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.

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

I've always been able to reserve before getting that email. Are you on the app? I was only able to do it on the website planner. If you are on the website, have you tried clearing cookies?

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.

6 hours ago, Cheryl Celentano said:

Was there thyme nite and broad way show is on the wonder

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!

6 minutes ago, Qeyton Dude said:

Thanks for your feedback, we are on in early NOV, and just had the opportunity to book entertainment.  Can you tell us the day and time for the love and marriage game show?  We don't want any conflicts, but its not listed yet  Thanks

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

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Totally agree with the points about ship design/flow, captain/CD, and mini golf. They ran out of ingredients at bars and Starbucks on our July sailing as well. You would figure that they could plan that out better. At Starbucks, they even said it was because so many kids were on board lol. For some drinks, they could not make them by Day 2. I could not believe it! Also, totally agree with pricing becoming ultra depressing. No comment on the WJ 

@chodnett I noticed on your signature that you are sailing Oasis in March 2024? Any chance you are on the March 10th sailing? 

 

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

5 hours ago, Magster said:

Hi!

"No height requirements for Splashaway Bay"

So no requirements for slides? Are you sure?

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.

28 minutes ago, KJ777 said:

Thank you for this!  We're going on the Wonder December 3 and this is great information.  I'm excited to check out the WJ after hearing your thoughts on it.  Honestly, I love going down there, not just for the food but also the people watching!  

Does the ship have an overcrowded feel or is it pretty open?  

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.

22 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Was on Wonder in June but was treated to a GS with extended family so didn't spend much time in the WJ, just popped in during breakfast and lunch a few times. Agree about the layout.

We have several future Wonder cruises booked and we'll be back to sailing frugally. Did you have any dinners there? If so, any highlights? Was there a cook to order station (pasta/wok)?

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!

3 hours ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

Hi Gym question, what is the sauna/steam room layout? Is it still separate for men and women?

Thanks, Mitch

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

6 minutes ago, Florz said:

How did the ship handle the seas? Was it smooth sailing?

Very smooth! 
 

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

7 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

I have a reservation next month to go to Izumi Hibachi on board. Is it JUST the hibachi or is there a regular Izumi restaurant too?

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

40 minutes ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

I’ll be on Indy in November.  How is the chicken at Fish ‘n Ships?  I understand the smaller snack items are now free…which is nice.

Did you check out Grease in the main theater?  Haven’t seen any recent reviews….

Thanks for answering

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.

18 minutes ago, Xaa said:

The baby appears to be born already so they will definitely be 6 months by September.

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!)

10 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

It's showing on my Wonder sailing in the Cruise Planner under dining as Mason Jar Brunch, completely separate from the Mason Jar option which only has the dinner times.  

Reservations are highly recommended, so if not available pre-cruise make a beeline there when you board and try to get reservations.  It's also usually open for brunch on embarkation day, so if you come hungry you may be able to snag it as your boarding meal!

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?

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We always use Uber/Lyft. Cheapest and less hassle than waiting for a shuttle.

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.