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We are now 14 days from our cruise, and 7 days from our vacation (we're doing a week in Orlando before heading to the Oasis). It's going to to be a super busy week as I wrap up work and get ready for the cruise. So, in case I don't have time later, I wanted to say thanks to @Matt, @WAAAYTOOOand all the rest of you on this board, especially since many that I want to thank are going to be on the group cruise. Your insight and recommendations have been awesome. My cruise came together faster and better than I expected and this board is largely responsible. Keep up the awesome work! Can't believe it's finally here. I think booking 18 months out is great for getting exactly what you want but is terrible for the anticipation... Those of you who have the luxury of multiple cruises per year make me jealous... Maybe some day soon I'll be in those ranks.

Totally Agree - Michelle M - and all our MEI Blog agents are rock stars!

Yup. It's a 12 step... 12 steps from shore to ship across the gangway.

Thank you all so very much. This is the beauty of this blog site.

The dining packages offer a good value and I did the 5 night one last cruise mainly because I had sailed extensively with Royal and was looking for something different from the main dining room. Since this is your first cruise, I'd say go with the included options as you can always buy the package once onboard if the food isn't to your liking.

Since it's your first cruise, there is no harm in just going to the main dining room and skipping the dining packages. The food is still fine there. That gives you a chance to get the hang of things and see if you like it. If not, then give specialty dining a try next time. In all of our cruising history, we have only dined at a specialty restaurant a whole 3 times. And another tip, if you do decide to do specialty, your kids are only $10pp. DO NOT book them ahead of time. Just have them add the kids on once you get to the restaurant.

Yup, every other restaurant has everything on the menu covered. Only exclusion would be the seafood tower and lobster at Chops. Using menu from Brilliance again... Only general rule at Chops is only one entree can be ordered. Multiple appetizers, sides, and desserts are fine. Chops: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus/chops-grille-menu-brilliance-of-the-seas Giovanni's: If it on the menu, order it. Don't think the have a single entree policy. Geovanni's menu on Adventure: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus/giovannis-table-dinner-menu-adventure-of-the-seas Just keep in mind the menus might not be exactly the same ship to ship. For the most part they will be very similar.

Awesome info. Thank you. For my upcoming cruise in the 2BR Aqua Suite I'm 99% sure a couple of friends I cruise with regularly are going to join me and take the second bedroom. For me, the math works out. I'll be in Star class for about the same price I usually pay for Sky with a solo supplement. I've sailed with the same friends in a shared cabin... without separate bedrooms... and nobody strangled me. I think we'll be fine with two bedrooms.

Only a la carte place I can think of is Izumi. With a $35 credit a person that can cover a lot. Get a better idea of what everything costs check out: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus/izumi-menu-brilliance-of-the-seas Should also add Matt did a great review of Izumi on Brilliance as well: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/02/06/review-izumi-brilliance-of-the-seas

As Sabrina said, the value of having the Genie is really difficult to quantify. There are so many things that the Genie does that just make things easier. If it's not important that you don't have to arrive at the theater 20 - 30 minutes early to get a seat anywhere in the theater that you want to sit, or you don't feel you need a personal escort on and off the ship, you have no plans to have a party in your suite and you don't want to have an expedited line where you can use certain activities more readily than others (flow rider and zip line on the O class and I suspect, but do not know for sure that I Fly, Northstar and bumper cars will be the same on the Q class), then the Genie might be overkill. The "extras" that are included in the Star Class benefits are also not exactly directly comparable to the paid packages, either. I have heard MANY people say...."I will just buy the ultimate dining package, the Premium drinks package and the unlimited internet package and I will have the same amenities as the Star Class folks and save myself a lot of money". But this isn't exactly the case. For instance, the Star Class dining benefits allows you to eat anything on the ship (during normal operating hours), in the restaurant or in your suite - unlimited amounts. ALL of the upcharge items (with the exception of the wine pairing option at Chop's. Do they still offer that ? I haven't seen it in some time) are included whereas none of the upcharge items are included in the ultimate dining package. With the ultimate drinks package you can have unlimited drinks at the Starbuck's location (however the pastries are not included for some reason. Kind of odd...but...whatever). While the "rules" say that anything above the normal drinks threshold (probably $13 per drink on the O class ships) will be paid by the passenger, we have been on 4 SC cruises and never ever paid an over charge for a drink that exceeded the $13 threshold. Now granted, it is RARE indeed that we ever consume such an item (Dan occasionally asks for an upgraded Scotch but this is pretty infrequent) nevertheless, we have never ever paid anything extra for a drink when we were SC. Probably the biggest advantage for being SC over having the Premium drinks package is the fact that they will keep your suite supplied with water, juice, beer and soda whereas, the PDP does not include any drinks in the suite except for what you may be entitled to as part of your C&A benefits. When you go into Johnny Rockets, everything you want, as much as you want, including unlimited milk shakes, is included. If you go to Izumi hibachi, you can get anything you want, including unlimited sushi and all upcharge hibachi meal options. None of these "extras" are included with the UDP. As far as I can determine, there is nothing "extra" that you get with the unlimited internet amenity for SC. The Genie will make sure that you have any kind of snack that you may request, brought to your suite. While we aren't big snackers and we have never done this, I have heard and read of many pax who have a standing order to have some specific snack brought by on a daily basis. Sometimes it's as simple as fresh cookies at a certain time or it can be as elaborate as sushi from Izumi's or full meals from Sabor. If you wanted lobster brought to your suite every night it would be arranged (as long as it was during normal Chops operating hours). I had heard, in the past, that some pax asked for Starbuck's to be brought to them every morning but lately I read that they have stopped doing this so it may or may not be offered any longer. We aren't coffee drinkers so we never asked for this service. I can imagine that it's fairly inconvenient for someone to have to trot coffee all the way to aft to the ATS so I guess I understand why they have stopped this, if, in fact, they have. There's lots and lots that I haven't mentioned here, mostly in the category of "personal service" kinds of things but the question, as always, is: Is it worth the price they charge ? As with all things, this is a matter of personal preference. I will say that the price of SC has skyrocketed over the past 2 years. The price for SC has almost tripled since our first SC cruise in Feb. 2016. I'm sure that Royal is looking for the tipping point price (as high as they can charge where people will still buy) and apparently they have not yet reached it as the SC prices on Symphony are otherworldly. I have a SC suite on Anthem scheduled for March 2020 but the prices on Anthem seem to be lower than for any of the O class ships. This will be our first cruise on any Q class so I guess I will find out how they compare.

I do not mean to take this off topic, nor do I mean to interfere in your life. MK-ULTRA, if your snoring problem is that bad, it may be a health issue (sleep apnea). If you have never done so, please do yourself, your family and your friends a big favor by getting it checked. People of any age can have it. Again, sorry for butting in, but on the odd chance you never checked, I thought you should be aware. PLUS, think of how much money you can save if you can then get cabin mates!

@DocLC Sorrento's doesn't have pizza!!! That's not pizza!!! I don't know what that can be classified as but it sure isn't PIZZA!

Considering how many people have recently reported having Coco Cay canceled due to inability to tender b/c of wind/waves, I beg to differ with the above statement.

I'm in NO way disagreeing with you as you are entited to your opinion, as i stated in a post yesterday it's RC that makes the rules not the guests and as you yourself mentioned it's a suggested dress code not compulsory , HOWEVER you must realise that times change, you wont get a cruise like you used to nowadays! the days of the Love Boat style cruise are gone, not because of the passengers but because of RC. Cruising used to be about doing very little except sit outside in the sun and read, then get dressed up to the nines for evening meals. RC and all other cruiselines have made cruising more open for less affluent families meaning it's not just the snobs who get to cruise now. This means familes with children , young couples on honeymoon or family groups who are celebrating a special occasion can experience visiting new places that previously were maybe outwith their budget, Cruiseline companies have realised that their Love Boat style guest will in time vanish, so they have been opened up to a new breed of cruiser because it's a business and they need to make money. By doing this they have had to change how ships are to keep these new cruisers coming back, that means ships have had to change to accomadate these HORDES ( your words) , Waterslides, Broadway shows, ice rinks to name a few have been included to cater for these new cruisers ( who may be teachers, nurses or even doctors). would you want all of these attractions introduced removed as well, to return to the good old days of cruising? We should never judge a book by it's cover, like wise we should never judge someone by how they dress

Day 8 – departure ☹ Lucky for us we went sleeping quite early for a last day (around 1 AM ) so we could catch few hours of quality sleeping time.I found out the hard way that one of the departure day depression is lacking good sleep on the final day. Our departure time was schedule to 9 am so we had time to organize things and catch some last breakfast in WJ , this was the first day I saw the WJ full but still we found some space to seat and eat a quick one.We left our room around 8:40 directly to the gangway, In Barcelona they have two terminal for Oasis class , terminal C and B , even tag numbers are sent to Terminal C and odds goes to terminal B , as I was not paying attention we found ourselves in the wrong terminal … so we had to do all the way back to the other terminal , the advantage was that we could take one last picture of the ship. As our flight was schedule only to be the next day (500 $ less) we waited for a taxi to take us to our hotel. Beware , taxies lines in Barcelona port can take up to 30 minutes (that’s the cases if you are not leaving the ship at 7 AM anyway). We arrived the hotel (Crown Plaza 10 minutes ride from the port and 18 $) as no rooms were available yet we were given access to the launch were we had our second late breakfast , rooms were available around 11 AM so we went up put our stuff and left to tour Barcelona for few hours.The hotel, although not in the main center, is located near Espania square (10-15 minutes walk) which has a metro , a very impressive fountain nearby and some museum/shops We took some picture and went to the Subway so we can catch a ride to boqueria food market and to La Rambla avenue. Boueria became a very touristic place although still there many stores which sells fresh food for locals. If you can avoid it during weekend it is best as the place is very crowded. Still I would not miss it . We took some small mixed Jamon plate and fresh exotic fruits cups. Off we went to walk at Rambla until we decided to add back to the hotel. Later we went to a Supermarkets to buy some Jamon and Cava to bring back home (remember we promised some Jamon to the cat ? ). Flight back was 6 am so we went to sleep early, during the cruise I found out that I will come back home , do my laundry and fly day after to South America for some meetings. So some thoughts about the ship : First , it is wonderful ship , I am so happy we will be on it again on September. We discussed with some crew member which told us that RC brought many people from other ships for few weeks , I do hope they will continue with the excellent service. The same crew member told us that the new bar, Playmaker was a big success, I could so that every day it was full of people. Internet was excellent in the entire ship , when we wanted to work on another device we just had to login on this device without logout the other (which is good but can also create some internet wars, sure I need to buy the travel router for next time as suggested by @twangster , will do it next week when I will catch my connection flight in EWR) We brought two bottles of wines and open them one in Hooked and one in the MDR , we were not charged for any fees. The laser tag is fun, I would recommend to try it, if you come as family maybe even try to be on opposite teams. The ice show is not to be missed. Hairspray is very nice, well performed. We did not took the drinking package as there was only one sea day so with two bottles of wines , three paid drinks and some very drinks in the Casino we managed to handle it. RC were very generous with the sparkling wine, almost every day they gave it free in the WJ. Going on one of the first cruise prove itself to be very good, the ship for sure was ready with 98% of her features. Another cruise came to its end, thanks whoever followed, as always it was enjoyable to write it , let me know if you have any question on the ship or the ports, would happy to answer.