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I can't believe any of you worry about your blogs. Who cares! Everyone here loves to read and engage! I admit, the only thing that holds me back is ... do we REALLY need another week long Star Class cruise report on Oasis Class? But then i find myself absconding to the bathroom to catch you up on utter nonsense and if nothing else, I've entertained myself... write for you and others will follow!

This isn’t going to be a comprehensive live blog (just a shorty 4-nighter) but I wanted to pass on a few tidbits. Super quick and easy boarding. On board and sneaking through the hallway to snatch our Sea Pass cards by 10:15. Our normal process was slightly different today since we needed to (1) see if we were going to be able to get into the SL/CK and (2) Make dining rezzies in the CK if the answer to #1 was “yes”. So I went and snagged our Sea Passes and then went directly to the SL. I tried mine first. Nope. Nada. <sad trombone>. Dan said, “Let me try”. It worked ! <huge sigh of relief>. I guess I had allowed my Sea Pass to linger too long in the sensor or something similarly mundane. So the first time for us on an Oasis class ship since turning Pinnacle we have scored ! There are only 25 Pinns on this sailing (per the CK maitre’d) so we have full access and have already made dinner rezzies for all 4 nights. Now for the bad news. They are only honoring BOGO on night #1. Not sure if that’s due to Valentines Day or what….but since we intend to enjoy filet night in the CK tonite, we will not be having any specialty dining this trip (except for Giovanni’s for lunch). Their loss. We’ll just save our money and eat in the CK every night ! Enjoying a wonderfully sedate boarding morning in the SL and will be heading to GT for lunch shortly.

Lunch at Giovanni’s Table was as good as always. I love the chicken piccata but I knew that if I got the “normal” order I would either overeat or waste food so I had them bring me a half order. It was perfect. Dan had the seafood linguini which he said was also very good. @Ampurp85 we both got the Casino Welcome Party invites….the first time I’ve ever gotten one. It is 5-6 tonite in the “new” non-smoking casino annex. Dinner at the CK is at 5:30 so we’ll only be able to stay a few minutes but maybe we’ll get lucky and one of us will win $100 free play ! Yippee ! We got full loungers on our double balcony. We’ve stayed in this room category a number of times recently but never had loungers before. Nice touch. Happy to see that the Central Park flora has bounced back from the freeze-out that it suffered in Galveston a couple of years ago. I’m sure most of these plants are replacements rather than survivors but the place looks really nice and you’d never know it had been in such bad shape so recently. Dan is “Mr Plantman” so he takes for-freakin’-ever to walk through CP. He examines every leaf and tries to impress me with the Latin names for each and every species. I’m certain he makes most of that up. I will have to call his bluff and quiz him sometime. Well, it appears to be nap time. I’m certain that as soon as I lie down our attendant will knock to introduce him/herself. That’s my luck with such things.

So just to clarify, you allowed a misunderstanding regarding some sea pass cards and a “rude” crew member named Miguel ruin a vacation on Symphony? Something stinks of band-aids and burnt hair with this story.

oh my gosh can you imagine!?! while somewhat similar, this pizza was leftover from my favorite local place. it was my bribe to myself to finish unpacking after i'd eaten. and i will tell you all... i did, in fact, FULLY unpack everything and put it all away last night, even though i was dragging. and i am very grateful i did. how can we ever live without knowing if batman has packed enough underwear for the rest of his cruising days???? a cautionary tale AND entertainment all at the same time!

home safe; second load of laundry in and i’m devouring a leftover pizza. i should probably turn on the TV at some point for kickoff but i’m staring at my bags and wondering if i have enough left in the tank to fully unpack. i am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed …it will be a bit weird not to hear “power of love” or “purple rain” muffled in the background as i drift off, though…

I find doing the live blogs actually gets me to take photos. I was looking through my phone at my past cruise photos and my December cruise that I didn't live blog I took 9 whole photos and 7 of them were of the same thing

Maybe it's because I'm a guy but my mind was never going there... and now it's there.

YOU'RE WELCOME. it was all i COULD see.

I can't speak for Casino Royale bookings, but this is a good reason to use a good travel agent because they can do it if you're before final payment and a resident of certain countries (US, Canada).

is it bad that i was thinking this also??! the sock person…. i truly had no words. a lawless country, INDEED!!! i do feel like this is a polarized subject tbh. but it makes me think of ELF vs sabor. i personally love sabor more; it has better guac, it’s a great dinner option that doesn’t break the bank, and it’s sit down so it’s slightly more civilized. HOWEVER. even i cannot deny the convenience of ELF and how it fast became my lunch go-to. my issue with gio’s kitchen is that we have some REALLY kickass italian food in NJ. so the “traditional” dishes at GK do not appeal to me. whereas jamie’s has some options i would not readily have available at home. very similar to @JohnK6404’s thoughts about hooked. we have REALLY good seafood at the shore. so my expectations were properly set and i got what i couldn’t get here at home — a massive lobster that nearly took me down same!!! my favorite section

I literally just read a post on that other cruise blog site and they said how glad they were Giovannis was still on Oasis because some of the other Oasis class ships were ruined with Jamie's. I haven't had either, just found it funny that i saw exact opposite opinions in a matter of minutes. Also, on the blog front...I think I just rambled and wrote all of mine in one shot at the end of each night, and did it from memory..which made me leave stuff out. Next time I'm gonna take little notes as the day goes on, and construct an actual post a few times a day. I love all the blogs, whether they're detailed to the minute,or just quick hits here and there. When I first found this site I never came to the blogs section...now it's one of my favorite parts!

I’m sure glad you said something b/c I was planning on draining the ship’s bank….but now I will leave a little sump’n for ya.

My students know me. They are saying I am in my cruise planning fever.

I think I saw "Band Aids and Burnt Hair" play at a dive bar in college.

Drive by in process.

I am going to find a way to work the term “band aids and burnt hair” into a conversation; that’s awesome!

Typical fly by, never to be heard from again. Btw on Symphony now as well as last week. Crew is marvelous and accommodating. Ship is in great shape. Wonderful and approachable Master, Capt Rick. Things can happen, 2 cruises ago we had no cards on our door, grabbed the first officer I saw, he went to guest services for mehad my cards in under 15 minutes.

I am doing the same.

Here I am, periodically checking summer 2025 dates to see if anything is available, all the while knowing it probably won't be until late Tuesday/early Wednesday until stuff is actually there.

Wait...when is this leftover pizza from? DID YOU SMUGGLE SORRENTOS HOME in one of those bags!??

The same here in NY, as well as my own kitchen! I grew up cooking with my Italian grandmother, which is why The Boss tolerates me. On our first date I made her favorite food, lasagna. She was hooked from then on. For me, I still like Giovanni's over Jamies. I have not had the opportunity to try GT. I do keep my expectations in check knowing that it certainly isn't authentic, but it's mostly edible. I will always have a gripe with Jamies for serving tartar sauce with calamari.....stupid Brits....(actually, I don't really like anything that Jamie Oliver does) but there are a few things there that I do like. side note: I find it funny that most of the pictures on the RC site for these restaurants show dishes that aren't on the menu.

i would sometimes feel bad when i was catching up on some posts at dinner — but very grateful it was just J and i for this reason i found catching a peaceful time in the crown lounge, or taking advantage of our pre-vintage bed time was often when i got most up to date, so to speak. this was something i learned to do to break it up for my own process; although i feel like it somewhat falls under the category of — each blogger is different (and of course, we love it because of that fact!) also i feel that we all cover different topics, which i personally love. not just because we can see what each person is most interested in, but also to get a feel for each other’s likes/dislikes and personalities. i am sure if any of you met me in real life, you would not be surprised that i gesture wildly like the italian i am, wear red lipstick, and love to laugh. i am dramatic and fascinated by humans (when i can watch from a safe distance) and have my own internal order to keep (usually by way of my caravan of luggage) to keep my Type A personality in check. live-blogging and having that back and forth with everyone is like having a dinner party and getting to know your new friends (who LOVE CRUISING) better i like understanding each of you a little better when we all engage in each other’s blogs.

I will see what I can do! I did tell Berty that we like to have fun, but would most likely keep our shirts on Sneak preview……I am recruiting a new suite snob on this trip. One of my coworkers is sailing this cruise too, and if you know firemen, all we do is play pranks and mess with each other soooooooo, I’ve been busy spending his money and the guys and I on my shift have been plotting ways to mess with him while on the cruise…..more to come

for @Va4fam ; this was our CP balcony on harmony. we also snagged one of the extended balconies which made it feel so much bigger! last pic is all our luggage to scale…. which was hysterical when compared to last night, while i was parkour-ing my way through the cabin to try to pack.

Hope your scratchy throat has disappeared and you’re feeling much better! Loved following along in this post and cruise!

Wish they would mix it up every now and then and offer a 7 day itinerary for Allure and Utopia. Booking a 3d/4d B2B to the same places is not quite the same.

I've shown similar examples before... My Wife just got off Oasis yesterday. And in the week she was away, we've received all these offers in the mail. I don't know how the cruise ship advertising industry works. Does Royal/Casino Royale pay for all this advertising, or allow an advertising agency to foot the expense, with the agency keeping a portion of the sales? And if so, just maybe we are on the easy-sell list.

i have stopped getting mail offers from Royal and Celebrity but when I go to clubroyaleoffers.com i always have new offers available.

YESSSSSS we loved our double balcony in CP!

the zipline is awesome. we also love just finding a nice spot to chill out on labadee. Weather, sand, water are all usually perfect there.

Got to try the zipline one time...Psycho hit 45 Mph one time

No. The door was not open when we “officially” went to our room (after 1:00 - 2J Central Park double balcony) but when I snuck in to get our Sea Pass cards everyone’s door was wide open. They were still servicing the rooms so I’m sure that’s why. Was first disappointed about the BOGO but since we can eat at the CK every night I won’t really miss the specialty dinners (too much). If we had been excluded from the CK that would have been a whole ‘nuther story.

I'm praying for some decent Caribbean itineraries from Cape Liberty that do NOT stop in Port Canaveral.

Here too Wish I could get a horn sound to my notification. Probably more interested in next weeks release though

Don't take all the money from the casino. I board March 1, so make sure they still have some to distribute then.

I prefer the sad tuba music that plays when you lose on The Price Is Right!

Guilty! NextCruise told me it was scheduled for Feb 14 at 11am. But I take anything they say with a grain of salt and will be stalking the website. I already warned work to expect me to be useless Wednesday because I have vacations to plan. Tomorrow is my day off and I'll probably be stuck home in a snow storm so it would be amazing if they managed to do it then.

oh no, the socks were not the issue at all!! the socked feet propped up on the chair in front like at the OB/GYN was my call out. i, too, wear socks on the plane on longer haul flights. haha that would have been funny but alas. it was the night we FINALLY sailed away from cococay and the closet doors sounded like they were coming down on us. between the constant breaking noise and the howling from the balcony door (the weather stripping needed replacing), i was awake from 3am on. legit couldn’t sleep and also because i had to follow up three days later a few other issues that had been lodged that sleepless night morning. i think they felt bad. coincidentally, that was the night i started feeling a twinge in my throat that later manifested in who knows what now

That's interesting. I think that's consistent with what the policy is supposed to be (ie, no free drinks on suite sun deck on other ships, even during happy hour), but as is typical with RCCL being inconsistent, I had a different experience. I was lounging in the hot tub one early evening and bartender did not charge me during the happy hour time (never took card or asked for room number). Thus, YMMV depending on who is manning the bar.

Yes, Utopia is expected to continue doing the 3/4's it is currently scheduled for (most likely still from PC). Not entirely sure. Most 6-8N Caribbean were already released but some will be included in there (like Wonder's final 7N's from PC in May-August 2025 before Star takes over). Hopefully someone else chimes in. I mostly only pay attention to PC cruises b/c I'm boring and a sucker for the convenience of driving an hour to the port.

Next week when 2025-2026 short Caribbean cruises are released. The deployment schedule can be found here.. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/2025-2026_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

I was on Wonder for Thanksgiving and recall seeing all three machines that you mentioned. Good luck. The road to any significant comp is not cheap and if you are not a gambler/ enjoy gambling then this plan is not advised.

Can't wait for the North East cruise schedule to be released sometime this week. I can see a booking on day one.

@ScottD Yes. Odyssey replaces Anthem and Symphony replaces Oasis. *and I agree about Playmakers!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/09/08/the-crown-and-anchor-perks-you-should-use-every-royal-caribbean-cruise There is a $25 difference between D and D+. But if you are thinking about waiting to get + before booking a cruise, it may up being worse because fares usually go up.

Blogging can be a full time job sometimes. This is one reason I’m glad I’m somehow an early riser on cruises. I typically wake up before anyone else and can find a quiet place on the ship to enjoy a coffee and do some posting.

Following dinner we went to 270 to watch the finals of Karaoke Superstars. They were all excellent. Larry from NJ won the contest. He sang Unchained Melody and Cara Mia. Went back to the cabin, finished all last minute packing. Quick breakfast at CK on 2/9, then off the ship and home. Until next time!