Good morning from the Contemporary Resort! I woke up to my bed shaking.... earthquake?! No, it was the building shaking as the monorail passed through. Rachel couldn't feel it, so I think my shakey senses must be heightened from LA earthquakes.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Rachel's Bachelorette Trip | Disney [Day 2] Magic Kingdom
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Rachel's Bachelorette Trip | Disney [Day 1] Animal Kingdom & Steakhouse 71
As Rachel's sister and Maid of Honor, planning Rachel's Bachelorette Trip was the MOH duty that I was most looking forward to. Rachel knew exactly what she wanted to do for her Bachelorette - a 3-Night Cruise and a day at Disney with her girls.
On our Christmas Cruise on Jewel of the Seas, Rachel and I decided to go to Walt Disney World a few days earlier to have some fun sister time on the front end of her Bachelorette.
Since I live in California, my preferred flight to Orlando is a red-eye so that I arrive early in the morning and don't miss out on any fun (otherwise, the soonest I'd get in would be around 4 PM on a flight that leaves at 7 AM). I have Idiopathic Hypersomnia, so I can fall asleep anywhere, but to get better quality sleep, I travel with a travel pillow, eye mask, noise canceling headphones, and a foot hammock (because my legs are so short!).
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Planning Rachel's Bachelorette Cruise (and Disney World!)
If you follow my personal Instagram (@victoria.shing), you probably already know that something momentous happened this year - Rachel and Landon got married!
As Rachel's sister and maid of honor, I've been able to flex my design, photography, and trip planning skills to celebrate Rachel and Landon throughout this exciting season of life. In true Victoria on Vacation fashion, I helped plan their surprise engagement at Disney's Boardwalk as well as her Bachelorette Trip to Walt Disney World and - you guessed it - cruise on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas!
Back in July 2022, Aaron and I were visiting Rachel and Landon in Austin when it somehow came up in conversation that the best time to book a cruise price-wise is usually as soon as the itineraries are released..... which led to us looking at February 2024 cruises and booking a Royal Loft Suite on a 3-night cruise on Allure of the Seas for Rachel's Bachelorette. At the time, Rachel and Landon were not yet engaged. But Landon was there, and he agreed that 2024 seemed like a good year to get married. So we put down a deposit and booked a cruise that was over a year and a half away.
Flash forward to October 13, 2023. Rachel and I were at Walt Disney World with our parents (Stove & Judy) celebrating Rachel's birthday. On the hottest, most humid day of our trip, I insisted that we walk from Hollywood Studios (instead of taking the Skyliner) to the Boardwalk for lunch when guess who comes peddling up on a Surrey bike - Landon!!! Landon proposed, Rachel cried that it wasn't fair because she was wearing a Hocus Pocus t-shirt.... then she said yes, and after the rest of our fun celebratory trip at WDW, I started planning Rachel's Bachelorette Cruise in February 2024!
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 8] Disembarkation in San Juan
It's always a bittersweet moment, to pull back the stateroom curtains and find yourself back where you started. We had returned to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I snapped a few photos, then scrambled to get ready and pack up our remaining items.
We had booked a San Juan Luggage Storage shore excursion through Royal Caribbean, but we received notification during our cruise that it was canceled. Which left us in a bit of a pickle. Our flights home weren't until later in the afternoon, so we were banking on being able to store our luggage while we toured San Juan before our flights.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 7] St. Maarten
On the last day of our Christmas Cruise, we docked in St. Maarten. We've been to St. Maarten many times over the years, and it's a great port of call. This was also the excursion that Stove was the most excited for. He booked The Best Catamaran Day Sail in St. Maarten through Viator, and it had rave reviews.
Our tour left at 10 AM, and the meeting location was walking distance from the port.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 6] St. Vincent
On Day 6, we docked in Kingstown, St. Vincent. We did not have an excursion booked, but Aaron and I had read that we could take a water taxi to Villa Beach.
St. Vincent is another port that we visited for the first time on this cruise. Since we've done so many Caribbean cruises over the years, it's rare that we visit a new port of call, which is why this Southern Caribbean itinerary was interesting to us - three new ports of call!
Monday, March 25, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 5] Tobago
On Day 5, we docked in Scarborough, Tobago. Today, we had an excursion planned that Stove booked through Viator - Tobago Bucco Reef Glass Bottom Boat Tour.
I asked Aaron if he wanted to go up to the Windjammer to get breakfast before we left the ship, but he said he wasn't really hungry. Big mistake. We should've gotten breakfast.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 4] Trinidad
On Day 4 of our Southern Caribbean Cruise on Jewel of the Seas, we docked in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
We ate breakfast in the main dining room this morning. The host recognized Stove and seated us at our own table of six. Throughout breakfast, several different dining room managers came over to our table to ask us how we liked our table last night. I'm not sure what Stove said or did to get this celebrity treatment, but I'm not sure I want to know.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 3] Barbados
On Christmas morning, we docked in Bridgetown, Barbados. We had made plans to meet for breakfast in the main dining room at 9AM, but discovered that morning that the dining room closed at 9AM. Judy and Stove "just happened" to be ready early and went to the MDR for breakfast. The rest of us headed up to the Windjammer.
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Jewel of the Seas - [Day 2] Christmas Eve at Sea
On Christmas Eve, we woke up to a surprise from Judy!
Judy and Stove used these magnetic dry erase boards to leave messages to Stove's siblings on their New England cruise on NCL in September. NCL has a no door decorations rule (loosely enforced), and one of his sisters was actually told that she had to remove the whiteboard from her door. Royal Caribbean allows door decorations, so no issues here!
I brought Christmas stockings from Amazon for our doors that Aaron and I hung up with magnetic hooks.
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