chodnett

Adult game shows were spread out all over the ship - from On Air to Studio B, to Royal Theater, to Aqua Theater. Karaoke was in On Air, and it was equally difficult to get a seat if you arrived close to start. We would arrive 20ish minutes early ti grab a seat.

Around 20 MPH. I see you follow Justin Danger on Instagram. 😉

$14, and the bartenders didn't seem to have any issues with special requests for certain spirits.

We did eat at Portside BBQ! For context, we're from Atlanta, and spend a ton of time in Eastern NC and Dallas, so good BBQ means something different to me. I will say that for cruise BBQ, it's pretty good. My biggest complaint is that when they opened in 2019, they had a few varieties of sauces, and had the sauces on the table. Now, they only offer one sauce, and they give it to you in a small soufflé cup. The Mac and Cheese is legit good! The fries are the same fries you can get in the Windjammer. The Brookie is super rich. The baked beans are served very watery.

The crew is very-much looking forward to getting to Europe! I heard from a dozen or so that are energized about the new scenery. We're not big coffee drinkers, but on our sailing we were able to get into the Crown Lounge any time we wanted, and they never appeared to be out of anything. In fact, some of our best food the entire week was in the Crown Lounge. Try the Buffalo Wings and Onion Rings!!

Hate to hear that! We definitely didn’t have that bad of an experience. I genuinely enjoyed the trip and ship overall. I know Royal isn’t immune to inflation and labor shortages, but my overarching issue with Royal right now is the price keeps going up, and the level of service is going down. That’s what has taken us from being a “three cruises per year” family to once per year starting in 2025.

Great point about the photos! One thing we really like about the upgrades with the app and Diamond benefits is the free digital photo option. We had gotten tired of brining home 8x10's every time. But now, with the app, we can simply select two photos we love and download them right to the phone for free.

I think you're spot on with your last line.

We sailed away at 6 pm, and sailed back by 7 am the next morning. From what we could tell, the ship did some circles, and also tested the propulsion system a bit, picking up some speed in the open water. The reason they won't stay docked overnight anymore is loss of revenue from the casino and shops being closed while docked. As for the cabin attendant, to be honest, he had a negative vibe from the start. We filled out the form in advance asking for a pack-n-play, and for the pullman bed to be setup. It was not ready when we arrived, and I offered a reminder when I first met him. He didn't follow-through on the first night, and he seemed agitated when I reminded him on Day 2. On a related note, the stateroom service has become my biggest frustration with Royal Caribbean. I understand cost-cutting and the impact of sourcing good labor, but just two years ago, we were all receiving two stateroom services per day. Then a year ago it went down to one, but it was up to me when I would receive it (morning or evening). Now, they've gone to a system where we're told when our service is happening. For this cruise, we were told our service would happen between 8 am and 1 pm. Not ideal for sleeping in or catching an early nap. On the other hand, my parents were told their service time was between 4 pm and 8 pm.

We were in a unique situation where we had 4 people on one reservation, and one on another, but all in the same stateroom. Don't ask me why, but it's how my TA handled the booking. With that, we didn't qualify for RoyalUp. However, my parents were originally in an Interior stateroom. They submitted a RoyalUp for $75/person to move to an Oceanview stateroom, and they won!

Tons. And very low wait times for the popular spots if you get there right at setup (4:30ish).

We didn't book any specialty dining ahead of time, but ended up walking right up at several. I didn't notice any deals above and beyond what they usually offer.

We contributed 3 to the 2,000+! Ha! But seriously, we never had an issue finding chairs on sea days. Queues for the waterslides were consistently long, but other things (Carousel, Abyss, etc.) were fine. The only times it felt cramped were Embarkation and the Windjammer at breakfast.

Hey all! We are just back from our Spring Break Oasis of the Seas sailing, which sailed away on Easter Sunday. Below are my key takeaways from the cruise, and I'm open to any questions you may have. Notes: This was an Easter sailing, which sailed away on Easter Sunday. There were over 2,000 kids on this particular cruise. Our original itinerary included Labadee, but it got switched out with CocoCay, giving us back-to-back days at Perfect Day. We were in an Oceanview stateroom on the 3rd deck. Highlights Aqua80 is just the best show at sea. I would sail Oasis just to watch this show. One of our Perfect Day stops was shared with Symphony of the Seas. I was worried about crowds, but the island handled it so well! This may have been one of the best bar staffs I've ever encountered. All of them were friendly, and the service was fast! There were several surprise and delights on this trip, including balloon animals every morning in the Windjammer. Low-lights The Supercell Waterslide was broken the entire week. There were some unexpected signs of wear and tear across the ship. Hot tubs were in dire need of resurfacing, there was more rust than I'm used to seeing on Royal, and we noticed several dining chairs with rips and tears. Our stateroom attendant was unusually rude. On debarkation day at 7:45 am, he knocked on our door and told us to hurry up and check out because he was coming in at 8 am to start cleaning whether we left or not. Yikes. I'm still concerned about the quality of the free food around the ships. Since COVID, I've noticed a pattern of decreased food quality.