JLMoran

Health is good. Had another foot surgery in '21 that took a while to heal, but that’s finally good and things are stable again.
My older daughter is doing great; she graduated college in '22 and has been figuring out what she wants to do for a living, and has been living on her own for the last several years.
My younger daughter is also doing great; she finished her freshman year in college last year, and is now living in Tokyo, Japan to pursue a career as a manga artist. She’s loving it there, and already has a job as a part-time assistant with a published manga author who told her that she’s already good enough to be published in a year or two. He’s helping her with getting her first full work created and submitted to one of the regular competitions, so she can start getting the notice of publishers.
Hope you’re also doing well!

My booking is back under Courtesy Holds. Confirmed with my TA that the booking is fine, it's just the hamsters once again off their wheels and taking an extended nut break.

Health is good. Had another foot surgery in '21 that took a while to heal, but that’s finally good and things are stable again.
My older daughter is doing great; she graduated college in '22 and has been figuring out what she wants to do for a living, and has been living on her own for the last several years.
My younger daughter is also doing great; she finished her freshman year in college last year, and is now living in Tokyo, Japan to pursue a career as a manga artist. She’s loving it there, and already has a job as a part-time assistant with a published manga author who told her that she’s already good enough to be published in a year or two. He’s helping her with getting her first full work created and submitted to one of the regular competitions, so she can start getting the notice of publishers.
Hope you’re also doing well!

Just saying a quick hello here, first time in about four years. I just booked the 12-night Odyssey sailing in Jan 2025, which is an itinerary I've been wanting to do kind of since I first started sailing with Royal in 2018 and learned about it. Seemed like a nice way to celebrate turning 55. 🙂
To everyone I haven't spoken with in all these years, hope you've been well!

Kiba is doing well. He just got checked for a heart murmur and possible GI issue, both came back as OK / clean. He's still an absolute love bug with me, cuddles at least a few times a day.
I do still miss our other cat, Suki. But at least that grief has run its course.
Oh, and we adopted two dogs during the pandemic -- Cece and Taco. Both small mixed breeds. Kiba is finally getting along well with both of them, 3-1/2 years later.

Health is good. Had another foot surgery in '21 that took a while to heal, but that’s finally good and things are stable again.
My older daughter is doing great; she graduated college in '22 and has been figuring out what she wants to do for a living, and has been living on her own for the last several years.
My younger daughter is also doing great; she finished her freshman year in college last year, and is now living in Tokyo, Japan to pursue a career as a manga artist. She’s loving it there, and already has a job as a part-time assistant with a published manga author who told her that she’s already good enough to be published in a year or two. He’s helping her with getting her first full work created and submitted to one of the regular competitions, so she can start getting the notice of publishers.
Hope you’re also doing well!

Just saying a quick hello here, first time in about four years. I just booked the 12-night Odyssey sailing in Jan 2025, which is an itinerary I've been wanting to do kind of since I first started sailing with Royal in 2018 and learned about it. Seemed like a nice way to celebrate turning 55. 🙂
To everyone I haven't spoken with in all these years, hope you've been well!

My booking is back under Courtesy Holds. Confirmed with my TA that the booking is fine, it's just the hamsters once again off their wheels and taking an extended nut break.

452 days have passed since I booked.
Now it's just 6 days away!
I'm single digit dancin'! I'm super excited, and I just can't hide it! No more waiting, no more holding back, it's time to get this ball rolling!
This will be my live(ish) blog for our long-awaited first-ever cruise. My family and I will be on Freedom of the Seas, sailing out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. It's an Eastern Caribbean itinerary with four sea days and four port days, and we have a fair bit planned on those port days. BUT, that's not all we're doing! We're flying down to Fort Lauderdale 3 days early, as it saved us a ton on the airfare, so we'll be taking in the sights and activities around Fort Lauderdale for a couple of days before we board. AND we're staying one extra day in Fort Lauderdale after disembarkation, to get in one more beach day (and maybe an air boat ride) before flying back home.
Here's the full cruise itinerary, plus what we have planned each day:
March 31 - Embarkation from Port Everglades at 5:30 PM April 1 - Sea Day April 2 - Sea Day I'm doing Chef's Table this day April 3 - St. Kitts, 9 AM to 6 PM Dolphin push/pull/swim excursion in the AM Wandering around town in the PM, after we shower and have lunch on the ship April 4 - St. Maarten, 7 AM to 5 PM This is the big big day; we're doing an all-day beach and snorkeling tour around the island with Soualiga Destinations I'll be curious to see how the snorkeling is after the hurricane roared through there last year; haven't really heard much about that on the other recent live blogs to St. Maarten, so I will be sure to report back April 5 - Old San Juan, PR, 7 AM to 2 PM We're meeting up with a friend my older daughter met last summer, who lives in Old San Juan We plan to visit El Morro, and around that my daughter's friend said she'll show us some other interesting places, as well as the best places to eat; this might mean we'll miss a stop at Barrachinos as originally planned, but who am I to ignore the advice of someone who's lived there her whole life? April 6 - Labadee, 9 AM to 5 PM Wife and kids are doing the zip line in the morning All of us are doing the alpine coaster, as I got all-day passes for a really good sale price The rest of our time we'll be chilling in an over-the-water cabana! I heard @Matt's recommendation and rave reviews on his podcast, and I said, "This is my splurge item this trip!" April 7 - Sea Day April 8 - Return to FLL Why this itinerary?
We needed a cruise that timed well with the girls' Spring Break week, but wanted one that filled up as much of that time as possible and also gave a good mix of port days and sea days. Our only other options were 7-day trips on Harmony or Allure that only gave us 3 ports, or a 10-day on Navigator to the Southern Caribbean that we'd have loved to take, but ran over the time we had (and before we knew we'd want to fly down early anyway). So this wound up being our "Goldilocks" cruise, especially with Freedom being liked by so many as a first-time cruisers' ship.
We also wanted something kind of big for a first-time cruise, because we're celebrating 3 simultaneous milestones that will all happen in May / June of this year:
Our 20th wedding anniversary Our older daughter graduating high school Our younger daughter wrapping up middle school Our TA actually has "20th anniversary" down on the reservation for the room my wife and I are in, and "High School Graduation" for the girls' room; I'll be curious to see if there are any decorations in either room when we arrive, or if the staff does anything out of the ordinary. Not expecting it, but ever-hopeful.
Our Cabins
We booked two D3 Superior Balcony rooms on deck 8, forward. The rooms are connecting, so my wife and I were able to book in one room together and the girls are in the other room. This was after looking at the prices of suites and realizing that we got more space and saved a ton of money going the two-balcony route. We plan to get the divider opened up as soon as possible, so even though we won't have a suite, we'll at least have a suite-size balcony! 
The rooms included $100 OBC each, we have no idea what we'll spend that on at this point. The girls are thinking of putting theirs into a purchase at the salon or maybe to get some on-ship merchandise.
Drink / Dining / Other Packages
I've purchased the Deluxe package for myself, and I'm planning to at least try and keep a running tally of everything I get to see if it works out. I think it will, but time will tell. The rest of the family has the Refreshment Package.
Since it's our first cruise, we chose not to plan on any specialty dining and just use the MDR for all dinners. Not sure yet if we'll use the MDR for breakfast, at least on sea days, or go to the Wind jah-mehr for all the morning food. WJ will likely be our go-to for lunch, at least when we're not in port. Depending on whether any lunch specials are offered, we might try Giovanni's for lunch one day. For sure I'll be visiting Sabor, even if only for guac and margaritas.
I did get the 4-device VOOM Surf and Stream package on a fairly good sale in the Cruise Planner. We mostly plan to use it for communicating with each other through iMessage and Google Hangouts (my wife is the lone Android user), and of course I'll be taking advantage of it to post updates here as I'm able.
Updating this blog
I'm only bringing my phone with me, no laptop since the one I have is employer-issued and I'm not working on this trip. I'll post updates as I'm able to each day, but they may be on the shorter side since typing on the phone is a lot slower than I can manage on a proper keyboard.
 
So looking forward to this!

My booking is back under Courtesy Holds. Confirmed with my TA that the booking is fine, it's just the hamsters once again off their wheels and taking an extended nut break.

No complaints this week on adventure.

This is usually related to restricting access to a loyalty or suite lounge since that denies access to the coffee machine within.  
Or the crown lounge coffee machine is broken so they offer a coffee voucher.
If so that isn't new, experienced it in 2019 on elite top heavy transatlantic cruises.

My wife has expressed interest in an OA class sailing out of NJ, but that obviously won't be happening this year (have a Bermuda cruise booked with another line) or next year at this point (my wife tolerates one cruise a year).
As far as Icon goes, my wife said that ship was too big and too much of a kids' playground for her tastes. So yeah, no Icon for us. 😂

I see some things still haven't changed with Royal. My booking went from "courtesy hold" to "deposit paid" last night. I have the invoice to show it. But their web site no longer shows my booking under either Courtesy Holds or Upcoming Cruises. I manually linked the booking a half hour ago, still not showing.
But it's there in the Royal app. 🫠

Well, my wife will happy to hear that, I guess. I'm like @WAAAYTOOO and don't play craps unless it's a $5 table.

Health is good. Had another foot surgery in '21 that took a while to heal, but that’s finally good and things are stable again.
My older daughter is doing great; she graduated college in '22 and has been figuring out what she wants to do for a living, and has been living on her own for the last several years.
My younger daughter is also doing great; she finished her freshman year in college last year, and is now living in Tokyo, Japan to pursue a career as a manga artist. She’s loving it there, and already has a job as a part-time assistant with a published manga author who told her that she’s already good enough to be published in a year or two. He’s helping her with getting her first full work created and submitted to one of the regular competitions, so she can start getting the notice of publishers.
Hope you’re also doing well!

Just saying a quick hello here, first time in about four years. I just booked the 12-night Odyssey sailing in Jan 2025, which is an itinerary I've been wanting to do kind of since I first started sailing with Royal in 2018 and learned about it. Seemed like a nice way to celebrate turning 55. 🙂
To everyone I haven't spoken with in all these years, hope you've been well!

Kiba is doing well. He just got checked for a heart murmur and possible GI issue, both came back as OK / clean. He's still an absolute love bug with me, cuddles at least a few times a day.
I do still miss our other cat, Suki. But at least that grief has run its course.
Oh, and we adopted two dogs during the pandemic -- Cece and Taco. Both small mixed breeds. Kiba is finally getting along well with both of them, 3-1/2 years later.

Welcome back, glad to hear you are doing well, that is awesome about your daughters. How is the kitty? 

Years go it was $5.  its been $10 on all the ships i have been on the past 4+ years  

Hubby and I are sailing SY July 2025 out of NJ, just saying...😉

My wife has expressed interest in an OA class sailing out of NJ, but that obviously won't be happening this year (have a Bermuda cruise booked with another line) or next year at this point (my wife tolerates one cruise a year).
As far as Icon goes, my wife said that ship was too big and too much of a kids' playground for her tastes. So yeah, no Icon for us. 😂

Health is good. Had another foot surgery in '21 that took a while to heal, but that’s finally good and things are stable again.
My older daughter is doing great; she graduated college in '22 and has been figuring out what she wants to do for a living, and has been living on her own for the last several years.
My younger daughter is also doing great; she finished her freshman year in college last year, and is now living in Tokyo, Japan to pursue a career as a manga artist. She’s loving it there, and already has a job as a part-time assistant with a published manga author who told her that she’s already good enough to be published in a year or two. He’s helping her with getting her first full work created and submitted to one of the regular competitions, so she can start getting the notice of publishers.
Hope you’re also doing well!

Just saying a quick hello here, first time in about four years. I just booked the 12-night Odyssey sailing in Jan 2025, which is an itinerary I've been wanting to do kind of since I first started sailing with Royal in 2018 and learned about it. Seemed like a nice way to celebrate turning 55. 🙂
To everyone I haven't spoken with in all these years, hope you've been well!

I've been working on that. 😉