Lovetocruise2002

We sailed SY right before the pandemic. But the girls were not with us. The piano stairs is one of the main reasons why they want to sail SY. My daughter is just one year behind your son. With this round of new releases, I'll be booking March Break 2025 without her. It's a booking for 3. That makes me really sad. And the girls told me that by the time the younger one (she's in Gr. 9 right now) starts university, that should be the end of our xmas/NY sailings too. I told them that will save me some money lol, but it makes me sad. So yes, we are cruising all we can with them up until then. Well good thing Hubby never reads my blogs because he might actually think that is a perfectly good idea! lol

@Jax It’s cruise day!!! Happy sailing!

A few nights ago, Hubby and the girls were discussing where we should eat on boarding day. Hubby: “We’ll just get on board, drop off our bags, and head to El Loco.” Me: “Umm..where are you planning to drop those bags off to? You know staterooms don’t open until after 1pm right?” Hubby: “But aren’t we staying on Deck 17?” Me: “Yes, but we are not in star this time. Usually the Genie opens the fire doors for us” Hubby: “I am sure we can just swing by and check. Maybe our room will be ready early.” SMH…

Find your inner Canadian lol

Once again, I am not even sure he knows which ship we are on.

When we sailed Oasis back in March, the Aqua show kept getting cancelled too. At first it was due to weather (wind), and then they had technical difficulties (whatever that means), we also heard rumours of no divers . Anyhow, I don’t think we actually got around to seeing it until Day 4 or so. Allan switched up a whole bunch of things for us with no issues. Let Berty take care of it. It will work out just fine.

No, we did not because by the time we realized we had to switch sailings, I already had Odyssey booked for next NYE 12/31/2023.

Royal Up offers came in on 10/17/2022: About a month later, minimum bids went up slightly. So that does happen for anyone who is wondering.

It's -22 here (that's in Fahrenheit) with 50mph winds. Schools closed today and I am so ready to get out of here too!

Who’s Going? Hubby, D16, D14, and I on this one. Flight Delta from DTW-MIA. Ever since the March Break 2022 fiasco, I book through Air2Sea. Hubby works on the 29th so we are not able to leave until the 30th. That does leave me slightly nervous, you never know about the weather in the winter months, but fingers crossed for a smooth flight and no cancellations. Pre-Cruise Stay A bit more sad news here, my usual go-to hotel, Intercontinental Miami has blocked out 1-night stays close to December 31st. I even tried calling their loyalty number to take advantage of the “guaranteed room” benefit from our Platinum Elite status, but it was a no go. Because Hubby works until the 29th, we could not book this either. Venturing out of our comfort zone here and trying out a new hotel in Brickell Miami. Itinerary 31 DEC MIAMI, FLORIDA 01 JAN CRUISING 02 JAN ROATAN, HONDURAS 03 JAN COZUMEL, MEXICO 04 JAN CRUISING 05 JAN NASSAU, BAHAMAS 06 JAN PERFECT DAY COCOCAY, BAHAMAS 07 JAN MIAMI, FLORIDA Cabin #teamDeck17 of course! This is the way. Unless, as @Jax says, we get a “Festivus Miracle” and win one of our Royal Up bids. Pre-Cruise thoughts This is our second NYE sailing. I loved our first one, four years ago on Indy. I cannot wait to see some of the little NYE touches that SY will have. This is our first sailing back since the restart where we will not have to test! Yay! Such a relief. As if the “cruise gods” are laughing at me, or Royal IT is just terrible (likely this lol), we never got our Star Class pre-cruise questionnaire for March 2022 or July 2022. However, this sailing we are not star, and in October, they sent me my pre-cruise questionnaire! I cannot make this stuff up! Once again, in the spirit of a live blog, please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I will do my best to find out whatever I can for you. When responding to a post with a series of pictures, please do not include the pictures in your reply. It just makes for easier scrolling. Lastly, I will try to post videos and stories on Instagram. You can follow me @lovetocruise2002

Shining, Shimmering, Splendid! NYE SY 12/31/22 – 01/07/23 : Hubby July 2019 Here we go again with another one! As I type this and think back over the last year, grateful and gratitude are the two words that come to mind. As I reflect on the last few years, to be able to say, “Here we go with another one!” is not something that I will ever take for granted again. The journey to this sailing as been an interesting, and slightly disappointing one. Way back in March 2021, I got a message from @twangster telling me there was a star class deal that was too good to pass up on Oasis 12/18/2022. I got a hold of @WAAAYTOOO and together we all booked that sailing. Sadly, they went, I did not. About 9 months ago (April 2022), our school board decided to apply for permission to move our Winter break leaving me teaching up until December 23rd. Permission was granted, I tried to ask for an unpaid leave of absence, it was denied, and I had no other option but to cancel my sailing with my Bot Mentor and the OG Suite Snob. That left us with one major problem (other than having to cancel). I still had just under $4000 of FCCs leftover from the pandemic cancellations that I needed to use up before 12/31/2022. Already late to the party with booking a NYE sailing at this point, we did not have many options that interested us. We knew we would need to book an Oasis class ship because moving the sailing meant bringing our two girls (bad parenting to leave them for New Year’s). I wanted to move to HM (it was the best pricing for star), but because our SY March 2023 sailing got moved to HM (due to early SY dry dock), there was no way Hubby and girls wanted to sail HM now, and then again in March. Oasis was another option, but we had just sailed that in March 2022, and Hubby and the girls were not too keen about that either. Allure is in Texas and sailing from Galveston is not something I want to take a chance with during the winter months. See what I mean? I am grateful that I can even say all of that and those options are there. The obvious choice here was Symphony, mainly because the girls have never sailed Symphony, and they have been wanting to for a while. The only problem with this was that pricing at this point in the game (this was April 2022) was crazy, especially for star. But, knowing that our cruising days with the girls is passing quickly, we said, “YOLO! Move It!” and here we go again, ready to sail Symphony of the Seas for NYE!

Still better than here in Canada!

Same. I really want to see where SY/OA/OY land.

I am torn. I might have to step out of my comfort zone and actually be patient to see what else (other than overpriced Wonder and Icon) is sailing out Florida from December 2024-Spring 2025.

I can pick seats with Air2Sea, both economy and premium. But I fly Delta so not sure if it has anything to do with airlines.

Some can hold even longer, but generally yes, a week. My holds from last night go to December 21st at the moment.

@Matt or anyone else, what is the general consensus here? Do we think this is it for now until spring? For December 2024-April 2025, will they keep us in limbo for ships like Oasis, Allure, Symphony, and Odyssey until then?

That was the room I had my eye on too. Held it last night shortly after it came out. I have it for the end of July though. I may/may not keep it depending on what else comes out but at least I have it for now.

I don’t think you can do it yourself. Either call or have to wait for TA.

I thought so too. I actually have a hold on a July 2024 sailing right now. I figured 22 years of cruising and it’s a good time to revisit where it all began. Lol

Ugh! I was really hoping to book one with the kids for NYE December 2024 but pricing is ridiculous. I want to see what Oasis and Symphony will do, or I might have to make the trip to Galveston and sail HM. Pretty decent rates on that one.

If you are looking for a car service, we used Blackberry Cars this past summer when sailing from Southampton and I really liked them. @GregDused them as well.

I still have a little over $800 in refunds from 11/19 that I am waiting for as well. I thought the same this afternoon. If nothing by the end of this coming week, I will have to make the dreaded phone call.

Good to know. Now who's the influencer? lol

@GregDI almost ordered us some "Pining for the Fjords" merch from there but I wasn't sure if the site was a safe one I miss Allan so much! Send him our love in a few days!