OCSC Mike

BTW, your pics compliment my blog from last week very well... since I barely posted anything but food and drinks, lol.

Too much to see and do for me, lol. I kinda like boring (and of course Oasis class isn't actually boring). We went back on Indy in 2022 for a 3/4 B2B after almost nothing but Oasis class for several years and had a good time mostly chilling in the Solarium and going to CocoCay (now that could be considered boring although I guess relaxing fits better). The only thing I missed was the extra food venues (think I went to ELF everyday last week except for when were off the ship in St. Martin from like 9-4). I wish it were Freedom that was in PC at the time. Wonder is currently my happy place and we have some Utopia B2B's booked which I know I'll enjoy since it's so similar to Wonder. I'm sure we'll try Star at some point (you know I stick to PC); I'll just feel the need to have a plan in advance since it will be new to us. I like stepping onto Oasis class and knowing exactly where everything is, what our routine will be, etc. Others like winging it. Different strokes... Enjoy the rest of the cruise and keep the reports coming. You sail a lot more than I do and do lots of shorties but I enjoy your reports as we seem to enjoy some of the same small things (like early AM egg sandwiches, lol) and have some similar opinions.

The food is the only thing appealing to me about Icon and, like you, I often go to Park Cafe on Oasis class for an early morning egg sandwich. Those look great. I think I'd still prefer the English muffin from Park Cafe for the McMuffin but would love to try the steak n egg.

Not quite 80% but I definitely saw more people than usual participating in the theme nights like white or Caribbean as well as getting dressed up for formal night on Wonder last week. My guess was the influx of new cruisers are excited about the themes and/or think most of the ship will participate and feel obligated to do so.

Existing thread...

Perhaps you should look into a private tour company that can customize your tour based on your restrictions and preferences? I'm personally using RonysTours but here's a thread that lists several...

That's a pretty crowded day with Odyssey joining you. Hope you enjoyed some snack shack food!

Try the live blog forum. I did one last week (with some assistance) and there's a new one going on this week.

Two of my favorite spots... love the double coffee machines and re-design of the WJ.

Maybe but everyone likes what they like. I may have been influenced by having seen Wonder’s ice show a few months before Blades… and seeing it again a few days ago confirmed that it is easily my favorite. I’m not a big show guy anyway. I’ll see anything once (except broadway due to length). If I don’t like it, oh well. I was gonna sit somewhere having a drink anyway. 45 mins of anything is never gonna ruin a cruise.

Last food pic (although I brought home enough ranger cookies for a few more days, lol)…

I'm no expert, having only been in a GS twice, but I don't think there's any general answer. It will just depend on the supply and demand of your particular sailing. If you enjoy filet mignon, the only other piece of advice I have would be to not skip night one in CK as that's always filet night and it is highly regarded. I know my family found it excellent the two times we had it (once on Wonder).

I wouldn't even try to figure it out. Glad they took care of it and you wound up with a good table!

Random Thoughts - Cabin Attendant We’ve honestly never had a bad one. They have ranged from quiet but efficient to extremely friendly & exceptional. This was only our 2nd cruise with once/day service though… and our cabin attendant was exceptional. I already mentioned meeting him early on day one & receiving extra hangers within 10 minutes of asking even though we told him no rush. We also saw him at least twice a day, he brought fresh ice each evening even though we had morning service, and we never had a problem catching him in the hallway for a minor request like extra towels. He even snuck my wife some of the peppermint bar soap they have in suites b/c she told him how much she likes it. Honestly, the only difference for us with once/day service is no one re-makes the bed in the evening… and we couldn’t care less. Oh, and I guess a few plates/cups may sit in the corner for a little longer than before… also not remotely an issue for us.

I had sworn off MDR steak a long time ago but had a couple that were perfectly fine last week as well. Didn't try the NY strip but good to hear.

Random Thoughts - Crowds Despite being over 100% capacity with almost 2000 kids or something, we didn’t have any significant issues other than that one night at WJ when we were in port late. I was even taking the elevators which I rarely do b/c for whatever reason they weren’t nearly as crowded as usual. We really got that “where is everybody?” feeling. Obviously I know how well Oasis class can handle crowds but that’s still a lot of people. I’ve hypothesized in the past that sailing with a bunch of kids b/c of my wife’s teaching schedule wasn’t the worst thing b/c they congregate where we don’t (like the pool deck) so maybe that’s it. Some venues were obviously busy but nothing really felt painfully overcrowded. If I had to complain about anything it would be trivia/game shows in Spotlight Karaoke & the Schooner Bar being standing room only at times. I prefer On-Air to Spotlight Karaoke.

Random Thoughts - Ship Movement Very smooth sailing this week. I didn’t notice the ship move once (other than during docking) until overnight of day 5 as we started our journey back to PC from St. Martin (and that movement was minor). Even as we sailed through the storms that were dumping water into different areas of the ship, the sea itself was mostly calm.

Hiro is the only one I haven't seen besides Icon (Symphony is blocking my Oasis class bingo card) but I feel each aqua show has a little more of something and a little less of something else. For example, InTENse on Wonder is lacking in diving and heavy in dancing (I guess that's what I'd call it).

Random Thoughts - Internet Was excellent throughout the ship & especially in the cabin. I’ve posted this several times but having a WAP in each cabin makes a huge difference. I had no issues streaming from multiple services. The only time there was an issue was during the storms we passed through on Saturday.

Wish they didn't kick me off this morning. Enjoy my favorite ship!

100%... we've long since unpacked and I've already been to the supermarket so my wife will have a lunch to pack for tomorrow and we have some dinner stuff for the week. Getting back to the real world so quickly sucks but that would happen either way. It was nice to get away during spring break for the first time in a while and no one wants any cruise to end but it's definitely more relaxing for us in the summer since we're still kind of on vacation.

Happy that everyone seemed to enjoy the blog so much. Also happy that I accomplished my goal of more shorter posts with pics. That said, I'm still a work in progress and I may have been posting a little TOO frequently. My goal in June will be to mostly emulate this one but save some posts for later (as opposed to closer to real-time) when we're truly not doing anything for a while so that I'm not on my phone so much during short breaks in the action. Obviously I enjoy sharing everything with you guys... but I don't want to take anything away from enjoying the time with my wife. I know there's room for both, I just have to find the happy medium. For so many obvious reasons... I'm feeling very fortunate knowing that we'll be back on Wonder in exactly 10 weeks... and then 5 weeks after that one ends.

Walked right off as usual, home by 9am… and the local news is already taunting me…

Last breakfast in Solarium Bistro. Chocolate donut for @Ampurp85. Need to have more donuts next time.

That’s probably it for now. I have a handful of random thoughts to share but I’ll post them from home. We’re doing self-assist in the morning with no real plan as far as timing other than sometime after I have one more morning of CL cappuccino & stuff myself one last time. Thanks to all who followed along & contributed (especially @GatorCruiser of course).