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I decided to celebrate my 40th birthday with my first ever cruise! My birthday is in August, but I decided to go in June. Oasis of the Seas, leaving June 7th from New Jersey. Anyone else going? I appreciate Brock with M.E.I. Travel for helping me. He'll probably be sick of all my questions by cruise time! ?

Since we’re officially 4 weeks away from our cruise I thought it was an appropriate time to start the blog? (No? Meh, I’m going with it anyway). I never expected to book a cruise like this with Mr SpeedNoodles. He’s more into the “culturally enriching and/or scenic” sort of cruises. He wasn’t really thrilled about booking a cruise to the Caribbean because “they’re just islands - what is there to see that’s different from the next island?”. Plus, he’s a small-ship guy. He likes being able to walk around that outside Promenade level and visiting the helipad. He likes that connection to the sea. Honestly, since I’ve never been to the Caribbean myself so I couldn’t really negate his impressions. I have no idea myself. My two, short, warm-weather cruises were to Nassau/Coco Cay. So how did we end up booking this? Well, a year and a half ago, we had our Alaskan cruise booked on Ovation for June 2019. We hadn’t taken a cruise, or any vacation that didn’t involve showing dogs, in ten years (pet sitters are hard to come by). But we finally secured one, and we had quite the trip planned. We were going to drive to Seattle, spending 2-3 days in Yellowstone (we had the historic Yellowstone Inn booked), and then we were going to spend about 4-5 days exploring the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where we plan to retire, before we boarded Ovation for our 7-night Alaskan cruise. But things happen, and in September of 2018 my husband slipped on a wet floor at a business and tore his quadricep. He was out of work for 4 months after his surgery, which ate up a significant portion of his PTO that he had saved for the trip. We decided that we couldn’t pull off the 3-week trip, and would have to fly to Seattle if we wanted to still go (note: Mr SpeedNoodles is terrified of flying - serious druggage is necessary to accomplish a flight). So MY thought process was that we could use the money we were saving by shortening our trip to Seattle to book a winter Caribbean cruise! #speednoodleslogic. I threw the idea out there at him, expecting him to poo poo it, and to my great surprise he just said yes! HOLY CRAP! I emailed @michelle at MEI and quickly booked Symphony before he could change his mind. During the 13+ month span of time since I booked the cruise I’ve been exposing him here and there with Royal Caribbean Blog podcasts (as well as the Cruise Tips TV Unplugged podcast), live YouTube and Facebook chats, etc etc. After the Ovation cruise, he was even more excited about Symphony. Planning. Could. Begin. Itinerary Miami - Sea Day - Sea Day - St. Maarten - San Juan, PR - Sea Day - Coco Cay - Miami Pre-cruise hotel: Kimpton Epic What have we booked onboard? We went all out on our first Oasis-class ship. Unlimited Beverage Package ($18 intern special, TYVM) Unlimited Dining Package All Access Ship Tour Escape Room The Key Excursions? You betcha!!! (#OfficialMinnesotaTerminology) St. Maarten - 3rd party ATV tour San Juan - ATV tour booked through Royal Caribbean (this one should be very special to me and later I’ll tell you why!) Nothing special on Coco Key - Mr. Speednoodles’ plan is to snorkel, eat crispy chicken sandwich, snorkel, eat crispy chicken sandwich, repeat. I'll do some of the same with breaks to find the chickens and iguanas (I believe we are now on a first-name basis). This cruise is actually ending up being a sort of celebration. Immediately upon our return I’ll be starting my new job - I’ve been promoted to supervisor! I’m very excited (for many reasons, not least of which it is much easier to get PTO approved at that level!!) Ugh, the waiting is the hardest part (or so said Mr. Petty). I want to pack and go NOW!!!!! (Shameless Fezzik photo, just because).

We are Home! Suite 1740!

At the port, little early. Took like 2 mins to get to suite area. Pretty nice in here!

Day 2 Who needs sleep anyways? Seeing that we paid for that Bayview we slept with the curtains open. Not a big deal really but we live in the "country" with total darkness outside so the lights from the city are bright for us. I did fall asleep but woke up around 2:15a to watch the first ship come in, then back to sleep until around 5a to watch the others come in. I was not positive which ship was coming in at 2:30a but knew it was an Oasis class, when it made its turn in the basin to go back to the dock....WOW it is huge. I failed to mention it is extremely windy out and being on the 17th floor with a patio above us it sounds like the roof was gonna fall in at any moment. We loved this room even with the additional noise from the wind. Ships in port today: Carnival Conquest, Carnival Horizon, Norwegian Escape, MSC Seaside, Empress of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas. Scott finally woke around 7a and asked why I was sitting on the sofa and how long I had been up. Without glasses on or contacts in I explained I was just watching the little blurry ships come in to port all night. He claims I have issues. I'm a morning person and he is not so I jump in the shower and tell him I am heading to Publix to Starbucks, he of course wanted to join me as it is Publix so now I wait for him to get ready, so I will just sit and watch the ships...I can see now as I have contacts in. Again I love the convenience of Publix to grab stuff while at the Hilton. So I went to Starbucks and got a real coffee with Splenda and egg white bites and honestly I have no clue what Scott had for breakfast, I sure you he ate as remember a hungry Scott is a hangry Scott. Oh wait thats right we got 4 donuts from Salty Donuts last night so he had donuts and coffee. If you like overpriced donuts, Salty Donuts is there for you, Scott said that Publix donuts are better....well darn I tried. At least the box is cute. About 9a we head to Bayside Marketplace as we bought a Groupon deal for a water tour. Again we took the MetroMover that is right next door to the Hilton the the Marketplace. Quick, easy and free transportation. I am amazed at how efficient it is and that there is no charge. It is limited to the downtown area but you can get a lot of places. We checked into the podium at Bayride Tours and were placed on the 9:30a tour....awesome but I thought the first tour was at 10:30a, no biggie. Around 9:30 we boarded the vessel with about 20-30 other people and did out tour around Jungle Island and saw all the celebrities homes. One of the homes we saw was the old home of Madonna. This made me smile and warm as she is my sisters favorite performer and I lost her this summer to lung cancer. The tour was great and lasted about 90 minutes as advertised. If you want to do a tour in Miami I would check out Groupon as they have some good deals and usually buy 1 get 1. Here is the Symphony ? After the tour it was lunch time and Scott wanted to eat at Chili's at the Marketplace. Wouldn't be my first choice but I suppose he can have some say. It was a lackluster meal but his tank is full. We walk around the marketplace and find a Starbucks so I do the mobile order and get my coffee. We also find the Disney Store, remember we are Disney gays and it is just like every other Disney store....cramped and packed to the rafters. It is now around 2p and Scott now declares it to be nap time so we head back to the hotel. During the nap I hear a horn and out of bed I go to watch a Carnival ship leave, then I watch them all leave. It is now 6p and I pounce on the bed to wake Scott from his sleep coma, I get in trouble for not waking him to watch the ships leave...SMH I can't win. For dinner we wanted Tacos so we went to Tacomiendo which is a Taco Truck in the Midtown Garden Center in Wynwood. We arrive and were a little worried but just do it anyway. Having this little truck tucked into a corner of the Garden Center is beautiful with all the foliage and flowers around you. They have plenty of tables and you can see even more tables across the way. The waitress explains the tacos and Scott gets 2 chicken tacos and I get 1 fire brisket taco and we order chips and salsa to share. My brisket taco was amazing and lots of meat, easily as large as both of Scotts tacos put together. It was 7p on a Saturday and we were the only ones there but the food was really really good and we would definitely go back, Scott would get the brisket instead though ? The waitress explained that it is BYOB so next time to bring a bottle of wine or a beer to drink with dinner. After dinner we head back to Publix to get some more water for the room and then head back to the Hilton for the night. Time to get repacked and ready to head out on the Oasis of the Seas tomorrow.

So I started this whole thing by quoting Garth Brooks. Tonight it’s Tom T. Hall. Y’all sing it with me...”I was sitting in Miami, pouring blended whiskey down..”. And I did.? Lots more to share about today, including our shuttle to the hotel with the most talkative and funny guy every. We are now tucked into our two bedroom place at the Staybridge Suites which is comfy and ok for the 5 of us. We’re all ready for some sleep and ready to be on the ship! We are due to meet Allan at 10:15 to begin the food and fun frenzy! Thanks for coming along.

So far this is a full on live blog. In the Suite lounge!

We are on!

The included breakfast at the hotel. Leaving for the O-Asis in about an

I haven't felt this stress free in a long time and we haven't even left yet!

Found a really useful site to get historical average weather conditions for a given month -- weatherspark.com. It covers every single place I'll be visiting on my Iceland & Greenland cruise, including the Prinz Christian Sund waterway that we'll be traveling through when we leave Qaqortoq. You can view the average data for an entire month, and it gives a ton of useful information -- high-low temperature range, hours of daylight (useful in the far north!), average rainfall chance and total over the month, average wind speed and direction (hugely useful in a place like Prinz Christian Sund, where we're standing on deck much of the day observing the scenery and need to dress warmly enough), average water temp (I remember @twangster's comment about how, absent any major land nearby, ambient air temp is driven by the water temp), and more. This just made planning our wardrobe and what layers to pack a lot easier! Figured I'd share since I know there are others here who've been trying to figure out what to pack for a cruise that changes climates, and visits variable climates, kind of quickly over a few days.

I’m downloading pictures now from my camera and then will post some of them. I think I only took 275 or so since we boarded. We had lunch at Playmakers. Maybe a star class tip here: it was empty. Pretty much had it to ourselves. We sampled almost everything and it was all good. The suite is amazing, as always. We have met with Allan now several times. I’m impressed! Just the things waiting in our room showed creativity and humor. I think this will be a very good week! And for the M&M gang - we had M&M’s in the room?

I'll try and guess at a little more detail than @Lovetocruise2002 gave. ? The tl;dr summary is that, for me, the Chops filet is what I get when I go to Outback or maybe a place like Longhorn Steakhouse; pretty good, but rarely stellar. CK filet is what I get when my mom goes to the butcher and has him hand-pick a filet for her, and she has my brother cook it up medium-rare on the grill that same day with no / minimal seasoning; truly melt-in-your-mouth good, not a tough bit to be found, and rich flavor that can't be beat. Now the longer version. ? CK is a suites-only restaurant and has its own galley, and I'm betting that part of the difference is that their chefs are getting first choice of every single filet that gets delivered on embarkation day. They can do this, not only because they're a suites-only restaurant and have to offer the best to those guests, but because they only offer the filet on one night. True, they'll serve it two nights if it's a sailing longer than 11 days, but note how @twangster said that second filet was perceptibly not as good in his recent 11-night Anthem blog. The other difference to my palate is the seasoning they use. I happened to have both CK filet and Chops filet on the same sailing, and Chops' was very noticeably saltier than CK's. That's going to affect the cook (draws out more moisture from the meat while its cooking), as well as the final flavor. Final factor I can think of is that the CK galley is cooking for relatively few passengers at any given time, and every meal is made to order and paid close attention, so it's a lot harder to mess it up. Chops' galley is serving far more passengers at any one time, and the chefs just can't pay as close attention to every individual meal. Mistakes, even tiny ones like cooking it a bit closer to medium than medium-rare, are going to happen.

Well I am back from my Oasis of the Seas sailing. After 32 Disney cruises on all 4 of their ships I was not sure what to expect. Sure there would be food and activities but would I miss that Disney feeling that I get onboard while sailing with Disney? We did a 7 night on the Disney Fantasy in September and it wasn't the best, I was on a knee scooter with a cast and between having to wait on elevators (even to go up one deck). I am used to being independent and running up the stairs. Maybe I was a little moody since I was in a cast and with a scooter. You know how fun those scooters look, well if you have to be on one they are not fun, plus my coordination level is not good as I would run my good foot over and tip over. Cast of Characters: myself, Dan- avid lover of all things Disney, over planner and control freak Scott- Husband of 23 years (bless his heart), lets me over think everything and just goes along for the ride. Oh he complains if it goes wrong. Itinerary Western Caribbean...departing from Miami with stops at Labadee, Falmouth and Cozumel. Room Booked a Balcony GTY and received 6322- 8D according to deck plans. Was not excited about this room assignment at all, it was beside Playmakers and so far away from everything else it seemed. Travel We traveled to Miami on Friday January 10th on uneventful flights from Columbus with a connection in Atlanta. There are no airlines in Columbus (or Cleveland/Akron) that offer non stop service to Miami except a flight on United from Cleveland but the flight times were not ideal coming back so we (ok me, again Scott just nods when discussed) opted for the lay over. Arrived in Miami around 10:30a and took the MIA mover to the metro rail to the Metromover to our hotel. I booked the Hilton on Biscayne Blvd with a Junior Suite with a bay view. We were at the hotel by 11:30 so we stopped by the front desk to drop our luggage to explore the city. Well our room was ready which was shocking! So off to our room we go. Get to the room and the curtains are all closed to keep the heat out so first thing we do is open those up, we paid for a view and we are gonna enjoy it. The room is a corner room so floor to ceiling windows on the 2 walls and off in the distance we can see ships (we also saw them on the trip on the MetroMover). Ships in port were Carnival Victory, Norwegian Sky, Explorer OTS, Navigator OTS and Victory Sky. So we are situated in our room and we haven't eaten since 5:30a at the Starbucks in Columbus airport, I wasn't necessarily hungry but if on vacation Scott is always hungry and gets really hangry! The hilton is across the street from a Publix and he LOVES their subs so off to Publix we go for lunch. We come to love having this Publix so close for bottled water, snacks and such for the weekend. Scott got his Chicken Tender sub (OH my they put so much chicken on that beast) and I am harder to please as I am a post weight loss surgery person so I focus on proteins and less breads, so I ended up with a Chipotle Chicken Bacon Wrap. We also grabbed some water, pretzels and potato salad and headed to the room. After lunch it was time for a nap (Scott needs lots of naps during vacation as well or he gets grumpy), I couldn't sleep so I got out of bed and just watched the ships. After nap we watched the ships sail away and then we went to the Wynwood Walls and walk around. So I got us a Lyft and away we went. I apologize for not having pictures in my report but I am attaching one here. I am not a professional photographer by any means but I absolutely loved this mural. Wynwood was amazing and so glad we ventured out. Being in a big city like Miami is intimidating for us country boys! After walking around I recall people talking about Salty Donut and I knew that was something Scott would enjoy, so we heading there next. Salty Donut is just a small donut shop with cult like following. We stood in line about 15 mins and then got our 4 donuts and we took Lyft back to the Hilton. For dinner I had the other half of my wrap of Publix and Scott had Checkers (it is across the street as well). I did have a small burger there as well. Not that it was late or anything but we had an early night after starting our day at 3:30a. Stay tuned for day 2

Concierge is Jeremias and Mohamed . Haven't met them yet though. Here are some pics of 1702. The obstruction is there but I dont think it's an issue at all.

Yeah I'm going to be here in the lounge a lot. This coffee machine is great.

Have you read all of my posts since I joined? ?

Hey @bossdog421, IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!! Hope you and the family all have a fantastic cruise and come back with lots of great memories. Congratulations on the 10-year mark!

Better than all of your ship getting chartered! ?

I did. Like 30 bags. They will be a part of the blog, obviously.?

My royal up was declined. No star class for us! I'm very happy with our room though! Had to get an icecream while we were cruising coco beach.

I suggest to open now the DL to whoever have 115 points and above , well at least until end of April when I will get 11 more points so it can change to 126 points and above ?

On our previous sailing there was a group of about 20 Pinnacles in the Suite Lounge. They all arrived early and as a group commandeered the best seats in the lounge for happy hour offerings. This group proudly wore their pins and did this every evening, but they gave me JOY! I loved seeing them, so inspiring; everyone simply put was young at heart while not in years and I thought how wonderful for them, I want to be them when I reach that age. They were a quiet group and I felt like celebrating with them/for them as I thought "now that is how you do it" With so many nights under their belts I was happy for them and in awe, I gathered the courage to break into the group one evening and the warmth, stories and information they shared left me wanting more. So while I have no desire to wear my pins given moving forward, on the day I reach Pinnacle I will proudly wear it, as it represents to me a celebration, I worked hard and played hard. (So keep those window seats, you've earned them!)

It's cruise day!!! Happy Sailing @Rags1 and family!

Did you have a chance to converse with some of them at one of the bars on board? Did they fill you with mirth and humor about their oral adventures into the depths of cavities or the gloom and dome of gum disease or were they "just flossin"?

LOL, actually he's the only one named from the movie. It just fit him - he's big, and super sweet, and sometimes not as smart as he should be. And when my husband was 5 years old, he was at a wrestling match in St. Paul, MN and Andre The Giant put his hand on his head. Or rather it enveloped his head. It made quite an impression on him. He's been a fan ever since.

Have a great cruise and congratulations on your anniversary and vow renewal. I’m looking forward to following along. I can’t wait to see those floating cabanas. I’m going to coco cay in November and may try to get a group to go in on one. They are quite pricy on that cruise.

You are going to have a wonderful time!! I have yet to be on the Grandeur, but I have heard wonderful things about it and how friendly the crew are and it is an intimate and very outstanding customer service ship. Which packages are you looking at; dining, beverage? It may depend on who is sailing with you. I usually sail solo, so the buy one get one half packages do not help me. I do the deluxe beverage and voom package each time. I am about to take my first cruise as a Diamond level, and although I will get the free drinks during happy hour, I may still do the package. I am not a big drinker, but I like the idea of trying different things and since already paid for, no guilt in finishing it. I have calculated the price each day and it has always paid off substantially. I get like 3-4 water bottles each day, fruit smoothie each morning, specialty teas, soda and at dinner, my server last cruise made sure I tried all the different wines available, even if just to try and had a full glass ready for the my favorite ones. I think would end the meal with an espresso and kaluah, only a bit of it, but was nice. I could take a drink to the cabin or try something funky. You could get a glass of wine and dress up dinner in the Windjammer...which leads to the dining package. I have not done them, but they could be a good deal. I like the main dining room. The meal may be better in the specialty restaurants, but I really like the experience of having the same wait team in the main dining room and table mates if you have them. I may do the buy one night, get another free night one this time, just to give it a shot. I would not recommend to many specialty dinners on your first non Disney cruise since it will take away from the main dining experience, but if it something that you like, go for it. I need to be able to call my mother each day so she doesn’t call the Coast Guard as well as be available to the office in case there is a real emergency or crisis, so I get the voom attached to the drink package. If you are going to use the internet it will be making calls, it is a good thing to have and a better deal if attached to a different package. ... Have an incredible time!!

I so wanted to reserve 1740 for our cruise in two weeks, but some super lucky person already had it ? we will still be happy bringing up the rear, but we are definitely Team 17...?

Yea. I went off and was there for check in. turns out he was completely checked in and we could board immediately. my only frustration was that I kept being told different things.

Happy for you guys!!! 13 more weeks for us...

Multi level marketing. Similar to pyramid scheme

Well good Moring. Today I got up and went around the ship to take some photos. Well at 9:00 It was time for me to ride the wave. The line was super short for a sea day and the wave was working great today!

I may have skimmed some here and there. ? LOL!

Well it is a good thing that I am in a suite and can experience CK. Now I just have to tell my mom this is where we are eating the first night LOL Celebrating my 40th bday so I will use that as my leverage... ! Honestly, my plan was to eat in CK a lot- try things new.. instead of the same routine of the MDR. I am super excited.. I now know where I am eating on my first dinner-- and my last dinner (we are going to try Sabor). Thanks for the short and long version !

What?! This was the short version? ? All jokes aside, I agree with @JLMoran on each of his points. The CK filet is better in terms of cut, flavour, and overall texture. I tested this last year on Harmony. I had the Filet in CK on Night 1 and then Chops Filet Night 2. Huge difference. The Chops filet was not as flavourful, more dry, and harder to chew.

Hope embarkation is smooth and the porters don't demand they take your luggage!

Have a great time! We've had the chance to experience smallest vs. largest, but not so close together. Our first cruise on Royal was Majesty (2010)... our last was Allure (2019). Needless to say, completely different experiences. For now, my wife and I are in the bigger, newer/amped, and more choices is better phase (as you can see from our upcoming cruises!). I do see the appeal of all of the ships and agree that they all have their place in the fleet. I know some itineraries cannot accommodate the larger ships and/or a smaller ship is more appropriate and more intimate. I found out recently that Majesty will be at Coco Cay when we're there on Oasis this June... will bring back memories!

I know what you are thinking. January 2022? Did I read that right? In order to secure a great price on one of only two Star Class Ultimate Panoramic Suites on Oasis I booked this a couple of months ago when the itineraries where first released. Within minutes of them going public I secured the 2nd of these two suites in the name of research and, well it seemed like a good excuse to book a cruise. That's nice and all but why start a blog now? I am so tired of @Matt beating up on my fellow Canadian @Lovetocruise2002 even though we all knew he has the record for starting a cruise blog the longest before any sailing in the history of these boards that I had to step in and take action. So back off Matt! Seven hundred and twenty nine days. Itinerary as it stands today includes Puerto Plata, DR, St Thomas USVI and San Juan Puerto Rico. This may be my only 2020 update. I'll do my best to update this blog at least once in 2021. Until then, let it be known I hold the record for the longest pre-cruise early blogging award!

@JLMoran, the one front left is my beautiful Bride Stacy. Next to her, with the candy bag covering her face, is the camera shy youngest daughter, Taylor. On the right the Gingy is daughter Kaitlyn and Stacy’s twin Shari.

ditto to the above and wine. gotta lug my wine around for the first couple hours of the cruise unfortunately

Don't ever bother looking at the % off. You'll always pay less booking it prior to your cruise - just look at the price per day - the rest is meaningless.

That last cruise I went on was on Adventure. At the time, she was part of the largest class of cruise ships in the world. My next cruise this summer is on Oasis. ??

Made it Country Inn and Suites Port Canveral. Room is pretty nice. In laws in route with some cuban sandwhiches too. I'm more excited by these sandwhiches than the cruise food! Doesnt look like this hotel has a bar though, going to need to take a trip out for beers and icecream!

Personally I always pay the gratuities far before the cruise to space out the cost of a cruise. I just tell my travel agent to charge it to my card I have on file(then I immediately pay off that charge of course, please don't charge up a bunch of debt because you want vacation you can't afford). Spread out as many expenses as you can before your cruise. I also really don't like the idea of handing out tips in person at the end of the cruise. Like it or not, it's part of these workers wages and they really depend on that money. If you hand out tips at the end you are probably missing someone that depends on those tips. Instead I will give an extra tip to anyone that i thought was outstanding along the way. That's just my opinion

Woo florida bound!!!!!

Leaving Jersey. Cant wait to get outta here! Foggy, rainy and cold

On the way!