OCSC Mike

7 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Wait I didn't know you could reuse them? You mean we could buy them on our Oasis cruise and use them on other ships?

Yes, they just reprogram them. Having to re-buy them every cruise is even beyond Royal's level of profit-maximization.

7 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Does anyone else kinda find this game a little fun? I will admit I check probably 5 to 10 times a day but I would open the Royal Caribbean app that many times if I didn't have a GTY suite. It's just a thing I do. 

Yep, you're not alone. The activities were pretty late in populating for the 4N leg of my B2B next month and even though there was a 99% chance that the schedule would be identical to the 4N we took earlier this month (b/c it's been the same for every other 4N with that exact itinerary that I've looked at since May), I still kept checking.

I don't like not having anything left to plan, lol. I keep looking at stuff like the reservations we made for our UDP to see if changing anything would be better knowing we made the current plan for a reason.

4 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said:

I would say Symphony is the best for the 2 flowriders. I’m sure @Lovetocruise2002’s hubby will agree 

I can't help it if your values are misplaced. Food/Drink > everything else. 

I know @Lovetocruise2002 is looking forward to the Mason Jar bar more than the widowmaker, lol, and it's her blog.

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The girls have never been on Wonder before and that is why we picked that sailing.

At least they get the best ship!  #biased  #masonjar  

4 minutes ago, a jones said:

I bought the ultimate dining package for my cruise on utopia. On embarkation day can I eat at Johnny rockets with my plan? Or does it not start that early?

I have the UDP for Utopia next month. On embarkation day you should be able to book Mason Jar, Giovanni's, or Chops. But yes, you can also eat Johnny Rockets or Playmakers if you really want to.

33 minutes ago, MKSglitz said:

So please explain how you would calculate how to price down your coverage if your main concern is strictly medical coverage?

When using a 3rd party you can insure the cost of the trip for whatever you want. You're not required to insure it for the full amount you actually paid.

I'd also look into GeoBlue as mentioned already if you ONLY care about medical.

On 6/23/2025 at 11:40 AM, ChessE4 said:

unless our TA gets a group rate that is refundable. The group rate beats Royal's cheapest rate for same cabin type.

That's almost all we book nowadays so between the refundable deposit and only having a short drive to the port, we just get medical via GeoBlue. 

4 hours ago, mashley1021 said:

randomly no cheese tortellini

Better you than me, that's on the short list of my wife's MDR entrees (and the only reason I get to go to Royal Night).

2 hours ago, dougalsgirl said:

I was gutted last year that there was no lobster on our Royal Night. It wasn’t until this year that I found out that normal for us peasants out of the UK

Now I feel guilty posting about the embarkation lunch lobster on Utopia. FWIW, while I enjoy the Royal Night lobster, it's really nothing special and Caribbean tails are pretty tiny. Having as many as you want in WJ is more appealing to me, lol. Pretty nice jumbo shrimp (prawns, sorry, I forgot my UK accent) for that lunch too.

4 minutes ago, Mike n Ky said:

Just checked as it's 16 days...no cabin assignment

Just gotta keep checking. For the cruise before yours (that we're also on), people in the FB group got theirs at 16 days but the posts were later at night so possibly later today/tonight... or not, ya never know, but that's several I've seen recently at 16 days.

22 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Not sure how EPIC it will be. I feel like we are pretty routine, but glad to have you along. 

Funny… someone told me my blogs were epic and I kinda had the same response. I guess we either short change ourselves or can’t see what others see since we’re the ones blogging.

I feel like our Caribbean blogs have a pretty similar structure & I certainly love reading yours.

The tangents in mine might be epic, lol, but still not sold on the repetitive routine parts.

6 minutes ago, dougalsgirl said:

I will be living through live blogs and bloggers for sure

I get it. We may be fortunate enough to sail 3X a year lately but I'm familiar with 8-9 months in between our usual cruise window. The dry docks are rough.

30 minutes ago, dougalsgirl said:

BACK TO THE FUTURE on the big telly on deck. Big D revealed he’s never seen it. We watched a great deal of it. I went to see the musical in the West End when I was in London for a work trip at the end of last year, it’s really exciting they are taking it to a ship!

I think my wife is more excited to see the show than any other aspect of Star (we have it booked way out in March 2027). Not only does she love the movies but the parking lot scenes from the original were actually filmed in a shopping mall parking lot not far from her university in Pennsylvania (it's an extremely random spot, definitely not where one would expect movies to be filmed).

45 minutes ago, dougalsgirl said:

We each ordered a fillet steak, none of us had ever had a fillet steak before, I like a ribeye and have never really strayed!

That's funny, my wife won't eat anything except filet. Hamburger or filet, no other cow meat, lol. I prefer ribeye myself but have had very good filet at other ship restaurants.

Really looking forward to having the UDP for the first time next month after seeing so many pics of food from the restaurants we don't normally eat at.

49 minutes ago, dougalsgirl said:

Final night int he WJ was INDIAN NIGHT!

The best! We're eating in the MDR (for my wife) on Indian night for the first leg of our B2B but I'll be going to WJ before (and possibly after),

Thanks again for all the food pics!

6 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

There is a logical (girl math) explanation for this

I'm not going pull out my abacus and crunch the numbers but I like the logic. It may have cost more than the total of what you had purchased but there's clearly more value to offset it.

2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I just recently broke the news to Hubby

He said no packages... so you went with THAT instead without telling him? 

2 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I'm wracking my brain and can't come up with a reason or scenario if you're truly still in a JS.

NEVERMIND... 99% sure I figured it out! Maybe I'll message you just to feel smart. 

1 minute ago, Jax said:

I’ll wait for the “more to come” before I say anything

Clearly you have the inside scoop, lol. I'll just sit here waiting in suspense. 

17 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The last few months have been draining for us as a family. On top of the regular hustle and bustle of life, we were dealing with family health issues, a difficult school year that felt never ending at points and Hubby surprisingly said “yes” rather quickly! I think he knew I needed it. He truly is awesome! And I may have told him he could hang out at the wave all day long lol.

Sorry to hear about the rough few months; hopefully your summer of cruising will help with the recovery. I'm sure he is awesome and all but isn't that how he spends every cruise?   Joking aside, you know I can relate to "exhausted teacher syndrome." We were a little busy with different things shortly after the June cruise but have been couch potatoes this week... so my wife already started doing stuff for next school year just to get ahead of the curve while we were binge watching crappy tv shows.

24 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I had booked the UDP (great deal, 55% off C&A offer, $103.99pp), VOOM, and Evian water package and have since cancelled it. I have also cancelled all my Royal Up bids. More on that to come

Can't wait to hear about this. I'm wracking my brain and can't come up with a reason or scenario if you're truly still in a JS.

12 minutes ago, Icon vaccation said:

Thanks. Do a lot of people dress up in the main dining room. Would we be fine going there just wearing like nice clothes but not dressy clothes and a dress night?

A lot? Not really. Some do, some don't, some won't even be wearing "nice" clothes. You'll see see everything from t-shirts to suits and dresses.

You will honestly be fine wearing anything you feel comfortable with. Don't give it a second thought. I can tell by your description that you will definitely not feel under-dressed wearing "nice clothes" without truly dressing up.

19 minutes ago, Cruising_Figure_Skater said:

she offered to comp us each a surf & turf in the MDR the next night, and a bottle of wine

Very classy move. Managers can't go back in time and fix poor service or a cooking mistake but good ones will figure out a way to make it up to you.

7 minutes ago, Icon vaccation said:

I understand that when going to the main dining room on these nights, you are supposed to actually dress up but if we don’t go to the main dining room would we look out of place if we aren’t dressed up? I haven’t decided if we are going to do this theme night but I don’t want to have to bring very dressy clothes, shoes, and shirts. Any info is helpful. Thanks!

You're not "supposed" to do anything. Any theme night, included formal/dress your best nights, are just suggestions. In the Caribbean you will see far more people dressed casually than formally on formal night (and everything between). Wear whatever you're comfortable with (within reason) to any venue you'd like on those nights.

I don't even bring long pants let alone get dressed up anymore. It's shorts and a polo for me every night, regardless of theme or venue.

24 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Maybe start with the hibachi tables... what's not to like about fresh fried rice, grilled veggies, and steak, lobster, scallops, shrimp, chicken, etc.? 

I'm not a sushi or sashimi person (too large a piece of raw fish for me ), but love most of the rolls, teriyaki or tempura dishes, miso soup, gyoza dumplings, etc., you can get on the table service side.

You won't leave hungry on either side of Izumi! 

We have the UDP and I have daily credits to use in addition to our actual meals... I need to stay a little hungry, lol. I'm normally happy to stuff myself at specialty since we only book a few per cruise but this will be different.

We're doing the sushi side. I AM a sushi person but my wife won't eat anything that swims, cooked or uncooked, besides tuna salad, lol. We'd be fine with either but I wanted sushi and she actually really likes teriyaki and tempura. I'll likely get sushi at Izumi in the Park each day too with the $10 credit but that's just a snack. 

Apologies to @mashley1021, @CHart, and anyone following the group blog for the temporary hijacking.

6 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

and very good casual Japanese in Barcelona

I suddenly want Izumi... and I've never even eaten there, lol. Trying it next cruise for lunch with our UDP.

8 minutes ago, dustfsu said:

I mean you can never have to many RCCL pens

Or key chains... and the ones we won last time were actually a different color/style than ones we have from before... huge win there!

One more trivia rant... we always get off on CocoCay early and usually stay there until sometime after lunch. Somehow Royal always seems to schedule trivia we think we'd be good at on CocoCay day. I like riddles and was in high school and college in the 90's... but haven't done whatever the riddles one is or Name That Tune 90's yet. Why can't Broadway or Taylor Swift trivia be that day instead?

15 minutes ago, dustfsu said:

Thank you sir…are you just trying to get rid of me. lol.

Of course not, lol... I knew you were looking forward to it and I didn't want to look stupid after assuring you it would populate long before embarkation day. I was also keeping an eye out for it even though it's 100% identical to the 4N we already took as I expected. I still like adding stuff to my calendar too.

On a related note, one downside to repeat sailings on the same ship... the trivia we would normally go to isn't really an option anymore. I mean, we could cheat for those really high end prizes, but I have morals.

Having never been to Europe/UK, I love that I've seen Mexican and Italian in England and now Korean street food in Rotterdam.