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Posted

The wait is killing me and the forums are a bit quiet so I decided to start this one a little earlier than usual.

Standard warning... My intro posts are very long but my actual blog posts are usually shorter and full of pics (mostly food & drink).

Blog Title

I couldn't really come up with anything clever involving the word Utopia, especially knowing I may be doing at least five of these Utopia B2B's, so the thought of a series of blogs led me to coming up with a long running movie franchise. I'm not even a big Star Wars fan (apologies to @Lovetocruise2002's hubby). I do hope the majority of readers understand the reference and why I started with Episode IV even if they're also not big fans. I tried coming up with five titles in advance but I'm only happy with two of them so far; the rest are a work in progress.

Intro

I'm WONDERing... oh wait, we're finally going on a new ship! We haven't done that since our first Wonder cruise back in 2023. OK, so Utopia is pretty identical to Wonder as far as layout but there are new shows, destination elevators, a new tiki bar with new drinks to try, a fake food truck, Giovanni's Kitchen is up on decks 11/12 with an outdoor terrace, and the Crown Lounge has been newly relocated to deck 16 and has windows! As a fairly boring creature of habit, this all sounds pretty great to me. We get to keep our general routine (with a few twists) while experiencing the subtle differences from Wonder, most of which seem positive.

Cabin

After a glorious week in a CP balcony last month (during which I might have spent a total of two hours on said balcony), it's back to the caves we go! We're on deck 10 near the forward elevators, just like all of our Wonder interiors. We actually have the same exact cabin booked for every Utopia B2B. I learned from Wonder that there are at least three different interior layouts and we prefer the one that's similar to a balcony cabin (bed on the side wall, not in the back). We also like to be in the outer hallway, opposite OV balconies, rather than in the maze of interiors that can be found in the middle of most higher decks. Those two layouts alternate along the outer forward hallways on deck 10 so I just grabbed the closest one to the elevators.

Bonus Savings

We got some dumb luck on our two B2B's for this summer as well as next March as my TA had some sort of promo that gave us double the OBC when I booked these last March (with group rates). Then it got even better when Royal had the brilliant idea to sell gift cards at 20% off which I jumped on before they quickly ended the promo. By no means are these inexpensive compared to my past Wonder group rates but the extra savings certainly made the total cost more palatable.

Itinerary

Who would want to just go back and forth from PC to Nassau and CocoCay with a turnaround day in between? Obviously us. I'm sure this sounds incredibly boring to many and that's understandable. In my mind, it's not really all that different than getting off the ship to go to CocoCay once and a Cozumel beach club once, which is what we did on two of our last three cruises. As the regular readers know, we primarily sail for the ship and still enjoy CocoCay after 11 visits. There's also a financial benefit in that we won't be spending a penny on excursions which helps offset the inflated cost of Utopia. We don't plan to get off the ship in Nassau and we don't spend anything on CocoCay except to tip on voucher drinks.

This one is a 4/3 leaving on a Monday...

Day 1 - PC (Embarkation)
Day 2 - Nassau
Day 3 - CocoCay
Day 4 - Sea Day
Day 5 - PC (Turnaround Day)
Day 6 - Nassau
Day 7 - CocoCay
Day 8 - PC (Debarkation)

I've never been a fan of PDCC on the last day but it's fine. July is a 3/4 so we'll end with a sea day and our specialty meals will shift around a bit on that one.
Having been at PDCC with two Oasis class ships (including last month), it's never a concern to us. We get off the ship early, grab "our spot" by Oasis Lagoon, and watch as it doesn't get busy until after 10am. That said, I certainly don't mind if we're joined by a smaller ship and we got two good draws on this one. Grandeur will be with us on the 1st leg and Jewel on the 2nd leg. But wait, there's more! At some point I noticed @WAAAYTOOO will be onboard Jewel during our 2nd leg! After multiple mentions of me being an introvert followed by telling each other that meeting will be a disappointment on both ends, lol, I hope to at least say hi.

Planning

As the regulars also know, I enjoy overplanning, so I had fun trying to fit in new show reservations and figuring out when to schedule our specialty meals. I'm keeping an open mind but I don't expect to love every show (I'm looking at you, All In). We also don't need to see every show twice in seven days. However, the planner in me couldn't help but come up with a chart that allowed for everything on both legs. Better to have reservations and not use them than vice-versa... even though I'm well-aware that you can easily walk into any show via standby, especially the main theater shows (which now also includes adult comedy since The Attic is no more). You also never know when an aqua show will be cancelled due to weather or technical difficulties and it's tough to cram everything into a short sailing.

Dining

As far as specialty goes, we're sticking with Giovanni's Kitchen for our night one D+ BOGO which will be our anniversary dinner (a day late), going back to Mason Jar brunch on the one sea day after trying dinner last month, doing GK lunch on turnaround day, and having our usual Playmakers dinner one night but that's TBD.

Now for some new wrinkles... Utopia has the seafood buffet in WJ on embarkation day (meaning we have it twice). That's not exactly optimal since I usually try not to go nuts on embarkation day with GK dinner that night and for the 2nd embarkation day we have GK lunch. That's just how it worked out and I'm not skipping the seafood so it is what it is. Between show schedules and factoring in my wife (who will want no part of the seafood), I wasn't going to reschedule things around WJ lunch no matter how much I may enjoy it.

After I thought I had everything scheduled, I then noticed that GK is actually open for lunch while we're in Nassau. I guess it's a Utopia or a shorty thing. I went back to see if it worked out better to move that lunch to one of the Nassau days but for various reasons decided to leave things as-is.

One last twist... we're planning to skip the MDR entirely. We've never been big fans and two of the three menus with entrees my wife will eat aren't part of the Utopia rotation. We have our two specialty dinners (counting Playmakers), two specialty brunch/lunches, and two lunches on CocoCay which my wife enjoys. Since I can always find food somewhere and my wife knows she will enjoy breakfast and at least one other meal on six of the seven days, she's not concerned about the other dinners. It goes without saying but she doesn't exactly eat like me. We'll check out WJ dinner (she's usually happy with the cook to order stations), have some CL snacks, get her a custom pizza at Sorrento's, etc. I also reminded her that GK Wine Bar also has a la carte pizza as well as one of the desserts she likes and her favorite MJ dessert in on the late night menu so she'll be fine. I'm looking forward to skipping the MDR. Besides the seafood buffet on embarkation days, I've seen and heard about some pretty good dinner items in WJ on certain nights (including more seafood on the last night, which I already love b/c it's Indian night).

Miscellaneous

Cruise Director - We normally pay little attention to who the CD is at this point but we're looking forward to sailing with Marc Walker (Bing Bong) again on this one. He used to live very close to us and my wife has a loose connection to his daughters (who happened to be visiting him onboard the one time we sailed with him a while back). Regardless of all that, he's a fun CD and since we're back to attending lots of shows, we'll actually see the CD far more often than we did on Wonder. We may even try to go The Quest (haven't done that in a while).

Crown Lounge - As mentioned, the CL has moved to deck 16 aft. I'm definitely looking forward to the new space and the windows. The only catch is that I'm used to being right above the CL where it's just a quick elevator down for my early morning coffee run. With the new location, I'll likely go up to deck 15 or 16 and cross the ship outside. As lazy as I am, a 6am outdoor walk while most of the ship is asleep and the sun is rising could be pretty nice.

Internet - Another small but not insignificant perk for us on a 4/3 B2B is that we usually share one internet account so it becomes completely free with our two free D+ days per person on each leg. We'll even each have our own account at times, especially during the 3N portion.

Photos - I didn't wind up taking many non-food pics last time (except when asked for Solarium pics) but I will again try to take more. Hopefully a new ship with new venues and decor will inspire me.

Parking - If you read my last blog, you may remember that when we got to the port around 9:30am the garage wasn't open yet so we just parked in the surface lot right next to it (which we had done one other time). It's honestly easier than parking on level two of the garage since we only bring one rolling suitcase each. Wheeling them over the short ground level walk to the porters stationed on that side is quicker than getting them down from level two. We also aren't forced to go through the drop-off loop by bypassing the garage entirely. So as of now, the plan is to park in the lot again... and we may get there even a bit earlier as Utopia is known to begin boarding before 10am.

Weather - As most frequent Caribbean cruisers know (especially FL residents), the forecast isn't to be trusted even the night before (or morning of TBH). That said, I can't help but glance at it and it's potentially not great right now. We could never leave the ship and have a great time, so it is what it is, but we'd obviously prefer to get off at PDCC (and for others to get off in Nassau, leaving us with an emptier ship to enjoy).

I think that covers everything. As always, questions, comments, and tangents are welcome both pre-cruise and during. With no significant travel, planes, or hotels, I normally don't have much to share in the week leading up to embarkation day.

Posted
8 hours ago, JohnK6404 said:

Yes, it's the anniversary of the release!

Never dawned on me but now I remember being on Wonder that week last year & taking pics of the Utopia decorations in the terminal at PC & the sand sculpture they left up on CocoCay.

EDIT: Actually, that was in July, and we’ll be on then again next month. In fact, check-in is at midnight tonight.

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Posted
3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Never dawned on me but now I remember being on Wonder that week last year & taking pics of the Utopia decorations in the terminal at PC & the sand sculpture they left up on CocoCay.

EDIT: Actually, that was in July, and we’ll be on then again next month. In fact, check-in is at midnight tonight.

IMG_5316.thumb.jpeg.0160f088139822ef251a15bfdfe90943.jpeg😀

IMG_5341.thumb.jpeg.5aaf309dde08b86a4ebd631b5ed54dd0.jpeg

.. are we referring to the same thing? LOL! 😃

I meant Star Wars... released 48 years ago to the day (5/25/1977).

Posted
13 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

You got an excel spreadsheet to keep track? 

I got a scrap of paper with a hand written grid in pencil, lol. I almost posted a pic.

It didn't exactly take high level calculus but if you want to see all the shows (including adult comedy) you need to squeeze 5 into 4N or 4 into 3N (one show only runs during the 4N cruises), so it does take some planning. Plus there are other factors like specialty dinner (we drag ours out a bit while I'm stuffing myself and we both love the GK desserts), our habit of not being able to stay up super late, etc.

Some game shows we really enjoy, like Perfect Couple, are held at midnight. So I even went a step further and have a plan to try to make it to that, possibly Quest at 11:20pm, etc. There's a Pesky Parrot drink with Red Bull yellow in it, maybe that will help. Yes, I could just get a Red Bull or Red Bull vodka but I'm not an energy drink guy. Could also just go grab espresso in the CL I guess.

Posted
26 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I thought you meant the anniversary of Utopia's launch, lol.

I wasn't born in May, 1977 (close but not quite). 🙈

😄 I was in elementary school and remember seeing it in the theaters. I just noticed you created your new blog on the anniversary of the release of Episode IV: A New Hope (was just called "Star Wars" back then before they started including the chapters in the title).

Not the same episode, but classic...

Laugh It Up Fuzzball GIFs | Tenor

Posted
8 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I just noticed you created your new blog on the anniversary of the release of Episode IV: A New Hope

I would love to be able to say that was intentional, lol, but as you can tell it was just a happy accident. Pretty funny though.

Changing "A New Hope" to "A New Ship" was what sold me on the idea since it was an obvious fit. Episode VI was an obvious one too. It's the others that need work.

Posted
33 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

You got an excel spreadsheet to keep track? 

21 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I got a scrap of paper with a hand written grid in pencil, lol. I almost posted a pic.

😄 Starts on paper for me too, but evolves into spreadsheets! Even though it's all listed on the RC app, I created this for just the cruise portion for my wife's uncle and fiancé... they always refer to me as their Royal Genie. 🤣

... all week I had to tell them to pull up their schedule when they asked me, "What time is..." or "Where are we eating dinner?"... 😄

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Posted

Looking forward to this... since by the time I get back on a RC cruise, I'll have been on a TWO year Royal drydock (does it still count as a dry dock if I sailed other ships?) and need to keep up with all of the happenings over here!  I really want to do Utopia but the mini cruises just don't work for me, maybe a B2B down the line, but for now I'll experience it through your blog series.   I can't wait for the part where Super Mario takes off his hat and says "Mike, I am your father" 

Posted
1 minute ago, JohnK6404 said:

😄 Starts on paper for me too, but evolves into spreadsheets! Even though it's all listed on the RC app, I created this for just the cruise portion for my wife's uncle and fiancé... they always refer to me as their Royal Genie. 🤣

... all week I had to tell them to pull up their schedule when they asked me, "What time is..." or "Where are we eating dinner?"... 😄

image.thumb.png.f6776144de65af4b5fa134a9f9ded6cc.png

i JUST did something very similar to this for my next cruise, since it's a 14 day B2B and we have different excursions, different OBCs.. different extras for the room and both are in different classes with different perks. I had to break it down like this so I knew what the heck we could use and couldn't use and when we had to worry about getting off the ship early for excursions and when we could just relax. Left blank spaces for shows and meals to be written in on the ship 

Posted
4 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

God bless you Mike. Half the time on our cruises I have no idea what’s going on. I’m like a walking brainstem. Just basic functions operating most times. The extent of my plans are how many times will I get to trellis bar on the sailing. 

As I frequently post, no wrong way to cruise. I'll also go out on a limb and say having kids with you could make rigid plans a bit more difficult.

Posted
6 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Starts on paper for me too, but evolves into spreadsheets!

That's impressive! Love the color coding! Of course, you also had tons of excursions in foreign countries to keep track of. I don't need a chart that says stay on the ship unless it's PDCC day, lol.

My handwritten version winds up in the calendar on my phone and then I rely on the app for smaller stuff like trivia or when a performer is playing in the Pub/Schooner/Music Hall. We don't wind up going to half of that stuff but I just click on anything that is a possible activity.

Posted
9 minutes ago, ScottD said:

i JUST did something very similar to this for my next cruise, since it's a 14 day B2B and we have different excursions, different OBCs.. different extras for the room and both are in different classes with different perks. I had to break it down like this so I knew what the heck we could use and couldn't use and when we had to worry about getting off the ship early for excursions and when we could just relax. Left blank spaces for shows and meals to be written in on the ship

Like John being in Europe, totally understandable. That's a lot more to keep track of... and for 14 days.

We had an extensive itinerary for our 18-day Alaska land/sea trip. Doing loops to the Bahamas and back doesn't require nearly that much organizing, lol.

Posted
1 minute ago, GatorCruiser said:

You know @OCSC Mike we went against our better judgment and booked utopia for October for a shortie. Maybe I mentioned this before. It’s a bro cruise of college buds as we all turn 50 this year. So I’m tuned in to your blog to get the scoop before then. 

Don't remember hearing about it. It's probably the right ship for a "bro cruise" if nothing else. Sky Class or slumming it again? Did you grab a drink package yet? I know there have been some good sales recently.

I'll do my best. You obviously know what my blogs are like and this should be fairly similar to our Wonders but at least I have all new shows to comment on, Pesky Parrot is new, etc. Actually going to try to take more ship pics although you can find pics and videos all over the place.

Chime in if there's anything specific you want to know (that goes for anyone of course).

Posted
8 minutes ago, Cruising_Figure_Skater said:

Woohoo! I can enjoy your blogs on Utopia while I'm on final countdown to Voyager on the 9th!

Looking forward to it - as a food/drink gal I do enjoy your blogs 🙂

If nothing else, I'd like to think my blogs are good for food and drink info, lol. Glad you enjoy them.

Voyager was my first cruise ever for my honeymoon in 2002. It was pretty new back then and people were still saying "I can't believe there's an ice rink on a ship!"

I look forward to following yours when I get home and recover from mine.

Posted
4 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Sky Class or slumming it again?

We went with a suite guaranty which should be interesting. We have chosen to forgo booze package and use D+ vouchers and ?suite lounge booze. Bout to board Oasis in a couple of weeks in gen pop though. I know you’re proud of us !! 😛 
I want pics of trellis and pesky please !! 

Posted
Just now, GatorCruiser said:

We went with a suite guaranty which should be interesting. We have chosen to forgo booze package and use D+ vouchers and ?suite lounge booze.

You know you're highly likely to get a JS which doesn't get you into the SL, right? The 10 vouchers work for us but you know my deal. I dunno about you though unless your wife is sharing.

3 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

Bout to board Oasis in a couple of weeks in gen pop though. I know you’re proud of us !! 😛

Oh so very proud! It's like when @Lovetocruise2002 is forced to step foot in the WJ! I can sense the trepidation through my screen. 🤣

Posted
7 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

You know you're highly likely to get a JS which doesn't get you into the SL, right?

Yes that was a concern but my wife perused the site throughly  and it seemed to specify sky class unless the site was misinformative. If we get hosed, so be it. Double points nonetheless. But it would suck eggs not to see the utopia suite lounge. 
also, we love the windjammer and hit it up every cruise. Our tradition is to always have dinner there the last night of every cruise around like 830 when it’s wide open and lots of Indian and Asian  grub available. 

Posted
3 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

Yes that was a concern but my wife perused the site throughly  and it seemed to specify sky class unless the site was misinformative.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I'm pretty certain there's no such thing as a Sky Class suite GTY and unless you get extremely lucky you'll wind up in a regular JS. The site is garbage.

You need a TA, for some perks if nothing else. If it means that much to you, I would investigate. You're well before final payment but probably booked a NRD... even so, it's worth looking into, IMO.

All that said, you could wind up getting the DBP if need be and there's not much of a difference between the SL and CL besides the drinks and suite deck access (same coffee machine, same breakfast, same happy hour snacks, etc.) You lose CK except for dinner but I don't see that as a huge deal. Plus the CL isn't in the basement anymore and has windows.

GL with whatever you wind up doing. I know you'll have a great cruise however you work it out.

Posted
14 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

also, we love the windjammer and hit it up every cruise. Our tradition is to always have dinner there the last night of every cruise around like 830 when it’s wide open and lots of Indian and Asian  grub available.

I missed this part. I'm especially looking forward to the last night WJ dinner on Utopia. It's still Indian night but apparently it also has some of the seafood from embarkation day lunch (minus the lobster).

Posted

I’m sure you’re correct and we misjudged. ( I was skeptical of the suite guaranty anyway) the hope is that since it’s a shorty with lots of noobs cruising , there’ll be more of sky class suites available when it shakes out. Not worried  if so since it’s a 3 nighter. As long as there’s a trellis I’m good !! 

Posted
Just now, GatorCruiser said:

As long as there’s a trellis I’m good

There is definitely a Trellis... but you got new bars and drinks to try like Pesky Parrot and the Apple Pie Moonshine Old Fashioned in Mason Jar that didn't exist when we were on Wonder.

3N takes planning! Hope the wife is up to it since we've established you're... ummm... less than helpful in that department. 🙃

Posted

Actually, there IS a Sky Class-level suite GTY category (actually, it is a GTY that applies to a specific a Sky Class category such as GS GTY, etc.) but they are VERY rare - especially these days....and double especially for a new ship.

I checked the Travel Agency website and I do not see any such Suite GTY for any sailing in October except for the normal XS which is a suite guarantee that is 99.9% of the time going to yield a JS.  There is 1 JS GTY available for 27 October but other than that, I don't see anything.  Certainly nothing that is likely to yield a Sky Level suite.

@GatorCruiser, if you really want a Sky level room, I suggest you consider booking one directly,  If you're ok with a JS then you will be a-ok.  Miracles DO happen and it's theoretically possible that you might snag a GS or above, but highly improbable.

Posted
5 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

actually, it is a GTY that applies to a specific a Sky Class category such as GS GTY

Now that you described it, think I may have seen one of those like once ever while checking on who-knows-what (I certainly wasn't looking to book one, lol). I might have been checking how many and what types of cabins were left for an upcoming sailing just out of boredom and curiosity.

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