OCSC Mike

1 hour ago, rjac said:

practically no shade at all

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.

3 minutes ago, Jax said:

I am pretty excited to be on her in December

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.

4 hours ago, Jax said:

Abandoned food especially in hallways is a major pet peeve for me.

+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.

57 minutes ago, ScottD said:

I would say I hope you have an easy trip home...but that's probably a given since you're right up the road.

Easy drive but the back to reality part is still crappy though.

Will post again from home though not sure I have too much more to share. The comedians were great again last night and didn’t repeat a single joke. Funniest pair I can remember probably ever.

13 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

dear lord. 

I would pay to see your reaction to being confined to an elevator with that.

3 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

they do NOT have this kind of art in the women’s room!!!!

Seems sexist to me. You’re missing out.

Coming to a blog near you… Utopia men’s room art work in about 5 weeks!

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We have had it twice. It’s surprisingly good! First time we weren’t sure either but the flavours blended together nicely. Kids won’t touch it though. 

Oh well, maybe next time, although we’re gonna review the meal plan when we get home. Not sure we’re sticking with the GK lunch.

In other news, we spent some time riding the elevator with the stowaway piano player… and he even played @asquared17’s favorite song!

Last planned activity of the cruise, going to see adult comedy again in the main theater at 10:15.

Meant to post these earlier. Going to miss the bathroom art on Wonder…

1 minute ago, asquared17 said:

i’ve never gone to dinner before without being packed beforehand.

i’ve also never re-worn multiple dinner outfits before because we’re repeating.

but then again i’ve never eaten like i have this week

Two of the three are standard for me. Never did one.

Last goal post marg until June…

About to do the backstage theater tour just b/c we never have & no real plans until MTD at 6:45.

Saw some breaded shrimp & spicy chicken wings in the CL. Possibly my next pre-dinner snack.

5 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I often shy away from the cabonarra because it's so heavy. That one looks pretty good.

Heavy dish for sure so I won’t call it light but pretty sure this was a smaller lunch portion (or maybe b/c I also ordered a pizza) & it wasn’t drowning in sauce so for carbonara it wasn’t that bad as far as heaviness goes.

2 hours ago, Pooch said:

Still served?  Still complementary on Oasis class?

Yes & yes.

16 minutes ago, twangster said:

Roaming waiters walk around bringing different cuts of meat to each table.  They walk up to a table and ask if you would like what they have.  If so they slice off a piece and you use your tongs to grab it and put it on your plate.  

Then you overeat and get the meat sweats!

Never did Samba but love churrascarias.

Giovanni’s Kitchen lunch…

Was going to try the pizza with eggs & truffle but even I was unsure about eggs on a pizza so I got the Giovanni’s again (with extra ricotta). Much better than last summer when mine had like zero toppings. Also gave the carbonara another shot. One of my favorite pasta dishes but didn’t like it last summer. So much better today. I think I’ll go back to ordering it with filet for dinner. Wife just got a plain pizza & dessert. I was pretty full afterwards but I enjoyed it too much to drop it from our summer cruises (and if course the fullness eventually passed).

He must not read your blogs. Everyone here knows you aren’t going anywhere.

1 hour ago, Andiiiim said:

looks like there is only room for 2 ships at the dock

Correct.

19 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

i don’t know that we’ve ever had such nice weather on the final day at sea before. what a treat

Beautiful here too. It was super windy this morning but now we’re sitting outside in Central Park with a nice breeze waiting for Giovanni’s dessert.

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

 

I don't mind a GK/GT lunch on embarkation day because MDR night one is the worst menu, and I can fill up on lunch. But the Italian restaurants in general will always be the heaviest lunches to me. 

This is our first GK lunch and sort of a test to see if we want to keep the ones we have booked for the summer. One B2B is 3/4 & the other is 4/3 which limits the scheduling options, especially b/c we also have MJ brunch once per 7 days. MJ brunch is turnaround day both times but GK lunch is in the middle of the 4/3 & the last day on the 3/4 so I wanna see if we like the heavy lunch at the end.

We have all the day 1’s covered by either GK dinner or MJ brunch, no Welcome Aboards for us either. The only part I partially screwed up (but again, limited options) is that each day 1 on Utopia will likely still have lobster/seafood in the WJ for lunch. I’m not skipping that no matter what I have booked. At least seafood is light.

More breakfast. It counts as healthy if there’s fruit involved, right?

The cinnamon rolls were large today but I love the fruit bread toasted. Trying to be good until lunch after this.

6 minutes ago, Traveler said:

It's was at 11 am , which is early for alcohol

I never received that memo, lol, maybe at home it is. I’m usually drinking something fruity by the pool here in the Caribbean but still.

I rarely get to eat sushi, looks good!

3 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

The horror!  

No, no, That's a good thing! It means I don’t feel obligated to completely skip breakfast just b/c lunch cost extra (not exactly a lot at 40% off though) and will be filling.

Will check out WJ in a bit. SB doesn’t open until 9am for “brunch” which is just a weird set up of replacing half the breakfast stuff with lunch items at 9am. Even I’ve never thought… yum, 9am burgers & hot dogs! Just make it an extended breakfast, IMO, there will be lunch items everywhere else closer to lunch time.

8 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Those tacos look bomb!!!

It sorts of sucks that you paid good money for the suites area and the food is so lackluster that you have to spend more money just to enjoy. 

Agreed on both counts. Since we don’t care about the nicer cabin much when we’ve had a suite, that makes it too close to cruising interiors & just spending money on specialty to me. I know she has some other perks but vouchers, bogo meals, & 40% off lunches cover food & drink on Royal (for us anyway and I know your routine isn’t all that dissimilar except when you get the UDP).

Light pre-breakfast in our pool deck spot… which currently has near gale force winds, lol. OK, not really, but it’s super windy up here right now.

EDIT: dunno what happened to this pic when I first posted.

Trying not to eat too much this morning but lunch is over 4 hours away.

34 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Not sure if you know, but the casino gives you a freeplay too if you go on one of the first two nights. It's usually only $2 but I've had as much as $4 and even $10 on one occasion. You never know, one of those extra 3 or 4 spins could be the lucky one!

Yeah, we usually do have $8pp, just depends what we’re doing the 1st two nights and if I remember. Stuffing myself on night one has become the priority ever since we got out D+ BOGO, lol. You know where my priorities lie.

Should be easier on our 3/4 B2Bs if you still get the extra $2… over half the cruise is night 1 or 2. There are quite a few perks that work out for those, like having a total of 8 free days of internet combined which we normally share but that’s more hours than there are onboard so during the 3N half we’ll have our own accounts for at least one day. We could also have 4 nights of BOGO specialty dinners if we wanted. Not doing that out of personal  preference as of now but I’m tempted to add MJ dinner b/c I liked those ribs so much.

Tine to get coffee and enjoy the last day. I’ll take a look at our summer plans when we get home. We may decide we don’t want Giovanni’s lunch after trying it today (we know we like the food, just might decide it’s a heavy lunch & I could always swap it out if for a dinner.) Good choices to have… 40% off lunch & BOGO dinner.