Since people often ask, here are the soaps/lotions/potions provided in Silver Jr Suites. Also, my photographic composition needs some work. The bottle you can’t see the label on is conditioner. Sorry about that!
Cabin 7638 — Silver Junior Suite
Here’s the cabin tour! I really like this one. We’ve been in Junior Suites on several other ships but this one seems very efficient in its use of space.
At the door:
From the back corner:
The TV/desk area:
The tub side of the bathing room. There is a separate shower to the left of the photo. There is a completely separate toilet room as well, with another sink:
The balcony. Dividers can be opened on either side if you’re traveling with others:
30 minutes in a taxi and about $45USD-equivalent later, we’re in our hotel in Kowloon. L’hotel elan (lower case, with a ‘ over the e that I didn’t even try to make happen here) is a stylish mid-range hotel about 1km from the cruise terminal. The unrest in Hong Kong has definitely impacted the tourist industry. We got this room for about $85 for the night which is a screaming deal for this part of town. Breakfast is included.
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! It’s FINALLY cruise time!
We are headed to Hong Kong to board Spectrum for a back-to-back, 7 days to Japan and Philippines and then 4 days to Vietnam.
Our bags are packed:
We fly from Tokyo, where we currently live, to Hong Kong today on Cathay Pacific. The flight is about 5 hours with a one hour time change. Cathay Pacific is generally a solid choice for flying around the region and the weather forecast is decent, so we should have a smooth day <knocks on all the wooden things>
One 22” suitcase, one 24”, and a backpack. The only reason for the backpack is to hold MisterZ’s work laptop (boo!) and his Child (otherwise known as his camera — details on this later if I can cajole him into giving me some photos for this blog).
One Sky
The is a new Royal Caribbean original production. I found this an interesting show although I did struggle with the flow of the show at times or how it relates to the sky, or one sky. So I just looked at each segment on it's own without worrying about the overall message.
Strong vocals and enjoyable as long as you are not expecting a story with a distinct beginning, middle and ending.
Aqua80
The new Aqua show is a big hit and very well done. It's a perfect mix of great music, water action and diving.
What really makes this show is the music and if you are familiar with the Back to The Future movies you'll feel right at home with the opening song and hoverboard action.
There are still some very artistic pieces but set to music of the 80's it's a good mix.
Of course they have some slack line action...
As well as some high wire thrills...
With lots of core diving skills.
All in all a very good show you'll want to see more than once.
Miami Day 2
An action-packed day today.
First up, a jet boat ride around Biscayne Bay where we got absolutely drenched!
Followed by an quick ride on some electric scooters around Bayfront Park to help us dry off.
Then, after lunch, we grabbed some City Bikes and cycled back over to Miami Beach across Venetian Islands and down to South Pointe Park to watch today's cruise ships set sail. It was exciting to get my first IRL look at an Oasis class ship prior to boarding Allure tomorrow.
We then strolled the 2 miles or so back to the hotel via a fantastic Italian restaurant on Española Way.
We've had a great couple of days in Miami, but now we're VERY excited about boarding Allure tomorrow.
So, we've arrived in Miami to rain of almost biblical volumes. We've been told that it only rains heavily for about 11 days of the year here. Unfortunately, it looks like 3 of those are the 3 days that we're here before our cruise!
Oh well, you can't do anything to control the weather so we're going to make the most of it, and the effects of the jet lag, by getting up early tomorrow and heading to Cape Canaveral for the day. Not somewhere that I thought I'd ever get to see and the boys (and when I say 'boys', you must remember that those to whom I refer are aged 40 and 46) are particularly excited about it.
Tonight we've just checked into our hotel, where we were pleasantly surprised to receive vouchers for a free drink each in the bar and even more pleasantly surprised to find that cocktails were included. Then we went for dinner at a Cuban place around the corner called Bella Cuba. The drinks service was a little slow but the food came out pretty quickly and was really flavourful and pretty healthy.
We are a family of 5 (me, my wife, 2 sons (9,6) and daughter (3). We have been on multiple cruises to include Disney, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival at different points in our life. For our makeup as we are now this was an amazing cruise. While the food and decor was not quite up to the Disney standard (it was not far off, and definitely much more return on investment for the price).
Embarkation:
We arrived the night before and stayed near Houston Hobby airport at the Springhill Suites (we had Marriott points so it was free). The hotel itself was fine, but the area around left to be desired. Our flight home the following week was late at night so we rented a car for the week so that we would be able to explore after debarkation.
We drove to Galveston (approximately 45 minutes). This is where I made a mistake: I decided to try to drop the rest of my family off and the baggage then park the car. The line to drive up took a long time with the kiddos being able to see the ship. In hindsight I would have parked and walked with them because we parked at Galveston Park and Cruise which was directly across the street from the terminal (closer to the Carnival ship, but still very close). This would have saved me a lot of "are we there yets". We had prebooked parking and it was extremely easy.
We stayed in a Grand Suite so we had expedited boarding and check-in. This was a nice feature. We checked in and punched holes in our Gold Cards (different color due to being in a suite) and attached them to our lanyards that we brought from home. Lanyards were key for our family and we liked that we brought different ones for each of us, but don't fret if you don't bring them they are for sale in the terminal and on the ship. I would recommend them and punching a whole in it to attach it.
Note: There was a cold front when we were in Galveston so there was light rain and a high of 59, so we did not do outdoor activities on the first day. I imagine this would have been a good plan as discussed in many other reviews, but not an option for us.
Once on we explored the ship a little, and then went with the rest of the masses to the Windjammer Buffet. The food here was definitely tasty. I have read lots of complaints about bland food, but we did not find this to be the case at all. We thoroughly enjoyed the food here and ate multiple lunches, most breakfasts (got room service on two days we had excursions, but more on that later) and one dinner (they had sushi that night). Finding tables in Windjammer especially on the first day was difficult. Luckily since we had our Gold Cards we could eat in either Giovanni's or Chops (depended on the meal and the day) with our plates from the buffet or order of a menu. This was a great and underrated perk of being in a suite. We could always find a table that was quieter, but still enjoy the choices from the buffet.
Next we went to sign the kids up at Adventure Ocean (kids club). There are three different levels: Aquanauts (3-5), Explorers (6-8) and Voyagers (9-11). Due to age ranges all my kids were in different groups. This was not an issue for our kids, and they each made friends that they would chat with and hang out in the pool or outside of the kids club as well.
**HINT: There were two different areas to check in (Aquanaut and Explorer Rooms). The Explorer room had a ridiculously long line, but the Aquanaut room had no line. There is no real introduction or anything at either room just a form that must be filled out. For Voyagers you can sign for them to sign themselves in and out. We told my oldest that he could not sign himself out, but we signed that authorization so that he could sign himself in. This was a time saver and a few times the other kids didn't want to go to the kids club and he did so he could go by himself to sign himself in.
After that we explored the Royal Promenade and made our way to our room. The room was great for us. The balcony had two lounge chairs with a little table, and then two chairs and a large patio table where we ate a few times and enjoyed coffee daily before the kids woke up. Inside the room was a pullout couch where the boys slept and our room steward (Edwin) brought in a rollaway bed that we put beside it for our daughter. Then we had a bed to ourselves on the other side of the room that could be separated by a curtain. We had LOTS of drawers (so many we even had empty drawers even with 5 of us)! We had two sinks in the bathroom and a bathtub which was great for the little ones.
We changed for dinner. I put on jeans (like every night except formal night) because it said no short pants and I am a rule follower, but as stated in other reviews outfits ran the gambit and anything goes. We went to our table which was by the window as I had requested and met our waiter Michael and his assistant waiter Joenel. They were both awesome! Great service. Joenel had our drinks waiting for us the next night so we could have our martinis while we read the menu. The food at the dining room was good. Was it the most highend dinner...no, but it was good and if you take into account the number of people that are being cooked for during each sitting it was pretty darn good. Some of the presentation left some to be desired (shrimp cocktail is a bed of lettuce with 3 shrimp laid on it), but the flavors were good. We enjoyed all the meals we had there.
My Family Time Dining: We selected the 5:30 seating so that we could utilize the My Family Time dining. I have not seen a good description of this in any of the other reviews so I wanted to explain this process. Starting the second night, you could tell your waiter that your kids were going to the kids club and they would ensure that they got their entire meal including dessert before they had to leave. Pickup was at 6:40 on the 4th deck (middle deck of the 3 levels of the dining room) outside the dining room. At 6:40 you take your kid(s) down to the counselor that was there and they check you in using a tablet then the parent can go back to their meal. We figured out that if we got to dinner around 5:40 this was about the perfect timing to ensure they got all their food, but not too much downtime after their meal before pickup. We also asked Michael to wait on our (DW and my) entrees until we dropped the kids off. This worked really well for us and gave us time to actually enjoy our meal too. If you don't use this pickup option, Adventure opens at 7PM.
Adventure Ocean: All three of our kids loved their different areas. For the oldest group they seemed to play a lot of Gaga Ball (dodgeball, but you hit the ball instead of throwing it) and some other games. They were some more structured activities as well including facepainting and other activities. Having all kids enjoy themselves was a key part of us enjoying our vacation as parents. The boys did not enjoy their time at Disney in the kids club as much as they did here. Truth in advertising they were younger, but they all loved this so that is good enough for me.
Pools: The pools were well maintained. My kids loved Splashaway Bay the best. It is a jungle gym with lots of spray and buckets and slides. This is right near the ice cream machine as well (my kids frequented this machine A LOT). There was a kid pool that was 2 feet deep, and it was great for my daughter to splash around and play in without a lifevest. There was a bar by all the pools so we frequented the Squeeze (the bar by Splashaway Bay) a lot. We had the drink package and for us we found it extremely beneficial. We definitely got our money worth. The two pools in the main pool area were too deep for my kids to touch, but we had them wear lifejackets that were readily available from Royal Caribbean by the towel stand. The screen here played the Final Four and a few movies, but most of the time it has videos from Chive TV (like youtube). The adult only area was good with two jacuzzis and a pool. This was a little crowded, but it was good overall. As previously stated by people: There is no food available on the pool deck besides ice cream so this was annoying, but not a major issue for us as we understood this limitation.
Royal Promenade: There were lots of food choices at the Promenade Cafe (sandwiches, salads and baked goods) and Sorrentos (pizza, antipasto, desserts). The lines were long at Sorrentos, but they went much faster than they looked. There were different drinks at the different bars on the Royal Promenade. Note: Vintages has little to no choices that are covered by the drink package [you only have to pay the difference, but there are lots of other choices elsewhere that are covered]. My wife's favorite drink was at the Hoof and Claw Pub which was a mixed drink including strawberry, liquor and beer. It sounds odd, but it was delicious.
Entertainment: We went to In the Air and it was amazing. It was really well done and had you on the edge of your seat at points. This was family friendly and my kids loved it as well. We also went to Encore (the ice show). It was also very good. It was fun and enjoyable and the kids also liked it. We chose to skip Saturday Night Fever as it is not for our kids and there were other activities we wanted to do.
Other Activities: We did sports trivia at the Schooner Bar (where I got a great old fashioned and a brandy alexander), and Family Karaoke at On Air bar [where we had amazing service from Roger]. Roger always found us seats and ensured that my daughter had a martini glass full of maraschino cherries. We played mini-golf one day and it was fun.
Cupcake Decorating Class: My wife and daughter did this class on one of the sea days. It was $30 per person, but since my wife was helping my daughter and not participating alone they only charge for one person. They had over an hour with the head pastry chef on how to decorate cupcakes and they made 6 cupcakes and were given two extras of different animals and colors. This was "the best $30 we have spent in a long time" according to my wife.
Suite Lounge: This was a nice area to get away from the loud crowds. We went in there a few times during the day to play board games and relax with the view. Nightly there was a cocktail period with appetizers from 4:30-8. This was a great nightly routine to go get a drink and snacks (my kids loved the samosas so much they barely ate dinner on of the nights) and shirley temples for the kids.
Excursions: We did excursions at Roatan and Cozumel. We chose to stay on the boat in Belize. We wanted to spend on day on the boat when it was in port to enjoy an empty boat. It was great. My kids were able to ride the slides continuously for roughly an hour without any lines.
Roatan: We did Big French Key. This was a good excursion. It is a 20 minute bus ride to the boat that takes you to the island. Our tour guide was very knowledgable and we learned a lot about Roatan during the ride. Then it was a 4 minute ride out to the island. there are two different excursions out this way. Big French Key and Little French Key. Big French Key had signifcantly less activities than Little French Key, but seemed more mellow. They share a lagoon so you see the other group. I would recommend water shoes as there were a lot of rocks. Not required because we did not have them, but it would have been nice. The food was included, but drinks were extra. We wanted a relaxing beach day for the kids, and that is what we got with Big French Key but if you want more action Little French Key looked like a better option. Our kids just wanted to chase fish and ride the little zipline so this was great for our family.
Cozumel: We went to Nachi Cocom. I had read all the reviews about how great this place was, but it seemed like it was too good to be true. I was wrong. It lived up to all the hype and then some. We got a taxi ($23 each way since we had 5 people) and it took about 15 minutes to get to Nachi Cocom. Upon arrival we had our picture taken, checked in and then were escorted to our Palapa (palm tree that grows big enough to be like an umbrella) and our 3 beach chairs and met our waiter Carlos. We rented a float that could hold all 3 kids for $20. Then we started playing in the ocean. Then the kids wanted to shift to the pool which was fine with us as there was a swim up bar with all drinks included so the kids got to have virgin Pina Coladas and Daiquiris, and we had margaritas. Around 1030 the kitchen opens and you can order off the menu. The food was very tasty and delivered to us at the table we found at the pool by Carlos. It was great. Perfect and relaxing day. They only let in 130 people a day so it is a big spread out area and it felt like even less people than advertised because of this. We paid about $130 for all 5 of us since our daughter was free. This was extremely well worth it, and we will book there again on our next cruise.
In conclusion: This was an amazing cruise for us. Where we are in life we could not have asked for a better time or ship. It was large, but small enough to navigate with many options of activities and our room was great for when we wanted to come and relax. We booked again for next spring break this time in an Owner’s Suite and we have another family joining us too! I can’t wait. I cannot recommend this highly enough. If you are on the fence YOLO BOOK IT!
We made it!! And are settled into the Conrad Downtown. We landed at JFK in the midst of a winter squall. It was kinda funny because as we landed and people started turning on their phones emergency alerts started sounding on everyone’s cell phone. Traffic was slow into Manhattan as a result; taking about 90 minutes. A big shout out to NY City Limo as our driver was great. He was waiting for us with an airport meet and greet and got us here safely.
Of course, the boys were starving so eating was a priority. We found a great pizza place called Harry’s Italian beside the Conrad. Enjoyed the pizza and Fettuccine Alfredo.
Post-Cruise Plans
After the cruise, we're back to the same hotel as we're in pre-cruise and will be there for the New Year's celebrations.
Again, we have no firm plans. We're far from party animals.
I believe there are fireworks on the beach, so we may just have dinner somewhere and then watch those, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
We're all checked in at the airport now and waiting for our flight. Then it's just a mere 10 hours until we arrive in Miami, although, to be honest, I'm really quite looking forward to the idea of sitting and doing nothing for 10 hours ?
Cruise Plans
We have 2 ocean view balconies on Deck 10. Not next to one another but only a few cabins apart.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to link our bookings and get the same dining arrangements - we've got MTD and our friends have got late seating - but we're hoping to adjust when we're onboard so that either we join them or they join us. We've also booked 150 Central park for dinner on night 6. Again we were unable to link our bookings so one of us has 6:30 and the other 7pm but we're hoping to move the reservations together onboard.
We've got an ice-show and an aqua theatre show booked. The aqua theatre is probably the thing I'm most excited to see onboard.
After some deliberation, we decided to go Team DX. At the price we got and the current exchange rate, we'll need to drink 5 cocktails a day to break even. With a planned early embarkation, 3 sea days, a day at Coco Cay and bottled water, coffees and soft drinks thrown into the mix, I think we should get our money's worth ?
Port Plans
Again, hectic schedules, inability to link bookings and winter illness mean we haven't actually booked any excursions as of yet. As a type A planner, I find this more than a little unsettling, but I'm sure it will be fine ? We've got some ideas of what we'd like to do and hopefully we'll get something booked once we're all together in Miami. If all else fails, we'll simply wander around the shopping area in St Maarten before parking ourselves on the beach for some much-needed R&R and in San Juan we'll just have a wander around.
In Coco Cay, we've booked waterpark passes - the second most exciting thing IMO - and I think the plan is to go there for some thrill time in the morning before heading to the beach for some chill time in the afternoon.
It would be great to say 'hi' if we bump into one another.
We should be fairly easy to spot in embarkation day if I can convince tube others to all wear tube t-shirts I bought them
Looking beyond the water slides the pool deck has also been transformed.
New hot tubs located on the deck 16 sun deck.
New casitas on the deck 16 sundeck.
The Lime and Coconut concept first introduced on Navigator has been brought over to Oasis.
When I first saw saw this theme on Navigator it was truly transformational. On Oasis it is equally transformational but in a different way.
On Navigator the Lime and Coconut area is condensed and you see the effect in one area. On Oasis the pool and sundeck decks are so much larger the effect is distributed across this larger area so you feel the impact of the Lime and Coconut theme around the whole deck but in more subtle ways compared to Navigator.
Around the pool deck the new color palette can be found even in small details like the edge of the tables.
Skigoofy reacted to KristiZ in Spectrum of the Seas - 22DEC19 - Hong Kong B2B