niksmom630

The only request I make of the cabin steward on every sailing is for the ice bucket to be refilled twice per day. I know if you don't ask for it, it won't happen automatically. Found this out the hard way once 😉 Not sure how this will work under the new "once" per day service, but I intend to request it anyway. They don't have to clean my room, just bring some ice. If they won't, then I guess I'll proceed to the closet bar with my ice bucket and ask for a refill 🤣

brilliant, John. 😊 I gave up on that free Corona because I didn’t want to waste one of my twice a day ice buckets to chill it. I’ll even need to be more frugal and weigh ice worthy beverages now that we’re down to once a day ice replenishment 😉

Same here. Can't ever get the Corona cold enough in those "coolers"

I second this! 😊 Nachi has been our go to spot, but have considered trying something different in March.

Hmmm, no shrimp for sure…..will I get points for apps and sides? 🥳 Guac, queso, quesadillas , bacon wrapped jalapeño bites? maybe tortilla soup? forgot about harmony still having sabor….🤩now I have an excuse to squeeze in a sailing on her before dry dock

🤦🏼‍♀️ nope…. not only did I guess the venue wrong, but I had the wrong ship. maybe I’ll have better luck guessing in March on Oasis where I can stalk @A&L_Ont real time….

Who is onboard this week? A very good seat choice!

playmakers 🍺

After 34 cruises on Royal, and a single one on Disney and Celebrity. I’m feeling the need to branch out 😊 our next sailing will be on Oasis next March. Which reminds me. 😎 Need to hop over to the M&M forum and catch up! Looking forward to seeing (again) some CC friends and finally meeting some others . What a great community we have here 💕 I was fortunate enough to be able to retire last November, and with that brings bucket list trips! Last May was Rome and Greek Isles on the Celebrity Edge. This May will be a two week trip, a 9 night Spain and Portugal also on Celebrity. than wrapping up 2023 in December on Apex. I think I need to start working on 2024. 🤶 My amazing TA is probably already on it. Alaska?

FL departures. Weather being a major factor so time of year important. We typically want to get out of town November thru March. It was 80 degrees in Fort Lauderdale and sunny on the day we left, vs. 65, fog and gloom in Galveston. That created more packing issues. I needed cold weather, in between weather, and hot weather. 😳 Thankful this holiday season for for my business class ticket that afforded me an extra 20 pounds in suitcase weight. Best part of Galveston sailing was getting to see and spend time with our family 💕

thanks for sharing , Doug! And this is a great perspective! You are right that certain venues may be a bit more crowded depending on the cruise population. I happen to like both the solarium and casino! 😂 But, and I also noticed a larger presence of Asian guests on this sailing. I’ve had some cruise experiences in my lifetime. College spring break cruise? I’ve been there! Where 30 percent of the passengers are under 25 🤪 it was Crazy!

Biggest surprise? washy washy seems to be a thing of the past, at least on Allure. Other than the windjammer where you are actually directed through the hand washing stations, not a single crew member stopped me entering any venue, including the MDR, to sanitize my hands. Having cruised a few times post Covid, the staff was stationed like guards outside EVERY venue where food was served. Remember the pre Covid days? where Norovirus was your biggest worry, but you still were encouraged to sanitize your hands almost everywhere? Final highlights for me from Day 7 ….Photo worthy reflections…. 🥰 A photo worthy dessert … And, a final “until we meet again” shot and if you ever feel the urge to complain about “cruise” food again , catch a glimpse of what the airlines are serving theses days …. 🤢

I liked it. Debarkation for us was awesome. Embarkation, not so much but I think the issues were isolated. We’ve been doing walk off with luggage the last few years and the Galveston terminal is far superior and less schlepping effort and weaving thru lines than either FFL or Miami. there is an escalator down to the baggage area, and you need a free hand otherwise must take the elevator, which I did anyway . The biggest issue with Galveston for us is the distance to the airport-we had to go out of IAH….since we were visiting family, they graciously handled all of our transportation. On our one and only other cruise out of Galveston, we used Galveston limo, and they were great. But the airport transfers and pre-cruise hotel stay added up, probably negating and savings we realized on the actual cruise booking itself.

ouch, that sounds rough. Our shuttle driver encouraged everyone to note the issue on their survey. My BIL and SIL have cruised out of the older terminal a few times and had zero complaints. They are definitely still working the kinks out, and it seems to be a timing thing for some who have great experiences and some not so great….

it was nothing short of amazing. 🤩 Thanks to my TA who somehow managed to snag the cabin for a week at a rock bottom price to begin with! we are pretty typical ocean view balcony cruisers, with an occasional Jr. Suite or Grand on very special occasions, so it was quite a treat!

Oasis class is pretty amazing. Especially the first few times. Enjoy the suite sun deck and coastal kitchen. Two of my favorite spots on sea days 💕 we had a crown loft suite on Allure in 2019, I know I did a live review but I’ve not updated my signature in awhile. That was an extraordinary sailing thanks to Hurricane Dorian when our 7 night turned into 10 nights!

- the big t-shirt sail was day 7 on the Royal promenade. Advertised as 2/$30. Of course there was other “sale” stuff as well, but I suggest packing some patience, or at least be a few cocktails in before you tackle these crowds 🍹🍹🍹🍹 - there was also a salute to the military event on day 7 at 12:30 (I think that was the correct time) My brother in law went and said it was very moving. 🥹 The cruise director made the announcement and when I heard they were playing Taps and that one of the singers from Mamna Mia was going to singing the national anthem, I knew I’d be a blubbering mess. These types of recognition events always get me 😢 they wrapped up recognizing first responders also. also learned that they conduct these salute to the military events weekly now. 🤗

Just a few more photos and then I’ll wrap this up! Observations, thoughts and tips….. - saw a lot of Christmas “door” decor on this sailing. It was our first cruise taken between thanksgiving and Christmas, and while I feel like I’ve lost a valuable week of shopping and planning for the holiday, I really enjoyed the atmosphere. Cheers to the occupants of this cabin who made it easy for us to recognize which side if the ship we were on! Does anyone use Royal Caribbean online anymore? I guess we did in the early days of cruising to check in for flights and print boarding passes, but I can’t imagine why anyone would use it now, unless you didn’t want to purchase Wi-Fi…. In any event, I think I recall paying for it back in the day…. Maybe for a block of minutes? 🤔 geez, I’m dating myself 😂 well, if you are looking for it, it’s well hidden on deck 8 forward, down an interior hallway

Night 2 and night 6. We saw lots of people dressed up in holiday garb. Even a family who took a photo in Christmas pajamas. Great idea!

that’s hard to say…..before boarding times were assigned, we always showed up around 10:30 (Miami, FFL) and were able to board 11/11:30 ish. I know at Galveston (in addition to check in times) they did allow people to board based on Loyalty tiers and suites, pinnacle, the Key. I don’t know how you could be boarding at 10 if people are still getting off, but maybe they accelerate the departure times. I’d be happy with a 10 am check in time 😊

Debarkation was a breeze. Left the cabin at 7:45, short ramp walk off the ship and into the terminal (unlike FFL or Miami where you do quite a bit of winding around) shuttles were lined up outside and we were at the parking garage and on our way by 8:15. Carrying off luggage is very doable here. I think bags needed to be out by 9 pm… there were people lined up on deck 5 waiting to walk off at 6 am when I went to grab coffee….Not sure exactly when they started walking off…. speaking of coffee, if you are an early riser, there was no place to get coffee until 6 a.m. and that was at Cafe Promenade. They were not open 24 hours on day 7. They closed at 2 a.m. windjammer wasn’t open until 6:30 a.m. Hence it was pretty crowded on Deck 5 this morning between the early walkoffs lining up and people in search of coffee….

A thing of beauty 💕

ha, I thought of that, saving the best for last has its merits. 😉 By special access I mean you can’t enter the hallway to the cabins on deck 17 without having a cabin on deck 17. You can exit the elevator there which is by Coastal kitchen. Or at least it used to be that way. Perhaps some of our past CL suite occupants could confirm?

agree! I’ll be interested in seeing how this goes tomorrow. How can the ship be ready for 11a.m. Boarding times if the last group getting off is just walking off at 10:40? I haven’t been on an oasis class sailing that wasn’t pushing everyone off by 9. And then boarding times for the next sailing were not even starting until 12 , at least post Covid. I thought maybe we were arriving at the port later, but I think I heard the captain say 5am arrival? 🤷🏼‍♀️

it was served last night. And I also thought that was odd. I can’t ever recall a Cozumel port day on ANY sailing that was also a formal night in the MDR. Cozumel is also usually a long day in port, so always one of the slower ones in the MDR from my experience. Our all aboard time was 3:30 ship time, so lots of people were still dressed up for the formal night last night. Or perhaps all part of Royals grand plan to reduce lobster consumption???? 😊😉