Lovetocruise2002

I went to the CL before heading back to the casino. I only needed 127pts to get the certificate i wanted. I have learned my lesson. It cost me $300 to get those points. I could have just paid for the second pax 😜🤪😂😂😆😂.
I had mozzarella sticks 😋. I got like 2 at first but they were so hot and delicious I got 3 more so I was full heading into the casino 
On my way out i saw that the theater was open for the price is right.

It was fairly empty for it to be 6:30, it startedat 7. I found out the show is free but you pay to participate and win prizes. I don't mind the price is right when I'm watching with my grandmother. But given the caliber of guest on this sailing, that show doesn't seem like fun to watch 😂😂😂.
I went back to the room to freshen up because I smelled like smoke. We keep winning $60 off from the spa even though we never entered a raffle 😀. 
Dinner was this, which is also the snack I took back to the room. I wasn't feeling anything from anywhere but we popped into the WJ. It was Mexican night and they had jalapeño cornbread 😋 
My brother find a few items but I just had the jalapeño cornbread muffins and fruit. I keep forgetting to take photos, its always so crowded, but they have dragon and star fruits. People are thirsty for them.
Of course we got a bubble cone, the strawberry bliss
Ummm its my least favorite because it taste fake. The fresh strawberries with the bubble cone taste really good though. 
Now we are back in the room. I might stream something or finish a book.
A funny side story as this also happened on Oasis. My brother has a backbone, which turns your phone into a Playstation/Xbox etc. On Oasis children were coming up to him asking to play. He said a man made a joke that he could lure children back to his cabin with it. This made my brother uncomfortable and now conscious of the implications of a strange man with a bunch of boys between 8-16 lurking around. Here he only took it out embarkation day and a crowd of children came up waiting for him to finish so they could borrow it. So now he only plays at night while in the room. 
 

Yes! Big Bobba! I cannot wait to go back there in August!
It may have changed since the inaugural, but we were not allowed to use our vouchers there.
Not since the last two years at least. I have noticed that over the last 2-3 years, the order from cheapest to highest from DTW (non stop) is FLL, MIA, MCO, regardless of the time of year.

Yes! Big Bobba! I cannot wait to go back there in August!
It may have changed since the inaugural, but we were not allowed to use our vouchers there.
Not since the last two years at least. I have noticed that over the last 2-3 years, the order from cheapest to highest from DTW (non stop) is FLL, MIA, MCO, regardless of the time of year.

Yes! Big Bobba! I cannot wait to go back there in August!
It may have changed since the inaugural, but we were not allowed to use our vouchers there.
Not since the last two years at least. I have noticed that over the last 2-3 years, the order from cheapest to highest from DTW (non stop) is FLL, MIA, MCO, regardless of the time of year.

Yes! Big Bobba! I cannot wait to go back there in August!
It may have changed since the inaugural, but we were not allowed to use our vouchers there.
Not since the last two years at least. I have noticed that over the last 2-3 years, the order from cheapest to highest from DTW (non stop) is FLL, MIA, MCO, regardless of the time of year.

Story time. 
There's a lady down the hallway who is cuckoo bananas. We saw her on the way to our room second day, going up and down the hallway listening at doors. She swears she hears singing in her cabin. I told her it's the speaker in the bathrooms 🤷🏽‍♀️. She laughed it off but twice we have seen her listening at doors since then. We saw her in boleros and she swears the chair was moving.....rocking ship anyone.  Today i saw her on deck 5 as she was leaving the ship. She told me there are little animals stuck in the ship walls that got stuck there during the build but somehow haven't died. I truly didn't know what to say. 
My brother got off. He said 4 Karen's in white sun dresses  all looking like Katie Couric mixed with golden raisins who also fell into a pile of jewelry and accessories, accosted him. He said the spokeswoman was like " you there, yes looking at you, you look properly ethnic,  where's the hair braiding place?" Now she was also doing the most. Looking back at the 3 making side comments such as " he has the texture from braids, I want them but that poor girl will have a time," touching his bag and "saying of course he knows about braids, look at his hair, yes its in a, what do you call that wrapper (BTW it was in a scrunchie🤣🤣😂😂) you ethnic types have strange names for things" her stupidity went on. He kindly told her to stop touching him and ask staff. 
While at the WJ i noticed a man in front of me with his a$$ out. Like his shorts had ripped and his whole left buttocks was flapping in the wind. He ate an entire meal like that and nobody said anything. 
We have seen several people do the worst. As in cough and spit directly on the ships ground, be it cabin hallways or on the promenade. Also of them coughing and spitting in sinks and handwashing stations 🤢🤮🤮🤮. No couth.
 

Some random observations. 
I wonder if this is the
Surfside suites. It looks like two rooms, i mean why would there be a window looking out to the balcony 🤔 
Some of the cabins we passed by have doors, before the doors
I wonder if these are connecting cabins or just some weird design flaw.

Chop's is always empty. Yet it seems to be the most beautiful, well-lit version of the fleet.

So I have a rant. Besides the staring, that is still very rampant.
When I go to the washroom I always check to see if they are open before juggling the handle. Why people don't lock their doors, then be brand new ....baffles me. I'm at the point I no longer say sorry.....because its your fault I could open the door. Side rant, even if you didn't look but the door won't open. Why do you beat on the door as if I'm gonna open it mid-urination????
I poked into the Empire supper club to gander at their menu. I know that experience is not for me, but its a really nice venue 
I went to Park Cafe for chips. 
They did have my buffalo mozzarella sammies, so i snagged one and few bags of chips. Yesterday they were out of chips by 4:30 and that's usually when they stop replacing them. 
Pearl Cafe has had the same offerings for 5 days in a row. Idk why I thought they would mix it up like park Cafe and café promenade used to do. 
My brother got off and I have a story about that later.
We went to the WJ for lunch. It wasn't a madhouse and we got a booth 
Across from us we noticed a broken glass window
It was roped off but people kept trying to touch the glass 🙄🙄 or sit there. I remember going past there day one and it didn't seem broken but who knows when it happened.
This was lunch. I wanted green beans but everything was covered in mayo or a sauce. I noticed its hard to find just regular fresh veggies 🤔🤔. I don't want to pick onions out of my corn. 

I am currently in the music hall. I have been reading and finally finished my fourth book. I got recommended that Housemaid one that was turned into a Netflix movie. I have been reading it since Dec and I'm only about 100pgs in, I keep going to something else. I like the horror story collections on kindle unlimited. They are usually 200-250pgs so I can get through quite a few. 
I chatted with a retired Brit who just spent all of Dec on Allure and then 3wk on Icon. He goes home sat after 2wks. He is only 10k points from Masters 😱😱😱. The way people casually get to these tiers amazes me. He says he is only down $10k. Which is .....wow, like if he isn't lying  that's amazing. Here i am mad to be down $2k for the 1500pts I accumulated this cruise. Still better than the $7500 I should be down but nothing close to 90k points. 
I always come to the casino from forward. So i had never been to the smoking side of this casino, its by the MDR.
The decor on these ships are always so funky, I love it
With all the free food options I hadn't even been near the MDR. It's really pretty but those tables are too close together. 
The chandeliers Royal gets for the MDRs are always spectacular 👌. 
Tonight is a taste of Mexico. I booked this night as MTD because it had taste of USA on the app and I wanted potato soup. When we boarded it changed. Why are we having Mexican for st. Thomas baffles me. 
 

I feel like I failed you by not yelling "WHY IS HE NOT USING HIS WINE BAR CREDIT?" 😢
EDIT: Another reminder, it only serves food when GK is open for lunch or dinner.
That sounds right but I'm not the person to ask. Maybe @AshleyDillo or @Lovetocruise2002 or someone else who has actually sailed Icon can confirm.
Ooh, can't wait. I know @Lovetocruise2002 was a huge fan of Rye and Bean.

Day 5, St. Thomas
I woke up fairly late because of ship time. Thankfully we get our hour back tonight. 
I walked around a bit and made my way to the WJ for breakfast. It's not that bad because we are in port from 7am. Weather is pretty good but a bit cloudy.
I may or may not get off.
Right now I'm having breaky
I'm so happy to get peaches and pears. The cheese omelet is nasty, there is Swiss cheese in there, its pretty much the one cheese I don't eat. Biscuits were fluffy but all the bacon is limp, so I didn't get any. Milk is in dispensers. 
There are crew members going around offering 2 dinners at specialty restaurants for $66 with grats if you booked anything after 8pm. That's a good deal but with GK being lackluster and me not being a fan of Hooked or Chop's,  not a good deal for me.
 

I fail to see the humor. I had a really bad headache on night one last July and basically skipped dinner. It was devastating... the missed meal, not the headache. 🤣

Had to dig this oldie, but goodie comic out once again! 🤣

Which ship should I not be constantly eating on? I need to know so I can avoid it. Thanks. 

I feel like I’m going to be constantly eating when I get on Icon next year.

This is the one thing we really wanted to try and somehow forgot about last year!
Now, we need to wait another year from now to get our chance. 😆

Let me try to wrap up Day 5 (especially since tomorrow is Day 7!)… 😬
So, we spent a couple of hours on the pool deck (15). Spent time by the main pool and the hot tub on Deck 16 (the one with the glass wall - need to take pics again).
Had our share of frozen drinks including Lava Flow, Frozen Mango Daiquiri, Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri, and Frozen Mojitos… always frozen when outside in the heat for us! 😁
Random shots…


Headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. As we were getting ready to head out, Jewel headed out…


This evening we had hibachi at Teppanyaki… never disappoints!

IMHO by far the best view of any Royal hibachi restaurant… floor to ceiling glass!





Watch that egg! 

In the hat of course!

Yes, the vegetables are back! 😆



We both had the lobster and shrimp…





Christine’s uncle had steak and shrimp…


We all ordered different desserts!




After dinner, we all walked for a little while and then found our way to the pub. Trivia at this time (before the next show started).
I had a Classic old Fashioned… Not a bad bourbon drink, but I like the PB&J Old Fashioned in the Mason Jar or any of the Mules better…

 
Since none of us were impressed by the evening’s entertainment offerings, we all headed back to the cabin. Christine streamed some content from YouTube and I caught up on the blog, etc.
The next day will be the 2nd of 4 consecutive ports days (St. Lucia).
OK, heading to bed! It’s midnight now… have a good night all! 

I’m back! 😃
Day 5:  *** St. Maarten ***   (Yesterday a I write this 😬 !)
Christine was good once again and hit the gym. Our plan was for her to go to the gym and when she returned, she could shower and we would have room service around 7:00 am before our 8:00 am meeting time.
However… I made a stupid rookie mistake! 😱
I completed the room service card/door hanger, BUT did not select a delivery time!
So, 7:30 am approached and no room service… we called and they confirmed we failed to select a delivery time. We cancelled the order and ran down to the Cafe Promenade for less than impressive food options. Grabbed Starbucks in Sorrentos and a blueberry muffin and strawberry yogurt parfait. We bumped into our favorite waiter (Davor) this sailing from Chops. He was working the counter in Cafe Promenade. It reminded me that they work all over the ship as needed especially since the specialty restaurants are closed until dinner on port days.
Cafe Two70 is soooo much better for grab-and-go, but we did not want to be at the aft of the ship when we needed to be in the Royal Theater by 8:00 am (forward)!
First an early morning pic!

We headed to the Royal Theater after that lightning breakfast. The excursion for this day was the “An Ultimate Island Tour: Explorer Cruise & Island Tour”. All four of us went on this tour.
Heading out with the group to board the bus…

An Aida (German cruise line) was also in port along with Jewel OTS!



We did the usual tour of the Dutch and French sides of St. Maarten / St. Martin. I’m pretty sure we did this tour back in 2015. Very informative. On the road we passed a herd of goats…

Less than stellar pic through the tinted window on the tour bus…

Stopped by Fort Louis in the capital of Marigot (French side)… beautiful vantage point!

… a little bit of a climb, but worth it!








A local Iguana… not sure if he/she spoke French… 😆



A little problem with the cruise portion of this tour! 🫤
One of the engines is not operational and they do not want to take any chances taking the boat out on one engine and no backup!
So, we effectively had a cruise to nowhere… we just sat up top and drank rum punch for 30 minutes or so and then headed back to the ship.
Good news is they refunded 30% of the excursion cost. The credit hit that evening!

Back in the port retail area before boarding…






We decided to have Windjammer for lunch. The view from our table! It was not too busy since it was a port day and still relatively early in the afternoon.

Another Starbucks location (one of the 3 that accept packages/coffee card)… next to the ice cream, etc…


Had to grab some fresh Chocolate Chip (Christine’s favorite) and Coconut Ranger Cookies (on of my favorites) to take back to the cabin after lunch!

 
We split up after lunch and we went back to our cabin to change and head back out to the pool deck for a couple of hours.
Dinner next… 😆

I am going to have to agree with you on this point. Even when we sailed her in the summer of 2023 to Canada/NE that was my thought on her. That was the sailing where we had the 2BD GS at the back of the ship and the floor of the balcony was all bumpy and pocketed. I remember @tonyfsu21 even asked what happened to that balcony. And it was also the same sailing where on embarkation day, we were unpacking and found someone else's underwear in one of the cupboards.
 
I agree with Mike here on this point. We always do MJ on embarkation day and then use the sea day for another specialty lunch. That gives you two to try. But yes, do the 4 night for sure. I would so a 3 night shortie on a small ship, but would be so unsatisfied with a super shortie on a larger ship. Even 4 nights is too short on larger ships.

+1! Even though I am not a QN class girl, I want to go back on OY now lol

Yeah, I didn’t even tell him about those 😂

When @Matt first texted me in November about these vouchers coming up in the cruise planner, I was mildly interested. If you like their pieces, you are getting a discount by purchasing the vouchers in the cruise planner. But @asquared17 is correct, I safely passed on all of them because I prefer to buy Effy on the islands. They are more willing to wheel and deal and are always lower in pricing compared to the ships. I do really adore Effy. I wear their pieces daily. But I do not plan to purchase any of those vouchers.

When @Matt first texted me in November about these vouchers coming up in the cruise planner, I was mildly interested. If you like their pieces, you are getting a discount by purchasing the vouchers in the cruise planner. But @asquared17 is correct, I safely passed on all of them because I prefer to buy Effy on the islands. They are more willing to wheel and deal and are always lower in pricing compared to the ships. I do really adore Effy. I wear their pieces daily. But I do not plan to purchase any of those vouchers.

This one is actually my favourite one out of the 4. 
 

There is always so much to unpack in an @Ampurp85 blog post lol
Kids with feet on the table...for real? How annoying.
And what the heck with the thin walls and what you can hear 🤣