mk-ultra Posted April 11, 2022 Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 I normally wouldn't start posting before I'm actually on my trip, but with all the Covid fun and testing and whatnot, I'm going to start a few days early this time because it may be useful to others. Basics: Ultimate Panoramic Suite, Deck 14 Forward. Stupidly rare cabin (there are only two in Royal's fleet and I just lucked out when they were released for booking late November 2019). It's Star Class, so this should be fun. Itinerary: Miami Cococay At Sea Cozumel Roatan Costa Maya At Sea Miami Like most of you, I need a negative Covid test before boarding. Save yourself some heartache and just order a proctored rapid antigen test instead of trying to book a slot at a pharmacy. I'll do mine on a video call at my hotel using my laptop. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/pre-cruise-testing. My test kits arrived 3 days after I ordered them, and both had December expiration dates. KristiZ, CruiseDiva, WAAAYTOOO and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseDiva Posted April 11, 2022 Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 I'm on this sailing with you. By the looks of your suite.....that's one of my Royal Ups that won't work :). We are in a Star Loft Suite with Shane as our Genie. I have the eMed tests and plan to take them Fri before we fly out on Sat. I'm so excited for this one....first time with a Genie!!! Do you have an excursions planned? We are still looking. I really wanted to see Chichen Itza but the 7 hrs looks a little daunting! WAAAYTOOO and mk-ultra 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted April 11, 2022 Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 I'll be following as I am still mildly curious about this suite. We had the opportunity to take a peek in this suite a few weeks ago on Oasis. It was quite nice. One thing I still wonder about is how the motion is from all the way forward. WAAAYTOOO, CravingaCruise and PPPJJ-GCVAB 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: I'll be following as I am still mildly curious about this suite. We had the opportunity to take a peek in this suite a few weeks ago on Oasis. It was quite nice. One thing I still wonder about is how the motion is from all the way forward. I'm still kinda wondering how I'll like it. I really like having a balcony and normally use it quite a bit (L1 loft cabin is my go-to on O class ships). I'm a short hop from being on the pool deck, so happy to give this a shot even without a balcony. I did put in 3 potential RoyalUp bids... which will be ridiculously stupid (solo) if one of them wins. CravingaCruise and Lovetocruise2002 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadamG2U Posted April 11, 2022 Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 2 hours ago, mk-ultra said: I normally wouldn't start posting before I'm actually on my trip, but with all the Covid fun and testing and whatnot, I'm going to start a few days early this time because it may be useful to others. Basics: Ultimate Panoramic Suite, Deck 14 Forward. Stupidly rare cabin (there are only two in Royal's fleet and I just lucked out when they were released for booking late November 2019). It's Star Class, so this should be fun. Itinerary: Miami Cococay At Sea Cozumel Roatan Costa Maya At Sea Miami Like most of you, I need a negative Covid test before boarding. Save yourself some heartache and just order a proctored rapid antigen test instead of trying to book a slot at a pharmacy. I'll do mine on a video call at my hotel using my laptop. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/pre-cruise-testing. My test kits arrived 3 days after I ordered them, and both had December expiration dates. I'm looking at this room for an upcoming cruise, Will be following to see your thoughts CruiseDiva and CravingaCruise 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted April 11, 2022 Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 3 hours ago, mk-ultra said: (L1 loft cabin is my go-to on O class ships) Same, also #teamDeck17. That's why I don't know if I can bring myself to doing it lol mk-ultra, CravingaCruise, Neesa and 1 other 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2022 22 hours ago, CruiseDiva said: I'm on this sailing with you. By the looks of your suite.....that's one of my Royal Ups that won't work :). We are in a Star Loft Suite with Shane as our Genie. I have the eMed tests and plan to take them Fri before we fly out on Sat. I'm so excited for this one....first time with a Genie!!! Do you have an excursions planned? We are still looking. I really wanted to see Chichen Itza but the 7 hrs looks a little daunting! Yay! Shane is my Genie as well. Excursion wise: Coco Beach Club on day 2, catamaran snorkel on day 4, Torquise Bay (drunk with a book) on day 5, and ATV Jungle and Beach Adventure on day 6. Can't speak about Chichen Itza (haven't done it), but I did do the Mayan ruins (Xunantunich) on a Belize trip. It was ~2 hours each way to get to and from the site from the port. I was a little bit sketchy about that travel time but it was great. Guide made the travel time fun and educational. No regrets. Had an amazing lunch on the way back and got introduced to Marie Sharp's hot sauces. New addiction. Bottle sits next to my Nando's piri-piri. CruiseDiva, CravingaCruise and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabecruiseexpert Posted April 12, 2022 Report Share Posted April 12, 2022 20 hours ago, CruiseDiva said: I'm on this sailing with you. By the looks of your suite.....that's one of my Royal Ups that won't work :). We are in a Star Loft Suite with Shane as our Genie. I have the eMed tests and plan to take them Fri before we fly out on Sat. I'm so excited for this one....first time with a Genie!!! Do you have an excursions planned? We are still looking. I really wanted to see Chichen Itza but the 7 hrs looks a little daunting! I'm also on this sailing. I have bids in for both the UPS and the star loft so it doesn't seem like my odds are that great mk-ultra and CruiseDiva 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 On the road! Flight out from SFO yesterday started out great. Quick stop into the Centurion lounge for the mandatory, "I'm officially on vacation" bloody mary. Wheels up on time just before 0900 and we had a really spectacular tail wind which shaved 40 minutes off of the trip. Landed in Miami and that's where the fun began. No gates available. OK, that happens. Continue reading book. 30 minutes... 1 hour... 90 minutes... 2 hours. I think the flight crew was at least if not more miffed than the pax. Door opened to applause at the 2:15 delay mark. Miami airport was having some kind of meltdown. People sleeping on the floors; lady with a kid said they'd been waiting almost 3 hours for their luggage to get to the carousel. Anyway, our flight's luggage came out in about 45 minutes and the ~15 minute taxi ride to the hotel was uneventful. The hotel is nice. It's a little away from the "dynamic" Miami stuff but still in a good location with an estuary and decent view of a slice of Biscayne Bay. AMEX FH&R scored again. Went from a floor 16 "city view" to a floor 30 water view. I'd take some room photos, but meh? It's a hotel. Nice big tub, which I will poor-man's Jacuzzi. It's a bit windy for the pool on 16. You can see the ships in port from the balcony. Plan for today is to just pedestriate myself around and check out the area. 1130 show time for Boaty McBoatface tomorrow. Skigoofy, ellcee, PRebecca and 7 others 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 3 hours ago, mk-ultra said: The hotel is nice. It's a little away from the "dynamic" Miami stuff but still in a good location with and estuary and decent little view of a slice of Biscayne Bay. What hotel is that? Kimpton Epic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 21 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: What hotel is that? Kimpton Epic? That's the one. Only real tip I have for the property is to know their given address is 270 Biscanyne Blvd Way. While perhaps technically correct, the entrance for drop-off/pickup/valet is at the intersection of SE 3rd Avenue at SE 4th Street. I saw more than a few folks on Tripadvisor who had a WTF moment trying to get to the hotel. Food has been very good. Had both breakfast and lunch at Area 31, their restaurant adjacent to the pool. I used this morning to do some scouting around the hotel. Again it's not South Beach, but within 3-4 blocks: Boulud Sud: https://www.bouludsud.com/miami/ Capital Grille: https://www.thecapitalgrille.com/locations/fl/miami/miami/8006 In the same area: Whole Foods, CVS, Starbucks, Subway sandwiches, Metromover stop (Miami's elevated public transport doohickey), Bayfront Park (kinda like a less inviting SF Pier 39). Best stuff I found was a block of restaurants at SE 1st Street and 3rd Avenue. Al fresco nibbles and all of the places seemed pretty popular and non-chain. Bayfront Park has their own rotate-y vertical thing... like the London Eye or Singapore Flyer: ellcee, CravingaCruise, Skigoofy and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 Oh, FWIW... did my proctored eMed test last night right after getting to the hotel. Totally painless. Went to eMed.com, hit the "test" button and was on a video call in under a minute. Show unopened box, show QR code on outside with expiration date, unbox & take the test. I used my laptop camera which was handy (I could partially close the lid to focus on the test card during the 15 minute wait time for the test to finish). You don't have to sit for 15 minutes, just keep it on camera and be back before the timer runs out. They want to know you aren't doing the old swaparoo. You'll hold the test card up for another proctor to see when your 15 minutes are up. Honestly, I think my 15 minutes were up a couple of decades ago. Negative results show up in the Navica app in a few minutes. Just to be safe, I emailed them to a couple of my personal addresses, but I'm not going to bother printing them out; I'll just show the app & know I've got a couple of backups. Lovetocruise2002, MaryS, sammy79 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 43 minutes ago, mk-ultra said: That's the one. Do you know if they have a “club lounge” type area for their suites and higher category rooms? That is something I cannot seem to find a solid answer to. Some review on TripAdvisor seems to suggest that they do, but then their website makes no mention of one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 On 4/16/2022 at 10:35 AM, Lovetocruise2002 said: Do you know if they have a “club lounge” type area for their suites and higher category rooms? That is something I cannot seem to find a solid answer to. Some review on TripAdvisor seems to suggest that they do, but then their website makes no mention of one. I haven't seen one here. Instead, they have a hosted evening wine hour between 5-6PM. I've got zero status with IHG hotels, so I could be missing something, but I think wine hour is it. Haven't checked it out. Lovetocruise2002 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 So, last thing to do was checking "no" on 15 things on the RCL app at T-24 hours indicating I'm not a plague rat. It's failed multiple times trying to submit. Mucho non-caring. They can deal with me tomorrow. Hats off to Royal IT again. WAAAYTOOO, MTNeedsAVacay and CravingaCruise 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTCking Posted April 17, 2022 Report Share Posted April 17, 2022 You in 14128 or 14528? I’m in 128 right after you on 24th let me know how you like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 17, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2022 4 hours ago, BTCking said: You in 14128 or 14528? I’m in 128 right after you on 24th let me know how you like it! 14528. No real reason for choosing starboard over port. I think I habitually take the starboard side to reduce that day one "what direction am I going in?" thing. PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Yesterday, Day 1, went great. Took an Uber from the hotel to Terminal A at the port. ~10 minutes. As instructed by everyone including my Genie, bypassed all of the blue check-in areas and went alllllll the way to the purple Star Class banner. At Miami, you'll go far enough that you begin to wonder if you missed it. Nope -- press on, sailor. Whisked through security with an escort. Genie (Shane) picked it up from there. By 11:30, in the cabin with Shane explaining all the bells and whistles. Man, I can play with those shades for like an hour (so many buttons -- my dad would yell at me). Ate lunch at the new-ish Portside BBQ. Yum. It'll be on my rotation for the rest of the cruise. Dinner was at CK. I had the smoked tomato soup, seared branzino and the chef brought out a couple of surprise Indian appetizer-sized tastes (Shane had told them I really enjoy Indian and Filipino food). Missed the ice show. I showed up and got seated, but wow I was tired from having my body clock messed with. I just went back to the cabin and zonked out. No casino for me last night I'm not a quitter -- will try again tonight. Anywho, at Cococay now and about to disembark. Some cabin photos: Yesiamthere, RWDW1204, Neesa and 8 others 7 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WannaCruise Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Wow beautiful room. Such views! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLA Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Wow - that cabin looks incredible! Neesa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Looking forward to CocoCay pics today! Hope you have lots of sunshine and just enough breeze to keep you comfortable! WAAAYTOOO and mk-ultra 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovetoCruise87 Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Great looking cabin!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Yup, that is the same cabin I toured a few weeks ago! Let me know your thoughts after staying in it for a few days. And tell Shane that Sabrina said "Hi". You lucked out, he is fabulous, and so funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mia081081 Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 On the same sailing and so far everything has been top-notch. I think Enchantment was supposed to join us today in Coco Cay but we have had it to ourselves. Very easy to get bar service, thrill park lines not too bad. So many available loungers. Lovely. dinner at chops last night was also very very good. Perfectly medium-rare petite filets. Excellent mushroom soup. So glad it’s back! KristiZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcrandal Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 On 4/11/2022 at 1:05 PM, CruiseDiva said: I'm on this sailing with you. By the looks of your suite.....that's one of my Royal Ups that won't work :). We are in a Star Loft Suite with Shane as our Genie. I have the eMed tests and plan to take them Fri before we fly out on Sat. I'm so excited for this one....first time with a Genie!!! Do you have an excursions planned? We are still looking. I really wanted to see Chichen Itza but the 7 hrs looks a little daunting! We just got off on Sunday ourselves.. Are you in 1718 or 1720? We stayed in 1718 with Camellia and Shane as our amazing guides for the week. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadamG2U Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Love your pics of the room. Thank you. It was part of my royal up so I've bid on it. Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 19, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2022 From Day 2, yesterday. Main event was Cococay. This is my first time on the island. I've enjoyed other private islands like Labadee though. For my beachside digs, I chose the Coco Beach Club. I think it was a good choice. Upgraded food was well worth it, and it wasn't anything near crowded. As mia081081 mentioned, we had the island to ourselves instead of it being a two ship day. Shane said ship is running ~4000 pax or so on 3/4 crew (should be around 1600 at that level). sammy79, KristiZ, ellcee and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 19, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2022 Lunch at CCBC was all it is cracked up to be. There's a "list" of appetizers -- but you don't order from that (I guess you could); they just bring you a massive two tray sampler of everything. It could feed two men and a boy. Winners were the shrimp cocktail, babaganoush (spell check just had a stroke) and the veggie crudites to gobble up said baba. Ceviche was the only "meh" thing. I love ceviche and this had sat in the citrus juice just way too long. Equivalent to overcooking fish. Taste was nice, texture was "thanks, I'm done with that." Main was surf-and-turf grilled lobster and filet, with fingerling potatoes and a smattering of roasted bell peppers. Excellent. It's so easy to screw up grilling a lobster. They didn't Sorry I didn't take any more food photos. I always forget -- only to remember after I've made a disaster of my plate. I spent the rest of my 4.5 hours on the island in a lounger, in the ocean and in the comfortably heated freshwater CCBC pool. Loungers have a little flag like a mailbox you raise to ensure you don't sober up. Dinner was at the hibachi side of Izumi. I had the Gyu (beef tenderloin). Beef was good, but I was beefed out from lunch. Finished with chocolate lava cake and killed a little time in the casino. Took a beating last night -- but variance in blackjack is kinda that way. You have to look at your yearly P&Ls to figure out just how much of an idiot you are (or aren't). [Arnold Voice] I'll be back. Last thing of the night for me was the "Aqua 80" Aquatheater show. Thoroughly enjoyed that. It's (surprise) based around a melange of '80s music and pop-culture themes. I was a little bit skeptical because my musical tastes almost never veer into the mainstream (especially when I was an '80s angst-y little s*t). Worth seeing though. Was very surprised to hear stuff like NWA, Soft Cell, Joy Division, etc. mixed in. Today is a lazy sea day. Massage. Shane says the Escape Room is running again and looks like I have a slot at 2PM. Dinner is Chef's Table. MaryS, sammy79, Neesa and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted April 19, 2022 Report Share Posted April 19, 2022 33 minutes ago, mk-ultra said: (spell check just had a stroke) I literally laughed out loud when I read this....very clever mk-ultra 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 So, escape room escaped. I can see why this activity gets high praise. Without giving anything away, the Apollo 18 challenge is a neat mix of kid-friendly button pushing and mostly easy tasks, with a few genuine adult puzzles that require teamwork, close observation, linking clues and some basic math. Some of the puzzles surprised me in their detail and subtlety. It's workable in the ~50 minutes you are allotted, and is really well-crafted. Bravo. Also did Chef's Table for dinner tonight. It's been good every time I've done it. Here is the thing though: you're not going to get some sort of mind blowing food or wine. You'll get exactly the same thing you can get in CK at no charge if you're in a suite. Tonight's menu was almost line for line everything I had in CK on my first night. It's more about the shared table and the people you meet... and that's why I keep doing it. Got to know some cool cruisers in detail. Tomorrow: Sun, Sea, Sailing, Snorkel. Preceded by the other 3 S's: Something, something, shave (family audience here). sammy79, WAAAYTOOO, CravingaCruise and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Apologies for not putting much live in the semi-live this time around. Internet speeds were a bit slow onboard (759Kb/s slow to be precise). Unusual for an o3B ship. Also, it’s been FANTASTIC to mostly ignore my work laptop and have an excuse to only join meetings with a voice call. Just disembarked and arrived at the hotel. 32 minutes from ship's cabin to checked-in at hotel. More on that later. Arriving this early to hotel = store bags and explore some more until a room is ready. Back at the Kimpton for my outbound back to SF tomorrow. Will catch us up when I have a room and can hunt-and-peck on a laptop. WAAAYTOOO, ellcee and KristiZ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 While I wait for my room (and bask in the bit-rate being terrestrial again), I'll work backwards a little bit since disembarking is fresh on my mind. Having a Genie whisk you off the ship is practically worth the price bump itself. Facetious, yes... but damn, that magic elevator priority card and not having to join the exit conga line is (swoon) the bee's knees. The service doesn't end when your Genie and you part ways. It goes all the way through customs until you're curbside. I didn't use line-jumping privileges on the ship (ick, just not me)... but hell yes I used them on my way out. Aside: if you value your sanity, put everything you can in your favor. Global Entry / Nexus / PreCheck / Clear. Speaking of curbside: when you come out of the terminal in Miami, look right. See that? That is ~500 people queued up for a taxi, with varying levels of grumpiness and tired kids. You want no part of that. Turn left. Walk all the way down to Zones 2, 3, 4. Suck it up and hit the Uber button. Choose the XL option... you'll get an RV-sized SUV in 3-4 minutes, with a competent driver. It's $28 to Miami's Brickell area. Seriously: money well spent. I'd probably still be in that taxi rank pondering my life choices otherwise. WAAAYTOOO, CravingaCruise, Lovetocruise2002 and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Heading almost due south from Cozumel to Roatan (Wednesday evening, day 4). Probably the best sunset view from a cabin I've ever had. I'm gonna jump around with the narrative a bit. In Roatan, I did the "VIP Beach Break" at Turquoise Bay. Like it says on the tin, it's a day on a nice beach with booze and food. Uncrowded, good music (guy doing keyboard and vocals and another on guitar). Really well run. It's about 45 minutes from the port to the northeast shore of the island. No selling unless you decided to visit the souvenir tent. No sargassum clogging up the beach. Massage tables if you'd like one. The food was excellent. I was already a bit surf-and-turfed out, but they serve grilled local rock lobster (smaller and a hell of a lot tastier than their Maine brethren). KristiZ, WAAAYTOOO, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 In keeping with this thread's theme of completely ignoring the timeline, kindly set your watches back to day 4 in Cozumel. Pretend you're in The Matrix or something. Eat the blue pill. I picked "Catamaran Snorkel with Rays and Sharks and Beach BBQ" for my outing. I'll get right to it: 4/10 for me. I'll preface this by saying I'm a SCUBA diver, used to dive boats and divers. Oddly enough, I've never snorkeled. I mean, yeah I've used a mask and snorkel, but never as a primary thingy. My expectations are heavily colored in that I can't help but compare it to SCUBA. Did not like. Vessel was (by definition) a catamaran (twin hulled). Not one of the big sailing ones though... more of an up-scaled pontoon boat. ~15 pax per side. Both the boat and the equipment were in good shape, and the crew of 6 were all good at their jobs. Snorkel site was a "reef" about 3/4 mile from the port. A. Very. Sad. Reef. Not bleached or anything, but clearly suffering. It was small. That's a factor because there was a moderately strong current -- which would have been great for an effortless "drift" dive, but if you blink, you're beyond the reef. It was mostly swimming up-current to stay above the tiny reef. This part has nothing to do with the tour itself: as a diver, I've discovered I genuinely dislike snorkeling, especially with 30 of my new friends. I don't think I've been kicked in the head that many times outside of work. Snorkel BCDs are no-size-fits-all and turn you into an unhappy cork (getting kicked in the head). Other dive and snorkel boats in the area were trying to set a maximum wake record nearby. So, yeah. No more snorkeling for moi. Tried it and going right back to SCUBA. Rays and sharks portion was on beach. Netted sea pens. The place is a wildlife rehab, so I feel OK about it. Good, but very rushed wildlife talk from the guide. They crank people through like clockwork and you'll feel it. The beach BBQ part was great. Grilled meat tacos, guac, veggies, mas cerveza. Best part of the excursion. WAAAYTOOO, CravingaCruise and Lovetocruise2002 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 On 4/11/2022 at 1:24 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said: One thing I still wonder about is how the motion is from all the way forward. We only had a teensy bit of weather (last night). 20-25 knot winds and 5-6' seas or so. No appreciable motion in the cabin, but even small wave hits put a reverberating bang through it. For a light sleeper, I could see this being annoying. PPPJJ-GCVAB, Lovetocruise2002, WAAAYTOOO and 1 other 1 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Argh. Navigated away while writing this post, and lost it. Anywho -- skipping forward to night 5, after the great beach break in Roatan. Dinner at 150 Central Park. Went with Shane's recommendation for the appetizer (seared scallops) and picked lamb Wellington for my main. Two dishes that are easy to screw up, especially when doing a lot of covers. Both: perfecto! Plate-cleaning-good. Washed them down with a couple of the signature garden martinis -- a perfect fit for hot weather. Had a side chat with the Maître d'hôtel about dessert wines. I lamented never seeing a Madeira or tawny port on offer on an RCL ship. I'm not sure where he got it, but I did get a surprise (and very good) ruby port to go with the (OMG do it) fried cheesecake for dessert. No food pics. Too busy stuffing my face. Imagine it looking delicious. KristiZ, CravingaCruise and WAAAYTOOO 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Random note: these chaise lounges are insanely comfortable. Turns out they're made by a Norwegian guy who transplanted to Tennessee?! They definitely have that Scandinavian aesthetic, with the ergonomics to match. I want to get a pair for home. Asked Shane for a contact and will report back if they're available to us plebes. CravingaCruise, WAAAYTOOO and Lovetocruise2002 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 And, the wrap-up. This is my [counts on fingers] I think my 7th Oasis class ship cruise. All of them have been split between Oasis and Allure, a mix of pre-amp ships and not. I love me some O class ships. This one was weird in nice ways. First time in Star Class, probably the most rare cabin in RCL's fleet, and dear-god-I-don't-know-how crazy good pricing by booking in 2019 for a new cabin product. Will I do Star Class again? Maybe? Everything about it was excruciatingly excellent. You will not wait for or want for anything. You'll have a great seat at every venue and the attention to detail is eye-watering. I say "maybe" because I'm a low-maintenance kinda person. It's a fantastic product, and Shane (my Genie) was awesome. For me, probably back to sky lofts. No complaints at all, just not my cuppa. Mind you: solo, so your mileage may vary a lot. CravingaCruise, Lovetocruise2002 and Yesiamthere 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk-ultra Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 And just to end this on a happy note, got a surprise "...ppy Birthday Mark" cake in the cabin. Yes, I cut into it before remembering I'm supposed to take pics of this stuff. I'll never be an Instagram influencer. My birthday is in September and it came with a card starting with "We know this isn't your birthday." Loved that. And a ship (it's nice!) And a crazy heavy crystal block that just blew out my bag weight limit. Sweet!: Yesiamthere, WAAAYTOOO, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted April 24, 2022 Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 I really enjoyed your [if somewhat disjointed….but highly entertaining] “live” blog. I can’t say a thing about a live blog that turns into a not-so-live blog as it happens to me every time. Great sense of humor. Can you give us some morsels about the suite ? Enough room ? Miss the balcony ? CravingaCruise, Yesiamthere and mk-ultra 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.