InmyElement

Continuing day 2.
Today is the first full sea day and is traditionally the day that they have the Top Tier Event and the Cheer With an Officer luncheon.  Typically, they have the Top Tier event at 10:30 followed by the Cheers luncheon at 11:45/12:00.  For some reason, today, the TTE was held at 5:00PM.  The Cheers luncheon went as expected at 11:45.  There must have been some kind of scheduling conflict for the morning TTE but if there was, we never heard what it was.
The Cheers luncheon was typical; the food was surprisingly good.  The event was held in the MDR, deck 4.  The Pinns were on the port side of the dining room and the D+ were on the starboard side.  Dan and I both had the clam chowder and filet.  Lots of wine was poured.  We skipped dessert as we usually do.  We did manage to nap past the beginning of the TTE (most likely due to the wine consumption !) so we skipped it.  😂😜
Since our lunch was so filling, we decided to change our second BOGO reservation (Chops) from 6:00 until 8:15 which is very late for us, but we both knew we would not be ready to eat another big meal so soon. Looking forward to that, but no way will I eat another steak as I had a half of a filet yesterday for lunch and a filet today.  I am actually not much of a steak eater so I’m “steak-out” right now.  Probably get the shrimp. Tonite is formal night but we left the tux at home (intentionally) so we will relax the formal attire this time.
Things have been pretty positive so far in the casino, which has been surprisingly slow.  I expected lots of gamblers to be on this cruise and so far, there hasn’t been much evidence of that.  Since we have now started a new casino year, I thought everyone would be scrambling to make Prime right away.  That has been Dan’s plan and he’s succeeding nicely.  I have decided to wait and make my “push” on our Wonder cruise in May.  We are both pretty much dead even (money-wise) but of course, he has accumulated far more points than I have, which is by design.
I may have spoken too quickly about the internet performance.  Suddenly it is sluggish and has kicked me out twice today.  Probably a gap in the Starlink coverage or some such thing.  Hoping for a return to the robust service we had yesterday.

Pretty lazy day today.  Sea day.  Spent a fair amount of time in the casino and happy to say that my upward trend ($$) is continuing.  Nothing to crow about, just slightly “up” each time I go in there.  Up is better than down !
Dan hit his goal of 3000 points so he made Prime and will get an instant comp reward.  Whatever points I have (currently at a little over 1000), I will use to upgrade his comp offer with my otherwise useless $$ off reward.
It was Royal night in the MDR.  We both ordered the lobster as an appetizer since that portion is pretty small.  I ordered the chicken Marsala as my main course and Dan ordered some curry shrimp dish (can’t remember the name).  Both were very good.
I will give my little Promenade view room some kudos (8311, 2T).    I truly believe that this room is the quietest room we’ve ever had.  It’s far enough aft to avoid the Promenade noise and there is absolutely no noise at all associated with the elevators.  It’s very, very quiet and I love being so close to the aft elevators.  We’ve been very comfortable in this room, which is a good thing since we will be here again on the next leg (5 nights, 4-14).  For leg #3 (4-19), we have to move. 😪😪

So I sent a request a few weeks ago to the dining staff email address, we originally said we were cool with sharing a table with others, but the more we thought about it-the more we thought it'd be better as just the three of us. So I asked for a private table, and if possible, a table near a window. They sent me an email last week confirming that they got the request. Then, much to my surprise, today they sent me an actual reservation, with the dining room number, and table number with all of our names. I know it's a major long shot, and I only have 2 weeks until I see in person, but I thought I'd ask all of you veteran cruisers...do you know how the table numbers work? or is  there a little seating chart anywhere? I know its a weird ask, but figured what the hell... lol.  We have table 902 in MDR 5. Either way, thought is was cool that they sent me a confirmation with all of that info before we board

[email protected] 
I emailed requesting our friends in another cabin be seated with us each night. I had read the tip somewhere on reddit, just as a good idea to give them the opportunity to plan for a larger table. Got a response after a few weeks! 

By around 4pm, everyone was shopped out, and tired, so we headed to La Bamba!!! Best part of the day. I tried something different tonight. I got the fish tacos and really liked it. Usually, the chimichanga is my go to, but I wasn’t feeling it today. Thank you to @LandstromCruise and @AGSLC5 for leading us this way. The family sends their thanks as well. 

@Lovetocruise2002I’m on this cruise too with DH, DS17 and DD12.  It’s been a while since I’ve been on RCBlog but I’m glad you are having a better start than us.  Our flight was cancelled after a few delays this morning.  Being spring break there was no availability on any airline to Miami or FLL, so we rented a car and driving about 15 hours to Miami.  This cruise we’ll only be in a JS and I’ll miss the suite deck around the pool.  Hoping we can get into CK for dinner a few nights. 

😂 thankfully y'all will not need to deal with a THIRD oasis blog from me for a lonnnnng time. 
also portside is really an unsung hero on oasis!!!

This is just a guess...but if you're trying to book this from an IP address that is not in Florida, the discount may not work. I don't know if that's the case in the posts above, but if you have a VPN and you can specify a US location in Florida, the discount may work. I use a paid VPN, and there is a server in Tampa that is available.

I can't wait to go onto a slightly smaller ship, with a LARGER old school Schooner Bar! Who's with me!

Unless the Captain makes a special effort and does a Liberty sail-around (which is very, very unlikely), you will only see Lady Liberty from a distance and will be sailing away from her as you leave.  Only once have I been onboard when we did a Liberty sail-around and it was fantastic.  Our sailing had been delayed by 2 days (due to a false COVID scare...just before the shut-down) and the Captain sailed around the Statue of Liberty as a bit of a payback for our disappointment.  That was an interesting cruise as we were able to board the ship the night before we sailed and spend the night on the ship before sailing the next day.

We of course saw the Statue of Liberty while we sailed from Port Liberty a few years back.  And yes, it was from some distance, but it was still obvious and remarkable.  Other than barely seeing it from the air one time, this was the first real viewing I had experienced. 
But when we returned to port, the Skipper gave us a real treat and circled the Statue of Liberty multiple times.😍   Also a pay-back, as we returned to port 12-hours early in out-running Hurricane Dorian.

My wife and family will be on this cruise for my wife's 50th birthday, I am so looking forward to it. It has been 13 yeas since I have been on a cruise.

Very disappointing with Brightline, just returned from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and MCO. Everytime I tried to book it..checked luggage was not available even under premium. So we rented an SUV from Miami to MCO for a flight change back to NY. 

I had to laugh out loud with this one.  Obviously you are cruising WAAAYTOOO much !  🤣

Day 4- Port Caneveral at 6:30 very cool to watch the pilot come aboard and again kudos to Jenn putting us on the port side to see the docking. We are shore side. Staying on the ship and hope most get off, so I can try some Flowrider and enjoy some deck sunning. We have tons of relatives in Florida, so we’ve done cocoa beach and the space center. Coffee delivered in room every morning is a must! Plus it stays hot all day in the pot.
Going lunch today from Windjammer and Trisha is loving the healthy food in the solarium cafe…really good curry!
Gotta have a PinaColada on deck and pretty quiet today...
 

Day 3 - Another sunny beautiful day all we have planned is North Star and Solarium for a couple of hours..relaxing on the balcony. We miss the midnight buffet, so tried the Windjammer its okay but not the same. The once a day room cleaning is okay we are getting it done during dinner love coming back and its all set..Couple of layers of blankets under the sheets makes the mattress much better..Dinner MDR, Italian night. Trish had the lasagne and I had the mushroom risotto..I didn’t like the truffle oil and the lasagna was all beef very little cheese and pasta. Now I can see the interest in specialty dining.
North Star is amazing under way is the only time I recommend especially over both sides of the ship…very cool!
 

Day 2 - Should have taken the advice of Mattress Topper, beds are a little hard for me but Trish is okay with it. Got extra blankets and softened it up for this side sleeper..lol
Room service in the Am is the bomb..love having coffee on the balcony and in bed. Ordering everyday..I went down to royal promenade and the lines for coffee were insane..free coffee in room why doesn’t everyone do it..lol Hopefully not then my coffee will be delayed.
Hit the Gym at 6a wow crowded Day 1 all universals and most treadmills were taken but I got a good 45 min workout.
Breakfast in the MDR around 8:15 no crowds and right in..Trisha has been looking forward to Salmon and Lox and I had a breakfast burrito with grits.lived in Georgia for a while..lol
Both meals excellent and plenty of juice and coffee.
Lounged on the balcony and enjoyed the sun and the sound of the ocean…I’m not going to say never, but balcony or suite is the future for us..wow amazing sounds, smell and view. Definitely once in a while can hear the neighbors on one side..
This is the biggest surprise of the trip so far. I booked this week cause its my birthday and picked a week cause I “Assumed” yes you know when you assume..that kids would be in school. Disclamier..I have kids and know how they can be. Well this happens to be Jersey Week for kids and in NJ the kids and parents take off this week, cause I’m assuming Election and Veterans Day. Tons of kids! So Thankful for the Solarium!
I booked a Hot Rock Massage prior for day 2 at 12, figured I could use a nice settle in and relax visit. I don’t get massages normally, but it was amazing and staff was great. Only downside its under the gym noisey..bad planning on location, but will probably do another by Friday. Can’t talk Trish into it.
Trish went to the Flash Mob rehearsal and had a good time.
I hit the Windjammer for lunch w/some pasta and ate on the balcony..
Took an awesome nap with the sliding door open..while Trish tapped away on her phone. We decided to hit the Solarium before Formal night pretty crowded but found two chairs and tried the pools. A little chilly and the hot tubs were packed, but we still had a nice time people watching with a beer and redBull for Trisha. She is loving the Redbull under the refreshment package.
Formal Dinner at the MDR, I went full suit and Trish with a newly purchased gown..she looks amazing and lots of compliments. Got some photos and selfie stick purchase was so worth it for the two of us on the balcony..no shortage of Christmas card photos this year..lol
 

Traveling to Pier 4 was easy 15 min and 4 lines of cars for baggage drop off was flowing well. We packed pretty heavy to see how it goes. We’re not expert packers yet like all of you carry on professionals. We drop of. Our two full size bags. Parking garage is right next door and went smooth as well. I was worried about limited parking because I have a truck, so we took my wife’s car plenty of room for either. Tons of trucks. Looks like $200 something for a 7 day cruise.
Security and check in was smooth. I had printed, Apple wallet, and the app as a backup for SeaPass. The printed came in handy. We had a 10:30a and wow a lot of people were in time out who had showed up too early. We were on the ship in 20 minutes.  
We explored and only had 1 hand bag which was priceless navigating around all the lost souls..lol
We found the MDR and asked for a nice table for two and they were very accommodating  and showed us a new table, it wasn’t by the window, but along a nice wall. We don’t feel comfortable being out in the middle of everyone, unless you have a big crowd for a full size table. We wanted to stick with MDR and try out for the week and didn’t book any specialty dining. Old school in us, but we might move on like the rest.
Next stop FOOD! We checked out Windjammer and walked through. Everything I read and listened to from Matt was spot on. Totally crowded, but some seats. Trish got some freshly sliced roast beef w/real mashed potatoes and I had a great salad with chic peas! I’m so simple..lol They have outside seating which would have been nice w/sunny and 65F, but they choked and only had two tables set up.
Next stop Solarium Cafe. Less crowded and wonderful area the videos don’t do it justice..all hot tubs and pools were empty. Trish wanted to try some Dai and rice and I got a coffee with some carrot cake. I could see us coming back, it was relaxing.
Next stop Flow Rider and iFly. Flowrider was empty all afternoon and running. I grew up surfing, so can’t wait to try it out. I got my waiver signed, but was too chicken to dive right in..Everyones advice I wore my Hybrid shorts. Trish signed up for Ifly and booked a complimentary session at 2pm.
We explored more and signs were up that our cabins would be ready at 1pm.
Deck 9 Cabin was on the port side, which gave us a great view of NYC and the Statue of Liberty. The Capt. took us right by the Statue of Liberty and did a 180 right off of Battery park. Then we headed towards the Verazzano. Go Jenn! Room was great, I always expect the worse and thought it would show signs of wear as I’ve seen in videos, but it was clean and nicely decorated with no signs of wear.
Our bags were already in the hallway, as we came down. Plenty of storage and started hanging my magnet hooks and setting up charging stations with our Anker power cords.
Trish got in at 2 @ iFLY with about 6 others..I got plenty of pics and she loved it. You stand right next to the “windtunnel” great videos. It was total age range from 7yo to probably 70yo.
 
 

Be aware of the ever present risk of a contact high.
I am sensitive to the smoke from the herbaceous flower of cannabis sativa and found a clothespin on my nose kept me safe. 

We wish you the best and hope you make home safely..that storm looks crazy 😮
Thanks for taking us along..loved the food and scenery pics!
22 days we'll be on Oasis for the first time fearful of the weather..I booked an extra day in FLL on our return. 🤞
 

okay so currently as it stands:
we are going to hold and try and keep our flight. i know tomorrow is going to be mayhem, and i am not sure how many other folks will be trying to carry off with us that perhaps hadn’t originally intended to, to try and mitigate some of the waiting time. 
they are still targeting us for a 10am arrival with a hopeful 11am disembarkation time. i will probably have us queued up around 10:15 THE LATEST (but likely will be earlier.) 
they have not said yet when they want everyone to vacate their staterooms but i can’t imagine it being by 8am and then staging 6k plus passengers in common areas. that seems extremely wild. 
i am hopeful that our flight will also be delayed, per @jbrinkm  which would give us a little wiggle room. 
the weather looks poor later into the evening and well into monday, so i would really prefer to avoid staying over at all costs. (and avoid more… costs. 🙃)
 
so far, we are still averaging about 23-24 knots, so we are booking it. the sun, bizarrely much, hung out for most of the day. we passed explorer in our starboard side, sailing AWAY from this mess, around 2:15pm or so. i waved. 
the most motion i have felt so far has been in the solarium, where we holed up for the day, but i was expecting that as we were extremely far forward. 
@PPPJJ-GCVAB — thus far, it has been otherwise manageable; and i get pretty seasick. however this is a big ship, and we are not yet in the storm, as far as i can tell. (well. no rain yet. but it’s coming.)
we continue to hug the coast of cuba, as most of the other cruise ships on cruise mapper show. 
i should be starting to pack before it gets really bad for tonight but i needed a moment. 💚

i think we are going to try and hold for now. but really, y’all. this is not ideal 😱
waiting for any type of communication for RCI to put on their homepage or in the roll call for tomorrow’s sailing or paperwork in our room. 
i guess… we get breakfast on board? 

i feel like i’ve earned my vintage card this trip 😆
we have set up in the solarium. the ship is very sleepy, quiet this morning. 
despite there being a lot of kids, for the most part, almost all of them have been well behaved (at least the ones on our deck/nearby). our neighbors are present, but not overbearing, and certainly not creeps like the last time on deck 11/symphony. 
it does feel weird not to go to next cruise to get our next cruise booking, but we are all set until february 2025… and if the royal prices don’t come down, we may be switching to celebrity, depending on how our ascent sailing goes. 
once icon, utopia and star kick into rotation, the itinerary for the remaining oasis class ship (which very well may be oasis) for the caribbean is not great. no PDCC, no st maarten. it’s like labadee and falmouth — which is fine, when sandwiched with other ports that we like. 
we have this ship and itinerary in 50 days, so we will get a do-over on everything that didn’t work out — including, i hope — the weather!!! check-in is next week and i hope RUB choices. 
today we will stay in the solarium as long as we can. the wind is present but bearable, unlike where we normally sit. 
tonight we have aqua show reservations at 7, which i would be inclined to go to if we can get our packing started/a good deal finished. 
breakfast soon 💚 the biscuits are calling me 😂

we are now at a cruising speed of 22.3 knots as we book it back to jamaica. 
on a completely different note; dinner was the best yet, lobster night in CK!!
J got the sashimi appetizer and caesar, and lobster. 
i got the caesar, lobster and gnocchi.

mark, our server, saw that we had done our tails justice and looked at J and said, “I will bring you another!” before she could say anything, he was off!
i sat there thinking, man, where will she put it? and thank god he didn’t offer to bring me one, since i have this delicious gnocchi to eat.
oh, foolish, FOOLISH me. 
he came back in record time with a bowl — to which i wondered “why would he need a full size bowl???” with TWO TAILS 
AND THEN GENTLY PLACED ONE IN FRONT OF EACH OF US. 

(round 2)
it was sooooooo good. perfectly cooked, tender and not chewy. 
 
in fact, it almost made up for the fact that we had a table with two australians talking about how you have to eat kangaroo cooked rare or else it will be too tough to chew. 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
thankfully there was lemon sorbet for dessert to cleanse the palate and make us feel slightly less ill.

between that, the mint tea, AND the charcoal capsule — don’t cruise without it tbh — i feel like a new human. which could be considered fairly shocking, given the two glasses of champagne, two lobster tails, and who knows what else  😅
after dinner, we briefly rallied to retrieve some ducks for hiding. J hid hers and i hid one on top of the slide exit at the abyss on the boardwalk. i watched a little kid grab one of J’s, which always makes me happy. 
and as we stood for seven minutes (or so it seemed) waiting for a non-packed to the gills elevator, i realized: i have yet to find a SINGLE DUCK. 😤😩😱🫠🙃
so we came back to the cabin and i decided i would try to find one tomorrow. 
now i am not quite sure how things will shake out; the captain said our situation is “very fluid” — whatever that means — so i wonder if we will even be back to port in time on sunday at all. 
i just hope whoever got hurt is okay 💚💚💚

IMG_7319.mov

i diverted and had lobster instead 😂