Lovetocruise2002

Same. The last one I got was also from my March oasis sailing

I never got one either for my last two sailings on VY and AD this past month (or in July, can't believe it's already August). I did get one for the Reflection sailing I just got off of. I suppose if you really need one you can request it. According to Royal, these are the contacts: [email protected] or call 800-256-6649

They should! I was just thinking when I responded to you earlier that if I had the points we are leaving them with at 18, I would be Pin by now lol Sadly, they just roll their eyes at me and call me a suite snob

IK

It is sad. I don't even know for certain at this point what future sailings she will be joining us on. But she turns 18 this month and we left her as a D+ on her own (without our points) so I don't feel that bad lol

I really think you and @TheBoss518 will like it. But leave the freeloaders at home. They will be bored out their minds.

@Jax what a disaster! But I am glad he made it!

Air travel is completely unreliable these days. We had no pilots today supposedly because of weather. They drove them into FLL from MIA apparently and that is why they showed up after everyone had mostly boarded. I wasn’t even aware that you could board a plane without a full set of crew.

It’s looking more and more like that’s what we are going to have to do What?! Has it been that long? We need to have a drink and toast to that!!

For sure it will! This fall, the older freeloader starts university and D15 turns 16 soon and will start driving. I am going back to my 13 year olds, lots to keep busy.

Down the road for sure. Not for us right now. I think a 3-4 nighter is enough for Hubby. What would he do with himself for 7 nights without the wave and other things Royal? He can only run so much in the gym lol

My brother in law was the hero yesterday. Kids called him asap and he came over and lured the thing out with the skimmer pole. This darn skunk has been lurking around for quite some time. Last fall I bought a skunk spray and Hubby made me return it. I am willing to bet it is the same one who has been back lately. The thing is that it has never gone near our pool. It usually lurks in the front of our house. I have no clue how it ended up back there and then in the pool. D17 had friends over Saturday night and she swears they did not leave any food out there. Either way, the skunk may be gone but it has really messed things up for our Oasis Lagoon. The kids manual vacuumed to waste the best they could yesterday and triple shocked the pool. But we don’t want to take chances, there might be things in the water now that chlorine cannot kill, so we are deciding if we should drain the whole thing. Have I mentioned how much I hate animals?

I love that! And father/son sailing!

Almost home now. Dry dock season starts now..until December. Then it’s return of the neighbours/neighbors with @GregD for NYE! And maybe we can pull @Jax into that blog as well

Just landed!

There are outside lights. When we sailed OY for New Years, our next door neighbour had lights on and the kids were complaining about how it was affecting how they were seeing the night sky. Pics in this blog: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/44381-new-year-new-odyssey-our-journey-into-2024…-–-oy-12312023-–-01062024/

We took off!

When they came around asking for pre-departure beverages, he was like, “I would like to order 2 pilots.”

Phew! Two pilots just showed up. Now praying for no mechanical issues like last time. So sad that travelling by air leaves you so antsy at every step these days.

We are on board! But….there are no pilots at the moment

Possibly! The only thing I was disappointed with at Sushi on Five was that their Udon noodles weren’t stir fried. They were in a soup. It’s better when they stir fry it. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that because we never pay attention to the spa. But yes, the upper suites on X have unlimited access to the spa facilities and Persian Gardens (their thermal spa). That is what the butler told us on day 1. So definitely another win for X in that regard when compared to SC.

ABORT MISSION

That sounds exactly like our kids when they were younger! They barely tolerated the kid club on DCL and we knew that was a bad sign. If DCL can’t lure them in, who can? lol. They never even gave Adventure Ocean a chance, and they have gone to several teen meet & greets only to come back and say it wasn’t for them. They move faster as they get older but we can still move faster without them

Final thoughts for where we we with X and Royal… We will be back on Celebrity. There is no doubt about it. We are not one and done on it like we were with MSC Yacht Club or Carnival. The question is just when? For the time being, even without the kids, Royal still suits us a bit better. Hubby did miss all the activities (mainly the wave) Royal offers. This was just 3 nights. I imagine that a 7 night on edge class he would get fairly bored. It is unfortunate that Royal is lacking in the food department though. What would push us back to X? Several things. If Hubby ever retires from the FlowRider that might cause us to re-evaluate. If there is an itinerary that cannot be passed up, that also would push us back. Or lastly, once we hit Pin in 6-7 years (hopefully!) then it will probably be a toss up between both lines for us. I think that is everything. If there is anything I forgot to mention, please ask. This was good research for us! Thanks again for joining us on this adventure.

Overall thoughts about service and the ship.. We know we picked an older X ship, but she still surprised us by being so beautiful, especially when you compare her to Royal’s older ships. When people say that X is classier, it shows, from the trim and and decor, to the dress of the crew members, even little things like small hand towels in the public restrooms vs. paper towels. Hubby found the service to be a bit better on X. I felt it was about the same as Royal. I found that while the crew provided amazing service, they were less laid back and personable than those on Royal. Is that because we have sailed Royal so many times that we are more comfortable with the crew? Perhaps. I cannot overlook that. But that was a minor observation on my part. One thing that we both really found surprising was that on X this weekend, there was never anything to sign. Not when getting gelato, or a drink at the bar, or at the specialty restaurants. There’s nothing to sign, there is zero mention of giving them a 10 on the survey, and yet the service was super, or better if you ask Hubby. Hubby found this area be very refreshing!