WAAAYTOOO

Even though I am not a huge fan on the menu at 150 CP I would probably recommend that for a special night b/c it has the best atmosphere, IMO. When the restaurant first appeared on Oasis and Allure it was a fantastic venue but since they ended their relationship with Michael Schwartz, I don't care for the menu as much. If I were an adventurous eater (which, admittedly, I am not) then maybe the duck, veal, venison would appeal to me, but I am a pretty basic eater so I don't care for any of that. I also thought the tenderloin was tough. I guess that doesn't sound like much of a recommendation....

I agree with @tonyfsu21. I love the Dog House dogs. I'll admit I'm no connoisseur but I do like the regular hot dogs. I am not a fan of anyone's brat though. I'm not crazy about that split bun but I almost never eat a hot dog bun anyway.

No ! The good news is, you will be prime until 3-31-25. Since you made prime before 3-31-24, you will get an annual tier casino comp (free cruise) which will be available to you some time in mid-April. The points that you begin accumulating from 4-1-24 through 3-31-25 will determine your status for the 25/26 casino year. You are always working a year "ahead".

Congrats ! Sounds like you have all of the intel correct. You will be so spoiled by that big, beautiful balcony ! An aft JS was my very first step into suite snobbiness. It only gets worse from here ! It is a long walk to the aft but it's worth it. Enjoy.

Thanks, @RCIfan1912. I had found this link already....but looking for a recommendation since I have heard that some of these offsite locals are sketchy. I do appreciate the help !!

The machines take cash or you can use your seapass to “transfer” money to play. Whatever you transfer appears as a charge on your onboard account.

The upside down pineapple is supposedly the “advertisement” for swingers. I hate that the pineapple has been so undeservedly maligned.

Sorry, I'm sure this is covered somewhere.... We are going to be on Explorer for 23 days and I'd rather not pay $25/day if I can help it. I know there are some offsite parking places that are sketchy. Does anyone have any recommendations for offsite parking at PoM and provides transport to/from the terminal ?

Looks fantastic, @Neesa !

The only time I've heard the song recently was [on the ship] in the morning of arrival to PDCC just before the announcement is made to go ashore. Of course, there's no way I would know whether they play it on shore or not since I never EVER get off at PDCC anymore ! LOL

How is it even possible that there are any forgotten items ?

Oops...I made a mistake about the date for Wonder rezzie for our annual comp. We actually used Dan's annual Club Royale tier comp for our August Wonder cruise. The upcoming (May) cruise on Wonder is our Pinnacle cruise. Forgive the old brain.

You can use your annual tier certificate for any ship that has been in active service for at least 1 year. We used an annual tier certificate to sail on Wonder this coming May.

Welcome aboard, Boss !

I'm sure this won't be a popular opinion, but I will admit to doing this... Just slip the "foreign" coin into a bet (put it on the bottom) and it will eventually get mixed in with the others. I've done this maybe twice...and it was never noticed.

Casino As I mentioned in an earlier post, the casino was insane most evenings. Like @Ampurp85, I seem to have better luck during the days when the casino is fairly slow. Once things start getting crazy at night, my luck goes bye-bye. We played more video poker on this cruise than we have ever done in the past. It's kind of Dan's new "thing". We even played some kind of pig game (can't remember the name of it) which was fun. We needed just a few points to get to the 2000 level so we sat down there and got what we needed. I find the whole video poker thing to be too stressful. I have to "think" too much and I got bored really fast. But then I get bored with any kind of slot machine. They just aren't my favorite way to lose money. As [bad] luck would have it, we found absolutely NO good luck on the non-smoking side of the casino. We opted to spend more time on the smoking side and that just doesn't agree with me anymore. I am a former smoker but I just can't tolerate it now....plus you go home stinkin' to high heaven. UGH So we made our 2000 points (we only used Dan's card in the machines so the cert is in his name, not that it matters) so we got a very nice certificate and have already booked an 8 night Oasis cruise in January 2025. I got a $$ of cert so we combined them to help with the cabin upgrade and other associated expenses. A free cruise can get very expensive !

Coastal Kitchen As you may recall from my earlier posts, they would not permit us to use our BOGO coupons except for the first night and since we wanted to enjoy the filet on night #1, there were no other chances to do any specialty dining unless we wanted to pay full onboard prices. Uh...no. So we decided that we would eat in the CK every night since the Maitre'd said that we would have no problem making reservations for all 4 nights. We had 4 dinners, 3 breakfasts and 1 lunch in the CK. Believe it or not, that one lunch that we ate there is the one and only time we have EVER had a lunch in a CK on any ship ! We have always either been Star Class or GenPop on an Oasis class ship and before becoming Pinnacle, we had no access to the CK unless we were in a suite and the only suites we've ever had on an O class ship, were SC suites and we were eating our lunches in specialty restaurants for the most part. The service in the CK was amazing. The Maitre'd, restaurant manager and our own personal server (Anelyne) were just spectacular. I could not have asked for better service. Period. The food was hit-or-miss for me. Dan was a cappy hamper the whole time. He loved everything that he got and so he was in heaven. I did not care at ALL for 2 out of the 4 menus that we had. I've already discussed the night that they gave me the wonderful a la carte options from the kids' menu. That was really a good recovery for that night and I thoroughly enjoyed my low budget chicken parm. But the last night. Ugh, Dan had his beloved lamb shank but there was absolutely nothing on that menu that even sounded remotely good to me. I finally opted for the cauliflower fried rice and it was....not good. The breakfasts were very good but it'd kinda hard to screw up breakfast. Standard stuff. Nothing amazing. The lunch was fine. Nothing spectacular. Dan and I split a chicken sandwich and fries. I guess this immersive CK experience reminded me that I am not, and have never been, a huge fan of the CK. It's not awful but it's nothing special EXCEPT for the views and the extraordinary service, both of which we have always appreciated.

Ok...so we're home. Fairly uneventful last couple of days. I will just throw out some random thoughts. The Shows Aqua Theater show: I had forgotten what a real Aqua Theater show is like. Allure reminded me. It was all about the diving and the water talents and less about aerialists, stomping and splashing. While nothing beats Aqua80's on Oasis (primarily b/c of the musical arrangement), I think OceanAria is a close second. I almost decided to skip it. I'm glad I didn't. Ice Show: Blades is very different from what I am used to with ice shows. I liked some of it and I hated some of it. I think the hardest part for me was that I was unfamiliar with some of the music and that made it hard to enjoy. It is what it is. The skaters are all very talented and that's always fun to watch. Blue Planet: I was very surprised to find that a great deal of this show has changed since the last time I saw it ! This is another one that I nearly skipped but I'm glad I went if only to see what has changed. I suppose someone must have fallen from the living tree at some point and they basically quit having the performers "hiding" up in the tree. There were still some performers "hiding" in the roots section of the tree but primarily the performers "coming to life" in the tree branches is now GONE ! They also changed the music. I recall there being a whole section of Beatles music which is also gone. There are parts of the show that are little changed but great parts of it have changed significantly. No wonder this show is now a "snoozer" to some. I felt it was a snoozer, too. Mama Mia: I enjoy the Abba music but I have always hated the "plot" of MM. We DID skip this one this time. One and done for us. Stupid and pointless with the music being the only redeeming part of the show.

Sometimes the redeemed OBC takes a while to show up on your Cruise Planner. While I have never done this myself, I have heard that others have been able to call BofA and have them apply the OBC immediately so that it will be available for your use in the CP. We use the BofA RC Visa card a LOT and we love it. Good luck !

I definitely have a trend. I do bad at the beginning of the cruise and even worse towards the end !

Agree with the others. They survey is lame and IMO, useless. You direct comm with the Genie will be more than enough to convey all of your preferences and needs.

I think it depends on the specific "sale". I have 2 cruises booked in 2025/26 with a TA that are group rates and both have OBC attached.

1. Suite Lounge - Yes. Full access including happy hour where the beverages are complimentary for suite guests. Children are welcome 2. Chops breakfast - yes 3. Suites pool - no. We stayed in one of the panoramic suites on AD for Christmas and New Years cruises this past December. They are really nice. Very big. Negatives - you feel all of the ocean's motion by being high and on the bow. Since you are all the way forward, you are pretty much on the wrong end of the ship for most of the things that we do - like the SL....but both of those negatives are worth having these beautiful suites.

“Stole” ? Nah…just a wee taste. . Yesterday we both got a margarita at the Sabor bar and they were really horrible. They tasted bad plus they had ice boulders in them ! This one today came from a pool bar (can’t recall the name) and it tasted like a margarita is supposed to taste plus - no ice boulders !