alfaeric

There was one when we sailed on her in Sept. We didn't partake, though. Oh, and it appears that a parade will be added.

100%. This turn happened a decade ago- how can people be so surprised by this? Works for us, and we don't have kids.

I think so, no, and yes. 🙂 There's no solarium, but there's a pretty big adults only area. With multiple bars. We are looking forward to trying it- it looks like a total blast- as I see it, it addressed every major complaint (not including too many people), fixed them, and then took what worked for both Oasis and Quantum, and amped them up (to use their term). There looks to be huge areas to see the sea- from the Royal Promenade to all of the swimming areas. Fixed the lack of sea views on Oasis. There are a TON of water areas, including the largest pool at sea- fixing the lack of pools complaint. Took the low used aqua theater and 1) turned the original space to an expanded boardwalk- family area with some cool pool areas then 2) moved the actual theater indoors so that it is not subject to the weather for the shows plus 3) combined it with 270 so that it can be used all day all the time- unlike the aqua theater. I'm not a huge slide person- but holy cow. Good for the people who adore them (which there seems to be a lot- and I loved them as a kid). The zip line is even more adventurous going over the side of the ship. The ice rink appears to be more theatrical- which should be fun. The suite area- geez. Good way to get the high revenue things going, that's for sure. If it means I can get a reasonable price on a JS, go ahead and sell as many $20k cabins as you can. And that's just the major details. Very much looking forward to it. Just not right away. May wait until Icon II comes out so that the price is reasonable.

Unless you are walking by it and want something from there....

That's funny- just a couple of weeks ago, we saw people get Holy Donuts on the ship, and we brought some food from the bakery just across the road from the ship on board. Yummy breakfast in our cabin for a few days. And a few days later, we brought cookies on board that we bought at a "craft fair" that was held by local veterans in Sidney - this isn't the one in the port, BTW. Not once have we had problems bringing food on the ship.

Our departure a week ago was at 8:50, and we were outside by 9am. Customs took place on board, which REALLY sped things up. We also sped up our process by carrying our luggage off the ship.

Virtually all of the "sales" take place before the auction gets underway. So the auction happens to just look like an auction instead of an art sale. And value is very relative- would I rather spend $500 and get a poster in my room or $500 in the casino and just see it go away. I see people suggest that they had fun at the casino, and I just see it as a racket to take you money- the big casinos dwarf the big art places. And looking at the costs of the spa, yea- if I need a massage, I can get one at home a lot cheaper than on board. BTW, just look at many recent art documentaries- the value is mostly to make rich people feel more rich.