Leaderboard

Day 3 - Sea Day Today was a very relaxed day. We got up early to use the gym (I decided not to go to yoga) before breakfast in the WJ and then coffee from Cafe Promenade. Then we headed up to the pool deck for a game of mini-golf. There were lots of people playing but it was easy to get the equipment and we only had to wait for a couple of minutes for our turn to start playing. Husband was convinced her would beat me but in the end the score was 28 to him, 23 to me! ? I'm sure I'll be challenged to a rematch at some point. We then continued the games theme with a couple of rounds of shuffleboard where we won one game each- this tournament will definitely be continued... Bolero's was next for a drink and watching the start of one of the art auction. Lunch was in the MDR today where they had a hot buffet as well as the Tutti Salad station and menu offerings. I had the salad and husband had the hot buffet. Next we headed to the pub for some afternoon music and a drink but the music wasn't very good so we took our drinks out to the promenade deck and found a seat out there in the sun. When we lost the sun over the top of the ship, we headed back to the cabin for a nap. Then at about 4pm, we went up to the Solarium to have a dip in the hot tub (grabbing an ice-cream as we passed the soft-serve station). It was our first time in the cantilever hot tubs and it was a good experience. The water was also hot instead of lukewarm which was nice. We then managed to find a lounger in the sun for me and one in the shade for my husband and we relaxed with a lavaflow with Kraken rum for a while before going to get changed for dinner. Before dinner, we met up with our tablemates for the general knowledge quiz in the Schooner Bar where we did terribly scoring only 6/20! Dinner again was in the MDR and our other 2 tablemates are still MIA. After dinner there was an adult comedy show in the theatre with a comedian called Josh Daniels. He was very good doing usual stand-up as well as playing guitar and singing entertaining parodies. After that it was time for bed ready for our first port day in Gibraltar.

Thought I would share our wonderful experience celebrating our 10 year anniversary on the Allure! Saturday July 7 - We arrived early afternoon at the Renaissance Cruise Port FLL. Our room wasn't quite yet ready, so we left our luggage with them and walked over to Publix to get our wine. We stopped at Duffy's for a drink and to watch soccer and shortly after our room was ready. That evening, we walked back to the Harbor Shops Plaza for dinner at La Bamba (as recommended by @Lovetocruise2002) and back to Duffy's to watch UFC (hubby's request). Bed was comfortable and we had a good night's sleep. Sunday July 8 - Woke up and walked over to Einstein Bros. and Starbucks for breakfast and a coffee. We signed up for the shuttle ($6 per person) for a 10:30 am departure. We arrived at approximately 10:45 am and waited shortly (20 - 30 mins) in the Diamond area before boarding. Once on board, we walked around a bit and made our reservations for the specialty restaurants (Chops for Day 2, Giovanni's Table for Day 4, and 150 Central Park for Day 6). Our junior suite (room 7640) was ready at around 1 pm and our luggage came shortly after, as did champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. ? We were feeling a little hungry, so we headed to Park Café for a kummelweck sandwich (yummy). After that we changed into our suits and went up to the solarium pool (not busy). For dinner, we first went to the Diamond Lounge for drinks and onto Coastal Kitchen for dinner. Our server Rexcel in the Coastal Kitchen was wonderful and we got to know her throughout the week as she became our regular server. After dinner, we watched Oceanaria and stopped in at karaoke (On Air) on our way back to the room. to be continued...….

Last evening my son and husband went trout fishing. After having caught their limit and cleaned their trout, they walked back to the truck to head home. My husband had thought he had stepped on a stick, breaking it, with part of it snapping and hitting his ankle. He never did see the stick. Just noticed the sharp pain and a little blood about 15 steps later. When they got in the truck, he examined his ankle further and saw two puncture marks. Yep, a snake bite. He went to the emergency room last night and got home around 4:30 AM (today). At that time they did not give him any anti-venom (recall he never saw the snake). Here in the Ozarks, we have many venomous snakes (Copperhead, Rattle snake, and Water Moccasin/Cotton Mouth, to name just a few), but rarely do people get bit by them. My husband is now back in the emergency room as I write this post, with further swelling and nausea. We have our Alaska cruise and pre-cruise vacation exactly 365 days from today. The total cost of this YOLO trip approaches $20K. We insure every cruise trip we take with the "Cancel For Any Reason" added to the policy. Had this situation occurred even up to a week before our trip, we would cancel. If you can AFFORD to lose the cost of your trip, whatever the amount, the don't buy trip insurance. Or, if you can afford to lose the cost of your trip, you can afford trip insurance. If you can't (or can't stand the thought of losing the money), BUY TRIP INSURANCE WITH CANCEL FOR ANY REASON TAGGED ON! We need prayers and good thoughts sent our way. Hoping he keeps his leg and we move on from here. Tomorrow is another day.

Wednesday July 11 We arrived in St. Maarten and headed over to Hertz to pick up our jeep. We reserved it online (no credit card needed to reserve) for $93. After giving our information and getting a map, we were brought to our jeep. The map wasn't the best and the signs weren't the greatest, but we had lots of fun kind of winging it. First stop was Friar's Bay - it was beautiful and only about 10 people were there. We got out and went for a short swim before getting back to our adventure. I had read about Pic Paradise as having beautiful views of the island, so when we saw the sign on our drive, we decided to go there. Glad we had the jeep because the road became quite bumpy and closer to the top it was a very narrow road (more like for one car). We didn't end up hiking to the top, but we stopped and got out where we could turn around and took some nice pictures. Next stop was Maho Beach where we opted to go have a drink and bite to eat at Sunset Bar & Grill. Lastly, we went to Mullet Bay where we went for a swim before going back to the port. When we arrived to return our jeep, the rep for Hertz wasn't there, so we put the keys in the drop box. That night we had dinner at Giovanni's Table. We shared the antipasti and gnocchi for appetizers. I opted for the ossobuco (delicious) and my hubby had the pasta of the day (chicken marsala). For dessert, I chose the tiramisu (one of the best desserts I had all week ?) and my hubby had the cannoli. We made reservations for the 70's Disco Inferno VIP experience on the Rising Tide Bar. It included drinks, snacks and favors ($26 pp if you have a drink package and $52 pp if you don't). We went to the bar around 9:30 and the disco street party started around 10:15 pm. It was a fun way to watch the street party! The chocolate martinis went down very well! ?

It's not going to be my fault this time!!!! ?

Monday July 9 We slept in a bit then got dressed and headed to the Cruise Critic meet and greet in On Air. We won a prize pack of RC items (backpack, hat, water bottle, pen, keychain, highlighter, reusable bag) and ended up using the back pack throughout the week. ? Once the meet and greet was over, we had a breakfast sandwich in Park Café. Throughout the day, we went back and forth between the main pools (quite busy due to it being a sea day) and the solarium pool. Lunch at Windjammer was okay and we easily found a seat even though it was busy. That evening we enjoyed dinner in Chops. We had the crab cake and grilled black peppercorn bacon for appetizers (both were very good). For the main, the filet mignon was excellent but we found the mac and cheese a little dry. They brought both of our desserts (key lime pie and liquid center chocolate cake) on the same plate and sang us "Happy Anniversary" to the tune of "Happy Birthday." We had 10:30 pm reservations for the comedy club. The comedians were Rick Corso & Graham Kay and they didn't disappoint. We laughed a lot! On our way back to the room, we stopped by the Schooner Bar and listened to the singer who was also playing acoustic guitar.

Day 2 - Sea Day We got up nice and early as I'd booked in for the 7:30am yoga class in the gym. It cost $12 +18% gratuity. I love yoga and have been practising it for several years so thought it would be an energising way to start my day. The class was ok; it was a more static style than I'm used to and the instructor didn't seem very experienced as his postures weren't very good but I've got enough experience so that I was able to get a good workout. Holding the poses whilst on a moving ship was also a lot more challenging than doing it on land! (Although the after-effects of the drinks package might also have played a part in that!) I've signed up for tomorrow's class as well but I'm not sure whether or not I'll go yet - you don't get charged unless you acrtually attend so I've got nothing to lose by not going. After yoga it was time for breakfast in the Windjammer. It was 8:30 and although it was busy, there were plenty of seats. We then got some coffee from Cafe Promenade before going to collect tickets for the 2 different ice shows that will be performed during or cruise. It was then time top head up to the Solarium to relax and have a nap. Lunch was at the WJ. We got there at about 13:15 and it was very busy but we managed to find a table after one lap and there was still an amazing variety of food - nothing seemed to be running out. We then went back to our cabin to relax before our Wine Tasting event. This was held in the deck 3 MDR and was hosted by one of the 5 wine waiters they have onboard - 3 work in the MDR and 2 in Vintages. We got to sample 2 whites, 2 reds and a sparkling which is made by Chandon especially for RC. The tasting was accompanied by a selection of cheeses and fruits to complement the wines and we were told how to properly smell and taste the wine. There were about 30 people attending the event. Most on tables of 2 but we were on a shared table. It was a fun, informative event and a good opportunity to speak to some other passengers. I'd booked this in advance via the cruise planner and I think it cost £13 per person. After the wine tasting we went to Playmakers to watch the first half of the world cup final before going to watch Strings Ice Show in Studio B. The show was fantastic - it amazes me how they can do the stunts they do on such a small rink. It was also incredible how the violinist walked on the ice in incredibly high heels. It was then time to get ready for formal night. We went to the Captain's gala on the Royal Promenade and were impressed to see Captain Teo descend from the heavens to the tune of Skyfall. Unfortunately they didn't give numbers of passengers and nationalities onboard etc. When we boarded it said the cruise was sold out but our waiter told us they're not at full occupancy although they were on the last cruise. Dinner was in the MDR and this time 2 of our 4 tablemates also showed up. They're a couple about our age from Ireland and they were really good company. After dinner we grabbed an espresso martini from the Champagne Bar and took that into the Theatre to watch a tribute band called The Take That Experience. They're a tribute to Take That who were a 'boy band' who were huge when I was a teenager (think New Kids on The Block era-ish) and who reformed about 6 years ago and have had even bigger success. The tribute band were fantastic and had everyone waving their hands in the air and clapping along. With that it was time for bed ready for our 2nd sea day.

Embarkation Day - Concluded I promised a Live(ish) blog because I don't plan to greet Voom as I can use my normal phone package in European port s so updates will only be on port days. Anyway, now that we're docked in Gibtaltar, I can fill you in on what's happened since we set sail: We were late to sailaway by almost an hour as apparently there was a lot of baggage to get loaded. It didn't matter though as the drinks were flowing and the sun was shining. As we sailed past the Isle of Wight, we spotted the brand new £75 million super-yacht Elandess which is owned by Lloyd Dorfmann, the owner of Telex and was launched a coupleof weeks ago. After sailing past that, we headed back up to the cabin where our bags had arrived did we were able to unpack and change for dinner. We then headed down to the Ale & Anchor Pub for a pre-dinner drink. There was a guy playing piano on the promenade - kind of a 'duelling pianos' style but there was only him playing. At 8:15 we strolled down towards the dining room but the doors were closed so we thought we might as well grab a drink from the champagne bar to take in with us; cucumber martini might be my new favourite drink. On this cruise we've gone for late traditional dining. Our table is in deck 4, on the port side right next to the balcony and has a great view of what's going on in the restaurant. We're at a table for 6 but none of our tablemates showed up lastnight. We had a great dinner regardless and or waiter Johnson and assistant waiter Brendan were very friendly. After dinner we had a couple of drinks in the Schooner bar singing along with the piano. We then went up tothe Royal Promenade to watch the Olympia Parade which we didn't really understand the significance of but the costumes and the person on stilts were impressive. After that it was time to call it a night ready for our first Sea day.

Twangster...oh my gosh! That actually worked! Thank you so much. You made my night. So happy to have all that completed and printed!

Along those lines, twenty years ago we were on our second cruise-11 night Hawaii- and the ship was teeming with passengers much older than we were (50). Many had walkers or scooters or canes or assistants. On one of the formal nights I was mortified I had forgotten my matching shoes and my husband made everything all right when he said, “ Don’t worry about it. Most of these people will be impressed you can walk unassisted.” LOL

@JLMoran Alright, I changed my time to the 7:30 one for spectra's. I had the later one booked this morning. I have the other booked for a later time I'm hoping for some last rays of sun for the year! Full disclosure though - we booked shows for last week's cruise too, and never made it to one of them. Could'a been all the day drinking buttttttttttt....

And once again a live blog goes off the rails... One word. Pizza.

I would never tell any of you that the next sale is the Explore More Sale with up to $200 to spend at sea 5nights or less: Inside/oceanview: $25, Balcony: $50, Suites: $75 6 nights or longer: Inside/oceanview: $50, Balcony $75, Suite: $100 Combinable with non-refundable OBC (which is how you get up to $200).

FYP

I'll try and scope from there at some point but for now, here's a photo taken during the World Cup Final to keep you going:

@Matt love you site. Thanks so much for doing it.

A birdie sent me an email that new Sale coming this weekend, 50% off Kids Sale Free up to $200 OBC and specialty dining for two beginning July 20-23, 2019 in case anyone wants to recheck their rates or book a new cruise! perhaps @Matt can confirm??

Oh my goodness. What a freak thing. I am so sorry to hear it. Prayers and positive thoughts coming your way. Hang in there ! I recently purchased annual trip insurance which is something I thought I would NEVER do but I knew that once I turned 65 (13 more days) I would not be covered by Medicare outside of the US. I now have a great sense of comfort knowing that we are covered for all of our upcoming cruises without having to individually cover each of them.

Of course its unusual thats why its happening to me!!! Had Maya Chan booked for our Costa Maya day and they pick THAT day out of all 365 to have Aquafest there & cancel our reservations. Maybe God is trying to tell me something?!?!!

Because they know your're lurking about and want to mess with you....

OMG...you did not tell me there was wildlife out of nowhere! I don't even like dogs and cats! Cows are even worse ?

Tuesday July 10 I got up and went to the gym around 7 am while the hubby slept in. We headed to Johnny Rockets for breakfast around 9 a.m. and it wasn't busy at all. We had the breakfast sandwich and patty n' eggs (the latter became my hubby's favourite). First, we tried out the TV show trivia at On Air, but unfortunately didn't do very well. Lots of newer shows that we were unfamiliar with. Next, we spent time at the solarium pool and had lunch at the solarium buffet. In the afternoon, we went to watch the Sexiest Man Alive competition at the aqua theatre. When that was finished, we headed back to On Air to watch soccer. That night, we had drinks in the Diamond Lounge before heading to Coastal Kitchen. We were quite tired, so we didn't do much that night. Our first stop (St. Maarten) was also in the morning, and we wanted to be up and off the ship asap.

@twangster is Da Bomb

The general wisdom is to use private mode in your browser. If kicked out you may have wait 15 minutes before trying again. Clearing browser cache and data is another option, or try a browser you don't use often. I do most things in private mode on RC's website.

When you look at Royal's response overall to the 2017 hurricane season it leaves you with a lot of respect. Sure people on the next cruise or those who needed to be home for work got upset and placed blame at an easy target (hard to really give Mother Nature the what's for). But if you can stand back and objectively observe the bigger picture and collective response overall it was pretty great at too many different levels to mention here. It certainly contributed to my continued loyalty even when I've been impacted on current sailings recently.

I've had 3 people request access to the sheet. Please like this post to confirm if you are one of them, just so I am sure that they are real accounts and connected to the blog.

Thanks to @Wilson for tipping me off to this! Today's Galveston Daily News is reporting that the Port is near a deal with Royal Caribbean to bring an Oasis Class ship to Galveston in late 2020. The Port says Royal Caribbean would build the terminal on land leased from the Port of Galveston. The full article from the Galveston Daily News requires a subscription, but here is the full text: GALVESTON - July 15, 2018 Port of Galveston officials are nearing an agreement with Royal Caribbean to build a third cruise terminal at the Port of Galveston that could cost $85 million and bring the world’s largest passenger ship to the island in 2020. “We’re working toward a really good agreement,” said Ted O’Rourke, chairman of the port’s governing board. “It’s a great opportunity if we are able to put it together.” Port Director Rodger Rees in March announced that Royal Caribbean wanted to bring an Oasis-class ship to the island, but that doing so would require a new cruise terminal. The port already is home to two cruise terminals at piers 25 and 27, but the size of the Oasis-class ships requires additional support, officials said. Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships, of which there are four with more planned, are more than 1,180 feet long and capable of carrying more than 6,200 passengers. Officials are discussing putting the third cruise terminal at Pier 10, next to the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics and BMW vehicle processing plant, Rees said. “Right now, the talk is about having Royal Caribbean come in and build the terminal themselves, then we’d have them lease the land from the port, sharing in revenues with them. We’d control the parking aspect of it,” Rees said. Royal Caribbean officials did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday. The proposed facility would have to be about 155,000 square feet, port officials said. The BMW facility would not have to move under current plans, Rees said. The benefit of having Royal Caribbean build the cruise terminal would be that the port wouldn’t have to take on substantial debt and would, instead, be able to focus on its substantial infrastructure needs, Rees said. Ever since the Carnival Celebration made its first voyage from the island in September 2000, the port has come to depend more and more on the cruise business for revenues. The port depends heavily on revenues from cruise ships. Port officials anticipate about 55 percent of revenue budgeted for 2018 will be cruise related. Port officials are projecting operating revenues of about $37.4 million in 2018 against operating expenditures of $37.2 million, according to documents. “This doesn’t use up our borrowing power to build a new terminal,” Rees said. Addressing dilapidated facilities at the island’s public docks could cost as much as $250 million, a problem exacerbated by the fact the port is projected to bring in only about $250,000 in net income in 2018, port officials said. For a third cruise terminal to be ready to host an Oasis-class ship in the fall of 2020, officials will need a project planned and designed by about November, Rees said in a previous interview with The Daily News. There is not yet a final agreement with Royal Caribbean, and all details of the proposed third cruise terminal could still change, Rees said. The Wharves Board of Trustees must approve whatever agreement is eventually reached with the cruise line, Trustee Elizabeth Beeton said. The Port of Galveston is a landlord port, which generates much of its income from lease agreements with maritime tenants and fees related to ship calls. The port is home to three year-round Carnival Cruise Line ships, one year-round Royal Caribbean ship, one seasonal Royal Caribbean ship and a seasonal Disney Cruise Lines ship. The Carnival Vista, the cruise line’s newest and biggest ship, will arrive at Galveston’s docks Sept. 23.

For everyone who's booked on the Oct 13 Anthem sailing to Bermuda, the stage shows (The Gift, We Will Rock You, and Spectra's Cabaret) are now visible for reservations in Cruise Planner under Entertainment. Grab your reservation while you can! For those who want to see the shows and would be interested in making a sort of "mini group cruise event" out of one or more of them, I've booked Spectra's Cabaret for Day 2 (sea day) at 7:30 PM, and We Will Rock You for Day 5 (Sea Day) at the 2:30 PM matinee showing. Still waiting for North Star and iFly reservations to show up, not sure why they aren't made available the same day.

Thanks for the update. Yikes, $25k for anti-venom? Wow.

But if you re-booked with RC then they will reimburse you for the flight changes.

I have to stop reading so literally. Read that and initially pictured this:

Holy cow! Best hopes and wishes for your husband!

Wow --- Hoping for a speedy recovery ..... Here in the central Appalachians, we really only have to deal with two..... Copperheads and Rattlesnakes. I live on the side of a mountain and with nothing behind me except the land going up the mountain, I know both of those snakes, and many non-venemous ones are there..... We've learned to live by one simple rule, black snakes keep the rattlesnakes away ..... Whenever I see a black snake, which is somewhat frequent, I just let it do its thing or I just nudge it with a stick in a direction so as to not run into it and for it to not get hurt. Hoping for a quick recovery. And you're right, trip insurance is invaluable.... it only takes one instance for it to become a life-saver.

I hear you on that. I may try and convince my wife (aka SWMBO -- She Who Must Be Obeyed) to switch to the later showing of We Will Rock You for the same reason. But she wanted the earlier showing on that day, so that's what I booked. ? I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday!!! and many prayers for BakedAlaska's husband too!

Hoping for the best and a speedy recovery.

I never asked for it, Jacki just does it. Last sale I saved $50 on one sailing. It's only $50 but its my $50!  I started the process through the MEI website and Michelle C. is my new best friend. How long should I wait once the sale starts before contacting them? They had a promo where they were covering the gratuities so on a 5-night that was $72.50 pp (or $290 for the 4 of us).

Is that automatic for all MEI customers? Or just "special" folks like you? ? We booked our next one with MEI.

Hi guys, Happy to find this forum, as my experience has been these types of boards are the best way to plan vacations! I'm sailing on Allure in April 2019 with my fiance and my two teenagers (13 and 15). My kids have been fascinated with cruising since they were little, so I decided this was a good time to take them on an adventure. We are avid travelers, but typically stay off the beaten track (with the exception of our annual pilgrimage to Disney). Cruising will be VERY different for us! Hoping this trip will combine the best of those two worlds! My fiance and I have both cruised before -- but way back in the day when ships were much smaller. Hit me with any newbie tips you think I should know -- and thanks in advance for all the great advice. I have already learned a lot!

Following along as we will be on the Allure in October for our Anniversary and my Birthday. Our TA indicated both on our reservation. Did your reservation have that noted as well. My wife will like the Happy Anniversary plate so I was wondering if you mentioned it to Chops or if they already knew about it. Oh, how crowded was the Solarium on the sea days? Thanks

But why do I think you will actually "check it out yourself" ??? LOL?

Enjoying your review so far!

Another sale... great. Too many cruises to reprice. Thank goodness a lot of them are with MEI who reprices automatically for me.

I'm not convinced it's a revenue thing. A $2 charge is likely on the threshold of just breaking even given the costs for extra billing any item, dealing with issues at guest services, paper, cost of billing system itself, etc. It's likely influenced by crowd control. If they were included, that is all people would order, over and over and over. There wouldn't be enough bar staff given the effort involved. Hiring more bartenders seems like an easy fix but that increases costs and at times there would be idle bartenders doing little which is a waste of resources. As annoying as it may be, a small charge throttles the volume of demand to a manageable level.

A lot of credit goes to Royal for stepping up and hiring a full time meteorologist. They are always two steps ahead and never even come close enough to the big storms for it to be an issue. So if you're on a cruise and the port stops get changed, be thankful. You could be stuck in rain and 40' waves off the coast of haiti instead of laying on a beautiful sunny beach in st thomas. Sorry for the thread jack.

Mainly US but there is one European socket by the dressing table. No - our assigned time was 2pm but we were at the terminal at 10:55 and were straight on. I think you've chosen a great ship for your first cruise. Have fun!

Sound business practice in this case. People are already flustered and crazed over the storm's unexpected impact on their return travel plans and, depending on where they live, possibly worried about what state they'll find their home in when they return. Royal doing this ensures that when those stressors come to a peak, the people will be telling their friends, "I'm so glad that Royal stepped up and covered all of those changes for us! It was such a huge relief not to have to deal with those added expenses on top what hit us because of the storm!" Those friends now have positive feelings about Royal, and when considering a cruise will probably think of them first. Imagine if Royal stiffed everyone and said, "Not our problem!" Those people would be bad-mouthing Royal all over the place, including their local TV stations, and the bad press would haunt them for months, if not years. They have a hard enough time when the news goes on another "Look what ship got Norovirus THIS time!" story; why compound things like that with bad press about treating guests hammered by the hurricanes badly?

Hello all! Just back from a great 2 weeks on SY. I think that Michele and Margot are a fantastic CD & AM team. Really enjoyed them. As some of you may know, whilst onboard, I resigned from doing the list on CC. I just decided that it wasn't in my best interests. I was a bit too opinionated, people didn't like the way I ran it, I wasn't enjoying it any more and it took over my life. It was a learning curve for me, but CC is a tough community and I just thought it was time for me to quit it and focus on what I want in life and my goals to be CD. With that said, in the past month, I have began to really recognize that Royal Caribbean Blog is a much friendlier community that I will continue to be part of. I have created a Google Spreadsheet Doc for the blog to find out info. Anyone here can go in and edit it with info that they know/find out. Let's get rid of all the cells saying "Unknown". Please don't tell CC. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Vys5ELSSDd0HISyzUEfOMXzbkPqDYWGEc2xyjDEd_P8/edit#gid=0

In one of the articles yes , Not sure how they can blame them , the operators are the one that tells you when to start, they are the one that suppose to know if the line is clear or not , very strange , but I guess they are trying to protect the tourism in the Island, very wrong way of doing so if you ask me

@Matt - Thanks for suggesting on your last podcast that we reproduce this cruise review email in the discussion boards. Yeah, it's lengthy, but we hope some newbies, or others who have not tried Oasis-class ships, will find some helpful suggestions from our first cruise on this wonderful, ginormous vessel... My wife and I have greatly enjoyed your podcast and the awesome website as we got back into cruising earlier this year. Your advice and advice from others on the message boards greatly enhanced our cruise experience. We provide our key takeaways at the end. Prior to our eastern Caribbean cruise on Oasis this February-March, we had only experienced Monarch of the Seas as chaperones for a local high school group trip in early 2010. We were quite impressed with that ship--the biggest/best from 1990--when we sailed her almost a decade ago. But we could not fully anticipate the staggering hugeness of Oasis when we first walked up to and boarded her. You can view all the videos and see all the photos you want, but that can't replicate the visceral impact seeing this beautiful behemoth in person. We flew to Orlando the day before embarkation at Port Canaveral and took a van from a travel company from the airport to our hotel in Cocoa Beach--cost was equivalent to Uber and we were the only riders. Yes, heed the advice of many and arrive in town the day before if you can't drive to the port. Peace of mind for making your cruise on time without a panic-filled dash is worth much more than a night's hotel stay! Although Royal notified us to arrive at the terminal for boarding between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m., we took your advice and arrived early at the terminal, by 10:00 a.m., and were quickly processed and received our Sea Pass cards. RC staff want to get passengers processed efficiently and did not ask about our scheduled time-slot for boarding as we thought they might. We received a Gold C&A member boarding card (labelled "Gold-3" to be exact) and did not have to wait long in the main room for the boarding process to begin, starting with Suite guests and working down the C&A ladder from Pinnacle to Gold. It took maybe 30 minutes at most to get to gold member boarding. Being pretty geeked out by now, we got our photo taken while boarding and were on the ship by about 11:15 a.m. Entering the ship on the Deck 5 Royal Promenade--a cool, glitzy three-deck-high space running up the middle of about half of the ship--we noticed the Globe and Atlas Pub, which called to us to baptize our pre-purchased ultimate drink package. Based on RC blog advice, we headed first to a specialty restaurant in Central Park on Deck 8 to make dining reservations for the cruise--this was much quicker than waiting in line at one of the restaurant reservation desks temporarily set up in the Royal Promenade. We pre-purchased the 3-night specialty dining package and had already scheduled 150 Central Park for dinner on day 2. We had no line at the desk at Giovanni's and booked a dinner there and at Chop's for times later in the cruise that would work well with our show reservations. From there we strolled across Central Park and had lunch at Park Cafe with only a 10 minute wait -- yes, those roast beef sandwiches at Park Cafe are fabulous! We then went up top and regaled in the views from the solarium, and areas for the main pools and wave runners on Decks 15 & 16. Our stateroom was open around 1:15 p.m. We had reserved a balcony room (14204) at the start of the bump in the middle of the port side on Deck 14. On our previous cruise, we stayed on Deck 3 in a small stateroom with a small window. A balcony 14 decks up provides an awesome vantage point—almost vertigo-inducing! My wife's luggage had arrived by then -- not at our stateroom door, but a ways down the corridor with a group of other luggage. Mine was not yet available. We met our room steward who told us it might take until 6:00 p.m. for all luggage to be delivered, which seemed odd as our luggage was on the same cart to begin with and I had intentionally avoided bringing in any items I knew were forbidden by RC (more on that later). After we checked out our stateroom, we headed to the main dining room on Deck 4 to see if we could switch from My Time dining to traditional dining at the earlier seating (5:30 PM), because this would work better with the shows we had reserved, and from our perception through some podcasts that My Time dining could take a bit longer than traditional. We spoke to a head waiter at the desk near the entrance to the dining room and he had no problem assigning us to fill out an eight-person table for traditional dining, which worked well for us and gave us a good opportunity to meet some other cruisers. After a bit more exploring and checking for my luggage – still had not arrived yet – we attended the muster drill and caught some of the sail-away festivities from the Deck 14 forward wing viewing area (another Oasis tip we learned from the RC Blog website). One last check for my luggage before we headed down to traditional dining. After a nice meal, we headed back to the room before we were to go to our first show of the cruise, Cats in the Opal Theater at 8:30 PM. When we arrived at our stateroom door, I saw the dreaded notice that I had to go down to the security baggage checking area on Deck 2 before 8 PM to get my luggage and it was already 7:45 PM by this time. I dashed down to Deck 2 and was instructed to open my bag and learned, to my surprise, that a short three-outlet extension cord was the contraband item. I was well aware that any liquor (besides two bottles of wine) or any appliance that created heat or a power strip were forbidden. RC staff calmly put up with my dumbfounded protestations and showed me the fine print where it did indeed state that extension cords are not allowed. Mental note made and not soon to be forgotten. Back to the fun stuff! My wife and I were both intrigued by the entertainment offerings described in Cruise Planner and the large number and types of entertainment venues provided on such a huge ship-- traditional Broadway-type theater, various nightclubs, ice-skating rink, Aqua theater, jazz club, and casino, along with many interesting watering holes. Being theater buffs, we made reservations for all of the shows available in Cruise Planner. The first show we saw, Cats, did not disappoint, even though the length of this unabridged show and perhaps its lack of a single main storyline caused quite a few folks to leave the theater at intermission. We were greatly impressed by the high caliber of the performers at this show, and most other shows on board. It was rather refreshing to see the show again after about 20 years. We enjoyed opportunities to talk with actors from Cats after their performances at other venues during the cruise (Dazzles and Jazz on 4). We enjoyed all of the shows, and none of them were, in our view, mediocre or worse. The ice-skating show portrayed the story of Hans Christian Anderson and many of his fictional characters. Although the ice-skating rink was not large by any means, the skaters still reached high speed and did several spinning leaps (sorry – can't tell my sow-kow from a toe loop). The divers in the aqua show were great. We spent a few enjoyable evenings in Jazz on 4 and got to know the performers, including at the Prohibition Event, which was fun but a bit blurry in my recollection. Good turnout for this event with a full venue and everyone decked-out in crazy 20s fashions. This was my wife's favorite night of the cruise and the photos taken by RC photographers around the Royal Promenade from that evening are the nicest keepsakes from the cruise. Based on recommendations from the podcast, we sampled specialty restaurants by pre-purchasing the 3-night package. We ate at 150 Central Park, Giovanni’s, and Chops – all very good and worth the upcharge. But we ended up re-jiggering our dining schedule due to a fortuitous encounter with our main dining room waiter when he was working at Johnny Rockets over lunch the second day of our cruise. He spotted us as we looking around the Boardwalk and called us over to ask about our dining choices for the cruise – we had mentioned to him at dinner on the first night of the cruise we had purchased a 3-night specialty dining package. As it turns out, the nights we picked for specialty dining coincided with the two formal nights and the last night of the cruise – in other words, all the dinners when they have the best meal options in the main dining room including lobster night. At his urging, we went back up to Giovanni’s and were able to reschedule our specialty dining for other nights so we could experience the best the main dining room has to offer on the two formal nights and the last night of the cruise. Couple notes on our ports: St Maarten For our excursion on St Maarten we also heeded the advice of many and took a cab tour around the island. Matt, thanks for the tip about your friend Leroy Brown. We were able to reserve his cab for our tour and enjoyed his island banter and stories about different areas and beaches. He did focus quite a bit on the devastation from the hurricanes last year, including taking us by some damaged resorts and boats/harbors. Although Maho Beach at the end of the runway and the bar restaurant next to it were back up and running, the north side of the island was hit pretty bad. Nevertheless, we stopped at a lolo in Grand Case-Cynthia's Talk of the Town--and had a great lunch of chicken and ribs...more food than we bargained for, but we got to sample the grilling style on the French side of the island. San Juan We honestly were not expecting much for our short stop in San Juan (8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) and were originally thinking we might stay on board. But we were glad we ventured out -- the old town was a short walk from the pier and we strolled through the old Spanish colonial-style narrow streets with their brightly-painted buildings. Electrical power was spotty as the power cut out occasionally while we were in some shops, but was on a few doors down on the same block. We sampled mufungo at Cafe Manolin, a Puerto Rican fried plantain dish that was hearty and tasty. Labadee As first-timers at Labadee, we threw caution to the wind and road the Dragon's Breath, the huge zip line over Adrenaline Beach. Some have commented on the uneasy feeling on truck the ride up the hill and while waiting on the platform for the zipline. We did not have a bad experience in the truck ride up or while waiting on the platform. The ride itself was very smooth and the spring-cushioned stop at the end was not as jolting as we thought it might be. Our zip-line ride was scheduled at the beginning of the cook-out lunch buffet, and that was perhaps not ideal. By the time we returned from the ride, the lines were pretty long at the buffet, so we waited until near the end of lunchtime to go through the buffet line. Some Key Takeaways: Arrive in or near your departure port the day before you cruise. Reserve entertainment before the cruise—no cost for this! Check RC’s current policy on forbidden items--no more innocuous-looking extension cords for us!. Try specialty dining, but check out the main dining room on formal nights to sample some of the best food included in your cruise fare. Take a few minutes to get to know your main dining room waiter and room steward on the first day of your cruise. They helped us optimize our dining and entertainment schedules to get more out of our cruise. Get your picture taken at least a couple times by the RC photographers. Consider buying a drink package on a cruise that has several sea days plus a day at an RC resort. If we had had a more port-intensive itinerary with no stop at an RC resort where the drink package is included, we probably would not have bought the full package. But it was fun to sample a broad range of drinks, including several tasty dessert martinis at the Champagne Bar (just not all on the same night!). Use self-disembarkation for a couple or small group. Although we had to line up early in the morning, once the line started moving we were off the ship in a few minutes and to the rental car counter before the big crowds. Keep up the great work on the podcast and thanks to all members who contribute to the informative message boards at the RC Blog website! Roger & Carol Finally Thawed (And Now Baking) Tundra, WI