chodnett

Hey all! We are just back from our Spring Break Oasis of the Seas sailing, which sailed away on Easter Sunday. Below are my key takeaways from the cruise, and I'm open to any questions you may have. Notes: This was an Easter sailing, which sailed away on Easter Sunday. There were over 2,000 kids on this particular cruise. Our original itinerary included Labadee, but it got switched out with CocoCay, giving us back-to-back days at Perfect Day. We were in an Oceanview stateroom on the 3rd deck. Highlights Aqua80 is just the best show at sea. I would sail Oasis just to watch this show. One of our Perfect Day stops was shared with Symphony of the Seas. I was worried about crowds, but the island handled it so well! This may have been one of the best bar staffs I've ever encountered. All of them were friendly, and the service was fast! There were several surprise and delights on this trip, including balloon animals every morning in the Windjammer. Low-lights The Supercell Waterslide was broken the entire week. There were some unexpected signs of wear and tear across the ship. Hot tubs were in dire need of resurfacing, there was more rust than I'm used to seeing on Royal, and we noticed several dining chairs with rips and tears. Our stateroom attendant was unusually rude. On debarkation day at 7:45 am, he knocked on our door and told us to hurry up and check out because he was coming in at 8 am to start cleaning whether we left or not. Yikes. I'm still concerned about the quality of the free food around the ships. Since COVID, I've noticed a pattern of decreased food quality.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Here are the screenshots I’ve got. Mobile and Web.

Website. App. Cleared cookies. Same result.

I received an Email from Royal that entertainment was now available to book for our upcoming Oasis sailing (end of March). But, when I've logged in to book, the entertainment page gives me the "we're putting the finishing touches..." page. I've never had this happen before, and I'm curious if it's typical, or something wrong on my end.

Hey Cheryl! There is no Broadway show on Wonder. Plenty of other great entertainment. The Aqua show, InTense, is second only to Aqua80s IMO. As for your other question, I’m not sure if you really meant Thyme or Theme. There was no Thyme night. There was an 80s theme night!

I want to say it was the first sea day, which for us was Tuesday. It took place at 2 pm.

Oh shoot. No - we'll be in late March for my kid's Spring Break.

No height requirements for Splashaway Bay slides only. This is back-to-back cruises (on different ships) for us where the lifeguards have told us that Royal made this change in February 2023, and the new restriction is “comfortability.” If the child is comfortable, they can slide. This is not inclusive of Perfect Storm water slides.

That’s probably one of the most underrated aspects of Wonder, despite the 6800 people onboard, we never felt the crowd, outside of embarkation day. We never had to wait for a table, elevator, or pool chair. I also thought the entertainment and activity team did a great job of balancing the offerings throughout the ship to disperse the crowds. One thing I noted - they were putting prime shows during peak pool times. Love & Marriage and Battle of the Sexes were both scheduled for 2 pm on Sea Days for this cruise.

We had one dinner in the WJ. I prefer dinner in WJ compared to lunch and breakfast, as there is more variety. I did experience a wok station, but don’t recall pasta. I really like how they do a Burger of the Day in the WJ on Wonder! Also, the kids corner was a highlight for my little guys.

Hey all! We just returned from a 7-night Eastern Caribbean + Perfect Day sailing on Wonder of the Seas. This was Fall Break for our kiddos, and we sailed with extended family, too. For reference, we booked connecting interior staterooms to double our space. Top 3 This ship is beautiful. Great flow. Clever pool deck with fun out-of-pocket bars. Everything just felt “right” about this ship’s design. Standing alone - this is the best Windjammer design in the fleet. We never had to wait for a table. Captain Trym & Cruise Director Ricky were both fantastic and enhanced the cruise experience. Bottom 3 We just couldn’t find the desire to book another cruise while on-board. The pricing is just in a tough spot, as Royal continues to climb out the pandemic, financially. The Smoking area on pool deck is large and the smell travels into the Windjammer. This is by far the worst mini-golf course of the fleet. It’s beautiful, but not functional. Some of the gimmicks were not working. Notes Confirmed: No height requirements for Splashaway Bay. Potty trained and comfortability. First time I’ve seen the ability to view and purchase cruise photos in the app. This was the first cruise I’ve been on where the bars ran out of ingredients. We’ve always been overly encouraged to fill out the survey, but on this cruise, they started the pitch on night 2, and it only intensified with each passing day. Hit me with any questions!

The gym was great. But…. I never went into the sauna. Sorry?

Very smooth! A little rain on embarkation, and for the first 30 minutes after debark at CocoCay, but otherwise, beautiful weather and calm seas.

Great question! On Indy, Izumi is mostly hibachi. There’s a small area for sushi, too. But mostly hibachi.

I’m gong to be honest about Fish n Ships… they’d be better off putting El Loco Fresh in this spot. It’s nice having another free spot, but the chicken is on par with Windjammer chicken strips. We did not go to Grease on this sailing. Sorry!

Independence of the Seas - 4 Nights - Nassau, Perfect Day - 8/14/23-8/18/23 Hey all! We’re just off our 4-night cruise on Independence of the Seas. Below are my Top 3 / Bottom 3, and I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. Top 3 1) Chops Grille remains undefeated. It continues to be my favorite meal at sea. 2) Adventure Ocean is such a fantastic benefit. My kids proactively ask to go each night. 3) Really love the pool strategy on Indy. Great main pool area, plenty of hot tubs, and Splashaway Bay with a large kids pool is such a win. Bottom 3 1) Surprisingly, I would rate this as the “least friendly” cruise I’ve been on. Most crew just seemed to be getting by. Our Stateroom attendant barely spoke to us all week, even when passing him and trying to speak to him in the hall. 2) I had inconsistent experience with Diamond Drinks on CocoCay. Each time, I would ask the bartender to use my Diamond drink. Twice, I was still charged. Both times (different bartenders), they said I could just use my remaining drinks back onboard. Pretty frustrating. 3) The food in the Windjammer on this sailing was subpar. We normally love WJ food, and will eat nearly every breakfast and lunch there. But we found ourselves going to Sorrentos or Fish & Ships just so we weren’t subjected to the disappointment.

Hey all! We're headed out on Wonder of the Seas this September. I've currently booked Mason Jar for Brunch, and Chops for Dinner. Am I better off going with the Chops + 1 Dining Package, or keeping it as-is? I really don't want to risk not being able to go for Brunch at Mason Jar.

UPDATE: My TA followed up with Royal Caribbean directly and discovered that not only do we not have to pay for the room change, Royal is actually allowing us to add in the infant to our existing stateroom! Thanks everyone for the responses.

Correct. The baby will be 7 months by the time of sailing.

Hey everyone! I’m looking for your input on a situation I’m in. We are booked on Wonder of the Seas this September. We originally booked two connecting interior staterooms, with myself and one child in one and my wife and other child in the other. Well, my wife just gave birth to our third child. I contacted our TA add the newborn to one of the rooms. Her response is that no triple occupancy interior rooms are available. She offered to move one of our rooms to an Oceanview Balcony room (which is understandably way more expensive), but she said this would trigger the change fee of $200, and I would have to pay the new deposit. I would have assumed that since one of the rooms would be moving up a category, it wouldn’t trigger a change fee. Knowing that I need to add the newborn, what is the most economical move to make it happen?

Was able to snag a KSF offer for this one over Fall Break and couldn’t pass it up!

Looking forward to this! It will be myself, my wife, our three kids, my in-laws, and my wife’s brother and his fiancé. 9 of us total! We chose this sailing for Wonder and the Mason Jar (snagged a Brunch reservation already!)

Ashley!! Brilliant! Didn’t consider that brunch would be a totally separate option, but there it was. I snagged one for our cruise! Thank you!

Hey all! Appreciate the help. We're sailing on Wonder in September. I've heard that reservations are a must for Mason Jar. I'm attempting to book through my Cruise Planner, but I'm only seeing dinner options (6 or 8:30 pm). These timeslots are available every night of the cruise. Question: Are reservations available for Brunch, and I've just missed out? Or are they necessary for brunch?

Thanks! But Uber/Lyft in FL don’t have car seat options, correct? We need an option that provides an alternative to traveling with car seats.