twangster

Rather than going straight to the top of the company and spamming his inbox, the Crown and Anchor Society can also be used to questions,, concerns, compliments or complaints that don't warrant involving the CEO.  I try to save that email address for when I really need it.
[email protected]

While the items on the menus are common across the fleet, the order and combination they appear can change.  If the last cruise didn't eat a lot of chicken they might adjust the menus next cruise to offer chicken entrees more frequently. 
The food and beverage manager and head chef can also adjust menus depending on how much food budget has been consumed that week.  Each cruise has a specific budget.  If they have surplus budget they will offer more expensive items into the rotation.  They don't want to to fall too short of the budget or the budget will be reduced by corporate over time.  If they are constantly $10k under budget, the food budget will be reduced by $10k.  This is why the menus listed in the Royal app are often different than what actually appears in the MDR on any given night.  
Things you learn when you take the galley tours...

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

Day 4 - San Juan
Quite windy as we approached Puerto Rico but Empress handled it really well.

The pilot boat was having a fun ride.


Finally San Juan was within sight.

El Morro was grand as ever.


Into our berth early as promised.

Eventually all ships will leave the fleet, even the Icon class decades from now.  It's never a matter of "if" but when.  
Radiance class still has several potential years of service for destinations best served with smaller ships.
Vision class is still around because at the moment they can operate at profit.  Royal is a business and as long as a ship is in the black why would they get rid of it?
 

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

Drink sale of the day, half off Margaritas!

My plan for this visit to San Juan was some photos during golden hour after sunset so I waited for the WJ to open at 6pm and had some dinner before venturing off.


Walking up hill I found a view that included Empress in the distance.

Day 4 - San Juan
Quite windy as we approached Puerto Rico but Empress handled it really well.

The pilot boat was having a fun ride.


Finally San Juan was within sight.

El Morro was grand as ever.


Into our berth early as promised.

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

Drink sale of the day, half off Margaritas!

My plan for this visit to San Juan was some photos during golden hour after sunset so I waited for the WJ to open at 6pm and had some dinner before venturing off.


Walking up hill I found a view that included Empress in the distance.

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

Day 4 - San Juan
Quite windy as we approached Puerto Rico but Empress handled it really well.

The pilot boat was having a fun ride.


Finally San Juan was within sight.

El Morro was grand as ever.


Into our berth early as promised.

Day 2 - CocoCay
I woke and discovered we were already here and tied up to the pier early.

Mariner is with us today.  The NCL Sky was sailing past on her way to anchor at GSC next door.


Live music to greet us this morning.


I think it's going to be a Perfect Day.

Beyond it being a new class of ship with unknown new activities the environmental aspects represent a ongoing trend towards less pollution being generated.  
Symphony is 20% more efficient compared to her sisters.  That reduces emissions and lowers operating costs over the lifecycle of the ship.  
I haven’t looked at the numbers involved with LNG but a significant aspect of LNG is much lower emissions.   
At some point in the future all ships will be required to further reduce emissions,  50 or 100 years from now will look very different from today.  Icon is a step in that direction.  
Quite frankly any reduction in operating costs is passed onto cruisers.  It’s very competitive and they need to contain operating costs to continue to offer affordable vacation choices for the masses.  They can’t afford to return to the days when only affluent people could cruise.  

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

CocoCay has an employee population of a few hundred living on the island.  With only one ship in port it would be impossible to miss the ship.  The full time employee residents would spot you and run you the ship.
The Empress run to the Eastern Caribbean is unique because it has to leave at 3pm to make San Juan on time.  If they left at 5pm with the other ship it wouldn't be an issue because all guests would be back on board their ships and any stragglers would be immediately obvious.  

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

Walking back to the ship I just had to capture it with some water blur effect and the nearly full moon.

It was too early to go back on board so with several hours until all aboard time I wanted to go back to Paseo de la Princesa.




I always enjoy stops that include the ability to take pictures of the ship at night so I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.


Time to head back on board.

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

Day 4 - San Juan
Quite windy as we approached Puerto Rico but Empress handled it really well.

The pilot boat was having a fun ride.


Finally San Juan was within sight.

El Morro was grand as ever.


Into our berth early as promised.