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Day 1 (Sunday 12/15/24)

We are on board Explorer of the Seas for an 11 night Christmas cruise. I once again booked through Kelley at MEI, making my life a breeze. I don’t usually live blog, but going into this longer cruise I had a few questions I couldn’t find answers to and so I wanted to blog in hopes of helping others. I have my family of 6, me, DH, daughter (H) age 18, son (E) age 14, son (D) age 9, and daughter (J) age 6. We also have both sets of grandparents, MIL, FIL, and my parents GmaK and GpaD. Traffic to the port was terrible as there are 7 ships. My parents stayed in a hotel on Miami Beach most of the week so they took a trolley to the port for $2. We left our hotel near the airport at 11am and arrived at 11:30am. We took a LyftXL for $28 pre tip. MIL and FIL left the same hotel on an 11:30 shuttle and it took them a full hour and cost $30 pre tip. 

We had confusion about which terminal we would sail out of. Almost everything says terminal A, and if you call royal or your travel agent they’re also likely to tell you Terminal A. But if there are two Royal ships then one will sail out of A and the other out of G. The email from Royal the day before never mentioned which terminal either so I wouldn’t be surprised if some people ended up being dropped off at the wrong terminal. Since we are the smaller ship we were out of terminal G. The port of Miami has search functionality to determine which cruise ships are docked and which terminal they will leave from. Boarding today was super simple. I feel like usually I have to show our passports 3+ times, but today it was just one and done and we were on the ship, no lines at 11:30.

Upon embarkation we headed to the Windjammer because my parents had already saved us a table. They only had one side open so the lines were lengthy for food so I decided against eating anything and just got a virgin mojito with one of my diamond vouchers.

Afterward we headed Adventure Ocean to register D and J, then went to Optix for E. There they had a sign to go back to AO for Optix, so we did that and got him a wristband. 

Next, we got our sea pass cards, left the little kids in the room, and headed for our next adventure…guest services. I know the lines there are crazy but I didn’t want to wait to ask my question. This was one I couldn’t find the answers to anywhere. Because our oldest child is 18, she was in my balcony room while DH was in the kids inside room. The rooms are across the hall from each other, but the doors don’t face each other. The balcony is at the back of the ship so our door faces forward, while the kids door faces sideways. I know we can sleep wherever and I know we can get a blank room key for the other room, but I was really trying to avoid DH and H carrying around two cards everywhere. I went to Guest Services, handed them both keys, and kindly asked that they switch rooms. Without hesitation she said yes and printed new sea pass cards. Didn’t check ages or locations of the rooms or anything! I also got myself a blank key to be able to get into the kids’ room. YAY!

For the first time ever I booked DH and I spa treatments. Because of this we were each provided in our stateroom a $50 coupon to share with family or friends. I took H to the spa and we scheduled her a facial treatment. This was about 2:15, and they scheduled her for 3:30. I asked for embarkation day pricing and instead they threw in a scalp and shoulder massage. I sent her with strict instructions that the tip is already included and to SAY NO to any upsells. She arrived early, but they didn’t get to her until 3:55 due to being short staffed since staff was still helping at muster stations. Because of the delay they also gave her free light therapy. She said there wasn’t any upselling. I’m assuming they could see her age and it wouldn’t be worth their time. Part of me is curious how bad the upselling is with my upcoming treatment in a few days, and part of me wants to try some suggestions I read to write on the intake form “no upselling.” So any recommendations there are appreciated. I have no problem saying no, and really am just curious how bad the hounding is to buy products for the sake of the live blog.

After booking H her facial as we walked back to our room I saw Super Mario’s office. Later at night when we got some drinks at the pool bar he was in his “office” working. 

Upon arrival at dinner we had a table of 8 for my family and MIL and FIL on deck 5. My parents were on deck 5 at a separate table for 8. I had them come upstairs and we went outside the restaurant to talk to someone to resolve this. He said that my parents weren’t linked to our reservation and were listed as requesting a table for 2…which is bizarre since they were assigned to a table of 8. Regardless, it was resolved quickly and we got a LOVELY table for 10 right by the windows! Nobody complained about their food. My steak was cooked perfectly, the crab cakes were good, and my parents gobbled up their escargot. As always, D and J ordered plain spaghetti with butter. D also got Parmesan cheese on his. This will likely be their dinner the entirety of the cruise and I let them enjoy their vacation from mom’s cooking of veggies and proteins. D will eventually tire of it and order steak. He also loves lobster and shrimp so he’ll at least get some protein. J on the other hand has a pasta obsession and will eat it every night as long as there’s nothing green on it.

The comedian tonight was Jeff Bodart. The show was ok. He had D laughing at one point, but really was just meh. Then we went to the tree lighting, which was a simple countdown and the lights turned on. There was a super weird looking Santa as well. Makes me nervous for Christmas Day went Santa arrives and delivers presents.

J went to AO while the rest of us went to the comedian. She said she doesn’t understand the comedians (makes sense and I appreciate her realizing this) and she’d rather go to AO. This is a milestone because D and J never want to leave my side, especially to go to AO. They had 6-8 and 9-11 combined into one room and said it will likely remain that way for this sailing. I’m quite surprised by that given the number of kids there are on board for Christmas. When I went to get her they were at capacity (50 kids). D and J will be happy to be in one space together, but I hope they open up the other room for the sake of capacity. 

We were missing one piece of luggage when we went to dinner, so were thrilled it had arrived by the time we got back to our rooms and could finally finish getting the kids unpacked. These smaller/older ships have so much less storage space so fitting 4 people’s stuff in an inside room is tricky anyway, but for 11 nights with so many theme nights it was difficult. We made it work, but there was a bit of arguing over who was taking up which shelves and drawers and I think the stateroom attendant brought me three batches of hangers.

E has already eaten way too much junk. He loves the pizza and chocolate bars so by 9pm he wasn’t feeling great and decided against going to the teen club despite his original desire to play Fireball. No problem on my end. He usually stays out until 1 and worried mom gets no sleep until he lets me know he’s in his room.

Interesting fact: Most of us are able to text between iPhones on the ship WiFi, but E doesn’t seem to be able to despite him having the same phone and plan. 

Tomorrow is a sea day. My upcoming question/concern is I had read complaints that soot collects on Explorer’s back balcony rooms, so that will be TBD. Also, MIL bid on a junior suite and won the bid. Her suite is directly below the pool deck/Windjammer. I am very concerned for her, but hope for the best that she’s in a good quiet location. We’ll see what 4:30-5:30am brings as I’ve heard that’s the worst time for those rooms as they clean the pool deck and get the Windjammer ready for breakfast so there are lots of carts going over door transitions.

Tomorrow we have lunch reservations at Giovanni’s, as well as ice skating reservations for the kids. I only took one picture today and that was of D at dinner balancing spoons on his ears and nose.

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Posted

Day 2 (Monday 12/16/24)

Today was another sea day. DH and I started the morning in the fitness center. After an hour-ish there I met GmaK at the Solarium Pool for water aerobics. After seeing many people squeal while getting in, or touching the water and not getting in at all she decided against joining me. The pool was indeed frigid, but I hopped in and it was fine after a few minutes. I love swimming and could tread water for hours so I always end up at the deep end of the pool where I cannot touch (I’m short). The lifeguards think I might drown and watch me like a hawk since I’m constantly dunking myself for the jumping jacks and whatnot. It was a fun class and really well done. 

Afterward the kids met GpaD for some pickleball. My dad LOVES pickleball and on our last ship nearly won the tourney. This ship doesn’t appear to have a tourney but they do have open pickleball play eight out of the twelve days. D was very excited and said, “You DO NOT miss pickleball with grandpa!” There were really long lines, but this is the best run open pickleball play I’ve experienced on a ship. Usually it’s pretty chaotic, and sometimes the court isn’t even setup yet. But today they had three courts setup, and had someone running a timer for 10 minutes with multiple warnings of how much time was left. It made it simpler, and with a change out of 12 people every 10 minutes the line went quickly. By the end of the open play time (2.25 hours), not many people were in line so they just got to play continuously. My kids were VERY sweaty, as was GpaD and it was time for showers before lunch. 

Lunch was at Giovanni’s. Everyone agreed the food was absolutely fantastic. The ending was a little awkward. Since I had prepaid for everyone’s meals he still handed out receipts to everyone, which I realize is common practice, but I let everyone know I had prepaid the tip and they had no obligation to pay an additional tip. The waiter said something like “I give you good service,” and while he did, I believe the auto tip Royal charges is fair. Not all may agree and that’s fine.

Next up was our ice skating reservations. DH, E, D, and J had reservations and the rest of us chose to avoid injury and watch. J loved it, and I’m glad she can do the splits because that’s how she always fell (picture will be included). Every 30 minutes or so it would “snow” which just made the already terrible ice now be soapy. The kids would like to go again, but since you can’t make an additional reservation we’ll just have to hope they can get in standby. There was a line for that and nobody was in it so it could work out. 

We had some veg time until dinner. We were SO FULL from lunch so we all had minimal dinner. It was formal night, but nothing particularly fancy or special for dinner yet. 

Afterward we went to the production showtime “Invitation to Dance.” J loved it and said, “They can do the splits like me?!?!” It was well done, and I love when the bands are spotlighted. Instead of being way down unseen in the pit they were brought up so we could at least see their heads as they played.

A minor issue we had yesterday and today is with our diamond drinks. At the end of the night we like to go to a bar and redeem whatever is left for water bottles to stock up for our port days. Yesterday by the time we went to the bar 4 hours after dinner our main dining room drinks hadn’t been recorded. I just had my best guess of how many drinks everyone had used, then left a few unused to leave a buffer just in case I miscounted. I went to the same bar again today and the attendant just laughed and asked me how many drinks SHOULD be left. I took better count and sure enough, nothing from the main dining room had been charged against our diamond drinks. As of now on my onboard account on the app not a single drink from the main dining room is showing for today or yesterday for any of us. Is this normal?? He verified our room numbers yesterday and today. 

We then parted ways for the evening. A few went to 60 seconds or less game show, but most of us decided to relax and watch tv and get ready for bed. Our clocks go back an hour tonight so we’ll get an extra hour of sleep which just means J and D are going to wake up at 5:30 instead of 6:30, so there goes our extra hour of sleep. Tomorrow is another sea day so at least I’ll get to take a nap (maybe).

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Posted
11 hours ago, Luly said:

A minor issue we had yesterday and today is with our diamond drinks. At the end of the night we like to go to a bar and redeem whatever is left for water bottles to stock up for our port days. Yesterday by the time we went to the bar 4 hours after dinner our main dining room drinks hadn’t been recorded.

I've found this to happen a lot when I get a drink in the MDR, especially if it a non-alcoholic drink.  I've just taken to tipping $1 for each D drink that I order and I use the remaining dollar bills to keep track so I don't have to rely on my onboard account or the POS system 😂

Posted
17 hours ago, Luly said:

A minor issue we had yesterday and today is with our diamond drinks

I found this will also happen at Coco Cay. Our last cruise, none of the diamond drinks used on the island ever made it back to the ship, nor were we ever charged for any extras.

Posted

Day 3 ( Tuesday 12/17/24)

Today was another sea day. Last night clocks went back an hour, but Royal forgot to update the app until 7am, at which point people were already lined up at the Windjammer thinking the ship time on their apps was correct (DH saw them lined up when he went to the gym). Unfortunately they still had another hour to wait. I’ve never had that happen. 

DH and I took a nice stroll around deck 4 for an hour and saw lots of flying fish. There was a beautiful rainbow too! We then had the kids come out after they had breakfast with grandparents and attempted to play shuffleboard. We are so lucky to have two sets of amazing grandparents that enjoy spending time with their grandkids so DH and I can exercise. H helps a lot too.

Then it was time for more pickleball. H and I watched from the outdoor balcony of the diamond lounge and DH did some rock climbing. He climbs at home 3-4 days/week so that’s something he really enjoys doing. D joined him for some climbing as well. H, J, and I went to the star lounge for some mystery puzzle break game, but it required teams of 6-10. She and I are very introverted and had no desire to find random teammates so we left. 

We came back to my room and J did some school work while the boys kept playing pickleball and climbing. My 3 youngest are missing school this week, but H finished her last college final the day before we flew out. 

At noon the movie “Last Christmas” was playing in the main theatre. I made everyone go. Some of us grabbed pizza for the movie. Some of the kids weren’t thrilled about me requiring family time but we enjoyed chatting about the movie later at dinner. 

After the movie was the ice show. This one actually had some sort of story line as it went through the seasons. There were technical difficulties after the first 5 minutes, but it was resolved quickly and the show restarted.

J wanted some swimming time so I took her to the pool while E rock climbed and D hid some tiny ducks. Then it was off to dinner. Everyone enjoyed their dinners. The favorites were the fried chicken and the braised short rib. Today we all wore matching shirts! I tried to get a picture to see what everyone’s says, but here’s a list (they all start with “Most likely to…”:

FIL - Take a nap on Christmas

MIL - Forget the hidden presents

GmaK - Watch all the Christmas movies

GpaD - Play pickleball with Santa

DH - Hate the matching Christmas shirts

Me - Pet the reindeer

H - Make TikToks

E - Call Santa Bruh

D - Fart on Santa’s lap

J - Be Santa’s favorite

Next there was holiday caroling on the promenade. This was a magical memory for us the first Christmas cruise we did (this is our third and we have next year’s scheduled as well) so again I asked everyone attend. Then we went to see the show The Las Vegas Tenors. We’ve seen them before, though we can’t remember on which ship. While we enjoyed the show I think they need to make it more relevant and pick some more recent tunes, even just stuff in the past 20-30 years so the younger audience (and even myself) are more familiar with the music. 

Now it’s time for bed to prepare for our first port day!

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Posted

Day 4 (Wednesday 12/18/24)

Today was a port day in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. We had a late arrival of 10am with gangway down at 10:30. Our tour meeting time was listed as 30 minutes after ship arrival, so even though we ended up arriving early we left as soon as the gangway went down. We were the first group to arrive and ended up waiting for everyone else for about 30 minutes. Better safe than sorry. We booked our excursion through Real Deal Tours Costa Rica. They were like a third party doing all the coordinating, but still for a great price. The tour ended up being with Greenway Tours. They were very easy to find. We started with a one hour drive to Veragua Rainforest for a zip line tour. There were 12 zip lines. The minimum age was 6, so all of us could go. There was also the option (for the same cost) to go on a tram ride with a small hike. FIL decided to do that. He saw a viper and a caterpillar he didn’t see until it stung him on the elbow. Luckily their venom while super painful for an hour or so, isn’t dangerous unless you happen to be allergic. We saw a GIANT ant, seriously it was like an inch and a half, butterflies, and toucans

After zip lining we got in our bus and were given something called water apples. We were told they were sweet. They were the texture of pears, but the only way I can describe the taste is maybe…sour lettuce? I took a video of J and I trying them and then pulled a screen shot from that to show our reactions to the flavor (below). DH lived in Venezuela for two years and was reminiscing how he hadn’t had them for 24 years. He’s never mentioned them before, so I had never heard of them. We drove to an itty bitty market with lots and lots of vans and buses. It was so packed I couldn’t handle it, but the bathrooms were clean and the cheese empanadas outside at a little stand were incredible, especially for only $3 each. DH also loves empanadas from his time in Venezuela.

From there we went to Tortuguero Canal. They were trying to be very mindful of our time and get us back with plenty of time to spare, so our one hour boat ride was only 30 minutes. But in that time we saw multiple sloths, heard and saw howler monkeys, and one egret. We got back on the ship at 4:40 giving us just enough time for 2 of the kids to shower before dinner.

Tonight was Mexican night. A few people ordered the pork enchiladas, which were significantly different than previous cruises. I recalled them being very spicy and looking like enchiladas. Tonight it was one giant burrito. I chose the butter chicken which was quite good. 

The show was a comedy/magic show with Chad Chesmark. He kept all ages entertained and had a clean show for the kids. 

I had a couple game shows I was interested in going to afterward but we were all pretty tired from the day and E needed to catch up on some school work. Additionally, our clocks go forward an hour so we’re losing an hour of sleep AND tomorrow’s excursion is at 7:30.

Update on my things I was wondering about:

-So far no issues with soot on our balcony. I was waiting for a port day when we’d just be sitting for the soot to collect.

-MIL and FIL haven’t complained about any noise from the pool deck or Windjammer, just the drunk/loud people next door.

-Our MDR drinks from Monday posted Tuesday night/this morning sometime. I’m unsure when, but when I checked this morning our Monday drinks were showing and DH and I overshot our drinks and were each charged for one drink in the MDR. Big bummer there and super annoying it took nearly 48 hours to post. Sunday’s MDR drinks never posted. I had actually intended to leave a buffer when we got waters just in case we had miscounted since the number didn’t seem right, but I think the bartender charged some waters against our accounts that I intended to go against the kids. In any case, we’re going to be more careful now. 

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Posted

Thank you for these posts. Look forward to the rest of the cruise. We will be on this same itinerary next month. I will be trying virgin frozen drinks too, so I will be interested in your recommendations. Also, DW uses a mobility scooter and we are wondering how she will be able to charge the battery with the new regulations. Have fun!

Posted
On 12/19/2024 at 6:48 PM, packercruising said:

Thank you for these posts. Look forward to the rest of the cruise. We will be on this same itinerary next month. I will be trying virgin frozen drinks too, so I will be interested in your recommendations. Also, DW uses a mobility scooter and we are wondering how she will be able to charge the battery with the new regulations. Have fun!

My kids almost always order Lime daiquiris. I have tried the pina colada and like it. I rarely get the frozen drinks because I prefer carbonated drinks, so I go with virgin mojitos, virgin blueberry nojito, Shirley ginger, strawberry limeade, and tropical crush with extra Red Bull. We just discovered yesterday that the Crown and Kettle on deck 5 has totally different options that no other bar offers so I’m making my way through those. The Citrus Tonic was too sour, the passion starlight is delicious, the berry press tasted good but didn’t have enough club soda so wasn’t bubbly enough for me. I haven’t tried two of the drinks there. My kids and DH also like to use their diamond drinks for shakes at Johnny Rockets.  

I can’t speak to the mobility scooter charging, but I have seen a few people with them so I know there must be a solution on board.

Posted

Day 5 (Thursday 12/19/24)

Today was a port day in Colon, Panama. Our clock went ahead one hour during the night, which made for a very early morning since we had a 7:30 tour. There was a lot of confusion because once again ship time was never changed on the app. I saw one dad running down the hall, burst into his room and say “We gotta go! It’s 7:15 not 6:15.” There were a lot of frustrated people and I wonder if a lot of people missed their tours assuming when the woke up the app would be right. My mom always travels with a digital clock so that she can set it herself and not depend on her watch, phone, or in this case the app changing. Since I have an international phone plan I turned on my service to confirm the time. This is the second time this trip they’ve failed to adjust ship time on the app. 

Anyway, we booked a private tour through Tours by Locals with Mario. He has all 5 star reviews. He’s been in this industry for 20 years. He wasn’t where he had said he would be, but all of the other guides seemed to know who he was and called him. He had thought we were on the Viking ship that came in at the same time so he was at the wrong gate, but quickly came to get us. He had a very nice van waiting for us, big enough that we each got our own row, which was great because we had some long drives so the kids laid down for naps. 

One thing to note in Colon: there is a large mall to shop at that inside the port area that appears safe. Once you get to the parking lot outside the mall there are gates and it seemed to me that security would not let you outside those gates if you didn’t have a guide. We had read Colon is not safe and Mario confirmed that. He said it’s the 10% of the people that are unsafe that ruin it for everybody. He did say that Panama City is very safe and you could walk around there 24 hours a day without worry.

First, we drove to the Aqua Clara Panama Canal locks. Along the way we saw monkeys in trees that our driver stopped to show us. In July my mom and I were in Panama and saw the Miraflores locks, so we wanted to see the other locks, and it was important to me for my kids to see something of such significance in the world. The cool thing at these locks that nobody seems to tell the cruise passengers on cruise ship excursions is there is a free shuttle that goes down to a separate viewing area. There was a ship going through the canal that was in front of that viewing area so Mario took us to the shuttle and we were the only people in the other viewing area. Nice clean restrooms to ourself, and nobody to obstruct our view! As the ship continued through the canal we took the shuttle back up to watch it, then we watched a short 10 minute video about the canal. 

If you have a choice between the two locks, I would recommend Miraflores. They have an IMAX movie narrated by Morgan Freeman that is about 45 minutes long and much more informational. The viewing area is stadium seating so there is a lot more space to view the locks and ships. 

Next we drove to Gamboa Rainforest Resort for a restroom break before getting on a small boat to go find wildlife. It was a pretty long drive, maybe 90 minutes, and longer than usual due to construction on a road causing it to be closed. This is when some kids lay down to nap. On that drive the van came to a halt and reversed on the road because Mario saw a sloth. The sloth was directly over the road, and SO close!! As it was moving down the branch we saw a small baby on her belly! It was just amazing. Mario had a telescope binocular thingy that he setup for us to see the sloth and you could put your phone up to it to take a picture. 

We loaded our boat to go to “Monkey Island.” My mom and I also did a similar tour in July. This time we were on the water about 90 minutes as opposed to 30 last time, so this was a lot better. It’s cool to take the boat onto Gatun Lake, which is part of the canal. It links the locks on the Caribbean and Pacific. There were massive cargo ships that would cause huge wakes that were fun to go over. We saw so many monkeys, I think three varieties. We got to feed them some grapes. I noticed all of the guides are mindful of how much they feed the monkeys for two reasons. They want people on the other boats to have the opportunity, and they also don’t want to fill the monkeys so much that they lose the instinct to hunt and eat their natural food. We also saw iguanas and bats. We then went to a quieter area and just slowly went on the boat as Mario fed us the most delicious pineapple. If you haven’t had fresh pineapple in Latin America you’re missing out. American pineapple is gross comparatively. 

As we started our drive back I was a little panicky. There was traffic causing our drive to take almost 2 hours with arrival at 3pm. All aboard was 3:30, but I really prefer to arrive an hour early. We drove 30 minutes or so and as we approached the traffic Mario seemed to be in contact with friends who said there had been an accident and everyone was being diverted off the highway. My phone kept pushing back our arrival time. Then all of the sudden traffic moved and we were on our way. I guess the accident had been cleared and suddenly my phone said we were going to get to the port at 2:25. PHEW!

Mario was a phenomenal guide. I would recommend him to anyone. He said in 20 years he has never had anyone arrive late as he does try to give a 1-1.5 hour buffer of drive time as he did with us. Tours by Locals on the FAQ does state that guides do not expect tips because they have set their own fair price. Our tour was $1,000 for 10 of us. This was about the same cost as a similar tour on Royal, but with WAY less people. Totally worth it.

We returned to the ship and E and D tried out the Flowrider. E has done it before, but D was never tall enough until this cruise. He was really nervous and he did ok. Usually the flowrider instructors are really helpful, but this one would put him on the board, then he’d get carried up the water straight to the top, and did that four times. He never game him instruction on how to avoid going straight to the top, so now D is discouraged and won’t try it again with different instructors. The boys also went on the water slides a few times. 

We then went to dinner. It was Caribbean night. H sat and read the blog while we waited for our food and said to tell everyone she didn’t like the Pork Bao Tacos (and that the text size was too small hence the bigger text today). DH liked them just fine. The roasted Caribbean chicken was massive, I think it was an entire half of a chicken. Overall everyone seemed to enjoy their food. 

The headliner show as Laura Wright. She’s married to the magician from the previous night. She had a great voice, but H, who remember is 18, was frustrated at the end because once again she knew none of the songs. She’s tired of hearing songs from WAY before she was born and wished the show was more relevant to the younger crowd. 

After losing an hour of sleep due to the time change, having to be up so early, and spending lots of time in the hot humid air we were all very tired. While E did his school work in my room at 8:30 I fell asleep. There are always game shows in the Star Lounge at 8, but we have just been so exhausted and our younger kiddos really needed to get to bed. We have another port day coming up and had some sleep to catch up on. 

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Posted

Day 6 (Friday 12/20/24)

Today was another port day in Cartagena, Colombia. We didn’t have anything reserved and had planned to take a taxi to Old Town to do a walking tour I had created on gpsmycity.com. It was going to be just over 2 miles and take a few hours. I had read ahead about how the taxi service worked, and it always gives me more confidence when DH can speak the language so there isn’t a language barrier. 

We got off the ship around 9 to explore the aviary inside the terminal. I had read it’s incredible and indeed it was. A couple of the birds enjoyed being pet and some bird owners taught me how to pet them so they love it. You push their neck feathers up toward their head and rub their neck. It worked and the bird fell asleep. H is going to college majoring in Zoology and wants to work with birds so she was absolutely in heaven. 

After spending an hour with birds I finally got everyone to the taxi area. It was already VERY hot and humid. 10 degrees warmer than the previous port and honestly pretty miserable. The grandparents are in good shape, but the heat and humidity was difficult for them and the little kids were struggling as well just in that hour we were outside. I knew the taxi service would try to convince us to do a full tour, and was going to say no. But the idea of having an air conditioned vehicle to go back and forth to instead of walking was quite appealing. We paid $20/person for 3 hours of private taxi service. Then we also paid quite a bit in tips, so probably an overall total of $250. I know we could’ve negotiated down but I’m of the opinion that the Colombians probably don’t make much money, so just pay them. Plus it’s the holidays. 

We went back through the aviary and were able to hold a macaw that was happily going from arm to arm. Once on board the ship we had some lunch and got in the pool.

Dinner was formal night. The prime rib was ok, better than I’ve had in the past. Again, no complaints from anybody except that they forgot quite a few of our appetizers that we had to request. 

E somehow found out there was a group stand up surfing lesson on Flowrider that still had availability. He asked to join, I said no, then the grandparents found out and said they would split it. The app was saying he had an existing reservation so I had to run to guest services to get him signed up since the lesson was in 30 minutes. It was $69. I was surprised this one didn’t charge any gratuity for the instructors.

The production showtime was Fast Forward. It was as good as any of the other shows. Afterward we watched E at the end of his group lesson and he was doing phenomenal. I couldn’t believe it. Grandparents agreed it was worth every penny. It was crazy windy, so fun picture of my hair below. Then we got the little kids in bed because we were moving another hour ahead. I’ve never had so many time changes on a cruise. The big kids stayed up with the grandparents and we played a card game called Skull King to keep us awake until the Love and Marriage Game Show which wasn’t until 10:30. It was the same as always, selecting the contestants using the same Tarzan/Jane call and all of the same questions as usual. I feel like there are quite a few frequent cruisers and it would be nice if they would switch some of these game shows up. The winning couple had obviously played before so it just wasn’t as fun. 

Overall, it was a good day, but awfully hot. A lot more pictures today since each kid pet and held a bird. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Luly said:

My kids almost always order Lime daiquiris. I have tried the pina colada and like it. I rarely get the frozen drinks because I prefer carbonated drinks, so I go with virgin mojitos, virgin blueberry nojito, Shirley ginger, strawberry limeade, and tropical crush with extra Red Bull. We just discovered yesterday that the Crown and Kettle on deck 5 has totally different options that no other bar offers so I’m making my way through those. The Citrus Tonic was too sour, the passion starlight is delicious, the berry press tasted good but didn’t have enough club soda so wasn’t bubbly enough for me. I haven’t tried two of the drinks there. My kids and DH also like to use their diamond drinks for shakes at Johnny Rockets.  

I can’t speak to the mobility scooter charging, but I have seen a few people with them so I know there must be a solution on board.

How many outlets do you have in you cabin? Thanks for all the frozen drink ideas!

Posted

Day 7 (Saturday 12/21/24)

Good news, they finally figured out how to change ship time! We went forward another hour and ship time was actually correct when I woke up this morning. 

D woke up early and went to the Windjammer while everyone else slept. He loves the independence I give him on the ship. He is 9, and I imagine some might disagree with me letting him roam free, but I always know where he is and we always have a plan to connect to check in throughout the day. I never let him roam free until he can show me multiple times from various places that he can get to his room by himself. Last night I reminded him that his sister’s phone would have the wrong time and to add one hour. If it was 7am ship time he could go to the Windjammer, then knock on GpaD’s door at 8 to play pickleball. He was so excited there was a particular waiter that took care of him bringing him drinks and such. He is a very early riser, so allowing him to go to the Windjammer on his own is very helpful for everyone’s sleep. He did exactly as we discussed then checked in at 8:30 to let me know he was going to go on the waterslides and GpaD would be playing pickleball; those two things are within feet of each other so I was comfortable with that. 

E went to 9am standup surfing. Apparently he spent the entire day at the Flowrider, which I had no idea until he came to dinner absolutely fried. Mom fail.

I went to breakfast in the MDR. I enjoy the market breakfast bowl with extra goat cheese with a side of extra crispy bacon. While I did that DH exercised. J, GmaK, and I went to the “secret bridge” on deck 11 in front of the solarium where you can view the bridge and the captain. That was pretty cool. J got dressed to swim and then DH and I switched and I exercised so I could get a shower in before my massage. 

My massage was at 12. When I arrived they asked where DH was because they also had his massage at 12. I specifically made his massage for 2 so we could do a kid switcharoo, and his app said that was when it was scheduled for as well. I don’t know what happened; my best guess is that when we moved him to my room that it messed up the massage scheduling. They then said they could get him in at 2:45 and we agreed to that and my treatment began. I got the 100 minute aroma seaweed mask and full body massage. I could not find anything about this to know if I would enjoy it, so if you’re wondering about it here you go!

I booked the massage during Black Friday deals. It may have been that same price for the last year, but I have no idea because I wasn’t looking. I booked it for $209 and after auto gratuity it was $250. The $209 was the lowest price; there were same days it was $299. Strangely it was $209 while we were sailing, though I guess it could’ve been considered a port day because we arrived in Aruba at 4pm. 

First, a very warm seaweed goo was smothered on me. It had some exfoliating properties and almost a menthol feel as it felt cool on my skin as it dried. I was then wrapped in foil head to toe and towels were wrapped around that to keep me warm. I was physically warm but could still feel the menthol feel of the mask. While it sat for 20-25 minutes I got a scalp and foot massage. The scalp massage was with coconut oil and my hair was GROSS. Afterward, she helped me sit up, put towels on the ground and I walked into in room shower. While I cleaned up, she threw out everything and left me to rinse off. Afterward I got a full body massage. I would call it a very “froofy” massage. It was fine, just didn’t exactly help my muscles. The worst part was the oil, I was smothered and it was gross. I couldn’t wait to take another shower. Once I was dressed she returned to the room and asked if I wanted her recommendations. I said no, so she handed me a paper and receipt to sign. I didn’t pay any additional gratuity. The paper had recommendations, like a body brush, some sort of oil, and I just couldn’t really read her handwriting. She also said I could come back for $50 off or bring any friends or family for the same discount. We finished right on time. I would go back and do just the 50 minute seaweed wrap. 

While I was in my massage DH took the littles to the ice show. 

DH then went for his massage. He said his seaweed goo was very cold and he didn’t get a scalp or foot massage. The spa person left the room while he was burrito wrapped in foil. I don’t know why we didn’t get the same treatment there. He said she didn’t use an overwhelming amount of oil. She did not try to sell him anything nor did he get any recommendations or a receipt to sign. So slightly different experiences there for the same treatment. I was thrilled neither of us was hounded to purchase products as that’s what I had heard happens. 

While DH was in his massage I took J to Frozen 2 and D went to the belly flop competition, which had been scheduled for earlier in the cruise but had to be rescheduled due to them having to empty and refill the pool.

We arrived in Aruba around 4pm. Tonight was Taste of UK in the MDR. In my opinion, and DH, the Vegan Berry Sundae was gross. I thought it tasted like cough syrup and he agreed, but my dad and youngest J enjoyed it. 

The MDR staff is starting to know what we want and come prepared with specific drinks, mostly sodas that the grandparents want since the rest of us tend to change up our drink order every night. They bring the kids fruit cups and me a kids veggie cup. J and D still order spaghetti with butter and Parmesan cheese every night. Tonight was white night and E and GpaD have matching shirts. J has been asking for this night all cruise long because I got her a new dress she’s been wanting to wear. I love matching on cruises.

No shows tonight since we were in port. Two old movies were shown in the theatre but we didn’t go to them. I wish they had shown Christmas movies; I would have been more likely to go. 

DH, H, MIL, and I all got off the ship to explore. It was mostly high end shops like Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, etc. There were some pretty Christmas decorations and we saw Santa and elves taking pictures.  I wanted a picture but couldn’t tell if tips were required as they often are in these countries when you take pictures with people dressed up. There was a little kids “ice skating” rink with some sort of flooring that seemed to mimic ice as the kids were indeed using ice skates.

We went to bed for our early excursion the next day. 

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Posted

Day 8 (Sunday 12/22/24)

Our tour today was with ABC Tours. This is a lengthy post. I like lengthy detailed reviews, so this is for anyone considering booking this tour that wants a more detailed itinerary and review and recommendations on what to wear. Anyone else might want to skip this. It was an 8 hour ultimate island jeep safari. The cost was $125/adult and $75/two youngest kids. It included lunch. Our meeting time was 7:45 and it was very easy to find the company. There was no hounding in the terminal which is a first time for me. No taxis, no people in your face, nothing. We were taken to the ABC Tours facility to make sure we had signed our waivers ahead of time and to confirm our lunch choices. They had texted my mom while we were in Panama for us to choose lunch. The options were fish, chicken breast, chicken leg/thigh, hot dog, hamburger, or vegan (rice, beans, salad). 

We were told to bring a swimsuit, change of clothes, sneakers, NO flip flops, and a refillable water bottle. What it should have said is to wear a swimsuit. As soon as we arrived at their facility they said to go change into our swim suits because there were no restroom facilities elsewhere to change. They only had one bathroom, the place wasn’t air conditioned, it was just a pain. They should’ve just said to wear a swimsuit. If there’s nowhere to change there’s no reason to bring a change of clothes. I was fine in my Teva sandals with lots of straps, not the flip flop kind. I had also brought sneakers but never wore them.  

We got in a 10 passenger open air jeep where we were all facing each other instead of looking forward. There were 3 jeeps together and ours was the leader. I’m SO glad we were in the leading jeep. I’ll talk more about that soon. I wish the driver had some sort of audio system. Any time he talked only the front two people could hear, then we had to relay the information to everyone else while his music blasted. 

This was a long tour, so I’ll try to remember all of it but I didn’t take many pictures. We started with natural bridge. Well, natural bridge was destroyed after hurricane Ivan so there’s no longer a bridge. So we get there and he tells us it used to be there but isn’t anymore then gave us 15 minutes to walk around. Not much to look at when the site is gone. Strange. 

Next up was an old gold mining camp? They gave a whole history about it and then another 15 minutes to walk around. The history there was interesting but the stop wasn’t that exciting. If he’d had an audio system he could’ve talked about it while he drove. 

Speaking of driving, the terrain is difficult. Incredibly bumpy, so much so we had to move those with neck/back issues to the front of the jeep so they didn’t bump as much as those in the back. The bums of the people in the back would leave their seats. Luckily they always made sure everyone had their seatbelts on before we left each stop. Since we were on dirt roads constantly we were kicking so much dirt into the air. I was in the front jeep and could feel it tickling my lungs, but those in the other two jeeps had to be filthy. That being said, my kids LOVED the bumping and just thought it was hilarious. 

Next we drove by a beach where he said you can swim with turtles. MIL loves snorkeling so I let the driver know, “Now my MIL is mad at me because she can’t snorkel with turtles.” He said if we took less than 5 minutes at the next stop then we could snorkel for 25 minutes with turtles. Deal. The next stop was California lighthouse. I got a picture there but really only because he noticed I hadn’t asked him to take any family pictures and asked if we wanted one so I said sure. 

Afterward we did indeed go to the area for snorkeling with turtles. I won’t call it a beach because there was no sand. It was a very rocky entry, but we did see one turtle. No life vests were available and while I’m a great swimmer, DH is not. So I took J out to the deeper area then by the time I pulled her back to shore I didn’t have time to take D out. 

Next was lunch. Lunch is provided at the ABC location where we checked in. They setup their own little restaurant there which is quite a brilliant idea. The bathroom situation was better. I wish they had opened those up this morning when we were all changing in the single bathroom. 

The chicken thighs were delicious. The chicken breast was compared to jerky. The kids burger was bland, and the littles ate their hot dogs. The black beans that went with the chicken dishes, and was the main part of the vegan dishes was delicious. 

My mom wasn’t feeling well at all today and asked to be taken back to the ship. They were able to accomodate that request so we left her there to be driven back by someone else. 

Next we took a very very bumpy and dirty drive to Arikok National Park to the Natural Pool. One of the jeeps overheated and broke down. Between the two other jeeps we were able to squeeze everyone in with seatbelts. The natural pool was a little scary. Very rocky, very slippery, and very wavy. However, the fish were beautiful. J LOVES snorkeling. She was mad I wouldn’t let her swim into the middle of the pool, but again, no life vests. Some waves came crashing over the side and poured on top of us; J did not like that. It took 2-3 of us always having hands on her to safely go around the pool and get into and out of it. We had 30 minutes here. On our drive away from here a new jeep had been placed where the other one had broken down so we split back into three jeeps. 

This time the third jeep got a flat tire almost exactly where the other jeep had broken down. So we stopped at a National Park visitors center where there were free restrooms to use when they replaced the tire. We then went to a cave. Nobody told us the name, but I just looked it up and it’s Fontein Cave. Nearby there was a little pond to dip your feet or hands in and the fish would nibble on you for a little pedicure. The two little kids said this was their favorite part of the day. They just giggled and giggled. The cave tour was about 5 minutes long. 

We were running about an hour behind due to the jeep breakdowns, so they confirmed our ship departure time and we agreed to extend the tour to be able to do everything as scheduled (gangway up wasn’t until 10:30pm).

So next we went to baby beach. We had 30 minutes there. That was a very sandy beach, which means not many fish to see, but the kids enjoyed swimming around and the water was nice. 

We had a 40 minute drive back to the ship and arrived around 5:40. My mom looked like death and I’m so glad she came back to sleep. She would’ve been miserable on the bumpy roads. 

I know a lot of what I’m saying sounds very critical. The tour was enjoyable, and I would recommend this company, but I’d maybe stick with a 4 hour tour. 8 was very long, especially on bumpy dirt roads for much of it. Our backs and necks ached and we were just so tired. 

I loved having an overnight in Aruba though. I’ve never been on a cruise with an overnight port. It was really nice to get off the ship and see the evening lights in the city, especially for Christmas. It was especially nice not be panicked about time when there were jeep breakdowns and be able to finish out the rest of the tour rather than hurrying back to the ship. The kids were mostly looking forward to beach time so they would have been sad if we hadn’t made it to baby beach. 

Our dining room time is 5pm, but the next seating isn’t until 7:30 so we took a risk and went to see if we could grab our table at 6:15 knowing we needed to be gone by about 7:10 so they would have time to clean up for the next seating. We rushed everyone through showers and go to the MDR and our table was all set even with menus. Ahmad told us that he always puts menus on the table in case his families arrive late so that nobody fills the table with my time dining guests. We told him we’d eat quickly before the next seating and he happily accommodated us. It looked like others did something similar; a few other tables were just on their appetizers. The food was good for Taste of Asia night, especially the dumplings. E decided to run up to the flowrider instead of eating with us and Ahmad picked a random dish and sent us with it when we left. E was thrilled to have warm dinner in his room and really enjoyed what was selected for him. 

The headliner show was El Gaucho. He was very funny and entertaining. The kids and adults all really liked him. He might be one of my favorite entertainers I’ve ever seen on board. We once again went to bed quite early with another port day coming up. 

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Posted

Day 9 (Sunday 12/23/24)

Today we were in Curaçao! Oh my goodness this place is beautiful. The city is so colorful, the roads are well done and not insanely busy, people don’t drive like maniacs, there are actual road signs and stop lights, and we felt very safe. Today we rented a 10 passenger van from Smart Wheels. Pickup is at the terminal was crazy simple and fast. We made a reservation about a month ago, and they did sell out for the day. While we were there they put a sign on the door that they were sold out. Our rental was $150. Sounds pricey, but remember this as a massive van. It was actually a 15 passenger van so we had plenty of space. It worked well, was very clean, and the AC worked great. 

I had researched ahead what to do and landed on seeing flamingos and beach time. DH drove for us. The roads were very easy to navigate with google maps. First we stopped at Jan Kok flamingo area. Along the way we saw a wild pig! I had read when stopping here to make sure to lock your vehicle. We did do that, but there were also two security people there watching after cars and helping people park. There were a good amount of cars there, but it wasn’t overwhelming and was still peaceful and didn’t feel rushed. There were so many flamingos!!! It was amazing! It was about a 17 minute drive from the cruise ship. They weren’t too far away, but we brought binoculars to be able to see them better. 

I had also researched ahead on beaches. I believe all the tours go to Mambo beach so I knew I didn’t want to go there. We drove to Grote Knip beach. It was an additional 20 minutes away after the flamingos, so a total of about 40 minutes from the ship. This beach is gorgeous, but I do recommend water shoes. I had read that but didn’t listen. There is so much coral and rocks on the beach and not much sand so it hurts to walk around. The entry of the water is the same. This makes it perfect for snorkeling. You could just stand there and stick your face in the water and see fish all around you. If you walked out a bit there was sand, but depending on your height you may not be able to stand and have your head above water. MIL forgot snorkel gear and there was some available for $5. There were life vests, but they were $10/hour! Instead I got the kids pool noodles to hold onto for $5 each to rent for the whole day. We setup camp under a tree because it was cooler than being under umbrellas (this was a mistake, explained below). The chairs were $5 each to rent. I believe the setup with an umbrella and two chairs was $15 each from what I could hear. 

As gorgeous as the beach was it just kept raining and raining, so we wished we had umbrellas to keep our stuff dry. We’d get rain for 15 minutes, sun for 10 minutes, pelting rain again, then sun. That rain hurt and was cold. Part of the rental agreement is minimal sand and no wet seats or you’re charged an additional $50. So we took all the towels to the vehicle to save for the drive back. Our stuff was so wet. We got to the beach at 10:30 with an agreement to leave at 2. We left about 1:45 in the gorgeous sun. Because it was so rainy we didn’t get pictures until we were leaving. The water was warmer than the rain so being in the ocean snorkeling during the rain was fine. As we drove back everything else on the island was dry. We just got stuck in this pocket of rainstorms. 

We got back to the ship about 3. The rental return was simple and we avoided the $50 penalty, phew. Paying for gas to fill the tank was weird. You pull in and wait in a line, there’s a metal box and you put in how much cash you want to spend, then they tell you which pump to go to and it stops when you get to that amount. They luckily took USD. 

I wanted to walk to the Queen Emma Bridge but by the time we got the kids situated it was 3:30 and it looked like it would be difficult to get off the ship because everyone was coming back and going through security. All aboard was 4:30. I realized we could see it from the front of the ship so I looked at it from there and that was good enough. H and I watched for pier runners. Nothing too exciting there. One tour bus arrived at 4:30, and another at 4:45. I’m assuming they were Royal Caribbean tours. Considering how empty the roads were I have no idea why they would have been running so late. 

Tonight was Taste of Italy. Food was good. The production show was Wild, Cool, & Swingin’. I wanted some quiet time to catch up on the live blog and just have it quiet so I stayed in and typed. DH said the show felt like it was an eternity, J said it was a good show. 

My mom was still sick today but on the mend. If she’d looked as bad as yesterday my dad was going to take her to the medical facility. She sticking to her room and we’re taking her food and drinks as needed. 

Tonight we go back an hour, we’ll see if they remember to change ship time. Two more sea days and then we’re done. The kids are sad it’s coming to an end, especially D, the 9 year old who loves his independence on the ship. 

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Posted

Days 10-11 (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)

Ah, finally a day to sleep in. Good thing, because I wasn’t feeling great. I would have stayed in bed, but I was told that they were giving out gingerbread house kits in the Windjammer and I didn’t want to miss watching the kids put those together. I sat back, and just enjoyed the moment, made sure J got a gingerbread kit, then went to sleep for 4 hours. J wanted to bring home her gingerbread house to put it together with her friend. DH and grandparents helped out with kids while I slept and they enjoyed swimming and E did the Flowrider for something like 8 hours straight. 

After resting I watched E and his surfing abilities have progressed so much; he could also do spins on the boogie board. He’s been talking about us getting him some hourly reservations at the “local” Flowriders. There are two, one is about 30 minutes away the other an hour.

Tonight was formal night. We decided as a family that it would be red night as well. Since each adult that is diamond level gets a free photo I knew this formal night photo was the one I would want so we found a photographer that could handle our group size and got some pictures. They like to pose you really weird for these and separate into tiny little groups and it takes forever. After the group photo he tried to get smaller groups and we told him we were good with just the group picture. 

The show was Abbey Road, a Beatles tribute band. I got a text from H during the first number, “I thought Abbey Road was a single person…” I reminded her the description did mention it was Beatles songs and there were four Beatles. She apparently thought it was a single girl named Abbey Road. We all had a good laugh over that. MIL and FIL enjoyed the show so much that they went to the second one.

I believe the Quest was tonight as well, but nobody attended. We’re just so tired and the Quest is always the same, so once you’ve been a couple of times you know all of the things you need to bring for your team to win. 

Not much to blog about since I wasn’t fully coherent most of the day. As you walk down the hallways you hear people coughing from their rooms. There is obviously a respiratory infection going around. Now that I’m home I don’t have access to the cruise planner to go back and see what was on the schedule to remember if I’m missing anything that we did. 

 

Santa came during the night but the kids were kind enough to let us sleep in a bit and went to the Windjammer when they woke up. MIL (who we’ve started calling Grandma Elf on this cruise) put some bags on the kids door the first day and was giving them trinkets/candy each day. Christmas Day they got bigger gifts from her, like tickets to a play, the symphony, and for our oldest she got gift cards to survive college. Funny story, remember MIL was wearing the shirt “Most likely to forget the hidden presents.” She again wore it on Christmas Day. Well, she had purchased some gifts cards as part of my kids school fundraisers and was going to give two to H for Christmas. When they weren’t in the gift bag I reminded her about them and she gave me the most befuddled look insisting that I never gave them to her after the fundraiser ended. I reminded her I did, and then she remembered she had received them and had given some to her neighbors but doesn’t know where the rest are. This is the same with every birthday and Christmas, hence, the t-shirt. We love her just the way she is though. 

Afterward, Santa was arriving on the ship. I heard from my dad, who was playing Pickleball, that Santa started at the sports court along with a small band, and I guess he made his way down to Studio B from there. He was to be at Studio B from 10-12. We arrived about 10:30 after D finished playing pickleball with his grandpa. The line wrapped around from studio B, back by the elevators and around into where you look at your pictures. It was well organized, but this is our fourth Christmas cruise and I have never had to wait in a line for the Santa gifts. They had 8 rows filled with people and would call one row at a time to come down. You could choose to not wait in the rows and go pick up your gift not from Santa, or wait in the seats until you were called and get your gift from an elf then get your picture with Santa. The littles wanted to get their pictures so we waited. We got to Santa about 11:30. In the past they had gifts separated somewhat similarly as the Adventure Ocean ages, then another different gift for the teens. This year only under 5’s got a separate gift and everyone else got the same gift. It’s some sort of beach tennis game. The rackets were like pickleball rackets with a small foam ball the size of a ping pong ball.

Afterward MIL and I wanted to go to caroling and balloon drop on the Promenade but the kids wanted to swim so DH took them swimming and we went to the Promenade.  It was the same songs as the previous time we caroled, then the balloons dropped. They must have overinflated them because as they fell and touched anything all you could hear along the whole Promenade was popping balloons. It was a mess afterward. 

By this time I needed another nap so the littles kept swimming, E spent another 8 hours on the Flowrider, and H did whatever H does on a cruise. My parents went to Izumi to spend their onboard credit. I had hoped to go to Izum; I love their dynamite rolls, but between my massage on one of the days during the lunch hour, Giovanni’s for lunch another day, then not feeling great it just didn’t work out. 

Tonight was lobster night. Only about half of us like lobster, but we ordered one per person and they all got consumed by those that wanted more than one. In September DH and I were on a cruise and the lobster was itty bitty, tough, and just not good at all. The lobster this cruise was SO good!

The show tonight was at 8 instead of 7 so we went back to our rooms to pack, which is way sad to do ON Christmas Day. The show was another headliner, LA Hardy. He was pretty funny. He did an adult only show later but we never go to those because we don’t find the late night shows humorous; it’s just not our style of comedy. We prefer the family friendly stuff.  

Little thoughts, H said that she didn’t like being by the area where the stateroom attendants keep everything. It was across the hall from their inside room and she could hear them talking late at night and early in the morning. She claimed 5am, but I never saw them out that early so I suspect since she likes to sleep until noon that it was likely 8am that they would start talking.

For the person that had been asking me about the scooters, I did see someone coming out of their room with an electric scooter and asked her a few questions. She said that Royal gives you a list of 3 companies to rent from and you pick one. Upon arrival in the room the scooter was already there and the cord was in the front basket. You just charge it in your room as needed. She couldn’t speak to how long the charge lasts because she got sick on day 2 and didn’t have much opportunity to use it. She mentioned she thinks you can also request wheelchair service on embarkation day until you can get to the scooter. I hope that was helpful. 

I loved the view from our balcony facing backwards, we never had any issues with soot like I had read about. I liked drying our stuff out there and felt like we got a good enough breeze to dry stuff without worrying it would fly away. That being said, the room was very vibrate-y. It was like always sleeping on a vibrating bed and some of the walls and doors vibrated as well.

Curaçao was my favorite port, despite the rain. I would like to go back there someday and explore more and spend a lot more time on the beautiful beaches, they have so many beaches.

We did self assist disembarkation and it was very smooth, as always…except E left his backpack in his room. Of course I checked every nook and cranny for things that were missed but I never envisioned him leaving his entire school backpack. He realized it after luggage pickup but before we went through customs. There were some pier agents that could help, but then I remembered my parents might still be on board. I called my mom and she was walking out of her room at that moment and was able to be let into the kids room to get his backpack. Phew. We couldn’t go home without it because it had ALL of his school work. 

I’ve enjoyed blogging this and reliving each days’ memories by writing about them. I hope this has been helpful! Our next cruise is next Christmas for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and my siblings and their kids will also be there! I don’t believe any of them have ever cruised so I’m very excited. There will be 23 of us and we take up almost the entire front of the 11th deck of the ship. It will be on Navigator to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo. We’ve done this Christmas cruise before, but I’ve never cruised with this big of a group. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 1/1/2025 at 9:23 PM, packercruising said:

We are wondering what the breakfast hours are at the various venues. Thanks!

It depends on the day. Windjammer would typically be open about 7-11 but if it was an early port day or disembarkation day then it would open at 6am. MDR breakfast was usually 8-9:30, sometimes not open on port days for breakfast. On one of the sea days MDR had brunch which I believe was 9-1?

Posted
4 hours ago, Luly said:

It depends on the day. Windjammer would typically be open about 7-11 but if it was an early port day or disembarkation day then it would open at 6am. MDR breakfast was usually 8-9:30, sometimes not open on port days for breakfast. On one of the sea days MDR had brunch which I believe was 9-1?

Thank you. That helps, because we like later breakfasts.

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