OCSC Mike

I had the same issue on Utopia last month (for the 1st leg of that B2B, 2nd leg they appeared). The CL concierge took care of it after multiple phone calls. She was so sweet & friendly, got to know her over the week & will be bringing her a small gift in 10 days (we asked what she missed that she can’t get onboard).

We’re at my in laws for July 4th & I told my FIL the new beach club was being released today. I jokingly suggested he give me his CC last night since he’s the one generous enough to treat us to stuff on family cruises… sadly he declined, lol. I told him it would be pricey.

I should have mentioned that was for a Utopia 3N next March. I didn’t even check the 4N leg after it. Incomplete insomnia 3am posting by me.

Yikes, that makes us look like night owls, lol. I have/had multiple shows reserved for 9:15-9:45pm on Utopia & we even went to a 10:30pm aqua show last time (now that was late for us).

We talk about this all the time… even on land, we tend to have great service… but the server always disappears when we want to pay & leave.

Thanks for the offer. Nothing comes to mind, just order & take pics of as much food as possible, lol. I’ve just been paying closer attention to food pics from other specialty restaurants. I’ve always looked at them but now I actually have to decide what to order at Chops, Izumi, Hooked, etc., not just GK & Mason Jar.

I feel like between taste testing at Pesky Parrot & having so many peach teas & moonlights at MJ last cruise I had far fewer of anything else, lol. I usually order something frozen or at least more refreshing in the Solarium & I didn’t make nearly as many ELF trips as usual so didn’t get the Cantina version much either. For “not a big drinker” I need to figure out how to include all these drinks. Looking forward to the rest of the blog as usual! Will be keeping a sharper eye out for specialty food now that we’re finally trying more restaurants.

Happy cruise day! Hope you guys slept well.

I get it, I used to feel that way how I used to blog... really long day by day recaps... it felt like work. Switching to randomly posting whenever I felt like it, even if it's just a food or drink pic, made it more fun for me. I've often not felt like recapping at the end of the night so I just do it the next morning from bed or the CL or a lounge chair. Anyway, if @smokeybandit isn't up for it, I still say just post randomly whenever you feel like it. No pressure.

Sorry to hear. Just make the best of it as I know you will and embrace your inner OCSC Mike... cabin hotel room doesn't matter, it's all about the food... enjoy your dinner!

You'll rally for La Bamba then hopefully have a good night's sleep.

I think he knew what the other half was and was throwing shade, lol. As long as the pineapples were rightside-up.

Our only other B2B was on Indy in 2022 and we had something similar happen except we were stuck waiting in the Star Lounge before disembarking while they went to bang on someone's door who "overslept." We still had a good chunk of time alone before normal boarding began on that one but Utopia's turnaround time is crazy fast. We were on the ship just before 10am for the initial boarding... so we weren't that far ahead of the new cruisers on turnaround day. No big deal either way but it was kind of cool being on Indy for a while with almost no one but the crew.

It probably was you, my bad. Hard to remember who posted what in my blog sometimes. We're not that old but between my wife being a teacher (who sometimes wakes up at ungodly hours to go walking BEFORE work b/c it's way too hot in the afternoons), it's pretty natural for us too. Neither of us have ever really been into sleeping in very late anyway; it was just the poor sleep last cruise. Can't promise that late with no sea days but it will still be peaceful in the early AM if it's anything like the last one.

Some recent "random" sales have been above and beyond... especially for the UDP and DBP. It pays to check the CP everyday and not worry about specific holidays. You just never know when you might get a great deal. No one had ever seen the UDP at 55% off until it suddenly popped up 2-3 weeks ago.

Not very long and there was a short delay for I forget what reason... some sort of drill or test I think. Less than half an hour. We showed up to the MDR a little before 8:45am as requested and probably sat there for 20-30 minutes after getting our new sea passes. It all went smoothly but I'm not going to bother getting to the MDR until the last minute this time.

Please do. What’s funny is, if you didn’t know the backstory, @GatorCruiser and I sailed together in March 2024 on Wonder & he posted plenty of pics in my blog in that one. It was almost a joint blog & he was in Sky Class posting the fancy stuff I didn’t have access to. Now he just likes to bother me. Can’t wait. Taste testing for my first time there was fun but I have my favs now. Need to try the peanut butter piña though b/c I’m not a whiskey drinker so I skipped it but I’ve been told it’s good. You better, you know they’re not for me, happy wife, etc. Joking aside, we’re gonna do our best to sleep better so we’re up as early as usual this time. The walk across deck 16 in the early morning was really nice. New CL was nice too. Similar look but at least it has windows & isn’t in the basement anymore.

Phew, if it were deck 10 you might be across from my starboard cave. We always choose the outer hallway opposite the OV balconies.

Livening up this roll call for @Hoppy2BHere! 12 days, let’s go! Bring on the seafood & voucher drinks! Sorry, that’s all I got. I’ll start my blog in a few days. The intro is excessively long as usual.

That’s why I’ve been chatting here since we’re on both, lol. Didn't mean to neglect the 7/11.

Never even knew about the number of people part. The elevators weren’t a huge deal to us. Sometimes the wait was just as long, sometimes not. The nice part was if you get on & are going up or down a long way, you only tended to stop a couple times at most, not on nearly every deck. It was hard to catch the stowaway piano player though… didn’t manage that until the last day last time.

Like all things Royal, there are some weird quirks with cruise history & points. My MIL got credit for our honeymoon cruise (no she definitely did not join us). My wife is also missing some old cruises from when she was a kid (but not all) in the history list so she has more points than it looks like she should but they came from the unlisted old cruises and her total seems correct.

Interesting given how much shorter your dry docks are (although I’m in the middle of a short one before the dreaded school year dry dock begins again). Trying not to think about that part & will see if we can sneak in a fall cruise if like we had done a few times.

I avoid the news, lol, we just flip it on in the morning but you should be able to get some form of local news via streaming apps if you really want to.