Lovetocruise2002

And while this cruise was much busier than what we are used to, never was there a moment where it was lost on me that these bigger family moments are far and rare. We enjoyed our time together this week; great laughs and memories. Thank you all for joining us.

Some of you know from my previous blogs that Hubby really can’t help himself and loves to recreate photos. You might remember our Icon one from last year…. Well, here is the one we are going home with today.

If I have forgotten anything, please ask. Now just sitting at the gate waiting for our plane. Going to be another few hours. There was an earlier 11:30am flight to DTW but we did not want to risk it, coming from Cape Canaveral. So now we are stuck here until almost 2:30pm. The good news is that the inbound flight is on the way already so fingers crossed for uneventful travel.

Last but not least, our Genie Carlos was awesome! Actually, all 3 genies on UT are awesome. They are a solid genie team on this ship. Carlos is super personable. Even on the first day you feel like you have known him for a while. He was able to accommodate all we needed, and even things we did not need, he came through for us. We would love to run into him again, hopefully at the end of the year.

Our cabin was on Deck 9, which was a great location for my parents. Very central. Lots of storage even for 5 of us. There was definitely noise from the Aqua Theatre. Any time there was a show, rehearsal, movie, you can hear it. While the balcony definitely makes this room, and the interior of the room itself is nicer than the older Oasis class ships, I would still prefer to be on Deck 17/18.

Some final thoughts…… Utopia is so similar to Wonder. Much like how when I sailed SY for the first time, I felt like I was still on HM. No real deal breaker differences that would push me one way or another if pricing became a factor. Pesky Parrot is a fun venue but not worth booking the ship over. And it’s not like Rye&Bean level that I still think of long after I’ve returned home. The destination elevators were slightly disappointing. They are better than regular ones for sure, but not even close to being as good as Icon’s. Wonder definitely has better shows, if that is your thing. While the shows on UT are not terrible, I would not consider them great either compared to some of the other Royal options. Suite amenities and areas seem identical to Wonder. But these small things aside, we still had a fantastic time. The short sailings on a ship like this are too short. I did not mind it on AL over NYE but this one I definitely felt like I was not ready to leave yet. Perhaps it was because it was my first time on this ship, or perhaps because it was just busier in general with a larger group, I am not really sure. I am just looking forward to sailing UT again at the end of this year.

Oh, noise was fine. It was peaceful and quiet. I actually hate flying out of MCO. Out of all the airports we usually fly in/out of, MCO is my least favourite. It can have super long TSA lines, although today was not too bad, there is barely any seating at the gates and it’s super congested.

Walked out of the suite lounge with Carlos at 8:15am and was at the curb outside of the terminal by 8:30am. Really long lines disembarking. Cortran’s met us at Zone B with a sign just as they described and service is friendly. They are a family business. I highly recommend them. We are now heading to MCO. Hoping security lines are not too long there…..

We spent a lot of time in the Solarium this sailing, probably because the first two days were cooler and windy. It’s pretty similar to the one on Wonder. I did not spot many differences, or at least none that mattered to me.

Thank you all for following another one of our adventures! I am glad you asked this because I forgot to mention it. I did not find the pool deck loud, but loud noises don’t usually bother me in a setting like the pool deck where I expect it to be loud. “All In” the theater show was loud. “Aqua80too” was also very loud; we could hear it clearly from our room with the doors closed. The most annoying thing was actually Central Park. That is the only location where it bothered me. You expect that setting to be a bit more peaceful and calm but there is a lot of noise bleed there from the pool deck above. You can hear the music loud and clear while sitting in CP and that was annoying.

Yes, worth it to upgrade at that price

I’m here for this one!

I will come back tomorrow, while at the airport for final thoughts. Let me know if you have any other questions and I will try to answer them. For now I’ll say goodnight and leave you with a couple more pics. The lighting last night in Central Park made for some really great photos. I love this one of my sister and I. And I am really going to miss this guy!

We are all packed up now. Utopia’s rule for suites is you must be completely out by 8am. Because our shuttle pick up is not until 8:45am, we will wait for Carlos in the suite lounge until 8:15am before we leave. No point waiting around in the terminal. We booked a private shuttle for the entire family with Cortran’s. $200 flat for all of us. I thought that was decent.

Some random photos from wandering around with Hubby earlier.

As you all know, dinner was a Mason Jar tonight. My parents decided that they did not care for MJ after brunch on Day 1 so last night Carlos moved them over to 150 CP for tonight. They reported back that they loved it. We had a great meal at MJ! We tried and shared a whole bunch of things and my niece had two chicken pot pies! This remains one of my favourite Royal restaurants. Probably this one and Giovanni’s Kitchen. I am pretty certain I liked the Apple Pie Old fashioned because I normally sip Anejo at home. It really does remind me of that. My sister had a sip and it was not for her. So our waiter was spot on for that.

I don’t do well when someone tells me I cannot so I ordered it it was actually pretty good. It reminds me when I drink Anejo neat with a slight hint of apple pie flavour. My sister ate the apple pie lol

My sister just tried and the waiter wouldn’t let her! He said he strongly would not recommend it lol

@OCSC Mike

We had a really nice afternoon. Hubby stayed on the wave for 4 hours. He was done around noon. By then, the rest of the family had returned from PDCC and Hubby and I took another walk around the ship. When we returned to turn cabin an hour or so later, they were doing a full practice run of Aqua80too so we watched it again. Then the whole family went to get Bubble cones and Izumi in the Park one more time. Security guard was still in the hall when we returned. Now heading to dinner shortly.

Hubby actually saw it happen.

One last bubble cone….

Hubby comes back to the room from the wave around noon. He said there was a guy down our hall throwing up. Security guards and room attendant were around him. Now we just left the room cause Hubby is in search of food. The mess seems to be cleaned up (poor room attendants) but now there is a security guard siting outside of his door.

The raspberry chimi thing was super sweet. There was a ton of cream cheese (or something like it) in it.

It’s from The Spare Tire, aka the food truck on Deck 15. Only on Utopia at the moment. I would have if they had a sailing leaving NJ/NY the 3rd week of July. But nothing.