OCSC Mike

Bit of an exaggeration, don't ya think? It takes maybe 15 seconds to grab some lox to bring to the omelet station. Is my wife making her own drink when she grabs a banana to bring to a bartender later to be added to her strawberry daiquiri?

I have done this in the past. Recently I've been having a lox and bagel from either the CL or Park Cafe for "pre-breakfast" so when I get to actual breakfast I put something else in my omelet, lol.

And I appreciate it. Our general approach to each island (since we are content just going back and forth to the standard eastern and western Caribbean stops out of our home port, PC) over the years has been to see the actual island via some sort of tour (preferably private if it's reasonably priced) that includes culture, how locals live in present day, some sightseeing, etc. on our first visit. After that, we usually move on to either touristy stuff or boat-based snorkeling for my wife. Sticking with the ongoing theme... that's what works for us. Our 5N cruise last week was supposed to be CocoCay/Labadee but Labadee was switched to Cozumel due to weather. We weren't too interested in Labadee and we got to try Nachi (which we likely would have tried this summer) so it worked out well. Plus, by dumb luck, Nachi raised their prices by $10pp on November 1st so I also saved $20, lol. So now we get to try Paradise.

You can try everything... it just takes effort, lol. My experience overall was great. The paninis were a miss and I wished they had a cook to order station in the WJ but everything else was fine to very good. I even enjoyed Sorrento's. My pizza came out crispy (my preference) and given that I only go there for a late night snack, it served its purpose. Have a great cruise! Allure was in very good shape, IMO.

Not telling you what to do, but I wouldn't completely skip it because of one review. It could have been a certain cook, it could have been a certain manager telling him he was using too much meat, who knows? If it's something I like, I will try anything myself no matter how bad of a review I read. If I then experience the same thing, I can easily move on and not go back. Just my 2 cents.

LOL, I like your style. I only had one on Allure last week but it tasted good to me. One thing people seem to discount about the kummelweck is that you're getting a small slice of beef off of a giant roast. If you get one that you don't like, you may have just gotten an overly fatty piece or an overly well done piece... it doesn't mean that every slice from every roast for the entire cruise will be the same. I had one complaint about Park Cafe on Allure... they didn't actually press the paninis. They put them in some sort of oven for 30 seconds to melt the cheese but only one side of the bread wound up crispy. That's not a panini. The panini press was sitting right there so I found it odd but didn't care enough to bother asking about it. I had tacos from Wipeout/ELF most days as either lunch or a snack. Nothing special about them but I can always eat a taco or two (especially with Tobasco Chioptle added).

Not that I'll be in them very often, but since I was there (as you know), that's an ideal design IMO as well. I still think you picked the wrong cabin though. You have to walk more than 10 steps to the CK/SL entrance. Gimme 1722 every time! 😁 Ironically, someone else I converse with on another forum has 1722 on Utopia's inaugural (same layout as Wonder of course). She didn't realize it was the one I stayed in on Wonder. She also commented that it wasn't available when Utopia was released... and that was because we had our TA put it on hold for a family cruise in the unlikely even that the prices weren't insane (which of course they were) so it opened up for her when we told our TA to release it.

Yes, food will always be subjective, but I still like reading about the experiences of others. Anyone who doesn't can just skip over them. I've never had a problem eating and enjoying plenty of food on any cruise (as recently as last weekend) so a negative review won't ever impact my personal expectations but I don't find them pointless if they include details.

One thing of note here that makes a difference if you like to eat (as I do)... Nachi is not all you can eat anymore. You get a 4-course meal. Even if you don't eat a ton, it's nice to be able to order something else if you don't like one thing... just like when onboard a ship. You also know I had a similar experience to the OP... and the frozen drinks were not adequate. I promise you I'm not picky nor am I normally a huge drinker but I do make use of my included drinks (on the ship or at an AI club)... and these were the most watery, icy frozen drinks I've ever tried. The margaritas fell into the adequate category for me, which I was fine with.

I've never had a problem either... thinking he may have run into an unfortunate one-off situation.

Yeah, that's pretty disappointing then.

Did you try asking for extra meat? I'd be disappointed too but I've always found the crew members to be pretty accommodating to reasonable requests.

Yep, Allure had those. I like them except I was a bit surprised when mine actually beeped instead of just vibrating.

Over the years, those cook to order stations were basically my wife’s dinner most nights b/c she’s picky & we haven’t been huge fans of the MDR for a long time. We thought it was fine, but she was stuck ordering the classic Caesar salad & grilled chicken 3-4 nights out of pickiness & I like to eat & always found the portions small (yes, I can order multiples, I know). Unfortunately, the cook to order stations aren’t there on all Oasis class anymore, like Allure when we sailed recently. So we ate in the MDR a few nights & it was fine; some things were quite good. Giovanni’s and Sabor were excellent the other nights. Breakfast is always good to me between made to order omelettes, lox & bagels freshly toasted in the CL, and the standard buffet fare. I gained a bunch of weight as I always do & had no issues with the food. Ironically, we have several Wonder cruises booked next & I expect the food to be better based on my June sailing. Sorry the OP had a poor experience but I’d be shocked if I did.

First, thanks for taking the time to write such a long response. Don’t think me quoting the above and focusing on Paradise means I didn’t read or appreciate it. We more or less settled on trying Paradise yesterday before your post and were looking at the daybeds. Their site does a good job of showing you the view from each one if you click it from the map/diagram that pops up during a mock booking. I wish the ones on the beach were closer to the water but we agreed we don’t need to be looking at the pool (which is very nice & we many certainly take a dip in it to cool off). Anyway, it looks like only one other ship will be in port on the day we are looking at going so from your quoted comment, that seems to be an added positive. Like you said, and like most cruise/excursion activities, it depends on priorities. Food is up there for me. My wife barely drinks & is a picky, non-adventurous eater so bar hopping is out & she basically needs American food so unfortunately I’m never looking for a super local or authentic restaurant. The fact that Paradise has plenty of American food to go with basic Mexican fits the bill. We also liked that they have smoothies (not just virgin daiquiris) for my wife. This little stuff makes it the kind of compromise I have to look for if food, drink, & relaxing is our goal. As frugal as I am, cruising is the one time I’m ok spending a bit extra b/c it’s not always easy to find an excursion for both of us. We mostly sail for the ship (almost always RC Oasis class) and for most 7N cruises will only get off on CocoCay & one port for an actual excursion. We may briefly walk around the other port(s) just to shop or see whatever there is to see. She’s enjoys snorkeling far more than I do so when I’m looking to find her a snorkeling excursion, it’s usually on a low capacity boat that also has food & drink so I can chill on the boat once I’ve hit my limit of snorkeling, which will be before hers. So again, thanks for all the feedback. If we visited the islands without cruising like you do, I’d likely be looking to do more things, but an AI beach club works well for our preferences when we’re in the mood for one. We have 3 cruises between March & July & the excursions for the other 2 are a 6-hour snorkel boat trip we have done before & enjoyed & a private tour of Roatan b/c we had one planned in 2019 but couldn’t dock due to high winds. So we do try different things, Cozumel just says food & drink to us (we’ve seen ruins, we’ve swam with dolphins, etc) &, as mentioned, an AI fits our preferences.

It was a very lucky cruise, lol. I think we usually get $6. I don't know how it works tbh. I just know how to burn through our free play and leave with nothing (except this time).

Wow. I wouldn't care (I know you don't either) but I know the shorties we did on Indy last year had them. Maybe someone at Royal noticed most people don't dress up, lol. Hope the cruise is off to a good start!

Understood. I'm the same way with most things but I'm trying to loosen up the reigns a bit when it comes to cruising. It will still be pretty darn frugal by most accounts though. 🤣

There should be. It will be French night with the beef tenderloin. Also, if you click on the little "Welcome Aboard" hints and tips section in the app right under the picture of the ship, it should bring up info for each day. The theme of each night can usually be found in there along with other random info. Like most things, it may not show up until closer to your cruise.

Sadly I think I could save way more than $3/day parking offsite at PC (I wanna say possibly more like $6-7/day) but as frugal as I am, I also have zero desire to deal with a shuttle and all that comes with it. There's definitely an intrinsic value to walking right off the ship to your car in minutes and being home in roughly an hour in our case.

Then I've been unusually lucky. I know it has happened twice in my last 5 cruises (spanning June 2022 through last week). My wife also won $80 using her $8 free play playing a Press Your Luck slot... that's far rarer for us, lol.

That's fair. Change "fairly common" to "something I have seen on maybe 25% of my cruises" or "something I have seen a few times in my 16 cruises" or anything along those lines. I was just trying to convey it's not some insanely rare thing no one has ever seen before and likely worded it poorly.

I've only been on 16-17 cruises and I've gotten a random refund like this at least 4-5 times. 🤷‍♀️ Before last week, I know my extended family got one on Harmony in 2022 because I tried to explain to my MIL that she did not HAVE to go spend it in the gift shop, lol, it was refundable. She bought stuff anyway of course. If I wasn't clear, my apologies, but this was NOT due to missing a port. My uneducated understanding is that when port fees decrease between the time you paid and the time you visit those ports, this small refund is generated. I could easily be wrong on that part though.

This is fairly common. My wife and I just got about $12 each back on Allure last week.

This. Usually more options and better prices booking independently rather than through RC anyway.