Leaderboard

For the main corses we ordered a few rolls to share. Snow Crab California roll - We ordered 2 Truffled creamy lobster tempura roll Izumi Ryu Futomaki roll Crispy Philly roll Knowing she would most likely not like the sushi mom also ordered Beef and Chicken Teriyaki ( normally comes one or the other). Everything was delicious but our favorite one was the Crab California roll. Mom was not a fan but did like her teriyaki. For dessert Mom and dad each had the lava cake and Rick and I shared a Mochi Ice cream. Unfortunately no pictures of dessert. Epic fail on my part I know. Now for those following along this meal would have cost us $177 before gratuity with everything we ordered. If we were not in Star we would not have done it. Not because we could not afford it but because we could not justify the cost for something we were not sure we would like or not. To me the ability to try new things without the guilt of not eating or drinking is a really great perk of Star. You could also achieve this partially with a drink package and ultimate dining package but we went over our allotment for an a la cart menu that is given out with the ultimate dining package. Verdict on would we eat here again? All yes except my Mom but I am so glad she tried it.

Oh yeah..forgot about dinner. Man, I'm bad at this..ha. Dinner was French night, we all kinda shared between Butternut squash soup (didn't love it) beef tenderloin (really enjoyed it) and the cordon Bleu (pretty good..would try again). Desserts were Apple crumble with ice cream and creme Brule. Both good..I loved the apple crumble,wife thought the brule was just ok. Sidenote: our room attendant has been great, drops ice off twice a day,made the room up at night. Thought it was funny that her welcome speech included "if you smoke..do it on the balcony and I see nothing" I'll catch up on comments and add some more pics in the morning!

Ok it has been a great day and I am completely stuffed food wise. Tomorrow is another day at sea and I don’t know if my poor stomach can expand enough for it. lunch at Izumi sushi was an experiment to see if my parents (read my mom) would be willing to try it. I have to give her credit where credit is due, she did try almost everything we ordered. She probably will never do it again however. For those who have never been or would like to reminisce about the menu here it is: Izumi sushi is an a la carte menu and what we ordered for this meal would have cost an arm and a leg had we not been in Star class. First drinks: Short glass is She’s a Geisha and the other is the Japanese Strawberry. Both drinks are great with fruity taste. If you are a person who does not like to taste the liquor in your drink do not order either. Both are great but strong and you can taste the alcohol. Next appetizers: Tofu ginger salad minus the tofu Mom and Rick ordered this and said it was good. I don't do ginger dressing so it was a no from me. Pork Gyoza Dumplings Absolutely amazing! Would order this on every visit. All of us really enjoyed. Shrimp and Pork Wonton soup Both Rick and dad said it was good. Next up entrées and dessert.

Yes, we are on Grandeur, the 4th cruise for us in Sept. We disembark on Thursday and get a whole 7 days at home before going on a 15 night B2B on Mariner ! This cruise has been interesting. As I mentioned elsewhere, this cruise is just overrun with children and I am not one to be bothered with children as a general rule. The weather is making things worse since going outside or getting off the ship is really not an option. The mania in the Centrum and WJ has gotten to me. I think I am done with Grandeur, sadly. The shining spots of this cruise have been the wonderful Staff and the good luck in the casino. …and then, maybe I’m just ready to go home. The internet is slightly better than it was on our 9-2 (Grandeur) sailing but still abysmal. I feel bad for the VOOM staff. I know there’s nothing they can do and they must field the endless complaints and complainers constantly demanding compensation. On the good side, our JS is very comfortable and in a good location, so there’s that ! Tomorrow is PDCC (again !) then back to Tampa and home base for a week. At the end of this one we will have 697 C&A points. Hallelujah !

Tip from an Izumi lover: if you don't want to taste the alcohol as much, order both drinks with vodka instead of sake (which is what gives it the strong flavour). It goes down a whole lot better and you can have more I love those two drinks. Other than the Lavender Martini, those two are probably my other favourite drinks. I have had it with sake and vodka and I always order with vodka now. If you go back, give the Chicken Karage a try. It's an appetizer and it's basically fried chicken with sweet chili sauce. Also, you have to try the Yaki Udon. IMO, it's way better than the teriyaki rice that your mom ordered. Maybe you can even convince her to go back with those two things. Now I want Izumi lol....

Not much to add for the day. We made it kind of a lazy day, ships been rocking pretty heavily since yesterday. Still swaying a lot at almost 9pm tonight. Captain also announced we are having a very slight propulsion issue and it'll slow us down enough to cause about an hour delay to PC tomorrow. No biggie for us. Had some lunch at WJ..me and the boy had burgers and chicken fingers, I added some mac and cheese and he got spaghetti. All was fine...nothing to write home about, nothing to complain about. The Mac was really good,though. Wife and I went to the Love and marriage show, the "old" couple was married 62 years, and were frickin hilarious. That was the first time we've actually gone to one and it was definitely fun. One thing I noticed between this cruise and the one in January is the people. The people on this one have been a bit ruder,kids a bit less....watched I guess. Also.. @SweetPeathank you for asking,the kid seems fine. Hasn't even mentioned it...even after we've played about 7 rounds of that damn mini golf.

Some more random thoughts: --This seems like a rash, not well thought out decision. Like someone woke up from a bad dream and said "these Diamond and above are really causing a drag on earnings"--without really understanding the Diamond and above customers. --This same person only sees the increased numbers of the top tiers (my last sailing they composed 10% of the total pax onboard--impressive!). This same person is blind to see the growth of Crown and Anchor to 25 million members. Yeah, 25 million members...so imagine getting 400-500 of the top ones any given sailing. --How much does it really cost Royal to have a Diamond and above onboard? Well, not very much if you think about it. You might chose to multiply your daily free drinks by $14, re-do the math on what the core cost per drink is, let's guess high at $2 a drink. Have you ever looked at your local liquor store for the cost of that wine in your stateroom on embarkation day? Boy, they are good at writing copy for wine. Is it the coffee machine? Of the four of those machines onboard, yes it's the DL machine is the one that has leg day 7 days a week but man-oh-man; could it possibly cost that much??? The appetizers and the Ranger cookies, all ya' alls know you can get them in the Windjammer too, no? --If you were to interview and ask every top tier member aboard your next sailing; you will find near 100% have a pending upcoming cruise. A better question might be just how many future cruises do they have booked? No doubt these are the best and most loyal customers. These are the people who kept faith and supported Royal when times were the worst. --The top tier folks consistently tip the crew the best. They also have the least problems and the most knowledge of how to have a cruise vacation. Relative low maintenance and give the crew benefits Royal doesn't have to pay for. At the end of the day, Royal is going to do what they are going to do. Our small voices will have no input. But if you are concerned about what changes may/may not be coming, I'll tell you I am finding increased solace in the recent wise words of our good friend @twangster "Royal Caribbean and I have a business relationship" As much as I might not like it; Twangster is very, very correct. Thanks bro!

A "local" here. For the utmost in convenience, stay in San Pedro. There are only two hotels in San Pedro I would recommend (and I have personally stayed in both before cruises). The most convenient is the Crowne Plaza--which is just a few blocks fron the pier...A very short Uber ride...or the hotel has a shuttle for a small fee...or you can even walk it (flat, only crosses one major street, easy with rolling luggage). The Doubetree is the other. A couple of miles outside of Downtown San Pedro, on the small boat marina. The DT will shuttle you to the port for free, but an Uber would be relatively inexpensive as well. would not call the town of San Pedro "run down"...it's just an older community with a long history. The city is spending a lot of money currently to revitalize the port area. With you getting in late, there is really no reason to stay in Long Beach (a complicated hotel town to explain since it is a large city with both good and bad areas). Hotels in the better part of Long Beach can be a bit more expensive than San Pedro and add additional transportation time and cost. Long Beach is worth staying in for some cruising out of San Pedro if they have additional time and want to see the Queen Mary and/or the Aquarium of the Pacific. Though I always prefer getting as close to the port as possible to stay for the night prior--in order to have the most simple and easiest embarkation morning, if you are getting in very late and want to stay closer to LAX (and not caring about sightseeing or restaurants, etc.), and are looking to cut your costs, you might also look at hotels near LAX in El Segundo (some have airport shuttles) or cutting your initial Uber or taxi ride in half and staying in Torrance near the Del Amo Mall where there are lots of chain hotels. But, again, my advice is to head straight from LAX to the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro. A little history: The combined Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor is, by far, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere. Physically, in terms of land area, it contains a combined 10,700 acres with 68 miles of shoreline. The World Cruise Center is located in San Pedro, on the Western edge of the harbor. It has two main berths dedicated to cruise ships...and a third auxiliary berth a little way down the channel if needed. All cruise lines other than Carnival use this facility. Carnival built a separate facility in Long Beach, approximately 6 miles away, on the eastern edge of the harbor--utilizing the geodesic dome originally built to house Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" airplane as a terminal. To get from one terminal to the other, the shortest route crosses two bridges and "Terminal Island", spanning the ocean side of the harbor. The Carnival terminal hosts Carnival ships only for embarkation/disembarkation, but occasionally also hosts other Carnival Corp. affiliated lines for intermediate port stops. The history of the city is this: Originally, the Los Angeles area was comprised of many smaller towns or cities. The Spanish Franciscans opened missions in different areas...the main two in the Los Angeles area were in San Gabriel and San Fernando--in two separate inland valleys--trying to locate near the native populations...They also opened missions in San Juan Capistrano to the south in nowadays Orange County and in Ventura and Santa Barbara going up the coast. They then founded a "Presidio", a military fort in what is now Downtown Los Angeles. Settlements grew up around all of these establishments. The area around the Presidio became "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porcuncula" ("The Town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porcuncula")...which became Los Angeles. Completely different cities were established by different people or groups of people all over the area...Anaheim, for example, was founded by German settlers, Pacific Palisades by Methodist missionaries. Most were subdivisions of old Spanish land grants set up by whoever came into possession of those tracts of land. Many have interesting stories. Tarzana, for example, was a subdivision of a ranch owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs--author of "Tarzan"...hence "Tarzana". The developer of Venice subdivided his parcel and dug canals--trying to emulate the original Venice. So, back in the early 20th Century, the still small but powerful City of Los Angeles decided it needed a harbor...But Los Angeles was completely landlocked--several miles into the interior. So, in a political power move, they annexed the formerly incorporated cities of San Pedro and Wilmington--giving them half of the harbor area (Long Beach wasn't "for sale"). But, state law requires cities to be contiguous...so they also annexed an extremely narrow strip of land--about two blocks wide and several miles long--connecting Los Angeles to San Pedro/Wilmington. Shortly after that, the Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, William Mulholland, devised a scheme to bring a large amount of water into the area by "purchasing" the rights to the water of the Owens River (the drainage off the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada) and building an aqueduct to the San Fernando Valley. (Ever see the movie "Chinatown"? Based on real history...at least as to the background story). The City of LA then annexed several smaller towns in the San Fernando Valley and offered deals on water to cities--provided they agreed to be annexed into Los Angeles. Some cities with their own sources of well water or other sources chose NOT to annex--hence, cities like Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Culver City and others maintain their separately incorporated identity...even though completely surrounded by LA. The map of the City of Los Angeles looks like a Swiss cheese octopus. And most of the cities incorporated over this time still do not identify as "Los Angeles"--they all still go by their original names--San Pedro, Venice, Pacific Palisades, Hollywood...and every former town in the San Fernando Valley--Encino, Tarzana, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Northridge, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, etc. Even though all of those towns are, politically, within the City of Los Angeles. Ask any resident of any of those areas and they will tell they live in one of those places--not "Los Angeles"...

This is what happens when you don't eat much specialty dining... I had no idea there were signature drinks at those restaurants, lol. Gonna go check out the app menus now. Oddly, the WJ doesn't have signature drinks.

That would be the correct word choice

They have a grill in the back where they can make everything they usually make on the Hibachi tables. I only know this because our last sailing on HM in March, we had the family with us. My nephew has a shellfish allergy and Marla made sure the whole restaurant knew about it. Anyway, we were having Hibachi there and he was just going to order something from the other side menu. The waiter told him to order what he wanted off Hibachi and they would make the entire thing separately in the back. And they did. He ate Hibachi with us that night, just nothing that touched the main grill that we were all eating from.

Hey all! We just returned from a 7-night Eastern Caribbean + Perfect Day sailing on Wonder of the Seas. This was Fall Break for our kiddos, and we sailed with extended family, too. For reference, we booked connecting interior staterooms to double our space. Top 3 This ship is beautiful. Great flow. Clever pool deck with fun out-of-pocket bars. Everything just felt “right” about this ship’s design. Standing alone - this is the best Windjammer design in the fleet. We never had to wait for a table. Captain Trym & Cruise Director Ricky were both fantastic and enhanced the cruise experience. Bottom 3 We just couldn’t find the desire to book another cruise while on-board. The pricing is just in a tough spot, as Royal continues to climb out the pandemic, financially. The Smoking area on pool deck is large and the smell travels into the Windjammer. This is by far the worst mini-golf course of the fleet. It’s beautiful, but not functional. Some of the gimmicks were not working. Notes Confirmed: No height requirements for Splashaway Bay. Potty trained and comfortability. First time I’ve seen the ability to view and purchase cruise photos in the app. This was the first cruise I’ve been on where the bars ran out of ingredients. We’ve always been overly encouraged to fill out the survey, but on this cruise, they started the pitch on night 2, and it only intensified with each passing day. Hit me with any questions!

Sigh... I feel like this is another sign I am out growing Royal. It's not Royal so much, just some of the clientele leaves me thinking it's time to move on. Let's start a tread on how to steal those awesome towels!

The best thing in the WJ on Wonder is the kids desert section...they had chocolate covered chocolate chip cookies that were awesome. You either have to be limber to get down low or wait for a kid to help you.

Famous last words. I don’t see logic playing a role in decision making at this point.

I wish this had come up when i was still in the app. I could've checked to see where the $0 charge came from for our drinks at Izumi. Of course, @JVPIII can simply check his account on the app to not keep us in suspense!

Japanese strawberry is my favorite drink on all of Royal. I normally get 2-3 when I do Izumi and the Yaki Udon is my go-to as I don't eat seafood or sushi.

Here in the very south where I live, which relies on "sun and sand" tourism, yes, you are correct, things do start shutting down at that time of year. However, there's a lot more to southern Portugal than that. Lisbon itself is actually classed as being in southern Portugal and being a big city it never shuts down. And in between Lisbon and the Algarve, you have Évora, in the Alentejo region, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, again, because it's not a beach resort it doesn't shut down either. That time of year can be very interesting in this region, especially if you're interested in wine, as wine tourism is big there and this is the time the grapes are harvested.

ah yes… the alarming new trend we are all fast discovering. i was hoping this would not be the case for your sailing.

We still bought the package with 4 free drinks but now with 5, we aren’t. That $14 makes a big difference!

Just read over on CC that Anthem will be changing over to the Crown Lounge tomorrow….first to make the change. Consider the source. May or may not be true.

If they would just blow up that dang bridge so Voyager class and above could port there...

You're interpreting it all wrong. You don't pay $1000 to select your cabin. You save $1000 if you are ok with RCI selecting your cabin. Either choose the savings or don't. You have the choice.

Agreed @Mike.s. I think this is a miss for them. As the kids go off to college and we are left without the need for a family friendly ship, they could more easily guide us to Celebrity with point accumulation, instead they invite Princess to the table.

I still think the voucher system actually saves RC money as compared to a happy hour.

The more all inclusive a cruise line is, the less that a loyalty program has tangible benefits. Sail Silversea for example and there is nothing on board to differentiate a newbie to a seasoned Silversea loyalist. Celebrity is pushing their Always Included fares. If you buy into that then what are you seeking from Captain's Club? Free laundry? Once X went "all in" the loyalty program became much less relevant.

Food will usually be that way. We ate in CK all 7 nights on Wonder in June and it ranged from good to great. Best staff ever as well. Hope it's better for you on Symphony.

Sorry for the delay in posting the internet has been very spotty today as we get closer to Sint Maarten

In the past I had mixed results with ordering food from the MDR and having it served in the CK. The one situation where they seem to be somewhat flexible is on lobster night where I have often been successful in getting a lobster tail from the MDR. Your best chance for success here is to ask ahead of time and let them know when/what you will be asking for and they can let you know whether it’s possible or not. Best not to spring it on them with no warning.

I can confirm that Izumi drinks come from elsewhere as I saw a waiter with a tray of them walking past the elevator with them into the restaurant. I however can not say where as the on board account says Izumi so not sure

Going back was quite OK, we stayed one extra day in Seattle , quick flight to LA and 14 hours flight back , most of the time we slept so not bad.

I get it, you know I don't judge. We all like what we like. And I liked reading about you being forced to eat there on Liberty. It was very entertaining.

Ah...at least I know that @WAAAYTOOO will get my dislike for the WJ lol

Well yeah, hard to comment if you don't step foot in there. You had comments on the Liberty WJ... sounded like you loved it to me. It's becoming more and more likely if I blog from Wonder again that it will be nothing but included venue food porn.

I didn't even realize this roll call was here as I'm old school and only knew about Cruise Critic before this! HA! I've been watching Matt's videos for months and months but didn't know this existed until his live Q&A last night. In 8 days we head to Denver the night before our flight to Orlando. Then we head out to Port Canaveral, spend the day before the cruise at the Kennedy Space Center and have dinner with some friends at Dixies Crossroads. Then it's cruising time! We haven't been on a cruise since before my son was born so this will be a family first. It will also be his first time seeing the ocean. Any other 12-year olds going to be in this group that he can connect with? Looking forward to the break! It's gonna be a full ship but that's OK. Weather is looking a little cloudy and overcast for most of the trip though. Is there going to be a meetup for this group?

Haha, yes! The Chicken Karage was awesome! Also, @JVPIII, was mom not offered to order from the Hibachi side? Batman was only going to Izumi for me, and Lety was very clear as Star Class that we could order from both sides of the restaurant. She met us at Izumi and made sure both menus were on the table, waiting for us. I failed to mention this in my blog, probably because Batman found enough to eat on the Sushi side.

Not to sound cynical, but the only way they would merge would be to move the goalposts farther away. No way are they going to make it easier for more people to get more perks.

This is actually a ymmv situation. I have met a couple of "youths" who got bumped down. That meant if they received diamond/+ from a familial relationship but had Emerald status, they got Emerald status.

She will keep the shared status, but she will only have points for the cruises she has completed toward further progress.

Thank and good luck when you go. I think you will need to go to the casino for a break from the vintages on your trip.

I just got caught up, glad your son was okay. At his age he can bounce back quicker than us pre-vintages/vintages. I notice as a whole people seem to be just entitled. This experience/vacation/whatever is only for them. No. In this case it is 6K people's experience/vacation/whatever.

I was getting at least a soda package but considering I rarely use all my vouchers and I am now D+ and prime. I have no reason at all.

We did a private tour in Cozumel this summer through Viator. It was excellent - just the driver plus my family, and we crafted our schedule before we left the port area. It was a spectacular day. I'd recommend that so you can have some choice over what happens! This is the one we did: https://www.viator.com/tours/Cozumel/Custom-Private-Cozumel-Jeep-Tour-All-Inclusive-Private-Tour/d632-9862P2 (the only recommendation I found via other reviews was to make sure you ask for an air-conditioned Jeep).

I'm glad kiddo seems ok. Sounds like despite the medical reroute and propulsion issue, you're still having a great cruise. Also, I'm assuming you all have adequate underwear so there's that.

I have to say if you are "diamond level" cruisers than you would know Royal charges a 'premium" to choose the location of your cabin.

Omg I can unfortunately. While I agree adults are equally bad, children behavior can be corrected. To name a few: the young children running in the WJ and knocking over some vintages, children digging in their butts and getting food in the WJ, playing with wet floor materials causing slippage, children playing on the wheelchairs at PDCC. I like to keep in mind that most behavior is learned, so those parents are probably the main entitled ones that demand crew remove the lobster from the shell. Taking children on cruises during normal school season is not a dirty look action......well not from me. Your child hitting all the buttons in the elevator or cutting lines, yes.

On the flip side, we are within striking distance of Diamond Plus, but the impetus just isn’t there like it was a year ago. We like Royal Caribbean, but aren’t adverse to sticking our toes in other waters. We didn’t think this way a year ago. It’s hard to explain our thoughts and put forward one concrete reason for our change.

They are definitely making money (maybe indirectly, by requiring fewer services, i.e., bartenders and servers in the now-defunct happy hour venues) on Dan and me with the vouchers. Most days I don't use ANY of mine and never once have I ever used all of them in a day. The voucher system seems to be the one shining example of a positive change made by Royal. I do NOT miss the happy hours and the vouchers are there if I want/need one.

Just realized I haven't posted many pics, so here's the few that I've actually taken... Oasis as we pulled up in Bayonne, my sons "tradition" as we board, our dinner table window, and a few mocktails ive tried. I swore I'd take a lot of pics, but i ate my dinner and realized i took no pics of it, and realized about 9 mocktails in that i took no pics..so ill probably over-do it with pics today.

We decided to skip the show and went to the Casino after dinner tonight. It was a good decision.