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Cruise #2 Days 3 & 4
Well - Nothing spoils a sunny vacation better than a sunburn, and I pride myself on doing things very well...I got a terrible sunburn on Sunday while in Cabo hanging at the pool visiting with a nice couple.  I've spent the better part of the last two days hiding from the beautiful sunshine to recover, and hubby stuck with me to keep me company.  So sweet! 🥰  Being forced to be out of the sun led us to meeting some fabulous new friends in the Diamond Lounge, so I can't say it was spoiled entirely. 
Sunday's dinner wasn't that great, so we avoided dinner Monday (day 3) in the dining room, and ventured up to the Windjammer.  That wasn't the experience we wanted, so we tried the dining room again tonight (day 4).  I think Windjammer might have been better than tonight's dining room dinner.  I wasn't in the mood for the Italian themed options, so I ordered the New York Strip (medium rare) and it arrived to my table very blue (extremely rare) but showing grill marks on the outside as though they put it on the grill for about 20 seconds on each side.  My vegetables and baked potato were both hot (which was new from Sunday's dinner), so I began eating those while I waited for the server to come back and check.  When I told him the temperature was incorrect, he immediately whisked away my entire plate (including the potato and veggies I was happily enjoying) and promptly brought another, that was also extremely rare.  He came back and checked and again wanted to whisk away my plate, but I had made the mistake of prepping my potato and veggies again before trying the steak, so I requested to keep it.  Besides, I had just used the last of the butter in the vicinity (our neighboring table offered their butter since the server didn't bring any).  Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat much of the prepped veggies and potato because he arrived moments later with another plate of food.  I checked the steak while he was there this time (since it was the third attempt) and it as correct this time.  However, he took away my old plate and I was again left with a potato with no butter.  I ate my steak and didn't bother with the rest of the plate because dry baked potatoes aren't appealing to me and I had already indulged in enough broccoli and carrots on the last two plates.  We're pretty much over the dining room now.  Tomorrow is supposed to be lobster night, and I'm not sure it will be worth it.  We'll see.  🦞
We found a fun game show last night to take my mind off of this terrible sunburn.  In the Star Lounge, they had Rock the Room and it was quite interactive.  There were about 5 or 6 people who frequented the floor and it got pretty competitive at the end.  It was good old fashioned entertainment and fun.  We stayed in when the place cleared out and listened to Frequency (band) for a bit, and attempted dancing a couple of songs.  We're rusty, but had fun anyway.  When the band took a break, we headed up to bed.  
The time change is interesting on this cruise.  We've had to change our time twice heading down to Puerto Vallarta, and now we'll change it twice again on the way back.  This time, I get to gain an hour of sleep each night, which is very nice for me working in the morning on east coast hours.  I've set my phone/watch to east coast hours so I don't have to worry about changing my time each night and worrying about alarms.  
Tonight, the ship is moving more than it has over the last week and a half because we're heading back to LA.  For me, the movement of the ship is kind of lulling, so I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight!  😴
 

Cruise #2 Day 2
I’m quickly losing track of my days!  Thank God for the elevator day panels!
We lost an hour of sleep last night!  Traveling down the west coast of Mexico heading for Cabo we change time zones, so the ship time changes time after night 1, even though we aren't yet in that time zone.  Our phones were completely unreliable today and the confusion over what was actually correct totally threw us for a loop!  We went to bed close to midnight (we normally get up at 4:30am for my work because I keep east coast hours to support my business), so we were soooooo tired when we finally crashed last night.  We woke up at around 7:30am, but it was really 8:30am, and we couldn’t get our stuff together to save our lives!  Hubby made it to the Diamond Lounge to get us coffee just before they shut down the morning snacks, and he brought back a couple of yummy croissants with the coffee to hold us off until we figured out where to go/what to do.  By the time we got out of our room and up to the Windjammer, they had closed breakfast. 😫
We were ready to get into the pool, so we stopped by the El Loco Fresh and had a quick bite on the way to the Solarium.  The pool deck was a madhouse!!!  We could definitely tell that this seven night cruise had a different crowd and more of them than the last four night cruise.  We hung in the pool for a bit, tried the hot tub for a bit, went back to the pool, and then went up a couple of decks to the sun deck to dry off.  The deck 13 sundeck is awesome!  Tons of lounge chairs and all sun!  😎
We had reservations for the escape room this afternoon and spent an hour with 8 other strangers attempting to brain meld in 50 minutes to escape.  We made it with 4:04 minutes to spare!  Yay us!  My undergrad degree is in psychology, and I find it fascinating how strangers can come together for a common cause…or not in some cases.  I love brain games, and escape rooms are the ultimate!  It was very fun, and we highly recommend it if you like escape rooms!  🏆

Tonight was dress your best and we went with red for our theme this evening.  Unfortunately, we didn’t do any photos before dinner because I had booked the escape room in the middle of the afternoon, not really leaving much time for photos before dinner.  While at dinner, I decided my red needed a touch of French Onion Soup.  We’ll have to do pics on the next dressy night.
We weren’t feeling it for drinking tonight, but we didn’t want to lose our four (each) free diamond drinks from today.  We don’t really do soda, and the water on the ship is just fine, so after some deductive reasoning, we decided to get our drinks and save them for tomorrow.  We went to the Star Lounge and asked the bartender for our four drinks each neat in tall glasses.  He said he gets that kind of request all the time.  Apparently, he has a Pinnacle guest who requests his 6 drinks each night in one glass – it just makes it easier. 
It really seems like Pinnacles should get more than just 6 drinks a day.  I know they get more perks than just that, but still.  Just saying.
Got back to our room tonight to another addition to our towel family.  They always make me smile! 🥰  I kept the head of my elephant from the first night of towel animals, and he keeps making the cut for the photos.  🤣

Tomorrow is Cabo and we don’t get there until around 12:30-1pm, then we have to tender, which is not our favorite thing.  We’re going to play it by ear tomorrow on whether we’re getting off.  We may worship the sun a bit more.  We’ll see.  None of the available shore excursions seemed interesting enough for us and we would much rather spend a week in Cabo at a nice resort versus being rushed around so we don’t miss the tender boat. 

Turnaround Day
I had a couple of calls and a few things I needed to get done before calling it for work.  Hubby got coffee and breakfast in the WJ before it filled up with the entire ship trying to fit in breakfast before they had to get off.  He brought back coffee and a variety of good eats for me to enjoy before we had to go meet the other back-to-backers in the Star Lounge at 9am.
We hung out together until everyone had checked in and then waited for a couple of wheelchairs to arrive for those who needed assistance, then as a group we all walked off the ship, down the super long building to the immigration, got our lovely faces scanned and cleared, sat down for about 10 minutes waiting until we were able to get back on the ship, then all got back on the ship.  It was the simplest thing. 🥰
Once back on, we hung out at the R Bar for a while in very comfy chairs visiting with a couple we had met during the immigration process.  When it was time for lunch, the four of us went into the dining room for the turnaround lunch.  I was ready to eat my fingers off when we got in there, and it took them forever just to bring bread.  The other side of the dining room was for the Key, and they had all the servers.  We had 2 – it was super sad.  All the food came out cold and very late.  My hubby’s appetizer came out just before his meal after the other three of us had long eaten our appetizers and they had taken our plates away. We’re probably going to avoid that next time and just go get pizza or Windjammer. 🍕
After lunch we wandered around for a bit until the Diamond Lounge opened up and made our way to our “newly available to us” exclusive hideaway.  It was quiet in there and we stayed and played a game for a while we people-watched.  It was great.  We hung out until the Diamond happy hour began and nibbled and drank for a bit until it was time for the dining room.  Neither of us wanted to go put long pants on, so we went over to Playmakers and had a basket of wings and beer – in our comfy shorts.  I wouldn't say I've converted, but I drank it.  I mulled orange wedges and added that to my drink each time.  At the end our server commented that my beer looked like a fruit salad.  🤣
After wings we went over to the liquor store where they were holding a sipping event.  We hung out and got in line a few times to maximize our free sips, and enjoyed the different offerings.  Hoping they do that all week long!  😋
We wandered over to the Star Lounge and found some super comfy chairs and listened to some pretty good jazz while using our Diamond drink tickets (we each get 4 drinks a day as diamond members).  What a great thing!!
When the jazz took a turn into music that wasn’t as interesting to us we went up to the karaoke up in the Viking Crown lounge and heard a couple of amazing singers perform for the rest of us who all decided not to even try following them.  When it turned into just the teens singing because nobody else was signing up, we left.
We found ourselves at the Schooner Bar because we heard someone doing Elton John.  As it turns out, Andy Elton – the impersonator from Anthem that I had seen at the Zen Coloring – was asked at the last minute to fill in for the pianist who was supposed to be performing.  It was standing room only when we got there, and we stood on the outskirts of the crowd to listen to him – he’s that good.  That was a total treat and a fantastic end to our very long day.

 
Final Thoughts for Cruise #1
Inside Cabin:
In order to make this room work, we had to have the beds apart.  Otherwise you literally have to climb over the end of the bed to get to one side. The bathroom isn’t as large in the inside cabin as in any other room.  The shower is the same – way too small! The storage in the room is ample with the help of a hanging closet organizer, a hanging shoe organizer, and multiple foldable drawer organizers (from IKEA), that hold all of our little things. Virtual Balcony:
It is a true live visual off the bow of the ship but the video is not super clear so it’s kind of hazy.  Hubby says it’s 720p at best. When we wanted to see if it was sunny out, it was hard to tell – it was light out but couldn’t quite tell if it was sunny.  When we went outside, it was very sunny.  Hair Dryer:
When using the hair dryer that comes with the room, I quickly wished I had brought my own from home.  It is fine for drying my hair – it might take longer than normal, but it’s fine.  However, in order to make it work, you have to hold down a button the entire time.  I have carpal tunnel in both wrists and have already had surgery on them once.  It was quite uncomfortable for me to hold the button down while using the hair dryer.  I know…first world problems. Ship Overall:
On turnaround day, there was an overwhelming sewage smell in our hallway.  I don’t recall smelling that on Anthem, Allure, or Oasis.  I don’t know if this is from the size or age of the ship in comparison, but it makes me not want to get on a smaller/older ship again.  I kept spraying our orange air freshener in the hallway to try to help - it didn't really help.  🤢 The ship isn’t in bad shape, but it is definitely showing her age.  The shell décor in the bathroom gives away that it was built in 2002. At least they don’t have geese décor anywhere!  It is nice not having to walk an eternity from one end of the ship to the other.  I find it refreshing that walking from one elevator bank to another doesn’t take us 10 minutes. The suite sun deck isn’t clearly marked and/or restricted.  It’s not super clear where it begins/ends, so I imagine it’s invaded by others regularly.  The sun deck on deck 13 is awesome!  It’s truly set up for hardcore sun-worshipers. The Schooner Bar is right outside of the casino and if you’re sensitive to smoke, you may not want to hang out there much as the smoke doesn’t stay in the casino. The mini-humans love the main pools and it becomes a splash-zone very quickly.  The pool in the Solarium was great for relaxing, but really needed to be bigger.  Oh!  The Solarium pool is painted dark blue and the blue rubs off on anything touching it!  When were in there the first time, a gal we were visiting with looked like a giant smurf!  It comes off easily, but if you’re wearing white or a light-colored suit, beware!   Food:
We’re just starting our second cruise and we’re looking at doing the dining package for our final cruise just because the limited menu in the dining room is not really doing it for us.  We’ll see – this could change. Would I sail Navigator again?  Jury is still out on this for me.  The sewage smell is really a turnoff for me and that is stuck in my head at the moment (I'm writing this on day 2 of our second cruise and the smell was just finally cleared from our hallway early this afternoon).  Right now, this is the only Royal ship on the west coast heading into warmer weather except for those from Vancouver to Hawaii once a year on their way to Australia.  Royal really needs bigger ships - or newer small ships on this side of the world.  Until that happens, I might opt for flying to Florida, Texas, or NJ for a larger class of ships that are newer.

Day 4 - Ensenada
We stayed on the ship again today, but so did a lot of others.  It really felt like a day at sea with fewer things to do.  
I took a couple of calls in the morning for work, and then we ventured out for breakfast up in the Windjammer.  We've found that breakfast at WJ is great for us because of the variety. We wandered around after that and did a lot of people watching and chilling.  We grabbed lunch around Noon and then got into our suits for an afternoon in the water.
We attempted to enjoy the main pool and sit in the chaise lounges in the shallow water for a while.  I had successfully fallen asleep and a mini-human jumped over the middle section into the water next to me, which splashed me in the face and promptly woke me up.  We hung out for a while longer and when more mini-humans joined forces, we vacated and went to the Solarium pool.  We ended up in the water for over three hours, and were very wrinkled when we finally got out.
We attempted the dining room again, and this time I ordered the Chops Grille Filet Mingon for $19.99.  I ordered it medium-rare, and was a touch on the rare side, but it was excellent overall.  It came with a choice of peppercorn or butter sauce, and I chose the butter.  It was just melted butter, and I didn't use it.  I ordered a baked potato with it, and they brought out mashed potatoes instead.  I didn’t bother saying anything because I finally had good food and the mashed potatoes were fine.

After dinner, we wandered around to various venues looking for a place to hang out, and ended the night in the Schooner Bar with the piano music and vocals that were okay. 
Came back to the 2nd and final towel animal of the cruise.  Apparently, they don’t do them every night anymore.  I miss them!

Days 2 & 3 – Since I forgot to post yesterday.  😊
I had to work yesterday because of some big deliverables, and I put in a full day starting at 5am.  Hubby got up with me and went down to the Café Promenade to get us some much-needed coffee as soon as he was coherent.  We brought with us our travel mugs because we knew this would be a thing.  It proved to be a fantastic choice.
I had a short break between meetings at 7am and we ran to the Windjammer for a quick bite to eat.  As spoiled as we’ve been with the suites, the Windjammer is still a family favorite for the breakfast choices and the ability to get in and get food quickly.  As it turned out, we made it in just before the rush.  We each got the things we wanted, and we were in and out in 30 minutes.  
Robert, our cabin attendant is awesome!  I left a note on the outside of our door to let him know I was in meetings all morning and when I had a break for him to come clean our room.  As soon as my meetings broke, I opened up the door and he was heading our direction!  I went out to the hall with my computer because I got a random Teams call from a colleague, so I just stayed out there out of the way.  Someone official looking came by and questioned why I was out in the hallway – I told her I asked him to come in and wanted to get out of his way – I didn’t want him to get in trouble!
I have a magnetic white board and I’ve been leaving him notes all week – he’s great at communication and as we need things, he’s been very accommodating.  We're excited we have him for three cruises!
After sleeping in our (very tiny) inside cabin the first night with the beds pushed together, we quickly realized that I was going to end up in the hospital if we kept the beds together because of how the room is configured.  We asked Robert if we could have the beds pulled apart, and it made a world of difference!!!  The space it opened between the beds is perfect and we’re quite happy with the configuration now.  In fact, we received emails for Royal Up options for the next two cruises and seriously thought about it, then decided against it.  The deciding factor was that the bathroom wouldn’t be any bigger, and we’re completely unpacked and organized now…and we have Robert for all three cruises!  We’re staying put.
Last night (night 2) we gave the dining room another try.  It turns out that this is the first cruise that this ship is trying out the new menu.  I’d say they’re still getting used to it.  Maybe it will be better next cruise.  We'll see.  Dinner wasn’t terrible last night, but they’re having trouble getting the food out hot right now, and that’s an issue for us.  At least we didn’t leave dinner last night hungry like we did the night before.  Hubby and I both had the salmon last night, and it was fine.  The crust seems to have a little too much of the panko breadcrumbs mixed with the herbs.  Both of us found ourselves avoiding some of the crust because it seemed kind of powdery.  The lemon sauce it is served with is good, and the salmon was cooked perfectly, but the amount of veggies with the salmon was kind of sad. By sad, I mean we got 3 snow pea pods as a garnish on our plate.  I don't really think that qualifies as a veggie.
We were parked off the coast of Catalina today and we were planning to go ashore just to walk around a bit.  However, in learning all about the island at dinner the other night (neighboring table), we decided we would only go if the line wasn’t crazy long to get off the ship – by the time that happened, we were heading to the hot tub.  No worries – this cruise isn’t about visiting places as much as it is a much-needed detox from life.  I think we’re accomplishing that!
In fact, we’ve spent a lot of time in the Solarium hot tub and have enjoyed it very much!  Today, I looked over and saw hubby snoozing.  That screams relaxation!  🤣
This morning we discovered Zen Coloring and spent an hour in (near) silence.  It was awesome!  The employee leading that event was on our cruise in November 2021 as the Elton John impersonator.  He was great to watch as Elton John!  The sailing we were on with him was his last with Royal at that time.  They didn't renew his contract as Elton John at the time so Princess apparently picked him up.  He's now on one of their ships and is only on break for a few months.  Royal is in desperate need of employees and asked if he would come on board to help while he was on break. That was definitely Royal's loss because we thought he was a great show as Elton!

Early afternoon we wandered up to the mini golf course and found some great Adirondack chairs in the shade with a light breeze…and no music playing anywhere!  That’s a big deal for us.  I’m quite an introvert and could sit in silence all day long without a peep of noise, so finding a quiet place on the ship is huge for me.  Most places have some sort of music, and often there is music from multiple venues competing for your attention (loudly) – which is sound overload for me.  I loved the area up on the mini golf deck.
Another quiet place we found today was the Library on deck 7.  We brought some card games with us since we were going to be on for so long and we sat and played a game for an hour.  It was great!
On our way to dinner, the elevator we got into had the roaming piano guy in it!  We snapped a quick photo before we got off.  He’s very entertaining!

Tonight was Chinese food night in the Windjammer, so that’s where we ended up for dinner per hubby’s request.  He went for the Asian options and I hit the salad bar again with great success.  He said it was good – not great. 
Our biggest news is that we stopped by Playmakers this afternoon and spoke with the manager (Julien) about Super Bowl Sunday.  They are charging $50 per seat for the game, and it comes with a huge meal per person.  We were the first to make reservations and got the pick of the place.  We picked a two-top right in front of one of the big screens.  We’re so excited!!!  That was a huge score and so worth it!  We also checked out the price of a pitcher of beer – only $18.  Considering that two cocktails in the Viking Crown Lounge last night cost us nearly $30, that pitcher of beer is a huge deal!  I may have to convert!
We stopped by the loyalty ambassador’s desk today and confirmed our transition to Diamond on Friday!  I’m looking forward to the coffee machine!  The coffee in the Windjammer this morning was like mud!  We brought flavored creamer with us (the little individual servings).  I usually use one or maybe 1 ½ per mug – today I used 4 and a sugar packet to eliminate the bitterness.  I’m such a coffee snob!  Hubby was in the military and will drink anything resembling coffee, even if his coffee of choice is Pete’s.  Not me – I want my Pete’s!!
Tomorrow is Ensenada and we’re planning to stay onboard.  I have to do a little work in the morning, but I’ll be done by 8 or 9, so we’ll have the entire day to play.

No delays this morning and no we had  a great flight on one of Alaska’s new planes. The first class seats were super comfortable with nice foot rests and our breakfast was great!  
Landed in LA and had to take a shuttle to the ride share lot. Got an Uber XL and just like that we were on our way to the terminal. The timing was perfect with us arriving just before our check in window!!  🎉😍
We had put our RCL luggage tags on while we were at the airport and kept our carryons up front with us just in case the porters grabbed the bags as they came out of the van.  The porters were respectful and let us make sure everything was in order then took them away with the promise that we’d see them soon, then into line we went. We waited maybe 10 mins and then made our way through security and into the terminal to check in for the cruise. A few mins later we were heading to the gangway and then we were on the ship!  Super easy check in!
We went straight to our muster station because we don’t want to be those people!  😳
We headed up to the pool deck on 11 and hung out for a bit listening to the tropical music that did not match the cold temperature!  🥶  We sat there for about 10 mins until the Windjammer opened then went and found a nice spot by the window and grabbed lunch.  Lunch was fine and we sat for a bit until we felt badly that the tables were filling up  and thenmade our way to the promenade.  
After sailing on the jumbo ships for several years the Promenade felt uber small!! We found a comfy spot in the Cafe Promenade while we waited for our room to open up.  I handled a few emails so my inbox wasn’t so overwhelming tomorrow and we people watched for a bit.  That alone could be an entirely new blog! 😳
At 1pm we headed to our room and it was ready but luggage was nowhere in sight.  We sat down on the bed to rest our backs and we just like that we were both asleep.  Our room is super warm and we think it might be from the virtual balcony - which is kind of cool. But not cool enough to make me feel like a Thanksgiving turkey.  We’ll see how it pans out. 🥵

When we woke up our luggage was in the hallway and the unpacking commenced!  We were almost done when our cabin attendant came by to introduce himself.  Which was perfect timing because we needed hangers.  We have Robert for all three cruises and so far we love him!  
We went to dinner in the main dining room and experienced the new menu.  We were excited for it because the first night has fried chicken and hubby LOVES fried chicken.  Unfortunately it didn’t pass the hubby test.  My dinner was a bit of a flop too.  I ordered prime rib and I was not very happy with it.  Not only did both of our plates come out cold, but my prime rib came out nearly rare, which I would have been okay with had it not been cold. They only offer it medium rare or medium well which I thought was odd.  It didn’t bother me because I order medium rare anyway. 


After not eating much of our dinner we went straight to the Windjammer and had a salad which was just what we needed. 

After the last three cruises in suites, I really missed filet night in Coastal Kitchen!!!!! 😢😩
We were so tired that after dinner we went back to our rooms with the intent of changing into our suits to sit in the hot tub but never left. It was a big day. We’ll sleep well tonight…even without the special star class bed! 😴😴

Time most definitely speeds up once you set foot on a cruise ship.  

Sitting at the firehouse today and I got to thinking. I need to reach out to a theoretical physicist to study the inverse relationship between perceived time during the week before a cruise, and the week actually spent on the cruise.......

I need to make it through todays shift, and one more on Thursday and I'm on vacation.

Funny side note..Three of us from my firehouse are all cruising RC next week, all on different ships. I'm on Oasis, one of the Captains is on Wonder, and my Fire Chief will be on Anthem, so you will cross paths so to speak with his family!
They all have said I need to be a travel agent since they have been asking me so many questions.....hmmmmm, retirement side hustle maybe🤔

Genie Stuff:
At exactly 90 days out, we did get our genie survey. For my neighbourly (neighborly?) cruise with @Lovetocruise2002 this past summer, I had saved everything in a word document, so it was easy to update and tweak for this sailing. I did put in the notes that we would love to work with Derick again since we had him last year. The kids really liked him.
At 30 days out we got our welcome letter, and we were thrilled to find that it was from Derick! The kids were so happy. I sent out an email with life updates, and we have had a few more back and forth emails regarding scheduling etc. 
Here are some of our requests, I'll keep everyone posted on how they come out. 
I pre-booked Izumi hibachi in the cruise planner quite a while ago knowing that is the new norm. But like an idiot, I accidentally booked it for formal night. I've asked Derick if he could switch it to a different night for us. I got the canned "I can't promise anything" response, so we will see what happens.
After reading some other posts, we requested Cabana #43 in Thrill Water Park. I was surprised to get a "you got it" response. It seems to be in a good spot, close to the slides as well as the attendant station. We are there at the same time as Freedom, so I anticipate the park being super busy. I'm already looking forward to the chicken sammich hack!
Dining wise, we are skipping chefs table and CP150. While I would like the meal at Chefs Table, the rest of the gang wouldn't. Most of our group weren't impressed by CP150 either. I may have to make some requests for their bread and the fillet at some point, because those were REALLY good.
Night 1 will be in CK because fillet night. We also asked Derick that we wanted to get to Portside BBQ sooner in the cruise. Last year when we finally made it there, we were in full on Star Class food coma status and really couldn't enjoy it. I would also like to get to Playmakers. We have not eaten there yet. 
We are going to surprise the kids with a birthday party for them on the cruise. Lydia became a teenager a month ago, and Johnny turns 10 a couple weeks after the cruise, so why not. Johnny is obsessed with hippopotamuses and Lydia is a competitive cheerleader. I asked for cakes in those themes. I did tell Derick I fully understand that there are limitations that the pastry team have, but there is no harm in asking right?

More pre-cruise stuff.
Last year on Oasis we sailed while everything was still at reduced capacity and the ship had about 3500 guests on board. While it was nice to not have any lines, the ship felt dead. This will be our first Oasis class at full capacity, so it will be great to see the ship come alive. I'm going to channel my inner @Ampurp85and do some good people watching. 
We crossed the points threshold and now are diamond status. I plan on chatting with the Loyalty Ambassador to make sure we take full advantage of our perks. Granted the drink vouchers aren't in play here, but I'll check out the diamond lounge, get our free photos etc etc. Any suggestions, throw them out there.
I don't know if it's just me or not. Does anyone else have flashbacks, or a nostalgia moment when you're out and about and The Power of Love comes on the radio, and you are brought back to the opening of Aqua80? (now excuse me while I pull up Youtube and watch the music video)

Lol Waitress of the seas would be a good ship name but imagine how many posts about tipping would be made. 

Hi, definitely following. Our next star class on Oasis isn't until September.  We have a crappier itinerary than yours, but even during peak hurricane season, our over-the-water cabana in PDCC was $1799. Crazy. We reserved one for only the 2 of us. So that tells you all need to know about us....
Anyway, really looking forward to your blog! Can't wait!

As I type this we are 9 days 15 hours 49 minutes away from boarding, so I suppose I should get this blog started!
As you can see in the tags, we are returning to Oasis of the Seas, this time an Eastern Caribbean route. We are star class again in an Aquatheater Suite. We were on Oasis last February doing the western route in the ATS2BR. We are excited to go the Eastern route, as this is the one we lost when COVID shut everything down. We will be in the same suite category, but now on Deck 8.
So, Waitress of the Seas? Here is the story. Two weeks ago, The Boss and I spent the weekend in NYC for some time away from the kids, and finally got the chance to see Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway before it closes its doors for good. As would be expected, the show was amazing, and our little trip was a nice little get away. While we were gone, the kids were staying with my parents. While there, they were asking Johnny all about the cruise etc. He told them the name of the ship, and my father, who is a little hard of hearing at this point in his life thought he heard "Waitress of the Seas" and instead of trying to get clarification, just went with it, and thought, "huh, what an odd name for a cruise ship." It wasn't until we picked the kids up did the mistake get cleared up. For me, the name stuck, and she shall forever now be known as Waitress of the Seas to me.
Now that that is cleared up, back to the usuals.
Whos Going: Its our typical crew, myself, The Boss (Heather) D13 Lydia, D9 Johnny, and my sister Julie. We all have a great time together and my sister likes to call herself our third adopted child since we include her in many of our adventures. 
Route: Eastern Caribbean. We are visiting Labadee, Puerto Rico, St Thomas and PDCC. All of these are new ports for us except for PDCC so we are excited about that.
Stateroom: We are in an ATS2BR as before, but this time we are on deck 8. We were on deck 9 last year, and we would have been perfectly happy there again, but the price difference to move to the bigger suite was so small that it was a no brainer to go bigger. I can thank @Lovetocruise2002 for letting me know that the itineraries were going live and introducing me to her amazing TA, IYKYK!! 
Pre-Cruise Purchases: As we are all painfully aware of, cruise planner prices are going way up especially for vacation week cruises, so I have been watching prices like a hawk. We were able to get a good price on the things we wanted to do. Other prices were so crazy we quickly passed on.
IE Coco Beach club passes were over $200pp and the OTW cabanas were nearly 3k. As much as we loved that last experience last year, that is way more than what we paid then, and I don't see the value for that price. With the kids being older and less inclined to just play in the sand, we did book a Thrill Water Park Cabana though. The kids are old enough now that its easier to say go have fun while I lounge in the cabana, but not old enough where I don't have to be in the water park with them.
Labadee we were able to get dragon tail coaster rides and the inflatable park passes for quite cheap. In a big stroke of luck, the beach cabanas at barefoot beach actually dropped in price significantly so I was able to snag one of those. We had originally planned on just getting beach chairs because they were in the "ousands" of dollars at first. Maybe there was another new intern because the price dropped to $400 for a brief time and I snagged one. 
Puerto Rico we are just going to get off the ship and wander around old town and find something to eat and explore a bit. 
St Thomas we booked the Champagne Catamaran Sail and Snorkel excursion through RC. Julie, Lydia and I will snorkel. The Boss will enjoy the Champagne and Snacks, and I'm sure Johnny will be in charge of the boat by the end of the day.
More to Come!

I did it solo and loved it. We had a full table and everyone interacted with one another. 

Hi @Jill!
I'm not sure what truly qualifies as "gourmet", but the experience we had on Odyssey last year on Valentine's Day was excellent!
It was held in this private room in the back of Chops Grille. Here are a bunch of pics!

A few more people joined us after this pic...

The menu...



The wine pairings for each course...

The bread I believe is the 150 Central Park bread...

Our Chef...

Our waiter/sommelier...

Course One:  Scallop Carpaccio… just OK was the consensus. I’ll take broiled or seared whole scallops any day over this presentation.

Course Two:  Smoked Tomato Soup… amazing… liked by all. 


Course Three:  Maine Lobster Salad… also liked by all.

Course Four:  Roasted Branzino… liked by all. Our first time eating Branzino. Skin separated very easily from the filet. Very tasty as prepared.


Course Five:  Grilled Filet Mignon… loved by all.

Course Six/Dessert:  The World… loved by all… our first time since we have not dined in Wonderland yet. Paired with a Salted Caramel Expresso Martini.


 
We definitely plan to do this again in the future... just make sure you have 2-3 hours to spare for this experience!
 

I got mine in the middle of a super busy day so I looked, laughed, got sad that I had nothing at all planned and promptly forgot about it just just now. 
No cruises planned at all. 

When they tell you that, the response is "I know you want only ratings of 10 on your survey and I want to give them to you.  Please bring my steak out with the lobster..."

When they see my belly, they know it's good to bring mine both out. 🙂

Absolutely. The goal is to prevent spam, not censor, as you'll notice by some of the flyby postings we allow 🙄

I got mine in the middle of a super busy day so I looked, laughed, got sad that I had nothing at all planned and promptly forgot about it just just now. 
No cruises planned at all. 

I got mine in the middle of a super busy day so I looked, laughed, got sad that I had nothing at all planned and promptly forgot about it just just now. 
No cruises planned at all. 

Looks like they’ve decided to have a little fun with the mishap!

Kinda freaked out when my phone went off, telling me I have 30 minutes to report for a safety brief.
....
Except that my cruise isn't until May 14. 🙄

I hate this. I don't agree with the pushback. As long as she tells you may have to wait if you don't choose to share there should be no pushback. I wouldn't appreciate feeling forced to do anything as long as I'm not complaining. Glad you got to sit on your own. 
Personally I wouldn't mind if I was in a group and a solo came to share but as a solo, back off. I'm solo for a reason.