T-2

Thank you for remembering I was hoping there were some different backdrops, you're spot on, I have not seen that one before either so it does look like RCCL is spreading a few new ones around the fleet, did our online check in last night and at the moment we are thoroughly enjoying every moment of your adventures (we have a different itinerary but reading yours, I will be looking for one on Royal that does the far southern islands next as have not been there in over a decade). Thanks for sharing with all of us, you are super appreciated!

I cannot thank you enough for the help and the insights- I noticed the lack of fish eye and couldn't believe how much better it looked, even the audio sounded great, and the quality, just amazing- its definitely time to upgrade. Usually everyone is shooting action sports like skate boarding, skiing, I had not realized the advances in underwater and just shots you took around the ship, again, without the fish eye effect. Were any of your single shots with the goPro- like on the water obsticles or were you using something else? Again, your help is super appreciated and I enjoyed every minute of your trip adventure. Photo/video memories are irreplaceable for us when we travel as a family so again, super thanks.

I only just ran across your incredible review and pictures and was wondering which GoPro you used, I need to upgrade mine and have been reluctant to make the decision not knowing how much they had changed. Your videos are stunning. May I ask, did you change the speed any when you were snorkeling amongst the fist in Roatan? I definitely also appreciate the info on the legs to attach to a rail and the security cords. Just keeping my fingers crossed you may revisit and share which gopro is responsible for those eye dropping results- you did an amazing job! Thanks!!!! PS- we don't go for 7 weeks so I iwll keep checking back even if its not anytime soon. (same ports, super appreciate all the tips you shared on your excursions)

I always buy the photo pkg on BF, that way I know I'm good to go. I really like the Christmas colors of the one you posted, we did not have that on the Wonder and its been amazing to see RCCL really expand their array of backdrops, and borders, and photographers out and about. We turn D+ on this next cruise and I never tire of buying photos. As long as they're not those tiny things on my phone- those are just my placeholders till we get to the good stuff :0) On the Wonder last Nov they had some incredible shots with the red convertable, a backdrop with a cabin at Christmas time, another with pirate ships and they provided props like a pirate hat and some swords- it was so popular. Another backdrop was an underwater coral reef of colorful sea life and in the foreground they had some fake rocks and a pirate treasure chest- so different from the usual- stand there and smile. Such Very gifted photographers onboard. I'm also hoping there will be some new stuff to celebrate the Icon, fingers crossed. I'll see what they have on the Odyssey this spring, thanks for the assist!

I'm excited to see a few other photo enthusiasts on this thread and hoping I can interject a question. I always buy the 50 or 100 photo pkg as I am old school and love to make photo books and still carry a camera around rather than using my phone or the cloud. Have any of you noticed any nice backdrops that you haven't seen time and time again. We were super impressed when we sailed on the Wonder of the Seas at the sheer number of gorgeous new backdrops and the skill of the photographers. I have never had one done like the one at Labadee from Columbus Cove and love the ship in the background so this trip will venture down there as the memories of our family vacations mean everything. Glad you are having such an incredible time, our turn in 2 months :0) Thanks

I'm guessing you can't see it until the day of... as the current day would stay displayed until probably midnight? It was always nice to be able to plan the next day with the family the night before, back in the days when they left the cruise compass in your cabin while you were at dinner. But I love this idea where everyone can see the activities on their phones. Thanks so much for sharing!

LHR it is, I hadn't done air yet, wanted to be sure of our dates of accomodations around the cruise. You have me rethinking, instead of counting it as an hour away from London, that it's easy to get to from London makes sense, thank you. Wasn't sure it was worth traveling further away from it for only one night and then the one night in Southampton, Just really want to blow his mind with his first view of England, there is nothing like it on our side of the pond.

I want to thank everyone for their kindness with my question, maps are a real struggle for me so I tend to rely on text. Reading of everyones arrival at HRW, maybe doing a day or two in London before heading to Southampton I mistakenly thought it was all in the same direction. I knew Windsor was supposed to be near HRW area more than London. What a shock to realize my misconceptions- it makes perfect sense to find a private transfer that would allow us to visit the castle on our way to Southampton. I cannot believe how badly I mis-imagined that- humble and deep appreciation, and very excited to know how doable this will be :0)

mskaufman: May I ask about your transfer with the stop at Windsor, you mentioned the estimate £150-200 was pretty accurate. But I was curious about your transfer, as I was thinking Windsor Castle was in the wrong direction from Southamptonfor us if we were staying in central/tourist area of London? Or maybe there was a Windsor town you stopped in? My original hope had been to arrive at Heathrow 2 days before the cruise, just because we are coming from the west most part of the U.S. In case of unexpected delays, not worth the stress. Staying out near Heathrow to visit Windsor Castle did not seem the best solution either as it was possibly easier to get to from London hotels than Heathrow hotels. But such a puzzle, Victoria Station area for the National Express to arrive in Southampton the night before sailing? Or Paddington station area- I would love to know how you worked out a visit to Windsor before Southampton if you wouldn't mind sharing? Or if anyone has a suggestion, we'll be there in June. We'll do a week in London post cruise but I was really hoping to blow my teen grandsons mind with his first ever visit to a castle. It's spectacular and was my first decades ago.

Usually starting about 30 minutes before 1st dinner and again before 2nd dining. But you can also run across them randomly too- like they can be at the bumper cars, Northstar, iFly, wave ride, roaming around perfect day, labadee, we also have gotten shots by the pool... more than just port calls and in the dining room. At the abyss, zipline, if your ship has a vehicle on the promenade, different spots in the evening in Cental Park, staircases, besides all the backdrops, some are exceptionally incredibly talented.

I really appreciate that you took the time to share what this experience is- it is such a huge help in planning. I wouldn't mind at all just forgoing the return- the hesitation was committing that the 83 year old could manage the entire hike in the amount of time allowed, this is just the perfect solution. And it might be that having seen the route, he might still prefer to ride back down and we can just let the driver know. Thank you so much, you've taken all the worry out of booking this excursion!

I wonder if the file size varies by ship, I thought my previous purchases had printed out really nicely in my photobook of the cruise, but the last ones were barely a mb or so, definitely not able to crop if there is someone in the background you didn't want included in your photo. On the Wonder of the Seas they had such amazing new backdrops and photographers, I will try again on the Icon- fingers crossed they are more like the 2 to 4mb range. I love keeping photo memories.

Does anyone know if you can book the troll cars to take you up but then walk down, so you can take pictures as you descend. My husband will be almost 85 on this cruise and I worry we won't make it to the top in time, although we walk daily this is a lot of climb, coming down is much less worrisome. Thanks for any insights!

Can I ask, the pictures on the flash drive, can you tell us how the file size was? I have to admit, the only thing that has been frustrating is the quality when I go to use them in our photo books. My SLR shots are usually at least 6gb, these are usually not quite or barely 1gb. Did you bring your own flash drive to put them on- I would happily do that, even sealed and unopene,d if they allowed it and we could get better resolution for making memory books. The size they give you must be more intended for social media use.

That is excellent advice, our convoluted transatlantic red eye flight has us landing at noon the day before the cruise, I will see how long it takes to get through the airport, super thanks.

The Holiday Inn sounds like such an easy solution, may I join in and ask if there is any suggestions for the best way to get there if arriving from Heathrow, bringing cruise luggage. Is there any easy way to do Windsor Castle if we come in a day early, from Southampton to Windor-? It's a long trip from overseas, we like to arrive an extra day early for 'just in case' of any hiccups or delays. And that seemed like the most tempting day outing. Hoping someone has experience trying this?

They have put up a new sign, it is shaped and has a fitted cover that looks expensive that is hiding it right now. I did ask 2 members of the cruise directors team and they said Simeon was not onboard. I will check this thread a couple other days, I spread my 3 days of internet out. I did recheck Windjammer, there is at least one extra room of tables but I am not sure how to describe where they are, almost behind the entry wash stations (there are 18 sinks) but closer to the sides of the ship to enter the rooms, makes the dining more spread out and really reduces the noise, not well described but at least you know there are more seats than you see immediately, we also found there was a back entrance (with 2 more sinks) if you approach from the kids play area (we'd been at the flowrider), that was a nice surprise, We were in there from just before 12:30pm and there were plenty of empty tables, and we have never heard that message over the loudspeaker asking guests if they could vacate when they were done eating nor seen a line waiting except there might have been some on departure day. We were onboard ahead of the surge and were eager to explore after lunch. The staff have been really friendly, not sure what the plans are for the signed Diamond and up drink vouchers, we did it day 1 but not since, we always tip in cash and the vouchers are really more work for the staff. So far printed compass has been available to the left of guest services for those of us not attached to our phones :0)

I will try to check to see if it is Simeon onboard or someone else may already know- is the Comedy Club the same as the Attic? We are going to the Attic tonight to see Nery Seanz and Stephen Thomas. I did find the Escape Room, but it is not showing up under 'activities'. That might be if all the time slots are booked up, they do let you reserve time slots for the laser tag, so could be similar. There is a fitted cover over the Escape Room sign on deck 14 but I will swing by again this evening and see if it seems to be in use yet. There is a Lot more seating in Windjammers than appears, there is more than what is just immediately around the food islands, this keeps it from feeling like one giant cafeteria. I love how they did away with the long counters and went with islands, really spreads the crowds out and if you just need one item, you are not in a huge line. Plus a ton of washy washy sinks :0)

Everyone is going to have their own take on how their cruise fulfilled their expectations, to give a broader perspective than just my experience.... I can say that the 2 comedians and the cruise director received massive appreciation from the audience on night 1 and we just saw the new ice show tonight.... a massive standing ovation with applause that went on and on.... just electrifying, if you've seen an ice show on other Oasis class- be prepared to be blown away again at the technology and skill that went into this show. We can't all be wrong, but I don't want to give it away... just bring your smiles and luggage.... I will try to check on the Escape room, the laser tag is running, its hard to fit everything in. They did open 1st dining 15 minutes earlier tonight, food was very good in the main dining room and Windjammer. I appreciate how hard they are working, and there are not all that many new cruisers onboard, we've met quite a few who were on for the last 2 weeks and are still on this one :0)

We also boarded the Wonder on Sunday and are completely in love with her. We are not in suites and I haven't paid any attention to the casitas but I did experience that first day and thought the crew did an amazing job. Dinner was a bit chaotic as they had not had time to remake the table assignment /staff labels, we had a slight hiccup as our four family members were seated at 2 different 2 tops but the head waiter was right on top of things and it was quickly fixed. I do think MTD is the most challenging, the crowds entering at 5:15 were backed up, usually the first day they have a soft opening 15 minutes early to ease this until everyone knows where their table is, but remember, they just came off a full inspection coming into a US port for the first time and had less time to be ready for incoming passengers than they will going forward, I felt everyone was going above and beyond to try and make it a fantastic first day. We ate at El Loco Fresh today for lunch and there seemed to be plenty of tables, plenty of chairs around the pool, I passed through Windjammer at 1:30 and there was zero wait, they have way more wash sinks so that goes so much faster. Fantastic layout so lots of seating and food islands. The lines for the flow rider were the shortest we have encountered on an Oasis class ship, our room steward is a jewel and guest services does get a little backed up but there were a guests who apparently arrived at the terminal, saw the porters loading the carts and dropped their luggage before anyone noticed they weren't tagged. Plus they too were a bit behind trying to get luggage for just shy of 6,000 passengers to the right place. Even with the delays of passing the inspectors coming into the U.S., they still had the rooms ready by 2pm and we had our luggage by 3:30. We are having fantastic weather, there are some really gorgeous spots on board for photos and some very, very busy cruise photographers. New backdrops and talented photographers. We have the top Cruise Director in the fleet onboard (we met him on the Ovation in Alaska over the summer) and he has taken the challenge of this huge ship flawlessly. I do wish I had brought a few magnetic hooks, the only thing I miss is maybe 2 or 3 hooks in the cabin for hanging a hat or a place to lay your clothes while you are in the shower. Water pressure is phenomenal, all the venues have been gorgeous, I have not felt crowded except for that few minutes of pile up trying to get into 1st dining, but again, they lost quite a bit of time with that inspection and rose to the occasional with everything they had. Really appreciative to be onboard. I wouldn't hesitate to book on her again!!!!

I couldn't stand the suspense, I did go back into RCCL online booking tonight and they had opened up cabins that they did not offer me on Monday. Scored the perfect pair of balconies on a mid level floor aft and now I just have to figure out how to ever get to sleep tonight, excited more than words can say. For anyone else who experienced the same struggle booking cabins for just 2 people, everyone who helped me was on target, they are opening things up as I was just able to book 2 cabins with only 2 pax in each. There are some awesome locations now available. THANK YOU everyone!

And thank you Everyone, I've never worked so hard to try and get someone to take my money for a RCCL cruise. (we'll make Diamond Plus on this voyage so very, very Loyal)

I'm going to try calling RCCL first thing in the morning because when I tried to book online it said there was nothing for 2 passengers in a cabin except those I mentioned, a few on deck 14 and a single cabin on deck 12, but I knew others were being shut out because they were not more than 2 people per cabin. It can't hurt to ask. I got that they might need to maximize capacity to speed up their recovery, but I would sure love to sail on her that week. Fingers crossed and I will share what they say.

And a lower deck, like 8 or 9 would help, but a pair on deck 12 could work, that is why I wish we could share when someone finds a good TA But I also realize that shouldn't be part of cruisecritic, just a wish on my part. Funny RCCL couldn't offer me 2 on deck 12 and only offered one.

Rats, I wish they let us share TA names here, I tried through RCCL on Mon, and khen the big box store on Tues, both said zero available other than RCCL would let me have a couple spread out on deck 14 only, or the single room on 12. Lower is better for one in our foursome who is sensitive to ocean motion so I was trying not to be so high up, closer to 8 actually. I knew lots of other people reported not being able to book unless they had more than 2 to a room. RCCL certainly nailed it with their new ship, we are going to need more of them.