CruzOnBye

Leaving in two days #stillgoing

#stillgoing 61 days till our "10 year wedding anniversary & the one with the in-laws" cruise!!!

#stillgoing 61 days till our "10 year wedding anniversary & the one with the in-laws" cruise!!!

#stillgoing 61 days till our "10 year wedding anniversary & the one with the in-laws" cruise!!!

Hate to hear people are now losing their jobs over the current COVID-19 situation.  I hope things turn around soon and they can be brought back to work.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article241094466.html

Wonderland!  We went to Wonderland for dinner with the kids last night. It was interesting. I should have done a little more research into Wonderland. Let me first say it’s beautiful inside and a very unique experience. Experience being the key term. If you are going to Wonderland to be full from the food you may want to go to Windjammer afterwards. Very pretty looking food and presentation but we didn’t think the food was that great. I had the short rib which was amazing but half of the 14 in my group went to Playmakers for wings afterwards. Also the kids “Burger and Fries” are not your normal burger and fries to say the least. Again, the experience was good and unique but don’t have to do it again. 
The Smoke Ring from the bar at Wonderland was maybe the best old fashioned I have ever had. It’s Smokey with Four Roses single barrel (my favorite bourbon outside of Blanton’s).  The kicker being the Happy Hour from 5-u they have 2 for $15 on drinks that are normally $13 a piece (wifey and I didn’t get the drink package). 
Afterwards we went to Playmakers to hang out. Wifey and I went to deck 15 and had a cigar together for that quality one on one time away from the group 20 minutes at the Casino playing Blackjack and turned in early for us around 11:30. 
I included a few pics from our balcony at night on our way to Saint Thomas. 
We docked there this am next to a Viking cruise ship and ate breakfast in the Solarium Bistro. Most in my group think the Bistro is the best for breakfast. Plan on going to Meaghan’s Bay this am.  

#stillgoing
This is a hashtag that's gaining steam.
Spread the word .... Let's make it go viral
18 Days to go till Freedom for me.
mark

Here is a copy of the information they received.  Some friends got off the plane in Miami this morning and just saw it then

Time wise, Royal's cancellation policy seems a lot more generous since the cut off to move your cruise with Carnival is March 31 and only good for sailings through the end of May. I'm okay with no OBC for peace of mind closer to my sailing. It's not like they are offering a whole lot of OBC anyway.

Saturday I called and got my cruises repriced.  I have two cabins booked for a back to back in May on Indy (spacious ocean view W/ balcony) I was able to upgrade to a junior suite for both cabins for both cruises for a total of $527.  This is my daughters graduation trip.  I hope the hysteria is over. 

We did Blue Hole and it was amazing.  All the tour guides there will say to go to Blue Hole over Dunns River Falls.

Just spent about 2 hours in total on hold but I was able to get my June sailing on Navigator upgraded in a big way!  Went from an interior room to an ocean view balcony and I'm getting $60 back after the entire process!  It was very much worth the wait!  Just saying if you have an upcoming sailing, it might not be the worst idea to give them a call now with everything going on.  Figure the worst that they could say was "no we can't help you".
Good luck and stay healthy everyone!

Hey cruisees!
wanted to share our experience we had with calling RCCL. First of all, we will never book without a travel agent again as it was way too long and painful. I called last night waited about 45 minutes got connected to an agent but it was such a broken connection that I had to end the call. I was calling because when I looked on the website our sailing in May was $230 cheaper than what we paid for. It was past our final payment date and we knew that it would probably be challenging to try to get some kind of onboard credit or any cash back but we wanted to talk to someone to see what they could do as we had two rooms booked, one being for our wedding anniversary and one being for our in-laws first cruise. We called again this morning and within 2.5 hours (due to hold waits) we got quite a deal! We originally booked and paid for an interior cabin and they upgraded us to an ocean view balcony for $279 for one and a free balcony for the other room we paid for. It was a long and grueling process but I have to say it was worth it. Again I would definitely never do this again without a travel agent. For those of you trying to get some money back since Royal Caribbean is dropping prices it is worth staying on the line if you have the time as they are more than accommodating to try to work it out. Don’t give up! #LoyalToRoyal

Hey cruisees!
wanted to share our experience we had with calling RCCL. First of all, we will never book without a travel agent again as it was way too long and painful. I called last night waited about 45 minutes got connected to an agent but it was such a broken connection that I had to end the call. I was calling because when I looked on the website our sailing in May was $230 cheaper than what we paid for. It was past our final payment date and we knew that it would probably be challenging to try to get some kind of onboard credit or any cash back but we wanted to talk to someone to see what they could do as we had two rooms booked, one being for our wedding anniversary and one being for our in-laws first cruise. We called again this morning and within 2.5 hours (due to hold waits) we got quite a deal! We originally booked and paid for an interior cabin and they upgraded us to an ocean view balcony for $279 for one and a free balcony for the other room we paid for. It was a long and grueling process but I have to say it was worth it. Again I would definitely never do this again without a travel agent. For those of you trying to get some money back since Royal Caribbean is dropping prices it is worth staying on the line if you have the time as they are more than accommodating to try to work it out. Don’t give up! #LoyalToRoyal

The way crowds are at Disney right now, I would loveeee for all this to steer some people away! LOL. Well, the fear of it, not the actual virus obviously. We (regrettably) bought WDW annual passes for Christmas and can't deal, I mean can.not.DEEEAL. with the crowds! It would be amazing to not have to wait 20 mins in line for a beer or 2.5 hours for a ride. But hey, "happiest place on earth", right? -_-   Thank goodness for cruises, RC is our true happy place ?

Ok. What's next stop all flights. This is ridiculous in my opinion. As if all cruises are at risk. So am I supposed to think that cruising from Puerto Rico is at risk?  Paranoia is winning and facts are not. Hey let's shut down also disney world because there is been cases in Florida... Like come on 

Oh nice! Thank you for the feedback. It looks beautiful based off the one-two pics on the website I saw.

We've been to Green Grotto caves on a DCL excursion. Keep in mind that it is a dry cave, unlike most you'll find in the States. We found it very interesting.

This is the only time I'd not mind being hunted.

So excited for my first cruise! ? Sorry, I just had to get it out! ?

I gain more and newer happy places every cruise! The last trip was to Coco Cay, and the entire island was our happy place!

I gain more and newer happy places every cruise! The last trip was to Coco Cay, and the entire island was our happy place!

Day 5 - Mystery Island, Vanuatu 
The last port stop. Arrived into Mystery Island, Vanuatu at around 7.30am. This is a tender port and is only inhabited when a cruise ship visits. There is a local village which comes over for the day by sea and no one lives on the island. 
Weather wasn’t the greatest as showers off and on but proceeded to the island around 11am. A short 5 min tender ride. The island is beautiful lots of lush palm trees and vegetation and some clear waters. There is also market stalls like hair braiding, souvenirs etc. 
We left at 5pm later than the originally proposed 3.30pm on the itinerary this gave extra time on the island which was great. It also meant a bit more speed on the way back to Sydney. Almost 23 knots at one point! 
Bionic Bar 
You have to give it a go once! A fun experience and seeing all the stats of the drinks was interesting on the screens. 
Dinner at Jamies Italian 
A throughly enjoyable experience! Top notch Italian! 

Really?! I had no idea they had complimentary items at Fish &s Ships, I didn't see that on the menu posted online. I wonder if it's ship specific? We're sailing on Independence in May and if that's another place for some snackage to score for the Faa-Reeee that would be awesome!

Aww bummer! That’s ok. Just means we gotta sail on Ovation sometime! Thank you for confirming.