OCSC Mike

RC refund shenanigans... Since we don't usually buy much (and a lot what we do is onboard with our D+ BOGO's, internet after sharing our credits, Playmakers, etc.) I've always had enough OBC from my TA pre-cruise to cover 40% off lunches or whatever. When we cancelled the UDP for the 3N leg, I was owed $105.28 to my CC after the OBC portion was instantly refunded. It just hit my CC split into two separate refunds... $102.64 and $2.64. I've read about this sort of thing and I don't care, just thought I'd share. 16 days...

Yep, my honeymoon cruise was 23 years ago this month. I have faith in you guys. The distance doesn't seem to be stopping you... you have more cruises than me this summer.

May the odds be ever in your favor! Some of us have been sailing for 23 years (although not often until recently) and have no delusions or intention of ever reaching Pinnacle, lol (and that's obviously OK with us).

As someone who primarily sails for the ship in the Caribbean 99% of the time (and lounges in the Solarium most days), Alaska was the one cruise I couldn't have cared less what ship I was on or what was going on around me... I was there to see Alaska. It happened to be Radiance and I have very limited memories of the ship itself (my only time on her or that class). Full disclosure: We also spent 10 days on land pre-cruise (not via Royal) and that experience blew the cruise itself out of the water (no pun intended). I personally wouldn't bother cruising in Alaska again without a land portion (although it can be expensive and a cruise is better than not seeing Alaska at all). Not trying to convince you of anything, we all like what we like, just throwing out some general Alaska thoughts.

1. Are you OK? 2. Were you having "too much fun" before said incident?

That helps get me ready for my first UDP in a few weeks. An unfortunate sequence of posts.

I don’t know the exact cut off but you’ll be fine on Explorer. When I said oldest I meant older than Voyager class.

In balconies & above, yes. Interiors & OV on the oldest ships like Enchantment do not have coolers.

What was today’s pie?

OK, so I've mentioned multiple times that it's the extra daily credits that really makes the amount of food in the UDP sound over the top crazy to me. I was just looking at random stuff in the app and somehow I never realized that most days Giovanni's Wine Bar only serves food from 5-9pm. This makes sense, I guess, since that's when dinner is being served (although Mason Jar has late night snacks long past dinner hours). Anyway, now I'm really befuddled as to how and when I would ever get something from the Wine Bar. We have dinner reservations for 7pm for 3 of the 4 nights (one night is earlier so we can go to an 8:30 aqua show without rushing). I suppose I could go there at 5pm for a pre-dinner snack and maybe get tiramisu to go and stick it in the cooler but I don't think I'll be looking to eat a pizza less than two hours before a specialty dinner. Just to be clear, this is mostly just an academic exercise and me overplanning b/c I like to. I'm fully aware that I'm going to be too stuffed to care and will be getting plenty of value even if I never order a single thing there. 18 days to go...

Unfortunately, yes. You're not doing anything wrong. I'm guessing you could make changes for part of your party onboard but that's just an educated guess.

I've slept, woken up early, and gone to the CL for coffee earlier than you guys went to bed, lol.

There are some pretty comfy loungers with cushions in the Solarium.

Utopia has a new version that I kinda liked (and the Promenade parties aren't our thing at all; I'm usually fighting through them to get my last snack at Sorrento's)... they have a One Hit Wonders Party that covers several decades but is full of songs that most people would know.

No blog, no pics... are we really supposed to believe you? See, it happens! There are like 15 other bars ya know, just sayin. Glad you had a great cruise... I'm almost done retaliating for you invading my blog, promise.

That depends on my insomnia but I didn't plan to take over your countdown long term anyway.

22!!! You must have slept in or were busy this morning so figured I'd help the cause.

I never get any of those e-mails. I gave up on them a long time ago. None of them are important to me anyway. I know luggage tags come out at 30 days, the app will eventually populate info like theme nights (not that we participate), I check constantly myself if I have a GTY pending, etc. Sorry I can't be more helpful, just letting you know it's not just you.

Excuses, excuses... Hope you had a fun day in the park.

Says the guy who tried to borrow my blog, promised food pics, then failed to deliver?

Yes but it has to be the exact same category (as in letter code). I’m not familiar with JS’s so they may all have the same code but other cabin types like interiors & OV balconies have varying category codes depending on things like max occupancy or mid-ship vs. fwd/aft. Our interiors are always 4V for example but mid-ship interiors are 2V so I couldn’t switch to one of those.

I totally get it & agree there’s a place for more concise ship reviews. BTW, I dunno about “epic” but thanks. They usually wind up pretty long with a lot of “stuff” at the very least… how much of that stuff is either helpful or entertaining is hard to say & likely a matter of opinion. All I can guarantee in advance is that there will be food porn. I also enjoy reading my own blogs before my next cruise. Not sure if that’s weird or not but it puts me in cruise mode.

Also agree... as someone who authors some of longest, tangent filled blogs around. They're fun for me and live blog regulars who enjoy that sort of thing but I totally get why others wouldn't be interested. More no-frills, on-topic reviews definitely serve a purpose.

That's just luck of the draw and can happen even if you pick your room on a newer ship. I have the same exact cabin for all these Utopia B2B's I have booked. We're not very picky either but since I was choosing we obviously prefer certain locations over others. Finally got to stay in that cabin earlier this month and there was a small stain in the carpet, part of the rubber strip that kinda seals the space between the shower door and the bottom part came loose (which maintenance quickly repaired), and the mattress was on the hard side, definitely moreso than any mattress we had on Wonder (which I like but my wife not so much). What can ya do?

Good description. I was quickly reminded of that when we had our first GTY in a while in April. Assignments for Utopia seem to be coming out around the 14-16 day mark lately going by the FB groups for my sailings... leading new cruisers to the verge of panic b/c they think they somehow won't have a cabin despite being told that the assignment can come at any time.