CruzOnBye

This is amazing, thank you for taking us along, I'm VERY intrigued by this one! Such an amazing experience. 

As I sit here in my hotel room waiting, staring out at the picturesque Andes mountains, I have found the inbound aircraft bringing guests from the Silver Wind back to Santiago in the FlightAware app.
Just as we will do in 18 days, they first had a refueling stop in Punta Arenas.


They are back in the air now on the way to Santiago where they will spend a night before flying home.

It seems they are about halfway here.

 
Come on pilots, push those throttles forward... IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!

Silversea included the hotel stay in my fare both pre-cruise and post-cruise.  For this occasion they used the Mandarin Oriental in Santiago.  




The view with the Andes mountains in the background.

 

I chose to book my own airfare for this trip.  Flying a Delta booked ticket on a codeshare flight operated by LATAM airlines.  This is my second time flying LATAM but first time in their business class.  It was an overnight flight from Miami to Santiago so the lay flat bed was a welcome feature.  The plane is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a relatively new aircraft.

Meal service was good and there were no hiccups with the flight.
Arriving into Santiago there was a twenty five minute queue for immigration then I was officially in Chile.
There were Silversea representatives waiting for guests who booked their air through Silversea for an included transfer service.  Since I booked my air direct I used a taxi to the hotel that cost $28,000 CLP.  This posted to my US credit card at $32 USD.  The taxi driver had a credit card terminal in his car.   

To be fair I don't know how "live" this will be as I am not expecting a normal satellite internet experience given the latitude and proximity to the South pole.  It may be that I work on this thread not so live but we will have to see.  

❤️❤️ I don’t remember getting this in past years. 

Being able to actually see out of your rear view mirror is overrated.

Earlier today.  
Just in case there is an award for the most luggage on RCBlog I want this documented. 😆 
5 large 🧳, 1 roller carryon, I travel bag, 2 back packs for  👨‍👩‍👦
 
 

So why after 7 cruises with the DW, 5 of which included our son, would I suddenly decide to go out solo? 
Well there are a few reasons and a whole passel of excuses. However one that had to be satisfied in booking this cruise was moving up to Diamond level. 
We sit at 78 Points with all but 7 being with both of us on board together. She did a 7 night with the Texas Eastern Star Chapter without me. (She is still up one trip to Alaska on me in places we have gone.)  So I figure with me pulling 10 points for this cruise however RC does the math we should be Diamond for our Thanksgiving cruise this fall. This is where the nuts meet the bolts in the whole scheme of things. 
I don't drink but the DW does. Usually one or 2 cocktails a day on a cruise and less at home. We also like a few fancy coffees during the day and I like several of the mocktails served aboard. (the Blueberry Nojito is my favorite with dinner) So what happens is we call up customer service and get her the Deluxe drink package  and me the refreshment package. It's not too hard to do and if the operator you get says they can't just hang up and call back the next CSR will likely know what to do. The catch is most of the time you get full price for both instead of the promotionals going on. You might get partial discounts if you ask nicely but it usually ends up full retail for each one. 
So back to me on this particular cruise. My cruise fare for this wave season trip in an interior cabin is less than the combined cost of a Deluxe and a Refreshment for the cruise in November. So at diamond we can get _just her_ a refreshment and use our drink vouchers for all else. Bonus: the boy gets vouchers too for his hot chocolates and power ades! (he does not drink soda at all). Now I will have extras on this trip, internet, mocktails and a shore excursion or so along with a bit of shopping. I have to set that money aside for my self from OT checks and such for anything past the cruise itself  and none of it comes out of our travel funds we set aside. That's the deal and I am sticking to it. 
Add in a little scheduling around work, PTO, school, Scouts, Birthdays, and family holidays and this is the cruise that fit the bill! 

All that talk of alpha alpha alpha over on @asquared17 blog became a reality for us last night. Oh boy it was a crazy final night at home.  I feel ok posting about it now that I know my dad is ok. Without getting into too much detail, we were over at my parents for supper and shortly after our arrival  my dad had a health emergency causing us to call 911.  After many tests it was determined it was a side effect of new medication he just started taking. He is back at home this morning and doing well.  We are so grateful for this news; I had thoughts of it being much worse. It was scary for everyone but more so for our son Reyd. I have told our family no more health emergencies while we are away!! My heart and mental state can’t take it! 

Thanks for the reminder of how thankful I am to be a guy with very short hair who is content with his pale-ness & lack of nail regimen & fortunate enough to live an hour from port.
The planning & packing some of you do for the Caribbean (you also have a land portion at least) rivals our prep for our 18 days in Alaska back in 2018, lol.
More power to you. Safe travels. And congrats on not going full Oompa-Loompa!

they did indeed and the dancers were great!!! 

The million dollar question that everyone wants to know…… Did they still blast “It’s a peerfeect daaaaayyy at coco caaaaaayy” and completely ignore the fact that it in fact was not a perfect day?

(chorus of people) "Hi Peggi"

The Itinerary:
Sailing from Port Canaveral
Jan15th-20th: Mariner…...Ports: Cozumel and PDCC
Jan 21st to 28th: Wonder…. Ports: ST. Maarten, San Juan, and PDCC
Jan 29th to Feb 2nd: Allure……Ports: Nassau and PDCC
Post/Pre-cruise Hotel: Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Port Canaveral, FL Jan 20th and the 28th.
Flights: AA and SWA. I am only flying AA but my mother and brother had SWA vouchers to use. So they both will be flying SWA home. I booked them GoPort transfers on disembarkation day as rideshare is often $75+ from PC to MCO.
I did well from a financial point on these cruises. I do and don’t count my casino losses. Since I am going to gamble, as opposed to going on excursions, it is often factored in the cost of entertainment for me.
All of these cruises are casino in nature. I also did the math and what I paid for all three cruises combined, is less than the current cost of a balcony for 3 on Mariner for the dates I am sailing. Another reference: the cost of a 7N interior for two for September of 2024 on Icon is more than what I paid for all these cruises, the add-ons……and flights. My grand total for all three cruises was $2528 before flights and add-ons……and that is 16 days of cruising.
The Mariner cruise was booked with a $300 off certificate I earned on my Odyssey 2022 sailing. I booked a gty balcony that was about $1800 with taxes fees and gratuity. The “you pick” was almost $400 more, if the price was within $100, I would have preferred to pick my own. But I paid $1576 for three people, making it only $106/n pp. I checked in and did the barcode trick, my eMuster is B11 and it tentatively states I have been assigned room 6250. That is forward/border of middle. I prefer aft cabins but I will pretty much stay anywhere as long as I cruise.
The Wonder cruise is my annual free cruise for being prime and all I paid were taxes, fees, and gratuity. I love the VB interiors, so I think I paid like $32 to upgrade to one of those rooms. My total was only $561 for two people, making it only $40/n pp. I chose my room, and it is 10454, which is also forward. I have never been on this ship, but it seems like all the VB interiors are forward because I kept checking, hoping for an aft cabin to open and it never did. To be honest, if was my choice, I would only ever stay in VB interiors. They are my favorite room type: the decent price of an interior with that light feeling of a balcony, without losing out on precious AC.
The Allure cruise was an add-on that was won on my Freedom cruise in April to make prime for 2023/2024. I am in an OV balcony 14274, which is aft. My total for this one was $167, making it $42n/pp. The Allure cruise has $250 freeplay and $50 OBC for booking with Next Cruise. Both. the Mariner and Wonder cruise were part of the Premier pass fiasco, so I got $100 extra OBC for both.

I have titled this as my 3. 2. 1 cruise for a lot of reasons. The top being that the first of the three cruises have 3 people, the second has 2 people and the last cruise is just one. So it is a countdown. The numbers themselves are also significant for other reasons. This is my third annual S2S+, the third time it takes place in Jan, and will be my third time on both Mariner and Allure. This is also only the third time I have sailed from PC. This is the second time my brother and I are sailing together, and I will get my second crystal block. This is the first time my brother, mother and I have cruised together, it’s actually our first ever vacation when it was just the three of us. This is my brother’s first S2S, his first Voyager class ship and both our first time on Wonder. This is also my first time doing two oasis classes in such a short period, also my first Oasis shortie.
There were only a few shenanigans when it came to planning these cruises. I have always taken vacation in Jan. My mother has been begging to go but she always uses up her vacation or runs out of money because Christmas is only a few weeks before I generally leave. I decided to gift her a cruise for her birthday/Christmas this year. Truth be told I pay for all her vacations and still get her birthday/Christmas gifts 🤔. Anyhow, I am a planner and she wanted to do Mariner, as she and her no longer living friend went on her in 2019 and lived their best lives. As it stood, I was planning to do Wonder and they happened to be sailing from the same port. Actually, I had planned to do Icon, booked the inaugural and was excited to meet all the blog folks. But my brother didn’t want to do Icon and thankfully so, I had booked refundable. Icon was $5k for a gty interior. I thought I was going to have to fly from MCO to Miami to make the sailings work. But Wonder it was, and everything worked out.
As I stated my mother can’t really afford to cruise, her fiancé said he was going to pay for her to go on Wonder. While on my Grandeur cruise Jan of 2023, I booked her a room on Wonder as well. Before booking, I explained to her Wonder was expensive and if she needed help paying, she needed to let me know ahead of time. She said she wouldn’t because her fiancé would pay. He has no track record of paying whatsoever. But if she believes……. 🙄 There was a $200 payment made in April. I started to assume he was going to pay. Final payment for all three cruises was do in Oct. By May the cost of the rooms had risen about 40% I asked her in July if he was going to make FP, otherwise we needed to figure something out before the cost increased more, which it did. She finally told me later in July she couldn’t afford to go and had to cancel. I could have made so many plans if she had told me sooner.
I had paid the deposit, she then asked me for $200, which she used to fake his payment. Even though I booked this through NC, because she made that extra “fake” payment I lost out on $250 😡🤬. They charged the full deposit amount because $300 had been paid. He was supposed to pay me in full, hence me fronting and losing the deposit. I was going to pay for her to attend the Wonder cruise, but my brother stopped me. My brother always says I am too nice, she needed to learn a lesson. Eating the $250 is a lot less than the $2k it would have cost to bring her along. But I know if she wants to go somewhere, I need to plan to afford it otherwise, she won’t.
I have had flights change 8 times. I like to book my flights and hotels as soon as possible, maybe a week after I officially make travel plans. Considering I booked the cruise in/before Jan, I had flights booked by February. AA is good for aways changing flight schedules and eliminating flights. We were scheduled to fly out on Jan 14 until October of this year. Then my mother’s church decided to have a special banquet that day at 6:30pm, that she must attend. The last AA flight was originally scheduled at 6:53pm. We couldn’t make that, so now we are on the first flight out the day off. I want to add that no flight I book has gone down. In fact, the SWA flights have doubled. Thankfully I had free cancellations on the hotel rooms.

Ok, I am trying a self tanner for the first time….it could be a disaster so I did a test run this morning on my arms and lower part of my legs. I tried to talk Reyd into being a Guinea pig but he is no fun anymore. 😆 Anyone have a good self tanner story they want to share. 

Now we know what the name of the new tier of the C&A ladder is going to be.

So my wife was talking with our neighbor yesterday, catching up on local gossip and letting her know that we would be heading out of town in January for another RC cruise (she is our unofficial neighborhood Mrs. Kravitz). My wife thought it best to give "Gladys" a heads up so that she didn't lose any sleep worrying or wondering if something terrible had happened to us, noticing the loss of daily routines that myself and family normally endure and display each day.
Knowing in advance the quick witted and somber responses that our neighborhood Karen is accustom to, her response really should not have surprised my wife. But she called us out like a closet Swiftie, stating "Well, aren't you a bunch of thalassophiles".
It's true, I am one.
It's been over 3 months since my last cruise and ocean sighting. But I have a wonderful support group and attend meetings via forums and discussions as often as I can. So thank you fellow board members. It's one cruise at a time .
 

So like the title says I am heading for my first solo cruise. 
First time solo, first time on Voyager, first time in an interior room!, first cruise in wave season.  Last cruise as Emerald, seriously being just 2 points from Diamond just doesn't sit well with me! 
So I am writing this partially to keep track of what I am doing as that is normally a duty assumed by the Darling Wife (DW), partially because I am excited and just want to share the fun! 
Next Friday is online check in so tonight I went and found my passport. I know how and when I am getting from point A to B and back again and even a little bit of what I am going to do. I'll start packing after new years and I'll start panicking Feb 1st! 
 
Sunday afternoon Feb 4th: Drive from Arlington to Galveston, set up at the state park and find a good dinner. This is subject to change as, if the Battleship Texas is still doing dry dock tours and I can get a spot I might have to drive down at o'dark 30. Have to wait and see on that one. I will kick back and do my onboarding safety video and such durring dinner. 
Monday Feb 5th: Wake up, stretch, drink a canned doubleshot or two and gawk at the probable fog bank. Pretty common in Galveston in February so i am just planning on it. After I break down and go find breakfast I'll read the weather updates from the local news and from Royal telling me about the fog. After that drop off the truck at Discount Cruise parking and take the tram to the Terminal. This won't be my first time at the new terminal, but the DW and I like Jr Suites so I will see the concourse I haven't been through yet. I hear it's pretty nice. Then it's on to Voyager for Lunch, a Virgin Mango Daiquiri, visit my muster station and eventually find my room. (I am one of Bill's Friends so my party planning may bit a bit off from others) 
Tuesday Feb 6th: I am a Bum. Sleeping in for sure. I honestly have no idea what I am going to do. Maybe read, maybe sketch, definitely watch flying fish off the promenade rail. I love watching the flying fish. However it is my first time solo so I have no other schedule.  I might go hang in the card room and see if I can find a game of cribbage. Might watch a show. Might nap on deck all day! For sure going to snack a lot. 
Wednesday Feb 7th: Still sleeping in, Still being a bum. I plan to be up on deck around 4-ish. As we pull in to Cozumel for the night Icon should be casting off her lines. It will be cool to see the ship on one of her first runs. Once we are moored and the gangway is down I plan to find my way downtown to Cozumel Coffee Company and enjoy a few cups of dark stuff. 
Thursday Feb 8th: Not sleeping in, going ParaSailing. This will be a first for me as well. then relax, do some shopping.. yup back to being a bum! As I will be up early I might see if I can find a good local breakfast before my adventure and definately have to find a good lunch. Maybe stay up late on the top deck and read there till my battery runs out or I fall asleep. 
Friday Feb 9th: back to Bumsville! besides taking some time to pack in the evening plans are pretty much the same as Tuesday. 
Saturday Feb 10th: Sigh... disembark and drive back to the real world! Have to get back in time to do laundry and get ready for Scout Sunday. A cub scout leaders work doesn't take weekends off! I do have to swing back through the Strand and pick up a small cargo from Katie's before heading north though. 
 
So there it is my plan in a nutshell. everything is booked reserved and ready to go from the Park to picking up my truck in parking lot when I get back.
I'll find out where they seat me in the dining room and let ya'll know what I think of solo cruising along the way! If you have any ship board suggestions of things to do, let me know. 
 
 

Some highlights while in Texas. What should we do that’s not on our list? 
- NFL game at NRG Stadium on New Year’s Eve vs Titans in club level seating. All 8 of us are going and it should be a fun afternoon. The games at noon so I need disembarkation and travel to Houston to be uneventful.  I have heard horror stories of interstate delays 😬 
- Lunch at Magnolia Table in Waco. I have followed Chip & Joanna Gaines for years so I am really looking forward to this stop. 
- I follow Turtlecreeklane and would love to see this years Christmas around the world theme. 
- NASA
- We wanted to do a self guided tour of AT&T stadium but there are only vip group tours which require a bigger time commitment than we wanted. We decided to wait and see what our options are when we arrive.
- Texas Motor speedway. The guys would have loved to do a racing experience but there are no track events. We are use to Las Vegas Motor speedway where there always seems to be something going on. 
- JFK Memorial
 
 
 

Travel tip 
I am sharing a travel tip that lets you plot attractions, hotels, restaurants for your upcoming trip. I realize new to me doesn’t mean it’s new to you. 🙃 But I am excited to try it! 
I set up a guide called Houston in the Maps app for our upcoming trip and then add any stops we want to make, restaurants and hotels. It helps figure out the order in which you may want to schedule stops.  I will report back on how we like it.  Anyone else use it?? 

In other genie news 
I found these fun cards on Red Bubble last year; I purchased extra so I would have some for upcoming cruises. It’s fun to give Berty cards throughout the week. Generally we tip our genie in cash but I have heard where an increasing number of genies prefer tips go to their onboard account.  I asked Berty and he prefers onboard account so that is what we will do.  
Gift giving is tricky given their limited space but being we are on a holiday cruise I try to come up with something small for Christmas Day. This year we are doing something a bit unique being that we know Berty.  Lindsay worked on The Last of Us (filmed in Calgary) and they got talking about this last year. We learned that Berty loved the PlayStation game version so we are gifting him an original crew gift from The Last of Us.  Hoping he can use this on his travels. 
 

Star class questionnaire was received a few days before the 60 day mark.  I had some fun with it as I had a pretty good idea that Berty (genie from last year) would be back onboard for our sailing. So I answered the questions like this: 
Q: Are you a morning or night person A: Ask Berty 
Q: What are your morning routines A: Berty knows 
Q: Favorite foods A: Not to sound repetitive but ask Berty 
Q: How can we deliver an amazing onboard experience A: We want Berty 
Q: Are you celebrating anything A: Berty if you are reading this you know we have lots to celebrate 
I think you get the idea. 😆 

Excursions 
Puerto Costa Maya - Chacchoben Ruins Exclusive Drive. I booked the exclusive drive as it sounds like it’s a smaller van. This was covered in social studies so Reyd is looking forward to this. 
Roatan - Turquoise Bay VIP Beach Break. After last years overcrowding issues at Maho Beach I have tried to plan excursions that will hopefully avoid a repeat of that horrible experience.  Reviews are very good and they say the VIP guests have a section of the beach cordoned off to avoid overcrowding   We shall see but 🤞.  The drive over there sounds interesting…..royals cruise planner says this 🤷‍♀️

 
Cozumel - Paradise Beach all inclusive passes and daybeds are booked. We booked this direct with Paradise Beach. Reviews are very good but I am definitely concerned with overcrowding so we plan to arrive early and book our activities.  You could not pre book these. Check out the ships and passenger counts. 🤯 What could possibly go wrong? 😑 
 

Our whole group is going and it should be a fun day. Reyd is excited because he can rent a seadoo now that he is 18.  Dealing with the resort has been a breeze. Our itinerary changed and within a few hours they moved our reservations. They also recently honoured the promo code RCBLOG which saved us 10% 🙌🙌