to because the food is so great from the beach club. When we go next month I plan on getting funnel cakes at our cabana. I'm no help to the other questions.

I just received a complimentary cruise from the casino. My level is only Choice with barely 700 credits. I thought only Prime received comped cruises. I'm not complaining, just trying to understand why I got it. Any ideas?

Hope you're having an amazing time! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Before she sent this, I told her my older kids liked Dr Pepper and she said she would try but those are the options. I feel like she’s being strict but we’ll see

As things stand now, the only things that seem like they will personally affect us are we won't be able to eat at Izumi and won't be able to sit in the lower main seats at the shows in the main theater. We were looking forward to both of those but it is what it is. Kids club will be open.

How fun! I love reading the blogs that have little ones (Well I love reading all of these blogs but with a little one myself, I really enjoy reading how the kids enjoy everything). Only a few more sleeps!