Bound4Bermuda

Hello! I’m excited and a little nervous for this trip since we’ve never done Carnival. We typically go on Royal Caribbean, but when I saw this brand-new ship with a unique itinerary for $2000 less what we were looking at for RCI, we decided to give it a shot. The reason why I’m nervous is that my daughter was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, so now I’m panicking thinking about all of the factors we need to account for and though I’m confident RCI would help with carb counts, etc., I’m not sure how accommodating Carnival is. Though, I guess they’re all basically the same—I hope.

Just came here looking to see whether anyone had this problem—is the Royal Caribbean site down or did they suddenly stop sailing out of Cape Liberty w/ that no cruises match this criteria error? Whew. Okay, will try again later or tomorrow.

I was on Oasis last month, and I don’t recall seeing this. Of course, I may have just missed it.

You can only do it once you're on board and connected to the ship's wifi in the app. (You don't need Vroom to use the app.)

Has this man just been living on cruise ships for the last 30 years?

Quoting you just to reference the map--but responding to the OP. It sounds like you did the same as we did--got off the ship in a complete panic about finding shaded chairs and just went to the first area we saw. So, we first put our stuff down in the first cove on the bottom left. Soon after, I walked over and saw the next cove (left second from bottom), which was a bit bigger/nicer, and made my family move over there. A little later, I then discovered the NEXT cove (top left), and I was like--wow, you've got to see this--it's gorgeous!! My family was NOT going to move because they're like we're not falling for this again. I had to beg them that it would be worth it! Finally, when we went over there, they were like, yes, this is what we're talking about!! And it was gorgeous and amazing. Maybe the beaches at the top of the map were even better--but there was no way my family was even going to bother to find out, lol. After lunch we specifically went looking for the pool. The way it's completely surrounded by trees and greenery, it was a little difficult to find the openings to actually get into it--but the PUMPING MUSIC and squealing people let you know that it's just beyond these plants... We didn't stay there very long. It was CRAZY--especially the people packed elbow-to-elbow in front of the bar area dancing to the DJ. If you stayed in the smaller area that's under the bridge, it was less crowded. But, back to your point...I can see if you were by the pool (crowds) or the first two Chill Island coves or Harbor beach, it was probably somewhat disappointing. Yet, the Breezy Bay area was heavenly! We left there definitely feeling like it was, indeed, a Perfect Day. Looking forward to definitely planning another cruise to Coco Cay and checking out the South Beach area. But the Breezy Bay area was {chef's kiss}. The only minor inconvenience is that it dropped off to really deep quickly, so we couldn't go out too far. And, we couldn't believe it that people paid $3000 for an over-the-water cabana and we didn't see a single person use their slide! lol.

If you just put the phone down and walk away, you’re going to end up with like a $1000 cell phone bill from data roaming charges and international fees. OP, once on board, you’ll want to connect to the ship’s wifi first so you can use the Royal app. You do not need to pay for wifi in order to use this feature—just select that you’ll use the app only when the pop-up gives you the option of that or connect to Vroom. THEN put it in airplane mode, and, as was mentioned, you won’t need to worry about all of the other settings because that automatically turns off data roaming, etc.

I just got off of Oasis last week. The shows that you have to reserve will not appear until you’re onboard and connected to the ship’s wifi. You do not need to pay for the wifi—it will be free to use with the app. This is as designed so no one can reserve anything until they’re onboard. But, trust me, they’ll be there as soon as you connect on board.

Last week. Well, technically I got on board two weeks ago and got off last week.

No, they are not taking temperatures in Cape Liberty.

My daughter kept them.

My daughter found 2 ducks and I found one last week on Oasis. She thought it was fun. Granted, I had to tell her to stop pawing through the plants in Central Park looking for them, so there is some potential for damage, I suppose. (Just to clarify, she didn’t actually damage any plants.)

Frozen and Aqua are both 45 minutes. Cats is 90. Our dinner never took more than an hour—sometimes less—but we do eat quickly.

I think you’re doing your math backwards—unless I’m misunderstanding the point you’re making. If $15 of your cruise fare is allotted to the MDR, then paying $60 for Chops is really like paying $75, not $45. (Though, the value for the MDR food is certainly more than $15, so your all-in price for the specialty restaurant might be closer to $100.) I agree that $60 is a pretty decent price for a 3-course meal in a restaurant, but I’m with those who say I spend a lot of money eating out in nice restaurants at home as it is. I might as well get the food I already paid for in the MDR. However, I have NOT eaten in any of the specialty restaurants, so I am completely willing to admit I have no basis for comparison and maybe the specialty restaurants are just so incredible that I would be weeping because my taste buds have never experienced such ecstasy. So, I don’t know, I’m sure someday I’ll try it.

We attempted to bring walkie-talkies last week on Oasis, but the ship was just too big and with all those floors and steel, they didn’t work. We didn’t bother with the app, as people have said that there’s no “ping” when you receive a message, so unless you know you’re each actively trying to talk to the other, it can be missed. We ended up just making meeting times to be back in the room, and leaving notes if any plans changed.

You just tell them your room number and they’ll type it in the system rather than scanning the card.

Was just on it last week. At 1:30 they announced that we could go to our staterooms, and the key cards were shoved behind the room number on the door itself.

You may also want to consider switching to either the early or late set dining time now. That’s what we did after reading about all of the issues people were having with MTD nowadays since they shortened the window of available dining times. It meant that we “missed” two dinners for late excursions and just ate in the Windjammer/Solarium Bistro those nights, but it was worth avoiding the hassle. If MTD doesn’t even open until 6:45, you’re going to have a difficult time seating a party of 7 at 7. I heard of people hoping for the best once they boarded and going to the dining room, but if the app says all they have is 8:30, it wasn’t lying to you. Then they tried to switch to early dining on board, but it was already full. You can hope for the best, but it’s a little overly optimistic for those saying, don’t worry, they’ll accommodate you if you’re nice. You can’t just pull up an extra table for 7 back by the kitchen.

Definitely bring your own! The dispenser in the shower has an all-in-one shampoo/body wash that is fine to use as a body wash and maybe okay for men with short hair—though my husband even complained about using it and making his hair a poofy mess. Women or anyone with hair longer than an inch or so will definitely wish they brought their own shampoo and conditioner!

On Oasis last week apparently someone requested “I Like Big Butts” by Sir Mixalot, and the singer figured it out on her downtime to play it the next night. Unfortunately, we didn’t see it because all the Promanade bar entertainment shut down for an hour for there to be a silent disco in the Promanade. (Why this was necessary since the attendees of said silent disco were wearing headphones is beyond me.) But that was the teaser to come back later for I Like Big Butts and I Cannot Lie! 🤣

I didn’t do the specialty restaurants, and didn’t experience any shortages in food options. They seemed fully staffed, as I never needed to wait for anything. However, it was obviously very newly staffed, as we heard a few crew members mentioning it was their first few days/week on board. Funny experience in one of the shops my husband asked about a particular item, and the cashier just waved his hand dismissively and said, “Day 5.” My husband said, “You expect this in stock on day 5?” And the guy was like, “No, it’s my day 5.” Oh, okay then, lol. Best shows were Aqua 80 and Frozen in Time. Cats was, well, you’ve seen the other threads!

There was a guy going up to everyone with young kids and asking whether they’re vaccinated, so they’ll find you and tell you what to do. Not outside, but once you go inside, it’s all the way to the left.

I saw turkey on Oasis last week. Perhaps a supply chain issue? Not sure why they wouldn’t just forego the carving station for the morning.

We just got off of Oasis with our teenager. There didn't seem to be any organized teen activities. The Social [some numbers here] teen hangout area just had some set open times where the teens could stop by and hang out--or meet up with others and go elsewhere. It looked like they had some video games and kids sitting around in a circle, so maybe they were doing some type of group game or talk. The teen club is kind of difficult to locate! It took us until day 2 or 3 until we accidentally came across it when we heard teens yelling at some adults who accidentally wandered into it. You can't get to it from inside the ship. But if you walk around to the deck area in the back between Portside BBQ and El Loco Taco, you'll see an area that looks like a fake hedge with a gate--that's it. It seemed to me that most teens just went there to find some new friends for the first time, and then they would make plans each day to meet elsewhere to hang out on their own. However, like I said, since we missed the first couple of days, maybe there WAS more organized for the teens that you would find out from within the Social club area, like I presume is what they do with Adventure Ocean, because no specific activities for teens or kids was listed within the app.

You will be able to do everything in the app--just not until you're on board. That's one thing you don't need to worry about. Also, if you miss any show reservations, the shows always seemed to have a long stand-by line. If people with reservations don't arrive within 10 minutes of showtime, they start letting the standby line in.