sjb317

Good morning! Currently on Mariner of the Seas, my husband decided after weeks of visitors we needed a vacation! We have had a very nice, relaxing cruise. Lois, hope you have a wonderful and safe trip! I am sure you will enjoy it! Melody, I hope your recovery continues to go smoothly! It sounds like you are doing well. Melissa, glad to read you are enjoying your trip! And surviving the heat! Cynthia, lovely pictures! We have a cruise planned for next August that includes two ports in Greenland and I am really excited to visit there! Kat, I hope your appetite is improving. This is a common side effect from these meds and can become serious over time, I know you will stay on top of it. And that is great regarding the donation to Maui! We disembark tomorrow but will be home by 9am. Laundry and grocery shopping for me tomorrow. OOTD: swimsuit with coverup and pink croc flip flops😂 Sherri🙂

I do not consider myself a foodie /gourmand and I was not thrilled with the food. Indian dishes were usually good but I don’t want Indian every night. Most everything else was kind of bland. I never use the salt or pepper on the table but our last cruise in July made me consider it. On our first cruise in 1999 I would have rated menu and food a 10. Last cruise on Independence I would have given both a 6.5, maybe a 7. Sherri🙂

We have done 16 cruises since the restart, most out of Canaveral but also Boston, FLL, and Tampa. The only time I have seen checkin times being followed was in Tampa. Our cruise on Jewel out of Canaveral in March did not follow scheduled times at checkin but did follow them for boarding which was the first time I’ve encountered that. Just a few months earlier same ship and same terminal did boarding by C&A level. Had not seen that since pre pandemic.😂 Sherri🙂

It wasn’t about whether he would remember it, it was a family cruise with parents, uncles, a cousin and grandparents so it was about making memories for all of us. And we have great memories of all the fun things we did with our family on that cruise as do they! I would do it again in a heartbeat! Sherri🙂

We took our grandson on Freedom when he was 16 months old and he seemed to love being on the ship. The area for kids in diapers is a small section but he enjoyed it. His 5 year old cousin came over to play with him but was not allowed in this section with him, only diapered children in this section. Definitely take a few small pool toys for him! Sherri🙂

I would have agreed with you until we went on Celebrity Apex. With the exception of the Aqua shows on Oasis class which are always outstanding, Apex entertainment was truly amazing! Sherri🙂

Safe travels, Melody! I know you will enjoy your trip! Sherri🙂

I hope it is smooth sailing for you! Sherri🙂

Thanks, Melody and Lois! Woke up feeling much better today! So much better that I am getting ready to go out for a walk. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this bad after getting a vaccine, very happy there is not a third one! Sherri🙂

I hope a fall trip works out for you, Kat! As cruise up to NE/Canada would be lovely! Rough day today: Got my second shingles dose yesterday and was impressed that it did not hurt as much as the first one. All was good until I woke up at 230 with a fever and generalized achyness . I had to take some ibuprofen to be able to sleep. No energy today, just a general blah feeling and still low grade fever. So glad that was my last one! OOTD: soft, stretchy Jammie bottoms with an old tshirt from a race I used to do. Hair in a ponytail and no makeup! 😂 Sherri🙂

Sequence is one of my favorite games! Eli likes it too, but seems to get bored after a couple of games and a bored Eli is never good!😂 You should see our family from Australia playing Sequence, or really, any game for that matter. They are ruthless! Sherri🙂

We have always talked about giving NCL a try, I will be interested in reading your opinion of them. We will be on RC’s Mariner and leave on 8/18. Sherri🙂

Thanks, Melissa! And you have a great trip! Sherri🙂

We are cruising to Bermuda in August but gong out of Port Canaveral which is a very easy port for us, only about 25 min away! When will you be there? Sherri🙂

Copenhagen is one of my favorite cities! Very walkable as long as you watch out for the bicycles! Sherri🙂

Welcome, neeuqdrazil! Interesting screen name for sure! I have always found this thread to be populated by interesting, non snarky people and enjoy reading everyone’s posts. It is crazy hot down here and we are having our late afternoon thunderstorms that occur each day. Some beautiful lightening out over the Atlantic! Too hot and stormy to get out for my daily walks and not being active always makes me a little grumpy! Tomorrow is my second shingles vax, not looking forward to it. Lois, may just be a different radiologist with a different opinion on frequency who read your mammogram. You have a cruise coming up soon, right? Our oldest son is driving back down with the Wildman for a week next week! Looking forward to beach soccer, pool volleyball and many, many games of Uno! OOOTD: Denim capris and a gap tshirt! And makeup for a Target run!😂 Hope everyone keeps cool! Sherri🙂

Strange! 😂 It was the first time in years that I walked onto a ship and said “WOW”. It was like stepping into a fantasy world, colorful and bright. I have always found Celebrity ships to have a sense of elegance and Apex was quirky elegance for me. We liked it so much that we went again this year and I felt the same way the second time. We liked the 4 dining room concept as well and we like E class, too. Sherri🙂

Apex is amazing! It is one of our favorite ships! Sherri🙂

Agree with you all about the wine. While we do not get a drink package, our last few cruises have had few wines available. The selection of wines available is pretty disappointing. Sherri🙂

We were also graced several times by her presence in the early 2000’s, the last time being in 2009. Our first cruise was in 1999 and I remember dining in the MDR each night as an event. You entered at your assigned time and the dining room was beautiful with each table formally set with flowers in the center. And the food was amazing! Now, you might find a complete set of tableware, you might not. Maybe you have a water glass, but no wine glass. The ambience is gone along with the amazing food! If they would bring this back, I would dress up again.😂 Sherri🙂

I considered it a blip as we have traveled many times with our grandson and no parent, and have never been questioned regarding our relationship. We took him on his first Royal cruise at the age of 2, this was his 6th cruise with us. The first few cruises I took documentation giving us permission but was never asked to present it, didn’t even think about needing it this time. Getting a form notarized is not cheap! According to Royals rules, documentation is needed for a minor which is considered under the age of 18. Has nothing to do with what country the passport is from. Our son did not have any proof of permission to travel with his stepson as the birth father could not be located. Sherri🙂

I’m sorry you did too. Sherri🙂

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🙂