💫🌟✨Where Sea, Star & Wonder Meet. Wonder of the Seas Dec 22-26, Dec 26-29, 2025✨🌟💫

[Jax]

Where Sea, Star & Wonder Meet

 

Back with another Christmas Vacay! Very excited for this sailing. I booked it on the eve of its release through our TA so it’s been a long time coming.  Lots of fun stuff planned, some new faces and places, so I hope you will follow along.  Let’s get started. 

[OCSC Mike]

Looking forward to the Wonder version of my Utopia B2B's!

[Jax]

Where Sea, Star & Wonder Meet
As I mentioned this sailing was booked on the eve of its release so it has been a much anticipated countdown.  For some reason I have been procrastinating about the pre cruise prep but I really need to tackle a lot of this stuff this weekend.  I think in part it is because Lindsay is still working out of province and is only arriving home the night before we leave so he is definitely cutting it close.  Reyd just completed his 2nd period in Heavy Equipment Tech at SAIT (trade school in YYC) yesterday so I have been distracted by life stuff.  
 

Who’s Going?
Lindsay, Reyd and I plus you will meet Tanner a friend of Reyd’s. He is a great kid and we are happy to have him. Better this than a girlfriend!! I know that time will come soon enough.  This is the first time we are travelling as anything other than a group of 3 so there have definitely been some adjustments especially when it comes to pre and post cruise hotels.  More on that later.  
 

Flights
We are flying YYC to MCO both segments this year mainly due to outrageous flight prices from Calgary. From release date they were nuts and have only gotten worse. Originally I had booked a connection through Atlanta to save money but I was never happy with that option so I kept looking and expanded my search to MCO.  By using a companion voucher I was able to get premium on WestJet for a bit more but feel so much better knowing it’s a direct flight. Plus it’s a priority route for WestJet so that gives us some peace of mind. 

Pre Cruise Stay
We are staying at the airport hotel on Dec 17th and plan to stay in Bradenton when we land on Dec 18th and make our way to Miami the following day for a 3 night stay at a new property I am excited to share with the group.  As much as I love the Intercontinental club level it was not a great fit with our extra person.  A 2 queen room configuration doesn’t work so our choices were the loft or 1 bedroom suite.  We could have made one of those options work for a night but not 3. We all need space and bathroom privacy and only having a single or at most 1.5 baths was not going to work.  

Itinerary
The typical 4/3 

Dec 22 Miami

Dec 23 PDCC

Dec 24 Nassau 

Dec 25 Sea Day 

Dec 26 Miami

Dec 27 PDCC

Dec 28 Nassau

Dec 29 Miami 

Cabin 
We are in a 2 BR ATS so the guys are very happy.  This room configuration works the best for our family.   

 

 

 

 

 

[Jax]

Post Cruise Stay

We have the Beach House in Fort Lauderdale booked again. It was renamed to the Beach House since we stayed there last December. Tanner is flying home on the 30th so we can make it work for 1 night. We stay there from Dec 29-Jan 2. As much as I wanted to try something new, we really like this property and NYE was particularly special last year with fireworks almost directly in front of our hotel.  On Jan 2nd we will head to Lakeland for a night before heading to the Hyatt airport hotel the following day. We have an early flight out on Sunday the 4th. Originally it was at 9am but was rescheduled to 7:30am. 
 

Pre Cruise Thoughts

• I am very excited about all the new food and drink options on Wonder. Send your drink recommendations. 
• Fingers crossed the Beach Club opens as planned as we have a Chill Beach pool cabana booked 
• I still have not booked a photo package. Photo package pricing seems so high on these 4/3’s. But on the bright side we get to use our free diamond photo perk for the first time! So that will be 6 in total. Do we need more??? 
• I will post and share videos on stories. I started a new account @vacayvibeswithjax that I hope to post to. 
• As always your questions and feedback is welcome. I feel like I am still a relative newbie because I don’t cruise enough to remember the ins and outs from year to year. So all suggestions and tips are welcome! 

[Lovetocruise2002]

52 minutes ago, Jax said:

As I mentioned this sailing was booked on the eve of its release so it has been a much anticipated countdown.

Same....I think the convo went like this:

Me: Jax, there are some really good rates on WN shorties. I just booked March 2026 and it was steal for an A2.

Jax: Ok, let me look

the rest was history lol

[Jax]

57 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Looking forward to the Wonder version of my Utopia B2B's!

Thanks. I’m looking forward to all your tips and recommendations.  

[Lovetocruise2002]

28 minutes ago, Jax said:

I am very excited about all the new food and drink options on Wonder. Send your drink recommendations. 

Mississippi Moonlight!!!

[Jax]

1 minute ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Same....I think the convo went like this:

Me: Jax, there are some really good rates on WN shorties. I just booked March 2026 and it was steal for an A2.

Jax: Ok, let me look

the rest was history lol

Let’s be honest. You are technically an unpaid TA when it comes to me. It’s quite embarrassing given how capable I am with the rest of my life. Lol 

[OCSC Mike]

6 minutes ago, Jax said:

Send your drink recommendations.

Mason Jar - Anything that looks good. It's known for the whiskey/bourbon based drinks but I'm not a whiskey guy so my favs are the Mississippi Moonlight (blackberry moonshine lemonade that's weak but tastes good and goes well with brunch IMO) and the Peach Tea (I sub the bourbon for vodka). @Lovetocruise2002 has already vouched Moonlight but she didn't like my Peach Tea with vodka (I think she got one with too much vodka b/c I rarely find mine strong at all).

If you have a meal(s) there, which I highly recommend, I also like to get a boozy root beer float to go (kahlua and vanilla vodka) and they also have regular milkshakes.

Playmakers - Goalpost Margarita (jalapeno pineapple). You can also get it at Cantina Fresca next to El Loco Fresh, its just called a pineapple jalapeno margarita there.

I'm thinking those are the two main venues that will be new to you guys. Oh, maybe a lime & coconut from the lime & coconut or Solarium Bar. It's a weird drink with coconut milk, lime juice, and Malibu but I enjoy them while lounging. It's another weak but refreshing one like the Moonlight.

I'm not a big drinker at home and my wife hardly drinks at all so I get 7-8 of our 10 vouchers per day. So between tolerance and not looking to actually get drunk, I'm fine with the weaker fun drinks during the day. I may have something more basic like a vodka tonic with dinner but I can make that at home. I'm never making the other stuff (although I could easily buy the blackberry moonshine and just add it to lemonade).

If you want food recommendations for the above venues, let me know, or just find my last couple blogs. Short version... I like most of the Mason Jar brunch menu and the ribs for dinner. Huge fan of the burgers and garlic parm fries at Playmakers and the onion rings are very good and the tower is huge and good for sharing. I know you guys can appreciate simple food (Raising Cains addicts) as much as the specialty restaurants so I'm sure you'll like the bar food there.

[Jax]

Pre cruise communication with Shoreside 

As many of you might remember I gave the shoreside genie rollout a failing grade last year so my expectations were low this year.  I refuse to refer to them as shoreside genies because it is a disservice to the ship genies and sets a certain level of expectations and competency that many have not yet reached or earned.  Going forward I will refer to this group as Shoreside (SS).  In terms of timelines I received the star class questionnaire prior to final payment which is 75 days for the shorties. SS reached out a few days after final payment.  I was pleasantly surprised with the SS person; when there was anything time sensitive I heard back within 24 hours.  Otherwise it was generally within a week.  Dining and entertainment were booked accurately (without 152 emails) and I wasn’t given a laundry list of exclusions to star class that I would need to pay for.  Maybe they have learned that it’s best to leave those decisions/conversations to the ship genies. Who knows but from my perspective it improved my experience from last year when I was battling with SS over dining exclusions that were grand fathered. The true test will be when I hear from the ship genie in a couple days. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

21 minutes ago, Jax said:

You are technically an unpaid TA when it comes to me.

That's the sort of TA I like to be. I don't have the patience to be a real one lol

[Jax]

20 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Mason Jar - Anything that looks good. It's known for the whiskey/bourbon based drinks but I'm not a whiskey guy so my favs are the Mississippi Moonlight (blackberry moonshine lemonade that's weak but tastes good and goes well with brunch IMO) and the Peach Tea (I sub the bourbon for vodka). @Lovetocruise2002 has already vouched Moonlight but she didn't like my Peach Tea with vodka (I think she got one with too much vodka b/c I rarely find mine strong at all).

We will definitely try these. We are not big drinkers but Lindsay likes to try new drinks so MJ will be great. I generally order mocktails but not sure if the experience will be lost on that.  

21 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

If you have a meal(s) there, which I highly recommend, I also like to get a boozy root beer float to go (kahlua and vanilla vodka) and they also have regular milkshakes

Oh yes, we have 2 dinners and a brunch planned. Night 1 and 7 and brunch in turnaround day 5 (I think) 

21 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I like most of the Mason Jar brunch menu and the ribs for dinner. Huge fan of the burgers and garlic parm fries at Playmakers and the onion rings are very good and the tower is huge and good for sharing. I know you guys can appreciate simple food (Raising Cains addicts) as much as the specialty restaurants so I'm sure you'll like the bar food there.

MJ brisket and ribs portion of their menu remind us of Portside BBQ. It was so yummy we hope it’s similar on MJ. And we haven’t had a playmakers since Oasis either back in 2021. We plan to eat there for lunch Day 1. We loved their burgers, onion rings, wings. Everything was so yummy. 
And yes, you know us well; we love simple food.

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, Jax said:

Oh yes, we have 2 dinners and a brunch planned.

Great! By all means, try everything, I got both the brisket and ribs for our first dinner (we stuck to brunch for a long time) but I much preferred the ribs.

12 minutes ago, Jax said:

And we haven’t had a playmakers since Oasis either back in 2021.

Oops, I missed that one in your signature and was thinking Playmakers was new. Don't forget the cookie for dessert. 

All these blogs are helping get me through dry dock but I especially look forward to the Wonders and Utopias since they are most similar to our upcoming Utopia B2B's.

Looking forward to another OTW cabana report from you on this one too since we have them booked for March and have only had one once. I know what to expect but it will still help get me ready. I skimmed your last blog and came across some posts where someone was drinking Kraken Coladas in the cabana... so don't forget those.

[OCSC Mike]

13 minutes ago, Jax said:

I generally order mocktails

Check bar menus in the app at some point. Royal has added a bunch of new mocktails to the standard bar menus. Some mimic popular drinks like espresso martinis and are made with non-alcoholic spirits of some sort (I'm not very familiar with them). I know I've seen some of the fruity ones and thought "that would be good with a little vodka added."

[Jax]

Royal up

I received Royal up emails for both cruise segments. The only options were the UFS and RLS and only the UFS was still available on our first segment. So after getting advice from @Lovetocruise2002 I submitted a bid.  No sooner did I submit my bid and it too dropped off inventory with the only remaining suites being junior suites max 2 passengers   The status hasn’t changed so I know I will not be winning that bid.  

I have always been curious about the Royal up program for cabanas at PDCC because I have never received an email. I think it was @OCSC Mike that suggested the reason I hadn’t received an email was because I didn’t have a product purchased in my cruise planner that would trigger the Royal up email.  It made perfect sense so I purchased a day pass at hideaway.  Nope I didn’t receive anything so it remains a mystery to me. Maybe I didn’t purchase it far enough in advance; 5 weeks. Who knows. 

[Jax]

6 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Check bar menus in the app at some point. Royal has added a bunch of new mocktails to the standard bar menus. Some mimic popular drinks like espresso martinis and are made with non-alcoholic spirits of some sort (I'm not very familiar with them). I know I've seen some of the fruity ones and thought "that would be good with a little vodka added."

Gotcha, great tip! 

 

12 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Looking forward to another OTW cabana report from you on this one too since we have them booked for March and have only had one once. I know what to expect but it will still help get me ready. I skimmed your last blog and came across some posts where someone was drinking Kraken Coladas in the cabana... so don't forget those.

Yes that’s happening on Day 2, our first stop at PDCC. I don’t want to jinx anything but the long term weather forecast is looking great.

[Jax]

Excursions 

Day 2 PDCC - we have an overwater cabana booked.  I booked this back in early April when here was a 50% off cruise planner sale. The price was very good and has never gotten that low since.  
Day 3 Nassau - very excited to be one of the first to visit the Royal Beach Club currently set to open Dec 23rd and we are there on the 24th. Originally the beach club was not set to open till our 2nd leg so I booked the chill beach poolside cabana.  Then in September dates opened up for our 1st segment for approx $500 less so I booked it and cancelled our original. Then the price dropped a bit more on Black Friday so overall I am happy with the price I paid.  It’ll be interesting to see what our genie knows when it comes to requesting specific cabanas. SS said little was known but they had heard cabanas would be assigned on a first come first serve basis.  I hope that isn’t true because there is a special feeling when you arrive to a dedicated cabana with your name on it.  I’ll report back as I’m sure I’ll have lots to share about the experience.  
Day 4 Sea Day & Christmas Day - booked a private flowrider session for Lindsay and Tanner. They don’t know yet so it’ll be a surprise. Reyd has no interest in this so we will see if Tanner can coax him into trying it.  My bet is no. 
Day 6 PDCC - Jet ski excursion booked for the 3 guys. 
Day 7 Nassau - No plans as the 3 guys want to walk around for a bit 

[Jax]

Star Class flowrider sessions 

I was so surprised to learn that both the star class sessions were scheduled for PDCC at 8am. In previous years they have always been on a sea day and in Nassau if no sea day (3 nighters). I booked the sea doo experience back in the spring when prices were low at 8:30 am so to change time slots I would have had to cancel and rebook at the prevailing rates.  I decided I would leave it as is and see what the ship genie can do with onboard excursion manager.  I’m still not sure what whether Lindsay and Tanner will want to go to the flowrider session or whether we will just head to our cabana.  Stay tuned. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

41 minutes ago, Jax said:

  I decided I would leave it as is and see what the ship genie can do with onboard excursion manager.

[Jax]

What are we celebrating

As I mentioned Lindsay has been working out of province since the summer with only one brief 36 hour trip home over our Thanksgiving in October.  Typically Reyd and I make some trips to visit him but this time he is in northern BC where flights are limited + Reyds school schedule made going impossible.  So we are going to soak up all being together again before he heads back.  

We will be celebrating a milestone birthday for Lindsay along with Reyd's successful completion of his 2nd period in Heavy Equipment Tech. Plus Tanner has a birthday in early January so no shortage of reasons to celebrate. 
My mom’s health has been a rollercoaster this year and after losing my dad suddenly the year before I know how quickly things can change so I am always up for celebrating the small things.  

[Jax]

Genie News 

I received the handoff email from SS on Thursday and I expect to hear from Hossain early next week. I requested Hossain earlier in the process and it sounds like my wish was granted. We briefly had Hossain back in 2023 on HM before Berty’s return so we interacted on a couple pre cruise emails. I may have embellished the extent of our relationship, but I am ok with that. Lol I have heard really good things about him so I am sure we are in good hands.  The other genies onboard are Bing and Andres (Andy). 

[Jax]

Royal Beach Club 

And I just cancelled my back up cabana on segment 2.

 

[asquared17]

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That's the sort of TA I like to be. I don't have the patience to be a real one lol

saaaaame!!!

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, Jax said:

Royal Beach Club 

And I just cancelled my back up cabana on segment 2.

 

While we weren’t invited to the actual event (drats !) we did see and hear it going on from our balcony on Symphony.  I’d’ve tried harder to sneak over there if I’d known Herschel Walker was there !  

[Jax]

I feel like I am finally winning the packing situation. This was my bed a couple days ago. I made lots of progress today. I have 3 checked bags basically ready to go and a 4th to finish off tomorrow or Monday. Any of you with fur babies will totally understand my cat sleeping away his day in the midst of all the clothes.  Can you spot him . He is a senior cat; almost 18 and has trouble jumping up on beds so I have been training him to use new bed stairs the last couple days. He is motivated by food so it didn’t take long.  This makes me feel so much better about leaving him knowing he can sleep in one of his favorite spots.  Not to worry, he gets lots of love while we are away. 

Some random packing/luggage tips. I pack for all 3 of us so this may not work for everyone  

• packing cubes are a game changer but beware it’s very easy to go overweight 
• I number my suit cases and then make a note of what’s in each one. That way it’s easy to track down an item. 
• I put all our cruise wear in one suitcase that doesn’t need to be opened till we are onboard 
• I invested in Monos luggage and love it! Lifetime warranty, light and easy to push. They are an investment but worth it.
• I picked different colors and avoided black making them easy to spot 
• the packing cubes and amenity kit from Royal last year is one of the most useful gifts I have received. So far I like them.

I think we will have 4 checked bags down from 5! Woot woot. It could be a short lived win because I worry I may panic pack. Lol 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I have also found [limited] use for the Royal packing cubes.  Meds and toiletries !  I don’t use the big ones though.

[Jax]

4 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have also found [limited] use for the Royal packing cubes.  Meds and toiletries !  I don’t use th3 big ones though.

Another feature I like about them is there are waterproof, great for your toiletries and meds as you mentioned.  I don’t think the quality of the zippers is nearly as good as my cubes but I have plenty of those for my clothes.  Royals are good for toiletries, supplements, pharmacy etc and will keep any spills/leaks contained.  I can’t wait to see what we get this year.  

[Jax]

Random weather up; because of our proximity to the foothills mountains we get what are called chinooks, a westerly flow of warm winds. Well I woke to +5C from -15 last night and it’s suppose to get to +9 later today!! Tomorrow is suppose to be +9 also and Tuesday +4 which will make our last few days here so nice.  Lindsay will think he is already in Florida when he gets home Tuesday because he has been getting 10+ cm of snow daily with temperatures in the -35C for weeks now.  Snow Wednesday, but let’s hope it holds off till after we are at the airport.  We live south of YYC and are about an hour drive to the airport.  

[lovetheplaya]

Yay! So excited for your blog. Sounds like you have a great trip upcoming.  Your luggage looks so nice. 

as far as drinks on Wonder.. I drank hundreds of mimosas so I’m not much help  

[Lovetocruise2002]

13 hours ago, Jax said:

I think we will have 4 checked bags down from 5!

I still cannot wrap my head around this lol

[Jax]

10 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I still cannot wrap my head around this lol

I know, me too! I keep second guessing what I may have forgotten and am going to try hard to resist the urge to panic pack. Lol  

[Jax]

3 hours ago, lovetheplaya said:

Yay! So excited for your blog. Sounds like you have a great trip upcoming.  Your luggage looks so nice. 

as far as drinks on Wonder.. I drank hundreds of mimosas so I’m not much help  

Well I don’t think I have had a mimosa so I am definitely going to give that a try. 

[Jax]

Countdown has begun

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

32 minutes ago, Jax said:

I keep second guessing what I may have forgotten and am going to try hard to resist the urge to panic pack.

Uh, I think you have packed enough for a month already lol

[Jax]

POLL
When should the guys wear these beauties? 
A Embarkation Day

B On Flowrider

C Night 1 70s 80s 90s Dinner with Professional Photo 

D Any of the above. Can’t wear them too much. 

[Ampurp85]

I vote D, just the laughs from the crew alone will make any day. 

[Jax]

Before I head off to a full day of appointments I heard from Hossain this morning.   Nothing new but the welcome seems more rule oriented than in past years with more exclusions and costs highlighted. I guess this explains why SS never mentioned this. Thankfully this is not our first rodeo so I ignore most of the stuff that annoys me. Lol  I have made a note to remind him that this reservation is grand fathered as it relates to the upcharge at Hibachi.  I never know what SS shared with the ship genie and in this case it doesn’t seem like much because Hossain asked about many of the items outlined in my word document. It’s also possible his email was standardized. Who knows, regardless I sent him the word document.  

[Jax]

Essential travel item. IYKYK

[Jax]

🩷 the pink mani/pedi 

Had to get mani/pedi today before spray tan tomorrow.  

[InmyElement]

On 12/14/2025 at 2:37 PM, Jax said:

and am going to try hard to resist the urge to panic pack. Lol

I love that..can I use that?? lol I can't commit to closing the lid, until seconds before we leave....it drives her crazy