Guy Gadwa

I honestly bought a bright yellow mask specifically to match my best bathing suit! Covid vacay here I come 

Reveals too much leg for my body type.

I for one think you could pull this off, @twangster.

I'm more of a one piece kind of guy.  

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I have Danette LaBlanc and she is very very good.

I gotta brag on @Danette LeBlanc for all her help. I went to her today with a price drop that I noticed and she immediately went to work and spent quite a while on the phone with RC. She saved us quite a bit and I'm so thankful to be working with her.

Those people who have stigmatized cruising are living in either stupidity or ignorance*. I guess the idea of being with the same people in a moving unit brings the idea of recycling germs. But it almost no different from any other type of vacation....in fact it is better. It is much easier to pinpoint any sort of outbreak on a ship. Hundreds of thousands of people can visit an amusement park like Disney or Universal each day.  The same can be said for museums, hot spots in foreign countries and airplanes. How often are these places cleaned thoroughly? Look at the current rate of infection in the US or any country. The only issue is with the ships inability to handle such a huge thing like an influx of people with a illness.  If employers chose to force quarantines or places restrictions on cruise vacations, they would have to place those same restrictions on a lot more options.
*I am in no way calling you fine folks stupid. Ignorance is literally a lack of knowledge, while stupidity is people who know the cruise industry had nothing to do with COVID-19 but even with all the information still choose to blame it.

My parents are appalled that we are booked for two more cruises.  They say ships are dirty.  Honestly, after going on one I think going to the grocery store is 100 times worse- there’s just no way to track it since everyone is not in the same place for a week plus.  Not once did I go into the bathroom and there wasn’t some attendant cleaning it and it seemed like the second I touched something on the ship someone was right behind me wiping it down.  Our stateroom bathroom was cleaned twice daily.  One of the cleanest places I have ever been!  Much judgement towards my husband and I are from people who have never been.  

The term "floating petri dish" can kiss my big butt.
 
I'm so tired of people judging cruising and the cruise industry.  I'm pretty dang sure that 90% of these
so-called health experts have never even been on a cruise, and if they did, it was probably the tugboat line.

There will always be people that live in extremes.  It will take time before some people think sporting event, theatre performances, and even movies are safe and acceptable.  The issue today is the threat of TOO many people being sick at once and there not being enough resources to manage it. When that time has clearly past, most reasonable people will slowly resume their normal lives. The extremists will judge and argue that people should not be doing what they do and the fools may start doing it all too soon ? 
We can’t always make everyone happy and as much as some say we’re in this together it doesn’t really feel like that’s 100% true... on my neighborhood Facebook group there people arguing about what’s acceptable while walking in the neighborhood or kids riding their bikes. They feel that since other people’s actions could impact their health that it gives them the right to tell others what’s acceptable and what’s not. Most people don’t react well to others telling them what to do or not to do.  It’s divisiveness and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
My wife and I will be patient and probably wait longer to use the impending FCC than some others but when we do cruise next year we will enjoy ourselves and won’t be thinking too much about who may or may not like it. I just believe that  life’s too short to waste time judging or being judged. 
 
 
 
 

Had to cancel our August cruise due to moving.  Booked 2 more to ease the pain.  Be safe and : WASHEE   WASHEE

Wow.  How nice of you to think of me.  I'm doing GREAT.  Yesterday was a bitch....everything hurt.  But today, my range of motion is increasing quickly, the pain is subsiding andI'm eating again.  I wanted NOTHING to do with food on days 1 or 2.
Thank you for thinking of me !!!

@Ampurp85, back to the photos, just found this gem???

One thing I forgot to mention that we’ve found interesting is that the AO staff is responsible for monitoring Splashaway Bay. There is not any standing water, so no drowning risk. We just thought it interesting from a profit center point of view that it’s a “pool” but not under lifeguard purview. 
 
We have also noticed more uniformed security than on any other sailing we’ve done. 

So far today has been pretty lazy. Just been loafing around the ship. Breakfast was in the room, then V was off to AO and Abby and I just wandered. Stopped in for trivia in the schooner. Watched some woman who was double-fisting ice creams cones berate a bar manager on the pool deck for making people stand in line at one ice cream machine when there were four on the deck. I can’t understand how you can get that angry on a cruise ship. 
 
Lunch was in Johnny Rockets and the. Some games on the boardwalk before it was up to the escape room. 
 
I live escape rooms, and this one was very fun. We made it with 17 minutes left and got our patches. I would do this one again even and make sure I focused on different puzzles. 
 
We came back to the room and had cold food and melted drinks. Seems silly since we were obviously in the escape room. Oh well, I can ice down my tequila shot. 
 
Talking with Smitha before the escape room and she confirmed that next week she has one ATS, one UPS Deck 14 forward, and two on deck 17. That just seems like too much running. I’d think they would split that up much better. 
 
Tonight is Izumi Hibachi for FIL’s birthday. 
 
And @Lovetocruise2002, not sure whose hands these are on your window. ?
 

Day 2 & 3 - At Sea 
After a few port stops I’ve finally got some time to come back to update. There was a bit of swell on day 2 so a bit of movement on the ship. Spent Day 2 mainly relaxing on deck and around the pool not a lot of sunshine but still very warm. 
Fish & Ships (Day 2) 
Enjoyed fish & chips for lunch. Half of the menu is complimentary which is great. Tasty fish and chips! 
Sorrentos (Day 2) 
Went for casual dinner on Day 2 instead of Main Dining. Pizza was very good! 
Wonderland (Day 3) 
Dinner here was fantastic and whimsical. What a fabulous experience and I’d most recommend! 
 
Headliner show: Steve Larkins (Day 3) 
Show on Day 3 was “A tribute to Freddie Mercury” which was both a energetic and entertaining show! 
 
70s Disco Party (Day 3) 
This was quite the party that shook Two70. The dancers, singers and overall atmosphere was awesome the place was packed and the sound system was amazing! 

Well the cruise is over, I am in awe of all of you that manage to write a live review.  I packed so much fun in during the day that by the time I got back to the room at night I was beat.  In short I had another great cruise and have many observations and comments to share.  7 days is just not enough time to explore everything and Oasis class ship has.  I will endeavor to pick up this review where I left off and hopefully will have something for everyone.

Labadee was super relaxing as always.  Last night was dinner was in Giovannis, and Star Class Food Coma is starting to set it.  It was tough to get through all of the food.  We had another "well-done" steak sighting with my MIL.  Can't take them anywhere.  
The carpaccio and the mozzarella di buffalo tasted quite good.  Dinner tonight took almost 2 hours, so there was a lot of waiting in between courses.  I also really wanted lemon sorbet, and they didn't have any.  

 


 

 
After dinner we went back up to Adventure Ocean to get Virginia and head to the Ice Show.  Smitha met us with our seats, drinks, and popcorn.  We were sitting in the first row on the side, which was uncomfortably close, but was with a purpose.  Smitha brought Virginia a tiara, and for those that have not seen the Frozen in Time show before, it's the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales on ice.  During "The Ugly Duckling", Virginia was one of the girls in the swan on the ice, and she absolutely loved it.  She kept saying she was so nervous, but she did great.  Genie moment made!

 
Today is Falmouth, so we will probably just walk around in port for a bit then come back on the ship and hit the pool.  Tonight, dinner is in Portside BBQ so I can't wait.  

Update!! Pictures from Belize!
So I forgot that Heather had one of my cameras and was snapping away while we were in Belize. Unfortunately the battery died as we were getting into the caves, so we have nothing after that, but you will get the idea. We do have plenty of pictures, sorry for the very long post.
After arriving in port, we were seated on old school buses for our ride to the caves.

Out on our journey, we could see our ships way off in the distance.


A lot of the housing looked like this. Many people had left years and years ago due to a hurricane, and many never returned, which has resulted in this run down look.

Once we arrived at our site we actually had to change buses, because the road to get to where we started, went over a hill that was too steep that the original bus would have gotten stuck.
All smiles before the trek.

Then the reality that we actually HAD TO WALK SOMEWHERE set in and the kids needed a pep talk.

This picture shows the route we took. We walked along the path all the way to the top, and then tubed back along the river.

While on the trek, the guide pointed out things to us. These palm trees are what they make thatched roofs out of. Once cut, they last for many years and are completely waterproof.

this tree had a termite nest in it. Another guide was trying to get people to eat the termites with him


Johnny was apparently discussing something here, but we don't remember what he was talking about. You can clearly see the type and condition of the trail we were walking on. Its not a difficult walk at all. The hardest part of the trail is right at the beginning, when you go down some steepish stairs and walk across the river. We saw another passenger doing this walk with a cane, so its very doable for people who may have some mobility issues.

Crisis over, and we carried on. He is a kid that HATES walks and even short ones turn into the Bataan Death March. All told the walk was about 20 minutes, and not fast paced.

Now he is happy, we have reached the mouth of the cave.


All saddled up and ready to go. Earlier I had mentioned that the guide referred to the temperature being "shockingly refreshing" Us from NY felt it was warm.



Here is an idea how open the cave feels. The caverns are grand and the ceilings are high. "Should" not be an issue if you are claustrophobic. 

Here is a look at some of the stalactites. There are not too many fancy formations of flow stone etc, but there are some

Looking back towards the mouth of the cave.

Our guide Leny. She was great, our group name was the drunken monkeys. Each bus got its own team name to keep everyone organized

 
 
 
 

I would caution that many here find the amount of food that comes with the ultimate dining package to be almost overwhelming. Since it's your first cruise and you haven't yet had a chance to try out the main dining room, you might consider stepping down from the UDP to maybe a 3 or 4 night dining package, leaving yourself a few nights to experience the main dining room and decide how you like the food and experience vs the specialty venues.
Many of us here are quite satisfied with the MDR, and are happy to have all but one or two dinners there. Only way to find out if you and your wife are in that group or the "all specialty, all the time" crowd is to try out both. ? 

These stories made me laugh pretty hard. Best of luck with your surgery tomorrow. I hope for a speedy recovery. When you mentioned earlier how generous Heather was, here is a copy of her account from the cruise. Turns out she was more generous than we though!

Thas some serious cruising money there!

This just happened to me recently.  I am having surgery TOMORROW (replacing my much-beleaguered left knee...none-too-soon, I might add) !!!!!  ...and when I went to the hospital to have my pre-op interview, I, as is my long-time habit, looked for my keys before I left the nurse's office, so that I would have them in my hand and NOT be searching the bottomless abyss that is my pocketbook, when I was ready to get in the car.  Nothing...nada...nope.  No keys.  Anywhere.  I pawed, unzipped and finally, panicked.  The nurse became alarmed.  She said, "let me look.  Sometimes it takes a second pair of eyes....".  Then I saw...the valet parking ticket that had been given to me when I pulled up to the parking valet....and I realized that my keys were at the valet station.  I felt like such a crotchety, forgetful, manic old lady...oh wait....
...which reminds me of ANOTHER funny story ("I'll be here all week, folks"...?).  A couple of days ago when the Corona Virus first exploded, Dan and I were discussing it and I said, completely straight-faced, "oh, don't worry...it is only killing the old people".  I thought Dan was going to roll off the bed, he was laughing so hard.  The really sad part is that I didn't get why he was laughing at first.  Then it occurred to me....

Back to DEFCON 1. Red alert avoided. Pretzels have been found in the windjammer. 
 
 

Day 4 - Cruise Day!!! 
After a leisurely start to the day, checked out of accommodation at 11am. Then proceeded to the cruise terminal via the light rail. Boarding times were being enforced, but managed to get on after 12.30pm. Expedited arrival made the process quick and barely 15 min later was on board Ovation!! We set sail at 5pm. 
 
First impressions
Of course you notice the size to start with! Also being barely 4 years old everything is relatively new. I’ve found the ship very well laid out and each space flows into the other really well. You also definitely know there is somewhere around 4,500 people on board but haven’t had any big issues as yet. 
 
The Room 
Very impressive. The Family Junior Suite is a great room. Well laid out and plenty of storage. Also is generous size of around 300sqft. One unique feature is there is 2 bathrooms in this category one is just a toilet and basin the other has a bath and shower combo. 
 
Solarium Bistro - Dinner 
Had dinner booked at 8pm, the space is lovely but unfortunately was not so impressed with the dinner. Ordered the pasta of the day which was Spaghetti Bolonaise which came barely warm and very bland and tasteless.