Cruise Days 1-2

We booked this cruise over a year ago. Cruise prices have climbed significantly since COVID, but we were able to get a pretty good deal and everyone was happy to get back on a ship. Our first-family-of-six cruise was on Anthem of the Seas in 2018. During that cruise, one of the t.v stations had a continuous loop promoting the newest ship--Symphony of the Seas. We all thought it looked amazing and hoped we would one day be able to go onboard. That day finally arrived! Some of our friends also booked the cruise and Luke was especially excited that his friend, Mike, would be on board. The cruise departed on Luke's birthday. We left the house around 7:30 and made a couple of stops on the way to Fort Lauderdale. 

We got to the port around 1115. By 1145 we were boarding the ship. We went straight to lunch at the Windjammer and then Luke did the Flow Rider and the waterslides.  The other kids went off to explore. After that, we hung out in our rooms for a bit and went to dinner. After dinner, Thomas and I saw Hairspray, the teens went to the teen club, and Luke went to the kids club. He did not enjoy the kids club, saying it was too crowded. The girls were a little disappointed with the teen club, and had the same complaint about crowds, they prefer the teen club on the smaller ships (but everything else on the bigger ships). Jack had fun playing dodgeball and then he and some other teens rode the carousel. Thomas and I enjoyed Hairspray, although we did not like it as much as we liked Grease on our last cruise. Everyone was in bed by 10.

First of many, many ice cream cones.

Day two, Thomas and I went to the gym and then got smoothies. We met up with the kids in the Windjammer while they had their breakfast. Following breakfast, Luke, Thomas and I played miniature golf. Thomas and Luke did the zip line and we saw the girls playing miniature golf. I am not sure what exactly Jack was doing all morning. He spent a good amount of time in the room reading during the day and then liked to hang out at the teen's club at night. 

After the zip line, we rode the Abyss, one of our favorite things to do on the Oasis class ships. This one was pretty scary, with flashing red lights and a danger sound. 

Anna and I went to morning trivia, we did not do well, but had a lot of fun trying. Afterward, we walked around the ship, and then we all met up for lunch at Chops Grill at noon. Chops Grille is one of the ship's specialty restaurants. Thomas and I usually go for lunch each time we cruise, but this time we decided to let the kids join. The meal was amazing! 

After lunch we went back to our room and relaxed. Thomas, Anna and I saw the ice-skating show at four. Like most Royal Caribbean shows, it had a promising sounding plot, but then kind of went left field. There was one segment that had a female skater doing clothing quick changes, that was really fun, but also very random with the supposed 1977 London jewel heist theme. However, we still enjoyed the show.  After the show, we took a few pictures. It was a dress-your-best night and we got dressed up. Then, we went to dinner; we had the early seating, which started at 5 each day. Afterward, Thomas and the girls went stargazing. Jack went up to the teens club around 8 o’clock. The rest of us had an early night. Over the course of the day, I climbed 33 flights of stairs!

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the others, but everyone looked very nice!