CruzOnBye

Also here is most recent Royal Up offers (we did not partake) and PDCC cabana excursion status

 

 

Update 5 Days to go
My living room looks like a bomb went off. Packing crazy has officially commenced. 
 

 
 

Ok, so we last left off with us in Disney springs on Saturday night. After my masterful use of girl math and an excellent dinner we went back to the room and crashed after a day of travel. On Sunday during the day we spent the day hanging around the resort. Here are some of the Halloween decorations at the hotel:





After an afternoon nap we took the resort bus to city walk. Here we go HHN 32

 
So I had 3 goals for this weekend trip.
1. Do everything to make Rick have a great first trip to Halloween horror nights.
2. See all 10 scare houses
3. See the Death Eaters roaming Diagon Alley. 
 
I was mostly successful. We did get to all 10 houses and I witnessed the awesomeness that was the death eaters but I could have done better on the Rick front. I forgot our neck fans and Tylenol. Essential things for Florida heat and walking miles around the park until 1:30 in the morning. We had a great time and Rick said he will definitely come back but we were both sore by the end of the night and definitely the next day. Here are some pics I was able to get through the night.

Death Eaters coming out for the night.

 
Pepperoni Pizza Skull

 
Funnel cake Fries with apple pie filling and sour apple ice cream on top

 

Wow! And guess what?! That price is per person! Holy moly! Now that, my friends, is insane!!! It says "per package," but as you add your guests, the price jumps $350 per each guest added.

Also before I head off to bed I have to share a great application of “girl math” that I used while at Disney Springs. Don’t know what girl math is? It is delightful and it will save you tons of money. Let me show you:
I had planned to go to The World of Disney store and buy a new Halloween Lounge fly bag which retails at $89. They did not have any at the store. 
I then went to the Lego store and took a $500 Harry Potter set off the shelf and was making my way to checkout when I saw $250 Hocus Pocus set I wanted more.
I put the $500 set back and checked out with $250 set.
Planned spend $589, which is basically $600
Total spend $250.
I actually saved $350.
Please feel free to use Girl Math in your own life.

Just wanted to say thanks to Matt for recommending the Lava Flow with Kraken. I've had 4 already and it's only my 2nd day! 🤣

Day 1 - Seattle.
The Jetlag again to the best of us and we were woken around 4 am, after all its a cruise day.  We tried to force some sleep but at the end we just decided to pack and get organized. At 6:45 we did our way again to Starbucks Reserve to catch breakfast,  as you can see we really liked this place (and not many things open so early).

After enjoying our time there we went back to the hotel and booked Uber to the port. The Uber cost 37$ which was better than the 55$ which offered by the hotel. Around 10:15 we arrived to the  port and started the check in process. Everything was very fast compared to the horror stories I was reading about Seattle port. 10 minutes after,  we were waiting in the holding area to start boarding. They started boarding two minutes after with suite,  pinnacles and keys , we were next. The nice thing they done was locating the ship security gates outside the ship allowing many more swiping cards  stations, preventing lines in the ship entry. After boarding and completing the muster check in we went to eat our first lunch in 270, it was quite good. We continued to the music hall to use the pool table were we competing who was the worse in this game, I think I won. We then visit the WJ just to see it had huge lines so we decided to catch something in Ship&chips.  I thought it's extra money venue but apparently it was free beside the lobster. I took the fish sandwich which was good. We booked the north star which is free for port days and watch the nice view of Seattle. 




By that time the cabin was ready so we unpacked and got organized. Still don't understand why they have power outlets only in one side of the bad , are they getting percentages from some marriage consulting organizations? 
For sail away we went to to deck 15

Although we had a nice view also from the cabin
For first day dinner we decided to go to the Solarium Bistro (you can understand by now, no CK access this time) the full meal was self service not like before were some of the dishes you needed to order. It was so so, I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini , hint , you don't serve it raw. I still think it's not a bad option for first day. We went to check what we missed in the WJ, which was quite empty , they served some chops and had nice desserts. 


 
We went back to the room to take some rest before visiting the very packed casino. We called it early , as we were tired although next day is a sea day.

 

The saying "I'd love to be a fly on the wall" never rang truer....here we are, paying for cruise fare, port fees and passports, and meanwhile, these little jokers hopping a ride on an incoming carton of limes...for the free. 
We were on a ship during Love Bug season in FL, and lovebugs were virtually everywhere! Staterooms, halls, dining area, pool deck was covered, it was the wildest thing. The crews were washing the decks and vacuuming inside everywhere to get them up. They hitched rides on everyone's clothes and flew in the doors, and then the checked bags were in our rooms after sitting at the port for x hours, so obviously they brought them into the room too. It was the craziest scene. But RCCL crew took care of it and by SailAWay you had no clue the massacres that took place. 🪰🤺

Cheers to two weeks before ‘I do’ and a little over a month from sail away! Went ahead and booked Wonderland for night 4 after talking with DH. I told him it was a “love it or hate it” experience, and he’s all about doing things outside of the box sometimes. I will say I’m looking forward to it now after watching a few vlogs of pros and cons. 
 
We are slowly collecting our cruise necessities. SPF 100, magnet hooks, hats, card holders etc.
Work for both of us has been insanely stressful the past few weeks. It’s like they’re making us earn our vacation. 🥲

Yes. OTW are $3899, lol.

Update, Dining package is available, just not on the app

 

UPDATE 9.5 DAYS TO GO
I said before that I own and operate my own travel agency and that is true but I also work as a 911 dispatcher for our local Sheriffs Office. Tonight is my last night of work for the next 17 days!!! Universal Halloween Horror nights this weekend and a cruise in just over a week! YAY!!!

So many things to do and so little time. Short weekend trip to Orlando, then shopping and packing. Stay tuned!!

Several years ago, before we even started to cruise I had few business trips to Seattle. The office of the company I worked for used to be just adjust to the Pike market and I always got a nice office with panoramic view of the bay. Every Friday I used to watch the ships leaving the port going to Alaska while I had to stay and sometimes had to come to office during the weekend. I  said to myself one day it will be me over there, well, this day arrived. 
We went to many cruises during the last 10 years , many at Europe , Caribbean and some in Asia but Alaska was I guess just too far but always in the list. 
The plan, land in Seattle two days before the cruise, stay in downtown Seattle and board the ship on Friday. We will visit Juneau, Skagway, Sitka and Victoria. 
More to come.

tell them the winner gets a water package!!! 
(why did i think you are surprising them with this)

I have already decided that the long train ride will have to be the place where everything is discussed. They need to see the seriousness of my face and the conviction in my eyes. 
 

I have no words…
@Ampurp85, I think that you need to place a RU bid just to get away from them 🤣

no gonna lie, the devious petty part of me is wondering what happens if you cancel and they have to figure it all out on their own???? 😈😈😈😈😈
i mean rip fees and fare but like… AT WHAT COST. 

So, even more tomfoolery.
I spoke to the blind gent an hour ago. My mother was not correct in her assessment. He is legit blind. He won't be able to read the menus, he needs to be helped to and from his stateroom and he is bringing three bags because she didn't tell him what we need to wear. I already booked him assistance for the airport, but I thought he would be able to wonder around the ship. He said he cannot read or navigate the ship at all. He does have a device that does the reading, etc. but he is afraid to fly with it as it cost thousands of dollars. He said my mother said he didn't need to worry about it because my brother and I would help. 🤬 I was not told any of this. I would have planned much better, maybe got an accessible room. I do plan to fill out the form so that they know a blind person is in that room, but I would have preferred if he had in room assistance and was at least on the same floor as us. Why they waited until less than 30 days for all of this is crazy. 

Day 26
The planning for this trip just keeps getting better and better. 😡🤬
As I stated the luggage tags originally open up early, then closed, and wasn't available again until after 5pm on day 30. As the rooms are linked to my email, I have received a total of 11 emails in regard to RU. I really wish I wasn't sailing with such a large group, not just for RUB 😂🤣, but because I feel like I would win if I placed a bid.
But back to the planning tomfoolery. I asked in Jan and then again in March if people wanted to do any excursions. Nobody replied. In July I asked once again about excursions and nothing. Well Sunday I was sent an email from the new Vintage, Robin, she has primarily sailed Carnival and therefore she knows cruising 🙄. She asked if the crew on Royal is as friendly as Carnival because she would often eat, drink, and dance with the crew on Carnival. 
She was planning her outfits, which include a total of three choices a day, and was wondering about the excursions I planned. I was like huh? Every email and phone call from me states I will be in the casino, that is my excursion. But Robin was like I read it and your mother confirmed that you had booked excursions for us in each port. I was like where is not only the critical thinking, but the reading comprehension??????
I sent out invoices for everything and no excursion were listed. I told her that, and she said because she heard last time I paid for dinners and goody bags, she assumed I booked excursions in all 3 ports as a gift. I asked her repeatedly why she would assume that I would book everyone's excursions and not tell anyone anything. I spent an hour explaining why this was inaccurate and now I am frustrated. I am a softie and did buy everyone a water package, but I don't know what people like to do.  
Robin also told me she needed a wheelchair for embarkation/disembarkation. She has a bad hip and cannot walk the ramp........I had to explain that I will assist but she is also grown. Like none of you are paying me for services. I was cruising and you decided to come along, I am not your concierge or genie. I keep hearing demands and such but no "thank You's." It gets better, she has 3 suitcases. Since we can only check two, she wanted me to ask everyone else how many they are bringing so she can use someone else's allotment. I wasn't bringing any so I told her she can use mine. She has also assumed that despite me mentioning to be mindful of how much you bring, that my brother, myself and my bff would help her with all her bags. I had to remind her there are FIVE vintages on this trip, they might need help too. 
 

Is our White Whale of Moby Dick proportions? IDK .. are you counting our financial well-being? Who cares! YOLO!!   Who: SweetPea and Batman, two crazy mutual enablers who found ❤️ about 23 (24, 25?) years ago. Married for most of those. Don't ask me our anniversary. I once proudly told Batman my new ATM PIN, proclaiming, "Get it?!  It's our anniversary backwards!"   Spoiler: it wasn't.    I've not heard the end of it since.    What: Our White Whale. Why, you ask? We had 3,462.7 cruises in the Owner's Panoramic canceled during the Covid. Seriously. By March 578th, 2020, I'd had enough, just like the rest of the world. This was bound to happen sooner or later. I made sure of it.    When: September 24-October 1, 2023. Too short and will be over too quick, but the ship is our destination so who cares?! (Our itinerary is mundane and boring. We'll only be getting off the ship for PDCC.)   Where: Oasis of the Seas (C'mon now. There are only 2 OPs in the entire fleet, so there's a very good chance you'd win that coin toss.)   Why: Why not?!! Besides, flying sucks and we can drive to the port! And by drive, i mean be driven. Because who drives on vacation? Is that even a thing?!   How: Selling one pickled middle-aged kidney on the dark web. Let's face it, there's a difference between a kidney from a 20-year old athlete and one from a 50-something whose kidney is going to be (a-hem) grape-flavored. Clearly what I'm trying to say is that you could probably book two Star Class rooms with the 20-year-old kidney. Our cost wasn't *that* bad, but should still leave you questioning whether you'd consider us sound financial advisors.    Crown&Anchor Level: Brown.    I briefly considered making a parody pin that said "Not Pinnacle" with the "not" in very, very small font. I think it'd have been an excellent conversation starter.    Pre-cruise Diet: Poor. I planned to lose 30 pounds. I only have 33 to go. Forget that noise.   So here we go on our 3.5-year-in-the-making adventure. If you know us, I'm taking a very liberal definition of the term "adventure" here. As in, you shouldn't expect FlowRider reviews from us. That would only happen if they privacy-tented the entire wave pool and literally no one else could see us. I've seen this new TikTok thing all the cool kids are talking about, and going viral for all the wrong reasons would send me into a Brendan Fraser Whale-spin without the need of a fat suit.    (Perhaps i should tell you about the time i managed to ATV my way into the middle of a sugar cane field in St. Kitts where the excursion leader pulled me aside and quietly asked if I'd consider a private lesson before allowing the group to continue. That was 20 years and 30 pounds ago and my grace and agility has not aged like the fine wine I enjoy so much. --- That was for the kids in the back who didn't get my grape- flavored kidney joke earlier.)   This is our first cruise post-shutdown. We wanted to feel like we were going on vacation, not checking in for a clinical procedure. So we sat out all mandates. We both found them too stressful and opted to wait until the craziness was well on its way to over before we even remotely considered cruising again. This is one of the reasons we're going to the poorhouse post-cruise. I booked this pretty late and didn't partake in opening day prices. However, i got worried this was Oasis's last season in NJ so i bit the bullet and made several payments Batman wouldn't notice so our final bill was more in line with what I thought he could stomach. I can't be the only benevolently devious spouse to do so. If you've done something like this yourself, blink twice.   (And, Mindy, if you're reading: You're a SAINT!)   For the record, i caught Batman in a good mood one night and asked him the max he'd pay for a week-long cruise in Star Class. Unsurprisingly, it was a *bit* less than the cost of this one. So this is just between us RC Blog family, right? Good thing he thinks this website is Royal.blog.Carribean.me.live.com/reports which he always forgets to find later ....    And to any dudes reading, please remember: there is no such idiom as "Bros before blogs." That does not and will never exist.... if i can help it.    So, as long as Batman never does find this blog ... Continue to follow along to learn the riveting answers to such burning questions as: how will Anthem Star Class compare to Oasis Star Class? Will we prefer O Class to Q Class in general? Is this Deck 17 we keep reading about an actual Nirvana? What else has the pandemic stolen from us in pre v post shutdown changes? Will we ever want to return to Norwegian Haven? And ultimately, will selling a functioning kidney be worth the experience?   Come with us! We'll find out together!

The animal collection this week

Time to catch up a bit.  Melissa and I got off the ship at Cozumel and just spent time in the port area. Did the tourist thing and had some tacos and guacamole at Margaritaville.  Weather was nice enough so we spent some time on the balcony.
Dinner at chops.  Had the filet and whole lobster.  Both very good but the Sabrina Special in CK is still the best.  Show last night was in the aqua Theater.  Always amazed with the athletic skills of those men and women.
After the show we headed up to the suite to once again spend some time with our friends, MO5AIC.  Happened to be Heath’s birthday so we celebrated with a cake, some snacks and of course some drinks. Jay knows them well so he popped in also.  Just like last year it was two hours of laughter!  Just before 11 the guys and girls decided to go to Quest.  Stacy and I said we’d stay in the suite and let the younger ones party.  Shortly after they left I found a cell phone belonging to one of the guys. I texted Taylor and she asked if we could bring it down.  We went and found the group and went back to the room.  NOT.  I Think I was set up. Sometime around 3 am we said ourgoodnight and headed back to the suite.

Tendered to Coco Cay in March of 2017.   No beach club, no water park, no hot air balloon.  The island was very laid back and chill back then.

Dinner last night at Izumi Hibachi was very tasty as usual.  We were booked to see Blue Planet but decided to skip it since none of us have enough class to appreciate it!  Had late night snacks and called it a night.  Breakfast on the balcony this morning overlooking the port in Cozumel. I think this is the first time here that the weather is pleasant enough to really enjoy the balcony. No plans for today but will go ashore for a bit. 
Our block was waiting in the room last night.  I’m happy that we received it on our favorite ship!