NightOne

We were on the March 6th, 2022 sailing so technically Spring Break. I could be off on the ages as frankly it doesn't matter but I can say that the ship had very few kids and was not a party crowd.

We ate at that LePetit Chef and Family one night and the presentation was phenomenal. Food was good too. Highly recommend you do it. Otherwise, we just ate in the MDR and in the buffet. (and we normally never eat in the buffet)

Depends on your state. Of course in International waters ... 🙂

Oh, I definitely think you will like Edge then. They have this area called the Rooftop Garden which is similar to Central Park but more secluded in my opinion. If you are foodies then you will like Eden. The Magic Carpet is also a very chill place. We skipped dinner one night and we had the ENTIRE swimming pool and ALL the hot tubs to ourselves for well over an hour. The pool is pretty cool. You should try it. I was reluctant because I thought it would be stuffy and too formal all the time but I was surprised and how cool it was. Speaking of formalities, Celebrity does enforce dress codes in the MDRs except on 1st and last night. (and it is not a free for all on those nights) 30s will probably make you among the youngsters on the ship. If I had to guess I would say 40s to early-60s was most of the passengers but that varies by sailing. Also, being out of that age bracket won't have any impact for you. Just pointing it out.

Are there odds or are these even money bets?

You make some valid points. But I think the key thing I am driving here is debut. I'm not seeing 3/4 nighters as a debut. Of course I have no direct knowledge on this except that Michael Bayley called me at home last night and told me. LOLOLOLOL

and to this point ... EVERY ship is available to them 😉

Why would they release an old premium package that was for Celebrity into the cruise planners of zillions of Royal bookings? LOL Who knows. Remember when everyone said Icon was going to be smaller than Oasis class and repeated that for many months? Remember all the back to sailing dates, rumors, etc. that never materialized during the shutdown? You can call me an idiot when Utopia debuts out of PC doing 3/4 nighters (or even now) but I just don't believe that will happen. 🙂

Current deployments mean nothing in my opinion. The cruise lines have shown many times that they are willing to flip ships, pull out of ports, and re-deploy as they see fit. Utopia COULD take over the sailings of another Oasis class ship and then that ship heads to PC for 3/4 nighters. 😉

I have been on Edge and I have been on Wonder. 100% different vibes if you ask me. Wonder is about excitement and activity and Edge is laid back and chill. Edge has a LOT more quiet places. Places where you can sit and read a book, nap, or converse with friends. I enjoyed the shows on Edge but they are not on the level of what you are going to see on Wonder. I loved Intense Maximum Performance, 365 Seasons on Ice, and Effectors 2 on Wonder. On Edge I saw Colors of Life and Kaleidoscope and while they were very good they were not as impressive as the Wonder shows. Food was great on Edge so I would give them the edge there (see what I did there) but Royal food was good I didn't like Infinite Veranda but it wasn't the worse thing in the world.. Ultimately you'll have to find out for yourself but I would say Edge is a lot more laid back than Wonder. If you have any specific questions I will try to address.

No clue 🙂 Some other ship in the fleet LOL

I don't doubt that. It is just the whole new ship debut thing that has me in disbelief. I got a timeslot saved for a Utopia booking and if it ends up being 3/4 then I will just have to book B2B but would much rather go further South on a 7 or 8 day.

I saw that but feel that it means absolutely nothing. Royal wanted to offer an Oasis class experience on short sailings and they did that. However, they are not going to do that with a brand new ship. You know Royal a hell of a lot better than me. Have they ever debuted a ship doing short cruises? If not, why would they start now? Makes absolutely zero sense in my mind. Just my opinion.

I keep seeing that too but I am not believing it. No way Royal is going to roll out Utopia doing 3/4 night cruises. No way. Not going to happen. Hopefully this post ages well. LOL

Some good games: Wonder 4 Tower Wonder 4 Boost Gold Wonder 4 Spinning Fortunes Timberwolf Buffalo (except Ascension) Chica Bonita Cashman Kingdom (except it is impossible to win LOL) Rhino Charge Treasure Ball That Prosperity one with the 3 money bags Neutral: Lightning Link, Dragon Link, Quick Hits Other games in the suck category: Cash Falls Regal Riches Ultimate Fire Link Zorro Return to the Planet Moolah Dancing Drums one with the triple drums symbol (DD Prosperity?) Big FU Cash Bats Wheel of Fortune

Not fun either. Scarab was fun for a little while a few years ago. Good riddance.

Awesome because every one of those machines suck ... especially the Piggies one LOL

This I'm generally not a fan of coach tours but this one is decent because it gives you a chance to get a look at all the highlights and go to one of the best beaches in Aruba at the end of the excursion I don't personally find the "interior" of Aruba all that special but the coastline and beaches are great.

A few weeks ago we were not off the ship until around 10am. Don't book early flights. 😉 We we embarked we showed up around Noon-ish and walked on without ever sitting in the terminal but lines were pretty long.

Every cruise I have booked for the past few years with Carnival has been under a casino rate and I have never had my shareholder OBC denied. 🙂

8 hours is St. Thomas is not a "tight" schedule 🙂

I hope those that say it is going to debut with 3/4 night cruises are wrong. LOL As long as it is a Florida or Gulf port and 7-8 days I'm not horribly concerned with where it ports. I do wish they would release the itineraries and open bookings already. 🙂

So option 1 and option 3 go to Brussels which seems like a total waste for a Norwegian Fjords cruise. I mean it isn't even that close to Norway and certainly not a Norwegian Fjord. I would like your opinion as well. Awhile back I did some Google research for the top Norwegian Fjords. Obviously people have different opinions so I picked 20 sites and put their rankings in a spreadsheet. I then analyzed it and came up with the "consensus" picks on the top 5. For example, if 17 out of the 20 had Geirangerfjord as their number 1 or 2 spot it is safe to say that it is at the top of the consensus list. My consensus list was as follows based on the information I found: Top Norwegian Fjords: 1. Geirangerford 2. Sognefjord 3. Lysefjord 4. Nærøyfjord and Aurlandsfjord 5. Hardangerfjord 6. Nordfjord I also learned that you have to traverse Sognefjord to get to Naeroyfjord and Aurlandsfjord which are separate branches at the end of that fjord. Next I looked to see which ports provide access to or sail through these fjords. I found that these are the ports: 1. Geirangerford (Port: Geiranger or Alesund via excursion) 2. Sognefjord (Port: Skjolden or Flåm) 3. Lysefjord (Port: Stavanger via excursion) 4. Nærøyfjord and Aurlandsfjord (Port: Flåm via excursion) 5. Hardangerfjord (Port: Eidfjord or Bergen via excursion) 6. Nordfjord (Port: Olden or Nordfjordeid) Finally, I fired up Cruise Plum and looked for cruises that went to all of these (or the most possible). I wanted to go at a great time of year so I picked July ... of 2024. The cruise I ended up booking was the July 12th, 2024 Anthem of the Seas which has the following itinerary: Day 1: Southampton (London) Day 2: Sea Day Day 3: Stavanger (7-5) Day 4: Flåm (8-5) Day 5: Alesund (8-6) Day 6: Bergen (7-2) Day 7: Sea Day So this would provide opportunities to see Geirangerford, Sognefjord, Lysefjord, Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjord, and Hardangerfjord. (or the top 5 on the list - only Nordfjord missing) Do you see any errors, issues, or problems with my research? Other thoughts? Am I missing something? Thanks

Yes. It could happen. Galveston is the 4th largest U.S. cruise port and is growing. Royal has invested a lot of money down there.

Who says Galveston cannot have 2 Oasis class ships?