CravingaCruise

Right? We’re super excited!!

Thanks for the follow! We talked about this last night. I think Chops Grille will be the venue of choice! Thank you so much for the recommendations!! All sound great! You can't go wrong with recommending cocktails and tacos for us!! Fun!! I'm sure by your cruise we'll be camped out in the Diamond Lounge! We'll post some of the fun things our friends told us about Cabo. We're doing Cabo during our middle cruise because the Super Bowl is during Cabo on the last cruise - and we're planning on watching our team. We should be able to share if they were as good as our friends let on too. Diamond for us was a "hopefully one day" also. The cruise comeback with double points paired with the last two cruises in suites (with double points) gave us the boost needed to get there. It's great to have you following along! Hoping our fun adventure to share with you is more than "we got a nap today".

DIAMOND - Here We Come! At the end of our last blog where we took a bunch of family on the cruise with us, I shared that hubby and I snuck down to the Next Cruise desk and we booked another cruise as a getaway for just the two of us! This time, we opted for less frills (sadly, no suite this time), but we're doing a back-to-back-to-back! When we set up our appointment with Next Cruise, we intended to just book a short 4 night cruise to get us to Diamond level because we were just a couple of points away. Then we decided to add a second cruise to it so we could experience the diamond perks on the second cruise. By the time we made it to our appointment, we had figured out that if we added a third cruise it would include Valentine's Day and the Super Bowl. Had it been a longer walk, who knows what we would have ended up with! Partners in crime on this cruise: Just the two of us (hubby and I) Ship: Navigator of the Seas Cabin: Interior with Virtual Balcony – midship - same room for all three cruises Dates: January 30 - February 17, 2023 Ports: Cruise 1: Sailing RT from Los Angeles to Catalina Island & Ensenada Cruises 2 & 3: Sailing RT from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, & Puerto Vallarta Booked Excursions: Catalina: No excursion, but I'll be on the hunt for a good clam chowder and hoping it's good weather to walk around a bit Cabo: No excursion, but our best friends go to Cabo all the time and have sent us a long list of things/places to experience Mazatlan: Mazatlan Highlights Express. During this tour, we get to watch cliff diving - a bucket list item for hubby! Puerto Vallarta: Still evaluating - Spent a week there a while back, so we did a bunch, but looking for an adventure (a calm one - we're getting old) LAX: We decided to try the LA Highlights and Rodeo Drive Tour with Airport Transfer. Should be a fun way to get back to the airport. Other Events & Things: Super Bowl: We're crossing our fingers that the Eagles make it! Valentine's Day: My favorite holiday, so I'm happy we'll be cruising this day! Hotel & Flight: We are taking a huge risk and flying to LAX the day of the cruise!!! We're flying from PDX to LAX, so it's a short flight, and there are a ton of other flights to fall back on, so we feel pretty good about it - unless our airline decides to pull a Southwest on us. Cross your fingers for us!! We are the most excited that after the first cruise, we will move to Diamond status! I'm looking forward to the coffee machine and being able to venture into an exclusive lounge!! Unfortunately, I have to work a bit while on this cruise because after we had booked the trip, my company changed our fiscal year and caused a bunch of initiatives (for which I'm responsible) to be due in February. Ugh! But I'm only working when I have to and I'm hoping the internet works for me. What to expect from this blog: One thing I've looked for from other B2B cruises is what happens during the debarkation/embarkation process if you stay in the same cabin. We'll also share what happens when you stay on the ship for a second cruise and reach the next level with perks after the first cruise. I read once that you stay on the ship and the Diamond Concierge comes and gives you an orientation (of sorts). Hoping all this to be the case. We'll share what the Diamond Lounge is all about and what to expect with those perks If I have any frustration with internet, you'll hear about it. Just kidding...maybe If the weather is nice in LA during either of our turnaround days, we plan to hit the water slides since that's usually when there is no line! We're not planning on any dining other than the included options on the ship, and we're total foodies - we'll provide an honest review of the food on the ship and any tips and tricks we learn along our way. We may stray from this for Valentine's Day - we'll see. We'll post pics of our cruise compasses from all three cruises, and any other goodies they leave us that could help you plan your getaway. I skipped the different phases ramping up to this cruise in the blogs because I've been so busy with the holidays and work that I haven't thought much about it. But we're just a week out now and things are heating up! The packing/staging has begun, and all of our documents are in order. I hope you enjoy our blog sharing with you our adventure to Diamond status!

New topic please. I really enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to the next one. We're on Navigator in February and would love to know as much as you can share.

Looking forward to your blog! We're on her in Jan/Feb and it will be our first time on her. Enjoy your cruise! Have a drink for us!

Thank you so much for your kind words!! You know you're my original inspiration for blogging! Right?? I sat there in bed thinking of how to redesign the master bedroom and bathroom every night. I've got some great ideas if they were to ever ask! That's right!! I forgot about that! It was on Oasis when we were on years ago and I loved it! #TeamDeck17 is a thing for sure!! We tried our card to go walk around the gated community one night and it wouldn't let us in. Sad!

Wow! 62 years! That is so awesome! Happy anniversary to them!! I LOVE the shirts!! My hubby is such a good sport - he just goes along with it all the time - I think he really likes it deep down.

Final Thoughts Cabin 9730, 2 bedroom aqua theater suite Balcony: This cabin has an AMAZING balcony, which was the entire reason we wanted this room. We watched the show the first night from our balcony and that was a lot of fun! Cindy spent a lot of time outside, and we all had our moments enjoying the amazing aft view and the sea breeze. We attempted to dine out there one evening, but the wind picked up just before dinner was to arrive and there would have been no way to comfortably dine out there. Jay's quick-planning, saved our evening. Sleeping: This cabin sleeps 8 with the set up of 2 in the master, 4 in the 2nd bedroom and 2 in the living room. I would not recommend 8 adults in this cabin because 2 of the 4 in the 2nd bedroom would be in bunks. Storage: We thought going into this cruise that there would be enough storage for 6 adults. There really wasn't enough. The girls in the living room felt it the most and we lived with a pile of stuff on the corner floor for most of the week. There was hanging storage for each room, and the living room had some drawers, but it just wasn't enough. Master Bathroom: The master bathroom seriously needs a redesign. This was definitely my least favorite thing about this cabin. The bathtub sits up higher than normal (I imagine for the plumbing), which causes the height to be drastically reduced. I'm 5'6" and Tim is 5'8", and I can tell you when I was washing my hair, I got suds on the ceiling every time. There is also a step up into the bathroom that is a major trip hazard, and the door swings outward from the closet toward the room (the opposite of what makes sense in my mind). The door also doesn't open all the way, so if anything is on the floor across from the bathroom door, or if anyone is standing in front of the closet, you can't get in or out. The sink water (for brushing your teeth), never seemed to get cold. It was always quite warm or even hot, which was odd to me. I tried every angle with the handle and nothing yielded cold water. 2nd Bathroom: This bathroom was shared by 4 women and while it worked, it really should have been bigger!! The toilet is super cramped into the corner, and there isn't a lot of storage available. There is also another step into this bathroom that is a huge tripping hazard. I worried every night about Mom being groggy and tripping as she stepped out of the bathroom in the middle of the night. Amazingly, the four sharing the bathroom didn't complain once! I'm not sure I could have risen to that level of contentment. Living Room & Dining Table: Considering that this room sleeps up to 8, it could have been arranged differently to accommodate the occupants. It is ideal for 4 people / two couples, but as soon as you add more guests, it starts to feel like it just can't handle it. The dining table only sat 4, so on the days that we wanted breakfast in our suite, things were overflowing off of the table and not everyone could sit at the table to eat. We made it work for us, but if you like sitting together, and it's too windy or hot outside, it may not work as well for you. Location on the Ship: It is a looooooong way to the end of the cabins. We definitely all got our steps in each day. The first day, Cindy and Mom went to the walking track...they never went back. A couple of nights Kayla wore the cutest sparkly high heels to dinner, and I just know she was regretting it on her way back to the room. While you only get the aft views from your cabin when you're actually at the aft of the ship, you have to weigh how important those views are to you in comparison to location. Outlets, light switches, drapes, carpet: We found (with bare feet) staples sticking out of the carpet in a few places in our room. The housekeeping manager was made aware of it, and it's possible he was on his hands and knees looking for them in other areas because he was quite concerned over them. We didn't find any again after he had been there. However, be cautious about this with little feet. The light switches don't all make sense, and it would be nice if Royal labeled them so we didn't always have to guess. There is a master switch at the entrance that you don't ever want to turn off or you will turn off the AC! There are hardly any outlets in this room. In order for the girls to charge phones (because that is their lifeblood), they had to unplug things up by the coffee maker. Thankfully, we had an extension cord with us that didn't get confiscated (it was in with Tim's CPap machine and I had forgotten about it). I had also taken an outlet splitter with us which came in very handy. Outlets in master bedroom: We were very surprised to find that there are outlets behind each nightstand in the master bedroom. We were expecting the drapes to be on an automatic switch but they weren't. Maybe they will be after it finally gets amplified, but for now, they are manual, and they could use some WD-40. Pulling the drapes made me feel like I was going to pull them off the tracks every time. We like light and lots of it! When the drapes aren't fully open, we feel like we're missing something. It feels like this could be reconfigured a bit - and maybe that's part of the plan when it gets amplified. it just wasn't a good original design. Room service: This room is a long way from the room service kitchen, and if you like your food hot, you're going to be disappointed. We ate breakfast in the room several times, and everyone just dealt with the food temp. Laundry: The free laundry is awesome!!!!! Not having to pack as much knowing that we could do laundry mid-cruise is great! It's got to be one of Tim's favorite things! Restaurants: 150 Central Park: This is a bit of an upscale restaurant. We booked it on the first night, and wish we would have done it on a nicer night. Our first night with the luggage snafu, caused me not to want to change for dinner, so we went in our casual attire. I felt a little bad when we showed up. The food and service here were excellent. The garden martini has a bit of a cult following, so we tried it, and it is quite refreshing. Not really my thing, but Cindy loved it! Izumi Sushi: Excellent food and service here as well! As a matter of fact, Edgar took time to teach Cindy how to use chopsticks, which I wish I had on video because it was hilarious! Samba Grille: This is Royal's take on a Brazilian Steakhouse. Overall, this was disappointing for us. The meats were dry and overcooked most of the time, and the side dishes were bland and tasteless. I like that they were trying to bring this style to their ship, but it is a far cry from the original Brazilian Steakhouse concept and was not executed well. We wouldn't recommend this restaurant. Sabor: Yuck! We are Mexican Food fanatics and we had high hopes that were shattered here. The guacamole was good, and the pico de gallo was great, but the chips were only so-so, so it was a flop. The queso, wasn't true queso, but instead was a hot glob of cheese. The main dishes were okay, but had funky flavors that didn't really give off the Mexican vibe. The restaurant is also open-air, so when it's 80+ degrees and very muggy, it makes for a bit of a miserable dining experience. Jay was sweet enough to lend me his personal hand-held fan/mister so I didn't melt away to nothing. Overall, we would not recommend this restaurant. Coastal Kitchen (suite restaurant): This is by far our favorite venue overall. The service is always outstanding, and the food has never disappointed yet. You get some of the best views from the suite restaurant and lounge, and the attitude is to please their guests. If you are in a suite or pinnacle member, we would highly recommend this restaurant! Giovanni's: Overall, this was okay. The risotto wasn't cooked properly, so there was a bite/crunch to it. True risotto is slow-cooked and super creamy. We know this because Tim has perfected it over the years, and we're kind of risotto snobs. The osso bucco was okay, but nothing to really write home about, and the other meals consumed by our group seemed to be just fine. If we had a dining package and this was included, we would probably go back, but we probably wouldn't spend extra to go there. Chops: This is a hard one to give a true review of just because of our individual circumstances. We attempted to dine on our balcony and had to cancel at the last minute so our food chased us around the ship, finally catching up to us in Coastal Kitchen. The kitchen attempted to deliver our meal per course, which meant keeping our main courses warm, which then overcooked our steaks and lobster, BUT everything tasted so good that we ate it all. Mom and Cindy both had the wedge salad for a first course and loved them. For those of us with steaks, the seasoning was outstanding, and even though they weren't the doneness we prefer, we all ate them without a single complaint. Izumi Hibachi: This was a disappointment for us. To start the night off, we were all visiting at the table quietly (as a group of 10) and when the chef walked up, he banged his tools down on the grill extremely loudly to get everyone's attention, which was rude and ridiculous - not what I would consider entertaining at all!! For someone with heart problems, this could be a potential health hazard if this is a regular thing. The appetizer of kara age wasn't as crunchy as it was on Anthem, but the flavor was good. The spicy crunchy rolls were excellent; Tim's water glass had a clump of dried-on lemon seeds in the bottom of the glass and didn't realize it until he had consumed most of the glass of water - eeewwww!! They replaced his glass for him but there wasn't even an apology. The chef clearly had an act that he followed, and performed for us all throughout the evening which was fine. He wasn't very good at cooking though because the first thing he did was pile up a bunch of garlic onto the grill, douse it in oil, and burn it. We sat there front and center and watched it burn and we cringed the whole time. Burnt garlic is bitter to the taste, and not so pleasant to smell either. The next thing he did was burn the scrambled eggs that was to be added to the fried rice. The fried rice had a few veggies in it, but it wasn't full of veggies like it should have been. We were also served sauteed veggies early on in the meal that I think should have been served with our other food. Had we waited for the other food, they would have been ice cold by the time the meal arrived. The final portion of our meal was chicken and shrimp which were both overcooked and under-seasoned. When the meal was over, there was no clean up around us so when the cake arrived and we had pictures, there was still a mess. This is meant to be an entertaining dining venue that they charge an arm and a leg for, and I'm not sure I would say you get the best return on your investment. We may have just had a chef that wasn't very good, but if this is a tell tale sign of how they train them, I wouldn't recommend it for the cost. Sorentos: We went here one time and had a slice each. It was fine, but comparing it to Anthem last year, it doesn't compare. We found it on Anthem to be really good - but it was our cruise after the shutdown and we were deprived, so everything was amazing. Johnny Rockets: The Dog House: We each had a dog from here. I had a chicken apple sausage and Tim had braut. We both had the everything bun and each got sauerkraut and onions. Had I known the onions were caramelized, I would have passed on them, but he put them on and then it was too late. The caramelized onions were way too sweet and neither of us liked them. The mayo in the self-serve container came out like water, and was a bit of a turn off. Both of us took a bite or two and gave up. The dogs were fine - it was the accompaniments that were not appealing. Bar Service: We had great bar service all over the ship for the most part. The one time it was challenging was in the Solarium on a port day. The poor server was all by herself and trying to service all of the Solarium. We were there for a couple of hours and had two drinks. I tried ordering multiple at one time but she said I couldn't, so we waited...and waited. She always had a smile though! I have to give her credit. Suite Snacks: If you're not specific, expect everything you ever said you liked!! Jay told us that if he has to guess, he over-orders, so we started getting specific. We had wings delivered several times, and I never got to try them. I heard they were great, but apparently, I'm too slow to get to them. One day, we even had 6 orders of them, and I still didn't get any! Our group wouldn't have eaten them if they weren't good, so there you go. Service on Ship: Outstanding! The entire cruise, we never met one person working who wasn't happy. Cindy is the happiness police and she always asked. RC Excursions: We ended up with three different excursions, and we were happy with them all (see the original post for a list of what we did). The ones we missed were in Honduras because we weren't able to go to that port. Our tour guide and driver for the ruins excursion were great! We always hear of crazy drivers on excursions and Freddy (our driver) wasn't crazy at all!! Very happy! Overall: We will be booking star class again - we have one more on the books already, along with others just to be on ships. We can now say we've been in a 2 Bdrm ATS because it was a bucket list item. Would we book the same room again? If the circumstances called for it, and we couldn't get the Royal Loft, then yes. However, I think it's safe to say we would prefer deck 17 instead. Is star class worth the extra cash? It depends on your preferences and how you like to travel, but for us, we love all the little extras that come with star class. Favorite Star Class Perks: The escort to the front of the line at the port The escort with your luggage off of the ship Free laundry Reserved seats at shows/events Not having to think about anything once I give our genie a list The Dux mattress in the master bedroom!!!!! If any of you have Jay as your royal genie in the future, you are in for a real treat. He is an outstanding person, and you will easily miss him when you part ways. We now have a Jay-sized whole in our hearts. Thanks to all of you who were following along! We're all home safe now and we had no mishaps with Mom on the trip home!! This vacation will go down in history as one of our all-time favorites.

Debarkation Day (SADNESS!!): Jay personally delivered our coffee order to us today, and I was eternally grateful!! I'm sure part of the reason he offers to bring coffee to his guests on debarkation day is so he can see our packing progress, just in case he needs to call in the cavalry. After the coffee and the rest of the crew getting their last items packed, they all went to the Windjammer for a quick bite to eat. Amazingly, Kenzie found a big round table for them to all sit together. Go Kenzie! They were all back by 8:30ish and my packing was nearly complete; I just have the last of the peripherals that needed to be tucked away. Tim came back with some nourishment for me, and I took a 10 minute break to eat, then I was back at it again. In true Laws' fashion, packing was complete at 8:50am (10 mins ahead of schedule), and we let Jay know we were ready to walk out when he was. Jay arrived with two porters and we all said a final goodbye to our home for the week before following our trusty leader off the ship. Bypassing the humungous line off the ship was worth every penny of star class!!! Sadly, a couple followed us from the elevators to the front of the line where we scanned our sea pass cards to get off the ship, only to find out they couldn't come with us. That happened last year too. We made it all the way passed the line and then went to the elevators with the porters. Normally, the porters would go down the elevators and we would go down the escalator, but they had it blocked off. We waited for another group to go down with Alan and then a few individuals in wheelchairs, then it was our turn. As we moved forward, some arrogant single guy tried getting in front of us to get on the elevator. Tim gave a look to Jay, and Jay took care of it. As we got on the elevator, he called out asking if there was room for a single and Jay blocked him from getting on. His final comment was to yell at us saying "I guess you paid for it...". What an entitled jerk! Some people! We got to the bottom and the ship porters transferred all the luggage off the carts to the terminal porter. It was so impressive that I took a pic. We gave our final hugs to Jay, shed a few tears, and we were on our way - directly to the front of the line again. Kayla got stopped at the end because they had to look at her birth certificate, which caused her a little anxiety, but it only took a second and then we were done. Our porter took us to the location for the ride shares, dropped us off with our bags and there we waited and melted while our drivers went around in circles for a while. We ordered two XL Lyfts and Kenzie's went around twice before declining the ride. She was able to get another one right away, and they actually beat us to the airport. There was practically no line at United when we got there, so we dropped off our bags with ease, and headed to our gates. Kayla was flying out of C1 and we were just across from her in C2. We hung out at the Mexican place (Rocco's Tacos - terribly overpriced and not so great of food) until it was time to say goodbye to Kayla (our flights were only 30 mins apart), then we made our way to our gate. Just like that, star class had come to an end.

Day 6 Pics (Final Day at Sea):

Day 5 Pics (Cozumel):

Day 4 Pics (Costa Maya) Cont'd:

Day 4 Pics (Costa Maya):

Day 6 (Final Day at Sea): Today we decided to sleep in a bit and not be on such a tight schedule. Don't get me wrong, I love schedules, but everyone needs a day off, right? However, I did miss the coffee order! After we got up and dressed, that was the first thing on the agenda. Tim decided to do a pass through the people jammer (aka Windjammer) for breakfast because we hadn't been there yet, so Tim and I parted at the aft elevators and he went up while I made a detour to Starbucks (near the fwd elevators). When I gave my cabin number, Charissa and Alyssa asked how we were liking our morning Starbucks orders. It was perfect that I got to meet them because it gave me an opportunity to provide a tip for them specifically. They are sooo nice! I met Tim up in the Windjammer just as he was wrapping up his breakfast and about to get his second cup of coffee. They have quite a variety up there - it really is a great option, even though it's a madhouse! We hadn't played Bingo all trip, so we decided to rally the troops and have a little fun. We checked with Jay and he met us at Boleros. Before he arrived, we got him his favorite coffee order (Venti Caramel Latte with Almond Milk for those of you who wish to bless him in the future). We didn't win at bingo, but I did win the raffle, which was a cute plushy puffer fish and a bottle of champagne. We ended up not having a chance to drink it, so we asked Jay to gift it to someone else for us. We all went back to the room and got changed for our wine tasting lunch. All the girls had shirts that read "Wine Drinking Team" and Tim's shirt read "Warning, the girls are drinking again". I just love group t-shirts! We went down to the Boardwalk to meet our friend Lusi (and share the tipping love with her as well) who had been making all of the fabulous cakes all week for us. We found out that she does them in her spare time (technically on her breaks) as a favor to Jay. She's so sweet!! We took a great group photo with her big smile right in front. The plan was to head to Vintages for wine tasting and charcuterie as our lunch, but I had miscommunicated our intent and Jay had us signed up for the group event at 2pm. We graciously bowed out of it and all did our own thing for lunch. Tim and I tried the hot dog place and didn't really like it (see in our later review for more on this). So we moved on. We wandered down to Johnny Rockets and they said it would be a 30 minutes wait, so we kept moving. We ended up in the Promenade at Sorentos and got a slice of pizza each. That hit the spot and we figured we'd be fine for a bit. Kenzie and Kayla decided to wait for Johnny Rockets and they enjoyed it. I don't know where Mom and Cindy ended up, but we do know they got some shopping in that afternoon! Cindy was waiting patiently for the last day for all the specials, and her patience was rewarded with a shopping spree! We miraculously all ended up back at the room at the same time mid-afternoon, so we decided to do a photo session in our wine drinking t-shirts. Mom getting on our laps was a hoot and a half!! Mom and Cindy got to sneak one more showing of Mamma Mia! into the trip and Jay surprised Mom with the most precious thing! The entire cast signed a poster just for her! He gave it to her and we captured her reaction in pics. It's hard to believe her smile can get any bigger, but it keeps happening! It warmed my heart!! For dinner on our final night, we planned for hibachi, and were seated with the couple up in the royal loft suite and one other couple. We ordered a few drinks around the table, some of the kara-age chicken (because Tim missed out on that when we were at Izumi sushi earlier in the week), and a California roll. By the time dinner rolled around, we were already full. Dessert time came, and we knew better than to order dessert because every meal had included a cake so far. Sure enough, a cake was delivered and it was beautiful! She made a two tier cake for us tonight! So nice! Jay had arranged for a photographer to be there to capture the moment for us. After dinner, Cindy went down to the Promenade to pick up her anklet she had ordered earlier in the day, and the girls met with some friends they had acquired onboard. Tim and I met Jay over at NextCruise, and booked our first back-to-back-to-back starting on January 30th on the Navigator! We're super excited!!! We aren't doing a suite or anything special - just a getaway for us for the entire time so we can enjoy some time away. We were able to arrange the same cabin for all three cruises, so we won't have to get off the ship on debarkation/embarkation days at all. A bonus for us is that after the first cruise, we will have reached Diamond status and will be able to go to guest services to get our new sea pass cards and access to the Diamond Lounge!! We finally ended up back at the room and had to pack up our adventure. When we got there, Jay had left us a beautiful anniversary gift, and our cabin attendant had filled up our cabin with towel animals! My heart was full!! Jay really made this trip special for us in so many ways! We worked on the packing and got about 2/3 done and called it a night. I think when Jay popped in to leave our gift, he was a little worried about our lack of progress. We're seasoned packers though, and knew we'd be fine. Perfect ending to a fantastic cruise! The pics are finally done downloading, so those are coming next, followed by our final debarkation and additional thoughts.

Thank you both! We knew this was probably going to be the last big vacation for Mom, so we wanted it to be extra special for her! We'll have others, but probably will stick closer to home.

Day 5 (Cozumel): Day 4 pics will be uploaded with day 5 since I forgot to do that earlier! Today was amazing! It was mom's birthday celebration today and she was treated like the queen she is! We started the day off getting ready for our excursion and then all heading to Coastal Kitchen (the suite restaurant) for breakfast where Jay had our coffee order delivered and waiting for us right when we walked in the door. Star class is so nice!!! The girls followed shortly after because their excursion was about 30 minutes after ours. Gede (our server that we've had each time we've been to Coastal) was on it and we had breakfast in about 7 minutes. The girls arrived and their breakfast was just as quick. It was perfect! Jay came up to get us in Coastal and escorted us off the ship and to the excursion meeting area. He got us settled and then got Kenzie and Kayla set up for their fun day. Smooth sailing! Mom and Cindy were doing a dolphin encounter today, Kenzie and Kayla were doing a beach day, and Tim and I were accompanying Mom and Cindy...Tim to be paparazzi and I was down by the encounter area to assist with mom if needed. I didn't want a repeat of the plane, and she's about as light as a feather in water that was a little choppy. I was glad Cindy was in there holding onto her. Others around her also assisted with Mom, holding onto her to keep her steady, then offering a hat when I got worried she had been in the sun too long (they wouldn't let anyone wear sunscreen in the dolphin enclosure). We got hundreds of pics, and then purchased the package of all the digital pics and two prints. The pics made Cindy tear up every time she saw them because this was something she had always wanted to do and never thought it would happen. I love that this made her that happy!!! When we were waiting on the pics, they offered lunch and drinks, and we declined both. We asked about water, wanting bottled, and they said no, it was filtered tap - um, can someone say NO WAY!!! I think she was offended, oh well! I'm not going to let Mom end up with tummy problems because we let our guard down. We ate at Coastal Kitchen as soon as we were back on the ship. Waaaaaaay better than any free lunch at a dolphin encounter place!!! After lunch, we put our suits on and went to the Solarium. It was nice - busy in there, but nice. There was only one server in there trying to manage drinks for everyone - holy cow!! Kudos to Wei! We got our first drink round and ordered another one. In the two(ish) hours we were there, we got 2 drinks each and were waiting on a water for Tim, and finally gave up. We came back to the room to another star class snack (I mean feast) and hung out on our balcony for a bit. It was so windy, and we realized there was no way we could eat on the balcony tonight. We messaged Jay and found out that our meal was about to leave the kitchen and head our way. We tried to figure it out but Jay ended up setting us up in Coastal Kitchen and had our food rerouted. Gede was our server once again and he got us all square away. He delivered the food that had been traveling all over the ship, and the kitchen did everything they could to revive it. By this time in the cruise, we've eaten so much food that we really could have skipped this meal entirely, and we wouldn't have felt it, so the steaks that were very overcooked because of the reheat, didn't really bother us. Everyone ate what they wanted of the dinner, and it was great because this was Mom's birthday celebration night. We made a big deal about it and she felt special! We had originally forgotten them, so Kayla ran back to the room to get the birthday queen tiara and sash. She wore them both proudly and got happy birthday wishes from so many people all evening! She loved the attention!!! Cindy snuck back to the room just as we were leaving port so she could take some cool pics leaving the port in the sunset. We asked Gede to send mom's cake up to our room and we met Cindy along the way to the comedy show. While waiting for Jay outside of the show, everyone leaving the ice show saw mom in her tiara and were telling her happy birthday. Cindy and I were about to break out in song for her just to see if the group would join us, and that's when Jay showed up. I'm pretty sure they all would have started singing had we started it. The comedy show was great! The first guy was really good, and the second guy was good, but not as good as the first. It is not a clean show, so set your expectations! If you like comedy, we would recommend this show. There was one gal in our audience that had this loud, high-pitched cackle and the first comedian called it out saying it was a great laugh. OMG! She got so loud after that and super annoying. Aunt Cindy wanted to strangle her by the end of the night!! The second comedian wasn't as amused by her, and it pretty much shut down the laugh - thank God!! We came back to the room and found Kenzie and Kayla passed out from the long day in the sun, so we called it a night. Tomorrow - no coffee delivery and no breakfast order! We're sleeping in as long as we want and taking it easy! Pics tomorrow.

Day 4 (Puerto Costa Maya - Chacchoben Ruins Excursion for All: What a day! Coffee arrived at 7:30am, right on time. However, half of us had the time zone incorrect on our phones, and were so confused! Local time was 6:30am, but ship time was 7:30am. My phone alarm went off based on ship time - which surprised me because it was set to automatically change time zones like everyone else. Thankfully, I was up because the coffee delivery would have called Jay had we not answered - and I know he was probably still sleeping at that time. We decided to eat breakfast in Coastal Kitchen this morning, and made our way up there at 8:30am. It took forever for breakfast, but we did have time, so it was fine. We met Jay back in our suite at 10am while we scrambled a bit to grab everything for our excursion. He then escorted us all the way to the meeting spot for our excursion - which I'm sure we would have botched had he not been with us because there were soooo many people getting off of two ships at the same time. By the time we made it to our meeting spot, we were all melting and sweating into our eyes. Cindy grabbed some napkins from the little stand nearby, but it wasn't many. They were all drenched within minutes. We climbed into a passenger van with 2 other couples and our guide Orlando and driver Freddie were outstanding. It was an hour drive to the ruins, we stopped for a quick restroom break before exploring, then had another quick stop at the same little market before heading back. All in, the trip was four hours long. Orlando fed us some very interesting facts about the ruins and the area on our entire drive over, and the information never really stopped flowing throughout the trip. We learned a lot today! We all covered ourselves with bug spray and it seemingly worked (until most of it was sweated off at the end). We'll find out for sure tomorrow if we ended up with any bites. Other than having to look down to see where we were walking all the time to avoid tripping hazards and fire ant colonies, it was a fantastic tour. We got some great pics (can't seem to upload them tonight), and we captured some big smiles on Mom throughout the tour! At one time, there was a baby spider monkey playing in the trees above us and poor Orlando just stopped talking while we all oohed and aahed over it. When we got done with the tour, I almost bought a t-shirt in the market just to wipe off all the sweat! We felt so gross and couldn't wait to get back for a shower! The only downfall during this excursion is that there is no time for food and it goes through lunchtime. Not good for someone who needs nourishment regularly. Thankfully, we had brought with us some nuts, granola bars, and chips. At least we had that and water to hold us off. We got back to the ship and Jay had ordered a bunch of snacks for us! I was never happier to have so much food in our room! He popped by while we were elbow deep in shrimp cocktail and we chatted for a bit. Kenzie had found a keychain for him and suggested that he turn it into a magnet. He shared that he absolutely treasures the things he receives from guests and has a shrine of all of the gifts and notes he's received over the years. He's such a good human!!! Dinner tonight was at Giovanni's and Cindy wore her tiara and sparkly rhinestone lanyard in honor of her special night! She says that everyone has to have a princess name and hers is Princess Consuela Elizabeth Hook. The card she received from Jay tonight started off Dear Cindy (aka Princess Consuela). Aaaaahhhh! She about teared up! Of course she got a cake, and instead of eating it at the restaurant, we had it delivered to the room for us. That at least gave us an opportunity to get into stretchy pants to accommodate more food after stuffing ourselves once again! Mom is a trooper! She was brought up in the era that if you take a plate of food, you eat that plate of food. We keep telling her that she doesn't have to do that - but she keeps eating anyway. Tonight was no exception! I snapped a pic of her when she was finishing up her meal - she looked a bit distraught! We cancelled the ice show tonight and decided to stay in and play a game. We started the game, but quickly lost Mom to bed. We ended up visiting for a while, and then eventually lost Cindy because she realized how early we're starting in the morning. Tomorrow we are having coffee delivered to Coastal Kitchen and will rush a breakfast because Mom and Cindy are doing a dolphin encounter bright and early! We're so excited for them to do this!! So are they! Pics tomorrow - seems to always have a rough time at night loading all of the pics. Thanks for following along everyone!

Day 3 Pics...

Thank you so much! Yes, travel day was super stressful! We learned a lot that day and we think it was motion sickness, so we're going to make sure she has some Dramamine before the flights home...on top of a good breakfast and lots of water! Embarkation is my favorite day too because I love to unpack - I'm funny that way. I like unpacking after a move too.

Day 3 - Sea Day (originally scheduled for Honduras but rerouted because of Ian): Our day started off with coffee at 7:30am instead of 7am, which was definitely better. I was in the shower when it arrived and by the time I made it out to the living room for coffee, everyone was up and working on their coffee and fruit. We had just enough time to get through our coffee and breakfast arrived at 8:30am as ordered. Jay came by at 9:30am to run through our day, and the housekeeping manager stopped by at the same time to check on the AC. The temp still had not come down, so he ordered maintenance on it while we were out during the day. More to come on that. Kenzie had found another staple in the carpet just before he arrived, and we pointed it out to him. We let him know they had pulled one out last night and there was another by the chair Tim was sitting in the night before. He got to see first hand the issue with the staples, and he sincerely was worried and wanted to spend some time looking into that. While there he asked how the rest of the room was, and I mentioned that there were a few things we were hoping for that we hadn't really seen evidence of yet (i.e., the towel animal farm) and a couple of other things. Incidentally, our first night on the ship, our attendant didn't leave any towel animals for us at all, so I went out and mentioned it to him (it was one of the things I requested in advance from Jay and he said he shared my request with the attendant). The attendant told me he would start it the next morning. I've never heard of that before! The next morning came and went, and we still had nothing. That night, we got a small towel mouse and I was a little jealous of other pics I was seeing in our FB group. I was surprised I wasn't seeing anything special with my request going through Jay and then the attendant himself. More on that later as well. Our first agenda item today was the galley tour. Everyone from our cabin went, and we all loved it! Our guide was one of the sous chefs and she was fantastic! One could easily get lost in the kitchen(s)! We went back to the room briefly to change shoes and sit for a few minutes before heading to lunch at Sabor. It's an open restaurant and was roughly the same temp in the dining room as it was outside - warmer, in fact, because there was a breeze out on the boardwalk. We were not overly impressed with Sabor. The food just didn't have the overall "Mexican" flavor. Nobody was brave enough to try an avocado margherita, and I don't do tequila, so it just didn't become part of our experience. We originally had Sabor on the schedule again at the end of the week because we love Mexican food, and we cancelled it. We were supposed to do a wine tasting this afternoon, but we moved it to our last sea day instead, in place of the Sabor lunch. We figured we'd do a huge charcuterie with it, and call it lunch. Since we cancelled the wine tasting, we went back to the room briefly and Cindy sent Tim and I away for some alone time while Mom took a nap to get ready for our big night. When we got back to the room, we had a welcoming committee in the hallway to tell us they had fixed the AC and were excited to have us check it out. True to their word, the AC was fixed and the room had cooled off!! So happy!! Dinner tonight was Coastal Kitchen because it was filet night! It was cooked perfectly and was almost buttery enough to cut through it with a fork. Everyone at the table got the filet except for mom, who had her fill of red meat last night at the Samba grille. She opted for salmon, which was fabulous! Tonight we celebrated Kayla's birthday, and the bartender decided to bless our table with a lot of alcohol! We ended up doing a bunch of shots at the end of our meal, and I was a little worried that we all had to walk all the way to the front of the ship for the show right after dinner. The show was Mamma Mia! tonight!!!! This was the show we were all waiting for because it's Mom's favorite! It didn't disappoint! I'm sure we're going to see it again. It was the full length show and I was very impressed with the production. Mom sang to everything, and it made Tim tear up a bit seeing his mom so happy! If any of you saw flashes during the 8:15pm show, we apologize for that! Tim was taking pics of his mom smiling and singing to the songs and couldn't figure out how to turn off the flash (I'm sure it was a result of the after dinner shots). Another result of the shots, in combination with the chair Tim was sitting in, was keeping him awake during the show. Tim took the seat all the way on the far left of the semi-private section in which we were sitting to assist with stopping people from climbing over the edge and leaving by our row. I think because so many have done this, the seat was reclined an addition 4 inches from my seat. That recline (amongst other things) made it really hard for Tim to remain awake. The two gals behind us got into the action of keeping him awake during the show and were instructed to do something to help him wake up if I hadn't caught him sleeping. Thankfully, it never made it to that point, but we had a good laugh over it all at the end of the night. We arrived back to our room to find a family of towel animals in addition to the mouse and the other one sitting in a chair we received after breakfast!! Yay!! Incidentally, we gave a gift to our cabin attendant of googly eyes, ad they've been put to good use! Today was a great day! Pics coming tomorrow!

He definitely has a fondness for you guys. When I talked about our blog he mentioned you. When I told him you sent your love I could tell he was truly touched. Such a genuinely nice guy!!

Day 2 - Sea Day! We had given Jay our coffee order and (silly us) asked for a delivery at 7am. What??? 7am is far too early for a wake up on vacation! Tomorrow, it will be 7:30am instead. Our coffee arrived as ordered, but there weren't any identifying markings on them so we were all tasting each others' coffees to figure out who they belonged to. Breakfast arrived at 8am as ordered except for one extra plate of 2 eggs and hash browns. One thing we had learned last year is that they take orders very literally. If you order 2 eggs, they think it's 2 orders of eggs. Not too bad for our first room service order. Jay stopped by after breakfast to go over our day and we chatted for a long while getting to know him. He's genuinely a really nice guy! By the way - if any of you are looking for info on gifts for Jay, he loves coffee! His drink of choice on the ship is a venti caramel latte with almond milk. We hung out in the room most of the morning and got to see the rehearsal for the aqua show. We're amazed at the talent the performers possess!! We finally ventured out a little after 11am so our cabin attendant could come in and put our room back together. We wandered down to Starbucks (to get Jay his favorite drink), and ended up at the wrong end of the Promenade because they had just started the parade. We went down to 4 to cut over to the other end but ended up at the entrance to the casino. When I walked off the elevator, it was like walking into a wall of smoke. I turned around and went back into the elevator and told the group I'd meet them down there. I ended up going up to deck 7 and walked down the stateroom hallway to the other elevators. The group never made it to Starbucks so I stopped and got his drink then met them at Izumi where I found them all melting from the temperature. It's so hot on this ship! I kept thinking it was just me, but I'm beginning to hear it from others also - so I'm not actually having one long hot flash! Thank God!! I've been running so hot that I've been reluctant to put makeup on because it would just melt off of my face. Jay had arranged lunch for us at Izumi sushi and while waiting for it to open at Noon, Mom was feeling a bit woozy again. After the incident on the plane, we immediately contacted Jay and he brought up a wheelchair for her. It turned out to be motion sickness, so Tim, Mom, and Cindy went back to the cabin to get her Dramamine and eat lunch there while she rested and recovered. After mom was feeling a bit better, Cindy joined Kenzie, Kayla, and I at the restaurant and she got caught up with the rest of us on the appetizers. We learned on Anthem that we loved the chicken karaage and the edamame! Of course we ordered those and gyoza dumplings, and we got a couple of the signature rolls to share at the table. We sent some food to the room also so Mom and Tim didn't miss out. Unfortunately, the room delivery wasn't delivered for a very long time (we ordered it at 12:30, and it showed up at 2:40pm. When we left at 1:45pm they said it was on the way. It must have made a few laps around the ship because by the time it arrived, it was inedible. Thankfully, Jay had ordered a feast of snacks for everyone so they munched on 6 orders of chicken wings,2 whole pizzas, 2 orders of quesadillas, 2 orders of tacos, 1 charcuterie plate, 1 order of nachos, 1 veggie tray, 1 order of chocolate strawberries, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Um...there are only 6 of us! So. Much. Food. We requested that tomorrow's snacks be a plate of berries and some cookies - only! Mom and Tim sat out on our next adventure while mom relaxed a bit. The other four of us met other star classers up on deck 12 and we got to do the Star Class bridge tour!!! Jay said that was only the second tour they had done for the star classers since the comeback, so they were making sure everyone was extra well behaved - they don't want to give them any reason to not continue that perk. The bridge is amazing!! I could easily live up there!! Just sayin. We went back to the room and kicked our feet up for a bit, then Cindy, Kenzie, and Kayla decided to go hide all the ducks they brought on the trip. They had a blast, and have even seen a few with people since hiding them. Tonight was "formal night" and we all decided not to take our formal too far, but instead only do a semi-formal / dressy night and just color coordinate. Our color tonight was blue. It was also Kenzie's birthday celebration. Dinner was at Samba Grille and the amount of food they provide you there is crazy! We all tried to pace ourselves through dinner, but each time the gauche came by with more new meat for us to try, Mom looked at us with a look of shock and dismay! She was a trooper and ate at least a bite of everything just to try it. Some of the side dishes that are served Mom tried and didn't like, but was going to eat it anyway since she took it. We told her it's okay not to eat something she didn't like. Such a hard concept for someone to grasp when they've spent their entire life not wasting food. I'm sure we'll have to continue to remind her. After dinner when we were all bloated, and I'm sure with food in our teeth from all the meat, it seemed like the right time to go have some pictures taken. I really don't know what I was thinking. We definitely need a better plan in the future. We made it through two photographers, and then were all melting from the temperature of the ship and the heat coming off the lamps. We called it good for the night and headed to our next thing. The headliner show tonight was on par with most headliner shows. It was good enough to keep us entertained, but it wasn't amazing. Jay reserved us great seats, and we'll have the same tomorrow night for Mamma Mia! We can't wait for that one!! The seats we have are six seats that are semi-private - which is really nice. We're in the front row of the mezzanine, which we totally prefer. I have to say that I love that Jay asked what our preference was. Kenzie and Kayla didn't join us for the show tonight, so there were two seats not used in our little private area. In the middle of the show, some woman climbed over the back of the end seat and barreled her way in front of us, not even apologizing for trampling our feet. I was left somewhat in shock over it but figured I'd save my complaining until after the show when we could all pile on together over the annoyance. Apparently, it's a thing because at the end of the show, three more women climbed over the back of the end seat and forced their way by us, annoyed that we weren't pushing our way into the crowd. The front woman was extremely rude to Cindy telling her that she needed to get out. Don't people excuse themselves anymore? Where did manners go? We came back to our room and it was like a sauna in here! I let Jay know and he was coming over anyway to drop off some things. He called maintenance along the way and when he got here, he started sweating! He called maintenance again and they asked him to check the doors to make sure they were closed. According to Jay (who has been on ships for years), they were closed. However, when maintenance arrived, he checked the sliding door in our room and the living room and he determined that it was the doors keeping our AC from not working. If Jay thought they were closed, how are people who don't live on a cruise ship supposed to tell if the door is closed or not?? While in the room, we had the maintenance guy pull a staple out of the carpet that Kenzie and Tim had caught their feet on. It was sticking up and was hard to find after it happened. Crazy! I'll share some thoughts on the ship and the cabin a bit later in my blog, but I can tell you that Allure is starting to show her age and could really use a facelift. Here are my pics from today. Sorry, I didn't get the food pics from Kenzie before she fell asleep. Also sorry that one of the pics of the compass is sideways.

No. I asked him to smile because I forgot about the mask. He said I couldn’t see it through the mask and pulled his mask down briefly to show his smile!

Photos from Day 1

Oh! Thank you all for your well wishes for Mom - she's doing great now!