vacation

Wondrous Fun on Royal Caribbean!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Hey there! It’s me, Hailey, back once again to cover all the details on our latest trip. It’s been a busy summer here in the Type A Travel Mom household filled with several fun trips, and we are still trying to hold on to summer as long as possible!

After being back home for a week following our Hilton Head and Disney World vacation (be sure to check out our last blog for all the details!), my mom and I hopped on a plane headed right back down to Florida. This time, though, we landed in Fort Lauderdale, with our final destination being a 4-night sailing out of Miami on Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas. This trip was a part of a Seminar at Sea, where my mom and I were able to learn more about Royal Caribbean and go on a tour of Perfect Day at CocoCay. While my mom has sailed with Royal Caribbean before and knows a lot about their ships and offerings, this was my first non-Disney cruise and I went in knowing next to nothing about Royal so I was super excited to see what Royal was all about!

I loved getting to see how different Royal Caribbean is from Disney Cruise Line. I mean, first off, this ship was massive! This ship, Wonder of the Seas, is a part of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class and was once the largest cruise ship in the world, until it was surpassed by Royal’s Icon-class ships. There were so many exciting activities to take part in, cool places to hang out, delicious places to eat, and the list goes on!

Stepping onto the ship, you immediately find yourself in the Royal Promenade, the area of the ship where the stores are located as well as several bars and the complimentary pizza restaurant, Sorrento’s. This area is super lively and fun, and it even had live music playing on many nights of the sailing. Right after we boarded the ship we stopped by Spotlight Karaoke to pick up the souvenir cups for the soda package that we purchased for this sailing, as well as our WOW bands. The drink cups can be used at the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines located at the buffet and quick-service style locations around the ship. These cups were very nice and didn’t leak at all, and we both made sure to get our money’s worth in Dr. Pepper throughout our sailing! The WOW bands (kind of like Disney’s MagicBands) were really convenient and comfortable, and could be used to get into your room or make purchases. However, you still needed to have your actual SeaPass card to get on and off the ship at ports.

After we got all of our gear ready, it was time to head up to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. Overall, the buffet had some great options, including potato leek soup which is always a must for me on embarkation day! One thing that really stood out to me was the layout of the buffet in comparison with Disney Cruise Line’s buffets (Cabanas on the older ships and Marceline Market on the newer ships). Disney Cruise Line’s buffets are somewhat linear, meaning that you kind of have to jump in the line whenever you see a break. But the Windjammer had a really interesting layout that was more spread out and included many little buffet “islands” that I think were much more effective in distributing the crowds.

After having some lunch, we explored the pool deck area. I really liked the layout of the pools and the variety of areas you could hang out in. And there was an impressive variety in the types of chairs everywhere too! The adults-only Solarium area was very pretty but the phrase “human greenhouse” comes to mind, because it gets super hot and humid in there during the day with little airflow. It was a very nice place to hang out in the evening though!

We were able to go to our room right at 1pm, and as we were going to our room, we saw all of our luggage already out in the hall. That’s like crazy fast! The room itself was very spacious, but the bathroom was on the smaller side, as can be expected with a cruise ship bathroom. One thing that I really loved (and Disney needs to make note of!) were the chairs on the balcony. The chairs themselves were pretty standard, but they had a separate footrest that was such a nice addition. These footrests made for a much more comfortable and enjoyable time on the balcony.

If you know us, then you know how much we LOVE doing the trivia on Disney cruises. So, of course, we had to try out some trivia! We decided to try out the general knowledge trivia, and we had such a great time. I loved the way that Royal Caribbean does trivia, which involves your phone. Disney is still using pencils and paper for their trivia, but I think they need to develop a system like Royal! For this trivia, you scanned a QR code with your phone, entered some info about yourself, and you were ready to play! The trivia itself had several categories with a few questions each, and the faster that you answered a question, the more points you got. No time for looking up the answer! I didn’t do too good (two of the categories were James Bond and Prince, and my knowledge for both of these is just about nonexistent), but my mom got second place! She won some Royal Caribbean zipper pulls and a highlighter, which were some pretty cool souvenirs.

We continued to explore the ship for the rest of the day, including areas like Central Park and Boardwalk. Central Park is filled with so many plants and trees that it’s hard to believe that you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean! I think this would be the perfect spot to hang out if you are a little scared of cruising or sailing out in the ocean, because it makes you feel like you are back on land. There are also a few specialty dining locations in Central Park, more on that later! The Boardwalk is another open area of the ship like Central Park, but with a carnival of theme. This is the area of the ship where you will find the rock climbing walls, the Aqua Theater, and the carousel. The Ultimate Abyss ends here as well, which is a dry slide that slides down 10 floors, starting on deck 16 and ending on deck 6.

The next day was spent at Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. While we were here, we went on a tour of the island as a part of the Seminar at Sea. The island has areas that any guest can access, as well as several areas that are paid upgrades to access. On the tour, we were able to tour the three paid areas: Hideaway Beach, Coco Beach Club, and Thrill Waterpark. Hideaway Beach is an adults-only area that has more of a party vibe, Coco Beach Club is a more upscale and quiet area, and Thrill Waterpark is where you will find 13 waterslides and a wave pool. All three areas looked like a lot of fun!

After the tour was over, we spent the rest of our time in the Chill Island area, one of the areas that anyone can visit. We had rented a beach bed for the day, which was a nice spot to hang out and stay out of the sun throughout the day. The beach bed rental came with the beach bed itself, as well as two lounge chairs, two floating beach mats, and a cooler of water bottles. The rental also came with towels which, on Royal Caribbean ships, you normally have to check out and check back in, or pay a fee if you don’t return them.

Another thing that is interesting about CocoCay (and different from Disney’s private islands), is that CocoCay can have two ships docked there at the same time. On the day we visited the island, the other ship was Jewel of the Seas. It was really neat to be able to see the size difference between an older Royal ship (Jewel, on the right) and one of their newer ships (Wonder, on the left). If you zoom in you can even see the little people walking on the dock, which really helps to put the massive size of the ships in perspective!

The next day was our Nassau day. For most people, Nassau is a one and done, and that includes my family. I haven’t been off the ship in Nassau in years, we always treat it like a sea day and spend our time exploring the ship. However, Royal Caribbean has opened a new beach and pool area that is exclusive to guests sailing on their ships, called Royal Beach Club Paradise Island. Access to this area is not included, so you have to purchase a day pass in order to visit it. Remember that little strip of land with the run-down lighthouse on it, on the same side of the port as the Atlantis hotel? Well, the lighthouse is still there, but you can now spot the bright colors of the Royal Beach Club area as well as a large Royal Caribbean logo. It is such a convenient location, and you can get some great views of the ship while you are there!

To get to the Royal Beach Club, you can follow the signage as you leave the ship which takes you to a little dock where you will board a ferry, which takes you straight over to the area. The ferry designs are super cute, and each one has an adorable name, including: Sassy Starfish, Twisted Turtle, Flirty Flamingo, Coral Calypso, and Lucky Lizard. We were on the Sassy Starfish (as you can see from the life ring in the picture below), and you can also spot the blue Lucky Lizard already docked at the Royal Beach Club!

When we arrived at the Royal Beach Club, we decided to stick around the pool in the Party Cove section for the day. We got some great, front row seats at the swim-up bar pool that is closest to Paradise Beach. And let me tell you, the pool here has such a great view! If you look over the edge of the pool, you are looking straight towards the beach. So you can enjoy watching the waves without having to worry about getting all sandy!

Similar to CocoCay, there were two Royal Caribbean ships docked in Nassau on this day. The other ship was Oasis of the Seas. These ships are quite similar in size, with Oasis being just a bit smaller than Wonder, so the size difference wasn’t quite as noticeable as it was when comparing Jewel with Wonder. Having two ships also meant that more guests from Oasis were able to come to the Royal Beach Club, which made the area get super busy in the afternoon. But we did get to enjoy a nice, quiet morning in the area, which we both really enjoyed!

That night, my mom participated in The Price is Right gameshow that they host on the ship. This game also is played by scanning a QR code with your phone, similar to the trivia, but an extra fee is required in order to play this game. My mom has always loved the idea of playing this game on the ship, so there was no way that we were going to miss it! See the picture below for her cute little hamster avatar! Everyone got super into the game and it was a great time, but unfortunately my mom didn’t get to “come on down.” Fingers crossed for next time!

The next day was our sea day, and my mom had to go to some classroom training as a part of the Seminar at Sea so that she could learn even more about Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend this with her so I spent the day exploring the ship and getting a ton of videos/pictures for social media content. Enjoy these cute little towel animals that I saw on my adventures!

During our sailing, we tried out two of the specialty dining restaurants. The first was Izumi, a Japanese restaurant, and the second was Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen. Neither of us were insanely impressed by Izumi, but the food at Giovanni’s was very nice. We also ended up eating at the buffet for the majority of our meals, because the menus at the main dining restaurants didn’t really appeal to us (we are both vegetarian, but I sometimes experiment with different types of fish). However, we both loved El Loco Fresh, a buffet style Mexican restaurant. The only downside was that it closed at 5:30pm, which was generally too early for us to be able to have dinner here. Other than that, I loved getting some quesadillas to snack on, and their guacamole is delish!

The three shows that were offered on our sailing were The Effectors II: Crash ‘n’ Burn (stage musical), inTENse (water show in the AquaTheater), and 365: The Seasons on Ice (ice skating show). When we were waiting for inTENse to start, it ended up being cancelled due to lightning in the area, and that was the final performance of this show during the sailing so we never got to see this one. We did get to see the other two shows, and The Effectors II was a pretty cheesy superhero show with a simple storyline. However, the ice skating show, 365, was really impressive. The show went through each season, and their outfits and music changed to fit with each one. They even used the Game of Thrones theme during their winter performance, which I really enjoyed!

After a few fun and action-packed days, it was time to head back home. We spent the day at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale because we had a late flight. After some delays and a super late night, we finally made it home. After being to Florida twice in the span of just a few weeks, we were both ready to spend some time at home and getting back into our normal routines.

I had a lot of fun learning about Royal Caribbean and we had such a great time exploring the ship! Can’t wait for our next cruise vacation!

Until next time!

Hailey

Fun in the Hawaiian Sun!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Hello there! Hailey here, writing to fill you in on all the details of our most recent trip to the Aloha State! This blog is a bit overdue, since we traveled in May and I’m writing this in July, just after we returned home from another trip, this time to Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and Walt Disney World. Keep an eye out for that blog, coming soon!

So, back to Hawaii then! This trip was a graduation celebration for both me and my cousin, since I graduated from college this year and she graduated last year, as well as a trip in honor of my grandpa who passed away last year. The travel crew this time around included the usual suspects: my mom, dad, and me, plus some exciting extras: my grandma, aunt, two cousins, and my boyfriend. Everyone except my boyfriend had been to Hawaii before, so this was a fun first for him! The theme for this trip was exploring and experiencing new things on Oahu. In our previous trips here, we mostly spent our time hanging out at the resort, and didn’t get to see all of the things this beautiful island has to offer. Safe to say that we fixed that this time around!

Two long flights and eight sore butts later, we arrived in Honolulu. At the airport, we picked up our two rental vans and started the drive to Ko Olina and our home away from home, Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa. But, before we could check in to the resort, we had planned a scenic railroad ride with the Hawaiian Railway Society, which operates the only active historical railway on the island of Oahu. This was such a great way to get to experience the beauty of the island, and we even got to ride on the railroad tracks that run just in front of Aulani, making for some great pictures of the resort as well!

Being a group of 8 who didn’t want to be piled on top of each other for a week (bringing a whole new and unpleasant meaning to family togetherness!), we decided to split into two rooms for this vacation. The room that my parents, boyfriend, and I shared was a two bedroom villa with the island gardens view. The room that my grandma, aunt, and two cousins shared was a two bedroom villa with the ocean view. Both views were spectacular!

The next day was our first pool day. We spent the day enjoying the lazy river, the beach, the waterslides, and the amazing infinity pool! I think everyone’s favorite was the lazy river, we all spent the most time in there! We also had rented a Ka Maka Cabana for the day, which holds up to 12 guests. These cabanas come with some very helpful amenities, such as a refrigerator, a ceiling fan, a TV, complimentary bottled water, and our own comfortable exclusive seating area. Some great snacks are included as well, a fruit platter, naan bread and hummus platter, and a dessert platter. The hummus platter was my favorite, so delicious! You also have a host who checks up on you throughout the day, brings you these platters, takes other food orders, and brings you anything else you might need. My family loves the acai bowls and shave ice that they serve here. We all have our own personal preference when it comes to shave ice flavors (and we all argue about who has the best combo), and my favorites are li hing mui, green tea, and haupia (coconut).

While the rest of the fam stayed behind at the resort, my boyfriend and I ventured off on our own to try a new restaurant! We decided beforehand that we wanted to try some new places that my family had never eaten at before. My family has a lot of picky eaters to please, if you know what I mean! The two restaurants the BF and I chose were just a quick walk away from the resort. First, we tried the Monkeypod Kitchen restaurant. We loved the atmosphere and the food was great! We ever saw a rooster hanging out in a tree, which made for some great laughs. Our favorite part of this meal was the dessert, which was a seasonal mango cream pie. The thinly sliced mango was so delicious and this pie will live rent free in our heads for many years to come. Later in the trip we also tried the 808 Craft House restaurant, which was another lovely dinner! I think the dessert was my favorite part again, which was a delicious creme brulee. Overall, two great date nights!

Next up was a day exploring the island! We drove out to Kualoa Ranch, which is a huge nature preserve on the island that has been used as a filming location for many popular movies and TV series. Kualoa Ranch was featured in films like Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and 50 First Dates. The TV series Lost is perhaps one of the most notable uses of Kualoa Ranch as a film location in a TV series. We took the Movie Sites & Ranch Tour here, which included a ride around the ranch to see popular film locations and props/sets, as well as an old repurposed World War II bunker. The ranch still has several interesting remnants of film sets that you can spot, including Godzilla’s footprints in their cow fields (which had to be made shallower since the cows were falling in the footprints and couldn’t get back out), the fallen tree that the characters from Jurassic Park hide behind while being chased by the herd of dinosaurs and T-Rex, a field of bones from Kong Skull Island, and the road that Lucy takes every day in 50 First Dates.

Our experience here also included a lunch buffet and an ocean voyage. The day that we visited Kualoa turned into a rainy one, which did not make for smooth waters on the ocean voyage part of our tour. I’m not a fan of small boats and choppy waters (thanks, motion sickness!), so I did not particularly enjoy that part of our experience here. But, that’s ok, because I absolutely loved the first half!

After we left the ranch, we had planned stops at several different beaches around the island. The beaches we ended up stopping at were so stunning. The beautiful blue water, the mountains meeting the sea… just so amazing! We also saw lots of people kitesurfing at one of the beaches, which was so impressive and so scary at the same time. Super fun to watch, but I’ll leave the kitesurfing to the experts! We also stopped at just about every overlook that we passed, which made for some breathtaking views and insane pictures! We were starting to run late for our dinner reservation at the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu after making all of these stops, so we had to cut some stops short.

The following day was our visit to Pearl Harbor, to see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. After that, we headed over to the Ala Moana Center, which is the world’s largest open air shopping center. We had some lunch there, but didn’t end up hanging out there too long. So, we made our way to the northern part of the island to experience the Toa Lu’au at Waimea Valley. This was our first time experiencing this lu’au, and we all really enjoyed it! It was a very informative and immersive experience, the performance itself showcased different styles of dance that have originated from each island. There were some performances that involved fire dancing, done by some insanely talented people! Before the performance, there were interactive cultural demonstrations showing how to remove the husk from coconuts and peel taro roots, as well as a weaving activity. One of the performers also demonstrated how to climb up a coconut tree, better him than me!

On our final day, we had planned to visit Waimea Valley and the North Shore of the island again to visit the Waimea Valley waterfall as well as a few more beaches. But, we all decided that we wanted to have one last pool day before we left, so we changed up our plan and ended up spending the day at the resort instead. Oh well, that just gives us one more reason to go back to Oahu in the future!

For this pool day, we rented a different type of cabana to try out, which was a Makua Cabana. These cabanas are located at the adult only pool. Similar to the Ka Maka Cabanas, these cabanas also have an private seating area for your family, a TV, a ceiling fan, refrigerator, and cabana host. But the only included treat that you get in this type of cabana is the fruit platter, as well as the complimentary bottled water. Overall, both cabanas were lovely and both had their own benefits.

After this last fun pool day, it was time to make our way back to the airport. On our ride back, we saw a perfect, whole double rainbow! Such a lovely parting gift from the island of Oahu! All eight of us are already dreaming of our next visit to the Aloha State.

Until next time!

Hailey

The best intentions…

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Here we are again, two trips down and still no blog post. Geez. I have been quite the slacker lately. I guess this will be another ‘hit the highlights’ post and I’ll try to do better next time. 🤞🏻

In January, the fam and I returned to Disney for the International Festival of the Arts at Epcot. The daughter had two days scheduled to work during the festival as a chalk artist on the bridge between World Celebration and World Showcase. This year, she was tasked with working on a reproduction of a Master with a Disney twist each day. She chose two August Macke paintings, Promenade and Walking in the Park, with some color brightening and the addition of Hidden Mickeys. Each piece takes about three hours to complete and are about 3 feet by 4 feet in size. She works so hard on these pieces, as do all of the chalk artists, with hours of prep time and work on the ground to make these pieces come to life for park guests. Kudos to the entire chalk team! 🏆

Our weather this year was wacky with a capital ‘W’! It was so very cold initially with gloves, heavy coats, and hats each day. Then we were quickly approaching shorts weather not three days later. January is definitely a bizarre month for Orlando weather, each year stranger than the one before. We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort for a couple of nights and then moved over to the Boardwalk Inn resort for the rest of the trip. The HVAC system in our room at Caribbean Beach didn’t know what to do with the cold weather… it was super hot in the room when we got there and we had to have maintenance come in to get it down to something tolerable. Then, of course, it was too cold in the room. I’m not sure which I liked less but being cold is just no bueno! The Boardwalk room didn’t have any issues like that, it was lovely and a nice, spacious corner room! 😍

Oh yeah, the temperatures! Guess who got lucky with a Lightning Lane MultiPass for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom on the first trip day? Yep, me! Well… not all lucky because that day might have hit 50 degrees for a high and we all had our winter coats on. When we rode the ride, of course we got completely soaked and were freezing for a good while afterward. I’m not sure that the hubs has forgiven me for that yet. You had to laugh though! I’ve never gotten that wet on the ride but we ended up in the front of the log and it was like the water was just coming straight for us every time. Yep, that’s me in the front! 😂

Other than the weather, it was a great trip! Fast forward to March… the fam plus a niece headed to Hilton Head for a few days at Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort. We’ve been there many times before and it is a great place for a spring break getaway. The weather here was much more cooperative, after a major storm the day we arrived. We had a great couple of days looking for shark teeth on the beach, trying out some local restaurants, and relaxing at the resort. Al’s Aloha Kitchen and their incredible acai bowls never disappoints!

I always feel like I could stay longer there but this year I was a little bit grateful that we didn’t have a longer trip. The pollen was atrocious for some reason! I guess all of the beautiful Live Oak trees decided it was time to spread their neon yellow cheer all over the island because, holy cow, was it everywhere! I had a runny nose and super itchy, red and goopy eyes the whole time we were gone. Not my idea of a fun time! At first I thought it was the sand that blew in my eyes when I might or might not have been crawling around on the beach looking for shark teeth. 🫣🤭But nope, pollen. So.much.pollen! You know who didn’t care about the pollen? This guy. He was eating the little flowery bits causing the pollen! 🤧

Our next journey will be back to Florida this summer to enjoy more time at Disney and stop over at Universal for a day at Epic Universe! I cannot wait to see this new theme park and live out my How to Train Your Dragon dreams!

xoxo, Amber

PS- This post is dedicated to the Oleman. We lost a beloved member of our family in February and will forever miss taking him along on our journeys and spending our days surrounded by his love. 💔

Recapping the fall, y’all!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Wowza! I was coming to write about my latest trip to Disney and realized my last entry was from July! That means I have neglected to fill you in on all of the excitement of the last six months!! I will hit the highlights from the fall and move on to my recent (January 2024) trip in the next post. Hold on to your hats! It was a busy six months…

In August, the hubs and I went to The Omni Homestead resort for a few days for an annual conference related to his job. This resort is full of Southern hospitality and not too terribly far from our home. If not for the winding roads and mountain climbs, it would be a lot closer. I had a great time relaxing by the pool while he toiled away and wouldn’t mind sneaking over for a quick getaway there again when the weather warms back up.

In September, the hubs, kid, and I went to Disney World for the kid’s birthday celebration. (I really do need to stop calling her a kid since she’ll be 20 this year…) We enjoyed a lovely stay at Disney’s Riviera resort, some park time, and the hubs went over to Universal for a Halloween Horror Nights evening out. Going to Halloween Horror Nights remains a “hard no” for me and the kid.

October and November were slow months for us, no big adventures. In December, we headed to Hilton Head, SC for our annual holiday getaway. We normally go there over Thanksgiving but switched it up to go right before Christmas. That was a nice change and helped get us all in the holiday spirit. Disney’s resort at Hilton Head is undergoing a huge renovation project and we were very fortunate to have been able to stay in a renovated room. The updates in the rooms are incredible and I can’t wait to stay there again!

Our last jaunt in 2023 was for New Years Eve. We headed up to the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland (not to be confused with the Inner Harbor in Baltimore) and spent a couple of nights enjoying that area, driving into DC to visit some of the Smithsonian museums, and watching the fireworks over the Potomac River as we welcomed 2024. There is also a traveling exhibit about the Titanic at the National Harbor which was a delight to check out before we headed home. Check out the third class menu (actual one!) from the doomed sailing.

Phew, that was a quick recap! I hope you had a great second half of 2023 and an even better 2024!

xoxo,

Amber