Pratique

Yes I counted six Western 6 nighters and two Eastern 6 nighters that hit both Coco and Labadee for the rest of this year. But my wife is addicted to crown loft suites so I will have to make the pitch. 😃 Which is another problem with Utopia and Wonder - a paucity of loft suites. But that's another thread.

Ah I didn't realize Mariner was doing that. Cool.

Actually I wish there was more variety in terms of itineraries on Royal. Like a 7 or 8 night with two stops at Coco or Labadee or one stop at each. I know there are a few 9 nights that hit both but not many.

Oh I agree. I was just reacting to an earlier post saying that people want to do these B2Bs.

That's what I must have been thinking of. I wanted to try one of those cruises that went to Coco twice but we never did.

Can't even sleep in... I guess you can work on the survey while you're waiting to get back into your cabin.

I think some of the runways are in Kansas 😃 I've been on flights where it felt like we were taxiing to the gate for as long as we were in the air. Well I don't doubt there are folks like you who will enjoy the 3/4 night skips over to The Bahamas in the dead of winter, I just don't see widespread appeal for B2B on Utopia. Even for us in New England in the same time zone I wouldn't want to fly in the same day and then spend two days at PC and two days at Nassau, even though we enjoy CocoCay. We just sailed Oasis out of New York and even though it is a six hour drive to/from the port with a stop for lunch it still beats going to the airport any day. I used to love flying but no more. I only fly if I can't avoid it. And the three sea days were the magic elixir for relaxing. I had a great day at Coco but it wore me out. I needed two sea days to recover lol.

Yes the TSA shortcuts help. As long as it's not snowing I guess I could see trying that. I lived in Denver when DIA opened and as much as I love the airport it is huge and it wasn't a quick trip from my apartment to the airplane including the drive, checking in, getting through security, taking the train out to the airside and then inevitably having to walk to the farthest gate (always my luck it is the last gate). We always fly in the day before a cruise because there are too many risks trying to make it the same day. Too much anxiety.

That seems to make for a very long day. I used to live in Westminster. It would take me a while to drive out to DIA even and that was before 9/11 and the need to arrive at the terminal well before the flight. So getting up at 2:00 am to make a 5:00 am flight would burn me out by the time I got to the ship. But I'm not as young as I used to be.

How does that work with the two hour time change? What time do you need to be at the Denver airport? Isn't that like a 5:00 am flight out of Denver?

I notice you didn't mention two days at Nassau. I presume you stay on the ship? Which is fine but I'd rather be at sea than docked. I'd rather see a seven night itinerary with two stops at Coco. Didn't they try that at one time? My memory is fuzzy.

I get that but when you spend the better part of two days flying to and from the port for just three full days on the cruise then the math (cost in terms of time and money and travel hassle) starts to look less appealing than blocking out extra time for a full seven night cruise.

It will be even worse if they are sharing Coco with another ship on the same day. Whatever novelty there is with a B2B will wear off by Day 5. I see these cruises as appetizers for the uninitiated or for folks who can only spare a weekend to cruise or who are combining it with a land vacation in Florida. Then it makes a little more sense. But B2B, not for me.

Or they could just hand out virtual reality headsets and never leave port to save even more fuel.

I don't see the appeal of B2B with only one sea day and two days at each of Nassau and CocoCay plus a turnaround day at PC.

PDFs of the Compass for Days 2-7 for Oasis of the Seas 7 Night Perfect Day Bahamas Cruise June 16-23. For Day 5 scroll down, it is below Day 4. This link may eventually expire but no date is set. I will post photos of Day 1 below. https://gofile.io/d/E0vrOT

Sure give me a day or two to get them uploaded somewhere.

Thanks for your review. We also had a great time. Our loft attendants were awesome so at least your housekeeping experience was not part of a larger issue. The concierges escorted us to the gangway and we were off the ship five minutes after vacating our cabin. We ate a lot of specialty Giovanni's, Chops, 150 Central Park, but also had brunch in the MDR and BBQ twice and it was all good. As previously discussed the WJ is lacking these days as is the food setup in the suite lounge. It does feel like they are cutting corners on food in some areas. Cats and Aqua shows were great. The ship is clean and looks in excellent shape. The crew were all great too save for an indifferent bartender or two. On the drive out my phone decided to take us on a "shortcut" to the NJT via Port Lincoln Rd and Port Jersey Blvd. Although it dumps onto the turnpike there is more truck traffic this way so probably not a good idea to listen to my phone sometimes. But I thought I'd give it a try anyway. YMMV. I have PDFs of the compass for days 2-7 and I can take photos of the compass from day 1 if anyone is interested let me know.

Well let's put it this way: they will tell you to empty your pockets (obviously keys and phone) but if you don't and the detector goes off then they will wand you and probably want to see what's in your pockets anyway. So if it's not metal then it probably won't be noticed. Not as strict as TSA but they were being thorough. They saw something on the x-ray that wasn't obvious to them and started asking questions. We told them it was D cell batteries in a portable fan and they let us proceed without any further inspection. But they are paying attention, as they should be. Emptying your pockets just speeds things.

Empty your pockets, shoes stay on. They will wand you if any metal is detected such as jewelry.

It could be that the parent company RCG is leasing the island to the cruise line subsidiary RCI. I don't know but it doesn't make a practical difference, just a legal one.

Wikipedia still says the island is leased but there is no source for this. This is a quick read Kindle book about the history of the island, worth $3.49 if you're interested and free if you have KindleUnlimited. https://www.amazon.com/Little-Stirrup-became-Caribbeans-private-ebook/dp/B0BXDJJHWX Neil Ruzic was a scientist who purchased the island with the intent of building a research station, but encountered too much difficulty obtaining permits from the government, so the island went undeveloped. Ruzic saw how the adjacent island was being used by NCL for tourism and established a deal with Eastern Cruise Lines. In 1983 he agreed to let cruise passengers onto the island for $10 a person. Eastern was absorbed by Admiral which was absorbed by Royal Caribbean. Ruzic sold most of the island (except five acres) to Admiral in 1985 giving Ruzic the right to "'roam' the whole island." In 2016 the Ruzic family sold the remaining part of the island to Royal.

I’ve stuck my head in both casinos on Oasis several times this week and I see lots of empty tables with bored dealers in the main casino but it’s been busier in the non smoking one. FWIW.

Consistently getting 9.5 down and 3.7 up on Oasis around the ship. Just had an hour long Teams call with several short dropouts. It’s useable if the other participants are patient with it.