Bound4Bermuda

I had 10:30. There was a huge, disorganized mob waiting outside the terminal. There was also a LOT of people who had gotten off the ship waiting for rides, so perhaps the groups leaving/coming on seemed to make it look worse than it was since there were people everywhere. I think they must have just opened the doors late (maybe they arrived late, too?) because once we started going into the terminal, the line moved pretty swiftly.

Yes, correct.

I just went through Cape Liberty this past week. Going in was a madhouse! As was mentioned, there was one long line to get into the terminal, and they didn't seem to be checking the arrival times at all. (That being said, I was within my window, so perhaps once I got to the front I would have been turned away if I were early? Don't know.) However, it really didn't take THAT long to get through the because they had a ton of people working the check-in process. Leaving was a breeze! The luggage was organized by numbers--and they really broke it down into small increments--unlike searching through a large room of luggage in years past or at other terminals. Then at the exit, they just scan your face, so we didn't have to show our passports at all. Be sure to pay for your parking ticket right outside the exit! They have people there to help take your ticket and credit card into the payment kiosk to keep people from fumbling around and wasting time. Leaving the lot, people who missed paying at the kiosk were funneled into a separate line, so those who payed at the kiosk zoomed right out.

It will be there once you’re on board. I just got off Oasis on Friday. I was able to see some entertainment at home the morning of, but the bulk of the events—including the big, reservable shows—you won’t see until you’re on board and connected to the ship’s wi-fi.

You must be able to, another recent cruisers posted pics of the CC. Sorry, we didn’t do specialty dining.

We just got off Oasis with an OV balcony, and I loved sitting on it each night before bed looking at the stars and the water. I thought of this thread while visiting both the Boardwalk and the Central Park areas. I loved Central Park. It was our go-to spot each evening after our early dinner to listen to the classical guitarist. It was so pretty and peaceful. If I were to try an interior balcony, it would definitely be there! I saw no appeal to the Boardwalk area.

Unfortunately they didn’t give out paper Cruise Compasses, so it’s all in the app, visible once you board.

Solarium Bistro is always a good alternative to Windjammer! The buffet there is much smaller, so you won’t have all of the same options. But especially for breakfast, there’s everything you would possibly want. Windjammer would have insane lines, but Solarium was never crowded—practically empty every time we went. Apparently it’s the best-kept secret for dining options.

This past week was a Billy Idol cover band.

My family was obsessed with the rolls with the pumpkin seeds on them. No other roll compared. There was also a thread recently in which the Windjammer mashed potatoes were discussed. I was trying to find it because I think I figured out their secret ingredient during my Oasis cruise I just got off of. I definitely tasted nutmeg, so instead of just melting milk/cream and butter like most people do, I think they made a whole-@ss bechamel sauce to whip into the potatoes!

I just saw it a few days ago on Oasis, so this is fresh in my mind…like a nightmare that leaves you unsettled when it creeps back up to your consciousness in your quiet waking moments. I liked that it gave me something to do by myself for an hour and a half in the evening when my family bailed on me (daughter went off with friends and husband went to bed early). I didn’t like, well… Let’s just say I was warned by the members of this board, but I was curious to see it for myself—but you were right!! All I can say was for the first handful of songs, the audience was dead silent. No one clapped and I can imagine they were all sitting there like I was thinking What the f— am I watching?! What the f— is happening?! Then the feline solos started up, and at the end, each cat would put their arms out waiting for their thunderous applause, so the audience started giving polite golf claps. Mind you, the audience was fleeing after each song. I was stuck in the middle of the top row, so I was going to bail once one side or the other of my row opened up. But one side left an hour in, and at that point, I survived 2/3 so I decided to see it through. The Glamourpuss shunned cat sang Memories, and the audience gave more emphatic applause and even some “Wooo”s! Hey, we know this song! Then some other Cat sang pieces of Memories a couple of times, and okay, that’s the big song… Then the disheveled, shunned Cat sang Memories again, and jeez, Andrew Lloyd Webber really phoned it in only writing one big song… As a child of the 80s growing up in NJ, I saw that “Cats! Now and forever at the Winter Garden Theater!” commercial continuously for years and years, so there were moments that hit me—aha, that’s just like the commercial! So, I guess the rendition was true to Broadway. But all of those NYC tourists who got bamboozled because they had no idea of what they were getting themselves into—wanting to see a Broadway show in the big city, and hey, we have a pet cat… All I can say is that maybe it made sense in the 70s when people took psychedelic drugs and were prone to joining cults??

This is the same scam they pull with the “sales” on the cruise fares and drink packages. They make up a ridiculously overpriced base price so they can tell you they’re giving it away at 75% off. As an example, this past week on Oasis they were making a huge deal about Casio watches being under $100! Casio watches cost nowhere near $100!

Just off Oasis yesterday. You need reservations for Aqua 80 (diving show), Frozen in Time (ice skating show), Cats (though that never sells out), and the comedy club (because it’s a small venue). There is also an option to wait in line if you miss reservations because they start giving seats away 10 minutes prior for any no-shows.

Boarding today with my two bottles of wine and 12-pack of Monster Energy drinks.

One day! Packing now!

It’s okay to take Bonine even with alcohol? I think I’ve done that before, but it’s been a while since I’ve been on a cruise. Thanks!

Are the comedy shows on Oasis all adults only? Are the adults-only shows a recommendation or a restriction? (Like, I could bring my teenager to a rated R movie, but they can’t go alone.) Have a 14-year-old who, frankly, I can’t imagine the comedians would say anything they don’t already know about.

We just used the eMed tests this morning, and it went well--really easy. Do you happen to have a smartphone (like an iPhone)? If you do and you know how to download and use apps and the camera feature, then you can do this! Or maybe you can ask a younger neighbor to come over and help you, because you do need to be able to log into the app, reposition the phone to take photos of the test and then back to you, and then walk through a few simple steps to conduct the test. However, if you don't have a smartphone, then you are better off going to a pharmacy or elsewhere. (You could probably use a computer with video camera, but they want you to use an app, so using a computer would be more difficult than a phone.) Hospital campuses (not ER), emergi-med, or other types of "pop-up" testing centers are still around near me, so you may also want to google "Covid testing near" and enter your zip code, and more places might come up to test than you're aware of. Good luck!

Is it better to take meclizine in the morning or at night? I was thinking the morning simply because I may have some wine at night so better to avoid taking soon after ingesting alcohol.

Yeah, if only we stop frivolously spending money on avocado toast, a world cruise should be in anyone's reach.

This is what I was thinking. You need to “stay low-budget” for as long as possible, because once you move up, there’s no going back! I was perfectly happy with an inside for my first couple of cruises “because you’re never in the room anyway.” Then we tried an oceanview—and how could you ever go back to the solitary confinement, sensory deprivation chamber of an inside? Now I’m about to try an ocean balcony this coming week, and I booked it fully prepared that, whelp, we’re going to be balcony people now. For all the people saying “just try a suite”—I’m not falling for that trick! 😉 It’s one thing if it was just hundreds more, but thousands more per person?! That brings me right back to my original mantra that “you’re never in the room anyway.” (I realize many suites come with extra perks, but again, no loss since I don’t know what I’m missing.) So, at this point in my life, I’m both a cheap and a sporadic cruiser, but I’m definitely inspired by you all on this site. I tell my husband all about the retirees on Cruise Critic who are continually cruising; you have the life we aspire to have someday. Right now, we’ll keep it cheap to save more money for retirement just so we can someday cruise more like many of you!

You took a screenshot before you knew you were “scammed” or you went back after the fact to ensure the site was accurate? That is the correct URL there, and is the Royal Caribbean site. But a travel agency does come up as the first ad when googling. And it would be easy to click the first thing that comes up—though I know you said you had it bookmarked. Yet, if you put in RCI, as you keep referring to it as instead of Royal Caribbean, you absolutely would have gotten to the agency’s site instead. If you typed in a wrong letter or something then for sure you could have accidentally went to a spoof site. The “starting at” price isn’t for YOUR cruise but rather the lowest out of ALL of their sailings, so you shouldn’t expect to get that price unless you happen to have selected the most undesirable sailing. It doesn’t seem to me that anything nefarious is going on here. I think you just went to the wrong site. Or, it’s possible that maybe they did bring some other agents in as consultants to help with the overflow. We know that right now cruise bookings are at an all-time high, and they likely downsized their support staff considerably over COVID. Many companies bring in outside services to assist in high-volume periods of whatever work they do. Yet, I understand that online scams are rampant so you want to be careful. This seems like a legitimate service. I’m curious to hear what the final response is once Royal completes their “investigation.”

That’s a good perspective, lol. We have not seen it yet. But just based on what I’ve read on this board between this and the other Cats/Oasis thread, it sounds like it’s almost a feline version of Scientology. From an outsider’s perspective, it’s a futile effort to try to understand the logic of what these cats believe, but I can understand that they believe they’re being chosen to ascend to space or whatever. 🤷‍♀️ Yet, I’m prepared for this to be less entertaining than that Leah Remini Scientology expose show.

Boarding in 9 days. My 14-year-old theater kid and I are fully prepared for it to be terrible, but we’re going to force ourselves to see it through. Hopefully we can laugh about how bad it is??

Giving another vote to Cards Against Humanity. With your youngest in the group at 16, they’re old enough to play. I wouldn’t recommend this for anyone with younger kids, though. Just as long as anyone isn’t overtly prim and proper—tell them to sit the game out. It is raunchy and inappropriate, but that’s what makes it so hilarious.