OCSC Mike

15 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

It’s just spring training for the cruise! 

Given the new record I set for weight gain last month (although a lot was water weight as usual and much of it was gone within 10 days), I'm sticking to my pre-cruise dieting... but more power to everyone and their pre-cruise meals.

@JohnK6404 Given your location, I don't blame you. It's the people who go to Orlando-area seafood buffets and family style dinners at Disney before cruises and wonder why they're in a food coma by day 2 of a cruise I had in mind... *cough* @Lovetocruise2002 *cough*.

So your hotel has the a/c card slot and a crown lounge for breakfast, I love it!

Churros for breakfast!

6 minutes ago, DunwoodyDad said:

Sorry for the dumb question but is there a place in the cruise planner to enter the code?

I think the code is for booking cruises with that promo. CP items will automatically show 50% off.

2 hours ago, JohnK6404 said:

I have a few moments to drop a few pics of our cozy, but functional room! 

It has the same tech as the ships… lights and HVAC require room key in slot on wall to function.

Cozy, functional, card slot… sounds like our beloved interiors (but looks a bit nicer, lol). Hope you have a great day regardless of weather!

On 5/9/2025 at 3:13 AM, perfect match said:

I thought I was done planning for Utopia in September - until the UDP dropped to $136/pp. It got my wheels spinning. If we didn’t have the Coco Cay beach club already booked, I would have booked it.

Been there, done that… and rambled on about it a few weeks ago. I still think the UDP is a crazy amount of food but I’m looking forward to experiencing it next March. Our family cruises are always pretty different than our normal ones so that will just put another twist on it.

7 hours ago, foxrunner said:

know that I need to move on, but I hate to be those people, as she seems really nice.

I fully understand. My first TA was with MEI and I had zero complaints with him but a friend put me in contact with my current TA and he just had a bit more to offer. I felt bad switching but it’s just business.

2 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Ha ha, oh I've looked at the menu...but I'm 10 months out. What I DO have to figure out eventually is the flight down there.. during spring break..not looking forward to that one

Oops, my bad, the beach beds were all gone 10 months out??? Wow. I didn't even book that Easter cruise until like 100 days out and most of the pool beds were available and a few beach beds... but you never know when a party will grab several in a row (I agree with your theory) and they can easily start to disappear.

It will be more pleasant there in March than August at least.

3 minutes ago, ScottD said:

I figured I'd get it over with before we missed out

I don't blame you, especially with the lenient deposit/modify/cancel policies.

Now you can get started on looking at the menu 3 months in advance... everyone does that, not just me, right?

3 minutes ago, foxrunner said:

Does your TA email you with price drops, because mine doesn't? This is an MEI agent. 

No but 99% of my bookings are group rates when cruises are released (which will never drop) or last minute-ish deals that are past final payment so checking for price drops isn't really part of my usual routine.

The only reason he's been processing them for me lately is we had family recently decide to join us on a cruise for next March that we booked forever ago (with group rates) so I've found a few drops for their two cabins which were booked with normal pricing.

5 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Two of us ordered the Chicken and Vegetable Paella

I swear every blogger here who sails from Spain (wisely) orders paella and I'm drooling. I was happy to find it had returned to embarkation lunch in WJ on Wonder last month but not quite the same thing, lol.

Looks like you're off to a great start food-wise! Hope you adjust to the time change quickly.

3 minutes ago, HeWhoWaits said:

healthier

No such thing on a cruise (for me anyway).

4 minutes ago, Cruiser70 said:

What do you think of the coffee from the machine at the lounge.

As someone who is not remotely a coffee snob and drinks cheap stuff at home from my Mr. Coffee, I think the machines are great and have a couple cappuccinos (with an extra espresso shot) every morning. Others may disagree, of course. Like food, coffee is subjective.

14 minutes ago, dovecruiser said:

So to be clear...wine and beer ARE included in Beverage Package, just not liquor?  Hard to believe but perhaps...? 

Non-alcoholic wine & beer.

1 minute ago, Sharla said:

We do need time off! But if it's an emergency we're there. 

I get it... I don't know how or why my TA does it but his version of "off" is taking a bit longer to e-mail back when he's on a cruise.

10 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Ok, I DID notice that a few of them had little tables with little chairs that looked like beach chairs, then a few bigger tables at other ones.  I'll admit, I'm going back and forth with #1, #21... I like the idea of being in the corner there, or 13 which is still poolside but a quick walk to the beach. I'll show the wife the pictures later and let her make the decision...she's the one with some mobility issues, so I'll let her pick.

All sound like good reasons to me. Being in a corner, slightly more secluded from others, was also part of the draw for me with #21.

10 minutes ago, ScottD said:

And thank you for explaining the oddly numbered ones, I was trying to figure out a reasoning! 

No problem, just dumb luck that they were installed the summer of our first visit there, that's why I know way too much about them, lol. The tables you see from the #1 pic are now where daybeds #21 and #20 are.

36 minutes ago, ScottD said:

I was looking at the site with the map of the day beds and didn't even realize I could click on the number above them to see a picture, that definitely helps.

Neither did I when I was first researching the place. I agree it's a great feature. Their customer service via e-mail was excellent too. When they added 3 new daybeds (the two in the back of the pool where we just were and the one on the far left on the beach, that's why the numbers are out of order) the women who was responding to my questions went and took pics to e-mail me before they were up on the website. It's just a really well run beach club all around, IMO.

36 minutes ago, ScottD said:

After doing that, I think we'll definitely grab one by the pool... they are back a bit far on the beach to be a big deal, I'd rather look at the pool and the pool bar activity than the backs of umbrellas and rows of loungers.  And I agree, on the ship I'm fine with going and getting my own stuff, but at a place like this, and when we did Mr Sanchos, the service is part of the experience and cost to me.

We're on the same page, I just try not to steer people in one direction unless I have a very strong opinion. FWIW, you probably saw we put a lot of thought into which daybed to choose (my wife took a bunch of pics around the pool area the first time in case we went back) and we were very happy with #21. It gets less direct sun and you have a 4-top table right next to you. Others have little chairs at the foot of the bed and other set-ups that didn't seem as nice (more overplanning but you have to pick one so why not).

36 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Crazy, when I went back to look at the day beds, one is now showing as booked... guess we should do this soon just to be safe

Yeah, they only ask for a 50% deposit up front and you can cancel as late as 24 hours out if something comes up). You can also login and change or add stuff like your daybed. For last July, I want to say the daybeds were fully booked a few months out (and obviously the longer you wait the less choice you'll have). It took a little longer for last month but they still sold out. You will also see entire dates say "SOLD OUT" at times as they obviously cap the number of guests at something and it's not exactly a small place.

36 minutes ago, ScottD said:

We did a tour around Roatan last time, and might do it again with another company and to check some other areas out, I figure if we do  a beach and pool day in Cozumel, then we probably won't do it at Roatan and try to find something else to do- plus the port has been re-done and opened since we were there two years ago, so we will likely just check that out and make a decision on the fly.

We definitely use a lot of the same logic. I even felt (and mentioned) that Paradise Beach was a bit redundant on this last cruise since PDCC is obviously a beach day with included food and drink (vouchers) and sitting in the Solarium/pool deck isn't all that different. Sure I have to go get my food and choose to get my drinks but there's also no additional cost. I rarely spend money on something that's more for me than my wife, not that she minds, it's just how I am with excursions (she enjoys PB but the food/drink part is obviously more for me). The main reason I kept it is because we have our string of CocoCay/Nassau cruises coming up so I figured I might as well go b/c we may not be in Cozumel again for a while.

We almost got off in Roatan to walk around the port (it does look nice in videos) but we skipped it and just took the short walk around the Costa Maya port.

Happy planning. Let me know which daybed you choose if you book it. Just curious. My feelings won't be hurt if you don't choose #21 (even though it's clearly the best one).

2 minutes ago, ScottD said:

if we do another beach club type thing, I think Paradise Beach is on top of our list.  I scrolled way back to see your day bed info..looking at the map, you guys were opposite of the beach. I guess those ones at the bottom are ocean view, and now I can't decide if we'd rather be closer to the pool bar\pool and bathroom where we'd enjoy it more OR the ocean which is where the kid would probably want to swim more than the pool.

Not sure if you did this already but if you start a mock booking on their website (you can even use made up info to get to the page where you pick add-ons like daybeds if you want) you can click on the number above any daybed and see a nice pic of the view facing out from the daybed.

Last July we had a beach daybed (the one row at the bottom) and obviously last month we were by the pool. There are pros and cons to each. We switched b/c we didn't plan to go in the ocean and the view isn't that great b/c you're at the back of the beach with lounge chairs in front of you as well as the floating slides out in the water. There were also minor cons like you'll get some ants if you're on the beach, you're farther from the bathroom, etc. but nothing that would make me tell someone DON'T get a beach daybed. We were as far from the ocean as you can get last month and it's still not a long walk so while your son will obviously be closer to the ocean in a beach daybed, I wouldn't use the slightly longer walk as a make or break. There's also a rinse off shower on the path that leads from the beach to the pool area.

Your servers come by so frequently that being close to the bar/kitchen/taco truck also shouldn't play a roll. You'll get anything you want so quickly it doesn't matter where you're sitting. I know we've talked about both liking to walk up to bars on the ship but I happily kept my butt in the bed and let them bring me stuff there. It's part of the value to me even though we both don't really NEED drinks brought to us. If it's hot out, it's also nice b/c they use those tiny 8oz bottles of water so we were getting more water pretty much every time we ordered something.

Hope my usual rambling helped a little. The pool is definitely what we'd go back to but that's b/c we don't go in the ocean. Given that you/your son will, you should certainly consider the beach, but in the end, the differences aren't major enough IMO that it will affect your overall experience much. You'll get great service with the same food and drink either way, you'll just have different views and a slightly longer walk to one spot or another. I'd consider it overplanning, which I like to do as much as anyone so no judgment (I still have more than one plan for our specialty meals in July laid out in a chart while I wait for entertainment to open b/c we have silly little preferences like not running off to a show right after stuffing ourselves at Giovanni's, lol).

29 minutes ago, ScottD said:

have you or anyone done anything IN Cozumel, like in town?

Nothing in town but we did do other things years ago like going to ruins (that was actually when Royal docked in Playa Del Carmen and was much closer to Tulum so that's where we went). We also went to Chankanaab and swam with the dolphins a while back.

I'm not huge on going somewhere to randomly walk around unless it's something like the port area in Costa Maya where we just get off the ship for an hour walk that's right there. Years ago we would walk around St. Thomas and go shopping but we've really started to embrace not doing a whole lot these days if you couldn't tell. We enjoyed our private tour of Roatan b/c it was our first time and we do like that sort of thing when it's a new port but, as you know, we don't get many new ports with our boring routine. I set up a similar tour the one time we visited St. Kitts on a family cruise and the family joined us (I didn't think they would) and it really wasn't for them but we would have enjoyed it on our own. If it's somewhere we've been several times, I'm likely looking for some sort of boat/snorkel excursion that includes food and possibly some other stops like a beach or two (Captain Bob on St. Martin will always be my favorite excursion anywhere) or a beach club. As I frequently post, we all like what we like.

19 minutes ago, Traveling Mike said:

do all my research and checking on my cruises.  I just need a TA  to make my bookings, help me take care of problems and give me cash back. 

Just so it’s clear b/c many people think a TA is most commonly used for planning… While mine is available 24/7, I primarily use him for same thing as you… to save money. I require very little of him for our standard cruises; I just want group rates and OBC.

2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

the meatball gigante and calamari are great enough to consider the apps the best part of GK

Just had the meatball for the first time & enjoyed it. I wish the calamari was more traditional small thin rings. The bigger pieces at GK can wind up a bit chewy to me but I do still like it. I just remember GT’s being better.

Filet with a side of carbonara is likely my dinner order going forward (which is what I always used to get at GT). My app(s) may vary. The osso buco was great last year the one time I tried it but not so much last month. Lunch will probably be pizza & pasta again.

I’m clearly not that picky as far as pizza goes given that I have Sorrento’s 3-4 out of 7 nights as my last snack. As long as it’s not soggy or saucy, I’m fine with it.

The closest I’ve come to Chicago (besides an early morning layover coming home from Alaska) is eating at Uno’s down the street.

A really good TA is reachable 7 days/week via e-mail and/or text & doesn’t have traditional “office hours.”

I’m still wondering when mine sleeps b/c he gets back to me at all hours, usually within minutes.

I’ve never met either of the TA’s I’ve ever used and my current one doesn’t even live in the US. I see no reason you’d need your TA to be local in 2025.

Make the switch!

49 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

Anyone have an idea what Utopia is doing during this time ? 

The current 4N is just Cozumel.

On 5/3/2025 at 10:42 AM, OCSC Mike said:

Hadn't even checked for price drops in forever since I started booking group rates close to release (or last minute deals) but found a few for our family members' cabins over the past few weeks, including today. Nothing earth shattering but since they just decided to join us last month for next March and don't have our prices (or our cabin type), savings are savings!

Just found another small drop for a family member's cabin.

22 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a day spent on the ship relaxing by the pool with a Kraken Colada (or two).

Can't go wrong there... and if you have vouchers you can't beat the price!

That's 5-6 out of 7 days on an average 7N for me and it will be 7/7 if you count doing the same thing at PDCC (just a different pool slightly off the ship) for our upcoming Utopia B2Bs.

I mix up the drinks but that's been my #1 frozen drink for a while.

35 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said:

I’m still getting all my offers in my online account

Do you have those Utopia offers? If so, I think you should pay for 5/30 & use the 6/2 offer to stay on for 14N… then you wouldn’t be missing me. Better yet, make it 17N & come see @WAAAYTOOO with me on PDCC on June 8th.

9 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Here is a glitch that has been going on for some time now. I noticed with the UDP but could be with other packages too. I see the price and I click both of our names but it only calculates one of us, its only when I actually add it to the cart that i see the price for 2 with gratuities. Anyone else see this problem? Is it with other packages?

I had the same thing with the UDP.