Pookie

Sail Away
Took advantage of our aft deck and  stayed in our state room. Great views of Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.  Andres had us scheduled to go up in North Star at 4pm immediately following passing the last bridge. Unfortunately, cold weather resulted in cancelling North Star for the day. ☹️  We will try again tomorrow but we will miss out on the NY skyline.  
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Stateroom #10320 Grand Lift Suite 
After lunch at Chops Andres took us to our stateroom at 1pm.  Timing wasn’t the best as the rooms were just opened to other guests. Because we are aft we had to navigate many people and luggage as we made our way to our room. But in the scheme of things not a big deal. We now realize we are going to make the walk from aft to midship elevators/stairs many times each day! If only Andres could grant my wish for elevators/stairs aft.  ?
Room didn’t disappoint: pictures below. 
Laundry: Filled 2 bags already. This is a new feature so I will let you know how it goes.  Complimentary for star class guests. 

I thought of you as we pulled up. Terminal staff wanted us to get out before Zone 6 and take our luggage. I said absolutely not!! ?.  They let us right through to Zone 6 where we met the star class checkin staff.  So glad for your advice. 

Today was a busy day.  We started the day off by eating NYC bagels ? followed by pizza, pork belly and brisket ??. It seems like the food coma has already started! Lol. We started out visiting Stadium Goods, a shoe exchange warehouse Reyd has wanted to visit. He purchased his first pair of Yeezy’s so it was a pretty good day for him. ? Then we were off to One World Observatory — we couldn’t have picked a clearer day; the view was picture perfect! We ended the afternoon by a visit to the 911 Museum. We were disappointed to learn that the stock exchange is no longer open to the public. 
 
I have heard from Andres several times today about miscellaneous stuff and he said the Anthem is close, waiting to dock around 5 am. ??
Transportation is picking us up at 9:30am tomorrow morning. Next check in will be onboard the Anthem! 

Not surprised but our Royal up offer was not successful. The hot tub would have been nice.  ?‍♀️

We made it!! And are settled into the Conrad Downtown. We landed at JFK in the midst of a winter squall. It was kinda funny because as we landed and people started turning on their phones emergency alerts started sounding on everyone’s cell phone. Traffic was slow into Manhattan as a result; taking about 90 minutes. A big shout out to NY City Limo as our driver was great. He was waiting for us with an airport meet and greet and got us here safely.  
Of course, the boys were starving so eating was a priority.  We found a great pizza place called Harry’s Italian beside the Conrad. Enjoyed the pizza and Fettuccine Alfredo. 

Update on live communication with Genie 
We are now communicating live through Messenger. ????  

We received our Genie questionnaire right at the 60 day mark and after thinking about our answers for a couple of weeks, we finally submitted last night.  Things are heatin’ Up!!
Our cruise clothing/must have items staging tote is overflowing.  We will have to cull the herd. My dream goal would be to have a bag like Hermoine Granger on Harry Potter. (Size of a small handbag that she pulled out full size tents, clothes, books etc., for those of you unfamiliar with HP).  But, being as that is less likely than even winning the lotto, I will settle for one carry on and one large tote or backpack.  
I don’t know if we’re more excited about taking our daughter on her first cruise or having Star Class for the first time!

A huge change for Oasis of the Seas is the addition of the Perfect Storm water slides.




The entrance and stairs for all three slides is on deck 15 port side.









 



The slides are a lot of fun and they've been open even on port days when there are no lines and you can slide and slide again.

The Music Hall in action...
We were fortunate to have the band Phoenix on one of these cruises.  They played on the 50th birthday cruise. 




Theatrical smoke for dramatic effect.

The Music Hall has two levels.
While generally a smaller Music Hall compared to her Quantum class cousins I find the acoustics better.  




Side alcoves contain some group seating.


The upper rear section has additional seating, a pool table and a bar.



The second level of the Music Hall has its own entrance from the aft elevator lobby on deck 9.

The FlowRiders received some TLC in the amplification.  I know these are a popular attraction so here are some FlowRider pictures.

Playmakers.
Like Symphony this is outdoors on the boardwalk. 
 








The "Owner's Box" within Playmakers is available on a reservation basis.  Cost on this sailing was $100 per hour.













Menu

Expanded draft beer choices.

With additional sports content on ships with a Playmakers they have expanded the NFL football broadcasts.  In the past only two games were shown based on what was available with the standard channel lineup.

Gorgeous pictures! How did you manage on most to take without any people?  RCCL should use your photos for a brochure! Just beautiful!

Portside BBQ.
Where else but deck 15 aft on the port side. 





The inside section is air conditioned.

Orders placed on the left then you slide to the right for sides, desserts and beverages.

For dinner you can choose two or three meats, sides  and a dessert.

For lunch or a smaller snack you can choose some of the favorites.


The full lunch menu:

Dinner menu:

Late night menu:

The food all looks really good.

Oasis received the Ultimate Abyss.  Here are a few pictures taken at various times.

The suite sun deck has been refreshed.






Unfortunately the port side including bar is now a smoking area.














A local Haitian butterfly stopped by.

The solarium pool is always a popular topic and Oasis has retained her solarium pool.

The outdoor forward solarium deck is a first in the fleet.  You won't find this on any other ship, yet.










This area is closed until 9':30am.  It's right above the new cabins on deck 14.  I think they are trying to let people sleep in to avoid the chair scraping noises as guests inevitably rearrange loungers to suit their needs.

Upstairs looks pretty good as well.

The water features around the Solarium Bistro remain.

One thing to get out of the way.  The general decor of Oasis was not updated in all places.  Hallways, elevator lobbies, many cabins were not changed to use the newer decor that Harmony and Symphony have.  



 I can understand why.  The decor goes beyond carpet.  Floor tile, wall panels, the color of doors, the wood panels and marble elements would all need to be changed to adopt and match the Harmony and Symphony decor.  That would be a massive change that would take a lot of effort and expense. 
My cabin was not updated.  However that's okay with me.  There's nothing wrong with my cabin and replacing the cabinets, wall panels, carpet and curtains would be a huge undertaking for what purpose?  My cabin is fine.   

2 weeks and we are ? to NYC! Lots of last minute stuff to do. I have piles everywhere ... It seems I have begun staging. This morning was spent wrapping ?. We often travel over a Christmas and each year I challenge myself to get the smallest most travel friendly gifts for Reyd that he will ❤️ and be able to use on our trip.  I did not disappoint again this year! I always wrap the gifts and put them in our checked luggage to avoid possible hassles at security if in my carry-on.  
Meet Reyd our only child who recently turned 14 ? Here he is getting his suit altered this past weekend. You will be seeing more of Reyd I hope  (as he usually lifts the no picture embargo on trips). Plus he is going to help with the trip videos. We bought him the Osmo handheld as an early Christmas present so he could familiarize himself with it.  I can’t wait to see what he does! So far he isn’t telling me much! 
Haven't heard from our Genie Andres in a few days but I have no doubt he is using this time to plan dining, activities and any requests we had. From what I hear we will for sure hear from him again 7 days out.  
Be sure to pass along your questions and once we are on-board I will do my best to get answers. 
 

 

Is it too early to start a live blog?  I heard a rumor that people start their blogs early here?
i actually have one started and mistakenly posted my “received the genie questionnaire here by mistake.  What a rookie mistake!

Is it too early to start a live blog?  I heard a rumor that people start their blogs early here?
i actually have one started and mistakenly posted my “received the genie questionnaire here by mistake.  What a rookie mistake!