Oasis review March 26-April 2, 2017

I've really benefited from other people's reviews and tips on this forum; I'd like to try to pay it back by posting a review of our cruise two weeks ago on Oasis on the Western route with some photos and tips and tricks that I discovered.

Background on us: family of four - parents are 40 and 39, son is 8 and daughter is 4. This review will be completely disjointed and will mostly focus on life on board with the kids.

If people have questions I can do my best to answer if I am able. Thanks again to the reviews I read - particularly CanadaCathi whose daughter is the same age as my son (and also Canadian) and gave me the heads up for what night was which in Adventure Ocean, Cheapo Dad whose money-saving tips were heart-warming and I did my best to live up to his standards, and others who let me prepare for what was coming.

Review will be broken up into smaller fragments to make it easier to read, and is organized by my addled mind.

Booking: Used a very old “decide later” NextCruise certificate from 2007 to book this cruise. Booked directly through the phone because there was no way to convert the booking # to an actual cruise otherwise. In fact they had to change the booking # anyway as it was the ‘old’ style. Transferred to a big-box store travel agency that gave us part of the cruise (~6.5% of the cost) back in gift cards. I didn’t ever need to call about anything, so it was worth it to transfer. Booked a D7 balcony guarantee when it was on sale with kids sail free, knowing I would be in a D4 or D3 due to the four passengers in the cabin. Was assigned the cabin approximately 3 weeks after booking. I called immediately and had it changed to a cabin with a Pullman as my kids (8 and 4) wouldn’t ever get along well enough to share a sofa bed.

Oh boy! Looking forward to your review. We board in a week from today!

Travel to the cruise: We flew to Fort Lauderdale rather than Orlando as we have a few things we really enjoyed the last time we were in South Florida – Butterfly World being at the top of the list. Flew in on Friday as we had March break starting on Friday (actually Thursday March 23, but hadto work that day). Connected in Toronto, which I will never do again – even though we didn’t have to collect luggage at US CBP, we had to wait interminably for the luggage to ‘appear’ on screen before going through. We were the last people to board the flight to FLL.

Rented from Avis as I am a Preferred Plus and have generally been treated well by them. Cost including dropoff at Port Canaveral was approximately $60. I was ‘upgraded’ to a 2016 Impala LT with a touch screen (but no nav). I managed to finally figure out Android Auto and was thrilled to have the navigation work onscreen using my Axon 7 phone. The car was nice and comfortable, lots of space for luggage and the kids could barely reach each other and the seats in front. Gas usage was rough in town but great on the drive to Port Canaveral. Annoying feature was the engine that would cut out atred lights to save gas, I didn’t like it. Also some real difficulty seeing out the back window with the rearview mirror because of the high trunkline. Weird feature. Also hate all the toll roads in Florida – tolls for the entire trip were over $29! I appreciated the lack of traffic on the road, though.

We stayed at the Doubletree Sawgrass Mills using our Airmiles to book the hotel – the taxes and booking fees for two nights wound up around $50 CAD. Hotel was ok, nothing special. We got a double room that actually had two double beds rather than queens. I guess I was expecting something different! Arrived late on Friday night, hit the Steak and Shake across the street for dinner, and then sleep. Satuday – still adjusting to the time change, we woke up right around 9 am, and hit the road to Butterfly World.Kids loved it, so did we. We were a little rushed, however, as my son and I had bought tickets in West Palm Beach to the Nationals-Astros game. Long drive there and back but we enjoyed the game. Went to Sawgrass Mills for dinner at the Rainforest Café – the kids really enjoyed it there. Back to the hotel due to the early start the next day. We alsohit Target to try to find “supplies” (Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, I don’t drink Coke;beach toys; a new mount for my Faux-Pro Chinese knockoff action camera; snacks –especially Mega Stuf vanilla Oreos – we don’t have these in Canada, only the double stuf – that the kids love). What a waste of a trip. I got none of the above. Wound up going to the Walmart near the hotel and got all of the above –two sprayers and two shovel/buckets for $4 total, that are now the property of some kid in Mexico, I would assume, as we left them on the beach at Playa Mia.

Sunday, woke up before 7 am to make sure we all got out on time. Left the hotel at 8 including a stop for Starbucks in the lobby. Drove to Port Canaveral, only stopping at the Ft Pierce Turnpike rest stop for 10 minutes. We made it to the off-ramp near the terminal just before 11, only to discover we would be stuck in a long line turning off the road into the terminal. We drove up the road parallel to the ship, turning left into the terminal after the garage. We were in the left turn lane for 5+ minutes, and the line to get into the luggage dropoff was at least 20 more minutes. Might be easier to turn left before getting past the parking garage? Finally pulling in,they directed us to the porter on the far side of the loop, after having to wait again until the guys were free. Dropped luggage with porter and he made up the tags. I don’t bother printing them as I don’t have a stapler to attach them, and I’m tipping this guy anyway. Might as well let him earn the tip that bit more! I left kids at the port with their mom, and then drove to Avis to drop the car, filling up at the 7-11 across the street (and grabbing a big gulp– couldn’t bring it past security FYI). I went inside the Avis to return the car and barely missed the shuttle bus to the ship. I asked when the next one would come, and was told it was stuck in terminal traffic, so I logged onto Uber and got a ride, cost was $9.29 – worth it to avoid the wait. me near the terminal (couldn’t get into the terminal itself as I think they are still grey-area shady with the port authority) and around 12:10 or so I got into the massive (curling around outside) security line after hunting back and forth for my family. We had a 12-pack 500 ml bottles, and 6-pack 355ml bottles of soft drinks that we were able to bring on board – the 12-pack was checked and the 6-pack in a carry-on canvas grocery bag with the kids beach toys. Check in for Gold took a few more minutes. We walked onboard and immediately went to our room as it was just after 1. Two of our bags were already in the room (one large checked, and my son’s ‘carry on’). One came about 4 pm, and the last one (my daughter’s backpack) only got there after dinner – luckily as it was holding all of her stuffies! Right after dropping off our carryons, we went to the Windjammer and with some searching found a table for 4 in the corner near the pools. I wasn’t sure if we would be able tofind a spot given everyone boarding at that time.

I was on this cruise also and am looking forward to your thoughts. We loved it overall.

A photo of the room:

I had trouble before the cruise finding many (if any) videos or photos of the pullman balconies on the Oasis-class ships. From my brief analysis, Harmony doesn't have any? I really hope this photo will come in handy to people wondering how it looks.

The couch can be pulled out into a double bed, so I assume this cabin can sleep 5 - however you can see that with the couch in, the cabin is still navigable to the balcony and such.

(Sorry this got posted after the room image)

Room: D4 outside balcony with Pullman bunk and sofa bed,deck 8 starboard, near the elevators. We asked our room attendant (Lega from Indonesia) to leave the couch in and just put a sheet on it for my daughter,and have the Pullman down for my son. Worked great, and wasn’t that cramped,given how small we expected it to be. I used a dim green LED night light in the desk outlet in order for everyone to not trip over the ladder in the middle of the night, and it worked out great. Balcony had a great view – and people have asked about whether the lifeboats block the view – they would block the view straight down for any cabins after about 8684 or so, if that is something that concerns people. I thought the cabin was a great location – same deck and a 20-second walk to Central Park, two decks down to boardwalk, close to elevators and stairs to Windjammer and MTD restaurant (American Icon) was great. Noise from Dazzles was noticeable in the hallway but nothing in the room. Could hear neighbours arguing early one morning both in the room and on the balcony.Otherwise no noise at all. I was concerned our neighbours would hear my kids fighting (and often me yelling at them to behave!), but both sides said they never heard anything. They could just be being polite? I prefer starboard side as the ship regularly seems to dock and tie up with starboard on the pier side.I like watching ship arrive and tie up in port. Attendant was great and very friendly. Had towel animals three times (elephant, monkey, and rabbit). Aft elevators were regularly jammed and busy. At times – e.g. meal times, evenings,back from port – it would take minutes for an elevator to arrive and sometimes elevators would go right by. One of the elevators (the aft lobby forward starboard elevator) was quirky – the up and down select buttons would randomly cancel out, the elevator would indicate it was opening but was 5-6 decks away,would stop, open, and cancel everyone’s floor selections. I wound up using the stairs often just to avoid waiting. Forward elevators were far less busy in my experience.

Things to do with kids: my kids loved almost everything about the ship. My son did the climbing wall three or four times; went skating twice – as if his hockey season wasn’t long enough, he met some similarly-aged hockey-loving kids from Canada and Minnesota and their ice time at Studio B was them darting around everyone else for an hour. I’m just glad no one got hurt by the kids! The other skating sessions we watched while waiting were far more what I expected – most people clutching the boards trying not to fall. The first session was the Labadee day – and I got there at 3:50 for the 4 pm time, and there was a line to sign up; we didn’t get on the ice until the second session. The next time was day 5, and similar story, there was a long line to sign up 15 minutes before the session started. Plan accordingly. When we were on Liberty, we were the only people on the ice for one of the sessions. On the second day, there were some teenagers who were out on the ice and were far more confident than they should have been given they couldn’t stop or turn – and were bombing around the ice. Be warned – it can be dangerous out there. I saw someone fall onto their helmet out there – all was good, but it can be scary if you don’t have good balance!

My son was BARELY tall enough for boogie boarding – I think the crew guys were generous with the measurement, he tried it on the last sea day and wants to try it again the next time we go. Fair enough. Let’s do it! My daughter loved the carousel, and rode it at least a few times every day. My kids both did Adventure Ocean – son was in Explorers and daughter was in Aquanauts. My son was happy to go to the evening sessions and went to five of the seven nights – we were always busy with something else during the day so we would skip AO during the day so never experienced a daytime session. My daughter only went three nights – Space alien night, Pirate night, and part of one other night. She wasn’t interested any other time, even though we tried! My son enjoyed AO, especially sports night, but wasn’t happy on Pirate night – which was ok as he’s on the old side of the Explorers room and the next age group up doesn’t do the pirate parade. My daughter loved the pirate show in the AO theater they put on, and loved the alien night. We also participated in the ‘family’ events several days – there were a Dreamworks trivia, scrapbooking, bingo, scavenger hunt, family Gagaball. They are run at 5:15 every day and 12:15 on sea days. I would recommend families go to these as they are fun, and there is the opportunity to win prizes! My son won an AO towel, an Inky hat, a keychain Inky and a larger stuffed Inky. My daughter won a keychain Inky and the larger Inky as well. There were also three days where there was a family ‘festival’ on the boardwalk – it was great. They had large-size chess, checkers, snakes and ladders, and connect four boards, and beanbag and Frisbee tosses. Two of the days they had face painting and balloon twisting. I think they may have been sea days, but I can’t remember. It was always 4-5:00 pm or so. We took part in the ‘family mini-golf’ tournament – it was us, two eleven year olds, and several older teens/early 20s and their families.

We went to the Dreamworks parade on Saturday night – the kids loved it, even my son who usually isn’t into that kind of thing. We stood right next to the crew stairs next to the jewelry store and that was the perfect spot as several characters including King Julien came out that way – and danced with the kids on the way by. I had planned on hitting the “family Wii” in On Air every day they ran it but forgot every time. I never saw what game they played. Kids would have loved it since they play Wii at home – it really does seem normal things are more fun when on vacation! We went to the pool four or five times, never venturing beyond the H2O zone. A few things I liked – we were on Liberty a few years ago and the pool itself in the H2O zone was at least 5 feet deep; the Oasis one is 3 and change feet deep – so everyone can put their feet down. Be careful if you don’t want to get wet at this pool – there are sprayers that kids can aim and you will get hit. We had a few unpleasant people around and on the side of the pool who felt it was their job to lecture the kids spraying them – uh, aren’t you at a kids pool? It’s hardly surprising you are getting wet next to a splash park pool! Some kids are really smart too and figure out that the wind helps carry the spray and can hit the seats behind the pool.

ETA: I forgot to mention the Dreamworks character meets - my kids loved them. The penguins showed up to the Family Dreamworks trivia. Puss in Boots was there for the pirate parades.

Food: while food opinions are absolutely subjective, I can’t understand people who complain about the MDR and Windjammer food. I went into his cruise with my guard up given the reviews. The Windjammer (or as we started calling it mid-cruise, the “Foodjammer”) had so many choices it would be difficult to find someone who couldn’t identify something they would like. The quality was typical of a high-traffic buffet – edible, some items very tasty, some items not so much. My Windjammer highlights: the roast beef and ham carving station every day; tortilla chips and guac the first lunch day and Cozumel port day; taco station on Cozumel day and at least one other day; some of the desserts (e.g. Oreo loaf!!). Lowlights included the wait to get in at breakfast. I didn’t really eat breakfast as I don’t do it at home – but the lines to get in can be avoided by going to the Solarium buffet instead – they had fruit including some items not found in the Windjammer like green and red grapes. I often brought food back to our room to eat on the balcony as I would prefer to do that than fight with the kids to get them to the buffet. The Windjammer has one station with ‘international’ foods – every day they had Filipino, Indonesian, and Indian food (and bread pudding for some reason). It’s the last station before the back part of the buffet on both sides. Was interesting to try food I’ve never had before – the Indonesian stuff is tasty. It’s worth a try.

MDR – we had my time dining and made reservations (5:45 or 6 pm, depending on availability) prior to the cruise for every day. I would have preferred set-time dining, but wound up asking for the same table and waiters after the first night, as we really liked the location and especially our waiters (Avanesh and particularly the assistant Savio, both from Goa). As the manager said “nothing is guaranteed” but we were in a section where the people were the same every night, so I assume most were happy as well. Menus had something to choose from every night, and I never was disappointed with anything we ordered. I wasn’t big on the appetizers but the guys always offered me something that I’d had before and enjoyed, and in fact by the end of the cruise I was getting chicken fingers (from the kids menu) every day. I didn’t really like the desserts but it was ok as I would sometimes hit the buffet for dessert (or sometimes second dinner) afterwards anyway. Kids menu had the usual staples – chicken fingers, steak, burger, hot dog, spaghetti, grilled cheese. Our kids tried each and never complained about the food. And enjoyed ice cream for dessert every night. We also went to the Park Café often as it was right on our deck. I didn’t really like the Kummeweck sandwich, nothing wrong with it but it’s not my taste. Standouts at Park Café were the fruit cups that the kids LOVED, and the water station dispensing flavoured water of all types (Kiwi-Strawberry, Mango, Lemon-lime, and unflavoured). They also had a salad station and best of all, Sun Chips, regular Lays, and Doritos on a rotating basis. It closes at 5:30 or 6:00, so if you want snacks for after dinner, make sure to grab some in the afternoon! My son loved the Boardwalk Dog house, the Coney Island was his go-to. If he could choose, he would have gone there daily! We also got food from the Promenade café and Sorrentos, neither of which was memorable, except the Greek sandwich was popular with my daughter. I did not do any extra-charge dining as I refuse to pay extra for what’s available already. I also don’t drink when I’m with my kids, so I never bought a drink, though my wife did buy one at the Come Fly With Me show – and nearly added a tip to it – after someone beside us pointed out the mandatory 18% gratuity she changed her mind. FYI the ‘tablet’ boards at each elevator lobby have that evening’s menu on them, but it wasn’t always accurate – by the end of the cruise they were a day behind.

Trying to post menus, including the kids menu. Apologies for the crappy photos. Most of these were taken as an afterthought - and you can tell by the poor lighting, blur, and tablecloths and such in the photos!

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Kids menu. My son had a rotating order - steak, burger, spaghetti with no sauce. My daughter was more random. They both seemed to like everything.

Entertainment: We made reservations in advance for several shows – Oasis of Dreams, Come Fly with Me, Cats, Frozen in Time. We didn’t go to Cats – I abhor musicals and anything with singing and dancing, so this wasn’t really up my alley. I thought my daughter and her mom would go, but I guess that 2+ hours for a 4 year old aren’t happening. I went to the Come Fly With Me – it was great, even though it had singing and dancing. The aerialists are incredible. Oasis of Dreams was good – and the kids liked it, especially how they splashed people on purpose, including people outside the splash zone. My daughter liked the ice show, my son was kind of bored. We all liked the sand artist during the show, that was really neat! I went to part of the headliner showtime (the Elton John guy) which wasn’t really all that great. Amusing but again, not up my alley. I went to the 18+ comedian showtime in the main theatre, and I didn’t find them all that funny, though like the food, finding comedy funny or not is subjective. Your mileage may vary. We attended several trivia games, including the progressive trivia which we missed the second sea day and our score reflected it! I managed to win one trivia, I can’t remember what the prize was, I think it was a pen and a blinky wand thing for my kids. Luisa “from Mexico” from the cruise staff ran most of the trivia, and she was fantastic. I think she’s moved to a different ship – but if she’s on your ship, please attend the events she does. Her stories are hilarious. The Aquatheatre had movies playing – they played Moana, Lala Land (ugh, more singing and dancing), and the NCAA tournament final four semi-finals on Saturday night. The Adventure Ocean theatre had ‘family’ movies – Secret Life of Pets, Moana, Storks, and others I can’t remember, on sea days.

Ports: Labadee – I woke up early to watch us pull into port. What a spectacular port. We went to Columbus Cove for swimming and fun; I bought the ‘all-day pass’ for the alpine coaster during the “Super Bowl” planner sale – so I think it was on the order of $30 CAD. I wanted to buy it for my son rather than me as two people can ride in each cart, but you can only buy for the “driver” (12+) and get an armband for both driver and passenger. We rode it 7 or 8 times before the line got long and then returned at the end of the day and rode another 7 or 8 times. With brakes, and without brakes – it’s a rough ride when you go fast sitting in the back seat – the seat is a metal frame and rams against your back when you go hard around the corners. I would recommend the coaster if you get a discount like we did. Columbus cove was great, lots of space even though it was full of people – and the water is calm and the scenery incredible. The BBQ pavilion is right behind the beach. I met a policeman from Haiti while I was at the lunch and I talked to him about life in Haiti – it’s as bad as we all hear. It’s really heartbreaking to hear how hard their lives are, especially after the 2011 earthquake. He was genuinely a great person who worked hard simply so he can afford to pay for his sister and brothers to go to school and his parents to rebuild their lives. We have so much and they have so little. It’s humbling. Please have a friendly smile and hello for the local staff and police when you are there. We had to walk through the much-discussed market between Columbus Cove and the coaster – friendly people that are just trying to make a living in a very hard country.

Falmouth – we had no plans and were burned out from the entire day in Labadee before, so we went into the port and town just to look. Not much to report, but we bought some toys for my kids, and a Usain Bolt shirt for my son. He idolizes runners and to know that UB grew up just up the hill was a great experience for my son.

Cozumel – went to Playa Mia. We took the cruise excursion as above due to the “Super Bowl” sale on the cruise planner, price was ~$30 USD per person which was cheaper than taking a cab and paying admission. We did the basic trip (no food or drinks) as the ship fed us well enough we could get by with $20 for snacks. Our gathering time was at 9:45 for a 10 am departure (ship time, 9 am local time) in the middle of the pier shopping area (right after the security check). We were sniffed by the customs dog to ensure we didn’t take food off the ship, if anyone is curious about that. The deluxe trip left at 9 am (ship time) and their tour left Playa Mia an hour earlier than us. We had a great time on shore, we have been there before but this time was even better. My son did the waterslides (as did I, foolishly!) and loved them, my daughter loved the kids pool/waterpark – she was tall enough at 4 to ride the big water slides but couldn’t swim so she couldn’t ride the slides. We swam out to the floating aquapark, which was exhausting getting to and playing on. It’s deceivingly far out from shore, and very hard to even crawl along. The excursion left at 1:45 local time (2:45 ship time) – which meant after driving there, we had four hours there, which was plenty. They announce the buses are leaving over the loudspeakers so you won’t miss the bus! The excursion listed a maximum height of 72 inches when we booked, which I am 2+ inches over; I don’t know why but perhaps the buses were so cramped? I was never measured and several other people on the bus were my height or so as well. At dropoff, my son (the Slurpee aficionado) and I ran across the street to the 7-11, and got the Mexican Slurpee alternative “Frozt” – was $1 USD. They accepted US $ at the 7-11 and they had liquor behind the counter – which I should have bought. It was more expensive on the pier. My son said the “Frozt” was better than the Slurpees at home (again, are things on vacation better because it’s vacation?) – but we couldn’t bring it through the security checkpoint on the pier.

Disembarkation – we had an 11:20 flight to catch at MCO, so we did express disembarkation. We had two large roller bags, two carry-on size, the kids’ luggage, and two booster seats bungeed to the carry on. Wasn’t that bad at all – I would do it again with that amount of luggage. We got in line at 6:45 or so, having taken the elevator down to deck 5 and were lined up in the entryway to Silk restaurant. The line exited the ship at the doors across from the Promenade café or so. I watched us pull into port, and it appeared people started leaving the ship by 6:15 – take note if you have an early flight. When I went down about 15 minutes later, there was a tiny line and it was moving rapidly. At 6:45 when we left, we stood in line there, not moving due to what was announced as a backup at Customs, for about 10 minutes. The line started moving soon afterwards and we were through Customs and onto the 8:15 Cortrans shuttle at 7:45 or so. Cortrans did a great job, the Beachline was closed in both directions at highway 520 and the first exit after I-95 because of a bush fire. The driver and owner riding with us kept us up to date. We wound up driving ‘around’ it on a different route and made it to the airport in plenty of time. I’d take them again, though there were other shuttles (Cocoa Beach and TravelLynx) that left before ours. Our flight wound up being delayed (crew rest issues) to the point that our connection was pooched, so we were rerouted to the non-stop to Calgary that left five hours later. Of course our baggage wasn’t removed so we were two days at home without our stuff, including the booster seats! The non-stop was great, as I didn’t book it due to the cost being $1000 pp one-way – so we got the flight I wanted without paying that massive premium! We ran into several families we knew from hockey on the plane, which was great to pass some of the time.

Overall impressions: Did we enjoy the cruise? Yes. Indeed, to the point that we booked for the same ship, Eastern route, same time next year! Of course the price is out of hand at the moment, it will have to come down at least 50% or cancel it, we will. Onboard, we didn’t experience the hard sells that others have mentioned on Cruise Critic – however I did see it occurring to others. Perhaps we did not strike the sales people as approachable? I saw it happening in the Windjammer and I just ignored the people when they walked table to table. Rude? Probably, but I knew what was on the way, and I’d rather ignore them and be rude than be forced to be more rude to them when they talk to me. I had one bad experience with a very rude waiter in the Schooner bar when I forgot something on the table. Otherwise the staff were all very friendly and seemingly happy. It’s hard to think of any major negatives for the cruise – but one large one was the chaos in the dropoff area at around 11:00 am on embarkation day at Port Canaveral. Next time I’ll come earlier or later – when the Uber car dropped me off at 12:10 or so, the turn in lane and baggage dropoff lane were both deserted. Passengers were all very friendly and happy. The route we took from Florida to Haiti went out east of the Bahamas into the open ocean rather than south into the Caribbean between Florida/Cuba and the Bahamas – I’m not sure why but the seas were pretty rough all day on Monday. The kids playing soccer and gagaball in Adventure Ocean had a tough time because of how much the ship was moving up there. I feel badly that I didn’t really participate much in the M&M thread, though we did go to the party. I feel like I did my part giving people the $5 internet heads up?

A quick video of the kids skating:

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A time-lapse I made pulling into Falmouth from the balcony - using my Wimius Faux-Pro. Did the job.

[YOUTUBE]7x-VpudFFKY[/YOUTUBE]

I have a similar video for Labadee, but it's not as good because of glare. I may upload it to Youtube. I didn't get one into Cozumel because we got there before sunup. Similarly to arriving in Port Canaveral. It was fun to watch from the balcony though.

Can't wait to read more!

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Great report and feedback.

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Thanks for your review. We will be on the Oasis in 6 weeks. Can't wait. Glad to hear the food wasn't horrible as some have reported.

Also forgot to mention that the Windjammer had "themed" nights in port - jerk chicken and pork and rice and beans in Jamaica, taco station in Cozumel. Didn't go the Labadee night so I don't know if they had something there for that night or not. The jerk chicken wasn't great, and wasn't spicy at all. I wouldn't skip eating on shore if you're looking for a local taste.

Thanks for the review and the heads up on drop off times. Maybe we should have a nice quiet lunch onshore before boarding. :)

Thank you for the review. I was very excited to see that you were able to use the couch folded up as a bed. I am hoping that we can do this in our Boardwalk Balcony for our 6yo. There is so much more space in the room with the couch folded up.

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More things coming to mind. I saw a special on the TV on Thursday for 'remainder of the cruise' streaming voom for $50. It was in the messages screen with all the other crap they are trying to sell us.

Also as a guy who loves apple pie (who doesn't?) I was wary after trying the 'fruit pie' in the Foodjammer, which was bad crust with some spongy crap with two peach slices in it as filling. An insult to actual pie. (the fruit tarts were OK) Last night in the MDR, I finally gave in and got the apple pie a la mode for dessert. It's real apple pie, the kind I wish I had gotten every night. Next time.... Next time...

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. I appreciate people letting me know that anything I've written can help people with their cruise planning. I got so much assistance from reading reviews and comments. Glad to help if it does at all.

Thanks for the review and the heads up on drop off times. Maybe we should have a nice quiet lunch onshore before boarding. :)

It could be cruise-to-cruise variation. Honestly if we arrived at 12 instead of 11, we'd probably be on the ship at the same time without the waiting. Though each cruise is probably different and if I showed at 12, the jam would be then, and I'd wish I came at 11, I am also a true cheapskate and part of my penny-shaving ways is to avoid paying for food when the cruise includes that first-day lunch!

Thank you for the review. I was very excited to see that you were able to use the couch folded up as a bed. I am hoping that we can do this in our Boardwalk Balcony for our 6yo. There is so much more space in the room with the couch folded up.

Just ask the cabin attendant when you see him the first time. Ours just threw a few sheets on the couch. Our 8 year old would have fit fine, but he got the upper bunk (seniority matters sometimes!)

Rude? Probably, but I knew what was on the way, and I’d rather ignore them and be rude than be forced to be more rude to them when they talk to me.

LOL, so true. Have found myself in the same position many times, e.g. I'm never in a million years ever going to buy something from someone coming to our door so why would I even talk to them knowing I'm still going to have get rid of them (usually rudely) at the end of their 5 minute pitch.

I was interested to read about the international food at the buffet. My wife is Filipina so we will enjoy it if the have Filipino staples such as adobo or pancit. (Anyone happen to remember what dishes are offered?) We also really enjoy Indian cuisine so that will be nice as well.

Great review, thanks.