OCSC Mike

Hrmm... maybe once I book more cruises he'll be nicer to me... although I did send my SIL his way and she already booked 3 cruises and some of them have multiple cabins. A referral fee in the form of OBC seems appropriate, right? 🤣 Agreed. Skipped it on Wonder in June (other than the bar) even though my BIL said he wanted to go. Darn extended family and their suite/CK preferences got in the way of my normal routine, lol. We won't be skipping it on any of our upcoming cruises. Even my picky wife loves the burger and garlic parm fries there.

Screw the cabin, it has more important updates like Playmakers.

Yes, but only on sea days. You can find this info by looking at the current sailing in the app.

I probably tell this story too often but... I had never been on a cruise until my honeymoon. My wife cruised as a kid, always with a balcony, so she said we needed a balcony. Did a few more cruises with a balcony (and barely used it). When we were exactly 4 points from Diamond I suggested we go on the cheapest 4-night cruise out of PC (an hour drive for us) in an interior... and if we hated it, we would go back to a balcony on our next 7-night cruise. She ended up liking the interior, especially for how dark and cold it gets for sleeping and her occasional afternoon cat nap. We've gotten interiors ever since (unless someone else is paying). If you don't use your balcony and see the cabin and just a place to sleep, shower, and change clothes (and don't find not having a view of the outside claustrophobic), might as well spend the savings on something else... more cruises, specialty dining, drink package, whatever you're into.

Maybe I'm missing something. This makes it sound like there is an option to check in WITH the app. Is the app also not working?

Now you have a big problem... you have nothing to keep checking for over the next 30 days! I suggest some RoyalUp bids. 😁

Don't count on anything being 100% on time with RC IT. Like the cabin assignment, just keep checking, they will appear at some point... possibly even later today. I vaguely remember docs not necessarily being available in the early morning 30 days out but later in the day.

Seeing as your location is the Jersey shore, that was nothing new for you, lol. I grew up in the Philly 'burbs and spent plenty of summers there. The seagulls always remind me of the boardwalk.

No, there are no late night sessions. That's Wonder's version of an escape room (free and fun btw even though it's essentially a bare room b/c they had to remove all the Chinese-themed decoration when Covid sent Wonder to the US instead of China).

Makes total sense and I don't blame them. I'm thinking they could easily code a voucher drink so instead of just looking for $0.00 in the app it would be noted in some way. If you're using the SL, especially for 11-11 stuff, you can wind up with a lot of $0.00 items. Less of a big deal if you're not in a suite and just counting to 4-6 per person but still.

They are definitely there (as of June)... and as a native of the Philly 'burbs I like that you called them ribeye sandwiches b/c they are definitely NOT cheesesteaks, lol, but "kinda like a cheesesteak" is a reasonable description. Haven't tried one in a long time. After my first "try everything" trip I wound up focusing on the taco bar when I go to Chill Grill. I'll have to re-visit the sandwiches.next trip.

The lack of better food is what makes me have no desire to go there. Not a huge beach guy but I love CocoCay for the food.

FWIW, I didn’t get a single paper receipt for any voucher drink at any location on Wonder in June. I usually keep track of my D drinks by checking the app for $0.00 drinks listed in my account (it usually updates quickly in my experience). The one exception is when using them on CocoCay. They have either shown up later with a random ship venue listed (it doesn’t say CocoCay or Oasis Pool Bar) or they haven’t shown up at all (no complaint there but not trying to get extra free drinks I don’t deserve either).

Take the money and run... onto Oasis!

Nah, when the next one goes smoothly you'll be wondering what's going on.

I'm late to this story but sorry to hear what you are dealing with. Hope DH is doing OK and has a quick recovery.

Nice to see I'm not alone. My teacher wife receives quite a collection of different gift cards throughout the school year and that's how we wind up getting Chick Fil A. They also recently had a promo and I had 2 free ones the other day. When the price is right, I enjoy them.

This is incorrect but here's how you can likely find your cabin within minutes of reading this... Bar Code Trick Method 1. If you have an Apple device, add your set sail pass to your Apple wallet. Numbers will now appear under your bar code. The numbers after the dash represent your cabin. Method 2. Scan the bar code with a QR scanner from another device and that should also show you the numbers. NOTE: If you see "GTY" instead of numbers, you truly haven't been assigned yet. One tip off is that if you don't see a muster station on your set sail pass then you almost definitely don't have an assignment yet.

I prefer Snack Shack but both are good. I also like the sauce/mayo/aioli/whatever it is they now use on CocoCay so I'm always torn between the normal one and the not so secret one. Hard to go wrong. My standing wish is for RC to put a Snack Shack on the ships. Funnel cakes on the boardwalk by the carousel is such a natural fit!

We had the same server and table in CK on Wonder in June (likely b/c we were a party of 8 and requested one of the 2 large tables and had already made reservations to eat there all 7 nights).

I know I'm a weirdo but I don't care for any of those things yet spending 18 days on land & sea in Alaska was the best vacation I've ever taken. There's so much more than hiking and looking at breathtaking views (I know you know this but I want people to know that non-outdoors types can also love Alaska). Taking a ride to the arctic circle from Fairbanks and flying back, taking the bus ride all the way to the back of Denali National Park (bears and sheep and moose, oh my) and staying there for 2 nights (yes, sadly the road is currently impassable), flying around Denali, hiking on a glacier (way cooler than hiking through a forest to me), watching my wife ice climb on that glacier, taking a helicopter up to a glacier in the mountains to go dog sledding, ocean kayaking, whale watching, the Kenai fjord tour, randomly spotting a sea otter hanging out near the shore in Seward while just walking down the street... I'm sure I'm forgetting tons of stuff even after all that. Very long review of our 2018 trip in my signature if anyone is interested.

As mentioned, Captain Jack’s is also not free.

Also Truly, hard cider, and of course bottled water.

Could not agree with this more (probably already posted this to you at some point). I'm OK with doing an Alaskan cruise (there are still good excursions in the cruise ports and it's cool to see glaciers from the ship) but only after a land portion like we did in 2018... 10 days DIY traveling from Fairbanks to Seward with many stops including 2 nights in the back of Denali National Park. To the OP... We normally sail around the Caribbean on the cheap since PC is an hour drive for us. We've been to most ports several times, both eastern and western, but we don't care. We sail as much for the ship and CocoCay as anything (though we do usually have an excursion or two planned per 7-night cruise). Alaska is the one place I would splurge on (and we definitely did). If you can afford to do a land portion along with some expensive excursions, go to Alaska. If that's something that you may be in a better position to do in the future, then I'd wait and do the Caribbean. The only caveat to waiting is that I agree that global warming is a factor to be considered.

No soot issues in June (though I heard about the problem beforehand & could see the stains on the cushions up there). Not sure if it was luck, wind direction, or they fixed something. It was a ghost town up there all week for whatever reason as well.