danoconnl

I'm looking to take my family on a cruise in 3 cabins. Found a price on travel agent website that will save me a decent amount of money with a group rate. I've booked xcruises on royals website for the last 8 years and haven't used a travel agent for a cruise in 20 years. What are the differences with booking with a TA (and group rate) vs on the website? Can I still use my stock holder benefit for OBC? Can I use myVegas pts for OBC as well? Do I still buy my drink package and stuff thru the website? Dan

we like to lay in the sun and my observation on our last cruise on Wonder is that there were a lot of spaces to lay in the shade. Maybe not right next to the pool, but the top deck had a lot of overhangs that created various shade spots. It was never a problem but I was more worried about all the sun spots being taken. Dan

Odyssey is a great ship, its different than alot of others, but we really enjoyed it. 270 at the back of the ship is a great venue, we found ourselves back there often sitting at the bar enjoying the entertainment and the views. Never been on Carnival, so I can't compare. Dan

when you first walk onto the ship, there will be a specialty dining kiosk in the middle of the promenade. 2-3 people helping to make reservations there(everything but hibachi). If its crowded there, you can go up to 8 and make them in central park. We made ours at the kiosk, we were probably the 100th person to boardafter suites and the key and we were the 1st person to make reservations at the kiosk. It still wasn't busy when we finished about 15 minutes later. I had a sheet with every reservation we wanted and he was mostly able to accommodate us. Some minor time changes(we went for 6:30 every evening). Also, don't trust the app if you want to make changes, we decided to do Mason Jar for dinner instead of hooked for the 5th night on our 4th day, app said 8pm was the best we could get but we asked at MJ desk and he put us down for 6:15 which was close to what we wanted. Dan

1. At Playmaker's, Portside BBQ and Johnny Rocket's, we will get a $20 credit per person? playmakers and portside you get the credit, I think JR is a pay one price place now(at least it was on wonder) 2. We can use a restaurant's credit once per day. So we could do afternoon snacks at Johnny Rocket's and late night snacks at Playmaker's in the same day, but we couldn't go to Playmaker's for both in the same day? you can use one persons credit in the afternoon and one persons credit at night, but once you use either credit that is it for that place 3. We probably WON'T get a credit at Vintages? On wonder I was told by our MJ waiter that we could get the late night snacks in MJ, and it looked like someone complained about being charged for food at giovannis wine place and it was being comped, so ask. On odyssey in 2022, we could eat wherever and it was included 4. But it doesn't hurt to ask? 😀 yes 5. We can only use the UDP at the specialty restaurants for lunch on sea days (I think Chops is our only lunch option according to the posted hours), but we can eat at Playmaker's, Portside BBQ or Johnny Rocket's any time that it's open, including for lunch? not sure on oasis, but on wonder I think giovannis and chops were open. You can eat at the others any time. 6. Somewhat unrelated - is it still the case that we can only book Izumi Hibachi AT Izumi? Can we book all of our other specialty dining reservations there? on wonder that was true. I don't know if you can book the rest, I've seen posts that you cant and posts but others that they were able to. only issue would be that the line at the hibachi tends to be longer than other places because you have to go there. We decided not to do hibachi last time, but if we had, we would have split up.

Depends on price, but we did it when Wonder was the only ship in port. I'd do it again in a heart beat. We ended up with chairs on the beach,. but not far from the stairs to the pool. We loved having a drink and resting against the wall overlooking the ocean. WE ended up snagging one of the pool beds around 12:30/1 and enjoyed it the rest of the day. As far as chairs around the pool go, if you demand right next to the pool, you won't get those, but you'll find chairs in the pool area. My wife and I discussed it and we would pay up to 40-50pp to go probably. Dan

There is pavement all the way from the tram stop to the pool and each eating area. I believe I saw a cart with a wheel chair taking someone back to the ship, but I'm not positive on that. From the end of the pavement to the ocean you would need to go down about 10 steps and then it would be about 20-30 yards I would guess to get to the ocean. It might be closer on the far end past the pizza place. Dan

we were there 3/18. Wonder was the only ship in port. Lots of kids on this cruise. We got off the ship aorund 9:30/45. Took the tram from just inside the coco cay entrance, pretty quick and easy. By the time we got to the pool, all of the loungers right around the pool were taken. My original plan was to try and get loungers on the far end away from the dj to limit the noise while laying out, but there aren't many loungers at the far end of the pool. It was full but not packed. We easily found two loungers on the beach near the stairs to the pool area. Around 12:30/1 we were walking somewhere and my wife remarked how great it would be to get one of the beds that are in the water, and wouldn't you know it, the next bed we walked by was empty, so we grabbed it for the rest of the day. They are very nice. The umbrella that is attached to them rotates 360 so you can have as much shade or sun as you want. The cabanas around the main pool had names in every one, but they were hardly used. I know I saw a couple that were never used the entire time we were there. I don't know if they put names in the unsold ones to make it seem like they are sold out or what, but if I paid what those cost I would be in there alot of the day. We didn't walk down to the other ones and look at them. We didn't get in the ocean, but the beach area is very nice, lots of loungers, tables in between a lot of them, alot of umbrellas if thats what you need. Did see someone get yelled at by the lifeguards as he snorkeled past the end line and kind of into the channel that feeds the lagoon. They say the pool is heated, I found it to be the perfect temp. Not too warm, but not too cold. Very nice to relax in, Outdoor temp was around 80-83 I think the day we were there with sunny skies. Getting drinks from the swim up bar was really easy, never more than 2nd in line. If you want a beer/truly/ or soda, there was a chest of them on the beach near the stairs. Having a drink at the pool wall looking over the ocean is really nice. It was probably more of a party near the dj but we stayed further away and it was really nice.. At one point one of the dancers was spraying champagne into peoples mouths, and drawing a crowd. Music was loud near the dj but not blasting. I found it to be easy to listen to in the background. I had the chicken sandwich and my wife had the coconut shrimp, we thought both were good. I think the sandwich I had was a special one for hideaway, but I don't remember why. we loved it. Not sure how much we would pay for it on our next cruise, but I think $30pp is where we might start to question, we managed to get it for 19.99pp on a sale and would pay that in a heart beat. My wife is going on Allure at the end of May and the price has dropped from $40 about a month ago to lately being in the 20-25 range. She's not going because her mom doesn't want to and the trip is about spending time with her. Ask me any questions you might have and I'll try to answer, Dan

we didn't make Hibachi reservations, but I'm told you need to make reservations there, not sure if they will let you make other reservations there, I've heard yes and no. I don't know where Casitas reservations are made, but I know there were signs on the top deck talking about where to go, I didn't haver one so I didn't pay much attention,. Dan

So when you first get on the ship, the kiosk will be in the middle of the promenade, one of the center desks where normally they are selling t-shirts or jewelry. There will be big signs and 3 or 4 crew members helping. Our plan was to go there 1st together and if there was a line, one of us would go to a specialty rest. on deck 8 and see about getting it there, communicating using our phones. also with an 11:30 boarding time, you could probably show up at 10 and be just after the 10:30 boarding. It appeared to me that they weren't making the 11:30 wait until 11:30, but until all of the 10:30 were on. Dan

well we both could send and receive last week on Wonder, pictures, video, everything. Both to each other on the boat and to firends and family back home Dan

March of 2022 on Odyssey. She could send and receive from everyone she knew(that was using iMessage). I couldn't send or receive. This cruise we both could, there was one time where it stopped working for my wife, but she rebooted her phone and it was back. Dan

also one more interesting thing, we didn't get an internet package but both of our iPhones were able to use iMessage to talk to people back home and each other. It was sometimes really slow(like 1 minute for it to send), but almost always worked. Last cruise it worked for my wife but not for me. Dan

we did not, we decided that we didn't want the hassle or what we figured would be bad times so we just booked the others straight for 6:30. we got all of our times except 2. We were on the ship like 40th after suites and key and walked right to the dining kiosk and I think we were the 1st people to book. We had hooked booked for 2 nights and decided on day 3 or 4 to switch to mason jar for day 5 to dinner, the app said nothing except 7:45 but we went up there and asked and they gave us 6:15, so if you want to switch I would always asked. At the end of the cruise we decided we wished we had done the hibachi, but oh well... Dan

there was open skating on the daily calendar, but we did not partake. We didn't go to the ice show but I heard it was good Dan