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Shine like the Stars For those that followed my blog last Christmas you may recall me mentioning that Reyd was graduating from high school and I had no cruises booked beyond our Europe 2024 “graduation” cruise on Anthem. There is a reason I always stick to a Christmas cruise so I was not terribly surprised when both Lindsay’s and Reyd’s work schedules conflicted with that trip. I typically book our cruises at or very close to release date so I wasn’t sure that star class would be in our future this year. Surprisingly the shorter 3/4 night sailings had ok pricing so I booked Allure for 2024 and Wonder for 2025 at its release date. 2024 has been a hectic and challenging year in some ways; I lost my Dad unexpectedly last spring just a few weeks before Reyd’s “season of grad” began, followed by Lindsay working out of province for 4-5 months, getting Reyd into trade school and settled in his apprenticeship and me adapting to life after high school. Thankfully Reyd continues to live at home while he works as an apprentice and will commute to SAIT (trade school in Calgary) for the 8 weeks in each period. All of that to say we are very grateful to have this time together this year and can’t wait to get this vacation underway! We have a lot planned so let’s get started!

Hiii Anyone! After hanging up my live blogging hat years ago during my Cruise Critic era, I’ve been encouraged back into the digital seas by my dear @MamaShark! I don't know how many cruises we've been on, so for an easier, more relevant number, this will be our third holiday cruise, fourth Star Class cruise, and second time on our beloved Symphony of the Seas! Joining me on this multigenerational journey are my partner, my excitable 9-year-old son, my brothers ( 32 and 33), and our parents, helmed by the undisputed cruise queen, @MamaShark We are gleefully trading the icy grips of Detroit on Friday as we head to Miami two days ahead of embarkation! We are setting sail for the NYE sailing from December 29th through January 5th. We have been following all the Facebook posts about itinerary changes and got the MUCH anticipated--and not at all shocking--news earlier this week that we would not be going to Puerto Rico...like no one truly believed we ever were. I am completely unbothered by this news and, resultingly, cannot fully engage in the outrage. I would much prefer to be on a boat in the Caribbean anywhere than in sub-zero Michigan weather. We are most looking forward to not having to cook, people watching, cocktails, people watching with cocktails, and 8 days of wholehearted unseriousness! I will need to catch up on other live blogs to see what else I should be posting pre-cruise...stay tuned!

Time to start gearing up to cruise again! It's been a busy 7 months since my solo adventure on Voyager. Lots of scouting moving from Cub's to Troop with many plans coming down the pipe line. We actually don't have a cruise scheduled after this one which is the first time that has happened since 2017! This will also be our last cruise with a child 12 and under and our first cruise Diamond. If things work out I may squeeze in a western Caribbean towards the end of next summer (before he hits 13) but for now it looks like my next time afloat will be a 24 ft catamaran off Great Abaco in 2026! That being the case a Holiday afloat for the family is in order. For this 5 day sailing out of Galveston departing Nov 25th we are booked in a Jr Suite just forward of the hump. It is a standard Itinerary from this port. Costa Maya and Cozumel are our ports of call. Sunday Nov 24 Drive to Galveston in the afternoon. Obviously we will be making an obligatory stop at Bucky’s on the way. I think I might get a corner of my “Texan Card” clipped if I skipped this! We try to get through Houston in the afternoon but Sunday traffic is better than weekday madness down there. Check in at our hotel on the island and Supper at Salsa’s is a tradition for us. Monday Nov 25 We normally have breakfast at the hotel since it is right there and free, however I may try and talk Herself into going to Café Canela. Pancakes are on the menu so the boy will go for it I am sure. This is where I ate in February and the food was fantastic. Absolutely worth a return trip. Then make sure of all our bags, check out and head for Terminal 10. I managed to snag covered parking right across from the terminal this time. We use Discount Cruise Parking and ride their shuttle many times but this spot looks pretty sweet. Speaking of Suites, A Jr doesn’t get all the perks but the Suite lounge at the terminal is one of them we do. So check our bags, through security and up the escalator we go. I don’t think we have any set plans for boarding day but I know boy will want to check out the teen area. HE is excited that he isn’t consigned to the kids in Adventure ocean. He loved his time there but has out grown it. Tuesday Nov 26 Time for my favorite thing about cruising.. _doing nothing_ Yup time to embrace my inner vegetable. Hang out on the rail and mindlessly watch the flying fish. Watch the clouds, cook in a hot tub, Take a nap with the DW. (maybe even sleep) Good chance of Izumi for supper but nothing decided. Wednesday Nov 27 Costa Maya. The Boy actually picked our excursion here. We are going to take the time to see the Chacchoben Ruins. I was sonly to happy to acquiesce to his choice as I am a bit of a history nut. We are booked on the Exclusive Drive tour so not quite so sardine canned into the tour bus this time. Thursday Nov 28 Thanksgiving in Cozumel! We are going to take the Twister boat to Isla de la Passion. Something frivolous and fun after a cultural day ashore. The DW loves the beach and the boy will be trying out his snorkeling gear to start getting ready for his Scouting adventure in the Bahamas. Beach food with pygmy racoons for our Thanksgiving Feast! Friday Nov 29 Back to my favorite cruising activity. Relax on the balcony and watch the sea ignore us as we drift by. Sure we will have to set aside an hour or so to pack up but sea days are awesome no matter what. Sat Nov 30 Back to the chill reality of an incoming Texas winter. Hit the road back home to Arlington with another stop to see the Beaver en-route. I am sure things will shift and change as we get closer. Right now it is still 52 days away. Until then we have new cruise shirts to pack, ducks to label and door magnets to assemble. I know once we get through October Herself will go full steam into packing and planning decorations. Getting close enough though I can almost taste my blueberry nojito!

️A “Starry” Christmas - Harmony Dec 24-31, 2023️ @Jax is back with a “Starry” Christmas ️ For those that have followed my blogs you know we have a habit of spending Christmas on the Seas. This year we will be back on Harmony doing our first ever Western Caribbean cruise. We spent last Christmas on HM and although my preference would have been to try another ship, the fact it was sailing out of Galveston was too good to pass up. Direct flights from Calgary are plentiful and considerably shorter than going to Florida so this was an added perk. Our son graduates from high school this year so future vacations/cruising are up in the air until we sort out his apprenticeship schedule at trade school and work schedule. So there is a very real possibility we will be on a land vacation next Christmas because I have no cruises booked beyond summer 2024. We have a lot planned so let’s get started…..

Really excited. T-6 days until we sail on Celebrity Beyond for an 11 day partial transition cruise to the ABC islands and Panama canal over both Christmas and New years! We were on Anthem of the Seas for Thanksgiving so we have spent all of the recent holidays on board cruise ships! :). It was a much needed break! On Anthem, we sailed to Cococay and enjoyed the Music Hall on The Quantum class ships! We also are big fans of 270 and the 270 restaurant for breakfast vs. fighting the crowd in the Windjammer. Next Thursday we are flying to FLL and staying at Hyatt house.. . We will explore some local breweries in Lauderdale the day before the cruise. Friday, we board the ship. I changed some dining reservations due to a flash sale in the planner so I will need to move my reservation time to an earlier time after we board as we like to eat early. I have several specialty dining reservations this cruise. We were really big fans of Eden on Celebrity Apex 2 years ago so we are excited to be going back. We also have the steakhouse booked, and Daniel Bouloud's new restaurant, La voyage which I have booked on Christmas eve. My last trip to the ABC islands was the 2019 royal caribbean blog New year's eve group cruise right before the pandemic! Stay tuned to follow the journey with us!

Who else is ready to cruise for the holidays??? I don't know about you, but I am so excited!!! I will be sailing with my family of five for the very first time! Everyone is a new cruiser except me. I have been on two cruises in the past with Norwegian. I am looking forward to experiencing Royal Caribbean, which comes highly recommended from my cousin. 265 more days to go...

The Starmony “Christmas Vacation” blog is officially underway! We are counting down the days until this Christmas vacation gets underway. We are T - 11 days and the excitement is real! If you followed along last year, you know we like to have fun with a Christmas theme. This year it’s National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, a family favourite Christmas movie. We have a few fun things planned so follow along. Who’s going? Myself (Jacquie), 17 year old son (Reyd) and hubby (Lindsay) For those that followed along last year, our good friends Robert and Tammy are back again this year. Robert is a hoot so we are in for a fun week. Our group has expanded to include another set of good friends along with their 12 year old daughter and 16 year old son. These friends are travelling with a respite worker for their daughter and will be accessing many of the Autism Friendly Ship programming and supports.

No one started a blog so ill catch you up. Anthem left frigid Bayonne on Sunday. Good weather regardless of temps. And my surprise they let me park my truck in the garage this time which is great if we come back to bad weather. As always the ease of the onboarding process makes the morning great. Made it onboard before 11. The ship was decorated with a nice big tree in the Royal Esplanade. They had a tree lighting that first night. I had the interior rm with virtual balcony which was really cool. Izumi for dinner. Reports that we have a full ship with many children. I like Anthem.

To everyone on this sailing, I'm am so happy for you! Have a fantastic time, stay warm, we are with you in Spirit. One day I hope to be able to join you on one of these. Looking forward to your trip reports. Cheers to all and have an awesome sailing!

The Festivus Star Class Miracle Blog is officially underway!! We are counting down the days until our 2nd star class cruise; this one on Oasis. I have been reluctant to start this blog for fear of something messing it up but I am trying to push that fear aside and enjoy this experience. Plus if I am going to post in real time about the star class process I really need to get started! So when in doubt I turn to my Magic 8 Ball. I got an “outlook good” “without a doubt” and “yes” so here we are!! Like so many others, getting to this point has been a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs and it will truly be a Festivus Miracle once we board Oasis! This cruise was originally planned for Easter 2021, then Easter 2022 and due to hubby’s work schedule, we had to do a last minute change to Christmas 2021. Inventory was limited, so it initially meant no star class for us, so we settled on the last available crown loft suite. I had my TA waitlist us for any star class suite that came available on Deck 17. At the 56 day mark our Festivus star class miracle was granted when the Grand Panoramic Suite became available. I grabbed it! I am still doing a happy dance! Our first and only cruise with Royal was over Christmas 2019 on Anthem. It was star class and soon after that cruise we knew that we wanted to try an Oasis class ship; specifically for Deck 17 and the proximity to the Suite lounge and CK. We had a few hiccups on that cruise so we are looking forward to having a much better onboard experience this time! I now have the benefit of a TA, all of your expertise and the wisdom gained from this amazing community over the past 2 years so I think we should be in good hands! I owe a huge thank you to @Lovetocruise2002 @Mindybrite @WAAAYTOOO along with others who have generously shared their knowledge, expertise and advice. I share @Lovetocruise2002love of suites and star class and consider myself a “west coast Canadian suite snob”. LOL Thank you doesn’t seem like enough but I hope to pay it forward through this blog. Now let’s get started!

Hello all, I am hoping someone can help us. My girlfriend and I have a cruise booked for Anthem of the Seas on Jan 9th, 2022. I came to learn that RC decorates their ships with Poinsettias for the holidays (please google Poinsettias if you are not sure what they look like). My gf is very allergic to these plants. I have been trying to research when exactly RC takes down these decorations. I've heard sometimes they take them down right after new years on Jan 1st, or whenever the ship arrives back in Port after Jan 1st. Anthem will be coming back from a Dec 31 - Jan 9 sailing right before we board on Jan 9th. My question for you all is if you've ever been on a holiday cruise, 1. Are the Poinsettias real? 2. When do they get taken down? I am hoping that they will be taken down when Anthem arrives in Port on Dec 31st. That would give us time for the ship to be aired out. If they are on the ship until Jan 9th, I am worried my gf might have a reaction on the first day. I called support about this and they couldn't tell me when the decorations will be removed, that it is up to the ship. If anybody knows how I could get in touch with someone that could give me more info or help, please let me know. Thank you, Tyler

We are counting down until our first star class cruise on Anthem of the Seas. We are new to Royal Caribbean; previous DCL concierge cruises so we can’t wait to experience Royal Caribbean. I really enjoy following along on as many star class blogs as I can and thought it may be fun to give it a try! So, I am Jacquie and my husband Lindsay and 14 year old son Reyd are counting down (34 days). We are from Calgary, Alberta. ?? So what made us pick Royal Caribbean....honestly New York was on our bucket list and we love to cruise so we thought why not! Once we narrowed it down to New York, the royal genie and visit to Coco Cay helped us choose Royal Caribbean. So far the experience has been good. The one notable difference is DCL offered a dedicated team to deal with Pre Cruise needs/questions for their concierge guests 120 days out which I really liked. I haven’t been super impressed with Royal’s main customer service team but I am hopeful that the Genie will make up for any shortfalls! We received the royal genie questionnaire 45 days out followed by our luggage tags a couple days later. From what I have read I should be hearing from our genie soon. Cruise Itinerary: 8 nights with stops in Port Canaveral, Coco Cay and Nassau. Stateroom: Grand loft suite #10320 Shore Excursions: Reserved Chill Island Cabana at Coco Cay back in January. Had hoped to get an overwater cabana but opening was delayed to January 2020. ? Cruise Planner: With the Royal Genie, there is not much to plan but I have ordered the unlimited photo package. Will finalize specialty dining, entertainment and on-board activities with our genie. Thinking about reserving the thermal suite but have read mixed reviews. Any feedback on Anthem’s thermal package would be appreciated! We always reserved this on DCL so will likely book it on Anthem. Flights: Flying direct from Calgary to JFK a couple days before our cruise. Pre Cruise we are staying in lower Manhattan as we want to visit the 911 Memorial. Post cruise we are staying at Central Park. I am in the process of finalizing transportation to Cruise terminal and would be interested to hear any recommendations on reliable limo companies. We do not pack light so an SUV will be needed! The Four Seasons Downtown uses Empire CLS Transportation but I am pretty sure I can arrange something for cheaper. Planning to arrive at cruise terminal around 10:30am. Royal Genie Questionnaire: Have read mixed reviews on whether the genie uses the information provided but I am keeping an open mind. We had fun completing it and have no expectations. I have attached a copy of the questionnaire for those that are interested. Royal Up : Received a Royal Up offer email about a month ago for the Royal loft suite. I put in a lower end bid and expect it to be declined which I am totally fine with. We really don’t need the additional space but the hot tub would be nice. Well I think that’s all for now. Look forward to answering any of your questions and having you follow along!

Hello all! Hoping you enjoy this "live-blog" style recap of my first cruise. A little about myself and the trip: I was completely new to cruising before this trip. I knew it was something I wanted to do, and I knew that I would have time off in-between Christmas and the first Friday of the new year, so I decided it try it out. I tried to get a friend to come along, but ended up deciding to do a solo trip instead. I've done solo traveling in the past, so I was not worried about this aspect. Around the end of July, I worked with a family friend who is also a travel agent to find different cruises that fit my time and budget (including any flights that might be needed). I had looked at itineraries from other cruise lines as well, but this one stood out to me the most. Once I put down my deposit, I started some research and found Royal Caribbean Blog, which proved to be invaluable! Part of my goal with this trip was to see exactly how much I could do included with the cruise. I didn't book any excursions before my trip, or on-board. I didn't purchase any drink packages, preferring to pay by the drink as I realized I would most definitely not be able to keep pace to make the deluxe drink package worthwhile. I did receive $50 on-board credit through my travel agent when she booked for me. I used part of this for a lunch reservation at Chops Grill on embarkation day, which I booked online ahead of the cruise. I did not purchase any Voom packages ahead of time, or on-board. I thought it would be a nice way to start the year, with some technology disconnect. Itinerary 12/30/19 - Miami 12/31/19 - Key West 01/01/20 - Sea Day 01/02/20 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay 01/03/20 - Miami I am still fiddling around with some of the photos I took on this trip, so please feel free to ask any questions in between posts!

Hello! My family and I will be onboard Allure of the Seas Holiday Sailing taking off from Fort Lauderdale on 12/22. Anyone else going to be onboard? There will be 6 of us adults plus one under 2. The more the merrier!