CannukCruiser

That's right friends, it's time to (pretend to) cruise again and you're all invited!
I can't believe my (non-existent) cruise is finally here, and I am headed back on my favorite ship of all time, Harmony of the Seas!
First, I'd like to point out that I did not start my live blog many months in advance, as @Lovetocruise2002 always  does.
Second, here are the details for this sailing.
Because I didn't pay anything to go onboard, I'm going big time!

We have the Royal Loft Suite booked for this sailing. After all, nothing is too good for my family (especially if it's all pretend).
Having stayed once before on Deck 16 in the suite area, I am looking forward to the suite enclave onboard and enjoying more time in the Suite Lounge.  Who knows, I might just go to Coastal Kitchen!
Our cruise is a 7-night itinerary, with visits to Perfect Day at CocoCay, Cozumel, Costa Maya and then back to CocoCay again! It will be 4 ports of non-stop sun, surf, and eating.

I managed to pull some strings with the government, and got some friends onboard with me for this sailing.  I'm cruising with @Big Dawg Ron, @JLMoran, @AnnetteJackson, @Lovetocruise2002's husband & @Galveston Steve!
Who knows, more may fly during the cruise...because why the heck not! 
My plan is to take the stretch limo over to Port Canaveral on Saturday, and be in the terminal (and subsequently onboard) as soon as I can!

Day 6 has brought us to Cozumel. On tap for the day...
ATV excursion + lunch & snorkel Impromptu trip on our own to Paradise Beach Portside BBQ 20 Minutes of Cats Cruise Ship(s) gone wild We had our excursion booked through a third party and it was pretty much scheduled for right when we got into port. So Rebecca and I needed to get up even earlier to make sure that we could be in the first wave off the ship and get to our meeting location in time. After navigating through the endless maize that is the Cozumel port terminal, we made it to our meeting spot... Carls Jr. When we arrived we met our guide for the day, Omar. Along with Omar there were four other tour participants, all of which were friends who were on Empress (or maybe Majesty) of the Seas which was docked directly next to us. From our meeting spot (which was directly across from the port entrance) we walked about a block to where their excursion headquarter was (I say headquarter very loosely). 
Before I continue about the excursion, I am going to preference that I am going to crack a lot of wise-ass one liners. The reason being is because this was no Royal Caribbean all buttoned up, no cutting corners, excursion. Things were... let's say very lax. Which honestly, was not bad. We had a great time. The excursion made our time in Cozumel and was one of the highlights of the trip. But I will say this would not have been for everyone. It was a few notches above organized chaos, but it worked. We never felt not safe or uncomfortable. Honestly, we felt more uncomfortable and on edge when we did our beach break excursion in Jamaica and we booked that through Royal. On this excursion, you could just tell this is the way they operated. Just go with the flow. Which given the cost for what we were doing, that was more than ok with us. And, we were very lucky in that the group with us, had the same personality as us in that they were there for the experience and not going to get caught up with the unorthodox flow of the excursion.
Ok, so back to the excursion. Once we finished providing final payment and filling out some paper work (may have forgotten our drivers license - oops) Omar comes over and asks who in the group knows how to drive shift. A girl in the other group raises her hand. So Omar points to her, one of her friends, and then to me and Rebecca and ushers us over to a small little compact car. Then Omar jumps in another car with the two other members of the group. Odd. One would think you all would load into a van/vehicle - together. Not the case here. But hey, maybe it is only Omar working and he needed to drive one of the cars? Nope. Omar hops in the back seat of the other car and makes one of the other guys drive. The one girl in our group cracked a joke that either Omar doesn't know how to drive or got his license revoked. As bizarre as it was, it was also pretty hilarious (we have an odd sense of humor). But we all got an even bigger chuckle as we can see Omar in the car in front of us, reclined in the back seat just enjoying the drive. After about a 20 minute drive we arrived at a little side of the road shack where we got an extensive (and completely thorough) two minute introduction on to how to operate an ATV. Again... just going with the flow. From the shack, we headed down the road until we reached the beach. Then from there we entered onto the trail. Now let me say this. The ATV experience was exactly what was advertised and exactly what we were looking for. The trail ran through the jungle all along the coast. There were pockets where we would come out and see pristine beaches and coastline before zooming back into the jungle. And as far as the terrain, it was a fairly smooth ride. There were some bumps and rocky areas but overall the ride was pleasant. At the half way point we stoped at an area where would could walk out onto the beach to snap some pictures as well as view an ancient ruin. Finally from there were headed back the way came. All in all the ride was probably just over an hour and a great experience.



 




Now next up was a... tequila tasting? ?This kinda came out of no where. I mean, we all welcomed it with open arms, it was just out of the blue and definitely not part of the excursion itinerary. Anyway, it seemed to be a little "I scratch your back you scratch mine" between our excursion provider and the tequila guy. Again, Rebecca and I along with the others from Empress all took it in stride and had a great little experience. At the end when they try to get you to buy some of the tequila that you sampled, our counterparts could not have flown out of the room faster. But we ended up buying a coffee infused bottle... so nice that TSA on the the flight back home wanted a sample apparently. I just wish they completely closed up the bottle after they were done.
As we were about to head back into the car we heard Omar talking about two cruise ships colliding in port. At first we thought he was talking about a different day. But then he confirmed it was that morning. After watching the video (which I am sure everyone on her has seen - i.e. the two Carnival ships hitting), Omar then mentions that a Royal ship may have been hit (and then he shows us the other clip). Now image, you are on island in Mexico, on an excursion, with no idea if what is going on and you hear that your ship was in a possible collision. I had visions of my mother freaking out and looking to buy a flight that day to come to Cozumel to make sure we were ok. But now I have  Rebecca starting to freak out and trying to send emails to her mom to let them know we were ok. Me on the other hand? Not going to lie, I was hoping our ship got hit ?(of course it goes without stating while with the intention of hoping no one was hurt). I am hoping for an extra night in Mexico. Envisioning an extended vacation. I'M THINKING CRUISE CREDIT!... However (as we all know), my hopes and dreams were crushed and our ship was spared.
From the ATV spot we rode back towards town and to the beach club where we were set to have lunch and to snorkel. The spot was super nice, however because of the wind, we were just limited to having lunch and to walk along the beach.

After lunch, our excursion came to end and we started to head back to the port and the ship. However, when we were halfway through the maize on our way back to the ship, Rebecca and I both realized that we didn't want our day in Cozumel to end. So we ended up making a u-turn and heading back towards the exit and the taxi stand. We really didn't have a plan but we decided to take a ride and check out Paradise Beach club. Really cannot tell you why we chose to go there other than the price of the cab was reasonable and the name seemed somewhat familiar... probably from ready other peoples blogs. Upon arrival we decided just to the beverage and food minimum to gain access, which was perfect. We probably arrived around 1:30 and ended up staying until to just about 4 taking in the beach (the weather got much nicer), crystal clear water, and the pool. Getting a cab back was super simple (there is line waiting outside), which put Rebecca at ease since she thought we weren't going to get one and end up missing the ship.



One we got back to port and on the ship, we did a little more lounging in the Solarium and some other water activities up on the pool decks. Since we were planning to have dinner in Portside, getting ready for dinner was going to be a little less of a production. Which was nice because after being up super early for the excursion and being out in the sun all day, having a casual dinner planned was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Now onto dinner. Portside was awesome. This was probably what I was most excited for after reading about the amplifications. The whole concept, location, food, environment are just so cool.  And for the price, considering its BBQ (very very good BBQ) - you simply cannot beat it. And you get so much food. And as a proud member of the clean plate club, I had to have my membership revoked. Yes, I had to take a to go container. Between myself and Rebecca we probably got to try everything on the menu (excluding the ribs maybe?). It was all delicious. It was a little sad that the restaurant was more or less empty, because it really is a great concept that I think more people need to give a try. I will say that Royal does not do that great of a job marketing the restaurant when you are actually on the ship. Which I think they definitely should do given the hidden/tucked away location up on deck 15. We did get a chance to talk to the manager who was super friendly and engaging. We ranted and raved to him about how much we loved everything which I hope made him feel good. You could kind of tell he was just as confused/frustrated that it was not a little busier. Maybe over time as more people find out about and the word spreads, the crowds come. And hopefully Royal does add it to other ships.

As dinner came to end, Rebeca and I needed to roll ourselves down to the theater to catch the critically (not-cruiser acclaimed) production of Cats. But not before running into this guy...

 
Now let me just say this. I was fully prepared to ride it out for the whole show. I was going to prove everyone wrong. No way it could be that bad. Everyone was overreacting.
Well...
we lasted 20 minutes. But in my defense, I think if we weren't up at 7am (after going to bed at 2am), did two excursions, and just ate an entire cow & pig for dinner - we could have made it. But after almost falling out of my chair multiple times we decided it was time to exit. *We also strategically sat in one of the bar hight ops along the edge as to not to disturb anyone - I guess we were really foreshadowing our early departure, huh?
From the theater we ventured around and then settled down in Globe & Atlas to catch up with Rudy. As we hung out, we noticed that Adam was not performing (but we did catch his set during dinner in Portside ?)
Speaking of Adam... 
Now I know by now everyone is sick of hearing of how much of a fanboy I am. Deal with it. Every night, I am filled with envy when he sits down with a group in between sets and has a beer and shoots the sh$t. But at the same time, I am too shy to even go up and say hello. Anyway, there were are, just sitting there minding our own business and who comes walking in and sits down at the table next to us. After he chatted it up with a few guys next to us, I saw my opportunity to say hello. But every time I tried to form a sentence, nothing came out. I started to stress. What if he leaves? What if someone scoops him up and brings him to their table? I could not let that happen. So after a shot of liquid courage I made my move (sorry Rebecca). I cant remember exactly what I said, pretty sure I blacked out. But next thing I know, Adam is sitting at our table and we just chatted the night away. Literally. We shut Globe & Atlas down with him just talking about everything under sun. Quite literally a dream come true. We may have even gotten Sorrentos with him ☺️
So after we had to say good bye to my man crush (Rebecca could have not been more relieved), I think we may have tested out the casino. I believe the roulette gods were surprisingly in a good mood, which means Ryan is in a good mood, which means Rebecca is in a good mood. But this was probably the most fun I had in the casino on the cruise (of course winning helps). We had a table filled with a cast of characters, all of which were great people, which made for a fun time. From the casino we probably ventured maybe to Blaze before then calling it a night.
Tomorrow is a sea day on our way back to Miami. Highlights include: T-Shirt Sale, Trip to next cruise, Multiple food comas, And losing my sea pass card for the first time (on the last day no less!) 

I can't decide on one , we enjoyed the ship  so much that it would be hard to pick one .. miss the ship 

I can't decide on one , we enjoyed the ship  so much that it would be hard to pick one .. miss the ship 

it is almost like reliving our cruise on Oasis in January ,  enjoying this 

Day four now has us in Jamaica.
***Let me just note one thing. As the title of this blog infers, it is in fact not live (SpOiLeR!!!). So as I write this, I am (was) watching love at sea (started piecing this recap together on Saturday night). So, for your own quarantine pleasure, please just picture a 28 year old guy on his couch at 11:30pm on a Saturday watching a hallmark movie.
Ok, now back to our regular scheduled programming.
So for Jamaica, we originally had nothing booked. Leading up to the cruise I was looking at a bunch of different excursions both through Royal and external. Truth be told, I would have loved to have done the all of major excursions: Dunns River Falls, The Blue Hole, etc. But at the end of the day, the price was not worth it based on the the travel time and knowing how big of attractions they are based (there were three other ships in port - including Ocho Rios) We figured to skip getting off the ship. Now for those people that know me and Rebecca, that is a big no no. I know for a lot of people, the ship is the destination. And it is for us, but we truly believe that if we are going to wake up one day in a new country, we want to say we at least saw something other than the port. So eventually we found a pretty cheap beach excursion through Royal on day one so we booked it.
That morning, the alarm goes off. Almost made it to sunrise yoga (jk lol). And when I say sunrise yoga, I mean the Solarium Cafe for breakfast (by myself). After my solo food excursion, I went back to the room, armed with a latte, frosted mini wheats and a mixed fruit cup (cue the "Awwww, what a good fiance") ?. Once back at the room, we got ready and headed out to disembark on our beach excursion.
Once we get off the ship we head to our meeting area. Long story short (and kind of what we expected), it was organized chaos. But given we knew that most beaches near the port needed to be part of the group we sucked it up. The beach club over all was not bad, it just was not great. We still had fun and enjoyed the the whole environment. You could just tell that it was cash cow tourist trap. Oh well. So we probably left the beach around 130 to head back to the port.



Once back in port we shopped around (the Falmouth port is actually the best ship ship port we have been to - I know I am not saying anything astronomically enlightening). After walking around we decide to head back to the ship. But literally as we are about to walk through the cruise ship entrance, I see a sign that caught my attention. Margaritaville - Free Pool and & Wifi ?. I point it out to Rebecca, who like me, was a little ashamed to mention it. But we both were not ready to head back so we made a u-turn and headed to say hi to Jimmy. The entire complex was actually pretty nice. It was like a Margaritaville built within a pool resort. There was a massive pool with water a water fall, swim up bar and a massive hot-tub in the shape of a margarita glass. It was essentially a slightly (key word, slightly) classier version of a spring break pool party... which for us was just hilarious. I am not proud to say this, but if Jamaica is ever on our itinerary again, we are skipping the excursions... and I think you know where you will be able to fine me.

So we ended up spending a few hours just lounging around and then decided to head back to the boat (and good thing we did). As we were going through port security a huge thunderstorm rolled through essentially closing the gangway. We actually were right about to walk onto the pier and into the ship but decided to hold back to not get drenched. After about 20 minutes we were allowed to board. **The pic are the doors leading out to the gangway where we got stopped right before the storm. Kinda pointless pic but trying to give the people a visual.

When we got on board we headed to Izumi to see if they had any open reservations for Hibachi that night, and luckily for us, they had two spots! So with dinner reservations secured, we went back up to the Solarium and did some more soaking in the hot tubs and hitting up the slides which were particular nice to get a great view of the island and sunset as we sailed away. As creatures of habit, we then headed back to the room to get cleaned up. After changing we decided to head to the schooner bar to take in some music and good conversation before heading to dinner. For the dinner itself, it was delicious and fun time as expected (below is proof of my unprecedented athleticism on display... catching a diced pieced of chicken on the fly). Our table mates for hibachi were all great (two other couples). After dinner, we had some time to kill before the ice show we had booked so I am sure we just ventured around the ship.


The ice show, which was the first time ever seeing on any ship, was terrific. After the aqua show, this was our next favorite. You might be wondering why we have never seen it before? Well to be honest, if it wasn't for reading other peoples reviews, we probably would have skipped it again. I know, I know. We are idiots. Literally, even reading the most negative and terrible reviews on cruise critic (I am sorry, it is a guilty pleasure), people would somehow muster enough props saying the show passed their extravagant expectations and needs. So this time we were determined to give it a try. And hand up, it was less Rebecca and more me wanting to skip. Rebecca is very much go with the flow. So this is all on me. Anyway the show was overly entertaining and quite funny, especially with those adorable little ducks. 

For those that do not know, the ice show is all based on different Hans Christian Andersen stories. I am by no means a playwright reviewer nor am I going to try to be. So I will it at Royal did great job putting together a wonder show. Would highly recommend, and yes... I will never skip the ice show again.
After the show it was back to our normal nightly routine of meandering to all the different venues (jazz on 4 was especially ?tonight). I might add, if anyone was wondering on my nightly roulette spins... 22 black and me are now back on speaking terms. And his friends, 0 & 00... great guys. May invite them to the wedding. After quitting while I was ahead (and getting the evil eye from Rebecca), we headed back up to the Globe and Atlas to chat with Rudy a little more before turning in for the night.
Tomorrow is a sea day. Will Rebecca have breakfast with me? Will my Vitality Spa haircut make me look like Ryan Reynolds? I guess you will just have to click back in 1-2 days when I finally get around to writing about it!

And we are back with Day 3, which has put us in Labadee. Out of all the ports on our itinerary, I would say this was the one we were looking to the most. While we were excited for Cozumel (we had an ATV excursion planned), Haiti for some reason had us the most excited to visit (and it doesn't hurt the food and drinks are included).
So like I previously mentioned, needed to get up rather earlier (not for any fitness classes) to grab breakfast and make our way off the ship for our early morning jet ski ride. We originally had this excursion booked a little later in the day, but last minute we decided to add a trip to amiga island (have to love that mindset of money really doesnt matter (as much) on vacation). So to make this second excursion work with our schedule, we needed to bump up our jet ski time.
*We really wanted to do this adult sandbar party excursion thing where you take a boat out into the water where I guess it is around waist high and are able to hang out and have a good old time. I saw it for the longest time in the cruise planner, but it seemingly disappeared a few months before the cruise. After contacting Royal I guess they removed it as the tour operator decided to not offer that excursion. Guess we need to find another cruise to Haiti in the near futrure...
So after getting up we partook in a new tradition established on this cruise... Rebecca staying in bed while I go and have break by myself ?. I know, so sad, right?  But I sucked it up, stopped by park cafe and got a quick bite to eat and even brought a little something back for Rebecca because you know, chivalry is indeed not dead. Once we got off the ship it was pretty simple to find where we needed to go, sign-in, and meet our group (it is literally right off the ship when you get to the end of the pier). When we got close to our time, we headed into a room where our guide and instructor went through all the safety rules and other logistics. From there we got our life vests and headed out onto our jet ski's. In total there were about 12 people in our tour. We were assigned a number based on the experience (or lack thereof). 1 was if you had the most, 12 if you were a newbie. Rebecca, the speed demon, started at number 3 and half way through she was knocked up to number #1. Myself? I just will keep the number to myself (I definitely was not knocked down a number ?). Overall, the excursion was a little over an hour and we had a blast. It was interesting how they had it structured in that it was like follow the leader. Our guide would go first then we would all follow. So it wasn't like a free for all in one particular area. We were a little skeptical at first. But it ended up being perfect. We still got our need for speed and were able to jet ski around some pretty big swells. And you really couldn't beat zooming past the the Haitian coastline. Those mountains are pretty spectacular.


After we finished our excursion we decided to checkout out the rest of the island.


 

 
Overall Labadee lived up to our expectations and would have absolutely no problem coming back. For the rest of morning we just hung out at beach, ventured out to the floating bar for a beverage and then swam back in for lunch. After we ate, we needed to make our way back over to the dock to catch our ride to Amiga Island. The boat ride over to the island was about 20 minutes. Again was definitely very cool to get a different vantage point of the island, and to get a close up of the ship...



Once we got to the island, Rebecca and I took walk around and then a dip in the water. The excursion in my opinion was defiantly worth it. There were probably only 15 of us on the island so it was a nice quiet getaway. For the rest of the time we were there we pretty much just relaxed and caught a few Zzzzz's. If you wanted, they had a little hut that was used as cash bar but the complimentary rum punch and view was more than enough for us. After the ride back, it was unfortunately time for us to have to get back on board. 
*The ride back though was pretty eventful in that there were some pretty big swells. No one ever thought we were in danger, but it wasn't your average smooth ride back. It was almost like a two for one excursion. One being the island the second being the rollercoaster (I mean boat rife back).











As far as plans for the night, we only had dinner booked at Chops for around 8. No shows booked. That being said we did our traditional late afternoon solarium and jacuzzi session followed by a few runs on the slide. For sail away we did head to back of the ship to I think deck 5 for a little less crowded view (and maybe had a hot dog from the boardwalk). From there we ventured back to the room to get ready for dinner. After that, we did some walking around, probably spending more money on the hot-shot basketball and and football toss on the boardwalk. Rebecca (along with every 8-year-old kid) was also on the prowl to catch that piano guy in the elevators. At one point we spotted him, but to Rebecca's misfortune, he zipped right past our floor.

We then headed up to Chops for dinner and as expected there were 0 complaints. I think we both got the crab cake appetizer, maybe salads...cant remember, filets with their various delectable sauces. And then for sides, if my memory serves me correctly, we did the creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and the mac n cheese, because you know...#health. For dessert, I know we got it, but gun to my head I couldn't tell you what. Maybe Rebecca got something chocolate and I got something apple?
After dinner was over and considering we had no real plans we decided to head to the Globe and Atlas to see my man crush. Again, our server Rudy made for great conversation. We always seem to luck out and get a great server in all the pubs when we've been on our cruises and Rudy may be our favorite. Would literally run over from wherever he was to greet us with a hello and would constantly be checking in on us. But like with most people, we just like talking to him about life, his family, about us, etc. Eventually Rudy needed to tend to some of the guests (how dare he). It was fine, I could let Adam start to serenade me. As the night went on, we ended up meting and joining forces with a group of 2 couples who were traveling together. So after chatting up a storm, having a drink or two we all headed to Blaze. From there me and Rebecca broke off and once again I needed to go and see if 22 Black wanted to be friends. While we did say hello once early on in the night, he then started to ghost me. From the casino we may or may not have stopped for pizza (ok i did, not Rebecca) and then headed back to the room to call it a night in preparation for Jamaica in the morning.

We loved the Oasis , I was impressed in January seeing them clean the ship and getting people to wash their hands ..  All I know is that when all this ends we will be going back on another Oasis class ship ..Being an essential worker  I am trying to protect myself  the best  that I can in order to protect my family .. We enjoyed the crew on board and hope that they can stop the spread of the virus onboard the ship .
 

We loved the Oasis , I was impressed in January seeing them clean the ship and getting people to wash their hands ..  All I know is that when all this ends we will be going back on another Oasis class ship ..Being an essential worker  I am trying to protect myself  the best  that I can in order to protect my family .. We enjoyed the crew on board and hope that they can stop the spread of the virus onboard the ship .
 

We went on Oasis the first week of January  and loved it .. post away

December 2018 my wife said for my 60th birthday on January 2020 I should pick somewhere where I want to go ie an island resort ,  a cruise etc   .  I was not sure what I wanted , so started to checkout resorts , cruises . talked to a few people who highly recommended Oasis of the seas , so we booked it out of Miami , 7 day Eastern Caribbean not knowing that Oasis was going to be amplified .  My wife had been on NCL on a much smaller ship with her parents and sister . Question she asked me was why such a big ship , 1 because of other peoples recommendations  and all that it offer I did not want to be bored .. Not a chance of that , so much to do , not enough time ..  we did as much as we could on the ship when we were sailing  , rock climbing water slides ,abyss , zip line  escape room ..then the island roller coaster , and I have to give my wife props for doing the zip line over the ocean not sitting like she thought , but as an airplane ..  The food and entertainment was out of this world ,everyone on the ship was fantastic , we  could not have asked for a better time ..  This was our first RCL cruise but wont be the last , my wife did say to her father that she did not know if I could do a small ship after getting spoiled on Oasis .. his answer was that she created a Cruise Monster ..   We did not want to get off  . miss it already .

December 2018 my wife said for my 60th birthday on January 2020 I should pick somewhere where I want to go ie an island resort ,  a cruise etc   .  I was not sure what I wanted , so started to checkout resorts , cruises . talked to a few people who highly recommended Oasis of the seas , so we booked it out of Miami , 7 day Eastern Caribbean not knowing that Oasis was going to be amplified .  My wife had been on NCL on a much smaller ship with her parents and sister . Question she asked me was why such a big ship , 1 because of other peoples recommendations  and all that it offer I did not want to be bored .. Not a chance of that , so much to do , not enough time ..  we did as much as we could on the ship when we were sailing  , rock climbing water slides ,abyss , zip line  escape room ..then the island roller coaster , and I have to give my wife props for doing the zip line over the ocean not sitting like she thought , but as an airplane ..  The food and entertainment was out of this world ,everyone on the ship was fantastic , we  could not have asked for a better time ..  This was our first RCL cruise but wont be the last , my wife did say to her father that she did not know if I could do a small ship after getting spoiled on Oasis .. his answer was that she created a Cruise Monster ..   We did not want to get off  . miss it already .

December 2018 my wife said for my 60th birthday on January 2020 I should pick somewhere where I want to go ie an island resort ,  a cruise etc   .  I was not sure what I wanted , so started to checkout resorts , cruises . talked to a few people who highly recommended Oasis of the seas , so we booked it out of Miami , 7 day Eastern Caribbean not knowing that Oasis was going to be amplified .  My wife had been on NCL on a much smaller ship with her parents and sister . Question she asked me was why such a big ship , 1 because of other peoples recommendations  and all that it offer I did not want to be bored .. Not a chance of that , so much to do , not enough time ..  we did as much as we could on the ship when we were sailing  , rock climbing water slides ,abyss , zip line  escape room ..then the island roller coaster , and I have to give my wife props for doing the zip line over the ocean not sitting like she thought , but as an airplane ..  The food and entertainment was out of this world ,everyone on the ship was fantastic , we  could not have asked for a better time ..  This was our first RCL cruise but wont be the last , my wife did say to her father that she did not know if I could do a small ship after getting spoiled on Oasis .. his answer was that she created a Cruise Monster ..   We did not want to get off  . miss it already .

December 2018 my wife said for my 60th birthday on January 2020 I should pick somewhere where I want to go ie an island resort ,  a cruise etc   .  I was not sure what I wanted , so started to checkout resorts , cruises . talked to a few people who highly recommended Oasis of the seas , so we booked it out of Miami , 7 day Eastern Caribbean not knowing that Oasis was going to be amplified .  My wife had been on NCL on a much smaller ship with her parents and sister . Question she asked me was why such a big ship , 1 because of other peoples recommendations  and all that it offer I did not want to be bored .. Not a chance of that , so much to do , not enough time ..  we did as much as we could on the ship when we were sailing  , rock climbing water slides ,abyss , zip line  escape room ..then the island roller coaster , and I have to give my wife props for doing the zip line over the ocean not sitting like she thought , but as an airplane ..  The food and entertainment was out of this world ,everyone on the ship was fantastic , we  could not have asked for a better time ..  This was our first RCL cruise but wont be the last , my wife did say to her father that she did not know if I could do a small ship after getting spoiled on Oasis .. his answer was that she created a Cruise Monster ..   We did not want to get off  . miss it already .

December 2018 my wife said for my 60th birthday on January 2020 I should pick somewhere where I want to go ie an island resort ,  a cruise etc   .  I was not sure what I wanted , so started to checkout resorts , cruises . talked to a few people who highly recommended Oasis of the seas , so we booked it out of Miami , 7 day Eastern Caribbean not knowing that Oasis was going to be amplified .  My wife had been on NCL on a much smaller ship with her parents and sister . Question she asked me was why such a big ship , 1 because of other peoples recommendations  and all that it offer I did not want to be bored .. Not a chance of that , so much to do , not enough time ..  we did as much as we could on the ship when we were sailing  , rock climbing water slides ,abyss , zip line  escape room ..then the island roller coaster , and I have to give my wife props for doing the zip line over the ocean not sitting like she thought , but as an airplane ..  The food and entertainment was out of this world ,everyone on the ship was fantastic , we  could not have asked for a better time ..  This was our first RCL cruise but wont be the last , my wife did say to her father that she did not know if I could do a small ship after getting spoiled on Oasis .. his answer was that she created a Cruise Monster ..   We did not want to get off  . miss it already .

Our honeymoon on Mariner of the Seas was such a fun sailing. We "backed into" it as an option.
Originally, we were going to go to Hawaii & Disneyland.  Prices for that kind of a trip were way too high, so we then decided to go on a Disney Cruise.  That was until our travel agent pointed out we could get 7-nights in a Junior Suite on Mariner of the Seas, or 3-nights in an inside on DCL.  It turned out to be a great decision.