Jacklynn

Bummer, thanks!

I was hoping to give our kids wow bands as a part of their Christmas gifts and thought they'd be under gifts and gear but they aren't. This cruise will be our first where they can be used. Is there not an option to have them shipped to you ahead of time or am I just not seeing them?

We loved the Blades show

Day 6- Cozumel We started our day watching us pull into port and grabbing a big/protein breakfast. The big breakfast was needed as we were doing some drinking this port. No, not at Senor Frogs . We booked the Mexology class through Royal which is held at Dolphinaris. We were to meet for the excursion at 10, so we shopped first. MUCH better than Costa Maya. The venders were way less aggressive. Still trying to sell you their products but in the expected way, so a better shopping experience, which means we actually spent money. We bought 5 shirts for $20 and each of the kids a name bracelet for 3 for $25. I also got my dad a cheesy shot glass that he likely doesn't need. Ya know, all the necessities. We lined up for our excursion and got our bracelets that let us attend. They had us line up and said they were taking us to the next place to get started and they proceeded to take us to the middle of the shopping area and said okay, you have 25 minutes to shop, we will be back to put you in cabs then.... Uhhh what? Lol many of us just stood there like what just happened. There was zero indication that we'd start the excursion with them "giving" us 25 minutes steps from the ship where we all had already shopped lol. Thankfully a mariachi band came and entertained us all until she came back We headed to Dolphinaris and from there the excursion got much better. Actually, it was a blast! I highly recommend the Mexology excursion in Cozumel if that's your kind of thing. Let me know if you have any questions otherwise here are some pictures. After getting filled with cocktails we decided to head back to the ship for some real food in our tummies. Then we walked around until it was time to watch people make their way back into the ship - it makes for great people watching Thankfully no pier runners!

Day 5 - Costa Maya. I set my alarm for 4:50am this day because I wanted to get a 5 mile run in before it got too hot and other people got up. After a sweaty run I got showered and we got a slow breakfast while we let those with excursions file off into Costa Maya before we did. We didn't have anything planned for this port, just planned to walk around a bit and see if anything was worth buying and make use of a more empty ship. It was really hot this day in Costa Maya. It felt like we were dripping sweat by the time we finished the long pier walk. We stopped to watch the flyers and then walked around the shops. They were rather aggressive here. I'm not afraid to say no thank you and walk away, I'm not easily pressured or feel uncomfortable about foreign markets - but several venders would step in front of me even after I said I wasn't interested and block us from walking away. I'm not scared of stuff like that, but it was annoying. Plus the prices were higher than I was interested in even after haggling. Funny enough, my sister was on another cruise that ported here 2 days before us and she is a sucker she paid $85 for the same product that we just so happened to also look at and initially were told was $45 and haggled to $25. We didn't end up buying it though because he couldn't find the one we wanted. Lol she said she didn't know she could bargain with them. We looked at some name bracelets for the kids but they wouldn't go lower than $45 for 3 and that was too much for me. They might have taken less later in the day but we didn't feel like sticking around. The liquor store was odd, we had nothing to compare the Mexican liquor to but the Titos they had was almost $10 more per bottle than we buy it at home in Tennessee. Plus a worker was following us so close she was almost touching me. Like, I get it, watch me closely if you think I look like I might steal something (I did have a bag), but she was practically breathing on me. Spoiler: our shopping experience was MUCH better at Cozumel. We headed back down the long dock to eat lunch and we did airline logo trivia. My word, we knew practically none Then we did the zipline and rock wall with no wait. I was so nervous to do the zipline, but I didn't die so I consider it a success ha! We did friends trivia at 4 then headed to the hot tub before showering for dinner. We got into a bit of a habit of going to the hot tub while early dinner was happening, then showering and walking through central park before our 7:45 dinner. Tonight was white night. I loved how a good portion also participated in the themed nights. It made it feel festive We split some escargot and I got corn cakes and Matt got the pablano soup. I kept forgetting to grab pictures of his. I got the chili-lime salmon and Matt got the burrito. Both were decent. For dessert I got the Tres Leche cake and Matt got some warm apple dessert. Our after dinner stroll included watching the county dancing party in the promenade.

Crazy how once you return real life takes over Day 4 Evening We got back on the ship after our time at Roatan and we were quite hungry. We didn't end up eating anything on the island, so we headed up to the windjammer. The Windjammer has been fine. Not outstanding, not horrible. Some days we found more that we enjoyed that others, but it served its purpose. After eating we got showered and wandered around duck hunting and watched people getting back on the ship from the deck 5 track. At dinner I got the Asian pork tacos and coconut shrimp and Matt got salad. The Asian bao tacos were not great as they were rather tasteless and dry, but the coconut shrimp was delicious! I got a steak for my main and pineapple cake for dessert. The steak had great flavor and was tender but definitely on the less cooked side of medium, but was still good. The pineapple cake was just okay. Matt got the same steak but a chocolate dessert. He enjoyed both. We spent a few bucks on slots and walked around a bit before calling it a night.

Long travel day tomorrow and so I'll be able to write about our last few days I didn't forget about it, just got busy finishing the cruise

Oops, sorry, I didn't even notice I'll fix it.

It was right there where the Daniel Johnson place is. I'm not 100% what the area is called. But if you google map his place it was right there.

We booked privately with Daniel Johnson. Many tours and excursions both private and RC go to Daniel Johnson but we booked directly with them.

Our boarding time was 11, which was the earliest offered unlike our Dec trip on Independence when 10:30 was offered. But they let us into the building at 10 and let group 1, which we were in on just before 10:30.

Day 4 - Roatan We started the day with coffee (shocker ) and watching us pull into the Roatan port. We were able to walk right off the shop around 8:50 even though they had said 9:30. There was the expected chaos as we exited the secured port and found the Daniel Johnson people. It was very easy but I can see how it could cause a bit of anxiety in people as there were people hollering everywhere about taxis and excursions and it was packed. You can see here that the road was lined with venders as we drove away. They got us checked in an introduced us to our driver for the day. I can't remember her name but it was something like Shantia she was awesome! This was at the end when she dropped us off at the port, I was looking rather rough after snorkeling I was so nervous it would be awkward. That there would be weird silences, and when that happens my husband talks a lot because he hates awkward silence thankfully it was very easy conversation. Any time we weren't asking questions she was talking all about her life on the island. She drove us by the Roatan sign, showed us some local schools and talked about them, pointed out her house, we learned all about her family and the relationship and often disconnect with the mainland. It was so good! We definitely felt like we saw the Honduran island instead of just some gimmicky tourist version. Lots of rugged dirt roads but we even enjoyed that. Half way through our tour we stopped at the Daniel Johnson Hangout for some time with the sloths and monkeys and then snorkeling. We were placed with a group of about 12 with 8ish of them being one family. We didn't really think anything of us, they were fine, but as soon as we finished with the sloths a man asked if it was just the two of us and when we said yes he said to follow him to one of the monkey cages. He introduced himself as Daniel Johnson and said he noticed we were with a large group and since it was just the two of us wanted to give us a smaller experience. Here he is chatting with us. It was great! He spent about 10 minutes with us with a mama and baby monkey. He told us all about how his sanctuary came to be. He grew up in the house where the sanctuary is. He was very nice and it felt like a treat getting to hang out with him. I was surprised at how incredibly clean the whole place was. The animals themselves were also incredibly clean. Afterwards he took us and a few others out snorkeling. The snorkeling was fine, but we definitely saw more fish in Hawaii. But the water was clear and nice. I was a bone head and forgot to sunscreen my back and the back of my legs so I'm white from the front and red from the back lol We went to the beach area for a little bit and had a beer that Daniel suggested and afterwards our guide met us at Daniel Johnson. She was able to drop us off right at the ship once we flashed security our sea passes.

It wasn't smoky thankfully. I hate that liquid smoke taste this was tasty.

I don't know the technical category name, but it's just a normal interior room. Maybe 4V? For some reason that's what comes to mind. This is ours, it is along the side vs in the back.

Day 3 Sea Day afternoon/evening I bought cheap star necklaces from the dollar store to wear on the 4th of July and apparently they don't mix well with sunscreen and sweat I had stars on my legs from them sitting on my lap, oops. We sat there for a few hours enjoying a drink and the view. We wanted to try lunch in the dining room so we went to check that out. It was oddly very slow and they mixed up the orders of almost everyone around us including Matt's. He isn't fussy though and just ate what they brought him he got the chicken sandwhich (he had ordered the chicken and waffles) and I got the seafood sandwhich. I only ate a small bit, it was just okay. No big deal as we clearly aren't going hungry aboard. On a whim we went to the love and marriage show thinking we could sneak out if it was lame, but it was hilarious the host did a great job and the couples of course made it fun. With being married 16 years we were eligible to try to participate (the "mid-ly wed" option was for 20-30 years) but I dk if we would be fun enough anyways ha! But it was great to watch. The couple married the longest had been married 65 years After that we grabbed some grub from Wipeout Cafe and enjoyed the view from up there. Not that we needed any more food... Took a few laps on deck 5 and ended up on the aft before getting ready for dinner. They had a special menu for the 4th of July. We split the Buffalo chicken dip and I got the baked potato soup and Matt got shrimp cocktail for apps the dip was good but my soup was delicious! Usually potato soup can be good or really bland but thankfully it had lots of flavor. In fact I told Matt I could have had a dinner bowl of it and been happy. I got the salmon dish and Matt got the honey fried chicken. My salmon was fantastic. So far between the soup and salmon, it was my favorite meal. I forgot a picture but Matt said his chicken was fine. For dessert I got the strawberry shortcake and Matt got the brownie. He really liked his brownie. Mine was fine, I'm just not a fan of super sweet light cake/whipped topping. So I could only handle a few bites. Just personal tastes, my mom loves those kinds of desserts though so she would have loved it. We finished the night walking around a bit and saw a few minutes of the aqua show again.

Thank you

We are currently sitting at the aft on deck 5 and just ran a speed test for you. We are sailing along Mexico currently on our way to Roatan if that matters. Maybe only 1 or 2 other people running today when we started at 5:20 but by the end there were more. Not so many that it posed any issues though.

Thanks for the kind words I grabbed coffee around 5:30 from deck 5 on the first morning but figured there would be some on the upper deck for sunrise chasers, but we figured wrong We might try to grab some sushi later on if we can get it. It was yummy.

Day 3: Sea Day We woke up at 5 to run, only 2 miles today. Don't worry we won't wake up every morning to run We run 3 to 5 miles 4 or 5 times a week at home so it's enjoyable to us. I think we will run on our Costa Maya day and then our last Sea Day, but not tomorrow at Roatan or Cozumel. Climbed the stairs to the 16th deck thinking we'd find coffee in the windjammer and watch the dark turn to day only to realize the windjammer opens at 7 not at 6. You'd think they would at least place a few carafes of coffee up there for those watching the sunrise. We survived without the coffee though. Ran down to shower before getting breakfast (and coffee!) At the windjammer and now just enjoying watching the sea. No real plans for today, so we shall see where the day leads us.

I figured out how to put my pictures throughout the text, I'm rather impressed with myself Day one: Sea Day I set my alarm for 5:30 and ran down to the promenade for coffee before getting a sweaty 3 miles in on the track. It's funny how no matter which side of the ship I was on, the wind was never at my back Matt had a few final things to do for work before he could fully sign off so he finished that while I showered. We headed to the solarium for breakfast which was almost empty it seemed. We kept it pretty light knowing we had our sushi class at 10. We walked a bit and hid a few ducks before going to the sushi class. We really enjoyed the class. Those leading the class were both informative and entertaining. The pacing felt perfect. I was shocked by the amount of people who barely touched the sushi they made. Some people clearly didn't eat any at all. Not us, we polished off most of our plates but we felt like pigs because tons of people seriously barely touched theirs. I'm glad we were able to snag a spot because it had been sold out and I just happened to grab a reservation a few weeks ago when someone canceled. We found this fun post it picture in one of the cabin halls. I think a guest put it up but I'm not 100 certain if it was that or staff. There were no names. We walked a few laps on deck 5 and Matt went for a nap while I grabbed a coffee frappuccino and coconut Ranger cookie (I saw someone say they only found them on embarkation day but they had them in cafe promenade) and went to the "secret" 9th floor central park balcony and that's where I wrote my boarding day post. We had 5:30 ice skating reservations and then it was time to get ready for formal night. We had the aqua show at 9 so we were glad they had the dinner doors open at 7:30 so we'd have plenty of time to eat before the show. We had calamari and French onion soup, beef tenderloin and Matt had the apple dessert and I had the cappuccino cake. When they brought out my cake they had a candle and sang happy anniversary to us. It was both nice and embarrassing We went straight from dinner to get seats at the aqua theater. The show was impressive! I can definitely understand why they have to cancel in rough seas. You could tell how important it is for them to hit their marks. The amount of coordination in the production including the behind the scenes stuff is crazy. Followed the show by a walk through central park before calling it a night around 10:30. Party animals I know! But we are definitely morning people. We are both children and old people trapped in mid to late 30 year old bodies lol

It's great Haha Matt generally ends up wearing solid colored t-shirts so he's pretty predictable. Thank you!

I can't decide what to do with my new found wealth!

Intentionally matching I told him he only had to match me on boarding day

The hot tub was getting a bit too hot so as soon as we hit open waters we headed down for showers and rest a bit before dinner (late seating which is 7:45). It seems there might be a theme here with us taking cat naps Apparently without the kids we are quite the party animals. Honestly I think it just feels good to lay down for a moment without someone needing something lol For the most part though Matt napped while I was able to take my time getting ready for dinner. We had about an hour until dinner so we walked around the shops, grabbed a pre-dinner drink (delicious Blueberry Nojito) and sat on the chairs on deck 5 aft until dinner. I had high hopes of grabbing an ornament since they had just opened. She said they sold out last sailing. Seems odd that they had just sold out on our last sailing too. I don't understand why they can't seem to have them always available. They always have those big ship models. And while we are at it, why not an online store so that when they ARE in stock we can order them?? Dinner was fine. We had a table for 2 which we had hoped for/requested. The pro is no one is on either side of us which takes away from the whole table for 2 aspect. But we are right where everyone has to walk by to get to their table lol so it was a steady stream of people at first. Our server is Maria. It's funny because we had just talked about how we haven't really seen many females being head servers. She's sweet. Her assistant introduced himself but then we didn't see him again, but it didn't bother us. We both started with a crab cake and split the spinach and artichoke dip. The crab cakes were delicious. In fact we both agreed they were the best part of the meal. I had seen pictures of the spinach dip being very soupy, but ours was thick. It was fine, not much flavor. Matt got the fried chicken and enjoyed it, especially the honey sauce. I got the portobello dish and it was tasty I finished with the key lime pie but only had a few bites, it had a bit of an artificial taste to me. Matt had chocolate ice cream After dinner we walked around Central Park and the cadino until our 10:15 Blades show. We have almost no casino experience and so we are a bit clueless. Thankfully the host showed us how to use our accounts on the machine lol We each had $4 free play. We laughed at Matt's 30 cent payout, and then at my 6 cent payout haha! The Blades show was fantastic in our opinion. It was much better that the show we saw on Independence. We felt the talent was better and enjoyed the story line. Blades has replaced the Ice Games show.

I forgot to post last night so I'll post what i wrote up from yesterday Also I can't seem to figure out how to insert pictures in the middle of the post, only at the end. So pictures will be at the bottom of the post It's boarding day! We have an 11:00 check in. We checked it right at midnight but 11 was the earliest instead of the 10:30 I was expecting. Others on our sailing said the same thing so I'm unsure if it's a Galveston thing or Allure thing. Or maybe just our sailing. Our Airbnb was just okay. It was fine for a budget friendly place on the island. The host actually said we will be one of her last guests because of some new ordinances. We stopped for a quick walk on the beach and then we are headed to breakfast including some much needed coffee from Whataburger and then we are headed to return the rental car and then lyft to the Allure ----- Boarding was fast. We arrived at the terminal at 9:50 and were greated by porters and let inside right at 10am. From there security was fast and we sat only for a minute before boarding at 10:27. We walked around a bit on our way to our muster before stopping in the windjammer around 11:30. I was surprised at how uncrowded windjammer was. We had no issues finding a seat. The food was fine. I didn't see any kind of boarding day cake or cupcakes like we have had before. Plenty of desserts though so we didn't go without We mostly wandered indoors while waiting for the rooms to open. It was HOT. Thankfully, rooms were ready promptly at 1:00. We dropped our bags and headed to the hot tub for a bit. Again, not crowded at all. I figured everyone was settling into their rooms. We eventually went back to our room to cool down and rest before sailaway but ended up back in the hot tub for sailaway. While back at the room we discovered our MEI agent had some chocolate covered strawberries delivered to us. While in the hot tub for sailaway we enjoyed watching the Port of Galveston police ride along side us. It was fun seeing them seemingly act like a sheep dog when other boats got close to us. I'll break Day 1 evening into a separate post.