OCSC Mike

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Parking is a lot cheaper in Port Canaveral if driving

Good grief. How much is it to park in Miami?

PC is an hour drive for me so I don't even look elsewhere. Never considered the parking cheap there (unless doing a B2B).

Was on Indy for a week last month and had a great time.

That said, I'd probably choose Freedom for El Loco Fresh alone. Haven't even tried it but included Mexican food would be a welcome addition for me, personally. As someone who usually sails Oasis-class, the one thing I really missed on Indy was having additional included food options besides Sorrento's or Cafe Promenade.

The only thing I prefer on Indy is the OG version of Giovanni's just b/c it's always been our favorite specialty restaurant but many people seem to like Giovanni's Kitchen.

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

They have funnel cakes at the Snack Shacks on the island and they're included!  Chicken sandwiches are fantastic as well.

Agreed. The problem (for me anyway) is balancing trips to the snack shack for chicken and funnel cake with trips to Chill Grill for the taco bar and ice cream sandwiches (taking the choc chip cookies to the ice cream machine).

We plan on a light and/or late dinner on Cococay days.

Agree that the donuts have always been terrible… while I really like many of the other pastries.

Now if they would only start making the Cococay funnel cakes onboard!

I was Sky Class on Harmony 5/29.

As Sky Class, you don't need reservations except for the comedy club. You can make those in advance when the suite concierge e-mails you approximately 6 days prior tp embarkation.

Many have although I have read about some hiccups. Another option to consider...

9 minutes ago, teddy said:

We’re going to bring all three kids and their families on a cruise for our 30th anniversary. 

Very kind and generous of you.

My wife's parents have been taking us and her sister's family on a family cruise every 5 years for the past 10 years. It started with their 40th and all 3 families have anniversaries that aren't far apart and happen to be in 5 year increments so everyone is always celebrating something.

This past May was their 50th (our 20th) so they got us all suites for the milestone and we had an incredible time.

Happy planning!

9 minutes ago, Pooch said:

So sounds like I’m glad my 4 free drinks are on my card.

Yes, there's no alcohol-related reason to go there whatsoever.

11 minutes ago, twangster said:

Much of the year happy hour includes hours it's dark outside so I always fail to understand why people think a DL with panoramic views is so important.  Yep, it's dark outside and you can't sea anything.  

I only cruise in the summer and it's plenty light out when happy hour starts and stays that way until after I leave. Maybe if I cruised in the winter I would feel differently.

26 minutes ago, Pooch said:

On Harmony?  We’ll be Diamond by our May cruise so I’ve never paid attention to DLs before.  Is there one on Harmony & why might I want to go there?

Yes, it's in "the basement" on deck 4.

You might want free cappuccino, espresso, lattes, etc. from the complementary coffee machine.

You might want to check out the snacks during the nightly 3 hour happy hour.

You might want to grab pastries and whatever else they put out during breakfast hours although you can find them elsewhere.

You might want to be in a room with no windows.

You might want to see the Diamond concierge about something.

There's nothing wrong with it; it's just in a crappy location compared to say Freedom class that still has the DL in the Viking Crown.

I agree, they did get warm after a while. We were there in the mornings after breakfast. I enjoyed the privacy and the bar up there. The bartender got to know us, was very nice, and would add fresh bananas to my wife's daiquiris that she brought him from the WJ.

Our normal routine is to hang out in the Solarium which we enjoy a lot, especially on Oasis class. We spent plenty of time there on Indy last month as well but the multi-deck Solarium plus the bistro is far superior.

Sorry to hear you guys have had such poor suite experiences. We had an amazing experience on Harmony 5/29 and it was the perks, not the cabin (I personally don't care about my cabin and don't use balconies). We enjoyed CK, the SL happy hour and 11-11 free drinks, and the suite deck cabanas.

That said, we were not paying (it was a family cruise and my in laws were kind enough to take our extended family of 8 for their 50th anniversary and our 20th). I have a great time in an interior with my D vouchers and spending very little extra onboard so I can certainly understand why one might not consider the price worth it.

1 hour ago, Summer Bee Sweet said:

You can order it as a single. You can also order 6 wings vs 12 All tips on how to budget stomach space when you have the UDP and PM is a afternoon snack before dinner at 150 CP

Fair enough. I always have the ultimate mostly-free dining plan and I don't do much budgeting, lol. Eventually I get full... but then it passes.

Had Junior on the 5/29 sailing. He was very nice & helpful. The other concierge has changed.

They pre-booked the comedy show, some CK dinners, & took care of a few other requests via e-mail several days before the cruise.

6 hours ago, Traveling Mike said:

Get both a just have a double decker

It would be a triple… The Playmakers burger already is a double.

Oasis class never feels overcrowded to me and nearly all my cruises have been in the summer when ships are close to full.

The main pool often looks crowded but we also never go near it unless we just happen to be crossing the ship.

1 hour ago, Toby said:

Were are not sport bar people.  We walked in and out of Playmaker's on Symphony without stopping.  I didn't know they served food

They also have an amazing s'more cookie dessert.

It's a nice enough looking sports bar but we were just there for the food and drinks.

8 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Well, a burger at Playmakers is $10-ish dollars for just the burger and fries. At JR you pay the $12 and can get as much as you want plus dessert and a soda. 

This is the reason I can see... but I absolutely loved the burger at Playmakers on Indy last month. The garlic parm fries that came with it were excellent too. Some good drinks at Playmakers too like The Pitch (Long Island with Midori & Sprite instead of coke and one other liquor) and the Goalpost Margarita (pineapple and jalapeno).

5 hours ago, FrHoffard said:

How far in advance can you schedule the tests?  Our cruise isn't until October,  would rather book it now so it's 1 less thing to take care of later 

It was pretty far out if I recall, 1-2 months. They have a mock calendar on the site you can check without actually booking an appointment.

You may want to wait, however, as testing protocols are changing and for all we know you may not even need to test in October.

19 minutes ago, Toby said:

What is your favorite beer?   Cold!

Free! (but cold is pretty important too)

10 minutes ago, Canada Cruiser said:

Hi guys....anyone know if testing random or scheduled is being conducted once you have sailed?

Cheers  

Not unless you go to medical complaining of symptoms.

I put down Oasis-class and I'll stand by it if forced to pick just one.

That said, after many years of solely Oasis-class (ignoring Radiance in Alaska b/c that was a very special 18-day land/cruise vacation and I didn't care what ship I was on), we just spent 7 nights on Indy for various reasons, one of which was to see how we'd feel about Freedom class after all these years. We certainly loved Voyager/Freedom class before there was an Oasis.

The experiment was largely successful as for every venue/aspect that was missing on Indy, something else was offered that can't be found on most Oasis-class ships.

28 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

This particular one of the about isn't accepted because it's not monitored by a medical professional. The BinaxNow they're accepting is the "Abbott BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card Test"

It is accepted if you use a 3rd party site like RT&T or OnPoint. That's the benefit of using them; you can use any FDA authorized test (i.e. free ones from the government).

Maybe this will help...

7 hours ago, Patchy said:

I think the Viking Lounge on Freedom is such an underutilized space!   Great views up there.

Yep, didn't spend much time in its Indy counterpart but every time I passed through on my way to the DL it was pretty empty (except when there was a private event going on).