OCSC Mike

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).

Rest of Mason Jar story… Pretty sure I mentioned that my wife ran into the very friendly & excellent server we had with the family last June on day 1 while I was getting a drink from the bar. Anyway, she was our server for brunch on day 3 and we got to know her a bit more. The plan was to go back that night and my wife was going to get a milkshake. When we did, our server wasn’t there & someone told us she wasn’t feeling well & had to go to medical. Naturally we were concerned. Fast forward to tonight when I went there for a drink… my wife saw her and I think she’ll be fine but we went back to our cabin to get her some OTC meds to leave with her. She was very appreciative & even got my wife her favorite dessert (Gone Bananas) to go at no charge. I don’t want to share specific details and that stuff isn’t important anyway. I’m just happy to report that we’re still having many of the experiences that have always made our cruises so great. Sure the WJ has a bit less variety, the MDR may not be as good as it once was (you know I’m not even a huge subscriber to that one), our bed was only made once/day, etc. but our overall enjoyment hasn’t really diminished.

I should have clarified… I can finish mine without Prime; it’s finishing my wife’s on days when she has one drink that will be the challenge now that we’re D+, lol. I like having some canned soda & Truly in the fridge so that’s fine for some of them even if I’m not maximizing dollar value but I’m not trying to stock the cabin like it’s a vending machine. I’ll figure it out.

I must have just missed you. Will add to story later. Riverboat Float b/c I’m a big kid & don’t drink whiskey like you.

MDR Bon Voyage Menu Mediterranean Tapas Steak - Again, surprisingly edible Apple cobbler

Exactly how I feel on the last night of every cruise. Usually have more regrets about not doing/eating enough of certain things but think I did better this time. I definitely had my fill of ELF, lol. #1 goal before our next cruise is to learn to drink more so vouchers don’t go to waste.

Thanks for the reminder, was considering trying the margarita there, never have.