Last night, shortly after 5:00 p.m., I checked in on line for my transatlantic cruise in 45 days. We are allowed to check in 45 days before the cruise on ship’s time. Since the Oasis of the Seas is in Europe, it is seven hours ahead, thus 5:00 p.m. check in instead of waiting until midnight.
Some of my friends ask me why I’m always waiting to check in as soon as possible. The answer is very simple: boarding time. When we check in, we also choose the time we wish to board. The sooner a person checks in, the earlier a boarding time can be selected. I checked in at 5:15 p.m. and the 11:00-11:30 boarding window was already full so I got 11:30-Noon.
The earlier you can board, the better you can make reservations for many things that often fill up quickly. Or, you can just start enjoying the ship that much sooner. After all, you’re on vacation. 🙂
I have a 12:30 p.m. reservation for specialty dining for lunch. That way, I can go to a restaurant with my carry-on, sit and relax, and have a leisurely meal while waiting for the rooms to become available. The alternative is battling the crowds at the buffet. For $22, the specialty lunch is a bargain.
I can’t remember if I have shared this already or not, but here is a video of the stateroom I will be in. I searched YouTube for the class of room that I have on the Oasis of the Seas and was pleasantly surprised to see that someone had actually videoed my stateroom number.
Forty-five days to boarding. Forty-three days to boarding my flight to Barcelona. I’m getting very excited.