Pattycruise

However, if you drive to Kohls to buy what you need for your cruise and their shelves are empty would you be willing to spend the $ to go to Brooks Brothers or do your best with what you have especially if  you suffered a significant fiscal loss and you’ll be paying 10x more.

heh... I have my Shore Excursions, dining and drink package booked for Dec 2022 and Dec 2023 already. I want to have my entertainment booked and done with ASAP. I want to have nothing left to do but get on the ship on sail day.

I generally need to ask for a 2nd offering of bread day one.  The good asst. waiter remembers and those not as good takes 2 or 3 dinners to get it.

Really enjoy a cup of coffee with our desert. Too often the assistant doesn't bring it or ask until we're nearly done. Happens even if we order ahead of time. We've just given up on having it at this point.

Best quality is not asking me how my food is mid bite/chew. 

@twangsterdo you know if mid-cruise you tick over 700 nights, do they recognise you turning Pinnacle and upgrade your sea pass, or is it like C&A where you are recognised on the next cruise for a level status change? A way off still but wish to plan the Pinnacle on a specific ship and hope to have family with us. Thanks  

Last update:  all 8 tests arrived today in two packages, so it took 48 hours.  We’re 1 step closer to cruising!

I print Covid results and the setsail pass.  I write each person name (family of 6) in large sharpie print  at the top.  
Covid results:  circle Name, date of test, and result
Passports get a sticky note placed upside down (so it sticks to the page and acts like a bookmark) with each persons name at the top of the sticky note, it is stuck to the page with the passport photo.
Vax card paperclipped to inside back cover of the passport.

I hold all paperwork and the passports (in a small pouch) and pass them out when we get close to the line-I can do this quickly because of the names sticking out/written on top..  
No one had to fumble with their phones (though I suspect the "kids" would be fine.)

The Pier agents love the paper and the organization. (they say so!) We move very quickly.
I collect all passports once through the check in process and deposit them into my pouch.
I collect the setsail pass paper after we scan onto the ship (yes-you still need that setsail pass available-learned that the hard way after I diligently put all my paperwork away.
All paper is used as scrap by me for notes to myself  (like Tip, Safe, Fridge, toiletries for the end of the week)
Onboard we can all use the app for the setsail pass until we get a hold of our seapass card.

If you don't like to use paper I highly recommend a screen shot of the Covid results and setsail pass ...so they are all in a row in the phone, then there is no fumbling to change between apps and "find things".  Also, wifi at the pier can be spotty, so you shouldn't be relying on the wifi to find your documents.
 

As someone who likes water at dinner I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately on a recent oasis sailing it was like I was in a desert, my glass would be empty and when filled once it would remain empty until I could find the AW to request water.  (Repeat, nightly) Thankfully this is not typical, but those who are first time cruisers would have a super negative impression. 

As someone who likes water at dinner I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately on a recent oasis sailing it was like I was in a desert, my glass would be empty and when filled once it would remain empty until I could find the AW to request water.  (Repeat, nightly) Thankfully this is not typical, but those who are first time cruisers would have a super negative impression. 

We bought a coffee card on Anthem during Jan. 2019 cruise. The crew member told us to save the card if we didn't use all the "punches" and we could use it IF we sailed Anthem again...which we did in Jan. 2020. The card was honored even with us mentioning it was bought the previous year. 
Actually  have another card with a few punches left just waiting to be allowed on Anthem again! ☕️

For me it is one that never let's my water glass go empty. I am on Wonder of the Seas and Joseph has been on point all week. He doesn't even let me get to half full.

UPDATE - the 6 pack I ordered Monday looks like it will be here today because according to FedEx the package left Miami and is currently in Indianapolis.  🤞
The two pack, I have no idea when it will ship at this point.  Tried to create an account on their site and was having issues last night.

I thought only the RC-branded storefront at Optum gave free shipping.

If you want to waste/spend a few bucks, Amazon sells passport holders that have a slot for your passport on one side and a window for vax card on the other.
Wife wanted a 2 pack and they were cheap but of course a paperclip works just fine.
We then stuck our other documents like printed covid test and set sail pass in the middle since we find print outs are faster than going through your phone. Made for a nice little document folder.

There is a slight delay in the connection with Facetime when you first connect.  My daughter understands this and she patiently waits for the connect to "connect", my husband gets very frustrated when I Facetime him because he expects an instant connection (no matter how many times I warn him to have patience)-so I end up hanging up on him and just make the phone call.  I use surf after midnight typically and it is fine on Oasis, Anthem was more of a problem, one time to the point I went to the Voom desk to complain (even phone calls were bad) and he  mused "oh that is when the crew logs in for their free internet maybe I should stop them from doing that" My instant response was absolutely not, I can talk to my family any time of day.  I've also successfully used ZOOM during cruises with just a surf package.

agree with JC Pats.  you MUST bring the original vax card with you.  They have them uploaded to validate and save time at the pier, however sometimes the pier system goes down and they will most definitely need the original then .  The past number of cruises I have done this year they have asked to see the original card (even though the system was working).  I have mine paperclipped into the back of my passport so I can easily find/access it.   I also do this with the rest of my family members and their vax cards.

Thank you so much!

agree with JC Pats.  you MUST bring the original vax card with you.  They have them uploaded to validate and save time at the pier, however sometimes the pier system goes down and they will most definitely need the original then .  The past number of cruises I have done this year they have asked to see the original card (even though the system was working).  I have mine paperclipped into the back of my passport so I can easily find/access it.   I also do this with the rest of my family members and their vax cards.

next season for next year the Oasis will be doing a similar cruise stopping only at St John Canada

Validating your Vax card can take a few days to a few weeks. I wouldn't worry at all about it as uploading it now, saves time at the port. And yes, you need to bring your ORIGINAL Vax cards with you for the cruise, regardless of if it's validated prior to the cruise or not. The check in agent may want to verify what you brought matches what you uploaded. 

Thanks for this. Realistically I don’t expect the speed to be great, especially when you consider how many other people are sharing the same Wi-Fi connection. I’ve read the Wi-Fi on symphony is pretty good so I guess we’ll see. I just wanted to see if using FaceTime was possible with just surf. Hopefully the kids won’t want to talk too long lol 

It's fine though, I'm not worried, it took them almost a month after my disembarkation date for them to reply to my previous email. 🙃 

I've been searching for cruises for the past few weeks so hopefully something that interests me comes up.

pack them in 2 separate carry ons.  The security will take 2 bottles out of a carryon that contains 4.  I do not know if they would take the time to look at your set sail pass to see you have 2 separate reservations.