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Posts posted by spiralqueen
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Yaaaaay everyone in our traveling party has officially tested negative so the biggest anxiety is gone! We all had the at home test kits as back ups but I was able to get a super convenient time at CVS which is on my way home from work. So….it just seemed easier than worrying if I would have one of those faulty test kits.
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3 minutes ago, IRMO12HD said:
I'm looking forward to your live blog, @spiralqueen! My daughter and I will be on your same itinerary, two weeks later (December 5), albeit in an interior room on the 8th Deck (but just around the corner from Central Park, so we can pretend we're in an NYC apartment ). If you have the time, could you possibly take a picture of the Entertainment schedule and post it? I'm trying to figure out which shows are when, and they don't show up on the app. Thanks in advance, and have a fantastic time!
Absolutely! I have plans to post pictures of not only the entertainment schedule but of the cruise planner daily.
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Oh my god, ok so I was hesitant on starting a liveblog for this cruise because I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to commit to it and also part of me was thinking that this cruise isn't real since it's just been SO LONG since I last sailed. Pre-COVID our last sailing was another Thanksgiving cruise in 2019 on Grandeur. But I do enjoy having these live blogs as little snap shots to look back on. Also my girlfriend isn't able to join me on this sailing but I wanted to have a way for her to sort of follow along and I figured I might as well do it in this format so others can see things too!
Pre-cruise report:
Sailing: November 21-28, 2021, Oasis of the Seas, 7 Night Eastern Caribbean cruiseSailing with: Me (34), and my parents
Flying from: Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale. We had some credits for Spirit from our cancelled May 2020 cruise so wanted to get those used up and that's where it took us.
Pre-cruise hotel: Even though the sailing is out of Miami, we are flying into FLL and it's honestly cheaper to stay in Fort Lauderdale than downtown Miami so we are staying in the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Street we stayed in before. I love how walkable it is with a Walgreens and Total Wine right nearby. And the $5 parking vs 30+ doesn't hurt either.
The itinerary is as follows:
Day 1 – Miami
Day 2 – Coco Cay
Day 3 – At Seas
Day 4 – St Thomas
Day 5 – St Martin
Day 6 and 7 – At Sea
Day 8 – MiamiBut honestly....not too fussed about itinerary. Just excited to be cruising again!
Cabin: I think this is what I'm most excited about. When 2021 sailings were first released, I saw a post in the RCB FB group that there were great suite prices on Oasis. When I went to check on them, I was shocked what a steal some of them were. We were able to grab a 2 BR Grand Suite for only a couple hundred dollars more than the JS we had on Allure. So this is our first time sailing in Sky class and having full suite benefits. You can bet that you will be seeing a lot of Coastal Kitchen and the Suite Lounge in this blog. And I'm thinking a higher than average chance of me getting day wine tipsy at least once with the free wine and beer benefit in the lounge.
Pre-purchases: Not a ton pre-purchased to be honest. We didn't need to stalk internet prices because of the included suite wifi and I didn't want to bother with any drink package because of the suite lounge. My mom grabbed the refreshment package, but that is about it. Excursion wise, we are doing the Sky ride in St Thomas. Otherwise we plan on just getting off and wandering around. I kept keeping an eye on Beach Club prices for Coco Cay but I can't justify spending $160 pp when we are the only ship there and it's not at full capacity. So we will likely be rotating between the pool and Chill Island there.
Random Pre-cruise thoughts:
- Please let me know if there is anything in particular you would like me to check out or take pictures of for you. I am open to requests.
- I will definitely be taking note of any special Thanksgiving menus. There were some mixed responses to whether or not Coastal Kitchen will have any Thanksgiving specials.
- We heard from the suite Concierge exactly 10 days prior to sailing. We were able to get 5:30 reservations in CK every night which was our first choice due to waking up earlier and also leaving us more time for shows/other activities after dinner.
- Forewarning that my idea of cruise fun is lounging and reading when on board so you won't catch a review of the rockwall from me! I do fully expect to burn through 5-8 books on my kindle though. So excited to make a dent in my "to read" list.
- I promise future posts will have more pictures!
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20 minutes ago, Momof4crazytocruise said:
From last week, cheapest wine on the dining room menu was around $11, although Giovanni's had a chianti for $8. Beers were around $8, and cocktails from the well around $10. Drink of the day varied from $8-$10.
What ship was this on?
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13 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:
Passenger in Sky Class at Terminal A can use the suite entrance but again show up at your scheduled check-in time or check on the app to see if they have an earlier check-in time available.
Thank you! Suites can show up an hour before their check in time, right? I thought I read that somewhere. Up to an hour before or hour after.
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What about Sky class? Is there a separate entrance for them in Miami?
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Oooo very exciting! Thanks for asking @twangster I’ll have to check back in here with a picture of the CK Thanksgiving menu on Oasis when we sail.
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Not NYE, but I’m curious if CK does anything special for Thanksgiving! Does anyone have any experience with this?
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Question about the suite sundeck (specifically on Oasis if it makes a difference). I know there is a bar up there, but do servers come around to the chairs like they do on the pool deck/Solarium? Also I assume the free wine/beer is only in the suite lounge and not in the sundeck bar, correct?
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I would absolutely cruise before there is a vaccine, but I could also see this making me more likely to spend more time on my balcony for now vs the pool deck.
- JLMoran and Ogilthorpe
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I came on the blog to talk about the importance of TAs and saw this thread that ties into my point. So my sailing that we had is a 3 person sailing and we paid around $3,400 total for our JS (excluding taxes and port fees). I got an email from Royal today telling us we got our FCC issued! Very exciting! Except it’s for 2 of 3 passengers and only for $420 each which is NOWHERE near the realm of what we should have gotten, not even taking the 125% aspect into account.
All I had to do was forward that to @michelle basically going “what in the world???” And she replies back within hours (emphasis mine) “yes all the ones they just did this week are all wrong
We will get it all straightened out – so frustrating.
I will take care of it so no worries”The amount of relief I felt when I found out I wouldn’t have to wait on hold to argue with Royal is legit invaluable. I can’t believe this level of service is free to me. @Matt is SO right when he says that you think you don’t need a travel agent until you really, really do.
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8 is my absolute favorite. Can’t beat walking through Central Park to get to your cabin. What a treat! Also super close to Park Cafe and Trellis Bar. And a quick dash down to deck 6 to grab a fresh fruit smoothie from Vitality Cafe.
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1 hour ago, RCIfan1912 said:
Hey have a question I just noticed on my rescheduled cruise invoice, I mean this is I guess pending my FCC that will be issued in a few weeks but it says [booking status:offer]. I know TA said disregard deposit date. I assume that "offer" means that when the FCC is issued that status will change to [booked] or something similar. What do you think? I mean we have a cabin number and were told we are booked.
“Offer” is what shows up when a travel agent puts a hold on the room. From what I understand, it takes the room out of inventory. Previously there were a couple of days padding that they allowed a TA to put a hold on a room before a deposit was needed to hold it, but because of all the craziness happening now and the delay in FCC issuance, they are letting TAs put a very extended hold on the room. If I’m remembering correctly, it’s now a 5/31 deadline for deposits to hold sailings.
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9 hours ago, nova_gal said:
This is new and very helpful information! TY. I'll have to consider this since my May 31st sailing out of Cape Liberty doesn't look very hopeful.
Yeah finding out it’s use it or lose it has me being a bit more loosey goosey with what I’m considering getting. Like a beach club cabana doesn’t look AS crazy when Royal is giving me a free extra $500.
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I asked my TA @michelle that very question and here is the answer she got from Royal "Yes, they attach the cruise planner to the FCC then when you rebook a cruise or apply the FCC to a cruise, the apply the cruise planner credit also and you can use it for before you get on the ship and while on the ship YOU HAVE to use it all on that sailing – it will be non-refundable and will not carry over"
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So I think this is different from the last round of cancellations. If you bought something in the cruise planner you can either have it refunded or apply for 125% OBC for a future sailing. I’m curious if this would be able to be used online ahead of time or if it’s only able to be used on board. Makes a huge difference.
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This isn't an absolute, but as a recent example of a cancelled cruise planner purchase. On March 15th I cancelled some dining packages in the cruise planner. The refunds hit my credit card on March 20th.
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1 hour ago, GA Cruiser said:
Still going May 23 on Symphony unless Royal cancels. Don't want to lose $18 drink package!
Exact reason I'm holding out on my May 10th sailing. I got so many good deals stalking the cruise planner so I'll be really disappointed to lose them if it comes down to it. I'll understand, of course, but that doesn't erase the disappointment.
- WAAAYTOOO, Ogilthorpe and GA Cruiser
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I have no idea when it will resume, but I fall around the Labor Day camp. While we currently have a May 2020 cruise booked, I’m 80% sure that will be cancelled so we booked 2 diff refundable options to lock in prices before FCCs drive up prices more. We have Aug 30th and Nov 29th booked. Nov was my idea and August my parents. Holding both to see who (if anyone) is right.
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I’ve technically been on 5 cruises in my life, but 2 of them are from when I was younger than 14 so they are hazes of kids club talent shows and trying escargot and ox tail soup. From my cruises as an adult, I’d have to say my sailing on Allure. I learned how much I LOVE hanging out and reading on the balcony and that the juices/smoothies at the vitality spa cafe are as tasty as a margarita or other frozen drink but don’t make you feel as sluggish thanks to WAY less sugar. I also adored the shows and couldn’t believe how much entertainment was included in our cruise fare. Also it was our first time in Coastal Kitchen and living that suite life. There was a point while sitting in the solarium with my kindle and a frozen drink under a “palm tree” in front of the hot tub/pool that I felt for the first time “pure cruise bliss”. There was a nice slight breeze blowing some of the water spray against my neck while I laid there reading and sipping my drink. Heaven.
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8 hours ago, deep1 said:
They are a bit more on Oasis than I was looking at on Indy...4 units is about 45 a day... then 7 nights is over $300 just to keep in touch and remind them to get ready for dinner...
Keep an eye out for sales. It definitely goes cheaper than that. I’ve seen the Internet for 4 around 28-30 per day before.
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On 3/9/2020 at 8:22 PM, AnnetteJackson said:
I have heard that after the royal up thye are not allowing for changes, but had not heard a definate on this. You can always ask about upgrades at the port.
Annette - can you confirm if you are referring to an accepted Royal Up bid (like when they charge your card) or even just by bidding on it?
Oasis of the Seas - November 21, 2021 (Thanksgiving cruise)
in Live Blogs
Posted
Currently on board! Check in was beyond a breeze but I’ll back up and go over yesterday a bit.
So our flight yesterday was at 7am which meant between driving and security it was a 4am wake up. This is my face to that.
BUT. The flight left mostly on time and it was relatively uneventful. We landed around 9:50-10ish and went to go pick up our car from Avis. There was some weirdness with the app saying they didn’t have a car for me and to wait in line but after about 10 mins in line I checked again and there was a car assigned to us so we were on our way!
As I mentioned before, we stayed in the Holiday Inn express on 17th street. We got there around 11 I think and were told that our room would be ready by 1 at the earliest. I know they have a room for storing luggge, but we just kept it in the car. It was only $5 to park there and it was super easy to deal with. It’s self park wherever you want in the lot or parking garage and they give you a slip of paper to put on the windshield to show you are authorized to park there.
While we waited for the room, we went to the NY Marina Deli again in the Harbor shops across the street. I went with the bacon and cheese omelette again and it came with home fries and a drink of choice.
Look how much filling is in that! Omg
When our room was ready, I went back and played on my phone and took a nap because to me, the day before the cruise is recharging and rest day. Also my nap ended up being longer than my “sleep” so there that.
Around 5:30 or 6 we started looking for somewhere to grab dinner that wasn’t crazy heavy. We ended up wanting to try Waxy’s Irish pub which was surprisingly great for dinner. I went with wings and fries and the fries had SUCH good crunch. I asked for them well done and they did a great job. Not everyone listens to that request.
Then it was back to the room for the last pre-cruise sleep!