Live from Wonder of the Seas! March 4 to 11, 2022 Inaugural Cruise!

[twangster]

Now back to Central Park...

 

Central Park has always been a feature that has always drawn me to Oasis class.  My understanding is that it is consistently a top favored area on guest surveys.

 

One of the aspects that I enjoy about Central Park are the live plants.  There are no fakes in Central Park.  This is an opportunity to capture Wonder's Central Park near its birth.   From here it will only evolve and fill in as new the plants take root and grow.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunshine3601]

20 hours ago, island lady said:

Oh no...that poor Mustang went through the car wash with the top down.  😮 😱

They better return those pool towels to avoid a charge🤣

[island lady]

5 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

They better return those pool towels to avoid a charge🤣

 

Soaking wet carpet in a car....never a good thing.  😮 

[twangster]

Earlier in the thread I mention running into Laszlo who has become the mastermind behind Central Park.  He worked with the first Central Park on Oasis of the Seas and since has become a lead figure for many of them as they entered the fleet.

 

On other ships Laszlo has hosted events where he walks through and talks about the plants in Central Park.  It's very obvious he loves his job and knows plants very well.  It's a passion for him and it shows.

 

In the past he talked about the challenges of having live plants on ships.  Various agricultural agencies of different governments are very sensitive to which plants are allowed to be imported into their respective country.   While these plants are not being imported in the strictest sense (no plant will ever be taken off a ship once onboard),  ships are subject to agricultural regulations when they port.  This led me to ask him about Wonder since this ship was originally destined for China. 

 

Laszlo informs me that what we are seeing is the Central Park that was designed and installed for China.   They worked with the US Department of Agriculture to meet their requirements as the ship was redeployed to America.  Fortunately there wasn't anything too exotic for this purpose.  However there are subtle differences in the plants they used and Wonder currently has some you won't see on other Oasis class ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by twangster

[BeginnercruiserHD]

Hope the plants grow a decent amount in the next 6 months, we have a Central Park Balcony in September.

[twangster]

He goes on to tell me that many of the plants have doubled in size since they were first installed and if you look closely you can see a lot of new growth.  It's only going to grow and fill in more from here.

 

 

 

 

 

The living wall:

 

 

 

[cruizzing]

Interesting info on the plants - something I hadn't thought about/wouldn't think to ask. 

 

Enjoying your review and great pix as usual - Thanks for taking the time to bring us along!

[davekathy]

19 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Soaking wet carpet in a car....never a good thing.  😮 

When @twangsterfirst posted the picture of the down pour all I could think about was that poor Mustang. The hell with everything else. 😁 1969 I bought a used 1965 Mustang. It was maroon, black rag top, 289 V8, 4 speed, pony package. I totally destroyed that car in less than 6 months. Abandoned it on the side of the road. Man would I love to have that car now! Hindsight is 20/20. 

Edited March 7, 2022 by davekathy

[flamingos]

I absolutely LOVE those living walls.

 

The art is great  - any idea what the significance of the pear is?  And what is that think at the Rising Tide Bar - looks like an astronaut holding balloons, looking in.  🙂

[twangster]

Not everything that was chosen for Asia is going to survive the Florida and Caribbean climate.   That's just the nature of some plants.  He won't remove and destroy a living plant even if he knows some of them aren't going to last in the Caribbean.  If or once they die off from natural causes they will be replaced.  Until then they are here for our enjoyment and they have a plan to migrate Central Park using plants they know will thrive here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[island lady]

11 minutes ago, davekathy said:

When @twangsterfirst posted the picture of the down pour all I could think about was that poor Mustang. The hell with everything else. 😁 1969 I bought a used 1965 Mustang. It was maroon, black rag top, 289 V8, 4 speed, pony package. I totally destroyed that car in less than 6 months. Abandoned it on the side of the road. Man would I love to have that car now! Hindsight is 20/20. 

 

Small world!  I had a 1965, bright yellow, black bucket seats, stick shift on the floor...in line six.  Gosh I loved that car!  Ex husband always changed the oil in our vehicles himself, I think he purposely "forgot" to put enough oil in it.  He thought it too sporty for me (control freak).   Poor beautiful car seized up, and was ruined.  50.00 we got at the junk yard.  

 

No wonder he is my "EX" husband. 😄 

[truffles2]

Central Park is absolutely one of my favorite places and I would recommend that anyone having an opportunity to do so take Lazslo's tour when available!

Edited March 7, 2022 by truffles2
Correct spelling

[LATTELOVE]

Central Park is so beautiful,   My favorite sculpture is the elephant.

  Can't wait to see Central Park's growth just like the 

sister ships, should be just as  gorgeous.

[twangster]

Laszlo was on a ship approaching the end of his contract when the shutdown occurred.  Like the rest of us they all thought it would be a matter of months but that grew into the time frame we all know all too well.  

 

While they reduced crewing on each ship through the shutdown each Central Park in the fleet had a landscape specialist on board to care for it.  Laszlo was one of them.  He had Central Park to himself.  Normally he can't leave a bag of potting soil or his gardening tools laying around but during the shutdown he did just that, going to lunch and coming back to finish the job he was working on.  Despite that he was glad to see guests returning.  He thanked me for capturing and promoting Central Park on Wonder of the Seas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over time much of the ground cover in places like around the Elephant will continue to grow and fill in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Now back to Central Park...

 

Central Park has always been a feature that has always drawn me to Oasis class.  My understanding is that it is consistently a top favored area on guest surveys.

 

One of the aspects that I enjoy about Central Park are the live plants.  There are no fakes in Central Park.  This is an opportunity to capture Wonder's Central Park near its birth.   From here it will only evolve and fill in as new the plants take root and grow.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question about Central Park:  If it's raining, how do you get into the restaurants without getting wet?  It looks like there are a few covered areas along the sides, but they appear to be part of the restaurants.  We've booked a group dinner at 150 Central Park on a formal night and wondering what we would do if it were raining!

[LATTELOVE]

Thank you for sharing the extra photos of the 

elephant in Central Park, just adorable!

Love the orchids.

[Biker19]

19 minutes ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

If it's raining, how do you get into the restaurants without getting wet? 

Most of the time, there are umbrellas for guests to use at the entrance areas of CP.

[markbach]

18 minutes ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

Question about Central Park:  If it's raining, how do you get into the restaurants without getting wet?  It looks like there are a few covered areas along the sides, but they appear to be part of the restaurants.  We've booked a group dinner at 150 Central Park on a formal night and wondering what we would do if it were raining!

 

Not sure about Wonder, but Oasis had buckets with umbrellas by the elevators at each end of Central Park that you could borrow to go to/from the restaurants or walk through the park. 150CP is only 200 feet or so from the aft elevator lobby, unless it's really torrenting, you could probably make it to the covered area without getting totally soaked.

[twangster]

1 minute ago, markbach said:

 

Not sure about Wonder, but Oasis had buckets with umbrellas by the elevators at each end of Central Park that you could borrow to go to/from the restaurants or walk through the park. 150CP is only 200 feet or so from the aft elevator lobby, unless it's really torrenting, you could probably make it to the covered area without getting totally soaked.

 

Correct.  Wonder is the same.  

[Old Fart Cruisers]

18 minutes ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

Question about Central Park:  If it's raining, how do you get into the restaurants without getting wet?  It looks like there are a few covered areas along the sides, but they appear to be part of the restaurants.  We've booked a group dinner at 150 Central Park on a formal night and wondering what we would do if it were raining!

There are umbrella stands at the restaurants and at both of the elevator lobbies.   Although, last week on the Symphony they weren't doing a great job of getting them back to the elevator lobbies and the cafe holder was filled. 

[RFerrington]

Laszlo is an absolutely awesome guy and truly, truly loves his job.  We had the pleasure of meeting him and having him give us a private tour of CP when we were on Harmony a number of years ago (he is always on the newest ship as @twangstermentioned...he creates and directs all new CP venues).  It's a fascinating program and Laszlo is definitely the right man for that job.  Dan is both a "plant guy" and an engineer, so he was ALL about every little detail of the watering and feeding processes.  It's one of our most memorable ship moments.

[twangster]

I asked him about Central Park on Oasis as she moves to Bayonne especially at the beginning and end of the season when Bayonne temperatures are not always the friendliest to tropical plants.  Since the ship is not in Bayonne for an extended time on turn around day it doesn't really impact them.

 

If you enjoy the plant life in any of the Oasis class Central Parks Laszlo had a hand in the soil at one time or another.   One last Central Park picture from my good camera of the amazing Laszlo.

 

 

If you ever see him working in a Central Park stop by and say hello.

 

[twangster]

Chops breakfast.  French Toast this morning. 

 

The actual Chops breakfast menu from Wonder.  

 

 

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

3 hours ago, flamingos said:

 And what is that think at the Rising Tide Bar - looks like an astronaut holding balloons, looking in.  

🙂

 

 

That astronaut seems to be recurring art.  Saw one on the new bleacher area across from the big screen on the pool deck, too, in one of these reviews or on YouTube.  Wonder how many of them in total are featured on the ship?

 

Edit: @twangsterhas a pic of the pool deck astronaut at a distance in post 127 in this thread. 

Edited March 7, 2022 by Steeler Nation At Sea

[twangster]

Day 4 -San Juan

 

We have a 1pm arrival so in the morning they offered a “World Premier” of the documentary of the making of Effectors. 
 

If you follow Royal Caribbean entertainment you’ll know the name Nick Weir who is the Senior VP of entertainment for the whole Royal Caribbean Group family of cruise lines.  Since he is on board he hosted today’s special event for Crown & Anchor guests.  I posted the invite earlier in the thread.  
 

 

As I was walking down the isle I spotted some of these boxes.  I knew they meant drones were involved today.  

 

 

Since we are inside there is no GPS signal that most regular drones use outdoors.  These boxes located in strategic areas around the theater produce an IPS field for the drones.  That stands for Indoor Positioning System.  

 

 

So I cozied up next to one center theater so I could capture the drones I knew would participate at some point.