Today is December 1, 2024. We disembarked Wonder of the seas this morning and were picked up by cruise control shuttle service at the terminal. We have about a 2 hour flight back to the Cincinnati airport on Delta.

Friday was our final sea day of the trip. We enjoyed the day with a start at the gym and then coffee. In the morning we spent time at the Crown lounge. We hadn’t really visited the Crown lounge all week since we had specialty dining and specialty coffees this cruise.

For lunch, we used our dining package at Giovanni’s wine bar and decided to try some of the appetizers. It was nice because no one else was there and maybe did not realize this was an option without a reservation if you have the dining package. They had many of the same things as Giovanni’s kitchen, but there were 1 or 2 differences in the appetizer menu. They also had pizza’s available. Our favorite appetizer was the Stromboli. We also tried the Aranchini and fried lasagna.

We like matinee showtimes on cruises so in the afternoon, we saw the Effectors crash and burn show in the theatre. We thought the show as just okay! On the way to dinner we were able to catch a nice sunset

Dinner Friday was at Izumi. Our dining package covered our meal, but we asked to order a la carte vs. ordering from the prie fixed menu so we could get the full size sushi rolls. We ordered the the firecracker shrimp appetizer, the crispy shrimp roll, the spider roll, the Champagne lobster roll and the salmon dynamite roll. The salmon dynamite roll was recommended by our waiter and it was one of our favorites. We liked all 4 of the rolls and I esp. liked the Champagne lobster roll.

Saturday was Cococay. I got up at 6am and got to enjoy another sunrise off the back of the ship on deck 16. The chairs are often wet so I recommend taking a towel out to dry them, but the tall hi-top chairs are nice to sit in with your morning coffee. We could see lots of ships behind us in the area of the Bahamas and I was looking them all up on the Cruise mapper app.

We were ported in Cococay with Allure of the Seas which is another Oasis class ship. Allure ported earlier than us. We ported around 8:30 and they let people off the ship around 9 even though the app said the gangway would not open until 9:30.

The price of the new adults only area hideaway beach dropped pretty low in price for the Black friday pre-cruise sale so we decided to try it. We thought it would be nice this sailing with so many families cruising and 2 Oasis class ships docked in Cococay. We walked down the pier and then caught the shuttle to Hideaway beach.

Yesterday was only in the 70’s so it was much colder in Cococay than we are used to. The side of Cococay Hideaway is on is also a lot windier than the other side of the island. We explored hideaway beach. I claimed a chair by the pull and we ended back at the on the Rocks Bar which has beautiful views and seating. It also has a pool table, some TV’s and a band that has live music periodically throughout the day. This was one of our favorite spots and my husband is not much of a water guy ended up camping out here all day and really enjoyed it.

I wanted to try to pool and usually enjoy floating with my raft in the water. Unfortunately rafts aren’t allowed in the pool. I tried to use it in the Ocean area in hideaway beach, but it was super cold, esp. with the wind. I went back and enjoyed the pool for a while. It is a really nice pool with an infinity wall a large pool bar and a fair amount of seating. The best things about it are that it is heated and adults only. Overall, I enjoyed trying it as an experience, but I am more of a pool relaxation person than looking for that spring break pool party vibe. At times, it could be very loud.

Lunch was good. I really enjoy the snack shack at Cococay and almost always order the “secret sandwich” which is a crispy chicken sandwich with mozzarella sauce. With the mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce it taste like a Chicken parm sandwich. They had a version of the snack shack in Hideaway beach with a few different options. I ordered the Fish sandwich and coconut shrimp which were good. I also tried one of the chicken empanadas. They also offer options for pizza and the typical snack shack options.

We headed back to the ship around 2 and tried to get ahead of debarkation by packing up some of our things. Dinner last night was at Hooked. I ordered the crab cake and coconut shrimp and the steak and lobster tail. The coconut shrimp were great, we were less impressed with the crab cake, it did not have a flavor. We both enjoyed the steak and lobster tail.

Overall this was a great cruise and we really enjoyed Wonder of the seas.

Overall observations:

• All of the bars offered a daily happy hour from 4-6 with $5 house Margaritas and $6 glasses of house wine. We hadn’t seen this offered before, at least not in many many years. The bartender told us this was new this sailing and is up to the bar manager.
• If you have a drink package or drink card, we found morning specialty coffees to be faster and less crowded to order at the spa cafe by the gym
• It was a fun ship to get the unlimited specialty dining package becuase of so many options to choose from including a la carte options like Playmakers and appetizers at the wine bar.
• We enjoyed our Central park Balcony and enjoyed many spots around the ship for Ocean views including deck 16 aft and deck 5 aft with the seats at the back of the walking track.
• We liked the Mason jar bar a lot and this ended up being one of our go to venues
• Port canaveral has embarkation and disembarkation down to a science and both were really easy. We did self disembarkation and carried off our own bags.