curlymason

:confused: how's that different from making a regular voice call?

You don’t have to pay for the cellular at sea voice call rates. You just press a button and chat back and forth.

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Ineresting. So why do you like Zello better than iMessage or WhatsApp?

Being able to actually voice talk back and forth in real time rather than typing out messages was nice. But any of them would work, I’m sure.

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All phones needed a WIFi package for Zello to function, right?

Correct. We and our friends each had one device WiFi packages. We just all downloaded the app to our phones so which ever of us had the WiFi on at the moment could get messages. On that app you create a profile and contacts and can see who is online. You can leave voice messages as well if the others aren’t online yet.

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We just went on Oasis with friends earlier in December. We solved this problem by getting a WiFi package (which I needed for my business emails anyway) and using the Zello app. We could walkie talkie each other through our phones over the WiFi. It worked amazingly!

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What devastating news. I'm so sorry for your loss Sam. My heart hurts for you and your family.

I can edit it if you like, but I'd have to delete the entire photo.

I would appreciate it! Thanks!

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Since it isn't asking you for anything, not trying to get you to log in, nor telling you to click on any links ... the likelihood of a scam is very low.

 

I'd just delete it and move on.

 

However, I would say posting your (presumably) real name for all to see in a public forum ... may not be the best practice.

That's a great point...I would remove my name, but I can't figure out how to edit it now :rolleyes:

I’m trying to decide if this is a legit mistake or some kind of scam. But I’m not booked on Jewel or any other cruise at the moment. What on earth!? I’ve never been in concierge class, so I’m just confused.

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It alternates. I don’t know if it will help, but I was just in 7594 and we had bed by closet. Our friends next door in 7592 had bed by the balcony.

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I’ll be doing a full review including the great, good, the bad and the ugly in the next day or two. I’m still busy catching up on work, and LAUNDRY. ALLLLL THE LAUNDRY. But, I wanted to share this tip.

Zello. It is amazing onboard. It’s a walkie talkie app for your phone. You create a profile, and you can add specific contacts that you choose. It can run on WiFi or on cellular data. On the ship, our travel buddies also had a WiFi package and we were able to ping each other, chat back and forth, and leave messages for each other all week. It was so much better than constantly knocking on each other’s doors and leaving notes, etc.

If you’re traveling with friends or a group, I would highly recommend it!

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As soon as you get off the ship, there’s a free boat over to Columbus Cove. Once you get off, hang a right, and hit up the beach past the kiddie inflatable toys. It was totally sand, and absolutely gorgeous. It’s also right in front of a bar and one of the lunch bbq stations.

Just note that the boat runs one way, and it’s a pretty long walk back. We waited on the tram and were glad after seeing how far it actually is. Just plan enough time for the tram!

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GREAT review, thanks! i picked up some very good tips for our 1/14/18 cruise.

 

 

 

Being a florida gator it is difficult for me to say this but tell your husband i am rooting very strongly for UGA and them Dawgs!

[emoji23] I’ll pass that along to him. We’re a house divided - I’m a Bama fan. But I root for the dawgs with him as long as they aren’t actually playing bama.

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The last day of our cruise was a sea day. We played putt putt (challenging in wind and with the ship moving). We sat by the pool and had a few drinks of the day. Basically we were lazy lol. We had another awesome meal at Chops. I had the crispy goat cheese salad, crab cake, and a medium rare filet that was amazing. Like buttah! I finished my dinner with the key lime pie, which I also highly recommend.

Here’s a little trick for the last night. The hangers were driving me crazy banging against each other, so I put a towel through them. Problem solved.

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The next day was a port day in Labadee. It was a gorgeous day. We hopped on the ferry over to Columbus Cove, grabbed chairs, and settled in. The BBQ lunch was pretty good, and the extra boozy Labadoozies were even better.

That would be my hubby floating with the beer on his stomach [emoji23]

We hit up the MDR for dinner, ate our weight in tiger shrimp, and then went to see the aerial show, Come Fly with Me. The acrobatics and aerial artists were amazing. The singing was bordering on criminally awful. They butchered most of the songs. Yikes.

We went to the Solarium for the absolut party, but it wasn’t hopping, and we decided to turn in.

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So behind! So, back to our St Thomas day. After the aqua theater, we got ready for dinner in the main dining room. After eating, we went to the headliner show. This week, it was a rock and roll show by Private Stock. I was expecting lame, but they blew me away. I’m a huge music nerd/lover, and they were amazing. They seriously didn’t miss a note. I would have skipped something else to go back and watch them again. I enjoyed a Long Island while watching the show lol.

Moving on to San Juan. The next morning we docked bright and early in SJ....and we know it was bright and early because there was a band playing outside the ship that was ridiculously loud and woke us up. The downside to a balcony!

We walked around a bit, talked to some locals, and checked out the visible damage from the hurricane. Power was on, and I had no trouble getting cell service. The locals said the situation was much worse outside of OSJ. Then we did our part to consume all the alcohol on the island.

We were back on board at 1pm, and decided a nap was in order before dinner (also related to above beverages).

It was formal night, lobster night!! And yes we were able to order more than one lobster tail.

Then we went to the ice skating show Frozen in Time. Again, blown away. I love watching skating on the olympics, so I really enjoyed it. Super fun!

Then we went to Blaze to get our dance on, but didn’t last long lol. We’re getting old!

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A catch up post! We’ve had a jam packed two days.

Yesterday was a port stop in St Thomas. We had a 12:15 snorkeling excursion. I don’t normally book excursions through the ship, but because of the hurricane damage, I decided that might be the safest option. We got off the ship and walked around some of the shops at the pier. We chatted with some locals, who were all super happy to see the ships back and to be back to work. Everyone we chatted with didn’t have power at their homes yet. I bought some gifts and a ring for myself and felt happy to part with money to help out the local economy.

About 11, the sky fell. And fell. And fell. It was torrential rain to say the least. We thought our excursion might be cancelled because of the wind and rain. Nope. We traipsed around the pier in the pouring rain and boarded an already packed boat. The covered area didn’t hold enough seating for everyone, and without sitting in a waterfall of rain, there were about 35 people left to stand. I ended up sitting on a cooler because my equilibrium is too bad to stand on a moving boat, especially in choppy seas. The crew did their best, but it was an annoying and rough start to an excursion. “We’re going to get wet anyway” was their reasoning for running the excursion despite the weather, including lightening. Yeah, well, I wasn’t planning to submerge my entire bag with my phone and wallet in the water. [emoji15][emoji849] evverything was soaked.

But, we decided to make the best of it. After 10 mins or so we moved out of the rain (though we were still seeing lightening a few miles away). We arrived at Buck Island, got our snorkel equipment on, and got in. We were told before we got in that the hurricane destroyed all the grasses that the turtles ate, so we might or might not see them. I was sad to see that most of the reef was dead. Someone else saw a sting ray, but other than a handful of fish, we didn’t see much of anything. It was a super pretty location though.

Then we took off for an hour of beach time on Water Island. There were locals with a small beach grill with shockingly good food! The fish was amazing. It was a bit overcast, but the rain held off for the most part.

After we got back to the ship, we went directly to the Aqua Theater for our rescheduled Oasis of Dreams show. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on a ship.

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Day 3 at sea! After a pretty rough night that included rough seas and the wind screaming through our balcony door and waking us up, and rain hitting our balcony so hard at 6am that it woke me up as well, it turned into a nice day. It was suuuper windy and overcast in the morning. I hit up the Wipe Out cafe for an omelette for breakfast (it was excellent), and then went and watched one of our friends zip lining.

I noticed that the sun started peaking through, so the hubby and I changed into swimsuits and headed to the still mostly empty pool area. The pools were roped off because the wind and movement of the ship were making them into wave pools. We set up shop right by the pool, and enjoyed the sun for a little while.

About 1:30, we noticed an ominous looking cloud, and decided it might be a good time to decamp and get lunch. We headed to the Solarium bistro and got our food just in time to watch the sky absolutely fall. It was a torrential downpour. Even the people in the more outdoor but covered Solarium bistro seating areas were having to move to avoid getting wet.

By the time we finished eating, the rain was over and we found lounge chairs again by the pool. It was windy, but sunny and nice. We started talking with a large group next to us and had a few adult beverages.

The clouds came back, and we headed in to our cabin to hang out on our balcony. We had ordered gin and rum from Royal Gifts and broke open the rum for sipping on the balcony. We watched the sunset and then headed in to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was at Izumi, which was fantastic. I got lobster and shrimp, and it was possibly the best meal I’ve had on board. The staff were engaging, the food delicious, and it was just a great experience. I would highly recommend it. Unfortunately, I only grabbed video and can’t seem to post it here.

We went over and watched Woody play the piano in the Schooner bar, and then hopped over to the pub to watch Rob for a little while.

Now we’re turning in before a busy day tomorrow. St. Thomas is on the agenda tomorrow. We have a snorkeling tour booked, but with forecasted 20+ mph winds, we aren’t sure it will actually happen. Otherwise, we’ll take a cab over to Megan’s Bay and beach sit! Our Aqua show was rescheduled to 5:15, so hopefully we’ll be able to make it to that. Then dinner at 7:45, and the headliner show tomorrow as well. Jam slammed schedule. More later!

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Hello again!

After an hour nap this afternoon (adjusting to the time change plus a lot of sun and a few tasty beverages = [emoji42]), we got spiffed up and went to the dining room. For those curious about formal night dress codes, I saw everything from tuxes to blue jeans. Most, including us, fell somewhere in between.

We had reservations for MTD and were seated within about 5 minutes. Our waiter had a minimum of personality and two of us sat without any water for a good 30 mins. The food was decent. The escargot was excellent, the French onion soup was good. I had the seafood linguine, which I would pass on in the future. It came with 4 small shrimp, two over cooked and chewy mussels, and a handful of tiny scallops. Sad panda. I was hoping it would be yummy. My hubby had the beef tenderloin and was super happy with it. My creme brûlée was pretty fantastic. Overall, a decent dinner. The dining room is so loud we could barely hear each other...more so than I remember on other ships.

We were scheduled to attend the aqua show, but it was cancelled because of rough seas. I really hope we can go later in the week.

So, here’s my biggest gripe and disappointment with Oasis thus far. The nighttime venues are too small and there’s just not enough going on. We really wanted to go to Dazzles for the band, but it was standing room only. That venue is entirely too small. I really miss the large venue for that kind of entertainment that’s found on the smaller ships. Next we tried the pub, it was also slammed. So I’m currently sitting in the On Air club watching a football game I care nothing about (my friends care, so I’m dealing). I’m just surprised by the limited options! I’ve never been on another ship when I couldn’t get a seat in a venue when I was there early before the show. Too many people with too few options and too small venues.

More later!

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Glad you all are enjoying the pictures and posts!

Today is a sea day. We went to the Windjammer about 10:00 for breakfast. There was a line to get in, but they were actually seating people before they went through the buffet. It moved quickly, and the food stations themselves were super easy to get to and not overly crowded. The coffee/drink station was the only spot that seemed to bottleneck.

After that, we made reservations for Izumi for tomorrow night, and then headed to the pool. Chairs around the beach pool were slammed, but we quickly found chairs by the main pool. I’ve been baking and trying to do my imitation of a lobster.

We just had lunch at the Solarium Bistro which I really liked. An awesome variety of salad toppings, hummus, plus baked fish, pasta, a beef casserole, etc. Great for a light lunch and a lot smaller and less crazy than the Windjammer.

Tonight is formal night, and we’re planning to eat MTD in the main dining room. More later!

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We're on her 1/14.... looking forward to following your review!

 

 

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Thanks for following!

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For Old San Juan restaurants, Barranchina's is good as is Cafe Manolin.

Thank you! I’ll take a look to see where those both are!

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Nice start! I'm curious about your stop in San Juan, and what kinds of excursions are available.

It’s such a weird port call. We’re in port from 7am - 2pm, and the excursions were limited and super expensive (other than the Barcardi tour and a walking tour they were all around or above $100 pp). We’ve done the Bacardi tour before, so we’re opting to just get off the boat and walk around Old San Juan a bit. I’d love to get lunch somewhere but I have no idea what is open and good. It’s been hard to find any info.

For St Thomas we have a snorkeling tour planned, so I’m really looking forward to that.

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We watched sail away from our balcony today.

Then we had a surprise announcement - after being at sea for 2 hours, we were returning to PC because of a medical emergency. I think the captain is trying to make up that 4 hours over night, because we are definitely moving fast tonight.

We had dinner at Chops tonight. Soooo delicious that we ended up making reservations again later in the week. The crab cake, goat cheese salad, and the carrot cake made the meal. I had the Brazino fish entree and wasn’t a fan...but after all the sides, I wasn’t even close to still being hungry. When the waiter noticed that I only ate half my fish, he questioned me and after I told him it just wasn’t to my taste, but was fine, he removed the charge for my meal. I wasn’t asking for or expecting that - I was a super happy camper with what I had. Excellent service and we’ve requested him as our waiter when we return.

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Nice deep balcony!

 

 

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It is! Our friends are next door and we were able to open the divider, which is lovely!

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Following. I’m travelling with you. [emoji41]

 

 

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[emoji1309] hi Ned!

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