PPPJJ-GCVAB

Serious lack of eating today. Heat is one thing that kills my appetite & I was too hot to stuff myself at CocoCay. I didn’t even have a funnel cake. That’s unheard of for me.
We got back on the ship, showered, cooled off (the a/c is insanely strong in our cabin), & destroyed a small crowd at cartoon theme song trivia (it was nearly all 80s/90s stuff). We gave away one of the highlighters we won to a young boy & went back to the cabin to relax. I planned to hit up ELF but dozed off instead. I needed it but now I’ll be making up for lack of food with CL snacks, MDR Italian night, WJ & Sorrentos… I’d rather have ELF tbh but we’ll see what I find.
Nothing really planned after dinner. Still have plenty of vouchers to use.

Hahah not to rub it in but coco was divine weather wise today, absolutely perfect 😍 

For anyone wondering, I completed the process for the return of my Vuori hoodie today. We decided to ship it to our U.S. mailbox for several reasons. The main one was that the link Royal sent me only accepts US addresses. If I want it shipped internationally, I would have to wait for another email from Royal, and who knows how long that will take.
So with that in mind, domestic shipping for a single hoodie came to $47.86. Lesson learned. I need to do a better final sweep next time, or book a smaller cabin so that things don’t hide as well 😉

Same for my May cruise!  Even higher for my Utopia cruise!

Pricing has been crazy on our cruise. The lowest i saw them for was $34.99. They are $64.99 now in the Planner.

Hit up water park with kids then hideaway which we got for $20. Place is incredible. Amazing. 

It's snowing lightly here where I am in Canada right now. I'll take the warm weather in a heartbeat.

Send me the warm weather, it's like 27/30 degree here and it going to snow later in the week.

Will do my best since @GatorCruiseronly mentioned like 2 items. Methinks he cared more about the bourbon than the food. 🤣 No judgment of course.
I liked it better here when it was cool in October. Feels hotter than it was supposed to be. Think I’ve had 8 cups of mango water so far. 🥵 

Little from column A, little from column B? 🤷‍♂️🤣 Nah, I don’t think so. I’m not a big drinker but 4 spread out over the whole day shouldn’t be a problem.
We were going to finish the night with mudslides at the headliner show but there was no server nearby so I have a fridge full of strawberry lemonade Trulys now (couldn’t let my wife’s vouchers go to waste). She had a strawberry daiquiri here at CocoCay at least. Beginning to wonder what the heck we’re going to do with 10 after this but we’ll figure something out.

...uh....you sure this doesn't have anything to do with the multitude of cocktails yesterday ?  
🤣😍

@OCSC Mike I see that you brought your wife one of those fruit-covered danish.  I do love those....not so much for the fruit or the danish but for the yummy custard.  LOL  I'll betcha if you ask the CL Concierge that they will get your some chocolate croissant for later in the week.  They're usually pretty good about that kind of thing.  Good luck !

I’m sorry to report chocolate croissants in the suite  lounge @OCSC Mike you can meet me somewhere and I can get you some 😜
view of hideaway beach from balcony 
 

SMH at group of 8 adults in the pool talking about how Hideaway Beach is $70pp if you book it in person. It has been $19.99-$26.99pp in the planner for months. I get that there are tons of new cruisers but I don’t get how people do virtually zero research. Oh well. I’m sure they’ll have a good time regardless.

I see these from Bezos: https://a.co/d/3LZ0yOQ  I did not know travel hangers existed either!

 

It’s definitely time for Oasis to be honored with a new show!  Seriously! 😳 Come on Royal…do something nice for your Oasis guests!

He welcomed us to the island.

Off the ship not long after the gangway opened & it’s empty by the Oasis pool. This is not an early morning crowd & we’re the only ship here. Will use my Bezos holder for something frozen later.

Day 7: CONT
After finding the duck, we went back to the room where we just chilled for a bit, I went out the Music Hall to do the Morning Word-Search Challenge and then stayed for the morning trivia. The word search was about feeling and emotions - there was one word that nobody would find though "Euphoria" which is kind of funny if you ask me. Then trivia happened. One of the questions was what is the longest word that contains 26 letters, naturally you'd think the alphabet right? Nope, apparently the answer was "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" which 1 - isn't even a real word, and 2 - doesn't have 26 letters. It's got like 32... so that was clearly a misleading question. After trivia finished, I walked around the Royal Esplanade for a bit - they have watches 2 for $40 and they look pretty good - anyone have experience with buying those kinds of things on the ship? then I went up to Deck 15 to hang around in the arcade and the SeaPlex. I spent about $14 trying to win a PS5... I was never going to win, but it was fun trying. After the arcade, I went back to the room to watch YouTube videos - the weather outside was raining and it was like ~10 degrees celsius. Miserable weather to be hanging out outside. Turns out dad went to the SeaPlex and saw me but I didn't see him, he was playing Table Tennis with some Chinese couple he'd met. Then we went up to the Windjammer for lunch - honestly, lunch service is probably the worst. I can see now why people don't go to the Windjammer.... (more about the Windjammer later). Then we went back down to the room to nap/shower/rest. We went down to the MDR at around 5:15pm. It was Italian night - naturally you'd assume there was lots of pasta and you'd assume correct. They had a grand total of 4 pasta dishes on the menu. I ordered the lasange and the vegan Spag Bol - can you even call it spaghetti bolognese if it doesn't have meat in it.. desert was Tiramisu - finally a desert I actually like. After dinner dad wanted to try the Bumper Cars - I didn't ride them - I'm not a huge fan of dodgems/bumper cars. I saw the guys that were staying in the Star Class suite and their genie there, naturally they got to skip the queue... like I said above must be nice having a genie to be able to get you to the front of the line for things. But again, I digress.
Dad wanted fruit so we headed over to WJ to get some fruit. After dinner - I walked around the Royal Esplanade a bit more then went back to the room.
I was going to go out for the comedy show, but I'd already showered and in my PJ's.... plus the Royal Theatre is on the other side of the ship... First world problems.. 🤣
Just been in my room the whole time watching YouTube and getting some work done. So didn't really do much else today. 
Tomorrow is Day 8 and we arrive in the sounds (Dusky, Doubtful and Milford) so that'll be some great views. 
Observations:
- The main dining room was busier than usual today for some reason. Maybe people just didn't like what was on the menu at the Windjammer or the weather was just terrible and people wanted to eat and then stay in their rooms? Who knows, but the service in the MDR today was not as great as previous nights when it was less chaotic and busy. 
- The Windjammer was also surprisingly not busy, considering it's Greek/Spanish night. I don't know if it's just because people don't really care about the food, but we went around 7:30pm today (way earlier than usual) and it was not even packed, we could find a table easily. Honestly, I'm liking the Windjammer less and less each day. They never have anything different and it's literally just the same thing every night. (beef, curry, rice, pasta) - they just change like 2 stations and that's it and I guess they also change the desert stations - but like barely. The fruit stations are nice, but come-on, give us some variety in fruit.  Might just stick to the WJ for breakfast only, but we skipped the WJ for breakfast today and only went there to get fruit.
 

Must be nice having a genie be able to get you to the front of the line! 
I guess I'll never know 🤭

Day 7 - Solarium Bistro for Breakfast. I wanted some fruit so we headed over to the WJ... on the way.. Look what I found on top of the lifts.
The Solarium Bistro is honestly such an underrated venue - might go there again tomorrow - they more or less have the same stuff they have at the WJ minus the omelet station I guess + it's never packed there the times I've been. It's just a way more pleasant experience in the Solarium Bistro than the Windjammer. 

Day 6 - Final port: Wellington.
We stopped at our final port for the cruise in the capital of New Zealand! Wellington
Windjammer for breakfast, nothing too fancy. Gangway opened at 8am, I think a lot of people were already off the ship or waiting to get off by like 8:30. Dad and I got off the ship around 9:30 (Virgin Voyages's Resilient Lady was docked behind us, she's smaller than Ovation. Ovation is ~80-90metres longer and I think maybe ~20-30 metres taller. She's also about 58,000 gross tonnes larger, but I digress). By the time we made it into town, it was already like 9:45. We walked around for a bit and took some photos, I went to the Lego store to get my Lego passport stamped.. the lady who did it for me didn't stamp it properly but I realised too late and couldn't go back. 
Then we walked around for a bit more. I wanted to go to the Space Observatory... me being a huge space nerd, but I was like "I'll walk there, it's only 25 minutes".. I got about 1/4 of the way there and realized it's all hills which I wasn't going to walk, so I walked back down to meet dad who I had told to take the cable car to the top. One of Wellington's most famous attractions is its cable car.  The line was very long.... I'll show you photos when I get back to cabin. We got up to the top where we got off at Kelburn Terminal. Dad was tired so he sat down while I went to walk around. I went to visit the Space Place Observatory where they have a whole museum dedicated to the Planets, Star Formation and Galaxies. I watched a show inside the Planetarium which was pretty cool - it was about how Astronauts prepare for spaceflight - when the show finished, the guide gave us a 20 minute lecture on the different constellations in the skies and how they were used for navigating in the olden times etc. Once the show finished, I walked around the museum for a bit more and then I went to the gift shop - nothing really caught my eye that I wanted to buy. We caught the elevator back down to the bottom to Lamtom Quay Terminal where we then proceeded to be basic and ate at McDonalds, it was that or Subway... then we walked around the city for a bit more - I went to visit the Whitcoulls Store, it's 2 levels!! And they have so many books, toys and stationery inside, but didn't want to carry it all the way back to the ship... 😊 At this time it was about 3:30pm already so we decided to head back to the ship.
Back on the ship - We went to the Windjammer for some fruit and some drinks then went back to our room to nap. I napped to about 5:30pm and then started getting ready for Izumi's. Went down to Izumi's about 6:28pm. 
First time trying specialty dining onboard a cruise ship - Izumi's was great and $39.99 for basically 3 dishes is pretty good considering how big the portion of sashimi is. My dad and I both ordered the sashimi dish, I ordered a beef bowl and he ordered sushi, but he didn't like the sushi. The Chocolate Lava Cake was so good! Dad ordered the Assorted Mochi Ice-cream which was also very good. Will definitely be dining there again... soon...
Tbh, I was pretty full from sushi, but I went up to the Windjammer to have some watermelon (I LOVE Watermelon and honestly could eat a whole one if it was possible) After Windjammer - I went down to charge my phone cause it was on 2%. Dad stayed at the Windjammer for a bit more. I got some work done until about 9:50 then proceeded to two70 where the game "Crazy Quest" happened... let's just say things got pretty interesting to say the least. Crazy Quest is always a hoot! Back in the room now, pretty exhausted. Day 7 to 10 are all sea days now except 8 or 9 when we go through Dusky/Doubtful/Milford Sounds - I can't remember which one but will keep everyone updated. 
Day 7 - Sea Day tomorrow. Hoping to attend more trivia's. Dad wants to try the bumper cars tomorrow. I think tomorrow night's cuisine is Italy - so that should be good, expecting a heap of pasta (they have Lasange!!!!) and I think it's Greek/Spanish in the Windjammer - might have a stickybeak after dinner. 
Goodnight everyone. 

Day 4: We arrived in Picton around 11:00am but the gangway wasn't open till 11:45am. One of the downsides to living on Deck 3 is that they block off both sides so you can't get to your stateroom easily... everytime we'd have to get someone to move the barrier for us if we wanted to go back our staterooms...but it's whatever, not the end of the world, but I should have known when Royal assigned us Deck 3.
Picton is a nice little town that basically takes about 1 hour to walk around the entire city centre. Royal? Or the Port? provides you with free shuttles into the town centre though, since Picton is a working port and pedestrians aren't allowed to wander. It's full of timber logs. I didn't want to pay for a shore excursion cause it was a bit expensive.. I walked around the city why my dad just sat and waited for me (He had a sore leg so he couldn't walk much, which is fair enough), we got back around 2:30pm. I booked North Star for 4:15pm but went earlier cause they had room... I don't get why you'd want to do the North Star on Sea Days.. it's basically just ocean. 
Went to get a bite at SeaPlex Hotdogs. Very underrated venue that I think many people don't know about. 
Dinner was UK themed... the Fettucine Alfredo was very good, and the soup has been the best since Night 1. Definitely better than last night. Tomorrow is Caribbean themed. 
There was an encore performance of Live. Love. Legs that I considered going to, but I'd already seen it so I decided to walk around the Royal Esplanade instead... I would buy one of the Rolex's or the Invicta's... if they didn't cost an arm and a leg. But alas. It was around 9:20 so I decided to get to the Royal Theatre early to secure a seat for the Love and Marriage game show. Needless to say... some secrets were revealed. A couple from Indiana won 🏆🙌😎 , there was this couple who were married for 58 years, but I don't think they really knew what was going on, cause some of the answers didn't make sense. Regardless, it was still extremely funny to watch. Although, the woman sitting next to me would not stop talking the entire show and it was very annoying and everytime she laughed she did that really weird squeal thing that people do when they think something is hilarious. She ruined the show for me... plus the guy on my right spilled my drink as he was sitting down cause he accidentally knocked it over - he offered to buy me a new one after the show, but it's whatever, it was already almost finished so It wasn't like a huge deal, just a slight annoyance. Nothing else really on now so bed time! 
Day 5 tomorrow- Napier
The ship is rocking again.. we're back in rough seas...