JessyCruises

For wifi this week, we are each just using our two free 24 hrs and then when we are in Halifax we will be hotspotting off our phones. When we are in Saint John, we will be crossing the street and using our own dang high speed wifi 🙂 I do not have any work calls scheduled for today so I decided to just do surf and see how it worked out with my work stuff. Seems to be working great. I was able to log into my VPN and open all of my work programs without issue. I did not feel like working in the cabin today so I am camped out in the library in Central Park. I have never been in here before - it is a great little spot. It has been nice to see lots of people coming in to get books. there are outlets and USB ports all around the room and little tables/desks.

I was on Ovation last month. We remembered liking the fish & Chips when we were on Ovation in 2019 so went again this time. Ours was gross this time!

I am onboard now and will be until 7/1. Is your cruise a 7 night? This weeks cruise is a 5 night to Canada but the other 3 are 7 nights stopping in Port Canaveral, Nassau and Coco Cay. I just checked the menus for next week and it shows the lobster and the beef tenderloin is Day 3 Prime Rib is on Day 5. I will confirm next week in case it changes once the cruise is sailing.

I am sure you will be fine 🙂 I have eaten at Gio's many times before and never had an issue. I just won the lottery this time I guess lol I had minestrone soup and some kind of salad and the chicken fettucine. I have not been able to bring myself to have minestrone soup since. The fettucine definitely tasted weird - it almost had a fishy flavour to it. I remember mentioning it to my husband how it did not taste right. I did not finish it because of the taste.

At lunch yesterday, there was a long line at Windjammer as they were opening so we went to Solarium Bistro for lunch. I forgot to grab some photos but they were service the boarding day Paella that they always have in the windjammer. I think I also saw a curry and there was roasted chicken. I found it strange but they actually had burgers, hotdogs and fries as well. Maybe they always have it there and I just never noticed? I just made myself a garden salad and had a little of the paella. It was nice to see the Bistro open. On several of our last sailings, it has not been open. We are going to avoiding the MDR on these cruises. I am really tired of the menu and I am not a fan of most of the entrees. Most of the time I end up getting multiple appetizers for my meal. Do Windjammer it will be for the most part!

Thanks for the tip. I will try that next time!

I actually get 5 weeks of vacation + some floaters but do not think my boss would like it very much if I took them all at once 🙂

I always watch it in the hotel the night before.

Let's try this again... I LOVE Cats! I think John&Lala and I are among the few cheerleaders. I think its a fantastic show. I was the 1st show I ever saw on Broadway back in 1992. I actually got to sit in the section that was right onstage. I have seen it a couple times on tour and I have lost count of how many times I have seen it on Oasis. We are going to Izumi tonight. I reserved it ahead of time for just myself for $28.99+18%. The plan is to use one of our BOGOs. I was told on here that they would need to cancel the existing reservation and book it at the onboard price but when I went to do that yesterday, the guest services rep told me it was not necessary and when we get to the restaurant, to just tell them we want to use our BOGO. I guess we will find out for sure tonight. They better have ramen this time. there was some kind of ramen shortage last time we were onboard and we could not get it 😞 When we were on the Oasis in January, we had the UDP and took full advantage. We love Playmakers and Port Side and enjoyed being able to use it there. I do not think I mentioned it in my live thread, but on one of the last nights I actually ended up with food poisoning that I am 100% sure I got at Giovanni's Table. I know I should have reported it but did not. Let's just say it was a very unpleasant evening. I do not think my brain will ever let me go back to that restaurant. I do love Giovanni's TABLE though so hopefully my mental block will not affect that. 🤣 We probably won't be going Chops or 150CP either. We will definitely be hitting up Playmakers a few times and Port Side. I am not sure if our BOGOs will work there. I know they let us use it at Johnny Rockets on Allure in November, but these are A la carte so who knows...

My god I hate cruise critics sometimes. I just typed out a long answer to this and when I hit submit reply, it went *poof*

Onboard Drink Package Prices. The BOGO special is on. $98 for guest 1, $49 for guest 2. Works out to $73.50 pp. That is nuts!! Luckily we no longer have a need for the package. We are Prime in the casino so get free drinks in there when it is open and we are Diamond + so each get 5 free drinks a day that can be used throughout the ship. It would be nice if that $18 drink package mistake popped up again though 🙂

Cruise Compass Day 2:

Here are the show times: Cruise Compass Day 1:

Here are the Diamond+ Docs that were in the cabin.

I do not think I mentioned this but all of these cruises we have booked are on casino offers. For the 1st two cruises were are in an in an interior cabin. We are i a central park balcony for the last 2 cruises. We actually have 2 cabins for the first and last sailings. We both had offers so we we booked the two cabins. Why not get double points if we can, right? We could not get connecting cabins and will not even be using the 2nd cabin most likely. We might use them to store the suitcases. This is our 1st full sailing as D+ with over 340 pts. I was looking forward to getting some tote bags as when I was on Ovation they did not have any and the LA told me the towels were no longer an option. She had changed our preferences to the totes on the 5/13/22 cruise while I was at her desk, but I had champagne and strawberries delivered to my cabin last night. I will have to hit up the LA later today to get the preferences straightened out.

Sorry for not really posting yesterday. I did not have wifi once I was onboard until after dinner. We ended up doing Lyft to get to the cruise terminal. The total with tip was $50. We left the hotel at 9:25 and arrived at the terminal at 9:53. We had a 10AM check in time but we walked right in the door and checked in immediately. They did not seem to be checking times. We were not in a line once and it was a straight shot through security to the check in desk. We were then asked to be seated in the waiting area and walked onboard at 10:22AM. We headed right to our muster station in the fitness center. I am not sure why but ever since Muster 2.0 started, it NEVER shows we have watched the videos. We always make sure to watch all the videos in the app with the sound on. It is very bizarre that this happens to hubby and i every time. Does this happen to anyone else?

We left home this morning at 6:15 AM AST. We checked into our hotel in Staten Island at 6:45 PM EST after a few stops. So 13.5hrs travel time. The weather was perfect the whole way. We did get stuck in traffic for 1.5 hrs trying to get into NJ on the George Washington Bridge. We did not end up making it to old Orchard Beach. We ended up in that area at 10:30 AM so Pier Fries were not open yet. We are hoping to hit it on the drive home on 7/1. We are staying at the Hampton Inn Staten Island. We booked a King Studio with sofa bed. This is the type of room we usually book at Hampton. This one is huge and looks to be recently renovated. Check in was easy and we will be leaving our car here at no extra cost. They appears to be lots of security cameras. It will be a 20 minute drive to the cruise port in the morning. We have a car service booked for the morning for $45 but plan on checking Uber we wake up to see which is best. This is the car service the hotel recommends who we have booked with.

Get a donair in Halifax!!

If it is only $50 more, I would definitely do 2 cabins. You likely won't be charged a penalty as you are still keeping original res #

Looks like it is official. I live in Saint John and our port just posted this on Facebook

This is our dog Shadow the Shichon who we will be leaving in the capable hands of our son and his GF while we are gone. It will be nice to see him on 6/8. I wish we could bring him onboard for a few minutes when the ship is here.

It is normally ok in the Cabin on the ships we have been on. Unless you are in the absolute bowels of the ship. We like to be somewhere around decks 6-8. I do not do video calls, just audio but I do connect to a VPN. Hubby does video calls and normally has no issues. There are some days when there are satellite issues which cause problems but I find more often than not we are good. That was not the case in Alaska. it was terrible. I would never work on a ship there again, and the time zone change was a killer.

I will let you know how we make out.

The Hilton and Hampton inn in Staten Island both include parking. I am not sure if they are gated. I am guessing not. Apparently they used to include a shuttle but no longer do since Covid so we will be Ubering

Yes we are very lucky. I have been working remotely for around 10 years. Luckily my boss does not care where I physically am as long as I can do my job, Hubby changed jobs during covid and is now remote as well and his work feels the same. It is a lovely feeling to shut down at 4:30 EST and then go enjoy the ship. It was NOT fun to get up at 4AM last month on the Ovation so I could work my normal shift. I will not be doing that again lol