TravelBluebird

Going with the apple desert because my waiter swears it is not too sweet. Can’t seem to get a non-sweet non-alcoholic drink so far.

Oops left off the Liquid Lobster! And I forgot to take a photo of the Branzino. It had a light, crispy breading, coconut basmati rice and tamarind sauce. Yum! All my food has been nice and hot when served!

@JessyCruises Thank you for the tip! I will do that!

I do love all the different tastes! I told the waiter what I liked and his selections were excellent. I had 6 appetizers! All small bites. Will have the Branzino for my main, I think the tuna tartare in the lime with the uzu on top was my favorite!

And right before dinner I get my first paper one! For day 3. I do like them for reference for writing and videos once I get home! At Wonderland!

I was thinking that too; they really need to put that link somewhere! It was a life-saver; I missed a bunch of stuff in the app because it’s not really eye-scan ready like the Compass is. AND the info on CocoCay was so much more accessible there.

Thanks @cruisin73! I’m going to head down there right now@ Really couldn’t stop last night with all the rain! And there are NO Broadway shows on Wonder! Which was a disappointment; that Carnival nor any other line I’ve been on recently has, and I was really looking forward to one!

Hmm…found a Latin Fiesta dance party at 10:15. May do that if I don’t check out the casino! Still haven’t managed to get a paper copy of the Cruise Compass BUT that link that @OCSC Mike gave me for the PDF version is fantastic on my iPad! So much more informative than the app.

@Cherries Jubilee Thank you, and I really hope it clears too! Last cruise was foggy for days (Transatlantic) and the one before that had the first 2 1/2 days very rainy. Captain says the seas will be calmer tomorrow, so that bodes well. Sea day tomorrow! Tonight I’m eating at Wonderland, and then added the Voices show at 9pm, Bars were very crowded last night and I still haven’t found that “nook” with music that I’d like to sit and listen to (I’m sure there’s one somewhere!), and I don’t see any deck parties, so it seemed like a good idea. I had an early lunch and it has taken all my willpower to NOT go get a snack somewhere so far! My towel animal today was an adorable mouse. And her’s a look at the lovely views from the Solarium this afternoon:

We have left CocoCay! Wind speeds were varying from 23-29 knots for awhile there; they are calmer now, but the captain said it will be a bumpy ride tonight! Checked out the Solarium; got a couple nice photos from the outdoor “wings. I do wish there was somewhere I could get photos from the ship that do not have high plexiglass (although with the wind today it was just as well. Solarium was quite nice…oddly, I thought it a little loud with sound bouncing off the ceiling. Nice temperature in there today; not hot and not cold! Good views out though from everywhere, so I’ll go there when I want to look at the ocean and be out of the wind. I really missed having a balcony this morning when I could not see us dock and when we were in port, and for sail-away this afternoon. Typing this on my little blue couch looking over central park. You can see this type of room—the row of windows under the Central Park Balcony rooms. 9 is a good floor—can easily walk 1 flight down to Central Park.

@OCSC Mike I know! 7 days and you blink and it’s over as it is!

@JessyCruises I understand about saving on travel costs; we won’t do anything less than 7 days, even coming from where we are (Tennessee). So far I am having a lovely time! I also understand about getting your points//casino comps on one line…that is how Carnival got me for so long! There is something nice about familiarity with a line (it feels like home) but adventuring to other lines is exciting.

@chill6x6 Oh nice—Panama Canal; I really have to try that again sometime. I’ll be on the Jubilee on March 1! And you SHOULD do a “Royal Cruiser Does CCL” live; I’d totally read that! 💕

@Donsyb I don’t have any big room tips as the rooms are all so similar. but— 1. If you want to take the hotel shuttle to your cruise, book it the second you get to the hotel as it can book up. $10 per person; mine was completely full. I believe Coco Beach Shuttles run them. You can also shuttle BACK to the hotel after the cruise; I may do that sometime if I have a late flight home. 2. Check the prices for your room even after booking—when I first looked at TownPlace Suites for my cruise, it was almost $300 a night, so I booked Courtyard by the airport; under $200. Later, the room rate for TownPlace was only $170 a night, so I booked them instead. For Spring Break last year it was nearly $400 a room (!)

@firefly333 There were 3 others doing lives from Venezia; I always chug along doing my thing and am always grateful for whoever wants to follow along. There is SO much to do. It is a little overwhelming; definitely a small floating city! I want to do some deck tours for my YouTube channel and I don’t know where to start! Thank you for those suggestions re Johnny Rockets and Solarium for breakfast. Do they have espresso coffees there?

I don't think any line does a sail-a-way party like Carnival. Royal's is more like a nice gathering! lol @fla33023 😂 A nice gathering with 10 of your crazy friends dancing in the corner! (I may resemble that remark).

@BecciBoo Missed this yesterday BUT I’m heading to the Solarium after my shower! Don’t want to go on deck and get blown away!

@chill6x6 Thank you! Which CCL cruises did you book? My favorite CCL ships right now are the Mardi Gras and Venezia, and I’m booked in Celebration later this year, and Jubilee early next year.

@JessyCruises Thank you! Two weeks—B2B? WiFi is sometimes blazing (like right now) or very hard to use (last night after the Welcome Party; on CocoCay). So still spotty BUT mostly working. When its working well I can stream videos no problem! No casino comp; I get great casino offers from Carnival, but this is my first Wonder one. I might have asked to see if they could match status, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in the casino a ton for my first Royal trip.

Chill Beach above; Non-Alcoholid Coco Loco below Funnel Cake! South Beach Beautiful Wonder Yellow Flag Day Empty chairs

Since I had to flee Chill Beach due to the wind, I ended up on South Beach and had exactly that—after the funnel cake for breakfast, I had the chicken sandwich for lunch! Both quite good. Then I walked it off getting photos of the ship and back in Chill Beach area. 9.000 steps so far. Not too shabby; I was over 15,000 yesterday. Had to come back, All that wind is exhausting. Rain turned into sprinkles, but only a couple fleeting signs of the sun. Going to try to post a short movie after this to show you the wind as I was on the pier back to the ship. Ship is moving even though we don’t leave till 3:30! Still had lots of fun without the sun since I do enjoy weather BUT I didn’t get that soul-filling sun with turquoise blue waters I was hoping for. The weather was not hot at all due to the cloud cover, but that made the water feel wonderful; pleasingly warm.

Stormy Day at CocoCay! Amazed caotain could get us to the port! Every time I try to type something the wind kicks up OR it starts to rain. Started at Chill Beach but WAY too windy. Took the tram to South Beach—much better! Had a dry cappuccino from Cafe Promenade—took 20 minutes to get—Starbucks had no line but I’m not paying for a Cappuccino on the Refreshment Package! More espresso coffee stops would be nice. Cappuccino was appropriately dry as requested and very good! Have tried a non-alcoholic CoCo Loco—island signature drink—and had the very yummy funnel cake for breakfast. Will grab a chicken sandwich for lunch! photos in next post

I’m on Wonder right now, and I’m picking up my mug AND trying the machines after CocoCay; I will let you know!

‘2nd Aqua Show also rained out due to weather. I have some fine video of the water sloshing both sides of the pool before they cancelled; make up show on 5h night of cruse. So was able to go to the party (it was a LONG party and actually didn’t get started until much later than the 10:45 listed in the app). There was one of those long lines of people you could dance through (of course I did it—can’t complain there is no party if you won’t help MAKE the party). There is tons of embarrassing video of that out there I am sure 😂 Then the usual line dances and Queen songs. Nice that the music was a live band (Sally’s Band, I think). Met some nice people and then the balloon drop was fun! Cruise Director Chris didn’t show up till near the end of the whole thing, right before the balloon drop, and I didn’t see a “fun squad” type of group out there, but fun was to be had—I never realized how LOUD a balloon drop is. Not when the balloons drop—when they POP! It’s nearly 12:30; I’m headed to bed. Three photos (for now)—; I want to get up early for CocoCay tomorrow! Night all!

Excellent meal! Not perfect, but excellent. My very minor complaints: Lamb was supposed to be medium rare and it was quite medium. Favorite dish of the night was the beet salad. Lamb was second and would have been first if cooked medium rare (gets a little gamey on the medium side). Cheese course was served before the sweet desert. I know they do it that way in England, but not France, where I learned to love cheese courses. So I left my coffee to get cold (decaf or I’d be up all night) and the sorbet on the torte to melt. One of the cheeses was WAY to strong. And I’m not talking about the blue or the camembert. It was a proper cheese course with a cheese cart and 6 cheeses and all the acompaniments, including pecans, honey, chutney, grapes, etc. Love to see this on a ship! I had a reasonable priced Malbec for my 1 glass of alcohol today on my server’s recommendation ($10 a glass) and it was perfect with the lamb and the cheese. Sabrina from Argentina was my waiter and I really felt well taken care of at dinner. It was pouring again as I left the restaurant. I had to walk the length of Central Park; good thing Royal provided umbrellas! But that is my second pair of shoes now wet from water on the decks…I’m going to run out of shoes if this keeps up. On to the INTENSE show; don’t think I’ll get gambling in tonight because I intend to get off the ship as soon as possible in the morning to stake my place at the beach in CocoCay!