MattG

It’s BRISK today! Driving up from the mid-Atlantic, we went from the upper 30s to the mid-50s at embarkation. We had a 10:30am check-in time, but didn’t arrive to the terminal until 10:50am. When you come off the NJ Turnpike in Bayonne and march towards the cruise terminal, you come down Chosen Few Way and have to make a left turn onto Goldsborough Dr (which turns into Port Terminal Blvd). Well, that left turn sucks. It’s a left turn against two-way traffic with no stop light. So you have hundreds of cars backed up trying to dodge traffic to make this left turn. There should truly be a stop light here, or find some other way to get onto Goldsborough.
So we get to the Terminal at 10:50am, and wait in the baggage check line for about 10 minutes. We’re parked by 11:10am, and head into the Terminal. Security is a breeze, and we go to a check-in line, finish check-in, and right onto the ship by 11:30am.
Once on-board, we went to Spotlight Karaoke for muster. We asked if they had wristbands for the kids, and they said they’d be in the stateroom (spoiler: they weren’t). After muster check-in, we made a bee-line for the Boardwalk and to Playmakers for lunch. The kiddos went straight for the carousel, and rode it a few times while food arrived. We got a bunch of nachos, fries, chicken tenders, and onion rings. Everything went over pretty well. I snuck over to Johnny Rockets and got an order of bacon cheese fries for our travel partners, and Johnny Rockets happily obliged and put it in a to-go box. While we ate, I tried to make dining reservations, but it wanted to charge us (we had UDP), I was getting boxed out of a lot of the reservation times I wanted, and it was slooooow. I gave up after 10 minutes and no reservations, determined to fix it at a host stand.
Once we wrapped up at the Boardwalk, we headed to Central Park to make UDP reservations. I headed into 150 Central Park, and worked with the host to make the reservations. It took a while (20 minutes?) but I was able to lock in all of the restaurants we wanted, at the times we wanted, and kept our two parties together.
Because the reservations were taking a while, I sent everyone else up to Adventure Ocean to register all the kiddos. I headed up there after everything was booked, and the other parents took care of registration and booking. The wife said the AO Babies staff said there were a “lot of babies” on this cruise, and limited us to 7 hours of time in the Nursery until Day 3, when they can shake out how heavily the Nursery is going to be used. We experienced something similar on Anthem last December, so we expected something similar. The older kids are first-come, first-serve, with no limits. Game-on.
After Adventure Ocean, we headed down and found our staterooms were ready. We had interior rooms on Anthem, and walking into a Balcony room and being flooded with natural light will make you never want to to go back to an interior room again. My goodness! There’s definitely a spillover of sound from the pool deck, we heard the live music and sail-away party even through the closed door, but also understand it’s loud because it’s Day 1 and getting everybody wound up. It’s not so loud as to disturb a nap.
Bags weren’t at our room yet, we took another walk around the ship to explore the pool deck. We went up to Deck 15 and walked past the Beach Pool. We saw people swimming, and I dipped my hand in the water and it was WARM! It felt really good! Unfortunately it was still mid-50s and WINDY on the pool deck, so we weren’t swimming just yet. We showed the kids around Splashaway Bay, and got our first soft-serve cone of the trip. We walked back to the Flowriders and Ultimate Abyss, then back down to the rooms where our bags started appearing.
We did pass through the Windjammer, and it was swamped, as expected. I was also surprised to see half of it closed - what gives, on such a busy morning?
We got unpacked, met our stateroom attendant, and gave all the praise to whoever invented magnet hooks. Really, guys, if you don’t have two dozen magnet hooks when you cruise, you’re doing it wrong 😄 We got everything unpacked, and started getting ready for dinner. I realized I hadn’t made entertainment reservations yet, and when I tried to do it in the app again, all the early show times were conflicting with our dining times.
I called the Box Office, and tried to book Frozen in Time for 7pm on Day 2. Nope, fully booked. Ended up booking Day 6 at 8pm. Then I tried to book Aqua80 for 8:15pm on Day 3. Nope, fully booked. Actually, ALL of the 8:15pm shows were fully booked, which is really disappointing. Pro tip: Make your entertainment reservations BEFORE your dining reservations!
We head down to Chops, and our party of five is seated at a 6-top, which a bench for 3 and 3 chairs. Our party of four is seated at a 4-top, but all the kids want to sit with each other 😆. We end up squeezing all 9 of us into the 6-top, at the recommendation of the server. The 5 kids fit on the bench, and the 4 adults round the table with chairs.
Service seems…slow. Coming off of MDR on Anthem in December, the MDR staff had timing nailed for our 5-top. Here at Chops, the pacing was drawn out much longer. Not sure if it’s Night 1 turbulence, or just how Chops runs, but from the time we sat down to the time we got apps was 45 minutes, soups/salads at 65, and mains at 80 minutes. We got the shrimp cocktail and tuna tartare for apps, wedge salad and mushroom soup for second course. All were really, really good. I got a bone-in ribeye for the entree. It was cooked perfectly, but was a little tough - could have used more marbling. The staff coursed the kids mains between apps and soup/salad, which was a blessing because they were about to eat the tablecloths 😆. Unfortunately by the time we got our mains, the kids were fried. We ended up getting dessert to go, and took it back to the room.
After we got the kids to bed, I did my mandatory wander-throughout-the-ship. Started on the Boardwalk to catch the Ravens game, then up to the pool deck to grab some night photos. I’m surprised how quiet the pool deck gets even at 8:30pm: everything closed, except a few hot tubs (but were empty). Same with the Solarium. I decided to go all the way down to the casino and test my luck, coming out a little on top to start off the cruise on the right foot. I wandered over to Jazz on 4 where I wrote the rest of this live blog listening to a great quartet.
Initial observations: Oasis is a great ship - they really nailed the layout, distribution of activities, style, etc. I can’t speak for pre/post amplification, this being my first time here. Everything is immaculate, of course. I do feel more drawn to the elegant style of Anthem, but am excited to do more of the activities package on Oasis (water slides, dual flowriders, escape room, ultimate abyss, etc).
Thanks everyone, and I’ll see you tomorrow! Photos below (in reverse chronological order, not sure why)
 

Day 4 - CocoCay
I'm fried from today, so today's update is coming tomorrow. Here are some photos to hold you over 🙂 
             

Thank you! My planning strategy is to have a few "anchor events" (meals, family activities), with pockets of time in between to fill in during the cruise of spontaneous activities. Unfortunately, a lot of the activities we wanted to are being completely ignored by us because some other circumstance takes over, like an unplanned nap, or a show being full, or AO missing a reservation, etc. 
We have to big challenges on this trip: The first is making sure everyone's having a good time - I think I'm starting to hit my own personal limit of how to make sure a 6 year old, 4.5 year old, and 3 year old are having fun doing the same thing. All three have different, unique personalities that need nurturing in different ways, so finding an activity that makes all three happy has been a challenge. The second one is that our 3 year old has developed a skin rash of some kind. It's very mild, nobody else is presenting symptoms, and his demeanor hasn't changed other than a tiny bit of lethargy. We're thinking it's an allergic reaction to something on the sheets, but he's become a bit of an unknown variable. 

Day 4 - CocoCay
I'm fried from today, so today's update is coming tomorrow. Here are some photos to hold you over 🙂 
             

Day 3 Evening
After Boat School and nap time, we get everyone dressed and head down to Park Cafe for a snack before dinner. The Wife is not quite back from her spa appointment, so myself and the three kiddos head down to Central Park to burn some time before dinner. We grab a kummelweck (duh), some kiwis, and some chips, and enjoy the scenery and some snacks. The Wife and our other family joined us at 5:00pm, and we enjoyed Central Park for a few minutes before heading into Giovanni's for our dinner.
Giovanni's was the place I was least interested in visiting on UDP, but ended up being our favorite so far, simply because the atmosphere and waitstaff were so cool. All of the uptightness I felt for the past few days melted away, and our servers just made everything easy. It could also be because the kids are finally adapting to cruise life, but this was the first meal that felt easy. I'm gaining confidence in asking the waitstaff to make modifications to the kids selections that are more appropriate for our particular kids, and the staff has been amazing at accommodation.
For dinner, I went with the mussels for an appetizer, and the bucatini alla bolognese as the main. Both were really good. Apologies for the lack of photos. For dessert, I went with the chocolate torta and the cannolis. The torta was an amazing combination of flavors (probably amplified by the several glasses of Chianti). I can't praise the waitstaff at Giovanni's enough - they handled our kids like pros. One of the chefs even came out and chatted with us for 10 minutes, really engaging us and the kids in conversation.
Pro tip to any RC staff: any amount of engagement with our kids makes us parents happy. The more you engage our kids, the more loyal we are to RC. This includes housekeeping staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. Chat with our kids, make our kids laugh, and you've got us hooked.
After Giovanni's, the wife and her BFF headed out for a "night on the town", and us dads hung back with the kids. We headed to the Boardwalk and hit up the carousel for a few rides, before calling it a night and heading back to bed.
Sorry i haven't taken more photos today, I will try harder over the next few days.
 
Random Thoughts:
Day 2 felt really stressful as everyone adapted to cruise life for the week. Personally, i'm an over-planner: A project manager at heart, I have to make sure everyone is happy. The first 36 hours on the ship was all I had to go on, and it was a bit rough. However, going into Day 3 evening, everything started to relax and it felt like we finally "took a breath". The kids are finally starting to adapt to ship life. The late night live instrumental music in Central Park is just wonderful. Central Park really reminds me of The Via on Anthem of the Seas - a quiet, serene place to relax. I think I prefer Anthem because its indoors, but Central Park is so well curated and designed, it has to be acknowledged how perfect of a space it is. I'm glad they're doing something similar on Icon of the Seas I've only now just noticed there's no giant TV/big screen near the pool deck on Oasis. On @Matt's Wonder of the Seas walkthrough, I recall there being a TV overhanging Central Park that's visible from Central Park as well as the aft part of the pool deck, but nothing like that exists for Oasis. I wonder why, it's such a typical staple of RC ships! The number of Genie sightings is high! Thanks to all you wonderful Star Class cruisers, the Genie wardrobe is so easy to pick out, and i'm pretty sure i've spotted three of the four Genies on Oasis. Two of them were facilitating their guests dining experience at Giovanni's. While waiting for their guests, I mentioned how awesome they are at their job (from what i've heard from other cruisers here), and we chatted for a bit about their love of the job. I didn't get any names, but rest assured, if you're cruising Star Class on Oasis any time soon, you're in good hands. Late-night Sorrento's pizza can't be beat.  We just left cellular range of Port Canaveral, and Wifi is misbehaving, so no photos in this post. Sorry!
 

Day 3 Evening
After Boat School and nap time, we get everyone dressed and head down to Park Cafe for a snack before dinner. The Wife is not quite back from her spa appointment, so myself and the three kiddos head down to Central Park to burn some time before dinner. We grab a kummelweck (duh), some kiwis, and some chips, and enjoy the scenery and some snacks. The Wife and our other family joined us at 5:00pm, and we enjoyed Central Park for a few minutes before heading into Giovanni's for our dinner.
Giovanni's was the place I was least interested in visiting on UDP, but ended up being our favorite so far, simply because the atmosphere and waitstaff were so cool. All of the uptightness I felt for the past few days melted away, and our servers just made everything easy. It could also be because the kids are finally adapting to cruise life, but this was the first meal that felt easy. I'm gaining confidence in asking the waitstaff to make modifications to the kids selections that are more appropriate for our particular kids, and the staff has been amazing at accommodation.
For dinner, I went with the mussels for an appetizer, and the bucatini alla bolognese as the main. Both were really good. Apologies for the lack of photos. For dessert, I went with the chocolate torta and the cannolis. The torta was an amazing combination of flavors (probably amplified by the several glasses of Chianti). I can't praise the waitstaff at Giovanni's enough - they handled our kids like pros. One of the chefs even came out and chatted with us for 10 minutes, really engaging us and the kids in conversation.
Pro tip to any RC staff: any amount of engagement with our kids makes us parents happy. The more you engage our kids, the more loyal we are to RC. This includes housekeeping staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. Chat with our kids, make our kids laugh, and you've got us hooked.
After Giovanni's, the wife and her BFF headed out for a "night on the town", and us dads hung back with the kids. We headed to the Boardwalk and hit up the carousel for a few rides, before calling it a night and heading back to bed.
Sorry i haven't taken more photos today, I will try harder over the next few days.
 
Random Thoughts:
Day 2 felt really stressful as everyone adapted to cruise life for the week. Personally, i'm an over-planner: A project manager at heart, I have to make sure everyone is happy. The first 36 hours on the ship was all I had to go on, and it was a bit rough. However, going into Day 3 evening, everything started to relax and it felt like we finally "took a breath". The kids are finally starting to adapt to ship life. The late night live instrumental music in Central Park is just wonderful. Central Park really reminds me of The Via on Anthem of the Seas - a quiet, serene place to relax. I think I prefer Anthem because its indoors, but Central Park is so well curated and designed, it has to be acknowledged how perfect of a space it is. I'm glad they're doing something similar on Icon of the Seas I've only now just noticed there's no giant TV/big screen near the pool deck on Oasis. On @Matt's Wonder of the Seas walkthrough, I recall there being a TV overhanging Central Park that's visible from Central Park as well as the aft part of the pool deck, but nothing like that exists for Oasis. I wonder why, it's such a typical staple of RC ships! The number of Genie sightings is high! Thanks to all you wonderful Star Class cruisers, the Genie wardrobe is so easy to pick out, and i'm pretty sure i've spotted three of the four Genies on Oasis. Two of them were facilitating their guests dining experience at Giovanni's. While waiting for their guests, I mentioned how awesome they are at their job (from what i've heard from other cruisers here), and we chatted for a bit about their love of the job. I didn't get any names, but rest assured, if you're cruising Star Class on Oasis any time soon, you're in good hands. Late-night Sorrento's pizza can't be beat.  We just left cellular range of Port Canaveral, and Wifi is misbehaving, so no photos in this post. Sorry!
 

Day 3 Morning
Everyone slept in a little later today, and got up around 6:30am. Dressed and out the door, we headed back to the Windjammer as it was the only real place open (Solarium Bistro is 9am, MDR is 8am, Johnny Rockets is 8am). There's always Park Cafe, but the consistency of Windjammer is what's getting the kids to eat. We got some food in them, and headed back down to mini golf to burn some time before 9am drop-off at AO. Our youngest is in AO Babies (the nursery), and they only let in one family at a time. Unfortunately this creates a bottleneck of parents trying to drop off toddlers. One of the families was in for over 20 minutes, and really ate into our reservation time. It would have been nice to have a second person checking in families right at opening time. 
This morning, I vowed to do all of the adult stuff I can't do with kids attached. Bathing suit donned, I headed to Deck 15 Aft.
Ultimate Abyss: Super cool, a little slow, but I realized I have to lay waaaaaay back and pull waaaaay up on the front strap to gain speed. Gonna try that one again.  Racing Slide (Orange): I swear I launched myself down this slide, only to end up going sooo slow. I was wearing a rash guard, not thinking it would be causing more friction. Maybe try that again another time.  Supercell (The toilet bowl): What a drop at the top! Tore up my back a little bit, but spun around the bowl twice before dropping in to the landing zone. Definitely another try! Racing Slide (Pink): I ditched the rash guard for this one, launched myself down the slide, and FLEW through. Definitely ditching the rash guard going forward! Flowrider (boogie board side): I have never done this, but I have boogie boarded in the ocean. The concepts are the same, but staying centered all around is harder than it looks. I kept racing forward, then sliding back to the top of the ramp, then racing forward again. I ended up digging in my feet to control my forward/back movement. Wiped out a few times, but felt like I had better idea for the next time.  The line for the water slides takes you to one of the highest points on the ship, where this morning we were coming up on the Space Coast. The VAB was immediately visible, as well as SpaceX's SLC-40 (which I mistook for LC39-A at first). As we got closer to port and I got re-oriented, I found ULA's SLC-41, re-found SLC-40, and in the distance found SLC-39A and SpaceX's new launch tower. Pretty cool for a space nerd. As we also got into port, 
With all of those items checked off, I headed back to AO for pickup. After pickup, we headed to El Loco Fresh and Portside BBQ for lunch. Half of us went to each, and met up at the tables behind facing Oasis Dunes. It was at this time that there was a ship wide announcement that, due to a water pipe burst, there was no running water throughout the ship. 
Oops. 
We got our food, and I have to say that Portside compares favorably to Mission BBQ for those on the eastern side of the US. Good tenderness on the brisket, the chicken is moist, and the sides are all good. The burnt ends are fantastic. 
The kids are still adapting and getting punchy, and some of the grownups have spa appointments, so we divide and conquer. Our middle child is super sleepy, so we take her and our other family's youngest back to nap, while the other three go to Splashaway Bay. Word on the street is they had a BLAST! Mid-afternoon, we do a shuffle for spa appointments, and I take two to do some quiet tablet time while the oldest do some boat school. Tonight is Giovanni's Table for dinner. 
Random Thoughts:
No sign of Starlink antennas anywhere on the top of the ship. I've walked the length twice, and can't find anything looking like a Starlink antenna as shown on the other ships.  No idea on headcount yet, but it's gotta be close to max capacity.  AO Babies (the nursery) is fully booked on Day 6 and Day 7, so we've got the littles all day. The nursery said we can check-in a little after opening, and if there are no-shows, we can drop them off. Unfortunately we had the Escape Room booked for Day 6 morning, so we're going to play that one by ear.  I'm a bit disappointed at some capacity caps. Specialty restaurants are understandable, but when it comes to entertainment, I feel like there should never be a circumstance that all of the shows are fully booked. We've been struggling since Day 1 to get Frozen in Time and Aqua80s booked, and the app just kicks us out of the reso process saying there's a problem. When I call the Reservation Help Desk, they tell us "Oh, those shows are full." Or "The only one with space left is the last day at 10:30pm". I'm bummed that the kids won't be able to experience both of these shows. I'm not sure how to resolve this, other than opening reservations the morning of?  Starting to feel the fatigue of being on the Oasis class, and completely understand the draw of the smaller ships. Everything here is a hike. On the other hand, I'm also very grateful at the opportunities I have here that don't exist on Vision/Radiance-class.  Trying to remember to take photos. I love the liveblogs chock-full of photos, and I have a bunch, but most are family photos I'm not comfortable putting online, and I don't want to duplicate photos that are already out there. Any requests? In the meantime, here are more food photos 😄

I have to get better about taking notes in the moment...
Day 2 Evening
It's taken me a while, but I'm finally realizing that while kids are pretty adaptable, tossing them into a new environment really throws them off. Everyone's bit groggy, over-stimulated, being pulled in different directions. Putting myself in their shoes, I can imagine it's hard to adapt when you're still learning the concepts of planning, strategy, where are we going to eat next, etc. The parents always figure that stuff out, but it may not be what you (as a kid) want. Our youngest (M3) came out of Adventure Ocean in a great mood, but by the time we got to lunch, he was really cranky. We first chalked it up to tiredness, but his crankiness read a little differently. We decided to bring him back to the room to nap while the older two did "boat school" (some school lessons while on vacation). I stayed back and monitored nap time while writing yesterday's Day 2 Morning post. He slept most of the afternoon, and the girls came back from the pool to change for dinner right around the time he woke up. 
We all changed for dinner, and went to 150 Central Park. What a classy place 🙂 They had our table for 9 ready, a 5-top and a 4-top, but similar to Chops, we put all the kids on the bench and wrapped four chairs around the other side and turned the 5-top into a 9-top. The servers adapted perfectly, and were fantastic. I ordered the garden martini, and it was sooo good. Super smooth, no taste of alcohol (but it was there!). All of the food was great - the wife got the scallops and the Tenderloin for one, I got the pork belly and the lobster Thermidor. The pork belly was a little tough, but had a great flavor. The scallops were smoky and wonderful. I'm a sucker for lobster, and the lobster Thermidor was a great hit. Then came dessert. 
You guys, the fried cheesecake is everything. All the reviews are true. It's unreal how good this dessert is. It's the fried sweetness of funnel cake, with the creaminess of cheesecake. I'm 100% going back again sometime this cruise to get it again, somehow. The caramel popcorn on top is a great garnish.
After wrapping up at 150CP, we headed over to the carousel to give the kids a few rides before heading off to bed. 
 
Insert record scratch here
 
 
We're coming to realize that, while dinner with our three kids is one thing, dinner with five kids (our three, plus two from the other family cruising with us) is a whole other beast. So many more dynamics to wrangle, while trying to teach good manners in a "fancy restaurant" and not bum-rush the cocktail cart. The youngest was also in rare form at dinner, both refusing to eat and saying he was hungry. I wrangled him and took him down to Cafe Promenade where we got him two apples, and he completely changed and turned back into a happy, bouncing boy. Kids are weird. Add to this that we've eaten at four different restaurants in two days (Playmakers, Chops, Izumi, and now 150CP), we're desperately missing the consistency of MDR. We LOVE the specialty restaurants, and want our kids to have these experiences too. We did MDR last cruise, and know the menus, know the food, and wanted to branch out and try ALL the specialty dining on Oasis, but the lack of routine is taking its toll on the kids. When we were on Anthem, it was a Windjammer lunch and MDR dinner every night and the kids thrived at that routine, and so did the MDR staff, getting to know our family and our needs.
After some discussion and sleeping on it, we may see if we can shimmy our way into a 5:30pm MDR seating for dinner starting Day 4. We want the kids to have a great time too, and if they're fried from the lack of routine, it kinda makes us all miserable. Happy kids, happy parents, happy vacation.
 
  
 
 
 

Day 3 Evening
After Boat School and nap time, we get everyone dressed and head down to Park Cafe for a snack before dinner. The Wife is not quite back from her spa appointment, so myself and the three kiddos head down to Central Park to burn some time before dinner. We grab a kummelweck (duh), some kiwis, and some chips, and enjoy the scenery and some snacks. The Wife and our other family joined us at 5:00pm, and we enjoyed Central Park for a few minutes before heading into Giovanni's for our dinner.
Giovanni's was the place I was least interested in visiting on UDP, but ended up being our favorite so far, simply because the atmosphere and waitstaff were so cool. All of the uptightness I felt for the past few days melted away, and our servers just made everything easy. It could also be because the kids are finally adapting to cruise life, but this was the first meal that felt easy. I'm gaining confidence in asking the waitstaff to make modifications to the kids selections that are more appropriate for our particular kids, and the staff has been amazing at accommodation.
For dinner, I went with the mussels for an appetizer, and the bucatini alla bolognese as the main. Both were really good. Apologies for the lack of photos. For dessert, I went with the chocolate torta and the cannolis. The torta was an amazing combination of flavors (probably amplified by the several glasses of Chianti). I can't praise the waitstaff at Giovanni's enough - they handled our kids like pros. One of the chefs even came out and chatted with us for 10 minutes, really engaging us and the kids in conversation.
Pro tip to any RC staff: any amount of engagement with our kids makes us parents happy. The more you engage our kids, the more loyal we are to RC. This includes housekeeping staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. Chat with our kids, make our kids laugh, and you've got us hooked.
After Giovanni's, the wife and her BFF headed out for a "night on the town", and us dads hung back with the kids. We headed to the Boardwalk and hit up the carousel for a few rides, before calling it a night and heading back to bed.
Sorry i haven't taken more photos today, I will try harder over the next few days.
 
Random Thoughts:
Day 2 felt really stressful as everyone adapted to cruise life for the week. Personally, i'm an over-planner: A project manager at heart, I have to make sure everyone is happy. The first 36 hours on the ship was all I had to go on, and it was a bit rough. However, going into Day 3 evening, everything started to relax and it felt like we finally "took a breath". The kids are finally starting to adapt to ship life. The late night live instrumental music in Central Park is just wonderful. Central Park really reminds me of The Via on Anthem of the Seas - a quiet, serene place to relax. I think I prefer Anthem because its indoors, but Central Park is so well curated and designed, it has to be acknowledged how perfect of a space it is. I'm glad they're doing something similar on Icon of the Seas I've only now just noticed there's no giant TV/big screen near the pool deck on Oasis. On @Matt's Wonder of the Seas walkthrough, I recall there being a TV overhanging Central Park that's visible from Central Park as well as the aft part of the pool deck, but nothing like that exists for Oasis. I wonder why, it's such a typical staple of RC ships! The number of Genie sightings is high! Thanks to all you wonderful Star Class cruisers, the Genie wardrobe is so easy to pick out, and i'm pretty sure i've spotted three of the four Genies on Oasis. Two of them were facilitating their guests dining experience at Giovanni's. While waiting for their guests, I mentioned how awesome they are at their job (from what i've heard from other cruisers here), and we chatted for a bit about their love of the job. I didn't get any names, but rest assured, if you're cruising Star Class on Oasis any time soon, you're in good hands. Late-night Sorrento's pizza can't be beat.  We just left cellular range of Port Canaveral, and Wifi is misbehaving, so no photos in this post. Sorry!
 

Day 3 Evening
After Boat School and nap time, we get everyone dressed and head down to Park Cafe for a snack before dinner. The Wife is not quite back from her spa appointment, so myself and the three kiddos head down to Central Park to burn some time before dinner. We grab a kummelweck (duh), some kiwis, and some chips, and enjoy the scenery and some snacks. The Wife and our other family joined us at 5:00pm, and we enjoyed Central Park for a few minutes before heading into Giovanni's for our dinner.
Giovanni's was the place I was least interested in visiting on UDP, but ended up being our favorite so far, simply because the atmosphere and waitstaff were so cool. All of the uptightness I felt for the past few days melted away, and our servers just made everything easy. It could also be because the kids are finally adapting to cruise life, but this was the first meal that felt easy. I'm gaining confidence in asking the waitstaff to make modifications to the kids selections that are more appropriate for our particular kids, and the staff has been amazing at accommodation.
For dinner, I went with the mussels for an appetizer, and the bucatini alla bolognese as the main. Both were really good. Apologies for the lack of photos. For dessert, I went with the chocolate torta and the cannolis. The torta was an amazing combination of flavors (probably amplified by the several glasses of Chianti). I can't praise the waitstaff at Giovanni's enough - they handled our kids like pros. One of the chefs even came out and chatted with us for 10 minutes, really engaging us and the kids in conversation.
Pro tip to any RC staff: any amount of engagement with our kids makes us parents happy. The more you engage our kids, the more loyal we are to RC. This includes housekeeping staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. Chat with our kids, make our kids laugh, and you've got us hooked.
After Giovanni's, the wife and her BFF headed out for a "night on the town", and us dads hung back with the kids. We headed to the Boardwalk and hit up the carousel for a few rides, before calling it a night and heading back to bed.
Sorry i haven't taken more photos today, I will try harder over the next few days.
 
Random Thoughts:
Day 2 felt really stressful as everyone adapted to cruise life for the week. Personally, i'm an over-planner: A project manager at heart, I have to make sure everyone is happy. The first 36 hours on the ship was all I had to go on, and it was a bit rough. However, going into Day 3 evening, everything started to relax and it felt like we finally "took a breath". The kids are finally starting to adapt to ship life. The late night live instrumental music in Central Park is just wonderful. Central Park really reminds me of The Via on Anthem of the Seas - a quiet, serene place to relax. I think I prefer Anthem because its indoors, but Central Park is so well curated and designed, it has to be acknowledged how perfect of a space it is. I'm glad they're doing something similar on Icon of the Seas I've only now just noticed there's no giant TV/big screen near the pool deck on Oasis. On @Matt's Wonder of the Seas walkthrough, I recall there being a TV overhanging Central Park that's visible from Central Park as well as the aft part of the pool deck, but nothing like that exists for Oasis. I wonder why, it's such a typical staple of RC ships! The number of Genie sightings is high! Thanks to all you wonderful Star Class cruisers, the Genie wardrobe is so easy to pick out, and i'm pretty sure i've spotted three of the four Genies on Oasis. Two of them were facilitating their guests dining experience at Giovanni's. While waiting for their guests, I mentioned how awesome they are at their job (from what i've heard from other cruisers here), and we chatted for a bit about their love of the job. I didn't get any names, but rest assured, if you're cruising Star Class on Oasis any time soon, you're in good hands. Late-night Sorrento's pizza can't be beat.  We just left cellular range of Port Canaveral, and Wifi is misbehaving, so no photos in this post. Sorry!
 

Day 3 Evening
After Boat School and nap time, we get everyone dressed and head down to Park Cafe for a snack before dinner. The Wife is not quite back from her spa appointment, so myself and the three kiddos head down to Central Park to burn some time before dinner. We grab a kummelweck (duh), some kiwis, and some chips, and enjoy the scenery and some snacks. The Wife and our other family joined us at 5:00pm, and we enjoyed Central Park for a few minutes before heading into Giovanni's for our dinner.
Giovanni's was the place I was least interested in visiting on UDP, but ended up being our favorite so far, simply because the atmosphere and waitstaff were so cool. All of the uptightness I felt for the past few days melted away, and our servers just made everything easy. It could also be because the kids are finally adapting to cruise life, but this was the first meal that felt easy. I'm gaining confidence in asking the waitstaff to make modifications to the kids selections that are more appropriate for our particular kids, and the staff has been amazing at accommodation.
For dinner, I went with the mussels for an appetizer, and the bucatini alla bolognese as the main. Both were really good. Apologies for the lack of photos. For dessert, I went with the chocolate torta and the cannolis. The torta was an amazing combination of flavors (probably amplified by the several glasses of Chianti). I can't praise the waitstaff at Giovanni's enough - they handled our kids like pros. One of the chefs even came out and chatted with us for 10 minutes, really engaging us and the kids in conversation.
Pro tip to any RC staff: any amount of engagement with our kids makes us parents happy. The more you engage our kids, the more loyal we are to RC. This includes housekeeping staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. Chat with our kids, make our kids laugh, and you've got us hooked.
After Giovanni's, the wife and her BFF headed out for a "night on the town", and us dads hung back with the kids. We headed to the Boardwalk and hit up the carousel for a few rides, before calling it a night and heading back to bed.
Sorry i haven't taken more photos today, I will try harder over the next few days.
 
Random Thoughts:
Day 2 felt really stressful as everyone adapted to cruise life for the week. Personally, i'm an over-planner: A project manager at heart, I have to make sure everyone is happy. The first 36 hours on the ship was all I had to go on, and it was a bit rough. However, going into Day 3 evening, everything started to relax and it felt like we finally "took a breath". The kids are finally starting to adapt to ship life. The late night live instrumental music in Central Park is just wonderful. Central Park really reminds me of The Via on Anthem of the Seas - a quiet, serene place to relax. I think I prefer Anthem because its indoors, but Central Park is so well curated and designed, it has to be acknowledged how perfect of a space it is. I'm glad they're doing something similar on Icon of the Seas I've only now just noticed there's no giant TV/big screen near the pool deck on Oasis. On @Matt's Wonder of the Seas walkthrough, I recall there being a TV overhanging Central Park that's visible from Central Park as well as the aft part of the pool deck, but nothing like that exists for Oasis. I wonder why, it's such a typical staple of RC ships! The number of Genie sightings is high! Thanks to all you wonderful Star Class cruisers, the Genie wardrobe is so easy to pick out, and i'm pretty sure i've spotted three of the four Genies on Oasis. Two of them were facilitating their guests dining experience at Giovanni's. While waiting for their guests, I mentioned how awesome they are at their job (from what i've heard from other cruisers here), and we chatted for a bit about their love of the job. I didn't get any names, but rest assured, if you're cruising Star Class on Oasis any time soon, you're in good hands. Late-night Sorrento's pizza can't be beat.  We just left cellular range of Port Canaveral, and Wifi is misbehaving, so no photos in this post. Sorry!
 

Day 3 Morning
Everyone slept in a little later today, and got up around 6:30am. Dressed and out the door, we headed back to the Windjammer as it was the only real place open (Solarium Bistro is 9am, MDR is 8am, Johnny Rockets is 8am). There's always Park Cafe, but the consistency of Windjammer is what's getting the kids to eat. We got some food in them, and headed back down to mini golf to burn some time before 9am drop-off at AO. Our youngest is in AO Babies (the nursery), and they only let in one family at a time. Unfortunately this creates a bottleneck of parents trying to drop off toddlers. One of the families was in for over 20 minutes, and really ate into our reservation time. It would have been nice to have a second person checking in families right at opening time. 
This morning, I vowed to do all of the adult stuff I can't do with kids attached. Bathing suit donned, I headed to Deck 15 Aft.
Ultimate Abyss: Super cool, a little slow, but I realized I have to lay waaaaaay back and pull waaaaay up on the front strap to gain speed. Gonna try that one again.  Racing Slide (Orange): I swear I launched myself down this slide, only to end up going sooo slow. I was wearing a rash guard, not thinking it would be causing more friction. Maybe try that again another time.  Supercell (The toilet bowl): What a drop at the top! Tore up my back a little bit, but spun around the bowl twice before dropping in to the landing zone. Definitely another try! Racing Slide (Pink): I ditched the rash guard for this one, launched myself down the slide, and FLEW through. Definitely ditching the rash guard going forward! Flowrider (boogie board side): I have never done this, but I have boogie boarded in the ocean. The concepts are the same, but staying centered all around is harder than it looks. I kept racing forward, then sliding back to the top of the ramp, then racing forward again. I ended up digging in my feet to control my forward/back movement. Wiped out a few times, but felt like I had better idea for the next time.  The line for the water slides takes you to one of the highest points on the ship, where this morning we were coming up on the Space Coast. The VAB was immediately visible, as well as SpaceX's SLC-40 (which I mistook for LC39-A at first). As we got closer to port and I got re-oriented, I found ULA's SLC-41, re-found SLC-40, and in the distance found SLC-39A and SpaceX's new launch tower. Pretty cool for a space nerd. As we also got into port, 
With all of those items checked off, I headed back to AO for pickup. After pickup, we headed to El Loco Fresh and Portside BBQ for lunch. Half of us went to each, and met up at the tables behind facing Oasis Dunes. It was at this time that there was a ship wide announcement that, due to a water pipe burst, there was no running water throughout the ship. 
Oops. 
We got our food, and I have to say that Portside compares favorably to Mission BBQ for those on the eastern side of the US. Good tenderness on the brisket, the chicken is moist, and the sides are all good. The burnt ends are fantastic. 
The kids are still adapting and getting punchy, and some of the grownups have spa appointments, so we divide and conquer. Our middle child is super sleepy, so we take her and our other family's youngest back to nap, while the other three go to Splashaway Bay. Word on the street is they had a BLAST! Mid-afternoon, we do a shuffle for spa appointments, and I take two to do some quiet tablet time while the oldest do some boat school. Tonight is Giovanni's Table for dinner. 
Random Thoughts:
No sign of Starlink antennas anywhere on the top of the ship. I've walked the length twice, and can't find anything looking like a Starlink antenna as shown on the other ships.  No idea on headcount yet, but it's gotta be close to max capacity.  AO Babies (the nursery) is fully booked on Day 6 and Day 7, so we've got the littles all day. The nursery said we can check-in a little after opening, and if there are no-shows, we can drop them off. Unfortunately we had the Escape Room booked for Day 6 morning, so we're going to play that one by ear.  I'm a bit disappointed at some capacity caps. Specialty restaurants are understandable, but when it comes to entertainment, I feel like there should never be a circumstance that all of the shows are fully booked. We've been struggling since Day 1 to get Frozen in Time and Aqua80s booked, and the app just kicks us out of the reso process saying there's a problem. When I call the Reservation Help Desk, they tell us "Oh, those shows are full." Or "The only one with space left is the last day at 10:30pm". I'm bummed that the kids won't be able to experience both of these shows. I'm not sure how to resolve this, other than opening reservations the morning of?  Starting to feel the fatigue of being on the Oasis class, and completely understand the draw of the smaller ships. Everything here is a hike. On the other hand, I'm also very grateful at the opportunities I have here that don't exist on Vision/Radiance-class.  Trying to remember to take photos. I love the liveblogs chock-full of photos, and I have a bunch, but most are family photos I'm not comfortable putting online, and I don't want to duplicate photos that are already out there. Any requests? In the meantime, here are more food photos 😄

Day 3 Morning
Everyone slept in a little later today, and got up around 6:30am. Dressed and out the door, we headed back to the Windjammer as it was the only real place open (Solarium Bistro is 9am, MDR is 8am, Johnny Rockets is 8am). There's always Park Cafe, but the consistency of Windjammer is what's getting the kids to eat. We got some food in them, and headed back down to mini golf to burn some time before 9am drop-off at AO. Our youngest is in AO Babies (the nursery), and they only let in one family at a time. Unfortunately this creates a bottleneck of parents trying to drop off toddlers. One of the families was in for over 20 minutes, and really ate into our reservation time. It would have been nice to have a second person checking in families right at opening time. 
This morning, I vowed to do all of the adult stuff I can't do with kids attached. Bathing suit donned, I headed to Deck 15 Aft.
Ultimate Abyss: Super cool, a little slow, but I realized I have to lay waaaaaay back and pull waaaaay up on the front strap to gain speed. Gonna try that one again.  Racing Slide (Orange): I swear I launched myself down this slide, only to end up going sooo slow. I was wearing a rash guard, not thinking it would be causing more friction. Maybe try that again another time.  Supercell (The toilet bowl): What a drop at the top! Tore up my back a little bit, but spun around the bowl twice before dropping in to the landing zone. Definitely another try! Racing Slide (Pink): I ditched the rash guard for this one, launched myself down the slide, and FLEW through. Definitely ditching the rash guard going forward! Flowrider (boogie board side): I have never done this, but I have boogie boarded in the ocean. The concepts are the same, but staying centered all around is harder than it looks. I kept racing forward, then sliding back to the top of the ramp, then racing forward again. I ended up digging in my feet to control my forward/back movement. Wiped out a few times, but felt like I had better idea for the next time.  The line for the water slides takes you to one of the highest points on the ship, where this morning we were coming up on the Space Coast. The VAB was immediately visible, as well as SpaceX's SLC-40 (which I mistook for LC39-A at first). As we got closer to port and I got re-oriented, I found ULA's SLC-41, re-found SLC-40, and in the distance found SLC-39A and SpaceX's new launch tower. Pretty cool for a space nerd. As we also got into port, 
With all of those items checked off, I headed back to AO for pickup. After pickup, we headed to El Loco Fresh and Portside BBQ for lunch. Half of us went to each, and met up at the tables behind facing Oasis Dunes. It was at this time that there was a ship wide announcement that, due to a water pipe burst, there was no running water throughout the ship. 
Oops. 
We got our food, and I have to say that Portside compares favorably to Mission BBQ for those on the eastern side of the US. Good tenderness on the brisket, the chicken is moist, and the sides are all good. The burnt ends are fantastic. 
The kids are still adapting and getting punchy, and some of the grownups have spa appointments, so we divide and conquer. Our middle child is super sleepy, so we take her and our other family's youngest back to nap, while the other three go to Splashaway Bay. Word on the street is they had a BLAST! Mid-afternoon, we do a shuffle for spa appointments, and I take two to do some quiet tablet time while the oldest do some boat school. Tonight is Giovanni's Table for dinner. 
Random Thoughts:
No sign of Starlink antennas anywhere on the top of the ship. I've walked the length twice, and can't find anything looking like a Starlink antenna as shown on the other ships.  No idea on headcount yet, but it's gotta be close to max capacity.  AO Babies (the nursery) is fully booked on Day 6 and Day 7, so we've got the littles all day. The nursery said we can check-in a little after opening, and if there are no-shows, we can drop them off. Unfortunately we had the Escape Room booked for Day 6 morning, so we're going to play that one by ear.  I'm a bit disappointed at some capacity caps. Specialty restaurants are understandable, but when it comes to entertainment, I feel like there should never be a circumstance that all of the shows are fully booked. We've been struggling since Day 1 to get Frozen in Time and Aqua80s booked, and the app just kicks us out of the reso process saying there's a problem. When I call the Reservation Help Desk, they tell us "Oh, those shows are full." Or "The only one with space left is the last day at 10:30pm". I'm bummed that the kids won't be able to experience both of these shows. I'm not sure how to resolve this, other than opening reservations the morning of?  Starting to feel the fatigue of being on the Oasis class, and completely understand the draw of the smaller ships. Everything here is a hike. On the other hand, I'm also very grateful at the opportunities I have here that don't exist on Vision/Radiance-class.  Trying to remember to take photos. I love the liveblogs chock-full of photos, and I have a bunch, but most are family photos I'm not comfortable putting online, and I don't want to duplicate photos that are already out there. Any requests? In the meantime, here are more food photos 😄

Day 3 Evening
After Boat School and nap time, we get everyone dressed and head down to Park Cafe for a snack before dinner. The Wife is not quite back from her spa appointment, so myself and the three kiddos head down to Central Park to burn some time before dinner. We grab a kummelweck (duh), some kiwis, and some chips, and enjoy the scenery and some snacks. The Wife and our other family joined us at 5:00pm, and we enjoyed Central Park for a few minutes before heading into Giovanni's for our dinner.
Giovanni's was the place I was least interested in visiting on UDP, but ended up being our favorite so far, simply because the atmosphere and waitstaff were so cool. All of the uptightness I felt for the past few days melted away, and our servers just made everything easy. It could also be because the kids are finally adapting to cruise life, but this was the first meal that felt easy. I'm gaining confidence in asking the waitstaff to make modifications to the kids selections that are more appropriate for our particular kids, and the staff has been amazing at accommodation.
For dinner, I went with the mussels for an appetizer, and the bucatini alla bolognese as the main. Both were really good. Apologies for the lack of photos. For dessert, I went with the chocolate torta and the cannolis. The torta was an amazing combination of flavors (probably amplified by the several glasses of Chianti). I can't praise the waitstaff at Giovanni's enough - they handled our kids like pros. One of the chefs even came out and chatted with us for 10 minutes, really engaging us and the kids in conversation.
Pro tip to any RC staff: any amount of engagement with our kids makes us parents happy. The more you engage our kids, the more loyal we are to RC. This includes housekeeping staff, bar staff, wait staff, etc. Chat with our kids, make our kids laugh, and you've got us hooked.
After Giovanni's, the wife and her BFF headed out for a "night on the town", and us dads hung back with the kids. We headed to the Boardwalk and hit up the carousel for a few rides, before calling it a night and heading back to bed.
Sorry i haven't taken more photos today, I will try harder over the next few days.
 
Random Thoughts:
Day 2 felt really stressful as everyone adapted to cruise life for the week. Personally, i'm an over-planner: A project manager at heart, I have to make sure everyone is happy. The first 36 hours on the ship was all I had to go on, and it was a bit rough. However, going into Day 3 evening, everything started to relax and it felt like we finally "took a breath". The kids are finally starting to adapt to ship life. The late night live instrumental music in Central Park is just wonderful. Central Park really reminds me of The Via on Anthem of the Seas - a quiet, serene place to relax. I think I prefer Anthem because its indoors, but Central Park is so well curated and designed, it has to be acknowledged how perfect of a space it is. I'm glad they're doing something similar on Icon of the Seas I've only now just noticed there's no giant TV/big screen near the pool deck on Oasis. On @Matt's Wonder of the Seas walkthrough, I recall there being a TV overhanging Central Park that's visible from Central Park as well as the aft part of the pool deck, but nothing like that exists for Oasis. I wonder why, it's such a typical staple of RC ships! The number of Genie sightings is high! Thanks to all you wonderful Star Class cruisers, the Genie wardrobe is so easy to pick out, and i'm pretty sure i've spotted three of the four Genies on Oasis. Two of them were facilitating their guests dining experience at Giovanni's. While waiting for their guests, I mentioned how awesome they are at their job (from what i've heard from other cruisers here), and we chatted for a bit about their love of the job. I didn't get any names, but rest assured, if you're cruising Star Class on Oasis any time soon, you're in good hands. Late-night Sorrento's pizza can't be beat.  We just left cellular range of Port Canaveral, and Wifi is misbehaving, so no photos in this post. Sorry!
 

Day 3 Morning
Everyone slept in a little later today, and got up around 6:30am. Dressed and out the door, we headed back to the Windjammer as it was the only real place open (Solarium Bistro is 9am, MDR is 8am, Johnny Rockets is 8am). There's always Park Cafe, but the consistency of Windjammer is what's getting the kids to eat. We got some food in them, and headed back down to mini golf to burn some time before 9am drop-off at AO. Our youngest is in AO Babies (the nursery), and they only let in one family at a time. Unfortunately this creates a bottleneck of parents trying to drop off toddlers. One of the families was in for over 20 minutes, and really ate into our reservation time. It would have been nice to have a second person checking in families right at opening time. 
This morning, I vowed to do all of the adult stuff I can't do with kids attached. Bathing suit donned, I headed to Deck 15 Aft.
Ultimate Abyss: Super cool, a little slow, but I realized I have to lay waaaaaay back and pull waaaaay up on the front strap to gain speed. Gonna try that one again.  Racing Slide (Orange): I swear I launched myself down this slide, only to end up going sooo slow. I was wearing a rash guard, not thinking it would be causing more friction. Maybe try that again another time.  Supercell (The toilet bowl): What a drop at the top! Tore up my back a little bit, but spun around the bowl twice before dropping in to the landing zone. Definitely another try! Racing Slide (Pink): I ditched the rash guard for this one, launched myself down the slide, and FLEW through. Definitely ditching the rash guard going forward! Flowrider (boogie board side): I have never done this, but I have boogie boarded in the ocean. The concepts are the same, but staying centered all around is harder than it looks. I kept racing forward, then sliding back to the top of the ramp, then racing forward again. I ended up digging in my feet to control my forward/back movement. Wiped out a few times, but felt like I had better idea for the next time.  The line for the water slides takes you to one of the highest points on the ship, where this morning we were coming up on the Space Coast. The VAB was immediately visible, as well as SpaceX's SLC-40 (which I mistook for LC39-A at first). As we got closer to port and I got re-oriented, I found ULA's SLC-41, re-found SLC-40, and in the distance found SLC-39A and SpaceX's new launch tower. Pretty cool for a space nerd. As we also got into port, 
With all of those items checked off, I headed back to AO for pickup. After pickup, we headed to El Loco Fresh and Portside BBQ for lunch. Half of us went to each, and met up at the tables behind facing Oasis Dunes. It was at this time that there was a ship wide announcement that, due to a water pipe burst, there was no running water throughout the ship. 
Oops. 
We got our food, and I have to say that Portside compares favorably to Mission BBQ for those on the eastern side of the US. Good tenderness on the brisket, the chicken is moist, and the sides are all good. The burnt ends are fantastic. 
The kids are still adapting and getting punchy, and some of the grownups have spa appointments, so we divide and conquer. Our middle child is super sleepy, so we take her and our other family's youngest back to nap, while the other three go to Splashaway Bay. Word on the street is they had a BLAST! Mid-afternoon, we do a shuffle for spa appointments, and I take two to do some quiet tablet time while the oldest do some boat school. Tonight is Giovanni's Table for dinner. 
Random Thoughts:
No sign of Starlink antennas anywhere on the top of the ship. I've walked the length twice, and can't find anything looking like a Starlink antenna as shown on the other ships.  No idea on headcount yet, but it's gotta be close to max capacity.  AO Babies (the nursery) is fully booked on Day 6 and Day 7, so we've got the littles all day. The nursery said we can check-in a little after opening, and if there are no-shows, we can drop them off. Unfortunately we had the Escape Room booked for Day 6 morning, so we're going to play that one by ear.  I'm a bit disappointed at some capacity caps. Specialty restaurants are understandable, but when it comes to entertainment, I feel like there should never be a circumstance that all of the shows are fully booked. We've been struggling since Day 1 to get Frozen in Time and Aqua80s booked, and the app just kicks us out of the reso process saying there's a problem. When I call the Reservation Help Desk, they tell us "Oh, those shows are full." Or "The only one with space left is the last day at 10:30pm". I'm bummed that the kids won't be able to experience both of these shows. I'm not sure how to resolve this, other than opening reservations the morning of?  Starting to feel the fatigue of being on the Oasis class, and completely understand the draw of the smaller ships. Everything here is a hike. On the other hand, I'm also very grateful at the opportunities I have here that don't exist on Vision/Radiance-class.  Trying to remember to take photos. I love the liveblogs chock-full of photos, and I have a bunch, but most are family photos I'm not comfortable putting online, and I don't want to duplicate photos that are already out there. Any requests? In the meantime, here are more food photos 😄

I have to get better about taking notes in the moment...
Day 2 Evening
It's taken me a while, but I'm finally realizing that while kids are pretty adaptable, tossing them into a new environment really throws them off. Everyone's bit groggy, over-stimulated, being pulled in different directions. Putting myself in their shoes, I can imagine it's hard to adapt when you're still learning the concepts of planning, strategy, where are we going to eat next, etc. The parents always figure that stuff out, but it may not be what you (as a kid) want. Our youngest (M3) came out of Adventure Ocean in a great mood, but by the time we got to lunch, he was really cranky. We first chalked it up to tiredness, but his crankiness read a little differently. We decided to bring him back to the room to nap while the older two did "boat school" (some school lessons while on vacation). I stayed back and monitored nap time while writing yesterday's Day 2 Morning post. He slept most of the afternoon, and the girls came back from the pool to change for dinner right around the time he woke up. 
We all changed for dinner, and went to 150 Central Park. What a classy place 🙂 They had our table for 9 ready, a 5-top and a 4-top, but similar to Chops, we put all the kids on the bench and wrapped four chairs around the other side and turned the 5-top into a 9-top. The servers adapted perfectly, and were fantastic. I ordered the garden martini, and it was sooo good. Super smooth, no taste of alcohol (but it was there!). All of the food was great - the wife got the scallops and the Tenderloin for one, I got the pork belly and the lobster Thermidor. The pork belly was a little tough, but had a great flavor. The scallops were smoky and wonderful. I'm a sucker for lobster, and the lobster Thermidor was a great hit. Then came dessert. 
You guys, the fried cheesecake is everything. All the reviews are true. It's unreal how good this dessert is. It's the fried sweetness of funnel cake, with the creaminess of cheesecake. I'm 100% going back again sometime this cruise to get it again, somehow. The caramel popcorn on top is a great garnish.
After wrapping up at 150CP, we headed over to the carousel to give the kids a few rides before heading off to bed. 
 
Insert record scratch here
 
 
We're coming to realize that, while dinner with our three kids is one thing, dinner with five kids (our three, plus two from the other family cruising with us) is a whole other beast. So many more dynamics to wrangle, while trying to teach good manners in a "fancy restaurant" and not bum-rush the cocktail cart. The youngest was also in rare form at dinner, both refusing to eat and saying he was hungry. I wrangled him and took him down to Cafe Promenade where we got him two apples, and he completely changed and turned back into a happy, bouncing boy. Kids are weird. Add to this that we've eaten at four different restaurants in two days (Playmakers, Chops, Izumi, and now 150CP), we're desperately missing the consistency of MDR. We LOVE the specialty restaurants, and want our kids to have these experiences too. We did MDR last cruise, and know the menus, know the food, and wanted to branch out and try ALL the specialty dining on Oasis, but the lack of routine is taking its toll on the kids. When we were on Anthem, it was a Windjammer lunch and MDR dinner every night and the kids thrived at that routine, and so did the MDR staff, getting to know our family and our needs.
After some discussion and sleeping on it, we may see if we can shimmy our way into a 5:30pm MDR seating for dinner starting Day 4. We want the kids to have a great time too, and if they're fried from the lack of routine, it kinda makes us all miserable. Happy kids, happy parents, happy vacation.
 
  
 
 
 

Day 3 Morning
Everyone slept in a little later today, and got up around 6:30am. Dressed and out the door, we headed back to the Windjammer as it was the only real place open (Solarium Bistro is 9am, MDR is 8am, Johnny Rockets is 8am). There's always Park Cafe, but the consistency of Windjammer is what's getting the kids to eat. We got some food in them, and headed back down to mini golf to burn some time before 9am drop-off at AO. Our youngest is in AO Babies (the nursery), and they only let in one family at a time. Unfortunately this creates a bottleneck of parents trying to drop off toddlers. One of the families was in for over 20 minutes, and really ate into our reservation time. It would have been nice to have a second person checking in families right at opening time. 
This morning, I vowed to do all of the adult stuff I can't do with kids attached. Bathing suit donned, I headed to Deck 15 Aft.
Ultimate Abyss: Super cool, a little slow, but I realized I have to lay waaaaaay back and pull waaaaay up on the front strap to gain speed. Gonna try that one again.  Racing Slide (Orange): I swear I launched myself down this slide, only to end up going sooo slow. I was wearing a rash guard, not thinking it would be causing more friction. Maybe try that again another time.  Supercell (The toilet bowl): What a drop at the top! Tore up my back a little bit, but spun around the bowl twice before dropping in to the landing zone. Definitely another try! Racing Slide (Pink): I ditched the rash guard for this one, launched myself down the slide, and FLEW through. Definitely ditching the rash guard going forward! Flowrider (boogie board side): I have never done this, but I have boogie boarded in the ocean. The concepts are the same, but staying centered all around is harder than it looks. I kept racing forward, then sliding back to the top of the ramp, then racing forward again. I ended up digging in my feet to control my forward/back movement. Wiped out a few times, but felt like I had better idea for the next time.  The line for the water slides takes you to one of the highest points on the ship, where this morning we were coming up on the Space Coast. The VAB was immediately visible, as well as SpaceX's SLC-40 (which I mistook for LC39-A at first). As we got closer to port and I got re-oriented, I found ULA's SLC-41, re-found SLC-40, and in the distance found SLC-39A and SpaceX's new launch tower. Pretty cool for a space nerd. As we also got into port, 
With all of those items checked off, I headed back to AO for pickup. After pickup, we headed to El Loco Fresh and Portside BBQ for lunch. Half of us went to each, and met up at the tables behind facing Oasis Dunes. It was at this time that there was a ship wide announcement that, due to a water pipe burst, there was no running water throughout the ship. 
Oops. 
We got our food, and I have to say that Portside compares favorably to Mission BBQ for those on the eastern side of the US. Good tenderness on the brisket, the chicken is moist, and the sides are all good. The burnt ends are fantastic. 
The kids are still adapting and getting punchy, and some of the grownups have spa appointments, so we divide and conquer. Our middle child is super sleepy, so we take her and our other family's youngest back to nap, while the other three go to Splashaway Bay. Word on the street is they had a BLAST! Mid-afternoon, we do a shuffle for spa appointments, and I take two to do some quiet tablet time while the oldest do some boat school. Tonight is Giovanni's Table for dinner. 
Random Thoughts:
No sign of Starlink antennas anywhere on the top of the ship. I've walked the length twice, and can't find anything looking like a Starlink antenna as shown on the other ships.  No idea on headcount yet, but it's gotta be close to max capacity.  AO Babies (the nursery) is fully booked on Day 6 and Day 7, so we've got the littles all day. The nursery said we can check-in a little after opening, and if there are no-shows, we can drop them off. Unfortunately we had the Escape Room booked for Day 6 morning, so we're going to play that one by ear.  I'm a bit disappointed at some capacity caps. Specialty restaurants are understandable, but when it comes to entertainment, I feel like there should never be a circumstance that all of the shows are fully booked. We've been struggling since Day 1 to get Frozen in Time and Aqua80s booked, and the app just kicks us out of the reso process saying there's a problem. When I call the Reservation Help Desk, they tell us "Oh, those shows are full." Or "The only one with space left is the last day at 10:30pm". I'm bummed that the kids won't be able to experience both of these shows. I'm not sure how to resolve this, other than opening reservations the morning of?  Starting to feel the fatigue of being on the Oasis class, and completely understand the draw of the smaller ships. Everything here is a hike. On the other hand, I'm also very grateful at the opportunities I have here that don't exist on Vision/Radiance-class.  Trying to remember to take photos. I love the liveblogs chock-full of photos, and I have a bunch, but most are family photos I'm not comfortable putting online, and I don't want to duplicate photos that are already out there. Any requests? In the meantime, here are more food photos 😄

I have to get better about taking notes in the moment...
Day 2 Evening
It's taken me a while, but I'm finally realizing that while kids are pretty adaptable, tossing them into a new environment really throws them off. Everyone's bit groggy, over-stimulated, being pulled in different directions. Putting myself in their shoes, I can imagine it's hard to adapt when you're still learning the concepts of planning, strategy, where are we going to eat next, etc. The parents always figure that stuff out, but it may not be what you (as a kid) want. Our youngest (M3) came out of Adventure Ocean in a great mood, but by the time we got to lunch, he was really cranky. We first chalked it up to tiredness, but his crankiness read a little differently. We decided to bring him back to the room to nap while the older two did "boat school" (some school lessons while on vacation). I stayed back and monitored nap time while writing yesterday's Day 2 Morning post. He slept most of the afternoon, and the girls came back from the pool to change for dinner right around the time he woke up. 
We all changed for dinner, and went to 150 Central Park. What a classy place 🙂 They had our table for 9 ready, a 5-top and a 4-top, but similar to Chops, we put all the kids on the bench and wrapped four chairs around the other side and turned the 5-top into a 9-top. The servers adapted perfectly, and were fantastic. I ordered the garden martini, and it was sooo good. Super smooth, no taste of alcohol (but it was there!). All of the food was great - the wife got the scallops and the Tenderloin for one, I got the pork belly and the lobster Thermidor. The pork belly was a little tough, but had a great flavor. The scallops were smoky and wonderful. I'm a sucker for lobster, and the lobster Thermidor was a great hit. Then came dessert. 
You guys, the fried cheesecake is everything. All the reviews are true. It's unreal how good this dessert is. It's the fried sweetness of funnel cake, with the creaminess of cheesecake. I'm 100% going back again sometime this cruise to get it again, somehow. The caramel popcorn on top is a great garnish.
After wrapping up at 150CP, we headed over to the carousel to give the kids a few rides before heading off to bed. 
 
Insert record scratch here
 
 
We're coming to realize that, while dinner with our three kids is one thing, dinner with five kids (our three, plus two from the other family cruising with us) is a whole other beast. So many more dynamics to wrangle, while trying to teach good manners in a "fancy restaurant" and not bum-rush the cocktail cart. The youngest was also in rare form at dinner, both refusing to eat and saying he was hungry. I wrangled him and took him down to Cafe Promenade where we got him two apples, and he completely changed and turned back into a happy, bouncing boy. Kids are weird. Add to this that we've eaten at four different restaurants in two days (Playmakers, Chops, Izumi, and now 150CP), we're desperately missing the consistency of MDR. We LOVE the specialty restaurants, and want our kids to have these experiences too. We did MDR last cruise, and know the menus, know the food, and wanted to branch out and try ALL the specialty dining on Oasis, but the lack of routine is taking its toll on the kids. When we were on Anthem, it was a Windjammer lunch and MDR dinner every night and the kids thrived at that routine, and so did the MDR staff, getting to know our family and our needs.
After some discussion and sleeping on it, we may see if we can shimmy our way into a 5:30pm MDR seating for dinner starting Day 4. We want the kids to have a great time too, and if they're fried from the lack of routine, it kinda makes us all miserable. Happy kids, happy parents, happy vacation.
 
  
 
 
 

I have to get better about taking notes in the moment...
Day 2 Evening
It's taken me a while, but I'm finally realizing that while kids are pretty adaptable, tossing them into a new environment really throws them off. Everyone's bit groggy, over-stimulated, being pulled in different directions. Putting myself in their shoes, I can imagine it's hard to adapt when you're still learning the concepts of planning, strategy, where are we going to eat next, etc. The parents always figure that stuff out, but it may not be what you (as a kid) want. Our youngest (M3) came out of Adventure Ocean in a great mood, but by the time we got to lunch, he was really cranky. We first chalked it up to tiredness, but his crankiness read a little differently. We decided to bring him back to the room to nap while the older two did "boat school" (some school lessons while on vacation). I stayed back and monitored nap time while writing yesterday's Day 2 Morning post. He slept most of the afternoon, and the girls came back from the pool to change for dinner right around the time he woke up. 
We all changed for dinner, and went to 150 Central Park. What a classy place 🙂 They had our table for 9 ready, a 5-top and a 4-top, but similar to Chops, we put all the kids on the bench and wrapped four chairs around the other side and turned the 5-top into a 9-top. The servers adapted perfectly, and were fantastic. I ordered the garden martini, and it was sooo good. Super smooth, no taste of alcohol (but it was there!). All of the food was great - the wife got the scallops and the Tenderloin for one, I got the pork belly and the lobster Thermidor. The pork belly was a little tough, but had a great flavor. The scallops were smoky and wonderful. I'm a sucker for lobster, and the lobster Thermidor was a great hit. Then came dessert. 
You guys, the fried cheesecake is everything. All the reviews are true. It's unreal how good this dessert is. It's the fried sweetness of funnel cake, with the creaminess of cheesecake. I'm 100% going back again sometime this cruise to get it again, somehow. The caramel popcorn on top is a great garnish.
After wrapping up at 150CP, we headed over to the carousel to give the kids a few rides before heading off to bed. 
 
Insert record scratch here
 
 
We're coming to realize that, while dinner with our three kids is one thing, dinner with five kids (our three, plus two from the other family cruising with us) is a whole other beast. So many more dynamics to wrangle, while trying to teach good manners in a "fancy restaurant" and not bum-rush the cocktail cart. The youngest was also in rare form at dinner, both refusing to eat and saying he was hungry. I wrangled him and took him down to Cafe Promenade where we got him two apples, and he completely changed and turned back into a happy, bouncing boy. Kids are weird. Add to this that we've eaten at four different restaurants in two days (Playmakers, Chops, Izumi, and now 150CP), we're desperately missing the consistency of MDR. We LOVE the specialty restaurants, and want our kids to have these experiences too. We did MDR last cruise, and know the menus, know the food, and wanted to branch out and try ALL the specialty dining on Oasis, but the lack of routine is taking its toll on the kids. When we were on Anthem, it was a Windjammer lunch and MDR dinner every night and the kids thrived at that routine, and so did the MDR staff, getting to know our family and our needs.
After some discussion and sleeping on it, we may see if we can shimmy our way into a 5:30pm MDR seating for dinner starting Day 4. We want the kids to have a great time too, and if they're fried from the lack of routine, it kinda makes us all miserable. Happy kids, happy parents, happy vacation.
 
  
 
 
 

I have to get better about taking notes in the moment...
Day 2 Evening
It's taken me a while, but I'm finally realizing that while kids are pretty adaptable, tossing them into a new environment really throws them off. Everyone's bit groggy, over-stimulated, being pulled in different directions. Putting myself in their shoes, I can imagine it's hard to adapt when you're still learning the concepts of planning, strategy, where are we going to eat next, etc. The parents always figure that stuff out, but it may not be what you (as a kid) want. Our youngest (M3) came out of Adventure Ocean in a great mood, but by the time we got to lunch, he was really cranky. We first chalked it up to tiredness, but his crankiness read a little differently. We decided to bring him back to the room to nap while the older two did "boat school" (some school lessons while on vacation). I stayed back and monitored nap time while writing yesterday's Day 2 Morning post. He slept most of the afternoon, and the girls came back from the pool to change for dinner right around the time he woke up. 
We all changed for dinner, and went to 150 Central Park. What a classy place 🙂 They had our table for 9 ready, a 5-top and a 4-top, but similar to Chops, we put all the kids on the bench and wrapped four chairs around the other side and turned the 5-top into a 9-top. The servers adapted perfectly, and were fantastic. I ordered the garden martini, and it was sooo good. Super smooth, no taste of alcohol (but it was there!). All of the food was great - the wife got the scallops and the Tenderloin for one, I got the pork belly and the lobster Thermidor. The pork belly was a little tough, but had a great flavor. The scallops were smoky and wonderful. I'm a sucker for lobster, and the lobster Thermidor was a great hit. Then came dessert. 
You guys, the fried cheesecake is everything. All the reviews are true. It's unreal how good this dessert is. It's the fried sweetness of funnel cake, with the creaminess of cheesecake. I'm 100% going back again sometime this cruise to get it again, somehow. The caramel popcorn on top is a great garnish.
After wrapping up at 150CP, we headed over to the carousel to give the kids a few rides before heading off to bed. 
 
Insert record scratch here
 
 
We're coming to realize that, while dinner with our three kids is one thing, dinner with five kids (our three, plus two from the other family cruising with us) is a whole other beast. So many more dynamics to wrangle, while trying to teach good manners in a "fancy restaurant" and not bum-rush the cocktail cart. The youngest was also in rare form at dinner, both refusing to eat and saying he was hungry. I wrangled him and took him down to Cafe Promenade where we got him two apples, and he completely changed and turned back into a happy, bouncing boy. Kids are weird. Add to this that we've eaten at four different restaurants in two days (Playmakers, Chops, Izumi, and now 150CP), we're desperately missing the consistency of MDR. We LOVE the specialty restaurants, and want our kids to have these experiences too. We did MDR last cruise, and know the menus, know the food, and wanted to branch out and try ALL the specialty dining on Oasis, but the lack of routine is taking its toll on the kids. When we were on Anthem, it was a Windjammer lunch and MDR dinner every night and the kids thrived at that routine, and so did the MDR staff, getting to know our family and our needs.
After some discussion and sleeping on it, we may see if we can shimmy our way into a 5:30pm MDR seating for dinner starting Day 4. We want the kids to have a great time too, and if they're fried from the lack of routine, it kinda makes us all miserable. Happy kids, happy parents, happy vacation.
 
  
 
 
 

I have to get better about taking notes in the moment...
Day 2 Evening
It's taken me a while, but I'm finally realizing that while kids are pretty adaptable, tossing them into a new environment really throws them off. Everyone's bit groggy, over-stimulated, being pulled in different directions. Putting myself in their shoes, I can imagine it's hard to adapt when you're still learning the concepts of planning, strategy, where are we going to eat next, etc. The parents always figure that stuff out, but it may not be what you (as a kid) want. Our youngest (M3) came out of Adventure Ocean in a great mood, but by the time we got to lunch, he was really cranky. We first chalked it up to tiredness, but his crankiness read a little differently. We decided to bring him back to the room to nap while the older two did "boat school" (some school lessons while on vacation). I stayed back and monitored nap time while writing yesterday's Day 2 Morning post. He slept most of the afternoon, and the girls came back from the pool to change for dinner right around the time he woke up. 
We all changed for dinner, and went to 150 Central Park. What a classy place 🙂 They had our table for 9 ready, a 5-top and a 4-top, but similar to Chops, we put all the kids on the bench and wrapped four chairs around the other side and turned the 5-top into a 9-top. The servers adapted perfectly, and were fantastic. I ordered the garden martini, and it was sooo good. Super smooth, no taste of alcohol (but it was there!). All of the food was great - the wife got the scallops and the Tenderloin for one, I got the pork belly and the lobster Thermidor. The pork belly was a little tough, but had a great flavor. The scallops were smoky and wonderful. I'm a sucker for lobster, and the lobster Thermidor was a great hit. Then came dessert. 
You guys, the fried cheesecake is everything. All the reviews are true. It's unreal how good this dessert is. It's the fried sweetness of funnel cake, with the creaminess of cheesecake. I'm 100% going back again sometime this cruise to get it again, somehow. The caramel popcorn on top is a great garnish.
After wrapping up at 150CP, we headed over to the carousel to give the kids a few rides before heading off to bed. 
 
Insert record scratch here
 
 
We're coming to realize that, while dinner with our three kids is one thing, dinner with five kids (our three, plus two from the other family cruising with us) is a whole other beast. So many more dynamics to wrangle, while trying to teach good manners in a "fancy restaurant" and not bum-rush the cocktail cart. The youngest was also in rare form at dinner, both refusing to eat and saying he was hungry. I wrangled him and took him down to Cafe Promenade where we got him two apples, and he completely changed and turned back into a happy, bouncing boy. Kids are weird. Add to this that we've eaten at four different restaurants in two days (Playmakers, Chops, Izumi, and now 150CP), we're desperately missing the consistency of MDR. We LOVE the specialty restaurants, and want our kids to have these experiences too. We did MDR last cruise, and know the menus, know the food, and wanted to branch out and try ALL the specialty dining on Oasis, but the lack of routine is taking its toll on the kids. When we were on Anthem, it was a Windjammer lunch and MDR dinner every night and the kids thrived at that routine, and so did the MDR staff, getting to know our family and our needs.
After some discussion and sleeping on it, we may see if we can shimmy our way into a 5:30pm MDR seating for dinner starting Day 4. We want the kids to have a great time too, and if they're fried from the lack of routine, it kinda makes us all miserable. Happy kids, happy parents, happy vacation.
 
  
 
 
 

Day 2 Morning
Rough night for the youngest, plus still getting my sea legs meant a rough night all around. Our middle child woke up around 5:30am, and the oldest around 5:45am. I got them to play quietly while I took a shower and got dressed, then got them dressed and left at 7:00am to go get a coffee for the Wife. Heading down to the Promenade for Starbucks, and it was EMPTY. I was surprised at how energetic the ship was yesterday, that the Promenade was so dead. No line at Starbucks, so we bring coffee back to the Wife, and then take the girls to the Windjammer.
We got to the Windjammer by 7:15am, and only one half was open. The second side opened by 7:50am, and most of the seating was taken by 8:00am. This Windjammer definitely feels smaller than Anthem - less seating, fewer service stations, and the stations themselves are smaller. I understand the intention of this, but still feels baffling (and glad they did an about-face on Wonder).
We wrapped up breakfast around 8:00am, and headed down to Oasis Dunes to burn off some time until Adventure Ocean. Drop-off at Adventure Ocean was painless for the two oldest, and the youngest took a little bit longer because he’s still a Nursery kid. Once everyone was dropped off, the Wife and I headed up to the fitness center to prep for this week’s reckless abandon with UDP. After the gym, we headed to the hot tub for a bit, then back to the room to shower and change for AO pickup and lunch at Izumi Sushi.
AO Pickup went smooth, and we headed down to Izumi. Table for 9, we shared with the other family in our party. Food was ordered within 10 minutes of arrival, and mains showed up 30 minutes after arrival. Great service, great timing. Kids were coursed with adults, but it wasn’t as noticeable because of the quick service. I got the vegetable fried rice, and the wife got the spicy shrimp spring rolls, enjoyed by all. For the mains, I got the sashimi and the poke bowl, and the wife got the champagne lobster rolll, also enjoyed by everyone.
Okay, everyone who says UDP is a lot of food: they’re not lying. The fried rice is a small bowl, but very filling. Both mains are a hearty size, and combining both is a crazy amount of food. Unfortunately I didn’t finish it all, because I’m not a masochist 😄 We closed with the strawberry mochi, and all the kids loved them. I have some photos on my phone, the wife has the food photos. Those are coming later.
We came back to the room to change to bathing suits and do a little bit of “boat school” to keep the kids sharp. The wife headed off to the spa/salon to get her hair done (formal night tonight), and we have 150CP tonight. Talk to you all soon!
Random thoughts:
Definite sound spillover from the pool deck to the CP balcony rooms. Everything here seems about 5% “off” - service isn’t as crisp, soap dispensers are empty, one of the interactive screens outside AO isn’t working. Coming from the impeccability of Anthem, Oasis feels a little more mainstream. The carousel on the Boardwalk remains the favorite of all the kids. Cruise Compasses are still MIA for us. I’ve seen B&W copies at some stands (like Starbucks or behind a bar), and I saw a live copy in the hand of another guest, but every request we make falls on deaf ears. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it feels they’re definitely pushing away from them. This ship is big. Lots of walking everywhere. It’s exhausting 😄  D
 

There’s an app called “MaskerAid” put out by the hosts of one of my podcasts. It uses AI to detect faces and then overlays an emoji. You can change the emoji to any in the standard library, as well as move and rotate:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1590163828