SweetPea

Hi, i struggle every single vacation with insomnia. I tend to give in to it and do a LOT of reading during these wee morning hours between 2a and 6a. In fact, i keep a prescription of Ambien filled because i take one the night we get home from our trips. Like you, melatonin and Advil PM does nothing for me. I'm wondering if you've tried CBD oil? I take a high quality one that's 33.33mg per dose. That and Benadryl (along with some reading) will usually get me back to sleep once I've woken up about 2 or 3am. It might take a while and maybe i only fall asleep for another 2 to 3 hours, but it usually gets me by.

So excited to follow along! I'm stalking SC prices on Oasis in May out of NJ. Royal is slooooowly coming to their senses with their prices. I'm sure Royal is underestimating my tenacity at price tracking, but without having to fly and our May vacation schedule wide open, I'm living on the edge... Can't wait to hear about your experience!

Ok, then you'll want to request Tower 1. You'll have a shot at a park view, but if you don't, the views will still be better than Towers 2 or 3. Plus if you plan to walk to the parks, you can use the stairs at the end of the hallway and take the door there. You'll be half way down the walking path then, avoiding the Rickshaws and walking through the pool area. And if you use the elevators instead of the stairs, you're closer to the restaurants, pool, and boat launch. Now if you really want to push it (& i have), you can request a specific room. I'd try for 1541, which has both a park view and is a connecting room (don't remember which side connects), but sounds like you have 2 rooms or no? Anyway, those are my thoughts. Avoid Tower 2 as that is the pet tower, and Tower 3 standard view will give you a crummy highway view.

I'm the Queen of requests at all 3 resorts that offer unlimited express! First tell me what type of room you booked, standard/garden, pool view, club, king suite?

Just my $.02, but if you take advantage of Early Entry staying onsite and don't try to do Hagrid's over a weekend, you should be fine. Just make sure you know which park they're offering EE to. If it's the Studios, not IOA, you still should be fine if you go right at park opening. Also it sounds like you've stayed at RPR before so I'm guessing you're set with what room requests to make?

Nice! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Aventura as we have not stayed either. Have stayed RPR multiple times when they had the Loews First program and we were Platinum then. Scored some lovely upgrades during that era! Now we're HRH peeps. Can't wait to hear about it and Navigator. Happy countdown!

Awesome! Love Universal Orlando (We're APs ❤️). Are you staying onsite? Not that you need to in January. Looking forward to following along. 😍

I asked our Genie where he was from and brought him snacks popular in India, his home country, which i thought would be tough for him to find while on the ship. I was successful on 2 of my 3 picks, but one he was bringing home to his wife which was her favorite. So we had a laugh about me finding something in the States that he was bringing back home to his wife... I also gave personalized stationary and a pen set engraved with his name. He loved them both, but i know he was not able to use the stationary onboard.

If you Google 'Genie tip,' you'll see the gamut. Tipping is so personal, and i will say there is no appropriate or inappropriate tip. If there was, Royal would suggest an amount, but they don't. I learned long ago to tip whatever is in your heart and what you can sleep with at night. And then kiss it up to God. There will always be people who tip more and people who tip less. It's not worth the stress of wondering if you tipped too little or that you can no longer afford something else because you broke your bank tipping what some random stranger on the interweb decided was a "normal" tip. I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, but also in my experience, I've learned that the people willing to give you a total amount tipped are the ones who are either very generous (misers don't tend to shout their tips from the rooftop) or don't put their tip into perspective. Tip amount is meaningless to me without specifying # of people, # of days, and how high or low maintenance you tend to be or if any out-of-the-norm courtesies were extended to you. That said, we tipped $1K. (Kidding!)

Thanks! Just got Batman to agree to cancel the Encore and keep my eyes peeled for when Royal comes to their senses on Oasis pricing out of NJ (currently insane, currently wide open). He's not thrilled that they're only offering weeklong cruises on a ship that large, but i just scored a MAJOR victory in getting him to agree to the Haven cancelation... Stay tuned. This may be the year of Royal and no Norwegian for the first time ever. 🤔

Lol, I'm saving these pics for Batman. The complaint he makes most often, particularly on longer cruises, is that the TP is too scratchy and he threatens to bring his own Cottonelle. At the moment, i have him convinced they would be able to trace his contraband TP back to our room, and we'd have to pay damages. It's probably true. Most importantly, he believes it. 😜

Hi Raye or anyone who can answer... Is this only a loyalty lounge or is this something that anyone in a suite can avail themselves to? We do miss the Haven lounge and bar when sailing RC and not sure this would be a viable alternative.

Trying to convince Batman to do Oasis SC so I'm here and following. 😊 Of course this means canceling our NCL Encore Haven, and I'm quickly losing time as final is due 1/13. 🙄 Oh, and we're reformed DCL Concierge cruisers also. Their pricepoint just does not justify the perks (or lack thereof, really). 😅

We have the 12 night version of your cruise in December so will be following along. 😊

And oh, i will say that these things are mitigated by the Haven area itself. We love the private bar, restaurant, courtyard, and sundeck. It's a small ship within a ship concept. We rarely leave the Haven during the day. On our longer cruises, we always make friends with others. It's a very social place, if you want it to be. I do miss the Haven concept on SC. Haven is reserved only for Haven guests. No amount of status gets you into the Haven if you're not in a Haven room. (And trust me on this, there are self identified Haven Police on every cruise... If you flash a card that's not Haven colored.. Look out!)