MaiseyM

I can't see it on my iPad

Wow. Exciting. I am always interested in those that cruise for so many days in row. Sounds fun.

I was surprised how many people were lining up for Starbucks on the Oasis. I love Starbucks, so no criticism. That said, there was a very long line every morning, despite all the free coffee on board. I had to line up for my serving one time b/c I missed my bux. It's nice to have on board.

Nice video. I love the Solarium on Oasis. This one looks even better.

I needed this post a few days ago. I totally overpaid some taxi guy to take me from the port to Budget car rental. Next time...

Are you interested in snorkeling? Cemetery Beach is great; years ago I saw many cool fish there (eels...). Rum Point is one of my favorite beautiful beaches. They too have snorkeling; not sure if it's as good as Cemetery. We were on Rum Point a year ago and found a baby octopus in the water (in a shell), so they still have some fun snorkeling.

If you do switch devices, the easiest way to switch is to go to the website logout.com or logoff.com.

I forget which one it is, but this is the surest way to log off.

If you try using the log off button, that doesn't work often times. I picked up this tip on this forum. It was the quickest way to logout, by entering it in as a website address.

This was taken on March 31 in Cozumel. Quite the size difference[emoji568]. I still remember when I couldn't get over the size of Majesty of the Seas during her first year sailing. Times have changed.

We did the $30 laundry deal. Just so you know, depending on when you give it to your cabin attendant , it may take a day and a half to have it returned. Essentially, the earlier you give it to the attendent in the day, the earlier you will receive the back.

I was actually noticing last week, how comfortable they were. We had two rooms and both of them and the eggshell mattresses underneath the sheets. We were on Oasis.

FWIW, I just left the Oasis yesterday, which is very similar to Allure. Yes, there were tons of kids for Spring Break, including my own. I didn't notice anything off and I didn't become bothered by them. I got a few kicks out of watching the teen behavior (typical developmental behavior) when they socialized in groups, but I didn't see anything crazy. I was typically in bed by midnight, so perhaps there was more stuff going on after that time that I wasn't aware of, but overall, they were fine. The only thing I was noticing was the thong swimsuits that a few girls were wearing at the ripe age of 15-17 years old (guessing age). Short of that surprising moment:confused: everything else was fine. The kids didn't bother me. I brought my teen/tweens on board too. I am planning Allure next Spring as well.

The girls would take the warning to heart and pack every darn thing they owned. The boys? Three pair of underwear and a couple of tee shirts ought to do it, right?

Ha!! Totally. This is it, in a nutshell, for 2 out of 3 of my boys.

I agree about the icebreaker on the first night at the teen club. My teen didn't get there until 10ish, but he still felt out of place. It's odd b/c this is the boy that can glad handle any crowd but he wasn't feeling it there. I really think it's his age at the time. I am certain this isn't the case for all 13 year olds though. I trust that next cruise he will be fine up there.

My boys are 13, 11, 10. My 11 year old was bummed out b/c he turns 12 in a few days and was obligated to go to the younger kids' room. That's life though. The 11 and 10 year old were OK in the kids club but didn't love it. My 10 year old liked it better, but like I said, my 11 year old probably thought he deserved to be in the teen club since he was about 7 days away from making that age group. I am happy they have the clubs, but we didn't use them a ton this time. We will probably use them more next time. Additionally, it was super nice to spend time with our kids anyway. We work way too much when not cruising, so time with the family was well needed.

I considered the shoe organizer (for me) but didn't think I would need it. Not a bad idea for the boys though since finding the most simple things were a 25 minute task. I may do that next time.

I forgot to mention that I brought a can of lysol wipes; glad I did. Used them for toilet seats, door handles when my son got his virus, remote controls, phones....

One thing I forgot to add to my 'pack list' is hangers. I tend to overpack and wanted my boys to have an outfit (casual and dressy) for every day. I know they won't keep clothes clean enough to re-wear often (at least the shirts) so I had a lot of shirts. Given that they take not priority in folding things, they ended up jammed into their little cubbies. I am doing laundry today and see so many shirts with tags still on b/c they were the unfortunate shirts that were jammed back so far that they never got seen or noticed. If I had a bunch of hangers, they would be able to view their new clean shirts better. This is only b/c I pack a lot of clothes and have 3 boys in one interior room. Not a ton of space for all of that to begin with, yet alone, add disorganization and plenty of clothes sprinkled on the floor.... hangers would have helped us in our case.

Glad others can relate to my state of boy mess:)

One thing on handwashing---I found my teen was used to washing before eating and after the bathroom but never thought about washing after doing activities which involve touching items touched by many others--like mini golf, the rock wall, sports court, etc. .

Exactly. I tried to get them to remember to wash hands after every transition. From point A to point B to point C. I also try to remind them that they don't need to touch everything they're standing in front. No need to touch the wall and Every elevator up-and-down button, just because it's there. It's a work in progress but hopefully his isolation would be a good reminder for next cruise.

As for the $30 laundry, we had a bag delivered to our room after about two or three days in. Essentially if you fill the bag with laundry, it's $30 to wash. I figured it would be cheaper to do it this way versus paying two dollars for every pair of underwear to be dry cleaned. Although this was expensive, it was more efficient route, given the underwear problem my boys created. [emoji849]

He checked out the teen club, but since he was 13. And was going in without his brothers, it was not as successful as I was hoping it would be. He's usually a super outgoing child but I think he felt a little awkward there. It seemed to me that the kids that thrived in this program are a little bit older and high school age. There were a lot of high school students in there, and since he is still in eighth grade, I think he may have felt awkward. I expect it to be better next year, but I think it was a little difficult for him this year. He still had a ton of fun regardless though.

After a week on Oasis with my teen and tweens, I thought I could give some feedback to those traveling with boys. This probably applies to some girls as well. This is all based on my recent weeklong vacation in the Caribbean and our shenanigans and trying to be efficient. We had a wonderful vacation but I figured I cannot be alone in traveling with boys and some of the Stereotypes they can live up to while traveling.

If your children are doing the soda package, bring something to identify each child's cup and distinguish them from one another. Maybe a piece of tape with her name on it, some nail polish markers, some stickers, or something to separate them. We spent too much time discussing who's cup was who’s. And then of course you have your discussion about who lost theirs and they'll point fingers at each other if one is lost, stating that they did not lose theirs and blaming the other one.

Underwear: although you may do all the packing for your kids, you may not want to trust that they know how to count and pack enough underwear for each day. This was one of the small tasks assigned to my boys and it was not followed through successfully for some of them. . As a result, your husband may end up short on his underwear since your teenage son may steal his underwear before vacation, leaving dad high and dry with limited underwear. As a mom, you may only learn that's the day that you're traveling and not ahead of time. There isn't much you can do at this point.

If you decide to do laundry on the ship since you are short boys underwear, do the $30 laundry deal well before or Wednesday. If you wait until Wednesday afternoon, you may not get it back until late on Friday evening. This does not help you with the underwear problem.

Checklists for leaving the room: our boys were in their own room. Despite us having the same routine every day, which consisted of leaving the room and going outside in the sun, and always took us about 25 minutes from meeting them at the door to actually leaving. My checklist would have said : sunglasses, soda cup, sea pass, cell phone. They did not have to carry much, however every day it was a comedy of errors trying to pull ourselves together and be ready to go to the pool or to go out to a beach. These constant to go items were not always remembered, despite us using this list every day. A checklist on the door may have been helpful.

Wash your hands!! Although I gave my children fair warning and expect them to have those handwashing still down pat, I probably could have warned them a little bit more and remind them more frequently. As a result, I had one child in isolation for two days due to having some virus he caught on the ship. Clearly they are of the age that they should know better, but having a little over parenting going on with regards to handwashing would not have hurt.

Other than that, the rest of the vacation was a hit. All of the tips I picked up on Cruise critic forum helped us prepare better. My husband was surprised with how much information I knew had of time. The kids had so much fun and are sad to be leaving to our snowy state today.

You will probably find many uses for it once you have it.

They are pretty Sibal with how many towels you take out and return. We took up quite a few and always return them, but they were never accounting to make sure. We were always honest about it obviously, but I wasn't paranoid about losing a towel and feeling like I was going to be charged.

My husband talked me into the premium drink package. I totally did not think I would use it. That said, once I had already paid for it I took full advantage and had so many good drinks whenever I wanted to. At no point did I over drink. You can stagger out your drinks throughout the day and have fun with different types. I didn't have to worry about the cost after it was paid for.

Holy!!! Crazy

I am sure there are copies of the menu everywhere, but I always have trouble finding the exact links

For anyone interested.... Drink menu from one of my personal favorite bars on Oasis. This does not include the different champagnes offered.

Whoa. Crazy. Nice rescue RCI!

Thank you all for confirming my decision. We would be flying from Wisconsin so I have to pay for flights either way. I agree. I.e. oils need more time than a day to do Disney. I would rather go there for a full vacation instead of stopping there for a day.

Thank you. We already booked harmony for this Christmas. I ended up booking Allure instead of Anthem. It was considerably less money since I am traveling with a party of five. And I have guaranteed warm weather, well almost.

It should be warmer than the Anthem. I will have to wait for Anthem to get a different itinerary I think. Thank you for the feedback.

OK. I'm going to price it out later today. If it's going to cost more than the Allure anyways, I may just stick with the Caribbean and Allure itinerary

My kids have had you tube come in just fine.