Neaxan

Day 7 is the second official sea day of this cruise. We’re finally getting an hour of additional sleep each day for 6 days in a row – this does always come in handy. It would be even better if the beds were comfortable but well, you can’t always get what you want. Wonder is experiencing quite a lot of motion, especially considering the waves are not that high – the barf bags haven’t made an appearance yet. Maybe my memory is off but I think Symphony handled the waves better. We’re 100 percent certain that Symphony’s cabin weren’t as loud and creaky as Wonder’s cabins. We don’t mind as much but there are lots of people complaining about the noise.
While we’re on the topic of complaining… the C&A crowd is on the war path. Pinnacle (about 210 on this cruise) are royally p***** that they’re only allowed in CK for 2 dinners for the whole cruise and not at all in the Suite Lounge. On the other hand they’re annoying everybody else by having the whole Solarium Bistro for themselves for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Music Hall for every afternoon. Diamond (around 900) and Diamond Plus (about 800) are breathing fire because there is no overflow Diamond Lounge. The complaints on the roll call of an unmentioned website are hilarious for a lowly Gold member 😂
 
But back to day 7. You might’ve guessed it, we went to the Sudoku Challenge and got speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade. The only difference to the other mornings: Michael only came second place. The winner was a young woman who was wicked fast. Unfortunately no prices today, she would’ve earned it. After Sudoku we went to the first session of Laser Tag. The lines were bearable and we had some fun but didn’t play more than once. Lunch was at Giovanni’s where we completely forgot to take pictures – oops. We had our favourite Stromboli and Caprese, Meat Lover’s Pizza, Uncle Alfredo’s Fettuccine, Tiramisu and Cannoli. After lunch Michael did take on Laser Tag again, I had to pass because my knee said no way. After tearing my meniscus and having surgery for it last year it’s still not back to normal. That’s also why we’re taking the elevator this cruise, so I haven’t seen many staircase art pieces.




Dinner brought us back to Wonderland again. This time we mixed some favourites with some new dishes. We had Baby Vegetables in the Garden, Citrus Seas Shhhh, Liquid Lobster, The Bird’s Nest, Mad Hatter’s Purple Potted Shrimp, Reconstructed Caprese, Branzino in Crispy Bread, Snap, Crackle and Pork, Forbidden Apple and I tried Tweedle Dee’s & Tweedle Dum’s Banana Split from the Kids menu. Our server additionally brought us The World but we were too full to make much of a dent into it. The banana split also had way more Cotton Candy than I was expecting.







 
This evening’s entertainment was a bit difficult to organize. We had originally booked Adult Comedy for 10 pm. Due to the main villain for Effectors II being ill, they had to move around shows to give him the time to recover. This meant that our reservation for Tap Factory tomorrow was moved to today 10 pm. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Fortunatey we finished dinner early enough to see the 8 pm show of Tap Factory and could still make it to adult comedy. Tap Factory was really enjoyable and different to what we’ve seen on Royal so far. Our resident comedian Simeon Kirkiles apparently reads this sailing’s FB group, the creaking cabins made an appearance in his act 😇 Like most evenings, we had some drinks at Playmaker’s and then called it a day.







 

Day 7 is the second official sea day of this cruise. We’re finally getting an hour of additional sleep each day for 6 days in a row – this does always come in handy. It would be even better if the beds were comfortable but well, you can’t always get what you want. Wonder is experiencing quite a lot of motion, especially considering the waves are not that high – the barf bags haven’t made an appearance yet. Maybe my memory is off but I think Symphony handled the waves better. We’re 100 percent certain that Symphony’s cabin weren’t as loud and creaky as Wonder’s cabins. We don’t mind as much but there are lots of people complaining about the noise.
While we’re on the topic of complaining… the C&A crowd is on the war path. Pinnacle (about 210 on this cruise) are royally p***** that they’re only allowed in CK for 2 dinners for the whole cruise and not at all in the Suite Lounge. On the other hand they’re annoying everybody else by having the whole Solarium Bistro for themselves for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Music Hall for every afternoon. Diamond (around 900) and Diamond Plus (about 800) are breathing fire because there is no overflow Diamond Lounge. The complaints on the roll call of an unmentioned website are hilarious for a lowly Gold member 😂
 
But back to day 7. You might’ve guessed it, we went to the Sudoku Challenge and got speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade. The only difference to the other mornings: Michael only came second place. The winner was a young woman who was wicked fast. Unfortunately no prices today, she would’ve earned it. After Sudoku we went to the first session of Laser Tag. The lines were bearable and we had some fun but didn’t play more than once. Lunch was at Giovanni’s where we completely forgot to take pictures – oops. We had our favourite Stromboli and Caprese, Meat Lover’s Pizza, Uncle Alfredo’s Fettuccine, Tiramisu and Cannoli. After lunch Michael did take on Laser Tag again, I had to pass because my knee said no way. After tearing my meniscus and having surgery for it last year it’s still not back to normal. That’s also why we’re taking the elevator this cruise, so I haven’t seen many staircase art pieces.




Dinner brought us back to Wonderland again. This time we mixed some favourites with some new dishes. We had Baby Vegetables in the Garden, Citrus Seas Shhhh, Liquid Lobster, The Bird’s Nest, Mad Hatter’s Purple Potted Shrimp, Reconstructed Caprese, Branzino in Crispy Bread, Snap, Crackle and Pork, Forbidden Apple and I tried Tweedle Dee’s & Tweedle Dum’s Banana Split from the Kids menu. Our server additionally brought us The World but we were too full to make much of a dent into it. The banana split also had way more Cotton Candy than I was expecting.







 
This evening’s entertainment was a bit difficult to organize. We had originally booked Adult Comedy for 10 pm. Due to the main villain for Effectors II being ill, they had to move around shows to give him the time to recover. This meant that our reservation for Tap Factory tomorrow was moved to today 10 pm. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Fortunatey we finished dinner early enough to see the 8 pm show of Tap Factory and could still make it to adult comedy. Tap Factory was really enjoyable and different to what we’ve seen on Royal so far. Our resident comedian Simeon Kirkiles apparently reads this sailing’s FB group, the creaking cabins made an appearance in his act 😇 Like most evenings, we had some drinks at Playmaker’s and then called it a day.







 

Day 7 is the second official sea day of this cruise. We’re finally getting an hour of additional sleep each day for 6 days in a row – this does always come in handy. It would be even better if the beds were comfortable but well, you can’t always get what you want. Wonder is experiencing quite a lot of motion, especially considering the waves are not that high – the barf bags haven’t made an appearance yet. Maybe my memory is off but I think Symphony handled the waves better. We’re 100 percent certain that Symphony’s cabin weren’t as loud and creaky as Wonder’s cabins. We don’t mind as much but there are lots of people complaining about the noise.
While we’re on the topic of complaining… the C&A crowd is on the war path. Pinnacle (about 210 on this cruise) are royally p***** that they’re only allowed in CK for 2 dinners for the whole cruise and not at all in the Suite Lounge. On the other hand they’re annoying everybody else by having the whole Solarium Bistro for themselves for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Music Hall for every afternoon. Diamond (around 900) and Diamond Plus (about 800) are breathing fire because there is no overflow Diamond Lounge. The complaints on the roll call of an unmentioned website are hilarious for a lowly Gold member 😂
 
But back to day 7. You might’ve guessed it, we went to the Sudoku Challenge and got speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade. The only difference to the other mornings: Michael only came second place. The winner was a young woman who was wicked fast. Unfortunately no prices today, she would’ve earned it. After Sudoku we went to the first session of Laser Tag. The lines were bearable and we had some fun but didn’t play more than once. Lunch was at Giovanni’s where we completely forgot to take pictures – oops. We had our favourite Stromboli and Caprese, Meat Lover’s Pizza, Uncle Alfredo’s Fettuccine, Tiramisu and Cannoli. After lunch Michael did take on Laser Tag again, I had to pass because my knee said no way. After tearing my meniscus and having surgery for it last year it’s still not back to normal. That’s also why we’re taking the elevator this cruise, so I haven’t seen many staircase art pieces.




Dinner brought us back to Wonderland again. This time we mixed some favourites with some new dishes. We had Baby Vegetables in the Garden, Citrus Seas Shhhh, Liquid Lobster, The Bird’s Nest, Mad Hatter’s Purple Potted Shrimp, Reconstructed Caprese, Branzino in Crispy Bread, Snap, Crackle and Pork, Forbidden Apple and I tried Tweedle Dee’s & Tweedle Dum’s Banana Split from the Kids menu. Our server additionally brought us The World but we were too full to make much of a dent into it. The banana split also had way more Cotton Candy than I was expecting.







 
This evening’s entertainment was a bit difficult to organize. We had originally booked Adult Comedy for 10 pm. Due to the main villain for Effectors II being ill, they had to move around shows to give him the time to recover. This meant that our reservation for Tap Factory tomorrow was moved to today 10 pm. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Fortunatey we finished dinner early enough to see the 8 pm show of Tap Factory and could still make it to adult comedy. Tap Factory was really enjoyable and different to what we’ve seen on Royal so far. Our resident comedian Simeon Kirkiles apparently reads this sailing’s FB group, the creaking cabins made an appearance in his act 😇 Like most evenings, we had some drinks at Playmaker’s and then called it a day.







 

Day 7 is the second official sea day of this cruise. We’re finally getting an hour of additional sleep each day for 6 days in a row – this does always come in handy. It would be even better if the beds were comfortable but well, you can’t always get what you want. Wonder is experiencing quite a lot of motion, especially considering the waves are not that high – the barf bags haven’t made an appearance yet. Maybe my memory is off but I think Symphony handled the waves better. We’re 100 percent certain that Symphony’s cabin weren’t as loud and creaky as Wonder’s cabins. We don’t mind as much but there are lots of people complaining about the noise.
While we’re on the topic of complaining… the C&A crowd is on the war path. Pinnacle (about 210 on this cruise) are royally p***** that they’re only allowed in CK for 2 dinners for the whole cruise and not at all in the Suite Lounge. On the other hand they’re annoying everybody else by having the whole Solarium Bistro for themselves for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Music Hall for every afternoon. Diamond (around 900) and Diamond Plus (about 800) are breathing fire because there is no overflow Diamond Lounge. The complaints on the roll call of an unmentioned website are hilarious for a lowly Gold member 😂
 
But back to day 7. You might’ve guessed it, we went to the Sudoku Challenge and got speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade. The only difference to the other mornings: Michael only came second place. The winner was a young woman who was wicked fast. Unfortunately no prices today, she would’ve earned it. After Sudoku we went to the first session of Laser Tag. The lines were bearable and we had some fun but didn’t play more than once. Lunch was at Giovanni’s where we completely forgot to take pictures – oops. We had our favourite Stromboli and Caprese, Meat Lover’s Pizza, Uncle Alfredo’s Fettuccine, Tiramisu and Cannoli. After lunch Michael did take on Laser Tag again, I had to pass because my knee said no way. After tearing my meniscus and having surgery for it last year it’s still not back to normal. That’s also why we’re taking the elevator this cruise, so I haven’t seen many staircase art pieces.




Dinner brought us back to Wonderland again. This time we mixed some favourites with some new dishes. We had Baby Vegetables in the Garden, Citrus Seas Shhhh, Liquid Lobster, The Bird’s Nest, Mad Hatter’s Purple Potted Shrimp, Reconstructed Caprese, Branzino in Crispy Bread, Snap, Crackle and Pork, Forbidden Apple and I tried Tweedle Dee’s & Tweedle Dum’s Banana Split from the Kids menu. Our server additionally brought us The World but we were too full to make much of a dent into it. The banana split also had way more Cotton Candy than I was expecting.







 
This evening’s entertainment was a bit difficult to organize. We had originally booked Adult Comedy for 10 pm. Due to the main villain for Effectors II being ill, they had to move around shows to give him the time to recover. This meant that our reservation for Tap Factory tomorrow was moved to today 10 pm. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Fortunatey we finished dinner early enough to see the 8 pm show of Tap Factory and could still make it to adult comedy. Tap Factory was really enjoyable and different to what we’ve seen on Royal so far. Our resident comedian Simeon Kirkiles apparently reads this sailing’s FB group, the creaking cabins made an appearance in his act 😇 Like most evenings, we had some drinks at Playmaker’s and then called it a day.







 

It’s finally here, the first official sea day for this cruise - day 6. Nobody’s getting off the ship any time soon – at least I wouldn’t recommend it. We woke up to quite some rolling and pitching which is astonishing considering the waves are still harmless. Maybe you feel it more because the Med had absolutely no waves. It just takes a day to adjust and then you won’t feel it anymore – I hope 😄 We started our day with speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade and Michael had his usual donuts – apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t like them. The morning was spent walking around the ship and having a drink here and there.
 
Für lunch we had scored an Izumi reservation. The goal for this cruise is to try every sushi roll once so this takes a few trips. We realised just how lucky we were when we saw literally dozens of people being sent away for not having a reservation - even though they were informed on day one that reservation for lunch wasn’t possible. I can’t even say they’re being a Karen as we got the same information. We only ignored it and tried booking via the app (nearly impossible) and when that failed we just talked to each restaurant separately. Going this way we managed lunch reservations for Giovanni’s, Izumi, Hooked and Chops. I’m still p***** about no Mason Jar brunch. And it’s not as if the restaurants are fully booked – every time you’re in a speciality restaurant up to half of the tables are unoccupied. Lack of staff seems to be the problem. But back to Izumi – today we had Crispy Chicken Kara-Age, Pork Gyoza Dumplins, Izumi Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Chicken Teriyaki, Poke Bowl, Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Chocolate Lava Cake. Michael also took the opportunity to try some Asian beers – with mixed success. When in Izumi, I just stick to She’s a Geisha, definetely one of the best cocktails on board.




 
Once we were finished with desserts we rushed to the Music Hall for our Meet & Greet and Cabin Crawl (organised by that other website which I’m not naming 😉). Meet & Greet proved two things – we’re introverts at heart and if you don’t talk to us we’re highly unlikely to start a conversation – not a big surprise here. The other thing: it’s a small world! We talked to a couple from Texas who have a granddaughter in Cologne (where I’m originally from) and she is married to an ex-Bundesliga player whom I met personally once. After an hour of chatting and drinking it was time for the Cabin Crawl. We had originally volunteered our Interior Virtual Balcony cabin but when we upgraded to Ocean View Balcony this became obsolete as there was already an Ocean View Spacious Balcony on the list. This meant we were able to concentrate on checking out the other cabins. A few take aways from the cabin crawl: the spacious balcony Ocean View doesn’t really look bigger than ours so good thing I didn’t try Royal Up for this (minimum bid was 200 $ per person). We were really impressed with the size and layout of the Junior Suite we saw. The only thing I didn’t like was the bathtub – seems like a safety hazard getting in and out. On a positive note, while this cabin crawl was a zoo (hence no pictures), it has improved my chances of booking a Sky Junior Suite on Icon as Michael was also suitably impressed (see what I did here? 🤣). The Grand Suite wasn’t much nicer than the Junior Suite, but the Owner’s Suite was really impressive. I’d say the balcony alone was bigger than our whole cabin. We also saw the accessible Crown Loft and a 2 BR Aqua Theater suite. We loved the balcony of the latter but Star Class is just waaaay too expensive for us. Especially when we’re planning to buy a new RV next year. The current one wasn’t bought with a dog in mind and we’re experiencing a lot of quality problems so we’d better get rid of it as long as we can still get a good price for it.
 
Still feeling a bit under the weather we took an extended nap before dinner at Chops Grille. This being the first formal night we decided to dress up a bit. If you don’t like it, don’t bother. Apparently shorts and funny t-shirts are also acceptable 😉 Unfortunately Chops was the first restaurant on this cruise we weren’t impressed with. Good thing we only scored two reservations here. Our waiter was completely out of his depth, forgetting drinks and ignoring us for half an hour at times. The Prime NY Strip that Michael ordered Medium Rare came out more Well Done but as our waiter had completely vanished there was nothing to be done about it. At least the other food was quite nice, though nothing to write home about. We had Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Charred Beef Carpaccio, Caesar Salad, Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, Prime NY Strip, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp, Gruyère Cheese Tater Tots, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, New York Cheesecake and Warm Apple Pie à la Mode. We also tried two of Chops' speciality coffees - note to my non-German friends: the Bavarian Coffee has absolutely nothing do to with Bavaria 😄 The best thing about this dinner: we finished early enough to watch the 8 pm show of Headliner Jennifer Singer instead of the 10 pm showing. The show was nice – I mean who doesn’t like Broadway songs? After the show I went to bed to try and sleep off my cold while Michael went to the pub to try out some new drinks. We found a new favourite with Angry Orchard Peach Mango Cider - at least while on the ship. With access to delivery from the whole wide web, I'd recommend Kopparberg, a Swedish cider company.

Thanks for the suggestion, we'll try walk-up tomorrow. Due to food coma the late night bites haven't been an option as they open at 9.30 pm on this cruise and by then there's no way we can eat anything anymore 🤣

When we sailed Wonder they did walk-ups for brunch if you were willing to sit at the bar. Maybe see if that's an option? There's also a late night bites menu at the bar that was covered with the dining package, at least for the inaugural sailing.

Day 2 on this cruise is a port day in Palma de Mallorca. This is THE vacation island for Germans so we didn’t get off – again been there, done that. Don’t believe me? Well, my sister and her boyfriend left Palma a day before we arrived. If they’d stayed another day, we would have gotten off but without a meet up we prefered the empty ship. Pre-Covid-tests the passenger count was rumored to be 4200-4300, no idea how many got eliminated by the test.


We skipped breakfast as we were still full from Izumi and went straight to the Sudoku challenge. There weren’t many contestants but I was l completely shellshocked to win. I can’t just „see“ the numbers and that means meticulously trying out everything tends to be much slower than Michaels way. I only got the upper hand because the first Sudoku was too difficult to just go by „seeing“. I even got a really nice prize – a t-shirt from Wonder of the Seas! Morning trivia started right after the Sudoku challenge and we decided to flee the Schooner Bar and relocate to Cafe Promenade. We weren’t too happy with how trivia went on the last transatlantic so we decided to skip it altogether and use the free time for more relaxation. Last cruise we were so busy that we nearly never got to the pool. Tbh the abysmal weather could’ve played a part too. Not a problem this year, temperatures have ranged from 22° to 28° celsius so far. Last time we also forgot that speciality coffees are included in the DBP, so we’re trying them out this time. I might also be on the hunt for the famous Ranger Cookie, who knows…

The rest of the morning was spent getting to know the ship and catching up with the blog. I’ve already given up on truly catching up so I’ll just go with the flow to make the most of this vacation while still making sure I can remember it for years to come. With no normal speciality restaurants open we had lunch at Johnny Rockets. I forgot to take pictures yet again but we had Bacon Cheese Fries, Smoke House & Route 66 burgers, milkshakes and Michael was crazy enough to also order a Sundae. Don’t worry, he regretted this at dinner 😄 Afternoon was spent on the pool deck, alternating between pools and hot tubs. The pools get a bit chilly after some time but the hot tubs are waaaay too hot to spend much time in them. No idea how people can stay in there for hours, I felt boiled after 10 minutes. On the way to the cabin we came across The Mason Jar and it was finally staffed. We got ourselves on the wait list for any brunch they’d have us but chances are slim. With 4 brunches with 90 people each that’s less people than the consecutive cruisers – no surprise we didn’t have a chance booking it. Apparently they don’t have enough staff to open more days or open up more capacity – that’s true for all speciality dining venues and the bars are a bit short-staffed as well. When the bars run out of ingredients they don’t have enough staff to get them and the people doing rounds refilling the bars are far and few in between. Hope Royal will be successful in hiring more crew as I’m sure it takes a toll on those who are currently working. 
 
Dinner brought us back to Giovanni’s. We started off with the Meat & Cheese platter and the Stromboli. The latter was amazing and the platter looked big enough to feed at least 6 people. For mains we ordered Filet Mignon (yummy) and the 7 Cheese pizza. Amazing pizza but this is sooo much food. Forgot to take pictures of the dessert, we had Pistachio Panna Cotta and Chocolate Ravioli. The Panna Cotta was the better choice between the two. On the way back to the cabin we made a detour to Chops and were able to score a lunch reservation - yeah! After dinner it was time to dress up for Halloween. Same costume as last time, and make up did again take forever – oops. We had fun watching the parade but there were way fewer people in costume than last time. There were also no decorations done by Royal and now balloon drop – your guess if it’s due to money or staffing or delivery chain problems. We had another drink at Playmaker’s and then called it a night.

Day 2 on this cruise is a port day in Palma de Mallorca. This is THE vacation island for Germans so we didn’t get off – again been there, done that. Don’t believe me? Well, my sister and her boyfriend left Palma a day before we arrived. If they’d stayed another day, we would have gotten off but without a meet up we prefered the empty ship. Pre-Covid-tests the passenger count was rumored to be 4200-4300, no idea how many got eliminated by the test.


We skipped breakfast as we were still full from Izumi and went straight to the Sudoku challenge. There weren’t many contestants but I was l completely shellshocked to win. I can’t just „see“ the numbers and that means meticulously trying out everything tends to be much slower than Michaels way. I only got the upper hand because the first Sudoku was too difficult to just go by „seeing“. I even got a really nice prize – a t-shirt from Wonder of the Seas! Morning trivia started right after the Sudoku challenge and we decided to flee the Schooner Bar and relocate to Cafe Promenade. We weren’t too happy with how trivia went on the last transatlantic so we decided to skip it altogether and use the free time for more relaxation. Last cruise we were so busy that we nearly never got to the pool. Tbh the abysmal weather could’ve played a part too. Not a problem this year, temperatures have ranged from 22° to 28° celsius so far. Last time we also forgot that speciality coffees are included in the DBP, so we’re trying them out this time. I might also be on the hunt for the famous Ranger Cookie, who knows…

The rest of the morning was spent getting to know the ship and catching up with the blog. I’ve already given up on truly catching up so I’ll just go with the flow to make the most of this vacation while still making sure I can remember it for years to come. With no normal speciality restaurants open we had lunch at Johnny Rockets. I forgot to take pictures yet again but we had Bacon Cheese Fries, Smoke House & Route 66 burgers, milkshakes and Michael was crazy enough to also order a Sundae. Don’t worry, he regretted this at dinner 😄 Afternoon was spent on the pool deck, alternating between pools and hot tubs. The pools get a bit chilly after some time but the hot tubs are waaaay too hot to spend much time in them. No idea how people can stay in there for hours, I felt boiled after 10 minutes. On the way to the cabin we came across The Mason Jar and it was finally staffed. We got ourselves on the wait list for any brunch they’d have us but chances are slim. With 4 brunches with 90 people each that’s less people than the consecutive cruisers – no surprise we didn’t have a chance booking it. Apparently they don’t have enough staff to open more days or open up more capacity – that’s true for all speciality dining venues and the bars are a bit short-staffed as well. When the bars run out of ingredients they don’t have enough staff to get them and the people doing rounds refilling the bars are far and few in between. Hope Royal will be successful in hiring more crew as I’m sure it takes a toll on those who are currently working. 
 
Dinner brought us back to Giovanni’s. We started off with the Meat & Cheese platter and the Stromboli. The latter was amazing and the platter looked big enough to feed at least 6 people. For mains we ordered Filet Mignon (yummy) and the 7 Cheese pizza. Amazing pizza but this is sooo much food. Forgot to take pictures of the dessert, we had Pistachio Panna Cotta and Chocolate Ravioli. The Panna Cotta was the better choice between the two. On the way back to the cabin we made a detour to Chops and were able to score a lunch reservation - yeah! After dinner it was time to dress up for Halloween. Same costume as last time, and make up did again take forever – oops. We had fun watching the parade but there were way fewer people in costume than last time. There were also no decorations done by Royal and now balloon drop – your guess if it’s due to money or staffing or delivery chain problems. We had another drink at Playmaker’s and then called it a night.

Sunday started not so bright and not so early, After a shower and a bit of repacking we ordered an Uber to the port. Amazing driver with awesome choice of music – him being a Venezulean with his own metal band. We skipped breakfast thinking the food coma would start soon enough – spoiler alert: it already has 🤣 We arrived at terminal C at 10 am sharp and were able to leave our luggage with the porters and get in queue as the terminal wasn’t open and they were still disembarking passengers. Fair enough, we received an e-mail telling us to arrive at least 30 minutes later than booked as boarding wouldn’t start before noon. Well, I don’t see an advantage in sitting around at the hotel compared to sitting around in front of the terminal so we chose to ignore the e-mail – along with everybody else with a 10 am to 10.30 am timeslot 😂 They opened the terminal around 10.30 am and check in was a breeze. Some more waiting around IN the terminal and boarding started at 11 am.

And that’s when the zoo started. The escalators in the terminal where still going downstairs so everybody had to drag their carry ons up the stairs. I might or might not have learned a whole new array of Spanish expletives 😂 Arriving on board we weren’t able to book entertainment via the app so we had to get in line at the kiosk. After waiting around some time a very nice crew member showed us that we were just constantly looking the wrong way – oops. With that out of the way I tried booking dining via the app but was unsuccessful. The app told me to go to guest services or a kiosk so we got in yet another queue. When it finally was our turn the mad hatter took our reservations but was unwilling to book our lunches or the second week. We were told that we could only book the second week dinners from next Sunday on as this was a new cruise. Ahem, I’m so not disembarking the ship in the middle of the Atlantic... Not being a Karen I unfortunately decided to let it slide.
 
We were tired from queuing and starving from skipping breakfast. We had planned to do The Mason Jar Brunch but it was closed for maintenance. The only specialty dining open was Giovanni’s so we went there for lunch. They were quite short staffed and it took ages to order. Not a problem, we made the most of our time by trying to book dining via the app. Well, after endless tries we were somewhat successful and have our dinners covered. Unfortunately by then Chops was already booked solid for the whole cruise so we only have one dinner there. We weren’t able to score a Mason Jar brunch reservation as it’s only open 4 times in 14 days ☹ Possibly due to staffing problems? To say I’m p***** is quite the understatement. With over 400 B2B cruisers, a few hundred Pinnacles and a forever sold-out UDP there’s only so much time you have until every slot is gone.
 
Lunch was a bit slow but other than that we really enjoyed it. I’ve apparently forgotten how to blog (or we were just starving that much?) that I mostly forgot to take pictures. I’ll try to improve in the future. For starters we shared the Meatball Gigante and the Calamari. Due to some hiccup in the kitchen we also got the Calabrese – funny enough this was the best of the 3 even if we didn’t order it. Michael went with Lasagna for his main and I tried Steak Muffuleta. Lasagna was meh or maybe just not what we’re used to. The steak was really enjoyable, just waaay too much. With dessert (Tiramisu and Go Bananas) we were completely stuffed.

 
We ended lunch about 2 pm and went to our cabin. We found all our luggage in the hallway and used the time to unpack. Met our staterrom attendant Igede and were able to order a kettle for Michael and distilled water for me. Our cabin has the bed next to the balcony – no idea if this is the better configuration or not. Writing this on day 2 I fear we may be spoiled already and can’t go back to an Interior cabin. Well, I have a few ideas about a Sky Junior Suite anyway – if Icon ever comes over to Europe… Between unpacking and dinner we managed to spend some time on the pool deck making the DBP magic work.

Dinner was at Izumi Sushi. We won’t be doing Hibachi this cruise as we feel it’s a been there, done that thing. For small plates we had the Pork Gyoza Dumplings and Crispy Rice Spicy Tuna – of course I forgot to take a picture 😋 Our large plates where (from left to right) Izumi Ryu Futomaki Roll, Crispy Philly Roll, Champagne Lobster Roll and Snow Crab California Roll. Three rolls were really good, only the Crispy Philly Roll was a bit boring. All in all, we had totally forgotten how much food you get at Izumi and food coma was already kicking in. For dessert we went with the German phrase „Eis geht immer“ (Icecream is always possible) and chose Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Green Tea Ice Cream.

Tbh our food coma (and maybe sleep deprivation?) was so bad that we just went to the cabin and took a nap. We had a real hard time getting up for our inTENse reservation but boy were we glad we did. From our last transatlantic we had learned the hard way that you should reserve the Aqua show as early as possible. Hiro was postponed about a dozen times and the other Aqua show didn’t run once. The center seats were once again reserved for the Key guests, suites and Pinnacles with the exception of the center splash zone. I didn’t mind, because I was pretty sure the whole center seats might get wet. The fact that the reserved Star Class seats were quite a bit off center was a dead giveaway 😂 We thought inTENse was amazing, even more impressive than Hiro. Unfortunately the pictures don’t do it justice. We’ll maybe try to sneak in to the show again (time permitting), we‘re on deck 7 aft and there is a door that leads directly to some seats next to the rock climbing wall at the end of our corridor. We took a detour to guest services for the German cruise compass for tomorrow and to get our DBP cups – afterwards it was straight to bed.

It’s finally here, the first official sea day for this cruise - day 6. Nobody’s getting off the ship any time soon – at least I wouldn’t recommend it. We woke up to quite some rolling and pitching which is astonishing considering the waves are still harmless. Maybe you feel it more because the Med had absolutely no waves. It just takes a day to adjust and then you won’t feel it anymore – I hope 😄 We started our day with speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade and Michael had his usual donuts – apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t like them. The morning was spent walking around the ship and having a drink here and there.
 
Für lunch we had scored an Izumi reservation. The goal for this cruise is to try every sushi roll once so this takes a few trips. We realised just how lucky we were when we saw literally dozens of people being sent away for not having a reservation - even though they were informed on day one that reservation for lunch wasn’t possible. I can’t even say they’re being a Karen as we got the same information. We only ignored it and tried booking via the app (nearly impossible) and when that failed we just talked to each restaurant separately. Going this way we managed lunch reservations for Giovanni’s, Izumi, Hooked and Chops. I’m still p***** about no Mason Jar brunch. And it’s not as if the restaurants are fully booked – every time you’re in a speciality restaurant up to half of the tables are unoccupied. Lack of staff seems to be the problem. But back to Izumi – today we had Crispy Chicken Kara-Age, Pork Gyoza Dumplins, Izumi Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Chicken Teriyaki, Poke Bowl, Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Chocolate Lava Cake. Michael also took the opportunity to try some Asian beers – with mixed success. When in Izumi, I just stick to She’s a Geisha, definetely one of the best cocktails on board.




 
Once we were finished with desserts we rushed to the Music Hall for our Meet & Greet and Cabin Crawl (organised by that other website which I’m not naming 😉). Meet & Greet proved two things – we’re introverts at heart and if you don’t talk to us we’re highly unlikely to start a conversation – not a big surprise here. The other thing: it’s a small world! We talked to a couple from Texas who have a granddaughter in Cologne (where I’m originally from) and she is married to an ex-Bundesliga player whom I met personally once. After an hour of chatting and drinking it was time for the Cabin Crawl. We had originally volunteered our Interior Virtual Balcony cabin but when we upgraded to Ocean View Balcony this became obsolete as there was already an Ocean View Spacious Balcony on the list. This meant we were able to concentrate on checking out the other cabins. A few take aways from the cabin crawl: the spacious balcony Ocean View doesn’t really look bigger than ours so good thing I didn’t try Royal Up for this (minimum bid was 200 $ per person). We were really impressed with the size and layout of the Junior Suite we saw. The only thing I didn’t like was the bathtub – seems like a safety hazard getting in and out. On a positive note, while this cabin crawl was a zoo (hence no pictures), it has improved my chances of booking a Sky Junior Suite on Icon as Michael was also suitably impressed (see what I did here? 🤣). The Grand Suite wasn’t much nicer than the Junior Suite, but the Owner’s Suite was really impressive. I’d say the balcony alone was bigger than our whole cabin. We also saw the accessible Crown Loft and a 2 BR Aqua Theater suite. We loved the balcony of the latter but Star Class is just waaaay too expensive for us. Especially when we’re planning to buy a new RV next year. The current one wasn’t bought with a dog in mind and we’re experiencing a lot of quality problems so we’d better get rid of it as long as we can still get a good price for it.
 
Still feeling a bit under the weather we took an extended nap before dinner at Chops Grille. This being the first formal night we decided to dress up a bit. If you don’t like it, don’t bother. Apparently shorts and funny t-shirts are also acceptable 😉 Unfortunately Chops was the first restaurant on this cruise we weren’t impressed with. Good thing we only scored two reservations here. Our waiter was completely out of his depth, forgetting drinks and ignoring us for half an hour at times. The Prime NY Strip that Michael ordered Medium Rare came out more Well Done but as our waiter had completely vanished there was nothing to be done about it. At least the other food was quite nice, though nothing to write home about. We had Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Charred Beef Carpaccio, Caesar Salad, Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, Prime NY Strip, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp, Gruyère Cheese Tater Tots, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, New York Cheesecake and Warm Apple Pie à la Mode. We also tried two of Chops' speciality coffees - note to my non-German friends: the Bavarian Coffee has absolutely nothing do to with Bavaria 😄 The best thing about this dinner: we finished early enough to watch the 8 pm show of Headliner Jennifer Singer instead of the 10 pm showing. The show was nice – I mean who doesn’t like Broadway songs? After the show I went to bed to try and sleep off my cold while Michael went to the pub to try out some new drinks. We found a new favourite with Angry Orchard Peach Mango Cider - at least while on the ship. With access to delivery from the whole wide web, I'd recommend Kopparberg, a Swedish cider company.

It’s finally here, the first official sea day for this cruise - day 6. Nobody’s getting off the ship any time soon – at least I wouldn’t recommend it. We woke up to quite some rolling and pitching which is astonishing considering the waves are still harmless. Maybe you feel it more because the Med had absolutely no waves. It just takes a day to adjust and then you won’t feel it anymore – I hope 😄 We started our day with speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade and Michael had his usual donuts – apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t like them. The morning was spent walking around the ship and having a drink here and there.
 
Für lunch we had scored an Izumi reservation. The goal for this cruise is to try every sushi roll once so this takes a few trips. We realised just how lucky we were when we saw literally dozens of people being sent away for not having a reservation - even though they were informed on day one that reservation for lunch wasn’t possible. I can’t even say they’re being a Karen as we got the same information. We only ignored it and tried booking via the app (nearly impossible) and when that failed we just talked to each restaurant separately. Going this way we managed lunch reservations for Giovanni’s, Izumi, Hooked and Chops. I’m still p***** about no Mason Jar brunch. And it’s not as if the restaurants are fully booked – every time you’re in a speciality restaurant up to half of the tables are unoccupied. Lack of staff seems to be the problem. But back to Izumi – today we had Crispy Chicken Kara-Age, Pork Gyoza Dumplins, Izumi Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Chicken Teriyaki, Poke Bowl, Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Chocolate Lava Cake. Michael also took the opportunity to try some Asian beers – with mixed success. When in Izumi, I just stick to She’s a Geisha, definetely one of the best cocktails on board.




 
Once we were finished with desserts we rushed to the Music Hall for our Meet & Greet and Cabin Crawl (organised by that other website which I’m not naming 😉). Meet & Greet proved two things – we’re introverts at heart and if you don’t talk to us we’re highly unlikely to start a conversation – not a big surprise here. The other thing: it’s a small world! We talked to a couple from Texas who have a granddaughter in Cologne (where I’m originally from) and she is married to an ex-Bundesliga player whom I met personally once. After an hour of chatting and drinking it was time for the Cabin Crawl. We had originally volunteered our Interior Virtual Balcony cabin but when we upgraded to Ocean View Balcony this became obsolete as there was already an Ocean View Spacious Balcony on the list. This meant we were able to concentrate on checking out the other cabins. A few take aways from the cabin crawl: the spacious balcony Ocean View doesn’t really look bigger than ours so good thing I didn’t try Royal Up for this (minimum bid was 200 $ per person). We were really impressed with the size and layout of the Junior Suite we saw. The only thing I didn’t like was the bathtub – seems like a safety hazard getting in and out. On a positive note, while this cabin crawl was a zoo (hence no pictures), it has improved my chances of booking a Sky Junior Suite on Icon as Michael was also suitably impressed (see what I did here? 🤣). The Grand Suite wasn’t much nicer than the Junior Suite, but the Owner’s Suite was really impressive. I’d say the balcony alone was bigger than our whole cabin. We also saw the accessible Crown Loft and a 2 BR Aqua Theater suite. We loved the balcony of the latter but Star Class is just waaaay too expensive for us. Especially when we’re planning to buy a new RV next year. The current one wasn’t bought with a dog in mind and we’re experiencing a lot of quality problems so we’d better get rid of it as long as we can still get a good price for it.
 
Still feeling a bit under the weather we took an extended nap before dinner at Chops Grille. This being the first formal night we decided to dress up a bit. If you don’t like it, don’t bother. Apparently shorts and funny t-shirts are also acceptable 😉 Unfortunately Chops was the first restaurant on this cruise we weren’t impressed with. Good thing we only scored two reservations here. Our waiter was completely out of his depth, forgetting drinks and ignoring us for half an hour at times. The Prime NY Strip that Michael ordered Medium Rare came out more Well Done but as our waiter had completely vanished there was nothing to be done about it. At least the other food was quite nice, though nothing to write home about. We had Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Charred Beef Carpaccio, Caesar Salad, Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, Prime NY Strip, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp, Gruyère Cheese Tater Tots, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, New York Cheesecake and Warm Apple Pie à la Mode. We also tried two of Chops' speciality coffees - note to my non-German friends: the Bavarian Coffee has absolutely nothing do to with Bavaria 😄 The best thing about this dinner: we finished early enough to watch the 8 pm show of Headliner Jennifer Singer instead of the 10 pm showing. The show was nice – I mean who doesn’t like Broadway songs? After the show I went to bed to try and sleep off my cold while Michael went to the pub to try out some new drinks. We found a new favourite with Angry Orchard Peach Mango Cider - at least while on the ship. With access to delivery from the whole wide web, I'd recommend Kopparberg, a Swedish cider company.

Well, it's day 10 and we finally managed to get the laptop working with Voom - fingers crossed it stays that way and I'll catch up a bit.
Day 5 brings us to Malaga, our very last port before the crossing. This port is most famous for being "near" the Alhambra, but it still takes about 2 hours each way to get there. Royal excursions are quite expensive but a private tour seemed too risky so we chose to stay on board once again. We prefer visiting Spain with the RV anyway – more time and flexibility. This means another sea day for us, though I’m using the term quite loosely. So far we’ve had absolutely no motion while cruising, the Med is completely calm. This will likely change once we’re through the Strait of Gibraltar. Our day started like the last ones, Sudoku challenge (Michael won again, but no prices today) followed by Cafe Promenade and Park Cafe. Afterwards we spent some time on the pool deck making use of the DBP and ship watching. We’re in port with Celebrity Reflection (aaagaaain, I know - I swear it's the last time) and a new one, P&O Iona. She looks like an interesting ship with two aft infinity pools. We saw Iona being built when we visited Meyer Werft a few years ago – she already looked like a ship back then while they still only had a few blocks finished for Odyssey. We even watched Iona’s (and of course also Odyssey’s) conveyance from Meyer Werft Papenburg to the North Sea – sadly only on tv (Covid…). Btw, P&O Arvia, Iona's new sister, just completed the conveyance this week.

With no „normal“ speciality restaurants open, we had our second and most likely last lunch at Johnny Rockets. This time we opted for Onion Rings, BBQ Chicken Bacon Melt, Grilled Cheese, a small size Crispy Chicken Club Salad and Apple Pie. Well, there was a small hiccup and I got Grilled Chicken but it thankfully was a smaller portion so I'm ok with that. At least that part of the meal was low carb 😄 We also had to have some milkshakes- I mean that’s why you go to Johnny Rockets isn’t it? On the way to lunch we’d also met the famous Papa Bear and scored a new companion for „Red“ whom I received on the Symphony TA.



 
Today Michael was feeling a bit under the weather so we spent most of the afternoon getting him warm (boiling more likely) in the Solarium hot tubs. This being a very windy day it’s a good thing that Wonder’s Solarium is completey enclosed. We watched Reflection and Iona leaving the port from the cantilevered hot tub. By then the whole day exursions started to get back on the ship so we switched locations and watched our own sail away from our balcony. Tonight’s entertainment was Simeon Kirkiles, a comedian we’ve already seen on Symphony. He’s still hilarious so I’d recommend you see him when you get the chance. Dinner was Izumi which is still awesome food but waaaytooo much. This time we tried Shrimp Firecracker Spring Roll, Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura, Baked Snow Crab & Dynamite Roll, Seared Tuna Tataki Roll, Spicy Crispy Shrimp Roll, Truffled Creamy Lobster Tempura Roll, Chocolate Lava Cake and Crispy Sesame Balls. After dinner we rushed up to deck 16 to watch Costa Favolosa and Mein Schiff Herz pass us in the Strait of Gibraltar. It was so windy that we only said our short goodbyes to Europe and Africa and then headed to Music Hall for the Beatles Tribute Band. I had no idea I knew so many Beatles songs and could even sing along. About halfway into the 1.5 hours show we called it a night -yes, we’re that boring 😄

It’s finally here, the first official sea day for this cruise - day 6. Nobody’s getting off the ship any time soon – at least I wouldn’t recommend it. We woke up to quite some rolling and pitching which is astonishing considering the waves are still harmless. Maybe you feel it more because the Med had absolutely no waves. It just takes a day to adjust and then you won’t feel it anymore – I hope 😄 We started our day with speciality coffee from Cafe Promenade and Michael had his usual donuts – apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t like them. The morning was spent walking around the ship and having a drink here and there.
 
Für lunch we had scored an Izumi reservation. The goal for this cruise is to try every sushi roll once so this takes a few trips. We realised just how lucky we were when we saw literally dozens of people being sent away for not having a reservation - even though they were informed on day one that reservation for lunch wasn’t possible. I can’t even say they’re being a Karen as we got the same information. We only ignored it and tried booking via the app (nearly impossible) and when that failed we just talked to each restaurant separately. Going this way we managed lunch reservations for Giovanni’s, Izumi, Hooked and Chops. I’m still p***** about no Mason Jar brunch. And it’s not as if the restaurants are fully booked – every time you’re in a speciality restaurant up to half of the tables are unoccupied. Lack of staff seems to be the problem. But back to Izumi – today we had Crispy Chicken Kara-Age, Pork Gyoza Dumplins, Izumi Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Chicken Teriyaki, Poke Bowl, Assorted Mochi Ice Cream and Chocolate Lava Cake. Michael also took the opportunity to try some Asian beers – with mixed success. When in Izumi, I just stick to She’s a Geisha, definetely one of the best cocktails on board.




 
Once we were finished with desserts we rushed to the Music Hall for our Meet & Greet and Cabin Crawl (organised by that other website which I’m not naming 😉). Meet & Greet proved two things – we’re introverts at heart and if you don’t talk to us we’re highly unlikely to start a conversation – not a big surprise here. The other thing: it’s a small world! We talked to a couple from Texas who have a granddaughter in Cologne (where I’m originally from) and she is married to an ex-Bundesliga player whom I met personally once. After an hour of chatting and drinking it was time for the Cabin Crawl. We had originally volunteered our Interior Virtual Balcony cabin but when we upgraded to Ocean View Balcony this became obsolete as there was already an Ocean View Spacious Balcony on the list. This meant we were able to concentrate on checking out the other cabins. A few take aways from the cabin crawl: the spacious balcony Ocean View doesn’t really look bigger than ours so good thing I didn’t try Royal Up for this (minimum bid was 200 $ per person). We were really impressed with the size and layout of the Junior Suite we saw. The only thing I didn’t like was the bathtub – seems like a safety hazard getting in and out. On a positive note, while this cabin crawl was a zoo (hence no pictures), it has improved my chances of booking a Sky Junior Suite on Icon as Michael was also suitably impressed (see what I did here? 🤣). The Grand Suite wasn’t much nicer than the Junior Suite, but the Owner’s Suite was really impressive. I’d say the balcony alone was bigger than our whole cabin. We also saw the accessible Crown Loft and a 2 BR Aqua Theater suite. We loved the balcony of the latter but Star Class is just waaaay too expensive for us. Especially when we’re planning to buy a new RV next year. The current one wasn’t bought with a dog in mind and we’re experiencing a lot of quality problems so we’d better get rid of it as long as we can still get a good price for it.
 
Still feeling a bit under the weather we took an extended nap before dinner at Chops Grille. This being the first formal night we decided to dress up a bit. If you don’t like it, don’t bother. Apparently shorts and funny t-shirts are also acceptable 😉 Unfortunately Chops was the first restaurant on this cruise we weren’t impressed with. Good thing we only scored two reservations here. Our waiter was completely out of his depth, forgetting drinks and ignoring us for half an hour at times. The Prime NY Strip that Michael ordered Medium Rare came out more Well Done but as our waiter had completely vanished there was nothing to be done about it. At least the other food was quite nice, though nothing to write home about. We had Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Charred Beef Carpaccio, Caesar Salad, Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, Prime NY Strip, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp, Gruyère Cheese Tater Tots, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, New York Cheesecake and Warm Apple Pie à la Mode. We also tried two of Chops' speciality coffees - note to my non-German friends: the Bavarian Coffee has absolutely nothing do to with Bavaria 😄 The best thing about this dinner: we finished early enough to watch the 8 pm show of Headliner Jennifer Singer instead of the 10 pm showing. The show was nice – I mean who doesn’t like Broadway songs? After the show I went to bed to try and sleep off my cold while Michael went to the pub to try out some new drinks. We found a new favourite with Angry Orchard Peach Mango Cider - at least while on the ship. With access to delivery from the whole wide web, I'd recommend Kopparberg, a Swedish cider company.

That's really sad, especially considering testing wasn't that hard in the end. I know the B2B cruisers got really confusing information from Royal right until the start of the 3  night from Civitavecchia. I don't know about Italy but Spain dropped the testing requirement for US flights a few days before the TA. There was no testing requirement for the 3 night. B2B Cruises were tested free of charge on the last day of the first cruise and if you tested positive you were allowed to stay on board for the TA but were quarantined for 5 days in your cabin.

That's really sad, especially considering testing wasn't that hard in the end. I know the B2B cruisers got really confusing information from Royal right until the start of the 3  night from Civitavecchia. I don't know about Italy but Spain dropped the testing requirement for US flights a few days before the TA. There was no testing requirement for the 3 night. B2B Cruises were tested free of charge on the last day of the first cruise and if you tested positive you were allowed to stay on board for the TA but were quarantined for 5 days in your cabin.

Thaks so much for blog.
My wife and I were booked on this cruise (starting in Civitavecchia, so I guess B2B), but when it came time for final payment, we were scared off by the Covid testing requirements in place at the time.  Test in US before leaving, test in Rome before boarding, test onboard before Barcelona reboarding was just too unsettling at the time.  Of course, now we wish we were onboard with you.
At least we'll get to experience the crossing through your blog

Sorry for being really far behind with the blog but my laptop and Voom don't really like each other so uploading the pictures is a gamble.
Day 4 brings us to Cartagena, a nice little town situated in a hilly bay. As the cruise port is next to the city center, we had intended to get off the ship and explore. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather (either due to dehydration, too much sun, too much alcohol or a drastic change in diet, who knows) so we abandoned that plan. We still started the day with the Sudoku challenge – try that one with a headache, it’s sooo much fun… If you ask me, Michael won this round because of my headache, if you ask him he won because of his superior skills – choose what you want to believe 😂 Today’s prize were two Wonder-branded Mobile Pockets. Sudoku was followed by a trip to Cafe Promenade and light breakfast at Park Cafe. I LOVE Central Park and it’s lucky that our GTY put us just one deck down from it. The cabin is a bit far aft, but thanks to the door to the Rock Climbing Wall at the end of our corridor, you get a nice shortcut to Playmaker’s that we use often.






We tried a round of mini golf this morning and I predictably lost. I tried to rehydrate with virgin drinks while ship watching (Celebrity Reflection was again with us, Wind Star was a new one) but gave up around noon. We took a detour to El Loco Fresh for some Mexican fare and then retreated to the cabin for a long nap. Initial plans for the evening were the headliner show with Peter Grant followed by 150 CP and trying to sneak into inTENse. We skipped the headliner show for sail away because Schlager isn’t really our kind of music (not even close 😇) and Cartagena is a nice port for sail away. Reflection went first and we followed closely after. Due to Cartagena being a rarely used cruise port there was quite a crowd gathered to see the ships leave port. The Vue bar is a nice spot for sail away.



When it got too dark to see much, we relocated to Giovanni’s Wine Bar to try out some wines. We’re not wine snobs, we either like it or we don’t. Michael found a nice red wine for him, I’ll stick to Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. It might be cheap but I really like it – so much that I even got a few bottles for my birthday after the TA on Symphony. After a few drinks we went to 150 CP and were again blown away by the incredible food. Good thing we booked it twice for this cruise. Our menu choices were Seared Honey Glazed Scallops, Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly, Sunchoke Veloute, Lobster Thermidor, Roastbeef Tenderloin and Fried Cheesecake. The lobster was amazing but no competition for the Tenderloin – this really is to die for!








Having an extensive dinner made us nearly late for inTENse but we lucked out on getting the last two chairs. I have no idea if this is only on Wonder and maybe only on our side (portside), but if you follow the hallway on deck 7 aft to the very end, you go through a door onto the balcony for the Rock Climbing Wall. They even have a few chairs for people to use. In this spot you can see the Aqua Theater shows just as well as from the Aqua Theater Suites – ok one deck lower but who cares? It’s a nice perspective and over 2 devices we made more than a thousand photos – but I’ll sort through them once we’re home. We finished the evening with a few drinks.

Sorry for being really far behind with the blog but my laptop and Voom don't really like each other so uploading the pictures is a gamble.
Day 4 brings us to Cartagena, a nice little town situated in a hilly bay. As the cruise port is next to the city center, we had intended to get off the ship and explore. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather (either due to dehydration, too much sun, too much alcohol or a drastic change in diet, who knows) so we abandoned that plan. We still started the day with the Sudoku challenge – try that one with a headache, it’s sooo much fun… If you ask me, Michael won this round because of my headache, if you ask him he won because of his superior skills – choose what you want to believe 😂 Today’s prize were two Wonder-branded Mobile Pockets. Sudoku was followed by a trip to Cafe Promenade and light breakfast at Park Cafe. I LOVE Central Park and it’s lucky that our GTY put us just one deck down from it. The cabin is a bit far aft, but thanks to the door to the Rock Climbing Wall at the end of our corridor, you get a nice shortcut to Playmaker’s that we use often.






We tried a round of mini golf this morning and I predictably lost. I tried to rehydrate with virgin drinks while ship watching (Celebrity Reflection was again with us, Wind Star was a new one) but gave up around noon. We took a detour to El Loco Fresh for some Mexican fare and then retreated to the cabin for a long nap. Initial plans for the evening were the headliner show with Peter Grant followed by 150 CP and trying to sneak into inTENse. We skipped the headliner show for sail away because Schlager isn’t really our kind of music (not even close 😇) and Cartagena is a nice port for sail away. Reflection went first and we followed closely after. Due to Cartagena being a rarely used cruise port there was quite a crowd gathered to see the ships leave port. The Vue bar is a nice spot for sail away.



When it got too dark to see much, we relocated to Giovanni’s Wine Bar to try out some wines. We’re not wine snobs, we either like it or we don’t. Michael found a nice red wine for him, I’ll stick to Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. It might be cheap but I really like it – so much that I even got a few bottles for my birthday after the TA on Symphony. After a few drinks we went to 150 CP and were again blown away by the incredible food. Good thing we booked it twice for this cruise. Our menu choices were Seared Honey Glazed Scallops, Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly, Sunchoke Veloute, Lobster Thermidor, Roastbeef Tenderloin and Fried Cheesecake. The lobster was amazing but no competition for the Tenderloin – this really is to die for!








Having an extensive dinner made us nearly late for inTENse but we lucked out on getting the last two chairs. I have no idea if this is only on Wonder and maybe only on our side (portside), but if you follow the hallway on deck 7 aft to the very end, you go through a door onto the balcony for the Rock Climbing Wall. They even have a few chairs for people to use. In this spot you can see the Aqua Theater shows just as well as from the Aqua Theater Suites – ok one deck lower but who cares? It’s a nice perspective and over 2 devices we made more than a thousand photos – but I’ll sort through them once we’re home. We finished the evening with a few drinks.

Sorry for being really far behind with the blog but my laptop and Voom don't really like each other so uploading the pictures is a gamble.
Day 4 brings us to Cartagena, a nice little town situated in a hilly bay. As the cruise port is next to the city center, we had intended to get off the ship and explore. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather (either due to dehydration, too much sun, too much alcohol or a drastic change in diet, who knows) so we abandoned that plan. We still started the day with the Sudoku challenge – try that one with a headache, it’s sooo much fun… If you ask me, Michael won this round because of my headache, if you ask him he won because of his superior skills – choose what you want to believe 😂 Today’s prize were two Wonder-branded Mobile Pockets. Sudoku was followed by a trip to Cafe Promenade and light breakfast at Park Cafe. I LOVE Central Park and it’s lucky that our GTY put us just one deck down from it. The cabin is a bit far aft, but thanks to the door to the Rock Climbing Wall at the end of our corridor, you get a nice shortcut to Playmaker’s that we use often.






We tried a round of mini golf this morning and I predictably lost. I tried to rehydrate with virgin drinks while ship watching (Celebrity Reflection was again with us, Wind Star was a new one) but gave up around noon. We took a detour to El Loco Fresh for some Mexican fare and then retreated to the cabin for a long nap. Initial plans for the evening were the headliner show with Peter Grant followed by 150 CP and trying to sneak into inTENse. We skipped the headliner show for sail away because Schlager isn’t really our kind of music (not even close 😇) and Cartagena is a nice port for sail away. Reflection went first and we followed closely after. Due to Cartagena being a rarely used cruise port there was quite a crowd gathered to see the ships leave port. The Vue bar is a nice spot for sail away.



When it got too dark to see much, we relocated to Giovanni’s Wine Bar to try out some wines. We’re not wine snobs, we either like it or we don’t. Michael found a nice red wine for him, I’ll stick to Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. It might be cheap but I really like it – so much that I even got a few bottles for my birthday after the TA on Symphony. After a few drinks we went to 150 CP and were again blown away by the incredible food. Good thing we booked it twice for this cruise. Our menu choices were Seared Honey Glazed Scallops, Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly, Sunchoke Veloute, Lobster Thermidor, Roastbeef Tenderloin and Fried Cheesecake. The lobster was amazing but no competition for the Tenderloin – this really is to die for!








Having an extensive dinner made us nearly late for inTENse but we lucked out on getting the last two chairs. I have no idea if this is only on Wonder and maybe only on our side (portside), but if you follow the hallway on deck 7 aft to the very end, you go through a door onto the balcony for the Rock Climbing Wall. They even have a few chairs for people to use. In this spot you can see the Aqua Theater shows just as well as from the Aqua Theater Suites – ok one deck lower but who cares? It’s a nice perspective and over 2 devices we made more than a thousand photos – but I’ll sort through them once we’re home. We finished the evening with a few drinks.

Traditional sushi tends to be raw fish, but Izumi offers many tempura sushi rolls that might be to your liking. Additionally you have non-sushi items like Teriyaki or Ramen. I think depending on the ship there's also still a hot rock option (not on Wonder though).

Sorry for being really far behind with the blog but my laptop and Voom don't really like each other so uploading the pictures is a gamble.
Day 4 brings us to Cartagena, a nice little town situated in a hilly bay. As the cruise port is next to the city center, we had intended to get off the ship and explore. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather (either due to dehydration, too much sun, too much alcohol or a drastic change in diet, who knows) so we abandoned that plan. We still started the day with the Sudoku challenge – try that one with a headache, it’s sooo much fun… If you ask me, Michael won this round because of my headache, if you ask him he won because of his superior skills – choose what you want to believe 😂 Today’s prize were two Wonder-branded Mobile Pockets. Sudoku was followed by a trip to Cafe Promenade and light breakfast at Park Cafe. I LOVE Central Park and it’s lucky that our GTY put us just one deck down from it. The cabin is a bit far aft, but thanks to the door to the Rock Climbing Wall at the end of our corridor, you get a nice shortcut to Playmaker’s that we use often.






We tried a round of mini golf this morning and I predictably lost. I tried to rehydrate with virgin drinks while ship watching (Celebrity Reflection was again with us, Wind Star was a new one) but gave up around noon. We took a detour to El Loco Fresh for some Mexican fare and then retreated to the cabin for a long nap. Initial plans for the evening were the headliner show with Peter Grant followed by 150 CP and trying to sneak into inTENse. We skipped the headliner show for sail away because Schlager isn’t really our kind of music (not even close 😇) and Cartagena is a nice port for sail away. Reflection went first and we followed closely after. Due to Cartagena being a rarely used cruise port there was quite a crowd gathered to see the ships leave port. The Vue bar is a nice spot for sail away.



When it got too dark to see much, we relocated to Giovanni’s Wine Bar to try out some wines. We’re not wine snobs, we either like it or we don’t. Michael found a nice red wine for him, I’ll stick to Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. It might be cheap but I really like it – so much that I even got a few bottles for my birthday after the TA on Symphony. After a few drinks we went to 150 CP and were again blown away by the incredible food. Good thing we booked it twice for this cruise. Our menu choices were Seared Honey Glazed Scallops, Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly, Sunchoke Veloute, Lobster Thermidor, Roastbeef Tenderloin and Fried Cheesecake. The lobster was amazing but no competition for the Tenderloin – this really is to die for!








Having an extensive dinner made us nearly late for inTENse but we lucked out on getting the last two chairs. I have no idea if this is only on Wonder and maybe only on our side (portside), but if you follow the hallway on deck 7 aft to the very end, you go through a door onto the balcony for the Rock Climbing Wall. They even have a few chairs for people to use. In this spot you can see the Aqua Theater shows just as well as from the Aqua Theater Suites – ok one deck lower but who cares? It’s a nice perspective and over 2 devices we made more than a thousand photos – but I’ll sort through them once we’re home. We finished the evening with a few drinks.

Day 2 on this cruise is a port day in Palma de Mallorca. This is THE vacation island for Germans so we didn’t get off – again been there, done that. Don’t believe me? Well, my sister and her boyfriend left Palma a day before we arrived. If they’d stayed another day, we would have gotten off but without a meet up we prefered the empty ship. Pre-Covid-tests the passenger count was rumored to be 4200-4300, no idea how many got eliminated by the test.


We skipped breakfast as we were still full from Izumi and went straight to the Sudoku challenge. There weren’t many contestants but I was l completely shellshocked to win. I can’t just „see“ the numbers and that means meticulously trying out everything tends to be much slower than Michaels way. I only got the upper hand because the first Sudoku was too difficult to just go by „seeing“. I even got a really nice prize – a t-shirt from Wonder of the Seas! Morning trivia started right after the Sudoku challenge and we decided to flee the Schooner Bar and relocate to Cafe Promenade. We weren’t too happy with how trivia went on the last transatlantic so we decided to skip it altogether and use the free time for more relaxation. Last cruise we were so busy that we nearly never got to the pool. Tbh the abysmal weather could’ve played a part too. Not a problem this year, temperatures have ranged from 22° to 28° celsius so far. Last time we also forgot that speciality coffees are included in the DBP, so we’re trying them out this time. I might also be on the hunt for the famous Ranger Cookie, who knows…

The rest of the morning was spent getting to know the ship and catching up with the blog. I’ve already given up on truly catching up so I’ll just go with the flow to make the most of this vacation while still making sure I can remember it for years to come. With no normal speciality restaurants open we had lunch at Johnny Rockets. I forgot to take pictures yet again but we had Bacon Cheese Fries, Smoke House & Route 66 burgers, milkshakes and Michael was crazy enough to also order a Sundae. Don’t worry, he regretted this at dinner 😄 Afternoon was spent on the pool deck, alternating between pools and hot tubs. The pools get a bit chilly after some time but the hot tubs are waaaay too hot to spend much time in them. No idea how people can stay in there for hours, I felt boiled after 10 minutes. On the way to the cabin we came across The Mason Jar and it was finally staffed. We got ourselves on the wait list for any brunch they’d have us but chances are slim. With 4 brunches with 90 people each that’s less people than the consecutive cruisers – no surprise we didn’t have a chance booking it. Apparently they don’t have enough staff to open more days or open up more capacity – that’s true for all speciality dining venues and the bars are a bit short-staffed as well. When the bars run out of ingredients they don’t have enough staff to get them and the people doing rounds refilling the bars are far and few in between. Hope Royal will be successful in hiring more crew as I’m sure it takes a toll on those who are currently working. 
 
Dinner brought us back to Giovanni’s. We started off with the Meat & Cheese platter and the Stromboli. The latter was amazing and the platter looked big enough to feed at least 6 people. For mains we ordered Filet Mignon (yummy) and the 7 Cheese pizza. Amazing pizza but this is sooo much food. Forgot to take pictures of the dessert, we had Pistachio Panna Cotta and Chocolate Ravioli. The Panna Cotta was the better choice between the two. On the way back to the cabin we made a detour to Chops and were able to score a lunch reservation - yeah! After dinner it was time to dress up for Halloween. Same costume as last time, and make up did again take forever – oops. We had fun watching the parade but there were way fewer people in costume than last time. There were also no decorations done by Royal and now balloon drop – your guess if it’s due to money or staffing or delivery chain problems. We had another drink at Playmaker’s and then called it a night.

Day 3 brings us to Valencia, another sea day for us 🤣 We slept in a bit and opted for a light breakfast at Park Cafe and a trip to Cafe Promenade for speciality coffee. We did a bit of ship-watching (Celebrity Reflection and our last cruise ship Mein Schiff Herz are in port with us) and were planning on playing some mini golf but it was way too hot for that. Instead we sipped a few drinks at the Lime & Coconut and checked out the Solarium. The ship is more crowded today, maybe because the port is quite far away from the city center and that’s why less people got off.




Lunch brought us to Playmaker’s and if you’re thinking a 20 $ credit on the UDP isn’t enough you’re wrong. We had Pile on Nachos with Pulled Pork, Playmaker’s Fries, Pulled Pork Sliders and Michael got 6 wings (I don’t eat wings). Well, the Nachos would’ve been sufficient to feed us but you know how it goes – we had to try different things in the name of research 😇



The afternoon was again spent in and around the pools. I did try to take a few calories off the grand total by doing „laps“ in the pool but the pools are just a bit short for real swimming. My smartwatch thought I was on the Crosstrainer 😂 Michael is taking advantage of no lines at the slides – or at the slide to be more correct, two are currently undergoing maintenance. For a new ship, there’s quite a few spots where maintenance is necessary. That’s what happen when you build them in France instead of Germany 😉 Will be interesting to compare Icon’s quality some time in the future, being built by an essentially German company (Meyer), but in Turku, Finland.
 
For the evening we had a whole lot of plans. First we were able to score a reservation for The Royal Society of Puzzle for 6.30 pm. This is in essence an escape room experience and located in what was planned to be the escape room next to Adventure Ocean on deck 14. For whatever reason they still haven’t built the escape room, it’s currently an empty room with a few chairs and tables. Maybe that’s why this experience is free of charge, you just have to have a reserveration and are grouped together with strangers to form a team of 6 to 12 people. I won’t spoiler anything, let’s just say the 9 of us did not solve the last puzzle but it was close. We still had a great time and once you get the explanation of how to solve everything you feel a bit stupid. Maybe 3 more players or a bit more time would’ve helped, this experience is designed to be 50 minutes. With the first bullet point done, we rushed down to the Royal Theater for Paul Zerdin, a ventriloquist who won America’s Got Talent. The show was hilarious but definetely not suitable for children. Go see his show if you get the chance!



From the end of the show we had 5 minutes to get to Wonderland for our 9 pm reservation – we even made it on time. We will be in Wonderland 3 times this cruise and are planning on trying the whole menu because we love fusion cuisine. I again forgot to take pictures in the beginning… I sense a theme here 😄 For today, we got to tick off Crispy Crab Cones, Mad Hatter’s Purple Potted Shrimp, Reconstructed Caprese, The Bird’s Nest, Tomato Water, The Chicken and the Egg, The Rib „I“ Luscious Short Rib, Mystical Mushroom Garden and The World from our list. Our favourite was the short rib and of course the inevitable The World. I usually hate peanut butter with a passion (sorry US readers…) but in this dessert I don’t mind it at all. After dinner we went to the Schooner Bar for some cocktails and listening to the piano player. We had so much fun that we went to bed really late – oops. Btw whoever once recommended the Espresso Martini on this boards – thanks a lot! That one’s really amazing.

Day 2 on this cruise is a port day in Palma de Mallorca. This is THE vacation island for Germans so we didn’t get off – again been there, done that. Don’t believe me? Well, my sister and her boyfriend left Palma a day before we arrived. If they’d stayed another day, we would have gotten off but without a meet up we prefered the empty ship. Pre-Covid-tests the passenger count was rumored to be 4200-4300, no idea how many got eliminated by the test.


We skipped breakfast as we were still full from Izumi and went straight to the Sudoku challenge. There weren’t many contestants but I was l completely shellshocked to win. I can’t just „see“ the numbers and that means meticulously trying out everything tends to be much slower than Michaels way. I only got the upper hand because the first Sudoku was too difficult to just go by „seeing“. I even got a really nice prize – a t-shirt from Wonder of the Seas! Morning trivia started right after the Sudoku challenge and we decided to flee the Schooner Bar and relocate to Cafe Promenade. We weren’t too happy with how trivia went on the last transatlantic so we decided to skip it altogether and use the free time for more relaxation. Last cruise we were so busy that we nearly never got to the pool. Tbh the abysmal weather could’ve played a part too. Not a problem this year, temperatures have ranged from 22° to 28° celsius so far. Last time we also forgot that speciality coffees are included in the DBP, so we’re trying them out this time. I might also be on the hunt for the famous Ranger Cookie, who knows…

The rest of the morning was spent getting to know the ship and catching up with the blog. I’ve already given up on truly catching up so I’ll just go with the flow to make the most of this vacation while still making sure I can remember it for years to come. With no normal speciality restaurants open we had lunch at Johnny Rockets. I forgot to take pictures yet again but we had Bacon Cheese Fries, Smoke House & Route 66 burgers, milkshakes and Michael was crazy enough to also order a Sundae. Don’t worry, he regretted this at dinner 😄 Afternoon was spent on the pool deck, alternating between pools and hot tubs. The pools get a bit chilly after some time but the hot tubs are waaaay too hot to spend much time in them. No idea how people can stay in there for hours, I felt boiled after 10 minutes. On the way to the cabin we came across The Mason Jar and it was finally staffed. We got ourselves on the wait list for any brunch they’d have us but chances are slim. With 4 brunches with 90 people each that’s less people than the consecutive cruisers – no surprise we didn’t have a chance booking it. Apparently they don’t have enough staff to open more days or open up more capacity – that’s true for all speciality dining venues and the bars are a bit short-staffed as well. When the bars run out of ingredients they don’t have enough staff to get them and the people doing rounds refilling the bars are far and few in between. Hope Royal will be successful in hiring more crew as I’m sure it takes a toll on those who are currently working. 
 
Dinner brought us back to Giovanni’s. We started off with the Meat & Cheese platter and the Stromboli. The latter was amazing and the platter looked big enough to feed at least 6 people. For mains we ordered Filet Mignon (yummy) and the 7 Cheese pizza. Amazing pizza but this is sooo much food. Forgot to take pictures of the dessert, we had Pistachio Panna Cotta and Chocolate Ravioli. The Panna Cotta was the better choice between the two. On the way back to the cabin we made a detour to Chops and were able to score a lunch reservation - yeah! After dinner it was time to dress up for Halloween. Same costume as last time, and make up did again take forever – oops. We had fun watching the parade but there were way fewer people in costume than last time. There were also no decorations done by Royal and now balloon drop – your guess if it’s due to money or staffing or delivery chain problems. We had another drink at Playmaker’s and then called it a night.