Royal Caribbean 3rd Time Day 3

Bcos I forgot that it was the weekend, my weekday usual alarm didn't work and I didn't set the alarm, to wake up only at 7am. Daddy Lim got to share the bed with Zaky this time. I must have made a lot of noise bcos Daddy Lim woke up while I was getting ready for my morning exercise. Thus, there were 2 pairs of feet to greet Saturday.

It was a walk a jog morning. We walked 1 round and Daddy Lim needed the toilet. I jogged the 2nd round while waiting for him. Then we continued the 3rd & 4th round and he decided to go back to the cabin, leaving me to complete my morning job. Not bad, not bad. My week's run quota completed. 

Bfast was again at Windjammer followed by more morning activities before we returned to the room to this.

Happy Birthday Daddy Lim!

Royal Caribbean gifted Daddy Lim a towel bday cake and card! I was hoping for maybe like a 50% off the next cruise or something but bo leh. Haha. Must at least take a picture for memory sake. 

We got turned away at the next activity bcos it was at full capacity. While the boys were super unwilling, I lured them to join me for a kpop dance. Hohoho. We were early and went picture taking. 

Me too.

With Daddy Lim.

That dance class was my only chance and unfortunately they hated the dancing classes. Haha. I had to go for the rest of any of the dancing classes on my own. 

What we did do that is interesting is the pickleball. It is like a mini tennis game with this hard plastic ball at the Seaplex. 

Zaky needed the exercise. Hoho. 

We also took place in the Scavenger Hunt. I had wanted to do it the last cruise but didn't get a chance. We had to run around the ship, taking pictures to win points. This was like exercise again, round 2. Good, the boy needed to run around more. 

Despite 3rd time on cruise, I realised that I didn't know where are some of the places that were in the game. I needed to come back to the cruise the 4th time. Haha. My phone now have so many pictures of the ship. 

There were groups who almost got full score. That is like impossible lor; we were almost running the whole 20 mins and got 3/4 done at most. I think they probably done this game previously and had pictures already in their phone or split up the group to divide and conquer. Daddy Lim says that I should keep the pictures for the next cruise's Scavenger Hunt. Haha. 

The last highlight of the day had to be the night boogie boarding session that the Customer Service staff had helped to book on Day 2 morning. We didn't get any boogie boarding sessions for Day 4 bcos yours truly was in morning dancing class at 9am, which was the time the 4th day slots were opened for reservations. I had asked Daddy Lim to bring Zaky to the Customer Service counter to book but they were lazy, so too bad lah. 

No sun, very good. 

We had 3 back to back slots for Zaky, from 8pm to 9.30pm. The staff were strict and each pax was only allowed 1 round (2 to 3 tries) per slot. Most of the participants seem to be 1st timer and the staff were more focused on letting them "experience" and few did more than the basic superman pose.

Of course Zaky had a great time. 

Actually, the night time sessions were quite empty. I even managed to book a slot for myself while Zaky was boogie boarding but I didn't think the staff would allow him to "take my slot". They looked and felt more unfriendly than the day time staff. 

On the way back to the cabin, he even got a dip in the Jacuzzi. 

Good night!

Mummy Lim

 

Royal Caribbean 3rd Time Day 2

Despite the late night, my alarm sounded at 6am for the morning exercise. I got to share the big squishy bed with Zaky. Daddy Lim was up too bcos of backache from the sofa bed and decided to join me on the deck. Q

Hello Friday!

While I like to take pictures with the "days", Zaky attempts to take with all the animal pictures in the lift. 

We joined in the fun. 

I did my usual kickboxing Hiit. Daddy Lim was doing some... I don't know what actually... he walked and jogged a couple of rounds and then claimed that he was stretching. There were a few pushup and situp too.

 

The morning workout was followed by a hearty bfast before the morning activities. We went for napkin folding. The boys were happily playing 2 player silly games before class. 

These were what we learnt. 

After the napkin artistry, it was the Christmas origami. People are very tired.

They did wake up for the class. 

The end product is a Christmas Star and it is so complicated. 

By late day 1, I realised that I have forgotten 2 things - the adaptor and also toothpaste! We managed to loan the adaptor from the customer service and had to buy this $10 toothpaste!

Trust me, it feels really weird to brush teeth without toothpaste. While this toothpaste didn't taste as good as colgate, it is so much better than nothing at all. 

At the same time that we went to the Customer Service to loan the adaptor, I was struggling to book the boogie boarding for Day 3. The CS officer helped us instead and we managed to book 3 night sessions for Zaky on Day 3. Yay!

What we didn't miss/ forget is the Harry Potter Trival quiz. Though our 2nd try and having read the books 2x (oh yes!), we still didn't get all the answers right. We need to read the books a 3rd time and also come for another cruise. Hohoho. 

Daddy Lim took his much needed nap while Zaky and I headed for boogie boarding. I managed to book for myself 2 sessions too. I was hesitant to try bcos the last round, I whacked myself after washed out and it wasn't a pleasant experience. 

Tried I did. The 1st time, I was washed out and it wasn't too bad. The 2nd time, I was rolling around in the water after washed out and was stretching out my hands blindly in hope of stopping myself from banging against the foam board. Fortunately, I stopped short before the board but it still wasn't fun flipping around in the water. The 3rd and 4th tries were much better and I even managed to kneel hands free on the 4th try. Hohoho. I kept hearing the staff telling me to relax. How to relax lah? I happily moved to the side and ended my round when I got bored. Hoho. Zaky had a great time too. Some of the attempts turned our really well and one of them, the staff was boogie boarding beside him. 

Of course the sessions left us super tired. That called for a long nap before we finally left the cabin for dinner. 

As usual, we didn't remember pictures until desserts time. Lol.

We returned to the room to find a friend. 

We left the cabon a while later for a final game show and the John Taylor magic show at 10.15pm. Water from India.

Yes, it was a late show and thus the reason why we needed that afternoon nap. Though catching it a 2nd time, we were still very much fascinated by the show. 

With that, we called it a day. Despite the 2 hours nap that Zaky and I took, we still fell asleep like little piggies. Oink. 

Mummy Lim

Royal Caribbean 3rd Time Day 1

I know right. Royal Caribbean should give us a loyal customer award or something. Hoho. Yes, it is the same ship. Yes, it is more or less the same activities. But I am such a sucker for holidays and we wouldn't want to risk travel bcos Zaky is not vaccinated. So tadah! Here we are again. What is different is that I have exchanged Lil Shauna for Daddy Lim. I am very looking forward to our 1st complete family holiday after such a long time but the teenager is just not interested in another (same) cruise. Zaky is fine. He is in fact very thrilled to be the "only kid" on a family holiday. It is what it is and thus, we are on another cruise holiday, with or without Lil Shauna. 

I was trying to clear my leave and took an entire day's leave. We started the holiday right with a trip to the skatepark, completed with MacD bfast. 

By the time we were home, it was last minute packing and we were soon on our way to Raffles City for the ART test. Off we go without the teenager. 

Our boarding was at 2.30pm. The earliest should be at 1pm. Only 2.30pm onwards timings were available by the time we made our booking. Royal Caribbean has recently switched to just ART testing on actual day of sailing. In March, it was PCR the weekend before sailing at Raffles City. In September, it was PCR the previous weekend at Raffles City and ART on day of sailing at the ferry terminal. This time, the ART was at Raffles City and to travel to the ferry terminal upon negative results. 

Auntie T went on the same cruise in early December and it was the 1st one with the new arrangement to do ART on actual day in Raffles City before sailing. She said that it was a big mess, a huge crowd, little information and control. I bet Royal would have learnt their lesson and improved their control by the time we sail but took no chance and turn up about 2 hours before boarding time. They did learn and didn't allow us entry until 1.15pm. We went for a little snack, turning back at about 1pm and were soon granted entry, probably the crowd was thin. 

The testing was efficient. We were out by 1.20pm and had to linger around for results, that were supposed to be released in the next 45 mins max. We got ours in 20 mins and soon on the way to the ferry terminal. 

We arrived at 2pm and despite scheduled boarding at 2.30pm, we were allowed to proceed with the check-in. Yay! Daddy Lim's 1st holiday in a long while. 

I is cruise expert. The moment we boarded, I warned the boys not to disturb me bcos I needed to book the bumper car and the show. I got that alright. Yay! Then to the Seaplex to book the fringe activities. There are foosball, pickleball, xbox and table tennis. Each family is allowed 2 activities, booking of 20 mins each. The last round, there wasn't such restrictions. We booked a session on day 1 and the other on day 4. 

Our pretty room!

It looked exactly like the previous 2 cruises. Daddy Lim is very excited. Hoho. 

Hello Thursday!

Though still full from the earlier snacks, it didn't stop us from having snack at Windjammer. Hoho. Rolling home. There are new restrictions to Zaky's favourite boogie boarding. Other than the 1st day on a 1st come 1st serve basis, the other day sessions require reservation from app. Auntie T had passed us precious tips, which required close monitoring of the app at specific times. 

I had mistakenly thought that the boogie boarding start at 3.30pm only to see long q at the station and realised that it started at 3pm. Oopsy. We got Zaky to Q and Daddy Lim had the honor to accompany him for the 1st session. 

What was I doing? Taking pictures. 

And also running around like ah sum, walking to the room to pick up Zaky's shoes, take the pool towel, take drinks, etc. That was when I realised how long the cruise ship is; very good for clocking steps. 

It was a long Q for boogie boarding. Zaky did get his chance after queuing for almost 1 hour. He was very pleased with himself but overshot our 1st seaplex activity. I had to Q to change the appointment and ended up chit chatting with a fellow cruiser. She was asking if it was our 1st cruise and I felt a little embarrassed to tell her that we had been so frequent on the cruise. Haha. 

We had a long break before the bumper car at 7.45pm. Zaky took a nap and Daddy Lim didn't bcos his tummy was growling. Hoho. We had another snack while Zaky was in lala land and went back to wake him Zaky just in time for bumper car. 

Our one and only precious session. The bumper car ended exactly at 8pm and just nice to book the boogie boarding on Day 2. Booking for Lil Shauna's ice skating session has given me good training and I was standing by, refreshing the app over and over again and managed to snag 2 sessions for Day 2 afternoon. Hoho. I am good. 

Dinner was lined up next. We only remembered to take picture of the dessert. Yummy. 

The app says that dinner is at 8.15pm and we thought that we had to follow the timing until we asked and were told that dinner starts as early as 5.30pm and the last serving is at 8.30p. Chey. Bcos we went for dinner late and avoided the crowd, dinner was much faster than usual. 

We headed for a game event after dinner at 9.30pm and won ourselves some prizes!

Hmmm...the quality not very good but Zaky was very pleased. 

We ended the night with a movie, "A Quiet Place 2" and I wondered why we chose to watch such a stressful movie at the end of the day on a holiday. 

Sleep was absolutely easy, even for Zaky who had a long nap. Good night!

Mummy Lim