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🎄 🎄Festivus Star Class Miracle - Oasis December 19-26th


Jax

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2 hours ago, MLH said:

Is your Stateroom attendent's official name Camilla?  We have had her a number of times before star and she is great.  We are heading there at the end of Jan, but staying in a Aquatheater, but I will for sure go by and see her on 17 and bring her some surprises.

Yes that’s Cami! She takes such great care of us. You may miss her as she is leaving in 3 weeks to return to Romania.  

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18 hours ago, calvink669 said:

Just an FYI, our genie Leticia is in quarantine due to have a close contact.  She is negative but has to quarantine for 10 days.  We now have  Rahul for the last 2 days.

That’s such awful news. Protocols have noticeably tightened though since the start of our cruise. Genies now wear N95 masks under their royal Caribbean mask. We have noticed this enhanced protocol in several departments. 

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Mini Golf ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was a lot of fun! Some of us 🙋‍♀️got a few hole in ones. Some of us didn’t. Lol 

** The only criticism was the empty receptacle of sanitizing wipes. This has happened twice but I understand wipes can quickly be used.  I messaged Shane and they were quickly replenished.   

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Chops Christmas Menu 

Out last dinner was at Chops and although it was their holiday menu it was not any different than the menu this week. It was included for star class but there was an additional charge of $99 for our friends with the UDP.  A bit steep given it was essentially the same menu they were eating at for free all week.  I was beefed out so tried the organic chicken which was very good. The highlight for Reyd was the desserts; he and Lindsay sampled cheesecake, warm chocolate cake, chocolate loaf and a tray of assorted treats. 

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Christmas Show ⭐⭐⭐️ 1/2 

It was a good show, not great.  We were expecting more of the classic Christmas songs.  As always our seats were amazing.  
**Same theatre protocol on masking as previously posted. 
**This is the line heading to the Christmas  show. We have been spoiled with priority access and seating.  It has been a great perk this cruise.  

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Shane stopped by tonight for a visit and we gave him his gift + tip. I knew his contract was ending shortly so these 2 products from Saje will be useful for his upcoming travel.  The pocket farmacy is one of my must have travel items plus the travel safe kit. Both are very compact and can be taken onboard flights.  We will see Shane tomorrow morning for our disembarkation.  
Our friends also tipped Shane for everything he did for them; he included them in all our dining and activities and treated them to a wonderful cruise experience. He is not only a great genie but a genuinely nice person. More on Shane later.  

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I can’t believe we have to leave this beautiful ship today but it’s been a fantastic trip! I will recap some final thoughts shortly but wanted to thank everyone for following along.  

Picking up a car rental and heading back to MCO today.  Staying at Hyatt Regency MCO airport and praying for a full flight crew tomorrow.  

 

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Disembarkation process 

As previously noted, we met Shane at the bionic bar on deck 5. He walked with us as far as the elevators and handed us off to a terminal concierge person who took us to our luggage collection area and then through US customs and to the taxi lane. Taxi to Miami airport was $28.  We really appreciated this assistance as it was our first time to Miami Terminal.  Pretty sure we would have missed the CBP line for Canadian passport holders without her.  Hope we have as much luck with CBSA as we did with the CBP agent. 
We met Shane at 8:30 am and were through the lengthy CBP line (star class perks are no longer recognized and reality is setting in Lol) and into our taxi by 8:56. Reached the car rental at Miami Airport and collected our car by 9:30 and currently on the I95 on route to Orlando.  Hoping for a better trip to MCO. I felt like I raced in the Daytona 500 on the way to Miami. Lol 

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3 hours ago, Jax said:

We shared this picture with Shane.

Great pic!  Thanks for taking us on your adventure!  It's been fun following along!  I think I'll be going through blog withdrawals soon now that you and @Lovetocruise2002 have both completed your twin cruises !! 😩😩  

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15 minutes ago, CravingaCruise said:

Great pic!  Thanks for taking us on your adventure!  It's been fun following along!  I think I'll be going through blog withdrawals soon now that you and @Lovetocruise2002 have both completed your twin cruises !! 😩😩  

Haha I am going through Star class and Shane withdrawals. 😩 

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Thoughts on Grand Panoramic Suite 

We loved many aspects of the room; the decor is beautiful, it is one level and we loved the close access to CK. There are definitely some privacy issues; the biggest in the master bath and bedroom area but we knew that going in The biggest ah ha moment was when I learned that the master bedroom windows are not one way; people can see you! You need to remember to put up the privacy shades. We weren’t fond of the frosted glass door to the master bedroom or master toilet area. If you don’t go to bed at the same time the light from one area affects people trying to sleep in the other area. Plus the wall separating the living area and master bedroom does not go to the ceiling, so noise from the TV may be an issue if you have staggered bed times. None of these things would stop us from booking this room again; in fact both Lindsay and Reyd loved the room. 

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Hot tub review 

As requested our hot tub was filled on embarkation day.  I wasn’t sure what to expect; I had doubts that it was a hot tub. It is not a hot tub, it is a jacuzzi tub so the water needs to be filled for each use and therefore there is no water treatment required.  We found that over time the tub will drain itself.  By late afternoon on embarkation day the water had drained on its own.  I hoped to use it as a plunge pool on a hot day, but we were just too busy to enjoy this feature.  Maybe next time.  

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34 minutes ago, Jax said:

Hot tub review 

As requested our hot tub was filled on embarkation day.  I wasn’t sure what to expect; I had doubts that it was a hot tub. It is not a hot tub, it is a jacuzzi tub so the water needs to be filled for each use and therefore there is no water treatment required.  We found that over time the tub will drain itself.  By late afternoon on embarkation day the water had drained on its own.  I hoped to use it as a plunge pool on a hot day, but we were just too busy to enjoy this feature.  Maybe next time.  

Hmmm…I wonder if that is what happened to ours one night. Hubby had filled it one afternoon so he could soak for sail away but made the water too hot. So he said he would leave it and go after dinner cause we had reservations to catch. By the time we got back from dinner, it was empty and he thought our loft attendant had drained it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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23 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Hmmm…I wonder if that is what happened to ours one night. Hubby had filled it one afternoon so he could soak for sail away but made the water too hot. So he said he would leave it and go after dinner cause we had reservations to catch. By the time we got back from dinner, it was empty and he thought our loft attendant had drained it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We had the identical tub in 12648 (2BR GS) on Oasis - We really enjoyed it but as you have both pointed out, it is basically a VERY large jacuzzi bath tub. You fill it with normal water (no chlorine or salt water) from a normal spigot - it takes close to an hour at least to fill. 

I did the same as your husband and over did it with the hot water - it was way too hot.  I had to drain it down and then add some cold to get it right (took another half hour). 

I'm guessing that your attendant did drain it as I don't think it would have fully drained with the stopper in during your dinner.  Our attendant definitely cleaned ours regularly as we did use it a few times.

I found no information before my cruise on these Jacuzzi's as they are pretty rare, even in suites, so this will hopefully be helpful for future guests.

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17 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Hmmm…I wonder if that is what happened to ours one night. Hubby had filled it one afternoon so he could soak for sail away but made the water too hot. So he said he would leave it and go after dinner cause we had reservations to catch. By the time we got back from dinner, it was empty and he thought our loft attendant had drained it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Probably a pretty good chance it drained on its own. We watched ours slowly drain. 

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I think I mentioned that my plastic face mask was permitted onboard.  I usually wore it; sometimes my N95 depending on the situation and my perceived level of risk.  Not looking for opinions on the effectiveness of various masks; posting to inform readers that this is a permitted mask onboard Oasis. 

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On 12/25/2021 at 8:43 AM, Jax said:

They told me photo books have also been discontinued. 😢 That is too bad as we always purchased one. 

I was on Oasis in early November and I got an email from Royal/Mixbook later offering me a free book for having sailed! I put all my photos in and only had to pay shipping ($6.99us). Pretty cool. Keep an eye out! 

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WestJet ❎
We made it to MCO airport, are checked in and are anxiously hoping our plane gets here without further delay. We were informed at checkin that no food or beverages will be available onboard. And I mean none.  Not even water. This flight is full of families with children; I can’t imagine what they are thinking. Because we are flying WestJet Premium we received a voucher for $45. It is unbelievable that guests on a 5 1/2 hour flight have no food or beverages available. And it gets worse; the kiosks where you can purchase beverages don’t accept the voucher. 🤦‍♀️ So far we have spent $36 on beverages and $60 for 3 burger combos. Where is Shane????? 😫 He would fix this immediately. Lol

Seriously at this point we will be glad to get home.  

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32 minutes ago, Jax said:

WestJet ❎
We made it to MCO airport, are checked in and are anxiously hoping our plane gets here without further delay. We were informed at checkin that no food or beverages will be available onboard. And I mean none.  Not even water. This flight is full of families with children; I can’t imagine what they are thinking. Because we are flying WestJet Premium we received a voucher for $45. It is unbelievable that guests on a 5 1/2 hour flight have no food or beverages available. And it gets worse; the kiosks where you can purchase beverages don’t accept the voucher. 🤦‍♀️ So far we have spent $36 on beverages and $60 for 3 burger combos. Where is Shane????? 😫 He would fix this immediately. Lol

Seriously at this point we will be glad to get home.  

Flying these days has gone from really bad to almost intolerable.  It is easily the worst part of vacation these days.  

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2 hours ago, DDaley said:

I was on Oasis in early November and I got an email from Royal/Mixbook later offering me a free book for having sailed! I put all my photos in and only had to pay shipping ($6.99us). Pretty cool. Keep an eye out! 

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I received the email too…and I believe I was on the same cruise with you. 😊. Great offer!

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On 12/7/2021 at 4:57 PM, Jax said:

I am going to try out a new purchase to track our luggage. I will report back on how they worked. Anyone else use Apple AirTags in their luggage.  
Full disclaimer, I am still evaluating their performance but there isn’t an apple product I don’t love. 😍

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I love mine, keep them in all the suitcases and backpacks, and one in my headphone case because I’m prone to leaving those on a plane. 

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19 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

I love mine, keep them in all the suitcases and backpacks, and one in my headphone case because I’m prone to leaving those on a plane. 

Yeah they work great! There was a brief moment of panic when Find my IPhone said the tags were left behind in YYC but it just takes a few minutes to update their location.  

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17 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

We made the mistake of traveling back home to DC for Christmas after moving to Florida. I’m getting really used to 80 degree days in Orlando. Was in the 30s F today in DC and I was freezing. 

I hear you. We were out of the cold for 11 days and it’s hard to go back. Lol Calgary is currently -29 with extreme cold warning with extremely cold wind chill values between -40 and -55. And we don’t land till around midnight tonight. 🥶 

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On 12/21/2021 at 10:13 PM, Jax said:

Random observation on outlets in master bedroom. Outlets in master bedroom are scarce. There is only one outlet on each bed side table and the table lamps are using them.  2 euro plugs on each side. So we have unplugged the lamps so we can plug in our device chargers. I should have brought euro adapters. Our attendant Cami brought her personal one for us but we need the new smaller USB C ones. 

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Gotta follow the advice of Jamie from Harr Travel on YouTube, always bring an European plug adapter. 

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On 12/22/2021 at 8:38 PM, Jax said:

Random thoughts on room so far: I tried laying down for the first time and you can definitely hear music from deck 16 and possibly 15. (Pool area) Nothing a set of ear plugs couldn’t solve but certainly more noise than other suites we have stayed in.

I’m thinking this is going to be one of my favorite parts of having the Villa Suite on Harmony in April. It’s midship on deck 12 so it should be pretty quiet out on the balcony and in the hot tub. 

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On 12/24/2021 at 11:31 PM, Jax said:

Headliner Stephanie Parker ⭐⭐⭐⭐️ maybe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you are a Whitney Houston fan you will love this tribute. We all enjoyed her show. Wish she would have talked less and sang more. It was quite interactive.  

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I’ve noticed on multiple cruises this year that so many of the headliners spend half the show trying to convince you why they are deserving. They treat it like it’s an episode of American Idol or the Voice, I don’t care about the backstory, I came for the music. 

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33 minutes ago, Jax said:

Yeah they work great! There was a brief moment of panic when Find my IPhone said the tags were left behind in YYC but it just takes a few minutes to update their location.  

Yeah, it was really good being able to illustrate how slow our baggage was yesterday at BWI, could see the tags still sitting near where we deplaned. 

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CBSA update

Flight arrived in YYC @10:45pm local time. Completed Nexus and was directed to a CBSA agent. (This is a new process. We use to be able to bypass the CBSA agent and go directly to baggage claim.)
Questions Asked:

1. Where are you coming from?  Florida
2. What was the purpose of your trip? Pleasure.                                               3. Where did you go? Cruise        
4. What did you buy? Xxx                
5. What was the value of goods purchased? Xxx

Agent says: Your son has been selected for random arrival testing. He circled Reyd’s picture from Nexus slip and told us what to do. 

Process if selected for Random Arrival Testing 

Once luggage is collected you hand the agent the Nexus slip. There is a different line and another CBSA agent that you will see.  From there you are given a couple choices. One adult accompanies your child to the testing area and the other adult can leave and go get the vehicle or all of you can accompany your child to the testing area.  
There was a long line for testing. While waiting in line, you need to scan a QR code and set up an account for the person being tested. It is a switch health account.  The first person you see in Line 1 makes sure the account is set up and gives you the test kit. From there you go to another long line 2 to be tested.  I will receive an email with test results within a day or two. 

We landed at 10:45pm local time and left the airport at 1:00am. Luggage was  delayed and contributed to our late departure from airport.  But it’s been a long day. 😴 🥱 💤 

It looked like most of the plane had at least one person in their party selected for random testing. We were grateful that Lindsay was not selected as he has his return to work PCR test scheduled for tomorrow morning and did not want to be in isolation pending test results.  
I will report back on test results timeline.  

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Update on Random Arrival Testing 

I forgot to talk about the quarantine requirements pending negative test result. This process was vague and confusing. The CBSA agent never advised us of quarantine requirements but gave us a Covid handout (attached) to review. The handout differs from what is on the travel.gc.ca website because it does not mention quarantine pending negative test results for fully vaccinated travellers. 

The quarantine requirements on travel.gc.ca are this: 

If you were outside Canada or the US in the past 14 days the person must quarantine pending test results. 
If you were not outside Canada or the US in the past 14 days you do not have to quarantine pending test results. 

To be safe Reyd will quarantine pending a negative test result. But this process needs to be clarified because not all returning travellers may check the travel.go.ca website.  

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