OCSC Mike

Sounds like yet another great cruise. It's almost like you know what you're doing and have a routine. 😁 Not surprisingly, we camp out at Cococay all day. I'm not even a big beach or pool guy but we really developed a routine we enjoyed last trip. If Harmony alone felt odd, I wonder how quiet it will feel for us.

Thanks for the concern but indulging in food is one of the reasons I enjoy cruising. I wouldn't go if I had to watch what I ate. I eat especially healthy and lose weight prior to cruising and go back to eating healthy afterwards. Doesn't take long to get back to my normal weight (which is not a lot, I'm not a big big guy nor overweight).

That would be highly unusual but anything is possible. Hope you get it! I got a virtual balcony with an interior GTY before but that's not exactly a big upgrade, lol.

That's a common way to get ice cream here in Florida if you plan to eat it outside. Drippy cones are bad news.

Does stuffing yourself and gaining 10+ lbs in during every 7-night cruise count as sick? 🤣

If you don't have at least a balcony you can't bid on suites.

THIS! Had my first Grand Suite experience on Harmony a few months ago and sure the room was nice but I enjoyed the perks much more than the cabin itself.

Self service.

Does eating as many tacos as humanly possible while saving room for a chicken sandwich and funnel cake from the snack shack count as creative? 😋 Picky wife won't eat tacos but she loves making ice cream sandwiches at Chill Grill by taking 2 chocolate chip cookies to the soft serve station. The only catch is you have about 15 seconds before it starts melting... but it's worth it. Had no problem being on Cococay with Freedom twice in July, plenty of room there, but barring any itinerary changes, Indy will be the only ship there during our cruise next month. That should be pretty nice.

Congrats!

Yes, although I would argue even 7-night Caribbean cruises are casual nowadays. Plenty of people (myself included) don't get dressed up for formal/dress your best night. Just look presentable and wear whatever you are comfortable with.

Was very smooth for us from Terminal 1 on Harmony 5/29 and Indy 7/15.

Check out the prices for the Independence (4-nighter out of PC) when the next Going, Going, Gone sale starts on Wednesday. There should be some good deals to be had and there are tons of cabins to choose from going by the 10/24 sailing I will be on (despite what was posted above). Also, if you're OK with the risk, you do not need a passport to sail on a cruise that leaves and returns to the same US port. You can use a DL and official birth certificate. The only real concern would be in the unlikely event you got stuck in the Bahamas, you would have to jump through some hoops to get back to the US. The chances of that, of course, are extremely low.

Of course, if you want to get out of line and spend however long dealing with it. Much easier to just bring a printed copy.

Not a fan of the basement either? It’s not a giant deal to me now that vouchers have replaced the open bar happy hour, though we do still pop in nightly, but I did enjoy being back in the Viking Crown DL on Indy & look forward to it again next month.

Definitely some valid points in there. My post wasn’t overly serious & was partially inspired by the fact that “Island Lady” had poor service while we on the same exact cruise together.

Not complaining but I'm beginning to think our great service in May was a fluke, lol. We didn't have to wait for our server to arrive and he was constantly around b/c we kept ordering refills of the apps b/c we enjoyed them so much.

Yeah, costs a small fortune here if you're paying completely out of pocket (i.e. not paid for by your job). That's why I added the part about Florida. Teacher pay and benefits also differ greatly from state to state here.

Except that may not come with health insurance making it unfeasible to actually retire at 55 (in my screwed up adopted state at least).

Well said. My go to cliche about cruising is that "there's something for everyone." That "something" will differ from one person to another and that's why certain classes of ships will appeal more or less to different cruisers.

Have a great cruise! 🍌🍌🍌 NOTE to others: the bananas are a running joke from a few months ago and refer to the actual fruit being added to frozen drinks, just so no one misconstrues.

RC's chief meteorologist, James Van Fleet, usually tweets updates related to storms... https://twitter.com/JamesVanFleet

Sailed Oasis class many times, all in the summer at near full capacity, never felt overly crowded (main pool area always looks crowded on every ship but we don't use them). That's the beauty of Oasis class. The different areas are so spread out that it doesn't feel crowded.

This is a pretty valid point; but if you cruise infrequently, I can understand the poster trying to make a more educated guess in advance. We killed two birds with one stone while sitting on 76 points. Jumped on the cheapest 4-nighter out of PC (which is an hour drive for us) we could find to hit Diamond and try a smaller ship before our next 7-night Oasis class cruise. Wound up on Enchantment. We had fun of course, don't think I could ever have a truly bad time on any ship, but I quickly learned I don't care for any ship below Voyager class.

Not currently expected to come anywhere near our crazy, err, lovely state.