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I just asked my wife and her immediate response was “go to the shows”

My "Must Do" is to remember to bring my wife along! For some reason she gets angry if I forget?

Say a very quiet YAA WHOOOOO! Then grab a shot and a beer,

That's not a Must Do. That's a Must Not Don't

Looks like a kids pool/play area on the back of the ship. With walking/running track below it

Once a good shot of Baileys is added, I’ll drink anything!!

Must do! The first thing we do as soon as we get onboard is find our dining area and check our table. If it's not right or what we requested is very easy to get it fixed...A simple conversation with the head MDR person will get it fixed. If on an Oasis class ship, we've must get a roast beef sandwich from the Park Cafe. Meet our room steward to make sure they keep our ice bucket full...Lol Attend the Quest! We are hoping they bring it back now that the Covid restrictions are going away.

# 1 Find a chair or rail on the stern and watch the wake. I find it very calming and relaxing. # 2 A coco-loco from the pool bar before sail away # 3 Read the Cruise Compass each night before bedtime and honestly think I will have time to do EVERYTHING I am interested in the next day.

I am all about getting the package for me for multiple reasons. I use it for fruit smoothies, teas & coffees (which I typically never drink), oodles of water, soft drinks and alcohol. I think all the water alone pays for it, haha! I like the peace that if I am at dinner and try a wine and really do not like it, I can get something else. I can get an espresso and spirit of my choice, but only have a bit of and not feel like I have to have all of it because I just shelled out $14 for it. I like trying out different special drinks and just having as much of it as I want. I really, really love the freedom and peace of it and not tallying numbers in order to stay on budget. Having said that, my next cruise, I will be going as Diamond and will have four drink vouchers each day. I still contemplated getting the package, but the price of the refreshment package was really decent and a big difference for the full package. For now, the refreshment package made more sense and if for some reason, I order more than four alcoholic drinks, out of pocket will be best as no way I will be buying like six more drinks.

Absolutely. Just go to the Maragaritaville there at the port.

Agree

@USCG Teacher so we tried Koop's BBQ Kitchen in Galveston on this trip... it was great! The barbecue and side dishes were really good. The space was clean and pretty basic. The staff was friendly and helpful. I'd recommend it!

@ken52891 Starlink antennas being installed on the Oasis today.

Hiya! What are some of your Must Do things on your cruise? Besides having to unpack and get everything right away, I have to get on deck and have a drink in hand to toast and give thanks to God as we sail away. I also must go running along the jogging deck at night, sit alone and take in the evening sky, go to at least one art auction and watch as we leave each port. I also must have creme brûlée, fruit smoothies, different teas and chillax with wine on the balcony or neat spot somewhere. Oooh, and the thermal suite!! … What must you do?

Not in any order: --Finding a venue to dance with my wife. --Eating escargot at least once. --Dressing up for dinner a few times. --Having an espresso drink on the promenade. --Walking the perimeter of the ship.

In my case it would be the hubby

I would say don't bother with the Plug In. There are so few outlets that it would be a waste to take up one. Bring one of those freshener cones instead or a Febreze small spaces type of product.

Double points expired September 30th, 2021, I think the rep might have meant double points for the JS.

I don't think the double points promotion was on anymore in January. I'm pretty sure you had to be booked by the end of September 2021 to qualify for double points. I'm pretty sure the sales rep at next cruise was incorrect which wouldn't be a shocker.

I think I ran into him once a couple of weeks ago, only because I saw his name tag, but I know he was out there making announcements and keeping things rolling for sure. So many activities and just a great cruise. I didn't expect to like Allure so much and I just loved it.

Depends on the destination. Caribbean is a pina colada, Mexico is a margarita, and Alaska is a beer

ooops.....forgot one. Go to NextCruise and pick a cruise to book. Sometimes it takes days to whittle down the choices.

Grab a drink at the very first bar I pass once onboard.

just paid off vacations to go for the cruise.

All, We are just a couple of weeks out so we are getting really excited. Pooch, my wife says the same but I like it as well. Will definitely be utilizing some of the fantastic advice posed here. Love getting to know the bartenders anyway. They work hard and usually have a good story to tell if they aren't crazy busy making drinks for folks. Gonna really try to get one of the BLTs (maybe two and call it lunch!) and will work with them on getting it the way I like it. Thanks again and safe travels everyone.

That is a good question. I have not noticed them to be readily available. You may want to bring along a light weight portable battery pack. For trips like that, I even use the solar ones.

They'll want passengers on board 30 minutes prior to the announced departure time.

Listed time will be ship departure time. You are correct thinking they will want you back onboard 30 minutes before that.

room service coffee ....not a fan. Not very hot, not very strong.

They serve coffee onboard? Tbh only liquids im concerned about on vacation come in a pint glass Quite happily have a beer with my breakfast

I would normally say noon, but 11:45 is close enough. I would carry your own luggage off which will allow you to get off asap.

It would seem like a weird thing to say, but this question brings fond memories for me. We lost a beloved brother almost 10 years ago to ALS. The last time he was on his feet was in the pool on the Carnival Magic thanks to the pool lift in the aft pool. 3 brothers together. Two helping the third take what would be his final steps across that pool with his wife taking photos from the side. The weight reduction of being in the water allowed what little use of his legs was left to put one foot in front of the other for a few steps. 13 months later, he was gone. The memory brings a tear to my eyes this morning. Thanks for asking the question. I hope whatever your wife's condition, she is ok.

Sucks to get old but I have sadly come to the conclusion that, although I might have 5+ drinks a couple of days, I can’t do it every day anymore. Thankfully after this next cruise, we’ll be Diamond. I’m pretty comfortable with 4 comped drinks per day & paying OOP for the few extras.

The cat's nostrils were too small, lots of scratching!

And which pet cat did you swab for your test?

We have a flight out of Miami at 11:30am in December. We walk off our luggage and have TSA pre-check. We do fly first class which helps with dropping off our luggage. We have been at MIA as early as 7:45am. Like others said, as long as everything goes as planned it's fine.

Drink package limit went up to $14 as well. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/10/11/spotted-royal-caribbean-raises-base-price-cocktails-and-drink-package-benefit

If memory serves me correctly, the Canada / New England itineraries for 2023 came out this past February. I'm waiting on them for 2024 too.

Here's a photo tour from last year when I stayed in one: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/07/10/photo-tour-of-new-junior-suite-royal-caribbeans-freedom-of-the-seas

That’s surprising and may be a case of the documentation not being updated. I would be prepared to see where the ship docks that morning by using the Marine Traffic app.

Day 4 - CocoCay We’ve settled into a good rhythm in Windjammer breakfast. The quality is okay, the selection seems thin, but when the goal is to get food in kids stomachs, sometimes you have to make do. We’re a bit forward, so sometimes we walk down the stateroom corridor to the mid-ship elevators, sometimes we walk up to the pool deck and walk across. Our docking time was 9:00am, with gangway down at 9:30am, so we were approaching Coco Cay as we walked into the Windjammer at 8:00am. The future “Adults Only” section is still a pile of sand, with little in the way of progress or anything looking finished: We finished up brekkie and went to the room to change into bathing suits, and then headed to the promenade to wait for the cringe-worthy song (sorry) telling us the gangway was down. While waiting, the Wife pointed out a numbered facade on the Promenade, and inquired if it was some sort of inside joke among cruisers - she said it reminded her of Club 33 at Disney. Does anyone have any idea what this is? I didn’t get any photos of getting off the ship, but I did grab a photo of Oasis from the bridge to Chill Island: When we got halfway down the pier, I looked back at Oasis and said outloud “holy f*ck that’s a big ship.” It’s just like to took a skyscraper and laid it on it’s end, it’s just unconscionable that something like this exists, but there it is. We were lucky to be solo in CocoCay, no other ships joined us. It made the entire place feel comfortable and not overwhelmed. We posted up at the same place as our last trip, the back portion of the middle (smaller) of the three coves on Chill Island. There’s a cluster of palm trees that, with the umbrellas, provides us shade all day. We got ourselves situated then went down to the beach to play for a bit. The water was cool, but nice and clear. The weather was mid-80s, and plenty of clouds in the sky to provide relief every few minutes. It was truly a perfect day. After about an hour at the beach, we went (with a Coco Loco stop in between) to Captain Jill’s Galleon, the pirate ship at the Welcome Plaza. It’s a play area for smaller kids where Splashaway Bay may be too intense. There’s water jets, a few water slides, a rope climb, and a crow’s nest to climb to. All of the kids had a blast here for another hour before we headed to Splashaway Bay. Splashaway Bay is one of the neatest kids water parks that I’ve been to, it’s large enough to accommodate age groups up to teens, who would then be better served by Thrill Waterpark. One downside is the moment you set foot on the proper “park” portion, you’re going to get wet, as there are sprayers/misters everywhere. Our middle child doesn’t care for that, so she happily played in the perimeter sand while the oldest went up and down the adjacent water slides for another hour. Unfortunately, we were told adults can’t go down these slides, which was different than we were told last December (I definitely went down these slides!): After a bit more time at the slides, we went back to our chairs, then to Chill Grill for lunch. We brought out food back to the chairs and ate while the kids played in the sand, being careful to keep food covered so we don’t get a seagull bombing (which happened twice in 10 minutes!). It was difficult to get more photos from this point, as I didn’t want to carry my phone and get it wet. After lunch, we went back to the beach for a bit, then our youngest fell asleep at the chairs. I took the girls over to Oasis Lagoon and swam for a bit, before our middle child wanted to go back to the chairs and play more in the sand. After passing off to the Wife, the oldest and I played more in the pool, before wrapping up to head back. Curious about South Beach, we walked out the south end of Oasis Lagoon and took the tram road down to South Beach. This was my first time here, and I really liked it! It was more of a traditional beach, still having chairs but directly facing the ocean (no cove cut-out). The distance between the chairs and the water was much deeper too, giving more room for activities. South Beach is not very large, the entrance is right next to the overwater cabanas and goes for a little ways. It has its own Snack Shack for food. Due to its size, it’s very quiet and feels very secluded, you get no noise from Thrill Waterpark, Splashaway Bay, or any of the music/DJs of Oasis Lagoon. It feels like a different world. After touring South Beach, we grabbed the tram back to Chill Island to pick up the rest of the family, and head back to the ship at 2:30pm. It was much earlier than the all-aboard at 5:00pm, but the kids were fried, one was still napping, and we didn’t want to push prepping for dinner. Once the girls were ready for dinner, we saw that there was an open ice-skating session, so we decided to take it for a spin: There’s a waiver you need to sign at the entrance of Studio B, and they add a sticker to your SeaPass card. Depending on how busy the ice skating is, you can pick from one of four 20-minute skating sessions to participate. Because it wasn’t busy, the staff gave us passes for the current session. Once your waiver is complete, you head down into the open end of the ice rink to show the attendant your sticker, then pick up your skates and helmet. We went around the rink with the girls twice (well, the girls hanging onto my arms or the wall because they can’t really skate yet ), and we wrapped up and headed back up to the stateroom to pick up the rest of the family. Tonight was dinner at Izumi Hibachi. It’s located on Deck 4 in the same location as Izumi Sushi. When you walk into Izumi, you turn left towards the Hibachi tables. There are three tables with 10 chairs each, and it’s not a large area at all: Overall, it was a good show, and the food was okay. The fried rice was (and always is) my favorite part. There’s no fire like a normal hibachi show, and the chefs all did the same tricks. Some of the other chefs were more improvisational and had more outgoing personalities. The kids loved it. After the kids went to bed, it was close to the first seating of Aqua80s. I didn’t have a reservation, but I figured I’d find standing room somewhere to watch the show. There was a line for “No Reservation Guests” that was only about 10 people deep, and the host said “You can stand upstairs at the rock wall, or in the splash zone”. I asked how “splash” the splash zone was, and the host laughed, then with a serious tone said “we give you towels for a reason”. I went up to the rock wall, and not being impressed with the distance to the stage, headed down to the splash zone. I found a seat in the third row on the far right side, imaging I’d be safe. I sat down just in time for “Power of Love” start and see the flying rig in action. After Marty left, the opening act began, and guys, when I say this soundtrack is , I’m not kidding. I would pay cash money for a copy of this soundtrack, the mashups are SO GOOD. The choreography is good, the lighting is top notch, but the star of this show is the soundtrack, my goodness. Here’s a few more show shots: I have to insist anyone going on Oasis has got to see this show, it is a MUST DO! After Aqua80s, I headed down to the Royal Theater for the Love and Marriage game show: It was a great show, and the youngest couple won! The first time I had seen that happen, usually it’s the oldest couple that wins, but this young couple was on fire tonight. Tomorrow is Nassau. We have no plans to get off the ship, see you then!

I'm don't believe you can view the dress days in the app before your cruise. I usually look at posted cruise compasses from the same ship to get an idea. They generally will be the same if the itinerary is the same. Royal Caribbean Cruise Compass | Royal Caribbean Blog

I was firmly in the lower price off site camp until we used the terminal parking in March. Beyond convenient! More than well worth the extra $45. On the highway ten minutes after we disembarked. It would have been 5 but we let a large family with small children take the elevator before us.

Well as it turns out the Surf and Stream is not great on deck 12 forward which was where our cabin was located. I got way better service mid deck but after losing a post before uploading it I gave up on the Live portion of this blog, oops!! We are home now and had a great time! I will add some more recap photos in the following posts. On Friday after boarding/muster/excessive water sliding we had reservations at Izumi. I ordered two sushi rolls but actually received three since our waiter really wanted me to try the Tataki roll. It ended up being my favorite one! So happy he did that. The Izumi Ryu Futomaki roll was the most impressive visually but the least impressive flavor-wise. The mochi ice creams were so tasty too, especially the mango one. I will definitely be back at Izumi on future ships! How cute is this chopstick holder? I usually make one from the paper wrapper they come in. I love gadgets and things that serve only one purpose! After dinner we hit up Navigator Dunes for a round of mini golf. Always fun and a challenge when you refuse to put down your cocktail as you go along. My one-handed swings became pretty accurate by the last hole! We had planned to see the ice skating show but decided to call it a night early. Henry was there to see us off to bed! haha

thank you for including this. my friend and i are traveling in december + february and i felt like you had read my mind when you shared!! we have a similar situation; immuno-compromised close family members and i am extremely claustrophobic in elevators/enclosed spaces. a lot of times i prefer to take the stairs just to keep moving and not get crushed inside. although on the bigger ships, climbing from deck four to deck 16 can be a challenge (THRILLED that the muster drill has changed as a covid update -- getting anywhere after that mass drill was always a real challenge and had me gritting my teeth the whole time. especially when they'd line you up REAL CLOSE in between other people. Y I K E S) i appreciate that you were aware and share your feelings; like you, we would not demand others wear masks or insist up on it. we just feel more comfortable keeping them on when in highly trafficked areas, as it gives us a degree of relief/control over the situation.

at Costa Maya, plan on seeing Chacchoben Mayan Ruins, which is 52 miles away, an hour and 8 minutes.

Thanks all - Amazing news - We sailed with Joff on Indy, so looking forward to our cruise even more!