LEMJMcC

Ha! So, what's the antonym for germaphobe? That's kind of what I am...my wife on the other hand, well, she's precious.

Lather it on heavily before leaving the ship and don't advertise it. We've never had a problem using what we normally use anywhere/anytime else.

Before my first cruise, I too did not desire to take one. I thought I'd get cabin fever, get bored, have to stand in line, do nothing but eat, etc. Finally my father persuaded me to join him and Mom, along with a few other family members on a five-night cruise on Brilliance. Boy was I surprised and pleased! I am very much an active outdoorsy guy who likes to stay busy, and I found the cruising delightful! So much so that we've taken four cruises since on our own. The only caveat I had, and still have, is that I have a junior suite so that I have a little extra room and a nice balcony where I am guaranteed a place to sit watch the water go by at my leisure. If your SIL has never cruised before, I would think he'd be in for a pleasant surprise, all the more since he's no footing the bill! If he persists in his reluctance, would you consider taking me & my wife as substitutes?😉

I've always booked directly with RCI. We're interested in an Alaskan cruise for 2024. Are there any benefits to gong through a TA versus booking directly with RCI? Thanks.

How interesting. We were on the same cruise, cabin 8642, nice balcony as well. However, we found Tap Factory to be the best show, though I must confess that we watched Intense from Wonderland. Effectors sucked bad. Didn't bother with any other entertainment, but would probably go see Tap Factory again. Just goes to show how tastes differ. My absolute favorite place was our own balcony.

I found this...

Does anyone have a PDF or other document that shows all the RCI ships by class such as Oasis Class, etc. that you'd be willing to share? Thanks.

We liked Wonderland so much that we bought the company... Anyone know where that comes from?

I'd say you'll enjoy both very much! The Panacotta (sp?) at Giovanni's was a real surprise, if you like pistachio; and the chocolate ravioli is quite delicious too! The cinnamon roll at Mason Jar is big and its icing is not very sweet, more of a cream cheese type icing, goes great with a tall glass of cold milk! We also enjoyed breakfast at Johnny Rockets, though my pancakes were kind of cool, but I understand. I did splurge and ordered a bacon chocolate milkshake with my breakfast...pretty good! Enjoy and happy birthday! Celebrated my 55th while onboard last week...be sure to let those places know and they usually bring something special out!

Oh I agree. We had an absolute blast on Wonder! I just didn't realize the benefit of the UDP. For those who've not experienced an Oasis-class ship, you're in for a treat!

No, not in a Junior Suite...

Seems I did see that, but it was later after the hectic period on onboarding. I wish RCI would allow those who purchase the UDP the opportunity to make their reservations at the time of the purchase, while reserving enough seating for those who purchase individual meals at the specialty venues while on the ship.

I don't know what is typical for Cabin Stewards, but ours told us he had 39 cabins assigned to him; and I imagine many of those were junior suites. Does that sound like a lot or is that average?

Nothing in the Solarium Bistro was made-to-order, at least not for the one supper and one breakfast we enjoyed there. I do think the choices have decreased in both the Bistro and WJ based on what I and my wife remember from previous cruises. Still, I thought the food satisfactory in both. Never a day found us going to bed hungry!

We, too, ate at 150 CP on Oasis and did really enjoy it there, but that was five years ago. Perhaps that's why we were so disappointed this go around, the bar had been set high on Oasis, but Wonder failed to rise to the occasion.

We were slated for 11:30 AM check-in. We arrived and parked by 11:10 and checked in about 11:20 AM. Since we had a Junior Suite, we were directed to the suite line and were checked in almost immediately. We were onboard the ship in less than 10 minutes from the time we walked into the terminal at PC.

Yes and trying to get them all arranged on embarkation day. We went straight to Izumi, and we boarded an hour BEFORE our assigned time of 11:30 AM and still the line at Izumi went all around the dining room as folks were trying to make all their reservations for the week. I had mine all laid out with second and third options and still had to take some 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM slots - it took me a good 20 minutes once I got to the fella taking reservations; BTW< Izumi Hibachi was COMPLETELY booked for the whole week when my turn finally came, and I stated above, we boarded early and went straight there. Looking back, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, at least for us. I wish better success!

We were on the Wonder of the Seas last week; it was our first time on WOTS, but our second Oasis-class ship (Oasis in 2018). Room (8642 - Junior Suite): This cabin had less counter space than Oasis of the Seas, but had a total of four USB plugs which were handy. The bed was comfortable, but the gap between the mattresses would sometimes open up depending on our "activities". The balcony was fantastic, but the table was smaller in diameter and shorter than on Oasis. The balcony chairs were comfortable with their separate foot rests. I just wish the railing was about 12" lower so as not to block the view of the sea as much. We did not like the shower - it was a regular sized step-in tub with a glass door that covered only half of the tub length...go figure! One major annoyance was the creaking noise coming from our cabin door. We called Maintenance and they removed several ceiling panels, sprayed some lubricant on some of the joints in the door frame, but to no avail. It sounded like someone was tapping on the door with a set of car keys; one night it was so noisy we had to sleep with earplugs! Apparently the ship's superstructure was flexing enough to create such noises, though we never noticed anything like it on the other ships (Brilliance, Freedom, Oasis, and Mariner). Room Steward (Dodi from Indonesia): Average, nothing to write home about. He was very friendly, but not as attentive to details as some of the past stewards-esses we've had. For example, we ran out of the shower gel in the shower and had to request that it be refilled; I would think they ought to refill those at the start of each cruise. I requested a bucket of ice to chill a bottle of champagne (which we set out on the countertop) and he brought a small bucket filled with ice, but it was so small the bottle would not fit into it even it were empty...go figure again. He did attend to the cabin twice each day and did leave some towel art, but not each night surprisingly. Food: We had the UDP for the first time. We won't be doing it again as it was quite the hassle to get reservations, even for just two of us. The best two were Wonderland and Giovanni's: Villeti (Ukraine), our waiter in Wonderland was terrific and the food very good, especially the short rib! We liked Wonderland so much the first try that we went back on the last night of the cruise. Jason (Phillipines) at Giovanni's was also very good and the food excellent. We really enjoyed lunch at The Mason Jar, both the food and service was very good and we would have gone back for supper, but had reservations elsewhere. We ate twice at the Solarium Bistro, one night for dinner with Sudipta (India) as our waiter; he was wonderful! We went back for breakfast the next day and he went above and beyond to get us some fresh squeezed orange juice when another waitress would not. Incidentally, the Bistro does not have one of those orange juicers like the Windjammer and the Vitality Café do; so Sudipta had to trek all the way to the WJ to get our juices, thus he earned our high regard. The food in the Bistro was pretty good, but we both noticed that the selection in it and the Windjammer seemed much less than on Oasis, but that was five years ago! That notwithstanding, the quality was satisfactory. We liked 150 Central Park and Hooked the least both in terms of food quality and service. In 150 CP there was a group of somewhat inebriated couples being very loud and obnoxious using very foul language - very disrespectful to all who were in the restaurant, yet the management did nothing about it. We finally had to request to be moved to the other end of the room. This really influenced our overall experience there for the worse. The food there was not so good either, the veal filet I had was tough and the halibut my wife had was rather bland. We will likely avoid 150 CP on future cruises. The meals we had at Hooked were okay, but with a shellfish allergy, my wife was limited to only a couple of possibilities. Still, we'd go there before going back to 150 CP. We ate one dinner at Izumi Sushi and enjoyed the food, unfortunately we had such a large lunch at Giovanni's that same day that we could not enjoy really Izumi as much! Our bad. We both said we'd love to go back some time when we're not not so full! Ship: Wonder is a huge ship. This is her beside a Celebrity ship at St. Kitts. Wonder next to Freedom at Coco Cay. Even with its size though, the sea had its way with her. We seemed to be in constant motion, rocking up and down and side-to-side. Aside from the creaking door, we enjoyed the ride as neither of us are subject to seasickness thank God! We enjoyed the jogging track almost every day and hit the Vitality Café after each workout for a smoothie or freshly made juice. We took in about 5 minutes of Effectors 2 then walked out when one of the female performers started rubbing her butt in front of the whole audience...come on, really? We thoroughly enjoyed Tap Factory though and would definitely recommend it! The aqua show was too similar to what we saw on Oasis, so that was kind of a let down and we're glad we didn't waste much time with it. We discovered rather pleasant live jazz in Central Park on two different nights and really enjoyed that. The large movie screen I've read so much about was a non-issue, though it did have some entertaining movies on it (we liked the dog-themed ones best), there was never any accompanying sound, so the stillness and peaceful atmosphere of Central Park were nicely preserved. Shore Excursions: We hiked Mount Liamuiga on St. Kitts. Seven miles roundtrip with some very very rugged terrain and technical sections. Even being in decent shape we breathed heavily and sweated a lot! Our guides were great though. That excursion started off on the wrong foot though, but ended well. We met up with the group on the ship and were escorted to a building in which were several long lines for various other excursions. A guide told us to get in the back of the line and quickly walked off. I picked the line I thought she had pointed to and confirmed with the last guy that I was indeed in the right place. The wife needed the restroom so she took off and as soon as she did, the line moved! I had to stay where I was so as not to lose her, but as a result, we missed the shuttle to the trailhead and had to pay $80 for a taxi ride! That's the most expensive potty break we've ever experienced! In the end I still think it was worth it...a very unique experience for us. On St. Thomas our snorkeling excursion was cancelled on St. John Island due to a red flag day there, so we opted for one going to Xmas Cove on St. Thomas. The powered catamaran ride over the choppy sea was an absolute blast! The snorkeling was rather pitiful tough. Still, the water was clear and beautiful and we did enjoy ourselves. Coco Cay was packed as Freedom of the Seas was there alongside Wonder. We did some snorkeling there and saw several beautiful fish and a couple of sting rays. The Crew The crew of Wonder were really very friendly, though we did tire a bit of the constant push to rate servants 10 on the post-cruise survey. Also it seemed some of specialty restaurants tried very hard to convince us to come back to them for future meals. We would have gladly obliged some of them if we could have secured reservations. We had a couple's massage right off the bat on embarkation day and the masseuses were really very good and when we told them we had another appointment right afterward and weren't interested in any other products they were very respectful and did not push anything. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our voyage on Wonder of the Sea very much and are so very thankful for the opportunity and ability to have experienced it. We relaxed, exercised, enjoyed marital bliss, ate all kinds of good food, saw many incredible sites, met some very nice people, and learned a thing or two about cricket and what life is like on St. Kitts and St. Thomas. Bon voyage to all who are looking forward to their next cruise! We're already discussing our next one!

BTW, is there by chance a musical group entitled "LA Vation" onboard Wonder? I had read elsewhere that they were a good U2 tribute band. Thanks.

One of our favorite features of the Oasis class. Amen! Except instead of getting paid, I am the one paying🙄, but it's worth it!😁 We're on Wonder next week (Lord willing) for the first time. Thanks for sharing, we are excited about exploring this ship.

Seems a reasonable and considerate approach.