Kata

Is our White Whale of Moby Dick proportions? IDK .. are you counting our financial well-being? Who cares! YOLO!!   Who: SweetPea and Batman, two crazy mutual enablers who found ❤️ about 23 (24, 25?) years ago. Married for most of those. Don't ask me our anniversary. I once proudly told Batman my new ATM PIN, proclaiming, "Get it?!  It's our anniversary backwards!"   Spoiler: it wasn't.    I've not heard the end of it since.    What: Our White Whale. Why, you ask? We had 3,462.7 cruises in the Owner's Panoramic canceled during the Covid. Seriously. By March 578th, 2020, I'd had enough, just like the rest of the world. This was bound to happen sooner or later. I made sure of it.    When: September 24-October 1, 2023. Too short and will be over too quick, but the ship is our destination so who cares?! (Our itinerary is mundane and boring. We'll only be getting off the ship for PDCC.)   Where: Oasis of the Seas (C'mon now. There are only 2 OPs in the entire fleet, so there's a very good chance you'd win that coin toss.)   Why: Why not?!! Besides, flying sucks and we can drive to the port! And by drive, i mean be driven. Because who drives on vacation? Is that even a thing?!   How: Selling one pickled middle-aged kidney on the dark web. Let's face it, there's a difference between a kidney from a 20-year old athlete and one from a 50-something whose kidney is going to be (a-hem) grape-flavored. Clearly what I'm trying to say is that you could probably book two Star Class rooms with the 20-year-old kidney. Our cost wasn't *that* bad, but should still leave you questioning whether you'd consider us sound financial advisors.    Crown&Anchor Level: Brown.    I briefly considered making a parody pin that said "Not Pinnacle" with the "not" in very, very small font. I think it'd have been an excellent conversation starter.    Pre-cruise Diet: Poor. I planned to lose 30 pounds. I only have 33 to go. Forget that noise.   So here we go on our 3.5-year-in-the-making adventure. If you know us, I'm taking a very liberal definition of the term "adventure" here. As in, you shouldn't expect FlowRider reviews from us. That would only happen if they privacy-tented the entire wave pool and literally no one else could see us. I've seen this new TikTok thing all the cool kids are talking about, and going viral for all the wrong reasons would send me into a Brendan Fraser Whale-spin without the need of a fat suit.    (Perhaps i should tell you about the time i managed to ATV my way into the middle of a sugar cane field in St. Kitts where the excursion leader pulled me aside and quietly asked if I'd consider a private lesson before allowing the group to continue. That was 20 years and 30 pounds ago and my grace and agility has not aged like the fine wine I enjoy so much. --- That was for the kids in the back who didn't get my grape- flavored kidney joke earlier.)   This is our first cruise post-shutdown. We wanted to feel like we were going on vacation, not checking in for a clinical procedure. So we sat out all mandates. We both found them too stressful and opted to wait until the craziness was well on its way to over before we even remotely considered cruising again. This is one of the reasons we're going to the poorhouse post-cruise. I booked this pretty late and didn't partake in opening day prices. However, i got worried this was Oasis's last season in NJ so i bit the bullet and made several payments Batman wouldn't notice so our final bill was more in line with what I thought he could stomach. I can't be the only benevolently devious spouse to do so. If you've done something like this yourself, blink twice.   (And, Mindy, if you're reading: You're a SAINT!)   For the record, i caught Batman in a good mood one night and asked him the max he'd pay for a week-long cruise in Star Class. Unsurprisingly, it was a *bit* less than the cost of this one. So this is just between us RC Blog family, right? Good thing he thinks this website is Royal.blog.Carribean.me.live.com/reports which he always forgets to find later ....    And to any dudes reading, please remember: there is no such idiom as "Bros before blogs." That does not and will never exist.... if i can help it.    So, as long as Batman never does find this blog ... Continue to follow along to learn the riveting answers to such burning questions as: how will Anthem Star Class compare to Oasis Star Class? Will we prefer O Class to Q Class in general? Is this Deck 17 we keep reading about an actual Nirvana? What else has the pandemic stolen from us in pre v post shutdown changes? Will we ever want to return to Norwegian Haven? And ultimately, will selling a functioning kidney be worth the experience?   Come with us! We'll find out together!

Just boarded Explorer and discovered that the free $34.99 bag of laundry for D, D+ and Pinnacle has been removed and replaced with $10 discount. So the “free” bag now costs $24.99.

I'd say living near the cruise ports is the big #1.  When we lived in VA we had to fly to every port except for Bayonne.  Not only was it expensive but these days I think it would be extremely stressful and somewhat unreliable.  We moved to FL specifically so that we could cruise more often without flying.  It's working !!!

I think it's a great question. I'm not sure that we're "frequent" cruisers in the past, but we do have several cruises planned for the upcoming year. We do opt to stay in "cheaper" cabins because we just want to be on the ship. We have never spent a lot of time in our room. We also are able to travel at times when cruises are a bit cheaper. We don't have kids and we work at a university, so we can avoid the crowded times when others are constrained by kids' calendars.
We have good jobs, but don't make a ton by any means. We live no where near a port, we're not retired. We do get a decent amount of PTO where we work. We make a lot of decisions in our everyday lives to save money because we want to spend it on vacations. We do not eat out often, don't go out to movies, etc. We're very happy and don't feel like we deny ourselves anything, but I'm sure our friends think we're too frugal. But, when I'm on a cruise (or other vacation), I'm not really worried about what they think. 
I guess it's all about priorities.

Winning the lottery is still my plan!

Retire. Move to Florida. At least that is my plan 😂

You got them all I think.

I don't know if this will get many responses, but I've been wanting to ask it.  And I know it might seem too personal to ask, but I'll do so anyway.  If you choose to reply, great.  If not, I completely understand.  What are some ways others are able to do so many cruises in a year?  I can imagine that if someone has so much money they will never be able to spend it all, that would be one way.  I know that not owning a home would free up money and time, and perhaps cruising could actually cost less than homeownership.  I would think that being retired, or able to work from anywhere, would be two helpful things.  I guess I'm looking for tips from the high-volume cruisers that might help us become more frequent too.  Live near a cruise terminal?  Stay in the lower-cost cabins?  Focus on shorter cruises?  Become a biggie in the casinos?  Find a travel agent who can search for the best bargains?  If anyone has some kind of secret formula, or even not so secret, for doing LOTS of cruises annually, I would love to get your input!  Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions.

We have been on Oasis twice and have one booked again but I would rather be on Allure again.

Out of the 3 Oasis class I've been on, I enjoyed the Allure the most

A senior discount isn't an automatic thing. You have to tick the box on the promotions page when making a booking and sometimes there will be one and sometimes there won't.
We have had some success with getting them and sometimes the savings have been substantial. On Odyssey in May last year we got $402 in senior savings, $538 on Anthem in September last year and again on Anthem but in April this year, $137 on one cabin (booked just for me) and $182 on our other cabin (DH + DS, despite the fact that DS is not a senior).
So it's definitely worth ticking that box when you're pricing a cruise.

My wife and I just returned from a cruise to Alaska on Radiance of the Seas. While onboard, we dined at Samba Grill. We have eaten at Brazilian steakhouses before and heard that Samba Grill was very similar. However, once there we learned that they have done away with the red/green colored cards indicating whether or not they should bring you more meat. Instead, they bring out one serving of each meat one at a time in a predetermined order. Of course, they wait to bring out the best meats at the end, hoping you are too full. It isn't until you have gone through the entire meat list that you can request a second serving of a particular meat and even then, they acted a little bothered that you were even asking. So, if you are looking forward to filet mignon, you have to sit through appetizers and six other meats until you get to it. The food was delicious, but I was disappointed that it was not the traditional Brazilian steakhouse format.

Who else went back and actually counted the peas after @WAAAYTOOO's comment?
 

OMG I can literally count the number of peas on that plate !  How sad.

As many times as I have traveled to Italy on business, I have never really learned to appreciate Italian pizza.  I know that's a rare opinion since pizza is essentially the offspring of Italy, but I guess I'm too Americanized to appreciate its special qualities. I am a pepperoni lover and if you ask for pepperoni in Italy, you will get pepperoncini which is NOT pepperoni.  Even if you manage to get them to understand basically what you're asking for, you will get some nasty local salami-esque topping that is equally as unappealing as pepperoncini.
On the other hand, the mozarela d'bufala is to die for !  You cannot get that particular taste anywhere else (at least, nowhere in the very limited travel universe that I live in).  The BEST mozarela d'bufala is served from a salty brine.  OMG, it is so good !
It's a fair trade, IMO.  I will stick with the mozarela and leave the pizza to the rest of y'all.  😇

We have completed 14 sailings since Dec 2022.  Neither of us has experienced so much as a sniffle.

People have always left cruises with coughs and runny noses from various cold viruses. For decades before covid this was true.

It's just now an accepted fact that covid is in that group of cold viruses that exists in the world. And when someone travels to a new place and interacts with new people from other places, there's a higher chance of encountering "new to you" viruses.  

Very disappointed that Wonder required that both Dan and I use our BOGO vouchers on days 1 and 2.  It dicked up my entire dining schedule.  We couldn’t use them for either Hooked (which I already knew) or Mason Jar brunch.  Ugh.  I almost “Karen-ed” out but caught myself at the last moment.  😜😜. 
 
Side note:  none of the dining reservations that we made today, onboard are showing up in the app.  I even deleted and re-installed the app.  Nope.  Nada.  This is very common for me.  Not sure what I’m doing wrong.  I think the app knows I hate it and think it’s poop and it’s just paying me back.  😫😫

How is this even a thing still? A year and a half ago US was amending laws to get around Canada’s strict vaccination policies so cruises could go to Alaska. But even Canada got rid of the vaccine requirement for entry many months ago but the US still hanging on. A quick google search tells me there are currently 96 countries with no vaccine requirements to enter……can US come in at 97th?!

The US has fallen well behind the rest of the world with that border vaccination requirement, which is disappointing.

LAX was a huge bottle neck, but once we  escaped the airport, our shuttle, Execu-Car made short work getting us to the ship.  And we were still plenty early. 
Finding the correct line at the terminal was a struggle. There was very little signage and even less usher help. But once other passengers helped us find the correct place in line, we were shoo'd right through.
After a visit to our muster station, we opted for the Windjammer.  Contrary to public opinion, this food was outstanding.  I must repeat myself.  This food was absolutely delicious.😋
And a view from the Deck 9 sitting area overlooking the Promenade.

@WAAAYTOOO I am so happy for you, it means that at least for some cruises you will be able to sail again.

correct.

There have been reports elsewhere that the photo has worked just fine.

If you do this, please report back, Kenneth, and let us know how everything worked. We’re going in Dec and it seems too good to be true !  Thanks.