OCSC Mike

People have been saying that for as long as I can remember. It’s a running joke at this point. I’m not a broadway guy so none of them are for me but Cats must be a special type of awful.

Not really. I’m a creature of habit & love Oasis class. Icon is a bit much for me & we have our routine. Not enough of the new stuff excites me to want to deal with trying something new (except some of the food of course). Told ya I’m boring, lol. Also, the prices… Wonder is bad enough. If/when Icon (or a future Icon) winds up in PC, I’m sure we’ll sail it & once I learn the ship I’ll like it. I’m just content with Wonder/Utopia for now & won’t mind them staying here for a bit.

Exception that proves the rule? Glad it worked out that time but you understand the general point.

Yes, that’s what we do.

So am I b/c I’m afraid it will wind up at PC and I’m not that interested. Rooting for ya!

Generally 30-60 days out. To the OP, don’t stress, they hold back a certain % of reservations for booking onboard & you can easily use the standby line for everything except adult comedy, just b/c that venue is small (there is still a standby line but fewer will get in that way).

Don’t be nervous. Lots to do if you want or some great all inclusive beach resorts if you just want beach, food, & drink.

There's always a chance but it that's an acceptable price to you, buy it. You can always cancel and re-purchase it if you see a better price later.

Seconded.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/vision-of-the-seas/things-to-do/cafe-latte-tudes

No, they're very similar. We do love CocoCay though and mostly sail for the ship so a 3/4 B2B with 2 stops there is appealing (we did one last July). FRI-FRI also gives my wife the weekend off before she has to go back to work instead of getting back on Sunday but it's not a huge deal. Lastly, we have a small nitpick about when Wonder stops at CocoCay that week (it's day 7 instead of day 2 and 2 hours after another ship docks), but none of those things are really worth $700. We've never had a bad cruise. I could give you plenty of reasons NOT to move here, lol, but I'll stick with Disney not being what it used to be. We live very close to the MK but haven't been to a park since before covid. We go to Disney Springs every once in a while to eat. There's actually a southern restaurant we like not all that dissimilar from Mason Jar (Art Smith's Homecomin') but they don't bring me 75% of the brunch menu for $21.99/person for some reason. 🤣 As for the Eagles and Sixers, there are ways you could watch but understood. I still root for all Philly teams (except in soccer since Orlando City joined MLS while I had been here for 15 years) but only watch every Eagles game. NBA season is so long that I just keep an eye on the Sixers until the playoffs, get disappointed, then wait for next year's playoffs.

This varies by ship and sailing. We got new vouchers on the morning of turnaround day of a B2B last year but many have reported not receiving them recently.

I had multiple plans... I had the inaugural plus 2nd sailing (B2B) placed on hold by my TA the night it went on sale. I really wanted to go on an inaugural, especially since it's out of PC and that may not happen again until who knows when? But the inflated price made that an easy cancel. I was willing to pay a little extra but those prices were nuts and, as mentioned, I'm frugal. Plan B was a Utopia B2B during spring break 2025 (my wife is a teacher so we sail when school is out even though we have no kids). The price wasn't great but it wasn't too terrible. Then I had my TA price Wonder for the same week and it was over $700 less. My wife and I actually debated those two this morning for quite a while. For various reasons, we really did prefer the Utopia B2B, but in the end, the ships are nearly identical and while $700 won't mean a ton in the long run, I just couldn't do it. When you sail frugally, $700 is a significant chunk of an entire cruise price. We'll see what the prices are when new itineraries are released in the fall. BTW, wife and I both grew up in the Philly burbs and moved down here after college in 2000.

FWIW, having been on every Oasis class ship now except Symphony, I'd only choose Wonder over the others if the price was identical or only slightly higher (or if it's a short drive to its port as in my case, I'd be willing to pay more of a premium, which I am). Wonder is my current favorite because it's newer, we LOVED Mason Jar (I like to eat a lot on cruises), and it has other food venues I enjoy like Playmakers and El Loco Fresh. I also thought the Solarium was very nice and we usually spend some time there each day but I've enjoyed the other Solariums too, even on smaller ships, so that's not a big deal. PC is only an hour drive for me so I usually just sail whatever is based there out of convenience. I feel very fortunate to have Wonder home ported there and have 4 more cruises booked on her. I'll be sad to see her go when the time comes (unless Utopia takes over the 7-nighters).

LMAO. Not at all. You want a link to my past reviews? Yours are short compared to how long-winded I am.

I just took it to mean it looked similar to Symphony and maybe he expected it to have more differences to wow him. Maybe I'm wrong. Other than the suite neighborhood (b/c it's a rare treat for us), I can't say I was overly wowed by Wonder more than the other 3 Oasis class ships I've sailed just stepping aboard, but that's not meant as a negative as I'm excited about any cruise I take. Some of the food venues & shows that were new to us made us enjoy Wonder more than some of her sisters though.

Anything under $20. I have 4 Wonder cruises booked/on hold (all spring break or summer) and they just go from $20.99 to $19.99 during standard CP sales like the one now. I'm hoping to save another dollar on Black Friday, lol.

Being in the suite neighborhood right outside CK/SL and right by the suite sun deck is definitely nice and does add something over Harmony... but not for the price difference. I don't blame you. We've only ever sailed suites twice so you already know far better than I do but coincidentally those suites were on Harmony last year and Wonder last month so this is the one time I can compare suite experiences, lol. Back to our interiors...

Wish I could help but we never sit by the main pool, sorry. We were being treated to a suite by a generous family member so we spent our lounging time on the suite sun deck but when alone my wife and I stick to the Solarium. We're boring and I can't handle the sun so we prefer quiet and shade.

Well-written review. Thanks for sharing. Mine are extremely long-winded, lol. We were on Wonder early last month and agree with several of your opinions.

Nope. The health questionnaire will ask for your vax info but the answers don't matter and you don't need to provide cards.

Here is a neat tool a poster created to help you look at any future cruise planner, even if you haven't booked the cruise...

It was like 18 hours straight when I moved here from Philly but I was in my early 20’s and chasing my future wife, lol. I don’t even want to drive from here to Miami at this point (as you know). More power to ya!

This.

We had no problem with GTY's in the past b/c we aren't super picky it was always easy to switch cabins if we got assigned a location we truly didn't like (not sure if Canada allows this, I know the UK does not). As recently as last October, I moved our cabin (twice in the the final 10 days leading up to our cruise actually). Now that prices have gone nuts and ships are so full, I had to switch gears. I went from booking last minute GTY's (used to be able to find deals and living an hour from PC makes us flexible in the summer when teacher wife is off) to booking much farther ahead with TA group rates and now we choose our location. I almost miss the anticipation of waiting to find out our assignment... almost.