Engineroom Snipe

Sorry, correction, for some reason my search today was not in USD. My apologies, I knew something had to be wrong.

My latest example of sticker shock: I booked a spacious hump balcony on the Jewel of the Seas in September, 2022, in Next Cruise on the Oasis on September 11. Today, on RCI's website during a mock booking, it is more than 4x my total booking price. This is an almost double from YESTERDAY when I did a mock booking price. It seems like a price fishing expedition as I cannot justify or understand a doubling of price in a 24 hour period. 😬

As of now, I can sign in through my Android phone app and the website.

As long as the captain sees it too, everything will be OK. 😁

The more years we get under our belt, the more we enjoy watching the world go by and appreciate the moment as we leave all of our technology behind.

With a little imagination, it is Ahsoka from the Star Wars Series. 😉

In your first picture about the sunshine, I see a ray of hope for better weather. 😁

Yes, on the Anthem, the passage way is narrower and one crew staff could block the area and control the flow of about 6 sinks. On the Oasis, the outgoing past the sinks is about 15 feet wide so it would take about three or even four staff to try and do something as you describes. If they focused their attention trying to stop one person, there would be a gap and two could get by. Kind of like playing zone defense and getting one zone overloaded. I thought the Anthem's setup was much better for flow control.

Looks delicious! Great Pictures, thanks for posting. I saw the twenty miles per hour winds on the ship information screen and then add the ship speed if you are heading against them. Whitecaps in the background of the sea picture. Your pictures tell the whole story very quickly.

My Oasis cruise, this month, 7 days out of Bayonne, I ate almost all of my meals at the Windjammer. The washing of the hands is optional as far as I could tell. Especially for the opening bell at 7am. Some mornings, there were about 100 people waiting in line. When the server removed the fabric divider to allow passengers into the wash area of about 8 sinks, more people just walked through than washed their hands. I spent about 15 seconds waiting for an open sink and another 45 seconds washing my hands and getting the paper towels (some times they pack them in so tightly it is very difficult to pull them out, they just start to tear). I had a good viewpoint and did a quick count to how many people passed by in that 45 seconds (maybe off by three people, they were moving fast). About 25 people went through and I tried to not count those that seemed to make an attempt at the hand sanitizer dispenser. Everyone was worried about claiming a spot near a window that nothing else seemed to matter. Maybe some of them came back to wash their hands after they claimed their tables. There were so many years before the pandemic that I was happy just to see people use the sanitizer. Our biggest fear was noro-virus but that can ruin your trip if you get it.

This is not something that is happening only on RCI. I call this a possible downside of the Unlimited Drink Package meets "Oh, there are lifeguards on duty" combined with "I want to get my money's worth out of the drink package (which normally means at least 6 drinks in general per person or more)." You were onboard a ship that can easily handle 6,000 passengers and it has been sailing with more for almost all of this year. Even if a small percentage, say 5% or 300 tend to drink more than they can handle, those 300 can seem like 3,000. I have seen this happen on many vacations to include non-cruise vacations. I wish I knew the answer. Different ships have different vibes at different times of the year. Maybe talk to your travel agent about a "quieter" ship at a different time period.

That is encouraging. I can deal with a small portion. I would rather have a small portion of heaven than a large portion of hell. Thanks for your input. Things are looking up and I am really hoping it continues when I vacation on the Jewel in November in the MDR. Much easier to request two good pieces of meat instead of regretting one. 🤣

My wife makes it look so easy. I might not appreciate the intricacies and nuisances that are needed. I can bake but she is so good that I leave it to the pro for the same reason the smoker and grill is normally my domain. She can do it all but we both have our strengths so why compete? Bottom line is that so many supermarkets and bakeries can supply a reasonable pecan pie and RCI used to do it on a regular basis too. Almost all of the desserts I have looked at recently seem to appear perfect. Then you take a bite...............

@BND I think it needs some southern hospitality or South Jersey care from my wife. She is a baker extraordinaire by hobby. Her cheese cake is luscious.I have not met a cookie of hers that I did not savor.

Was the pecan pie dry or was something wrong with the texture? I only ask because this type of pie is normally quite forgiving when you cook it.

I think the best meal overall in general has been the WJ breakfast. That says it all. Sigh.....

I sailed on the Enchantment with my wife in April, 2023. We loved the views from the front in in the Windjammer on all of our mornings. Absolutely spectacular, similar to any Viking Lounge view from ships in the past. Lots of warm woods and varnished tables are everywhere on the ship. Please go to the Viking lounge and watch the sunsets. They are a dying breed like the dinosaurs in the tar pits. Most cruise lines are only reserving this view for elite suite guests. Enjoy them before they become extinct for the standard passenger. It was a very good cruise, especially for what we paid. Our days are numbered as the prices increase.

I noticed that RCI updated the app this morning on my Galaxy Android phone. For what ever reason, the deck plans for my November cruise were correct for the first six decks (Jewel of the Seas) and then changed to another ship. I mean the elevators were port side midship and the then mysteriously changed to center midship. After the update, everything was correct. Many strange things seem to be occurring for some reason.

Almost looks like the transition from the unlimited drinks in the Diamond Lounge during "Happy Hour" to 4,5,6 per day. Many pluses and minuses as posted by thousands of reviews. Some people do not want nor need two or more specialty coffees per day. RCI saves money by not trying to attend to a specialty coffee maker for hours during the cruise for hundreds of Diamond, Diamond +, and Pinnacle users. I would rather have the specialty coffee maker working in the Diamond Lounge instead of one specialty coffee per day. I fret the bean counters (pun intended) have been watching me make two or three specialty coffee drinks per day in the morning Diamond Happy hours. I apologize to everyone, maybe I abused the system and now you are being denied access because of my abuse of the system. Sigh, ....., I will go with my card to be punched once per day. The sun will rise on the first morning of my cruise and I WILL salute it with a cup of coffee, not matter where it comes from. It will be a great day!

"But Mom and Dad, I do not take up that much room......." 😞

No argument from me about your observations. I can and will keep documenting what is being served now so cruisers can make up their own minds. I have observed and documented some of the items you describe in my recent evaluation of non-mdr food on the Oasis, September, 2023. Some things are improving but nothing is like per-pandemic let-alone the 1980s or 1990s.

Today's posting is about trying to get self service ice. I and my wife enjoy cold water and we also bring onboard our qty 12 1L bottles of soda which we enjoy with ice. We do our best to limit the sugar in general while we are onboard knowing we are eating more than normal. Last September, 2022, on the Oasis, the self serve soda dispensers would provide ice even if you did not purchase a soda package. On this trip, none of them provided ice if you did not have special soda cup. The only way to get ice is to ask a bartender for a glass of ice on Deck 5. There is cold water available but no ice. Park Cafe has limited hours on Deck 8 but when it was open, the self serve ice maker was often out of ice (about 1 out of every 2 times I attempted to get ice). Room service is once a day and my ice bucket was filled but one never knew when the service would happen (I asked for AM service and my room was never made before 1 PM). It was difficult to find my cabin steward and I rarely saw him. The Windjammer had self service ice but now I have to go to deck 16 aft to get ice. Something I would try to avoid in a wet bathing suite. The Solarium was one of my go to places during the day for self serve ice. Loco Fresh was another place to get self serve ice but it required both hands to dispense. The cup push dispenser was broken and I guess they did not want to order repair parts or the parts were no longer available for the machine. A push-button was installed on the side of the machine. The dispenser had to be broken for a long time because a custom engraved label was made for it and rubber button cover had been worn-off. How many fingers touched that button before you? I tried using my knuckle but it would not fit inside the button to activate the small switch. ☹️

The sun will still rise. You have plenty of time to fret over where your first meal comes from. It is a tough life. 😁

@OCSC Mike On this cruise, September 2023, both the Park Cafe and Windjammer normally opened at 7am. Last year, in September 2022, on the Oasis, they both opened earlier at 6:30am. Do not know why the times changed. Just giving you a heads-up.

My last post had a typo. Yes, that was a typo, "my wife thinks I am worth more dead than alive." Should that have not been a typo, I probably would not be posting right now!!! 🤣😁😧