sammy79

"New Year, New Odyssey. Our Journey into 2024…" – OY 12/31/2023 – 01/06/2024

I am writing this blog with a heavy heart. Even as I write this, I am not sure if this sailing will be a go for us or not. I even contemplated not blogging, because I was not sure if I had it in me at this moment. However, blogging makes me happy, and these blogs remain a great way to record our memories, and that is what these trips are all about. Making memories with the ones we love.
About 3 weeks ago, our lives were unexpectedly turned upside down. My Dad is going through a major health crisis that took us completely by surprise. If you asked me 3 weeks ago if I was going on this sailing, I would have probably said no. However, as awful as the situation is, our health care system in Ontario has not totally failed us, and my Dad has received treatment, and is stable for the time being.
I have long supported the whole “YOLO Book It” mentality, the pandemic fueled it. However, with the events that have transpired over the last few weeks, it has only strengthened our resolve to seize each moment, to not let a single opportunity pass us by, to truly live, and have no regrets, and to take every moment to enjoy each other because life is so fragile.
We have no idea what 2024 is going to hold for our family. But one thing is certain, we take heart in knowing that God is working for our good in the midst of all of this, and there is always joy come morning.

Just following up on the discussion relating to the up charge on Dec 24 & 25 for our friends that purchased the UDP.  Our friends found out when they boarded that their night 1 reservations were at Chops.  As long as they didn’t select the surf and turf option there was no additional charge but had they scheduled Chops themselves the uncharged would apply. This whole up charge fee should be reconsidered.  It’s GITCC. 

Reyd’s birthday celebration was perfect! We came back to the suite after pictures and karaoke to this amazing chocolate mousse cake.  
You may remember me mentioning that Berty decorated the suite with a bunch of pictures he got off Facebook. Well he also got creative with decorating Reyd’s birthday cake. Reyd is a high school RAP student enrolled as a heavy diesel tech so the decorations were well done. 
We have made so many memories this week that we will cherish for many years.   ❤️

In other news 🥲
I have heard varied reports that some star class guests are now being required to put luggage out the night before. ☹️ I will report back what our process looks like. But if this process has changed it will definitely be GITCC. 

So what did Jessica and I do when everyone else went ATVing….MASSAGES I walked, more like stumbled out of there not knowing who or where I was. 🙃 Sign of a relaxing massage  
Because we have the all inclusive rates are discounted from $45 for 30 minutes to $30. We each had a 1 hour massage. Followed by lunch. More on food in a bit.  

Tomorrow our group of 8 is off to Paradise Beach. This excursion was not offered by Royal so we booked it privately.  We are looking forward to this one. I’ll check in tomorrow but our plan is to meet Berty at 8:30am for our usual express elevator ride.
As much as we are looking forward to tomorrow, having 3 excursions, 3 days in a row is not great especially since all have had an early start. It makes for a very busy last day with star class bridge and galley tours, finalizing photo selections etc.  

1887 A Journey in Time Ice Show 
We missed this last year and we really enjoyed the show. I am embarrassed to say I always find it hard to follow their storyline. But regardless of why the show reed with a wedding I enjoyed it. Lol  Bonus was being in a nice cold room watching it. Sorry but pictures and video were not allowed.  

Berty arranged snacks for Reyd. He got a little bit from a few places. Nachos and salsa from Sabor with hot cheese from Johnny’s. Great combo but without Berty we wouldn’t have known where to get cheese. Ham & bacon pizza from Sorrentos. From the time I messaged Berty it was delivered within 20 minutes. I think that’s pretty impressive especially when multiple venues are involved. 

Our departure from Turquoise Bay went smoothly. The van left right on time. It was a 24P van and there were a couple empty seats.  The resort itself is very nice, offering a wide range of excursions.  Very organized, great service.  Food quality was the low point today.  The VIP section is located at the far end of the beach. Overcrowding was not an issue.  There were plenty of empty loungers available.  I think for what we paid and the poor food quality, it was overpriced. I did get a chance to scout out the villas and overwater cabanas. Although sold out on cruise planner there were plenty available today.  Glad we didn’t spend anymore on upgrades as food is a big part of our overall experience and theirs fell short.  

Reyd and I didn’t order from the VIP menu; we opted for hotdogs, wings and fries. We felt it was a safer option. They were “fine,” nothing great.  Lindsay ordered the surf and turf and chicken skewers and it was terrible.  We weren’t there when his meal arrived but he said the lobster didn’t smell very good and it was rubbery. He only ate a couple bites and chucked it.  I said why would you eat it at all? 🤦‍♀️ As we were returning to the ship he started feeling off and headed straight back to our suite while Reyd and I browsed the shops. We will see how it goes. Hopefully we don’t have an alpha alpha alpha on deck 9 suite #9730 😆

This morning we arrived in Peurto Costa Maya. Another sunny, hot day with absolutely no wind.  
Berty met us in CK and he used his genie powers to get us from deck 17 to deck 2 with no stops!! 🙌🏻  I had to take a picture of this because it won’t happen again until our excursion tomorrow  lol 
This was our first time in Costa Maya so for anyone that hasn’t been here the walk to the pier is on the long side; Berty allowed 15 minutes which was perfect.  
This was a very organized excursion.  We lined up in the Chacchoben Excusive Drive line and once a small group arrived we were whisked off to our van.  The exclusive drive is done in a 12P van. We had 9 people and were able to stretch out.  A cooler of assorted beverages including beer was available.

Our driver Eduardo was by far the best driver we have ever had.  It didn’t phase him when all the huge busses passed us. AC worked and the van was nice and cold. Our guide Miriam was also the best we have had offering lots of local trivia relevant to our upcoming visit to the ruins.  The drive was about an hour each way. Highways were in good condition, they had a good size shoulder and no sharp or hair pin corners. 🙌🏻 Once we arrived at the ruins Miriam was our exclusive guide.  We stopped 4 times and were given approx 5 minutes to explore on our own before regrouping.  It was rated as a moderate excursion and I would agree with that.  It was about 3.8 miles ship to ship. Lots of uneven walking paths so wear proper footwear. Climbing the steps is a work out in itself given their uneven and slippery nature. All in all we really liked this excursion.  Definitely worth the money.  I was overheating with the humidity; which was 100%. 😩😨 We are use to heat but not that level of humidity in Alberta. We were in the middle of a rain forest so it was to be expected but it still tuckered us all out. Here are photos from our various stops.  

 

Like I say they talk a good WJ game but fail at execution. 🤣🤣

An hour and a half...they have increased that. Hopefully, all ships are doing that.

Star Class Flowrider session 8:30-10am. 
I totally forgot about the star class session so my trip to the thermal suite was delayed.
This session worked out great! I know it’s a hot topic but Lindsay definitely got lucky with only a couple star call guests there. He actually had more time on the flowrider this morning than he did in our private session yesterday. Shortly after our arrival it was just him and another man. Lindsay earned his white band for stand up!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 
 

A short time later we come to the King penguin colony.


Various stages of molting.










Penguins as far as you can see.

The moon of the summer solstice.

With a guest appearance from Jupiter - the small dot on the right.

Oh my, very cool adventure, but way too many birds for my liking!
If I was there, I would be the only one in the pics carrying an umbrella. I do not have a good track record with birds 🤣 

Merry Christmas from somewhere in the Gulf 🎅🎄
We woke to a beautiful morning. Sunny and no wind. I’ll post more about our private flower session in a bit. Just sharing our morning view. 🌞

I agree. Don’t get me wrong, our SRA is a nice man, eager to please. I sense he is new to servicing star class suites.  I am routing all stateroom attendant type requests through Berty. Although I am sympathetic to their cabin load I am not willing to let it diminish our star class perks.  
If not for Berty our pressed items and laundry situation would have ended much differently.  SRA reported no pressed items at 4. After a text to Berty pressed items arrived within 15 minutes.  It’s the genie magic 🧞‍♂️🧞‍♂️

Ugh, one of the things i am NOT looking forward to on our next cruise. I'm getting the impression that there is no special training for Star Class stateroom attendants that do not serve Deck 17. I feel like Loft attendants are excellent, but maybe not so much for other Star Class suites that aren't in the Loft area. That's what i seem to be gathering anyway. 
I let Batman pick our next room on Symphony and we're in 8734. We could have had a Star Loft, but Batman ix-nayed that in favor of the 2BRATS balcony. I already know I'm going to be so disappointed in the bathrooms. 😁 Royal was smart to make deposits N/R. I honestly think I'd cancel if left to me. Nonetheless, I'm still anxious to read more about your experience!

Grease was scheduled for tonight but I cancelled. I never cancel but it wasn’t until 9:30pm and we are tired. Plus the open spaces, restaurants and elevators are really hot 😨 and we couldn’t handle the possibility of 2 hours in a hot theatre. Berty had popcorn delivered and we may catch a movie. We have an early morning tomorrow with the private flow rider session at 7:45am   
I think I am glad we are not on deck 17. I know how that sounds because I love deck 17 lol but elevators getting to and from CK tonight were awful. We will definitely get in our steps and take the stairs when we can.  
Night all, Merry Christmas 🎅🎄

No, sorry I will clarify. Berty used his genie powers and had our stateroom attendant do it. I was getting some pushback from the attendant on getting more star class laundry bags and having a few items pressed for tonight. Berty took care of it without me even knowing. I came back from lunch to a clean floor. 

We are in for the night. We had a pretty quiet day; walked through the shops downtown, drove to NASA and went for a drive along the coast. We’ve packed what we can. Berty will see us in the terminal at 10:15am. Lindsay will drop Reyd and I and the luggage at the terminal early, drop the rental and meet us back at the terminal. Berty confirmed Reyd and I can get ourselves and the luggage checked in and they will have Lindsay join us in the suite lounge. Weather has remained good in Galveston but the forecast calls for rain throughout the night, morning and afternoon. So we will see what happens.  Berty said it has been raining today. 
I’ll checkin with you all tomorrow!! 

Speaking of that sailing, when does that live blog start?  Pretty late for you 😂

After supper we headed over to Pleasure Pier for a walk around.  It was a nice walk, but definitely not worth the cost of admission. Lindsay was so annoyed he said he wasn’t giving them another cent and drove out of the parking lot through the entrance with a “do not enter”.  I am sure the people exiting properly through the exit thought it was a moment from planes trains and automobiles. 😆