Lovetocruise2002

Our Genie Marla….where do I begin? I have heard many wonderful things through the years about Marla. It was such a blessing to be able to not just meet her, but sail with her, and get to know her. The rumours are true, Marla is wonderful. She is such a happy and genuine person, full of energy and laughter, who clearly has a passion for what she does. It did not take her very long to read the different personalities in our group. She was great with the kids, and I will treasure some of our chats. She definitely read our survey as there were things she surprised us with that she would not have known otherwise. We are going to miss Marla dearly. Hoping to see her again in the near future

This morning’s departure: Marla came to pick us up at 8:15am, as promised. The priority for the elevators was nice as elevators have been very hard to catch all sailing. She lead us all the way to the Terminal building where we said our goodbyes She passed us off to Sergio. We met him last Saturday in the suites check in area. Sergio escorted our group all the way past customs right to the bus bay where our ride was waiting. The Miami departure process was extremely smooth again. From room to curb it was about 20mins tops. Probably faster if we didn’t have a group of 10. Five in our group did not pass facial recognition at customs and that slowed us down a few minutes. I highly recommend QLS transportation. They have been great from pre-cruise communication right to the very end.

Thank you for following along! That sounds like a fantastic sailing that you have coming up on Oasis. We all still have very fond memories of our trip on the Disney Fantasy back in 2017 with all 14 of us. Soak in all the memories.

That brings us to the end of our sailing. Marla is meeting us at 8:15am tomorrow and we booked the same shuttle service (private van for 10) to pick us up tomorrow. I will do final thoughts tomorrow. Need to catch a few hours of sleep first.

After Hibachi, we went to see iSkate. This show is a little more casual than 1887 and if you have time, you should definitely squeeze it in. It’s worth your time. Videos on IG…upload will likely take forever again. This is probably the worst wifi we have experienced in quite some time. Even our sailing to Norway was better than this!

Dinner Night 7 brought us to Izumi Hibachi. This was a hard one to arrange for a group of 10. We told Marla we wanted to squeeze together. Hibachi tables usually only seat 8. That was fine but we pretty much had to stick with the time that Marla grabbed for us. That was at 7:15pm tonight. We did not have to book it first pre-cruise. Like the other specialty restaurants, we have done this one before but the rest of my family has not. Hibachi is always fun! Lots of laughs! D14 finally caught the egg thrown at her this time (IYKYK).

It’s a “no reservations needed” show. You just have to look for it on the cruise compass and show up. So you are not out of it That kid has always been a foodie lol Yes, my sister and her family kept their tickets and we all just used the cabana as a home base. Other than myself, the rest of them were barely in it anyway. No one bothered us about coming and going from the cabana. The Waterpark cabana food menu is exactly the same thing you find at the Snack Shack so we didn’t even end up ordering from the attendant. We just got our own food at different times.

Yes and yes (for a max of 6 guests).

It definitely was included for us when we sailed Allure in December 2021. I know because I had the chicken wings and a frozen margarita there.

I forgot this in the earlier post. You can tell from this picture how the cabana is hidden behind plants. Cabana #42 is this one right here with the teal roof and blue umbrella.

Classic 16 year old…

Cabana #42 - great location - close to wave pool and Snack Shack - private and hidden by plants - @Mike6453 service was attentive. We are not too high maintenance, and did not ask for much, so they did not come by as often. But I watched them go to other cabanas very frequently. The cabana comes with towels, 6 bottles of water, and a safe. There is also a plug in the back right corner.

Hubby has reappeared and sent me the photos from his phone. CocoCay arrival When we arrived at the Waterpark, we were asked to check in with the Cabana Concierge first. It was there that we got a wristband. Everyone in your party gets one. After they hand out your wristbands, you meet your cabana attendant and from there they lead you off to your cabana.

Agreed. I don’t think it should…

Another inconsistency to Star Class, or cost cutting, however you want to look at it. The food at Captain Jack’s is no longer included. It does cost extra now. When we sailed star on Allure in December 2021, we did not pay extra for the food there.

This is the only reason I would get off the ship without a cabana Snack Shack Funnel Cake

I am now here and settled in my “happy place” for the day. Even better, everyone has disappeared parents are wandering, and the rest have run off to do slides. More cabana pics to come later. Hubby took pics but he has vanished as well. Random Observation: Wifi speeds, especially upload, are just as terrible here at PDCC Thrill Waterpark Cabana menu:

Ending our cruise in CocoCay is not what I love. I would rather this have been the first day or better yet, Day 6. Either way, we are making the best of it. We arrived at CocoCay around 8:45am and were cleared to get off the ship around 9:30am. Marla came to pick us up because today we actually rented a cabana. I use the term “we” loosely. Hubby found out about a week ago because D14 spilled the beans over dinner. Those of you who follow my blogs know that Hubby is quite opposed to spending money on a cabana. However, it made a bit more sense this time. Originally, my sister, her family, Hubby, D16, and D14 booked Waterpark tickets. They were not cheap. $113pp over Black Friday. My parents were just going to wander around and I was planning to stay on the ship. When I factored in the cost of including my parents and myself (if we were to have purchased tickets) and the cost of the cabana (which includes 6 tickets), it was only about $300 more for the cabana. So for $300 more we can now all go together, and have a home base, that made it worthwhile to me, and I think that Hubby could see reason with that.

Day 7 - PDCC

We did on the first night. After falling in love with it on SY, Hubby, the kids, and I all agreed that it was not as good on HM. That indeed is the great, and wonderful Marla. Don’t let the crowds deter you from trying oasis class if you have the opportunity. There are moments where the ship does feel crowded, like the promenade parties for example. However, there are endless places to go to be alone as well. That is the beauty of an Oasis class ship. They are designed to disperse crowds.

That is pretty much how it was with my family. Only Hubby and I had been there before so it was pretty funny with the rest of them. Hubby said he liked it better this time because he set his expectations so low

You and I really do think alike sometimes. I am definitely finding it a bit more hectic than I am used to. But it’s ok. I knew going into this it would be. I wouldn’t trade the memories for anything.

Ended the night with the 70s Disco Inferno Party.

After Chops, we headed to the theatre to see Columbus. They revealed at the end of the show that this was the first performance of Columbus for this cast. That probably means that we also saw one of their first performances of Grease as well. That explains the slightly shaky performance from the other night. Columbus was good, weird, and funny as usual. Videos on IG. (But it will take forever to upload)

Dinner was back at Chops tonight. Food was great again. Our waiter seemed a bit scattered and overwhelmed. A few items were forgotten from our order but he did some cool magic tricks for the kids. It all worked out.