WAAAYTOOO Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 This isn’t going to be a comprehensive live blog (just a shorty 4-nighter) but I wanted to pass on a few tidbits. Super quick and easy boarding. On board and sneaking through the hallway to snatch our Sea Pass cards by 10:15. Our normal process was slightly different today since we needed to (1) see if we were going to be able to get into the SL/CK and (2) Make dining rezzies in the CK if the answer to #1 was “yes”. So I went and snagged our Sea Passes and then went directly to the SL. I tried mine first. Nope. Nada. <sad trombone>. Dan said, “Let me try”. It worked ! <huge sigh of relief>. I guess I had allowed my Sea Pass to linger too long in the sensor or something similarly mundane. So the first time for us on an Oasis class ship since turning Pinnacle we have scored ! There are only 25 Pinns on this sailing (per the CK maitre’d) so we have full access and have already made dinner rezzies for all 4 nights. Now for the bad news. They are only honoring BOGO on night #1. Not sure if that’s due to Valentines Day or what….but since we intend to enjoy filet night in the CK tonite, we will not be having any specialty dining this trip (except for Giovanni’s for lunch). Their loss. We’ll just save our money and eat in the CK every night ! Enjoying a wonderfully sedate boarding morning in the SL and will be heading to GT for lunch shortly. PPPJJ-GCVAB, SweetPea, She Sails Away and 13 others 12 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 22 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: We’ll just save our money and eat in the CK every night ! Definitely not the worst thing in the world. Enjoy! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 @WAAAYTOOO Was your cabin door wide open? I want to know if this is now an embarkation day thing going forward. Because I experienced this for the first time on my Allure sailing. Allure was also the ship that required me to use both BOGO on night 1 and two. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandstromCruise Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Don't take all the money from the casino. I board March 1, so make sure they still have some to distribute then. WAAAYTOOO, PPPJJ-GCVAB and SweetPea 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 12 Author Report Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said: @WAAAYTOOO Was your cabin door wide open? I want to know if this is now an embarkation day thing going forward. Because I experienced this for the first time on my Allure sailing. Allure was also the ship that required me to use both BOGO on night 1 and two. No. The door was not open when we “officially” went to our room (after 1:00 - 2J Central Park double balcony) but when I snuck in to get our Sea Pass cards everyone’s door was wide open. They were still servicing the rooms so I’m sure that’s why. Was first disappointed about the BOGO but since we can eat at the CK every night I won’t really miss the specialty dinners (too much). If we had been excluded from the CK that would have been a whole ‘nuther story. SweetPea, Ampurp85 and PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 12 Author Report Share Posted February 12 19 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said: Don't take all the money from the casino. I board March 1, so make sure they still have some to distribute then. I’m sure glad you said something b/c I was planning on draining the ship’s bank….but now I will leave a little sump’n for ya. SweetPea, LandstromCruise, CruzOnBye and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 12 Author Report Share Posted February 12 2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: @WAAAYTOOO Was your cabin door wide open? I want to know if this is now an embarkation day thing going forward. Because I experienced this for the first time on my Allure sailing. Allure was also the ship that required me to use both BOGO on night 1 and two. Forgot to mention this earlier. Until the CK manager got “the word” that they were only honoring the BOGO on night #1, he had seemed completely ok with allowing us to use our BOGO’s on nights #2 and 4, which was our original plan. Of course, all that changed when we found out that they weren’t allowing anything besides night #1. ….so I think Allure must have a somewhat lenient BOGO policy SOMEtimes. SweetPea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 12 Author Report Share Posted February 12 Lunch at Giovanni’s Table was as good as always. I love the chicken piccata but I knew that if I got the “normal” order I would either overeat or waste food so I had them bring me a half order. It was perfect. Dan had the seafood linguini which he said was also very good. @Ampurp85 we both got the Casino Welcome Party invites….the first time I’ve ever gotten one. It is 5-6 tonite in the “new” non-smoking casino annex. Dinner at the CK is at 5:30 so we’ll only be able to stay a few minutes but maybe we’ll get lucky and one of us will win $100 free play ! Yippee ! We got full loungers on our double balcony. We’ve stayed in this room category a number of times recently but never had loungers before. Nice touch. Happy to see that the Central Park flora has bounced back from the freeze-out that it suffered in Galveston a couple of years ago. I’m sure most of these plants are replacements rather than survivors but the place looks really nice and you’d never know it had been in such bad shape so recently. Dan is “Mr Plantman” so he takes for-freakin’-ever to walk through CP. He examines every leaf and tries to impress me with the Latin names for each and every species. I’m certain he makes most of that up. I will have to call his bluff and quiz him sometime. Well, it appears to be nap time. I’m certain that as soon as I lie down our attendant will knock to introduce him/herself. That’s my luck with such things. KristiZ, Jax, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 9 others 10 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 36 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: 2J Central Park double balcony) YESSSSSS we loved our double balcony in CP! MaryS, Cactus527 and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 11 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Dan is “Mr Plantman” so he takes for-freakin’-ever to walk through CP. He examines every leaf and tries to impress me with the Latin names for each and every species. I’m certain he makes most of that up. I will have to call his bluff and quiz him sometime. dan!!!! please give him our love miss you both!! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Have a joyful and relaxing cruise. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Hope the weather is picture perfect for you and Dan! I’ll be checking back in…here and there…to read any posting updates! Peggi WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDaley Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 4 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said: He examines every leaf and tries to impress me with the Latin names for each and every species. I’m certain he makes most of that up. I will have to call his bluff and quiz him sometime. If you use an iPhone it has a nice plant lookup feature on any photo you take of plants/trees/flowers. You just swipe up from the bottom of the image to find this “Look up - plant” button. According to Siri, this pic I took is of a Bird Cherry, or Prunus padus! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 Wow ! Phones are so smart these days ! PPPJJ-GCVAB, Lovetocruise2002, Ampurp85 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 That’s absolutely amazing ! We just tried it. He is in absolute heaven over this. Thank you….i think ! Jax, asquared17, KristiZ and 5 others 5 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 Dinner in the CK was very good. The steak was as tender as any I have ever eaten BUT as I feared would happen, I was still waaaytooo full from lunch and couldn’t finish it. In retrospect, I should have asked for a later dining time but I fell back on old habits and booked an early slot. Now I am miserably full…even hours after we ate. Luckily I brought along some of @asquared17’s charcoal pills. Hopefully that will help. If not, good old fashioned Rolaids will do the trick. The casino is a madhouse, which frankly, comes as no surprise to me. I’m sure there are lots of folks who, like us, are here on a casino comp. I’m even for night #1 and Dan is up a little. Dan is feverishly using his newly-found skill of identifying every plant in Central Park with @DDaley’s iPhone trick. I’m pretty sure I will soon learn to hate @DDaley for this. JK It isn’t flawless though. It misidentified one of our schefflera (umbrella plant) as a grapefruit tree ! Too funny. We haven’t witnessed any shenanigans so far. I think I must inadvertently repel shenanigan-ites as I never seem to witness anything of interest or amusement. I will try and be more observant. Tomorrow is a “sea day” which is a hoot when you think about where we actually go on a 4 day cruise to Nassau/PDCC. We’re really just putting around, wasting time. Oh well…I prefer sea days anyway so even a manufactured sea day beats a day in Nassau. Jax, DDaley, Lovetocruise2002 and 6 others 2 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 7 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Luckily I brought along some of @asquared17’s charcoal pills. Hopefully that will help. If not, good old fashioned Rolaids will cures what ails ya!!!! especially good for digesting heavier foods like steak Cactus527, Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO and 1 other 1 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 Have a great time! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said: waaaytooo full from lunch and couldn’t finish it That's a thing? Joking aside, since we don't do much specialty dining, we try to strategically plan those meals. I stuff myself on CocoCay (even my wife will eat a decent amount of Snack Shack food) so no specialty dinner that night. We do Mason Jar brunch on a day when we don't love the MDR menu so I don't care if I'm hungry for dinner (actually, I never really need to be that hungry for the MDR), things like that. Hope the fullness subsides... On the plus side, it's a short cruise. Even I get full eventually but it usually doesn't set in until day 6 or 7 of a 7N cruise. She Sails Away and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 Yeah, those sea days when its Nassau and PDCC feel off. I found the casino to be just all out crazy that first night. Are there a ton of tiny humans on your sailing? I find it quite amazing how these shorties are at or over capacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 Just now, Ampurp85 said: Are there a ton of tiny humans on your sailing? I find it quite amazing how these shorties are at or over capacity. No more than usual as far as I have noticed. It is definitely at or above full capacity though. LOTS of folks. Seems to be a lot of new or newish cruisers. I guess that's not unusual for a shorty. Sitting in the Crown Lounge writing. BOY it's been a long time since I was in this room ! I had forgotten how lovely it is here. It will be a shame when it goes bye-bye during the amplification or whatever they are going to call it now. It seems so weird to look out the back and not see that horrible purple slide there. Sweety, OCSC Mike, Cactus527 and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 1 hour ago, asquared17 said: cures what ails ya!!!! especially good for digesting heavier foods like steak Just an FYI, there was no need for the Rolaids. The charcoal caps did their job (apparently) and as is well this morning. Ampurp85, MaryS, asquared17 and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Sitting in the Crown Lounge writing. BOY it's been a long time since I was in this room ! I had forgotten how lovely it is here. It really is... I was very happy to be able to squeeze in our last minute October cruise on Allure so I could see it one last time. Back to the basement CL for the foreseeable future for me. Snotarni and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 The coffee machine in the SL is bus'-up (down for the count). Apparently it needs "parts"...so it will be the CL for coffee on this particular voyage...but since we are living on deck 11 and the CL is on deck 11 we are in luck ! I have to come here to get onto the 'puter anyway. At least I won't have to go all the way forward and down to 4 ! PPPJJ-GCVAB, OCSC Mike, Ampurp85 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 39 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Just an FYI, there was no need for the Rolaids. The charcoal caps did their job (apparently) and as is well this morning. yesssssss!!! 42 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Sitting in the Crown Lounge writing. BOY it's been a long time since I was in this room ! I had forgotten how lovely it is here. It will be a shame when it goes bye-bye during the amplification or whatever they are going to call it now. It seems so weird to look out the back and not see that horrible purple slide there. i wish they would leave the abyss off all future ships tbh. it’s such an eyesore and what a view to block. Ampurp85, OCSC Mike, Cactus527 and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said: The coffee machine in the SL is bus'-up (down for the count). Apparently it needs "parts"...so it will be the CL for coffee on this particular voyage What on Earth is going on with these coffee machines? On Icon, the CL machine was broken. The @asquared17 reports the one in the CL is broken on Oasis, now SL machine is broken on Allure? PPPJJ-GCVAB, WAAAYTOOO, asquared17 and 1 other 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: What on Earth is going on with these coffee machines? On Icon, the CL machine was broken. The @asquared17 reports the one in the CL is broken on Oasis, now SL machine is broken on Allure? it was broken, then fixed. then broken, then fixed again. i stopped visiting the CL after day 4, so i can report no further details Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO and Lovetocruise2002 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 I think it's the humans. The coffee machine in the casino on Wonder was broken too, the staff said a pax did it. I take somethings the crew say with a grain of salt, but I can believe human error is at play. I also noticed a lot of first timers on Allure, these Oasis class ships give people amusement/theme park without the prices. asquared17 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 13 Author Report Share Posted February 13 This post has absolutely nothing to do with my blog or Allure….just thought I would throw in a little Cruise Planner intel. For those of you who may be visiting Labadee and may be interested in renting a cabana, I have noted some dramatic price reductions on some of my non-holiday, non-summer sailings….particularly for the over-the-water cabanas at Barefoot. These reductions have been greater than 50% below the recent (outrageously high) prices for the OTW cabanas. So if you are interested you might want to check prices. The prices for sailings during the summer or around ANY holiday remain ridiculously high, but those for random uninteresting sailings seem to be almost reasonable. PPPJJ-GCVAB, Cactus527, Lovetocruise2002 and 3 others 3 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 38 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: The coffee machine in the casino on Wonder was broken too, the staff said a pax did it. i mean there’s a reason why we head to be trained before they let us use the thousands of dollars machines at starbucks. not saying everyone can’t handle it… but obviously there are a few… who struggle Lovetocruise2002, She Sails Away and Ampurp85 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandstromCruise Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 18 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: This post has absolutely nothing to do with my blog or Allure…. That’s what most posts on most of the blogs ends up being which in my opinion makes them awesome. We learn so much about everyone from some of these blogs going totally off point. I know it keeps me interested Ampurp85, She Sails Away, OCSC Mike and 4 others 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 2 hours ago, LandstromCruise said: We learn so much about everyone from some of these blogs going totally off point legit my favorite part LandstromCruise, Lovetocruise2002, She Sails Away and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus527 Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 I'm curious to hear how Valentine's Day ends up being on board. Have a great day! (photo courtesy of NPS) Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO and Sweety 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 14 Author Report Share Posted February 14 So far, so good. We had mimosas with breakfast ! BIG splurge for me. I almost never drink alcohol and certainly NEVER in the morning...but it seemed appropriate. We're in Nassau today (blah) so we will not be getting off the ship. Kinda coolish and windy here anyway. Dinner tonite in the CK. Dan will be happy. I think tonite is lamb shank. I'll find something. Which brings up an interesting thing from last night's dinner. Last night's menu was really bad (for me). There wasn't a darn thing I wanted. Dan got braised veal which he thoroughly enjoyed. So I asked for the children's menu. LOL. I got plain spaghetti with marinara and chicken fingers. I also asked if they had a small tossed salad. I didn't want anything fancy...just some lettuce, tomatoes and olives with some ranch dressing. Anelyn, our server (AWESOME lady) asked the chef to prepare me a special salad, which came out exactly as I had asked for it. SOOO nice. I chopped up the chicken tenders and mixed them in with the spaghetti for a kinda low-budget chicken parm (without the parm ). It was a thoroughly delicious meal, and all a la carte. Could I have gotten this in the MDR ? I don't know. Maybe. ...but I was impressed that both Anelyn and the chef were so quick to make a special meal for me. I wanted to tip the chef and I asked Anelyn to please give the money to him. She said "no" that she would bring the chef out to meet me. He was such a sweet, young and gracious guy. It was an honor to meet him and give him his tip in person. IMO, THIS is what tipping is all about. Both of them had gone waaay out of their way to make my evening memorable and I appreciated it. An interesting side note regarding the picky eater story above....both @OCSC Mike (wife) and @Ampurp85 kept passing across my mind...with the tales of their pickiness. I knew they would be proud ! DDaley, Baked Alaska, jbrinkm and 12 others 10 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 stories like these emphasize why i love CK above all else OCSC Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 38 minutes ago, asquared17 said: stories like these emphasize why i love CK above all else Yep, as much as we enjoy our standard frugal cruises and don't need CK... our limited experiences have been amazing, especially on Wonder last June. That crew went above and beyond as far as personalized service and special requests. Glad to hear you're having such a great experience on Allure as well, @WAAAYTOOO. And FWIW, it was probably lunch but I think my FIL even ordered off the kids menu once and got a burger, lol. Nothing wrong with that. WAAAYTOOO and PPPJJ-GCVAB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 ONE day I'll splurge for a suite and get to try CK....one day. And I agree with the abyss, as well- at least they are claiming to have upgraded it for Utopia, because this guy thought for sure he was coming to a stop halfway down. Now back to staring at a bunch of cruises from NJ that I'm just not excited about...but will probably book anyway, lol. MaryS, Lovetocruise2002, Cactus527 and 3 others 1 2 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 The CK menu is the main reason why suites aren't a draw for me. I am such a basic woman when it comes to food, even the Chop's server said so on Wonder (I like my medium steak plain, no sauce). But it is great when I hear stories like this, I just don't want to always be a bother. It is super funny because I only eat steak and drink when I cruise. OCSC Mike, WAAAYTOOO, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 18 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: The CK menu is the main reason why suites aren't a draw for me. I am such a basic woman when it comes to food, even the Chop's server said so on Wonder (I like my medium steak plain, no sauce). But it is great when I hear stories like this, I just don't want to always be a bother. It is super funny because I only eat steak and drink when I cruise. LOL and gamble and report lots of interesting stories (AKA shenanigans)! OCSC Mike, WAAAYTOOO and Ampurp85 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 5 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: The CK menu is the main reason why suites aren't a draw for me. I am such a basic woman when it comes to food, even the Chop's server said so on Wonder (I like my medium steak plain, no sauce). But it is great when I hear stories like this, I just don't want to always be a bother. It is super funny because I only eat steak and drink when I cruise. I can relate to much of that. I enjoyed the food in CK but I'm just as happy eating basic stuff (you already knew that). FWIW, I always get my steak plain if I expect it to be a GOOD steak. Sauce is for chicken, lol, I'm there for the steak! I don't think that particular example makes us basic. I also do way more drinking on cruises than at home so the SL perks appeal to me more than the CK food. All that said, most of this is a moot point as my wife barely drinks and we're about to have 10 vouchers to split which is plenty and everyone knows there's only one way I ever wind up in a suite. Just chiming in as usual. WAAAYTOOO, Ampurp85 and Cactus527 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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