danp2482

There were 4 Pelotons on WOS last March when we were on. I believe it is the only ship in the fleet with them but I could be wrong!

Hey everyone, I understand that Labadee is essentially a secure area but with the state department travel warnings, I just wanted to get some information/advice from everyone. We've never had a stop at Labadee. Has anyone had or heard of any safety issues while a ship was there? Not expecting that we'll be in danger but just doing due diligence for our trip next month. Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hoping someone could provide some info! Wife and I have an upcoming cruise in September. We'll be in a crown loft suite! This will be our first suite experience. We've done a few JS but this is a special trip! We were wondering what the options for in room dining are at the suite level. We know there are no charges for breakfast but are we able to get the main dining room menu or costal kitchen menu delivered to our room? Has anyone had any experience with this? Any information would be great! Thanks!

Thanks for the info. So not reaching capacity is the norm during normal operations? There were some stories that came out of the school vacation weeks the past few years where availability was limited, reservations were required and you only got so many reservations. I know a lot of that was covid protocol but I wasn't sure if that was the norm for school vacation weeks as well.

I was wondering if anyone with experience could help out with a question. We typically don't cruise during school vacation week but it just ended up working out that way this spring. What is Adventure Ocean like during a school vacation week? Are time slots/reservations required? Do they reach capacity? I know there were certain issues post covid with the time slots and cruises with a lot of children but now that operations are pretty much back to normal, does anyone have any insight to how things have operated during a school vacation week under normal operations. Thanks for any information you can provide!

1 hour ago, Rubyfisch said:

Regarding the crew seeming tired, I wonder if it is worse on ships like Freedom that do a mix of three and four night cruises. It seems like turning around a ship twice a week would be way more exhausting than doing it once a week. That being said, I'm just guessing as I've never been on a cruise shorter than seven nights. Not that it doesn't seem generally exhausting to work on a cruise ship right now ....

I can only imagine how exhausting turn around day must be for them but this was our 6th time on a 3 day sailing and this was the only time I noticed the difference.

As I mentioned, I have previously reviewed a 2 separate 3 day sailings on Freedom of the Seas so instead of a full review, I figured I would post some basic observations and field any questions anyone may have! Having had our 3 year old daughter with us, I will also include info on the current state of Adventure Ocean as I have not seen many post about it recently.

The planning for this trip began on our previous Wonder of the Seas sailing in March. We always seem to have another sailing booked before we get off a previous cruise! Not really because you get that much better of a deal, for us it’s more of wanting something to look forward to!

The last day of the Wonder Cruise was at Coco Cay and as we walked past Splashaway Bay, we both decided that we would most likely add our daughter to the reservation. We had heard a rumor that Kids Sail Free was coming back and when it did, we jumped on the chance and added her. We managed to keep it a surprise, until we got to the port and she was pretty excited!

The cruise for the most part was great! Unfortunately some liquid sunshine on our Coco Cay day but we were early risers and managed to get about 4 hours on the island before the rain moved in.

Observations from Freedom of the Seas, 3 Day Bahamas with Coco Cay, 7/15/2022

Embarkation: Smooth as it could be. Our 3 year old is still unvaccinated and required testing at the port. We had a 10:30 embarkation time. We arrived at 10:15 and waited a short time before testing opened. Once we were let in, it was about 40 mins total time before we were on board and some of that was because embarkation had not started yet.

Passengers: Capacity limitations seem to be a thing of the past! The ship was packed! We sailed many times prior to covid and ships were always packed! Not complaining about it, I knew it would be back to normal eventually. Even though it was busy, loungers were still available and we never waited for service. The best way to put it is that the normal capacity, didn’t seem to overwhelm the crew or the ship.

That being said, another sad observation was that it appears the days of people feeling fortunate and being excited about being back on a ship also seem to be over. I observed many entitled guests acting rude, not only to crew but to other passengers. Blasting music from portable speakers, cutting in lines, rude tones and demeanor towards crew members, no please or thank you, etc… I know that’s everywhere but it seemed very prevalent on this particular sailing. Also, I know gratuities are prepaid on food and beverages if you have a package but I never saw anyone but me give anything extra the entire weekend!

Ship: The ship was in great shape! Its obviously not a brand new ship but recently amped and everything was in working order! The ship didn’t feel tired one bit! The ship was clean and I observed the crew taking great care of the ship to keep everything as pristine as possible.

No Compasses, Menus or Account Statement: It appears the ship is making an effort to go completely paperless. A cruise compass was not delivered to our room each night and they were not out on the shelves at guest services. You could get one from guest services if you asked but they weren’t just out for the taking. Menus in the restaurants still existed but bars all had QR codes to scan. I was really hoping they’d bring back hard menus at some point. We also only got our account statement emailed at the end of the cruise. It was not printed.

Food and Beverage: Food was up to the usual standards! We had booked the UDP prior to the price jump. We  dined in Giovani’s multiple times. All of our meals were great and we even had our best Chops meal ever. As far as beverage goes, I have a few observations. I am becoming less of a fan with how Royal basically has one beverage menu for the entire ship. With the exception of a few venues, all the bars function of the same menu. I have never sailed Carnival but I recently noticed that they have a lot of venue specific beverage menus and I think Royal needs to take a page from that playbook. You can usually find a bartender that will go off menu for you and make something different but that seemed to be lacking this sailing. (More on that)

Another thing I observed is that they’re having some supply chain issues. At least they were on this sailing. There were multiple times when ordered things that they did not have. The only Bourbon the ship had was Wild Turkey. After Coco Cay they were able to get some Makers onboard but that was it. Multiple instances they did not have Hendricks Gin. Nichole asked for a moscato one night and they didn’t have any between Chops or Giovani’s. I didn’t note any crown royal on the ship anywhere. There was no Cachaca in Boleros for Capprihina’s and they couldn’t make certain drinks throughout the ship due to lack of ingredients. I’ve only experienced supply issues one time at Sandals early on during the reopening from the pandemic. I actually joked with Nichole that this situation never happens on cruise ships!

Adventure Ocean: I don’t have much experience from Adventure Ocean other than our January Odyssey sailing and this one on freedom but I would say the experience this time was night and day! It appeared Adventure Ocean was operating business as usual. No longer required to make reservations. Open 8-10 first night, 2-5, 7-10 the second night and 9-5, 7-10 the third night with the option to pay for 10pm-1am. The activities were all in full swing and the indoor play area was open. Our daughter had a blast and kept begging to go back each night.

Crew & Service: I have noted a few posts on here mentioning crew being tired. I think that is probably a good assessment of things. The service on the ship was great! Definitely at the standard you would expect but the crew felt a bit stiff if that makes sense. Usually the crew is more personable and friendly. Every sailing I’ve been on, there has been crew members that stand out. Ones that I rave about in my reviews or leave gratuity envelopes for. No one stood out or went above and beyond during our short adventure. Like I said, the service was great and the ship was in great shape but the crew just didn’t seem as happy. As I mentioned before, we never felt as if the ship was understaffed or service was lacking but maybe that is on the back of the crew and maybe that is why they seemed stiff. I know staffing issues are also causing some contracts to be extended for long periods as well.

This may sound like complaining but it really isn’t. Just observations! We still had a great time and I wouldn’t hesitate to get back on Freedom tomorrow! These observations were just different from the norm! If anyone has any questions or I can provide any information, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Hi everyone! As I have already reviewed a 3 day cruise on Freedom of the Seas a few times, I thought I just give some brief observations from our 7/15/2022, 3 night Freedom of the Seas with Coco Cay sailing. I always start any of my reviews with some background about us as cruisers. If you’ve already followed along on another adventure, you can skip to the next post!

I have used many reviews here to gather information about certain ships, certain cruises and get excited for upcoming cruises of my own. I have written some other reviews and really enjoyed reliving my vacation here! I also really enjoyed the dialog with other forum members and being to provide information as well as help you all get excited for a cruise you might have coming up! The enjoyment I get from writing the reviews helped me decide to write reviews after as many cruises as I can.

If you haven't read any of the other reviews, let me give you a bit of background! DW (Nichole) and I have been really fortunate to have completed 16 cruises! We also have a 3 year old daughter and she completed her first sailing on Odyssey of the Seas in January of 2022. She came along on this 3 day adventure and had a blast! Nichole and I both work hard but love to vacation and try to do it as much as we can! (Always have to have something to look forward to!) Our vacation tastes range from numerous Vegas and Disney trips (both world and land) and multiple cruises. People frequently comment on the fact that we travel to repeat destinations or same style vacations but I guess when you know what you like, you just keep going back for more. I can imagine that I'm amongst like minded individuals here!

In 2014, we decided that we were going to give cruising a try. We had always been interested in trying it out and seeing all the new entertainment and offerings of modern ships continued to build our interest. Not knowing if we would enjoy it and both of us being worried that Nichole may have some some sea sickness issues, we chose a 4 day cruise. Not only did we love it, but 4 days was not long enough and we found ourselves booking another cruise. The rest is history and as I've mentioned, we've been fortunate enough to complete 16 cruises across 3 cruise lines. We've landed on Royal Caribbean for our last 11 and currently really enjoy RCI and their fleet of ships. We’re currently Emerald level in Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society.

Our upcoming sailing is on Freedom. That is what I am most interested in hearing but hearing whats going on around the fleet would be ok as well.

Hey everyone! Trying to find out the current procedures for Adventure Ocean. When we used it on Odyssey back in January, you were required to book all your sessions on the first day and were only allotted a certain amount of time slots per sailing. The time slots seemed like rigid slots as well 9-12, 2-5, 7-12 if I remember. If you weren't booked, you could show up and hope to get in but there were no guarantees. I think a lot of this was due to limiting the numbers in AO due to protocols but I had not used AO prior to covid so I don't know what it was like without restrictions. Has anyone used adventure ocean recently and can fill me in? Thanks!

Hi! I Can't speak directly to Ovation but on Odyssey you are given a ship cell phone and they call you on it. It is definitely possible for the kids to request to be picked up before the session is over. When they do, the staff calls the cell and you head on over to get them! 

2 hours ago, cjhadf said:

Great Review....

I'm on Wonder in a week!

I have the same UDP concerns about booking.

Which restaurant is that hardest to get  a reservation?

-Chris

Awesome! You'll love the ship! Out of the restaurants we went to, it appeared that Mason Jar was probably the most illusive with reservations but we also had a Hooked reservation (traded it for 2nd Wonderland) that we had to be flexible to get. I guess it really depends where you want to be each night but Mason Jar seemed to be full every night and every brunch. Probably because its a new concept! Have a great cruise!

Day 8: Debarkation Day and Final Thoughts

We awoke for debarkation at around 7:00. We planned on doing unassisted walk off because we had an 11:30 flight. We got ready, headed up to Windjammer and grabbed our last breakfast. It always amazes me that even on the last day before you get off, they give you a full breakfast with the same quality as all the other days! We finished up breakfast, grabbed our bags and off we went. Goodbye Wonder of the Seas! It was a great week! We grabbed an uber and we were at the airport by 8:30.

Final Thoughts:

The crew on this ship was amazing! They took great care of the guests and for the most part did it with a smile!

The ship itself is awesome! The solarium has to be the best if not one of the best on any of the ships! People have been saying the ship is a bit different because it was for a different market and I can see that.  The ship is modern and has a very contemporary feel!

The passengers on this sailing were awesome. I've been on plenty of sailings where I've witnessed entitled and rude people treating crew members terribly. I didn't see that at all this sailing!!

I've sailed on 2 other Oasis class ships besides Wonder and this class is by far my favorite.

Finally, the fact that we were the 3rd sailing on this ship didn't really strike me. Having sailed on multiple ships, I honestly didn't notice a "brand new" feeling vs an older ship. That being said, we tend to stick to the amped ships but kudos to Royal for keeping the older ships appearing and feeling just like brand new ones!

Thank you to everyone who followed along in this review! If you have specific questions that I didn't cover, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll do my best to answer them for you!

Day 7 Continued:

After getting ready and making sure the majority of things were packed, we headed out for the night. I think we grabbed a drink at boleros and then head across to spotlight karaoke for name that tune. This time we did compete but didn't win. I think there was someone with a perfect score! We headed up to Wonderland for dinner.

Another great experience at Wonderland! Teppan was our server once again and his service was even better this time. This evening was a bit slower and he even took the time to chat with us and get to know us better. He also talked about his time with Royal. The experience was another great evening we had some small plates repeated and some new ones! By this point, with exception of 2, we've had all the small plates.

For mains we got the pork belly and the chicken and both were outstanding!

For dessert were another chocolate globe, a magical mushroom and a cotton candy creature (one of Teppans own creations!)

We finished a delicious meal and agreed to just one final drink at Schooner to say goodbye to the crew there!

I've highlighted Lenorra but the entire crew at Schooner was awesome! Friendly, fun and attentive. Gede was another awesome bartender at Schooner! In previous cruises, I've fallen into the trap of living the last night to the fullest! Knowing that the next day was a travel day, I knew we didn't want to got down that road again. We had one final martini a bid farewell to a bunch of great crew members!

These moments are always kinda sad. They're job is to make us feel welcome and take great care of us. They do such a great job that at the end, you feel like you're saying goodbye to good friends! 

We had an amazing week on this cruise. The staff and ship were awesome and we can't wait to experience another week at sea!

Next up: Debarkation Day and Final Thoughts

Day 7: Last Day & Perfect Day at Coco Cay (Well almost perfect)

A bittersweet day! Today is Coco Cay day but it's also the last day....

We woke up around 7 and planned on working out. I really wanted to try the peloton but to my dismay, no such luck...all 4 occupied. We settled for a run on the track. They had told us that we would be arriving at Coco Cay around 10:30am. At 8:00 when we were running the track, we were on approach! Sweet! We're early! We finished up our run, got cleaned up and headed to solarium bistro for breakfast. Another great breakfast, can't get enough of that avocado toast! As we finished our breakfast, cruise director Mike welcomed us to Coco Cay and then they played the Coco Cay song which I love and think is hilarious every time I hear it! It was around 9:15-9:30. We finished up breakfast and headed down to the gangway.

We were at Coco Cay with Mariner this time. Mariner had arrived around 7:30 and a lot of her passengers appeared to be off already!

We absolutely love Coco Cay. We literally book sailings based upon if they're stopping there or not. In my opinion, its the best private island in the cruise industry! We usually split the day, we hang at the beach in the morning, have lunch and then party at the pool with the crowds and DJ in the afternoon.

The last few stops at Coco Cay we landed on Chill island at Harbor beach. The water is tranquil there and its not too hectic even with the zip lines overhead.

Great view of both ships coming over the harbor bridge!

Even with another ship already in, there is plenty of seating everywhere. No need to stress or rush to get a seat. You'll be fine wherever you want to be!

Harbor Beach! One of our happy places!

We spent the morning and a bit of the afternoon on harbor beach before grabbing lunch. We ate ate skipper grill but the food is the same around the island except for Captain Jacks, Coco Beach Club and the snack shack.

In the afternoon, we headed over to the Oasis Lagoon! The DJ was playing and the party was already going strong! The swim up bar area was slammed! Ive never seen it that way either. I'm not sure if it was a new point of sale system or what but the tablets seemed to be slowing the bar tenders down huge. It took like 15 minutes to get a drink when we first got there. The party kept going for awhile but the clouds started to build and the wind was picking up! Around 3:15 it sprinkled for about 5 minutes. Because of the rain, the DJ stopped playing and that was it.

People starting packing up and heading back. I told Nichole we should just hang for a bit. I could see in the distance that the clouds were already breaking. We held our ground and by 3:45 the sun was back! The damage was done though! Everybody had started to leave and the DJ never came back. The party was over! We hung out in the pool and had a few more drinks. By 5:00 we started to gather our stuff and head back towards the ship. Our all aboard was 5:30. Another (almost) Perfect Day at Coco Cay was done! As we made it to the dock, we watched as Mariner pulled away. Pretty cool, we've never seen it from that angle before!

We got back on board and headed to the room to get ready for the night! Name that tune, dinner in Wonderland and a few drinks.

Next up: Day 7 Continued

Day 6 Continued:

We got ready, talked to our little one and then headed to chops. It was also the 2nd formal night. I like seeing everyone all dressed up!

Chops was good! I don't recall our servers name but he was attentive and took good care of us. Definitely all business but the experience didn't suffer. The food was delicious as always. The issue is usually never the food.

I started with the Shrimp Cocktail and Nichole had the crispy goat cheese salad.

We both had petit filets and shared sides of tater tots, sautéed spinach, Mac & cheese and asparagus. 

We finished out dinner with the cheesecake and the warm chocolate cake!

The meal and service were delicious but there was one hiccup to the experience. Our table was very close to the table next to us. The couple next to us were crew (we guessed performers) and appeared to be on a date. It's all good but they talked very loudly. We were not sure if they didn't care that we could hear them or didn't realize it.  With the tables being so close, it was hard to concentrate on anything but their conversation and their date. It didn't ruin dinner by any means, just something we noticed.

We finished dinner and Nichole wanted to check out Giovani's wine bar. You'd think we would've done that already since we'd been to Giovani's so many times. The space and venue were nice! Very quaint and quiet. They had dozens of high end wines by the glass. They also had a few higher end bourbons and Don Julio 1942. The Don Julio was 15 dollars a shot which boils down to $2.36 if you have a beverage package. That's a steal. I did have some 1942 because I've wanted to try it! I should've had more! We spent more time in the wine bar than I thought we would. We had reservations for the comedians but I gave Nichole the choice of comedians or martinis at Schooner bar. She picked martinis!

On the way to Schooner I snapped a pick of the Mustang. It amazes me that they have these cars on the promenades!

After 3 martinis at Schooner, we called it a night. We got back to the room where froggy was waiting to say goodnight!

Next up Day 7: Last day and Perfect Day at Coco Cay!

Day 6: Last Sea Day

We started out the last sea day splitting up! Nichole decided to get an extra run in and since it was the last sea day and we knew every pool area would be busy, I would go to the pool and grab a spot for the day. The goal was to get a lower level day bed that looks out the front of the ship.

Well as I stated, you have to be an early riser to grab one of those beds or padded loungers. I was up there at 7:10am and all but one day bed was claimed. I use the word claimed because there were only people in a few of them. I managed to get a daybed 2nd level near the bar. I will say as the morning progressed, the beds and chairs filled and remained occupied all day. Very little chair reserving going on.

After her run, Nichole met me and we went and grabbed a quick breakfast in the Windjammer. No complaints there! Good breakfast as always.

I forgot to mention that we had done the perfect storm slides and cyclone on day 5 in St. Thomas. The slides were fun and we had a good time.

After breakfast we headed back to the solarium where Nichole lounged most of the day until lunch. I kind of split my time between exploring a bit, lounging in the main pool and hanging at the solarium bar.

We headed down to Giovani's for one more lunch! I think we might have gone to Mason Jar again but reservations were difficult for the seas days.

Giovani's was good but unfortunately our server was the same as the first night. Not bad by any means but just not one of the all stars like the others. We both had the salad this time and then shared the Mama Italia pizza again. Can't go wrong with a pizza that has prosciutto on it!

After lunch we went to try out the Ultimate Abyss. We vowed we would do it this time. 13 days between 2 ships that have this and we almost didn't do it again!

We both entered the Abyss and made it out the other side! It was actually a lot of fun! Nichole said it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be! Just before she got on, Nichole looked at me and said "I hate you a little bit right now!" It really looks more intimidating than it really is.

When we were up at the Abyss, someone was surfing on the flow rider. Maybe some day, I'll try one of those out. All the ships have them, I have no excuse!

After the Abyss, we headed back to the Solarium and finished our day there. Nichole took a very long nap and I again split my time between the main pool, our day bed and the solarium bar.

As the evening closed in on us, I woke Nichole up and we headed downstairs to get ready for Chops. Hopefully it would redeem itself tonight...

Next up: Day 6 Continued

Day 5 Continued:

We hung out in the solarium for the rest of the day. It continued to shower occasionally throughout the morning and by the afternoon, it felt that many had abandoned their plans for St. Thomas. Our all aboard was 3:30 anyway! We grabbed lunch at park cafe. I love the Royal Kummelweck at the park cafe. I had to have it at least once! After lunch we returned to the solarium. There were some breaks in the clouds in the afternoon and by 4pm the sun was just starting to shine! Of course! I think we headed down around 5ish to get ready for dinner. Back to Giovani's! Yes, we like it that much!

We made it down to Giovani's and it was beautiful outside so we sad on the patio once again. This time we were served by "Marco from Sicily" or Avinash if we see him elsewhere on the ship. Avinash was awesome. Another server that stuck out, took great care of us and made a great experience!

Nichole started with her salad of choice, the Giovani's House salad. We also got the meat plank and the Stromboli.

I knew I had a picture of the meat plank!

We shared the chicken parm! it must have been good! No picture!

For dessert we had gone bananas which is a Banana and Nutella Stromboli and we also had the cannolis!

After another great dinner we ended with Limoncello!! This was exciting because the first few trips to Giovani's they told us they didn't have it on board.

We headed down to the main theatre for comedic juggler Pete Matthews!

We've seen Pete Matthews twice now and I would go see him again and again! The show is a blend of comedy and juggling and he is hilarious and talented! His show is not to be missed. The guy actually juggles real axes! If he is on a sailing you're on, do not miss his show!

This night we actually caught the early show. It was supposed to be 50 mins but ran over an hour. We didn't mind at all! Once the show was over, we headed to Schooner bar for martinis and piano with Andy C.

We wouldn't end our night here! Tonight was RED. If you've read any of my previous reviews, you'll know where I am going. During my intro, you would've noticed that I mentioned trips to Vegas. During those trips, we have been to numerous night clubs. Nichole and I have a big interest in dance music and I even dabbled in DJing a little bit.

We always make a habit to at least check out "RED the Night Club Experience" which is billed as the "Hottest Nightclub at Sea". Each time we've gone its been pretty disappointing! I'm not going to sit here and say that they can compete with a "Vegas Nightclub" experience but each time we've gone to check out RED, the DJ is playing the "cha cha slide" and other wedding favorites. Hardly a "Night Club Experience". I will say I had heard DJ Bosco by the pool and on the promenade and had hopes it would be different! It was!! He was spinning and mixing like a pro and his music choices were on point. I was watching him work to gain the trust of the crowd and the dance floor was packed! The energy in the room was great! Best RED I have seen!

The only problem with the atmosphere and vibe being so good was that we didn't to leave! I think we called it a night around 12:30 but from what I heard, this party kept going past 2! 

Next up Day 6: Last Sea Day

29 minutes ago, LEMJMcC said:

 

Found it!  That's great to read, I'm glad steps were taken to quiet it down.  Enjoying your review!

Thanks.

Agreed! We were real worried about this. Not only because of where our room was but because of the ambiance of the park!

Day 5: St. Thomas

We weren't really sure what we'd be doing in St. Thomas. We'd discussed the night before that we may just poke around the port and stay on the ship. The initial plan was to head to Sapphire beach and do something similar to what we did in St. Maarten but neither of us had been there and we weren't sure if it was worth the trip out there. We had been to St. Thomas before and snorkeled with the turtles and gone to honeymoon beach. We decided to poke around the port and then stay on the ship.

We grabbed our morning run and juice from vitality cafe. Then we got cleaned up and headed to solarium bistro for breakfast!

Breakfast was good! Same offerings as the windjammer just on a smaller scale. I will say we probably had our best cruise ship doughnut ever in the solarium bistro that morning. The avocado toast in solarium bistro was much better than windjammer as well. It was made to order and delicious!

During our breakfast, the Captain welcomed us all to St. Thomas and during his announcement he mentioned bringing an umbrella with you if going ashore. I've never heard a Captain say that before and we started thinking, who would pack one of those?! As we ate, the dome of the solarium started to roar! It was pouring but just a quick passing shower! We finished up breakfast and headed out to see the port.

Empty pool deck this morning!

As you can see...quite gloomy. I think we made the right choice to stay close to the ship. We didn't even know what the weather was going to be!

We got off the ship and headed into the port area. It was starting to sprinkle and then rain again. Not sure if these were going to be passing showers.

As we passed security, we were required to put on masks even though we were outside. It appears masks were required outside and in while in St. Thomas.

The ship is so big, I could barely get it all in but they're all like that! I hated the big writing on the front at first but it has really grown on me! Makes a statement!

We poked in and out of the shops in the port grabbed a dress for our little one and a new beach bag and headed back on board the ship.

Just before we got off the ship, we heard the crew beginning their safety drill. This is not unusual but this drill was much more involved than previous ones we've seen and heard. The drill started with an emergency and progressed to an evacuation. As we got close to getting back on the ship, the drill was still going and we saw the forward staging area. I tried to capture it in a picture.

The drill lasted a few hours at least and I had never been on the ship when a drill of that magnitude was conducted. We talked to some crew about it later and they said that one was nothing compared to some of the other drills. 

When we got back on, we headed to the solarium to stake our spot. We knew that with how the weather was, many would be coming back to the ship and the quiet port day would change rather quickly!

Next up: Day 5 Continued

13 minutes ago, LEMJMcC said:

Can you comment on the large screen overlooking Central Park?  I've read other threads that state how obtrusive it is, particularly at night due to the volume level.

 

We just booked a cabin on Wonder for next February, though it's a JS on deck 8 so the screen wouldn't bother us in our room, but how is it walking around CP at night if there's a movie playing?  Have they reduced the volume at all?

Covered that and answered already in an earlier post! 👍

Day 4 Continued:

We started out our evening by starting the bar crawl early! We headed to the Wonderland bar first as it closes around 9pm and we knew it would be closed by the time we finished dinner. Again the Wonderland is kind of a hidden gem. Its creatively decorated and always very quiet plus they have specialty drinks there. I started off with a smoke rings which is a rye drink that is smoked using a wood smoker. I wasn't sure about the rye because I have never had it. I usually stick to vodka and bourbon. The drink was good and the smoke definitely added to the flavor of it.

Nichole had some type of martini but I can't remember what it was. We stayed for a few rounds and made it down to spotlight karaoke for name that tune. We were a few songs late so we only competed with ourselves. Thank goodness! There are some people out there that know every song! I think we got 16 or 17 out of 20! We finished up and headed to Mason Jar for dinner. The bar area at Mason Jar was busy! Not slammed just busy!

We were seated and our friend Jaime from brunch and Navigator greeted us! He was "dandy like a piece of candy"! We started out again with medicine. Nichole got the "Far from Manhattan" and I started with another "Southern Belle".

We ordered the pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes for an appetizer.

For dinner I had the brisket with collard greens and Mac and cheese. Nichole had ribs with collard greens and sweet potato mash.

For dessert we had the twice fired Oreos.

We also both had a PB & J old fashioned.

The PB&J old fashioned is a favorite with the bloggers and vloggers. I thought it was good but for the most part, I could only taste the screwball whisky!

I will say the Mason Jar dinner was as delicious as the brunch! The food may sound a bit heavy and it is compared to other offerings on the ship but its not overly heavy and if you don't overdo it, you can still enjoy a great meal here. I would recommend it for sure!

We finished up dinner and headed out to the Mason Jar bar where I believe we had another round consisting of Basil Hayden Old Fashioned's.

Once we finished up at Mason Jar, we headed to rising tide and then finished up for a few martinis from the martini genie at Schooner Bar.

We finished our evening at schooner bar with Lennora but Andy C was off. The DJ was spinning 70s and 80s out on the promenade. The theme parties have not returned on the Wonder yet.

When we got back to our room, this guy was monkeying around!

Next Up Day 5: St. Thomas

Day 4 Continued:

We stayed on the beach at Great Bay into the early afternoon. We took a quick walk down the boardwalk, poked in and out of the duty free shops and grabbed a drink. The plan was to head back to the ship around 2 and grab a late lunch. We just figured it was close enough, why buy lunch off the ship!

I snapped a few afternoon pictures of the beach too! Water looked even more blue!

We headed back to the ship and poked around the port a bit before getting back on!

One more of the biggest cruise ship at sea!

When we made it back on the ship, we headed to playmakers. For those that don't know, the UDP gets you a credit there for food. We started with water! It was HOT outside and after the walk back we were thirsty. For lunch we shared a burger, fries and 12 BBQ wings. The food was really good! They even split the burger and fries for us before they came out. We finished up and headed up to the sports area where the great Wonder mini golf battle of 2022 took place.

The mini golf on Wonder is very well themed and flows into the Wonder Playspace which is a underwater themed kids play area on the back of the ship in the sports zone.

I lost by 2 points! Nichole was unaware that she beat me! She just goes under the assumption that I always win.... She won graciously though and didn't rub it in too bad!

After my defeat, we headed back to the solarium to relax before getting ready for dinner and as we agreed. We again sat in a different spot! This guy was at the towel station.

We finished out our afternoon and headed downstairs to get ready. The plan for night 4 was name that tune, dinner at mason jar and then a bar crawl! The show tap factory was showing that night but we'd already seen it on Odyssey. More on that later...

Next up: Day 4 continued

We've done a handful of them and we're from Massachusetts. My job is flexible but my wife works Mon-Fri. Her time off policies are pretty lenient though so taking a Friday off here and a Monday off there isn't an issue. Also, my MIL lives in just outside of Fort Lauderdale so we fly in Thursday, stay the night, down to Miami Friday for the 3 day and fly home Monday. They're nice little weekend getaways to fill the gaps between longer vacations! I will say, the 3 day is short, always wishing for one more day! Sometimes flying to FL and taking a weekend cruise would prove to be cheaper than going away to somewhere like New York for a weekend!

39 minutes ago, SoFlaCruzer said:

Enjoying the review. We board her in a few weeks for the TA to Barcelona! Got the dining package and we are foodies, so Wunderland certainly seems like a place to try more than once! 

It definitely is! After the second meal, we've basically had all the small plates except 2 and between the 2 of us we had 3 out of 5 main courses.