Lexster

I'm glad to know only main entrees come out one at a time. Looking forward to trying it out myself.

20 Days Left Today we went shopping for some new vacation clothes and also got a bunch of snacks for the road trip. We'll be doing a two week quarantine before the trip starting Tuesday. I did this last year and figured I'd do it again even if there aren't covid tests anymore. I don't want to risk getting sick.

Weird, I didn't have an issue with the brats on Oasis last year.

Oh man, three weeks left! For me, it's 20 days since my vacation starts on the 4th!

Right, unless they put in Sleep Number mattresses in the cabins, they'll never be able to please everyone, unfortunately.

I didn't mind the mattress, but I had an aching neck most nights from the pillows. I'll be bringing my own memory foam pillow for sure.

Haha, I had NO idea what was a code for swingers!

Yeah, I've read that subsequent dishes are smaller than the first entree.

What I meant was them bringing dishes out one at a time as opposed to all at once is going to cause that person's meal to take longer to complete which goes counter to Royal's claims of wanting to speed up the meal.

Yeah, luckily like I said we don't have any planned excursions there, so if we have to skip it, I won't be super sad or anything.

Yeah, his brother is a bit laid back, but I think he'll have fun, too. I think this is Dave's first time on an Oasis Class, at least, too.

Was reading through some of the live blogs and figured I might as well do one for my upcoming cruise! We'll see if anyone is interested in reading it. Currently 21 days, 18 hours until vacation begins! We went on Oasis of the Seas last May and this year we decided to shake things up. My husband's dad (Dave) and brother (Will) will be coming with us. This cruise is kind of our anniversary and his college graduation all wrapped into one. His dad has been on a Royal Caribbean cruise before, but his brother hasn't. Dave's definitely excited. He told me he's been working the memorize the deck plan and had routes memorized from his cabin to various places. It's funny because I did the same thing, but planning means nothing once you're on the ship. It's super easy to get turned around. Itinerary/Thoughts on Day 1 - Miami Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Costa Maya, Mexico Day 4 - Roatan, Honduras Day 5 - Cozumel, MX Day 6 - Sea Day Day 7 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay Day 8 - Miami I'm very excited for this itinerary since I've never been outside the US other than to the Bahamas. We've booked Nachi Cocom in Cozumel, so that should be a lot of fun. We're doing a rainforest excursion in Roatan and in Costa Maya, we're mostly going to wander the port, I think. There wasn't anything that really stood out to us that we wanted to do other than the Mayan ruins, but the trip is so far, we didn't want to be on a bus for multiple hours. I also like that the sea days are the bread on the cruise sandwich. It gives us a day to relax after getting on the ship and a day to relax near the end before going to Coco Cay on the last day. Our last cruise was a bit of a disappointment due to the weather. It left out of New Jersey and all along the coast, we were basically chasing a storm system which made everything cloudy, cold, and rainy. This meant we never really got to enjoy any of the outdoor activities on Oasis of the Seas, so I'm hoping this year to get to do the water slides and FlowRider and things like that. Coco Cay was also great, but hampered by the bad weather, so again hoping it's just perfect and gorgeous this year. Pre-Cruise Preparation As I've begun doing as of our first cruise, I created a spreadsheet to track budget, items to bring, meal planning for the cruise, everything. It helps keep me excited as the days tick down. I like to plan out my meals so I can make sure we hit a bit of everything on the ship throughout the week. I've ordered the Chops +1 meal plan. I plan on us going to Wonderland for the +1. I have wanted to try it from the first time I saw what kind of place it was. I love cuisine like that. We also got the Refreshment Package since none of us really drink. I probably will get a couple cocktails, but for the most part I'm happy with mocktails. I also love that it comes with smoothies and milkshakes. I've already got my luggage tags all set up and did Dave and Will's as well. I've basically taken charge of planning everything. I have a hard time giving up control sometimes, especially when it comes to my vacation! Dave's not the most tech-focused individual, so I got everything printed out for him. We've got the car reserved and the hotels. Yes, we're DRIVING from Northern Kentucky to Miami. Insane, I know. It's like 16 hours. But, hear me out. It may be slower, but plane tickets would have basically been the cost of a cruise. It's crazy how expensive flying is now. So, our plan is to drive 8 hours on Thursday and then 8 hours Friday. i think it'll be a fun adventure, at least. I've driven to Jacksonville all in one before which is like 12 hours, so I knew we wouldn't make it going 16 hours straight. At this point, it's just a matter of waiting. Only other things left are to get some new vacation clothes and some road trip snacks once it's much closer to the trip. I'll keep up to date with anything new or exciting happening!

Yeah, it honestly is silly. Unless someone is ordering everything on the menu, there's no reason to not bring out all the dishes ordered. Heck, Royal's claim is they're trying to speed up the meal, but all this would do is slow things down.

That's good, then. I'd just heard stories of folks asking and the waiters telling them they could not bring them out at the same time. It probably depends on the waiter you get as to whether they'll work with you or staunchly enforce the policy. Also might vary ship-to-ship for awhile. And yeah, like I said i know people used to get two entrees and eat off of them both, but if this policy does end up being fully enforced firmly, I was just trying to offer an alternate way of thinking if it's something that really upset people about it.

Hey all, I was just thinking about the new policy in the MDR of only bringing out one dish at a time instead of what they used to do which was to bring out every entree you order at once. I know this has upset some people, but maybe we need to shift how we think of this. When I think of this as a multi-course meal, it seems like less of an issue. If you want to get two entrees, say, then you could think of dinner as a four course meal. It almost turns into a chef's table kind of thing which normally is like 5 or 6 courses I think. If you get two appetizers, then it becomes a five course meal. In this case, I think it's all about perspective. Sure, before you could kind of pick off of two or three different entrees at once, but the new way more encourages you to enjoy that dish before moving on to another. I don't know, just a thought I had which might help others not be so annoyed by the change.

I just want to add that I love all of these responses. I'm happy to see so many accepting folks on these boards!

No worries there, diamonds are overrated

Right, I've been reading there are issues sometimes, though.

So, we're going to Nachi Cocom (thanks, Matt for the recommend!) and I've never really dealt with taxis in the US, let alone another country. I know there are prices listed at the port for the going rate to the resort, but I'm a bit nervous about the prospect of having to argue with the taxi driver if they try to claim I have to pay something other than what is originally agreed upon. Has anyone had to do this? If you're firm enough (assuming you know for a fact that you agreed on a particular price that they're trying to go higher on), do they generally relent or is there a risk of a bigger confrontation?

Woo hoo! And we're officially under 30 days!

Ohhhhh, yeah I don't have that either

Star Wars reference!

Yeah, just checked and Cozumel doesn't have any requirements anymore, so yeah must be a mistake in that compass.

I was looking at a Cruise Compass from March 2023 and saw this under the Cozumel day. Is this true that you need to have proof of vaccination still? I thought that was no longer required. It also says you need your SeaPass card AND a Government ID. Just want to make sure I bring everything I actually need.

Nope, not ready yet for me.