OCSC Mike

Excuses, excuses... Hope you had a fun day in the park.

Says the guy who tried to borrow my blog, promised food pics, then failed to deliver?

Yes but it has to be the exact same category (as in letter code). I’m not familiar with JS’s so they may all have the same code but other cabin types like interiors & OV balconies have varying category codes depending on things like max occupancy or mid-ship vs. fwd/aft. Our interiors are always 4V for example but mid-ship interiors are 2V so I couldn’t switch to one of those.

I totally get it & agree there’s a place for more concise ship reviews. BTW, I dunno about “epic” but thanks. They usually wind up pretty long with a lot of “stuff” at the very least… how much of that stuff is either helpful or entertaining is hard to say & likely a matter of opinion. All I can guarantee in advance is that there will be food porn. I also enjoy reading my own blogs before my next cruise. Not sure if that’s weird or not but it puts me in cruise mode.

Also agree... as someone who authors some of longest, tangent filled blogs around. They're fun for me and live blog regulars who enjoy that sort of thing but I totally get why others wouldn't be interested. More no-frills, on-topic reviews definitely serve a purpose.

That's just luck of the draw and can happen even if you pick your room on a newer ship. I have the same exact cabin for all these Utopia B2B's I have booked. We're not very picky either but since I was choosing we obviously prefer certain locations over others. Finally got to stay in that cabin earlier this month and there was a small stain in the carpet, part of the rubber strip that kinda seals the space between the shower door and the bottom part came loose (which maintenance quickly repaired), and the mattress was on the hard side, definitely moreso than any mattress we had on Wonder (which I like but my wife not so much). What can ya do?

Good description. I was quickly reminded of that when we had our first GTY in a while in April. Assignments for Utopia seem to be coming out around the 14-16 day mark lately going by the FB groups for my sailings... leading new cruisers to the verge of panic b/c they think they somehow won't have a cabin despite being told that the assignment can come at any time.

There's a poster across the street who has been on 4 Utopia 3N weekend cruises since May (including this weekend being his 3rd in a row). He was on the 3N leg of our B2B. He felt that all 4 had completely different vibes. He said the one in May was like a quiet weekend getaway (I didn't find the volume oppressive but I'd never call Utopia quiet, lol), ours he felt was "adults gone wild with massive drinking" (I definitely thought there were less kids and more of a party crowd but there was nothing crazy where we frequented), last weekend's he said was full of family graduation groups, and this weekend's he described as feeling like Carnival so far with lots of craziness and poor behavior. I'm just sharing this because I found it interesting and it lent some support to some of my own longstanding opinions. I've never liked sweeping generalizations... i.e. calling Utopia or all short cruises "party ships" or "party cruises." There are so many variables like where one spends their time or personal opinions/preferences/tolerances in addition to different sailings of the same ship not necessarily being the same that I just don't think it's prudent to generalize going by one review or even one personal experience. It's also important to me to get some specifics when people say something like "it feels like a Carnival cruise" or "the behavior is crazy." One example this poster gave for this weekend's cruise feeling that way was how insane the WJ was for breakfast this morning. He didn't say when he was there but the WJ is commonly crazy for breakfast unless you go early. Knowing that was one of his reasons for the overall description lets me know that likely wouldn't be my experience b/c we eat early in the Solarium Bistro. That may have been some classic rambling on my part or maybe someone with an interest in Utopia cares. I dunno. Just trying to get into cruise mode and keep my mind off my remaining real life annoyances. 20 days to go...

Love that last part and that's exactly how I felt about the decision and cruising in general. There's no wrong way to cruise... period. It still made it tough to decide but I think we're getting the best of both worlds here, saving a few bucks, putting off all out food coma until the 2nd leg, etc. That said, I still haven't actually cancelled the first UDP, lol, just in case something makes us change our minds (but that's very unlikely). Half of it was paid with OBC so the refund will be instant and I'm OK getting the rest back a little later. Welcome to the forum, btw! Feel free to jump in at any point. I'm sure you noticed the live blogs are pretty interactive and I certainly welcome comments/questions. I appreciate the planning feedback and comments are always fun to read while blogging.

That’s exactly what I used to do across the street before mostly moving over here & doing live blogs. I’m sure plenty of people would happily read that version. Some of the live blogs are already somewhat like that. It’s easy to fall behind, especially on a port-heavy cruise, and have to catch up after the fact.

Yep, no Sorrento’s after the first 3 days. I’ll max out on the included venues on that leg but then it’s specialty after that. I’m sure I’ll still grab something from the CL with my coffee if the food is already out and/or have a little breakfast though. Long time between waking up early & noon specialty lunch. Also not sure I can completely avoid the embarkation seafood. A few more lobster tails before our actual lunch can’t hurt, right?

Mission accomplished, lol. Enjoy Izumi and CocoCay. Food porn and intrusions are always welcome... but you really should start your own blogs. They don't have to be exceedingly long like mine ya know. An occasional comment and some food and drink porn goes a long way.

That's more like it! Active cruise intel for Oasis belongs in an Oasis blog (CocoCay is an exception of course) but I guess I can't stop you.

Whoa there... You can start your own blog, ya know! I'm still doing plenty of rambling in this one! I don't need you tainting it with pic-less food descriptions.

That's a thing? Do you ship to FL?

It's kinda sad but helpful that we have to become familiar with all the common IT/CP glitches. While I'm writing, after brunch earlier this month, I'm not sure I prefer it over dinner anymore but I'm still a huge fan of both.

Those are high on my list of planned night time UDP snacks. Just wondering how I'm supposed to eat them plus other items to use up my $20 after having a specialty lunch, specialty dinner (and sushi and something from Gio's Wine Bar). I just know I'll try my best!

Same experience as others have described for us. Cabin attendant moved everything already on hangers and we tossed everything else in our luggage. Not a big deal at all (although keeping the same cabin is of course a little nicer).

Nah, I’m always counting but (not trying to be a jerk & you already know) my countdown is 3 days ahead of yours. Can’t wait until you get to 3! I’ll try to leave some Sorrento’s for you.

Knock on wood, some of this stuff will get resolved in the next couple days so I can better relax and look forward to the next cruise... which is coming up awfully quickly. 4 days later... one issue was resolved quicker than expected (with the desired outcome) while the other is turning into an ongoing headache. Win some lose some I guess. In lighter news, we sail exactly 3 weeks from today and my next blog intro is mostly finished but I'll again wait until closer to sailing to post it. The in between diet is also going pretty well; no one is giving me surprise meals and desserts this time. The catch will be eating healthy at my in laws when we go see them for July 4th for about a week. I'll eat whatever I want when we actually grill on the 4th (and possibly some leftovers the next day) but I want to try to be good otherwise.

Careful, your blog is going to look like one of mine soon where a tangent takes over for an entire page.

Again, I don’t think you need to hope/wait for a new sub-forum. If you want to start a discussion about Enchantment, go for it!

Highlight of that link... The name "El Caganer" literally means "the pooper".

This probably exemplifies how little we care about our cabin (and thus usually just book interiors). I've only been in Sky Class twice ever, both GS, one Harmony and one Wonder, so I actually know what you suite-life cruisers are talking about. The wall on Harmony didn't bother me b/c it kinda felt like a small apartment where the wall separated the bedroom from the living room. I also had no problem with the Wonder layout being open. Clearly I'm in the minority as I've heard MANY comments about people not liking that wall but that's OK. Since I pretty much only cared about the perks, the Wonder/Utopia model of having the entire suite neighborhood in one spot (sun deck right above CK/SL instead of on the opposite end of the ship) was a MUCH MUCH bigger difference to me than than the dividing wall.

You could always share here in the meantime. Not saying your idea of a new sub-forum is a bad one but people would likely read and appreciate your thoughts wherever.