OCSC Mike

All cabin classes? I was treated to a GS last time and we did have one (nice touch) but all my future Wonder cruises are in caves.

I had a tour booked with Rony back in 2019 but unfortunately high winds prevented the ship from docking in Roatan. I have a re-do planned with Rony this summer. Sometimes it has taken a couple days for an e-mail response but otherwise I had no issue whatsoever conversing with him and his staff and setting up our tour. It was very similar to when I planned the 2019 tour.

FWIW, someone I've been posting with elsewhere was there with multiple families about 10-12 days ago. They had 4 beach daybeds (#14-17) and enjoyed everything about their time there. They agreed with getting a beach daybed unless you specifically planned to use the pool a lot. They said the pool area was a bit louder and busier. Their 1st choice would be #14 (which my wife happened to choose) but they said the others were all perfectly fine too.

I'm not sure what came of it but when I was on Wonder in June, they would re-open the Dog House at 10 or 10:30pm for late night hot dogs. Not exactly what I personally wanted but it was something.

Yes but I agree with many of the comments above regarding wasted food and it being empty. Some sort of small snack section somewhere would be nice though.

Yes. Very similar to WJ but smaller (obviously) and a few unique items (there was a fancier sausage, avacado toast, and premade smoothies in small glasses which I've always enjoyed when I find them). Oddly, it was VERY crowded when I was on Wonder in June but that stuff varies by cruise.

Star is taking over for Wonder at PC in August. At that time, Wonder is going to do 3/4 short cruises (presumably from either FLL or MIA). Short Caribbeans will be released the week of February 19th. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/2025-2026_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf My assumption is that Wonder will still be doing 7N's until Star launches (something has to) but it's unclear when exactly those will be released since they weren't released with the other 6-8N Caribbeans.. Possibly the week of February 12th or the 19th.

Yep. Like your experience on other Oasis class ships, I agree they are hit and miss. Just depends on the slice of beef you get and how picky you are. I'm in the minority but I enjoy going to WJ as soon as it opens as I don't find it that crowded at all for the first 30-45 mins since many cruisers haven't even boarded yet, are exploring, taking care of issues, etc. And yes, I did find it nicer with a better layout than some others. Not trying to convince you to have lunch there on embarkation day, just sharing my personal experience. PC has been boarding extremely early at terminal 1. The 1st arrival time you can get is 10:30 but boarding actually began even earlier than that on both my May/June Wonder cruise and Allure in October. D+ means nothing for boarding. Unless you are in a suite, Pinnacle, or have The Key, only the arrival time you chose when you checked in online matters.

I'll be on Wonder again in March. Not sure if I'll be live blogging again but I'll likely have some sort of report/review with more current info.

Deck 4 like on all Oasis class ships (except Allure which still has the nice view for now). I refer to all the others as being in the basement. - I enjoyed the tacos (very similar to the taco bar on CocoCay if you've been there). Was not a fan of the pre-made stuff like quesadillas or burritos as they've usually been sitting out. I'm sure the quesadillas would be fine if you got a freshly made one. - I found the guac inedible on both Wonder and Allure (it's more like green slop poured from a jug). Didn't care for the nacho cheese sauce either. - Someone recommended Tobasco Chipotle flavor from the sauce rack and I liked it so much it's now sitting in my pantry at home. Not too spicy, nice smokey flavor. - I kept forgetting to try them but there are some flan-esque desserts in a few flavors than I'll be trying next time. There's a glass case with a few other things but I don't remember what they were. - Overall, I can always pop in for a quick taco or two as a between meal snack and I appreciate ELF being there. - Almost forgot, it was open for breakfast in June and very empty (it's not open for breakfast on all ships so I can't promise it will always be open on Wonder). Nothing really Mexcian, just a small buffet with the basics. So if you're OK with that, it might be worth checking out to avoid crowds and enjoy the outside seating if that's appealing.

This.

1. It's not necessarily exactly on the 1st, just usually early in the month. 2. If they were sold out you would see them listed as "sold out" so it's not that. I can't tell you why they're not showing but I would just keep checking.

Had one on Allure for the 1st time in October. We don't care about the cabin and normally sail interiors but this was only a few dollars more. We enjoyed the extra room and the bench/window was nice even though we barely used them. No noise issues whatsoever for us.

Northeast will be released the week of February 12th... https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/2025-2026_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

Big fan of Captain Bob's boat tour on St. Martin. Has a little bit of everything... snorkeling, beach, lunch, limited beverages, Maho airport, etc. We went in 2017 and are going back in March. https://www.soualigadestinations.com/most-popular-tour-for-cruise-ship-visitors/

My wife is a teacher so no August for us (schools go back very early here). My TA already knows to put cabins on hold for the weeks we want once released next month (both Utopia and Wonder b/c I am assuming Wonder will still be doing 7N's until Star launches in August; something has to). We will likely book whichever is cheaper again as long as we don't consider them completely ridiculous. We were happy Labadee was switched to Cozumel. We're not really beach people but we like CocoCay b/c of the included food and being able to use vouchers. The food at Labadee is not appealing and we're not interested in stuff like the coaster or zip line. The schedule changes also made sure we could dock at CocoCay... several ships missed it earlier that week due to high winds and rough seas while it wound up being moved to the end of our cruise.

I've had this conversation before. Too many variables like sail date, cabin type (I was comparing group rates for interiors, there are no group rates for suites), etc. Some will have found Utopia cheaper, some Wonder. Glad you got what you wanted. We were mostly looking at trying Utopia just for the heck of it. It really is almost identical to Wonder and as much as we enjoy CocoCay, we have at least one actual excursion planned for each of our upcoming Wonders so I think it worked out for the best. I'll price them both again for June/July 2025 once released and play the comparison game again. Maybe that's when we'll wind up on Utopia. We were on Allure's first cruise from PC in October thanks to a fairly last minute deal that popped up and coincided with my wife being able to squeeze it into her teacher schedule. It was a one-off 5N that wound up going to Cozumel instead of Labadee along with CocoCay due to weather issues and we had a great time as well. I was happy to get to sail her again before the two main ships at PC become nothing but new and newer, lol.

Every time I priced a B2B my TA had a lower price for Wonder during the same dates and I couldn't justify paying extra since they're so similar and you of course lose a little bit of your morning to turnaround day. We did do a 3/4 B2B once though and had a great time just enjoying the ship and CocoCay x2. Enjoy!

That's my guess b/c it seems more logical to me to just leave Utopia alone to do what she will have already been doing from the same port but it could go either way.

If you are in Sky Class the suite concierge can make reservations for you after they e-mail you (usually 6-8 days out). If you are in a JS, you have to wait until you board and it will depend upon availability.

Not sure anyone can really answer this without inside info (like a TA) but I read it as after the last scheduled release.

It can literally be any time up until just before your sail date.

No, you're doing nothing wrong. It won't appear until official assignment (which you seemed to already know or else you wouldn't have used the bar code trick).

It was nothing like Icon, which was of course my point. What you experienced over the years is different now.

See post #12. Did you see what Star cost on release day?