bionicman97

...Check-in at the terminal will take place between 12:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m....

That's a pretty broad range of time. I guess some people want to watch the ship as it arrives :D;):)

Our DD (12) who is D+ in her own right uses the DL for breakfast and afternoon when requiring a drink.

She does not come in the evening with us when it is cocktail time.

Happy Days!

Here is DD manning the desk on a quiet day...

And yes it was early after breakfast :)

Same here, only at breakfast time and during the day, not the evening.

All you can do is ask. Some ships might allow that, some not.

Thanks :)

Nice review :)

This is from Enchantment, but should be representative:

 

I'm not much of a drinker, so sorry for my ignorance on this, but what does it mean by "All mixers and juices"?

Does that mean I could use a voucher to get my 2 year old an apple juice or something?

Have any of you done any green screen photography? Ok - this is not cruise related, except I might use some cruise pictures as backgrounds! Just curious, how hard is it to do? Have you created any backgrounds? I volunteer with a veterans group and we were thinking of using this as a donation getter. Any suggestions?

 

Thank,

Vic

I've done it a little here and there for photos and video. For photos, I used the color selection tool in photoshop, delete the green, then insert a background on another layer (below the layer with the people). Of course, try to avoid people wearing green, but its still fairly easy to use another selection tool and remove that from the selection.

Make sure your green screen is nice and even (as few wrinkles as possible and not moving), otherwise you'll get multiple layers of green that you have to select and remove.

We did a Western Med in November 2008. We did not see many children (the fewest of any cruise we have done). The ship did have a nice balance of adult ages, ranging from mid 20s to 75+. Also a nice mix of nationalities, approx 50% native English speaking, following up by maybe 25% Spanish and a mix of the rest.

Really enjoying your review and sense of humor :)

Hey, Curtis! Thank you very much for finishing your review. It was awesome, as always. I loved seeing your pictures, reading your "dailies," and living vicariously through you.

 

I do know how time intensive the reviews are and appreciate the hours and hours you've spent sharing your family cruises with us. THANK YOU!!! As much as I will miss them, I do understand, and, as much as I hate to say it, I haven't written a review for the past few cruises my family has taken. It is LIBERATING in some ways! Maybe this will change as time moves on.... I hope so.

 

Thanks again!!

Michele

 

PS Did you buy that boat?!!!!!

 

PPS Your ice cream cones look much more photo friendly and less like dog poo this time around.... you're really getting there!!!

 

PPPS LOVE Mo5aic!!! We've seen them twice. SUCH TALENT!

Thanks :)

I agree with the liberating feeling, even though we haven't went on another cruise yet. Not having to take notes and photograph every little thing (who am I kidding, I'll still photograph every little thing) definitely sounds more relaxing.

Haven't purchased the boat yet. We are having a hard time coming up with an agreeable price ;)

I've been working hard to make my ice cream look non-pooish ;)

Definitely want to see Mo5aic again!

Curtis, I am so glad you were able to take the time to come back to us and finish the review. I know how much time it takes to do one, especially this detailed. I am sure you guys moved Mo5aic. We saw them on our Freedom cruise may of last year and we thought they were great.

I will continue to follow you on Facebook. I love seeing all your photos.

 

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Would love to see them perform again!

Thanks :)

Curtis...thanks so much for the info!!

No problem :)

Would the walk from the cruise ship to Atlantas be doable while pushing a wheelchair? How much did you have to pay to get into the areas that you saw? thanks.

You would need to get to Paradise Island first. We took a tender type boat over, which I believe was like $5 per person, round trip. I didn't see any provisions for doing that in a wheel chair. If you go this route, once you get to the island, you have about a 1.5 mile walk over even ground on a sidewalk.

Your better choice would be to take a cab over. I'm sure your walk would be minimal, as they would drop you off close to the building.

Everything you saw in the pictures are things we saw for free. We didn't pay anything to be at that area of Atlantis.

They do have pay options. They have an Aquarium, which I think was around $45pp. They also have a water park type area that I believe you can pay for, but I'm not sure of the cost.

Oh I definitely know how much work! Luckily, I'm on the other end of the spectrum, lots of hours waiting for the garage door to open before I can go to bed;) so I have the time! I enjoy the writing and it's a fun project for DH and I to do together! 2 year olds are lots of work (I only have to do it during the times I'm paid to watch them! ) and you don't get a second chance at these days! I know how much time you spend with the little guy, and you won't regret a day of it! :D I'll be watching Keith grow up on FB and before YOU know it, YOU will be the one waiting on Friday nights for him to come in;)

I'm afraid that time will be here too soon!

Frankly, I'm a little worried about this child! :eek: she looks like she was tossed like a rag doll onto the floor!

 

 

 

Thanks Curtis for your review! I will of course "see" you on FB, but I'm sorry you won't be here on CC any longer...I enjoyed your reviews! It was your review that got me hooked on Southern Caribbean route again! Happy travels!

lol on the kid. I'm not sure what she was doing.

I'll still be around on CC here and there, but, as you definitely know, the reviews are time intensive. With the all-you-can eat internet packages, I'll probably just post more live pictures on Facebook ;)

Thank you so much for coming back to finish your review. Sad you won't be doing any more but I understand! I did one years ago and it took soooo long and I too just don't have the time with a 19month old and another on the way. We took our little girl on Radiance and rhapsody just after your first cruise with Keith and we took all of your advice - so it was very handy!!

Carly

Thanks :)

It definitely makes it more difficult to do them when you have kids ;)

Glad the advice was helpful :)

So glad you came back to finish your review. Your son is adorable!!

Enjoy your future cruises and as much as I will miss reading and seeing your photos, I certainly understand your priorities.

Thanks :)

what a great review...I loved every minute...thank you so much for sharing...and I understand the complete time dedication it takes to do one of these....I hope you are able to save and share with your son...I'll bet he gets a real kick of of seeing it one day when he's older.

Thanks :)

I'll probably be boring him endless when he gets older. Without exaggeration, I take approximately 10,000 photos a year :eek:

What a great read! Thank you for sharing the review and I love all the photos. We went on Oasis in 2012 and had a fabulous time!

Thanks :)

Thank you!! Where did Keith sleep? Did you have a pack and play for him or maybe on the couch with a rail ( not sure id RCI offers those)

 

 

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He's too big to lay down in a pack and play (we did that on the first two cruises he went on). He slept in bed with us in the center. It wasn't very comfortable (for me ;) ). I was only kicked in the back like 70 times ;)

OMG Thanks soooo much for the kid area pictures!!!! That is what I've been asking for on this board for months lol

Looks awesome! we are planning an Allure cruise with 2.5 yr old DD but I wanted to see the kids areas because I was disappointed with them on LOS

 

 

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No problem :)

I think your child will have a great time.

Here is a link to all of our pictures. I'm sure I have more there that I didn't post:

Thanks for the review and all the pictures. We leave on Oasis very soon - I can't wait! I'll be sad to not see you on CC as much, but totally understand. I have only done a short review and that was time consuming. I'd love to do a detailed review but the time it takes (and hoping it'd be frustration free in terms of technology) might be prohibitive. Maybe there's an easier way to day things and post pictures, but I remember it being pretty difficult when I reviewed Freedom in Sept 2012. :rolleyes:

 

Congrats on the new home! I hope to one day end up on a cruise with your family. :)

It would definitely be easier to do on a blog, which I've thought about, but would still be really time consuming.

I hope you have a great trip!

Thanks for making it back to finish. I totally agree on the time committment and the reviews. I did one and really enjoyed it. I planned to do others, but it just takes so much and once I return to work I'm too covered up to make it happen.

 

We sail on Oasis in December with a 9 and 5 year old (their first cruise) and it's Eastern itinerary which we've never done. Still unsure on what excursions we are going to do. They basically just want a beach day.

We've always wanted to swim with the Turtles in St Thomas, but haven't been able to make it happen. There are a lot of nice beaches on that route.

Have a great cruise!

Thanks Curtis, it's been almost two years since our last RC cruise...we did X last year and we both said sticking with Royal. I am more than ready!

Hope to cruise with you one day!

 

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That would be really fun :)

What are the rules for the Splash zone? Is this the area for diapered babies/kids?

 

Thanks!

Official rules were swim diapers in one small pool. The others are for potty trained. Unofficial rules were everyone did whatever they wanted 90% of the time ;)

Whew! I think I gained ten pounds from your food porn!

Looking at them, if our cruise this Sunday on the Navigator has some of the same selections, I know what to try or to avoid!

 

I can't believe you walk that far everyday....I need one of those pedometers!

 

I love your pictures and your such a great story teller.....just like being there.

 

Thanks for letting us tag along....loved your review.

 

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I'm missing the food ;)

Thanks and have a great cruise! :)

The next morning, we got up around 7am. By 8am, we were in the dining room, waiting to be called. We got called around 8:30am. By 9:15, we were loaded and on the road.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast

And that brings us to the end of our cruise!

Final Thoughts

The Oasis definitely has the wow factor. Overall, we found the food in the Windjammer to be above average (compared to other Windjammers), Johnny Rockets was always good and the MDR was about average.

The shows were all top notch and really enjoyable.

The ship is definitely well suited to kids, as we could find a good variety of places to take Keith. He really enjoyed the splash zone and the Fisher Price play area. He loved the battery powered vehicles.

As far as crowdedness goes, I didn’t find it to be much different than the Freedom class. At busy times/events, it was crowded. Most of the other time, it wasn’t. I definitely didn’t feel isolated. There were people everywhere we went ;)

If anyone has any questions, I can attempt to answer, but this was six months ago, so my memory may not be that great.

Final, Final Thoughts

So what does the future hold. We have 3 land based trips coming up before the year is up. I'm also sure we will take at least one cruise, maybe 2. We will definitely take a cruise after Keith turns 3 in October, so that he can participate in the children's programs. We may take one before then, but it would have to be a really good deal.

And that brings us to sad (or happy depending on whether you enjoyed the review or hated it) note. I imagine that this will most likely be the last review I do for a cruise for a long time. The time commitment during the cruise and especially after the cruise are too demanding for my work load and family life. I have really enjoyed doing them over the years and will miss doing them, but this one took well over 12 hours (not counting photo editing) to put everything together. With an active 2 year old and doing a lot of side work to prepare for his future (and the imminent start to building a new house), it's a time commitment that I can no longer make.

I'm also not very active in the community anymore due to time constraints and I don't like being one of those people who only posts things and never reads other peoples content. Most likely, for future cruises, our pics and thoughts will go straight to Facebook, especially if I have the availability of all you can eat internet.

So in closing, thanks for following along!

If you’d like to follow us along with our other adventures, both land based and by sea, you can find me on Facebook at facebook.com/curtisleedaniel

At 4:15pm, I went back to the room to get ready. We left the room at 4:40pm. At 5pm, we waited to see if the show was full and then went to the Come Fly With Me Show with Keith. Wasn’t sure if he would last. He loved it.

After the show, we went to dinner in the main dining room. If you had reservations, it took about 5 to 10 minutes to get to the table. Without, it looked like it would take about 20 minutes.

For dinner, I had the Caesar salad

And I got a Chops steak. I was a little disappointed. It was ok, but not great

Desserts were good

Keith enjoyed his

Afterwards we went to a comedy show.

We then wondered around a little and went back to the room and went to bed.

For today, I did 16,033 steps, which is approximately 8 miles.

Up next – Time to go home and final thoughts…