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Skigoofy

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  1. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    The Silk Road
    This is one of two unique shows on Spectrum. It’s done in Two70, twice per night, every 2-3 nights on the cruise. That means if you’re on a short cruise you have less than a 50% chance of seeing it ? (Two70 holds about 350 people per showing, the ship holds around 5000.) One perk we didn’t even realize WAS a perk is that the Diamond concierge will book you for one of the showings on your trip. Unfortunately you’re unlikely to be able to change it, as the bookings fill up immediately (there is no advance booking). There is a standby line for each show but your chances are still slim. The first week of our trip, we were booked the last night, last show. The day we had rough seas. So no show for us!
    Fortunately the magic gold SeaPass we have now got us in without a reservation to whatever show we wanted. Whew!
    @Traveler, you asked for a plot synopsis. Um... yeah ? Here’s what we got: “The future Mrs. Marco Polo from the East, and Marco Polo from the West, adventure down the Silk Road and see lots of sights and dangers before they finally meet.” I will say that after we saw it we read the bit Royal has in the app about it, which starts with “many ages ago, Zeus, the king of all the gods, sent two eagles...” What?? I’m sticking with my interpretation! Haha! 
    Regardless, it’s a terrific show and everyone should see it if they get a chance at all! I would see it again in a heartbeat, because there is A LOT going on the whole time and I’m certain I missed some great stuff. 
    Here are the best pics we could come up with:








     
  2. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Rest of Day 8 - Turn Around
    After our terrific lunch, MisterZ retired to the cabin for a nap and I went to the spa for a scrub. It’s a really nice space:

    The secret side door from the Gold area:

    The relaxation room:

    A treatment room:

    Here’s one sail away picture from foggy, uncooperative Hong Kong:

    For dinner we went to Gold dining for the first time. It was fantastic! MisterZ had Dover Sole and I had Spicy Beef Brisket. Our waiter said they have their own totally separate kitchen and absolutely everything is made to order, even the Caesar salad:



    It seems the menu may not change every night, but there is a lot of variety. 
    After dinner we went to see Silk Road, which deserves its own post!
     
  3. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to Jax in First Time Star Class 8 night Holiday Bahamas Cruise Anthem 12/20/19   
    Here are some final thoughts on our first sailing with Royal. It was a great trip and we would definitely sail with Royal again.  Maybe try an Oasis class ship next time but we would also sail on Anthem again. 
    Specialty Dining  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    Royal excels in specialty dining. Chops, Izumi and Jaime’s offered excellent food quality. CK was good too but it had quite limited menu selections. Johnny Rockets, Sorentos and Sea Plex Doghouse are great alternatives when looking for a faster and more casual alternative.  
    In Room Dining ⭐️⭐️⭐️
    We placed orders through our genie and 2 out of 3 were incorrect so I couldn’t rate them higher. 
    On board activities ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We tried North Star, I fly, Wave Rider, Bumper Cars, Escape Room. We never had a chance to try climbing wall due to limited hours and weather related closures. Activities were a lot of fun! The only criticism is that not all venues recognized star class preferred access without genie being present. It may have been due to the fact that our genie didn’t accompany us on the initial visit; who knows but eventually we were allowed access.  Zoom WIFI ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    We were impressed with the quality of the connection. Didn’t work great on our deck but otherwise loved it! 
    On board Photography ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Evening photography starts at 5 and usually goes till 10. Good selection of backgrounds.  They are set up on decks 3,4 and 5.  You can view and download pictures while on-board through RCCL photo site. It’s great for those wanting to post pictures while on board. If you purchase the unlimited digital package a photo book is 50% off.  They could do a better job of having photographers in specialty restaurants but overall it exceeded expectations.   Thermal suite ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    Our experience was a good one. Nothing fancy but it has all the basics.  It was never busy during the times we went.   Entertainment was average. We felt it was better on DCL.  Headliners ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gift ⭐️ Spectras Cabaret ⭐️ We Will Rock You ⭐️⭐️⭐️
    Embarkation/Disembarkation ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This process was smooth and efficient.  Star class benefits are great! Biggest perk was not having to put luggage out the night before and a personalized escort on and off the ship.  Grand Loft Suite 10320 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We loved the suite, particularly the AFT deck as it was not windy and offered great views. We didn’t mind the smaller suite and split bathroom on main floor as we liked the views from the additional decks. Didn’t like having to walk to and from mid ship to elevators but that was expected going in. Our suite on DCL was on deck 11 or 12 forward where the Spa was located.  The only traffic was other concierge guests. While we missed the reduced traffic and close proximity to the concierge lounge, spa and elevators we still preferred our suite on Royal over the 1 BR family on DCL.  Despite HVAC issues for our first 4 days I treated that as a one off and didn’t factor it in my review. In hindsight I should have requested a meeting with the hotel maintenance manager earlier as once he was made aware of the problem we had a team of HVAC people in our suite finding the problem. I was initially worried about protocol and how that may affect our genie.  Concierge Lounge ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The lounge fell short for us. The hours of concierge staff are very limited, there is no access to beverages such as pop or bottled waters outside of their happy hours. We had lunch delivered there and had to run back to our suite for our beverages. DCL concierge lounge was open from 6am-10pm daily and always staffed by 1-2 concierge staff who could take care of any requests right away. You had access to all non alcoholic beverages during opening hours.  It seemed like an under utilized space the 4 or 5 times we were there.   Tipping in Star Class  This was an area of confusion for us. We weren’t expecting to get zero bills on-board so when we received a zero bill from specialty restaurants it said that an 18% gratuity had been added. I asked our genie about it and he confirmed that 18% gratuity was paid out on whatever the bill would have been. So $200 = $36 tip but that we could tip over and above that for exceptional service if we wanted. In Coastal Kitchen we didn’t get a bill so we had to tip in cash which we rarely carried around with us.  Coming from DCL we assumed the gratuity process at the end of the cruise would be similar and were expecting envelopes to be left in our stateroom the night before disembarkation. It all worked out but we will be more organized next time now that we have figured this out!   Thoughts on Star Class  Highlights were Laundry, Specialty Dining, Embarkation/Disembarkation, WIFI, bridge tour and the on-board activities. Expectations of our genie were met in terms of the basics offered and described on the website. But having seen other genies in action we wish the program was consistent. Our itinerary change and HVAC issues consumed early interactions with our genie so under other circumstances our impressions may have been different. The genie survey now seems like a waste of time. When people invest their time to complete this, there is an expectation that it will be used in some way. Otherwise why are we doing it. We celebrated Lindsay’s 50th on DCL so in comparison my 50th on Royal was a let down. We found that specialty restaurants didn’t make the connection to our beverage package when we provided our stateroom number. On several occasions the waiters were embarrassed after asking us if we had a beverage package, only to find out we were star class. We laughed it off but you could tell the servers felt uncomfortable having asked. The process for star class priority at activities was inconsistent as not all recognized priority access without genie being with us. Our genie said this sailing had a high number of last minute changes so our experience may be a one off but on at least 3 occasions we were in the middle of an activity when our genie messaged us about a time change that required us to be somewhere in 10-15 minutes or lose out on the activity. So at times we felt we were rushing from activity to activity.  But if not for our genie we may have missed out completely! ?‍♀️ It would be great if the Royal app and genie schedule interfaced together as it became difficult to keep track of our schedule and changes. I think next time I would be more organized and input our itinerary in my iPhone with reminders.  Would we do star class again? Yes, absolutely! Because of the program basics that appeal to us that you can’t purchase. Given the set up at the concierge lounge I don’t think Sky Class would be a good fit.  With missing out on our visit to Coco Cay due to the itinerary change and with the FCC it just makes sense to sail with Royal again.  It was a great family vacation and I can’t wait to book our next cruise!       
  4. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to Jax in First Time Star Class 8 night Holiday Bahamas Cruise Anthem 12/20/19   
    One of our highlights today was a private bridge tour! Access on DCL was restricted to all guests. So we were very happy to hear we would get a chance to visit it on Anthem.  
    We were allowed to take pictures but no recording of video. We spent about 30 minutes with the 2nd officer and were treated to champagne and other beverages. As traffic was light and weather conditions optimal only a 1st and 2nd officer along with a spotter are required on the bridge. 
    Some interesting trivia: the ship carries 3000 tonne of fuel which = 3,000,000 liters.
    This was a great star class perk for our family! Loved every minute of it. 








  5. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Cabin tour
    After lunch our cabin was finished. Here’s the tour of cabin 13132:

    From the door:

    From the back looking toward the door:

    Looking into the bedroom:

    From the back of the bedroom, looking at the desk and bathroom door:

    The bathroom, with Jack and Jill doors (one from the main area and one from the bedroom). There is a second sink on the right of this shot:

    The balcony:

    And of course, the pillow menu!

     
  6. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Morning of Day 8 - Turn around day
    Docked in Hong Kong this morning, and the weather is again not cooperating for photos. Here’s a marginal one of the lovely Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Yes, that is a city park on top of it:

    I also realized I took this picture the first day and forgot to share it, so here you go:

    Today we went to Silver dining for breakfast. Then back to our cabin to pack up or drawer contents as instructed — our cabin steward would move our suitcases and hanging items to our new cabin for us. Nice!
    At 8:45am we went to the left side of the MDR, 4th floor, and scanned “off” the ship. Then we picked up our new SeaPass cards, our free Wow bands, and our special luncheon invitation. Next, we went out the right side of the MDR and scanned “on” the ship. THAT WAS IT. No Immigration meeting, no need to leave, nothing! Lovely!

    We immediately used our new, fancy gold SeaPass cards to get into the Gold Suite Club ? 

    Here’s the Gold Lounge:

    And The Balcony, a private sun deck (less impressive on this rainy day. I’ll try to get a better shot later):

    Then at 11:30am we went to the special lunch for consecutive cruisers. It was held in the Sichuan Red restaurant with the following menu:

    It was outstanding! Turns out most items were from the Gold Dining recipes.
  7. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Actually, there is one station in the Windjammer called the Noodle Bar. You pick your noodles from 3-4 choices, add your ingredients (fish cakes, greens, mushrooms, etc) and then give your bowl to the cook. He hands you back your cooked items and then you pick your broth and additions (soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, etc). There are also a few buns and dumplings in this area. It’s fun, tasty, and free!

     
  8. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Pools
    A few snaps of the other pool areas!
    Indoor Pool and bar:


    Splashaway Bay and Splashaway Cafe:


    Main pool, Sky Bar, and Northstar Bar:

     
  9. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    I have gone on a bit about the Silver area on this ship so I figured I better back up my blathering with photos:



    While this is called the Solarium, it is not adults only. It is restricted to Junior Suites and above, and Diamond and above. Your SeaPass or Wow band opens the doors.
  10. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Adventure Ocean
    Not having any tiny humans of our own, we have never paid attention to the offerings onboard for them. Turns out there are a ton, and they’re all really cool! ? 
    Adventure Ocean on this ship is two stories. It’s a big space, but since there were 1000 under 18 on the cruise (and 800 under 18 on the second leg) it needs to be. 





    This was a cupcake class arranged only through the kids programs; it wasn’t in the cruise planner at all. I was attempting to get a photo without being too stalker-y, so it’s not my best work...

     
  11. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Day 7 - At Sea
    This morning MisterZ was feeling exceptionally loungy, so I went to CafeTwo70 to grab some breakfast items. They were very tasty! Apparently we should have gone here sooner in the trip ? 
    Seas were rough today. We were sailing through the tail end of a typhoon. Personally I’ve seen worse, but the crew who hadn’t been on smaller ships were saying this was the worst they’d been through. There were sick sacks available in the stairwells, but they didn’t seem much used, fortunately.
    Today we had our Entertainment Tour from our Diamond status. I was really looking forward to seeing the differences with the older ships; we had most recently done one of these tours on Explorer. We started with about 30 minutes of discussion with the Theater stage manager and the dance supervisor. This was particularly fun because the Stage Manager’s mother was on the tour too, on her first cruise. She was very proud of her son — it was cute!
    The Theater holds about 2200 guests:

    Props and costumes:



    Backstage fun:


    The biggest surprise for me was how similar it all was to Explorer. While there were some tech advances, like the spotlight tracking devices, the dressing rooms and storage places were all the same (just a bit bigger). The Theater has 29 singers and dancers, and Two70 and the Music Hall have their own totally separate teams. If you get a chance to do this tour, jump on it on any ship. So interesting!
    Immediately following the tour was our consecutive cruiser meeting. There were about 160 back-to-backers on this cruise. Cruise staff told us what to expect the next day, and how to handle things if we were planning to go ashore or not. It was very helpful.
    Next we went to our favorite lounge chairs in the Silver area. For lunch, strictly for research purposes, I fetched pizza from Sorrentos:

    It was perfectly reasonable — not amazing but very edible ? How’s that for failing to add to the raging pizza debate on this site??
    Dinner in the MDR for our last night with our waitstaff:


    Also, we just squeaked in to the 50 year thing, this being the end of 2019. The cake was surprisingly delicious!

    We had intended to see both Silk Road and The Effectors tonight, but both were canceled due to high seas. DO NOT LEAVE SHOWS UNTIL THE END OF YOUR TRIP! In our case, we knew we had the next sailing to catch them so while disappointed, we were not crushed.
    This is one of my new favorite cruise sights, a hallway full of bags that does not include mine:

    Hahahahaha! Bye, poor suckers that have to go back to the Real World! (Too mean? #sorrynotsorry)
     
  12. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Subic Bay - pt. 2
    A few more shots from our shore excursion:





     
  13. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Day 6 — Subic Bay
    Another morning, another tasty breakfast at Silver dining. We docked in Subic, Philippines, at a former US Naval base that had been returned to the Philippine government after the catastrophic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Even though this was a docking port instead of tendering, we still chose a Royal excursion. Mostly because all the close-in stuff to do involves duty free shopping and that’s just not our thing.

    We chose the Puning Hot Spring and Jungle Adventure tour. Turned out to be a slightly misleading name, and the whole thing was not so much disorganized as badly communicated, but we enjoyed it anyway. Also, we ended up back to the ship late. Oops, again.
    The welcome show:

    Scenes in the town of Angeles on our way up to the hot spring:


    Our transport part of the way:

    Jungle:


    Dinner in the MDR, which was lobster night (lobster for MisterZ, Stir-Fried Beef for me):


    After two full days of touring we were a bit tired, so our evening was low key and we turned in early.
  14. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Ilocos pt. 2
    As promised, real photos!
    Laoag Cathedral (St William’s Cathedral), built 1612:


    Sinking Bell Tower, built 1612, sinks 1” per year:

    Ilocos Norte Capital building, dressed for Christmas:

    Moto-taxis, hold 2 passengers in the side car and one sitting side-saddle behind the driver:

    Paoay Church, built 1694:


    The only shot we got of the inside:

    Because wedding!

     
  15. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Day 5 - Ilocos
    Today started in Silver dining for breakfast, and then back to the cabin to slather on the sunscreen before our full day shore excursion in the Ilocos region of the Philippines. “Huh! Where’s that?” you say — just like I did when we booked this cruise. And then I continued to say it for many months as I failed to do any real research on the place and Royal failed to have any shore excursions in the Cruise Planner. At 29 days prior to the cruise, two excursions appeared — hooray! Having still done no research, we picked one based completely on the other excursion saying “time for shopping”, which we had no interest in.

    This is a tender port, so I felt it was important to book an excursion through Royal just for my own peace of mind. Also, our track record with full-day excursions in the Philippines actually getting back to the ship on time has run 50-50. **Spoiler alert — our track record is now 80-20 returning late ? ** Anyway, slathered up with camera in hand, we headed to our tender with our group. 
    Tendering took about 15 minutes. The dock was obviously a cargo port, and a very small one. The local city council had set up entertainment for our arrival:

    We walked through a small museum with a bit of history of the area to get to our buses. One brilliant thing — there was a tent set up with an official money changer right at the dock. Only Philippine pesos are accepted in the Ilocos region, FYI. (Sorry this is a crappy shot but I actually didn’t see it until I was on the bus):

    I expected the tourist facilities to be a bit more rustic than elsewhere in the Philippines, and I was not wrong. However, they rolled out the red carpet for us and in general did a great job. The local mayor for the Ilocos Sur region even rounded up free moto-taxis to take people into the closest town when he realized many passengers had made no accommodations for transport!
    Turns out Spectrum was the first ever Royal ship to call on Ilocos, and the FOURTH cruise ship EVER. The last one was a Star Cruises ship two years prior! That one docked at the gravel shipyard in Ilocos Norte about 45 minutes north of where we were. 
    Our tour bus was “experienced”, but comfortable enough and the A/C was frosty so no complaints. We drove about an hour and 20 minutes north to Laoag town, the capital of Ilocos Norte. Our guide was very good. Her day job was working for the vice-governor of the area. She was a licensed tour guide for English speaking and Mandarin speaking tours. Her *third* job was cooking Indian food at the housing complex for the Indian engineers working on road improvements. Underemployment is a problem in the Philippines...
    We saw the town center, the American-built capitol building, the Spanish-built town church, and the Marcos family regional courthouse. Yes, that Marcos family. They are still a Really Big Deal in the area; Ferdinand’s grandson is the current mayor and a grand-niece is a senator. There’s even a university named after Ferdinand’s father.
    A Philippines staple, the Jeepny:

    Next we went to the Marcos’ family home in the region, a beautiful home on the edge of a lake, that is now a museum:

    Finally we stopped at a fantastic old Spanish church of St Augustin, a UNESCO World Heritage site:

    Then we headed back to the ship. We were 10 minutes past all-aboard, and 40 minutes past the last tender. The ship ended up departing about 30 minutes late. Oops.
    Off to Vintages for a nice glass of wine before dinner:



    For dinner we tried Silver dining, which does a blend of menu and buffet. MisterZ had the crab cake and prawns, I had the chicken. It was all very tasty! The menu is the same every night:

    We ended the night at the Music Hall, listening to the Extra Band. Another good one!
    **MisterZ has promised more Ilocos pictures, so stay tuned for a second post on the topic!**
     
  16. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Two70
    This was another space I was really looking forward to experiencing on this ship, especially with the loss of my beloved Viking Crown. I have to say it did not disappoint — I love being able to sit and watch the ocean. And you are so close to the water! This is another venue where the seating is so interesting, too. 



    The Cafe:

    Attached to Two70 on the upper level is the library, which I was glad to see even if it is small:

    Off of the Library is the Boardroom, a gorgeous space for puzzles, games, private gatherings, etc:

     
  17. Love
    Skigoofy reacted to tiny blonde in Who would ever let go of your child, even if there was no glass there?   
    Where I live, when people find out I'm 81, they say (without fail), "Oh, you're still a baby!" Neither my husband (84) nor I is fully retired, we both work part-time - he's a jazz musician, I'm a clinical social worker. One of our friends here is 106, and his girlfriend will turn 100 in March. Most of our neighbors are in their 90's. They're all retired. Come to think of it, we're going to have to make arrangements to take time off for our first cruise . . . in only 108 days!! ? 'Can hardly wait.
  18. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KWong in Independence of the Seas Cruise Report - 2 Jan 2020 - 7 Jan 2020   
    So a while back I started posting my cruise reports on the DISboards. And I figured that since I'm trying to be more active here that I might try and to a little cross posting. Hope you enjoy!
    (Note: When I do these things I write. A lot. I try to inject humour (and pics/gifs) into what amounts to a very long essay, and that seems to break up the monotony.)
    Usually, my go-to cruise time is in the summer. Given that I have kids, this makes sense, as I don’t have to deal with any issues associated with missing class during the semester. And yet, here I am, doing a pre-cruise post about a cruise in January. Why? Well, there’s a long story associated with taking this cruise.

    On my last cruise, part of a restroom ended up on top of my wife’s foot. While not serious (my wife might disagree), Royal did express concern - consistently - for the rest of the trip. They offered a few incentives to my wife, who decided not to accept any of them. But, at the end of our cruise, they gave us future cruise certificate of roughly $450 CDN to apply to another cruise. So after some clarification as to how the application worked (they agreed that we simply needed to apply the certificate to a cruise prior to the 1 year expiry date), we booked a 4 night Navigator of the Seas cruise out of Miami for January 2020.

    Now, you’ll notice that the title of this report says Independence, not Navigator. And that is because in early January 2019 we received the bad news that our cruise had been chartered. For the “Friendship Festival Cruise”, which appears to be an EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival. We were given the option of moving to the cruise immediately following, but being a bit wary of boarding after a charter cruise, we decided to book Independence for a 5 night out of Fort Lauderdale instead. For rebooking, we received $200 OBC + $75 based on the booking offers at the time.

    Ordinarily, you’d think that this would be the end of it, but in March my TA sent me an email saying that my Independence cruise had been chartered - this time for “70,000 Tons of Metal”. Which is an amazing name for a theme cruise, so kudos to them.

    This time, the offer allowed us to rebook to a 5 night preceding the metal cruise, and given that this fit our schedule better (kids only miss a couple of school days), we decided to take it. As with the previous cancellation, we received an additional $200 OBC. $475 in OBC is a lot, even after you subtract gratuities from that amount.

    Hopefully nothing else delays or cancels this trip. Like, say, 12 inches of snow.

    Ahem. Moving on.

    Flights
    As per usual, I start looking at flights once I get my cruise booked or they become available, whichever comes last. So I suppose it’s fortunate that I hadn’t booked a flight at the time of cancellations, although I would’ve gotten a change fee credit from Royal if I had booked flights. But the less paperwork the better.

    The interesting part about the flights to FLL from Toronto was that departures were cheaper on New Year’s Eve (would be a 2 night stay in Florida) than New Year’s Day (1 night stay). Conversely, hotels were more expensive on New Year’s Eve. Go figure. So it was a bit of a dilemma, but this was resolved in part by my starting a new job, and not having any vacation for the end of year. And thus, we are leaving New Year’s Day, and just staying the one night before the cruise.
    Hotels
    I’m currently booked at one of the more popular cruise hotels, Hyatt Place 17th Street. As usual, I booked via Valuetrips, although the discount at this time of year is not as large as it is in the summer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a better deal, but the proximity to various restaurants, shops, grocery stores and Port Everglades made it an appealing place to stay.

    Excursions
    The cruise has two stops - Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

    We’ve been to Grand Cayman once, off Disney Fantasy, and it was a fun beach day along seven mile. Well except for the part where my brother went into the water with his phone in his pocket. Good times.

    This time around, we are doing something we wouldn’t normally do - swimming with stingrays. After doing my research, I decided to sign up with the well regarded Stingray Sailing and their sister company, Cayman Eco Adventures. Both appear to be focused on small tours (max 25 people) and being kind to the rays, which seems quite appealing to me.

    For Cozumel, we currently have no plans. With only one other boat docked with us, We will probably try out Paradise Beach, since they have a low entry fee and a $10pp minimum food charge.

    Onboard
    Neither my wife nor I are big drinkers, and as a result the drink package isn’t something that provides a lot of value for us. The argument could be made that one could also find value by purchasing coffees, juices and bottled water in addition to alcoholic beverages. And you’d be right, but here’s the thing - without the package there isn’t much incentive to buy bottled water or fresh squeezed juices. Coffee… well, maybe, and to that end I’ve purchased the coffee card, as we can take that with us onto Symphony in the summer if there are still unused credits. 

    We did purchase the photo package (Black Friday discount). Hopefully I’ll be able to include some of the shots, but time will tell.

    Boarding will be a different experience. I checked in via the app, and thus have Expedited Arrival privileges. It will be my first time with this, and I’m excited to try this out.

    Our room is a 1D Oceanview Balcony. We will be right by the “bump” on the ship so I expect some of our peripheral view to be a bit obstructed but we shall see. I did put in a RoyalUp bid for a Suite, at the minimum cost, and we’ll see if that’s accepted. It be nice if it was, but I'm not counting on it.

    For now, it’s less than one week until we get on that plane. Can't wait.
  19. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Sichuan Red
    We wanted to try the specialty restaurant Sichuan Red during this trip, since it is currently only found on Spectrum. It makes sense a ship built for China would have a Chinese restaurant, particularly Sichuan cuisine (southern and spicy). It was $35 per person, with a few upsale menu items. The $35 included a cold appetizer, a hot entree, a soup, and either a side dish or a dessert. However, there were a number of substitutions you could make, like the broccoli entree instead of a side dish. The server was patient in explaining our options. Also, if you bought an upcharge item, it came in addition to all the other food. It ended up be one metric crap-ton of food (that’s a specific technical measurement on this side of the world ? ).
    It was fantastic! If you don’t like at least a bit of spicy, this restaurant is not for you. But if you can handle it, everything we ate was amazing! If you get a chance, eat here for sure!


    Sour & Spicy Soup:

    Not even all the food we had. From top right — fruit appetizer (in case the pickles were too spicy), Chinese Lettuce Leaves with Sesame Paste Dipping Sauce, Green Pepper Chicken, Assorted Pickles, Sour & Spicy Soup, Mapo Tofu, Wok-Fried Chicken with Chilis, and Crispy Fried Sea Scallops (center, $25 upcharge). Not pictured: white rice, Sichuan Spicy Noodles, Stir-Fried Garlic Broccoli

    Spectrum does not currently offer any dining packages, FYI
  20. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to Jax in First Time Star Class 8 night Holiday Bahamas Cruise Anthem 12/20/19   
    Today was a busy day.  We started the day off by eating NYC bagels ? followed by pizza, pork belly and brisket ??. It seems like the food coma has already started! Lol. We started out visiting Stadium Goods, a shoe exchange warehouse Reyd has wanted to visit. He purchased his first pair of Yeezy’s so it was a pretty good day for him. ? Then we were off to One World Observatory — we couldn’t have picked a clearer day; the view was picture perfect! We ended the afternoon by a visit to the 911 Museum. We were disappointed to learn that the stock exchange is no longer open to the public. 
     
    I have heard from Andres several times today about miscellaneous stuff and he said the Anthem is close, waiting to dock around 5 am. ??
    Transportation is picking us up at 9:30am tomorrow morning. Next check in will be onboard the Anthem! 








  21. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to WannaCruise in Adventure - Dec 15th - Review of 6 Night   
    Food Options:
    Cafe Promenade
    Adventure is Voyager class and thus, there are not as many food options as Oasis class, but it was still good.  For complimentary, there is Cafe Promenade, which was at the typical location on the Promenade at the front side on deck 5.  The pizza is served here are well, and it wasn't bad.  The pizza seems to have improved.  The coffee shop is attached, which serves Starbucks coffee (more comments to come).
    Windjammer
    Of course, Adventure has the famous Windjammer.  We had lunch here a couple times.  The selection was impressive with many salads and various options, and then they also had Indian food and Mexican food.  I find the Windjammer hit and miss for lunch, but it was pretty good on this ship.
    MDR
    Breakfast
    We quite like the breakfast in the MDR so aside from the first morning, we went to the MDR.  The buffet is very similar to the Windjammer (maybe a bit smaller) and DH and I both love the Eggs Benedict, but with smoked salmon instead of the meat. The service is always very good and quite efficient.
    Lunch
    On sea days, you can have lunch in the MDR.  They serve the Tutti Fruitti Salad bar (spelling?), which is make your own salad.  That in itself, is worth going to the MDR for lunch.  Having said that, Adventure's MDR for lunch was disappointing compared with other ships.  Outside of the salad bar, the rest of the buffet is quite small.  You can order off of the menu, but there weren't any great options and it was the same menu on both sea days.  On Navigator/Symphony, we had a spectacular grilled cheese and also a great pasta.  Everything here on the menu was blah.  We got fish tacos which were fine but didn't stand out.  
    Dinner
    For dinner, we booked early traditional dining.  We made the mistake of not checking out our table beforehand.  Thus we arrived at 5:30pm for dinner time and they lead us to a table.  As we saw where they were leading us, we said "uh, that is not what we booked".  First, the location wasn't ideal as it was near the entrance.  And second, we had asked for a table for just DH and I, but it was a large group.  So we had to line up with everyone else who needed table changes.  They said they would see what they could do, but this annoyed DH as we requested a private table awhile ago when we booked.  The manager was there and helped find us a table for two.  The two servers came by who seemed very pleasant, and the location was fine so we asked if we could keep the table.  At first they weren't sure, but then the manager returned in a bit and said this would be our table.  So issue solved.
    I'm guessing they keep some buffer tables for people switching on night 1 as we weren't the only ones in the line up for table issues (or those on wait lists).  
    For the meals, my favorites were served over the 6 nights (and one night had both lobster and a pasta that I love so I had both...lol) and the food was pretty good.  One thing that is different on Adventure is the menu doesn't have the "classic section" for those items that are available every night (which they have had on our last few cruises).  After the third night, we noticed that escargots were removed, but DH and I did ask for them on the last night, and they were able to bring them to us.  So it's good that they can accomodate.
    Specialty
    We didn't try any specialty restaurants so can't comment on those.  The location is a bit different though with Izumi on the Promenade, Chops across from Schooner Bar and Giovannis near the Windjammer.  It's actually these little differences that i enjoy from ship to ship (so that they are not all exactly the same).  
  22. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to WannaCruise in Adventure - Dec 15th - Review of 6 Night   
    Our Room (JS)
    This cruise was just DH and I, but even when we book with our kids, we tend to book a promenade room (all of us in one room, or we had 2 connecting ones on Navigator), or a balcony room (regular/spacious or boardwalk), and we have 2 connecting virtual balcony rooms on our next cruise.  But we've never booked anything above a balcony.
    For this cruise, we started with a balcony, but then prices really dropped and we upgraded to a Junior Suite for the first time for only $100 more than we originally booked our balcony.  We know that the JS doesn't have the full suite privileges, but the room was still a big deal for us and we were excited for a bigger room (and we'll take the double points).
    Our room was 1640  (deck 10, a few rooms down from the aft elevators on port side).
    Location was perfect as it was only 1 deck away from Windjammer and pool deck.  It was also just 5 decks away from MDR (but correct side of the ship).  Very convenient and strangely, we don't typically book so high up, but may consider this going forward.  
    Room size for us, was great.  Wow, all that space and we didn't have to squeeze by each other.  And shelving...OMG...so much; especially with the walk in closet.  My only regret was I didn't bring more clothes as we had extra shelves (that I used to place extra compasses that I wanted to keep)...lol.  And it had a great large balcony.  Nice! 

     


    And walk in closet

    The bathroom includes a tub with the shower, and the sink area has 2 mirrored shelves (can't remember if other rooms have one or two).  It also came with shampoo and conditioner (I bring my own anyways, but DH used the provided ones) and shower gel.  The provided shampoo, etc, wasn't the octaine brand (spelling?) but it seemed nice enough.

    A few negatives
    Our room was categorized as aft, but it really wasn't that far aft.  Thus, one thing we were surprised with is that we felt the vibrations of the engine (which was really only noticed when you lie down to go to bed).  And we were surprised since we expect this at the full aft rooms but not this location.  It wasn't that bad, and by bed you are so tired, that it didn't keep us up, but was noticeable. 
    Just bad luck:
    We had 2 technical issues with our room:
    Toilet wouldn't flush at one point  After a shower and I turned off the water and I noticed that the water was pouring out of the drain that was on the outside of the tub.  And it wasn't stopping.  Ummm...that didn't look right But both issues they resolved fairly quickly.  The shower one must have been a bit of a bigger issue.  The water did eventually stop pouring, but the next morning we returned to our room after breakfast and there was a worker lying on the floor (at eye level to the drain) and had taken off the whole side of the tub/panel.  But they fixed it and no issue going forward.  
    Room verdict
    We loved the room.  Only issue?  How do we go back to a small one again?  Not world problems and we'll manage, but I'm sure we'll notice the difference. ?
  23. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to iluvwineandtravel in Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise New Year's 2020 onboard Freedom of the Seas   
    Hi All,
    I am sure others will blog about this one, but I thought I would join along.  My track record tells me that it probably won't be quite live, but I will capture my experiences and catch up on the plane ride home from San Juan if nothing else!
    I have had this cruise booked for more than 2 years now after the RCL blog cruise was first announced.  Despite this being our 30th cruise or so, this is our first time on Freedom Class.  We initially booked a balcony cabin, and then I downgraded to an inside cabin to save money.  We are the type of cruisers who enjoy a balcony, but it depends on the price difference in the cost.  We are perfectly happy in an inside cabin, even in Alaska which is one of our favorite itineraries.  I ended up doing royal up and getting upgraded back to an aft corner balcony a few months ago and we are thrilled with that!!!  I also went back and forth on the drink package with this being a group cruise, but after weighing the pros and cons and decided to forgo the package and just depend on diamond drinks, my two bottles of wine,  drinking in port on this very port intensive itinerary, and we are going to do Chef's table on new year's eve.   
    We are typically my time dining people, but because we are with the group and in port late many days, we switched he second seating to sit with the group.   That said, we also have a 3 night dining package so will likely only be eating in the main dining room 2 or 3 nights this cruise which is unusual for us.   
    Here are the plans so far:
    We fly from Cincinnati/Norther KY airport very early saturday morning and arrive in San Juan in mid afternoon.  We will be staying at the Hyatt house ( using hyatt points).   After checking into the hotel, we will venture into old San Juan have some food and drinks and then meed up with the group.  
    Embarkation is later than normal on Sunday.  We will eat breakfast at the hotel, and then we are are heading to Bacardi for the Mixology tour.  Our status with Hyatt house gives us a late 2pm check out, so we will head back mid afternoon and then head towards Freedom.   The welcome aboard party is at 4:30, muster at 7pm, and then we have a 8pm seating with our 3 night dining package. 
    Here is the proposed itinerary for the rest of the week journey. 

     
     
     
  24. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    Day 4 — At sea
    Today turned out to be mostly about music. 

    Breakfast at Silver dining again. This morning was Christmas, and Royal had 2.5 hours of Santa giving out gifts to the over 1000 children onboard this sailing. Crazy! We also did Northstar (see above) this morning. Lunch was room service on our balcony, watching birds chase flying fish. After lunch MisterZ napped and I trotted around the ship taking photos for you all ? 
    My first sighting of the Stowaway Piano Player was that afternoon. Music #1. 

    Then we checked out the Bionic Bar. In the name of research, of course!



    Diamond lounge before dinner, and then we ate at Silver dining. It was nice, but the menu doesn’t change so once was enough. You order your app and entree from the menu and then get sides, salad, dessert, and more entrees from the buffet. 
    Crab cake and prawns:



     
    Next we found the Stowaway Piano Player again and got to request songs. He’s quite good. Music #2. 
    Then we went to the Music Hall to hear the Aura Band, a bluesy-pop cover band. They were fun and I really like the Music Hall venue. Music #3. 
    Music Hall staircase:

    Behind the Music Hall bar:

     
    Last we stopped at the Schooner Bar to hear Girl Named Jake, who we had caught briefly two nights before. Music #4 was also excellent!
    Schooner Bar:

     
    We really have been pleased with the live music on this trip! 
     
  25. Like
    Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B   
    OMG. The mouse was fantastic, but this water buffalo?? I heart him so much!

     
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