OCSC Mike

He welcomed us to the island.

Off the ship not long after the gangway opened & it’s empty by the Oasis pool. This is not an early morning crowd & we’re the only ship here. Will use my Bezos holder for something frozen later.

Starting to feel awake & better. Crown Lounge may be in the basement but love that there are two coffee machines & this model can fill my cappuccino to the very top of the to-go cups. One huge negative… no chocolate croissants for my wife, one of her favorite things in the food world. Grabbed her a plain with my Danish & 2 large cappuccinos. Currently drinking them from my Bezos cup holder in the cabin b/c there’s no coffee table on Wonder. Waiting to see how wife feels before we make plans. Normally we get off the ship ASAP. Stay tuned…

Random food/drink pics… Chicken Saag (MDR) Key Lime Pie Desert Pear Margarita with black salt from Schooner Bar (Patron in @Lovetocruise2002’s honor) Goalpost Margarita from Playmakers (one of my go-to’s) Ranger Cookie stash for the cabin

Can’t sleep for a change. MDR started off rough. Took a good 45 mins to get our appetizers after sitting down but the rest of the meal moved quickly so hopefully it was a one-off. Escargot wasn’t hot (took so long, not surprising) but rest of the meal was fine. Wife’s grilled chicken was dry but rest of her meal was fine too. You guys know we’re not big MDR fans so it’s not super important to us. My key lime pie was much better than expected & my wife tried Boston cream pie instead of resorting to her usual ice cream & liked it. We went to WJ after to find half the MDR menu & nothing overly exciting. After dinner we saw InTENse for the 2nd time. Same opinion… it’s good but we prefer less dancing & more diving. Headliner after that… Pete Matthews, comedic juggler. Some of his jokes were funny & clearly he can juggle but not great. CocoCay in the morning so hopefully we get some sleep.

Just lost a post. Short version… You probably won’t hear from me again until the morning. I’m playing internet package shenanigans with our Diamond discount b/c the Black Friday sale wasn’t any good for one device (which my wife & I share). We plan to see the aqua show tonight followed by the headliner. Wife is currently napping otherwise she’ll never make it. Be back with more random food pics & thoughts tomorrow. Thanks to all who are following along. Can’t believe this cruise is only 5 hours old, lol. @GatorCruiser can take over until then.

And you’d know better than I would. We didn’t want to pry but we asked him how he likes it. He said he was fine either way & sometimes change is nice but I’m not sure he’d tell us “I hate it & I can’t believe they kicked me out of CK.”

@Matt briefly checked into our roll call then I think @GatorCruiser scared him off, lol. We know he’s around here somewhere. I don’t spend time in either the casino or pub but I’ll keep an eye out.

We freeloaded in 1722 (closest GS to the door) and it was the best part!

Random stuff… While I was getting my drink at Mason Jar my wife ran into our server from June (we loved her so we told her we’d see her on day 3). I’ll feel better ordering half the menu now. While I was getting my quesadilla my wife noticed our CK manager from June that I raved about (Vinay from India). @Neesa and possibly @Lovetocruise2002 know who he is. Anyway, he said he remembered us, asked where the fam was, and told us he is now the manager of Wonderland, ELF, & Sprinkles. I think his talents are wasted in this role, tbh, but at least we get to see him this way.

For the record, I also went to Park Cafe but didn’t get anything. And I had a ranger cookie on my way out of WJ. Cabins were ready at exactly 1:00 and our luggage was waiting for us! We also met our cabin attendant within minutes. He quickly introduced himself & said he’d be back at 3:00. We told him no rush but asked if he could bring us extra hangers when he returned. He knocked on our door 5 mins later with a dozen hangers. Great first impression!

Last snack for now. Cabin should be ready soon. Still think it’s better than it used to be.

St. Patrick’s Day decorations & themed balloon drop at midnight tonight (we’ll likely be asleep).

Quesadilla from ELF was so much better this time. Hot & melty.

1st drink, Mississippi Moonlight from Mason Jar bar. More moonshine, less lemonade this time, still good.

My experience too. Thanks for the Indian food tip.

That’s what the poors eat in WJ & MDR, sorry there’s no Indian specialty restaurant.

See ya during the week @GatorCruiser! First meal from empty WJ as it just opened. Beef curry that was actually spicy & fried rice. Went back for more curry. Not sure why the Indian food in the MDR is so mild compared to WJ.

Easy drive (aside from the car fire we passed, hope everyone was ok). Through check-in in less than 10 minutes as usual. Just waiting for boarding to begin.

My wife approves. But don't actually be that guy, lol. See ya onboard!

Same here and boarding usually starts even earlier than that. We hope to be parked in the garage sometime before 10am. We both slept awful so about to gulp down some coffee myself and get on the road in a little while. I could say we'll be the ones wearing St. Patrick's Day gear (well I have a t-shirt, my wife has an entire ensemble complete with a fedora and socks, lol) but that's probably not going to make us stand out. She might... I'm the wallflower.

CRUISE DAY!!!

#jealous

I’m too hungry to sleep. I overdid the pre-cruise diet. Nah, no idea, my sleep pattern is all over the place. Hopefully I get some sleep. We have double shows planned for tomorrow night and we’re not exactly the stay up late doing Irish car bomb types.