Kiki and The Noush

Just a thought - if you select traditional dining at the early time and don't show up, can't you just get in the MTD line when you want to? I know someone will say that isn't fair because they are holding your table, but you could just pop into the MDR shortly after you board and release the table. Just an idea.

I think that is the direction I'm heading. The tip fatigue is bleeding into every aspect of life where I live.

Is anyone else in the same boat as me on this? I have always prepaid my grats - just pay it and forget it was my mantra. On the ship, I've always tipped bar staff for bringing me drinks and waitstaff in specialty restaurants under the premise that they really aren't getting that much of the prepaid grats. It now seems that more and more people are removing the grats - we are all paying a lot more for everything in life and it sucks. If you consider the active members of this group, or any other online discussion, as a sampling of the typical passenger, it feels like my payment of grats has increased proportionally to cover all of the people who remove theirs. Frankly, while I haven't minded paying my fair share in the past, I'm starting to wonder why I'm paying not only mine, but part of theirs. I do wish they would just add a service fee onto the bottom line - it does irk me that they call it a gratuity if they want to automatically charge for it. One of the cruises I have booked for 2025 I didn't prepay the grats. I'm contemplating what to do. I don't mind paying my own way, I'm just getting tired of subsidizing others.

On Oasis at Park Cafe 2 weeks ago the carafe had CREAM on the handle - it was milk.

Agreed! We booked day one and we took central park balconies (not my fav!) For me, this trip is all about the ship! BTW.. it was 3362. I can easily live with that.

I burn the candle at both ends on a cruise. I set an alarm and get up at around 6 am and go to bed around 1 - 2 am. If you are an early riser, my most favorite thing to do on Oasis is to get up early and watch the sun rise from one of the cantilevered whirlpools. So quiet and peaceful early in the morning!

We can't wait! We booked immediately (thankfully!)

I agree with what everyone else has said. If you do have 2 devices, such as a tablet and your phone. If you phone is connected to the wifi and you want to use your tablet when you connect it will bounce your phone offline and you can just go back and forth with them at will. I can't wait for Icon!!

We hung out at the beach club for about 3 hours. The prime spots were never unoccupied. TBH I was more bothered by the lady continuously vaping on her in-water lounger. I'm not sure why staff turned a blind eye and yes, I know I could have complained - I didn't. I noted it on my post cruise survey that staff needs to be the 'bad guy', not me.

I wasn't talking about the price of the cruise. From doing some research, the beach club is often less expensive on the smaller/older ship. And it appears that the smaller/older ship always docks first. If that isn't correct, please enlighten me. All I was saying is that it kind of sucks that if you arrive on the larger/more expensive ship, the strong likelihood is that you have paid more for the beach club and you will not be getting any of the prime locations in the beach club. BTW.. I check prices daily and if there is a sale, I reprice. I got the lowest possible price for the beach club that was offered on my sailing.

The beach club is absolutely beautiful. I think part of my take on it is a bit of disappointment. Those beach beds would be fabulous to try out, or the in water loungers - if you are the 2nd ship to dock, and please correct me if I'm wrong - it seems that the larger ship is always the 2nd one in, those spots are taken. If you always show up on the bigger ship, and if the smaller ship is always docked first, you will never get a chance at those things.

No, not kidding at all. Smaller ship has cheaper prices, docks first and gets the prime spots. I said it was annoying. I didn't know I had to ask your permission to be entitled to an opinion.

On Oasis a couple of weeks ago: A bingo card (blech.. want you to spend money to use it), a medal, disco led rings

We were at the beach club a couple of weeks ago. There were plenty of chairs, umbrellas, etc. I was on Oasis and Indy docked before us. There were tons of empty chairs, but it is annoying that the ship that paid less gets onto the island first and all the prime spots are taken.

Such a simple thing. I didn't even realize it until you said something! Definitely a nice little bonus 🙂

Hmm.. we just got off Oasis and we were in a suite and there were 4 pool towels in the suite for us and our cabin attendants swapped them out when needed. I didn't even think about it.

I will never understand why people book a GTY and then complain. You got exactly what you bargained for.

You can also buy them at Sam's Club. Amazon, from the review you posted, is $30.46 for 192. Sam's Club is $12.78 for 192.

We just got off Oasis last Sunday and the container labeled as half & half was milk. I usually pour some half and half into a cup and squirrel it away in my cooler every other day for coffee in the cabin. It was definitely milk. Some of the cuts have gotten to be SO annoying. Just charge me more and give me what I'm used to.

I was just at CocoCay a few days ago, my second trip to the island. We have another visit next year when we sail Icon. I am NOT a lay around at the beach type of person, I would be bored out of my skull in 7 seconds flat. First visit - we rented a South Beach cabana - It was nice, having an attendant helped and the ceiling fan in the cabana was also beneficial. Second visit - Coco Beach Club - Kind of a "one and done". The lobster was okay, but the filet was like a boot (medium rare). We were on Oasis and docked with Indy. I'm I the only one who has noticed that they let the smaller ship dock first and they get all the prime locations, while all of us on the larger ship paid more for everything and we get the leftovers? Third visit - we have rented a Hideout Cabana - the cost was ridiculous, but it is a family trip. Fourth visit and beyond - probably stay on the ship. They could get more money out of me if they would create some sort of comfy space with air conditioning.

We noticed this the other day and some of the Cabana rentals are marked A as well. We were thinking maybe they were going to add additional cabanas and label them as B. We also wondered if, for example, Oasis in port would be ship A and Indy in port on the same day would be ship B. Has anyone seen "B" on a cruise planner?

I care less about the CD than who the entertainer is in the Schooner. There is one I really dislike and for some reason I keep getting stuck with him. lol

Are you familiar with Brandon The Weekend Cruiser? He does videos on the popular video site. He has been sailing solo for quite a long time and is a wealth of information. Good luck!

JMHO - I personally wouldn't ask. It puts the concierge in a very awkward position. The "right" answer is to tell you no, that it is against policy. We are planning a future cruise w/ family and we want them to be sky class so we all can enjoy the benefits, if they decide not to do it, we will book an equal category to keep us all "together".

Thanks for doing this! Can't wait to follow along 🙂 Hope you have a fabulous cruise!