OCSC Mike

We've never had any major problems sailing in June/July either other than occasional poor behavior like running around the stairs or hallways.

AFAIK, OV Balcony GTY means facing the ocean not a neighborhood, like you said, but this is a bit confusing and I wouldn't 100% trust the RU page b/c that's a 3rd party site. As soon as you check in (45 days out) you should be able to see your set-sail pass in the app. You don't get the docs (including your luggage tags) until 30 days out but you should be able to use the bar code trick as soon as you check in.

Wife and I grew up in the Philly 'burbs, moved here after college in 2000. Living near PC (and my wife's family) are on the short list of positives I can come up with for living here, lol. I don't blame ya.

Much better is a severe understatement. CocoCay by a landslide.

Yep, that makes sense. Other than our one special 18-day land/sea trip to Alaska 2018 (which was amazing but cost a small fortune compared to 7-nights in the Caribbean), we're obviously content with our one hour drive to bounce around the Caribbean for now. We've also got a ways to go until retirement. I'm sure we'll do more interesting cruising someday. Would love to do a TA eventually as long as it's on a large ship. Good talking to you as well.

Kids are allowed to eat there, just not lounge in the Solarium itself. Glad you enjoyed your cruise despite the negative aspects you experienced.

Wonder in 3/24, 6/24, 7/24, and 3/25 (spring break and summer when teacher wife is off). It's in my signature if you don't have them hidden. I booked them all in the past few months. The March prices weren't bad in the current climate but everything is relative. June wasn't awful. July was a bit pricey. We're used to Summer prices but I used to still find last minute deals since we live an hour from PC (hence all the Wonder cruises) but they seem to be few and far between now; that's why I switched gears. I was ignorant of TA group rates until not that long ago but, again, I also didn't need them. All that said, all those 2024 cruises are insanely more expensive than what we paid if I mock book them now on the RC site.

Agreed and same to you. I was just making a general point that "less desirable" is subjective. You go out of your way to choose a location I find undesirable. And FWIW, once prices went nuts, I pivoted away from GTY's and started booking TA group rates farther in advance... so I pick our cabin now, and we've been picking a location you would likely find undesirable. It's definitely "to each his own." There's no right or wrong way to cruise. We all like what we like.

I was booking relatively last minute until this year so I wouldn't know. Surely someone else will.

Way too much overthinking and judgment in this thread, IMO (shocking for CC, I know). If you want to give a non-cash gift along with your cash tip, go for it. The recipient may prefer cash, may be thrilled with the gift, may be allergic to it, who knows? It's a nice gesture regardless. If it's something they don't want or can't have, surely they have a friend onboard who will enjoy it. If you prefer to just give cash like most do, then do that. The OP's question was "is it OK to give candy along with the cash?" The answer is yes, it is OK to do so.

Of course it's OK.

Yes. 😋

There are two buffets on CocoCay, Chill Grill and Skipper's Grill. They're identical and have an excellent taco bar with freshly made tortillas (better than El Loco Fresh, IMO). Also several salads, hot sandwiches, burgers, dogs, brownies, cookies, soft serve, etc. I alternate between the Snack Shack (chicken sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, funnel cakes) and Chill Grill. Big fan of both.

Having purchased many GTY's, I have multiple issues with this notion. I would never willingly choose yours based on your description. Everyone has their own preferences so not sure how you determine which cabins "most cruisers would not willingly choose." I guess RC could use data gathered from which cabins are picked the least but, again, that doesn't mean the person who chose the GTY wouldn't have chosen a particular cabin. Perhaps more importantly, GTY's make the most sense if you don't care a great deal about location, so that demographic shouldn't mind all that much what they get. As with most things, different strokes...

Much easier to check via the website, IMO. On the site you click on the Entertainment tab in the cruise planner.

Thanks. I could probably just eat tons of calamari, try some dessert, and move on. I almost did that with breaded shrimp in the SL one night. I wasn't in love with the CK menu that night and the shrimp were hot and crispy so I just kept eating them during happy hour before we sat down. I didn't mention the soot to anyone but my wife before we boarded with the extended family. We had no issues with it either so I eventually told them... and showed them that's why a lot of the seat cushions had little stains. Good to hear, although I won't be anywhere near the suite neighborhood on my future cruises. Back to the frugal life for us. Enjoy week 2!

If my wife wasn't so picky I'd love to give it another try. She humored me a while ago (knowing she wouldn't like it) and I liked it, didn't love it, but there was some unique stuff. We went early so we could go to the WJ after, maybe she'll be willing to do that again. Any recommendations?

I would use a TA that works weekends.

Plan on sharing any random thoughts (unrelated to streaming)? We were just on Wonder on last month so I don't have any specific questions but always like to hear about others' experiences. Also have 4 more Wonder cruises booked but next one isn't for a while.

Yeah, I frequented a watch forum for a little while years back. The snob level wasn't actually THAT bad, but I just wasn't that serious. My "nice" watch is a Movado (gasp, horror, that's not a high end watch at all) but I love how it looks. My everyday watch is an Invicta automatic (bigger gasp, Invictas suck). I got it on Amazon like 10 years ago for $65, it's a Rolex look-alike, it's still running, and I don't have to buy batteries. Funny anecdote, I walked into a watch outlet here in Orlando and from a distance a clerk asked if my Invicta was a Rolex. 🤣 I'm really not a jewelry guy and don't give a crap what anyone else thinks (like with most things in life). Like what you like. Never understood the reason to judge others as long as they're not harming anyone.

30-60 days out. It’s often (but not always) around the beginning of the month prior to your cruise. I prefer the website to the app but both should work (in theory).

Helluva deal! 🤣

You can switch to any cabin in the same exact category for free. Switching to an OV would be upgrading, not switching. You'd have to call and ask how much it would cost (or have your TA do it if you used one).

That room in the video is uniquely large. The rest of the OV Panoramics are smaller (which is why the poster above only had one couch).