OCSC Mike

See post #13 above.

That's why I married my wife, who was already Emerald while I had never been on a cruise in my life... I could have held off for a higher status but I kinda liked her too.

This one is always nearly identical to the RC site for me. Maybe I'm the anomaly. 🤷‍♀️

Meet ya there!

I eat a lot when I cruise and we don't do a ton of specialty dining but Wonder almost has too many options, lol. For whatever reason, I've never tried room service but have read many good reviews. I'm going to try to force myself to try it on Wonder (might as well while we're in a GS and there's no fee). As for Playmakers, I actually found some things surprisingly underpriced (like a good size bacon cheeseburger and garlic parm fries for $9). Our local go-to burger places charge more than that. After our first meal there we both agreed we wished there was a Playmakers down the street back home; we'd eat there all the time.

Wife and I love the burgers, garlic parm fries, and onion rings there. I'm a big fan of a couple of their specialty drinks as well. We ate there multiple times on Indy, which obviously has FAR fewer food venues than Wonder, making it even more appreciated, but I'm sure I'll eat there at least once on Wonder too.

Thanks, never saw a notification for your response. If anyone else cares, the excursion operator I've been e-mailing with got back to me and said it's currently $8.00pp.

It just means you create a single login/password and you and your daughter will use the same one on your respective phones.

Yeah, I could see going either way. The OP knows her kids. My young nieces love planning for cruises and they're only 13 and 9, lol. They've watched multiple full ship tours on YouTube ahead of our Wonder cruise in 2.5 weeks. On the other hand, I have someone in my roll call who has even lied to their kids about the trip to Florida. They told them they're going for a wedding. 🤣

Pretty much this and, as mentioned above, the cabins are given more time to be cleaned. My SIL goes crazy with the Clorox wipes (no judgment, whatever helps her enjoy the cruise). Last family cruise I went for a long walk with my young niece and grabbed some snacks & drinks since she wasn't allowed in her cabin until mom was done cleaning. Most of the ship just gets a standard cleaning.

Goes well with vodka. 👍

I still remember when he was a local weatherman here in Orlando.

My extended family could probably eat every meal there. We'll be having most breakfasts and dinners there. I understand the appeal. We haven't liked the MDR dinners for a very long time, waaaay before covid or recent complaints, just personal preference I guess. Long meals with tiny portions aren't my preference and my wife is picky so half the time she would order boring standby items like caesar salad and grilled chicken. She's more likely to find something in the WJ, especially at the cook to order station so she can pick her own ingredients for pasta or stir fry or whatever. I like to eat and I like variety. When my wife and I sail alone we're frugal and don't have CK access anyway. WJ actually isn't bad if you avoid peak hours (we're early risers so very early it's fine and dinners aren't nearly as crazy since much of the ship is in the MDR or elsewhere). Also tons of other options for breakfast and lunch like Solarium Bistro, Park Cafe, El Loco Fresh, etc. Then we usually do one specialty dinner and have become huge fans of Playmakers after eating there on Indy multiple times.

That’s where my main breakfast with the family is after “pre-breakfast.” Enjoyed it very much on Harmony last year, looking forward to it on Wonder. The best spot to me for most meals is going to more than one spot. 🤣

We’ll be in Sky Class. Did you make use of CK or the SL? If so, any thoughts?

Midnight in the time zone of the embarkation port (the US has 4 time zones). There is no set date/time when show reservations open. It has varied over the past few months. Just keep checking starting around the 1st of the month before the month of your cruise.

You aren’t kidding. I'm fortunate enough to have our next cruise paid for by my generous FIL & actually got a reasonable deal for next Spring Break via dumb luck (a new TA happened to have a good rate & tossed in some surprise OBC I wasn’t even expecting) but the deals I’m used to are long gone. Since I’m almost there, I know the actual D+ BOGO perk reads “booked on nights 1 or 2” but I also know I’ve read about people occasionally being allowed to use them on other nights. Do you just ask politely & hope they let you choose other nights?

To each his own. It's a big deal to me. 8 free drinks per day between me and my wife is more than a few in my book. I have about 3 cappuccinos every morning from the DL coffee machine. We enjoy popping into the DL for the happy hour snacks most nights (even though it's not what it used to be since they started vouchers). And we like getting our 2 free pictures printed so we can toss them in a drawer and never look at them.😁 Getting close to D+ and looking forward to the 2 extra drinks per day, BOGO specialty dining, and 4 days of free internet..

Of course you're right but waiting is hard. 🤣 The most cost effective way is likely for them to just find a 7-night cruise if the price and their schedules allow. We took the cheapest 4-night cruise that worked for us when we were exactly 4 points away.

EDIT: Yes, you get double points for traveling solo. Another option would be sharing a JS for double points.

You enjoy your balcony so by all means get one. We used to until we realized we hardly used it. That said, there are plenty of places to hang out besides just the pool deck or balcony. My wife is the napper (only an hour or so). Sometimes I just relax on our interior couch because it doesn't bother me, but other times I go for a walk, get a snack, sit in the Solarium, sit somewhere else outside besides the pool deck, etc. Chances are it's go for a snack tbh b/c I like to eat, lol, but you get the idea.

You are aware that you can use your vouchers for non-alcoholic drinks, right? Also, if you enjoy espresso-based coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos, you have complimentary access to the DL coffee machine. There are several perks unrelated to alcohol.

Agreed. It takes a very specific set of circumstances to replicate the strategy but I also appreciate what the OP did here.

Ooh, salsa and fried mushrooms! 🤣 Thanks. Like I said, I'll try everywhere once, but I do expect to stick with my Park Cafe "pre-breakfast." I like their breakfast stuff and Central Park is very peaceful at 6:30am. That said, I'm sure on days El Loco Fresh opens at 6:30am (looking at the current sailing in the app, sometimes it's 6:30 and sometimes it's 7:00) it's nice there too, being able to look out at the ocean while most of the ship is still asleep.

See my post above. It was 30 days for my Wonder 6/4/23.