LIVE! First Time Royal Cruiser In Wonder-land Oct 1-8th Let’s Cruise!

[TravelBluebird]

Just wanted to note that at the beginning of the week, no one was having breakfast at Park Cafe. By the end of the week, everyone had found it and it was harder to get a seat outside in Central Park, but getting your food was quick.

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Had the Egg, Ham and Cheese breakfast sandwich

 

That's my usual early morning "pre-breakfast" unless I get a bagel. I call it the Park Cafe McMuffin. It's just an egg sandwich but a step above McDonald's.

 

Safe flight home!

[TravelBluebird]

The Royal Caribbean arranged shuttle was also a breeze.  

 

$34.99.  You walk out with your luggage, and there is someone with a (small) sign off to the left a tiny bit, right in front of the buses.  There is a sign-in deck where they have your room number (no tickets necessary).  The give you the banner color in front of your bus (green), you give them your luggage, you board, and that is it!  

 

It left pretty promptly too, I was on the first bus that filled up.

 

One caveat—the bus driver really doesn’t have any info on which Terminal for which airport. He stops only at B (Delta, I think American) and if you are A (United) you need to walk across Terminal B to get to A on the THIRD floor (I emphasize this because the driver told the United people Second floor, and that was wrong.

 

Anyway, you arrive at the terminal, wait for the shuttle people to take out all the luggage, collect your luggage and that is it. I was at the airport by 9:30, and this was the shuttle for “flights leaving after 2pm”

 

My flight is at 2:15.  

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

7 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

That's my usual early morning "pre-breakfast" unless I get a bagel. I call it the Park Cafe McMuffin. It's just an egg sandwich but a step above McDonald's.

 

Safe flight home!

 

@OCSC Mike the breakfast sandwich was quite good!

 

And thank you! Looking forward to hugging the DH and patting the cats.

[TravelBluebird]

Had a good espresso and a nice lunch in the Delta SkyClub.  Jambalya soup, sandwich, some salads, lemonade.  Brought a cookie along for the flights.  Got a ton of work done.

 

Ended up in s swanky B767-300ER for my short flight to Atlanta. Comfort Plus on this bird is better than domestic first!  Full foot rest, big TV, cushy seats!

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

16 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Brought a cookie along for the flights.

 

Some of us come home with a gallon ziploc full of the ship's cookies. Not naming any names. 🤐

[TravelBluebird]

My second flight was without incident! I am safely at home with hubby and the kitties!

 

Thank you all for joining me on this LIVE!  I’ll monitor for any further questions, and I’ll post when I have additional videos from the trip available. 

 

❤️

[princess76021]

13 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

My second flight was without incident! I am safely at home with hubby and the kitties!

 

Thank you all for joining me on this LIVE!  I’ll monitor for any further questions, and I’ll post when I have additional videos from the trip available. 

 

❤️

Thank you for taking us on your cruise!

Glad you got home safely

Hugs from Texas!

[ecslady]

Thanks for a great live review!  Glad you are home safe.

[lazydayz]

Could you give us your thoughts on cruising solo? It's great your CC friends showed up, both virtually and in person.   Still, there were times when it was just you.  Ever lonely? 
 

And thanks again for a great review. 

[princess76021]

@TravelBluebird  I miss you already!! 😢😢 You were with me for my morning tea!

Can't wait for the next one!!!

Hugs from Texas

[TravelBluebird]

12 hours ago, lazydayz said:

Could you give us your thoughts on cruising solo? It's great your CC friends showed up, both virtually and in person.   Still, there were times when it was just you.  Ever lonely? 
 

And thanks again for a great review. 

 

@lazydayz Such a great question!  

 

The only time I was ever lonely was in the evening when I would normally be with my husband, sitting in a bar listening to music and dancing.  For some reason I felt like an idiot sitting or standing in a bar by myself, so I’d just get one of my non-alcoholic drinks and walk around and people watch, or head back to my room.  Formal nights were a little lonely; not as fun to walk around in your nice clothes or go listen to the jazz music alone; and all those families getting photos together!

 

I think i WOULD have been lonely at dinners if I didn’t take my CC friends along with me, plus messages with my family. 

 

Overall, I enjoyed being able to do what I wanted when I wanted, and on my own schedule. Plus it was nice to focus on taking photos and videos, or sending a. message to CC—not worrying about slowing down husband, friends and family.

 

Although it was my first cruise solo, I’ve traveled solo quite a bit—After I graduated school, I toured Australia on my own for about a month, and I’ve been going to business conferences in multiple US cities for years. I think that helped. And although I’m married with a fantastic family, I enjoy alone time. 

 

When I was alone on excursions, etc., I had no trouble starting conversations! I’m outgoing, and that helps.

[TravelBluebird]

11 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

@TravelBluebird  I miss you already!! 😢😢 You were with me for my morning tea!

Can't wait for the next one!!!

Hugs from Texas

 

@princess76021 I miss y’all as well; I almost took a photo of my coffee and breakfast this morning and posted it here! 😂

 

Hugs back, and thank you! 💕

[TravelBluebird]

One other little note—weighted myself when I got home last night, and only gained .7 pound.

 

And I’m hoping that is water weight from plane day!  

 

Was a little worried with all those UDP dinners, but eating light during the day, no snacking (well, except pizza twice) and all those steps and dance classes helped! Plus not finishing dishes when they were too large,

[Ukigirl]

24 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

@lazydayz Such a great question!  

 

The only time I was ever lonely was in the evening when I would normally be with my husband, sitting in a bar listening to music and dancing.  For some reason I felt like an idiot sitting or standing in a bar by myself, so I’d just get one of my non-alcoholic drinks and walk around and people watch, or head back to my room.  Formal nights were a little lonely; not as fun to walk around in your nice clothes or go listen to the jazz music alone; and all those families getting photos together!

 

I think i WOULD have been lonely at dinners if I didn’t take my CC friends along with me, plus messages with my family. 

 

Overall, I enjoyed being able to do what I wanted when I wanted, and on my own schedule. Plus it was nice to focus on taking photos and videos, or sending a. message to CC—not worrying about slowing down husband, friends and family.

 

Although it was my first cruise solo, I’ve traveled solo quite a bit—After I graduated school, I toured Australia on my own for about a month, and I’ve been going to business conferences in multiple US cities for years. I think that helped. And although I’m married with a fantastic family, I enjoy alone time. 

 

When I was alone on excursions, etc., I had no trouble starting conversations! I’m outgoing, and that helps.

 

[Ukigirl]

Loved following your adventures as a first time solo cruiser. My first solo was last year and being a true introvert, what helped me was joining the slot pull. I met some awesome people and ended up having dinner with a few of them twice.  I loved Vintages in the evening, since it was quiet there most nights, I spent time talking to the bartenders (not sure if your ship had Vintages). Loved Central Park but agree with you, formal nights were lonely and I also missed my husband but still had a great time!  Great review!

 

[BecciBoo]

23 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

That's my usual early morning "pre-breakfast" unless I get a bagel. I call it the Park Cafe McMuffin. It's just an egg sandwich but a step above McDonald's.

 

Safe flight home!

Our first stop onboard these days...mmmmm I still can taste the Caesar Salad I had last month, so good, crispy and yummy, don't know how you can make a salad taste so good but they do!

[JustUs275]

12 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

One other little note—weighted myself when I got home last night, and only gained .7 pound.

 

And I’m hoping that is water weight from plane day!  

 

Was a little worried with all those UDP dinners, but eating light during the day, no snacking (well, except pizza twice) and all those steps and dance classes helped! Plus not finishing dishes when they were too large,

I'm glad to read your positive weigh-in - I hope I have similar results on our sailing THIS SUNDAY! Eeeekkkk! 😁

 

I have really enjoyed your LIVE report, it was fun to read about all of your experiences.

Thank you!

[perfect match]

Seems like our land trip distracted me from CC last week. We’re home, I’m trying to catch up here but have only made it through page 5 so far. Tomorrow is an early morning for me so this night owl can’t even stay up like I want to since I’m going to need to be functional tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll catch up here and everywhere else I want or need to by the end of the week. 

[TYMAN]

Last note. Attached is the free cruises and free play for 6500+ points in the casino. We booked connecting JS's for an April Mariner cruise. Good luck all!

2310C03.pdf

[OCSC Mike]

7 hours ago, perfect match said:

land trip

 

Is that like a cruise but no water? Sounds a little odd to me but to each his/her own.

[zoepipes]

On 9/28/2023 at 7:00 AM, OCSC Mike said:

 

This shows the subjective nature of food. The brunch there was one of the best meals my family ever had on a ship and I've read several negative comments about some of the dinner items (mostly the BBQ). My wife had some of the dinner items at brunch (chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese) and enjoyed them all. Since the OP has the UDP, I suggest she try both. 😁

 

We're also likely to try dinner there at some point too... we're just waiting to turn D+ (7 points away) so we can use a BOGO. We're frugal and don't do much specialty dining.

There isn't a huge difference between the price of brunch and dinner though I do note some menu variations.  I love the brunch menu but my stepdaughter loves fried green tomators and it appears those are only available for dinner.  What's the chance of getting them at brunch?

 

[OCSC Mike]

31 minutes ago, zoepipes said:

There isn't a huge difference between the price of brunch and dinner though

 

There used to be. Brunch was only $21.99 pre-cruise ($24.99 onboard) and then they raised the price by quite a bit. By dumb luck, I have one more brunch booked for March at the old price.

 

32 minutes ago, zoepipes said:

I love the brunch menu but my stepdaughter loves fried green tomators and it appears those are only available for dinner.  What's the chance of getting them at brunch?

 

All you can do is ask but I wouldn't risk it if a "no" would ruin the meal for your stepdaughter. Giovanni's Table has always been our favorite restaurant and they used to have a fried calamari app on the lunch menu but not dinner (we always had dinner there). I was almost always able to get the calamari at dinner but at some point they said "sorry, we can't." Silver lining is it made me order a different app which I liked a lot. Double silver lining is now they have calamari on the dinner menu so I'll be getting both in 2 weeks on Allure.

 

One last note on Mason Jar if you didn't notice... 2 nights per cruise they have a limited late night snack menu that's a la carte and fried green tomatoes are on it. We meant to stop by to try a couple things but never did.

[zoepipes]

One last note on Mason Jar if you didn't notice... 2 nights per cruise they have a limited late night snack menu that's a la carte and fried green tomatoes are on it. We meant to stop by to try a couple things but never did.

 

We were on Wonder last April and had dinner at theMasonJar and totally missed any late night snack menu!  I'll definitely look into that.

[OCSC Mike]

@zoepipes