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Agree with you. This was our 67th cruise with Royal including one on Grandeur that was over Christmas and New Years and I don’t think we’ve ever been on a cruise that was this crowded. And it was expensive but, as I said earlier, this was the only week we could accommodate our family in Australia. Sherri🙂

Sorry if I confused some of you, to me, chaos means a disorganized, crazy mess. This describes the cruise perfectly, especially the WJ. And it was not just the 1200 plus kids causing problems, in fact, I think the adults might have exhibited the worse behavior. Merion Mom is right that the ships do not have enough staff to deal with the increased number of passengers. Sherri🙂

Our group of 11 family members disembarked from Independence of the Seas on Friday, 7/7. The group consisted of 6 adults, 4 teens and a nine year old. All were experienced Royal cruisers with the exception of our daughter in law and her two teenagers, this was the first cruise for the 3 of them. This was the 4th cruise on Independence for my husband and I since January, 2022. We chose this cruise as it was the only one that worked with the time period our Australian relatives wold be with us in Florida. The following are our observations of this cruise: Embarkation was fairly easy. We had an 11am checkin and had to wait about 10 min at security, we were told by one of the agents they had to get people moving onto the ship as there were too many waiting upstairs. Once they opened security up again, everything went fairly fast. One small blip at checkin, we had our almost 18 year old grandson checking in with us, his dad was checking in with his Australian stepson about 6 agents away. Our agent asked what our relationship was with Ben, my husband replied grandparents, and she asked if he had any parents with him. My husband said yes, that his dad was here in another line, and she told my husband to have our son raise his hand. He did, and she accepted that as proof😂. Keep in mind, our son had no questions asked when checking in with his 16 year old stepson who has a different last name and an Australian passport. The ship was completely packed, we were told capacity was 117% with over 1200 of the passengers children. With the exception of the DL, every place we went was packed and elevators were impossible, we all did the stairs. The WJ was always a zoo, crew seemed to be struggling keeping up with the messes being made. There seemed to be a lot of spills, we watched one woman slip and fall on spilled pickles, fortunately she did not seem to be hurt. I am sure there were probably other falls. Outdoor pools were standing room only as was Solarium pool. Just like the WJ, crew could not keep up with messes made, public restrooms on the pool deck were in bad shape. We used our cabin on Deck 8 for bathroom breaks. Food was hit or miss. We took our family to Chops the first night as we were celebrating our 50th anniversary. It was very good and service was amazing. The rest of our dinners were in the MDR, I think we were all somewhat disappointed in the food. Our first time cruisers were very disappointed, which I felt rather sad about as I wanted them to love cruising as much as we do. Entertainment was excellent! We all loved the ice show and the production of Grease was one of the best I have seen. Our teens loved being out in the evening, meeting new friends and hanging out in Sorentos. Karaoke was a favorite with them as well! The teens also enjoyed the escape room. Disembarkation was a breeze and we were back at our condo by 930! All in all, we had a great cruise because we were with family, especially since we do not get to see the Australians very often. I, however, plan to never cruise on over a holiday during any school break again😂😂 Sherri🙂

Just dropped the last grandson at the airport today. Condo is very quiet, I spent most of today catching up on laundry as there was lots of beach towels and bedsheets to wash😂. My husband said that after 3 weeks with grandkids and their parents, we need a vacation! Sherri🙂

Our grandson enjoyed the club for 6 year olds on Allure in spring of 2022. They did have projects and games each time he went but no parades and I don’t remember seeing a daily program. That was cruise # 6 for him so he is very used to spending time in the club. However, he went on a Disney in spring of this year and says he LOVED it. If you ask him which one is best, his answer is absolutely Disney which our son says is too bad as that was their first and last cruise on Disney!😂 Sherri🙂

Thanks, Melissa! I am glad your covid was mild! Should be fun shopping for a formal wedding! Sherri🙂

Thanks, Kat! We’ve been to Scott’s and Yellow Dog, food was good, better at Scott’s, but both are rather pricey. We paid more for the family cruise than we should have and that is to celebrate so really haven’t thought about anything else.😂. Hope your mouth starts feeling better soon, the temporaries are always difficult, in my experience. Sherri 🙂

Great planning! Sherti🙂

Thanks, Melody! You and Ls were just babies, too.😂 Sherri🙂

Thanks, Lois! We were married in 1973, the summer after my freshman year at IU. My husband was starting his senior year. We were just babies!😂 Sherri🙂

Thanks, Cynthia, it is definitely hard to believe it has been that long! Sherri🙂

Adding my condolences as well, Christy. You are a good daughter to do this for your mom. 💐. Have a safe trip! Melissa, great news on your checkup, bad news about covid! I hope you have a mild case and are not feeling too bad. Enjoy your time in San Francisco! Melody, when will you have these dental procedures? I hope everything goes smoothly for you. Kat, that is a holy **** moment for sure, I did not realize Rybelsius was that expensive! Hope your dental procedure goes smoothly, too! Lois, sounds like things are going well for you! And Cynthia, I hope you are enjoying your retirement! We are driving up to northern Georgia to pick up our grandson (wildman) on Monday. He will be with us for a week, then our son will drive down and spend a week. Our middle son will be bringing his family from Australia on the 24th for two weeks and his son will fly down from Minnesota. Youngest son will drive down with his family and we are all going on a cruise over July 4th! Everyone will leave on July 8th, which is also our 50th wedding anniversary😳. Sherri🙂

That is a really lovely deck, Melody! I love the stairs and railing. Sherri🙂

I really like the Passion Spritz. It is vodka, Aperol, passion fruit syrup, lemon juice and sparkling wine. Not too sweet, but a nice summer time drink. Sherri🙂

My husband talked me into booking two of the smaller legs as well, great itineraries and cheap prices but, I do have concerns. One is, we were on a five night Serenade in 2021 and both of us said many times that we could not imagine doing a longer cruise on that ship, and yet,here we are.😂 Sherri🙂

Melissa, that sounds like an amazing trip! I know you will enjoy every moment! Sherri🙂

You give them your cabin number. Sherri🙂

Good idea, Sharon! So here’s to Kat for starting this fun thread and to all of you for reaching 300 pages!🥂 And to Cynthia, May you enjoy your retirement and the travels it will take you on!🥂 Love all the pictures, Kat! Especially the bears, they did appear to be performing for you! I also am craving the biscuit sandwich, it looks yummy! Love your dress, Melody! Sherri🙂

We like to sail on Celebrity as well as Royal. Our last cruise on Royal was in early March on Jewel, we thought the new menus were ok, some dishes were pretty good, a few were meh but over all, ok. We had great service. HOWEVER, we just finished a cruise on Celebrity Apex and the food, for the most part, was amazing! I have always said the food is pretty similar between the two cruise lines so I quite surprised to have such a difference, especially with the complaining recently on the Celebrity boards😂. It made the food on Jewel look like Golden Corral. Sherri🙂

Kat, I hope you have a wonderful cruise! Cynthia, welcome home and happy retirement! I’ve enjoyed the pictures you have posted from your trip. Sherri🙂

Unless, like me, your luggage has been “detained”. 😂 On our Jewel cruise last month, my husband’s was outside our door when the cabins opened up. Mine was not. At 5pm, I decided to walk the halls, checked our deck as well as the decks above and below. At 6, I called guest relations who said luggage was still being delivered, which did not seem to be true on our deck. My luggage showed up about 8, there was a form inside that said it had been detained and searched by security. Also said nothing had been confiscated as it was clean. I did not mind that it had been searched, I had nothing illegal, but whoever searched it left everything in a mess. My husband thinks they thought my flat iron for my hair was a power strip. I think he is probably right as the cord had been completely unwound from the flat iron. Sherri🙂

Welcome home, Lois! That sounds like an amazing cruise you have booked! I have always wanted to cruise around the British Isles! Sherri🙂

Great pictures, Melody! I agree with Sharon, that blue is definitely your color! Sherri🙂

Thanks for asking Sharon, the fire is on the outskirts of Richmond which is a small city about an hour east of Indianapolis. Our families all live on the south side of Indy so no involvement. What a mess that fire has been, I guess the company has been cited several times for improper storage of chemicals, etc, so probably just a matter of time before something happened. Sherri🙂

Those are great pictures, Cynthia! The cherry blossoms are beautiful! Melissa, congrats on the new grandson! Grandchildren are the best! Lois, I hope your trip is going smoothly . Safe travels and a lovely cruise! Nice sunrise pictures, Melody! I hope your biopsies turn out well! Happy belated birthday, Christie! Hope you and hubby enjoy the cruise! Sherri🙂