Well hey everyone!
Welcome to another post chronicling mine and Nickie’s Empty Nest Trip that was originally just a cruise and blew up into a whole thing.
This post covers Day 2, in which we actually board our cruise ship – Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas.
AKKKK SO EXCITING!!!111one one
Yah, it’s a big situation.
So like, let’s get on with it. Let’s get into Day 2.
Our 12-Day Empty Nest Extravaganza Trip: Day 2
Day 2 had us up HELLA-early. Like 5:30 in the morning early.
Srsly. It was still dark AF out there.
Yah. Dark AF. Dark And Fairly-hard-to-see
But we had a great reason.
…
Well, we had a good reason.
…
We had a reason.
It was kind of the whole reason we wanted this hotel in the first place, guys. We knew our ship – Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas – would be docking right outside our window around now and we wanted to see it.
You know what? That IS a great reason. Lookit her.
She pulled in, did kind of an about-face sort of thing.
And sort of backed into her spot.
Pretty cool, right? It def got us all kinds of jazzed up for the trip. Well, I mean. As jazzed up as one can get at 5:30 in the morning.
And you know the coolest part? We could go back to bed. Because when we woke back up at 8:30?
She was still there.
We were too excited to really sleep beyond that point so we got ready, packed up, took one last picture with the Oasis…
..and headed down to the lobby to grab a quick breakfast before making our way to the ship. We went down to the little grab-and-go spot in the lobby. Dockside Provisions I think it’s called. I think that on account of I just looked it up and that’s what it’s called.
Ha, it says “Pour Decisions” and it’s coffee.
We were keeping it light today since Nickie was still on a somewhat (note the somewhat as we continue through the day) restricted diet. I ordered a croissant and a coffee and Nickie got this Golden Girl juice drink she ended up not liking.
So I also got a Golden Girl juice drink.
And I like to imagine the ingredients as actual Golden Girls. And here is how I see them lining up, with no context whatsoever.
- Lemon. Sophia
- Pineapple. Rose.
- Carrot. Dorothy.
- Ginger. Blanche.
- Tumeric. Stan, Dorothy’s ex-husband.
Yeah I know. No context needed, right? I mean, it just all makes sense.
Oh right – and Nickie ended up getting a banana for breakfast by the way. And no, I didn’t take a picture of it. It was a banana.
They’re yellow.
The lobby was HOPPIN’ today so we ate our breakfast standing up and once finished, ordered a Lyft to take us to the ship.
AHHHHH SO EXCITING.
At around 10:20, the Oasis of the Seas came into view.
Pulling into the terminal took us right by the back of the ship stern? Yah, stern. Lookit me. Talkin’ sailorman talk. Like a real shiphead.
The Lyft pulled up, dropped us off, and our bags (with luggage tags bearing our name) were immediately whisked away to be brought to our room.
I should mention here that for this cruise, we booked Royal Caribbean’s Key Program. The Key Program offers benefits like a welcome lunch (which we will get to very soon), onboard WiFi for one device per room, an exclusive debarkation day breakfast, onboard discounts and what not, and priority boarding. Which meant…
I took that last picture at 10:22.
Nickie took this picture below at 10:31.
And I took this one at 10:37.
Yup, we were already boarding the ship! And we were intensely excited. That first step onto the ship, knowing what lays ahead and knowing in just a few hours we would be out to sea? It’s a tough feeling to top.
And my fit was frikkin on point.
We entered the ship on Deck 5, which is the same deck as the walking / running track.
Like I said, we were excited.
And attractive. So attractive and excited.
It was Sunday apparently.
I know. Croc game strong, son.
The first order of business was our muster drill. You know, where you learn about how not to end up floating in the sea hanging onto a door while the girl who you thought was like super into you can’t even be bothered to move over.
That’s Titanic.
Sorry. Spoiler alert!
But this muster drill was nothing like what a muster drill is like on a Disney Cruise. While on a Disney Cruise, the entire ship meets at specified stations for in-person muster drills, Royal Caribbean has you watch a video on your app and then go to a specified station to confirm you watched it. Seems ironclad.
But we watched our videos earlier in the day and our station was outside Studio B, which is the theater where they do the ice show. And finding it took us through the casino, which is where I am SURE we will walk away big winners.
Just kidding. We definitely do not walk away winners.
Oh sorry.
Spoiler alert again.
After we finished checking in for our muster drill situation, we still had some time before our Key Welcome Lunch, so you know what that means.
Yes well. Yes. Pool time is what it means.
So we hopped in the elevator.
And took it all the way up to Deck 15. And like, it was at that moment, that it became 100% clear how ginormo this ship actually was.
We were looking ahead at a pretty frakkin awesome week.
And since we were like the only ones up on deck 15, I took advantage of the lack of lines to take my first trip down the Supercell waterslide. Also known as the “toilet bowl” on account of its one of those slides that shoots you out into a giant bowl where you go round and round until you fall down the middle into the last section of the slide.
If you squint real good, you can see me up there.
So I went in and down into the bowl.
And then I went round and round.
And then?
And then I hit my head on the slide before I fell into the last section. Yup. I’m the best at watersliding. This of course had Nickie making sure I didn’t fall asleep and asking me how many fingers she was holding up and what not for the rest of the day.
She cares a lot. Is what I am saying to you now.
But don’t worry you guys. It’s been a couple months now and my brnai is turtley fein. Rgrgrgrgr.
Sorry, I blacked out there for a second.
Anyway.
We reached our originally-planned-for destination at around 11AM – the Solarium.
The Solarium is the adults-only area on the Oasis of the Seas, which is super swank. As you can see, it has kind of this open roof situation as well as an area to lay out uncovered over the bridge. Tons of seating, a couple hot tubs, and it has its own bar.
The pool in the Solarium is kinda small and oddly laid out, but hey it was empty.
Also though? It was like 11AM and I hadn’t even had a drink yet. It was time to remedy that real quick. Since we were not on the drink plan, I bellied up to the Solarium bar and asked the bartender what the drink of the day was and he told me today’s drink was a Cozumel Sunrise (tequila, mango puree, lime juice, and grenadine). So I mean, yeah. Of course I got one.
And I ordered Nickie a Ginger Ale since she was still taking it somewhat easy. Also though? Ginger Ale is lowkey delicious and underappreciated these days.
But you know what? The Cozumel Sunrise was in fact NOT the drink of the day. So I ended up paying full price for a drink I guess I kind of wanted?
Ah well, I mean it was good. Tequila and all, ya know.
So yeah, we decided to have our drinks in the pool. But I mean, look at Nickie. Turning that thing into a hot tub.
You know, on account of being all kinds of rawr.
After taking a quick dip in the pool, we decided to grab a seat out on the sundeck to take in the views of Fort Lauderdale.
And FaceTime real quick with the boys to tell them how much we kind of missed them.
Our lunch was at noon today in the Main Dining Room on Deck 4 so at 11:45 we packed up and started to make our way down. Since we weren’t in a huge rush, we decided to head there via the Royal Promenade on Deck 5.
And while we were walking by Spotlight Karaoke (which like, get ready to hear a lot about Spotlight Karaoke in these posts on account of I love attention), a member of the staff asked us if we wanted to make any specialty dining reservations. As of yet, we didn’t have any. We did have some originally, but when we found out Nickie was sick, we cancelled them in favor of just seeing what we could do in the Main Dining Room.
But with Nickie feeling better now and with us getting 20% off dining reservations made on the first day because we had the Key, we ended up making a reservation for later in the trip at Chops Grille, the ship’s steakhouse.
But hey guys – let’s do lunch.
Like I said, we were in the Main Dining Room on Deck 4. But man, this dining room is hella-big, spanning multiple decks.
It was a super-pretty dining room and really well spread out so that you didn’t feel like you were all bunched together with the other passengers.
And it felt even emptier in here than usual since this was a lunch reserved only for Key Program guests. Here’s a look at the menu.
Our lunch started with a bread service which, while fine, paled in comparison to the bread service at dinner due to the absence of a certain cheese roll. But still. Carbs.
And beverage-wise, I got myself a Bud Light and a Diet Coke. On account of I am basic.
As a starter, I went with the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail, served with Horseradish, Cocktail Sauce, and Lemon. Nickie skipped her starter.
And yeah, it was good. It was actually really good. The shrimp was nice and cold and fresh, which was exactly what I was looking for.
For my main, I got the Angus Filet Mignon with Fries and Asparagus.
And. ANNNND.
Nickie also got the filet, but like minus all the accoutrements.
But still. She got steak, you guys. And this steak was pretty delicious. Super tender and had a good amount of flavor, especially for a filet. Real good stuff.
For sides, we ordered some Mashed Potatoes and Mac and Cheese. And again, we asked for the mashed potatoes to be plain so Nickie could enjoy them.
Also, while we were enjoying our lunch, another member of the staff came over and asked if we had any specialty dining reservations. They were really pushing them, but it made sense since we had that whole 20% discount thing going as part of the Key. We did end up making one more reservation – for Sip, Tour, Brunch, an experience that takes you on a tour of the galley with a chef before meeting back in the main dining room for unlimited champagne or mimosas and a brunch.
Yeah, I know. It does sound like it’s right up my alley.
Or, haha, galley. Right? Right up my galley?
Amazing stuff right there.
But yeah, all in all, a really nice welcome lunch and a great way to kick off the trip. When we finished up, it was around 1:00PM so we decided to go check out our cabin and see if our bags made it.
They did!
Let’s head to our room. On Deck 7.
And it was a relatively nice-sized room. So you had that area up there with our Royal King bed and closet space and what not. And then on the other side, we had a little sitting area with a sofabed (that we could just keep as a sofa the entire time!), desk, and TV.
And beyond it, as you can see up there, our balcony which would soon be overlooking the open ocean.
Oh right, and that room Nickie was sticking her head out of was the bathroom.
Which was serviceable but oof that was a real small shower. Sort of like showering in a coffin. Which I guess some people would be into maybe.
Oh I should also show you guys the view off the balcony. You ready?
…
…
Good, right?
Wrong. It’s not good. It’s crate.
Oh wow, even by my standards that pun was really terrible.
Oh but hey, look what we spotted off the starboar…aft…ster…I don’t know. I mean look what we spotted though.
I mean, this is weheartdisney.blog.com. I kind of had to mention it.
While we were admiring all the metal boxes, our cabin attendant brought us some fruit on account of us being part of the Key Program.
I mean, at least that’s why I thought he brought it. Maybe he just really liked us. Or wanted to protect us against scurvy.
Anyway tho. Fruit.
Remember when I told you our view from our balcony was gonna get better? Well.
It’s not better yet. It’s actually worse.
Rain. Womp-a-domp. It was looking like it was gonna be raining off and on most of the rest of the afternoon in Fort Lauderdale.
That rain situation, though, had me craving a coffee so we went on up one deck to the Central Park area on Deck 8.
Central Park is an outdoor area located in the center of the ship pretty much. And this was such a cool space on the ship. Place had real plants, dude.
And it had the Park Café, which was this deli-slash-coffee-shop situation.
And while we didn’t have the full beverage package with alcohol, we did have the Refreshment Package, which included things like sodas, smoothies, premium coffees, bottled water, and mocktails.
So that meant not only did I get a coffee and Nickie got a soda, but also we got some waters and Powerades to bring back to the room.
Oh, also our package included this refillable cup we could use at the Coke Freestyle machines. It was a pretty nice, insulated Royal Caribbean mug.
Hm?
Oh no. I didn’t get pictures of any of these things. I am so bad.
At the blogging.
Since we were in a “let’s go exploring kind of mode at this point, we made our way down to Deck 6, to check out the other big themed outdoor area – the Boardwalk.
And I mean, since we were down on the Boardwalk, we made the probably-one-of-the-best-ever decisions to visit the Boardwalk Dog House for a little snack that other normal people may consider a meal.
Nickie went with The Big Apple Chicken Sausage, plain.
And I got a regular hot dog with ketchup and mustard.
Also though? Whenever I get hot dogs, I hear in my head Emma Stone saying “hawt dawg” in that SNL skit. Sometimes I say it out of my mouth in real life, too. Because Emma Stone is that good of an actress.
But yeah, this was just included food. Like whenever, I could just sort of come here and be like, oh hey was just walking by and wanted a hot dog so can I have one? And they just, like, give it to you.
If this was a dream, I was NOT ready to wake up.
The Boardwalk was a pretty cool place though. Look, they had a carousel.
It also gave us a solid look at the Ultimate Abyss, the dry slide that takes riders down from Deck 16 to Deck 6.
There were also a couple upcharge restaurants – Playmakers (the sports bar) and Johnny Rocket’s (the Johnny Rocket’s). And more importantly, there was this cool car outside that made me look like some sort of Hollywood type.
Oh and over behind the exit of the Ultimate Abyss, we got a look at the Aquatheater, where they do the big water show and also show movies throughout the day.
It was already like 3:30 on our first day and we hadn’t been in one hot tub yet. We were failing. So it was time to remedy that. Back to the Deck 15!
Up on Deck 15, there are two large whirlpools outside each entrance to the Solarium.
While we were hot tubbin’, it legit POURRRRED out. Like deluge-level. Like, being on a boat during that whole thing made me get a little bit of what Noah was going through. Oh and also? I forgot my phone was all kinds of out in the open. Which is an important fact that you should remember. It will linger.
Oof, that rain tho. We still chilled in the hot tub for a little while but I don’t know if I would call it enjoyable. I’d call it “an experience”. It was a scene, man.
We were also getting close to sailing away, so the plan was to hit the Solarium bar, grab some drinks, and bring them back to the room to watch us untie and head out.
At this point, I had forgiven the bartender for telling me the Cozumel Sunrise was the drink of the day even though it wasn’t. In fact, I was feeling like I was part of this exclusive club where I was getting a different drink of the day than everyone else. AND paying more for it than everyone else was for their drink of the day.
It was a real exclusive club.
I had forgiven that bartender so hard that I went ahead and got ANOTHER Cozumel Sunrise.
And Nickie asked for a Ginger Ale. It’s too bad she’s not a redhead. Because her nickname would def have been “Ginger Ale” at this point. But eh, without the red hair. It just wouldn’t make any sense.
As planned, we brought our drinks back to the cabin to enjoy on the balcony. And soak in the view.
And yeah, the sky was still threatening. Was def not a sunny day. But soon enough, we could feel the boat moving. And like, we were off. Out into the beautiful briny sea.
IYKYK.
On our way out into the open ocean, we passed this AT-AT lookin mofo.
I mean, were we heading to Cozumel? Or to Hoth??? Amirite?
Ahem. And look guys. Just beyond this beach? Open ocean.
It’s a really special feeling breaking free of the dock and heading out to sea. It feels like you’re heading out on some sort of adventure. An adventure with all-you-can-eat hot dogs and ice cream. Those are the best kinds of adventures.
While we were heading out, Nickie and I started up a game of Rummy 500.
Oh wait. Look. I took a picture of our refillable mugs.
Schwank right? And yeah, they were totally…
Refillable.
Together they’re. Refillable.
It was time to get ready for the night. Which meant showers and new outfits. Yay!
We picked the late seating for dinner in the Main Dining Room for this cruise. Which meant we were eating at 8:30. We finished getting ready at like 6:30 so we had a couple hours to kill before dinner. Time to go do some more exploring, ay?
Well, first, we put these little fellas on our cabin door.
I know it’s not a Disney cruise. But you know what they say, you can take the boy out of the big D, but you can’t take the big D out of the boy.
Big D is Disney. Obviously.
Pfft. Perv.
We first made our way back to Deck 6 to take a look off the stern.
Lookit us tho.
Cruising looks good on us, no?
I was in the mood for a pre-dinner martini so we made the decision to check out the bars on Deck 5 in the Royal Promenade. And the Royal Promenade? It was happening, man. There was live music legit everywhere.
We stopped in at the Globe & Atlas Gastropub to see what they had to offer. And like, while it was pretty crowded out in the Royal Promenade proper, the Globe & Atlas was pretty chill.
But hey, look. They DID have a Grey Goose Martini.
And they had some live music setting up in there as well.
As I said, our dinner seating was at 8:30 and we weren’t really sure how the whole seating thing worked so we thought it would be a good idea to get there a little early.
Ha, how wrong we were.
I think we arrived outside the doors of the dining room at around 8:15 or so. This was the scene by like 8:20.
Note to self: Arrive on time tomorrow.
But eh, we were led inside and seated soon enough. And we were introduced to our waitstaff for the week – Satish and Kausal.
I don’t wanna jump ahead or anything but OMGosh, these guys were the best like alllll week. The best Jerry, the best.
They were super attentive and very friendly. And they made a point to remember the things we liked and took extra special care of Nickie knowing she was facing some specific dietary restrictions. We kind of hit the waiter jackpot with these two for the week.
Oh I should also mention prior to the cruise I did put a note on our reservation that we would like to have a table for two for dinner since it was our first cruise just the two of us.
Aww. Schmoopy.
That being said, we did end up getting to know the two couples sitting at the table next to us. So it ended up being kind of the best case scenario. We still had our own table but also had the social interaction you get with shared tables as well.
Oh sorry for winning all the time.
Dinner started off with a bread service.
Which I guess looks like nothing super special but buried in there at the bottom that is super special. The Oasis of the Seas has these incredible cheese rolls. They’re insanely soft and have like this hint of cheese. And the butter they serve with it is intensely spreadable. Here’s a pic of one from later in the trip.
My martini was gone at this point so I ordered a Miller Lite to enjoy with dinner.
And more importantly though – Nickie got a glass of wine!
So exciting. I mean, believe me I have seen Nickie have a glass of wine before. Most people have. Trust me. It’s definitely not a super rare Halley’s Comet sort of thing. She drinks a lot of wine. Is what I am saying to you now.
But with her being sick, wine wasn’t an option for a while and even now, they were fewer and farther between than normal so yeah, it was a cause for celebration.
For her starter, Nickie went with the Roasted Tomato Soup, which the menu described as a blend of seasoned vine-ripened Roma tomatoes topped with crunchy garlic ciabatta croutons and a drizzle of basil pesto.
I chose the Crispy Crab Cake, served with a tomato-cucumber salad.
Which was stellar. Like seriously, SUCH a good crab cake, In fact, when I told Satish how much I liked it, he insisted I have another. And like, I mean. I didn’t wanna be rude.
For my main, I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken (seasoned, crispy chicken with Tabasco honey, buttery mashed potatoes, and sweet corn on the cob).
This was a pretty delicious dish. The chicken definitely had some good flavor and a nice crunch to it and those mashed potatoes were yumtown. The Tabasco honey also provided a nice kick when needed. The only meh part was the corn on the cob, which I kind of figured it would be. It had that mushy situation going on that some corn on the cob gets when its boiled too long.
You know that mushy situation I’m talking about? Where instead of that crisp almost crunch you want, it feels like your biting into something that’s been tenderized by sadness? Know what I’m talking about?
But that’s like a relatively small complaint given how good everything else was.
Nickie got the Grilled Chicken Breast (again, trying to take it somewhat easy where she can).It was served with roasted potatoes, carrots, and spinach and Nickie really liked it. Become friends with this chicken. Because you’re gonna be seeing a lot more of it on this blog.
We were pretty stuffed at this point. I mean, I had two crab cake appetizers you know? So like, we decided to skip dessert.
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…
Hahahah, just kidding. OF COURSE we got dessert.
We went with a slice of the Key Lime Pie and a slice of the Boston Cream Pie.
Both were honestly very good. But I think Nickie and I split on which one we preferred. She liked the Boston Cream Pie better and I preferred the Key Lime Pie.
I know. Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat were right. Opposites DO attract.
Oh right, I also paired my dessert with a real good cappuccino.
So yeah, pretty darn good first dinner on the ship. Incredible service, great food, obviously the best company. A real nice dinner for sure.
We had reservations for a late show that night but those were at 10:30 and we finished dinner at like 9:45. So that meant we could maybe stop in the Royal Promenade for a drink and some live music before heading to the show.
We landed on stopping in at the Schooner Bar, the piano bar elevated off the main Promenade. And on that drink menu, there was one special drink that said to me, “Oh hi Wayne. We should be best friends.”
That drink was the Toasted Marshmallow Old Fashioned.
Made with Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Toasted Marshmallow Syrup, Bitters, and garnished with some Toasted Marshmallows. What a delight of a drink. For realz.
We spent a few moments listening to the piano player, doing some people-watching, before heading up to the show. When we left, I was maybe about halfway through my drink which meant I had a nice situation to bring to our seats.
OK so yeah, the show. The show we were seeing tonight was Aqua 80, the ship’s water show. It was located at that Aquatheater I showed you guys earlier.
As part of the Key Program, we had prime seats reserved down near the front, but like not right in front since “right in front” gets kind of wet. They were pretty perfect seats actually. And they kept us separated from the masses with a rope.
And that’s one of my favorite things. Being separated from the masses. The masses are THE WORST.
Hrm maybe I was even less than halfway through my drink actually.
I also should mention that the weather was perfection tonight. Clear skies, perfect temperature, a nice breeze off the sea.
Oh and this show wasn’t just like a typical water show. It was an 80’s-themed water show. And that meant…
…
Wait. That’s why it was called Aqua 80? 80. 1980.
I just got that.
But yeah, 80s themed. The show started with Marty McFly on his hoverboard from Back the Future.
Right? Back to the Future?
…
…
WRONG.
That was from Back to the Future II
Idiot.
But yeah, the dude was on wires the entire time, flipping and playing air guitar while “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis played.
Dude got up there. It was a pretty electric start to the show. The crowd was pretty hyped up.
After that portion of the show, the water part of the water show began.
The music was obvs squad super fun and radical and totally tubular and what not. And the choreography was pretty stellar as well.
And they made use of pretty much the whole set. The wires made an appearance during a beautiful sequence set to Like Lovers Do and Time After Time.
They even had a dude walking a legit tightrope.
Also when I took that picture, my flash flicked on for some reason. So I was so nervous I was gonna make that guy fall.
That would have really ruined my his night. His night, obviously.
The high-dives were cuh-ray-zee-town.
Aqua 80 was kind of an incredible show. It was so well done – high-energy and super fun. The music mix was like “perfection, no notes” and the performers were super impressive.
Like, what a perfect first day on the ship. We were pretty exhausted by the end of the show so we called it a night at that point, heading to bed feeling like so lucky to have like a whole vacation to look forward to.
But yeah, Day 1. Hell yeah.
And get ready for Day 2, a full day at sea. It’s gonna be a boatload of fun.
A boatload.
Last post – Day 1!
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