Cactus527

Think of it as expanding your musical horizons. I have, however, heard enough music in all genres throughout my life to know I wish death upon all saxophones. It's a shame, really, because one of my favorite colleagues is married to a saxophonist. I guess everyone has their flaws.

I'm so excited to read how she reacts to finding out all her surprises!

IT'S LAST CRUISE DAY! HALLELUJAH IT'S LAST CRUISE DAY! sing it with me now

I just got an email from RC and am laughing so hard. Check out my point total. My $12 winnings were hard earned! Now I can get...more?

OMG that was like my ANTHEM when I was living in the UK

OMG! I'm DYING! The stalactites on the ceiling!!!!

CAVE SUITERS UNITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actual suite guests can't get away from sunshine like we can - vampires love cave suites! Random note - I finally finished watching the epically-long live stream from Monday on RCB. @LandstromCruise, heard your shout-out and then realized you and Spouse have the same first name, AND you spell it correctly! More points in your corner.

C'mon, this is Minneapolis we're talking about. You guys were BORN for snow. It'll be no issue.

Nooooooooooo, no injuries! I'm sorry, hopefully it's not too painful. As @OCSC Mike recommended, the drink package can help. I feel for you - I stepped on a jellyfish when I was 16 on the beach. I don't wish that pain on ANYONE.

CRUISE DAY!!!!

I HEAR YOU! LAX itself is just a crazy city inside another city (Los Angeles). I always thought Port of LA (San Pedro) was fine until I went to Orlando, Galveston, and Miami. Um, WOW, SO much better there. They don't stuff you inside a giant marshmallow to get taken care of...

I had Sink Laundry Service in my cave suite last week. Just pointing out the features of the interior class...

Those look very much like crepe consistency, but definitely delicious looking. Jealous!

Hey, I'll be on Jewel this fall! I was on it for the honeymoon 20 years ago, and now I'm curious how it's aged. When are you going to be onboard?

Gosh darn it, @Pooch, first the sauce, now the bread??? I'm going to have to move now so I can be near you!!!!!

Get out, right now. You've tainted hot dogs for the last time. LOL Hot dogs are my favorite food, but I have never tried hot dogs with applesauce the way that you have described it. I do boil hot dogs though, and Spouse thinks it is beyond horrible.

Caught up. Wow! So much happening already! Loved your hotel room photos as well as cabin photos. Keep drinking, and hot dogs are AMAZING!

Okay, now that I'm kind of back home and recovered from traveling, I can post my follow-up. 1. Getting sick upon returning home sucks. I haven't had a voice in two days, but at least this only requires typing! 2. After coming home Friday, I ended up driving 3 hours one-way and 3 hours back for Bookworm's competition (her coach forgot something crucial to the competition, so I was the courier). YUCK. 3. There's a lot of laundry in my house right now... Cruise/Itinerary - I get it, it kind of stinks that the short-cruise itineraries out of LA are repetitive. They really can't swap anything else in or out, so it's always Ensenada for the 3-night cruises and the addition of Catalina Island for the 4-night cruises. HOWEVER! I really think the Catalina Island/4-night cruise is the better of the two. Putting aside all the shenanigans I had to put up with overnight on the 3-nighter, the entire feel of the cruise was different on the 4-nighter. If you want party full throttle, go for the 3-nighter. If you want more laid back, more family, and Catalina fun, I definitely recommend the 4-nighter. If I go back again, I'll probably aim for the 4-night itinerary if I can. Ensenada is kind of a hole in the wall but not a bad city. I think it's worth it to visit once. However, Catalina Island is a place where I feel like you could visit over and over and find something a bit different to do each time, especially if you come high season versus low season. Room - My cave suite was great, aside from the library underneath my room. The upgraded outlets and decor were a bonus, and I would definitely stay in it again if I had a guarantee that no one would be awful in the library again. I was in 8325, which you can also see a video tour of it here (not me in the video). It was really quiet overall. Ship - The ship is in great shape. I know it got amplified prior to the pandemic, and it really doesn't have a lot of glaringly huge issues. The chairs in the dining room are starting to look more scratched and bumped, some of the chairs in various bars and lounges look a little rough around the edges, but overall it's good. There's a plethora of activities to take advantage of both day and night, and the cruise director at the moment (Magic Marvin) is fun. I wish the casino had a non-smoking option, and the bar inside feels TINY (but maybe that's casino normal?). I liked that my cabin on Deck 8 was 3 floors down from the Windjammer and 3 floors up from the Promenade. Everything looked clean - it was rare for me to see dishes or cups laying around anywhere on the ship, and the elevators (when I took them) were clean and not smelly. Dining - I did the UDP for the 3 nighter and then nothing for the 4 nighter. Honestly? I prefer NOT having the UDP. I felt like I was eating just to maximize my benefits for the UDP, and it was much more relaxed and happy eating during the 4 nighter. Since I had a poor experience at Hooked before, I didn't go there this time. I love Jamie's and it didn't disappoint, Chops was great as usual, but my highlights were honestly Playmakers and Johnny Rockets. They had exceptional food that I really hadn't taken advantage of before. Yay bar food? What does that say about me?!? MDR food was good, Windjammer food was good, and Cafe Promenade was fine as well. Favorites - Playmakers, Johnny Rockets, Windjammer, Bellyflop competition, and Showgirls (theater production, seen on my 12/24 sailing). I also appreciated being able to do nothing and just watch movies, read a book, or nap at my leisure. The tequila tasting on my Ensenada excursion was a surprise but a welcome surprise. Browsing the shops in Avalon (Catalina Island) in the low season with hardly anyone else around was delightful, I just wish it had been warmer! The excursion up to the top of Catalina Island was gorgeous, just COLD. Turnaround for the B2B was pleasantly easy and fun. Touring the USS Iowa was interesting and worth doing once. Disappointments - La Bufadora was fine itself, it's just the tourist trap area around it that really sucked away my positivity regarding it. The noisemakers in the library during my 3-nighter really ruined my sleep for the weekend and I was in a bad mood because of it. I felt like security at the Port of LA was just rude both times I had to go through them. I got a bit lonely by Day 6 of my trip and kind of caved in on myself, not really leaving my cabin to do much other than eat and drink - I may just stick with shorter sailings if I'm by myself (longer with others would probably be just fine). I wish I had taken advantage of my refreshment package more on the first sailing (I had soda for the 2nd), but it did net me 13 water bottles for the 4 nighter. Summary - Overall, I'm glad I did this trip. I've been wanting to do a B2B for awhile, so when this opportunity presented itself, I jumped in. I am now 6 points short of Diamond, which I'll achieve on my September 2025 sailing, so I'm looking forward to that. I think I may reserve longer sailings (5+ days) to doing it with friends and/or family only, and I'm definitely not going to get a room above a public place again (no matter how quiet it might advertise itself to be, LOL). If you haven't done a West Coast USA cruise with Royal before, I definitely recommend you start thinking about it! Navigator is probably going to leave by the end of 2026, but RC is bringing Ovation and Quantum to supplement Navigator for awhile, and then who knows (we'll find out the week of February 17th). Maybe we can cruise together? I'll see you on board!

Yes, absolutely! Truly, the only part that kind of stunk was waiting around; however, showing up in the Star Lounge at 8:45am and then being back on board just after 10am? Not too terrible. They made it super easy to do. I am laughing so hard, which isn't good at the moment (sick), but...SO...HARD. Seeing how you cruised via your blog, I think you're the perfect type of traveler for the Hyatt Regency Long Beach (no offense! I mean it in the best way!). Definitely recommended. The only reason I was able to manage it was because my Chase Rewards points (via my credit card) transfers to Hyatt Rewards, which then cost me 15K points to stay there. On a normal day, it's anywhere from $300-800/night. You're so kind, thank you for following along! My next one will probably be in September.

There's a house I pass on my runs. It's waaaay back on a dirt road and they have a sign out front that says "Organic Eggs, $8/dozen." I've always thought that was omg expensive, but nowadays it's starting to look more like I might be shopping at the hippie's house...

That salad looks DELICIOUS! I also love the dessert.

OMG SOMEONE THAT KNOWS THAT BAND!!!!! This is grounds for divorce. Those luggage tags are important, yo. 58 lbs and 42 lbs Is that Costco? *swoons*

See, now I feel like everyone is just making up words in this blog.

I had the exact same thought! Clean, spacious, bright during the day, plenty of light for overnight, and the biggest bathroom I've encountered in awhile. Worked out PERFECT for what I needed. @asquared17! Where is your brain? Have YOU gotten pineapple fever?!?? Lunch actually worked out REALLY well - I ordered a #2 from Dave's Hot Chicken, which has 2 sandwiches. I got a #4, which is only one sandwich and cost a lot less. So, I registered a complaint/problem on DoorDash and they refunded most of the cost! I essentially paid just over $7 for a sandwich, fries, and drink via delivery in California. #winnerwinnerchickenlunch Nap was good, but I was awoken by a work-related phone call. Boooooo. Going back to reality for work is not something I'm looking forward to. Seeing my family? Good. Work? Meh. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, I just...don't want to do it at the moment, LOL. Oh dear, now I've got dom/sub things stuck in my head IT'S @asquared17's PINEAPPLE FEVER'S FAULT!!!!!

I believe it's pronounced tar-ZHAY (with a french accent tar-JAY. That's the proper way to jazz it up.