Voyager December 28th- January 2nd Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise!

[CHart]

The day is almost here! Starting the Live Blog for the last Group Cruise of 2024!

[SweetPea]

Have fun!

[AshleyDillo]

Oh goody..maybe I will contribute to this one. 

I'm currently sitting at debarkation breakfast on Adventure back in Port Canaveral waiting to see all the GroupMe messages of folks rolling in for the cruise tomorrow.  I did the Adventure cruise solo and my mom and brother are driving down from north Florida today to meet me this afternoon.

As soon as I'm done with breakfast I will get off the ship and hop on the Avis shuttle to pick up my rental car for the day. I did this so I would have a place to keep my luggage and be able to easily get around all day.  I may even help some folks out and do a MCO run depending on timing.

[WAAAYTOOO]

37 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Oh goody..maybe I will contribute to this one. 

I'm currently sitting at debarkation breakfast on Adventure back in Port Canaveral waiting to see all the GroupMe messages of folks rolling in for the cruise tomorrow.  I did the Adventure cruise solo and my mom and brother are driving down from north Florida today to meet me this afternoon.

As soon as I'm done with breakfast I will get off the ship and hop on the Avis shuttle to pick up my rental car for the day. I did this so I would have a place to keep my luggage and be able to easily get around all day.  I may even help some folks out and do a MCO run depending on timing.

Have a great cruise with your mom and brother.  It was SOOO nice to finally meet you !  You’re a sweetie.  And speaking of @Sweety, I never did run into her and James. . Next time !

Happy New Year !

[OCSC Mike]

37 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Oh goody..maybe I will contribute to this one. 

Please do. Forgot there even was a group cruise.

I tried to get my wife to go on a last minute Voyager cruise next month when a good deal popped up but it didn't work out. That was my very first ship (for our honeymoon).

I'm keeping my eye out for a certain week in February for another possible last minute Voyager so looking forward to seeing/hearing about the ship (and group shenanigans of course).

[Ampurp85]

Oh good, I will get some casino content .

What suite are you guys in @AshleyDillo to be honest I am shocked your mom would do Voyager class because the suite options are so limited .

[AshleyDillo]

4 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

What suite are you guys in @AshleyDillo to be honest I am shocked your mom would do Voyager class because the suite options are so limited .

Oh she is not happy about it...she's complaining it's a small ship and the lack of dining options. She hates the MDR but refuses to pay the premium holiday specialty dining prices.  This should be fun especially if Voyager is in the same condition as Adventure was. 

Voyager is the last one in the class I haven't sailed on, so this will take care of it.  We are in an Owners Suite because my mother wanted a shower.

I'm sure there will be casino content because @CHart never leaves there...but hopefully I spend less time there than I did on Adventure. Video and three card poker were good to me.

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Have a great cruise with your mom and brother.  It was SOOO nice to finally meet you !  You’re a sweetie.

Awww..I'm so glad we got to meet up, even if only for a little bit! I'm doing a lot of shorty cruises the beginning of next year so don't think our paths will cross again anytime soon

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

 I'm doing a lot of shorty cruises the beginning of next year so don't think our paths will cross again anytime soon

I wouldn’t be so sure about that.  We have a LOT of shorties coming up.  Hopefully it won’t be long.

[WAAAYTOOO]

15 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I am shocked your mom would do Voyager class because the suite options are so limited .

I was thinking the same thing….good luck @AshleyDillo.  May your patience be with you….

[AshleyDillo]

Now I just kill time with coffee and free wifi. The Avis shuttle driver was nice enough to tell everyone that the road to MCO has no Starbucks the entire way. Lots of folks get surprised by that.  I was gonna hang here anyways and maybe go do laundry to kill time later.

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

18 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

What suite are you guys in @AshleyDillo to be honest I am shocked your mom would do Voyager class because the suite options are so limited .

 

7 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Oh she is not happy about it...she's complaining it's a small ship and the lack of dining options.

I can totally picture this! LOL! Tell her my thoughts are with her 

[AshleyDillo]

1 minute ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I can totally picture this! LOL! Tell her my thoughts are with her 

She's taking one for the team (but will passive aggressively remind us of this the entire cruise) because she didn't want to deny us being able to sail with the group.  

To make up for it I've already committed to 2 sailings in 2026 on Star and a week on Equinox next month.  I can compromise

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 minute ago, AshleyDillo said:

She's taking one for the team (but will passive aggressively remind us of this the entire cruise)

I feel like this will be me as well in future...It might already be me now lol

[CHart]

25 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

I'm sure there will be casino content because @CHart never leaves there...but hopefully I spend less time there than I did on Adventure. Video and three card poker were good to me.

Hopefully not too much time. Cutting the budget for 2025 in the casino. However, the 2nd part of the B2B, I have $2000 in free play so I will go wild in those 4 days!

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

To make up for it I've already committed to 2 sailings in 2026 on Star and a week on Equinox next month.  I can compromise

Huge sacrifice on your part.

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

She's taking one for the team (but will passive aggressively remind us of this the entire cruise) because she didn't want to deny us being able to sail with the group.  

To make up for it I've already committed to 2 sailings in 2026 on Star and a week on Equinox next month.  I can compromise

If she is spending your inheritance, you have to compromise .

[AshleyDillo]

Terminal 5 has a suite lounge...new to me.

[CHart]

6 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Terminal 5 has a suite lounge...new to me.

Sorry just sitting out here with the common this sailing. Cannot wait to get on. I think most if not all of the group has made it to Orlando at least. Some flight delays. Never fly in day of.

[GatorCruiser]

Can someone not retired explain to me how you all take so many cruises? And yes I’m jealous. Is everyone on this site independently wealthy ? 

[Starrynight0154]

Post pictures please, I’ll be on Voyager in February so I’ll be following this thread. Enjoy the group cruise! 

[AshleyDillo]

2 hours ago, GatorCruiser said:

Can someone not retired explain to me how you all take so many cruises? And yes I’m jealous. Is everyone on this site independently wealthy ? 

I'm on the casino pre-payment plan

Not married, no kids..just how I choose to spend my disposable income. I'm also on a 20% remote work schedule so that makes it easier for me to arrange my work schedule to fit my cruising lifestyle.

 

[CHart]

On 12/28/2024 at 10:32 AM, GatorCruiser said:

Can someone not retired explain to me how you all take so many cruises? And yes I’m jealous. Is everyone on this site independently wealthy ? 

I’m also single and max the casino offers and take a lot of weekend cruise working remote Friday and Monday. The 3 plus weeks I get off are typically used on ships as well. For me the value of a cruise is most of the time better than a weekend trip somewhere else.

[CHart]

Chops lunch and the tree in the promenade.

i may have spent the rest of the time at the bar and casino… but I do have 3000 points this sailing.

[OCSC Mike]

22 minutes ago, CHart said:

Chops lunch

It took 24 hours for someone to post food porn. Unacceptable.

[CHart]

9 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

It took 24 hours for someone to post food porn. Unacceptable.

Sorry not sorry.

[AshleyDillo]

12 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

It took 24 hours for someone to post food porn. Unacceptable.

We walked out of the dining room and ordered room service last night. Sailing with my mother is fun

[OCSC Mike]

9 minutes ago, CHart said:

Sorry not sorry.

You were the one who actually posted some... no apology needed.

[WAAAYTOOO]

34 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

We walked out of the dining room and ordered room service last night. Sailing with my mother is fun

The most amazing part of this sentence is the fact that your mother even stepped foot into the dining room in the first place !

[Ampurp85]

I was literally going to ask how your mom was doing with the food.

[smokeybandit]

Did the ship have to make an unexpected stop to restock the bars yet?

[AshleyDillo]

8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

The most amazing part of this sentence is the fact that your mother even stepped foot into the dining room in the first place !

7 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I was literally going to ask how your mom was doing with the food.

She is not a fan of 5pm dining. Most of the group has 5pm dining. We asked prior to the cruise if she wanted to do the group dining or just go on MTD. She said she was fine dining with the group.  We stupidly believed she meant that..my bad.

We had room service for night 1. I'm typing this from WJ right now where she followed me even though she wasn't hungry at 5pm to do MDR. She's watching me eat because she isn't hungry because she had Giovannis for lunch instead of going to the group lunch because she didn't want to eat at the MDR for lunch.

I skipped MDR tonight because top tier was at 4pm and I don't have the drink package so I participated in the drink whatever is on the tray game there. I was just helping the servers lighten their loads. 

I thought I could get away with a quiet solo WJ dinner at 8pm.  The WJ is at least quiet..but I am not solo. A much different WJ vibe here than on Adventure last week. 

 

[smokeybandit]

23 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

I skipped MDR tonight because top tier was at 4pm

It was 4:30 in October on Jewel.  Seems a really dumb time of day to be having that event.

[WAAAYTOOO]

57 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It was 4:30 in October on Jewel.  Seems a really dumb time of day to be having that event.

I agree.  It’s as if they hope you will get busy doing something else and miss the event entirely.

[SMOKEY0202]

It's only beginning of cruise for your mother, Ashley.....

How is ship condition and what @ cabin?

Barely any food porn pics it seems

Ranger cookies available?

 

 

[SweetPea]

11 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

We walked out of the dining room and ordered room service last night. Sailing with my mother is fun

Sounds like my mom ... maybe your mom and my mom should be cruising buddies  

[AshleyDillo]

11 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I agree.  It’s as if they hope you will get busy doing something else and miss the event entirely.

I didn't miss it..and 4 champagnes later I slept through the rest of the evening.

[CHart]

Update, some casino action. One person in our group hit a 20k jackpot, I went to congratulate them and played 5 spins on the machine next to them and hit a 4k hand pay. The two of us closed down the casino this am at 3am. Now we are off to Paradise Beach.

[CHart]

Mexico!

[OCSC Mike]

12 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

I participated in the drink whatever is on the tray game

Back in the day before we were Diamond or even cruising a lot they used to have some sort of welcome back event in the lounges of Voyager/Freedom class where the "trays" included rum punch type drinks... I always played that game there.

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, CHart said:

Now we are off to Paradise Beach.

Loved my time there this past summer... enjoy!