LIVE from Regal NYE Cruise 27DEC-07JAN

[bethfelk]

Hello everyone! I figured I would start a live for the Regal NYE cruise since I have enjoyed reading other people's lives on here. I cannot promise to be as good of a narrator as @TxTeach79 or @Saint Greg who recently both did detailed lives from the Regal, but I hope it will be entertaining for me to update at least. I will be traveling with my parents and my sister who is 25. I am 22 which is younger than many cruise critics users I am aware, but this is I believe my 13th cruise and I very much enjoy them. I also just finished my penultimate semester of my masters in Economics and Data Science, so I am very ready for relaxation and fun lol. My plans for this cruise include lots of reading (I have 7 books packed), lots of blackjack, lots of rum, and lots of sitting in the hot tub among other various enjoyments. I wanted to post more about our plans today but it is has become hectic because there is still a lot to do and the car we were planning to take won't start as of this morning so that's a new problem to figure out. I hope to add more later today though if I get the chance. My sister is on here too @kruisin_kt so she will probably be contributing to the posting too sometimes. And if anyone else on our cruise wants to add their updates here please feel free. Cheers everyone!

[Crashe]

Looking forward to your updates!  I’m an old fart at 60, haven’t read a paper book in years but just downloaded The Adams -Jefferson Letters digital version for our cruise in January!  Exciting!  😂. I can’t read non-fiction, no idea why.   Congrats on the course, I used to tell myself “I only have to do it once…”, got me through several years.

[2and2]

I will be keeping up on your post from Regal.  Thanks. You are a veteran cruiser at age 22.

[kruisin_kt]

I’m Beth’s sister Katy and I’ll also be contributing live from the Regal! I live in LA, but I’m home in Oklahoma for Christmas with the family. I am doing my PhD in artificial intelligence, with a focus on ethics and fairness in large language models. I just passed my qualifying exam, so this PhD CANDIDATE(!!!) is also very ready for a vacation. 
 

The original plan was to leave from home near Oklahoma City on the morning of 12/26, drive my mom’s car to League City, TX, and stay at the Hampton Inn. We would then drive to Galveston the next morning, drop luggage at the port, park the car at Falstaff, and take their shuttle back to the terminal to embark. After the cruise, we were going to drive me to Houston Hobby (HOU) for a flight back to LA and then the rest of the family would drive home. We were already in for a few hectic days with Christmas and getting ready to go. 
 

Like Beth said, hectic has turned to chaotic. Mom’s car wouldn’t start after church today. Dad checked it out and suspects a fuel line problem, which isn’t fixable in 48 hours. Especially when those 48 hours are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Mom’s car was the only one big enough for 4 of us plus (too much) luggage, so that’s a bit of a problem. Luckily, I found the last one-way rental minivan in OKC still available for 12/26, so we will make it to Galveston. Still working on a plan for the northbound return trip. I’m feeling pretty proud of myself for finding the rental, haha. 

[TxTeach79]

Looking very forward to this! Thanks for taking us along!

[kruisin_kt]

For my book count if anyone is wondering: I brought 5 paper books with me, I’m getting (at least) 4 more paper books for Christmas, and I currently have 4 ebooks loaded on my Libby app. We’ll see how many fit in the suitcase, and how many I actually manage to read in 11 days. Vegas has set the over/under at 4.5, place your bets now lol

[bethfelk]

Well I have officially finished my packing! (Bike is not coming with😂). So close yet so far until we are boarding. 

[redtop101]

There are 9 of us in this cruise. 6 adults and 3 kids. Look forward to following along and contribute  wherever possible. Look forward to meeting you in the hot tub with a glass of rum 🍹 😜

[eclue]

My husband and I are on this trip. 

We recently disembarked the Regal on Dec 10th ---love this ship.

I will be bringing 6 paperbacks and checking the ship library as we travel along. The Regal has a really good exchange library so  I will leave my books as they are finished ...

We are only 2 hours from the port so will leave on Wednesday morning sometime...after the commuter traffic is over.

We will surely see you in the casino as that is where we spend a lot of time.

Safe travels to all and a very Merry Christmas!

 

[sunsetme]

let us know how embarkation goes and I am interested in the entertainment as well. will be sailing Jan 14.

[helenb]

We will be on this cruise as well! We are flying out at 0-dark-30 tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing you, Beth and Katy, at the Cruise Critic gathering on the 28th!

[Pittypatbr]

Looking forward to your comments and I am cruising on the Regal in February with my daughter and my friend and multiple books for all!  LOL

[no1superfan]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:27 PM, bethfelk said:

Bike is not coming with😂

Wouldn't it be nice if we could bring our bikes!

 

 

[bethfelk]

Good morning and happy cruise eve everyone. Unfortunately our Christmas did not go as planned, I ended up spending it in the ER bc I have celiac and accidentally got severely glutened by our Christmas Eve dinner. Good news is that I am doing much better today and we are still planning to go, but I will likely be taking it slow the first couple days.

[bethfelk]

Starting the morning with opening my Christmas presents I didn’t get to yesterday. Helpful notes from my mom about what I am/am not allowed to do on the drive today😂

[kruisin_kt]

Beth is doing much better! While she’s been opening presents, I’ve been helping get the house squared away. Dad and I are on our way to pick up our trusty steed for the southbound drive - a Chrysler Pacifica from Enterprise Rent-a-car. 

[kruisin_kt]

Cursed-mas continued today. Our steed wasn’t in fact trusty. Despite our confirmed reservation, Enterprise had sent their minivan for an oil change this morning, and told us we should have known that location doesn’t honor online reservations. We eventually found a minivan at the OKC airport Avis. Went to top off the tires and found a nail in one of them. That one turned out to be more of a Chrysler Pathetica. So we went back to the airport for a second rental car. We finally have a (seemingly) functional minivan, and we’ll start loading it soon. It’s gonna be a late one for us on the road, but luckily I am a) a natural night owl b) still on pacific time and c) just turned 25

so I am actually allowed to drive the rental. As I keep telling myself, things could be worse. 

[Cajuntraveler]

31 minutes ago, kruisin_kt said:

It’s gonna be a late one for us on the road, but luckily I am a) a natural night owl b) still on pacific time and c) just turned 25

so I am actually allowed to drive the rental. As I keep telling myself, things could be worse. 

Sending prayers for a safe trip.  Enjoy your cruise!

[voljeep]

33 minutes ago, kruisin_kt said:

It’s gonna be a late one for us on the road, but luckily I am a) a natural night owl b) still on pacific time and c) just turned 25

how long is the drive? hours? miles?

[kruisin_kt]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

how long is the drive? hours? miles?

450 miles. Google Maps estimate is 7 hours straight through to our hotel in League City, probably 9ish with stops. The advantage of leaving so late is we will have very little traffic passing through Dallas and Houston. 

[kruisin_kt]

6 minutes ago, Cajuntraveler said:

Sending prayers for a safe trip.  Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you for your prayers. God willing and the creek don’t rise, we’ll be on the ship and chilling out by this time tomorrow!

Edited December 26, 2023 by kruisin_kt

[kruisin_kt]

Finally on the road! hopefully this vacation takes a turn for the better! 

[2and2]

Just go have a great time.  I will be interested if you have any tips driving thru or around Houston from North to South on your way to Galveston.

[kruisin_kt]

Made it to hotel south of Houston. Miraculously, we will be seeing everyone on board tomorrow!

[HelloKittysMum]

We flew in from the UK yesterday. Four of us direct from Manchester on Singapore Airlines which was excellent.  Five of our family have to be back at work /school/ college straight after the cruise so they flew BA via Heathrow. Long day for all of us and 6 hour time difference had us waking at 3,4,5 etc.

 

Looking forward to some relaxation, some new destinations and a new cruise line (we've done Cunard, HAL, P&O and Royal Caribbean).  We chose this for the different itinerary.