OCSC Mike

Given my reputation, I didn't want to be the one to comment on the food in the middle of all those nice pics of architecture and scenery... but I agree!

March 14th

I'll still blow one of my wife's vouchers on ya even though you have some of your own now (plus casino drinks). I'm generous like that. Forgot about you turning Diamond, still recovering from last week and dealing with reality. Now I really hope it's done early for ya!

Going with the multiple cabin theme... you may want to find a TA with group rates. It may sound crazy but you may find that 3 cabins (with a group rate) for 5 people is cheaper than the full price options you see online. Several other families may or may not be joining us on a cruise we already have booked for June 2026 and I am basically organizing it via my TA. At least one of them was a party of 5 and when I sent them my TA's group rates they realized they were better off with 3 group rate cabins next to each other (not connecting, just in a row) than pretty much anything else. Just something else to consider. Lots of this will be ship/date/price dependent.

Very much looking forward to it (especially the CL part). Drinks (free of course) on me if you ever stop missing me by a week or so.

I left that scheduling part kind of open-ended for you to take it whichever way you wanted but I thought it was something to consider. I figured you might either think "we'll stay on the ship in Costa Maya b/c we can't do a long excursion" or "we'll stay on the ship in Roatan b/c people will be in port for a longer period." As long as it helps you decide one way or another. We sail mostly for the ship and have no problem skipping any port, TBH, but that's us and I'd never try to steer someone in a certain direction unless I had a very strong reason to do so.

I actually started a thread about it after @Matt wrote an article about the changes. The article said it would all be done just before my June B2B. I’ll definitely share but @LandstromCruise will be onboard from May 23-30 so I’m hoping we both see and hear about it then (if not sooner).

I feel like you don’t normally get off on CocoCay. If I’m right, want to make an exception to say hi?

Yes, it's "closed" for some reason that week. Many assume it's for some sort of maintenance, deep cleaning, etc., making it unavailable or else there would already be ships going there as usual.

CocoCay already has two ships scheduled almost everyday at this point.

First half of a B2B for us and first time on Utopia. We've been on Wonder 5 times though and are looking forward to the small changes like GK's new location, Pesky Parrot, Spare Tire, destination elevators, and the newly moved CL (which will hopefully be done in time). Also looking forward to a new ship with new shows for the first time in a couple years.

Second half of a B2B for us and first time on Utopia. We've been on Wonder 5 times though and are looking forward to the small changes like GK's new location, Pesky Parrot, Spare Tire, destination elevators, and the newly moved CL (which will hopefully be done in time). Also looking forward to a new ship with new shows for the first time in a couple years.

Too many variables, IMO, and it would likely come down to personal preference as far as what you and your kids like to do. I would work backwards... look for excursions in both ports and find the best one (based on your preferences)... then stay on the ship in the other port. Another consideration... if Star is keeping the exact same Western itinerary that Wonder has been doing from PC, you'll be leaving Costa Maya very early (gangway up at 1:30pm) so factor that in as well. Because of this we usually just get off the ship and walk around the port at Costa Maya for an hour or so just for the heck of it and then return to the ship.

Can be and doing a good job of it are two different things.

If they cranked the a/c on Wonder/Utopia when it's hot in there, I'd be OK with the lack of breeze. They call them "climate controlled" but I don't think that's the climate most human cruisers were expecting. I love the space itself and it's comfortable to me in the early morning or when it's not too hot and sunny out (unfortunately we're largely limited to spring/summer cruising). But in general, I agree. That's one aspect I prefer on older Oasis class class as much as I love all the other changes/additions to Wonder.

I wish I couldn't relate to this but I know exactly what you mean... and thanks, me too! Happy to inspire toe Utopia booking!

Am I on crazy pills? I skipped lunch today and had a light dinner... those are my post-cruise meals. I do have 16 Ranger cookies in a Ziploc waiting to be my night time snack though (no, not all for tonight).

On Wonder it's next door to the main restaurant in Central Park... it's officially the "GK Wine Bar" and does have a nice smaller menu with some of the pizzas. I rarely ever see people eating any of the food though and I agree with you. We have our GK lunches booked at $14.99pp from Black Friday (the same price was also available during a sale last week; that's how we wound up having lunch there yesterday) but otherwise I could definitely see going there for a pizza. I'm thinking it will be too hot in June/July but I'd love to have lunch on the outdoor terrace on Utopia. It was beautiful sitting outside in CP yesterday.

Not much time for that since your next cruise is likely within days, lol. At least I have 5 weeks.

This is one of my big concerns (although we won't be trying Icon class for a while). I can live without a Solarium (Wonder's can get very warm as it did this past week when we were onboard) but we have a nice shady spot with a breeze just outside of the Solarium that's not very loud that we enjoy. I haven't done extensive research since it's a ways off but I'll be trying to find some shade for relaxing when the time comes for our Star cruise.

I almost forgot you were on the 3/4 B2B team! Any cabanas booked for that one? I know you've had them before and the prices have been pretty reasonable during the recent sale. Hard to notice who is following how much while blogging, so this was already mentioned during the cruise, but our family currently has OTW cabanas booked for both halves of our March B2B. Naturally we'll be in our usual free Oasis Lagoon spot with gen pop all 4 times this summer just as we were this past week.

+1. I'm unbothered by most things as long as they don't directly affect my enjoyment but my wife and I are onboard with this one. It was bad last night (maybe b/c it was the last night of the cruise). Someone even put a dirty plate next to OUR door!

Now that we're settled, catching up on TV, and I finished checking us in for our June B2B, I already started thinking about specialty dining for the summer. I loved the ribs at MJ but I still prefer brunch and going twice is redundant for my wife since she orders the same things at both meals (she could try the burger I guess). She'd go if I want to but I'm not sure it makes sense to add in the dinner (even with a BOGO) just so I can get ribs (I liked other stuff but some of it is on the brunch menu). I also enjoyed our GK lunch to get pizza, something on the side, and more of the desserts we both really like. That one isn't redundant for either of us but my wife said she could take it or leave it even though she enjoyed it. Since we already have it booked and it's inexpensive, I'm leaning towards keeping the plan as-is. I wonder how many other cruisers get off a ship in the morning and are trying to plan logistics for their next cruise within hours.

Even though I was a little busy this week and will likely never be any closer to an MSC ship than sharing a dock, thanks as always for the sharing and entertainment! Safe travels!

I slept a bit later than I had been, kept waking up with a bit of a headache. Wife got up around 6:15am or so and had zero interest in breakfast. I figured that part. We normally go for one last meal in SB where she just has a croissant and fruit or something while I have a last full breakfast but we were a bit off this morning and I wasn't super hungry. I just made a quick CL run (no one in there) for coffee and ended up with a bagel b/c the pastries I like the best were absent (no fruit danish, no cinnamon roll, no maple donut, etc.) Smooth drive home other than a 2 minute delay due to a small accident. We were in the door around 8:45am or so and everything is now unpacked. I think I agree with @tonyfsu21 that the ground lot next to the garage is the way to go after my 2nd time parking there. Sure my car was a little dirty but it's such a short walk with no need for an elevator, plus it lets us bypass the luggage drop off loop which we don't need since we always just wheel our one suit case each to the porters. Highly likely I'll be parking there in June. We wasted a few vouchers here and there but I definitely did better and I think I'm content using 7-8 on real drinks and the rest on soda, Truly, stuff for my wife, etc. Might also use some of the extras on the occasional Johnny Rockets milkshake. If I think of anything noteworthy I'll add it but otherwise that's a wrap on my last Wonder cruise. Time to decompress, let real life go back to bothering me, and review our summer cruise plans over the next few weeks. My wife is counting down the days until the end of school (last week in May) and she's involved in one of those real life issues that will hopefully be rectified in the next 2 weeks. Knock on wood, all that will go well, time will fly by, and we'll be happily boarding Utopia 5 weeks from tomorrow. Thanks to all who followed along, enjoyed at least some of what I shared, and participated with comments, tangents, and questions.