CruzOnBye

Who's Going
Me (Jacquie), Hubby (Lindsay) and son (Reyd). Our friends from last year are back so in total there will be 8 of us. But they are staying in their own rooms. Only the 3 of us in the ATS.  
One set of friends are travelling with a respite worker for their 13 y/o daughter and will be accessing many of the Autism Friendly Ship programming and supports.  If you have any questions on this program feel free to ask and I will try to get answers. They have been able to schedule an expedited boarding time in a quieter area of the terminal along with various special requests/accommodations ion their staterooms.  
Flight
WestJet from YYC - IAH in Premium. Leaving this Sunday Dec 17th. 
Pre Cruise Stay
We will be doing quite a bit of driving and have multiple pre cruise stops/hotels.  
Marriott in Terminal hotel at YYC airport Dec 16th
Embassy Suite at The Woodlands Dec 17/18th (this was through points accumulated from staying at the Hilton FLL Beach Club last year)
Live by Loews in Arlington Dec 19/20
The Tremont House in Galveston Dec 21/22/23
JW Marriott, Galleria in Houston Dec 31
Itinerary
Western Caribbean with stops at Roatan, Puerto Costa Maya and Cozumel. If I am being honest the itinerary didn't thrill me but it may end up being the one we enjoy most.  We have excursions in every port that we are really looking forward to! 
Day 1 Galveston, Texas
Day 2 Cruising 
Day 3 Cruising 
Day 4 Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico 
Day 5 Roatan, Honduras
Day 6 Cozumel, Mexico 
Dau 7 Cruising 
Day 8 Galveston, Texas 
Cabin
2 bedroom ATS #9730. We loved this set up last year.

🌟💫⭐️A “Starry” Christmas - Harmony Dec 24-31, 2023⭐️💫🌟

@Jax is back with a “Starry” Christmas ⭐️💫🌟
For those that have followed my blogs you know we have a habit of spending Christmas on the Seas.  This year we will be back on Harmony doing our first ever Western Caribbean cruise.  We spent last Christmas on HM and although my preference would have been to try another ship, the fact it was sailing out of Galveston was too good to pass up. Direct flights from Calgary are plentiful and considerably shorter than going to Florida so this was an added perk. Our son graduates from high school this year so future vacations/cruising are up in the air until we sort out his apprenticeship schedule at trade school and work schedule.  So there is a very real possibility we will be on a land vacation next Christmas because I have no cruises booked beyond summer 2024.  😔
We have a lot planned so let’s get started…..
 
 
 
 

I received an email a day or so ago to advertise a new partnership between Royal Caribbean and Brightline rails.  This email highlights an interesting option for getting from South Florida to Port Canaveral (and vise versa) that includes transport from the train station to Port Canaveral.  I knew of the rail option, of course, but always wondered how I would get from the train station (Orlando) to the port.  Apparently Royal/Brightline has solved that problem !  This is not an option I can use at the moment since we do not yet have a Brightline station near my home but I think it was recently announced that a Brightline station will be added at Ft Pierce, which would be close enough to Port St Lucie to make it doable for us, eventually.  At any rate, for those who could take advantage of this new option, here is what I received via email.
 
Ride Brightline
And save 15% with code
ROYAL15
Royal Caribbean® has partnered with Brightline to make your boarding experience in Port Canaveral as seamless and stress-free as possible. Brightline is the only provider of modern, eco-friendly, intercity rail in America and right now you can save 15% on SMART fares when you use the code ROYAL15 at checkout.
Select from 16 daily round trips with hourly departures between Miami and Orlando, with quick stops at West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Aventura. Start your vacay right and book your Brightline tickets now.
BOOK NOW   We'll shuttle you to the ship
Port Canaveral is approximately 45 minutes away from the Orlando Brightline station. Make this transfer a breeze by booking a shuttle directly with Royal Caribbean. Call us at 866-562-7625 to book today.
 

So exciting!! This will be an awesome experience for sure.

Hope you have a blast.  I am on the Sept 9th 4 nighter also have balcony as do our cruise friends…with rooms next door so we can open the balconies.  I bought the refreshment package for myself and husband.  Also got the internet.  Looking forward to when the entertainment can be reserved as well as dining options.

oh wow! I feel like I'll be sailing with a celebrity after years of reading blogs and posts lol.

Me, hubby and our kiddo are taking advantage of Labor Day week. We snagged this opening day online and then transferred to our TA. Booked our first balcony 🤩! It will be AFT with what looks like will be a cool view of the Boardwalk and Aqua Theater (comparing to exact room location on Wonder..so we will see!). It rang in ~$1500 all in which wasn't cheap but not awful for 4 nights on a brand new ship during holiday week, right? And yes, I paid a little extra for balcony experience to surprise my boys..but it was "only" about $100 more than an interior so thought this was my best opportunity to give it a try! 
Deluxe Beverage Packages for sure! Black Friday deal was not great, especially at a $120 pp sticker price 🥴...I'm hoping between New Years and 4th of July it will come down and get some of that back. Waiting on dining options to appear to see if I want to do a surprise meal one day for us. We don't usually pay for dining, so we'll see...If Giovanni's Italian is on there then I probably will, the boys are pizza addicts connoisseurs 😅

I will be on this sailing as well!

I had my 45 day check-in at midnight for Allure in Dec. Scored a 10:30am check-in window! Then I got way too excited to go back to sleep, I was already thinking of my packing list. 🤪

Had a great cruise. Saw Mama Mia, twice. Did wave runners on Coco Cay and relaxed on the beach in Nassau 

But you're saving almost $46K!

Townhouse for 7 days or a Cybertruck for the rest of your life!

I booked an aft facing balcony with gratuities for $5500 today for the September 14th 2025 sailing.

That's Townhouse for 2 during first sailing... 
ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND !!! 

Wonder....ful way to spend your 20th!! We are celebrating 14 years when we go on Wonder in May! I'm also looking forward to the itinerary, new places for us. Hope you have a great cruise! Would love to hear your feedback and maybe see you post some pics here!

We are going on this cruise to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We've only been on a cruise once before - we went on Mariner Of The Seas a few years ago and we loved it (especially Perfect Day at Coco Cay). We've saved up for our big anniversary and now we can't wait to board the ship and start our adventure! We've got the drink package again and we are looking forward to seeing St. Maarten, Coco Cay, and even the sea days! Can't wait to explore this ship too! Who else is on this cruise?

I would love to be the kind of person that looks at that $65K/person price tag and thinks "sure, I can manage that."
Since I'm not, I'll be back here on Voyager and Freedom class, thank you very much! 

If anyone wants to adopt me for a week, I'm free

$105,177.58 for the Family Townhouse?
Sorry, but that’s $177.58 more than I would have spent for it.

I see dates from August 2025-April 2026 released on their website.

This batch of releases that started last month and is spread out for a few more months for all ships/itineraries ends in April 2026... so you're seeing the Star inaugural (August) until the end of this release window. You shouldn't expect any other dates.
Spring Break 2026 is covered though.

Just remember, what's expensive in 2023 might not be that expensive in 2025!

12-8-23 - Freedom
12-11-23 - Freedom
12-22-23 - Adventure
12-30-23 - Adventure

At BWI now waiting to board to MCO

That's what my bathtub comment was about. It's a running joke from a couple live blogs that stemmed from my willingness to sleep in someone's Star Class bathtub if it got me on the ship and into Star Class.