KWong

I live in Fort Lauderdale so we probably see things differently. I don’t really care much about the beach and prefer the abundance of things to do on Oasis class/Icon and others while visiting some nice Caribbean islands at the same time. I am not a fan of spending too much time in one place so cruising satisfies that need pretty well. We have certainly tried all inclusive resorts in many exotic (and some local) destinations and find them to be more of a hassle than a relaxing vacation. Also important to note, close proximity to the 3 major cruise ports & D+ crown and anchor plays a major role in the decisions we make for vacations as well. Maybe one day when the kids get a bit older we will do Europe again but it will 100% be on a cruise ship. 

Others have already posted tibs and tabs about this but I don't think there's a thread devoted to it...at least, not that I know of.
There has been a CP "sale" going on for a couple of days.  It is "on again/off again" but it's back on today.
BUT - BE CAREFUL.  Some of the dining packages include gratuities in the "list price" and some do not so be careful cancelling something that you already have until you know for SURE that it's going to be a savings.
1.  It appears as though MOST of the packages - UDP and 3 night, already include the grats.  If the grats are included, it will say so below the advertised price.  If it says "Gratuities Included" then the final price will simply be the number of packages that you are purchasing, multiplied by the price of the package(s) you are purchasing.  If it says "pre-cruise savings", the grats are NOT included in that price so you will have to calculate the total price to see what the final $$ will be.
2.  It APPEARS as though the requirement to eat at least one meal on nights #1 or #2 is gone.  The CP no longer required me to choose a "first" meal time.  That's a good thing, IMO.  Hopefully you can now use your packages on any days/nights that you choose.
3.  It appears as though all of the individual restaurants still require you to calculate gratuities....IOW, the grats are not included in the posted price for individual restaurants.  Some of the individual restaurants that I checked were less $$ than when I first purchased and some were not.  Just be sure that you know what you'll be paying BEFORE you cancel anything and/or purchase at the "reduced" price.  It seems like the package prices include grats.
4.  I was not able to use any of my available OBC when I purchased/repurchased my specialty dining.  It gave me the option of using the OBC but the final price was never reduced by the amount of the OBC so I am HOPING that the OBC is still there.  This is uncertain to me at the moment.  Hopefully the OBC will reappear in a day or so.
5.  As far as I can tell, the ability to make pre-purchased dining reservations ahead of time has still not been implemented.  I was never prompted to make any specific reservations.
6.  Other items in the CP may also be on sale.  I have only looked at dining so I am unaware if other areas of the CP are similarly affected.
The prices are pretty good (considering the upward trend for specialty pricing) and I saved quite a bit of $$ by cancelling and repurchasing but it took me a while to figure out the secret code.

I take it that resorts are not your jam. I get it.
When it comes to land-based vacations, I'd much rather take the time to really explore a place rather than relax on the beach/at a pool the entire time - something that is much easier now that my girls are teens. For example we spent two weeks in France last year. Did 4 cities (Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Paris) and traveled by train. A great trip, but so very different from that cruise life. 
I hear you. To me, cruise ship layout is a key part in making your cruise enjoyable. I can see it just by reading your comments about the Mardi Gras. On these megaships, making them not feel crowded is such an important element, and I thought that Royal really nailed it with their Megaship layouts. And I thought that a ship like Regal Princess was laid out nicely as well. But then you go on something like DCL Fantasy, and you kind of see where design choices really constrict everyone.
And yeah, I do like something that gives you that feeling you're at sea, although I think my standards for that are lower than yours. For example, I love breakfast at Johnny Rockets on Oasis class ships. It's not a "true" connection to the sea, but it gives me a waterfront restaurant vibe, and I think that's what they were going for there.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/03/21/best-fort-lauderdale-hotels-near-cruise-port

There are discussion forums like this for Royal but for Disney that might get you more information - I've used https://www.disboards.com/ before. There is a whole strategy also around (if you want to stay on a Disney property) bidding on Priceline or Hotwire to get a better deal, but usually only at certain times of year. There are tiers of on-site properties, value/moderate/deluxe, so there are options and trade offs for different budgets. I'd pop over there and take a look at their hotels section. 

According to the cruise planner gratuities were included in the cost of the UDP.
Anyway, I will probably end up not touching the gratuities, but I have time to sort everything out.

MDR staff work in other venues, such as Windjammer. I wouldn't change default gratuities. 

Your gratuities will be switched from the MDR to the specialty restaurants.  You don’t have to do anything.

There is a yt channel called Greece Explained that does a good breakdown of areas to stay in Athens. That might help you decide. 

Yes, as long as you don't need to be right beside the pool you'll be fine. 😊

It is a website and an app.

I was looking at the Skywalk for my (non-cruise) trip to BC this summer since we saw it on The Amazing Race Canada and were curious about it.
My conclusion is that it's a purpose-built tourist attraction with appeal as an accessible hike with an elevated view and a dry slide (ugh) as it's major selling points. At $37 CDN pp (not including transport over), it could get pricey. But it does get you out of the city and nature-adjacent, so there is that.
I think that, with 10 hours to play with, it's not a bad way to spend a few hours. But it's not something that screams "must do" to me.

I've found Get Your Guide to be another decent broker. Might also be worth checking out.

I've found Get Your Guide to be another decent broker. Might also be worth checking out.

My local casino only has 25, 50 and $100 craps table Its Crazy.  If you play a $50 table and have the Pass line, Odds. the 6 & 8 covered its a $240.00 minimum  😲

I've definitely had worse drip coffee on a ship. To be honest, I find cruises to be a good time to cut down on the caffeine. 

This is probably a better solution. Especially if you can get connecting rooms (assuming it's not too late). Bonus - you get an extra full bathroom.

I was a firefighter for 31 years. Never a moment when coffee wasn't  available.  Drank everything from battery acid to crankcase sludge "coffee", so the ship coffee is no problem.  Stopping at a 7-11 in the middle of the night for a cup while returning from a call was like a gourmet experience.  🤪

Way too many adults in one tiny cabin. Spend a few $$ and get an extra room.

when I go a la carte, I pace myself, drink in moderation on board and spend more on cheaper drinks in port. That might work for your husband. 

when I go a la carte, I pace myself, drink in moderation on board and spend more on cheaper drinks in port. That might work for your husband. 

If you are driving and staying the night before and parking at the port, I would look at alternatives not on 17th unless the hotel you are booking on 17th has free parking for the night of your hotel stay. I would stay over by Dania Beach off of I-95 instead. It's 10 minutes to the port without traffic but most of the hotels in the area should have your parking included. 
Parking is pay on the way out and with a card. They have machines to pay at before you walk back to your car. Look for them as you leave the parking lot to get on the ship so you know where they are for when you return. And take your parking ticket with you to avoid running back to the car.
The closest lot to the terminal for Oasis will make you pull through the luggage drop-off before parking. It's up to you if you want to drop off as it's a surface lot so there aren't elevators to deal with like at Port Canaveral. If that closest lot fills up they will send you to the adjacent surface lot which is just a little bit of a further walk. Finally the overflow is a parking garage over by the other terminals. If you arrive early enough though you should have no issues snagging the surface lots.
As far as port entrances, it really doesn't make a difference which you use. I just use my GPS and it sends me whichever way is the quickest depending on traffic. None of the hotels are within the ID zone.

I’ve never bought a drink package and always drink whatever I want. For my wife and I, we usually come out ahead by $400-500 by buying individual drinks. If your itinerary is port intensive, then it’s much harder to break even than if you have a sea day heavy itinerary. 

Thanks for the tips.
Going in late October, I don't know that we'll get a true taste of the Greek Islands, but maybe that's a blessing in disguise since Mykonos won't have near as many tourists. But yeah, looking forward to Sicily and Mallorca. We're also gonna hit Lisbon for a day and a half before heading home. Apparently at that time of year there's about one direct flight to Toronto and that got booked up long before we got the conference details... so might as well hit another city and country in Europe, right?
I like your thinking. I know some of the tickets allow you to visit over multiple days so I was already thinking about doing that anyway. Whether we make it or not depends on how jet lagged my wife is.

So, in the world of first world problems, I seem to have one, and am looking for advice.
I am sailing Explorer of the Seas in late October from Piraeus to Barcelona. We were originally taking the cruise that sailed out of Ravenna but for whatever reason that was canceled and replaced with a 6 nighter out of Greece. We rebooked on that because my wife has a conference in Barcelona, so the endpoint and time was actually of more importance than the starting point. But that shifted our plans from doing a couple of days in Venice and taking a train to Ravenna to Athens and the much closer port of Piraeus.
We are getting in to Athens around noon on Friday. Not too hard to plan things to do for the 1.5 days prior to the cruise. But here's the big question - should we board the cruise early, or spend a little more time in Athens before making our way to port?