xSAILEDx Utopia of the Seas September 13th - September 16th, 2024 (3 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day)

[Snotarni]

Looking forward to checking out the newest!

[WAAAYTOOO]

We’re just gonna miss you !  We’re on Utopia on 9-16.

[Snotarni]

Rats!!  Maybe another weekend journey sometime!  

[CHart]

Will be my 1st sailing on Utopia! Looking forward to new ship smell! 

[WAAAYTOOO]

On 4/11/2024 at 7:35 AM, Snotarni said:

Rats!!  Maybe another weekend journey sometime!  

Don't know why I never came back to this one....we are now booked on this one which will now be the first of a B2B along with 9-16.  So...we WILL see you on this one !!!

[Snotarni]

8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Don't know why I never came back to this one....we are now booked on this one which will now be the first of a B2B along with 9-16.  So...we WILL see you on this one !!!

Awesome!!!  We’ll definitely be at the 5pm “drop off your Raffle tickets” in the Smoke Free Casino on Night 1!!  

[Kimyata]

We'll be there on a back to back beginning the 13th. 

[JustMeJoe]

Happy cruise day on the new ship @WAAAYTOOO !!!

[twangster]

Okay admit it... who is at the terminal already?  

[WAAAYTOOO]

4 hours ago, JustMeJoe said:

Happy cruise day on the new ship @WAAAYTOOO !!!

Thanks !  We are already onboard and having a margarita at the Pesky Parrot.  This place is soooooo much better than that stupid bionic bar !

Spoiler alert - Brian, the Pesky Parrot is a FAKE !  

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Okay admit it... who is at the terminal already?  

Are you on this sailing ?

We WERE here early (but not 7:41) b/c we got dropped off early (long, sad story)….but we were on early too, so….

 

[Snotarni]

Already in the Windjammer!!  

[Snotarni]

Mason Jar Bar next. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Just now, Snotarni said:

Mason Jar Bar next. 

We’re going to MJ for lunch.  Maybe see you there 

[Snotarni]

8 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We’re going to MJ for lunch.  Maybe see you there 

We’re hoping to be a couple bourbons in, relaxing in the rockers….

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

We got off this morning….what a great cruise we had!  Monday we left hotel at 10:05am with Lyft.  We were ONBOARD at 10:21!  We had even gotten Express Boarding but didn’t need it!  Lol

Hope you all have a fantastic cruise!  We loved…loved…loved it!

Now we are back at hotel washing clothes to get ready for our cruise tomorrow on Carnival Mardi Gras!  

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

42 minutes ago, Snotarni said:

We’re hoping to be a couple bourbons in, relaxing in the rockers….

We did MJ for lunch on Monday!  First time ever for us!  Loved everything we ordered…which was a big part of the menu (there were 4 of us).  Stuffed ourselves and then as we thought we were leaving…dessert menu arrived!  . Yup…ordered almost every dessert listed!  Delicious  

ENJOY!

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

55 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We’re going to MJ for lunch.  Maybe see you there 

We had made 12:30pm reservations but by Noon we had explored a good part of the ship so went to MJ and they seated us right away. Just an FYI.

 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Thanks !  We are already onboard and having a margarita at the Pesky Parrot.  This place is soooooo much better than that stupid bionic bar !

Spoiler alert - Brian, the Pesky Parrot is a FAKE !  

Are you on this sailing ?

We WERE here early (but not 7:41) b/c we got dropped off early (long, sad story)….but we were on early too, so….

 

Raye and Dan….Have an awesome sail!  Hope to sail with you again some day!

[WAAAYTOOO]

Peggi/Peter - so sorry we JUST missed you !  Have a great time on. The Mardi Gras !

[WAAAYTOOO]

I finally met Mr and Mrs @Snotarni   What a treat

[AshleyDillo]

6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I finally met Mr and Mrs @Snotarni   What a treat

Agreed! I had a good time chatting with them..just regret I couldn't make it back out to meet up with them again!

[Snotarni]

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

Agreed! I had a good time chatting with them..just regret I couldn't make it back out to meet up with them again!

We had such a blast meeting you all!!  
 

we’re done in the casino (not a bad night). and sitting on our favorite barstools in the Mason Jar; waiting for the “new” trio to start. 

[twangster]

I had to change clothes after the casino to clean off the blood bath.  Apparently I wore the wrong color underwear.  

[Snotarni]

57 minutes ago, twangster said:

I had to change clothes after the casino to clean off the blood bath.  Apparently I wore the wrong color underwear.  

There’s 2 more days to recover??  

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I had to change clothes after the casino to clean off the blood bath.  Apparently I wore the wrong color underwear.  

There’s nothing worse than digging a hole for yourself to climb out of, on the first night.

We only played a few minutes but basically broke even.  We took that as a sign to skeedaddle, which we did.

Dinner at Chops then stopped by Giovanni’s to get some pistachio panna cotta (sp ?) to go.  Yum…..

Now trying to stay awake to go see the AT show at 10:30.  Gonna be a true test of willpower.

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

There’s nothing worse than digging a hole for yourself to climb out of, on the first night.

We only played a few minutes but basically broke even.  We took that as a sign to skeedaddle, which we did.

Dinner at Chops then stopped by Giovanni’s to get some pistachio panna cotta (sp ?) to go.  Yum…..

Now trying to stay awake to go see the AT show at 10:30.  Gonna be a true test of willpower.

Good show, just saw it.   Front row to stay awake.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

Probably not gonna be a 10:30 AT show since we’re currently in a thunderstorm and the ship just got hit by a bolt of lightning !  Scared the $hit out of me but nothing damaged that I can determine.

We are out on our balcony and really enjoying the jazz band down on 8 in CP.  then, BAM !  I’m sure they’re clearing the decks at the moment.  Lots of thunder.  Kinda cool.

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Probably not gonna be a 10:30 AT show since we’re currently in a thunderstorm and the ship just got hit by a bolt of lightning !  Scared the $hit out of me but nothing damaged that I can determine.

We are out on our balcony and really enjoying the jazz band down on 8 in CP.  then, BAM !  I’m sure they’re clearing the decks at the moment.  Lots of thunder.  Kinda cool.

I’m at PM and heard it.  Yikes. Fortunately the cell and worst rain is South of us.  

[Snotarni]

Missed everything.  After Casino and some time checking out the new trio at MJ, we called an early night.  Today’s a read and relax day aboard.  

[Hoppy2BHere]

Not to put any pressure… but enjoying this mini blog! Sounds like lots of fun!

J&S

[WAAAYTOOO]

I’ll start out with something positive before I start my bitching.

The crew on UT are amazing.  I realize that they (Royal) garner their finest folks for the new ships, but even realizing that, this crew is awesome.  As previously  reported, last night we dropped by Giovanni’s to get some pistachio panna cotta to go (after our dinner at Chops).  On this cruise we have the UDP, which is fairly uncommon for us, but with the UDP you can visit more than one specialty restaurant per meal…so we did.  Not only did we get our [delicious !] dessert, with a smile, but the lovely young lady who helped us never even asked for our room number !  She had no idea if we actually had the UDP or were just scammers…. She got a nice tip (which she would have gotten anyway) but what wonderful service ! All of the crew we have encountered have been simply excellent !

Now for the bitchin’.  
 

1.  There are NO guest laptop computers available ANYwhere on this ship.  There are none on the Crown Lounge, no library, no card room.  Nothing.   This is a big problem for me as I use a computer a LOT on a cruise.  There are some things that are just too cumbersome to do on a tablet, much less, on a telephone.  This is a major fail, IMO.  They will hear from me on this one.

2.  The destination elevators are problematic.  They worked great on boarding day, in the afternoon, but got generally worse as the day went on.  Wait times, during peak use, are much longer, from my experience, than they were using the traditional elevators.  I know I will get plenty of push-back on this one, but this has been my experience, so far.  Maybe I was just expecting too much.

[Snotarni]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’ll start out with something positive before I start my bitching.

The crew on UT are amazing.  I realize that they (Royal) garner their finest folks for the new ships, but even realizing that, this crew is awesome.  As previously  reported, last night we dropped by Giovanni’s to get some pistachio panna cotta to go (after our dinner at Chops).  On this cruise we have the UDP, which is fairly uncommon for us, but with the UDP you can visit more than one specialty restaurant per meal…so we did.  Not only did we get our [delicious !] dessert, with a smile, but the lovely young lady who helped us never even asked for our room number !  She had no idea if we actually had the UDP or were just scammers…. She got a nice tip (which she would have gotten anyway) but what wonderful service ! All of the crew we have encountered have been simply excellent !

Now for the bitchin’.  
 

1.  There are NO guest laptop computers available ANYwhere on this ship.  There are none on the Crown Lounge, no library, no card room.  Nothing.   This is a big problem for me as I use a computer a LOT on a cruise.  There are some things that are just too cumbersome to do on a tablet, much less, on a telephone.  This is a major fail, IMO.  They will hear from me on this one.

2.  The destination elevators are problematic.  They worked great on boarding day, in the afternoon, but got generally worse as the day went on.  Wait times, during peak use, are much longer, from my experience, than they were using the traditional elevators.  I know I will get plenty of push-back on this one, but this has been my experience, so far.  Maybe I was just expecting too much.

Concur on the elevators…. We (I) have my own unhinged manifesto on when one should ride an elevator or take stairs but I’ll save that for another time.

I too think the crew has been phenomenally nice and helpful…  our issue so far has been overcrowding in the WJ and Solarium …  I only have 4 days of data , but we’ve left both multiple times because there were just no seats. Ran into this on Wonder once or twice, but we’re definitely trying to change our schedule to meet the ebb and flow of the masses…  we should probably just try room service?  

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Well, it seems that the AT show DID happen at 10:30 last night so we probably should have off our lazy a$$es and gone.  I guess that’s why they don’t let me be the cruising weatherman.  . A lady that went said it was awesome….even better than Aqua 80s on Ossis.  That’s a high bar. It may have to wait until next cruise but we’ll see…

[twangster]

I too have experienced destination elevator dread or DED.  

I waited an eternity and eventually walked around to the other bank of elevators on the port side.  Low and behold my original elevator arrived with the piano player inside.   

While I get that piano in the elevator is cool and all, when coupled with a destination elevator it's a fail.  Once that elevator is assigned for your run, that's it.  There is no jumping in a different elevator.  You have to wait for the assigned car to arrive. When you put the piano guy in an elevator, folks like to sing along, they may be slow to exit holding the doors open until the song if over.  

When I tried to summon a new ride, all I got was this...

 It wouldn't let me renew my call.  It was basically... "You can't there from here".

That's why I went to the other side.

I think it works on Icon because there is a large elevator lobby with many elevators in the pool it can choose from.  On Utopia, especially in the aft for decks 17 and 18, there are just three elevators on each side that work independently.  It's basically a pool of 3 elevators.  If your ride is assigned a car on a milk run, you wait, and wait, and wait. 

Today we waited an eternity.  Six of us go in and go up one floor.  Guy boarding on the next deck says "What were you guys doing?  Having a party in here?  We waited forever!"   

Yep.  Us too.  

[twangster]

Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:

Well, it seems that the AT show DID happen at 10:30 last night so we probably should have off our lazy a$$es and gone.  I guess that’s why they don’t let me be the cruising weatherman.  . A lady that went said it was awesome….even better than Aqua 80s on Ossis.  That’s a high bar. It may have to wait until next cruise but we’ll see…

It was raining when I left PM and people were making their way into the AT.  It didn't look enjoyable, sitting in drizzle for 30 minutes waiting for the show to start.  I figured they would make everyone sit there and then cancel, but I guess not.

It was good but I thought it wasn't quite as good as Aqua80 on OA.  I have another UT followed by OA a week later so I'll be in better position to compare them in November.  

[twangster]

Washing the salt off the ship

 

[twangster]

Same ship, different day.  
 

[WAAAYTOOO]

OMG, talk about technology overload…All In !  Royal needs to go back to the drawing board.  Except for the [WAAAY overused technology] I thought this show was about something I might see on a Voyager class ship or maybe even lower.  Incongruous and full of unfortunate imagery, which I will not discuss further…really bad, IMO.  Let’s hope the AT and ice shows are more enjoyable.  I’m looking forward to Aqua80s too.  I’ve heard it’s very good.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

13 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’ll start out with something positive before I start my bitching.

The crew on UT are amazing.  I realize that they (Royal) garner their finest folks for the new ships, but even realizing that, this crew is awesome.  As previously  reported, last night we dropped by Giovanni’s to get some pistachio panna cotta to go (after our dinner at Chops).  On this cruise we have the UDP, which is fairly uncommon for us, but with the UDP you can visit more than one specialty restaurant per meal…so we did.  Not only did we get our [delicious !] dessert, with a smile, but the lovely young lady who helped us never even asked for our room number !  She had no idea if we actually had the UDP or were just scammers…. She got a nice tip (which she would have gotten anyway) but what wonderful service ! All of the crew we have encountered have been simply excellent !

Now for the bitchin’.  
 

1.  There are NO guest laptop computers available ANYwhere on this ship.  There are none on the Crown Lounge, no library, no card room.  Nothing.   This is a big problem for me as I use a computer a LOT on a cruise.  There are some things that are just too cumbersome to do on a tablet, much less, on a telephone.  This is a major fail, IMO.  They will hear from me on this one.

2.  The destination elevators are problematic.  They worked great on boarding day, in the afternoon, but got generally worse as the day went on.  Wait times, during peak use, are much longer, from my experience, than they were using the traditional elevators.  I know I will get plenty of push-back on this one, but this has been my experience, so far.  Maybe I was just expecting too much.

Definitely agree with you about the elevators.  Wait times were ridiculous for us as well.  I thought they would be a treat…quite the opposite!

 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

37 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

OMG, talk about technology overload…All In !  Royal needs to go back to the drawing board.  Except for the [WAAAY overused technology] I thought this show was about something I might see on a Voyager class ship or maybe even lower.  Incongruous and full of unfortunate imagery, which I will not discuss further…really bad, IMO.  Let’s hope the AT and ice shows are more enjoyable.  I’m looking forward to Aqua80s too.  I’ve heard it’s very good.

Ok so Aqua80’s Too was good but IMO the Oasis one is the absolute best!  I did enjoy the ice skating show…just don’t really “get it”.  The story line is…well…missing!  The skaters are wonderful….and the balancing guy is incredible.  If anyone understands the message, please enlighten me!